CNN's Brian Stelter challenges assertion that leftists squelch debate on hot-button issues. But Bari Weiss turns the tables on him — by ripping CNN.



Brian Stelter — CNN's chief media correspondent — on Sunday challenged the assertion by former New York Times Opinion editor Bari Weiss that leftists have been squelching debate and discussion on hot-button issues.

But Weiss was more than equal to the task — and turned the tables on Stelter by blasting his own network.

What are the details?

During the latest edition of "Reliable Sources," Stelter asked Weiss about the statement listed in her "Common Sense" newsletter on the SubStack platform that "the world has gone mad. Science is at the mercy of politics. Identity trumps ideas. In the name of progress, art is erased and history is rewritten. Obvious truths are dangerous to say out loud."

"So, in what ways has the world gone mad?" Stelter asked Weiss with a slight giggle.

But Weiss was in no laughing mood:

When you have the chief reporter on the beat of COVID for the New York Times talking about how questioning or pursuing the question of the lab leak is racist, the world has gone mad. When you're not able to say out loud and in public that there are differences between men and women, the world has gone mad. When we're not allowed to acknowledge that rioting is rioting, and it is bad, and that silence is not violence but violence is violence, the world has gone mad. When we're not able to say that Hunter Biden's laptop is a story worth pursuing, the world has gone mad. When, in the name of progress young school children — as young as kindergarten — are being separated in public schools because of their race, and that is called "progress" rather than "segregation," the world has gone mad.

Stelter interrupted Weiss, pushing back on her claim that debate and discussion is "not allowed" and asked who is "stopping the conversation. Who are they?"

Talk about easy pickings

Weiss was only too happy to answer what turned out to be a softball challenge — and dug into CNN to boot: "People that work at networks like, frankly, like the one I'm speaking on right now, who try and claim that it was racist to investigate the lab-leak theory."

Stelter tried to counter by saying journalists aren't being prevented from discussing or questioning any of the issues Weiss brought up, but she offered that the consequences for doing so in this cancel culture era have become grave and widespread.

"You and I both know — and it would be delusional to claim otherwise — that touching your finger to an increasing number of subjects that have been deemed third rail by the mainstream institutions and increasingly by some of the tech companies will lead to reputational damage, perhaps you losing your job, your children sometimes being demonized as well, and so what happens is a kind of an internal self censorship," Weiss replied. "This is something that I saw over and over again when I was at the New York Times."

Substack’s @BariWeiss brings common sense to @BrianStelter: “When you have” NYT reporter talking abt how “pursuing… https://t.co/n6q3J0gCGn

— Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) 1634488631.0

Facts first!

Weiss added the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, particularly, "is one of the great stories of our time, and that is the story that's been uncovered largely not because of disinformation or not because they're lying about it, simply because they're ignoring it — it's disinformation by omission," the Daily Caller said.

The New York Post broke the story weeks before the 2020 election regarding the Biden family's allegedly sketchy overseas business dealings that were detailed on a laptop formerly belonging to Hunter Biden allegedly abandoned at a Delaware computer repair shop.

With that Twitter locked the Post's account and went to great lengths to block users from sharing the story, linking to it in direct messages, and even suspending well-known accounts for attempting the share the Post's piece.

In October 2020, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) called for the defunding of National Public Radio after the taxpayer-supported media organization said it wouldn't cover the Hunter Biden laptop story.

CNN only began covering the federal investigation into the Hunter Biden laptop story in December 2020 — well after the presidential election.

Then when Politico admitted the veracity of key Hunter Biden emails last month, the Post mockingly replied "Color us shocked!" in a scathing editorial ripping the mainstream media for burying the story and pushing the false narrative that the laptop scandal was Russian disinformation.

And there's little doubt that with few exceptions cancel culture has gained a foothold in regard to who gets to stick around and maintain an online voice — and even keep a career intact.

Jake Tapper says he went on a 'G-rated date' with Monica Lewinski in 1997



When CNN's Jake Tapper interviewed Monica Lewinski on Tuesday night's episode of "The Lead" he noted that they had gone on a date more than two decades ago.

Tapper said that their date is included in the FX series, "Impeachment: American Crime Story."

He noted that "I have to disclose, full disclosure, in tonight's episode, our G-rated date from December 1997."

"Our one date," Lewinski, who is a producer on the series, chimed in.

"Our one date from 1997 is portrayed, I should note by an actor way better looking than me now or then," Tapper continued.

The episode of the show that included their date aired hours later, according to Fox News.

Speaking with Monica Lewinsky about the HBO series she produced about Bill Clinton's impeachment, CNN's Jake Tapper… https://t.co/YkZ4oKpzbe

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) 1633471611.0

Tapper had long ago discussed the date in a lengthy 1998 piece for the Washington City Paper.

While the TV version makes it appear that they met and immediately sat down for a dinner date on the same evening, Tapper's account indicates that they met, and eventually went out to dinner together at a later date.

Both the TV show and Tapper's piece indicate that Tapper paid for the entire meal.

"She even offered to pay for her share, a fairly rare offer I rejected but appreciated," Tapper wrote in his account.

"She struck me as cheerful, open, a bit too much a resident of Planet Hap-Hap-Happy in my acerbic view. A little bizarre in her almost childlike sweetness—it was tough to juxtapose her almost giddy warmth with the gravity of the places she had visited, like Bosnia—but she was from both L.A. and money, so her unusualness had a context," Tapper wrote.

The @MonicaLewinsky-@JakeTapper date as portrayed on Tuesday night’s episode of @ACSFX Impeachment: American Crime… https://t.co/S5izq3R7mt

— Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) 1633540598.0

Bill Maher says 'the left' is embarrassing him, blasts NFL over black national anthem



This is the 19th season of "Real Time with Bill Maher," and people have noticed this season that the liberal pundit Bill Maher has made headlines for exposing leftist ideologies for being shallow or actually anti-progressive. While he still trashes Republicans every chance he gets on his political talk show, Maher has become incensed by the leftist mindset of always striving to be woke.

Last month, Maher went after Democrats for their "bad faith" attacks on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for his joke about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Previously, he slammed leftists for Soviet-like cancel culture and trying to make the Olympics "woke." The host also criticized Lin Manuel Miranda for bending the knee to the outrage mob. Maher turned against progressives and said he was against free college. In May, he trounced liberals for sucking the fun out of everything. In April, Maher berated millennials and Gen-Z for their "stupid" left-wing ideas. He attacked the liberal media for peddling COVID-19 porn to their audience, and even complimented Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his coronavirus policies. Maher skewered "brats" in media for Stalin-esque cancel culture tactics.

In the latest episode, Maher addressed his recent disdain for leftist wokescolds.

"To me, when people say to me sometimes like, 'Boy, you know, you go after the left a lot these days. Why?' Because you're embarrassing me! That's why I'm going after the left — in a way you never did before," Maher proclaimed.

"Because you're inverting things that I — I'm not going to give up on being liberal," Maher said, adding a veiled criticism of critical race theory, "This is what these teachers are talking about. That you're taking children and making them hyper-aware of race in a way they wouldn't otherwise be."

Maher brought up how the "black national anthem," formally known as "Lift Every Voice and Sing," was played before the opening game of the NFL 2021 season between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys.

"I think when you go down a road where you're having two different national anthems, [and where] colleges … many of them have different graduation ceremonies for black and white, separate dorms — this is what I mean. Segregation," Maher said. "You've inverted the idea. We're going back to that under a different name."

“When people say to me sometimes, ‘boy, you go after the Left a lot these days, why?’ I’m like ‘Because you’re emba… https://t.co/BjfuePD2y5

— Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) 1631330832.0

Bill Maher trounces big tech over lab leak theory censorship: 'You were wrong, Google and Facebook!'



Bill Maher took big tech to the woodshed over censorship of the COVID-19 Wuhan lab leak theory that was suppressed on social media. The "Real Time" host also lambasted the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday night's episode.

Maher called out Google and Facebook by name for censorship of the coronavirus lab leak theory that suggests that it is possible that COVID-19 escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

"Facebook banned any post for four months about COVID coming from a lab," Maher said during a panel discussion on the political talk show. "Of course now, even the Biden administration is looking into this."

"Google – a Wall Street Journal reporter asked the head of Google's health division – noticed that they don't do auto-fill searches for 'coronavirus lab leak' the way they do for any other question and the guy said, 'Well, we want to make sure that the search isn't leading people down pathways that we would find to be not authoritative information,'" Maher slammed Google, which has over 86% of the search market share.

Maher then blasted the big tech behemoths, "Well, you were wrong, Google and Facebook! We don't know! The reason why we want you is cause we're checking on this s***!"

Maher continued to criticize the head of Google's health division. "He said, 'We want to ensure that the first thing users see is information from the CDC, the WHO.," Maher added.

"That's who I'm checking on," Maher furiously proclaimed. "The WHO has been very corrupt about a lot of s***, and the CDC has been wrong about a lot of s***. This is outrageous that I can't look this information up!"

Maher then castigated YouTube for censoring evolutionary biology professor Bret Weinstein's podcast on the video hosting platform. Weinstein may have his channel removed from YouTube for interviewing a critical care and pulmonary medicine specialist, who touted the effectiveness of the drug ivermectin as a treatment for coronavirus.

"YouTube should not be telling me what I can see about ivermectin. Ivermectin isn't a registered Republican, it's a drug," Maher said. "I don't know if it works or not and a lot of other doctors don't either."

(CAUTION: Explicit language)

“Outrageous.” @BillMaher railed against Facebook and Google for banning and suppressing content about lab leak. “Yo… https://t.co/5uGZeGsGKJ

— Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) 1624678534.0

In April, Maher chastised the media for peddling "panic porn," and praised Republican Governors Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott for opening Florida and Texas back up to allow Americans to go outside.

"Sunshine is the best disinfectant and Vitamin D is the key to a robust immune system," Maher said. "Texas lifted its COVID restrictions recently and their infection rates went down in part because of people getting outside to let the sun and wind do their thing. But to many liberals, 'That can't be right because Texas and beach-loving Florida have Republican governors,' but life is complicated."

Also in this week's episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher," the HBO host talked to director Quentin Tarantino about political correctness and cancel culture.

"I've always really appreciated the way you've pushed back when everyone's tried to stifle you, shut you up, shame you, bully you, corral your artistic license—they tried it with the last one, with 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,' some bulls*** about Margot Robbie doesn't have enough lines," Maher told the legendary director. "You do what I wish other people would do: instead of apologizing like a little p****, you say, 'I don't agree with your assessment.' What's so hard about that?"

Tarantino, director of "Kill Bill" and "Pulp Fiction," was attacked and labeled as a "sexist" by the media and online critics over giving actress Margot Robbie only a few lines of dialogue in the movie "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."

Tarantino responded, "Look, even when we're in a pressure situation where your movie is opening next Friday… if somebody brings up something that's actually legitimate, I'll even have a conversation with them about it, because I'm actually into interesting thought, and I don't even have to agree with you… but when it's just BS, when it's just bulls***."

Maher replied, "Well, it seems like criticism in the recent years has gone to this place of not just… 'OK, you can criticize a movie,' but they seem to be saying, 'This isn't the movie I would have made.' Because you can't."

Maher later said, "There are two kinds of movies: virtue-signalers and superhero movies."

Quentin Tarantino: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) www.youtube.com

CBS host offers bizarre excuse for Walgreens shoplifter caught on camera: ‘You’re getting probably something you need’



Tony Dokoupil, co-host of "CBS This Morning," appeared to defend a man who made headlines this week after brazenly shoplifting from a San Francisco-area Walgreens.

What's a brief history here?

Footage of the incident went viral Tuesday, showing an unidentified male on a bicycle filling a trash bag with what appeared to be hair products.

Two people — including a store security guard — filmed the suspect while he took his time placing items in the sack and watched him as he biked down the aisle and out of the store.

This just happened at the @Walgreens on Gough & Fell Streets in San Francisco. #NoConsequences @chesaboudin https://t.co/uSbnTQQk4J

— Lyanne Melendez (@LyanneMelendez) 1623711530.0

What are the details?

Dokoupil and others discussed the incident Wednesday morning on the daytime TV show.

After the clip aired, Dokoupil began, "So, crime is never justified of course."

Co-host Anthony Mason added, "I will say that I think they could have made a little better effort to stop that bicycle. I mean, you could have disrupted that bike."

Dokoupil added, "Well, I mean, I don't know. You don't need to be a hero over some toothbrushes or whatever it is. ... That reads also as an act of desperation. I mean, you're not getting rich off what you take from a Walgreens, you're getting probably something you need."

Co-host Vlad Duthiers interjected, "I mean, a bagful? They looked like hair products ... which are valuable, and he's filling his bag full of them."

Co-host Adriana Diaz pointed out that the items in the bag were, indeed, hair products and not a necessity as toothbrushes or over the counter medication might be.

CBS’s @TonyDokoupil excuses massive shoplifting from Walgreens in San Francisco: “That reads also as an act of desp… https://t.co/6T3ir2lvBw

— Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) 1623851886.0

Anything else to know?

Lyanne Melendez, a KGO-TV reporter who saw the suspect shoving merchandise into the trash bag, told her station that the suspect — who remains unnamed at the time of this reporting — "sort of ran into me with his bicycle" on his way out of the store.

"It's hard for me as a journalist to say 'I won't be involved, I can't get involved,' I have to be sort of neutral, but this is also my city," Melendez added. "I live in this city, and I see this constantly. Not only Walgreens, but cars, and my garage ... has been broken into twice."

She also pointed out that such crimes are becoming commonplace across the city.

"At what point do we say, 'Enough is enough, we want our city back?'" Melendez asked.

A crime-ridden city

On Wednesday, San Francisco Police Lt. Tracy McCray told Fox News that she has gotten "used to" shoplifters taking what they want in stores across the cities without facing consequences.

"What happened in that Walgreens has been going on in that city for quite a while," McCray said. "I'm used to it. I mean, we can have a greatest hits compilation of people just walking in and cleaning out the store shelves and security guards, the people who work there, just standing by helplessly because they can't do anything."

All fingers, however, seem to point to District Attorney Chesa Boudin as the cause of the behavior.

San Francisco Police Officers Association President Tony Montoya slammed Boudin's laissez-faire policies, which he said are promoting a "criminals-first" agenda.

"This brazen criminal behavior is endured every single day by San Franciscans and it is the direct result of District Attorney Chesa Boudin and his enablers' criminals-first agenda," Montoya said.

McCray agreed, and said that Boudin's agenda is destroying the city because criminals are not being prosecuted for "any crimes as a felony or commercial burglary," and said that such theft cases "get slapped down to a misdemeanor."

"Not enough cops out. You try to put a cop at every corner, which is unrealistic," McCray added."If you steal below $950, you get a citation and you just get to walk away and if you don't show up to court, guess what, maybe you get a bench warrant or maybe they even toss that before it even gets to that point. Anybody can come in and do whatever they want."