Another in a weekly series of posts with interesting reading / viewing material (note: some linked articles contain adult language).
Leading off, it’s been a rough few weeks for our first amendment rights. Trump’s war in Iran isn’t going as well as he’d thought it would — so his solution is to make unflattering coverage grounds for treason. Brendan Carr, Trump’s FCC chair has a quicker approach to bad press — pull media outlets’ broadcast licenses. Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense War said the quiet part out loud, rooting for Trump’s billionaire allies to complete their takeover of the U.S.’s national news outlets. The DOJ, for its part, managed to get a group of anti-ICE protesters convicted of terrorism charges on slim grounds (stay tuned for appeals). Meanwhile, Trump brags online about MAGA billionaires’ work to consolidate control of the corporate media ecosystem.
Terry Moran pulls together the big picture on censorship, while Robert Reich has some good thoughts on how we can shut this nonsense down.
Meanwhile, the Epstein files story gets uglier by the day. Now it seems that Epstein was also involved in drug running and money laundering, and more evidence has come to light of his direct ties to Russia’s security apparatus. Also, more payoffs, and a jailhouse coverup. There’s also more dirt (pun intended) on Epstein’s Zorro Ranch.
In case you were curious about the roots of our current problems, Adam Kinzinger has started a series of columns on the history of Trump family corruption — part 1 is out now. On a somewhat related note, another group of “young” Republicans has outed themselves as Nazis — who would have guessed?
Lest you get too depressed from all the bad news, Adam Kinzinger has advice for staying in the fight. One big thing to look forward to: March 28th’s No Kings 3 protest — a handy online calendar helps you get ready. If you can make it, 50501 has some very good reasons to join in.
Meanwhile, Pam Bondi wants to end ethics oversight of DOJ attorneys — please take a minute (before April 6) to leave a comment on this proposal.