MAGA Takeover of CNN Looks Much More Likely – The Friday AM Quickie 2/27/26
I really don't suggest you watch it, but in a video far-right crank Candance Owens "published Wednesday, she read aloud from a lengthy letter that suggested Erika Kirk might be a psychopath, before pivoting to a detailed examination of her family tree." The Daily Wire will never be able to compete with that kind of entertainment content. I'm off, Whitney's back Monday. - Corey
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THE BIG NEWS
Trump May Soon Get to Fire CNN Journalists He Doesn't Like
If you've followed the media news in this newsletter, you know that both Netflix and Paramount Skydance have been trying to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, HBO, and many other household names. Paramount is owned by Donald Trump's friend and donor, Larry Ellison, who made his billions selling database software to the CIA through his tech company, Oracle. Ellison recently bought CBS and installed a right-wing propagandist, Bari Weiss, as editor-in-chief of the network's news operations, which led to an immediate dumbing down of the product; the new corporate overlords also imposed outrageous censorship over The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, going so far as to ban the comedian from interviewing Democratic candidates for office.
Now the MAGA straightjacket of censorship and lies is all set to lock up CNN, one of the last independent cable news networks that still employs real journalists to dig up important information and share it with the public. Netflix yesterday abruptly abandoned its bid for Warner Bros., paving the way for Paramount to complete its takeover. As CNN reports, the announcement came after Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos held meetings at the White House, where he was seen leaving "with a glum look on his face."
"What did Trump officials tell the Netflix CEO today at the White House?" Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren asks, calling the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger "an antitrust disaster" and adding that the deal "looks like crony capitalism with the President corrupting the merger process in favor of the billionaire Ellison family."
CNN Worldwide CEO and chairman Mark Thompson scolded staff in a memo yesterday, writing, "I'd suggest that you don't jump to conclusions about the future until we know more." But CNN journalists can see the writing on the wall. "NO ONE here wants David Ellison OR Bari Weiss as a boss. That's the mood," one on-air personality tells Zeteo's Justin Baragona. "The feeling is this is very very bad for journalism and our ability to be independent."
David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect and a regular MR guest, quotes California Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta as saying the merger "is not a done deal. These two Hollywood titans have not cleared regulatory scrutiny — the California Department of Justice has an open investigation, and we intend to be vigorous in our review."
Solidarity with CNN journalists – and endless thanks, readers, for your support.
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
Iran-US Talks Produce No Deal, But May Continue Next Week
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi says "good progress" was made at nuclear talks between his country and Trump regime officials in Geneva, Switzerland yesterday – but the American side, represented by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, isn't saying anything. According to the New York Times, the Trump regime is demanding "a permanent ban on all nuclear production, with no enrichment taking place on Iranian soil," which Iran is unlikely to agree to, even with a US armada menacing its borders.
"The idea that we’re going to be in a Middle Eastern war for years with no end in sight — there is no chance that will happen," Vice Bootlicker JD Vance told the Washington Post yesterday. Don't be fooled, though, because Vance says military strikes are still on the table. Further talks between the US and Iran are supposed to be held in Vienna, Austria, next week, Al Jazeera reports. But Congress is set to vote on restraining Trump from making war on Iran on Tuesday, so, per the Times, the regime's war hawks may try to make their move before then.
Meanwhile, Pakistan began bombing Kabul, Afghanistan, and Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Asif says "open war" between the two countries is underway.
The Clampdown: Nearly Blind Rohingya Refugee Left for Dead in Buffalo Cold By Border Patrol
- 'One Way or Another, ICE Will Comply': Chief Federal Judge in Minnesota Threatens Regime Officials With Contempt "The mismanagement of Minneapolis lost us the narrative, and the dominos are falling as a result," one anonymous regime official says of the growing bipartisan resistance to Homeland Security's plan to build dozens of concentration camps in warehouses across the country. via the Minnesota Star-Tribune, the New York Times, Politico, and Sahan Journal.
- Airspace Near El Paso Closed Again as Military and Border Patrol Continue to Play With Anti-Drone Laser Meanwhile in New Jersey, an ICE chase caused a multi-vehicle crash that included a vehicle carrying three children, prompting Newark Mayor Ras Baraka to appeal to federal authorities to follow local laws and "exercise common sense." via the Associated Press, the Newark Star-Ledger, and the New York Times.
- ICE Agents Made Up a Story About a Missing Child to Access Columbia University Dorms and Kidnap Student Student Elmina Aghayeva, originally from Azerbaijan, was later released after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani personally lobbied Donald Trump about her case. via NBC News, the New York Times, and HuffPost.
- Denver Mayor Orders Local Cops to Detain ICE Agents Using Excessive Force Against Protesters "This executive order makes it clear that we will protect all of our residents, and the federal agents are expected to follow local laws and public safety regulations," said Police Chief Ron Thomas, who stood beside Mayor Mike Johnston during the announcement of the executive order. via the Denver Post, Politico, and NBC News.
QUICKEST QUICKIES
- MAGA Activists Are Prepping 2020 Election Lies That Trump Could Use to Declare Emergency Control Over This Year's Vote The activists claim they're coordinating with the White House by drafting a 17-page executive order "that claims China interfered in the 2020 election as a basis to declare a national emergency that would unlock extraordinary presidential power over voting." via the Washington Post.
- Was the Quixotic Florida Speedboat Assault on Cuba a Communist Intelligence Trap for Right-Wing Exiles? That's what many Cuban exiles in Florida believe; also, the Cuban government erroneously listed an exiled activist as being on the paramilitaries' speedboat when he was in fact at home in Miami, "suggest[ing] that government agents could have known about the operation in advance." via the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, and Politico.
- Mamdani Meets With Trump Again, This Time Bearing Gifts New York City's charming leftist mayor brought to the White House a fake New York Daily News front page "featuring a flattering photo of the president and the blaring headline 'Trump to City: Let's Build.'" via the New York Times and Gothamist.
- Brooklyn Court Proceedings Detail Yet Another Failed Plot to Kill Trump Asif Merchant, 47, originally from Pakistan and with ties to Iran, faces life in prison for an alleged murder-for-hire scheme that included at least one FBI confidential informant. via the New York Daily News, the Washington Post, and Courthouse News Service.
SOME NUMBER
180,000
That's the minimum number of United States citizens who voluntarily migrated to another country last year, according to the Wall Street Journal. Record numbers of Americans are leaving the country in hopes of finding a better life abroad amid rising fascism, out-of-control living costs, a failed healthcare system, mass shootings, and other daily burdens.
ON THE SHOW TODAY
2/27: Happy Friday! Sam and Emma will be in studio; the guest will be Heather 'Digby' Parton, contributor to Salon and publisher of the Hullabaloo blog.
DON'T MISS MR CLIPS
Republicans Want to Restrict Women From the Midterm Elections
It's crazy how this story is flying under the radar.
Can the US Catch Up to China's Electric Energy?
Emma interviews Assaad Razzouki, host of the Angry Clean Energy Guy podcast and CEO of Gurin Energy.
PARTING WORDS
"If this Committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein's trafficking crimes, it would not rely on press gaggles to get answers from our current president on his involvement; it would ask him directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files. ...
"What is being held back? Who is being protected? And why the cover-up?"
-- Hillary Clinton, in her public opening statement released before her closed-door testimony to the Republican-led House Oversight Committee yesterday about her family's relationship to the late elite sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Clinton testified repeatedly that she never met Epstein, "had no idea" about his criminal activities, and only knew his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell "casually as an acquaintance." To her point, the Justice Department is reviewing if publicly released files on Epstein that mention Donald Trump were wrongly withheld, the Washington Post reports. Meanwhile, the head of the World Economic Forum, Borge Brende, resigned following an investigation into his ties with Epstein.
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