'60 Minutes' Scandal

And a whiter shade of pale for J.D. Vance. Plus: more Christmas songs and cartoons.

Greg Mitchell has authored more than a dozen books (see most of them here) and directed four recent PBS films, including the current “The Atomic Bowl.” Subscribing to this newsletter is still FREE—so if you want to help fund, maybe purchase one of those books, thanks. Or recommend this Substack to a friend!

Travel day today so somewhat limited posting here. Here’s what I got.

Dylan Byers:

The “60 Minutes” segment on CECOT, which reflects very negatively on Trump administration, was fully ready and had been meticulously fact-checked and lawyered. The admin had declined to comment. Bari Weiss saw segment on Friday and, I’m told, decided to hold it.

Washington Post confirms:

The decision came directly from the network’s editor in chief, Bari Weiss, according to an internal email sent to producers from the segment’s correspondent, Sharyn Alfonsi, who called the decision tantamount to handing the White House a “kill switch.”

“If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient,” Alfonsi wrote.

Axios:

The decision comes days after President Trump publicly complained the show has treated him even worse since Skydance acquired CBS parent Paramount earlier this year.

And the NY Times related:

“We have been promoting this story on social media for days,” Ms. Alfonsi added. “Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. We are trading 50 years of ‘gold standard’ reputation for a single week of political quiet.”

“I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight,” she wrote.

Meanwhile:

Also, Vance at same Turning Point USA confab:

“The only thing that has truly served as an anchor of the United States of America is that we have been, and by the grace of God we always will be, a Christian nation.”

Then there’s this:

Waymo Suspended Service in San Francisco After Its Cars Stalled During Power Outage

More of Your Christmas Picks

Here’s Part II with more to come.

John Martellaro chose Barenaked Ladies, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings” (with Sarah McLachlan).

Bill Hartung for the classic Eartha Kitt, “Santa Baby.” Somehow not the same when, say, Taylor Swift sings it.

Alan Gordon selected Dwight Yoakam’s southwestern “Silver Wells.”

From Tunes to Cartoons

Two from KAL:

Photo Finish

From my camera, “Winter Sunrise on the Hudson, With Tappan Zee Bridge.”

Still free: