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brightball a day ago

When activists threaten to and follow through with killing people, demand is created.

We are 1 year out from Charlie Kirk being shot on a college campus, in case reminders are needed.

Many dark corners of the internet encourage and celebrate this type of thing more and more.

croes a day ago | parent | next [-]

Why emphasize Charlie Kirk‘s death?

What about Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark killed earlier in the same year?

It’s still people like Kirk who are against effective gun control.

“I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment,”

brightball 20 hours ago | parent [-]

Why Charlie?

Because tomorrow is 1 year to the day and it’s on my mind.

Hortman? Agreed. Much more attention needs to be paid to why she was killed less than a week after breaking from her party to vote for something on Trumps agenda.

defrost 19 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The far right Christian evangelist that shot Hortman was a an anti-abortion Trump supporter who shot another Minnesota legislator the same day and had papers indicating he had others targeted in addition to perhaps wanting to shoot up a No Kings protest.

His "confession" letter was rambling and nonsensical, his motivation appeared to be a belief that killing at least four democrats (any four) would be enough to shift the balance of power in the state.

brightball 16 hours ago | parent [-]

Thus far, the only motive given is a confession that's been discredited and various associations to paint him in one light or another depending on the news you read.

If you follow the money, a picture starts to form.

June 9, 2025 - Melissa Hortman broke from House Democrats and cast the deciding vote to remove Medicaid/Medicare benefits from illegal immigrants. She was the only House Democrat to vote yes; the bill passed 68–65.

https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-budget-deal-undocumente...

June 14, 2025 - Hortman was killed, along with her husband Mark, at their Brooklyn Park home.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/us/minnesota-lawmakers-ma...

June 15, 2025 - Her killer, Vance Boelter, was caught near Green Isle, Minnesota, after a roughly 43-hour manhunt.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/us/minnesota-lawmakers-ma...

June 20, 2025 - News first broke that Boelter claimed Tim Walz asked him to kill Hortman and others. The claim was not found credible. The full letter was released with the federal indictment on July 15, 2025; prosecutors called it a fantasy and said they found no evidence supporting it.

https://www.startribune.com/vance-boelter-letter-klobuchar-w...

December 18, 2025 - The DOJ announced investigations into Minnesota Medicaid fraud, saying it was examining 14 Medicaid-funded programs and said more than half of about $18 billion spent since 2018 was likely stolen.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/us/minnesota-fraud-scanda...

December 23, 2025 - Nick Shirley first posted on X about Somali-run Minnesota daycare fraud, highlighting Quality Learning Center and claiming it received $1.9 million in CCAP funds in 2025.

https://x.com/nickshirleyy/status/2003542404440404302 (5.4 million views)

December 26, 2026 - Shirley posted the full 42-minute video, I Investigated Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal, visiting about 10 Somali-run centers and claiming more than $110 million in fraud in one day.

https://x.com/nickshirleyy/status/2004642794862961123 (144.1 million views)

January 5, 2026 - Walz dropped his reelection campaign amid the fraud controversy and federal pressure. He said he would stay in office and focus on the work in front of him.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/05/us/minnesota-child-care-fraud...

February 25, 2026 - The U.S. government announced it was pausing Medicaid support to Minnesota due to fraud. Vice President JD Vance and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz announced a temporary halt of about $259 million in Medicaid payments.

https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-medicaid-funding-fraud-...

March 4, 2026 - It was publicized that members of the Walz administration were aware of and ignored reports of the fraud as early as 2019, in a House Oversight Committee interim report released the same day Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison testified. A longer final report followed on June 8, 2026.

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/house-oversight-commi...

May 21, 2026 - DOJ announced charges against 15 defendants in more than $90 million in Minnesota Medicaid and related fraud, including the first new childcare-provider cases after the April raids.

https://www.twincities.com/2026/05/21/minnesota-fraud-new-ch...

3 hours ago | parent [-]
[deleted]
laimewhisps 19 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That's funny that you say that about Hortman when it was Kirk who broke from the pro-Israel party line and was almost immediately eliminated. Also why are you calling him Charlie? Did you personally know him?

brightball 17 hours ago | parent [-]

His name is Charlie Kirk. I don't always use people's full names to refer to them?

laimewhisps an hour ago | parent | next [-]

It's generally considered parasocial to call famous people you don't know by their first name.

16 hours ago | parent | prev [-]
[deleted]
laimewhisps a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Pressure on powerful people is good for society. Anyone making life or death decisions for the rest of us should have their own life on the table as well.

Charlie Kirk is irrelevant to this conversation. No one has been convicted in his assassination and it's unlikely that it was "activism" since no one has claimed that. He's a guy who said stuff many people found offensive, he also happened to cross a nation state known for assassinations and subterfuge shortly before he was shot.

SoftTalker a day ago | parent [-]

I'm only vaguely familiar with Charlie Kirk and his messaging but assassination is never a valid response to being offended.

thephyber a day ago | parent | next [-]

> The Democrat Party believes everything that God hates. Like, we’re dealing with maggots, vermin, and swine here. This is not — these are not good people, they’re not even a little bit good.[1]

He also called for the death of Biden (because he was a "tyrant") and all surgeons of transgender people.

If he was merely trying to be offensive, then he succeeded.

If, however, he was trying to make someone fear enough for their life to preemptively defend himself from someone claiming to speak for God + using the same dehumanizing words that have preceded multiple genocides before, then he succeeded.

A "valid" response entirely depends on what you think he was apart of. If you think he was only involved in good faith debates on college campuses and getting out the vote, then obviously shooting the guy was unjustified. But he wasn't only that, so we have to struggle with what his legacy actually was and what might have driven someone to pick up a gun against him.

My point isn't to justify his killing. It's to point out that we need to learn from history so we don't blindly repeat it.

[1] https://www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk/charlie-kirk-refer...

brightball 19 hours ago | parent [-]

His entire life is on video. Please pull direct quotes for any of that.

I watched in the aftermath of his death as all of these horrible things he supposedly said were paraded around. Every one was manipulated nonsense.

The machine hated Charlie for telling the truth and people were listening.

Ancapistani 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I don’t think the point of GP’s post was to claim one way or the other; rather it’s saying that it’s important to understand the motivations of others if you’re going to publicly characterize their actions or effectively oppose them.

rc5150 15 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Charlie Kirk, the trans activist? never heard of her.

laimewhisps a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

No one knows why Charlie Kirk was killed. Plenty of theories but it doesn't have anything to do with anti-AI or even anti-CEO protests.

LtWorf 20 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think having health insurance denied isn't "being offended" but more akin to being killed.

croes a day ago | parent | prev [-]

> While talking with his father over the phone on September 11, Robinson allegedly told his father that he had killed Kirk because "there is too much evil and the guy [Kirk] spreads too much hate".

That is not being offended.

That isn’t so much different from Trump‘s reasoning when he decided to blow Venezuelan boats.

woodgala a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Dark corners?!?

The president of the US celebrated the killing of State senator Hortman.

The fish rots at the head.

addled a day ago | parent | next [-]

I think I missed this one (or lost in the flood of news). Got a link?

All I can find now is him pushing conspiracy theories about it.

Him actually celebrating would be the sort of thing that might convince some MAGA leaning folks I know to change their mind.

nickthegreek a day ago | parent | next [-]

Not the person you are replying to, but I wanted to dig into this. I do not see any evidence that he celebrated this. He did decide to try and blame it Waltz though..

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/01/04/trump-circulates-fa...

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/1158335374671...

brightball 19 hours ago | parent [-]

The guy who killed her claimed Tim Waltz put him up to it. It wasn’t found to be credible.

a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]
[deleted]
woodgala a day ago | parent | prev [-]

[dead]

brightball 20 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Melissa Hortman died less than a week after voting against her party to support something on Trumps agenda.

Sabinus 18 hours ago | parent [-]

And? You're suggesting she was assassinated for voting for Trump supported legislation, by a Trump supporter?