THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2025 Major journalists start using tough words: In this morning's New York Times, Thomas Friedman uses some rather tough language. For the record, he's writing an opinion column, not a news report. Still, by the norms of high-end mainstream journalism, his lan … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2025 ..."sociopathy adjacent:" Maybe he didn't mean the statement the way it could possibly sound. We refer to Scott Jennings. He's a "Sensible Republican" now "Gone Wild" on the 10 p.m. weeknight program, CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip. Phillip herself is t … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2025 Last night, AOC pushed back: As the stumblebums keep flooding the zone, there's no real way to keep up. That said, we somehow think that we might have seen the original stumblebum statement. Could that possibly mean what it seems to mean? we think we may … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2025 Blue journalists said quite a few others: Tomorrow, we'll be back to full services. For today, here's something we noticed. We'll start with something Pam Bondi said at yesterday's Oval Office event. Presidents Bukele and Trump were there. Asked about the … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2025 ...in describing a problem like this? Every four weeks, on a Tuesday, we lose the bulk of the day to a medical undertaking. Today is that very Tuesday! We'll be elsewhere for the bulk of the day. That said, we'll leave you with this: In yesterday morning's … | Continue reading
MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2025 One journalist uses her words: Broadly speaking, we'll be pondering certain aspects of journalistic language this week. In the simplest part of that undertaking, we think one columnist makes a nice choice of words in this morning's New York Times. That colu … | Continue reading
MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2025 A problem like Elon Musk: "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" The question is asked, in musical form, near the start of the 1965 film, The Sound of Music. According to the leading authority on the film and the original musical, the song is performed by … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 2025 What we were talking about! Yesterday, the report came in on CNN. It's what we ourselves had been talking about only one day before. Jeff Zeleny spoke with Dana Bash. As we join their conversation in progress, this is what was said: BASH (4/11/25): Jeff, … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2025 ...you just have to watch Fox: The anthropology lessons never stop in these latter days. We start with the astounding Pam Bondi, fluffing her treasured Dear Leader. Here's the way the sponge bath began at yesterday's (televised) cabinet meeting: PRESIDENT T … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2025 Who do (or should) you trust? People say (and believe) the darnedest things—and people always have! It's a basic part of our human inheritance. Way back at the dawn of the West, one person tackled this alleged problem: Plato Plato (born c. 428–423 BC) was a … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2025 The several faces of Donald: We seem to recall our sainted mother telling us about the film. She'd gone to see it the night before. We would have been nine years old at the time. We can't recall what she said: The Three Faces of Eve The Three Faces of Eve … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2025 Elon Musk, come on down: With substantial regularity, highly accomplished people say the darnedest things. They may say, and even believe, the darnedest things! Once you step outside their area of achievement, they may even turn out to have a whole bunch … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2025 Human behavior ignored: It's an amazing time for the observation of human behavior. Within the realm of journalism, it's also an amazing time to see human behavior ignored. We start with last night's Gutfeld! program. All in all, the program wasn't as coa … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2025 ...where he had some peculiar ideas: As we noted yesterday, Johnny Carson was one of the first to pose the important question. In fairness, his wording was slightly off: Who Do You Trust? Who Do You Trust? [was] an American television game show. ...[T]he … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 2025 There are no disposable people: This afternoon, during a brief medical sojourn, we had a chance to retreat, once again, inside Francine Prose's book: HarperCollins Publishers Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife By Francine Prose “Prose’s book is a … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 2025 ...right through to the bitter end: A crazily tribal juncture like this may produce a remarkable set of anthropology lessons. Watching The Five, then watching Gutfeld!, is a lesson like few others. So too with what Scott Jennings—to all appearances, a good, … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 2025 ...by billionaire volunteers? Johnny Carson was one of the first to raise one form of the question. He did so at the start of his career: Who Do You Trust? Who Do You Trust? [was] an American television game show. Under the title Do You Trust Your Wife?, th … | Continue reading
MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2025 Where human discourse begins: 60 Minutes has been earning its stripes in recent weeks. Last night, the program started with a deeply informative look at life among the dying and wounded of Gaza. For transcript and video of the segment, you can just click her … | Continue reading
MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2025 But what if the magnates are nuts? We'll start the week with something which may not strike you as crazy. It involves some brand-new claims from one of the persons we've been instructed to trust. Our exploration starts at 7:04 a.m. on Sunday's Fox & Friends … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2025 Last thoughts about two books: In this particular line of endeavor, it's the rare day when you get to consider something uplifting and good. As of this very morning, we've already been dragged back into the part of the world where TV viewers hear someone s … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 2025 According to YouGov survey: For the most part, the survey was conducted before the recent news about the man who got shipped to the gulag through "administrative error." Respondents didn't know about that. This is one of the questions they were asked: Would … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 2025 ...could be seen on a "cable news" program: This very week, the tariffs arrived. So did the cable news ratings. With respect to the cable news ratings, we'll let Deadline deliver the mail. We'll perform a bit of editing: Fox News Tops Q1 And March Ratings As … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2025 ...when the fellow keeps saying this: We've log recommended pity for the person—for the tragic loss of human potential. That said, it's too late to take away his power. Meanwhile, the person in question simply can't seem to stop saying things like this: Pr … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2025 Could it be the ketamine use? People, there he went again! In this morning's New York Times, Linda Qiu fact-checks his latest claim beneath this dual headline: Musk Again Misleads on Social Security Fraud The world’s richest man misstated a statistic from … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2025 ...with respect to that one key word: We thought M. Gessen made a good observation with respect to a small bit of language. The passage comes from a new column in the New York Times. Gessen describes the "arrest" of a student at Tufts. A bit of advice is … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2025 ...few persons seemed to care: It may be time for Chainsaw Charley to stop payment on those checks! We refer, of course, to Elon Musk—to the million-dollar checks he handed out in Wisconsin over the weekend. Along the way, he transitioned from Chainsaw to … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2025 ...Morning Joe turns to sports: It's beginning to seem like Karoline Leavitt's favorite word. That favorite word would be "vicious." In this report for Mediaite, Ahmad Austin transcribes a lengthy exchange involving the person who was shipped to El Salvador … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2025 Also, with this report it starts: With this report from CNN—with this report, it starts: Trump administration concedes Maryland father from El Salvador was mistakenly deported and sent to mega prison The Trump administration conceded in a court filing Monda … | Continue reading
MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2025 Uninquiring minds may not want to know: According to a new report in Mediaite, there she went again. "Shame on you," the youngster said—though we wouldn't say that she "shouted." The report begins in the manner shown, and it provides the videotape: ‘Shame o … | Continue reading
MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2025 These are the persons we've chosen: We'll start with a callback to Hotep Jesus. As we noted on Saturday, he's someone the Fox News Channel pays to people one of its "cable news" programs. To our eye, Hotep Jesus is a smiling, genial presence when he appears … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 2025 We finally decided to check: Last night, it was the same old thing on the primetime "cable news" propaganda show, Gutfeld!. The misogyny was undisguised; liberal women were too fat. As for Governor Walz, he was gay gay gay gay gay gay, as is routinely the … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2025 When Cain met Peter Navarro: We tried, and we failed, in this week's reports, to do real justice to what we saw last Sunday morning on the Fox News Channel. We refer to what we saw on that morning's Fox & Friends Weekend program. We mentioned the instant "T … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2025 Michelle Goldberg's daring advice: Can a nation like ours long endure? In November 1863, Abraham Lincoln asked. Lincoln emerged from a distant locale. The same is true of a teenage girl who lives in Presque Isle, Maine. Presque Isle is way up there. Despite … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2025 A tale of two arrests: On its face, the first arrest—the first arrest of the two arrests—had an ugly, sinister feel. In its news report on that first arrest, the New York Times seemed to downplay that part of the event. You had to read all the way to para … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2025 It's very Fox News, Hegseth said: Way back then, Pete Hegseth was still in place at his previous post. We're inclined to regard Hegseth as someone who lost his way at some place along the road. He tends to be angry and highly adamant. There's never the sl … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2025 A lowlife performance on Fox: Richard Haass used an interesting word on today's Morning Joe. The word he used was "pathology." In essence, he was referring to the pathology of headlong tribal assault. European literature began with a portrait of that sor … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2025 But then, so does everyone else: We start with a report in today's print editions of the New York Times. It isn't on the paper's front page. We offer this question: Why not? In fairness, the report is found on the front page of this morning's Business se … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2025 This is the best we can tell you: Where in the world is Lawrence O'Donnell? Live and direct from Yahoo Entertainment, this is the best we can do. Don't let that headline scare you: Fans Think The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell Is Getting Canceled [...] … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2025 ...Fox News would have to invent her: Those of us in Blue America are facing a serious problem: As a general matter, it's very hard for us to see ourselves as we actually are. We're convinced that we're the very smart people. As a matter of fact, we aren't … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2025 Can some such nation endure? There he stood, furious again, this time on the tarmac. Except for people programmed by the Fox News Channel, no one believes what he said. We refer to the furious Pete Hegseth, who is today this failing nation's Secretary of D … | Continue reading
MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2025 Also, what Charlie Hurt said: All last week, we said this about the "deportation" of the "alleged gang members" to the Contral American gulag: The key word there was "alleged." Were the alleged gang members actual gang members? That seems like an obvious qu … | Continue reading
MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2025 Can we long endure? We'll admit it! Yesterday morning, we were surprised by something we saw. It was 6:49 a.m.—still early on a Sunday morning. We thought we were watching a "cable news" program—but to our surprise, one of the multimillionaire "journalists" … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 2025 But who was he talking about? Were some people shipped off to the gulag last week—some people who weren't "gang members?" In the absence of "due process," were all the people who got frog-marched away "killers, rapists, monsters, foreign terrorists?" As w … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2025 Or maybe it actually is: Last night, the Nancy Pelosi Botox joke arrived at 10:03. Some may think we've been exaggerating when we say he does this every night. Sorry, Charlie! There he went again: GUTFELD (10/20/25): And finally, U.S. Border officials in In … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2025 Running on morally empty: Starting very early on Tuesday morning, we advanced a basic precept: The key word is "alleged." Over the weekend, the Stumblebums had frogmarched hundreds of people off to a Central American gulag. The people in question were "alle … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2025 Adventures in sewage flow: The day's good news seems to run like this: Knock on wood, it looks like the Internat Archive may be up and running again. We refer to the invaluable (but generally unused) service which lets an analyst see videotape of every wo … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2025 But what if they actually aren't? Karoline Leavitt stood at the podium describing the foreign terrorists. Hundreds of people had been frog-marched away to a Central American gulag. Here's what the youngster now said: LEAVITT (3/19/25): A predatory incursi … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2025 Kennedy files save the day: Letting a thousand distractions bloom, did the Maoists engineer this? Did they decide to release "the Kennedy files" to create the latest distraction? In a perfectly sensible news report, the Washington Post starts with this: … | Continue reading