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Tangier Island, Virginia: As she surveys her waterlogged front lawn, Bonnie Landon doesnt dare think about the future. The present is upsetting enough. Its been less than a year since her husband of almost six decades, Harold, died. Now she fears she will be forced to abandon the home they shared for their entire marriage.

Landon, 77, lives on Tangier Island, a tiny and remote community in Virginias Chesapeake Bay located 150 kilometres from Washington DC. The only way to reach it is by a ferry ride that takes between 45 minutes and an hour from the US mainland. Once you arrive, mobile phone service is virtually non-existent. The marshy island which spans just three square kilometres is so small most people get around on golf carts rather than cars. No alcohol is allowed to be sold, reflecting the deeply conservative and devoutly Christian nature of the community.

Bonnie Landon stands in front of her home amid her flooded lawn on Tangier Island in Virginia.Credit:Amanda Andrade-Rhoades

Landons lawn is submerged in ankle-deep water following a storm the previous night. It wasnt an especially dramatic downpour, but because of Tangiers low-lying topography, even minor storms can trigger heavy flooding. This happens when the tide comes up, Landon says. She adds that the problem has been getting increasingly bad over recent years.

While the western side of Tangier is partially protected by a break wall of rocks, the eastern side, where Landon lives, is entirely exposed to the elements. We need a seawall bad on this side of the island, she says, the desperation rising in her voice. Without it, well just be underwater.

Shes not alone in her pessimism. Tangier Island is groaning under the weight of severe economic, demographic and environmental strain so much so that its very existence is in doubt. While tourists commonly say that visiting Tangier feels like stepping into the past, scientists say it instead offers a glimpse of the future in a world of catastrophic climate change.

According to US census data, around 1000 people lived on the island in the 1940s - a figure that has plunged to just 400 or so today. The decline is so severe experts have labelled it a demographic collapse.

Most everybody who graduates high school leaves the island now, says ferry captain Mark Haynie, who was born and raised on the island. Theres a lot less people around than when I was a boy.

The islands crab and oyster harvesters known as watermen are struggling to make a living because of environmental regulations and falling prices. Worst of all, an estimated two-thirds of the islands land mass has disappeared since 1850. Much of what remains are swampy wetlands unfit for human habitation.

In a couple more years you might not see none of this, waterman Clayton Parks says as he gazes at Tangier harbours distinctive wooden crab shanties. Were getting washed away.

Until recently, Tangier was famous for two reasons: being the soft shell crab capital of America and the unique dialect of English that is spoken on the island. In 2015, it shot to international attention when a paper in the journal Scientific Reports predicted its residents could become some of Americas first climate refugees. According to the papers authors, the island may have to be abandoned within 25 years because of sea level rise associated with climate change.

Tangier Island is a deeply conservative and devoutly Christian society.Credit:Amanda Andrade-Rhoades

As world leaders prepare to meet in Glasgow for a crucial climate summit next week, Tangier Island is precisely the type of place environmentalists point to when arguing for dramatic cuts to carbon emissions.

The catch is that most of the islands residents dont believe that they are living on the climate change frontline. Instead, they largely blame naturally occurring factors that have ravaged the island for centuries.

I dont believe its got anything to do with the changing climate, Landon says of the tides she fears will one day engulf her street.

Even typical storms can cause major flooding on the streets of Tangier Island.Credit:Amanda Andrade-Rhoades

James Eskridge, Tangier Islands mayor for the past 14 years, never tires of telling the story. After all, getting a phone call from Donald Trump was one of the highlights of his life. In June 2017, a CNN crew visited the island and asked Eskridge if he had a message for Trump.

I said, Yes, tell him I love him like family, Eskridge recalls over lunch at Lorraines, a seafood restaurant near the towns marina. Like nine in 10 of the islands residents, Eskridge voted Trump in the 2016 election. There are very few Democrats on the island, Eskridge says. We allow them to live here.

Mayor James Ooker Eskridge has lunch at Lorraines Seafood Restaurant on Tangier Island.Credit:Amanda Andrade-Rhoades

A few days after the CNN interview aired, Eskridge, a lifelong waterman, was out crabbing when his son drove out in a boat to find him. He said, Dad youve got to get home, the President wants to talk to you. I said, The President of what? I didnt know if someone was joking with me.

Trump and Eskridge spoke for around 10 minutes, bonding over their opposition to environmental red tape and scepticism about climate change. Eskridge says Trump assured him: Tangier is not going anywhere. The abundance of Trump 2024 flags already flying on the island suggest the former president remains as popular as ever here. We were very disappointed, Eskridge says of Trumps 2020 election defeat. I know its controversial, but Im not so sure he lost, he adds, backing Trumps unfounded claims of widespread election fraud.

Eskridge, known universally on the island by his childhood nickname of Ooker, has a Jesus fish tattoo on one arm and a star of David on the other. Over the years he has named his pet cats after an array of famous conservative figures including right-wing pundit Ann Coulter and Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito.

Mark Haynie drives a boat between Crisfield, Maryland and Tangier Island in Virginia.Credit:Amanda Andrade-Rhoades

As a waitress brings out servings of soft shell crab sandwiches and fries smothered in crab dip, Eskridge reflects on what makes Tangier such an unusual place. The isolation from the rest of society, he says, fosters a sense of community that has largely disappeared from modern America.

My kids live on the mainland and dont even know who their neighbours are. Thats so odd to me to live by somebody for years and never talk to them. Its a different world.

Then there is another byproduct of Tangiers remoteness: the language islanders use among themselves.

This time of year, people say Hawkins is coming, Eskridge says. To prove his point he yells out to a diner at a nearby table: You know who Hawkins is, dont you?

Oh yeah, replies Mark Crockett, a local waterman and ferry operator. We dont want to see Hawkins just yet, were not ready for him.

Jamie Parks brings a plate of crabby fries to a table at Lorraines Seafood Restaurant.Credit:Amanda Andrade-Rhoades

Eskridge explains that Hawkins, in the Tangier lexicon, means cold weather and little or no money being made. I dont know where it came from: my father said it and my grandfather used to say it.

Other local phrases include to have the mibs (to smell), to be dry as Peckards cow (to be thirsty) and to be selling cakes (to have your fly down). Islanders also use what is known as backwards talk in which they say the opposite of what they actually mean. To describe a stranger as ugly, for example, is to say you think they are attractive.We tone it down when were talking to folks from the mainland, Eskridge says of the dialect.

After lunch he takes The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on a golf-cart tour of the island and a boat ride to his yellow-and-lime green crab shanty. He says journalists from 40 countries have visited the island in recent years, but proudly notes this is his first time hosting a reporter from Australia.

Along the way Eskridge inspects his crab pots to see what has arrived overnight. Hes a man in his element, doing what he believes God put him on earth to do. Explaining why he never wants to live anywhere else, he says: Its the freedom we have here. Crabbing, working the water, you are your own boss, you make your own hours.

Like the scientific experts, Eskridge believes his beloved island is in a fight for survival. Its disappearing, he says of the place where he grew up, and his father, grandfather and great-grandfather before that. Weve lost five or six other smaller communities around Tangier that have gone underwater.

James Ooker Eskridge takes in a crab trap.Credit:Amanda Andrade-Rhoades

But he disagrees with them on the cause of the problem. Rather than rising tides caused by climate change, he says coastal erosion is to blame. Im not concerned about sea level rise, he says. If I see the sea level rising I will say so, but to me the sea looks the same as when I was a kid.

He regards the debate about shifting from fossil fuels to renewables as a distraction from his mission to get as much of the island as possible protected by stone breakwalls. Solar panels would be good for the island if we could pile them up on the shoreline and make a seawall out of them, he quips.

David Schulte, a marine biologist with the Army Corps of Engineers who co-wrote the attention-grabbing 2015 paper on climate changes impact on Tangier, insists a sea wall will not be enough to save the island.

You can build a ring of stone around the edge of the island, but the problem is that sea levels are going to continue to rise and convert the high ground the town is sitting on into swamp and marsh, he says. And you really cant live in marsh.

For a forthcoming paper in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Climate, Schulte found alarming declines in the height of Tangiers three upland ridges. He says its an important contribution to the debate over sea level rise and erosion. These ridges are not on the coast, so are not subject to coastal erosion. Any decline in their extent can be directly attributed to sea level rise.

Even more worryingly, he found that sea level rise in the Chesapeake Bay is trending towards the higher end of estimates, meaning the island could be uninhabitable within 20 to 25 years.

In the next couple of decades a combination of sea level rise and erosion is going to drive them off the island unless significant action is taken. I dont think theres any way to save Tangier without a massive engineering undertaking.

This would involve raising the height of the island ridges, temporarily relocating all residents and retrofitting the islands plumbing and electricity systems an expensive and laborious exercise. Given the islands small and declining population, its a price American taxpayers may not be willing to pay.

Waves break on the shoreline on Tangier Island.Credit:Amanda Andrade-Rhoades

Heartened by the attention the island has received in recent years, Eskridge is more optimistic. I think well get the help that we need in time, but its taking a while, he says. The fight for Tangiers survival is not one he can conceive of losing. When we talk about saving the island, Im not just talking about a piece of land. Im talking about a culture and a way of life. Weve been here for hundreds of years and we plan to be here for hundreds more.

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The Trump-loving, climate-sceptic island sinking into the sea - Sydney Morning Herald

Federalist Culture Editor Emily Jashinsky and D.C. Columnist Eddie Scarry discuss American Crime Story: Impeachment, Ryan Murphys stab at the scandalous affair between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.

Emily Jashinsky: Ryan Murphy usually loses me around the first episode of his series and seasons. His insane output means a lot of his work is formulaic, and his critical acclaim means a lot of it is exhaustingly self-indulgent.

But American Crime Story: Impeachment is Murphy at his best, giving strong women their due with balance and passion. He also does something rare, capturing D.C. as the fluorescent-lit hellscape that it is while also conveying the citys drama and gravity without being overly romantic.

The casting is both perfect and terrible. Edie Falco is a letdown. Colbie Smulders is a vision. I think Sarah Paulson and Murphy are doing Linda Tripp justice, something shes never really been afforded. What do you think, Eddie? The casting is a little controversial, but who are your standouts and letdowns?

Eddie Scarry: The only real disappointment Ive had with the casting is with Monica! The real one is and was a lot more attractive and had a certain confidence. Or that was my impression at the time as a young not-yet-gay boy catching glimpses of her on TV.

Beanie Feldstein just fit my memory, and I wonder if Lewinsky (credited as a producer on the show) was in favor of that casting. Otherwise, Sarah Paulson as Tripp is my absolute favorite thing on TV of 2021.

I didnt know much about the real Linda Tripp because much of what I learned about the Clinton impeachment was done years later, as an adult and through reading. So if she was anything like this character in the show then, well, she was certainly a character.

Why do you hate Falco? She might yet have her moment as Hillary.

EJ: The confidence point is an excellent one. We see glimpses of it from Feldstein, but not with the swagger of someone who would walk around in a beret. We know Lewinsky said she was involved in pretty much every minute of the show. I think that raises a lot of serious questions. The show is obviously dramatized, so are we to assume Lewinsky rubber-stamped exaggerations and fictionalizations of the events? If so, whats accurate (and new) and whats dramatized?

Falco should have used the prosthetics to look more like Hillary. Thats kind of how ACS works. Its a distraction that she didnt. Id like to see more of her too, although Im glad they let Tripp repeat the gossip about the Clintons coming into the White House with bad attitudes and a sense of entitlement. The Paula Jones casting is incredible too, although I didnt love Taran Killam as her husband it was cartoonish.

All that aside, do you think the show is succeeding because of 90 nostalgia and the benefit of built-in familiarity, or because its also good on its own merits? I think the latter is true, but I can understand the argument for the former.

ES: I would guess its probably true that the audience likes seeing this culture-defining saga play out in a storified and dramatized way that we all have such sharp memories about. But I also think that for a lot of people whove tuned in, they had no idea that all of this started with Vince Foster and Whitewater and a special counsel, and then there were these colorful people like Ann Coulter and Matt Drudge pulling so many strings.

All of that to me is SO MUCH more fascinating than the low-rent Monica-Clinton affair. And I would think a lot of people finding out about that stuff for the first time are also really fascinated by it.

EJ:Okay, I agree completely with that. Great point. Fearful of being in bed with the vast right-wing conspiracy, legacy media has smoothed out the rough edges of the Clinton administration for decades. But its a fascinating story! And Murphy is actually diving in, from Drudge to Coulter to Paula Jones.

That story has been waiting to be told in this format. And Murphy is subtly very brave by letting Smulders really nail Ann Coulter and her lesser-known contributions to the saga. She comes across exactly as she should, unusually witty and surprisingly brilliant for someone so young and beautiful.

Ill also add that I think the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal is often depicted as a fling and Murphy is plumbing the depths of the relationship to great effect. It was both sexual and emotional, and Lewinsky, having received hatpins and copies of Leaves of Grass from the leader of the free world, was obsessively in love. Its easier to understand why when you have the full context.

Do you think the show is having any meaningful effect on the publics perception of the entire ordeal?

ES: Right, the perception created by the media at the time was that the affair was this sexual spicy secret that two naughty adults were caught with but it was way more serious. Im not some feminist champion or a storied Monica sympathizer, but something I do hope people take from the show is that to be the subject of a national pile-on, the butt of endless jokes, whether on late-night TV or now the internet, can be a very debilitating and lonely thing, especially for someone who doesnt work in the business like you and me.

Thats what happened to Lewinsky and she was arguably the first one to suffer it. At 24!

The rest is here:
Is 'Impeachment' Changing The Way America Sees The Clinton Affair? - The Federalist

The new FX limited series Impeachment: American Crime Story the third in a true-crime anthology that started with The People v. O.J. Simpson and continued with The Assassination of Gianni Versace covers the events leading up to Bill Clintons impeachment in December 1998, with a heavy emphasis on the fallout from his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Fans of the brilliant Slate podcast Slow Burn will surely remember many details from its Leon Neyfakhhosted second season three years ago, which included among its eight episodes bonus interviews with major players like Ken Starr, the special prosecutor and author of the infamous Starr report, and Linda Tripp, who had befriended Lewinsky at the Pentagon and helped reveal her secret affair to the independent counsels office.

For all ten episodes of Impeachment, weve asked Madeline Kaplan, the researcher for the Clinton-Lewinsky season of Slow Burn, to fact-check the shows major events and minute details against her own understanding of the events. (Kaplan and Neyfakhs eight-book reading list can be found here and doesnt include the Starr report and its eyebrow-raising appendices.) Kaplan followed Neyfakh (and co-creator Andrew Parsons) to Prologue Projects, where she serves as a producer on Neyfakhs Fiasco and other podcasts.

As it happens, the sixth episode, Man Handled, covers the dramatic day that unfolded in the first episode of Slow Burn: January 16, 1998. On the eve of President Clintons deposition in the Paula Jones civil case, Ken Starrs team arranges to have Linda Tripp set a meeting with Monica Lewinsky at the food court in Pentagon City Mall. Once the trap was sprung, FBI agents working with the OIC (Office of Independent Counsel) escort Lewinsky to Room 1012 of the nearby Ritz-Carlton hotel, where shes interrogated by all male prosecutors, chiefly Mike Emmick (Colin Hanks) and Jackie Bennett (Darren Goldstein). A sliver of the episode is also given over to Ann Coulter (Cobie Smulders) and George Conway (George Salazar), who have copies of the Tripp-Lewinsky tapes and treat themselves to a listening party.

After watching Man Handled, Kaplan talked about Lewinskys long, traumatic, and, at times, surreal day with her interrogators, Tripps uncomfortable role in the sting operation, and the questionable strategy used to persuade Lewinsky to cooperate.

The major plot and character beats that shape Impeachments narrative.

Tripps feelings going into the dayShe definitely said that she felt bad about [the sting operation], but she also said she believed it was absolutely the right thing to do at the time. In this episode they seem to show a lot of her maybe wavering on whether doing this was the right thing or whether she should show up and go through with it at all. But in her recollections, it seems that she felt guilty about it and was stressed and scared during this period, but she was also convinced that this was the right thing for Monica.

Tripp actually being present at the hotelThis is often described as the result of poor planning or confusion. And I think the intensity of Monicas immediate reaction kind of threw [Starrs team]. They were set up in these adjoining hotel rooms and when they got up there, Monica remembers saying, Make her stay and watch. I want that treacherous bitch to see what shes done to me, which they used at the very beginning of the first episode. And then theyre like, Okay get Tripp out of here. And they put her in the other room, where they apparently interviewed her for a few hours before letting her go. Obviously it was very distracting that she was there at all. And Im sure it didnt help their chances at getting Monica to cooperate that she associated them so strongly with her friends betrayal.

Mike Emmicks roleOne of the people we interviewed for Slow Burn was Bruce Udolf, who worked in the independent counsels office and is not in these episodes. He was one of the more suspicious people about this [operation], he said he was concerned about how it might go. He asked something like, Could we have a woman come? Or Why arent there any women? And he was told that none were available that day to do this.

The absence of any women is a very striking detail. Also that they felt the best good cop that they had to try to convince her was Mike Emmick. Every single thing written about him, like the very first clause after his name, is that hes a charmer, that hes a charming guy, a ladies man. He was someone who was thought to be better to make this first approach than someone like Jackie Bennett.

Obviously theyre throwing this together pretty last-minute, but it was surprising the extent to which they were unprepared for her reaction. They thought that this would potentially go down very quickly and she would agree to cooperate.

Lewinskys deflected requests for a lawyerThis whole episode draws very heavily on Lewinskys recollections. Obviously, shes the person this is happening to. And so a lot of this is described in her authorized biography, these repeated attempts to ask for a lawyer. Being rebuffed in different ways. Not being told no explicitly, but being told its very time-sensitive or we dont want too many people involved here.

This became a real point of contention afterwards about whether there was any misconduct and whether they kept her there against her will or whether they actually told her she could leave. She said later she felt like she couldnt leave, even if they didnt say that explicitly. The independent counsels office was very clear afterward: We never told her she couldnt speak to a lawyer. Theres a lot of legalistic distinctions here. I dont think this is too far outside the norm of how a brace like this would go, in terms of how they approach the witness and try to get their cooperation. Its not that far outside the norm for them not to go out of their way to encourage her to leave and contact an attorney.

From their perspective, too, Vernon Jordan got her that lawyer. So whos to say that the lawyers not also implicated here? Im not a lawyer, but I dont think its the craziest thing in the world to say, Part of what were investigating here is whether [Jordan] got her a job to keep her quiet. And then this guy also got her a lawyer to file this false affidavit? Thats part of what their thinking was about.

These misconduct accusations ended up coming before a federal judge, and the judge ruled that the Starr team didnt do anything wrong here. Basically, because she hadnt been charged with a crime and was free to go if she wanted, she didnt have a right to an attorney in that moment that could be violated. But the judge also criticized the prosecutors for talking to Lewinsky about a possible immunity deal without a lawyer present. So that was a contentious issue here too.

Lewinsky seeing the news clip about Clinton getting deposed the next dayThat felt like it was for the audiences benefit. In the biography, she remembers that when she asked for a lawyer and was told, This is very time-sensitive, she immediately understood that it was time-sensitive because Clinton was being deposed the next day. I mean, anyone who followed the news even a little would have known about his deposition, let alone someone who was thinking and worrying about him constantly.

Lewinskys growing awareness of what was happeningHer immediate reactions were panic and despair, and the prosecutors werent really prepared for how intense her reaction would be. She definitely worried very quickly about feeling like her life was over. That exchange where she wonders what would happen if she were to jump out the window is something she remembers from that day.

Another really key element here is they literally tell her, You could be facing 27 years in prison for what youve done. So not only will her entire reputation be ruined when this becomes public and everyone knows about it, she could also spend more than her lifetime to that point in prison. She doesnt know that theyre probably not going to prosecute her. Its super rare to prosecute perjury in a civil case, especially when youre not the one being sued. But shes not a lawyer. She doesnt know how ridiculous it was to suggest this kind of time for what she did. Which, of course, does not help in the panic department at all. I think they expected that a young woman panicking about spending decades in prison would be relatively easy to convince, but she was much more forceful in her own instincts about what to do than they thought she would be.

Lewinskys encounters with Tripp on the dayIm not sure about the specific line, Linda, what did you do? Im just purely speculating here, but I think because [the show] used that line where she calls Linda a treacherous bitch in the first episode, they wanted that moment of anger again here, of her realizing what Linda did and being very angry. Monica did confront her very angrily when they were both taken up to those rooms. And she realized what was happening, and that Linda is responsible for this happening to her.

That scene later on when Monica is walking through the mall and sees Linda carrying shopping bags, thats an actual moment she remembers from that day. And apparently Linda again said to her during that run-in, They did the same thing to me. So they actually had an exchange then, too.

Jackie Bennetts interrogation styleHes definitely described as the bad cop coming in. Monica said later, It completely changed the tenor of the room as soon as he entered. He took a much more upfront and aggressive approach, totally different personality and style. I think they were probably just thinking like, This is taking so long. Lets try a different approach. Which also ends up not working.

Lewinsky and Emmicks shopping tripThey did go to Crate & Barrel first. They apparently just made a lot of small talk, maybe about a decanter, I dont know. Then she saw an opening to go to a payphone in the Macys and try to call Betty Currie, which is also shown here. Monica felt like, for obvious reasons, Betty Currie would be a person you could call in this scenario. She thought that if [Currie] picked up, she could say something kind of cryptic to her and she would know something was going on.

Then they did get dinner at Mozzarellas American Grill, where they have the conversation pretty much as depicted. She asked, Okay, can you walk me through? Where are you getting the number of years in prison from? And What are the charges youre talking about here? She apparently paid for her own dinner because she did not want to owe them anything.

Lewinskys mother, Marcia Lewis, pushing for cooperationOne of the other prosecutors who was there that day, Steve Binhak, who was also interviewed for Slow Burn, said that he overheard them talking in the hall when Marcia Lewis arrived. And she basically said, Tell them everything. Put this behind you. We have to be thinking about you here and your future. Then Lewinsky responded by saying, Im not going to be the one to bring down the president of the United States.

The quick end to the interrogationYes, it ended pretty quickly once Bill Ginsburg got on the phone with Mike Emmick. And the tenor of the conversation was basically the same as on the show. Ginsburg swore a lot and called Emmick names and was very skeptical of everything he was telling him. The big sticking point was whether they could give Lewinsky an offer of transactional immunity on the spot, so that she would be completely protected in exchange for talking to them. They have this whole back and forth about, like, Can you get this in writing? and Why cant you? Ginsberg calling their bluff about not having access to a fax machine. He apparently asked whether they could handwrite the immunity deal instead, which was not a suggestion they accepted. There was also some disagreement about whether they could actually give her transactional immunity in that moment at all. So Ginsburg eventually tells Lewinsky something like, All right, Im pulling the plug. Dont tell them anything. Go home. This isnt happening. And then its finally over.

Ann Coulter and friends getting the tapesSo theres something the show skips over here, probably because its so complicated. When Tripp has that meeting in a previous episode with her lawyer and she says like, I have all these tapes that Ive made and he says, Why do you have those? This is a two-party consent state. So thats a crime, she really didnt like that lawyer. She thought that he was not looking out for her interests. Because his reaction was, We should take this to the Clinton attorneys and they will want to settle the case. And thats the best thing for you because then these tapes dont become relevant. You wont be charged. Which is good legal advice.

But she didnt like that advice. She was thinking, Okay. So my lawyer is telling me that we should go to the Clintons and resolve this that way, which is not what I want. So she gets a new lawyer. And as part of this chain between her and Lucianne Goldberg and then the elves working on the Paula Jones case, Ann Coulter suggests this guy, Jim Moody, whos a friend of hers, to be Tripps new lawyer. And its through him that [Coulter] gets the tapes.

The way that Coulter remembers this is different than the way they show it here. She said in the middle of the night, at 3:00 a.m., she gets a call from Jim Moody and George Conway, and theyre like, We just got Linda Tripps tapes. We got to listen to these. Can we come over? Because Ann Coulter is a huge Deadhead and had an amazing speaker system. Apparently the way it went down was that they showed up at her place in the middle of the night and listened to some of the tapes.

The tapes being boringThere are certain incriminating things that are on the tapes. But its a really mammoth task to listen through all these hours of tape to find those little bits. Plus theyre mostly interested in whether she incriminated Clinton, not whether she incriminated herself. It makes sense to me that you would listen to a bunch and be like, I just heard a lot about a lot of stuff and Ive no idea whats going on. And a lot of its really mundane.

The details and embellishments that may or may not be rooted in the historical record but reflect Impeachments stylistic approach.

The TV shows they watched during downtime at the Ritz-CarltonApparently they were looking for something to watch on TV. NYPD Blue was on, and it felt like as they were flipping through, it was just cop shows. [Prosecutors] really didnt want that because obviously thats just going to make her think more about what shes doing there. And what if there are like, plotlines about witnesses or cops acting in bad faith or something? So they changed the channel until they found an Ethel Merman movie. And thats what they watched together. Because that felt, I guess, like that wasnt going to interfere with their investigation.

A Pentagon City Mall detail not in the episodeTheres something that they could have included, but I think that if they included it, as an audience member, youd be like, Theres no way that actually happened. Apparently on the same day at the Pentagon City Mall that Monica Lewinsky is being braced by prosecutors and the FBI, Susan Carpenter-McMillan was at that same mall shopping for an outfit for Paula Jones to wear the next day to Clintons deposition. So she couldve had a cameo in this episode.

Read more here:
Fact-checking Impeachments Dramatic Sting Operation - Vulture

The Issue: Suppression of The Posts story on evidence of corrupt deals on Hunter Bidens laptop.

The true collusion that exists in our country is comprised of Democratic left-wingers, Big Tech, mainstream media, social media and well-to-do Hollywood and academic snobs, coupled with spineless politicians who remain silent for fear of cancellation (They got away with it, Oct. 13).

The Biden machine and all associated with it will always get away with it.

Its pathetically shameful that the so-called leader of the free world continues to insult the integrity of the American citizenry and always with an arrogant smile on his face.

Jerry Chiappetta

Monticello

And so the double standard continues.

The mainstream and social media are all complicit in the Biden scandals. Unfortunately theyre still at it.

That said, I hope theyre all happy now with where our country is because of it. I, for one, certainly am not.

One year after The Post exposed Hunters laptop, they still refuse to call it corruption.

B. Tonuzi

Wanaque, NJ

The Posts front page reminds us that the Democrats who currently run this country also control the media and Big Tech.

Objective news reporting went out with Walter Cronkite. New York Times editorials could well be written by Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

No, the Bidens will never be held accountable, just as Hillary Clinton shall never have to answer for Benghazi or the Russian collusion story, and former FBI Director James Comey will prosper as a talk-show guest and author.

The privileged few that are in charge of our government are not accountable to the people so long as the media covers for them.

Robert Mangi

Westbury

I think we can stop pretending the excuse that the laptop wasnt verified is the reason The Posts story was censored.

Believing and advancing that excuse is us playing the game they created. We cant win at their game.

We need to stick with facts. Theyre only pushing a certain narrative. We cannot call them out on hypocrisy and expect things to change. They will not suddenly play fair because we point out what they are doing.

Steve Preziosa

Deptford Township, NJ

The Issue: Katie Courics decision to suppress Ruth Bader Ginsburgs criticism of national-anthem protests.

Katie Couric was about 60 years old when she interviewed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2016 (Couric buried truth on Ruth, Oct. 14).

Couric withheld Justice Ginsburgs response because she felt that Ginsburg, who was 83 at the time, may not have gotten what Couric was asking.

No doubt Ginsburg understood the question. Couric didnt like the answer. I guess it didntgo with the lefty philosophy.

Justice Ginsburg had a brilliant legal mind. It is an insult on Courics part to assume the justice didnt understand her because she was 83.

Barbara Brussell

Oceanside

Katie Courics selective editing of her interview with RBG is old news.

This sleazy Today Show presenter famously went out of her way to make conservatives like Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter look bad in her interviews with them.

While she helped RBG, she hurt Palin politically by trying to make this brilliant politician look stupid with gotcha questions and biased editing.

Americas Sweetheart is just that: not a journalist but a Hollywood personality selling her supposed good looks and fake persona.

Andrew Delaney

Jamaica Estates

Want to weigh in on todays stories? Send your thoughts (along with your full name and city of residence) to letters@nypost.com. Letters are subject to editing for clarity, length, accuracy and style.

Originally posted here:
Letters to the Editor Oct. 16, 2021 - New York Post

Welcome to our weekly column Cant Miss Episode of the Week! Every Saturday well be spotlighting a different episode of television from that week that we thought was exceptional and a must-see. Check back to see if your favorite show got the nod or to learn about a new one! Spoilers ahead.

American Crime Story: Impeachment opened with a flash-forward scene in which Monica Lewinsky (Beanie Feldstein) is confronted by the FBI and discovers that her friend Linda Tripp (Sarah Paulson) has sold her out. In this weeks episode, which aired on October 12 on FX, we finally catch up to that scene. What we werent prepared for? What came after it. The FBI escorts Monica to a hotel room to be interrogated, but when she makes things difficult for them, they end up holding her there for 11 hours. These federal agents, even after using every unethical intimidation tactic they can think of, are unable to break the 24-year-old terrified Monica, which makes for one highly entertaining hour of television.

The episode smartly frames this as a David vs. Goliath story. As small, tearstained Monica stands surrounded by agents in suits, the camera is wielded to put us into her point of view. It zooms in on an agents finger hovering over the switch hook of the phone, threatening to hang up Monicas call to her mom in case she says something they dont like. When Monica convinces them to let her call her mom back from a payphone downstairs in the mall, the camera focuses on the elevator button as Monica frantically jams it, on the security camera perched in the corner of the elevator, at the various agents stationed around the mall surveilling her, all while the scores swells, intensifying the moment, and Monicas heavy breathing comes through. This is the federal government throwing its weight around to intimidate a young woman, and the episode does an excellent job of making us outraged on Monicas behalf, especially as they repeatedly dissuade her (making it even seem like shes not allowed) to call her lawyer, all while threatening her with decades in prison. What Monica hasnt figured out yet, is that if they havent arrested her, then they have no right to hold her, and she can leave anytime she wants.

And yet, somehow special prosecutor Ken Starrs (Dan Bakkedahl) team has bitten off more than they could chew with Monica. Theyve labeled this sting Operation Prom Night in a case of you-cant-make-this-stuff-up, and its named so, as prosecutor Mike Emmick (Colin Hanks) explains, to signify half hour with a girl in a hotel room. Of course, it doesnt take a half hour, it takes almost a half day. Part of the thrill of watching this episode is Monica making the prosecutors and agents run in circles. She has some amazing one-liners, and Feldstein delivers them with a perfect zing. Shell call the police, if she doesnt hear from me, Monica says with a smug smile to prosecutor Jackie Bennett (Darren Goldstein) to get him to let her call her mom. She follows it up with, You gonna arrest me if I walk out of the room? in the very next scene.

Built into this melodrama is the hilarious absurdity of the prosecutors and FBI just sitting around, going shopping, getting a burger with Monica, while they wait for hours for her mother to arrive, because Monica has refused to talk to them without her. Well, if Ken Starrs team wasnt prepared for Monica, then they really arent prepared for her mom, Marcia (Mira Sorvino), who goes full Jewish mother on them protecting her baby. Shes happy to push Monica into cooperating, that is if she can get it in writing that Monica will receive full immunity. But they cant get Starrs approval on the immunity, because its after 11 oclock at night. The fact that these men were so confident that they could get Monica to roll over on Clinton (Clive Owen) in no time, that they didnt even have a plan for whether they could offer her immunity if she asks for it, proves their immense hubris and incompetency.

Perhaps the most satisfying part of the whole episode? When they finally get Monicas dad, medical malpractice lawyer William H. Ginsberg (Fred Melamed), on the phone, and he curses Emmick out for detaining Monica, and calls out the poor excuses Emmick is giving for why they cant get Monicas immunity in writing (Its the Ritz Carlton. Of course they have a fax machine). When he tells Monica to leave and go home, it is a triumphant moment.

See AlsoRoush Review: Impeachment Is Mostly Monicas Tripp-y StoryThe newest American Crime Story installment is an all-star retelling of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal from the womens point of view.

But, I have to admit, Ive been beating around the bush here. It doesnt matter if theyd gotten permission for immunity from the very beginning. Nor does it matter if Marcia had agreed to strong-arm her daughter into cooperating. Ken Starrs team ultimately underestimated Monica, because she was never going to betray Clinton like that. Maybe they and her mom could have convinced her to answer questions about the relationship, but she was never going to make recorded phone calls to entrap the President. In a show where everyone is out for themselves, Monica, even after everything, is extremely loyal to Clinton, and somehow, these prosecutors never considered that. If nothing else, you have to admire Monicas strength of character, and underneath all of the theatrics, its what gives the episode its heart.

Other observations we thought made this episode stand out:

The revelation that Linda went shopping after betraying Monica when the two met in the mall is the final nail in Lindas coffin for any sympathy she might have left with viewers.Cobie Smulders cartoonish portrayal of Ann Coulter as she sweeps in with multiple bottles of wine, proclaiming to her colleagues that are listening to the tapes in celebration of their successful coup, is the high camp this series, and really any Ryan Murphy project, needs.Monica saying thank you to Emmick when she leaves the hotel, because hes been playing good cop this whole episode, is outrageous.

FOX28 Spokane

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Can't Miss Episode of the Week: It's Monica vs. the FBI on 'Impeachment' - FOX 28 Spokane