Vernon Thomson
@vthomson.bsky.social
Aspiring raconteur and bon vivant
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
maintaining the fiction that cbs news would remain relatively objective under her leadership was a *lot* more important — to the admin, to cbs news, to david ellison and to bari weiss — than killing this story was, and it’s incredibly funny she didn’t know that
the shitstorm that’s already brewing because of Bari’s decision to spike this story is going to end up being vastly more damaging to her and to the admin than allowing the story to air would have been
she’s an evil propagandist hack but she is also very bad at doing it in a way that isn’t hamfisted
she’s an evil propagandist hack but she is also very bad at doing it in a way that isn’t hamfisted
December 22, 2025 at 4:47 AM
maintaining the fiction that cbs news would remain relatively objective under her leadership was a *lot* more important — to the admin, to cbs news, to david ellison and to bari weiss — than killing this story was, and it’s incredibly funny she didn’t know that
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
the vice president is a klansman
JD Vance: "In the United States of America you don't have to apologize for being white anymore"
December 21, 2025 at 8:22 PM
the vice president is a klansman
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
hey this wound up in your hidden replies for some reason, just posting it here to increase traffic on the two-way street that is vital first amendment discourse
Why CBS News Hired Cancel Culture's Biggest Grifter (ft. Michael Hobbes)
youtu.be/qNlW_kjBnTY
youtu.be/qNlW_kjBnTY
Why CBS News Hired Cancel Culture's Biggest Grifter (ft. Michael Hobbes)
YouTube video by Cancel Me, Daddy
youtu.be
December 22, 2025 at 2:18 AM
hey this wound up in your hidden replies for some reason, just posting it here to increase traffic on the two-way street that is vital first amendment discourse
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
I’m sorry ezra but I could swear you told me the cruel folks were doing this the right way
KLEIN: “.. cruelty as the dominant culture repulses most people. .. Closed and cruel are on their way out. What comes next, I suspect, will present itself as open, friendly and assertively moral.”
@ezraklein.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/o...
@ezraklein.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/o...
December 22, 2025 at 1:31 AM
I’m sorry ezra but I could swear you told me the cruel folks were doing this the right way
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
You are never going to get an apology or acknowledgement from these people. Twenty years from now the same dipshits are going to be on TV, being paid the same salaries to polish the boots of their bosses with their tongues, and being feted for it. All you can do is take solace in being right.
Seems worth noting at this point that Weiss's internal critics at the Times were correct and her many apologists among elite pundits were wrong
December 22, 2025 at 3:09 AM
You are never going to get an apology or acknowledgement from these people. Twenty years from now the same dipshits are going to be on TV, being paid the same salaries to polish the boots of their bosses with their tongues, and being feted for it. All you can do is take solace in being right.
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
Seems worth noting at this point that Weiss's internal critics at the Times were correct and her many apologists among elite pundits were wrong
December 22, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Seems worth noting at this point that Weiss's internal critics at the Times were correct and her many apologists among elite pundits were wrong
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
i think she probably sincerely believes an investigative team at 60 minutes would have a difficult time getting in touch with stephen miller, or that they haven't thought about the language they're using
December 22, 2025 at 3:34 AM
i think she probably sincerely believes an investigative team at 60 minutes would have a difficult time getting in touch with stephen miller, or that they haven't thought about the language they're using
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
it's not that you have to be stupid to be an effective regime mouthpiece, but it certainly helps bari weiss that she has a wind tunnel between her ears www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
December 22, 2025 at 3:33 AM
it's not that you have to be stupid to be an effective regime mouthpiece, but it certainly helps bari weiss that she has a wind tunnel between her ears www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
I’m curious what she thought was going to happen here. Did it not occur to her that swooping in at the last minute to kill a story on specious grounds might antagonize the journalists who worked on it? That such intervention was likely to blow up in a rather spectacular and embarrassing way?
the shitstorm that’s already brewing because of Bari’s decision to spike this story is going to end up being vastly more damaging to her and to the admin than allowing the story to air would have been
she’s an evil propagandist hack but she is also very bad at doing it in a way that isn’t hamfisted
she’s an evil propagandist hack but she is also very bad at doing it in a way that isn’t hamfisted
December 22, 2025 at 3:17 AM
I’m curious what she thought was going to happen here. Did it not occur to her that swooping in at the last minute to kill a story on specious grounds might antagonize the journalists who worked on it? That such intervention was likely to blow up in a rather spectacular and embarrassing way?
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
the knives are out
welcome to the spotlight, Bari, hope it’s everything you ever wanted
welcome to the spotlight, Bari, hope it’s everything you ever wanted
December 22, 2025 at 3:32 AM
the knives are out
welcome to the spotlight, Bari, hope it’s everything you ever wanted
welcome to the spotlight, Bari, hope it’s everything you ever wanted
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
yup, this is Kimmel redux and thrusts the takeover of CBS into a glaring public spotlight larger than any it’s already faced
it’s a stupid move by a stupid person
it’s a stupid move by a stupid person
remember how Kimmel went for them? it's going to be even worse
the shitstorm that’s already brewing because of Bari’s decision to spike this story is going to end up being vastly more damaging to her and to the admin than allowing the story to air would have been
she’s an evil propagandist hack but she is also very bad at doing it in a way that isn’t hamfisted
she’s an evil propagandist hack but she is also very bad at doing it in a way that isn’t hamfisted
December 22, 2025 at 3:11 AM
yup, this is Kimmel redux and thrusts the takeover of CBS into a glaring public spotlight larger than any it’s already faced
it’s a stupid move by a stupid person
it’s a stupid move by a stupid person
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
the shitstorm that’s already brewing because of Bari’s decision to spike this story is going to end up being vastly more damaging to her and to the admin than allowing the story to air would have been
she’s an evil propagandist hack but she is also very bad at doing it in a way that isn’t hamfisted
she’s an evil propagandist hack but she is also very bad at doing it in a way that isn’t hamfisted
December 22, 2025 at 3:04 AM
the shitstorm that’s already brewing because of Bari’s decision to spike this story is going to end up being vastly more damaging to her and to the admin than allowing the story to air would have been
she’s an evil propagandist hack but she is also very bad at doing it in a way that isn’t hamfisted
she’s an evil propagandist hack but she is also very bad at doing it in a way that isn’t hamfisted
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
chatterton doesn't really post here but i would love his thoughts on of his most famous episodes given today's events.
December 22, 2025 at 3:40 AM
chatterton doesn't really post here but i would love his thoughts on of his most famous episodes given today's events.
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
Bari only pulled this program after the promos started airing, which means she probably got a phone call. So she's not just bad at her ostensible job of running CBS news, but she's also bad at her *actual* job of running interference for the Trump admin
CBS News EIC Bari Weiss had concerns about the CECOT piece, I’m told. The network decided to hold the segment pending, among other things, comment or an interview with White House officials next year…
An Editor’s Note from 60 Minutes
December 22, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Bari only pulled this program after the promos started airing, which means she probably got a phone call. So she's not just bad at her ostensible job of running CBS news, but she's also bad at her *actual* job of running interference for the Trump admin
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
Here’s the reporters’ email. Bari is destroying CBS in real time
December 22, 2025 at 3:57 AM
Here’s the reporters’ email. Bari is destroying CBS in real time
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
5/ hahahaha and still more
December 22, 2025 at 3:53 AM
5/ hahahaha and still more
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
4/ has some background like that. In any case, just the obvious point. It wasn’t pro Trump enough so she held it back for “more reporting”.
December 22, 2025 at 3:43 AM
4/ has some background like that. In any case, just the obvious point. It wasn’t pro Trump enough so she held it back for “more reporting”.
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
3/ additional point. I’m not aware that that Weiss has ever worked as an investigative reporter or editor. She’s an opinion journalist to the extent she’s a journalist. Final calls are not always made by people who come out of journalism. But the head of a news division generally …
December 22, 2025 at 3:43 AM
3/ additional point. I’m not aware that that Weiss has ever worked as an investigative reporter or editor. She’s an opinion journalist to the extent she’s a journalist. Final calls are not always made by people who come out of journalism. But the head of a news division generally …
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
2/ and there’s more! lol. Just as predicted.
December 22, 2025 at 3:35 AM
2/ and there’s more! lol. Just as predicted.
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
Okay first this is extremely funny and just as predictable. Notable, can you
Imagine what you’d have to get in a segment on CECOT to think wow, Trump comes out of this torture gulag thing looking pretty good! lol. Predictable, stupid, absurd.
Imagine what you’d have to get in a segment on CECOT to think wow, Trump comes out of this torture gulag thing looking pretty good! lol. Predictable, stupid, absurd.
December 22, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Okay first this is extremely funny and just as predictable. Notable, can you
Imagine what you’d have to get in a segment on CECOT to think wow, Trump comes out of this torture gulag thing looking pretty good! lol. Predictable, stupid, absurd.
Imagine what you’d have to get in a segment on CECOT to think wow, Trump comes out of this torture gulag thing looking pretty good! lol. Predictable, stupid, absurd.
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
The story is insane. The acting head of cyber security, a Noem crony, repeatedly demanded to see highly classified information he didn’t need access to, and when staff set up a lie detector test as a condition to grant him access, he failed it. So DHS suspended the staffers.
Acting CISA director failed a polygraph. Career staff are now under investigation.
Acting CISA director failed a polygraph. Career staff are now under investigation.
At least six career staff were placed on leave after DHS opened an investigation into whether they misled the agency’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, into taking the test.
dlvr.it
December 22, 2025 at 3:20 AM
The story is insane. The acting head of cyber security, a Noem crony, repeatedly demanded to see highly classified information he didn’t need access to, and when staff set up a lie detector test as a condition to grant him access, he failed it. So DHS suspended the staffers.
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
i mean compare this with bill barr’s SUCCESSFUL effort to effectively kill the mueller report
December 22, 2025 at 4:06 AM
i mean compare this with bill barr’s SUCCESSFUL effort to effectively kill the mueller report
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
i know one view is that "they don't intend to lose power" but i honestly think this gives them way too much credit.
December 22, 2025 at 3:52 AM
i know one view is that "they don't intend to lose power" but i honestly think this gives them way too much credit.
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
it really is something that no one affiliated or allied with trump seems to have any sense of how to use power with subtlety and finesse.
December 22, 2025 at 3:51 AM
it really is something that no one affiliated or allied with trump seems to have any sense of how to use power with subtlety and finesse.
Reposted by Vernon Thomson
*tapping the sign again*
I know that everyone is like “oh the whole point of this is to destroy CBS, they actually want to run it into the ground” and I’m sure plenty of folks will be happy if they do
but David Ellison and Bari Weiss don’t want that! they really think they’ve got something! they are just very bad at this
but David Ellison and Bari Weiss don’t want that! they really think they’ve got something! they are just very bad at this
Bari Weiss’ much-hyped CBS News town hall with Erika Kirk was a massive ratings flop
December 22, 2025 at 4:18 AM
*tapping the sign again*