#matt wallace

Matt Wallace @mattwallace88.bsky.social on X:

I was watching the video Benjamin Netanyahu just posted and I noticed something that freaked me out 😳

Jay Kuo at The Status Kuo:

GOP officials are fresh off their disappointment and confusion that Charlie Kirk’s killer came from a conservative, gun-loving Republican family. They are amplifying as-yet-unfounded rumors about Tyler Robinson. But given the FBI’s record so far on misinformation, if not outright disinformation, I am not giving this much credence. As I wrote about over the weekend, there is also plenty of evidence to suggest that Robinson was radicalized as a member of the Groypers, who are political extremists who detest Kirk, but we need to await more evidence. Today, I want to focus on the aftermath of Kirk’s murder and discuss how GOP officials have now turned their anger on anyone publicly critical of him. These officials, and the right-wing accounts that back them and funnel them information, are using their positions to silence speech and cancel those with whom they disagree. Perhaps worse still, they are encouraging their base to do the same, priming the country for the kind of fascist snitching that turns neighbor against neighbor the way Nazi Germany and other authoritarian regimes have done throughout history.

Hegseth horrorshow

Let’s start near the top of this reprehensible behavior. On Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed Pentagon staff to hunt for posts by service members who had mocked Kirk, according to two defense officials who spoke to NBC News. He called on the public to report any posts that could be interpreted as negative about Kirk or unsympathetic about his murder. Several service members were relieved of their jobs. The officials noted that Hegseth’s directive also pertains to others beyond service members who are “associated with the Defense Department.” Hegseth appeared to confirm this in a post online. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell had tweeted, “It is unacceptable for military personnel and Department of War civilians to celebrate or mock the assassination of a fellow American. The Department of War” (yes, he called it that) “has zero tolerance for it.” In response, Hegseth replied, “We are tracking all these very closely—and will address, immediately. Completely unacceptable.”

[...]

FEMA fascism

Far-right activist Laura Loomer is known for stirring the pot, even if she had to delete a post that was highly critical of Charlie Kirk that had argued he was anti-Trump and a political opportunist, and even referenced the attempted Trump’s attempted assassination. Here is the relevant part of it, for the record and since she deleted it. Loomer’s panic over her Kirk post may explain her current zeal. She is attempting to prove she was actually a Kirk fan instead of a major critic and has his back now that he is dead. Her actions have direct consequences. Loomer called for the investigation of Army Major General Brett Sylvia, tweeting about his son Gavin, who works for FEMA but was placed on administrative leave. Gavin Sylvia had apparently posted on Instagram that Kirk was a “racist homophobe misogynist” (all true) and took issue with the nation flying its flags at half-mast for Kirk (as many did). Are family members and government employees no longer allowed to question outrageous government actions, such as honoring a bigoted, hate-filled man, without fear of negative professional consequences? Loomer’s tweet—which added the gem of a fact that Gavin Sylvia’s brother is “married to a Muslim” as if that is relevant at all, except to demonstrate her raw animus—resulted directly in FEMA placing the younger Sylvia on administrative leave. Loomer also called for Defense Secretary Hegseth to “review the employment” of Major General Brett Sylvia.

[...]

Congressional contagion

It began when Chaya Raichik, the extremist behind the troll account Libs of Tik Tok, doxxed a teacher in Ellsworth, Wisconsin for posting about Kirk. The teacher wrote that Kirk had “spewed hate” and had said that “deaths are worth it for the Second Amendment.” She then added that she “disagreed with this statement and essentially everything that Kirk stood for” before leveling a tough take: “if you liked what he stood for, then you can’t be upset that he died. He fulfilled his destiny.” These are admittedly harsh words. But they resemble many opinions across the Internet that noted the irony of Kirk being killed at a school by a gun—experiencing one of the very deaths that he argued were a price for the Second Amendment. It’s bad enough that a large right-wing account targeted this particular individuals for her views. But it’s far worse what transpired next. Rep. Derek Van Orden (R-WI), who represents the district where the teacher works, declared he would work “to remove all federal funding” for the “entire city of Ellsworth” including “grants and community directed projects” unless this was “rectified immediately.”

Online outing

As a darker example of where this is all headed, there is reportedly an online, searchable database which claims to list tens of thousands who were critical of Kirk online along with their employers. The right is seeking to leverage armies of online Kirk fans to dox and punish other Americans for their speech critical of Kirk’s well-documented hate. Other online accounts, such as Flyover Conservatives, are targeting opponents of Kirk hoping to get them fired for expressing views similar to what Gavin Sylvia had written. One teacher in Lee’s Summit, Missouri also had the audacity to challenge the flag being flown at half mast for Kirk. “He should never have been shot, but he’s no martyr,” the teacher wrote, expressly condemning the violence. He added, “He’s no hero. He was a racist.”

[...] People like Charlie Kirk stoked division and stirred hatred against minorities, women and the LGBTQ+ while he was alive. We on the tolerant left should not be silenced in any way from pointing this out after he is dead. Those who seek to use their official positions to censor such speech are acting unconstitutionally. And the accounts doxxing and calling for punishment for such speech must be seen for what they are: sponsors of stochastic terror. When the GOP later inevitably tries to claim that it’s actually the party of Free Speech, remember this moment and these receipts. Republican extremists only believe in their own right to threaten, endanger and attack others. But when others dare criticize one of their own for doing exactly this, they leap to silence and intimidate.

The right-wing witch hunt on people making comments on social media that are even a smidge critical of Charlie Kirk to get them fired or suspended from their jobs is overkill and cancel culture on steroids.

See Also:

TPM: Trumpist Right Launches Purge of Anyone Who Dares Criticize Charlie Kirk

Someone keep that away from Bethesda at all costs because she is straight up wielding a Steel War Axe straight outta vanilla Skyrim. Like, there is nothing else that COULD be: it's got the same hook shape at the bottom of the haft, the backspike is IDENTICAL, and while the beard is a bit chonkier, it also has the same shape and the cutting edge circles the entire beard, just like in Skyrim. If you look closely, you can even see all the pointless carvings on the steel, all reproduced faithfully. It even has the same two rivets through the haft.

Earlier this week, I finally made it to DC to go to the Newseum and to see the Daily Show exhibit. Most of it was Daily Show post 2005, around the time I stopped watching because the interview segment was beginning to overtake the actual show -- of course this is just my personal opinion. I was there for the correspondents more than the interview. 

There were some gems from the early days however: 

(i’m really sorry if some of these look blurry, you know, no flash in the museum) 

This is the only mention of the Craig Kilborn years. It’s a picture from an issue of Esquire. The women standing next to him are Lizz Winstead and Madeline Smithberg, creators of The Daily Show. I got legit excited up in Panera when I saw the magazine on the Internet Archive. (January, 1998, big reading size here, 2) 

OH. This was the infamous article where Craig said that Lizz found him attractive and if “I wanted her to blow me, she would.” 

Craig got in big time trouble, was suspended for the show for a week, and correspondents Beth Littleford, Brian Unger and A. Whitney Brown hosted. Sadly those clips are gone forever. 

Anyway, back to Jon. Right when you walk in, you see that there is a giant braille transcript of the exhibit: 

Jon’s desk is incredibly tiny. This was the desk he had from 2007-2015.

lol, I almost cried when I saw Jon’s stuff he kept under his desk. 

Like Jon, I also prefer a cheap bic pen. 

When Steve Carell got on John McCain’s campaign bus back in late 1999, it was of course a big deal, to have someone from little Comedy Central interviewing a major presidential candidate. 

I want that 3D Jon smiling face in my roomoffice for the rest of my life. By the way, there were NO Daily Show items in the gift shop. None. Newseum kinda dropped the ball there. 

Oh man, back in the day I used to chase down any magazine in Barnes & Noble or at Target if they had a Daily Show ad inside. This one is from 2004. 

I realized when I was at the exhibit, these two magazines have been stuck in our storage unit since 2005. Sadness. 

There was a little binder of correspondents near the end of the exhibit. I was like, “great, its probably just going to be Steve, Stephen, and anybody who was on the show past 2005.” but nearly everybody was in the binder from Jon’s tenure. Steve’s screencapture was from during the 2000 Election recount. 

I think if I didn’t have a relative with me, I would have started crying while flipping through this book. 

Damn, they even put Miriam in here. 

Okay, this is when I almost began to well up seeing my boy Mo, and Beth.

Aw, I really almost cried when I saw Vance. 

Unfortunately, the rest of the newseum trip was canceled because I went with someone who was too offended by the other exhibits at the museum. I’m trying to make it back out there (by myself) before the museum closes (moves?) by the end of the year. 

--

You know I have to plug my Daily Show zines at the end of this entry, right? I have a Nordstrom Card bill coming up from the damage from this trip. 

This is the one about my fan website I had about the show from 2000-2005. I just recently lowered the shipping on it. The binding is also different now, I just keep forgetting to update the photo. 

The second volume is my favorite episodes from 1999-2001.

The Replacements’ 6th studio album was released on 1 February 1989.

It was the first album to include Slim Dunlap, who had replaced Bob Stinson.