There’s something deeply unsettling about watching a multinational corporation fold like a cheap suit the moment a government official so much as raises an eyebrow. This whole Jimmy Kimmel situation has me absolutely steaming, and judging by the response online, I’m clearly not alone.

The facts are pretty straightforward. Kimmel made what amounts to a fairly mild observation about the MAGA crowd’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s death, followed by a joke about Trump’s response to his “friend’s” murder. Nothing groundbreaking, certainly nothing that would have raised eyebrows a decade ago. But apparently, in 2025 America, that’s enough to get you cancelled by government pressure.

The line between satire and reality has become so blurred these days that when I saw the headline about Australia Post suspending deliveries to the US because they were “sick of dealing with Americans,” I had to double-check whether it was from The Shovel or a legitimate news source. Turns out it was satirical, but honestly? My first reaction was “fair dinkum, can’t blame them.”

This hit particularly close to home because anyone who’s tried to buy anything from the States in the last decade knows exactly what we’re dealing with. The shipping situation has become an absolute nightmare, and it’s not just about the costs – though those are eye-watering enough. It’s the attitudes, the excuses, and the sheer bloody-mindedness that comes with trying to get American sellers to post something overseas.

Been scrolling through some discussions about the incoming administration’s plan to axe the IRS Direct File program, and honestly, it’s got me pretty wound up. Here we have a rare example of government actually making life easier for ordinary people, and what happens? It gets killed off faster than you can say “corporate lobbying.”

For those who missed it, Direct File was this brilliant little program that let people with simple tax situations file their returns directly through the IRS website - completely free. No third-party software, no hidden fees, no upselling to premium versions. Just a straightforward government service that worked exactly as advertised. Revolutionary stuff, apparently.