Stop making me defend Scott Pelley! The conservative news media is beating on “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley for what they are calling a “softball” interview, as if every “60 Minutes” interview of a sitting President hasn’t been just as tame, or even tamer. At least Pelley asked Biden about Hunter. The truth is that Americans still prefer to see their Presidents treated with respect and some degree of deference, unless the President is Donald Trump.

It’s funny: the same outlets that are condemning Pelley as a Democratic ally and hack are wondering why Biden’s “handlers” allowed the blithering POTUS to do an interview at all. Of course the conditions demanded for the interview included no follow up questions, and a softball session. And it didn’t matter! Biden’s performance was frightening anyway, and unlike the 2020 interview with Trump, when Leslie Stahl’s clear objective was to attack throughout, the White House couldn’t complain afterwards that the President was sabotaged by a biased journalist. Pelley asked about Joe’s mental fitness, and Biden replied, “Watch me!” And so we did, and have. He continued,

And it ma—, honest to God, that’s all I think. Watch me. If you think I don’t have the energy level or the mental acuity, then — then, you know, that’s one thing. It’s another thing, you just watch and — and, you know, keep my schedule. Do what I’m doing….“I — I think that, you know — I don’t — when I sit down with our NATO allies and keep ’em together, I don’t have ’em saying, ‘Wait a minute, w— how — how old are you? What are you — what say?’ You know, I mean, it’s a matter of, you know, that old expression: The proof of the pudding’s in the eating. I mean, I — I — I respect the fact that people would say, you know, ‘You’re old.’ And — but I think it relates to h— how much energy you have, and whether or not the job you’re doing is one consistent with what any person of any age would be able to do.”

Whether it was Pelley’s intention or not, he ended up doing what ethical journalists are supposed to do: he let the facts speak for themselves.

1. On the topic of social media viewpoint censorship, this:

It takes a lot of chutzpah for YouTube to demonetize a channel because it violates YouTube’s “values” and then sell ads on the same content.

2. Oh please, please let this happen to me! In an open thread at Althouse, a commenter tells this tale,

A friend’s brother lives in Florida. They recently got new neighbors from NY, a husband and wife. A few days after moving in the wife stops over and sits down. She says, “OK, let’s get this out of the way. I am a Democrat and my husband an Independent. What are you?” Non-plussed, he says he is Republican. For the next 15 minutes he was called every expected name- Nazi, racist, etc. IN HIS OWN F-ING HOME!

It’s my contention that the left now knows its flaws are becoming obvious and are overcompensating to hear themselves repeat their failing worldview…

3. I’m certain this kind of thing goes on constantly, and not just from the Left. Preston Moore, a popular TikTok  poster, put up a video in which he related an email exchange with the ironically named  Good Information Foundation, led by Rick Stengel, an under secretary of state during the Obama administration. Moore was offered $400 to create a propaganda post relating to the January 6 riot. He was told that  “key messaging” that include reminding “your followers about the images and scenes from the January 6th insurrection…what a lot of people don’t know is that the violence on January 6 was actually planned and paid for by Trump Republicans….Talk about the many aspects of their plan and the broad involvement of Trump officials, members of Congress…The Trump campaign paid literally millions of dollars to make January 6th happen…It’s important to know that this wasn’t a one day thing—there is an ongoing threat of political violence or MAGA Rebublicans trying to overturn elections.”  Moore said that  the foundation told him that he “must channel all of this on to the manipulation of voter agencies so that I could turn their anger around this event into defiance that would make people more likely to vote in midterms.”

When he responded to the email asking, “What is the basis for the claim that the Trump campaign itself paid millions of dollars to make the January 6 seat at the Capitol happen?” the foundation only answered by saying he didn’t have to say that if he didn’t want to. Moore was also told, if he wanted his $400, that he should,

Yahoo! thought this was so important that it put it on its Yahoo! Sports page. Oh…Preston turned down the offer.

4. New York City’s ethics fiascos just get better and better. Mayor Adams is reportedly thinking about stowing all those illegal immigrants New York welcomed (before they actually started arriving) on luxury cruise ships. Frank Carone, Adams’ chief of staff, was on a Norweigan Cruise Line ship in Normandy last month as “research,” according to The New York Times. When a reporter asked the mayor about the nature of the trip and if it was taxpayer funded, he refused to answer, saying, “When there’s something to announce more about a cruise ship idea, I’m announcing it. I’m finished with that. Next question.”

5. Hmmmmmm...The Washington Post has ended its Sunday “Outlook” section, the Post’s equivalent to the New York Times “Review” section. Both have been especially virulent and relentless sources of extreme Leftist screeds, often aimed at Donald Trump, Republicans, and any opposition to the Woke Wevolution. Is the Post, like CNN (supposedly), moderating its extreme ideological and partisan bias as it faces declining subscriptions for what has ceased to be news reporting? That’s one theory, anyway. It was the Outlook section’s unrestrained partisan cheer-leading that caused the Marshalls to cancel our local paper and pay a fortune for the Times, which was, incredibly, an improvement.

For a while….