Tonight on The Independents: Prohibition-Hating Democrat Beto O'Rourke, Russia Conspiracy Theories, Dumb Laws, Jimmy Carter's Surveillance Naivete, Tax Breaks for Diverse TV Writing Rooms (Like Ours!), and Sexy Aftershow!
Tonight, The Independents is back live on Fox Business Network (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with repeats three hours later) with a show that features liberaltarian jackalope Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-El Paso), that rare Democrat who has used a Tea Party-style primarying strategy to knock off an incumbent over an issue that the party's base has been serially disrespected by the establishment: in this case, marijuana prohibition. (Read Mike Riggs's interview with O'Rourke from January 2013.) O'Rourke will be on talking up a new bipartisan bill he's co-sponsoring to create more oversight and accountability for the Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection, particularly involving use-of-force incidents and invasive drug searches.
The Party Panel tonight consists of Winston Group pollster and Daily Beast contributor Kristin Soltis Anderson, with Washington Free Beacon staff writer Lachlan Markay. They are slated to discuss the latest developments and conspiracy theories about the downed Malaysian passenger jet and Russia's aggressions on its western flank, plus Hawaiian cops and their hooker habit.
Last week the New York Observer had an article about a goofy new proposal in Albany to create a tax credit for TV shows that staff their writing rooms with non-whites and non-males. Over the weekend I called the idea "idiotic," and as a result Lowell Peterson, executive director of the Writers Guild of America, East, has volunteered to set me straight. Speaking of dumb laws, Kennedy's back with her latest segment demonstrating on the mean streets of midtown Manhattan behavior that is illegal in places like Meriden, Connecticut.
The episode will end with a discussion of Jimmy Carter's misguided faith that his snail-mail communications will be any less surveilled than his phone calls and sexts. Then comes the aftershow, which will be live-streamed on the program's website. Please send your tweets out to @IndependentsFBN; some may be used on air.
