Politico White House Correspondent Glenn Thrush and Breitbart News‘ Editor John Nolte didn’t waste much time this morning before trading barbs. It began with Nolte tweeting a link to a Breitbart story with the headline “Politico’s Thrush Politicizes Oklahoma Tornado: ‘Global Warming Denier.’”

‘Global Warming Denier’: Politico’s Thrush Politicizes Oklahoma Tornadoshar.es/ZJxCY via @breitbartnews

— John Nolte(@NolteNC) May 21, 2013

A little more than an hour later, Thrush fired back.

Great to have qualified professionals such as @noltenc to determine the parameters of objective journalism- and what topics are off-limits

— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) May 21, 2013

Nolte responded with a not-so-subtle jab at Thrush.

Happy to help, and feel free to consult me in advance if the urge comes again to use tragedy to advance your partisan agenda. @glennthrush

— John Nolte(@NolteNC) May 21, 2013

After the exchange, Thrush had a suggestion for Nolte and no, it wasn’t to dislodge his head from his asshole. Read more

Another kind of ‘House’ wins vote — Patrick Gavin of Politico writes about a new Amazon.com TV series called “Alpha House” that will begin shooting this year in New York City and Washington. The show is a comedy about four Republican senators living as roommates and stars John Goodman, Clark Johnson, Mark Consuelos and Matt Mallow. The show was part of an Amazon contest that featured 14 pilots that viewers voted on to choose which ones would be made into a full season.

DOJ scandal deepens — WaPo’s Erik Wemple further examines the DOJ scandal today in a piece on Fox News host Shepard Smith’s statement that the Justice Department gained access to the news organization’s servers and took information from them. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said in a statement that DOJ is not identifying the “news organization or the reporter involved in the Stephen Kim investigation.”

Reporter’s computer compromised — Also on Politico today, Dylan Byers reports CBS News investigative reporter Sheryl Attkisson’s computer was compromised. Attkisson said she’s been looking into the intrusion for months but is “not prepared to make an allegation against a specific entity today.” The reporter said suspicious activity was first seen in Feb. 2011 while she was reporting on the Fast and Furious scandal and the White House’s green energy spending.

House and Senate Leadership Editor and White House Correspondent?

A tall order, but this is what CQ Roll Call is doing with White House Correspondent Steven Dennis. They’re promoting him to Leadership Editor and making him perform his regular White House duties.

Does he plan on sleeping?

Dennis will report to Deputy Editor Emily Pierce. He started at CQ eight years ago and moved over to Roll Call in 2007. In 2011 he became a Senate reporter and later that year was promoted to White House Correspondent.

“Roll Call has always been known for its incisive coverage of congressional leadership, and I am thrilled to take on this new challenge leading our team while continuing to cover the White House,” Dennis said in a release.

In 2006, WaPo’s Gene Weingarten wrote a Pulitzer-Prize winning profile of a children’s performer known as “The Great Zucchini.”Weingarten described a brilliant, but flawed performer. Throughout the piece, Gene convinced us that Zucchini is masterful in the way that he entertains children and wows parents with his comedy/slapstick routine. We also learn that, for all the Zucchini’s successes, he couldn’t manage his money and his personal life was a disaster. In the piece, Gene tells us what the Zucchini has planned for the future. “His business plan? To become the children’s entertainer to the stars, a star in his own right who is flown first class to Beverly Hills, to do parties at $5,000 a pop for Angelina Jolie’s kids, or Britney’s.”

So, how’s he doing? Read more

While many journalists rallied around FNC’s Washington Correspondent James Rosen after news broke that his emails and phone records had been subpoenaed by the Department of Justice, Reuters‘ media columnist Jack Shafer went a different route. He wrote a column criticizing Rosen’s newsgathering style.

In a blog post headlined “What was James Rosen Thinking?” Shafer asserts that Rosen could have kept his sources in the federal government secret had he been more… secretive.

Shafer writes:

Rosen’s journalistic technique, if the Post story is accurate, leaves much to be desired. He would have been less conspicuous had he walked into the State Department wearing a sandwich board lettered with his intentions to obtain classified information and then blasted an air horn to further alert authorities to his business. For example, one data point investigators used to connect Rosen with his alleged source, Kim, was the visitor’s badge the reporter wore when calling on the State Department offices. According to security records, Rosen and his source left the building within one minute of each other and then returned only several minutes apart inside the half-hour. A few hours later that day (June 11, 2009), Rosen’s secret-busting story was published.

Even teenagers practice better tradecraft than this when deceiving parents.

Shafer goes on to offer tips on what “a smart reporter” would do. Read more

Looks like whoever put together Politico‘s print version of today’s paper, found in area Starbucks, took a few too many Ambien. Check out the lead headline. Above the fold.

Washington mommy bloggers watch out, there may soon be a new sheriff in town.

Washington Business Journal is reporting that Washingtonian‘s parent company, Washingtonian Media, is adding a new magazine for area moms. The straightforward name — Washingtonian Mom — will have Washingtonian‘s fashion editor Kate Bennett at the helm.

The new mag will be published quarterly.

Asked what the feel of the new publication will be, Bennett explained to FishbowlDC, “I think we just saw a need in the region for a slightly higher-end publication that speaks directly to moms who are savvy and insightful. The content will run the gamut from fashion and beauty, to lifestyle, health and wellness, food, newest/latest/greatest places to go and things to do. We’ll also include profiles of local moms, thoughtful first-person essays and home and living. We’ve been thrilled with the positive feedback we’ve received since we started talking about this new publication.”

As for the look, it’ll be “slightly oversized, thicker paper, more in line with our Washingtonian Bride & Groom publication,” said Bennett. “We’re working with the award-winning firm Design Army on the overall design of the premiere issue.”

Read the full story.

Media people receive vast amounts of emails everyday. Many are useless story pitches and press releases from undiscriminating publicists. Daily Caller Associate Editor Christopher Bedford is the type to sometimes reply to those emails, even if it’s just to send “a Dick pic.”

The Raw Story reported Monday on what has become a seriously entertaining, if undoubtedly immature, conflict between The DC and The Secular Coalition for America, a pro-atheist non-profit based in Washington. When Bedford has received past emails from SCA’s spokeswoman Lauren Anderson Youngblood, he has responded to them with smart-ass comments, such as “It’s nice out. Take a day off from hating God, kids and babies” and “Here’s a Dick pic,” with a photo of former Vice President Dick Cheney attached.

“Imagine this,” Beford told FishbowlDC, “A conservative columnist is just trying to cut out of town early on a Friday afternoon to enjoy the sunshine and he receives an unsolicited pro-abortion email touting science as god. Skipping over thinking a sunny Friday afternoon is a good time to send a press release, one single ounce of research on her end (beyond fishing my email out of somewhere) would have shown that I’m completely uninterested in their dumbass opinions.”

SCA responded to Bedford’s emails by…

Read more

The death toll from Monday’s tragic twister in Oklahoma has been downsized this morning from 51 to closer to 24, according to reports from multiple local and national news organizations.

Previous reports of the death toll differed between 51 and 91, while some news organizations were reporting more than 100 casualties, causing confusion over the actual figure.

The latest reports from the Oklahoma medical examiner’s office Monday showed 51 deaths caused by the twister, up from the 37 fatalities reported earlier. The office’s spokeswoman Amy Elliott also said Monday in a statement sent to various news outlets that there were 40 more possible deaths that had not been confirmed, 20 of which were expected to be children.

This morning’s revised medical examiner’s report, which was first reported by Reuters shortly after 9 a.m. ET, said there were 24 confirmed casualties, seven of which were children. The report also said all but three of the bodies have been positively identified and were being returned to their families.

Another report from the medical examiner’s office just after 11 this morning confirmed the 24 fatalities, but said that included nine children instead of seven, as reported this morning.

Elliot said original reports of the death toll were high due to chaos after the storm and downed phone lines, which led to double-reporting of some of the casualties.

Photo credit: CBS News

The FADER prides itself on being first on the scene when it comes to up-and-coming artists and music trends. Among the musicians who got their first mag covers at The FADER include Kanye West, MIA, The Strokes, Drake, Bon Iver, Frank Ocean and more. The magazine also holds the distinction of being the first publication to be distributed as a PDF through iTunes.

“We’re always interested in hearing more ideas from outside of our immediate field of vision. If you live outside of New York City and something unusual is happening local to you, that is what’s exciting,” said editor-in-chief Matthew Schnipper. “We’re interested in what we wouldn’t know about otherwise.”

For more, read How To Pitch: The FADER.

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