Sunday, December 28, 2025 |
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Good morning, Welcome to MS NOW's Sunday Spotlight, where you can find a selection of the week's most interesting and important stories. The Justice Department is using a thin excuse to avoid complying with the law. Meanwhile, a news organization is seeing its proud legacy undermined by a new leader, the commander-in-chief wants to be the master of ceremonies and a conservative group's annual convention showed how fractured the movement is right now. Plus, a closer look at which things cost more since the beginning of the year. Don't forget to check out more top columns and videos from the week below. |
Survivor bias: The Trump Justice Department used the excuse of protecting survivors of Jeffrey Epstein to withhold documents it was required by law to disclose. This is the same agency that survivors say has consistently refused to communicate with them and that rewarded Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell with a cushy prison transfer, writes former prosecutor Mimi Rocah. The actions make clear the DOJ is acting as a political defense of Donald Trump. Read more. |
"46 Minutes": When Bari Weiss took over as editor-in-chief of CBS News, it was only a matter of time before she damaged its journalistic credibility, writes Michael A. Cohen. Then, just 11 weeks into her tenure, she pulled a "60 Minutes" segment on El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison that would have displeased President Trump. The move showed the real dangers of Trump supporter David Ellison's hostile takeover attempt of Warner Bros. Discovery, parent company of CNN. Read more. |
Trump Honors: When Trump hosted the Kennedy Center Honors, it was part of a campaign to make himself not just the president, but the overall arbiter of American culture. From cameos in movies filmed in his buildings to hosting "The Apprentice," Trump has long tried to join the cultural elite, writes Hayes Brown. But Trump's idea of culture is stuck in the '80s, his hosting featured long-winded monologues designed for shock value and the event offered up C-list performers who were mostly solid. Read more. |
AmericaFest: When Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was killed, he didn't just leave behind a nonprofit — he left behind a conservative movement that is fracturing. That was evident both on stage and off at AmericaFest, the group's annual convention in Phoenix, writes Brandy Zadrozny. In an opening address, Ben Shapiro took aim at conservative influencers he said were spreading conspiracy theories and antisemitism. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, meanwhile, called Shapiro a "cancer." Read more. |
Inflated hopes: When Trump was campaigning in 2024, he held an event while surrounded by various grocery items that had gone up in price during the Biden administration. Now, almost a year into his own presidency, a review of nearly 170 items tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that seven in 10 have seen prices increase since Trump took office, writes Philip Bump. That includes everything from ground beef and coffee to tax preparation, jewelry and audio equipment. Read more. |
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"Alice," a fashion and lifestyle magazine at The University of Alabama, strived to be as inclusive as possible, writes web editor Sara Beth Caddell. But the university suspended it and another student-run magazine, "Nineteen Fifty-Six," claiming that they did not comply with a Trump administration memo on discrimination. Caddell writes that neither magazine has ever discriminated against anyone who wanted to join the staff. Instead, the suspension was a case of "the censorship of marginalized voices," not just in Alabama but around the country. "The suspension of these magazines was not surprising, given the current political climate," she writes. Read the column here. — Ryan Teague Beckwith, newsletter editor |
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Rachel Maddow tells the story of one of the most shocking decisions in American history in her podcast, "Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order." This six-part series reveals how an executive order authorizing the roundup of innocent Americans came to be – and a bombshell discovery in the unlikeliest of places that would ultimately expose it all. Listen to all episodes now. |
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