Those close to the famous host whose syndicated radio program, “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” is heard nationally, said the renowned anchorman was unaware President Trump was going to present him with this most prestigious award during his State Of The Union address. Traditionally, the Medal of Freedom is given during a ceremony that has been planned well in advance for both the President and the recipients.
The First Lady, Melania Trump, who sat next to the famed political commentator and author during the speech, had the honor of placing the medal around his neck, after the President announced to the chamber he was bestowing this award to Limbaugh. Rush was accompanied by his wife of ten years, Kathyrn.
Limbaugh, a true patriot and proud American, revealed to listeners in the final minutes of his Monday show (February 3rd, 2020) that he has been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. He notified his millions of fans he has the best team of doctors who will determine what his most effective treatment plan is for recovery.
Rush is scheduled to appear on his show this Friday. He is expected to share his insights on receiving the Medal of Freedom, the State Of The Union Address and what it was like to be there live witnessing the positive applause and ovations for the President from his fellow Republicans, as well as the negative response from the Democrats who rarely applauded, even when statements made by the President were good for all of our country.
Democrats also failed to give little positive reaction to the many fine featured guests President Trump invited to be recognized for their amazing stories that personify what makes America great including a serving veteran with a surprise reunion with his wife, and an eighth-grader, Lain Lanphier, who aspires to be an astronaut, who was accompanied by his great-grandfather, Charles McGee, who is one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen at the age of 100.
During his time on and off air, Limbaugh will have a variety of notable fellow talk radio hosts filling in for his show. Mark Steyn, a Canadian author and commentator often seen on the Fox News Network, and perhaps most fans favorite substitute host, filled in yesterday and today. He told listeners yesterday he owed Rush everything.
Many people feel this way about the conservative radio host who has contributed so much to countless charities, individuals and causes. We all pray for Rush Limbaugh’s return to good health and many more years on the airwaves.
President Donald J. Trump announcing the Medal of Freedom to talk radio host Rush Limbaugh. Photo: abc7NY
*featured photo: NY Post; Rush Limbaugh Show photo: EIB network; Medal of Freedom photo: cu.embassy.gov
Hosting a cable show on our local public access cable show for fourteen years this December, it was disturbing news when I received a letter in the mail saying the studio I use to tape my show would be shutting down permanently at the end of the year.
Technically, it’s even sooner than that since any program has only until December 6th to actually prerecord a show or do one live. After this, the show will air for a week in its usual six towns, and then have to be sent to the main Charter/Spectrum studio located in Newtown, CT with all papers needed to be signed to air from there.
As quoted in Connecticut’s newspaper, The Republican American, the Charter/Spectrum spokeswoman said in regards to the shut down of the studio which has been up and running for 25 years, “This change is more efficient use of public access facilities, and will offer a more extensive programming line up and community information to better serve our customers.” But, wait, there’s more.
“Spectrum (the parent company owner) in our Western Connecticut system will gain access to content and information regarding activities and events across the entire 20-town area.” Blah blah blah.
Most notable in this latter quote is this: “Spectrum (the parent company owner)…will gain access to content and information…”
True. This is the real agenda in this blogger’s opinion.
To me, what is really happening, is the start of a shut down of conservative voices pre-2020 election, whether it’s via television, radio, internet, social media or print. One could go further with school classes and such but let’s stay with the media with this post.
The left, or Democrat Party, focused intensely here in Connecticut in 2018 on small local elections. Town by town, especially in Republican held districts. National Democrat campaign money was used to build up the smallest races for any gain. This was the same method used in other states, and it was the first real grassroots effort by Democrats, in that this tactic has been engaged much more commonly by Republicans for years.
And, it worked, which is how the Democrat Party (not Democratic, which means this: “relating to or supporting democracy or its principles.” ) The mainstream media and the Democrats have twisted the definition of this word for a long time now, as if it somehow translates to the name of their political party. Nope. Sorry. It’s actually quite the opposite.
Getting back to our local studio here in Northern Connecticut – a well run facility that delivers community video of many things vital to its viewers – simple things, like graduation ceremonies, little league games, football games, events, and the token community board bulletin which is basically an upcoming calendar for those in the viewing area.
Far from Fairfield County, where the main Charter/Spectrum HQ, Winsted cable hosts and producers are now expected to drive over an hour each way to continue airing their shows. Literature mailed to hosts from Charter/Spectrum gives them an alternative saying they can find somewhere else to tape their shows and send their new programs in whatever format to be broadcast from the Newtown office.
There were signs of the upcoming shutdown.
First and foremost, Charter switched the public access channel from the traditional channel 13 to 191, which meant seniors, fixed income and I/we-don’t-watch-TV-too-much subscribers had to now go from paying the lowest basic cable tier for general news, PBS and public access, to renting a cable box at around five to eight dollars a month, depending on the year, to even access their local public access station.
Secondly, the channel was switched from 191 to 192 for no apparent reason, just to keep anyone still interested confused.
Thirdly, many forms suddenly had to be signed by hosts and guests after each show.
Fourth and final, Charter/Spectrum decided not to air the programs recorded in studio on their own website via On Demand. The last shows that were available On Demand for viewers to watch were in August 2019. This means anyone out of the six town viewing area, statewide, nationally or internationally, could no longer see any show online. The Winsted studio was also able to download any video so users could then upload the mp4 file to post their show on YouTube or anywhere on the web via viebit streaming.
Researching politics in CT for over a decade now, I was curious why shut down a well operated studio that was used in many ways to serve so many residents?
Looking for President Trump’s and all candidates’ results here in CT in 2018 on the web writing this post, all that came up on the SOTS site for election results was this:
A map and page that does nothing with any click of the mouse. The “My Races” tab at least pulls up a list of statewide data but there is none to be seen. Zip.
Interestingly, looking up my own run for State Representative in 2006, as someone who had only lived in this district for barely two years, I found tonight only the primary results from August are posted on the SOTS website.
Anyone who has followed me for fourteen years now in hosting and producing our Republican Town Committee’s show, created by our former fine conservative Secretary who moved away quite awhile ago, sadly, in 2004, or anyone who has followed my political commentary in different venues for about ten years online, knows I can go on and on…
The bottom line with this post, my first post in some time on my own blog which I now mostly maintain to archive my former work, is that the Democrats and/or the left, continue to chip away at our Constitutional rights, and more and more aggressively.
To me, whatever the agreed upon communication from the Charter/Spectrum leadership for their press release was as to why they were shutting down the Winsted studio, is just pablum. Marketing rhetoric.
It also does not “better serve customers” by telling people in the towns of Winsted, New Hartford, Colebrook, Hartland, Barkhamsted and Harwinton, what events are coming up in Fairfield County. It’s a simple excuse.
The real purpose here is to take off grassroots programming from conservatives, or anyone who doesn’t agree with their agenda. This has been a goal of the left for some time, a serious infringement of the First Amendment.
Cancel culture. If the left doesn’t like what you say, they’ll shut you up. Cancel you.
Lastly, this isn’t even a partisan issue. Anyone can do a show on public access. It has nothing to do with what Party one is affiliated with – someone doing a show could not even be registered to vote, but likes to garden, cook, paint or talk about literature. Green Party members, Libertarians, and Unaffiliateds can all produce a regular program.
What makes it partisan, at least here in Connecticut, for example, is the Democrat voters who can take time to do a half hour or hour long show, don’t care to do so except here and there, because they are fine with the status quo. Their needs are being met; they have an O’Reilly life of sorts, and will keep filling in that Democrat circle on the ballot.
The reason it’s Republicans and Conservatives who take up most of the programming schedule is because we don’t like the status quo. We care about excessive taxation. We care about our Constitutional Rights being chipped away every day. We care about the direction our country is going.
Charter/Spectrum knows this, and it’s why as my friend, Don Pesci, a political commentator and long time guest on my show “Conservative Chat”, wrote this article on PURA, our state agency who actually has the final decision as to why our Winsted studio can remain open, not Charter/Spectrum. PURA has said they won’t hold a hearing absent objection. Only one complaint has been filed so far. All program hosts and producers have been asked to file complaints, along with legislative help, before the lights go out on the productive studio in Winsted, CT.
(l) Don Pesci, CT columnist and political commentator (r) Juliana Simone, Barkhamsted RTC Chair and host/producer of Charter cable show “Conservative Chat”
Juliana Simone, Host/Producer of “Conservative Chat,” a CT PA Cable political interview show in its fourteenth year.Juliana Simone, Host of “Conservative Chat” first episode
The great Jazz tenor saxophonist, Dexter Gordon, would have turned 95 today. The bebop artist churned out a lifetime of recordings, live appearances and a starring film role in “Round Midnight” (1986) which earned him an Academy Award film nomination for Best Actor.
This blog’s favorite album of the master is “One Flight Up” but there are many others to enlighten the ears of those just venturing into jazz and the veterans who know it all but still recognize greatness.
{Born February 27, 1923 – Died April 25, 1990 – Philadelphia, PA}
“Apparently under President Obama’s administration, Warmbier wasn’t even worth a Twitter hashtag tweet: “Bring Back Our Otto,” for example.”
Written by Juliana Simone
June 21, 2017
American Otto Warmbier (December 12, 1994 -June 19, 2017), taken by the North Koreans and subjected to the severity of their labor camps, died two days ago after being sent home to the U.S. from this communist country in a coma.
Apparently under President Obama’s administration, Warmbier wasn’t even worth a Twitter hashtag tweet – “BringBackOurOtto,” for example. Obama’s First Lady Michelle, made such an effort on the social media site when learning 276 young school girls were taken by an extremist Nigerian group “Boko Haram.” Days later she said her husband was doing “everything possible” to help Nigeria bring the girls back.
A New York Times report, for whatever this is worth these days, reported the U.S. Air Force had now sent dozens of personnel to the area to use drones to help find the kidnapped girls. Officials did follow up and said the girls had been found but they could not be saved because too many people could have been killed, perhaps even the innocent girls themselves. The White House moved on.
Otto Warmbier, made the naïve mistake of visiting North Korea in January of 2016. A University of Virginia college student from Ohio, he apparently was being watched by the North Korean government, during a five-day tour in January of 2016 which he had seen advertised while he was touring China. Maybe five days seemed to be a safe entry and exit time for a curious twenty-one year old who as class salutatorian gave his fellow high school seniors their graduation speech.
Otto Frederick Warmbier
North Korea alleges he stole a sign from a wall in the hotel where he was staying promoting the leadership of Kim Jong-il. A couple of months later, they produced a video of low quality as proof to their claim, but there is no clear image of Warmbier and its arguable whether it was him at all.
For this, Warmbier was picked up at the airport while standing in line the last of his five day tour to leave North Korea for theft, and sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor. Warmbier is seen on video in North Korean court in February of 2016 confessing to stealing the banner but no one knows whether he did this under intimidation or some false promise that if he admitted to doing this he would be released. A U.S. envoy was sent on his behalf once, in March, but he met with no success.
Photo released by the North Korean Central News Agency via Yonhap News Agency of Warmbier in Pyongyang Court March 16 2016
A month after his trial, it’s reported Warmbeir somehow experienced a medical incident that left him with severe brain trauma, information not produced by North Korea and only learned after his release. Otto’s parents desperately wanted to get their son out of the labor camp and bring him home to America, but Mr. Warmbeir says he and his wife were told by the Obama administration they could not participate in any negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea and to keep quiet.
Otto Warmbier’s Parents
On June 12, 2017, Rex Tillerson, the United States Secretary of State, announced that North Korea had released Warmbier, and that the U.S. State Department secured Warmbier’s release at the direction of President Donald Trump.
Otto Warmbier was flown home on June 13, 2017. Unable to walk or talk, carried off of the transport to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, doctors were unable to bring him out of his coma. Physicians claim his condition came from a severe heart attack and that no signs of abuse were found on his body. Even though he was able to breath on his own and blink his eyes, he failed to recover and died on June 19th, 2017. Otto’s father has stated he does not believe anything the North Korean’s have said in terms of what happened to his son.
Twenty-two years old, gifted, loved and wanting to explore the world at its best and its worst, what happened to Otto Warmbier, is an alarming and sad reminder to what happens to American’s abroad, as well as other civilians, more and more today in both free and communist countries. Shame on our governments that allow this to continue to happen. It’s much more serious than a hashtag. Rest in peace, Otto.
No surprise for anyone who understands politics, Republican Congressional candidate in the sixth district of the state of Georgia, Karen Handel, won handily tonight by four to five percent, or thirteen thousand votes. This district, most importantly on the map because it was former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s district, showed despite the demographics changing here with more democrats moving out of Atlanta into the suburbs, Georgians still stay true to their beliefs in what America is and still should be today.
Democrats put this race on a historic map in spending over fifty million dollars donated almost solely from out of state sources – the usual suspects – liberals from Hollywood, George Soros PAC’s and former supporters of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, who both lost big to President Donald J. Trump in the presidential election 2016.
Losing to Handel, was a young former democrat aide, Jon Ossoff. Even with the monumental amount of money donated to him, the most in American history, he failed to give the democrats in the White House and their voters across the country the results they thought they could buy. Ouch. Another example that money can’t buy an election. Liberals and the mainstream media hoped to once again use this election as an example that American’s regretted voting for President Trump and this was a positive indicator Democrat’s would regain majority rule over the House in Washington, D.C. in 2018.
Congratulations to Karen Handel, Congresswoman Karen Handel (GA-6), the RNC, the GA State GOP and all voters who cared about the future of their country from Georgia.
With great honor and respect to our Armed Forces who sacrificed their lives for our country and our allies to help bring world peace and keep America safe, and to the families who love them in memory. Thank you for your service.
Here is former President Ronald Reagan giving a fine Memorial Day speech in this moving video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzUU-hdtxv8
Commentary and Rhetoric from Politics to Entertainment
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