OLD AND BUSTED: “Yeah, I’m In the Media. Screw You.”

—The late Ginny Carroll, a bureau chief with the then-Washington Post-owned Newsweek, who admitted on C-SPAN that she wore a button with the above message at the 1992 Republican convention.

The New Hotness? Washington Post Braces for Massive Layoffs.

Bezos has probably spent more than a quarter billion dollars keeping the paper going for just 3 years. And my guess is that all the metrics are going in the wrong direction. In other words, there’s no end in sight to the losses. But the staff reaction to his attempt to stop the bleeding is that he’s not a good steward.

A top Post reporter tells me "there's now a strong sense" across the newsroom "that neither Jeff Bezos nor Will Lewis are serious, good-faith stewards of The Washington Post." pic.twitter.com/ORtFdFmWbD

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 26, 2026

Thanks for the $300 million, Jeff, but you suck!

Some of this is definitely self-inflicted. The paper was making a profit during Trump’s first term because it went all in on resistance journalism. It had a staff of progressive voices that became well known on the anti-Trump left. So when there was no Trump to bash starting in 2020, readership declined. Then when Bezos demanded a bit more neutrality from the paper (canceling an endorsement of Kamala Harris) a quarter millions progressive subscribers cut them off. Simply put, the Post made itself a paper that catered to the far left and readers came to expect that. There’s no going back without angering a lot of those people and losing their support. That’s where things are now.

The layoffs are expected to happen in early February, so expect more on this by next week.

The Sulzbergers managed to diversify the revenue streams of the New York Times sufficiently over the last decade to the point where, as one wag said on LinkedIn in 2024, to him, the paper is “is basically a game and cooking app, with occasional detours into the news when I want to feel enraged about something:”

This tracks our household’s experience. Last year, I upgraded from the $20/mo basic digital subscription for the Times to the $25 All Access Tier. We use the NY Times Recipe App (which was a separate subscription) several times each week to plan and cook meals. I’m a sports junkie, so this gives me access to The Athletic. And now we have unlimited access to all puzzles (though, ironically perhaps, none of us play Wordle). For me, it’s Sudoku and sometimes the crossword. Honestly, the news is so depressing these days that I can’t stand to read it anyway.

The New York Times is basically a game and cooking app, with occasional detours into the news when I want to feel enraged about something.

In contrast, Amazon is Bezos’ diverse revenue stream, and the Post his money pit. No wonder he wants to cut the bleeding before likely offloading the carcass to its next owner.

THE NEW SPACE RACE;

Starship launch in 6 weeks pic.twitter.com/3HFf4H5cc4

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2026

FALSE EQUIVALENCE IS A LEFTIST SPECIALTY:

This is retarded. Rittenhouse wasn’t interfering with law enforcement. He was only there because law enforcement was nowhere to be found. It’s literally the exact opposite situation. https://t.co/Iya97aQ6p2

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 26, 2026

Related:

CAPITALISM, THE UNKNOWN IDEAL:

CHANGE: More of This, Please! CBS Invites Conservative Dana Loesch to Debate Minneapolis Unrest.

SOMEBODY SET UP US THE KANYE: Kanye West says car crash turned him into a Nazi in full-page Wall Street Journal advert.

Kanye West has blamed a car accident for a months-long psychotic episode in which he declared he was a Nazi.

The rapper said the incident, which happened 25 years ago, caused an undiagnosed brain injury he believes contributed to his bipolar disorder.

On Monday, West took out a full-page advert in The Wall Street Journal, publishing a letter titled “To Those I’ve Hurt” in which he apologised for his anti-Semitic behaviour, including making offensive statements and selling T-shirts bearing swastikas.

In February 2025, West posted a series of anti-Semitic messages on X, writing: “I am a Nazi” and “I love hitler”.

As psychologist Geoffrey Miller tweeted in response, “Come on. He’s 48 years old. If you haven’t figured out by age 30 that you have bipolar, and you’re not taking your mood stabilizers, and getting good support from family, friends, therapists, & psychiatrists, that’s a serious failure — both medical and moral. And it’s not plausible that he’s been in a delusional manic episode for his eight solid years of antisemitism…He deserves no sympathy and no forgiveness.”

Still though, I’ll be curious to see what the next angle to generate maximum PR attention is going to be.

OR YOU COULD JUST DRINK LESS: Do You Actually Need to Detox? A Liver Expert Explains.

AMY ALKON: Do You Have High Blood Pressure—or Badly Measured Blood Pressure?

A NEW SUBSTACK ESSAY FROM ME: Of Squids, Ink, and Minnesota’s Corrupt Machine: Tim Walz, et al., try to change the subject, even at the expense of supporters’ lives.

As always, if you enjoy these essays, please enter a — preferably paid — subscription.

JAMES LILEKS: The Wolf is at the Door: If I duplicated this article, I could say the Ringman always Posts Twice.

I needed a Ring with a camera, so when the button was pressed a small box in the kitchen said ding-dong, and then I would call up the app to see who was there. In the past you could see who was there by using a thing called “glass,” but somehow the act of seeing them obligated you to open the the door and tell them to go away. That was the genius of the Ring: you could quietly, passively ignore them.

Plus, it recoded crimes! Yes, you could have footage of skulking miscreants, which you could give to the cops, who would do nothing. But best of all, you could customize the ding and/or the dong. What a world! Everything should be customized to conform to one’s particular aesthetic. You can even vary it by season – and here I got a good lesson in the capabilities of dog brains.

Uh oh. That’s never good, either way ….

¡NO PASARÁN! Law Enforcement Officers and Police Shootings: Try Comparing Those of January 6 to Those in Minnesota.

TRIM YOUR NAILS: 360° Rotating Toenail Clippers. #CommissionEarned

OH, CANADA: ‘Euthanized Against Her Will’ Is a Funny Way to Say the State Murdered Her.

PEOPLE ARE OUTRAGED THAT A KLAN MEMBER SHOWED UP AT PHILADELPHIA CITY HALL. (There’s just one problem):

In accordance with the prophecy:

The prophecy spoke of this pic.twitter.com/vPcOSqrnSR

— Art Autonomy (@ArtAutonomy) January 23, 2026

Exit quote:

DON’T THROW EXPLOSIVES AT COPS, A LESSON IN ONE ACT:

In Minneapolis clashes, an anti-ICE protester was severely injured after trying to throw a flashbang back at federal agents, losing part of her fingers in the explosion. pic.twitter.com/ZT6YFyOp4C

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) January 26, 2026

ICYMI: Minnesota Insurrection: A Special Forces Operator Has Seen This ‘From Anbar to Helmand’

HEADLESS AGENT RETWEETED BY CLUELESS FOUR-STAR: Former US Special Operations Commander Shares AI-Generated Anti-ICE Propaganda About Pretti Shooting.

In the aftermath of Saturday’s shooting in Minneapolis that left anti-ICE insurgent Alex Pretti dead, an obviously AI-generated photo purporting to clearly show Pretti being executed by Border Patrol agents is making the rounds on social media. That alone isn’t surprising; it happens any time there’s a major event. What’s surprising is the identity of one of the people sharing it as if it’s real and using it for anti-government propaganda purposes.

Meet Gen. Raymond A. “Tony” Thomas III, retired, who served as commander of the US Special Operations Command from 2016 to 2019.

While the resolution of the photo is quite good — much better than the grainy phone videos going around — the resolution also allows us to see that the agent kneeling doesn’t have a head, and that one of his legs seems a little bionic. Thomas shared the photo in response to posts from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, former US Navy Reserve intelligence officer Jack Posobiec, Attorney General Pam Bondi, venture capitalist Keith Rabois, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. Why would he do this?

The leg morphing into a rifle is a nice touch. Perhaps the headless agent just wandered in from a Tarantino movie:

REVIEW: I Wanted to Hate the 2026 Nissan Kicks. Boy Was I Wrong.

PRETTY: James Webb telescope peers into ‘Eye of God’ and finds clues to life’s origins. “The Helix Nebula, also called the ‘Eye of God’ or ‘Eye of Sauron,’ is one of the closest, most colorful and most studied planetary nebulas in space. The well-known and nearby starscape was destined to get JWST’s near-infrared treatment, which reveals cosmic structures only hinted at by other space telescopes.”

RIP: Sly Dunbar, Sly and Robbie reggae drummer, dead at 73.

Lowell “Sly” Dunbar, the Jamaican drummer for the former reggae group Sly & Robbie, has died. He was 73.

Dunbar’s wife, Thelma, confirmed the news to Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner on Monday.

“About seven o’clock this morning I went to wake him up and he wasn’t responding, I called the doctor and that was the news,” Thelma said, though she didn’t confirm the cause of death.

“Yesterday was such a good day for him,” Thelma continued. “He had friends come over to visit him and we all had such a good time. He ate well yesterday … sometimes he’s not into food. I knew he was sick … but I didn’t know that he was this sick.”

Dunbar’s daughter, Natasha, told TMZ the musician passed away at his home in Kingston, Jamaica. Like Thelma, Natasha also did not disclose the cause of death.

“As one half of Sly & Robbie, Sly helped shape the sound of reggae and Jamaican music for generations. His extraordinary talent, innovation, and lasting contributions will never be forgotten,” read a statement from the family, per TMZ. “Sly’s music, spirit, and legacy touched people around the world, and we are deeply grateful for the love and support during this difficult time.”

Dunbar was such a prolific session drummer in the 1970s that Brian Eno said, perhaps with only slight exaggeration, in his famous 1979 speech turned 1983 Downbeat article, “The Studio As Compositional Tool,” “when you buy a reggae record, there’s a 90 percent chance the drummer is Sly Dunbar. You get the impression that Sly Dunbar is chained to a studio seat somewhere in Jamaica, but in fact what happens is that his drum tracks are so interesting, they get used again and again.”

YES:

None of this is an excuse for ICE acting improperly, but don't pretend these are ordinary people unknowingly or accidentally clashing with totalitarians. They chose to do what they did, and we need to be honest about the level of opposition to ICE and how it's actually harmful to…

— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) January 26, 2026

ROGER SIMON: The Weather Hostage—Day Two…?

DON’T FORGET TO THANK THE FOUNDERS, TOO: Thank God for the First Amendment — Europe Is Losing Free Speech

READER FAVORITE: Wrangler Authentics Mens Relaxed Fit Stretch Cargo Pant. #CommissionEarned

THEY’RE PROPAGANDISTS: The Media Doesn’t Bother to Reconcile Anti-Gunners’ Constant Predictions of Doom With Record Low Homicides and Record High Gun Ownership.