Dairy dies in darkness
The Washington Post finds itself making news more than reporting it of late. Stories swirled this weekend of looming cuts to the sports and foreign desks. The newsroom is on edge. Yet is it possible some “Posties” have been getting too comfortable?
Cockburn hears of an email that went around the Post’s New York bureau last week, mentioning that a staffer had been witnessed drinking the office milk from the communal fridge directly out of the carton and asking that employees refrain from doing so. An internal manhunt is underway to identify the culprit. What an udder embarrassment…
On our radar
DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A HOMAN? Border czar Tom Homan is in Minneapolis to help coordinate with local leaders following Border Patrol’s lethal shooting of an ICU nurse this weekend.
FETTER LATE THAN NEVER Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has joined the clamor for President Trump to fire DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. Noem met with Trump for two hours last night.
SEEING DOUBLE Alexander Vindman, a key figure in the first Trump impeachment over Ukraine, is running for US Senate as a Democrat in Florida. His twin brother Eugene has served as Representative for Virginia’s 7th district since last year.
Smoking trees with MGP
Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, co-chair of the centrist Democratic Blue Dog coalition, called Saturday evening for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to step down because of the situation in Minnesota. “It’s unacceptable to have elected officials, candidates, and administration officials continue to throw gas on this fire, or tacitly encourage assaults on law enforcement and anyone else,” she said.
Cockburn understands the sentiment, though the messenger is somewhat suspect, as Gluesenkamp Perez is one of seven Democrats who voted last week to fund ICE. A somewhat favorable New York Times profile of Gluesenkamp Perez earlier this month said that her two biggest intellectual influences were the Bible and the ruralist Kentucky farmer-author Wendell Berry.
The farm connection makes some sense, as former Intercept journalist Daniel Boguslaw has been on a campaign this week to prove that 37-year-old Gluesenkamp Perez used to sell weed to college students in Portland. “Bought many ounces of stemmy mids from madame Congresswoman,” Boguslaw quoted one anonymous source on Twitter Sunday. “The middest mids. In like a quart sandwich bag. Straight leaves. Nasty stuff.” MGP has yet to comment on the allegations. Cockburn sees that Gluesenkamp Perez is hiring for the position of communications director. Sounds like a nightmare blunt rotation.
Ye’s sackcloth and ashes
Rapper and former presidential candidate Kanye “Ye” West has taken out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal to apologize for past anti-Semitic remarks, which reached their acme last year with his single “HH” (or “Heil Hitler”).
“I am not a Nazi or an anti-Semite,” the letter titled “To Those I’ve Hurt” read. “I love Jewish people.” He ascribed his past behavior to his bipolar disorder, the effects of which made him reach for “the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika.”
This is not the first time Kanye has apologized for these kinds of remarks – he did so in February 2023, yet continued to market swastika T-shirts on his website.
As to what has prompted the letter, it may have been last week’s wince-making spectacle of the influencers Nick Fuentes, Sneako and Clavicular being filmed boisterously singing his notorious single in a Miami nightclub while throwing slightly furtive Roman salutes.
“I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change,” he said. Cockburn wishes him well, yet the quite blithe assumption that being in the Wall Street Journal amounts to a sort of audience with American Jewry suggests that old habits may die a little hard.
With Ye’s Damascene conversion, what does the future hold for the many right-wing influencers who followed him down the path of blaming everything on the Jews? Candace Owens, who stands chief among them, may have a bigger challenge on her hands: her daily battle against the English language. An X account, “Candace Owens Trying to Read,” has exploded in popularity over recent days, as it posts clips of Candace bungling various pronunciations. For “macabre,” she says “mackaburr.” “Architecture” becomes “architexture.” And “Blitzkrieg” comes out as “Blitz-kree-egg.” Cracking stuff.
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