The Conservative Cave

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, and on Tuesday morning, just before Donald Trump's big speech, he did the morning show rounds.

He talked about the usual topics — Iran, the new Greenland deal, etc., but what stood out to me was when Craig Melvin of NBC's Today asked him about Trump's decision to ban CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House. Let's just say it didn't go Melvin's way... he got a little beside himself.   

"Mr. Secretary, while I have you, just really quickly here:  As you know, the White House has banned three networks from coverage there – among those, CNN.  You have a pool of reporters that travel with you.  Any plans to ban any of the reporters who travel with you as a result?" the host asked.

Rubio fired back by saying he didn't blame the president for doing so, and, in fact, in some cases, it seems like the American media is rooting for Iran:

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Yeah, look, the White House feels very strongly and the President feels very strongly that the coverage he gets – and I can’t blame him.  Look, I got to be honest with you, and maybe you’re not going to like to hear this, but I watch a lot of American news coverage, and it sounds, in some cases, for example, like they’re rooting for Iran.  It sounds like they highlight anything Iran says in all their public statements as true and they downplay everything American officials say as wrong. ...

Melvin, of course, didn't like this answer and butted in, "with all due respect..."  After a bit of back and forth, he finally asked if media outlets should be banned just because the president doesn't like their coverage.

Apparently, Melvin thinks he woke up in Venezuela, Cuba, or North Korea this morning.

Rubio pointed out that these media outlets aren't being made to shut down, nor are they banned from the entire federal government. They simply aren't allowed in certain areas anymore, including the president's workspace.

"Does that sit right with you?" Melvin asked, like it was some sort of "gotcha" question.

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Well, but the President feels very strongly that why – why should I have people working in my building and in my office that I believe are not honestly covering my administration? That’s how he feels. We’re not closing CNN.  There aren’t a bunch of police officers or soldiers kicking down the doors of MSNBC or MS NOW, whatever it’s called, and arresting people and unplugging it from the grid.  They’re just not allowed to work from the workspace at the White House.

Few places took more advantage of the opportunity to rake in cash and merchandise in exchange for coveted pre-Bruen concealed carry permits than the dedicated public servants who worked in the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Laurie Smith was at the top of the stinking pay-to-play corruption mountain, raking in campaign dollars and lots of valuable, uh, gifts.

She was indicted, abruptly “resigned” was convicted of public corruption back in 2022.

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Smith faced six counts of corruption and willful misconduct stemming from allegations that she sidestepped gift reporting laws and engaged in a pay-to-play scheme. She was accused of not reporting gift tickets to a Sharks hockey game and awarding concealed gun permits to friends and colleagues who donated to her reelection campaign.

But Smith wasn’t the only one who was in on the juicy action. Undersheriff Rick Sung made sure he was pulling in the payola, too. Now, four years later, he’s finally getting…a slap on the wrist.

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The grand jury indicted Sung in 2020, accusing him of holding up the distribution of concealed carry licenses until applicants provided something of value. He was initially indicted on three charges for incidents dating between 2017 and 2019, and [District Attorney Jeff] Rosen said at the time that investigators found some of the bribery money was sent to Smith’s 2018 reelection campaign. …

Sung’s first prosecution ended in a mistrial last year. Now he’s reached a plea deal with the DA that will result in zero time spent in the graybar hotel.
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It seems the DA just wanted to make this years-long case finally go away.
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But the Sheriff was found guilty, so she’s behind bars, right? Well, no. Because she wasn’t criminally prosecuted. She only faced civil corruption charges for which the only penalties were removal from office (again, she abruptly resigned days before she was found guilty) and disqualification from holding public office again.

Former ABC News correspondent Terry Moran said the network shut down his effort to report on former President Joe Biden's health well before questions about the president's fitness went mainstream.

"In late 2023, early 2024, you know, it was pretty clear that Biden was fading rather quickly," Moran said Sunday on "The Daily Beast Podcast" with host Joanna Coles.
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"I had actually traveled with him to Japan in the spring of 2023 and kind of eyeballed him there, and I thought, OK, he's still functioning, but man, he's frail. He looked like he'd blow away in a stiff wind," Moran said.

"I tried to do the story of Biden's health before anybody else did in network, because I'd seen it. And I got shut down very hard."
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"I wrote an email to everybody as gently, and as respectfully as I could — I think I still have it. It was like, 'This is a legit issue for Americans to be interested in," Moran said.

"'I'm not a doctor. I'm not diagnosing. But we all know what we know when we see people fading," he continued.
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He said network executives blocked the story, telling him it was "the medical unit's business, not yours."

Grass has still yet to grow on his grave.

Not sure if because of alcohol leeching from the decaying body or visitors.