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The Newest 'Late Show' Outrage Is Even More Asinine, and We Learn AOC's Relief Pitcher at the NY Times

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Feb 17, 2026
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Low-Octane Gaslighting – CBS

  • Did anyone even pause for just five seconds regarding this story?

The media sphere was all ablaze this morning at the news that on The Late Show, an interview with Democratic candidate for Congress James Talarico was pulled from broadcast. The immediate and baseless claim was that President Trump was seeing that Stephen Colbert and Talarico were being censored via Brendan Carr and the FCC. This was hysterical, emotional blathering, undone by common sense.

This all surrounds the possible application of the equal time mandate that broadcasters may face. Talarico is running for office in Texas, so there was a concern that if he is granted that airtime, then other candidates should have the chance for a visit with Colbert as well. But Talarico is running in the Democratic primary, so Trump’s involvement is not a factor, and the candidates involved would be other Democrats.

Then it was learned that the decision had nothing to do with Carr, and that after network lawyers mentioned the possibility of the equal time issue, it was the show's production that decided to place the interview on YouTube.

News Avoidance Syndrome – NBC NEWS

  • Sooo…couldn’t find anyone else in those documents, eh?

It has been rather striking how muted the reaction has been to the latest batch of Epstein files documents, most certainly due to the exonerating portions where President Trump was shown to have gone to the authorities over Epstein’s actions. That has not meant there is complete silence, however.

NBC News comes out to state that select members of the current administration were in the files. 

This is a rather desperate lurch, made more so when we consider that the newly released documents show more communication between sitting Congress member Stacey Plaskett, and that former Head Counsel for Barack Obama was so implicated that she was dismissed from Goldman Sachs.

Additionally, if simply “appearing in the files” is a cause for concern, the network is now considered culpable of something…

Democratic Custodial Services – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • This is committing more work for AOC than her own communications office.

You know that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez really torpedoed her credibility after that Munich conference by the fact that she, and especially the press, are still hard at work trying to clean up the mess she made. The New York Times is back at the repair efforts as Kellen Browning makes a severe effort to recast her disaster. 

He describes her numerous blatant verbal hand grenades as “a flub” and her performance being “microscopically dissected.” (No, Kellen, this was far more than her making a dangling participle.) The best, however, is Browning admitting to how his valiant effort came to pass. AOC had phoned him directly, seemingly confident she had a sympathetic media contact who would dutifully give her spin the full treatment and shine. Must be nice for a politician to be able to make a call to the bullpen when it is needed.

Border-line Obsession – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • This story has become the bad luck of the Irish.

The latest case of a press-crafted immigration martyr is providing more headaches than a Guinness hangover. After multiple reports of an Irish resident “wrongfully” picked up by ICE, we detailed how he had been illegally in the country for over 15 years, and sports a series of criminal charges in his homeland.

Now it is learned that he has a pair of daughters, urging him to be returned to face those charges, as he fled from them and their mother when they were babies. So you can add deadbeat dad to the list of issues with this case, and you can count on his story fading from the headlines like the head on a flat pint of Guinness.

Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – ROLLING STONE

  • The only thing worse than playing with dolls is taking political advice from dolls.

In a story of baffling consequence, Rolling Stone saw fit to report on a (head)case of dubious political commentary. This would surround the latest protests against ICE. You are already on ground of nebulous importance with that subject, but when you are covering those who are considered American Dolls “influencers,” the main question that comes to mind is: “Just what in the hell are you even doing?!”