The Great Divide, Farewell Charlie Kirk

"The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk is dead."

"No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie."

"He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us."

"Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family."

"Charlie, we love you!"

U.S. President Donald Trump

U.S. conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed Wednesday during a public appearance at a university in Utah. He was 31. CBC News

 

A professional sniper whose photograph has been published in news media -- covering the murder of American social influencer, 31-year-old conservative, and media personality, Charlie Kirk -- Trump supporting, outspoken critic of the left in all its present-day guises -- can run and he can hide, but he will be apprehended and the full force of the law will be brought to bear against him. With his arrest the background story that led to the public assassination will complete the stunning episode that bore witness once again to the madness that has overtaken the delusional left that condemns violence while indulging in it to a degree the right sector of society does not emulate.

 

Speaking at the Utah Valley University campus, he was seated, speaking into a microphone under a tent boasting red and blue signs reading "The American Comeback" and "Prove Me Wrong". As he completed a statement ending with the words "...gang violence", a sharp report sounded, out of place in a surrounding of tens of thousands attending the event, their voices a blur of commentary. Suddenly aware of that sound, of the speaker's head snapping back and blood suddenly gushing from his neck, the crowd surged in a panic to escape the sinister nightmare.

 

Founder of a right-wing media group that challenged the reportage and ideas spouted by the mainstream media with its left-interpretation of events, and known for his debate-featured videos where he listens to diatribes from progressives in an audience and follows up with a response of counterpoints, effectively demolishing the arguments of those who take up the challenge to call him out in his dedicated beliefs. His arguments addressing illegal immigration, transgenderism, feminism, affirmative action, abortion, soft-on-crime judiciaries, abortion, drag queen storytime for children, all made him a detested target of those his views attempted to reach.

 

A large banner in memory of Charlie Kirk is installed outside the Turning Point USA headquarters in Phoenix, Ariz., on Wednesday. (Jonathan Cooper/The Associated Press)

 

His critics charged him with false or misleading facts they claimed that he used in support of his narratives. He regularly spoke at U.S. college campuses, his tour named "You're Being Brainwashed", and Wednesday's speech was in line with those campus appearances. He seemed to relish the opportunity to respond to those who denied his perspectives on the social issues of the day, calmly and with emphatic stress on reality, turning false narratives inside out to reveal the core reflection of what really matters and how to achieve a human balance in every charged situation. His reasonableness and ease in defending without offending infuriated his detractors.

 

The state, not known for incubating violence, and with a low murder rate, saw few police in guarded attendance at such a large event attracting an estimated 30,000 crowd. Mr. Kirk's own personal security was present. The size of the crowd and the passionate emotions aroused in many of his audiences might augur danger as a potential to erupt into something far more significant than mere heckling given the deranged state of many people in an era of heightened emotional attachment to societal issues that drive hard responses of estrangement.

 

"Utah is one of the safest places on the planet. And so we just don't have these type of things" that could escalate to violence, according to Jason Chaffetz, Republican who was present at the event. That light police presence meant a handful of officers, and where it might have seemed logically proactive to have a number of officers tasked to surveillance of nearby rooftops to ensure no unwarranted sharpshooter presence to threaten the speaker, a more casual kind of security seems to have eventuated.

 

Donald Trump, then president in his first term, shakes hands with Charlie Kirk, who led Turning Point USA, at a summit in Washington, D.C., on July 23, 2019. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

 

In light of the fact that the event at the University had been the cause of divided opinions on campus, with an online petition circulating calling for university administrators to bar the provocative speaker from the event, with a thousand signatures attesting to the level of passion involved, it might have reflected responsible police reaction, in memory of a less successful assassination attempt on Mr. Trump's life echoing in this situation, to be more prepared. 

 

While the university issued a statement prior to the event citing First Amendment rights, affirming its "commitment to free speech, intellectual enquiry and constructive dialogue", someone or some group sufficiently involved in the current belief that deadly violence is justified in the face of  their perceived need to rid the world of those espousing social creeds and political standpoints and government actions at home and abroad that offend their sense of justice, should have spurred local authorities and police to ensure that more suitable security would be in place. Should have, could have, but did not.

 

 

 

"For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals."

"This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now ... Radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives."

"My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it."

U.S. President Donald J. Trump  

A Striking Ovation in Admiration of a Russian War Blogger

"We will defeat everyone, we will kill everyone, we will rob everyone as necessary. Just as we like it."

Russian War Blogger Maxim Fomin

 

"[My wife was against the war in Ukraine, but] she would never kill."

"I believe my wife was framed. I'm pretty sure she would never have been able to do something like that on her own."

"Together with Daria we really do not support the war in Ukraine, but we believe that such actions are unacceptable."

"I am 100% sure that she would never have agreed to this if she had known."

Dmitry Rylov, Trepova's husband

"[The attack was] planned by the special services of Ukraine with the involvement of agents from those who had cooperated with the so-called Navalny anti-corruption fund [foundation]."

Russia's anti-terrorism commission 

"[The Russian opposition had shown its] true face [and should be] exterminated.”

"Don’t negotiate with terrorists. They should be exterminated like rabid dogs with poisonous saliva flowing from their mouths …"

"Forgiveness and compassion are not applicable to them. This is what the highest justice is."

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair, security council

“It’s even strange that we have to write and say this, but no, the FBK is not involved in the murder of propagandist Vladlen Tatarsky."

Lyubov Sobol, Navalny ally

Vladlen Tatarsky with the statuette shortly before it exploded, killing him

At a cafe, Street Food Bar No 1 near the River Neva in St.Petersburg, once owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin -- who runs Russia's notorious Wagner mercenary group which has taken part in much of the fighting in Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine -- fans of an aggressive anti-Ukraine, pro-war military blogger, born in Donetsk of Russian origins, was being lionized by his many admirers.A woman in the crowd of people stepped forward and handed him a boxed gift, a likeness of the blogger who, in a video, looked enormously pleased.

Darya Trepova, a 26-year-old Russian woman is now in confinement, accused of murdering blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, who used the name Maxim Fomin as a cheerleader for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, though he criticized the Russian military as "untrained", in frustration over the losses that Moscow has experienced with effective Ukrainian military counteroffensives. He subscribed to a burnt-earth-slaughter-everyone philosophy.

A police video has Ms. Trepova admitting under questioning that she delivered the lethal bomb that was the death of the blogger. Over 30 other people were injured in the explosion. Her confession, released by the interior ministry, was that she had brought the figurine of a Tatarsky likeness to the cafe, that soon afterward exploded. According to Russian media, she informed investigators that she had been set up, and had not been aware the figurine contained a bomb.

 

On Monday, Tatarsky was awarded the posthumous Order of Courage by President Vladimir Putin.   Vladlen Tatarsky/Telegram

 

A closed-circuit video showed footage of the young woman carrying the package into the cafe where supporters of Russia's war in Ukraine were gathered. On handing the figurine to Tatarsky, he is seen admiring the gift, handling it, his head lowered over it, and then lifting it forward, showing it off to his audience. Which was when the explosive in the figurine did its deadly work.

This represents the second instance where within Russia, key supporters of the war in Ukraine were killed through stealth connivance by anti-Kremlin, anti-war mystery figures. Darya Dugina, daughter of a prominent nationalist ideologue was killed by a car bomb outside Moscow last summer. Tatarsky had over a half-million followers on the Telegram messaging service. a celebrated pro-war presence..

He messaged that there was a need to "kill everyone" and "rob everyone" in Ukraine to enable Russia to complete its mission in Ukraine. It is now dawning on Russian commentators that the bombing is evidence that violence stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine is spilling into Russian territory. The Ukrainian intelligence services, according to Russia's National Anti-terrorism Committee, was behind organizing the bombing aided by supporters of imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

A suspicion that arose with the revelation that the accused woman  under arrest had registered at one time to participate in an anti-Kremlin tactical voting scheme that was promoted by Navalny's political movement. Most of Navalny's allies are now abroad, having fled when their movement was branded 'extremist' by the Kremlin. According to the Kremlin, Tatarsky's murder is a "terrorist act.The active phase of the investigation is now underway", Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman stated.

 

Darya Trepova declined to say who gave her the statuette but Russian authorities have blamed opposition figures   Russian interior ministry