The Wild Reed

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

In the Garden of Spirituality – Wendy Benning Swanson

“We are not on earth to guard a museum,
but to cultivate a flowering garden of life.”

– Pope John XXIII

The Wild Reed’s series of reflections on religion and spirituality continues with an article by Wendy Benning Swanson, first published in the August-September 2025 issue of The Edge magazine. The focus of this article is on unity, “the sacred thread that connects us all.”

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Unity is the sacred recognition that we are all connected. In a world that often encourages separation and individualism, unity is not only radical; it is deeply healing. It reminds us of a truth that our souls have always known: we belong to each other.

This sense of connection isn’t just a comforting thought – it’s a principle found at the heart of many ancient traditions. In the Hermetic teachings, there is a guiding truth: As above, so below; as within, so without. This principle reveals that everything is interconnected, and what happens in one part of the whole affects the rest. When we understand this, we begin to see others not as separate from us, but as extensions of the same divine source. Their healing is our healing. Their peace is our peace.

The journey to unity begins within. So many of us have experienced moments where we felt disconnected or even unsafe in the world – emotionally, spiritually, or energetically. True unity cannot be forced or faked; it arises naturally when we cultivate a sense of safety inside ourselves. When we feel grounded, seen, and whole within, we are no longer threatened by difference or driven by fear. We become capable of deep connection.

One of the most powerful shifts I’ve experienced came when I began to study ancient teachings that emphasized self-mastery. These teachings, rooted in the Hermetic tradition, offer tools not just for understanding the world, but for transforming my inner landscape. The more I work with these principles, the more I begin to release the patterns that keep me in judgment, comparison, or isolation. I discover a deeper version of myself – one that is capable of trust, compassion, and unity.

Even more beautiful is how this inner work translates into my relationships. I found myself part of a global spiritual community where I feel truly connected. Whether gathering for classes, warrior training, or professional development, there is an unmistakable feeling of unity. It isn’t about knowing everyone’s life story. It is about recognizing the shared commitment to becoming more loving, more conscious, and more true to who we really are.

What surprises me most is how safe I feel among people I have just met. There is a silent understanding: we are all walking this path together. And because we each do the inner work to take responsibility for our own thoughts and emotions, there’s less drama, less projection. There’s space for authenticity. And that creates a profound sense of peace.

This, to me, is a glimpse of what a harmonious world could look like. Some might call it a vision of Shamballah – a world where peace, respect, and unity are not ideals, but realities we live every day. In such a world, we honor each other not in spite of our differences, but because of them. We see beyond the surface and recognize the soul within.

Unity doesn’t require us to be perfect. It asks us to be present. To be courageous enough to look within, soften the walls we’ve built, and remember that we are part of something greater.

When we live from unity, everything shifts. We make choices that serve the whole. We speak with more kindness. We listen with more heart. And slowly, the world begins to reflect back that same harmony.

Unity isn’t a destination – it’s a way of being. And when we align with unity, we don’t just change ourselves. We help heal the world.

– Wendy Benning Swanson
The Edge
August-September 2025

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

Bowing to an Idol

The Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin is Minister of Word and Sacrament at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant in Greensboro NC. He also serves as co-host of The Moonshine Jesus Show and is the founder of The Christian Left, “a ministry for Christian progressives and their allies.”

Earlier today on social media, Rev. Sandlin shared the following on the travesty – and danger – of Christian nationalism in the United States.

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Christian nationalism loves to dress itself up as faith.

Wrap a Bible in a flag, pray at a political rally, drop Jesus’ name into a stump speech, and suddenly people call it holy. But Rev. Barber was right: when you sanctify wrong with God-language, you’re not worshiping God. You’re bowing to an idol.

That idol has a name. It’s empire.

And it’s nothing new.

The prophets railed against rulers who wrapped oppression in piety. Jesus himself stood toe-to-toe with empire, refusing to wave Caesar’s banner. He flipped tables, healed outsiders, and reminded us that Love is bigger than loyalty to the state.

The trick of Christian nationalism is that it takes something good (love of country, love of community) and twists it.

Suddenly, patriotism means excusing injustice.

Suddenly, the Beatitudes get traded for border walls.

Suddenly, loving your country means closing your eyes to its cruelty.

Suddenly, faith gets measured by political loyalty instead of compassion for the hungry, the sick, the stranger at the gate.

That’s not patriotism. That’s idolatry with better branding.

History is full of it: wars justified, slavery defended, oppression baptized, all because people blurred God and nation. And every time, it ended in blood and tears.

So let’s be clear. Love of neighbor never required allegiance to Caesar. It still doesn’t. Our calling isn’t to worship flags and borders. Our calling is to serve Love.

And idols (whether golden calves or star-spangled ones) don’t last.

Love does.

– Rev. Mark Sandlin
via social media
September 16, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
Charlie Kirk and Christian Nationalism – Stephanie Rutt (Concord Monitor, September 16, 2025).
The Gospel and the Specter of Christian Nationalism – Stewart Clem (Covenant, September 16, 2025).
The Shameful Christian Idolatry and Fraudulent Martyrdom of Charlie Kirk – John Pavlovitz (The Beautiful Mess, September 12, 2025).
Charlie Kirk: From Secular Activist to Christian Nationalist Icon – Religion Media Center (September 11, 2025).
Charlie Kirk’s Toxic Legacy of Hatred and Division – Christopher D. Cook (Common Dreams, September 11, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “This Is What Fascism Looks Like”
• Trump's America: Normalized White Supremacy and a Rising Tide of Racist Violence
• What the Bible Really Says About Gender Justice
• Sufism: Way of Love, Tradition of Enlightenment, and Antidote to Fanaticism

Monday, September 15, 2025

Taylor Lorenz on the Real “Political Violence” in the U.S.

In introducing her most recent video commentary, journalist and author Taylor Lorenz says the following.

When a powerful right-wing figure like Charlie Kirk is attacked or killed, political leaders and media rush to mourn them as a martyr and condemn “political violence.”

But what does political violence actually mean? While violence against elites is treated as a national tragedy, violence against poor, Black, immigrant, queer, and disabled people is sanctioned. The truth is that political violence has always been part of life in America, but somehow it only becomes a “national emergency” when that violence threatens power.

In this video, I talk about the history of “political violence” in the U.S., what the term actually means in practice, how it’s weaponized, and what we need to do if we actually want to put a stop to it.

Related Off-site Links:
Israel, Charlie Kirk, and the Weaponization of Murder: An Interview with Max Blumenthal – The Chris Hedges Report (September 15, 2025).
Charlie Kirk Refused Netanyahu Funding Offer, Was “Frightened” by Pro-Israel Forces Before Death, Friend Reveals – Max Blumenthal and Anya Parampil (The Grayzone,September 12, 2025).
“Moment of Great Peril”: Jeff Sharlet on Killing of Charlie Kirk and Rising Political Violence in U.S. – Democracy Now! (September 11, 2025).
Charlie Kirk’s Toxic Legacy of Hatred and Division – Christopher D. Cook (Common Dreams, September 11, 2025).
Charlie Kirk Dies After Being Shot During Utah Event – David Doel (The Rational National, September 10, 2025).

UPDATES: Stephen Miller Says He and Trump Will Use Law Enforcement to “Dismantle” the Left After Charlie Kirk Shooting – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, September 13, 2025).
“The Martyrdom of Charlie Kirk”: Journalist Chris Hedges on the Weaponization of Kirk’s Killing – Democracy Now! (September 15, 2025).
White House Working to Criminalize Left-Wing Dissent as “Domestic Terror” in Wake of Charlie Kirk Murder – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, September 15, 2025).
“Political Violence” is All Around Us – Stephen Prager (Current Affairs, September 16, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “Bullets Are Replacing Ballots and Political Arguments Are Being Answered with Gunfire”
• Calvin Michaels: “I Really Don’t Want to Hear What Charlie Kirk’s Supporters Have to Say When It Comes to Morality”
• A Simple and Brutal Truth
• Naming the Pattern and the Source
• A “Racist and Factless Meltdown” Over Omar Fateh
• Robert Reich: Quote of the Day – July 14, 2024

Sunday, September 14, 2025

Domestic Extremist-Related Killings in the U.S. by Perpetrator Political Affiliation (2015-2024)

– Source: ADL

Following is a related article by Alex Samuels, first published September 12, 2025 by Daily Kos.

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Americans See Left and Right Violence
as Equal issues. The Data Doesn’t

By Alex Samuels

Daily Kos
September 12, 2025
There’s a wide gap between right-wing and left-wing violence in the U.S. – and it doesn’t line up with what many Americans believe.

A YouGov poll released late Wednesday found that Americans are almost evenly split on which side poses a greater threat: 31% say left-wing violence is a bigger issue, 33% say right-wing violence is, and 36% weren’t sure. The partisan divide was clear – two-thirds of Republicans blamed the left, while 62% of Democrats expressed more concern about the right.

However, the data on political violence shows a much more lopsided situation.

A 2021 study published in the journal Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law and Society analyzed ideologically motivated extremist killings from 1990 to 2020. The results were clear: Only 42 incidents of politically motivated homicide, or 15.6% of all incidents, involved far-left extremists. In contrast, far-right extremists were responsible for 227 incidents – 84.4% of the total.

“A far-right ideologically motivated homicide has occurred at least once every year since 1990,” the study’s authors wrote. “By comparison, far-left ideologically motivated homicides were present for only 17 years of the 31-year timespan of the current analysis.”

And this pattern of far-right violence hasn’t slowed since 2020, the final year included in the study’s data.

For instance, the study doesn’t include the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, for which President Donald Trump later pardoned his supporters. And in October 2022, an assailant broke into former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer. Earlier this year, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence was set on fire while his family was sleeping inside. Then in June, a gunman targeted Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota, killing state House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and wounding state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife inside their home.

Right-wing violence isn’t just persistent – it’s accelerating. Yet many prominent officials, including the president, have downplayed or even excused it. The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday has emboldened far-right voices to call for “war”-like retaliation against the left, even as Trump frames right-wing radicals as well-meaning.

“I’ll tell you something that’s gonna get me in trouble, but I couldn’t care less. The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime,” Trump said. “The radicals on the left are the problem.”

That narrative doesn’t hold up. The aforementioned study makes one thing clear: The far-right has been the driving force behind ideologically motivated killings for decades. And it’s not the only research to draw that conclusion.

A 2022 study published by the highly regarded scientific journal PNAS found that right-wing extremists are more likely to engage in political violence than their left-wing counterparts. Researchers tied that risk to personality traits often associated with right-wing ideology, such as closed-mindedness, dogmatism, and a heightened need for order and certainty, all of which can intensify in-group bias and hostility toward outsiders.

By contrast, the study found that left-leaning individuals tend to score higher on openness and tolerance for ambiguity, and are less likely to support social dominance – factors that correlate with a lower risk of using violence. Other studies have even identified an “empathy gap” between liberals and conservatives, which may help explain the frequency of far-right attacks.

Even federal agencies have been sounding the alarm. In early January, the Justice Department warned that militant white-supremacist and nationalist violence continues to rise. Since 1990, far-right extremists have carried out more than 520 killings, compared to just 78 by far-left extremists. A Department of Homeland Security threat assessment flagged immigration grievances, election denialism, and even pandemic stress as likely drivers of attacks in the years ahead.

So what accounts for why the public is split on whether left- or right-wing violence is more of a problem?

Part of that divide may stem from how incidents are presented. Violence against right-wing figures is often assumed to originate from the left, but that’s not always the case. Both of Trump’s would-be assassins last year had complex political backgrounds: One was a registered Republican but donated to a liberal group, and the other was a 2016 Trump voter who turned against him and whose most recent voter registration was unaffiliated with any party.

Left-wing violence, while far less common, has been inching up in recent years. The 2021 Criminology study found that “far-left violence has increased over the last five years” and that “while far-right extremists are responsible for a higher frequency of incidents, far-left extremists more often kill more than one individual.” But the researchers caution that under the right social and political conditions, the threat could grow well beyond its historic baseline – one reason they call for data-driven strategies to address domestic extremism across the spectrum.

For now, the greatest danger is obvious. Right-wing violence isn’t a relic of the past – it’s an active and larger threat. Experts warn that continuous talk of “stolen elections,” immigrant “invasions,” and revenge is further stoking a fire, meaning the next attack is not a matter of if but when. The real question is whether the country will respond before more lives are lost.

– Alex Samuels
Daily Kos
September 12, 2012

Saturday, September 13, 2025

Calvin Michaels: “I Really Don’t Want to Hear What Charlie Kirk’s Supporters Have to Say When It Comes to Morality”

I appreciate the following remarks by Calvin Michaels on the recent murder of right-wing commentator and pro-Trump influencer Charlie Kirk and the response to it from his supporters.

Note: Early in his 16-minute video commentary, Michaels refers to “HBCUs.” In case you’re not familiar with this acronym, it stands for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Related Off-site Links:
Charlie Kirk Dies After Being Shot During Utah Event – David Doel (The Rational National, September 10, 2025).
Charlie Kirk and the Value of Empathy – John Pavlovitz (The Beautiful Mess, September 10, 2025).
Charlie Kirk’s Toxic Legacy of Hatred and Division – Christopher D. Cook (Common Dreams, September 11, 2025).
“Moment of Great Peril”: Jeff Sharlet on Killing of Charlie Kirk and Rising Political Violence in U.S. – Democracy Now! (September 11, 2025).
Charlie Kirk’s Assassination: A Dark, Cold Winter Is Coming – Owen Jones (Battlelines, September 11, 2025).
The Shameful Christian Idolatry and Fraudulent Martyrdom of Charlie Kirk – John Pavlovitz (The Beautiful Mess, September 12, 2025).
Thoughts on Charlie Kirk, Empathy, and the Right’s Double Standard for Political Violence – Mike Figueredo (The Humanist Report, September 12, 2025).

UPDATES: Stephen Miller Says He and Trump Will Use Law Enforcement to “Dismantle” the Left After Charlie Kirk Shooting – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, September 13, 2025).
“The Martyrdom of Charlie Kirk”: Journalist Chris Hedges on the Weaponization of Kirk’s Killing – Democracy Now! (September 15, 2025).
White House Working to Criminalize Left-Wing Dissent as “Domestic Terror” in Wake of Charlie Kirk Murder – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, September 15, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “Bullets Are Replacing Ballots and Political Arguments Are Being Answered with Gunfire”
• Naming the Pattern and the Source
• A “Racist and Factless Meltdown” Over Omar Fateh
• Robert Reich: Quote of the Day – July 14, 2024

A Simple and Brutal Truth

Closer to the Edge is a reader-supported publication on the Substack platform. It posted the following article yesterday.

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Tyler Robinson:
When the Gun Turns Inward

Closer to the Edge
September 12, 2025
Charlie Kirk spent years treating gun deaths as a “worth it” cost of freedom. On September 10, 2025, he died by a gun at Utah Valley University – mid-sentence, while talking about mass shootings.

Authorities say the shooter was Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old from Utah. Robinson wasn’t some radical leftist boogeyman as Trump immediately claimed. He wasn’t Antifa. He wasn’t a Democratic activist parachuting into Provo. He was the son of Republican parents – his father a hunter and small business owner, his mother a social worker. Robinson himself was registered non-partisan, but he had been getting more political lately, and not in Kirk’s favor. Friends and family said he spoke disparagingly about Kirk in the days before the shooting. Ammunition recovered reportedly carried phrases like “fascist” etched into the casings.

In 2017, Robinson dressed for Halloween in a gag costume – Donald Trump’s shoulders carrying him around, a parody suit with fake legs dangling. It’s an image that reads like foreshadowing: part satire, part homage, impossible to know where mockery ended and allegiance began. In hindsight, it only sharpens the contradictions – a young man raised in a Republican household, clowning in a Trump get-up, and now accused of turning his rifle on one of Trump’s loudest disciples.

Robinson evaded capture for 33 hours before being turned in by his own father after confessing to a family friend. He was arrested near St. George. A bolt-action rifle believed to be the murder weapon was found in the woods. Governor Spencer Cox said bluntly: “We got him.”

And yet, within minutes of Kirk’s death, Donald Trump declared it was the work of the “radical left.” No evidence. No facts. Just the familiar script: blame the left, declare conservatives victims, and move the narrative before reality catches up. That’s the con. Because reality points in the opposite direction: a young man from a conservative household, disgusted by a conservative firebrand, turned his gun inward.

That’s not “radical left.” That’s cannibalism. That’s a movement so poisoned by rage and paranoia that its violence doesn’t just spill outward anymore – it circles back on itself.

The truth is simple and brutal: Tyler Robinson wasn’t vanquishing an oppressor on behalf of the left. He wasn’t delivering justice for gun victims. He was a product of the same culture Kirk helped build – a culture that sneers at empathy, glorifies toughness, and treats violence as currency.

And in the end, that culture ate one of its own.

– Closer to the Edge
September 12, 2025

Friday, September 12, 2025

Meet Me on the Bridge at Dusk . . .

. . . I’ll wait there, in the moonlight,
I know I’ll feel your presence there,
When, all the world around, goes quiet.

We can stand between two worlds,
The now, and the ever after,
I’ll feel your gentle essence once more,
And be comforted by your laughter.

Meet me where time stands still,
the moment, will be all that will matter,
When two hearts can align with faith,
And dreams no longer shatter.

So come to me, just one last time,
There are words I need to say,
I want to give you one more hug,
And ask, why you went away.

– C.E.Coombes

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Blue Yonder
• In This In-Between Time
• Love at Love’s Brightest
• Moments of Wonder
• The Empty Beach
• Moving Among Mysteries
• What We Crave
• A Light That Will Always Shine
• Held in the Presence of God
• Mistwalking
• Holy Encounters Where Two Worlds Meet
• Trusting the Flow

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Omar Fateh: “We Need to Meet the Needs of Working People”

Following is a great interview with the Minneapolis mayoral candidate I’m supporting.

Minnesota State Senator Omar Fateh made headlines in July when he won the Minneapolis Democratic Party’s endorsement for mayor as a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-backed, young Muslim going up against an establishment-backed incumbent. Fateh’s victory reflected and channeled Zohran Mandani-like energy, until the incumbent, Mayor Jacob Frey, challenged the result, and the endorsement was revoked.

It’s now less than two months until election day, and earlier today Fateh joined Briahna Joy Grey’s podcast Bad Faith where he discussed comparisons to Zohran, why Frey has lost the confidence of many Minneapolis residents, the contentious “Defund the Police” movement, and how best to handle the corporate media’s attacks on progressive candidates and policies.

I’ve seen that the Democratic Party has abandoned its values around labor and working people, and is too beholden to special interests and corporations. If we go back and speak to the needs of working people, I think that’s the winning message. It is exactly why Trump won in 2024; he ran on affordibility and people suffering in the grocery stores. Now, was he lying? Of course, 100% he was lying, but he knew it’s what connects with voters. [And we see now] the same kind of support for Zohran Mandani in New York City; he ran on affordibility. So we know what the winning message is. It’s just whether or not we want to run with it.

– Omar Fateh
September 11, 2025

To register for the above event, click here.

Related Off-site Links:
People “Are Tired of Backroom Decisions”: A Conversation With Minneapolis’s Omar Fateh – Peter Lucas (The Nation, September 5, 2025).
Omar Fateh Has All the Right Enemies – Alex Skopic (Current Affairs, September 5, 2025).
Minnesota Democrats Stab Omar Fateh in the Back – Concernicus (August 27, 2025).
DFL Reverses Omar Fateh Endorsement – Left Reckoning (August 26, 2025).
Democrats in Minnesota Revoke the Mayoral Endorsement of Omar Fateh – I Am Blakeley (August 23, 2025).
The State DFL Spits on the Minneapolis DFL – Steve Timmer (LeftMN, August 23, 2025).
Minnesota DFL Revokes Endorsement for Omar Fateh in Minneapolis Mayoral Race – Naasir Akailvi (KARE 11 News, August 21, 2025).
Rep. Ilhan Omar Condemns Party’s Decision to Throw Out Fateh Endorsement – Torey Van Oot (Axios, August 21, 2025).
Minnesota Democrats Endorse Socialist Omar Fateh for Mayor Over Incumbent Democrat Jacob Frey – AllSides (July 21, 2025).
Who Is Omar Fateh? Mamdani of Minneapolis Faces MAGA Abuse – Kate Plummer (Newsweek, July 15, 2025).
CAIR-Minnesota Condemns Anti-Muslim, Racist Hate Targeting Sen. Omar Fateh Amid Rising Political Violence – CAIR-Minnesota (July 15, 2025).
Minneapolis Gets Its Own Mamdani – Kayla Bartsch (National Review, July 15, 2025).
Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Omar Fateh Faces Racist Trolling: “Go to Mogadishu” – Times of India (July 14, 2025).
Omar Fateh Will Work Across the Aisle If Elected Mayor – Melody Hoffmann (Southwest Voices, April 2, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Longstanding Fault Lines Within the Democratic Party Have Surfaced Again in Minnesota
• Mike Figueredo on the “Political Malpractice” of the Democratic Party
• Something to Think About – July 25, 2025
• In His Efforts to “Build a City That Works for All,” Omar Fateh Secures a Key Endorsement
• A “Racist and Factless Meltdown” Over Omar Fateh
• Omar | Jazz | DeWayne
• What It Means to Be a Leftist in 2025
• How Democrats Can Start Winning Again
• Ted Rall: “Democrats Are Not the Left”
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• “A New Chapter of the Democratic Party Needs to Begin”
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
• “We Must Challenge the Entire System” (2022)
• Will Democrats Never Learn? (2021)
• Marianne Williamson on the Contest Being Played Out by Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders (2020)
• Marianne Williamson: “Anything That Will Help People Thrive, I’m Interested In”
• Ricardo Levins Morales on the “Deepest Political Fault Line” Separating Democrats Ilhan Omar and Antone Melton-Meaux (2020)

Remembering . . .

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

“Bullets Are Replacing Ballots and Political Arguments Are Being Answered with Gunfire”

Political analyst and social commentator Tony Pentimalli shared the following earlier today on Facebook and BlueSky.

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Charlie Kirk and the Collapse
of Civic Life Into Bloodshed

By Tony Pentimalli
September 10, 2025
The temptation is immediate. News of Charlie Kirk’s death has already unleashed a wave of mockery. Social media is thick with grim satisfaction, pointing to the irony of a man who once declared that gun deaths were a necessary price for the Second Amendment now dying by the very weapon he defended. The instinct to laugh, to sneer, is almost irresistible. After years of Kirk ridiculing victims, dismissing survivors, and wrapping carnage in the language of liberty, some see this as the universe delivering justice.

That anger is real. It is the product of decades in which leaders like Kirk normalized mass shootings, waved away the bodies as collateral, and treated pleas for reform as weakness. To pretend otherwise would be dishonest. People are not wrong to feel the bitter symmetry.

But giving in to that impulse, letting ridicule be the final word, squanders a moment when something truer must be said. Because if we settle for mockery, we miss the far more terrifying truth: America has crossed another threshold, where bullets are replacing ballots and political arguments are being answered with gunfire. What happened in Utah is not justice. It is not irony come full circle. It is the collapse of civic life into bloodshed.

Kirk’s death does not sanctify him. His legacy is intact, and it is ugly. He built a movement to [extremize] students, to sow suspicion of science, democracy, and pluralism. He perfected the art of grievance politics, aligning himself with billionaires and demagogues while pretending to speak for the forgotten. His work left the country crueler, angrier, and more divided. Death does not absolve him of that. It does not make him a martyr. It simply leaves us with the damage he inflicted.

And yet the real irony is not that Kirk fell to the logic he embraced. The real irony is that America itself now seems to accept his prophecy: that gun deaths are indeed necessary, not for freedom, but for its undoing. The danger of this moment is not that Kirk got what he deserved. The danger is that we are beginning to accept a country where everyone eventually gets what no one deserves.