The New York Times got hit with a wave of backlash — and ultimately was forced to issue a correction — after Friday&#8217;s print edition included a headline replacing the word &#8220;Atlantic&#8221; in North Atlantic Treaty Organization with &#8220;American.&#8221;
POLITICO editor Sasha Issenburg drew attention to the flub, sharing a photo of the newspaper showing both the date and the erroneous headline, which read, &#8220;A North American Treaty Organization Without America?&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Does the <a href="https://twitter.com/nytimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nytimes</a> know what NATO stands for? <a href="https://t.co/wvD1WxPOnN">pic.twitter.com/wvD1WxPOnN</a>
— Sasha Issenberg (@sissenberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/sissenberg/status/2040078016576204989?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer weighed in on the paper&#8217;s mistake, noting that every headline published by The New York Times had to make it past multiple editors before going to print.
&#8220;The NYT should release the names of every editor who read this and did not correct it. They have multiple layers of editors, especially for the print publication. That’s what the NYT would demand when the government makes a bad mistake. They should live up to the same standard,&#8221; he said.
Former Trump administration official Richard Grenell pointed out that the piece&#8217;s author, Steven Erlanger, as the paper&#8217;s Chief Diplomatic Correspondent for Europe: &#8220;Yikes.&#8221;
President Trump even commented on the flub on Saturday morning, saying in a <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116346654846871260">Truth Social post</a>, &#8220;The Failing New York Times, whose lack of credibility, and their constant Fake News attacks on your favorite President, ME, has caused its circulation to absolutely PLUMMET, referred to our severely weakened and extremely unreliable “partner,”NATO, as the North American Treaty Organization. The correct name is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization &#8211; A very interesting mistake! The hiring and educational standards have gone way down at the NYT. Bring back, “ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO PRINT” and, Make America Great Again!&#8221;
The article itself referenced President Donald Trump&#8217;s repeated threats to leave the organization over other nations — primarily in Europe — not providing monetary or military support when the United States is the one asking. Those threats have only accelerated as European allies have failed to answer calls for assistance with Operation Epic Fury in Iran.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/rubio-says-us-need-reexamine-nato-membership-allies-blocked-basing-airspace-help">equally critical</a> of NATO, saying in recent remarks that if the United States could not rely on NATO allies when help was needed.
&#8220;If now we have reached a point where the NATO alliance means that we can&#8217;t use those bases, that, in fact, that we can no longer use those bases to defend America&#8217;s interests, then NATO is a one-way street. Then NATO is simply about us having troops in Europe to defend Europe,&#8221; Rubio told Fox News host Sean Hannity, adding that it did not make strategic sense for the United States to remain in the organization if it was going to be so one-sided.
By Friday afternoon, the outlet <a href="https://x.com/NYTimesPR/status/2040142477215056082">issued a statement</a> promising a correction in Saturday&#8217;s print edition: &#8220;A correction will appear in tomorrow&#8217;s print edition: &#8216;A headline with an article on Friday about President Trump’s threats to leave NATO misstated the full name of the body. It is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, not the North American Treaty Organization.'&#8221;

New York Times

New York Times Forced To Issue Correction After Wild Whiff On NATO

Donald Trump

Iran

Marco Rubio

Media

Military

NATO

Politics

The New York Times

The New York Times confirmed that they’ve cut ties with a freelance writer who stands accused of using AI to generate his book review. Alex Preston said he’s “hugely embarrassed” by the whole debacle.
The legacy paper was alerted by a reader who noticed that Alex Preston&#8217;s review of “Watching Over Her” by Jean-Baptiste Andrea was suspiciously similar to the review of the same title that Christobel Kent wrote for The Guardian last August.
When confronted by the Times, Preston admitted to using AI for assistance in writing his review and said he did not realize it had lifted copycat lines from anywhere else.
The New York Times sent a note to The Guardian, saying, “[Preston’s] reliance on AI and his use of unattributed work by another writer are a clear violation of the Times’s standards.”
“I made a serious mistake in using an AI tool on a draft review I had written, and I failed to identify and remove overlapping language from another review that the AI dropped in,” Preston said in his statement to the Guardian, as the outlet <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/mar/31/the-new-york-times-drops-freelance-journalist-who-used-ai-to-write-book-review">noted</a>. “I am hugely embarrassed by what happened and truly sorry. I took responsibility immediately and apologized to the New York Times, and I also want to apologize to Christobel Kent and to the Guardian.”
The phrase “lazy Machiavellian Stefano” from The Guardian version became “lazy, Machiavellian Stefano” in the New York Times version.
The Guardian described the book as “most significantly a song of love to a country of contradictions, battered, war-torn, divided, misguided and miraculous: an Italy where life is costume and the performance of art, and where circuses spring up on wasteland.”
This is very similar to the Times version, which said the characters “populate what is ultimately a love song to a country of contradictions: battered, divided, misguided, and miraculous. This is an Italy where life is performance, where circuses rise on wasteland.”
The outlet noted that Preston has written for The Observer, The Financial Times, The Guardian, and The Economist. He’s also written six books, including the recent release, “A Stranger in Corfu.”
This isn’t the first time a legacy newspaper outlet got caught publishing AI-generated content, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chicago-sun-times-published-a-i-generated-summer-reading-list-with-books-that-dont-exist">reported</a>. The Chicago Sun-Times was called out last year for advertising an AI-generated summer reading list, including a number of titles that didn’t actually exist.
Only five of the fifteen suggested titles were real books. The writer, who was not a full-time staff member, apologized for his “huge mistake” and said he “betrayed that trust.”
The paper also issued a response to subscribers, noting that the person responsible for the error had been terminated and promising the mistake would not happen again. 
“We are in a moment of great transformation in journalism and technology, and at the same time our industry continues to be besieged by business challenges. This should be a learning moment for all journalism organizations: Our work is valued — and valuable — because of the humanity behind it,” the statement said.
“At Chicago Public Media, we are proud of our credible, independent journalism, created for and by people. And part of the journalistic process is a commitment to acknowledging mistakes. It is unacceptable that this content was inaccurate, and it is equally unacceptable that we did not make it clear to readers that the section was produced outside the Sun-Times newsroom.”

Major Legacy Media Outlet Caught Red-Handed In AI Plagiarism Scandal

Artificial Intelligence

Books

Plagiarism

Technology

The Guardian

<div>
In a move that surprises absolutely no one familiar with the &#8220;Gray Lady’s&#8221; obsession with laundering leftist narratives, the New York Times has once again been caught pushing anonymous leaks as front-page news. This time, the target is the Trump administration’s Cuba policy, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio isn&#8217;t just calling them out — he’s incinerating the outlet&#8217;s credibility.
</div>
<div>
The Times published a sensationalist report titled, “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/world/americas/trump-cuba-president-diaz-canel.html?unlocked_article_code=1.TlA.Ygf9.a5SMOwYKG0cM#after-story-ad-7">Trump Administration Said to Tell Cuba That Its President Has to Go</a>,” alleging that U.S. negotiators are cutting backroom deals to swap Cuba&#8217;s figureheads while leaving the broader communist apparatus intact. The story relies heavily on anonymous sources and reads more like a fever dream of D.C. bureaucrats than actual reporting.
</div>
<div>
Rubio, the son of Cuban exiles whose political career is inextricably linked to the fight against Havana, took to X to dismantle the report with surgical precision. &#8220;The reason so many in US media keep putting out fake stories like this one is because they continue to rely on charlatans &amp; liars claiming to be in the know as their sources,&#8221; Rubio blasted.
</div>
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The reason so many in US media keep putting out fake stories like this one is because they continue to rely on charlatans &amp; liars claiming to be in the know as their sources. <a href="https://t.co/mfzZbeO9UT">https://t.co/mfzZbeO9UT</a>
&mdash; Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) <a href="https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/2034111671950594146?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
</div>
<div>
As the primary architect of the &#8220;hardline&#8221; approach — from the Cuba Restricted List to returning the regime to the State Sponsors of Terrorism list — Rubio has consistently argued that the only real &#8220;blockade&#8221; on the island is the one the regime imposes on its own people. Whether it&#8217;s medicine, the internet, or remittances, Rubio has spent years exposing how the regime uses control as a weapon. For the Times to suggest he is now negotiating with &#8220;Raulito&#8221; Castro to keep the system in place is not just a bad lead; it’s a deliberate insult to the exile community.
</div>
<div>
But this is par for the course for the Times. This is the same &#8220;Paper of Record&#8221; that <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/11/10/us-news/nyt-has-yet-to-issue-correction-for-wrongly-claiming-trump-falsely-accused-fema-of-avoiding-supporters-homes/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">spent weeks</a> &#8220;fact-checking&#8221; Donald Trump’s claims that FEMA neglected Republican homes — only to stay silent when FEMA itself admitted an official ordered workers to &#8220;avoid homes advertising Trump.&#8221; It’s the same outlet that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nyt-humiliated-leavitt-dismantles-fake-news-narrative-on-trumps-health?utm_source=chatgpt.com">lacerated</a> for questioning the president’s fitness using anonymous hacks, while previously claiming a stumbling Joe Biden was &#8220;100% fine.&#8221;
</div>
<div>
For Rubio, the Times&#8217; Cuba piece is just the latest entry in a long ledger of institutional gaslighting. By relying on &#8220;charlatans&#8221; to push a narrative of managed transition, the Times is attempting to memory-hole the administration&#8217;s true goal: the total collapse of the Marxist dictatorship. Rubio’s message is clear: the administration isn&#8217;t interested in the Times’ symbolic reshuffling. While the &#8220;fact-checkers&#8221; continue to protect the regime, Rubio is busy reminding the world that if the regime wants the embargo to end, it can start by freeing political prisoners and holding fair elections.
</div>

Secretary Marco Rubio Meets With Ecuadoran Foreign Affairs Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld

‘Charlatans And Liars’: Rubio Torches The ‘Gray Lady’ Over Cuba Report

Cuba

The following is an edited transcript excerpt from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1933-the-new-ayatollah-of-iran-is-gay?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">The Michael Knowles Show</a>.
* * *
We&#8217;re not supposed to say anything but good about people who&#8217;ve just died. As the saying goes, speak no ill of the dead.
This man, however, left a wake of death, destruction, and catastrophe wherever he went. And most people don&#8217;t even know his name: Paul Ehrlich.
I write about Paul Ehrlich at some length in my book “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Speechless-Controlling-Words-Minds/dp/1684510821/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Y2L5GPaNcg2v5jnT9SD5ksR5a40NcpExppW6aHVVBg2FzlIHja61O5i6m-pH9wpIMWHGSkrLhkrd8rHzMDQN1iA3BuBH-UVJi0EyStx6M6l_7HKhwR0GKrN8w6e8rOUE18q_fPEggyexww619c7-BErp7yFNm38xTMhU_w6ZaMi3k03CxrXWwSCCSRcazdNo3eNXnHdUbDw3bae74VylSnpc0SFRJr6jlNhYAX6vRAs.q0vDzxnV2mm76BoF3WDe4Demnp2J-5X6usahlx1IIbo&amp;qid=1773785807&amp;sr=1-2">Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds</a>.” 
And now, here we have his obituary in <a href="https://x.com/SonnyBunch/status/2033466323842331077">The New York Times</a>:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
“Premature,” lol. The abject refusal to just admit this guy was completely wrong is one of the funnier Boomer-coded traits. <a href="https://t.co/oM5GYgDEtR">pic.twitter.com/oM5GYgDEtR</a>
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) <a href="https://twitter.com/SonnyBunch/status/2033466323842331077?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Source: @SonnyBunch/X.com
The headline and sub-headline reads: 
<blockquote>Paul Ehrlich, who alarmed the world with The Population Bomb, dies at 93. 
His bestselling 1968 book, which forecast global famines, made him a leader of the environmental movement, but he faced criticism when his predictions proved premature.</blockquote>
Here we go. Big lie. 
His predictions “proved premature.” What were his predictions? His prediction was that if the population grew any more, we would have widespread famine, because the Earth could not sustain all those people.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1933-the-new-ayatollah-of-iran-is-gay?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-1054531" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-1024x171.jpg" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/MK-watch-now-1.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
His prescriptions, therefore, were to stop having kids and sterilize people. We should use the government to reduce the population. These policies of his led to the one-child policy in China and forced sterilizations in India. This guy is — not single-handedly, but pretty close — responsible for the population crisis (or depopulation) that we face today.
And they say his predictions &#8220;proved premature.&#8221; 
Since he made his prediction that we would inevitably face mass starvation because the population was growing too much, since that time, the world population has doubled and global malnutrition has been cut dramatically. Today there are twice as many people as when he made his prediction, and we are more well-fed than ever.
It&#8217;s not that his predictions proved premature. They were completely wrong. Totally wrong. 
The New York Times is covering for Ehrlich in its obituary of him. Ehrlich did more evil than almost anybody in the 20th century. And the consequences of his stupid predictions and prescriptions — because he prescribed policy to governments — were mass evil.
The consequences of his ideas led to mass death, sterilization, the violation of basic rights, and he never let up on it.
Here is Paul Ehrlich, in the 1970s, discussing the problem as he saw it:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
In a 1970 interview, Paul Ehrlich stated: &#8220;The FCC should see to it that large families are always treated in negative light on television.&#8221;
He added that if this approach failed, then the government should &#8220;legislate the size of the family&#8221; and &#8220;throw you in jail if you have… <a href="https://t.co/Ij7C5eso4W">pic.twitter.com/Ij7C5eso4W</a>
— Gentry Gevers (@gentrywgevers) <a href="https://twitter.com/gentrywgevers/status/2033583323864568245?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Source: @gentrywgevers/X.com
In the interview, Ehrlich says,
<blockquote>The first thing the government should do is try and take the pressure off to reproduce &#8230; Young couples — if they don&#8217;t have children — people say, &#8216;gee, they must be sterile.&#8217; They never say, &#8216;gee, maybe they like good wine and going to the theater and so on, they prefer that to scraping diapers.&#8217; So there&#8217;s pressure to have children. So the first thing that should happen is that the president ought to say, &#8216;From here on out, no intelligent, patriotic American family ought to have more than two children, preferably one, if you&#8217;re starting a family now.&#8217; He ought to make the FCC see to it that large families are always treated in a negative light wherever they appear &#8230;  you can move to giving women bonuses for not having babies, that almost certainly would do the job. 
If that didn&#8217;t have the effect, then you could move to changing the tax structure so that people who had the money and had the children paid more for them — in other words, increase taxes on people with children rather than decrease them, since when they have the children they require more services. 
If that doesn&#8217;t work, then you&#8217;ll have the government legislating the size of the family. And people say, &#8216;Oh that&#8217;s impossible, government can never intrude and tell you how many children to have.&#8217; Well, I got news — you know it intruded a long time ago and told you how many wives you can have and there&#8217;s not the slightest question that if we don&#8217;t get the population under control with voluntary means that in the not-too-distant-future, the government will simply tell you how many children you can have and throw you in jail if you have too many.</blockquote>
So God tells us in the book of Genesis to &#8220;Be fruitful and multiply.&#8221; 
This Antichrist figure comes out in the 1970s and says, &#8220;Do not have children. It&#8217;s unpatriotic to have children.&#8221;
It&#8217;s funny because patriotism comes from the word &#8220;Pater,&#8221; meaning father — it&#8217;s an extension of filial piety, it&#8217;s an extension of the family — and he&#8217;s saying the pro-family thing to do is to destroy your family.
He says, first we&#8217;re going to incentivize people — we&#8217;re going to discourage them culturally. Say having kids is bad, you should just drink good wine instead. 
All these arguments you hear today — Don’t you want to travel? Don’t you want to have experiences? Don’t have kids.
And if that doesn&#8217;t work, we&#8217;re going to pay people not to have kids. Give women bonuses. Subsidize it. Say instead of having kids, go work at the widget factory, do spreadsheets, we’ll give you money.
That doesn&#8217;t work? Okay, now we punish you. Forget the carrot, now it&#8217;s the stick. If you have kids, we&#8217;re going to tax you. We&#8217;re going to make you pay for the privilege.
And if that doesn&#8217;t work, we&#8217;re just going to stop you from having kids.
What does that mean in practice? Because China implemented this. It means forced abortion. The government comes in and kills your child. You want to keep your child? No. Government kills your child.
It leads to policies like in India, where people were told you can only get access to food and resources if you sterilize yourself.
That happened because of this guy. Because of his book. Because of his ideas.
He said in &#8220;The Population Bomb&#8221;: 

<blockquote>The battle to feed all of humanity is over… hundreds of millions of people will starve to death… nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate.</blockquote>
Totally wrong. Could not have been more wrong.
He said we must have population control — hopefully through voluntary means, but by compulsion if necessary. That was his thesis.
He described population growth as a &#8220;cancer.&#8221; Population growth just means more people. So if more people are a cancer, then people are the disease.
Human beings are a disease.
The left has held on to that view for a very, very long time. And this is where the truly wicked origins of leftism — which endeavors to invert reality — began, during the French Revolution as an assault on the Church. This is where the real satanic, Luciferian character of liberalism really begins to show itself. One of the fruits of liberalism is the view that human beings are a disease that must be cured, that must be eradicated from the earth. 
And now this guy is eradicated from the earth. And it&#8217;s sad, because every man&#8217;s death diminishes me because I&#8217;m a human. 
As John Donne wrote in his famous poem, &#8220;No Man is an Island&#8221;:
<blockquote>No man is an island entire of itself; every man 
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; 
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe 
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as 
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine 
own were; any man&#8217;s death diminishes me, 
because I am involved in mankind. 
And therefore never send to know for whom 
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.</blockquote>
We should pray for him, because he led a very, very evil life. And in many ways, maybe he didn’t fully understand what he was doing. “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
But we can’t just think about him — we have to think about the institutions.
This guy got everything wrong. Not a little wrong — perfectly wrong. And he never paid a price for it. He kept his positions, his prestige, his influence. His policies were implemented. They led to enormous harm. And the institutions backed him up.
And now one of the chief cultural institutions, The New York Times, is still covering for him — still saying his ideas were just “premature.”
Not premature. Wrong.
And as a final note, that idea — “forgive them, for they know not what they do” — this connects to something else.
The world feels tense right now. The stakes feel higher. There’s conflict in Iran, division at home, a lot of strain in the culture. For Christians, this is Lent. And if you’ve paid attention over the years, this season often feels like that — more tension, more conflict, more difficulty. In the story, this is the period in the desert, the temptation, the struggle.
And then comes Easter.
I’m not saying everything magically gets better overnight. But if you believe in spiritual realities, that there is a meaning to history, a rhythm to the liturgical calendar, then it’s not surprising that things feel strained right now.
Sometimes things look like they’re falling apart — like when Christ was crucified on Calvary — right before they come back together.
That’s the pattern.

Paul Ehrlich at a press conference this afternoon at Macquarie University.Internationally famous biologist, Paul Ehrlich, is visiting Australia and will be taking the position of Visiting Professor in Environmental Studies at Macquarie University.

One Of The Most Evil Men In History Just Died

Abortion

babies

Birth Control

Children

China

Death

Obituaries

Opinion

Population

New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not consider the Munich Security Conference a springboard into the 2028 presidential election. At least, that&#8217;s what she told The New York Times after she was roundly criticized for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/aoc-spits-out-word-salad-when-asked-about-china-refuses-to-say-if-u-s-should-defend-taiwan?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=AOC+Spits+Out+Word+Salad+When+Asked+About+China%2C+Refuses+To+Say+If+U.S.+Should+Defend+Taiwan">failing to answer</a> a basic question on U.S. foreign policy at the conference last week.
The Munich Security Conference is considered one of the most important stages for lawmakers, diplomats, and world leaders to set themselves apart as important voices on foreign policy and the direction of global politics. For Ocasio-Cortez, the event came as speculation swirls around 2028 Democratic presidential candidates, with the New York leftist often floated as a top contender. After multiple missteps at the conference, Ocasio-Cortez picked up the phone and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/us/politics/aoc-germany-munich-security-conference.html">spoke</a> to her hometown paper, telling the legacy media outlet that the link between her supposed presidential aspirations and the conference is far-fetched.
&#8220;Everyone’s got this story wrong, that this is about me running for president,&#8221; Ocasio-Cortez said. &#8220;I could give — whatever, about that, to be honest.&#8221;
Ocasio-Cortez&#8217;s appearance in Munich was marked by an awkward response to a question on China and Taiwan and an indecipherable comment on the &#8220;rise of populism.&#8221; During one panel discussion, the congresswoman was joined by Matt Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, and Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who is also considered a 2028 presidential hopeful. When asked whether the United States should send troops to Taiwan if China advances on the island, Ocasio-Cortez struggled to speak for around 20 seconds before her attempt to answer the question.
When she finally spit out an answer, she said only that the United States should &#8220;avoid any such confrontation,&#8221; and did not answer whether U.S. troops should be deployed if China attempted to invade Taiwan. Ocasio-Cortez was blasted over her response, including by President Donald Trump.
&#8220;I watched AOC answering questions in Munich. This was not a good look for the United States,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2023579424491253844">told</a> reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday night.
&#8220;She had no idea what was happening,&#8221; he added. &#8220;She had no idea how to answer, you know, very important questions concerning the world.&#8221;
Whitaker, Trump&#8217;s NATO ambassador who was sitting next to Ocasio-Cortez during the panel discussion, <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2023753952874164640">told</a> Fox &amp; Friends on Tuesday morning that he was surprised that Ocasio-Cortez and Whitmer &#8220;didn&#8217;t have better answers, or at least, better preparation.&#8221;
&#8220;I think it&#8217;s really quite obvious that the Left really does not have an answer for President Trump&#8217;s very clear articulation and success on the international stage, and they&#8217;re struggling to do that,&#8221; Whitaker added. &#8220;But on the China and Taiwan issue, that issue is so obvious what the answer is; it&#8217;s to make sure China doesn&#8217;t make a move on Taiwan, that Taiwan is strong and can defend itself, and that the region is stable and prosperous and that American interests are protected.&#8221;
Ocasio-Cortez told the Times that it is &#8220;out of touch&#8221; to consider the Munich Security Conference as an important gauge for the 2028 presidential election, adding that she was really there to send a warning about &#8220;right-wing populist movements&#8221; throughout the world. The lawmaker told the Times that a reporter asked her whether Munich is &#8220;the new New Hampshire,&#8221; referring to the important early primary election.
&#8220;I cannot say enough how out of touch and missing the point, genuinely, that is,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Global democracies are on fire the world over, and established parties are falling to right-wing populist movements.”
She added that she went to Munich &#8220;not because I’m running for president, not because I’ve made some kind of decision about a horse race or a candidacy, but because we need to sound the alarm bells that a lot of those folks in nicely pressed suits in that room will not be there much longer if we do not do something about the runaway inequality that is fueling far-right populist movements.&#8221;
Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro told Fox News host Dana Perino on Tuesday, &#8220;It&#8217;s not our fault for noticing she&#8217;s horrible.&#8221;
&#8220;My favorite conceit here is that she goes abroad and says a bunch of incredibly stupid things. &#8230; I&#8217;m sorry, but if you give an answer reminiscent of that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww">famous clip</a> of Miss South Carolina attempting to answer a question about the Iraq War from 15 years ago, and you&#8217;re on an international stage, that is your fault,&#8221; Shapiro added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;I&#8217;m sorry, but if you give an answer reminiscent of that famous clip of Miss South Carolina attempting to answer a question about the Iraq War&#8230; that&#8217;s your fault.&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a> joins <a href="https://twitter.com/DanaPerino?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DanaPerino</a> to slam AOC&#8217;s geopolitical incompetence at the Munich Security Conference 😂 <a href="https://t.co/w3EIJUdf0Z">pic.twitter.com/w3EIJUdf0Z</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/2023792851201699861?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Some of the congresswoman&#8217;s other gaffes during the conference included saying that Venezuela is below the equator (the entire country is north of the equator) and mocking Secretary of State Marco Rubio for saying in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rubio-declares-new-western-century-in-world-speech-says-america-wont-oversee-managed-decline">his speech</a> at the Munich Security Conference that the American cowboy was born in Spain.
&#8220;My favorite part was when he said that American cowboys came from Spain,” Ocasio-Cortez <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/aoc-mocked-absolute-train-wreck-weekend-global-stage-made-fool-out-of-herself">said</a>. “And I believe the Mexicans and descendants of African enslaved peoples would like to have a word on that.”
Spain is largely responsible for introducing horses to North America in the 1500s, and historians credit the Spanish vaqueros with influencing American cowboy culture, as Rubio mentioned during his widely praised speech.
During another panel discussion at the conference that focused on &#8220;the rise of populism,&#8221; Ocasio-Cortez offered another head-scratching answer. While addressing President Trump’s shift on foreign policy and how the rest of the world has responded, Ocasio-Cortez said, “I think what we are seeking is a return to a rules-based order that eliminates the hypocrisies around when too often in the West, we look the other way for inconvenient populations to act out these paradoxes, whether it is kidnapping a foreign head of state, whether it is threatening our allies to colonize Greenland, whether it is looking the other way in a genocide. Hypocrisies are vulnerabilities, and they threaten democracies globally.”
Ocasio-Cortez told the Times that the criticism of her answers in Munich that have gone viral on social media &#8220;distract from the substance of what I am saying.&#8221; In its article breaking down Ocasio-Cortez&#8217;s Munich appearance, the Times wrote that there were &#8220;mostly positive&#8221; responses to Ocasio-Cortez &#8220;on the ground in Germany.&#8221;
Warsaw&#8217;s mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski, was quoted in the Times article and praised Ocasio-Cortez for speaking out about &#8220;right-wing populism.&#8221;
“It’s of course refreshing to see some American politicians who talk openly about all of those challenges that we face,” said  Trzaskowski. “It’s good to hear progressive voices which are courageous enough to call a spade a spade.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

AOC Mocked For Global Stage Disaster — Then Phones A Friend

2028 presidential election

Congress

Democratic Party

Munich

President Donald Trump mocked the New York Times at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, pointing out that when he ruminated in a joking way about getting into heaven, the Times hypothesized that he was questioning the meaning of his life.
“You can’t be sarcastic with them because they write your words,” he said. “The people that are reading the words are much different &#8230; I said, “I’m never going to make it to heaven. I just don’t think I qualify.’”
“I don’t think there’s a thing I can do but all of these good things I’m doing, including for religion — you know, religion’s back now hotter than ever before — but I said, ‘Even though I did that, and so many other things’ —  I named things. I said, ‘I won&#8217;t qualify. I&#8217;m not going to make it to heaven.&#8217;”
“And the New York Times did a front-page story that Donald Trump is questioning his life and the meaning of his life,” he recalled. “No, I was just having fun. I really think I probably should make it; I mean, I’m not a perfect candidate but I did a hell of a lot of good for perfect people.“
&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: President Trump mocks the media for not grasping his sense of humor during a lighthearted moment about his faith.
&#8220;I said, &#8216;I won&#8217;t qualify. I&#8217;m not going to make it to heaven.&#8217; And the New York Times did a front-page story that Donald Trump is questioning his life and the… <a href="https://t.co/eY2EjB1JJz">pic.twitter.com/eY2EjB1JJz</a>
— Fox News (@FoxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/2019414147708891487?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
Last October 12, Trump <a href="https://people.com/donald-trump-says-he-doesnt-think-hes-heaven-bound-after-fundraising-for-help-getting-there-11828782">told reporters</a> aboard Air Force One, &#8220;I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s anything going to get me in heaven. I really don&#8217;t. I think I&#8217;m not maybe heaven-bound. I may be in heaven right now as we fly on Air Force One. I&#8217;m not sure I&#8217;m going to be able to make heaven, but I&#8217;ve made life a lot better for a lot of people.&#8221;
Later, at the end of October, Peter Baker of the Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/us/politics/trump-heaven-legacy.html">wrote</a> the following:
<blockquote>
A few weeks ago, President Trump momentarily dropped the bombast and the playground insults and the self-congratulation to muse about his eternal soul. “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible,” <a href="https://archive.is/o/BjWth/https:/www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/us/politics/trump-heaven.html">he said</a>. “I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole.”
Prodded by a reporter this month to elaborate, he repeated the lament without much more explanation. “I’m being a little cute,” <a href="https://archive.is/o/BjWth/https:/www.fox5dc.com/news/im-not-sure-im-going-be-able-make-heaven-trump-tells-press-air-force-one">he said</a>. But he went on: “I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to get me into heaven. I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound.”
Mr. Trump is hardly the first 79-year-old to dwell on what may come after he departs this mortal coil — or to wonder whether he has earned entry into the pearly gates. But it is so unlike Mr. Trump to express self-doubt that his public rumination has raised questions. What is on his mind lately that makes him fear his fate in the hereafter? What sins might he be regretting?
</blockquote>

US-POLITICS-RELIGION-PRAYER-BREAKFAST-TRUMP

Trump Torches New York Times For Rebranding His Joke As A Spiritual Crisis

Executive

Prayer

A recent article in The New York Times puzzles over the bad news at the Hollywood box office. An occasional hit like “Wicked: For the Good” may keep the industry afloat, but for the most part, no one’s going to the theater.
“25 Movies, Many Stars, 0 Hits: Hollywood Falls to New Lows,” says the Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/business/media/box-office-collapse-hollywood.html?searchResultPosition=6">headline</a>. And the subhead: “It has been a brutal three months for dramas and comedies.”
The article goes on to blame the pandemic, the internet, streaming, and so on. My witty friend Stephen Green over at PJMedia made a better <a href="https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2025/11/17/dear-hollywood-have-you-tried-not-sucking-n4946090">suggestion</a>: “Dear Hollywood. Have you tried not sucking?”
Stephen’s right, of course. But The New York Times can’t see the problem, because The New York Times embodies the problem.
An example.
Another friend of mine, the very talented rebel writer-director Cyrus Nowrasteh, recently directed the film “Sarah’s Oil,” which he co-wrote with his also talented wife, Betsy. Based on a true story, the film tells the tale of a black girl in Jim Crow Oklahoma fighting against bigotry to find and keep the oil on her land. The picture is well-made, touching, and inspiring.
Given a smallish release, the film surprised the industry by doing excellent business. It has an 83% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and a stunning 98% rating from actual human beings.
But here’s an excerpt from one of its few bad reviews in — you guessed it — the New York Times. Natalia Winkelman writes:
<blockquote>Sarah’s Oil is a movie that will surprise nobody. Viewers might even make out a regressive strain reinforcing the feel-good mood: Let alone the incidental worship of fossil fuel… the movie’s emotional core is a Black girl’s belief in her white protector.</blockquote>
Horrors!
Could there be a more small-minded, small-souled reaction to a poignant story of a child’s triumph over prejudice? Miss Winkelman could just as easily have written: “No opinions allowed in the arts but my opinions! No ideas but those approved by the cultural establishment!”
<a href="https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com/"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-1010467 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/New-Jerusalem-slug-1024x191.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="191" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/New-Jerusalem-slug-1024x191.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/New-Jerusalem-slug-300x56.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/New-Jerusalem-slug-768x143.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/New-Jerusalem-slug.jpg 1100w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
But those ideas are not just anti-art, they’re anti-human. No women who act like feminine women. No men who act like manly men. No stories that explore themes of freedom, individualism, traditional marriage, motherhood, fatherhood or faith.
As a result, you get films like “Nosferatu,” a gorgeous and talented remake that falls apart because it can’t include the God who makes vampire stories make sense; “Frankenstein,” a gorgeous and talented remake that falls apart because it can’t stick to Mary Shelley’s superior plot and its theme of rebellion against God and womanhood; “Running Man,” a gorgeous and talented remake that falls apart because it can’t point to what’s ailing society because imagine what Miss Winkelman would say about that!
No new stories. Just good old stories ruined by bad new ideas. The human spirit yearns to hear tales of freedom and male-female love and faith. The querulous clerisy only wants to wallow in their own dyspeptic imaginations.
You want good movies? Break these losers’ monopoly on the arts.
* * *
This article was originally posted on “<a href="https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New Jerusalem</a>” on Substack.
Andrew Klavan is the host of “The Andrew Klavan Show” at The Daily Wire. Klavan is the bestselling author of numerous books, including the Cameron Winter Mystery series. The fifth installment, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/After-That-Cameron-Winter-Mysteries/dp/1613166869/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3EGZUC370LG46&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Y_NI0mDOKeowShheDQTVx5NH-fAeimJoCD56_T0Acpl8C0mup7uJf-nGGSRLEItaaekoDnvS2vWLMa4Zd2UBXQ8Y-g-P502jOWz-Y8IX3ZQsdlO7WMLrg1xIhNoKmjCorSWUR4C2l_RbiZ7apJ1MfPzGOrrEf7AdAXX6xwnJRVP_XqUfWuMuVthTWscaU3P4vgmS86-96n-721enHfX12CFQWTajqFbVnrsDkexfUf4.6_gTH6h1Bb9Pn375QdF_VAVZSayDvjQBBKGXE-MTiFo&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=klavan&amp;qid=1754049918&amp;sprefix=%2Caps%2C80&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After That, The Dark,</a> is NOW AVAILABLE. Follow him on X: <a href="https://x.com/andrewklavan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@andrewklavan</a>
The views expressed in this satirical piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974735 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
<h4>50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at <a href="http://dailywire.com/cyberweek">DailyWire.com/cyberweek</a>.</h4>

Hollywood

Why Hollywood Sucks

Andrew Klavan

Box Office

Entertainment

Film Reviews

Movies

Even The New York Times isn&#8217;t buying The Washington Post&#8217;s hit piece attacking War Secretary Pete Hegseth and claiming that he gave an order to &#8220;kill them all,&#8221; authorizing a second missile strike on a Venezuelan drug boat when survivors were in the water.
The Post&#8217;s &#8220;exclusive&#8221; — which ran on Saturday — painted a picture of two survivors, helplessly clinging to the remnants of their destroyed vessel as a second strike was ordered to ensure they were killed. Citing anonymous sources, the outlet walked right up to the line, but stopped just short of directly accusing Hegseth of executing the two survivors in the water.
What followed immediately was absolutely predictable: anchors and guests across the legacy media Sunday shows <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/spin-cycle-wapo-hit-piece-targets-pete-hegseth-and-legacy-outlets-fall-in-line">stepped across the line</a> even WaPo wouldn&#8217;t, accusing Hegseth of committing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/whoopi-goldberg-says-pete-hegseth-set-soldiers-up-to-face-war-crimes-charges">war crimes</a> and claiming those who carried out his orders might also be held to account for doing so.
But <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/us/hegseth-drug-boat-strike-order-venezuela.html">The New York Times</a> was not quite ready to go all in on the accusation, and instead cited five officials who said that while Hegseth&#8217;s initial order was to deliver a lethal strike — which would destroy the vessel and the drugs and kill those onboard — there was no specific order given regarding how to proceed if the first strike did not fully accomplish that.
50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at <a class="c-link" href="http://dailywire.com/cyberweek" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://DailyWire.com/cyberweek" data-sk="tooltip_parent">DailyWire.com/cyberweek</a>.
In addition, the officials told the NYT that there was no second command from Hegseth ordering another strike when drone footage showed survivors in the water. Instead, they said that the Special Operations commander overseeing the attack, Admiral Frank M. Bradley, had ordered several follow-up strikes to sink the boat that was disabled by the first hit — and that the survivors were killed as those strikes were carried out.
The Federalist&#8217;s <a href="https://x.com/MZHemingway/status/1995747364196548720">Mollie Hemingway</a> noted that while it certainly tracked that WaPo had run with the story in the first place, it seemed slightly off routine for the NYT to hold back.
&#8220;It is not surprising that the WashPost, which originated the Russia collusion hoax, the Kavanaugh hoax, and the first Trump impeachment hoax, would run another false info op. It IS a bit surprising that the NYT isn’t going along with it in their normal manner,&#8221; she said.
The White House&#8217;s account of what happened squares with the NYT report, however, as Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during Monday&#8217;s briefing that there had been multiple strikes on the drug boat in question, but that the orders had come from Admiral Frank M. Bradley, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/karoline-leavitt-says-hegseth-didnt-order-second-strike-on-narco-terrorists-boat">not Hegseth</a>.
Hegseth followed that revelation with an <a href="https://x.com/PeteHegseth/status/1995643490152128919">X post</a> declaring his support for Bradley, saying, &#8220;Let’s make one thing crystal clear: Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support. I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since. America is fortunate to have such men protecting us. When this @DeptofWar says we have the back of our warriors — we mean it.&#8221;

US-MILITARY-DEFENSE-MEETING

Even The New York Times Isn’t Sold On Washington Post Hegseth Hit

Pete Hegseth

Washington Post

Many people blame the troubles of the world on the news media. Many say that journalists have become out-of-touch elites, so committed to the destructive lies of leftism that their minds have become gnarled and pocked with hatred of those everyday Americans whose better values threaten to expose journalists to themselves as Gollum-like creatures eaten away by their own corruption until they look into the mirrors of their imaginations and see horrific images of their bodies riddled with leprous decay as a physical representation of the spiritual degeneracy that clearly foreshadows an eternity of desolation in bleak and endless severance from the God who created them and who now, even in his omniscience, himself turns to alternative forms of media in the hopes of getting some honest news once in a while.
Of course, many people still trust the news media and softly murmur to themselves that Walter Cronkite seems awfully nice, before they retreat into a corner of the assisted care facility and stare at the blank wall with rheumy eyes, fondly watching a parade of misty memories from a distant past that now seems much better than it really was.
Recently, unseemly revelations have detracted even more from the news media’s reputation so that trust in the honesty of journalists has now sunk to just 28% of journalists, and they’re journalists, so they’re obviously lying and don’t trust journalists any more than the rest of us do.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974735 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
In formerly Great Britain, for instance, the British Broadcasting Corporation has recently become mired in scandal. The once-respected news organization, often affectionately referred to as “Auntie,” because it reminds viewers of the sort of grey-haired old lady whose silhouette can sometimes be seen at the second story window of a gothic mansion while her delusional, hectoring high-pitched rants drift down to the desolate motel below until, in the last reel, we find out the silhouette is really Norman Bates in a dress and a wig, and the real Auntie is the rotten corpse of a once respected news organization…
What was I talking about? Oh yeah…
Recently, the BBC was exposed for deceptively editing a speech by Donald Trump for a 2024 report that was clearly meant to influence American voters against Trump’s re-election. In Trump’s original speech, delivered to a group of protestors on January 6th after Trump’s 2021 election loss, Trump said, “God bless America, land that I love, stand beside her, and guide her through the night with a light from above.” In the BBC version, Trump said, “Kill them all! Storm the Capitol and kill them all! Kill, Kill, Kill! Insurrection now! Destroy Democracy and kill them all!”
BBC President Cor Blimey issued a statement saying that the minor discrepancy was the result of an innocent mistake in which producers confused the Trump speech with the film “Starship Troopers” because they think of Americans as just so many gigantic alien bugs.
To be fair, not all news organizations have sunk out of sight into the BBC’s tarpit of disgrace, shame, corruption, decadence, degradation, and vice. With some outlets, you can still just see the tops of their heads for a few final moments before the tar closes over them. 
For example, the New York Times, a former newspaper, was recently awarded the Pulitzer Prize for linking Donald Trump’s name to Jeffrey Epstein’s name a record number of times, without once explaining that no one has ever plausibly accused Trump of doing anything wrong with Epstein. The Pulitzer Committee says it hopes the Times prize for irrelevantly linking Trump and Epstein will encourage other former news outlets to distract people from the fact that Trump has closed the border, brought peace to the Middle East, drawn in trillions of dollars of new investment to the U.S., lowered inflation and bettered our trading deals in ways that promise to cut the deficit, not to mention the fact that he barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago for being a creep while sleazy journalists like George Stephanopoulos and Katie Couric were still attending dinners in Epstein’s honor.
In a statement carved into the clay of a goat-headed idol, the Pulitzer Committee said it would continue to give news outlets like the Times awards for what they do best, namely, lie.
* * *
This excerpt is taken from the opening satirical monologue of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show</a>.”
Andrew Klavan is the host of “The Andrew Klavan Show” at The Daily Wire. Klavan is the bestselling author of numerous books, including the Cameron Winter Mystery series. The fifth installment, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/After-That-Cameron-Winter-Mysteries/dp/1613166869/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3EGZUC370LG46&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Y_NI0mDOKeowShheDQTVx5NH-fAeimJoCD56_T0Acpl8C0mup7uJf-nGGSRLEItaaekoDnvS2vWLMa4Zd2UBXQ8Y-g-P502jOWz-Y8IX3ZQsdlO7WMLrg1xIhNoKmjCorSWUR4C2l_RbiZ7apJ1MfPzGOrrEf7AdAXX6xwnJRVP_XqUfWuMuVthTWscaU3P4vgmS86-96n-721enHfX12CFQWTajqFbVnrsDkexfUf4.6_gTH6h1Bb9Pn375QdF_VAVZSayDvjQBBKGXE-MTiFo&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=klavan&amp;qid=1754049918&amp;sprefix=%2Caps%2C80&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After That, The Dark,</a> is NOW AVAILABLE. Follow him on X: <a href="https://x.com/andrewklavan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@andrewklavan</a>
The views expressed in this satirical piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
* * *
<h4>Right now, DailyWire+ annual memberships are fifty percent off during our Black Friday sale. Join now at <a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible c-link--underline" href="http://dailywire.com/blackfriday" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://dailywire.com/blackfriday" data-sk="tooltip_parent">dailywire.com/blackfriday</a>.</h4>

NY Times Wins Pulitzer For Linking Words ‘Trump’ And ‘Epstein’ Record Number Of Times

NY Times Wins Pulitzer For Linking Words 'Trump' And 'Epstein' Record Number Of Times

Humor

Journalism

Legacy Media

Satire

The sex scandal that erupted around former Rep. Matt Gaetz before his exit from Congress centered on a 17-year-old high schooler who was homeless and wanting cash to pay for braces, court records reveal.
The girl at the center of the scandal is now an adult, but back in 2017 when she met the then-congressman, she was a high school junior living in Florida and offering to have sex with men for money, according to court documents made public last month and first reported by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/us/politics/in-matt-gaetz-scandal-circumstances-left-girl-vulnerable-to-exploitation.html">The New York Times</a>.
The woman’s attorney, Laura Wolf, told the Times that she and her client want the public to know some of the background involved in the Gaetz scandal.
“The vulnerable circumstances most crime victims face are rarely known to the public,” Wolf told the Times. “Although my client’s circumstances were revealed outside of her control, I hope it helps for the public to see a fuller and more human picture of her than the press has reported on to date.”
Gaetz has denied a core detail surrounding the scandal, that he had sex with the then 17-year-old girl.
“I never had sex with this person,” the former congressman told the Times in a text message. “This person threatened me with a lawsuit if I didn’t pay her $2.3 million dollars. … She never sued me because her story is fiction.”
Before she met Gaetz, the girl and her siblings split time living with each of her divorced parents. One of her parents was homeless and stayed in a shelter off and on. When the girl and her siblings stayed with that parent, they all stayed together at the shelter, according to Wolf.
The girl worked at McDonald’s to make money, according to a <a href="https://ethics.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Committee-Report.pdf">report</a> by the House Ethics Committee on Gaetz. In an effort to make extra cash, the girl signed up on a website that offered to set up older men with younger women ages 18 and above for a “sugar dating” relationship.
Through the website, the girl first met Joel Greenberg, a Florida tax collector and friend of Gaetz. Greenberg paid the girl for sex multiple times before taking her to a July 15, 2017, party at the home of Chris Dorworth, then a lobbyist for Ballard Partners. Gaetz also attended the party and, according to the girl’s testimony to the Ethics Committee, had sex with the girl twice. One of those times allegedly took place on a “pool table or … air hockey table.”
In 2022, Greenberg was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/01/politics/joel-greenberg-sentencing">sentenced</a> to over a decade in prison after pleading guilty to underage sex trafficking, wire fraud, stalking, and a host of other crimes. The Justice Department declined to prosecute Gaetz.

Matt Gaetz

Matt Gaetz Sex Scandal Centered Around A ‘Then-Homeless 17-Year-Old High Schooler’

Crime

U.S.

In a story that perfectly captures the media’s chronic recklessness, a supposedly “explosive” scoop about former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio criticizing Democratic mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani turned out to be spectacularly wrong — because British journalists talked to the wrong Bill de Blasio.
The bizarre episode began when Bevan Hurley, a senior reporter for The Times of London, emailed who he thought was the former mayor, asking for his thoughts on Mamdani’s big-spending socialist platform. The email went instead to a 59-year-old Long Island wine importer named Bill DeBlasio — same name, different guy — who decided to play along for fun.
“I’m Bill DeBlasio. I’ve always been Bill DeBlasio,” the importer told <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/10/29/2025/british-newspaper-spoke-to-the-wrong-deblasio-not-an-imposter">Semafor</a>, explaining that he never claimed to be the mayor and assumed the journalist would figure out his mistake. Instead, Hurley printed the ChatGPT-crafted remarks the Long Island DeBlasio sent back, which included skeptical commentary about Mamdani’s tax-and-spend proposals, saying the numbers didn’t “add up.”
Within hours, the article blew up. The Times of London yanked the story, calling it a case of being “misled by an individual falsely claiming to be the former New York mayor.” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/nyregion/bill-de-blasio-mamdani-agenda.html">The New York Times</a> and other outlets piled on with even harsher language — labeling the man a “de Blasio impersonator.”
But the Long Island DeBlasio insists he never misrepresented himself. “I never once said I was the mayor. He never addressed me as the mayor,” he said. “So I just gave him my opinion.”  Far from being a prankster with a political agenda, the businessman said he responded mostly for amusement — and because the journalist’s failure to double-check seemed unbelievable.
“It was all in good fun,” he said. “I never thought it would make it to print.”  He even poked fun at the confusion over their names, noting that the former mayor spells his surname “de Blasio” with a lowercase “d,” while his own family uses a capital “D” — a distinction he joked about, saying, “low-class Italians use a little d.”
The fallout was swift: embarrassed reporters <a href="https://www.thetimes.com/article/article-removed-crrlqtsxp">deleted their work</a>, British editors issued apologies, and The New York Times scrambled to reassure readers that the real de Blasio still backs Mamdani’s $7–$10 billion per year leftist agenda of free buses, universal childcare, and rent freezes.
Former mayor de Blasio said, “I’m astounded. It’s a complete fabrication.”
He reaffirmed his support for Mamdani’s policies, comparing the candidate’s ambitions to his own free pre-K initiative during his time as mayor.
Meanwhile, the Long Island DeBlasio took the chaos in stride. Wearied from years of hate mail meant for the former mayor, he shrugged off the whole media circus as another example of sloppy journalism.
He was accurately quoted, but called it “lazy” reporting.

De Blasio

De Blasio Mix-Up Turns Reckless Reporting ‘Scoop’ Into Satire

DeBlasio Mix-Up: Reckless Reporting Turns 'Scoop' Into Satire

Bill de Blasio

Times of London

For years, we&#8217;ve been hearing about the power and magic of comedians who are not just telling jokes, they are speaking “truth to power.” They&#8217;re going for the &#8220;clapter,&#8221; meaning not just laughs, but approval and agreement from the audience on social and political issues. 
We’ve been told comedians are the only ones willing to say what no one else will say. They&#8217;re the ones who are breaking open the Overton Window, who are really saying the unsayable. And traditionally, comedians have done just that. Traditionally, comedians violate taboos because when you violate a taboo, it&#8217;s either inherently funny and transgressive. Even if it’s not funny, it might shatter or shock your sensibilities.
And the natural reaction when someone does something transgressive is to laugh. Comedians have always had this sort of role in society, and sometimes that role can be properly directed because the things they&#8217;re attacking are worthwhile to criticize or make fun of. But sometimes the transgressivism of these comedians is really just about the clicks and money. It&#8217;s about faux transgressivism because when it comes down to it, they are perfectly willing to take money from some of the world&#8217;s most repressive human beings and then crap on America in the process.
So Dave Chappelle, Bill Burr, Andrew Schulz, and a bunch of other top-shelf American comedians went over to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the Riyadh Comedy Festival. Now that sounds like an Orwellian contradiction in terms. The Riyadh Comedy Festival sounds sort of like the North Korean Dance Festival.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=fall40&amp;utm_content=fallsale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial">Get 40% off new DailyWire+ annual memberships with code FALL40 at checkout</a>
It&#8217;s ridiculous what the Saudi monarchy is attempting to do right now. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is attempting to create tourist traps in Saudi Arabia because, effectively, the country has no economic resources other than oil. Oil remains the massive driver of its economy. Salman is trying to diversify. He&#8217;s trying to get into tech. He&#8217;s trying to get into travel and tourism, all of which is fine and dandy.
But let&#8217;s be very clear. Saudi Arabia is an unbelievably repressive country. It remains an unbelievably repressive country today, except for certain touristy areas that are being opened to Westerners so they can come and spend their money. So now a bunch of comedians are apparently so brave when there are no consequences to their bravery, when the only consequences they face are money and applause.
They’re not so brave when they go over to Saudi Arabia and abide by every single rule set by the Saudi government for millions of dollars. 
So Dave Chappelle, a faux brave person, goes to Saudi Arabia and says, “Right now in America, they say that if you talk about Charlie Kirk, you&#8217;ll get canceled. I don&#8217;t know if that&#8217;s true, but I&#8217;m going to find out.”
Wow. Look at the bravery of that man. He&#8217;s going over to Saudi Arabia to rip on Charlie Kirk and make jokes about him. Just look at that bravery. Perfectly happy to take the money from the repressive Islamic dictatorship and rip on Charlie Kirk in the process.
What a brave man. What a truly brave man. 
According to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/world/middleeast/saudi-comedy-festival-riyadh-free-speech.html">The New York Times</a>:
<blockquote>[Chappelle] was performing in Riyadh at the same time as a divisive free speech debate was roiling the United States. … Mr. Chappelle has talked frequently about being canceled after an uproar caused by his jokes mocking trans people. But in Riyadh, he also took aim at the recent suspension of Mr. Kimmel.
Like other comedians at the event who said they felt muzzled by American political correctness, Mr. Chappelle reveled in making uncouth jokes in Saudi Arabia. Yet he overlooked an eight-year crackdown that has led to many of the country’s writers, businesspeople, activists, clerics and social media influencers being arrested.</blockquote>
So he goes to Saudi Arabia, of all places, to rip on the United States because Jimmy Kimmel was suspended from the air for five minutes.
That’s where he&#8217;s putting his ire. What a brave person. 
And speaking of brave people, Bill Burr is out there saying, “Free Luigi! Kill the rich!” The same very wealthy Bill Burr, who believes that the systems of the United States are deeply corrupt, so corrupt that he is a man speaking “truth to power” when he appears on every late-night television show to the hoots and hollers of a bunch of morons in Manhattan, and flies to Riyadh to pick up a giant check.
Burr talked about how he found out that Saudi Arabia is made up of people just like us because, you know, there&#8217;s a Starbucks over there.
Great job, Bill. You really are a warrior for truth. What a brave man. Truly an incredible person.
Here’s what he said after the festival:
<blockquote>And like my whole idea of Saudi Arabia is what I&#8217;ve seen, like on the news. I think I&#8217;m going to land, you know, and everybody&#8217;s going to be screaming, “Death to America!” And they&#8217;re gonna have like, machetes and want to, like, chop my head off.
Right? Because this is what I&#8217;ve been fed about that part of the world. Right. When they first went to set it up over there, the rules on what they had above what you could say and what you couldn&#8217;t say in Saudi Arabia, the people running the festivals were like, &#8220;All right. Well, man, that&#8217;s game, set, match. If this is like all you can talk about, and you want some good comedians, like this isn&#8217;t going to work.&#8221;
And then, to their credit, they said, “All right, what do we got to do?” And they just negotiated it all the way down to like, “You can talk about anything, you know, other than a couple things,” which was basically, you know … religion, don&#8217;t make fun of the royals. And other than that … everything was like open. The royals loved the show. Everyone was happy. The people who were doing the festival were thrilled. And, yeah, it was just this great, positive thing.</blockquote>
Wow. So much bravery.

Menu