Today, we begin a new regular feature on “Right by the Bay” called “Winners and Losers.” Every Friday, our regular bloggers will present their choices for the winners and losers of the past week. We hope you’ll check back every week and drop us a line if you agree or disagree with our choices.
Winner of the Week
Tim Anaya – Congresswoman-Elect Young Kim
Earlier this week, I wrote about how Prop. 16 proved decisive in helping elect Asian American Republican candidates in key races in Southern California, no more so than my pick for winner of the week – Young Kim. Pundits gave her virtually no chance in her rematch with Congressman Gil Cisneros for the 39th Congressional District, and national Republicans spent very little on the race. In the end, she proved all the naysayers wrong this past week when the Associated Press projected her the winner of her race and her opponent conceded.
Evan Harris – Bitcoin
The much-lauded traditional cryptocurrency hit $17,492 yesterday, trading at four times it’s March 2020 value of $4,000. Bitcoin previously hit $17,000 in 2017 before dropping in price. Here is a fun stat:
- Price of Bitcoin during 2012 presidential election: $10.57
- 2016 presidential election: $729.27
- 2020 presidential election: $15,500
Kerry Jackson – The Residents Of Texas And Florida
The governors of these two states say there will be no more lockdowns under their watches.
Rowena Itchon – Ron Klain, Joe Biden’s pick for chief of staff.
Given Mr. Biden’s frailties, Klain will likely be the most powerful chief of staff in modern history. Perhaps he deserves an acronym: COTUS.
McKenzie Richards – Bob Spindell, a man who you have likely never heard of.
When the Wisconsin Election Commission (WEC) received $3 million from the Trump campaign to recount the ballots in Milwaukee and Dane County, it called an emergency meeting that same day to change rules of the recount. Many assumed the change would happen. Then, the unassuming Bob Spindell stood his ground. He defended the integrity of the election by acknowledging that thousands of absentee ballots could have been sent without being requested and insisted that plexiglass should be installed for poll-watcher to meet COVID regulations. In the process, he became an overnight internet sensation through the hashtag #RidetheBobsled, gaining over 47,000 new Twitter followers.
Loser of the Week
Tim Anaya – “What We’re Watching”
For the past several months, we’ve presented “What We’re Watching” on Fridays, sharing our favorite videos of the week. When we recently reviewed our analytics for “Right by the Bay,” we saw that What We’re Watching was the lowest read blog post of the week – by far. To be honest, hardly anybody was looking at our videos compared with our other weekly content. So, in a bow to public opinion, my first loser of the week is What We’re Watching, which will no longer appear as a regular feature but may return from time to time.
Evan Harris – Big Tech
The Tuesday, Nov. 17 tech hearings held by the U.S. Senate again show us that bi-partisanship is alive in well in Washington, D.C. when it comes the loathing of big technology companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook. Although senators disagree about what must be done, it’s nice to see they were united in their virtual hours long lashing of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey. You can watch the hearing here.
Kerry Jackson – Florida businesses and wage workers
Florida voters approved a ballot measure to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The harmful effects will land on businesses, which will have to make changes to comply with the law, and wage workers, many of whom will be priced out of jobs.
Rowena Itchon – Gov. Newsom and the “Maui 7”
This group rightly earns jeers for their rogue excursions to fancy restaurants and resorts, while the rest of us are told to stay home and stay away from family.
McKenzie Richards – Cable News and Social Media Alternatives
On Election Day, Fox News won the most primetime viewership with 14.1 million viewers, but CNN averaged 5.9 million viewers with Fox sitting at 5.7 million viewers in the week following the election. CNN hasn’t overtaken Fox in primetime viewership since 2001. Why? Conservative viewers seem to be boycotting Fox News for outlets such as Newsmax and One News Network (OAN). A similar phenomenon is taking hold on social media realm as well, many upset conservatives left Facebook and Twitter after the election for alternatives like Parler and MeWe. As the most downloaded app in the Appstore, Parler even overtook TikTok and Zoom with 580,000 downloads in a week.
