Hi friends,
Chris Vazquez, your Friday newsletter writer here. I sometimes think of myself as the black cat to Dave’s golden retriever, and I unfortunately think that’s especially true in this newsletter. Dave does a mad libs parody, and I use it as a way in to talking about how harmful regime change in Latin America has been. He spoofs ‘The Great British Bake Off’ and I dive into the implications of a new right-wing media empire. He dresses in a turkey costume and in a summary of the same video, I give a very abridged history of the War on Drugs.
All that and more in today’s newsletter — including, as promised, an unpacking of many of the news stories Dave rolled into Wednesday’s video.
Before we dive in, Micah has asked me to remind everyone about our holiday sale! You can save 10% when you become a Local News International annual member for both general and student memberships. Please help support our independent journalism this holiday season. We’ll also gladly take your year-end contribution to help us grow even faster! Head on over to the membership page and check out the options.
Now, let’s dive in.
Three news stories, one blurb and a dream
Luigi Mangione’s defense attorneys are arguing that the backpack police searched and found a gun in at the time of Mangione’s arrest can’t be used as evidence, because police didn’t have a search warrant. The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, but body camera footage captured an officer saying “it's search incident to arrest,” which lets officers search people after they’ve been arrested.
Australia banned many social media sites for kids under age 16. The ban is largely a response to concerns over social media’s affects on children’s mental health. Critics say the ban could push kids to less regulated parts of the internet, age-verification technology may not work that well, and the law limits kids’ right to political expression and their ability to connect with each other — an argument that caught my attention as a former regular over on r/lgbteens.
The Trump administration’s anti-DEI crusade is coming for the Calibri font. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered all diplomatic correspondence to go back to using Times New Roman. The Biden administration previously switched over to Calibri in an effort to make text more accessible for people with disabilities like dyslexia or people who use screen readers.
The U.S. seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela
The move is a big escalation of the U.S.’ ongoing campaign to oust Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro — a campaign that’s involved what experts call extrajudicial killings of people on Venezuelan boats.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. plans to keep the oil from the tanker. Maduro has said the seizure exposes the true motives behind the pressure campaign to oust him: the U.S. wants Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. Some experts say the U.S. may have additional motives, including wanting to get rid of Venezuela’s leftist government.
The campaign to oust Maduro is part of a broader pattern of U.S.-backed regime change in Latin America that propped up dictatorships, trained soldiers implicated in human rights abuses, and has had a net negative affect on democracy.
The Hollywood deal pissing off a Trump crony
Last week, Netflix bought Warner Bros. and HBO Max (the streaming platform formerly known as Max formerly known as HBO Max).
David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount Skydance who has close ties to President Donald Trump, also wants to buy Warner Bros. So he made what the kids call a “hostile takeover bid” in which he made an offer directly to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders.
Why care about Hollywood execs’ boardroom drama? Well, Ellison reportedly promised Trump that he’d make big changes to CNN (which WBD owns) if his bid wins out. It would follow a broader pattern of Ellison taking control of media companies and shaping them into a pro-Trump propaganda arm.
And Netflix acquiring WBD comes with its own set of concerns — namely that movie theaters will suffer when a streaming giant historically opposed to the theater model gets its hands on one of Hollywood’s biggest studios. The Atlantic reports, however, that Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said that “Netflix will commit to being in the theatrical business” if the deal goes through.
“I’m so happy you went independent, we need more news sources like this.”
Breaking down Trump’s use of the pardon power
Trump has mostly used it to pardon his allies, including January 6 insurrectionists, 12 members of Congress (most of whom are Republicans) and fellow reality TV stars.
He also pardoned the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted on drug trafficking charges. Critics have pointed out the hypocrisy of the administration pardoning him and others convicted of drug-related crimes in the U.S. while killing people in the Caribbean on baseless claims that they’re smuggling drugs.
Still, critiquing pardons for drug crimes is tricky. A Nixon advisor admitted that the War on Drugs was designed as a thinly-veiled way to criminalize Black Americans, all while the administration knew “we were lying about the drugs.” Drug offenses in the U.S. are the leading cause of arrest, contributing to our bloated carceral system, and Black people are disproportionately targeted even though “people of all races use and sell drugs at similar rates,” per the Drug Policy Alliance.
And now, a Medicare explainer!
In eight years, Medicare’s Hospital Insurance program could run out of money to pay for the benefits it’s promised.
Medicare makes money from payroll taxes, and spends some of its money on Hospital Insurance benefits. The money it made used to be more than the money it spent on this, and the surplus was stored in a trust fund that Congress used to pay for benefits.
In 2033, that surplus will run out. Medicare will keep functioning, but payments to hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and hospices will be cut by 11%. It’s not yet clear how those cuts would be distributed, but it would be devastating for Americans relying on these benefits and for healthcare professionals.
This video is part of Dave’s partnership with Free the Facts, a nonpartisan, non-profit organization that empowers young Americans to learn and lead.
Each week, after running through the news Dave has covered, I turn things over to him for some analysis. Dave, over to you!
The news portal is endless, it’s non-stop and it’s been worse this year than almost any other year of my journalism career.
I am referring of course to the fictional news portal from Wednesday’s video. I wanted to tell five stories in one video, while also demonstrating that news is overwhelming both for their consumer and me, your personal town crier with way too many costumes. Burnout and journalism seem to go hand-in-hand, and it’s even more difficult lately with the mass layoffs at local papers and the increasingly awful ideas coming out of newsrooms who think they need to use AI for everything (you don’t!).
The Washington Post is launching a personalized AI podcast, saying users will be able to "shape their own briefing, select their topics, set their lengths, pick their hosts and soon even ask questions using our Ask The Post AI technology."
— max tani (@maxtani.bsky.social) 2025-12-10T16:09:44.388Z
Something I’ve always found kind of funny, and maybe a little concerning, is the ability for the news to slow down on weekends and holidays. Things are still happening! We just … all pretend there is less news. Because most reporters are not working, the news portal halts to a slow drip. The world keeps spinning, we’ve all generally grown accustomed to the week day 9-to-5 and national holidays. News takes a back row seat so we can recharge.
Here’s what I’m getting at: the onslaught of news doesn’t have to destroy you and your psyche. It’s a portal with pre-determined settings anyway. If we actually had access to every major story every single day, our brains would instantly overload. We’re already dangerously close to this with social media, push notifications and 24 hour news channels. So, if you’re feeling like this is all too much, you can turn off the portal. You don’t have to read or watch every single story.
This might seem counterintuitive to someone whose job is telling the news and hopefully getting people to subscribe and pay money for more of it (become a LNI member today or make a donation!). But I think it’s logical and good for business that LNI followers aren’t getting overloaded with information. It’s also important that it’s not overly negative all the time. A restaurant doesn’t keep serving you after you’re full. They say “thank you, please come back.”
So, this holiday season, please enjoy what we have to offer, take a break when you need it, and come back when you’re hungry for more.
Thanks, Dave!
Your first reward for making it to the end of this newsletter is a photo a cat named Rio from a loyal reader.
Rio’s sister Roxy is camera shy
Your second reward is the reveal for where you’ll find the non-news related link in the body of this email from this week’s scavenger hunt. In Dave’s Corner, one of the times Dave wrote the word “portals,” I linked to a Marvel wiki entry about gateways that the X-Men basically used to teleport for five years of publication history. They’re a major component in an era of comics all about state power, international politics and community building among oppressed people. An interesting read if you wanna get away from the news portal but still want an outlet for all the tough thoughts and questions it brings up!
Until next week!
Chris
🎁 Give the gift of LNI this holiday with discounts on annual memberships. 🎁
Thanks for subscribing to Local News International. Please help support my independent journalism by becoming a paying member. Here’s what you get:
📌 Early access to videos
📌 Exclusive quarterly Q&A’s
📌 Unlocked commenting on posts
📌 Full archive access
📌 Dave (and Lola) stickers
📌 Access to our exclusive private Slack channel (International Tier)
