It's good to reach out to WDJT-TV (DJT huh?) and tell them they are cowards. It's also good to reach out via her public social media and let Sam Kuffel know that what she did has support.
The position people tend to see as "criticized" is that which they directly or indirectly get from the Press, and the Press is bought and paid for and has been working as a Propaganda arm of a subset of the population rather than as Journalists, for decades.
IMHO, the Consent for "Billionaire openly making a Nazi salute during Presidential Inauguration of Far-Right populist multi-millionaire" has been Manufactured and the acceptance of this by many and feeling of impotence about it by many others was never the product of natural Tolerance.
PS: In fact, the very events on the article the OP posted - that somebody in a public-facing position in the Press was fired for being a dissenting voice - give weight to the point I'm making.
Oh man, those poor folks still on X, fighting and hoping that they still have the freedom of expression. Have they not seen any WWII movies? Just sitting around won’t do anything to stop the hate and what the President and his crew are up to.
many wisconsin stations are downsizing and consolidating, closing local news operations and studios, etc. one ownership group (different than this one) is actually getting rid of local weather persons and outsourcing their weather to the weather channel or some bullshit like that. which will work real well when localized bad winter weather hits, or tornado/flood seasons.
at any rate, this station (and others) are probably on the constant lookout for a reason... any reason... to shed someone from their staff, and if replaced--will replace for less money.
Joke’s on them. Project 2025 plans to dismantle NOAA and gut/privatise the National Weather Service.
Who will pay for their weather forecasting once nobody will give them that data for free (under zero government funding)? They could just stop doing weather entirely, I guess, but millions of people rely on local weather reports to know whether to go to school or work. How do they plan to pay for that data?
I can’t believe how short-sighted some CEOs and mgmt types insist on being.
The Neoliberals too have been using exactly the same technique to crush dissent, since it gives them plausible deniability (i.e. they claim it was for some other reason than silencing somebody) which is the essence of how they apply Force (people aren't violently made to do or stop doing something, they're just pushed into a situation were they have no other option or see the example of what happens to others when they don't comply)
A specifically Fascist method would've involved violent use of Force, for example arrest or her being violently attacked on the street, rather than indirect methods like this firing.
Let's not leave the other Far-Right ideology of the hook just because their methods are are better PR-wise: their disempowering of the many and subversion of all the pillars of Democracy helped pave the way for the Fascists.
So why is CBS affiliate WDJT-TV in Milwaukee Wisconsin defending the speech of an apartheid-loving fascist who did a full-on nazi salute on national TV? And if that's not what they're doing, then why did they fire that reporter?
That's the question that every real news outlet should be asking.
When the richest human in existence, who will have an official position in the White House for bankrolling the president, performs not one, but TWO Nazi salutes while standing behind the presidential seal during a presidential inauguration, I want EVERYONE, including my meteorologist to speak up on that political issue.
It was on her private Instagram story, she wasn't even broadcasting it to the general public. You really want everyone to start thought policing? You gonna start snitching out your neighbours for being Jewish too?
And many, many more are going to follow, as Americans learn that they're no longer free to criticize those in power.
And the day will actually come when the notion of someone just being fired for criticizing those in power will seem quaint, since it will then be far more likely that they'll disappear - sucked up into the ever-hungry maw of the corporate police state slave system.
Well, the Swedes already invented nerve splicing IRL, so you can go chop chop on your limbs and get a prothesis that's directly connected to your bones and nerves.
If we can't criticize them openly then we'll have to use the other avenues made available via the Constitution. That will just eliminate the warning that negative public sentiment would normally give.
Or, quite possibly, it just struck me - a fruit picker or meat packer or motel maid or any of the other jobs that have traditionally been filled by undocumented immigrants.
Wow....
Yeah, I hadn't thought of that before, but that could well be why Trump is seemingly unconcerned about the economic impact of deporting the millions of people who have traditionally held the shitty, underpaid jobs nobody else will take - because the plan is to replace them with the new generation of private prison slaves...
Meteorologist Sam Kuffel, who criticized Elon Musk’s “Nazi” salute on social media, has left CBS affiliate WDJT-TV. Her departure has sparked criticism from users who argue it infringes on her freedom of expression.
Freedom of expression means that you are free from interference from the state. Never mind that we live in a de facto corporatocracy, freedom of expression does not prevent you from being silenced by private enterprise.
They should know that you can only infringe the "conservative" freedom of expression by moderating hate speech/ideas/beliefs, or by calling a Nazi a Nazi. Anyone Left of Nazi in the US has a narrowing window of "freedom of expression".
Because as we all know, the founders were granting Freedom of Speech to Fascist, NOT ANTIFA, just like Jesus wanted. /s
Dear News Media. Your job is speaking truth to power, which means you're going to make a lot of enemies. So unlike other big companies, the point of your legal department is to get you OUT of trouble, not to keep you from ever getting into it. Having principles in the business world isn't cheap or easy. Nothing worthwhile ever is.
I just can't understand how some people can stand behind this and defend it. If a major news station is either being forced or did this themselves, than I just don't know what to think of this.
Same. Here’s what I wrote in case it helps anyone:
I’d like to express my deep disappointment regarding your firing of Sam Kuffel for posting on social media to call out Elon Musk’s egregious display during the presidential inauguration.
There was zero ambiguity about what Musk did – so little ambiguity, in fact, that media in Germany cannot show images or videos of the moment because his gesture is illegal there.
Your willingness to bow to this appalling display of hate is contemptible and, though I no longer visit Milwaukee regularly, when I do, I will be avoiding your programming. I will also tell my friends and relatives who still live there.
This is also a stain on CBS as a whole, and I will be avoiding all CBS programming in future.
Please consider how bad this makes you and your parent company look. It’s despicable for a media company to hold such little regard for free speech.