No Sunglasses

Alternate blog for There Are No Sunglasses: therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Beautiful Shot

 

a bullet shot through a glass bottle of water, a fiery trail from a bullet flying through a glass bottle, installation of fragments, splashes of water, fragments from a glass bottle, sound wave effect from a bullet shot, a bright flash from a shot, fragments, background: shot energy saturation, magnetic polarity neural fire trail 3д

Bullet Through Glass Creates a Fiery Trail

A bullet shot through a glass bottle creates a fiery trail as it flies through the glass. The bottle breaks into fragments and splashes of water are seen as the bullet passes through. Fragments from the glass bottle are also seen in the scene. There is a sound wave effect created by the bullet shot and a bright flash is seen from the shot. The scene is saturated with shot energy and magnetic polarity, creating a neural fire trail.

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

U.S. Imperialism Is the Cancer

Trump Is the Symptom, U.S. Imperialism Is the Disease

 

Trump’s brutality is just the latest flare-up of a bipartisan imperial evil—one that funds genocide in Gaza, war in Ukraine, and repression at home while both parties serve the same billionaire class. Real resistance means targeting the system, not just its loudest figurehead.

Originally published in U.S. Peace Council.

Popular resistance to the Trump administration’s erratic, anti-people, and dangerous domestic and foreign policies is growing every day as seen with the massive demonstrations held throughout the country on and after April 5. We welcome these protests and the popular demands raised by them, but we must criticize significant flaws that block the political changes we desperately need.

Criticism is personalized against President Trump, Elon Musk, and the “billionaires” for actions that have been the hallmark of bipartisan policies for decades. Monied interests — not as individuals but as a class, and regardless of their political party — have always been in control of the U.S. government and have prioritized their interests over the interests of the majority, only limited by the organized people’s movements.

Personalizing the criticism and solely blaming the present administration for the problems created by both parties is tantamount to siding with one group of “billionaires” (Democrat) against the other (Republican). Such is the nature of the two-party duopoly as a system, regardless of personnel changes in the White House. Meanwhile, the entire U.S. body politic lurches from one administration to the next on a rightward trajectory toward fascism.

Largely organized by the Democratic party-based group Indivisible, the “Hands Off!” protests were silent about the U.S.’s bipartisan militaristic foreign policy and focused solely on domestic issues, except for “Hands Off NATO.” Revealingly, “Hands Off Palestine” was omitted from the official demands, though grassroots activists raised it.

This intentional silence on foreign policy, and its arbitrary separation from domestic issues, hide the fact that many domestic problems result from a militaristic foreign policy imposed on our country. Trillions of dollars of much needed funds are redirected from human needs to war mongering in Ukraine, West Asia, and Asia-Pacific. Achieving popular power can be most effectively galvanized if it is informed by politically and consciously recognizing the class basis of war and militarism. In contrast, official demands of the “Hands Off!” mobilization, with its embrace of NATO but silence on genocide in Gaza, obscures the class basis of war.

While official lawlessness did not start with Trump, the new president is bent on changing the present post-war imperialist order with another one that gives the empire even more impunity. The U.S. ruling class as a whole has been accelerating the tendency for the U.S. to operate outside the bounds of both national and international law, regardless of who is in office.

The West’s proxy war on Russia continues in Ukraine, while war clouds are gathering around creating another proxy war with the People’s Republic of China using Taiwan and South Korea. And, all the while, the U.S./Israel genocide continues against Palestine and its allies. The imminent war with Iran, supported by both parties, is yet another pressing issue that can best be explained within the framework of imperialism.

On top of all this, is a bipartisan commitment to enhance the repressive apparatus of the state domestically — from cop-cities to the repression on campuses, the criminalization of speech and assembly, restrictions on truthful education, and the further weaponization of the judicial system itself. Intensification of domestic austerity programs, deregulation and destruction of all government organizations that protect and enhance the lives of working people, and attacks on trade unions are the flip side for maintaining a militaristic empire.

All this should make clear that neither of the two billionaire-controlled parties will or can be the urgently needed opposition to imperialism. Current world conditions necessitate building an opposition movement to war and militarism that is even more materially focused on anti-imperialism. This requires understanding the clear link between the empire’s foreign and domestic policies and calling for an end to militarism and redirection of resources to human needs.

Instead of looking for the lesser of two evils, we urge joining people’s independent campaigns to cut the military budget, to close U.S. and NATO foreign military bases, to establish Zones of Peace in our region, and to stop the militarization of police and domestic repression. An anti-imperialist understanding is key to the success of our people’s struggle for peace and a more just society.

Sunday, September 21, 2025

Egyptian Army Blocks Forced Relocation of Palestinians Into Egypt, Netanyahu Runs Crying To Trump

 [Egypt Needs A "Muslim NATO"]

Netanyahu Asked Trump to Halt Egyptian Military Buildup in Sinai, Source Says

The recent increase in troops deployed is meant to prevent 'forcibly displaced Palestinians' from relocating in Egypt, a source said, while Netanyahu hopes that if military presence Sinai decreases, Gaza's population could leave the Strip en masse, according to sources

Egyptian soldiers at the Rafah border crossing, last month.

Egyptian soldiers at the Rafah border crossing, last month. Credit: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters
 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested U.S. President Donald Trump intervene and halt Egypt's military buildup in the Sinai Peninsula, according to an Egyptian source who spoke with Haaretz on Saturday.

 

Cairo does not deny that it is indeed building up its military presence in Sinai, including the construction of a military airport. However, the source clarified: "Egypt does not have any offensive intentions, and it views peace with Israel as a strategic asset. Its main concern is that forcibly displaced Palestinians will relocate into Egyptian territory," he said.

Egyptian and diplomatic sources familiar with the matter said that Cairo officials suspect Netanyahu, who is well aware that Egypt does not threaten Israel's security, is aiming to reduce its military presence in Sinai to allow Gaza's population to leave the enclave en masse.

 

One source made clear that Egypt's military reinforcement in Sinai is not a new development. The source noted that the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt allows the latter to station up to 450 soldiers armed with light weapons, within 32 kilometers (19.8 miles) of the Israeli border.

However, following Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005, both sides agreed to increase that number.

Since 2011, the number of Egyptian troops has grown significantly, in coordination with Israel, reaching around 40,000 soldiers, to allow Egypt to combat terrorism in the region. According to the source, Israel did not object to this buildup but rather viewed it as a vital measure for the security of both countries.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, in March.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, in March. Credit: Abdulla al-Neyadi/AFP
 

In 2015, a joint military coordination mechanism was established between Israel and Egypt, under which "agreed violations" were coordinated, allowing Egyptian forces to operate in the Sinai Peninsula. This mechanism even allowed Egypt to deploy its air force in those areas. According to reports in Arab media, which were denied by Egyptian officials, the Israeli Air Force even assisted in the campaign.

Earlier this month, Netanyahu said he is considering opening the Rafah border crossing on the Gaza side, which is under Israeli control, to allow Gaza Strip residents to cross into Egypt.

"Half the population of the Gaza Strip wants to leave. We aren't coming to expel, but to forcibly imprison them inside? All the knights of human rights, where are they? When it comes to something that serves Israel, there are no human rights, even when it is about the basic right to allow every Palestinian to leave," he said, in an interview to the popular Israeli Telegram channel "Abu Ali Express."Egypt's foreign ministry then clarified that such a move by Israel is "a red line and a blatant violation of international law that reaches the level of ethnic cleansing." Egypt, stressed the foreign ministry, "will never be a partner to such robbery, the intention of which is to eliminate the Palestinian problem, and will never become a conduit for emigration."

Earlier this year, reports began circulating on social media and multiple news outlets, claiming that the Egyptian army was conducting military drills with dozens of tanks and soldiers practicing entering and exiting tunnels.

Israel's defense establishment, responding to the reports, clarified that they were false. Senior IDF officials told Haaretz that the military was checking the source of the reports and was not ruling out the possibility that they originated in Qatar. According to the officials, Qatar could be attempting to undermine Egypt's standing as a mediator for the U.S. on issues regarding the Middle East in general, and Gaza in particular.

At the time, Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter claimed that Egypt was violating the peace agreement between the two countries. Leiter said that the Egyptian military had been building bases in Sinai, "that can only be used in offensive operations," he said. "Egypt is in a very serious violation of our peace agreement in the Sinai," Leiter said, adding that it was "not a tolerable situation."

US/Israeli Aggression Gives Birth To Long-Feared, Nuclear-Armed "Muslim NATO"

 From Israel to India: How Saudi-Pakistan defence pact is redrawing power lines

While Riyadh eyes nuclear and conventional military backing after the Qatar strike, Islamabad seeks Saudi investment and support in its standoff with India

 Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (right) welcomes Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (left) ahead of a meeting in Riyadh on 17 September 2025 (AFP/SPA)Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (right) welcomes Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (left) ahead of a meeting in Riyadh on 17 September 2025 (AFP/SPA)
 
 

Such was the magnitude of the security pact signed between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan this week that there was even a song released alongside it.

“Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, brothers in faith,” the lyrics sang in Arabic. “An alliance of hearts and a single sword in the field.”

Just days after nearly 60 officials from Muslim-majority states met in Doha to jointly respond to Israel’s attack on the Qatari capital, a pact was agreed between these two “brothers in faith”.

A Saudi official insisted that talks had been ongoing for years and the deal was not in response to specific countries or events.

But the timing, days after Israel’s unprecedented strike on a Gulf country, is noteworthy.

“The timing sends a message to everyone that what happened needs to be addressed,” Bader al-Saif, an assistant professor of history at Kuwait University and fellow at Chatham House, told Middle East Eye.

“There was always that notion that [Riyadh] can count on the Pakistanis if need be,” he said. “The interesting part here was to formalise it.”

The agreement signed between the two nations affirms that any aggression against either country will be considered an aggression against both.

While the full text of the pact is not public, Riyadh stated that it was “a comprehensive defensive agreement that encompasses all military means”.

Notably, Pakistan is the only Muslim-majority country with nuclear weapons.

Pakistan’s defence minister confirmed on Friday that his country’s nuclear programme would be “made available” to Riyadh as part of the agreement.

Nuclear guarantor for Saudi Arabia

Pakistan officially became a nuclear-armed state in May 1998, shortly after carrying out its first nuclear weapons test in the Balochistan region.

It followed years of, ultimately failed, attempts by Israel to disrupt the programme.

Throughout those years of secretive nuclear enrichment by Islamabad, Saudi Arabia remained a close ally.

“When Pakistan broke in 1998, it was an open secret - though no one could verify or vet it - that the Saudis were in it,” said Al-Saif.

“There were even rumours that they funded some of those nuclear programme elements back in the 90s as [Pakistan] were building up.”

'Why not an Islamic bomb?': How Israel planned and failed to stop Pakistan going nuclear

Read More »

While it does not publicly discuss the size of its arsenal, Pakistan is estimated to possess around 170 nuclear warheads.

It says the arsenal is for defensive purposes, but it does not have a “no first use” policy, so it could, in theory, be used to pre-emptively attack foes with nuclear weapons.

The extent to which Saudi Arabia will benefit from this programme is unclear.

“The agreement doesn’t make Saudi Arabia a nuclear power any more than the existence of Nato makes Germany a nuclear power,” Christopher Clary, an associate professor at the University of Albany and expert on South Asia, told MEE.

“It does mean any state considering military aggression against Saudi Arabia must contend with the possibility of Pakistani nuclear weapons, even if their use would not be certain - and perhaps not even very probable - in any single contingency.”

The likelihood of Pakistani nuclear missiles being placed on Saudi territory at the current moment is low; however, Clary added, that could change if the security environment worsens.

Riyadh, as a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, would have to consider the impact of such a move on its international obligations.

Israel has its own secretive nuclear weapons programme, which it neither confirms nor denies the existence of.

'Any state considering military aggression against Saudi Arabia must contend with the possibility of Pakistani nuclear weapons'

- Christopher Clary, analyst

It has a policy of “not being the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East”, which it has used to justify multiple violent crackdowns on perceived nuclear enrichment in the region.

How it will react to Saudi Arabia entering into a pact which nominally gives it access to a nuclear arsenal remains to be seen.

Iran, Riyadh’s decades-long regional foe, has stepped up its nuclear energy programme in recent years - a fact which has alarmed Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, said in 2018 that if Iran obtained a nuclear weapon, “we would follow suit”.

In his book War, author and journalist Bob Woodward stated that during a meeting with US Senator Lindsey Graham, the Saudi crown prince made clear that he would count on Islamabad to go nuclear.

“I don’t need uranium to make a bomb… I’ll just buy one from Pakistan,” Mohammed bin Salman reportedly told Graham.

Conventional weapons

Analysts note that for Saudi Arabia, the importance of this pact goes beyond solely nuclear weapons.

“Nuclear assets are an element of this path. I don't know if they're the most important element necessarily,” Ahsan Butt, an associate professor at George Mason University and analyst on Pakistani politics, told MEE.

“Pakistan’s Air Force attracted quite a bit of positive attention in its short conflict with India," he added, referring to the hostilities between the neighbouring countries in May.

How will Qatar and the Gulf respond to Israeli strike on Doha?

Read More »

 

Butt noted that the US and Middle Eastern powers would have taken notice of the effectiveness of Pakistani hardware in that four-day conflict.

Al-Saif said: “People come back to us in the Gulf, they tell us you guys are untested, you haven't been to wars as frequently. Pakistan has a richer CV in that regard.”

He added that beyond the nuclear file, Pakistan has a lot to offer Saudi Arabia with its conventional weaponry.

Islamabad is widely considered to be a top 10 military power in terms of both size and capability.

According to Sipri, 81 percent of Pakistan’s hardware is supplied by China.

For Gulf countries, the strike on Qatar has sped up an ongoing process of security diversification beyond reliance on the United States. China could be key to that.

“With this deal… Saudi Arabia has opened up further paths, direct and indirect, to that military industrial complex in China,” said Al-Saif.

'Saudi Arabia has opened up paths, direct and indirect, to that military industrial complex in China'

- Bader al-Saif, academic

The marriage of Chinese assets with Pakistani personnel, Butt added, is an important factor in Saudi Arabia’s consideration.

Islamabad has had a military presence in the kingdom for several decades, and was part of the Saudi coalition which fought against Iraq during the first Gulf war in the early 1990s.

At Riyadh’s request, Pakistan deployed around 11,000 troops to Saudi Arabia to defend its borders and holy sites.

There are currently between 1,500 and 2,000 Pakistani troops in Saudi Arabia providing technical and operational support.

Finances and India factor

As for Pakistan, there is an important financial element to the agreement.

“Pakistan is almost always on the verge of either bankruptcy or requiring bailouts from external actors,” said Butt. “So first and foremost is direct injection of capital.”

He added that Saudi investment could be sought in areas such as transport, aviation and telecommunications.

Al-Saif said that there would be an energy aspect to the deal, too, given that Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest crude oil exporter.

“The Pakistanis will have the glory of being a guarantor for the energy line that comes through them - making sure the finances come steaming through,” he said.

'Pakistan is now a player in the Middle Eastern conflict, whether it wants to be or not' 

- Ahsan Butt, Pakistan expert

As well as financial, there are security considerations for Pakistan.

Skirmishes between Pakistan and arch-rival India have taken place a number of times in the past decade, with a ratcheting up of rhetoric from both sides.

Now that an attack on Pakistan would be seen as an attack on Saudi Arabia, as per the pact, it could have implications for India.

“There have been much warmer ties between India and the Gulf, particularly Saudi Arabia and the UAE, over the last few years,” said Butt, adding that Pakistan would be keen to loosen such ties.

He said that in military crises between Pakistan and India over the past decade, the threshold of kinetic action between the two has been raised by both sides.

“This pact would complicate that trajectory,” he said.

“The next time a crisis happens, India cannot treat this as a one against one bilateral issue. It now has to consider that Saudi Arabia is, at least nominally, on Pakistan’s side.”

Following the signing of the deal, a Saudi official told Reuters that the kingdom’s relations with India were “more robust than it has ever been” and would continue to grow.

As well as the Indian response, Pakistan will have to keep a close eye on how Israel reacts.

Butt stated that Pakistan had done well at staying out of conflicts that do not directly impact it, citing its neutrality in the Syrian civil war as an example.

That has now changed with this pact, and Butt noted that Pakistan's place on Israel’s priority list will go up.

“If they were a top 10 issue, they’re now a top five issue. If they’re a top five issue, they’re now a top three issue,” Butt said.

The future response could be direct, ranging from targeting individuals like nuclear scientists, as Israel has done in the past, to air strikes.

“Pakistan is now a player in the Middle Eastern conflict, whether it wants to be or not.”

Friday, September 19, 2025

A Lone Israeli Voice Calling For the "Denazification" Of Gazan "Holocaust"

Israel is waging a holocaust in Gaza. Denazification is our only remedy

The deadly ethno-supremacy inherent to Israeli society runs deeper than Netanyahu, Ben Gvir, and Smotrich. It must be confronted at its root.

Right-wing Israelis protest near the Gaza border in support of the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in the Strip, in southern Israel, July 30, 2025. (Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)

Right-wing Israelis protest near the Gaza border in support of the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in the Strip, in southern Israel, July 30, 2025. (Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)

 

Gaza City is engulfed in flames, as the Israeli army embarks on its long-threatened ground offensive after weeks of relentless bombardment. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, already facing an international arrest warrant on suspicion of crimes against humanity, described this latest assault as an “intensified operation.” I urge you to watch the footage streaming out of Gaza, and see what this euphemism really means.

Look into the eyes of people gripped by a terror unmatched even in the darkest moments of this two-year genocide. See the rows of ash-covered children lying on the blood-soaked floor of what was once a medical center — some barely alive, others wailing in pain and fear — as desperate hands try to comfort them or treat them with whatever medical supplies remain. Hear the screams of families fleeing with nowhere to run. Witness parents scouring the inferno for their children; limbs protruding from beneath the rubble; a paramedic cradling a motionless girl, pleading with her to open her eyes, in vain.

What Israel is doing in Gaza City is not the tragic byproduct of chaotic events on the ground, but a well-calculated act of annihilation, executed in cold blood by “the people’s army” — that is, the fathers, sons, brothers, and neighbors of us Israelis.

How is it that, despite the mounting testimonies from Gaza’s concentration and extermination camps, no mass refusal movement has taken root in Israel? That after two years of this carnage barely a handful of conscientious objectors sit in prison is truly inconceivable. Even the so-called “gray refusers” — reserve soldiers who do not oppose the war on ideological grounds but are simply exhausted and questioning its purpose — remain far too few to slow the killing machine, let alone bring it to a halt.

Who are these obedient souls who keep this system running? How can a society so deeply fractured — between the religious and the secular, settlers and liberals, kibbutzniks and urbanites, veteran immigrants and new arrivals — unite only in its willingness to slaughter Palestinians without a moment’s hesitation?

Palestinians mourn loved ones killed in Israeli attacks, at Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza City, August 21, 2025. (Yousef Zaanoun/Activestills)

Palestinians mourn loved ones killed in Israeli attacks, at Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza City, August 21, 2025. (Yousef Zaanoun/Activestills)

Over the past 23 months, Israeli society has spun an endless web of lies to justify and enable Gaza’s destruction — not only to the world, but above all to itself. Chief among them is the claim that hostages can only be freed through military pressure. Yet those carrying out the army’s orders, raining mass death upon Gaza, do so knowing full well they may be killing the hostages in the process. The indiscriminate bombing of hospitals, schools, and residential neighborhoods, coupled with this disregard for the lives of Israelis held captive, proves the war’s true aim: the sweeping annihilation of Gaza’s civilian population.

Israel is unleashing a holocaust in Gaza, and it cannot be dismissed as the will of the country’s current fascist leaders alone. This horror runs deeper than Netanyahu, Ben Gvir, and Smotrich. What we are witnessing is the final stage in the nazification of Israeli society.

The urgent task now is to bring this holocaust to an end. But stopping it is only the first step. If Israeli society is ever to return to the fold of humanity, it must undergo a deep process of denazification.

Once the dust of death settles, we will have to retrace our steps back to the Nakba, to the mass expulsions, the massacres, the land seizures, the racial laws, and the ideology of inherent supremacy that normalized contempt for the native people of this land, and the theft of their lives, property, dignity, and the futures of their children. Only by confronting this deadly mechanism inherent to our society can we begin to uproot it.

This denazification process must begin now, and it starts with refusal. Refusal not only to take an active part in Gaza’s destruction, but to put on the uniform at all — regardless of rank or role. Refusal to remain ignorant. Refusal to be blind. Refusal to be silent. For parents, it is a duty necessary to protect the next generation from becoming perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Israelis bathe in a spring in Lifta, a Palestinian village forcibly depopulated during the 1948 Nakba, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, July 28, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israelis bathe in a spring in Lifta, a Palestinian village forcibly depopulated during the 1948 Nakba, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, July 28, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Denazification must also include the recognition that what was cannot remain. It will not be enough to simply replace the current government. We must abandon the myth of Israel’s “Jewish and democratic” character — a paradox whose iron grip helped pave the way to the catastrophe we are now immersed in.

This deception must end with the clear recognition that only two paths remain: either a Jewish, messianic, genocidal state, or a truly democratic state for all its citizens.

The Gaza holocaust was made possible by the embrace of the ethno-supremacist logic inherent to Zionism. Therefore it must be said clearly: Zionism, in all its forms, cannot be cleansed of the stain of this crime. It must be brought to an end.

Denazification will be long and all-encompassing, touching every aspect of our collective life. We will likely sacrifice more generations — both victims and perpetrators — before this scourge is fully uprooted. But the process must begin now, with the refusal to commit the horrors taking place daily in Gaza, and the refusal to let them pass as normal.

 

Saturday, September 13, 2025

The Tragedy of America's Current Situation

 

Trump is right: The Left has fanned the flames of political violence

Charlie Kirk’s killer’s motive isn’t confirmed. But ‘progressives’ have helped create an environment where violence is seen as legitimate

People attend a vigil in memory of Charlie Kirk
People attend a vigil in memory of Charlie Kirk Credit: Jim Urquhart/Reuters

 

What did they expect? What did they think was going to happen? The suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk remains at large, his exact motive unknown. But that doesn’t mean Donald Trump was wrong to argue that the “radical Left” contributed to the assassination of a father of two, whose only “sin” was going from college campus to college campus to debate people.

Just consider the obscene reaction to his killing. As footage of Kirk’s assassination circulated – a sudden gout of blood punctuating a comment on gang violence – the ghouls crawled out. One MSNBC commentator appeared to blame Kirk’s “hate speech” and “divisive” behaviour, suggesting that “hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which then lead to hateful actions”. The governor of Illinois gave the impression of blaming Trump.

Do you get it? Kirk brought this on himself. If he’d just behaved. If he’d just got with the programme. It could hardly have been more tone-deaf. And it could hardly have been a better summary of the moral abyss now occupied by America’s so-called progressives.

This isn’t the first case of political violence in America – and, of course, there have been recent attacks on progressives, too. A Democrat state representative was assassinated in Minnesota; Salman Rushdie lost an eye in New York; a bullet was centimetres from killing Trump.

But Kirk was a man who gave talks on campuses, who sought to challenge groupthink and open minds. Perhaps I’m wrong, but that seems new. And it’s terrifying. A political assassination targeted at a speaker, used to silence, used to intimidate. And the groundwork is in place for it to happen again.

And whatever the precise motive of Kirk’s killer turns out to be, it’s fair to point out that much of the responsibility for the legitimisation of this sort of violence lies with the Left. It’s spent decades making politics a matter of identity, carving up votes based on who people are rather than what they believe, agitating on race, on belief, on sexuality, inflaming tensions freely to stir up the base. Disagreement is “violence” against “bodies”. The other side winning means you are “erased”. You are called to punch Nazis, kill Terfs, bash the fash. Their words are violence; respond with violence.

Just a few months ago, Kirk had written about the “assassination culture” spreading on the Left; polling had shown an alarming rise in the willingness to applaud political violence. Democratic politicians had talked of their base’s desire for “blood to grab the attention of the press”, to “fight” in a show of force.

Almost every incident has been used to inflame, to whip up fear and hatred of Republicans and the Right, to shatter the fragile consensus upon which American politics is built in order to create a true friend-enemy distinction. It has succeeded. Left-wing politics has slipped seamlessly back into an old tradition of direct action.

Online, they harass, dogpile, insult and threaten. Offline, they turn out on the streets to protest. They seized on the death of George Floyd to burn and loot. They act as a permanent heckler’s veto, shutting events, raising security bills, cowing people into silence while their speakers continue to broadcast.

They must know the risks. They must know that when they talk about white people being evil oppressors, that Trump will destroy your family, that their most unhinged followers are listening. They must know how the smirking jokes about gulags and guillotines will be taken, how the stone-faced warnings of catastrophic defeat and the death of America will land.

“Charlie was the best of America, and the monster who attacked him was attacking our whole country,” said Trump on Wednesday night. But when swathes of the Left began celebrating Kirk’s murder on their favoured social media platforms almost immediately, it’s a chilling reminder that not everyone agrees.

So what now?

Followers