An arrest was made after a series of disturbing Molotov Cocktail bombings of houses of worship in New York City. The sole national evening newscast to report the bombings was NBC Nightly News. Below is that report in its entirety as aired on Thursday, July 9th, 2026:  WATCH: @NBCNightlyNews is the first to report on the Molotov Cocktail bombings of NYC houses of worship. pic.twitter.com/h3kcprD5BK — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) July 10, 2026 TOM LLAMAS:  And take a look at this disturbing video. Surveillance catching a man caught on camera throwing a Molotov Cocktail at a Jehovah's Witness building in Queens, New York. Police say this was one of two attacks on houses of worship that happened last night, and that the 26-year-old man was charged- was linked to a third incident as well. Charges are still pending.  It was the tiniest of briefs, but at least NBC made time for the story. That is more than can be said for CBS and ABC who instead covered things like a man spraying a bear in Lake Tahoe, two sea lions charging a crowd in San Diego, and the upcoming culinary offerings at the Iowa State Fair. In the case of ABC, this is particularly rich because they’re infamous for taking a local New York City story and sticking it on the A-block. Rooftop fires, yes. Molotov church fires, not so much. Even so, NBC’s brief missed a critical element of the story- that there is a suspect in custody. And there’s more. Per The New York Post: A twisted Queens firebug was busted for allegedly hurling Molotov cocktails at two Queens churches late Wednesday – part of what prosecutors believe was a disturbing seven-incident spree.  Yogesh Sayrange, 36, – who ranted like a madman in federal court on Thursday – admitted to tossing fiery projectiles at the Iglesia Bautista El Mesias church in Ozone Park, and the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses on in Woodhaven, along with other locations, according to cops and the feds. … Sayrange – a Guyanese citizen who is considered “unauthorized” in the US because his childhood arrival protection expired – was ordered held without bail.  On the bright side, this doesn’t immediately appear to be part of a systemic effort to burn down houses of worship, at least for the time being. On the other hand, this is clearly the work of a deranged and likely homeless illegal alien who should have been deported a long time ago. Now that these fires are known to be the handiwork of an illegal alien, will the Elitist Media report them? Will NBC follow up? Or will the story be memory-holed? We’ll be watching.  

In a rare editorial that will surely send the media hall monitors into fits, CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil absolutely eviscerated the Democrats for coddling Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner (he hasn’t withdrawn yet). But Dokoupil was only half right. Watch the editorial, as aired on the CBS Evening News on Thursday, July 9th, 2026: WATCH: CBS's @tonydokoupil SAVAGES the Democrats' embrace of Graham Platner, despite the many obvious red flags that emerged throughout the campaign. On the nose for sure, but Tony D missed a spot: the media coddled Platner as well. The media hall monitors will rage nonetheless.… pic.twitter.com/452IZIebwY — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) July 9, 2026 TONY DOKOUPIL: The Big Question tonight is why did so many in the Democratic Party, the party of Black Lives Matter and Believe Women, continue to see Graham Platner as a future star? Despite scandal after scandal that seemed to undermine those principles and more? Despite his old Reddit comments about, among other things, why Platner thinks black people don't tip? Despite his chest tattoo with a Nazi history? And despite the accusations of abuse against women? Through all of that and more, Platner downplayed or denied the claims and was defended by the party in some of its biggest voices. CHRIS Van HOLLEN: I do believe people should have second chances. CHRIS MURPHY: If this is a character election, the incumbent has a lot to answer for as well. BERNIE SANDERS: I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that Graham Platner is the next senator from the State of Maine.  DOKOUPIL: So what's behind all that support for him until now? Could it simply be that he was winning? That he had blown out the sitting governor in the Democratic primary? It sure seemed like the Democrats’ best chance to beat Maine's Republican Senator Susan Collins. In political circles, the answer, it appears, was yes. Many Democrats knew Platner had character issues. The theory, from Daniel Moraff, the political strategist who plucked Platner from obscurity, and made him into a star, was that the voters wouldn't care. That they wanted, quote, “real people who have lived real lives.” DANIEL MORAFF: I think we want people who didn't run for student council, right? We want people who have not been spending their entire lives planning their ascent to political power. DOKOUPIL: But after Platner was accused of rape this week, it turned out that theory had its limits. Character does matter. Platner denied the accusation, but for some Democrats, he’d committed the one offense no political party can tolerate. He started to look like a loser. Dokoupil spared no words as he tears through Democrat leaders willing to look past Platner’s rows of red flags in pursuit of power. He is also right that Democrats only ditched Platner once it became apparent that he might lose to longtime incumbent Susan Collins. The latest allegations provided the offramp, and the rejection cascade ensued. But what’s lost in all of this, and where Dokoupil falls short, is that the Elitist Media are just as culpable of the same willful omissions. The media looked the other way at the Totenkopf tattoo, reluctantly covered the sexting scandal, and joined The New York Times in making conservative activist Lyndsey Fifield the focus of that particular story- a modified “catch and kill.”  The media are just as guilty of enabling Platner as the rest of the left. That essential part of the story was missing from an otherwise trenchant and much-needed editorial.  

CNN invoking the economy as a gotcha against President Trump’s retaliation for Iran’s unprovoked strikes on cargo ships is like telling FDR not to strike Japan after Pearl Harbor. CNN Business’s dense senior reporter David Goldman — who’s become the poster-child for some of the network’s dumbest economic hot takes — woke-scolded Trump in a July 8 item headlined, “Trump is playing with economic fire by calling the peace deal with Iran ‘over.’” For context, Trump’s comments on him being done dealing with the Islamist regime in Tehran came after Iran fired on three commercial vessels July 7 in Oman’s territorial waters near the disputed Strait of Hormuz. Goldman completely glossed over Iran’s unwarranted violence by attributing renewed fears over the Strait’s accessibility to a bilateral “exchange of fire” as if Trump was somehow equally complicit. In fact, Goldman didn’t even mention that it was Iran that struck first at all — despite his own network covering the attacks. His entire thesis assumes that Trump is the economic villain for realizing that Iran is about as reliable as a punctured inflatable pool and throwing his hands up over the ever-dwindling expectations of a negotiated peace. Goldman claimed that the previously instituted Memorandum of Understanding didn’t provide enough time for the U.S. to “avoid the looming ‘economic catastrophe’ that Trump feared would earn him comparisons to Depression-era President Herbert Hoover.” This just shows that Goldman knows as much about game theory as he does about economics: Zilch! A negotiation — as anyone with even a cursory understanding of how game theory works — only functions properly on the assumption that the parties in question are acting in good faith, which Iran has proved is not by constantly attacking commercial ships in the middle of negotiations. Acumen Risk, LLC senior analyst Yaron Schwartz wrote in a March 31 op-ed that Iran “perceives war as an ongoing state rather than a temporary aberration of the international order.” He continued: “This fundamental divergence has resulted in nearly 50 years of conflict that have left the free world to grapple with a delusional understanding of peace and war.”  The only recourse for the U.S., then, would naturally be the legitimate use of force to nullify further threats. But anyone reading Goldman’s spin would assume that no one but Trump would be to blame if the Strait closes and sends markets reeling over commodity traders losing their marbles again: Trump threatened Wednesday to resume America’s naval blockade of the strait – but so far, the strait remains open to ships willing to take the risk to get in and out. But if it closes again, the US economy could take an unwelcome hit. Goldman even attempted to ding Trump for putting sanctions on Iranian oil following the attacks, which he fretted accounted for much of the 200 million barrels that’s passed through the Strait of Hormuz for the past three weeks. “Another caveat: Much of that oil – around 60 million barrels worth – is Iranian, which the Trump administration sanctioned again on Tuesday, giving buyers just 10 days to take hold of it before it’s off-limits again,” Goldman bleated. Interpretation: Ah, so what if Iran bombs a few commercial vessels? Why are you overreacting? Utter insanity. The real “economic fire” is coming from a trigger-happy Islamist regime that would rather see the U.S. smoked into smithereens than sustain a negotiated peace. 

The latest NewsBusters study underlined that ABC, CBS, and NBC unloaded more than 27 hours of coverage on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, mostly playing up his association with President Trump (and not Bill Clinton). By contrast, the networks spent months ignoring Graham Platner's Nazi tattoo and other embarrassing scandals.   Managing Editor Curtis Houck joined the show to discuss his study numbers that he's worked on for a year. Associate Editor Nick Fondacaro also joined the show to update us on how Zachary Young's book on his victorious defamation lawsuit against CNN is getting enormous hostility from the CIA. They told him to delete his entire book, which is ridiculous. If we've learned anything at NewsBusters about the network coverage of Donald Trump, it's that it's reliably about 90 percent negative, no matter what is actually happening. Trump's coverage was highly negative after he was shot in the ear in 2024. But their aggression on the "Epstein files" and connecting Trump to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein has been massive in the last year. Curtis found that ABC, CBS, and NBC combined for 1,627 minutes of obsessive coverage (or 27 hours and seven minutes). Curtis then listed what could be done in that long time fame:  Run six marathons. Walk 88 miles. Watch over 10 Major League Baseball games. In February, ABC's George Stephanopoulos proclaimed that the Epstein story “has bedeviled President Trump’s second term,” as if the media hasn’t chosen to “bedevil” Trump constantly with it. Given that Trump broke off his friendship with Epstein before he was revealed as a sex offender, it’s hard to claim they were sex-abuse buddies. Stephanopoulos would never engage in this kind of smear over his old boss Bill Clinton’s friendship with Epstein, which would explain why this never became an issue in the Hillary vs. Trump race in 2016. The first Trump term was dominated by the Russian collusion hoax. The networks have tried to make the second Trump term about the Epstein collusion hoax. This is why nobody needs them for "news." Graham Platner reluctantly ended his campaign for the Seante in Maine, and it's obvious that the Democrats and their media allies made all kinds of ridiculous excuses for all of the scandals pouring out of Platner's history, things that he has done and things that he has said. The networks couldn't find the story of the Nazi SS tattoo for months. Platner's wife warning his campaign that he had sent sexual texts to other women was the story that spurred the networks to mention him. What may look the most ridiculous now is the TIME magazine cover story just seven weeks ago by Julia Terruso: “After decades of nominating buttoned-up technocrats with glittering résumés, many Democrats want candidates with flaws, faded ink, and redemption arcs that resemble their own. Platner’s past, in other words, may actually be his path.” She then quoted an Obama adviser, Jim Margolis, to underline it: “Democrats are willing to bet on someone who may have a few warts but feels fresh, unscripted, and tuned in. His ‘difference’ may well be his secret sauce.” One of the most bizarre flip-flops came from The View co-host Sunny Hostin, who marched on a hard line advocating for Platner to stay in the race and voting for Platner no matter what came out in the press. Then, on the morning before Platner withdrew, Hostin flipped and said he had to go. Who got to her? We had to discuss Hostin's bizarre reaction coming out of the July 4 weekend on Monday, being triggered by the American flag:  “When I walk into a community and I see American flags all over the community and I suddenly feel unsafe, because there's a section of this country that has co-opted the American flag and they equate being an American or an American flag with white supremacy.”  Enjoy the podcast video below. Like, share, and subscribe.  

As NewsBusters reported, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was hassling Navy veteran Zachary Young as he tried to get a book published about his successful defamation trial against CNN, even demanding he delete everything to do with his manuscript. While the CIA never cited what exactly it objected to, it seems as though the Agency was more interested in protecting themselves from embarrassment. A NewsBusters investigation has uncovered that the CIA public affairs director who improperly burned him to CNN had actually worked for the network. In his letter to the CIA’s Publications Review Board, Young noted how then-Public Affairs Director Tammy Kupperman Thorp improperly outed his affiliation with the agency to then-CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt as he was working on the defamatory report on Young (bold added to highlight): The trial record also establishes that my prior CIA affiliation was not merely incidentally mentioned by a private individual or inadvertently disclosed by an unauthorized outsider. It was confirmed through the Agency’s official press function. The documentary record, admitted as a trial exhibit and broadcast nationally, shows CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt formally tasking the Agency’s Office of Public Affairs on October 29, 2021, stating: “FYI I asked Tammy if they can look into the other guy’s claim that he’s CIA.” This was not a casual conversation. It was a directed request to the Agency’s official press office to look into whether a named individual was connected to the CIA. Marquardt testified under oath at trial that Tammy Kupperman Thorp, who served as the CIA’s Director of Public Affairs from 2021 to 2025, confirmed my Agency background and described the practice as a “steer,” which he defined on the record as the Agency’s established method of informally confirming information to credentialed journalists. This testimony is further corroborated by Marquardt’s contemporaneous written communications stating that the Director of Public Affairs “just basically told me that dude was former CIA.” These communications were entered as exhibits and displayed during the televised proceedings. The disclosure of my identity was accordingly the result of an official Public Affairs response to a media inquiry, provided by the Agency official responsible for press relations, and later confirmed through sworn testimony and contemporaneous communications in open court.  A NewsBusters investigation into Thorp examined her public (as of publication) LinkedIn profile and found that she had worked for CNN as a “supervising producer” on matters of “justice, transportation, [and] regulation.” She was at CNN from January 2017 to January 2020.  According to her, her duties entailed: “Led CNN’s coverage of the US Justice Department, FBI, Homeland Security, Supreme Court, and immigration policy. Edited television scripts and digital stories, authored digital content.” In a little over a year, Thorp bounced from CNN to a PR firm to director of media relations at military contractor BAE Systems before landing in the CIA as their director of public affairs.     Interestingly, she started at the Agency in May 2021, just months before the fall of Afghanistan, Young’s efforts to help rescue nearly two dozen women and baby, and CNN’s maliciously defamatory report about him. She was only on the job a few months before burning Young to her former employer, who she worked for just a year prior. Even more interestingly, Thorp’s time at the Agency ended in February 2025. Young won his trial against CNN in January 2025. Thorp’s page for the Intelligence and National Security Alliance boasts of her use of the revolving door to shift between the media and governmental positions: Tammy Kupperman Thorp is an award-winning journalist and public affairs practitioner with more than 30 years of experience in public affairs, media, and national security, most recently serving as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Office of Public Affairs. Just before joining CIA, Tammy directed media relations for BAE Systems, Inc. From 2017 to 2020, she led CNN’s coverage of the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, focusing on issues including the Mueller investigation, immigration, and the confirmations of two Supreme Court justices. On June 17, 2026, Thorp appeared on The Readiness Edge with Dr. Jennifer Posa, one of her friends and colleagues from her time at the Agency. As she ironically described the appearance on her LinkedIn activities page, she was there “to talk about the importance of teamwork.” She also beamed about working at CNN in the interview.     In a statement to NewsBusters, Young expressed suspicion of the CIA’s relationship with CNN given Thorp’s close ties: I've wondered about the relationship between CNN and the CIA for a while now. I can't tell you what to make of it, only what I've seen with my own eyes. Tammy Thorp spent years at CNN before becoming the CIA's official spokesperson, the person who speaks for the Agency to the media. In that official capacity, she's the one who confirmed my background to a CNN reporter. I'm not going to pretend I have the full picture. But having lived through this, it's hard not to wonder. Politically, Thorp is a liberal. According to OpenSecrets, her only personal political donation was to President Obama’s reelection in 2012 to the tune of $750. She was working for the National Counterterrorism Center as a managing editor at the time. Her husband Frank Thorp is the Democratic alderman of Ward 8 of the Annapolis City Council in Maryland. She also started her media career at NBC News.