EUGENE VOLOKH ON Firing Public Employees Who Publicly Praise Violent Criminal Attacks. “There is no categorical exception even as to government employment for speech that praises violence.”

Related: Is It Cancel Culture to Go After the Charlie Kirk Assassination Celebrators?

Flashback: Hair Pulling Time.

There’s an old joke about a boy who complains to his mother that his little sister keeps pulling his hair.

“Oh,” responds the mother, “she doesn’t know that it hurts.”

A few minutes later, the mother hears the girl scream and runs into the other room. “She knows now,” the boy explains.

There’s a lesson for Republicans in that old joke, if they’re smart enough to absorb it.

I have doubts about these firings, but no doubts about the importance of the lessons being driven home. The courts can sort it out later, just like they did (sometimes) when so many people on the right were being cancelled. In the meantime, the leftist culture of impunity — where they can’t even imagine paying a price for their behavior because they feel insulated by their politics — is taking a much-needed hit.

Related:

So, they think Charlie Kirk (who was far kinder and more patient than they deserved) should die for his words.

But they should face no consequences whatsoever for theirs. Quite the contrary.

— A Ruthless (@ARuthless8) September 12, 2025

As science shows, tit-for-tat is a highly effective strategy.