What Else Is News: Wed., Jan. 8, 2025
Washington Post Cartoonist Quits After Paper ‘Kills’ Cartoon
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Or maybe it’s we won’t bite the hand that feeds us?
Former Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes created a satirical image of Post owner Jeff Bezos, Meta owner Jeff Zuckerberg and others bowing down to a towering Donald Trump. The Post refused to run the cartoon in the newspaper, prompting the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist to resign.
“I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations—and some differences—about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at. Until now,” she wrote in a Substack article explaining her resignation. Telnaes had been with the Post since 2008.
The Post’s opinions editor, David Shipley, who has the final say on what cartoons appear in the paper, countered: “Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force. My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and had already scheduled another column – this one a satire – for publication. The only bias was against repetition.”
Other Post employees have also left the paper, but not by choice. About 100 people in advertising sales, marketing and print products were laid off this week. Other layoffs occurred in the public relations department following a statement that the team would “stop the dedicated practice of publicity for our journalism.” The paper has been trying to make cuts to stem the flow of ongoing revenue losses.
Britain’s Grooming Gang Scandal Slowly Coming to Light; Musk Criticized by Leaders for ‘Spreading Lies’
A sickening story of girls being groomed, abused and, in some instances, prostituted is emerging out of Britain. The activity is said to have taken place from the late 1980s to the present, with thousands of victims over the course of that time. Details of the abuse are graphic and incredibly disturbing. Equally disturbing is that, according to some news sources, British authorities knew about the illegal acts but did little or nothing to stop them.
Here are a couple of examples of the abuse as published in the Telegraph. Other stories are far too gruesome and disturbing to publish:
In Telford, Lucy Lowe died at 16 alongside her mother and sister when her abuser set fire to her home in 2000. She had given birth to Azhar Ali Mahmood’s child when she was just 14 and was pregnant when she was killed.
As the 2014 Jay Inquiry into Rotherham found, children were “doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight”, “threatened with guns”, “witnessed brutally violent rapes and were threatened that they would be the next victim if they told anyone. Girls as young as 11 were raped by large numbers of male perpetrators, one after the other”.
One of the bleakest cover-ups emerged in Rochdale. Fifteen-year-old Victoria Agoglia, a vulnerable child in care, died in 2003 when 50-year-old Mohammed Yaqoob injected her with heroin. In the lead-up to her death, a review published last year found, she had given authorities information that she was “involved in sexual exploitation, alleged rape, and sexual assault requiring medical attention”. None resulted in her rescue. Across the town, girls as young as 12 were being raped by gangs.
As the Jay Inquiry into Rotherham found in 2014, in at least two cases fathers tracked down their daughters and attempted to remove them from the houses where they were being abused. The police arrested the fathers.
Why the alleged cover-up? According to news sources, British authorities were concerned about creating racial tensions. In almost all of the cases in the grooming gang scandal, the perpetrators were Pakistani Muslims.
While some investigations were conducted through the years, the results were often downplayed. According to the Telegraph, some offenders have not been properly sentenced for their crimes. “Despite being stripped of British citizenship, the leader of a Rochdale grooming gang still lives among his victims despite being ordered to be deported.”
“The police have long served as Britain’s sin-eaters, devouring social problems on our behalf,” writes Dominic Adler, a former Metropolitan Police Detective, in Unherd. Reporting in the Telegraph suggests it goes beyond the police. “Denial about the extent of the problem is rooted in Britain’s political system. At times, it appears that the government’s approach to multiculturalism is not to uphold the law but instead to minimize the risk of unrest among communities.”
The severity of the grooming gang scandal was highlighted by Elon Musk on X. Musk criticized the UK’s handling of the years-long offenses. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer shot back, saying, “Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims. They are interested in themselves.” Musk continued to post on X after Starmer’s comments, hoping to rally support for an extensive investigation.
Reports of Children Dying From Hypothermia in Gaza
As temperatures drop in Gaza, infants and children exposed to extreme weather face the danger of hypothermia. Several news outlets, including the Associated Press and NBC, report that at least five children have died in Gaza from hypothermia.
Families have fled their homes amid the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine. It’s estimated that about 80% of Gaza residents have moved to temporary shelters. Displaced families living in tents lack basic necessities like food and heat to keep young Gazans healthy.
“It is so cold now in winter that ... there have been three newborn deaths just in the last week because of the tents and the lack of foods available for them unfortunately,” Dr. Mimi Sayed, an American emergency physician volunteering at a hospital in Gaza, told NBC News. Another family told CBS News reporters that they have to share four blankets among eight family members.
“Aid groups have struggled to deliver food and supplies and say there are shortages of blankets, warm clothing and firewood,” according to CBS News.
Guardian Angels Return to NYC Subways Amid Crime Sprees
Welcome back. Let’s go.
Finally…Prayers for California
Thousands of people have evacuated their homes amid quickly spreading fires in the Palisades and Pasadena areas of Los Angeles.