The Free Press
It’s Wednesday, February 5. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Coming up: The boys of DOGE, Uri Berliner on how to hold NPR accountable, Daniel Penny gets a job, Trump promises to “take over” the Gaza Strip, a Free Presser’s mea culpa, and much more.
But first: The owner of the LA Times takes the red pill.
If you’re a regular reader of The Free Press, you’ll be familiar with the idea of the vibe shift—the rightward swing in our politics and culture in the months before and after Trump’s election. Nowhere has that trend been clearer than in tech and media: From Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s metamorphosis into a free speech warrior and Jeff Bezos’s “optimism” about a second Trump term to MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski bending the knee at Mar-a-Lago, the vibes have most definitely shifted. In all these examples, an interesting question is whether the ideological shift is sincere, or just a cynical ploy by someone keen to stay in favor with the powers that be.
One curious case is Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, who has undergone a dramatic about-face. Not so long ago, Soon-Shiong was using his paper to rail against systemic racism. Today, he’s publicly endorsing RFK Jr. and says he regrets the fact that his paper endorsed LA mayor Karen Bass.
What’s the real story behind Soon-Shiong’s change of heart?
That was our question when we dispatched Free Press reporter Peter Savodnik to interview Soon-Shiong, the son of Chinese immigrants who claims to be “putting in motion a platform that allows people to go back and trust the media again.”
Read Peter’s full profile: “The Owner of the LA Times Takes the Red Pill.”
Further evidence of the vibe shift comes courtesy of Olivia Reingold, who got the scoop on the news that Daniel Penny has been hired by Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. Read the full story here.
Uri Berliner: What Congress Should Ask NPR’s Chief
From a media owner trying to regain trust to a media CEO who just doesn’t seem to get it.
It’s been ten months since Uri Berliner wrote his viral essay for The Free Press on how NPR, his journalistic home for 25 years, lost the trust of a large segment of the country. At the time, rather than heed his warning, many of his former colleagues responded by shooting the messenger.
Now, with Republicans in control in Washington, publicly funded media is facing an existential crisis. Katherine Maher, NPR’s CEO, along with PBS chief Paula Kerger, have been summoned to defend public media’s budget before the House subcommittee on DOGE next month.
No doubt, partisans on both sides will put on a political circus. But if those lawmakers are interested in generating more light than heat, what should they ask the bosses? Well, Uri has some ideas. Read his suggestions here.
The Boys of DOGE
Many of the lads helping Elon Musk decide the fate of America’s administrative state are barely old enough to order a drink. They include 22-year-old Luke Farritor, who, coincidentally, The Free Press profiled last year after he won a $250,000 prize for using AI to help decode one of the ancient scrolls found near the ruins of Pompeii. Then there’s 21-year-old Akash Bobba, a Berkeley student and former intern at the Bridgewater Associates investment firm. And also Ethan Shaotran, a 22-year-old senior at Harvard University, who launched his own AI start-up with a $100,000 grant from OpenAI.
Their youth has shocked and horrified many of Washington’s middle-aged pundits and journalists. But, writes Eli Lake, “before you reach for the Valium, it’s worth considering that this is by no means the first time twentysomethings have helped lead a revolution inside the nation’s capital.”
Read Eli’s full column on “The Boys of DOGE.”
DOGE Comes for the Cocaine Dogs
It’s not just “mass headcount reductions” that Emperor Elon—excuse me— government efficiency czar Elon Musk has promised. Also on the chopping block is $1 trillion in government spending.
Some of these cuts, like those at USAID and the Department of Education, have been controversial. But DOGE has also drawn attention to some undeniably unwise government purchases. In the latest Free Press video, we run through some of the more absurd examples, like $10,000 to support Bearded Ladies Cabaret, a musical ice skating performance focused on climate change. Or $75,000 for a study on lizards being blown out of trees. Or the $6.9 million toward research into “smart toilets” that recognize a user’s “anal print.” Or the cocaine dogs. Watch below and find out what on earth I’m talking about:
Donald Trump suggested that “the U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip” when he met with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday. He also said that he wants Jordan and Egypt to take Palestinians from Gaza and that “nobody can live” there. His proposal: “level the site,” and “create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”
Trump cabinet nominees Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. both appear likely to pass Senate confirmation votes next week. Yesterday, Gabbard narrowly secured the crucial support of the Senate Intelligence Committee with a swing vote from Republican senator Susan Collins, who voted against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth just last month. Meanwhile, a previously skeptical Senator Bill Cassidy voted with Finance Committee Republicans to advance RFK’s nomination to a full Senate vote.
Trump appeared unfazed by a looming trade war with China over retaliatory tariffs from Beijing on coal, gas, and other American goods. “That’s fine,” he said when asked about the counter-tariffs, which included a 15 percent levy on coal and liquefied natural gas and 10 percent on crude oil. Earlier this week, Trump closed a trade loophole allowing cheap Chinese goods to flow tax-free into the U.S. As a result, e-commerce goods from $2 AirPods knockoffs to Lana Del Rey’s $18 Shein dress are about to get a lot pricier. Read Melissa Chen’s piece, “This Is What Fairer Trade with China Looks Like.”
The United States sent its first batch of migrant criminals to Guantanamo Bay yesterday following a new Trump executive order to detain them at the maximum-security military prison. The president expects to ramp up the naval base’s capacity to detain illegal migrants, preparing it to eventually hold up to 30,000 detainees. If they run out of space at Gitmo, there’s another overseas prison that might take America’s excess criminals. . . for a small fee. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Monday that El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele had offered to take overflow prisoners into custody. “No country has ever made an offer of friendship such as this,” Rubio said. I’m getting a bit misty-eyed myself.
New York attorney general Letitia James threatened local hospitals that complying with President Trump’s executive order curtailing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for gender-confused minors constitutes “discrimination” under state law. Two sets of parents whose children are 12 years old told The New York Times that their appointments to have a puberty-blocking implant placed in their arms were canceled immediately after Trump’s announcement. When are Democrats going to learn that sterilizing teenagers is not a political winner!
In 2023, Lucy Letby, a British neonatal intensive care nurse, was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to kill six more, and sentenced to die in prison. Experts have warned for months that the statistical and medical evidence used to convict her was flawed. Now, a committee of 14 experts in neonatology and children’s health are presenting “significant new medical evidence” arguing that Letby did not murder a single baby. Among them is Dr. Shoo Lee, a Canadian neonatologist, whose work was cited by prosecutors in Letby’s trial. Lee says prosecutors misinterpreted and misused his work. “The medical evidence doesn’t support murder in any of these babies—just natural causes and bad medical care,” he said. If Letby is innocent, her conviction is one of the worst miscarriages of justice in modern British history.
A Mea Culpa: Washington Plays by Different Rules Now
On Monday, Charles Lane wrote of an impending “sudden shock” from the president’s threatened 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, and readers had strong opinions.
But the trade war didn’t last long. By the end of the day, Trump had announced that the planned tariffs were on hold, citing concessions from our neighbors to the north and the south. The Free Press commenters had a field day pointing out that the tariff shock Charles warned of had failed to materialize. Well, Charles is, as he writes today, back on a diet of “crow, with a side of humble pie.” He also has a bold question for the comments section: Does his essential point remain correct? (Before you answer that, commenters, remember: Be nice.)
Read Charles’ full mea culpa: “So Much for That Tariff Shock.”
Agree but please recognize that women in Biblical times didn’t have to cover head to toe. That is a 20th C “made-up” rule by the religious rulers who want to control women….and men!
The incessant harpie chorus on the left and the intense opposition and contempt for all of the Trump team's plans gives you a clue. Someone is feeling threatened. The truth will always, always come out.
Looking on from Australia - we are in awe and in envy at the "Get it done" and "NFA" attitude of your President. We could only dream of that here. We are drowning in a woke swamp.
Would you believe that Australia has the largest uranium deposit in the world, and, you guessed it........we are not even allowed to mine it, let alone sell it, or harness the magnificent dense power of the U308. There is not one nuclear reactor in Australia, nor plans to have one.
Woke is dying, but not fast enough for Australia. We are turning into a hybrid of South Africa and Germany.
Beware of Melbourne - it is the crime capital.
Pray for us.