Jonathan Funke

A retired policeman posted a Charlie Kirk meme. He spent a month in jail. The 61-year-old Tennessee man plans to sue after authorities dropped charges over a political Facebook post. Free-speech advocates say it’s a symptom of a wider crackdown.

My bad - I do have a gift link left!
wapo.st/4qwXqSJ

No one is safe, don’t think you are.

Did I mention -- dude was a cop?

A retired policeman posted a Charlie Kirk meme. He spent a month in jail. The 61-year-old Tennessee man plans to sue after authorities dropped charges over a political Facebook post. Free-speech advocates say it’s a symptom of a wider crackdown.

Tennessee man jailed for a month. His crime? Using DJT's own words to call out the hypocrisy of condemning Kirk's killer while "getting over" school shootings.
www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

Opinion | Hey, Lefties! Trump Has Stolen Your Game.

Don't let the headline fool you, or your aversion to David Brooks dissuade you. This piece explains a LOT.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/o...

Rubio promised to betray U.S. informants to get Trump’s El Salvador prison deal To secure U.S. access to President Nayib Bukele’s notorious CECOT prison, Rubio agreed to turn over several MS-13 leaders central to a long-running Justice Department investigation.

My AI summary of the long arc of the Rubio family:

1 - flee dictatorship in Cuba
2 - oppose dictatorship as a U.S. Senator
3 - cave to a dictatorship in El Salvador so Bukele can cover up his own dictatoring and Trump can be more dictatory
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Everett 13-year-old arrested by ICE and sent to Virginia detention facility - The Boston Globe The boy’s mother, Josiele Berto, was called to pick her son up from the Everett Police Department on Thursday, the day he was arrested.

Boy arrested by ICE and sent 500 miles from his mother "is a 7th-grader at Albert N. Parlin School in Everett. The teen and his family, who are Brazilian nationals, have a pending asylum case and are authorized to work legally in the U.S."
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/12/m...

'Thin-skinned' Disney CEO relented on Jimmy Kimmel after criticism from ex-boss whom he 'loathes': insiders Bob Iger, who is said to have “thin skin,” relented and gave the green light to resume new episodes of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

God bless Michael Eisner. His defiance of bullies after so many caved -- in academe, in law firms, in corporate life -- may go down in history as the tweet that saved America.
nypost.com/2025/09/23/b...

Eisner criticism

Michael Eisner > Bob Iger

"This one sounds even more lucrative"

You mean he got schooled by the worst

So many coverups.

Release the Epstein files.

Release the Homan tapes.

Release the Venezuelan fishing boats evidence.

In case you wondered what ABC is running tonight instead of #Kimmel

WGA Statement on ABC's Decision to Pull ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ The right to speak our minds and to disagree with each other - to disturb, even - is at the very heart of what it means to be a free people. It is not to be denied. Not by violence, not by the abuse of governmental power, nor by acts of corporate cowardice. As a Guild, we stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent. If free speech applied only to ideas we like, we needn't have bothered to write it into the Constitution. What we have signed on to - painful as it may be at times - is the freeing agreement to disagree. Shame on those in government who forget this founding truth. As for our employers, our words have made you rich. Silencing us impoverishes the whole world. The WGA stands with Jimmy Kimmel and his writers.

The following is a statement from the WGA on ABC’s decision to pull ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’

Toxic Fumes Are Leaking Into Airplanes, Sickening Crews and Passengers Doctors compare brain effects to concussions in NFL players. A Wall Street Journal investigation shows such incidents are increasingly common.

There's been a spike in reports of oil leaking from Boeing and especially Airbus engines into passenger air systems.

If you smell dirty feet on your flight and they're not yours, ask an attendant when that aircraft's last "fume event" was. (Yep: a thing.)
www.wsj.com/business/air...

Old-timey poster of Uncle Sam saying: "I want YOU! to listen to someone you disagree with"

Have always wondered how to spell "hurr durr durr"

THANK YOU

I generally agree with you, and in principle I do here as well. But I'm more inclined than usual to forgive those who infer an anti-fascist motive from the inscription "Fascist! Catch!" on the bullet. (I grant that impartial jurors *won't* be easy to find.)

"Termagant" FTW

What America needs now is a resurgence of local media in the mold of... this.
www.capecodtimes.com/picture-gall...

Supreme Court Lifts Restrictions on L.A. Immigration Stops

"The court’s brief order was unsigned and gave no reasons. It is not the last word in the case, which may again reach the justices."

Chief Pol Roberts thinks he can give DJT a temp win, then pull out the rug on the merits. Good luck riding that tiger, buddy.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/u...

New York schools' 1st week with a cellphone ban is in the books. Here's how students, staff and parents are feeling. Schools across New York state were required to come up with their own procedures to implement the full-day ban on cellphones.

Single most encouraging thing I've seen in months: "bell-to-bell" bans on cell phones in schools are working. @cbsnewyork.bsky.social
www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...

It's no fun to go to war with Philly (and Chicago and LA but for some reason not St. Louis or Memphis) if you don't have a War Department.

Frustration mounts as Japan questions details of Trump’s trade ‘deal’ The prime minister defended the vague deal by saying dealings with Trump were “not normal,” while another senior Japanese politician described increasing arrogance.

“The Japanese hope is that three and a half years from now, Trump will leave the scene and everything will be forgotten.”

We're only 1/8th of our way through this cluster?
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

The only one hiring these days is Banana Republic

Opinion | Thinking Is Becoming a Luxury Good

And thus "post-literate" becomes the name for our age.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/o...

Trump officials accused of defying 1 in 3 judges who ruled against him A comprehensive analysis of lawsuits against Trump policies shows dozens of examples of defiance, delay and dishonesty, a serious test for the court system.

There aren't enough alarms for this fire.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

"We shouldn't be stockpiling Bitcoin. We should be stockpiling ammo, guns and missiles."

Jamie Dimon, public Webcast, just now

Delta Strips Engines Off New Airbus Jets to Overcome US Shortage Delta Air Lines Inc. has been cannibalizing new Airbus SE jets in Europe by stripping off their engines and using them to get grounded planes in the US back into service, as it seeks to overcome a sho...

I'm not sure which aspect of this situation concerns me most: the underlying safety questions, the inanity of the tariff situation, or the fact that an airline that flies across borders 24/7 *for a living* can't find a way to skirt tariffs.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Punch line: it's a postcard.