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Notes -
Well, when you thought the week was boring...
Charlie Kirk was just shot at an event, shooter in custody. There's apparently a video going around of the attack, but I haven't a desire to see it. People who have seen it are suggesting he was shot center mass in the neck, and is likely dead. That makes this the second time that a shooter targeted a conservative political figure at a political event in two years. If Trump hadn't moved his head at the last second, it would've been him, too.
I've never followed the young conservative influencers much, but Kirk always seemed like the moderate, respectable sort -- it's wild that he would be the victim of political violence and not someone like Fuentes.
I fear this is what happens when the culture war is at a fever pitch. Political violence in the US is at heights not seen since the 1970s, from riots in the 2010s and especially 2020 over police-involved shootings, to the capitol riot in 2021, to the attempted assassination of Trump in Pennsylvania, to the United Healthcare killing, to finally this murder of a political influencer. I fear for my country when I look at how divided we are, and how immanently we seem to be sliding into violence.
I guess I just find politics tiring nowadays. I vote for a Democrat and they do stupid things that conspicuously harm the outgroup. I vote for a Republican and they do stupid things that conspicuously harm the outgroup. Whether J.D. Vance or Gavin Newsom wins in 28, there will be no future in which Americans look each other eye to eye.
I actually believe things are much better in this country than people think: our economy is surprisingly resilient, we've never suffered under the kind of austerity that's defined post-colonial European governance, our infrastructure, while declining, actually functions in a way that most of the world isn't blessed with, our medical system is mired in governmental and insurance red tape yet the standard of care and state of medical research is world-class, our capacity to innovate technologically is still real and still compelling, and one of our most pressing political issues, illegal immigration, exists solely because people are willing to climb over rocks and drift on rafts simply to try and live here.
We have real problems. And intense escalations on the part of our political tribes are absolutely in the top five. We also have a severe problem with social atomization -- and these two things are related -- which has led to our intimate relationship and loneliness crisis, the rapid decline in social capital, and the technological solitary confinement of the smartphone screen which dehumanizes people like real solitary confinement while confining them to the most intense narrative possible. "If it bleeds, it leads" means that many will be led into bleeding.
I don't know how we rebuild the world, or come to a point where Americans of different views can view each other as well-intentioned. But Kirk is just the latest victim of a crisis that I don't know if there's any way to solve.
Kash Patel - "The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement. Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency"
By the way, this isn't old news. This is the second time today this has happened. Things appear to be going swimmingly.
When was the last time a major public terrorist like this got away? Seems like they always end up either killed or captured.
Mangione was arrested five days after he killed Thompson. So far with this incident it's only been a few hours.
Mangione got caught by being extremely retarded. What was it... he went to a busy McDonalds 1 state over in the middle of the day, wearing the same clothing and backpack, removed his mask, and had the murder weapon and a manifesto on him.
I’ve always thought Mangione just gave up on running, and expected to be caught there. Why else would he be carrying the manifesto?
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It’s kinda mind-blowing when you think about it. Like this wasn’t some trailer trash nerfed from the womb with teratogens. He was rich, went to a high-tier private school, and was its valedictorian!
And yet he’s just so…. normal 😬
His plan was stupid, his manifesto isn’t even competitive with the median mottepost, and this all went exactly as anyone with an ounce of sense would have predicted.
Yet he’s now an arch-villain/hero.
The world is so, so stupid.
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In the moment it was retarded, but I don't think he himself is retarded, although he might be mentally disturbed. He had no prior experience with committing violence or evading police, he was on the run and by himself for days, and probably really pumped full of adrenaline. I think it takes a rare breed of person to be able to think calmly and rationally in such a situation, especially without having done any relevant training.
The important part is he was caught because he (massively) fucked up, not because the police caught him. That is well within the realm of possibility here. Even in 2025, even with whatever Palantir or whatever gets them, the police don't yet seem to have magic powers, and even someone who apparently couldn't think straight enough for "don't hang around in public with your face visible when you're the most wanted man in America" to be an overriding priority, seemed to have otherwise been successfully getting away.
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