Every now and then you hear something on cable news that really gets your attention: Today, it was @nicollewallace.bsky.social listing all the veteran FBI agents available to opine on TV instead of dealing with potential threats because they've been pushed out of the bureau.

Honestly thought this was @nytpitchbot.bsky.social for a second x.com/billoreilly/...

The documentary "Predators" captures the long shadow "To Catch a Predator" has cast over culture/politics, contributing to apprehensions that bled through QAnon and into the Epstein story, while reflecting the appetite to watch people at their absolute worst www.thewrap.com/to-catch-a-p...

Trump is building a personalist regime where every university must bend the knee or lose funding and every business must bend the knee or face tariffs, H-1B fees, and regulatory blackmail. You can't cover each domain in isolation; they are all the same story.

While Stephen Miller claims that Democrats calling him a fascist constitutes incitement, there are hundreds of examples of Miller publicly calling Democrats fascists.

Let’s call a lie a lie, shall we?

Some critical context about Trump's troops to "war-ravaged Portland" that most folks don't know: Any conflicts there between protesters and ICE agents are happening because ICE agents ARE PROVOKING THEM (From that "radical left-wing group," the Portland Police Department) bsky.app/profile/mock...

As a resident of #Portland it is impossible to capture how unhinged this is. We are a low crime city and the ICE protest "siege" consists of one auxiliary ICE office that normally has at most a dozen weirdos debating what performance art they should use to block a single driveway

Billy Bush talking about Billy Bush in the third person makes one think Billy Bush has some more work to do to get over this.

Scoop: Even Fox News has signaled it will not agree to the Pentagon's sweeping new rules restricting how journalists can report from the building. Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/pentagon-p...

I miss my 50-year streak of not knowing who the Secretary of Health is or anything about them.

The Comey thing is dumb and the intent obvious but is also horseshit even on its own terms. MAGAworld is like “accountability at last to our enemies!!!” but this isn’t a grand jury agreeing that Comey invented the Russia probe, it’s that he allegedly made a disputed claim in Hill testimony.

How did Jimmy Kimmel do in his return on Tuesday night? Based on a day spent watching Fox News hosts trying to settle on a line of attack against him, pretty damn well www.thewrap.com/jimmy-kimmel...

What a weird-ass Rapture. Only the Constitution disappeared.

How bad is the Tylenol thing? Fox’s Will Cain show had to bring on Dr. Drew as its expert.

Tonight’s Jimmy Kimmel monologue was a watershed moment for politics and free speech. He handled it with grace, dignity and humility. The more Trump comes after these people the less popular he will become.

They’re gonna run the sprockets off this clip.

This may have been the most insane and incoherent four days of his presidency. Tylenol, the U.N., I hate my opponents, other countries are going to hell, this escalator's broken, I'm mad at a TV comedian, I like Ukraine now. It really feels as if some minimal tether to reality has snapped.

"while most news organizations devote enormous resources to covering Washington, very little is still spent by comparison toward covering the online underworld where movements are born and its adherents are radicalized"

Very strange that when you tell some talk shows no thanks because you think it’s a food fight and the host’s a jerk it just makes them want to book you more.

“Well, there’s no question we are facing asymmetric civil warfare," far-right extremist Jack Posobiec told CNN. Instead of the correspondent pushing back, CNN put it in the chyron and headline. The interview then set off internal backlash. Details in @status.news www.status.news/p/cnn-jack-p...

Bingo.

Worth noting these stations are sacrificing what should be a huge number for Kimmel’s return by latenight standards.

Having botched the Jimmy Kimmel situation, Disney/ABC turned up the heat instead of turning down the temperature. Now it's up to the host to try to cool things off, even if there's nothing he can say in his return that'll mollify bad-faith actors www.thewrap.com/jimmy-kimmel...

UPDATE: Sinclair is NOT going to broadcast Jimmy Kimmel, even though ABC is resuming production. Sinclair has demanded that Kimmel personally donate to Turning Point USA, a right-wing political organization. David Smith, executive chairman of Sinclair, donated 250K to Turning Point USA last year.

Let's grade the way some of the major news sites are summarizing today's Trump/RFK announcement(s) on their homepages. A grade of "A" is awarded for making crystal clear that the preponderance of scientific publications and expert opinion do not support a link between Tylenol and autism.

Pressuring stations is a blunt tool (sponsors another option), but as TV activism goes….

Some personal news: Thrilled to be joining former CNN colleagues Oliver Darcy and Jon Passantino at Status.news, writing about Hollywood, media and everything surrounding them. Will start in a few weeks, but you can check out the site here: www.status.news www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/dig...

Trump’s power largely depends on the appearance that he is powerful. That image excites his loyalist claque, keeps others in line, while spreading fear amongst his opponents. But are we seeing signs Trump’s assault on democratic norms is glitching? open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

Again I ask - Sunday shows why?

Trump criticizes Pam Bondi for not charging his adversaries quickly enough, in a Truth Social post that looks a lot like a DM. truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...

“With a single post or video, we can influence thousands of guests to try a food, drink, or experience in the parks,” she says. “I couldn’t, in good conscience, keep giving them free publicity knowing they don’t support free speech and are willing to bow to fascism."

“.. Iger hasn’t just abandoned its biggest star. He’s signaled that .. Disney will play ball with the government, even if it means jeopardizing its credibility, alienating its audience, and putting the very principle of free speech at risk.” @passantino.bsky.social www.status.news/p/bob-iger-j...

When authoritarianism is on the rise, you can count on the richest, least vulnerable men on the planet to be the biggest cowards.

At the risk of dating myself, I remember when an ABC exec named Bob Iger stared down an affiliate revolt over "NYPD Blue." Iger's aged well, but clearly, times have changed www.thewrap.com/bob-iger-jim...

When you’ve lost Ted Fucking Cruz

This is the biggest attack on free speech since the McCarthy era but it also has significantly less popular consensus behind it than the second Red Scare. It's being done on behalf of a minority faction led by the most unpopular president in modern history. Organizing against this can win.

The government is “using the public interest standard to go after anything it doesn’t like" says Anna Gomez. She is the only Democratic-appointed commissioner on the three-member Federal Communications Commission. newrepublic.com/article/2006... Orbánization has surged forward in the last 24 hours.

While Disney is clearly feeling the MAGA pressure, its ABC News division published a big and important scoop about Trump's broader retribution campaign overnight. Details in this morning's Reliable Sources newsletter: cnn.it/4gzLrPC

Colbert appearing as his “The Colbert Report” alter ego = chef’s kiss

WGA Statement on ABC’s Decision to Pull Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Are you curious about who FCC Chair Brendan Carr is, after his most recent abuse of power resulting in ABC's suspension of Jimmy Kimmel? Last fall I wrote for @thehill.com about the threat Carr posed to free speech. Unfortunately he's met all of my expectations. thehill.com/opinion/camp...

Nostradamus.

We are now straight into full-blown McCarthyism, with black lists and everything.

The administration is absolutely going to try to force ABC/Disney to fire Jimmy Kimmel. www.mediaite.com/media/news/j...

The Department of Justice has removed a study showing that white supremacist and far-right violence “continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism” in the United States. 🔗 www.404media.co/doj-deletes-...

I know we were told that Trump could use "crime" to restore his POWER, STRENGTH, and MANLINESS, but his job approval on crime is 42%-49% and -26 with independents. This data is consistent with many other polls these past few weeks.

Amazon's "The Boys" has always been a not-so-veiled look at America lurching toward authoritarianism behind colorful capes. But the new season of spinoff "Gen V" hits a little harder premiering during Trump 2.0 www.thewrap.com/gen-v-season...

Really hoping Skydance doesn’t buy the NYTimes.

Never expected an Emmys telecast to care so little about … television and the people who make it.