Bunny Trails

[Szdfan]

CK and his family did not deserve this and this isn't a right way to deal with any political/cultural opponent; none of the recent assassinations or attempts are/were deserved, including the recent Democrats killed.

Which Democrats have been killed recently?

This June, Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed in a home invasion/shooting described as a “politically motivated assassination.” At the same time, State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were wounded. Perhaps that’s what he was thinking of.

Many Republicans may remember Steve Scalise’s shooting or the recent assassination attempts on Trump, but forget about Gabby Giffords or the attack on Paul Pelosi. Many Democrats may remember Giffords or Pelosi but forget Scalise. Each side tends to highlight the tragedies that fit its own culture-war narrative and overlook those that don’t.

I think it’s important to remember that political violence hasn’t come only from one side. There have been victims on both sides, and we all share responsibility for how we speak, how we treat each other, and how safely we engage in public discourse. If we acknowledge this, maybe we can move toward reducing the tensions instead of feeding them.

And there was the attempt on Josh Shapiro with the firebombing of the governor's mansion.

[Bootstrap]

In the 1960s there were multiple political assassinations in the US. Have there really been any since then? Charlie Kirk's killing, while obviously not that of a political leader, feels like something almost in the category of those kinds of events. We've had the attempts - Reagan and Trump. But nothing successful since then, till now, at least that I can think of.

Here are some recent political assassinations that seem at least as significant as Kirk. These are people who actually served in office.

After Two-Day Manhunt, Suspect Charged with Shooting Two Minnesota Lawmakers and Their Spouses

Monday, June 16, 2025

Vance Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, Minnesota, has been charged by federal complaint with stalking and murdering Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, in addition to stalking and shooting Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife.

According to court documents, in the early morning hours of June 14, 2025, Vance Luther Boelter put into effect a calculated plan to inflict fear and violence upon Minnesota elected officials and their families. Boelter equipped himself with firearms and body armor, disguised himself as a law enforcement officer, and drove to the home of Senator Hoffman. Boelter knocked on the door repeatedly, claiming to be a police officer. Shortly after the Hoffmans opened the door, they were alarmed to realize Boelter was wearing a facemask. The Hoffmans tried to close the door on Boelter, but Boelter repeatedly shot both Senator and Mrs. Hoffman.

Assassination of Former Wisconsin Judge John Roemer (and family members of other judges)

June 3, 2022

Just two days after Roemer was murdered in his home, a federal judge whose son was killed at home in a similar targeted attack nearly two years ago renewed her call for greater protections for judges across the country.[21] In July 2020, a gunman disguised as a delivery worker appeared at the front door of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas’ New Jersey home. When her 20-year-old son, Daniel Anderl, and her husband, Mark Anderl, answered the door, her son was shot and killed, and her husband was seriously wounded.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/suspect-alleg ... d=85181587

A hit list with over a dozen names found inside the suspect's car at the scene included Roemer's, McConnell's and Whitmer's, as well as Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers', the source said. Several names on the list also appear to be tied to Uhde's armed burglary case, court records show.

[Nomad]

In the 1960s there were multiple political assassinations in the US. Have there really been any since then? Charlie Kirk's killing, while obviously not that of a political leader, feels like something almost in the category of those kinds of events. We've had the attempts - Reagan and Trump. But nothing successful since then, till now, at least that I can think of.

Here are some recent political assassinations that seem at least as significant as Kirk. These are people who actually served in office.

After Two-Day Manhunt, Suspect Charged with Shooting Two Minnesota Lawmakers and Their Spouses

Monday, June 16, 2025

Vance Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, Minnesota, has been charged by federal complaint with stalking and murdering Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, in addition to stalking and shooting Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife.

According to court documents, in the early morning hours of June 14, 2025, Vance Luther Boelter put into effect a calculated plan to inflict fear and violence upon Minnesota elected officials and their families. Boelter equipped himself with firearms and body armor, disguised himself as a law enforcement officer, and drove to the home of Senator Hoffman. Boelter knocked on the door repeatedly, claiming to be a police officer. Shortly after the Hoffmans opened the door, they were alarmed to realize Boelter was wearing a facemask. The Hoffmans tried to close the door on Boelter, but Boelter repeatedly shot both Senator and Mrs. Hoffman.

Assassination of Former Wisconsin Judge John Roemer (and family members of other judges)

June 3, 2022

Just two days after Roemer was murdered in his home, a federal judge whose son was killed at home in a similar targeted attack nearly two years ago renewed her call for greater protections for judges across the country.[21] In July 2020, a gunman disguised as a delivery worker appeared at the front door of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas’ New Jersey home. When her 20-year-old son, Daniel Anderl, and her husband, Mark Anderl, answered the door, her son was shot and killed, and her husband was seriously wounded.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/suspect-alleg ... d=85181587

A hit list with over a dozen names found inside the suspect's car at the scene included Roemer's, McConnell's and Whitmer's, as well as Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers', the source said. Several names on the list also appear to be tied to Uhde's armed burglary case, court records show.

Every assassination attempt is awful no matter the political party.

For me, while the loss of human life regardless of political party is equal, the difference in this case is you can actually go online and watch him get shot in the neck. We can literally watch a man die right in front of us as we sit in our lazyboy armchair at home. We can see his facial expressions as he dies. The only thing I can compare it to is the footage Isis and hamas triumphantly put out, where we watch life leaving a persons body as the atrocity occurs. I remember when some of the footage by Isis came out of the Jordanian pilot getting burned...I felt almost emotionally numb for days. Its so raw and in-your-face now days.

Its taking me some getting used to...where we actually get to see murders on our phones from the comforts of our homes now days.

[Bootstrap]

Every assassination attempt is awful no matter the political party.

For me, while the loss of human life regardless of political party is equal, the difference in this case is you can actually go online and watch him get shot in the neck. We can literally watch a man die right in front of us as we sit in our lazyboy armchair at home. We can see his facial expressions as he dies. The only thing I can compare it to is the footage Isis and hamas triumphantly put out, where we watch life leaving a persons body as the atrocity occurs. I remember when some of the footage by Isis came out of the Jordanian pilot getting burned...I felt almost emotionally numb for days. Its so raw and in-your-face now days.

Its taking me some getting used to...where we actually get to see murders on our phones from the comforts of our homes now days.

Yeah. That really does make it hit home, doesn’t it? I think George Floyd hit a lot of people hard for exactly the same reason—we could see it happen.

History is full of moments where filmed killings shaped us: JFK’s assassination, Martin Luther King’s death, the Twin Towers falling live on TV, ISIS execution videos, Israel–Gaza footage of people dying in real time, and the destruction of apartment buildings in Ukraine. More recently, Trump even shared drone footage of a U.S. strike on a boat off Venezuela, with 11 reported dead, explicitly framed as a warning to others.

What’s different now is how quickly and directly we see these things. Murders and mass killings appear on our phones in real time, and it’s hard to stay numb when it feels like it’s happening in our own living rooms.

[Ken]

Every assassination attempt is awful no matter the political party.

For me, while the loss of human life regardless of political party is equal, the difference in this case is you can actually go online and watch him get shot in the neck. We can literally watch a man die right in front of us as we sit in our lazyboy armchair at home. We can see his facial expressions as he dies. The only thing I can compare it to is the footage Isis and hamas triumphantly put out, where we watch life leaving a persons body as the atrocity occurs. I remember when some of the footage by Isis came out of the Jordanian pilot getting burned...I felt almost emotionally numb for days. Its so raw and in-your-face now days.

Its taking me some getting used to...where we actually get to see murders on our phones from the comforts of our homes now days.

Yeah. That really does make it hit home, doesn’t it? I think George Floyd hit a lot of people hard for exactly the same reason—we could see it happen.

History is full of moments where filmed killings shaped us: JFK’s assassination, Martin Luther King’s death, the Twin Towers falling live on TV, ISIS execution videos, Israel–Gaza footage of people dying in real time, and the destruction of apartment buildings in Ukraine. More recently, Trump even shared drone footage of a U.S. strike on a boat off Venezuela, with 11 reported dead, explicitly framed as a warning to others.

What’s different now is how quickly and directly we see these things. Murders and mass killings appear on our phones in real time, and it’s hard to stay numb when it feels like it’s happening in our own living rooms.

It may feel like extremist or political killings are increasing. But that isn't really the case. The social media immediacy of these events is what has changed. In the past several decades, the year with the most domestic political killings was 1995 when there were 194 political killings (168 from the Oklahoma City Bombing).

In the past people might have passively watched coverage on CNN or cable news in horror. Today they immediately jump online and rage. That completely changes the tone.

[Szdfan]

Every assassination attempt is awful no matter the political party.

For me, while the loss of human life regardless of political party is equal, the difference in this case is you can actually go online and watch him get shot in the neck. We can literally watch a man die right in front of us as we sit in our lazyboy armchair at home. We can see his facial expressions as he dies. The only thing I can compare it to is the footage Isis and hamas triumphantly put out, where we watch life leaving a persons body as the atrocity occurs. I remember when some of the footage by Isis came out of the Jordanian pilot getting burned...I felt almost emotionally numb for days. Its so raw and in-your-face now days.

Its taking me some getting used to...where we actually get to see murders on our phones from the comforts of our homes now days.

Yeah. That really does make it hit home, doesn’t it? I think George Floyd hit a lot of people hard for exactly the same reason—we could see it happen.

History is full of moments where filmed killings shaped us: JFK’s assassination, Martin Luther King’s death, the Twin Towers falling live on TV, ISIS execution videos, Israel–Gaza footage of people dying in real time, and the destruction of apartment buildings in Ukraine. More recently, Trump even shared drone footage of a U.S. strike on a boat off Venezuela, with 11 reported dead, explicitly framed as a warning to others.

What’s different now is how quickly and directly we see these things. Murders and mass killings appear on our phones in real time, and it’s hard to stay numb when it feels like it’s happening in our own living rooms.

I appreciate this take. Our ability to be connected in these profoundly tight ways has some definite downsides—

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT6wHfxgM/

Transcript (AI Generated)

I miss who I was before I saw that.

Gonna be honest with you, there’s definitely been like a shift.

I think we’re all living currently through the reaction of a mass trauma response, because all of us saw that and none of our apps—no matter how much they claim they’re trying to protect us from seeing images like that—none of them could catch it at the speed and volatility that it was thrust into all of our feeds.

Some of us sat down for lunch, some of us were just going to the bathroom at work, some of us just opened a group chat, and the thing is we’ve all, depending on how our algorithm is set, we’ve all been seeing this. We’ve been watching war footage, we’ve been watching international crimes, we’ve been watching genocide, we’ve been watching so many mass events happen on these little boxes that we carry around, and it’s affected us.

I think back sometimes and I wonder if it was the nostalgia of the past, of what we were like before these little boxes, before we started carrying them around in our pocket and believing this was the only way to see our world. I do have weird nostalgia for it—was it better because I was a child, or was it actually better because we didn’t have these little cameras to tell us that everything’s worse?

[JohnH]

One option is to choose not to watch such videos. I don’t. There is plenty of commentary to read or listen to from reliable commentators to tell me what happened. That’s how I approached both of the terrible killings that happened this week.

I also read about bad things that happen in the local newspaper. I think it’s generally best to avoid watching these kinds of videos.

[Szdfan]

One option is to choose not to watch such videos. I don’t. There is plenty of commentary to read or listen to from reliable commentators to tell me what happened. That’s how I approached both of the terrible killings that happened this week.

I also read about bad things that happen in the local newspaper. I think it’s generally best to avoid watching these kinds of videos.

I think choosing not to watch is a legitimate and appropriate choice. In this case, the video of Kirk’s assassination unexpectedly appeared in people’s feeds without warning. I think this is one of the reasons why this moment feels different — it wasn’t just private consumption, it was shared public exposure.

[JohnL]

One option is to choose not to watch such videos. I don’t. There is plenty of commentary to read or listen to from reliable commentators to tell me what happened. That’s how I approached both of the terrible killings that happened this week.

I also read about bad things that happen in the local newspaper. I think it’s generally best to avoid watching these kinds of videos.

I think choosing not to watch is a legitimate and appropriate choice. In this case, the video of Kirk’s assassination unexpectedly appeared in people’s feeds without warning. I think this is one of the reasons why this moment feels different — it wasn’t just private consumption, it was shared public exposure.

I agree with you. The need to be the first to share bad news seems to be a human failing. We have a few people I’ve known in my life who want to be the first to share bad news AND shape everyone else’s opinion about it.
I was shocked by that video being allowed on social media where young people could see it. I saw it and I was shocked. I can’t unsee it. It’s traumatizing.
I hope this is thoroughly investigated. All of it not just the assassination but how it’s been shared in the media so that this can be addressed. Any child with a smart phone or computer has access to horror.

[JohnH]

One option is to choose not to watch such videos. I don’t. There is plenty of commentary to read or listen to from reliable commentators to tell me what happened. That’s how I approached both of the terrible killings that happened this week.

I also read about bad things that happen in the local newspaper. I think it’s generally best to avoid watching these kinds of videos.

I think choosing not to watch is a legitimate and appropriate choice. In this case, the video of Kirk’s assassination unexpectedly appeared in people’s feeds without warning. I think this is one of the reasons why this moment feels different — it wasn’t just private consumption, it was shared public exposure.

That’s a reason not to have “feeds”. I use Grok a lot but did not encounter the video on my X account. Thankful nobody posted it here although I filter out YouTube links on MennoNet.