THE DAILY NEWSLETTER - FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 2021 
New York Times bestselling authors Dan Abrams and David Fisher bring to life the incredible story of one of America’s most publicized — and most surprising — criminal trials in history. Pre-order Kennedy's Avenger today!

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Jimmy Kimmel

Jimmy Kimmel tore into California gubernatorial candidate Caitlyn Jenner on Thursday, directly saying what other journalists should have been.

Kimmel aired a clip of Jenner on Wednesday’s The View, in which she refused to admit that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. He joked that Jenner has a higher chance of becoming the next Batman than getting elected as the governor of California. “She knows little to nothing about anything, really,” said Kimmel.

That hasn't stopped Jenner from getting multiple prime time, nationally televised interviews. Kimmel's style may be more blunt than a cable news anchor's would be, but he's saying what needs to be said here. Jenner's qualifications (well, lack thereof) to run the most populous state in America should be questioned. 

Trump didn't have a chance of getting elected -- until he did.  In today's political media environment, the attention a celebrity draws when running for office cannot be dismissed. Kimmel cut right to core here. Californians should be hearing about the platforms of multiple candidates, not just getting a bonus season of the Kardashian-Jenner reality TV empire. 

MEDIA LOSER:
NY Yankees' Announcer
Michael Kay
Most baseball pitchers aim for the catcher’s glove. But if New York Yankees play-by-play voice Michael Kay were a professional baseball pitcher, he’d be aiming for the ribs.

“He’s getting one right in the ribs in the first inning. Right in the ribs. You want to talk? Try talking with a broken rib,” Kay ranted on his local sports radio show while reacting to a feud between Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole and Minnesota Twins star Josh Donaldson.

Kay was rightfully slammed on social media for the egregious and juvenile hot take, but the sports radio host refused to just take the L.

Kay went on a media tour to correct his critics who claimed he was “advocating” for Cole to break another player’s ribs. No, he didn’t advocate for Cole to do it, but only because Kay wanted to do it himself!

Isn’t there a more creative way to portray a hot take than by flexing imaginary muscles and showing off how “tough” you would be IF you were talented enough to be a professional baseball player?

Kay's fond of calling out "See ya!" whenever a batter sends a home run ball soaring. He should give a similarly swift dismissal to this type of useless machismo posturing.

The A-Block

Toobin relaunch raises questions -- where's the line?

"What the hell were you thinking?" That's what CNN's Alisyn Camerota asked a sheepish Jeffrey Toobin, back on the cable news airwaves after several months of probation for an unfortunate incident involving a Zoom call with his New Yorker colleagues and Toobin's unzipped pants.   

It was part of an awkward segment on CNN Newsroom Thursday, as Toobin's apparent penance required to resume his legal analyst gig was to sit down with Camerota to discuss his "deeply moronic and indefensible" risqué Zoom escapade.

He's very sorry, Toobin said, and he's spent the last few "miserable months" trying to "be a better person." Now he's back on the air, ready to provide legal commentary for CNN again, where the powers-that-be apparently feel that his punishment fit the crime. 

That wasn't a unanimous opinion, however. The chattering hordes of blue checks on Twitter weren’t inclined to grant any additional grace to the guy who has made “zoom dick” trend twice this millennium (and that’s two times too many) and neither was Mediaite's Sarah Rumpf, who questioned why Toobin was viewed as so irreplaceable by CNN. Can’t the standard be a tiny bit higher?

On the other, err, hand, Fox News' Greg Gutfeld said it "took balls" for Toobin to confess his sins on live television


In Other News...

Ex-U.S. Ambassador Tells Europe They Need to Help Biden Win to Stave Off Another Trump

CNN Panel Reacts to Report That Trump DOJ Seized Data From Apple on House Democrats: ‘We Can’t Let This Happen Again in America’

WATCH: NY Gubernatorial Candidate Andrew Giuliani Gets In Ugly Spat With TikTok Personality Crackhead Barney

Fox Host Warns of Human-Animal Hybrids: 'Democrats Will Have Blood on Their Hands'

LUCIANOInfrastructure Negotiations Are Pointless and (Almost) Everyone Knows It

Must See Clip

Flashback

Video clips from a Senate hearing back in May 2019 are making the rounds again after a New York Times report said that Trump's Department of Justice had subpoenaed records from Apple on several House Democrats on the Intelligence Committee, their staff, and families. 

At this hearing, then-Senator Kamala Harris grilled then-Attorney General William Barr on whether Trump—or someone else at the White House—had requested the DOJ to investigate anyone.

Barr's Ralph-Kramden-like hemming and hawing was awkward then, and looks even worse now

Watch for yourself here.

Links We Like

Don’t Cry for H.R. 1: Amend the Electoral Count Act instead.
- Mona Charen, The Bulwark
This Is the Story of a Man Who Jumped Into Lake Michigan Every Day for Nearly a Year
- Julie Bosman, New York Times
Why Did CNN Bring Back Jeffrey Toobin?
- Jim Geraghty, National Review
A Pivotal Mosquito Experiment Could Not Have Gone Better
- Ed Yong, The Atlantic
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