Tucker & Don Sign Off & Brits Don’t Love The Monarchy
April 25, 2023
Anchors Away!
Talking heads are rolling at some of the U.S.’s biggest news channels. Fox News’ Tucker Carlson was let go on Monday, and host Don Lemon was similarly dropped by CNN. Both anchors were embroiled in controversies recently, with Lemon catching flak for misogynistic comments he made on broadcast and Carlson facing a discrimination lawsuit from a former Fox News employee.
On Monday morning, CNN CEO Chris Licht announced Lemon’s firing on Twitter. The announcement came weeks after Lemon said Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley “isn’t in her prime, sorry,” adding, “A woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.” Soon after returning from a hiatus, he got into an on-air verbal fistfight with GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy over Black history.
“I am stunned,” Lemon tweeted in response. “After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network.” The channel rebutted this claim, stating that he “was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter.”
Over at Fox, things are a bit more clear-cut. Former Fox employee Abby Grossberg sued the company, claiming that Carlson’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” created a discriminatory work environment where people frequently made misogynistic and antisemitic jokes. Carlson’s senior executive producer Justin Wells was also let go in relation to the lawsuit. According to the LA Times, the decision to cut Carlson came directly from Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch in relation to the lawsuit, as well as some of Carlson’s public opinions – including his belief that the January 6 uprising was sparked by government agents.
Some Good News
- Californians have bought more than 1.5 million electric vehicles (Ars Technica)
- Wrongfully convicted man freed after nearly 3 decades in prison meets his longtime pen pal for the first time (CBS)
God Save The King (Because The Kids Don’t Want To)
- While the antics of Britain’s royal family have captured headlines across multiple generations, it appears that Buckingham Palace may finally be losing its chokehold on the British people – at least the younger ones. According to a national poll by YouGov, 78% of Britons aged 18 to 24 said they were “not interested” in the royal family, with 58% of the total U.K. population also stating a disinterest in the monarchy.
- The poll comes ahead of King Charles’ May 6 coronation. Besides a general lack of interest in palace intrigue, it shows a growing interest in the anti-monarchist movement, especially in younger populations. Almost 40% of U.K. 18- to 24-year-olds said they would prefer an elected head of state over the monarchy, and 45% of respondents said they thought King Charles was out of touch with the British public. Unsurprisingly, a vast majority of older British citizens approved of the old ways: a full 78% of Britons over 65 supported the monarchy.
Kenyan Cult Catastrophe
- A Kenyan Christian cult has been implicated in the deaths of over 70 people. Kenyan authorities think the 73 bodies they’ve recovered from mass graves in the country’s eastern region belonged to the followers of the Good News International Church, a religious group led by Paul Mackenzie Nthenge. He reportedly encouraged his followers to fast themselves to death in order to “meet Jesus.”
- The bodies were found in Shakahola forest, where police began searching for bodies after 112 people were declared missing in the area. The 800-acre forest has been fully cordoned off and declared a crime scene as authorities continue to search for other victims. The head of a Kenyan human rights organization estimates that the forest contains roughly 60 mass graves associated with the cult, just one-fifth of which have been investigated so far.
Additional World News
- ‘Dozens’ of Americans have expressed interest in leaving Sudan, Blinken says (CNN)
- 3,000 migrants begin walk north from southern Mexico (ABC)
- 10 years after Rana Plaza, is Bangladesh’s garment industry any safer? (CNN)
- Guatemala not asking Taiwan for ‘free money’, does not owe debt like Honduras (Reuters)
- Chinese ambassador sparks European outrage over suggestion former Soviet states don’t exist (CNN)
- Israel arrests Jordanian MP for alleged gun-smuggling (BBC)
- Azerbaijan installs checkpoint on road to Nagorno-Karabakh amid fatal clashes (Politico)
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” – Mark Twain
Not Biden His Tongue Any Longer
- Hunter Biden is going on the offensive. The president’s son’s legal team sent letters on Monday morning, one of which went to the Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General asking that former Trump White House aide Garrett Ziegler be investigated for publishing five Suspicious Activity Reports, or SARs, from JPMorgan Chase that related to the younger Biden. Unauthorized disclosures of SARs, which are confidential, can be prosecuted, and Ziegler has said he had someone on the inside that helped him obtain the documentation.
- Biden’s lawyers also sent a letter to the House Ethics Committee, requesting that action be taken against Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for her statements and conduct regarding Biden. “Representative Greene’s unethical conduct arises from her continuous verbal attacks, defamatory statements, publication of personal photos and data, and promotion of conspiracy theories about and against Robert Hunter Biden,” the letter argues.
Censorship Or Common Sense?
- Two years ago, the Supreme Court dismissed a case that argued former President Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking his critics on Twitter, saying the case was a moot point given Trump’s ban from the social media platform. On Monday, the court agreed to hear two cases involving elected officials of a slightly lower caliber – two elected members of a California school board, and the city manager of Port Huron, Michigan.
- The school board members, Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and T.J. Zane, used Facebook and Twitter accounts to communicate with the public, and blocked two parents after they repeatedly left criticisms on the posts. James Freed, the city manager, used a Facebook page to communicate with the public and blocked a resident who created three separate accounts to leave comments (which were also deleted) on the page criticizing the response to the pandemic.
- Katie Fallow, senior counsel at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said of the growing issue with social media’s involvement in politics, “it doesn’t matter whether it’s the president or a local city manager, government officials can’t block people from these forums simply because they don’t like what they’re saying.” The court will not hear the case until October.
Additional USA News
- Tree of Life Synagogue Mass Shooting Trial Begins: What to Know (NYT, $)
- McCarthy’s authority is on the line as debt ceiling crisis mounts (CNN)
- Florida man fires into Instacart driver’s car after it mistakenly turned onto his property (CBS)
- Former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter released from prison after serving time for deadly shooting of Daunte Wright (CNN)
- Ex-officer who fatally shot Breonna Taylor hired as a deputy (AP)
- Is this solar panel American? Companies eyeing US subsidy await rules (Reuters)
- Susan Rice to step down as Biden’s domestic policy chief (NBC)
Bed Bath & Bye-Bye
- Home goods giant Bed Bath & Beyond is bidding buyers goodbye. On Sunday, the retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after a long struggle to find its groove. While Bed Bath & Beyond may have seemed set for success a decade ago, it fumbled the bag as the industry pivoted towards e-commerce, leaking market share to companies that adapted quickly.
- On January 10, 2023, the company reported a $393 million over the last quarter of 2022 alongside a 33% drop in sales. Days prior to that report, corporate released even more damning information, saying that it was under a cash crunch and that there was “substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.” Bed Bath & Beyond currently has $1.9 billion in long-term debts, and is continuing to burn cash.
- “Bed Bath & Beyond is too far gone to be saved in its present form. A catalog of missteps has run the company into the ground and has made it increasingly irrelevant,” wrote one financial analyst. The company failed to create a strong website as other retailers turned to e-commerce, and was undercut by smaller, more niche companies like Wayfair and HomeGoods. The Covid pandemic made this stumble even worse, and billions of dollars in stock buybacks initiated in 2020 cut into already-thin cash reserves. The company will begin rolling store shutdowns on Wednesday, will no longer accept its formerly generous coupons, and all sales will also be final.
Additional Reads
- Primo de Rivera: Spain exhumes fascist Falange leader (BBC)
- Another cheetah has died after relocation to India, the second in less than a month (CNN)
- 2023 Goldman environmental prize winners include Texas Gulf coast defender (Guardian)
- A group of state AGs calls for a national recall of high-theft Hyundai, Kia vehicles (NPR)
- Disney begins largest wave of layoffs, targeting thousands at ESPN, Parks, and other divisions (CNN)
- For $186,000, this private Scottish island could be yours — but don’t count on being able to live there (CBS)
- Ed Sheeran-Marvin Gaye copyright trial to begin in New York (Guardian)