The NFL's money-hungry ways continue to bite America in the, well, you know

'Everyone kind of felt nervous'

'They're not really quiet about it'

Senators left Washington Thursday afternoon with little progress on talks to fund the Department of Homeland Security, as Republicans scoffed at Democrats’ demands for restraints on immigration law enforcement agents. On Thursday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, both D-N.Y., released a list of 10 demands they want satisfied before they’d vote to fund DHS. If Congress does not come to agreement by end of February 13, the Coast Guard, national disaster response teams, and cybersecurity infrastructure could be left defunded. SENATE AND HOUSE DEMOCRATS ARE UNITED ON REINING IN THE ABUSES OF ICE.Americans have watched in horror as ICE has terrorized communities across the country.Federal agents can’t continue to cause chaos in our cities while more Americans are killed. We must rein in ICE.Here’s… pic.twitter.com/J1eEA203T0— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) February 5, 2026 The demands include prohibiting agents from wearing masks, blocking agents from carrying out deportation activities at several types of “sensitive” locations, and insisting agents “Stop Racial Profiling.” Additionally, Democrats have suggested requiring judicial warrants to carry out deportations, as opposed to administrative warrants issued by DHS itself. Senate Republicans scoffed at the list of demands. “That’s not a serious list that would pass,” Sen. John Husted, R-Ohio, told The Daily Signal. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., was similarly dismissive. “Democrats want to lard up all of these procedures and legislative requirements that will be in law permanently, of course, to effectively prevent ICE and border patrol and other law enforcement agencies from doing their jobs,” Hawley said of Democrat demands. How Did We Get Here? It bears noting how Congress ended up in a situation where the only funding bill left to pass is the one Democrats have the most objections about. Last week, Democrats demanded the homeland security bill be separated from a package of five other funding bills and threatened to tank the whole package unless Republicans obliged them. Democrats got exactly what they wanted, as the Senate agreed by unanimous consent to proceed to a vote on a package which funded the five departments while providing a two-week funding extension for DHS.  This bought time for the consideration of further Democrat demands on a bill which already came out of bipartisan negotiations. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images) Now, Democrats no longer have to support DHS funding in order to get funding for liberal priorities such as maintaining funding for foreign aid and the Department of Education. Hawley told The Daily Signal he still believes splitting off DHS was the correct approach. “I mean, as opposed to shutting down the government? I’m opposed to government shutdowns, so I’m glad we’re not in a shutdown,” said Hawley. “Right now, everybody’s fully funded, and I hope the Democrats will actually vote for the bill they negotiated.” Hawley also argued Republicans hold leverage on immigration since “ICE is fully funded” by the party-line budget reconciliation bill passed in July 2025 and told The Daily Signal that another such bill is “certainly available” if necessary. Coming to a Deal Husted is hoping Democrats shift the conversation to include discussing how to foster cooperation between local officials and federal immigration agents. Specifically, Husted called for “getting cooperation between the local and federal officials that when someone is arrested for a DUI or drug trafficking or something like that, that the local officials turn them over to the federal government.” He continued, “If we can just get that issue solved, I think that Republicans would be willing to consider things that are on their list—at least I would. I’ll speak for myself, but the body camera issue, yeah, that makes sense. … But some of the other things on the list are, like, non-starters, like eliminating the administrative warrant.” Husted’s remarks are similar to those of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who has argued that any discussion on this matter must include concessions to conservatives. “Any conversation … has to include a discussion of how to make it safer for our federal law enforcement agents to effectively carry out their duties,” Thune said Monday. One Democrat whose vote Republicans can likely count on to fund DHS is Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.  “Every single Democrat, including myself, thinks there needs to be appropriate changes for ICE,” Fetterman told The Daily Signal. “Two things must be true: [it’s] not necessary to shut it down, and we have to come up with a way forward,” Fetterman continued. “That’s where I remain, that as a Democrat, it’s wrong to shut our government down.” The post Republicans Scoff at Democrats’ Latest ICE Demands appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Chair Andrea Lucas wants to return the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to its roots in the civil rights movement, after previous chairs ignored discrimination that didn’t advance a diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda, she says. “My goal is complete and absolute reform of the agency to go back to principles that were good and right in the early part of the civil rights movement,” Lucas, President Donald Trump’s appointee to the commission, told The Daily Signal. The EEOC is an executive branch agency created by Congress through Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While recent chairs have treated the agency as unaccountable to the president, according to Lucas, both the EEOC’s Office of Legal Counsel and the Department of Justice have repeatedly recognized the commission as part of the executive branch. Lucas described previous chairs as “hypocritical” for governing as if the commission has a will of its own. “For decades, since the late seventies when we retained authority over the Age Discrimination Employment Act, it’s been very clear that we are an executive branch agency,” she said. “[Previous chairs] haven’t wanted to message that, but that’s been the reality, so I would say that my view is consistent with decades of precedent.” Lucas’ return to precedent has sparked criticism from the old guard who accuse her politicization of the agency.  “What we are seeing now is a real politicization of the priorities of the agency, and a disregard for the law,” former commissioner and chair Jenny Yang told the New York Times. But Lucas says Democrats have politicized the agency for years, and now it’s time for conservatives to enforce their vision of civil rights law.  “Democrats have done whatever they liked with the agency over the various decades, but it can’t be that only Democrats get to have policy positions or enforcement positions or policy priorities,” she said. “The American people elected the president, and we are an executive branch agency and we are going to be responsive to that.” “When a Democrat is in power, they will do with the agency as they will, but right now we have a Republican president,” she said, “and we’re gonna execute his priorities.” For example, the commission is now investigating allegations of discrimination against white males, a demographic Lucas says it typically “left behind” in previous civil rights conversations. “Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex? You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws,” Lucas said in a December video. Chairs in recent decades have misinterpreted anti-discrimination law, acting like it only applies to certain groups, Lucas says, but the law is colorblind. “It’s always been group neutral,” she said. “It’s always applied to white men as well as every other iteration of sex and race.” Lucas believes there’s no good kind of discrimination. The idea that present and future discrimination remedy the past is an “ugly view of the world” that Lucas says she doesn’t want for her two young daughters. “Our view is a better, more moral one, one that says that people are created equal, and there’s no good form of discrimination,” she said. “We’re not just gonna pick and choose winners and losers related to race discrimination. We’re gonna say every form of race discrimination is wrong.” Lucas put this view into action on Wednesday, filing a subpoena enforcement action that required Nike to produce information related to allegations that the company discriminated against white workers. This is one of the first public actions Trump’s commission has taken in DEI-related discrimination cases. The commission is hoping to send a message that civil rights are for everyone, Lucas said. “There’s no diversity carve-out to discrimination law,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how you label something, the words DEI don’t make something magically ‘good.’ There’s no good form of race discrimination. It’s always wrong, and we’re committed to robust enforcement of those laws under our leadership.” The post Inside the ‘Complete and Absolute’ Reform of the Government’s Civil Rights Agency appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Liberals Discover the Importance of Borders

Yet another nurse has been fired for posting a viral video wishing the harm, or even killing, of conservative Americans and federal immigration law enforcement officers. On Monday, a video of Chicago-area nurse Chad Malinowski went viral after Libs of TikTok posted a compilation of video clips from Malinowski that he had posted on social media. The montage has drawn more than six million views on the Libs of TikTok X.com account. Introducing the video, the post summarizes the healthcare worker’s on-camera malicious wishes of harm for patients who work for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or who support President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) goals: “Meet Chad Malinowski, a Chicago area nurse. Chad appears to suggest letting ICE agents bleed out and call on nurses to target them. He also says hospitals should fire all MAGA employees because they’re racists.” “Remember how much power nurses have in this country,” Malinowski says, noting that a conservative patient’s femoral artery “bleeds well” – if left unattended by hospital workers who oppose ICE and MAGA. “The vasculature in the leg, it really bleeds, bleeds well,” he said, adding that “Someone could bleed out very quickly from that. Probably like a couple of minutes, really.” Malinowski, who worked for Midwest Express Clinic at the time, didn’t take aim at just conservative patients, however. He appears (topless) in one clip urging all healthcare organizations to “terminate” employees he disagrees with: “I would really suggest to all the health care organizations out there that, if you have knowingly MAGA employees, that you terminate them.” Ironically, Malinowski claimed that “They are not safe people to take care of other people.” The next day, Libs of TikTok reported that it had “just spoke with Midwest Express Clinic who confirmed to us that Chad is ‘no longer with the company’ following our expose,” after which it posted an update confirming that “Chad was fired.” Malinowski’s video is just the latest case of healthcare professionals on-camera advocating the harm of conservative Americans - and even giving tips on how to harm them. Lexie Lawler - a labor and delivery nurse - was recently fired for a malicious, vulgar video in which she wished pregnant White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt would suffer serious harm while giving birth. Lawler, a Florida resident, also lost her license to practice in the state, due to her pro-harm public comments. In another example, a Virginia healthcare employee was exposed posting videos about poisoning and drugging Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. “Get them sick,” the nurse advises in her video. “Let’s get them where they eat,” she says, describing a way to drug their food. She, too, was fired and police were notified after her video went viral. BREAKING UPDATE: We just spoke with Midwest Express Clinic who confirmed to us that Chad is “no longer with the company” following our expose FAFO Another one bites the dust! https://t.co/qwwVJkZEiI — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 3, 2026  

On Wednesday, significant news was made regarding the future of ICE agents in Minneapolis, and also on what those agents have accomplished during their time in the state of Minnesota. White House border czar Tom Homan announced an immediate reduction in the number of agents, and later the White House revealed that some 4000 violent and dangerous illegal aliens have been arrested in Minnesota since late last year. That news was celebrated on Fox News's The Five, but it lead to a few notable confrontations involving liberal panelist Jessica Tarlov. Kayleigh McEnany led off the show with the White House announcement on the arrests. "Listen to this, 4000 criminal illegals, removed from Minnesota. This includes violent killers, rapists, gang members and other public safety threats since the beginning of Operation Metro Surge." She then played a clip from an interview President Trump did with NBC News for this weekend's Super Bowl, where he conceded that ICE can be a little "softer", but stressed, "you still have to be tough. We are dealing with really hard criminals." Next, McEnany turned to the Homan announcement. "Tom Homan is also laying down the law, pulling 700 immigration agents out of Minnesota. Leaving about 2000 there. It's because city law enforcement is finally cooperating with local jails in order to get dangerous offenders deported..." After a short clip from Homan, it was the panel's turn. Tarlov was the last to weigh in, and she pushed some buttons. She began by talking about Tuesday's Congressional hearing on ICE, which featured a Chicago woman who had been shot by immigration agents last October in Chicago.  TARLOV: .. They also had testimony from people who have been, American citizens who have been victims of this overreach by ICE Like the woman from Chicago Marimar Martinez, who was shot five times. And DHS.. comes out and says she's a domestic terrorist, she was trying to use her vehicle as a weapon. Turns that doesn't hold up at all. And they have text messages from the agent after saying, 'I fired  five rounds and she had seven holes, put that in your book, boys.' It should be noted that although the case against Martinez was dismissed by a Judge, as noted in the above link, "NBC Chicago reached out to DHS, who said in a statement that they “stand by our press releases and statements.” And the agent who texted about his shooting testified in open court that “..I take pride in my shooting skills.” Next came the fireworks, first with Greg Gutfeld. TARLOV: You have to be honest about those kinds of messages, what you hear on these videos of how these ICE Agents are talking about American citizens... GUTFELD: Who's being dishonest?  TARLOV: You are... GUTFELD: I'm being dishonest? What am I being dishonest about? TARLOV: You have not said ICE has made mistakes.  GUTFELD: .. Would you not admit, the primary error was never cooperating with ICE And that led to the environment.. TARLOV: I would not. GUTFELD:.. You can argue over these things all you want, the fact is you have to come to Jesus and say... if you had have cooperated, we wouldn't even be doing this. There would be two people alive it will wasn't for the fact that you guys wanted them dead. You wanted the political theater. You still want it.. Tarlov could only muster a patented liberal talking point to respond with, before McEnany made a sad but brilliant point. TARLOV: They only sent ICE Into blue cities and blue states to make liberals suffer... MCENANY: ..When an American citizen is caught up in a ICE operation it is a mistake and it is rectified, and the consequence is briefly being detained.  TARLOV: She was shot! MCENANY:.. When an American citizen fell victim to the immigration policies of the Biden administration, their names were Jocelyn Nungaray, Laken Riley, and Rachel Morin. and they are not here to tell their stories.  Enough said. 

Between Friday and Tuesday, ABC and NBC have spent a combined six minutes and 36 seconds promoting the claims of two fringe, former NASA officials as bright red warnings signs ahead of this year’s Artemis II launch, which will send four astronauts both further in space than any human has gone before and around the moon for the first time since 1972. Of course, the claims have been weighed in complete disproportion to the pushback from NASA officials (including Administrator Jared Isaacman), years of testing, and both internal and external reviews of the capsule. ABC’s Good Morning America predictably spent both the most time (five minutes and four seconds) promoting Camarda and Rasky and coming off like a tabloid, fully leaning into the sensationalism. In the first of two teases (not included in the time count), co-host George Stephanopoulos boasted: “ABC News investigates. NASA going back to the moon. Why two former scientists at the space agency are sounding the alarm.” Stephanopoulos promised in the second of a look at “that concern about NASA's first crewed mission around the moon in more than 50 years” with “[t]wo former scientists at the space agency...raising a red flag” and “say the mission is tempting fate.” Washington-based correspondent Elizabeth Schulze had the story poisoning the public’s well of trust in NASA ahead of this mission and ignored the fact that Camarda has a brand new memoir out accusing the agency of, in essence, not letting him run the show. “A lot of anticipation for this mission that will send astronauts to the moon’s orbit...We spoke with two former longtime NASA engineers who are worried about the safety of the spacecraft, saying that it could put the astronauts’ lives at risk,” she began. Last week, ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ really did @NASA dirty ahead of the #ArtemisII launch, holding up two former, disgruntled engineers (and one who has a book to sell, but they left that out) as canaries in the coalmine warning the mission will be a deadly failure because of… pic.twitter.com/P4rodQtn1x — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 5, 2026 After reminding viewers this mission will bring astronauts “around the moon for the first time in 54 years, she ominously said “[b]ut this morning, two veteran NASA scientists say they believe there are serious safety risks ahead of the mission’s planned launch as soon as next month.” Camarda and Rasky couldn’t have dreamt of better PR in the softballs to allow them to construct a strawman and never consider the fact that, while they certainly could be right, there’s risk in everything NASA does (click “expand”): SCHULZE [TO CAMARDA]: In your view right now, is it safe for astronauts, humans to go on this mission on Artemis 2? CAMARDA: I would say no. SCHULZE: Charlie Camarda is a former director of engineering at NASA and a retired. Astronaut who flew on the space shuttle, Daniel Rasky retired in December from the space agency after working as an engineer specializing in thermal heat systems for more than 30 years. [TO RASKY] Is this what you both expected to be doing, speaking out about in retirement? RASKY: No. KAMARDA: No, no, no. SCHULZE: Their key concern centers on the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield. A system designed to protect astronauts from the extreme heat when they reenter the atmosphere. They say the heat shield uses a material from the 1960s that cracked during the uncrewed Artemis I test flight in 2022, a finding highlighted in a 2024 publicly released report by NASA’s Inspector General that was reviewed by Rasky. RASKY: I have to say from the data I’ve seen with regard to this heat shield. If I had to rate it A, B, C, D, I’d rate it an F. SCHULZE [TO RASKY]: You’d rate it an F? RASKY: It’s an F. It’s a clear F, clear, and there’s no way you put crew on an F heat shield. You are just tempting fate. Even in providing NASA’s view, she made it seem suspect: “During a pre-launch press conference, NASA acknowledged that the Artemis II heat shield has what they called limitations.” Following a single-sentence soundbite from Artemis II flight Director Jeff Radigan, Schulze provided those lonely two sentences explaining why the concerns have been addressed. In addition, she did that bit so many Americans probably loathe about journalists in cosplaying as experts in literally everything (click “expand”): SCHULZE: We asked the man in charge of the spacecraft at NASA, Howard Hu, about those limitations and the engineers’ concerns. HOWARD HU: Crew safety is paramount, and our ability to fly our crew safely and ensure their mission success is what we do every day. And I think about it every night, every day, every waking hour. SCHULZE: Hu told us NASA conducted an extensive 18-month investigation on the heat shield and identified the root cause of the problem. He said NASA then changed Orion’s return path so the astronauts spend less time in high heat zones. HU: As part of that investigation, they were able to determine that there was limitations         that we could take on this current heat shield on Artemis II that would be safe. SCHULZE: In a statement to ABC News, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said he has full confidence in the heat shield, adding “NASA’s engineers and safety experts followed the evidence, challenged every assumption, and applied disciplined engineering judgment to understand the anomaly and mitigate remaining risk.” She closed with more sound from Hu after an emotional appeal from Camarda (click “expand”): CAMARDA: I lost three classmates, seven friends on Columbia. And so, you know, I get very emotional. You know, I understand we take risks, but we don’t have to take unnecessary risks. And I’m praying for the crew because I don’t wanna see that happen. SCHULZE [TO HU]: The engineers told us they don’t want to see a tragedy like we saw with Columbia or Challenger. Can NASA confidently say it’s done everything in its power at this point, given those risks to avoid a tragedy like that? HU: He confidently would say that. I think to a person that was part of the investigation, the technical team, I would say, would definitely say that. SCHULZE: So, both of the former NASA engineers suggest sending robots on the spacecraft instead of humans. They say that the U.S. was already first to put astronauts on the moon so that there is no rush here. We asked NASA’s Howard Hu about that. He said there is no pressure on the timeline of this mission, and if it was not ready to go, NASA would not hesitate to say so. STEPHANOPOULOS: There are such diametrically opposed positions there. SCHULZE: Such differences, and the reality is there are risks. How much risk do you take? That’s the debate here. To give support to this robots farce, weatherman Sam Champion jokingly said, “I don’t know. It seems like a good time for robots.” Schulze’s piece received three extended airings Friday on ABC’s free, 24/7 news channel ABC News Live in the 9:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. Eastern hours. In that second example, afternoon host Kyra Phillips had the courtesy to bring on former astronaut Butch Willmore — who was famously stranded in space by the Biden administration and brought thanks to President Trump — to completely reject Camarda and Rasky. But on the last airing, ABC News Live gave Schulze an exhaustive nine minutes and 38 seconds. But on the last airing, ABC News Live gave Schulze an exhaustive nine minutes and 38 seconds, including a portion in which the two insisted they weren’t doing this for partisan purposes. NBC’s Today gave Camarda his time to promote himself but, like ABC, never mentioned his book. Senior correspondent Tom Costello spent the last 97 seconds of his story on Camarda after leading with the pushback launch window. How you know a PR campaign is in full effect – NBC’s ‘Today’ joined ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ in promoting claims from two former @NASA engineers who claim the agency is willfully sending the #ArtemisII crew on a death mission to space. Only at the end of the 92-second… pic.twitter.com/eD3oWUv0oN — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 5, 2026 “But [a delayed launch] may not be the only problem. A former astronaut and thermal protection engineer is warning, the heat shield on the crew's Orion spaceship could fail as it hits 5,000 degrees on re-entry,” he ominously warned. Costello then went to Camarda, wondering aloud whether he “fear[s] this crew could lose their lives.” Unsurprisingly, Camarda said “absolutely.” This went on (click “expand”): COSTELLO: Charlie Camarda flew on the first mission following the space shuttle Columbia disaster that killed all seven astronauts after the heat shield was damaged on liftoff. Now Camarda is pointing to the heat shield on the Orion capsule, which showed burn marks, cracks, and pieces missing after the uncrewed Artemis I flight in 2022. This time, four astronauts will be on board Artemis II. CAMARDA: I don't think NASA should be flying a crew on this vehicle. It is a deviant heat shield. We know it’s a deviant heat shield. We do not know how it’s going to fail or how we can predict it’s going to fail. COSTELLO: But NASA says it is changing Orion's return angle to ensure the crew is protected. JEFF RADIGAN: We’ve changed the entry profile so that we're flying a profile that the heat shield can handle. COSTELLO: Commander Reed Wiseman on 60 Minutes. REED WISEMAN [on CBS’s 60 Minutes, 02/01/26]: We're going to come in hotter, a little bit faster than Artemis I and based on the issues that we have with the heat shield, that will keep us safe. COSTELLO: So, NASA chief Jared Isaacman says internal and external engineering teams have reviewed the heat shield analysis and they agree with NASA. But everybody knows this is one of the most dangerous moments of the mission, as we saw when the space shuttle Columbia came apart on reentry. What made Costello’s Today piece so disappointing was the fact that, on the 3rd Hour of Today, he was given more space to expound upon this and, with more than twice the amount of time, he admitted it’s “[r]eally important to note here that former astronaut Camarata is really in the minority on this issue.” Costello further undercut his entire piece with the admission NASA has had “internal and external engineering teams” review “all of the data on the heat shield and that they agree with NASA’s plan for reentry.” How convenient — in NBC’s ‘3rd Hour of Today’ on Monday, Tom Costello used the extra time to point out that the claims from two former, disgruntled astronauts is a “really...minority” view that, while there’s always risk, NASA believes they’ve done everything to address… pic.twitter.com/b7UYMUBowL — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 5, 2026   “When they come back, they’re actually going to come in a little bit more of a nose up kind of position. So that, they think, is going to help them on reentry, guys,” he added. With a set-up from co-host Craig Melvin, Costello explained how a delay in the launch window will give the astronauts even more repetitions to the point of “rote memory” and safety officials time to go over any and all scenarios (click “expand”): MELVIN: So, Tom, you mentioned that the astronauts there at NASA, they’ve gathered engineers in and outside of the agency. COSTELLO: Yeah. MELVIN: Are they going to do a final review before launch? COSTELLO: Yeah, absolutely. Just before the countdown actually begins, mission managers will conduct a final flight readiness review. That’s a final chance for engineers and mission managers to give their go or no-go for this mission. And again, now that we’re postponed for another month, they’ll look at all the data again, look at all the engineering again, give people like Charlie Camarata the chance to speak up yet again. Guys, I’ve covered Charlie for 20 years. He is not a shrinking violet. He always speaks his mind rather aggressively. ROKER: Yeah, and you got to spend time with the Artemis crew, I did too, as they entered the home stretch. And, with this delay, the safety concerns, Tom, to the best of your knowledge, does this change how they prepare? COSTELLO: No. In fact, what they will do is go back and double down and do it again and again and again. They’ll take advantage of this period to retrain again, go back into the simulator, again. Go through all the steps again and again and again. You know, as you saw firsthand, as I’ve seen it over the years, they think that there’s nothing better than committing it all to rote memory so that God forbid something happens, they automatically know how to react to that. ROKER: Muscle memory. What none of these segments did was provide extensive comments from Isaacman. Thankfully,  the local NBC affiliate WESH did in mid-January with Isaacman given the chance to emphasize the importance of safety (click “expand”): “The heat shield has to do its job. There’s no Plan B capability,” Isaacman said. “On Artemis I, our heat shield did not perform as expected. That’s normal in human spaceflight — that we’re going to engineer a solution and not get an outcome directly in line with our prediction. That’s why we do test flights.” With astronauts aboard Artemis II, safety is critical. “We have modified our reentry profile. We have regained margin to safety, and I feel very good about that with Artemis II,” Isaacman said. “Now with Artemis III, we’re rolling in different improvements. We will never stop doing that — never stop listening to the data and rolling it into subsequent designs.” Along with the ABC and NBC segments, Agence French-Presse (AFP), Boy Genuis Report (BGR), CNN.com, The Economist, and Futurism all fluffed Camarda up as the only voice of reason in the entire space industry. The AFP article joined ABC in going for the dramatic, calling it a “risky bid.” Over at BGR, they irresponsibly focused in a January 29 piece on this narrative with a headline that read: “NASA's Orion Spacecraft Has A Potentially Dangerous Flaw That Has Experts Worried.” The second sentence offered loaded language: “[T]here’s one glaring issue with Artemis II's Orion spacecraft that most experts are worried about. As it turns out, the heat shield on the craft — a special coating on the bottom of the craft to help protect inhabitants from extreme temperatures — may be faulty if the prior mission is any indication.” Futurism was similarly sensationalist in a January 23 item cross-posted at Yahoo! News: “Experts Warn That There’s Something Wrong With the Moon Rocket NASA Is About to Launch With Astronauts Aboard; ‘What they’re talking about doing is crazy.’ However, the February 1 CNN.com piece from Jackie Wattles showed plenty of nuance and far less reliance on Camarda. Thanks to its nearly 4,000-word length, Wattles was able to deliver the expound upon the years of emphasizing safety, charting alternative reentry, and a history lesson to explain that, simply put, the current NASA has been locked into this Orion capsule thanks to decisions made and technology from decades prior. Most notably, Wattles stated the seemingly-obvious reality of anything related to space travel: There’s always risk and, if NASA shirked from doing bold, dangerous things, humans would have never gone to space in the first place. And, when they did reference Camarda, they acknowledged he’s out with a memoir (and thus has a story to tell). However, if Camarda were to pop up on CNN’s coverage of the launch, one could infer they’re looking for the possibility of a disaster from Mr. I-Told-You-So. To see the relevant transcripts from ABC and NBC, click here (for ABC’s Good Morning America), here (for NBC’s Today), and here (for NBC’s 3rd Hour of Today).

Would you go to an intimate dinner party hosted by a man who was a convicted child sex offender? How about one hosted by his fixer? Or hang out with one of them on the weekend? A NewsBusters investigation of the Epstein Files has revealed that numerous liberal media elitist faced those very scenarios just years after Jeffrey Epstein was convicted, and they answered yes to such invitations. Names such as Katie Couric, Charlie Rose, George Stephanopoulos, Matt Lauer, and Chris Cuomo appear several times. Epstein and his fixer felt so comfortable in the media elitist crowd that they had no second thoughts about sending out invitations to dozens and dozens of them. Several of the e-mail chains examined by NewsBusters involve publicist Peggy Siegal, who had been described as Epstein’s “fixer” by The Daily Beast co-founder Tina Brown, who found herself on the receiving end of Siegal’s ire. All spelling and grammatical mistakes in the quotes belong to their sender. On August 10, 2010 (two years after Epstein was convicted), Siegal sent Epstein an e-mail under the subject line “Sept. 16 dinner.” The e-mail contained a massive list of over 120 names that included journalists, writers, editors, commentators, actors, and directors. Some of the standout names included: Dan Abrams, Jill Abramson, Christiane Amanpour, Katie Couric, Donny Deutsch, Maureen Dowd, Gayle King, Cynthia McFadden, Peggy Noonan, Samantha Powers, Jane Fonda, Charlie Rose, George Stephanopoulos, Jeffrey Toobin, Barbara Walters, Brian Williams, and Fareed Zakaria just to name a few. That dinner seemed to go well enough for some because in a November e-mail chain, from that same year, Epstein and Siegal wanted to invite some of them to dinner with Prince Andrew and Woody Allen on December 2: Invite her to bring Woody. Then I will also call Woody's office and invite him. If you get Woody...you can probably then build to Charlie Rose, Fareed Zalcaria, Rick Stengel (editor of Time), Cynthia McFadden (Nightline), George Stephanopulous, Chris Cuomo and Cristina Cuomo, she is beautiful and smart...Christiane Amanpour....Katie If Woody comes, we can ask other film makers...like David Koepp, Tony Gilroy, Stephen Daldrey who is hilarious. We can find out where Oliver Stone is. I know all those people. Actually Woody is very friendly with Richard LeFrak...the more friends of Woody's you can get, then he will come.     As that December 2 dinner date was quickly approaching, Epstein and Siegal wanted to nail down the final guest list and invite more people. An e-mailed “Yes list” included: “Andrew[,] Jeffrey[,] George Stephanopolous[,] Ali Wentworth[,] Woody Allen[,] Soon-Yi Allen[,] Charlie Rose (…) Katie Couric.” According to another e-mail chain, “I told you Katie Couric is coming. I think she is bring her idiot cute boyfriend Brooke. Will check,” Siegal wrote. “Waiting to hear from Charlie Rose. What about George Stephanopulous and Ali Wentworth? What about Matt Lauer?” Epstein responded: “stephannoplus. winslet. stengel. harry diller. „ anne hathaway. you could ask tine, she has published some very false articles about me, but i d be happy to have her . and call a truce[.]”     Siegal also wondered about inviting more people and gave Epstein this list to pick from: Julianne Moore, Kate Winslet, Meg Ryan, Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman...they know Andrew. Kim Canrall, Christina Cuomo (married to Chris Cuomo). Anne Hathaway and BF Adam Shulman. Jimmy Fallon, Lome Michaels, Woody Johnson, Mike Nichols/Diane Sawyer, Nora Ephron and Nick Pileggi, Susan Sarandon, Uma Thurman. Regis and Joy Philbin. Emily Mortimer and Sandro Nivola (she is English)... Rick Stengel, editor of TIME. Tina Brown, Diane von Furstenbcrg and Barry Diller... “Please make FAST decisions and I will call this morning. I know you want small...but this is a very good list to pick from,” she insisted. A name included on a list of possible people to invite appeared to be New York Jets owner Woody Johnson. Fast forward to an e-mail sent on March 31, 2012, Siegal was whining to Epstein about how he never went to the theater with her. She was also giving him an update about happenings in her life. One of which was how she was heading out to Long Island to spend the weekend with the Cuomo family. “Going to Southampton today to visit Cristina and Chris Cuomo and the 3 kids...till Sunday,” she wrote.     Siegal seemed to like the Cuomo’s quite a bit since she included them in a short list for some sort of two-day “spring break” bash in March of 2013. In an e-mail to Epstein, she asked: Do you want film makers or media elite? Tory Burch Steve haft Katie Couric Chris Cuomo/Cristina Cuomo Writers Danny Strong Chris Terrio- wrote Argo Beau Willimon- wrote Ides of march/House of Cards Bennett Miller- directed Moneyball and a new one not out yet about dupont and wrestlers Lena Dunham- but Woody did not want to meet her a year ago Rita wilson- tom is on stage in Nora's Lucky Guy Martha stewart Barry levinson Zac Posen Charlie Rose I am still thinking. Have to see who is in town.     She also included the Cuomos on a guest list to a birthday party she was throwing for herself in July of that same year. “Are you in town? Would love for you to attend my birthday party next Tuesday, July 16'" at La Grenouille. Please see updated guest list below,” she wrote to Epstein. On that same invite list was then-newly hired CNN president Jeff Zucker and his wife Caryn. Siegal likely knew Zucker from his time as Couric’s producer. You might be asking yourself why these people would be so comfortable being around a monster like Epstein and his close associates, especially after he was convicted of child sex crimes. Well, one email sent to Epstein from a redacted e-mail address (which only went by “drsra”) had a theory as to why: I see from the recent article in the NY Post that either (A), many people who are otherwise in the know have failed to hear that you are to be shunned because you are a prevert felon, or (B), that even people who make their living in the public eye like Katie Couric don't give a shit.