Sound Off: September 19, 2025

Sun Herald readers weigh in on local and national topics.

Kimmel’s exit

Jimmy Kimmel didn’t get run off his show because he said something questionable. He was run off his show because he said something plainly incorrect, given all we know about the killing of Charlie Kirk. There’s a big difference there.

State-run TV

Your head is in the ground if you do not see where this is headed. CBS comedian Stephen Colbert and now ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel are humorously opposed to Trump and exercise their freedom of speech. As a result, their shows are being ended. President Trump is fundamentally blackmailing the major TV station owners by threatening to cancel their pending mergers, which need his approval, if they don’t terminate the shows. To that end, Trump had his FCC chairman take Kimmel off the air for comments made during a show. Three years ago the FCC chair was a constitutional supporter of free speech, no longer. Just as China and North Korea have state-run TV to control everything seen and heard, we are now officially on our way to authoritarian government or dictatorship.

Good riddance

See ya, Jimmy. Look on the bright side, Disneyland is probably hiring.

Free speech

Freedom of speech continues to be lost as President Trump’s appointed FCC chair has now forced ABC to pull comedian Jimmy Kimmel Live off the air. Wonder who was behind that move? Lying to America every day is fine, but tell a joke and you lose your livelihood. What country is this?

Not a group

President Trump is declaring Antifa a major terrorist group. Never mind that the KKK has never been designated, but Antifa is not an organization. It’s just a label given to liberals who advocate violence. There is no membership or organized leadership.

Whitewashing

The Trump administration is calling for images and stories that show violence against slaves to be removed from federal places. Their excuse is that it shows Americans in an unfavorable light. History is being manipulated once again.

Insults are dangerous

Childish and petty insults do not justify violence, but they definitely contribute to the probability that it will occur. When combustible material is stacked higher and higher, then something, intentionally or unintentionally, will cause it to burst into flames. Eruptions of violence get triggered in the same way. On school grounds, in bars, at work, in politics. Insults are unnecessary (they don’t convince the other person) and they are dangerous, so let’s disagree but not insult.

Send your Sound Offs to soundoff@sunherald.com.