Media
July 24, 2021 — Scott Johnson
We may as well try to close the loop on our efforts to understand the issue between Senator Rand Paul and the fallacious Dr. Fauci. Neil Cavuto gave Fauci the opportunity to respond to Josh Rogin’s Washington Post column taking up the issue (I excerpted it here) on his FOX News show yesterday. Cavuto is a friendly interlocutor for Fauci. On Tuesday he judged Fauci “a good man, a good
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July 23, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Felicia Sommez is a reporter for the Washington Post — part of the Post’s stable of lefty journalists. She has contributed to some of the dishonest anti-Trump stories we’ve critiqued on Power Line. See here, for example. Sommez has sued the Post and some of its editors for alleged discrimination and retaliation. Her core complaint is that she has not been assigned to cover stories about alleged sexual assault and
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July 22, 2021 — Scott Johnson
President Biden appeared last night in a half-empty auditorium for a live CNN town hall in Ohio. CNN concealed the empty seats. Steven Nelson includes the photo below via Bloomberg News reporter Jennifer Epstein’s tweet in his New York Post story “Biden speaks to half-empty room at CNN town hall.” What the Biden CNN town hall looks like from the back of the auditorium: pic.twitter.com/juUehd7PDu — Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) July
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July 19, 2021 — Scott Johnson
The Star Tribune published its lead editorial on lessons supposedly learned from the epidemic the weekend before last in its July 11 edition, i.e., the Sunday paper. They saved it for the Sunday paper in order to give it maximum exposure. They thought it was so good it deserved all the readers they could get for it. The lessons supposedly learned came via the execrable Andy Slavitt. I flagged Kevin
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July 15, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Today’s Washington Post features a hit piece on Tucker Carlson. The attack begins on the front page and continues for three additional pages, all three of which are devoted exclusively to the piece. The opening salvo reveals that Carlson did not cry when, in 2003, he visited a dungeon in Ghana where Blacks were held many centuries ago before being shipped to America for enslavement. That Carlson went on this
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July 15, 2021 — Scott Johnson
I am scheduled to join Jon Justice and Drew Lee for the weekly Justice & Drew round table tomorrow morning from 7:00-9:00 a.m. (I am not sure producer Samantha Sansevere will be on hand this time.) The show runs from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. weekdays on Twin Cities News Talk AM 1130. It is available via live stream here and in podcast form here. The show covers local and national
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July 13, 2021 — Scott Johnson
St. Paul police have released the bodycam footage of the July 4 traffic stop of state representative John Thompson. I have embedded it below. The first minute and the last minute capture the interaction. He was driving with a Wisconsin driver’s license at a time when his driving privileges had been revoked as a result of an unmet child support obligation. He was stopped because his car lacked a front
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July 12, 2021 — Scott Johnson
The Star Tribune editorial board seeks to formulate “Early lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.” On its news and opinion pages since March 2020 the paper has served with rare exception as a voice of hysteria concerning the virus and cheerleading for Governor Walz. It might be interesting to have them formulate early lessons of their coverage and punditry. On this occasion the editors use one Andy Slavitt to look back
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July 9, 2021 — Scott Johnson
The New York Post devotes a classic cover to its story on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s speech to the National Governors Association yesterday. The story runs under the headline “After $5.1M book deal, Cuomo calls pandemic ‘tremendous personal benefit'” and opens this way: Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday called it a “tremendous personal benefit” to have led New York state amid the coronavirus crisis — during which he scored $5.1 million
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July 8, 2021 — Steven Hayward
News out just now that Michael Avenatti has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for attempting to extort $20 million from Nike. What’s his problem: doesn’t he understand that that kind of thing is a job for Hunter Biden? Anyway, keep in mind that Avenatti was only famous because the media made him famous—a perfect example of what Daniel Boorstin called a “pseudo-event,” or perhaps the media
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July 8, 2021 — Scott Johnson
My first friend in life lives in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis. It has become a peculiar hellhole in solemn tribute to Winston Boogie Smith, who was killed in a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force operation when officers were executing a warrant for Smith’s arrest. My friend writes to note “more unpublicized action from Uptown last night” and sends along a link to the Uptown Crime Facebook page with the
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July 8, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Tucker Carlson opened his show last night with a monologue commenting on Jonathan Swan’s Axios story on the NSA interception of his email (video below). He didn’t mention Swan by name, but it’s clearly his story he was talking about. I excerpted Swan’s story in “And now, the Putin factor.” Tucker’s monologue confirmed the accuracy of Swan’s account as far as it bears on his side of the story. Late
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July 7, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Axios’s Jonathan Swan reports that Tucker Carlson was talking to U.S.-based Kremlin intermediaries about setting up an interview with Vladimir Putin shortly before Tucker accused the National Security Agency of monitoring his electronic communications for nefarious purposes — according to “sources familiar with the conversations.” Draw your own conclusions from this: The NSA’s public statement didn’t directly deny that any Carlson communications had been swept up by the agency. •
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July 7, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Star Tribune reporter Liz Navratil provides a detailed account of the June 27 interaction between Minneapolis City Council member Andrea Jenkins and “protesters” who held her captive until she signed off on demands they presented to her. Navratil identifies “activist D.J. Hooker” (Donald J. Hooker, Jr.) as the leader of the gang. She linked to the 23-minute video that Hooker posted here on Facebook. The videos below get to the
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July 7, 2021 — Scott Johnson
The case of Nikole Hannah-Jones stands at the crossroads of racial mania, journalistic degradation, historical fabrication, and educational descent. She appears to have walked out of an unwritten essay or novel by the late Tom Wolfe. Would that Wolfe were alive to do justice to her today. Spectator deputy editor Dominic Green puts me in mind of Wolfe in his column “The rights and wrongs of Nikole Hannah-Jones.” Here is
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July 6, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
For as long as it could, major mainstream media organs like the New York Times and the Washington Post ignored the debate over the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) to school children. But now, having correctly determined that the left is taking a big hit as a result of this debate, the Times and the Post have decided to enter the fight on behalf of CRT. The Post’s approach
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July 6, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Fred Fleitz has held national security jobs for 25 years with the CIA, DIA, Department of State, and the House Intelligence Committee staff. He served in 2018 as deputy assistant to the president and chief of staff of the National Security Council. When it comes to intelligence matters, he has the background to comment credibly. He currently serves as president and CEO of the Center for Security Policy. In his
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