THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2025
No country for big-brained humans: With the World Series drawing near, we think of the time Ralph Branca was forced to walk off the mound.
Right there at Gotham's Polo Grounds, he had surrendered the Bobby Thompson home run blast which came to be known as "the shot heard round the world." If memory serves, he had to walk all the way to the door in the center field wall, roughly 500 feet from home plate, to enter the losing team's clubhouse and dressing room.
We were only 3 at that time. More than thirty years later, we saw the late comedian, Bob Woods, forced to walk off the stage at Baltimore's brand new, struggling City Light comedy club.
For a reason we won't describe, the Sunday night show had started with only two patrons present. Midway through the gentleman's headline set, the patrons decided to leave.
Brother Woods, a national act, did the sensible thing—he slowly walked off the stage. Yesterday, a long stream of American journalists followed suit, trudging out of the Pentagon and off into the light.
This morning, the New York Times describes what happened under the headline shown below. As an aside, we're happy to see that Eric Wemple had gone from the Washington Post to the Times:
How the Pentagon Is Blocking Out News Organizations
Wednesday was a major moment for the coverage of the United States military. Scores of journalists with access to the Pentagon handed in their press passes rather than sign on to new rules laid out by Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense.
The news organizations that have refused to agree to the rules include large organizations such as The New York Times, NBC News and Fox News, as well as many smaller publications that focus entirely on the military. At least one news organization, the conservative cable network One America News, has agreed to the new terms.
The new rules codify sharp limitations on access and raise the prospect of punishment—including revocation of credentials—for simply requesting information on matters of public interest.
So has behaved the emperor Hegseth, one of the nation's new men.
Scores of reporters single-filed out. To read about this event without a paywall, the Associated Press tells the tale under this headline:
Journalists turn in access badges, exit Pentagon rather than agree to new reporting rules
Dozens of reporters turned in access badges and exited the Pentagon on Wednesday rather than agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work, pushing journalists who cover the American military further from the seat of its power. The nation’s leadership called the new rules “common sense” to help regulate a “very disruptive” press.
News outlets were nearly unanimous in rejecting new rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that would leave journalists vulnerable to expulsion if they sought to report on information—classified or otherwise—that had not been approved by Hegseth for release.
Many of the reporters waited to leave together at a 4 p.m. deadline set by the Defense Department to get out of the building. As the hour approached, boxes of documents lined a Pentagon corridor and reporters carried chairs, a copying machine, books and old photos to the parking lot from suddenly abandoned workspaces. Shortly after 4, about 40 to 50 journalists left together after handing in badges.
It was a bit like The Grapes of Wrath when the Okies are forced to head out. As you'll note, Fox News joined the Times and the Washington Post is loading up its belongings and silently moving on.
Thus ruled the Sultan Hegseth, late of the Fox & Friends Weekend TV show as seen on the "cable news" messaging unit known as the Fox News Channel.
Morning Joe began with this topic this morning. They arrived here way too late.
Back in 2015, Joe and Mika were still social friends of the new candidate, Candidate Trump. Over the previous four years, he had been pretending that President Obama had been born in Kenya, not in the United States.
Joe and Mika kept cavorting with him on their show anyway. It was Rachel Maddow's drinking pal who had been his enabler on the Fox News Channel during those gong-show years.
(Today, the drinking pal is at Newsmax. Like so many other things, Rachel's tolerance for what her buddy did for those four years has never been explained, nor will anyone ever ask.)
We recall telling the analysts that Mika and the new candidate needed to go rent a room during that peculiar first year. If memory serves, Joe and Mika broke with the candidate in January 2016, when he began pretending that he didn't know who this "David Duke" actually was.
That break came way too late. This morning's New York Times crawls with headlines about the way the ship is being redirected. That includes a headline about the retribution the candidate promised during the 2024 campaign.
On Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, the candidate had said that the pledge meant that his enemies would be punished. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and alternate Saturdays, he said the retribution would just be about all the winning.
It was much like that with respect to deportations, with "mass deportation" promised one day, "the worst of the worst" the next. Different voters heard different things. Many heard no such statements at all.
At least a decade ago, we began recalling—and we began posting, right at this site—what Professor Brown had mysteriously said, during a Phi Beta Kappa address, all the way back in May 1960. This is the puzzling passage which had come to mind:
Apocalypse and/or Metamorphosis
[...]
I sometimes think I see that societies originate in the discovery of some secret, some mystery...and end in exhaustion when there is no longer any secret, when the mystery has been divulged, that is to say profaned...
There comes a time—I believe we are in such a time—when civilization has to be renewed by the discovery of some new mysteries...by the undemocratic power which makes poets the unacknowledged legislators of all mankind, the power which makes all things new.
The power which makes all things new is magic. What our time needs is mystery: what our time needs is magic. Who would not say that only a miracle can save us?
For the full text of Prodessor Brown's address, you can just click this.
We don't know what he was talking about in that unusual passage. We have no idea how we ever knew about that statement—how we knew about it well enough to remember it fifty years later.
For the record, Norman O. Brown was very hot in the 1960s. When he died in 2002, the New York times did a full-length obituary.
This morning, we highlight what may be the only passage of that speech which remains relevant. "Only a miracle can save us? That's what the classicist said at the time, even before President Kennedy squeaked into the Oval Office and unveiled The New Frontier.
This morning, the headlines at the New York Times suggest that the die has been cast. Different people will have different views about that apparent turn of the screw, but some of the dual headlines say this:
Journalists turn in access badges, exit Pentagon rather than agree to new reporting rules
The new rules codify strict limitations on access to and raise the prospect of punishment for requesting information on matters of public interest.
Trump Considers Overhaul of Refugee System That Would Favor White People
The proposals would transform a program aimed at helping the most vulnerable people in the world into one that gives preference to mostly white people who say they are being persecuted.
Trump Administration Authorizes Covert C.I.A. Action in Venezuela
The development comes as the U.S. military is drawing up options for President Trump to consider, including possible strikes inside the country.
Trump Rattles Vaccine Experts Over Aluminum
The president’s call for removal of the metal from childhood inoculations set off alarms. About half of shots for polio, whooping cough and other diseases would be affected.
U.S. Attorney Was Forced Out After Clashes Over How to Handle Russia Inquiry
The departures of Todd Gilbert and his deputy in the Western District of Virginia show the pressure being brought on prosecutors to pursue the president’s perceived foes.
Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump From Firing Government Workers During Shutdown
Labor groups are set to square off against the Trump administration one day after the president renewed his threat to cut “Democrat programs.”
U.S. Says It Revoked Visas of Some People Who Criticized Charlie Kirk
The State Department’s X account listed six examples of people who it said had made comments about the assassination of Mr. Kirk, a right-wing activist, and said it was withdrawing their visas.
Racist and Homophobic Texts From Young Republican Officials Prompt Backlash
Some local G.O.P. officials who participated in the text exchanges are losing their jobs or being pressured to resign. But top Republicans have been dismissive.
Trump Administration Decimates Birth Control Office in Layoffs
The layoffs have raised fears that the administration could be effectively ending an initiative that provides contraception for millions of low-income women.
Different people will have different views about the actions described in those reports. Some people may challenge the accuracy of the reporting.
That said, we also note this "news analysis" piece, and this news report from the recent achievement of peace:
NEWS ANALYSIS
Oval Office Becomes a Diorama of Power Dynamics as Trump Goes After Rivals
Top officials, unwilling to fight for the historical independence of their institutions, watched on Wednesday as President Trump continued his pursuit of controlling law enforcement.
With Truce in Place, Hamas Pursues Bloody Crackdown on Rivals in Gaza
A video this week captured Hamas fighters in Gaza executing Palestinian rivals as the militant group tries to assert that it is still the dominant force in the territory after two years of war with Israel.
The president was naming the rivals he seems to want to see jailed. Also, another bloody crackdown in Gaza.
It seems there must have been plenty of topics to discuss and clarify on the nation's most-watched "cable news" program—but if you thought that, you should possibly think again.
The first fat joke came at 5:02 p.m., triggered by Den Mother Dana. Greg Gutfeld took her "Goliath" reference and ran, after which he teased the program's second segment in the following manner:
Up next! Who's got the better beach bod, Trump or Sleepy?
That was the tease he delivered. You can see his "poop mug" sitting before him on the table as the chuckle-rich day rolled along.
Let's just say that the major topics were AWOL from the day's show. Gaza was gone, long gone, as was the exodus from the Pentagon.
The program had five segments in all. Here were the final three, with plenty of time for towel-snapping and some good solid all around fun:
Segment 3: Cheryl Hines was interviewed poorly on The Five
Segment 4: Alec Baldwin had a fender bender (no charges, no one hurt)
Segment 5: Katie Porters interview meltdown
An enjoyable time was had by all. We'll let a few of the chyrons speaks for themselves:
CHERYL HINES BATTLES "THE VIEW"
ALEC BALDWIN: I HIT A BIG FAT TREE
KATIE PORTER HINTS OF MORE PSYCHO VIDEOS
That fifth segment quickly went south. In this report for Mediaite, Charlie Nash provides video and transcript about where these simpleton flyweights went:
Fox Co-Host Briskly Tries to Change the Subject After Jesse Watters Says Jennifer Aniston Used to Be ‘Much Better Looking’
Fox News’ The Five co-host Harold Ford Jr. awkwardly tried to move the show “on to the next segment,” Wednesday, after Jesse Watters remarked that Friends star Jennifer Aniston “was much better looking” before.
“People didn’t get attractive until the internet,” argued co-host Greg Gutfeld during a segment on former Democratic congresswoman Katie Porter. “Watch ‘Friends,’ they’re not even hot.”
And so on from there. Gutfeld often assigns himself the task of reporting that Taylor Swift is only a 5 or a 6.
That is no country for [intelligent] men. But almost surely, this was the most-watched "cable news" program of the day here in this broken nation.
The poop mug was there at 5. Was it there again at 10? Believe it or not, the Gutfeld! program opened with an assessment of a very difficult (scientific) topic—the topic of transgender identity and transgender science. These were the flyweights the Fox News Channel called upon for their review:
Gutfeld!: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Tyrus: former professional "wrestler"
Kennedy: former MTV VJ
Greg Gutfeld: host
Molly Hemingway: Fox News contributor
Jeff Dye: comedian
Each of these medical specialists took a turn pretending to outline the science. Needless to say, the bloated blowhard spoke last. We know of no obvious reason to believe that these messenger children had any real idea what they were talking about.
Needless to say, the gang also did a segment about how (physically) unattractive Porter is. This seems to be pretty much what these messengers have.
That is no "cable news" channel for intelligent men or women. Nor is Gutfeld! a comedy show, s observers sometimes say they think.
As we've noted, Gutfeld! is a propaganda / messaging show which hides behind a corporate beard of so-called "comedy stylings." The channel groomed its host for this role for many years, starting way back when it gave him his own nightly show at 3 a.m.
This is the work of Silo Red. The major orgs within Silo Blue are committed to ignoring what happens there. With that in mind:
It's quite a decision to move from the Harvard Law School to a role inside this tribal madhouse. Kayleigh McEnany made that decision. As we noted yesterday, this is the way she prepared:
Kayleigh McEnany
Kayleigh Michelle McEnany (born April 18, 1988) is an American political commentator, media personality, and former political spokesperson who served as the 33rd White House press secretary during the first Trump administration from 2020 to 2021.
Early in the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, she was a critic of Donald Trump but over time became one of his staunchest defenders.
[...]
McEnany was born and raised in Tampa, Florida...McEnany attended the Academy of the Holy Names, a private Catholic preparatory school in Tampa. After graduating, she majored in international politics at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C., and she studied abroad at St Edmund Hall, Oxford...
McEnany attended the University of Miami School of Law for her first (1L) year before transferring to Harvard Law School. At the Miami School of Law, McEnany received the Bruce J. Winick Award for Excellence, a scholarship awarded to students in the top 1% of their class. She graduated from Harvard in 2016.
From Harvard Law to a pile of junk. But also, from standard issue anti-Trump to a role as one of his staunchest defenders.
The fellow with the poop mug blazed a similar trail. Based on a New York Times report, the CEO may have given him the word that it was time to get right.
Broadcasting from inside Silo Red, the Fox News Channel has been feeding this gruel to the nation's largest "cable news" audience by far. Broadcasting from inside Silo Blue, the people who went to the finest schools have agreed that they must never report or discuss what happens over there.
We leave you today with a basic question. Which silo contains the big-brained humans of whom Wikipedia comically speaks?
We think it's time for these silos to go. It may of course be too late.
Tomorrow: McEnany and Gutfeld flip; an anthropologist explains
