A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.
Arthur Miller
Worth Noting: A Wistful David Brooks Says So Long to NYT Readers
FEBRUARY 2026 - David Brooks has crafted so many columns in recent years on America's moral and spiritual decline that his final so-long piece in the NYT on Jan. 30 felt a bit like a re-write,...
Rosebud Winner: Mark Leibovich’s Impossible-to-Refute Take on the Democrats
FEBRUARY 2026 - Mark Leibovich has made a perfectly good living as a smart-ass DC journalist - a bit of Maureen Dowd and, say, Joe Queenan, all mixed in with some real on-the-ground reporting. His...
Assignment Desk: How Much of Project 2025 Has Trump Implemented?
FEBRUARY 2026 - Like most candidates, Trump didn't exactly reveal his true agenda when he was on the campaign trail. In his case, he said repeatedly he didn't know anything about Russ Vought's...
Rosebud Winner: Greg Bluestein’s Report in AJC on Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Congressional District
FEBRUARY 2026 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution stopped printing its newspaper at the end of last year, but to many Atlanta readers the news site keeps improving. There's no better example of solid...
Rosebud Winner: Four WSJ Reporters Lay Out Another Trump Family Grift
FEBRUARY 2026 - The WSJ on Jan. 31 threw back the curtain on another Trump Family grift - this time a $500 million stake from the United Arab Emirates in the Trump's Liberty Financial crypto firm....
Assignment Desk: How Big Is the “Somali” Benefits Fraud in Minnesota?
FEBRUARY 2026 - The State of Minnesota first estimated the taxpayer loss from the "Somali" benefits fraud case at about $250 million. Now the feds are saying, since 2018, that the number is closer...
Rosebud Winner: Washington Post Tallies Trump’s Lawsuits Against Media
FEBRUARY 2026 - The Washington Post has had a rough few weeks - it laid off 300 editorial staff to leave a newsroom of 500. But it continues to employ a handful of important voices, and it's...
Rosebud Winner: Max Boot’s Quick, Spot-On Take on Trump’s “Board of Peace”
FEBRUARY 2026 - Days after President Trump announced the creation of a "Board of Peace" to compete with the United Nations, Washington Post columnist Max Boot produced a cogent, persuasive and...
Rosebud Winner: Jan. 31 WSJ Profile of Fed Chair Nominee Kevin Warsh
FEBRUARY 2026 - Economics writers Nick Timiraos and Brian Schwartz dished up an insider-y description of Kevin Warsh's quest to be Trump's nominee for Fed Chair. And in it Warsh comes across as a...
Rosebud Winner: AP’s Early Coverage of Extraction of Venezuela’s Maduro
FEBRUARY 2026 - The Associated Press is certainly diminished in recent years. But no matter how much some try to denigrate it today, the AP remains an old-style standard bearer among US media...