October 10, 2025

Friday, October 10,2025. Annette’s Roundup for Democracy.

Is this warning from Dan Rather 👇 upsetting to you?

Imagine how upsetting this is to the man who inherited the nightly news from Walter Cronkite on a once proud network!

MAGA Tested, Trump approved news.

A conservative opinion writer is now leading CBS News.

The new owners of CBS, billionaire Larry Ellison and his son David Ellison, believe CBS News is broken. And like their friend Donald Trump, they’re convinced the cure for a fracture is a sledgehammer. Let’s call it restoration by disruption.

Enter Bari Weiss, the new editor-in-chief of CBS News.

Weiss has been called a provocateur and is one of the most polarizing figures in today’s American media landscape. She has been praised for her Rolodex, her energy, and relative youth — she is 41 years-old. Weiss is unabashedly anti-woke, anti-DEI and pro-Israel, though she calls herself a “politically homeless” moderate.

The former opinion writer for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times is not a reporter. She has never worked in television news and she has never led a staff larger than a few dozen. That all changed this week when David Ellison, whose Skydance Media recently acquired CBS, installed Weiss in a position created for her. She will not report to the president of CBS News — as one might expect — but to David Ellison directly.

Weiss’s management style has been called abrasive and disorganized. “It is chaos. She would admit that she can be difficult to work with. Even for people who totally agree with her,” a former Weiss staffer told Oliver Darcy of “Status.”

She is known to curse — a lot. At one of her first meetings at CBS News she told the assembled staffers to “cover the f*****g news.” According to some who witnessed this opening, it was met with smirks and eyerolls.

My friend, Tom Bettag, a former executive producer at CBS News said of Weiss, “An editor-in-chief is the leader of the newsroom. A leader is only as effective as he or she has been able to win the respect of the newsroom.” It will take more than salty language to win over CBS News. It will take integrity and a spine.

The Ellisons got more than just Weiss and her attendant baggage in the deal; they also got her hugely successful Substack platform, “The Free Press,” which she started in 2021. It is considered a conservative online political commentary and opinion site, not a hard-hitting news outlet as David Ellison himself described it. It is known for contrarian opinions and critique of “the woke left.”

What Weiss lacks in journalistic bonafides, she makes up for in influence. Weiss has the ear of the billionaire class. “The Free Press” is reportedly a daily must-read for the uber-wealthy who want to know what’s happening in American politics. David Ellison wanted it and wanted her clout.

For $150 million, he got both.

Though “The Free Press” is one of Substack’s most lucrative newsletters with a large readership, it is not worth $150 million. But that price tag is pocket change for David Ellison and his father, whose estimated net worth is north of $300 billion.
Though Ellison can afford to overpay for “The Free Press,” he is demanding massive layoffs at CBS News, 10% across the board. The threat of layoffs will do nothing for morale, which has to be at its lowest point, and will make the staff compliant.

In a piece on “The Free Press” announcing her move to CBS, Weiss wrote, “If the illiberalism of our institutions has been the story of the last decade, we now face a different form of illiberalism emanating from our fringes. On the one hand, an America-loathing far left. On the other, a history-erasing far right. These extremes do not represent the majority of the country, but they have increasing power in our politics, our culture, and our media ecosystem.”

While one must keep an open mind, it is hard to do so when such a statement portends a push for “bothsidesism” and arguments reliant on false equivalences. There can be no equivalences drawn between the two political extremes in this country, especially when one extreme is led by a man who rarely speaks without lying. But Weiss’s modus operandi is giving the fictitious illusion of fair and balanced coverage through such mechanisms.
It is also hard to believe Weiss will be an equitable steward of the storied news division in light of how the Ellisons acquired it.

In July, Skydance Media bought Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, for $8 billion. The deal had to be approved by the Federal Communications Commission, which it did after Paramount settled a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump for $16 million. As part of the deal, Skydance had to agree to appoint an ombudsman. Kenneth Weinstein, an ally of Trump and a head of a conservative think tank, was chosen.
That deal and the hiring of Weiss signals to everyone, especially to the man in the Oval Office, that CBS is no longer independent, but under the tutelage of a conservative billionaire who is putting more than his thumb on the scale.

Another example came last month when, after complaints from the White House about an interview with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on “Face the Nation,” CBS agreed not to edit taped interviews on the show.

The American people will pay the price for this move, as will the journalists of CBS News who can no longer credibly serve as watchdogs because the ones they are meant to hold to account are signing their paychecks and hobnobbing with the president.

Rather than doing their jobs as sentinels of democracy, who independently cover the news and hold the powerful accountable, they now have to be concerned about how their pitches, their stories, and their scripts will be received by someone with a clear political agenda. They will be dogged by worry that anything they do, any question they ask, will be scrutinized to ensure that it suits the political powers.

Anything that runs afoul of Trump’s agenda may be flagged and is unlikely to be aired unaltered, if aired at all. No journalist or their work can remain unaffected by toiling in such an environment.

The ones who remain at CBS will work hard and do the best they can under the circumstances. But they now are being forced to deal daily with this new reality.
I wish I had been wrong decades ago when I warned about the corporatization and politicalization of the news media. But in Weiss’s ascension, it is clear that CBS News has tipped over the precipice: that corporate overlords in concert with an autocratic president are demolishing support for independent journalism in favor of financial gain, and in so doing undermining a key foundation of our democracy.

I have a deep and abiding love for the institution and the people of CBS News whose hard work made it, and continues to make it, something to be immensely proud of and a service to the nation. Their sacrifices, including some who gave their lives in far corners of the world, have long shined a light on the truth.

It is a dark day in the halls of CBS News, where the portraits of television news pioneers once hung — Cronkite, Murrow, Sevareid, Collingwood. They were journalists who made television a trusted source of information. Whom and what are we to believe today?

This is the lens through which the new, unfortunate reality at CBS News must be seen. This is why it should matter to every American who believes in the importance of free and independent journalism. (Dan Rather and Team Steady, Substack)

One more thing.

Should boycotts begin? We beat ABC and Disney. Why not CBS and Ellisons?

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Trump continues vindictive and baseless indictments against those he considers his enemies.

Live Updates: N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James Indicted After Trump’s Pressure Campaign.

Her indictment on mortgage-related charges follows a case brought against the former F.B.I. director James Comey.

A prosecutor handpicked by President Trump secured an indictment of New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, on bank fraud and false statement charges in the Eastern District of Virginia on Thursday after the president publicly demanded she be charged.

The five-page indictment accused Ms. James of falsely claiming in loan documents that she would use a home she purchased in Norfolk, Va., as a secondary residence, and using it instead as a rental investment property, allowing her to receive favorable terms that would save her close to $19,000.

The charges, coming two weeks after the Trump-directed indictment of James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, deepened the president’s intervention in the justice system, casting away longstanding democratic norms as he seeks retribution on his political enemies.

In a statement, Ms. James, a Democrat who had won a civil case against Mr. Trump accusing him of fraudulently inflating the value of his assets, called the indictment “nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.” She called the charges “baseless.”

The prosecutions have ushered in a turbulent era at a Justice Department increasingly under the direct command of a president intent on using federal law enforcement to prosecute his adversaries, shield his supporters and redefine criminality as it suits his interests.

That his appointees have now succeeded in convincing two grand juries will likely embolden him, even if the prospects of conviction are anything but certain.

In both the James and Comey cases, the career prosecutors who conducted the investigations reported that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges, and a previous U.S. attorney ousted by Mr. Trump declined to bring either case before a grand jury.

Mr. Trump’s newly appointed replacement, Lindsey Halligan, was the only prosecutor listed on either indictment. In nearly all similar cases, the career prosecutors responsible for collecting and analyzing evidence sign the court filings.

Mr. Comey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges of lying to and obstructing Congress, and his lawyer said he would seek dismissal of the case as a vindictive and selective prosecution. Court records show that Ms. James is due in court in Norfolk on Oct. 24.

Charges against other targets are likely on the way. The department has opened investigations into John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, and Senator Adam B. Schiff, a California Democrat, among others.

“This is what tyranny looks like,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic minority leader and a longtime James ally, said in a statement. “President Trump is using the Justice Department as his personal attack dog.”

Even some Republicans sounded a note of caution. “Whatever threshold gets set here is the new floor for future prosecutions when roles are reversed,” Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina told a CNN reporter. “That’s just the way this town works.”

Mr. Trump has escalated his campaign against his perceived rivals in recent weeks, pressing publicly for the U.S. attorney’s office to pursue Ms. James and Mr. Comey. He posted on social media last month that they were “guilty as hell,” declaring, “We can’t delay any longer.”

In voting for an indictment, the grand jury showed that it had been persuaded that there were reasonable grounds to believe Ms. James might have committed a crime. But prosecutors have enormous sway over grand juries, which proceed in secret and where defense lawyers are not permitted to mount a case.

The indictment represented the culmination of a monthslong effort to find enough to not only prosecute, but publicly humiliate, one of Mr. Trump’s main targets.

At the center of the effort is Ed Martin, chosen by the president this year to lead a task force inside the Justice Department with wide latitude to investigate people the president opposes and has accused of criminality.

Mr. Martin, who has little prosecutorial experience, has said that part of his job is to shame the president’s enemies. He has expressed a particular animus toward Ms. James, and showed up at her Brooklyn residence over the summer in a stunt intended to illustrate his intention to bring her to legal account.

Early Thursday morning, Mr. Martin, who has nicknamed himself “Eagle Ed,” posted a vintage illustration of an eagle flying over the Brooklyn Bridge, which a person close to him suggested was a reference to his pursuit of Ms. James, a former New York City councilwoman who represented neighborhoods including Bedford-Stuyvesant and Fort Greene.

A day earlier, Mr. Martin posted an undated photo of himself and Ms. Halligan in his office at the Justice Department’s headquarters.

Ms. Halligan, who had been a White House aide with no prosecutorial experience before being named interim U.S. attorney, made the presentation before a grand jury in Alexandria, Va., in the James case on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an ongoing case.

The Trump administration’s effort to charge Ms. James began in April, when the president publicly called her a crook. A day later, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency sent a criminal referral letter to the Justice Department saying Ms. James “appeared to have falsified records” related to properties she owned in Norfolk and New York.

But the house at issue in the indictment was not included in that referral. The house in question, also in Norfolk, was purchased in 2020. Ms. James and her lawyer, Abbe D. Lowell, who have defended the paperwork related to the other house in detail, have yet to discuss the paperwork for the 2020 purchase, in part because it was not previously known that prosecutors were scrutinizing that loan.

Career prosecutors in Virginia, however, found little evidence to indicate Ms. James knowingly misled banks or was dishonest in her loan paperwork, according to people familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Since then, Ms. Halligan has taken control of the case and has sought to file charges.

Mr. Lowell said that he was “deeply concerned that this case is driven by President Trump’s desire for revenge.”

Ms. James has been one of the president’s most high-profile opponents since 2018, when she ran to be the attorney general, making her opposition to Mr. Trump a key plank in her platform. She opened an investigation into him shortly after taking office, and in 2022, her office accused him of fraudulently inflating the value of his assets.

After a monthslong trial, Ms. James won a civil judgment against Mr. Trump that, with interest, rose to more than $500 million. In August, however, a New York State appeals court tossed out the fine, saying it violated the Constitution’s prohibition against “excessive” financial penalties.

Those judges, though divided, nevertheless upheld the trial court’s finding that Mr. Trump and others overstated the value of real estate assets owned by his company in order to bolster his purported net worth and help the company get better terms on loans. The case is expected to be reviewed by New York’s highest court. (New York Times)

Read the Indictment of Letitia James. Oct. 9, 2025

Statement from Chairman Jay S. Jacobs on the Indictment of Attorney General Tish James.

“The indictment of Attorney General Tish James is nothing less than political retribution by a vindictive felon who happens to occupy the White House.”

One more thing.

Touch to watch Letitia James answer Trump’s indictment.

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Have you heard? Trump is drooling. He is so desperate to win the Nobel Prize.

Did he bribe Hamas to release the remaining hostages? Yes, I mean “cash money” bribes.

This is one sick man. Watch! 👇

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Divergent opinions on Trump sending national Guards from state to state.

A Republican governor.

Federal judge partially grants state and city bid to block Trump administration National Guard deployment

Judge's order temporarily bars Trump administration 'from ordering the federalization and deployment of the National Guard of the United States within Illinois'

A federal judge in Chicago on Thursday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ordering the federalization and deployment of the National Guard of the United States within Illinois.

U.S. District Judge April Perry ruled orally from the bench, and she said her order will last 14 days. A written ruling is expected to follow, and the Trump administration will surely appeal.

Illinois and Chicago sued the Trump administration Monday over the deployment, setting the stage for Thursday’s hearing.

Earlier this week, Perry cautioned the Trump administration to “strongly consider taking a pause on this until Thursday, so that we are not in a position where we are doing a full-fledged hearing with whatever has happened.”

Texas National Guard troops were then spotted Tuesday at a southwest suburban military training site. About 200 federalized National Guard troops were present in Illinois as of 3 p.m. Wednesday, court records show. The troops are expected to help protect the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, as well as the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Friday.

Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers met a midnight deadline set by Perry to respond to Illinois’ lawsuit. They argued that “levels of violence against federal law enforcement executing their lawful duties have reached an unprecedented high” in Chicago. They also said commentary from officials like Pritzker “inflamed animosity” and “contributed to the need for assistance from the National Guard.” Pritzker announced Sunday that President Donald Trump had ordered 400 members of the Texas National Guard to deploy into Illinois, Oregon and elsewhere. He also said that 300 Illinois National Guard troops were being federalized against his “vigorous objections.”

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals entered an order Wednesday allowing National Guard troops to be federalized but not deployed into Oregon. It also scheduled oral arguments over the deployment there for Thursday morning, simultaneous to the Chicago hearing.

Illinois’ lawsuit set up one of the biggest legal clashes yet between the Republican president and the state’s Democratic leaders. Trump called Wednesday for the jailing of Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for “failing to protect ICE.”

Pritzker, a likely 2028 presidential candidate, responded by urging the president to “come and get me.”

Trump has so far not invoked the Insurrection Act but cited a separate law to deploy troops into Illinois, California and Oregon. That law allows the president to call into federal service members of the National Guard of any state if there is an invasion or rebellion — or if the president is “unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”

The 9th Circuit, which hears cases from Oregon, California and other western states, found earlier this year that courts must be “highly deferential” to the president when it comes to the use of that law. Illinois is not part of the 9th Circuit. Rather, appeals from Chicago’s U.S. District Court go to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Illinois’ lawsuit cites Trump’s long history of derogatory comments toward Chicago, dating to 2013 when he wrote online that “we need our troops on the streets of Chicago, not in Syria.”

It also notes his opposition toward so-called “sanctuary” cities and states, where policies bar local authorities from cooperating with deportation efforts. Trump’s Justice Department sued Pritzker, Johnson and others over those policies earlier this year, but the lawsuit was dismissed this summer by U.S. District Judge Lindsay Jenkins.

Perry is the judge whose 2023 nomination by then-President Joe Biden to be Chicago’s top federal prosecutor was blocked by then-Sen. JD Vance , who is now Trump’s vice president. Biden later nominated her to the bench.(WBEZ Chicago)

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Election Day is almost here.

November 4th. Are you ready? Are you registered?

Pick at least one candidate to support any way you can.

Donate. Volunteer. Use your social media.

Out of state? Call one person you know in the candidate’s state and inspire! Help get out the vote.

Here are some good candidates who will make great elected officials.

Abby Spanberger, for Governor of VA.

Miki Sherrill, for Governor of NJ.

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