LouEmerald

Retired

[Ben Mullin @BenMullin]

Scott Pelley just issued a statement on Bari's remarks this morning:

[Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1]

Statement of Scott Pelley:

There has never been anything in America like 60 Minutes.

The Sunday tradition is the most successful program of any kind in history. For more than a decade, its innovative growth on every major online platform has extended its reach to countless millions around the world. This spring, at the end of our 58th season, 60 Minutes grew rapidly with an unheard-of 9% jump in viewers on CBS.

"60" has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories. When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.

The waste is heartbreaking.

Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause. Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos.

For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.

At 60 Minutes, we have fought harder than anyone knows to save the program that became an American icon. We owed that to our millions of viewers. I am deeply moved by the thousands of wishes we have received to “keep up the good fight.” Most of the men and women of CBS News are still in that fight. But now the collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.

I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion—a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again—a day when sanity, competence, and courage return.

Scott Pelley

[Senator Mark Kelly @SenMarkKelly]

George Washington believed that vaccinating his troops against smallpox was the key to winning the Revolutionary War and our independence. A founding father from 250 years ago had a better understanding of science and military readiness than Pete Hegseth.

[Daniel Dale @ddale8]

NASA wasn’t “closed” before Trump. The US doesn’t pay NATO anywhere close to “trillions of dollars” or “hundreds of billions of dollars a year.” Trump hasn’t built anywhere close to “over 1,000 miles of wall.” Trump hasn’t “ended eight wars.” It’s not true that “nobody” else has ended a war. Trump didn’t achieve “no tax on Social Security.” Ruth Bader Ginsburg died weeks before a presidential election, not right after one. Senator Thom Tillis is still a senator.

And more. Quick fact check of some of Trump’s many false claims on Fox this morning:

https://t.co/RKmgICu3Tc

[Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @AdamKinzinger]

The people of Iran aren’t free. Iran can now charge tolls. The nuclear material sits EXACTLY where it did, in the same amount, since June. The regime is still in place with a younger ayatollah. Iran still was launching missiles, now with more money to rebuild.

Period

[Protect Kamala Harris ✊ @DisavowTrump20]

Retired 4-Star Navy Admiral and former Navy SEAL William McRaven on Donald Trump: "Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation."

RETWEET if you stand with Admiral McRaven!

[James Martin, SJ @JamesMartinSJ]

Pope Leo XIV at the Stations of the Cross: "Every person in authority will have to answer to God for the way they exercise their power." Jesus says. "Whatever you do to another human being, especially to the small and vulnerable, you do unto me. And it is to me that you will one day give an account."
Image: @vaticannews_it

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Neither in the pastoral sphere nor in the social and political spheres can good come from abuse of power. https://t.co/CV3FZeXDa0

[Henry Winkler @hwinkler4real]

ONE out of 5 children Have some sort of learning
challenge in the WORLD ..That's 20% of the populations ..
There is GREATNESS IN EVERY ONE OF THOSE CHILDREN

[Protect Kamala Harris ✊ @DisavowTrump20]

RFK Jr. calls USAID “a sinister propagator of totalitarianism and war across the globe.”

His uncle, President John F. Kennedy, created USAID 65 years ago.

What a disgrace to his family.

[State of the Union @CNNSOTU]

Jeffries on Trump sending ICE agents to airports tomorrow: "The last thing that the American people need are for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports all across the country, potentially to brutalize or, in some instances, kill them."

[Ken Martin @kenmartin73]

You’re seeing these incredibly long airport security lines because Senate Republicans have blocked Democratic bills to fully fund TSA seven times in the last two weeks.

[Gabrielle Giffords @GabbyGiffords]

“All the Empty Rooms” illuminated the spaces our kids should still be filling with laughter and life. Watching this film moved me deeply.

I’m grateful to see them win at last night’s #Oscars. Congratulations to the filmmakers for this well-deserved achievement. My heart is with Gloria, who shared powerful words about her daughter Jackie last night, and all the parents who have lost their children to gun violence.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

In the dramatic circumstances of war, information must guard against the risk of turning into propaganda. It is every journalist's duty to verify the news, so as not to become a megaphone for power. They must show the suffering that war always brings to populations, which entails showing the face of war and recounting it through the eyes of victims.

[Ryan Grim @ryangrim]

An unarmed Iranian ship was invited, along with the U.S., to be part of an Indian Naval exercise, and its sailors paraded on land before the president.

The U.S. at the last minute pulled out of the exercise and instead attacked the Iranian ship with a torpedo.

Breaking with all norms of civilization and warfare, we then refused to rescue the drowning survivors. The Sri Lanka Navy was left to pull the dead bodies from the water.

I am hard pressed to think of any other nation throughout history that would do something so cowardly and despicable. We are genuinely in a league of our own, and American media — mostly shrugging off the bombing of a girls school and acting as if carpet bombing Tehran is a normal military tactic — is deeply complicit.

[CSPAN @cspan]

Hillary Clinton to @RepBoebert re: the Pizzagate conspiracy theory: "Pizzagate was totally made up. It was an outrageous allegation…that caused a deranged young man to show up with his assault rifle and shoot up a local pizzeria. I can't believe you're even referencing it."

[Occupy Democrats @OccupyDemocrats]

BREAKING: Melania Trump humiliates herself on the world stage by chairing a United Nations Security Council meeting despite a total lack of diplomatic experience.

We've become the laughingstock of the entire world...

After calling the gathering to order with a bang of her gavel, Melania embarked on a string of rambling remarks that were ostensibly about how education is the key to "advancing tolerance and world peace." It was a truly Orwellian moment, coming as it does as her husband embarks on a war of naked aggression against Iran, a war that has already resulted in the bombing of a girls' school that killed at least 165 people.

"My heartfelt condolences to the families who have lost their heroes, who sacrificed their lives for freedom," said Melania, referring to the American troops who have come home in coffins thanks to her husband's pointless and illegal war.

"Their bravery and dedication will always be remembered. I extend my earnest wishes for a swift and smooth recovery to all those who have been injured," she added. "You are in my thoughts and prayers during these challenging times. The U.S. stands with all of the children throughout the world. I hope soon, peace will be yours."

This is an unprecedented appearance by an American First Lady and yet another sign that Donald Trump prizes loyalty and proximity to himself over competence. In fact, this is the first time that the spouse of ANY world leader has been allowed to take the president's seat on the Security Council. It sends a clear signal to the world that the United States is now little more than a nepotistic, tinpot dictatorship.

The truth is that we've had countless brilliant, qualified, thoughtful First Ladies in the past who could have performed this role at the UN. Melania is not one of them. She wants to play-act as the master diplomat, but history will remember her as a spineless coward who enabled the worst abuses of her fascist pedophile husband.

Please ❤️ and share if you think that Melania Trump is a disgrace!

[David Stockman @DA_Stockman]

Gotcha.

[Council Estate Media @cem_uk_]

Imagine telling the world that you're liberating the women of Iran and one of the first things you do is blow up a school full of girls. Extraordinary.