The self-styled fact-checkers at Snopes had an interesting Friday. On one hand, Rae Deng claimed there is insufficient evidence to label a left-wing conspiracy theory about a proposed bill in North Carolina making murdering women legal if they seek an abortion false. On the other hand, Jack Izzo was adamant that Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is the victim of a “chronically online wing of the Republican Party” pushing claims of veganism. Deng (pronouns: they/them) wrote in the “key facts” summary, “It is not possible to rate the claim that a North Carolina bill would allow anyone to kill a pregnant person seeking an abortion. That's because the actual bill is so vaguely worded that, according to law experts, it would likely be up to a judge or a jury to interpret the law in the improbable event of its passage.” In the second “key fact,” Deng added, “The rumor stems from a real policy proposal introduced by North Carolina state Rep. Keith Kidwell, a Republican with a history of introducing extreme anti-abortion legislation that has so far gone nowhere. The proposal wants to define life as beginning at fertilization and then provide those 'lives' with the same rights as a human being under North Carolina law, including the right to defend oneself or another by use of deadly force.” Deng would proceed to write several words about how the bill was so poorly written that even strong pro-lifers have backed off supporting it. That may be true, but it is not the purpose of Deng’s fact-check. While Kidwell wrote that it is an “indisputable scientific fact” that life begins at fertilization, Deng took a brief timeout to digress, “(It is worth noting that whether life begins at the moment of fertilization is disputed. Scientists have no widely accepted consensus on when life begins.)” Fact-check: 95 percent of biologists, including huge percentages of Democrats, believe life begins at fertilization. Why a liberal biologist would say life begins at conception and still support abortion is a question for them to answer. Other states have laws that say life begins at conception and they haven’t had a problem with people murdering pregnant women seeking abortions. Still, despite Deng saying expert judgment makes it impossible to rule the conspiracy false, two of the three experts interviewed said the bill would not permit murder. The one holdout said Kidwell probably meant to allow violence against abortion providers because it would be illogical to kill the woman because doing so would also kill the unborn baby and a judge would probably rule accordingly. Deng’s unwillingness to bat down leftist conspiracy theorists stands in contrast to Izzo, who wrote that Talarico’s attempts to turn Texas blue has “made him the target of numerous barbed claims from a chronically online wing of the Republican Party, according to Wired. Dubious statements suggesting Talarico is transgender or has low levels of testosterone are an attempt to paint him as un-American, out-of-touch or otherwise unfit for the Senate seat.” He then adds, “Another of those barbs is the claim that Talarico is vegan. Talarico's opponent in the general election, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, has made the claim, as has President Donald Trump.” Izzo definitively added, “Talarico isn't vegan, and there's video evidence of him eating meat. The claim is false.” Like PolitiFact, Izzo reduced Talarico’s 2022 comments to a campaign stunt, “The closest thing Snopes found to Talarico saying he was vegan was at an event during the 2022 state House reelection campaign, where he said that the existential risk of climate change made it necessary to reduce meat consumption, and that he was therefore going to run a 'non-meat campaign,' buying vegan products from local vendors.” Also, like PolitiFact, Izzo declined to fact-check any of Talarico’s nutty comments. Back in March, colleague Joey Esposito affirmed Talarico did call God “nonbinary,” but did not fact-check the substance.  

Over there at The New York Post, Lisa Daftari “a foreign policy analyst and media commentator based in Los Angeles”, nails a real problem with the American media exactly. Her headline:  The mullahs’ best weapon isn’t a missile — it’s some in the US media Among other things, Daftari quotes President Trump as follows:  If Iran surrenders, admits their Navy is gone and resting at the bottom of the sea, and their Air Force is no longer with us, and if their entire Military walks out of Tehran, weapons dropped and hands held high, each shouting ‘I surrender, I surrender’ while wildly waving the representative White Flag… The Failing New York Times, The China Street Journal, Corrupt and now Irrelevant CNN, and all other members of the Fake News Media, will headline that Iran had a Masterful and Brilliant Victory over The United States of America. Daftari notes:  It reads like satire, but it’s a precise description of the coverage Americans are getting. It is information warfare, and it is working. Exactly. And there’s more Daftari did not mention. Namely: The recent “news” -- and I put that in quotes -- from former First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. CBS headlined the Jill Biden story this way:  Jill Biden says she was "frightened" by Joe Biden's 2024 debate performance, thought he was having a stroke.   CBS reported:  Former first lady Jill Biden said she was ‘frightened’ by her husband Joe Biden's 2024 debate performance and thought he was having a stroke. 'I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never,' Jill Biden told CBS News Sunday Morning's Rita Braver in an interview airing Sunday on CBS.  'I don't know what happened,' she said. 'As I watched it, I thought, 'Oh, my God, he's having a stroke.' And it scared me to death.' Well now. What, one media analyst might ask, is going on here? Answer: The American media is not about reporting the news. The facts. As the fictional Detective Sergeant Joe Friday would always say when questioning a suspect in that ancient TV show Dragnet: "All we want are the facts, ma’am. Just the facts.” Yes. And as is plain from no less than President Trump and, of all people Dr. Jill, “just the facts” is something that is averse to the American media.  In the long ago (2013), I had my first meeting with then private citizen Donald Trump, who was openly considering running for President in 2016. I asked him about what even then was seen by many Republicans as liberal media bias. His response was blunt. He would call it out and was unafraid to do so. That was a full thirteen years ago. And suffice to say, as just that one statement above from now President Trump makes clear, he has no hesitation in doing so. The problem is now decidedly for the media. Whether it’s coverage of President Trump’s Iran war operations or the coverage of former President Biden’s health, the media has repeatedly damaged its credibility in not even attempting “just the facts” news. And alas, it is exactly that tilted coverage that has proved so telling for the media’s credibility. Make that “lack of credibility.” What Americans are seeing unfold in front of them is indeed “information warfare.”  Perhaps most telling in all this is the coverage -- or lack of it -- provided on the health of former President Biden. For those unfamiliar with this particular bit of history, way, way back in the beginning of the 20th century, the United States was a major participant in World War One. And when it was over, the issue at hand was the US signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which not only ended the war but involved the US in the League of Nations.  President Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, was a staunch supporter of the US joining the League and set out on a cross country train trip to get support for the Treaty and US League membership. In September of 1919, after a speech in Colorado, his wife discovered her husband the President seriously ill on his train. It was soon announced that the train trip was cancelled with the President returning to Washington. A handful of days after his return to the White House, Mrs. Wilson found him on the floor of a White House bathroom. She called the White House physician, who quickly realized the suddenly paralyzed President had suffered a stroke. Famously, historians would later learn that the secrecy of the extent of the President’s ill health was so tight that the American people did not know Mrs. Wilson was effectively running the presidency and did so until her husband’s successor, Warren Harding, was elected and inaugurated in 1920. This is notable because here in the media-centric 21st century one would think a similar problem with President Biden would have resulted in massive coverage and his resignation. But no.  In effect, the role of the protective Mrs. Wilson in 1919 was played this time around by a protective media -- and, yes, First Lady Jill Biden. What Americans have seen unfold in front of their eyes in terms of President Biden and his health was “information warfare.”  And as Daftari makes plain, “information warfare” has been at work in the media’s coverage of both Joe Biden (with the aid of Jill Biden) and in the coverage of the events in Iran. Whether the issue was the media “reporting” on President Joe Biden’s health during his presidency or today’s state of the war in Iran, “information warfare” is being waged by the media.  If the issue involves a liberal Democrat in the White House, the liberal media will, a la Joe Biden, rally to protect him. If a conservative Republican in the White House is defending the U.S. war effort in the Middle East, the lefty media will pile on.  The Democrats count on it. Our enemies can seek to exploit it.

On Friday’s episode of Real Time, HBO’s Bill Maher sought to frame the Texas Senate race between Ken Paxton and James Talarico as “Attila the Hun” versus “a nice guy.” At the same time, after former GOP Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy pointed out that Talarico has said some whacky things in the past, MS NOW host Katy Tur stepped in to defend Talarico by claiming “he’s taken that back.” As McCarthy and Tur were taking the discussion away from Texas, Maher tried to get them back on track, “Can I get back to Texas because we didn't talk about who he's running against, Paxton. Okay, so you have Attila the Hun on this side. Then we have this guy James Talarico. We had him on the show recently. I mean, he seemed like a nice guy, he seemed very reasonable. They are spreading rumors that he's gay or even worse, vegan.”   Bill Maher describes the Texas Senate race as "Attila the Hun on this side. Then we have this guy James Talarico...he seemed like a nice guy, very reasonable. They are spreading rumors that he's gay or worse, vegan." After, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy informs everyone that… pic.twitter.com/vCEfmOejvq — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) May 30, 2026   Amid laughter at the idea of veganism being disqualifying, McCarthy sought to add, “In Texas, vegan is worse. He said he ran a vegan campaign.” Maher sought clarification, “What? He said what?” Referencing Talarico’s 2022 campaign, McCarthy recalled, “He's on video running a vegan campaign. That doesn't play well in Texas.” Maher was forced to concede, “No. He said some things that do not play well in Texas, like "God is nonbinary," which, if there is a God—” Tur then jumped in to defend Talarico on that point, “He's taken that back. He said it was a silly thing for him to say.” Talarico’s campaign conversion is difficult to take seriously. For one thing, on the “God is nonbinary” bit, Talarico said he was being "intentionally provocative”—an odd choice for someone who brags about his seminarian background—while horribly misinterpreting the Bible passage he used to justify the original claim. Maher also didn’t talk about Talarico’s six sexes claim, which is probably because Maher has previously agreed with the anti-scientific argument that chromosomal abnormalities are unique sexes. In the interview Tur cited where Talarico supposedly walked back his wild statements, he said he said there were six sexes because he wanted people with chromosomal abnormalities to be “treated with dignity and respect.” Considering literally nobody said they should be treated with disrespect, Talarico’s straw man was just a cover for his vote to allow males who think they are women to compete in girls and women’s sports. Nevertheless, Maher moved on to the X feud between Stephen Miller and the Democratic Party. While lamenting the all-around lack of civility, Maher managed to get one good joke in at Democrats’ expense, “Okay, but listen to this, so Stephen Miller of the Trump administration, right there with Attila. He said the Democrats made history by nominating the first transgender Senate candidate. That he says pulling out of his ass. Even if they did, it should not be disqualifying. Jewish for the Democrats, yes, but not transgender. Then the Democratic Twitter account fired back, ‘Shut up, you ugly fuck.’” Turning next to Miller’s wife, Katie, Maher added, “Then Stephen Miller's wife fired back at the woman who ran the Twitter account and said she's 30, unmarried, no kids. First of all, I love it that that's the worst insult you can think of. Everybody I know who's unmarried with no kids. You know, that’s good.” While Maher basks in his singleness, it is possible that Senate control could be decided in Texas. Therefore, the media—both Tur’s traditional media and Maher’s comedy media—should focus on what Talarico believes and not just Paxton’s controversies. Here is a transcript for the May 29 show: HBO Real Time with Bill Maher 5/29/2026 10:28 PM ET BILL MAHER: Can I get back to Texas because we didn't talk about who he's running against, Paxton. Okay, so you have Attila the Hun on this side. Then we have this guy James Talarico. We had him on the show recently. I mean, he seemed like a nice guy, he seemed very reasonable. They are spreading rumors that he's gay or even worse, vegan. KEVIN MCCARTHY: In Texas, vegan is worse. MAHER: No, I’m telling you— MCCARTHY: He said he ran a vegan campaign. MAHER: What? He said what? MCCARTHY: He's on video running a vegan campaign. That doesn't play well in Texas. MAHER: No. He said some things that do not play well in Texas, like "God is nonbinary," which, if there is a God— KATY TUR: He's taken that back. He said it was a silly thing for him to say. MAHER: It is a silly thing for him to say because it looks bad on a poster or an ad.  Okay, but listen to this, so Stephen Miller— MCCARTHY: Yes. MAHER: —of the Trump administration, right there with Attila. He said the Democrats made history by nominating the first transgender Senate candidate. That he says pulling out of his ass. Even if they did, it should not be disqualifying. Jewish for the Democrats, yes, but not transgender. Then the Democratic Twitter account fired back, “Shut up, you ugly fuck.” This is the official Democratic Twitter account. Then Stephen Miller's wife fired back at the woman who ran the Twitter account and said she's 30, unmarried, no kids. First of all, I love it that that's the worst insult you can think of. Everybody I know who's unmarried with no kids. You know, that’s good.

PBS News Hour anchor Geoff Bennett and MS NOW host Jonathan Capehart teamed up to try to absolve the media from their past errors on Friday by making the curious claim that “Joe Biden's health has been litigated in public exhaustively.” For his part, Capehart went so far as to try to shift the presidential health concerns to President Trump for simply having three semi-annual physicals since returning to the White House. Reacting to former First Lady Jill Biden’s recollection of the infamous 2024 debate, Bennett wondered, “So the issue of Joe Biden's health has been litigated in public exhaustively. We're talking about it again because she's talking about it. But the fact that she was so concerned and thought that there might have been a serious problem, that is not what top figures in the Democratic Party were saying at the time. So, Jonathan, does this undercut their credibility?” Maybe it has been litigated exhaustively since the debate, but it certainly wasn’t before. Capehart himself wanted Biden to stay in the race even after the debate, saying, “I am not worried about him, his abilities, his performance, or his mental acuity."   Later, host Geoff Bennett reacts to Jill Biden's comments where she said she thought Joe was having a stroke, "So the issue of Joe Biden's health has been litigated in public exhaustively," while Capehart agrees, "to your point, Joe Biden's health has been litigated up and down,… pic.twitter.com/6ZA5ynWjqg — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) May 30, 2026   Capehart also reacted to the Hur Report by asking if anchor Amna Nawaz was trying to “trigger me” with Hur’s observation about Biden’s memory loss while also calling it “gratuitous.” Nominal conservative counterpart David Brooks agreed it was “over the line.” Back in present day, Capehart sang a different song, “That's not what she even said. The day after, said, 'You answered every question, Joe.' This is not helpful. This is not helpful, certainly for Democrats, who have a unique ability to circle the wagons and then just fire at each other while Republicans watch with glee. This is a sort of a second self-inflicted wound on the party, the first one being earlier last week with the draft of that autopsy that was released.” Capehart then tried shifting the conversation to Trump for simply going to his physicals, “To my mind, to your point, Joe Biden's health has been litigated up and down, even when he was in the White House, which stands in stark contrast to what is happening today with the current sitting president, who went in for yet another physical at Walter Reed. He's only been in the job for 18 months.” Wrapping up, Capehart again tried to suggest that “we” were skeptical of Biden’s health all along, “Three visits to Walter Reed? Why are we, as a profession, not talking as extensively and exhaustively and urgently about the health of the sitting president of the United States, when we did that to Joe Biden for four years?” In other Capehart ramblings, he earlier reacted to Wall Street Journal columnist Matthew Continetti claiming the Texas Senate race will be between Ken Paxton’s “biography” and James Talarico’s “ideology” and that Democrats will have a steep hill to climb if they want to win. While, Bennett has happy to talk about Paxton’s personal baggage, he was less happy to talk about Talarico’s ideological baggage, “Well, what about that? Does this put Texas in play potentially, or is that more theory than reality?”   In a segment that was happy to talk about Ken Paxton's problems, but not James Talarico's, MS NOW host Jonathan Capehart laments to PBS that, "this race is going to be ugly between the two of them. It's already starting to be ugly with some of the innuendoes about James… pic.twitter.com/QC9oP0uKmJ — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) May 30, 2026   Capehart tried to be hopeful, “Well, I mean, if you look at The Cook Political Report, the moment Cornyn lost, they switched it to no longer—I think, from toss-up to lean Democratic. But, again, as I said before, Texas has been the whale that the Democrats have been hoping to turn for at least 20 years. This might be it.” Cook has the race at lean Republican, down from likely Republican, but nevertheless, Capehart also lamented, “But, to Matthew's point, this race is going to be ugly between the two of them. It's already starting to be ugly with some of the innuendoes about James Talarico. The question in my mind is, will Talarico—how will he take the punch, and then how will he respond to the punch?” If PBS wants to talk about Paxton’s problems, it should also talk about Talarico’s. The guy believes there are six sexes, that God is non-binary, is troubled by the American flag, thinks meat consumption is bad for the planet, and—in the most recent Talaricoism to go viral on the internet—thinks calling women “our neighbors with a uterus” is a normal thing to say. Here is a transcript for the May 29 show: PBS News Hour 5/29/2026 7:27 PM ET GEOFF BENNETT: Well, what about that? Does this put Texas in play potentially, or is that more theory than reality? JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, I mean, if you look at The Cook Political Report, the moment Cornyn lost, they switched it to no longer—I think, from toss-up to lean Democratic. But, again, as I said before, Texas has been the whale that the Democrats have been hoping to turn for at least 20 years. This might be it. But, to Matthew's point, this race is going to be ugly between the two of them. It's already starting to be ugly with some of the innuendoes about James Talarico. The question in my mind is, will Talarico—how will he take the punch, and then how will he respond to the punch? And that's something that Democrats nationally will be looking at, but I bet something Texans of all sorts who will go into the voting booth will be watching for to see, is he Texas-tough? … BENNETT: So the issue of Joe Biden's health has been litigated in public exhaustively. We're talking about it again because she's talking about it. But the fact that she was so concerned and thought that there might have been a serious problem, that is not what top figures in the Democratic Party were saying at the time. So, Jonathan, does this undercut their credibility? CAPEHART: That's not what she even said. BENNETT: Right. CAPEHART: The day after, said, “You answered every question, Joe.” This is not helpful. This is not helpful, certainly for Democrats, who have a unique ability to circle the wagons and then just fire at each other while Republicans watch with glee. This is a sort of a second self-inflicted wound on the party, the first one being earlier last week with the draft of that autopsy that was released. To my mind, to your point, Joe Biden's health has been litigated up and down, even when he was in the White House, which stands in stark contrast to what is happening today with the current sitting president, who went in for yet another physical at Walter Reed. He's only been in the job for 18 months. Three visits to Walter Reed? Why are we, as a profession, not talking as extensively and exhaustively and urgently about the health of the sitting president of the United States, when we did that to Joe Biden for four years?

NPR promoted leftist Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico with a five-minute interview on Friday’s Morning Edition. Typically, anchor Leila Fadel just set up an answer about Ken Paxton's problems with charges of fraud and adultery instead of airing her question: “Talarico and his party believe those scandals give the Democrat an edge.” Talarico proclaimed without challenge: “The most corrupt politician in America just became the Republican nominee for the United States Senate. That kind of corruption is the rot at the core of this whole broken system." Fadel first asked about the Republican “taunting” about his left-wing stands. She didn’t ask him to explain those: FADEL: You know, Ken Paxton won and then wasted no time coming up with taunting, in many cases anti-LGBTQ nicknames for you -- Six-Gender Jimmy, James Talafreako, Tofu Talarico -- as his way of denouncing your positions on gender-affirming care, immigration, energy, religion. What do you make of these insults? TALARICO: Well, we just announced last night that we have I'm A Talafreako T-shirts available on our website for purchase - jamestalarico.com - for all the Talafreakos out there. You know, we're running against... FADEL: So there's merch from these. TALARICO: Yeah. That's right. That's exactly right. I think we're all tired of these old dudes who are pretending like this is professional wrestling, you know, all slathered up and throwing these silly nicknames at each other. Like, these nicknames don't lower the price of groceries. They don't lower the price of gas. They don't lower the cost of housing and childcare and prescription drugs. Fadel pushed back a little: "Well, that's true, but they were an effective mechanism for President Trump. He would name his political opponents a nickname. It would stick." She added: “We saw Stephen Miller post this anti-trans post about you.” She didn't quote from it. Miller joked “The Democrats made history in Texas by nominating their first transgender senate candidate.” Fadel also didn't mention the official Democrats X account came back with "shut up you ugly f--k" at Miller. Talarico disagreed that the nicknames worked for Trump, that people wanted him to fix inflation and other things and he's failed. The last two questions were also soft. She said "You've said that you're willing to break with your Democratic colleagues on issues that matter to Texans. What are those issues?" Talarico tried to argue he wants a "comprehensive" solution to immigration, something more constructive than what Biden did. Then she came from the left: "What do you think about ICE? 'Cause some of the more progressive candidates in your party want to see it abolished." Predictably, Talarico did the left-wing tapdance:  Well, I want to put an end to this secret police force, and I want to rebuild an agency that's actually focused on immigration and customs enforcement....this secret police force of masked men in unmarked vehicles terrorizing our hardworking neighbors is not keeping any of us safe. And I think people are ready for someone who's going to tackle this broken immigration system with the seriousness that it deserves. Fadel told listeners "We've asked Talarico's opponent, Ken Paxton, for an interview and comment. We have not heard back." Everyone knows why -- he wouldn't get softballs like Talarico. Republicans get much tougher treatment.