Politics

The dominant US headlines for the fall of 2025, in both mainstream and big-alternative media, involve the assassination of Charlie Kirk. As expected, people are taking to social media, politicizing what seems to be a horrific murder. Americans are deeply fixated on this event, ignoring global changes such as the collapse of the government in Nepal. Everything about the media narrative concerning Kirk feels deeply unsettling. There are various conflicting statements from the FBI. The video evidence concerning the shooter and murder weapon make little sense. Comments are being made from every single sphere of both big-alternative and small-indie podcasts.

The framing of this as a left-right issue has led to unhinged individuals glorifying this murder on social media, further pushing a divisive wedge to keep Americans fighting among one another instead of those who are covering up Epstein documents. The news cycle for the past several months has also ignored the Roman Storm legal battle, a criminal case that could have been a precedent-setting linchpin concerning new cryptocurrencies and free software development. Although the shooting of Kirk is a tragedy, the way he impacted so many in independent media, and the way his killing has overshadowed other major events, should make everyone pause and carefully assess the propaganda we’re being fed. All of us are likely being manipulated into the emotions we are currently experiencing.

Roman Storm and Digital Currencies

Roman Storm is a developer who created Tornado Cash, a GPL licensed¹, self-contained, unopinionated and open-source application deployed on Ethereum². He never advocated or facilitated any illegal activity, but the software was placed under US sanctions and later removed from those sanctions³. Storm was eventually arrested and prosecuted for unlicensed money transmitting, money laundering and sanctions evasion⁴. Roman had no administrative or custodial rights over what others did with his software. The legal theory used to prosecute him took absolutely bizarre liberties and interpretations of clear legal regulations⁵. He was literally arrested and prosecuted for what others allegedly did with software he had written years ago.

Needless to say, this type of prosecution has a critical chilling effect on the privacy-focused world of cryptocurrency and open-source software. I found very little coverage of this story, even among many niche technology news sites and forums. Eventually, perhaps even reluctantly, the Electronic Frontier Foundation finally chimed in with their own calls to dismiss the case⁶. In August, Storm was found guilty on the sole count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, was found not guilty of sanctions evasion, and said his lawyers intend to get the sole count dismissed in a post-trial motion⁷. Roman Storm considered the verdict a “big win,” stating he would return to Seattle and continue to fight the remaining charge⁸.

There are two major implications of the Storm case. The first has to do with decentralized versus Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). This prosecution is a clear indication that the federal government wants to tighten its grasp on any type of digital store of value it cannot directly control and tax. The second major implication is that simply writing software to facilitate anonymous exchanges of digital value stores could be made illegal. This was clearly a major move against independent cryptocurrencies and free software, and it received very little media coverage.

Captain James Kirk

There are a lot of questions surrounding the assassination story of Charlie Kirk. As Kirk himself stood boldly for the freedom of speech and the freedom to question, it should be clear there is nothing wrong with carefully examining and questioning the official narrative of his death. That being said, if we are to take the official story even in its baseline form, there are a number of absolutely unhinged individuals celebrating his death.

No matter what psychological operation may or may not be at play, one thing is very clear: if you are celebrating public murder, there is something seriously wrong with your moral character. It doesn’t matter if that individual has said x or believed in y. The core foundation of Americanism is the freedom to speak. This was a litmus test of your empathy. If you allowed low-level social politics to overtake your basic humanity, you have become a monster. You may try to rationalize it and justify it however you want, but there is no scenario where you are not wrong for celebrating the murder of a father of two children. You were tested, you failed and you are a failed human being⁹.

The people who are protesting vigils for Kirk¹⁰, with their gay pride flags and queer beliefs, have zero self-awareness. They have now degraded themselves into the ranks of the Westboro Baptist Church by literally protesting funerals.

Alternative Theories on the Events

With all of that being said, the events surrounding the Charlie Kirk narrative are extremely suspect. There was immediate politicization from nearly every corner of the mainstream and alternative media. Podcasters large and small were dedicating episodes to either their friendship with Kirk or his martyrdom. Conflicting stories describing the details of the event, the alleged shooter and the weapon flooded every stream of media.

Bullet Deflection Theory

What if Charlie Kirk knew a bullet was coming? Looking carefully at the photos and videos from the event, some have suggested he was wearing some type of concealed body armor. In the high elite circles that are powerful enough to wave away the Epstein saga, these people may have a need to exert their influence in powerful humiliation rituals. Kirk may have been told a bullet was coming and he needed to participate. It had to be real, because no one would believe anything else in our current world of continual filming, always online and AI-augmented reality. The entrance to Charlie’s neck is not indicative of a .223 (which would have been 1/5 of an inch) or .308 (1/3 of an inch) round, but the order of a full inch¹¹. What if a real hollow-point was aimed at plate armor under Kirk’s shirt, and it expanded and shot up through his neck? Another possibility is that the bullet pierced body armor and then exited up through his neck¹². What if Kirk wasn’t supposed to die, but instead have a story about how he miraculously survived an attempt on his life?

Alternative Shooting Location Theory

Some videos seem to indicate the bullet came from a position elevated and to the side of Kirk’s stage, angling down into his body¹³. If this theory is true, the bullet should still be in the grass next to where he was speaking. However, the sod has already been removed and the stage area (which looks like a menorah) is being reconstructed by the University¹⁴.

The Acceleration of Events

Less than a month before the Kirk incident, Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee, was allegedly stabbed and killed on a train by Decarlos Brown in Charlotte, North Carolina. Immediately people were questioning why Brown, a repeat offender with fourteen arrests, was free on the street¹⁵. Others questioned why the mainstream media was allegedly ignoring this story¹⁶. When actually looking into Brown, his story seems tragic. Having served six years in prison, he assaulted his own sister only months after his release and has battled with schizophrenia¹⁷.

However, there were also people who questioned if any of this story was based in reality. The Iryna/Brown story has several inconsistencies in the official narrative, indicating it could be a carefully staged hoax¹⁸. Careful analysis of the video shows how it’s impossible to see the actual stabbing, and there is a complete lack of blood or serious neck injury¹⁹. After carefully examining the video that was originally released by Alex Jones, I too have a lot of questions about this stabbing and the narrative that followed²⁰.

Everyone Loves Charlie

One thing that immediately grabbed my attention was the sheer number of people in alternative media who were dedicating entire episodes of their shows to Charlie Kirk. There were a lot of people who considered Charlie a close friend, someone they would message regularly. Charlie had extensive and well-cultivated relationships with many of these people. Candice Owens said she was “one of the masons of Turning Point USA²¹.” I assume she meant the term “mason” as “founder,”” but considering her audience, why use such an obviously loaded term? Bret Weinstein claimed that Charlie had bailed out his Rescue the Republic movement when it faced financial hardships²² and played clips where Kirk very respectfully answered questions from both gay²³ and transgender²⁴ students.

Shoe0nHead made a video to comment on the sad state of people glorifying Charlie’s murder, stating that Kirk’s death hit differently because “he was just a f–king guy … a podcaster … a guy who talked about politics … nothing he said warranted his life being taken away. This is America. We have freedom of speech here. Unless you criticize a certain country²⁵.”

As Shoe0nHead and Weinstein took a very somber and heartfelt approach to the assassination, Sam Hyde took the entire opposite stance. He made comparisons between Iryna Zarutska, Charlie Kirk and his audience in a video titled This Is You²⁶. He made comparisons to Donald Trump’s assassination as if it were real, even though he covered the recent video of the event from a different angle²⁷, implying the Trump assassination was staged, although he didn’t comment meaningfully on the new video. His rant about Charlie Kirk honestly felt like a cringey and unhinged call to outrage.

Some of these individuals are simply commenting on the event, admitting they didn’t know Charlie personally. Still, I’m surprised at the number of people I’ve listened to in big-independent media who claimed to be close to him. Several of these people discussed texts and direct messages they had received recently from Charlie. He went out of his way to make personal relationships with a lot of influential micro-celebrities. It may have simply been his virtue, but it also could have been part of a very intentional campaign and propagandist capture. Charlie may have been portrayed as humble, but he ran an extremely influential origination from a very young age, had a net worth of over $12 million and earned over $400,000 per year²⁸.

Staged Oddities

I previously stated I didn’t think the shooting itself was fake, but also didn’t discount people who examined that position. Since then, a lot of oddities have arisen that make me question my previous conclusion. There is a video of Kirk’s wife weeping over his casket, and I found it incredibly weird, creepy and disturbing²⁹. Why was Kirk’s body taken into the back of an SUV instead of an ambulance³⁰? Frank Turek, a prominent Christian apologist who rode in the SUV next to Charlie, claimed both that “he was killed instantly and felt absolutely no pain” while also claiming that “doctors later said that we got a pulse because Charlie was a very healthy man³¹³².”

Candice Owens claims she has seen the footage from a camera that was mounted behind Charlie Kirk and that she saw no blood³³. Alex Jones claimed a .30-06 bullet should have blown through Kirk and left a clear exit wound³⁴. Andrew Kolvet, a spokesman for TP USA, claimed the bullet, which would normally go through an elk or moose, was miraculously stopped by Charlie’s body, preventing potential injury to other bystanders³⁵.

Standard operating procedures, such as locking down the university, clearing each building and securing the crime scene, were all completely ignored³⁶. Not only was Kirk taken to the hospital in an SUV instead of an ambulance, his casket was flown on Air Force Two, Vice President Vance’s official transport, back to his family in Phoenix, Arizona³⁷. Miles Mathis researched Charlie Kirk’s origin and family lineage. He discovered missing and conflicting records, indicating that Charlie James Kirk might be a fake name, possibly an alias in honor of James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise³⁸.

Needless to say, there are many discrepancies in the entire story presented to the public so far. It is a reasonable possibility the entire assassination may not have been real at all³⁹⁴⁰.

Nepal, the United Kingdom, Social Media and Censorship

Nepal passed legislation that social media companies needed to register to operate within their nation. The registration was mostly a legal entity requirement and opened the door to possible digital identification, although digital identification was not part of the initial rollout⁴¹. Large companies like Facebook refused compliance, and the nation was planning to ban 26 social media sites in September. This led to massive amounts of youth protests throughout the nation, not only on the stifling of social media, but also over claims of nepotism, corruption and economic inequality. The protests led to over 50 deaths, 1,300 injuries and the burning of Nepal’s parliament. The government collapsed, and the interim prime minister was chosen by a small group of youth activists via a poll on the chat application Discord. Sushila Karki, a 73-year-old former chief justice, was selected as the interim prime minister and the first female prime minister of the nation⁴².

Back in July, the United Kingdom rolled out the aggressive Online Safety Act, which required citizens to undergo an age verification process under the pretense of protecting children from online pornography. This was immediately used to censor protests outside migrant hotels⁴³. The invasive age verification system required users to submit government IDs in order to access many Reddit communities, Spotify music videos tagged as 18+, and war footage/protest videos on X⁴⁴, leading to a massive increase in VPN usage within the country⁴⁵. The new laws even restricted the government’s own police forces when they posted missing persons reports⁴⁶.

The United Kingdom has much more legal sway over large social media entities, meaning websites were much more likely to comply with British laws rather than be restricted within the nation. It’s unknown if British youth would have participated in similar protests had their nation threatened to ban social media in the way Nepal did. Although one might view Nepal as a victory for speech and against corruption, one must remember the role social media has in accelerating violent uprisings.

In 2017, content on Facebook contributed to the rise of anti-Rohingya content in Myanmar, leading to atrocities and ethnic cleansing⁴⁷. Facebook contributed to the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia and Bahrain, during which nations like Egypt quickly realized they couldn’t shut down Internet connectivity during periods of civil unrest without also crippling their own economy⁴⁸. Facebook itself has deep connections to US intelligence and the surveillance industry, with its origins rooted in the US military⁴⁹.

On its surface the story of Nepal’s recent uprising is a precarious one. Anti-government sentiment was organized and spread via major American social networking giants that Nepal’s government was seeking to rein in. Where the United Kingdom has somehow managed to stifle dissent, the youth of Nepal set fire to government buildings and deposed their leaders. It’s a dangerous situation, because the youth of Nepal were not protesting for any locally established Internet services, but instead for international big tech giants that are known propagandists. The youth also established an interim government using a gaming chatroom application, with input from a tiny subset of the nation’s 30 million people⁵⁰. If anything, this situation screams similarities to some of the dangerous revolutions that have led to autocracy and communism.

The World Keeps Turning

At least five people were killed in violent riots in Indonesia, sparked by police running over a taxi motorcycle driver at a rally against perks for lawmakers. The unrest led to political parties revoking a number of perks and privileges for parliamentarians in concession to the protestors⁵¹. Protests also broke out in the Philippines over government corruption, mostly concerning flood control⁵². There were also marches across Australia “Against Endless Immigration and Housing Pain,” due to the nation pulling in 1.4 million migrants since 2022, which is 80% more immigrants than Australia took in from 2007 to 2010⁵³. There were many major news events sparking off all over the world⁵⁴, yet in America they were all overshadowed and ignored due to the amazing focus placed solely at the neck of Charlie Kirk.

Should Charlie be a Martyr?

I think the death of Charlie Kirk, as it’s been portrayed, is tragic. I still think there are a lot of questions surrounding the incident. Yet, even with the official story, should Kirk be a martyr? I am greatly weary of the way he’s being idolized as a symbol for conservative Christian values. A mural is already being painted in memorial for him in Israel⁵⁵. Lawmakers in Oklahoma are attempting to have statues of Kirk built at all state community colleges⁵⁶ and Republicans are pushing for a statue in D.C.⁵⁷ In many ways, he’s being turned into the conservative mirror of George Floyd.

Although Kirk had a lot of poignant moments when talking about free speech or his belief in God and Christianity, he also advocated heavily for the power of the state. He joined the ranks of people like Tim Dillon⁵⁸, who said they were “done talking about Epstein,” deferring to their friends in government to handle the situation⁵⁹.

Charlie Kirk is now being used as a figurehead for many ideas and positions done in his name. He joins the ranks of the assassinated, like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, whose stories have grown far beyond them: their triumphs exulted and their shortcomings dismissed or forgotten. In this way, martyrs are dangerous because they become a coaster for whatever the populists with the loudest bullhorns claim that the figures stood for. Whether that story is about free speech, the defense or criticism of Israel, or Christian nationalism, it is a narrative that is forming on his memory and without his agency to guide it. Yes, his murder was heinous, but we should be deeply wary of those using him for martyrdom⁶⁰.

September 11th, in the Year 2025

A lot has gone on in 2025. I originally predicted this would be the year of psychological operations. Both traditional TV and online social media have focused the American gaze onto a particular series of events, ignoring international uprisings and American legal cases that challenge the future of alternative digital currencies. All the major events are being used to accelerate the removal of essential rights and the disarmament of American citizens. We are being bathed in a bloodbath of outrage porn and propaganda, part of which is ushering in a world of digital identification under the guise of protecting children from porn. (Ironically, real sexual pornography is probably healthier than the propaganda slush being fed to us through the 24/7 hate machine news cycle).

“We’re trapped in the belly of this horrible machine, and the machine is bleeding to death” -The Dead Flag Blues, Godspeed You! Black Emperor (1997, Song)

People seem to be losing their minds right now, and the major media networks are using divisive terms such as “far-left lunatics,” “radical far left,” “right-wing extremism” and “fascists.” Through a series of propagandizing repetition, they are turning Americans against one another⁶¹.

“We’re losing a lot of people because of the Internet. And we have to do something. We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what’s happening. And we have to talk to them, maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some way. Somebody will say ‘Oh, freedom of speech, freedom of speech.’ These are foolish people. We have a lot of foolish people.” -Donald Trump, 2015⁶²

I think it should be clear to everyone who is paying attention at this point that there is something deeply wrong with the Charlie Kirk story. Whether he was really shot and killed, or if it was a stage show and he’s hanging out in a retirement bunker in some foreign nation, is quite honestly irrelevant. The story as it has been presented is being used by people on all sides and political persuasions. The reaction to it is being used as a cudgel to keep Americans fighting among each other instead of the real powers in both political parties that are facilitating this stage show.

“We create a pretend world. We are a global production company. We write the screenplay, we’re the directors, we’re the producers, we’re the main actors, and the world is our stage.” -Mossad agent⁶³