Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah rally.

[mynameisbond]

I'm not saying we should condone it. Arrest the person who shot him and throw the book at him. But we don't have to act as if it's a terrible thing that a terrible man was killed by his own terrible ideology.

We still don't know the motive, the killer's background, or much of anything else. All we know is that it was an unjustified homicide.
It's easy to point fingers. MAGA is blaming Dems without cause. Dems are deflecting onto other issues. There's a lesson in this. Both sides could benefit from toning down the rhetoric.

 

[ZenMode]

I grow weary of the hand-wringing on the left. Everyone who claims to be nauseated about Kirk's death -- are you serious? He's a dead terrorist. He was one of the people most responsible for GOP's embrace of hate politics. For him to be killed by hate politics -- if that's what happened -- just means he lived to see the fruit of his labors. It's true that political violence is terrible. But Kirk was an advocate for political violence. He was a net negative for society. He was a man of limited ability who managed to climb to preposterous heights simply by peddling hate, fear, and violence with little sophistication, giving it to his fans raw and unadulterated.

Stop saying, I hate it that he was killed. He was killed by his own hand. I don't care.

It's a good thing there's no dangerous rhetoric on the Left, right @4thgenheel

 

[superrific]

You have every right to your own feelings on the subject but so do those of us who genuinely hate that he was killed.

Sure. Just know that "we need to take down the temperature" is not going to get any results, just like it hasn't gotten any results the last million times it's been tried.

The right instinctively wants to be victims and search for martyrs. Don't give that to them. Kirk wasn't a victim. He was killed by things he thinks are good.

 

[BillOfRights]

Ban this pos

If he's saying he wants Conway and Wallace assassinated like kirk, then yes, he should be gone. If he's saying that he wants Conway and Wallace fired like Dowd, let him stay. I disagree with him 99.5% of the time, but I think he provides an important voice here.

 

[ChileG]

Well, Kirk blamed the political rhetoric of Trump's opponents for Melissa Hortman getting shot, so I guess things have just come full circle.

Also, if you read the full comments, Pritzker said it isn’t just Trump’s rhetoric that foments violence. But Trump is president and he 100% fomented Jan 6 so of course he gets called out by name, as he should.

 

[superrific]

Both sides could benefit from toning down the rhetoric.

But that just isn't true. The right has nothing except turning up the volume. What would it even look like for the right to "tone down the rhetoric"? That would put 95% of the most popular right-wing media figures out of business. And they have to keep up the constant victimization narratives because otherwise people will start looking at the results of what the right-wing has been doing.

The right wing will never tone down.

 

[Zoo_View]

FTFY

Let’s not give “Never Trumpers” too much credit.

They helped bring us the Iraq War. They helped put Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court. They helped Mitch McConnell stop Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

They helped push through the Bush AND Trump tax laws.

Opposing Trump is a LOW BAR. It’s sub-basement level on being a good person. One shouldn’t look for applause for being “Never Trump.”

I’m glad they’re anti-Trump.

Let’s not forget that they’re Reagan Republicans. Right-wing Republicans.

If we have an “After Trump,” they’ll help elect right-wing Republicans.

 

[4thgenheel]

It's a good thing there's no dangerous rhetoric on the Left, right @4thgenheel

"no dangerous rhetoric on the left" = things i never fucking said for $1000, alex! why must you be such a fucking liar?

but anyway, yeah man super saying something over the top on a message board totally equates to literally thousands of conservative politicians and influencers flooding TV, radio and social media with worse stuff.

nailed it, bro!

 

[MOUNTAINH33L]

Let’s not give “Never Trumpers” too much credit.

They helped bring us the Iraq War. They helped put Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court. They helped Mitch McConnell stop Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

They helped push through the Bush AND Trump tax laws.

Opposing Trump is a LOW BAR. It’s sub-basement level on being a good person. One shouldn’t look for applause for being “Never Trump.”

I’m glad they’re anti-Trump.

Let’s not forget that they’re Reagan Republicans. Right-wing Republicans.

If we have an “After Trump,” they’ll help elect right-wing Republicans.

Fair enough. I see your point(s).

 

[superrific]

It's a good thing there's no dangerous rhetoric on the Left, right @4thgenheel

There is nothing dangerous about rhetoric suggesting that a man who advocated political violence maybe isn't worth crying tears over when he was killed by the exact thing he advocated.

Kirk would have approved of every single thing that happened that day, with the exception of the target. Had the bullet hit a liberal next to him on stage, he would have been happy.

 

[1moretimeagain]

Some law enforcement leaks are making the rounds

 

[superrific]

"no dangerous rhetoric on the left" = things i never fucking said for $1000, alex! why must you be such a fucking liar?

but anyway, yeah man super saying something over the top on a message board

What is over the top about saying that Kirk was killed by his own hand?

 

[4thgenheel]

What is over the top about saying that Kirk was killed by his own hand?

i don't really disagree with that part.

this part was a bit over the top for me personally: "Everyone who claims to be nauseated about Kirk's death -- are you serious? He's a dead terrorist..."

 

[ZenMode]

Some law enforcement leaks are making the rounds

Well... that clears up a lot of things.

 

[superrific]

i don't really disagree with that part.

this part was a bit over the top for me personally: "Everyone who claims to be nauseated about Kirk's death -- are you serious? He's a dead terrorist..."

I omitted the word "like." I will edit.

He's like a dead terrorist, in that he declared war against liberal democracy. Liberal democracy should care about him the same way he thought of it.

 

[Carolina Fever]

Governor Josh Stein ordered all U.S. and North Carolina flags at state facilities to be lowered to half-staff today through sunset Sunday, Sept. 14.

The Governor ordered flags to be lowered Sept. 11 to honor the victims, their families and the heroic sacrifices of the first responders on 9/11 and what has since become known as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. Governor Stein also previously ordered that flags be lowered Sept. 13 in honor of civil rights activist Major General Joseph McNeil, who will be buried in his hometown of Wilmington on Saturday.

Flags will remain at half-staff through Sunday in conjunction with guidance from the White House in memory of Charlie Kirk.

 

[Healing]

Some law enforcement leaks are making the rounds

Real on-the-nose.

 

[WaynetheDrain]

It's a good thing there's no dangerous rhetoric on the Left, right @4thgenheel

Uncouth? Callous? Ill-timed? Sure. But dangerous? No.

There is nothing “dangerous” about saying that hate begets hate. It’s the exact point I made yesterday.

 

[MOUNTAINH33L]

If he's saying that he wants Conway and Wallace fired like Dowd

Pretty sure it's this^

 

[SnoopRob]

Some law enforcement leaks are making the rounds

I’m not saying I won’t believe it, but I’m gonna have to see pictorial evidence from a trustworthy source before I do.