Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 2/12

[SVPete]

CNN has lost nearly two-thirds of its viewership since 2016 amid growing fears network is circling the drain

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/media/article-15549985/cnn-ratings-viewers-decline.html

CNN has lost nearly two-thirds of its primetime viewers over the past decade, figures show.

The decrease, from roughly 1.3 million in 2016 to 553,000 now, is fueling rumors of a possible network sale - something CNN's up-for-grabs parent company has vehemently denied.

The results recorded this month by Nielsen are actually an improvement from January, when stars like Jake Tapper, Anderson Cooper, Erin Burnett, and Kaitlan Collins only secured 488,000 sets of eyes.
...
Several network executives told the Daily Mail that the results were worrisome, even amid broader industry trends.

A CNN source, meanwhile, blamed the poor showing on audiences consuming news through alternative means.

'The reality is that people just consume news differently now than they did ten years ago, and we’re adapting to address that, reaching large audiences all over the world,' the source said.

I won't blame/credit Trump for all of this decline - CNN's stupidity, biases, and partisanship are bigger than Trump - but I think he gets a significant %, at the least. I'm among those who get news by "alternative means", though I started when those means became available in the 1980s and 1990s. To borrow from the Clinton Campaign, it's the bias, stupid!

[SVPete]

'Snow White' Lost [GULP] How Much Money?

https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2026/02/12/snow-white-lost-gulp-how-much-money-n4949412

You had to figure that Disney's live(ish)-action Snow White reboot would lose money, but even my eyes watered when I read this morning that the oft-derided musical lost about $170 million. But get this, had Disney not produced the movie in the U.K. — and received a reported $65 million (!!!) in tax credits — then Snow White would have lost the Mouse House a jaw-dropping $235 million...

...and entered the Hollywood Hall of Shame as one of the 10 biggest money-losing movie of all time, somewhere between Disney's 2012 stinker, John Carter, and Peter Berg's Battleship from the same year.

I could go over all the reasons with you again — bad concept, Rachel Zegler, bad script, Rachel Zegler, bad casting, Rachel Zegler, bad new songs, Rachel Zegler, budget-busting reshoots, Rachel Zegler, budget-busting (and unnecessary) CGI dwarves, and also Rachel Zegler — but we've been over all this before.

Instead, let me ask one vital question that nobody at Disney seems to have asked themselves or one another: How is it even possible to lose that much money on a picture that could have been shot for probably $100 million, with another $50 million in marketing costs?

WRT Zegler, I guess her race-victimism and antisemitism discouraged box office receipts.

[SVPete]

CNN Thinks Black Voters Are ‘Too Dumb’ and Scott Jennings Torched Them for It

https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2026/02/12/cnn-thinks-black-voters-are-too-dumb-and-scott-jennings-torched-them-for-it-n4949416

Scott Jennings wasn't about to let Democratic operative Alencia Johnson get away with wild accusations about voter ID requirements, and the resulting exchange on CNN was a master class in dismantling talking points with simple, direct questions.

Johnson kicked things off by claiming President Trump was "championing a bill that actually would take voting rights away from a lot of black people in this country." But her argument immediately started to crumble when Jennings asked the most obvious question: "What voting rights is he taking away from black voters?"

"The SAVE Act," Johnson, a former advisor to Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign, insisted. "That is actually going to continue to disenfranchise overwhelmingly a lot of people of color."

"How?" Jennings asked, justifiably perplexed.
...
But Jennings wouldn't let her off the hook. “How? You haven’t said how yet,” he pointed out.

“I am talking about it. It’s the way that you’re putting new poll taxes on us.”
...
Jennings couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Poll taxes?" he repeated incredulously.

Johnson doubled down, calling it "kind of an idiom" and arguing that requiring people to prove citizenship makes it "harder for people to vote in this country."

That's when Jennings lowered the boom.

He noted that 76% of black voters support requiring an ID to vote, along with 80% of Hispanic voters and 83% of Americans overall. "Are you saying that black voters are too dumb to know what's good for them?" Jennings asked. "I mean, it sounds pretty condescending."

Jennings vs Dem-Party-talking-points-parrot, no match.

[SVPete]

Backfire: Espstein Files Hitting Everyone Except The Left's Original Target

https://pjmedia.com/eric-florack/2026/02/12/espstein-files-hitting-everyone-except-the-lefts-original-target-n4949410

I suggested about a year ago that the Jeffrey Epstein Files were going to backfire on the Democrats. As it turns out, while that was true, I seem to have underestimated the number of other players around the world that would be caught up in the revelations. As an example, currently in the headlines, I've been watching with some interest the impending demolition of Kier Starmer's Labour government in the UK. PJ Media's Dave Manney wrote a few days ago about the issues surrounding Starmer.

The foul odor of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes sticks like sewage to anybody who got too close. That human piece of garbage trafficked and abused young girls for years, hiding behind wealth and connections.

Now, his rotten legacy has splattered all over British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government.

Standing in the center is Lord Peter Mandelson, Starmer's pick for U.S. ambassador, a man whose ties to Epstein scream unforgivable judgment. ...

...
Don't discount the other scandals listed in the above interview. The whole of the EU is now watching the Epstein files' impact, as one by one, leftists worldwide are implicated by what those documents reveal. 

Manney says correctly, "In politics, the stench of scandal like Epstein's doesn't fade; it festers until somebody cleans house."

That's clearly happening. The thing is that it's not just Epstein that has the world-wide left exposed, that's causing them problems. ...
...
The attempt to take Donald Trump out of the picture politically and MAGA with it has blossomed into something that the left never envisioned in their wildest nightmares. Not only has the release of those flies not done what the left has been saying they would do, but actors on the left are also being taken out with numbers that surprise even the most jaundiced of observers. ...

The connection I admit I didn't foresee is becoming more obvious. The people pushing the Epstein files as the cure for what they consider the disease of MAGA, ..., are now the ones most exposed in the release of those files, while Trump is not.

The Dems had to know that some of "their own" would get ensnared by the files being released, a mix of perv-exposure, stooopid judgment, and 'splainin'-required. I do not think they realized how many their partisan obsession/insistence would hypo-vehiculate (and there will be more in coming weeks, IMO).

[ADsOutburst]

Backfire: Espstein Files Hitting Everyone Except The Left's Original Target

https://pjmedia.com/eric-florack/2026/02/12/espstein-files-hitting-everyone-except-the-lefts-original-target-n4949410
...
Don't discount the other scandals listed in the above interview. The whole of the EU is now watching the Epstein files' impact, as one by one, leftists worldwide are implicated by what those documents reveal. 

Manney says correctly, "In politics, the stench of scandal like Epstein's doesn't fade; it festers until somebody cleans house."

That's clearly happening. The thing is that it's not just Epstein that has the world-wide left exposed, that's causing them problems. ...
...
The attempt to take Donald Trump out of the picture politically and MAGA with it has blossomed into something that the left never envisioned in their wildest nightmares. Not only has the release of those flies not done what the left has been saying they would do, but actors on the left are also being taken out with numbers that surprise even the most jaundiced of observers. ...

The connection I admit I didn't foresee is becoming more obvious. The people pushing the Epstein files as the cure for what they consider the disease of MAGA, ..., are now the ones most exposed in the release of those files, while Trump is not.

The Dems had to know that some of "their own" would get ensnared by the files being released, a mix of perv-exposure, stooopid judgment, and 'splainin'-required. I do not think they realized how many their partisan obsession/insistence would hypo-vehiculate (and there will be more in coming weeks, IMO).

What we've learned from this episode is that Democrats are willing to engage in self-destructive behavior in an attempt to make Trump look bad.

[SVPete]

San Francisco taxpayers sue over race-based reparations ordinance

https://pacificlegal.org/press-release/san-francisco-taxpayers-sue-over-race-based-reparations-ordinance/

San Francisco, California; February 5, 2026: Several San Francisco residents, as well as the Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, filed a lawsuit today challenging an ordinance establishing a reparations fund for black San Franciscans. The plaintiffs allege that the ordinance, which allows taxpayer money to be used to administer the fund, violates the Equal Protection Clause by discriminating on the basis of race.

“Acknowledging past injustice does not give the government license to spend public resources on programs that sort people by race and ancestry today,” said Andrew Quinio, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation. “The Constitution requires the city to address proven harm directly, not through sweeping racial and ancestral classifications. This lawsuit is about ensuring that all Americans are treated as individuals under the law and not forced to subsidize government policies that collectively bind them to history that they did not experience or inflict.”

[SVPete]

Teachers email parents demanding they don’t homeschool kids – as San Francisco strike grinds into a third day

https://nypost.com/2026/02/10/us-news/striking-san-francisco-teachers-tell-parents-to-skip-homework/

Striking San Francisco teachers have demanded parents avoid homeschooling their children to help support their push for higher wages and better conditions.

More than 50,000 children were kept home on Monday and Tuesday after teachers walked off the job and joined picket lines, demanding a nine per cent raise over two years and subsidized family health care, which the cash-strapped San Francisco School District claims it can’t afford.
...
The district — which says it could lose millions in funding each day the strike goes on — offered homework packets that include “five days of independent study work and practice in both English Language Arts and in Math,” according to its website.

But teachers claim in messages they sent to parents that the packets were a ploy to ensure the district continues to receive funds during the strike, meaning the district would be able to avoid caving to the union’s demands.

The supposed issue - ADA $$$ - aside, I can understand why the union would not want parents to see what their kids are being taught, nor that they, the parents, can teach their children as well or better than classroom teachers.

[SVPete]

IG Report: Biden Broke Rules to Award Lucrative Contract to Former Staffer’s Nonprofit.

https://thenationalpulse.com/2026/02/12/ig-report-biden-broke-rules-to-award-lucrative-contract-to-former-staffers-nonprofit/

The former Biden government is being accused of having circumvented federal procurement rules in awarding a $529 million no-bid contract to Family Endeavors Inc. in March 2021. According to a newly released inspector general’s report, the contract was intended to establish and manage a 2,000-bed emergency intake site in Pecos, Texas, for unaccompanied minors, but, concerningly, Family Endeavors Inc. had brought a former Biden government staffer on board to secure the contract just months before it was approved.

Just two months before the contract was issued by the Administration of Children and Families (ACF), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Family Endeavors Inc. hired Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, a former Biden transition team advisor. Concerningly, in an undercover video, Lorenzen-Strait referred to the Endeavors contract as a “corrupt bargain” and discussed brokering other deals.

In the undercover video, Lorenzen-Strait also jokes about being golf buddies with Hunter Biden. In addition, he explains how he secured federal contracts for a number of clients despite the companies and non-profit groups lacking adequate experience or capabilities to win bids in a truly competitive environment.

Despite the inspector general’s allegations, the ACF—at the time—cited the COVID-19 emergency as the reason for the no-bid contract. However, the inspector general’s report concluded that the lack of competitive bidding resulted from “insufficient planning” rather than the cited emergency. The contract price was more than double the agency’s initial cost estimate of $244 million, and subsequent modifications increased the value to over three times the original estimate.

LIEden MalAdministration crony-corruption pretty much began within days of his inauguration. That was just the Biden-family culture.