Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 8/14

[SVPete]

Fabricating the News

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/08/fabricating-the-news.php

The New York Times is not a legitimate  newspaper. It is not just that it is absurdly biased. It is not just that pretty much every story is driven by obsessive hatred of Donald Trump. The Times can’t be trusted not to lie about the most basic facts. Newspapers

Thus, this is how the Times characterizes the shooting of Alex Pretti:
...
“Alex Pretti was fatally shot while filming officers.” That is a flat-out lie. Pretti was shot while fighting with several ICE agents when he was armed with a pistol. He was shot when the officers realized he was armed and, rightly or wrongly, thought he was trying to use his weapon against them. ...

Having seen months of Progs' Good- and Pretti-Canonization on FB, this lie does not in the least surprise me.

[SVPete]

LA Judge Gives Insane Reason for Going Easy on Felon Who Tried to Blow LAPD Copter Out of the Sky

https://redstate.com/terichristoph/2026/08/13/cop-killer-gets-light-sentence-from-la-judge-n2205566

A story out of Los Angeles is making waves on social media – and likely in LA, too – after an ex-con who was found guilty of shooting at and striking a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) helicopter last year was handed a relatively light sentence by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mildred Escobedo.

And her reasoning for going easy on him was absolutely bonkers.

Douglas Byers, 62, was convicted in March on two counts of assault on a peace officer and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon after using an AR-15-style rifle to shoot at the LAPD helicopter on Aug. 15, 2025. There were two officers aboard at the time, and it subsequently had to make an emergency landing. Despite Byers' best efforts, the officers were not hurt.
...
Which leads us to Byers' sentencing on Tuesday, where Judge Escobedo rejected the prosecutor's recommendation that Byers, who had multiple prior felony convictions and was not allowed to own a firearm, be sentenced to 41 years in prison. Escobedo, instead, gave him 13 years, and "reasoned" that had been "friendly" and "respectful" in court when acting as his own attorney.

[SVPete]

Awww — Jessica Tarlov Is Mad at Media Praise for Karoline Leavitt

https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2026/08/14/awww-jessica-tarlov-is-mad-that-karoline-leavitt-is-getting-praised-n4956144

Karoline Leavitt is leaving her role as White House Press Secretary at the end of August, and something remarkable happened on her way out the door: Reporters who cover this administration for a living actually lined up to say nice things about her. Naturally, that was too much for Fox News’s Jessica Tarlov to handle.

Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, who also serves as president of the White House Correspondents' Association, pointed out that Leavitt is "the youngest press secretary in history, huge achievement in and of itself, and was a very effective messenger for this administration." Heinrich also called her "very accessible and in the room with the president," drawing a pointed contrast with Joe Biden's press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre. "Often it was apparent that she wasn't as close to the decision-makers and able to give us valuable information, as Karoline has been in her time here," Heinrich said. "So, this is going to be a big loss for this White House."

NBC News correspondent Garrett Haake wrote on X that "it's impossible to overstate how much of an inner-circle figure Leavitt is in this White House, and how much the President trusts her as an advisor on any issue." Other anonymous reporters described her as playing fair while getting "very aggressive" toward questions "framed duplicitously or maliciously." One called her simply "the best press secretary I've ever worked with, and there have been many," crediting her success to the time she has spent studying Trump's reasoning up close. That same reporter had less patience for Biden's team, saying Jean-Pierre "didn't do either" of the things that made Leavitt effective, and that Jen Psaki looked at the press "with disdain."
...
To her credit, when discussing the timing of Leavitt's exit, Tarlov waved off any suspicion. Then she immediately undercut herself, arguing Trump kept Leavitt around because she has proven herself to be someone who "does his bidding very well." "You know, she dodges, she attacks, she obfuscates," Tarlov said.

Tarlov then ran through what she claimed was a list of mistruths from the podium.

“I did want to review some of the mistruths, lies, whatever it was from the podium,” she began. ...

I wonder how much outrage Tarlov had and has for Psaki's arrogant stonewalling legitimate questions and Jean-Pierre's awareness-fee clueless talking-pointing.

[SVPete]

How the Late-Night Emmy Became the Anti-Trump Award

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/how-late-night-emmy-anti-trump-1236668912/

Then again, (Kimmel) could do something on behalf of himself. Or John Oliver. Or Jon Stewart. They’re all pals. And all have a strong claim to the variety Emmy, which this season rolls all the hot late night shows together, putting perennial winner Oliver as well as SNL back with everyone else for one seriously supercharged group of nominees.

But variety is more than just a hot category because of the quality of the shows. It’s a hot category because the top late night Emmy has become a vehicle — perhaps the vehicle — for Hollywood to register its opposition to President Trump. And the voters’ pick will tell us a lot about whom they favor to lead that opposition for the remaining two years of his term. (Hopefully they survive it.)

The commingling of late night and overtly liberal politics has been a narrative for a decade now, ever since Colbert’s ratings skyrocketed (for engaging in them) and Jimmy Fallon’s tanked (for not) in the president’s first term. It can be hard to remember a time when Jay Leno made Monica Lewinsky jokes (or Stewart made Obama jokes) and we all laughed no matter our party affiliation, but it happened in our lifetimes. I think.

Yet since Trump’s return to power, late night’s role as a domain of protest has been stronger than ever. Its Emmy is basically the anti-Trump award — Hollywood’s place to anoint its chosen resistance figure for the year.

If you have any doubt about this, let it be dispelled by the following fact: Real Time With Bill Maher, whose host is by far the Trump-friendliest of the bunch, was often nominated for the top late night Emmy in a pre-Trump era — every year but one from 2005 to 2017. He’s not been nominated since.

So, who wins the 2026 anti-Trump award?

Maher isn't even particularly pro-Trump. He's just not a Trump-Hater, and often is realistic and honest about fellow Libs/Progs.