Here’s a pop quiz: if you were to report on a horrific tragedy—say, a natural gas explosion at a nursing home that killed two and injured 20, likely due to the negligence of the people who run the facility—how would you frame the story?
Would it be, perhaps, a focus on the victims living and dead, and a dive into the potential causes, including negligence and a lack of sufficient regulation, or perhaps…
The whole story, after the “just the facts” paragraphs about the accident and the status of the ongoing investigation, is nothing more than a tribute to the Kenyan nurse and an advertisement for immigration.
The dead patient is unmentioned.
— Bill Hickey (@Freesmith) December 26, 2025
…on the fact that one of the victims happened not to have been born in the United States?
Yes, the latter is by far the most important aspect of the story.
Muthoni Nduthu had one last nursing shift at the Bristol Health and Rehab Center in eastern Pennsylvania before she and her family planned to hit the road on Christmas Eve to spend the holidays with relatives in North Carolina.
Instead, her stunned family gathered on Wednesday to mourn Ms. Nduthu, 52, who was killed, along with a female resident of the nursing home, when two explosions tore through the building in Bristol Township, Pa., on Tuesday afternoon, injuring 20 people and turning the 120-resident facility into a scene of fiery chaos.
On Wednesday, officials in Bucks County, Pa., outside Philadelphia, said they had yet to determine what had caused the blasts, which occurred after PECO, a regional energy company, responded to reports of a gas smell at the nursing home at about 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
Nineteen people hurt in the blasts remained hospitalized on Wednesday afternoon, one of them in critical condition. Officials said that nobody was still missing in the rubble. They said heavy machines would start to excavate sections of collapsed walls and roofs to give investigators access to determine what caused the blasts.
That, my friends, is the lede. And the photo accompanying the story is of…Ms. Nduthu.
The Times literally does not name any other victims. “Ms. Nduthu, 52, who was killed, along with a female resident of the nursing home,” Two dead, 20 injured, one named victim, around whom the story is framed.
Apparently, everybody else involved was a mere background character to the only important person involved, and she is only important because she was not born in the United States. If you are an immigrant, you matter as a person; if you are not, then, well, you don’t bear mentioning.
I’m not kidding about that. After recounting the facts of the blast that are known so far, as well as the history of citations for poor practices at the facility, the Times reporters go straight back to Ms. Nduthu as the truly important focus.
A spokesman for Saber Healthcare Group, which is affiliated with the facility, said Bristol Health “personnel promptly reported a gas smell” to the power company. The spokesman, Gregory Nicoluzakis, added, “We do not currently know the cause of the fire, nor are we sure of the extent of its damage. We continue to work with local agencies and health care partners. Information remains forthcoming.”
Ms. Nduthu’s oldest son, Clinton Ndegwa, said he could not process that his mother had died in the explosions.
He said his mother had been excited for the trip to see family in North Carolina over Christmas and had been planning to cook a Kenyan feast featuring dishes such as beef pilau or pillowy pastries called mahamri.
Yes, we need to know about the fine foods that Nduthu will no longer be able to enjoy, including beef pilau and pillowy pastries called mahamri.
Imagine being left uninformed about the potential menu of a holiday meal for the one victim who matters.
“We’re immigrant kids, first generation,” Mr. Ndegwa said. “She worked to try to provide for her family. She liked serving people. She took pride in that.”
On Tuesday, he said one of his younger brothers called him to say there had been an explosion at Bristol Health, and that their mother was not answering her phone.
Mr. Ndegwa said he and his family waited at a nearby hospital all evening, hoping she had been taken to a different hospital or would still be found alive in the wreckage. They learned around 8:30 p.m. that Ms. Nduthu had died. Mr. Ndegwa said the family has not been able to claim her body because of the ongoing investigation into the blast.
On Wednesday afternoon, Ms. Nduthu’s family and friends gathered on the front lawn of her home, tucked in a quiet corner of Bristol near a church and an auto body shop, to share memories of her.
It goes on and on, all about Nduthu.
Of course her life matters, and I don’t resent that she gets her due; but for God’s sake, she is the ONLY one who gets her due (and more), and the only named victim. There is more in this story about her friends, family, and the menu of food she will not enjoy than about the actual explosion and its cause.
“She told us to go to school, get jobs,” he said. “Life won’t be easy, but life will be much better,” he said his mother advised.
Mr. Ndegwa said his mother had also taken pride in how she looked and dressed, so for Christmas this year, he had bought her a Coach bag. He did not have a chance to give it to her.
Literally, more words are spilled over these details than the actual news. More words were spilled over a Coach bag than in describing how many people were injured. 2 people were dead, 20 were injured. Let’s tell you about the really important thing: an immigrant didn’t get to enjoy her Coach bag.
This is the power of framing. How a story is framed is supposed to determine what you think about and how you think about it. The facts are only a hook for telling you what really matters, and in this case it is this one person, and only because we are only supposed to care about her because she is an immigrant.
No Americans matter at all.
H/T to my Twitchy colleague Sam J.
