OPINION
Premium

Bari Weiss Is Still Scorched After Running Disputed 60 Minutes Segment, and Another ICE Hoax Plays Out

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Jan 22, 2026
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

Get access to Brad Slager's "Riffed From the Headlines," a daily VIP feature where he looks to bring accountability to the mainstream media. Use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!

Demo-lition Project – CBS NEWS

  • If the segment was so vital, why did no one tune in?

On Sunday, CBS included the contested news segment on the El Salvador prison that Bari Weiss had been accused of "killing." As she had initially announced, the piece was going to run after it included the needed elements to have it fully fleshed out. So, in light of that complaint narrative being blasted into confetti, the anti-Weiss hand-wringers in the press had to come up with a new line of caterwauling over her move.

Now the complaint is that this week's ratings for the show were significantly lower, due to going on the air against an NFL playoff game on another network, and Bari had "intentionally" chosen this week for the embattled segment to be included, so it would get fewer viewers.

Or, and we dare make this suggestion, maybe it was due to the fact that the segment had been heavily touted, weeks earlier, when appearing on a Canadian feed online for people to get a preview? In whichever case they land, what stands out is the original case we had made about this line of barking from the press: In all of the emotional furor, nobody is lauding the content of this particular report. Look at how, after it came out on Sunday, hardly anyone is loudly cheering the segment; they are discussing the ratings and any other aspect of the decision.

Legalized Press-titution – CNN

  • When a newswoman chooses to avoid watching the video about the news event she is covering.

In a blatant case of cheerleading, Erin Burnett brought on Nekima Levy Armstrong, the woman who orchestrated the mob that stormed the church in Minneapolis on Sunday, and allowed her to spin the episode, probably a result of knowing she was under legal scrutiny. Armstrong tried selling the lie that all they had done was step into the sanctuary and calmly participate in the church services.

For her part, Burnett, an alleged journalist, calmly accepted this lie at face value: "Obviously, I'm not going to dispute your saying what happened. I obviously wasn't in the room," said the newswoman. Although videos are all over social media showing them barging into the church, disrupting the services, and confronting people in the pews, some with profane words for the parishioners. For Burnett to play ignorant of this is rather pitiful.

Since this segment, Armstrong has been arrested for the mob she delivered to the sanctuary.

Reporting on the Mirror – NEWSNATION

  • We have not seen Chris this worked up since he and his brother were having their Covid minstrel show on CNN.

Apparently, Chris Cuomo is not seeing the ratings bonanza at his latest home on NewsNation. In a bid to remind everyone that he is still around…somewhere…he came out to talk tough about Scott Jennings over his recent appearance on Abby Phillip's show and dared to…quote federal law.

This all stems from the segment we covered, where Cameron Kasky attempted to tell Jennings he was forbidden from using the term "illegal aliens." In a sputtering rant on his social media, Cuomo was threatening Jennings in what sounded like a steroid-fueled meandering rage:

If somebody beats your a** because you're being rude and disrespectful and causing division in this country, that's causing distress and pain all over the streets and making people want to hurt one another! 'They're called illegal aliens in the law.' And you know what? A long time ago, Republicans and Democrats switched to undocumented. Why? Because it seemed inhuman. That's why.

No, Chris. Just because you choose to go the mealy-mouthed route of calling illegals "undocumented," it does not mean others like Republicans are playing your semantics game and ducking from the harsh realities. If you are trembling over the proper legal definition for those who break the law, that is a you issue.

Stealth Story Evolution – CNN

  • We're sorry, weren't you just defending these folks…(checks watch)...24 hours earlier?

Remember all the way back when we mentioned Audie Cornish was defending the church riot because the people involved were "helpless" and saw no other recourse but to trespass and terrorize the devout?

Yeah, well, suddenly she sees things differently – like the next day. NOW Audie is saying that this was a bad look for ICE protesters, and that Republicans are seizing on this controversy to discredit ICE protests:

As people were talking about this yesterday, I heard over and over again, I feel like [protesting in] the church is too far. I feel like the activists are taking it to a place that I can't follow. I feel like it could it be something that the administration can use against the protest movement.

Audie, they WERE part of the protest movement. Pretending otherwise and trying to blame the administration is a desperate spin after the fact.

Low-Octane (Tear)Gaslighting – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • You mean to say that the facts were different from the outrage narrative…AGAIN?!

Recall hearing the gripping, tearful story of a Minneapolis family accidentally caught up in a protest skirmish, and the family's minivan was shot with teargas as the six children inside were endangered? The youngest had to be hospitalized due to the dastardly ICE agents targeting the vehicle as they innocently returned from a basketball game.

Uh…yeah, about all of that – it is complete quadruped fecal matter. Once again, when the full story comes out about these ICE incidents, the "innocent victims" are found to be something else.

It has since been discovered that the two parents were actually participants in the fracas. They left their six kids in the van as they were caught on camera in the middle of the conflict. When violence broke out, the teargas was used to disperse the rioters, and the parked van became caught up in the melee.

Drew Holden has a thread of all the news outlets that simply ran with the account from the parents and never bothered to confirm details or investigate things further.