Today’s notice: The firings will continue until morale improves. Congress is running out of time to make a spending deal. An exclusive look at Democratic efforts to get inspectors general hired. Also, a look at the party’s novel new strategy: registering voters.
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The FIRE this time? “We are creating the exact culture of fear that we should be trying to work against,” Adam Goldstein of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told NOTUS’ Em Luetkemeyer as anger and sadness over the killing of Charlie Kirk metastasized into a culture of “mourn him properly or else,” as Reuters put it.
America is once again exploring the boundaries between free speech, personal views and professional conduct. Government employees at the state and federal level have been reprimanded for social media posts about Kirk — while educators at both universities and grade schools have been put on leave or fired for their online speech.
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What makes this online dragnet different? Experts say the full endorsement from government officials creates some big First Amendment questions. Pete Hegseth and other military leaders have said they’ll fire employees who, as Navy Secretary John Phelan put it, create “posts displaying contempt toward a fellow American who was assassinated.”