TV ads
maybe much belated, 1/20 terrestrial TV vs online video ads<div>
</div><div>=</div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">aha/yikes: the ppl's tools ~ corps hijacked by them; jiu jitsu? asset/buffer flips to liability/vulnerability?</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">note gun to head soda tax, juul fail on local prop b/c of bad PR at inopportune moment? prop 37 beat by last minute TV ads?</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">relentless ads on roku "free" tv: </font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 1020 also lyft and doordash</font></p><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 25px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/expert-uber-funded-ballot-measure-in-california-would-create-permanent-underclass-of-workers/" aria-label="Expert: Uber-funded ballot measure in California would create 'permanent underclass of workers'" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; word-break: break-word; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 25px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Expert: Uber-funded ballot measure in California would create 'permanent underclass of workers'</font></a></h1><div class="social-author clearfix" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="social-authorname" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/nicole-karlis" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Nicole Karlis</font></a></div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2648054594" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 10px; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; margin-bottom: 15px; display: -webkit-box; text-overflow: ellipsis; line-height: 23px; -webkit-line-clamp: 3; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those who took high school civics may recall that our democracies lives on fractions. A majority vote — one-half plus one — is what it takes to pass a bill in most legislative bodies.</font></p></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2648054594" style="font-size: medium; margin-top: 10px; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; margin-bottom: 15px; display: -webkit-box; text-overflow: ellipsis; line-height: 23px; -webkit-line-clamp: 3; overflow: hidden;"><div class="body-description"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.cnet.com/news/uber-lyft-doordash-181-million-campaign-war-chest-goes-heavy-on-ad-blitz/</font></p></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">no lnx pix of ads</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="font-size: small;">ji</font><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">min Song says working for Instacart saved her life. Two years ago, she was trapped in an emotionally abusive relationship that culminated with her partner pulling a gun on her. She needed to get out quick and make some money while taking care of her two kids. So she signed up to be a shopper for the grocery delivery company and still does the work today.</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Song's experience made its way to Instacart's corporate headquarters, and the company asked to feature her in a promotional video on becoming a shopper.</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"They liked my story," Song said in a phone interview. "I think that's why they used me as an example, to show that people are in tough situations and they may need this job."</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Now, Song has become one of the "paid spokespeople" for the Yes on Proposition 22 campaign funded by Uber, Lyft, Doordash, Instacart and Postmates. In one political ad for the California ballot measure, she sits in the driver's seat of her car with a face mask on. In another, she talks about her hectic schedule being the mom of two kids.</b></font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Incorporating workers, like Song, and their stories into ad campaigns is now commonplace in the pitched battle over Proposition 22, which could change the business models of the five gig economy companies in the country's biggest state. At stake is whether gig workers will be reclassified as employees as dictated by California law AB5 or if they'll remain classified as independent contractors. </font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>AB5 requires companies to provide gig workers benefits such as minimum wage, health care and sick leave by making them employees. That could add tens of millions of dollars in costs each year to the gig economy companies' bottom lines, according to analysts.</b></font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Proposition 22 is designed to establish a carve-out for the companies. The proposition suggests creating an alternative to the law that maintains workers as independent contractors but adds benefits such as expense reimbursement and a health care subsidy.</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The proposition is jointly sponsored by Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and Postmates, which have contributed $181 million to the campaign, making it one of the most expensive ballot measure campaigns in US history. The No on Proposition 22 campaign, which is backed by unions and labor groups, has raised $5.6 million.</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">With the Nov. 3 election less than seven weeks away, both sides are focusing on ads. Facebook, Instagram, Google and local TV channels have been blanketed in messages, including those featuring Song for the Yes campaign.</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>"Now, politicians are trying to take away our ability to do independent work," Song says in one ad. "It would force me to choose between my job and my children."</b></font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Yes on Proposition 22 campaign paid Song $1,290 for being involved in at least one of these ads, according to public records from the California secretary of state. It also paid at least two other gig workers, Kiesha Broussard and Isaiah Navajo, $590 each for their involvement in advertisements</span>. (CNET couldn't find contact details for either Broussard or Navajo. The Yes campaign didn't respond to a request for contact details for the two workers.) More ads featuring roughly a dozen other drivers have also popped up, but public records for those expenditures haven't yet been posted by the state.</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"You have to imagine these companies are going to plow a lot of money into this thing."</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Steven Passwaiter, VP of Kantar's Campaign Media Analysis Group]</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>These people are considered "paid spokespeople" because they've received money for being involved in the ads, according to a spokesman for California's Fair Political Practices Commission. However, the campaign isn't required to disclose this in the ads themselves because the payments are less than $5,000.</b></font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Every driver who appears in our ads is a volunteer," a spokesman for the Yes on Proposition 22 campaign said in an email. "The listed expenditures are reimbursements for travel time, expenses and mileage."</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Postmates (which was acquired by Uber in July) didn't respond to requests for comment. Instacart referred CNET to the Yes on Proposition 22 campaign.</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The million-dollar ad machine</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and Postmates hired Chris Mottola Consulting to create some of the ads featuring Song and other gig workers, according to public records. The firm was founded in 1985 by Chris Mottola, a former political consultant for the Republican party.</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Mottola has created ads for political candidates, including the late Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former US President George W. Bush and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. On his LinkedIn profile, Mottola says the author and journalist Carl Hiaasen once described him as the <b>Freddy Krueger of politics.</b></font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Many of Chris Mottola Consulting's ads appear to be aimed at tugging on the heartstrings of viewers. On its website, the firm says the best commercials "tell the story of victims, villains, heroes and actions in an honest and self-effacing way." The consultancy didn't respond to phone or email requests for comment.[pix]</font></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">s of Thursday, the <b>Yes on Proposition 22 campaign had spent more than $1.7 million to feature ads on Facebook</b>, according to Facebook's ad library. It's spent $980,800 to display 183 of its political ads on Google. According to Google's ad analytics, the campaign's spending had remained relatively steady throughout 2020 until it spiked in mid-August, when it rose from an average daily expenditure of about $10,000 to a peak of $162,800 on Aug. 15. The most recent reported daily expenditure, from Sept. 5, was $84,900.</span></font></div><div>
</div><div>"You have to imagine these companies are going to plow a lot of money into this thing," said Steven Passwaiter, vice president and general manager of Kantar's Campaign Media Analysis Group, which is the research company's nonpartisan political advertising intelligence division. "One would expect that it's just going to get bigger and bigger and bigger until we get to Nov. 3."</div><div>
</div><div>It's unclear how much the Yes campaign has spent on TV ads, and the campaign's spokesman declined to answer questions about TV and radio spending. But Passwaiter, who's analyzed Yes on Proposition 22 ad spending for Kantar, said <b>"compared to what they're spending on TV, [digital ad spending is] a small fraction."</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The No on Proposition 22 campaign is also raising its ad profile, but it's spending far less. Google's Transparency Report, which tracks political ad spending on its platform,<b> doesn't show any ads from the No campaign. </b>Starting in June, the campaign began featuring ads on Facebook and has spent about <b>$47,000</b> on the social media site as of Thursday, according to Facebook's ad library. Very few of the No campaign ads feature produced videos but instead have static interfaces that say that "Prop. 22 hurts app-based drivers" and that Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden agrees.<b> (Biden urged Californians to vote against the proposition in a May tweet.)</b></span></div><div>
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</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/trump-faces-backlash-over-super-bowl-ad-on-alice-marie-johnson-that-completely-ignored-the-long-road-ahead-for-criminal-justice-reform/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/trump-faces-backlash-over-super-bowl-ad-on-alice-marie-johnson-that-completely-ignored-the-long-road-ahead-for-criminal-justice-reform/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="mag-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/trump-faces-backlash-over-super-bowl-ad-on-alice-marie-johnson-that-completely-ignored-the-long-road-ahead-for-criminal-justice-reform/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">trump faces backlash over Super Bowl ad on Alice Marie Johnson that completely ignored the long road ahead for criminal justice reform</font></a></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/alex-henderson/" title="Posts by Alex Henderson" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Henderson</font></a></span></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alice Marie Johnson has become a symbol of everything that’s terrible about the War on Drugs and mass incarceration in the United States: before President Donald Trump granted her a…</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump faces backlash over Super Bowl ad on Alice Marie Johnson that completely ignored the long road ahead for criminal justice reform</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">English: A tearful Alice Johnson, who was serving a mandatory life sentence without parole in a nonviolent drug case and was granted clemency by President Donald J. Trump in June of 2018, gestures toward President Trump from the special guests gallery Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2018, during the State of the Union Address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Johnson is accompanied (to her left) by Jared Kushner, advisor to the President, and his wife, Ivanka Trump, the President's eldest daughter. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Alex Henderson February 3, 2020</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alice Marie Johnson has become a symbol of everything that’s terrible about the War on Drugs and mass incarceration in the United States: before President Donald Trump granted her a pardon, she was serving a life sentence in federal prison for a nonviolent drug offense. In a commercial broadcast during the Super Bowl on Sunday, Trump bragged about his role in Johnson’s release. But articles published in Law & Crime and the Daily Beast point out that Trump still has a long way to go when it comes to criminal justice form in the U.S.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump’s ad asserted, “Politicians talk about criminal justice reform; President Trump got it done. Thousands of families are being reunited.”</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Johnson’s case was brought to Trump’s attention by Kim Kardashian, who is married to hip-hop star and outspoken Trump supporter Kanye West. Kardashian lobbied for Johnson’s release, and because she was in the federal prison system rather than a state prison, Trump had the power to grant her a pardon.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I promised to restore hope in America. That includes the least among us. Together, let’s KEEP AMERICA GREAT!</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Text TRUMP to 88022 if you liked our Super Bowl ad!</b> pic.twitter.com/Lgjt53B7QX</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2020</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two Super Bowls ago I was sitting in a prison cell.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Today I am a free woman and my story was featured in a Super Bowl Ad.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I will spend the rest of my life fighting for the wrongly and unjustly convicted!</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">God Bless America! pic.twitter.com/CGSyk54O37</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Alice Marie Johnson (@AliceMarieFree) February 3, 2020</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Legal writer Alberto Luperon, in an article for Law & Crime, notes that in the ad, Trump “brought up a case that had nothing to do with ‘criminal justice form’ in any meaningful sense of the word…. To date, Johnson is one of 24 people to get clemency during the Trump Administration. Was it ‘criminal justice reform?’ No, it was a use of the regular ol’ pardon power. She is out of prison because her sentence was commuted, not as a result of changes to the criminal justice system.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Luperon points out that law professor Joyce White Vance (a former federal prosecutor) has stressed that Johnson’s case is merely the tip of the iceberg. On Sunday, Vance tweeted, “<b>Alice Johnson is one person who won early release because celebrities brought her to Trump’s attention. She deserved it. But there are thousands more like her in prison. We need a real pardon process that works fairly. We need real criminal justice reform. Don’t be fooled.”</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Nonetheless, Luperon does give Trump some credit, asserting that he “absolutely does have a comprehensive institutional victory under his belt when it comes to criminal justice reform.… It’s called the First Step Act. Trump signed it into law in December 2018, months after Johnson’s sentence was commuted. It was a rare bipartisan victory for an administration characterized by controversy. Among other things, the law increased the amount of good time credit for many kinds of federal inmates, prohibited the use of restraints on pregnant women, and eased criminal punishments on certain kinds of drug offenders.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alice Johnson is one person who won early release because celebrities brought her to Trump’s attention. She deserved it. But there are thousands more like her in prison. We need a real pardon process that works fairly. We need real criminal justice reform. Don’t be fooled. https://t.co/rx9TVXRqeI</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) February 3, 2020</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Journalist Emma Tucker, in a Daily Beast article, notes that Trump’s ad has received some negative reactions on Twitter. For example, Rep. Bakari Sellers of South Carolina tweeted, “That ad was offensive AF….. The ‘I freed a Negro’ ad.” And journalist Judd Legum tweeted that pardoning Johnson was only one act — not full-fledged criminal justice reform. Legum posted, “Interesting that this ad makes it seem like Johnson was released because of criminal justice reform but it had nothing to do with that. Trump granted her clemency after being lobbied by Kim Kardashian.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That ad was offensive AF.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) February 3, 2020</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I completely agree with you, but I’m afraid it’s convincing to the uninformed masses out there. Not to people in communities of color, most likely. But to uneducated, undecided whites who are afraid of progressive Dems, this ad could assuage their worry that he’s racist.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Juana B. Real (@juanab) February 3, 2020</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Interesting that this ad makes it seem like Johnson was released because of criminal justice reform but it had nothing to do with that. Trump granted her clemency after being lobbied by Kim Kardashian. https://t.co/KaaBqBoeNl</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) February 3, 2020</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div><p class="StoryBodyparagraph--2-Doz" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; font-family: Atiza, Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.75; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">The biggest recent change</span> is Republicans' increasingly precarious hold on the Senate.</p><ul style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Gordita, Avenir, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li class="StoryBodyitem--1cHYD" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Atiza, Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.75; margin-bottom: 1rem;">National Journal's Josh Kraushaar writes in <a href="https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/682314?unlock=1EAZFXDRKO5HMK81" class="StoryBodylink--10w8x" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: linear-gradient(rgb(0, 141, 200), rgb(0, 141, 200)) 0px 95% / 1px 1px repeat-x; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.15em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.15em 0px;">his "Against the Grain" column</a> that "the pathway for a narrow Democratic takeover of the upper chamber is looking clearer than ever": "If Trump doesn’t win a second term, Democrats only need to net three seats to win back the majority."</li></ul><p class="StoryBodyparagraph--2-Doz" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; font-family: Atiza, Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.75; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-size: 16px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Scott Reed,</span> the U.S. Chamber of Commerce senior political strategist, tells me that third-quarter fundraising reports showing <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-score/2019/10/17/senate-challengers-outraise-incumbents-780743" class="StoryBodylink--10w8x" style="background-image: linear-gradient(rgb(0, 141, 200), rgb(0, 141, 200)); background-position: 0px 95%; background-size: 1px 1px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.15em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.15em 0px;">three Republican senators</a> being out-raised by Democratic challengers (in Arizona, Iowa and Maine) "are a three-alarm fire."</span></p><ul style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Gordita, Avenir, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li class="StoryBodyitem--1cHYD" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Atiza, Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.75; margin-bottom: 1rem;">"The party was shaken by that," Reed said. "We're all worried."</li><li class="StoryBodyitem--1cHYD" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Atiza, Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.75; margin-bottom: 1rem;">The well-funded Chamber started TV ads in Arizona last week, launches an ad today in Maine, and will add a third state next week.</li><li class="StoryBodyitem--1cHYD" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Atiza, Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.75; margin-bottom: 1rem;">That's the earliest the group has ever gone on the air: Ads typically begin after Thanksgiving or New Year's.</li><li class="StoryBodyitem--1cHYD" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Atiza, Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.75; margin-bottom: 1rem;">"We have to spend early because the climate stinks," Reed said. "All these incumbent senators have terrible job approvals and terrible favorables."</li><li class="StoryBody__item--1cHYD" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Atiza, Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.75; margin-bottom: 1rem;">But Reed thinks Trump has a better than 50-50 chance of hanging on: "He's still wildly popular in the middle of the country."...</li></ul></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div>==</div>