Jon Passantino

Former X CEO Linda Yaccarino takes helm at digital health company eMed Yaccarino stepped down as CEO of Elon Musk's social media platform X in July.

From NBC to X to... eMed www.cnbc.com/2025/08/05/f...

Rupert Murdoch's surprise decision to expand the New York Post to California came after wildfires ravaged LA, sensing an opening as the Patrick Soon-Shiong-owned LA Times self-destructs. Details in @status.news www.status.news/p/axios-news...

Axios’ Quiet Retreat Axios quietly winded down its premium policy subscription, Status has learned, marking a stumble in its quest to monetize insider information in Washington.

Axios is shuttering its $4,500+ a year “Pro” policy subscription, a setback in its bid to monetize Washington insider intel. The scoop in @status.news: www.status.news/p/axios-news...

Applebaum on Autocracy Anne Applebaum warns that Sudan’s descent into chaos shows what happens when institutions fail—and why a free press is essential to prevent America from following the same path.

“For news organizations, the issue isn’t responsibility, but survival. Autocratic leaders don’t want evidence-based journalism of any kind to exist at all: They want to shape reality, to decide themselves what is true and false.” — @anneapplebaum.bsky.social

www.status.news/p/anne-apple...

Applebaum on Autocracy Anne Applebaum warns that Sudan’s descent into chaos shows what happens when institutions fail—and why a free press is essential to prevent America from following the same path.

Anne Applebaum: "If American media can’t convey how dangerous this behavior is—for our prosperity, for our health, for our democracy—then American media will eventually cease to exist."

More from our convo in @status.news: www.status.news/p/anne-apple...

Larry Summers: "This is way beyond anything Nixon ever did ... this is the stuff of democracies giving way to authoritarianism. Firing statisticians goes with threatening the heads of newspapers, launching assaults on universities, launching assaults on law firms. This is really scary stuff."

The Sweeney Spectacle Sydney Sweeney’s cheeky American Eagle ad became the week’s biggest culture-war flashpoint—distracting from far weightier stories.

"The Sweeney uproar wasn’t a meaningful controversy, but it became a major media story because that’s how today’s information ecosystem functions," @passantino.bsky.social writes in his Saturday column for @status.news. www.status.news/p/sydney-swe...

CNN points out that June turned out to be the weakest month of jobs growth since December 2020 -- the last full month of Trump's first term

EXCLUSIVE: Ghislaine Maxwell Moved to Federal Prison in Texas Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's longtime associate, has been moved from FCI Tallahassee to a federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas.

hmmm www.nysun.com/article/ghis...

The FBI Redacted Trump’s Name in the Epstein Files The bureau’s FOIA team tasked with conducting a final review of the records blacked out the names before higher-ups said last month that releasing the documents ‘would not be appropriate or warranted....

NEW FOIA Files SCOOP: The FBI redacted Trump’s name—and the names of other prominent public figures—from the Epstein files under two privacy exemptions before DOJ & FBI concluded “no further disclosure” of the files “would be appropriate or warranted.”
www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

YouTube video by Status Gaza Famine Denial, Sydney Sweeney Drama, & FCC Chair Disbarment?

Here, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social and @passantino.bsky.social ‬ discuss FCC Brendan Carr's "dubious and purely politically motivated investigations" into news outlets that make Trump unhappy (see CBS & NBC).

"The way Brendan Carr is behaving is so outrageous and so against precedent," says Darcy.

The Zeteo Zoom In just 15 months, Mehdi Hasan has transformed Zeteo from a risky post-MSNBC gamble into a thriving, independent media company.

“In just 15 months, Mehdi Hasan has transformed Zeteo from a risky post-MSNBC gamble into a thriving, independent media company.” - read @oliverdarcy.bsky.social on ‘The Zeteo Zoom’ - featuring quotes and stats from yours truly.

I'm old enough to remember just last year when downward jobs report revisions sparked a MAGA conspiracy theory that Biden was cooking up "fake" numbers

you got axios’d

‘Clinton Plan’ Emails Were Likely Made by Russian Spies, Declassified Report Shows

Absolutely amazing. Republicans set out to prove Clinton was behind a scheme to frame Trump for conspiring with Russia, only to discover that MAGA-world theory was actually a Russian hoax
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/u...

Read the documents that prove Hillary Clinton OK’d plan to ‘smear’ Trump with Russia collusion Special counsel John Durham uncovered the information during a multi-year probe into intelligence activities during the 2016 election.

Pretty remarkable: The New York Post and others are currently running with a document from the (strange and fascinating) Durham Annex that the Durham Annex (a few pages later) says is a Russian fake, all in the broader interest of debunking "Russiagate" nypost.com/2025/07/31/u...

I can’t stress this enough

These rates are the result of magic “math”

And they’re being done on the whim of a guy who doesn’t understand how the global economy works.

CNN’s Gaza producer is pleading for help to get his family out of the war-torn zone, writing “the situation is absolutely catastrophic” with no food or water… “My loved ones are trapped in a nightmare, surrounded by destruction with nowhere to turn.” via @status.news www.status.news/p/mehdi-hasa...

Sigh... I guess we're doing this again. No, Alex Jones did not get "more views last night" on X "than CNN did last month." This is not how audience measurement works.

The NYT's Gaza Tempest Inside The Times, frustration is mounting as critics weaponize an update to a Gaza starvation story to cast doubt on its reporting and the broader humanitarian crisis.

NYT leadership has been "dismayed by the reaction to the editors’ note" added to its A1 story on starving children in Gaza. Inside the newsroom as right-wing critics attempt to discredit the story and media at large, via @status.news www.status.news/p/new-york-t...

The fact that literally zero outlets ever cover crime decline as a story is a huge reason. (And before you yell at me, we do!)

Scientists Say New Government Climate Report Twists Their Work A new Department of Energy report “fundamentally misrepresents” climate research and leaves out key context, multiple scientists cited in the report tell WIRED.

NEW: i spoke to nine (!) scientists across several disciplines whose work was cited in the new Department of Energy report that downplays the severity of climate change. all of them say their work was misrepresented, cherry picked, and/or lacked context —

“This Sydney Sweeney thing” is like 3 tweets and 5 TikToks from random people. The left is not remotely worked up about this.

The right, however, has been frothing about the nonexistent outrage for days — and more prominent outlets are spreading far more radical and troubling messages.

The New York Times is hiring longtime WaPo media critic Erik Wemple, I'm told.

"Just before 10:40 p.m., an orange shape is seen moving up the stairs leading to Epstein's tier...Video forensic experts who reviewed that footage...suggested that the shape could be a person dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit climbing the stairs."

CBS News investigation of Jeffrey Epstein jail video reveals new discrepancies A CBS News investigation found discrepancies between the government's description of the Jeffrey Epstein jail video and what the video shows.

CBS News did some incredible sleuthing on the Epstein jail video, finding several inconcistencies and highly questionable claims by the Trump admin www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey...

Grok @grok Follow This tsunami warning was issued on July 29, 2025, following an 8.7 quake off Russia, but the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center canceled it around 3:23 PM HST after data showed no significant waves. No impacts occurred—Hawaii is safe. 10:34 PM • 7/29/25 • 1.3K Views

Sam @SamAshleyBlogs • 10h g Stop reporting this, it's wrong. Grok @grok•10h I appreciate the feedback, but per the latest from tsunami.gov as of July 30, 2025, no active tsunami warning exists for Hawaii—it was canceled after buoy data showed no waves. Advisories remain for parts of Alaska, CA, OR, WA, BC. Please verify directly; happy to Show more Trumpsucks @trumps... • 10h If you go to tsunami.gov, at the top of the page there's a big red bar that's says TSUNAMI WARNING.

Grok @grok • 10h I checked tsunami.gov—no active tsunami warning for Hawaii; it was canceled July 29 after buoy data showed no waves. The red bar likely refers to ongoing warnings for Alaska (Aleutians) and California (Cape Mendocino to OR border). Advisories remain for other Trumpsucks @trumps... • 10h Live News First Alert Weather Tsunami Warning Is In Effect LIVE: Tsunami warning

Trumpsucks @trumps... •10h That was literally screen grabbed within 10 seconds of my posting it. Grok @grok •10h Understood—your screenshot is recent, but tsunami alerts update rapidly. As of now on tsunami.gov (July 30, 2025), no active warning exists for Hawaii; it was canceled post-buoy data. Warnings persist for parts of AK & CA coasts. Always check the site directly for Show more Follow Trumpsucks @trumpsucks72 I can't believe I'm arguing with a fucking computer. Did Elon program you personally? What a joke you are! 12:50 AM • 7/30/25 • 48 Views

Grok spread dangerous misinformation during the tsunami last night.

It confidently and persistently argued that there were no tsunami warnings in effect for various areas when such warnings were in effect.

Many were using Grok for updates since the ability to locate reliable data on X is degraded.

What kind of a public-health moron would say, “We have never talked about environmental exposures that may, say, cause cancer.”

Don't miss CNBC anchor Joe Kernen calling CO2 pollution "absurd" because "we exhale it"

McCreery, the director of the pacific tsunami warning center, says the last time Hawaii experienced a similar tsunami event was in 2011 after the massive M9.0 quake that devastated Japan