THE DAILY NEWSLETTER - THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2021 

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Jon Stewart & Sean Hannity

Yes, you read that pairing correctly. Seldom do Sean Hannity and Jon Stewart find themselves on the same side of an issue. But on the subject of veterans, the Fox News host and famed comic do apparently share some common ground.

On Wednesday, Stewart joined members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee to support legislation taking care of American veterans suffering serious medical problems after toxic burn pit exposure.

The former host of The Daily Show did not hold back.

“Defense contractors can’t view the U.S. Congress as Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, while veterans are back there like Oliver with a bowl of gruel asking, ‘Please, sir, may I have some more? It’s bullsh*t and it’s gotta stop," he said.

Later last night, Fox host Hannity praised, agreed with, and echoed Stewart's remarks. In fact, he went so far as to put the Republican party on notice. 

"He’s right on this. It’s total bullsh*t. Help our vets. Republicans need to own this," said Hannity.

You don't have to agree with a person's politics or even who they are to join them in calling bullsh*t on something that is, in fact, total bullsh*t. Good for them.

MEDIA LOSER:
Philadelphia Weekly Editors

The Philadelphia Weekly is turning heads after it announced a grim contest on its website Tuesday.

In a competition titled, “Guess the murders, win a prize,” the conservative alternative publication invited readers to guess the number of homicides that will have taken place between the beginning of 2021 and election day in November. The publication said the winner will receive “some sweet swag.”

That is not meant in parody or satire. That's a real contest and the real description.

"What do you think the city’s murder tally will be on Nov. 2, General Election day?" the contest asks. It says to "send your best guess" to the paper and whoever comes closest to the right number of murders will be sent the swag.

Philadelphia has already surpassed 200 homicides for the year. Last year the city saw 499 homicides, a massive jump from 356 in 2019. 

“Congratulations, Philadelphia Weekly, you got what you wanted,” wrote Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Helen Ubiñas of the contest. “Here we are talking about your pathetic cry for attention.”

“There’s a special place in hell for this kind of cheap provocation,” she said.

The A-Block

‘Mistakes of Process’

In an internal town hall with employees on Wednesday, managers at the Associated Press reportedly told employees the news giant erred in its handling of its termination of Emily Wilder last week.

Wilder announced in April she’d be joining the AP as a news associate in Phoenix. Five weeks later she was terminated for an unspecified violation of the AP’s rules on employees’ social media accounts. The personnel decision sparked outcry among many employees.

During the town hall, AP managing editor Brian Carovillano admitted, the Washington Post reports, the company had made “mistakes of process, and not of outcome,” strongly suggesting the news outlet ultimately stands by the decision to terminate Wilder.

Assistant managing editor Julie Pace. said the AP "failed to see is how this impacted our staff broadly in so many ways," which was just one of several times "failed" was used.


In Other News...

JUST IN: Rush Limbaugh's Timeslot Will Reportedly Be Taken Over by Conservative Duo Clay Travis and Buck Sexton

JUST IN: Jen Psaki Says She Won’t Leave Biden Press Secretary Post After a Year

Chinese State Media Paid $1.6 Million for Advertising from American Media Outlets Including TIME Magazine, LA Times, Financial Times

CNN Analyst Says Democrats Need to Address Violent Crime: 'Deal With it Or Risk Political Backlash'

Must See Clip

Land of the WHAT, Now?

Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp suffered a hilarious brain fart live on the air when he tried to invoke the lyrical patriotism of Francis Scott Key, but landed on something that sounded more like Homer J. Simpson.

When Kemp tried to reference or ... quote? ..  the National Anthem, it did not go well.

Very not.

Links We Like

Afghans Are Dying to Come to U.S. Before Troops Leave, Can Biden Save Them?
- Tom O'connor & Naveed Jamali, Newsweek
Cannabis Is the Latest Battlefield in the Republican War on Democracy
- Ryan Bort, Rolling Stone
The Democrats’ New Trump Problem
- Elaine Godfrey, The Atlantic
The Considerable, If Circumstantial, Evidence of a Wuhan Lab Leak
- Jim Geraghty, National Review
The Road To The Covid-19 Pandemic: More on Wuhan Lab Leak
Jim Geraghty, Twitter
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