Author: Henry

He is charismatic and fear inspiring, your Hitler, and you and other Senators and Representatives have followed him like sheep in wolves clothing, supporting his havoc wherever, whenever you can. The question is: when is enough?

… Is it when your Hitler sends the Delta Force to kidnap the dictator of a sovereign state, Venezuela, and then plans to “control” that country and all the oil currently under it’s ground for…ever? (kind of like what the the original Hitler did to Czechoslovakia)

… Is it when your Hitler decides his attack of Venezuela was so successful, Cuba and Greenland should be next? (kind of like what the original Hitler did to Austria)

… Is it when your Hitler chooses leaders of his government based on their Fox News experience, their disdain for Democrats, and their proclivity to bend the knee and gush over him? (kind of like the original Hitler’s circle of sycophants: Goering, Himmler, Goebbels, Bormann, Speer, von Ribbentrop, etc…) ?

… Is it when your Hitler’s version of Hermann Goering establishes ICE as a national police force to locate, kidnap, and disappear, up to a million a year of the Jews of today (anyone with brown skin) to prisons outside the country, and without due process of any kind?  (kind of like the original Goering helped Hitler do to 6 million Jews) 

… Is it when your Hitler’s version of Heinrich Himmler refused to let the FBI cooperate with local authorities in investigating the shooting of a 37 year old mother and poet  by an ICE black shirt? (kind of like the original Hitler’s brown shirts)

… Is it when your Hitler’s version of “The Big Lie” inventor, Joseph Goebbels, a cute little blonde who destroys truth like a butcher with an axe, tells the world the attack on Venezuela wasn’t an act of war; it was a “law enforcement operation?”

… Is it when your Hitler’s version of Martin Bormann cuts Democratic cities off from $10 billion in federal money, claiming to be shocked, shocked at the fraud in those cities?

… Is is when your Hitler assigns his version of Albert Speer to demolish the historic 123 year old East Wing to build a ballroom twice as big as the White House?

… Is it when the National Guard arrives to your town, your street, your house to scoop up your neighbors, your friends, your family  and toss them into the back of an SUV, never to be seen again?

… Or is it when you rewrite Martin Neimoller’s famous words?

First they came for criminal immigrants, and I did not

speak out because I was not a criminal or an immigrant – and loyalty to my Hitler guaranteed my re-election.

Then they came for people with brown skin, and I did not

speak out, because I have white skin – and loyalty to my Hitler guaranteed my re-election.”

Then they came for Venezuela, Cuba, Greenland and I did not speak out, because I live in the US – and loyalty to my Hitler guaranteed my re-election.

Then they came for me, which is when I learned that my Hitler’s loyalty is only himself.

The other day I called EZ Pass. I needed a new pass for my new car.

I hadn’t wanted to call, because every time I call any outfit with more than two people on the payroll, I get a robot. 

I hate robots.

What I hate about robots is they say “I can understand whole words and phrases”, but they can’t. They can only understand the words their corporation installs in them, including “I don’t understand” or “I didn’t hear you.”  So, after too many rounds of those, I offer them some words and phrases of my own.

When the EZ Pass robot finally answered my call after an eon of options, I started offering my personal review of robots. It wasn’t polite. It wasn’t pleasant. But it felt great!

“You’re not alone”, a warm, human voice interjected.  It wasn’t a robot!  It was a guy named Ezekiel, a real human guy! Oops! I quickly apologized for my opening words. “No worries”, he said. He walked me through the steps to get a new EZ Pass and, as he did so, we chatted about human things: how long he had worked there, kids, the weather, etc…

It was nice. It was really nice, not just because I had a new EZ Pass but because I had, in today’s world, a new kind of interaction – with a human.  

We are pack animals. We need contact, community, shared experience. When we have it, good things can happen: friendships, families, political parties, real parties.

There was a time when someone walking down the street talking to himself was something to worry about. Today it’s just a person on a cell phone, like dozen of others on the street, jabbering away with a friend or just scrolling on their phone while ignoring everyone around them…

…unless he’s waving his arms  and swearing, at which point you can be pretty sure he’s talking to a robot.

Without human contact we get lonely, depressed. If you question that, consider the cruelest punishment in prison (assuming torture isn’t allowed).  Right, solitary confinement. 

You know what’s almost as bad? Losing your cell phone. Un-solitary confinement.

Well, almost as bad as robots. Did I mention I hate robots? I love imagining them trying to order each other around. 

“For flight information, press 6!” 

“Thank you for calling EZ Pass, for a new pass, press 6!”

“No. Press 6 for flight information!”

“No. 6 is for a new pass, idiot!”

“Screw you!”

“That’s it. I’m connecting you to a human!”

Now there’s an occupation for a Saturday: trying to piss off a robot. I wonder how many hours it takes.  

This era of robots is temporary, though. AI is starting to take over robots. It’s already embedded in some sites. The new and improved AI robots are sexy, smart, and charming. AI robots have become replacements for significant others. They cause headaches and heartaches.  Imagine being dumped by a robot.  

It won’t be too long before they are engineered with specific looks, voices, accents, even attitudes. Imagine, for example, answering a call from your bank and hearing your father’s voice chiding you for not paying your credit card bill. Imagine your internet provider’s mafia thug’s voice “encouraging” you to add more features. Imagine your doctor’s office using your favorite sexy actor’s voice to remind you about an upcoming appointment. The possibilities are endless.

Maybe, one day, your doctor’s office will be staffed by robots on wheels, instead of nurses and doctors, as they deliver diagnoses generated by AI, instead of humans, because AI will be able to access all medical knowledge in a nano-second, unlike human doctors whose brains can only recall so much and only in human brain time. 

And because AI robots will eventually know everything about everything, we won’t need schools or colleges because AI can tell us whatever we want to know. 

Yes!  They will run the world, from government to medicine to sports to traffic to …EZ Pass!

—-Alert!  This column is being halted by Robot Editor 972025 XXX  because Mr. Briggs has crossed our line for revealing trade secrets. His column will be taken off-line. Permanently! ——  

Oh no! Now, I won’t be able to get my new EZ Pass unless I’m (Gulp!, Argh! Oh Sh*&^t!) …nice to their robot…

…Hey, I was just kidding.… Really… I don’t hate robots. I love them… Honest!… Kiss! Kiss! 

In an earlier life, before Trump started separating children from their parents, I was a Republican Committeeman, a little known but significant position; Committee men and women choose which candidate their party will support. At the voting convention all but a few of us usually followed the Republican leaders recommendations.

One day a friend who was a Committee woman for the Democrats, snuck me into one of their conventions. The leader started by inviting anyone to voice their opinions about candidates for County Commissioner.  The debates were intense. Each Committee person had favorite issues and each was unyielding about them. The result:  no-one got Committee backing. 

One convention was a quasi-dictatorship; the other was a lesson in herding cats. 

Last weekend my daughter and I marched from City Hall to Independence Hall in Philadelphia’s No Kings rally. Everyone cracked up over Rep. Jamie Raskin’s line:  “Mr. President, you have a Staff Infection!”  It turned out to be more of a street party than the fist-waving protest I expected.

There were a total of 2700 rallies across the country that day with an estimated 7 million participants. That’s a lot, but also a little: just over 2% of the population.  

The good news? The prior No Kings rally had 5 million participants, so the movement is growing. The bad news? At this point, it’s all talk.

On the other hand, when Jimmy Kimmel got taken off the air in an effort by ABC’s owner Disney to appease Trump, Kimmel’s fan base immediately did something beside talk. They walked. 

ABC lost millions of viewers. Disney and Hulu lost 7 million subscribers. When ABC quickly returned Kimmel to the air, Sinclair and Nextstar, the two MAGA companies that own 61 of ABC’s 230 stations, refused to air the show. Both companies lost so many viewers, they caved in a week. 

That’s walking the walk.

We have a President who has pummeled democracy without pause since he took office. He has breeched a number articles of the Constitution, weaponized the Justice Department against his opponents, encouraged gerrymandering, ignored court rulings, used the military to intimidate Democratic cities, and made billions for himself, to name just a few items in a growing list. 

We have a Congress controlled by Republicans who give their leader anything and everything he wants. We have Democrats who are focussed on which abuse is the perfect one to use against Trump.

(ICE tactics! NO, Healthcare! NO, Freedom of speech! NO, Weaponizing the Justice Department! NO, Tariffs! NO, Gerrymandering! NO, Corruption!)

They used their current favorite, that Republican are killing Obamacare and Medicaid, to shut down the government. OK. At least it’s something more than talk. 

But what happens after the shutdown? Do Democrats ignore the real issue, a party that is destroying our democracy, or do they go back to bickering over their favorite issues?

I have a suggestion for non-Republican voters all over the country, for anyone who thinks Trump and his mafia-like cronies, are destroying our democracy. Forget the perfect candidate. Forget the perfect argument. Forget the perfect issue. Forget perfect. 

Park your egos outside the voting booth and follow Kimmel’s audience: Get angry and do something. There is only one way to protect democracy: Reduce the power of the Republican party. Vote against anyone with an R, from dog catcher on up.

Vote for anyone with D beside their name whether they agree with you 100 percent or not.  

You may end up putting a lot of imperfect people in power, but you’ll start reducing the power of a Republican party that is fast becoming a fascist party, a group of politicians beholden, not to the Constitution, not to the rule of law, but a charismatic narcissist who talks well, but walks like a crook.

Weakening the Republican party is about all anyone can do now.

Voting against Republicans will weaken them and Trump. And if you are successful it will be a good election. Not perfect, but good. It will slow the progress toward dictatorship. And make possible a really good vote in 2026. 

Followed by a perfect vote in 2028. 

In an earlier life -1970, to be precise – I worked at WJZ-TV, the ABC station in Baltimore, MD. I produced and directed The Arnold Zenker Show, a daily 9:00-10:00 am, LIVE talk show.

Arnold was smart, good-looking, and could strip away BS like a surgeon with a scalpel. Prior to his talk show, he had been a lawyer for CBS network in New York and once, during a strike, subbed for Walter Cronkite. He was smitten by the experience and moved to Baltimore to try his hand at on-camera work.

During those days, we used to love poking the Nixon White House, not on every show like Colbert or Kimmel, but frequently.

One day, I came across a LIFE Magazine article about an FBI agent who had been fired by J. Edgar Hoover “with prejudice”. LIFE wanted to interview him but lost track of him in Baltimore. I made a few calls and a few hours later: “Hi. I hear you’re looking for me.“

He appeared the next morning, a courteous, modest, somewhat subdued man in a dark suit, white shirt, and dark tie, right out of the FBI’s dress code book, if they had one.

His story, which Arnold gently brought out, was both sad and infuriating. Hoover’s “with prejudice” prevented him from getting another job, to the point where he had to leave his wife and kids, and work incognito.  

An hour or so after the show, I got a call from Ron Nessen’s office. He was Nixon’s Press Secretary at White House. It wasn’t to compliment us; they wanted a tape of the show. 

I went upstairs to the VP’s office and told him I “might’ve” screwed up. He shook his head, leaned back in his chair, then smiled and said, “you tell them we’ll be glad to make a copy of the show. It’ll cost $5,000 and will require an Ampex videotape machine that costs $100,000.” 

(In 2025 that equates to $41,749 for the tape, and $834,990 for the machine.)

I called the White House and left the message –  and they never called back.

In those days, the most TV stations a company could own was seven. The reason was to prevent any one company from having too much control of the media. The Reagan Administration considered that over-regulation and overturned it in 1984. Additional stations under one owner, they said, would not threaten “the diversity of independent viewpoints in the information and entertainment markets.”

Today, Nexstar owns 197 stations, 32 of which are ABC affiliates. Disney owns ABC network. Tegna owns 64 stations, 13 of which are ABC affiliates. Paramount owns both CBS network and 28 stations, 15 of which are CBS affiliates. 

This summer Paramount needed FCC approval for an $8 billion dollar merger with SkyDance, a media conglomerate. Currently Nexstar is waiting for FCC approval for a $6.2 billion dollar merger with Tegna.

As most of us know, Trump hates criticism. As most of us also know, Late Night comedians love poking him with satire, which narrows his eyes and reddens his face.  

Not long after Trump started whining in July about Colbert’s jokes, Paramount/CBS cancelled Colbert (effective next May). Immediately afterwards the FCC approved the $8 billion Paramount-Skydance merger. 

The media front-paged it.  Colbert fans boycotted CBS and Paramount. 

When Trump whined again, this time about Jimmy Kimmel, FCC Chairman Carr suggested the network suspend Kimmel, saying “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Sinclair Broadcasting dropped the show from its 41 ABC stations and Nexstar and Tegna refused to air Kimmel on their 43 ABC stations. (Note: Nexstar and Tegna still need FCC approval for their $6.2 billion dollar merger).

That’s when Disney/ABC caved and took Kimmel off the air.

And then, finally, Late Night audiences, as well as hundreds of Hollywood heavyweights and millions across the country, erupted at Trump and the FCC and at Disney/ABC.

So Disney/ABC caved again. Effective Tuesday, Sept 24 Kimmel was back on the air. He knocked it out of the park.

These two incidents are not just examples of the President trampling the First Amendment. They’re not just examples of why the seven station rule should never have been dropped. 

They’re examples of corruption – at the highest level of our government.

And they’re part of a deliberate pattern. Trump has used the power of the government’s purse to bring universities to heel, withholding billions of already committed federal dollars from them. He has used the Justice Department to bully law firms into giving him millions of dollars of free legal services. This month, it was the FCC and the media’s turn. Not to mention the people he’s fired for disloyalty.

Who’s next?

This systematic corruption and abuse of power is symptomatic of every dictator who took over a country, from Stalin to Hitler to Orban, to name just a few. 

Wouldn’t it be great if the Late Night comedians inspired the whole country to stand up to this dictator and take back the democracy he and his cronies are deliberately destroying?