Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in his podcast "Verdict with Ted Cruz" on Friday cautioned those advocating for Federal Communication Commission (FCC) action against adversaries, noting if a censorship precedent is set, "every conservative in America will regret it."ABC suspended late-night host Jimmy Kimmel "indefinitely" after he said the alleged assassin of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk was a fellow MAGA supporter.Kimmel failed to set the record straight after the indictment against suspect Tyler Robinson was made public on Tuesday, prompting a response from Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr, who told Fox News' Sean Hannity the agency plans to reinvigorate enforcement of the public interest obligation.DAVID MARCUS: FCC ISNT GOING AFTER ABC, IT'S PROTECTING PUBLIC AIRWAVESThe FCC grants broadcast licenses on the condition that stations serve the "public interest, convenience, and necessity."Though the First Amendment protects free speech, the agency can revoke or deny license renewal if there is misrepresentation, fraud or lack of character or candor.In Cruz's podcast on Friday, he questioned Carr's decision to crack down on stations accused of misrepresentation or false statements, claiming "what he said there is dangerous as hell.""What he is saying is Jimmy Kimmel was lying. That's true, he was lying, and lying to the American people is not in the public interest," Cruz said. "He threatens explicitlywe're going to cancel ABC News' license. We're going to take him off the air, so ABC cannot broadcast anymore. He threatens it."ABC INSIDER HOPES LIBERALS TAKE THIS LESSON AWAY FROM JIMMY KIMMEL SAGACruz compared Carr's wording to something "right out of Goodfellas.""Jimmy Kimmel has mocked me so many times," he said. "The corporate mediathey are dishonest. They are liars. I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired. But let me tell you, if the government gets in the business of saying 'we don't like what you, the media, have said, we're going to ban you from the airwaves' that will end up bad for conservatives."He added it may be "attractive" to conservatives to feel that they have the governmental power to ban the media, but going down that road, would hurt them when a Democrat takes back the White House."The next Democrat FCCthey will silence us," Cruz said. "They will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly, and that is dangerous. They've defined anything counter to the leftist narrative as misinformation."Cruz argued that if a station commits slander related to Kirk or his family, there is already a remedy.He suggested suing stations for defamation and "let[ting] the process play out.""I think it is unbelievably dangerous for [the] government to put itself in the position of saying, 'We're going to decide what speech we like and what we don't, and we're going to threaten to take you off-air if we don't like what you're saying," Cruz said. "It might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel, but when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it."So again, I like Brendan Carr, but we should not be in this business. We should denounce it. It's fine to say what Jimmy Kimmel said was deplorable. It was disgraceful, and he should be off-air, but we shouldn't be threatening government power to force him off-air. That's a real mistake."FCC CHAIR BRENDAN CARR DEFENDS ABC AFFILIATES PULLING JIMMY KIMMEL SHOW AFTER MONOLOGUE MOCKING CHARLIE KIRKDuring a news conference in the White House Oval Office on Friday, President Donald Trump said he did not agree with Cruz's assertion, describing Carr as "courageous.""I think Brendan Carr is an incredible American patriot with courage," Trump said. "I remember in the old days, networks would want to get re-licensed, it was always a big deal. They had to show honesty and integrity. I think Brendan Carr doesn't like to see the airwaves be used illegally and incorrectlyand purposely, horribly. [He] doesn't like to see a person that won the election in a landslide get 97% bad publicity before the election. I mean, it's amazing that I won the election The people have given the networks no credibility."During the Biden administration, a nonprofit called the Media and Democracy Project filed a 2023 petition with the FCC asking that the license renewal of a Fox-owned local station in Philadelphia be denied, citing Foxs election-related coverage.The FCC, under then-Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, rejected the petition on Jan. 16, four days before Trump assumed office for his second term, noting it would be "fundamentally at odds with the First Amendment" for the government to deny renewals based on protected speech and content, according to court documents.Cruz's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.Fox News Digital's Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.

Authorities are investigating after gunfire struck the ABC10 news station in Sacramento, California on Friday afternoon.Police responded to the television station's building at about 1:30 p.m. following reports of a shooting, according to FOX 11 LA.While there were employees in the building at the time of the shooting, there were no injuries, according to the report.SUSPECT IN CUSTODY AFTER SHOOTING AT RESIDENTIAL DAYCARE IN LOS ANGELES NEIGHBORHOODA local reporter shared video on X showing at least three bullet holes in one of the television station's windows.According to a report from a FOX-affiliated station in Sacramento, the shots were fired from a vehicle, which quickly sped away.1 DEAD, 4 WOUNDED AFTER SHOOTING IN NEW YORK CITY, POLICE SAYLocal police have not released a motive or any suspect information, though there was a small protest outside the station on Thursday, according to The Sacramento Bee.The outlet reported that a group of about 15 people were outside the building on Thursday protesting Disney-owned ABC's decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel off-air for comments he made about slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk and his alleged assassin.While Disney owns the ABC network, affiliate ABC10 is owned by Tegna, which Nexstar Media Group is in the process of acquiring for $6.2 billion, according to a statement from Nexstar.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPIn the wake of the shooting, there will be extra police patrols near ABC7 in San Francisco as a precaution, according to FOX San Francisco.

"Real Time" host Bill Maher expressed empathy for fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Friday as a former ABC star who also landed himself in hot water."It was 24 years to the day that I made comments on ABC that got me canceled from that network, and Jimmy Kimmel took my slot," Maher said during his opening monologue."Oh yes, I got canceled before cancel even had a culture," he quipped.JIMMY KIMMEL'S LATE-NIGHT EVOLUTION FROM APOLITICAL FUNNYMAN TO DEM ACTIVIST"ABC, they are steady. ABC stands for Always Be Caving," Maher later called out his ex-employer. "So Jimmy, pal, I am with you. I support you. And on the bright side, you don't have to pretend anymore that you like Disneyland."Before his decades-long stint at HBO, Maher previously hosted "Politically Incorrect" on ABC, which the network canceled in 2002 after Maher faced backlash for arguing that the 9/11 hijackers weren't "cowardly" just days after the 2001 terrorist attacks.LIBERALS RAGE AS ABC PULLS JIMMY KIMMEL OFF AIR FOLLOWING CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSIN COMMENTSKimmel, meanwhile, was pulled off the air after he suggested the accused Charlie Kirk assassin was a Trump supporter."Look, I don't think what he said was exactly right. I don't," Maher said. "We don't agree on that. He [shouldn't] lose his job for it!""Was he on the left? I don't know that either it is a fool's errand to try to say that these nuts who do these things are in a team," he later said. "This kid doesn't belong in either party. He belongs in a straitjacket. He's an outpatient who should not be out! But you have the right to be wrong, or have any opinion you want! That's what the First Amendment is all about!"COLBERT LAMENTS TONIGHT WE ARE ALL JIMMY KIMMEL AS OUTGOING CBS HOST PAYS TRIBUTE TO FALLEN ABC COLLEAGUEMaher notably had a heated exchange with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro last week over the alleged assassin Tyler Robinson's political ideology.Before wrapping his monologue, he offered one final message for his ABC successor."You did a great funny show for two decades. You should be proud of that. If this firing goes for you the way it did for me, you'll get 23 years at a better network," Maher told Kimmel.CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST MEDIA AND CULTURE NEWSOn Monday, Kimmel suggested Robinson was part of the "MAGA gang" despite reports he had a left-wing ideology, which was later reaffirmed in Tuesday's indictment."We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it," Kimmel told his audience.He also mocked President Donald Trump over an exchange he had with a reporter about Kirk's death, saying, "This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?"Disney was facing mounting pressure from ABC affiliate stations around the country as well as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over its handling of Kimmel. The company ultimately decided Wednesday it would preempt his show indefinitely.

The Lost Teachings of Helena Blavatsky on the Seven Planes of Existence

In the aftermath of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination, a debate about political rhetoric and its impact on recent spates of political violence has taken hold on Capitol Hill and across the country.While both Republicans and Democrats have condemned political violence of all kinds, their views vary on how much inflammatory political rhetoric plays a role. Some Republicans have accused the left's rhetoric of fostering an "assassination culture" on the left, while Democrats have accused Republicans of attacks on free speech.One member of Congress, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., attempted to steer the conversation towards gun control as opposed to rhetoric as the cause for the increase in political violence."This isn't just about what happened to Charlie Kirk. At the same time his tragic killing was happening, three kids were getting shot in school, and that was one or two weeks after another couple of kids were getting shot, in church, at mass, at a Catholic school," Ocasio-Cortez said.EXPERTS WARN LEFTIST CELEBRATIONS OF CHARLIE KIRK'S DEATH SIGNAL A DANGEROUS MAINSTREAM SHIFT IN POLITICSBut GOP firebrand Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., did not mince words about those who continue to foment hatred for conservatives with inflammatory rhetoric."We need to shame these people out of polite society, shame them out of existence. They need to be fired from their jobs. They are putting lives in danger," Mace said. "They are denying that they're celebrating the political assassination and murder of Charlie Kirk, but they're liars. They're lying through their teeth."Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have called on others to "turn down the heat" in the wake of Kirk's assassination. Americans from all walks of life have been facing repercussions over their decision to mock, or praise, Kirk's death, including K-12 education officials, college professors, healthcare professionals, political pundits, writers and a list of other professionals from various sectors and major companies, such as the law firm Perkins Coie, the company behind the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and Office Depot, among others.FOLLOWING KIRKS ASSASSINATION, LAWMAKERS REACT TO LETHAL POLITICAL CLIMATE: 'VIOLENT WORDS PRECEDE VIOLENT ACTIONS'Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., said that everyone should have "the right to speak freely, otherwise America's democratic tradition could be threatened."Look, there's a limit to what Congress can do, because, you know, we have the First Amendment, which protects all forms of speech, including hate speech, but we should have a culture of condemning any rhetoric that glorifies violence. I see violence as the downfall of American democracy," Torres said. "We all should have the right to speak freely, to think freely, without fear of harassment or intimidation or violence. And once we lose the ability to speak freely in the public square then democracy as we know it has come to an end."Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., suggested possible remedies Congress could take to help reduce inflammatory rhetoric and its potential impact on violence.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP"You have to look at the role that social media companies play in allowing violent rhetoric to be on their sites. And what more can we do so that law enforcement can see these attacks sooner?" Swalwell asked. "I wait, and stand ready to learn, where there are signs that were missed by law enforcement. Because if that's the case, we have to do better, because the temperature is only increasing."