donal brown

Critics scorn CNN’s Trump town hall

CNN’s town hall event with former president Donald Trump was roundly criticized for its failure to challenge Trump on many of his lies, allowing Trump to belittle sexual assault victim E. Jean Carroll and to continue his lies about the 2020 election and his defense of the January 6 insurrection. (The Hill, May 10, 2023, by Niall Stanage) Talking Point editor David Kurtz said CNN should never have given that platform to Trump who always

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Judge rules for Warren in RFK Jr. lawsuit

A federal district judge ruled that Senator Elizabeth Warren did not have to take back her criticism of a book by anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. His publishing company sued her for hurting sales of the book in effect causing censorship. (The Associated Press, May 10,2023, by Gene Johnson) Warren sent a letter to Amazon challenging their promotion of a book that carried Covid-19 falsehoods. The judge held that the plaintiffs had not justified

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Musk running Twitter irresponsibly

Misinformation on Twitter has surged after Elon Musk took over the company, laid off scores of workers and installed a paid verification system that has benefited conspiracy theorists. Musk also restored over 67,00 accounts previously suspended for incitement of violence, harassment and misinformation. (Yahoo News, April 16, 2023, by Anuj Chopra) Brad Plumbo in Newsweek, April 14, 2023, describes how Musk also failed to keep his promise to make Twitter a haven for free speech.

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DeSantis in deep with Disney free speech lawsuit

Oliver Darcy in CNN, April 27, 2023, writes that Disney’s lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for retaliation against the company’s stand over the “Don’t Say Gay” bill has a good chance of success. First Amendment attorney Ted Boutrous said that Disney’s case was “extremely strong,” “DeSantis has admitted — indeed bragged about — retaliating against Disney to punish it for its speech on an issue of public concern and importance. That is a classic

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High court to rule on whether officials can block social media critics

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case next term to determine if it is constitutional to block social media users from personal pages that government officials use in their official activities. The court dismissed a case as moot concerning President Donald Trump’s blocking Twitter users who criticized him. (CNN, April 24, 2023, by Tierney Sneed) In Trump’s case, a federal appeals court ruled he violated the First Amendment in blocking critics. Parents in one

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