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Category: Politics

FCC Commissioner Gomez speaks out on Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension and government censorship

FCC Commissioner Gomez speaks out on Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension and government censorship

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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MAGA civil war erupts over Charlie Kirk’s legacy

MAGA civil war erupts over Charlie Kirk’s legacy

Sam Stein and Will Sommer unpack the fight over Charlie Kirk’s legacy: Candace Owens vs. Bill Ackman, Tucker Carlson weighing in, Marjorie Taylor Greene stoking antisemitism, and pastors using AI to project Kirk from beyond the grave:   “FriendlyHoneyBadger” explores the fractures on the right:   Netanyahu condemns rumors tying Israel to Kirk’s assassination:  

Some Republicans warn against politicizing Charlie Kirk’s death

Some Republicans warn against politicizing Charlie Kirk’s death

Axios reports: While prominent MAGA voices cried “war” and blamed the “other side” for Charlie Kirk’s murder, another coalition is urging its peers to blame the shooter rather than their political rivals. The big picture: Administration officials’ rush to blame the left, coupled with a campaign to name and shame Kirk critics, sparked fears — even among some Republicans — that the government will seize this moment to suppress dissent and exact retribution. Immediately after Kirk’s assassination, MAGA coalesced around a shadowy foe: they. Driving the news: But…

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Netanyahu says that Israel must become Sparta, hardened against the world

Netanyahu says that Israel must become Sparta, hardened against the world

Ruth Margalit writes: On Monday afternoon, a few hours before the first ferocious attacks of Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza City made buildings tremble as far away as Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Jerusalem for an economics conference. With his far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, sitting in the front row, Netanyahu took the stage, looking a little peeved, and berated the event’s organizers for muddling his slide show. Then he turned to the audience: a group of…

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Immigration judge orders Mahmoud Khalil deported to Syria or Algeria

Immigration judge orders Mahmoud Khalil deported to Syria or Algeria

Politico reports: An immigration judge in Louisiana has ordered pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the U.S., deported to Syria or Algeria for failing to disclose certain information on his green card application, according to documents filed in federal court Wednesday by his lawyers. Khalil’s lawyers suggested in a filing that they intend to appeal the deportation order, but expressed concern that the appeal process will likely be swift and unfavorable. The order from the immigration judge,…

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Protester found not guilty of assault despite top Border Patrol official’s testimony

Protester found not guilty of assault despite top Border Patrol official’s testimony

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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Bernie Sanders becomes first senator to acknowledge that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

Bernie Sanders becomes first senator to acknowledge that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

The Guardian reports: Senator Bernie Sanders said on Wednesday that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, calling the conclusion “inescapable” and becoming the first US senator to use the term. “Over the last two years, Israel has not simply defended itself against Hamas,” Sanders wrote. “Instead, it has waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people.” Sanders had long received flak from supporters and protesters alike for avoiding the term, which he previously said made him “queasy” when protesters…

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Pam Bondi gets schooled on the First Amendment

Pam Bondi gets schooled on the First Amendment

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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Israel’s attack on Qatar failed and backfired

Israel’s attack on Qatar failed and backfired

Axios reports: A week after Israel’s missile strikes in Qatar, it’s clear not only that the assassination attempt against Hamas leaders failed, but that it backfired. Why it matters: The strike increased the feeling inside the Trump administration and around the world that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is reckless and has become a destabilizing force in the region. How it happened: Israel’s plan was to take out several of Hamas’ top leaders all at once as they met to discuss President Trump’s Gaza peace proposal. Five…

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UAE got the chips while team Trump got the crypto riches

UAE got the chips while team Trump got the crypto riches

The New York Times reports: This summer, Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy, paid a visit to the coast of Sardinia, a stretch of the Mediterranean Sea crowded with super yachts. On one of those extravagant vessels, Mr. Witkoff sat down with a member of the ultrarich ruling family of the United Arab Emirates. He was meeting Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a trim figure in dark glasses who controls $1.5 trillion of the Emiratis’ sovereign wealth. It…

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Trump’s Harvard cuts threaten a pillar of global basic biomedical research

Trump’s Harvard cuts threaten a pillar of global basic biomedical research

NBC News reports: For more than a century, the humble fruit fly has paved the way for many critical scientific breakthroughs. This tiny insect helped researchers figure out that X-rays can cause genetic mutations. That genes are passed on from parent to child through chromosomes. That a gene called period helps our bodies keep time — and that disruptions to that internal clock can lead to jet lag and increased risk for neurological and metabolic diseases. Those discoveries, along with…

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At Windsor Castle, Trump is haunted by the ghost of Epstein through ‘malicious communications’

At Windsor Castle, Trump is haunted by the ghost of Epstein through ‘malicious communications’

  The Guardian reports: The arrest of four men after images of Donald Trump alongside Jeffrey Epstein were projected on to Windsor Castle on Tuesday was “Orwellian” and “ridiculous”, the group behind the protest has told the Guardian. The political campaign group Led By Donkeys confirmed that it was behind the stunt, which saw several images of Trump and Epstein projected on to a tower while a soundtrack questioning the relationship between to the two men was played on a…

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By ignoring Charlie Kirk’s rhetoric and actions, pundits and politicians are sanitizing his legacy

By ignoring Charlie Kirk’s rhetoric and actions, pundits and politicians are sanitizing his legacy

Ta-Nehisi Coates writes: Before he was killed last week, Charlie Kirk left a helpful compendium of words—ones that would greatly aid those who sought to understand his legacy and import. It is somewhat difficult to match these words with the manner in which Kirk is presently being memorialized in mainstream discourse. New York Times columnist Ezra Klein dubbed Kirk “one of the era’s most effective practitioners of persuasion” and a man who “was practicing politics in exactly the right way.” California governor Gavin Newsom hailed Kirk’s “passion and commitment…

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FBI profiler explains why some Groypers have trans partners

FBI profiler explains why some Groypers have trans partners

A self-described FBI profiler (and I see no reason to doubt that that is indeed her profession) who provides commentary on TikTok as “FriendlyHoneyBadger” and YouTube as “Cult College,” sheds light on why some far-right Groypers (led by Nick Fuentes) choose or groom trans partners, countering the assumption that if Tyler Robinson (Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer) had a trans partner then he must be a leftist.    

Republicans support restrictions on free speech

Republicans support restrictions on free speech

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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