Joseph Curl

Donald Trump should cancel Congress’ 38-day vacation

Congress will take 218 days off this year. In 30-day months, that's 7.2 months off. Published July 11, 2017

Washington Post issues correction that reporter vowed would never happen

In today's weird media age, up is down and left is right. The sun may or may not rise in the east. Fact and fiction are fungible, and the fungus among us is growing. Published July 4, 2017

Time to put Pelosi out to pasture

Nancy Pelosi, at 77, is as over the hill as one can get. Published June 27, 2017

White House reporters have become pack of milquetoast moaners who need to man up

There was a time when White House reporters did their work and didn't cry like little babies. The men were men and the women were not to be tangled with (Helen Thomas in her prime). Published June 20, 2017

Journalism is dead; whatever these guys are doing isn’t journalism

None of the latest stories have anyone on the record making the accusations. Instead, the "news" sites that posted the stories -- Politico, the Daily Mail and the Guardian -- simply make the surprising claims and cite anonymous sources. The subjects of the anonymous slurs have no recourse whatsoever, no right to face their accusers, no way to fight back. The accusation streams out onto the internet, where it lives forever -- whether it's true or not. Published June 13, 2017

Socialist Bernie Sanders gets superrich in capitalist U.S.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a socialist from Vermontistan, spent 2016 preaching his favorite socialist ideologies. His fans ate it up like candy. He packed arenas and fairgrounds across the country bashing The One Percent, spouting off about the proletariat and vowing that, if elected president, he would take from the rich and give to the poor. A modern-day Robin Hood, albeit in a baggy, ill-fitting suit, that Bernie. Published June 6, 2017

Media ignored Trump’s craft for clicks

President Trump on Saturday returned home from a nine-day trip that was extraordinary for its sheer breadth. Published May 30, 2017

Trump trip reveals depths of mainstream media’s pettiness

The flow from the new president's first foreign trip was just so much fluff, so petty and vindictive. Published May 30, 2017

How much does CNN hate Trump? 93% of coverage is negative

For the youngsters out there, once upon a time, CNN was pretty much down the middle. The fledgling network covered news -- real news, not fake news -- and worked hard to be on site wherever news was happening. When something happened, that was the place to go. Published May 23, 2017

Russians helping Trump win is never explained

Hey, Media Matters, I'm talking to you! Help me out, here, willya'? Actually, I'll talk to anyone, listen to anyone. You'll find my email address at the bottom of this column, so hit me up. I'm asking -- no, begging -- you to write me and answer this one simple question: How did the Russians help Donald Trump become President Trump?! Published May 16, 2017

Comedians hate Donald Trump so much they can’t be funny anymore

When Johnny Carson was host of "The Tonight Show" from 1962 to 1992, he did thousands of political jokes. His target: Politicians -- every one of them -- presidents, lawmakers, Democrats, Republicans, it didn't matter. Published May 9, 2017

Megyn Kelly’s no ‘journalist’; she just wants to be a star

Everybody wants to be a star. At least, that's the old saying. And lately, it rings true -- horrifyingly true -- for journalists. Published May 2, 2017

Obama talks smoking weed with college students

Barack Obama has been partying like a rock star since he left the White House. Published April 25, 2017

Bill O’Reilly good as gone from Fox News

With Bill O'Reilly, so many shoes have dropped that he's looking like Imelda Marcos. Just two weeks ago, The New York Times reported that Fox paid out $13 million to five women who accused the bombastic bloviator of sexual harassment. Mr. O'Reilly told The Times that he settled only to avoid hurting his family. Published April 18, 2017

United uses Orwell’s Newspeak to explain ‘re-accommodation’ incident

There is something very "1984" in the words fluttering around over the strange case of a doctor being ripped from his seat aboard an airplane, pummeled into submission by three burly men and dragged -- quite literally -- bloody and screaming down the aisle and off the plane. Published April 11, 2017

CNN really is ‘very fake news’

Fact: Susan Rice, the Obama administration's national security adviser, directed the "unmasking" of NSA intercepts of Donald Trump's aides and associates. In other words, the Obama administration used the intelligence community's spying on Mr. Trump, and Ms. Rice then demanded that the names of those captured on intercepts be given to her. Published April 4, 2017

Presidents play golf, and we should get over it

Presidents play golf. It's that simple. They have since George Washington hit a 3 hybrid over the Delaware River to within six feet of the pin, and they will when George Bush XII hits a virtual 6 iron into the hole on the new Mars International Links in the year 2274. Published March 28, 2017

All politics are local — and usually stupid

I started out in journalism in a quaint little place called Prince William County, Virginia. Back then, the late 1980s, the small county was a bedroom community for Washington. Now PWC has nearly a half-million residents and has helped pushed Virginia into the Democrats' column, but back then there were fewer than 200,000 residents and the state was solidly red. Published March 21, 2017

We live in truly terrifying times

That headline is not hyperbole. It is sadly -- and horrifyingly -- true. Published March 7, 2017

Donald Trump is right to skip WHCD

Donald Trump is just protecting the presidency. The White House Correspondents' Dinner has become a weeklong party of excess. And the night, now a cross between the Oscars and "Meet the Press," has morphed into everything the press should hate -- a lovefest between reporters and the people they cover. Published February 28, 2017