MY SHOCKED FACE IS GETTING TIRED: In Bob Dylan’s “Neighborhood Bully” about Israel (and Jews) being the world’s pariahs, one line of the lyrics says:

“His enemies say, he’s on their land/They got him outnumbered, about a million to one/he got no place to escape to, no place to run.”

So the report from Just the News that The United Nations General Assembly on Friday approved a resolution granting expanded rights to Palestine, permitting it to operate within the U.N. framework in a form of non-voting pseudo-membership shouldn’t shock anyone.

“This is a reward for terrorism and will only strengthen Hamas and make peace impossible. It is one of the most destructive resolutions ever presented in the UN made possible due to the antisemitism and political interests that are so prevalent at the UN,” [said Israeli U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan.]

The fact that something isn’t a surprise doesn’t mean it isn’t repulsive.

OMG: WHO WANTS TO TELL THEM? The Times and WaPo all crowed about their Pulitzers today. Fine, whatev. But this caught my eye:

“The Washington Post shared the prize for national reporting for “Terror on Repeat,” an examination of the AR-15 rifle, a widely available weapon commonly used in deadly mass killings that is capable of firing hundreds of bullets in rapid succession.”

“Hundreds”? Srsly?

I can’t even begin to claim to be a firearms expert, but to my knowledge, even with a 30 round magazine, the first 30 seconds, 30 rounds. Then the magazine runs empty. I’ve heard of drums that have larger capacity, but notice the weasel words: “in rapid succession.”

What’s “rapid”? I mean, heck, in its day the Winchester ’76 fired in “rapid succession.”

100% AWESOME: Fund a mariachi band to play next to Penn’s encampment 24/ 7

“Over the past week a merry batch of campers has struck fear into the heart of Israel by having a sleepover on Penn’s College Green. As Tel Aviv waits in horror to see their next move, I believe these protestors should be serenaded for their efforts, just as they have constantly serenaded my efforts to study for finals with a megaphone and drum set.”

MORE RED PILLS TAKEN IN LEFTIST MEDIA? We’ve seen rage quitting on various levels from Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss and most recently Uri Berliner.

Add to the list now The Intercept‘s Ken Klippenstein, who announced his departure from the far-left news site:

I want to be an unabashed partisan for the vast majority of Americans who despise the people who run the country, putting my finger in the eye of the elites frog marching us through their managed decline of the American standard of living.

***

“The most effective way I can do this is through journalism that arms you with a better understanding of subjects elites don’t like the rabble meddling with […] I also want to be able to write without fear of billionaires, wealth or Wall Street. And when I say journalism, I’m not talking about “democracy dying in darkness” or “holding power to account” or any of that sanctimonious bullshit. I’m talking about being a thorn in the side of our self-appointed betters.”

Say what you will, but I believe true and honest liberals — in the classic sense — have more in common with today’s “conservatives” than ever…and people who identify as “conservative” or even “libertarian” should support these people.

You don’t have to agree with every policy point they hold. Understand that a commitment to honesty is what’s at stake here. We can quibble about specific policy issues later.

THE HAMAS/STUDENT PROTESTS AND MISNINFORMATION: Earlier this morning, I read Professor Glenn’s squib here about how press access to these encampments is being controlled by the little terrorist supporters.

It rang a bell for me, and I though I would share a commentary I wrote for The Daily Caller six years ago that touches on the same thing. In the interview with Judith Miller, she explained how the quality reporting there is challenged because you need permission from the IDF to get into Gaza, but Hamas demands that they control access (through “minders” tagging along at all your visits and interviews) and Hamas filters out as much negative news as they can.

Now please, don’t get lost in the weeds bickering about whether Miller was right or wrong or good or bad, or whether we should be in or support Gazans, Hamas, or Israel.

I think the salient — and timely — point here is that smarter people are beginning to ask about the college frenzies being coordinated both financially and strategically.

I’ve seen pictures of a few of these encampments and noticed that in one shot, at least 2 dozen of the tents are identical pop-up types. Who and how logistics could be very revealing.

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE: Just the News is reporting that Holden Thorp, who oversees news, research and opinion for the Science family of journals, repeatedly told the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic that he and his peers fell short by failing to better explain to the public that science is a “work in progress” and that scientists are “opinionated” but should change their minds “when we see new data.”

“Rather than journals being a wealth of information and opinions about the novel virus, of which we knew so little, they helped establish a party line that literally put a chilling effect on scientific research” on COVID origins and scientific communication, Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio said.”

It’s a small walk-back, but really the “trust the science” people (who are also the same people who use the pejorative “science-denier”) ought to be ashamed of themselves.

But they won’t. It’s all Lysenko, all the time.

ANOTHER ONE GETS RED-PILLED: Just the News is reporting that Uri Berliner, a National Public Radio veteran editor who authored an essay that was critical of the news outlet’s liberal bias, resigned Wednesday.

“Today, those who listen to NPR or read its coverage online find something different: the distilled worldview of a very small segment of the U.S. population. If you are conservative, you will read this and say, duh, it’s always been this way. But it hasn’t,” he wrote last week in an essay for The Free Press.

He’s probably in line for the same insane demonization the Margaret Sullivan and MSNBC crowd have leveled against Bari Weiss, Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi.

If you step off the reservation and think for yourself, you’re dead to us and we must destroy you. Because we’re liberals. That means we embrace dissent, except when we don’t agree.

ALMOST ALWAYS A VERY HARD DECISION: Reflections of a Newsman.

I saw this article where country singer Ashley Judd talked about being on the “other side” of coverage of tragedies. It made me take pause and reflect.

As a former photojournalist turned newsroom lawyer, I’ve had to wrestle with this from time to time. My watch-words (especially in the Media Law and Ethics classes I teach) has always been “good taste and common sense win the day.”

But it’s always a tough call. My dear friend, the late Hal Buell was the long-time Photo Chief for the Associated Press. A truly decent guy in every way. When the legendary Nick Ut made the iconic news picture below, Hal told me years later that they debated for several hours about whether they should move the file on the wire.

(Credit: Nick Ut/AP under Creative Commons license)

They decided that despite its somewhat gruesome and certainly invasive nature, it depicted a moment too important to keep from the public. IIRC, some newspaper members simply chose not to run it.

Flash forward a few years to the wild and wooly ’80’s. The standard became “if it bleeds, it leads.” Little thought was given to the sensitivities of the victim’s families, let alone the readers. Photographs like this were common:

(Credit: Paul DeMaria/NYDN via Wikimedia Commons)

As a shooter myself, I was guilty of making pictures that today might be “insensitive.” I made the photo below after hearing a police call of a shooting outside an elementary school:

(Credit: Charles Glasser/Miami Beach Sun)

Apparently this fellow was a Marielito who owed about $50 to another drug dealer. Without warning, the murderer (never caught) simply walked up behind this guy and pumped a few .38 rounds into the back of his head. (FYI: Years later, Facebook blocked this photo from view for violating “community standards.”)

Did I consider anyone’s “privacy”? Hell, it was on a public sidewalk (in front of a school, no less) and the guy wasn’t a “somebody.” No relatives to complain, no objections from readers, I even won a Florida Press Club in Spot News award for it.

Let’s flash forward to my being a newsroom lawyer a decade or so later. I’m the Global Media Counsel for Bloomberg News. In the early days of the Enron collapse, one of the top executives — a real Boy Scout — committed suicide. An outstanding reporter named Loren Steffy, got a hold of his suicide note from the Sugarland PD. What to do?

The family’s lawyer begged us not to publish it. The note itself revealed nothing personal, and didn’t name names about Enron. I had a long, deep discussion with the Editor-in-Chief. If we didn’t publish, I argued, the family would be subjected to endless conspiracy theories. By publishing, we could put the matter of his suicide to rest. He knew bad things were done, as an honest guy he couldn’t deal with it, and it was going to get worse: He wanted to apologize to his family.

We ran the note. Thoughts?

UPDATE (From Ed): 50 years on: Revisiting the myths of the ‘Napalm Girl,’ a photo ‘that doesn’t rest.’

The napalm attack was carried out by propeller-driven Skyraider aircraft of the South Vietnamese Air Force trying to roust communist forces dug in near the village – as news accounts at the time made clear.

The headline over the New York Times report from Trang Bang said: “South Vietnamese Drop Napalm on Own Troops.”

The Chicago Tribune front page of June 9, 1972, stated the “napalm [was] dropped by a Vietnamese air force Skyraider diving onto the wrong target.”

Christopher Wain, a veteran British journalist, wrote in a dispatch for United Press International: “These were South Vietnamese planes dropping napalm on South Vietnamese peasants and troops.”

The myth of American culpability at Trang Bang began taking hold during the 1972 presidential campaign, when Democratic candidate George McGovern referred to the photograph in a televised speech. The napalm that badly burned Kim Phuc, he declared, had been “dropped in the name of America.”

McGovern’s metaphoric claim anticipated similar assertions, including Susan Sontag’s statement in her 1973 book “On Photography,” that Kim Phuc had been “sprayed by American napalm.”

(The Associated Press, in an article posted online yesterday, erroneously described the aerial attack at Trang Bang as “an American napalm strike on a Vietnamese hamlet.” See screenshot nearby. The news agency later in the day corrected the error after it was noted on Twitter.)

Read the whole thing.

“DEMOCRACY…I do not think it means what you think it means”:

Google (“Don’t be Evil”) shut down access to The Daily Caller‘s outstanding documentary “Rigged” that dares to ask reasonable and fair questions about the electoral process.

But it seems merely raising fair questions is in itself too much liberty. According The Daily Caller, “Google shut down our ads promoting our documentary about election fraud because they could “undermine trust in [the] democratic process.”

So blind obedience is the way to go, right? Anything else is…disinformation or worse, treason?

**Disclosure: I am outside counsel to The Daily Caller on libel and ethical issues, and review their documentaries before publishing for accuracy and fairness **

I DON’T KNOW WHICH PART OF THIS HEADLINE I LIKE BEST:

“Recreational use of erectile dysfunction drugs is rising — for doctors, it’s a hard no.”

Unless you are complete puritan, isn’t all use of ED drugs, um, recreational? And of course, being the glorious New York Post, getting the word “hard” in there was brilliant.

“SWING…AND A MISS.” In the freakout reaction about an NPR insider calling out their totally biased reporting, (I know, “duh”) NPR President CEO Katherine Maher sent out this mealy mouthed note to supplicate her troops and the snowflake believers who still take NPR seriously.

I mean, I never had a lot of faith in outfits who use Norwegian Whaling Zither Folk Music as lead-ins, but maybe that’s just me.

Much more importantly, I dare any Insta-readers to look at her message and find the words “truth,” “accuracy,” or “fairness.” What does that tell you?

They. Just. Don’t. Get. It.

UTTERLY OUTRAGEOUS: The Daily Caller is reporting about a snot-nosed child at the Washington Post demanding verification from a Navy SEAL’s wife about her husband and Republican Montana Senate Candidate Tim Sheehy’s military service.

Not that anyone at the WaPo would know what a DD-214 is, but how can they disregard the photographic evidence Sheehy posted on X?

Now, do let’s talk about Senator Blumenthal…

** Disclosure: I was an embedded photojournalist with US units in Central America in the late 70’s and have the most profound respect for our vets. And even more personal, my older brother served in the USAF in Phan Rang from 67-69, which were pretty hairy years. So you’re G-D right I’m pissed off. **

HE’S NOT EXACTLY CORRECT, BUT HE’S NOT EXACTLY WRONG: CNN faceplanted themselves by assuming that RFK Jr. would agree with their supposition that Trump represents a greater “threat to democracy” than Biden. As The Good Professor pointed out here, RFK wasn’t buying it.

But history matters. RFK erred wildly in saying Biden was “the first and only president to censor political speech.” That’s just not so. I wouldn’t expect a dope from CNN to challenge him on this, but any of us who studied US history, let alone the First Amendment, know that President John Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts into law in 1798. According to the Bill of Rights Institute:

“Federalists enacted the Sedition Act of 1798 to silence the opposition of the partisan Jeffersonian-Republican press. Most newspapers were favorable to one of the parties, and although parties had emerged early in the decade, there was no idea in American politics at the time of a loyal and legitimate opposition. Members of both parties considered the other party to be enemies of the republic. The new law prohibited publishing or saying anything “false, scandalous, and malicious” against the federal government, the president, or Congress. Those convicted were fined up to $2,000 (an enormous amount in the 1790s) and imprisoned for up to two years. Congress passed the Sedition Act, once again along party lines, with Federalists supporting and Jeffersonian-Republicans opposed.”

Newspaper editors who did not toe the government line were imprisoned. Moreover, eerily predictive of the “threat to Democracy” line espoused by Adam Schiff (D-Crazyworld) and others, none other that Abraham Lincoln’s government ordered arrests of editors who were accused of “supporting” the Confederacy by publishing dissenting views:

“In New York and New Jersey, two grand juries drew up presentments against newspapers that had been critical of the Union effort, which one paper called the “unholy war.” One grand jury presented a list of newspapers that encouraged the rebels, explaining, “The Grand Jury are aware that free governments allow liberty of speech and of the press to their utmost limits, there is, nevertheless, a limit. If a person in a fortress or an army were to preach to the soldiers submission to the enemy, he would be treated as an offender. Would he be more culpable than the citizen who, in the midst of the most formidable conspiracy and rebellion, tells the conspirators and rebels that they are right, encourages them to persevere in resistance and condemns the effort of loyal citizens to overcome and punish them as an ‘unholy war’?”

So, to be clear, I agree with RFK that the Obama-Biden regime presents a far greater threat to democracy than we’ve seen in centuries, but I wish politicians did their homework. I suppose it’s asking too much that so-called “journalists” do the same.

I SEEM TO REMEMBER THE DEFINITION OF INSANITY AS “REPEATING THE SAME MISTAKES AND EXPECTING A DIFFERENT OUTCOME”: The Biden administration wants to shape the final settlement of the Israel-Hamas war to give a “revamped” Palestinian Authority control of Gaza.

What color is the sky in Joe Biden’s world? JustTheNews reporting that:

“The Biden administration’s plans for post-war Gaza center on boosting the Palestinian Authority (PA), which currently controls significant portions of the West Bank and is ruled by the Fatah party, to take control over the coastal strip despite consistent corruption warnings and poor governance.”

***

“Former Chief of Staff of the National Security Council under the Trump Administration, Fred Fleitz told Just the News that the Biden administration’s effort to boost the PA while overlooking both corruption and security concerns stems from a naive view of international security and domestic political motivations. “It’s politics,” Fleitz said, explaining that the Biden campaign is concerned over alienating reliable Democratic Muslim voters in key swing states such as Michigan, with a dense Arab population.”

Democrats are willing to trade Israel for Michigan, it seems.

I ALMOST NEVER EAT AT MICKEY D’S, BUT THIS MAKES ME HAPPY. WHY? Perhaps I just enjoy a poke in the eye of the nanny state. But JustTheNews is reporting that:

“Popular fast-food chain McDonald’s is going to start selling Krispy Kreme donuts as part of a new partnership. Both companies told CNN earlier this week that three different types of donuts will start being sold at McDonald’s starting later this year.”

Fat and sugar. Is there anything it can’t do?

BEHOLD THE POWER OF RACISM! (Is there anything it can’t do?): The National Electrical Grid is teetering on collapse. The shift away from full-time available power (like fossil fuels, LNG, etc.) to so-called “green” sources has deeply impacted reliability.

Hey, guess what? Solar farms don’t work at night! Who knew?

Also, as more whale-killing off-shore wind farms are planned, the Biden administration forgot to plan for the thousands of miles of transmission lines that will be needed. And in a perfect example of leftist autophagy, there is considerable opposition from enviro-groups who will tie up the construction of wind farms and transmission lines in court for decades. Snail darters and sacred tribal land, you know.

But Representative Cori Bush (D-Crazyland) has it all figured out. It’s not the science, cost or technology that puts our energy grid at risk: it’s racism!

JustTheNews reporting that Bush said recently that:

“We also cannot ignore the actions of domestic extremists, including white nationalists and white supremacist who have violently attacked electrical grids, to stoke chaos and fear,” Bush said. She did not cite any examples of white nationalists being accused, let alone held responsible, for attacks on the grid […] Bush pointed to two incidents, including a 2022 attack on two substations that left 45,000 people without power, resulting in the death of a woman who relied on an oxygen tank. That case has resulted in no arrests, and so the identities, races, and motives of the person or persons who carried out the attack are still unknown.“ (Emphasis added).

But wait, there’s more! Bush continued: “She also claimed that impacts of increasing extreme weather from climate change was another factor impacting the nation’s grid reliability.”

White supremacists combined with “climate change.” Wow! That’s better than Jews with weather machines and space lasers. Although that’s probably next…

IT’S NOT A LIE, IT’S A “STUTTER”: Biden has a considerable record of incoherently slurring words into gibberish, but that’s not really news. And many of his apologists blame his frequent word salad on his “stuttering.” That’s not news, either.

But tell me, gentle readers, will they blame stuttering on what is clearly an outright lie? The Daily Caller is reporting that:

“Hur’s report detailing the president’s handling of classified documents made several notes about Biden’s memory, including that he forgot the date of his son’s death and when his vice presidency began and ended. Biden held an unexpected press conference a few hours after the release of the report, criticizing Hur for questioning his late son’s death. The president, however, was the one who raised the date of his son’s death, according to the transcript the Daily Caller obtained.”

As many of you may know, two years ago I suffered the loss in a fire of my girlfriend of 22 years. I had to say kaddish for her two weeks ago, and as any of you who has ever lost a loved one, those dates are burned into your soul. The idea that Biden dissembles about Beau’s death (no, he did not die in Iraq)  is terribly troubling.

Either:

• he is outright lying;
• his brain is truly oatmeal;
• his handlers find it a convenient “outrage” topic; or
• we embrace the power of “and.”

**Update***  JustTheNews published a detailed list of Biden’s mush-brained responses to Special Counsel Hur. There just ain’t enough Adderall to keep this guy’s sh*t together.

CNN reporting that “At least five people were killed and 10 others injured when airdropped aid packages fell on them in the Al Shati camp west of Gaza City, according to a journalist on the scene.”

THIS JUST IN: Supreme Court rules Trump can remain on ballot.

Just The News reporting that:

Donald Trump can remain on the 2024 presidential ballot in a decision that comes one day before the Colorado Republican primary after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the top Republican contender is ineligible.

Ruling itself at link.

Cheerios Chemically Castrating American Public With Impunity:

Hmmm, maybe there’s something to this after all. Exhibit 1, Your Honor:

I mean, if they messed with Cheerios, would you put it past Big Cereal to tamper with Wheaties? If they tell me Captain Crunch is the same, I may have to shoot myself.

OH DEAR GOD, MAYBE JUSTICE HOLMES WAS RIGHT: Ok, have a look at Buck v. Bell (“Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”) Why such a statement you’d ask. This. OMFG:

“Hillary Clinton’s longtime aide Huma Abedin, 47, reveals she is dating George Soros’ billionaire playboy son Alex, 38 – as pair take their romance public during Valentine’s Day date in Paris”

And to modernize the issue, remember the warning from my favorite Australian drinking buddy, Tim Blair:

Blair’s Law: “the ongoing process by which the world’s multiple idiocies are becoming one giant, useless force.”

I got nuthin’.

WHO ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE? ME, OR YOUR LYING EYES? The problem with gaslighting is that in such a noisy media environment, the lies just keep emotionally-invested people inside their “safety bubble.”

Just The News does a deep-dive into the nonsense narrative that “there’s no evidence” regarding POTUS and his son’s businesses. I’m neither a psychologist nor a mind-reader, but there’s a point where I just have to wonder if Biden’s defenders actually believe this nonsense. The detailed news report includes sworn testimony and investigative documents proving that:

“To date, congressional investigators have confirmed that Joe Biden met with the following foreign associates alongside his son between 2013 and 2017:

Ye Jianming, Chairman of CEFC China Energy; Jonathan Li, another Chinese businessman and a principal of Bohai Capital who created a joint venture with Hunter Biden;Vadim Pozharskyi, an executive of the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings who paid Hunter Biden and Archer millions to serve on its board; Yelena Baturina, a Russian oligarch and real estate investor who paid millions to a firm associated with Hunter Biden’s partners; and Kenes Rakishev & Karim Massimov, a Kazakhstani oligarch and former prime minster, respectively.” (Emphasis added).

The Washington Post created an online clip reel showing Biden repeating the lie over and over and over. Some Dems have tried to move the goalposts, saying even if Biden lied, “So what? Nobody did anything wrong.”

As to Joe Biden himself, that’s not what “elderly well-meaning people with memory issues” do…unless perhaps they are so out of it, the Constanza Rule applies.

TUCKER CARLSON SERVES UP A STEAMING BOWL OF “STFU” TO HATEFUL DNC STENOGRAPHERS: When the mainstream media learned that Carlson would have a one-on-one interview with Vladimir Putin, they pretty much lost their minds.

The almost always wrong Daily Beast columnist and observer of Russian media Julia Davis wrote that:

“[B]eing able to show that a well-known American figure is willing to bend the knee to an international pariah is a great opportunity for Putin to re-assert his dominance and standing.”

Davis and other media “experts” were certain that Carlson would genuflect, and throw nothing but softballs to Putin.

(Yes, we’re still waiting for that Daily Beast story about Joe Biden’s rapidly diminishing mental capacity. Anyhoo…)

One has to keep in mind that Carlson — a genuine patriot — has been unfairly vilified as a boogeyman by legislators and DNC lapdogs in the media.

Former congressman Adam Kinzinger completely lost his sh*t, saying that Carlson “is a traitor.” I remember watching the brain-damaged Adam Schiff accusing Carlson on live television of “carrying water for the Kremlin.”

They were wrong. All of them.

After the much ballyhooed interview, even The New York Times had to point out that:

“In an interview released on Thursday, Tucker Carlson urged President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to release an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal who has been held in a notorious Moscow prison for nearly a year […] Mr. Carlson asked, “as a sign of your decency,” if he “would be willing to release him to us and we’ll bring him back to the United States.” Mr. Carlson added: “This guy’s obviously not a spy. He’s a kid, and maybe he was breaking your law in some way, but he’s not a superspy, and everybody knows that.”

Now why hasn’t the Committee to Protect Journalists urged White House reporters to ask Joe Biden about the ongoing grand jury against Julian Assange?

You know the answer. The ignorant mophead who pretends to be the Press Secretary for the White House would simply ignore it, calling it a “rabbit hole.” And The New York Times, Washington Post, et. als, will happily abide.

WAITAMINNIT, WUT?  Now as most of you know, I am not a criminal defense attorney, so I might be missing something here. (You’re welcome to correct me). If the police have probable cause to arrest someone, why doesn’t that same evidence suffice to remand them to jail or require them to put up bail?

JustTheNews reports that last week, four immigrant men were charged with felonies in an attack on two New York City Police Department officers in Times Square. The NYPD said that at least a dozen immigrants were involved in the attack and six are still wanted, according to CBS News. So why then, did Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg not request bail?

(Wait for it…wait for it…)

“Four of those released are believed to have left the state, according to a high-ranking police source who spoke to CBS New York. The four men gave fake names to a church group that arranged for bus tickets as part of a migrant resettlement program. They are believed to be headed to California, but the NYPD isn’t planning to track them down at this time, as they aren’t due back in court for a hearing until Feb. 20 […] If they don’t show up for the hearing, a bench warrant will be issued for their arrest.”

Here’s the best part:

“Bragg said he did not request bail because he is proceeding cautiously to ensure they have the proper suspects identified in the case.“

How the hell does that work? Enlighten me, please.