Archive for 2025

CHRISTOPHER RUFO: Charlie Kirk Did It All the Right Way.

He was a conservative willing to wade into controversial territory. But he was always guided by the idea that debate is the great clarifier and that, in a democratic society, persuasion is the primary means of political change. He set up tables on campus. He debated his opponents. And he believed he could win through the ballot box.

Kirk’s death, and the subsequent reaction to it by the radical Left, underscored the arguments he had made during his time on the stage. For nearly ten years, Kirk had argued that transgender ideology, especially when paired with experimental medical procedures, would result in disaster. From the reports now emerging, it appears likely that the alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, was radicalized online into anti-fascist and transgender politics. In their most extreme forms, both lines of thinking advocate a nihilistic embrace of violence—the antithesis of Kirk’s approach.

In fact, when he was murdered, Kirk was answering a question about the relationship between transgenderism and mass shootings, a phenomenon that seems to have accelerated in recent years. Kirk sought to engage his opponents in debate; his killer, quite possibly inspired by the trans-radical movement, sought to end that debate with a bullet.

The reaction to Kirk’s death by the mainstream Left has been equally troubling. Thousands of Americans, including students, professors, and even active-duty military members, have publicly cheered his assassination. Some have called for further violence against conservatives. Though I have covered left-wing radical movements for years, I was surprised by the number of people in the “helping professions,” including teachers and doctors, who embraced violent rhetoric.

How should conservatives respond? First, by drawing a line that Kirk himself exemplified: debate is healthy; violence is unacceptable. I’m glad to see that some institutions have terminated the employment of those who cheered on Kirk’s murder.

Kirk wanted to debate, and the left wants to end conversations — by any means necessary, to coin a phrase.

CHANGE IN THE UK:

MESSAGING:

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BARBARA OAKLEY: Censorship Hurts Our Brains—Literally. Neuroscience confirms the importance of free speech to individual citizens—and to democracy itself. “People point to social media as the trigger, but the narrowing of perspective often starts much earlier—in classrooms. The glee some teachers expressed after the killing revealed how easily bias can masquerade as neutrality. Studies find educators lean heavily to one side politically, yet many sincerely believe they’re impartial—the “bias blind spot” in action. From primary school through college, dissent is rare and pressure runs mostly one way, etching patterns that are hard to undo. China has long understood this: It now pulls Tibetan children into state-run schools from the age 4, stripping away language and culture so Communist Party ideology can fix identity before anything else can take root.”

JOE CONCHA: Dark days: The young Left increasingly embraces assassination culture.

A father of two was murdered in Manhattan last December. And some either joked about it or tried to justify the killer’s motive.

A father of two was murdered in Utah last week. And according to polls and studies, far too many people say it was justified because they disagreed with him.

The country has headed to a very dark place.

POLITICAL VIOLENCE ON THE RISE IN THE US: A TIMELINE OF KEY INCIDENTS

Will social media and gaming dehumanize so many more young adults that we’re embarking into a terrifying cycle of violence and hatred with no remorse?

Can we ever recover?

Read the whole thing.

PRITZKER’S ‘FULLY FUNDED’ PENSION PLOY: Illinois has the worst state pension funding of the 50 states in great part due to the word games GOP and Dem officials alike have routinely played. Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker continues the games, which won’t be helpful to his presidential hopes in 2028.