Tag: CBS

A Few Matters of Concern

For those of you who cannot watch the news any more “because it’s too sad,” I apologize. You might not want to read this blog post.

There is just something deep down inside me that compels me to comment on the continuing dismantling of our democracy.

Some doctors in the United States are now telling their patients not to keep up with current events because it’s not good for their health. Mine hasn’t told me that yet, so I’m steamrolling forward.

(I am making a point to listen to relaxing music every day now though, so that’s a positive result of Donald Trump’s reelection. I highly recommend the hammered dulcimer and guitar instrumentals of Steve and Ruth Smith.)

What’s in store for CBS?

Last Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the merger/takeover of CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, by Skydance. The new company will apparently be called New Paramount.

It seems to me a more accurate name would be 19th Century Paramount, for that’s what the FCC chair and the folks at Skydance plan to do.

I’m going to quote FCC chair Brendan Carr, because I want those of you who missed it to see just what kind of person we have in charge of the FCC, which issues all TV and radio broadcast licenses. Aa thinking person, I find Mr. Carr’s attitude to be beneath the level of trust and integrity his office holds (or used to). Here’s what Mr. Carr said in a statement issued along with the FCC’s decision:

“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change. That is why I welcome Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network.”

Carr also stated, “In particular, Skydance has made written commitments to ensure that the new company’s programming embodies a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum. Skydance will also adopt measures that can root out the bias that has undermined trust in the national news media.”

From what I gathered online and on news broadcasts, among other things, Skydance promised not to have any diversity, equity, and inclusion policies at New Paramount. And Paramount promised to donate $16 million to the Trump Presidential Library. (That’s the greatest oxymoron I’ve ever heard!)

Will all the people of color and all the women at CBS and all the other media Skydance will now own need to find employment elsewhere? Will there be no more people of color or women in the movies made by Paramount Studios?

One can’t help but wonder what the future of broadcasting will be in the United States with Trump and his ilk in charge.

If you voted for Trump last November, is that what you wanted? If it is, please don’t tell me. I really don’t want to know that about my blog readers.

National Science Foundation

Photo of a row of microscopes
Photo by Ousa Chea on Unsplash

We know from many things the Trump Administration has done that he is anti-science. I mean, you can’t fire medical researchers at the National Institutes of Health and be pro-science. Simple as that.

The National Science Foundation is speaking out about politically motivated actions that have been taken to derail the traditional peer-review process related to grants. Instead of outside peers reviewing grant applications, Trump has directed grant proposals to be screened for political compliance first. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staff will now decide which scientific research proposals are approved for federal grants.

We can safely assume there will be no grants approved for scientific research related to race, climate, or LGBTQ+ health.

More than 1,600 National Science Foundation grants were suddenly cancelled by DOGE on July 3, 2025.

The long-range ramifications of three-and-a-half more years of Trump in the White House and Republicans in control of both houses of Congress cannot even be imagined in the area of scientific research in the United States. I hope other countries will fill in the gap.

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule came about in 2001 because there was a backlog in repairs to roads in our national forests. Repairs and maintenance of park roads were too expensive, so this rule was adopted under which no new roads were to be developed in national forests to save money and to protect the environment.

Guess what the Trump Administration wants to do.

Contact your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative, even if you know it will do no good. Be able to tell your children and grandchildren that you tried to save the national forests.

Federal lands in New Mexico to be drilled

Photo of four oil drilling rigs
Photo by Documerica on Unsplash

The U.S. Department of the Interior announced last Thursday the federal government’s profit of $58,260,929 from the gas and oil leasing of 7,502.76 acres of “our” land in New Mexico.

The press release from the Bureau of Land Management did not use the word “profit.” The statement referred to the 58 million dollars as “revenue.” That sounds so much better than calling it “profit” or “blood money.”

New Acting President of U.S. Institute of Peace

The new Acting President of the U.S. Institute of Peace – a taxpayer-funded agency – is white supremacist Darren Beattie. So now the person overseeing the U.S. State Department’s efforts to fight extremist rhetoric is a man who actively traffics in it.

His website publishes January 6 conspiracy theories. He lost his job with the first Trump Administration because he attended a white supremacist conference, so why is he back?

Confirmation of Emil Bove

The Senate confirmed former Trump lawyer Emil Bove in a 50-49 vote for a lifetime appointment as a federal appeals court judge yesterday, ignoring complaints about his conduct from Justice Department employees.

Bove was one of Trump’s personal lawyers. The message this sends to his other attorneys is that if they remain loyal to him, they can look forward to a lifetime appointment as a federal judge, too.

Someone, please stop the madness.

Until my next blog post

Keep reading whatever you can.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

Remember the people of Ukraine, the people of western North Carolina, and the starving children of Gaza.

Janet

Political Jokes and the First Amendment

In the old days, if a king didn’t like the court jester’s jokes, he could have him executed. In some countries, that might still be the case.

Photo of a piece of paper coming out of a typewriter. The words, "Freedom of Speech' are typed on the paper.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

But in America, we have First Amendment rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution… or so we thought until last Thursday.

That was when CBS announced the May 2026 end of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Colbert will not be replaced. The show will cease to exist.

CBS says it was purely a financial decision, but it seemed more than coincidental for it to happen to a show whose host keeps us laughing five nights-a-week as he masterfully puts a humorous spin on that day’s latest pronouncements and blunders made by Donald Trump.

There is nothing coincidental about it, and we all know it – no matter how many of Trump’s minions get on TV and try to convince us that it was.

Here’s the background, as reported by The Washington Post on July 18:

“On July 1, the announcement came that the network’s parent company, Paramount Global — which needs Donald Trump’s administration to approve the pending sale of the company to Skydance Media — was settling (rather than fighting) the president’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview of then-candidate Kamala Harris. They will be paying the president $16 million. Before the settlement, CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon and “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens both left (or were made to) after registering their disapproval. Those who remain are clearly shaken. “Can you hold power to account after paying it millions?” John Dickerson, the anchor for “CBS Evening News,” said while reporting on the deal the day the settlement was announced. “Can an audience trust you when it thinks you’ve traded away that trust?”

Photo of a microphone.
Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST on Unsplash

Trump’s cult members go on CNN and try to convince us that Stephen Colbert “isn’t even funny.” The Republicans have lost any sense of humor they ever had. Colbert is hilarious, and he’s been known to poke fun at politicians of all stripes.

Stephen Colbert, from everything I’ve heard, read, and seen is a descent guy. He does not hide his Roman Catholic faith, nor does he use it to shame or beat someone over the head with it. It is just part of his being and he is not ashamed to mention it on occasion when doing so seems appropriate.

He is never mean-spirited in his jokes. He is a consummate professional who goes out in front of a live audience five nights-a-week to offer them a release from the stresses of every day life.

Mr. Colbert’s father and two of his brothers died in a plane crash in 1974 when Colbert was just 10 years old, so he knows loss and grief on a very personal level. It gives him a heartfelt empathy for others. He demonstrates that empathy by sometimes including in the show ways to encourage others to show their empathy and open their wallets to help people in times of a natural disaster.

If you don’t like Stephen Colbert’s jokes, you don’t have to watch his show. As we used to say, “It’s a free country.”

Trump’s track record on humor

Trump proved on live TV in 2016 that he cannot take a joke. When then U.S. President Barack Obama made a light-hearted joke about Trump at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Trump never cracked a smile. If Trump had had even a tiny understanding of the White House Correspondents Dinner, he would have known that (1) it was a huge fundraiser for journalism and related internships and (2) it was an annual dinner dominated by good-hearted political jokes.

There was nothing mean-spirited by Obama’s remarks. He mainly poked fun at himself. That’s what people who have good mental health do. But Trump took it as a serious affront, and he will go to his grave still angry about Obana’s words.

An official photo of President Barack Obama from the Library of Congress
U.S. President Barack Obama.
Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash

A transcript of President Obama’s remarks, along with parenthetical inclusions of when the audience laughed) can be found at https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/05/01/remarks-president-white-house-correspondents-dinner. The live television broadcast of the Obama’s remarks that night can also we found on YouTube. You can judge for yourself if President Obama’s remarks were mean-spirited. Here is the joke read by President Obama that made Trump so angry:

“Sitting at the same table, I see Mike Bloomberg.  (Applause.)  Mike, a combative, controversial New York billionaire is leading the GOP primary and it is not you.  (Laughter.)  That has to sting a little bit.  (Laughter.)  Although it’s not an entirely fair comparison between you and the Donald.  After all, Mike was a big-city mayor.  He knows policy in depth.  And he’s actually worth the amount of money that he says he is.  (Laughter and applause.)”

Trump sat stone-faced while the audience laughed at the joke. Trump couldn’t find the humor in it, I guess because he knew it was true.

Political humor is as old as mankind. It is unbelievable that someone as old as Donald Trump would not have known that. He clearly didn’t know it in 2016, and he hasn’t learned it yet in 2025.

Back to CBS and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” … Trump went on social media within hours of Thursday’s announcement by CBS. He berated Stephen Colbert and belittled his comedic talents. He celebrated Colbert’s “firing,” and announced that Jimmy Kimmel of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on ABC will be next.

The bigger picture

This is much bigger than the cancellation of a television show. This is much bigger than the attempt to silence one comedian.

This, my friends, is an attack on our First Amendment right to free speech.

Photo of a young woman with blue tape across her mouth
Photo by Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash

It puts that ounce of fear in every decision a commercial television network makes, so they will constantly second guess themselves. It makes television producers think twice before they have a certain guest on a show.

It puts that little bit of intimidation in the mind of a comedian who has built a 40-year career poking fun at every United States President because that’s what we do in America. We make fun of our elected leaders.

One-by-one, Trump plans to rid television in America of comedians who dare to make jokes about him. He as much as said so on his social media platform.

It has come to that.

Here in the United States, we now have a President who thinks he has the authority to run roughshod over anyone and everyone.

He even attacked his own supporters last week when some of them dared to ask for the release of the Epstein files. He immediately called them “stupid.” These are the people who have voted for him three times and would happily vote for him again, but he has turned on them and called them names.

You cross Donald Trump, and you pay the price.

He believes he has the right to dictate every facet of our lives – the polluted air we breathe, the medical care we get or don’t get, and now – the television shows we can’t watch.

He has defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting because it received federal funds. Now, he has strong-armed CBS into ending a late-night talk show that has been on the air for decades because the host tells political jokes. CBS claims the decision was strictly financial, but we all know the real reason.

On Monday night, Colbert made a joke about CBS paying Donald Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit. Three days later, Colbert’s show gets cancelled. You do the math.

Shame on Trump, but the lion’s share of the shame sits on the shoulders of CBS. First, you let him bully you about “60 Minutes” and now you’ve let him dictate your late-night programming.

Where do you think this will end, CBS? You have given in to a bully!

It is sad when an adult not only cannot laugh at himself but only finds humor in the suffering or misfortune of others. It is tragic when that adult is President of the United States.

Many days, 11:30-11:40 p.m. is the only time during the entire day that I find something to laugh about. I might not know or have an interest in his celebrity guests, but I’m tuning in for the show’s opening monologue.

I will continue to watch “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” every weekday night until May 2026. I’m not sure how I will cope with the Trump regime after that.

Until my next blog post

Keep laughing at politicians.

Keep reading whatever you want to read.

Keep watching whatever you want to watch on TV.

The day may come when you cannot do those things, so don’t take them for granted.

Remember the people of Ukraine. They were living their lives in a democracy one day and the next day Russia started dropping bombs on them.

Remember the people of western North Carolina where people are still recovering from a hurricane and massive flooding that hit ten months ago this week.

Janet