#1,050: Blessings & Curses

September 15, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

This past Wednesday’s gruesome assassination of ultra-conservative influencer - and IT ultra-ally - Charlie Kirk at (allegedly) the hands of shooter Tyler Robinson on the campus of Utah Valley University, has sent shockwaves throughout America and indeed, much of the world. Even more, it has uncovered much of what is most grisly and wickedly conspiratorial - as well as most mendacious and mind numbing - about early 21st century culture here in the land of Washington and Lincoln, Jefferson and Obama. It should be obvious to all but the pathologically insane that no one, regardless of their politics, obnoxious opinions or utter lack of empathy, compassion or truthfulness (à la the murder victim Mr. Kirk) should be taken out in a public killing. No child should have to face life without a father; no spouse without their mate.

Was the deceased a public menace who put the lives of everyday men, women and children in imminent danger? Rhetorically speaking, perhaps; I mean he was a cheerleader for cruelty, who possessed a vicious genius for making outlandish statements such as:

“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 G-d-given rights,"
"I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that — it does a lot of damage."
"Jews have been some of the largest funders of cultural Marxist ideas and supporters of those ideas over the last 30 or 40 years."
If we would have said that Joy Reid and Michelle Obama and Sheila Jackson Lee and Ketanji Brown Jackson were affirmative action picks, we would have been called racists. Now they’re coming out and they’re saying it for us … You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously.”
“The great replacement strategy, which is well under way every single day in our southern border, is a strategy to replace white rural America with something different.”
“There is no separation of church and state. It’s a fabrication, it’s a fiction, it’s not in the constitution. It’s made up by secular humanists.
At a “Turning Point USA’s" Young Women’s Leadership Summit in Grapevine, Texas this past June, attended by more than 3,000 mostly school-aged young women and girls, Kirk called upon women to abandon careers and education to "submit to a godly man” and raise “more children than you can afford.” At one point he touted the idea that American society should “bring back” the “Mrs. Degree,” a concept dating back to the mid-19th century, in which women attended college with the intention of finding a husband.

Within 24 hours of Kirk’s murder, the 31-year old’s martyrdom was already well on its way to being etched in stone. In her first encounter with media after his murder, his widow, Erika Kirk, vowed to continue her husband’s movement, and said that “the cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry. . . .The evil-doers for my husband’s assassination have no idea what they’ve done. They killed Charlie because he preached a patriotism, faith and of G-d’s love. They should all know this. If you thought my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea. You have no idea what you have unleashed across this country and this world.” Mind you, her comments were made even before Tyler Robinson’s arrest . . . at a time when many public figures and political influencers (including IT) were blaming the ‘radical left’ for Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

Many on the right have asserted that American political leaders and participants are far more endangered by “highly-armed liberal crazies” than patriotic Christians on the right. After reading those kind of statements, I did a little research and could only come up with one major crime that fit this stereotype: the 2017 shooting at a ballfield near D.C. where Republican members of the House were practicing for an upcoming charity softball game. Then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (who survived) and 4 other house members were shot by liberal activist James Hodgkinson from Belleville, Illinois. Hodgkinson, 66 was killed by police officers on the scene. Aside from this, I have yet to find another such incident. Yes, there are the 2 recent attempts on the life of the president; one man is on trial and the other was shot dead by the police before anyone could determine what - if anything - were the political underpinnings of his ghastly deed.

On the other hand, the number of shootings, bashings, failed kidnappings and outright murders on the part of ultra conservatives against Democrats (all of whom are labeled either “ultra-liberal,” “Marxist” or “child murdering”) needs to be counted on the fingers of several hands:

June 14, 2025: A masked man dressed as a police officer went to the home of the Minnesota House of Representatives’ top Democrat and fatally shot state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband as police tried to stop what Democratic Gov. Tim Walz later called “a politically motivated assassination.” The same man had just shot and wounded Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife at their home, police said. A list found in the gunman’s abandoned car largely included names of Democrats and figures with ties to Planned Parenthood or the abortion rights movement, including Rep. Ilhan Omar and Sen. Tina Smith.
April 13, 2025: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro – with his wife, their four children, two dogs and another family – were forced to flee after someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the governor’s mansion, severely damaging the home hours after the family hosted a Passover seder. The suspect said he targeted the Democratic governor in part because of what he believed were Shapiro’s views on the war in Gaza, search warrants show.
October 28, 2022: a who reportedly had compiled a list of people he believed were “systematically and deliberately” destroying American freedom and liberty broke into the San Francisco home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, planning to kidnap and hurt her, authorities said. The Speaker was not at home at the time of the attack. Instead, her husband, Paul Pelosi, was bludgeoned by a hammer, which cracked open his skull.
January 6, 2021: Minutes after a fiery speech by Trump filled with false claims and a call to his followers to march to the US Capitol and “fight like hell,” thousands broke into the Capitol as Congress gathered to certify Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Captured on live television, rioters attacked the Capitol and breached the Senate floor. (BTW: During the insurrection members of the mob, from inside the Congressional building went in search of V.P. Mike Pence, whom they sought to hang. On his first day in office in January 2025, the Pouty Pidgeon pardoned all those who were found guilty and sentenced for their criminal misdeeds.)
October 8, 2020: The FBI announced the arrests of 13 men suspected of orchestrating a domestic terror plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and otherwise using violence to overthrow the state government. Some labeled the attempt an example of stochastic terrorism, where violent rhetoric by prominent figures inspired the plot. 9 perpetrators were convicted and sent to prison. In June of this year, IT publicly stated that he was giving consideration to pardoning the imprisoned. This brought an immediate response from Gov. Whitmer. As of today, no pardons have been granted.
January 8, 2011: Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords suffered a serious brain injury when a man shot her point-blank in the head while she met with constituents outside a grocery store near Tucson, Arizona. Six people were killed in the attack and 13 wounded. Giffords, a Democrat, was the sole target in the attack. The shooter pleaded guilty to 19 charges in exchange for the government not seeking the death penalty. He was sentenced to seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years, with no possibility of parole.

As of this morning (Monday, Sept. 15), the news stream has meandered in the direction of Tyler Robinson having lived “for at least a year” with a “transitioning” roommate. Most of these “reports” are coming out on social media, rather than legitimate news, sites. If indeed, Robinson’s roommate is/was transitioning has yet to be proven, and is really nothing more than a voyeuristic sidebar that proves little. (It does, however, bring up memories of the mesmerizing 1975 dark comedy Dog Day Afternoon, starring Al Pacino. In the film [which was based upon a real-life incident that occurred in August 1972], Pacino plays “Sonny,” a Vietnam veteran turned bank robber determined to steal enough money for his partner Sal (John Cazale) to get a sex change operation.)

As shocking and depressing as the murder of Charlie Kirk is, the manner in which the White House has been treating it is even more so. Where virtually no words or expressions of sympathy, empathy or concern were coming forth from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue at the time of the murders in Minnesota, the arson in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the hammer attack in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco or last week’s school shootings in Evergreen, Colorado, Mr. Kirk’s body was flown to his home upon Air Force Two, accompanied by Vice President J.D. Vance. POTUS immediately issued a proclamation stating: The flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, September 14, 2025. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

Moreover, POTUS announced that he would be awarding Charlie Kirk the nation’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom . . . the same award which, over the years, has been bestowed upon such diverse people as:

Scientist Jane Goodall
Actor and Parkinson’s Disease activist Michael J. Fox
Former Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Former British P.M. Margaret Thatcher
TV’s Mr. Rogers
Walt Disney
Helen Keller
Journalist Edward R. Murrow
Musician Duke Ellington
The late Ambassador and New York Governor Averill Harriman

Precisely what Charlie Kirk accomplished in his brief life that merits him being included in this rarified group is beyond my ken. . . . but I’m not stupid. He is being groomed as a future icon for the post-IT era.

It has long been my habit to see what the weekly Torah reading was at the time of various historic (or history-grabbing) events. Sometimes what I learn sends chills down my spine. The murder of Charlie Kirk is one of those haunting times. For the week of his murder, פָּרָשָׂת הַשׁבוּעַ (parsashat ha-shavua . . . “The Weekly Torah Portion”) was none other than כִּי־תָבוֹא (ki tavo Deut. 26:1-29:8). In this reading, which prescribes various rituals that were to accompany the presentation of the first-fruits and tithe of the Sanctuary (among other topics) we find a brief section (27:15-28:14) in which a list of various “solemn dooms” and blessings are enumerated before the entire congregation of Israel. According to Tradition, the Levites stood round the Ark of the Covenant, in the valley, midway between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal. They would first turn toward Gerizim and pronounce the Blessings, and the whole multitude would on the slopes answered Amen. Turning then to Mt. Ebal, they would pronounce the Dooms, followed by the same response.

In going over this section, I was stunned - but not overly surprised - to find that one of the dooms (or curses) spoke directly to Charlie Kirk. For in Chapter 27, verse 18, we read: אָר֕וּר מַשְׁגֶּ֥ה עִוֵּ֖ר בַּדָּ֑רֶךְ וְאָמַ֥ר כָּל־הָעָ֖ם אָמֵֽן “Cursed be the one who the blind go astray . . . and all the people respond AMEN!”

What in the world does this curse have to do with Charlie Kirk? If we take the words literally - “at face value” - likely nothing. Ah, but those who study (as oppose merely ‘read’) the Hebrew text, we have dozens - if not hundreds - of interpretations debated and discussed over hundreds upon hundreds of years. (Most regrettably, the vast majority or these commentaries are not in English, but rather in Aramaic and medieval rabbinic Hebrew). Well, it turns out that in this case, to be “blind” goes well beyond the scope of mere biology or optics; it can mean, variously, “unlettered,” “uneducated,” “naive,” “gullible,” “unwary,” and “exploitable” . . . among many, many other synonymous terms.

In other words, much of what the late Mr. Kirk was engaged in during his brief life was exploiting the “blind” - filling the holes, gaps, fears, and uncertainties with tons of untruths. That is to say convincing people who feel that life has cheated them by pounding into their heads that Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, aliens, LGBTQ+ people, non-Christians like Muslims, Jews and Hindus, etc. are all plotting to replace them . . . good white Christian males . . . with a “new-found” understanding of what is good and what is evil, of where the blessings and where the curses emanate from. This is, according to the Bible, a sin of gigantic proportion for which we must say “This is אָרוּר . . . cursed!”

It is both sad and frightening to report that much of what and who is/are MAGA, are committing this dooming sin on a daily basis: leading the blind astray by the power of their presence and a ton of ill-intentioned charisma.

The only blessing that comes to mind at this juncture is one which paraphrases Tevye the Milkman’s Rabbi in Fiddler on the Roof: “May G-d bless and keep such as these . . . FAR AWAY FROM US.”

And let us all say “AMEN!”

2 Comments 0 Likes