I would like to pass along some of that compassion…and common sense.

Fight for the ideals you believe in. Don’t lash out simply because you can, especially on social media, where almost everything becomes an attack. Express love when you can. And accept it when you can. That's what I got.

My late partner Kathleen used to remind me that we don’t always understand what others have experienced and why they think the way they do. She was the wisest and most compassionate person I ever knew. I miss her and her wisdom terribly. Her birthday is tomorrow. I will sob, perhaps the whole day.

I have been grieving my own loss this year. Nine months later, I am not even close to being healed. I know I will never be the same. So I can’t imagine what the family of Charlie Kirk is going through. I send them my love and wishes for healing.

And to the rest of you, I send this message.

He was slick. He could talk fast. I’ve watched the videos. And he knew when to shut down the “debate.” Slick.

But he didn’t deserve to die for that. He didn’t deserve to die at all.

It is a tragedy that says more about our society than it says about any particular individual.

The notion that he was a “man of the people” because he engaged in “Prove Me Wrong” debates is nonsense. Have you ever seen a carny? The best bet is to walk away. But Kirk, who had more than a decade of indoctrination to radical right wing thinking, would encourage college students to best him.

Charlie Kirk’s organization said that was just fine.

But let me repeat, Charlie Kirk did not deserve to die for that.

He deserved to be debated and repudiated for his backward-thinking, racist and sexist ideas.

Don’t get me started on limited government. From shutting down women’s health choices (looking at you, legally and logically challenged Supreme Court) to marching troops into cities he doesn’t like who have too many brown people, the government has invaded our living rooms and our bedrooms.

Can anyone tell me how adding $3 billion (or more, depending on your source) to the national debt via Trump’s Big Buttiful Bill is fiscally responsible? Or how his irrational and emotional (is he going through menopause?) tariffs represent anything closely related to “free markets”?

He established Turning Point USA "to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principals of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government…" And he was a huge supporter of Donald Trump.

But back to Charlie Kirk.
He did not deserve to die.
He deserved to be fact checked. Every single time.
I’m not going to provide you with links to anything he said. I’ve seen enough of them myself, and I don’t want to encourage anyone to think like he did. If you care, look it up for yourself.

To be sure, the Internet had (and still has) the potential to be a force for good. But if you’ve read anything lately about AI, you will retreat to your bunker with a few hundred gallons of water and boxes of canned goods and passively wait for the coming Armageddon, regardless of the form it takes.

And the Internet--what was hailed in its infancy as a way to connect the whole world (hence, “world wide web”)--has instead separated us more than ever by allowing people to hide behind their computer screens and spew misinformation and hate without recrimination.

The difference now is that the weapons are light years ahead of what were available in the 1960s and 70s. They (and I mean the weapons as well as the people behind them) are aided by the kind of technology that was science fiction when I was growing up.

You know that. I know that. The planet knows that. Only the people in charge don't seem to know that.

I missed them!

Oh, no! Send the whole city to a camp!