EFF: Congress Takes Another Step Toward Enabling Broad Internet Censorship

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday advanced the TAKE IT DOWN Act (S. 146) , a bill that seeks to speed up the removal of certain kinds of troubling online content. While the bill is meant to address a serious problem—the distribution of non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII)—the notice-and-takedown system it creates is an open invitation for powerful people to pressure websites into removing content they dislike.

As we’ve written before, while protecting victims of these heinous privacy invasions is a legitimate goal, good intentions alone are not enough to make good policy.

…Lawful content—including satire, journalism, and political speech—could be wrongly censored.

…Trump has shown just how the bill can be abused, saying earlier this year that he would personally use the takedown provisions to censor speech critical of the president.
(more…)

Ken Klippenstein: What are “Nihilist Violent Extremists”?

The arson attack on Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro’s home has unified the national security state around a broader threat it sees in the American people.

Inside the government, sources tell us, officials are scrambling to define the moment. They’re exploring if there’s any connection between the attempts on Donald Trump’s life; Luigi Mangione and his sympathizers; Tesla vandalism; and even earlier attacks, like the one on Nancy Pelosi’s husband.

The Trump Justice Department and the domestic terrorism fighters think they have an answer: Nihilist Violent Extremists.

They’ve already got an acronym — NVEs.

The brand new term was invented to replace the Biden administration’s focus on anti-government and “anti-authority” extremism adopted after January 6. It also has the side benefit of appearing to be non-partisan, shifting the attention away from MAGA and white supremacism while pretending not to be focusing on anti-Trump activism.
(more…)

Steven Beschloss: “Home-Growns Are Next”

Donald Trump is not just hungry to kidnap migrants without due process. He said out loud today he’s ready to deport American citizens. We’ve been warned.
(more…)

Politico: RFK Jr. says Deep State ‘is real,’ called FDA employees ‘sock puppet’ of industry

The HHS secretary’s remarks shocked staffers at the Food and Drug Administration, prompting some to walk out.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s visit to the FDA Friday was supposed to introduce him as a trusted leader to agency employees. It did anything but.

Over the course of 40 minutes, Kennedy, in largely off-the-cuff remarks, asserted that the “Deep State” is real, referenced past CIA experiments on human mind control and accused the employees he was speaking to of becoming a “sock puppet” of the industries they regulate.
(more…)

Law Dork: SCOTUS says Trump admin must “facilitate” Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return

The Trump admin fought the order — over a man it sent to a prison in El Salvador in an “administrative error” — and lost at all three levels of federal courts.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday evening upheld a district court’s order that the Trump administration “facilitate and effectuate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man sent to a prison El Salvador illegally in what the administration called an “administrative error.”

The unsigned opinion for the court did note that the term “effectuate” in U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’s initial order would need to be clarified when the case returned to her court, “with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.“
…
There were no noted dissents in tonight’s order — an important fact in light of this administration’s actions in its first months.
(more…)

Bulwark: The Big Tariff Lie

Trump’s trade-war madness is his election madness all over again

Politifact: Flip flop: Trump said he wasn’t looking at pausing tariffs. Two days later, he did.

(more…)

NY Times: For U.S. and China, a Risky Game of Chicken With No Off-Ramp in Sight

Neither side wants to look weak by backing down on tariffs. But if their trade relationship collapses, the global consequences could be profound.

A doubling of American tariffs on Chinese goods. Nationalist Chinese bloggers comparing President Trump’s levies to a declaration of war. China’s Foreign Ministry vowing that Beijing will “fight to the end.”

For years, the world’s two biggest powers have flirted with the idea of an economic decoupling as tensions between them have risen. The acceleration this week, in both actions and words, of their trade relationship’s deterioration has made the prospect of such a divorce seem closer than ever.
(more…)

Ken Klippenstein: Pentagon Prepares for Trump to Go Berserk

Unprecedented number of B-2 bombers amassed for Iran strike

In the largest single deployment of stealth bombers in U.S. history, the Pentagon has sent six B-2 “Spirit” aircraft to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

The long-range bombers, which are uniquely suited to evade Iranian air defenses and can carry America’s most potent bunker busting weapons, flew in from Missouri last week in a little noticed operation.

The B-2s carry not just bombs, but a message for Iran: “do you see our sword?,” as one retired general told Newsmax this week.
(more…)