Media Meltdown and Political Payoffs: Unpacking the Latest Scandals and Diplomatic Shifts

Today starts with the media’s uproar over the can­cel­la­tion of a key meet­ing to deter­mine next year’s flu shot strain, along­side hys­te­ria about IRS office clo­sures. The White House adds fuel to the fire by bar­ring major out­lets like Huff­Post, Reuters, and the Asso­ci­at­ed Press from a cab­i­net meet­ing, where only “smart” ques­tions are per­mit­ted. A poten­tial Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty scape­goat, spot­light­ing Sen­a­tor Shel­don White­house (D‑RI) for alleged­ly fun­nel­ing $7M in tax­pay­er funds to Ocean Con­ser­van­cy, a non­prof­it tied to his wife, San­dra Thorn­ton White­house. As pres­i­dent of Ocean Wonks LLC, she’s earned $2.6M from the orga­ni­za­tion since 2008, while White­house has pushed cli­mate change leg­is­la­tion week­ly since 2012, rais­ing sus­pi­cions of self-deal­ing. On the inter­na­tion­al front, U.S.-Russia talks in Istan­bul hint at reopen­ing embassies and eco­nom­ic ties, with reports only avail­able via Russ­ian sources. Mean­while, UK Prime Min­is­ter Starmer plans a vis­it to Trump after a diplo­mat­ic blun­der by Macron, sig­nal­ing a push to mend glob­al rela­tion­ships. It’s a mix of media over­re­ac­tion, polit­i­cal cor­rup­tion, and shift­ing alliances.

• The media is going nuts because they can­celled the meet­ing. This is the meet­ing where they look at the flu strain to cre­ate the flu shot next year. The media is freak­ing out on every­thing, shut­ting down IRS offices. 
• White House doesn’t allow Huff­Post, Reuters, and Asso­ci­at­ed Press into the cab­i­net meet­ing. The peo­ple in the room are ask­ing ques­tions as long as they are not the stu­pid ques­tions. 
• Is this the start or are they ones the democ­rats are going to sac­ri­fice like Gold Bar Menen­dez. Demo­c­rat Sen­a­tor Shel­don White­house (RI) caught fun­nel­ing $7M in tax­pay­er mon­ey to wife’s con­ser­va­tion non­prof­it… and this would be change you would find in the couch. This is how they fun­nel all this mon­ey into the PACs. San­dra Thorn­ton White­house is the pres­i­dent of Ocean Wonks LLC a con­sult­ing firm that works with the envi­ron­men­tal non­prof­it Ocean Con­ser­van­cy. White­house advo­cat­ed and vot­ed for leg­is­la­tion that led to $6.9M of tax­pay­er funds being paid to an orga­ni­za­tion that his wife works for and receives income from. San­dra White house has worked for Oceans Con­ser­van­cy since 2008 and tax fil­ings show that the non­prof­it has paid her $2.6M direct­ly. Since 2012 White­house has spo­ken on the Sen­ate floor about cli­mate change every week. 
• You have to go to Rus­sia to get reports on the Russ­ian del­e­ga­tion arriv­ing for new talks with the US in Istan­bul, Turkey. Starmer is com­ing to see Trump because Macron made a huge mis­take with Trump. We are talk­ing about open­ing and restor­ing embassies and restor­ing eco­nom­ic ties between coun­tries.