SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET: 

VOTERS AGREE – THE PRESS IS LEFTISH – FROM RASMUSSEN:   Voters think the media is trying to help Democrats in the upcoming elections which helps explain why Democratic voters are much bigger fans of election news coverage than others are.  A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 45% of all Likely U.S. Voters think that when most reporters write about a congressional race, they are trying to help the Democratic candidate. Just 11% think they’re trying to help the Republican instead. Only 35% think most reporters are just trying to report the news in an unbiased manner.  The people always figure it out, don't they?  Mainstream journalism is falling apart.

PATHETIC – FROM TOWNHALL:   Florida Democrat Andrew Gillum slammed Republican opponent Ron DeSantis Thursday for repeatedly calling him by his first name during two gubernatorial debates.  “I met him for the first time the other night and then all of a sudden, without invitation, he was calling me only as Andrew,” the Tallahassee mayor told college students at the historically black Florida Memorial University. “Between the two of us, he quit his job in Congress, I’m a sitting mayor, and he had the nerve to address me only as Andrew?” Gillum said. “I wanted to correct him, y’all, but I didn’t want to be petty. So, we just we pushed all the way through.”  The New York Times reported in 2012 how difficult it can be for candidates to decide what to call each other during debates. While most tend to err on the side of formality, referring to one's opponent by their first name is not all that uncommon.  This man is some piece of work.  He wants to be Florida's next governor, and may well be, but he's hobbled by corruption concerns and by an extreme leftist past.  And this is what he's worried about?  In America, we can go up to the president and call him by his first name, and no one will arrest us.  Perhaps Mr. Gillum would prefer Your Majesty. 

THE LATEST FROM TRENDY HBO – YOU CANNOT MAKE THIS UP – FROM HOLLYWOOD REPORTER:  After the second season of The Deuce piloted the practice, HBO decided to staff every one of its television shows and films that have intimate scenes going forward with an intimacy coordinator.  The network announced its decision via its public relations Twitter account on Thursday after Rolling Stone published a story about the cable network's work with Deuce intimacy coordinator Alicia Rodis. "As reported in @RollingStone, all @HBO programs with intimate scenes will be staffed by an intimacy coordinator," HBO PR tweeted.  Since working on The Deuce, a series about the burgeoning porn industry in New York in the 1970s, Rodis has worked on intimate scenes on Crashing, the upcoming Watchmen series and the Deadwood movie, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Rodis is additionally training new intimacy coordinators to be on hand during the production of the upcoming crime drama Jett and Drake executive-produced high school series Euphoria.  Look, I don't want to seem un-hip, but what, precisely, does an intimacy coordinator do?  What does she coordinate?  I can just see a college major in intimacy coordination, with a multicultural faculty to make sure that all cultural traditions are respected.  And I can see an Emmy for best achievement in intimacy coordination.  During the golden age of film we had a production code, and we did just fine. 

October 26, 2018