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What is Nexstar founder Perry A. Sook’s political affiliations?

While Perry A. Sook’s personal loyalty leans Republican, reflected in substantial donations to GOP figures and support for deregulation benefiting Nexstar under Republican administrations, he has also donated to some Democrats, indicating a pragmatic focus on policies beneficial to his media company rather than strict party loyalty.

He actively supports business-friendly, deregulatory efforts, especially from Republican leadership like Donald Trump, to help Nexstar grow.

Evidence of Republican Leanings & Business

Focus:

Donations: Sook has given significantly more to top-level Republicans than Democrats over the years, notes GoLocalProv.

Trump Administration Support: He expressed hope for a second Trump term to help Nexstar expand and praised initiatives that level the playing field for local broadcasters against big tech, according to Forbes.

Deregulation Priority: Sook views deregulation as a top priority for both Nexstar and the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters).

Cross-Party Support (Pragmatism):
Sook has also donated to Democrats, including Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

In essence, Sook’s political engagement appears driven by a strategic effort to support politicians and policies (especially deregulation) that benefit his media empire, Nexstar Media Group, rather than a deep-seated loyalty to one party.

Other:

Key Facts:

Sook, an alumnus of Ohio University in 1980, founded Nexstar in 1996 after he purchased Scranton, Pennsylvania, broadcaster WYOU, in a deal ranging between $20 million and $28 million.

Nexstar expanded over the next several years, acquiring broadcasters across small- and mid-market stations in the Northeast and Midwest, before the company went public on the Nasdaq in 2003 after acquiring Quorum Broadcasting, which owned about 10 stations in New York, Louisiana and Texas, among other states.

The media firm continued expanding until 2019, when Nexstar acquired Tribune Media in a deal valued at $4.1 billion, increasing its portfolio to more than 200 broadcast stations across 116 markets.

About: (Nexstar.tv)

A recent significant moment in Perry A. Sook’s career is the extension of his contract as CEO through March 2029.

Mr. Sook has over 43 years of professional experience in the television and radio broadcasting industries, covering all facets of the business, including ownership and M&A, management, sales, on-air talent, and news. He founded Nexstar in 1996 with one local television station in Scranton, PA, and began building the foundation of what became one of the world’s leading local marketing and content companies, leveraging localism to bring new services and value to consumers and advertisers across its traditional media, digital and mobile media platforms. Based in Irving, TX, Nexstar trades on NASDAQ under the symbol “NXST”.

Following its $7.1 billion acquisition of Tribune Media in 2019 and the $4.6 billion acquisition of Media General in 2017, Nexstar Media Group, Inc., became the largest local broadcast television operator in the United States, with more than 200 stations reaching 116 markets, reaching more than 220 million people, with annual revenue of nearly $5 billion.

The company owns NewsNation, the fastest-growing national cable news network in prime time, a 75% controlling interest in The CW Network, and 31% of The Food Network. As one of the nation’s leading providers of local news, entertainment, sports, lifestyle, and network programming, Nexstar produces and distributes more than 317,000 hours of original video content each year. The company’s portfolio of digital assets, including its local TV station websites, The Hill and NewsNationNow.com, are collectively a Top 10 U.S. digital news and information property.

Prior to Nexstar, Mr. Sook was one of the principals of Superior Communication Group, Inc., which was sold in 1995 to Sinclair Broadcast Group. Before Superior, Mr. Sook was President/CEO of Seaway Communication, Inc., owner of network affiliated stations in Bangor, ME and Wausau, WI. Before being recruited to run Seaway, he worked in the television industry as a General Sales Manager, acting General Manager and National Sales Manager. Mr. Sook previously spent five years with Cox Broadcasting, first in local sales in Pittsburgh, then at Telerep, Inc., as a National Account Executive. Early in his career, Mr. Sook was involved in local TV sales and radio sales. Mr. Sook also worked briefly as a television news anchor at the CBS affiliate in Clarksburg, WV.

From June 2023 to June 2025, Mr. Sook served as Chairman of the Joint Board of Directors of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). Previously, he was the Television Board chair for the NAB beginning June 2021.

He serves on the Board of Directors of Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), the Board of the Broadcasters Foundation of America. Mr. Sook was previously a member of the Board of Directors of the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB), where he also served as Chairman. He is past Chairman of the CBS Affiliate Board.

Mr. Sook was named the 2009 Broadcaster of the Year by Broadcasting and Cable (B&C) and was among the honorees inducted into the B&C Hall of Fame in 2014. He was inducted to The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation’s 2016 Giants of Broadcasting and Electronic Arts and received The Media Institute’s 2016 American Horizon Award, recognizing his leadership, promoting the vitality and independence of American media.

The recent extraction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife may seem like a bold and unlawful act of aggression by the United States. However, it could be part of a larger strategy designed to enable oil companies to profit through the application of U.S. military power.

“The Miraflores Gambit,” below, is a story that explores the geopolitical theater behind a hypothetical removal of the Venezuelan president. It delves into the idea that a “forced” extraction might actually be a carefully choreographed exit strategy for a leader who needed to maintain his image of defiance while securing a peaceful retirement.

All the while allowing oil companies to move in and resume extraction of oil from the world’s largest reserve.

The following is how it may have happened.

The Miraflores Gambit

The humidity in Caracas was a physical weight, but inside the bunker of the Miraflores Palace, the air was filtered, chilled, and smelled faintly of expensive cigars and ozone. Nicolás sat at the head of a mahogany table that had seen the rise and fall of ideologies, staring at a satellite phone that shouldn’t have existed.

Opposite him sat a man in a tailored charcoal suit—an “attaché” from a neutral embassy whose accent was unmistakably Ivy League.

“The optics are the problem,” Nicolás said, his voice a low rumble. “If I sign the decree allowing Chevron and Exxon to return to the Orinoco belt on your terms, I am a puppet. The colectivos will tear the palace down before the ink is dry. A revolutionary cannot surrender to the Eagle.”

The attaché leaned forward, his hands folded. “We aren’t asking for a surrender, Mr. President. We’re asking for a performance. You’ve reached the ceiling of your utility. The oil needs to flow to stabilize the global north, and your people need bread. But we both know you can’t give us the oil while you’re standing in this room.”

“And if I leave?”

“Then you are a martyr in absentia,” the attaché smiled. “And martyrs don’t have to deal with logistics.”

The plan was dubbed Operation Iron Veil. To the world, it would look like the ultimate violation of sovereignty: a midnight raid by JSOC forces, black helicopters screaming over the Caracas skyline, flashbangs, and the dramatic “extraction” of a dictator.

In reality, the script was tighter than a Hollywood thriller.

Three weeks later, the world woke up to blurry thermal footage of a man being bundled into a Seahawk. The Pentagon issued a terse statement about “restoring democratic order.” The Venezuelan Vice President, briefed only minutes before, went on state television to decry the “vile kidnapping” of their leader by the imperialist monster.

But while the streets of Caracas were filled with the smoke of protest and the confusion of a power vacuum, the transition was seamless. Within forty-eight hours, the “interim council”—vetted months prior in Panama—signed the emergency energy accords. The tankers, already idling in the Caribbean, began to move.

In a villa on the Amalfi Coast, Nicolás watched the news on a massive screen. He saw the “provisional government” welcoming the American engineers. He saw the pundits talking about the “bold US intervention” and the “shameful end of a strongman.”

He took a sip of a vintage Malbec and checked his balance in a Swiss account that didn’t technically belong to him.

“Look at them,” he muttered to his wife, gesturing at the TV. “They think I lost.”

She looked out over the Mediterranean, where the sun was setting in a bruise of purple and gold. “They needed you to be a victim so they could be the heroes. And you needed to be a victim so you wouldn’t have to be a failure.”

Back in Washington, the oil prices dipped. The President’s approval ratings soared. The narrative was perfect: the US had flexed its muscles, and the dictator had been removed by force.

It was the ultimate win-win. The oil flowed, the revolutionary brand remained untarnished by the “weakness” of negotiation, and the only thing lost was the truth—a small price to pay for a well-staged exit.

How would you like to be served up?

Florida (Nov. 27, 2020 8:13 a.m) — It is un-natural, the defensive posturing needed to be deployed against narcissists, known and unknown, who seek to advance their agenda, any agenda, upon their current or future potential targets for exploitation.

They are hustlers, jockeying the moment, all moments of social interaction, evaluating it for potential exploitation.

narcissists Investigate, with surgical predatorial precision, the terrain of one’s life, activities, resources, assets, tangible and intangible.

Analyzing material, you, for established, or if not ready-to-eat, for potential resources for consumption.

If there is a seed, they will nurture it, provide it water, sunlight, nutrients. Of course, this chef will prepare its meal according to their desired taste. Ingredients, seasoning, and the like, surreptitiously contributed along the way until harvesting. That way it (you) will taste so good going down their gullet. Maybe, they will simply lick that ice cream, sip that coffee, to take a shark like bite, depending on what’s on the menu.

So, would you like to be a piece of rare steak? A double latte with cinnamon sprinkles? Or how bout a splendidly blended strawberry smoothy? Don’t worry, the narcissist is not fickle and enjoys a wide pallet to satisfy.

You Just have to decide what page of the menu you’d like to reside on.

You are a piece of produce to pull from the fertile ground they developed. To skin, prepare, and then deliciously consume.

All simultaneously, willingly, copartnered by yours truly. So, with lifelong closet guilt, you are just as responsible for your own fate. Lying there on a white cloth draped feasting table ready for consumption.

Oh, but wait. I see, you think you’ll sour the meal by adding a little lemon? Guess what, you just soured yourself as well, accommodating this altered state as a mechanism of perpetual adaptation.

It’s done. Congratulations. You have just genetically altered yourself to protect yourself from being consumed?

Healthy people are not equipped with the required armament of shields, cleverness, evasive countermeasures, diplomacy, distancing skills, education, maturity, money, yes, financial resources (to move out, get a new phone number, etc,) required to combat the “cold war” climate established by the narcissist.

Engaging in accepted social protocol keeps them within range of there target, you. All the while, instinctively keeping a well trained eye open for kinks in their victim’s armor.

All the while, ready, fully locked and cocked, coiled to strike, seeking to bite two hollow fangs into the fertile ground they cultivated to strike upon.

d.p.

(Read more.)

Avi Schiffmann, a 17-year-old high school junior from Mercer Island Washington, created the nCoV2019.live website back in December when the virus was initially gaining ground.  As of the date of this article Schiffmann’s coronavirus tracking website reports 241,937 total confirmed cases, 9,848 deceased, 7,008 serious and 85,292 recovered of a total of 165 of 195 countries tracked.

Schiffmann, in a recent interview with Democracy Now said he created the website because he wanted a streamlined way to find out information about the spread of the coronavirus without having to jump through many websites or deal with advertisements. Well, that is exactly what he did.

Schiffmann’s site also provides a Map option showing graphical icon’s representing keyed information in color:

Key:

• Black: Cities with 1,000 or more cases
• Purple: Cities with 100 or more cases.
• Red: Cities with 20 or more cases.
• Orange: Less than 20 cases
• Diamond shape: Cities with deaths

The site has been visited by tens of millions and is used by news outlets for reporting current infection data for the virus.

Schiffmann said he has been coding for the last 10 years and taught himself how to create the modules needed for the website using online resources such as YouTube. He added he plans on using the name “GermTracker” in the future to make it easy to remember the website URL.

Schiffmann’s website does include a button where visitors appreciative of his work can buy him a coffee. 

(Mar. 15, 2020 18:15) — During tonight’s Presidential Democratic debate, between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, both candidates vowed to select a woman as their running mates.

No names were mentioned as to who would be those female running mates. However, Sanders qualified his intentions with“In all likelihood, I will,” he said. “To me, it’s not just nominating a woman. It is making sure that we have a progressive woman and there are progressive women out there.”

The conversation about selecting a woman was started by Biden while discussing his administrative staff when president. Each said they would have an administration that reflects the diversity of the American population.

Biden’s mention caught the attention of the moderator who then made it a point to ask Sanders if he would match Biden’s intent to have a female running rate.

Sander said he would with qualifications of “most likely” and the need to be progressive.

Vape influencers say they’re the real victims of vaping illness crisis

By Suzy Weiss, New York Post

(Oct. 15, 2019 19:37 p.m.) — Tobacco companies aren’t the only ones profiting from the dangerous vaping trend.

When vaping illness struck America this summer, it brought e-cigarette culture — once a niche trend among the Instagram generation — into the spotlight. The mysterious sickness, now formally called EVALI (short for e-cigarette or vaping-product use associated lung injury) and suspected to be caused by bad additives in black-market THC vapes, has claimed at least 26 lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 1,299 cases of the disease have been reported in 49 states. In response to the crisis, the FDA announced plans to ban flavored e-cigarettes because of their effect on public health, with local governments already enacting such legislation.

Read more.

(October 15, 2019 12:01 p.m.) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late last week issued a new name for the vaping-related lung illness that has sickened more than 1,000 people and killed at least 26.

Read more.

References:

CDC Vaping Disease

As vaping-related illness cases reach 1,300, health officials still don’t know the cause

(October 11, 2019, 13:01 p.m.) — The outbreak of the mysterious vaping-related illness has reached 1,299 cases and 26 deaths across the country, said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention principal deputy director Anne Schuchat on Friday. That’s an increase of 219 cases from last week — a combination of new patients getting sick and new reporting of previously identified patients.

To date, 26 people have died of vaping-related illness. One was only 17 years old. “We’re not seeing a meaningful drop off in cases,” Schuchat said.

Read more.

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL (August 1, 2019) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a two hour and 41 minute film by Quintin Tarantino, blew a projector bulb in one of the AMC Theaters located at the Altamonte Springs Mall Wednesday.

The audience, numbering roughly fifty, sat quietly as the screen in theater number 13 went black at around 6:15 p.m.

Though the audio of the film continued to play, it soon became apparent that something was wrong.

As the crowd inside the theater became restless, a couple of people left to tell theater management what had happened.

A few minutes later, a theater attendant came into the still dark theater to let them know they were looking into the problem.

At first, the audience was advised the bulb had blown, and they would fix the problem quickly and restart the film where it left off. Around 15 minutes later, however, the attendant said the projector was completely blown and the movie would not be restarted.

AMC offered refunds and passes to the movie goers as they Departed the theater.

It was later speculated the long run time of Tarantino’s film caused the projector to overheat and breakdown.