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A group of west Africans deported from the United States have sued the government of Ghana, alleging they were sent to the country despite having deportation protection orders from US immigration authorities.The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a Ghanaian court on behalf of 11 deportees from Nigeria, Togo, Gambia, Liberia and Mali, said they have been held without charge since their arrival and without proper access to legal representation.Ghanaian President John Mahama revealed last week his government had struck a deal with the United States to accept deportees from west Africa as the administration of Donald Trump cracks down on immigrants.Trump has overseen an unprecedented expansion of the practice of deporting people to countries other than their nation of origin — notably by sending hundreds to a notorious prison in El Salvador.The deportations to Ghana are believed to have started in early September and more are underway — though Accra has kept details under wraps, including the deportees’ exact whereabouts, believed to be a military facility.The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, told AFP Friday he is suing for their release, as well as to stop their eventual removal to their home countries.”They are not charged with violations of any Ghanaian law,” Barker-Vormawor said.”All of these people were seeking asylum in the US, and they’ve made clear that they were facing persecution — whether in connection with religious reasons, political, and even on the basis of their sexual orientation.”- Whereabouts disputed -Announcing that an initial group of 14 deportees had arrived in Ghana, officials said that deportees would be allowed to remain in the country temporarily, per regional visa-free travel rules, or return home.Officials initially said that all of the initial 14 had returned home.In fact, three have returned to their country of origin but 11 remain in detention, Barker-Vormawor said.Barker-Vormawor said he has written to the military but has yet to be allowed to visit.Four of the detainees are Nigerian, three are Togolese, two are Malian, one is Liberian and one is Gambian.Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said Wednesday that 40 more deportees were expected in the coming days.Ablakwa said the decision to accept the deportees was based on humanitarian concerns and was not an “endorsement” of US immigration policy.The Ghanaian attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Barker-Vormawor said an unknown number of deportees had arrived Thursday.According to the lawsuit, the initial 14 deportees arrived sometime around September 6 — a week before the government made the announcement — though Barker-Vormawor said the timeline was unclear.

Donald Trump’s pick to join the US Federal Reserve said Friday that he did not speak to the president about how to vote on interest rates ahead of the central bank’s meeting this week.In an interview with CNBC, Stephen Miran said that “the president called me to say ‘congratulations.’ He didn’t ask me to do any particular actions. I didn’t commit to doing any particular actions.”He said that he would carry out “independent analysis” based on his interpretation of the economy.Miran was the sole dissenter to the Fed’s decision this week to cut interest rates by a quarter point, instead favoring a bigger half-point reduction — more in line with Trump’s frequent demands for slashing rates.He said he would give a “full accounting” for his economic views on Monday.Asked Friday about his decision, he said: “I don’t see any material inflation from tariffs. I see no evidence that it’s occurred.”The Fed typically holds rates at a higher level to rein in inflation, and policymakers had kept rates unchanged for most of the year as they monitored the effects of Trump’s tariffs on prices.Miran’s swift arrival to the Fed came as Trump ramped up pressure on the independent central bank with repeated calls for large rate cuts.Miran had been chairing the White House Council of Economic Advisers prior to joining the bank, and was confirmed by the US Senate on Monday night. He was sworn in just before the rate-setting meeting started early Tuesday.He told CNBC that he hopes to persuade some Fed colleagues of his views.Miran fills a term that ends January 31, replacing another Fed governor who resigned early.But his call to take a leave of absence rather than step down from his White House role drew sharp criticism from Democratic lawmakers amid worries about threats to Fed independence.Miran said the short tenure was his reason for not resigning from the CEA: “If the President told me that I was going to stay in the seat past January I would just resign immediately.”Fed policymakers noted the weakening labor market as they announced their first rate cut of the year Wednesday, penciling in two more cuts this year.All eyes were also on Fed Governor Lisa Cook’s legal challenge against Trump’s move to fire her this week. She has so far managed to remain in place while her lawsuit plays out.

US President Donald Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping spoke by phone Friday with expectations that they were set to finalize the fate of the hugely popular and influential video app TikTok, as well as discussing trade.Chinese state broadcaster CCTV and the Xinhua news agency said the call had started.Trump previewed his talks on Thursday, telling Fox News that they would be discussing “TikTok and also trade.””And we’re very close to deals on all of it. And my relationship with China is very good,” he said.The call was their second since Trump began his second term in January.On June 5, the US president said Xi had invited him to visit China, and he issued a similar invitation for the Chinese leader to come to the United States. So far, no travel plans have been made, but several analysts expected Xi to repeat his offer Friday, playing on Trump’s enthusiasm for lavish receptions in foreign capitals.- TikTok -“Each leader will aim to signal that he has outmaneuvered the other” in trade talks focused on tariffs, Ali Wyne, an expert on US-China relations at the International Crisis Group, predicted in a note.The pair could settle the TikTok drama, after Trump repeatedly put off a ban under a US law designed to force Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell its US operations for national security reasons.Trump told reporters on Thursday that he hoped to “finalize something on TikTok.”Under the deal, TikTok’s US business would be “owned by all American investors, and very rich people and companies,” Trump said. He said he believes TikTok had boosted his appeal to younger voters and helped him win the 2024 election.The president on Tuesday again pushed back applying a ban on the app, which had been decided under his predecessor president Joe Biden.The Wall Street Journal raised the possibility of a consortium to control TikTok that would include tech giant Oracle and two California investment funds — Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz.- Tariffs -The telephone talks come as the world’s two biggest economies seek to find a compromise on tariffs.Both sides dramatically hiked tariffs against each other during a months-long dispute earlier this year, disrupting global supply chains.Washington and Beijing then reached a deal to reduce levies, which expires in November, with the United States imposing 30 percent duties on imports of Chinese goods and China hitting US products with a 10 percent tariff. The phone meeting also comes after Xi organized a major summit this month with the leaders of Russia and India — and invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to observe a major military parade in Beijing.”Please give my warmest regards to (Russian President) Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un as you conspire against the United States of America,” Trump wrote to Xi on his Truth Social platform. The US leader slammed India with punitive tariffs for its oil purchases from Moscow, and has called on European countries to sanction China for buying Russian oil, though Washington has not itself sanctioned Beijing. “If they did that on China, I think the war (in Ukraine) would maybe end,” Trump told Fox News. burs-sms/bgs

Late-night TV comics skewered US President Donald Trump and denounced “blatant censorship” after Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was pulled off air over his comments on the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.Network ABC’s decision to suspend Kimmel “indefinitely” came after Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr threatened the licenses of ABC affiliates that broadcast his show.Trump, on his way back from a trip to Britain, again condemned evening shows on network television, saying “all they do is hit Trump.””I mean, they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One.Stephen Colbert — whose own Emmy-winning “Late Show” on CBS will be taken off the air next year — opened his Thursday program by saying “today, we are all Jimmy Kimmel.””After threats from Trump’s FCC Chair, ABC yanked Kimmel off their air indefinitely. That is blatant censorship,” Colbert said.”With an autocrat, you cannot give an inch, and if ABC thinks this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive,” he said.Colbert’s show was axed shortly after he criticized a decision by CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump over an interview with former vice president Kamala Harris.CBS said in July that cancelling Colbert’s program was a “purely financial decision.”Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart delivered his own response to Kimmel’s suspension, introduced on Thursday night as “your patriotically obedient host” of the “all-new government-approved Daily Show.””Some naysayers may argue that this administration’s speech concerns are merely a cynical ploy… to obscure an unprecedented consolidation of power and unitary intimidation,” Stewart said.”Some people would say that — not me though, I think it’s great.”Once a staple for American audiences, late-night talk shows on network TV have seen declining viewership and advertising revenue in recent years amid a trend of cord-cutting.Linear ad spending for late-night segments on ABC, CBS and NBC nearly halved between 2018 and 2024, falling from $439 million to $221 million, the New York Times reported in May citing data from advertising data firm Guideline.- ‘Not done yet’ -FCC chief Carr said on Thursday that the media ecosystem was experiencing a “very disruptive moment” and that more changes were to come.”We are in the midst of a massive shift in dynamics in the media ecosystem… including the permission structure that President Trump’s election has provided,” he said on a CNBC program.”I would simply say we’re not done yet with seeing the consequences of that.”Trump earlier urged NBC to remove satirists Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, writing on his Truth Social platform that they were “total losers.”On The Tonight Show, Fallon praised Kimmel as a “decent, funny and loving guy and I hope he comes back.””A lot of people are worried that… we’ll be censored, but I’m going to cover the president’s trip to the UK just like I normally would,” Fallon told his audience.A voiceover was then played calling Trump “incredibly handsome.”Meyers said on Thursday that Trump’s administration is “pursuing a crackdown on free speech” at home.”And completely unrelated, I just want to say… I’ve always admired and respected Mr Trump,” he said.”If you’ve ever seen me say anything negative about him, that’s just AI.”Late-night legend David Letterman also defended Kimmel on Thursday, calling the ABC decision “ridiculous.””You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office,” Letterman said at a New York event.Fox News host Greg Gutfeld said on Thursday Kimmel was not being “censored” after earlier calling him a clown.”While some say it’s an attack on free speech, others believe it’s an excuse to unload Jimmy due to his poor ratings and the cost to keep him on,” Gutfeld said.

There is a mixed crowd lining up outside the ICE recruitment fair in Utah, where hundreds of people are eager to join US President Donald Trump’s vast deportation effort.John Wolworth drove eight hours from neighboring Colorado, and was desperate to sign up to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”I’m here to defend my country,” he said.”Our borders are a big deal, our culture is a big deal and we have a right, as a people, to uphold that culture,” the 33-year-old told AFP.An unemployed former soldier, Wolworth had with him his resume, a nursing diploma, army medals, a certificate of proficiency in shooting, and another in jujitsu. “I think I have the right profile,” he said. “As men, it is almost in our DNA to rise to the occasion.”With his “Big, Beautiful Bill,” Trump allocated $170 billion to border protection and the fight against illegal immigration. ICE, the federal agency tasked with carrying out the mass deportations the Republican promised on the election campaign trail, is one of the major beneficiaries of this extra cash, and says it wants to recruit 10,000 additional agents. – ‘We need YOU’ -The Department of Homeland Security, of which ICE is a part, has begun holding recruitment fairs like the one in Provo all across the United States.On ICE’s website, the WWI-era figure of Uncle Sam issues an urgent plea to potential recruits: “America has been invaded by criminals and predators. We need YOU to get them out.”The muscular rhetoric results in a crowd that slants heavily male, but runs across age groups.”We finally have a president who wants to make America great again, so this is why I’m here,” said a man in his 60s, who did not want to give his name.While perhaps the majority of those lining up for the recruitment fair were white men, the crowd also included a significant number of African-American and Hispanic candidates. Allan Marquez is an employee of a private security company who works in a prison where ICE regularly brings detainees. The mass deportations promised by Trump “are necessary,” said the 29-year-old American, who added that his Mexican grandparents immigrated legally to the United States decades earlier.”It’s part of the job of keeping the nation safe,” he said.Eddie — who did not want to give his full name –is also of Mexican descent and acknowledged qualms about the raids carried out by ICE this summer around Los Angeles. Footage showed masked agents bumrushing hardware stores, car washes and farms, in what appeared to be a sweep of anyone Hispanic. ICE officials said they were targeted actions.Official figures show the majority of those arrested by ICE had no criminal record.- Attractive bonus -Eddie said as a former child protective services officer, he hoped to be able to bring some humanity to the role of ICE agent.”I come from a Hispanic background, but it’s a job that has to be done. So I’d rather do it myself, to make sure that they’re treated properly, even though they’re getting deported,” he said.The 33-year-old, who is from Texas, admitted he has some concern about the explosive growth of ICE, which has shortened its mandatory training period by several weeks.But he was also attracted by the idea of “a stable job, with good benefits.”ICE is offering a bonus of $10,000 per year for recruits who work for five years, along with a guaranteed government salary, healthcare and other benefits.”I’d be lying if I said that doesn’t factor in my motivations,” said Walter Campbell, a former Marine. The 26-year-old added that he believed “immigration has been a huge issue in this country for 30 plus years” driving down American wages.He said he was unmoved by the handful of protestors who told him “don’t sell your soul to the Gestapo.”Trump’s electoral win means his deportation campaign has “a mandate from the people,” he tells them.To critics who say the agency is unselectively going after anyone who looks Hispanic, or who is speaking Spanish — including a number of US citizens who have been swept up — Campbell insists these are teething problems.”You’re going to have misfires, especially when you’re doing anything on this scale,” he said. “No one said that this is going to be the cleanest job in the world.”

President Donald Trump, who recently accused Xi Jinping of working to “conspire” against the United States, hopes to finalize the fate of video-sharing app TikTok and make progress on trade talks in a phone call with the Chinese leader on Friday.”I’m speaking with President Xi, as you know, on Friday, having to do with TikTok, and also trade,” Trump said Thursday in an interview with Fox News.”And we’re very close to deals on all of it. And my relationship with China is very good.”The call will be the second between the two men since Trump returned to the White House in January, and the third since the start of the year.On June 5, the US president said Xi had invited him to visit China, and he issued a similar invitation for the Chinese leader to come to the United States. So far, no travel plans have been made, but several analysts expect Xi to repeat his offer, especially knowing that Trump is always keen to be received with diplomatic fanfare. – TikTok -“Each leader will aim to signal that he has outmaneuvered the other” in trade talks focused on tariffs, Ali Wyne, an expert on US-China relations at the International Crisis Group, predicted in a note.The pair could settle the TikTok drama, after Trump repeatedly put off a ban under a law designed to force Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell its US operations for national security reasons.Trump told reporters on Thursday that he hoped to “finalize something on TikTok.”Under the deal, TikTok’s US business would be “owned by all American investors, and very rich people and companies,” Trump said. He said he believes TikTok had boosted his appeal to younger voters and helped him win the 2024 election.The president on Tuesday again pushed back applying a ban on the app, which had been decided under his predecessor Joe Biden.The Wall Street Journal raised the possibility of a consortium to control TikTok that would include tech giant Oracle and two California investment funds — Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz.- Tariffs -The telephone talks come as the world’s two biggest economies seek to find a compromise on tariffs.Both sides dramatically hiked tariffs against each other during a months-long dispute earlier this year, disrupting global supply chains.Washington and Beijing then reached a deal to reduce levies, which expires in November, with the United States imposing 30 percent duties on imports of Chinese goods and China hitting US products with a 10 percent tariff. The phone meeting also comes after Xi organized a major summit this month with the leaders of Russia and India — and invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to observe a major military parade in Beijing.”Please give my warmest regards to (Russian President) Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un as you conspire against the United States of America,” Trump wrote to Xi on his Truth Social platform. The US leader slammed India with punitive tariffs for its oil purchases from Moscow, and has called on European countries to sanction China for buying Russian oil, though Washington has not itself sanctioned Beijing. “If they did that on China, I think the war (in Ukraine) would maybe end,” Trump told Fox News. 

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen threw for three touchdowns and the Bills extended their dominance of the Miami Dolphins with a 31-21 victory on Thursday to remain unbeaten in the young NFL season.Reigning NFL Most Valuable Player Allen threw for 213 yards and three touchdowns and linebacker Terrel Bernard picked off Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa with three minutes remaining to help seal a game in which the Dolphins had kept it close.”I thought their offense did a good job of sustaining drives and really limiting our opportunities,” Allen said. “I thought we had opportunities on the offensive side and we didn’t take advantage of some of them, but at the end of the day we got the win.”Buffalo running back James Cook rushed for 108 yards, including a two-yard touchdown as the Bills notched a seventh straight victory over their AFC East division rivals Miami.Tagovailoa had hit Tyreek Hill with a five-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter to knot the score at 21-21.It looked like the Bills would come up empty on their first chance to respond.But Miami’s Zach Sieler was called for roughing the punter and the penalty kept alive a Bills drive that ended with Khalil Shakir’s 15-yard touchdown that pushed the Bills to a 28-21 lead with 7:17 remaining.The Dolphins were within scoring range when Bernard stepped across to grab a pass Tagovailova intended for Jaylen Wade.”I thought I was in rhythm, in timing of the play,” Tagovailoa said, adding: “think that was a really good play by the defender.”Matt Prater added the final dagger with a 48-yard field goal on Buffalo’s next possession.”That was a heck of a game, high-level competition,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said.”The Dolphins played a real good game and our guys made a couple more plays and I thought the grit, the mental toughness of our football team was on display throughout the game, in particular in the fourth quarter there.”The Bills improved to 3-0 while Miami were left in search of a first win of the season.Tagovailoa connected on 23 of 34 passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns.Ollie Gordon had put the Dolphins up 7-0 with a two-yard TD run in the first quarter. But Miami’s late miscues will keep the pressure on Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, despite a livelier performance from his team than they showed in their previous two defeats.”We knew we had to not turn the ball over and we had to play good football and make some plays,” McDaniel said.”We had a turnover in a critical situation, we had a critical penalty on a punt and those types of things, that’s how these types of games are decided,” he added.

Young Americans challenging President Donald Trump’s fossil fuel agenda say they were proud to have their day in court — even if it meant fielding tough, sometimes perplexing questions from government lawyers.”I don’t think the gravity of that situation has permeated through my brain yet,” 19-year-old Joseph Lee told AFP at the close of a two-day hearing in Lighthiser v. Trump.”I’m going to wake up and realize, ‘Wow, I really did that.’ I testified in court against my own federal government, and it’s just such a meaningful thing to be part of this process.”The case challenges three executive orders that the plaintiffs say trample their inalienable rights to life and liberty by seeking to “unleash” fossil fuels while sidelining sources of renewable energy. The plaintiffs also seek to reverse the administration’s dismantling of climate science — from suppressing a key national climate report to proposing to shut down a critical carbon dioxide monitoring site in Hawaii. Judge Dana Christensen is now weighing whether to grant a preliminary injunction that could pave the way to trial — or throw the case out, as the government has urged.- ‘It’s not about ACs’ -Despite the gravity of the issues at the center of the case, the plaintiffs said they found themselves questioning the seemingly insignificant details raised in court. Lee, from California, testified that a case of heat stroke left him hospitalized on the brink of organ failure.During cross-examination, Justice Department attorney Erik Van de Stouwe asked whether he had sued the University of California, San Diego over its lack of air conditioning in dorms, implying that — and not climate action — was the remedy.”It’s not about ACs,” Lee later told AFP. “Minimizing it to something as trivial just goes to show” that the government’s case lacks merit, he added.At another point, Van de Stouwe questioned whether Lee could prove Trump’s climate cuts cost him opportunities to gain a research position at university — even though a university-wide letter, entered into evidence, explicitly cited the executive actions for reducing such positions. When pressed on how he could be certain, Lee replied that as a student he lacked the power to investigate the matter beyond all doubt.”But you did have the capacity to investigate the government’s executive orders?” the lawyer shot back. Lee responded he had the ability to read their plain language — a remark that drew murmurs of approval from the packed and supportive federal courtroom in Missoula, Montana.- ‘Really empowering’ -In another strange exchange, 20-year-old Avery McRae of Oregon was asked whether the anxiety she linked to climate change might stem from having spent half her life suing the federal government.And when 17-year-old Jorja McCormick of Livingston, Montana took the stand, she recalled the day a firefighter knocked on her family’s door and ordered them to evacuate as flames closed in, a moment, she said, that left her traumatized. Under cross examination, government attorney Miranda Jensen asked: “You just testified you have three horses, right? You’re aware that raising horses contributes to global warming?”Speaking after the hearings wrapped up, McCormick said she had mulled over the exchange. “There’s coal trains going through my downtown every day,” spewing toxic dust, she told AFP. “So I think my horses being out on open property minding their own business compared to coal trains hurting the entire community is quite different.”Despite the grilling, McCormick described testifying as cathartic. “Being on the stand was really empowering — telling my story, getting it out into the world like that was almost healing.”Whatever the outcome of Lighthiser v. Trump, she said she plans to continue her activism.”A better future is possible,” added Lee. “If a decision isn’t favorable, we’ll keep fighting.”

The leaders of Canada and Mexico on Thursday defended their three-way free-trade deal with the United States, while agreeing to try and make it “fairer” in the face of tariff pressure from President Donald Trump.After talks in Mexico with President Claudia Sheinbaum, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the pair were “committed” to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), saying it had “helped make North America the economic envy of the world.”Sheinbaum said she was “optimistic” about the future of the accord, which Trump wants to renegotiate on terms more favorable to US manufacturers.”I believe that the USMCA will prevail,” she told a joint press conference with Carney.The agreement, in place since 2020, is up for review next year. It is critical to the economies of both Mexico and Canada, which send around 80 percent and 75 percent of their exports to the United States, respectively.Trump has already imposed tariffs on some exports from Canada and Mexico that don’t fall under the agreement and threatened further punishment if they fail to curb cross-border migration and drug trafficking.The USMCA replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement signed in the 1990s.The successive deals fundamentally reshaped North America’s economy over three decades, creating a high degree of interdependence between the three partners.However, Trump’s trade war has already significantly disrupted cross-border supply chains.He has hit Canadian goods that fall outside the agreement with 35-percent duties and similar Mexican goods with 25-percent levies.The tariffs are hurting Canada’s crucial auto, steel and aluminum sectors, leading to job losses, and also causing pain for Mexico’s auto and steel industries.”We complement the United States, we make them stronger, we are all stronger together,” Carney said.The fact that Washington was already reviewing UMSCA was “a good thing,” he added, arguing that it meant decisions on tariffs and local content could be “taken in a calm, deliberate manner.”- ‘Move forward together’ -Both Sheinbaum and Carney have been attempting to reach side deals with Trump.  But on Thursday they insisted they were not in competition with each other.”We will move forward together,” said Carney, holding up next year’s FIFA World Cup, to be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico as an expression of the countries’ synergies.Anxious to diversify their exports, Carney and Sheinbaum also announced plans to boost bilateral trade and investment, using Canadian and Mexican ports rather than shipping goods across the United States.Trade between the two countries last year totaled under $32 billion — more than 20 times less than the amount each has with the United States.   Mexico is Canada’s third-largest partner and Canada is Mexico’s fifth-largest.The two leaders also announced plans to cooperate more closely on foreign affairs, agriculture, the environment and security, among other areas.Some Canadian politicians have complained that Trump unfairly lumped their country, a small player in the global drug trade, with Mexico in terms of fentanyl trafficking.”The unfortunate fact is that there are gangs from one country in another country but also vice-versa,” Carney said.

For Americans, the words are practically sacred: the First Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. But that right is now the subject of bitter debate, following the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.On Thursday, several high-ranking Democrats accused President Donald Trump of waging war on free speech, after he celebrated ABC’s suspension of talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, who accused the political right of using Kirk’s death to score points.The American Civil Liberties Union, a rights advocacy group, accused the Trump administration of operating outside constitutional safeguards to target its opponents, likening it to the Red Scare of the late 1940 and 1950s under senator Joseph McCarthy.”This is beyond McCarthyism. Trump officials are repeatedly abusing their power to stop ideas they don’t like, deciding who can speak, write, and even joke,” said Christopher Anders, director of the ACLU’s democracy and technology division.So what does the First Amendment say? And why is it up for debate?- ‘How we identify ourselves’ -Ratified in 1791, the Bill of Rights comprises the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution, protecting the fundamental rights of Americans.”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,” the First Amendment says.For David Super, a professor at Georgetown University’s law school, the amendment is “really how we identify ourselves as a nation.”Beyond the varied ethnicities and background of the nation’s 340 million people, “we are thought to be drawn together by a belief in open discussion and a belief that the government can’t shut any of us up,” Super told AFP.The First Amendment even protects speech that is “morally repulsive,” explained Eugene Volokh, a professor of law at the University of California, Los Angeles.Volokh however emphasized that the history of the United States has been marked by attempts to stifle dissident voices.- ‘Malicious writings’ -In 1798, America’s second president John Adams signed into law the Sedition Act, which forbade “any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States.”Then during World War I, the expression of pacifist ideology was banned.From the 1920s to the 1950s, anyone expressing support for communist ideals risked serious repercussions. And in the 1960s, officials in several southern US states battled to silence the civil rights movement.One of the key pillars of Trump’s political movement has been to eviscerate “cancel culture” — the process of criticizing someone for voicing an opinion seen as unacceptable, to the point of that person being ostracized or fired. Trump has often called “cancel culture” a scourge of leftist progressives, claiming that it has been used to silence conservative pundits and politicians.But Democrats have turned the tables on Trump, accusing him of doing the same to US media organizations, major universities and, now, Kimmel — a frequent target of Trump’s ire.”After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level,” Democratic former president Barack Obama wrote Thursday on X.- Conservative push-back -US Attorney General Pam Bondi sparked controversy among conservatives by saying earlier this week that the Justice Department would pursue anyone guilty of “hate speech” linked to the slain influencer.Republican Senator Ted Cruz quickly countered that the Constitution “absolutely protects hate speech.” Bondi then said she meant to refer to “threats of violence that individuals incite against others.”Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson called for “civil disobedience” should Kirk’s murder result in an uptick in laws limiting free speech.And some voices on the far right have criticized a decree signed by Trump in August that makes burning the American flag punishable by up to a year in prison. The US Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that burning the Stars and Stripes indeed amounted to free speech, and was protected by the First Amendment.”I would never in a million years harm the American flag,” conservative radio host Jesse Kelly wrote on X.”But a president telling me I can’t has me as close as I’ll ever be to lighting one on fire. I am a free American citizen. And if I ever feel like torching one, I will.”