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August 2017

President Trump now has a "real news" program on his Facebook, hosted by his daughter-in-law

President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, hosted a “real news” program on his official Facebook page July 30, ostensibly highlighting the president’s accomplishments that she argued have been overshadowed by “fake news.” The video, first reported by BuzzFeed, featured Lara Trump against a Trump-Pence background as she highlighted several stories, such as the president donating his salary each quarter, the country’s economic growth, and president’s interactions with military veterans and the police, which Trump’s daughter-in-law says she “bet[s] you haven’t heard about because there’s so much fake news out there.”

This program, which has more than 2 million views on Facebook, might be a partial fulfillment of rumors from the campaign of the development of a “Trump TV” program. As Vanity Fair reported, Trump was frustrated at the revenue he was generating for other media companies during the presidential campaign, and “win or lose,” those in the Trump campaign thought they had tapped into something. When asked in October by CNN if Trump was considering such a move, then-campaign CEO Steve Bannon only would say, “Trump is an entrepreneur.”

You don’t have to believe everything in that Seth Rich lawsuit. What’s been confirmed is bad enough.

[Commentary] Some of the Rod Wheeler/Seth Rich lawsuit is now undeniable: An outrageously bogus news story was known about, and apparently not discouraged, within the West Wing well before it was published. And once it was published, it become endless fodder for the president’s staunchest defenders: Alex Jones, Newt Gingrich and, more than any other person, Fox’s Sean Hannity — who stopped hammering away at it only when Rich’s parents implored him to stop trashing their son’s name. One of the ugliest falsehoods of the current political era may have been cheered on by the White House. At the very least, it got tacit approval. And that’s bad enough.

US officials mull taking harder line against China's demands for technology transfers

Apparently, President Donald Trump's administration is considering using rarely invoked US trade laws to fend off China's demands that foreign companies share their technology in return for access to the country's vast market.

The administration is discussing the use of Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which empowers Washington to launch an investigation into China's trade practices and, within months, raise tariffs on imports from China or impose other sanctions, apparently. The investigation would be focused on China's alleged "forced technology transfer policies and practices," the person said, adding that the Trump administration could move to launch such a probe this week.

Why We Despise Cable Providers

Cable providers are among the most despised businesses in the country, regularly coming in below airlines, banks, and drug companies in public-opinion polls. "Cable is essentially a monopoly now in urban areas,” said Susan Crawford, a professor at Harvard Law School and a former policy adviser to President Barack Obama on science, technology, and innovation.

Internet service was deregulated during the George W. Bush Administration, with the theory that fewer rules would foster greater competition. For a time, as AT&T and Verizon started building fibre-optic networks to compete with cable Internet, there seemed to be truth to the idea. Over the past few years, however, the companies have largely abandoned those projects; according to Crawford, the capital investments required were too high. Rather than fuel vigorous competition and lower prices, the rise of these giant companies has meant that Americans are paying inflated costs for poor service.

Computer and Internet Use Supplement to the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey

As the next installment of a decades-long series of data collections, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) proposes to add 66 questions to the Census Bureau’s November 2017 Current Population Survey (CPS) to gather reliable data on computer and broadband (also known as highspeed Internet) use by US households. To aid the Administration’s plan to incorporate broadband in the upcoming infrastructure initiative and ensure the digital preparedness of the nation’s current and future workforce, NTIA data will reveal consumers’ changing demand for broadband, as well as their online activities.

The information may inform decisions about the scope and scale of the needed infrastructure, particularly in remote and sparsely populated areas where broadband deployment may be difficult and costly. It may also shed light on opportunities to increase digital literacy and use among Americans who currently use the Internet sparingly, if at all.

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov

Sinclair CEO: Fewer Local TV News Teams Would Strengthen Output

If Sinclair Broadcast Group has its way, the local broadcast industry would boil down to two, maybe three, station groups, with one or two of them churning out local content in each market. “Right now there are three to five local players, and to us that doesn’t make sense,” CEO Chris Ripley said Aug 2 during the group’s Q2 2017 earnings call. Consolidating news operations would lead to “significant savings.” In addition, “after that you have stronger local content producers which will be able to spread their content and resources across multiple platforms." “The strategic output would also be great for the industry,” he said.

Although such consolidation is dependent on the Federal Communications Commission relaxing regulations, Ripley said he and his fellow Sinclair executives believe that is where the industry is heading. Ripley's comments come as Sinclair’s acquisition of Tribune Media – which would create a station group of unprecedented size – move through the regulatory approval process.

Discovery Communications’ CEO, David Zaslav, Has A Plan

Discovery Communications' CEO, David Zaslav, has a plan. Perhaps, when you look beyond the headlines, you may think he has the clearest vision of how historic media properties can evolve and reinvent themselves in the new digital world. Yes, this is about the company’s $14.6 billion-dollar acquisition of Scripps — but it’s so much more than that. It comes down to this: Zaslav needs to be focused on both shoring up the current business and making meaningful inroads into the mobile/millennial media marketplace. Finding revenues and synergies between the old and new won’t be easy, but he’s been buying with clear-eyed focus, and the assets are performing.

President Trump’s tweets keep being used against him in a court of law

President Donald Trump, your tweets are definitely being used against you in the court of law. The latest example is the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, which decided that Democratic attorneys general for 16 states can launch a court battle to try to force the Trump Administration to keep paying Obamacare subsidies that help make insurance more affordable for millions of lower-income people. The judges said it makes sense for states to launch a court fight to keep Obamacare subsidies because Republicans who don't like these subsidies are in power and because President Trump has tweeted he'd like to get rid of them. The lawsuit, the judges said, is "timely in light of accumulating public statements by high-level officials.”

This is becoming a pattern: Judges, when deciding how to rule in politically sticky situations, pull up Twitter and see what the president has said about it. In June, a federal appeals court ruled not to reinstate the president's' travel ban because he failed to prove the travel ban is so necessary for public safety that it's okay for it to temporarily curtail people's liberties. The court cited one of the president's tweets.

Obama Alums Pour $1.5 Million into Progressive Tech Startups

A group of former Obama staffers, Higher Ground Labs, is taking a note from Sand Hill Road and applying venture-capital tactics to progressive politics. On Aug 2, Higher Ground is disclosing investments totaling nearly $1.5 million in 10 startups and enrolling them in a five-month accelerator program, during which they’ll work with mentors from the political-tech space to build their businesses. Higher Ground, whose founders also include former Obama-administration staffers Shomik Dutta and Andrew McLaughlin, debuted in May. Since then, some 150 groups have applied to participate in the accelerator program and a related fellowship program.

Higher Ground has raised $2.5 million from investors spanning politics and the tech industry. The companies receiving funding include Qriously, which uses programmatic online ads instead of phone calls to gauge public opinion, Victory Guide, a so-called “digital campaign manager” that gives local candidates a day-by-day agenda of campaign goals, and Tuesday Strategies, which helps volunteers send personalized text and social media messages to friends the campaign wants to reach.

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