WhatFinger


Michael R. Shannon

Michael R. Shannon (The Whole Shebang (mostly)) is a Virginia-based public relations and media consultant with MANDATE: Message, Media & Public Relations who has worked in over 75 elections on three continents and a handful of islands.

Most Recent Articles by Michael R. Shannon:

Congress Says THIS Time We Really Mean It!

Congress Says THIS Time We Really Mean It!   There’s a bill being lovingly preserved by Mitch McConnell, Curator of the Senate, that’s one of those ‘bi–partisan’ efforts the media loves to celebrate. Senators John Cornyn (R–TX) and Chris Murphy (D–CT) have introduced legislation I’m sure they’ll be featuring in future campaign commercials. According to CNN the bill “aims to strengthen how state and federal governments report offenses that could prohibit people from buying a gun.”
- Friday, March 23, 2018

2nd Becomes the ‘It Depends’ Amendment

2nd Becomes the ‘It Depends’ Amendment Dick’s and Dunkleberger’s have decided the 2nd Amendment contains a hitherto unknown age restriction on the sale of rifles. In the future only customers over the age of 21 will be able to buy a scary–looking long gun in those stores.
- Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Parkland School Shooting Is Your Government at Rest

Sheriff Israel just decided public relations and ‘social justice’ was more important than children’s lives During his nationwide ‘Don’t Blame Me’ Tour, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told the Miami Herald he was unable to arrest the Parkland school shooter prior to the attack because “his deputies were legally ‘handcuffed.’” Sheriff Fife should know, since he personally bought the handcuffs.
- Wednesday, March 7, 2018

My Genuine Bipartisan Compromise Offer

My Genuine Bipartisan Compromise Offer   The nation just witnessed what the OpMedia and the Commentariat like to call “bipartisan legislation.” The occasion was the two–year spending–palooza that Curator of the Senate Mitch McConnell and The Boy Ryan passed.
- Thursday, February 22, 2018

More Evangelicals Selling Their Soul to Support a Loser

More Evangelicals Selling Their Soul to Support a Loser It’s sad to say another Christian group has decided to maintain access to DC power rather than tell the truth regarding the shortcomings of a prominent politician. Maybe it’s the ego rush when calls are returned. Or maybe it’s the meetings in off–limits–to–the–public Capitol hideaways that persuades these organizations to publicly support a man who’s repeatedly failed to live up to expectations.
- Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Beware the ‘Conservative’ Who Grows in Office

Virginia politician, Bill Stanley The maddening problem facing conservatives fighting the growth of Big Government is that much of the growth is fertilized by former conservatives who start growing first. The phenomena is most evident in benighted lands that don’t impose term limits and have legislative bodies that meet year around.
- Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Pay As You Go Amnesty

Pay As You Go Amnesty  The current controversy involving granting amnesty to approximately 800,000 Delayed Accountability for Contemptuous Aliens (DACA) is nowhere near the end of demands to appease mass lawbreakers.
- Friday, January 19, 2018





Virginia Election Determined by Angry Swamp Creatures

Virginia Election Determined by Angry Swamp Creatures The Virginia off–year election for governor demonstrates what would have happened last year if the Constitution didn’t require an Electoral College. Crony Conservative Ed Gillespie carried 82 counties compared to Democrat Ralph Northam’s 13. The 69–county advantage didn’t mean squat though. All that counted was Northam’s 230,853 vote margin that put him in the governor’s mansion.
- Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Where is the GOP Refund Window?

Where is the GOP Refund Window? Scott Daugherty of the Virginian–Pilot has discovered a lawsuit that may make a conservative folk hero out of the lawyer/plaintiff. Bob Heghmann, a 70–year–old retired lawyer who lives in Virginia Beach, VA, has filed a lawsuit in federal court charging the national and Virginia Republican parties with more than simple bad faith failure to repeal Obamacare, as Republicans had promised voters for over seven years.
- Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Afghanistan Strategy Is the Only Hope for Education Reform

The federal government is currently enmeshed in two gigantic, expensive reform projects, one domestic and one foreign. Both are failures even though the tactics couldn't be more different. In one — at a cost of $2.5 trillion — Uncle Sam is trying manfully to completely change a political culture.
- Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Millionaires & Billionaires Fighting “Oppression”

Oppression certainly isn’t what it used to be. Instead of vicious police dogs, water cannon, billy clubs and Bull Connor, America is greeted with the sight of millionaires and billionaires kneeling in football stadiums trying to make white America feel guilty without so much as a Chihuahua yapping in the background.
- Saturday, October 14, 2017

Kaepernick: When Taking a Knee Is All About Me

Just think--if Tim Tebow had taken a knee for Antifa instead of God he might still be in the NFL. Or at least he could be a topic of conversation for people wondering why Tebow wasn't playing. I find it ironic a league that is now encouraging "celebrations" after a touchdown, frowned on Tebow offering a quick word of thanks after a score.
- Tuesday, October 10, 2017


Let’s Revive Extreme Vetting for Politicians

It’s amazing the American public can be so right in general and so wrong in particular when it comes to evaluating Congress. The Gallup survey found the approval rating for Congress as a whole is currently a dismal 20 percent. This means our DC swamp denizens are tied with members of the opposition media, lawyers and car salesmen when it comes to the public’s general distaste.
- Thursday, September 14, 2017

Is a Shortage of Brownies Next?

What a man considers a crisis tells us a lot about his character. In the past governors have declared a state of emergency for hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, riots, epidemics, crime waves, Trump rallies and earthquakes. Evidently in Nevada Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval thinks those problems are too 20th Century for him. He’s declared a state of emergency because Nevada is running out of marijuana! Maybe Sandoval had a severe case of the munchies that clouded his thinking or maybe his priorities are just different, but mobilizing the state government because of a “wacky tobaccy” shortage breaks new ground in emphasizing trivialities.
- Monday, September 4, 2017

Collusion Isn’t A Crime Even If You’re Caught

An extensive investigation operating quietly outside the limelight of round–the–clock news coverage on Capitol Hill has conclusively vindicated the Opposition Media. There WAS official government interference in the 2016 presidential contest that elected Donald Trump.
- Wednesday, August 23, 2017

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