Freedom of Speech

Freedom of speech is a foundation of American life.

We must obey laws passed by democratically elected representatives of the people. But part of the deal is that we get to make fun of, criticize, satirize and generally call out anyone with whom we disagree as long as it’s within the law.

This also applies to the public airwaves.

Of course, a network has the right to remove and cancel any show it chooses. But when it chooses to do so because it is clearly being pressured by the government, either directly or indirectly, to censor dissenting voices or else – this becomes problematic.

Which is a polite word for DANGEROUS.

Which is a polite word for A THREAT TO OUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

Which is a polite phrase for A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY.

Of course, this is only my opinion. And the opinion of many people smarter than myself.

This being a democracy you get to decide for yourself.

But to put this in context:

Jimmy Kimmel Live! was pulled “indefinitely” from ABC this week. He’s the affable, quite funny late-night host who has been doing political monologues nightly for more than a decade. Sometimes his jokes are controversial but mostly they are nothing more than gentle jabs at the powers-that-be.

In any event, those powers-that-be in the government, as well as ABC/Disney, the FCC and the far right, would have you believe that a joke he made about the current POTUS’ behavior in light of the tragic assassination of far right influencer/lobbyist Charlie Kirk, is the reason the Kimmel show was suddenly yanked off the air.

In fact, as you may know, it goes much deeper than that.

It involves government threats to blow up a merger deal for two right wing companies, who own ABC affiliate stations, to merge (Note: And thus exert more influence than any nationwide station group) that is worth in excess of $6.2 billion.

It involves ABC-Disney’s terror at those stations refusing to broadcast anything on ABC that doesn’t meet its approval (Note: That’s not how free TV works, for the most part).

It involves an FCC Chairman threatening the broadcast licenses of any network or station broadcasting entertainment that doesn’t meet, nee comply, with his personal approval (Note: His name is Brendan Carr, google him).

This is the man. This is his lapel pin. For real.

And it involves a sitting POTUS, who several day ago floated this idea about broadcast networks who give him too much negative coverage:

I think maybe their license should be taken away.

Personally, I find that chilling.

But of course, and again, it’s only my opinion.

Just know it was formed as a result of CBS announcing another program that frequently criticizes POTUS and the government, its The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, would permanently end its run in May 2026, thus enabling said government to approve the $8.2 billion merger between CBS’s parent company, Paramount, and Skydance, several weeks later

Despite some denials about that, I don’t believe in coincidence. Especially when billions of dollars are at stake. Not to mention the egos and extreme agendas of very powerful men.

But again, this is a blog so that’s merely me offering… an opinion.

It is up to each of us as citizens to read up on this ourselves.

So – here are some links on the issues in no particular order from a variety of sources. And…none of them are behind paywalls.

As I learned as a high school and college student in the 1970s, a time when the FCC actually had a Fairness Doctrine that required licensed stations to offer opinions on BOTH sides of an issue, it is our responsibility as citizens to speak out, especially when we think or fear free speech is being threatened.

That is why I wrote the following letter to ABC-Disney about the indefinite removal of Jimmy Kimmel’s show from its airwaves. To this address:

Disney-ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution

500 S. Buena Vista St.

Burbank, CA 91521-3515

Yes, Big companies and big networks actually do track snail mail. Something about its physical presence gives it a greater potency than a social media post or an email.

If you agree, I urge you to write your own, crib any portion of mine. Or to simply do nothing if you don’t agree with me or any of the articles referred to here.

You get to weigh in on any issue in any way you see fit.

That’s the way it rolls in our democracy.

For now.

To the Power-that-Be at ABC-Disney:

The cowardice your corporation has shown in taking Jimmy Kimmel’s show off the air is a sad betrayal of our cherished American right to free speech. It’s clear that threats from the FCC chairman and the pending merger of Sinclair and Nexstar are key to your decision.

But looming above all of this seems to be your sheer terror of, and thus capitulation to, the fascist authoritarian currently occupying the White House. Despite your army of attorneys and the public power your multi-billion dollar company wields, you’ve quickly relinquished your rights as an American business, betrayed democratic principles and gone running for the hills at the mere thought of getting on his “bad” side.

Of course, bullies and aspiring two-bit dictators only have one side. And there is no placating them. Ever. But I suspect you know that.

If you’re reading this and now thinking, “Well, Kimmel’s facts were not entirely correct in that joke,” perhaps you’re right. We all make mistakes.

So, now go through the last month‘s worth of Mr. Kimmel’s programs and then the last month of POTUS’ on-air public statements and tell me which have generated more incorrect facts – aka lies and half-truths?

And then tell me — which one is funnier?

Since money, and not the Constitution, is your thing, recognize you will make a hell of a lot more money with Kimmel’s funny than you will by turning your network into Trump TV.

And then morphing Disneyland into TrumpWorld – which will most certainly become the unhappiest place on earth.

Know I will be boycotting all things ABC and Disney Corp. from here on in and urging all of my friends, family and co-workers to follow suit. Subscriptions and all.

xxxxxxxxxx

P.S. – It’s not too late to change your mind and give something back to the country that enabled you to become so rich and profitable in the first place.

Eminem – “Freedom of Speech”

09.07.25

by notesfromachair

Apocalypse Now?

I don’t pay much attention to the current president’s tweets because:

They’re usually meant to distract from something else much more important.
They’re usually mind-numbingly juvenile and as an “older person” I don’t like to waste my remaining years with stupid.
They’re usually an empty threat or a lie.

But when, on Saturday, he co-opted Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now poster and dialogue to make a joke threat of invading the great American city of Chicago – a town where I went to grad school, lived in briefly in my early twenties, and formed key lasting friendships over more than four decades, he pissed me off.

Royally.

Though royalty is something he will never be no matter how much he tries to act like King George III.

Anyway, I hate to reprint him (Note: POTUS, not the Real King) but desperate times call for desperate measures when you sense danger. So here it is.

Some observations:

When the president of a country thinks it’s cool to declare “war” on an American city – metaphorically, in reality or both – it’s time to stop what you’re doing and pay attention. (Note: You are allowed, however, to watch the men’s U.S. Open’s Final Sunday because we don’t want to ruin EVERYTHING good).

2. This POTUS renamed our Department of Defense to our Department of War by executive order on Friday even though it’s not official and not legal since that power lies with Congress. So clearly he’s signaling how he’s planning to “rule” unless he’s stopped.

3. The ad he’s “parodying” features a black-hearted but fictional U.S. lieutenant colonel during the Vietnam War who famously said, I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It was a piece of dialogue illustrating how uncaring, sadistic and morally reprehensible/insane this fictional military man was. So when you are the actual real-life president – and put an image of YOU in place of the colonel – it means either:

a. You want to be seen as just that.

b. You are just that.

You are BOTH a. and b. At least in your own mind.

Totally fine. No problems at all. #yikes

Whichever you or I choose to answer to any of these questions or observations it’s clear that the current occupant of the Oval Office intends to order his battalions of enforcers (Note: ICE Agents, the National Guard from a red state since blue states aren’t playing and, well other masked guys) into the streets of another blue city to round up as many people as possible – much in the style napalm rid Vietnam of Vietnamese of all ages that fictional colonel wanted to exterminate.

Will he do it?

Won’t he do it?

How are these even questions we have to ponder??

That’s the reality show teaser promo this POTUS, a former reality TV show host and life-long bottom feeding huckster who in the last year has made $3-5 Billion in bitcoin selling virtual tchotchkes of himself, wants us to play.

Well, we’re not playing.

But we ARE paying attention.

Because there are 2.72 million people in Chicago, many of them non-white and a lot of them immigrants, who are being threatened. They are threatened not so much by the face of the colonel inserted in the ad, but by someone with the same face acting more like a real life counterpart of the fictional Col. Kurtz that Marlon Brando played in the last third of that Coppola film classic.

And he was plain bat shit crazy.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is clearly treating the situation as such. Over the weekend his response was short and to the point.

The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.

Tens of thousands of people across the country took to the streets in red and blue cities in the last week, enraged at the militaristic threats, mass raids rounding up innocent citizens and the stripping of rights and legal status.

The current administration is also losing court cases nationwide, most recently from the federal bench, which ruled his deployment of troops in my home state of California was illegal.

And yet the threats continue, often veiled in lame comedy, as do the lies (Note: Crime is down in Chicago and Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles). As does the misinformation and obsequiousness of his cabinet AND his private spray of willingly sycophantic billionaires (Note: Check out Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg caught on a hot mic serving up embarrassingly servile by watching this four minute segment in its entirety) which has now reached Saturday Night Live level.

It all reeks of either a new Gilded Age or the beginning of a contemporary version of the French Revolution.

Though many people are saying it’s beginning to sound more like Russian oligarchy or the seeds of a late 1930s-style German dictatorship.

Whatever it is or is not any of those, it’s worth paying attention to.

Not because it’s now co-opted imagery and dialogue from one of our greatest American director’s work.

But because it’s more serious than the heart attack lead actor Martin Sheen had that caused Apocalypse Now to famously shut down during filming.

He recovered from that and went on to play the president of our dreams on The West Wing.

But will we?

Let’s do more than hope we can do the same and recast our real life leader in the next election.

One that is not only free but fair.

And take to the streets en masse if the narrative begins to more and more lean towards the apocalypse.

The Doors – “The End” (with scenes from Apocalpyse Now)

notes from a chair

Category Archives: The Red, White & Blues

Freedom of Speech

Apocalypse Now?