News Burst: May 05, 2017

Yo!

The weekend is finally here! I’ll be working right on through it, but I hope many of you find some time for rest, relaxation, food, family, and friends.

Monday’s video should be a doozy. It’ll touch on the French election -- which will be decided by then -- but in a far broader way, with many more elements included in the overall story. ‘Cause it’s not about the French election per se, but about something I think important pertaining to it, as well as to American politics and politics elsewhere in the world. You’ll see!

Have yourselves a fantastic Saturday and Sunday. I’ll see you on Monday for Episode 11 of Colin’s Last Stand. Until then…

Macron’s Campaign Gets Hacked: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-macron-leaks-idUSKBN1812AZ?il=0

My Take: It’s Groundhog Day. The campaign of Emmanuel Macron -- one of the two people running for President of France, and the overwhelming odds-on favorite to score a landslide victory over his opponent, Marine Le Pen -- has been hacked. Specifically, the e-mail servers of the Macron campaign have been targeted, though who, specifically, was responsible for it remains to be seen. (The motive of the hacker(s) are also unknown, though I think we can garner that it was likely to hurt Macron and/or help Le Pen and/or sow seeds of doubt and discontent.)

The leaker or leakers put up the e-mail dump -- nine gigs worth -- on Pastebin under the name EMLEAKS, and the authenticity of the hack and the contents of the hack seem to have been verified by Macron’s campaign itself. Interestingly, the Macron campaign admits (and has admitted in the past) that has seen signs of attempted intrusion into its servers since the beginning of the year, and that the authentic e-mail leaks are being mixed with fake e-mails that make the campaign look bad. Sounds like something Hillary Clinton’s campaign would have said.

The French vote on Sunday, and this thing will finally be over. New polling has Macron extending his lead over Le Pen following their debate, and, with the exception of some sort of catastrophe or some massive shift in the French political landscape, Macron will defeat Le Pen by double digits. Still, I’m eager to see the final results, and to see if conventional wisdom and polling -- for the first time in several years -- holds.

North Korea Accuses US, South Korea of Trying to Assassinate Kim Jong-un: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/05/world/asia/kim-jong-un-north-korea-us-assassination.html

My Take: First of all, I have no doubt in my mind, whatsoever, that the US military and intelligence agencies, along with their South Korean counterparts, have long weighed the possibility of assassinating any of the three Kim dictators. My assumption is that nothing has happened because a.) North Korea is incredibly homogeneous, and therefore nearly impossible to infiltrate, b.) North Korea is a military and police state, and therefore nearly impossible to infiltrate, and c.) Killing the North Korean dictator, whoever it was at the time, could have catastrophic unforeseen consequences that aren’t worth the risk (e.g. hardliners gain control of the country and its nukes, or there’s a humanitarian/refugee crisis in the northwest).

That said, there’s probably not much to this claim, as North Korea’s state news agency regularly lies, dramatizes, and drums up propagandist claims against pretty much everyone. What’s interesting and surprising about this, however, is how specific the claim is, which you can read about in-depth in the article. I’m not sure I’ve seen North Korea release this many specifics about something purported to have happened, perhaps suggesting some element of truth to it. But who the hell knows.

I can’t help but feel that this tit-for-tat, push-and-shove game between North Korea, South Korea, China, and the United States is about to come to a head. I think, in a strange way, Kim Jong-un might have met his match in Donald Trump. It’s weird to type that, but it’s very possibly true. As I’ve said before, though, it’s not the US I’m worried about. It’s South Korea and Japan, and specifically Seoul and Tokyo, which could be obliterated before we could get any crazy situation on the peninsula under control.

The FCC is Looking Into Stephen Colbert: http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/fcc-stephen-colbert-donald-trump-1202410837/

My Take: This is dumb. So is the FCC, but that’s for another time. The fact is, this is somewhat of a clash between free speech and the prerogative of a state or federal agency to follow-up on what it was designed to do. CBS, which airs Colbert’s show, is a network channel, not a cable channel, so it does have some of its own rules. But the FCC -- a government organization with leadership installed by the president -- cannot, by design, come off as having unreasonably censored someone. This goes back to the whole Berkeley argument, which came under fire not because it was refusing someone a platform to speak per se, but because Berkeley receives government funds. The FCC is equivalent to a state-run university, in this case.

The FCC is going to do its thing, and that’s fine, but I don’t like the political motivation here on all sides. Everything has gone just a little haywire with political retribution and retaliation. People on the left are trying to score Oppression Olympics points by claiming Colbert’s joke was homophobic, which is so incredibly ridiculous. As I’ve said ad nauseum at this point, a man telling another man to suck a dick isn’t homophobic, overtly or by intent. That’s an incredible leap. Likewise, on the right, you have people playing the “if he was a conservative!” card, which, while rooted in truth, is neither a productive nor unique argument. In fact, as an argument, it’s garbage, and simply keeps the cycle moving ever-onward.

Stephen Colbert did nothing wrong. We all know it. Now, we have to wait to see the FCC agrees, or if they’ll pull some bullshit out of their asses. I personally don’t think they will, but you never know. One way or the other, I've seen and heard worse on both network and cable television many, many, many, many, many, many times.

Mark Green Withdraws His Name For Army Secretary: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/05/mark-green-trump-army-secretary-withdraws-238048

My Take: Mark Green, a decorated veteran of the American military, has officially withdrawn his name for consideration to be Army Secretary under President Trump, the second withdrawal of a nominee for the post, a post that will now remain vacant for the foreseeable future. That doesn’t sound great for the Army, now does it.

Green’s crimes have to do with issues revolving around Muslims and transgender people. He made a single comment, actually, that offended and drew criticisms from both otherwise unrelated groups. The comment in question is him talking about how “evil is crushed” by fighting for issues like bathrooms only for natural-born women, or keeping Syrian refugees fleeing ISIS out of the United States.

Green, for his part, claims that his comments are being mischaracterized and taken out of context, and that his open Christian faith and rightwing politics make him a target for this brand of character assassination. Perhaps that’s true. I don’t really know. All I know is that the Army Secretary position needs to be filled, and Green -- a Special Ops flight surgeon with lots of combat experience -- would have been the man for the job, if not for the controversy surrounding what he may or may not have said or meant.

Venezuela is Starving: https://www.wsj.com/articles/venezuela-is-starving-1493995317

I’m not going to give you any shortcuts for this story. It’s a really interesting one, and you should read it if and when you get a chance.

The Story Behind Trump’s Revitalization of Obamacare’s Repeal: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/05/donald-trump-obamacare-repeal-timeline-238016

Same for this one. Read it!

Dunkirk Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7O7BtBnsG4&ab_channel=WarnerBros.Pictures

In case you haven’t seen it! Expect an episode of Colin’s Last Stand about Dunkirk before the movie launches. I can’t wait! (For both the movie and the CLS episode.)