In a story that perfectly captures the media’s chronic recklessness, a supposedly “explosive” scoop about former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio criticizing Democratic mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani turned out to be spectacularly wrong — because British journalists talked to the wrong Bill de Blasio. The bizarre episode began when Bevan Hurley, a senior reporter for The Times of London, emailed who he thought was the former mayor, asking for his thoughts on Mamdani’s big-spending socialist platform. The email went instead to a 59-year-old Long Island wine importer named Bill DeBlasio — same name, different guy — who decided to play along for fun. “I’m Bill DeBlasio. I’ve always been Bill DeBlasio,” the importer told Semafor, explaining that he never claimed to be the mayor and assumed the journalist would figure out his mistake. Instead, Hurley printed the ChatGPT-crafted remarks the Long Island DeBlasio sent back, which included skeptical commentary about Mamdani’s tax-and-spend proposals, saying the numbers didn’t “add up.” Within hours, the article blew up. The Times of London yanked the story, calling it a case of being “misled by an individual falsely claiming to be the former New York mayor.” The New York Times and other outlets piled on with even harsher language — labeling the man a “de Blasio impersonator.” But the Long Island DeBlasio insists he never misrepresented himself. “I never once said I was the mayor. He never addressed me as the mayor,” he said. “So I just gave him my opinion.”  Far from being a prankster with a political agenda, the businessman said he responded mostly for amusement — and because the journalist’s failure to double-check seemed unbelievable. “It was all in good fun,” he said. “I never thought it would make it to print.”  He even poked fun at the confusion over their names, noting that the former mayor spells his surname “de Blasio” with a lowercase “d,” while his own family uses a capital “D” — a distinction he joked about, saying, “low-class Italians use a little d.” The fallout was swift: embarrassed reporters deleted their work, British editors issued apologies, and The New York Times scrambled to reassure readers that the real de Blasio still backs Mamdani’s $7–$10 billion per year leftist agenda of free buses, universal childcare, and rent freezes. Former mayor de Blasio said, “I’m astounded. It’s a complete fabrication.” He reaffirmed his support for Mamdani’s policies, comparing the candidate’s ambitions to his own free pre-K initiative during his time as mayor. Meanwhile, the Long Island DeBlasio took the chaos in stride. Wearied from years of hate mail meant for the former mayor, he shrugged off the whole media circus as another example of sloppy journalism. He was accurately quoted, but called it “lazy” reporting.

As CBS News undergoes major changes this week, with dozens of staffers getting laid off and new leadership taking over, the news outlet’s “Race and Culture” team was also “gutted,” according to The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr. Barr reported that a CBS News staffer described the cuts as a “blood bath,” adding, “I’ve also heard that the Race and Culture unit was ‘gutted.'” The “Race and Culture” unit was the subject of criticism last year after “CBS Mornings” anchor Tony Dokoupil was reprimanded by the team for going off script and asking tough questions during an interview with leftist activist Ta-Nehisi Coates. During the interview in September 2024, Dokoupil pressed Coates on radical aspects of his book “The Message,” which condemns Israel as a racist country and evil occupier. Dokoupil asked Coates why his book left out “that Israel is surrounded by countries that want to eliminate it.” “Why leave out that Israel deals with terror groups that want to eliminate it?” Dokoupil asked. Despite the “CBS Mornings” anchor’s tough questions, the interview remained respectful as Coates responded to Dokoupil’s inquiries. CBS News’ “Race and Culture” unit, however, reprimanded Dokoupil for his “tone,” The Daily Wire previously reported. Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to DailyWire.com/Subscribe to join now. The “Race and Culture” unit “works with the executive producers of all platforms across the division to ensure the reporting has the proper context, tone and intention,” according to CBS News. The team is led by long-time news, sports, and entertainment producer Alvin Patrick. Patrick and the “Race and Culture” team have worked on numerous race-centered segments at CBS News. CBS News is also revamping its Saturday morning show, which has been on the air for 28 years, The New York Post reported. The show’s anchors, Michelle Miller and Dana Jacobson, along with executive producer Brian Applegate, have all reportedly been told they are being let go. CBS News staffers were caught in the middle of mass layoffs at their parent company, Paramount Skydance. This week, Paramount Skydance informed around 1,000 employees, including roughly 100 CBS News staffers, that they were being laid off, according to Deadline. Earlier this month, CBS News also named Bari Weiss as its editor-in-chief. Weiss, a former New York Times opinion writer, was applauded by many on the Right when she resigned from the Times in 2020 and blasted the newspaper’s “illiberal environment” in her resignation letter. The cuts at CBS News were already in the works before Weiss was brought on as editor-in-chief. CBS News’ parent company, Paramount, merged with David Ellison’s Skydance Media earlier this year. With the merger, Ellison became the CEO of CBS News. Ellison, along with his father, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, has been praised by President Donald Trump. “They’re friends of mine. They’re big supporters of mine,” Trump said earlier this month. “They will make the right decisions,” Trump said. “They’re going to revitalize CBS — hopefully, they’ll bring it back to its former glory.”

“Game of Thrones” creator George R.R. Martin won the first battle in his quest to sue OpenAI for copyright infringement. Earlier this week, a federal judge ruled that a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI can proceed with two additional theories of infringement. U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein said that a ChatGPT-generated concept for a book in Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series could infringe on the author’s copyright. The “Game of Thrones” writer and several other Authors Guild members, including John Grisham and Jonathan Franzen, filed a lawsuit against Sam Altman’s LLM company two years ago.  In an 18-page ruling from the Manhattan federal court, the judge wrote, “A reasonable jury could find that the allegedly infringing outputs are substantially similar to plaintiffs’ works.” There are several potential avenues to a win. First, the authors claim that artificial intelligence companies using copyrighted work without permission count as infringement. The second, more recent argument relies on the theory that OpenAI downloads copyrighted books from “shadow libraries,” and that this act is a form of piracy even if the titles are used for training and aren’t being reproduced or sold. Per The AV Club, this same argument was presented in a case brought by authors against the company Anthropic, and ultimately, it was determined that the AI company’s actions were covered under fair use laws. Anthropic later agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle the lawsuit despite the court’s ruling. The same attorney in that case, Justin Nelson, is now representing Martin and the others, per The Hollywood Reporter. A third theory holds that the product created by ChatGPT is too similar to Martin’s published work and is therefore a violation of copyright. An AI-generated summary of “A Song of Ice and Fire” says: “Members of the Night’s Watch, a sworn brotherhood tasked with defending the realm from threats beyond the Wall (a giant ice structure in the North), are attacked by mysterious and deadly creatures known as the White Walkers, thought to be mere legends.”  The court determined that a reader could “easily conclude that this detailed summary is substantially similar” to Martin’s actual books because the ChatGPT version “conveys the overall tone and feel of the original work by parroting the plot, characters and themes of the original.”

'I never once said I was the mayor'

'A district judge is not allowed to micromanage'

'Lady justice wears the blindfold'

Nearly a month into the federal government shutdown, House Speaker Mike Johnson is shaming the Democratic Party for the ascendance of a socialist faction represented by New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Johnson, R-La., accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., of voting against a stopgap funding extension due to “fear and political desperation” in the wake of the intraparty backlash he received for voting to fund the government back in March. “The new power center of the Democrat Party is one that should frighten every common sense American,” said Johnson. “Exhibit A is Zohran Mamdani. New York City, America’s largest city, the cradle of capitalism … they’ve got a 34-year-old, unproven, untested socialist who looks to be the next mayor.” Johnson’s remarks come a week after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., endorsed the state assemblyman and the rest of the Democrat ticket for the Nov. 4 city elections—a decision he had held off making for months. “Mamdani is a big issue here in the halls of Congress. Why? Because the second-highest ranked Democrat in the country, leader Jeffries, endorsed him,” said Jeffries. “They’re making Mamdani a mainstream Democrat now. This party has left the people.” The NRCC is out with a new memo on how they plan to weaponize a likely Zohran Mamdani NYC mayoral win against Democrats in the midterms next year pic.twitter.com/hs171cDmtz— Julia Manchester (@JuliaManch) October 28, 2025 Johnson’s efforts to make Democrats suffer politically for their association with Mamdani is much like the broader Republican strategy going into the midterm House elections. On Tuesday, the National Republican Congressional Committee released a memo detailing a “Battle Plan to Weaponize Mayor Mamdani in Battleground Districts.” The memo cites internal polling showing Mamdani has 81% name recognition among surveyed voters in battleground districts—almost equal to Jeffries’ 86%.  Additionally, the memo claims that “capitalism” has +12 net favorability among battleground voters compared to -12 for “socialism.” Mamdani openly aligns himself with socialism. “The NRCC will ensure every voter knows Zohran Mamdani is synonymous with the Democratic Party nationwide,” the memo concludes. The post Mamdani Has Taken Over the Democratic Party, Johnson Warns appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Corruption of the Sciences Is Devastating Our Disciplines

The US and Russia disagree on what actually counts as a nuclear weapons test.

Who does a Tyrannosaurus need to bite to get some respect, instead of being treated like a T. rex in waiting?