The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tag: interview
Moms for Liberty founders, Tiffany Justice, left, and Tina Descovich

After '60 Minutes' Debacle, Mom For Liberty Scurries To Bannon 'War Room'

Following a disastrous interview on 60 Minutes, Tiffany Justice – a co-founder of the extremist group Moms for Liberty – retreated to the friendlier terrain of Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast in an attempt to mitigate the damage she’d done to her organization.

Bannon and Justice spent nearly 11 minutes criticizing CBS’ Scott Pelley for supposedly subjecting the anti-LGBTQ activist to unfair scrutiny, primarily by reading Moms for Liberty’s own tweets to her and asking for her response. At one point, Pelley asked Justice and her fellow Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich what they meant by “grooming.” At another, Pelley asked for clarification on what ideology they claimed kids were being indoctrinated into. Justice and Descovich responded by dodging and retreating to their standard talking points.

It’s no surprise that Justice sought to clean up her mess using Bannon’s show. She usedWar Room and other right-wing media programs to build up Moms for Liberty in 2021 and 2022, and then leveraged that growth into a series of friendly mainstream media profiles and interviews. Now, as parents and communities become more aware of her organization’s extreme, anti-LGBTQ and anti-Black positions, they are fighting back, as demonstrated in the 60 Minutes segment.

During the War Room interview, Justice accused 60 Minutes of deceptively editing her responses.

“You’re saying they selectively edited out your answers?” Bannon asked.

“Yeah, they wanted to make it seem like Tina and I didn’t know what we were talking about, I guess,” Justice responded.

On X (formerly Twitter) Descovich posted what she claimed were excerpts from the official transcript of the interview, purportedly exposing CBS’s omissions. The only problem with the Moms for Liberty counter-narrative is that the exchanges Descovich posted were just as incoherent as the responses CBS aired.

“If there are any lawyers watching this and you’d like to try to help me to navigate dealing with 60 Minutes, I’m open to ideas,” Justice said later in the interview. “But I’ve been talking with a few and trying to figure out —”

“Are you thinking of suing 60 Minutes?” Bannon interjected.

“I want to make sure I’m releasing information in a legal way,” Justice responded.

Bannon also said CBS was trying to make Moms for Liberty look like “bad and evil people, that are hurting people, bullies, whatever you want to call it,” as though that were self-evidently false. Unsurprisingly, Bannon didn’t mention the myriad examples of Moms for Liberty harassing and intimidating teachers and administrators, including an incident where Justice’s conduct was “so disruptive and disrespectful,” according to a superintendent, that she “could be barred from the campus.”

Later in the War Room segment, Bannon told Justice that Moms for Liberty was “trending” on X and that “one of the terms is Klansman Karenhood,” adding, “They’re trying to say you’re the new Klan.”

“They are out to destroy you,” Bannon said to conclude the interview. Despite Bannon’s trademark bombast, it might just be that parents and teachers are opposed to a group that has repeatedly quoted Hitler and attempts to ban books in schools.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Why There's No Point To 'Interviewing' Tucker Carlson

Why There's No Point To 'Interviewing' Tucker Carlson

Semafor founder Ben Smith’s much-ballyhooed Thursday interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson was, predictably, a total shitshow.

“I’m just hoping you’ll let me ask questions and not steamroll me, because you’re a professional and I’m not,” the former New York Times media columnist said at the start of the discussion. But Carlson was unwilling to oblige, and he spent the next 20 minutes relentlessly dunking on Smith in a performance reminiscent of a Harlem Globetrotters game.

Journalists, if they choose, can learn a valuable lesson from Smith’s plight: There is no news value in interviewing Carlson. If they try to inform their audiences about the Fox host by talking to him, they will fail, because he is relentlessly dishonest and extremely good at what he does.

News outlets have frequently used one of their standard tools – the interview profile – to chronicle Carlson’s rise as he became a powerful figure in the right-wing media and the GOP since launching his Fox show in late 2016. But Carlson’s comments in those profiles are rarely revelatory. He is a professional media personality with nearly three decades of experience handling interviews, and is adept at responding to penetrating questions by deflecting, lying, and attacking the questioner.

When Smith drew criticism after the interview was announced from ad technology watchdog Nandini Jammi for inviting “the biggest white nationalist in America to join you at your first event,” he responded by saying he intended to hold Carlson to account. “Our plans are to ask hard questions of powerful people,” he tweeted. “I don't think there are a lot of journalists who would refuse to do that interview?”

Indeed, that’s the problem – the journalists who think they can glean valuable insight by asking Carlson “hard questions” are mistaken.

Smith, to his credit, aired a clip of Carlson promoting the white nationalist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, and repeatedly tried to pin Carlson down about, among other things, his bigoted commentary and associates. But to no avail: Carlson dodged Smith’s questions with ease, berated him throughout the interview, and inserted his talking points about how his critics are the real racists and Fox is the only network for free speech.


Here, for example, is what happened when Smith tried to ask Carlson about all the white supremacists who have worked for him:

BEN SMITH (SEMAFOR FOUNDER): You keep having these sort of explicit white supremacists, who have on secret message boards, who work for you, and I know this has been very painful for you in some cases –

TUCKER CARLSON (FOX NEWS HOST): I’ve never had a white supremacist – I’ve never even met a white supremacist!

SMITH: You have people who have posted, large numbers of people –

CARLSON: Wait, slow down, slow down.

SMITH: Scott Greer, Blake Neff –

CARLSON: Hold on, hold on. [LAUGHTER]

SMITH: I’m just curious why you’ve been sort of –

CARLSON: This is fun!

SMITH: – flypaper for these people on your staff?

CARLSON: You’re giving me a lecture, you’re not asking me a question.

SMITH: That was the question, why have you been flypaper for these racists?

CARLSON: Deep breath, deep breath. I’ve never had a white supremacist work for me. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to a white supremacist. Please, let me finish.

SMITH: And I don’t want to talk about labels.

CARLSON: Hold on, slow down. I’m not sure what that means. I know that it’s a slur, it’s the worst thing one can be. I don’t really understand the terms, but let me just say –

SMITH: You’ve had to let people go who have said objectionable stuff.

CARLSON: Whoa now, Ben. I believe that people are not defined by their race. Any race, Black, white, Asian, pick a race. People are defined, their value derives, from a) the fact they were created by God – I believe that, maybe you don’t, I do – and b) by what they do, by the choices they make. By who they are, they have agency, they’re not part of some larger group, they’re individuals. I believe in the individual, and I say that virtually every night. Now if you don’t hear that, or if you for whatever reason want to claim that I’m some racist, I don’t know what to say to you. I’m stating my sincere views as reflected in my personal life and my professional life, as clearly as I can.

Carlson is lying. He has employed white supremacists, including Daily Caller editor Scott Greer and his show’s former head writer, Blake Neff, each of whom were fired following the revelation of their bigoted pseudonymous postings. He has published white supremacists. He has interviewed white supremacists on his show. He regularly pushes white supremacist talking points. That’s why white supremacists love him and his program.

Smith, by his own admission not a TV-ready debater, was utterly unprepared for Carlson’s harangues. Getting no real response to his question about Neff, Greer, and the other bigots in Carlson’s orbit, he moved on to a different line of questioning.

Journalists should learn from this. The best reporting on Carlson dissects who at Fox has made Carlson such a power at the network, the internal dissent against his rise, and the show he puts on for his millions of viewers every weeknight. Talking to Carlson is a terrible way to elicit information about him and his work.

The only revelatory Carlson interviews come when he is talking to someone he views as friendly. In interviews with radio host Bubba the Love Sponge unearthed by Media Matters, for example, he credited “white men” for “creating civilization,” called Iraqis “semiliterate primitive monkeys,” distinguished between underage marriage and child rape, and said he would “love” a scenario with underaged girls sexually experimenting.

Those are not statements he would make to the likes of Smith – his guard is up when he is being interviewed by professional journalists.

“That was fun!” Carlson exclaimed, laughing, at the conclusion of his interview with Smith. Reporters interested in explaining Carlson’s worldview and influence should take notice.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Son’s Death Led Her To Found Brain Tumor Registry

Son’s Death Led Her To Found Brain Tumor Registry

By Richard Asa, Chicago Tribune (TNS)

CHICAGO — Carol DeAngelis Kruchko is a self-described “doer.” Usually a blur until she can be persuaded to sit down for a conversation, the president and administrator of the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States (CBTRUS) is indefatigably dedicated to her cause.

Essentially, the important data the organization collects and carefully codifies is the legacy of her son Willie, who died at age 3 from medulloblastoma, a relatively rare and fast-growing tumor found mostly in children.

Before Kruchko founded the registry, standard data reporting in the U.S. was limited to malignant cases. To quote the group’s website, “non-malignant brain tumors, however, may, and often do, impose the same costs to society in terms of medical care, case fatality and lost productivity as malignant brain tumors.”

The organization incorporated by Kruchko as a nonprofit in 1992 has since become a nexus for gathering and distributing current epidemiologic data on all primary brain tumors and is intricately tied to the neuro-oncology community. The registry describes incidence and survival patterns, evaluates diagnosis and treatment, helps enable causal studies, and promotes awareness of the disease.

She describes the registry, which she runs from a small office in Hinsdale, as more than a full-time job, instead referring to it as “always there” — or what she does whenever something needs doing to “keep this going.”

A native of Providence, R.I., where she grew up in an Italian-American community, Kruchko graduated from St. Mary’s College, a sister school of the University of Notre Dame, and received a bachelor’s degree in biology education. After graduation she became a librarian at Notre Dame while her husband, Bill, worked on his degree there.

They went on to have four daughters and then adopted two boys. During that time, Kruchko says, she was a stay-at-home mother who was active in the PTO and local gardening club, while organizing enrichment experiences for the children that included trips to Chicago museums and other educational sites.

After Willie died, she worked for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), a network of community-based programs that trains volunteers to study the lives of neglected and abused children and file reports with judges overseeing the children’s well being. After four years, she left CASA to devote her full attention to CBTRUS as payback to the American Brain Tumor Association for its help during Willie’s fight for life. Following is an edited conversation.

Q: What made you decide to turn a personal tragedy into something so positive and far-reaching?

A: I wanted to give back to everyone who had helped out the family. It was too important not to do something, and (Willie’s) life was too important to just sit back and go on with my life. Life is too special to do that. I just feel you have to give back to humanity for what has happened and make it count for something.

Q: How has CBTRUS moved the study of brain tumors forward?

A: It gives us a true picture on the incidence of brain tumors in the U.S. and in that respect has helped research move forward. It also has affected brain tumor data collection worldwide. Other registries have (followed) our model, so it also has filled a need to quantify the impact of brain tumors on society.

Q: Have you run into obstacles or challenges along the way?

A: The biggest challenge is funding. There are tons of things we feel we can do to improve data collection and reporting but funding is the big challenge. Otherwise, if there’s a problem, I want someone to tell me right away. I want to deal with it head on. I don’t want anything to fester. I want to deal with it and figure out a way to solve it.

Q: What advice would you give to someone who wants to start a cause and follow it through as you have?

A: Keep the trust. If you’re going to be doing something that will be good for many people, trust that it’s going to work. I just believe that things intrinsically valuable to people will continue on. It might be hard but others will see what is valuable and important and it will be supported. Every once in a while I’ll sit back and say, “Oh, my gosh, how did all this happen?” It happened because it was supposed to happen. It’s fateful and faithful.

Q: What do you do to refresh yourself?

A: I visit my children and grandchildren. (She has eight grandchildren.) We have a grammy and grampy camp in the summer, and the grandchildren come and stay with us without their parents from two to six weeks. I also love watching adventure mysteries. I like movies such as “The Bourne Identity,” both Sherlock (Holmes) shows (“Sherlock” and “Elementary”) and “Person of Interest.” We also love to hike. (Laughs) I also like to clean. I don’t think that should be in (the story).

Q: Being of Italian heritage, do you treat yourself to anything particular in the way of comfort food?

A: For me, it’s angel hair pasta and I equally love mashed potatoes. I make a potato soup and sometimes, polenta with a lot of my own sauce on it. I make my own meatballs and I love them. I’ve taken frozen packages of my meat (mix) to my daughter in Hong Kong because the meatballs don’t taste the same without it.

Q: Where do you find inspiration?

A: (Having) faith. I belong to the altar guild at my church. It’s a group that takes care of all the vestments and the chalice. It’s another way of seeing people do something special as a collective and being able to articulate in their work how important God is in their lives. We all have stories and if you’re open to them you’ll receive little messages, but you really have to listen.

TNS Photo/Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune

Deputies Who Checked On Isla Vista Attacker Didn’t Watch His Videos

Deputies Who Checked On Isla Vista Attacker Didn’t Watch His Videos

By Kate Mather, Adolfo Flores and Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Sheriff’s deputies who performed a welfare check on Elliot Rodger less than a month before he killed six people in Isla Vista, Calif., did not view the “disturbing” videos the 22-year-old had posted online, which Rodger said were “merely a way of expressing himself,” officials said Thursday.

Santa Barbara sheriff’s officials released new details Thursday about the April 30 welfare check, which came nearly a month before the rampage in which six victims and Rodger died and 13 others were injured.

According to a statement from the sheriff’s office, four deputies, a University of California, Santa Barbara, police officer assigned to the Isla Vista foot patrol and a dispatcher in training went to Rodger’s apartment the night of April 30, after a person who identified himself as Rodger’s friend called a county mental-health staff member.

Based on information from that caller and Rodger’s mother, sheriff’s officials said, the mental-health staff member contacted sheriff’s deputies and requested the welfare check. Officials did not elaborate what the information entailed.

Typically, only two deputies would respond to such a call, the department said. But the group that went to Rodger’s apartment included deputies who weren’t assigned to the call but were “familiar with Rodger” from a January 2014 case in which he accused his roommate of stealing candles from him.

Details of the videos were not available. The Sheriff’s Department described them as “disturbing” but do not provide details or return calls seeking comment.

Rodger posted several videos in which he threatened violence before last week’s killings. He posted one more on Friday, 10 minutes before he began shooting, officials said, long after the welfare check.

When deputies in April arrived at Rodger’s Seville Road apartment, officials said, they spoke to the 22-year-old outside.

“Deputies found Rodger to be shy, timid and polite,” officials said. “When questioned by the deputies about reported disturbing videos he had posted online, Rodger told them he was having trouble fitting in socially in Isla Vista and the videos were merely a way of expressing himself.”

“Based upon the information available to them at the time,” the statement continued, “sheriff’s deputies concluded that Rodger was not an immediate threat to himself or others, and that they did not have cause to place him on an involuntary mental health hold, or to enter and search his residence. Therefore, they did not view the videos or conduct a weapons check on Rodger.”

One of the deputies called Rodger’s mother and, after briefing her on the interaction, passed the phone to Rodger, the department said. Rodger “told her he was fine and that he would call her later.”

Deputies also gave Rodger contact information for local services, including the Sheriff’s Department, that he could use “if he needed help,” officials said.

The interaction lasted about 10 minutes, the department said.

“Based on the information reviewed thus far, the Sheriff’s Office has determined that the deputies who responded handled the call in a professional manner consistent with state law and department policy,” the statement said.

Investigators have remained tight-lipped about the rampage, citing the “most complex investigations” in the department’s history.

Authorities allege that Rodger killed three men — identified as Cheng Yuan “James” Hong, 20, George Chen, 19, and Weihan “David” Wang, 20, all students at UC Santa Barbara — inside his apartment before driving his BMW down the streets of Isla Vista on Friday night, firing out the window and veering his car toward pedestrians. Three other UC Santa Barbara students were killed: Katherine Cooper, 22; Veronika Weiss, 19; and Christopher Michaels-Martinez, 20.

About an hour after the shooting began, officials said Thursday, they learned of a 137-page document and YouTube video in which Rodger outlined what he called his “Day of Retribution.”

Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/MCT