A Kirk of Fate

Another horrible week in America

A protest movement in Nepal forced out the country’s Prime Minister and left many buildings in the capital, Kathmandu, in ruins. The demonstrations, led by teenagers and young adults, began after the government banned most of the social media platforms. Apparently, the agitations really gained momentum when Gen-Z Nepalis were enraged when they discovered that they could no longer Skip Intro on Netflix shows.

The US Congress this week released a key piece of evidence in the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein investigation: a book prepared for the disgraced financier’s 50th birthday. It included a note, apparently signed by President Trump, which included a drawing of a female figure around a script of an imagined conversation between Trump and Epstein, above what appeared to be Trump’s signature. The White House called it fake. Trump, when quizzed by reporters, said that “he couldn’t be expected to remember every birthday card he may or not have sent to child molesters.”

Charlie Kirk, a close ally of Donald Trump and a founder of the right wing organization Turning Point USA, which has over 850 chapters at high schools and colleges, and helped shape the modern conservative youth movement, was assassinated at a campus event in Utah on Wednesday. Kirk’s death was mourned by many on the right, and shockingly enough, celebrated by a small minority on the left. Many commentators have called for calm and an end to the political divisions that have upended American society in the last two decades. Trump, when asked by a television host if he was planning to do something to unify the country, replied that “he couldn’t care less if the country was united.” This is true. I am not making this up. In his defense, Trump also pointed out that there was no place for political violence among those who disliked him, and added that it was okay for those who liked him to indulge in a little violence against his enemies now and then.

This week, Israel struck Doha, Qatar, in a series of air raids targeted at eliminating the top leadership of Hamas. Qatar hosts the largest American military base in the Middle East, has bought billions of dollars of defense systems from the US, and recently gave Trump a luxury Boeing plane as a gift. Yet, Israel struck inside its borders leading many Qataris to question the value of giving Trump a free airplane. A senior Qatari official told What Ho!, on the condition of anonymity, that the Israeli strikes on Doha “have made us feel used and violated by Donald Trump.” He added, “I’m pretty sure that he is getting no more than a toy helicopter for his next birthday.” The Hamas leadership in Doha were all apparently dead and unavailable for comments.

The White House published a report this week that outlined strategies to combat childhood chronic disease, and focused on ultraprocessed foods as a primary concern. The report calls for many changes that experts support such as increased research on nutrition and oversight of food additives. The report however took a softer approach on pesticides and did not mention well-known contaminants like lead in water sources. In parallel, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the Secretary of Health, is rumored to be working on developing a safe version of whiskey that can be consumed by children while operating heavy machinery. RFK Jr is also rumored to be spearheading a research effort linking the use of the Oxford comma and gerunds to autism.

Last Friday, US immigration authorities arrested nearly 500 workers, mostly South Korean citizens, at a construction site of a battery plant for Hyundai. On Sunday, South Korean officials said that they had reached an agreement with the United States for the Korean men to be freed and flown back to Seoul, where they will be re-trained and inducted into one giant 500-member K-pop boy band.

In other news,

Trump has renamed the White House to the Department of Only Old White Men, and all McDonalds locations in America to the Departments of Bacon, Burgers and French Fries. All McDonalds’ store managers will henceforth be referred to as Secretaries of the Fastest Food in the World. Trump also announced that the government will be taking a ten percent stake in every cheese burger and can of Coke sold in the continental United States.

When quizzed about the apparent hand bruises on Trump’s hand, the White House spokesperson dismissed the concerns as “affecting the least concerning part of his body.”

In all seriousness,

Charlie Kirk was a despicable human being while he lived. I fully understand that it is not nice to speak ill of the dead, but I say it in the spirit of telling it like it is, as Charlie himself vividly did. A backhanded compliment to a man who was nothing more than a classic American hustler and somehow found his way into the corridors of power and influence. In fact, he was a relative nobody. Many people had not even heard of him until the fateful and tragic day earlier this week when he was murdered in cold blood. But the fact remains that, as despicable as he was, Charlie Kirk was a human being. He did not deserve to be killed. It goes without saying that violence has no place in any society.

Some people create divisions while they live and sometimes they create more divisiveness after they die. Charlie Kirk was one such person. He had a reason for his divisive rhetoric. Some have grown tired of not being able to say the things on their minds and tried to break free of such shackles. Charlie was such a person. I think he did what he thought was in the best interests of the country and his party. But, to wield a sword requires great skill. This is why many of us are reluctant to wield swords. Kirk was not skilled and yet he wielded the sword. I admire him for trying but decry him for not being skilled. Whatever the case may be, there is nothing on this God’s green earth that justifies the celebration of a fellow human being’s murder. The fringe lunatics who celebrated Kirk’s murder need mental help. I will never understand such people just the same way I never understood why Kirk himself had to be so cruel and wanton with his words. It takes many people to make up a country. We are all what we are. We have to accept this and make peace with each other.

Rest in peace, Charlie. I did not agree with you and I thought you were a dick, but you were doing your thing and you deserved to continue doing your thing. I hope you find your peace in the great beyond as I hope to find mine someday. God bless you.

Much fodder is being made of this assassination by hacks and morons of various stripes. JD Vance accompanied Kirk’s body on Air Force Two, the vice presidential plane. I don’t recall Vance even calling the parents of countless school children who have died in mindless gun violence. Utah governor called it “a political assassination” within an hour of the news breaking, even before he knew who had done it. In fact, Charlie Kirk had called for the firing of the Utah governor just a few months back. He described him as Trump’s worst enemy.

Lots of commentators, including Bill Maher who I like, have decried the murder as “an assault on free speech.” I don’t recall any hue and cry when immigration officials were checking people’s phones for social media posts critical of Trump and denying them visas. Ironically, the MAGA crowd is compiling a list of people celebrating the Kirk murder and trying to get them fired from their jobs. So much for free speech. Give me a break, please!

Listen, I am as much for free speech as the next guy. I don’t believe that there are limits to free speech as long as you’re not falsely yelling “Fire’ in a crowded theater. Count me in on the free speech team. But I also recognize that there are other laws in operation in society and the universe. Just because there is the law of gravity does not imply that there are no laws of electromagnetic fields. Both simultaneously exist and make the world go around. The same way, we have the right to free speech but must also recognize that there are laws around the consequences of our speech. There is an ancient law which states that what goes around, comes around. If I wander around the south side of Chicago after midnight and get mugged, who is to blame? Yes, I have a right to walk peacefully on the streets anywhere and at any time of day, and yet I must realize that society and people are imperfect and must adjust my actions accordingly. There is yet another ancient adage: If you live by the sword, you shall die by it. Unless of course, you’re the most skilled at wielding the sword.

I grieve for Charlie Kirk’s children. They have been deprived of their father. We are all sons and daughters and husbands and wives and parents at the end of the day. I wish that Charlie had lived to see his children get married and to grow old with his wife. I really wish he had made better choices about his safety. I really really wish he had not been murdered.

May God bless America. May God bless us all wherever we may be.

Have a great weekend!