|  | MEDIA WINNER: Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel offered two powerful and heartfelt commentaries on the Wednesday and Thursday episodes of his eponymous show regarding the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and they're both worth watching.
Kimmel's Tuesday show had been taped prior to the shooting, so Wednesday was his first time to comment on the tragic events. He broke down in tears while questioning how tragedies like this can “make sense to anyone.”
“Here we are again, on another day of mourning in this country,” said Kimmel. “Once again, we grieve for the little boys and girls whose lives have been ended and whose families have been destroyed.”
Kimmel slammed Fox News and Republicans in Congress for "warn[ing] us not to politicize this...because they don’t want to speak about it. Because they know what they’ve done and they know what they haven’t done, and they know that it’s indefensible. So they’d rather sweep this under the rug.”
He singled out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), making it clear he wasn't calling him "evil" but appealing to the senator's humanity to "admit you made a mistake."
Kimmel was more forceful on Wednesday, lambasting Cruz and calling out his "powerful" need for attention, highlighting recent media appearances.
“He has been everywhere this week doing interviews, pontificating in that little, ‘I care’ voice that he puts on, defending this disturbing allegiance these guys have to semi-automatic weapons,” he said. “Which Ted says aren’t the problem. The problem, according to Ted Cruz, is that schools need to be more like prisons.”
“Listen, Ted," Kimmel continued, "I know you’d rather spend your days doing impressions of The Simpsons and googling stepmom porn, but at some point you might have to get down to it and do your job."
Watch Wednesday's show here and Thursday's here. |
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 | MEDIA LOSER: Tucker Carlson
Sigh. Your friendly neighborhood Mediaite newsletter correspondent initially contemplated drafting today's communiqué to name Tucker Carlson as today's winner, for the very salient points he made regarding the claims by Uvalde police and other Texas officials about their response to Tuesday's mass shooting. It was Carlson's moment to be the broken clock that's actually telling accurate time. But then Tucker had to Tucker, and flipped our interpretation 180 degrees.
To be clear, the Fox News host's remarks that it was "a moral crime at the very least" regarding reports that police entered the school to rescue their own children while blocking other parents from doing the same was spot on. He was also right to excoriate these public servants for what almost certainly were lies regarding the timeline of events and mind-boggling delay of almost an hour before entering to engage the shooter.
"The authorities are not allowed to lie to us in the aftermath of an event like this," said Carlson. "No matter how pro-law enforcement you are – and we are – there’s only so much B.S. you can take in the face of a tragedy like this."
That's all well and good, but Carlson wrapped these points into a commentary whining about how "they" wanted to take your guns away, accusing President Joe Biden, Senate Democrats, and even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) of "blam[ing] you because you dare to exercise your constitutional rights" to bear arms.
Never mind trying to figure out how federal politicians are conspiring to get Texas officials to bumble their stories so badly. You're not supposed to analyze Carlson's logic. You're just supposed to be outraged.
In retrospect, we were naïve to consider awarding Carlson points for criticizing the Texas officials for something that pretty much the whole country recognizes is a conflagration of clusterf*ckery. His use of a valid argument to promulgate yet another wild rant is sadly all too predictable. |
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NRA Convention
As the people of Uvalde -- and all across America -- are reeling from the horrors of Tuesday's mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, the National Rifle Association is kicking off their annual conference in Houston, a roughly 5 hour drive across the state. It's the group's first meeting in two years, with the 2020 and 2021 gatherings cancelled due to the pandemic.
The three-day event comes at a time when the NRA is reeling from revelations about profligate spending and mismanagement by NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre and other leaders of the organization, and increased scrutiny in the wake of the shootings in Uvalde and, a little more than a week prior, a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.
Former President Donald Trump will be delivering a keynote speech on the first day of the conference. On Seb Gorka's Salem Radio show, Trump doubled down on his Friday speech saying, “It will be very interesting, interesting time to be making such a speech, frankly.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), through a spokesperson, announced on Wednesday that he had previously cancelled his plans to attend "due to an unexpected change in his schedule," and would remain in D.C. "for personal reasons on Friday."
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) was originally scheduled to speak in person but will now send a video message. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-TX) cancelled completely, issuing a statement that he supported the Second Amendment but "would not want my appearance today to bring additional pain or grief to all the families and all those suffering in Uvalde.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) still plans to attend.
Several musicians dropped out of their scheduled performances, including Lee Greenwood, Don McLean, Larry Gatlin, and Larry Stewart. “For me to go play at the NRA just days after the shooting would be an endorsement,” Greenwood told Fox & Friends, “and people would then deem that as I like this weapon. And obviously, that weapon killed kids. And I just couldn’t go.”
Latest Uvalde School Shooting coverage here.
In Other News... NBC Reports Stunning Uvalde Details: Several Parents Rescued Their Kids As Cops Restrained Others, Shooting Spanned 4 Classrooms
Jon Stewart Says Veteran Health Issues 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind,' but 'When It's Time for War, We Always Have the Money'
‘Am I Next?’ Young Children Protest Outside of NRA Convention Four Days After Uvalde School Shooting
Britney Spears' Lawyer Slams Jamie for Continuing to 'Traumatize and Bully' Daughter with 'Abusive' Legal Requests
HALL: The Craven Dishonesty of Arguments That We Are ‘Politicizing’ Mass Shootings Industry News... Former Fox News Political Analyst Chris Stirewalt Joins NewsNation
SEC investigating Elon Musk's Twitter disclosures
RATINGS: 5/25 - Nicolle Wallace Top-Rated Non-Fox News Host |
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‘Now We Have the Facts, And They’re Not Good’ Reporters were stunned in response to Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Steven McCraw‘s revelation that cops at the scene of the Uvalde thought children were “no longer at risk” as they waited an hour for reinforcements.
On Friday afternoon, Texas law enforcement officials held what turned out to be another wild press conference updating reporters on the investigation into Uvalde shooting. McCraw faced a blizzard of questions, and among the stunning revelations was his explanation for the hour of police inaction after the shooter gained entry to the school.
We'd say it has to be seen to believed, but we've seen it and can still hardly believe it. Watch here.
The conference continued, and just kept getting worse. Watch here.
The revelations from the conference were "devastating," said CNN's Shimon Prokupecz. "And now you know why the police were hesitating, and why they were sort of giving us the run around. Because now we have the facts and they’re not good. They’re not good for the police here. They’re not good for anyone in law enforcement. The decision to not go inside that classroom was a deadly decision.” Watch here. |
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