DL Open Thread: Thursday, September 18, 2025

Nobody In Corporate Media Will Stand Up To Trump.  I guess the specter of Trump lawsuits has caused all corporate-types to cower:

ABC announced Wednesday it’s pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air indefinitely. The sudden move followed threats from the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission to the stations that carry the show, and backlash to comments Kimmel made this week about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

‘Backlash’.  Lest ye forget the verbal stylings of the saintly Charlie Kirk, you can find some of them here.  Gee, wonder where the ‘backlash’ came from.  We’re as close to government-controlled media as we’ve ever been.

The chair of the FCC who issued the threats?:

Mr. Carr wrote the F.C.C. chapter for Project 2025, a playbook written for Mr. Trump’s 2024 campaign and election. In it, Mr. Carr said the agency should focus on reining in big tech firms, which he accused of censorship.

In frequent appearances on Fox News and in prolific social media postings, Mr. Carr echoed Mr. Trump’s growing anger toward broadcasters during the election. Mr. Carr was also well-connected within conservative Washington organizations like the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society.

Before the election, Mr. Carr hitched his star to Elon Musk, then a confidant of Mr. Trump. On X, the social media platform owned by Mr. Musk, Mr. Carr posted photos of himself at SpaceX launches and other business ventures run by the billionaire.

“Commissioner Carr is a warrior for Free Speech, and has fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans’ Freedoms, and held back our Economy,” Mr. Trump said when he named Mr. Carr to head the F.C.C. in January.

Mr. Carr quickly launched investigations into diversity, equity and inclusion programs — pushing to dismantle them — then slashed regulations on broadband companies.

In January, he reinstated complaints against CBS, NBC and ABC that accused the broadcasters of political biases. The F.C.C. under former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. had dismissed the complaints, saying they violated the First Amendment.

On and on it goes. To point out the obvious–A Free Speech Warrior he is not.

Can We Finally Deep-Six The ‘Leftist Ideology’ Idiocy Ascribed To Tyler Robinson?:

The alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, turned himself in to authorities last Thursday. While we still don’t know much about him or his rationale, it is being speculated that he may have been deeply embedded into alt-right online culture. This is far more plausible than the hypothesis floated on Saturday by Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R): that Robinson had been “indoctrinated into leftist ideology.”

When I read what was engraved into the unfired cartridges found with Robinson’s weapon, I immediately identified the internet slang and memes. Four messages were presented:

• Notices bulges OwO what’s this?
• Hey fascist! Catch! [Beside the depiction of five arrow symbols: one up, one right, and three down]
• Oh Bella ciao Bella ciao Bella ciao ciao ciao
• If you read this, you are gay lmao

The first is a copypasta (text repeatedly shared online) parodying the furry community (a subculture interested in sexualized anthropomorphic animals). The second is a phrase and button combination used in the video game Helldivers 2 that calls in an airstrike. The third is a reference to the anti-fascist, anti-Nazi Italian folk song, “Bella Ciao.” The final engraving exemplifies a typical troll joke.

For someone unfamiliar with the tactics and communication styles of the online alt-right, these messages may appear as a jumble of nonsense (or even leftist messaging, especially the second and third engravings). However, the alt-right does not communicate through straightforward, earnest speech. Rather, it “weaponizes irony to attract and radicalize potential supporters, challenge progressive ideologies and institutions, redpill normies, and create a toxic counterpublic.” They communicate through terse, coded, and generally offensive phrases meant to signal group recognition. Nothing is said in earnest–in fact, any expression of earnestness is roundly mocked. Every true meaning is hidden under double or triple layers of irony only accessible to the in-group. As Julia Rose DeCook argues, “trolling itself has become a kind of political aesthetic and identity.” Indeed, it’s not unreasonable to question if these users carry any political ideology beyond mockery, irony, and bitter cynicism.

I’ll repeat:  If the Fascists had any proof that Robinson had been indoctrinated into so-called leftist ideology, they wouldn’t exactly be sitting on it, now would they?

Wanna Learn About Charlie Kirk And Turning Point?  This guy wrote the book:

For the past several years, Matthew Boedy, an English professor at the University of North Georgia, has been working on a book about the Christian nationalist aims of the conservative powerhouse group Turning Point USA and its late founder, right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk. In his forthcoming book, The Seven Mountains Mandate: Exposing the Dangerous Plan to Christianize America and Destroy Democracy, Boedy argues that Kirk modeled Turning Point on the seven-mountain mandate, the idea that Christians are called to take over each of seven spheres of influence—from government to education to media and beyond.

This is a real good interview with the author.  Highly-recommended.

Trump Finds A Judge To Deport Mahmoud Khalil.  An ‘immigration judge’ in Louisiana:

An immigration judge in the US state of Louisiana has ordered the deportation of pro-Palestinian protest leader Mahmoud Khalil to Algeria or Syria, ruling that he failed to disclose information on his green card application, according to court documents filed on Wednesday.

Khalil’s lawyers said they intended to appeal against the deportation order, and that a federal district court’s separate orders remain in effect prohibiting the government from immediately deporting or detaining him as his federal court case proceeds. The lawyers submitted a letter to the federal court in New Jersey overseeing his civil rights case and said he will challenge the decision.

Khalil, in a statement to the American Civil Liberties Union, said in response to the order: “It is no surprise that the Trump administration continues to retaliate against me for my exercise of free speech. Their latest attempt, through a kangaroo immigration court, exposes their true colors once again.”

Carney And DeMatteis’ Pathetic Non-Response To Homelessness.  Proof once again that Two Times Zero Equals Zero:

Homelessness advocates and people who have experienced homelessness also spoke at Monday’s meeting about what they said was a lack of specificity in the task force’s recommendations.

The task force’s preliminary recommendations do not include resources to address addiction or mental health issues.

Stephen Metraux, a University of Delaware professor who studies homelessness, said the city should hire a “homelessness detail,” that is experienced in working with unhoused individuals, and that could respond to situations with individuals when they arise.

Metraux and others – including community advocate Shyanne Miller and Episcopal Church of Sts. Andrew and Matthew Rev. Patrick Burke – also criticized Carney’s lack of direct involvement in the task force.

They took further issue with Carney’s comment to Spotlight Delaware last week that creating specific sections of Christina Park for tents might allow the city to ban tents from other parks and neighborhoods.

“To say that you’re going to create recommendations and then know that Mayor Carney has plans to ban encampments means that Mayor Carney has plans to lock people up,” Miller said.

Asked about these comments, Carney’s office said he and the task force have spoken with unhoused people, as well as residents and property owners, and they will continue to do so as the task force finalizes its recommendations.

“We’ve heard from many concerned residents who share that there are unhoused folks squatting in vacant houses in their neighborhoods or camping out in bus shelters,” Carney’s office wrote in an email to Spotlight Delaware. “This is not about criminalizing homelessness, it’s about enforcing the law that pertains to everyone, whether housed or unhoused.”

Miller and Burke also said the recommendations lack specificity, such as concrete goals about the number of people the task force hopes to transition out of homelessness, and over what time period.

‘Carney’s office’.  Hey, I’ve got an idea–how about Carney himself speaks about this?

What do you want to talk about?