GOP To Honor Charlie Kirk In Every Way Possible Except Free Speech
Tributes to the free-speech champion include free-speech clampying
Sept. 13 Bonus TFN: Resolution would have Kirk lie in state as he lied about people of color and LGBTQ+ people … MSNBC works to shed remaining viewers by firing analyst for answering Kirk question honestly … Trump attack on Black woman Fed board governor turns out to be bullshit … Hegseth deploys Pentagon to enforce cancel culture …
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The murder of Charlie Kirk, one of the nation’s most beloved and respected hate-mongers, continued to inspire celebrations on Friday.
Wait, wait! Not celebrations of his death! Are you crazy, you think I wanna lose my job here at The Fucking News?
I refer, of course, to celebrations on the left that the accused shooter did not turn out to be a Black, Latino, Haitian, transgender, Wiccan, tattooed, city-dwelling, pet-eating, Prius-but-not-Cybertruck-driving, drug-dealing, Satan-worshiping, polyamorous, trigender, atheist, socialist, Communist fruitarian with an expired Venezuelan work visa for their Zohran Mamdani campaign job that they got at an all-drag latte-sipping networking event sponsored by BDSM Wellesley alumni.
In fact, there’s hope that Kirk’s death might be unifying. Everyone, for instance, can agree that it took some kind of courage for Kirk to say such shitty things where people could hear them. And, ultimately, Kirk died doing what he loved: Using crime statistics to imply Black inferiority.
Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT) is now the subject of presidential speculation, following his unifying words announcing the suspect’s capture:
“For 33 hours, I was praying that, if this had to happen here, that it wouldn’t be one of us — that somebody drove from another state, somebody came from another country.”
For who among us has not dreamed of a better America in which our killers have the decency to be Muslim or at least brownish commuters?
But there were premature celebrations on the left about the presumed politics of defendant Tyler Robinson, the college-rejecting, trade-school attending, gun-toting, gun-shooting, white-being, Utahn son of a Mormon, Republican, law-enforcement family. None of the reporting I’ve seen is definitive enough to rule out any political profile. Sorry.
Meanwhile, Republicans who realize that their necks, too, are often visible from 200 yards away — where it won’t matter whether they brought their own gun or armed security — are busily pursuing gun-control laws ways to honor Kirk through performative displays and other lack-of-virtue signaling.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), for instance, introduced a resolution calling for Kirk to lie in state in the Capitol Building, just as he lied in life, except silently for once. Mace said Kirk should be honored for a distinguished career of agreeing with her and believing in the same magic person she does.
Some of the other honors and tributes for which Kirk is being considered:
Adding Kirk to Mt. Rushmore…
…while removing Abe Lincoln for his hateful violence against the principles Kirk stood for.
Renaming it Mt. Kirkmore.
Renaming the Capitol Building the Capital Building.
Renaming Christianity Kirksanity.
Renaming 9/11 Charlie/Kirk.
The Nobel Peace, Physics, Math, and Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel prizes.
The Nobel Kirk Prize.
The Kirk Kirk Prize for Excellence in Kirkishness.
An Emmy, Grammy, and Oscar, but not a Tony, which is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord.
Naming, in Kirk’s honor, a newly discovered but incredibly dim star orbited by no known intelligence life, and
Renaming Earth Kirth.
Republican members of Congress and influencers also pounced on Democrats for smearing Kirk by attributing to him wild, offensive quotes that he absolutely said and characterizing his positions accurately without any consideration for his family. Pres. Donald Trump, as I reported last night (see below), is now considering measures to ban these kinds of attacks.
Ironically, a law banning anti-Kirk speech — some of them so vile as to quote him verbatim — would literally mean banning the hate speech that Kirk lived and died for.
GUNS As your thing-noting TFN noted yesterday, Kirk was surrounded by good guys with guns. Some of his supporters probably had guns, too. Not one of those good guys with a gun stopped the bad guy with a gun.
This Hollywood fable has been debunked many times. Even if it’s not a sniper situation, in real cases of campus shootings, for instance, I recall reading about armed people on the scene who were afraid to draw their weapons because — wisely — they feared being mistaken for the shooter.
And, because we do statistics and facts here at your epistemology-loving TFN, gun deaths have been surging, The Intercept reports, in Republican-run states that succumbed to the guns-stop-guns fairy tale. It’s not just suicides being understandably more prevalent in dystopian dysGOPian states. It’s murders, too. Their-ground-standing and stupid bullshit like that.
Utah just this year passed a new Bring Your Guns To School law for colleges. Like the one where Kirk’s killer brought his gun to school. Sadly, but predictably, when you bring guns into your home — or your state — you become less safe.
Does anyone now think Robinson’s life was made better when his Dad brought guns into his life? How about Kirk’s?
Trump Plan Will Protect Free Speech by Banning Speech That Might Inspire Attacks on Free Speech
Remember in the previous item I said see below? Promises kept!
For a TFN Bonus Story last night, I listened to an entire podcast conversation between right-wing mouth flapper Scott Jennings and right-wing Donald Trump enabler Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff. The. Entire. Thing.
Because I love you.
Corporate media also listened, and reported on pablum, but for some reason didn’t report what I did. Wiles previewed Trump’s plan for protecting right-wing speech by possibly using “law enforcement” to ensure that left-wing speech is “civil.”
Oh, and she revealed that this plan was in the works before Charlie Kirk was killed. So don’t for a second buy it when they roll this thing out in Kirk’s name.
You can read all the details about the other incident behind this plan — which they pretended to care about right up until Kirk died — in the Bonus Story here, which you Newsfuckers made possible with your support.
Some Thoughts on Matthew Dowd’s Thoughts
Former MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd took to Substack yesterday to gripe about being let go by MSNBC. (Which I should probably get around to myself some time, although in my case it’s, like, a decade late.)
Dowd is absolutely correct that the right wing ginned up a casus telli to attack this traitor to the Republican cause (he’s a former strategist for Pres. George W. Bush).
Here’s the exchange with MSNBC host Katy Tur, during coverage of the shooting, that cost Dowd the gig:
Tur: Talk to me about the environment. You know, we are, there are, reports of exactly what happened are not confirmed yet . But talk to me about the environment in which a shooting like this happens.
Dowd: Yeah, and again, I’d emphasize what you emphasized: We don’t know any of the full details of this yet. We don’t know if this was a supporter shooting a gun off in celebration or, so we have no idea about this. But following up on what was just said, he’s been one of the most divisive — especially one of the most divisive younger figures — in this, who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups, and I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.
Those new to these parts may not know I spent a couple decades in TV, at ABC, CNN, and MSNBC. And I realized long ago that inartful expression from a guest or commentator often arises from unhelpful questions. And inappropriate bookings.
Why book Dowd for this? He’s not law enforcement, so he’s useless for guiding viewers through what’s known or what standard operating procedure is.
The only reason to put Dowd in the air is to talk politics. So, yes, by all means, ask him questions about politics.
But Tur asked Dowd to mix the two: “The environment in which a shooting like this happens.” We didn’t know yet what “like this” even was. So Dowd was being asked to speculate about the shooting. And, explicitly, in a political context: “The environment.” Which is what he did.
The other thing Dowd did was fulfill the network’s primary directive. When they don’t have new information to share, they must work to fill the time. Always Be Chatting. When that’s the imperative, and you’re asking your guest the wrong questions, they will say things. Because that’s what you wanted them to do.
MSNBC Pres. Rebecca Kutler called Dowd’s remarks “inappropriate, insensitive, and unacceptable.” They might be unacceptable to Kutler, but they were 100% appropriate to the question that MSNBC asked him. And they were remarkably sensitive.
Dowd could have sat there for three hours using only Kirk quotes to answer Tur. That would have been insensitive. And, by the way, it’s far more inappropriate and insensitive — to the millions of people whose denigration gave Kirk his wealth and following — to Kirkwash what he did to them.
Instead, Dowd gave the most anodyne answer one could give without airbrushing out the sum and substance of what Kirk represented politically — as the corporate media have proceeded to do.
But don’t blame Tur. This is how the machine runs. She’s thrown in it just as much as Dowd was. Producers with very little actual journalism — reporting — experience are giving questions to her based not on any kind of training or process for breaking-news coverage but based on what they’re curious about.
You can argue that it was out of line for Dowd to imply at that point that Kirk was shot for his words — although that’s what Republicans immediately assumed — but you can’t argue that Dowd went rogue. He answered precisely what MSNBC asked him.
Now, does political pressure happen? It does, though I rarely even heard of it. But Dowd writes that it happened to him at ABC, too, without naming then-ABC News President James Goldston:
“A number of times then President Trump and White House staff called up the head of ABC News and tried to get me to back off and have me fired. ABC News folks came to me a number of times after that and tried to get me to not be so critical.”
Oh noes. I hope this doesn’t mean ABC won’t stand up to Trump. 🤣😬😢
KIRKWASHING NOW I definitely don’t recall corporate overlords issuing editorial edicts like Comcast did on Friday. The memo came from Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and President Mike Cavanagh , as well as Mark Lazarus, head of the company Comcast is spinning off that will include CNBC and MS NOW (née MSNBC).
Like Kutler’s statement, the memo called Dowd’s remarks “unacceptable and insensitive” and said, “We need to do better.” Hilariously and unhelpfully and Orwellianly, neither Kutler nor Roberts nor Cavanagh nor Lazarus identified what the fuck was wrong with what Dowd said let alone what’s a better way to cover a guy whose poison d’être was white Christian nationalism.
It’s almost as if they don’t want to defend what Kirk said. So insensitive. But appropriate!
Let Her Cook
Pres. Donald Trump’s racist, sexist, autocratic attempt to remove Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook turns out to be based on bullshit that’s even more bullshit than Trump’s birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t.
Unqualified sycophant Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (HFA), accused Cook of falsely claiming multiple homes as her “primary” residence to get beneficial loan terms. What with Cook being a Black woman, the Justice Department obviously opened an investigation.
Turns out, truth was secondary to Pulte’s claim.
Because while the forms in question do show that Cook claimed an Atlanta home as “primary,” that’s allowed if the lenders agree to it in writing.
Well, guess what Reuters just found? Other paperwork — prepared by the lender — in which Cook says Atlanta’s a vacation pad. (h/t)
Pulte mockery has been aggregated here. This is still a developing story and will be updated as soon Trump and Pulte apologize. 🤣😬😢
Two Quickies
It’s not just Matthew Dowd losing his job in honor of free-speech defender Charlie Kirk. As part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s cancel culture, the snowflakes at the Pentagon are so woke they’re hunting down any of America’s heroes who criticized Kirk. For daring to exercise their freedom of speech against the free-speech champion, members of the military are now being removed from their posts or facing other punishment.
An undocumented immigrant was shot and killed in Chicago after stupidly trying to drive into immigration agents and dragging one with him. The incident began when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tried to arrest the man, who had a history of reckless driving, much like New Jersey. Homeland (sic) Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stupidly blamed “activists encouraging illegal [sic] aliens to resist law enforcement.” In fact, that’s not a thing. Activists teach their legal rights — exactly the kind of knowledge likely to lead to less physical resistance.
TCB
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RESOURCES
Go get ‘em, kids! Remember, this won’t be a three-day weekend until next year when Charlie Kirk Day becomes a mandatory federal holiday…
TFN creator and writer Jonathan Larsen co-created Up w/ Chris Hayes and wrote for Countdown with Keith Olbermann at MSNBC, helped launch CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° and Air America Radio, and has also worked at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Young Turks.
“Naming, in Kirk’s honor, a newly discovered but incredibly dim star orbited by no known intelligence life”…. I needed that actually lol. Thank you for your service.
Happy Saturday Jon! I do so love your humor which makes this makes this shit sandwich of what's happening here readable.
I'm still at a loss to why Dowd was fired. It's not like he said "CK's mouth wrote a check his ass couldn't cash". Now that would be insensitive. But it's true. Hate - what a dumbass way to lose your life.
Let's get off the sainted CK bandwagon. Lie in state? Don't make me laugh. That would be the equivalent of the J6 crowd smearing shit on the walls of the Capitol. Ugh.
It's way too early to drink and I don't have any gummies so I'll go do some chores. CK made no impact on my life while alive and he won't now that he's dead.
What's everybody want for lunch?