“Whether Robinson’s online milieu tilted left may end up being beside the point. What matters is the profile: a socially adrift 22-year-old dropout searching for meaning online. In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the task is not to pin a tidy ideology on the act, but to confront the scourge of online brainrot. … As video game critic Superjoost notes about Roblox — one of the world’s most popular online game platforms — the most powerful communities don’t aim for mass appeal; they cultivate experiences that ‘deliberately exclude outsiders,’ producing worlds that look ‘frenetic, chaotic, and nonsensical to anyone who’s not in on it.’ According to this critic, the chaos is the point.” (09/13/25)
“Conservatives have long struggled to find an ideological enemy to replace communism. It’s easier to define yourself when you know what you’re up against. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and others want transhumanism to be that defining foe. But transhumanism is a fringe notion that looms larger in the minds of conservatives than it does in reality. It is not the great threat that faces the country. It simply makes for a good enemy to advance a ‘respectable’ form of right-wing populism.” (09/12/25)
“Not only is a disastrous 2019 state law pushing rent-regulated units off the market by the tens of thousands, the city’s efforts to get those ‘zombie’ apartments on the market have stalled — and Zohran Mamdani’s rent freeze promises to make the crisis even worse. Six years ago, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the ‘Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act’ into law, making it impossible for landlords ever to recoup the cost of bringing units up to code (as other laws require) when a tenant moves out after decades. Such repairs and upgrades can easily cost $100,000 or more; pre-2019, the building owner could hike the rent to finance the work — but no more, so now thousands of apartments fall off the market every year.” (09/13/25)
“Venezuela may be in no position to challenge America militarily, but the same can’t be said of China. In a world where Beijing’s power is steadily growing, Trump’s brazen savagery erodes the barriers represented by international law. It’s likely to make Americans in international spaces more vulnerable to being blown up by hostile powers. But Trump claiming the right to designate any people he chooses as terrorists and enemies — and then to kill them at will — is a grave threat to Americans for another reason as well: If he can use lethal force against a boat allegedly carrying illegal drugs and drug traffickers, it’s a small step to doing the same with cars and trucks entering the country from Mexico or Canada — or to unauthorized migrants crossing on foot.” (09/13/25)
“Over the past decade, people have begun to accept that college is a waste for most young people. The experience has grown extremely expensive, highly and perversely political, often morally degrading, increasingly long, and to varying degrees worthless. The game continues mostly because it delivers status certificates. But even there, the inertia is fading. For most kids, it’s a rotten deal. I’ve long wished that more people were aware of of these facts, but the time wasn’t right … people just weren’t ready. Now I think they are, and as it happens, two of my friends have just finished a fascinating book on the subject. It’s called The Preparation, by Doug Casey and Matt Smith. And, like so many important innovations, it was spawned by necessity.” (09/13/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“To be clear I would be just as unmoved if a mainstream Democrat-aligned manipulator like Bill Maher or Joe Scarborough was killed, and I would be just as disdainful of their memory. They are exactly the same to me. I had no strong feelings about Charlie Kirk especially; to me he was just one of the empire’s countless flying monkeys, and his role will be easily filled by the next flying monkey in line. My disdain toward him was of the ordinary blanket variety that I hold toward all the lackeys of the most tyrannical and murderous power structure on our planet, regardless of their political affiliation. … You cannot become a high-level pundit, politician or political operative in either mainstream party without being an evil piece of shit.” [editor’s note: I would still maintain that Kirk’s main agenda was to open up free speech discussion and promote critical thinking in college students – SAT] [additional editor’s note: The former, yes, the latter not so much – TLK] (09/12/25)
“Charlie Kirk believed in advancing right-wing political goals and attacking left-wing opponents by any and all means necessary — including political violence.” (09/13/25)
“Charlie Kirk became one of the most powerful figures in politics because he did something extraordinary in today’s world. He went to college campuses and conversed with young people. Kirk debated folks who vehemently disagreed with him. The devout Christian publicly had good-humored exchanges with a dude dressed in a satanist costume and a number of trans-identifying young adults. He fearlessly welcomed any and all speakers to the microphone. After all, there’s no Block button in the real world. The 31-year-old aimed to persuade and challenge the lefty status quo on college campuses because he knew that intellectual friction is not only entertaining, but necessary to forge a healthier nation. ‘When people stop talking, really bad stuff starts,’ he said when asked by a student why he bothered.” (09/12/25)
“Not every murder victim is a martyr to some high principle. Kirk was fundamentally and above all things an entrepreneur, one who knew his audience and who was willing to tell its members whatever they wanted to hear at any given moment if doing so increased his donor base and his influence. He was plastic in his political orientation, going from secularist libertarian critic of the Christian right to evangelical-oriented advocate of big-government corporatism without seeming to raise his pulse. His politics were strictly an us-and-them matter, a question of white hats and black hats. Beyond that, he was — and this is uncomfortable to write at this moment, though obviously relevant — himself an apologist for political violence … All of that will matter to how Charlie Kirk is remembered. None of it matters when it comes to the most immediate issue presented by his murder: political violence per se.” (09/13/25)
“As a Wendy’s worker, mother of two, and leader with Missouri Workers Center and Stand Up KC in Kansas City, I’ve dedicated my life to fighting for working families. I’ve worked in fast food for over 20 years, and I know what it means to struggle to barely make ends meet while corporations make record profits off our backs. Today, I’m writing as someone who believes deeply in democracy, especially as a group of anti-worker Missouri lawmakers prepare to divide our community so that they can silence our voices, including my own. States usually redraw electoral district boundaries every 10 years following the US Census to account for population shifts and demographic changes. But for political reasons, Texas lawmakers have gone ahead and redrawn their political map. And now several other states, including Missouri, are trying to do the same thing.” (09/13/25)
