This entire Trump error has gone from the not so sublime, far past the incredibly ridiculous. Every part of the story's pieces makes logical sense and fit together intuitively. Russia's got a person at Trump's right hand that to whom they apparently made 'implicit threats' tied to Putin's ire of Musk letting Ukraine have Starlink which resulted in the deaths of many, many Russians.

Then out of nowhere, Musk buys Twitter, reopens its gates to rightwing flamethrowers, and jumps on the Trump train. Now as lead engineer, he's funded Trump's campaign/PACs with at least $134 million and is giving away a $1 a day for swing state voters.

I'm going to assume that US intelligence already knows all of this but Biden has kept the public lid on due to the volatility of the entire situation.

I wouldn't be surprised - if proven accurate - wasn't leaked by a friendly foreign intelligence agency, trying to thwart Putin by stopping Trump. The kompromat on Musk has to be devastating, along with the spectre of an involuntary window fall.

This is simply radioactive information as it regards the safety and future of this nation - if we can keep it out of the hands of enemies both foreign and domestic. Putin is leaning on Musk and communicating to him and Musk is standing right there next to Trump.

Related:

Seriously? Much of a double standard here?

Somehow, it is apparently baked into this campaign that Trump is allowed to talk and act like a complete lunatic while Harris has to be perfect in every way. I don't know the answer to the chicken-or-egg question - whether media coverage is leading public perception or vice versa - but the disparate treatment is glaring.

Let's review: First, Harris was criticized for not doing enough interviews - so she did multiple interviews, including with nontraditional media. She was criticized for not doing hostile interviews - so she went toe to toe with Bret Baier of Fox News. She was criticized as only being comfortable in scripted rallies - so she did unscripted events, such as the town hall on Wednesday. Along the way, she wiped the floor with Trump during their one televised debate.

Trump, meanwhile, stands before his MAGA crowds and spews nonstop lies, ominous threats, impossible promises and utter gibberish. His rhetoric is dismissed, or looked past, without first being interrogated.

Imagine if Harris were promising to end the war in Gaza on her first day in office but wouldn't say how. Imagine if she were proposing a tariffs-based economic plan that economists say would destabilize the world economy and cost the average family $4,000 a year in higher prices. Imagine if she were promising a "bloody" campaign to uproot and deport millions of undocumented migrants who are gainfully employed and paying taxes. And imagine if Harris were vowing to use the military to go after her political opponents, as Trump repeatedly pledges.

And drop dead.

Oh, .... I see you already have. Enjoy your dirt nap.

I actually hope the WNBA players and owners are as dumb as you so they can inflate salary packages on the belief that the sky is the limit in terms of TV revenue only to watch the league implode as reality sets in that the WNBA is a terrible, unwatchable brand of basketball.

Of course you do because that's the type of soulless ignorant cretin you are. Wallow in the misery of your decrepit life. Trust me, it will never get any better than it is.

Stevie Wonder can see that the W's rise coincides with the rise in womans' NCAA basketball which is showing no decline. This symbiotic relationship will only grow despite the wishes of haters like you. While you'll not watch, more than ever will just to spite your wishes.

Have a nice day.

Why would anyone think that?

Because you're a racist, misogynist, homophobic, NBA economically-ignorant POS who thinks that YouTube's 8 million viewers (even far, far, fewer who watch a singular multicast of programs available on free tv) somehow sways the viewership numbers of 125 million households in the United States in any significant way when talking about 2-3 million viewers of the W championship game. How about the Slovenian market, moron? I heard the cow-tipping multicast did boffo numbers their too ... freaking moron.

And by the way, I believe Sitz first created the term about CC as the Straight White Hope - and that is precisely what she is. But it's also obvious that many of those who tuned in to watch her have decided to watch other W games in numbers they haven't seen in 25 years. Nothing you've said diminishes the W's horizon as an emerging marketing dream precisely because of its viewer demographics.

And lastly, the numbers from the Business Report on the WNBA are being sold to those willing to pay $3400+ or more for one comprehensive report because they're compiled for people making multi-million dollar sponsorship and advertising spending decisions. The figures you fart out you get for free from a league that doesn't publicly release numbers from one of its largest revenue streams, the selling of licensed products which were up 600% this year. Has the league ever claimed to LOSE money on product sales? So a 600% increase is tremendous for any enterprise, much less a global sales machine like NBA Properties.

$50 million is a rounding error when balanced against the revenues made through product sales on a global basis. You've fallen for the okey-doke and you can't get up. That's alright, I'll just keep grinding your face into the dirt until your looks improve.

Where do you think the $671 million figure came from? It's a neutral outside entity writing a report geared towards decisionmakers controlling billions in ad dollars looking for the best place to spend it.

That is the REAL figure that Silver tries to hide so as not to have to pay the players their fair share. There are multiple female NCAA basketball players currently earning at least $1 million in NIL money. CC makes over $4 million outside of her W salary.

Mark my words, the players are either going to get a significant slice of the money made through the use of their own names by the W or they'll strike and potentially damage what should be a rosy upcoming season. If NIL deals with outside companies didn't carry over to the W, most of the players wouldn't be playing there in the first place. And if the Unrivaled league proves to be popular, it becomes another vehicle for players to go out on their own and make what the market says they're worth, not Adam Silver.

You post PEAK numbers and to try to get people to compare that to AVERAGE numbers which are used in the industry.

Hey stunod, I posted the article verbatim. It says "peaked" it doesn't say average, but that wasn't the point. I've never said that the W is as popular as the NFL or NBA overall. The argument was whether people would watch the W if Caitlin Clark wasn't playing and the answer is YES! A record crowd AND it went up against both the NFL and MLB games going on at the same time.

What do you think viewership would have been if 2 major sports weren't on broadcast networks at the same time the W was on ESPN? I think you could safely add another 2+ million to the total and possibly more had the game been on ABC without competition instead of ESPN.

Gawd, you're dense.

And I also told you the league LIES about revenue. It's lied for years because NBA/WNBA Property is NOT included in the announced revenue. Selling licensed merchandise is a multi-billion dollar enterprise and the W players don't receive a dime.

Harris...who the hell knows what she's planning...don't want to find out.

It covered healthcare, more government subsidized programs, gun control...

Bill, government "subsidizes" the oil and gas industries. It subsidizes the pharmaceutical industry. It subsidizes other extremely profitable privately-owned businesses that Republicans have supported since forever.

Seems like you gripe is with government supporting those you don't like. Like government allowing businesses to file bankruptcies without limits - socializing all their losses while student loan recipients CANNOT use bankruptcy to escape their debt, often carrying it into their retirements and having money taken out of their Social Security retirement benefits.

she is a far left Socialist hiding behind a mask

She's a career prosecutor elected by the people 5 different times in California. Her job has been to put lawbreakers into jail. Even in California the people want to be protected from criminals and crime. This isn't partisan.

Where is she this stealth socialist?

You've fallen out of the idiot tree and struck every branch on the way down.

And if you don't care about that, you should stop calling yourself an American right now.

This, a thousand times THIS.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: All Harris should talk about for the next 2 weeks is January 6th. Every commercial should show all the Trumpers and Trump flags hanging all over the Capitol. It should show all the Trump supporters beating police officers and desecrating the Capitol. It should show the detritus left in the aftermath, with Rep. Kim picking up debris left by the Trump hoards left from breaking windows and doors, trashing offices and carrying off podiums and personal items. And it should show Trump sitting in the White House watching it all happen after having given them their marching orders to "Stop the Steal," in full knowledge that there was no steal.

And the ads should end with the words "Is this the America you want?" Ending with the bolded words "Never Again".

there are certain Democratic policies that are moving the country towards socialism.

What policies Bill? Name them.

Bill, we live in a social democracy. It's appalling that you don't realize this. We tax money from every citizen and then redistribute it to other citizens through government spending. The police and fire departments exist because of socialism - we pool our tax dollars to fund these social institutions. Our military is socialism in action. This is not the discussion here my friend, and it never has been.

Our current government is bipartisan - so if you truly believe Democrats are socialists, then so are Republicans because nothing changes when government leadership does. Our public schools are socialist, our road building is socialist, our infrastructure is socialist. The National Weather Service is socialist.

And you're nothing but a lemming taught a word that you don't begin to understand. The root of socialism is SOCIAL as in society. Government doesn't control business and they don't control individuals. Each are free within our laws - also socialism - to do what they want to with their time and money outside of paying the taxes that they owe to use what all of us contribute towards in order to live our lives in relative peace and safety. If not for socialism, if your house caught on fire, you better hope your neighbors will help you put it out. If someone steals from you, hope you're a good detective, although if you caught them, there wouldn't be courts or judges to assist making you whole again.

And then there's Social Security, something all of us pay into to fund the retirements of others as we expect future workers to pay their taxes to fund ours. You simply don't have more than a child's notion of how this nation could not exist if it weren't for the social contract we all agree to live under. You might recognize it. It's called the US Constitution.

Some Trump voters may believe his lies. But plenty more want Trump to be terrifying and stomach-turning so that reelecting him will be a fully realized act of social revenge. Harris cannot propose any policy, offer any benefit, or adopt any position that competes with that feeling.

Exactly why so many Americans feel this way is a complicated story - I wrote an entire book about it - but a toxic combination of social resentment, entitlement, and racial insecurity drives many Trump voters to believe not only that other Americans are looking down on them but that they are doing so while living an undeservedly good life. These others must be punished or at least brought down to a common level of misery to balance the scales, and Trump is the guy to do it.

Where all of this leaves us is that Harris could lose the election, not because she didn't offer the right policies, or give enough interviews, or inspire enough people. She could lose because just enough people in four or five states flatly don't care about any of that.

Rather than reckoning with the greatest mistake they've ever made at the ballot box, they have decided that their only recourse is to put Trump back in the Oval Office. For them, restoring Trump would be both vindication and vengeance. It would prove that 2016 was not a fluke, and horrify people both they and Trump hate.

It's come down to this: Either there are enough sane, patriotic erstwhile Republicans willing to either vote for Harris or not vote for either candidate in the key swing states or Trump will become the first American dictator in history and unleash a storm of tumult like this nation hasn't seen since the Civil War.

Face it, the Democrats could have nominated Jesus Christ himself, and Trump would still be Trump - demeaning him with insipid derogatory nicknames and calling him the devil. And his supporters would lap it up just like far too many are right this moment.

The entire WNBA generates about $200M per year.

I don't know why I keep kicking your --- all over this thread with your ignorant comments.

Now, I don't like the NBA and it is actually a dying league,

What a moron like you fails to recognize is that both the NBA and WNBA aren't just USA-based properties, they're global! And the W draws more female viewers in the most prized demographic than any other sport on television.

Sports viewing is bifurcated today due to streaming and narrow-casting unlike earlier days when it was primarily seen on major networks and cable outlets. And it takes a particular type of stupidity to call a league that just signed a $76 billion rights deal as 'dying'. They don't want nor need ignorant pinhead moron viewers like you - which is likely why you choose not to watch.

As I stated, some of the W's games on the same platforms as the NBA outdrew the senior league in viewership. And the women's NCAA basketball championship outdrew the men's championship game. What does that tell you?

No guarantee that would have translated to the WNBA. Further, she had yet to play against professional level competition.

Why do you keep saying entirely ignorant things? Just WHERE do you think most of the WNBA players came from? They came from COLLEGES here in the US, except for a few foreign players that didn't go to US schools.

Let's do a quick thought experiment. The 4 leading all-time scorers in women's college basketball are Kelsey Plum, Dyashia Fair, Kelsey Mitchell, and #1 Caitlin Clark. What do all 4 have in common? They're all WNBA players - 3 of them being All-Stars and CC being 1st team All WNBA. But you think anyone paying attention didn't believe she'd succeed? Are you Gino Auriemma?

In response to a question about whether he thought Mr. Trump was a fascist, Mr. Kelly first read aloud a definition of fascism that he had found online.

"Well, looking at the definition of fascism: It's a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy," he said.

Mr. Kelly said that definition accurately described Mr. Trump.

"So certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks would work better in terms of running America," Mr. Kelly said.

He added: "Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he's certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators - he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure."

Mr. Kelly said Mr. Trump lacked a fundamental understanding of basic American values and what being president is about.

"He's certainly the only president that has all but rejected what America is all about, and what makes America America, in terms of our Constitution, in terms of our values, the way we look at everything, to include family and government - he's certainly the only president that I know of, certainly in my lifetime, that was like that," Mr. Kelly said.

"He just doesn't understand the values - he pretends, he talks, he knows more about America than anybody, but he doesn't."

on the promise that Clark would drive ratings with no proven track record of having done so.

No track record? Just how ignorant are you?

If I were the "media" I would wait to see if it sticks before signing a long term contract.

They already did - again, at a number I think favors the media and not the league. Starting with the 2026 season, rights will increase to $220 million per season from $60 million. While that sounds like a lot of money, it isn't in context. The NBA stands to make $76 BILLION over the next 11 years, almost $7 billion annually.

What? Should a homeowner not be bound by their mortgage contract because I am losing money? This is just a silly statement.

Not at all. Go talk to Bally Sports Network/Fox Sports regionals or other networks having to bail on sports contracts every year, leaving teams and fans in a lurch.

The leverage is just what I stated: The WNBA has a valuable property that just exploded in popularity and brought ION network its largest audiences ever - full of women who weren't watching that network before. Sports rights are truly partnerships, and when one side brings an enhanced value to the table, it's not wrong to expect that to be recognized.

At the end of the day, the networks want and need the eyeballs the WNBA delivered to them beyond what was thought possible when the current contracts were signed. It's called leverage, and it's no different than players holding out while they're still under contract. There isn't another show that can replace the eyeballs the W is now bringing, especially with Caitlin Clark and the other hyper-popular players. When a player outplays his/her contract, oftentimes owners will rip up the old and give them a new one. This is not unusual for generational talents.

Well, these were all-time record ratings, something equally similar. Don't think for a second that there aren't other networks willing to pay more than the current partners are - even if litigation takes place over contract breeches. But I get good faith partnerships and that's the way business should be run. But no intelligent businessperson should stand by and lose tens of millions while watching partners make even more off the backs of those losing so much. It's simply bad business. And if things drop off, then the reverse should be true as well. Both sides should get what they deserve based on the success or lack thereof of the entire enterprise itself.

The WNBA lost $40M last year.

Only because the owners are frigging idiots and deserve their stupid fate.

You can't create a thread linked to national review on this blog.

#2

Works for me, straight to Mediate. Try Googling.