Christopher Grimes

Paramount held talks with Saudi wealth fund over potential Warner Bros Discovery bid David Ellison met officials from the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, among other Gulf investors

Paramount held talks with Saudi wealth fund over potential Warner Bros Discovery bid—Discussions remain preliminary and it is unclear whether any of the investors will ultimately participate in the transaction… www.ft.com/content/9795... @grimeslikedimes.bsky.social @financialtimes.com

Walt Disney shares slump as sales at film and TV units slide Growth in theme parks and cruise lines business offsets absence of blockbusters and continued television revenue decline

Walt Disney shares slump as sales at film and TV units slide—Iger has tried to boost the share price since returning to Disney in late 2022, a year when the company lost billions of dollars at its streaming division. But… www.ft.com/content/3766... @grimeslikedimes.bsky.social @financialtimes.com

Musk is still talking at the Tesla shareholder meeting and he just criticized "the parasitic load of being a public company" which has "grown over time."

This from a man who was just awarded a $1 trillion pay package from more than 75% of his public company shareholders.

Tesla shareholders approve Elon Musk’s $1tn pay deal [FREE TO READ] World’s richest man had warned he would quit if investors failed to back the largest remuneration package in history

'The deal sets up ambitious targets for Musk to unlock his stock payouts. To reach $1tn, he must sextuple Tesla’s valuation to $8.5tn, boost earnings 24-fold to $400bn and sell millions of robots and autonomous driving subscriptions.'

on.ft.com/4oVfFzx

‘Creators are the new Hollywood’: YouTubers take on the big studios Content creators are bringing Silicon Valley-style disruption to the capital of the traditional media

‘Creators are the new Hollywood’: YouTubers take on the big studios—It reached another significant milestone this year: US viewers now watch YouTube primarily on the TV set — not mobile phones and… www.ft.com/content/b924... @grimeslikedimes.bsky.social @financialtimes.com

Has Donald Trump handed late-night TV a reprieve? Jimmy Kimmel’s ratings soared after Disney put him back on air, but talk shows like his face a battle for survival

Has Donald Trump handed late-night TV a reprieve?-It’s unclear how long the ratings bounce will last, but for Kimmel and his fellow late-night comedians any increase is welcome. Cord-cutting has… 
www.ft.com/content/4148... @grimeslikedimes.bsky.social @financialtimes.com

"The sun don't shine on the same dog's ass every day." - Catfish Hunter

‘One Battle After Another’ Review: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Rallying Cry

Manohla Darghis:
"It engages with its moment as few American fiction films do. It feels shockingly urgent."
Exactly right.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/m...

Pete Hegseth’s sudden military summit stirs concern and speculation US defence secretary calls top brass to Virginia for highly unusual meeting

The meeting jeopardizes "proper command and control when you have no idea if a crisis will erupt, and now our potential adversaries have five days to plan whatever shenanigans they may want to attempt"

on.ft.com/3Kuz2QZ

One Battle After Another film review — Leonardo DiCaprio turns leftwing guerrilla in best film of the year so far [FREE TO READ] Paul Thomas Anderson turns a 1990 Thomas Pynchon story about American revolutionaries into an urgent and zanily funny film about now

Couldn't agree more with Danny Leigh: One Battle After Another is the best film of the year.

PT Anderson has somehow captured 2025 America with a film adaptation of a 1990 Pynchon novel that started preproduction in 2023. Performances are amazing. And it's in VistaVision!

on.ft.com/3IvJ2Jg

Contributor: FCC overstepped in push to get Jimmy Kimmel off the air The late-night host's sidelining is part of a larger government effort to intimidate the media into silence.

Chemerinsky: It is time to be very worried about freedom of expression in the United States.

www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

Murdochs and Michael Dell part of TikTok buyer group, says Trump US president says Rupert and Lachlan will join the computer pioneer as well as Oracle’s Larry Ellison to buy shares from China’s ByteDance

Murdochs and Michael Dell part of TikTok buyer group, says Trump on.ft.com/4n7cfsW

Is America entering a new era of McCarthyism? Since January, Donald Trump has used tactics reminiscent of the 1950s to stifle critical voices. Over the last week, the threats have intensified

Is America entering a new era of McCarthyism?-“I think [Trump] is chilling dissent,” says Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at University of California, Berkeley and…
www.ft.com/content/54be... @grimeslikedimes.bsky.social @financialtimes.com

Is America entering a new era of McCarthyism? Since January, Donald Trump has used tactics reminiscent of the 1950s to stifle critical voices. Over the last week, the threats have intensified

Is America entering a new era of McCarthyism?-“We’re dealing with a radical left group of lunatics, and they don’t play fair and they never did,” Trump told NBC News. www.ft.com/content/54be... @grimeslikedimes.bsky.social @financialtimes.com

What also struck me is that, possibly not incidentally, Chris @grimeslikedimes.bsky.social - unlike many of his US-based @financialtimes.com colleagues - is a US citizen and thus less immediately vulnerable to recriminations from the Trump regime. A safer choice of author, at least for now.

New York Times chief warns Donald Trump is deploying ‘anti-press playbook’ Meredith Kopit Levien says newspaper will not back down after US president sues for $15bn

New York Times chief warns Donald Trump is deploying ‘anti-press playbook’—The showdown between Trump and the powerful US newspaper marks an escalation… www.ft.com/content/a2b3... @grimeslikedimes.bsky.social @financialtimes.com

Is America entering a new era of McCarthyism? [FREE TO READ] Since January, Donald Trump has used tactics reminiscent of the 1950s to stifle critical voices. Over the last week, the threats have intensified

Is #America under #DonaldTrump in a new era of McCarthyism?

@financialtimes.com correspondent Christopher Grimes @grimeslikedimes.bsky.social reports on how the #Trump administration is using 1950s tactics to stifle criticism.

Free to read on
on.ft.com/4mmJKX2

Is America entering a new era of McCarthyism? Since January, Donald Trump has used tactics reminiscent of the 1950s to stifle critical voices. Over the last week, the threats have intensified

You might run into a paywall on this, but the headline gives the gist.
Christopher Grimes @grimeslikedimes.bsky.social @financialtimes.com Is America entering a new era of McCarthyism? www.ft.com/content/54be...

California lawmakers pass bill banning law enforcement officers from covering their faces The California Legislature on Thursday passed a pair of bills to prohibit on-duty law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from masking their faces and requires them to identify...

www.latimes.com/california/s...

Gavin Newsom holds mirror to Maga by trolling Trump California governor’s social media campaign peps up Democrats and positions him for 2028 White House bid

Gavin Newsom holds mirror to Maga by trolling Trump-Mike Madrid, former political director of the California Republican party and a co-founder of the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, said: “The reorientation of…
www.ft.com/content/eb33... @grimeslikedimes.bsky.social @financialtimes.com

Hollywood mogul backs Musk brother’s ‘drone entertainment company’ Jeffrey Katzenberg takes stake in Kimbal Musk’s venture that aims to create new form of family-friendly storytelling in the sky

Hollywood mogul backs Musk brother’s ‘drone entertainment company’—Unlike the film business, live concerts, sport and other events have rebounded strongly since the end of the pandemic. But outdoor stadiums…   www.ft.com/content/3981... @grimeslikedimes.bsky.social @financialtimes.com

Gavin Newsom holds mirror to Maga by trolling Trump California governor’s social media campaign peps up Democrats and positions him for 2028 White House bid

Gavin Newsom holds mirror to Maga by trolling Trump—
The aggressive social media campaign, along with Newsom’s frequent warnings to “wake up” to what he says is a move towards authoritarianism under Trump, appears… www.ft.com/content/eb33... @grimeslikedimes.bsky.social @financialtimes.com

An incompetent way to pursue peace in Ukraine [FREE TO READ] Donald Trump’s alignment with Vladimir Putin in Alaska made him look a dupe

'There are two possible interpretations: either Trump has always been sympathetic to Russia’s land grab, a feature of a world in which the strong triumph over the weak; or his mind is simply shaped by the last conversation he has had.'

on.ft.com/3V4wjQb

Chef Samin Nosrat: ‘So much of cooking is about being present’ The ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’ author on food, memory and heritage — and why she tries to make something every day

Samin Nosrat's 2017 book 'Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat' could be the most influential book on cooking in the 21st century, says Lilah Raptopoulos. Join them for Lunch with the FT in Manhattan (with sparklers) on.ft.com/45APlTd

‘The world is not going to trust our data’: Donald Trump’s BLS pick sparks alarm [FREE TO READ] US president wants a loyalist to handle some of the global market’s most important data

“Even the people who may be somewhat sympathetic to his economic policy views don’t think he’s qualified”

on.ft.com/4ltSCKb

“Medium income” 🤡

@megancnbc.bsky.social

Trump Administration to Require Universities to Submit Data on Applicants’ Race

"...if the Trump administration were truly concerned about merit-based admissions, it would also take steps to collect data on legacy enrollment and the children of donors."

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/u...

The high summer of Donald Trump [FREE TO READ] In all likelihood, it is downhill for the US president from here

Very good by Janan Ganesh:

One lesson stands out from world politics over recent years: however price-sensitive you think voters are, they are more price-sensitive than that. Yes, Trump supporters are loyal. But a principle is not a principle until it costs you money.

on.ft.com/4oqsaDA

Is California’s economy heading for a deep slump? A clampdown on migrant labour is adding to concerns about tariffs, a downturn in Hollywood and cost-of-living pressures

Is California’s economy heading for a deep slump?—
US President Donald Trump’s mass deportation programme is starting to take a bite out of California’s $49bn agriculture business, which produces… www.ft.com/content/291b... @grimeslikedimes.bsky.social @financialtimes.com