Week 34
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This week, Charlie Kirk was killed. Parents learned that, even though they had no idea who he was, their children knew very well. Purveyors of news had the opportunity to learn that the last few shooters were very online. Taking the history further back leads to Gamergate, another very online event.
Also, apparently, Kirk was important to the right because he managed to bridge two potentially warring MAGA groups. This knowledge is so online that I was aware of the splits but not much else. This thread gives an explanation. I’ve seen others say that Kirk’s death may lead to a major war within MAGA.
This was a political assassination of a kind that practically all olds have been unaware of. It does not fit any of the usual categories of left and right. We still don’t know whether the evidence that is available represents an ideology of sorts, or if it is nihilist irony.
There have been indications of this sort of thing in other recent shootings, but they’ve been dismissed as incoherent. The pattern showing up indicates that we have to consider gaming as a factor, sometimes the factor.
People are being fired and put on leave for daring to suggest that Kirk was a very unpleasant person.
Donald Trump partially chickened out again in sending troops to Chicago in the face of Governor J.B. Pritzker’s opposition. He did send ICE, however, and yesterday an ICE goon killed a man. Trump is talking about sending the National Guard to Memphis, but the mayor there is not welcoming him.
The Epstein saga continues with a release of emails that further implicate Ghislaine Maxwell as a major actor in Epstein’s crimes, in case you had any doubt.
This morning, Trump circled back to Russia’s war on Ukraine to tell Europe how to handle it. A message from the King of the World. And yes, he says, it’s all Biden and Zelinskyy’s fault.
Follow the court-watchers for the details of the lawsuits. Chris Geidner (LawDork, Bluesky), Roger Parloff (Lawfare, Bluesky), and the Just Security tracker.
As usual, keep it to things that have actually happened, not hypotheticals. What is actually happening is bad enough.
Caring for yourself and loved ones is resistance too. Post your pets. I started lessons to learn how to play jazz on the piano this week. Very intense!
174 more weeks to go. What are you doing?
Previous weeks: Week 10, Week 20, Week 30, Week 31, Week 32, Week 33