PBS Tries To Blame Conservativism For Mass Stabbing

Thursday’s Amanpour and Company demonstrated everything wrong with public broadcasting by using hushed and solemn tones to offer up the most incendiary hot takes. This particular hot take came from feminist, gender, and sexuality studies Prof. Kate Manne and NPR’s Michel Martin as they tried to tie conservatism to the recent mass stabbing in Australia. As Manne acknowledged, the perpetrator was “a diagnosed schizophrenic who had recently, according to his family, discontinued medication, and he was living in a way that was largely itinerant.” However, “But I think we can recognize that when it comes to that question of why he targeted girls and women and why it is invariably a Joel rather than a Jane, a man rather than a woman, who has this kind of horrifically violent eruption after romantic or sexual disappointment, then we can recognize that his father's explanation is, again, helpful that he was motivated by the sense of entitlement to women's labor and to be ministered to and cared for by women.”     Later, Martin started the process of trying to tie this schizophrenic woman-hater to conservatives, “Some people feel like there's kind of a worldwide movement of trying to sort of reclaim male dominance. Like, for example -- like in South Korea, for example, there's like a whole political movement to kind of fight feminism, right? The argument that there are like political parties and political leaders whose main organizing principle is that. And I'm just wondering, do you see something worldwide? And if so, what is it?” Manne, of course, agreed, “Yes, we are absolutely seeing a rise in anti-feminist leaders worldwide who are basically capitalizing on the fact that between men and women, particularly what we see this when it comes to young men versus young women, there is a real disparity in attitudes towards feminism… And we also see that these attitudes are very common -- more common, unsurprisingly, in young Republican men and to some extent, women.” That just means people have different definitions of feminism. Young women associate it with equality and women’s rights while Republicans associate it with abortion and fake news about unequal pay, and young men associate it with the anti-male stereotyping that Manne would soon engage in after Martin asked, “Why do you say unsurprisingly?” Manne replied with all the left-wing buzzwords, “Well, I do think that anti-feminism and conservatism are in lockstep, partly because conservative ideology is often invested in patriarchal roles and expectations being maintained, particularly for people who are also invested in white supremacy and racist ideals and values being promulgated and maintained in society.” Later, Martin asked, “What do you think would make a difference?” Manne responded, in part, by declaring: So, I think we have to go right to the root of it and really start with education. Parents and educators need to be teaching people in general, children in general, but young boys in particular, that they are not entitled to social and sexual services from girls and women… I think we need to address intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and also forms of incel ideology in our education systems. And I think that there is a real call for not just teaching the nuts and bolts of sex, but also what coercive and misogynistic sexual practices look like. One example of this is there has been an alarming rise as a recent New York Times report by Peggy Orenstein showed in the rates of strangulation by men upon women during sexual encounters, and that is not a safe practice from the perspective of brain health. Did Manne actually read Orenstein’s piece? The words “conservatism” and “misogyny” do not appear. Things that do appear include pornography, ShoTime’s Californincation, Fifty Shades of Grey, HBO’s Euphoria and The Idol, and “The chorus of Jack Harlow’s ‘Lovin On Me.’” Here is a transcript for the April 25 show: PBS Amanpour and Company 4/25/2024 MICHEL MARTIN: When the father of the killer expressed these thoughts, he said he wanted a girlfriend and he has no social skills and he was frustrated out of his brain, some people thought that he was blaming the victim -- victims, but I felt that he was just describing what he saw, and I just wonder -- I thought that was helpful information to know that he -- that that was what was in his mind. KATE MANNE: I admit that when I initially saw the remarks taken out of context, I worried that it was an example of what I call himpathy, where sympathy is extended to a male perpetrator of violence and misogyny over his female victims. But when I saw the entire interview of this grieving father, my reaction was very different. I think he was just trying to explain, not excuse or justify his son's actions. I think he was horrified by what his son did. His statement had a recognizably both and form. He said, “I am loving a monster. And to you he's a monster, to me, he's a sick boy. He's a very sick boy. Believe me, he's a sick boy.” And that is not inaccurate. Joel Cauchi was a diagnosed schizophrenic who had recently, according to his family, discontinued medication, and he was living in a way that was largely itinerant. He was on the fringes of society. We don't have to sympathize with him whatsoever to recognize that when it comes to a particular question, why did this man, who was aggrieved and lonely, snap on this day, then we can invoke the fact that he had a particular kind of mental illness that unlike most kinds of mental illness does result in an increased rate of violence. But I think we can recognize that when it comes to that question of why he targeted girls and women and why it is invariably a Joel rather than a Jane, a man rather than a woman, who has this kind of horrifically violent eruption after romantic or sexual disappointment, then we can recognize that his father's explanation is, again, helpful that he was motivated by the sense of entitlement to women's labor and to be ministered to and cared for by women. … MARTIN: Some people feel like there's kind of a worldwide movement of trying to sort of reclaim male dominance. Like, for example -- like in South Korea, for example, there's like a whole political movement to kind of fight feminism, right? The argument that there are like political parties and political leaders whose main organizing principle is that. And I'm just wondering, do you see something worldwide? And if so, what is it? MANNE: Yes, we are absolutely seeing a rise in anti-feminist leaders worldwide who are basically capitalizing on the fact that between men and women, particularly what we see this when it comes to young men versus young women, there is a real disparity in attitudes towards feminism. And we see this in the U.S. context too where almost half of young Democratic men in a recent study by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2022 showed that nearly half of Democratic men believed, when they were young, that feminism was a backward step and that it was a mistake and a negative for society. And that is in marked contrast to women's attitudes where young women, it was less than a quarter who said that. And we also see that these attitudes are very common -- more common, unsurprisingly, in young Republican men and to some extent, women. MARTIN: Why do you say unsurprisingly? MANNE: Well, I do think that anti-feminism and conservatism are in lockstep, partly because conservative ideology is often invested in patriarchal roles and expectations being maintained, particularly for people who are also invested in white supremacy and racist ideals and values being promulgated and maintained in society. We're seeing a lot of feminist social progress. We're seeing women educated in record numbers, and women being able to achieve positions of power and prestige and leadership and having a voice in new ways, we're seeing women tell their stories as in the MeToo movement in ways that are unapologetic and unashamed. But it's not in spite of that, but I think precisely because of that we also simultaneously see anti-feminist backlash where patriarchal forces are trying to re-entrench and re-establish the status quo, and that you often see people who are influenced by those social forces being caught in the grip of misogynist ideologies, and also those misogynistic ideologies being used and exploited to elect certain people who are anti-feminist positions of power worldwide. MARTIN: What do you think would make a difference? MANNE: So, I think we have to go right to the root of it and really start with education. Parents and educators need to be teaching people in general, children in general, but young boys in particular, that they are not entitled to social and sexual services from girls and women, and that they need to be obligated to other people and reciprocating forms of care that we all owe to each other, but not because of our gender, rather, just because we're decent human beings. I think we need to address intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and also forms of incel ideology in our education systems. And I think that there is a real call for not just teaching the nuts and bolts of sex, but also what coercive and misogynistic sexual practices look like. One example of this is there has been an alarming rise as a recent New York Times report by Peggy Orenstein showed in the rates of strangulation by men upon women during sexual encounters, and that is not a safe practice from the perspective of brain health. So, we need to be teaching young people that this is not a sexual practice that is safe. And it is one that is rooted in a form of domination and control that is deeply misogynistic. I think that some of the answers also have to do with having better mental health care available for victims recovering from these kinds of assaults and traumas and even just the everyday weathering that we suffer as the result of street harassment. And also, yes, potential perpetrators also need access to better mental health care in America and Australia alike.

Ex-NBC Disinformation Reporter Is The New CEO Of The Onion

No, that headline is not satire. Ex-NBC disinformation reporter Ben Collins announced on his Twitter account on Thursday that he is the new CEO of The Onion. It’s a fitting end for both parties as they tailspin into the depths of bitter politics. Before he was suspended by NBC for having an unprofessional obsession with Elon Musk, he was on the network’s disinformation and extremism beat, which was exclusively focused on the right side of the political spectrum. Collins’s shtick was to find the most outrageous things coming from the internet and pretend that they represented all conservatives. For example, he declared that Kanye West’s anti-Semitism was within the Republican Party’s Overton Window.   NEWS: My friends and I now own and run The Onion. I’ll be the CEO. We’re keeping the entire staff, bringing back The Onion News Network, and share the wealth with staff. Basically, we’re going to let them do whatever they want. Get excited.https://t.co/CQtWzFHn4A — Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) April 25, 2024   He also claimed ex-Harvard President Claudine Gay’s plagiarism scandal was no big deal because the people most likely to talk about it were conservatives, that the opposition to Critical Race Theory is made up to scare people into voting for Republicans, and falsely blamed Fox News for spreading conspiracy theories about the 2019 fire at the Notre Dame cathedral. Now, he’s going to be the CEO of a dying satirical website. To that end, Collins and his business partners have been tweeting and urging people to donate $1 to help rescue the site.   Pitch in your $1 here:https://t.co/IAHe5uoINv — Jeff Lawson (@jeffiel) April 26, 2024   After 9/11, The Onion made it okay for Americans to laugh again by making fun of the hijackers by reporting that they were surprised to find themselves in hell. Now, The Onion has devolved into essentially terrorist propaganda as it bitterly runs story after story after story after story after story after story after story, with borderline blood libel claims that Israel is some sort of death-loving nation intent on wiping out the Palestinians and Americans simply don’t care. Additionally, The Onion agrees with Collins on Gay and CRT. Collins made his name defending social media censorship as necessary to combat fake news and disinformation. Some of Facebook’s fact-checking partners still do not have satire labels and now Collins is going to the country’s predominant left-wing humor/fake news websites. Behind the joke, there is an argument being made and based on both their histories, The Onion is about to become more insufferable just when nobody thought that was even possible.

Daily Show Tells Netanyahu Campus Encampments Are His Fault

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the anti-Semitism at multiple encampments on college campuses across the United States and that did not sit well with Comedy Central’s temporary co-hosts of The Daily Show, Jordan Klepper and Ronny Chieng on Thursday. Conceding there are “plenty of bad actors,” the duo argued that the encampments are Netanyahu’s fault because of “Israel’s disproportionate use of force.” After playing clips of Speaker Mike Johnson and Sen. Josh Hawley calling for the National Guard to break up the encampments, Klepper teed up a clip of Netanyahu, “Honestly, I can't think of anybody worse to give their opinion on how to protest the war in Gaza. Well, there is one guy.”     In the clip, Netanyahu declared that “what’s happening in America's college campuses is horrific. Anti-Semitic mobs have taken over a leading university. [jump cut] It’s unconscionable. It has to be stopped.” The protests are ostensibly about Netanyahu and his country’s policies. In reality, many of the demonstrators are protesting his country’s existence, but either way, of course, the leader of the Jewish State is going to have thoughts about these people. Nevertheless, Klepper responded, “Oh, thanks for taking the time to give your feedback, Benjamin Netanyahu! Is there nothing else going on with you?” Chieng followed by starting the blame game, “Yeah, I know, this guy is like, ‘The situation in U.S. college campuses is unacceptable, do you see how the buildings are not rubble? I am disgusted!’" Klepper was happy to play along, “Here's the point: there’s a lot of noise and plenty of bad actors, but fundamentally, what's driving these protests is anger over Israel's disproportionate use of force. So before we respond to the protests with disproportionate force, maybe we should listen to what they have to say, and then, if we still don't agree with the students, then we can send in the college improv troupe.” If you are someone who simply has genuinely heartfelt, but nevertheless wrong-headed ideas about how a ceasefire is needed to end suffering and pursue a two-state solution, then why are you at a protest movement led by people who do not support such a policy? The point where the naïve among the protesters should have disassociated themselves from the “plenty of bad actors” has long since passed.  Here is a transcript for the April 25 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 4/25/2024 11:17 PM ET JORDAN KLEPPER: Honestly, I can't think of anybody worse to give their opinion on how to protest the war in Gaza. Well, there is one guy. BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: What’s happening in America's college campuses is horrific. Anti-Semitic mobs have taken over a leading university [jump cut] it’s unconscionable. It has to be stopped. KLEPPER: Oh, thanks for taking the time to give your feedback, Benjamin Netanyahu! Is there nothing else going on with you?  RONNY CHIENG: Yeah, I know, this guy is like "The situation in U.S. college campuses is unacceptable, do you see how the buildings are not rubble? I am disgusted!" KLEPPER: Here's the point: there’s a lot of noise and plenty of bad actors, but fundamentally, what's driving these protests is anger over Israel's disproportionate use of force. So before we respond to the protests with disproportionate force, maybe we should listen to what they have to say, and then, if we still don't agree with the students, then we can send in the college improv troupe.

CNN Wonders Why Johnson Cares About Anti-Semitism at Columbia

When Speaker Mike Johnson traveled to Columbia University on Wednesday to call for President Minouche Shafik's resignation, he was joined by CNN’s Erin Burnett who sat down with Johnson for an interview on OutFront. Burnett would claim that it was a good thing Johnson was booed or the situation might have spun out of control and also asked him why he cares so much about anti-Semitism at Columbia considering it is a private university. Previewing her interview, Burnett recalled, “They were, and I'm going to show you here, this is my cell phone video, chanting ‘Free Palestine,’ heckling, booing when Johnson called for the president of the school to resign. They were not friendly. They couldn't actually hear the Speaker, which I can tell you is a good thing, because much of what he said would have incensed that crowd.     During the recorded interview, Burnett wondered if Johnson was overreacting, “The NYPD, at least as of Monday, said they've not received a single call from Columbia University of reports of any physical harm.” Johnson pushed back: But you have to speak to these Jewish students who are in fear of their lives, who are cowering in their apartments right now, who are not coming to class. In fact, the administration recognized the threat was so great, they canceled classes. Now they've come out with this hybrid idea, ‘Well, if you're Jewish, maybe you do want to stay at home. Maybe you'd be better off for you.’ It is so discriminatory. It's so wrong in every way. The responsibility of a university administrator is to keep peace on campus and ensure the safety of students -- job number one. If they're incapable of doing that, they need different leadership. I think this is time for a really strong hand. Not convinced, Burnett tried again, “I'm trying to understand, though, why as Speaker of the House, this is an issue you would want to get involved with? It's a private university. It's an issue happening here. Why is this something that you are choosing to get involved in calling for the removal of the president of a private university?” Johnson, again, held firm, “Well, they receive federal funding as well. And Congress is looking at all of these aspects to determine how they're using those funds. Is that appropriate? If they can't fulfill their basic obligations, I don't think the American taxpayers want to be funding this kind of thing.” He also noted that it isn’t just students, “We know that professors are engaging in this as well, some of their professors. Some have been supportive of the Jewish your students, but I believe it's a small subset from what I'm told. They've allowed this to go on and it is not okay with the American people. This isn't a partisan issue. This is about right and wrong, and we've got to call it for what it is.” Burnett then asked, “And so, when -- when people talk about genocide and say that Israel is engaging in genocide, do you think that that is a legitimate conversation that they should be allowed to have as part of First Amendment rights here, or no?” Johnson reminded Burnett that he used to be a First Amendment lawyer when he answered, “when you shout down and physically threatened with intimidation and threats of violence the other side, that is not a peaceful expression, as peaceful -- peaceful exchange of ideas. That's something very different and that's what we're saying that they need to get control of.” Elsewhere in the interview, Burnett would ask, “The main thing they were chanting was ‘Free Palestine.’ How is that anti-Semitic?” and “Do you think that protesting the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, protesting the tens of thousands of innocent people who have died there is anti-Semitic in and of itself?” Both times Johnson would throw the blame back where it belongs: Hamas, but it should also be added that by “Free Palestine” many, if not most, of these people do not mean ending Israeli administration of certain parts of the West Bank. Rather, they mean Israel’s destruction and, yes, that is anti-Semitic. Here is a transcript for the April 24 show: CNN Erin Burnett OutFront 4/24/2024 7:57 PM ET ERIN BURNETT: They were, and I'm going to show you here, this is my cell phone video, chanting "free Palestine," heckling, booing when Johnson called for the president of the school to resign. They were not friendly. They couldn't actually hear the Speaker, which I can tell you is a good thing, because much of what he said would have incensed that crowd. … BURNETT: All right. So let me ask you about that because when it comes to that, the NYPD, at least as of Monday, said they've not received a single call from Columbia University of reports of any physical harm. MIKE JOHNSON: Well – BURNETT: No physical harm. JOHNSON: Right. But you have to speak to these Jewish students who are in fear of their lives, who are cowering in their apartments right now, who are not coming to class. In fact, the administration recognized the threat was so great, they canceled classes. Now they've come out with this hybrid idea, “Well, if you're Jewish, maybe you do want to stay at home. Maybe you'd be better off for you.” It is so discriminatory. It's so wrong in every way. The responsibility of a university administrator is to keep peace on campus and ensure the safety of students -- job number one. If they're incapable of doing that, they need different leadership. I think this is time for a really strong hand. BURNETT: I'm trying to understand, though, why as Speaker of the House, this is an issue you would want to get involved with? It's a private university. It's an issue happening here. Why is this something that you are choosing to get involved in calling for the removal of the president of a private university? JOHNSON: Well, they receive federal funding as well. And Congress is looking at all of these aspects to determine how they're using those funds. Is that appropriate? If they can't fulfill their basic obligations, I don't think the American taxpayers want to be funding this kind of thing. We know that professors are engaging in this as well, some of their professors. Some have been supportive of the Jewish your students, but I believe it's a small subset from what I'm told. They've allowed this to go on and it is not okay with the American people. This isn't a partisan issue. This is about right and wrong, and we've got to call it for what it is. BURNETT: And so, when -- when people talk about genocide and say that Israel is engaging in genocide, do you think that that is a legitimate conversation that they should be allowed to have as part of First Amendment rights here, or no? JOHNSON: Of course, look, I was a First Amendment lawyer for 20 years, I went to the courts and defendant the -- our First Amendment freedoms, religious expression, the right of free speech on campus. I litigated those cases. Of course, the university is supposed to be the free marketplace of ideas. But when you shout down and physically threatened with intimidation and threats of violence the other side, that is not a peaceful expression, as peaceful -- peaceful exchange of ideas. That's something very different and that's what we're saying that they need to get control of. When they camp out around the campus and they prevent students from exercising their rights, that's the problem. 

Hayes Dismisses Johnson As 'Angry' For Columbia Press Conference

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes reacted to the latest developments at Columbia University and campuses around the country on Wednesday’s edition of All In by seeking to provide cover to the protestors by claiming they are simply “anti-war” and that all the anti-Semitism is from off-campus “trolls.” As for the GOP response, he dismissed Speaker Mike Johnson as “angry.” Coming out of a commercial, Hayes declared that “Fresh off the passage of those foreign aid bills that President Biden signed today, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson didn't take a victory lap. Instead, the LSU graduate made an angry press appearance on the campus of Columbia University in New York, where he was booed by most of the crowd assembled.”     Was Johnson supposed to be happy? The fact that the crowd booed him says more about the crowd than it does about Johnson, but Hayes continued, “As you probably heard, the school has been the center of the media world for the last week over student protests of Israel's war in Gaza.” He added: Last week, the school's president, after appearing before a House committee, had many of those students arrested by the New York Police Department, thrown out of their university housing amid allegations of harassment against Jewish students on campus, or at least near the campus gates, where non-students and trolls have gathered to spout some truly genuinely vile, threatening stuff in viral scenes.  As Hayes was acknowledging the anti-Semitism present among the demonstrators, MSNBC showed pictures of some of these people. One was a group marching behind a banner that read “From Gaza to Jenin” and “Revolution to Victory” with a map of what they imagine a future Palestinian state should look like. It was a map that included not simply Gaza and the West Bank, but all of what is internationally unquestionably recognized to be Israeli territory. That is something that groups like Students for Justice in Palestine, who are students demonstrating on campus, would agree with, and they are given platforms on MSNBC. Yet, Hayes sought to dismiss concerns about this form of anti-Semitism, instead claiming they are simply anti-war and that the real problem is that Republicans want to put an end to these illegal encampments: Even as the anti-war protests spread to other universities across the country, and conservatives like Johnson blast higher education as a bastion of radicalism, again, Senators Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley have even called for the National Guard to come in. Today, Greg Abbott sent in the Department of Public Safety into the UT Austin campus. None of this new for any of these conservatives. Cotton, you’ll remember, wanted the Army to crush protests against police brutality in 2020. It was more that Cotton wanted to end the rioting and the looting, but why would Hayes let facts get in the way of a good narrative? Additionally, these demonstrators aren’t anti-war, they’re just upset that their side is losing a war that it started. Here is a transcript for the April 24 show: MSNBC All In With Chris Hayes 4/24/2024 8:45 PM ET CHRIS HAYES: Fresh off the passage of those foreign aid bills that President Biden signed today, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson didn't take a victory lap. Instead, the LSU graduate made an angry press appearance on the campus of Columbia University in New York, where he was booed by most of the crowd assembled.  As you probably heard, the school has been the center of the media world for the last week over student protests of Israel's war in Gaza. Last week, the school's president, after appearing before a House committee, had many of those students arrested by the New York Police Department, thrown out of their university housing amid allegations of harassment against Jewish students on campus, or at least near the campus gates, where non-students and trolls have gathered to spout some truly genuinely vile, threatening stuff in viral scenes.  Even as the anti-war protests spread to other universities across the country, and conservatives like Johnson blast higher education as a bastion of radicalism, again, Senators Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley have even called for the National Guard to come in. Today, Greg Abbott sent in the Department of Public Safety into the UT Austin campus. None of this new for any of these conservatives. Cotton, you’ll remember, wanted the Army to crush protests against police brutality in 2020.

Politico Exposes Media's Anti-Trump Legal Echo Chamber's Meetings

Cable news has often been described as an echo chamber, but a Tuesday report from Politico’s Ankush Khardori provided evidence that cable news legal analysts regularly meet up to discuss what talking points they should bring with them when they are on the air. Khardori begins, “As the Jan. 6 committee was working on its bombshell investigation into the Capitol riot and President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the last election, committee staffers took some time out of their seemingly 24-hour jobs one day in 2022 to brief a group of lawyers and legal pundits on a Zoom call.” He further notes, “The group’s gathering was not a one-time event, but in fact an installment in an exclusive weekly digital salon, whose existence has not been previously reported, for prominent legal analysts and progressive and conservative anti-Trump lawyers and pundits. Every Friday, they meet on Zoom to hash out the latest twists and turns in the Trump legal saga — and intellectually stress-test the arguments facing Trump on his journey through the American legal system.” The meetings resemble cable news itself, “Some group members wouldn’t describe themselves with any partisan or ideological lean, but most are united by their dislike of Trump.” Khardori further reports that former Obama official and Trump Impeachment 1.0 lawyer Norman Eisen hosts the group. Other regulars include a who’s who of anti-Trump media figures and famous liberal law professors such as Bill Kristol, Laurence Tribe, John Dean, George Conway, Andrew Weissmann, Jeffrey Toobin, Harry Litman, Barbara McQuade, Joyce White Vance, Jennifer Rubin, Mary McCord, Karen Agnifilo, Elliot Williams, Ryan Goodman, Renato Mariotti, Asha Rangappa, Shan Wu, and Norman Ornstein. Apparently, multiple people thought it was a good idea to welcome Toobin to a Zoom call. Apart from the regulars, “Sometimes there is a special guest,” Khardori adds, “like the Jan. 6 committee staffers (who recalled briefing the group). One Friday last May, after E. Jean Carroll defeated Trump in the first of her two defamation cases to go to trial, her lawyer Roberta Kaplan joined as a guest to talk for roughly half an hour about her strategy for beating Trump in court. Another time, J. Michael Luttig, a conservative legal scholar and former judge who helped lead the public campaign to disqualify Trump under the 14th Amendment, showed up to make his case.” Khardori does note later on that CNN’s Elie Honig once challenged Luttig on his arguments and Khardori himself notes that echo chambers tend to make their members look foolish, “The conversations, though, could also spread dubious analysis, or perhaps lead to wish-casting. The effort to disqualify Trump under the 14th Amendment never really had a chance, but many commentators — including some who participate in the calls — publicly argued otherwise.” Additionally, Khardori recalled, “As I was reporting this story, I learned that some members of the group were understandably anxious about its publication. Trump has claimed that there is a legal conspiracy against him, and there is a risk that news of a group such as this could give Trump and his allies an attractive target.” The people present on these Zoom calls may portray themselves as a bunch of law nerds bouncing ideas off of each other, but the end results look like a group of people who agree with each other about how awesome they are and who then go on air and tell their audiences what they want to hear.

Kimmel Mocks Red States For Book Bans, Cites Books Banned By The Left

Tuesday was World Book Day and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel celebrated by bringing a quintet of librarians together to tell Republicans to “shut the [bleep] up” over their supposed book bans. The only problem was that the books Kimmel and his new friends highlighted, such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill A Mockingbird, are regularly targeted by race-obsessed progressives. Kimmel began by declaring, “It’s also World Book Day today or as the state of Florida calls it, Bonfire Day.” After a digression into the demise of the phone book and the Yellow Pages, Kimmel continued, “All jokes aside, this World Book Day is a weird one. There are at least 100 bills in various red states, three of which have become law already, threatening librarians with prison for the crime of lending books. Books that aren't government-approved. Which to me, not only is this the opposite of what our country's supposed to be about, it's completely nuts. We're going to throw librarians in jail for loaning out Huckleberry Finn. This is not what they signed up for. I think it's disgusting and wrong and anti-American.”     Schools that target Huckleberry Finn generally do so under the guise that the book contains the N-word and therefore removing the book from the curriculum is needed “to protect the dignity of our students.”  Kimmel then played a sketch the show put together of five librarians reacting to Kimmel’s anti-red state diatribe. The librarians informed viewers that they are “not groomers,” “not sex fiends,” “not pornographers,” and “not Satanists.” One lamented, “Some people want to make us criminals,” while another declared, “It's not meth. It's Judy Blume.” They wondered why Republicans want to “make books the enemy” and “make knowledge the enemy.” Three of them responded that conservatives should “shut the [bleep] up.” In a post-credit scene, one added, “You can have To Kill A Mockingbird when you pry it from my cold, dead hands! Or you can check it out.” Like Huckleberry Finn, To Kill A Mockingbird is targeted by blue school districts for its unsettling, but historically accurate language, while also being attacked for the alleged white savior complex of its protagonist. Meanwhile, Kimmel’s monologue and the corresponding skit from the librarians were just another case of Jimmy Kimmel Live! not sufficiently checking their facts. Here is a transcript for the April 23 show: ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live! 4/23/2024 11:46 PM ET JIMMY KIMMEL:  It’s also World Book Day today or as the state of Florida calls it, Bonfire Day. … All jokes aside, this World Book Day is a weird one. There are at least 100 bills in various red states, three of which have become law already, threatening librarians with prison for the crime of lending books. Books that aren't government-approved. Which to me, not only is this the opposite of what our country's supposed to be about, it's completely nuts. We're going to throw librarians in jail for loaning out Huckleberry Finn. This is not what they signed up for. I think it's disgusting and wrong and anti-American. But don't take it from me, take it from these real-life librarians. MALE LIBRARIAN: I'm a librarian. FEMALE LIBRARIAN: I'm a librarian. FEMALE LIBRARIAN 2: I've been a librarian for 26 years. FEMALE LIBRARIAN 3: We're librarians. MALE LIBRARIAN: Masters of the library sciences. FEMALE LIBRARIAN: Not groomers. FEMALE LIBRARIAN 2: Not sex fiends. FEMALE LIBRARIAN 4: Not pornographers. MALE LIBRARIAN: We're the people who hand out library cards. FEMALE LIBRARIAN: We do story times. FEMALE LIBRARIAN 4: We put away the books you guys leave out on the tables instead of putting them on the reshelf cart. FEMALE LIBRARIAN: The clearly labeled reshelf cart. FEMALE LIBRARIAN 2: You can read that, right? MALE LIBRARIAN: We're not the deep state. FEMALE LIBRARIAN: We're not Satanists. FEMALE LIBRARIAN 4: We're librarians. FEMALE LIBRARIAN 3: But some people want to make us criminals. FEMALE LIBRARIAN 2: Put us in jail. MALE LIBRARIAN: I would not do well in jail. FEMALE LIBRARIAN 4: It's not meth. It's Judy Blume. MALE LIBRARIAN: Judy effing Bloom. FEMALE LIBRARIAN: Judy effing Bloom. FEMALE LIBRARIAN 4: Fine us thousands of dollars? FEMALE LIBRARIAN 3: Like we have thousands of dollars. FEMALE LIBRARIAN: Make books the enemy? MALE LIBRARIAN: Make knowledge the enemy? FEMALE LIBRARIAN 4: And you know what we say to this? ALL: Shh! FEMALE LIBRARIAN: Shut the [bleep] up! FEMALE LIBRARIAN 2: Shut the [bleep] up. FEMALE LIBRARIAN 4: Please shut the [bleep] up. MALE LIBRARIAN: What's wrong with you? NARRATOR: Paid for by Americans Against Americans Against Librarians. FEMALE LIBRARIAN 2: You can have To Kill A Mockingbird when you pry it from my cold, dead hands! Or you can check it out.

Stewart Mocks MSNBC, Tapper For Obsessing Over Trump Trial

The media is obsessed with Donald Trump’s Manhattan trial to such a degree that even Jon Stewart can’t help but mock them. On Monday’s edition of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, Stewart ridiculed the media for their priorities, with MSNBC and CNN’s Jake Tapper bearing extra scrutiny. Of course, it is not the first time the media has obsessed over something Trump-related, as Stewart recalled, “This trial will obviously be a test of the fairness of the American legal system. But it's also a test of the media's ability to cover Donald Trump in a responsible way, a task they have acknowledged they have performed poorly in the past.”   Jon Stewart mocked the media's (particularly MSNBC's) obsession with Trump's trial "it's also a test of the media's ability to cover Donald Trump in a responsible way, a task they have acknowledged they have performed poorly in the past." (1/?) pic.twitter.com/u6UESghJpk — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) April 23, 2024   Stewart then played a montage of several MSNBC and CNN personalities lamenting media coverage of Trump. John Heilemann claimed it was “irresponsible” to “give Donald Trump hours and hours of free air time,” while Audie Cornish claimed, “All of us have learned some very valuable lessons from the last couple of years in delineating what's significant, what's important.” After the montage, Stewart returned to introduce another series of clips, “So brave. Well done. And I think for this trial, we will see the seeds of that introspection bear fruit. Or we will learn that learning curves are for pussies.” With the exception of one clip from a local news analyst, it was exclusively MSNBC. It included multiple claims that we are witnessing “the trial of the century” and the return of the classic, “The legal walls, closing in around Donald Trump.” The trial is obviously newsworthy, but Stewart suggested, “Perhaps if we limit the coverage to the issues at hand, and try not to create an all-encompassing spectacle of the most banal of details, perhaps that would help.” That cued yet another montage of Tapper and local news reporters following Trump’s motorcade. The last reporter waxed poetic as she claimed Trump was “arriving at this intersection of American history with defiance.”     An exasperated Stewart wondered, “Seriously, are we going to follow this guy to court every [bleep] day? Are you trying to make this O.J.? It's not even a chase! He's commuting. So, the media's first attempt, the very first attempt on the first day at self-control failed. And I'm sorry to say that it didn't -- I'm sorry, hold on, we're getting breaking news.” In the next clip, Tapper was interrupting his guest, “I'm sorry to interrupt, I've just-- one second. I apologize. We're just showing the first image of Donald Trump from inside the courtroom. It's a still photograph that we're showing there. Just want to make sure our viewers know what they're looking at.” Stewart wasn’t convinced viewers needed this information, “Yes, for our viewers who are just waking up from a 30-year coma, this is what Donald Trump has looked like every day for the past 30 years.” Later, after skewering MSNBC for interviewing a dismissed juror who almost saw Trump, Stewart teed up another clip of Tapper, “Anyway, coming up, more of our three-part interview with a guy who nearly saw Donald Trump in the courtroom. So, we have a photograph—it’s freaking me out, that picture— we have a photograph, we have eyewitness accounts, but do we have anything in a pastel?” Tapper marveled about “A courtroom sketch that we're getting in right now. I'm looking at the courtroom sketch and Mr. Trump looks like he is glowering [jump cut] I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a glower or just a glance [jump cut] I don't know how this -- it's art. It's not necessarily -- it's artistic journalism, but it's not a photograph.”     Stewart then turned to Tapper’s colleague, Erin Burnett, “Why are you showing it to us? It is a sketch… Well, I guess we'll never know. Unless! We could talk to the person who drew the sketch! But do we have the time? Nothing but!” Burnett was shown conversing with sketch artist Christine Cornell, “I want to show one of your sketches today. We're going through some of them, but this one, it appears in this one that his eyes are closed. What was happening here?” Cornell didn’t have the profound answer Burnett was looking for, “My apologies, ma'am. I was sitting 50 feet away. I was having such a struggle to try and get those eyeballs in.” If that's not a metaphor for media coverage of Trump's legal battles, then nothing is. Here is a transcript for the April 22 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 4/22/2024 11:02 PM ET JON STEWART: This trial will obviously be a test of the fairness of the American legal system. But it's also a test of the media's ability to cover Donald Trump in a responsible way, a task they have acknowledged they have performed poorly in the past. NICOLLE WALLACE: I think to the degree that the media had lessons to learn in '16, they seemed to have been learned. JOHN HEILEMANN: It was irresponsible for cable news networks to give Donald Trump hours and hours of free air time. BRIAN STELTER: Way too much speculation and liberal wishful thinking in attempts to connect dots that did not connect. RACHEL MADDOW: It's the media's responsibility to not get distracted. NICHOLAS KRISTOF: I think we were much too busy chasing after shiny objects. AUDIE CORNISH: All of us have learned some very valuable lessons from the last couple of years in delineating what's significant, what's important. STEWART: So brave. Well done. And I think for this trial, we will see the seeds of that introspection bear fruit. Or we will learn that learning curves are for pussies. WALLACE: Here we go. MIKA BRZEZINSKI: It's on, it's happening, history will be made. ALEX WITT: Shaping up to be the trial of the century. FEMALE LOCAL NEWS ANALYST: Maybe the trial of the century. CHRIS HAYES: The trial of the century. WALLACE: What just might be the trial of the century. KATIE PHANG: The taxman is here, Donald Trump. AYMAN MOHYELDIN: He will finally be forced to face the music. CHRIS JANSING: The legal walls, closing in around Donald Trump. ANTHONY COLEY: The legal walls are starting to close in on Donald Trump. STEWART: Yes, this time, Mr. Bond, it truly is your doom! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to leave this room. Obviously, when I leave, I'm not going to press the button that opens all the doors and dismantles the killing machine I've established. Don't follow me, Mr. Bond. Perhaps if we limit the coverage to the issues at hand, and try not to create an all-encompassing spectacle of the most banal of details, perhaps that would help. JAKE TAPPER: You're looking at live pictures in New York City of Donald Trump's motorcade. MALE LOCAL NEWS REPORTER: It's about a 20-minute drive between Trump Tower and the court building. FEMALE LOCAL NEWS REPORTER: Trump leaving Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. MALE LOCAL NEWS REPORTER 2: They're now making their way across town along 57th Street. [jump cut] They just crossed Park Avenue making their way up towards Lexington Avenue. BRETT TOLMAN: He's heading down the FDR. RANJI SINHA: To the Manhattan courthouse on Chambers Street. FEMALE LOCAL NEWS REPORTER 3: Arriving at this intersection of American history with defiance. STEWART: Arriving at the intersection of American history with defiance. The brilliant juxtaposing of the gravitas of the moment with simple traffic terms was... [Chef's kiss] "He arrived at the intersection of American history, where he put a quarter in the parking meter of destiny. Leaving the car, looking to avoid stepping in the urine puddle of jurisprudence."  Seriously, are we going to follow this guy to court every [bleep] day? Are you trying to make this O.J.? It's not even a chase! He's commuting. So, the media's first attempt, the very first attempt on the first day at self-control failed. And I'm sorry to say that it didn't -- I'm sorry, hold on, we're getting breaking news. WILLIAM BRENNAN: You know, he wanted to get a jury seated. So we had a lady – JAKE TAPPER: Will, I'm sorry to interrupt, I've just-- one second. I apologize. We're just showing the first image of Donald Trump from inside the courtroom. BRENNAN: Okay. TAPPER: It's a still photograph that we're showing there. Just want to make sure our viewers know what they're looking at. STEWART: Yes, for our viewers who are just waking up from a 30-year coma, this is what Donald Trump has looked like every day for the past 30 years. … STEWART: Anyway, coming up, more of our three-part interview with a guy who nearly saw Donald Trump in the courtroom. So, we have a photograph—it’s freaking me out, that picture— we have a photograph, we have eyewitness accounts, but do we have anything in a pastel? TAPPER: A courtroom sketch that we're getting in right now. I'm looking at the courtroom sketch and Mr. Trump looks like he is glowering [jump cut] I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a glower or just a glance [jump cut] I don't know how this -- it's art. It's not necessarily -- it's artistic journalism, but it's not a photograph. STEWART: Why are you showing it to us? It is a sketch. Why would anyone analyze a sketch like it was—it’d be like looking at The Last Supper and going, "Would you say Jesus looks sad here? What do you think? It's because of Judas? What if we interview one of the waiters at one of the tables from, like, a different section of the restaurant who maybe actually didn't see him? But you know, we got time to kill."  Well, I guess we'll never know. Unless! We could talk to the person who drew the sketch! But do we have the time? Nothing but! ERIN BURNETT: Christine Cornell was in the courtroom today, the official sketch artist [jump cut] I want to show one of your sketches today. We're going through some of them, but this one, it appears in this one that his eyes are closed. What was happening here? CHRISTINE CORNELL: My apologies, ma'am. I was sitting 50 feet away. I was having such a struggle to try and get those eyeballs in. STEWART: Damn it, woman! Does Donald Trump have eyeballs or no, ma'am? Does he or no? You were in the room! Tell me! Or I will not come to your trinket shop in Newport!

Reid Claims Columbia Hamas Protests Are 'Singing About Peace'

MSNBC’s Joy Reid pulled out the head in the sand strategy for Monday’s edition of The ReidOut when discussing anti-Semitism being prevalent at Columbia University. During an interview with Rev. Mark Thompson and Maryam Alwan of Columbia’s chapter of Students for Justine in Palestine, Reid claimed she simply “didn’t hear it.” Addressing Thompson, Reid claimed that things at Columbia are fine, “I saw, Mark, these students singing and singing about peace and singing salaam, singing words of peace. So, it just didn't square with what I was even hearing on television and television commentators saying was shrieking anti-Semitism, I didn't hear it.”     Perhaps Reid wasn’t looking because a rabbi has advised Jewish students to avoid campus and return home. As for Thompson, whose MSNBC chyron labels him as a “social justice activist,” he also wanted to act as if the majority of demonstrators are simply peace activists, “No, I was there yesterday, and it was very peaceful and very moving. The-- one of the institutions affiliated with Columbia, of course, is Union Theological Seminary and the Union students held a Sunday worship service and served communion there on campus, even to those beyond the gates who couldn't get in. So, this betrays the imagery of there being violent rhetoric spewed.” Thompson conceded that “I do have a colleague whose daughter is a freshman at Barnard and she has faced some harassment, but as Maryam said, these are outliers and in the movement, we’ve always had –” Reid interrupted to add, “It happened at Black Lives Matter rallies,” as Thompson continued, “So, that’s—but, in general, it’s not a good idea to generalize what is going on. These are peaceful and non-violent demonstrations.” Meanwhile, Reid generalizes about people all the time. Almost every show is the same: conservatives are racists, sexists, religious weirdos, and Trump cultists. She does not get to claim that those who want Hamas to survive to possibly commit another October 7 get to disassociate themselves with Hamas supporters who hold signs reading “Al-Qasam's Next Targets” while pointing to Jewish counter-protestors or over 100 professors who want to “recontextualize” October 7 and frame it as a “military response.” Turning her attention to Alwan, Reid wondered, “What do you make of leaders of your school seeming, I guess, to appease maybe members of Congress that have been all over your president and want her to resign, calling the NYPD on you all?” Naturally, Alwan decided to portray herself as the victim, “It feels like it's been a McCarthyite campaign to try to equate our peaceful protest, calling them to divest from violence, and they are calling us violent instead. It was horrifying to be carried out in zip ties when we were just, you know, peacefully calling for an end to the violence.” Reid, claimed she didn’t see any anti-Semitism at Columbia, yet by referencing BDS, Alwan proved it was right there at her desk. Here is a transcript for the April 22 show: MSNBC The ReidOut 4/22/2024 7:50 PM ET JOY REID: I saw, Mark, these students singing and singing about peace and singing salaam, singing words of peace. So, it just didn't square with what I was even hearing on television and television commentators saying was shrieking anti-Semitism, I didn't hear it. MARK THOMPSON: No, I was there yesterday, and it was very peaceful and very moving. The-- one of the institutions affiliated with Columbia, of course, is Union Theological Seminary and the Union students held a Sunday worship service and served communion there on campus, even to those beyond the gates who couldn't get in. So, this betrays the imagery of there being violent rhetoric spewed. I will say this, I do have a colleague whose daughter is a freshman at Barnard and she has faced some harassment, but as Maryam said, these are outliers and in the movement, we’ve always had – REID: It happened at Black Lives Matter rallies. THOMPSON: You’ve got provocateurs.  REID: Yeah. THOMPSON: So, that’s—but, in general, it’s not a good idea to generalize what is going on. These are peaceful and non-violent demonstrations. REID: Let me, what do you make of leaders of your school seeming, I guess, to appease maybe members of Congress that have been all over your president and want her to resign, calling the NYPD on you all? MARYAM ALWAN: It feels like it's been a McCarthyite campaign to try to equate our peaceful protest, calling them to divest from violence, and they are calling us violent instead. It was horrifying to be carried out in zip ties when we were just, you know, peacefully calling for an end to the violence.

CBS Travels To Britain To Attack Trump As 'Misogynistic, Racist'

As the presidential election kicks into high gear, CBS Saturday Morning hit the road to seek the opinions of a group of people who will have zero impact on the results: the British, and more specifically, Brits who think Donald Trump is a racist and a misogynist. Michelle Miller kicked off the segment by reporting that “as Donald Trump has emerged as the likely Republican presidential nominee, Europe is increasingly watching with trepidation. The head of NATO says Trump is weakening the alliance, as president, Trump bristled at NATO allies, and now as a candidate has said he'd encourage Russia to do what it wants to a NATO country that isn't meeting its defense spending benchmarks. Holly Williams looks at how Europe and the U.K. are preparing for the possibility of a second Trump presidency.”     Miller was probably referring to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s February remarks where he warned that not explicitly promising to come to a NATO member’s aid weakens the alliance, but Miller was also cherry-picking. Stoltenberg has also repeatedly praised Trump’s ability to get the Europeans to increase their defense budgets while rebutting the hysterical claims from Trump’s critics that his election would be catastrophic for NATO. As for Williams’s pre-recorded man on the street segment, it began with a woman claiming that “he needs to be civilized. You know, you don’t, mob rule shouldn't be allowed to do things like that.” In a voiceover, Williams claimed that “in Europe, a second Trump presidency is viewed by many with fear and loathing.” A second woman claimed of a second Trump term, “I think it will be absolutely horrendous. I think it will be dreadful,” while a third asked, “Why would anybody else vote for him again?” Meanwhile, a man asserted, “He just seems to be relatively misogynistic, racist, and anti-immigration on the whole, which isn't great.” Williams replied, “So, not a fan?” and the man affirmed that he was “not a fan.” Williams also recalled that “according to a recent poll, over 70 percent of people in the U.K. have an unfavorable view of Donald Trump.” If viewers were hoping for a similar segment full of Israeli men and women on the street discussing their U.S. presidential preferences, CBS was not going to give it to them. Here is a transcript for the April 20 show: CBS Saturday Morning 4/20/2024 8:17 AM ET MICHELLE MILLER: As Donald Trump has emerged as the likely Republican presidential nominee, Europe is increasingly watching with trepidation. The head of NATO says Trump is weakening the alliance, as president, Trump bristled at NATO allies, and now as a candidate has said he'd encourage Russia to do what it wants to a NATO country that isn't meeting its defense spending benchmarks. Holly Williams looks at how Europe and the U.K. are preparing for the possibility of a second Trump presidency. WOMAN: He needs to be civilized. You know, you don’t, mob rule shouldn't be allowed to do things like that. HOLLY WILLIAMS: In Europe a second Trump presidency is viewed by many with fear and loathing. WOMAN 2: I think it will be absolutely horrendous. I think it will be dreadful. WOMAN 3: With money, [unintelligible], everything, just, why would anybody else vote for him again? MAN: He just seems to be relatively misogynistic, racist, and anti-immigration on the whole, which isn't great. WILLIAMS: So, not a fan? MAN: Not a fan. WILLIAMS: According to a recent poll, over 70 percent of people in the U.K. have an unfavorable view of Donald Trump.

Meacham Declares It 'A Patriotic Duty' To Vote For Biden

Presidential historian and frequent MSNBC talking head Jon Meacham traveled to HBO and Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday to wax poetic about “there is a patriotic duty” to vote for Joe Biden and that any Republican who votes for Donald Trump needs to stop and heed the words of George Washington. Maher began by reporting, “Bill Barr says he's voting for Trump. He said, ‘I think it's my duty to pick the person that I would think would do the least harm to the country. The real danger to democracy is the progressive agenda. Trump may be playing Russian roulette, but a continuation of Biden is national suicide.’ I think this is sincere. I don't think he's posturing. I think this is what a good part of this country believes. Discuss.”   “There’s a patriotic duty to support President Biden against Donald Trump, for this reason: Patriotism is allegiance to an idea. It’s not just an allegiance to your own kind. That’s nationalism. Trump is a nationalist. Present Biden is a patriot” – Jon Meacham on #RealTime pic.twitter.com/TSj3BmLNh6 — Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) April 20, 2024   Meacham’s schtick is to wrap himself in the Constitution, which he immediately did, “It is what part of the country believes. It’s also-- a good part of the country is wrong about that, as a rational matter. Now, politics and rationality are not complete bedfellows, which is part of the reason for the Constitution, is that we’re going to give reason a chance to stand against passion.” He further argued that “I believe, and I say it with care, that's become evident -- to me anyway -- that there is a patriotic duty to support President Biden against Donald Trump, for this reason: patriotism is allegiance to an idea. It's not just an allegiance to your own kind. That's nationalism. Trump is a nationalist. President Biden is a patriot, and I'm lucky, in that I don't have particular policy passions, particular issues. I want the constitutional order to continue to unfold and President Biden is devoted to that constitutional order.” Meacham’s claims to not have “policy passions” says more about him than it does the people he’s criticizing. For them, policy questions can be moral ones, but Meacham put himself atop the moral pedestal, “Donald Trump is self-evidently not and I would say to my Republican friends -- and I live in Tennessee, so that's redundant -- that it is in fact a moral question and I was disappointed by what Barr said, you know, he was-- he got religion for a little while.”     Later, Meacham addressed those conservatives who may not like Trump, but who are also repulsed by Biden and told them to get over it because George Washington would demand it, “Well, what if—you know, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas as we used to say. You know, but this is what we have, and to me, the interesting thing about the Republican Party is, if you are, in fact, going to put partisanship, as your central organizing principle, if reflexive partisanship is the most important thing -- I would argue that you need to read George Washington's farewell address, you need to read the Founders that otherwise, you know, they love.” It’s not officially a Jon Meacham segment until he invokes Abraham Lincoln and this time Meacham used him to shame Barr: The idea that President Biden is leading us to national suicide. I'm not sure what he's talking about, but Lincoln used that image in his first major speech in the 1830s. He said if we have a fall, it's not going to be from a foreign foe: It's going to be from someone internally rising up and mastering those passions and those passions about partisanship, that's what is ruining us. The guy who admits to not having strong policy preferences should refrain from judging other people’s beliefs because at least they have beliefs. Here is a transcript of the April 19 show: HBO Real Time with Bill Maher 4/19/2024 10:23 PM ET BILL MAHER: However, now Bill Barr says he's voting for Trump. He said, "I think it's my duty to pick the person that I would think would do the least harm to the country. The real danger to democracy is the progressive agenda. Trump may be playing Russian Roulette, but a continuation of Biden is national suicide." I think this is sincere. I don't think he's posturing. I think this is what a good part of this country believes. Discuss.  JON MEACHAM: It is what part of the country believes. It’s also-- a good part of the country is wrong about that, as a rational matter. Now, politics and rationality are not complete bedfellows, which is part of the reason for the Constitution, is that we’re going to give reason a chance to stand against passion. What Barr is doing, and what so many—I sometimes think of them as the Peter Millar Republicans, right, these are Republicans who are not full MAGA people, they’re [unintelligible] types who don't want Democrats picking judges or setting tax rates.  They talked themselves into this twice. In '16 and in '20 and then came the December and January of 2020 and 2021 and that point, I believe, and I say it with care, that's become evident -- to me anyway -- that there is a patriotic duty to support President Biden against Donald Trump, for this reason. Patriotism is allegiance to an idea. It's not just an allegiance to your own kind. That's nationalism. Trump is a nationalist. President Biden is a patriot and I'm lucky, in that I don't have particular policy passions, particular issues. I want the constitutional order to continue to unfold and President Biden is devoted to that constitutional order. Donald Trump is self-evidently not and I would say to my Republican friends -- and I live in Tennessee, so that's redundant -- that it is in fact a moral question and I was disappointed by what Barr said, you know, he was-- he got religion for a little while. There is a line in Tom Sawyer where Twain says that an evangelist comes through town who was so good that even Huck Finn was saved until Tuesday. You know, Bill Barr was saved until Tuesday. JANE FURGUSON: I wonder, I mean, I do wonder, again, we’re talking as though this were an inevitability that it would be these two. I mean, more moderate conservatives who perhaps feel a little bit more homeless in the Republican Party might have been tempted to cross over in the voter base and they have now been presented with this choice, where it, you know, was never an inevitability that it would be these men and what if there’d been a different option within the Democratic Party? MEACHAM: Well, what if—you know, if ifs ands or buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas as we used to say. You know, but this is what we have and to me, the interesting thing about the Republican Party is, if you are, in fact, going to put partisanship, as your central organizing principle, if reflexive partisanship is the most important thing -- I would argue that you need to read George Washington's farewell address, you need to read the Founders that otherwise, you know, they love. You know, they love the Founders when they can move it around to agree with them. It's very clear that if party spirit became the organizing principle, that, that was going to be fatal to the Constitution, and it's very interesting when Barr said it's “suicide.” The idea that President Biden is leading us to national suicide. I'm not sure what he's talking about, but Lincoln used that image in his first major speech in the 1830s. He said if we have a fall, it's not going to be from a foreign foe: It's going to be from someone internally rising up and mastering those passions and those passions about partisanship, that's what is ruining us.

PBS Mourns 'Far-Right' Influence on GOP While Encouraging Far-Left

It was a foreign policy-heavy edition of PBS NewsHour’s weekly Friday news recap segment with New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart. Together with host William Brangham, the duo would claim that the “far-right” threatens to throw the GOP into chaos for its opposition to Ukraine aid, but not only did the far-left not receive any labeling for opposing Israel aid, but it also received encouragement to keep up the protesting. Republicans and Ukraine were first up on the agenda and Brangham began by declaring, “Democrats helped Speaker [Mike] Johnson get a foreign aid package over a key hurdle, but he still faces backlash from far-right members in his own conference.”     Later, he asked Brooks if Democrats would save Johnson from a motion to vacate, “I mean, Lisa [Desjardins] was just reporting that she's got some off-the-record scuttlebutt that Johnson was offered some — if you bring these, we will protect you if it comes to that. Do you think that will actually materialize? Brooks replied that he hoped they would, “It absolutely should, because when Johnson got the speakership, he had to make concessions to the further right. He had to put some of those people on the Rules Committee, which determines what comes up to a vote.” He further added “And so I think it's very much in the Democrats interest to say, Johnson's our best shot right now at having a reasonable Congress for the rest of— the rest of this year. I'm looking at Chip Roy, who's on the Rules Committee, who voted against the Ukraine aid and who's one of the — I would say, one of the smartest people in House, and — but certainly on that far-right faction, one of the smartest people, I'm looking to see which way he goes.” Brooks concluded by arguing that Democrats cannot claim that Ukraine aid is of vital importance and then put their political interests first, “Because I think he would carry a lot of votes, and that could threaten him. But if the Democrats don't hold up Johnson, I think they would be betraying the House, betraying the kind of thing that was accomplished today. And I think it would just be a gross mistake. While some Republicans voted no on the rule because of Ukraine, some Democrats voted no because of Israel, but PBS doesn’t bring out terms such as “far-left” for them. Instead, Capehart offered up some words of encouragement, “But I would say to the people who are protesting and the young people who are upset, and all of the folks who are upset at the president and the administration for what they're doing, I keep thinking about the thing that President Obama used to say to criminal justice activists and others who were put — who were really upset with him for not doing lots — more things on criminal justice or racial issues.” Capehart also claimed that Democrats can work with their extremists, “And he would say to them, ‘I need you to keep protesting on the outside, because that puts pressure on me on the inside to get something done' and I think that is what's happening.’” Brangham agreed, “Which is famously what LBJ was being told by MLK, which is that he told him, keep the fire under my feet and thus I will deliver for you.” Even Brooks was wishy-washy on the far-left. While not using ideological labeling, he did admit there are “hate-filled and bigoted” people at the Columbia protests, for example, but he respects the people who are “who are honestly appalled by what's going on there.” Here is a transcript for the April 19 show: PBS NewsHour 4/19/2024 7:32 PM ET  WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As Lisa just reported, Democrats helped Speaker Johnson get a foreign aid package over a key hurdle, but he still faces backlash from far-right members in his own conference. …  I mean, Lisa was just reporting that she's got some off-the-record scuttlebutt that Johnson was offered some — if you bring these, we will protect you if it comes to that. Do you think that will actually materialize? DAVID BROOKS:  It absolutely should, because when Johnson got the speakership, he had to make concessions to the further right. He had to put some of those people on the Rules Committee, which determines what comes up to a vote. And so if I'm a Democrat, I'm thinking, well, the Republicans still do have the majority. So if it's not going to be Johnson, it's going to be somebody else. And it's going to be somebody else who makes even more concessions to the Marjorie Taylor Greenes of the world, and that will make my life worse as a Democrat. And so I think it's very much in the Democrats interest to say, Johnson's our best shot right now at having a reasonable Congress for the rest of the rest of this year. I'm looking at Chip Roy, who's on the Rules Committee, who voted against the Ukraine aid and who's one of the — I would say, one of the smartest people in House, and — but certainly on that far-right faction, one of the smartest people, I'm looking to see which way he goes. Because I think he would carry a lot of votes, and that could threaten him. But if the Democrats don't hold up Johnson, I think they would be betraying the House, betraying the kind of thing that was accomplished today. And I think it would just be a gross mistake. … JONATHAN CAPEHART: But I would say to the people who are protesting and the young people who are upset, and all of the folks who are upset at the president and the administration for what they're doing, I keep thinking about the thing that President Obama used to say to criminal justice activists and others who were put — who were really upset with him for not doing lots — more things on criminal justice or racial issues. And he would say to them, “I need you to keep protesting on the outside, because that puts pressure on me on the inside to get something done” and I think that is what's happening. BRANGHAM: Which is famously what LBJ was being told by MLK, which is that he told him, keep the fire under my feet and thus I will deliver for you. CAPHEART: Right.

CNN Doesn't Challenge Iranian FM On His Embassy Hypocrisy

CNN’s Erin Burnett sat down with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Thursday's OutFront show to discuss the situation in the Middle East. During their conversation, Burnett did not call out Amir-Abdollahian for bear hugging the Vienna Convention, while Iran has violated it repeatedly over the past several decades. Iran has spun its failed attack as large enough to send a message, but restrained enough to avoid a regional war, while warning that if Israel responded, it would respond more harshly, leading Burnett to ask, “So when you say the response will be at a maximum level, you also, I know, have warned Israel against crossing what you have used the words, quote-unquote, 'red lines.' What are those red lines, and what is a maximum level? You used, what, more than 300 drones, cruise missiles in that attack? What would escalate from there for you? What is a maximum level above that?”     By the end of the night, Burnett’s interview would mostly be out of date as Israel responded, but despite all of Tehran’s fiery rhetoric warning about such a response, it appears content to pretend it didn’t happen. As for Amir-Abdollahian’s response, he declared that “Well, the red lines that they crossed, the red line that Israel crossed was the attack upon the embassy building of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus, Syria. And during that attack, seven official military advisers carrying out a fight against terrorism were martyred through a missile attack of the regime of Israel. Vienna Conventions recognized -- Vienna Conventions were not respected, so red lines were crossed by the Israeli regime.” Amir-Abdollahian’s would continue to ramble off what turned out to be empty threats and would repeatedly justify Iran’s attack as a legitimate defense after Israel violated its sovereignty by targeting its embassy. While Burnett had no way of knowing for sure at the time that Amir-Abdollahian’s was bluffing, she did have a way of knowing recent history. Throughout the interview, Burnett would question him about escalation or the failed nature of Saturday’s salvo, but she never once brought up his hypocrisy. Donald Trump didn’t just wake up one day and decide to strike Qasem Soleimani, he did it in response to Iranian proxies attacking the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. On Friday, only one day before Iran’s reckless attack, the highest criminal court in Argentina ruled that Iran was responsible for the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires. In 2011, there was the Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States. Somehow, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United States managed to respond by not spastically bombing Iran and somehow, Amir-Abdollahian was not questioned about it. Here is a transcript for the April 18 show: CNN Erin Burnett OutFront 4/18/2024 7:39 PM ET ERIN BURNETT: So when you say the response will be at a maximum level, you also, I know, have warned Israel against crossing what you have used the words, quote-unquote, "red lines." What are those red lines, and what is a maximum level? You used, what, more than 300 drones, cruise missiles in that attack. What would escalate from there for you? What is a maximum level above that? HOSSEIN AMIR-ABDOLLAHIAN (through translator): Well, the red lines that they crossed, the red line that Israel crossed, was the attack upon the embassy building of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus, Syria. And during that attack, seven official military advisers carrying out a fight against terrorism were martyred through a missile attack of the regime of Israel. Vienna Conventions recognized -- Vienna Conventions were not respected, so red lines were crossed by the Israeli regime. However, in our attack, within the framework of legitimate defense, why do we call it carried out at a minimum? Because it was geared towards two military targets, one the Innova Team Air Base and the other one an intelligence and information centers from which attacks took place on our building. We did not target economic and financial centers, civilian centers, only the two locations from which F-35 aircraft were flown, took off from there, and targeted the embassy building in the Golan. This was our minimum response. But in case of a repeated adventure-seeking and adventurism of the Israeli regime, what will our maximum response be? I can only say that it will be carried out at a maximum level, and it will be regretful for them. The details have been planned by the armed forces of my country. However, I do hope that Israel does not commit a grave error in calculus.

Ruhle Claims High Gas Prices Are a Russo-Saudi Plot to Elect Trump

With gas prices on the rise, MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle did what comes naturally to her: defending President Joe Biden. On Wednesday’s The 11th Hour Ruhle not only claimed that Biden has nothing to do with high gas prices, but he is being undermined by the Russians and the Saudis who are trying to get Donald Trump elected. Ruhle kicked off the segment by declaring, “We know that inflation is driving Americans crazy. If you are unsure, just call your mother. For many, it is their biggest complaint right now and because President Biden is in the White House, he gets the blame. But over the last few months, one thing he has been pointing to is low gas prices. But unfortunately, if you look closer, recently, they have been steadily and quietly going up. Now, this is a common thing going into the summer. More people drive more. It pushes up demand. That is normal. But there are other reasons as well. Ones that might be more deliberate, even political. Like Saudi Arabia and Russia continuing to cut oil production until June and remember when production is down, prices go up.”     After one of her guests, Bulwark podcaster Tim Miller, also defended Biden by citing record levels of oil production, Ruhle turned to her other guest, former Bernie Sanders adviser Chuck Rocha, and asked, “Chuck, what do you think? These prices are not the fault of President Biden. Tim just laid it out, we’ve got the highest oil production in U.S. history and some overseas oil producers who would sure like to help DJT.” Even if one grants Ruhle’s premise that Russia and Saudi Arabia are trying to get Trump elected (as opposed to Moscow cutting production to raise the price of oil to fund its war machine), Biden has not done anything to respond. In fact, he has done the opposite. It is now more expensive to get a drilling lease on federal lands thanks to last week’s new regulations that changed the royalty rate for the first time in a century. As for Rocha, he naturally lamented that people will blame Biden “even if he has nothing to do and OPEC and Russia and all of these things have to do—they’re going to blame Joe Biden and the other side knows it.” Ruhle’s claim that the Russians and the Saudis are trying to get Trump elected with their oil policies is not even original. In October 2022, Ruhle’s colleague Ali Velshi theorized that Moscow and Riyadh conspired to raise gas prices to help Republicans in that year’s midterms. Here is a transcript for the April 17 show: MSNBC The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle 4/17/2024 11:33 PM ET STEPHANIE RUHLE: We know that inflation is driving Americans crazy. If you are unsure, just call your mother. For many, it is their biggest complaint right now and because President Biden is in the White House, he gets the blame. But over the last few months, one thing he has been pointing to is low gas prices. But unfortunately, if you look closer, recently, they have been steadily and quietly going up. Now, this is a common thing going into the summer. More people drive more. It pushes up demand. That is normal. But there are other reasons as well. Ones that might be more deliberate, even political. Like Saudi Arabia and Russia continuing to cut oil production until June and remember when production is down, prices go up.  … Chuck, what do you think? These prices are not the fault of President Biden. Tim just laid it out, we’ve got the highest oil production in U.S. history and some overseas oil producers who would sure like to help DJT. CHUCK ROCHA: Let me be clear that the Republicans know how to use this and will use this against Joe Biden. One of the most brilliant, small political things I saw done that was very, very powerful, last year, when I went to the pump, there was a sticker of Joe Biden with a finger pointing “I did that.” They were sticking it on gasoline pumps saying he’s the reason the gas pump was so high.  When I do focus groups all around the country, I'm still one of those old school political consultants who work on campaigns every single day, people talk about gas and groceries because no matter who you are, almost everybody in America, every week, has to buy gas and groceries and to your point, Steph, when it goes up just a little bit, they will blame the person in charge even if he has nothing to do and OPEC and Russia and all of these things have to do—they’re going to blame Joe Biden and the other side knows it.

Colbert, Goodwin Fret Voting and Women's Rights 'Are Now Being Denied'

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin traveled to CBS and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday to promote her new book, which is part history, part memoir about her and her late husband’s experiences in the 1960s. For Goodwin and Colbert, the main takeaway was that the achievements of the 60s, such as civil rights, are currently under threat. Goodwin’s husband Dick was an adviser to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson as well as Sen. Robert Kennedy, and she recalled to Colbert an episode of Johnson swimming naked in the White House swimming pool, “They get to the White House pool and Lyndon Johnson, naked, is swimming in the pool, up and down, paddling up and down the pool… he says, ‘come on in, boys’ and of course they have no bathing suits, so they strip. So, all of a sudden, three people are paddling around the pool and while they’re doing that, they hang onto the edge, and Johnson comes forth with a vision of what he wants that will eventually become the Great Society. It was incredible. Medicare, Medicaid, aid to education, immigration reform, civil rights, voting rights, NPR, PBS. It was amazing. Amazing.”     Of all the times to compare NPR to civil rights and voting rights, this is a particularly strange one. Colbert, however, was more interested in doom-mongering about Republicans: Okay, so, there is the achievements of LBJ and the Great Society. For that matter, the New Frontier or for that matter, the New Deal, and though so many of them are actively being attempted to be dismantled right now, with some success, including the Voting Rights Act, what do you think, first of all, your husband, Dick, and as you reflect, what would you say is being lost in the dismantling of that vision? Because it was at a very important time, a time of great change in the United States and not everybody likes the changes that happened, but what do you think is being lost?? Goodwin not only agreed that voting rights are under siege, even though they aren’t, she added some further lamentations: But what was so important about the 1960s and I would love young people to remember what it was like because young people felt power then by the conviction they can make a difference in what that meant was that tens of thousands of people were marching for civil rights, for ending segregation, for the voting rights, which is now being denied, for women's rights, which are now being denied, for gay rights, which are now being denied. The only way we are going to get them back is not by looking for heroes, not looking for leaders. We have to do it ourselves and you young people are so important in that goal.  Nobody’s civil or voting rights are being taken away. Some people simply believe that civil rights should extended to everyone, even the unborn. Here is a transcript for the April 17-taped show: CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 4/18/2024 12:29 PM ET DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN:  They get to the White House pool and Lyndon Johnson, naked, is swimming in the pool, up and down, paddling up and down the pool. STEPHEN COLBERT: Was this normal? Would this happen a lot? GOODWIN: Yeah, it happened a lot. Wherever he was with his office and so they’re swimming and they’re standing there with their business suits on in their ties and he says, "come on in, boys" and of course they have no bathing suits, so they strip. So, all of a sudden, three people are paddling around the pool and while they’re doing that, they hang onto the edge, and Johnson comes forth with a vision of what he wants that will eventually become the Great Society. It was incredible. Medicare, Medicaid, aid to education, immigration reform, civil rights, voting rights, NPR, PBS. It was amazing. Amazing. STEPHEN COLBERT: Okay, so, there is the achievements of LBJ and the Great Society. For that matter, the New Frontier or for that matter, the New Deal, and though so many of them are actively being attempted to be dismantled right now, with some success, including the Voting Rights Act, what do you think, first of all, your husband, Dick, and as you reflect, what would you say is being lost in the dismantling of that vision? Because it was at a very important time, a time of great change in the United States and not everybody likes the changes that happened, but what do you think is being lost? GOODWIN: But what was so important about the 1960s and I would love young people to remember what it was like because young people felt power then by the conviction they can make a difference in what that meant was that tens of thousands of people were marching for civil rights, for ending segregation, for the voting rights, which is now being denied, for women's rights, which are now being denied, for gay rights, which are now being denied. The only way we are going to get them back is not by looking for heroes, not looking for leaders. We have to do it ourselves and you young people are so important in that goal.  There’s something, you know, I was young in the 60s. It was a great feeling. I was at that March on Washington on August 28, 1963, Dick was there too, but we didn't meet because there 250,000 other people there. I wish I'd met him then, but nonetheless you felt -- I was carrying a sign “Catholics and Jews and Protestants unite for civil rights” and I felt like something was larger than myself and I hope that young people today can get that feeling, but we’re going to depend on you to march and demonstrate and protest because something bad is happening in our country and you can make it right. I really believe that.

PolitiFact Refuses To Give Rubio 'True' Rating For True Statement

It is a time-honored tradition that during campaign season, politicians will defend themselves by claiming that “since I took office” such-and-such has happened or attack their opponents by arguing that “since so-and-so took office” this has happened, but when Florida Sen. Marco Rubio tried that tactic against President Biden and his inflation record, PolitiFact slapped him with a “half-true” rating despite admitting his numbers were completely true. The specific claim Rubio made was that “It's very misleading when (President Biden) says (inflation) used to be at 9%. This is compounding. It’s not like it went down from 9% to 3%. This is building month after month. The better way to think about it is that it’s 18%, 19% over the last three years." In the “if your time is short” summary at the top of his article, Louis Jacobson wrote, “Inflation compounds and it has risen by about 19% over the last three years.” If that sounds like the shortest and easiest fact-check ever, Jacobson was there to say not so fast, “compared with February 2020, the month before the pandemic began, and also compared with one year ago, wages have increased faster than prices.” Jacobson then spends several paragraphs expanding on these points. Sandwiched between two graphs on wages and inflation, Jacobson claims, “One is to compare today with February 2020, the last full month before the coronavirus pandemic hit. The pandemic represented such an economic upheaval that February 2020 is a plausible benchmark for a ‘normal’ economy.” Not only is Jacobson coming up with a novel excuse to avoid giving Rubio a “true” rating, but his stance that the pandemic must be taken into account when fact-checking political talking points is not one that he holds with consistency. In December, Jacobson gave Biden a “mostly-true” rating for a claim he made about manufacturing jobs created during his tenure. In January, when Biden attacked Trump for job losses during his presidency, Jacobson wrote a lengthy explainer piece, noting Biden omitted the pandemic, but refused to bring out the truth-o-meter. In the first three months of 2024, PolitiFact fact-checked Republicans 63 times while only giving out “true” or “mostly trues” 12.7 percent of the time. By contrast, Democrats were fact-checked 39 times and given “true” or “mostly true” ratings 56.4 percent of the time. Based on how they treat Rubio, Biden, and pandemic-related economic statistics, we can see how.

Kimmel Mocks Abolitionist As Out Of Touch Because He Was Pro-Life

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel was supposed to have Vice President Kamala Harris join him on Tuesday for an interview that almost certainly would have focused on how supposedly horrible the Arizona Supreme Court is for allowing an 1864 pro-life law to be enforced. Harris couldn’t make it, but that didn’t stop him from arguing with the ghost of Justice William T. Howell, played by actor Nick Offerman, and not appreciating that Howell could view the abolition of slavery and abortion as logically consistent. Kimmel began, “During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln hired a lawyer named William T. Howell to write the legal code for the new territory of Arizona. His job was to make sure that the new laws abolished slavery, which they did, but he also worked on a number of other laws, including a ban on abortion, which is the law the Supreme Court decided to uphold last week, 160 years later, and the person we have to think about that is Justice William T. Howell, who obviously is not with us anymore, but he is the person who -- what?”     A digitally imposed Offerman then appeared and, playing the role of Howell as if he were a boxer and people from the 1800s were all stupid, began by wondering, “Who dares sully the honor of I, Arizona Associate Justice William T. Howell, who wrote the law of which you jest.” Kimmel almost certainly got the information for this sketch from a recent Washington Post article on Howell. Not only did Kimmel not see the connection between how slavers portrayed the slave and how pro-choicers portray the unborn, he also completely omitted that Howell also wrote in provisions for married women to own property. Nevertheless, Kimmel and Offerman tried to portray Howell as an old-fashioned sexist, “Okay, well listen, Justice Howell, a lot of Americans, I don't know if you know this, are very angry that your law's taking away women's rights.” Offerman tried to satirize pro-life arguments, but all he ended up doing was coming up with interesting euphemisms for genitals, “Well, if these women didn't want to be with child, why did they not sneeze after being pistoned with a fully engorged giggle stick? Why, tell me, did they not scrub their floral regions with barrel grease?” Kimmel followed up, “Barrel grease? How did you become a judge?” As a way to show how allegedly backwards the 1860s were, Offerman tried to joke that the way one became a lawyer in the 19th century had nothing to do with studying law, “I studied at a very prestigious law academy and was the pupil who shot the most nickels off a whore’s empty head. Does that satisfy your query, you godless spaghetti gobbler?” The law may have been written 160 years ago, but that doesn’t mean that Kimmel and Offerman are 160 years more enlightened. If anything, they’re less enlightened. Here is a transcript for the April 16 show: ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live! 4/16/2024 11:46 PM ET JIMMY KIMMEL: During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln hired a lawyer named William T. Howell to write the legal code for the new territory of Arizona. His job was to make sure that the new laws abolished slavery, which they did, but he also worked on a number of other laws, including a ban on abortion, which is the law the Supreme Court decided to uphold last week, 160 years later, and the person we have to think about that is Justice William T. Howell, who obviously is not with us anymore, but he is the person who -- what?  NICK OFFERMAN [AS WILLIAM T. HOWELL's GHOST]: Who dares sully the honor of I, Arizona Associate Justice William T. Howell, who wrote the law of which you jest.  KIMMEL: Um -- I do, I guess.  OFFERMAN: Then prepare thyself for a spectral confrontation, you Italian consack. Pugilism.  KIMMEL: Okay.  OFFERMAN: Let that be a lesson to thee.  KIMMEL: Okay, well listen, Justice Howell, a lot of Americans, I don't know if you know this, are very angry that your law's taking away women's rights.  OFFERMAN: Well, if these women didn't want to be with child, why did they not sneeze after being pistoned with a fully engorged giggle stick? Why, tell me, did they not scrub their floral regions with barrel grease?  KIMMEL: Barrel grease? How did you become a judge?  OFFERMAN: I studied at a very prestigious law academy and was the pupil who shot the most nickels off a whore’s empty head. Does that satisfy your query, you godless spaghetti gobbler? KIMMEL: No, that actually made no sense. Just like your law, which I think Arizona should nullify as soon as –  OFFERMAN: Nullify? Nullify my law?  KIMMEL: Yeah.  OFFERMAN: Why, you soft-handed mug-eared fat kidneyed onion-eyed rattlesnake fang on the scrotum. You bacon-faced, pipkin-headed, brisket-beating, rump-fed, hand-sucked, caper merchant.  KIMMEL: Okay, I don't even know even more.  OFFERMAN: You scotch-fiddled, gore-bellied, fox-infested, son of a footless hedge pig. No! 

Daily Show Tortures Pinata To Cope With Trump Leading Latino Vote

Actor and alleged comedian John Leguizamo joined Tuesday’s edition of The Daily Show on Comedy Central to have a calm and rational, adult-like reaction to polling that shows Donald Trump leading among Latinos. Just kidding, he decided to torture a piñata while going off a profanity-ridden Spanish tirade. Translated into English (hat tip to NewsBusters' Jorge Bonilla), as he mauled the poor piñata, Leguizamo ranted, "Shit, [bleep]dammit, triple son of a [bleep], mother[bleep], [unintelligible] bastard!"     After the torture session concluded, Leguizamo continued, “I’m sorry. Where was I? Oh, yeah, right. It looks like the Democrats are in trouble, and you might be thinking, how is this possible? Donald Trump is winning Latinos? ‘Build the wall’ Donald Trump? ‘Mass deportations’ Donald Trump? Guy who thinks Daddy Yankee is a baseball player Donald Trump? But the truth is, in 2024, Latino voters have something else on their minds. Following a couple of news clips explaining that Latino voters are more worried about inflation than his race-based politics, Leguizamo claimed to understand, “That's right. For Latinos, this election is all about inflation! And that makes sense! Inflation is bad right now. They're going to have to change the name of the game show to The Price is [bleep] what-now?" And if your top concern is high prices, I get why you might lean Trump. People associate him with lower prices, even though he sells $400 sneakers that look like my cousin's Papo's teeth.” However, “The problem is, when it comes to fixing inflation, this cuchifrito-looking mother[bleep] ain't got shit.” After more news clips of Trump declaring his plan to reduce inflation includes additional oil drilling, Leguizamo reacted, “Well, you heard it here first, mi brothers: Trump's one and only plan to fix inflation is to drill for oil. But guess what: President Biden is already drilling more oil than anyone in history. More than Trump did when he was president!” Of course, Biden is also trying to appease the environmentalists, which doesn’t help with prices, but Leguizamo would rather make a Stormy Daniels-sex joke than discuss that, “Now, you know, maybe Trump has discovered some new special drilling technique that no one else knows about. Maybe he drills the oil real hard for 30 seconds, and then makes it sign an NDA. Just saying.” Somehow, it seems unlikely that going full Hulk on a party device and sex jokes are going to get people to change their voting preferences. Here is a transcript for the April 16 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 4/16/2024 11:18 PM ET  JOHN LEGUIZAMO: Excuse me for a second, please. [Speaking Spanish] I’m sorry. Where was I? Oh, yeah, right. It looks like the Democrats are in trouble, and you might be thinking, how is this possible? Donald Trump is winning Latinos? "Build the wall" Donald Trump? "Mass deportations" Donald Trump? Guy who thinks Daddy Yankee is a baseball player Donald Trump? But the truth is, in 2024, Latino voters have something else on their minds.  … That's right. For Latinos, this election is all about inflation! And that makes sense! Inflation is bad right now. They're going to have to change the name of the game show to The Price is [bleep] what-now?" And if your top concern is high prices, I get why you might lean Trump. People associate him with lower prices, even though he sells $400 sneakers that look like my cousin's Papo's teeth. The problem is, when it comes to fixing inflation, this cuchifrito-looking mother[bleep] ain't got shit.  CNN TOWN HALL ATTENDEE: If elected president again, what is the first thing you would do to help bring down the cost to make things more affordable?  DONALD TRUMP: Drill, baby, drill.  MARIA BARTIROMO: Is your answer to getting inflation down, drill, drill, drill, independent oil?  TRUMP: Well, among other things, it's drill, drill, drill, yes.  BARTIROMO: What else?  TRUMP: It's drill, drill, drill.  BARTIROMO: What's your answer to getting inflation down?  TRUMP: There is no else. You have to get the oil.  LEGUIZAMO: Well, you heard it here first, mi brothers: Trump's one and only plan to fix inflation is to drill for oil. But guess what: President Biden is already drilling more oil than anyone in history. More than Trump did when he was president! Now, you know, maybe Trump has discovered some new special drilling technique that no one else knows about. Maybe he drills the oil real hard for 30 seconds, and then makes it sign an NDA. Just saying. 

Mitchell Goes To War With Math To Label Pro Basketball Sexist

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell closed out her Tuesday show by deciding to pick a fight with math. Reacting to Monday’s WNBA draft, Mitchell called “sexism” on the fact that number one overall pick Caitlin Clark will have a roughly $76,000 rookie salary while her male counterpart makes slightly north of $12 million. Mitchell reported that “Caitlin Clark's record-breaking streak continues with what could be the most watched WNBA Draft ever. Clark was the number one pick, of course, last night, scoring her place with the Indiana Fever. Clark stands to make millions from endorsements, but fans are outraged over the massive gender pay gap in her salary. Clark will reportedly earn, get this, $76,000 for her rookie season. Compare that to the $12 million, million dollars, last year's number one NBA draft pick made in his rookie year.”     Missing from this monologue was any discussion of revenue. The NBA projected that during its 2021–22 season it would bring in over $10 billion in revenue. Meanwhile, last season, the WNBA’s projected revenue was around $200 million. As of 2018, the league was losing around $10 million a season. Still, Mitchell smeared Americans as sexist for not eliminating the gap overnight, “That gender inequality and the sexism facing women's sports is a big focus on Saturday Night Live.” That SNL skit featured Clark appearing as a guest with anchor Michael Che: MICHAEL CHE: The University of Iowa announced that basketball star Caitlin Clark will have her jersey retired and replaced with an apron. Oh… Here to comment is Caitlin Clark…I am a fan, Caitlin, by the way.  CAITLIN CLARK: Really, Michael? Because I heard that little apron joke you did… Thanks to all the great players like Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper, the great Dawn Staley, and my basketball hero: Maya Moore, these are the women that kicked in the door so I could walk inside. So, I want to thank them tonight for laying the foundation, and Michael, since you're such a big fan, I brought you a souvenir, it’s an apron signed by me.  For years, critics of the pay gap theory Mitchell cites have said that sports is entertainment, so if you want to see the discrepancy between male and female sports diminish, then you need a more entertaining product. They were smeared as sexists by people like Mitchell, but Clark proved them correct as this year saw the NCAA women’s championship game get higher viewership than the men’s for the first time. Here is a transcript for the April 16 show: MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports 4/16/2024 12:54 PM ET ANDREA MITCHELL: Caitlin Clark's record-breaking streak continues with what could be the most watched WNBA Draft ever. Clark was the number one pick, of course, last night, scoring her place with the Indiana Fever. Clark stands to make millions from endorsements, but fans are outraged over the massive gender pay gap in her salary. Clark will reportedly earn, get this, $76,000 for her rookie season. Compare that to the $12 million, million dollars, last year's number one NBA draft pick made in his rookie year. That gender inequality and the sexism facing women's sports is a big focus on Saturday Night Live. MICHAEL CHE: The University of Iowa announced that basketball star Caitlin Clark will have her jersey retired and replaced with an apron. Oh… Here to comment is Caitlin Clark…I am a fan, Caitlin, by the way.  CAITLIN CLARK: Really, Michael? Because I heard that little apron joke you did… Thanks to all the great players like Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper, the great Dawn Staley, and my basketball hero: Maya Moore, these are the women that kicked in the door so I could walk inside. So, I want to thank them tonight for laying the foundation, and Michael, since you're such a big fan, I brought you a souvenir, it’s an apron signed by me.  MITCHELL: Caitlin Clark making her Indiana Fever debut in just a few weeks when the WNBA season tips off. That was one of the great SNLs ever, the whole show. 

Couric Smears Trump Voters As Jealous Anti-Intellectuals

Former 60 Minutes anchor Katie Couric recently joined Bill Maher on his podcast Club Random. During a discussion on income inequality, Couric mused that those who support Donald Trump are motivated by anti-intellectualism and jealousy. Couric, who has declared herself “liberated” from the necessity of being a straight newswoman, told Maher that “The socio-economic disparities are a lot and class resentment is a lot and anti-intellectualism and elitism is what is driving many of these anti-establishment  — which are Trump voters — so, I think that is a huge problem that we have to address.”     She would also add “I mean globalization and, you know, the transition from an industrial to a technological society and I don’t know if you’ve ever been jealous of someone else or resentful — it is such a corroding and bitter, almost bile feeling.” Later, Couric would reply to Maher’s suggestion that current culture consists of poorer people aspiring to be like richer people by countering that some think “I’m angry about it, I’m angry about my lot in life and I’m going to take it out on, sort of, the coastal elites and the intelligentsia and that’s where I think a lot of this support is deriving from.” As for Maher, he believes that if you want to combat Trump, the way to do it is not by going after his fans, “Take something like the sanctuary cities hypocrisy, these elite cities said ‘we’re the good people, we’re always the good people--’” Couric acknowledged the point, by continuing the sentence, “until—” Maher continued, “until they send the immigrants, actually, to their city.” Couric claimed to understand, claiming she thought it would be advantageous for news organizations to head to the border to see how the surge was impacting border towns, but whether she really understood is not as clear because earlier in the episode, Maher explained Trump voters, “What they see on the other side, to them, is even more dangerous. Because it’s closer to home, ‘My kid is coming home from school and he thinks he’s a racist? He’s five, what have you been telling him? My son thinks maybe he’s not a boy.’ And maybe that’s true, that happens, but, you know, those kind of things are what they say. ‘That’s why I’m voting for Trump.'” Couric ignored that basic fact of contemporary political life when she went on her bender about Trump supporters being a bunch of jealous anti-intellectuals.

Stewart Blames America, Capitalism For Foreign Policy Crises

Jon Stewart reacted to the recent developments in the Middle East on Monday’s installment of The Daily Show on Comedy Central by doing his standard bit where he, on one hand, pretended everything was too complicated for him to understand, but on the other, reduced all the world’s foreign policy crises to America’s love of capitalism. Stewart’s attempt to play dumb began when he was recapping Saturday’s failed Iranian attack on Israel, and he seemed upset that the results upended his basic foreign policy worldview, “But kudos to the United States and to Israel! It shows just how effective a military defense system can be when you funnel American dollars away from health care and education.”     Yes, you can throw money at education to no effect, but if the United States and Israel had not invested in air defense, the Middle East would be in an extremely delicate situation right now, even more than it already is. Still, Stewart sarcastically continued, “It really helps to build -- and the best part is, we did it with no help! The two amigos, surrounded by hostile Arab nations, united in their zeal to destroy Israel.” Stewart then played clips from MSNBC’s Jonathan Lemire and Fox’s Jennifer Griffin reporting on the roles Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates played in thwarting the attack. He reacted by claiming it is all so complicated, “What are the teams of these [bleep] wars? I don't even know the teams anymore? The Arab countries are helping Israel? I don't know what the teams are! We need to sort this out! With jerseys or something.” Contrary to Stewart’s rantings, it isn’t that complicated. Arab countries do not pose a threat to Israel in the way that they used to and Israel has had a peace treaty with Jordan since 1994. The main threat to Israel comes from Iran and its non-state proxies, an assessment shared by many of the Sunni Arab states. It really isn’t that complicated. Later in the show, Stewart welcomed the New York Times’s David Sanger to the show to promote his book, The New Cold Wars, about America’s rivalries with Russia and China. For Stewart, these rivalries have a simple explanation, “Haven't we sowed the seeds of that with our own arrogance and cavalier approach to a lot of these foreign policy conflicts? A, we always frame things as 'this is a battle between democracy and the free world and liberation and authoritarianism,' but the truth is, we're fighting for trade channels and resources.” Stewart continued by attempting to shame the U.S., “Like, this is all a function of competing capitalist powers and aren't we the ones—I mean, we've invaded more countries than Russia and China combined. So, would it help us to not have to scold everybody for failing to live up to principles that we very clearly do not uphold?” He further added, “But we say that, but, you know, ‘you can't invade a country.’ Well, what happened in Iraq? ... ‘You can't call for regime change.’ What did we do in Libya? Every time we say these things, we undercut our own position with – I mean, for god's sakes, Iran is an enemy because we overthrew their democratically elected government in 1953.” Russia isn’t fighting for economic resources in Ukraine, Hamas isn’t fighting Israel for trade routes, China doesn’t threaten Taiwan because of capitalism. Meanwhile, Stewart is just wrong. Since 2008, Russia has invaded and sliced up two countries, China has taken territory from its neighbors, the United States hasn’t done any of those things. Here is a transcript for the April 15 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 4/15/2024 11:02 PM ET JON STEWART: But kudos to the United States and to Israel! It shows just how effective a military defense system can be when you funnel American dollars away from health care and education. It really helps to build -- and the best part is, we did it with no help! The two amigos, surrounded by hostile Arab nations, united in their zeal to destroy Israel.  JONATHAN LEMIRE: Jordan's air force also intercepted and shot down dozens of drones that violated its airspace and were on their way to Israel.  JENNIFER GRIFFIN: And we've now learned that Saudi Arabia and the UAE provided real time intelligence that helped track the incoming missiles.  STEWART: What are the teams of these [bleep] wars? I don't even know the teams anymore? The Arab countries are helping Israel? I don't know what the teams are! We need to sort this out! With jerseys or something.  … STEWART: Haven't we sowed the seeds of that with our own arrogance and cavalier approach to a lot of these foreign policy conflicts? A, we always frame things as “this is a battle between democracy and the free world and liberation and authoritarianism” but the truth is, we're fighting for trade channels and resources. Like, this is all a function of competing capitalist powers and aren't we the ones – I mean, we've invaded more countries than Russia and China combined. So, would it help us to not have to scold everybody for failing to live up to principles that we very clearly do not uphold?  DAVID SANGER: Well, at least we have some principles, okay? That's the one thing –  STEWART: But we say that, but, you know, "you can't invade a country." Well, what happened in Iraq?  SANGER: That's right.  STEWART: "You can't call for regime change." What did we do in Libya? Every time we say these things, we undercut our own position with – I mean, for god's sakes, Iran is an enemy because we overthrew their democratically elected government in 1953.

NBC Embraces Activism, Claims 'Abortion Access Goes Beyond Politics'

NBC correspondent Dana Griffin suited up for Team Abortion on Saturday’s edition of Today. Griffin claimed that the issue goes “beyond politics for women” and embraced all the activist premises when she asked the petitioner of the Arizona Supreme Court case if “women should have the right to choose what to do with their own bodies.”  Griffin began by noting Vice President Kamala Harris’s and Donald Trump’s responses to the ruling. On Trump, Griffin quoted him as posting on Truth Social, “’ the Supreme Court in Arizona went too far’ and ‘we must ideally have the three exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother,’” but she also added some further editorializing that Harris did not get “But the issue of abortion access goes beyond politics for women.”      It could be said that protecting the unborn goes beyond politics as well, but Griffin did not show pro-lifers the same courtesy. What she did show was an unidentified woman claiming she experienced “disbelief” and “anger” at the ruling. Griffin further reported that “Dr. Jill Gibson said patients were shocked and confused.” Outside of a Planned Parenthood, Gibson claimed she “had friends calling me saying was it still safe for friends who were pregnant who are out of state to travel to Arizona to visit them. This is the atmosphere of fear.” There was nothing in Gibson’s response that touched on abortion, but Griffin never bothered to follow up and ask why simply traveling to Arizona would be unsafe. Griffin did allow a brief glimpse into the thoughts of the other side from OB-GYN Dr. Eric Hazelrigg, “It’s the state’s duty to protect human life in every situation.” After introducing Hazelrigg as the man “who opened the door for the court's ruling after he petitioned for the case to be reviewed,” Griffin embraced the pro-abortion framing as she asked him, “Do you think women should have the right to choose what to do with their own bodies?” As for Hazelrigg’s response, it was almost certainly heavily edited down, “Within a certain context, and with certain limitations.” It would have been nice if NBC allowed Hazelrigg to explain what he meant by “certain context,” but Griffin had to get back to the pro-abortion activists “Some people in the state now galvanized to make their vote count in November, when they will likely weigh in on an expected ballot measure to codify reproductive rights in the state's constitution.” A second unidentified woman explained, “We want everyone to have a choice about their own bodies. It's not a politician's choice.” Whether it is a life is a matter of fact, not opinion, but NBC decided not to pursue that angle. Here is a transcript for the April 13 show: NBC Today 4/13/2024 7:13 AM ET DANA GRIFFIN: So, the attorney general has already made it clear she will not prosecute any doctors who perform abortions when this law is reinstated, but the doctors I spoke with plan to follow the law and stop performing abortions until it is legal again.  Vice President Kamala Harris at a rally in Tucson, slamming the Arizona Supreme Court ruling that enforces a Civil War-era law banning nearly all abortions.  KAMALA HARRIS: Here in Arizona, they have turned back the clock to the 1800s.  GRIFFIN: Adding that former President Trump is partly to blame.  HARRIS: As much harm as he has already caused, a second Trump term would be even worse.  GRIFFIN: On Truth Social, Trump writing “the Supreme Court in Arizona went too far” and “we must ideally have the three exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.” But the issue of abortion access goes beyond politics for women.  UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Disbelief, anger.  GRIFFIN: Dr. Jill Gibson said patients were shocked and confused.  JILL GIBSON: I had friends calling me saying was it still safe for friends who were pregnant who are out of state to travel to Arizona to visit them. This is the atmosphere of fear.  GRIFFIN: The 1864 law which only makes exceptions for the life of the mother and makes performing abortions punishable by up to five years in prison was decided Tuesday in a bombshell ruling by the state Supreme Court.  ERIC HAZELRIGG: It’s the state’s duty to protect human life in every situation GRIFFIN: Dr. Eric Hazelrigg is the OB-GYN who opened the door for the court's ruling after he petitioned for the case to be reviewed.  Do you think women should have the right to choose what to do with their own bodies? HAZELRIGG: Within a certain context, and with certain limitations.  GRIFFIN: Some people in the state now galvanized to make their vote count in November, when they will likely weigh in on an expected ballot measure to codify reproductive rights in the state's constitution.  UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 2: We want everyone to have a choice about their own bodies. It's not a politician's choice.

Brooks Suggests Voting For Trump Makes Pro-Lifers Hypocritical

Donald Trump may have disappointed pro-life activists with his embrace of a federalist stance on abortion, but with President Joe Biden being a far-left abortion zealot, they will still vote for him. For New York Times columnist David Brooks on Friday’s PBS NewsHour, however, this is just another instance of “the power of Trump” and “above some of the core convictions.” Host Geoff Bennett asked Brooks for his thoughts on the fallout of the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling that an 1864 pro-life law can be enforced, “Because even Donald Trump is implicitly acknowledging that this is a problem, because he said that the Arizona State Supreme Court went too far and that the law, in his words, needs to be straightened out.”     Brooks claimed that “this is a phenomenal shift in the Republican Party we saw this week. Since Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party has been a pro-life party. It's been based on the conviction that, from conception, it's a human life. It's a human life. And then you get Donald Trump. And, recently, he's been floating the idea that we should have a 15-week ban or a 20-week ban. In other words, he's for allowing a law that has 93 — or some 90 percent—of the abortions would go forward, and he's allegedly pro-life.” It is unfair to compare a post-Roe GOP candidate’s stance on abortion to a Roe-era GOP candidate’s. Even still, Brooks’s claim is unfair. Roe did not allow for a federalist solution, so by allowing states to impose bans or 15-week restrictions, Trump is being more pro-life than Roe even if he disappointed pro-life activists by not embracing a national policy. Brooks, however, would repeat himself, “This is literally the most pro-choice position a Republican has taken since Ronald Reagan, this is going back to Jerry Ford, maybe. And so you're seeing the party bend to the political winds, and it's just an astonishing turnaround.” As for those pro-life activists, Brooks claimed that “the thing that astonishes me, the pro-life groups, they should be really, I guess it's appropriate to say raising holy hell. But they're sort of going along with it. And it shows that — the power of Trump over the party. Let's protect Donald Trump, even above some of the core convictions.” Again, Brooks is being unfair. Many people believe that politics and elections are the art of the possible, and with Trump as president, it will be possible to get some conservative judges, maybe some pro-life regulations, and that state pro-life laws will survive. If Biden is re-elected, it is possible, if not likely, that the opposite will happen.  Here is a transcript for the April 12 show: PBS NewsHour 4/12/2024 7:44 PM ET  GEOFF BENNETT: Well, what about that, David? Because even Donald Trump is implicitly acknowledging that this is a problem, because he said that the Arizona State Supreme Court went too far and that the law, in his words, needs to be straightened out. DAVID BROOKS: Yeah, well, this is a phenomenal shift in the Republican Party we saw this week. Since Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party has been a pro-life party. It's been based on the conviction that, from conception, it's a human life. It's a human life. And then you get Donald Trump. And, recently, he's been floating the idea that we should have a 15-week ban or a 20-week ban. In other words, he's for allowing a law that has 93 — or some 90 percent of the abortions would go forward, and he's allegedly pro-life. Now he's sort of backed off that position. His position is, it should be state by state. But he won't tell people how they should vote. He says, follow your heart. This is literally the most pro-choice position a Republican has taken since Ronald Reagan, this is going back to Jerry Ford, maybe. And so you're seeing the party bend to the political winds and it's just an astonishing turnaround. And the thing that astonishes me, the pro-life groups, they should be really, I guess it's appropriate to say raising holy hell. But they're sort of going along with it. And it shows that — the power of Trump over the party. Let's protect Donald Trump, even above some of the core convictions. Will it shift election, the presidential election? I'm not so sure. I think it's definitely helped Democrats in House races and it's definitely helped Democrats in every ballot initiative since Dobbs. But if you look at people in Arizona say, what are the issues they care about? Inflation and immigration are number one and two, and they vastly prefer Donald Trump. Abortion is in there, but it's down below. So will it affect the — it'll certainly drive Democratic turnout, but will it shift toward Donald Trump? I'm not sure, since the two big issues, he's pretty good on.

'Fueled By Misinformation': CNN Downplays Christian Fears About Biden

CNN correspondent Donie O’Sullivan went to bat for the Biden Campaign on Thursday’s edition of Anderson Cooper 360, where he said of conservative Christian concerns about Biden, “Some of these fears are fueled by misinformation.” The segment would re-air on Friday’s CNN New Central, but showing the segment a second time did not make O’Sullivan’s claims any truer. In a pre-recorded report, O’Sullivan reported on the dangers of so-called Christian Nationalism, a scary sounding phrase with no discernible definition other than traditionally understood social conservatism. He also cited polling showing, “Forty-four percent of Americans say the Bible should have at least some influence on U.S. law.”     That poll question is meaningless because when some people hear the question, they think of Old Testament dietary laws, while other people think of not allowing men to compete on women’s sports teams, which is something everyone agreed with until a couple of years ago, but such nuances weren’t the point of O’Sullivan’s segment. His point was to portray conservatives as a bunch of out-touch, paranoid weirdos. Interviewing an unidentified woman on the street, O’Sullivan asked, “Do you think, is America a Christian country?” After the woman affirmed she does, O’Sullivan argued with her, “But obviously in the Constitution there is that separation of church and state.” Earlier in the segment, O’Sullivan interviewed some anti-Trump pastors and they got much easier questions, such as “Why is Christian nationalism? In your view, such a threat?” They also cited the Bible to justify their opposition to Trump’s policies on things like immigration, but they probably would answer no to the above poll question. The woman held her ground, recalling that “Yes, but then there's also, always, when I went to public school, we were allowed to pray.” After O’Sullivan followed up by asking what exactly she meant, “When you say Christianity is under attack in America, you're talking about in the schools, the teaching of --” She answered, “Not so much in the schools, but just -- I just can't come up with anything right now. But I think the biggest thing is I just don't trust Joe Biden.” In a voiceover, O’Sullivan claimed that “some of these fears are fueled by misinformation.” After a clip of Trump discussing Biden’s Easter/Transgender Visibility Day proclamation, O’Sullivan spun “International Transgender Visibility Day takes place every year on March 31. This year, Easter Sunday also happened to fall on that day.” No matter how many times the media pretends that Biden had nothing to do with Transgender Visibility Day, it will not change the fact that he decided to issue the proclamation acknowledging it. A second unidentified woman was then shown claiming, “I think more that Christians are going to be discriminated against under Biden or a second term.” After O’Sullivan asked her what that meant, she added, “By making yesterday, which was the worldwide Christian celebration of the resurrection, Transgender Day. That was quite a slap in the face.” O’Sullivan, again, started spinning “I will just say that the days, they've had the Trans Awareness Day on the same date the past few years. It just happened that this year it fell on Easter Sunday.” The woman replied, “Okay. Thank you for correcting me. I appreciate that.” Two things could be said of that. First, the fact, that woman was willing to listen to facts shows that conservative Christians are not the intransigent people O’Sullivan and Biden are trying to portray them as. Second, O’Sullivan’s should make sure those facts are actually facts and not spin. Here is a transcript for the April 11 show: Anderson Cooper 360 4/11/2024 8:36 PM ET DONIE O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Forty-four percent of Americans say the Bible should have at least some influence on U.S. law. Do you think, is America a Christian country? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believed that growing up, I did. O'SULLIVAN: Yeah. Founded as a Christian country? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it was founded as a Christian country. O'SULLIVAN: But obviously in the Constitution there is that separation of church and state. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, but then there's also, always, when I went to public school, we were allowed to pray. O'SULLIVAN: When you say Christianity is under attack in America, you're talking about in the schools, the teaching of – UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not so much in the schools, but just -- I just can't come up with anything right now. But I think the biggest thing is I just don't trust Joe Biden. O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Some of these fears are fueled by misinformation. DONALD TRUMP: And what the hell was Biden thinking when he declared Easter Sunday to be Trans Visibility Day? O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): International Transgender Visibility Day takes place every year on March 31. This year, Easter Sunday also happened to fall on that day. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 2: I think more that Christians are going to be discriminated against under Biden or a second term. O'SULLIVAN: How -- what do you mean by that? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 2: By making yesterday, which was the worldwide Christian celebration of the resurrection, Transgender Day. That was quite a slap in the face. O'SULLIVAN: I will just say that the days, they've had the Trans Awareness Day on the same date the past few years. It just happened that this year it fell on Easter Sunday. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 2: Okay. Thank you for correcting me. I appreciate that. O'SULLIVAN: So do you understand it better now? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 2: Yup. Yup. I do. O'SULLIVAN: Okay. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I do. God loves transgenders and he wants them to come to him too.

Daily Show Claims Pro-Life Men Are 'A Ridiculous Embarrassment'

Comedy Central’s The Daily Show brought out all the cringe on Thursday as temp host Michael Kosta labeled a recent Fox Business segment between Mark Simone and Larry Kudlow discussing abortion as “a ridiculous embarrassment.” That led him to do a sketch with Jordan Klepper where the two pretended to be stereotypical macho men who claimed to be pro-life, but also didn’t know how babies are made or what an abortion is. Kosta wrapped up the straightforward monologue on the FBN segment by introducing the sketch, “Now, a panel of men talking about abortion might seem like a ridiculous embarrassment for everyone involved, but I actually think it's a great idea for our new segment, ‘Men talk about abortion.’"  Kosta talks about abortion all the time, so he really means pro-life men discussing abortion. Still, complete with bad wigs and fake cigars, he asked, “Alright, let's get right to it, man to man. What's your solution for abortion?”     Referencing remarks Simone made in the clip, Klepper replied, “Okay, easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Alright, if a woman needs an abortion, she should just take the bus to a state where it's legal.  After claiming that having had some testicular injury qualifies him to render such judgments, Kosta added that “I know it's frustrating for women, but we can't all—we have rights some places and other places we don't. For example, I'm not allowed to go to the Epcot food court anymore because apparently you can't ‘Do that’ to the funnel cakes. I mean, Double standards? Double standards?” Klepper also urged women to accept their stance, “Look, look, women are making too big a deal about all of this. Look, I've never had to walk through a line of protesters to get basic health care, but I have had to make eye contact with the woman at Walgreens while buying a pack of slim-fit Trojan condoms! So, sometimes you got to get past feeling judged, ladies!” Kosta affirmed Klepper and wondered, “You are brave, my broham and by the way, what about the father's rights?... Right! Are you a father?” Klepper declared that he wasn’t because “I haven't quite figured out how it works yet. I do know boobs are involved, though, you know. How about you?"  Not only did Kosta report not being a father, he claimed to not be able to find a date, “Yeah, I haven't found the right lady. I was in a relationship for several years, but she turned out to be a raccoon and she tricked me out of my credit card!” Starting to break character, Klepper relayed a similar expierence, “Tale as old as time period, player, tale as old as time. In fact, my ex was three possums in a trench coat! Just, you know—point is—point is when it comes to women's rights, we get it!” Wrapping it up, Kosta finally asked, “What is an abortion?” Klepper again pleaded ignorance, “Not a clue. Not a clue. But, but, but, I think the boobs are once again involved.”  The inverse of “it’s funny because it’s true” is “it’s not funny because it’s not true,” and this bit about pro-life men being irredeemably dumb fails because pro-life men are keenly aware of what abortion is and how babies are made. Here is a transcript for the April 11 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 4/11/2024 11:06 PM ET MICHAEL KOSTA: Now, a panel of men talking about abortion might seem like a ridiculous embarrassment for everyone involved, but I actually think it's a great idea for our new segment, "Men talk about abortion."  KOSTA [IN CHARACTER]: Yeah, yeah, alright! alright, you know it! Yeah! Joining me now is my main bro, my main man, you’re just like me, aren’t you? Yeah. JORDAN KLEPPER [IN CHARACTER]: Yeah, I sure am, a big old man! Huh, just watch me open this jar! I'll finish it later!  KOSTA: No, you softened it up, you softened it up, big dog. Alright, let's get right to it, man to man. What's your solution for abortion?  KLEPPER: Okay, easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Alright— KOSTA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. KLEPPER: — If a woman needs an abortion, she should just take the bus to a state where it's legal.  KOSTAL Okay. KLEPPER: Look, obviously I've never had to travel out of state for an abortion but I did accidently hit myself in the balls trying to double knot my deck shoes. I cried so hard they helicoptered me into a hospital in the next state, I was fine! KOSTA: Couldn’t agree more, chief. Couldn’t agree more, chief.  Women should just take the bus ride or just give birth. And look, I've never given birth.  KLEPPER: Of course not, but you would crush it if you did! I mean, you would crush it. KOSTA: I would crush it. You know I would! Hey look, I know it's frustrating for women, but we can't all — we have rights some places and other places we don't. For example, I'm not allowed to go to the Epcot food court anymore because apparently you can't "Do that" to the funnel cakes. I mean, Double standards? Double standards? Yeah, yeah, KLEPPER: Double standard! Double standard, Double standard. Look, look, women are making too big a deal about all of this. Look, I've never had to walk through a line of protesters to get basic health care, but I have had to make eye contact with the woman at Walgreens while buying a pack of slim-fit Trojan condoms! So, sometimes you got to get past feeling judged, ladies!  KOSTA: You’re brave.  KLEPPER: Thank you. KOSTA: You are brave, my broham and by the way, what about the father's rights?  KLEPPER: Oh, the fathers have to have rights!  KOSTA: Right! Are you a father? KLEPPER: I am not a father! No, I would like to be, but I haven't quite figured out how it works yet.  KOSTA: Okay, okay. KLEPPER: I do know boobs are involved, though, you know. How about you?  KOSTA: Yeah, I haven't found the right lady. I was in a relationship for several years but she turned out to be a raccoon and she tricked me out of my credit card!  KLEPPER: Tale as old as time period, player, tale as old as time. In fact, my ex was three possums in a trench coat! Just, you know — point is — point is when it comes to women's rights, we get it!  Michael: We! Get! It! Alright, before we go, quick question: What is an abortion?  KLEPPER: Not a clue. Not a clue. But, but, but, I think the boobs are once again involved. 

Meyers Rants At 'Piece of ****' Fox For Defending Trump on Abortion

NBC’s Late Night host Seth Meyers brought out the bleep button on Wednesday’s show to angrily respond to a Fox Business segment suggesting Donald Trump’s federalist stance on abortion makes him a moderate or even pro-choice, as he labeled radio host Mark Simone a “piece of [bleep]” and a “mother[bleep].” Meyers introduced the clip of Simone on Kudlow by declaring that “[Trump's] allies think they can trick everyone into thinking he's a moderate on abortion by lying and claiming he'll leave it up to the states, which he won't.” In the clip, Simone responded to Trump’s position by arguing, “That makes him the pro-choice candidate, leave it up to the states.”      An angry Meyers replied, “This brings us to a statement we’re calling ‘Seth tries really hard not to lose his [bleep].’ Trump is the pro-choice candidate? Are you out of your [bleep]? I'm sorry, I believe you are mistaken. Your statements are misleading, and you are failing to provide an accurate good faith analysis of the facts. You're inverting the truth for political purposes and gaslighting your viewers by grossly misrepresenting the details of the situation.” Meyers continued, “Let me put it another way: you're a [extended bleep] piece of [bleep]. Well, I failed! This has been ‘Seth tries really hard not to lose his [bleep].’"  Fox Business is not the first and certainly won’t be the last news program to discuss the political ramifications of abortion stances, but Meyers was not done ranting, “Also, let me just say, so cool to watch a couple dudes discuss an issue that literally hurts women as to whether or not it will hurt another dude, Donald Trump, at the ballot box.” Introducing a second clip of the segment, Meyers added, “That guy’s a right-wing radio host named Mark Simone. Also, he suggested in that interview that if women have to flee their states and travel tens or hundreds of miles to access life-saving medical care, it's no big deal.” In the clip, Simone proclaimed, “If you had to travel to another state to get an abortion, it's not the worst thing in the world. Hopefully this is a very rare occurrence in your life, once in your life, maybe you would do it. Buying a bus ticket to go somewhere to get it is not the worst thing in the world.” In full rant mode, Meyers huffed, “Then you take the bus, mother[bleep]. You take the bus. How about every time someone has to take the bus to get abortion care out of state, we make Mark Simone wait in line for a Greyhound at the port authority. Dude would run out that day and buy a t-shirt that says ‘My body, my choice.’"  With his “Closer Look” segments, Meyers likes to portray himself as the thinking man’s comedian who uses elaborate metaphors and analogies to make a point, but Wednesday’s show was just a bitter, angry man yelling into the wind. Here is a transcript for the April 10-taped show: NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers 4/11/2024 12:46 AM ET SETH MEYERS: But Trump and his allies think they can trick everyone into thinking he's a moderate on abortion by lying and claiming he'll leave it up to the states, which he won't.  MARK SIMONE: This issue does not hurt Donald Trump. He's not against abortion. He's actually okay with abortion. He wants that 15-week limit, perfectly reasonable.  LARRY KUDLOW: Well, wait, he didn't say 15 weeks, that's not quoting. Yesterday he had a different take. He didn't say 15 weeks. He said, let the states decide.  SIMONE: Well, that –  KUDLOW: –  a point I happen to agree with, by the way, wholeheartedly. But I can't pin 15 weeks on him because it's not what he said.  SIMONE: Okay, but that makes him the pro-choice candidate, leave it up to the states.  MEYERS: This brings us to a statement we’re calling "Seth tries really hard not to lose his [bleep]." Trump is the pro-choice candidate? Are you out of your [bleep]? I'm sorry, I believe you are mistaken. Your statements are misleading, and you are failing to provide an accurate good faith analysis of the facts. You're inverting the truth for political purposes and gaslighting your viewers by grossly misrepresenting the details of the situation.  Let me put it another way: you're a [extended bleep] piece of [bleep].  Well, I failed! This has been "Seth tries really hard not to lose his [bleep]." Also, let me just say, so cool to watch a couple dudes discuss an issue that literally hurts women as to whether or not it will hurt another dude, Donald Trump, at the ballot box.  That guy’s a right-wing radio host named Mark Simone. Also, he suggested in that interview that if women have to flee their states and travel tens or hundreds of miles to access life-saving medical care, it's no big deal.  SIMONE: If you had to travel to another state to get an abortion, it's not the worst thing in the world. Hopefully this is a very rare occurrence in your life, once in your life, maybe you would do it. Buying a bus ticket to go somewhere to get it is not the worst thing in the world.  MEYERS: Then you take the bus, mother[bleep]. You take the bus. How about every time someone has to take the bus to get abortion care out of state, we make Mark Simone wait in line for a Greyhound at the port authority. Dude would run out that day and buy a t-shirt that says "My body, my choice." 

Amanpour Compares Pro-Lifers To Iran And The Taliban

PBS/CNN’s Christiane Amanpour joined CBS’s Stephen Colbert for her second late night comedy show appearance of the week on the Wednesday installment of The Late Show. The duo freaked out over the possibility of a second Donald Trump term and that the rest of the democratic world is similarly freaked out and over the same issues, such as American pro-lifers allegedly being comparable to Iran and the Taliban. Amanpour informed Colbert that the rest of the world is “watching your election very, very closely because that is really preoccupying them. Having had a collective nervous breakdown the last time. They are trying to proof themselves against—” Colbert then interrupted to ask, “So, the world freaked out as much as some of us did?”     Amanpour qualified her remarks, “As much as some of you did. Some of the world. I mean, there were parts of the world that didn't freak out. Mostly the autocratic parts of the world.” The duo then listed off several people who allegedly would be comfortable with another Trump win, including Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman. Colbert followed up by declaring that “the idea of a second Trump presidency makes Americans fearful. What specifically, I assume the world is freaked out about the second possibility.” Naturally, Amanpour agreed, but instead of immediately diving into foreign affairs, she claimed the rest of the world is alarmed by American pro-lifers, “Well yeah, I mean look, you’ve just been talking about something freaking out Americans, which is this Arizona law from pre-Civil War and that is being really looked at especially in democracies where there are codified women's rights and human rights. France, for instance. On International Women's Day, March 8, actually signed into law a constitutional amendment to guarantee a woman's right to make choices about her own body.” If an American state legislature passed legislation with identical language as France’s amendment, Amanpour would claim it was a radical, right-wing denial of women’s rights because the limit in that law is 14 weeks. Amanpour continued, insisting that you either support abortion or you oppose human rights, “This was sort of a demonstration of will by, you know, a country that's very supportive of your revolution, to show that this is universal human rights and that women actually need to be treated like adults and whether it's Afghanistan, Iran, or the United States, a bunch of grumpy old man shouldn't be making essential decisions.” While Amanpour didn’t explicitly say “Taliban,” considering the Taliban runs Afghanistan, it should be obvious who she is talking about. The Iran and Taliban analogy isn’t new for both Amanpour and Colbert. Hillary Clinton used the analogy in a softball December 2022 interview with Amanpour, while Colbert used it in a March 2023 rant against the Supreme Court. Here is a transcript for the April 10 show: CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 4/11/2024 12:05 AM ET CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: In the world, they are watching your election very, very closely because that is really preoccupying them. STEPHEN COLBERT: So, they— AMANPOUR: Having had a collective nervous breakdown the last time. They are trying to proof themselves against— STEPHEN COLBERT: I guess, I really didn’t take that into account all the time. So, the world freaked out— AMANPOUR: Yes. COLBERT:  —   As much as some of us did? AMANPOUR: As much as some of you did. Some of the world. I mean, there were parts of the world that didn't freak out. Mostly the autocratic parts of the world.” Yeah.  COLBERT: Your Orbans. Yeah, yeah. AMANPOUR: Your Putins, your Xis, your Orbans. Those people. COLBERT: Your Erdogans. Those people. Okay. AMANPOUR: Your, you know, MBSes COLBERT: The idea of a second Trump presidency makes Americans fearful. What specifically, I assume the world is freaked out about the second possibility. Okay. AMANPOUR: Well yeah, I mean look, you’ve just been talking about something freaking out Americans, which is this Arizona law— COLBERT: Yeah. AMANPOUR:  —   from pre-Civil War— COLBERT: Yup. AMANPOUR: —   and that is being really looked at especially in democracies where there are codified women's rights and human rights. France, for instance. On International Women's Day, March 8, actually signed into law a constitutional amendment to guarantee a woman's right to make choices about her own body. Abortion and other— COLBERT: Do many countries have that?  AMANPOUR: Not necessarily, no, they don't. This was sort of a demonstration of will by, you know, a country that's very supportive of your revolution, to show that this is universal human rights and that women actually need to be treated like adults and whether it's Afghanistan, Iran, or the United States, a bunch of grumpy old man shouldn't be making essential decisions. 

Reid Demands Women 'Wake Up' To Fight Back Against GOP's 'War On Women'

The calendar might say 2024, but for MSNBC’s Joy Reid, it is still 2012. On Tuesday’s installment of The ReidOut, the eponymous host declared that it was “grotesque” for pro-lifers to quote Abraham Lincoln while also demanding women “wake up” because “the Republican Party has openly declared war on women.” In recent times, the Heritage Foundation and their Project 2025 have become Reid’s boogeymen. Heritage’s vice president of domestic policy is a man named Roger Severino, and Reid warned that “this man, according to the New York Times, has been crafting a plan in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 that would circumvent and leverage the regulatory powers of federal institutions including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Justice, and the National Institutes of Health. Here's what Severino said when the Supreme Court ended abortion access.”     In Reid’s world, only lefties are allowed to claim the mantle of Lincoln and the Civil Rights Era. That Severino made Reid uncomfortable by highlighting that the logic that is used to defend abortion is strikingly similar to that of slavers says more about her than it does about him. Later, Reid was still discussing abortion when she claimed that “Two credibly accused sex pests on the Supreme Court decide that you have rights over your own body.” “Credibly” is not the correct word for that sentence, but Reid rolled right along “States are passing laws to make it harder for women to get access to things like education and grants and business grants.” Before you could ask what on Earth Reid was talking about with that one, she accused Republicans of “Trying to drive women back in the kitchen and saying also you can't control your own reproduction.” Employing some voice fluctuations and attention-grabbing clapping, Reid demanded, “Women, wake up. When a war is being waged upon you, you're at war whether you want to be or not and the Republican Party has openly declared war on women. Wake up.” Meanwhile, Joy Reid has openly declared war on truth and logic. Here is a transcript for the April 9 show: MSNBC The ReidOut 4/9/2024 7:07 PM ET JOY REID: This man, according to the New York Times, has been crafting a plan in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 that would circumvent and leverage the regulatory powers of federal institutions including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Justice, and the National Institutes of Health. Here's what Severino said when the Supreme Court ended abortion access.  ROGER SEVERINO: The federal government has an absolute role in this. There cannot be now two Americas. One America where unborn life is protected and another where unborn life is treated as the equivalent of medical waste. KEVIN ROBERTS: Yeah. SEVERINO: That is untenable. This has to be settled nationally. A house divided against itself cannot stand.  ROBERTS: Yeah. SEVERINO: We can’t have two classes of Americans. REID: Quoting Lincoln. Well, it's pretty grotesque isn’t it for this man to pimp the Civil Rights era and even the Lincoln legacy as an excuse to further restrict women's constitutional rights across the land which is exactly what he intends to do. It's all laid out in a lengthy Heritage Foundation proposal that would require renaming HHS the Department of Life, ending access to mifepristone, prohibiting stem cell research, and creating a pro-life task force in the White House among many other things. So, when Donald Trump pretends he has no negative agenda for women, know he's lying to you. It's not what he says, but what he and the people he’s going to bring with him plan to do. … Two credibly accused sex pests on the Supreme Court decide that you have rights over your own body. States are passing laws to make it harder for women to get access to things like education and grants and business grants. Trying to drive women back in the kitchen and saying also you can't control your own reproduction. Women, wake up. When a war is being waged upon you, you're at war whether you want to be or not and the Republican Party has openly declared war on women. Wake up.   

Kimmel, Daily Show Lament People Labeling Trump A Moderate On Abortion

As conservatives debate the merits and demerits of Donald Trump endorsing a federalist policy on abortion, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show temp host Michael Kosta lamented that such a debate exists because, for them, even a moderate position on abortion is still extremist. Trump’s abortion policy announcement coincided with news from the Arizona Supreme Court that ruled that an 1864 abortion law can be enforced. This did not sit well with Kosta. Amidst booing from the audience, Kosta agreed, “Yeah, this is crazy! Boo! Boo! This is crazy! Is Arizona really using an abortion law from the 1860s? Back then, there wasn't even a test to become a doctor. It was just a gross guy saying, "I love looking at scabs. I want to be a doctor."     The show built on irony missed the irony of Kosta’s proposal that all laws be periodically subject to review, “and it’s not just abortion. We shouldn't be using any Civil War law. At least every hundred years, we should just do a review of all the laws, you know, ‘Guys, we still against murder? All right, great, moving on. All post offices have mandatory horse ties? No? Scrap that one, okay.’"  Kosta then shifted to Trump, and after playing a series of clips of the media reporting on his stance as well as Trump supporting IVF, he attacked Trump’s federalist position, “Donald Trump now says the states should choose their own abortion laws, although, I don't know why that's considered a moderate position. ‘As a reasonable man, I think only some women should be forced to give birth against their will, depending on which state they live in. It's called common sense.’"     Over at ABC, Kimmel incorrectly believed there was a contradiction between Trump appointing three of the justices that overturned Roe v. Wade and leaving the issue to the states, “Trump appointed three of those judges to the Supreme Court, which led to overturning Roe v. Wade. But now, he's saying he's not for a federal law against abortion. He thinks the decision should be left to the states. Trump believes that every woman should have the right to drive 600 miles for health care.” Kimmel then touched on the criticism Trump has gotten from pro-lifers, including Sen. Lindsey Graham and former Vice President Mike Pence, but Kimmel didn’t think the criticism was real. He thought it was all part of some elaborate plan to make Trump more acceptable to pro-abortion Republicans “But with Lindsey Graham, this is a game they're playing because 7 out of 10 Americans believe women should have the right to choose and Republicans are losing elections on this so, Trump is gonna be the good guy or bad guy depending on which side you're on. And then Lindsay will be on the other side, fitting hissy, saying Trump is too lenient to calm the pro-choice Republicans down. It's like wrestling, but with guys who, if you saw them in their underpants, you'd throw up.” Kimmel then turned to Arizona, “Meanwhile, the Arizona Supreme Court today ruled that the state has to follow a law from 1864 that makes getting an abortion a criminal offense with a sentence of two to five years. Isn't that great? We're playing by the 1864 rules now.” No, performing an abortion could get you sent to jail, not getting one. So, much for Kimmel the Fact-Checker. Here are transcripts for the April 9 shows:  ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live! 4/9/2024 11:40 PM ET JIMMY KIMMEL: Trump appointed three of those judges to the Supreme Court, which led to overturning Roe v. Wade. But now, he's saying he's not for a federal law against abortion. He thinks the decision should be left to the states. Trump believes that every woman should have the right to drive 600 miles for health care and this is now upsetting a lot of his supporters, including Senator Lindsey Graham, who said Trump's making a mistake and that's not the kind of thing Trump likes to hear. From his pals. So, he lashed out, he wrote "I blame myself for Lindsey Graham, because the only reason he won in the great state of South Carolina is because I endorsed him!" And then he got it from his former vice poodle, too. Mike Pence wrote, "Trump's retreat on the right to life is a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans who voted for him."  Trump did not respond to that. I think he's scared of Mike Pence. He never responds to-- I think Mike Pence must know too much is what’s happening there. But with Lindsey Graham, this is a game they're playing because 7 out of 10 Americans believe women should have the right to choose and Republicans are losing elections on this so, Trump is gonna be the good guy or bad guy depending on which side you're on.  And then Lindsay will be on the other side, fitting hissy, saying Trump  is too lenient to calm the pro-choice Republicans down. It's like wrestling, but with guys who, if you saw them in their underpants, you'd throw up. Meanwhile, the Arizona Supreme Court today ruled that the state has to follow a law from 1864 that makes getting an abortion a criminal offense with a sentence of two to five years. Isn't that great? We're playing by the 1864 rules now.  *** Comedy Central The Daily Show 4/9/2024 11:11 PM ET MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah, this is crazy! Boo! Boo! This is crazy! Is Arizona really using an abortion law from the 1860s? Back then, there wasn't even a test to become a doctor. It was just a gross guy saying, "I love looking at scabs. I want to be a doctor." It's like—and it’s not just abortion. We shouldn't be using any Civil War law. At least every hundred years, we should just do a review of all the laws, you know, "Guys, we still against murder? All right, great, moving on. All post offices have mandatory horse ties? No? Scrap that one, okay." But this is the kind of thing women have been facing ever since Roe v. Wade was killed by the Supreme Court and while many Republicans would like the whole country to look like Arizona, Donald Trump, the guy who appointed those Supreme Court justices, is now trying to position himself as a moderate on abortion.  LESTER HOLT: Now to the race for the White House. After months of questions, former President Donald Trump today revealing his position on abortion, declining to call for a national ban, saying he would leave it up to the states.  DONALD TRUMP: The states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land, in this case, the law of the state. At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.  JONATHAN LEMIRE: Elsewhere in the video, Trump expressed support for IVF and abortion exceptions for rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is at risk.  TRUMP: I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious baby.  KOSTA: Did he just say "Precious baby" sarcastically? "Congrats on your bundle of joy." Also, not the main point here but that's more spray tan than usual, right? Your first thought when you see someone's face should never be "Is that cake?"  But more importantly, yes, Donald Trump now says the states should choose their own abortion laws, although, I don't know why that's considered a moderate position. "As a reasonable man, I think only some women should be forced to give birth against their will, depending on which state they live in. It's called common sense." Honestly, I'm just shocked Trump came out in support of IVF. I expected him to be like [TRUMP IMPRESSION] "If your loser husband can't get it done, give me a call. I'll be in and out, two minutes." 

AOC Spreads Hamas Propaganda, But Colbert Claims GOP Reads In Cyrillic

CBS’s Stephen Colbert welcomed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Monday’s edition of The Late Show for a three-segment appearance where the duo would hurl outrageous accusations at Israel while accusing Republicans of being Russian propagandists. They would also do some electioneering as they urged President Biden to bring the Democratic Party together by appeasing those voting uncommitted in the primaries. Colbert began by asking about Ocasio-Cortez’s use of the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions, “The horrors of the attack of October 7th and the horror people see of the innocent lives lost in the military response. Tens of thousands of lives being lost there. But you took it a further step. I think you think you were the first person to do this in the Congress. You said, you called the famine in Gaza an unfolding genocide. That is an electric term to be using against the actions of a country that was formed in the wake of the greatest genocide of the 20th century. If politics is the art of the possible, you're a politician. What did you hope to make possible by going that far in your description?”     It wasn’t Colbert’s worst question, but a better one would have pointed out that misery caused by a war that you started is not genocide. As for Ocasio-Cortez, she predictably confused misery with genocide, “And to me, what I saw in that moment is that we have been in--  on the precipice of a mass famine that would indiscriminately kill nearly a million children, adults, innocent people, men, women, and children. And this is an utterly heartbreaking moment.” She also accused Israel, not Hamas, of endangering the hostages and genocide while defending her inaccurate use of the word, “As you mentioned, the attacks on October 7th or horrifying. The hostages that are being held in Gaza are also being endangered and imperiled by an indiscriminate famine and bombardment campaign as well and it's important that they be home. But I think in using this term, it is not to engage in a game of rhetoric, but it is for us to see what is happening for what it is.” Later, in the second segment, the duo was discussing those voting uncommitted in the Democratic Primary when Ocasio-Cortez declared, “And so right now, these are folks who want to be seen. I think they're using this process to be seen and it's best that we do that now then for folks to stay home in November.” Colbert then urged Biden to unite the party by listening to the protestors “So, respond to this now is what you recommend the Biden Administration to do so people can trust his judgment in the future. Before we move on to the next subject, will you be voting for Joe Biden?” Ocasio-Cortez affirmed she will be. Despite the earlier Hamas propaganda, when Colbert and Ocasio-Cortez returned for the third segment, the pair discussed the GOP’s relationship with Russia. Ocasio-Cortez brought up the case of Alexander Smirnov, “We just went through an impeachment attempt on the president of the United States that was started with a source that Republicans used that was in communication with Russian intelligence. So, you have not just the bottom bench here. You have the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Representative Comer, take quote-unquote ‘evidence,’ an account from someone who was working with the-- Russian intelligence and try to impeach and remove the president of the United States over it. This is serious.” Colbert replied, “How did they not know that -- or did they know that this was connected to the Russians? Or did they not figure out because they have been translated from the Cyrillic?” That’s not the dunk Colbert thinks it is when the person he enjoying it with previously said that Israel is the one endangering the hostages.  Here is a transcript for the April 8 show: CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 4/8/2024 12:06 AM ET STEPHEN COLBERT: And we're coming up on, we're just past six months of the war between Israel and Gaza and the unfolding crisis over there and this—the the heartbreak and the horror of asymmetrical war. The horrors of the attack of October 7th and the horror people see of the innocent lives lost in the military response. Tens of thousands of lives being lost there. But you took it a further step. I think you think you were the first person to do this in the Congress. You said, you called the famine in Gaza an unfolding genocide. That is an electric term to be using against the actions of a country that was formed in the wake of the greatest genocide of the 20th century. If politics is the art of the possible, you're a politician. What did you hope to make possible by going that far in your description?  OCASIO-CORTEZ: I appreciate the extent of that question and while I was not the first in Congress to use that term, it certainly was a dedicated speech towards it before the beginning, rather the end of that session. And to me, what I saw in that moment is that we have been in--  on the precipice of a mass famine that would indiscriminately kill nearly a million children, adults, innocent people, men, women, and children. And this is an utterly heartbreaking moment.  As you mentioned, the attacks on October 7th or horrifying. The hostages that are being held in Gaza are also being endangered and imperiled by an indiscriminate famine and bombardment campaign as well and it's important that they be home. But I think in using this term, it is not to engage in a game of rhetoric, but it is for us to see what is happening for what it is.  … OCASIO-CORTEZ: And so right now these are folks who want to be seen. I think they're using this process to be seen and it's best that we do that now then for folks to stay home in November.  COLBERT: So, respond to this now is what you recommend the Biden Administration— OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah. COLBERT: -- to do so people can trust his judgment in the future. Before we move on to the next subject, will you be voting for Joe Biden?  OCASIO-CORTEZ: I will be voting for President Biden in November. … OCASIO-CORTEZ: Let's just rewind a second. We just went through an impeachment attempt on the president of the United States that was started with a source that Republicans used that was in communication with Russian intelligence. So, you have not just the bottom bench here. You have the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Representative Comer, take quote-unquote “evidence,” an account from someone who was working with the-- Russian intelligence and try to impeach and remove the president of the United States over it. This is serious.  COLBERT: How did they not know that -- or did they know that this was connected to the Russians? Or did they not figure out because they have been translated from the Cyrillic?  OCASIO-CORTEZ: That I think is a very excellent question for Chairman Comer. 

Stewart Compares Israel To Russia, Appears To Blame It For Iranian Revolution

On Monday’s edition of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, Jon Stewart declared that Israel is not that different from Russia, which would make its American defenders hypocrites. Later, Stewart welcomed CNN/PBS’s Christiane Amanpour, where he further accused Israel of being a bad history student, but it was clear that it was Stewart who needed to reread his history books. Stewart’s dishonest Israel-Russia comparison included a clip of White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemning Russia’s targeting of journalists, which led him to react by dishonestly reporting, “You hear that, Russia? We condemn, in no uncertain terms, any repression of a free press! I think you all know what's coming next. More journalists have been killed in Gaza in six months than anywhere else in the world and a new Israeli law says they can ban media outlets they consider a threat.” An onscreen graphic of a CNN headline on the news made it clear that Stewart omitted the adjective “international.”     Attacking Jean-Pierre from the left, he then played a clip of her reacting to the Israeli law “So as it relates to Al Jazeera, specifically, we've seen the reports, if it is true, if it is true, a move like this is concerning.” Al Jazeera is hostile, foreign propaganda. A more appropriate analogy for Israel would be Ukraine banning RT. Still, Stewart rolled along, “Oh, we're concerned again? How about, "If it's true, we condemn it"? And by the way, is it true? Feels like you can probably just call someone and be like, "Is this true?" And if they're like, "Yes," you can be like, "That's concerning! Not condemning, but concerning." Well, you know what, perhaps those are peripheral issues. What about the bedrock rule of international law, no taking land by force? When Russia does it, we're pretty clear!” After a clip of President Biden denouncing Russia’s war on Ukraine, Stewart again compared Israel to Russia, “Ish, See, this is where Israel's actions get interesting. Because you might say Israel's war is different than Ukraine's. Israel is responding to an attack and a hostage crisis. But in the midst of that, they pulled a little something in the West Bank on March 22 that might be notable.” Stewart then played a clip of a French reporter relaying the news that “the Israeli government announced that it was declaring state land, nearly 2,000 acres of land, in the occupied West Bank.” The United States has never recognized the West Bank as sovereign Palestinian territory, so comparing it to unquestionably Ukrainian land is simply more bad analogy formulation.     Later, Stewart told Amanpour that Israel is not learning from its own history, “You were covering these types of events from 1983, we all remember that was the occupation in Southern Lebanon…then there was a Lebanese Civil War, the rise of Hezbollah in that occupation. There was the Islamic Revolution in Iran. We’re watching these stories play out redundantly.” The Israeli invasion of Lebanon began in 1982, but that is a small error. Claiming the Iranian Revolution, which happened in 1979, was somehow tied to the war in Lebanon is a massive factual error. Amanpour agreed, “Yeah, you know, there’s two things, obviously. One is that, you know, history is not always a great teacher but the other is that, you know, leadership matters and we are in a crisis of leadership around the world.” She went on to argue that for all of its failures, at least the peace process existed in the 1990s, “there have been instances where peace can be forged, where both sides can come together and it depends on the leaders, you know.” Here is a transcript for the April 8 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 4/9/2024 11:08 PM ET STEWART: You hear that, Russia? We condemn, in no uncertain terms, any repression of a free press! I think you all know what's coming next. More journalists have been killed in Gaza in six months than anywhere else in the world and a new Israeli law says they can ban media outlets they consider a threat.  KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: So as it relates to Al Jazeera, specifically, we've seen the reports, if it is true, if it is true, a move like this is concerning.  STEWART: Oh, we're concerned again? How about, "If it's true, we condemn it"? And by the way, is it true? Feels like you can probably just call someone and be like, "Is this true?" And if they're like, "Yes," you can be like, "That's concerning! Not condemning, but concerning." Well, you know what, perhaps those are peripheral issues. What about the bedrock rule of international law, no taking land by force? When Russia does it, we're pretty clear!  JOE BIDEN: The entire world has a stake in making sure that no nation, no aggressor, is allowed to take a neighbor's territory by force. The American people will never waver in our commitment to those values.  STEWART: Ish, See, this is where Israel's actions get interesting. Because you might say Israel's war is different than Ukraine's. Israel is responding to an attack and a hostage crisis. But in the midst of that, they pulled a little something in the West Bank on March 22 that might be notable.  FRANCE24 REPORTER: As the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made his latest visit to Israel, the Israeli government announced that it was declaring state land, nearly 2,000 acres of land, in the occupied West Bank.  This latest Israeli appropriation is the largest land transfer since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993.  STEWART: 1993 and that's not even Gaza! That's the West Bank. So you can't say it has anything to do with defending yourself against Hamas. Let's see if America upholds its rule against taking land!  … STEWART: You were covering these types of events from 1983, we all remember that was the occupation in Southern Lebanon. It was right –  CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: The Israelis invaded Beirut, they were after the PLO. They wanted to show Arafat out-- STEWART: Right, then there was a Lebanese Civil War, the rise of Hezbollah in that occupation. There was the Islamic Revolution in Iran.  AMANPOUR: Yeah. STEWART: We’re watching these stories play out redundantly.  AMANPOUR: Yeah, you know, there’s two things, obviously. One is that, you know, history is not always a great teacher but the other is that, you know, leadership matters and we are in a crisis of leadership around the world, I genuinely believe and even as bad as it was in the 1990s, 1979, and the 1980s, all that, there is a period, let's say, in this part of the world, and the Middle East, in the '90s where there was an actual peace process. Now, we can poo poo it, we can laugh at it, we can say that it failed but it failed because the people responsible for enacting it didn’t do it and actually sabotaged it. So, there have been instances where peace can be forged, where both sides can come together— STEWART: Right AMANPOUR: -- and it depends on the leaders, you know.

Kimmel Mocks Concern Over Illegal Immigrant Murderer In Michigan

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel is a strange man. On his Thursday show, Kimmel wondered why Donald Trump would travel to Michigan to talk about border security since the state borders Canada, while also accusing Trump of exploiting the death of Ruby Garcia, a Michigan woman recently murdered by an illegal immigrant. Kimmel was also not a fan of Trump’s new campaign message, “Somehow, in the middle of all these prosecutions, Trump has been on the road doing rallies, where you know, when you think back on all the presidents, there are so many great lines throughout history. Like, ‘Yes, we can’ and ‘Tear down the wall,’ ‘The buck stops here’ and this, new slogan from Donald Trump, ‘Stop Biden's border bloodbath.’”     Thinking he had come up with some great “gotcha moment,” Kimmel continued, “he unrolled that one in Michigan. The only border Michigan shares is with Canada, but why get bogged down with details?” Kimmel isn’t actually dumb enough to think that illegal immigrants who commit crimes are confined to states along the Southern border, he just wanted a cheap joke about Trump being the dumb one, even if it made no logical sense.  Kimmel proved he knew better when he accused Trump of “shamelessly trying to exploit the murder of a young woman in Michigan, who was allegedly killed by a man she was dating, and who also happened to enter the country illegally.” He further accused Trump of liking the story, “This is the kind of story he loves because it furthers the false narrative that immigrants commit more crimes here than Americans do. So, he grabs on to this very sad story about this woman named Ruby to use it to get elected.” Not only did Kimmel leave off the “illegal” adjective, and not only did he ignore the fact that the man should never have been in the country in the first place, if there is one person in the media who should not be condemning others for using anecdotal evidence in support of a particular policy, it is Jimmy Kimmel, whose reputation as a political comedian is built off such claims. Here is a transcript for the April 4 show: ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live! 4/4/2024 11:37 PM ET JIMMY KIMMEL: Somehow, in the middle of all these prosecutions, Trump has been on the road doing rallies, where you know, when you think back on all the presidents, there are so many great lines throughout history. Like, "Yes, we can" and "Tear down the wall," "The buck stops here" and this, new slogan from Donald Trump, "Stop Biden's border bloodbath."  "Stop Biden's border bloodbath and beyond," is in fact is the-- he unrolled that one in Michigan. The only border Michigan shares is with Canada, but why get bogged down with details? Trump has been shamelessly trying to exploit the murder of a young woman in Michigan, who was allegedly killed by a man she was dating, and who also happened to enter the country illegally. This is the kind of story he loves because it furthers the false narrative that immigrants commit more crimes here than Americans do. So, he grabs on to this very sad story about this woman named Ruby to use it to get elected. 

Reid Gets Triggered By D.C.'s Reagan And Dulles Airport Names

MSNBC’s Joy Reid and The ReidOut’s assembled panel reacted on Friday to the efforts by some Republicans to name D.C.’s Dulles International Airport after Donald Trump and Democrats’ response of trying to name a federal prison after him by getting triggered at the eponyms currently on D.C.’s two airports: John Foster Dulles and Ronald Reagan. Reid even admitted that she refuses to call Reagan National by its name. Reid opined, “Let’s talk a little about this idea of renaming Dulles. Now, Dulles is not the best airport, it might be the worst airport in America. The Republicans are like, 'let’s name it after Donald Trump.' I love the fact that it's named after one of the most diabolical secretaries of State who destroyed Iran and a bunch of Central America.”     Ali Veshi chimed in to add, “But, let's make that worse.” Echoing the sentiment, Reid continued, “Let’s make it worse. Also, the Democrats have said, 'Instead, let's name a prison after Trump.' Thoughts? Thoughts? Thoughts? Name a prison in Miami?” Velshi loved the troll move, labeling it “fantastic,” but the table then went on a digression about prison names. When the digression ended, Reid returned to Dulles, “I think this is a great opportunity for the nerds of the table just to talk about Allen Dulles and also his brother, it was John Foster Dulles, I think, and Allen Dulles and both of them were involved in destroying Guatemala and Iran.” No, that would be the ayatollahs whose oppressive domestic regime and foreign policy escapades have destroyed a once proud civilization. Still, there was one more D.C. airport to discuss. Political Science Professor Christina Greer added, “Well, I mean, we've— they've already renamed National, Reagan which I refuse to call it Reagan.” If the professor can’t even bring herself to say “Reagan Airport,” one can only wonder what kind of education Fordham University political science majors are getting. Reid, however, would fit right in, “Yeah, I just call it DCA.” Here is a transcript for the April 5 show: MSNBC The ReidOut 4/5/2024 7:51 PM ET JOY REID: Let’s talk a little about this idea of renaming Dulles. Now, Dulles is not the best airport, it might be the worst airport in America. The Republicans are like “let’s name it after Donald Trump.” I love the fact that it's named after one of the most diabolical secretaries of State— ALI VELSHI: Right. REID: -- who destroyed Iran and a bunch of Central America. VELSHI: But, let's make that worse.  REID: Let’s make it worse. Also, the Democrats have said “Instead, let's name a prison after Trump.” Thoughts? Thoughts? Thoughts? Name a prison in Miami?  VELSHI: That is a fantastic— … REID: I think this is a great opportunity for the nerds of the table just to talk about Allen Dulles and also his brother, it was John Foster Dulles— VELSHI: Yup. REID: -- I think, and Allen Dulles and both of them were involved in destroying Guatemala and Iran.  VELSHI: Yeah. REID: So, I feel like that's important and that’s given me the opportunity, so thank you Republicans. CHRISTINA GREER: Well, I mean, we've-- they've already renamed National, Reagan which I refuse to call it Reagan.  REID: Yeah, I just call it DCA.

PBS Blames Churches Following The Bible For 'Politicization Of Religion'

Correspondent Sarah McCammon joined her NPR colleague Michel Martin on Thursday’s Amanpour and Company on PBS to discuss her book, The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church because public broadcasting networks stick together. Naturally, Evangelicals’ relationship with Donald Trump and the “politicization of religion” was a big part of the conversation, but McCammon made it clear that her definition of politicization was that Christians do not bend their beliefs to appease the LGBTQ crowd. McCammon, who also appeared on NewsHour back in March to promote the book, recalled that “we saw most people, frankly, as lost, as fallen. We believe that, you know, there are verses in the Bible about only, you know, a narrow path to heaven, and we really believed in that literally, and we believed that most people were not on that path, and it was our job to help them find it.”     That is standard Christian teaching, but McCammon tried to make it into something political, “And so, for me, you know, and I should say that Evangelicalism is a very big movement. A lot of different types of churches fall into that, and it's -- there's a spectrum of belief in practice, and so what I'm saying might not apply to everyone. But I think most of the Evangelical kids at my generation grew up with similar influences, a similar sort of concept of the world, similar views of human sexuality.” With that as background, Martin later asked, “Fast forward, when did you see cracks in the dam? When did it start to break for you?” McCammon cited her grandfather coming out as gay in the 80s after her grandmother died and the tension that created in her family, “you know, this was, again, a time when, you know, the moral majority was on the rise, the Christian right was rising. My parents were very influenced by people, by, you know, right-wing leaders like James Dobson and Gary Bauer and Ralph Reed and others, and, you know, people who were fighting against same-sex marriage and fighting against abortion rights.” She added, “But I think over time, as I thought more about that and really just kind of felt a pull to have a relationship with my grandfather, and also through, you know, interactions with other kids here and there who were not evangelical Christians.” Additionally, McCammon would remember feeling that Christian ideas of salvation—which is standard Christian doctrine, not right-wing politicization—are too rigid after she met and befriended an Iranian Muslim immigrant as a kid. Towards the end, Martin asked her if so-called Exvangelicals could be a political force going forward. McCammon theorized they could be, but again, proved that many of the objections to Christianity have nothing to do with Trump and are not confined to problems with Evangelical Protestantism, “I think people who have left religion in part because of disaffection with some of the politicization of religion, both ex-evangelicals and some former Catholics, they form a pretty big group of people and there's a host of reasons why people leave.” Christian teaching on sexuality has remained constant for centuries, but for McCammon not changing truth to appease young left-wing political sensibilities is actually politicizing the faith, “A lot of it -- some of it has to do with just simply not believing the things that their churches teach. But the polling I've seen from groups like the Public Religion Research Institute suggests that particularly the treatment of LGBTQ people by much of the Christian right is a major factor for particularly a lot of younger people disaffiliating from their churches.” It would be one thing to discuss potential political excesses in the Evangelical Church, but to do that, PBS would need somebody who actually believes in Christian doctrine, not somebody who thinks doctrine itself is political. Here is a transcript for the April 4 show: PBS Amanpour and Company 4/4/2024 SARAH MCCAMMON: We saw most people, frankly, as lost, as fallen. We believe that, you know, there are verses in the Bible about only, you know, a narrow path to heaven, and we really believed in that literally, and we believed that most people were not on that path, and it was our job to help them find it. And so, for me, you know, and I should say that Evangelicalism is a very big movement. A lot of different types of churches fall into that, and it's -- there's a spectrum of belief in practice, and so what I'm saying might not apply to everyone. But I think most of the Evangelical kids at my generation grew up with similar influences, a similar sort of concept of the world, similar views of human sexuality. And, you know, we were taught that marriage is between a man and a woman, that the rise of gay rights was sort a sign of a falling away of the country from being a Christian nation. Certainly, abortion rights and the changing roles of women were part of that and that was something that many evangelicals in my community were actively fighting against and that message was very much tied up with the spiritual and religious message that I was hearing in church and in my Christian school, for example. … MICHEL MARTIN: So, fast forward, when did you see cracks in the dam? When did it start to break for you? MCCAMMON: You know, people often ask me this, like, what was the moment? And there wasn't one moment and I think for many of the people there were many moments. There are many little things that just kind of felt like they didn't add up or moments of exposure to people who were different, who didn't quite fit the mold of what we were told the world should be like or was like. And again, my grandfather was a really big part of that for me. I always struggled with the idea that there was something wrong with him, you know, both because he wasn't a Christian and also because, as I talk about in the book, he had come out -- after my grandmother passed away in the '80s, he'd come out as gay, late in life. And that was a source of a lot of conflict and tension in my family. You know, this was, again, a time when, you know, the moral majority was on the rise, the Christian right was rising. My parents were very influenced by people, by, you know, right-wing leaders like James Dobson and Gary Bauer and Ralph Reed and others, and, you know, people who were fighting against same-sex marriage and fighting against abortion rights. And so, the idea that my own grandfather was living in this "lifestyle," I think was very difficult for my parents. It really clashed with their beliefs. And it meant that we were -- my siblings and I didn't spend a lot of time with him because he was seen as sort of a threatening figure. But I think over time, as I thought more about that and really just kind of felt a pull to have a relationship with my grandfather, and also through, you know, interactions with other kids here and there who were not evangelical Christians. … MCCAMMON: I think they could be. I think it's early to say, and I think people who have left religion in part because of disaffection with some of the politicization of religion, both ex-evangelicals and some former Catholics, they form a pretty big group of people and there's a host of reasons why people leave. A lot of it -- some of it has to do with just simply not believing the things that their churches teach. But the polling I've seen from groups like the Public Religion Research Institute suggests that particularly the treatment of LGBTQ people by much of the Christian right is a major factor for particularly a lot of younger people disaffiliating from their churches.

Daily Show: Trump a 'Pathetic Worm' For Potential Electoral College Rule Change

Some in Nebraska have tried, and ultimately failed, to change the way the state awards its electoral votes and bring it in line with 48 other states. Among those in favor of moving away from a proportional allocation to a winner-take-all system is Donald Trump, which led Comedy Central’s Desi Lydic to label him a “pathetic worm” on Thursday’s edition of The Daily Show. Lydic is also not a fan of the electoral college itself, as she claimed, “The president is decided by the electoral college, the incredibly overcomplicated system that our founders came up with as a prank on future generations.”     It really is not all that complicated, Lydic just doesn’t like it because she views it as disadvantageous to liberals. Still, Lydic elaborated, “Most states award all their electoral votes to whoever wins the state, but Nebraska splits theirs up by district. And in 2020, that meant Joe Biden received an electoral vote from liberal Omaha. Because as it turns out, every state has a Brooklyn. But now Donald Trump has realized that he wants that vote, and that could make all the difference.” Lydic then played a montage of clips about the news, the last of which was of state Sen. Megan Hunt, who claims to be an independent, declaring that “Pathetic worm Donald Trump thinks that he knows what's best for Nebraska and what Nebraskans want [jump cut] but this man [jump cut] obviously wants this electoral vote because he's so scared he can't win the presidency without it.” Hunt is the kind of independent whose Twitter bio reads, in part, “Bi queen. She/her. Free Palestine.” She’s also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. As for Lydic, she feigned outrage, “Excuse me, ma'am, whatever happened to decorum? That's former President Pathetic Worm.” After further lamentations about how a change could cost Biden the election, Lydic urged that the electoral college be done away with, “Nebraska should really, truly keep this system, though, because it's certainly a more fair way to divide up electoral votes than winner take all. In fact, what if every state split up their votes like Nebraska by district, or maybe even by person, you know. Then, whoever wins the most persons would be the president!” Meanwhile, over at CBS and The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert was also lamenting possible changes to Nebraska’s system, “Trump himself is taking every angle he can to try to weasel his way back into the White House. He's even pressuring the state of Nebraska to change how it awards electoral votes. Always a bad sign when your campaign strategy is to bully individual states.” He further declared that “Nebraska's electoral system matters because many believe the election will be so close it could be decided by the single electoral vote from Nebraska's second district. Okay, in other words, this is a complete and total –”   Colbert was then interrupted by writer Brian Stack. Colbert and Stack have a recurring gag where the latter pretends to be unaware that Colbert is taping. This time the bit was that the two don’t know enough about Nebraska to offer up a good punch line, but Stack showed a little self-awareness about the show’s audience, “We'll put our noodles together, get ya something great. Big laughs, major joke, write-up in HuffPo for sure. I'll be back in one hour!”  Here are transcripts for the April 4 shows: CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 4/4/2024 11:40 PM ET STEPHEN COLBERT: Trump himself is taking every angle he can to try to weasel his way back into the White House. He's even pressuring the state of Nebraska to change how it awards electoral votes. Always a bad sign when your campaign strategy is to bully individual states. "Hey, more like old Hampshire, you dusty bitch. Now, gimme all your electoral votes, and go back to 69-ing Vermont. Oh! I bet Ben and Jerry like to watch."  Nebraska's electoral system matters because many believe the election will be so close it could be decided by the single electoral vote from Nebraska's second district. Okay, in other words, this is a complete and total –  BRIAN STACK: Hey, Steve?  COLBERT: Oh, hi, Brian. It's my writer Brian Stack, everybody. Brian, what's up?  STACK: Well, I couldn't help but notice you were talking about Nebraska. You know what they say about Nebraska? COLBERT: What's that, Brian?  STACK: No. I'm asking. Do you know what they say about Nebraska? 'Cause the writers and I are trying to cook up a real crackerjack joke and if you know anything about Nebraska, we could probably write the joke to play off of that. You know, for your monologue.  COLBERT: Brian, I'm doing the monologue right now.  STACK: Perfect-o. We'll put our noodles together, get ya something great. Big laughs, major joke, write-up in HuffPo for sure. I'll be back in one hour!  *** Comedy Central The Daily Show 4/4/2024 11:03 PM ET DESI LYDIC: As you know, the president is decided by the electoral college, the incredibly overcomplicated system that our founders came up with as a prank on future generations. Most states award all their electoral votes to whoever wins the state, but Nebraska splits theirs up by district. And in 2020, that meant Joe Biden received an electoral vote from liberal Omaha. Because as it turns out, every state has a Brooklyn. But now Donald Trump has realized that he wants that vote, and that could make all the difference.  ERIN BURNETT: Could the election all come down to Nebraska? Donald Trump thinks so. He and his allies convincing Nebraska's Republican governor to support a major change in the way the state has been doling out its electoral college votes for the past 32 years.  REPORTER: Governor Jim Pillen says, it's time for Nebraska to speak with one unified voice by making the popular vote be the one that counts for all five delegates. Former President Trump applauds that effort, but Democrats pushed back.  MEGAN HUNT: Pathetic worm Donald Trump thinks that he knows what's best for Nebraska and what Nebraskans want [jump cut] but this man [jump cut] obviously wants this electoral vote because he's so scared he can't win the presidency without it.  LYDIC: Excuse me, ma'am, whatever happened to decorum? That's former President Pathetic Worm. Yeah, but the implications here are huge. Biden's easiest path to the white house is to win Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, plus that one Nebraska vote. If he gets that, he can lose every other swing state and still win the election. But if Nebraska makes this change, the election could end up in a tie and you might be wondering what happens in that case? Well, it's simple, really: Have you seen The Purge movies? It's like that. Nebraska should really, truly keep this system, though, because it's certainly a more fair way to divide up electoral votes than winner take all. In fact, what if every state split up their votes like Nebraska by district, or maybe even by person, you know. Then, whoever wins the most persons would be the president!

Amanpour Tries to Hide Smiling at Israel Being Told 'To Go F Itself'

PBS’s Amanpour and Company is, apparently, where irony goes to die. On the Wednesday show, first aired on CNN International, host Christiane Amanpour welcomed alleged comedian Bassem Youssef, who has family in Gaza, to lament double standards in media coverage on Israeli and Palestinian suffering while the latter told Israel “to go F itself,” something no media personality would ever have any guest say about Palestinians. Amanpour recalled that “we spoke to Queen Rania on this program several times. In fact, she was actually the first leader to come out and talk about double standards, and her interview with us was incredibly widely seen. And she said, similar to you, that, you know, there is a double standard in the way Palestinian suffering has always been reported and continues to be reported. It is really hard to hear you say and hear others say that they don't look at us as people.”     There is a double standard, just not the one Amanpour thinks. The media runs story after story on Palestinian suffering, even more so than they run stories on Ukrainian suffering and unlike Hamas, Ukraine didn’t start that war, while trying to claim Hamas has nothing to do with ordinary Palestinians. The media uncritically repeats Hamas’s casualty propaganda numbers and people like Amanpour interview people like Youssef. As for Youssef, he declared, “Because they were deemed animals, terrorists, Hamas sympathizers. The thing is Israel reminds me a lot with Trump. Remember when Trump was saying lie after lie, one atrocious thing after the other, and by the time people deal with this, he's already moved on, the people are like, all right, that's Donald Trump?” Ignoring all the Hamas weapons and fighters found at various hospitals in Gaza, Youssef continued, “Israel is doing the same. You know, they're doing -- remember when we were out all the rage about like babies killed in incubators, then baby killed with hangers, and then people killed stampede. And then, it's old news now. Remember when we were talking about, did Hamas or did Israel bombed the Ali Hospital and since then, Israel bombed 36 hospitals? It's just, they move too fast.” Youssef added “And by the time you just like catch up and you corner them was like, well, ‘I'm entitled.’ They were like, ‘if you talk about it, you're anti-Semitic. I am doing this to protect myself.’ Here's the thing, every time Israel say like “Israel have the right to defend itself, Israel had the right to exist,” and I want to say like Israel have the right to go F itself. As Youssef cracked himself up, Amanpour sat there silently, unsuccessfully trying to hide the smile she knew that she, as a supposedly truth-telling journalist, was not supposed to have. Instead of calling Youssef out on his lies or observing that, despite all the talk about how Israelis benefit from double standards, she would never have on an Israeli comedian to tell the Palestinians “to go F” themselves, she offered up a weak “That's your stand-up. It's not your stand-up, actually.” Here is a transcript for the April 3 show: PBS Amanpour and Company 4/3/2024 CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: You know, we spoke to Queen Rania on this program several times. In fact, she was actually the first leader to come out and talk about double standards, and her interview with us was incredibly widely seen. And she said, similar to you, that, you know, there is a double standard in the way Palestinian suffering has always been reported and continues to be reported. It is really hard to hear you say and hear others say that they don't look at us as people. BASSEM YOUSSEF: Because they were deemed animals, terrorists, Hamas sympathizers. The thing is Israel reminds me a lot with Trump. Remember when Trump was saying lie after lie, one atrocious thing after the other, and by the time people deal with this, he's already moved on, the people are like, all right, that's Donald Trump? Israel is doing the same. You know, they're doing -- remember when we were out all the rage about like babies killed in incubators, then baby killed with hangers, and then people killed stampede. And then, it's old news now. Remember when we were talking about, did Hamas or did Israel bombed the Ali (ph) Hospital and since then, Israel bombed 36 hospitals? It's just they move too fast. And by the time you just like catch up and you corner them was like, well, “I'm entitled.” They were like, “if you talk about it, you're anti-Semitic. I am doing this to protect myself.” Here's the thing, every time Israel say like “Israel have the right to defend itself, Israel had the right to exist,” and I want to say like Israel have the right to go F itself. AMANPOUR: That's your stand-up. It's not your stand-up, actually. YOUSSEF: It's not.

Daily Show Suggests Jesus Would Approve of Transgender Visibility Day

The cast of Comedy Central’s Wednesday installment of The Daily Show managed to hit all the wrong notes as it reacted to conservative criticism of President Joe Biden recognizing Easter Sunday as Transgender Visibility Day. Temp host Desi Lydic tried to suggest that Biden had nothing to do with his own proclamations and butchered multiple Biblical references, while correspondent Michael Kosta claimed Christians should be happy because the controversy brought attention to Easter that it normally doesn’t receive because it is just “shitty Christmas.” Lydic didn’t see what the big deal was, “Yes, by total coincidence, Trans Visibility Day happened to fall on Easter this year. Which seemed like, I don't know, a good fit to me. I mean, Jesus did identify as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So, live your truth, queen! Now you wouldn't think Easter falling on a holiday that's been on March 31 for 15 years would be that big of a deal, but conservatives processed this like a child meeting the Easter Bunny: By losing their [bleep] minds.”     Two things. First, Lydic is spreading heresy to own the cons because God the Son never claimed to be God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Second, nobody forced Biden to issue a proclamation recognizing Transgender Visibility Day. He could have simply ignored it, but he chose not to. Later in her diatribe, Lydic claimed that “I’m not here to pick a fight with Easter, Easter's great, probably our best holiday featuring a bunny who crawled out of a nightmare, but the level of outrage over this is totally out of proportion to what, ultimately, was an innocuous scheduling conflict. I just-- I wish I knew the real reason they were upset. Luckily, they left us some Easter eggs.” A clip of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Fox was then played where he declared that “It's absurd and Joe Biden should be ashamed of himself. And all these people say, ‘yeah, but this is the day we've always recognized Transgender Visibility Day.’ Well, recognize it another day, not on Easter Sunday. It's an affront to the Bible and, quite frankly, it's an affront to biology. There are two genders. People can't just go in and out of one like a revolving door. It's not normal.  In response, Lydic added, “Ah, there it is. Thank you, least interesting man in the world, for saying the quiet part out loud. They don't think Transgender Visibility Day should be moved. They think trans people shouldn't be visible at all. Trans Day of Visibility could have been on National Pasta Day and they'd be like, ‘This is an affront to fettuccini!’” She also claimed “there's a false premise at the heart of this entire controversy, which is that there's even a conflict between trans people and Christianity to begin with. There isn't! In fact, the Bible doesn't say anything about trans people. It does, however, say to love thy neighbor, to not judge other people, and perhaps the most famous of Bible verses, please do not sell me for $59.99 to pay off your rape fines.” The Trump whataboutism aside, loving your neighbor does not mean affirming destructive behavior, and not judging people does not mean throwing logic out the window.  Further on in the segment, Lydic welcomed Kosta, who referenced another clip of Fox’s Jesse Watters confusing Good Friday with Resurrection Sunday, “Desi, this was good for both holidays. When was the last time you saw people this fired up about Easter, AKA, shitty Christmas? But now, thanks to this controversy, everyone, and I mean everyone, except for Jesse Watters, knows what Easter is really about.” And The Daily Show, because nobody who knows “what Easter is really about” would label it “shitty Christmas.” Here is a transcript for the April 3 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 4/3/2024 11:01 PM ET  DESI LYDIC: Yes, by total coincidence, Trans Visibility Day happened to fall on Easter this year. Which seemed like, I don't know, a good fit to me. I mean, Jesus did identify as the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit. So, live your truth, queen! Now you wouldn't think Easter falling on a holiday that's been on March 31 for 15 years would be that big of a deal, but conservatives processed this like a child meeting the Easter Bunny: By losing their [bleep] minds.  … Look, I’m not here to pick a fight with Easter, Easter's great, probably our best holiday featuring a bunny who crawled out of a nightmare, but the level of outrage over this is totally out of proportion to what, ultimately, was an innocuous scheduling conflict. I just-- I  wish I knew the real reason they were upset. Luckily, they left us some Easter eggs.  MIKE HUCKABEE: It's absurd and Joe Biden should be ashamed of himself. And all these people say, “yeah, but this is the day we've always recognized Transgender Visibility Day.” Well, recognize it another day, not on Easter Sunday. It's an affront to the Bible and, quite frankly, it's an affront to biology. There are two genders. People can't just go in and out of one like a revolving door. It's not normal.  LYDIC: Ah, there it is. Thank you, least interesting man in the world, for saying the quiet part out loud. They don't think Transgender Visibility Day should be moved. They think trans people shouldn't be visible at all. Trans Day of Visibility could have been on National Pasta Day and they'd be like, "This is an affront to fettuccini!"  And for what it's worth, there's a false premise at the heart of this entire controversy, which is that there's even a conflict between trans people and Christianity to begin with. There isn't! In fact, the Bible doesn't say anything about trans people. It does, however, say to love thy neighbor, to not judge other people, and perhaps the most famous of Bible verses, please do not sell me for $59.99 to pay off your rape fines.  … MICHAEL KOSTA:  Desi, this was good for both holidays. When was the last time you saw people this fired up about Easter, AKA, shitty Christmas? But now, thanks to this controversy, everyone, and I mean everyone, except for Jesse Watters, knows what Easter is really about. 

Meyers Demands Biden Stop Arming Israel To Save Country From Trump

Ever since October 7, the network late night comedians have largely stayed away from the Israel-Hamas War, but that changed on Wednesday when NBC Late Night host Seth Meyers demanded that President Joe Biden stop supplying weapons to Israel for the sake of his own re-election effort. Meyers failed to see that he was urging Biden to do exactly what Donald Trump was impeached for. Meyers expressed sympathy with the Democratic primary voters who refuse to vote for Biden “And yet voters still went to the polls to submit blank ballots. They are understandably upset Biden keeps claiming he's frustrated with Netanyahu's handling of the war while simultaneously sending weapons to support that war against the wishes of a majority of Americans.”     It was clear that Meyers has no idea how ceasefire negotiations work. It takes two to tango, and throughout the segment, he constantly confused wanting something with actually achieving something, “Back in February, Biden said he hoped to see a ceasefire within days and I remember him saying that because despite my best efforts, I was standing right [bleep] there. That ceasefire did not happen when Biden was asked again just a few days after that, he made it sound like there wasn't much he could do.” After playing a clip of Biden on February 29 telling reporters he was “hopeful” that there would be a ceasefire by the following Monday, an unhappy Meyers responded, “But, what do you mean you're hopeful? You're the most powerful man in the world and you're talking about it like you're the manager of the New York Mets. ‘I mean, I hope -- I hope we win a few games, but you know, if it keeps raining, we might not lose that many.’” Meyers then demanded, “You're the president. You can just say, no more funding. No more weapons. You call for a ceasefire. That's what a majority of Americans want. Including the tens of thousands of Democrats who are registering protest votes in key battleground states.” He added that “Thousands of Israelis also took to the streets this week to protest the Netanyahu government and called for a ceasefire deal to free the hostages. As we said on the show before, there must be an immediate lasting ceasefire and the safe return of all hostages. That's the loud and clear message of these protest votes, and Biden must listen, otherwise he's at risk of losing to someone whose presidency was a –” The sentence was completed with a callback clip of Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying “a complete disaster.” Speaking of Trump, he was impeached because Democrats judged that denying weapons to an ally facing a grave threat of invasion was an abuse of power because Trump put his own personal interests above the national interest by tying the aid to an investigation into the Bidens. How is denying weapons to another ally at war for the sake of your poll numbers any different? Meanwhile, CBS’s Stephen Colbert also touched on the war to an extent he had not previously on The Late Show when he urged Israel to end it. Discussing the World Central Kitchen incident, Colbert lamented, “Now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed it was a mistake, but he wasn't exactly apologetic.” After a translated clip of Netanyahu explaining that sometimes “this happens in wartime,” the noted non-military expert Colbert shot back, “Nothing just happens. You are responsible. If your answer is, ‘This happens in war,’ then maybe consider ending the war because this is not an isolated incident. On top of the thousands and thousands of innocent lives that have been lost, more than 200 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the war began.  Even if Hamas agreed to end the war and release the hostages, something neither man cared to think about beyond wishful thinking, ending the war now would not solve anything. It would just create a pause of an unknown duration between this war and the next one. Here are transcripts for the April 3-taped shows: NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers 4/4/2024 12:48 AM ET SETH MEYERS: And yet voters still went to the polls to submit blank ballots. They are understandably upset Biden keeps claiming he's frustrated with Netanyahu's handling of the war while simultaneously sending weapons to support that war against the wishes of a majority of Americans.  Back in February, Biden said he hoped to see a ceasefire within days and I remember him saying that because despite my best efforts, I was standing right [bleep] there. That ceasefire did not happen when Biden was asked again just a few days after that, he made it sound like there wasn't much he could do.  REPORTER [FEBRUARY 29]: Do you still expect a cease-fire is possible by Monday, sir?  JOE BIDEN [FEBRUARY 29]: Hope springs eternal. I was on the telephone with the people in the region. I'm still -- probably not by Monday, but I'm hopeful.  MEYERS: But, what do you mean you're hopeful? You're the most powerful man in the world and you're talking about it like you're the manager of the New York Mets. "I mean, I hope -- I hope we win a few games, but you know, if it keeps raining, we might not lose that many."  You're the president. You can just say, no more funding. No more weapons. You call for a ceasefire. That's what a majority of Americans want. Including the tens of thousands of Democrats who are registering protest votes in key battleground states.  Thousands of Israelis also took to the streets this week to protest the Netanyahu government and called for a ceasefire deal to free the hostages. As we said on the show before, there must be an immediate lasting ceasefire and the safe return of all hostages. That's the loud and clear message of these protest votes, and Biden must listen, otherwise he's at risk of losing to someone whose presidency was a –  SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: A complete disaster. *** CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 4/3/2024 11:55 PM ET STEPHEN COLBERT: Now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed it was a mistake, but he wasn't exactly apologetic.  BENJAMIN NETANYAHU [ENGLISH TRANSLATOR]: Unfortunately, in the last day there was a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip. This happens in wartime.  COLBERT: Nothing just happens. You are responsible. If your answer is, "This happens in war," then maybe consider ending the war because this is not an isolated incident. On top of the thousands and thousands of innocent lives that have been lost, more than 200 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the war began. 

Citation Needed: Reid Claims Oklahoma Doesn't Want To Teach Tulsa Massacre

MSNBC’s Joy Reid closed out the Tuesday edition of The ReidOut by welcoming Damario Solomon-Simmons, an attorney representing survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre who are seeking reparations. During the interview, Reid claimed, without any evidence, that Oklahoma is seeking to ban teaching about the massacre. Reid claimed that “Oklahoma is a state that is not exactly in favor of telling all of the history, as that justice made it clear, they don't do that.” She then asked, “What do you make of the fact that even now you have some Oklahoma officials who are trying to ban history that would include the history of the Tulsa massacre, even as your case is going on?”     The Tulsa Race Massacre has been part of Oklahoma education standards since 2002. In 2019, the state made those requirements even more specific. What Reid is probably trying to say, in her usual dishonest way, is that anti-Critical Race Theory laws that ensure that today’s students are not made to feel responsible for yesterday’s crimes are somehow stifling teachers, which makes no sense given the standards explicit mention of the massacre. For his part, Solomon-Simmons tried to portray this fake controversy about history in schools to real struggles for civil rights in previous decades: You know, Joy, I remember 20, 25 years ago, when I was in college, a freshman, myself in college, I was thinking man, I wish I was born, you know, during the 60s and fight those fights. I never thought I'd be fighting the same type of things today and that’s what we are actually doing and it's sad and, you know, I speak to my 88-year-old father-in-law, who just turned 88 a couple of weeks ago, Aubrey Winston and I was saying ‘man, can you believe we are still dealing with the stuff you were dealing with growing up in the 40s and 50s’ and, you know, it’s, kind of, disheartening but, at the same time, I'm blessed to stand on the shoulders of the ancestors who have gone through so much more.  The comparison was crazy enough that Solomon-Simmons implied that he didn’t actually believe it, “I mean, your great new book Medgar Evers and the love with his beautiful wife, Mrs. Evers, I’ve reading that just thinking about this man with fighting in Mississippi in the 50s and the 60s when houses were being bombed, people were getting shot at, he was assassinated, so as hard as it is right now for us, it really pales in comparison of our ancestors.” The duo deciding to lament non-existent history bans suggests they missed the day when their teachers went over the importance of citing your sources. Here is a transcript for the April 2 show: MSNBC The ReidOut 4/2/2024 7:59 PM ET JOY REID: You obviously, Oklahoma is a state that is not exactly in favor of telling all of the history, as that justice made it clear, they don't do that. What do you make of the fact that even now you have some Oklahoma officials who are trying to ban history that would include the history of the Tulsa massacre, even as your case is going on? DAMARIO SOLOMON-SIMMONS: You know, Joy, I remember 20, 25 years ago, when I was in college, a freshman, myself in college, I was thinking man, I wish I was born, you know, during the 60s and fight those fights. I never thought I'd be fighting the same type of things today and that’s what we are actually doing and it's sad and, you know, I speak to my 88-year-old father-in-law, who just turned 88 a couple of weeks ago, Aubrey Winston and I was saying “man, can you believe we are still dealing with the stuff you were dealing with growing up in the 40s and 50s” and, you know, it’s, kind of, disheartening but, at the same time, I'm blessed to stand on the shoulders of the ancestors who have gone through so much more.  I mean, your great new book Medgar Evers and the love with his beautiful wife, Mrs. Evers, I’ve reading that just thinking about this man with fighting in Mississippi in the 50s and the 60s when houses were being bombed, people were getting shot at, he was assassinated, so as hard as it is right now for us, it really pales in comparison of our ancestors and I’m glad to stand on their shoulders to try to make life better for African-Americans and for this entire country.

Guthrie: NBC Hiring McDaniel Crossed 'The Line,' Bosses Admitted 'Mistake'

NBC’s Today anchor Savannah Guthrie traveled to CBS and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday to promote her new book, but before that, Colbert couldn’t help but ask about Ronna McDaniel-gate.  Guthrie claimed that the NBC brass “acknowledged a mistake” in hiring the former RNC chairwoman because “there’s a line and the line is truth.” A half-sincere, half-joking Colbert asked, “Well, one of the big stories about NBC and about NBC News recently was the hiring of and firing of Ronna McDaniel, who used to be head of the RNC, and so my question for you is why did you, Savannah Guthrie, personally make that decision to hire her? I want you to answer for your crimes. Why did you think that was the best idea?”     After some crosstalk and jests where Guthrie insisted she was still employed by NBC and therefore not going to say anything too crazy, she recalled, “No, I mean, look, it was an unpleasant few days at our network. No question about it.” Colbert followed up by wondering, “Did you know this was going to happen?” After Guthrie replied “absolutely not,” he repeated himself, “So, there was no, like, company-wide email saying 'oh, heads-up, tomorrow we're going to announce this?'” Guthrie recalled, “No, no, no, I was not in the know. I knew nothing about it and, look, the bosses made a decision, they reversed that decision, they acknowledged a mistake, and we moved on, and the only thing I'll say about it is number one, I didn't have anything to do with it.” Paying lip service to the idea that outlets like NBC should have a variety of voices, Guthrie continued, “But look, I think the instinct to try to have a diversity of opinions and a diversity of perspectives and voices as we cover an election is the right instinct, and it's complex, and it's made more complex by the politics that we have right now, but, you know, I went to law school. In law school, we learned that if you didn't engage the counterargument, if you didn't know what all sides were saying, your own position was quite weak.” However, she was still glad to see that McDaniel was eventually let go, “So, I feel that particularly in mainstream media, we need to include an array of voices. But there's a line, and the line is truth. The line is facts and the line is you have to be someone upholding our democracy and that’s to me where the line is.” That would be more credible if NBC/MSNBC followed up by hiring at least one consistent conservative voice or didn't spread false information on a regular basis, if the media didn’t routinely freak out about conservative hires, or didn’t play nice with Democratic election deniers. The Late Show, meanwhile, never has any conservative voices unless Colbert ends up getting more than he bargained for when speaking to Liz Cheney. Here is a transcript for the April 2 show: CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 4/3/2024 12:06 AM ET STEPHEN COLBERT: Well, one of the big stories about NBC and about NBC News recently was the hiring of and firing of Ronna McDaniel, who used to be head of the RNC, and so my question for you is why did you, Savannah Guthrie, personally make that decision to hire her? SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: I’m glad that you— COLBERT: I want you to answer for your crimes. Why did you think that was the best idea?  GUTHRIE: I'm glad you have given me this platform— COLBERT: Thank you. GUTHRIE: Let me see if I can make this as boring as possible, this answer and I do still work there, you know that, right?  COLBERT: Sure, yeah. I do. I do. GUTHRIE: Do you have any openings around here? COLBERT: Yeah. So, yeah. GUTHRIE: No, I mean, look, it was an unpleasant few days at our network. No question about it. COLBERT: Did you know this was going to happen?  GUTHRIE: Absolutely not.  COLBERT: So, there was no, like, company-wide email saying “oh, heads-up, tomorrow we're going to announce this?” GUTHRIE: No, no, no, I was not in the know. I knew nothing about it and, look, the bosses made a decision, they reversed that decision, they acknowledged a mistake and, we moved on, and the only thing I'll say about it is number one, I didn't have anything to do with it.  But look, I think the instinct to try to have a diversity of opinions and a diversity of perspectives and voices as we cover an election is the right instinct, and it's complex, and it's made more complex by the politics that we have right now, but, you know, I went to law school. In law school, we learned that if you didn't engage the counterargument, if you didn't know what all sides were saying, your own position was quite weak.  So, I feel that particularly in mainstream media, we need to include an array of voices. But there's a line, and the line is truth. The line is facts and the line is you have to be someone upholding our democracy and that’s to me where the line is. 

Daily Show Hypes Abortion, Allows For Fake News In Interview With Cruz Challenger

If you are a Democrat who wants a softball interview and the ability to spread fake news unchallenged, you go on a late night comedy program like Rep. Colin Allred going on Tuesday’s edition of The Daily Show to hype his campaign against Sen. Ted Cruz. Throughout the interview, host Desi Lydic would lob him easy questions about abortion and leave unchallenged his claims that Republicans are trying to suppress the vote, ban books, and ban certain hairstyles. Lydic wondered, “Texas was one of the first states to criminalize abortion. What would be your plans to protect and restore women's reproductive rights?”     Allred began his lengthy defense of abortion with a combination of strangeness and callousness as he cited the birth of his two sons, “My wife and I, we’ve had two boys in Dallas in the last five years. I went to every ultrasound appointment, every genetic testing and, you know, those rooms, when you're having those conversations with your doctor, they are too small to have somebody like Ted Cruz in there with you.” He also lamented that 26,000 babies were not given the death penalty for the sins of somebody else, “What's happening in Texas is really, it’s a tragedy. We've had 26,000 women who've had to give birth to their rapist's child since the laws have gone into place.” After some additional abortion promotion from Allred, Lydic hoped the issue might propel him to victory, “Voter turnout is going to be critical for you to flip the seat. It's been estimated that 9.5 million registered voters didn't vote in the last election. How will you encourage Texans to get out and vote and does it rhyme with ‘Schmashmortion’?”  Allred switched topics and instead suggested Republicans are trying to suppress the vote “As you mentioned, I was a civil rights lawyer, but I was a voting rights lawyer specifically before I ran for Congress and to me, there is nothing more important to getting, you know, Texans and our fellow Americans engaged in our democracy and in Texas, we make it way too difficult to vote, but I want folks to know, there's a reason why they're trying to make it harder for you to vote. Why are they trying to take your voice away? Why are they trying so hard to make it difficult for you to be engaged?” Despite his lamentations about alleged voter suppression, Allred also suggested that older voters’ opinions should not be taken as seriously as younger ones “? And to our young people, one of those things where you would not let your grandparents pick your playlist for the next six years. Don't let them pick your senator, right?” Lydic loved that analogy, “That is such a great way to put it. Yes.” Allred continued in his conspiracy theorizing, “They've taken away women's right to choose, the ability to make your own decisions about your body, they’re banning books, kicking kids out of school because of their hairstyle.” Nobody is banning books, and as for the hairstyle controversy, that was a school district—not the state—and the suspended student defended himself by citing a state law, although a judge ultimately ruled the school district acted legally, arguing it is permissible to regulate male hair length.   Not that Lydic cared, “I so appreciate the work you do and I so appreciate you being on the show tonight. I wish you the best of luck.”  Here is a transcript for the April 2 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 4/2/2024 11:26 PM ET DESI LYDIC: Texas was one of the first states to criminalize abortion. What would be your plans to protect and restore women's reproductive rights?  COLIN ALLRED: My wife and I, we’ve had two boys in Dallas in the last five years. I went to every ultrasound appointment, every genetic testing and, you know, those rooms, when you're having those conversations with your doctor, they are too small to have somebody like Ted Cruz in there with you.  What's happening in Texas is really, it’s a tragedy. We've had 26,000 women who've had to give birth to their rapist's child since the laws have gone into place. We've had stories of Kate Cox, a mother of two who had a pregnancy, she had to go to the emergency room four times. Her doctor said she did a medically necessary abortion and she asked her state, “can I have it close to home because I have a one and a 3-year-old at home” and they said, no and they didn't just say no, they said if you do this, we we’re going to prosecute you, your doctor, your hospital. We've counties saying you can't drive through the county, if you use the roads to access an abortion. I mean, that doesn't sound like freedom to me. I know one thing about us as Texans is that we believe in freedom and so to me, the only way we can restore this right to Texas women and families is at the federal level by codifying Roe v. Wade.  LYDIC: Voter turnout is going to be critical for you to flip the seat. It's been estimated that 9.5 million registered voters didn't vote in the last election. How will you encourage Texans to get out and vote and does it rhyme with "Schmashmortion"?  ALLRED: As you mentioned, I was a civil rights lawyer, but I was a voting rights lawyer specifically before I ran for Congress and to me, there is nothing more important to getting, you know, Texans and our fellow Americans engaged in our democracy and in Texas, we make it way too difficult to vote, but I want folks to know, there's a reason why they're trying to make it harder for you to vote. Why are they trying to take your voice away? Why are they trying so hard to make it difficult for you to be engaged? Don't let them do it. Right? And to our young people, one of those things where you would not let your grandparents pick your playlist for the next six years. Don't let them pick your senator, right?  LYDIC: That is such a great way to put it. Yes.  ALLRED: So, I mean, I think it’s also true that we have to talk about what's at stake. To me, in Texas, what is at stake is our fundamental freedoms. They've taken away women's right to choose, the ability to make your own decisions about your body, they’re banning books, kicking kids out of school because of their hairstyle.  I mean, to me, this is fundamentally about who we are as Texans and as Americans and we have to restore freedom in Texas and across this country and I think folks are going to come out and stand up for that.  LYDIC: I so appreciate the work you do and I so appreciate you being on the show tonight. I wish you the best of luck. 

CNN: Focusing On Illegal Immigrant Murders Demonizes 'Brown Folks'

In the world of CNN, Donald Trump and conservative media’s focus on illegal immigrant murderers is just an attempt to blame “brown folks” for all of the country’s problems. Inside Politics host Dana Bash and national politics correspondent Eva McKend’s Monday assessment came as Trump traveled to Michigan, where a young woman was recently murdered by an illegal immigrant. Before the table discussion, correspondent Alayna Treene was in Michigan to set the scene, “And as part of that crime push, he's actually invited the family of a woman named Ruby Garcia to his Michigan event who, Ruby Garcia, was recently killed here in Michigan by an undocumented immigrant, and police authorities say that it was a domestic dispute.”     That is a sanitized version of what happened. Not only was the man previously deported, but the murder also took place during a carjacking. Still, Bash accused Trump and conservatives of cherry-picking, “The fact that Trump is going to be pushing what you just heard him talking-- he's trying to call it an epidemic. It's, you know, there are certainly some high-profile examples of some violence. He's calling it migrant crime. I call it high-profile because in many ways, conservative media is trying to focus on a couple of really horrible events and make it as if it's perhaps more brought, not perhaps make it sound like it is more broad than it is. Fact.” The media cherry-picks all the time to fit their narratives, whether it’s the relationship between minorities and the police, guns, women seeking abortions, the morality or intelligence of certain Trump supporters, or any other topic that might make conservatives look bad, but an issue where liberals look bad is where Inside Politics decides to draw the line and insist that anecdotes not be confused for trends.  As for McKend, she managed to be even crazier, “Yeah, Dana, the playbook is largely going to remain the same. He wants to continue to demonize immigrants. He wants to continue to try to argue to Americans, ‘these brown folks, they are the real reasons for your problems.’"  McKend also ignored polls that show immigration is becoming a crucial issue for voters when she tried to dismiss Trump’s focus on the issue as unwise, “The issue, though, when I speak to voters, is that, by and large, this is not where the anxieties lie. So, voters will often address the economy, stagnant wages, high grocery prices, buying a home as all real concerns, but because he is using this playbook again of punching down on immigrants, we'll have to see if-- how this plays.” How calling attention to the fact that someone with the last name Garcia was murdered by somebody who snuck across the border is “punching down on immigrants” or “brown folks” was something that McKend never cared to explain. Here is a transcript for the April 2 show: CNN Inside Politics with Dana Bash 4/2/2024 12:03 PM ET ALAYNA TREENE: And as part of that crime push, he's actually invited the family of a woman named Ruby Garcia to his Michigan event who, Ruby Garcia, was recently killed here in Michigan by an undocumented immigrant, and police authorities say that it was a domestic dispute. … DANA BASH: The fact that Trump is going to be pushing what you just heard him talking-- he's trying to call it an epidemic. It's, you know, there are certainly some high-profile examples of some violence. He's calling it migrant crime. I call it high-profile because in many ways, conservative media is trying to focus on a couple of really horrible events and make it as if it's perhaps more brought, not perhaps make it sound like it is more broad than it is. Fact.  EVA MCKEND: Yeah, Dana, the playbook is largely going to remain the same. He wants to continue to demonize immigrants. He wants to continue to try to argue to Americans, "these brown folks, they are the real reasons for your problems."  The issue, though, when I speak to voters, is that, by and large, this is not where the anxieties lie. So, voters will often address the economy, stagnant wages, high grocery prices, buying a home as all real concerns, but because he is using this playbook again of punching down on immigrants, we'll have to see if-- how this plays. 

Colbert, Meyers Mock Concern Over White House's Transgender Easter Proclamation

Stephen Colbert, Biden fundraiser and host of The Late Show on CBS, demanded on Monday that those who condemned President Biden for issuing a proclamation on Easter Sunday recognizing Transgender Day of Visibility get over it because Biden, apparently, has nothing to do with his own actions and because Easter sometimes falls on different days. It was a sentiment echoed by NBC Late Night host Seth Meyers as both men claimed conservatives are hypocrites for not being outraged that Easter sometimes falls on April Fools' Day. Colbert was up first, and he, a supposedly devout Catholic, didn’t see what the big deal was, “Over the weekend, Trump also attacked Biden over the fact that Easter, this year, coincided with Transgender Day of Visibility. So what? And Biden had nothing to do with that. Since 2009, International Transgender Day of Visibility has been held annually on March 31. The date of Easter, meanwhile, changes from year to year.”     Sure, Biden didn’t have anything to do with the selection of March 31, but he absolutely had something to do with the proclamation. Nobody forced the White House to do that. However, Colbert was just getting started, “I've got some bad news for people who are upset that another thing was celebrated on Easter this year because it's gonna keep happening. In 2029, Easter is going to fall on April Fools' Day. Oh! So my religion is a big joke to you? Is that what it is? Or are you claiming that Jesus didn't actually rise from the dead? It was all a big prank on the apostles. You got Jesus'd! And smoke 'em if you got 'em, because just next year, Easter falls on 4/20.” If Biden issued a proclamation celebrating drug use on Easter, that would also be wrong. April Fools' Day, on the other hand, is a fun day that is not contrary to Easter. Transgenderism, on the other hand, relies on the premise that God made a mistake in creating someone male or female. If God makes mistakes, He is not perfect. If he is not perfect, He is not God. If He is not God, He could not have rose from the dead on that first Easter Sunday.     Later, on NBC, Meyers introduced a series of news clips from Fox and CNN of the conservative pushback to Biden’s proclamation, “But Trump's lunacy is not an aberration within the GOP. It's the norm. They spent all weekend furious about the fact that Transgender Day of Visibility just happened to fall on the same day as Easter this year, and they blamed it on Joe Biden rather than the real reason, the calendar.” After the montage, Meyers took the opportunity to do some “but Trump” whataboutism. Referencing a Trump post on Truth Social, Meyers huffed, “Yeah, we should have a more respectful Easter proclamation that puts the emphasis where it's deserved. Evil Fani Willis, Sick Jack Smith, and the corrupt judges and prosecutors who despise America. Not only did Trump not mention religion in his screed, everyone who read it took the Lord's name in vain. Jesus [bleep] Christ with this guy.” Like Colbert, Meyers also tried to suggest that Biden had nothing to do with his own proclamation and that Transgender Day of Visibility is analogous to April Fools' Day, “I can't believe I have to explain this, but sometimes two things happen on the same day. For example, in 2018, Easter and April Fools' were the same day, and I don't recall any Republicans going on Fox and claiming, the sacred resurrection of Christ has been sullied by all these frivolous pranks and goofs, although who can forget when Mary Magdalene rushed to Jesus' tomb, discovered it was empty, and told Peter and John, ‘My dudes, I think we've been pranked.’"  Indeed, two things can happen on the same day, such as two late night hosts completely missing the point. Here is a transcript for the April 1-taped shows: CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 4/1/2023 11:41 PM ET STEPHEN COLBERT: But in the world of made up outrage, there's always Plan B. Over the weekend, Trump also attacked Biden over the fact that Easter, this year, coincided with Transgender Day of Visibility. So what? And Biden had nothing to do with that. Since 2009, International Transgender Day of Visibility has been held annually on March 31. The date of Easter, meanwhile, changes from year to year. Of course everyone knows the formula for setting the date of Easter.  AUDIENCE: The first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox.  COLBERT: See? I've got some bad news for people who are upset that another thing was celebrated on Easter this year because it's gonna keep happening. In 2029, Easter is going to fall on April Fools' Day. Oh! So my religion is a big joke to you? Is that what it is? Or are you claiming that Jesus didn't actually rise from the dead? It was all a big prank on the apostles. You got Jesus'd! And smoke 'em if you got 'em, because just next year, Easter falls on 4/20.  *** NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers 4/2/2024 12:45 PM ET SETH MEYERS: But Trump's lunacy is not an aberration within the GOP. It's the norm. They spent all weekend furious about the fact that Transgender Day of Visibility just happened to fall on the same day as Easter this year, and they blamed it on Joe Biden rather than the real reason, the calendar.  VICTOR BLACKWELL: Republicans are criticizing the White House over a statement that acknowledges today, March 31st, as the Transgender Day of Visibility. Their issue is that today is also Easter.  AMARA WALKER: This year the two days only coincided by chance. The Day of Visibility is held every year on March 31st while the date for Easter changes year to year.  LUCAS TOMLINSON: House Speaker Mike Johnson rebuked Biden, saying, quote, "The Biden White House has betrayed the central tenet of Easter, which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, banning sacred truth and tradition while at the same time proclaiming Easter Sunday as Transgender Day."  LISA BOOTHE: Well, this is a clear effort and a coordinated effort to remove God from our society and to replace God with false gods, and in this instance, it's the trans community.  MEYERS: Yeah, we should have a more respectful Easter proclamation that puts the emphasis where it's deserved. Evil Fani Willis, Sick Jack Smith, and the corrupt judges and prosecutors who despise America. Not only did Trump not mention religion in his screed, everyone who read it took the Lord's name in vain. Jesus [bleep] Christ with this guy.  I can't believe I have to explain this, but sometimes two things happen on the same day. For example, in 2018, Easter and April Fools' were the same day, and I don't recall any Republicans going on Fox and claiming, the sacred resurrection of Christ has been sullied by all these frivolous pranks and goofs, although who can forget when Mary Magdalene rushed to Jesus' tomb, discovered it was empty, and told Peter and John, "My dudes, I think we've been pranked." 

Fallon, Clinton Implore People To Back Biden: 'Get Out There And Vote'

NBC’s Jimmy Fallon welcomed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Monday’s edition of The Tonight Show to not only promote her new Broadway play about the women’s suffrage movement but also give those watching who may not be fans of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden a pep talk on the need to fall in line behind the latter. Fallon asked, “I mean, it’s Biden versus Trump. We know that. What do you say to voters who are upset that those are the two choices?” Showing all the lack of ability to connect with voters that she did in 2016, Clinton told such voters to “Get over yourself, those are the two choices.”     Fallon agreed, because even the least partisan of the four broadcast network late night talk show hosts is willing to turn his show into The DNC Show on occasion, “Yeah, love that. Yeah, good.” Clinton continued, “And, you know, it's kind of like one is old and effective and compassionate has a heart, and really cares about people. And one is old and has been charged with 91 felonies… I don't understand why this is even a hard choice, really.” Three of those were recently dismissed, but details aside, Clinton kept rolling, “I don't understand it, but we have to go through the election, and hopefully people will realize what's at stake, because it's an existential question. What kind of country we're going to have, what kind of democracy we're going to have, and people who blow that off are not paying attention because, it's not like Trump, his enablers, his empowerers, his allies, are not telling us what they want to do. I mean, they're pretty clear about what kind of country they want.” Thinking the whole discussion was an appropriate segue to discuss the play, Fallon urged people to “get out there and vote which is a good—” Clinton cut him off to echo his sentiment, “Get out there and vote. Well, that's what this is really about. Get out there and vote.” She likewise then transitioned to talk about the play and the history surrounding it.  Here is a transcript for the April 1 show: NBC The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 4/1/2024 11:59 PM ET JIMMY FALLON: I mean, it’s Biden versus Trump. HILLARY CLINTON: Yes, it is. It is. FALLON: We know that. What do you say to voters who are upset that those are the two choices?  CLINTON: Get over yourself, those are the two choices.  FALLON: Yeah, love that. Yeah, good.  CLINTON: And, you know, it's kind of like one is old and effective and compassionate-- FALLON: yeah. CLINTON: -- has a heart, and really cares about people. And one is old and has been charged with 91 felonies.  FALLON: Yeah, okay.  CLINTON: I mean.  FALLON: Okay, interesting.  CLINTON: I don't understand why this is even a hard choice, really. FALLON: Yeah. Yeah. CLINTON: I don't understand it, but we have to go through the election, and hopefully people will realize what's at stake, because it's an existential question. What kind of country we're going to have, what kind of democracy we're going to have, and people who blow that off are not paying attention because, it's not like Trump, his enablers, his empowerers, his allies, are not telling us what they want to do. I mean, they're pretty clear about what kind of country they want.  FALLON: Yeah, get out there and vote which is a good--  CLINTON: Get out there and vote. Well, that's what this is really about. Get out there and vote. 

Take The April Fool's Facebook Fact-Checkers Quiz

It is April 1 which means the news consumer must be extra aware for hijinks, tomfoolery, and other assortments of fake news. While some may have great fun with tales of pitchers who can throw 168 mile an hour fastballs while wearing a hiking boot on one foot and being barefoot on the other, the fact-checkers that are part of Facebook’s anti-disinformation campaign may beg to differ. Facebook’s program of third-party fact-checkers exists, so they tell us, to prevent the spread of fake news and disinformation, to save democracy, and hold the liars, spinsters, exaggerators, and satirists accountable. On this April Fool’s Day, we have collected a series of headlines from Facebook’s fact-checking partners at PolitiFact, USA Today, AP, Factcheck.org, Reuters, AFP, and Lead Stories from the first three months of 2024. Your task is to go through the following test and pick the real, democracy-saving headline from the one that we made up.  Loading… How did you do? Did you help save democracy? On a more serious note, the thing about conspiracy theorists is that fact-checking websites will not convince them that they are wrong. Instead, if a fact-checker claims the conspiracy is false, the theorist will claim that is just proof that the conspiracy is true because “that’s just what they want you to believe” or “that’s just what somebody who is in on it would say,” so even the most obvious fact-checks that 99 percent of people agree with, do not actually help combat fake news, but they might help perpetuate it by playing to the conspiracy theorist’s paranoia and sense of possessing some bit of forbidden knowledge.

PolitiFact Slaps 'False' Rating On Babylon Bee Joke About Pete Buttigieg

The professional fact-checking industry has run into problems with The Babylon Bee before and some have responded better than others. Some outlets, like Snopes and USA Today, have a “satire” label. For PolitiFact, on the other hand, a satirical joke about Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is no laughing matter as it rated a Wednesday Bee article about him “false.” A Friday PolitiFact headline read, “Satirical headline about Pete Buttigieg and the Key Bridge taken out of context.” Ciara O’Rourke added more details, “A recent Facebook post shared a headline from a satire website but not everyone got the joke.” She continued, ‘“Buttigieg praises cargo ship for helping dismantle racism in American roads,’ the headline said alongside photos of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the cargo ship that crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.” The post “was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed,” meaning that the account that shared the Bee’s image is now considered the same threat to truth as those who think Donald Trump and Joe Biden are dead.  Incredibly, the Facebook post that was flagged clearly includes a box that urges people to “read the article at BabylonBee.com.” Not only did O’Rourke flag the Facebook user, she also joke-checked the Bee itself, “Comments Buttigieg made in 2021 are being taken out of context since the Key Bridge’s collapse. PolitiFact debunked another social media post that claimed the transportation secretary blamed the bridge’s collapse on ‘racism.’” O’Rourke explained that “Rather, in a 2021 interview, Buttigieg said racism has sometimes factored into highway planning and construction.” Yes, that’s the joke. It is a callback to Buttigieg’s earlier comments and the perception that the secretary of Transportation is actually the secretary of Woke Transportation. Satire, whether its from The Babylon Bee or The Onion, relies on readers being sophisticated enough to understand unmentioned facts or memories, like the roads comment, to comprehend the point of the joke. If the Bee mentioned the roads comment, it wouldn't be satire, it would just be another anti-Buttigieg editorial. O’Rourke concludes by proclaiming that “We rate claims that Buttigieg actually praised a cargo ship for helping to dismantle racism in American roads False.” If PolitiFact wants to point out that people fall for satirical headlines, it should create a satire label. In response to criticism, Snopes finally made the change five years ago. There’s no reason for PolitiFact to still be treating satire as if it is on the same level as unironic claims.

Reid Accuses Thomas Of Selling Out For 'A Fabulous Lifestyle'

On Monday, MSNBC’s Joy Reid claimed that her objection to NBC hiring former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel was not because she was a Republican and that she has no problem welcoming them to her show. The rest of the week discredited that notion, and Friday’s edition of The ReidOut was just the latest example of Reid living in her bubble as she suggested Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has sold out for “a fabulous lifestyle.” Reid’s dislike of the Supreme Court goes beyond Thomas, as she addressed her panel of SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah and author Clay Cane, “The Supreme Court is very clear that some of them are just like ‘we want Trump back.’”     Trying to come up with some proof for her claim, she added that “they also just want Republicans to win. The Supreme Court has slow walked an illegal Congressional map in South Carolina, they’re like ‘No, y’all got to vote on that map. You have to use that map because we can’t be bothered to get ourselves together to fix it.’” That assumes there’s something that needs fixing, as Obeidallah admitted when he condemned the Court for not having ruled on the map. “Yeah, and just to inform people, you know, about a year ago, a three panel—federal judges said the map where Nancy Mace represents is an illegal gerrymander. It dilutes the votes of black people. They argued before the Supreme Court last fall and this Supreme Court, GOP Court has not delivered an opinion. The result is a practical matter. They’re going to run the election on illegal maps.”  For Obeidallah, a Supreme Court that rules against him is a “GOP Court,” but one that would rule for him is simply “the judiciary,” and he demanded Democrats pack the court as a result, “And they still—this GOP Court, everybody has to view it the same way, it’s part of the GOP. It is not in the judiciary,it’s part of the apparatus. So, Democrats have to make expanding this Court and bringing judiciary to the judiciary one of the big things because they’re delaying the immunity case. The only thing they were fast on was the 14th Amendment case to make sure Trump got back on the ballot.“ Of course, that was a 9-0 case, but some narratives are allowed to supersede facts at The ReidOut. On Thomas specifically, Reid turned to Cane, whose book is about how terrible black conservatives are, and asked him, “You did write The Grift, explain Clarence Thomas, why is Clarence Thomas?” If Reid was serious about her Monday claim about hearing Republican perspectives, she could’ve brought on an actual conservative or former Thomas clerk, but instead Cane offered up a quite lazy, but satisfying for MSNBC response of “And Ginni Thomas. I call her a 10th member of the Supreme Court. That’s what I call her. Hey, listen, he put in a blueprint. He’s etched it in stone and he is—it’s been profitable for him. I guess he’ll be on more yachts from Harlan Crow—.” For Reid, it is unfathomable that Thomas could possibly disagree with her, “He’s essentially trading and I don't know if he believes this stuff or not, but essentially his votes are traded for a fabulous lifestyle that he couldn’t get from a job and the irony is he couldn’t get the job you wanted to be a rich lawyer because of racism.” For someone who claims to place a great emphasis on facts, Joy Reid sure does do a lot of projecting and motive questioning. Here is a transcript for the March 29 show: MSNBC The ReidOut 3/29/2024 7:51 PM ET JOY REID: The Supreme Court is very clear that some of them are just like “we want Trump back.” DEAN OBEIDALLAH: Yeah. REID: And they also just want Republicans to win. The Supreme Court has slow walked an illegal Congressional map in South Carolina, they’re like “No, y’all got to vote on that map. You have to use that map because we can’t be bothered to get ourselves together to fix it.” So, it seems to me that at this point the Supreme Court is in the business of trying to get Trump and Republicans elected.  OBEIDALLAH: Yeah, and just to inform people, you know, about a year ago, a three panel—federal judges said the map where Nancy Mace represents is an illegal gerrymander. REID: Yeah. OBEIDALLAH: It dilutes the votes of black people. They argued before the Supreme Court last fall— REID: Yeah. OBEIDALLAH: — and this Supreme Court, GOP Court has not delivered an opinion. The result is a practical matter. They’re going to run the election on illegal maps.  REID: Yeah. OBEIDALLAH: And they still—this GOP Court, everybody has to view it the same way, it’s part of the GOP. It is not in the judiciary— REID: Exactly. OBEIDALLAH: — it’s part of the apparatus. So, Democrats have to make expanding this Court and bringing judiciary to the judiciary— REID: Yeah. OBEIDALLAH: —one of the big things because they’re delaying the immunity case.  REID: Yeah. OBEIDALLAH: The only thing they were fast on was the 14th Amendment case— REID: Yeah. OBEIDALLAH: — to make sure Trump got back on the ballot.  REID: Get him back on the ballot. You did write The Grift, explain Clarence Thomas, why is Clarence Thomas? CLAY CANE: And Ginni Thomas. I call her a 10th member of the Supreme Court. REID: Yeah. CANE: That’s what I call her. Hey, listen, he put in a blueprint. He’s etched it in stone and he is—it’s been profitable for him. I guess he’ll be on more yachts from Harlan Crow—. REID: He’s essentially trading and I don't know if he believes this stuff or not, but essentially his votes are traded for a fabulous lifestyle that he couldn’t get from a job and the irony is he couldn’t get the job you wanted to be a rich lawyer because of racism. 

PBS Attacks NBC's 'Gigantic Mistake' Of Hiring Ronna McDaniel

New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor and MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart came together on Friday’s PBS NewsHour to lament NBC’s “gigantic mistake” of hiring former RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, whom they promptly fired after backlash from Capehart and his colleagues. Host William Brangham set the stage by asking Brooks, “there was a revolt amongst many NBC anchors, who said, we can't have someone who actively tried to undo the last election be on our payroll and be on our airwaves. How do you — what do you — what do you make of how that played out?”     Brooks began, “I was glad they had the instinct to get more Trump-supporting people on the air. I think that's something we all need to work on.” However, things then went off the rails, “But here was someone clearly over the line. Like, to be on our air and our newspapers, you got to have some intellectual credibility. You have to have some primary commitment to the truth and the truth above partisanship and she was someone who clearly fails that test. I'm so old-fashioned that our founder here, Jim Lehrer, didn't vote. Like, he just thought, journalists, we don't do that.” How about the intellectual credibility of portraying yourself as the conservative half of Brooks and Capehart while routinely siding with him? Brooks did acknowledge that being a contributor who is paid to give opinions is different than someone who is supposed to be a straight news person, but he also displayed some double standards, “Now, there are people who have gone from being a politico to being a journalist. George Stephanopoulos comes to mind and lots of people.” He wrapped up his thoughts by adding, “You got to realize it's a different job with a different set of priorities, a different set of ethics. And to get somebody right off the RNC on the air as an analyst strikes me as just a gigantic mistake.” Jen Psaki came directly from the White House to be Capehart’s colleague at MSNBC, but Brangham didn’t ask either man about that. Instead, he turned to Capehart and wondered, “You are an employee of NBC and MSNBC and an anchor on one of — the wonderful show on that network. How did you respond to this?” Capehart proudly recalled, “I sent an e-mail — from my team. I wrote in response, I want to be clear, she will never be on our show, for the exact reasons David talked about.” He added, “this is not a partisan issue. This was a democracy issue. Every week, Saturday and Sunday, there's at least one block on my show where we talk about either the threats to democracy, how democracy is at risk, the role Trump is playing at putting our democracy at risk.” Continuing with his self-righteous ramblings, Capehart declared, “To have someone come on my show, where my — first and foremost, no matter who's watching, my duty is to present the facts. The privilege I have is to be able to say, as an opinion writer and as a prospective host on MSNBC, is I get to say what I think about those facts that I’ve reported. It would do the show no good and it would do my viewers no favors and would be a disservice to put someone on like Ronna McDaniel.” Apparently, Capehart is trying to get into comedy. Here is a transcript for the March 29 show: PBS NewsHour 3/29/2024 7:42 PM ET WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  OK, my next question. I want to talk about what happened with Ronna McDaniel at NBC. For those who are not following this, she was hired by NBC to be an on-air contributor. She's the former chairperson of the Republican National Committee and there was a revolt amongst many NBC anchors, who said, we can't have someone who actively tried to undo the last election be on our payroll and be on our airwaves. How do you — what do you — what do you make of how that played out? DAVID BROOKS: I was glad they had the instinct to get more Trump-supporting people on the air. I think that's something we all need to work on. But here was someone clearly over the line. Like, to be on our air and our newspapers, you got to have some intellectual credibility. You have to have some primary commitment to the truth and the truth above partisanship and she was someone who clearly fails that test. I'm so old-fashioned that our founder here, Jim Lehrer, didn't vote. Like, he just thought, journalists, we don't do that. I don't go as far as Jim did. But I do think there's a difference between being a politico, which is, I admire them, and what we do. They — we talk of — we're supposed to be — represent the truth first and foremost and criticize the parties. And their job is to criticize them as to be partisan. Now, there are people who have gone from being a politico to being a journalist. George Stephanopoulos comes to mind and lots of people. BRANGHAM: Sure. BROOKS: But you got to have — you got to realize it's a different job with a different set of priorities, a different set of ethics. And to get somebody right off the RNC on the air as an analyst strikes me as just a gigantic mistake. BRANGHAM: I mean, you are an employee of NBC and MSNBC and an anchor on one of — the wonderful show on that network. How did you respond to this? JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, let's be clear that the Ronna McDaniel hiring was an NBC News hire. I'm at MSNBC. I'm not at NBC News. And when the announcement was made, e-mail came into the inbox. I sent an e-mail — from my team. I wrote in response, I want to be clear, she will never be on our show, for the exact reasons David talked about. It is — I have no — this is not a partisan issue. This was a democracy issue. Every week, Saturday and Sunday, there's at least one block on my show where we talk about either the threats to democracy, how democracy is at risk, the role Trump is playing at putting our democracy at risk. To have someone come on my show, where my — first and foremost, no matter who's watching, my duty is to present the facts. The privilege I have is to be able to say, as an opinion writer and as a prospective host on MSNBC, is I get to say what I think about those facts that I’ve reported. It would do the show no good and it would do my viewers no favors and would be a disservice to put someone on like Ronna McDaniel.  

Politico: White House Reporters Steal From Air Force One

White House reporters like to portray themselves as the guardians of democracy who hold the powerful accountable, but if a Thursday Politico report by Eli Stokols, Lauren Egan, and Ben Johnson is true, they are also a collection of thieves who steal things from Air Force One. Theft is apparently so rampant aboard the presidential aircraft that the authors describe it as “shockingly common — a rite of passage where the thieves proudly discuss and display their stolen goods.” They report that the president of the White House Correspondents' Association, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell, had to remind her colleagues that such behavior is not permitted and does not reflect well on the press corps. The sleuthing trio continues, “For years, scores of journalists — and others — have quietly stuffed everything from engraved whiskey tumblers to wine glasses to pretty much anything with the Air Force One insignia on it into their bag before stepping off the plane.” One anonymous reporter told Politico that “on my first flight, the person next to me was like, ‘You should take that glass.’ They were like: ‘Everyone does it.’” Several reporters also recalled that “one former White House correspondent for a major newspaper described them hosting a dinner party where all the food was served on gold-rimmed Air Force One plates, evidently taken bit by bit over the course of some time.” Additionally, “reporters recalled coming down the back stairs after returning to Joint Base Andrews in the evening with the sounds of clinking glassware or porcelain plates in their backpacks.” Back in February, the White House started to clamp down on the thieves, offering those who had “inadvertently wound up taking something off the plane by mistake” the chance to make “a quiet return.” One former official told Politico it is not “a massive amount of theft. It was just a petty, chronic grift.” Yet, Politico reports that only one pillowcase snatcher took them up on the offer.

Reid, Steele Fawn Over Biden-Celebrity Fundraiser: Trump 'Can't Do This'

MSNBC’s Joy Reid and her favorite Republican, Michael Steele, oohed and awed on Thursday’s The ReidOut over President Joe Biden’s fundraiser with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and a cast of celebrities, including CBS’s Stephen Colbert. Not only did they fawn over Biden, they thought the fact that Donald Trump “can’t do this” and that George W. Bush won’t do it for him deserved to be some election-defining revelation. Steele was joined by Columbia University journalism dean, Jelani Cobb, whom Reid referenced when she gushed, “But I think, to Jelani’s point, it's just the fact that Joe Biden can gather former presidents to himself. The fact that he can gather a celebrity presence to himself. These are things that whatever else Donald Trump can do, he can gather Marjorie Taylor Greene to himself, he can't do this.”     Steele agreed, "Yeah, it's, you know, I'm sitting here looking at this, and, you know, realizing, we've got one former living president in Donald Trump. That's what we got and you sit there and say, ‘hmm, what do you do with that?’” Most people would say nothing because liberal celebrities endorsing liberal presidents isn’t exactly earth-shattering news, but Michael Steele is not most people, “George Bush is not coming to an event for Donald Trump. George Bush is not going to get out there and bring a celebrity cadre and donors to Donald Trump and that speaks volumes about this moment for the Republican Party. When the former president who led this party is not a factor on behalf of Donald Trump in his effort to regain the White House.” Put Trump aside, Bush couldn’t get celebrities to come out for anyone he would support because, again, celebrities, especially the ones MSNBC likes, are overwhelmingly liberal. Celebrities, like Colbert, weren’t exactly big fans of him either. Nevertheless, Steele continued to try to make the fact there is no Republican equivalent to the Biden-Obama-Clinton-celebrity fundraiser a big deal, “And there's a reason for that and it's not just, ‘oh, he's a RINO.’ It is substantively the point both you and Jelani are making about summoning the power of the office. Galvanizing that image for the country in a way that solidifies the reality and the power and the influence, but most importantly, the importance of the presidency as we understood it growing up, right?  He continued, “And Donald Trump is all about tearing all that ish down because it-- he doesn't like it, because it requires of him something he cannot summon within himself and that's discipline, focus, presidential temper, he's just a whacked out two-bit carnival barker who happened to luckily wind up in the right place at the right time to become president.” While The ReidOut fawns over lavish and elite fundraisers, it won’t be long until it tries to portray Trump and his supporters as the rich, out-of-touch elitists.  Here is a transcript for the March 28 show: MSNBC The ReidOut 3/28/2024 7:07 PM ET JOY REID: And it's also about the contrast, Michael, because, I mean, look, you do need cash.  I mean-- in presidential campaigns, cash helps, you know, money helps and they're going to have $25 million, and again, Joe Biden doesn't have to spend that on legal fees, you know, it's not being siphoned off to go toward lawyers. But I think, to Jelani’s point, it's just the fact that Joe Biden can gather former presidents to himself. The fact that he can gather a celebrity presence to himself. These are things that whatever else Donald Trump can do, he can gather Marjorie Taylor Greene to himself, he can't do this.  MICHAEL STEELE: Yeah, it's, you know, I'm sitting here looking at this, and, you know, realizing, we've got one former living president in Donald Trump. That's what we got and you sit there and say, “hmm, what do you do with that?” George Bush is not coming to an event for Donald Trump. George Bush is not going to get out there and bring a celebrity cadre and donors to Donald Trump and that speaks volumes about this moment for the Republican Party. When the former president who led this party is not a factor on behalf of Donald Trump in his effort to regain the White House.  And there's a reason for that and it's not just, "oh, he's a RINO." It is substantively the point both you and Jelani are making about summoning the power of the office. Galvanizing that image for the country in a way that solidifies the reality and the power and the influence, but most importantly, the importance of the presidency as we understood it growing up, right?  REID: Yeah. And Donald Trump is all about tearing all that ish down because it-- he doesn't like it, because it requires of him something he cannot summon within himself and that's discipline, focus, presidential temper, he's just a whacked out two-bit carnival barker who happened to luckily wind up in the right place at the right time to become president.  Even his biographers and his supporters know, oh, he didn't expect to become president.  REID: Yeah, he did not. STEELE: And that tells us a lot and it should tell his supporters a lot.  REID: Yeah. STEELE: But more importantly, it should tell the rest of the country a lot about what their priorities should be when it comes to salvaging us away from a Donald Trump and yes, as Liz Cheney said, she and I have profound differences with this president on policy and I am very happy to have that debate when he's re-elected this November. 

Reid Asks Why White Women Don't View Pro-Lifers As White Supremacists

MSNBC’s Joy Reid claims to have no problems with hearing Republican points of view, but when it came to discussing abortion on Wednesday’s edition of The ReidOut, she instead welcomed two Democrats, strategist Juanita Tolliver and former Sen. Doug Jones, to wonder why white women vote for Republicans because pro-lifers are a bunch of white supremacists who view them as vehicles to avoid “race suicide.” A confused Reid declared “the sort of trick that has been difficult to get her out how to untie this knot, Juanita, which is that, you know, white women on a majority, do vote Republican even in states where they’re voting away their reproductive rights. I think about Georgia where they voted for Brian Kemp and his six-week abortion ban and so it's like, what will unlock that fealty that white women have to it.”     When Reid wants to learn about pro-lifers, she turns to the lefties at Slate, “I read this thing in Slate that talked about the origins, the white nationalist origins of the anti-abortion movement. It says the following in Slate, ‘In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the movement against abortion mainly included white supremacist who pointed to declining white birthrates believed that legalized abortion would mean race suicide for white Protestants.’” Not only is the pro-life movement larger than white Protestants, it is telling that Reid’s desire to project the 19th century on to 2024 only extends to pro-lifers and not her white male, former Democratic senator from Alabama guest. Finally getting to a question, Reid asked Tolliver, “You still look at it and you don't think they want you and me to have more babies. I don't think they want Latinos to have more babies. How do they get the message to white women that they are the target and should vote accordingly?” Tolliver’s solution was to break the scale on the freak out meter, “And we saw white women have a wakeup call when IVF was on the table and that is something that I think when we understand how this is going to impact IVF. Even the list that you had put up from the Heritage Foundation report for 2025, it included same-sex relationships as well.” In the 920-page document that is Heritage’s Project 2025, the term to “same-sex marriage” appears only twice. Once is to note that same-sex marriages, on average, last less than half that of heterosexual marriages, which is noteworthy for adoption placements and the second is that people should be protected against having to do things such as bake a cake for a same-sex wedding if they object. However, Tolliver rolled right along, lamenting that Heritage does not care for the left’s abortion euphemisms, “This is not isolated and it won't focus exclusively on abortion or reproductive rights, it is expansive and the other thing that came out of that Heritage report that is a sign of them going too far, as Doug Jones mentioned, is they literally want to delete the language from the books. I'm talking about deleting abortion from federal regulation. Deleting the phrase ‘reproductive rights.’ Deleting DEI, all of it.” Eventually, Reid returned to implore viewers to “Watch The Handmaid’s Tale, as much of it as you can stand. That's what they want to do and by the way, you know how it's not about babies? They are trying to kill Head Start, which is for the babies.” Nothing like a good old-fashioned non-sequitur to end the show. Here is a transcript for the March 27 show: MSNBC The ReidOut 3/27/2024 7:58 PM ET JOY REID: The thing is, the sort of trick that has been difficult to get her out how to untie this knot, Juanita, which is that, you know, white women on a majority, do vote Republican even in states where they’re voting away their reproductive rights. I think about Georgia where they voted for Brian Kemp-- JUANITA TOLLIVER: Right. REID: -- and his six-week abortion ban and so it's like, what will unlock that fealty that white women have to it. I read this thing in Slate that talked about the origins, the white nationalist origins of the anti-abortion movement. It says the following in Slate, “In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the movement against abortion mainly included white supremacist who pointed to declining white birthrates believed that legalized abortion would mean race suicide for white Protestants.” You still look at it and you don't think they want you and me to have more babies. I don't think they want Latinos to have more babies. How do they get the message to white women that they are the target and should vote accordingly? TOLLIVER: Our message definitely has to come from Republicans because, remember, this attack on abortion is not isolated to abortion. It's reproductive rights generally.  REID: Correct. TOLLIVER: And we saw white women have a wakeup call when IVF was on the table and that is something that I think when we understand how this is going to impact IVF. Even the list that you had put up from the Heritage Foundation report for 2025, it included same-sex relationships as well.  REID: Correct. TOLLIVER: This is not isolated and it won't focus exclusively on abortion or reproductive rights, it is expansive and the other thing that came out of that Heritage report that is a sign of them going too far, as Doug Jones mentioned, is they literally want to delete the language from the books. REID: Yes. TOLLIVER: I'm talking about deleting abortion from federal regulation. Deleting the phrase "reproductive rights." REID: Correct. TOLLIVER: Deleting DEI, all of it.  REID: Yes. TOLLIVER: And I think when people frame it as this is not isolated to abortion. They're coming for IVF, they’re coming for contraception, they’re coming for anything privacy related— REID: Yeah. TOLLIVER-- with a roadmap given by Supreme Court justices Alito and Thomas, then that's what's going to resonate. REID: Watch The Handmaid’s Tale, as much of it as you can stand. That's what they want to do and by the way, you know how it's not about babies? They are trying to kill Head Start, which is for the babies.

Zakaria: 'Christian Nationalism,' Islamism, Xi Agree Women Are 'Too Uppity'

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria took his book tour to CBS and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday, where he claimed that if there is one thing that unites the “right-wing reactionary movements” of Christian Nationalism (whatever that means), Islamic fundamentalism, and ultra-Orthodox Israelis, it is that belief that “women have gotten to uppity.” For good measure, Zakaria also threw in Chinese dictator Xi Jinping. Colbert asked, “The subtitle for this book is Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present. What would you say the main modern backlash we are experiencing right now is?”      Zakaria began by going through the typical talk about globalization and social media before proclaiming that “I would say the principal one has been this one of we've really moved, think about it, you know, we've always through human history had some group has up or down, but women for tens of thousands of years were second-class citizens and that has changed dramatically in the last 30 years. So, think about it, right, 10, 15, 20,000 years of history and then in the last 30 years we upended the basic structure of the family.” He continued, “Look at the right-wing reactionary movements all over the world, whether it's Islamic fundamentalism, whether it's Christian nationalism, whether it's the ultra-orthodox in Israel, they all, the come of principal concern is often women have gotten too uppity. You know, let’s move, Xi Jinping gave a speech the other day in which he said women basically need to go back to the kitchen and they need to start having babies again.” Zakaria is hardly alone in using “Christian nationalism” as a scary-sounding term without ever defining it or explaining how it differs from traditionally understood conservative Christianity, but lumping it in with Islamic fundamentalism as “right-wing” and communist dictators strongly suggests Zakaria is just using it to simply mean “bad and scary.”   Earlier in the interview, the Joe Biden fundraiser Colbert mourned, “On your show, Fareed Zakaria GPS, on CNN, you recently covered low approval ratings, which is just below 40 percent right now, 39.3, something like that, despite the economy doing pretty well right now especially compared to other countries.” He then asked, “looking at the rest of the globe, how does our economy stack against the major industrialized nations right now?” Zakaria replied with statistics that have nothing to do with Biden, “We are doing much better than any of the other major economies in the world. To give you a simple number, in 2008 the Eurozone, Europe basically, and the U.S. economies were the same size. Today the U.S. economy is twice the size of the Eurozone economy. If Britain were to join the United States as the 51st state, it would be that poorest state in the union, below Mississippi.” That stat, which is a little more complicated and says more about Britain’s mismanagement than Biden’s supposed successes, left Colbert and his audience in awe. For his part, Zakaria continued in his lamentations, “We are doing amazingly. But what has happened is, people for a while said, 'we don't realize it, we're feeling the inflation.' Well, for the last 18 months, consumer sentiment has been going up, but Biden’s approval ratings still flat lined. What's really happened is our political identities are no longer shaped by economics as it used to be for so many years.” Zakaria would go on to lament tribalism in politics, which is laughable considering he would soon compare conservatives to Islamists and communists. Here is a transcript for the March 27 show: CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 3/28/2024 12:25 AM ET STEPHEN COLBERT: On your show, Fareed Zakaria GPS, on CNN, you recently covered low approval ratings, which is just below 40 percent right now, 39.3, something like that— FAREED ZAKARIA: 38, 39, exactly. COLBERT: -- despite the economy doing pretty well right now especially compared to other countries, looking at the rest of the globe, how does our economy stack against the major industrialized nations right now?  FAREED ZAKARIA: We are doing much better than any of the other major economies in the world. To give you a simple number, in 2008 the Eurozone, Europe basically, and the U.S. economies were the same size. Today the U.S. economy is twice the size of the Eurozone economy.  If Britain were to join the United States as the 51st state, it would be that poorest state in the union, below Mississippi. COLBERT: Wow. ZAKARIA: We are doing amazingly. But what has happened is, people for a while said “we don't realize it, we're feeling the inflation.” Well, for the last 18 months, consumer sentiment has been going up, but Biden’s approval ratings still flat lined. What's really happened is our political identities are no longer shaped by economics as it used to be for so many years.  They are shaped by culture, by class, by religion, by all these tribal identities and that was part of the reason I wrote the book because I realize this began with Obama, this-- it used to be the tightest connection in predictive polling, which was your view the economy, president's approval rating always roughly the same. Now, under Obama, the stock market tripled under Obama. His approval ratings didn't move much. … COLBERT: You say, the subtitle for this book is "Age of revolutions: Progress and backlash from 1600 to the present." What would you say the main modern backlash we are experiencing right now is?  ZAKARIA: I think it's really all around us, this identity stuff. There’s a backlash against globalization, there’s a backlash against the open information revolution, you know, a lot of people are saying it's too much, social media is, kind of, ruining our lives. But I would say the principal one has been this one of we've really moved, think about it, you know, we've always through human history had some group has up or down, but women for tens of thousands of years were second-class citizens and that has changed dramatically in the last 30 years. So, think about it, right, 10, 15, 20,000 years of history and then in the last 30 years we upended the basic structure of the family.  Well, look at the right-wing reactionary movements all over the world, whether it's Islamic fundamentalism, whether it's Christian nationalism, whether it's the ultra-orthodox in Israel, they all, the come of principal concern is often women have gotten too uppity. You know, let’s move, Xi Jinping gave a speech the other day in which he said women basically need to go back to the kitchen and they need to start having babies again. 

MSNBC Tries To Use Rapes By Drug Cartels To Dunk On Pro-Life States

On Wednesday’s installment of MSNBC’s Jose Diaz-Balart Reports, the eponymous host and contributor Paola Ramos focused on the rapes and sexual assaults committed by drug cartels against women who seek to make their way to the U.S. border. Instead of using this as an opportunity to warn against making a dangerous journey that will only end with a longshot asylum claim, they used it as an opportunity to dunk on pro-life states such as Texas. Diaz-Balart introduced the segment by referencing current arguments at the Supreme Court about mifepristone, “The ruling will have consequences nationwide, including at the Southern Border, where a growing number of women and girls have been sexually abused and raped in Mexico on their way to the U.S. Once they cross into Texas, a new country, a new language, they have to navigate the many immigration and abortion laws there.”     After being introduced, Ramos previewed her report, which also aired on Tuesday’s Alex Wagner Tonight, by declaring that “this is a reflection of a larger problem that we're seeing, right? Where there are migrant women that are stepping into the United States with rape-related pregnancies and as they’re then trying to navigate this complicated legal anti-abortion landscape and so the question that we had is: what does that look like, right?” No, the problem is that those rapes could have been avoided if it was made clear that the journey is extremely dangerous and that your chances of being granted asylum are not high, so do not come to the border. That should be the message, whether one supports or opposes abortion. Instead, Ramos’s report featured multiple women, including one who lives in Mexico, running an underground abortion pill trafficking operation. After the report, Ramos, who is the daughter of Univision's Jorge Ramos and a former Hillary Clinton staffer, added, “Jose, that is the unintended consequences of these anti-abortion laws, right, that it drives people to take matters into their own hands. You know, to rely on the underground networks to ensure that women, at the end of the day, get the help that they need.” Diaz-Balart followed up, “And Paola, just the numbers of people, the doctor in Mexico telling you she’s got about 15,000 people. This is something that is a crisis, and that continues to increase, women being sexually abused, being raped, consistently in Mexico, on their way to the United States, Paola. Ramos agreed, “When we talk about the humanitarian crisis, Jose, that's exactly what we're talking about. You're right.” Usually, people like Diaz-Balart and Ramos say the humanitarian crisis is why people are heading to the border, not the journey itself. If they really believe the journey is the crisis, they should be using their platforms to encourage people to stay home, not try to dunk on pro-lifers. Here is a transcript for the March 27 show: MSNBC Jose Diaz-Balart Reports 3/27/2024 11:30 AM ET JOSE DIAZ-BALART: The ruling will have consequences nationwide including at the Southern Border where a growing number of women and girls have been sexually abused and raped in Mexico on their way to the U.S. Once they cross into Texas, a new country, a new language, they have to navigate the many immigration and abortion laws there.  MSNBC contributor Paola Ramos just came back from the border with a special report and she is with us this morning. I know, Paola, you spoke to migrant women who have been sexually assaulted during their journeys to the U.S. and you've spoken to them over the years. What did you learn and how are things different?  PAOLA RAMOS: Well, Jose, as you can imagine, they are horrified. They're traumatized. I spoke to women that had been held by the cartels, some for a week, some for over a month, as they were being sexually abused, but I think, Jose, this is a reflection of a larger problem that we're seeing, right? Where there are migrant women that are stepping into the United States with rape-related pregnancies and as they’re then trying to navigate this complicated legal anti-abortion landscape and so the question that we had is: what does that look like, right? What does post-Roe look like through the eyes of one of those migrants and here's what we found.  … RAMOS: But on the other side of the border, activists are working day and night to fill the void.  [SPEAKING SPANISH WITH ON SCREEN SUBTITLES]: Hi. How are you? This is Paola Ramos speaking. ELOWYN [SPEAKING SPANISH WITH SUBTITLES]: Hi, Pao. RAMOS: This is Elowyn, a young doctor from Mexico City, who's part of an international network helping women obtain both mifepristone and misoprostol. Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022, much of that help is being routed to Texas. She asked for her identity to be concealed in order to protect the operation. Approximately, how big is this network? How many people are part of it?  ELOWYN [SPEAKING SPANISH WITH SUBTITLES]: Right now, we’re about 15,000 strong RAMOS [SPEAKING SPANISH WITH SUBTITLES]: Wow, 15,000 people. [IN ENGLISH] And who are they, where are they contacting you from? ELOWYN [SPEAKING SPANISH WITH SUBTITLES]: They are mostly, the majority, migrant women and due to different situations, they find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy. RAMOS [SPEAKING SPANISH WITH SUBTITLES]: Meaning, they are women who are right here, on the border, where I am? ELOWYN [SPEAKING SPANISH WITH SUBTITLES]: Yes. Exactly. RAMOS: How many packs of pills are you sending each week?  ELOWYN [SPEAKING SPANISH WITH SUBTITLES]: Every week? Like around four or six. RAMOS: How do you hide these pills? How do you make sure that no one knows what you're mailing?  ELOWYN [SPEAKING SPANISH WITH SUBTITLES]: The way we usually send it, which goes very unnoticed, is in sanitary pads inside an envelope. That’s how we send it. RAMOS: I think many people would ask what is in it for you, right, obviously, you're not doing it for economic reasons. So, why do you do it?  ELOWYN [SPEAKING SPANISH WITH SUBTITLES]: Well, because I understand the reality of being a woman and I believe that being able to help them, being that support at this critical moment, is essential. RAMOS: Back in Texas, Valentina feels the same way.  You risk your life and your status. Why?  VALENTINA [SPEAKING SPANISH WITH SUBTITLES]: Because I know what it feels like to be there and not have help. RAMOS: Jose, that is the unintended consequences of these anti-abortion laws, right, that it drives people to take matters into their own hands. You know, to rely on the underground networks to ensure that women, at the end of the day, get the help that they need.  DIAZ-BALART: And Paola, just the numbers of people, the doctor in Mexico telling you she’s got about 15,000 people.  RAMOS: Huge. DIAZ-BALART: This is something that is a crisis, and that continues to increase, women being sexually abused, being raped, consistently in Mexico, on their way to the United States, Paola. RAMOS: When we talk about the humanitarian crisis, Jose, that's exactly what we're talking about. You're right.  

Daily Show Longs For Abortion In Spoof Ad Portraying GOP As Sexist

The cast of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show came together on Tuesday to put together a satirical movie trailer about a male GOP politician who becomes a woman after a “freak jacking off accident” and has an epiphany that the party needs to support abortion, all while portraying the party as a bunch of out-of-touch, sex-crazed misogynists. The trailer begins with the narrator introducing the protagonist and immediately shows The Daily Show does not understand pro-lifers, “Meet Senator Tim Greco, he likes fast cars, sexy women, and abortion bans with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother.”     Pro-life laws have life of the mother exceptions, but the trailer moves right along with Greco, played by Michael Kosta, in the office of “GOP Party Boss,” who laments, “Our poll numbers with women are just tanking, that just doesn't make any sense.” Kosta explains that “They're probably just mad they suck at sports,” as he proceeds to crumble up the paper with the graph and miss a waste paper basketball shot.  In the next scene, Kosta is seen telling a colleague that “I'm going to go jack off in the breastfeeding room,” with the narrator repeating, “A freak jacking off accident transformed him.” After a rather bizarre transformation scene, Kosta was replaced by Desi Lydic as the narrator explains, “Into the one thing his political party couldn’t understand.” Lydic then visits a doctor who informs her that she is pregnant, which she does not take well, “I can't be pregnant. It's Thirsty Thursday. Isn't there some kind of medical procedure I can get?” The doctor recommends an abortion, but Lydic doesn’t want to go there at first, “No, god no. No, I mean like a medical procedure.” She replies, “Not in this state. Thanks to that law that Tim Greco just passed.” She then hands Lydic a newspaper that features a picture of Kosta with a sign that reads, “No abortions, even if you're pregnant after a breast pump electrocuted you.” Lydic returns to the boss’s office to explain that “I got turned into a pregnant woman from a magical breast pump on my penis… I know what women voters want: legalized abortion.” The party boss responds by mocking the suggestion and some inappropriate behavior, “Greco, that's a good one. Hey, does this mean, since you're a lady now, that I could have sex with you?” As Lydic leaves, it is revealed that the boss has been drawing cartoonishly large breasts on a stick figure. In the final scene, Lydic is at a whiteboard giving a presentation, where she again explains that “Women voters want access to abortion. You know, like, before.” One of her male colleagues again responds by proving The Daily Show doesn’t actually understand conservatives, “Or maybe women voters want trans women banned from working in sandwich shops?” He then asks Lydic, “Hey, now that you’re a woman, can we maybe –”    Despite the absurd nature of impregnating yourself after masturbating as a man, Lydic’s character actually hurts the pro-abortion argument. Pro-abortion advocates routinely point to the difficult health positions women find themselves in, but here is The Daily Show arguing for abortion out of pure convenience because it is Thursday after a choice Kosta/Lydic freely made.  Here is a transcript for the March 26 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 3/26/2024 11:17 PM ET NARRATOR: Meet Senator Tim Greco, he likes fast cars, sexy women, and abortion bans with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother.  MICHAEL KOSTA [TIM GRECO]: The ayes have it. Total abortion ban.  NARRATOR: He thought he had politics all figured out.  GOP PARTY BOSS: Our poll numbers with women are just tanking, that just doesn't make any sense.  KOSTA: They're probably just mad they suck at sports. Kobe!  NARRATOR: Until one day— KOSTA: I'm going to go jack off in the breastfeeding room.  NARRATOR: A freak jacking off accidents transformed him. [transformation scene] DESI LYDIC [GRECO]: It’s killing me. NARRATOR: Into the one thing his political party couldn’t understand. DESI LYDIC: Whoa. I’m a woman. I'm going to barf.  NARRATOR: This November...  DOCTOR: It’s not the flu, you're pregnant.  LYDIC: I can't be pregnant. It's Thirsty Thursday. Isn't there some kind of medical procedure I can get?  DOCTOR: You mean, an abortion?  LYDIC: No, god no. No, I mean like a medical procedure.  DOCTOR: Not in this state. Thanks to that law that Tim Greco just passed. LYDIC: Shouldn’t have made that sign so specific.  NARRATOR: The inspirational story of one Republican.  LYDIC: Boss, it's me, Tim Greco. I got turned into a pregnant woman from a magical breast pump on my penis.  GOP PARTY BOSS: I believe you. Continue.  LYDIC: I know what women voters want: legalized abortion.  GOP PARTY BOSS: Greco, that's a good one. Hey, does this mean since you're a lady now, that I could have sex with you?  LYDIC: No! Maybe.  NARRATOR: And what it is probably going to take to make Republicans realize what women voters actually want to.  LYDIC: Women voters want access to abortion. You know, like, before.  MAN: Or maybe women voters want trans women banned from working in sandwich shops?  GOP PARTY BOSS: Write that down.  MAN: Hey, now that you’re a woman, can we maybe –  LYDIC: Ew, no. Maybe.  NARRATOR: What Women Voters Want. Coming to theaters this fall.