Warner Bros Split, LA Protests, & Road Rage

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Adam Rogers
June 10, 2025

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*Editor’s Note: I didn’t add a link to the story about toxic green books in yesterday’s edition. Click here for the full story. -Adam

President Trump promoted the Trump Accounts program at a White House event featuring major CEOs on Monday.

The Trump Accounts program would create $1,000 government-seeded investment accounts for children born between 2025-2028. Families can contribute up to $5,000 annually to the accounts, and funds can be withdrawn starting at age 18 for approved expenses like education, home down payments, or starting a business.
The provision passed the House as part of Trump's tax cut package but has faced pushback from fiscally conservative Senate Republicans before Trump's July 4th deadline. The pilot program will cost about $17 billion over 10 years, according to Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation.
Dell CEO Michael Dell was the only executive to make a concrete pledge, promising to match the government’s $1,000 contribution ‘dollar for dollar’ for his employees’ children under the Trump Accounts program. Seven other attending CEOs offered only vague support, despite White House expectations of “billions of dollars of investment.”

Southern Baptists are calling for a legal ban on pornography and the reversal of same-sex marriage rights.

The nation's largest Protestant denomination will vote this week in Dallas on resolutions calling for legislators to ban pornography and reverse the Supreme Court's 2015 approval of same-sex marriage. The proposed measures demand laws based on "biblical order" while also seeking restrictions on sports betting and policies promoting childbearing.
The vote outcome carries new political weight with conservatives controlling Washington and Southern Baptist Mike Johnson as House Speaker. Justice Clarence Thomas has also called for revisiting the same-sex marriage decision, while religious conservatives increasingly push legislation based on their moral beliefs.
However, the denomination’s ultra-right shift is creating internal fractures. Leaders are debating whether to ban churches with women pastors and are calling to defund their public policy arm. The Southern Baptist Convention has lost members for 18 straight years, falling to 12.7 million. Black pastor Dwight McKissic warns the SBC is moving “from an evangelical organization to a fundamentalist organization,” adding that “fewer and fewer Black churches will make the transition.”

Warner Bros. Discovery is the latest media giant to split up its parts amid the cord-cutting crisis.

The parent company of HBO Max, CNN, and TNT announced Monday it will divide by mid-2026, separating streaming services and studios from traditional TV networks as viewers abandon cable subscriptions. CEO David Zaslav will lead the streaming unit, while TV networks will become a separate company under CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels.
The breakup follows Comcast's December spin-off of cable networks, including CNBC and MSNBC, as major media companies restructure to compete with streaming and social platforms like TikTok that have captured younger audiences.
Warner has struggled since its 2022 merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, with its stock down 60%. It recently lost NBA broadcasting rights to NBCUniversal and Amazon, though shares jumped 11% Monday on news of a potential split.

Chicago police arrested and charged 25-year-old Adrian Rucker with four felonies related to Officer Krystal Rivera's friendly-fire death during a June 5 suspect pursuit. (More)

Airbnb's super PAC spent $1 million on digital ads attacking three NYC mayoral candidates who oppose short-term rentals. The ads benefit front-runner Andrew Cuomo, who, as governor, helped ban unregulated STRs. (More)

The Trump administration has ordered 700 Marines to join 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles after the weekend deportation protests have grown more violent. (More)

Bulgarian officials rescued 75 people Saturday from two illegal care homes described as "houses of horrors" where residents were beaten, bound, and sedated. (More)

Four Japanese soldiers suffered finger injuries Monday when unexploded WWII ordnance exploded during inspection at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa. (More)

Italy's referendums on relaxing citizenship laws and improving job protections failed Monday with 30% voter turnout, well below the required 50%. PM Meloni called for boycotts of the vote. (More)

US stock markets closed mixed on xx (S&P +0.09%, Nasdaq +0.31%, Dow -0.00%). Two major indexes were marginally higher as trade talks between the US and China continue today. (More)

OpenAI reached $10 billion in annual recurring revenue less than three years after launching ChatGPT, nearly doubling from last year's $5.5 billion. (More)

China's May exports to the US plunged 34.5%, the sharpest drop since February 2020, while trade surplus with America shrank 41.55% to $18 billion. (More)

The Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-1 to take a 2-1 series lead in the Stanley Cup Finals. (More)

Funk pioneer Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone died peacefully at 82 on Monday after battling COPD. (More)

A New York federal judge dismissed "It Ends With Us" star Justin Baldoni's $400 million countersuit against co-star Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. (More)

Apple announced iPhone AI features and software updates at Monday's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, but received muted audience response. (More)

SETI Institute researchers found humpback whales deliberately blow bubble rings at humans as a form of communication. (More)

Chinese tech giants Alibaba, ByteDance, and Tencent suspended AI chatbot photo-recognition from responding to questions during nationwide college exams to prevent student cheating. (More)

One-of-a-kind 1924 Bugatti-Diatto could fetch $1.3M at auction.

Reporter shot by rubber bullets during LA protests.

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