Teachers, firefighters, elected officials and even a cable news contributor have lost their jobs or are under investigation after comments they made about the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. Reports of teachers and school administrators around the country being put on leave proliferated Thursday less than 24 hours after Kirk’s death. School employees in […]

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A vile, evil leftist was blasted on X tonight after he attacked Erika Kirk for her remarks in the aftermath of the assassination of her husband, Charlie Kirk. Wajahat Ali, who you . . .

The following article, ‘Stamp It Out’: Commentator Calls For ‘End Of The American Left’ After Murder Of Charlie Kirk, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. A prominent voice in American media is calling for an “end of the America left” after this week’s extreme violence, the assassination of conservative free speech advocate Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA, and the subsequent online chatter praising the murder. A suspect was arrested early Friday, Tyler Robinson, 22, of Utah, who has been … Continue reading ‘Stamp It Out’: Commentator Calls For ‘End Of The American Left’ After Murder Of Charlie Kirk ...

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Mixing things up. The post The “perfect” cover song Metallica called one of their peaks first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

As I was driving down Marion Barry Avenue in Southeast Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, I had to pull over to let some police cars, lights flashing, pass me. It seemed ironic as I was in that area to interview people about whether Trump’s efforts against D.C. crime have had any impact. President Trump took over the police and sent the National Guard into Washington, D.C. on August 12. Southeast D.C., known as Anacostia, is a high-crime area, and some people there have noticed a difference. (RELATED: Trump’s National Guard Deployment and the Art of the 80-20 Issue) “In general, it’s been safer,” said Johnson, a young dad who lives in Southeast D.C. “It’s been better when I take my daughter home. It’s been easier to travel. The Guard are at a lot of the Metro Stations, they watch the stations, and that’s where a lot of stuff happens in D.C.” Others agree that crime has subsided, but aren’t sure the National Guard presence has had much effect. “I’ve heard a lot fewer gunshots in the last month, but I don’t see the Guard down in this area much,” said Rita, a parking lot attendant in Anacostia. Of course, not everyone is a fan. “There’s no difference [in crime]. They’re just harassing black people. They’re not messing with anyone else,” said Chris, a security guard in the area. “It’s a waste of time. They’re not here to solve nothing.” The data, though, suggests that Trump’s actions have helped reduce crime. Comparing August 12 to September 10 of this year to the same period last year shows that total crime is down 40 percent. Violent crime and property crime are down 70 percent and 36 percent, respectively. Some of the improvements are astounding. Robbery dropped 146 percent, burglary 100 percent, and motor vehicle theft 90 percent. (RELATED: The Eisenhower Precedent: Is Trump Justified in Deploying the National Guard to Chicago?) It’s not all good news. Assaults with a dangerous weapon are 5 percent higher. There were six sexual assaults during this period last year. There were nine in 2025. Furthermore, it’s best to treat D.C. crime data with skepticism. As noted elsewhere, the Metropolitan Police Department is almost surely manipulating the data to make crime rates look lower than they really are. It can’t be ruled out that data hijinks might be, at least in part, responsible for the positive numbers over the last month. (RELATED: Crime in DC Is NOT at a 30-Year Low) Yet there is one crime statistic that is very hard to manipulate, that of homicide. Since Trump sent in the National Guard, there have been six murders in D.C. There were 16 for the same period in 2024. The monthly average for homicides from January to July of this year was 14. The homicide data are the best evidence that what Trump and the National Guard have achieved is remarkable. But if Trump’s actions have had a positive effect on crime, they may have had negative effects in other areas. “I’ve had less business,” said Moses, the proprietor of a pizzeria on MLK Jr. Ave in Anacostia. “The Guard seems to do a lot of random stops. When the Guard is here, I think people tell each other and they don’t go out.” Andre, a waiter who works just around the corner from the pizzeria, concurred. “We’ve seen maybe 25 percent fewer customers in the last month,” he said. He suggested, though, that it wasn’t only due to the National Guard. “Some people may not be coming into the city because of recent protests, or maybe because they’ve got expired tags and are now more worried about getting pulled over,” he stated. Still, Andre acknowledged that there are D.C. residents who approve of what Trump has done. “Some people in the community, I think, appreciate the added layer of security,” he said. “It’s kind of a Catch-22.” READ MORE from David Hogberg: Alvin Bragg Bears Blame for Iryna Zarutska’s Murder Crime in DC Is NOT at a 30-Year Low DC May Be More Receptive to a Trump Takeover Than Many Assume

French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed his fifth prime minister since he took office — that’s one every 18 months. Maybe it’s just the way it is — with the French, I mean. For more than 1,000 years before 1789 (with the literal “beheading” of the Ancien Régime), France had a variety of governments. In fact, there have been 18 political systems in power since Clovis I pulled all the chieftains together in the 6th century to create the Frankish Kingdom. Among the efforts to rule, there have been the Republics (five so far) as well as the erstwhile Napoleonic Empire, several variations on the monarchy, and finally authoritarianism in WWII. France is a country that is, en masse, prone to disagreement, pessimism, and to some degree self-destruction, but individually it seems devoted to the pursuit of the good life… joie de vivre. France is a country that seems (mostly) proud of its past but often distrustful of the future, especially when it may involve change. There are countries in the world that certainly experience problematic issues for various reasons — geography, resources, etc. France seems to confuse what its real problems are with those that don’t exist. The French — and not just what some may call the “intellectual French” — prefer constructing generalizations and then applying them to explicate facts. Other nations seem to prefer the more scientific approach — examining the facts before constructing their theories. In opinion surveys across France, the nation, en masse, is more pessimistic and dissatisfied than its citizens, individually. Asked if their own lives are going well, French people are likely to say “oui.” Asked if the country is going well, they are almost certain to say “non.” Charles de Gaulle famously said that it was impossible to govern a country that had 246 types of cheese. Alas, I am told by a French colleague (of both American and French education) that such a figure is “without merit.” Apparently, de Gaulle underestimates the problem. “There are,” my colleague continued, “over 500 types of French cheese — some people (especially French people) insist the number is closer to 1,000.” The French, it seems, are in perpetual disagreement. Ensconced in an Economic Quagmire With the collapse, Monday, of Prime Minister François Bayrou’s government (amid attempts to rein in the country’s expanding sovereign debt), France’s economic stability looms large over the EU’s own crises with the Ukraine war, the White House, and dissent amongst its 27 members. The French government’s failure to put a lid on the country’s growing sovereign debt, together with protracted political infighting, could plunge the nation into an “economic quagmire.” France has one of the highest debt levels in the European Union, currently standing at €3.35 trillion ($3.9 trillion), roughly 113 percent of GDP, a ratio that is expected to climb to 125 percent by 2030. Its budget deficit is already projected at 5.4-5.8 percent of GDP this year, well above the bloc’s 3 percent limit. The “Big Three” rating agencies — S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch — are all watching closely. S&P, along with Fitch, has already shifted France’s credit outlook to “negative,” signaling trouble ahead. Should a credit rating agency downgrade France’s rating from AA to A, it would prompt institutional investors to sell off its government bonds. A downgrade isn’t just a number on a spreadsheet; it could have real-world consequences. As James Novotny from Jupiter Asset Management put it, “it would be very serious, as people would be forced to review their portfolios.” There are a number of institutions (e.g., central banks and insurance companies) that are prohibited from investing in securities below AA (investment grade), On Monday, Bayrou received a vote of “no confidence” in the National Assembly, which he had called himself to secure backing for a drastic austerity plan. The measures, which included slashing public sector jobs, curbing welfare spending, as well as axing two public holidays, were vehemently opposed by the right-wing National Rally, the Socialists, and the leftist France Unbowed. An Elabe poll ahead of the parliamentary vote revealed most respondents were also against the proposed measures, with two-thirds of respondents in two polls wanting President Macron to resign. On Tuesday, however, the French president appointed outgoing Defense Minister and loyalist, Sébastien Lecornu, as France’s new prime minister — the second one in 8 months. French Debt — A Danger to the Eurozone The truth is: Paris, at least in the near term, has little chance of reining in its finances amid ongoing political destabilization. Moreover, France’s burgeoning sovereign debt, coupled with political infighting, could threaten the fiscal stability of the entire eurozone, Deutsche Welle has reported. Friedrich Heinemann of the ZEW Leibniz Center in Mannheim, Germany, told the outlet, “…we should be worried. The eurozone is not stable at this point.” Heinemann added that he doubts France will find a way out soon, given the bitter political turmoil. Yet, despite its soaring debt and the growing budget deficit, Paris plans to increase its military spending to €64 billion in 2027, double what it spent in 2017. French President Macron, European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen, and Germany’s newly elected Chancellor Friedrich Merz have repeatedly invoked a supposed Russian threat as the reason for military spending hikes throughout the EU. Moscow has consistently dismissed such claims as “nonsense,” accusing EU leaders of fear-mongering to justify inflated military budgets just to cover up their domestic economic failures. In May, EU member states approved a €150 billion ($169 billion) debt program for additional arms procurement. In the 50 years since De Gaulle disappeared from French political life, the French have voted for change, one way or another, in virtually every national election but one. And their distrust of all politicians and all reforms is now magnified by online “halls of mirrors” through social media platforms that constantly sow discord, with no change in sight. What De Gaulle perhaps meant to convey in his comments about the French is that it is impossible to govern a country that is perpetually at odds with itself, a country that constantly demands change and yet rejects all efforts to change. READ MORE from F. Andrew Wolfe Jr.: New Study Shows Trump Might Be Right on Tariffs Trump and the Fed: Fiscal Dominance or Just Politics? The Debanking of the American Conservative

On Wednesday, America lost one of its great freedom fighters to a man with a gun, and the world went into mourning. The loss of one man has had a ripple effect on an entire community. It illustrates the fact that death doesn’t impact just the deceased; it expands to all who touched their lives. Wednesday also marked World Suicide Prevention Day. A date set aside to remember the countless lives lost and the countless more left behind in grief. In America, someone commits suicide every eleven minutes. That’s more than 120 deaths each day, nearly the entire population of Charlottesville, Virginia, in a year. Each loss leaves a wound that never fully heals. Which brings me to a difficult question, one often whispered but rarely spoken aloud: Is suicide selfish? I don’t raise this subject lightly. I grew up surrounded by loss. Young men, most of all. Boys I sat beside in classrooms, teammates I played alongside, never made it past their teenage years. Their names still echo. I’ve seen what their absence did to families, to friends, to whole communities. So when I ask, is suicide selfish? I ask with the weight of lived experience. Not from cruelty, and never from coldness. Suicide is never private. It reverberates outward. Suicide springs from despair. A darkness that convinces the sufferer there’s no way out. Depression, trauma, and shame can strip life of meaning until escape feels like the only logical option. To reduce all of that to selfishness alone would be cruel and simplistic. But the opposite extreme, treating suicide only as an act of personal freedom, is just as false. Suicide is never private. It reverberates outward. Take the father crushed by debt. He convinces himself his exit will spare his wife and children, that his absence will free them from the price of his poor choices. But when he is gone, the bills still come. The debts remain. His children must grow up without a father. His wife must grieve while carrying new burdens alone. It wasn’t release. It was abdication. Or the mother who believes her children would be better off without her. She cannot see that to a child, even a flawed parent is everything. That child would rather face hardship with their mother beside them than live in material comfort without her. What she thought was sacrifice, her children feel as abandonment. Suicide, then, can feel like an escape — but it can also be a theft. It takes from loved ones the one thing they cannot replace. A father, a mother, a brother, a friend. Their presence is stolen in an instant, yet the absence echoes for decades. To those left behind, suicide can look selfish because the act shifts unbearable pain from one person to many. But selfishness here is not the casual kind we use to describe greed or vanity. It’s not about wanting more for oneself. It’s about failing to see what is owed to others: love, loyalty, and the sheer fact of staying alive for those who cannot imagine life without you. This is not said to condemn those who suffered so greatly that they saw no way out. Hopelessness can blind a person to the devastation their choice will cause. Yet the devastation remains. The Christian tradition has always taken suicide seriously. Life is not something we own outright; it is a gift entrusted to us by God. To end it deliberately is to break that trust, to claim as private property what was never fully ours. Saint Augustine wrote that suicide breaks the commandment “Thou shalt not kill,” for it is the killing of oneself, who is also one’s neighbor in the deepest sense. Centuries later, Thomas Aquinas expanded the case. Suicide is an offense against God, against the community, and against the self. Against God, because life is His gift. Against the community, because we are not isolated beings. Our lives belong to those who love us and lean on us. Against ourselves, because darkness robs us of perspective, stealing the chance of recovery and redemption. But you don’t have to be a churchgoer to see the weight of that argument. Even if you’re a Dawkins-loving, Bible-bashing skeptic, you can still recognize the truth buried here. Life binds us to others, and ending it breaks bonds they can never mend. This isn’t theory. I’ve seen it up close. I’ve seen mothers with faces drained of life after finding sons who had hung themselves. I’ve seen fathers break as they lowered their boys into the ground. I’ve sat in classrooms where silence was louder than any bell, where empty chairs screamed what words could not. Suicide does not end suffering. It multiplies it. It seeps into families, into friendships, into generations yet to come. Some argue that it’s too harsh to call suicide selfish, that such words only heap shame on the suffering and drive them further into anguish. There is truth in that, and we must tread carefully. Compassion matters. But compassion cannot mean denial. Survivors know the sting of desertion. Their sorrow runs deep, and their anger is not without cause. To ignore the selfishness at times is to ignore their lived reality. Anger and sorrow sit side by side. Both are real. So what can we do? Sometimes it’s as simple as showing up. Making the call. Sitting with someone and reminding them they matter. What appears to be a small gesture can be a lifeline. And we need to speak plainly. Suicide isn’t noble. It isn’t poetic. It is devastation. It is both refuge and robbery. For the one who dies, it feels like release. For everyone else, it feels like a sentence. It’s important to remember the dead. But more than that, let’s stand with the living. Let’s speak with honesty. Let’s love with urgency. And let’s remind each other that despair does not get the last word. Life does. READ MORE from John Mac Ghlionn: The Rise of the Male Bimbo Why All Christians Must Reject DEI Big Tech’s Political Takeover Threatens All Americans