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THE REAL LEGACY OF CHARLIE KIRK

In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Military, Politics, Social commentary on June 1, 2026 at 12:10 am

“Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be pre-empted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesperson said in a brief statement to media outlets on the evening of September 17, 2025.    

This followed criticism by Republicans of on-air comments Kimmel had made after the September 10 shooting of Right-wing propagandist Charlie Kirk.

Early that day, Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), called  Kimmel’s remarks “truly sick” in an interview with Right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson. And he said the Disney-owned network should hold Kimmel accountable or face punishment. 

Speaking like a Mafioso in Goodfellas, Carr added: “This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” 

Brendan Carr

During his monologue on September 15, Kimmel actually called the murder “senseless.” What enraged Right-wing Americans was Kimmel’s noting that “the MAGA gang is desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” 

This was actually true—and all the more embarrassing to Republicans because of it. The Trump administration and its MAGA cult have tried to portray Tyler Robinson, the man accused of shooting Kirk, as a radical liberal.

He is not.

Debbie Robinson, his grandmother, said most of the family are Republicans—and that Tyler’s father, Matt, is a staunch supporter of Donald Trump.  

Photo of Kimmel smiling at his late-show desk

Jimmy Kimmel

Kimmel then showed a clip of a reporter asking Trump how he was holding up in the wake of Kirk’s death.

“I think very good. And by the way, right there where you see all the trucks, they just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they’ve been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years, and it’s gonna be a beauty.”

“Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction,” Kimmel said. “Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”

Head-and-shoulders shot of Trump with a serious facial expression, his right eye partly closed. He is wearing a dark blue suit, a pale blue dress shirt, a red necktie, and an American flag lapel pin. Parts of the image are slightly out of focus. The background is black.

Donald Trump

After Kirk’s death, Trump and his Republican allies threatened retribution (“consequences”) for people who spoke unflatteringly about him.

On September 15—five days after Kirk’s death—Vice President J.D. Vance hosted Kirk’s podcast: “So, when you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out and, hell, call their employer. We don’t believe in political violence, but we do believe in civility.”  

Official portrait of JD Vance, a middle-aged white man with dark hair and beard and light eyes, wearing a suit and tie, crossing his arms while standing in front of an American flag.

J.D. Vance

Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, wrote: “It is unacceptable for military personnel and Department of War civilians to celebrate or mock the assassination of a fellow American.”

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller vowed to use law enforcement to go after Americans who mocked Kirk’s death, calling that domestic terrorism:

“We will not live in fear, but you will live in exile, because the power of law enforcement under President Trump’s leadership will be used to find you, will be used to take away your money, take away your power, and if you have broken the law to take away your freedom.” 

Thus the penalties for celebrating the death of a Fascist.

On September 15, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi told Katie Miller, the former DOGE aide, on her podcast: “There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech. And there is no place—especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie—in our society. We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”

Pam Bondi

At Kirk’s funeral on September 22, Trump gave his own example of hate speech: “That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them. I’m sorry.”

Meanwhile, Kirk’s critics have accused him—both in life and death—of being the real exploiter of hate speech.

  • At a 2024 Trump election rally in Georgia, Kirk said Democrats “stand for everything God hates.” 
  • He promoted Trump’s false claim that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” against him by a vast Democratic conspiracy.   
  • On January 5, 2021, the day before Trump’s followers attacked the United States Capitol, Kirk wrote on Twitter that his Turning Point Action group and Students for Trump were sending more than 80 “buses of patriots to D.C. to fight for this President.” 
  • Afterward, Kirk said that the attack on the Capitol wasn’t an insurrection and did not represent mainstream Trump supporters.
  • On civil rights, Kirk said: “We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.”   
  • On race:  “If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’” 
  • Speaking of the July 4, 2025 Texas flood along the Guadalupe River in the Hill Country: “You are not being told by the media anywhere, is that the death toll likely would not have been so  high if it wasn’t for DEI.”
  • He attacked New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as “a self-righteous, narcissistic parasite on New York City and should be expelled from politics.”

The difference between Kirk and his opponents: Kirk didn’t face “retribution” from a powerful, Right-wing government for his hate speech.

FIGHTING FASCISM: A VETERAN SPEAKS

In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Military, Politics, Social commentary on May 29, 2026 at 12:07 am

“We must not make the error of thinking that all those who eat the bread of dictatorship are evil from the first, but they must necessarily become evil….One of the vital lessons we must learn from the German disaster is the ease with which a people can be sucked down into the morass of inaction.”

Thus warns Hans Bernd Gisevius—one of the few survivors of the July 20, 1944 bomb attempt on Adolf Hitler. 

A covert opponent of the Nazi regime, he served as a liaison in Zurich between the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and German resistance forces in Germany. 

In 1946, he published his autobiography, To the Bitter End, sharply indicting the Reich and its leaders—many of whom Gisevius had known personally. He also condemned the German people, charging that they pretended ignorance of the atrocities being committed.

Hans Bernd Gisevius

Hans Bernd Gisevius

In his introduction, Gisevius notes: “This book is not intended as a history of the Third Reich. The author has selected a few prominent incidents out of the confusion of contemporaneous events and has attempted to use these as points through which to trace the broad curves of the historical process.”

Eighty-one years after the fall of the Third Reich, Gisevius offers invaluable insights into America’s own foray into Fascistic government under President Donald J. Trump.

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Donald Trump

Even more important, he offers concrete suggestions for successfully resisting a Fascist regime.

Ability to Retain Support: “We have learned that in the political realm abuses are all ultimately punished. But it takes extraordinarily long for the breach to become apparent. As long as dictatorships can produce ‘successes’ and conceal abuses they remain armored against opposition. The masses will not desert them.” 

Attractiveness of Simplicity: “A favorite name for Hitler was ‘the great simplifier.’ This was apt; in spite of the verbosity and clumsiness of his language, he really possessed an astonishing flair for summarizing complicated matters into brief formulas.” 

Corruption of Spirituality: “The Nazis wanted to lock Christianity into a ghetto, and many Christians believed it was their duty to accept this isolation gladly. [Pastor Martin] Niemoeller knew that it must not be accepted.”

Inefficiency a Hallmark of Dictatorships: “Incredible as it sounds, even the chief of the Wehrmacht was not aware of all the contracts that had been let. He obtained virtually no information from the air force or the navy, and the army provided him with only fragmentary information….

“Hitler approved of this procedure. He did not want any coordinating authority to be able to survey the total situation. He preferred conflicts and rivalries because he thought they would speed the tempo of rearmament.”

Responsibility of the Military: “Undoubtedly a small group of generals were at heart earnestly troubled. These men were conscious of a tremendous responsibility: they felt that no command from above, however unequivocal, could erase their responsibility. In fact there was only a minute group of army officers who were, ‘in principle,’ co-conspirators to the Nazi Terror. Most of the officer corps remained ‘neutral,’ both inwardly and outwardly.

“They were part of that irresponsible group of human beings who always seek a secure life without cares and are allured by the prospect of a career. By their excess of passivity our generals, willy-nilly, consciously or unconsciously, became profiteering participants in the Nazi Revolution.”

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Soldiers marching through Russia

The Danger of Accommodating Evil: “Let…individuals fall prey to over-cleverness, opportunism or cowardice and they are irrevokeably lost. Passive acceptance, intellectual subservience, or, in religious terms, failure to pray against the evil, may constitute a kind of silent support for authoritarian rule.”

Corruptions of Power: “Within a few weeks, the Party leaders and sub-leaders found themselves in positions of power beyond their wildest dreams….They had no professional training. They knew nothing about law. They did not trust the professional officialdom who worked under them. What could they do but extemporize? They simply dictated, in the firm conviction that their subjects would obey.”

Collective Responsibility: “Once that system [of authoritarian rule] has been installed….there is only one course remaining to each individual and to all individuals collectively: To fight the terrorists with the same courage and tenacity, with the same willingness to take risks, that they employ in wartime under ‘orders’ when they fight the ‘enemy.'” 

* * * * * 

In the classic 1969 Western, The Wild Bunch, there’s a scene where Pike Bishop [William Holden], the leader of the outlaw gang, and his close friend, Dutch Engstrom [Ernest Borgnine], face off.

They’re being chased by a posse led by Deke Thornton [Robert Ryan], a former gang member—who’s threatened with prison if he doesn’t kill them all. 

“Damn that Deke Thornton to Hell!” shouts Engstrom. 

“What would you do in his place?” replies Bishop. “He gave his word!”

“He gave his word to a railroad!”

“It’s his word!”

“That’s not what counts,” says Engstrom. “It’s who you give it to!”   

“It’s who you give it to.” Those words must constantly be remembered when making a commitment. The person/cause you serve must be worthy of that service.

Otherwise, such virtues as loyalty and courage become meaningless perversions in service to evil.

“THE HAPPY TIME” ENDS FOR HITLER’S GERMANY AND TRUMP’S AMERICA–AGAIN

In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on May 28, 2026 at 12:12 am

On August 23, 2018, President Donald Trump appearing on “Fox and Friends,” said: “I tell you what, if I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash, I think everybody would be very poor.”   

President Donald Trump 2025 Official Inauguration Silver Halide Photo | eBay

Donald Trump

Thus, he appealed to the greed and fear of his voting base—and no doubt hoped to reach beyond it: “Keep me in power or you’ll all suffer for it.” 

Then-White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders bragged, on June 4, 2018:

“Since taking office, the President has strengthened American leadership, security, prosperity, and accountability. And as we saw from Friday’s jobs report, our economy is stronger, Americans are optimistic, and business is booming.”

Many Congressional Republicans echoed this: The American people care only about the economy—and how well-off they are.

And in 2024, a major reason why 77 million Americans re-elected a 34-times convicted felon and the inciter of the January 6 coup attempt was to get cheap eggs.

For eight years, Nazi Germany underwent such an epoch. Germans called it “The Happy Time.”

It began on January 30, 1933, when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor—and lasted until June 22, 1941, when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union.

Germans knew about the Nazis’ cruelty to the Jews, the conquests of Austria and Czechoslovakia, the mass arrests and concentration camps.

They didn’t care.

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 Frenzied Germans greet Adolf Hitler

The Gestapo didn’t have to watch everyone: German “patriots” gladly reported their fellow citizens—especially Jews—to the secret police.

As far as everyday Germans were concerned:

  • The streets were clean and peaceful.
  • Employment was high.
  • The trouble-making unions were gone.
  • Germany was once again “taking its rightful place” among ruling nations, after its catastrophic defeat in World War 1.

The height of “The Happy Time” came in June, 1940. In just six weeks, the Wehrmacht  accomplished what the German army hadn’t in four years during World War 1: The total defeat of its longtime enemy, France.

Suddenly, French clothes, perfumes, delicacies, paintings and other “fortunes of war” came pouring into the Fatherland.  

Most Germans believed der Krieg—“the war”—was over, and only good times lay ahead.

Then, on June 22, 1941, three million Wehrmacht soldiers slashed their way into the Soviet Union. The Third Reich was now locked in a death-struggle with a nation even more powerful than itself. 

World War II Pictures In Details ...

German soldiers in the Soviet Union

And then, on December 11, 1941—four days after Germany’s ally, Japan, attacked Pearl Harbor—Hitler declared war on the United States. 

“The Happy Time” for Germans was over. Only prolonged disaster lay ahead. 

Resuming the Presidency on January 20, 2025, Trump has threatened military invasions of Canada and Greenland and attacked Venezuela to snatch its dictator/president Nicolás Maduro. He has ordered military strikes on suspected drug smuggling and cartel operations in the Caribbean, the Pacific and Ecuador.

Domestically he has attacked such major universities as Columbia, Brown and Cornell for their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) polices and/or alleged antisemitism. To restore their frozen federal funding, Columbia agreed to pay $200 million; Brown paid $50 million and Cornell paid $30 million.

But on February 28, 2026, Trump—in concert with Israel—launched an unprovoked series of devastating airstrikes against Iran. Suddenly he faced an enemy he could neither bribe nor intimidate.

Destruction is not the same as ...

Bombing of Terhan

To Trump’s surprise and dismay, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz—through which which about 20%-25% of the world’s total liquid petroleum consumption (about 20–21 million barrels per day) flows.

Overnight, gas prices surged. By late May, the national average for a gallon of regular gas reached $4.56, compared to roughly $2.98 before military operations began.

On April 5—Easter Sunday, no less—Trump posted on his website, Truth Social: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open up the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP”

This was followed on April 7 by another post: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

But then Trump backed down after experts and international organizations such as Amnesty International warned that attacking civilian infrastructure would constitute war crimes under international law.

On March 11, Trump had told a reporter: “You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won. We won the, in the first hour, it was over.”

By late May, it was not over; the Strait of Hormuz remained closed and crude oil prices continued to rise throughout the world. And so did the prices of all goods transported to market.

Like Adolf Hitler, Trump had believed his war would end successfully in four to six weeks at most. And, like Hitler, Trump had no plan for a prolonged struggle. 

Short of using nuclear weapons or ordering an all-out invasion of Iran—both hugely unpopular among Americans—Trump could only threaten or deliver more impotent airstrikes.

The Germans made a devil’s-bargain with Adolf Hitler—and paid dearly for it. 

Millions of greedy and hate-filled Americans have embraced Donald Trump—another would-be tyrant—as America’s economic savior.

By supporting Trump—or at least not opposing him—they also made a devil’s-bargain. And such bargains always end with the devil winning.