OPEN THREAD: Hump Day.
Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds
September 10, 2025
THE KEY WORD IS “CLAIM:”
Charlie Kirk was the kind of conservative that progressives claim to like. Calm, rational, substantive, open to respectful engagement with the other side. But they unremittingly demonized him anyway.
— Randy Barnett (@RandyEBarnett) September 11, 2025
Charlie challenged the Left in good faith to honest debates about the soul and future of America. They shot him for it. https://t.co/CpiYySAFtR
— Ilya Shapiro (@ishapiro) September 10, 2025
A generation of nutjobs have convinced themselves that disagreeing with them, and not simply giving them whatever they want, is violence and even genocide.
And so they view physical violence against people who disagree with them as justified. https://t.co/ZAtF8VPtTe
— Sunny (@sunnyright) September 10, 2025
Remember when you said "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun?" https://t.co/6nbHuHgGiU
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) September 10, 2025
UPDATE: He’s not wrong:
BREAKING: Argentina President Javier Milei releases a statement:
“The left is always, at all times and places, a violent phenomenon full of hatred.”
He’s right. pic.twitter.com/1h1QCjGKie
— Ian Jaeger (@IanJaeger29) September 10, 2025
MORE:
Charlie’s assassination proves that this is no longer a debate of ideas.
The Left lost the debate, so they resorted to violence.
The Left have breached the social contract. They lie, cheat, steal, and murder, to get their way.
We are at war, whether you know it or not.
— Clandestine (@WarClandestine) September 10, 2025
Today was an inflection point. The assassination of Charlie Kirk, coming on the heels of Iryna Zarutska's murder, is the perfect storm.
There is no turning back from what happens now.
The Left gloats because they don't understand what is happening.
Today will be shock.
In the… pic.twitter.com/ey75iNmLOb
— Grummz (@Grummz) September 11, 2025
Following some snide comments on X today, I feel I need to make the following observation:
If guns caused political violence, there would already be a lot of dead Communists in the streets.
— Eric S. Raymond (@esrtweet) September 11, 2025
The center holds. Barely. For now. Don’t take that for granted. Reader John Steakley writes:
The right thinks the left is stupid. The left thinks the right is evil.
I confess that it took me a while to fully understand what this statement meant. What it’s saying is that the right measures the left intellectually, but the left measures the right emotionally. Each side concludes that the other fails.
The right says that the left’s math doesn’t add up. The left says that the math is irrelevant as long as the outcome feels good.
But each side’s response to the other is starkly different. One side doesn’t resort to violence against those who can’t do math, but the other side proudly resorts to violence against those on the right cast as evil.
These two sides aren’t even speaking the same language. They aren’t pursuing the same goals. And they aren’t measuring each other or themselves by the same standards.
The right is appalled by Charlie Kirk‘s murder. But if it turns out to be a politically-motivated murder, the left will ultimately feel it as emotionally justified (despite whatever lip service they initially offer). And that feeling in the heart of the passionate left will invariably shock the cooler minds on the right.
This is where the right faces an existential decision: do they cower away from the emotional violence, resort to counter-violence, or stick together and stay the peaceful intellectual course?
I hope they choose the third option. But it is always the most difficult.
Indeed.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: The race back to the moon: What if China lands its astronauts first?
MICROBIOME NEWS: Your Own Mouth Bacteria Could Give You a Heart Attack, New Study Suggests.
Just brush your damn teeth. And floss!
“The tyrant dies, and his rule is over. The martyr dies, and his rule begins.”
—Soren Kierkegaard pic.twitter.com/2cP9HAlJrU— William Wolfe 🇺🇸 (@William_E_Wolfe) September 10, 2025
A friend compares this to the murder of Elijah Lovejoy. May the consequences be less bitter. But . . .
what we do next is very important pic.twitter.com/i2t90ZOgv3
— stepfanie tyler (@wildbarestepf) September 10, 2025
HOW IT’S GOING:
“Stop making us assassinate you” https://t.co/9XwoYmEctO
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) September 10, 2025
Related:
There is no confirmation the shooter was on the Left.
But there is plenty of confirmation that the Left loves the shooter.
— Grummz (@Grummz) September 10, 2025
“When discourse ends, violence begins.”
– Charlie Kirk
All he wanted to do is talk to you people, and you fucking shot him for it.
I feel sick seeing what this country has become.
— The Misfit Patriot (@misfitpatriot_) September 10, 2025
We all said the same when Andrew Breitbart died. Have faith, brother. The Lord will provide. https://t.co/krjjJ6ntnZ
— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) September 10, 2025
This was predicted years ago by @ScottAdamsSays – that “conservatives will be hunted” and he was mocked for saying it.
How does this attack on someone as moderate as @charliekirk11 not prove him entirely correct, **again**?!
— Amanda Milius (@AmandaMilius) September 10, 2025
"Charlie Kirk had it coming" is more deranged than anything they accuse Kirk of saying. https://t.co/yb7r9PSigj
— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) September 10, 2025
MSNBC IS GARBAGE, but the Insta-Wife has been watching the Charlie Kirk coverage on NBC and says it’s been terrific, balanced, serious, and constructive. About 3/4 guests are conservative, nobody is suggesting he deserved it, everyone is worried for the state of the country. Good.
WE DON’T KNOW MUCH YET, BUT WHAT WE KNOW SEEMS BAD:
Pray for Charlie Kirk and his family pic.twitter.com/oY7S6tyGUF
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) September 10, 2025
UPDATE: We do know that MSNBC is garbage, though. After These Remarks About Charlie Kirk Getting Shot, MSNBC Can Go to Hell.
MORE:
I’ve seen Charlie Kirk speak multiple times. He’s come to my hometown. He is calm, logical, and always willing to engage in civil discourse with the opposition. Not once has he called for violence. By all accounts, he’s relatively moderate for a right winger.
If he’s a Nazi,…
— Judith Rose | ✍🏻 🌹 💎 (@judithrose91) September 10, 2025
CHANGE: iPhone 17 Air is real—here’s what’s new in Apple’s extra-thin handset: It’s not revolutionary, but it’s hypertargeted at one type of customer. ” The 6.5-inch iPhone 17 Air combines the CPU and GPU of an iPhone Pro with the camera system of a regular iPhone, all in an extra-thin design (5.6 mm), with a treated titanium frame that is likely to appeal to style-conscious users and some business consumers.” I want a better camera, not a worse camera.
TRUE. WE NEED A FEDERAL CIVIL RIGHTS LAW PROTECTING PEOPLE WHO DEFEND THEMSELVES AND OTHERS FROM MALICIOUS PROSECUTION.
Daniel Penny prevented this from happening on a NYC subway. Instead of thanking him, many hated him for it. pic.twitter.com/aJQQok1awy
— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 10, 2025
OFT EVIL WILL SHALL EVIL MAR:
Well done @Keir_Starmer You've made this the most posted image globally. #UKFascism https://t.co/HmfBjFNIXf
— Dr Rhonda Garad (@RhondaGarad) September 9, 2025
To be honest I think this is a more powerful image than it was before! 😂✊ pic.twitter.com/dvGLbqLQeP
— Benonwine (@benonwine) September 10, 2025
MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN: RFK Jr. unveils initiatives to promote children’s health.
DON’T THREATEN ME WITH A GOOD TIME: Democrats Talk Government Shutdown.
YES:
Although the “professional black people” on CNN, etc. are, frankly, execrable on this stuff, they’re just modern day minstrels playing up to a woke white audience. Their views don’t reflect those of actual black communities, who all evidence suggests support Trump’s effort to increase policing. And they should, since they will be the chief beneficiaries. Everyone, black, white, or whatever, deserves public spaces that are clean and safe, and the vast majority want those. The loser journalist/pundit class (but I repeat myself) has distorted discussion on this issue for pretty much my whole lifetime and needs to sit down and shut up.
Democrats would like nothing better than to turn this into a broad-brush black vs. white issue, but it’s really an issue on which the multiracial working-class coalition that is now the GOP has every reason to stand united against the predators and grifters on the left.
SAY IT LOUD, SAY IT PROUD: ‘I am a Zionist’ says Columbia’s new dean of community and culture.
DON SURBER: DEI JUDGES SUCK.
Related:
🚨 UPDATE: It’s now been exposed that the Court Clerk for the courthouse that released Iryna Zarutska’s murderer was a “DEI consultant” and “racial equity organizer,” and the superior judge was “DEI champion of the year.”
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 10, 2025
CHANGE IS COMING:
This image will define the new civil rights movement. We have a right to use public accommodations without being butchered in our seats. We have a right to safe communities where violent animals are rounded up and caged. This is not just a local crime. It’s a civil rights issue. pic.twitter.com/3VuADE6thr
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 9, 2025
Related: Why do people who push mass transit not support keeping it safe?