Trump posted the following which was obviously supposed to be a DM or a text then deleted it. He then reposted it with name of Lindsey Halligan’s last name added as if that was the mistake. As usual, instead of admitting something he just doubled down.
Q: "Are you criticizing Pam Bondi for not going after your political adversaries?"
Trump: "No. I just want people to act. They have to act. And we want to act fast…If they are guilty or if they should be charged, they should be charged. And we have to do it now." pic.twitter.com/3gRGILfUvo
This is beyond outrageous. Trump is openly ordering his Attorney General to prosecute his enemies and admitting to firing a US Attorney who was unable to find the evidence to do so. It is an outright abuse of presidential power, and an impeachable offense if there ever was one.
He’s not trying to hide anything anymore. I’m not sure he’s capable of it. But he is also so drunk with power –and not without justification— that nothing can stop him from doing anything he chooses.
In an undercover operation last year, the FBI recorded Tom Homan, now the White House border czar,accepting $50,000 in cash after indicating he could help the agents — who were posing as business executives — win government contracts in a second Trump administration, according to multiple people familiar with the probe and internal documents reviewed by MSNBC.
The FBI and the Justice Department planned to wait to see whether Homan would deliver on his alleged promise once he became the nation’s top immigration official. But the case indefinitely stalled soon after Donald Trump became president again in January,according to six sources familiar with the matter. In recent weeks, Trump appointees officially closed the investigation, after FBI Director Kash Patel requested a status update on the case, two of the people said.
It’s unclear what reasons FBI and Justice Department officials gave for shutting down the investigation. But a Trump Justice Department appointee called the case a “deep state” probe in early 2025 and no further investigative steps were taken, the sources say.
It was on tape.
Of course, half the Trump administration is on the take, including the president, soI suppose they really didn’t want to open this Pandora’s Box. Still, the corruption doesn’t get any more blatant than that.
As hordes of photographers began descending on a small, rural community to capture its vibrant autumnal colours, local residents have been fighting back – and winning.
To enter the town of Pomfret, located in the US state of Vermont, is to be instantly struck by its bucolic beauty. From the north, Howe Hill Road winds downhill in a series of gentle curves, each sweep revealing verdant farm fields dotted with sheep, or swaths of forest in which the red and orange autumn leaves cling to boughs. At one home, a tree heavy with apples bends over a meticulously maintained stone wall, its slate top filled with decaying fruit.
But come early autumn, more than half of the cars driving through this 900-person town will sport out-of-state license plates, coming to abrupt stops on a road with a 45-mile-per-hour speed limit, blocking one of two lanes. The reason? To take a picture of a farm’s silo against a backdrop of autumn leaves.
With a mere handful of businesses – a general mercantile store, an art centre with a gallery and a theatre and a few pick-your-own apple or pumpkin farms – Pomfret is generally a quiet, unassuming place. But in autumn as “leaf-peepers” from around the world descend on the region’s rolling hills and fetching small towns to witness its kaleidoscopic foliage, that all changes.
Until recently, the number of leaf-peepers visiting Pomfret was more trickle than torrent. But ever since images of Sleepy Hollow Farm, a 115-acre private property set on a rustic road, began going viral on social media a few years ago, locals say things have gotten out of hand. […]
“It’s a beautiful spot. It’s too bad it’s been ruined for everybody,” said Deborah Goodwin, the exhibits coordinator at Pomfret’s Artistree Community Arts Center. “[For] the past couple years it’s been out of control. Tour buses were just dumping… people out there.”
Goodwin says social media influencers would regularly climb over a gate plastered with “No Trespassing” signs, set up changing booths to accommodate their many costume swaps, get their “city cars” stuck on the narrow dirt road, and leave bodily waste by the roadside. “It was bad,” she recalled. “The residents went to the [local government] and said, ‘We can’t have this anymore.'”
During the 2022 leaf-peeping season, law enforcement temporarily turned the road past Sleepy Hollow into a one-way thoroughfare. It wasn’t enough to deter tourists from behaving badly. In 2023, local residents tried a different approach: crowdsourced funding. […]
As a result, town officials voted to close the roads leading to the farm during the peak fall foliage season (23 September to 15 October) to non-residents, spurring the ire of travellers who had driven to the area in hopes of capturing a perfectly curated autumn photo.
“It’s a hotel and amusement park,” scoffed one Instagrammer with 153,000 followers. “Bring all your friends and RVs.”
Most Pomfret residents stressed that they’re not anti-tourist; they simply want people to treat their hometown with respect. Even more concerning than issues of private property, several mentioned, are safety concerns for the residents of Cloudland Road, as well as the tourists themselves.
According to Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer, “This is not a road that’s designed to have multiple vehicles on it. [In 2021 and 2022] there were lines of traffic parked up and down the roadway, and you couldn’t get fire apparatus or an ambulance through. It was just overwhelming the infrastructure in the area.” […]
Palmer hopes that the Pomfret drama is a “one-and-done” deal. Residents have floated the idea of creating a reservation or ticketing system for visits to Sleepy Hollow to help manage the tourist rush in a more responsible way, but as far as he knows, that option isn’t under serious consideration. In fact: feedback on the traffic pattern changes implemented in 2023 has been largely positive, leading to the Pomfret Selectboard’s decision to implement similar road closures for the imminent 2024 foliage season.
Very bucolic, but I’m happy to simply enjoy the photo; I don’t feel an urge to drive several thousand miles just to snap a selfie. As Roy Neary says in CloseEncounters of the Third Kind, “You think I investigate every Walter Cronkite story there is?!”
As another character in Close Encounters observes, “Einstein was right”. Each year passes faster than the previous. Per Pink Floyd, You can runto catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking; racing around to come up behind you again. To wit…The sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older; shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
Don’t you hate that?
Since this coming Monday’s Fall Equinox has raced around and come up behind us again, I thought I’d rake through my music collection and curate a pile of suitably autumnal tunes.
To follow Shel Silverstein’s lead…Let’s jump right in!
“Autumn Almanac” – The Kinks
Released as a single in the UK in 1967, Ray Davies’ fond sense memory of the Muswell Hill neighborhood of North London where he grew up recalls The Beatles’ “Penny Lane”.
From the dew-soaked hedge creeps a crawly caterpillar When the dawn begins to crack It’s all part of my autumn almanac
Breeze blows leaves of a musty-coloured yellow So I sweep them in my sack Yes, yes, yes, it’s my autumn almanac
“Autumn Leaves” -Jim Hall & Ron Carter
Lovely instrumental cover of Joeseph Kosma & Jacques Prevert’s classic (originally popularized by Yves Montand in Marcel Carné’s 1946 film noir Les Portes de la Nuit) performed live by two jazz greats-Jim Hall (guitar) and Ron Carter (stand-up bass).
“The Boys of Summer” – Don Henley
I suppose one could make a case either way as to whether Don Henley’s 1984 hit qualifies as a “summer song” or an “autumn song”. Here’s my gauge: generally speaking, upbeat and celebratory is a summer mood; wistful and introspective is autumnal.
Nobody on the road Nobody on the beach I feel it in the air The summer’s out of reach Empty lake, empty streets The sun goes down alone I’m driving by your house Though I know you’re not home
“Falling” – Joe Vitale
Joe Vitale was a key member of Joe Walsh’s first post-James Gang band Barnstorm. In addition to contributing drums, flute, keyboards and vocals, Vitale also co-wrote some of the songs. This cut is from his outstanding debut solo album, Roller Coaster Weekend (1974).
“Forever Autumn” – Justin Hayward
This lovely tune, featuring a lead vocal by Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues was a highlight of Jeff Wayne’s 1978 double LP rock musical adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds.
“Harvest Moon” – Neil Young
This track is from from Young’s eponymous 1992 album (a sort of sequel to 1972’s Harvest), which won a Juno award (Canada’s equivalent to a Grammy) for Album of the Year.
“Indian Summer” -Dream Academy
The Dream Academy’s most wistful and transporting song is best appreciated with a good set of headphones. Drift away…
It was the time of year just after the summer’s gone When August and September just become memories of songs To be put away with the summer clothes And packed up in the attic for another year We had decided to stay on for a few weeks more Although the season was over now the days were still warm And seemed reluctant to five up and hand over to winter for another year
“Inner Garden I” – King Crimson
Contrary to what you may assume, not every track by this venerable prog-rock outfit takes up half an album side; some of their best compositions say all they need to say with surprising brevity.
Autumn has come to rest in her garden Come to paint the trees with emptiness And no pardon So many things have come undone Like the leaves on the ground And suddenly she begins to cry But she doesn’t know why…
But the last day of summer Never felt so cold The last day of summer Never felt so old
“Leaf and Stream” – Wishbone Ash
This compelling, melancholic track is sandwiched between a couple of epic rockers on the Ash’s best album, 1972’s Argus (which I wrote about here).
Find myself beside a stream of empty thought, Like a leaf that’s fallen to the ground, And carried by the flow of water to my dreams Woken only by your sound.
“Leaves in the Wind” -Back Street Crawler
Back Street Crawler was a short-lived group formed in 1975 by guitarist Paul Kossoff after he left Free. Sadly, by the time 2nd Street was released in 1976, Kossoff was dead at 25 (lending additional poignancy to his mournful guitar fills on this track).
“Moondance”– Van Morrison
The evocative title track from Morrison’s 1970 album is one of his signature tunes.
Well, it’s a marvelous night for a moondance With the stars up above in your eyes A fantabulous night to make romance ‘Neath the cover of October skies
“November” -Tom Waits
This song is a tad unsettling, yet oddly beautiful. Not unlike Waits’ voice. Dig the theremin.
No shadow No stars No moon No care November It only believes In a pile of dead leaves And a moon That’s the color of bone
“October”-U2
Sporting but two short verses, this was an uncharacteristically minimalist arrangement for U2 at this stage of their career (from the band’s eponymous 1981 album).
October And the trees are stripped bare Of all they wear What do I care?
October And kingdoms rise And kingdoms fall But you go on And on
“Ramble On”-Led Zeppelin
Arguably the One Autumnal Song to Rule Them All, with all its wistfulness and stirrings of wanderlust. Only don’t try to make any sense of the Gollum reference-it’ll make you crazy.
Leaves are falling all around It’s time I was on my way Thanks to you I’m much obliged For such a pleasant stay But now it’s time for me to go The autumn moon lights my way For now I smell the rain And with it pain And it’s headed my way…
“September” – Earth, Wind, & Fire
Well of course I remember “the 21st of September”…it’s today’s date, fergawdsake! Sheesh. One of EWF’s biggest hits, it reached #1 on the Billboard charts in 1978. Ba-dee-yah.
“September Gurls” – Big Star
Founded in 1971 by singer-guitarist Chris Bell and ex-Box Tops singer/guitarist Alex Chilton, Big Star is one of the seminal power pop bands, and this is one of their most defining songs.
“Summer’s Almost Gone” – The Doors
From the Doors’ 1968 album Waiting For the Sun. Haunting, with Jim Morrison in fine form.
Morning found us calmly unaware Noon burn gold into our hair At night, we swim the laughin’ sea When summer’s gone Where will we be?
“Time of No Reply” – Nick Drake
Gone much too soon, his sad short life was as enigmatic as the amazing catalog he left behind.
Summer was gone and the heat died down And Autumn reached for her golden crown I looked behind as I heard a sigh But this was the time of no reply
The sun went down and the crowd went home I was left by the roadside all alone I turned to speak as they went by But this was the time of no reply
“Urge for Going”– Joni Mitchell
You thought I forgot this one, didn’t you? Luck of the alphabet. It feels redundant to label any Joni Mitchell song as “genius”, but it’s hard to believe this came from the pen of a 22 year-old.
I awoke today and found the frost perched on the town It hovered in a frozen sky, then it gobbled summer down When the sun turns traitor cold And all trees are shivering in a naked row I get the urge for going but I never seem to go I get the urge for going When the meadow grass is turning brown
Classified as endangered, the red panda population is in decline due to habitat loss, population fragmentation, poaching, illegal trade, and human interference. But we can help be the answer to save these remarkable creatures!#savethepanda… pic.twitter.com/kql15uSZLs
Celebrating International Red Panda Day! 🐾 Did you know red pandas can climb down trees head-first, thanks to their flexible ankles and special claws? Let’s support the conservation of these incredible, tree-dwelling creatures @RedPandaNetwork.#redpanda#MKEZoopic.twitter.com/dDRZmpniG0
Happy International Red Panda Day from the red pandas at the Cincinnati Zoo! The Cincinnati Zoo supports the efforts of the Red Panda Network to protect red pandas & their bamboo forests in the wild. pic.twitter.com/A1IA46lGRf
This weekend at Zoo Knoxville is packed with wild fun!
📅 Saturday, Sept. 20 | 10 AM – 2 PM Celebrate Red Panda Day with special experiences including: 🐾 Panda cub den cam 🎤 Keeper chats 🦴 Fascinating biofacts 📅 Sunday, Sept. 21 | 9 AM – 2 PM Join us for World Rhino Day… pic.twitter.com/qXG8prRE9F
With International Red Panda Day coming up, we’re spotlighting Pumori. At 10 years old, he’s curious and eager to train with his zookeepers.
Celebrate him and all red pandas this Saturday, Sept 20, 10AM to 2PM with a 1:30PM talk, crafts, discovery stations, and more. pic.twitter.com/m3U6lGpYpy
While red pandas are adored for their cute faces, these facial markings help them survive. The reddish “tear tracks” that extend down from their eyes to the corner of their mouths likely help keep the sun out of their eyes. The white fur on their face will pick up light and help guide lost cubs back to their mother in the darkness. CREDIT: Fabian Muehlberger / Red Panda Network.Cape May County Park & Zoo Picasa
I’m seeing some Hollywood stars with clout stepping up against the assault on free speech. As they should. More should follow. And there’s a lot of talk that inside Disney there’s some serious nervousness about a boycott, not just of the networks but the parks. With the clampdown on tourism, they could be facing some serious financial problems for succumbing to the government when they didn’t have to. Nextstar could have said no and simply abandoned its quest for an obscene merger that would put broadcast stations in the hands of just a couple of owners. Disney certainly could have said no. They did not because they are greedheads who couldn’t see beyond the immediate dollar signs of a deal they need the government to approve. Well, they also need viewers and customers. Maybe they should have thought of them.
There is political danger as well. Here’s Dan Pfeiffer on the threat to conservatives in backing this Orwellian attack on free speech:
We are living in dangerously absurd times, and it can be easy to lose perspective. The full breadth of Trump’s assault on democracy over the last nine months is hard to process because we all believed for so long that such things could never happen here. There’s a poverty of imagination about the real dangers, and therefore a tendency to normalize the abnormal — to cover this as just more “Trumpian politics.”
But the Trump Administration pressuring a major media company to suspend a comedian because they disliked his commentary is far from normal. As Jim Rutenberg wrote in the New York Times:
“[Trump] is now conducting the most punishing government crackdown against major American media institutions in modern times, using what seems like every tool at his disposal to eradicate reporting and commentary with which he disagrees.”
Kimmel is the beginning, not the end, of this censorship campaign. Brendan Carr, the FCC Director, suggested on Thursday that he wanted to go after The View, and Trump threatened late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers. All of this comes on top of a larger effort to punish anyone critical of Charlie Kirk in the wake of his murder. Pete Hegseth has people combing through the social media of troops, and JD Vance urged the public to turn in anyone who is insufficiently mournful of Charlie Kirk to their employers.
I will just add that yesterday Hegseth issued a new order that says the news media is only allowed to publish or broadcast authorized unclassified statement or they will lose their press passes:
That’s coming from a former member of the media.
Pfeiffer continues:
Trump has, of course, done innumerable bad things since taking office. Some have no political purchase with the public. Others have broken through and hurt his political standing. I believe Trump could pay a steep price for this hyper-aggressive government censorship campaign. If — and when — Democrats win back the House next year, the GOP will look back at their weaponization of Charlie Kirk’s murder with great regret.
Here’s why.
1. Kimmel + Kirk Is a Major Story
The best way to understand politics in our fractured media ecosystem is that each side has a group of hyper-engaged partisans who aggressively follow every twist and turn, while the rest of the country has largely opted out of political news. Most of the things you and I obsess over never cross the transom of the less engaged, so they don’t move the poll numbers. There are, however, a handful of moments so significant or viral that they break out of the political news bubble. Thus far, the tariffs, the illegal deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and the Epstein files have all truly broken through to the larger public. You can almost match declines in Trump’s approval to those moments.
The Kirk assassination and Kimmel’s suspension are huge stories. According to data from What’s Resonating, content about Kimmel, Kirk, and freedom of speech is receiving by far the most engagement.
People are paying attention, and that’s not good for Trump and the Republicans.
2. Trump Is Overstepping His Mandate
Donald Trump likes to pretend he won a massive victory with a strong mandate for his MAGA agenda.
Like most of what Donald Trump says, it’s delusional nonsense.
Trump may have won the popular vote and swept the battleground states. Still, a majority of Americans voted for someone else, and he had the narrowest popular vote margin in American history. In this century, only Al Gore won the popular vote by less.
At the risk of oversimplifying the complex nature of elections, Trump won the presidency because a significant number of voters who did not particularly like him voted for him, believing he would do a better job of lowering costs and securing the border.
That’s it. That’s Trump’s mandate — lower costs and secure the border.
Sure, his fanboys and the MAGA base had big visions of upending American democracy, implementing a right-wing agenda, and exacting revenge on political opponents. But that’s not what the voters who decided 2024 — and who will decide the 2026 midterms — were looking for from Trump and the GOP.
The narrowness of Trump’s mandate matters because the fastest way to lose the midterms is to forget why you won the election.
Most people do not want their president policing speech or micromanaging the late-night lineup. If the economy were roaring and prices were coming down, people might have more patience for this unconstitutional sideshow, but the opposite is true. Prices are up and the economy is flashing warning signs, so voters are rightly going to ask why Trump is so focused on Jimmy Kimmel instead of them.
In another particularly potent example of the dumb stuff at the top of Trump’s to-do list, on Friday the White House Press Secretary announced that Trump would not approve a deal to build a new stadium in Washington, D.C., unless the local NFL team changed its name back to “Redskins.”
Seriously.
3. Losing the Manosphere Influencers
One of the keys to Trump’s successful campaign was the support of a set of podcasters, YouTubers, TikTokers, and influencers with large audiences of young men. For this group, freedom of speech and hostility toward so-called “cancel culture” were major reasons to support Trump.
Now this group is particularly exercised about the administration’s crackdown on speech. Tim Dillon, Dave Smith, Andrew Schulz, Akaash Singh, and several Barstool Sports personalities have criticized Trump for violating his promises to end government censorship.
Trump was already on thin ice with them over his refusal to release the Epstein files. Without the support of these highly influential voices, he loses a gateway to the young men who helped him win the election. Even worse for Trump, he is already bleeding support among young men. According to pollster John Della Volpe:
“Since Mr. Trump took office in January, his approval ratings among men under 30 have fallen by 29 percentage points on the issue of inflation, 25 points on jobs, and 21 points on the economy. Yet those losses don’t automatically translate into Democratic gains, because many of these men still see Democrats as weak, ineffective, and unresponsive.”
Hard to fix that problem when the people with the most influence over young men think you are assaulting free speech and covering up a relationship with a notorious child sex trafficker.
Attention is everything in this chaotic world. And this whole thing has gotten people’s attention.
Maybe that will work out well for the right. They do seem to have a willingness to take action regardless of the risk while everyone else seems either paralyzed by fear or wanting to put their heads in the sand and wish it away. But as Pfeiffer shows, that’s their only power. They don’t have massive support and frankly, they don’t even have unity among themselves.
A viral social media video this week claimed that employees at a Norwood Park Starbucks wrote “Loser” on a drink ordered in honor of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. An online furor followed, and the coffee shop even closed temporarily.
But Starbucks now says that time-stamped footage from the store at 6332 N. Northwest Highway does not show any of its workers writing that message. Instead, the note appears “to have been added after the beverage was handed off, likely by someone else,” a spokesperson told Block Club.
The controversy started with a post Tuesday from Jacqueline Garretson, who, according to her X bio, is the Illinois state director for The Conservative Caucus and previously worked as a staffer for failed Republican attorney general candidate Thomas DeVore. Garretson wrote that a relative, whom she later identified as her mother-in-law, ordered the Mint Majesty tea with two honeys — an order known to be Kirk’s favorite drink — from the Starbucks. When the order was completed, the cup had “Loser” written on it, Garretson said.
Garretson encouraged followers to call Starbucks and report the incident. She later posted two videos of her and an unidentified man confronting workers at the Norwood Park Starbucks.
“I’m talking 5 p.m. today, I want some form of action to the employee that represents this business that wrote ‘Loser’ on my mother’s cup,” the man, who is not seen on-camera, can be heard saying in the video, which was posted Wednesday. “We’re looking for not corporate bureaucracy. I want immediate accountability; and if not, I will have this whole intersection lined with patriots today, I’m not even joking,” the man told a Starbucks employee.
The videos received more than 40,000 likes on X. On Wednesday evening, Garretson posted that she went back to the Norwood Park Starbucks at 5 p.m. and found a sign that said the business was temporarily closed. “Thank you to everybody that called, stopped in to order Charlie’s drink and put in complaints with corporate. Over the past 24 hours we have SHUT THEM DOWN,” Garretson wrote in text over the video.
In an email to Block Club, a Starbucks spokesperson confirmed the Norwood Park location was closed for “a portion of the day” Wednesday. However, the spokesperson said the company reviewed timestamped in-store video footage and found the note was not written by a Starbucks employee. The note appears “to have been added after the beverage was handed off, likely by someone else,” the spokesperson said.
The Norwood Park Starbucks was back open Thursday, the spokesperson said.
She just wanted in on the fun. Everyone else got someone fired for saying something they didn’t like. Why shouldn’t she just because she couldn’t find anyone who’d done it?
And anyway, it’s good career move. She’s got game.
All the very best conservative lawyers in the country just happen to be models and pageant queens. So weird.
Trump has appointed that person, LIndsey Halligan to be the U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia where she will prosecute Letitia James since he fired the other Trumper prosecutor who could find enough evidence to do it. He seems quite sure she will find it.
Lindsey Halligan is an American lawyer who is currently serving as a Special Assistant to the President in the second Trump administration. She previously practiced insurance law in Florida, before joining Donald Trump’s legal team in 2022. Trump has tasked her with removing “improper ideology” from the Smithsonian Institution.
In a series of social media posts by Trump on September 20, 2025 where he called for prosecution against his political enemies, he said was appointing Halligan for U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Her predecessor, Erik Siebert, resigned from the position after the Trump administration pressured him to bring criminal charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James.Halligan has no prosecutorial experience, having primarily practiced law related to insurance claims.
Education and early life
Halligan attended Holy Family High school, and after graduation attended Regis University in Denver and earned a degree in political science and broadcast journalism.She competed in the Miss Colorado USA pageant twice in 2009 she was a semifinalist, and in 2010 she was third runner up. She was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2014.
Law career Insurance law
Halligan was a partner at Cole, Scott and Kissane in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and handled residential and commercial insurance claims.
Halligan was second chair to another lawyer defending an insurance company at a two-day trial against three Miami homeowners who had suffered damaged roofs. A judge would not award her attorneys fees because he ruled that her team did not act “in good faith.”
Halligan has represented Donald Trump since 2022. By August 2022, she had never handled a federal case. She was at Mar-a-Lago during the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022, quickly became involved in Trump’s lawsuit in October 2022 against CNN for allegedly comparing Trump to Hitler, and has been involved in his defense against the federal government in the classified documents case.
Trump’s Save America PAC paid Halligan $212,000 from June 2022 to June 2023.
In a March 2025 executive order, Trump tasked Halligan and JD Vance with removing “improper ideology” regarding portrayal of race in American history in the Smithsonian Institution. She currently serves as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Associate Staff Secretary in the second Trump administration.
Honestly, I don’t know why he doesn’t just put Laura Loomer in the job. Nobody would stop him. But I suppose her real impediment is that she never won a beauty pageant like Alina Habba and this equally unqualified woman lawyer he hired for obvious reasons.
Good luck with that prosecution. Letitia James is a real lawyer.
Karl: You've said you restored free speech in America. Is that free speech including for people who are harshly critical of you?
Trump: I've become immune to it… That's why your network paid me $16 million.. That's why CBS paid me a lot of money too. And that's why I sued The… pic.twitter.com/5oLBjOw80W
Karl: You’ve said you restored free speech in America. Is that free speech including for people who are harshly critical of you?
Trump: I’ve become immune to it… That’s why your network paid me $16 million.. That’s why CBS paid me a lot of money too. And that’s why I sued The New York Times
Karl: The judge threw it out
Trump: I’m winning…. And for you to stand there and act so innocent and ask me a question like that… The reason I won that lawsuit is you were proven to be dishonest. You’re not a wonderful person. You’re a terrible reporter. You know it and I know it.
One Republican state lawmaker in Oklahoma now wants to require every public university in the state to erect statues to slain far-right activist Charlie Kirk.
On Friday, Jeffrey Sachs — an assistant professor at Nova Scotia’s Acadia University — called attention to a bill by Oklahoma state senators Shane Jett (R) and Dana Prieto (R) that would mandate every public university in the Sooner State build a “Charlie Kirk Memorial Plaza.” The bill, which has been filed as Senate Bill 1187 and does not yet have a formal name, would force universities to set aside a portion of real estate in a visible public location — like the quad, the student union or main entrance pathways — “to maximize public awareness and utilization.”
Senate Bill 1187 would also make it a requirement for schools to erect a statue of both Kirk and his family, and to include a plaque honoring Kirk as “a voice of a generation, modern civil rights leader, vocal Christian, martyr for truth and faith, and free speech advocate.”
“We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.” — Charlie Kirk
“Square or plaza plans shall include a statue of Charlie Kirk sitting at a table with an empty seat across from him or a statue of Charlie Kirk and his wife standing and holding their children in their arms as a central element of the square or plaza design. The statue design and size shall be approved by the Legislature as part of the overall design review and approval process,” the bill reads.
CHARLIE KIRK (HOST): The Civil Rights Act, though, let’s be clear, created a beast, and that beast has now turned into an anti-white weapon.
Our goal should be to urge normies to get off their couches. Photo public domain by Max Vakhtbovycn.
Are we anxious this week? Between the “suspension” of Jimmy Kimmel and Vladimir Putin testing NATO’s “doorknobs” and “discovering is the US President is not at home,” you’d have reason to.
Over at Vox, Zack Beauchamp considers where all this is heading:
The kind of authoritarianism I fear is emerging in the United States, which political scientists call “competitive authoritarianism,” doesn’t involve the outright criminalization of the opposition or formal martial law. Instead, it depends on perverting the law, modifying and twisting it with the intent of incrementally undermining the opposition’s ability to compete fairly in elections.
Such a government can be constructed along the lines of what Princeton University’s Kim Lane Scheppele calls a “Frankenstate:” that is, “an abusive form of rule, created by combining the bits and pieces of perfectly reasonable democratic institutions in monstrous ways. … No one part is objectionable; the horror emerges from the combinations.”
Fascism will come to America hugging a flag and carrying a grudge.
The Frankenstate targets opposition parties through burdensome tax audits, dubious criminal investigations, and uneven application of campaign finance regulations. It also focuses on attacking the civil foundations of the opposition — meaning attacking the donors who might fund them, the activist groups who might stand up for their rights, and the free media they depend on to get their message out.
Silence or coopt enough of these voices, and the ruling party doesn’t actually have to outlaw political opposition or stuff ballot boxes. The opposition will simply be weak enough that letting them compete poses little threat.
There’s a lot here, including some advice for fighting back. As Beauchamps suggests, we need more senators to speak out and more corporations to step up. But waiting for that to happen is a fool’s game. The people we need to reach are not the teminally online.
And it means individual citizens attending protests and volunteering with the organizations under threat, as well as with political campaigns that could change things in 2026.
I continue to believe that actions you take must be visible and persistent. The people we need to reach are not the teminally online. More normies need to see and hear what’s happening to their country from their neighbors, the more who will get off their couches and into the streets. Activating them should be our immediate goal, including younger people who tend to dismiss politics as pointless.
