Here are must-check-out stories, media tidbits and links for your weekend review.
- Most interesting thing on C-SPAN on Thursday? New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, firing back at Republicans after Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) was removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. It was quite the pointed rant. Here’s the video.
- Just as fiery was Omar’s speech, which you can watch here.
- Hulu is getting ready to debut “The 1619 Project” docuseries based on The New York Times series led by Nikole Hannah-Jones about the legacy of slavery in this country. In a perspective piece for The Washington Post, Wesley Lowery with “Nikole Hannah-Jones isn’t done challenging the story of America.”
- On Substack, former CNN political analyst Chris Cillizza writes that he will vote in a presidential election for the first time … ever. Cillizza said he had previously avoided doing so because, following the lead of a journalist he admires (The Washington Post’s Len Downie), he didn’t want to appear biased. But Cillizza now writes, “What I’ve come to realize is that whether or not you vote — or who you vote for — is a poor stand-in for whether or not you can fairly cover a story. Participating in democracy is not a disqualifying characteristic in a reporter.”
- Remember the comedian who made videos lip-synching Donald Trump during the first year of COVID-19? She’s profiled by The New York Times’ Michael Paulson in “She Went Viral Mocking Trump. Now Sarah Cooper Is Taking on a New Role.”
- From The Harvard Crimson, Miles J. Herszenhorn with “Harvard Misinformation Expert Joan Donovan Forced to Leave by Kennedy School Dean, Sources Say.”
- This is a really fun read that had me laughing out loud at times and shaking my head “No!” at other times. New York Magazine’s The Cut with “Do You Know How to Behave? Are You Sure? How to text, tip, ghost, host, and generally exist in polite society today.”
- Interesting job switch at The Washington Post. Kevin Sieff, who had been the Post’s Latin America correspondent and Mexico City bureau chief, will now be an international investigative correspondent focusing on sports. A note from newsroom editors said, “We are excited to see him explore the world through the prism of sports, illuminating how money, power and personalities ignite such global passion.” Sieff tweeted, “This is my dream job! There’s no better window to the world than sports. Can’t wait to write about the ways sports are woven into politics, culture and crime around the world.” (Mary Beth Sheridan has been named the new Mexico City bureau chief.)
- Another Washington Post move: Maeve Reston is joining the Post as a national politics reporter. Reston moves over from CNN, where she has been since 2014. Before that, Reston was at the Los Angeles Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Austin American-Statesman.
- John Kiesewetter from Cincinnati Public Radio’s WVXU with “The Cincinnati Enquirer is still without an office after leaving 312 Elm St.”
- Awkward exchange of the day. The Daily Beast’s Luke Kane chronicles it in “Jake Paul Blasts HBO’s Bomani Jones During Cringy Back and Forth Over Upcoming Fight: ‘I Don’t Know Who The (Expletive) You Are.’”
- Jonathan Martin’s latest column for Politico: “The Cold Calculus Behind the Shrinking GOP Presidential Field.” Martin writes, “What’s even more striking three months after the midterms, though, is just how many Republicans are planning to sit out the White House race or remain on the fence about whether to run at all. For all the preemptive Republican panic about a 2016 replay, and Trump claiming the nomination again thanks to a fractured opposition, the 2024 GOP field is shaping up to be smaller than expected.”
- The Los Angeles Times’ Brittny Mejia with “‘He’s trying to reload the gun’: Voices of terror from Monterey Park shooting 911 calls.”
- Reporting from Pakistan, Vice’s Sahar Habib Ghazi with “Why Is This Country Putting Afghan Women and Their Children Behind Bars?”
- Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi with “Questioned on Biden documents, his press secretary has only one answer.”
- New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft appeared on “CNN This Morning” on Thursday and told anchors Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow that he wants to bring back just-retired quarterback Tom Brady on a one-day contract so Brady can officially retire as a Patriot. Brady spent 20 of his 23 NFL seasons in New England. Kraft said, “Not only do I want it, our fans are clamoring for it. … We will do everything in our power to bring him back, have him sign off as a Patriot and find ways to honor him for many years to come.”
- Lulu Garcia-Navarro’s “First Person” podcast for The New York Times: “The Teenager Leading the Smartphone Liberation Movement.”
- Finally, this light note. (Well, not so light if you’re this little guy’s parents.) From The Washington Post, Andrea Salcedo with “A 6-year-old ordered $1,000 in takeout. The reason: He was hungry.”
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