Harmeet Dhillon and colleges; Jake Lang and MAGA; Stephen Colbert’s ‘censorship hoax’

Harmeet Dhillon’s college naughty and nice list

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon has been pushing America’s colleges and universities to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling barring race-based affirmative action policies, and she’s getting a sense of who’s trying to follow the law — and who’s resisting oversight.

Ms. Dhillon told “Seen, Heard & Whispered” that the University of North Carolina, one of the schools involved in the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling, has been working with the Trump administration to share its efforts to reform its ways.

“They have taken steps. They hired private counsel, they have met with me regularly to tell how they are scrubbing their website of inappropriate DEI language and also reviewing all policies to make sure they are compliant. That is pleasing to see,” she said, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion. 

She also singled out the University of Virginia for working with the Justice Department.

More broadly, she cited Ivy League schools that have worked on deals involving issues such as antisemitism and men participating in women’s sports. Ms. Dhillon listed Columbia, Penn, Brown and Cornell.

Harvard, though, “has refused to reach an agreement with us” — and has even stopped responding to requests for information on its admission data.

DOJ’s Civil Rights Division sued last month.

“It’s been frustrating. I have a vast portfolio and many things to do. Litigating with $53 billion endowment schools over whether they are complying with federal law and a federal court order from the United States Supreme Court is a complete waste of time,” Ms. Dhillon said.

“The consequences for Harvard for refusing to comply with federal law will be significant.”

Jake Lang explains why the attack on Iran is MAGA

There’s been fierce pushback from some of President Trump’s allies over the attack on Iran, but Jake Lang, a committed Trump supporter and Jan. 6 defendant, said it was the right call.

“We are in a war with Islam. We are showing Christian dominance in the Middle East,” Mr. Lang told “Seen, Heard & Whispered.”

“This goes to show when Americans decide to band together and fight against these invaders, we will conquer. I love the war in the Middle East — not because I like to see interventionism and any sort of benefit to Israel or not to Israel; I like this war because it is showing America still has some gunpowder in our spinal cords,” he said.

Mr. Lang recently made headlines for leading an anti-Muslim rally in New York City that became the scene of what authorities have characterized as an Islamic State-inspired plot. Two men have been charged with tossing homemade bombs at the demonstrators.

One of the men later told authorities that Islam “isn’t a religion that just stands when people talk about the blessed name of the prophet,” according to the court papers. The accused, Emir Balat, also said: “If I didn’t do it, someone else will come and do it.”

Stephen Colbert’s ‘censorship hoax’

Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, says he’s not trying to censor anyone and certainly didn’t order CBS not to air an interview with Democrat James Talarico.

“Someone was falsely claiming they were censored by the Trump administration because they knew the legacy media would eat it up,” Mr. Carr said at an event hosted by Breitbart News. “It was all just a ploy to get clicks to get donations.”

Late-night comic Stephen Colbert taped the interview last month with Mr. Talarico, a state representative in Texas, and posted it on YouTube after saying CBS barred it from airing.

CBS said it didn’t actually block the broadcast but warned Mr. Colbert of the potential for running afoul of the FCC and its new interpretation of rules requiring equal time for opposing political candidates on nonnews programs. In this case, that would have meant time for U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who was Mr. Talarico’s opponent in the primary for the Senate seat in Texas.

Mr. Colbert cast blame far and wide, chiding CBS for the legal warning about the equal time rule, complaining that CBS’ parent company, Paramount, caved to pressure and calling the FCC “bullies.”

Mr. Carr called the incident a “censorship hoax.”

He said the interview could have aired as long as CBS gave Ms. Crockett airtime, too.

Mr. Carr said the censorship claims made it seem “as if we had some sort of dump button somewhere at the FCC to prevent you from running some sort of ads.”

For decades, the equal time rule was deemed not to apply to talk shows, which were grouped with news programs as exempt. Under Mr. Carr, the FCC has reversed that decision.

Weeks ahead of the Colbert hubbub, the FCC said it would probe ABC’s “The View” program after it hosted Mr. Talarico.

The Colbert interview turned Mr. Talarico into a liberal martyr and appears to have been decisive in the Texas primary, erasing Ms. Crockett’s lead in the polls. Mr. Talarico ended up winning the Democrats’ nomination last week by more than 6 percentage points.