Colbert Fights Censorship by FCC and CBS

An on-air challenge, plus new anti-ICE "Born in the USA" video, our usual cartoons, and much more.

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Sort of a special grin and Colbert it today. It starts innocently enough with his usual monologue from last night:

But then, after a station break, we learned that Stephen had to cancel an interview last night with Texas State Rep. James Talarico, a rising Democrat running for the U.S. Senate this year. The reason given to compliant CBS? The FCC was now endorsing the “equal time rule” that requires most programs to invite all candidates in a campaign if one appears—but has always given a pass to talk shows. Now that is suddenly being enforced, aimed squarely at Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen asserted. Then he really got into it, telling the FCC chairman, “FCCU,” and putting the blame also on “baby” Trump. Colbert also criticized the broader political climate, saying the Trump regime “wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV.”

But there’s more. Stephen then announced that he had done the interview after all, and it was now up at You Tube. He issued more challenges to CBS and then the segment ended with a semi-nude photo of the FCC’s Brendan Carr. All here:

And naturally we post the YouTube interview below:

Somehow, it can all get worse. Michael Tomasky at The New Republic:

Trump’s New Voter I.D. Threat Is His Gravest Attack on Democracy Yet

The president says he’ll do it “whether approved by Congress or not!” He can’t legally do that—but that hasn’t stopped him before.

And this is Bari ugly:

Heather Cox Richardson:

On February 13 and 14, President Donald J. Trump’s representatives filed three applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to trademark his name for future use on an airport. As trademark lawyer Josh Gerben of Gerben IP noted, the application also covers merchandise branded “President Donald J. Trump International Airport,” “Donald J. Trump International Airport,” and “DJT,” including “clothing, handbags, luggage, jewelry, watches, and tie clips.”

Because of the trademark filing, Gerben notes, any airport adopting the Trump name would have to get a license to use the name, potentially paying a licensing fee. Gerben emphasizes that while it is common for public officials to have landmarks named after them, “never in the history of the United States” has “a sitting president’s private company…sought trademark rights” before such a naming.

Bad news comes in threes, apparently. But since media have and will focus on the deaths of Robert Duvall and Jesse Jackson, we will pay tribute to my fellow (if much more famous and accomplished) documentary film maker Frederick Wiseman. Here’s a trailer with some highlights from his career:

…and an earlier trailer about his long-banned “Titicut Follies” which brought him fame back when I was just a young whippper snapper with no film ambitions of my own:

There’s a new anti-ICE video from Brave New World Films for which they apparently got an okay from Bruce to use his recent remarks and a portion of “Born in the USA.”

Music Pick

We’ll do something a little different today, drawing on the NY Times’ “What’s Big on the Hot 100” today.

Noah Kahan’s “The Great Divide,” the title song of an album due April 24, got major promotion when it was played in full as an ad during the Grammy Awards, and now it’s No. 6 on the pop chart. It’s a folk-rock song about a former friend from younger, wilder days, who was worse off than he could understand at the time. Now the singer realizes “how bad it must have been for you back then / And how hard it was to keep it all inside.” The guitars dig in as Kahan proclaims his regret.

From Tune to Toons

Luckovich:

Ohman:

KAL:

Telnaes:

Bennett:

Photo Finish

From my camera to you: “Moonrise Manhattan.”