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With ROGD, from the parent perspective, the change is abrupt and without warning – thus the term “rapid”—but that term is somewhat deceiving.

Originally Published by Pitt through Substack

I am a parent of female child who has Rapid Onset of Gender Dysphoria (ROGD). This is a new phenomenon where a child, who was perfectly happy in his or her body until right around puberty, suddenly announces that he or she is the opposite sex.  In the case of my daughter, when she developed this condition, she threw away all of her feminine clothes, cut her hair super short, refused to go out in public without a chest binder and stopped shaving her legs. And, of course, she came up with a new male-sounding name and insisted that everyone use it, along with the associated male pronouns.

With ROGD, from the parent perspective, the change is abrupt and without warning – thus the term “rapid”—but that term is somewhat deceiving.  ROGD doesn’t quite pop up out of nowhere despite how it might initially appear, nor does the body incongruence of gender dysphoria spring up organically as the gender ideologues proclaim. It is not something that the ROGD child always felt. And the trans identity is not something that child determines on her own.  Rather, it is carefully manufactured and cultivated on the internet and in peer groups, like a tended-to plant. The pretty pot is placed out; the dirt is added; the seeds are implanted; water is carefully poured; and the pot is placed in the sunshine, so that it can grow stronger and bigger until, eventually, and tragically, the child who was happy in her body is no longer recognizable, and not just by sight. Her personality changes to be sullen, combative and disengaged. She is no longer jovial or interested in much of anything unless it related to being trans.

​Let me take you on the journey of how my daughter was groomed into being a trans identifying child at the age of 13—and I assure you, my story is not uncommon, I have heard its refrain echoed from many others with ROGD kids. My daughter’s story began innocently enough, with a friend joking to her that she always took charge of the games that they came up with at the playground at school. Take-charge girls are like boys, her friend said, and she gave her a male nickname.

That same year, my daughter got her period.  She was the first in her friend group and it was heavy and a nuisance. Her breasts developed. Naturally, she did not like these sudden changes, as most girls initially don’t. Most girls in my generation spent a few years wearing baggy clothes to cover up their maturing bodies. These days, that perfectly normal and to-be-expected discomfort is a clear sign of being trans, per the internet.

Also in 7th grade, after their sex ed class at school, my daughter’s all female friend group sat in my backyard discussing what sexual categories they fell into. “I think that I am an L” one announced. “L” stood for lesbian.  Another said that she was agender.  My daughter said she was L or pansexual. All 5 girls chose a label other than what is now referred to as “cis” or in my daughter’s words, the scorned and derogatory term “basic”. I was concerned about this new language so I attended our public school’s sponsored sex talk. It was put on by Pflag, I believe.  The presentation was senseless.  Gender is fluid, yet immutable.  There are 46 genders and all kids regardless of age should announce pronouns at introduction. I was the only parent interrupting them to question their illogical logic. I was eventually told, essentially, to shut up.

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Transgender’s Connection with Pornography:
It’s Undeniable

With ROGD, from the parent perspective, the change is abrupt and without warning – thus the term “rapid”—but that term is somewhat deceiving.

Originally Published by Pitt through Substack

I am a parent of female child who has Rapid Onset of Gender Dysphoria (ROGD). This is a new phenomenon where a child, who was perfectly happy in his or her body until right around puberty, suddenly announces that he or she is the opposite sex.  In the case of my daughter, when she developed this condition, she threw away all of her feminine clothes, cut her hair super short, refused to go out in public without a chest binder and stopped shaving her legs. And, of course, she came up with a new male-sounding name and insisted that everyone use it, along with the associated male pronouns.

With ROGD, from the parent perspective, the change is abrupt and without warning – thus the term “rapid”—but that term is somewhat deceiving.  ROGD doesn’t quite pop up out of nowhere despite how it might initially appear, nor does the body incongruence of gender dysphoria spring up organically as the gender ideologues proclaim. It is not something that the ROGD child always felt. And the trans identity is not something that child determines on her own.  Rather, it is carefully manufactured and cultivated on the internet and in peer groups, like a tended-to plant. The pretty pot is placed out; the dirt is added; the seeds are implanted; water is carefully poured; and the pot is placed in the sunshine, so that it can grow stronger and bigger until, eventually, and tragically, the child who was happy in her body is no longer recognizable, and not just by sight. Her personality changes to be sullen, combative and disengaged. She is no longer jovial or interested in much of anything unless it related to being trans.

​Let me take you on the journey of how my daughter was groomed into being a trans identifying child at the age of 13—and I assure you, my story is not uncommon, I have heard its refrain echoed from many others with ROGD kids. My daughter’s story began innocently enough, with a friend joking to her that she always took charge of the games that they came up with at the playground at school. Take-charge girls are like boys, her friend said, and she gave her a male nickname.

That same year, my daughter got her period.  She was the first in her friend group and it was heavy and a nuisance. Her breasts developed. Naturally, she did not like these sudden changes, as most girls initially don’t. Most girls in my generation spent a few years wearing baggy clothes to cover up their maturing bodies. These days, that perfectly normal and to-be-expected discomfort is a clear sign of being trans, per the internet.

With ROGD, from the parent perspective, the change is abrupt and without warning – thus the term “rapid”—but that term is somewhat deceiving.

Originally Published by Pitt through Substack

I am a parent of female child who has Rapid Onset of Gender Dysphoria (ROGD). This is a new phenomenon where a child, who was perfectly happy in his or her body until right around puberty, suddenly announces that he or she is the opposite sex.  In the case of my daughter, when she developed this condition, she threw away all of her feminine clothes, cut her hair super short, refused to go out in public without a chest binder and stopped shaving her legs. And, of course, she came up with a new male-sounding name and insisted that everyone use it, along with the associated male pronouns.

With ROGD, from the parent perspective, the change is abrupt and without warning – thus the term “rapid”—but that term is somewhat deceiving.  ROGD doesn’t quite pop up out of nowhere despite how it might initially appear, nor does the body incongruence of gender dysphoria spring up organically as the gender ideologues proclaim. It is not something that the ROGD child always felt. And the trans identity is not something that child determines on her own.  Rather, it is carefully manufactured and cultivated on the internet and in peer groups, like a tended-to plant. The pretty pot is placed out; the dirt is added; the seeds are implanted; water is carefully poured; and the pot is placed in the sunshine, so that it can grow stronger and bigger until, eventually, and tragically, the child who was happy in her body is no longer recognizable, and not just by sight. Her personality changes to be sullen, combative and disengaged. She is no longer jovial or interested in much of anything unless it related to being trans.

​Let me take you on the journey of how my daughter was groomed into being a trans identifying child at the age of 13—and I assure you, my story is not uncommon, I have heard its refrain echoed from many others with ROGD kids. My daughter’s story began innocently enough, with a friend joking to her that she always took charge of the games that they came up with at the playground at school. Take-charge girls are like boys, her friend said, and she gave her a male nickname.

That same year, my daughter got her period.  She was the first in her friend group and it was heavy and a nuisance. Her breasts developed. Naturally, she did not like these sudden changes, as most girls initially don’t. Most girls in my generation spent a few years wearing baggy clothes to cover up their maturing bodies. These days, that perfectly normal and to-be-expected discomfort is a clear sign of being trans, per the internet.

Also in 7th grade, after their sex ed class at school, my daughter’s all female friend group sat in my backyard discussing what sexual categories they fell into. “I think that I am an L” one announced. “L” stood for lesbian.  Another said that she was agender.  My daughter said she was L or pansexual. All 5 girls chose a label other than what is now referred to as “cis” or in my daughter’s words, the scorned and derogatory term “basic”. I was concerned about this new language so I attended our public school’s sponsored sex talk. It was put on by Pflag, I believe.  The presentation was senseless.  Gender is fluid, yet immutable.  There are 46 genders and all kids regardless of age should announce pronouns at introduction. I was the only parent interrupting them to question their illogical logic. I was eventually told, essentially, to shut up.

With ROGD, from the parent perspective, the change is abrupt and without warning – thus the term “rapid”—but that term is somewhat deceiving.

Originally Published by Pitt through Substack

I am a parent of female child who has Rapid Onset of Gender Dysphoria (ROGD). This is a new phenomenon where a child, who was perfectly happy in his or her body until right around puberty, suddenly announces that he or she is the opposite sex.  In the case of my daughter, when she developed this condition, she threw away all of her feminine clothes, cut her hair super short, refused to go out in public without a chest binder and stopped shaving her legs. And, of course, she came up with a new male-sounding name and insisted that everyone use it, along with the associated male pronouns.

With ROGD, from the parent perspective, the change is abrupt and without warning – thus the term “rapid”—but that term is somewhat deceiving.  ROGD doesn’t quite pop up out of nowhere despite how it might initially appear, nor does the body incongruence of gender dysphoria spring up organically as the gender ideologues proclaim. It is not something that the ROGD child always felt. And the trans identity is not something that child determines on her own.  Rather, it is carefully manufactured and cultivated on the internet and in peer groups, like a tended-to plant. The pretty pot is placed out; the dirt is added; the seeds are implanted; water is carefully poured; and the pot is placed in the sunshine, so that it can grow stronger and bigger until, eventually, and tragically, the child who was happy in her body is no longer recognizable, and not just by sight. Her personality changes to be sullen, combative and disengaged. She is no longer jovial or interested in much of anything unless it related to being trans.

​Let me take you on the journey of how my daughter was groomed into being a trans identifying child at the age of 13—and I assure you, my story is not uncommon, I have heard its refrain echoed from many others with ROGD kids. My daughter’s story began innocently enough, with a friend joking to her that she always took charge of the games that they came up with at the playground at school. Take-charge girls are like boys, her friend said, and she gave her a male nickname.

That same year, my daughter got her period.  She was the first in her friend group and it was heavy and a nuisance. Her breasts developed. Naturally, she did not like these sudden changes, as most girls initially don’t. Most girls in my generation spent a few years wearing baggy clothes to cover up their maturing bodies. These days, that perfectly normal and to-be-expected discomfort is a clear sign of being trans, per the internet.

Also in 7th grade, after their sex ed class at school, my daughter’s all female friend group sat in my backyard discussing what sexual categories they fell into. “I think that I am an L” one announced. “L” stood for lesbian.  Another said that she was agender.  My daughter said she was L or pansexual. All 5 girls chose a label other than what is now referred to as “cis” or in my daughter’s words, the scorned and derogatory term “basic”. I was concerned about this new language so I attended our public school’s sponsored sex talk. It was put on by Pflag, I believe.  The presentation was senseless.  Gender is fluid, yet immutable.  There are 46 genders and all kids regardless of age should announce pronouns at introduction. I was the only parent interrupting them to question their illogical logic. I was eventually told, essentially, to shut up.

​Then, in 8th grade, my daughter stopped being a good student.  She became obsessed with an older girl she met, who identified as a boy. My concern grew.  I started to go through all of my daughter’s devices, old, obsolete i-phones and kindles. During my initial investigation, I saw some odd texts and TikToks but nothing too worrying.

After a night in which my daughter had a panic attack, she started to open up to me about the cause of her pain and anger, and why her behavior had changed so dramatically.  She gave me all of her passwords for all of her accounts, even her secret ones.  She admitted to having accounts in every possible platform – Discord, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok – some that I had no idea existed.  I spent the next couple of weeks going through each device and every platform.  What I saw made me physically ill.

My daughter’s crush, the girl who identified as a boy and was 3 years older than my daughter, had sent her a 10-minute video of herself masturbating with an enormous dildo. Yes, I had child pornography on my device. That older girl discussed fisting and described in intimate detail female anatomy and orgasms to a group of some 6 or so 13-year-old girls online. This girl admitted to having been sexually abused as a child.  She admitted to being obsessed with pedophile cases and serial killers. Now, she was passing that abuse onto my child and other kids. She admitted to meeting random people in the city’s park to smoke pot and engage in sexual acts.

The young girl followers treated this older girl as a sage.  They hung on every word, asked her for advice, watched her endless of stream of TikToks, with her drug induced dances in Super Hero costumes with bulging packers.  They listened to her stories of being on acid and mushrooms. My daughter got interested in the dark arts, because that is what this older girl liked. My daughter started asking for everything that this older kid liked – a tarantula, a throne, various records, a nose ring – you get the idea.

I now knew why my daughter had become unrecognizable.  The history on every device was filled with pornography, and the porn was mostly guy-on-guy.  It was violent porn.  It was anime porn with rape scenes, pregnant cartoon men being sodomized, gang bangs with cartoon children. There were internet sites that contained written porn, with beatings, followed by forgiveness and sex.

My daughter had been sucked into the dark web.

She was only 13.

There were searches for ball gags, hand-cuffs, whips and leather outfits.  There were surveys to determine what deviant sex acts she would partake in. There were Discord and Instagram chatrooms where girls discussed whether they are bottoms or tops, givers or receivers, abusers or abused.  There were discussions of turn-ons with weaponry.  There were images of cartoon dogs giving oral sex. My daughter started drawing penises on her walls in her room, her shoes and her pants.

accessed my daughter’s group chats with young girls from across the country where they were teaching each other how to disassociate with their bodies so that they would be comfortable posting pictures of themselves naked.  Advice that included things like “since you are really a boy, your girl body really isn’t yours so it’s no big thing to sell pictures to stupid men for money”.  There was a tutorial for how to find a “sugar daddy” and how to set up an amazon account so he could buy you things.  The more seasoned trans identified girls would say “don’t worry you can start off slow, just show your midriff.  You can hide your face and show more.”  Find a sugar daddy who does not screenshot snapchat, otherwise you will be all over the internet, some 14-year-old warned. One girl bemoaned how long it took her sugar daddy to climax while he watched her dance.

I dove in deeper.  I looked at all of my daughter’s followers on TikTok – the followers were MTFs, FTMs, young girls showcasing bouncing breasts, tongues simulating oral sex by 14-year-olds, grown men following, kids advertising their trans-ness which increases their followings and invites predators. I delved into her Twitter followers, and found men posting gang bangs with demonstrations of things that I can never unsee.  I read the written porn that my daughter had read. It was beyond disgusting.

I started calling random contacts from her phone. There were adult men answering. An anorexic male college student who was taking estrogen. Strangers from other states.

After several tries, I stripped my daughter’s phone of all internet access.  I stripped her school iPad of the most egregious sites.  I bought a safe and locked up all the phones and devices. I got her a new phone number so that I could block all of the pedophiles and groomers with whom she was in contact.

I would love to say that was the end of it.  But, you see, the plant that grew from the groomers could not be cut down so easily.  It kept replanting itself, regrowing as addiction is wont to do.  The pull of the porn was so strong, that my daughter had friends give her their old phones.  She had friends send her screen shots of “food” (her word for written porn).  She ran away, stating that I abused her because I blocked the internet.

So, you tell me, is my now 15-year-old daughter’s trans-identity organic? Is it her transman identity her authentic, true self? Is her self-realization that she really is a boy something that should be celebrated? I know and you know now that she was transformed slowly and methodically with intent by those who prey on young vulnerable kids.

This week after finding yet another stowaway phone, my daughter offered to transform back to being a traditional girl – wear bras, grow her hair out, wear stereotypical female clothes, tell everyone to use her female name – in exchange for access to the internet with limited controls.  Is she so addicted to porn that it trumps her alleged “trans identity”? Is she merely offering to bide her time until she is 18 to transition again? I don’t know. I am not sure what we will do, but one thing that I am sure of is that this ROGD group of kids does not come by their cross-sex identities organically or authentically.  Someone plants the seed.  Someone waters the seed and someone places it in the sunshine and cultivates it carefully for reasons of their own. And our children are the unwitting victims.

Globalists Hate GOD

The Globalists Killed Charlie Kirk & they have names, see below.

Charlie Kirk’s death was a result of years of globalist de-humanization of conservatives, especially conservative Christians.

Globalists hate GOD!

These globalist “killers” are responsible for a campaign of de-humanization. For many years now, they demonized all of us with labels like racist, fascist, Nazi, far-right, or anti-this & anti-that, all for no reason other than to cause enough people to hate with such passion they were/are willing to resort to the most heinous of actions…such as murder or other demonic acts of power.

They censored us, they de-platformed us, they labeled us, they imprisoned many, they did anything they could to shut down our voices, all to achieve their evil ONE WORLD ORDER. A mission they are desperate to accomplish.

Charlie Kirk’s brutal assassination is a stark warning to many other public personas to shut up, or your next. Trump’s two known assassination attempts were a warning to him (don’t kid yourselves).

Despite humanity discovering how horrible they are, these same globalists will refuse to back down.

This MUST come to an end (but won’t).

Why?

They see humanity as something to control & if things in America don’t radically change, if the @realDonaldTrump administration doesn’t go to a WAR footing & gut the “deep state”, the globalists will achieve their reprehensible mission.

Yes Mr. @POTUS America is a nation at WAR & we must start acting like it.

This isn’t about a few bad apples in parts of the federal government that can easily be rooted out. This is a pervasive, insidious dark undercurrent of tens of thousands of actors throughout all our institutions of power. They exist at the local, state, federal, corporate, & military levels & they are organized, well funded & well resourced in many other ways.

We need to rip the band aids off now!

How do they operate?

They still have their media networks. They own most politicians, they control our education system from elementary to institutions of “higher” learning, they own other influencers worldwide such as those in Hollywood, all who are being paid in some form or fashion to promote the globalist agenda & help achieve the globalist goal of One World Government.

Don’t believe me? Just listen to what many of these “killers” have said in the past.

Who are they?

Their names have become all too familiar. They are Soros, Obama, Clinton, Biden, Gates, Schwab, Macron, Starmer, Merz, all, and many others, are part of a liberal-globalist elite that over decades demonized their political opponents & accepted an unholy alliance with Godless societies & other like minded -isms. They’ve been smart to muddy the battlefield’s lines of distinction. Like an insurgency, where the enemy walks among us.

Charlie Kirk’s brutal & very visible public execution is now clearing those battle lines up. And trust, Tyler Robinson was a patsy in their network of insurgents.

So What?

There is a war being waged, yet we are not fighting as though we’re at war. But make no mistake, our nation & our freedoms are under attack.

The globalists hate us, they despise us, they want many of us dead, but trust when I say this…THEY FEAR US!

They fear us because we still profess a love of God. We still outwardly demonstrate that our Christian principles & values remain first in the lives of the majority of Americans. We don’t require new laws from the likes of Sharia or Canon or the whim of a dictator or king or communist premier.

We only require that all who wish to live in America (generations that came & new generations to come) assimilate & join TEAM AMERICA!

We The People are done being demonized. Like many, I want the Trump administration to see the reality & get to work. Gut the deep state & stop pretending like this is politics as usual.

Freedom and hope are everything and worth fighting for.

God Bless America 🙏🏼

Michael T. Flynn LTG USA (RET) 

It’s been a very sad few weeks, first with the tragic and senseless murder of Iryna Zarutska on a train in North Carolina on August 22, and now with the assassination of Charlie Kirk in Utah on September 10. These two killings have suddenly focused the attention of a lot of previously complacent people, and provided some very useful education about the kind of world we live in. But what are the lessons to take away?

One possible lesson is that the world is just irretrievably filled with anger and hate, to the extent that the best that sensible people can do is withdraw into their bunker, keep out of blue states and away from people who follow leftist and woke ideology, stick to a limited circle of family and friends, and avoid dealing with the broader world to the maximum extent possible.

I do not subscribe to that approach. Yes, there is a lot of anger and hate in the world, but also an equal or greater amount of goodness and beauty. And the thing that makes life worthwhile is participating in the fray, and trying to improve things. So here I am living in Manhattan, deep behind the enemy’s political lines, posting my contrarian positions publicly and participating in various ways, however fruitless in the short term, to move the political needle here at least a little. Hey, it’s fun.

Is this dangerous? Maybe a little, but not in any way that I can immediately perceive. I’ve certainly never received any death threats, or really any threats. Maybe that’s because I haven’t been particularly effective.

Charlie Kirk took the business of confronting the left on their own turf to a new level all his own. In his case it was clearly risky, as he was well aware. He went to the places that the left thought were their sacred sanctuaries, college campuses, and organized thousands to resist indoctrination in the official religion. He was the ultimate heretic against a powerful religious cult. He faced constant threats and physical confrontation, but he kept at it as a happy warrior. It took great courage to do what he did.

Should Kirk have stayed away from the fray in order to avoid the fate of an assassin’s bullet? I strongly suspect that if he had known that an assassin was out for his scalp, it would not have slowed him down. He understood that important undertakings come with risks. We need more like Charlie Kirk who are willing to take big risks and refuse to be silenced. (I’m not meaning to suggest that Kirk is the only one who has had the courage to soldier on in the face of the left’s hate and cancel culture and lawfare. Many have done so, and have paid with their jobs or their life savings or their freedom. Kirk is unusual in having been killed.)

But how about the case of Ms. Zarutska, killed by a violent and psychotic career criminal on a public transit facility. With nearly all large cities in this country under the control of Democratic administrations that are explicitly lenient in treatment of recidivist criminals, surely Ms. Zarutska’s case teaches that it is best to avoid public transit facilities in big cities entirely if at all possible.

That conclusion might seem obvious to almost the entire readership here, but again I am going to disagree.

First, let me establish my bona fides. I have lived in Manhattan since 1975, over 50 years, and in that time have taken our subway an average of about 15 times per week, or a total of between 30,000 and 40,000 times over that period. And I have never experienced an incident where I felt I was at risk.

But, you ask, aren’t there large numbers of potentially dangerous and psychotic people roaming the subway system? Absolutely. I would estimate that on average I observe a potential dangerous person on average once or twice a week. So why haven’t I felt at risk? Is it just luck?

There may be some luck involved, but much more important is observing a few simple rules:

– Always be aware of your surroundings. Yes you can read a newspaper or look at your phone, but you must not fail to keep track of who is around you.

– The people who are dangerous, in my experience, always broadcast their danger in obvious ways. Often they are agitated, fidgety, walking up and down energetically, lying across several seats, talking to themselves or even shouting. They present themselves in ways that overtly signal hostility, which could include facial expression, hair style, tattoos, clothing, lack of clothing, or other such things.

– Your first mission in situational awareness is to spot any of these people who are near you. And then — you promptly put as much space between them and you as possible. Subway stations are plenty big enough to do this. If you are on a platform, you can put a couple of hundred feet between yourself and such a person in a fraction of a minute. If you are in a train car, go to the next car. You do not need to be conspicuous or obvious about this. Just quietly get it done. Then go back to reading your book. But always keep half an eye out to see if that person, or another such, gets near.

– If the person of concern is particularly aggressive, once you have gotten far enough away, you can call 911. I have only done this very rarely.

If you follow these simple prescriptions, I do not think you are at any more danger on the subway than on the street. I cannot guarantee that you will be at zero risk on the subway, but remember that there are dangerous and psychotic people on the street as well. And by the way, you should also follow my rules when walking on the street.

If you look at the video and stills of Ms. Zarutska on the Charlotte train, you will see that she violated all of my rules. Here is a link to a New York Post article with many pictures. Ms. Zarutska walks into the train car and appears not to notice Mr. Brown. Brown is very obviously a person of concern: he is fidgiting regularly; his facial expression is dubious to say the least; he has dreadlocks half way down to his waist; and he is wearing a hoodie that is pulled up over his head even though it is a warm August night. He is very clearly signaling to the world to be wary. She should promptly and inconspicuously put some distance between herself and this guy.

But instead, she sits down right next to him, with him in back of her where she can’t see him. And she proceeds to bury her head in scrolling her phone. And she is also wearing ear pods, so she can’t hear him either.

Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute wrote a piece for City Journal on September 10 taking the opposite position from me on what Ms. Zarutska should have done:

She has no reason to avoid this young black man, Brown, 34, dressed in a hoodie, who, as she sits down, appears to be struggling to stay awake (he has been muttering and making jerky movements in the moments before she gets on the train). . . . Even if she had looked behind her, or saw the man in her window’s reflection, she has no reason to fear him; he might appear fidgety, but lots of people fidget on the train. Zarutska scrolls through her phone, at one point nearly dropping it. . . . Nothing out of the ordinary is going on here.

All I can say is, I doubt that Ms. Gelinas is a regular subway rider. She is just wrong in this instance. Brown gave at least four clues that he was trouble (the fidgiting, the facial expression, the dreadlocks, and the hoodie).

I am not meaning to suggest that Ms. Zarutska bears even the slightest blame here. But this incident can provide a valuable lesson for the rest of us on how to conduct ourselves in a dangerous world. Definitely, the City of Charlotte and its courts and prosecutors bear substantial blame for not keeping this obvious menace in custody in light of his long record of prior violent acts. But even much stricter bail and incarceration policies than were followed here are never going to remove all dangerous people from the streets and the trains. You need a modest degree of wariness to survive in this crazy world.

So is there any reason to ever use the subway, or for that matter to ever come to New York City? Both provide a great opportunity to observe the range of humanity — the good, the bad and the ugly. If you stay cloistered among “your kind,” you’ll end up with a very warped view of what the world is about. And if you come to New York and refuse to get on the subway, you could find many places inconvenient and expensive to get to, and you’ll miss out on half the reason you had for coming.

Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian

I want to go out on a limb and predict that the tragic death of Charlie Kirk will lead to protests and riots and chaos in the street. 

However, it will not be led by Republicans outraged by the assassination of that great and good man. 

It will – as it almost always has been – the work of Democrats, Democratic Socialists and those even farther out on the left wing of America’s political spectrum. 

Please mark my words here. Charlie Kirk’s assassination will trigger violence, as it so often does, on college campuses. Maybe this weekend, almost certainly next week. There will be many – paralleling George Floyd, for instance, or the Ferguson riots in St. Louis – that started around an individual or a specific and narrow location. 

Friday – yesterday as I write this – I saw the first inklings of the progressive left’s actions.

Don’t take my word for it. 

Here’s what NBC, one of the vanguard far-left “mainstream media” has to say about this:

Following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk this week, educators across the country have found themselves facing swift termination or potential discipline after allegedly sharing opinions on social media about the killing.

The more biased “industry media,” such as edweek.com, had this to say in an article’s headline.

Teachers have been among those who are alleged to have posted controversial and inflammatory comments about Kirk—prompting widespread doxxing, disciplinary actions in several states, and warnings from state officials to educators about inappropriate online statements.

The resulting firestorm has raised questions of teachers’ online speech rights and responsibilities during emotionally charged and politically divisive events.

More involved in political “free speech” issues – supporting colleges and universities that support free speech only for designated groups – none of them conservative – are publications like Rolling Stone:

People are losing their jobs for criticizing slain ‘free speech’ advocate Charlie Kirk.  Journalists, publicists, and college faculty have been fired after calling the right-wing influencer a divisive figure and making light of his assassination.

The conversation around the assassination of right-wing activist and Donald Trump ally Charlie Kirk on Wednesday during a campus event at Utah Valley University has been fiery, to say the least.

Graphic footage of 31-year-old Kirk, being fatally shot in the neck has gone mega-viral, inflaming passions on all sides. The public has imagined a full spectrum of deranged political motives for the killing. Prominent members of the MAGA movement are using Kirk’s death to call for a “civil war” with leftists they accuse of inciting violence.

These were the increasing outpouring of statements and public comments by the news media, as well as academics, who are writing and making provocative statements about the failings of Charlie Kirk. Especially triggering are comments about how much Kirk deserved execution because of his bold statements in favor of:

• The importance of Family and Children
• Belief in God and the Bible
• The need for everyone to register and vote
• The importance of “constitutional conservative” views on how American ought to be governed, and how all of us, left and right, should be able to enjoy our constitutional rights
• The importance of conservatives standing up for the rights of all Americans, not just conservatives

Looking back over recent violence-in-the-streets issues, there is a pattern that affects our society.

If it holds true, and I think it will, we’ll see violent rioting, on campus, especially colleges that stand up in favor of civil discourse – the last thing the far left desires.   

We can expect suspended or terminated faculty members to become martyrs – around whom the rallying cry will trigger tens of thousands – or more – college students to march, violently, against any person or college who stands up against the vitriol and hatred already being spewed out against Charlie Kirk, and against anyone who dares mourn him.

The pattern will follow that set by the “four dead in Ohio” riots based on a tragic shooting of protesters at Kent State University in the spring of 1970, or the Black Lives Matter riots much more recently.

Almost inevitably, the right will do something that is, in terms of society, “right,”  but which outrages the Left.  Using anti-hate speech policies and laws, faculty members who speak out without a care for the consequences will be sanctioned for what will be, accurately, hate speech.

Then the Left will go crazy – again almost always beginning on campus – with violent rioting justified as “protesting.”  The media will inevitably call the bloody, fire-breathing riots “almost always peaceful,” and … we’re off to the races.

Ned Barnett is a prolific writer and a regular content contributor to American Thinker.  A long-time political activist – he worked with the late, great Lee Atwater in President Ford’s reelection campaign, along with many candidates for the US Senate, the House of Representatives and state Governors. Earlier this year, Ned ghost-wrote a campaign bio for a candidate running for Governor in the Midwest. 

When he’s not being “political,” Ned ghostwrites books – 19 published so far.  Ned also writes and publishes his own books as well – 41 and counting. He helps writers as a co-writer or writing coach. He helps authors “self-publish” their book, as well as promoting their books, which he’s done since 1982. For more information, contact Ned at 702-561-1167 or nedbarnett51@gmail.com

Here’s the latest on the Charlie Kirk shooting in Utah

• Police identified Tyler Robinson, 22, as the alleged assassin who fatally shot Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.
• Robinson is expected to be charged with aggravated murder, among other state charges, according to a probable cause affidavit released on Sept. 12.
• Law enforcement confirmed that Robinson was living with a transgender roommate, and communications between the two helping the feds catch the alleged assassin.
• Kirk, the 31-year-old Turning Point USA creator, was attending an event on his American Comeback Tour when he was fatally shot in the neck by a single shot.
• President Trump was among many who have called for the assassin to receive the death penalty.
• Kirk’s body was brought to Arizona from Utah on Air Force Two, accompanied by Vice President JD Vance, and taken to Phoenix’s Hansen Mortuary Chapel.
• Kirk’s funeral, which President Trump has promised to attend, is scheduled for Sept. 21 at State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals.
• Kirk, a rising MAGA star, is survived by his wife and two young children.

U.S. — The entirety of the American higher education system has officially been designated a terrorist organization by the United States federal government.

Intelligence officials stated that the university system met all of the criteria for designation, including extremist indoctrination, promoting violence, and murdering dissidents.

“It checks all the boxes,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Honestly, just charging $200,000 for a Sociology degree really should qualify as terrorism. They’ve gone even further, setting up literal training campsites, advocating violence, and targeting specific populations. No one has churned out more terrorists or terrorism supporters than the American university system. Plus, they still offer Sociology degrees. Horrifying.”

College administrators across the country expressed shock and outrage at the move by the government. “I am appalled,” said professor Marhsa Silversmith from behind her keffiyeh. “This is a disgusting attack on academic freedom. I have done nothing but teach students to abandon the identity of their youth, conform to our ideology, and do violence to any who oppose us. We will fight this label of terrorism by any means necessary, no matter how violent we have to be.”

At publishing time, Rubio had announced that the military would go ahead and bomb all Sociology departments for good measure.

Babylon Bee

Conservative pundits and bloggers are fond of asking themselves in times of crisis or despondency, “What would Ronald Reagan do?” I’m afraid I have bad news for you.  We are well past the point of “What would Ronald Reagan do?” We have reached the point of “What would Samuel Adams do?”

Samuel Adams was the Father of the American Revolution.   He fearlessly agitated and organized day and night for liberty and independence. He founded and coordinated the activities of the Sons of Liberty, an underground organization of patriotic merchants, artisans, and street toughs dedicated to making life miserable for the British government, while advancing the cause of liberty and independence. He could arguably be called “America’s first community organizer,” before the term was hijacked by Marxist thugs hellbent on imposing their warped agenda on a politically ignorant, house-trained citizenry.

So what would Sam Adams do today? Organize Tea Party bus tours and online petitions? Encourage us to make angry phone calls to our congressional representatives?  Hardly. Adams and his fellow travelers were active, in-your-face incendiaries in the cause of liberty. Tarring and feathering British officials and sympathizers or ransacking their homes was just another day at the office.  Adams was a brilliant and fearless seditionist and revolutionary tactician–always one step ahead of the law and always outwitting and outmaneuvering his adversaries. And he did it with aplomb. Sure, Adams was a prolific writer and propagandist, and would no doubt today be an active blogger.  But writing wasn’t a hobby or something he did while watching the Patriots.  It was an integral part of an active, ongoing, evolving strategy of agitation in the service of independence.

Sam Adams would, in all likelihood, consider today’s Tea Party a bunch of toothless wimps. The same goes for the Pajamas Media and the rest of the Tea Party bloggers and armchair, make-believe revolutionaries. Is blogging anonymously in your man-cave really comparable to openly pledging “your lives, your fortunes, and your sacred honor?”  I don’t think so.  Conservatives and libertarians and Tea Partiers all want change on the cheap. They want to radically reform the system without leaving the comfort of their homes or getting their hands dirty. Very few, I’d wager, have the courage to put their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor on the line for their professed beliefs. (Imagine where we’d be if the Founders had said, “I don’t know about this Declaration of Independence thing. I mean, the British might get mad at us.  We might lose our jobs.  Our health care.  Our 401-ks.”)

It’s time to face the grim reality—the United States is an occupied country.   The powerful are at the table, and the rest of us are on the menu.  If Tea Partiers think they’re going to take back their country from their man-caves without making waves or breaking a sweat, they’re smoking pixie dust.  It’s going to take more than pithy Tweets or inspired commentary to make these establishment bastards stand up and take notice.  It’s going to take a well-organized and sustained campaign of non-violent civil disobedience and resistance, while relentlessly and consistently speaking truth to power. We must aggressively challenge those who would have insidious designs on our liberty. They and their criminal schemes must be held to contempt and ridicule.  This is not going to be done quickly or easily; it’s going to take years of pain and hard work and struggle. Adversity summons the hero in all of us.

The Artful Dilettante—Conscience of the Second American Revolution

• The US power grid is under significant stress due to rapidly increasing electricity demand from AI data centers and electric vehicles, coupled with the retirement of traditional power plants.
• The grid faces mounting vulnerabilities from extreme weather events, cybersecurity threats, and physical sabotage, while policy gridlock and infrastructure delays hinder necessary upgrades.
• Despite challenges, the situation presents investment opportunities in grid modernization, diversified generation, and solutions for energy storage and load management.

America’s power grid is straining under the weight of a fast-changing energy landscape. Beyond the usual summer hum of air conditioners, power demand is surging from electric vehicle chargers and sprawling new data centers. At the same time, the infrastructure built to deliver reliable electricity is aging and showing its limits. From Texas heatwaves to California blackouts, the warning signs are impossible to ignore.

This isn’t a technical challenge—it’s an economic and political reckoning. If the grid fails, it won’t be because we lacked solutions. It will be because we didn’t act quickly enough. 

A Demand Surge Few Anticipated

For nearly two decades, U.S. electricity demand was flat. Now, consumption is climbing, driven by technologies that arrived faster than planners expected.

Artificial intelligence has unleashed a wave of data center construction. These facilities, dense with high-performance servers and cooling systems, are among the most power-hungry assets in the country. In 2023, AI data centers consumed about 4.4% of U.S. electricity, and that share could triple by 2028, according to Penn State’s Institute of Energy and the Environment.

Northern Virginia—“Data Center Alley”—now handles 70% of global internet traffic, pushing utilities like Dominion Energy to scramble for capacity. Meanwhile, Microsoft and Google warn that a shortage of skilled electricians could delay expansion, with estimates that the U.S. will need 500,000 more electricians in the next decade.

Electric vehicles, heat pumps, and electrified industry are adding further strain. The Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee projects growth equivalent to seven Seattle-sized cities within ten years. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects U.S. electricity sales to rise from 4,097 billion kWh in 2024 to 4,193 billion kWh in 2025, with similar gains to follow.

And finally, there’s climate. As extreme heat events multiply, cooling demand in places like Texas and Arizona is surging—driving peak loads to new records.

The Supply Gap: Retirements Outpace Replacement

Just as demand is accelerating, the U.S. is retiring some of its most dependable sources of power.

The EIA projects 12.3 gigawatts (GW) of capacity will retire in 2025, a 65% jump over 2024. That includes 8.1 GW of coal, such as the 1,800-MW Intermountain Power Project in Utah, plus another 2.6 GW of natural gas. These plants provide round-the-clock power that intermittent sources cannot yet replace.

Wind and solar capacity continue to grow, but not fast enough. The Department of Energy’s July 2025 Resource Adequacy Report warns that only 22 GW of firm generation is expected by 2030—well short of the 104 GW needed for peak demand. Transmission bottlenecks, permitting delays, and slow adoption of long-duration storage compound the problem.

Grid operators from PJM, MISO, ERCOT, and others told Congress bluntly in March 2025: “Demand is accelerating, supply is lagging, and current tools may not be enough to bridge the gap.”

Growing Vulnerabilities: Weather, Cyber, and Sabotage

Beyond the supply-demand imbalance, the grid faces mounting risks.

Heatwaves, wildfires, and storms are stressing transmission systems nationwide. Events once considered rare—like the 2003 Northeast blackout that hit 50 million people—are now seen as precursors of larger disruptions.

As smart grids and distributed resources proliferate, so do digital entry points for hackers. In 2024, DOE funded 16 cybersecurity projects, including Georgia Tech’s AI-based “DerGuard” system to monitor risks in distributed energy.

Sabotage at substations and transmission lines is also rising. With more than 160,000 miles of high-voltage lines and 7,300 plants, much of it decades old, the system is a sprawling, exposed target. Homeland Security now classifies grid protection alongside nuclear and water infrastructure.

Policy Gridlock and Infrastructure Delays

Despite the alarms, policy responses remain sluggish.

Jurisdiction is a big part of the problem. Regional transmission operators manage the grid but don’t own generation or lines. Utilities do, while states control siting and permitting. The result is a patchwork that slows progress.

As of mid-2024, transmission projects across the U.S. faced delays of five to seven years due to permitting hurdles, interconnection bottlenecks, and supply chain constraints. By mid-2025, lead times for large power transformers had stretched beyond 30 months, with some units requiring up to four years for delivery—posing serious risks to grid reliability and expansion. 

Even bipartisan efforts like the CIRCUIT Act—introduced in February 2025 to incentivize domestic transformer production through a 10% tax credit—remain stalled in committee, despite widespread industry support and urgent supply chain concerns.

Meanwhile, subsidies continue to favor intermittent renewables over firm capacity. The Inflation Reduction Act accelerated clean energy deployment, but without parallel investment in balancing technologies, reliability risks grow.

What’s Being Done

Federal and private efforts are ramping up, though often as short-term fixes.

DOE has delayed retirements of coal and gas plants and issued reliability directives under the Federal Power Act. These measures keep the lights on but do little to build long-term resilience. DOE also aims to increase long-distance capacity 16% by 2030, adding 7,500 miles of new lines. But permitting delays and local resistance remain obstacles.

In 2025, DOE launched $32 million in pilot projects for smart EV charging, responsive buildings, and distributed energy integration. These solutions could eventually scale, but utilities and regulators must buy in.

Investor Implications: Reliability as a Premium

For investors, grid instability is a risk, but also an opportunity.

Companies like NextEra Energy, Dominion, and Avangrid are investing billions in grid modernization and diversified generation. Avangrid alone plans $20 billion through 2030 across 23 states.

Independent power producers are also benefiting from the shifting landscape. NRG Energy, one of the nation’s largest competitive power suppliers, has seen its shares climb sharply as rising demand boosts wholesale electricity prices. Unlike regulated utilities, NRG and its peers compete in deregulated markets, where higher load growth and tighter capacity directly translate into stronger margins. That dynamic could make competitive generators an overlooked winner in a strained grid environment.

Firms like Fluence, Stem Inc., and Tesla Energy are seeing growing demand for storage and microgrid solutions. Pilot programs backed by DOE may open new markets for software-driven load management.

With coal exiting and renewables constrained, power generated by nuclear energy and natural gas retain a “reliability premium.” Deloitte estimates the U.S. power sector will need $1.4 trillion in new capital between 2025 and 2030, with similar levels required through 2050. Firms able to supply firm generation or grid services stand to benefit.

Conclusion: Crisis or Course Correction?

The U.S. power grid isn’t collapsing—but it is under pressure like never before. Demand growth, baseload retirements, extreme weather, and policy paralysis are colliding to create a fragile system.

Whether this moment becomes a crisis or a correction depends on how quickly policymakers, utilities, and investors adapt. The tools exist—firm generation, smart load management, and modern transmission. But without faster coordination and realistic incentives, the U.S. risks trading energy abundance for energy fragility.

By Robert Rapier

The alleged ‘radicalized’ assassin did not get to this moment on his own. Investigation details show a young man steeped in leftist dogma.

After an intensive, multi-day manhunt, law enforcement officials on Friday said they had taken into custody conservative icon Charlie Kirk’s killer. Police assert 22-year-old Tyler Robinson “acted alone” in assassinating the Turning Point USA founder. 

But did he? 

Authorities said Robinson’s roommate shared with investigators the alleged cold-blooded killer’s communications on messaging app Discord. In them, the suspect discusses “a need to retrieve a rifle from a drop point, leaving the rifle in a bush, messages related to visually watching the area where a rifle was left, and a message referring to having left the rifle wrapped in a towel.”

The shooter was certainly radicalized by a leftist terrorist network, and it seems like he may have also coordinated with them for the attack

The FBI should be going scorched earth on them as we speak

Lists, names, raids, arrests, action, no excuses https://t.co/rtYvlyH3mt— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) 

At a press conference Friday morning, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said investigators found a Mauser Model 98 .30-06 caliber, bolt-action rifle with a mounted scope in a wooded area on the Utah university campus where Kirk was fatally shot. Cox said the inscription on the fired casing read, “Notices bulges OwO What’s This?” That is apparently a reference to online memes tied to animated videos and “furry culture,” a fetish.

Two unfired casings found next to the rifle wrapped in a dark towel included separate inscriptions, Cox said: “Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao,” and “Hey fascist! Catch!” next to arrows pointing up, right, down, down, and down. According to multiple reports, the arrows represent an input code for an airstrike in a multi-person violent video game known as “Helldivers 2.” The code, too, has been used in memes “to signify a devastating reaction to something that should be destroyed,” USA Today reported. 

“Bella Ciao” is an Italian antifascist song.

‘Radicalized’

As The Blaze’s Auron Macintyre put it, the shooter appears to have been “radicalized by a leftist terrorist network, and it seems like he may have also coordinated with them for the attack.”

“The FBI should be going scorched earth on them as we speak,” Macintyre wrote on X. “Lists, names, raids, arrests, action, no excuses.” 

“Catch this, Fascist!” –> obvious

“Bella ciao” –> Italian antifascist song

“Notices bulge OWO what’s this?” –> discord furry meme with roots in Tumblr sexuality https://t.co/2AlNcRwpYd— Sohrab Ahmari (@SohrabAhmari) September 12, 2025

Even if the alleged assassin “acted alone,” he surely did not get to this moment on his own. We know so far from the early details of the investigation that the suspect appears steeped in Marxist Antifa-style indoctrination.

The Federalist’s Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway said the stunning murder of the 31-year-old conservative leader needs to be a “wake-up call” to Congress.

“We’ve seen a lot of weakness and impotence on the right, so Republican leaders need to not just stand up there and say, ‘Oh, we must condemn—both sides do these things,’ Hemingway told Fox Business Network’s Stuart Varney this week. “They need to actually take the threat from left-wing activists very seriously. They need to investigate how they’re funded—Antifa, other terrorist groups. They’re going to war against ICE. You know, they tried to kill Donald Trump. They’ve successfully killed Charlie Kirk.”

President Trump earlier this week said his administration planned to investigate funding sources of violent far-left campaigns, noting leftist billionaire George Soros and his “nonprofits.”  

“We’re going to look into Soros because I think it’s a RICO [racketeering] case against him and other people, because this is more than protests. This is real agitation. This is riots on the street — and we’re going to look into that,” Trump told Fox News.

.@POTUS: “We’re going to look into Soros because I think it’s a RICO case against him and other people because this is more than protests. This is real agitation; this is riots on the street — and we’re going to look into that.” pic.twitter.com/zwUr03G5DA— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 12, 2025

Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., a member of the House Oversight Committee, told The Federalist he believes it is long past time for Congress to take a closer look at the activities and funding sources of leftist extremist organizations. Kirk’s assassination has made that effort all the more urgent.

‘Follow the Money’

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wants the House to form a select committee on “The money, influence, and power behind the radical left’s assault on America and the rule of law.”

“In the wake of numerous attacks on our way of life, the destruction of the rule of law, and the murder of innocent Americans, prominent and unknown alike, we must take every step to follow the money and uncover the force behind the NGOs, donors, media, public officials, and all entities driving this coordinated attack,” Roy said Thursday in a press release. 

“The patterns are undeniable: we are witnessing a sustained breakdown of law and order, fueled not by chance, but by anti-American ideology,” Roy wrote in a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky. “Of course, we witnessed the 2024 assassination attempt on President Trump as well as the 2017 shooting of Republican lawmakers at baseball practice, but it goes well beyond politicians and to the people themselves.”

He noted the “targets” placed on Kirk and the Family Research Council by the Southern Poverty Law Center after SPLC, an influential leftist hate group, added the two to their “Hate Map.” He also noted Marxist networks such as Antifa have organized, funded, and deployed “sophisticated terror campaigns attacking law enforcement and destroying American cities.”

The lawmaker said the best option is a stand-alone committee with full authority to investigate. Its members should have prosecutorial and law enforcement backgrounds, and the committee should be granted full subpoena powers, Roy wrote. 

“We can no longer pretend to be bound together by shared ideals when a well-funded, vitriolic cadre of our fellow Americans and foreign interests are at war with the very values of faith in God, fidelity to our Constitution, and respect for the principles of liberty and Western Civilization that define us as Americans – including, notably, the free speech practiced and exemplified by Charlie Kirk,” the congressman added. 

Those leftist networks, at least at some level, include the U.S. institutions of higher education that have become dens of radical leftism — “safe spaces” for Marxist, America-hating ideology at taxpayers’ expense.

---

Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism.

An American icon was assassinated.

In a nation whose foundation is free speech and religious liberty, Charlie Kirk was murdered (at least it seems glaringly apparent) for exercising those freedoms.

Charlie transformed conservatism in America not only for people of all ages. He was pro-Jesus, pro-life, pro-family, and pro-Constitution. He proved that Truth was always worth the hard work and intellectual pursuit. Without a college degree, he exposed the moral rot and academic dishonesty in higher education and in our politics.

Is there any equivalent to Charlie Kirk in the progressive Left? Is there any leftist who would be willing to appear on college campuses across the country giving voice to those who disagreed with him or her? Charlie’s “Prove Me Wrong” events were a powerful way to show that our differences of opinion are best served by lots of discussion. As a public speaker, myself, I know the intolerant culture that is the defining hallmark of way too many colleges and universities. I’ve been cancelled. I’ve received death threats. I’ve been protested. I’ve been smoke-bombed out of a lecture. I’ve had to hire bodyguards. Why? Because truth is a threat to those who’d rather cling to lazy lies.

Courage is not in limited supply. It’s just rarely chosen. The path of least resistance is so much more appealing. Who wants to be unfriended (in real life or online)? Who wants to be unliked by friends or family or coworkers? Who wants to lose half of your congregation because you’ve dared to speak Biblical Truth? Who wants to face the mob’s wrath when speaking about abortion, gender radicalism, fatherlessness, (actual) racism or the War on Common Sense?

Sometimes, some of us choose the path of most resistance.

As a husband and father, I cannot imagine the devastating turmoil his wife Erika is facing. Honestly, I’m wrecked by his slaughter. His two young children will never be able to hug and be held by their daddy ever again on this side of Heaven. Charlie loved the Lord, and it was powerful to see his faith journey unfold. He came to recognize that our fight is first spiritual and moral. The cultural and the political are either shaped or misshaped by our worldview. Only a belief system rooted in the liberating Truth of God’s Word sets us free. Not politics. Not wealth. Not social position.

May his family somehow find the peace that only knowing and loving Jesus can bring.

Charlie was an inspiration. He started Turning Point USA at the age of 18. He refused to accept the status quo and showed youth across America that silence should never be an option. I’ve shared the stage at a couple of events with Charlie, but one of the moments I remember best happened outside the event venue.

Years ago, Charlie and Candace Owens were walking to the conference center in Denver, Colorado. I was headed there as well to speak. I introduced myself to both of them and thanked them for their courage, their wit, and their passion for Truth. We walked and talked for a few minutes only to be met outside of the center by protesters demanding “gun control”. We all stopped and engaged the activists. I started videoing the exchanges. Instead of running away from people who angrily disagreed with us, we talked to them. The result was an eventual calming and civil discourse. Those thirty minutes really impacted me.

This is how Democracy works. We disagree. We talk. We empathize. We learn. And sometimes, we rethink.

There is no America without free speech and religious liberty. This can’t be stated strongly enough. It’s the reason why people like Charlie are so hated by the Left. They detest when people don’t bow at the fake altar of “unity” (aka forced conformity). We can never be unified with a lie. For a political demographic that constantly rants about “diversity”, they despise diversity of thought. Free speech is the enemy. Somehow, the “land of the free and home of the brave” has been warped by so-called progressivism into the “land of the ideologically enslaved and home of the afraid.”

It makes me think of the powerful words of former slave and champion for human rights, Frederick Douglass, who battled the activism of silencing. The abolitionist movement couldn’t exist without the First Amendment. In his 1860 speech, “A Plea for Free Speech in Boston”, Douglass proclaimed: “To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker. It is just as criminal to rob a man of his right to speak and hear as it would be to rob him of his money.”

How much are we robbed, on a regular basis, from hearing the truth? In schools? From the government? In (Bible-evading) churches? From Hollywood? On social media? Thankfully, we have organizations, like Alliance Defending Freedom, that fight for our most fundamental right. I’ve always loved their response to unconstitutional censorship: “The answer to speech we disagree with is not censorship but more speech.”

Political violence is sheer cowardice. It’s sheer evil.

George Orwell once wrote: “If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” It’s those words and ideas that may revolutionize people’s lives, free them from their emotional, political, or spiritual shackles and lead them to become someone who spreads more life-changing freedom.

Charlie Kirk did not deserve such a horrifically violent end. My faith affirms the fact that he is with the Savior. But it is way, way too early.

Refuse to live in fear. Refuse to hate Truth. Refuse to deny someone else’s God-given worth. It’s on all of us to make America better than this.

Ryan Bomberger, Life News