Tuesday Night’s Election Results – What effect will this have on the Republican Party?

2017 Virginia gubernatorial election results

• Ralph Northam (D): 53.9%; 1,405,007 votes
• Ed Gillespie (R): 45%; 1,172,533 votes
• Cliff Hyra (L): 1.1%; 29,303 votes

(Source: Source: Virginia Department of Elections, 100% of precincts reporting)

2017 New Jersey gubernatorial election results

• Phil Murphy (D): 55.5%; 1,142,390 votes
• Kim Guadagno (R): 42.5%; 875,144 votes
• Gina Genovese (I): 0.6%; 11,587 votes
• Peter Rohrman (L): 0.5%, 10,052 votes

(Source: NYT, 99% of precincts reporting) 

2017 New York City Mayor results

• Bill de Blasio (D): 66.5%; 726,361 votes
• Nicole Malliotakis (R): 27.8%; 303,742 votes
• Sal Albanese (Reform): 2.1 %; 22,891
• Akeem Browdr (Green): 1.4%; 15,763

(Source: NYT, 99% of precincts reporting)

How many residents of New York City voted on Nov. 7?

Approximately 22 percent of the 5,053,842 registered voters in New York City, or 1,097,846 people, cast ballots in the election. 

The Republican Congress better wise up because they are in disarray and yesterday’s results are proof of that. So, if I were President Trump, I would pull back on the feuding. However, according to numbers from a new CNN poll only 37% of Americans have a favorable opinion of Democrats, down from 44% in March of this year. A majority, 54%, have an unfavorable view, matching their highest mark in polls from CNN and SSRS, CNN/ORC and CNN/USA Today/Gallup stretching back to 1992.

Trump’s meeting with the Chinese president

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to celebrate a number of new business agreements when the two leaders meet on Wednesday and Thursday, thanks to a delegation of nearly 30 American companies that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has brought to Beijing.

Xi could also announce progress in policy areas ranging from investment to drug approvals. Trump has also talked about making arms sales to South Korea and Japan. 

Trump and Xi are slated to give back-to-back speeches in Da Nang on Friday, giving regional leaders and business groups a chance to size up two competing visions for the Asia-Pacific and decide which leader presents the better case.

Trump’s accomplishments during his trip to Asia

U.S. President Donald J. Trump began his first Asia trip with a visit to Japan. During his stay in Japan from November 5 to 7, his host, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, went all out to welcome the president and First Lady Melania Trump. 

In addition to the courtesy meeting with Emperor and Empress, Trump and Abe spent some quality time together. Aside from the official bilateral meeting in the afternoon of November 6, the two leaders had several additional occasions to engage in discussion, including their nine holes of golf in the afternoon of November 5, and the working lunch just prior to the official bilateral meeting. 

The Trumps also spent both of their nights in Japan dining with Prime Minister and Mrs. Abe — an informal steak dinner on November 5, and the official banquet on November 6. 

On Tuesday, Nov. 7, Trump appeared to temper his rhetoric toward North Korea, instead calling for it to “make a deal” on its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. 

Trump on Wednesday said he’s ready to offer North Korea “a path to a much better future” if it puts an end to aggression, stops development of ballistic missiles and undergoes “complete, verifiable and total denuclearization.” 

“We will not permit America or our allies to be blackmailed or attacked,” Trump said. “We will not allow American cities to be threatened. We will not be intimidated." 

The president’s address featured a graphic catalog of the suffering of the people of North Korea, with Trump denouncing policies targeting those seen as disloyal or genetically inferior. One of the anecdotes was targeted directly at China, the main ally and financial backer of Kim’s regime.

Kate Steinle Murder Trial Update

Defense attorneys Tuesday morning presented testimony from a video enhancement expert in the trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, the man charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Kate Steinle on San Francisco’s Pier 14. 

Attorneys for Garcia Zarate, a 45-year-old homeless Mexican citizen who was arrested around an hour after the July 1, 2015 shooting based on witness descriptions, are not contesting that he fired the shot that killed Steinle. 

Instead, they are presenting a series of expert witnesses this week to bolster their argument that the shooting was an accident that occurred after Garcia Zarate found and picked up a gun that had been stolen from a U.S. Bureau of Land Management ranger several days earlier. 

The prosecution rested its case Thursday after two weeks of testimony. 

While I hope I’m wrong, I bet that Zarate will get a lenient sentence, just like Bowe Bergdahl.

The Truth about mainstream media and fake news

A tweet earlier this week from @BillOReilly said that “Fox News reporting that CNN management ordering air talent to trash Donna Brazile. If true, major media story.” 

CNN is responding to an accusation made by Tucker Carlson on his Fox News show, that CNN anchors have been instructed to “undermine” Donna Brazile as it covers her new book about the 2016 race. 

“According to highly informed sources we spoke to, top management at CNN directed its employees to undermine Brazile’s credibility,” Carlson said on his show on Monday. 

“Anchors and producers were vocally offended by her attacks on their friends, the Clintons,” Carlson added.

He then played two clips, one from Anderson Cooper and another from Brooke Baldwin, supporting his claim. 

“Any suggestion that CNN has ordered its employees to undermine Donna Brazile is false,” a network spokesperson said. 

Brazile had served as a CNN contributor, but formally resigned from her role on Oct. 14, 2016, after it came out, in leaked emails, that she had seemingly shared a debate question with Hillary Clinton's campaign ahead of the March CNN Democratic debate in Michigan.

O’Reilly’s interview with Mark Dice, Author or “The True Story of Fake News”

The main point of my book, “The True Story of Fake News” is that most fake news comes from the liberal mainstream media, not the Russians or fake news websites that people spread through Facebook. I wrote the book to expose the manipulation of information by Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

This isn’t an entirely new phenomenon; fake news goes back to when NBC was caught rigging a GM truck to blow up for a story about faulty gas tanks. NBC also edited the George Zimmerman 911 call. CBS radio spinning the Facebook Live torture incident making it sound as if white people tortured a black person. Newsweek’s ‘Koran in the toilet’ story that caused rioting.  CBS reporting on George W. Bush’s service record using fake documents.   Time magazine report claiming Trump removed the bust of Martin Luther King.  

Mail Time!

• Whether the motivation for the Texas slaughter is ideological or just depravity the notoriety may be a baiting factor. As shocking and incomprehensible as the event was, I struggle to see why having it broadcast across the country and the world serves any positive purpose.

• Bill, I really enjoy the podcast. Thank you for not mentioning the shooter’s name or picture. I do believe the attention given to the person committing the horrific crime could encourage another unbalanced person to do the same. 

• Bill, I never miss a night. Here’s my thoughts on Chicago and other cities with strict gun laws and high gun crimes such as shootings and murders. Where would someone peddling stolen or other illegal guns go? To cities with very strict gun control laws, it’s a profit thing.