Tag: assassinations

ABC Affiliate Anchor Beni Rae Harmony Resigns After She Was Suspended For Paying Tribute to Charlie Kirk

ABC affiliate anchor Beni Rae Harmony resigned on Monday after she was suspended for paying tribute to Charlie Kirk.

TPUSA founder and conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated during an event at Utah Valley University last week.

Beni Rae Harmony was suspended after she delivered a heartfelt message to her audience after her “mentor,” Charlie Kirk, was gunned down.

On Monday, she resigned from the network.

“Effective immediately, I have resigned from @WICS_ABC20 after being SUSPENDED for airing a non-partisan tribute to Charlie Kirk this past Friday,” Beni Rae Harmony said.

“Many in the mainstream media have been fired or punished for mocking his assassination. I believe I am the first to be targeted for honoring him on air,” she said. “My resignation is guided by values that are essential to who I am, which I refuse to set aside in order to keep a job. I choose my faith and love of country, and always will.”

“God Bless Charlie Kirk and his beautiful family, and God Bless these United States of America,” she added.

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Quarter Of Young Voters Think America ‘Better Off’ After Kirk Assassination: Poll

Over a quarter of young voters believe America is “better off” following the killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, according to a new survey.

The Napolitan News Service poll found that a staggering 26% of those aged 18 to 34 answered “yes” to the question: “While it is always difficult to wish ill of another human being, is America better off now that Charlie Kirk has been killed?” Among Democrats, 24% also responded affirmatively.

Kirk was shot and killed on Wednesday while speaking to students at an event at Utah Valley University, leaving behind a wife and two young children. The man accused of killing Kirk reportedly lived with a transgender-identifying “partner,” and bullet casings from the assassin’s rifle were inscribed with phrases such as “Hey fascist! Catch!” and “If you read this you are gay LMAO.”

The survey also found that 31% of respondents who identify with Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s policies believe the country is better off following Kirk’s death. Across all respondents, 15% answered affirmatively to the prompt, 67% said no and 18% were unsure.

Just 38% of Democrats said they had prayed for Kirk, his wife and children, compared to 75% of Republicans and 55% overall.

Among the Democrats surveyed, 31% said Republicans were more responsible for political violence in America, while 35% of Republicans answered that Democrats were more to blame. Overall, 66% of respondents said no single party is more responsible, with 18% pointing to Democrats and 15% to Republicans.

Thirty-six percent of Democrats said the Republican Party played a role in encouraging Kirk’s assassination, while 29% cited anti-Trump rhetoric. Those numbers are 35% and 32% respectively if you include voters who “lean” Democratic.

Just 24% of Democrats identified the media as partly responsible, compared with 42% of Republicans.

Among Republicans, 57% described Kirk’s assassination as a “significant turning point in American history,” compared with 40% of all respondents and 26% of Democrats.

The survey was conducted between Sept. 12 and 13 among 1,000 registered voters.

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Man claimed to shoot Charlie Kirk to ‘draw attention from the real shooter,’ police say

Police say that a Salt Lake City man — who was no stranger to the state’s political scene — claimed responsibility moments after the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, in an attempt to “draw attention from the real shooter.”

The arrest also sparked a child pornography investigation.

George Hodgson Zinn, 71, was booked into Utah County Jail for investigation of obstruction of justice and sexual exploitation of a minor on Monday, following a few days at a hospital. Newly released police documents also detail more of what happened that led to his arrest at Utah Valley University, which sparked a firestorm on social media.

After the lone shot was fired shortly after 12:20 p.m. last Wednesday, and as Kirk’s security team rushed him to a hospital, officers at the scene reported that they saw an older man lying on the ground surrounded by people who appeared to be tending to him.

The man, later identified as Zinn, told the officer, “I shot him, now shoot me” twice, according to a jail report compiled by UVU police. The officer reported that he could not see a weapon, but he placed Zinn in handcuffs while others at the scene cleared the area.

Once in custody, Zinn continued to say he was the shooter, the report continued. Officers asked Zinn where the gun was, but they say he refused to tell them. He reportedly asked for his attorney when he was brought back to the university police headquarters for questioning, even after police said they didn’t believe he was the shooter.

He later said he “did it to draw attention from the real shooter,” police wrote in the report. He was first taken to a nearby hospital for an undisclosed medical condition. While at the hospital, Zinn told an officer that “he was glad he said he shot the individual so the real suspect could get away,” the affidavit adds.

Zinn was released from the hospital on Monday and then booked into Utah County Jail.

Photos and video of his arrest quickly spread on social media, leading to erroneous reports that he was the shooter. Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason announced that Zinn was taken into custody but had been cleared as the shooter within hours of his arrest.

Authorities ultimately determined that the single shot came from the roof of the nearby Losee Center, located about 175 to 200 yards from where Kirk was speaking underneath a tent. The single shot struck him in the neck, causing significant blood loss.

Kirk, 31, was later pronounced dead at the hospital. He was at UVU as part of the “American Comeback Tour” hosted by Turning Point USA, the organization that he founded.

Tyler Robinson, 22, of Washington, Washington County, was taken into custody late Thursday and booked into Utah County Jail on Friday for investigation of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing injury and obstruction of justice. Authorities say charges in the case could be filed against Robinson as early as Tuesday. He’s also scheduled to make his first court appearance.

Meanwhile, a motion was filed on Monday to hold Zinn without bail in relation to his arrest. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had obtained any legal representation in the case. There is nothing in the police document to suggest that Zinn and Robinson were connected in any way.

Utah County sheriff’s deputies also launched another investigation into Zinn while he was hospitalized.

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Fake News Is Working: Plurality Of Americans Buy Lie About Alleged Charlie Kirk Shooter

The plurality of Americans surveyed in a YouGov poll bought into the false narrative that the alleged assassin of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk is a Republican.

Several notable figures rushed to claim that the suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was a conservative Christian, though Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and federal authorities later confirmed that Robinson became “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology.” The poll found that 24% of all adults have bought into the idea that Robinson is not, in fact, liberal.

In comparison, 21% of all adults believe Robinson was a Democrat, 15% said neither and 40% were unsure, according to the poll.

Robinson’s family told authorities that he had become more political and hateful in recent years. He lived with his trans-identifying boyfriend, Lance Twiggs, whose own relative said “hates conservatives and Christians,” according to Fox News.

“He hates conservatives and Christians,” the relative said of the trans-identifying roommate. “He hated us. He was not raised that way, but he, over the years, has become really detached [and] been radicalized.”

A growing number of “very liberal” adults across the U.S. believe it is “always or usually acceptable” to be happy about the death of a public figure they dislike, the poll further found. Among “conservative” and “very conservative” surveyors, 90% and 91% of those said it is “always or usually unacceptable.”

Ten percent of liberals also said it is acceptable to celebrate the death of someone they do not like, while 73% said it is never acceptable, according to the poll. A quarter of “very liberal” participants also said that political violence “can sometimes be justified,” and less than 5% of those identifying as “very conservative” said the same.

Most of the very liberal participants justifying political violence are between the ages of 18 and 29, the poll found.

Many liberals, especially educators, have been fired for openly celebrating Kirk’s death since Wednesday. Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) fired assistant dean Laura Sosh-Lightsy for writing on Facebook that she has “zero sympathy” for Kirk, while MSNBC gave political analyst Matthew Dowd the boot for alleging that Kirk brought his own assassination onto himself.

The Washington Post also fired columnist Karen Attiah for falsely stating that Kirk made an offensive remark about black women.

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Billionaire Bill Ackman convened stormy Israel ‘intervention’ with Charlie Kirk, sources say

A month before Charlie Kirk’s killing, billionaire pro-Israel moneyman Bill Ackman arranged an intervention in the Hamptons during which sources say he and others “hammered” Kirk for the conservative leader’s growing criticism of Israeli influence in Washington. Kirk came away fretting about Israeli “blackmail,” sources say, as he contemplated a Catholic conversion.

On September 11, one day after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, billionaire pro-Israel moneyman Bill Ackman took to Twitter/X to trumpet his relationship with the late conservative operative. “I feel incredibly privileged to have spent a day and shared a meal with @charliekirk11 this summer. He was a giant of a man.”

The Grayzone has spoken to five people with intimate knowledge of Kirk’s meeting with Ackman, which was held in early August under the guise of a summertime Hamptons lunch. According to one source, Kirk was left upset after the gathering turned into an “intervention” where he was “hammered” for his increasingly skeptical views on the US special relationship with Israel, and for platforming prominent conservative critics of Israel at his TPUSA events.

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Virginia Imam: ‘World a Better Place’ Without Charlie Kirk Who ‘Died Disrespecting Black People’

The world is “a better place” without Charlie Kirk, according to Virginia Imam Ismail Saleem, who accused the recently slain conservative activist of having died “disrespecting black people” and thus unworthy of sympathy, as he declared that the Turning Point USA founder is “getting what he deserves” and the grief of his supporters “makes me smile.”

In a Friday sermon in Norfolk, Virginia, Islamic preacher Ismail Saleem spoke to the congregation, slamming both Kirk and those expressing sympathy over his death, accusing mourners of misplaced morality.

“You see, the problem today is with empathy. And the problem that we see currently in these last couple of days is the empathy is for the family and friends of the racist person [Charlie Kirk],” he stated. “Does anybody hope that this man’s children grow up to be like him or continue his legacy and his work?”

“Some people empathize because they are not good people themselves,” he added.

In the clip, published by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which specializes in monitoring sermons and media in Arabic and Islamic communities, Saleem’s comments escalate further.

“He died disrespecting black people, so I don’t care about him at all,” Saleem said. “The world is a better place without him.” 

Saleem, who showed no remorse for his stance, doubled down on his reaction to Kirk’s death.

“He gets what he deserves — he’s getting what he deserves — right now,” he continued. “And it makes me smile. Their tears make me smile. Their anger makes me smile.”

The Norfolk mosque leader also attacked the notion of empathy toward Kirk’s family and friends, stating that many people are ignoring what he claims are far greater tragedies.

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After Charlie Kirk: Decency and the response to murder

The murder of Charlie Kirk has provided some lamentable insight into our current national politics, particularly on the left.

The left’s response to the murder is remarkable in several respects.

The first is the vitriol, the unhinged glee that some, obviously not all, on the left demonstrated in the response to the tragedy.

At the beginning of The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky makes a helpful observation about human nature. The character Father Zossima, the Orthodox elder, remarks:

The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others.

…

The man who lies to himself can be more easily offended than anyone […] he will be the first to take offense, and will revel in his resentment till he feels great pleasure in it, and so pass to genuine vindictiveness.

Many on the left have been lying to themselves, or willingly indulging in lies that are told to them.

These lies concern the moral superiority of abstract ideologies, the base motives and bad character of those who disagree with them, and the wildly inflated sense of the popularity of their views.

They credulously embraced caricatures of what people like Mr. Kirk actually believed and held them so tightly as to be impervious to contrary evidence. They “reveled in their resentment.”

As a result, many on the left felt not only justified, but reassured, that they were not only morally justified, but were in the overwhelming majority, and that no untoward consequences could possibly result from rejoicing in an atrocity. They expected, at worst, approval of the substance and discomfort at the tone.

The worldwide response has instead left them confused and disoriented. Their callousness was not lauded for its edgy “truth.” Instead, many revelers who could be restrained neither by common decency nor common sense, found themselves fired from their jobs, mocked on social media, and the objects of censure and condemnation.

Lies that people tell themselves are the most difficult to dispel. Doing so not only corrects an inaccurate perception but wounds the pride, and can shatter the structure on which people build their self-esteem and sense of worth. It is difficult to admit that one’s sense of superiority was based on an untruth.

As a result, the secondary response in some precincts of the left has been to cast about for further fabrications from their shaken worldview.

They declaim their fear of an inchoate backlash from hateful hooligans. They charge that they are the victims of unjust cancel culture. The demand preemptive restraint, voluntary and otherwise, against their adversaries. Self-reflection seems not to have occurred to them.

The claim that those on the left who lose their jobs or face any kind of uncomfortable consequences for their behavior in the wake of Mr. Kirk’s death betrays a lack of understanding of a free society.

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X Account That Predicted Charlie Kirk’s Assassination a Week in Advance Also Posted a Future Date for Trump Before Deleting Account

A now-deleted X account appears to have had prior knowledge of the brutal assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and subsequently posted a threatening date for President Donald Trump.

Trump was shot during an outdoor speech in Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.

The account, @TallyHallAlbum, posted an eerily specific “joke” on September 3, declaring it would be “funny if someone like Charlie Kirk got shot on September 10th LMAO.”

Just days after the tragedy, the user followed up with a cryptic reply: “did i” – and then escalated the threat by posting “Donald Trump. December 14th.” before scrubbing the entire profile from existence.

The FBI, under Director Kash Patel, has ramped up its investigation into at least seven suspicious social media accounts that displayed foreknowledge of Kirk’s murder, including this one, according to a report from the Washington Free Beacon.

These posts, spanning from August to just hours before the shooting, were deleted in the aftermath, raising serious questions about a coordinated plot involving radical left-wing elements, including ties to transgender and “furry” online communities.

Tally Hall is an obscure defunct rock band that broke up over a decade ago. Robinson and his live-in boyfriend, a transgender biological male named Lance Twiggs, were both actively involved in their fandom online, which appears to be largely people who are confused about their gender.

This isn’t isolated. The Gateway Pundit’s reporting since Thursday has revealed parallel accounts like @NajraGalvz, who posted on September 9: “Charlie Kirk is coming to my college tomorrow I rlly hope someone evaporates him literally,” followed by “Lets just say something big will happen tomorrow.” Or @Fujoshincel, who teased “something BIG coming soon” on September 5 and gloated “Another Chud Bites the Dust” post-assassination. An unnamed account predicted on August 6: “September 10th will be a very interesting day,” later pleading the fifth.

According to new reports, Robinson confessed in a Discord group chat to his friends two hours before his surrender.

Robinson told the group of 30 people, “Hey guys, I have bad news for you all. It was me at UVU yesterday. im sorry for all of this. im surrendering through a sheriff friend in a few moments. thanks for all the good times and laughs.”

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Liberal journalist laments Charlie Kirk assassin isn’t as sexy as Luigi Mangione: ‘He’ll be less inspirational’

Liberal commentator Krystal Ball cracked that alleged Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson would not build the army of followers Luigi Mangione did because he’s ‘not as good-looking.’

Ball was discussing the reaction to Robinson, 22, on her YouTube show Breaking Points when guest Emily Jashinsky talked about the disturbing trend of killers who gain cult followings.

‘You end up with a Charles Manson cult around someone, a cult following where people are obsessed and get fixated on someone in prison.’

Jashinsky then diverted to Mangione, currently accused of shooting healthcare executive Brian Thompson to death on a New York City street last December.

‘Even Mangione, you see some of this after he said he was innocent which means you could really be misdirecting people in different ways. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen here.’

Ball responded: ‘Well, he’s not as good-looking as Mangione so he’ll be less inspirational to people.’

As Jashinsky held her head in her hands, Ball doubled down: ‘Tell me I’m wrong!’

Conservatives latched on to Ball’s joke, with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani forcefully questioning Jashinsky after the clip went viral.

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Charlie Kirk Conspiracy Theories Roil MAGA Media

Right-wing media demands the “real” truth about Kirk’s death

ON THE SURFACE, the MAGA movement appears to be united after the murder of prominent activist and conservative media figure Charlie Kirk. They’re getting people fired from their jobs for social media posts that made light of, or even celebrated, Kirk’s death. They’re cruising the streets to demand random businesses lower their flags in his honor. And they’re plotting how to attack the institutions of the left, with Trump deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller vowing Monday to pursue a “vast domestic terror movement” targeting liberal foes.

Yet beneath that façade of unity, that appetite of anger, and that thirst for retribution, cracks are emerging as the always-paranoid right is pulled apart by conspiracy theories about Kirk’s murder and a sense that the Trump administration isn’t telling the truth about it.

After the arrest of suspect Tyler Robinson was announced on Friday, prominent right-wing media figures began to complain that the Trump administration couldn’t be telling the public the real story, noting that Robinson was a young white man from a Mormon family with no immediately clear political affiliations that could have inspired the shooting.

Prominent right-wing podcaster Michael Savage was one of the first MAGA figures to accuse the government of spinning the real truth of the assassination, claiming it was impossible for the killer to disassemble his gun and escape as quickly as the government had claimed.

“Something is wrong with this whole fucking picture!” Savage said in an episode of his show over the weekend.

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