When the Preference Cascade Becomes a Flood
Posted By: Moritz55, 9/16/2025 6:06:00 AM
I’ve written before about preference cascades — where large portions of the public, often a majority, conceal their views for fear of punishment, only to reveal those views when some precipitating event takes place. Classic examples include the fall of Communist regimes, like Ceausescu’s Romania, where even Ceausescu himself thought everyone loved him until shortly before he was stood in front of a wall and shot. Usually those happen in one direction. But in contemporary America, they’re happening in two. The murder of Charlie Kirk at the hands of a leftist gunman has revealed that many, many more Americans — and even people elsewhere around the world — supported Charlie
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I’ve written before about preference cascades — where large portions of the public, often a majority, conceal their views for fear of punishment, only to reveal those views when some precipitating event takes place. Classic examples include the fall of Communist regimes, like Ceausescu’s Romania, where even Ceausescu himself thought everyone loved him until shortly before he was stood in front of a wall and shot.
Usually those happen in one direction. But in contemporary America, they’re happening in two.
The murder of Charlie Kirk at the hands of a leftist gunman has revealed that many, many more Americans — and even people elsewhere around the world — supported Charlie
Recently declassified documents indicate that people close to former FBI Director James Comey and Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff were connected to leaks of classified information to prominent reporters designed to portray Donald Trump and his allies as being in league with Russia. Written in 2017, the FBI documents expose how selected Washington reporters, including Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post and Michael Schmidt of the New York Times, scored a series of Pulitzer Prize-winning scoops in 2017 by repeating false and inflammatory leaks during President Trump’s first term.
Much of their reporting has been debunked – and shown to be part of a smear campaign by high-ranking officials to undermine Trump,
Liberal host Bill Maher mourned the killing of conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, contrasting conservatives who embrace dialogue with far-left activists who, he argued, seek to silence it. "Look, I might drink a little more than usual today," Maher told guest Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins. "Because I don’t know when this is airing, but this is a s--- day. A guy who sat there – Charlie Kirk – got shot today, and I can't stop thinking about it."
Kirk’s assassination during a campus event stunned the nation and reignited a national conversation about the value of political dialogue – even across deeply divided ideological lines.
Ilhan Omar's committee assignments under
threat after 'disparaging Charlie Kirk's legacy' 11 replies
threat after 'disparaging Charlie Kirk's legacy' 11 replies
A House Republican is demanding that Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., be stripped of her committee assignments, accusing her of making disparaging comments toward Charlie Kirk after his assassination last week. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., is introducing a resolution on Monday to remove Omar from her two current committees: the House Budget Committee and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
She is the top Democrat on the latter panel's Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.
It's part of the continued fallout from Kirk's killing in Utah during a college speaking event.
It's Too Late to Cry "Cancel Culture"
6 replies
It’s funny that they all suddenly care about censorship, free speech, and cancel culture, isn’t it? And the chilling effects that had on open expression? Have they looked at Hollywood lately? Ever hear of a culture of silence and a climate of fear that has all but gutted a once-thriving industry? Do they remember why Elon Musk had to buy Twitter?
How many people did we watch unpersoned, disappeared, and banished from utopia? How many lives have been ruined just for daring to speak the truth about the differences between biological men and women? Remember All Lives Matter? Remember Blue Lives Matter?
Tens of thousands of people protested in the Turkish capital Ankara on Sunday ahead of a court ruling that could see the removal of the head of the main opposition.
Ozgur Ozel, the leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), has denounced Monday's hearing as part of a judicial coup by Turkey's government against the country's opposition.
After a year-long legal crackdown against hundreds of CHP members, live footage on Sunday showed people chanting for the resignation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while waving Turkish flags and party banners.
Charlie Kirk shaped modern conservatism and reached youth in ways no one else could, Victor Davis Hanson said.
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Tragically, Charlie Kirk, a friend of all of ours, was shot and killed in Utah. This is one of the great losses to the American political and media scene, not just conservatism. I don't think that he will be replaced, because I can't think of a figure left or right under the age of 35 who combined such talent.
NJ hospital nurse claims retaliation for
reporting doctor who 'celebrated' Kirk assassination 7 replies
reporting doctor who 'celebrated' Kirk assassination 7 replies
A New Jersey nurse who reported a doctor who allegedly "cheered and celebrated" Charlie Kirk's assassination is suing after she faced disciplinary action, her lawyer said in a lawsuit filed on Friday. Lexi Kuenzle, 33, a nurse at Englewood Health, filed suit Friday against the hospital, Dr. Matthew Jung and others for the incident that allegedly occurred "in front of patients and staff."
"She had the audacity to question how Dr. Jung can comply with the Hippocratic Oath’s and the American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics while celebrating the murder of a non-violent Christian speaker who was on a college campus," Kuenzle's attorney, John Coyle, said in the complaint.
From all early signs, Tyler Robinson’s “reasons” for taking Charlie Kirk’s life came straight from the lefty disinformation machine that has been screaming about right-wing fascism for at least half the confessed assassin’s life.
At least two “anti-fascist” messages on the cartridges; a relative noting how in conversation he insisted Kirk “was full of hate and spreading hate” — all horribly in tune with the many lefty talking points uttered after the assassination suggesting Kirk was asking for it.
Yes, the extreme right has its own sicko extremists, but Robinson didn’t have to dunk himself into the sewers of the Internet to imbibe the incessant refrain that President Donald Trump
“When people stop talking, that’s when you get violence. That’s when civil war happens, because you start to think the other side is so evil and they lose their humanity“ Charlie Kirk
Why did the Democrat left assassinate conservative youth organizer Charlie Kirk?
Because the courageous Christian patriot engaged young Americans across the political aisle on important ideas and the left–despite the Democrat Media Complex that usually protects them–had no answer for what he was doing.
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.
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When most people think of mayoral campaign promises, they picture fixing potholes, improving schools, or reducing crime. But Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist nominee for New York City mayor, is vowing to have the NYPD arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he dare show his face in the Big Apple.
This isn't your typical political grandstanding. Mamdani wants to honor an International Criminal Court arrest warrant targeting Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in Gaza, stemming from the ongoing war that erupted after Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel. The socialist firebrand claims that Netanyahu is committing genocide
The far-left New Republic, in the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, declared that Democrats’ responses condemning the killing were “too tasteful for the moment,” warned that “empathy helps prop up Republicans and Trumpists as legitimate and normal political actors,” and urged Democrats to adopt a “callous, perhaps, but short of cruel” tone — even suggesting they say, “I’m sorry his family is suffering. I wish his message would die with him.”
In an article titled “Charlie Kirk and the Empathy Trap” — with the subhead, “Democrats will never be as cruel as Republicans after a political assassination. That’s to their credit. But it may not be to their advantage”
WaPo Editor Fired for Justifying Charlie
Kirk Assassination, and Her Double-Down
Is Even Worse 19 replies
Kirk Assassination, and Her Double-Down
Is Even Worse 19 replies
The Washington Post has fired now-former global opinions editor Karen Attiah after she appeared to celebrate the political assassination of Charlie Kirk. That comes amid a range of firings across multiple sectors of people who apparently have no self-control whatsoever, nor the common decency to practice it.
Kirk was murdered by a far-left radical who had a "trans-furry" boyfriend while holding an open debate on a Utah college campus. The shooter, Tyler Robinson, fled after firing the fatal shot before his father and a youth pastor detained and turned him in a day later.
For her part, Attiah reacted
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he would file a $15 billion lawsuit against The New York Times, alleging defamation and libel, and calling the newspaper a “mouthpiece” for the Democratic party.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump attacked the newspaper for being “a virtual ‘mouthpiece’ for the Radical Left Democratic Party,” while accusing if of making false statements about him, his family and business, without elaborating on the allegations.
The lawsuit suit was being brought in the state of Florida, Trump said without providing further details.
Ben Shapiro and Bill Maher sparred over morality and the Bible on "Real Time with Bill Maher: Overtime" Friday, and the conservative Orthodox Jewish commentator received an unexpected reaction from the liberal comedian’s Los Angeles audience. Maher, the star of the anti-religion documentary "Religulous" and a well-known atheist, said the Bible contains "nonsense" and "wickedness."
"If God wrote the book, how could there be ‘things we don’t agree with?’
A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked a lower court order mandating taxpayer funding for abortion giant Planned Parenthood. A three-judge panel for U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, all appointed by former President Joe Biden (D), ultimately allowed a congressionally approved measure stripping Planned Parenthood of taxpayer dollars through Medicaid to go forward as litigation continues. The order stays two July preliminary injunctions issued by Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, which blocked the defunding measure from going into effect.
The Trump administration is deploying cutting-edge artificial intelligence to conduct an unprecedented review of more than 55 million visa holders in what could become the largest immigration dragnet in U.S. history. But in practical terms, the unprecedented vetting process will likely target a far smaller pool than the number being floated publicly. It's a sort of psychological warfare designed to trigger mass self-deportations, a former State Department employee tells. "They don't need to scrub 55 million. They just need to say they are casting the net as extensively as possible, to encourage those who know they are ineligible, probably overstaying their visas, to self-deport before they are caught"
Ilhan Omar's committee assignments under
threat after 'disparaging Charlie Kirk's legacy' 11 replies
threat after 'disparaging Charlie Kirk's legacy' 11 replies
A House Republican is demanding that Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., be stripped of her committee assignments, accusing her of making disparaging comments toward Charlie Kirk after his assassination last week. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., is introducing a resolution on Monday to remove Omar from her two current committees: the House Budget Committee and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
She is the top Democrat on the latter panel's Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.
It's part of the continued fallout from Kirk's killing in Utah during a college speaking event.
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis wept over the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk despite her disagreeing with him “on almost every point” she ever heard him say.
The Halloween actress broke into tears when discussing the topic during an appearance on Marc Maron’s podcast released on Monday after being pre-recorded last Friday.
“I disagreed with him on almost every point I ever heard him say, but I believe he was a man of faith, and I hope in that moment when he died, that he felt connected with his faith,” she said.
The U.S. State Department has revoked visas for foreign nationals who celebrated the assassination of beloved conservative icon Charlie Kirk. Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau made the announcements on X that hateful people who abused their privilege to come here would be sent home. “In light of yesterday’s horrific assassination of a leading political figure, I want to underscore that foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” Landau wrote on X Thursday. “I have (snip) directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action. Please feel free to bring such comments by foreigners to my attention.”
President Trump announced on Truth Social on Monday afternoon that the United States military has blown up a second drug cartel boat out of Venezuela. The action led to the deaths of three narcoterrorists while no U.S. servicemembers were harmed during the operation.
Trump also issued a warning to others attempting to transport drugs to the United States. Here are his full remarks: The Department of War also announced the operation and posted what appears to be a video of the strike: This is the second such strike in less than two weeks. As I reported earlier this month,
Something fundamental shifted in Britain on September 13, 2025. In the heart of London, a sea of flags unfurled and hundreds of thousands...no, millions of ordinary men and women marched together for an idea: That Britain must remain Britain, that its borders must be defended, and that its culture, heritage, and people deserve respect. Or else.
Naturally, the mainstream press dutifully downplayed the numbers, claiming “just” 110,000 to 150,000 attended. But I was there, and I can assure you that nobody who was there believes it. It was far larger, at least one million, but probably nearer three. And it did not appear out of nowhere.