I would much rather write about my angst with garden bunnies who destroyed my lawn and post photos of birds and butterflies or continue my passionate obsession with the musical genius of Leon Russell than deal with harsh realities but the elephant in the room is stomping her feet and demands to be heard, so here’s a little something about what’s going on in the (not very) United States.

I haven’t watched the news since Election Day. I mean, what’s the point? I still can’t understand how any of this happened, how we’re enduring this hellscape government like we’re stuck inside of a bad futuristic sci-fi film.

Still, even without the doomnews reports every five minutes, it’s hard NOT to know about all of the senseless violence in every corner of our country, including the recent death of a certain divisive agitator podcaster. I actually had no idea who Kirk even was, but social media was quite informative. His doctrine included stances against LGBTQ+ rights, diversity initiatives, climate change action, and mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic. He often made seriously ugly racist remarks that I won’t repeat. He promoted evangelical christian beliefs and argued against the separation of church and state. He once said  “I can’t stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that — it does a lot of damage.”

What’s even more spine-chilling is that he had any followers at all. I fear for our children and grandchildren. Hate is pervasive. The US is not a nice place to live right now.

And this at an event organized by TPUSA Faith, “I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the second amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.” (From The Guardian)

Ironic, right?

I also think it’s vital to point out that Kirk was a podcaster and an influence peddler, NOT an elected US official, and certainly not a martyr. Any state services or funding for his funeral or other expenses are a gigantic misuse of taxpayer money. According to Occupy Democrats, his estate is worth at least twelve million. To put it in perspective, all the children who were victims of gun violence did not receive the same consideration.

These words are from A Mighty Girl, who seems to say it all, better than I could:

Today’s fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University comes just three months after Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman was assassinated in her home — two leaders from different parties and opposing ideological perspectives, both silenced by acts of political violence.

Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed while speaking at an event in Orem, Utah, while Hortman, a 55-year-old Democratic leader of the Minnesota House, was assassinated alongside her husband Mark in a politically motivated attack by a far-right extremist on June 14.

The fatal shootings of Hortman and Kirk, a legislative leader and a political activist, are a stark reminder of how dangerous extremism and political animosity can become when left unchecked.

Kirk was addressing a crowd at his “American Comeback Tour” event when he was killed. The right-wing political activist, whose organization promoted conservative politics on college campuses, had become one of the most prominent voices in the conservative youth movement.

Three months earlier, Vance Boelter, a far-right extremist disguised as a law enforcement officer, killed Representative Hortman and her husband, and seriously wounded State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. Authorities found a list in Boelter’s vehicle containing nearly 70 potential targets, including abortion providers and Democratic lawmakers across multiple states. Both victims, Kirk and Hortman, represented the diverse range of political leaders now under threat.

The scope of this crisis cannot be ignored. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, between 2016 and 2025, there were 25 attacks and threats targeting elected officials, political candidates, judges and government employees that were motivated by partisan beliefs. For comparison, only two such incidents were reported in the two previous decades. The increase in partisan attacks spans the ideological spectrum but has done little to lower the temperature in political rhetoric.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat whose home was attacked and set ablaze in April while his family slept inside, condemned today’s tragedy in unequivocal terms: “Political violence has no place in our country. We must speak with moral clarity. The attack on Charlie Kirk is horrifying and this growing type of unconscionable violence cannot be allowed in our society”.

The words and actions of our political leaders in the coming days will prove consequential. Lilliana Mason, Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University and co-author of “Radical American Partisanship: Mapping Violent Hostility, Its Causes, and the Consequences for Democracy,” warns that how leaders respond to these attacks will determine whether violence escalates or subsides.

Yet even as leaders call for unity, the challenge remains addressing the rhetoric that experts say fuels such violence.

trump has referred to political opponents as “vermin” that needed to be “[rooted] out”; called judges “monsters”; and, in a Memorial Day social media post, described those Americans who oppose his policies as “scum” and accused them of “trying to destroy our country.” Trump’s highly charged language explicitly demonizes his political opponents such as when he described them last October as an “enemy from within” that is “more dangerous than China, Russia, and all those countries.”

His aggressive, divisive, and dehumanizing rhetoric toward those who disagree with him — often labelling them as “enemies” and “traitors” — is viewed by many experts as inflaming such extremism and contributing to the normalization of political violence. An analysis of Trump’s speeches over the past ten years by UCLA political scientists found that not only has his use of violent language increased over time but that it surpassed that of nearly all other politicians studied from democratic countries.

In addition to his often extremist rhetoric, Trump has demonstrated a willingness to absolve acts of physical violence to advance his political interests. In a deeply troubling indication of his priorities, Trump made pardoning the January 6 attackers one of his very first acts upon returning to office. On his first day in office, Trump granted full pardons to all those convicted in the January 6 attack, over 1,500 rioters in total, including the 123 individuals charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to a police officer.

Equally concerning is how political violence, once unleashed, can become a pretext for authoritarian overreach. History shows that leaders with autocratic tendencies often exploit acts of political violence to justify crackdowns on civil liberties, suppress dissent, and consolidate power. From the Reichstag Fire that enabled Hitler’s rise to emergency powers, to modern strongmen who use security threats to silence opposition and restrict press freedoms, political violence creates a cycle where democratic norms erode from both ends.

A recent study by political scientist James Piazza found that countries where politicians used hate speech ‘often’ or ‘extremely often’ experienced an average of 107.9 domestic terrorist attacks compared to just 12.5 attacks in countries where politicians rarely used such language. Republican lawmakers have largely remained silent about or defended such rhetoric, despite warnings from security experts about its potential to inspire violence.

As individuals and as a nation, our “task now is to not let the people at the extremes pull the rest of us over the edge with them,” Dr. Garen Wintemute, the director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at UC Davis, urged in an interview today. “We need to make our rejection of political violence clear.”

We wish strength and healing for Representative Melissa Hortman’s two children who lost both parents just three months ago.

By the way, we haven’t forgotten. RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!

I just saw this open letter from the 50501 Movement and it’s too brilliant not to share:

Dear MAGA,

Why are you still so mad? You got what you wanted, remember? Trump back in office, no more “mean tweets” from Biden, and enough guns on the street to outfit a small army. Congratulations, mission accomplished.

You keep yelling about Biden like he’s still haunting you, but wasn’t the whole point to replace him? You still have your precious guns, even as shootings pile up like unpaid bills. When the Minnesota senators were gunned down, you couldn’t even admit the shooter was a far-right Christian nationalist. Instead, you spun excuses and conspiracies — and a sitting senator even posted something vile about it, with zero reprimand. Trump didn’t even bother to call Governor Walz. That’s your “law and order” president.

And let’s not forget your other golden boy, Charlie Kirk. He said empathy is weakness and shootings are just the “price of freedom.” Those were his words. Yet today, after he was killed, suddenly it’s outrage, grief, and endless demands for sympathy. And who announced his death? Trump. Not the family. Not officials. Trump, center stage again, making it about himself. So which is it? Why the tantrum? Why scream when people protest? Shouldn’t this be, by your own logic, the kind of thing you shrug off, maybe even laugh about like the “snowflakes” crying in the street?

You love to chant “law and order,” but under your hero, crime and political violence are worse. You rail about “Bidenflation,” but prices didn’t magically drop when Trump took over again. You brag about being the “party of God,” but your leaders mock empathy, sneer at compassion, and worship money like it’s a sacrament. And you laugh at “snowflakes,” while turning victimhood into your entire political identity.

Meanwhile, Epstein files keep spilling out, and surprise Trump’s name lingers like a bad smell. Gaza is bleeding, 18,000 kids dead, but hey, maybe there’ll be a shiny new Trump Tower in Palestine (satire he hasn’t announced this, but you know it’s the only thing he’d care about). Putin’s bombing Poland, but relax you’ll either call it “fake news” or say NATO had it coming. And here at home, the National Guard is deployed in the streets like a permanent prop the same militarization you claimed to hate when it wasn’t your guy in charge.

And since you love “tradition,” maybe you’re quietly thrilled we’re back to experimenting on Black bodies again (rhetorical framing referring to the real case of Adriana Smith in Georgia, kept alive on machines to deliver her baby). Her son Chance, barely five pounds, is fighting for survival while her family is forced to grieve in public. Freedom for you, exploitation for everyone else.

So again… why are you so mad? Isn’t this the America you ordered off the menu? You broke it, you bought it.

Sincerely,
The rest of us living in the wreckage