Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar is no stranger to expressing hatred for the United States. Her visit to Qatar last week for the World Cup proved to be no exception when she conflated the Middle Eastern country’s persistent human rights violations to American history.

Amid the glut of retrospectives on the five-year anniversary of #MeToo, the where-are-they-now rundowns of accused men and movement icons alike, a sense emerges that the #MeToo movement itself has finally transformed from a cause du jour to grist for the cultural mill. What it gives us now isn't news but narratives: the Pulitzer-winning reporting, the bestselling books based on the prize-winning reporting, the movies based on the books. 

The administration directing taxpayer funds to political consulting firms is not the scandal it used to be.

A Politico report this week on the Biden administration spending tens of thousands of dollars for a Democratic political consultant to do media training for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky was treated as a non-scandal. The spending was revealed by the outlet in its Wednesday night West Wing Playbook newsletter, with two experts quoted who both credited Walensky for enlisting help.

The CNN journalist best known for reporting from the burning scene of "fiery but mostly peaceful protests" following the justified non-fatal police shooting of armed sexual-assault suspect Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., has been nominated for an Emmy award.

Disgraced actor Jussie Smollett was sentenced on Thursday after being convicted last year of faking a hate crime against himself and lying about it to Chicago police, capping the swift fall from grace for the "Empire" star who had everyone from Joe Biden to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeting their support prior to his story falling apart. 

Smollett was sentenced to 30 months felony probation, restitution to the city of Chicago in the amount of $120,106, a fine of $25,000, and 150 days in the Cook County Jail. 

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti is the latest California politician to hammer home the point that the state's pandemic rules are just for the little people. What Gov. Gavin Newsom started, and San Francisco Mayor London Breed continued, Garcetti has perfected. He even developed the ideal face-saving line: When a photo surfaced Wednesday of Garcetti, maskless, with Lakers legend Magic Johnson at a Rams game, the mayor reassured concerned citizens that he held his breath to take the photo.

Several Democratic senators are defending their votes to eliminate the filibuster less than five years after demanding that Republicans keep the procedure.

In a Wednesday vote, 46 Democrats and two Independents moved to ax the nearly 200-year-old filibuster, although they were ultimately unsuccessful in doing so. For 26 of those senators, the vote marked a complete reversal of their 2017 position.

One piece of President Biden’s news conference that deserves more scrutiny is his positively Trumpian refusal to say that the 2022 elections will be legitimate. The White House is now trying to walk this back, which is a good sign, but if Mr. Biden is changing his mind, he should say so himself.