3 d. ago ‘Page one of the authoritarian playbook’: how Trump and allies are exploiting Kirk’s killing

The president and his Maga allies have used the rightwing influencer’s killing to justify attacks on critics, experts sayDonald Trump and Maga allies have capitalized on the killing of rightwing influencer Charlie Kirk to expand attacks on liberal groups, donors, Democrats, and others by tarring many critics as the “enemy within” and “radical left” in a move that legal scholars and historians call authoritarian and anti-democratic.Kirk’s killing by a lone gunman spurred Trump and top allies to quickly launch conspiratorial charges against a bevy of political foes and an investigation of billionaire liberal donor George Soros. They also threatened legal action against TV network ABC after their late-night star Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension over clumsy comments about Kirk ended. Continue reading...

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3 d. ago California man accused of threatening to kill conservative influencer Benny Johnson by strangling him with a US flag

The threats allegedly made against podcaster Benny Johnson were made days after his close friend, TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk, was shot and killed

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7 d. ago Experts on how to talk with kids about violence in the news: ‘No topic is off limits’

The Guardian spoke with therapists, media experts and journalists about helping kids process bad news and develop healthy media habitsWhen rightwing commentator Charlie Kirk was killed last month, footage of his shooting spread rapidly across social media. Today, anyone with a smartphone can access gruesome videos and images – as well as troves of misinformation. Though some experts have been sounding the alarm about the potential harm of smartphones on children and teen’s mental health, the fact is most young people still have access to phones – and the often disturbing content that flows out of them.The Guardian spoke with seven experts on how best to speak with kids about upsetting content and news, at what age to start those conversations – and what to avoid.Anya Kamenetz, journalist and publisher of The Golden Hour newsletterEugene Beresin, MD, psychiatrist and executive director of the Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts general hospitalTara Conley, assistant ...

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7 d. ago How do you talk to kids about violence in the news? We asked experts

The Guardian spoke with therapists, media experts and journalists about helping kids process bad news and develop healthy media habitsWhen rightwing commentator Charlie Kirk was killed last month, footage of his shooting spread rapidly across social media. Today, anyone with a smartphone can access gruesome videos and images – as well as troves of misinformation. Though some experts have been sounding the alarm about the potential harm of smartphones on children and teen’s mental health, the fact is most young people still have access to phones – and the often disturbing content that flows out of them.The Guardian spoke with seven experts on how best to speak with kids about upsetting content and news, at what age to start those conversations – and what to avoid.Anya Kamenetz, journalist and publisher of The Golden Hour newsletterEugene Beresin, MD, psychiatrist and executive director of the Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts general hospitalTara Conley, assistant ...

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1 week ago ‘He wasn’t this national hero’: US college students voice concern over Charlie Kirk’s idolization

Black, brown and LGBTQ+ students across the US are puzzled by all the praise the far-right commentator has received after his killingAlana*, a student at Utah Valley University, was taken aback by the deification of Charlie Kirk in the wake of his assassination on 10 September. As an Afro-Latina genderqueer senior at DC’s Howard University, she found it off-putting when she saw an image on Instagram of Kirk hugging Jesus. “He wasn’t this national hero or politician,” Alana, who is using an alias, said. He was “just a white man with a loud opinion.”The sentiment on the historically Black university’s campus, she said, is that Kirk’s rhetoric about marginalized communities was hateful and that they are being unfairly blamed for his death. Continue reading...

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1 week ago How Chicago is resisting Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown

In the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk killing, the Guardian's Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone head to Chicago, where Donald Trump's Ice deployment, codename Operation Midway Blitz, has been met by a defiant wave of sustained protests. With political violence on the rise, they speak to a new generation of political candidates and organisers, including Kat Abughazaleh, to find out if worse is still to come Continue reading...

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1 week ago Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert on one another’s shows to ‘drive Trump nuts’

Kimmel returned to TV after his show’s suspension in the wake of comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s killing.

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1 week ago Turning Point, moving forward without Charlie Kirk, makes first return to Utah since his killing

Turning Point USA’s college tour is in Utah for the first time since its founder was assassinated on a college campus in the state earlier this month

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2 w. ago Charlie Kirk’s record of ‘bigotry, hatred and White Supremacy’ means there is no legacy to honor, says Ilhan Omar

Democrat tells Don Lemon ‘it is a tragedy that Charlie Kirk was killed in that way’

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2 w. ago Utah governor calls on people to ‘stop shooting each other’ after Kirk killing

Spencer Cox tells 60 Minutes he’s making plea after being able to ‘unsee’ video of Charlie Kirk being shotThe Utah governor, Spencer Cox, has called on people in the US to “stop shooting each other – that’s it” saying he makes that plea against political violence after being unable to “unsee” video of a sniper in his state killing rightwing activist Charlie Kirk.Cox delivered those comments in an interview aired Sunday evening on the CBS program 60 Minutes, 18 days after Kirk’s shooting death at Utah Valley University (UVU) and one week from the Turning Point USA founder’s memorial service outside Phoenix. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Charlie Kirk shooting: suspect’s lawyer requests time to examine ‘voluminous’ evidence

Lawyers representing murder accused seek more time before deciding if they will push for preliminary hearing An attorney for the 22-year-old man charged with killing Charlie Kirk asked a judge Monday for more time to review the large amount of evidence in the case before deciding if the defense will seek a preliminary hearing.A preliminary hearing would determine if there is enough evidence against Tyler Robinson to go forward with a trial. Defendants can waive that step, but Robinson’s newly appointed attorney Kathryn Nester said her team did not intend to do so. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Attorney for suspect in Charlie Kirk assassination wants more time to review evidence

An attorney for a 22-year-old man charged with killing Charlie Kirk has asked a judge for more time to review the large amount of evidence in the case before deciding if the defense will seek a preliminary hearing

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2 w. ago ‘Free speech for me, not for thee’: how Trump’s censorship blitz is splitting the right

After Charlie Kirk’s killing, the US president has unleashed an assault on free speech. Some conservatives are questioning his razor sharp U-turnIt has taken barely two weeks for Donald Trump to turn the horrific killing of Charlie Kirk to his political advantage, unleashing an unprecedented peacetime assault on free speech and a free press on the back of the assassination.Since Kirk’s death, the president and his top team have:forced a private media company to suspend late-night TV star Jimmy Kimmel for inaccurate comments he made about Kirk’s suspected shooter;threatened other TV networks with losing their licences should they say things Trump doesn’t like;vowed to prosecute “hate speech” that is fully protected under the first amendment;declared antifa a terrorist organisation in an indiscriminate attack on political ideology;and told journalists covering the Pentagon that they will have their access revoked unless they agree to restrictions on their reporting. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Online threats of violence lead to arrests after Charlie Kirk's killing

The killing of Charlie Kirk has been followed by a string of arrests across the U.S. over alleged threats of violence in response to the assassination of the conservative activist

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2 w. ago Trump’s pick for State Dept. deletes violent tweets as GOP blames left for political violence after Charlie Kirk killing

Some tweets labeled January 6 Capitol rioters as “political prisoners,” another suggested Joe Biden should be imprisoned, and one called for a political opponent to be executed.

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2 w. ago ‘It’s all performative’: why are shooters leaving messages on shell casings?

The use of markings on ammunition is a new trend of shooters trying to ensure their messages are disseminated publicly, experts sayIn the past month, the US has had to reckon with three deadly, high-profile shootings, and in each one, investigators have dealt with a seldom-seen piece of evidence in shooting cases, high-profile and otherwise: messages the shooter left on shell casings and firearm magazines.The suspect in the 27 August shooting at Annunciation Catholic school in Minneapolis allegedly left several firearm magazines with messages like “suck on this” written in white marker. Tyler Robinson, the man who’s accused of killing Charlie Kirk, allegedly engraved his bullet casings with “Hey fascist! Catch!” and “Bella ciao.” Authorities say the man who’s suspected of opening fire at an US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) facility in Texas this week wrote “Anti-Ice” on his bullet casings. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Kimmel controversy highlights ‘wildly dangerous’ consolidation of TV broadcasting

Rush to ‘preempt’ Kimmel’s talkshow after FCC chair’s threats comes as broadcasters seek merger approvalsIf the controversy behind Jimmy Kimmel’s show is a series of dominoes that fell one after the other, from the late-night host making his comments on Charlie Kirk’s killing to ABC halting production of his show, the first domino arguably fell this summer.Months before Kimmel was briefly pulled off the air, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) quietly announced it was seeking to make a huge change to broadcasting rules. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Dallas ICE shooter Joshua Jahn repeatedly searched for Charlie Kirk shooting video...as his shocking handwritten note is revealed

Joshua Jahn, 29, the shooter who opened fire on an ICE van in Dallas and killed a migrant, repeatedly searched for footage of the Charlie Kirk assassination, FBI Director Kash Patel revealed.

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2 w. ago Dallas ICE shooter Joshua Jahn repeatedly search for Charlie Kirk shooting video...as his shocking handwritten note is revealed

Joshua Jahn, 29, the shooter who opened fire on an ICE van in Dallas and killed a migrant, repeatedly searched for footage of the Charlie Kirk assassination, FBI Director Kash Patel revealed.

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2 w. ago Transgender Americans are seeing a wave of hate unleashed by Charlie Kirk’s killing | Erin Reed

In the aftermath of Kirk’s death, the far-right and Trump administration have turned up attacks on transgender peopleOn the day anti-LGBTQ+ activist Charlie Kirk was shot, fear rippled through the left that the far right would seize the moment to consolidate power. Nowhere was that fear more acute than in the transgender community.Within hours, Republicans were already blaming trans people; one commentator even claimed the bullets carried “transgender symbols”, a claim investigators quickly debunked. But the deeper fear wasn’t misinformation – it was the crackdown that would follow. With fragile rights hanging by the thread of court rulings and blue-state protections, trans people braced for the worst. And they were right: The right has seized on the shooting as its own Reichstag fire, accelerating a campaign to target transgender existence – now with the full weight of the Trump administration behind it.Erin Reed is a transgender journalist based in Washington DC. She tracks LGBTQ+...

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