What’s happening, Oklahoma?

You get the government you deserve. You’ve heard that before, right?

It’s widely quoted as having come from Thomas Jefferson, but some brief research this evening indicates he didn’t say it, and that, actually, it more likely originated from Joseph de Maistre in 1811: "Toute nation a le gouvernement qu'elle mérite."

Every nation gets the government it deserves.

Maistre was a conservative philosopher, in case you were curious.

But do we really deserve it? The constant chaos, the fighting, the fear?

ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air Wednesday night for his remarks about Charlie Kirk. For what it’s worth, Kimmel’s remarks were highly political and, to be honest, not particularly clever. There wasn’t a joke per se, just commentary. Stephen Colbert’s would have been funnier, but I also don’t wish cancellation on Kimmel.

For the record, I don’t watch much TV at all aside from some news and sports. Everything else is watched on-demand in bits and pieces, and none of it includes anything late-night aside from Colbert — and that’s not very often.

What you should understand, however, is that the pressure on ABC to suspend Kimmel came from local Nexstar stations as much as it did from FCC chairman Brendan Carr.

From the New York Times:
One broadcasting company, Nexstar, appeared to heed Mr. Carr’s encouragement. Shortly before ABC announced the suspension, Nexstar said that it would air other shows on its local ABC affiliates in place of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for the “foreseeable future.”

“Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets,” the company said in a statement.

Nexstar’s motivation could not be more obvious. They’re hoping for the FCC to bless their $6.2 billion acquisition of TEGNA. They are kissing up to find favor from Carr and the president.

There are no TEGNA stations in Oklahoma, but in case you didn’t know, Nexstar owns KFOR in Oklahoma City. While it’s an NBC affiliate, KFOR and its advertisers maybe deserve a second look if Kimmel’s apparent cancellation offended you that much. Here’s how it works: You call KFOR’s local advertisers en masse and let them know that you’ll never do business with them unless and until they quit advertising with KFOR. Organize a protest in front of their businesses even.

It works incredibly well if enough people do it, but you have to do that with local advertisers, not national. McDonald’s won’t care. A local car dealership, HVAC company or plumber might though. Not that I’m suggesting you do it, but as somebody who worked in local TV for two decades, this is in fact the kind of pressure that works.

But I doubt that Kimmel’s fate is the thing that spurs this kind of action.

It wouldn’t for me.

But tonight, Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters announced he was investigating 12 school districts in the state for not capitulating to his demand that they give an extra moment of silence in honor to slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Also in that report from Tulsa World, Walters made clear his plans to investigate 70 teachers for comments they made about Kirk on social media.

I feel an Excedrin headache coming on. How did we ever get here?

Gov. Kevin Stitt is the reason Walters ever rose to power — and we elected Stitt. Walters became a public figure only after Stitt tabbed him to be the state’s Secretary of Education, and then from there, he ran for and won the state superintendency.

We elected him, and we elected the guy who elevated him.

While our teachers and our students don’t deserve what will certainly be another distraction from the public education our children deserve, perhaps the biggest distraction yet, we the electorate need to suck it up and take some blame that it ever came to this.

We elected him.

In 2024, Oklahoma Republicans in the state legislature called for impeachment proceedings against Walters. Speaker Charles McCall stood in the way of it, not even letting proceedings begin.

Take some notes here. McCall is running for governor in 2026.

We haven’t elected him, yet. You see what I’m getting at?

“What did we learn today, kids? … “

One could argue that we the electorate have to start making better decisions locally, statewide and nationally. Or perhaps it’s time to remember how economic fear works. For the record, the only time in my lifetime I’ve ever seen Progressives inflict it was in 2020 after the George Floyd murder by police.

Protests broke out everywhere, some of them turning into riots.

But also — companies started DEI programs. Wild how that happened.

Marginalized people were being listened to at work, if only performatively, through diversity councils.

It was a start, and it felt like for the first time in a long time, folks who never otherwise got a taste of social, political or corporate power were eating at the table with the rest of us.

Then it flipped back in 2025, and it feels like it will never end.

That’s what elections do.

When will we ever, ever learn?

Elections have very real consequences.

You can message me anytime at [email protected].

Weather Update 🌩️

Likelihood of thunderstorms on Thursday. Carry an umbrella or a raincoat, or both.

🌡️ Thursday's high in OKC 86°
🌡️ Thursday’s high in Tulsa 87°

OSDE investigating 12 districts for not following Walters' moment of silence request

By Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton, Tulsa World
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The Oklahoma State Department of Education is launching investigations into 11 school districts and one charter school for not participating in an additional moment of silence Tuesday.

On Wednesday afternoon, department spokeswoman Madison Cercy said the agency is investigating complaints against Broken Arrow, Claremore, Edmond Deer Creek, Edmond, Glenpool, Lawton, Moore, Norman, Owasso, Tulsa and Harding Fine Arts Academy, an Oklahoma City charter school, for not following a request from State Superintendent Ryan Walters to have a moment of silence at noon Tuesday in honor of slain activist Charlie Kirk.

Kirk, the co-founder of the conservative organization Turning Point USA, died Sept. 10 after he was shot during a speaking event at Utah Valley University.

Multiple districts and charter schools across the state notified parents and staff Monday that they would not change their routine Tuesday to have an additional organized moment of silence as requested by Walters.

State law already mandates that public schools have a minute of silence each instructional day, and several of them acknowledged in their community notifications Monday that students and staff had the option of using that statutorily required minute to reflect on Kirk’s life or death if they wanted to.

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Oklahoma County sheriff confirms Jackie Chan movie as the cause of Walters’ TV incident

By Nuria Martinez-Keel, Oklahoma Voice
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OKLAHOMA CITY — Law enforcement investigators have confirmed an accidental display of the 1985 Jackie Chan movie “The Protector” was the source of nude images seen on state Superintendent Ryan Walters’ office TV.

Oklahoma County Sheriff Tommie Johnson III discussed the investigation with reporters Wednesday afternoon after county District Attorney Vicki Behenna announced her office would not pursue criminal charges against Walters over the incident.

“It is truly, purely an accident,” Johnson said.

He said his investigators showed clips from “The Protector” to the two Oklahoma State Board of Education members who reported seeing naked women on the TV in Walters’ office during the board’s July 24 meeting. The board was in the middle of a private portion of its meeting, called executive session, at the Oklahoma State Department of Education building.

The board members, Becky Carson and Ryan Deatherage, confirmed to the Sheriff’s Office that the movie was consistent with what they saw on the TV, Johnson said. “The Protector” includes multiple scenes involving nude women.

Carson said criminal charges didn’t cross her mind when she first filed a complaint about the explicit images, but “silence was never an option for me.”

“The DAs decision today doesn’t change anything,” Carson wrote in a message to Oklahoma Voice. “It doesn’t change the facts of what happened. It doesn’t change the fact that Oklahoma is still 50th in Education. It doesn’t change the fact that there isn’t a plan to move us from that position. It doesn’t change the fact that we as a board have a job to do.”

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The Oklahoma Rundown 📰

A hand-curated list of the best journalism from across the state:

• Anti-trans ads already making an appearance in Oklahoma’s Republican gubernatorial primary (Oklahoma Watch)

• Stitt, Oklahoma Highway Patrol end efforts to clean up Tulsa homeless camps (Oklahoma Voice)

• We fact-checked Oklahoma officials on efforts to clear Tulsa’s homeless camps (The Frontier)

• State leaders double down on demand for state employees to return to office (News 9)

• Suspect in Hunter Park sex assault arrested, Tulsa police say (Tulsa World)

• Tulsans avoided Hunter Park after reported sexual assault. After arrest, they’re going back (The Oklahoma Eagle)

• Five months in, north Tulsa’s Grocery Box has become an oasis in a food desert (The Oklahoma Eagle)

• Cherokee Nation Tribal Council formally approves $3.65 billion budget (Cherokee Phoenix)

• Gamefowl Commission to pay $10,000 in settlement with Oklahoma Ethics Commission (Oklahoma Voice)

• Former Seeworth Academy Superintendent Janet Grigg receives deferred sentence, restitution order (NonDoc)

• Former McCurtain County jailer pleads guilty to conspiracy in inmate attack (2 News Oklahoma)

• After her third and final appeal, OSSAA approves eligibility for 2025 Ms. Inside basketball Kashae Brown (Tulsa World)

• OU football vs. Auburn availabity report: Four Sooners OL listed as 'questionable' (The Oklahoman)

• Black Towns of Oklahoma Bike Tour to visit 5 of OK's historic Black towns (Fox 23)

• Lawton to receive $5.125 million for water plant upgrade (The Lawton Constitution)

• Hundreds turn out for Kirk memorial at OSU (The O’Colly)

• Murray State wrestler remembered fondly by loved ones (KXII)

• Live Music, Creek County Fair top the events happening this week (Sapulpa Times)

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