Happy Wednesday, N2K reader!

I’ve decided to change the theme of this week’s world-famous news haiku competition™ to the Venezuela sitch, because I can pivot™ with the best of them, baby. And I believe that you, yes, you, dear reader! — can craft an incredible haiku on the subject. Send me your entry — to our spiffy new email address, haiku at cheddar dot com — by noon ET Thursday for consideration by your Cheddar peers!

—Matt Davis, Need2Know Chedditor

News You Need2Know

What’s the stock market up to, eh?

$SPX ( ▼ 0.34% )   $DJI ( ▼ 0.94% )   $NDX ( ▲ 0.16% )

Companies mentioned in today’s newsletter

$PSKY ( ▼ 1.04% )   $WBD ( ▲ 0.42% )   $AAL ( ▲ 2.04% )   $DAL ( ▼ 0.79% )   $UAL ( ▼ 0.79% )   $ALK ( ▼ 1.83% )   $BA ( ▼ 0.75% )  

Warner Bros. turns down Paramount AGAIN

At this point, Paramount's $PSKY ( ▼ 1.04% ) relentless effort to buy Warner Bros. $WBD ( ▲ 0.42% ) is starting to feel like someone trying to sell ice cream to penguins. Despite repeated rejections, Paramount has sweetened its bid yet further, but Warner Bros.’, well, cold reception says it all.

Warner Bros. Discovery, for the third time, declared Paramount’s $77.9 billion offer “not in the best interests of shareholders” this week. No amount of flashy promises or heavy debt financing, apparently, can compete with Netflix's $NFLX ( ▲ 0.09% ) “cleaner” $72 billion deal. As Warner Bros. chairman Samuel Di Piazza said, Paramount’s bid included “an extraordinary amount of debt financing” and lacked the necessary protections if the transaction falls through. But why worry about shareholder risk when you can dream big?

Paramount even brought out Oracle $ORCL ( ▼ 0.47% ) founder (and Donald Trump ally) Larry Ellison — who by sheer coincidence happens to be the father of Paramount CEO David Ellison — with an "irrevocable personal guarantee” to help prop up their offer. Although his firm’s stock price has been fluctuating wildly over recent weeks as investors scrutinize its capacity to deliver on hefty AI contracts. What’s next, Ellison Sr. personally offering to fund employee Christmas parties?

Trump targets blue states over childcare fraud

Fresh from mocking and impersonating trans weightlifters, President Trump has frozen $10 billion in federal funding for childcare subsidies, social services, and cash support for low-income families in Minnesota, New York, California, Illinois, and Colorado — all states that happen to have Democratic leadership.

The administration claims the funding pause is a response to “widespread fraud,” citing a welfare scandal in Minnesota where members of the Somali community embezzled hundreds of millions of federal dollars, leading to the decision earlier this week of governor Tim Walz, former running mate of Kamala Harris, to suspend his gubernatorial campaign.

No evidence has been presented suggesting similar fraud in the other four states, but that isn’t stopping the administration from implying it might well be happening anyway.

“Democrat-led states and governors have been complicit in allowing massive amounts of fraud to occur under their watch,” alleged Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services. He presented no evidence of fraud.

Critics assert the move is politically motivated, part of a broader Trump strategy to punish Democratic states for being Democratic states. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York labeled the cuts "political retribution," adding: “I demand that President Trump unfreeze this funding and stop this brazen attack on our children."

The freeze could jeopardize life-sustaining programs, affecting hundreds of thousands of vulnerable families.

Song of the Day: Nick Jonas, ‘Gut Punch’

Nick Jonas says this song is a response to the pressure to be a perfect version of yourself. Just like this newsletter!