David Muir

Friday

Cockburn

Jose Andrés’s mixed emotions

In one of the grubby little hypocrisies that have come to characterize Joe Biden’s single term, the president awarded Jose Andrés the Presidential Medal of Freedom last weekend — at around the same time as signing off on another $8 billion weapons sale to Israel. A previous lot to head off to our top Middle East ally may well have played a part in the air strike that killed seven people working for Andrés’s World Central Kitchen in Gaza. Such complex contradictions may explain Andrés’s muted reaction to receiving the honor: one of Cockburn’s sources saw the chef dining with his family and friends at Nobu after the ceremony. When the spy approached Andrés at the bar the chef was ebullient — yet upon being congratulated he turned solemn.

jose andrés
The Spectator

Trump will not be punished for ‘hush-money’ case

New York justice Juan Merchan sentenced President-elect Donald Trump this morning for his conviction in the so-called “hush-money” case that saw a jury convict him last year of thirty-four felony counts of falsifying business records. As was predicted, Judge Merchan handed down an “unconditional discharge” sentencing, meaning Trump will not go to jail, be forced to pay fines or be punished in any way. Trump will remain, however, a convicted felon.The hush-money case, we’ll recall, centered around allegations porn star Stormy Daniels made that Trump paid her $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair between the pair. Trump’s conviction had him facing up to four years in prison and steep fines.

Monday

Stephen L. Miller

Biden lied right to the media’s face

Shortly after President Donald Trump took office in 2017, there was about a week-long news cycle between the media and White House press secretary Sean Spicer regarding the size of the inaugural crowd. The exchange was first of many pedantic battles between Spicer and the White House press corps that benefited the American public in no way whatsoever. It also launched an entire subgenre of network and publishing media incessantly focused on “fact-checking.”White House reporters such as CNN’s Jim Acosta stood on their soapboxes and declared the White House briefing room to be a sacred space of truth, where no lies or spin would be tolerated by the brave warriors in the media.

Monday

Dave Seminara

It’s not too late for the press to start doing their jobs

One night last week I got a robocall asking me to participate in a candidate town hall. “If you’d like to ask Ed Montanari a question, press star three,” a female voice instructed me as I joined the call to satisfy my curiosity. Though I had previously not given any thought to the Florida District 60 state House race, I spent the next hour listening with interest as Mr. Montanari, a Republican challenger, fielded questions from voters. At one point, I pressed one to ask a question. I told the screener my question was about crime, and fifteen minutes later I was connected to the candidate to ask my question. Isn’t this how democracy is supposed to work?

Wednesday

Roger Kimball

ABC News is the big loser of the Trump-Harris debate

The main takeaway from the ABC News ambus— er, presidential debate last night? That someone should sue the network for creating a hostile workplace environment.  The evening was supposed to offer Kamala Harris and Donald Trump an opportunity expose themselves to the public and explain their positions on various policy matters that are important to the public.   In the event, it was an event in which the immoderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, repeatedly pecked at and corrected, or pretended to correct, one candidate, Donald Trump, while passing over lie after lie after lie emitted by Kamala Harris.  Trump did not say “there were fine people on both sides” at Charlottesville. He did not “incite an insurrection” on January 6.

abc news

Tuesday