Dems Outraged Over Kimmel Suspension
On Monday, Jimmy Kimmel used his monologue to accuse MAGA of "trying to cover up the fact that the person who killed Charlie Kirk was one of them." This was after Utah Attorney General Derek Brown had disclosed evidence that the shooter had admitted that he hated Kirk for his anti-trans views, had a trans lover, and had been planning the assassination for a week.
Andrew Alford, President of Broadcasting for Nexstar, an affilate of ABC, called Kimmel's comments "offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located."
Sinclair, another ABC affiliate vice chairman Jason Smith said "Mr. Kimmel's remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country. We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities." Both affiliates refused to broadcast Kimmel's show. ABC then announced it was suspending the show.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va) called the suspension "a betrayal of what Charlie Kirk stood for. I never met Charlie Kirk and I didn't know him, but everybody says he was a free speech guy — including speech that you may not like. So this is what we're going to do? I'm very pissed off."
Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt) called the suspension "the biggest attack on First Amendment rights that we've seen since the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798. This is censorship." When Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla) reminded Welch that "President Biden sent the FBI out to intimidate social media companies into suppressing dissent over his covid policies and the truth about Hunter Biden's laptop," Welch insisted "folks have no right to say things that could endanger public health or national security."
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) blamed Trump, saying "I am just outraged by it! This is just despicable and disgusting, and against Democratic values. This is what dictators do. It proves that Trump is the Nazi we said he was. I hope voters realize this before they ever cast a ballot for a Republican again."
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr observed that "there are only a limited number of over-the-air broadcasting licenses that can be accommodated without the signals interfering with each other. The expectation is that the holders of these licenses will serve the broader community and offer a more balanced coverage of controversial topics. Yet, it seems that the coverage is extraordinarily lopsided in favor of the extreme left wing of politics."
Stephen Colbert, host of "The Late Show," pointed out that "both Jimmy and I have faithfully represented the perspective of this tiny minority of the political spectrum. Yet, now it looks the 1% to 2% of the viewing audience we attracted are going to be denied their fair share of the airwaves. This is how our democracy is being destroyed."
In related news, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) just released documents entailing a probe of 92 Republican groups ordered by President Biden in 2022. Grassley said, "this probe improperly used taxpayer funds to turn FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors into weapons that were used to achieve partisan objectives."
Sen. Schumer dismissed Grassley's complaint, saying, "as President Obama so wisely reminded us, 'elections have consequences.' Biden won the 2020 election and consequently was entitled to rule the nation as he saw fit."
Mayor Vows to "Eradicate Law Enforcement"
In a bid to stave off an infusion of law-enforcement assets into his city by President Trump, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson declared that "the idea that law enforcement is the solution to reducing crime is a sickness. Folks commit crimes because they are desperate. Sending armed cops after them just accelerates that desperation leading to more death and destruction."
Johnson went on to praise Gov. JB Pritzker's (D) "Peacekeepers" initiative, saying "rather than give up on folks with criminal records we are going to give them a chance to refocus their efforts in ways that will help the community become a safer and more law-abiding environment. By the time Trump gets around to sending in the National Guard our streets will already be pacified."
A potential weakness of this approach was demonstrated when a "Peacekeeper" named Kellen McMiller who was photographed with the Governor was arrested for participating in a smash-and-grab robbery of a Louis Vuitton store in Chicago. Mark Arceta, a Skokie man on his way to work, was killed when the robbery escape vehicle crashed into his car at 77 mph. This adds a felony murder charge to the crime.
McMiller has an extensive criminal background including drug charges, domestic battery, armed robbery and probation violations in Cook County. A spokesman for the Governor said "while he is surprised and dismayed by this turn of events his belief in the 'Peacekeepers' concept is not shaken. He feels that one bad apple doesn't spoil the whole bunch. He does, however, want to assure voters that he totally disapproves of the recent robbery and says it will not deter him from entering and winning the 2028 presidential election."
Johnson added that "putting expensive merchandise in a store window is asking for trouble. So, in part, I have to say the Louis Vuitton folks are responsible for luring these criminals to rob their store."
In related news, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Tex) also spoke out against President Trump's efforts to toughen up law enforcement, saying "what Trump and his supporters don't understand is that committing a crime doesn't make a person a criminal. I've been a public defender. I've represented dozens of individuals accused of horrendous crimes. I talked to each of them in great depth about their motives. Not a single one of them expressed the intent to commit a crime. So, I think they're not criminals. They are just folks who got into trouble without intending to. These people need understanding and mercy. Democrats all instinctively know this. That's why we instinctively oppose what Trump is trying to do."
Obama Blames Trump for Assassination
Though he once advised Democrats that "if your opponent brings a knife, you bring a gun," former President Obama asserted that "Trump's extreme policies and rhetoric have poisoned our politics. He wants to shut our country off from the immigrants we need to do the work that Americans won't do. He's mercilessly deporting family men like Abrego Garcia. He wants to punish rather than show compassion toward individuals driven to crime to support themselves in the lackluster economy his policies have inflicted on the middle class. He's firing tens of thousands of long-tenured public servants. These extreme views were not in my White House. I wasn't embracing them. I wasn't empowering them. I wasn't putting the weight of the United States government behind extremist views."
"I didn't know Charlie Kirk," he said, "but I think his ideas were wrong. I can disagree with some of his broader suggestions that liberals and Democrats are promoting a conspiracy to displace whites and replace them by ushering in illegal immigrants. Those are topics that we have to be able to discuss honestly and forthrightly. But the experiment of having millions of people from all over the world come to America is one that must be allowed to continue to its logical conclusion. If that means that whites fade into a very small minority of the population, then so be it."
"If we are to restore unity, we need to get back to the time when Republicans and Democrats agreed on all the big issues with very minor differences over budgets, staffing, and earmarks," Obama reminisced. "Those of us who are elected are just temporary occupants of the halls of government. It's the folks who operate the permanent government that must be preserved and supported by both political parties. Once we all agree on this the nastiness of wrangling over disruptive alterations in policies from one administration to the next can be avoided. No one will need to be shot and the people can go on living happily ever after like they always did before Trump invaded the political sphere."
In related news, London Mayor Sadiq Khan also castigated Trump for "fanning the flames of divisiveness. It is written in the Quran that all the world must be for Allah and that Muslims must fight the infidels to make it so. As long as people like Trump resist this inevitable resolution there will be war and strife. The only sensible path forward is for all to convert to Islam. The sooner this happens, the sooner there will be peace and tranquility for all."
Dems Differ on Endorsing Mamdani
In a bid to get front-running New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani to endorse her campaign for reelection, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced her endorsement of Mamdani, saying "this bright young star of the Democratic Party is showing us how to win the hearts and minds of the working classes. I enthusiastically urge the voters of New York City to make him their next mayor. I hope we can both work together to keep the fascist Republicans from thwarting the people's revolution we both support."
Mamdani responded saying "I'm excited to have the governor's support in my battle to become the City's next mayor. My focus is on this November. I don't have time right now to concern myself with who will win the governor's race in 2026. If I win this November I need to keep my options open for possibly running against Gov. Hochul next year."
New York Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs called the Governor's endorsement of Mamdani "disappointing. While I believe Mr. Mamdani and I are in agreement that America's greatest problem is the continued growth of income disparity in our nation, we disagree on how to address it. I reject the platform of the so-called Democratic Socialists of America and do not believe that it represents the principles, values or policies of the Democratic Party."
Other top New York Democrats Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also declined to endorse Mamdani. "Rather than lurch into costly programs of owning grocery stores or letting more criminals out of jail as Mamdani proposes why can't we just stick with the discreet exchanges of envelopes of cash that have been the backbone of Democratic Party income redistribution in New York for more than 100 years?" Schumer wanted to know.
Jeffries said "I might be willing to consider adding gold or crypto to the envelopes, but seizing the means of production as Mamdani says he wants to do sounds too Marxist to me. Who will fill the envelopes if he does this?"
