"I think empathy is a made up New Age term that does a lot of damage." [FN1] Charlie kirk said this over three years ago, and does not appear to have changed his views on empathy, or on any political issues, since. Yesterday, Kirk was shot and killed as he spoke in Utah. 1/11

The Southern Poverty Law Center issued a statement w/which I agree: “Violence is never the answer. We condemn the shooting of Charlie Kirk and all violence in any form. Our history shows violence only fuels division — justice requires peace.” 2/11

Reactions include the “both sides do it” view which rests on an implicit and false premise that acts of violence, by people on the left and people on the right, are about equal, quantitatively and qualitatively equal. Statistics show otherwise. 3/11

“Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists, including 227 events that took more than 520 lives.” [FN2] Of course, yesterday’s shooter is dead. [FN3] That’s not the Kirk shooting, but 4/11

a school shooting in Colorado yesterday. Kirk believed shootings are a price we pay for the 2nd Amendment. [FN4] That’s cost-benefit analysis: lives lost (cost) necessary to accrue the benefit of being able to fight tyranny (benefit). His solution to shootings? Armed guards. 5/11

Shootings at baseball games, airports and banks stopped because we have armed guards. [FN5] There a lot of levels of security at important places. The Land of the Free has metal detectors at airports & a lot of banks. At baseball games fans are searched. Now what? 6/11

The current occupant of the Oval Office said: “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead," History can teach us about “false flag” incidents. Germany’s Chancellor was elected on 1/30/33, on 2/27/33 fire was set to the Reichstag, the next day was martial law. [FN6] 7/11

More recently, Vladimir Putin used apartment-house bombings, later linked to him, to grab more power. [FN7] Tallyrand is quoted as saying assassination not only is wrong, it’s stupid. To that I add: it can be used to secure a firmer hold on power of a dictator. 8/11

Footnotes:
FN1. Charlie Kirk, "The Charlie Kirk Show," Oct. 12, 2022, deemed accurate quote by Snopes 09/10/25, accessed 09/11/25.
FN2. Chermak, et al, “What NIJ Research Tells Us About Domestic Terrorism,” National Institute of Justice Journal, 01/04/24, accessed 09/11/25. 9/11

FN3. Langford, et al, “Suspect dead, 2 students injured in shooting at Evergreen High School,” The Denver Post, 09/10/25, accessed 09/11/25.
FN4. April 5, 2023, TPUSA Faith event, Salt Lake City campus Awaken Church, 04/05/25.
FN5. Id. 10/11

FN6. Evans, Richard J., “The Coming of the Third Reich,” 2005, pp. 307, 329, 332-33, 348-49.
FN7. See, Satter, David, “Vladimir Putin & 1999 Russian Apartment-House Bombings -- Was Putin Responsible?” National Review online, 08/17/16, accessed 11/27/24. 11/11