A list of CNN (TV) Headlines, 8/4/16

This is not scientific in any way, shape or form. But it is an attempt to show what On-Air CNN Television personalities talk about.

Are they critical of the President? Or only of Trump? Is it critical of government? Or are the headlines mainly approving of government? Or -- are the headlines deflective of government malfeasance? Does it omit stories critical of those in power? Do the headlines tend to come from a liberal angle, conservative angle, a libertarian angle, a communist angle, or is it balanced? Are they critical of mostly Republicans? Or are they critical of mostly Democrats? Is the channel generally pro-religion or anti-religion? Pro-Christianity or anti-Christianity? Pro-Islam or anti-Islam? Pro-atheist or anti-atheist?

I want to know.

Given that I was creating this list while busy, I couldn't catch every single headline that flashed across the TV screen. However, I do think it is very representative as I probably looked at the television screen every other minute or so from about 12 PM to 4 PM.

What I found is that CNN focused on Trump at least 22 times; President Barack Obama 10 times; House Speaker Paul Ryan 10 times; and Hillary 2 times.

Now, as I said, this wasn't scientific. However, I did look at the screen a lot from that time. I did not keep my eyes glued to the screen....

...but I really don't think I missed Hillary Clinton that many times.

Looking at the headlines we see that....

1. RYAN NOT READY TO PULL TRUMP ENDORSEMENT
2. RUSSIA: WE BELIEVE 270 OF OUR ATHLETES CLEARED TO COMPETE
3. NEW BATTLEGROUND STATE POLLS GIVE CLINTON THE EDGE
4. CNN/ORC POLL SHOWS OBAMA WITH 54% JOB APPROVAL
5. POLL: OBAMA APPROVAL RATING ON THE RISE
6. NEW BATTLEGROUND STATE POLLS GIVE CLINTON THE EDGE
7. NORTH CAROLINA MAN ACCUSED OF SUPPORTING ISIS
8. TRUMP MEETS WITH FAMILIES OF 6 FALLEN SOLDIERS
9. OP-ED: TRUMP SUPPORTING IS "INDEFENSIBLE"
10. CLINT EASTWOOD TALKS RACISM AND TRUMP
11. SOON: OBAMA FACES QUESTIONS ON $400 IRAN PAYMENT
12. WHITE HOUSE: $400M CASH TO IR
13. OBAMA GETS POST-CONVENTION BUMP IN POLLS
14. CAN A RISING OBAMA HELP HILLARY CLINTON?
15. EASTWOOD: 2012 "EMPTY CHAIR" STUNT "WAS SILLY"
16. CLINT EASTWOOD APPLAUDS TRUMP'S RHETORIC
17. PREGNANT WOMEN IN MIAMI RUSH TO GET ZIKA TESTS
18. EXPECTANT MOTHERS IN MIAMI SCRAMBLE TO GET ZIKA TESTS
19. SOON: DONALD TRUMP SPEAKS LIVE AT RALLY SOON (?)
20. CHARLESTON CHURCH SUSPECT ASSAULTED IN JAIL
21. YOUNG GYMNAST RETURNS TO SPORT AFTER LEUKEMIA
22. GYMNAST CONTRACTS LEUKEMIA, FACES COMPLICATIONS
23. ANY MOMENT: TRUMP SPEAKS AFTER RYAN RETURNS FIRE
24. RYAN WON'T RULE OUT YANKING TRUMP ENDORSEMENT
25. PAUL RYAN ON TRUMP: MY "DUTY" TO DEFEND GOP
26. NEW POLL: CLINTON TOPS TRUMP IN 3 KEY STATES
27. SOON: HILLARY CLINTON HOLDS RALLY IN LAS VEGAS ***
28. CLINTON SLAMS TRUMP DURING TOUR IN LAS VEGAS
29. NEW POLL: CLINTON TOPS TRUMP IN 3 KEY STATES
30. RYAN WON'T RULE OUT YANKING TRUMP ENDORSEMENT
31. POLLS: CLINTON TOPS TRUMP IN THREE KEY STATES
32. ANY MOMENT: TRUMP SPEAKS AFTER RYAN RETURNS FIRE
33. RYAN (AGAIN) USES “BEYOND THE PALE” REACTING TO TRUMP
34. OBAMA GETS POST-CONVENTION BUMP IN POLLS
35. SOON: TRUMP, CLINTON HOLD COMPETING EVENTS
36. U.S. OFFICIALS: NO IRAN “ULTIMATUM” TO SEND $400M CASH
37. TRUMP COMMENTS ON U.S. PAYMENT TO IRAN
38. TRUMP AGAIN CLAIMS HE SAW VIDEO OF IRAN PAYMENT
39. TRUMP SPEAKS AFTER RYAN SLAM POST-RNC CAMPAIGN
40. TRUMP: “HOW STUPID ARE WE” TO PAY IRAN
41. BRAZILIAN COUPLES DELAY PREGNANCY DUE TO ZIKA
42. OBAMA: MY DAUGHTERS DESERVE A FEMINIST DAD
43. CLINTON REPEATS FALSE CLAIM FBI DIRECTOR SAID SHE WAS “TRUTHFUL”
44. OBAMA: IRAN NUCLEAR AGREEMENT IS WORKING
45. OBAMA: WE DO NOT PAY RANSOM FOR HOSTAGES
46. OBAMA UPS ATTACK ON TRUMP AS APPROVAL RATING RISES

Where is the focus on the issues? A few comments.

#46 OBAMA UPS ATTACK ON TRUMP AS APPROVAL RATING RISES

First of all. I think this is a made-up connection here. I really don't think Obama is consciously taking advantage of this approval ratings here. But the headline gives the connection that he is.

# 42 OBAMA: MY DAUGHTERS DESERVE A FEMINIST DAD

Why is this national news? This doesn't belong on national television, but on niche sites, cultural sites. 

#14 CAN A RISING OBAMA HELP HILLARY CLINTON?

Can a discussion of the platforms that she and Donald Trump are running on help their campaigns. Can a substantial report on Donald Trump's sane position on Russia hurt Hillary Clinton? Can we discuss their ideas? Can we hold politicians accountable? Can we move away from "He said, She Said" stories? Can we #bringbackjournalism? 

I'm not going to go on. But I am biased towards stories that highlight government corruption, and I really don't like celebrity stories, or stories that advance the "conversation" in a destructive way.

Weekly Health Review, Vol. 14

Editor's Note: The Goins Report did not publish a Weekly Health Review since 8/21/12.

The Senior White House Correspondent for ABC News reports that the U.S. Office of Special Counsel holds that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius violated the Hatch Act, which limits political activity to the President and Vice President.

The IRS Deputy Commissioner says that IRS agents won't be enforcing the 2010 health care law, CNBC news reports.

Democrats are committing a real war on women by forcing contraception coverage at the expense of medical care for older people on Medicare, AAPS columnist Dr. Elizabeth Vliet, MD, writes.

War on Women: 60,000 women died prematurely because of government-endorsed information, Vliet reminds readers.

Tea Party Patriots slammed the must-pass continuing resolution that will go up for vote this Thursday because it funds the 2010 health care law, once derisively called "Obamacare," The Hill reports.


Scientific Breakthrough: Australian scientists working under a government-funded science consortium implanted the "world's first" bionic eye that allows the patient to see images of varying size, Yahoo News reports.

Doesn't that stink? Swallowed batteries account for thousands of children's emergency room visits, Fox News reports.

Health.com outlines 14 types of headaches and how to treat them.

Calm down, everyone! A conservative policy president says Romney's statement that there are parts of the 2010 health care law that he likes is no statement that he'd keep it in place, the National Review Online has the opinion piece.

And she also notes in another piece that what Governor Romney envisioned for Massachusett's was not what was eventually passed into law.

DNC Convention News

Clinton double counts on Medicare, an opinion piece in POLITICO argues.


POLITICO fact-checks Bill Clinton's speech. Does a similar breakdown of Paul Ryan's speech.

Conservatives says that the decrease in health care spending was already in motion before the 2010 health care reform law was passed, yours truly for Politic365 reports.

RNC Convention News

In his RNC acceptance speech, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney vows to repeal and replace the 2010 health care reform law, Kaiser Health News reports (with video).

And while they GOP claims they'll have a mandate to reshape Medicare if they win in November, POLITICO explores the question: A mandate for what?

Liar, Liar?: The Associate Press charged Paul Ryan with taking some factual shortcuts in his RNC VP acceptance speech, The Hill reports.

Weekly Health Review, Vol. 12

Romney's Vice Presidential running mate is far from a fiscal conservative as evidenced by his voting for the biggest Medicare expansion in history, POLITICO reports.

The men of the 2012 Presidential election, Romney, Ryan, and Obama, have all supported near trillion dollar cuts in Medicare, ABC News' Jake Tapper reports.

The key to fixing emergency rooms' overcrowding problem is to put more emphasis on primary care, a doctor wrote for Politic365.com.

Flashback: Mitt Romney invested in a company that disposed aborted fetuses by placing them into an incinerator, Mother Jones reports.

Ron Paul on GOP House Budget Plan: It “doesn’t go far enough”

(GoinsReport.com) – GOP Presidential candidate Ron Paul said Tuesday in response to the release of the House Republican’s budget plan, spearheaded by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), that it doesn’t go far enough to fix America’s fiscal woes.

“Today, the House Republican leadership released a budget meant to be an alternative to President Obama's budget plan, which was filled with more debt, more deficits, and more taxing and spending,” Paul said in a statement Tuesday.

“Unfortunately, the House Republican proposal doesn't go far enough to address the extreme fiscal problems we face as a nation.”

Paul criticized the House GOP plan for not balancing the budget until 2040, adding billions to the U.S. deficit, and he claimed that it does not actually cut spending.

“In fact, this budget doesn't actually 'cut' any spending,” Paul said. “It only reduces assumed increases in spending - essentially playing the same game the Washington establishment has played for years with our hard-earned money.”

Paul contrasted the new Ryan Plan with his own presidential platform that proposes a $1 trillion cut in spending in year one of a Paul presidency and claims to balance the budget by fiscal year 2015.

“This is what a serious budget proposal looks like,” Paul said.

The “Path to Prosperity,” the House GOP budget plan, would cut $5 trillion relative to President Obama’s fiscal 2013 budget, and bring deficits below 3 percent of GDP by 2015.

In contrast to the $1.047 trillion spending cap achieved through the Budget Control Act debt deal last August, the House GOP budget plan proposed $1.028 trillion in discretionary spending.

Building on the progress of the Budget Control Act of 2010, the plan caps spending and scales back funding for certain budget agencies, and proposes to reduce the federal workforce by 10 through attrition and enacts a pay freeze until 2015.

It also repeals the President’s health care law, and among other things, allows consumers to purchase health insurance across state lines, enacts medical liability reform, and expands access to consumer-directed health care options.