What Would Nellis Say?

 

thoughts and prayers

By Rick Stiller​​​​​​​

 

My generation was forced to accept the reality of the senseless assassinations of Medgar Evers, John Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Bobby Kennedy, and, despite his racist extremism, George Wallace, to name just a few. After two decades of relative domestic calm, numerous attacks came in rapid succession. While the American people were horrified, the violence against prominent leaders lost its shock value as the body count increased rapidly. Suddenly, violence typically reported from third-world countries became our national reality.

 

There can be no justification for the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk. There is no place, no excuse, no rationalization for political violence in the United States… period.

 

If you are brave and patient enough to suffer through even the first few minutes of one of Kirk’s “debates” on YouTube, it becomes evident that the man was a bully, a bigot, and a liar who relished in intimidating students who offered positions in opposition to his fake “Christian” white supremacy stance. There is nothing to admire or respect in anything he represented, and his intolerance epitomizes the bias and injustice that Americans have fought and died to overcome since the founding fathers established the principles of our democracy.

 

Kirk was sanctified as a martyr by MAGA extremists with a prayer vigil at the Kennedy Center in Washington, which certainly qualifies as an insult to one of the truly great presidents of our lifetime - a man who stood up for the rights and dignity of every minority. The attempt to canonize this contemptible bigot is an insult to everything America used to represent to friend and foe alike.

 

Those same hypocrites cheered the brutal attack on Paul Pelosi (husband of the former Speaker of the House who never held a political office), the murders of Minnesota Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, the attempted kidnapping of Michigan’s governor, the firebombing of Pennsylvania’s governor’s mansion while the family was sleeping the house, and the violent invasion of the Capitol on January 6th, which was encouraged and directed by Donald Trump, who escaped indictment and conviction for treason by his election to the presidency. As one of his first official acts on the day he took office, he pardoned the 1600 felons who tried to overthrow the election in his name.

 

According to the leaders of our extremist administration, violence by the left is always an attack on our democracy. In contrast, violence by MAGA extremists is perfectly acceptable, including that riot in Washington, which was prompted by our convicted felon, rapist, conman-in-chief, and resulted in five deaths, more than 150 police officers sent to the hospital with serious injuries, and more than a million dollars in damages to the most precious symbol of our democracy.

 

The president ordered flags to be flown at half-mast, an honor generally reserved for government officials, military personnel, first responders, natural disasters, and national days of remembrance…not the glorification of a fascist fanatic who made a fortune spouting rants supporting bigotry, misogyny, racism, and condoning the stoning of gay and transgender citizens. Obviously, his big sell had nothing to do with real patriotism.

 

183,558 Americans died fighting fascism in the European Theater during World War II. We can be reasonably sure that those heroes would be horrified that the nation they fought to defend is living under a fascist regime that is using bogus accusations of antisemitism and claims of “out of control” urban violence to deploy troops on the streets of cities governed by black mayors. 

 

Millions of dollars are being spent for hundreds of National Guard troops patrolling Washington, D.C. Those young Americans are not being used to deter crime but rather to clean up trash and rake flower beds, which is an insult to their dedication to duty and a waste of taxpayer dollars.

 

We have thousands of masked, unidentified thugs, deployed as a renegade police force directed by Trump, kidnapping civilians off the streets, out of businesses, dragging them out of their cars, and beating them into submission before they are disappeared into the ICE system without warrants, legitimate charges, or access to attorneys, simply because they have brown skin, speak Spanish, or are employed in a manual labor job. 

 

Many of those arrested have been U.S. citizens or legitimate green-card immigrants, who suffered unconstitutional assaults and extended incarceration in America’s version of the Nazi’s concentration camps. Steven Miller, our racist-in-chief’s little bald attack dog, has ordered the ICE Gestapo to apprehend at least three thousand people a day, who are then shipped off to barbaric conditions in dystopian prisons in third-world countries without representation or due process.

 

The MAGA propaganda machine, of which Kirk was a prominent proponent, has always supported the deportation and elimination of anyone who is not a fake “Christian” of Northern European ancestry. (And please, there is nothing “Christian” about the racism, bigotry, and hate that is the dogma of the MAGA Republicans). If the current government fails to fulfill the racial assault, right-wing militias are ready to take on the “duty” of murdering fellow citizens who voice opposition to Trump’s tyranny, enthusiastically.

 

Charlie Kirk justified the bastardization of the Second Amendment by arguing that the right to bear arms was a necessary defense against a totalitarian government and that some gun deaths were a “prudent” and rational price to pay for that freedom. “I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights,”

 

No God ever condoned using automatic weapons to slaughter your neighbors to maintain the “purity” of the white race.

 

Despite hundreds of children being killed in school shootings every year, MAGA Republicans refuse to address, let alone legislate, common-sense gun control over the 350 million guns in the hands of private citizens in this country…most of whom support universal licensing and background checks. After each tragedy, they offer totally insincere and contemptible “thoughts and prayers” and do nothing to prevent the next massacre.

 

Perhaps empathetic American people should offer the same message to Charlie Kirk’s supporters as a reality check to Trump’s insulting and inappropriate presidential honors. Real patriots should be concentrating on thoughts and prayers for the preservation of a real democracy, which is under attack from within, but still (perhaps temporarily) represents all of our citizens, not just rich white-nationalists.

 

Kirk’s wife, Erika, made a much-publicized threat in a post-tragedy statement. “The evildoers responsible for my husband’s assassination have no idea what they have done. They should all know this: if you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea what you have just unleashed across the country and this world. 

 

Real American patriots should be concerned by the escalating threat of violence and civil war spawned by the radical right, but let’s reiterate - there is no justification for the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk. There is no place, no excuse, no rationalization for political violence against anyone in the United States… period.

 

This is the moment for real patriots to Stand Up! Speak Out! And Make A Difference!

 

PS – If you know any immigrants who have been, are, or might be subject to arrest for attending required court hearings, a group of volunteers, based out of the USC Dornsife program, have established a free hotline to help those with in-person immigration hearings to file motions to move their appointments online. 

 

The hotline is available for use by anyone, anywhere, and may be reached at 888-462-5211. Services are available in both English and Spanish. For the full article, please visit: https://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2025/06/18/usc-agents-of-change-establishes-hotline-to-help-move-immigration-hearings-online/

 

Thanks for your support! I look forward to your thoughts and your dedication to freedom, and hope you will share these thoughts with everyone you know!

 

For more visit: www.rickstiller.com, and for a moment of calm, enjoy the new portfolio of floral portraits from this season in Kelian’s Garden at www.rickstillerart.com

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