The Ugly Aftermath of Charlie Kirk Assassination

Sadness and shame haunt our nation in the aftermath of the political assassination of conservative Charlie Kirk. A bullet fired from a rifle ended the life of the 31-year-old who rose to fame touring college campuses to promote free speech and debate.  He leaves behind a wife and two children.

Charlie was a hero to millions of young people in Generation Z (13-28 years old). Charlie's podcasts, campus appearances and YouTube interviews generated billions of views.  His killing leaves the same searing memory for Gen Z as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy did for my generation.  

Details of the shooting and the craven assassin have been obsessively covered in the media.  There will be no rehashing of the evil that struck down Charlie but failed to silence his movement.  However, the shameless exploitation of a human being's death is a stain on the nation. 

Videos of people celebrating Charlie's murder peppered social media after the shooting. The Satanic messengers were mostly young, political activists, the disenfranchised, people of color and a few celebrities. The stench of hatred on social media was on full display for the world to see.  

Widely circulated memes claimed Charlie wished harm to LGBTQ people. He was racist, homophobic, a fascist and a Nazi. Charlie's quotes were taken out of context to smear his character.  Liberal detractors could not stomach Charlie being seen as a martyr. 

The corporate news media also performed disgracefully in this dark moment. In the aftermath, news reports labeled Charlie Kirk a right winger whose message incited violence.  A reporter on a cable channel insinuated Charlie had it coming because he used "hateful words." 

Their characterization exposes how little the media cares about honesty.  Charlie appeared on campuses and offered students an opportunity to debate ideas.  He was never mean spirited or treated students with disrespect.  Characterizing his views "dangerous" exposes the cultural rot in the country. 

Imagine the vacuous media calling "hate speech" Charlie telling college kids not to get abortions, to embrace capitalism, to be monogamous, to turn to God, to reject the notion of men competing in women's sports and to love America.  Those are traditional Christian values, not extremism.  

The dishonest media stooped to new lows once the identity of the shooter was released. Police and the district attorney painted the picture of a radicalized 22-year-old who was in a romantic relationship with a transitioning male.  Despite the facts, the media branded the assassin a Trump supporter. 

The killer was white and had a gun.  In the biased media's view, that screams MAGA.  Their characterization fell apart when the alleged assassin's parents recounted their son's descent into leftist dogma.  That didn't stop a comedian from asserting the killer was clearly "one of them"--MAGA. 

What the venal media should focus on is the increasing political violence in the nation, particularly among Generation Z.   A 20-year old shot and wounded President Trump.  A 23-year old opened fire at a Minnesota Catholic Church, killing two and wounding 21 parishioners.

The accused killer of the CEO of UnitedHealthCare is 26-years old.  Last week's shooter at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Dallas was 29-years-old. Authorities said the killer took his own life after shooting three detainees, including one fatally. 

Surveys from 2024 and this year indicate a concerning trend of increased acceptance of violence among young people, especially political violence.  While older generations overwhelmingly reject violence, a growing minority of young adults find it acceptable in some circumstances. 

A poll this month by YouGov showed among adults under 30, 19% said political violence can sometimes be justified.  The Edelman Trust Barometer in January reported its poll found 31% of Gen Z justify violence, property damage and misinformation as means for social change.

Another survey this year by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression polled college students and discovered 34% of these young people say "using violence to stop a campus speech" can be acceptable. 

And it's not just political violence that some young people endorse.   A study by Psychology of Violence found that 41% of young adults viewed the murder of a CEO to be acceptable. This should trip alarm bells with every parent, teacher, professor and counselor as well as society at large. 

Many blame the radicalization of today's young people on social media. It's a convenient scapegoat for the lazy. Virtually every young person in America consumes social media.  But only a tiny minority commit murder.  Shouldn't we demand personal accountability instead of just blaming algorithms?

The media, educators, parents, the police and politicians should be asking hard questions about the radicalization of Generation Z.  How can someone believe that it's okay to kill a person over political or social beliefs?  Why is violence  happening so often? What can be done to stop it? 

It doesn't seem too much to ask that the police reveal the motive of each shooter who commits horrific acts of violence, instead of lapsing into obfuscation.  There is a timidness among law enforcement and prosecutors not to assign blame to radicalization or political rhetoric for stoking hatred.

The politicians and media have no shame in finger pointing after each episode.  But digging into the profile of shooters, their background, influencers and media consumption could reveal what contributes to violence.  Surely terms such as Hitler, Nazi and Gestapo are ammunition for depraved minds.       

It is instructive that after Kirk was gunned down, his millions of followers--mostly Generation Z--did not commit acts of vengeful violence.  No property was damaged.  No buildings were torched.  Cars were not set ablaze.  There were no angry mobs protesting and assaulting police. 

The reaction stands in stark contrast to the property damage and assaults during ICE raids.  The burning of Teslas because of the company's CEO politics. The assaults on police officers trying to restore order to the streets during out-of-control protests.  Actual violence begets more violence.   

Charlie Kirk above all else was an evangelist.  He proudly professed his faith in Jesus Christ on college campuses. He called others to return to God and to live out their faith.  He would've been proud that his followers refused to bow to hatred by singing hymns, praying and comforting one another.

Their example gives a ray of hope to a nation scarred by violence. Meanwhile, Charlie's legacy has ignited a religious and political awakening that is reverberating throughout the country.   

Crime Data: Misleading Statistics

Questions are swirling around crime data in the wake of the deployment of National Guard members to the nation's capital. City officials claim murders have declined.  National data suggests all crime has shrunk. But how reliable are the numbers?  There is evidence the data is problematic. 

Pew Research Center analyzed data in an effort to answer the question: "How much crime is there in the U.S." Their answer: "It's difficult to say for certain." The two primary sources of government crime statistics--the FBI and The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)--paint an incomplete picture.

FBI reports, once the gold standard, is pocked with Swiss cheese holes. In 2019, 89% of municipal police departments submitted crime data to the agency.  To compensate for the incomplete data, the FBI estimated the missing municipalities crime numbers.  

In 2020, the FBI recorded a historic single-year increase in homicides of 30% in the aftermath of the George Floyd nationwide riots. There are some experts who believe the violent crime data that year was actually worse because big city police were swamped and reporting may have suffered as a result. 

The 2021 FBI data failed to improve. The bureau modernized its data collection system. Thousands of police agencies fell through the cracks. Only 63% of police departments submitted crime data, meaning 6,000 municipalities failed to report numbers. The FBI reported crime fell.   

Then in 2022, the FBI under Christopher Wray regrouped to right the data ship.  Pew reports 83% of police agencies participated. Two of the largest police departments in the country--New York and Los Angeles--were missing from the final FBI crime report. Unsurprisingly, crime declined.   

The FBI initially reported an estimated 1.7% decrease in violent crime. Later in 2023, the agency quietly revised the data, reporting a 4.5% increase in crime for 2022.  The FBI failed to include 1,699 murder, 7,780 rapes, 33,459 robberies and 37,091 aggravated assaults--a staggering oversight.

The bureau reported 19,800 homicide victims in 2023.  The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued its cause of death data for the same year, counting 22,830 homicide deaths.  Its records are compiled from the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program provided by 57 jurisdictions. 

Last month the FBI issued its 2024 report from 16,419 police departments, still short of the 18,000 previously reporting crime data. Violent crime decreased 4.5%.  Leaving aside the issue of the veracity of the data, a violent crime occurred on average every 25.9 seconds somewhere in America.  

The Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is second only to the FBI in perceived importance. It is a national survey of about 240,000 people 12 and older.  Participants are asked if they have been a victim of a crime in the past six months.  The methodology obviously eliminates murder victims, an obvious flaw.

However, the NCVS is recognized as more accurate in capturing the overall picture of violent crime, which includes rape, robbery aggravated assault, robbery and manslaughter.   While the FBI reported decreases in 2021 and 2022, the NCVS data for the same period shows violent victimization rose 75%.    

Data from most sources depends on local police records. And that's another problem.  In Washington, D.C., the flashpoint for crime, the head of the Metropolitan Police Department's top union official claims higher ups are fudging the crime data by directing cops to downgrade felonies to a lesser offense,

The union boss Gregg Pemberton shared his accusations with NBC Washington.  The contention followed the police department's suspension of a commander in mid-May for allegedly changing crime statistics in his local district. No word on how widespread the practice is.  

Even though the nation's capital has recorded a 27% drop in violent crime this year, it still has the fourth highest homicide rate in the country, nearly six times higher than New York City.  The city has recorded 103 fatal shootings this year.  For comparison, there were 105 murders in 2014.

Chicago has been in the spotlight after President Trump threatened to send the National Guard to the Windy City.  Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has stiff armed any suggestion of federal assistance, pointing out homicides decreased by 7.3% last year, but still higher than pre-pandemic figures.

A University of Chicago Crime Lab report underscores the "persistent challenging patterns" of violence in the city.  Black residents are 22 more times likely to be killed compared to white residents. In some Chicago neighborhoods, a black person is 68 times more likely to be a victim of a fatal shooting.

And, while violent crime is down, the Crime Lab notes it is still higher than the five year average.  The primary contributors are soaring aggravated assaults, aggravated batteries and robberies, according to the Crime Lab. Since 2010, the rate at which shooting victims die from a gunshot has soared 44.9%.

You won't hear those numbers from the mayor, who has overseen the shrinking of the Chicago police force.  There are now fewer officers than the city had in 2018, a decline of nearly 13%.  In addition, Johnson has failed to deliver on a campaign pledge to add 200 more detectives, WGN reported.

The mayor's credibility took another hit Labor Day weekend when 58 Chicagoans were shot, eight fatally.  This underscores the issue in many large cities.  Crime may be down, if you believe the statistics, but it begs the question: How much crime is too much?

In many big cities such as Chicago, too many repeat offenders with long criminal records are arrested and freed without bail.  Failure to address this situation results in career criminals preying on the most vulnerable. Until district attorneys incarcerate thugs, systemic violent crime will continue.  

The credibility of crime data is not some conservative conspiracy as Democrats contend.  The Legal Defense Fund, a liberal group, called crime statistics "unreliable" because many crimes go unreported by victims.  Even reported crimes may not be recorded by police, the group points out.

Another liberal group, the VERA Institute, examined the FBI data and gave this assessment: "The FBI estimates national and state totals, sometimes using a relative small percentage of jurisdictions in a state" to flesh out its data making the numbers "deeply problematic."

VERA performed its own research on the quality of policing data from 94 of the country's largest cities.  Researchers concluded: "The results were, perhaps, predictably underwhelming.  Of the 94 localities included, only 21 scored more than 50 out of 100 on Vera's index, which rates the data's completeness. 

Public safety and crime are key issues with voters.  A recent national poll commissioned by the Associated Press (AP) found that 81% of Americans believe crime is a major problem in big cities.  Those running America's largest cities often seem out of touch with local concerns.    

It's time for Congress to standardize crime reporting methodology for local and state police organizations, while ending voluntary participation, and instead mandating records be furnished to the FBI. The agency also should be required to overhaul its processes in the interest of accuracy.

Crime data is not an academic exercise.  The numbers are essential to understanding the resources--both funding and manpower--needed to make all Americans safer.