conservative media

Rush Limbaugh announces he has ‘advanced lung cancer’

Talk radio king Rush Limbaugh stunned his 20-million member audience Monday with the announcement he’s been diagnosed with “advanced lung cancer.” The 69-year-old conservative talk pioneer closed his broadcast with the grim news, saying he will be leaving his golden EIB microphone for treatment, but hopes to return later this week. “This day has been one of the most difficult days in recent memory, for me, because I’ve known this moment was coming,” Limbaugh said. “I’m sure that you all know by now that I really don’t like talking about myself and I don’t like making things about me… one thing that I know, that has happened over the 31-plus years of this program is that there has been an incredible bond that had developed between all of you and me.” The radio icon then told his audience that his job has provided him with the “greatness satisfaction and happiness” of his life. “So, I have to tell you something today that I wish I didn’t have to tell you. It’s a struggle for me because I had to inform my staff earlier today,” he said. “I can’t help but feel that I’m letting everybody down. The upshot is that I have been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.” Limbaugh told listeners that the disease will keep him off the air on certain days when he’ll receive treatment. He said two medical institutions confirmed the diagnosis since he first realized something was wrong on Jan. 12 when he experienced shortness of breath. “I thought about not telling anybody,” he said. “It is what it is. You know me, I’m the mayor of Realville. This has happened and my intention is to come here every day I can, and do this program as normally and competently and expertly as I do each and every day because that is the source of my greatest satisfaction professionally, personally.” “I told the staff today that I have a deeply personal relationship with God that I do not proselytize about, but I do, and I have been working that relationship tremendously,” he said. “I am, at the moment, experiencing zero symptoms.” Limbaugh said he will undergo further testing and planned to “push ahead and keep everything as normal” as he could. “I felt that I had to tell you because that’s the kind of relationship that I feel like I have with those of you in this audience,” he said. “Over the years, a lot of people have been very nice, telling me how much this program has meant to them but, whatever that is, it pales in comparison to what you all have meant to me.” The radio veteran — widely considered one of the most powerful voices in conservative media — said he “can’t describe” the feeling but he’s aware his audience understood him. “The rest of the world may not,” Limbaugh said. “But, I know that you do.” Limbaugh called his listener base one of “the greatest sources of confidence” that he’s ever had in his life. “I hope I will be talking about this as little as necessary in the coming days, but we’ve got a great bunch of doctors, a great team assembled, we’re at full speed ahead on this,” Limbaugh said. “It’s just now a matter of implementing what we are going to be told later this week.” He said he “hopes” to be back on Thursday. “If not, it’ll be as soon as I can,” Limbaugh said. “Every day I’m not here, I’ll be thinking of you and missing you.”

And we’ll be missing you, and praying for you here at The Daily Buzz, Rush  So, hang in there!  I started listening to Rush back in the early ’90s shortly after Clinton was elected, and then read his first two books.  He inspired and motivated me to get involved in local politics.  His fans, called “dittoheads,” are legion.  We’re all pulling for ya, Rush!  For more on this story, click on the text above.

Conservative Magazine, The Weekly Standard, to shutter after 23 years

The Weekly Standard, the magazine that espouses traditional conservatism and which has remained deeply critical of President Donald Trump, will shutter after 23 years, its owner Clarity Media Group announced Friday morning. The magazine will publish its final issue on December 17. The announcement came after the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Stephen Hayes, met privately with Ryan McKibben, the chief executive and chairman of Clarity Media Group, a media holding company owned by billionaire Philip Anschutz. “For more than twenty years The Weekly Standard has provided a valued and important perspective on political, literary and cultural issues of the day,” McKibben said in a press release. “The magazine has been home to some of the industry’s most dedicated and talented staff and I thank them for their hard work and contributions, not just to the publication, but the field of journalism.” Employees were told at an all staff meeting, which CNN obtained an audio recording of, that they would be paid through the end of the year, and that afterward they would receive severance which would range in scale depending on factors like seniority. To receive severance, however, employees would need to sign a strict non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreement. “I know it’s an emotional day, but I want to tell you don’t get on social media and attack anybody because it will put your severance in jeopardy,” McKibben told employees in the meeting. Employees were also told to clear out their desks by the end of the day. People familiar with the matter said that the email addresses of employees were already in the process of being shut off. When employees raised questions during Friday’s meeting, McKibben told them, “I’m not going to take questions. This isn’t a press conference.” The closing of the magazine represents a broader shift in conservative media. Outlets on the right that are critical of Trump have lost influence or changed their tone, while media organizations on the right supportive of the President have flourished. McKibben, in his statement, blamed The Weekly Standard’s demise on the challenges within the journalism industry, not the magazine’s politics. He said the magazine had over the past several years seen “double-digit declines in its subscriber base” and that “after careful consideration” it “became clear that this was the step we needed to take.” In a statement posted to Twitter, Hayes said he was “profoundly disappointed in the decision to close The Weekly Standard,” writing that its “unapologetically conservative” voice was “needed now more than at anytime in our previous 23 years.” Earlier, in a sent to staff Friday morning, Hayes referenced the difficulty conservative news organizations critical of Trump have had in recent years. “This is a volatile time in American journalism and politics,” Hayes wrote. “Many media outlets have responded to the challenges of the moment by prioritizing affirmation over information, giving into the pull of polarization and the lure of clickbait.” Hayes said it was a “profound honor” to work with The Weekly Standard’s staff, and added, “I’m proud that we’ve remained both conservative and independent, providing substantive reporting and analysis based on facts, logic and reason.” Bill Kristol, a co-founder of the magazine who continued to serve as an editor-at-large, expressed in a tweet his gratitude toward readers and admiration for his colleagues. For months, The Weekly Standard’s leadership had butted heads with MediaDC, the publisher of the magazine which is owned by Clarity Media Group. The two parties had previously agreed to allow Hayes to search for a new owner..

Sorry to hear this.  The Weekly Standard was an excellent source of mainstream, inside-the-beltway, conservative journalism.  However, once Donald Trump was nominated as the GOP presidential candidate, and then later after he became President, the Standard turned all of its attention to attacking the President in an almost bizarre, pathological obsession…which in turn affected it’s subscriber base.  The base of the GOP changed, and the Standard couldn’t, or rather wouldn’t, adjust.  This should be a cautionary tale to other conservative media outlets.

FEC chair warns that conservative media like Drudge Report and Sean Hannity face regulation — like PACs

FEC chair warns that conservative media like Drudge Report and Sean Hannity face regulation — like PACs

Good for Chairman Goodman, who was nominated by Obama and unanimously confirmed by the Senate (i.e. total true “bi-partisanship”)!  He is one of the few Obama nominees who has done an outstanding job, and hes doing a good job of telling liberals at the FEC (and in the Congress) who want to regulate conservative media to go play with themselves.  Unfortunately, he’ll only be at the post another 7 months.  Then, it’ll be anyone’s guess who takes over at FEC.  Obama isn’t running for re-election.  So, he’ll probably nominate someone more sympathetic to those liberals who want to regulate conservative media, which are giving the dominate mainstream media something liberals cannot stand….competition.