AFTERNOON MIRROR
Quote of the Day:
“All I can say is if administration officials are going to start giving journalists impromptu geography tests most of us are screwed.”
— Megyn Kelly, host of the occasional Megyn Kelly Presents, former anchor, Fox News, former talk show host, NBC’s “TODAY” Show, referring to Sec. of State Mike Pompeo asking an NPR reporter to point to Ukraine on a map.
MOOD: “To the weirdos who keep DMing me just to say ‘hi’ and nothing else: Please stop. I’m not responding to that shit. Get to the point or get the fuck on. — Monique Judge, news editor, The Root.
D.C. publicist is concerned for Adam Schiff
“Legitimately concerned for Congressman Adam Schiff’s safety after Trump essentially tweeted that he needs to be punished for helping lead the impeachment inquiry. This is a direct threat to a Member of Congress.” — Charlotte Clymer, publicist, Human Rights Campaign, transgender activist.
Reporter says she didn’t say N-word while reporting Kobe’s death
“Earlier today, while reporting on the tragic news of Kobe Bryant’s passing, I unfortunately stuttered on air, combining the names of the Knicks and the Lakers to say ‘Nakers.’ Please know I did not & would NEVER use a racist term. I apologize for the confusion this caused.” — Alison Morris, host, MSNBC. (RELATED: NYT Reporter Deletes N-Word Tweet)
CNN reporter spills ‘chicken water’ on desk
“‘I spilled chicken water all over this desk,’ @byrdinator tells me right now as I wonder what chicken water is.” – Clare Foran, reporter, CNN politics.
Pam Bondi’s sparkly impeachment attire…
Pam Bondi, impeachment trial, screenshot/ABC.
Journo’s dog chews up her headphones
“Go to the bathroom for a couple minutes. Left my wireless headphones on top of my laptop while they charged. Come back and Franklin chewed them. And now they’re not working. Needless to say… I’m pissed.” — Beth Baumann, associate editor, Townhall.
Cillizza turns Kobe’s death into moment with his daughter
“My 7 year old told me that at least Kobe and his daughter, Gianna, weren’t alone at the end — that they had each other. And yeah, that made me cry. What a beautiful sentiment.” — Chris Cilizza, CNN.
Nate Silver self-deprecates on his ability to consume news
“As someone who has sort of unintentionally become a low-to-medium information news consumer on impeachment because I’ve been 100% focused on the D primary, the Bolton news seems like a fairly big deal to me.” — Nate Silver, founder, 538.
‘Shitty Media Men’ list founder puts in plug for Kobe’s accuser
“Keep a thought for the 19 year old woman Kobe Bryant allegedly raped, who was tormented, humiliated, threatened, harassed, and doxxed after making her allegation.” — Moira Donegan, Guardian.
Wife makes husband peanut butter cookies to watch ‘Judge Jeanine’
He apparently forget to tell her that watching and shitting on Fox News was about the extent of his work life.
“My wedding vows with @AlyssaRosenberg included a clause for ‘in sickness and in health’ but not one for ‘even if he makes you watch Justice with Judge Jeanine,’ and folks, I’m getting nervous.” — Matthew Gertz, Media Matters, arm of the Democratic Party.
Alyssa Rosenberg, WaPo: “I baked him peanut butter sandwich cookies while this was going on because I am a SAINT. (Also that show is maybe the wildest thing I have ever watched and I am a professional critic.)”
Confessional.
“I have not threatened a baby. I have never threatened any babies. I don’t have alts, I don’t make secret death threats, I’m not involved in any conspiracies to threaten or harass anyone. I have had Sady Doyle blocked for years and just wish she would leave me alone.” — Elizabeth Bruenig, opinion writer, NYT.
Travel Bitches
“How people behave when their flight is delayed is who they truly are.” — Eden Dranger, LA-based comedian and writer.
Gossip Roundup
Papa apologizes to wife for mom’s behavior
“Need to apologize to my wife for the disgusting public allegations of my mother @KPapadopouloss. Also to @TomArnold for having been accused of such vulgarities. Despicable and shameful.” — George Papadopoulos, former aide, then-Donald Trump presidential campaign.
Papadopoulos’s wife is Simona Manigiante. (RELATED: Simona Mangiante Shares Story About Russia Investigation)
Simona Mangiante replied to her husband, “Thanks. Hope @Kpapadopouloss will have the decency to cease her public defamation. I feel for you my dear husband @GeorgePapa19. that she embarrassed your name. God bless her.” (Simona posted a screenshot of her mother-in-law’s tweet.)
In 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty for lying to the FBI. He spent 12 days in federal prison.
You can read about some of the family squabbling here. But to get a sense, no one from Papadopoulos’s family atttended the couple’s wedding in 2018, least of all, Kiki Papadopoulos‘s, George’s mother.
Pompeo is hilariously afraid of NPR reporters
Robbie Gramer is a reporter for Foreign Policy.
Update: The State Department has removed @NPR correspondent @michelekelemen from Secretary Pompeo’s plane for his upcoming trip to Europe and Central Asia following Pompeo’s criticism of his NPR interview. Statement from the State Department Correspondents’ Association: pic.twitter.com/PW1Ykcu30r
— Robbie Gramer (@RobbieGramer) January 27, 2020
GQ‘s Julia Ioffe: “The bigness of Pompeo’s smallness knows no bounds.”
Jeff Bezos throws party at his $23 million D.C. abode
Guest list caught on camera: Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Ben Stiller, Kellyanne Conway, Bill Gates, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and wife, Ann.
Also there: Bezo’s girlfriend Lauren Sanchez.
Number of bathrooms in the Kalorama home: 25.
Lawmakers Behaving Badly Toward Journalists
John Stanton, writer, New Orleans, former D.C. Bureau Chief, BuzzFeed: “Rep. Don Young once called me a mother fucker, a cock sucker, and a son of a bitch for writing a column in Congress Daily making fun of his abject failure as a committee chairman.”
Matt Laslo, VICE, Playboy WIRED, The Daily Beast, NPR: “Last year, @RepLizCheney gently grabbed my arm and said, ‘You’re mean when you write for @thedailybeast.’ When I responded by asking if there was anything inaccurate in the piece, neither her or her chief of staff could point to an error.” Read his story here.
Micheline Maynard, Forbes: “The CFO of @GM once screamed in my face at a black tie event over a story, and then stomped off. It made me wonder what his staff went through.”
Lulu Garcia-Navarro: “I’ve been thinking a lot about what happens to journalists behind closed doors. The bullying from people like politicians (and others) who want us to do what they want. There is usually silence around these interactions. I’m glad people are getting a glimpse.”
About that WaPo reporter who was suspended during Kobe coverage
“I deleted a tweet about the WaPo suspending their reporter over Kobe Bryant tweets, I call foul and imply WaPo’s social media policy is bad. I was wrong. Ends up she was suspended for sharing a screenshot of her work inbox revealing the names of emailers.” — Dusty Giebel. (RELATED: WaPo Suspends Reporter After Series Of Tweets On Kobe Bryant’s Death)
WaPo reporter gets Daily Mail treatment… Here.
Other reactions on WaPo‘s Felicia Sonmez…
Donald Trump Jr.: “You @washingtonpost reporters really can’t help yourselves, can you?”
Hayes Brown, BuzzFeed: “I’m sorry but I fail to see how placing @feliciasonmez on administrative leave for posting a reported news article about the 2003 accusations against Kobe is in any way fair. …It was a tweet with a link to the article with the headline of that article as the only text. No opinion about the accusations and the resulting settlement which really happened. So I’m curious to see how that “displayed poor judgment that undermined the work of her colleagues.”
David Martosko, Daily Mail: “Posting this right now is beyond gross.”
Mark Dice, pro-Trump YouTube personality: “‘Hate clicks’ are the business model of the mainstream media today.”
David Klion, news editor, Jewish Currents, writer, The Nation: “This is especially troubling considering that a few months ago, Sonmez bravely went public with the details of her own sexual assault at the hands of a fellow journalist in China, and was smeared by the usual gang of unaccountable reactionary pundits for doing so.”
David French, The Dispatch: “Whenever people grieve, vile trolls emerge to tweet hateful things. Resist the urge to highlight them with a quote tweet. Let them spew their hatred into the void.”
One of Gigi Bryant‘s favorite players was LeBron James…. Here.
Writer covers Kobe through tears
“I tried to be smart and thoughtful about Kobe Bryant, a man who dominated my life in sports. But it devolved into me crying onto my keyboard, and I have no idea if teardrops can type.” —Bill Oram, The Athletic. Here.
Things Better Kept To Yourself
“‘Mom, what’s going on with your penis?'”
“Cash, age 3, during what may be our last shower together :)”
— Rachel Fine, HuffPost writer.
Journo has virgin In-N-Out Burger experience
And it wasn’t everything he thought it was going to be cracked up to be.
“Went to an In N Out for the first time and like… what are you guys talking about? It was acceptable and that’s basically it. It was better than Five Guys or Shake Shack but if I never go again, I won’t miss it. #CaseDismissed. #CaseDmissed” — Eddie Scarry, commentary writer, Washington Examiner.
AWWWKARD: Living and working in the D.C. bubble
“Living in DC is a constant game of seeing people places that you know from the internet but don’t immediately recognize leading to awkwardness. That happened to me twice last night.” — Greg Price, social media, The Daily Caller.
Montel’s flack has issue with Geico
“After ~ 17 years – nearly my entire adult life as a @GEICO_Service customer, I’m sad to say I’m cancelling all my @GEICO policies at the end of the month. Turns out I can get better coverage for less money elsewhere and not get treated like a criminal over a 12k claim?” — Jonathan Franks, flack, Montel Williams.
Note to readers: I take issue with Frank’s use of the word ‘adult.’ He hardly ever acts like an adult on social media. I also wonder why we should care about his issues with Geico.