The Mirror

Morning Mirror: #RIP The Weekly Standard — Bill Kristol Basically Says, ‘So What?’

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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Quote of the Day:

“The term is crass and offensive and I apologize to everyone especially to the LGBTQ community and to my colleagues … I will work. hard to be better … I am really really sorry.” 

— MSNBC “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Scarborough on MSNBC Friday for using the phrase “butt boy” to describe Sec. of Station Mike Pompeo‘s reaction to Jamal Khashoggi‘s murder. Mika said her father, who is deceased, would have scolded her for it. She said she was off Thursday for a family matter.

The Weekly Standard will shut down after all 

See The Daily Caller‘s story from a week ago.

The final issue will be Dec. 23.

Press release: “For more than twenty years The Weekly Standard has provided a valued and important perspective on political, literary and cultural issues of the day. The magazine has been home to some of the industry’s most dedicated and talented staff and I thank them for their hard work and contributions, not just to the publication, but the field of journalism.” — Ryan McKibben, publisher, Clarity Media.

“This is the day Trump supporters whose Twitter bios reference their love of Jesus come out to rejoice that the Weekly Standard’s employees are out of jobs right before Christmas because they didn’t like Jesu … errrr … Trump.” — Erick Erickson, The Resurgent.

“If I were EIC of, say, The Atlantic, I’d be trying to hire as many Weekly Standard writers as possible. Obviously Andy Ferguson and Matt Labash, but also the young talent like @byrdinator and @aliceblloyd.” — Will Rahn, politics editor, CBS News digital.

What the hell is up with Bill Kristol’s weird reaction? 

“All good things come to an end. And so, after 23 years, does The Weekly Standard. I want to express my gratitude to our readers and my admiration for my colleagues. We worked hard to put out a quality magazine, and we had a good time doing so. And we have much more to do. Onward!” — Bill Kristol.

Speaking of Kristol …

“People at The Weekly Standard have been told to clear out their offices by 5 pm today. They are shuttering It’s sad to see the young writers lose their jobs at Christmastime, and most of them had nothing to do with their terrible leaders like Kristol.” — Jack Posobiec, One America News Network.

Again, speaking of Kristol???!!! 

“Here at @weeklystandard I’m wandering into offices of colleagues working on the new issue and saying, ‘It doesn’t take much to see that the problems of one little magazine don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.’ It’s going over great.'”

“The Weekly Standard is a writer’s magazine—not just a place for writers to flourish relatively freely, but a place where editors appreciate, foster, and partner with writers. A truly blessed and wonderful place to work.” — Mark Warren, senior editor, The Weekly Standard.

Ouch? 

“Tonight, I will toast to the end of The Weekly Standard. In fact, I’m gonna toast right now. And at lunch. And at Christmas parties tonight. Basically, fuck those guys.” — Raheem Kassam, formerly with Breitbart News.

“I don’t think anyone who follows me thinks I have anything even remotely resembling a sanguine view of The Weekly Standard’s legacy, which is largely bloodstained and dumb. But Bill Kristol won’t suffer. The good journalists they hired, particularly the younger ones, will. So … ” — Asawin Suebseng, The Daily Beast.

Boring Washington Post story alert 

“Hi, DC-area readers! Do you go away to a snowy place during the holidays? Do you have childhood Christmas memories involving snow? Wanna talk about white Christmases? Asking for a story! Let me know here or at julie.zauzmer@washpost.com.” — Julie Zauzmer.

CRTV journo weighs in on Katy Tur’s pregnancy

“Really not cool that MSNBC is allowing one of its anchors to assume a fetus’ gender live on the air. And then… I’m OBVIOUSLY just joking. Serious congrats to @KatyTurnNBC. Having a baby is AMAZING and am happy for the joy her baby boy will bring her. It changed me forever … Life is funny sometimes.” — Jason Howerton, CRTV.

“Congrats! Babies are the best!” — Tim Carney, Washington Examiner opinion editor.

“Mazel tov! (You weren’t fooling anyone, btw.)” — Kevin Baron, executive editor, DefenseOne.

Politico newsroom goes awry over free company hats

Cernovich gets accused of unimaginable at Columbia talk 

“ANTIFA protesters outside of my college talk at Columbia University held up a NAMBLA sign. Multiple media outlets, without evidence, accused me of planting sign. Then one of the protesters was arrested for soliciting sex with a newborn.” — Mike Cernovich, conservative activist, documentary filmmaker. See here.

Dan Bongino attacks Sen. Flake for being grateful 

JEFF FLAKE: “Full of gratitude today as I deliver my farewell address in the Senate Chamber at 11:00 EST”

DAN BONGINO: “The feeling is NOT mutual. Bye now.”

More sh*t from Bonginoland… 

“Excellent move — Trump Cancels White House Christmas Party for Media” — Bongino, host of a podcast called “The Dan Bongino Show.”

Gossip Roundup

GQ delves into Ronan Farrow‘s world. The New Yorker writer once “wailed” in a cab when he thought he’d failed. Here.

Juanita Broaddrick is wondering something: “I’m wondering if Hillary has any bulky scarf, like she has been wearing lately, that will cover handcuffs.”

Kanye West goes insane on Twitter … “Hey @kanyewest. Twitter actually got rid of the 140-character limit a while ago. Not only can you expound more in one tweet, you can even have multiple tweets. Try it. That way you don’t have to send 100, one-sentence tweets.” — Roland Martin, host of an online talk show. “For the love of God @kanyewest — SHUT UP!” — Piers Morgan, columnist, Daily Mail.

CNN’s Jake Tapper tries to ease tensions for high school seniors 

“Lot of high school seniors who applied early admission to college are getting news today that maybe they didn’t want. Everything is going to be ok. Rejection sucks but you can almost certainly end up someplace you absolutely love and get a great education. Hang in there.” — Jake Tapper, who went to Dartmouth.

“One other thing for the disappointed high school seniors out there: this will not define your life. Every one of us out here in the adult world has been rejected by a school, a job, a partner… when you’re older you see more clearly that hearing “No” is common. It all works out.”

Which made Joe Scarborough talk about his rejections 

“Got rejected from top schools across the country. I think I recall Yale’s rejection letter saying, “You’re joking, right?”
Ended up at two schools I loved and all worked out pretty well. Onward and upward.” — MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough. He graduated from the University of Alabama as well as the University of Florida College of Law.

As well as CBS’s John Dickerson 

“Wise Jake being wise. I was shut out by almost all the schools. The one that took a chance on me after a long wait made my life, and it’s where I met my wife. Great prep for the wipeouts, rejection letters and life to come.” — John Dickerson, co-anchor, CBS This Morning. He graduated from the University of Virginia.

And Washington Post‘s Alex Horton 

“Don’t be afraid to pursue a non-college path if it isn’t the right time. I failed numerous classes and skipped the SATs. So I went when I was ready and got a @Georgetown diploma 11 years after I barely received one from high school.” — Alex Horton, reporter, WaPo.

And WSJ‘s Jared Diamond 

“I was rejected by Northwestern’s journalism school at this time in 2005. Turned out it was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me, since I ended up at Syracuse, stayed closer to home, met my wife and landed my dream job. Not sure things would’ve worked out this way at NU.” — Jared Diamond, national baseball writer, WSJ.