Tag: assassinations

NPR Reminds Us Why It Needs to be Defunded With Its Latest Tweets

Before I begin this article, I want to give you a fun little fact about the National Public Radio (NPR) gets its funding.

According to The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which helps fund, they recently received a $50 million increase in funding support from the federal government, totaling out at $525 million, thanks to the House and Senate passing the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022.

Got it? Good.

The assassination of Shinzo Abe was shocking news, not just to the people of Japan, but to the entire world. He was the longest-serving Prime Minister in Japanese history and a great ally in the fight against the communist regimes of North Korea and China. World leaders began issuing statements remembering the man fondly and expressing their sadness that such a man was slain.

However, there were two entities that made statements that disgusted many. One was from President Joe Biden who decided to turn Abe’s death into a chance at pushing anti-gun narratives.

The other was from NPR, which first posted a tweet calling Abe a “divisive arch-conservative” but soon deleted it.

But NPR didn’t delete it because they felt shame over their hyper-partisan tweet about a slain man. They just needed to reword it so that Abe came off even worse by using buzzwords that they typically associate with white supremacists, “ultranationalist.” Now he’s not just a political figure that opposed the left in his country, but now he’s a crazed xenophobe.

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Does assassination of Shinzo Abe signal strategic shift for Japan?

It seems increasingly clear that more than any particular policy achievement, Abe’s greatest legacy was a more substantial global leadership for Japan and peace with Russia and China.

One focus of Abe’s foreign policy was to secure a treaty with Russia on their territorial dispute. Abe had pursued this initiative even after some of his closest foreign policy advisers tried to scupper his efforts. The operation in Ukraine gave current PM Kishida Fumio room to join US sanctions targeting Moscow – marking a changed course from Abe’s foreign policy legacy.

Japan had been happy to offer economic concessions on the disputed islands in the Kurils, but Kishida – even before the Ukraine crisis – had abandoned Abe’s Russia policy. There is little question that Abe’s diplomatic initiative was stymied by his successors, particularly given that the goal was ultimately strategic: to forge a friendship with Russia that would stabilize Japan’s northern flank.

Ironically, Abe often spoke throughout his career about revising the Japanese Constitution to give the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF) greater room to expand. On Friday, he was murdered in cold blood by an alleged member of the Self-Defense Forces.

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Despite Gun Ban, Japan’s Former Leader Was Assassinated With A Homemade Shotgun

Japan’s gun laws are some of the strictest in the world making it the go-to example for the anti-gun lobby in America. This is why the world was shocked on Friday when Japanese former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed — with a gun.

Other than the police and the military, no one in Japan may purchase a handgun or a rifle. So comprehensive are the gun laws in Japan that even possession of a starter’s pistol is allowed only under extremely strict conditions.

Despite these oppressive gun control measures and a disarmed society, however, a deranged criminal was able to obtain a gun and kill the country’s former leader.

Before his body was even cold, the anti-gun corporate press began rolling out articles about Japan’s strict gun control and how this has contributed to the country’s low rate of gun violence. None of the articles mention anything about Japan’s far more peaceful culture and pacifism being the main contributor to lower violence, nor do they mention the fact that Japan is not free from mass killings.

In July of 2016, an assailant killed 19 people in an assisted-living facility. Because guns are banned, the killer used knives, highlighting the fact that disarming law-abiding citizens won’t stop criminals from committing mass harm.

Similarly, the banning of guns in Japan did not stop the killer from making his own gun and killing Shinzo Abe.

Japan’s Shinzo Abe assassination: Who is suspect Tetsuya Yamagami?

The 41-year-old suspect in the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly has told police Friday that he was dissatisfied with the ex-leader and wanted to kill him, but not over his political beliefs. 

Tetsuya Yamagami, who hails from Nara – where the 67-year-old Abe was gunned down while making a speech – is currently facing an attempted murder charge. But local police are expected to upgrade the charge to murder, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK. 

“Former Prime Minister Abe was giving a speech normally, but a man came from behind. The first shot heard only a very loud sound and the person did not fall down. However, the moment the second shot was shot, former Prime Minister Abe collapsed,” a witness told NHK. “The [suspect] didn’t seem to run away, he stayed there and the gun was there.” 

The killing has sent shockwaves around the world and throughout Japan, a country with notoriously strict gun ownership laws. 

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Transgender Activist Who Created ‘Gender Unicorn’ Calls for ‘Supreme Court Assassination Challenge’

A transgender activist who creates widely distributed educational resources for nonbinary students called for a “Supreme Court assassination challenge” on the same day Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Eli Erlick, a founder of Trans Student Educational Resources (TSER) and creator of a popular “Gender Unicorn” graphic for “gender fluidity,” tweeted and later deleted the remark on Friday, when the High Court delivered its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Since 2011, Erlick and the “youth-led” organization have helped implement transgender policies in dozens of school districts, including Wisconsin, New York, and Texas. The group backs sweeping “structural change” as opposed to “equality,” which according to its website, “reinforces systems of white supremacy, transphobia, and injustice.”

Following the leaked Dobbs decision in May, pro-abortion activists have targeted pro-life offices and crisis pregnancy centers across the country. Vandals firebombed pro-life buildings in Wisconsin and New York and defaced four pro-life churches in Washington State. Fears heightened in June when an armed California man was arrested outside the home of Brett Kavanaugh and later confessed to plans to assassinate the justice.

Assassination threats, sometimes from accounts with thousands of followers, erupted on social media on the day the Court ended constitutional protection for abortion.

“Can someone kill Clarence Thomas??” an account with more than 14,000 followers tweeted. The post hadn’t been taken down as of this article’s publication.

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Man With Gun Arrested Near Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Home; Told Police He Was There to Kill Kavanaugh

A California man was arrested overnight near the Maryland home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The man reportedly told police he was there to kill Kavanaugh. After the story broke, the Supreme Court issued a statement confirming the incident.

New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz posted to Twitter, “Breaking: A man was arrested outside of Brett Kavanaugh’s residence around 1:45am last night. The man had a gun and said he was there to kill Kavanaugh. He was taken into custody without incident…I can confirm the man taken into custody outside of Brett Kavanaugh’s house last night is a 26 year old white male with a California driver’s license. Previous address in Seattle…I got it direct from a source but should be out soon.”

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