CBS caves to Trump, turns over unedited Harris interview. 

“Intellectual honesty is a crime in any totalitarian country ...” —George Orwell

That rumbling sound you're hearing is Edward R. Murrow rolling over in his grave. CBS just broke the First Commandment of Journalism: never, ever, let anyone outside your news organization see your work product.

CBS will turn over its unedited transcript of an October interview with Kamala Harris to the Trump administration, as per a demand from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Trump alleges 60 Minutes edited the tape to make Harris look good. Trump also has sued the network for $10 billion, alleging “news distortion.”

Attorneys for CBS had earlier said the suit was meritless. On the campaign trail, Trump promised retribution against his critics, who he labeled as enemies of the people.

But CBS isn't alone in the don't-stand-your-ground category. CNN pushed out one of the journalists who was critical of Trump's deceptions. Jim Acosta resigned after his program was moved to the midnight spot.

Jeff Bezos, who owns Amazon.com and The Washington Post, blocked his newspaper from endorsing Kamala Harris. A similar thing happened at the L.A. Times when owner Patrick Soon-Shiong killed an editorial endorsing the Democratic nominee.

As Walter Cronkite said: Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy.

Mormon Crickets Aren’t Crickets—Or Even Mormon
Hey Wilson, did you know the Mormon Cricket isn't a cricket? You can't count on anything these days. The Mormon Cricket is a katydid for cryin' out loud.

Not to worry, the Utah Legislature is going to fix it—maybe. See, some people think the term “Mormon Cricket” is a nasty slur. No Wilson, they are not going to rename it The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Cricket. They want something cooler.

It's the same predicament Utah's new NHL hockey team finds itself in. They went through this big rigamarole naming contest and came up with “Utah Hockey Club.” True Story. It would be like naming our NBA Jazz the “Utah Basketball Team.” You know what happens when you try not to offend anyone? It ends up sucking.

Here are some of the names Smart Bomb's readers suggested for the hockey team: Stormin' Mormons; Utah Missionaries; Skating Apostles; Ice Quorum; Salt Lake Salamanders; and Flying Saints. But don't hold your breath—the new name might not be any better.

So, back to our cricket … er uh, katydid. As everyone knows, the early pioneers' crops were being eaten by swarms of katydids until God sent seagulls to eat them. So, what's a cool name? Parley P. Pratt's Katydid; Kanab Katydid; Kusharum Katydid; Moroni's Katydid; Days of '47 Katydid. Nah, they all lack the pizazz of “Mormon Cricket.”

Oh well, what's in a name? A Mormon Cricket by any other name would smell ... as sweet?

OMB—Little House on the Prairie Reboot is Woke!
This is serious. A reboot of Little House on the Prairie could be woke. Megyn Kelly, a former Fox host, posted a warning on X regarding the popular 1970s dramatic TV series, about the Ingalls family in the 1870s.

“Netflix, if you woke-ify ‘Little House on the Prairie’ I will make it my singular mission to absolutely ruin your project,” Kelly said.

Woke-ify? That sounds worse than terrible. But wait, how do you woke-ify something? Is that when people are sensitive about each other's backgrounds and even have empathy for folks in a jam? Or is woke-ify something that only Democrats do? Republicans just won't stand for it.

In the end, “woke” is anything you don't like—for Republicans it's anything that's progressive because progressive is bad. But hold on, wasn't the original series kind of, you know, people helping each other and stuff like that?

Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls in the original show, said Little House was very woke.

“We tackled: racism, addiction, nativism, antisemitism, misogyny, rape, spousal abuse and every other ‘woke’ topic you can think of,” Gilbert said.

So if the reboot is anything like the original, then Megyn Kelly should get to work. Maybe President Trump can do something about it. He could force his minions in Congress to make “woke” illegal. But then they would have one less thing to complain about. Darn the luck.

Postscript—That's just about going to do it for another smashing week here at Smart Bomb, where we keep track of Sen. Mike Lee so you don't have to. After decades of claiming the president has too much power, he's more than happy to turn the whole show over to Donald Trump.

This is the latest: Lee wants pirates to go after Mexican cartels. We're not making this up. Here's what Lee said: The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war and “grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal,” which authorize private citizens to outfit private warships and sink or capture enemy vessels. Privateers get to keep part of the “bounty” they seize.

Why didn't we think of this earlier? Well, maybe it's because privateering creates situations that are “rife for abuse, overreaching and corruption,” which is the real reason the U.S. hasn’t used them since the War of 1812.

Moving on, this is normally the scariest time of the year, when Utah lawmakers tilt at windmills and beat up on the underprivileged. But with Trump on the warpath, our legislators aren't as conspicuous as usual. Sure, they're trying to punish the Utah Supreme Court, the teachers union and transgender people, and they want to make citizen initiatives practically impossible, because outside rabble rousers could trick the great unwashed into signing stupid petitions. But hey, Utahns keep electing the righteous brethren. What's a mother to do?

Well Wilson, too bad you and the guys in the band don't sail—you could've had a side gig as a privateer. But then again, your band isn't exactly swash buckling. Avast me hearties! Sorry, that won't work. It's more like yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum.

Anyhow, how about cooking up a little something for our would-be pirates and privateers. The MAGA crowd's gonna love it:

Yon's my privateer
See how trim she lies
To every man a lucky hand
And every man a prize
I live to ride the ocean
The mighty world around
To take a little plunder
And to hear the cannon sound
To lay with pretty women
To drink Madeira wine
To hear the rollers thunder
On a shore that isn't mine

Privateering we will go
Privateering, yo ho ho ho
“Privateering”—Mark Knopfler