Trump, Kaitlan Collins, and the press at-large

When the President announced on Friday, in the Oval Office, that he was implementing a White House ban on the news organizations CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, he said the following, which was widely reported--and which was included in a story today in The Atlantic:

“There’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories,” he said when he banned CNN and the other two outlets. “Now, if they want to write them, that’s fine. But I don’t have to let them into my—into the people’s house.”

...into my--into the people's house.

An interesting, and telling, linguistic slip. 

Today's Atlantic piece, by staff writer Olga Khazan, is titled "A Revealing Exchange Between Donald Trump and Kaitlan Collins." It is subtitled "The president doesn’t understand how journalism works."

The piece begins by describing Trump's brief back and forth, at the United Nations on Tuesday, with Ms. Collins, the excellent CNN chief White House correspondent, and anchor of the network's weeknight program The Source.

Here is the link to the Atlantic story:

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/09/trump-kaitlan-collins-united-nations/688757/?gift=Tcay7nmVziC9n3Jf9QllmzbpQZyn35KQbb5gpFppjbk&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

A brief meditation, as Yom Kippur begins at sundown, tonight

It is one of a number of meditations in the Yom Kippur portion of the Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur prayer book Gates of Repentance. The prayer book was edited by Chaim Stern, and published in 1978 by the  Central Conference of American Rabbis, the leading Reform Jewish rabbinical organization.

From the 11th Century rabbi and philosopher Bachya ibn Pakuda:

Days are scrolls: write on them only what you want remembered.

The New Year

My best wishes for Rosh Hashanah, to all who are celebrating/observing the holiday...

Twenty-five years

Perhaps two weeks ago, I watched a lengthy video on YouTube, a compendium of news coverage from throughout the day of September 11th: the terrorist attacks in New York City, at the Pentagon, and on the plane which crashed in a Pennsylvania field, near Shanksville.

Twenty-five years after the attacks, the memories of the day, and its aftermath, remain clear. One thinks of the terrible violence and destruction, the terrible pain that was inflicted: the thousands of deaths, and injuries; the pictures of the missing on sidewalk fences and walls, in Manhattan; the unimaginable traumas experienced by the loved ones, and the friends and co-workers, left behind. And--the many still-breathtaking acts of heroism, of great bravery.  

One thinks of the before, the during, and the after: it all remains firmly in the mind, and heart.

Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem, who died on September 3rd at 92, was a highly significant figure, and force, in America's history.  I admired her very much.

Below is a piece which appeared in The Atlantic, online, the day after her death.  It is titled "Everything We Do Matters," and is adapted from her memoir An Unexpected Life, which will be published September 22nd by Random House.

Ms. Steinem wrote, in the Atlantic adaptation/excerpt:

"Among the many things I have learned is that there is no one right way to achieve peace, equality, or justice. Everything we do matters—how we behave in an elevator, how we raise our children, how we treat our partners, how we participate in our government."

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/09/everything-we-do-matters/688514/?gift=Tcay7nmVziC9n3Jf9Qllm1oXR94CZQUIea0bTl6hPEc&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share