The Hound | July 14

Hi there,

It’s Tuesday. Twelve Democratic state attorneys filed suit to stop the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, arguing it would devastate the film distribution market and give the merged company stranglehold power over basic cable. Meanwhile, Trump has openly discussed who he wants fired at CNN once the Ellisons take over, and Paramount has already steered CBS News so far rightward that ratings have collapsed and a wave of staff have walked out.

🖊️ Sign the petition to call on The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post, NBC News, ABC News, and other mainstream outlets to cover the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger not as a business deal, but as what it plainly is: a politically orchestrated consolidation of media power designed to benefit Trump and silence critical coverage.

This is not a routine antitrust story. It is a corruption story: a president blessing a monopolistic media merger that would hand his political allies control over two of the country's most influential news organizations — while his DOJ waves it through and twelve states are left to mount the only meaningful resistance. The public deserves reporting that names the conflict of interest and follows it to its source.

In addition, ICE shot and killed another man, this time in Maine — and prosecutors in Minnesota have obtained long withheld evidence in the ICE killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Read about these, and more, with today’s stories:

12 Blue States Defy DOJ and Sue to Stop Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger (The New Republic)

Minnesota prosecutors obtain long withheld evidence in investigation into protest shooting deaths (AP News)

ICE shot and killed a Colombian man in Maine. This is the 2nd time in a week the agency used deadly force (PBS)

Feds and Deputized Cops Stockpiling War Machines for Deportation (The American Prospect)

Idaho voters will weigh in on one of the strictest abortion bans in the country (The 19th News)

In Federal Prisons, Some Guards Use Fear and Violence to Stifle Complaints (The Marshall Project)

Until next time,

Harry from The Hound

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