As of March 21, 2026
1 minute to midnight

Add the destruction of CBS Radio News to the growing list of media outlets voluntarily abandoning free speech. Legal but despicable when done by private firms, especially those posing as free speech advocates or neutral news sources. No clock movement for private firms, until Trump or Carr purposely (or accidentally) reveal their hand. Planting Bari Weiss as a mole in CBS news was probably enough.

As Of Feb. 8, 2026
1 minute to midnight

The effective destruction of the Washington Post will only move the clock if it becomes clear it was at the behest of the government. When Trump posts on social media, “It’s a nice newspaper. Shame if anything happens to it,” the clock will move.


As Of Feb. 7, 2026
1 minute to midnight
Yes, Trump is a fascist who, inter alia, is trying to punish speech he doesn’t like (or by people he doesn’t like).  But for the most part, the courts are not letting him get away with that, so the clock moves back to 1 minute before midnight.

As of Jan. 30, 2026
40 seconds to midnight
When Trump and his minions arrest journalists for doing their job in the field, it’s time to move the clock up. We go to one second before midnight when they arrest someone for sitting in their office, without participating in any public event, just writing something that actually does not fall under first-amendment exclusion.¹ Mass arrests will take us to zero, unless they arrest me too, thanks to their AI that scrapes the Internet for Trump Criticism. In which case this, and all 6,000 of my other posts will be dropped in the nearest memory hole.

As of Jan. 22, 2026
1 minute to Midnight
Yes, Trump is a fascist who, inter alia, is trying to punish speech he doesn’t like (or by people he doesn’t like).  But for the most part, the courts are not letting him get away with that.

As of Jan. 16, 2026
30 seconds to midnight
It couldn’t be clearer: Federal judge rules cabinet secretaries and ostensibly, the president of the United States, are not honoring the First Amendment.

As of January 14, 2026
40 seconds to Midnight
That’s what I get for being optimistic. I just realized Renee Nicole Good’s death by street execution a few days ago was an incredible First Amendment violation.

And, overnight, the DOJ trashed its own guidelines and obtained and executed a search warrant for the home of a Washington Post reporter. More here.

As of Jan, 13, 2026
2 minutes to Midnight

I’m not just looking for reasons to be optimistic. OK, yes I am. Trump gets Colbert fired. Trump demands Kimmel be fired. He was, but brought back by the American people Trump demands Seth Meyers be fired. He isn’t fired. More here.

As of December 23, 2025
1 Minute To Midnight
Barri Weiss, the head of CBS news, single-handedly pushed the clock to one minute before midnight when she joined the Stephen Colbert club and cancelled an honest 60 Minutes segment that exposed presidential venality. Potus didn’t even have to ask her to: she pre-emptively self-censored. HWMNBN no longer needs censors; corporate media self-censor. We may see the death of the First Amendment in 2026.

As of November 29, 2025
2 Minutes To Midnight
The President of the United States is using our tax dollars on an official White House website to carry out a personal vendetta and attack media outlets and stories by name in an Offender Hall Of Shame, in an effort to destroy the First Amendment. This isn’t a plan, a random tweet. It is an action. When he actually punishes the outlets, we move down to one minute; probably the day after his coronation.

All This Is Not New
I can’t move the clock for something that happened 27 years ago, an attack by a private firm on the First Amendment. Just know it didn’t start here and now. Dec. 21, 1998: Is Microsoft Trampling on First Amendment Rights?

As of November 20, 2025
5 Minutes to Midnight

If either of these stories come to pass, we go to 45 seconds.

Donald Trump called for Democrat members of Congress to be imprisoned and executed. It comes after a group of members of Congress who have served in the military made a video reminding servicemen and women that they can refuse orders if they are unlawful.

Trump is in active conversations with Paramount and Larry Ellison about a potential takeover of CNN that would include firing specific journalists he dislikes. This is an effort to reshape and control major media outlets in real time.

As of November 1, 2025
10 Minutes Until Midnight

The “president” limited journalists on Air Force 1. I let it go. Let a bully win, and he just bullies you more. Journalists now need an appoint to walk into the White House Communications Office so they can be lied to. Still: the iron glove tightens.

As of October 23, 2025
11 minutes until midnight

I am keeping the clock at 11 minutes for a week, despite the temptation to move it to 12. It is  a close run thing because of writer Michael Wolff’s decision to decline to be intimidated by a SLAPP suit filed by Trump’s wife. Instead of kissing King Donald’s ass, he is kicking it. ABC, CBS and Facebook, please take note. Giving in to a bully just encourages him.

Clock as of October 14, 2025
11 minutes until midnight
For the first time, I am moving my First Amendment Doomsday Clock backwards. After 3 weeks at 10 minutes before midnight and three days at 9, today I moved it to 11 minutes before midnight. Apparently, some American media (unlike the television networks and the Republicans) have refused to bend the knee to His Royal Highness King Donald I and his lickspittle lackeys (at the department of DEFENSE for example).

A summary of the news from Aaron Parnas / Parnas Perspective : Conservative, centrist, and liberal media outlets are united, standing shoulder to shoulder in defense of the First Amendment and rejecting the Pentagon’s new “reporter pledge,” a dangerous mandate that could criminalize journalism covering Defense Department activities.

Also rejecting the pledge is the alternative media site Meidas+, which has proudly passed Joe Rogan in subscribers and gets more daily views than Fox News.

Clock As Of October 11, 2025
Nine minutes until midnight
The Black Masks and their jack-booted colleagues (sent to occupy American cities) are now pushing easily identifiable media to the ground, then arresting them under false pretenses (just Chicago so far). Bye-Bye First Amendment.

Clock As Of October 9, 2025
Steady
I was prepared to move the clock a minute closer to midnight when I heard the news that the Pentagon was punishing soldiers and firing civilians based on things they said. I can’t, because a little research shows (check for yourself): put on a uniform, and surrender your first amendment rights. Take a paycheck from the Department of DEFENSE, kiss your first amendment rights goodbye.

Clock As Of October 1, 2025
Steady For Another Week.
The clock remains at 10 minutes until midnight.
Another tough week for the 1^st Amendment

On The upside: A federal judge delivered an extraordinary 161-page rebuke of President Donald Trump, ruling that the administration impermissibly chilled the protected political speech of university professors and students by targeting non-citizens on college campuses who have spoken out in support of Palestinians.

Judge William G. Young lambasted Trump and his administration for attacking free speech “under the cover of an unconstitutionally broad definition of Anti-Semitism” used in efforts to deport non-citizen activists.

I can hear Trump and his band of lickspittles weeping. They can just  barely impeach Judge Young, but since a conviction requires two-thirds of the Senate, he’s safe. For Now.

On The Downside:  A journalist was thrown to the ground and hospitalized after a deliberate and targeted attack by the black masks in New York City. First they silence the comedians, then the journalists.

Clock As Of September 27, 2025
The clock remains at 10 minutes until midnight.
The hot-air bag temporarily occupying the President’s office bloviated a suit against ABC for making in-kind political contributions with its programs. Apparently neither he nor his attorneys has ever read the law, which specifically excludes entertainment. Since he is TACO, he will probably never file the suit. But as a lawyer friend once told me, “Anyone with $400 and a piece of paper can file a lawsuit for any amount of money they can imagine.” He told me to never report on a suit until it was actually filed and actually examined by a judge. What’s amazing it that only 3% of lawsuits are dismissed as frivolous, yet Trump is about to file his second in a month. No suit/or dismissal of the suit, no move of the clock. Of course if the six-lapdog chorus approves the suit on its shadow docket, the clock moves a minute or two. NBC forgot to fire Fallon and Myers last week.

Clock As Of September 22, 2025
Remains 10 minutes until Midnight

I had only intended to discuss this clock once a week, but things are happening at a dizzying speed. The time stays the same, because every silver lining has a dark cloud.

Silver Lining

Disney/ABC performed a reverse spinectomy on itself on Sept. 22, but it was expensive. A mere $6 billion hit later, the cowards who run the company heard the American people speaking the only language these “corporate leaders” understand: Do-Re-Mi. Moolah. Shekels. Simoleons. Dead Presidents. Disney heard the rush of fleeing dollars and suddenly decided to stand up from the knee that it had taken on orders of the FCC and the King and rehire Kimmel

Dark Cloud

Secretary of “I don’t know anything about the U.S. Military or the First Amendment” Pete Hegseth said that journalists who report on news outside of the explicit commands of the Pentagon could (ha! it is to laugh. could) be deemed “a security or safety risk” and have their credentials stripped. In short, “shut uppa you mouth,” or “nothing to see here. Move along.” Not dissimilar to Trump’s failed plan to deny access to federal court building to attorneys from law firms he doesn’t like. 

September 21, 2025
This is my inaugural First Amendment Doomsday Clock. Had I been posting this clock last October, it would have been mid-afternoon.

(This just in. Might Disney’s $6 billion loss in market cap resulting from Kimmel’s firing help NBC-Universal decide whether to kiss the king’s ass or stand on the side of the American people? If they bend the knee, this analysis stands)

The clock is set at 5 minutes before midnight, partly to leave room for a minute or two movement towards midnight when/if Universal-NBC has an elective spinectomy next week and fires Fallon and Meyers on the authority (however disguised) of president trump (sic. sic, sic, sic). The number of minutes the clock will move closer depends on how much NBC lies, how big a role is delegated to Brendan “Lapdog” Carr of the FCC, and how bigly the current temporary occupant of the people’s house celebrates.

Thanks to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists for the idea of a Doomsday Clock.

Will We Know?

Spot The Difference

Mallard Filmore

Mallard Filmore, normally a MAGA outlet proves there’s a split in the GOP between people who like the constitution, and those who prefer it shredded for breakfast. This also proves that even a stopped clock is correct twice a day.

First Amendment Dream

In a better world than this, here’s the protection I dream of seeing for the First Amendment.

There is a penalty under law for government officials who deliberately, persistently and knowingly violate the constitution. It is 18 U.S.C. sec. 242, which seems (to this layperson) to protect First Amendment rights. There will be considerable porcine aviation before enforcement. Still, enforcement should be swift, sure and severe.

In the case of any president engaged in such activity, Articles of Impeachment could be sent to the House (by some “bi-partisan” entity), possibly with a deadline for voting.

Below the level of President, anyone who uses the power of the government to punish free speech, whether by direct action (you’re fired for what you said), or through bribery (“sure we’ll approve that application, once you fire…”) or extortion of private firms (“nice little network you got there. Shame if something happened to it”).  In any case, the political consequences should be swift, sure and severe. Anyone holding an office or acting on behalf of an officeholder, who restricts free speech, should face political consequences. One or two such public punishments might serve to discourage future violations. 

1. 1. Not just in their fever dreams, but in the reality-based world the rest of us live in. ↩︎