The Frankish Reich

There's a Gutfeld for every Kimmel now, a Ben Shapiro for every Rachel Maddow. Maybe we just click to a different show?

Free speech absolutist Charlie Kirk would presumably be turning in his grave but he's not even buried yet.

Yes, I am the Voice of Reason! Luigi 1st Degree Murder charge dropped? Outrageous! Sounds like First Degree Murder to me!! I was scared!!! That's terrorism!!!! Liberal something something!!!! Me: umm, maybe we should read the law?

How long was it going to take for your little friends to bounce outside their echosphere and actually look at why the judge dismissed the terrorism-related charges? You should be thanking me. Oh, I don't deny the political implications. But looking at the NY State murder law - the one in play here - I have to agree with the judge. NY (our old friend Mr. Bragg) argued things like "the fact that he did it in Manhattan on a public street shows the intent to terrorize." But what if he had done it while the victim was onstage giving a speech, Charlie Kirk style? Well, I guess that's worse. What if he had done it by taking the elevator to the guy's private suite and killed him in his room? They're all horrible offenses. It's just that there was nothing here that fit well within NY's special circumstances warranting 1st Degree Murder. Do I think it's a stupid law that needs to be changed? Yes, I do.

Notice how everyone above my NYT post was cutting/pasting tweets expressing outrage without even bothering to look up the law.

BTW, what happened to those swingin' Moms for Liberty? It's almost as if they were an astroturf group established to churn out pro-MAGA sentiments.

In which we turn to the Mainstream Media to explain (NYT) While some states define first-degree murder as a premeditated killing, New York requires an additional aggravating circumstance, one of which is terrorism. Others include torture and killing a witness or law officer.

I agree. Unlike some others here, you don't seem the type that is likely to get worked up about the MAQA (Marxist Armed ***** Army) takeover. Me? I'm still having nightmares about this:

What happened to the classic "are you still beating your wife?"

I'm pretty sure you can still get away with using the name Buford at Starbucks. Give it a try! Who is giving a first/last name at Starbucks anyway? I'm sure they'll print Charlie. Or Charlie K. And what was his favorite drink anyway? So many questions. EDIT: I just saw it was a Mint Majesty Tea with 2 Honeys. Not the manliest order ever, not that there's anything wrong with that.

I guess it's some kind of "I am Spartacus" thing? Whatever. What idiot would give the name of a recently assassinated person to a Starbucks barista. Breaking: they didn't even laugh when I gave them the name Harry Balls.

Good response. But what do you think about the threats of prosecution coming from Bondi, Stephen Miller, even JD Vance? I'm not talking about prosecutions related to the actual murder of Kirk. I'm talking about prosecutions for protected speech. In what way is it o.k. for the highest law enforcement officer in the land to even threaten such clearly unconstitutional prosecutions in order to keep people from exercising their constitutional rights?

I think you may be onto something here ...

The Bondi statement on "hate speech" is just stunning coming from the nation's chief law enforcement officer. Anyone who wrote that on a bar exam would fail. And what's more troubling: a lot of Trump fans (including obviously many here) think that this is good policy and constitutional. I thought this was supposed to be about undoing the excesses of Wokism. The kind of thing where saying something innocuous and even true about George Floyd ("remember, he was a career criminal") could get you canceled. Now we're seeing that it is about substituting Right Wing Wokism for Left Wing Wokism. Say something innocuous and true about Charlie Kirk ("remember, his style of rhetoric is what inflames people") and you can get canceled. And now if Pam Bondi has her way, you can get indicted too. I guess that's what you voted for.

No, but I'm just a teensy weensy bit upset that Trump is asking for federal employees/military men and women to rat out any colleagues that might not say only wonderful things about the late Charlie Kirk.

No, not self-hating. You have much to learn.

Horseshoe Theory, my friends. Horseshoe Theory. When you can't actually tell which political camp a meme is supposed to be mocking or expressing support for, it just may be that the poster isn't following grandpa's left-middle-right political orthodoxy ...

Who is this person, and why are you posting his photo?

Would free speech champion Charlie Kirk be in favor of firing people who spoke ill of Charlie Kirk on social media? Hmm .... ... Trump always seems to know how to cede the moral high ground within roughly 48 hours.

Have you watched it? RFK says he spoke to Charlie and then mentions only what he (RFK) allegedly said to Charlie. Nothing from Charlie himself.

Why would corporate America take any official action here? His assassination was a tragedy and a dark moment for America. I've been trying to think of a similar figure on the left. He wasn't a pure political consultant turned pundit like a James Carville. He wasn't a talk radio guy like Limbaugh (although I think he fits perfectly as a successor to Limbaugh for the social media age). My best comparison: John Oliver, who just took home another Emmy or two. Or maybe Jon Stewart. If some weirdo takes out John Oliver or Jon Stewart, what would you expect from corporate America?

In which RFK, shockingly, makes it all about RFK.

Really important that Philly put them in a hole early on here. They are completely unimpressive, but somehow I worry that it'll be like the waning years of the Pats dynasty, where they stick around and then suddenly have that playoff burst left in them.

Everyone keeps talking about Xavier Worthy, but Troy Franklin of the Broncos is stepping up big-time. I'm not sure why he slipped all the way to the 4th round. Kid is a winner.

Ooh, that's good ... had me fooled.