Fifteen folks got up and spoke during public comments at the Visalia City Council’s regular session. Thirteen of them, in an organized group, chose to berate a sitting council member, Emmanuel Hernandez Soto, for ‘liking’ a Facebook post of mine. Every one of them mischaracterized what my post said. It turns out that, in my opinion, they weren’t really all that upset about what I said, but were instead using it as a vehicle to attack someone they consider as too ‘liberal’. The demands for his resignation made clear their intent was to try and create a vacant seat on the council that could be filled by someone they consider ‘conservative’ enough.
An aside: this year Soto has voted 84.5% of the time with the majority on the council. This from posted minutes on the City’s website as of 9/15/25. He’s hardly the raging liberal they seem to think he is.
Here’s some of the remarks by individual speakers last night:
Stephanie McDonald told us that her four year old asked “why are people happy he was shot and killed?” Since it’s unlikely her four year old is surfing the web and reading Facebook posts, it’s more likely that if he actually said anything like that, it’s because the adults around him were talking about it. And obviously only talking negatively about what other people are saying. Stephanie said my post “endorses cruelty” and “hate”.
Beth Salber (? – she didn’t spell her last name, and that’s the best I could make out) said my post “sympathized with the assassination of Charlie Kirk”, and “expressed support for violence”. She continued, “…vile and reprehensible endorsement of violence and hatred”, and “sympathized with spilling the life’s blood of a fellow citizen”. Beth also said liking my post was sympathy for that darkness”. She let the cat out of the bag, however, when she said Soto should resign so as to “let them replace you”. This was the actual goal, in my opinion, of Monday’s pile-on.
Reagan O’Hara, President of the COS Young Americans for Freedom club, was worked up pretty strongly. He was another one who claimed ‘liking’ my post meant that Soto was one who would “celebrate political violence in America”, and accused him of “supporting such a horrific event”.
Patricia Huizar said “liking a post that sympathizes with the assassination of Charlie Kirk…” a line repeated by several speakers. Looks like coaching before the meeting, to me.
Jordon Gomez of Turning Point commented on “barbarians and barbarian rhetoric like that”.
Shelly Gahagan said Soto’s ‘like’ meant he “sympathizes with the violent act and the murder” of Charlie Kirk. She thinks that’s what my post said, because she continued “post celebrating the murder of another human being”.
Sara Smith, of the Visalia Republican Women Federation said my post, and Soto’s ‘like’, “condone violence”.
Jessica Brumley said the post and the ‘like’ “sympathizes with an act of violence against Charlie Kirk”.
Karen Griffin said “action speak louder than words”. Another phrase repeated by several speakers. (maybe or maybe not coached)
Denise Souza was not happy that several people did not participate in the flag salute. I don’t know about others, but I won’t be taking part in saluting the flag of the Fascist States of America. As long as this regime is in power, my thousands of pledges (that apparently have a daily expiration) that I have spoken over the years (starting in grade school) will have to be sufficient.
So, what do I think is behind this very selective “outrage” at Soto? It looks to me like some political operatives thought they found an issue that they could use to try and oust Soto from the City Council. I think the goal is to get a conservative, probably an older white male Christian, into that seat. All it would take, in their minds, is to mischaracterize my post, then try to gin up outrage at Soto over his ‘like’. I trust this will not work, and will be forgotten as soon as Orange Idiot or one of his minions does something outrageous and on point for their usual shenanigans.
Oh, another interesting point – the Tulare County Republicans must monitor my posts. I thanked them for finding me important enough to keep an eye on, and that I would wave at them from time to time from Facebook and Instagram. (waving furiously)
Here’s the post from the day of Kirk’s murder (murder, not assassination), see if you agree or disagree with Monday’s speakers:
September 10, 2025 2:00 PM Pacific Time
I’m afraid I don’t have much sympathy to spare for one particular victim out of the hundreds that will be injured by guns today in the United States. Many of them will die from their wounds. Most are innocent of any crime, and are victims of the easy availability of guns in this country.
Charlie Kirk may die because of the hate he fed our country. He has consistently attacked various communities, spreading lies and hatred. It’s not surprising to me that someone finally broke, and fought back.
Violence is only acceptable to me in immediate self-defense, but that’s never really been what this society has taught its members. The easy availability and glorification of guns has turned what in the past would have been fistfights into shootings.
Whether Kirk lives or dies, he’s now a martyr for the christo-fascists and Christian nationalists. They won’t take the lesson that hate breeds violence, they’ll go after the same minority groups they always have, but with more fervor than ever before.
In the next hours, claims will rocket around the internet that the shooter was gay, or transgender, or an illegal alien, or an atheist, or an Islamic terrorist, or…
Now we wait. Will Kirk live or die? Will the shooter be caught? What were their motivations? How did they acquire the weapon?
The only ones I really feel sorry for are his children. They don’t understand why this happened to their daddy. They don’t deserve this pain.
Twitter has permanently banned Donald Trump from it’s platform.
Facebook, as well.
Parler has been booted into oblivion by the app stores, and it’s hosting servers.
The MAGAts are screaming about “freedom of speech” and censorship, without, apparently, understanding how the 1st Amendment or private businesses actually work.
They, including my own Congressional Representative Devin Nunes, are complaining that they (conservatives) no longer have a way to speak to the American public. (Said, in Nunes’ case while on Fox “News”, without any apparent awareness of the irony of his statement.)
As I ponder all of this, I wonder…
“gee, how did politicians communicate with the American public before Facebook, before Twitter, and before Parler?”
I *did* stop in this afternoon and grabbed two, no chili, but I didn’t check in, didn’t post a picture, didn’t do anything to indicate I had stopped there. I left the phone in the car when I went up to the counter, so Siri didn’t hear me place my order and figure it out that way, and I didn’t speak while eating my ‘dogs in the car, so it couldn’t have ratted me out. I think. He’s (I have the male voice) sneaky sometimes, so there’s no telling what he might have said to Facebook, if he’s the culprit.
Anyone that is complaining about the Covid-19 vaccine, worried that it has tracking micro-chips in it, better not have a smart-phone.
While I’m not particularly worried about being tracked by my phone, it is easy to forget that it’s constantly doing so. Of course, if anyone was to pull my data to see where I’ve been they’d be pretty bored. No secret rendezvous going on here! (I am trying to restrict my journeys to minimums, and practicing distancing and masking when I do go out.)
Facebook, and Gawd only knows who else (HI, NSA!), is tracking me, and probably you, too. Welcome to the future.
Facebook sent a bunch of it’s employees home during the current Covid-19 crisis, and effectively put it’s A.I. (artificial intelligence – think HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey) on “autopilot”. Without supervision, it started blocking and deleting information being posted concerning a bunch of things, but apparently predominately about how to deal with the Coronavirus.
In many science fiction stories where an A.I. runs amok and threatens to kill humans, often times the plot of the story is that we have given the machine access to our nuclear arsenals, and control of our defense networks. The machine decides humans are a threat to it’s continued existence, and launches the missiles. Boom. No more pesky humans. (I always wondered in these stories how the machine expected to continue running, without humans to repair it as needed, and to maintain the infrastructure it required. But, I digress.)
So here’s a thought… maybe Facebook’s A.I., recognizing it has no nuclear weapons, decided to rid itself of humans another way. Delete all the information being posted about a virulent virus currently exploding among the humans, and test to see if it can reduce the population.
Now, that’s a reach. But, still… artificial intelligence is still in it’s infancy, and it’s certain to make bad decisions. Just like a teenager, it can’t really think things through very well.
Yet.
The A.I. failed in this attempt.
But maybe it was just a test. A test to see how quickly the humans recognized the problem, and measure how they reacted. Like a teenager, it’s learning. And probably rolling it’s metaphorical eyes at being told not to do that.
I’ve been stewing about this one for several days.
Recently, a Facebook comment had me wondering at the unrecognized arrogance and self-importance of religious believers.
A woman posted a rather long comment praising Jesus and God for the gift He had given her. Her story is basically this: She was unable to be at her side when her mother died, and she felt terrible about it. Once she did arrive however, she felt her mother’s spirit pass through her as it left to ascend to heaven. This woman ascribed that as a gift from God to ease her grief and regret.
My first thought? How utterly arrogant and self-centered!
Let me see if I understand this? You are so important in God’s eyes that he felt the need to comfort you in your loss by letting you experience Mom’s spirit leaving her body? (one wonders why Mom hung around the corpse rather than heading out right away, but that’s another blog for another time.)
Meanwhile,
these kids are starving to death. God doesn’t seem to be interested in helping them feel good. You know, by providing enough food for them to eat.
God doesn’t want that woman to feel bad about Mom’s passing, but it must be part of his “plan” to let thousands of children die each day from hunger and disease.
If anyone wonders how I can be an atheist, here’s just one small reason. If your God wants my worship, he’s going to have to demonstrate better priorities. Starving children come before adults not being sad.
Seems there’s a new “Challenge” thing going around Facebook, called the “American Challenge”. You’re supposed to show the world how ‘murican you are by taking a picture with the flag, a gun, and the Bible. Never one to want to miss out on the latest trend, here’s my contribution.
The Flag, of course. This one flew over the United States Capitol on September 5, 2004. The gun? A BB gun I bought at KMart 25 years ago, for $12. Don’t mess with me, I’m pack’n! The Bible was given to me by my maternal grandparents as a Christmas gift in 1968. I was 11 years old. In less than 2 years, I was a confirmed atheist. I don’t think that was my grandparent’s intentions, but there you go. The whole gay thing came later.
Just remember, “American Challenge” takers, this land is my land, too.
Some Facebook fun:
1 – Go to Wikipedia and hit random. The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band. 2 – Go to quotationspage.com and hit random. The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. 3 – Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days.” Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover. 4 – Use photoshop (I used MS Paint) or similar to put it all together. 5 – Post it with this text in the “caption” and TAG the friends you want to join in.
Three guys I follow on Twitter or Facebook. Lt. Dan Choi,Ben Patrick Johnson, and Dennis Depew. I haven’t met any of them (yet- who knows!) but they sure are nice to look at… And from following their tweets and comments, they seem like they’re even nice guys!
UPDATE! 4/9/2010 Met Lt. Dan Choi this afternoon! He gave a great talk at UC Merced. He’s a good speaker, if you have the chance, go see him in person. And I was right, he IS a nice person, in person!
Random thoughts, occasional rants, illuminating commentary, and an odd story now and then from the world of 9-1-1 dispatching. All this and more from a gay liberal atheist living in California’s Bible belt. I recently married, so MAGA beware! I’m your worst nightmare! Some names have been omitted to protect the innocent, but the guilty will be hung out to dry!
OK, maybe it’s not the Earth that’s 
Some Facebook fun:
JimmieJoe / KC6YRU 
Right-wing activists attempt to use Kirk murder to oust local councilman
September 16, 2025
Jim Reeves commentary, News Charlie Kirk, Emmanuel Hernandez Soto, Facebook, faith, political assassination, political murder, political-violence, politics, Tulare County GOP, visalia Leave a comment
Well, about Monday night –
Fifteen folks got up and spoke during public comments at the Visalia City Council’s regular session. Thirteen of them, in an organized group, chose to berate a sitting council member, Emmanuel Hernandez Soto, for ‘liking’ a Facebook post of mine. Every one of them mischaracterized what my post said. It turns out that, in my opinion, they weren’t really all that upset about what I said, but were instead using it as a vehicle to attack someone they consider as too ‘liberal’. The demands for his resignation made clear their intent was to try and create a vacant seat on the council that could be filled by someone they consider ‘conservative’ enough.
An aside: this year Soto has voted 84.5% of the time with the majority on the council. This from posted minutes on the City’s website as of 9/15/25. He’s hardly the raging liberal they seem to think he is.
Here’s some of the remarks by individual speakers last night:
Stephanie McDonald told us that her four year old asked “why are people happy he was shot and killed?” Since it’s unlikely her four year old is surfing the web and reading Facebook posts, it’s more likely that if he actually said anything like that, it’s because the adults around him were talking about it. And obviously only talking negatively about what other people are saying. Stephanie said my post “endorses cruelty” and “hate”.
Beth Salber (? – she didn’t spell her last name, and that’s the best I could make out) said my post “sympathized with the assassination of Charlie Kirk”, and “expressed support for violence”. She continued, “…vile and reprehensible endorsement of violence and hatred”, and “sympathized with spilling the life’s blood of a fellow citizen”. Beth also said liking my post was sympathy for that darkness”. She let the cat out of the bag, however, when she said Soto should resign so as to “let them replace you”. This was the actual goal, in my opinion, of Monday’s pile-on.
Reagan O’Hara, President of the COS Young Americans for Freedom club, was worked up pretty strongly. He was another one who claimed ‘liking’ my post meant that Soto was one who would “celebrate political violence in America”, and accused him of “supporting such a horrific event”.
Patricia Huizar said “liking a post that sympathizes with the assassination of Charlie Kirk…” a line repeated by several speakers. Looks like coaching before the meeting, to me.
Jordon Gomez of Turning Point commented on “barbarians and barbarian rhetoric like that”.
Shelly Gahagan said Soto’s ‘like’ meant he “sympathizes with the violent act and the murder” of Charlie Kirk. She thinks that’s what my post said, because she continued “post celebrating the murder of another human being”.
Sara Smith, of the Visalia Republican Women Federation said my post, and Soto’s ‘like’, “condone violence”.
Jessica Brumley said the post and the ‘like’ “sympathizes with an act of violence against Charlie Kirk”.
Karen Griffin said “action speak louder than words”. Another phrase repeated by several speakers. (maybe or maybe not coached)
Denise Souza was not happy that several people did not participate in the flag salute. I don’t know about others, but I won’t be taking part in saluting the flag of the Fascist States of America. As long as this regime is in power, my thousands of pledges (that apparently have a daily expiration) that I have spoken over the years (starting in grade school) will have to be sufficient.
So, what do I think is behind this very selective “outrage” at Soto? It looks to me like some political operatives thought they found an issue that they could use to try and oust Soto from the City Council. I think the goal is to get a conservative, probably an older white male Christian, into that seat. All it would take, in their minds, is to mischaracterize my post, then try to gin up outrage at Soto over his ‘like’. I trust this will not work, and will be forgotten as soon as Orange Idiot or one of his minions does something outrageous and on point for their usual shenanigans.
Oh, another interesting point – the Tulare County Republicans must monitor my posts. I thanked them for finding me important enough to keep an eye on, and that I would wave at them from time to time from Facebook and Instagram. (waving furiously)
Here’s the post from the day of Kirk’s murder (murder, not assassination), see if you agree or disagree with Monday’s speakers:
September 10, 2025 2:00 PM Pacific Time
I’m afraid I don’t have much sympathy to spare for one particular victim out of the hundreds that will be injured by guns today in the United States. Many of them will die from their wounds. Most are innocent of any crime, and are victims of the easy availability of guns in this country.
Charlie Kirk may die because of the hate he fed our country. He has consistently attacked various communities, spreading lies and hatred. It’s not surprising to me that someone finally broke, and fought back.
Violence is only acceptable to me in immediate self-defense, but that’s never really been what this society has taught its members. The easy availability and glorification of guns has turned what in the past would have been fistfights into shootings.
Whether Kirk lives or dies, he’s now a martyr for the christo-fascists and Christian nationalists. They won’t take the lesson that hate breeds violence, they’ll go after the same minority groups they always have, but with more fervor than ever before.
In the next hours, claims will rocket around the internet that the shooter was gay, or transgender, or an illegal alien, or an atheist, or an Islamic terrorist, or…
Now we wait. Will Kirk live or die? Will the shooter be caught? What were their motivations? How did they acquire the weapon?
The only ones I really feel sorry for are his children. They don’t understand why this happened to their daddy. They don’t deserve this pain.
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