Attention to the Unseen

Politico reports: Sen. Ted Cruz on his podcast Friday admonished Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr for demanding ABC suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show over comments regarding Charlie Kirk — calling Carr’s actions “dangerous as hell” and “right out of ‘Goodfellas.’” “If the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you, the media, have said; we’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like’ — that will end up…

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Matthew Wollin writes: Big Law firms have never before done free work for a sitting president, let alone “pro bono” work, which the American Bar Association generally defines to mean work that is “designed primarily to address the needs of persons of limited means.” Moreover, these are some of the most powerful and capable law firms in the country. Skadden Arps is ranked as the third-most prestigious firm in the US, while Kirkland & Ellis is the single largest firm…

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FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez issued the following statement in response to ABC’s decision to capitulate to government pressure that violates the First Amendment and threatens free expression: “We cannot allow an inexcusable act of political violence to be twisted into a justification for government censorship and control. First, an ABC reporter was told that his coverage amounted to hate speech and that he should be prosecuted simply for doing his job. Then, the FCC threatened to go after this…

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The Los Angeles Times reports: A protester was acquitted Wednesday of charges that he assaulted a federal agent during widespread protests against immigration crackdowns in Los Angeles, just hours after one of the faces of President Trump’s enforcement policies took the stand to testify against him. U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino — the brash agent who led a phalanx of military personnel into MacArthur Park this summer — was called as a witness Wednesday in a federal misdemeanor…

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Politico reports: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor appeared to take aim at recent remarks by Attorney General Pam Bondi vowing to “target” anyone who uses “hate speech” following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. “Every time I listen to a lawyer-trained representative saying we should criminalize free speech in some way, I think to myself, that law school failed,” Sotomayor said while speaking on a panel Tuesday morning at New York Law School. [Continue reading…] In an editorial, the…

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Axios reports: President Trump and MAGA spent years lampooning censorship, discrimination against conservatives, and progressive “cancel culture.” Now in power — and riding an outpouring of grief and fury over Charlie Kirk’s tragic killing — they’re enforcing speech codes to punish ideological opponents. Why it matters: Backed by the Trump administration, digital vigilantes are demanding arrests, firings and deportations for anti-Kirk posts and remarks. Zoom in: Any person who celebrates or mocks Kirk’s death — or even criticizes his right-wing views — is being…

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The New York Times reports: Chris Meyer, a field agent assigned to fly the F.B.I. director Kash Patel’s plane until last month, knew he was in trouble over the summer when a pro-Trump influencer claimed, without a wisp of proof, that he was “THE” main agent in the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation. Mr. Meyer said he was never assigned to that case. Moreover, he added, he was on a lakeside vacation with his family in Virginia when the F.B.I. conducted its…

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The New York Times reports: Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor who handled criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, is contesting her abrupt July firing in a lawsuit that challenges Donald J. Trump’s claim of sweeping presidential power. Ms. Comey, whose father, James B. Comey, is a former F.B.I. director, says in the lawsuit filed on Monday that she was never given a reason for her dismissal. She contends that no plausible explanation exists other than that she is…

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The New York Times reports: The British government has fiercely defended its decision to ban a pro-Palestinian group under a decades-old terrorism statute, a designation reserved mainly for Islamic militants and neo-Nazis. The rationale to outlaw the group, Palestine Action, was based on “clear advice and intelligence” after an “escalating campaign involving intimidation and sustained criminal damage,” Dan Jarvis, the security minister, said on Monday. Activists from the group have vandalized weapon factories and military equipment. Mr. Jarvis said the…

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Politico reports: It’s never a good idea for the FBI director to wrongly suggest that a criminal suspect has been caught — but for Kash Patel, the moment was especially ill-timed. On Wednesday evening, as the investigation into the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk unfolded in Utah, Patel bungled one of his first messages to the public. He prematurely seemed to declare that the shooter had been captured. “The subject for the horrific shooting today that took the…

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The Guardian reports: Thousands of Brazilians have taken to the streets to rejoice at Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction for plotting a coup, as progressive politicians celebrated the historic move and rightwing figures linked to Donald Trump responded with anger and threats. Chile’s leftwing president, Gabriel Boric, led regional congratulations of the decision to jail Bolsonaro for 27 years for leading a criminal organisation that sought to seize power after the far-right populist lost the 2022 election. “My respect to Brazilian democracy…

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