Charlie Kirk shot

Lies are not free speech though.

Presumably they have decided it is hate speech and acted accordingly.
People have been cheering on the prosecution of hate speech for year, way to late to worry about free speech now.

My DH tells me that free speech means you can lie so long as you believe that lie. Other people are then at liberty to investigate a lie and to decide for themselves.
At a time of grief do we need this? How appropriate is this as a response?

ronib

Lies are not free speech though.

Jimmy Kimmel didn’t lie about Donald Trump. He played a clip of what Donald Trump had actually said, and shone a spotlight onto how ridiculous those words were at a time of grief.

Donald Trump was almost assassinated himself not long ago. At a guess, Trump will find the death of a friend difficult to process.
It most certainly is a life that the assassin is a Republican. LizzieDrip

Lie not life typo

“The US justice department has scrubbed a study from its website concluding that far-right extremists have killed far more Americans than any other domestic terrorist group, just days after a gunman fatally shot the prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk.”

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/17/justice-department-study-far-right-extremist-violence

Robert Reich, who is a 'centrist - left' anti Trump commentator (worth pointing out before the Trump apologists get going, ronib), published this substack about Trump's dealings with the media yesterday. It's worth reading

He deals with criticism in the media by threatening to pursue a defamation case against them. Some media organisations have appraised the cost of this to them and have 'given in' and paid compensation to Trump.

His latest target is Rupert Murdoch's New York Times. I'm wondering if Murdoch (or his son who nominally is head of the Murdoch media empire) will be prepared to face it out?

robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-disastrous-defamations

This one is above my pay grade MaizieD. I am sorry you think that I am a Trump apologist. A man has been murdered and the response has been disrespectful.

What is it that makes you say that this young man was not a Republican, ronib?

I don't think anyone has been disrespectful on this thread. Plenty don't agree with Kirk's politics and have said so but I can't recall anyone being disrepectful or being pleased that he has been murdered. I think generally people find it shocking but not entirely surprising with the level of gun violence in the US. With regard to the Maga movement, they have been trying to demonstrate that the shooter wasn't a Maga supporter and there have been fairly unsubstantiated claims that he was far left, further right than Kirk and any number of other as yet unproven theories. It's what happens in these circumstances and the it is rife in the US to come up with all sorts of conspiracy theories. IMO It is not disrespectful to Charlie Kirk to discuss them on this thread.

Tyler Robinson was not a Republican Chocolatelovinggran

Silverlady333 comments apply foxie48

Ronib I don't believe anything in the comments in the post are untrue and like the poster, I feel sorry for the wife and children of Charles Kirk but I don't "mourn" his death, that would be totally hypocritical. There is nothing disrespectful about not "mourning" his death is there? tbh I found many of the things he said distasteful and divisive but I do not believe that anyone should be murdered on that basis.

I agree foxie48.

I haven’t read any post on here being ‘disrespectful’ to Charlie Kirk’s memory.

Yes, posters (including myself) have voiced disagreement with his views whilst expressing horror at his murder.

Interestingly, there is now criticism from some in the USA , for even repeating the actual words that Charlie Kirk said!

Surely they would want to celebrate what he said? Perhaps holding a mirror up makes them too uncomfortable🤔

FYI Charlie Kirk’s statements when taken out of context, are easily misinterpreted and misrepresented. He based his remarks on Christian beliefs and teachings so that is a big hurdle for some to understand. He seemed to me to try to persuade by some fairly complicated concepts and this is where he became seriously unstuck. CK opposed woke ideology.

I don't agree that many of his statements come from a Christian belief.

What did he say about the man arrested for the attack on Pelosi's husband?
He called for an 'amazing patriot' to bail out the attacker.
In which Christian document, practice or belief is this acceptable?

Maremia

What did he say about the man arrested for the attack on Pelosi's husband?
He called for an 'amazing patriot' to bail out the attacker.
In which Christian document, practice or belief is this acceptable?

Or what he said about George Floyd…

ronib

This one is above my pay grade MaizieD. I am sorry you think that I am a Trump apologist. A man has been murdered and the response has been disrespectful.

What makes it above your pay grade, ronib? He writes perfectly plain and comprehensible English.

Or is the thought of something not written by a right winger a bit scaring?

ronib

FYI Charlie Kirk’s statements when taken out of context, are easily misinterpreted and misrepresented. He based his remarks on Christian beliefs and teachings so that is a big hurdle for some to understand. He seemed to me to try to persuade by some fairly complicated concepts and this is where he became seriously unstuck. CK opposed woke ideology.

Are you a practising or lapsed 'christian', ronib?

In the transcripts of the texts between TR and his boyfriend TR says the reason for shooting him was to stop the hate messages or similar .He doesn’t sound to have been a Republican to me.
As his boyfriend was transitioning it was likely to do with that.

And while we're at it, ronib, what is 'woke ideology'?

Can you explain it for the simple minded who just thought that being 'woke' was being alert to, and opposed to, inequality and injustice?

I am nursing a cracked rib …
Are you a practising or lapsed Christian MaizieD?
Don’t worry I am sure that the widow of Charlie Kirk will expand on Charlie’s message with full force in time.

ronib

FYI Charlie Kirk’s statements when taken out of context, are easily misinterpreted and misrepresented. He based his remarks on Christian beliefs and teachings so that is a big hurdle for some to understand. He seemed to me to try to persuade by some fairly complicated concepts and this is where he became seriously unstuck. CK opposed woke ideology.

Please, which of his sexist, misogynistic, racist statements are out of context? He certainly didn't make statements from my Christian perspective.