CNN Knocks Down Left Wing of Its House
Report: CNN chief told the outlet to lay off the destruction of the East Wing because who cares
Oct. 27: CNN chief does to network’s journalistic integrity what Trump did to East Wing’s structural integrity … EXCLUSIVE: Former Overstock CEO bankrolling Trump’s alternate intel on Venezuela … Millions of Americans to lose food aid while Trump pours billions into Argentina … Right-wing billionaire cuts out middle man by paying military salaries directly, gulp …
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Sir Mark Thompson, editor-in-chief of CNN, president and CEO of CNN Worldwide, former president and CEO of the New York Times, former director-general of the BBC, and chairman of the board of Ancestry.com for some reason, reportedly thinks that Americans just aren’t that interested in the president of the United States destroying roughly one third of the White House roughly.
According to the Status newsletter, two people with knowledge of the events say that Thompson told the CNN Thursday morning editorial meeting last week to lighten up on the flattening down of the historic American landmark. CNN denies it, but I seem to recall hearing that they’re fake news and, according to Status, Thompson told his team that CNN’s viewer(s) weren’t all that interested.
And, hey, I get it. Sure, it’s an historic building and a historic loss and — oh yeah, a crime — but it doesn’t really affect most people’s material lives. So I can understand why CNN shifted its focus to the 3,900 people evicted from their own executive residence every day or the three-quarters of a million people who don’t have any wing to sleep in on any given night and curl up on an oval park bench instead.
What’s that? CNN is not shifting its focus to people’s material needs or the half-century of systemic rule-rewriting that’s demolishing both wings of the middle class and the poor?
It’s true. Sorry, Newsfuckers, but capitalism demands that CNN focus on what the people are really interested in, so the Invisible Hand is turning the page from the White House destruction to this kind of substantive journalism instead…
Hey, y’know what’s the second-most interesting 1812 thing to Americans? The War of! Which included British forebears of Sir Mark destroying the White House, according to Ancestry.com.
In fact, those two CNN stories this morning are right up at the top of CNN’s home page, where the people demanded them (right-hand column).
Only after you scroll down like a patriot will you find … below an ad for dog DNA tests that aren’t even Ancestry.com … a token reference to one-third of one-third of America’s three branches of government being destroyed illegally by a known criminal prohibited by the Constitution from holding office because he’s an insurrectionist (middle column, bottom):
Not to engage in ethnic stereotyping, but of course a Brit thinks no one cares about losing ⅓ of the White House. His country did worse the last time and we’re still friends. Hell, American voters already made clear Trump could demolish a woman’s bodily autonomy so what’s one fucking building?
And far be it from TFN to question the journalism acumen of a news veteran who managed to keep the New York Times thriving and profitable with nothing more than addictive word games. But is it possible there’s a non-journalism reason for ignoring an historic act of destruction that we would #NeverForget if Zohran Mamdani did it?
Turns out, the night before that editorial meeting, Thompson had another meeting. Guess where. One hint: Like most homes, it lacks an East Wing.
Thompson was at the remaining White House to try to make sure the administration would provide guests for CNN’s new streaming service. Thompson reportedly wants to have a good relationship with the White House, a thing journalists aren’t supposed to care about.
Jake Tapper, for instance, wants an interview with Trump because definitely his magic questions will somehow reveal something Trump hasn’t already bragged about publicly like murdering people in the Caribbean or destroying ⅓ of the White House.
So, no surprise if Tapper’s boss really did tell his team to pay no attention to the man behind the hurtin’.
But I want to note that the corporate-media fetish for “access” has zero correlation with success, financially, journalistically, or even journalish-ically. Real reporters don’t need press conferences or interviews. Let alone four-minute on-air interviews. That’s theater. And it’s toxic to real journalism and public discourse.
Plus, the minusing of CNN’s credibility and independence is unfolding, the way the East Wing unfolded, as CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD, created by the merger of Discovery, Inc., and brothers Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack Warner) is trying to goose the price for selling itself off literally the way it’s now selling itself out metaphorically.
Trump is rooting for Paramount Skydance to buy WBD. Paramount Skydance is run by nepo baby David Ellison, who also runs CBS and is himself run by father Larry Ellison, who also runs Oracle.
The good news is none of this matters the minute Democratic politicians stop giving a shit about CNN the way viewers did long ago and start paying attention to alternative news outlets that are growing every day because they focus on concrete issues (literally and otherwise) that affect people’s lives.
MORE MEDIA ENSHITTIFICATION A week or so ago (seriously, what is time?) TFN recommended an epic John Oliver segment deconstructing the journalishism of CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss’s outlet The Free Press, now a part of CBS or something.
One memorable chapter of Oliver’s journey was the absolutely risible miserable attempt at whatabouting child starvation in Gaza. It wasn’t just the moral bankruptcy, it was the sheer howling incompetence of the journalisht in question, Olivia Reingold. It was embarrassing. Like, worst kid at the talent show cringe².
So, of course, the Washington Post wants a piece of that magic. Semafor reports that owner Jeff Bezos signed off on trying to recruit Reingold to create opinion content. Which is what she does.
Top Jan. 6 Cheerleader Funding Trump’s Venezuela Intel
EXCLUSIVE Former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne has burned through most of his fortune to create a massive overstock of shitty Venezuela intelligence, according to a new report from — oh, hey, it’s you and me!
That’s right, over on the reader-supported Jonathan Larsen Substack on Saturday, we reported that Byrne has been bankrolling the team of amateur sleuths digging up evidence to unmask the real truth behind Tren de Aragua and the 2020 presidential election. The team was caught chasing the culprits in this exclusive video:
As the story chronicles, Byrne over the summer bragged that one of the team leaders spoon-fed their unintelligible intel to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — and she turned right around and echoed it at the April 10, 2025, cabinet meeting. The story includes video clips from both Byrne and Gabbard.
The U.S. is continuing to increase its military intimidation in the waters off Venezuela. So far, the U.S. military has murdered at least 43 people in ten strikes against boats in the Caribbean and Pacific with no warning and no chance to surrender.
“I would call them extrajudicial killings,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who would not call them murders, on Sunday.
CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE Veteran national-security reporter and story-breaker Seth Hettena — who joined me for a Venezuela live chat earlier this month — flagged my new reporting last night:
I wanted to share this primarily so that you take a moment to appreciate the very real results of your support. You’re funding and sharing journalism that’s credible and getting seen where it matters. Seth is a former Associated Press reporter and has written for lots of the big boys.
The other reason I wanted to share Seth’s note is the irony of it. Because on at least two key points of the story — Byrne’s involvement and new fractures in his team — Seth was actually first. Which I knew because I read Seth’s exclusive reporting on his own Substack and recommend you do the same.
THE KEYSTONE KORPS Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lost another plane and helicopter on Sunday, at least this time not flying either one of them into a passenger jet over the Potomac.
The crew were all fine, but a Sea Hawk helicopter and Super Hornet fighter jet based on the same aircraft carrier both ended up in the South China Sea within half an hour.
Trump is visiting the region and said that the cause of both crashes could be “bad fuel.” An official investigation is now under way to determine the cause of both as “bad fuel.”
A Potpourri of Shutdown/Economy Tidbits to Chew On Since Food Aid Is Going Away
For the first time in U.S. history, thanks to the Republican Party, the day after Halloween will be scarier than Halloween itself. It’s not the cleanup. In fact, Americans will have less candy and toilet paper thanks to the real reason Nov. 1 will be scarier: a new wave of shutdown consequences is hitting.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) last week said that “Things are about to get worse,” a nostalgic call-back to Pres. Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign theme. Promises kept!
Here’s a look at some of the worse that things are about to get…
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it will not use its $5 billion slush fund to provide food relief starting Saturday, when the regular funds run out. The fund was created for natural disasters, and the USDA says Democrats refusing to vote for a Republican spending bill — because Republicans refuse to compromise — doesn’t count. An estimated 42 million people rely on food stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), to buy food like overpriced beef and eggs. Two thirds of SNAP families have kids.
Feeding America is helping people find food and helping other people find ways to help people find food. Donating. Volunteering. Eating. All nourishing.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth shares the three congressional districts getting the biggest premium hikes if Republicans don’t agree to end the shutdown by extending Obamacare subsidies:
Wyoming (which gets only one district because so few people want to live in a vast expanse of Republicanism): +693%
West Virginia’s first congressional district: +654%
West Virginia’s second congressional district: +599%
Remember: Both parties are refusing to end the shutdown. What matters is their reason. The Republican reason is to not save Wyoming and West Virginia.
Obamacare open enrollment begins Saturday, with all the new premium hikes hitting in the absence of those subsidies getting extended.
Thousands of federal workers will miss their first paycheck this week.
Head Start’s early-childhood programs — health, nutrition, and education for 800,000 kids under six — are about to run out of money because not one of those little fuckers voted for Argentina’s new legislature.
Airline travel will see growing problems due to unpaid screeners and air-traffic controllers not showing up because they’re making ends meet by picking up ride-share work to take you to the airport where your flight will be canceled.
A program subsidizing air travel to rural communities is about to run out of money.
Even the sacred U.S. military could run out of money to pay its people if Trump doesn’t come up with another illegal way of paying them like he has by stealing from other military allocations or literally taking $130 million from a right-wing donor (Trump donor and nepo-billionaire Timothy Mellon) because who doesn’t want the armed services paid directly by an oligarch? Of course, if the troops do miss a paycheck, I sure hope they don’t do anything nutty like stage a coup. (I actually mean that, although I feel like I don’t.)
Unrelated, but kinda related given how much more expensive everything’s becoming, the Social Security Administration just announced how much it’ll increase benefits next year to account for Trumpflation: 2.8%. Because prices this year definitely only rose 2.8%. Weirdly enough, a survey last month of people who’ve survived half a century found that 77% considered an increase of 3% not enough. That included three out of four Republicans. And one analyst told USA Today (yes, we’re all surprised it still exists) that Trump’s Medicare hikes could eat up the entire Social Security cost-of-living bump, leaving recipients eating less food and more crow for having voted for Trump.
Trump Uncowed by Soaring Beef Prices
Pres. Donald Trump on Saturday celebrated rising beef prices, saying “The ranchers for the first time in years have made some money,” and “[T]he ranchers are very happy because for many years they suffered.”
This came after last week telling ranchers they don’t understand that prices rose because he steered them higher with his tariffs, which is the opposite of what he says when defending his tariffs. “It would be nice if they would understand that, but they also have to get their prices down, because the consumer is a very big factor in my thinking, also!”
In other words, ranchers should be thrilled about the high prices Trump caused and also undo them. Trump is also a very big factor in trying to undo them, also. And that’s what’s really pissing off the ranchers.
Trump is planning to purchase 80,000 metric tons of beef, roughly the equivalent of the population of Boise, from Argentina, which is not America but sure seems to be first. (Argentina’s libertarian party won Sunday’s elections, a prerequisite for Trump’s promise to hand that country a $40 billion lifeline that won’t be used to buy Argentinian beef for hungry American kids.)
A Trump source stupid enough to remind people about the high egg prices under Trump told Politico, “It’s kind of like eggs, part two.” Meaning, pissing off ranchers by lowering prices is better than pissing off everyone with higher prices.
Egg prices spiked in large part due to bad fuel, I mean bird flu. The political reality, though, is that egg prices are still only 1.3% lower than they were a year ago, during The Bidenpocalypse. And critics are concerned that Eggs, Part Three will involve gratuitous celebrity cameos and sight gags.
As with gas — the kind in your car, not the kind beef gives you — high prices are actually really good for the planet. The fewer cows humans consume, the less land we strip to feed them and the fewer farts we get from both species.
The price of beef is now 14% higher than when Trump took office. Of course, no one’s talking about the real reason for that: Bad fuel.
Recommended Reading
I’m a Cory Doctorow fan. (He coined “enshittification.”) He has a new interview up with Vox, which is apparently still around despite its own, um, there’s gotta be a word for it…
TCB
EXCUSES I have four good reasons TFN is short and late today:
Covid vaccine still keeping me down … like The Man.
Couldn’t get to sleep.
Didn’t work on TFN yesterday because I spent the day on my next exposé about Trump’s Venezuela intel, which you know will be a big deal because I used the accent and everything, and, of course,
Bad fuel.
I apologize and hope to get back on track ASAP, with Eggs, Part IV.
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NEWSFUCKING IN THE WILD I will not be on The Nicole Sandler Show at 3:30pm eastern, for free, today, but I will be back on subsequent Mondays, right here.
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Go get ‘em, kids! Remember, there’s a term for all the crap that journalisht corporate media churn out. It’s bad fuel!
TFN creator and writer Jonathan Larsen co-created Up w/ Chris Hayes and wrote for Countdown with Keith Olbermann at MSNBC, helped launch CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° and Air America Radio, and has also worked at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Young Turks.
Jon, whatever time you submitted your copy and no matter the length, we are thankful.
this stuff makes my blood boil, despicable REPUB liars...
"Head Start’s early-childhood programs — health, nutrition, and education for 800,000 kids under six — are about to run out of money because not one of those little fuckers voted for Argentina’s new legislature."