WobblyReport

The recent preemption and television broadcast restoration of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC should remind us to be clear-headed about our right to free speech in the United States of America in 2025, and in which sorts of media free speech is even possible. As Hamline University political science professor and author David Schultz observed, both Kimmel’s brief suspension and the imminent cancelation of The Late Show on CBS with Stephen Colbert reveal first and foremost “the overwhelming grip of corporate, for-profit media on our public life.” Much of the reporting on Kimmel’s suspension completely omits mention of a $6.2 billion merger that ABC affiliate broadcaster Nexstar plans with Tegna — a merger which requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice. Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which revealed some of its own merger and acquisitions plans earlier this summer, announced Kimmel’s suspension on the stations they manage only hours ...

The prognosis was a natural clearing of the obstruction or, failing that, surgical intervention. The diagnosis, following an expensive computed tomography scan, was a small bowel obstruction caused by eating too many raw vegetables. I had overdosed on salad. The scan revealed a pinch-point in the small intestine caused by scar tissue resulting from a hernia operation almost two decades ago. Too much fibrous material can stop up at this point, causing any solid or liquid material taken orally to become a ticking time-bomb—what cannot go down, must come up. In effect, this meant periods of intense abdominal pain and regurgitation. It started a couple years ago. Ascertaining the cause was a relief, although the bill for 24 hours’ observation and the CT scan will take us a year to pay, at over $400 per month. We couldn’t afford insurance when my employer offered and were not eligible to enroll when my spouse found full-time employment last spring. We’ll be able to enroll in November and...

The events in New York City on September 11, 2001, separate what came before and all that has happened since in American society. The front page of the Heralds and Independent*  all described local residents as “stunned” by the tragedy, when several commercial airplanes were hijacked and crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, causing thousands of casualties. Many first responders valiantly sacrificed their own lives in attempts to rescue those still in the towers while they were still standing, before they both collapsed. Amid the confusion and before the dust had settled, politicians initiated the most significant restructuring of the federal government in modern history, while dubbing 9/11 Patriot Day. The changes were sudden, although the preparations had been long and deliberate. The social climate that helped usher in the USA PATRIOT Act and the creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was one of unity and patriotism, but a unity and patriot...

This morning I utilized a generic, OS X native Epson driver to produce two copies of the document shown below with the FX-890 dot matrix printer shown above.