Between remembering and forgetting, treasuring and tossing out, feeling without sentimentalizing… These are the spaces Bee Wilson navigates with the precision of a drafting pen in her collection of memento stories, The Heart-Shaped Tin.
The post Don't Fork It Over Yet appeared first on .
Between remembering and forgetting, treasuring and tossing out, feeling without sentimentalizing… These are the spaces Bee Wilson navigates with the precision of a drafting pen in her collection of memento stories, The Heart-Shaped Tin.
The post Don't Fork It Over Yet appeared first on .
It has been one of the most popular days thus far at President Donald Trump's state fair, but now it's over. Washington, D.C., has reached a level of heat that it is becoming dangerous, and organizers of the fair decided to shut things down until this evening after 5 p.m., the digital signs read. The timeline raised questions from some folks who know the hottest time of day is likely around 5 p.m. "However, it’s going to be hotter at 5pm," said White House correspondent Wid Lyman. The hourly forecast shows temperatures will begin to fall around 7 p.m."It is miserably hot and humid today, genuinely feels like a sauna when you step outside," Fox congressional correspondent Bill Melugin wrote on X.July 3 is the federal holiday being observed for Independence Day, so many people in the area have off work, making it a perfect day for activities. After lackluster crowds, thousands came to the fair on Friday, only to be told it had to be shut down. Friday was also the day that some of the Trump heirs attended. First son Donald Trump Jr. was on hand with his new wife and Tiffany Trump was also there with her husband. Tourists were angry about it, saying they'd never heard of something as absurd as closing a state fair due to heat. "I've never heard of the fair closing bc it's hot and I live in SW MO where they do the fair mid August," said one person. One reason for heat fears is that the biggest attraction, the Ferris wheel, has gondola seats that are largely enclosed, and it isn't air-conditioned. There are also restrictions about what can be brought into the fair, including water bottles. Only clear bottles can be brought inside. Still, those who have spent the week mocking another of Trump's 250 failures were filled with jokes. "All 21 people at Trump’s state fair please go to the nearest exist the fair is closing," quipped democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko. "Hearing that the "Great American State Fair" may be closing until July 5. Supposedly, an announcement on site," joked Joel Siegel of Spectrum News. As one former Washington, D.C. resident explained, "As a former D.C.-er, let me explain a few things: D.C. is built on a swamp. Humidity even in the 70's F is unpleasant. In the 90's, you feel as if you are being melted into a puddle. In the 100's? Your brain capacity will be low. Is it as bad as Arkansas? Not quite, but it's sticky dehydration. Other than the D.C. National Zoo, which is built inside a small, steam-oven like canyon (but at least has some shade trees), the Mall in D.C. is the hottest spot in the city. It is a long, open trek, getting from 1 building to another. On the 4th, many buildings will be closed by Trump's fools."
A crowd of reporters gathered outside the Capitol Hill office of Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) Tuesday morning, but the long-missing congressman has not yet shown.Kean last voted in the House on March 5. He has missed more than 140 votes since then.He has said only that he is dealing with a "personal medical issue." His office said he would return on Tuesday and finally explain his absence."No sign yet!" Charlie Cotton, a reporter, wrote on X just after 9:30 a.m., posting a photo of reporters and a camera crew camped outside Kean's office door."No sight of him yet," Mychael Schnell, a Capitol Hill reporter, wrote minutes later, noting Kean was "expected to address his absence today."A week ago, a New York Times reporter found Kean at his New Jersey home. He was dressed in a suit and tie."I'll talk to you next week," Kean said, and went inside.A person familiar with his plans told CNN that Kean intends to deliver a floor speech addressing his health. His spokesperson said he would be "fully transparent."He is also scheduled to attend a fundraiser on Tuesday evening.Kean represents one of the most competitive House districts in the country. He is running for a third term against Democrat Rebecca Bennett.House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has said he knows what is wrong with Kean but is keeping it private at Kean's request. "I do know what his health issue is, but he's asked me not to disclose that," Johnson said.As of Tuesday morning, Kean's office had not said when, or whether, he would appear.
A veteran journalist and former New York Times public editor called out CBS News' gesture toward public accountability as a "blatant sham."The network's Donald Trump-aligned new owners tapped Kenneth R. Weinstein, a former chief executive of the right-leaning Hudson Institute, to review complaints about its coverage as ombudsman, but media expert Margaret Sullivan wrote on her "American Crisis" Substack that he had failed to be independent or transparent as promised."From the get-go, there was no reason to think this would be a real thing — a person whose first responsibility was to the CBS audience and whose first interest was fairness in the public interest," Sullivan wrote. "First off, Weinstein had no background in supervising news coverage. He was a denizen of the right-leaning think tank, the Hudson Institute, a vocal champion of Israel, a critic of the Biden administration and a big donor to Republican and pro-Trump political groups.""I’m not sure how this amounts to independence," she added.Weinstein had been "notably unresponsive" to viewer complaints about CBS News, which has seen "60 Minutes" stars like Anderson Cooper and Scott Pelley flee and ratings collapse, and Sullivan said the network's ombudsman had done remarkably little to respond to the tumult."Despite the lip service to 'transparency,' his role was never meant to face outwards, as is the norm with news ombudsmen; rather, if he saw a problem, he’d report it to his corporate bosses," Sullivan wrote.The Times recently reported on Weinstein's public silence, noting that he hadn't issued any statements about the CBS News controversies or issued any guidance to staffers, and employees say he's told them he is scheduled to work only one day a month."It’s absurd," Sullivan wrote."I know something about this because I was the fifth 'public editor' at the New York Times, a role dedicated to making sure the news organization was fair and was serving the public interest," she added. "The way the Times’s position was structured created actual, not fake, transparency."Sullivan compared her workload – several blog posts each week and a more formal column every other week, in addition to fielding hundred of emails and calls – to Weinstein's duties, and she suggested five topics the CBS News ombudsman could look into during his seemingly singular workday.For example, Sullivan urged him to investigate editor-in-chief Bari Weiss delaying Alfonsi's El Salvador prison report amid a pending merger; mass departures of top talent like Cooper, Pelley and "60 Minutes" executive producer Tanya Simon; CBS Evening News' ratings collapse under Dokoupil; CBS Mornings' steep audience drop post-Pelley; and whether Weiss's pro-Israel views compromise Gaza coverage independence."I could go on, but you get the picture," Sullivan said. "So does the public, if comments on the Times article are any indication. It’s (yet another) embarrassment to CBS News."
President Donald Trump's late-night tirade against journalist Maggie Haberman over her new book backfired in real time this week, as critics — including a fellow conservative — seized on the attack to mock the president and, in at least one case, boost sales of the very book he was trashing.Trump had unloaded on Haberman in an all-caps Truth Social post, dismissing the book as "mostly made up" and deriding the New York Times reporter as a "third rate writer," while repeatedly mangling her name as "Magot Hagerman."CNN anchor Jake Tapper responded by flipping the attack into free promotion for the book, "Regime Change," co-authored by Haberman and Jonathan Swan."Disagree, Mr. President!" Tapper wrote. "REGIME CHANGE by @maggieNYT and @jonathanvswan is a great and fascinating read. Maggie is a great writer and intellect and was right about you and the elections, and much more!" He then added a link so readers could buy the book.Some of the sharpest commentary came from the right. Matthew RJ Brodsky, a conservative foreign policy analyst, pointed out the obvious flaw in Trump's claim that Haberman was irrelevant."Trump literally calls her all the time," Brodsky wrote. "Another self-own."Writer Brent Snyder delivered an extended takedown, opening with a dig at the president's eating habits."Oh, Donny Two-Scoops, bless your fragile little heart," Snyder wrote, before characterizing the post as "another all-caps meltdown over a book you clearly couldn't put down fast enough to 'brief' on it."Snyder went on to skewer Trump's central accusation, arguing the "mostly made up" charge was rich "coming from the guy who turned 'alternative facts' into a business model." He defended Haberman as a chronicler of Trump's "lies, the chaos, the ego-fueled disasters," and needled the president over his repeated misspelling of her name: "At least spell her name right while having a meltdown, champ."He also took aim at Trump's election boasts, writing that the president "lost in 2020. Spectacularly," and was now "crowing about 2024 like a toddler who finally won a participation trophy after throwing tantrums for four years." On Trump's insistence that no incriminating audio tapes exist, Snyder wrote that the denial came "from the man whose own recordings have sunk him before."Others kept it brief. The account David Gallant, @GallantDG, summed up the likely commercial effect of the president's outburst in three words: "Another best seller."The collective response underscored a familiar dynamic: Trump's attempts to bury a critical book often serve only to amplify it, handing the author a wave of publicity that money can't buy — and, as Tapper demonstrated, a direct sales link to go with it.
