Killer at large. Updating coverage: The hunt for the shooter who killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk as he held a Christian-oriented rally on a Utah college campus continued today …
■ … as authorities say they think the assassin jumped off a roof before fleeing the scene and left a rifle in woods nearby.
■ Kirk was born in Arlington Heights and graduated from Wheeling High School …
■ … and helped elect Republican Bruce Rauner governor of Illinois in 2014.
■ The Reader in November: Chicagoland laid the seeds for Trump’s MAGA movement.
■ CNN’s Brian Stelter says Kirk changed right-wing politics and media.
■ His final words before that fatal gunshot condemned transgender Americans.
‘Hypocrites and heartless ghouls on the left and the right … should knock off the ululations and accusations for a bit.’ Columnist Eric Zorn appeals for de-escalation of emotions as the Kirk story unfolds.
■ Tell it to President Trump …
■ … whose White House statement columnist Aaron Rupar calls “reprehensible” …
■ … and to far-right influencers who Wired reports “lit up social media with calls for violence against the left.”
■ Mehdi Hasan: “Hypocritical conservatives are using Charlie Kirk’s horrific murder to cynically smear the left.”
■ Law prof Joyce Vance: “Some of the people who are speaking out about the death of Charlie Kirk … didn’t have the same outrage in the wake of the murder of a state legislator and her husband … in Minnesota.”
■ MSNBC’s apologized for and fired a political analyst who said of Kirk, “Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.”
■ Trump’s giving Kirk a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
‘To the idiot who killed Charlie Kirk.’ Columnist Charlotte Clymer’s open letter: “You have given some of the worst people in society the propaganda they desire to push their hateful agenda against the least protected among us.”
■ David Dayen at The American Prospect: “Political violence puts all of us who participate in politics, and indeed the very act of participating in politics, at risk.”
■ A University of Maryland researcher tracking violence fears “a vicious spiral that could lead us into something really, really bad.”
■ Stephen Colbert—the only late-night host to address Kirk’s death on-air: “I pray with all my heart that this is … not a sign of things to come.”
■ Jack Crosbie at Discourse Blog perceives the onset of “the American Years of Lead,” as “any person can pick up a gun and find someone to shoot for ideological reasons.”
■ Columnist Bess Kalb: “In memory of all Americans killed by the dogmatic, NRA-funded belief of an American gun’s right over an American citizen’s, please join me in raising money for … Everytown for Gun Safety.”
Journalistic ‘gatekeepers’? Hah. The AP reports: As traditional news organizations declined to show the moment Kirk was shot, “gory video of the shooting was available almost instantly online, from several angles, in slow-motion and real-time speed” …
■ … and Wikipedia was well ahead of mainstream media in declaring Kirk dead …
■ … but AI-powered “fact checks” were spreading bullshit.
Tragic, indeed. As you see the cliché “tragedy” invoked repeatedly in connection with Kirk’s death, know that this is a rare case where the classical definition—the one taught in high school English—in fact applies …
■ … because Kirk said things such as this.
■ Wonkette: He “was an enthusiastic participant in the drive to push American politics toward constant outrage and violent rhetoric.”
‘We don’t need them.’ That’s Gov. Pritzker expressing relief that President Trump’s apparently folding on plans to send the National Guard into the streets of Chicago …
■ … but he’s not completely convinced Trump has indeed TACO’d …
■ … and ICE is still giving Chicago the chills …
■ … although if the president blinked, columnist Dan Froomkin gives Chicagoans credit for fighting back.
Changing of the guard. Cook County Circuit Court judges have ended long-ago Chicago City Council member Tim Evans’ 24-year run as the court’s chief judge.
■ Present council member Brendan Reilly is challenging Toni Preckwinkle for the Cook County Board presidency.
Well, that’s one. The U.K. has fired its U.S. ambassador over his links to convicted and dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
■ Columnist Elaine Soloway: Instead of Epstein’s birthday book, focus on his suspicious suicide.
■ Popular Information: Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over its Epstein scoop is foundering.
‘It feels the same way every year.’ A woman who lost her husband in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was among those headed today to a memorial in Lower Manhattan.
■ Flashback to that day: How we got out the news.
■ ProPublica cofounder Dick Tofel: “The journalism lesson I learned on Sept. 11.”
Not so Magnificent. A major crash early this morning shut down North Michigan Avenue.
■ A proposed class-action lawsuit filed by, among others, a Chicago Transit Authority board member and disability rights advocate accuses the city of violating federal law by failing to keep its sidewalks and crosswalks accessible.
Tube socks + punk rock. Costco is selling discounted tickets to next week’s 20th anniversary Riot Fest in Chicago.
■ The Chicago-born Potbelly sandwich chain’s been sold to an Atlanta-based gas station and convenience store chain.
The Babel fish made real. Eric Zorn says Apple’s announcement of an instant translation feature for next-gen AirPod earbuds brings science fiction author Douglas Adams’ fantasy to life …
■ … which makes this a good time to revisit three interviews with the wonderfully creative (and, unfortunately since 2001, dead) Adams.
■ The One5c environmental newsletter recommends seven ways to keep your phone out of the landfill.
Thanks. Mike Braden and Amy Zekas Reynaldo made this edition better.
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