Tag: celebrities

Stephen Colbert Pushes More Control on ‘Long Guns’ After Man Attacked Dallas ICE with 8mm Bolt Action

On Wednesday night, Stephen Colbert pushed for more gun control on “long guns” after a sniper used a WWII-era bolt action rifle to attack a Dallas ICE facility.

Colbert was interviewing Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) when he made the comments.

Media Research Center captured the moment the interview began,  with Colbert saying:

Before we get into anything else, right off the top, I just want to point out and let everybody know that you have been a tireless advocate for gun control for years now. And as you know, and I think most of the people out here know, today there was another tragic shooting, this time at an ICE facility down in Dallas. We don’t know a lot about it so far. What goes through your mind when you hear about another shooting like this?

Murphy responded by saying, in part, “It just sickens me that we have a president who instead of trying to stand up and say wherever the violence comes from, it’s unacceptable, is politicizing this moment. It’s about the victims and it’s about a mourning of a loss of a potential moment to bring this country together.”

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FCC Threats Against Jimmy Kimmel Echo a Century of Speech Control

Days after the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Jimmy Kimmel joked on his show that the “MAGA gang [was] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” This prompted Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr to threaten network broadcasting licenses, alleging that Kimmel’s show violates “public interest, convenience or necessity,” and to tell ABC that this could be resolved “the easy way or the hard way.” The following day, ABC announced the indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!—a decision it reversed on Monday after public outcry. 

Many conservatives, trying to remember where they put their keys and their beefs about cancel culture, see this as the way the cookie crumbles. Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Texas), however, believes that Carr was wrong and called this “mafioso” behavior “dangerous.” The dispute highlights a century-old tension: political control over broadcast licenses and the power to shave free speech.

Broadcast TV and radio authorizations—held by stations in the ABC network—state that private companies cannot claim ownership of the radio spectrum. Access to airwaves is a privilege, not a right. This dates to the 1927 Radio Act, proposed by then–Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover and signed by President Calvin Coolidge. Its rules were repeated virtually verbatim in the 1934 Communications Act, amended in the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and constitute today’s law of the land.

The greatest problem with censorship is the ease with which subtle demands by politicians slant the news, particularly in the choice (or rejection) of controversial topics. But it is the law backing up the government’s powerful authority that makes that influence work. Fred Friendly’s fascinating book The Good Guys, the Bad Guys, and the First Amendment, describes one of the sensational cases where a permit to speak was actually cancelled. In the WXUR case, a Philadelphia station was operated by the highly opinionated Rev. Carl McIntire, a “suspended” Presbyterian minister. Although his organization raised $5,000 to support Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967, McIntire was considered an antisemite by the National Council of Churches, the Urban League, and the B’nai B’rith. They objected to his “intemperate attacks on other religious denominations…and political officials.” The organizations called for McIntire’s broadcast license to be revoked (denied for renewal) by the FCC because its programs “help[ed] create a climate of fear, prejudice and distrust of democratic institutions.” 

McIntire lost WXUR in 1973—the only time such a right was extinguished under the so-called Fairness Doctrine. But legions of speakers have been cowed and hushed. As early as 1929, the left-wing stations WEVD (named for Eugene V. Debs) and WCFL (owned by the Chicago Federation of Labor) were warned about espousing their radical views. WEVD was accused in a 1929 renewal at the Federal Radio Commission of being “the mouthpiece of the Socialist Party.” WCFL was branded a “propaganda” outlet. Both enterprises read the room and backed away from their edgy politics and full-time line-ups. WCFL merged into the NBC conglomerate, while WEVD—cadging donations to stay alive—limped along by sharing most of the week’s broadcast time with commercial outlets. 

One of the great 20th century judicial liberals, D.C. Senior Court of Appeals judge David Bazelon, originally supported the FCC’s attack on McIntire’s ownership of WXUR. His First Amendment rights were compromised, under the 1943 NBC Supreme Court verdict, based on the “physical scarcity” doctrine. This posits that there are only a limited number of frequencies—a limit imposed by nature, not the government—and so the regulator has to select the best content to fill those slots. It was an uncompelling argument at the time: Resources in limited supply are sold to bidders every day without FCC (or other) administrative assignment. There are actually unlimited spectral slots, not just counting what technology might deliver (tell me the top limit on satellite radio channels or Internet radio stations), but in divvying the old AM dial into finer slices. 

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No, Senator Van Hollen: Stations Choosing Not To Air Kimmel Isn’t Censorship

It’s very clear that the Democratic Party has no idea what the First Amendment means and what free speech is.

They have spent the past week telling us there’s a Constitutional right to have a high-paying late-night talk show, calling the short-lived suspension of Jimmy Kimmel “censorship.” It’s not. It was a business decision by ABC/Disney and stations like Sinclair and Nexstar to not air a show after the host made inflammatory comments about Charlie Kirk.

Even with Kimmel’s return to his show, several Sinclair stations have opted to not broadcast his show.

That, of course, is their right.

But Democrats like California State Senator Scott Wiener vowed to break up Sinclair for not airing Kimmel, and now Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) is calling Sinclair’s decision not to air Kimmel “censorship” too.

While FCC Chair Brendan Carr did comment on the situation and talk about possible consequences for ABC/Disney and Kimmel, the FCC did not demand the suspension of Kimmel’s show. That decision came from the network after Kimmel refused to tone down the rhetoric (and the future of Kimmel’s show has long been in doubt anyway).

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Jimmy Kimmel Fake Cries as He Confronts His Own Lies About Charlie Kirk Assassination After Being Yanked Off the Air

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel tried to stage a desperate damage-control moment on Tuesday night, choking up on camera as he attempted to walk back his lies about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Just last week, Kimmel told his dwindling audience that Kirk was killed by a “MAGA conservative,” a smear designed to demonize Trump supporters and weaponize a national tragedy for political gain. The statement was false, reckless, and dangerous.

The backlash was immediate. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr blasted Kimmel for spreading blatant disinformation on national television, warning of potential federal action against ABC and its parent company Disney.

Disney, facing mounting outrage, abruptly yanked Kimmel’s show off the air. But less than a week later, ABC announced he would be returning, prompting fury from viewers and broadcast partners alike.

By Monday evening, Sinclair Broadcast Group—which owns 30 ABC affiliates—announced it would no longer carry Jimmy Kimmel Live! in protest of ABC’s cowardly cave.

On Tuesday, Nexstar Media Group followed suit, pulling the show from all 32 of its ABC affiliates.

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Keith Olbermann just sunk Dems with his ‘spin’ on Charlie Kirk’s assassination…

We all know Keith Olbermann is a certifiable lunatic. This man doesn’t have Stage 5 TDS; he’s at Stage 500. His Trump Derangement Syndrome is so extreme, scientists could study it and write books about it.

But even though Keith is 3 sheets to the wind with his hatred for Trump, you’d think he’d have at least a shred of humanity left, right?

Wrong.

Olbermann did the unthinkable and managed to drag the already drowning Dem Party down do to the bottom of the sea with his latest video. In it, he defends Charlie Kirk’s assassin, Tyler Robinson, claiming it was nothing more than one man protecting the dude he loves.

Sadly, this isn’t a joke. He actually said it out loud.

Grabien News:

OLBERMANN: “Now that we can say with some certainty that if Tyler Robinson indeed shot Charlie Kirk, he shot him for personal reasons, because he saw Kirk as a direct threat to somebody he loved, that Robinson was not a stochastic proxy murderer from Antifa or the groypers or the right wingers who had so recently called Kirk a fraud, you know, like Laura Loomer. It is then also clear that there is truly only one person whose words created, amplified, mainstreamed and manufactured this nightmarish environment that has led to Charlie Kirk’s death. The leading threat in this country in this moment to the safety and the lives of conservatives and Republicans and MAGA commentators and politicians and civilians is not George Soros and it’s not Antifa and it’s not a Democrat or a liberal, nor a socialist nor an immigrant nor a transgendered person. The leading threat in this country, in this moment, to the safety and the lives of conservatives and Republicans and MAGA is Donald Trump.”

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How a conspiracy theory about Charlie Kirk’s killer being ‘MAGA’ spread online to Kimmel and beyond

An evidence-free conspiracy theory claiming that the left-wing assassin who shot and killed Charlie Kirk was actually right-wing quickly spread among the left since the murder, moving from online social media sites to Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show and beyond.

Authorities announced last week that they had arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, a resident of western Utah, in connection to the killing of Kirk, a popular conservative influencer and ally of President Donald Trump.

Robinson is accused of gunning down Kirk on earlier this month at Utah Valley University during a question-and-answer session at the Turning Point USA event. Although all of the evidence that has emerged has pointed to the shooter having leftist motives and ideology, many on the left spread the claim that the killer was far right.

Kimmel, the host of the ABC late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, said on the September 15 episode of his show that “we hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” The baseless implication about the shooter being MAGA had made its way from viral tweets to millions of TV viewers.

Despite the evidence all pointing to Kirk’s killer being on the left wing of the ideological spectrum, the conspiracy theory about a right-wing shooter was pushed by a host of Democratic members of Congress, high-profile left-wing activists, liberal social media influencers, and more.

The most common evidence-free claim on the left has been that the shooter was a follower of far right influencer Nick Fuentes.

The Hitler-admiring online streamer began a speech at one rally by saying that “I love you, and I love Hitler.” At least one segment of Fuentes’s online show featured Holocaust denial, with Fuentes questioning whether 6 million Jews were really murdered by the Nazi regime and laughing as he compared the burning of human bodies to baking cookies in an oven, which he has since said was just a joke.

Fuentes, a frequent critic of Kirk, refers to his followers as the “Groyper Army” — and his “Groyper War” sought to interrupt Turning Point USA events. There was and is zero evidence that the shooter was connected to Fuentes in any way nor that he identified as a Groyper.

Fuentes accurately lamented on X last week that “my followers and I are currently being framed for the murder of Charlie Kirk by the mainstream media based on literally zero evidence.”

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The FCC’s Involvement in Canceling Jimmy Kimmel Was ‘Unbelievably Dangerous,’ Ted Cruz Says

Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Texas) is happy that ABC decided to indefinitely suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show. But like Fox News political analyst Brit Hume, Cruz is not happy about the role that Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), played in that decision. By threatening TV stations that carried Jimmy Kimmel Live! with fines and license revocation, Cruz warned in his podcast on Friday, Carr set a dangerous precedent that could invite similar treatment of conservative speech under a future administration.

“I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said,” Cruz declared, referring to the September 15 monologue in which the late-night comedian erroneously suggested that Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a college in Utah five days earlier, was part of the MAGA movement. “I am thrilled that he was fired. But let me tell you: 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 bad for conservatives.”

In an interview with right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson on Wednesday, Carr warned that there are “actions we can take on licensed broadcasters” that dared to air Kimmel’s show, including “fines or license revocations.” He added that “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Either “these companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel,” he said, “or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Hours later, Nexstar, which owns 32 ABC affiliate stations, announced that it would preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! “for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show.” Sinclair, which owns 38 ABC affiliates, likewise said it would “indefinitely preempt” Jimmy Kimmel Live! beginning that night. ABC, which produces the programming aired by those affiliates and owns eight of the network’s stations, fell in line the same night, saying it would “indefinitely” suspend the show.

Cruz likened Carr to a mafioso. “He says, ‘We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way,'” the senator noted. “And I got to say, that’s right out of Goodfellas. That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar [and] going, ‘Nice bar you have here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.'”

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Kamala Harris’s Attack on Trump Adminstration’s Response to Jimmy Kimmel Blows Up in Her Face When X Users Discover a Tyrannical Old Post of Hers

Kamala Harris decided to inject herself into the political fight regarding Jimmy Kimmel’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and it backfired spectacularly.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, the left-wing Kimmel told his late-night audience on Monday that a MAGA REPUBLICAN murdered Kirk and accused the right of trying to score political points off of it.

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel claimed.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr appeared on The Benny Show on Wednesday and told host Benny Johnson that he may take action against ABC and Kimmel.

“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” Carr said.

“They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest,” he added. “There are calls for Kimmel to be fired. I think you could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this.”

Following Carr’s comments, Nexstar announced that all 32 of its ABC broadcast affiliates would preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely, blasting Kimmel’s sick comments about Kirk’s murder as “offensive and insensitive.”

Harris slammed the Trump Administration on Thursday for its response to Kimmel’s firing and its supposed bullying of media organizations in general.

How rich, coming from someone who was part of a regime that regularly intimidated media organizations for expressing politically incorrect viewpoints.

“What we are witnessing is an outright abuse of power,” Harris wrote. “This administration is attacking critics and using fear as a weapon to silence anyone who would speak out.”

“Media corporations — from television networks to newspapers — are capitulating to these threats,” she added. “We cannot dare to be silent or complacent in the face of this frontal assault on free speech.”

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Hillary Clinton on Kimmel, Kirk: ‘Very Clear Example of Using the Power of the State to Suppress Speech’

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday weighed in on the fallout surrounding Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension, addressing both the late-night host’s removal and the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk during an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.

When asked if Kimmel’s suspension amounted to state censorship, Clinton replied: “Well, I think this is a very clear example of using the power of the state to suppress speech. It is a direct government action to try to intimidate employers, organizations, corporations, much of which we’ve already seen, to remove an opponent, even though it’s a comic.”

Clinton continued:

Look, I had no idea when I was in public life and listening to the jokes that were made about me and the attacks that were, you know, coming from people like Jimmy Kimmel and others that I could have called up the head of the FCC and said, take them off the air. I don’t like what they’re saying. I mean, of course, this was a particularly sensitive time because of the terrible crime that was committed, the murder of Mr. Kirk.

But you know, you defend free speech in terrible times, and you defend free speech that is used against holding people in power accountable through satire, humor, barbed attacks, you defend it even when it is offensive, and they have unfortunately taken the view that we believe in free speech, as long as we’re making the speech and your speech agrees with us, otherwise, we’re against free speech.

Clinton later amplified the remarks on X, posting: “In America, we defend free speech in terrible times. We defend free speech even when it’s offensive. We defend free speech.” She restricted comments on that post as well as one she made one week after Kirk’s assassination congratulating American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten on her book Why Fascists Fear Teachers.

Weingarten’s excerpts, published in Rolling Stone days after Kirk’s assassination, accused conservatives of being “fascists” and “Nazis,” likened book bans to Nazi Germany in 1933, and warned that Trump and Elon Musk were acting as “shadow governing partners.” The release drew attention because Robinson, the 22-year-old suspect charged with Kirk’s murder, inscribed “Hey fascist! Catch!” on bullet casings, according to authorities.

Teachers across several states were investigated or fired after posting celebratory or hostile messages about Kirk’s assassination, with examples including posts such as “America became greater” and “1 Nazi down.” A new website, charliesmurderers.com, reported receiving thousands of submissions documenting celebrations of Kirk’s death. 

Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) said such rhetoric reflects a dangerous climate created by years of partisan demonization. “And now, Charlie Kirk has been murdered,” Hunt told Breitbart News. “This is not rhetoric. These are lived realities.” He asserted that Democrats and their allies “have vilified, censored, and targeted conservatives at every turn for over a decade,” adding that political violence against conservatives is now “normalized by silence, excuse-making, or even tacit encouragement from the left.”

Clinton herself previously described Republicans as her “enemies” during a 2015 Democrat debate. Asked which adversary she was most proud of making in her political career, Clinton responded, “Well, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians; probably the Republicans.”

The dispute surrounding Kimmel began after he mocked Trump’s mourning of Kirk’s assassination, joking it was “like how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish,” and suggested Robinson may have been part of the “MAGA gang.” Authorities later identified Robinson as the suspect, describing him as left-leaning and in a relationship with a male who identifies as female and who “hates conservatives and Christians.” Utah Governor Spencer Cox confirmed those details, and investigators stated Robinson admitted responsibility in a message to the partner.

Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr cautioned ABC and Disney that broadcasters risk their licenses if they mislead the public, saying Nexstar Media Group did “the right thing” by suspending Kimmel. Sinclair Broadcasting also halted broadcasts of Jimmy Kimmel Live and announced a special tribute to Kirk would air in its place. ABC affiliates cited the need to uphold community values and maintain constructive dialogue. Carr noted that networks could “do this the easy way or the hard way,” signaling further review of their obligations under federal law.

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Colin Kaepernick to pay for independent autopsy for Delta State University student found dead on campus

Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick said he will pay for an independent autopsy for the Delta State University (DSU) student who was found dead on campus, civil rights attorney Ben Crump announced Friday. 

The attorney said the second, independent autopsy for Demartravion “Trey” Reed will be sought after the state medical examiner releases his body. 

On Thursday, Cleveland Police Department (CPD) officials said the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy on Sept. 17 and determined the cause of death was hanging, concluding the action to be suicide. CPD Officials added that final toxicology results are underway and may take two to four weeks to finish. 

According to DSU officials, university police and local authorities were immediately notified after staff found the body hanging from a tree near the campus pickleball courts at around 7 a.m. on Sept. 15. Classes were canceled for the day.

University officials confirmed the identity of the deceased 21-year-old student to be Reed of Grenada, Mississippi. DSU Police Chief Mike Peeler said that there was no evidence of foul play.

The Bolivar County Coroner’s Office released a statement Monday saying it is conducting a “thorough death investigation,” and an initial examination revealed no evidence to suggest Reed was attacked before his death.

However, Crump said Reed’s family has serious concerns “after receiving conflicting accounts and incomplete information about the circumstances of his death.”

“Trey’s death evoked the collective memory of a community that has suffered a historic wound over many, many years and many, many deaths,” he said in a statement. “Peace will come only by getting to the truth. We thank Colin Kaepernick for supporting this grieving family and the cause of justice and truth.”

The second autopsy will be funded by the Colin Kaepernick “Know Your Rights Camp Autopsy Initiative.”

Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI), were assisting in the investigation. 

The MBI did not have an official statement on Reed’s death. They also said they would not provide Reed’s autopsy report through a public records request.

CPD officials said investigation materials have been given to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and The U.S. Attorney Office for review. 

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