MS NOW⁠95%

Thursday’s Mini-Report, 5.21.26 ⁠90%

By Steve Benen⁠95%

5/21/2026, 9:30:16 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 22 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Biased Writer Voice, and Framing Effect, with Unattributed Quote as the most egregious example at 84.9% saturation with 411 hits. Analysis detected 1,950 faulty-reasoning hits from 484 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 82.4% and a BS Rank of ⁠90% (2,395 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 89.10% of the article peer group.

Today’s edition of quick hits. 
* The first sentence of this excerpt matters, but so does the second: “The Ebola crisis in East Africa is rapidly escalating, with cases now confirmed in major population centers in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. 
Public health experts around the world and health workers on the ground say that the response has been significantly hindered by the near-absence so far of the United States, historically the leader in any major outbreak.” 
* An evolving fiasco: “A Republican revolt over the Trump administration’s proposed anti-weaponization compensation fund abruptly derailed the GOP’s agenda on Thursday, forcing congressional leaders to delay votes on a reconciliation package for immigration enforcement as lawmakers rebelled against the president’s $1.776 billion proposal — which one GOP senator derided as a ‘payout pot for punks.’” 
* A delayed execution: “Tennessee called off the execution of Tony Carruthers, convicted in connection with three 1994 murders, after staff members were unable to find a vein to administer lethal injection drugs. 
The State Department of Corrections said in a statement on Thursday that medical staff members were unable to find a ‘suitable vein’ to administer the drugs after a series of attempts.” 
* A heartening revolution the White House wants no part of: “Wind and solar combined generated more electricity than gas globally in April for ​the first month ever, data analyzed by ‌UK-based think tank Ember showed on Thursday.” 
* Conditions get worse for a sidelined task force: “The Trump administration has fired the two leaders of an influential health group that determines when insurance must provide free preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies, for millions of Americans. 
In letters dated May 11, Health Secretary Robert F. 
Kennedy Jr. notified the two doctors who chaired the U.S. 
Preventive Services Task Force that he was terminating their appointments immediately, before the end of their multiyear terms.” 
* Larry Bushart, a retired police officer spent 37 days behind bars, because his local sheriff didn’t like a social media message he wrote: “Tennessee officials will pay $835,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who was jailed for more than a month over a Facebook post he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.” 
* If you’ve seen some recent problems with the social media platform Bluesky, it’s apparently because it’s been targeted by Russian influence operations. 
* If Carmen Lineberger didn’t work for Jack Smith, would she have been charged? 
“A former federal prosecutor in Florida sent to her personal email account a special counsel report from the investigation into President Donald Trump’s hoarding of classified documents despite a judge’s order that it was to remain sealed, according to an indictment made public on Wednesday.” 
I’ll be away from my desk over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, but I’ll return to a normal publishing schedule on Tuesday, May 26. 
See you then. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 4.8%Steve Benen: 10.5%MS NOW: 7.5%Confirmation Bias4.8%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 1.6%MS NOW: 1.2%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 19.4%Steve Benen: 3.7%MS NOW: 3.7%Availability Heuristic19.4%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.9%MS NOW: 1.1%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 2.9%Steve Benen: 1.9%MS NOW: 1.3%Hindsight Bias2.9%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 3.1%MS NOW: 2.6%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 36.8%Steve Benen: 23.0%MS NOW: 15.4%Framing Effect36.8%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.4%MS NOW: 0.7%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.8%MS NOW: 0.9%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.1%MS NOW: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 7.9%Steve Benen: 1.3%MS NOW: 2.4%Optimism Bias7.9%This article: 4.8%Steve Benen: 3.1%MS NOW: 3.2%Pessimism Bias4.8%This article: 55.8%Steve Benen: 29.0%MS NOW: 19.2%Negativity Bias55.8%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 2.1%MS NOW: 2.4%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 4.7%MS NOW: 3.1%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.3%MS NOW: 0.3%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 3.4%MS NOW: 3.5%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 23.8%Steve Benen: 3.2%MS NOW: 2.5%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias23.8%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.9%MS NOW: 2.2%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 4.4%MS NOW: 1.8%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.1%MS NOW: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 1.0%Steve Benen: 2.9%MS NOW: 1.8%Recency Bias1.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.8%MS NOW: 0.6%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.2%MS NOW: 0.2%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 7.8%MS NOW: 4.7%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 11.6%Steve Benen: 1.6%MS NOW: 1.3%Straw Man11.6%This article: 16.7%Steve Benen: 6.3%MS NOW: 5.4%Appeal to Authority16.7%This article: 2.9%Steve Benen: 1.6%MS NOW: 2.2%False Dilemma2.9%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 1.7%MS NOW: 2.2%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.2%MS NOW: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 8.9%MS NOW: 8.1%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.7%MS NOW: 0.7%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 1.2%MS NOW: 0.9%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 19.4%Steve Benen: 11.3%MS NOW: 9.8%Appeal to Emotion19.4%This article: 2.9%Steve Benen: 3.5%MS NOW: 2.4%Begging the Question2.9%This article: 4.8%Steve Benen: 3.3%MS NOW: 3.2%Post Hoc (False Cause)4.8%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.8%MS NOW: 0.6%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 1.4%MS NOW: 0.9%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.0%MS NOW: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.2%MS NOW: 0.3%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 16.9%Steve Benen: 2.0%MS NOW: 2.6%Anecdotal16.9%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.1%MS NOW: 0.2%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 8.1%Steve Benen: 1.9%MS NOW: 1.7%Ambiguity (Equivocation)8.1%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.0%MS NOW: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.1%MS NOW: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.5%MS NOW: 0.3%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.2%MS NOW: 0.3%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 2.2%MS NOW: 1.3%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 84.9%Steve Benen: 3.8%MS NOW: 2.5%Unattributed Quote84.9%This article: 19.4%Steve Benen: 2.6%MS NOW: 1.5%Quote-first Misdirection19.4%This article: 37.4%Steve Benen: 22.9%MS NOW: 14.2%Biased Writer Voice37.4%This article: 9.3%Steve Benen: 1.4%MS NOW: 2.1%Indoctrination9.3%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 8.6%MS NOW: 5.3%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 11.6%Steve Benen: 0.6%MS NOW: 0.6%Politically Right Leaning Bias11.6%This article: 0.0%Steve Benen: 0.2%MS NOW: 0.4%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

484 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers22%attributed speech378writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 3 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 5 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 38 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 36 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 56 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 33 words • 100.0% coverageState Department of Corrections • 31 words • 100.0% coverageEmber • 38 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 39 words • 100.0% coverageRobert F. Kennedy Jr. • 9 words • 100.0% coverageRobert F. Kennedy Jr. • 10 words • 100.0% coverageRobert F. Kennedy Jr. • 18 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 59 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 23 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 45 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 24 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 3 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Ember

100%flagged-word coverage
38 attributed words36% of attributed speech92% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Unattributed Quote+19.3 ptsWriter: 80.7%Ember: 100.0%100.0%Biased Writer Voice-47.9 ptsWriter: 47.9%Ember: 0.0%0.0%Quote-first Misdirection-24.9 ptsWriter: 24.9%Ember: 0.0%0.0%Politically Right Leaning -14.8 ptsWriter: 14.8%Ember: 0.0%0.0%Indoctrination-11.9 ptsWriter: 11.9%Ember: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…

Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.