The Morning Briefing: Why Is Everything So Upside Down?

Happy Monday, Morning Briefer readers! Kruiser is currently locked in a bidding war with a woman named Peaches at an estate sale, over a taxidermied raccoon wearing a tiny sombrero, so you're stuck with me today. Hopefully, he'll be back tomorrow.

Folks, I tend to be a pretty optimistic person. I like to think most people are fairly decent and possess at least some common sense. And despite the gloom and doom the MSM usually presents to us, I like to think our country is doing okay, that we'll survive the years to come just as we have the last 250, maybe with a few hiccups here and there, but that's life.

However, there are some days that I comb through the news and wonder why everything is so upside down and whether or not we're past the point of no return, and today is one of them.

I actually took most of the weekend off, so when Kruiser asked me to fill in for him, I had to go back and see exactly what had been happening, and I swear I felt like some of my colleagues had given up writing the news and were trying to see who could outdo each other for writing stories that would, I don't know, make the Founding Fathers roll in their graves.

For example, Catherine wrote on Sunday about how Gavin Newsom signed the Stop Nick Shirley Act into law, which would "criminalize certain forms of investigative journalism." Um, First Amendment says what? Of course, we all know that the only thing Shirley has done is expose fraud and the waste of taxpayer dollars. As Catherine noted, "The only possible reason one would have to support the Stop Nick Shirley Act is to protect oneself or one’s cronies." She also mentions that it will face legal challenges for being unconstitutional... because it is.

Next up, there's this story that Catherine also covered about how the actress Anna Faris is upset that her son came out... as a Christian.

“He is … religious,” Faris disclosed of Jack, as if this were somehow a melancholy shame. Since she did not grow up with religion, she seems to think anyone who did is a heartless, hopeless regressive. Jack asked her to accept Jesus Christ and His teachings, and she returned an answer meant to pacify him while still rejecting the Gospel, as she “told him I would do anything for him, including this, but it’s gonna take a whole lot of long conversations.” Faris made her comments on Chelsea Handler’s show Thursday, according to Page Six.

It's hard for me to wrap my head around this, as I grew up with a mother who wanted nothing more than for me to be a Christian. The child is 14 years old. I guess he's around the age when Faris was hoping he would start telling her he believes he's actually a girl and establishing his new pronouns. After all, she's probably dying to be like all the other Hollywood moms. Fortunately, Jack's father is actor Chris Pratt, who is a devout Christian and seemingly a good role model for his young son.

And then there's this whole Lindsay Clancy situation. In case you missed it, she's the woman who strangled her three children, ages five, three, and eight months. Her defense is claiming she had postpartum psychosis, which is what it is. I am not a doctor, nor have I ever had a baby, so I can't speak to that.

But what's absolutely wild to me is that a growing group of women are coming out in support of this murderer (I can't even say alleged because she doesn't deny she did it). Kyle Becker over at RedState points out that hundreds of women gathered outside the courthouse this past week, dressed in pink to show their support. And online:

Women have posted videos of themselves holding their own babies and crying while excerpts from Clancy’s writings play over the footage. Some have used captions such as “same, Lindsay.” Other posts have framed the case as something almost universally relatable to motherhood.

You can even buy "I stand with Lindsay" merch. It's one thing to want to call attention to postpartum mental health issues, but this is disgusting. I actually saw a video on X the other day of a "Lindsay supporter" throwing water over her crying baby's head in solidarity. I refuse to post it.

Suddenly, Anna Faris looks like mother of the year compared to these loons.

So, just to recap, in the year of our Lord 2026:

- Journalists? Bad.

- Little boys becoming Christians and enjoying their own religious freedom? Bad.

- Murdering your kids? Excellent.

Let's move on to something much more wholesome — everyone's favorite Secretary of State and the greatest segment in Morning Briefing guest-hosting history:

The Marco Minute

In case you missed it, Marco Rubio was on Katie Miller's podcast earlier this month, and he described his perfect weekend. With football season just around the corner, just hearing him talk about this gives me the vapors.

𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚: Marco Rubio breaks down his perfect weekend, which would be watching nonstop football.

"You could start at 10 am Saturday, run the whole college football day. Sleep a few hours, wake up and you're into NFL gameday. You have the 1 o'clock game, the 4 o'clock… pic.twitter.com/Fkydp0Xt0s
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) August 14, 2026

Despite my best efforts, Kruiser refuses to make "The Marco Minute" a permanent fixture here at the Morning Briefing. I've even suggested we call it Sarah Anderson's Marco Minute™. No luck. But you can always let him know your thoughts on the matter and send your contributions to the Mailbag of Magnificence at [email protected].

Click the button below to get the Morning Briefing emailed to you every weekday. Have your coffee with Kruiser and me, people. It's free and it supports conservative media!

Everything Isn't Awful

Okay, maybe not everything is upside down.

Thank you..🦆🐤🐤🐤😊❤️ pic.twitter.com/6mh8jXmvqy
— 𝕐o̴g̴ (@Yoda4ever) August 23, 2026

The Kruiser Kabana

Kabana Gallery

Francis Danby - "Disappointed Love" (1821) pic.twitter.com/sK5Fi35ZEn
— Museum (@DailyClassicArt) August 18, 2026

Kabana Comedy

My friend and colleague, Chris Queen, sent me this one on Sunday:

   

Kabana Tunes

Last week would have been my mom's 70th birthday, and it was also the anniversary of her death. In her honor, I'm going to leave you with one of her favorite songs, which I've been listening to a lot lately.

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