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Archives for September 2017

Every Former Living U.S. President Launch Joint Campaign for Hurricane Relief Effort

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Photo by Eric Draper, courtesy the White House.

All five living former presidents – Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama – have joined together to launch a campaign urging support for those impacted by Hurricane Harvey.

As stated on the website for the appeal, “Every storm is unique, but a look at Hurricane Harvey’s unprecedented intensity helps explain why the One America Appeal came to life.”

A special account was established to collect donations through the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation, with the goal “to ensure that 100 cents out of every dollar goes to assist hurricane victims.”  The funds collected will go to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, focusing on the greater Houston region, along with the Rebuild Texas Fund.

With the onset of Hurricane Irma to reach the Florida coast this weekend, the appeal likely will expand to these victims as well.

You can learn more about the One America Appeal by clicking here.

‘The Daily Show with Trevor Noah’ Adds New Correspondent Dulce’ Sloan

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Photo courtesy Comedy Central.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah just added new correspondent Dulce’ Sloan to the roster, with her scheduled to debut this week with an in-studio desk piece.

According to a release issued by Comedy Central,

“Sloan is truly a unique emerging voice in the world of comedy.  She offers a fresh and honest perspective, bringing her signature point-of-view and confidence to commentary on a wide range of topics.”

Sloan was recognized by Rolling Stone as one of the ten comedians you need to know, as well as “New Face” at Montreal’s 2015 comedy festival Just for Laughs, and also as a correspondent at E! News Daily.  She has appeared on Conan, Steve Harvey, @midnight, and truTV’s Comedy Knockout.  Most recently, Sloan was cast in the Fox comedy pilot Type-A alongside Eva Longoria, Andy Richter and Ken Marino.

‘The Daily Show with Trevor Noah’ airs on Comedy Central Monday through Thursday at 11:00 P.M. EST and is available to stream the following day at thedailyshow.com.

Juleanna Glover: How Trump Can Win in the Middle East

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Christopher Reiter, Juleanna Glover and Sally Quinn. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

Notable corporate public affairs consultant and former VP Cheney adviser Juleanna Glover writes in Politico Magazine that even as the Trump administration focuses attention on several international threats, “it is poised to blow a rare opportunity in the Middle East.”

“With some smart statecraft over the next month, the United States could at once isolate an adversary, solidify a long-standing alliance and begin to usher a new, friendly democracy into a historically fractious region. Instead, Washington is stubbornly sticking to a years-old policy, even though it has already been made obsolete by events on the ground,” Glover warns.

The regional government of Kurdistan (KRG) will hold a referendum on independence from Iraq September 25th.  While the Kurds are noted as strong U.S. allies — including supporting American efforts in Iraq even back in 1990 — the United States government has been unenthusiastic regarding this current bid for independence.

The reasoning by to the State Department, Glover points out, is “a worn-out phrase: ‘support [for] a unified, stable, democratic, and a federal Iraq.’”  Put another way, the U.S. position is that the Kurdish referendum is an internal Iraqi situation, not one needing to be addressed by the Trump administration.

Glover concludes that now is the time for the United States to support an emerging and unshakably U.S.-allied nation in the Middle East.  “The question is whether it will act to support the KRG—or watch as the Revolutionary Guards subsume the Kurds along with the rest of Iraq.”

You can read Glover’s entire column at Politico Magazine here:  http://politi.co/2wULv9H

Mass Layoffs at Glenn Beck’s “The Blaze”

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Photo courtesy Wikimedia.

Glenn Beck, founder of the conservative multi-platform news and entertainment network The Blaze, announced Thursday his company would conduct mass layoffs.

“Today, we said goodbye to just over 20 percent of the combined workforce of Mercury Radio Arts and TheBlaze,” Beck said in a press release.

The one-time Fox News and HLN host suggested his network “needed to become more nimble and drastically adjust our approach to keep pace with the massive changes unfolding before us.”

The Blaze TV is struggling for ratings especially due to not being carried on major cable companies such as Comcast, Time Warner and Cablevision.