Mike Lee Draws Outrage for Posts Blaming Assassination on the Far Left; The New York Times, June 16, 2025

Annie Karni and Megan Mineiro , The New York Times; Mike Lee Draws Outrage for Posts Blaming Assassination on the Far Left

[Kip Currier: Sen. Mike Lee's social media posts, in the wake of the recent political assassinations and killings in Minnesota, show and tell us everything we need to know about his character and core values.]

[Excerpt]

"Scarcely 24 hours after a Democratic lawmaker in Minnesota was assassinated in her home, Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, posted a pair of politically charged messages mocking the attack.

“This is what happens When Marxists don’t get their way,” Mr. Lee wrote on Sunday on his personal X account, a message accompanied by photographs of the suspect released by law enforcement officials.

An hour later, in a second post showing the suspect, Mr. Lee wrote: “Nightmare on Waltz Street,” in an apparent reference the Democratic governor of the state, Tim Walz.

By the afternoon, amid outraged responses to his postings, Mr. Lee issued a very different message on his official Senate account in which he hit all of the sober notes one would expect from an elected official reacting to a political assassination."

A Reality Show Where Immigrants Compete for U.S. Citizenship? D.H.S. Is Considering It.; The New York Times, May 16, 2025

Hamed Aleaziz , The New York Times; A Reality Show Where Immigrants Compete for U.S. Citizenship? D.H.S. Is Considering It.

[Kip Currier: The idea of dangling the possibility of becoming a U.S. citizen by putting fellow human beings through a competition like this is beyond appalling. Shame on all those who even considered and are talking about this as a way to normalize depravity and exploitative spectacle.

We need government officials -- and fellow citizens -- who uphold human dignity and live by the core values of empathy, decency, and care for the well-being of every person, especially those at the margins of society.]

[Excerpt]

"The Department of Homeland Security is considering taking part in a television show that would have immigrants go through a series of challenges to get American citizenship, officials said on Friday.

The challenges would be based on various American traditions and customs, said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the agency. She said the department was still reviewing the idea, which was pitched by a producer named Rob Worsoff.

“The pitch generally was a celebration of being an American and what a privilege it is to be able to be a citizen of the United States of America,” Ms. McLaughlin said. “It’s important to revive civic duty.”"

Trump pauses funding for anti-HIV program that prevented 26 million AIDS deaths; NPR, January 27, 2025

Melody Schreiber, NPR; Trump pauses funding for anti-HIV program that prevented 26 million AIDS deaths

[Kip Currier: The amorality of the statement below is staggeringly appalling, but not unexpected, from an administration whose guiding principle is transactional policymaking, even in examples involving great human suffering and need.

To label as "a moral imperative" the immediate cessation of lifesaving medications for Global South persons with HIV and AIDS is farcical Orwellian rhetoric.]

[Excerpt]

"On Sunday, the State Department confirmed the halt in an email to NPR. The United States "is no longer going to blindly dole out money with no return for the American people," State spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement, calling the pause "a moral imperative.""