OPEN THREAD: Disport yourselves in the comments.

METAPHOR ALERT: Movie theater ceiling collapses during screening of Captain America: Brave New World.

Two moviegoers got an extra taste of action Tuesday night — and not just from their choice to view “Captain America: Brave New World.”

During a showing of the latest Marvel flick at Liberty Cinema in downtown Wenatchee, Washington, the theater’s ceiling collapsed onto the audience, local officials said.

The Wenatchee Fire Department responded at about 8 p.m. Tuesday, finding two people in attendance. It said in a statement that no injuries were reported.

Having virtually no audience certainly increases those odds! Deadpool Creator Says Kevin Feige ‘Should Get Off the Mound. He’s Spent’ as Captain America: Brave New World Suffers Huge Box Office Drop.

DISPATCHES FROM ABC NEWS: Joy Behar Accuses Musk of Being ‘Pro-Apartheid,’ Begs Not to Be Sued.

The liberals are everything they accuse conservatives of being. During the Thursday edition of ABC’s The View, co-host Joy Behar went on an anti-immigrant tirade directed at billionaire Elon Musk. She viciously attacked him for being born in South Africa – something he had no choice in, accused him – without evidence – of being “pro-apartheid,” a “foreign agent” and “enemy of the United States,” and when she finally was told he was a naturalized citizen, she scoffed and wondered if he came in illegally.

And in an apparent attempt at heading off a possible defamation suit, she begged Musk not to sue her* while weakly walking back only one of the baseless accusations.

Behar was coming unglued as she bloviated about how “Elon Musk kisses [President Donald Trump’s] butt and strokes his tiny ego or big ego, whatever it is.”

She apparently though people born elsewhere were beneath her and that only Americans born in the country should work for the government. She sneered as she decried how Musk “was not born in this country.”

And despite the fact that Musk was a child during and through the end of apartheid, Behar claimed it was something he embraced: “[He] was born under apartheid in South Africa, so has that mentality going on. He was pro-apartheid as I understand it!”

* Flashback: ABC, Stephanopoulos Must Apologize to Trump, Pay $15 Million to Settle Defamation Suit.

Maybe ABC News needs a Tesla full of lawyers to follow the ladies from the View around whenever they’re planning to hyperventilate about Musk:

TRUMP WON’T SAY IF HE’LL APOLOGIZE TO ZELENSKYY FOR CALLING HIM A ‘DICTATOR:’

Last week, Mr. Trump called Mr. Zelenskyy a “dictator,” escalating tensions between the two. The comment came after the Ukrainian president accused Mr. Trump of living in a Russian “disinformation bubble.”

Related:

● Not Smart: Zelenskyy Just Blocked Truth Social in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Zelensky stays in power despite term expiring.

● Ukraine’s election day dawned with no vote in sight and little appetite for one – for now, anyway.

Why hasn’t Ukraine held elections since the war began?

 

57 YEARS AGO TODAY: The ‘Cronkite Moment’ of 1968: Remembering why it’s a media myth.

CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite presented a prime-time report about the war in Vietnam and declared in closing that the U.S. military effort was “mired in stalemate” and that negotiations might eventually offer a way out.

It was a tepid analysis, hardly novel. But over the years, Cronkite’s assessment has swelled in importance, taking on the aura of a vital, media-inspired turning point. It is so singularly important in American journalism that it has come to be called the “Cronkite Moment.

In reality it is a moment steeped in media myth.

Notable among the myths of the “Cronkite Moment” is that President Lyndon B. Johnson watched the program and, upon hearing the anchorman’s comment about “stalemate,” snapped off the television and told an aide or aides something to this effect:

“If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.” (Versions vary.)

Cronkite’s remarks supposedly were an epiphany to the president, who realized his war policy was a shambles.

The account of the anchorman’s telling hard truth to power is irresistible to journalists, representing a memorable instance of media influence and power.

But Cronkite’s program on February 27, 1968, hardly had decisive effects. Here’s why (this rundown is adapted from a chapter about the “Cronkite Moment” in my media myth-busting book, Getting It Wrong):

Read the whole thing.

As for Vietnam post-LBJ, here are the Brothers Judd on Lewis Sorley’s 1999 book, A Better War:

The basic premise of the book is that late in 1970 or early in 1971 the United States had essentially won the Vietnam War.  That is to say, we had defeated the Viet Cong in the field, returned effective control of most of the population to the South Vietnamese and created a situation where the South Vietnamese armed forces could continue the war on their own, so long as we provided them with adequate supplies and intelligence, and carried through on our promise to bomb the North if they violated peace agreements.  This situation had been brought about by the changes in strategy and tactics which were implemented by Army General Creighton Abrams when he replaced William Westmoreland in 1968, after the military triumph but public relations disaster of the Tet Offensive.  Where Westmoreland had treated the War as simply a military exercise, Abrams understood its political dimensions.  Abrams, who had worked on developing a new war plan at the Pentagon, ended Westmoreland’s emphasis on body counts and destroying the enemy and switched the focus to regaining control of villages.  He understood that eventual victory required civilian support for the South Vietnamese government and this support required the government to provide villagers with physical security from the Viet Cong.

Abrams was accompanied in implementing this new approach by Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker and by William Colby, the new CIA chief in Saigon, who provided greatly improved intelligence reports and oversaw the pacification program.  Together they managed to salvage the wreckage that Westmoreland had left behind and they retrieved the situation even as Washington was drawing down troop levels.  In 1972, with the Viet Cong essentially eliminated as an effective fighting force, the North Vietnamese mounted a massive Easter offensive, but this too was decisively defeated.

Having failed to achieve their aims militarily, the North Vietnamese turned their attention to the Paris Peace Talks.  They were extraordinarily fortunate to be dealing with Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon, two opportunists of the worst sort, who were willing to negotiate a deal which left the North with troops in South Vietnam.  When President Thieu balked at this and threatened to scuttle the talks, the North backed off of the whole deal and Nixon ordered the 1972 Christmas bombings of Hanoi.  For eleven days, waves of B-52’s, each carrying 108 500-pound and 750-pound bombs, pummeled the North.  For perhaps the only time during the entire War, the North was subjected to total war, and they were forced to return to the negotiating table.  Sorley cites Sir Robert Thompson’s assessment that :

“In my view, on December 30, 1972, after eleven days of those B-52 attacks on the Hanoi area, you had won the war.  It was over.”

At that point, the Viet Cong had been destroyed, we had definitely won the insurgency phase of the War.  Additionally, the North had been defeated in the initial phase of conventional warfare, and had finally had the War brought home to them in a significant way.  Though the overall War was certainly not over, it was sitting there, just waiting to be won.

So what happened ?  Sorley has identified several problem areas that led to the eventual demise of the South.  First was the really disgraceful way in which the U. S. bugged out.

Speaking of which, for its Biden-approved denouement, Prager U:

LIVE FROM THE FRENCH LAUNDRY, IT’S SATURDAY NIGHT NEWSOM! Social media blasts ‘Gaslighting’ Gavin Newsom after he announces new podcast.

Social media users savaged Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., after he announced the upcoming launch of his brand-new podcast.

Prominent critics of the governor mocked the news, choosing to remind him of the state’s problems under his leadership rather than express support for his latest media venture.

“California is a burnt mess that’s wallowing in financial ruin. So, Gavin Newsom naturally launches a podcast. WTH?! [What the hell?!]” conservative commentator Paul Szypula posted on X.

Newsom shared the news of his “This is Gavin Newsom” podcast in a video post shared to X on Tuesday morning. Billing it as an “anything but the ordinary ‘politician’ podcast,’” the upbeat-looking governor said his new show will feature guests that “I disagree with” as well as people “I look up to.”

He added that the show will delve into “real conversations” on topics concerning Americans. “What’s going on with the cost of eggs? What are the impacts – the real impacts – to you around tariffs?,” he asked, showcasing the kind of content that will be covered.

He also noted that he would get into the details of “what’s really going on inside of DOGE,” and concluded the video by saying he’ll be speaking to “leaders and architects in the MAGA movement” during the first episodes of his show.

The podcast is produced by iHeartMedia and will be the second podcast that the governor has been involved with. Newsom currently co-hosts the “Politickin’” podcast alongside former NFL player Marshawn Lynch, and sports agent Doug Hendrickson.

Or as America’s Newspaper of Record accurately notes: Gavin Newsom Launches True Crime Podcast About How He Killed California.

Meanwhile, at the L.A. clown show: Kristin Crowley appeals Mayor Karen Bass’ decision to remove her as fire chief.

NOTE THE NBC HEADLINE: First measles death reported in Texas as Kennedy downplays outbreak.

What’s going on:

DRAIN THE SWAMP: Researchers Discover Sen. Ruben Gallego Benefited from ‘Smurfing’ Contributions.

Some election integrity researchers are expanding their investigation of politicians who benefitted from questionable “Smurfing” campaign contributions and discovered that Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) received many of them. Smurfing refers to using straw donors to make campaign contributions; usually, elderly and unemployed people are unaware their identities are being used for money laundering. Many contributions are made under one name, sometimes thousands of them, and they are usually small amounts, often around $10 each, to escape detection.

Peter Bernegger, one of the key researchers who discovered the Smurfing phenomenon, posted on X on Tuesday, “Arizona @SenRubenGallego caught Smurfing, i.e. criminally laundering money into his campaign! Note that this is just the tip of the iceberg. This is a ‘quick’ data run of the top Smurfs found to have had their identities stolen by Gallego’s campaign. Smurfing found by Chris Gleason @immutablechrist Phillip Allison @TheTVConsPiracy , myself and others exposing Smurfing. This is another form of election fraud. We are running all 100 US Senators, Tom Cotton and Jon Ossoff already ran – see the tweets below.”

More daylight, please — Congress needs some serious disinfecting.

MY THURSDAY VIP ESSAY AT VODKAPUNDIT: Ding-Dong the Witch Is (Almost) Dead.

If Kathleen Kennedy had been made chief of all of Disney instead of just Lucasfilm, she’d have done a “reimagining” of “The Wizard of Oz,” featuring a misunderstood lesbian Wicked Witch, and the Munchkins would all have been genderfluid.

Pause for a moment here, not to imagine 30 tiny trannies dancing around Dorothy’s ruby red slippers, but in silent prayer that the one-woman wrecking ball of beloved movie franchises is finally exiting stage left. “After more than a decade in a galaxy far, far away, Kathleen Kennedy is charting a course toward retirement,” I read in Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday.

Neither Kennedy nor Disney/Lucasfilm have commented.

There have been countless rumors over the years — wishful thinking, really — that Kennedy might finally release her death grip on Lucasfilm. But this week’s reports are well-sourced and widespread enough that I think we can almost breathe a sigh of relief.

But only almost. I’ll come back to that in a moment.

Let’s survey the damage, starting with Indiana Jones.

Much more at the link.

AND THE NEWS JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER:

Exit question: Might?

HOWEVER MUCH YOU HATE THE MEDIA…

…it still isn’t enough.

SPACE: The Moon’s next robotic visitor is lining up for landing this weekend.

Early Sunday morning, while most of America is sleeping, a couple dozen engineers in Central Texas will have their eyes glued to monitors watching data stream in from a quarter-million miles away.

These ground controllers at Firefly Aerospace hope that their robotic spacecraft, named Blue Ghost, will become the second commercial mission to complete a soft landing on the Moon, following the landing of a spacecraft by Intuitive Machines last year. This is the first lunar mission for Firefly Aerospace, a company established in 2014 to develop a small satellite launcher.

Since then, Firefly has undergone changes in ownership, a bankruptcy, and a renaming. Recognizing that the company had to diversify to survive, Firefly executives began pursuing other business opportunities—spacecraft manufacturing, lunar missions, and a medium-class rocket—to go alongside its small Alpha launch vehicle.

From a business perspective, Firefly’s foray into lunar transportation has been worth the effort. NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program has awarded the company three contracts to deliver experiments to the Moon’s surface. Under the first deal, NASA is paying Firefly about $101 million to transport 10 payloads to the Moon on the company’s first Blue Ghost lander.

Now, Firefly is about to find out if its lunar program is a technical success.

Godspeed…

JOHN NOLTE: More Video Unearthed of Jake Tapper Covering up Biden’s Decline.

Tapper must think it’s still 2013, a time when the regime media’s snooty hubris could power them through any hypocrisy. Well, those days are over. Social Media and New Media are both blistering Tapper with multiple exhibits proving he actively engaged in covering up, dismissing, downplaying, and shutting down discussion of Biden’s obvious-Obvious-OBVIOUS mental and physical collapse.

But now, because he’s a prisoner of arrogance and a velvet bubble dated 2013, after four years of being an active member of the conspiracy to sweep the fact that Biden hardly knew who or where he was under the rug, Tapper has coauthored a book titled Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.

Yep, the criminal is going to investigate his own crime.

If I Did It … by O.Jake. Tapper.

On Wednesday, Breitbart News reported on two instances (one from 2024) where Tapper is on the record covering up for a man the whole world could see had no business running a cash register, much less the country.

Since then, more video has been unearthed. Watch for yourself:

As you can see, some of those clips are from 2024.

Of course they are. Ace of Spades adds: One Media Hero Steps Forward to Blow the Lid Off the Biden Dementia Cover-Up. That Hero? Biden Defender Fake Jake Tapper.

This book is Tapper’s attempt to save the media from the public’s accurate assessment that they covered up Biden’s dementia to rig an(other) election.

His searing investigation will put the blame squarely on Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Hunter Biden, Frank Biden, plus the five or six top aides to Biden.

Note that none of these people have any future in elective politics. They were part of a failed and fraudulent presidency; the Democrat Party will not be making use of their services in the future.

Charles Cooke asks: Which Way, American Journalist?

At this stage, the only person in America who believes that the media faithfully follows a series of neutral rules is Brian Stelter — and he’s paid to say as much.

Which is to say that my view of the affair remains exactly the same as it was in the immediate aftermath of the presidential debate that tore away the curtain: There is simply no way of looking at this “failure” that does not indict everyone involved. If the press genuinely did not know, then it is staffed by people who cannot see what is in front of their noses. If the press had suspicions but did not want to investigate them for fear that it would help Donald Trump, then it is staffed by people who are corrupt and who ought never to work again as a result. And if the press knew, but felt pressured or obliged to stay quiet about it, then we are dealing with a conspiracy of world-historic proportions. I do not know what is in Tapper and Thompson’s book, but if it is not primarily an indictment of the media — coupled with some white-hot rage at the federal government for having orchestrated such a dastardly conspiracy — then it will represent a missed opportunity. At present, the media’s approval rating is about 20 percent. If, over the next two years, the press elects to forget its complicity in the ruse and dispassionately cash in on its own failure, I suspect that its popularity will soon be pushing single digits — if that.

In December of 2020, Katya Sedgewick wrote of “Biden’s Brezhnev vibes,” which was printed in the various local versions of the London Spectator, including its American spinoff:

At least nobody in the Soviet Union voted for Brezhnev — the elections were a sham with Communist party candidates running unopposed. Everything was a sham, actually. In his mumbling, robotic tones, the general secretary delivered long-winded, heavy on Marxist cliches and utterly incomprehensible televised speeches. The economy flattered, dissidents were subjected to psychiatric torture, corruption proliferated, and the rate of substance abuse skyrocketed. That period of Soviet history is known as zastoi, or stagnation. It only made sense that the man on top was some sort of sclerotic.

Like Brezhnev, Biden’s rhetoric is ridden with clichés, but of a different, folksy kind. At the time when political slogans are catchy and provocative — Make America Great Again, Black Lives Matter — Biden’s yard signs read ‘Our best days are still ahead’, and ‘Build back better’. His Twitter account is full of platitudes like ‘This is our moment — ours together — to write a newer, bolder, more compassionate chapter in the life of our nation.’ He’s just a boring ordinary guy — until he lashes out at a voter, or bites on his wife’s finger.

Is Biden the candidate of American stagnation? His cognitive and physical decline is increasingly difficult to hide and it’s highly disturbing to witness it become a subject of speculation. I’ve lived through it before and it gives me the creeps. Free citizens of a free republic shouldn’t need a Kremlinologist to decipher what’s wrong with their president.

I don’t know if Tapper responded to her column, but as we can see from the above tweet, we know precisely what his reaction would have been from 2020 until most of last year.

Glasnost may have arrived in America with Trump 2.0, but it’s going to be a while though, before the staffers at Pravda begin to understand that the party is over. Or as Kira Davis concludes: Here Lies the Legacy Media: RIP.

I’ve not had a lot of love for Tapper, but I have had respect for him up to this point. I only ever had him pegged as a sycophant Democrat apologist, but not as a liar. This new book has put a decisive end to whatever vestiges of respect anyone ever had for Tapper.

But it’s more than that. Tapper’s book marks the final nail in the coffin of the mainstream, legacy press. Conservative Americans have known for years that the legacy media is hopelessly biased and corrupt. The broader spectrum of Americans began to see the questionable practices during Trump’s New York trial. That mugshot made a lot of people- people who previously had not been paying attention -think twice. At the very least, some eyebrows were raised.

* * * * * * * *

There is nowhere for his antics to hide. Alternative media has been religiously chronicling the last five years (at least) and their viewership numbers dwarf anything Tapper could ever dream of achieving in his CNN perch. More people know the part he played in all of this than don’t.

It is a blatant lie of the highest order, made worse by the fact that he’s literally sold it for a handful of silver coins.

No matter. The jig is up. He got his money, but he sacrificed his respectability and reputation for it, and at the end of the day, that’s all any man really has.

Exit quote: “Tapper is bankrupt and so is the legacy media. His new book jacket will serve as the program for their funeral. The pall bearers will be the American media consumers who have had enough of the elitists telling us not to believe our lying eyes.”

Look at the percentage of Americans who trust the media “not very much” or “none at all.” Those are rookie numbers; Tapper should be able to pump them up much higher when his book debuts.

MONICA LEWINSKY SAYS BILL CLINTON SHOULD HAVE RESIGNED AFTER AFFAIR IN FRESH INTERVIEW:

Monica Lewinsky believes former President Bill Clinton should have resigned from the White House after their affair.

Lewinsky, appearing on Alex Cooper’s podcast Call Her Daddy, said Clinton did not handle himself appropriately when news broke that the two had an affair while she was a 22-year-old intern in the White House.

“I think that the right way to handle a situation like that would have been to probably say it was, you know, nobody’s business and to resign,” Lewinsky told Cooper, the most-listened to female podcaster in the world.

“Or, to find a way of staying in office that was not lying and not throwing a young person who was just starting out in the world under the bus,” she added.

Clinton famously lied about the affair, telling America he “did not have sexual relations with that woman” in 1998. Clinton was later impeached in the House but acquitted in the Senate and remained in office.

Bill Clinton resign? All the best people in the 1990s assured me that of course heads of state have affairs; it’s all consensual stuff. Europeans take this sort of thing for granted. Why are Americans so prudish about it?

Related: The Bill Clinton interview we’d like to see.