52 h. ago Jane Fonda relaunches free speech group started by her father during the McCarthy era

In wake of the Trump administration’s censorship threats, the actor re-established the Committee for the First Amendment with A-list supportJane Fonda has relaunched the Committee for the First Amendment, the McCarthy-era initiative started by her father, Henry Fonda, with a groundswell of celebrity support.The new committee, established to protect free speech from government censorship, has the support of over 550 entertainment figures, including: Quinta Brunson, Viola Davis, Kerry Washington, Natalie Portman, Aaron Sorkin, Spike Lee, Pedro Pascal, Ben Stiller, Whoopi Goldberg, Sean Penn, John Legend, Damon Lindelof, Julianne Moore, Janelle Monáe, Barbra Streisand, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ethan Hawke, Billie Eilish, Anjelica Huston and Judd Apatow. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago They’ve finally gone there: South Park lets rip at Benjamin Netanyahu

No matter how hot the political temperature, Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s show can be counted on to go for the jugular. And with Brendan Carr in a mountain of poo and Israel’s PM in its sights, the latest episode doesn’t pull any punchesIn the three weeks since South Park last aired, things have changed. The assassination of right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk exploded already fiery political tensions, with the Trump administration and its base embarking on a campaign of retribution the likes of which haven’t been seen since the McCarthy era, and stating, without sufficient evidence, that Kirk’s murder was the result of a wide-ranging leftist plot. Scores of people in the public and private sectors have been punished for commenting on the situation, most notably late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, whose show was briefly pulled off air after the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, put parent company Disney under pressure to do so.Suffice to say, the situation is far to...

Politics

9 d. ago The Democratic superlawyer Trump can’t silence: ‘We are in the break

Elias has long defended high-profile Democrats and election law, resisting Trump’s crackdown on his opponentsMarc Elias, a prominent Democratic election attorney, has not shied away from standing up to the Trump administration, and has been targeted for retribution this year multiple times as a result.He’s one of scores of lawyers the Trump administration has named in executive actions, joining a list that includes big law firms and attorneys who worked for people Trump considers his opponents. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Mission Alarum review – dreadful Sylvester Stallone spy thriller shames cinema itself

Donald Trump’s ‘special ambassador to Hollywood’ plays a grizzled agent in this dismal action movie Back at the beginning of the second Trump administration (which feels like the Jurassic era now), the president named Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight “special ambassadors to a great but troubled place, Hollywood, California.” No one seems to be quite sure what these ambassadorships entail or if any of that troika of right-wing fellow travellers have fulfilled any official duties. But on the evidence of this, Stallone is already letting the side down – by making a film so bad it shames American cinema itself. And it wasn’t even made in Hollywood! Instead, it was shot in Ohio (pretending, deeply unconvincingly, to be Poland), making this what’s called a runaway production, the phenomenon that is undermining Hollywood’s film-making industry.However, this cheapola would-be spy thriller is bad all on its own, whatever its politics. The idea is that secret agents Joe (Scott Ea...

Events

1 week ago Judith Butler is being targeted by the US government. We must stand up | Joel Swanson

What is happening to Judith Butler – a Jewish intellectual – in the name of fighting ‘antisemitism’ is outrageousAmid all the other breaking news consuming the United States this month, the University of California, Berkeley, arguably the nation’s most elite public university, gave the Trump administration a list of 160 names of faculty, staff and students, as part of an investigation into “alleged antisemitic incidents”.While all the names on this list are significant, one name in particular that UC Berkeley handed over to the Trump administration stands out: Judith Butler, the eminent queer theorist, literary theorist and philosopher, and one of the most famous public intellectuals in the United States today.Joel Swanson is professor of Jewish studies at Sarah Lawrence College Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago UC Berkeley names 160 staff and faculty to Trump administration as part of antisemitism investigation

Investigation comes as Trump administration has pursued over $1 billion in funding cuts and settlements from prominent University of California schools

Politics

3 w. ago UC Berkeley shares 160 names with Trump administration in ‘McCarthy era’ move

Prominent professor Judith Butler among students and faculty investigated for ‘alleged antisemitic incidents’ The University of California, Berkeley has given the Trump administration the names of 160 faculty members and students as part of an investigation into “alleged antisemitic incidents”, a move a targeted scholar likened to a “practice from the McCarthy era”.UC Berkeley, a top-ranked public institution, sent a letter to affected members of campus last week disclosing that university lawyers had included their names in reports to the Department of Education’s office for civil rights (OCR). The education department has been targeting colleges across the country as part of Donald Trump’s aggressive crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism, international students and academic freedom. Continue reading...

Politics