Conservative media dictatorships, manbaby secret clubs, and Zuck has a Casio

Conservative media dictatorships, manbaby secret clubs, and Zuck has a Casio

Free Float Media

Story of the Week (DR):

1. Big Media Dictatorship Craziness MM

   1. Justice Department Decision to Allow Paramount Deal Surprised Staff Investigators and US approval of Paramount/Warner Bros. deal surprised DOJ lawyers and The UFC’s Despicable Night at the White House

      1. Senior Justice Department officials suddenly closed an eight-month antitrust investigation and approved Paramount’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, shocking career staff attorneys who were preparing to recommend a lawsuit to block it.

      2. DOJ investigators worried the combined company's massive debt would prevent it from honoring its promise to release 30 movies annually. However, senior leadership dismissed the debt concerns, arguing the merger would beneficially create a stronger rival to streaming giants like Netflix.

      3. The unexpected approval has drawn intense criticism from lawmakers, notably Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who suggested the green light from the administration was politically motivated and stated the decision "reeks of corruption."

      4. The deal also faces regulatory hurdles at the FCC; despite Chairman Brendan Carr's support, the merger requires a special FCC waiver due to significant equity stakes held by sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

      5. While the federal government has stepped aside, the mega-merger still faces strict, ongoing antitrust scrutiny from the European Union and potential lawsuits from several state Attorneys General (including California) who insist the merger is not a done deal.

   2. Comcast Class A Shareholders Reject $107M Co-CEO Pay as Stock Slid 20%

      1. Brian Roberts 34% of vote

      2. 42% no on pay with Roberts: 80% no without 

   3. David Zaslav 2025 Pay Rejected By WBD Shareholders In Non-Binding Vote

      1. 84% no for his $165M

      2. No major shareholder: On the verge of being acquired by the Ellisons

   4. Fox Corp to acquire Roku in $22B deal

      1. Fox increased CEO/Chair Lachlan K. Murdoch's target annual bonus to $9M (up from $6M) and target annual equity award to $20M (up from $11M)

         1. If the maximum stays: annual from $12M to $18M and equity from $22M to $40M

         2. So a possible increase of $24M

      2. “Mr. Murdoch recused himself from all discussions and votes regarding his employment term extension and compensation adjustments”

      3. Lachlan = 36% of vote

2. The government and AI

   1. Anthropic and Trump

      1. Trump Blocks Foreigners From Using Anthropic’s Latest AI Tech

         1. Under orders from the US government citing national security concerns, AI company Anthropic suspended foreign nationals (including its own employees) from using its most advanced tech and disabled access to its newest Claude models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5.

         2. The directive follows a feud starting in February, when the Trump administration barred federal agencies from using Anthropic products after the company refused to grant the military unrestricted access to its AI for mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons.

      2. Anthropic’s IPO pitch has a new problem: the government can shut it down

         1. Coming just over a week after Anthropic confidentially filed its IPO paperwork, the government-mandated shutdown highlights severe regulatory and geopolitical vulnerabilities that threaten the company's massive valuation and commercial stability.

      3. Trump’s Anthropic restrictions may be illegal

   2. Bernie and AI

      1. Bernie Sanders AI sovereign wealth fund bill 2026

         1. Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced legislation Thursday that would give the American public a direct 50% ownership stake in the country's largest artificial intelligence companies through a one-time tax on their stock

      2. Bernie Sanders unveils $7 trillion plan to give Americans control of AI industry

         1. Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced a sweeping $7 trillion legislative package aimed at breaking up private tech monopolies and transitioning the development of advanced artificial intelligence into a publicly owned, democratically overseen federal trust.

      3. AI dividend: Bernie Sanders pitches $1,000 annual payout from public ownership of AI

3. Jim Cramer says SpaceX investors aren't buying earnings — they're buying Elon Musk

   1. The primary critique of ESG investing is about introducing non-pecuniary goals (e.g., lowering carbon emissions, promoting specific boardroom demographics, or boycotting certain industries) into the decision-making process.

   2. The Fiduciary Violation: If a fund manager chooses a lower-performing, ESG-compliant investment over a higher-performing, non-ESG investment (like oil, defense, or tobacco), they have violated their Duty of Loyalty by prioritizing social engineering over the client's wallet

4. Drunk Crew Causes 30% Pay Cut For A Major Airline CEO

   1. An internal investigation found that two flight attendants had consumed alcohol during their layover period beyond permitted company limits, which set specific restrictions on pre-duty alcohol intake. The airline determined that the consumption occurred the day before departure and represented a breach of internal policy, escalating the matter from a single failed test to a wider compliance violation within the crew pairing on that layover.

   2. "We sincerely apologize for the incident involving flight JL252 on May 23, which has severely damaged the trust placed in us. We take this seriously, recognizing it stems from structural weaknesses in our organizational monitoring. Moving forward, we are fully committed to ensuring safety and restoring trust by strengthening our inspection procedures and implementing company-wide reforms."

   3. Japan Airlines responded by implementing disciplinary measures affecting both frontline staff and senior management.

      1. CEO Mitsuko Tottori, the first female to lead the company after joining as a flight attendant herself in 1985, accepted a 30% reduction in salary for two months, while other executives also received temporary pay cuts as part of the company’s internal accountability process.

      2. Safety manager Yukio Nakagawa and cabin services manager Junko Nakano will each take a 20% salary reduction for one month.

      3. Meanwhile, all other directors will receive a 10% pay cut over the same period.

      4. Alongside executive action, the airline introduced a stricter policy banning alcohol consumption during layovers for more than 6,000 flight attendants. 

Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):

1. DR: Melinda French Gates’ advice to new IPO millionaires: ‘Give half your money away’

2. DR: Judge Rules Trump Administration Cannot Erase Slavery and Climate Change History from National Parks

3. DR: The global under-16 social media ban Is no longer a fringe policy

4. DR: Target, Walmart and Amazon among brands losing LGBTQ+ consumer spending MM DR

5. MM: Nearly 80% of data center capacity is at elevated risk to climate hazards like flooding and fire, study says

6. MM: Meta Sued for Over $100 Million by Eminem's Team for Illegally Using 243 Songs

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

Which is the bigger asshole move:

1. Being part of a secret club - DR

   1. Trump’s boys: See the celebrities and business execs who showed up to the UFC fight at the White House (none women attended); Jensen Huang on his relationship with Trump: ‘calls me in the middle of the night; A signal of where power sits': Trump and world leaders joined by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google at G7’

   2. Incel middle schoolers: Leak Exposes Members of Peter Thiel’s Secretive ‘Dialog’ Society

   3. Secret street tours: Chef Karl Wilder joins Secret Street Tours Board of Directors

   4. Regulatory fist bump: SpaceX gets assist from DOJ in effort to toss NAACP air pollution lawsuit

2. Gaslighting for votes

   1. Voters reject effort to hike Oklahoma’s minimum wage

      1. “Tonight, voters chose to protect Oklahoma’s economic momentum and one of our greatest competitive advantages: affordability.”

      2. OK has $7.75, the federal minimum wage… WA has $17.13, which is the minimum wage pegged to CPI

   2. Tesla Allegedly Showed Cooked Data to Get Full Self-Driving Approved

   3. Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed to stop California's billionaire tax. He has just over a week left to keep it off the ballot.

   4. Farage's 'Pro-Women' Law Could Slash Equal Pay Rights and Cost Female Workers

   5. Most Palantir Shareholders Vote for Human Rights Probe. Why It Won’t Happen

   6. No ESG-related shareholder proposals pass in 2026 proxy season

3. Threatening and complaining because you’re the victim

   1. Amazon investigating engineers who criticized AI data center expansion

      1. This is literally three engineers exercising their rights as citizens and being discriminated against as a result

   2. NY Amazon Driver Fired for Posting Pro-Union Content on Social Media

   3. US tech billionaire issues stark China warning: American companies have been ‘hollowed out’ by the Red Dragon

   4. Trump Administration Tells Federal Employees to Wear “Freedom” Pins—Or Else

   5. Mark Zuckerberg Orders His Employees to Start Having Fun Again After Brutal Layoffs Culled Their Colleagues

4. While no one is looking, take everything

   1. At Tesla, Elon Musk Chooses To Exercise Options, Resulting In $110.55B

   2. Jeff’s Dream Team: Bezos recruits world’s top architects to build most expensive mega mansion on Billionaire Bunker island

   3. Trillionaire Elon Musk Makes $6.4 Billion Every Time SpaceX Stock Rises by $1

      1. 825,806,452 minimum wage hours in OK - or 20.7m work weeks at 40 hours a week - or 397,000 worker years

Headliniest of the Week

1. DR: People don't trust AI. They do yearn for Lunchables: survey.

2. MM: Mark Zuckerberg is a certified watch guy. His collection ranges from a $120 Casio to multimillion-dollar timepieces.

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: Japan: for holding everybody accountable 

2. MM: Casio - the $120 Casio is NOW ON SALE!  YOU CAN BE LIKE ZUCK FOR JUST $96

Predictions

1. DR: Meta emulates Japan Airlines by taking away one of Zuck’s watches every time he lays off 10% of his workforce

2. MM: Lunchables sells a watch