On June 14th, 2025, Indivisible, along with many other supporting organizations is planning a nationwide protest “No Kings.” Instead of the military parade DJT is planning for that day (coincidentally his birthday) I hope the U.S. gives him and his Republican co-dependents a view of what the majority of Americans truly celebrate – no kings and certainly no wanna-bee-kings. You can find an event near you here. Please check this site for changes as I will not be sending any updates.
This bit of humor comes from Andy Borowitz, creator of the satirical Borowitz Report. But his post is not a joke; it’s about his posts being censored by Facebook, where some posts have been replaced by the ubiquitous “This content isn’t available right now.” DJT, despite his habit of insulting and mocking people, has very thin skin when it comes to being an object of satire. Remember all those posts about how nasty SNL was? But that kind of reaction usually backfires. It did then and is doing so again. He has become fodder for countless comedians, satirists and for us—we, the people. If you can’t laugh at yourself, others will.
Enjoy this month of early summer. I will be in Portugal, my native country, for the month of June. It will be interesting to see what the Portuguese think of our government. I suspect like many Americans, they won’t be too happy. I’ll be back in your mailbox in July.
Betty
What keeps Mark Zuckerberg up at night?
If you guessed taxation, government regulation, or deportation to El Salvador, you’re wrong.
Zuckerberg is afraid of laughter.
Earlier this year, I wrote about Facebook’s penchant for deleting anti-Trump posts (including mine).
I became aware of a new tactic in Facebook’s censorship campaign this week, when the people at Closer to the Edge—one of the top US Politics Substacks—tried to hit a “HAHA” emoji in response to one of my Facebook posts and were prevented from doing so:
The thwarted emoji-users wrote about Zuckerberg’s zero-tolerance policy on laughter in a lengthy post here. Let me share a key excerpt:
Apparently, laughing at satire now violates the Terms of Joy and Community Standards for Irony.
Maybe we did it too often. Maybe we laughed too fast. Maybe the algorithm flagged us for showing signs of human behavior on a platform built for advertising.
But let’s be honest: Facebook’s not trying to stop spam. It’s trying to stop anything that spreads faster than their approved corporate content. Laughter—real, resonant, defiant laughter—is viral.
Zuckerberg’s ban on laughter is part of a larger anti-comedy campaign under Trump’s fascist regime.
Ann Telnaes
Ann Telnaes, the Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoonist, resigned from the Washington Post after her editor killed a drawing of hers that mocked Trump’s billionaire quislings (including WaPo owner Jeff Bezos). And the hilarious Amber Ruffin was dropped from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which went ahead with no comedian whatsoever.
Ann Telnaes
What do Trump, Zuckerberg, and the rest of these authoritarian gangsters have to fear from laughter?
Everything.
As Mark Twain wrote in The Mysterious Stranger (1916), “Power, money, persuasion, supplication, persecution—these can lift at a colossal humbug—push it a little—weaken it a little, century by century; but only laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.”
Keep laughing.
And now the music:
Victor Borge was a Danish and American actor, comedian, and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in both North America and Europe. His blend of music and comedy earned him the nicknames “The Clown Prince of Denmark,” “The Unmelancholy Dane,” and “The Great Dane.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS0q5Srx30g