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Tag: Opinion

  • Opinion | Will Europe Admit It’s at War?

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    Vladimir Putin declared war on Europe on Feb. 24, 2022, by sending his tanks to assault Ukraine. Or in December 2021, when Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the Duma’s Defense Committee, threatened any country that stood in his way with a “preventive strike.” Or on Feb. 20, 2014, when the Russian army invaded Crimea.

    This year things are speeding up. Intimidations, provocations and aggressions are multiplying:

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  • After 2 years and 20,000 jobs, California’s fast food wage hike is a failure

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    It’s been two years since Gavin Newsom signed the so-called FAST Recovery Act, creating a $20 minimum wage for fast food workers. Instead of a raise, the best data shows these workers lost hours or their jobs. The governor owes them an apology.

    At a celebratory bill signing on September 28th two years ago, Newsom was all smiles, calling the law a win-win-win that would leave restaurants, workers, and consumers better off. Under the law, the state’s minimum wage for fast-food workers would rise rapidly to $20 an hour, while a new regulatory council could consider future hikes and institute other mandates.

    The party ended quickly. Starting that fall, a wave of media reports showed that restaurants were raising menu prices, cutting staff, and turning to automation to get ready for the law’s implementation in the spring. The state made national headlines when two pizza franchisees laid off more than 1,200 delivery drivers to reduce costs, and restaurants like Foster’s Freeze and Mod Pizza announced they would close locations entirely.

    One trade group, the California Business and Industrial Alliance (CABIA), took out a full-page mock-obituary in the newspaper for all of the closed businesses.

    The governor and his allies attempted to dismiss these examples as corporate propaganda, but the government statistics back up the stories. Quarterly data representing most California businesses shows the fast food industry shed nearly 20,000 jobs since Newsom signed the wage hike into law. These losses outpace other California industries and the rest of the country’s fast food restaurants, and are unmistakably linked to the timing of the $20 wage mandate.

    For those workers that still have jobs, more data shows they are working fewer hours than before. An Employment Policies Institute analysis of Census Bureau data reveals the median fast food worker in California lost up to seven weeks of work after the $20 wage hike went into place, compared to the year before the law. Put differently, even though these fast food workers are earning more per hour, they might be taking home less money.

    And workers aren’t the only ones paying the prices; consumers are feeling the pinch, too. Menu price data collected by Datassential shows California’s fast food prices increased more than 13% after April 2024, roughly double the increases in other parts of the country. More double-digit price increases were reported by analysis conducted by University of Richmond and University of Michigan economists.

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, in 2024 California voters rejected a minimum wage ballot initiative for the first time in state history, having received an unpleasant preview of the consequences at their local fast-food restaurants.

    For a time, Newsom’s press office attempted to push back on claims that his law was a failure,  cherry-picking jobs numbers based on less-robust sample sizes. (In an amusing turn of events, the governor’s preferred data now show undeniable employment declines.) The governor leaned on deeply-flawed reports from a union-aligned labor researcher at UC-Berkeley, while ignoring the conclusive government data and detailed studies from the National Bureau of Economic Research. Today, Newsom’s defenses have become less frequent, with denial of job losses looking as silly as a flat earth conspiracy.

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  • Opinion | How’s Life in That New Palestinian State?

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    I have a few questions for the foreign governments that approved “ A Palestinian State for Hamas” (Review & Outlook, Sept. 23). What is its capital city? Can Christians and Jews freely practice their religion there? Can women divorce, own property, vote, run for office, get abortions? Will elections be regularly held? Will gay marriage be allowed? Finally, do all citizens of the “state” have the right to kidnap, rape, torture and murder Jews?

    The Jewish people are celebrating the New Year of 5786—many of them, living in the state their foes want to wipe off the map. Meanwhile, Hamas refuses to release hostages kidnapped almost two years ago. Useful idiots in the U.K., Australia, France and elsewhere reward them for their intransigence. Recognition of this supposed state is an affront to decency, morality and common sense.

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  • Opinion | The Key to Ukraine’s Victory

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    ‘Is there a Manstein in Kyiv?’ isn’t the right question.

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  • Opinion | Why Qatar Changed Course on Hamas

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    Doha had operated with Israeli complicity, but a strike on Qatari soil changed the equation.

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    Amit Segal

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  • Opinion | Time to Abandon ‘Active Defense’ in Ukraine

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    The doctrine proved to be ineffective after Vietnam, but better ideas came with Reagan’s military buildup.

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    Mark T. Kimmitt

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  • Opinion | How Israel Can Punish France and Britain

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    Shutter the consulates in Jerusalem, which act as embassies to the Palestinian Authority.

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    Ran Ichay

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  • DAVID MARCUS: DiCaprio’s ‘One Battle After Another’ an ill-timed apologia for left-wing violence

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    ‘One Battle After Another’ trailer

    The trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson’s action thriller “One Battle After Another” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Teyana Taylor. Released by Warner Bros. Pictures.

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    Timing, they say, is everything, and it is not director Paul Thomas Anderson’s fault that his latest film, “One Battle After Another,” is opening after the worst two weeks of American left-wing political violence in decades. But it sure makes it hard to watch.

    Imagine a movie about World War II in which you are meant to be cheering for lovable Nazis.

    The film is an adaptation of the 1990s novel “Vineland,” and it turns out making Thomas Pynchon novels into movies is a bit like translating James Joyce’s “Ulysses” into Chinese. You can do it, but you miss a lot.

    TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL’S OCTOBER 7 FLIP-FLOP REVEALS PREJUDICE OF CULTURAL GATEKEEPERS

    What is missing here is even the slightest bit of nuance about the glorious necessity to kill people, including innocents, in order to topple Anderson’s weird and paranoid version of the American government.

    At the top, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Bob Ferguson, or Rocketman character, is in a star-crossed love affair with Perfidia Beverly Hills, played by Teyana Taylor. When they aren’t blowing up immigration detention facilities—yes, you read that right—they find time to create a daughter.

    Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob Ferguson in “One Battle After Another.”  A Warner Bros. Pictures Release. (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

    Things go south when Perfidia murders an unarmed guard in cold blood during a bank heist while her partner yells about Black Power. The killing disrupts their little family and sends Bob and daughter Willa into hiding as Perfidia runs off, presumably to Cuba.

    The rest of the movie is spent with Sean Penn’s racist and sexually strange Army Col. Steven Lockjaw, who is auditioning for a secretive and elite white supremacist group called the Christmas Adventurers. They presumably have massive political power and spend their time chasing the father and daughter.

    DEMOCRATS WANT A RETURN TO THE WORST OF 1960S RADICALISM AND VIOLENCE

    It’s not clear who this racist group is; it’s not even clear if the United States still exists. All we really know is that, aside from DiCaprio, pretty much all the white men in the movie are super-duper villains.

    Lockjaw and his band of racists are just pure evil. There is nothing redeeming about them, and they clearly represent the American government or some version of it, because nobody ever stops Lockjaw from doing wildly illegal things.

    Probably the strangest choice Anderson makes is to shift the time period of the story. In the original, the protagonists are 1960s radicals and the action takes place in 1984. That tracked. This does not.

    “One Battle” starts with a mass political violence campaign from Perfidia’s group, called French 75, in about 2010, with the rest of the movie taking place in the present day. The idea that the federal government was engaged in racist fascism in Obama’s first term just feels absurd.

    For this movie to make any sense at all, one has to believe the United States, today, right now, is a fascist dictatorship. That is not only a dangerous fallacy but, as we have found out recently, a deadly one.

    Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn in One Battle After Another

    Teyana Taylor as Perfidia and Sean Penn as Col. Steven J. Lockjaw in “One Battle After Another.”  A Warner Bros. Pictures Release. (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

    It is also dangerous to celebrate murderers. Another eerie coincidence is that the film was released the same week exiled far-left cop killer Assata Shakur died in Cuba. The Chicago Teachers Union took to X to honor “the life and legacy of a revolutionary fighter.” So the people who teach our kids, just like Anderson, it would seem, think killing cops is fine, as long as it is for the left.

    Growing up in Philadelphia, the name Mumia Abu-Jamal, who sits on death row for killing a cop in the 1980s, was famous—as it is around the global left, where he is celebrated as some kind of hero.

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    But in the little Irish bars from Northeast Philly to the Italian Market, you will often see an old, dim photo of a man in a police hat and light blues. His name was Officer Daniel Faulkner, the man Abu-Jamal killed, a man who never became famous outside of our hearts.

    As I walked to my car after the nearly three-hour indictment of America, I lit a cigarette and wondered how all these multimillionaires like DiCaprio and Anderson can live with themselves if they truly believe America is as rank and horrible as the film depicts.

    How can all those actors at the Emmy Awards who yell “F— ICE!” like ignorant toddlers reconcile that the same government is what protects their fabulous lifestyles of the rich and famous?

    Anderson won’t be committing any “brave” acts of murder to right the supposed wrongs of our nation. He’ll just make movies encouraging others to do so while he basks in the fruits of capitalism.

    The whole movie made me a little angry, but then I remembered that the Trump administration is cracking down on Antifa—today’s very real domestic terrorists—and maybe this will be a fun movie for them to watch once they are all in jail.

    CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DAVID MARCUS

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  • Op-Ed | New York needs leaders who stand with detectives, not against public safety | amNewYork

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    File – A police officer at a crime scene.

    Photo by Dean Moses

    When I speak about the work of NYPD Detectives, I remind people that we’re all on the same team. It’s not about the name on the back of the jersey — DEA, PBA, SBA, LBA or any other acronym. It’s about the name on the front: New York. Every union, every cop, and every New Yorker who genuinely cares about safe streets is part of the team. Because public safety is the foundation of everything else in this city.

    That’s why an apology from Zohran Mamdani for his 2020 remarks about the NYPD means nothing. There isn’t a detective or any rank in the NYPD that believes for a second that he’s sincere. Remember, when he was on social media sitting behind a keyboard and offending those of us in blue, New York’s Finest were risking their lives every day chasing down violent criminals and protecting the streets of our city.

    Let’s be clear: Mamdani wants to defund the police, legalize prostitution, and expand laws that already turn courtrooms into revolving doors for violent offenders. If he gets anywhere near City Hall, the consequences for public safety in New York City will be devastating.
    And the danger doesn’t stop at the five boroughs. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman proudly touts his county as one of the safest in the nation. But if Mamdani has his way in City Hall, that safety will be gone. Criminals don’t respect borders. When prostitution is legalized, when disorder is ignored, when violent offenders are cut loose, the spillover hits every neighboring community. Long Island and Westchester will need to build a wall to keep Mamdani’s chaos from spilling over.

    Unfortunately, Mamdani isn’t the first politician to treat law enforcement as a punching bag while chasing headlines. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo wrote the playbook. His record is a master class in betraying cops, detectives, and the New Yorkers we serve.

    Let’s count the ways:

    • Bail reform: Cuomo rammed it through in 2019 despite warnings from law enforcement and prosecutors, and New Yorkers have suffered the consequences ever since.
    • Repeal of 50-a: Cuomo tore down vital protections that shielded cops and detectives from having their personnel records weaponized. He endangered us and our families with the stroke of a pen.
    • Congestion pricing: A cash grab disguised as policy, further punishing working New Yorkers while doing nothing to fix public safety or transit.
    • Pension tiers: Cuomo left detectives and other officers stuck in unfair Tier 4, 5, and 6 systems, while refusing to enhance Tier 2, 2a, 3, and 3a.
    • Disrespect: Cuomo is the only governor in New York State history who never attended the annual Police Memorial ceremony. Think about that. Every year, families of the fallen gather to honor their loved ones — and Cuomo couldn’t be bothered to show up.
    That’s his legacy. A governor who built his brand on being “tough,” but when it came to standing with law enforcement, was nowhere to be found.

    Mamdani wants to go even further. Cuomo broke the system with bail reform. Mamdani would smash what’s left by making New York City a sanctuary for criminals, pimps, and predators. And that’s who our Governor just endorsed. When elected leaders do something right, I’ll say so — but when they worry about votes over the safety of our union members and risk our city, I won’t stay quiet. No one should.

    New Yorkers can’t afford leaders who use cops as scapegoats. Detectives don’t get to pick and choose when to show up. We don’t bend with the political winds. We show up every day, on every case, for every New Yorker. That’s what being on the same team means.

    And that’s the standard New Yorkers should demand — not only from their next mayor but from Albany too. Because this isn’t just about city politics. It’s about a culture in state government where too many lawmakers stick their finger in the air to see which way the political wind is blowing, and then stick their middle finger up at the cops and the people we protect.

    The mayoral race gives New Yorkers a chance to demand better. A chance to reject Mamdani’s anti-police and anti-public safety poison and to reject Cuomo-style betrayal. We need leaders who will row in the same direction as detectives, fellow unions, and the millions of New Yorkers who want nothing more than safe streets for their families.

    It’s time to put Team New York first. And if you want to lead this city, get on the team or get out of the way!

    Scott Munro is president of the NYPD Detectives Endowment Association representing 21,000 active and retired NYPD detectives.

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    By Scott Munro

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  • TikTok is a national security threat. This is what the Trump administration needs to do

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    In 2020, the Trump administration accepted the unanimous determination by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) that TikTok is spyware disguised as entertainment and propaganda masquerading as news — an addictive, highly manipulative platform ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

    Congress recognized this danger and, in 2024, passed bipartisan legislation requiring TikTok to be sold to American owners or banned outright. The conservative majority on the Supreme Court upheld the law. The mandate could not have been clearer: divestiture or ban. There is no third option.

    Yet the Trump administration now offers a “framework deal” that falls short of what the law requires. Instead of a clean break, the proposal would allow ByteDance to retain a board seat while leasing its algorithm to a group of American investors. This may sound like a compromise, but it is in fact a capitulation. Licensing is not ownership and monitoring is not control. As long as ByteDance retains the ability to alter the algorithm from Beijing, the CCP will preserve one of its most powerful tools for influencing American minds and waging psychological warfare against the West. The administration implicitly concedes the deal’s weakness by touting Oracle’s ability to “fully inspect” the algorithm. What the administration cannot quite bring itself to say is that those inspections will be searching for evidence of ByteDance’s ongoing manipulation of the platform.

    TRUMP, BESSENT CAN LEVERAGE TIKTOK NEGOTIATIONS TO COUNTER CHINA’S RARE EARTH DOMINANCE

    The problem is not theoretical. We have already seen how TikTok floods American feeds with antisemitic propaganda in the wake of terror attacks and the crass celebration of political violence after the assassinations of Charlie Kirk and UnitedHealthCare President Brian Thompson. While fanning the flames of domestic American conflict, TikTok buries any content critical of China: e.g., the Uyghur genocide, the crackdown in Hong Kong and the Tiananmen Square massacre.

    Unsurprisingly, the algorithm that serves such a toxic cocktail of content in the United States is banned domestically within China. This is the very essence of information warfare. To allow China to keep a hand on the levers of TikTok’s algorithm is to allow the CCP to continue shaping what our children watch and believe.

    If Beijing retains control of TikTok in a crisis, it could funnel chaos to the phones of roughly half the American population. Imagine if China goes to war with Taiwan, then floods TikTok with pro-CCP messages, spreads disinformation about the conflict and boosts a public opinion campaign that America should stay out and not do anything to help Taipei. The CCP is counting on American leaders ignoring this possibility.

    Equally troubling is the precedent. Congress spoke with one voice in mandating divestiture. The courts affirmed it. Yet instead of carrying out the law as written, the administration is attempting to redefine “divestiture” into something far weaker — a mere cosmetic restructuring that leaves the core of TikTok’s technology under Chinese control. This deal is not enforcing the law; it is evading the law.

    Nor should we overlook the larger strategic cost of embracing appeasement dressed up as pragmatism. By blessing this structure, Washington signals that American national security can be negotiated down to half-measures and loopholes, much like the agreement to allow Nvidia chip sales so long as Uncle Sam gets his 15 percent cut. Beijing understands this game well. Every inch of ground we concede on TikTok will only embolden them to make even more outlandish demands in trade negotiations and military diplomacy. Americans who placed their trust in conservatives to confront the CCP should be alarmed and disappointed.

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    The truth is that this deal does not honor the law and it does not protect the American people. It preserves China’s influence, undermines Congress’s authority and erodes the very principle of sovereignty that conservatives have long championed. We would never have permitted the Soviet Union to script our nightly news broadcasts during the Cold War. Why would we allow the CCP to manipulate the screens in our children’s hands today?

    The time for hedging has passed. Conservatives in Congress must not sit silently by while this deal is rammed through under the guise of compliance with the law. Because TikTok is a national security threat, we must demand full divestiture — no minority stakes, no algorithm leases, no fig leaves. Anything less is a betrayal of the law and an overly generous concession to the CCP.

    Michael Sobolik is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute specializing in United States-China relations.

    Marc Short is the former director of Legislative Affairs for President Donald Trump. He successfully shepherded through the landmark Trump tax cuts. Marc is currently the chairman of Advancing American Freedom.

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  • Bureaucrats and political repression: A cautionary tale

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    President Trump has kept lots of constitutional rights activists like me quite busy since his return to the Oval Office. His misuse of federal agents and multiple state National Guard personnel from Red states in Blue cities for pretextual immigration enforcement actions that double as political repression operations has been a particular focus of mine.

    But you don’t have to be America’s chief executive in order to have the power to try to violate a citizen’s rights. You can be a career bureaucrat and do it behind a veil of secrecy, believing that your actions will never see the light of day.

    Fortunately, and at least occasionally, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and its companion statute, the Privacy Act (PA), can help reveal the dubious or even unlawful actions of those in the Executive branch.

    Whereas FOIA is used to get federal records about policies, procedures, organizational structure, and the like released, the PA allows you to ask any federal agency or department for records that mention you by name. This is a story involving how a PA lawsuit exposed extremely questionable conduct by one career bureaucrat at the National Security Agency (NSA). First, some background.

    On March, 2, 2017, yours truly authored a piece for the online journal JustSecurity.org, an outlet that focuses on issues at the nexus of national security and the law. That piece went into some detail about pre-9/11 managerial incompetence that contributed to Al Qaeda’s successful attacks on September 11, and the subsequent retaliation against NSA whistleblowers who attempted to expose the truth about how America’s most lethal intelligence failure since Pearl Harbor could’ve been prevented. 

    What I didn’t learn until just last month was that one NSA official, Patrick Bomgardner, was so outraged by my story – which contained no classified information – that he acted with the apparent intent of getting me prosecuted for my First Amendment protected speech.

    And I only learned about Bomgardner’s action thanks to PA litigation I filed against my former employer, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

    The latest batch of documents released by the CIA in my PA suit in August 2025 revealed that almost three weeks after my JustSecurity piece ran, CIA officials forwarded the piece to Bomgardner at NSA. They did so because what I wrote –even though CIA officials had found no classified information in my story.

    Bomgardner’s reply was telling.

    “This is no longer a prepublication review. I’m forwarding to our Unauthorized Media Disclosures Working Group for action.

    “UMDWG, Please see CIA’s request below regarding the article attached.

    “Cheers

    “Pat”

    Everything I referenced in my JustSecurity piece was unclassified and publicly available, a fact CIA had already established and something Bomgardner could’ve confirmed himself by simply following the links in the piece. Instead, he reflexively engaged in an authoritarian response to my exercise of my constitutional rights, without any pressure or prompting from anyone in his chain of command.

    I have a follow up FOIA with NSA asking for records relevant to Bomgardner’s pernicious referral to try to get me prosecuted to see just how far the process actually went. Even so, what Bomgardner did over eight years ago seems rather quaint in our current circumstances.

    I want you to imagine federal law enforcement and intelligence services filled at the top and quite a way down into the bureaucracy with people who have that same kind of authoritarian impulse and worldview. Next, imagine that those same authoritarian-minded people were recruited by and answer to a president who daily calls for investigations, fines, firings, lawsuits, or worse against any American individual or organization that opposes his policies.

    That is Donald Trump’s federal government in 2025, as the people of Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Boston and other cities can attest. And in the wake of the assassination of right-wing political pugilist Charlie Kirk last week and the regime’s reaction to it, it’s a near certainty that Trump’s campaign of political retribution and repression will intensify.

    There is still a way to stop such repression. Senate Democrats could refuse to allow any government funding bill to get a vote.

    The federal government runs out of money at midnight on September 30. Senate rules require 60 affirmative votes on a procedural motion to end debate on the underlying bill in order to proceed to a vote on the funding bill itself. If at least 41 Senate Democrats refuse to vote to end debate on a bill to fund the government after September 30, the flow of money to Trump’s political repression machine stops as of October 1.

    While it’s true that Trump could declare federal law enforcement personnel “essential workers” and order them to stay on the job conducting ICE raids and politicized investigations of Trump’s “enemies,” but their landlords, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, and gas stations aren’t going to take IOUs because only Congress can appropriate funds, not Trump.

    At this point, the choice for Senate Democrats is rather clear: stop funding Trump’s repression machine and have a chance to save the Republic or keep funding it and watch him go after every group and every person who dares to oppose his unconstitutional actions. Both are lousy choices, but one is clearly worse than the other. Such is America in 2025.

    Former CIA analyst and ex-House senior policy advisor Patrick G. Eddington is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the author of The Triumph of Fear: Domestic Surveillance and Political Repression from McKinley Through Eisenhower (GU Press, 2025).

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    Patrick Eddington

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  • City Council aims to destroy food delivery in order to save it

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    New York City’s elected activists can’t stop micro-managing app-based food delivery.

    It’s an obsession driven by economic ignorance that harms the low-wage, unskilled workers the left claims to care about so deeply.

    In 2023, the City Council imposed new minimum-wage regulations on apps such as Uber Eats or Doordash, which employ bicycle deliverymen to pick up food from restaurants to deliver to customers: It hiked wages to above $20 an hour, forcing the apps to do strict recordkeeping to track time on-call and time making deliveries.

    The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection correctly predicted that wages — and prices — would rise, yielding fewer deliveries as some customers decided that paying an extra 10 bucks to get sandwiches delivered wasn’t worth it.

    And, in fact, the “reform” drove thousands of delivery workers out of the industry, while those who remain are working much harder.

    And now the City Council thinks it can stop that job-killing effect . . . by giving app deliverymen job protections that most American workers can only dream of.

    New York, like almost every other state, follows the doctrine of “at-will employment,” meaning that (with limited exceptions) you can be fired for any reason, or no reason, at any time.

    But progressives’ new bill would prevent the apps from “deactivating” delivery workers without “just cause.”

    Being extremely slow in completing deliveries, for instance, wouldn’t be sufficient reason for termination.

    Plus, the company would have to give workers 15 days’ notice and written explanations of which rules it believes they violated. And in the event of “bona-fide” economic distress, it would have to give 120 days’ notice.

    More, the apps couldn’t deactivate any delivery worker unless they could prove he knowingly violated the rules.

    Prove to who? The law prescribes an arbitration system that could occupy a team of labor lawyers for years, and requires back pay, lawyers’ fees and thousands of dollars in penalties and fines if the worker’s termination is found to be “without cause.”

    Food delivery is casual labor, done mostly by undocumented people with few options or skills beyond knowing how to ride a bike.

    Nobody wants these folks to be exploited, but it’s beyond nuts for the City Council to devote so much of its attention to imposing some supposed “perfect justice” on a minor service that’s worked well enough for decades with basically no oversight at all.

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  • Rosh Hashanah is reminder of our responsibility to each other (Opinion)

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    Jews across the world are preparing to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. As the holiday that marks and celebrates the creation of the world, it is a time to reflect on the current state of the world. This year, that reflection feels especially heavy.

    Our community is still reeling from the recent school shooting in Evergreen and the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The shock and grief are heavy. These tragedies remind us of how vulnerable we are—and how quickly violence can shatter the lives of families and communities.

    An ancient passage in the Talmud (Bava Batra 25a) offers a haunting metaphor for this vulnerability: “The world is similar to a building, enclosed on three sides, and the northern side of the world is not enclosed.” The sages imagined the world itself as a structure left open to the north, a reminder that there are always cracks through which danger, chaos, and suffering can enter.

    This image echoes a verse from the prophet Jeremiah: “From the north shall disaster break loose upon all the inhabitants of the land” (Jeremiah 1:14). The Bible acknowledges what we feel so acutely in moments like this: there is no perfect safety. For reasons we may never fully understand, the world carries within it openings where pain can break through.

    But Jewish tradition also provides a way for us to begin fortifying that opening and protecting ourselves from vulnerability. One teaching centers on the ancient ritual of Bikkurim, the offering of the first fruits. Farmers would bring the first produce of their fields to the Temple in Jerusalem as an act of gratitude. But according to tradition, this ritual could not begin until every single family in the nation had received its portion of land. In other words, no one was permitted to celebrate until everyone was able to participate. Joy was incomplete if even one family was left out.

    This is a powerful teaching about interconnectedness. It reminds us that our well-being is bound up with the well-being of others, and that true celebration, true safety, and true healing can only exist when everyone shares those benefits.

    That message speaks powerfully in light of recent events. On one level, the pain and shock we felt reminds us that we are connected—what happens in someone else’s backyard does affect me. On the other hand, these tragedies also reveal the fractures in our society, the lack of interconnectedness, where all that seems to matter is my satisfaction, my opinion, and my way of life.

    If we are to heal as a community and as a country, we must reclaim that sense of interconnectedness and responsibility for one another. We must refuse to let our shared home remain open to chaos and despair. We can begin to close that open side—one person at a time, one congregation at a time, one community at a time.

    Through our deeds of kindness, justice, and connection, we help close the openings through which pain seeps into the world—and in doing so, we bring blessing not only to ourselves, but to all who share this fragile, beautiful home.

    As we enter Rosh Hashanah, may this New Year be a year of healing, safety, and renewed connection—for our community, our country, and our world.

    Barry Gelman is Rabbi of The Denver Kehillah and a member of the executive committee of the Rocky Mountain Rabbis and Cantors (RMRC)

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    Barry Gelman

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  • ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ suspended after host’s Charlie Kirk comments

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    “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has been suspended indefinitely by ABC, following his comments about Charlie Kirk’s death.According to an ABC network spokesperson, they are pulling the show indefinitely and plan to air “Celebrity Family Feud” for the next two nights in its place, with future programming to be determined.Nexstar was first to announce that it would no longer air Kimmel’s late-night show on its 23 ABC affiliates across the country. There was no immediate comment from Kimmel, whose contract is up in May 2026.In his monologue on Tuesday, Kimmel said that “we hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr appeared on a podcast Wednesday, where he suggested that local affiliates should pull Kimmel from the air.Later in the day, Carr posted on X, saying, “I want to thank Nexstar for doing the right thing. Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values. I hope that other broadcasters follow Nexstar’s lead.” Trump celebrated ABC’s move on the social media site Truth Social, writing: “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”He also targeted two other late-night hosts, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, and said they should be canceled too, calling them “two total losers.” In July, after CBS canceled “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Trump wrote on his social media platform: “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!” Like Colbert, Kimmel has been consistently been critical of Trump and many of his policies.Kimmel’s show pulled as audience waited for tapingAn audience was lined up outside the theater where “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” tapes when they were told Wednesday’s show was canceled.“We were just about to walk in — interestingly enough, they waited to pull the plug on this right as the studio audience was about to walk in,” Tommy Williams, a would-be audience member from Jacksonville, Florida, told The Associated Press outside the theater. “They didn’t tell us what had happened. They just said that the show was canceled.”Williams said he was worried someone had been injured — until he saw that ABC had announced nearly at the same time online that the preemption was indefinite. Williams hadn’t been aware of Kimmel’s comments on Kirk, but sought them out after the announcement.

    “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has been suspended indefinitely by ABC, following his comments about Charlie Kirk’s death.

    According to an ABC network spokesperson, they are pulling the show indefinitely and plan to air “Celebrity Family Feud” for the next two nights in its place, with future programming to be determined.

    Nexstar was first to announce that it would no longer air Kimmel’s late-night show on its 23 ABC affiliates across the country.

    There was no immediate comment from Kimmel, whose contract is up in May 2026.

    In his monologue on Tuesday, Kimmel said that “we hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

    Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr appeared on a podcast Wednesday, where he suggested that local affiliates should pull Kimmel from the air.

    Later in the day, Carr posted on X, saying, “I want to thank Nexstar for doing the right thing. Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values. I hope that other broadcasters follow Nexstar’s lead.”

    Trump celebrated ABC’s move on the social media site Truth Social, writing: “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”

    He also targeted two other late-night hosts, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, and said they should be canceled too, calling them “two total losers.” In July, after CBS canceled “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Trump wrote on his social media platform: “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!” Like Colbert, Kimmel has been consistently been critical of Trump and many of his policies.

    Kimmel’s show pulled as audience waited for taping

    An audience was lined up outside the theater where “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” tapes when they were told Wednesday’s show was canceled.

    “We were just about to walk in — interestingly enough, they waited to pull the plug on this right as the studio audience was about to walk in,” Tommy Williams, a would-be audience member from Jacksonville, Florida, told The Associated Press outside the theater. “They didn’t tell us what had happened. They just said that the show was canceled.”

    Williams said he was worried someone had been injured — until he saw that ABC had announced nearly at the same time online that the preemption was indefinite. Williams hadn’t been aware of Kimmel’s comments on Kirk, but sought them out after the announcement.

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  • ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ suspended after host’s Charlie Kirk comments

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    “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has been suspended indefinitely by ABC, following his comments about Charlie Kirk’s death.According to an ABC network spokesperson, they are pulling the show indefinitely and plan to air “Celebrity Family Feud” for the next two nights in its place, with future programming to be determined.Nexstar was first to announce that it would no longer air Kimmel’s late-night show on its 23 ABC affiliates across the country. There was no immediate comment from Kimmel, whose contract is up in May 2026.In his monologue on Tuesday, Kimmel said that “we hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr appeared on a podcast Wednesday, where he suggested that local affiliates should pull Kimmel from the air.Later in the day, Carr posted on X, saying, “I want to thank Nexstar for doing the right thing. Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values. I hope that other broadcasters follow Nexstar’s lead.” Trump celebrated ABC’s move on the social media site Truth Social, writing: “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”He also targeted two other late-night hosts, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, and said they should be canceled too, calling them “two total losers.” In July, after CBS canceled “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Trump wrote on his social media platform: “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!” Like Colbert, Kimmel has been consistently been critical of Trump and many of his policies.Kimmel’s show pulled as audience waited for tapingAn audience was lined up outside the theater where “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” tapes when they were told Wednesday’s show was canceled.“We were just about to walk in — interestingly enough, they waited to pull the plug on this right as the studio audience was about to walk in,” Tommy Williams, a would-be audience member from Jacksonville, Florida, told The Associated Press outside the theater. “They didn’t tell us what had happened. They just said that the show was canceled.”Williams said he was worried someone had been injured — until he saw that ABC had announced nearly at the same time online that the preemption was indefinite. Williams hadn’t been aware of Kimmel’s comments on Kirk, but sought them out after the announcement.

    “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has been suspended indefinitely by ABC, following his comments about Charlie Kirk’s death.

    According to an ABC network spokesperson, they are pulling the show indefinitely and plan to air “Celebrity Family Feud” for the next two nights in its place, with future programming to be determined.

    Nexstar was first to announce that it would no longer air Kimmel’s late-night show on its 23 ABC affiliates across the country.

    There was no immediate comment from Kimmel, whose contract is up in May 2026.

    In his monologue on Tuesday, Kimmel said that “we hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

    Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr appeared on a podcast Wednesday, where he suggested that local affiliates should pull Kimmel from the air.

    Later in the day, Carr posted on X, saying, “I want to thank Nexstar for doing the right thing. Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values. I hope that other broadcasters follow Nexstar’s lead.”

    Trump celebrated ABC’s move on the social media site Truth Social, writing: “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”

    He also targeted two other late-night hosts, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, and said they should be canceled too, calling them “two total losers.” In July, after CBS canceled “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Trump wrote on his social media platform: “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!” Like Colbert, Kimmel has been consistently been critical of Trump and many of his policies.

    Kimmel’s show pulled as audience waited for taping

    An audience was lined up outside the theater where “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” tapes when they were told Wednesday’s show was canceled.

    “We were just about to walk in — interestingly enough, they waited to pull the plug on this right as the studio audience was about to walk in,” Tommy Williams, a would-be audience member from Jacksonville, Florida, told The Associated Press outside the theater. “They didn’t tell us what had happened. They just said that the show was canceled.”

    Williams said he was worried someone had been injured — until he saw that ABC had announced nearly at the same time online that the preemption was indefinite. Williams hadn’t been aware of Kimmel’s comments on Kirk, but sought them out after the announcement.

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  • Colorado voters are dissatisfied with Democrats. Polis, Hickenlooper and Bennet can’t hide (Editorial)

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    Americans are recoiling from the Democratic Party, and even in blue states like Colorado, Democrats are feeling the burn.

    With Republicans fielding the best candidate for governor they’ve had in a decade – Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer – liberal politicians would be wise to address the root causes of this dissatisfaction publicly, frequently and head-on. The reality is that Americans are struggling — our politics are becoming more violent, everything is more expensive, and the job market is tightening.

    After years of enjoying popularity, Colorado’s top Democrats are now showing a remarkable drop in their approval ratings among voters. President Donald Trump remains deeply unpopular in the state, but Gov. Jared Polis, Sen. Michael Bennet and Sen. John Hickenlooper are failing to break a 50% approval rating, meaning more of those asked than not said they were unhappy with the politicians’ work.

    These results from a poll conducted in early August of 1,136 registered Colorado voters by Magellan Strategies mirror what we are seeing across the nation. Americans are dissatisfied.

    According to a New York Times analysis of available voter registration numbers, the Democratic Party is hemorrhaging voters across the board and particularly in swing states. Meanwhile, the Republican Party is gaining voters after years of losses.

    Part of the shift is voters simply changing their affiliation to unaffiliated, but the Magellan Poll clearly indicates that there is more afoot than voters just looking to participate in open primaries.

    Magellan, a conservative-leaning Colorado firm, found that among voters who supported Kamala Harris in 2024, 47% have unfavorable opinions of the Democratic Party.

    To be clear, voters who were polled still said they were more likely to support a Democrat for governor next year. Only 38% of those polled said they would likely support a Republican for governor. Kirkmeyer has an uphill battle to be certain, but her opponents are weakened.

    We’d hazard a guess that the non-existent Democratic primary in 2023 to challenge a sitting president who was showing cognitive decline while in office is part of the reason voters are upset. It will take time for voters to forgive – and no one will ever forget – the disastrous presidential debate.

    But national politics can’t take all the blame.

    Gov. Jared Polis has served almost eight years in office and 52% of voters told pollsters that they had an unfavorable opinion of his work, and 35% strongly disapprove. That is softened only by the fact that 56% of voters polled strongly disapproved of the job President Donald Trump is doing, but Colorado has rejected Trump three times in general elections and the Republican Party rejected him in the 2016 caucus.

    U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet is doing slightly better with 44% of voters reporting disapproval of him, and U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper was at 49%.

    Bennet is going to face Attorney General Phil Weiser in the Democratic Primary for governor. Weiser wasn’t included in the poll and neither were any of the Republican candidates.

    The bottom line is that Democrats cannot spend this election talking about Donald Trump, and pretending that voters don’t have real concerns about the governance of both political parties. Voters may still put many or even most Democrats into office, but if the party wants to recover, its top leaders must start this election cycle with something more than fear and loathing.

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    The Denver Post Editorial Board

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  • Charlie Kirk’s loss is personal. Here’s how he gave me hope and strength

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    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    The news of Charlie Kirk’s killing at Utah Valley University last Wednesday shocked me to the core. It left a profound void in my heart and in the hearts of many others. 

    As the founder of Project H.O.O.D., I mourn not just a conservative titan but a friend, a supporter and a brother in the fight for a better America. The Charlie I knew was more than a political voice — he was a man of action, conviction and a devout Christian whose generosity reached far beyond the headlines.

    I know because I was one of those he blessed with his time and resources. He never sought the public limelight for his good deeds, and I kept silent as well — until now. With his departure from this earth to our Heavenly Father, his good works deserve to be known.

    I first met Charlie, a Chicago native, in the early days of Project H.O.O.D., when both of our visions — his Turning Point USA and my mission to transform the South Side — were just taking root. He was so young then, barely 18, yet his drive and clarity of purpose were undeniable. He knew why he was put on this Earth, and he lived with a passion that touched me, a wiser man two decades older.

    YOUTH LEADERS MOURN ‘THE GODFATHER OF CAMPUS CONSERVATISM’ CHARLIE KIRK FOLLOWING ASSASSINATION

    Charlie didn’t just talk about change — he built it. He saw in Project H.O.O.D. a shared commitment to a better America, and he offered guidance, shared insights and connected us with incredible supporters who believed in our mission to provide opportunity and hope to those society often overlooks.

    His donations to our galas were generous, but it was his personal encouragement — those text messages saying, “Keep going, Pastor, we’re with you” — that meant the world. Charlie had a gift for making you feel seen and valued, no matter how big or small your role in the fight.

    An attendee wearing a U.S. flag joins a candlelight vigil in Seattle for Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who was killed earlier that day at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.  (David Ryder/Getty Images)

    Charlie was set to join us in Washington, D.C., for a major fundraiser, a moment I was very much looking forward to since I hadn’t seen him in a while. He was ready to walk alongside us for that leg of our Walk Across America, to lend his voice and platform to lift up those who need it most. That he was taken from us before that day is a tragedy that cuts deep. His death is a stark reminder of the risks we face when we dare to speak boldly, challenge the status quo and stand for what we believe.

    FOX NEWS PERSONALITIES OFFER EMOTIONAL TRIBUTES TO CHARLIE KIRK: ‘HE LOVED AMERICA SO MUCH’

    As someone in the same arena — fighting for change in a world that can be hostile to truth — I feel Charlie’s loss on a personal level. 

    His killing forces us to confront the growing threats against those who speak out. But Charlie’s life teaches us that fear cannot win. 

    CHARLIE KIRK WAS PROUD CHAMPION OF CHRISTIANITY ON CAMPUSES NATIONWIDE: ‘I’M NOTHING WITHOUT JESUS’

    He faced opposition with courage, never shying away from the hard conversations or the cultural battles that defined his work. He built Turning Point USA into a movement that inspired millions of young people to embrace conservative values, not through fear but through hope, reason and unrelenting passion.

    Charlie Kirk’s killing forces us to confront the growing threats against those who speak out. But his life teaches us that fear cannot win.

    The Bible tells us in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Charlie may not have chosen to lay down his life, but he lived it in service to others: his family, his country and the countless young people he inspired. 

    His death is a call to action for all of us. We cannot let fear silence us. We cannot let violence dim the light of truth. 

    The casket of Charlie Kirk is removed from Air Force Two

    Charlie Kirk’s casket is removed from Air Force Two at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on September 11, 2025, in Phoenix, Arizona. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

    Charlie’s legacy demands that we press forward, honor him by continuing the work he championed — building communities, fostering hope and standing firm in our convictions.

    When I heard of the shooting, I went to X, and the first thing I saw was a post by his wife, Erika: “Psalm 46:1 — God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” 

    Charlie Kirk with family on Christmas, him and wife Erika smiling at each other, holding two kids

    Charile Kirk and his wife, Erika Lane Frantzve and their two children at Christmas in December 2024. (Charlie Kirk via Facebook)

    In a moment of unimaginable loss, her choice of verse reminds us that even when life feels shattered, God remains a refuge and strength. This emphasizes that in grief, faith does not erase pain but anchors us when everything feels unsteady.

    Charlie Kirk’s death is a call to action for all of us. We cannot let fear silence us. We cannot let violence dim the light of truth. 

    To his wife, Erika, and their two young children, I offer my deepest condolences. Charlie was a devoted husband and father. His family, friends and the Turning Point USA community know that Charlie’s impact will live on through the lives he touched and the movements he built.

    Charlie Kirk and family seen in Utah with nature and mountains in background

    Charile Kirk and his wife, Erika Lane Frantzve and their two children, prior to his assassination on Sept. 10, 2025. (Erika Kirk via Instagram)

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    As I reflect on Charlie Kirk’s life, I’m reminded of his unwavering belief in the American Dream, a dream he fought for not just for himself but for all of us. Let us honor him by carrying that dream forward, undeterred by the darkness of this moment. 

    Charlie, we love you, God bless you, and we will keep fighting.

    CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM PASTOR COREY BROOKS

    Pastor Corey Brooks, known as the “Rooftop Pastor,” is the founder and Senior Pastor of New Beginnings Church of Chicago and the CEO of Project H.O.O.D. (Helping Others Obtain Destiny), the church’s local mission. He gained national attention for his 94-day and 343-day rooftop vigils to transform the notorious “O-Block,” once known as Chicago’s most dangerous block, into #OpportunityBlock. Learn more at ProjectHOOD.org.

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  • Charlie Kirk’s assassination reminds us of the choice we face: words or bullets

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    Charlie Kirk, a prominent conservative figure, was assassinated on Wednesday while speaking at a college campus in Utah.

    At the time of this writing, we have no clear information on the motives of the assassin. Given the rise in ideological and political violence in America, it’s not unreasonable to think Kirk was murdered for his views. Whatever the motive, it should prompt us to have a rational conversation about politically motivated uses of force in our country. 

    Politically motivated uses of force are a categorical assault on individual rights and on the American method of persuasion over force. Americans should always condemn it—no matter who perpetrates it. 

    The assassination attempts on President Trump are two of the prominent recent instances of political violence in this country. There’s also the shooting of lawmakers and their spouses in Minnesota in June of this year, the attack on Paul Pelosi, the assassination of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, and the murders of two Israeli embassy staffers in D.C. earlier this year, among others. 

    But the evil of the use of force for ideological or political reasons is not limited to murders or attempted murders. The massive destruction of property during the BLM protests in 2020, the Charlottesville rally in 2017, the Jan. 6 riots and the several destructive pro-Hamas protests are instances of political violence, too. 

    This violence is not the exclusive province of either Democrats or Republicans. It’s the province of tribalists and the uncivilized. 

    The use of force is the abdication of reason. When a person engages in the use of force, they are breaking from civilization and the core values this country was founded on.

    America, and civilized society more broadly, is a massive ideological achievement which happened precisely because we’ve let ideas flow, and good ideas take hold. In an America true to its core principles, we don’t shoot our political or ideological opponents like cowards. We don’t destroy property in order to make a point. We use our speech to disagree with our opponents. We challenge them in the marketplace of ideas. We try to persuade, not coerce. We use words, not bullets. That’s the American way. Anything different from that, now and in the past, is an appalling deviation from our core values. Such deviations have occurred repeatedly throughout American history, and we should learn from those mistakes knowing that they lead to destruction. 

    Exercising and protecting our rights never requires attacking the rights of others. No cause can ever justify the use of force. It doesn’t matter what cause the perpetrators support. It doesn’t matter if one agrees or disagrees with their cause in principle. When force starts, support for the aggressor must end, and condemnation must begin. 

    We all have the responsibility of condemning and ostracizing those who engage in violence, no matter their views. Part of the massive damage that tribalism (the blind, unthinking allegiance to a group) has done to America and the West is that too many people try to rationalize or play down the use of force when it’s someone from their “tribe” perpetrating it—or when it’s perpetrated against the opposite “tribe.” These include those who disgustingly celebrated the murder of Brian Thompson and all but beatified his alleged assassin, and those who made light of and mocked the attack on Pelosi’s family and the Minnesota lawmakers.

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    Agustina Vergara Cid

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  • Only the privileged get to ‘put politics aside’. For some, simply existing is political

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    There’s an iconic moment in British TV history, when Chris and Stephen from Gogglebox are watching the espionage thriller Homeland. Chris casually remarks, ‘We all like a bad boy, don’t we?’, to which Stephen replies, ‘Yeah, but not a terrorist, Chris.’

    This is how it feels discussing the legacy of 31-year-old Charlie Kirk, the right-wing US commentator and Trump ally who was shot dead at a rally in Utah on Wednesday afternoon. Though we are all united in the belief that what happened to him was horrific, we are at odds on how we decide to remember him.

    I’ve been told many times that Kirk’s politics were just different from mine. That he had an alternative opinion, and that should not sully his legacy or interrupt this period of mourning. However, how can I not when he so proudly despised people who looked like me? A difference in opinion is: ‘Love is Blind is better than Love Island’, not ‘Black women do not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously.’ It feels like overnight, the word opinion has adopted an entirely new meaning that now includes hate speech.

    The past 24 hours have felt like an unravelling. My feed is filled with people I once saw as allies, who are now posting compassionately about someone who truly hated people like me. What is going on? Christians are referring to him as a Martyr, and others are understandably devastated for his family. The thread linking every mournful post about Kirk is the insistence that we put politics aside and remember he was just a ‘human.’ I can’t argue with Kirk being a human, but I have to acknowledge that so were the people he directed hate and vitriol towards. In mourning this man, why have we suddenly lost the ability to extend the same sympathy to others?

    When Charlie Kirk said, “It’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment,” weren’t all those who died from gun deaths human too? When he mis-quoted scripture calling for gay people to be stoned to death, “God’s perfect law”, are queer people not humans? When he called George Floyd, whose brutal recorded death was broadcast across the world, sparking a wave of protest, a “scumbag” who wasn’t worthy of the attention, where was the compassion for his personhood? Is it because these are people who hold much less power, rendering their lives unimportant?

    Kirk’s legacy is defined wholly by his words and actions. How he is remembered, spoken about, and enshrined in history is all a result of the way he used his platform. So I don’t understand how re-sharing his firmly held and fiercely argued beliefs means we are celebrating his death? More than anything, this is a question about privilege: who gets to die a hero despite spending their life as a villain to many? Those who are white, male and wealthy. When we ask people to canonise someone so hateful by disregarding their politics, we not only signal to people that it is OK to be hateful because in death you will be revered, but we also rewrite history, which is a dangerous precedent to set.

    Being able to say ‘who cares if he spent his time travelling the country comparing abortion to the holocaust or denigrating trans people‘ shows that his words are meaningless to your lived reality. Being able to separate his politics from his legacy tells the world you are lucky enough to never live in fear that your very identity was a threat. The pieces praising him as a skilled debater who was unafraid of confronting people who disagreed with him gloss over the way his words became weapons for those on the receiving end of his attacks. For those of us without the political power to protect our communities, seeing the way people have been quick to disregard the politics of Charlie Kirk has been painful. It feels like we are learning in real time how much our lives are irrelevant when compared to preserving the legacy of white men.

    Politics is not something most of us can just opt out of. It’s happening to us every day in ways that we have little control over; from legislating women’s bodies to the racist immigration and asylum policies. If you are from a marginalised community, your entire life is defined by the politics happening to you. There is no separating the violence that the state can inflict from the rest of your life: it is your life. When I see people sanitise the history of those who have spent years building a career out of making those most affected by politics feel unsafe, I wonder if they truly know the weight of their actions.

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    Chanté Joseph

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  • Tweet As I Say, Not As I Tweet: Plano Rep. Breaks Own Rule About Political Violence

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    As the news of Charlie Kirk’s death on Wednesday quickly made its way around social media, politicians from both parties seemed to be in a race to see whose thumbs could offer up their thoughts and prayers the fastest. You had liberal California Gov. Gavin Newsom expressing his sadness, as well as Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who called Kirk “a friend” in a post on X. President Donald Trump was one of the first, if not the first, to break the news that Kirk had died following the shooting on a Utah college campus…

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    Kelly Dearmore

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