The Read | The NYT’s Opinion Shield Is Doing Exactly What It’s Supposed To Do
Plus: Vance pulls $1.3 billion from California Medicaid, Florida’s AG calls surrogacy modern-day slavery, and Rand Paul’s son makes a drunkenly public display
Don’t worry, you’re in the right place. This was The Brief, but I have made some significant changes that I hope you find helpful. I also changed the name.
Here’s the deal. The Brief was a news roundup, which is cool. But not different enough from the ten other newsletters trying to do the same thing. I want to give you something only I can give you, and it will help you digest this insane news cycle.
The Read is built around one promise: I read the left’s coverage, the right’s coverage, and the primary sources, then hand you the synthesis and my take. Three days a week. Easy.
Each issue has the same shape. Two or three top stories, each broken into The Story (what happened, with the receipts), The Framing (how the left is covering it, how the right is, what both sides are leaving out), and My Read (my colorful 2 cents to take up in the comments). Then, a Quick Rundown for the smaller items that are worth putting on your radar.
The work of cross-checking the news is exhausting. Trust me, I know. I’ve been doing it for years now. But you don’t have time for that.
Welcome to The Read.
Let me know what you think, and if you dig it, share it with a friend.
In Today’s Read
The NYT published a 5,000-word column accusing Israel of state-enabled mass sexual abuse, parked it in Opinion, and the rest of the press refuses to either confirm or refute it.
VP Vance deferred $1.3 billion in California Medicaid payments and warned all 50 states to start prosecuting Medicaid fraud or lose federal funding. The play maps exactly onto a Daily Wire series the legacy press blacked out.
Florida AG James Uthmeier filed to intervene in a routine surrogacy case and argued the practice violates the 13th Amendment. If he wins, adoptive parental rights across Florida could be in play.
A drunk William Paul accosted Mike Lawler in a DC dive bar and went on a 10-minute antisemitic tirade, then apologized via his father.
Kevin Warsh got confirmed as the next Fed chair on a 54-45 vote with one Democratic defection.
The NYT Publishes a Bold “Investigation” Behind an Opinion Shield
The Story.
On May 11, Nicholas Kristof published “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians” in the New York Times Opinion section. An important detail, file it. The piece is built on 14 firsthand interviews alleging systemic sexual violence against Palestinian detainees by Israeli soldiers, settlers, Shin Bet interrogators, and prison guards. Kristof cites a 2025 UN report, a Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor report, a Save the Children survey of detained children, and B'Tselem testimony. The column ran days before the Civil Commission, an independent panel investigating October 7 atrocities, was set to release its long-anticipated report on Hamas's sexual violence against Israeli women. The Israeli Prison Service called the allegations “entirely unfounded.” Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the column “one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press.”
Netanyahu announced Israel will sue the New York Times for defamation. The Times called the lawsuit threat part of a "well-worn political playbook" aimed at "undermining independent reporting" and at dismissing any legal claim as "without merit." Yesterday, there were protests outside the New York Times.
The Left’s read. The NYT and aligned outlets treat the column as documented human rights reporting, and the Times has been posting a multi-front defense in real time on X. NYTimes Communications defended Kristof as"one of the world's best on-the-ground reporters" covering sexual abuse in conflict zones, citing his two Pulitzers. The column was called a "deeply reported piece of opinion journalism" with 14 sources "corroborated" against other witnesses, family, and lawyers, and details "extensively fact-checked" against UN testimony, surveys, and human rights research. The Times also denied that the Civil Commission report on Hamas sexual violence influenced the column's timing. The Israeli response gets framed as the standard denial pattern when human rights groups document state abuses. The Hill covers the lawsuit as Netanyahu trying to bully the free press.
The Right’s read. National Review, Fox News, and HonestReporting walk through the evidentiary gaps. Euro-Med has documented Hamas ties. The Sde Teiman case Kristof cites was investigated; the last charges were dropped in March, and the IDF reinstated the soldiers in April. A canine expert told National Review the dog-rape claim is “absurd.” Kristof’s lead source, Sami al-Sai, had been celebrating Hamas and “martyred” terror leaders on social media before his detention.
What both sides are skipping. Two important questions nobody is asking. First, why did this run in Opinion? If a reporter spent months interviewing 14 sources, reviewed UN and Euro-Med material, corroborated accounts through lawyers and families, and is making criminal allegations against a state security apparatus, that’s an investigation. Investigations belong on the News desk, where multi-source verification is required and editors sign every claim. Opinion runs on a columnist’s reputation. Filing this as Opinion is convenient due to significantly different editorial standards. Even Kristof admits this.
The NYT owes its readers an answer on which one this is supposed to be. Second, where is the follow-on reporting. AP, Reuters, WaPo, and CNN should be racing to confirm or expand. Three days in, the only outlets covering the piece are covering the lawsuit or debating Kristof’s reporting. No one is investigating the allegations.
It’s crazy that this is being covered as a “deeply reported piece of opinion journalism.” This is an intentional and manipulative blurring of the lines. The phrasing the NYTimes Communications has chosen borrows the prestige of “investigative reporting” while also maintaining legal and editorial flexibility, but publishes it as opinion. That is some insane journalistic contortionism.
It’s kind of evil genius. If the piece turns out to be flawed, or even false, they are protected because “it’s just his opinion.” The NYT filed this in Opinion to keep the editorial standards loose. But we are the NYT, and Kristof has a Pulitzer prize, so when we say it’s “deeply reported,” you can trust us.
The rest of the press is letting it happen. They have a track record of not investigating when a story can instead be weaponized to undermine this administration, Israel, or whoever's standing in the way of the narrative that week.
What happened? The most respected paper in the country published a 5,000-word accusation of state-sponsored sexual violence, dressed it as a columnist’s “opinion,” and the rest of the media is like, cool. These are the people who get a Pulitzer.
Worth flagging. Matti Friedman’s interview with Dan Senor at The Free Press is the smartest piece I’ve read on how NGO laundering, the collapse of the opinion-versus-news distinction, and ideological capture at the NYT produced this column. Read it after you read this.
Vance Just Did What the Press Refused to Cover
The Story.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance, flanked by CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz and FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, announced the administration is deferring $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to California pending a home health and hospice fraud investigation. Oz called it the largest deferral the federal government has ever made. Roughly 800 hospice and home health centers in California have been forcibly closed. A warning letter is going to all 50 states: Medicaid Fraud Control Unit funding will be frozen if states do not aggressively prosecute Medicaid fraud. The crackdown follows weeks of Daily Wire reporting by Luke Rosiak alleging Ohio Medicaid home health fraud, reporting that legacy outlets did not cover until DC made it official.
The Left’s read. CNN, NBC, and Politico cover the deferral as administration overreach against a Democratic state. Civil rights groups warn that the closures will leave vulnerable patients without care. Politico frames it as Vance positioning for 2028.
The Right’s read. The Federalist’s headline: “We Are Going to Turn Off the Money.” Conservative outlets emphasize the scale (the $1.3 billion deferral, 800 fraud-ridden centers operating under California state oversight), the 1,500% surge in California hospice claims Oz cited, and the Daily Wire’s role in surfacing the pattern. The all-50-states letter gets covered as the model for fraud elimination across the federal Medicaid system.
What both sides are skipping. The press contrast is the story. Daily Wire spent weeks documenting Ohio Medicaid home health fraud and got blacked out by every legacy outlet. NewsBusters documented Big Four news aggregators burying the Rosiak series. Then Vance held a press event with Oz and Ferguson, deferred $1.3 billion, and shut down 800 fraud-ridden centers. CNN, NBC, and The Times will write about California and how it is a victim of the administration. But they won’t write about Luke Rosiak. Independent reporting documented the pattern, the administration acted on it, and the press will cover the administrative action while pretending the journalism that drove it never happened.
The talking heads will say “fraud should be held accountable,” then cover it like California is the victim. The fraud, much of it post-COVID, has gone unchecked for years. California is a fair focus precisely because MediCal’s broad eligibility, including coverage for undocumented immigrants, makes it the country’s largest fraud vector. Now somebody’s finally doing something about it, and somehow that’s the problem.
Two things happened. Daily Wire’s Ohio Medicaid fraud series got blacked out by every legacy outlet because the byline was wrong. Vance then held a press event with Oz and Ferguson, deferred $1.3 billion in California payments, shut down 800 fraud-ridden centers, and put all 50 states on notice that MFCU funding gets frozen if they don’t aggressively prosecute fraud. CNN, NBC, and the Times will cover California-as-victim. They won’t cover Luke Rosiak. Why does a Daily Wire byline disqualify an investigation that, six weeks later, the Vice President is operating the biggest Medicaid fraud action in federal history?
So here’s the test. When the data comes in, will the administration still focus on Blue state fraud if Red states post worse numbers? Will CNN still cover enforcement as an attack on California when Florida or Texas outpaces it? Watch and see.
A Baby Is Not a Product
The Story.
Florida AG James Uthmeier filed to intervene in a routine surrogacy case involving a French same-sex couple living in France, who contracted with a Florida surrogate to obtain a child now born in the US. Uthmeier’s argument: surrogacy is unconstitutional under the 13th Amendment’s prohibition on slavery, the practice “endangers children,” and “poses a threat to national security.” He cited registered sex offenders and Chinese nationals using American surrogacy services to obtain U.S. citizen children. His office is asking the court to strip the couple’s legal parentage. If he prevails, adoptive parental rights across Florida could be open to challenge.
The Left’s read. Slate and aligned outlets frame Uthmeier as a Florida AG trying to outlaw surrogacy and adoption together, with the same-sex couple as the test case for stripping legal parentage from families. The reproductive rights framing dominates. The Tampa Bay Times leans into the family-fracturing angle.
The Right’s read. The Center for Bioethics and Culture and Them Before Us have made the surrogacy-as-exploitation case for years. Uthmeier is the first state AG willing to litigate what the UN already called for: a move toward abolition. The framing centers on children as commodities and women as wombs, with an international trafficking pipeline running underneath the industry.
What both sides are skipping. The Chinese-nationals claim. Uthmeier said in a press conference that registered sex offenders and foreign buyers are using American surrogacy. Slate skipped it. WaPo skipped it. The left framing requires the conversation stay on same-sex parental rights. The right framing focuses on the foreign-buyer question. Here's the harder truth: same-sex couples are more likely to use surrogacy because they can't have biological children together, and foreign nationals buying American babies is a real national security concern. The case in front of the court is the proof. A French couple living in France is taking a US-citizen baby home to be raised abroad. Both sides are using one of those facts to bury the other.
If you’ve been following me, you know where I land. A baby is not a product. A womb is not for rent. Period.
Slate’s whole frame is emotional manipulation. A child needing a home through no fault of their own is nothing like a child created on contract. Many adoptions today are open and the kid has access to their biological parents. Surrogacy is the opposite: a baby built to specification, a paid surrogate, a kid disconnected from a biological parent because the contract said so. Conflating the two is bad-faith framing.
Don’t even get me started on the regulatory mess. The US surrogacy industry is lax, profit-centered, and under-policed. Documented abuse runs through the foreign-buyer cases and the broker networks. I’m a capitalist all day, but I draw the line at baby buying, womb renting, and selling national security risks for a margin.
Now the legal case. Uthmeier’s 13th Amendment argument is a stretch, and he probably loses in Florida. But it’s crafty, worth following, and if it sticks, it could go straight to the Supreme Court. At that point, it could redefine adoptive parental rights along with surrogacy. Credit to Florida for being the state willing to litigate the question.
Rand Paul’s son went on an antisemitic bender at a DC dive bar. William Paul drunkenly confronted Rep. Mike Lawler at the Tune Inn Tuesday night, ranting for about 10 minutes on Jews, Israel, and gay people. He apologized and cited a drinking problem. Lawler called it a reminder of the alarming rise of antisemitism. The senator hasn’t commented. William Paul has been banned from the bar.
SCOTUS held the line on mifepristone-by-mail. The Supreme Court set aside the 5th Circuit ruling that would have killed telehealth dispensing of mifepristone, keeping the FDA’s 2023 mail-order policy in place while Louisiana’s case continues. Alito and Thomas dissented. Thomas cited the 1873 Comstock Act and called drug-by-mail revenue a “criminal enterprise.” That dissent just handed the next round its argument.
The administration lit up Cuba on two fronts the same day. CIA Director John Ratcliffe met in Havana Thursday with Raúl Castro’s grandson and Cuba’s intelligence chief, carrying Trump’s message that the US will engage on the economy and security if Cuba makes “fundamental changes.” Same day, CBS reported DOJ is moving to indict 94-year-old Raúl Castro over Cuba’s 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown.
Kevin Warsh got the Fed gavel. The 54-45 vote seated the former Fed governor with Sen. John Fetterman as the lone Democratic yes. Powell stays on as governor. Daily Caller’s read: Warsh walks in under maximum political pressure to deliver rate cuts. The left frames him as a Trump installation built to do exactly that. Fed independence is now a 5-4 question.
Missouri’s “Born-Alive” bill puts the death penalty on the table. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act advanced out of House committee 12-4 this week. The bill criminalizes failing to provide care to an infant who survives an abortion attempt, with murder charges and capital punishment available. Some pro-life advocates are flagging concerns about the non-severability clause acting as a poison pill. Meanwhile, in South Carolina, SB1095 advanced with a misdemeanor charge for patients seeking abortions, up to two years in prison. Two different states, two different theories of how to enforce post-Dobbs law.
That’s The Read
Tell me what you think, helpful, too much? Give me that sweet feedback.
TGIF, if the weather stays how it’s been the last few days, you can find me lying on a blanket in the grass reading a book. I'm reading through a book of Joan Didion's essays while I wait for my next read to arrive. Which reminds me that a new edition of The Bookie is on its way. I’ll share what’s on my list and defend my choices because they’re unconventional.
See you Monday.
If The Read is doing the cross-check work for you, send it to a friend who’s still chasing the framing instead of the facts.
Thank you for taking a different approach. Both sides tend to live in an echo chamber, and we would all benefit from a bit more critical thinking 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Love this format!