Cory Booker proposes national license for all gun owners
Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker is proposing that all gun owners be licensed by the federal government, a process that would include an interview and safety training. National licensing is one of more than a dozen specific proposals in a sweeping gun control agenda the U.S. senator from New Jersey released on Monday. It’s his second policy rollout in three weeks as he tries to break through the crowded Democratic primary field . While current gun owners and first-time buyers would be subject to the federal license requirement, a transition period would allow current owners to come into compliance, the Booker campaign said. No such national gun license program currently exists. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have enacted some form of licensing or permit rules before people can buy guns, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. “I am sick and tired of hearing thoughts and prayers for the communities that have been shattered by gun violence — it is time for bold action,” Booker said in a statement. Last month during a high-profile speech in his hometown of Newark, Booker vowed to “bring a fight” to the National Rifle Association, which generally opposes gun restrictions. Booker, a former mayor of Newark, New Jersey’s largest city, said gun violence is an issue close to him, with several people being shot in his neighborhood recently. “We must step up and deal with something that is crushing communities, destroying lives and really just tearing apart families,” Booker said in an interview on CBS’ “CBS This Morning.” Booker’s gun control agenda includes universal background checks for gun buyers; the reinstitution of a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity firearm magazines; and the modernization of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The plan would face a steep climb to winning approval from a Democratic House and would face even stiffer resistance in a Republican-controlled Senate, where less-sweeping gun control measures have failed in recent years. President Donald Trump has said the constitutional right to bear arms is “under assault.” Trump, a Republican, spoke at the NRA’s annual convention last month, vowing to fight for gun rights and imploring NRA members to rally behind his reelection bid. Booker, who launched his presidential campaign in February, has struggled to rise from the low single digits in polls of the 21-candidate Democratic primary field, though he recently secured the 65,000 donors necessary to meet both qualifications for participation in next month’s first debate . He released an environmental justice plan late last month. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Roy Moore sues Sacha Baron Cohen $95M for defamation over TV prank
Former Alabama Chief Justice and failed U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore has made good on his threat to sue Sacha Baron Cohen after he was fooled into appearing on Cohen’s Showtime series, “Who Is America?” Moore’s lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., is against Cohen, CBS and Showtime for fraud, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He’s seeking $95 million in punitive and compensatory damages for a July 29 episode of the series. In the episode, Cohen pranked Moore by posing as an Israeli intelligence officer with an electronic device he said could detect pedophiles. In the clip, Cohen waves the device over himself and nothing happens, then near Moore, and a loud beep is heard. Cohen repeats the demonstration several times showing that the devices is detecting that Moore is a pedophile. Ultimately, Moore ended the interview. “I am simply cutting this conversation right now,” he said. “Good night. I support Israel. I don’t support this kind of stuff.” The viral video clip, which was posted in July has since been viewed over four million times. Now Moore is saying he “suffered extreme emotional distress” for “being falsely portrayed as a sex offender and pedophile.” Moore says he and his wife Kayla never would have agreed to fly to Washington had they known the true reason for the trip — they were lured under the premise he was receiving an award for his “strong support of Israel” on an Israeli television network. Kayla, is also named as a plaintiff in the case. “Defendant Cohen’s character falsely and fraudulently introduced a false and fraudulent ‘device’ supposedly invented by the Israeli Army to detect pedophiles,” read the complaint. “During the segment, Defendant Cohen’s ‘device’ — as part of the false and fraudulent routine — purports to detect Judge Moore as a sex offender, thus defaming him.” Moore’s lawyer, Larry Klayman, in a prepared statement released Wednesday said said Moore is a man of “great faith, morality and intellect.” “Judge Moore, a man of great faith, morality and intellect, is one of the finest people I have ever known. Sasha Baron Cohen, who is not only low class but also a fraudster, will now, along with Showtime and CBS, be held accountable for his outrageous and false, fraudulent and defamatory conduct which callously did great emotional and other damage to his great man and his wife and family,” Klayman said. Representatives for Cohen have not responded to any requests for comment. Showtime has told several outlets the network does not comment on pending litigation and isn’t aware of having been served with a lawsuit. “The press has been sent copies of an alleged complaint, yet to our knowledge SHOWTIME has not been served. With that said, we do not comment on pending litigation,” Showtime said in a statement. Moore has filed several defamation lawsuits this year including one against the Highway 31 Super PAC accusing them of running widespread defamatory and misleading ads during the 2017 race, and another suit against several women for “irrevocable damage” to his reputation. Moore came first came under fire in November 2017 when the Washington Post published a bombshell report that accused Moore of pursuing a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl in 1979. In the wake of that accusation, several other women stepped forward making similar claims. Moore has denied the allegations. View the full complaint below:
Unlike first, second debate doesn’t set viewership record
An estimated 66.5 million people watched the second debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, down from the record-setting audience who saw their first match but on par with the Obama-Romney contests four years ago. The first debate reached a total of 84 million viewers, more than for any other presidential debate on record, the Nielsen company said on Monday. The previous record of 80.6 million had been set for the only debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980. In 2012, an estimated 65.6 million people watched the second debate between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, after 67.2 million saw their first debate. On Sunday, the two candidates were competing against the NFL’s prime-time contest between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants, which was seen by 16.6 million people on NBC. A football game aired opposite the first debate, too, but it was on cable’s ESPN and reached only 8 million people. Sunday’s debate, moderated tightly by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, was dominated early by questions surrounding Trump’s lewd conversation with Billy Bush in a recently resurfaced “Access Hollywood” outtake. In another clip getting wide airplay on Monday, Trump tells Clinton that “you’d be in jail” if he were elected. Raddatz on Monday said she could feel the tension in the room from the start. “When they came together at the beginning and didn’t shake hands, you knew you were in for a long evening,” she said on “Good Morning America” on Monday. The candidates shook hands at the end, following a disarming question from an audience member, who asked each candidate if they could think of one thing positive to say about the other. Raddatz and Cooper received generally good reviews for their sharp questioning and attempts to keep the candidates in line. Trump complained at times about not being treated fairly. At one point, when Trump objected to the Obama administration signaling in advance about an attack on ISIS positions in Iraq, Raddatz interjected with possible reasons for this tactic, including warning civilians to get out of harm’s way. CBS withdrawal from the political competition. CNN had 11.2 million viewers and Fox News Channel had 9.9 million, essentially flip-flopping their positions from the first debate. While that may be a reflection of a CNN personality serving as a moderator Sunday, it may also be an ominous sign of growing disinterest in the contest among Fox’s Republican-dominated fan base. A Fox personality, Chris Wallace, moderates the scheduled third and final debate Oct. 19. Republish with permission of the Associated Press.
Major networks spent 14 hours on candidate coverage in 2015, report shows
Major networks have already spent more than 14 hours of nightly news airtime covering presidential candidates this year, according to a report detailing broadcast coverage of 2016 presidential candidates. The Tyndall Report, which tallies coverage from ABC, NBC and CBS, found the big three had spent a combined 857 minutes covering 2016 presidential campaigns during their nightly newscasts through the first 11 months of 2015. The figure is high enough to surpass penultimate year coverage totals in six of the last seven presidential election cycles. The lead up to the 2008 election, which also saw a two-term commander in chief exit the White House, was the only cycle to get more coverage. NBC led its rivals with 349 minutes of campaign coverage over the past 11 months. ABC logged 261 minutes while CBS has featured 247 minutes of coverage during its nightly newscasts. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has accounted for 27 percent of all network election coverage — about 234 minutes — this year. The real estate magnate’s campaign has received constant coverage since he entered the race in June, whether for policy positions or his holdout tactics leading up to the Republican debates. Coincidentally, Trump’s poll numbers have hovered around the 27 percent range, giving him the highest support among the crowded Republican field. On the whole, GOP campaigns combined for 570 minutes of coverage compared to 226 minutes for the Democrats, which have three candidates still in the race. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who just a few months ago was figured to be the GOP front-runner, got the second most coverage in the Republican field with 56 minutes, narrowly edging out retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who accounted for 54 minutes of airtime. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio came in third with 22 minutes, followed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with just seven minutes. Across the aisle, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton topped the Democratic field with 113 minutes of coverage. That total, however, doesn’t include the 88 minutes networks spent reporting on the controversy surrounding her use of a private email server during her tenure in the State Department, nor does it include 29 minutes of airtime used to cover investigations into the Benghazi Consulate attack. Other Democratic candidates didn’t fare near as well. Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s closest competition in the primary race, received a combined 10 minutes of coverage from the three major networks — less than a fifth of the Vice President Joe Biden’s airtime, despite him never formally entering the race. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who has hovered in the low single digits in most polls of Democratic voters, had no coverage according to the report.
CBS hopes debate coverage will boost streaming service
CBS News sees its coverage of Saturday’s Democratic presidential debate as a key moment in helping to establish CBSN, the streaming service that just celebrated its first birthday. Political reporter Major Garrett will host a preview of the debate an hour before it begins on CBSN. The free service will stream the debate live, accompanied by data and tweets provided by Twitter, with Garrett stepping in with reactions during commercial breaks of the televised contest. It is also being shown on the broadcast television network. CBSN, which launched Nov. 6, 2014, provides a continuous newscast and also allows users to click on streams of individual stories. It is available on the CBS News website, on the network’s mobile apps and through services like Apple TV, Roku and Android TV. Starting this week, it can also be seen on Xbox One. “What this has to be to be a success if to be completely ubiquitous, that everybody who is delivering live news content has to be distributing us,” said CBS News President David Rhodes. CBS views it as the future of video news, a generation removed from cable news networks. The average age of a CBSN viewer is just under 40, considerably younger than the traditional television news demographic, the Nielsen company said. It is younger by three years for people watching on Internet-connected televisions. For now, the service is unique to CBS. Rhodes said he believes competitors like CNN, Fox News and MSNBC are reluctant to try something similar because potential users would be put off by having to go through cable companies to use the service. “If we make a go of this and it becomes a commercial success, I think you will see others try to get into it,” he said. “I think we would welcome that because it’s a validation of our strategy.” While the network does not say how many people use CBSN, Rhodes said he expected it will get more views Saturday night than ever before. Usage tends to spike around major news events, he said. Oddly, the service has done well before, during and after previous presidential debates, which Rhodes found surprising considering CBSN did not stream them. The service has offered ongoing discussions about the debates while they were happening with occasional highlights, and Rhodes speculated it appeals to cord-cutters who have no traditional TV service. This Saturday, network executives anticipate CBSN will be used as a second screen for many people already watching the debate on the broadcast network. Garrett said he’ll be helping to curate the Twitter feed that will appear on the CBSN screen. “That’s part of the experiment,” he said. “Everyone associated with social media is trying to figure out — how do you make it meaningful and not just noisy?” Because of social media, the “spin room” that existed after debates is now in operation while the event is still going on. Garrett will use the broadcast commercial breaks to show how campaign aides are trying to shape the stories. Garrett, who worked at both CNN and Fox News Channel, had anticipated a more structured environment at CBS with newscasts in the morning and evening broadcasts. CBSN takes him back to his cable days where there is much more time to fill; fewer commercials mean discussions can go even longer at CBSN. His children — ages 20, 19 and 15 — provide him with a daily reminder of the importance of CBSN. Their dad works in TV but they rarely see him there. They catch him in clips that are linked on social media. “The digital platform is essential for the fate of broadcast network news,” he said. “We have to be in that space.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows
Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows: ABC’s “This Week” — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders; Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson; Reps. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., and Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii. ___ NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz; Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Mike Pompeo, R-Kansas. ___ CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Reps. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Elijah Cummings, D-Md. ___ CNN’s “State of the Union” — 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. ___ “Fox News Sunday” — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
