Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon guide to Puck’s best new reporting. Here’s what you need to know… and stick around for more on Disney’s showdown with the Trump administration.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

Congress is trying to permanently “defund” Planned Parenthood and block patients from using Medicaid for cancer screenings, birth control, and other essential sexual and reproductive care — forever. 

People suffer when they force a Planned Parenthood health center to close: Every cancer that goes undetected, every STI that goes untreated, every patient who can’t get birth control when they need it — is in Congress’s hands. The majority of Americans strongly support Planned Parenthood health centers’ irreplaceable role in our communities. Tell Congress to vote to protect Planned Parenthood. 

Meanwhile, on the pods…

And now, a little more on the Disney-F.C.C. battle…

HOLLYWOOD

In his latest showdown with Disney, F.C.C. attack dog Brendan Carr insists his goal isn’t to pressure the company into firing Jimmy Kimmel or to meddle in ABC’s editorial decisions. Instead, as he said on CNBC this past week—around the time Disney grudgingly filed to renew its broadcast licenses years before they were set to expire—the issue is whether ABC’s stations are operating in the public interest given their D.E.I. policies. But the chairman seems to have picked a fight he might not win.

As Eriq notes, it’s difficult to believe that a savvy operator like Carr doesn’t understand the weakness of his hand. The reason isn’t simply the First Amendment, though that obstacle looms large enough. The deeper problem for Carr is that the F.C.C. has never formally declared the D.E.I. programs unlawful—and the Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear that regulators can’t mete out punishments for breaking rules that don’t exist. The larger mystery is what Carr does next: fight to pull Disney’s broadcast license against long odds, back away, or simply let the proceeding hang over Disney to preserve his leverage. Disney’s objective, however, is far simpler: Get Carr’s foot off Mickey Mouse’s neck.

Click here to read Eriq’s full story.

A.I.

An incisive conversion with Marc Zao-Sanders, author of the Harvard Business Review’s latest report on how consumers are actually using A.I. Get used to seeing the term “cognitive offloading.”

FASHION

As Everlane becomes a cautionary tale for retailers committed to selling “radical transparency” and sustainable fashion, Quince is becoming a billion-dollar business by remaining unapologetically transactional.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

Congress is trying to permanently “defund” Planned Parenthood and block patients from using Medicaid for cancer screenings, birth control, and other essential sexual and reproductive care — forever. 

People suffer when they force a Planned Parenthood health center to close: Every cancer that goes undetected, every STI that goes untreated, every patient who can’t get birth control when they need it — is in Congress’s hands. The majority of Americans strongly support Planned Parenthood health centers’ irreplaceable role in our communities. Tell Congress to vote to protect Planned Parenthood. 

SPORTS

ESPN’s indomitable content chief, Burke Magnus, on losing talent to the NBA sidelines, the heat around the NHL, and what he learns from the way his kids watch sports.

WASHINGTON

A candid conversation with the junior senator from Connecticut, Chris Murphy, about the president’s slate of terrible Iran options and the blatant corruption that has marked his return to office.

ART

In its sixth year, London Gallery Weekend isn’t just supporting nascent galleries and luring 50,000 art enthusiasts to town. It’s fortifying London’s place as a major art city.

WASHINGTON

Julia Ioffe joins Peter to discuss the Iran war’s three-month stalemate and Donald Trump’s Monday night phone call where he allegedly told Netanyahu, “You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me.” They zero in on Iran’s newly discovered Strait of Hormuz leverage, whether a so-called “skinny deal” is on the horizon, and why Iran thinks it’s winning the war.

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