This meme courtesy of Nicky Mee

Destruction of CBS Radio News and WaPo Share Common Roots

“You may treat the current situation in America as normal. You may stay silent when someone tells you it is normal. If you do either, you are as complicit in the destruction of Democracy as Stephen Miller.”
–Paul Schindler, March 11, 2026

“Yes, we must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
—Benjamin Franklin, Aug. 2, 1776, at the signing of the parchment copy of The Declaration of Independence.

Franklin’s warning applies today. If we hang together, and speak the truth, there aren’t enough men in black masks to hang all of us.

Finally, George Washington, in 1796, declining a third term as President:

“But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth” The truth Washington describes is that  government must support your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; your safety; and your prosperity.

All this and worse for a century and a half. And yet we are still here. Some people think our world will survive because it has self correcting mechanisms. I hope that’s true; it’s also true of politics. These quotes are fact-checked and prove that it is possible to see the future. In any case, as it doesn’t exactly say in the Bible, “This too will pass away.” Or as poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti almost wrote in 1863, “I think we’ve been here before.”

H.L. Mencken
Especially prescient was the Sage of Baltimore, journalist H.L Mencken. A century ago he was considered cynical; today it is clear he didn’t go far enough.

“On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
A Little Book In C Major (1916)

One More For The Road

 “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”
—First written by James Waterman Wise, Jr., reported in a 1936 issue of The Christian Century. Attributed, incorrectly, to others.

“Preserve your independence of all demagogues and place-hunters and never submit to their dictation; write boldly and tell the truth fearlessly; criticize whatever is wrong, and denounced whatever is rotten in the administration of your local and state affairs, no matter how much it may offend the guilty or wound the would-be leaders of your party…

Make an earnest and conscientious journal; establish its reputation for truth and reliability, frankness and independence.

Never willfully deceive the people, or trifle with their confidence. Show that your journal is devoted to the advocacy and promotion of their temporal interests and moral welfare.” –Joseph Medill
May 1869, Chicago Tribune, from a speech given in Indianapolis to editors and publishers

Once again, Trumpsorship failed epically. James Talerico, the candidate CBS cravenly bounced off of Colbert while bending the knee, won the Democratic U.S. Senate primary in Texas.

Maybe it was all those extra eyeballs. Normally, Colbert draws 2.3 million viewers; his interview with Talerico, at 9 million views, was just short of quadruple the normal number of viewers. Jimmy Kimmel, fired at Trump’s behest, had 6 million viewers on the night he returned, compared to his regular 1.4 million, again roughly quadruple. That will show them.

Given what happened, there is only one possible explanation. Followers are publicly certain he is playing five-dimensional chess¹, when he is not doing the widely respected weave; just ask the late, great Hannibal Lecter.

It does not take Sherlock Holmes to connect the dots. Trump wanted to increase the viewership of Colbert and Kimmel, and give Talerico a subtle  endorsement.

He was no doubt aided by Bari Weiss, editor-in-chief of CBS News, a Trump lickspittle who personally teaches the mandatory in-service course “Pre-Obeying His Royal Highness.”

Every CBS employee (even the janitors) must attend the course on pain of dismissal. The first slide is “Anticipate the master’s every desire and fulfill it before he asks, without any need for him or his FCC lapdog to specifically request it. When they don’t say jump, guess how high.” In honor of the President, the class lasts 1 hour and 47 minutes (longer if there is applause from the right side of the room).

Footnotes

1. 1. Beyond the comprehension of us mere littlebrains ↩︎

Can you think of anyone whom these describe? I have run this before, but decided re-running it would be better than a pointer you won’t follow. And as NBC used to say in the summer, “If you haven’t seen it before, it is not a rerun. (originally posted March 30, 2025)
These are times that surely call for euphemism, although the ones I propose for “stupid” are not very subtle. One certainly would try not to use these in front of the subject, unless one intended to inflict harm.

If you meet someone who intentionally inflicts harm (no names) feel free to use any of these freely in front of them or behind their backs.

The are not as good as Shakespeare’s, of which you can find lists all over the Internet. Mine, at least, have the charm of not being Elizabethan.  Several of them have been applied (unfairly, I think) to me:

• • Doesn’t have the sense that God gave geese
  • Thimblewit
  • Dummer esel
  • Dumb as a bag of rocks
  • If your brain was gunpowder you couldn’t blow your hat off.
  • Rocks with lips
  • Suffering from rectal-cranial inversion
  • Rents out head for hard vacuum experiments.

Rocks come from late brother’s time as a naval recruiter. He said some recruits were “Rocks with lips,” whom he encouraged to join the Navy. He sent the rocks elsewhere.

Oregon was not solid blue in 1960, so Nixon won the state. My mother was the head of the Young Democrats at Portland State, which meant she got to drive Ted Kennedy around Portland when he was stumping for Jack. “He had such charisma,” she said. When Nixon lost, she taught us, to the tune of Whistle While You Work, ‘Whistle while you work, Nixon is a jerk, and all his henchmen, all his doormen all are out of work.” It probably seemed funny at college, but the third graders with Republican parents (most of them) were not as amused as Steve and I were.

Humor O’ The Week

Funny Mergers

Inauguration Day. Try to avoid their products, or say to American Democracy don’t let the door hit you on the butt on your way out. The only thing they understand it Do-Re-Mi. Moolah. Shekels. Simoleons. Avoid filling their coffers whenever you can and they’ll get the hint. I for one have sworn off my Amazon habit.

Humor O’ The Week

The Top 10 Other Retractions Printed by the NY Times in 1998