Good morning. Not a great day for mass media. But here's the thing, folks. My husband follows standup comedy, has for decades. There are literally more standup comics now than at any time in history, and they are everywhere. Every streaming platform, night clubs around the country. The firings at late night shows are bad bc a lot of folks lost their jobs, but that particular format was a fading entity - no one under 50 watched them anyway. Support your local comedian - go to standup night at your local pub, watch streaming video. Comedy is not going anywhere, never will.
If you want to make your voice heard re Kimmel, you know what to do - pick up the phone! Here's who to call: Nexstar Media Group owns ABC, their media contact is Gary Weitman. Not gonna share the email/ph here, y'all can look it up. Light up the phones now! I'm getting ready to call shortly.
And as for the teachers they claim to be cracking down on - welp, we just had a faculty union meeting at my university, that is literally what unions are for. The AFT is standing for freedom of speech and academic freedom for all teachers/academic professors, and they're not going anywhere. Good luck shutting up Randi Weingarten. If they think they're shutting me up, "they're messing with the wrong guy." (Steve Martin, a comedian).
Signed up to knock doors again this weekend, and many other canvasses for coordinated campaign - Sherrill, state assembly, etc. - are happening. NJ is not backing down, not one iota. Mikie is kicking butt, and she is not shutting up either. Looking forward to hearing from Simon this evening. Making my calls as usual to Kim, Booker, emailing the traitor Smith - and btw, there are now 3 Dems running against him next year! And NJ Moms Demand is joining a peace walk at the state capitol in a couple weeks.
The attack on our Freedom of Speech goes well beyond commedy and academia: it affects everyone in the USA. Jimmy Kimmel wrote this on BlueSky on Sept. 10th, which could contribute to the source of contention.
"Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence."
The Joint Leadership Statement also identifies the root of the problem -- abuse of power. It affects all of our freedoms, not just the freedom of speech, as we have seen across Our Country.
Did it. The email didn't look direct so I sent it to licensing. Couldn't get through on the phone so they're likely getting swamped. Thank you for your work.
Same kind of thoughts re comedians. This is just pushing Colbert and Kimmel onto their own streaming platforms, where they will have far greater freedom to say what they want and truly skewer the regime. YouTube and the like are the future, late night network television the past. (Although my elderly mom will miss Kimmel!)
Susan, I agree with you and Leslie below and Lisa and her original point. Legacy media and newspapers have all already folded, but their influence in society has been diminishing for years and years already with innovative content creators instead increasing heading toward outlets not owned by billionaires and impotent corporations. Jimmy can do what Joy Reid, Stephen Colbert, Rachel Maddow, even Dan Rather have done and remove the "bosses" from their free speech. Is this autocratic and part of the slippery slide? Of course it is. But we the people have alternatives.
What you say about the way comedy is thriving despite the authoritarian attacks can also be said to a lesser extent of journalism, with the emergence of Substack. How many of your favorite writers actually disappeared?
Absolutely true. All the newspapers we used to be able to trust to be independent have already caved to Trump. The final nail for me was WaPo. Katherine Graham must be turning in her grave. That would have never happened under her husband, her, or Ben Bradlee's leadership.
Agreed. But, also agreed that we do have to be careful distinguishing government from market forces - as in the same market forces that made an impact on Musk's bottom line with Tesla.
Because, it's true that the business model for journalism and entertainment, and those flocking to it, has been changing for years.
For me, the big chill is Trump and MAGA believing and touting that this is because of them and their power to influence - whether or not that's only partly true.
Again, perception is 9/10s of the game, yes?
But, I also think, we might look back on this time, say 10 years from now (my keyboard to God's eyes), and see that we were at a fork in the road with the old models of media and journalism and that perhaps regardless of who was in the WH, things might have been changing anyway.
I guess, what I mean to say is, in the end, at the very bottom of the rabbit hole, you'll find nothing about right, wrong, moral, immoral, ammoral, civil, left, right, liberal, illiberal - it all has to do with money now. Unless people rise up in huge numbers, Trump and MAGA steer the narrative on that - for all these mergers which is what is happening to journalism and the media companies.
Plus, Trump is an orange prick. Did I say that yet this morning?
JOINT LEADERSHIP STATEMENT ON THE SUSPENSION OF JIMMY KIMMEL
Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark, Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, Caucus Vice Chair Ted Lieu, Assistant Leader Joe Neguse and DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene released the following statement:
Brendan Carr, the so-called Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has engaged in the corrupt abuse of power. He has disgraced the office he holds by bullying ABC, the employer of Jimmy Kimmel, and forcing the company to bend the knee to the Trump administration. FCC Chair Brendan Carr should resign immediately.
Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s war on the First Amendment is blatantly inconsistent with American values. Media companies, such as the one that suspended Mr. Kimmel, have a lot to explain. The censoring of artists and cancellation of shows is an act of cowardice. It may also be part of a corrupt pay-to-play scheme. House Democrats will make sure the American people learn the truth, even if that requires the relentless unleashing of congressional subpoena power. This will not be forgotten.
This is a fantastic statement, and about damn time! It's easy to wish that Jeffries et al had started putting out this kind of thing on Day 1, but better late than never. Simon's phrase, different context: we are here now.
I was struck last night by how bad the news was (oligarchs taking over media; fired CDC director; Patel) vs. a clip of Trump trying to read a very simple, poorly written speech before Charles and Camilla, as they averted their eyes in embarrassment. Looking forward to the meeting tonight.
The reservoir is endless and won't be silenced, of that I am confident.
And let's not forget, Al Franken was a very successful and admired representative until... until... well, that's another story. Still, many have said that his resignation (and the pressure that resulted in his departure) was "of its time" (I think even Gillibrand has referenced that, but I'd have to find her exact words when questioned about it) and wouldn't have happened in these current times.
From Barack Obama on BlueSky today... (Audacity of Hope!)
"After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like."
With all the other news, we hardly see cover of Trump's illegal sinking of 3 small boats off the coast of Venezuela. He could have had the boats followed and , if in US waters, searched by the Coast Guard for drugs. No, he wanted the more "attractive" way of killing which his followers prefer.
Mark, I actually shared a statement today from 4 leading Dems about VZ and there is no third boat. Please pull your post down for it contains misleading information. Thank you.
We've been working for the last six months to organize our retirement community here in NH--with considerable success. A big part of that comes from "Hopium" and the very specific ideas that you continue to put out for us. THANK YOU!
As I tend to be a "silver linings" sort of guy, shaken as I am by this, there could easily be a big backlash to this. The other thing, is with the Joint Leadership Statement, the Democrats may be able to shift the storyline away from Charlie Kirk to this attack on American Democracy.
Overreach on the receiving end is hard to suffer through, but many opponents go down because of it.
So to Amazon, Tesla and Target, I now add ABC, CBS, Paramount, and Disney to the boycott list.
What other direct actions are available to us? While I appreciate the "strongly worded letter" from the Joint Leadership, it still remains just that.
What we are learning is corporations are cowards. Perhaps the Screen Actors Guild will make a stand against Paramount and Disney. How can we expand the Tesla Takedown model?
...and we should not overlook Brian Kilmeade calling for the extermination of homeless people. Can't remember which legal pundit I heard that said it was clearly over the line as criminal speech, maybe it was Harry Litman or Michael Popok.
Trump is massively overreaching and it's going to backfire. But it is sobering and depressing to see ABC capitulate again. I wonder if we might focus on calling about the FCC chair, whatever his name is?
I mailed 50 postcards this morning for the PA Supreme Court race. Working on 70 for California prop 50. Just got started on that.
Thanks everyone for their efforts. I wish I could've attended the fundraiser in Minnesota.
For the immediate moment, I’m calling my MN reps to tell them that they should have a press conference to talk about hypocrisy in reaction to the Kirk killing over that of the Hortmans and call for the resignation of Mike Lee. I am framing my calls around the idea of standing up for constituents—which I will continue when I get back to telling them not just to focus on health care while their constituents are losing their jobs, their liberties, and their security.
Contacted my reps. I asked them what THEY are doing to meet this moment and stressed the importance of 24/7 communication, collaboration with and joint statements by Dems, puch to roll back tariffs, restore support for Ukraine and Western Europe, sane health policies...
I don’t manage to report every day on what I’m doing, and get confused about what I have posted. In the past few days I focused on vaccine accessibility in Oregon, which despite the Western States Health Alliance, has not ironed out the wrinkles with the State Pharmacy Board or ?? (I did find a small independent pharmacy that is administering vaccines, but only with a prescription.)
Also, we are very worried about the potential rescinding of the Roadless Rule here, so I have been trying to spread the word about that, getting people to submit comments. Senator Murray of Washington posted a helpful video about it, too.
On Constitution Day yesterday, a coalition of 46 retired Federal Judges issued an extraordinary letter and press statement condemning the attacks on the Judiciary and the Constitution. Please read:
Well, in my adult lifetime white USians have fought and voted harder for racism and guns than for "freedom and democracy" but maybe we've finally caught on? Maybe now we see what the Republican Party has been up to since Nixon and his "southern strategy"? Here's hoping we white people are willing to listen to what people of color have known all along -- and that we'll keep listening after Trump and his puppeteers are brought to justice.
Activate America's postcard campaign for Mikie Sherrill is now open for sign-ups. https://www.activateamerica.vote/postcards
Information please. Nancy Jacobs , indivisible Chatham NC
nbjacobs16@gmail.com
Good morning. Not a great day for mass media. But here's the thing, folks. My husband follows standup comedy, has for decades. There are literally more standup comics now than at any time in history, and they are everywhere. Every streaming platform, night clubs around the country. The firings at late night shows are bad bc a lot of folks lost their jobs, but that particular format was a fading entity - no one under 50 watched them anyway. Support your local comedian - go to standup night at your local pub, watch streaming video. Comedy is not going anywhere, never will.
If you want to make your voice heard re Kimmel, you know what to do - pick up the phone! Here's who to call: Nexstar Media Group owns ABC, their media contact is Gary Weitman. Not gonna share the email/ph here, y'all can look it up. Light up the phones now! I'm getting ready to call shortly.
And as for the teachers they claim to be cracking down on - welp, we just had a faculty union meeting at my university, that is literally what unions are for. The AFT is standing for freedom of speech and academic freedom for all teachers/academic professors, and they're not going anywhere. Good luck shutting up Randi Weingarten. If they think they're shutting me up, "they're messing with the wrong guy." (Steve Martin, a comedian).
Signed up to knock doors again this weekend, and many other canvasses for coordinated campaign - Sherrill, state assembly, etc. - are happening. NJ is not backing down, not one iota. Mikie is kicking butt, and she is not shutting up either. Looking forward to hearing from Simon this evening. Making my calls as usual to Kim, Booker, emailing the traitor Smith - and btw, there are now 3 Dems running against him next year! And NJ Moms Demand is joining a peace walk at the state capitol in a couple weeks.
Keep going!
The attack on our Freedom of Speech goes well beyond commedy and academia: it affects everyone in the USA. Jimmy Kimmel wrote this on BlueSky on Sept. 10th, which could contribute to the source of contention.
"Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence."
The Joint Leadership Statement also identifies the root of the problem -- abuse of power. It affects all of our freedoms, not just the freedom of speech, as we have seen across Our Country.
Did it. The email didn't look direct so I sent it to licensing. Couldn't get through on the phone so they're likely getting swamped. Thank you for your work.
Same kind of thoughts re comedians. This is just pushing Colbert and Kimmel onto their own streaming platforms, where they will have far greater freedom to say what they want and truly skewer the regime. YouTube and the like are the future, late night network television the past. (Although my elderly mom will miss Kimmel!)
Onward, with courage!
Susan, I agree with you and Leslie below and Lisa and her original point. Legacy media and newspapers have all already folded, but their influence in society has been diminishing for years and years already with innovative content creators instead increasing heading toward outlets not owned by billionaires and impotent corporations. Jimmy can do what Joy Reid, Stephen Colbert, Rachel Maddow, even Dan Rather have done and remove the "bosses" from their free speech. Is this autocratic and part of the slippery slide? Of course it is. But we the people have alternatives.
What you say about the way comedy is thriving despite the authoritarian attacks can also be said to a lesser extent of journalism, with the emergence of Substack. How many of your favorite writers actually disappeared?
Absolutely true. All the newspapers we used to be able to trust to be independent have already caved to Trump. The final nail for me was WaPo. Katherine Graham must be turning in her grave. That would have never happened under her husband, her, or Ben Bradlee's leadership.
Agreed. But, also agreed that we do have to be careful distinguishing government from market forces - as in the same market forces that made an impact on Musk's bottom line with Tesla.
Because, it's true that the business model for journalism and entertainment, and those flocking to it, has been changing for years.
For me, the big chill is Trump and MAGA believing and touting that this is because of them and their power to influence - whether or not that's only partly true.
Again, perception is 9/10s of the game, yes?
But, I also think, we might look back on this time, say 10 years from now (my keyboard to God's eyes), and see that we were at a fork in the road with the old models of media and journalism and that perhaps regardless of who was in the WH, things might have been changing anyway.
I guess, what I mean to say is, in the end, at the very bottom of the rabbit hole, you'll find nothing about right, wrong, moral, immoral, ammoral, civil, left, right, liberal, illiberal - it all has to do with money now. Unless people rise up in huge numbers, Trump and MAGA steer the narrative on that - for all these mergers which is what is happening to journalism and the media companies.
Plus, Trump is an orange prick. Did I say that yet this morning?
Okay, it's afternoon.
I love that Simon posted the image of Zelenskyy. Remember, he got his start as a comedian!
thank you!!
JOINT LEADERSHIP STATEMENT ON THE SUSPENSION OF JIMMY KIMMEL
Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark, Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, Caucus Vice Chair Ted Lieu, Assistant Leader Joe Neguse and DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene released the following statement:
Brendan Carr, the so-called Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has engaged in the corrupt abuse of power. He has disgraced the office he holds by bullying ABC, the employer of Jimmy Kimmel, and forcing the company to bend the knee to the Trump administration. FCC Chair Brendan Carr should resign immediately.
Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s war on the First Amendment is blatantly inconsistent with American values. Media companies, such as the one that suspended Mr. Kimmel, have a lot to explain. The censoring of artists and cancellation of shows is an act of cowardice. It may also be part of a corrupt pay-to-play scheme. House Democrats will make sure the American people learn the truth, even if that requires the relentless unleashing of congressional subpoena power. This will not be forgotten.
https://jeffries.house.gov/2025/09/18/joint-leadership-statement-on-the-suspension-of-jimmy-kimmel/
That’s more like it.
This is a fantastic statement, and about damn time! It's easy to wish that Jeffries et al had started putting out this kind of thing on Day 1, but better late than never. Simon's phrase, different context: we are here now.
Amazing - thanks for posting!
I was struck last night by how bad the news was (oligarchs taking over media; fired CDC director; Patel) vs. a clip of Trump trying to read a very simple, poorly written speech before Charles and Camilla, as they averted their eyes in embarrassment. Looking forward to the meeting tonight.
Two items this morning:
1. Re Zelenskyy: Yes, MAGA should consider that comedians can become very successful elected officials when provoked.
2. I am officially Audacious.
Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes, Gabriel Iglesias in addition to Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert ... so many potential slates.
The reservoir is endless and won't be silenced, of that I am confident.
And let's not forget, Al Franken was a very successful and admired representative until... until... well, that's another story. Still, many have said that his resignation (and the pressure that resulted in his departure) was "of its time" (I think even Gillibrand has referenced that, but I'd have to find her exact words when questioned about it) and wouldn't have happened in these current times.
If you want electeds who know how to use media and communicate directly to people and hold their attention, comedians are just who you want.
Stand-up comedian > reality TV star in this. By a mile.
Long live audacity!
From Barack Obama on BlueSky today... (Audacity of Hope!)
"After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like."
With all the other news, we hardly see cover of Trump's illegal sinking of 3 small boats off the coast of Venezuela. He could have had the boats followed and , if in US waters, searched by the Coast Guard for drugs. No, he wanted the more "attractive" way of killing which his followers prefer.
There was a 3rd boat?
That's what I read somewhere. This should be a bigger issue at UN, impeachment 2026
somewhere.
Mark, I actually shared a statement today from 4 leading Dems about VZ and there is no third boat. Please pull your post down for it contains misleading information. Thank you.
Two Republican former members of Congress in Virginia endorse Abigail Spanberger for Governor.
https://youtu.be/5u--0vQACQw?si=lfQNr6WKUw-iKhdp
Thanks! Great ads and news
That's pretty great!
We've been working for the last six months to organize our retirement community here in NH--with considerable success. A big part of that comes from "Hopium" and the very specific ideas that you continue to put out for us. THANK YOU!
As I tend to be a "silver linings" sort of guy, shaken as I am by this, there could easily be a big backlash to this. The other thing, is with the Joint Leadership Statement, the Democrats may be able to shift the storyline away from Charlie Kirk to this attack on American Democracy.
Overreach on the receiving end is hard to suffer through, but many opponents go down because of it.
I like your thinking here Steve. Blowback!
So to Amazon, Tesla and Target, I now add ABC, CBS, Paramount, and Disney to the boycott list.
What other direct actions are available to us? While I appreciate the "strongly worded letter" from the Joint Leadership, it still remains just that.
What we are learning is corporations are cowards. Perhaps the Screen Actors Guild will make a stand against Paramount and Disney. How can we expand the Tesla Takedown model?
...and we should not overlook Brian Kilmeade calling for the extermination of homeless people. Can't remember which legal pundit I heard that said it was clearly over the line as criminal speech, maybe it was Harry Litman or Michael Popok.
Trump is massively overreaching and it's going to backfire. But it is sobering and depressing to see ABC capitulate again. I wonder if we might focus on calling about the FCC chair, whatever his name is?
I mailed 50 postcards this morning for the PA Supreme Court race. Working on 70 for California prop 50. Just got started on that.
Thanks everyone for their efforts. I wish I could've attended the fundraiser in Minnesota.
Write On!!
For the immediate moment, I’m calling my MN reps to tell them that they should have a press conference to talk about hypocrisy in reaction to the Kirk killing over that of the Hortmans and call for the resignation of Mike Lee. I am framing my calls around the idea of standing up for constituents—which I will continue when I get back to telling them not just to focus on health care while their constituents are losing their jobs, their liberties, and their security.
report:
Contacted my reps. I asked them what THEY are doing to meet this moment and stressed the importance of 24/7 communication, collaboration with and joint statements by Dems, puch to roll back tariffs, restore support for Ukraine and Western Europe, sane health policies...
and postcards for VA
Where’s today’s “Daniel Ellsberg” patriot with access and courage to release the Epstein files?
I don’t manage to report every day on what I’m doing, and get confused about what I have posted. In the past few days I focused on vaccine accessibility in Oregon, which despite the Western States Health Alliance, has not ironed out the wrinkles with the State Pharmacy Board or ?? (I did find a small independent pharmacy that is administering vaccines, but only with a prescription.)
Also, we are very worried about the potential rescinding of the Roadless Rule here, so I have been trying to spread the word about that, getting people to submit comments. Senator Murray of Washington posted a helpful video about it, too.
I also invested in the Audacious Expansion Fund.
what is the roadless rule?
On Constitution Day yesterday, a coalition of 46 retired Federal Judges issued an extraordinary letter and press statement condemning the attacks on the Judiciary and the Constitution. Please read:
https://keepourrepublic.org/
Well, in my adult lifetime white USians have fought and voted harder for racism and guns than for "freedom and democracy" but maybe we've finally caught on? Maybe now we see what the Republican Party has been up to since Nixon and his "southern strategy"? Here's hoping we white people are willing to listen to what people of color have known all along -- and that we'll keep listening after Trump and his puppeteers are brought to justice.