Sunday, August 03, 2025
Saturday, August 02, 2025
As Israel's genocide and engineered famine in Gaza reach new depths of depravity it is important, not only to keep calling attention to the attrosities and war crimes, but also to humanize the suffering Gazan Palistinians. This piece in The New Yorker does that, not with sentementality, but with deep compassion.
Link
Treating Gaza’s Collective Trauma - Click
Saturday, July 26, 2025
Trump Regime's Takeover of Commercial Media Starts in Earnest
BREAKING: Paramount Will Have a 'Bias Monitor' Overseeing CBS News Reporting to TrumpIn a move that would have seemed like satire a few years ago—perhaps something ripped straight from an especially cynical episode of South Park—the federal government under Donald Trump has successfully strong-armed one of the most powerful media companies in America into adopting a "bias monitor" and eliminating its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs as a condition of merger approval. This isn’t a dystopian Netflix pitch. It’s policy now.
Last Thursday, FCC commissioner Brendan Carr approved the $8 billion merger between Skydance Media and Paramount—an act that would normally garner attention for its financial and creative implications. But we now know that this merger came with a disturbing catch: government-mandated ideological restructuring. Paramount must now hire an ombudsman—essentially a political commissar—tasked with flagging any perceived "bias" at CBS News. This bias monitor must report directly to Donald Trump.
To say this is unprecedented is an understatement. We’ve entered a new phase of culture war: not one merely waged on social media or cable news, but one enforced by regulatory muscle.
While Trump’s first term was marked by a toxic rhetorical war against the press—“enemy of the people,” “fake news,” “scum”—his second term appears more tactically effective. He’s not just yelling anymore; he’s governing. And he's using the full power of the federal government to reshape the media landscape in his image.
The timing is impossible to ignore. Only days before this merger approval, CBS canceled The Colbert Report, an iconic show known for its sharp political satire—particularly when directed at Trump. The cancellation followed shortly after Paramount agreed to pay Trump a $16 million settlement over what he claimed was the “unfair editing” of an interview with Kamala Harris. Legal experts called the suit frivolous. But it didn't matter. The settlement came. The show got axed. And a billion-dollar merger received a presidential green light—so long as CBS cleansed itself of both "bias" and DEI.
The Trump White House has also now taken to issuing official condemnations of comedians. Last week, Joy Behar was labeled “an irrelevant loser” by the administration for a tame joke about Trump’s jealousy of Barack Obama. South Park—which has lampooned every political figure imaginable—was attacked for being “irrelevant” after an episode featured Trump in bed with Satan.
It’s worth asking: What happens to a culture when satire becomes suspect? When jokes become federal offenses in all but name?
When media companies start thinking twice about airing an SNL skit, a political cartoon, or even a provocative drama because the White House might retaliate financially or regulatorily—that’s not just chilling. That’s totalitarian adjacent.
We can mock the absurdity of a federal government that obsesses over comedy sketches and internal DEI training slides. But that mockery must be paired with alarm—and action. Because this isn’t theoretical. It’s happening now. And it’s happening fast.
Media institutions must decide whether they are in the business of truth or the business of survival. Journalists must decide whether they are stenographers or storytellers. And the public—you, reading this—must decide whether you’re comfortable with your government telling late-night comedians what they can joke about and newsrooms who they can hire.
Paramount has capitulated. Others may soon follow. The question is: who will stand?
Friday, July 25, 2025
Gaza destruction surpasses Hiroshima, Holocausts Professor Says
Prof. Bartov's assessment comes as no surprise to anyone who has been following Israel's genocide in Gaza and attempts to destroy the PA in the West Bank for the last few decades, but still horrifying when couched in such terms.
No other country on the face of the Earth would have been allowed to get away with a fraction of what Israel has done to the Palestinians, most especially in Gaza!
As a Roman Catholic, I love and respect the Jewish people, our elder brothers in faith. But, that has never stopped me, nor will it ever stop me, saying as loudly and frequently as possible, that the Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu is a murderous, genocidal regime.
All the members of the IDF who carry out Netanyahu's sick, grandiose genocidal vision shall eventually find, here or in the Hereafter, that "just following orders" doesn't cut it.
Massachusetts Working to Protect Civil Liberties and Vulnerable
The Democratic majority in the Massachusetts House and Senate are currently working on legislation to protect Bay State residents from the depredations of the Trump admin.
Monday, July 21, 2025
Sunday, July 20, 2025
Saturday, July 19, 2025
Friday, July 18, 2025
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Saturday, July 12, 2025
Making Good Trouble
On July Seventeenth, Free Speech for People will be holding a nationwide, peaceful day of action. Click this link to find an action near you.
Thursday, July 10, 2025
Regrets Aren't Worth Squat!
Oh, yeah, cry me a friggin' river.
You know, maybe, just maybe, the folks we send to Capitol Hill should have to pass a) a commonsense test and b) a basic reading test before being sworn in. If they flunk either test, they should be rejected and another election immediately be called to fill the seat. Furthermore, the wouldbe reps and sens that flunk should be barred from ever running for any public office again.
I wouldn't trust any of these dunderheads to catsit my precious babies!