Category: News

UPDATED: Donald Trump paid tribute to Dolly Parton shortly after her death was announced, indicating that he planned to order U.S. flags lowered to half staff to honor the entertainer.

Trump posted on Truth Social, “Very sad to report that Dolly Parton, one of the greatest Country singers, and far beyond, EVER, has just passed away. This is a true loss for millions of people. There has never been anyone like her, and never will. In her honor, I am lowering the American flag throughout the United States for a one week period beginning tonight at 6:00PM. Rest in Peace, Dolly! The World loves you.”

Parton will be one of the few entertainers to get such an honor, as lowering of U.S. flags is typically ordered following the passing of major political and military figures or a national tragedy.

RELATED: Dolly Parton Dies At 80: Tributes, Career Photo Gallery, Obituary & Deadline’s Full Coverage

Parton died in Nashville on Tuesday. She had been dealing with health issues for the past year and was forced to postpone a planned Las Vegas residency in September before canceling the shows in May.

All of Trump’s living predecessors also paid tribute to Parton.

Former President Bill Clinton said that Parton was “one of a kind—a great songwriter and performer who told the stories of everyday Americans with honesty, humility, and heart. She rose high from her East Tennessee roots and never forgot where she came from. And she always believed in giving back, especially in her efforts to promote literacy. Hillary and I were big fans and first saw her in 1974, and will always be grateful for the music and the memories. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family, her legion of fans, and everyone who loved her.”

Dolly Parton was one of a kind—a great songwriter and performer who told the stories of everyday Americans with honesty, humility, and heart. She rose high from her East Tennessee roots and never forgot where she came from. And she always believed in giving back, especially in…

— Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) August 25, 2026

Former President George W. Bush said, “Laura and I, along with thousands of her fans, mourn the passing of Dolly Parton. We loved her music and her style. She was a great entertainer and even greater person. We respected her work to promote literacy, advance health, and strengthen communities. Dolly was a talented and hardworking American who will be missed.”

“Laura and I, along with thousands of her fans, mourn the passing of Dolly Parton. We loved her music and her style. She was a great entertainer and even greater person. We respected her work to promote literacy, advance health, and strengthen communities. Dolly was a talented…

— George W. Bush Presidential Center (@TheBushCenter) August 25, 2026

Former President Barack Obama wrote, “It’s hard to imagine many people having a bigger impact than Dolly Parton. Born in a one-room cabin, she earned 11 Grammys and an Emmy, built a business empire, helped millions of kids learn to read, and — as if that wasn’t enough — helped accelerate the research that led to the Moderna COVID vaccine. What a life. Michelle and I are thinking of Dolly’s family and her many, many fans.”

It’s hard to imagine many people having a bigger impact than Dolly Parton. Born in a one-room cabin, she earned 11 Grammys and an Emmy, built a business empire, helped millions of kids learn to read, and — as if that wasn’t enough — helped accelerate the research that led to the… https://t.co/gl4KGm4vnk

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 25, 2026

Former President Joe Biden wrote, “Simply put, Dolly Parton was an American original. She was an inspiration to millions. She was a relentless advocate for women and for equality. Through her Imagination Library, she placed the gift of reading into the hands of millions of children because she understood literacy is the foundation of opportunity. But perhaps most importantly, Dolly treated everyone with kindness and respect. She lived her values with a flair and vitality for life that was uniquely her own. She was a trailblazer in every sense of the word, and she will be missed by millions around the world.”

Simply put, Dolly Parton was an American original. She was an inspiration to millions. She was a relentless advocate for women and for equality. Through her Imagination Library, she placed the gift of reading into the hands of millions of children because she understood literacy…

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 26, 2026

Other tributes came from former vice presidents Kamala Harris and Al Gore, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and California Governor Gavin Newsom. Tennessee’s two U.S. senators, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty,also paid tribute, and the state’s governor, Bill Lee, also ordered flags at half staff.

With friends like Iowa Attorney General  Brenna Bird, does Paramount and David Ellison really need enemies?

In an op-ed penned for the conservative Daily Wire Tuesday, the Hawkeye State ally of Donald Trump is threatening to take California to the Supreme Court. Declaring that “California is once again trying to be the country’s regulator,” Bird wants to stop the antitrust lawsuit from the Golden State, New York and 10 other states against Paramount’s $111 billion purchase of Warner Brothers Discovery.

“Just like California should keep its hands off America’s bacon, California needs to understand that it doesn’t get to decide what Americans can choose to watch or stream,” the reelection seeking Bird states of the state and its AG Rob Bonta.

“If California believes a transaction that 68 regulators approved is nevertheless illegal, it is free to make that argument,” she notes, lamenting the $7 million a day ticking fee and more Paramount will have to start paying WBD shareholders starting October 1. “But it should make it in the one court with the authority to bind all of us, and it should make it now, before the bill for the delay comes due,” Bird claps, leaving out any reference to the Empire State’s Letitia James and other AG.

Yet, for all her rallying to the ParaBros cause, as well as some variations on what Bonta and gang are actually alleging in the March 2, 2027 trial starting case before a federal judge in Oakland, Bird doesn’t seem to have actually filed anything with SCOTUS.

It also seems hard to see how even if Iowa did take California to the conservative majority Supreme Court, how they could get a hearing before next spring or even October, with the John Roberts-led high court not back in session until October 5.

However, let’s sidestep Bird getting a perch on SCOTUS’ fast tracked interim relief docket (AKA the emergency docket or shadow docket) for a second, and look at a possible route under the provisions of Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution. Even if the case fell within the “original jurisdiction” criteria and passed muster with the Justices, any ruling would likely still be drawn out — likely beyond the March 2027 trial already on the calendar. In the rare case SCOTUS picks up such a state to state battle, it would generally appoint a “special master’ to review the matter before getting directly on it.

All of which, like Paramount CEO Ellison accused Bonta in an August 4 NYT op-ed, makes Bird’s flag planter reek of politics.

Bird, who filed a brief in 2024 support of the former Apprentice host’s ultimately successful bid to gain significant immunity from prosecution for acts taken while POTUS, sidesteps most of the meat of the actual antitrust suit the 12 states and the WGA are pursuing. A suit that Bonta, in an August 10 guest column for Deadline, paints as “a straight up antitrust enforcement case. One that is very cut and dry.” Instead, Bird, while giving the DOJ the benefit of the doubt, moves to blast Bonta and colleagues as “more hostile to this pro-competition merger than Europe and China.”

The ‘To Save American Movies, I’m Taking California To The Supreme Court’ entitled piece in the Ben Shapiro-founded outlet insists a ParaBros combo is good for high streaming subscription paying Iowans, competition and the movie and TV businesses. “The merger could create a company to compete: an estimated $6 billion in savings to reinvest, and a public commitment to release at least 30 movies in theaters every year. More movies mean more entertainment — and more competition means lower prices,” Bird says.

There is no mention by Bird of the $80 billion debt load a ParaBros will carry, the ongoing blame game settlement talks (or lack thereof) skirmish, nor the $1.88 billion bond Paramount desires to offset the “extraordinary losses” the court challenge poses.

Bird also makes no mention of possible layoffs or other cuts from a Paramount and WBD melding. Cuts that every such M&A deal has seen. Cuts that the likes of the WGA SAG-AFTRA and theTeamsters warn of. Cut that reports in both late June and last week to the LA County Board of Supervisors warned could see thousands pink slipped, and cost the region billions in wage and hundreds of millions in tax revenue.

Touting a Hollywood that few who live here may recognize, the Iowa AG chooses echoes the findings of earlier this year from Trump’s DOJ approving the merger. To that, right now, she says “more movies are being made, and more workers are being hired.”

While seemingly concurrently stressing that a joint “Paramount+ and HBO Max together are smaller than Netflix, smaller than Disney and smaller than Amazon,” Bird also throws out there that “a successful Paramount-Warner Bros. merger would change that.” Later in the op-ed, the long time pol says: “That is the opposite of a monopoly problem.”

Singing the tunes of the growing MAGA chorus that seeks to turn Bonta into the new Nancy Pelosi punching bag, Bird asserts “California is just dreaming up something radical” to go to war with Trump and his admitted “good friends” David Ellison and his Oracle founding father Larry Ellison.

“California argues that the Department of Justice waved this through as a political favor to Paramount’s owners,” Bird wrote Tuesday in a smudging of what is actually in the July 13 filing by the colalition of blue states. Then someone should explain how the Department managed to get approval in China, Europe, Canada, and the other 60-plus jurisdictions. When regulators in 68 jurisdictions with different laws, different politics, and no stake whatsoever in American elections all reach the same conclusion, the outlier is not the consensus.”

Again, no filing seems to have occurred today so far at the Supreme Court from Iowa or Bird. Rob Bonta and Brenna Bird’s office do share the fact that neither of them responded to Deadline’s request for comment on the Iowa AG’s threat.

An independent arbitrator has ruled that The Washington Post must reinstate columnist Karen Attiah with backpay and benefits, concluding that her firing violated a collective bargaining agreement, the union and legal team representing her said on Monday.

In September, Attiah said that she was terminated over social media posts in the aftermath of the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

“This decision confirms what we’ve said from the start: I was doing my job as an opinion journalist, and doing that job is not misconduct,” Attiah said in a statement.

A Washington Post spokesperson said that they respect the arbitration process, but declined to comment further.

Attiah was a member of the Post Guild and covered by its collective bargaining agreement. Per the guild, she could only be terminated as the “result of progressive discipline” or if it rose to the level of “gross misconduct.”

A couple of hours after the shooting of Kirk, Attiah posted on social media, “I wish I had hope for gun control and that I could believe ‘political violence has no place in this country.’ But we live in a country that accepts white children being massacred by gun violence. Not just accepts, but worships violence.”

“Part of what keeps America so violent is the insistence that people perform care, empty goodness and absolution for white men who espouse hatred and violence…Again. I don’t care for empty rhetoric.”

She also posted one of Kirk’s quotes, that “Black women do not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously. You have to go steal a white person’s slot.” Social media has been rife with claims of what Kirk has said in the past, but Snopes rated the Black women quote, from a podcast in 2023, as true.

Attiah continued to post in the days after the assassination, defending what she wrote.

At the time of her firing, the Post declined to comment on personnel matters. The Post has pointed to its policies and standards, including its social media policy.

The guild contended that Attiah’s firing was pretextual, and that she was being penalized for speech that fell within her job description. Attiah was the last full-time Black opinion columnist at the publication.

Post Guild Chair Natalie Vineberg said in a statement, “Journalists can’t work at an organization where they must live in fear of being arbitrarily fired for doing their jobs — which, in Karen’s case, was writing her opinion.” The New York Times first reported on Attiah’s reinstatement. The guild defended Attiah in arbitration, with support from the Democracy Defenders Fund.

Attiah joined the Post in 2014 and served for a period as global opinions editor. She was a prominent voice speaking out on the killing of columnist Jamal Khashoggi by agents of the Saudi regime.