Free Press

More Proof That When You Fight Wannabe Dictator Trump, You Win: NY Times Lawsuit Edition

Posted by on September 19, 2025 at 1:23 pm. 1 Comments :

Securing his place in history as the most litigious WAB (Whiny-Ass Baby) to ever serve as president of the United States, Donald Trump has once again come up empty in court against the media that he regards as “the enemy of people.” It is just the latest humiliation that he has suffered due to his crankiness and pathetically inept lawyers.

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Donald Trump

On Friday a federal judge dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against the New York Times for defamation, or maybe something else, because his filing didn’t actually present any coherent arguments for any actionable legal complaint. The dismissal was issued just two days after the lawsuit was filed. Which was predictable considering the profoundly ludicrous content in the filing…

SEE THIS: Crybaby Trump’s Hysterical Posting that He’s Suing the New York Times for Hurting His Feelings

It didn’t take long for the judge to determine that the lawsuit lacked any merit, and was thrown out because it “unmistakably and inexcusably” violated the rules that govern civil lawsuits. As reported by ABC News, a federal judge tossed the $15 billion lawsuit, calling it “decidedly improper and impermissible.” And furthermore…

“Judge Merryday, who was appointed by President George H. W. Bush, said the complaint contains eighty pages of repetitive claims and praise for President Trump, but fails to establish the two counts of defamation alleged. He lambasted Trump’s lawyers for forcing him to ‘labor through’ the ‘superfluous’ praise about Trump’s show ‘The Apprentice,’ as well as the size of his real estate empire and the ‘historic fashion’ of Trump’s 2024 presidential victory.”

[And that] “As every lawyer knows (or is presumed to know), a complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective — not a protected platform to rage against an adversary.”

OUCH! Trump’s lawyers were given 28 days to refile the complaint in a proper manner. It remains to be seen if they are capable of that. Clearly Trump is not. When he announced that he was filing the suit, he posted a couple of comments on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, exhibiting his pitifully weak comprehension of the law…

Trump wrote that: “They practiced this longterm INTENT and pattern of abuse, which is both unacceptable and illegal. The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!”

For some reason, Trump has never been able to document this allegedly “longterm” “pattern of abuse.” And with the dismissal of this lawsuit, the Times’ truth-telling about him isn’t going to stop “NOW” either. However, his ranting is also not going to stop now. The next day…

Trump wrote that:: “I am getting amazing feedback on my Lawsuit against The New York Times. The predominant feeling and sentiment is, ‘IT’S ABOUT TIME!’ The case was filed in the Great State of Florida! The Radical Left Media is working hard to destroy the U.S.A. We are going to stop them at each and every level!!! President DJT”

That “amazing feedback” apparently didn’t include any from people who actually know anything about such litigation. His lawsuit never had much of a chance. CNN interviewed several First Amendment experts who all agreed that Trump was way out of bounds constitutionally. Although, his intent may never have been to win, but only to create a media circus within which he could perform his trained monkey act for his cult followers.

With the dismissal of this New York Times case, Trump is adding to his resume of failure. It’s already a long list that includes, but is not limited to…

  • A case against CNN for reporting about his “Big Lie” that he won the 2020 election was dismissed.
  • A case against Harvard University, who prevailed in litigation against Trump when he tried to withhold federal grants.
  • Harvard also won when Trump tried to block the enrollment of international students.
  • Several law firms won temporary restraining orders prohibiting Trump from punishing them for engaging in litigation against him.
  • Journalist Bob Woodward beat him in a suit where Trump sought to prohibit him from using audio tapes recorded during an interview.
  • A case against Hillary Clinton alleging that she lied in her campaign against him in 2016. Trump was ordered to pay Clinton nearly $1 million for legal fees.
  • And writer E. Jean Carroll scored about $90 million in a judgment against Trump for defamation in a suit involving his sexual abuse of her in a department store dressing room.

The lessons that ought to be learned here are if you fight Trump, you stand a good chance of winning. The parties that previously caved in – including CBS/Paramount, ABC/Disney and a few weak law firms – received nothing for their cowardly capitulation.

Going forward the targets of Trump’s wrath need to show some backbone. And if they do, they will not only have a shot at victory, they will retain their dignity and self-respect, and the respect of of their fellow Americans.

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Trump Flunky Kari Lake is Blocked From Silencing the Voice of America By a GOP-Appointed Judge

Posted by on August 29, 2025 at 3:00 pm. 1 Comments :

High on the priority list for Donald Trump in his second occupation of the White House has been his fierce determination to subjugate the media to his will. He has endeavored furiously to clamp down on the free press and to reshape the White House press corps into a slobbering cabal of sycophants.

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Statue of Liberty, Blind, Muzzled

In the process, Trump installed blindly loyal and unflinching servants to his anti-democratic and flagrantly censorious agenda. Among them was the failed Arizona gubernatorial and senate candidate, Kari Lake. Trump created a new position for her to reign over what used to be the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees multiple international broadcasting networks including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA), Radio Television Martí, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), and the Voice of America (VOA). And Lake began immediately to dismantle the entire operation and/or redefine its mission to become a Trump Propaganda Disseminator.

SEE THIS: Trump Flunky Kari Lake Taps MAGA Propaganda Network, OAN, to Be the Voice of Voice of America

Fortunately, the Trump/Lake Department of Disinformation suffers from the same inherent flaws that have hobbled almost every other government agency over which Trump rules: terminal stupidity and incompetence. And as a result, it is struggling to complete its unholy mission of strangling one of the most effective international news networks ever conceived. As reported by NPR (another network that Trump is trying to destroy) reported that…

“A federal judge ruled on Thursday that Trump administration official Kari Lake can’t unilaterally fire the director of Voice of America, saying she’s breaking the law in trying to do so.

“Instead, by law, Lake must have the explicit backing of an advisory panel set up by Congress to help insulate the international broadcaster and its sister networks from political pressure. As President Trump dismissed six of the seven members of the panel shortly after taking office and has not named their replacements to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Lake cannot take such an action.”

Lake and her Justice Department lawyers were humiliated in court when U.S Senior District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled that “The defendants do not even feign that their efforts to remove [director of VOA, Michael] Abramowitz comply with that statutory requirement, There is no longer a question of whether the termination was lawful.”

Lake expressed confidence that she would prevail on appeal because “elections have consequences.” Which is precisely the sort of rank politicization that the law was crafted to avoid. Then she made an obtuse and irrelevant reference to the Constitution and called Lamberth a “radical.” Never mind that he was appointed to the bench by conservative icon Ronald Reagan. Lamberth warned the Justice Department attorneys that they were “verging on contempt of court” for failing to provide information that he had demanded for months.

It remains to be seen how this matter will resolve. Trump has demonstrated that he is not averse to ignoring judicial mandates. Which is why the rule of law is in such a precarious state under the wannabe dictator currently smelling up the Oval Office. But at least the courts are remaining true to the law and the Constitution – for now. And if the people and their representatives remain stalwart in defense of American principles, we will prevail in the long run. Keep hope alive!

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Trump’s FCC Chair Says that CBS News Will Have to Employ a ‘Bias Monitor’ to Police Their Reporting

Posted by on July 26, 2025 at 1:38 pm. 0 Comments :

Just in case there still people who are not convinced that Donald Trump is plotting to replace America’s democracy with a totalitarian dictatorship, he has dispatched his chairman of the FCC (Fascist Communications Commission) to Newsmax to announce his latest anti-free-press initiative.

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Donald Trump and Media - ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, FOX

FCC chair, Brendan Carr, has been making the media rounds this week to rollout the Trump agenda to clampdown on any journalistic enterprise that thinks it has the freedom to criticize Dear Leader Trump or his MAGA movement. Last week Carr bragged to Fox News that Trump had defunded PBS and NPR. And he told them that Trump was responsible for the cancelation of “Late Night with Stephen Colbert” because Trump is “not gonna play by the rules of politicians in the past and let these legacy outfits dictate the narrative and the terms of the debate.” Of course not. Dictating the narrative is a privilege reserved for Trump and his confederates.

SEE THIS: Did Trump Arrange to Get Stephen Colbert Fired? That’s What His FCC Chair Implied to Fox News

Not satisfied with those assaults on the free press, Carr also visited with Newsmax to announce a unique provision that was snuck into the FCC’s approval of the merger between Paramount (the owner of CBS) and Skydance Media. Carr sat for a friendly chat with Newsmax host Greg Kelly that included the following exchange…

Kelly: We heard a little about what they’re gonna have to do on 60 Minutes. Is there anything beyond that you can tell us about what they’re gonna do differently, fact-based? You know, that’s kind of a cultural shock to them.
Carr: Yeah, it might be news to some folks over there. One of the things they’re going to have to do is put an ombudsman in place for two years. So basically a “bias monitor” that will report directly to the president. So that’s something that’s significant that we’re going to see happening as well to broadcasters.”

Trump's FCC Chair says he will put a "bias monitor" in place who will "report directly" to Trump as part of the deal for Sky Dance to acquire CBS

— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social) 2025-07-25T16:08:59.336Z

HOLY CRAP! This is unprecedented. Carr is revealing that the government is exerting its full force to demand that a news network hire a censorship czar to police the content of CBS’s reporting, as well as that of other broadcasters. But not to worry, we can rest assured that he will execute his role as Bias Judge with the utmost neutrality, right? And he will also mandate bias monitors for Newsmax and Fox News, right? RIGHT?

[UPDATE: This story was corrected to note that the “bias monitor” would not be reporting to the president of the United States as originally stated. Carr’s remarks on Newsmax were not clear, but Talking Points Memo reviewed the text of the agreement which they report refers to the president of Paramount]

This brazenly autocratic conduct is not new for the Trump regime, or for Carr specifically. He recently told CNBC that “the media industry across this country needs a course correction.” And he believes that it is the proper role of government to impose that correction and determine the course. It’s a political philosophy that he and Trump acquired from their heroes, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un.

CNBC: Colbert is a comedian. You keep talking about journalism and fairness in news, but we all remember Carson and Jay Leno giving Reagan the business. Where does that fit in?FCC CHAIR BRENDAN CARR: Frankly, the media industry across this country needs a course correction

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-07-25T15:05:29.181Z

The goal of these initiatives is to reshape the media into a Trump-fluffing platform of pure propaganda. If they get their way, all voices of dissent will be muzzled, and those who engage in it will be sent to gulags in El Salvador, or worse. Some in the media have already capitulated to Trump. Which makes it all the more imperative that every American speaks out and supports independent media and free speech. If we don’t do it now, we may not be able to do it at all.

UPDATE: Trump has weighed in on this with an inane comment posted on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social calling for the licenses of news networks to be revoked if he thinks they are too nice to Democrats and/or too mean to him…

“Networks aren’t allowed to be political pawns for the Democrat Party. It has become so outrageous that, in my opinion, their licenses could, and should, be revoked! MAGA”

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Scaredy Trump Kicks the Wall Street Journal Out of the Press Pool for His Next Junket Overseas

Posted by on July 21, 2025 at 3:23 pm. 0 Comments :

The six month old tenure of Donald Trump’s second occupation of the White House has been a debacle of epic proportions. He has presided over a faltering domestic economy that has resulted in a higher cost of living. And his foreign policy is anchored by fascist round ups of migrants, betrayal of international allies, and threats to Panama, Greenland, and Canada of forced annexation.

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Donald Trump, Rupert Murdoch

In the midst of all of that, Trump also seems to be intent on preserving his place as the most hostile American president toward the free press and the protections granted it in the First Amendment of the Constitution. His animosity toward honest, unfettered journalism is evident in his reshaping of the White House press office that is now populated by MAGA cult propagandists and Trump-fluffing Internet trolls. Including a Russian funded MAGA podcaster.

SEE THIS: Trump Declares Himself King of the White House Press Corps, Will Now Decide Who Can Question Him

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Trump has now banished the Wall Street Journal from the press poll that will accompany him on his upcoming trip to Scotland. Some folks might wonder why Trump would single out a markedly right-wing newspaper owned by his friend – and Fox News owner – Rupert Murdoch. Well, as reported by Politico…

“The White House is removing the Wall Street Journal from the pool of reporters covering the president’s weekend trip to Scotland, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told POLITICO. The move follows the Journal’s report alleging that President Donald Trump sent a sexually suggestive message to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.”

That’s right! Trump is lashing out like spurned child against a playmate that was insufficiently adoring and obedient. The article in the Journal described a birthday card that Trump allegedly signed for his pedo-pal, Jeffrey Epstein, as having a line drawing of a naked woman with Trump’s unique and disturbing birthday wish saying that “may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Trump has already filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal for their article. That case has now been assigned to a judge in the Southern District of Florida who was appointed by President Obama. Ironically, it’s the same District as Trump flunky judge Aileen Cannon. This sets up precisely the scenario that Trump wants. When he loses this meritless case he will blame the judge for being biased and assert that the whole justice system is corrupt.

In the meantime, Trump is proving that he is too afraid to face any questions about his relationship with Epstein, the story about the birthday card, or the lawsuit itself. Trump’s Propaganda Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who couldn’t even muster a denial that he is on the Epstein client list, released a statement saying…

“As the appeals court confirmed, the Wall Street Journal or any other news outlet are not guaranteed special access to cover President Trump in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One, and in his private workspaces. Thirteen diverse outlets will participate in the press pool to cover the President’s trip to Scotland. Due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board.”

If allegations about “fake and defamatory conduct” are the standard for whether a news organization is granted access to the president, then there aren’t very many news organizations that would pass Trump’s test. In addition to the Wall Street Journal, he has already sued ABC News, CBS News, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN. And most of the rest of the media he has declared is “fake” news. That’s why his press pool is infested with suck-ups like One America News, Breitbart, and various online fraudcasters.

If this case actually goes to trial, Trump is unlikely to win. He would have to show evidence that what they published was either knowingly false, or that it had reckless disregard for the truth. And the claim that the Journal “maligned President Trump’s character and integrity” would be difficult to prove, considering that he has no discernable character or integrity.

Nevertheless, some of the other targets of Trump’s multibillion lawsuits have settled with him for a few million dollars due to fear of him using his governmental powers to retaliate against their corporate owners. The Wall Street Journal doesn’t appear to have any pending business that would make such threats viable. And for the time being they are standing firm with a pledge to vigorously defend themselves and their reporting.

However, given Trump’s willingness to abuse the vast power of the federal government, and his friendship with Murdoch, time will tell if they can weather this storm of litigation, or persuade Trump to lay off. In the meantime, they have been shut out of the press pool, along with the Associated Press, and others who offended Trump’s tender fee fees. That’s the risk you take if you comply with an aspiring dictator who seeks to control the media and silence any and all dissenting voices.

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Lawrence O’Donnell Calls Out the ‘Stupidest White House Press Corps (and President)’ In History

Posted by on July 9, 2025 at 12:23 pm. 2 Comments :

The devolution of the White House press corps has been one of the most profoundly disturbing and dangerous aspects of the Era of Donald Trump. And it couldn’t come at a worse time. As Trump pursues his mission to undermine American principles and rule as an autocratic tyrant, much of the media is cooperating by failing to fulfill their duties as the guardians of democracy.

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Donald Trump TV Set

Immediately upon his reoccupation of the White House, Trump orchestrated an overhaul of the press corps that he regards as “the enemy of the people.”. He installed an FBI boss, Kash Patel, who has threatened to “come after the people in the media.” And he ejected credible journalists from the press briefings and replaced them with sycophantic puppets devoted to disseminating his dishonest and self-serving propaganda and lies.

SEE THIS: Trump Declares Himself King of the White House Press Corps, Will Now Decide Who Can Question Him

On Tuesday night, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell addressed this abysmal situation in an extended analysis of what’s gone wrong with the Washington press (video below). He tagged the current crop of White House Trump flunkies as “the stupidest White House press corps in history.” And that wasn’t hyperbole. O’Donnell said that…

“The possibility of a relentlessly stupid person becoming president of the United States has been underexplored by screenwriters. And then Donald Trump came along and went far beyond what Hollywood could ever imagine in the presidency.”

Recalling his past as a writer and producer on TV’s “The West Wing,” O’Donnell opined that…

“If I were writing the character of a stupid president in a script, I would simply have had the stupid president completely rely on a smart White House staff and a smart cabinet and just hide behind those people, and absolutely – and I mean absolutely – never talk to the press, because a stupid president’s stupidity would be immediately exposed by the White House press corps.

“And on that point, I would have been very wrong. Because it turns out the stupidest presidency in American history has the stupidest White House press corps in American history.”

What triggered O’Donnell’s angst was a remark made by Trump at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting where he took a few questions from the media. At one point he was asked a question by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about whether he had approved of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suspending military aid to Ukraine. Trump dodged the question, so Collins asked him directly who approved the pause. Trump arrogantly – or ignorantly – replied “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”

It was Trump's Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, who ordered the pause of weapons to Ukraine.Did Trump know that? Is he lying here? Or is he utterly ignorant of what's going on in his own administration?

— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-07-08T17:01:03.549Z

O’Donnell went on to criticize the press corps that Trump “has been able to beat down and humiliate…to the point where they take that for an answer meekly and shut up.” No one bothered to press Trump for a serious answer about who is running the Defense Department. Note that Hegseth was sitting next to him at the table.

Following this embarrassing exchange, Trump later the same day told the press that he would be resuming military aid to Ukraine. So it makes one wonder how Hegseth manages to hold on to his job in the wake of so many glaring mistakes, including disclosing military attack plans during a chat on the Signal app.

O’Donnell summed up his segment saying that…

“Some individual members of the White House press corps – and I want to stress this – remain excellent at their jobs. But they frequently don’t get to ask Donald Trump a question. […] And I have to admit, if I were in the White House press corps, I’m not sure I would figure out how to resist it, except to maybe yell out some question about Donald Trump lying about something. And then I wouldn’t be in the White House press corps anymore. I would be shown out the door and that would be the end of that.”

Exactly. The media who continue to participate in these charades are behaving like cowards who are afraid to lose their access to the president. But that access is worthless if the only things they ever get out of him are lies and propaganda. It is not worth sacrificing your journalistic integrity.

The media needs to grow a spine and start to challenge Trump, or refuse to show up just to bolster his blatant bullshittery. That shouldn’t be a difficult decision.

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Paramount Caves to Trump’s Extortion, Disgraces CBS, Pays a $16M Bribe to Settle a Bogus Lawsuit

Posted by on July 2, 2025 at 1:41 pm. 3 Comments :

In yet another capitulation by Big Media to the ravenous whims of aspiring authoritarian Donald Trump, Paramount Global has succumbed to the insidious intimidation of a tyrannical threat intended to quash the freedom of the press guaranteed by the Constitution’s First Amendment. It’s just the latest assault on the media that Trump frequently refers to in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.”

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Donald Trump and Media - ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, FOX

On Wednesday morning it was announced that Paramount had agreed to a settlement of the lawsuit that Trump had brought against CBS News, alleging that the network had defamed him by editing part of an interview with Kamala Harris. Never mind that the editing (which was nominated for an Emmy) was proper and routine and done only for time and clarity. To Trump it was an assault on his tender sensitivities…

SEE THIS: Snowflake Trump Whines He Suffered ‘Mental Anguish’ From the 60 Minutes Interview of Kamala Harris

The settlement was nothing more than Paramount bowing to the extortion of a mob boss president who was only interested in exacting revenge on a news organization that had the audacity to present a fair and balanced interview of a political opponent and to report the truth about him. As reported by CNN…

“CBS News parent Paramount Global has agreed to pay $16 million to resolve a legally dubious lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump over a ’60 Minutes’ news report last fall.” […]

“Legal experts maintained that Trump’s suit was frivolous and that CBS was on solid ground to fight and win the case in court. But corporate priorities trumped journalistic principles. Paramount has been trying for months to complete a lucrative merger with Skydance Media, and the deal requires approval from the Trump administration, in part because CBS owns local stations that are licensed by the government. This gave Trump a form of leverage over Paramount.” […]

In short, Paramount paid a bribe to Trump in order to get him to allow their multibillion merger with Skydance Media (owned by Trump associates Larry and David Ellison) to proceed with approval from Trump’s FCC. The fate of the merger was of – shall we say paramount – concern to the chairwoman of the corporation, Shari Redstone, who stands to make hundreds of millions of dollars when the merger is completed.

The settlement that Paramount agreed to was for $16 million that would cover Trump’s legal expenses, with the remainder going to his eventual presidential library. But far worse than that, it establishes a precedent for bullying news enterprises in order to shape their reporting or to make them pay for being honest and independent. And despite the fact that there was no apology or other statement of wrongdoing or regret, Trump still claimed that he scored a total victory. His legal team said that…

“[The settlement] holds the Fake News media accountable for their wrongdoing and deceit. CBS and Paramount Global realized the strength of this historic case and had no choice but to settle.”

None of that statement is remotely related to reality. It’s hard to sue for $20 billion in damages – which was the original amount sought by Trump – and settle for 0.08% of that, and spin it as a strong case that Paramount “had no choice but to settle.” Particularly when Trump couldn’t even get any kind of an apology, and the funds would not be going directly to him, but to his library, if there ever is one.

Nevertheless, the damage done to the reputation of CBS News is significant and enduring. It was a decision by their corporate parent to sacrifice the network’s credibility in order to enrich their owners. And their weakness makes it harder for other news organizations to stand up to the kind of criminal protection racket tactics that Trump is so notorious for engaging in. Hopefully any other media outfit facing this in the future will have more courage than than the cowards at Paramount.

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What 1st Amendment? Trump Threatens to Prosecute CNN for Imaginary Crimes Against Dear Leader

Posted by on July 1, 2025 at 3:23 pm. NO Comments :

The determination of Donald Trump to exert tyrannical control over the media that he despises has taken another turn for the worse. He is now not only insulting them as “fake” news, or demeaning them as “the enemy of the people,” or suing them on preposterous charges of defamation. He has escalated his wrath to outright threats of prosecution.

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Donald Trump, CNN

Bear in mind that Trump has not identified any actual crime that anyone in the press has committed. He has never needed any such trivialities as prosecutable offenses to backup his wild accusations. Trump merely babbles maniacally about some imagined illegality and expects his cult devotees to follow blindly.

SEE THIS: Trump Cult Priestess, Karoline Leavitt, Preaches the Divine Infallibility of Dear Leader

Trump participated in a staged photo-op in Florida to visit a new migrant detention facility that features alligator infested surrounding waters. Of course, the alligators have no impact whatsoever on the security of the facility. But the gruesome cruelty of the notion of migrants – including children – being ripped to shreds delights the sickly morbidity of the MAGA crowd.

During the press conference Trump was asked questions about some of his other inhumane and unconstitutional mass deportation initiatives. One in particular addressed a news report by CNN about a publicly available app that advised people of where ICE agents were conducting operations. Which led to the following exchange…

Question: CNN yesterday pushed an app that lets you track where ICE agents are. [Border czar] Tom Homan said that perhaps CNN should be prosecuted for that. Your Thoughts?
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem: We’re working with the Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them for that. Because what they’re doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities, operations, and we’re going to actually go after them and prosecute with the partnership of [Attorney General] Pam [Bondi] if we can, because what they are doing we believe is illegal.
Trump: And they may very well be prosecuted also for having given false reports on the attack in Iran. They were given totally false reports.

Trump on CNN: "They may be prosecuted also for having given false reports on the attack in Iran."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-07-01T15:26:14.748Z

DHS Secretary Noem’s assertion that CNN engaged in some illegal activity has no basis in reality. They are entirely within their rights to report on the existence of an app that is available for anyone to download. That is journalism, not promotion. They never “encouraged” anyone to use the app. And it’s purpose is merely to notify the public about activities that ICE agents are openly engaging in. Which is also legal.

Trump went further – and wildly off-topic – to threaten CNN with prosecution for “having given false reports on the attack in Iran.” Once again, it is only Trump’s opinion that the reports were false. CNN derived the information from Trump’s own intelligence team. As previously reported, Trump’s Propaganda Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, complained about CNN for…

“…accurately reporting what Trump’s own intel professionals said about the results of the air strikes. They revealed that, according to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm, Iran’s nuclear capabilities had only been damaged partially, and that they could be rebuilt within months.”

So CNN’s reporting was correct. However, even if it were not, that isn’t illegal either. News organizations are allowed to make make mistakes, and corrections when necessary. In this case it wasn’t necessary. But if Trump still wasn’t satisfied, he could file another wholly unwarranted lawsuit for defamation. But he cannot issue criminal indictments. CNN replied to these anti-constitutional threats saying that…

“There is nothing illegal about reporting the existence of this or any other app, nor does such reporting constitute promotion or other endorsement of the app by CNN.”

Trump’s use of intimidation against the media is more proof of his penchant for fascism. He would love to throw journalists in jail for reporting the truth about him. He has also been threatening political foes with arrest. Just in the past 48 hours he has mused about arresting Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City, and Alejandro Mayorkas, the former Secretary of Homeland Security, and he indicated his openness to deporting Elon Musk, his former BFF and DOGE chief.

Trump’s threats of prosecuting journalists, along with his civil litigation, are long standing obsessions that reveal his hatred of the Constitution and its First Amendment protections. And it is a troubling signal of his intentions to control the media and form a fascist regime that won’t tolerate a free press or free thought. At this point in the process, he isn’t even trying to hide it. Which means that it is more imperative than ever to resist him and his authoritarian aspirations. The welfare of the country is at stake.

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Trump Cult Priestess, Karoline Leavitt, Preaches the Divine Infallibility of Dear Leader

Posted by on June 25, 2025 at 3:31 pm. NO Comments :

The MAGA movement led by America’s moronic messiah, Donald Trump, has become a crusade of carnival acts that have transcended the bounds of parody. With each new day they provide more proof that there truly is no bottom to their farcical feats of lunacy.

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Donald Trump and Karoline Leavitt

Consistent with the mission of every other cult, the MAGA missionaries are deeply focused on advancing the measure of devotion that is felt by their followers. To that end, the Pharisees of Trumpism fan out across the media to spread their message and corral their faithful and to harden their belief in him no matter how deranged.

SEE THIS: WHO’S DERANGED? Trump on Biden Clones, Transgender Mice, Autopens, and His Own Mental Anguish

On Wednesday Trump dispatched his high priestesses of propaganda to proselytize the masses. His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, took up her regular post on Fox News, where she appears more often than she does in the White House press briefing room. While there she disgorged the doctrine of Trump as it related to his recent bombing campaign in Iran…

“No other president in history could have ever dreamed of such a success. And that’s exactly why the fake news media is now trying to demean and undermine the president. And we’ve seen this playbook be run before. You have hostile actors within the intelligence community who illegally leak bits and pieces of an intelligence assessment to push a fake news narrative.

Leavitt: "No other president in history could have ever dreamed of such a success, & that's exactly why the fake news media is now trying to demean & undermine POTUS…it was written by the exact same CNN reporter who wrote the original story falsely alleging the Hunter laptop was Russian disinfo"

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-06-25T18:13:25.635Z

Leavitt’s description of Trump’s Iran adventurism as a success that “No other president in history could have ever dreamed of,” is patently absurd, and further evidence of the cultish rhetoric employed by Trump’s minions. From there Leavitt dived into an extend rant against CNN for accurately reporting what Trump’s own intel professionals said about the results of the air strikes. They revealed that, according to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm, Iran’s nuclear capabilities had only been damaged partially, and that they could be rebuilt within months.

“The US military strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months, according to an early US intelligence assessment that was described by seven people briefed on it.”

Leavitt went on to complain about a five year old story reported by CNN and others about Hunter Biden’s laptop and the verified associations with Russian disinformation operations. Leavitt falsely claimed that the story was false, and that therefore, her assertion that “Trump completely and totally obliterated the capability of Iran to produce a nuclear weapon” was true. She insisted that “the American public are smarter than this” And on that score, Leavitt may be right. Because a recent poll found that…

“Americans disapprove of the strikes, 56% to 44%, according to the survey, with strong disapproval outpacing the share who strongly approve. Most distrust Trump’s decision-making on the use of force in Iran, with about 6 in 10 worried that the strikes will increase the Iranian threat to the US.”

Meanwhile, Trump himself was freaking out about the reporting on what he was trying to sell as an unqualified success. So naturally he lashed out out viciously at the media saying that “CNN is scum. MSDNC is scum. The New York Times is scum. They are bad people. They’re sick.”

Good morning, America.Your President is in Europe. It is not possible to fully articulate how much this man embarrasses the US on a global stage.“We have scum that’s in this group. CNN is scum. MSDNC is scum. The New York Times is scum. They are bad people. They're sick.”

— News Eye (@newseye.bsky.social) 2025-06-25T10:51:17.095Z

Trump followed up that harangue with one aimed directly at the author of one of CNN’s stories. He posted the following on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social…

“Natasha Bertrand should be FIRED from CNN! I watched her for three days doing Fake News. She should be IMMEDIATELY reprimanded, and then thrown out ‘like a dog.’ … She should not be allowed to work at Fake News CNN … FIRE NATASHA!”

That’s another lovely example of Trump’s commitment to free speech and the Constitution’s explicit protection of the free press. He believes that it is appropriate for an American president to demand the termination of journalists that he doesn’t like. Which isn’t surprising considering that he has several lawsuits pending against media companies because they dared to report actual news that has hurt his tender feelings and bruised his fragile ego. Poor baby.

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Trump’s Propaganda Secretary Lies to Fox News About Terry Moran, the AP, and the Constitution

Posted by on June 8, 2025 at 12:57 pm. 1 Comments :

The shamelessness of how Donald Trump is advancing his intentions to reign as a supreme monarch over the United States continues to rocket to new heights of abhorrent anti-Americanism. He ignores every principle upon which this nation was founded as he rolls roughshod over them. Which he will do literally on June 14, with his North Korean style military birthday parade in Washington, D.C.

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Donald Trump and Karoline Leavitt

This week Trump celebrated what he said was a big win over the Associated Press when a three judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court voted 2-1 to allow him to continue to ban the Associated Press from presidential press events in the Oval Office and other locations that he deemed private.

Trump’s problem with the AP was their refusal to comply with his vain decree that all media refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. Which other countries do not recognize. So in retaliation he took over the White House press pool, which was previously determined by the independent White House Correspondents Association. Under Trump the pool became populated by slobbering pro-Trump hacks.

SEE THIS: Trump Declares Himself King of the White House Press Corps, Will Now Decide Who Can Question Him

The ruling that thrilled Trump so much was actually just a temporary stay of a prior federal court ruling that declared Trump’s ban unconstitutional. The stay was a 2-1 decision issued by a three judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court and is in effect until the full court hears the case. The two judges deciding in Trump’s favor are Trump appointees. The AP is expected to appeal the ruling to the full court or the Supreme Court. D.C. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao wrote that…

“These restricted presidential spaces are not First Amendment fora opened for private speech and discussion. No one suggests the Oval Office is a traditional public forum such as a park or sidewalk held in trust for expressive activity.”

That’s a twisted conclusion that ignores the fact that anywhere that the media is permitted general access, there may not be any exclusions based on viewpoint discrimination. That would be a violation of the First Amendment whether it is in the Oval Office or a park.

On Sunday morning, Trump’s Propaganda Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, took up her usual position on Fox News (where she spends most of her time) to flagrantly lie about several matters related to the media (video below). Among them was her defense of how Trump has reshaped the White House press corps to mirror his totalitarian image. Leavitt told Fox’s Senior Trump-Fluffer, Maria Bartiromo, that…

“In president Trump’s White House we have made so many significant and much needed changes to press access and transparency in the White House. We have invited in new media. We have shaken up the White House press pool.”

Indeed, They have “shaken up the White House press pool” by limiting the access of credible journalists and replacing them with fringy Internet trolls who worship Trump. And that includes a Russian funded MAGA podcaster. That isn’t transparency as much as it is blatant promotion of Dear Leader’s manifesto. And it has resulted in some painfully comical episodes of bullshittery.

FOR EXAMPLE: Trump Escalates His War on the Press – and the Courts – with Predictably Preposterous Results

Leavitt also addressed the Associated Press affair, bragging about the imaginary “major victory”. She mocked the AP for thinking that “they had a constitutional right to walk into the Oval Office or to fly on Air Force One,” which they do. She went on to say that “those are privileged spaces that belong to the president of the United States,” and calling it “a great ruling for democracy.” Which is the polar opposite of the truth. It’s grotesquely arrogant to suggest that the Oval Office is a “privileged space” for the president. And censoring journalists hardly makes it a banner day for democracy.

Finally, Leavitt complained about a commentary posted by ABC News correspondent Terry Moran, who engaged in some courageous truth-telling about Trump and his designated Goebbels aide, Stephen Miller. Moran said of Miller that “It’s not brains. It’s bile. Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He’s a world-class hater [and that] his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate.” And about Trump Moran wrote that “his hatred is only a means to an end, and that end is his own glorification. That’s his spiritual nourishment.”

It would be hard to argue with Moran’s assessment. But Leavitt managed to find a way. She told Bartiromo that…

“ABC is gonna have to answer for what their so-called journalist put out on Twitter in the wee hours of the night […] Hopefully this journalist will either be suspended or terminated. You cannot go on these unhinged rants against administration officials and the president of the United States.”

Moran later deleted the tweet. It is impossible to discern if that was because of the complaints by the Trump administration. However, ABC did suspend Moran pending further review. But it’s notable that ABC is also in the middle of a lawsuit filed against them by Trump that is complicating their proposed merger with another media company.

That, however, doesn’t justify Leavitt’s threat that you can’t go “against administration officials and the president of the United States.” Never mind that the Constitution says that you can. This fascist-leaning administration won’t permit it. And if the media doesn’t start defending itself – and the Constitution – they will soon be unable to do anything but praise Dear Leader.

Leavitt: "ABC is gonna have to answer for what their so-called journalist put out on twitter … we have reached out to ABC. They have said they will be taking action, so we will see what they do … hopefully this journalist will either be suspended or terminated."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-06-08T14:21:49.375Z

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Marco Rubio Bans Visas for Officials Who Censor Americans – Such as Marco Rubio and Trump?

Posted by on May 28, 2025 at 1:23 pm. NO Comments :

After nearly two and half centuries, the American Constitution remains one of the most revered documents of independence and liberty ever written and adopted as the legal foundation of a democratic republic. It defines the basic governing principles for a free society that is truly made of, by, and for the people.

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Donald Trump, Censorship

That said, if there is one thing for which Donald Trump has distinguished himself throughout his occupation of the White House, it is his fervent aversion to the Constitution and especially its prohibitions on abridging freedom of the press and free speech. He has literally taken control over the once independently managed White House Press briefings in order to transform it into a pro-Trump puppet show of pure propaganda.

SEE THIS: Trump Declares Himself King of the White House Press Corps, Will Now Decide Who Can Question Him

On Wednesday Trump’s Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, accelerated the autocratic aspirations of the Trump regime by issuing a new decree aimed at foreign government officials and other diplomats seeking to visit the United States. Rubio tweeted that…

“For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights.

“Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans. Free speech is essential to the American way of life – a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority.”

Paging Mr Orwell, Mr George Orwell. Please come to the White courtesy phone.

— digby (@digby56.bsky.social) 2025-05-28T18:15:01.190Z

Rubio’s policy specifically references foreign nations and/or persons engaging in the moderation of social media in order to mitigate hate speech, disinformation, and efforts to incite violence. It’s the sort of responsible moderation that was practiced in the U.S. until Trump coerced American tech platforms to discontinue it so that Trump and his cult followers could rabble-rouse uninterrupted.

However, the flaming hypocrisy of Rubio’s decree is impossible to ignore. The Trump administration is the most censorious regime to assume power in America since the 1950’s blacklisting and McCarthyism. Trump has been persecuting Harvard University and other academic institutions who refused to kiss his… let’s say ring. He has been pressuring law firms (not always successfully) to kneel down before him, and even pledge the support of hundreds of millions of dollars in free representation for his MAGA agenda.

Perhaps worst of all, Trump has been threatening the media with billion dollar lawsuits and revocation of broadcast licenses unless they kowtow to him and his fixation on getting the press to lavish him with unflinching adoration.

What’s more, Trump has installed himself as the chairman of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; he has banned the Associated Press from presidential media avails; he appointed Kari Lake to head the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which manages Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA), Radio Television Martí, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), and the Voice of America (VOA). And Lake has already made some preposterous decisions…

FOR INSTANCE: Trump Flunky Kari Lake Taps MAGA Propaganda Network, OAN, to Be the Voice of Voice of America

On the same day that Rubio issued his decree, Trump’s Re-education Secretary, Linda McMahon, told CNBC that universities must be “in sync” with the Trump administration in order to receive government grants. That will prohibit funding for life-saving research on cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other devastating illnesses.

Trump's Re-education Secretary, Linda McMahon, says that universities must be "in sync with the administration."In other words, they must abandon academic freedom and submit to their government overlords. Because that's what cult leader Trump demands.

— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-05-28T15:41:30.011Z

If Rubio’s decree were to be fairly enforced, Trump and most of his Cabinet would be unable to get visas to enter the U.S. Their blatant and shameless acts of censorship would fail to meet Rubio’s criteria. So while Rubio and Trump are whining about what they imagine to be censorship by foreigners, they are the worst practitioners of it. Now, if we could only get them to self-deport.

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