Evening Edition: It took ABC five hours to fire Roseanne
ABC took just five hours to fire Roseanne from her #1-rated prime time show just for sending one tweet that allegedly was a racial insult to Obama official Valerie Jarrett.
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YOUR EVENING NEWS:
Yesterday, we reported that the FBI had launched raids on 22 locations in Minnesota suspected of government benefits fraud, including the one that launched 1,000 Internet memes, the “Quality Learning Center.” The New York Post reports that the raids were conducted along with state and local police, and they used a battering ram to get into one “day care center” (we assume there were no children inside.) In February, President Trump announced a “war on fraud,” and the Administration estimates that fraud in Minnesota alone could total $19 billion.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been accused by state employees of silencing whistleblowers who tried to expose the fraud, and then he accused those who pointed out Somali fraud of “white supremacy.” But on Tuesday, he took to X to claim support for the raids, writing, “If you commit fraud in Minnesota you’re going to get caught — and that’s exactly what we saw today. We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information. Joint investigations work, and securing justice depends on it.”
That was a bit too much for FBI Director Kash Patel to swallow. He snapped back, “Come again? This FBI and DOJ with our DHS partners drafted and executed every search warrant today. But go ahead and take credit for our work while we smoke out the fraud plaguing Minnesota under your governorship.” Other conservatives also piled on, with one calling Walz “an arsonist masquerading as a firefighter.”
Photo credit: AP News
On Tuesday, King Charles held a bilateral meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office and addressed Congress. It was only the second time a British monarch has addressed Congress, the first time being his mother Queen Elizabeth II in 1991.
In his speech, King Charles continued the theme that both he and Trump have followed of reminding Americans of the historic bonds between the US and UK and preserving our shared culture (we would suggest that it’s Britain’s leaders who need a reminder of the importance of preserving British culture.) They also tried to patch over some of the recent rifts between the nations, with Charles stressing the importance of NATO and Trump saying that Charles agrees with him on stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons.
Charles also condemned the latest assassination attempt against Trump, saying, “Let me say with unshakable resolve, such acts of violence will never succeed.”
There were also moments of humor, such as Charles joking that “we have everything in common...except, of course, language.” Trump joked that Charles accomplished something in Congress he never could: He actually got Democrats to stand up. And Trump trolled the Democrats by tweeting a photo of him with Charles and titling it, “TWO KINGS.”
Yesterday, the oil market took another major jolt when the United Arab Emirates announced that they are quitting OPEC, the cartel of oil-producing states. The UAE is the third-largest oil producer in OPEC, and they’ve been complaining for years that OPEC’s restrictions on production to keep prices high are preventing them from selling as much oil as they want. The UAE’s withdrawal could signal the beginning of an oil glut and lower prices.
The UAE likely sees this as a good time to bail since OPEC is at a weak point thanks to the US ramping up oil production under Trump and outproducing Russia and Saudi Arabia combined, plus Trump bringing Venezuelan oil under US influence. Why, it’s almost as if he had a master plan to choke off both oil and oil revenues to our enemies while forcing oil prices down on the open market Nah, that’s impossible: he’s “chaotic” and “has no plan.”
Photo credit: MSN.com
The FCC has ordered early broadcast license renewal reviews for eight Disney-owned TV stations, many in top markets such as New York, L.A. and Houston. We predict that Jimmy Kimmel will use this as an excuse to boost ratings by claiming Trump is infringing on his First Amendment rights – and that’s how the Democrats and the media will frame it -- but the FCC action is part of a year-long investigation into unlawful discrimination. The threat to Disney’s broadcast licenses doesn’t even mention Kimmel but is focused on alleged continued racially-biased DEI hiring practices.
To use a “Godfather” metaphor, it seems that the Trump Administration is following the attempt on his life by settling old business. You can read elsewhere in the Huckabee Post about the latest James Comey indictment, and we told you about the SPLC charges and the arrest of former Fauci aide Dr. David Morens for allegedly destroying federal records to hide the origins of the COVID-19 virus.
Now, the National Institutes of Health have cut off grants to virologist Dr. Ralph Baric and the University of North Carolina has placed him on leave over claims that his pursuit of gain-of-function research (making viruses more contagious to “study” them) helped start the pandemic. A senior HHS official told Real Clear Investigations that “Baric designed the gun. But the Chinese built it, and then they pulled the trigger.” Here’s that full report from RCI. It’s a very deep dive, but worth the time. It illustrates how the deadliest epidemic of our time might not be COVID but the hubris of grant-funded researchers whom one critic says think of themselves as “self-anointed priests.”
Photo credit: ABC News
REMINDER: ABC took just five hours to fire Roseanne from her #1-rated prime time show just for sending one tweet that allegedly was a racial insult to Obama official Valerie Jarrett -- even though Roseanne apologized and said she was taking Ambien when she wrote it and didn’t even know Jarrett’s race. The only show that defended her free speech rights and welcomed her back to TV was “Huckabee” on TBN.
And our thanks to the Behind The Lines YouTube channel for reminding us that when ABC fired Roseanne for telling one joke, and not even on her show but on Twitter, this is what “free speech champion” Jimmy Kimmel had to say:
“ABC, to their credit, didn’t waste any time, they canceled her show today. I’m not a fan of censorship, but this wasn’t about free speech. It was about consequences for saying something vile. You can say what you want, but networks don’t have to pay you to say it. You can’t just blame Ambien for that. Actions have consequences, and ABC made the right call.”
Goodnight and thanks for reading.
Saw this today, "Iran supreme leader statement: Only place for US in Persian Gulf is 'bottom of its waters'", and one has to wonder what it will take for Trump to understand who he's dealing with. Granted, anyone could have written this statement but by the same logic anyone could be in charge or no one could be in charge and Trump has already acknowledged that on several occasions. In the end it amounts to the same thing, until everyone in Iran gives up and unconditionally surrenders, negotiations are "beating a dead horse".