Actually, for several demographics, viewing times and shows, they're doing better than CNN

That may be true, but I would argue that is entirely CNN's fault for making themselves into such a joke of a network the last several years, rather than a success of MSNBC.

It would be a pisser to have come this far only to have the mission fail because the probe can't get enough power to carry on operations.

Who said the mission would be a failure? They've landed on a comet and received lots of data from the lander already. Even if the mission is cut severely short, it sounds like a success to me.

"A car is just a big purse on wheels." -- Johanna Reynolds

Which is much less helpful in this conversation.

Basically the fear is that it becomes a propaganda machine.

Correct. Why change it from the fear machine that it already is?

Everywhere I've ever lived, you pay income tax where you work, then pay more where you live, if tax rates are higher where you live.

No, this is not the case everywhere. For example when I lived in Indiana and worked in Michigan, my state income tax was paid to Indiana. Anecdotes don't work when talking about state taxes because there is too much variance.

Furthermore, since this is obvious from spending only a small amount of time with just about anyone you meet, this observation is common sense to me.

Great point!