Democrat News

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SACRAMENTO — California is challenging President Trump’s grip on the state’s National Guard, telling a federal court the White House used claims of unrest in Los Angeles as a pretext for a deployment that has since expanded nationwide — including now sending troops to Illinois.

The Trump administration deployed 14 soldiers from California’s National Guard to Illinois to train troops from other states, according to a motion California filed Tuesday asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to end the federal government’s control of its National Guard.

Trump’s decision to move California troops who had been sent to Portland on Sunday and redeploy them to Illinois escalates tensions in the growing fight over who controls state military forces — and how far presidential power can reach in domestic operations.

Federal officials have told California they intend to issue a new order extending Trump’s federalization of 300 members of the state’s Guard through Jan. 31, according to the filing.

“Trump is going on a cross-country crusade to sow chaos and division,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. “His actions — and those of his Cabinet — are against our deeply held American values. He needs to stop this illegal charade now.”

Officials from California and Oregon sought a restraining order after Trump sent California Guard troops to Oregon on Sunday. Trump deployed the California Guard soldiers just a day after a federal judge temporarily blocked the president’s efforts to federalize Oregon’s National Guard.

That prompted Judge Karin Immergut to issue a more sweeping temporary order Sunday evening blocking the deployment of National Guard troops from any other state to Oregon.

California’s own lawsuit against Trump challenging the deployment in Los Angeles since June resulted in Senior District Judge Charles R. Breyer blocking the administration from “deploying, ordering, instructing, training, or using” the state’s troops to engage in civilian law enforcement.

The new motion filed Tuesday in that case by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta asks the 9th Circuit to vacate its earlier stay that allowed federalization to continue under strict limits on what they can do. California argues that the Guard’s federalized troops are now being used for missions outside the limited purposes the court allowed — drug raids in Riverside County, a show-of-force operation in MacArthur Park and deployments into other states.

“The ever-expanding mission of California’s federalized Guard bears no resemblance to what this Court provisionally upheld in June,” the state wrote in the filing. “And it is causing irreparable harm to California, our Nation’s democratic traditions, and the rule of law.”

Illinois leaders have also gone to court to attempt to block Trump from sending troops to Chicago. Trump has responded by saying that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker should be jailed.

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WASHINGTON — Two House Republicans launched an investigation on Wednesday that will, in part, examine how a California charitable organization used a $500,000 grant that was meant to support victims of the deadly Palisades and Eaton fires, a move that is expanding congressional scrutiny over the response to the disaster.

Reps. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sent a letter to the head of the California Volunteers Fund asking for financial records related to a $500,000 grant it received from the disaster-relief charity FireAid, which raised an estimated $100 million for fire victims through its flagship benefit concerts in January.

“It is not publicly known how the California Volunteers Fund distributed this $500,000, or what individuals or entities received funds,” Kiley and Jordan wrote in a letter Wednesday to Dave Smith, the fund’s chief executive. “It is also unclear whether the state-based California Volunteers, run out of the Governor’s Office, received any of the FireAid-originated funds via the California Volunteers Fund.”

Kiley and Jordan added that they want to examine all documents and communications related to the California fires between the California Volunteers Fund and California Volunteers, an entity that the charity supports and is housed within Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.

In their letter, they said FireAid has “come under scrutiny for diverting donations to nonprofits instead of providing direct relief to fire victims.”

The California Volunteers Fund and the governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

The congressional inquiry into the distribution of disaster relief funds comes after months of pressure from Republican politicians, including President Trump, who have questioned FireAid’s methods and priorities. In July, Kiley called for an investigation into the charitable funds, urging the attorney general to open an investigation into the matter.

Politically, the investigation comes as Newsom — whose office was mentioned several times in the letter — becomes a frequent political target of Trump and Republicans amid speculation that he could be eyeing a potential 2028 presidential run.

In response to the criticism, FireAid commissioned two audit reports, including an independent review led by law firm Latham & Watkins that found no evidence of fraud or misuse of funds. The reports were sent to local and federal officials and the Department of Justice.

“The law firm conducted an independent review of the charity, and shared conclusive findings affirming that FireAid has acted in accordance with mission, has strong accountability measures and aid is reaching affected communities,” the FireAid organization said in a statement about the review findings at the time.

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Ruben Gallego sat down with Ben Meiselas, and the Democratic Arizona Senator didn’t hold back on the obvious. The President’s health, both physical and mental, is an apparent concern. And Trump is saying some really alarming things lately, but his party seems to be going along with it while feigning naivety. As for the government shutdown, Democrats are calling for a solution that protects American families from a healthcare crisis, but the president is missing in action.

“But he said that they’re negotiating,” Meiselas said. “I spoke with Leader Jeffries. I spoke with Leader Schumer. They both did interviews here. We don’t know what he’s talking about.”

“They’re doing no negotiations,” he continued. “They’re not even here. What in the world are they talking about?i mean, that in and of itself should be a major three-alarm fire.”

“I mean, even when Donald Trump is in D.C., he’s not really mentally in D.C.,” Gallego responded. “So we don’t know who to negotiate with. And fact is, we’re getting closer to November 1st. Open enrollment happens then.”

“Donald Trump has never dealt with insurance personally,” he continued. “He’s never bought insurance. He’s never had to go and figure out what insurance rates really are. He’s always had someone doing that for him.”

“And you have Speaker Johnson and Leader Thune that know that,” he said. “So they know how to manipulate this man. They have a goal. They want to destroy the ACA. Russ Vought also is able to manipulate this president, too.”

“And the president really at the end of the day, all he cares about is destroying the legacy of Obamacare,” Gallego said. “And 24 million Americans are going to suffer because of that 24 million Americans are going to see their rate increase doubled. In Arizona, a family of four is going to see their premiums increased by almost $4,400.”

“If you are a swing Republican in a swing district in an off-year election, why are you falling on this sword for this guy who’s clearly checked out and needs to be probably put into some type of treatment program for whatever dementia he has?” he continued. “For Johnson, who comes from one of the safest districts in the country, who’s covering for pedophiles?”

“And for John Thune, who is, you know, in there for six years, and he is not worried about members of Congress,” he added. “But you have all these members of Congress are diving themselves on the sword. For what? At the end of the day, they’re going to end up losing their elections for something they could have easily fixed with just a simple compromise.”

Gallego: Even when Donald Trump is in D.C., he’s not really mentally in D.C.

If you’re a Republican in a swing district, why are you falling on this sword for a guy who’s clearly checked out and probably needs to be put into some kind of treatment program for whatever dementia… pic.twitter.com/8G4dFxD15S

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 7, 2025

Meiselas and Gallego are precisely right. Trump is like that drunk guy you see on the corner of the street waving his dick around while yelling out obscenities. Now, if the dick-waving drunk guy was your uncle, you’d be sure to get him the help he direly needs. But if you’re a Republican, you pretend everything is hunky dory.

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Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to bring out his very old, recycled, tattered and brused LIE to defend the government shutdown, by claiming Sen. Schumer’s CR proposal wants to fund healthcare for “illegal aliens,” which is completely false.

Medicaid, Medicare, and ACA subsidies are not available to any undocumented migrant, so Republicans then attacked treating migrants in emergency rooms.

When questioned on this, Speaker Johnson claimed it was a small subset of what he is talking. Again, another fat juicy lie.

ACA premiums EXPLODE in three months, Mike. And your party doesn’t want to fix that.

Q: Speaker Johnson, a lot of the free health care for illegal aliens that you’ve been talking about is care provided in emergency rooms, which are required by federal law to care for anybody, even if they can’t pay, even if they’re not a citizen.

Do you think that that law should be changed?

JOHNSON: No. You’re talking about EMTALA, which has been part of the law for most of my life. Emergency care is provided without question to anyone who comes in.

If you’re hemorrhaging and you show up in an emergency room, you get treated. That’s something we all support.

That’s a very good law. We’re in favor of it.

You’re cherry-picking a tiny subset of the issues.

Soon after making these comments, he punked himself with this idiotic analogy.

Now comes the real lies Johnson has been spewing.

JOHNSON: Go to my, it’s still on the website, speaker.gov, look at page 57, section 2141 of Chuck Schumer’s counter-proposal CR that he filed.

There’s six categories of things that they would like to restore funding to, and it adds up to $192.8 billion, almost $200 billion of hardworking taxpayer funds that would go to support illegal aliens and other non-citizens.

Now, with regard to EMTALA, are we saying change the law? No.

But one of the things they’re doing, and one of the things that Chuck Schumer is advocating for and has filed in the law and is using as a leverage point to keep the government shut down, is he literally wants to reimburse hospitals more money for treating illegal aliens than American citizens.

Fact. Go look it up. Go look on the website. Don’t take my word for it.

One of Speaker Johnson’s many lies is that the CBO loves their Big Ugly Bill because it has saved 2.3 billion dollars.

I went to Johnson’s website and here’s is what he wrote:

Look at page 57. Section 2141. They would repeal Maria, what we put into the one big, beautiful bill, the Working Families Tax Cuts. In that provision was the healthcare section. They want to repeal it in its entirety. That section has been wildly successful.

The Congressional Budget Office issued a report earlier last month, a few weeks ago, and they said that that bill has already saved taxpayers $185 billion because it’s got 2.3 million ineligible recipients kicked off of Medicaid. What does that mean?

That is not what the CBO said. Their bill is kicking off seniors and those with disabilities over issues like enrollment rules.

CBO estimates up to 2.3 million individuals will lose Medicaid coverage as a result of delayed eligibility/enrollment rules, with most being seniors and people with disabilities. The bill’s Medicaid restrictions also result in millions becoming uninsured by 2034

Republican cuts to Medicaid are resulting in millions of American being kicked off for no reason except to allow tax cuts for the wealthy.

Who will suffer?

Most of the country, including hospitals and urgent care facilities. NOT migrants.

“Thou shalt not lie” only applies to anyone to the left of Joe Manchin.

Q: A lot of the free healthcare for illegal aliens you’ve been talking about is care provided in ERs, which are required by federal law to care for everybody. Should that law be changed?

MIKE JOHNSON: No. You’re cherrypicking a tiny subset of the issues. pic.twitter.com/U3FuXxNi3Y

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 8, 2025

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One day after the Texas National Guard arrived in Chicago, Donald J. Trump took to Truth Social, writing that Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should be jailed.

“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!,” Trump wrote.

The president has argued that troops are needed solely in Democratic cities to counter what he deemed to be violent protests against ICE. But the violence seems to be stemming from ICE agents.

Pritzker took to the Bad App to say that he is not backing down.

I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism? pic.twitter.com/TieJ2irYv5

— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) October 8, 2025

The governor further wrote that, “His masked agents already are grabbing people off the street,” adding, ‘Separating children from their parents. Creating fear. Taking people for “how they look.”’

“Making people feel they need to carry citizenship papers,” he continued. “Invading our state with military troops. Sending in war helicopters in the middle of the night. Arresting elected officials asking questions.”

“We must all stand up and speak out,” he added.

Pritzker has stated that Trump is attempting to “manufacture a crisis,” and he subsequently filed a legal case similar to that of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Pritzker has also suggested that Trump’s deployment was intended to familiarize voters with the idea of military presence in Democratic cities ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

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While promoting his new book, “Under Siege,” on NewsNation, Eric Trump repeatedly told Chris Cuomo that Special Counsel Jack Smith planted classified folders at Mar-A-Lago to frame his father.

As the Bluesky account Mueller She Wrote points out, Eric is a little off on his timeline: the raid at Mar-A-Lago happened in August 2022 three months before Jack Smith was appointed.

Eric sounded hyped up on something and appeared very agitated as he leveled unfounded claims and ridiculous ideas about Special Counsel Jack Smith. If not for the Supreme Court’s bizarre and un-American ruling on presidential immunity, Trump would most likely be facing prison from the classified documents case that was then dismissed on shaky grounds because of this ruling.

ERIC TRUMP: Chris, I was the guy that got the call from my team that day because they all worked for me at Mar-a-Lago saying, sir, there’s 30 FBI agents here with a search warrant, right?

And they’re demanding that, immediately, you turn off all security cameras.

Why did the FBI want all our security cameras gone at his home?

Why?

Can you answer that?

Why did Jack Smith plant classified Manila folders and take photo shoots on the floor of my father’s office?

Why?

And that’s what Under Siege talks about. That’s the weaponization of government, and they weaponized it from Biden to Merrick Garland all the way down. They weaponized it against us, and they sure as hell weaponized it against you.

The son of Trump tried to get the former CNN host Chris Cuomo on his side by claiming the Biden administration had weaponized the DOJ against his family, also.

For his part, Cuomo said that since he was talking about his father, even though he disagreed with him, he wouldn’t challenge him on his outrageous comments.

Eric, trying to imitate his hopped-up brother’s podcast, made as many dumbfounded lies as the entire family does.

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Throughout Tuesday’s Senate Oversight Committee hearing, Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to answer pertinent questions, using personal attacks on those questioning her and bringing up moronic events to change the subject.

What do the California wildfires have to do with AG Bondi prosecuting James Comey? And especially when the line prosecutors saw no evidence to do so within the Trump administration, and got fired for not doing what Trump publicly demanded.

The Trump administration’s cabinet members are so unqualified and sycophantic that they have devised a routine for having to testify under oath. They refuse to answer any questions directly related to the Trump administration’s outrageous and/or criminal behavior and attack members who challenge their efficacy or criminality.

Bondi stonewalled any question about Border Czar Tom Homan taking a $50,000 bribe and then said she would have fired Sen. Schiff for being censured by the MAGA cult.

The AG refused to say if she would support the release of the video of the Homan transaction and instead defended his job performance and continued to speak in an annoying, belligerent tone. A tone that says fuck you all, I will slavishly defend all of Trump and his people’s actions regardless of the law.

She repeatedly wanted Schiff to apologize to her granddaddy.

After several minutes of her lunacy, this final exchange tells you everything.

SCHIFF: This is supposed to be an oversight hearing.

BONDI: Oversight?

SCHIFF: Excuse me, you can attack me after my time is over.

BONDI: Oh, you’ve attacked all of us, including President Trump for your entire career.

SCHIFF: You can attack me later, and I know you’ve got plenty of canned attacks. We’ve heard them all day today.

BONDI: Canned attacks on you?

SCHIFF: This is supposed to be, excuse me, in regular order, Madam Chair, I’m trying to speak. This is supposed to be an oversight hearing of the Justice Department.

And it comes in the wake of an indictment called for by the president of one of his enemies.

This is supposed to be an oversight hearing, and it comes in the wake of revelations that a top administration official took $50,000 in a bag, and this department made that investigation go away.

This is supposed to be an oversight hearing when dozens of prosecutors have been fired simply because they worked on cases investigating the former president.

This is, and now the current president’s…

BONDI: What about the fires in California? Do you care about that, Senator Schiff?

SCHIFF: This is, excuse me, this is supposed to be an oversight hearing in which members of Congress can get serious answers to serious questions about…

BONDI: Are the riots in L.A. serious?

SCHIFF: …about the cover-up of corruption, about the prosecution of the president’s enemies.

And…

BONDI: I think you owe the president an apology.

When will it be, when will it be that the members of this committee on a bipartisan basis demand answers to those questions and refuse to accept…

BONDI: Clearly, you’re a failed lawyer because you don’t understand when someone can and cannot answer a question.

SCHIFF: …refuse to accept personal slander as an answer to those questions.

BONDI: Personal slander? Will you apologize to Donald Trump for slandering him?

Personal slander?

Trump will do anything to save Homan from criticism.

Bondi is working for the American people, and these are their representatives. They have a duty to demand answers to important questions. It’s called checks and balances.

Pam Bondi refused to be part of any congressional oversight. She’s Trump’s Roy Cohn, corrupt to the core.

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Watters’ cohost Greg Gutfeld on The Five this Tuesday was right. This was pretty creepy.

During a discussion about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez apparently living rent-free inside of PeeWee Goebbel’s head this week, Watters ran to Miller and his manlihood’s defense while pretending there’s a single redeeming quality about Miller that would make most sane women attracted to him.

PERINO: Do you think that MAGA men are insulted by AOC?

WATTERS: No, I think AOC wants to sleep with Miller. It is so obvious, and I’m sorry you can’t have him. Miller is the best. I know him well socially, and the man is not overcompensating Dana. I know when people are overcompensating. I know people at this table who are overcompensating. That person is me.

He is a policy savant. I mean, this guy is confident. He battles CNN with grace and with class, and he provides wise counsel to the president of the United States.

This is what AOC doesn’t get about men. Miller is a high-value man because he has power and influence, because he has vision, and he’s on a mission to save this republic and protect Western civilization. He speaks with confidence and flair, and he’s unafraid of anything.

Now, AOC may have someone that’s taller like Gavin, or maybe someone who has more distinguished characteristics like Adam Schiff, the senator, who talks like this, or someone with more wealth, like Soros the younger.

But those men are not brave men. Those men did not protect the country when the country needed it.

We had tests throughout the last couple of years, tests on crime, tests during COVID, and tests with immigration. And all of the men that AOC seems to value, they all failed the test, and they failed it miserably.

Men who are high-value men like Stephen Miller take risks. They’re brave, they’re unafraid, they’re confident, and they’re on a mission, and they have younger wives with beautiful children.

I think I just gave him like a dating recommendation.

To which Gutfeld replied, “I don’t know, man. That was pretty creepy.” Jessica Tarlov called it “creepy on a whole host of levels” as well, which is probably the nicest thing you could say about it.

Yeah, somebody sure sounds like they’d like to sleep with Stephen Miller, and it ain’t AOC.

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Michigan State Rep. Josh Schriver, who wants the Supreme Court to overturn same-sex marriage and lost his staff and committee spot for sharing a racist conspiracy theory, sought to ban all online pornography. However, he appears to be tied to an account on a pornographic hook-up website.

The Detroit Metro Times reports:

A Republican state lawmaker leading a campaign to ban pornography in Michigan appears to have had an account on a pornographic hook-up website that promised users they could “find sex” and “get laid tonight,” according to records obtained by Metro Times.

State Rep. Josh Schriver, R-Oxford, who has called porn a “scourge” and compared it to heroin, introduced legislation in September to ban online pornography statewide. But data reviewed by Metro Times show that an account linked to his personal AOL email address appeared in a data breach from Fling.com, a pornographic dating site that features live web cams and promised users they could “find sex” and “get laid tonight.” An archived version of the site shows it provided access to explicit photos, videos, and live sex webcams.

For years, the website described itself as the “world’s best casual personals for adult dating, sex, and swingers.”

The leaked information, verified by the cybersecurity database SnusBase, lists Schriver’s email address and a profile indicating sexual interests including “fetish” and “groupsex.” The account was last accessed on Sept. 11, 2010, according to breach data.

The records also suggest the account was authentic. The same email address and password appear in multiple other breaches linked to Schriver’s verified personal accounts, including MySpace and Chegg, a homework help platform. The birthday and IP address in the Fling.com records align with Schriver’s March 1992 birth date and his time as a student at Michigan State University in East Lansing, where he graduated in 2015.

…

“This is fake,” Schriver said. “I’ve never heard of this website or accessed it.”

Schriver’s denial is contradicted by extensive cybersecurity data reviewed by Metro Times. The information appears in multiple verified breach databases and includes personal details, such as his birth date, AOL address, and an IP address in East Lansing.

A tweet from last month:

Yesterday, I introduced the “Anti-Corruption of Public Morals Act” + adding porn distributors to the sex offender registry.

Don’t make it, don’t share it, don’t view it.

These measures defend children, safeguard our communities, and put families first. pic.twitter.com/xFBXspQZxq

— Rep. Josh Schriver (@JoshuaSchriver) September 12, 2025

Schriver is married, and we aren’t kink-shaming the couple. But we do judge him for being a raging hypocrite.

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About 200 people gathered on Paramount’s Melrose Avenue lot for a screening of “Red Alert,” a four-part scripted drama portraying the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel from the perspective of six victims.

The host of the Sept. 30 event was Paramount Chair and Chief Executive David Ellison, who shared how he had chatted with Academy Award-nominated producer Lawrence Bender a few weeks earlier at a memorial service for legendary Hollywood power broker Skip Brittenham. That’s where Ellison learned that Bender’s Israeli-backed series, “Red Alert,” needed a home in the United States.

Ellison quickly volunteered. “It was a fast ‘yes,’” he told the group.

On Tuesday, “Red Alert” premiered on the company’s streaming service, Paramount+, marking the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The initial Hamas assault left about 1,200 Israelis dead, and more than 250 were kidnapped.

The high-profile project comes two months after Ellison assumed control of Paramount in an $8-billion buyout by his family, led by billionaire and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners.

Since the deal closed Aug. 7, David Ellison has moved to position the company slightly right of the political center, while also taking on polarizing issues. The scion has been unafraid to challenge those in Hollywood who have called for a boycott of Israel.

More than two years after the Oct. 7 attack, a deep divide remains in Hollywood over the subsequent Israel-Hamas war.

Last month, Paramount condemned an open letter in support of Palestinians, which has gained steam in Hollywood. More than 5,000 people have signed the Film Workers for Palestine letter, including such prominent filmmakers as Adam McKay, Ava DuVernay, Alex Gibney and Hannah Einbinder.

The effort called for a boycott of Israeli film festivals, institutions and projects to help spur an end to the war in Gaza. The campaign was designed in the vein of South African boycotts decades ago, which proved to be instrumental in ending apartheid, that country’s racial segregation.

No other major studio followed Paramount.

In its Sept. 12 statement, Paramount said it disagreed with the Film Workers for Palestine call to avoid film screenings or to work with Israeli film institutions.

“At Paramount, we believe in the power of storytelling to connect and inspire people, promote mutual understanding, and preserve the moments, ideas, and events that shape the world we share,” the company said. “Silencing individual creative artists based on their nationality does not promote better understanding or advance the cause of peace.”

The Film Workers group accused Paramount of misrepresenting the intent of its pledge, saying it did not target individual filmmakers.

But critics counter that filmmakers who engage with Israeli cultural institutions would likely fall under the ban.

More than 1,200 industry players, including actors Mayim Bialik and Liev Schreiber and Paramount board member Sherry Lansing, signed an opposing open letter released by the nonprofit organization Creative Community for Peace that accuses the Film Workers for Palestine of advocating “arbitrary censorship and the erasure of art.”

The Palestinian supporters dismissed the characterization. “The Film Workers Pledge to End Complicity is an explicitly anti-racist and non-violent campaign that is grounded in international law and the moral clarity of a global majority opposed to genocide,” the group said in a statement this week. “It is the first major refusal of the international film industry at large that targets complicit Israeli film institutions and companies.”

“Red Alert” was co-produced by a prominent Israeli production company, Keshet Media Group, and received funding from the Jewish National Fund-USA and the Israel Entertainment Fund. The series premiered last weekend on Israel’s popular television channel Keshet 12. Keshet produced the Hebrew-language series “Prisoners of War” that Showtime later adapted into the award-winning American drama “Homeland.”

During the late September screening at Paramount, Ellison spoke of the need for such projects as “Red Alert” to remember the atrocities as well as the stories of survival and heroism.

“We at Paramount, we are here to tell stories that last forever,” Ellison said. “We are not here to debate politics or platforms or to argue about east or west. And ‘Red Alert’ is the very embodiment of that mission, and I couldn’t be prouder to support this series.”

Critics note that Ellison’s father, Larry, the co-founder of Oracle, is a prominent supporter of Israel, contributing millions to the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.

Others in Hollywood have found fault with Israel’s government and its conduct in the Gaza war, which has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The United Nations, rights groups, experts and many Western governments accuse Israel of committing genocide. Israel denies the charge.

During a May 2024 Simon Wiesenthal Center gala in his honor, WME Group Executive Chair Ari Emanuel sharply denounced Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called for his ouster. Emanuel’s remarks were met with cheers and jeers and some attendees walked out.

In his Oscar acceptance speech last year, Jonathan Glazer, director of the Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest,” asked: “Whether the victims of October 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization — how do we resist?”

Weeks later, Steven Spielberg called out the rise of antisemitism as well as the ongoing war.

“We can rage against the heinous acts committed by the terrorists of October 7th and also decry the killing of innocent women and children in Gaza,” Spielberg said during an event celebrating the anniversary of the USC Shoah Foundation.

Paramount’s opposition to the Film Workers’ pledge and other recent moves, including buying the Free Press news site for $150 million and installing its founder, journalist Bari Weiss, as the editor in chief at CBS News, has rattled a small group of Paramount employees.

David Ellison recruited Weiss, who has been public about her support for Israel, for the prominent role.

The news division was roiled by Paramount’s efforts to settle President Trump’s lawsuit over edits to a “60 Minutes” interview a year ago with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Paramount this summer agreed to pay $16 million to end Trump’s suit, which 1st Amendment experts viewed as a spurious shakedown.

Weeks later, Trump appointees on the Federal Communications Commission approved the Ellison family’s takeover of Paramount.

The employee group, which calls itself Paramount Employees of Conscience, said they have sent two letters to Paramount leaders in the last month to voice their concerns but have not received a reply. In a statement, the group noted that while Paramount+ was distributing “Red Alert,” the company had not offered “equivalent programming about Palestinian experiences of the genocide in Gaza.”

“How can a company with this supposed creative mission actively ignore, suppress, and silence internal calls for years to champion stories that shed a light on the reality that marginalized and excluded communities, particularly Palestinians, face every day?” the group asked in a Sept. 17 letter addressed to Paramount’s leadership.

Paramount declined to comment.

The group includes about 30 employees, according to one member who asked not to be identified out of fear of retribution.

Paramount employees separately are bracing for a steep round of layoffs, which is expected next month. Ellison’s firm Skydance Media and RedBird promised Wall Street that they would find more than $2 billion in cost cuts at Paramount.

“We know the Ellisons are formidable, powerful and have a lot of resources,” said the Paramount employee. “But we are here to interrupt a culture of silence. … Silence within the industry becomes complicity.”