When visiting Shrewd'm with a laptop, it can be pleasant to hold Command (or Ctrl with Windows) and '+' a few times. The site scales to allow any font size, and the larger font can be pleasant to read even for Shrewds with perfect sight! For luxury Shrewdness, you can combine that with setting the browser to full screen. You'll then find yourself Shrewding a lot.
- Manlobbi
Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy❤
No. of Recommendations: 5
In Strength in Numbers, G. Elliott Morris noted that as measured by internet searches for “Cancel Disney+,” the boycott against Disney, the parent company of ABC, is now four times as large as any similar search of a boycott over the past five years. Since ABC suspended comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s show—allegedly for his comments about MAGA Republicans’ search for someone to blame, although he frequently skewers Trump and the administration—Disney’s stock has dropped 2% although the market in general is up nearly 1%.
Morris observes that “a lot of powerful people just don’t realize how unpopular Trump is.” He explains that while polls show Trump is deeply unpopular, many people confuse voters with consumers. That is, while polls frequently measure how voters feel about the president, only about 64.1% of American adults eligible to vote went to the polls in 2024. Figuring that number into Trump’s popularity shows that only about 32% of American adults voted for Trump in 2024, while 53% of adults currently disapprove of his performance in the White House, with 48% strongly opposed. So businesses that decide to try to appease Trump voters are making poor business decisions.
That has shown in the backlash over the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show, which is widely seen as an attack on the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. As Robert Reich noted in his Substack publication, “the blowback against Disney” for Kimmel’s suspension “has been hurricane level.” It was so intense that Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr, who had threatened that ABC must suspend Kimmel or lose its broadcast license, began to deny he had had anything to do with the suspension and say that ABC had removed Kimmel for business reasons.
Today Disney issued a statement saying, “Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.” It went on: “We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”
So, after public outcry, Kimmel’s show is back on the air. But right-wing media company Sinclair, which operates more than 35 ABC stations across the country, says it will not restore Kimmel’s show to the airwaves it controls. It announced it will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! with news programming.
——That chick with three Harvard degrees
No. of Recommendations: 5
In Strength in Numbers, G. Elliott Morris noted that as measured by internet searches for “Cancel Disney+,” the boycott against Disney, the parent company of ABC, is now four times as large as any similar search of a boycott over the past five years
Funny you should mention that.
A little over a month ago, my wife and I got new phones with a Verizon promotional offer. With the phones came a new plan that included three months of free Disney, Hulu and ESPN+.
Saturday, we cancelled that part of the plan, so we won’t be billed for it when the promotional period ends in November.
A little thing. Microscopic even, in the grand scheme of things.
But we do what we can, and somewhere in the vast land of big data, the protest is registered, and in a country of 340 million (and in a world bigger still), those microscopic votes of no confidence begin to add up.
No. of Recommendations: 2
It announced it will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! with news programming.
For Sinclair, 'news programming' means right wing propaganda.
No. of Recommendations: 2
For Sinclair, 'news programming' means right wing propaganda. Good thing I scrolled ahead. That is exactly what I was going to say.
Coincidentally, Sinclair has been making entreaties to the FCC to have the "burdensome" reg repealed that requires each station, if it offers "news", to have a locally based news operation. Sinclair wants to feed it's central propaganda...'sucse me, "news" operation's output to all local stations, unfiltered by people who may have functioning brains.
Centralized "news" would avoid the embarrassment of Sinclair being caught forcing it's many local news operations to spout the same content, word for word.
Sinclair's Soldiers in Trump's War on Mediahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fHfgU8oMSoSteve
No. of Recommendations: 3
"For Sinclair, 'news programming' means right wing propaganda."
Had not heard of Sinclair Broadcasting. I'm going to have to look into them, to make
sure I'm not supporting them in any manner that I'm not aware of.
No. of Recommendations: 4
"But right-wing media company Sinclair, which operates more than 35 ABC stations across the country, says it will not restore Kimmel’s show to the airwaves it controls."
Then Disney/ABC should say to Sinclair, "If you don't air all of our shows, you don't air any of them".
No. of Recommendations: 0
Had not heard of Sinclair Broadcasting. I'm going to have to look into them, to make
sure I'm not supporting them in any manner that I'm not aware of.
If you listen to local radio, there’s a good chance you are you’re listening to Sinclair.
No. of Recommendations: 6
"If you listen to local radio, there’s a good chance you are you’re listening to Sinclair."
I can't remember the last time I listened to local radio. Have XM in vehicle, on desktop,
and on phone. I did google "Sinclair Broadcasting", and they own 3 local TV stations
in Michigan, 1 in my area. But I mostly stream, do not have cable TV, so I rarely
watch anything on Sinclair Broadcasting. I'm sure I'm unknowingly supporting
something MAGA related, that has escaped my attention. If they are smart, they'll
keep their political views to themselves, because there is always an alternative to
supporting a MAGA business, even if that alternative is to do without.
I'm not anti Republican, but am steadfast in my dislike for all things MAGA.
