Weekly Member Update - September 22, 2025
“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”—Harry S. Truman
We start this week where the Bill of Rights begins, with the First Amendment. The rights guaranteed to the People by the First Amendment have been under assault since the Orange King took power but, in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Trump and his allies have upped the ante considerably. The plan was clear from the start; on the evening of Kirk’s murder, Trump himself addressed the Nation and baselessly placed the blame for Kirk’s death on the “hateful and despicable” rhetoric of the “radical left” and promised retribution against those that he deemed responsible. Trump henchman Stephen Miller naturally followed suit and claimed that, in his final conversation with Kirk, Kirk himself had coincidentally called for the dismantling of “radical left organizations fomenting violence across the United States.” Miller has vowed to crack down on “the domestic terrorists” of the American left in Kirk’s name.
What followed was an Orwellian effort to turn Kirk into a Horst Wessel martyr, sanitize his own record of white supremacist rhetoric, and silence and punish those that remained critical of Kirk or merely mourned his passing with insufficient vigor. The Vice President of the United States took over Kirk’s podcast and called for Americans to rat out other Americans who had “celebrated” Kirk’s death. As countless individuals across the Country were fired or suspended for wrongthink, South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace demanded that the Department of Education defund any university that failed to retaliate against employees who dared speak “insensitively” about Kirk. When MSNBC contributor Matthew Dodd had the audacity to suggest that Kirk’s own “hateful words” could have played a factor in his murder, Dowd was fired. Columnist Karen Attiah, the only remaining black opinion writer at the Washington Post, was summarily fired for the sins of reminding her readers how quickly the Country had shrugged off the assassination of Minnesota legislator Melissa Hortman and for suggesting that white perpetrators of political violence are often absolved of blame in the public’s eyes.
And then came Jimmy Kimmel. Trump, of course, is a malignant narcissist man-baby who cannot abide any criticism whatsoever, but he’s also an opportunist. When Kimmel made relatively anodyne comments about the right’s efforts to blame liberals for Kirk’s death, Trump seized the opportunity to remove his longtime critic. In a stunning display of unconstitutional government overreach that managed to outrage even Ted Cruz, Trump’s FCC Chairman, Brendan Carr, decided to cosplay as a B-movie mobster and threaten ABC with adverse regulatory action if they did not take action against Kimmel. Within hours, Kimmel had been sidelined by ABC, with an assist by Sinclair Broadcasting (the owner of CBS-6 WRGB here in Albany) and Nexstar Media Communications (the owner of our local WTEN News 10, which also just so happens to have a $6.2 billion merger pending before the FCC).
There is some reason to believe that the Administration’s actions against Jimmy Kimmel were a bridge too far in the eyes of the public — it turns out that Americans don’t like the King and his ministers determining what comedians can and cannot appear on television — Trump is seemingly undeterred. Surrounded by yes-men and drunk with ego-filled delusions about his own competence and popularity, Trump seems convinced that now is the time to shred the Constitution, trample on all of rights and consolidate his power. On Saturday, for example, Trump engaged in one of the most brazen, corrupt and tyrannical abuses of power yet, as he openly directed his Attorney General — via public social media post, of course — to prosecute his nemesis, NY’s elected Attorney General Letitia James. Despite the fact that the evidence against General James appears woefully insufficient, the King must have his vengeance and he will use the machinery of government to get it.
He is not content to merely abridge our freedom of speech, he also wants to take away our First Amendment rights of assembly and association. Trump and his acolytes (Miller first and foremost) are on the record pining for federal RICO conspiracy prosecutions against civil-society organizations and stripping the tax exempt status of not-for-profits who they deem to be “radical left,” Indivisible perhaps among them. Last week, the King also declared, illegally, that “ANTIFA” is a terrorist organization; since ANTIFA is a concept, rather than an actual organization, we would imagine that Trump thinks he alone gets to decide who is ANTIFA (and therefore a terrorist).
If you’re reading this newsletter, you already understand the enormity of this moment. You know the lessons of history and see what paths lay before us. But here’s the thing, if you are reading this newsletter, if you see where we are as nation on the precipice, you also have a duty. We all need to do more. Every one of us. And what that means, specifically, is that we all need work to bring more people into the fold. All of us have those people in our lives, people who we love and who share our fundamental values but who also sit on the sidelines, paralyzed by fear or inertia or cynicism. We need to bring them in. We all also know others in our lives, the ones who sense that “something” is off-kilter in our nation but who also have been perpetually disengaged from “politics,” (even though politics is fully engaged with them). These people need to be brought on board as well and given a home of reliable information, comradery and solidarity.
Building solidarity and community in the 518 is therefore the message of Capital Region No Kings II. Back in June, you showed up en masse on Wolf Road; for No Kings II on October 18, we are doing something a little different and taking the show to Western Avenue near Harriman and SUNY, and this time we are incorporating a March! We have mapped a safe and accessible two-mile loop for your marching enjoyment and we hope to see thousands of Capital Region residents parading in the neighborhood of the old King’s Highway. We envision a festive and celebratory March, full of music and fellowship, and each and every one of us has a role to play in building momentum towards October 18. As we did for No Kings I, we will be fundraising for publicity and we will have promotional materials for distribution, but you can do even more by directly encouraging your friends and family to participate in our No Kings March. Do you know a local politician who is sympathetic to our cause? Tell him or her to join us! Do you belong to a local club, church or other organization? Encourage your fellow members to gather their banners and come march with us! Do you know any musicians or performers? How about a dance team or cheer squad? Make sure to let them know that all are welcome! For No Kings II, we are not only fighting back against the growing tyranny of the Orange King, we are also building connections to strengthen our community and our resolve for the struggle ahead. All of us can play a role in growing this movement and in making October 18 an epic showing of historical importance. King Trump wants to take away our First Amendment rights; on October 18, we will show him that we will not surrender quietly as we celebrate the First Amendment in its purest form, with peaceful and jubilant nonviolent protest!
Changing topics, we want to give you an update to last week’s discussion on vaccine availability. As anticipated, RFK Jr.’s handpicked Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met this week to revisit established vaccination practices. A few takeaways:
ACIP has shifted away from a broad recommendation in favor of COVID-19 vaccination and is now recommending — subject to approval by RFK Jr.’s acting CDC Director — that COVID jabs only be made available following consultation with a health care professional. While this recommendation falls short of requiring an actual prescription to obtain a COVID shot, it still is sure to decrease vaccine uptake because, spoiler alert, not everyone has access to health care in this Country, a situation sure to be exacerbated as more and more folks lose health insurance coverage thanks to Republicans’ Big Beautiful Bill
On the subject of the Hepatitis B vaccine for newborns — which, it should be noted, has decreased infant Hep B infections from 18,000 per year in 1991, when the current newborn vaccination was adopted, to just 20 reported cases last year — ACIP delayed a vote, for now, on whether guidance should be altered. ACIP is still considering changing the current model of newborn vaccination to one where children do not receive the vaccine until they are a few months old, despite any evidence that such a change is warranted.
Finally, on the topic of the MMRV vaccinations that pretty much all of us received as kids — and were thereby spared from suffering from measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox — ACIP chose to change its recommendations attendant to the federal Vaccines for Children program, potentially putting thousands of low-income children at risk.
Finally, don’t forget about our monthly protest against Avelo Airlines, scheduled for this Saturday at Albany International Airport beginning at 11:30 a.m. Tomorrow evening, we’re also doing a visibility action on the Old Loudon Road overpass to Route 7 to build momentum for Saturday’s main event, so we hope to see you twice this week!