News
PC Leadership Hopeful Starke Proposes Plan To Defeat NDP
By Sheldon Spackman
One of four men seeking to lead Alberta’s PC Party to victory in the next provincial election, is proposing an alternative approach to defeating the NDP in 2019. Vermillion-Lloydminster MLA Richard Starke says he has a better option to defeat the current government in two years, rather than merging the PC’s and Wildrose as fellow leadership candidate Jason Kenney has suggested.
Starke says through a release that “Albertans tell me that they want a real change in the Alberta government but do not necessarily like the risky 5-point Unity power grab.” Adding, “Today, I am introducing a proposal that would see Progressive Conservatives and Wildrose working together on a Common Sense Plan; Alberta’s conservative parties collaborating to eliminate the risk of vote splitting in the next election. This Common Sense Plan could include:
- Both parties would fight the 2019 election from positions of strength with a common goal – defeating the NDP.
- Both parties would continue to work as separate but collaborating entities – two parties, two leaders, two caucuses.
- Giving Albertans an option to ensure that there will be no splitting of conservative votes in the next election.”
Starke says Kenney’s plan to dissolve the PC’s and Wildrose and create one new right-wing party instead, is too risky. He says with the next provincial election only two years away, it’s frankly not enough time to start a new party from scratch and be ready for an election. He says his Common Sense Plan preserves two political parties that want to remain. Adding however, that the two parties still need to talk about it, which hasn’t happened yet. As far as vote splitting is concerned, Starke says “There are mechanisms that could be employed to make sure that doesn’t happen”.
Starke goes on to say “It has become apparent that the Progressive Conservative Leadership race is no longer just about selecting the best leader for the Party, but it has changed into who can defeat the NDP in 2019. I believe strongly that Alberta needs to be governed from the centre-right, and that the NDP cannot see another term in office.”
Starke also says “One of the hallmarks of leadership is to listen, and to respond. I have been listening to Albertans who are desperate to see the end of the NDP government. But I have also listened to Progressive Conservative and Wildrose members who do not want to see their parties destroyed. Many have told me they support “unity” because they believe it is the only way to defeat the NDP.”
Starke adds, “I have stated unequivocally throughout the campaign that the 5-point Unity proposal will not work as it depends on the rushed destruction of two existing political parties and other complicated, high risk political maneuvers. It will result in a second NDP term in office. Working together in collaboration rather than competition is the most effective way to defeat the NDP while avoiding the major upheaval of both parties proposed by Jason Kenney.” The two other PC Leadership hopefuls include Byron Nelson and Stephen Khan.
A Leadership Town Hall is taking place in Grande Prairie on Friday, January 27th, with a Leadership Debate in Medicine Hat February 1st. The Leadership Convention and Vote happens in Calgary March 17th, 2017.
CBS will pay Donald Trump more than $30 million to settle a lawsuit over a 2024 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. The deal also includes a new rule requiring unedited transcripts of future candidate interviews.
Key Details:
- Trump will receive $16 million immediately to cover legal costs, with remaining funds earmarked for pro-conservative messaging and future causes, including his presidential library.
- CBS agreed to release full, unedited transcripts of all future presidential candidate interviews—a policy insiders are calling the “Trump Rule.”
- Trump’s lawsuit accused CBS of deceptively editing a 60 Minutes interview with Harris in 2024 to protect her ahead of the election; the FCC later obtained the full transcript after a complaint was filed.
Tonight, on a 60 Minutes election special, Vice President Kamala Harris shares her plan to strengthen the economy by investing in small businesses and the middle class. Bill Whitaker asks how she’ll fund it and get it through Congress. https://t.co/3Kyw3hgBzr pic.twitter.com/HdAmz0Zpxa
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 7, 2024
Diving Deeper:
CBS and Paramount Global have agreed to pay President Donald Trump more than $30 million to settle a lawsuit over a 2024 60 Minutes interview with then–Vice President Kamala Harris, Fox News Digital reported Tuesday. Trump accused the network of election interference, saying CBS selectively edited Harris to shield her from backlash in the final stretch of the campaign.
The settlement includes a $16 million upfront payment to cover legal expenses and other discretionary uses, including funding for Trump’s future presidential library. Additional funds—expected to push the total package well above $30 million—will support conservative-aligned messaging such as advertisements and public service announcements.
As part of the deal, CBS also agreed to a new editorial policy mandating the public release of full, unedited transcripts of any future interviews with presidential candidates. The internal nickname for the new rule is reportedly the “Trump Rule.”
Trump initially sought $20 billion in damages, citing a Face the Nation preview that aired Harris’s rambling response to a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That portion of the interview was widely mocked. A more polished answer was aired separately during a primetime 60 Minutes special, prompting allegations that CBS intentionally split Harris’s answer to minimize political fallout.
The FCC later ordered CBS to release the full transcript and raw footage after a complaint was filed. The materials confirmed that both versions came from the same response—cut in half across different broadcasts.
CBS denied wrongdoing but the fallout rocked the network. 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens resigned in April after losing control over editorial decisions. CBS News President Wendy McMahon also stepped down in May, saying the company’s direction no longer aligned with her own.
Several CBS veterans strongly opposed any settlement. “The unanimous view at 60 Minutes is that there should be no settlement, and no money paid, because the lawsuit is complete bulls***,” one producer told Fox News Digital. Correspondent Scott Pelley had warned that settling would be “very damaging” to the network’s reputation.
The final agreement includes no admission of guilt and no direct personal payment to Trump—but it locks in a substantial cash payout and forces a new standard for transparency in how networks handle presidential interviews.
Daily Caller
Watch As Tucker Carlson And Glenn Greenwald Get A Good Laugh Over CNN Pretending Biden’s Decline Is Breaking News
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Hailey Gomez
During a podcast Friday, Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson and independent journalist Glenn Greenwald couldn’t stop laughing over CNN’s sudden realization of former President Joe Biden’s mental decline.
CNN’s Jake Tapper along with Axios’ Alex Thompson released their book, “Original Sin,” on May 20, which details Biden’s cognitive slide over the last four years — a concern Republicans had raised even before the 2020 election. While appearing on “The Tucker Carlson Show,” Carlson joked that Greenwald had been “scooped” by CNN on Biden’s mental fitness.
“So you are, I think, the dean of alternative media. You’ve been doing this longer than anybody that I know personally. So it must be a little weird to get scooped by CNN on Joe Biden’s dementia, like you had no idea,” Carlson said. “None of us knew.”
“None of us knew,” Greenwald teased. ” There was that debate, and we were all shocked, but we were told he had a cold. So I was like, ‘OK, he’s on some cold medication. Who hasn’t been there before? It makes you a little dragged, a little groggy, a little just like dragged.’ But no, now Jake Tapper has uncovered the truth. It turns out Joe Biden was in cognitive decline.”
Sources told Tapper and Thompson that Biden’s mental fitness had declined rapidly during his time as president, with his mental state becoming so severe at one point that aides discussed putting him in a wheelchair.
WATCH:
Tapper has faced pushback from both Democrats and Republicans over the timing of his book and the revelations it includes. The CNN host has long defended the former president.
Carlson went on to joke with Greenwald about how he believed Tapper gathered the material for the book.
“Just a hardcore shoe leather investigative reporting,” Greenwald joked. “He’s working his sources, calling all the people in Washington, digging up FOIA documents.”
“It’s one of those things where you kind of can’t believe what you’re witnessing because Jake Tapper is pretending to have uncovered a scandal that he himself led the way in the media, or one of the leaders in the media, in covering up,” Greenwald added. “To the point where if somebody would go on his show and say ‘Joe Biden is obviously in cognitive decline.’ He would say ‘How dare you bully kids who stutter?’”
Greenwald went on to reference how Tapper had accused President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, of “mocking” the former president over his stutter during a 2020 interview.
Despite Lara Trump pointing to what she believed were signs of Biden’s problems, Tapper dismissed her remarks at the time, saying she had “no standing to diagnose somebody’s cognitive decline.”
In addition to Lara Trump, Tapper also dismissed former Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips during a 2024 interview after Phillips expressed his “concerns” about Biden running for a second term.
“Obviously, he wanted Biden to win desperately and would not tolerate anyone going on the show and saying that Biden was in cognitive decline,” Greenwald said. “Now he’s making millions of dollars off a book.”
Following the media coverage of Tapper’s and Thompson’s book, Biden appeared to tell reporters on Friday he could “beat the hell out of” the two journalists.
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