United States | News & Politics

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/36374796

The abrupt programming decision quickly morphed into a flashpoint for free speech in America under the Trump administration.

https://archive.ph/8buhg

By John Koblin, Brooks Barnes, Benjamin Mullin and Michael M. Grynbaum
Sept. 18, 2025

Mr. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, and Dana Walden, his head of television, were also hearing from skittish advertisers and employees who had begun to receive threatening messages. When the team reviewed Mr. Kimmel’s planned remarks, they grew concerned that his monologue would only inflame the situation further.

So they made the call: “Jimmy Kimmel Live” would temporarily go dark.

That decision — the product of a spider’s web of interlocking political and financial pressures placed atop one of the country’s biggest corporations — quickly morphed into a flashpoint for free speech in America. Many Democrats, actors and comedians cried foul as right-wing activists celebrated. On a diplomatic trip in Britain, President Trump knocked Mr. Kimmel for “bad ratings” and proclaimed that ABC “should have fired him a long time ago.”

House Democrats are preparing to reject a measure to avoid a government shutdown expected to reach the House floor on Friday, potentially teeing up a high-stakes confrontation as Republicans dare them to own the fallout.

The impasse has set the stage for another volatile showdown ahead of the Sept. 30 government funding deadline, with federal workers and agencies bracing for a potential shutdown.

Republicans are pressing for a “clean” seven-week extension of federal funding that pushes the fight into late November. The party controls both the House and the Senate, but can't get any spending bill through the upper chamber without the support of some Democrats. The House could vote on the GOP continuing resolution as early as Friday.

Former Deputy Chief of Space Operations for the US Space Force, General Michael Gattlein, announced that the deployment plan for the Golden Dome missile defense system has been completed.

The US Department of Defense is not disclosing details of the program or its cost. The Pentagon statement stated that a review is currently underway, so no further information is available.

A look at the general's changing tone makes it clear that the project is facing difficulties. In July, he claimed that he would present an "objective plan" and disclose the program concept after the 60-day deadline.

As for the cost, one can conclude that Trump's $175 billion plan was optimistic. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the development and deployment of the missile defense system will require $542 billion, and that's just the cost of creating the interceptor system. Defense Department spokesperson Kingsley Wilson stated that cost details should not be disclosed because the program is critical to national security.

Although the project has a relatively short development timeline, it already has its critics. They argue that the effectiveness of a missile defense system depends on a variety of factors, from its location on the planet to the types and number of threats the system must counter, as well as its expected reliability.

Computer modeling has shown that the guaranteed destruction of several warheads would require dozens of times more interceptor missiles. A simple calculation shows that the system could easily be overwhelmed by the launch of several missiles, not to mention a massive nuclear missile strike. Military analyst Todd Harrison of the American Enterprise Institute warns that even minor changes to the system's parameters could increase its cost by hundreds of billions of dollars.

I’m watching Trump, who was MIA for a week, giving a speech in England.

Contrary to popular reports of his demise, he is his usual “charming” self. Very aware and on track across reporters questions.

He may have had some golf outings or medical appointments last week, but this guy does not have dementia and looks in good health.

The left has grossly misrepresented and under estimated the enemy. Be very careful at grasping for straws and wishful thinking in this environment. The left needs to organize and plan for a strong administration across four years. Hate seems to be a fountain of youth for people of a certain constitution. Look at Kissinger. Learn from history. Don’t be complacent.

As of the end of August, the whereabouts of two-thirds of more than 1,800 men detained at Alligator Alcatraz during the month of July could not be determined.

Hey, remember how back in 2018 Trump’s immigration people just didn’t bother keeping records to match parents to the children they took away at the border, and as late as 2024, as many as 1,360 children still couldn’t be returned to their families? These detainees are adults, though, so maybe disappearing them from official records is less scandalous. They’re only illegals, so it’s not like they’re people.

. . . “It became a game of chicken to see who’s going to blink first, to see if the client’s going to say ‘I don’t want to be detained in these conditions, just send me back,’” said Miami immigration attorney Alex Solomiany.

Congressional Democratic leaders called for Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr to resign “immediately” in a statement Thursday morning, after Disney indefinitely suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show.

In a joint statement, signed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.), Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (Calif.) and other Democratic leaders, the group said Carr had engaged in “the corrupt abuse of power” by “forcing” ABC to “bend the knee” to President Donald Trump in canceling Kimmel’s show.