Month: September 2025
Charlie Kirk, In His Own Words
“Words are not violence, nor are they powerless. Burying the truth of the Confederacy, rewriting its aims and ideas, and ignoring its animating words allowed for the terrorization of the Black population, the imposition of apartheid, and the destruction of democracy. The rewriting and the ignoring were done not just by Confederates, but also by putative allies for whom the reduction of Black people to serfdom was the unfortunate price of white unity. The import of this history has never been clearer than in this moment when the hard question must be asked: If you would look away from the words of Charlie Kirk, from what else would you look away?”
— Ta-Nehisi Coates, in Vanity Fair
All You Can Be
The Pentagon wants to use Charlie Kirk as a posthumous recruiter,
With the slogan: “Charlie has awakened a new generation of warriors.”
New recruits could sign on the line
Then join Donald Trump’s War on Crime,
And serve their country as a highly trained, uniformed janitor.
What’s Happening Now
“If you were writing a hackneyed novel or film about an authoritarian America, it would go exactly like this: a figure close to the regime is assassinated, a massive shrill and sanctimonious hue and cry rises over the martyred dead, hysteria is whipped up about terrorism and public disorder, leaders in the regime and movement promise vengeance, private citizens are mobbed and lose their jobs for expressing anti-regime sentiments at the encouragement of regime officials and regime-aligned demagogues, and, then, the power of the state is brought to bear against public figures who oppose and criticize the regime. … This is exactly what’s happening now.”
— John Ganz
Letterman Speaks Out About Corporate Oppression of Speech
“This is misery. We see where this is all going, correct? It’s managed media. And it’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous. And you can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.”
— David Letterman, quoted by Variety.
— David Letterman, quoted by Variety.
A Chilling Effect
The attacks on free expression are getting pretty scary,
Before you speak your mind these days you must be wary.
Standing up for the truth is a heavy load,
And defending your beliefs is a rocky road,
That has led us to this: Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream without Jerry.
Trump Using Kirk’s Death to Stifle Opposition
“President Trump has begun a major escalation in his long-running efforts to stifle political opposition in the United States, using the assassination of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk to make the baseless argument that Democratic organizations and protesters are part of a violent conspiracy against conservative values and the American way of life.”
— New York Times
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College Students Weren’t That Fond of Charlie Kirk
70%
A new Generation Lab poll found that Charlie Kirk was almost universally known among college kids: 94% of students had heard of him, a remarkable level of name I.D. for any political figure. However, most college students were not fans. A combined 70% of students said they either “strongly disagree” or “somewhat disagree” with Kirk’s views. Only 30% said they agreed.
‘I See Woke People’
For setting Floridians free, Governor Ron DeSantis makes no apologies,
But his ability to sense wokeness is something out of horror movies.
Ron always seems a little too intense,
Like that spooky kid from “The Sixth Sense” —
Because everywhere he looks, he sees … woke ideologies.
Look Out, Antifa’s Back!
Trumpland’s rabid rantings after Kirk’s killing have heat but no heft,
And of a firm moral, legal or constitutional basis, they are bereft.
But beware if you wear tie-dye,
Listen to the Dead or get high,
Trump and his evil minions are gunning for the mythical Radical Left.
