Showing posts with label Jimmy Kimmel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jimmy Kimmel. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

News roundup, 23 July 2025

- A Nouvelair Airbus A320-200 attempted to land on the wrong runway at Nice on Sunday and was forced to execute a last-minute missed approach, coming within three metres of another A320 operated by Easyjet that was lined up on the runway. The Easyjet flight returned to the gate because the pilots were too shaken to continue; passengers reported that the captain was crying and his hands were shaking as he exited the cockpit.

- ABC is walking back their cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and FCC chair Brendan Carr is denying that any threats were made to the licenses of ABC stations. I guess he didn't explicitly threaten to pull licenses, though when he said things like "These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead", it's hard not to interpret this as a threat. Nonetheless, the show is set to return to the airwaves tonight.

- The US Supreme Court has issued an "emergency order" allowing Donald Trump to fire Rebecca Slaughter, the last remaining Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission. The agency, like many federal agencies, was designed to be bipartisan, and a unanimous 1935 ruling of the Supreme Court forbade then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt from firing commissioners, but that precedent seems to be of no merit to the MAGA-dominated court. The court has so far indicated that the Federal Reserve will be handled differently, but it remains to be seen if this will be the case.

- Not satisfied with the existing sanctions against the International Criminal Court in the wake of their call for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Trump regime reportedly has a bunch more coming up the pipeline. Possible sanctions could include prohibiting banks that do business with the ICC from doing business with the US. The court has responded by paying the remainder of their staff's 2025 salaries in advance, which if nothing else gives the staff time to make alternative plans for their livelyhoods. Perhaps the court should follow the lead of New South Wales premier Jack Lang, who in 1932 withdrew the state's assets from the bank and stored it in cash at the Sydney Trades Hall in response to a threat to seize the state's bank accounts in order to move forward with their deflationary plans. Lang's government was dismissed by Governor Philip Game soon after, but Trump can't do that to the ICC, much as he'd like to.

- In other ICC-related news, the court has issued an indictment against former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte for crimes against humanity, including murder.

- Winnipeg police are investigating after fires were set on four different occasions since August at the constituency office of housing minister Bernadette Smith. Damage in all cases was relatively minor and the office remains open. Police say they do not know if the fires were random or targeted. Tellingly, however, there were no signs of similar attempts on nearby buildings.

- The noted American shock-rock band GWAR beheaded Elon Musk in effigy on stage at Riot Fest in Chicago. Of course, stuff like this is nothing new to GWAR, who have previously pulled the same stunt with effigies of other people (including both Donald Trump and Joe Biden). The stunt is getting a bit more scrutiny in the present political climate, though.

- A 47 year old math teacher at a middle school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana was arrested after a drug-sniffing dog brought into the school by police took an unusual interest in her purse. Police searched and found cocaine inside a wallet, and subsequently found marijuana and pipes in her car.

Friday, September 19, 2025

News roundup, 19 Sept 2025

- Denmark held a large military exercise in Greenland this week, the largest in the territory's history. They invited several NATO allies, but pointedly left the US off the invite list.

- Alberta premier Danielle Smith's approval rating has declined to 46%. Despite this, other polling indicates that Smith and her United Conservative Party would win handily over Naheed Nenshi's NDP if an election were held today.

- The New York Times reports that the Trump regime approved the export of advanced computer technology to the United Arab Emirates only two weeks after the UAE invested $2 billion in World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency startup founded by Trump, his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, and their families.

- Elon Musk spoke at the gigantic anti-immigration rally held in the UK by far-right activist Tommy Robinson over the weekend, and declared that "violence is coming" to the country. This brings to mind the notorious "rivers of blood" speech given by MP Enoch Powell in 1968. Musk also called for a change of government, and it's a safe bet that he will do his utmost to ensure that happens.

- Insiders reporting on the executive meetings following the Jimmy Kimmel episode that got the show cancelled say that multiple executives acknowledged that Kimmel hadn't said anything that crosses a line, but that senior execs feared retaliation from Trump. The fears may not have been unfounded; FCC chair Brendan Carr had hinted in an interview that ABC affiliates might have difficulty renewing their broadcast licenses if something wasn't done to "take action" on Kimmel.

- Two Utah men were arrested after an incendiary device was placed under a vehicle owned by a media outlet in Salt Lake City. The device did not go off. And a Texas man was arrested for making threats against New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. I guess they're all counting on getting a presidential pardon.

Thursday, September 18, 2025

News roundup, 18 Sept 2025

- The US network ABC has cancelled Jimmy Kimmel Live in response to pressure from the Trump-controlled Federal Communications Commission. This follows Kimmel's comments regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Trump is also demanding that NBC cancel Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers.

- Israel's government has threatened to withhold funding for the Ophir Awards, the country's national film awards, after the top award went to a movie about a Palestinian boy. Culture minister Miki Zohar said that the award "spits in the faces of our heroic soldiers".

- Trump's Justice Department is taking Maine and Oregon to court over access to those states' voter registration lists. The states, quite understandably, don't trust the feds to keep voter information secure, but the feds claim it is necessary to limit voter fraud.

- The Winnipeg Police Service has announced that police officers, both uniformed and plainclothes, will be patrolling bus stop areas and riding on buses to deal with a rise in violent behaviour on Winnipeg Transit.

- Doug Ford is calling on the federal government to keep the 100% tariff on Chinese EVs in place, saying that he fears the impact on the auto sector as well as on trade negotiations with the US if the tariff is removed.

- A cheating scandal has rocked the World Stone Skimming Championships, held on the Scottish island of Easdale, after it was discovered that stones used in the competition appeared to have been altered to make them skip more effectively.