The media were at it again this week, and I have the receipts to prove it.
1. THEN/NOW: Two veteran IRS officials testified before Congress that the Justice Department interfered in their probe of the president's son. After celebrating whistleblowers in the Trump administration—does Alexander Vindman ring a bell?—now we have "so-called whistleblowers" and a press accusing them of "insubordination."
Then:
Now:
Nicolle Wallace accuses the FBI whistleblowers of "insubordination." pic.twitter.com/gGkuNA5RcJ
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) May 18, 2023
2. WHAT’S RACIST TODAY: "Mass shootings in major metropolitan areas in the United States disproportionately affect Black people, and structural racism may play a role, according to a study published in the journal JAMA Surgery," CNN reported.
The researchers, to whose study CNN does not provide a link, do not appear to have looked at the race of the perpetrators of these urban crimes. No, they define structural racism as "the normalized and legitimized range of policies, practices, and attitudes that routinely produce cumulative and chronic adverse outcomes for people of color." Welcome to academia.
Anyhow, I bet Democrats will be concerned when they learn that the Democratic stronghold of Chicago "had the greatest number" of these racist mass shootings in the time period studied, "which led to 97 deaths and 583 injuries."
3. THE CLIMATE FILES: The New York Times was dissatisfied with a visit to a Miami beach. The paper's headline: "In Florida, Swimmers Brave an Ocean That Feels Like Steamy Syrup."
But beachgoers didn't seem to pick up on what they were putting down.
"I like it warm," one told the paper.
"This is as close as America gets to paradise," said another.
4. FETTERMAN WATCH: A Time magazine cover story tells "the untold story of John Fetterman's battle with depression" that we've been hearing for months.
TIME's new cover: Senator @JohnFetterman opens up about his battle with depression https://t.co/73btcP5uJJ pic.twitter.com/a4h14Y0imm
— TIME (@TIME) July 20, 2023
Ever since Fetterman emerged from a six-week hospitalization for severe depression, he has been more than a first-term Democratic senator from Pennsylvania. He's an icon and advocate for the mentally ill.
It's an update of Fetterman's self-appointed role—following his stroke on the campaign trail last year—as champion of the physically disabled. Never mind that he still struggles to speak or understand simple sentences. Or that he now admits that continuing to campaign after the stroke led to his hospitalization for depression.
"While he knows many see him as diminished or disabled, he believes what he’s been through has made him stronger: wiser, more thoughtful, more appreciative," wrote Time's Molly Ball. "What he wants now, he says, is to be the voice that might have pulled him out of the darkness."
5. FAIR AND BALANCED: A giggly CNN chased special counsel and anti-Trump icon Jack Smith into a Washington, D.C., Subway restaurant.
'Jack Smith can’t resist a $5 footlong. That’s according to…new and exclusive CNN video of the special counsel at Subway."pic.twitter.com/WnaSTWN7nk
— Gabe Fleisher (@WakeUp2Politics) July 18, 2023
Journalists appear to have learned nothing from the last time they came on too strong to a special counsel.
WATCH: Special Counsel Mueller is questioned by @MSNBC about the details of his report, and whether he will testify about the report before Congress. pic.twitter.com/yzjl7p6svF
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 21, 2019
Finally, check out my colleague Andrew Stiles's fact check of Politico Playbook's assertion that CNN is "a mainstream, nonpartisan media outlet."
FACT CHECK: CNN Is a 'Nonpartisan Media Outlet'
Verdict: Mostly peaceful pants on fire
Via @AndrewStilesUSA https://t.co/dGZQ2Nx2SY
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) July 19, 2023
Stay safe out there, and see you in two weeks. (I'm off next week.)