We’ve entered a new era of malakatude. Demon AI is infesting social media with fakes. It makes it difficult to discern what is real and what is a fugazi. That’s one reason why there hasn’t been a malaka of the week post since last November. The other is that malakatude involves incompetent schmuckery not violent malevolence. Team MAGA specializes in the latter.
I am reasonably sure that this story is real, not a fake. And that is why CBS News is malaka of the week.
New: CBS News seems to be preparing a new segment called "Whiskey Fridays with Tony Dokoupil," per sources.Some staff were only first made aware of it as they encountered CBS testing out set designs of a faux-stocked bar in the newsroom, featuring a large sponsor banner for Jack Daniels.
— Prem Thakker ツ (@premthakker.bsky.social) 2026-01-13T21:20:29.127Z
Thakker is not just some skeet talker, he’s a reporter for Zeteo, a news organization started by Mehdi Hassan after his firing by MSNBC. I don’t always agree with Mehdi, but I respect him.
This is CBS News’ second turn in the malakatude barrel. The first came in 2022 when they hired former Trump henchman Mick Mulvaney as a political commentator at the network where Eric Sevareid and Bill Moyers were among those who handled that job in the past. That’s small beer next to the changes made by Jamie O’s bête noire, Bari Weiss.
I originally crowned Tony Dokoupuli with the malakatude crown of thorns. Then I realized I’d have to watch his Trump interview and decided to change targets. Extended doses of the Kaiser of Chaos are bad for my blood pressure. Fortunately, Frem is also a shit Thakker who wrote a piece entitled Toady Dokoupil.
Why do I believe that Whiskey Fridays are a thing? Dokoupil comes from morning news world where fluff is everything and this sort of segment is commonplace. It doesn’t matter that I like the product on the banner, what matters is that the guy who’s the successor to Cronkite, Rather, Schieffer, and other reputable journalists is an amiable lightweight who’s soft on MAGA.
I’ve been reluctant to comment on the decline of CBS News because I stopped watching network news years ago. But I still have fond memories of Cronkite, Rather, and their rivals at NBC and ABC such as Brinkley, Brokaw, Chancellor, and Jennings. It pains me to see the Tiffany Network become the Dollar Store of network news. And that is why CBS News is malaka of the week.
The last word goes to Jimmie Vaughan: