Posts on Friday, September 12, 2025

Yesterday, the United States entered a new and chilling stage of what I have called the “age of rage.” After two attempted assassinations of President Donald Trump, leading conservative leader Charlie Kirk, father of two, was gunned down at a campus event at Utah Valley University. I learned the news while I was in Prague to speak on my book,“The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage” and the growing attacks on free speech around the world. I never imagined that I would be speaking about Charlie’s murder and what it represents for free speech.

Charlie Kirk and I had a lot we didn’t agree on, but he used to bring me on his show. Unlike his leftist haters, the man who was martyred this week in Utah for spreading his conservative beliefs with vigor and love wasn’t afraid to engage with views that contradicted his own. The opposite: He sought them out. In an age of podcasters ensconced in the safety of their home studios, Charlie Kirk met young people where they were, on college campuses, and invited them to debate. This is how you fight polarization. This is how you fight violence.

Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told House investigators she did not see a change in former President Joe Biden’s competency over several years, but she acknowledged he was "not the same speaker he was when she met him." Jean-Pierre was the latest in a string of former Biden White House officials to be interviewed by House Oversight Committee investigators over an alleged cover-up of the ex-president’s mental acuity. She did not speak to reporters on her way into the interview just off Capitol Hill, nor did she speak after the nearly five-hour, closed-door transcribed interview. But a source

The North Korean government is increasingly implementing the death penalty, including for people caught watching and sharing foreign films and TV dramas, a major UN report has found. The dictatorship, which remains largely cut off from the world, is also subjecting its people to more forced labour while further restricting their freedoms, the report added. The UN Human Rights Office found that over the past decade the North Korean state had tightened control over "all aspects of citizens' lives". "No other population is under such restrictions in today's world," it concluded, adding that surveillance had become "more pervasive", helped in

Because otherwise, this was gonna be another Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy debacle, only more so — which the liberals would weaponize to avoid culpability. So thank God, early Friday morning, our prayers were answered. As my esteemed colleague Matt Margolis reported, President Donald Trump announced on “Fox & Friends” that a murder suspect is now in custody — turned in, apparently, by his own father. But even before he was taken into custody, I was optimistic about this outcome. Had this sick, twisted monster valued the PR messaging more than his life, immediately after the murder, his most likely next move would’ve been to: Claim credit for Charlie’s death;

Of all the countless social media posts that have demonstrated near-total desensitization to current events and the dehumanization of conservatives, one stands out for me. It’s a video of a rather petite woman, smiling into the camera as though she is talking to a friend. Only her words betray her kindly persona: "Live by the sword, die by the sword. You did say that gun deaths were an acceptable side effect of gun rights." She punctuates the end of video with callous laughter. (X) How did she get here? How did we get here?

Fired MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd said on Friday that he was “naive” to state on national television that Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk brought his assassination on himself. MSNBC fired Dowd on Wednesday evening after he said that Kirk’s so-called “hate speech” led to his assassination, which sparked intense backlash among conservatives and mourners. The political analyst wrote in a Substack post that he did not expect people to be outraged by him bringing up that Kirk is a “divisive and polarizing figure.”

What can you say in the aftermath of a national tragedy like Charlie Kirk’s assassination? In the 24 hours or so since Kirk was gunned down in Utah by a shooter ... we’ve been treated to a torrent of predictable responses: outrage and hurt from those who knew and loved him, sadistic glee from many who didn’t, and, from the vast majority of Americans in-between, some version of the following sentiment: We can’t allow this sort of thing to happen in America. Amen, selah. But to stop the next shooter we need to understand where this one came from first. 

Some things are left unsaid in political discourse because they are taken for granted. Some propositions, such as that individuals and groups of individuals have identifiable interests, are considered so obvious that they go without saying. Another class of propositions, equally obvious, are left unspoken because they disrupt the atmosphere of political theater. They deflate sentimental assumptions and discredit comforting narratives. The neglect of these propositions is not universal; they are occasionally expressed by individuals and political commentators, and are readily observable by the average person, yet they are ignored or dismissed in mainstream discourse. The pretense that these observable phenomena are insignificant or nonexistent

Of all the activist groups on the left, the Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC, is the most vile. I put it above all others, because they have contributed more to creating an atmosphere of hate toward Christian groups and free speech outlets in this country than any other organization. The SPLC adds an Orwellian touch by calling the instrument by which it sows hatred a “hate map”. The hate map identifies organizations that it believes should be considered persona non grata by polite society for their racist views. Unfortunately, our corporate managerial class takes the hate map seriously and does its best to obstruct organizations listed on it from banking,

A man who was arrested on suspicion of capital murder is alleged to have beheaded the manager of a Dallas motel and left the victim’s head in a trash bin, court records obtained Thursday show. When authorities took Yordanis Cobos-Martinez into custody Wednesday, he was covered in blood and armed with the machete he is accused of using to kill Chandra Nagamallaiah, 50, according to an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant. Jail records show Cobos-Martinez, 37, is being held without bond in the Dallas County Jail on an immigration detainer. The records identify him as an undocumented immigrant.

Two of the radio and television shows that I was on yesterday were hosted by liberals. In each case, they asked what I thought *we* can do to reduce political violence. For starters, I said, you can stop calling everyone you disagree with Adolf Hitler. They didn’t seem to think that was a good idea. Which raises the question: Why do liberal politicians, talking heads and social media influencers relentlessly liken Donald Trump to Hitler? In every relevant way, Trump is the exact opposite of Hitler. Hitler invaded Poland, France, Belgium, Russia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Yugoslavia, Greece, and no doubt a couple more that don’t come to mind.

Florida state officials announced on Thursday that they are monitoring how teachers are reacting to the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Educators could face consequences if they are caught celebrating or justifying Kirk’s death. In a memo sent to school district superintendents, Florida’s commissioner of education Anastasios Kamoutsas wrote, “It has been brought to my attention that some Florida educators have posted despicable comments on social media regarding the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk.” “These few are not a reflection of the great, high-quality teachers who make up the vast majority of Florida’s educators,” Kamoutsas continued.

They’re the hordes of Mordor. That’s all that can be said about these people, many of whom teach your children, manage your health care, and maintain law and order. The list goes on—we have doctors, veterinarians, wealth managers, and nurses cheering the death of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, who was assassinated at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. And yes, some members of the media are in this ungodly horde of cretins. The legions of unhinged progressives that infest the professional classes are startling, but also representative of the changes within the Democratic Party base, which has become whiter, wealthier, snobbier, and more insane.

California Democrats passed a bill that would ban federal immigration agents and other federal law enforcement officers from wearing masks. “We’re looking at the constitutionality of it,” Gov. Newsom said in July. Don't bother looking, governor. Any eighth grader could tell you that a governor can't order federal law enforcement or any other federal official to do anything. This is virtue signaling at its finest, and naturally, Democrats are waving the bloody shirt for all to see. “We are in a truly disaster of a situation where we have secret police, effectively, on our streets,” said Scott Wiener, a Democratic state senator from San Francisco. Wiener may be familiar to

COLUMBUS, Ohio [WJW-TV Cleveland] - A state lawmaker proposes allowing utilities to take control of volunteering customers’ thermostats or appliances, to decrease overall demand on the energy grid in times of peak consumption. Such optional demand response programs are already available to large commercial users, but House Bill 427, introduced in late August by state Rep. Roy Klopfenstein, R-Haviland, would allow utilities to develop them for residential consumers. “This legislation is a crucial step in our state’s comprehensive plan to ensure all Ohioans have access to reliable, affordable and readily available energy,” The programs wouldn’t be mandatory. [Snip] Utility customers would have to opt in.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox announced Friday morning during a joint press conference with the FBI that law enforcement had taken Tyler Robinson into custody in connection with the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. The arrest comes 33 hours after the deadly shooting at Utah Valley University, where Kirk was shot during a public appearance. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We got him,” Cox told reporters in a solemn briefing. He explained that the breakthrough came after a family member of Robinson reached out to authorities on the evening of Sept. 11.

The guy who asked Charlie Kirk about shootings at the very moment the TurningPointUSA founder's throat was pierced with a rifle shell, silencing him forever, was a 29-year-old TikToker who hates Kirk's guts. Now, of course, he is shocked to learn that Kirk is — was — a human being who bleeds just like he does. Suddenly, his past affinity for doing smart-ass man-on-the-street interviews with Charlie Kirk audience members to show his TikTok audience what idiotic Nazis conservatives are may have lost a little of its luster. That's okay, he'll rally. Hunter Kozak, a former LDS member turned adherent of the Apocryphal Sacred Temple of Righteous Anarchy,

A transgender comic book writer had their newly released project completely canceled by DC Comics after posts on BlueSky surfaced of them mocking the death of conservative icon Charlie Kirk. Gretchen Felker-Martin, who is transgender and uses "she/her" pronouns, had a major Batman spinoff called "Red Hood" canned despite having a significant launch just this Wednesday. Additionally, it was expected to see future releases all the way into late 2026. Now, Felker-Martin's pronouns can be changed to FA/FO. “At DC Comics, we place the highest value on our creators and community and affirm the right to peaceful, individual expression of personal viewpoints," a statement from the company shared with CNN reads.

A current Secret Service agent believes that Charlie Kirk deserved the assassin’s bullet that took his life. Anthony Pough, in a Facebook post shared by Susan Crabtree of Real Clear Politics identifying Pough as a Secret Service Agent, said karma is to blame – or credit – for Kirk’s slaying. “If you are Mourning this guy .. delete me,” the post reads, referencing Kirk. “He spewed hate and racism on his show.” He added, “At the end of the day, you answer to GOD and speak things into existence. You can only circumvent karma, she doesnt [sic] leave.” Crabtree reported that Pough’s post is circulating throughout the Secret Service community,

The suspect alleged to have assassinated Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk has been identified and is in custody, according to the FBI. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox participated in a press briefing with FBI Director Kash Patel on Friday. “Ladies and gentlemen, we got him,” Cox declared. The governor explained that “a family member of Tyler Robinson reached out to a family friend who contacted the Washignton County Sheriff’s office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident.” Cox further explained that Robinson arrived on the Utah Valley University campus, where the shooting occurred at about 8:29 a.m., in a grey Dodge Challenger.

Lawyers for two boys blamed for sexual harassment by their Virginia school district after complaining about a transgender classmate, who was a biological female, using their locker room are now headed to federal court following a denial of their appeal. Earlier this year, the Loudoun County Public Schools in Northern Virginia launched a Title IX sexual harassment investigation into the two boys after they were videotaped by a biological female who identified as transgender inside the boys' locker room. The video caught them outwardly complaining to each other about the fact that there was a girl using their facilities.

The suspect in Charlie Kirk's assassination has been identified as Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah resident. Law enforcement sources told Daily Mail that Robinson was taken into custody as the alleged assassin who killed Kirk at a rally at Utah Valley University in Utah on Wednesday. The killer then confessed to his father, who is a a 27-year veteran of the Washington County Sheriff's Department, sources told Daily Mail. His father then contacted authorities and secured his son before he could be taken into custody.

Leftists are inherently miserable people, we know that. They also think that misery should be spread around and communal. They've been spreading a lot of it around for many years, but it's really gotten bad of late. Catholic school kids are gunned down at Mass. A young refugee woman is brutally murdered by a lunatic who was only on the streets because Democrats fetishize and glorify criminals. Now a young husband and father who was a refreshingly positive voice in the negative world of politics has been assassinated. That's a lot to process for decent people. For the mentally unwell American Left, it's just another reason

The assassination of Charlie Kirk was unlike anything any of us on the Issues & Insights editorial board have seen in our lifetimes. Kirk didn’t hold any political power. He wasn’t rich. He didn’t call for or incite violence. He was a young man of strong beliefs who enjoyed debating other young people on the big issues of the day. And for that, he was brutally murdered. You’d think this would cause even his fiercest critics to stop for a moment and take stock in what just happened. If only out of consideration for his wife and two young children.

President Trump announced early Friday that a suspect has been arrested for Charlie Kirk’s assassination. “I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” during a live interview at the cable giant’s Manhattan studio, saying he heard just minutes before his 8 a.m. interview. “Somebody who was very close to him turned him in,” the president said, saying it was relayed through “a minister who was involved with law enforcement.” “I hope he’s going to be found guilty and I hope he gets the death penalty.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has been asked to return to Congress to answer questions about emails uncovered by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) showing the former White House COVID-19 czar asking colleagues to “delete” messages, according to copies obtained by The Post. Fauci, who helmed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for decades, in two email chains asked other public health officials — including then-National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins — to send his emails to the trash bin after reading them. One of the communications from Feb. 2, 2020, revealed the ex-NIAID head imploring Collins to “Please delete this e-mail after you read it”

It is almost a quarter-century now since the Sept. 11, 2001 jihad attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York City and Washington. Many Americans assume that the jihad threat was somehow neutralized and contained in the immediate aftermath of those attacks, such that a large-scale jihad attack can never happen again in America, and the public discourse has moved on to other issues: mass migration, skyrocketing crime in the cities, tariffs, and the like. In reality, however, the jihad against the U.S. has not ended, and in the near-quarter century since 9/11, the jihadis have made immense gains.

Makeup mogul and LGBT icon Jeffree Star unleashed a fiery tirade against the transgender movement during a TikTok live stream while paying tribute to conservative powerhouse Charlie Kirk, who was tragically assassinated during a debate at Utah Valley University.[snip] the self-made millionaire dropped all pretenses of political correctness, slamming the delusional trans agenda and standing firm on biological facts in the wake of Kirk’s shocking murder.[snip] Charlie fought for the truth. He debated people all over this country, and he didn’t care what you were. He still had a conversation with everybody. Why did I respect him? Because he knows reality.

Scott Adams, the creator of the famous ‘Dilbert’ comic strip, talked about the murder of Charlie Kirk during his ‘Coffee With Scott Adams’ podcast today and suggested that the Democrat party has to be ‘totally dismantled.’ [snip]Adams pointed out that the Democrat party is supported not just by a small group of progressive billionaires, but also by an endless web of non-profits and various NGOs (non-government organizations). Adams[snip]took the murder of Charlie Kirk personally and that Democrats not only spread the rhetoric that led to this, they have actually made it worse in the two days that followed.

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump attended the New York Yankees 9-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night, drawing a mixed reaction from a raucous crowd while marking the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Authorities installed security glass for the president outside the upper level box suite belonging to the Steinbrenner family, which owns the Yankees, on the third base side over the Tigers dugout at Yankee Stadium. Wearing a suit and tie, Trump sat next to Yankees team president Randy Levine and chatted with him throughout the game, though he sat by himself at other times. During the national anthem

Well, Axios thinks MAGA is overreacting to the constant stream of threats and political attacks we have been subjected to. Because, of course, they do. That is the conventional wisdom in the legacy media and among All the Right People™. Everybody knows that Republicans commit all the political violence in this country. Siege mentality. I wonder why. Perhaps I can suggest a few reasons. Really, if you think about it, Republicans deserve to be the target of so much hate. If only we would agree with the left everything would be fine. Charlie Kirk's assassination has unleashed an outpouring of rage across the MAGA universe, with many leaders framing

There's quite a backstory to this over the past few months. It started with the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill which included a section cutting Medicaid funding from some health clinics associated with abortion providers. The bill didn't mention Planned Parenthood by name but many observers saw it as aimed largely at them. The question of whether or not Medicaid funding could be cut off from Planned Parenthood had already been settled by the Supreme Court in June in a 6-3 decision involving South Carolina. Nevertheless, when the BBB passed, Planned Parenthood immediately sued in Boston and within hours Judge Indira Talwani

We’ve heard that Charlie Kirk was fielding a question from someone when he was brutally murdered on Wednesday by an assassin at an event at Utah Valley University. But amid our shock and horror, we’ve naturally focused on Kirk, his grieving family, the shooter, and the pain that this tragedy has inflicted on our country. But who was the person talking to Charlie at that awful moment? His name is Hunter Kozak, and like Kirk, he is the father of two. Despite his vehement disagreements with Kirk’s philosophy, he was nevertheless horrified by his senseless killing:

Retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. Oliver North quietly married his former secretary in the Iran-Contra scandal, Fawn Hall, last month. North, 81, married Hall, 65, on Aug. 27 in Virginia, according to a copy of the marriage certificate that CNN obtained. North declined to comment to CNN on Tuesday, besides quoting a line delivered by Clark Gable’s character in “Gone with the Wind,” saying, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” His first wife, Betsy, died last year, and Hall's first husband, Danny Sugerman, manager of the rock band The Doors, died in 2005.