Losing My Perspicacity, September 10.5, 2025

(I’m sending this out now instead of tomorrow morning, for obvious reasons. There’s no way I’ll be able to write a “normal” LMP for Thursday morning.)

I’m writing today’s newsletter shortly after news of Charlie Kirk’s death has been confirmed by mainstream media. While everyone has been waiting for official confirmation (the President of the United States no longer being a reliable source), the AP reporting Kirk’s death is good enough for me. If you haven’t seen the video (I haven’t), I recommend that you don’t go looking for it and turn off autoplay on your social media channels.

What to say about Charlie Kirk’s killing? As of right now, we don’t know anything about the gunman, and, despite the feelings we may personally have about Kirk, he had a family that loved him. Every gun death is a tragedy. None of us should have to look over our shoulders constantly because anyone in this country is allowed to get whatever kind of gun they want to play with.

I am somewhat bewildered by the response, being shared over and over on social media, that political violence has no place in our society, given that two Minnesota state lawmakers were gunned down at their homes less than three months ago, and we didn’t see nearly the same outpouring of condolences for their families. This country was founded on political violence, and it’s never left us. Kent State, MLK, JFK, RFK, Medger Evers, and the University of Texas are proof of that.

As I wrote a few weeks ago, I learned my lesson about impulsively sharing my first thoughts on social media after the King Sooper shooting in Colorado, when I gave Sean Hannity and Don Jr. (and their followers) fodder to harass me with for months. I’ve also learned that people have very little tolerance for nuance in the wake of a tragedy. To be honest, my stomach is in knots writing this, as I try to walk the fine line between condemning political assassinations and not deifying Charlie Kirk.

Without going into my personal feelings on Charlie Kirk, who was reportedly blaming mass shootings on the trans community at the time he was shot, I do fear that we are entering a new phase of political violence in this country, one in which each side tries to pick off the other’s people.

While I am certain that some of you will disagree with me, I don’t think it’s helpful to sanitize who people were following their deaths, especially when that person was a political figure with a large platform. Everything Charlie Kirk has said and done is out there on the record, and those things include demonizing the trans community, rolling back women’s rights, and arguing against gun control.

It’s worth pointing out that, in the aftermath of Kirk’s shooting, there was yet another mass shooting at a Colorado high school. Of course, it largely went ignored by the right as they screamed for Democratic blood.

Trump tweeted about Charlie Kirk but, as of the time of writing this, he’s said nothing about Evergreen High School.

I don’t know what the answers are or what the right thing to do is. I know guns are a scourge that Americans have decided matter more than people. I know Charlie Kirk was part of the problem, and acting as if he wasn’t isn’t right. I know living in a country where people use each other for target practice is bad for all of us.

At the same time, I don’t want to find joy in or celebrate anyone’s death. I want to find it in myself to extend to Kirk the grace he denied so many groups of people in his life. I know that Democrats are constantly chastising and berating each other to “do better” than the right, even if we never see that same sentiment from the other side.

Just last week, Stephen Miller referred to Democrats as a “Domestic Extremist Organization,” though the guy who shot up the CDC weeks ago (killing police officer David Rose) and the man who murdered Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman (and her husband and dog) and shot John Hoffman had views that aligned with the right. I expect a Republican to call Democrats a “terrorist organization” before the day is out.

The days ahead, I fear, will not be easy ones. Already, I’ve seen too many posts declaring Kirk’s death “a tipping point,” as if all the deaths that came before his didn’t count. It seems the point has been tipping for some time.

According to law enforcement officials, there is a “person of interest” in custody, which is police talk for “we have a guy, but we don’t want his Constitutional protections to kick in just yet.” Although there was a 20-minute span during which the FBI stated that someone was in custody, and local law enforcement reported that the suspect was still at large. Now, following the press conference by Utah law enforcement, MSNBC is reporting that an active manhunt is still ongoing. So who knows what the hell is happening?

Meanwhile, here’s how it’s going over on Xitter:

Yep, that’s Grok assuring users that the video of Kirk being shot is an edited meme. AI is the future!

Again, we don’t have to celebrate or cheer for Charlie Kirk’s death. We also don’t have to edit or whitewash his political views. I’ve seen a lot of Republicans on TV today talking about “What Charlie Kirk stood for.” I think we’re all pretty clear on what Charlie Kirk stood for, and we don’t have to pretend otherwise.

I’m going to take the rest of the night off. I’ll see you all on Friday.

The High Note

Each Day, I do my best to leave you with a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and the will to fight another day.

Survive and advance out there, kids. Don’t let the bastards get you down.