Thoughts on a FB post

First, from someone on FB:

Roseanne Barr – Fired by ABC/Disney and her hit show Roseanne canceled overnight in 2018 after one tweet. Hundreds of cast and crew lost their jobs.

Gina Carano – Fired from The Mandalorian in 2021 for social media posts that didn’t fit the Left’s politics. Dropped by her agency too.

Megyn Kelly – Fired by NBC in 2018, her morning show canceled after comments about Halloween costumes.

Dave Chappelle – Netflix employees staged a walkout and demanded his comedy special be pulled for “transphobia.” The Left tried hard to cancel him.

Joe Rogan – The Left pressured Spotify to drop him, running coordinated campaigns and advertiser boycotts over COVID discussions.

Tucker Carlson – Taken off Fox News in 2023. Liberal activists bragged about advertiser pressure campaigns that helped force him out, costing thousands of downstream jobs.

Parler – Apple, Google, and Amazon colluded in 2021 to wipe the entire platform off the internet. Tens of thousands of small creators and businesses lost income overnight.

J.K. Rowling – Blacklisted from events, attacked by activists, and pressured out of projects for speaking her mind.

Mike Lindell – MyPillow pulled from major retailers, banned from Twitter, and targeted with advertiser boycotts.

Alex Jones – Simultaneously banned in 2018 by YouTube, Facebook, Apple, and Spotify. Coordinated erasure celebrated as a model for censorship.

Patterns are clear:

Coordinated advertiser boycotts.

Public celebrations of people losing jobs and businesses.

Two sets of rules — the Left can lie (Russia hoax, Covington kids smear, Jussie Smollett, etc.) and laugh about it, but the Right gets destroyed.

Accountability only ever goes one way. The Left has spent the last decade perfecting cancel culture, destroying jobs, nuking shows, wiping platforms off the internet, and laughing while people’s lives were ruined. But sure… Jimmy Kimmel smugly lying about a political assassination? Totally fine.

[end]

Comment: some of those people are horrible, some survived and learned and are still viable like Carlson and Chappell. Rowlings is fine. Alex Jones still hasn't paid the victims of a lawsuit he lost, so I think he's still operating outside of the law, no sympathy for him. Gina Carano wasn't rehired, that's not the same as canceling.

Seems like Kimmel is different. In order to get a corporate merger approved, the right wing FCC head used his influence to cancel a show on a network. Political jokes are not hate speech. Those loathsome people were cancelled for hate speech, and not because of political bias. That far right people are offended isn’t the same as rancid hate speech that most people don’t like.

Kimmel has the ratings, didn’t lose viewers. People just stopped buying the pillow guy's stuff because he was a liar. 

I really feel like domination from the left is different than dominating from the right. And I’m also humbled to think people see it differently. I cut off all the negative right stuff, and I was open to hearing this even though I disagree!

The president didn't say he'd get any of the people on that list. 

I mean Parler was part of the January 6th insurrection, so. I know the right lies about whether that was nothing at all or something, but you know despite political bias, there is also a truth, and a side that lies to counter these truths. We are not the same. 

I mean you can say it's my culture to say disgusting things, and have no consequences. What Kimmel said was political analysis that was true. I think the right doesn't get that feelings aren't truth.

This political moment.

Mussolini ruled for 21 years. He tried to get away, and was arrested with his lover, and he and his mistress were shot, and hung upside down in the town square. 

Hitler ruled for 12 years and married his lover and then took a pills to end their lives. Worst honeymoon ever. 

Franco ruled for 36 years. Franco's family had a cushy existence after he died in office. It's only recently his body was exhumed from the graves of honor. 

Castro ruled Cuba for 49 years and his brother was still in control, so they had a big funeral. You might say that the regime has worn off slowly and they still have a unitary communist state. 

I felt the straw that broke camel's back with Kimmel's removal. Call it tyranny, authoritarianism, fascism, nazism, or whatever, but silencing critics is a major step. He's packed the supreme court and they're enabling him, and the legislature doesn't seem to keep him in check, and the press seems to have been cowed by him long ago, New York Times could be said to have supported his second rise. 

I fear the midterm elections, and how he's going to subvert those. 

Seeing him entertained by Prince Charles is weird photo ops because he's not a king as Justice Sotomayor has pointed out. 

Law schools will teach this period of law as what not to do, and how to notice the signs of supporting fascism. 

Meanwhile the pedophile in chief has record low approval rating by the American people. I take now joy in the leopard ate my face moment of farmers, and hispanics, and on and on. Will the farmers turn to different crops and create another dust bowl? Do we have to live out and repeat the last century? 

The current regime has blown by natural barriers, and it turns out democracy rots from the head. 

Every accusation is an admission. The Orange Mussolini criticized Biden for being too old, and indeed out of office he got cancer, and it was a good thing he passed the baton to a younger person. This cult of personality isn't a movement and he can't pass it on to the charismaless Vance. Kush Patel passing his loyalty test by saying there is no Epstein evidence. So bizarre he imagines that lie is close to believing. 

I need to touch grass, and live in the moment, and not think so much about how we're living through what Hogan's Heroes and other TV shows I watched growing up, warned us against. 

That he survived the "grab them by the pussy" moment is something I will never understand. 

The mia culpa moment of Mitch McConnell isn't enough. We're heading into turbulent times. The economy is tanking. 

Everything is impermanent. Leaves are turning color and falling off trees. Mussolini and Hitler didn't last. 

Links:

NY Times

Video on Reddit of Kimmel

From HCR (Heather Cox Richardson)

Kimmel said: “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. In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving. On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half staff which got some criticism but on a human level you can see how hard the president is taking this.”

Kimmel then played a clip of Trump’s response to a reporter who asked how the president was holding up after Kirk’s death. Trump answered: “I think very good. And by the way right there you see all the trucks, they just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House which is something they’ve been trying to get as you know for about for 150 years and it’s gonna be a beauty.”

If Tucker Carlson gets it, it must be blindingly obvious (Independent). I like it when HCR says what I'm noticing. 

HCR mentions it on her YouTube stream. She talks about reimagining partisanship under the cheeto mussolini. She mentions pools at -17. He's incredibly unpopular at the moment. American people are not behind what he's doing. People are not behind the economy and the deportations. Looking strong is all about trying to look better as their hugely unpopular. She likens it to a classroom of 4 year olds out of control. Also he's out of control. Melania is holding his hand a lot because he's in trouble, he's in poor shape. The power of the administration is flowing to Stephen Miller and other unelected officials. They're kind of frantically trying to get things done while things are falling apart. The Epstein files are not just about abusing children, but also about wealthy connected people were getting away with breaking the law. Rich guys can break the law is why everyone is so angry. Inflation is out of control. 

Heather Cox Richardson is single handedly holding this nation together. She says to now pay anything, it's free. 

Teddy Roosevelt stood up against the corrupt people in his party that launched him into popularity. She mentions the republican governor has switch parties to democrats. People are standing on American values over MAGA. 

She talks about how Bluesky became a refuge from X.  

9/20/2025: HRC: "Karl Rove, who was a key member of President George W. Bush’s administration, pushed back against the friends and enemies distinction in the Wall Street Journal. “No,” he wrote. “Charlie Kirk wasn’t killed by ‘them.’ ‘They’ didn’t pull the trigger. One person did, apparently a young man driven by impulse and a terrible hate. If there were a ‘they’ involved, law enforcement would find ‘them’ and the justice system would hold ‘them’ accountable. But ‘he’ and ‘him’ are the correct pronouns for this horrendous act…. Using Charlie’s murder to justify retaliation against political rivals is wrong and dangerous. It will further divide and embitter our country. No good thing will come of it.”"

Capitalist enshitification

Weather forecasts led to surprise disasters that killed people (example Houston 7/5). Even Musk’s Grok blames Trump and Musk for flooding deaths (Daily Beast)

Netflix and other streaming services got commercials. 

Ad blockers stopped working.

I just found out the Met isn't pay what you wish. It's only pay what you wish for New York residents. This doesn't effect me, but I think that's a pretty shitty thing to do, it cost $30 to go. That's a lot of money.

When I was growing up most cars had standard transmission, you had to use a clutch and shift gears. Now there's automatic transmission, the car shifts on it own. Cars get transmission problems. Same with electric windows all sorts of other gizmos on cars. Cars break down more easily when they're so complicated. One little glitch and there's problems. 

In the yin and yang of things, they're offering free things that really should be free, but they want to drive traffic to work out bugs, and perhaps they hope people become so addicted that they can't help but buy. I need to watch less streaming services that have commercials. I need use social media less, because they're going to eventually monetize Bluesky more, the same way Ben and Jerry's got big enough to sell out, and they lose their social mission. They even try to keep it a while after selling out, but recently one of them stepped away, too frustrated by not doing more. REM was notorious for saying no, Stipe didn't want to talk to Letterman, but I've heard their songs on a car commercial. You hold out longer for the highest price but everyone sells out. 

So enjoy golden ages of TV or internet or social media, but don't expect it to last forever. 

People in charge don't want things to work. I was reading about how JustWatch just dropped Tubi from their list. Probably because finding free movies hurts business, and the people who make the website are sponsored by services that charge people. The idealism of the internet has faded to capitalist enshitification. Good reason to get offline and watch some leaves blow in the wind outside. Little girl who was my daughter's friend in Kindergarten, was glued to her device at the park, and didn't walk over to my daughter to say hello. Screen zombie. 

One of the weird things about getting used to TV without commercials, is when they happen, it's really offensive now. In the age of information, and because I'm a delicate hothouse flower, I'm really sensitive to being mind fucked by capitalism. 

I'm not going to pick a car from a commercial. I don't think I need to learn all the side effects and indications to watch for medications I don't take. I don't want to look at disgusting fast food commercials since I don't eat meat. Every commerical is basically offensive to me, except travel to a state commercials, and there aren't that many of those.

Zohran Mamdani

Need more lightness than darkness, and the success of Zohran Mamdani is light to me.

The Pedophile-in-chief has signaled retreat from seeing what he can do. He's talked to Cuomo, and that has been the kiss of death for him, and called Silwa a loser--Silwa probably doesn't like Trump's vigilante ways as a fellow vigilante. New York doesn't like Trump, New York State didn't vote for him, and his attempts to disrupt the democracy in New York City seem to have floundered. 

Whatever health even that is drooping his face seems to have taken some of the wind out of his sail. Everything he accuses others of, he's guilty of, that's his technique, counter accuse. Biden is too old, means he thinks he's too old. If only a fading Pedophile-in-chief fixed things, his cadres of enablers don't really need him to wreck things up. 

Now the wishy washy, bought and sold governor of New York has endorsed Zohran Mamdani. She must have concluded the polls are accurate that show him winning easily. Cuomo and Silwa are canceling each other out. Trump doesn't have any secret levers to override the people's choice. It looks like he's the next Mayor of New York. 50 days till November 4th. I think election day is the first Tuesday in November. 

The New York Post is going hard smearing Mamdani, that must mean he's good. Just like Trump disliking him, sort of go the opposite direction of those folks. Like when Musk said he didn't like Wikipedia, it deepened my love of Wikipedia. 

Brian Kilmeade

The death of Kirk has brought about people trying to fill the void of rancid politics, and Brian Kilmeade stepped up. He suggested we kill homeless people on TV (skeet). Reading his wikipedia page, this isn't an aberration, he likes counter-jihads, he likes pure blood of Finns and Swedes, sees all terrorists as Muslims. He likes to spread lies about judges whom he doesn't like the rulings. I can see why the right doesn't like Wikipedia, it's factual, honest, and makes outlandish comments as part of the record, not ephemeral things. 

Heather Cox Richardson:

"Senator Joe McCarthy (R-WI) pioneered this technique in the 1950s when he would grab media attention with outrageous statements and outright lies that destroyed lives, then flit to the next target, leaving fact checkers panting in his wake. By the time they proved he was lying, the news cycle had leaped far ahead, and the corrections got nowhere near the attention the lies had."

Attention getting lies and controversial statements that befuddle the people. 

Brian Kilmeade defends the Assaulter-in-Chief separating families, climate change denial. He has said some criticisms of Trump, he's not a complete shill, just a mostly shill. 

You can't capture the death cult nature of Trump more than this statement of wishing to kill humans. 

I don't think apologies are sincere, I think Kilmeade lets you know who he is, and he worries about the backlash of people being disgusted by his articulation of the death cult. A real apology would be to stop spouting such hateful murder cult bile. He has such a long history of it, it's hard to imagine he won't stop. Anyway, he was trying to get attention in the attention economy, and he got it. The apology is just another moment in the spotlight for him. The nihilist can play both sides all he wants for attention. He likes purity of blood. Hitler went after the people with disabilities first. He cleaned out all the group homes of people with disabilities.

"Morris explains that violent acts associated with politics happen because members of that small minority respond to rhetoric coming from political leaders. Violent metaphors polarize audiences and attract “high-aggression followers.” Reducing violence requires political elites to tone down their rhetoric."

HCR

9/17/25. I'm reading people going into homeless encampments and firing guns, two incidents in Minnesota. 

Political notes for September

My father expressed the fears he's the only democrat in Florida, and I looked it up. 4.3m democrats, 5m republicans, only 55.55% republican. Hardly overwhelming to me. 

He said we don't have access to the AI that knows a lot, that's writing code. I said if we don't know about it, we can't talk about it. He thought we could. I said, "Are you a republican now?" He laughed at that. 

History repeats itself, but we're in a new information age, which strangely has made us dumber with the growing pains. 

Herbert Hoover was the dumb conservative who made the great depression worse. FDR took us out of it. Biden was too early and too old to take us out of the recession we're in because of Trump, who is only good at wrecking things. Making the USA more independent doesn't work, it's a globe now, and you have to understand the times, not go back to some unrealistic and never happened fantasy of how things were. Great leaders understand the fantasy and lead us out of it's unrealisticness. 

There's never going to be a president that the left and right like, because political bias is just an aspect of our personality. Either you want to starve children or you want to feed children. Either you're overcome and transcended your childhood trauma and you're not afraid of empathy, or you think because it happened to you, go crueler. 

The supreme court rules you can use race stopping people but you can't in college admissions. What we've lost is integrity. America has regressed. That and shame. In Buddhism apatrapya is shame, for the good. 

Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching (C. S. Lewis) and the current regime doesn't even care that people are watching.