September 13, 2025

The good news is that both Donald and JayDee are so over the shocking death of Charlie Kirk. Here's Donnie on the White House lawn yesterday, answering a question about how he's holding up after Kirk's murder. Bear in mind that news reports from numerous outlets have described Kirk as "close to" both Donald & JayDee: ~~~

     ~~~ AND JayDee is coping by fundraising off of Kirk's murder: ~~~

     ~~~  Theodore Schleifer of the New York Times: “In audio obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Vance told major givers to the Republican National Committee that Mr. Kirk should inspire them to work hard ahead of a difficult midterms cycle. The speech at the closed-door event was Mr. Vance’s first since Mr. Kirk was fatally shot at a university in Utah on Wednesday afternoon. 'Over the next couple of years, if we can honor Charlie, I’d ask this: Take that commitment to American greatness, take that commitment to our civic virtue, and take that recognition that a very good man gave his life for his country, and let’s go win, and win for the right damn reasons,' Mr. Vance said at the fall retreat of the R.N.C. in Washington.” ~~~

~~~ Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: “Kash Patel, the director of the F.B.I., on Friday described the arrest of the man accused of killing the activist Charlie Kirk as 'historic' — a fast-track triumph for law enforcement that proved the effectiveness of the Trump administration’s push to 'let good cops be cops.' The reality was more complicated. While the federal government, led by the F.B.I., surged investigative manpower and technological firepower..., the hunt for Mr. Kirk’s killer ended in the mundane way that many manhunts do. Someone called in a tip to local law enforcement and identified the suspect.... It was not clear whether anything the F.B.I. did in the days after the shooting played a decisive role in shortening the search. [Tyler] Robinson’s arrest late Thursday in many ways fit the unpredictable pattern of dragnet investigations, which are often resolved through a combination of shoe-leather police work, high-tech forensics and plain luck....

“It is possible, current and former officials said, that images of the shooter taken by surveillance cameras at the scene and disseminated on Thursday by federal authorities prompted Mr. Robinson’s family to come forward or convinced Mr. Robinson to surrender. But it appears to have taken the bureau a half-day longer than necessary to release the images, which were in the possession of F.B.I. agents in Salt Lake City as early as Wednesday night, Mr. Patel complained to his team. In a testy conference call early Thursday, Mr. Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, called out subordinates for waiting nearly 12 hours to show them the photos — and said they would have released them immediately had they been aware they were available....” ~~~

~~~ Perry Stein & Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: FBI Director Kash “Patel has been buffeted for days by criticism from members of Donald Trump’s right-wing base and the director’s own rank-and-file over his handling of the most high-profile investigation in his seven months on the job. Right-wing online influencers — some of whom helped propel Patel to the powerful law enforcement position less than a year ago — are now questioning whether he should continue leading the FBI.... And within the FBI, multiple people said the Kirk investigation has highlighted Patel’s inexperience and minimal knowledge of how the vast law enforcement bureau operates. Morale is low and he is 'crumbling under pressure,' current and former officials said.... The White House defended Patel in a statement Friday, saying the director has been working 'night and day on this case.'” ~~~

~~~ This CNN story, by Hannah Rabinowitz & others -- and republished by Yahoo! News -- covers a lot of the Patel hoohah, including this: “Another misstep, according to people close to the investigation, was that the FBI held onto the rifle Robinson allegedly used until late Thursday before turning it over to the ATF to begin analysis. [AG Pam] Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had to intervene, insisting that the weapon be sent immediately....” 

     ~~~ Dining Out. Ryan Reilly of NBC News: “FBI Director Kash Patel was dining at Rao’s in New York on Wednesday night after the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk.... Patel had posted on X at 6:21 p.m. ET that the 'subject' in Kirk’s killing was 'in custody.' Rao’s, a well-known restaurant that is notoriously tough to get into, opens at 7 p.m. Then, at 7:59 p.m., Patel posted a follow-up post that the 'subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement.' The details come amid criticism from multiple former FBI officials of Patel’s handling of the Kirk investigation. One law enforcement official said that the 'horrific event' of Kirk’s killing showcased Patel’s 'public inability to meet the moment as a leader.'” (You'll have to scroll down the liveblog to read the story; the item-specific link tries, but it doesn't work. [I did a search for "rao" to find it.]) ~~~

~~~ This Washington Post editorial, which praises Tyler Robinson's family for "potentially accelerating justice in this case," possibly gives the most accurate description so far of how the young man came to turn himself in: "Tyler Robinson’s father reportedly recognized him from images released by authorities and encouraged him to turn himself in. The 22-year-old refused at first but changed his mind, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press. His father reached out to a youth pastor who is also a U.S. Marshals task force officer, who helped Robinson turn himself in, news outlets report." ~~~ 

~~~ GOP Governor Schools Trump, et al., on the Quality of Mercy. Jess Bidgood of the New York Times: At a news conference Friday morning, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) said, “'We can return violence with violence. We can return hate with hate, and that’s the problem with political violence — is it metastasizes.... Because we can always point the finger at the other side. And at some point, we have to find an off-ramp, or it’s going to get much, much worse.' 'History will dictate if this is a turning point for our country.' Mr. Cox continued, 'but every single one of us gets to choose right now if this is a turning point for us.' Mr. Cox’s impassioned remarks, delivered as the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, stood to the side, seemed in some ways to be a direct rebuke to the language of vengeance and the politics of blame that prominent members of his party, including ... [Donald] Trump, have used in the days following the shooting.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I hope Cox's message gets through to some MAGA "Christians." Because it sure won't get through to Dumbo Numero Uno. ~~~

~~~ Nor to Bibi. Ahmad Austin of Mediaite: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was roasted this week after he insisted 'radical Islamists' and 'ultra progressives' were to blame for Charlie Kirk’s killing. A day after Kirk was shot and killed at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University, the prime minister appeared on Fox News to give his reaction to the news.... 'This is a worldwide problem,'  Netanyahu told Fox host Harris Faulkner. 'Islamists, and their union with the ultra progressives. They often speak about human rights, they speak about free speech, but they use violence to try to take down their enemies, whether it’s President Trump — who’s been almost assassinated twice — or, you know, they try to kill me here, too. But they got Charlie Kirk, and it’s just heartbreaking.'”Austin posts a number of tweets critical of Netanyahu's spitball assumption. MB: Sorry, Bibi. It appears Kirk's killer was a “radical Mormon.” As far as I know, neither of the would-be Trump assassins were Islamists, either.~~~

~~~ Jack Healy, et al., of the New York Times: “Tyler Robinson, the man accused of shooting Charlie Kirk, was a stellar student in high school, raised in a Republican home in Southwest Utah and training to be an electrician.... As elements of the nation’s political left and right scrambled for motives, the image that has initially emerged of Mr. Robinson is not at all clear. Neither is his trajectory from a scholarship-winning high school student ... to a suspect.... Mr. Robinson is registered to vote in Utah, but he is not affiliated with a political party and had never voted in an election, according to the Washington County Clerk.... Social media photos posted by his family over the years show Mr. Robinson and his two younger brothers shooting and posing with guns.” ~~~

     ~~~ Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: According to the Daily Beast, Tyler Robinson's grandmother said "he comes from a heavily Republican and pro-Trump family.... 'Although MAGA figureheads have been quick to point fingers at the left for Kirk’s death, Tyler’s grandmother, Debbie Robinson, 69, insisted that they come from a family of Trump supporters,' reported Amber Lewis. 'She spoke with Daily Mail on Friday after news of Robinson’s arrest broke. "My son, his dad, is a Republican for Trump," Debbie told the outlet. "Most of my family members are Republican. I don’t know any single one who’s a Democrat."'... However, The Guardian reported Friday that an anonymous high school friend claimed Robinson was the only left-leaning member of his family and frequently argued about politics.... A previous Wall Street Journal report mistakenly claimed that the 'Helldivers 2' reference [scratched on one of Robinson's bullet casings] was actually a pro-transgender rights statement, but the outlet later retracted this amid widespread outcry." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The Guardian has since removed the post the Raw Story report linked. The Guardian replaced the post with this “Editor’s note: This article was updated on 12 September 2025 to remove quotes after the verified source who attended high school with Tyler Robinson said after publication that they could not accurately remember details of their relationship.” ~~~   

     ~~~ Marie: Some left-wing, sensationalist podcasters are speculating that Robinson's political leanings were to the right of Charlie Kirk's. They point to signs like Robinson's dressing up one Halloween as Pepe the Frog, who is a symbol for the alt-right white nationalist movement. Whatever motivated him to shoot Kirk, he was clearly messed up. His familiarity with and ready access to long guns was obviously a factor in this stupid murder. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Ryan Broderick & Adam Bumas may have the best explanation so far of what Robinson was up to when they write on Broderick's blog Garbage Day that "Charlie Kirk was killed by a meme." Read through their argument -- which is informative -- to see what you think. ~~~   

     ~~~ Update 2. Charlie Warzel of the Atlantic effectively wraps a good deal of context around the Garbage Day piece: "... the algorithmic internet ... abhors an information vacuum and, in the absence of facts or credible information, gaps are quickly filled with rage bait, conspiracy theorizing, doomerism, and vitriol ... [making] its actual perpetrator ... [irrelevant] to the immediate discourse.... Understanding Kirk’s assassination through politics alone may not be enough.... This, too, is the algorithmic internet at work: a justification machine where facts and news aren’t so much presented and reported as they are cataloged and then rearranged to fit preset narratives.... The [sayings etched on the] bullet casings are less of a sign of a political affiliation and much more a signal that the shooter was very online.... This dynamic — a young shooter who seems to have no barriers between fringe online life and the real world — has become an alarming meme unto itself." Thank you to akaWendy for this gift link. ~~~

~~~ Here are some entries from yesterday's NYT live updates on developments in the Charlie Kirk shooting:

• Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs: “Tyler Robinson, 22, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily harm, and obstruction of justice, all felonies, according to an affidavit filed in court. A judge ordered that he be held without bail. Court records indicate that he had not been convicted of any crimes in the past.”  
• Glenn Thrush: “Kash Patel, the embattled F.B.I. director who has drawn criticism for his handling of this investigation, immediately thanks ... [Donald] Trump when stepping up to speak at a news conference — in keeping with his pattern of lavishing public praise [for Mr. Trump]....”
• Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs: “There were engravings on unfired ammunition left with the gun that officials believe was used in the shooting, Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah says in a news conference. One of them read, 'Hey fascist! Catch!' the governor said, adding that another read, 'If you read this, you are gay LMAO,' an abbreviation for 'laughing my ass off.'.... Gov. Spencer Cox says a family member of the suspect, Tyler Robinson, contacted a family friend after the shooting. That friend then contacted a sheriff’s office and told officers that Robinson had confessed, or suggested that he had committed the killing.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~ 

~~~ AND then there's this from David Sanger, also writing on the NYT liveblog: Donald “Trump said on Friday that the 'radical left' was responsible for much of the political violence in the country, and walked to the edge of excusing violence on the right, saying that most on the extreme right of the political spectrum were driven there because 'they don’t want to see crime.' In an interview on 'Fox and Friends' that ran for nearly an hour, Mr. Trump built on the case he had made on Thursday evening to reporters that 'we have radical left lunatics out there and we just have to beat the hell out of them.'... Mr. Trump dismissed on Friday a suggestion from one of his interviewers that there were extremists on both the left and the right, saying his biggest concern was those on the left. 'The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime,' he said. 'The radicals on the left are the problem, and they’re vicious and they’re horrible and they’re politically savvy.' America has seen a wave of violence across the political spectrum, targeting Democrats and Republicans.” See Paul Krugman's commentary, first linked yesterday.

David Bauder of the AP: “Political analyst Matthew Dowd says MSNBC reacted to a 'right wing media mob' in firing him for commentary about hateful rhetoric that aired on the network shortly after early reports this week that conservative activist Charlie Kirk had been shot.... At the time he spoke, Dowd wrote, he was responding to reports of a shooting at Kirk’s appearance, when it wasn’t even clear that Kirk has been hit. He said on the air that Kirk was a divisive and polarizing figure. He thought 'how could anyone disagree with this?' he wrote on Substack. 'I guess I was naive.'... 

“Reverberations over the firing continued Friday, with a memo sent to Comcast employees by Brian Roberts, CEO of the company that owns MSNBC; Comcast President Mike Cavanagh; and Mark Lazarus, CEO of Versant, the spinoff company that is to take over MSNBC ownership — if it receives Trump administration approval. Without using Dowd’s name, it referred to the firing and said his comments were 'at odds with fostering civil dialogue and being willing to listen to the points of view of those who have differing opinions. We should be able to disagree, robustly and passionately, but, ultimately with respect. We need to do better.'” ~~~

~~~ Here's Matthew Dowd's Substack post. ~~~ 

     ~~~ Marie: Most of the discussions of "the great divide" between Charlie Kirk and "the left" refer to political differences. But IMO, many of Kirk's radical views are not necessarily political, although it is true that these views are more often held by right-wing extremists than by progressives. I just don't think bare racism is necessarily political (though it can be used for political purposes). The same with misogyny. And religious bigotry. If you look at the few Kirk quotes the Guardian gathered the other day, I think it's obvious that Kirk was as much a racist, a misogynist and an Islamophobe as he was a spokesman for right-wing political policies. In any event, I have a hard time finding that opposing hate speech is a firing offense -- though I guess it is if you're wanting Trump & the Trumpettes to approve your corporate reorganization. ~~~

     ~~~ Oh, add anti-LQBTQ to that list of Charlie Kirk's phobias. Here's Steve M., writing about Ezra Klein's inexcusable encomium to Kirk, lists a number of other sick remarks Kirk made. 

Marie: As an aside to Trump's rapid evolution from mourner to construction overseer, I was wondering how it happened that he was allowed to start work on the gigantic, gaudy White House ballroom, what with there being a tedious, time-consuming requirement to obtain approval. Here's a story that answers my question: ~~~

     ~~~ The Fix Is In. Will Weissert of the AP (September 4): “Demolition to build ... Donald Trump’s new ballroom off the East Wing of the White House can begin without approval of the commission tasked with vetting construction of federal buildings, the Trump-appointed head of the panel said Thursday. Will Scharf, who is also the White House staff secretary, said during a public meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission that the board does not have jurisdiction over demolition or site preparation work for buildings on federal property. 'What we deal with is essentially construction, vertical build,' Scharf said. He called Trump’s promised ballroom 'one of the most exciting construction projects in the modern history of' Washington. He made the comments during the only public meeting of the commission scheduled before crews are expected to break ground on a $200 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom.... Scharf made a distinction between demolition work and rebuilding, saying the commission was only required to vet the latter.”

Patrick Svitek & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump announced Friday that Memphis will be the next target of a National Guard deployment, as his administration expands its use of the military to fight crime to its third Democratic-run city in recent months. 'We’re going to Memphis,' Trump said during a Fox News interview, calling it a 'deeply troubled' city. 'National Guard and anybody else we need. And by the way, we’ll bring in the military too, if we need it.'” The AP's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Tennessee Waltz. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: “The state’s governor and other top Tennessee Republicans quickly embraced [Mr. Trump's] proposal. But Memphis’s mayor, a Democrat, expressed frustration and concern that in the long run the move would not help a city that has some of the nation’s highest crime rates.... Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, in a statement after Mr. Trump’s comments..., said the National Guard would be part of 'a comprehensive mission' with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Memphis police, and state highway patrol to build on existing law enforcement work.... After Mr. Trump said on television that  'the mayor is happy' with the decision, [Memphis Mayor Paul] Young called that characterization an 'overstatement.' 'I did not ask for the National Guard and I don’t think it is the way to drive down crime,' Mr. Young said at a news conference.... 'However, that decision has been made.'”

Rachel Siegel & Andrew Ackerman of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump is pushing to fire [Federal Reserve Governor] Lisa Cook over unproven allegations that she committed mortgage fraud by calling more than one of her homes a primary residence.... [But she] described an Atlanta property now under intense scrutiny from the Trump administration as a vacation home or a second home in multiple documents in 2021.... Cook has sued to keep her seat, arguing that the allegations are unproven. The Justice Department has opened an investigation, but no charges have been filed. Earlier this week, a federal judge temporarily halted Cook’s firing.... Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has argued that Cook may have gotten a lower rate because the lender was treating the condo as a primary home.... Cook also owns properties in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, which the documents did not address.” An AP News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Steve Kopack of NBC News: "Additionally, public records in Fulton County, Georgia, reviewed by NBC News show that no tax exemptions available for a primary residence were sought by Cook." 

Edward Wong & Michael Crowley of the New York Times: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio ... has helped steer the Trump administration toward a much more aggressive — and deadly — tactic [across Latin America and the Caribbean]: use military force to destroy suspected drug boats and kill the people on board, without a legal process.... No senior Trump official has spoken more forcefully about the new campaign of violence against Latin American criminal groups and their allies. And no senior aide to Mr. Trump has as long a history working on Latin America policy.... The son of anti-Communist immigrants from pre-revolutionary Cuba, he was motivated by his loathing for the Castro government and its allies, notably Venezuela.... Mr. Rubio has long sought the ouster of leftist strongmen in the region, particularly leaders of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, whose governments he has called 'illegitimate.' He has also helped engineer the administration’s mass deportations of immigrants, including to a notorious prison in El Salvador.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Marie: The Trump administration is so stupid, wasteful and horrible that even when they do not do something stupid, wasteful and horrible, they lie and say they have done that stupid, wasteful and horrible thing. ~~~  

~~~ Jenna Smialek, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration told The New York Times on Thursday that it had destroyed millions of dollars’ worth of birth control pills and other contraceptives destined for people in low-income countries. But when the authorities in Belgium, responding to the report in The Times, obtained authorization to enter the warehouse that had been holding the supplies on Friday morning, the stockpile was still there, an official in the Flanders region said.... Flanders has a ban on incinerating still-usable medical products. That means the United States would need to request permission to destroy them, which Belgian officials said they had not done.... A spokeswoman for U.S.A.I.D., Rachel Cauley,” had initially told the Times the contraceptives had been destroyed, but after the times reported that Belgian authorities had contradicted her, she admitted, “There was a miscommunication with international staff and no destruction has yet happened but we are reviewing the matter.”  

Lena Sun, et al., of the Washington Post: “Trump health officials plan to link coronavirus vaccines to the deaths of 25 children as they consider limiting which Americans should get the shots.... The findings appear to be based on information submitted to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which contains unverified reports of side effects or bad experiences with vaccines submitted by anyone.... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasizes that the database is not designed to assess whether a shot caused a death.... Trump health officials plan to include the pediatric deaths claim in a presentation next week to an influential panel of advisers to the CDC that is considering new coronavirus vaccine recommendations, which affect access to the shots and whether they’re free.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: My cousin got the coronavirus shot and the very next day she won a million-dollar lottery scratch-off prize. Proof positive that vaccinations are harbingers of wicked good luck. The stupidity/mendacity/audacity of this HHS stunt boggles the mind.

Maxine Joselow of the New York Times: “The Environmental Protection Agency moved on Friday to stop requiring thousands of polluting facilities to report the amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gases that they release into the air. The E.P.A. proposal would end requirements for thousands of coal-burning power plants, oil refineries, steel mills and other industrial facilities across the country. The government has been collecting this data since 2010 and it is a key tool to track carbon dioxide, methane and other gases that are driving climate change. The Friday announcement followed months of efforts by the Trump administration to systematically erase mentions of climate change from government websites while slashing federal funding for research on global warming.... Critics said the proposal could hobble federal efforts to fight climate change, since the government cannot reduce emissions if it cannot track where they are coming from.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, “critics said ... could hobble” climate change mitigation. God forbid the Times should go out on a limb and state the obvious: you can't stop companies from polluting the air if you don't know they're doing it! “Critics said” is just irresponsible reporting.

Julie Bosman, et al., of the New York Times: “A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a man in the Chicago area who drove his car into ICE officers, a representative for the agency said on Friday, adding that the man had been resisting arrest during a vehicle stop. The man, who the authorities said was not legally in the country, dragged the officer as he fled in his vehicle, the agency representative said. The officer was severely injured and was in stable condition. ICE identified the man as Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, 38, who is from Mexico. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.... The agency did not immediately respond to requests about whether the officers involved in the operation were wearing body cameras. ICE has been conducting a higher number of immigration arrests than usual in the Chicago area this week, under an effort called Operation Midway Blitz.” A CBS News report is here.

Chris Cameron of the New York Times: “Lawyers for five migrants deported to Ghana last week accused the Trump administration on Friday of ignoring court-ordered protections for their clients, the latest legal challenge to a campaign that has been carried out with remarkable speed and a lack of transparency.... In an interview on Friday evening, the lawyers said the case bore similarities to that of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was wrongfully deported to his home country of El Salvador earlier this year and who continues to fight a labyrinthine legal battle as the administration tries to deport him to various African countries. As in his case, the suit, filed in the Federal District Court in Washington, raised the question of whether the administration had defied judges’ orders protecting the migrants.... Lawyers with Asian Americans Advancing Justice, representing the five migrants, accused the administration of using its agreement with Ghana to ignore the legal protections that prevent deportation to their home countries.... In essence, they argued, the administration has enabled an 'end run' around those prohibitions, by first removing [the migrants] to Ghana, and then claiming it is powerless to stop Ghana from sending them to their home countries.”

Marie: Here's a lesson to be drawn from the following story: when a thoroughly obnoxious person disses another thoroughly obnoxious person, both people are still thoroughly obnoxious: ~~~

     ~~~ Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: “Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said former Trump adviser Elon Musk was 'backward' in his efforts to cut government waste through the firings led by the U.S. DOGE Service, the latest example of a rift between the Trump administration and Musk since he left Washington. Lutnick, in an interview published Friday with Axios co-founder Mike Allen, said Musk 'got caught up in other people’s objectives,' suggesting the billionaire got ahead of ... Donald Trump’s Cabinet secretaries in his efforts to slash the number of federal employees. Lutnick said that going forward he expects government-cutting efforts to focus more tightly on identifying waste rather than broad reductions to the workforce, which accounts for a relatively small percentage of government spending.”

~~~~~~~~~~  

Poland/U.S. Aaron Wiener of the Washington Post: “Polish leaders on Friday rejected ... Donald Trump’s suggestion that the Russian drones that invaded NATO airspace this week might have been a 'mistake.' 'We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake,' Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, posted on X. 'But it wasn’t. And we know it.'... NATO’s top political and military leaders said it was still not clear whether the Russian incursion was deliberate but said the U.S.-led alliance would implement a new initiative called Eastern Sentry, aimed at bolstering defenses along its entire eastern flank — a pointed warning to Moscow. Jabbing a lectern with his finger at a news conference late Friday afternoon, Secretary General Mark Rutte called the Russian breach 'dangerous and unacceptable' regardless of intent.” (Also linked yesterday.)