Don't be surprised if whoever killed Charlie Kirk has no coherent political ideology, didn't do it for any particular reason, and doesn’t fall anywhere neat on the left/right paradigm.
— Mike Rothschild (@rothschildmd.bsky.social) September 10, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Tom Scocca, at Indignity, on “The rational outcome”:
… The last thing Charlie Kirk tweeted before he died was a video denouncing—that is, celebrating as useful—the fatal knifing of a blonde woman, a Ukrainian refugee, by a Black man on public transportation in Charlotte, North Carolina. The world that made Charlie Kirk and that Charlie Kirk helped make, from Charlie Kirk’s president on down, has been enthralled by watching the blonde woman die on video at the hands of the Black man, an exhilarating and exploitable death, a death for which they can demand more death. Even if the man who did the stabbing said he did it because “she was reading his mind“; even if the president might have deported the victim to a war zone if she’d lived…
This country seems inflammable right now, in large part because there is a well-funded industry dedicated to keeping it inflamed. Charlie Kirk was one of the mostly interchangeable products of that industry: taller than Ben Shapiro, less dysfunctionally flamboyant than James O’Keefe, more comfortable as a performer than Chris Rufo. Most normal healthy citizens had no idea who he was. Maybe, even so, his killing really will bring on a new and terrible crisis. Maybe nobody really cares, and it’s one more thing to shout about. Maybe both of those things will turn out to be true at once.
I have serious doubts as to whether, after all of its politically-motivated firings, the FBI has the capacity and expertise to actually investigate Kirk’s murder. The lawsuit filed today against Patel and the Bureau describes a complete clown show that leaves all of us less safe
— Asha Rangappa (@asharangappa.bsky.social) September 10, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Because we have people who subscribe to conspiracy theories running our government, it is highly likely that confirmation bias, rather than actual facts, are going to drive this investigation. Which means wasted time, wasted resources, and less justice. But I guess that’s what America voted for
— Asha Rangappa (@asharangappa.bsky.social) September 10, 2025 at 8:45 PM
But, for right-wing courtiers of the current Oval Office court, Kirk was a shining star. From the Atlantic, “The Funereal White House” [gift link]:
…Kirk was close friends with Vice President J. D. Vance and with Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., regularly texting on small-group threads with them and a coterie of young male aides and allies. He was a frequent and welcome presence at the White House and at Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club. And his conservative youth organization, Turning Point USA, helped elect Trump in 2024.
By early this evening—after the visceral, gutting visuals of Kirk, 31, being shot in the neck during an event on a Utah college campus, followed by the sudden, jarring news that he had died—the mood at the White House was, unsurprisingly, funereal. In the West Wing, young aides, some red-eyed, others grim-faced, watched the TVs, all of which were sharing images of their friend and news of his death…
Kirk was one of the most influential unelected people in America. He was not just a friend of the president’s family and a confidant to multiple Cabinet officials, but also an authority for millions of young people who flocked to his events and tuned in to his podcast, The Charlie Kirk Show. For Trump supporters, he was a crucial interpreter not just of politics but also of faith and family, a William F. Buckley Jr. updated for MAGA world.
Tapped as a teenager by Republican megadonors eager to create a unified conservative youth movement, Kirk delivered spectacularly on their investment. Turning Point USA remade MAGA for a younger generation, piercing the party’s stuffy image and taking over online turf once claimed by Democrats. Kirk was a tireless Trump evangelist, credited in MAGA circles for helping steer young voters—particularly white men—to the president. Trump regularly appeared at Kirk’s conferences, including one in Arizona just after his 2024 victory.
The president loved Kirk’s at-times-confrontational appearances at college campuses, all dutifully recorded on social media. Persistently, Kirk raised the alarm about right-wing bugbears such as critical race theory and transgender rights. In a booklet distributed to donors in 2022, to mark Turning Point’s 10-year anniversary, Kirk wrote, “Turning Point USA’s commitment to playing offense with a sense of urgency over the past decade has allowed us to FIGHT and WIN the American Culture War.” The booklet, titled Warrior Report, describes the victories that Kirk notched—dominating social media, dictating the terms of political debate, and deploying a 500,000-strong corps of campus activists to advocate for conservative causes.
Over time, Turning Point’s influence came to eclipse that of the GOP establishment. The MAGA movement that twice elected Trump is inconceivable without Turning Point, a vital instrument for conservatives seeking office at every level, from the school board to the state house to the White House. Matt Gaetz, the former Florida congressman and Trump’s first pick for attorney general, told us in 2022 that he wanted to see Kirk take the helm of the Republican National Committee. “He’s the most energetic organizer in our movement,” Gaetz said. In recent years, others speculated about Kirk possibly running for governor of Arizona, where he resided with his wife and two children. But he stayed put. He had more influence where he was…
His association with Trump turned Kirk into a household name. Turning Point USA opened an office in Mesa, Arizona, in 2016 and a new national headquarters in Phoenix in 2018. The growth of the organization can be seen above all in its fundraising. Turning Point brought in $85 million last year, according to tax filings. Millions flowed in via bidding wars among donors at winter galas that Kirk hosted at Mar-a-Lago.
Kirk spoke at all of Trump’s presidential-nominating conventions, and in 2020, Turning Point and affiliated groups promised to turn out voters in Arizona and across the country. Kirk was stunned when Trump lost and, on January 5, 2021, said that Turning Point affiliates were sending 80 “buses of patriots to D.C. to fight for this president.” Kirk later pleaded the Fifth Amendment when he testified before the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
With Trump out of office, the Republican grassroots groups looked to Kirk to help carry the MAGA flame. Kirk was so closely associated with Trump by 2022 that a local Republican group in Illinois disinvited Kristi Noem, then the sitting governor of South Dakota and now Trump’s secretary of homeland security, from a dinner because Kirk was available instead. “By the time of your amazingly and highly desired acceptance to our invitation, we had already contractually committed ourselves to Charlie Kirk at a price of $30,000 plus expenses,” the chairperson of the group wrote to Noem in a letter that we obtained.
In 2024, Kirk’s groups again turned their attention to voter turnout, this time with better results. Kirk’s associates organized the rally in the Phoenix suburbs that brought Kennedy, who would later become the HHS secretary, onstage to endorse Trump, complete with pyrotechnics displays. When some of Trump’s Cabinet picks seemed in doubt, Kirk mobilized his online supporters to rally around them…
Kirk was so unfailingly devoted to Trump that it sent shock waves through the White House when he briefly broke with the president over the Jeffrey Epstein files earlier this summer. But after a call from Trump, Kirk said that he would defer to the administration’s handling of the matter. That approach, even more than his incendiary statements about American culture, represents the brand of politics that Kirk practiced, and that Trump most appreciated: loyalty to the leader.
Speaking of two-bit grifters Trump’s courtiers…
The killing of Charlie Kirk is hitting Congress hard.
Some lawmakers were close with him. For others, his death is the latest reminder of their own exposure to attacks.
“It’s changed the atmosphere in the place,” Mike Johnson said.— Politico (@politico.com) September 11, 2025 at 8:33 AM
… “Something happened on Capitol Hill,” Johnson said on CNN on Wednesday night. “It’s changed the atmosphere in the place.”
The shooting has sparked “a deluge” of members calling for heightened security, Johnson said in the interview. He had already been raising an alarm, warning in recent days of rising threats against members of Congress. He said earlier this month that Capitol Police had tracked close to 14,000 assessments of threatening and concerning behavior this year, up from 9,000 in 2024. Lawmakers were already working this year on ways to enhance their security…
Congressional leaders are emerging from the tragedy united in calling for an end to the rise of political violence, without pointing fingers at each other. But emotions briefly boiled over on the House floor Wednesday, with Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) yelling “silent prayers get silent results” after a moment of silence for Kirk. Democrats shouted about a school shooting in her state that also occurred Wednesday, and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) hurled expletives at her colleagues across the aisle…
Shalimar
I have been informed after way too many school shootings that the solution is to let members of Congress and staff carry firearms wherever they go.
NaijaGal
Brazil’s Supreme Court has found Jair Bolsonaro guilty of plotting a military coup and he now faces decades in jail for “leading a criminal conspiracy.”
Chief Oshkosh
As the lady in the video from an earlier thread noted, there is nothing wrong with feeling relieved that a person who devoted his life to damaging others, and who recruited young people to that effort, is no longer able to practice his particular form of harm.
dc
@NaijaGal: A real justice system.
Belafon
An image: bsky.app/profile/spiderdork.bsky.social/post/3lylby35pmc2m
An explanation (bsky.app/profile/spiderdork.bsky.social/post/3lylcyyn5ac2m):
Belafon
@dc: People unwilling to elect him again.
Snarki, child of Loki
I am all in favor of allowing unlimited firearms, including automatic weapons, flamethrowers, hand-grenades and RPGs, but only in Republican caucus meetings.
Otherwise 2nd Amendment Jeezus haz a sad.
trollhattan
Manifesto disappointingly focused on how and why Chile’s french fries are the best possible french fries.
“Fight me” the final entry.
japa21
Part of what I hate about the Trump era is what has changed inside me. I was never a conspiracy oriented person, but I look at what I think about this shooting and I wonder.
Who probably benefits the most from this shooting? To me, it’s Trump. As pointed out above Kirk was one of many interchangeable parts.
The shooter was obviously a highly trained marksman. I hate that my thinking is that Trump, or people around him, felt they needed to create a martyr for the cause.
I have been traveling all day so I don’t know if others have had the same thoughts.
Elizabelle
Between their tears, the FTF Charlie Kirk! NY Times put this up:
You know who else had a family?
laura
Republican congressman already proudly wear their lil rifles on their lapels right next to their congressional pins, but “the left” are the violent murderous horde.
The recently unalived dude was the recruiter for the Tomorrow belongs to me white male christian lads. Perhaps, those who have white children and grandchildren should have an ongoing conversation about where this leads and what their role is. Help them pick a side. The correct side.
trollhattan
“We’ve eliminated thousands, thousands I tell you. Believe me.”
sab
Wow. Kirk’s shooting makes MAGAs afraid of gun violence. Welcome to our world you created.
Elizabelle
More from the FTF NY Times (reporting through our tears):
Baud
@trollhattan:
I’m sure they’ll catch him in two weeks.
me
The senate did the combined nominee thing. nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-republicans-nuclear-option-change-rules-trump-nominees-rcna2305…
Elizabelle
@japa21: It’s hard not to get jaded.
And MSM is serving us up alternative facts on the Kirk murder. Don’t recall ever seeing anything quite this ridiculous and one-sided in the immediate aftermath.
Archon
@NaijaGal: Who would have guessed 5 years ago that Democratic accountability would be stronger and more robust today in Brazil than in the United States.
Something has gone completely off the rails in our country.
Elizabelle
@NaijaGal: Maybe Trump will give him the Presidential Medal of Freedom next.
HinTN
@japa21: My take on that line of thinking is that there wasn’t an intent to kill but to hit the body armor, creating a situation where the flames could be fanned. In this scenario, misfortune struck when the shot ricocheted off the armor and killed him.
zhena gogolia
@japa21: Oh, yeah.
Elizabelle
I guess it’s comforting that the rightwing has finally found a blonde Ukrainian dead woman they can rally around.
They seem not to care much about those who get unalived while still on their native soil.
NeenerNeener
I read something online this week that boiled all these shootings down to performance art by ammosexuals for other ammosexuals. I can see that if the goal is to make the national news. They want their “tribe” to know, evaluate and discuss who and how they killed in whatever forums they use. The political leanings of the shooter and the target(s) are incidental to the publicity for the act itself.
Bill Arnold
@Baud:
Those pictures of a (presenting as male) person of interest, MPEG artifacts and all, and T-shirt (found it on a clothing site) mean he’ll probably be caught soon, along with some false positives. (Big reward offered, too.)
Ohio Mom
Yesterday, I hardly knew who Kirk was. I had a vague sense that he was a leader among right-wing nut cases. I didn’t know what he looked like, obviously I could tell he was male, and assumed he was white.
I didn’t know he had been focusing on young people, or that he was close to Vance and the Trumps, or anything else I’ve learned since yesterday.
Everything I’ve learned turns my stomach. I’m growing to be glad he’s dead.
Old School
Good news – Kirk’s security detail is looking for new opportunities.
Elizabelle
@NeenerNeener: You might have read it here. Previous Anne Laurie blogpost, featuring an article in The Atlantic on exactly that topic.
@HinTN: Not a conspiracy theorist. But how wild would it be if Kirk’s shooting brings down the Trump administration for complicity? A girl can dream.
Epstein, Epstein, Epstein.
NeenerNeener
@Elizabelle: Yep, I probably did see it here.
trollhattan
“Check it: we have a 99% success rate. How many can claim that?”
Ohio Mom
@Archon: Five years ago, Brazil was a place I was afraid might be the Christmas Future of the U.S., especially considering their great wealth disparities.
Once again, I am reminded of how wrong I can be.
Bill Arnold
@Elizabelle:
Charlie Kirk wanted the Epstein files released.
Honor him with their release!
Suzanne
@Bill Arnold:
I’m sure you’re shocked to learn that the world’s worst people have already launched a transvestigation based on the photos.
Spanky
Good.
Dave
@Ohio Mom: It does explain part of why the reaction has been so intense.
He was one the inside one the them and they aren’t supposed to suffer consequences of playing “the game”.
It’s a little more than just the standard cynical bullshit.
ruemara
It’s been an abysmally disappointing day and frankly the knowledge that Kirk is being celebrated as some sort of cultural icon by America and fucking Canada (WTF is wrong with you over there) is not helping.
WaterGirl
@Spanky:
“We thought we could do whatever we like, stir up hate, and hurt anyone we like, but we didn’t expect there to be any consequences FOR US.”
My take on the current thinking by the Pastor of the House.
ExPatExDem
@NaijaGal: At this point, I would say that Brazil’s democracy is much healthier than our own.
Dave
@WaterGirl: He was one of the real people and important and they aren’t supposed to suffer consequences.
bbleh
So I just saw the video, and now I see headlines about “impact” and “hitting hard,” and it’s … time for another beer.
And I admit the sycophancy of the media toward a fellow publicist and easy-to-cover story is nauseating, which may make the beer less than a good idea, but TOO BAD.
Time to watch a movie.
montanareddog
@NeenerNeener:
But, typically, don’t such murderers leave a manifesto somewhere online? And die at the scene, or soon afterwards, at their own hand or those of law enforcement.
This one, so far, seems to have demonstrated effective tradecraft. A false flag hit (but that needs a false trail too)? Someone with a political or personal grievance and the requisite military/LEO background?
Just speculation but it does not feel as yet like “a maladjusted kid wishing to go out in a blaze of glory” type of killing.
I think the mystery is an essential part of the fascination with this event.
dexwood
Kirk gave Taylor Swift advice to give up her career, become a traditional christian wife, and have lots of babies following her engagement announcement. Many people are speculating that she ordered a hit on Kirk as her response to him. //s
I feel the same about Kirk dead as I did about him alive. Fuck him.
Jerszy
I found it notable that his – literally – very last utterance was a racist dog-whistle: a ‘sassy’ comeback averring to “gang violence” (wink wink).
(It’s also notable that I haven’t seen it noted anywhere, though true.)
Gretchen
All these Republicans thought it was hilarious when political violence happened to Democrats. They all had Paul Pelosi “jokes”, including Kirk. Nancy gave a gracious condolence yesterday despite that. I’m hoping all these complicit cowards are nervously looking over their shoulders now. Serves them right.
Snarki, child of Loki
My prediction, which is mine, is that when the shooter is found, REGARDLESS of their motivation, they’ll be a Registered Republican…
…and that fact will immediately be memory-holed.
Gin & Tonic
As I said yesterday, Iryna Zarutska is the only dead Ukrainian the right cares about.
bbleh
@dexwood: yeah I’m having no trouble separating my abhorrence of the means from my satisfaction with the end. Political violence is bad AND the world is a better place without him in it.
Geminid
@Ohio Mom: Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA is a sizeble organization, at least according to Wikipedia: 800+ campus chapters, 400+ employees. And well financed by the Uhlen family and others.
Capri
Another layer of awful to this awful situation. My co-worker’s 14-year-old son had the video of the killing put into his feed by Tic Tok – completely unsolicited. It seems like anyone who followed Kirk on that platform (I know, I know), regardless of age, was served all the gory details.
Baud
@Geminid:
Big part of the hack deficit we face.
JBWoodford
@Dave: They’re the heroes of the story, so they should have plot armor.
Kathleen
@japa21: I agree with you.
Baud
Wapiti
@japa21: It’s working as intended; you’re not thinking about Epstein and his pal Trump, or Trump deciding to make their mutual gal-pal’s life in prison a little nicer.
Now, who would benefit from you not thinking about the Trump-Epstein connection? It’s not Epstein – he’s dead.
mrmoshpotato
@ruemara: Who the fuck up in Canada is celebrating his racist sexist life?
Harrison Wesley
@Baud: Or else he’ll impose tariffs on Utah?
Sister Golden Bear
@Suzanne:
How precedented, how predictable….
Suzanne
@Capri: I am staying TF away from that video. Do not need.
WereBear
I agree, but the figure in the stairwell looks too light in build, and/or too young, to be the “military professional.” It looks like someon who is obviously not “a maladjusted kid wishing to go out in a blaze of glory.”
Because he got away. And however maladjusted a person must be to do this, it’s something an intelligent and focused attention could master. It wasn’t something from an action movie, but the ability to blend in as a casually dressed white person in a crowd of such.
WaterGirl
@Capri: That is not just awful, but wrong.
Ohio Mom
@Geminid: Another bit of Kirk trivia I did not know.
Really, that’s a huge organization he built. I’m impressed. Money helps but it takes more than just funding to build an empire that size. I imagine it will continue on without him, alas.
WereBear
@Ohio Mom: He’s also the father who responded to a theoretical audience question to insist his daughter — of elementary school age — would have to carry her SA baby to term.
Suzanne
On the video…… I am still not over Rod Dreher’s reaction. Which was, essentially: “DO NOT WATCH THE VIDEO, IT’S HORRIBLE. HERE’S THE LINK. DON’T WATCH IT, BUT LOOK AT WHAT THEY DID TO THAT GUY”.
Geminid
@Baud: Al Jazeera wrote about Charlie Kirk’s influence today. The article is titled:
This link
mightwon’t work. Easy to look up though.I’ve found plenty of good reporting on a US politics in Middle Eastern news sites. I guess it doesn’t hurt to have an outsider’s viewpoint.
Omnes Omnibus
@WereBear: Too light in build to be a military professional? What does that even mean?
Geminid
@Ohio Mom: I’m not sure Kirk can be replaced. He was a very capable debater in a limited way,* and pretty young at age 31 which helped his outreach. TPUSA might be able to replace him but I doubt it.
* Hasan Piker, who occupies a similar role on the Left, was to debate Charlie Kirk on September 25.
WereBear
@Omnes Omnibus: Musculature like a marathon runner. A good one.
He looked tech, not boots on the ground. Not a person who trained as a sniper.
montanareddog
@WereBear:
If the figure in the stairwell is just an innocent 3rd party caught on CCTV, then presumably they will come forward quickly to exonerate themselves and we will soon know that he is not the murderer. If not, good point that he does not have the appearance of an experienced, professional of violence. So, not a false flag killing and not (ex-)military/LEO with a grievance. But he committed his murder efficiently and evaded identification and capture so far. Makes it very curious.
montanareddog
@Omnes Omnibus: I think you know what WereBear means. Not like a well-trained infantryman or marine. Plenty of slight military pros; pilots, tankers, redlegs, REMFs. But do they have the skills to pull off a stunt like this?
Citizen Alan
@Jerszy: which in turn came mere seconds after his transphobic slur/call to violence.
Aziz, light!
A guy with a deer rifle might just be a deer hunter. Since when is every marksman a professional assassin?
Citizen Alan
@Gin & Tonic: It’s like I said in a comment just a few hours ago in an earlier thread: CONSERVATIVES DO NOT CARE ABOUT ANY LOSS OF HUMAN LIFE UNLESS THAT LOSS OF LIFE CAN BE USED TO.ATTACK LIBERALS.
montanareddog
@Aziz, light!: sure. But most deer hunters aren’t going to be able to slip away without trace afterwards.
gene108
@Elizabelle:
The sympathetic coverage of her as a refugee coming to the USA from a bomb shelter versus the trashing of asylum seekers and refugees from Latin America, the Caribbean, and other non-white places is so hypocritical.
Omnes Omnibus
@montanareddog: There are skinny infantrymen. The idea that the dude in the pictures couldn’t be an infantryman because he is slim is simply buying into Hegseth’s Spartans a la 300 lethality fantasy.
gene108
@Dave:
Same reaction by a bunch of folks when the UHC CEO was murdered.
I saw something somewhere about how Kirk’s murder highlights the hierarchy of whose lives matter in this country.
Geminid
@Omnes Omnibus: I think it means the Commanders are gonna beat the Packers tonight.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Good band name.
Shalimar
@Ohio Mom: Kirk didn’t really build the organization or manage the 400 paid employees. Uihlein money did. But Kirk did have a huge talent for promotion and marketing. His college tours and his ability to talk off-the-cuff with anyone asking questions did a huge amount of work making all those chapters bigger. He was a social person, and everyone within his circles apparently did like him.
Omnes Omnibus
@Geminid: That’s really a weird thing to say.
matt
Maybe not being performative social media assholes would enhance their security. I mean, that’s just common sense.
Geminid
@Shalimar: A few years ago, I would point and laugh when I saw the speaker lineups for TPUSA conferences. I’ve learned a lesson since then: do not underestimate the enemy. There was a lot going on I did not see.
Geminid
@Omnes Omnibus: Yes, it is an arcane interpretation.
But it will be a good game nonetheless. I will listen to the first 20 minutes on the radio, catch the rest on social media.
I might check out Ragnarok Lobster’s BlueSky account. He’s a Chicagoan, but a Packers fan and he knows the game much better than I do.
M31
so could have happened at any time
Geminid
@gene108: I think one thing that’s helped drive that story is it was caught on security cam video; a defenseless woman being cut up by a scary-looking man. It was way more gruesome than the video of Kirk being shot and that was pretty gruesome.
Karen Gail
This is something that bothers me, all the claims that the person had to be military trained; I’ve been around hunters all my life and any good deer hunter could make that shot.
Betty
@japa21: I think Trump had real affection for Charlie because he was so loyal. Probably more than for his own sins.
Geminid
@Karen Gail: Yeah, I think that’s projection. There are plenty of civilians practicing hard at gun ranges, and there’s all kinds of sniper lore out there to emulate.
But whoever it was seems fairly well-organized. If he acted alone it could take a while to track him down.
Karen Gail
I noticed no one suggested that the shooter might be female; women have been cleaning up after themselves and others for years. Two of my nieces not only took home ducks but deer when hunting; why is it women are always overlooked when it comes to shooting skills? My brother used to do bets against me when I did target shooting; we made good money off idiots who believed that a female could only hit the broad side of barn from inside.
XeckyGilchrist
No way will this FBI find the shooter.
Omnes Omnibus
@Karen Gail: Playing the odds. Hearing hooves and thinking horses not zebras.
Ben Cisco
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, imma call bullshit on that one. Went through basic w/ a guy that went on to be one of the hardest paras – and I outweighed him by a good 75lbs the last time I saw him, on duty, in the ROK.
Short version – build has exactly fuck-all to do with it.
Ishiyama
@Geminid: If the shooter hadn’t stood up to run from their vantage point, there would be even more uncertainty about where the shot had come from. The savvy thing would have been to belly-crawl away.
Jackie
@Bill Arnold:
Former FBI agent speculated the shirt shown would be similar to the type of shirts worn to Kirk affairs, and more than likely deliberately worn to blend in with other attendees’ clothing. That makes sense to me.
Jackie
@Suzanne:
Me, too. My overactive imagination is bad enough.
I still recall as a young kid, along with most of America, watching Jack Ruby shoot and kill Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV. It was on our B&W TV, but shocking enough for this then 8 yr old. I can still see it vividly in my mind.
Steve Paradis
@NeenerNeener:
Heard something similar about school shooters.
In a very dark corner of the dark web there are “how to” rubrics for emulators of mass shootings like Christchurch and Charleston.
You’d think some of our new tech overlords would have the means to infiltrate and surveil such sites. If they could take a break from mastering the universe.
Steve Paradis
@Omnes Omnibus:
Audie Murphy was bulked up in his movies. The 1944 Murphy was a year or two off the sharecropper farm.
He couldn’t believe basic training. You got to sleep in until 6 am, and they let you eat all the food you wanted.
Jackie
OT, but Johnson’s named his farce J6 Committee members:
Interesting that he selected Harriet Hageman, who beat Liz Cheney, after she was selected Co-Chairperson of the REAL J6 Select Committee.
Also interesting that he approved all three Democrats w/o any quibbling. I thought for sure Johnson would nix Swalwell – as he was on the Real J6 Committee.
Karen Gail
@Omnes Omnibus: I get that the odds are good it is white male; the facts about shooter are totally unknown. Given that the FBI has gotten rid of so many experienced women and people of color to match the GOP’s ideal, the odds of not being found are probably very high.
Nettoyeur
@Aziz, light!: Whoever it is had the knowledge, resources, and time to sight in his rifle on a suitably long range and practice. See Day of the Jackal. Not a nutcase on a fling.
Ishiyama
The latest video shows the person dropping off a 15 – 20 foot roof, holding the gun in their right hand, and taking the fall without hesitation or injury. Good physical condition.
Jackie
Loomer has basically called for Rep. Ilhan Omar to be assassinated:
What is Loomer suggesting when she’s saying Omar needs to be removed?
Paul in KY
@japa21: The shot, if the gun was properly stabilized, had good scope, etc. is not that hard a shot to make on a stationary target (as Mr. Kirk was). The shooter was also firing down at Mr. Kirk and that gives them some visual triangulation as well.
Controlling the breathing and light trigger pull are paramount. They were (as others have said) probably aiming for his head and shot was low.
Paul in KY
@HinTN: Mr. Kirk was not wearing body armour.
Paul in KY
@dexwood: It would be wild if the shooter was a crazed Swifty.
Paul in KY
@WereBear: Impregnated by a rapist also. Too.
Paul in KY
@WereBear: I disagree. That lean build I’ve seen many times in military. Maybe not a SEAL or Special Forces, but looks quite fit.
Paul in KY
@montanareddog: Luigi might have got away if he hadn’t pulled his mask down for that girl. You can still conceivably get away in this age, if you have really gamed it out and have clothing changes, etc.
Paul in KY
@Ishiyama: Speed is of the essence and low crawling some distance would take alot more time.
Paul in KY
@Nettoyeur: Could have sighted it in on their own property and no one would have seen them do it (might have heard the gunshots).
Paul in KY
@Jackie: Won’t someone rid me of this meddlesome priest?!?