Politics and views in the United States.

Trump and conservatives condemn Jimmy Kimmel's Charlie Kirk comments. Lawmakers support a new bill ending mid-decade redistricting and Texas attempts to ban medication abortions. 

TRANSCRIPT

(typing)

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

Well, Jimmy Kimmel was fired 'cause he had bad ratings more than anything else, and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk.

Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person.

He had very bad ratings, and they should've fired him a long time ago, so you can call that free speech or not.

He was fired for lack of talent.

President Donald Trump is celebrating ABC's indefinite suspension of late night host Jimmy Kimmel.

The comedian is under fire for a joke about how Republicans are describing the motivation of the killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened the network to get Kimmel suspended, and several conservative lawmakers slammed that as censorship as one GOP senator put it, "Free speech is free speech.

"Members of the House Oversight Committee "want to call Carr to testify."

Kimmel suspension comes soon after CBS announced it's ending the late show with Stephen Colbert next spring.

Colbert called the network's $16 million payment ending the Trump lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview a big fat bribe.

Both networks have huge sums at risk if pending business deals don't get federal approval.

The White House says an executive order on political violence and hate speech is coming.

Trump just designated the anti-fascist group Antifa as a terrorist organization.

Critics charge it's an ideology, not an organization, but the designation will make it easier to go after various groups' funding.

After Kirk's death, the Justice Department quietly removed a study from its website saying right-wing domestic terrorism is far more common than either left-wing or Islamist violence.

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy says Kirk's death should have been a moment for Trump to seek the unity he promised during the campaign.

Instead, Murphy says Trump's doing what is quote, "standard for everybody" in despot.

Trump is making it 100 percent clear that he is going to ramp up his efforts to use the power of the federal government to harass and punish his critics.

Not because they're supporters of political violence, they are not, but because they have the audacity to openly oppose his policies.

He and other Democrats are introducing the No Political Enemies or NOPE Act, which they say aims to protect people and organizations from politically motivated targeting and prosecution.

Meanwhile, other members of the party are supporting the Redistricting Reform Act.

California Democrat Zoe Lofgren says the bill would stop partisan efforts to rig election maps like those underway in half a dozen states.

The Redistricting Reform Act would end the nationwide redistricting war by prohibiting mid-decade redistricting and ensuring every state adopts independent redistricting that uses uniform, fair redistricting criteria.

Medication abortions are center stage in new Texas abortion legislation.

Mifepristone has been on the market for a quarter century and many get it via telehealth.

Backers of House Bill 7 say the medications "poisonous and illegal," adding people don't know how to use them safely.

But Dr. Angel Foster with the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project says the medications have proven as safe as Tylenol and are mailed out after patients consult their physician.

Within days, the standard combination of mifepristone and misoprostol, along with additional information on how to take the pills, what to expect, and when to seek follow-up care, is in the mail en route to the patient's home.

Foster says the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project serves around 2,500 patients a I'm Edwin J. Vieira for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.