Let’s Just Kill ‘em All, God Will Sort Them Out

October 25, 2025 / Joe Broadmeadow / Leave a comment

The score so far is:

US Military 8 – Alleged Drug Boats 0

We’re off to an undefeated season.

Due process is such a woke thing. About time someone ignored it for a more expedient form of American Justice. Something those Central and South American countries apparently don’t remember, but we are reminding them.

Don’t make us come back there like we did before. Our CIA has a long memory and plenty of new tools. Nobody wants that again, do you?

But what do you expect by sending your poison to our country? And don’t give me that “we wouldn’t sell it if Americans weren’t buying it and making money” nonsense. You are doing this to yourselves.

I mean, if it looks like a drug-carrying boat, operates like a drug-carrying boat, and is located on the common course of drug-carrying boats, what else could it be? A fishing boat? Come on, be serious.

Three strikes and we have every right to turn you into a thoroughly disassembled with extreme prejudice former drug carrying boat.

Right?

Sure, the unintended consequences may drive up the cost of fish in some areas of South America, but who cares? We can send our American fishing boats there to sell fish to them and we won’t make them pay any tariffs on it for the service.

Why should we wait to have incontrovertible evidence of their purpose?

Why should we have to wait for them to enter our jurisdictional waters before we use one of our very effective weapon systems and obliterate them?

What did you say? “What if we tried the same logic?” Is that some kind of threat? It’s a foolish one.

I can’t imagine you’d be so naïve as to target one of our commercial fishing vessels and blow them up. You must realize that would be a Trump-Hesgeth wet dream come true. They’ve been itching for a war of their own to prove the effectiveness of their concept of lethality.

But we know what you’ll do, nothing. You’ll just wail and gnash your teeth over the unfairness in the balance of power.

And now that we’ve found an effective deterrent, why stop there?

I mean, if we know somebody is dealing drugs and we know where they are and we know when they’ll be there, let’s dispense with the formalities of due process and just kill ‘em.

Come to think of it, what better way to decrease the prison population? I mean, with a recidivism rate of 66% (the highest in the world, woo-hoo! we’re number 1) and the highest incarceration rates (woo-hoo, we’re also number 1), our current get-tough approach to lock ‘em up ain’t working. We keep making the mistake of letting them go.

But wait, there’s more.

What if we made every felony a death penalty case, especially if we do it at the time of the arrest? Think of all the money and time we could save. Sure, there’ll be a lot of unemployed judges and correctional officers. Still, there’ll be plenty of jobs open on American fishing vessels plying the waters off Central and South America, or at companies building new boats for the Central and South Americans who actually want to fish.

And on the odd chance that we kill an innocent person (something that probably has happened with the death penalty, but doesn’t diminish its deterrent effect, right?) our faith as a Christian nation will soothe our troubled souls with the comforting thought they are safely in the hands of a loving American flag wrapped God.

After all, we are the real chosen people, as the Bible says.

I do wonder about something though.

We do have incontrovertible evidence that the Chinese, and perhaps some American companies, provide many of the precursor chemicals producing these drugs.

Haven’t seen us sink one Chinese freighter yet. Or send DEA or the FBI after those American companies, perhaps due to their largesse in political contributions. Or I guess the agents are too busy deporting the entire McDonald’s and Walmart workforce and making us safer. I certainly feel safer knowing it wasn’t me who couldn’t understand what the drive-up at McDonald’s was saying when I wanted a cheeseburger. Damn foreigners, speak English!

Or could it be something else?

It’s easier to pick on the ones who can’t fight back. It’s the favorite tactics of schoolyard bullies. Just out of curiosity, I wonder where the masks ICE agents wear are produced? The irony would be too much to bear if it’s China, but bringing those jobs home could balance the budget and help pay for the Trump Ball Room.

I say we go for broke and use all those expensive weapon systems at home (but far enough away so the left-wing media doesn’t start posting images of bodies with some reassembly required floating in the water) instead of giving them to other countries.

P.S. Speaking of the Trump Taj Mahal Ballroom and Bankers Banquet Facility, will the first dance between Donald and Melania be accompanied by the theme from Beauty and the Beast?

But it Says it in the Bible

October 24, 2025October 25, 2025 / Joe Broadmeadow / Leave a comment

Of all the terrifying trends under the umbrella of Mr. Trump, the rise of Christian Nationalism is the most sinister and dangerous. It is a descent into the vortex of anti-science, anti-knowledge, anti-enlightenment leading to a society run by dominant males and subservient females.

In a country of 300 million people with access to modern medicine, terabytes of data, and instant worldwide communication, a significant number still believe in signs, astrology, magic, angels, and Biblical abiogenesis.

These fundamentalists, preying on these dark ages beliefs, would drag us back into the era of witchcraft and demons with their medieval philosophies.

Their authority for such a philosophy resides in a book translated from ancient languages to Greek, Latin, German, and English, with hundreds of versions and conflicting translations of the text. And keep in mind that for most of the period since the first written versions of the Bible were translated into Latin, the lingua franca of the church, it was a sin punishable by death to translate it into a language anyone outside the clergy could read.

And when these Christian Nationalists offer Mr. Trump as the one to battle the rise of this mythical Anti-Christ, it goes beyond the hysterical to tragic.

Trump is the least likely of any to be an example of Christian piety or defender of the faith. Even if he had the good fortune to be around during the time of Jesus Christ and heard him speak, his only chance at entering heaven would be to ride one of the crosses in the back row. Redemption by way of good timing rather than a shining paragon of the faith.

Which leads me to wonder why people fail to see the contradiction in that story. If we assume the circumstances of the crucifixion to be accurate, those two criminals on the crosses in the back row didn’t need to seek redemption, didn’t need to repent, didn’t need to do anything but have the good/bad fortune to be crucified at the same time as Jesus. Hmm.

But putting Mr. Trump and other contradictions aside for the moment—oh, that I wish that to be possible—let’s look at this authority.

The version of the Bible most people are familiar with, the King James Version (KJV), was a product of, wait for it, political intrigue. James, the son of Mary Queen of Scots, needed to shore up his power with the ardent Scots, who hated the English Catholics, and with the other various factions.

Meanwhile, the Protestants created their own version in the Geneva Bible. And in an interesting side note to the history of the Bible in America, it was the Geneva Bible that accompanied the Pilgrims to America.

Here’s the same passage in the KJV and Geneva Bible.

Isaiah 7:14 1599 Geneva Bible
¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel.

KJV
¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Not a lot of difference, but how can the inerrant word of God be different depending on who is doing the translation?

Just for fun, here’s a version from the Orthodox Jewish Bible.

Yeshayah 7:14
14 Therefore Hashem Himself shall give you an ot (sign); Hinei, HaAlmah (the unmarried young virgin) shall conceive, and bear Ben, and shall call Shmo Immanu El (God is with us)

Here’s the same verse in the New Revised Edition Anglicized Catholic Edition

Isaiah 7:14
14 Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

Now here is where it gets interesting. The whole virgin thing has a glitch. In the original Hebrew, the word in the verse is “alma” which means young woman. Other words represent “virgin” such as “betulah.” Why is “alma” translated as ‘virgin’ in most versions, you might ask? And why do we call him Jesus instead of Immanuel or Shmo Immanu El?

Again, the politics of power and control.

The Catholic Church in 451 A.D. was the dominant force in the known world. There were factions and disagreements, so a meeting was called to resolve and consolidate the faith into one doctrine. The Council of Chalcedon.

You may have heard about an earlier meeting, the Council of Nicaea, which resolved the issue of the dual nature of Jesus. At the time, some believed God to be eternal and Jesus to be created by God, also eternal but only from the point of his creation. The Council at Nicaea said nope. Jesus and God are the same; thus, the beginning of the Holy Trinity, or at least leading to more creative interpretations to concoct that myth.

By 451 A.D., more heretics began teaching conflicting doctrines, an intolerable situation to Rome, thus a more refined explanation arose from this new council.

1. God the Father almighty and in
2. Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord,
3. who was born of the holy Spirit and the virgin Mary.

“These three statements wreck the tricks of nearly every heretic. When God is believed to be both almighty and Father, the Son is clearly proved to be co-eternal with him, in no way different from the Father, since he was born God from God, almighty from the Almighty, co-eternal from the Eternal, not later in time, not lower in power, not unlike in glory, not distinct in being. The same eternal, only-begotten of the eternal begetter was born of the holy Spirit and the virgin Mary. His birth in time in no way subtracts from or adds to that divine and eternal birth of his: but its whole purpose is to restore humanity, who had been deceived, so that it might defeat death and, by its power, destroy the devil who held the power of death. Overcoming the originator of sin and death would be beyond us, had not he whom sin could not defile, nor could death hold down, taken up our nature and made it his own. He was conceived from the holy Spirit inside the womb of the virgin mother. Her virginity was as untouched in giving him birth as it was in conceiving him. ” The Council of Chalcedon – 451 A.D.

The reality of an eternal God and of Jesus —the key to everlasting life —was the source of the Church’s authority. John 14:6 (KJV) “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Her virginity was as untouched in giving him birth as it was in conceiving him.
The Council of Chalcedon – 451 A.D.

But some thought of Jesus and God as separate. The council put an end to this heresy. “Whilst remaining pre-existent, he begins to exist in time.” More illogical contortions to prove the impossible.

But that wasn’t enough to satisfy the needs of religious abhorrence of earthly pleasures. Jesus could not be tainted by such things.

“By an unprecedented kind of birth, because it was inviolable virginity which supplied the material flesh without experiencing sexual desire. What was taken from the mother of the Lord was the nature without the guilt. And the fact that the birth was miraculous does not imply that in the lord Jesus Christ, born from the virgin’s womb, the nature is different from ours. The same one is true God and true man. … Her virginity was as untouched in giving him birth as it was in conceiving him. The Council of Chalcedon – 451 A.D.

And the subsequent translations of the Bible were molded to fit the doctrine.

If one wants to submit a document as evidence in court, one must prove both its origin and authenticity. We have hundreds of court cases trying to interpret the language of the Constitution, and that is in the original English.

Why would any modern nation, or world for that matter, choose to ignore science and enlightenment and base a society on a book of questionable origin, with myriad interpretations, and modified over the millennia by organizations with a stake in the results?

Because it’s in the Bible?

P.S. Another interesting tidbit. The American Standard Edition of 1952 used the words “young woman” instead of “Virgin.” It took the fundamentalists until 1978 to get it changed. Biblical politics? Who knew?

New Novel by Joe Broadmeadow

October 23, 2025 / Joe Broadmeadow / Leave a comment

Release Date: November 1, 2025

***A captivating new novel by the author of Silenced Justice and A Change of Hate***

East Providence Police Detective Lieutenant Josh Williams is back in a stunning new story. Josh faces everyone’s worst nightmare…he may not be who he thinks he is.

A gripping and multifaceted crime investigation unfolds, centered on a series of brutal murders involving dismembered victims in East Providence, Rhode Island.

The case intricately connects to a cold kidnapping and murder case from the 1970s, revealing deep personal, forensic, and institutional complexities.

Law enforcement officers, including state and local detectives and federal agents, collaborate to unravel the dark history, confront unimaginable horrors, while navigating political pressures, legal challenges, and psychological insights to bring justice to the victims.

Pre-order: Click here

All books by Joe Broadmeadow: Click here

To order signed copies, send an e-mail to Joseph.Broadmeadow@gmail.com

An Unforced Error

October 20, 2025October 20, 2025 / Joe Broadmeadow / Leave a comment

If Mr. Trump has a unique talent as President it is the ability to ruin moments of true statesmanship with pettiness and vindictiveness.

Mr. Trump’s bringing the Peace Agreement together in Gaza is a significant accomplishment. I dare say it may warrant a Nobel Peace Prize for ending, at least for the moment, the terrors rained on that land by Israel and Hamas.

Whether it lasts or not, and history doesn’t offer much hope in these matters, is immaterial.

Whether Biden deserves some credit for starting the process is meaningless.

Whether the success was more timing–with Netanyahu accomplishing his purpose of utter destruction of the area to render Hamas ineffective regardless of the cost in innocent lives–than anything else is academic. To argue that Israel’s response was appropriate is to ignore reality. To justify or excuse the attack by Hamas that triggered the response because of the treatment of Palestine is abhorrent.

The fact remains that President Trump cajoled, threatened, persuaded, and convinced Israel and Hamas that ending the war was in both their interests, no matter how diametrically opposed those interests are.

But Mr. Trump cannot help being Mr. Trump the serial complainer. At his speech following the signing of the agreement, when a statesman would have intuitively known it was a rare moment of agreement that this was a good thing, Mr. Trump could not stop himself from going from talking about ending the hostilities to complaining about Joe Biden and Barrack Obama.

Had Mr. Trump acknowledged, as anyone with an iota of common sense would know, that the previous administration crafted the basics of the agreement, it would have done two things. First, it would demonstrate some fundamental understanding of the decades-long complexities of the regions. And, secondly, it would silence his most ardent opponents who delight in pointing out a lack of such understanding.

But he didn’t.

There is little hope that this is the end of the cycle of violence in the area. Ever since the nitwits who created the artificial borders and took the land for the Jews after World War II, the situation has been like a volcano erupting when the pressure grows too powerful to be contained.

I am no fan of Mr. Trump. I have no doubt the damage he continues to wreak on this country and the rest of the world will far outweigh any good actions such as this agreement. But he deserves our respect for bringing this to fruition.

The tragic part is he will not build on this moment. He will not use this as a basis for further successful actions on domestic or foreign matters. He has surrounded himself with trained parrots whose only job is to agree with him on everything.

Even those in his cabinet smart enough to see the opportunity here, merely repeat the party line.

Lincoln had his team of rivals, and they served him and the country well. Trump has his carnival of perfect charlatans, and they remain silent in the face of each moment of success wasted by Presidential obstinacy.

The Most American Thing

October 19, 2025 / Joe Broadmeadow / 3 Comments

“I hear a train a’comin’…”

By most estimates (except, of course, by those who routinely produce attendance numbers of the crowds at MAGA Events that are beyond believable), seven million Americans took to the streets all across the country to protest the abomination that is the Trump Administration.

And the reactions of those who support Mr. Trump were pathetically predictable.

Speaker Mike Johnson called them “unAmerican.”

Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas Collins wrote on X,

“Good Morning to my fellow Americans who are celebrating No Kings Day today. While most of us celebrate this reality on July Fourth, you do you.”
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Douglas Collins.

Note to Mr. Collins and Mr. Johnson.

The Fourth of July celebrates the end of the Revolutionary War where we fought to rid ourselves of a King. It was the culmination of decades of protests and resistance over unfair government policies and the use of military troops occupying the cities and towns in America. Actions that ultimately ended with troops firing upon protesting civilians under orders of this Monarch.

Perhaps you missed this in history class. Perhaps you prefer willful ignorance. Perhaps, since you enjoy the favor of this wannabe King, you long for a return to a monarchy.

Does any of this sound familiar? Could this be one of those moments of history that rhyme?

There is nothing more American than peacefully protesting the wrongful actions of the government. You’ll also notice the lack of violence by these millions of Americans and the low number of arrests. These protests are clearly anti-fascist in nature, yet none of these protests in any way resembled the actions of a “militarist, anarchist enterprise that calls for the overthrow of the U.S. government…” as Mr. Trump has designated them.

Mr. Trump sees opposition to his policies as anarchy, something to be suppressed by all means. Those of us who have actually read the Constitution and support it understand better that these disagreements are the very foundation of our success.

At least up to this point in history, the future is more precarious.

Perhaps Mr. Johnson would have preferred these protests take the form of violent storming of the US Capitol building and the threatened lynching of government officials? It is clear Mr. Trump, by pardoning the J6 insurrectionists, and Mr. Johnson, by supporting such actions, prefer that form of “American” protests.

Their concept of a patriot also has precedents in history, generally attired in brown shirts and particularly proficient at breaking glass.

We should take heart in the number of Americans peacefully voicing their open disgust at this march toward totalitarianism. Seven million Americans of courage and conviction took the most patriotic of actions and “petitioned their government for a redress of their grievances.” Something those patriots of the Revolutionary War gave their lives to obtain for future generations, Mr. Collins, but you’ll ignore that reality out of blind fealty to your dear leader.

Take heart, for this large gathering of Americans is the sign of hope rising.

Come this mid-term election, and, more importantly, the next Presidential election, the world we see that the American people can weather the worst of storms raging against us, even those we create ourselves, and restore these United States to the country our forebearers intended it to be.

Mr. Trump and his maniacal band of charlatans will become just another scab on a long history of self-inflicted wounds in this country, soon enough to heal and fade away.

Understanding the Implications of Political Indictments

September 27, 2025September 27, 2025 / Joe Broadmeadow / Leave a comment

Let Me Get This Straight

For the sake of argument, let’s assume the following statements are true and accurate.

Using government resources to target political adversaries is antithetical to the Constitution.

The Biden Justice Department was weaponized against its political opponents.

These are the contentions of the current administration.

Then how does compelling the Justice Department, by firing anyone still there with a conscience and a grasp of constitutional law and the concept of separation of powers, to indict political adversaries differ?

If two wrongs do not make a right, will continuing to do the wrong thing eventually make it right?

The reality is this administration, and its supporting cast of sycophants who are without a shred of integrity or conscience, firmly believes that to be true. They also believe that if they think it, it is true, and if they say it, it is true, and demand that everyone accept this as true, without any dissent or resistance.

Resistance is not only futile, it is anti-American.

It will be a pleasure to watch the trial of Mr. Comey, if it ever comes to that point. I still have faith that a reasonable District Court Judge, when presented with the facts of this case, will take more time reaching for the pen to sign the order dismissing the case than they need to determine it should be dismissed with prejudice.

P.S. If you’d like to know what’s coming next, read Project 2025, as I have been saying since I first read it. To borrow a phrase from Churchill, “this isn’t the end, this isn’t the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning…”

Clouds Illusions I Recall…

September 24, 2025September 24, 2025 / Joe Broadmeadow / Leave a comment

When I was a young boy, I liked looking for shapes in the clouds. I still do. And sometimes, with the right kind of puffy-white clouds, I could perform an illusion in my own mind.

Lying on the warm grass on a mid-summer day, that in-between time when school was a memory and the next grade still weeks in the future, watching clouds was a worthwhile endeavor. A wise use of our precious time.

Something we should spend more time doing. There’s magic right above our heads if we just look for it.

The illusion was a simple one, as the best always are. The trick was to focus on the edge of the roof of my house or a tall tree, keeping the clouds in the background, so it appeared the earth was moving instead of the clouds.

I believed I could see and feel the world spinning through space.

The other day, looking out my window over a sky brimming with perfect puffy clouds, I was able to relive that illusion. And the magic is still there.

And just for the briefest of moments, I was that 8-year-old boy again, with the clouds looking down on me as I rode the world.

Life does not get much better.

Soup for Breakfast?

September 23, 2025September 23, 2025 / Joe Broadmeadow / Leave a comment

We do quite a bit of travel all over the world, which offers us the opportunity to experience different cultures, varied geography, and, most importantly, food. Now I am game to try anything. I ate fried caterpillars (tasted like bacon) and live ants (tasted like lemon) in Costa Rica, as well as a host of other delicacies in other countries.

One of the more universal choices for breakfast worldwide is soup.

Now who doesn’t like a nice hearty tomato soup with a well-made grilled cheese sandwich…for lunch? Breakfast, I don’t think so.

Not so fast!

Not so fast!

On our most recent ventures deep in the heart of our enemy to the north, Canada, we had little trouble sneaking across the porous border. All they did was look at our passports and say Bon Jour, The crossing took mere moments.

We headed up to Nova Scotia, where some of my relatives first arrived from Ireland and remain here (all buried, unfortunately) to this day.

In planning our trip around the Cabot Trail and Cape Breton, we saw a place highly recommended for breakfast called Charlene’s Bayside Restaurant in Whycocomagh. (One of the truly enjoyable things here is trying to pronounce the names of places which are written in English, Gaelic, and Mi’Kamaw, the local natives to the area.)

But back to the food. The highly recommended breakfast was fish chowder, fish cake, and a biscuit.

Pass! I am a purist with my breakfast: eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and 2 -3 gallons of coffee. Or, in the alternative, a couple of honey-dipped donuts. But, when in Rome…

So I ordered this breakfast and…

O M G!

All I can say is that while I may not be ready for other soups for breakfast, this one is more than worth it. Loaded with lobster, scallops, shrimp, and fish, it is nirvana. As a topping to the fishcake, they offer this magical condiment called chow. A sort of piccalilli made with just green tomatoes and onions. I already downloaded the recipe!

This breakfast is so good, it’s worth making the harrowing trip through Canada, where everyone said hello and chatted with us like we were old friends, even if that’s all you do.

But I recommend wandering around a bit. The people are not the least bit affected by the current political nonsense and are warm and welcoming. I could almost sense they felt sorry for us. And I can see why; we don’t have anything even close to this kind of breakfast.

Right Wingnuts or Right Wing Nuts?

September 18, 2025September 18, 2025 / Joe Broadmeadow / Leave a comment

Free Speech in this country is apparently about as solid a concept as an ice cube in the desert.

The President of the United States, the Attorney General of the United States, and the Director of the FBI all said they will investigate groups based on the sole criteria of, in their determination, left-leaning organizations. They intend to scour websites, publications, social media, speeches, etc, looking for evidence that these groups encourage or support political violence.

Now to play Advocatus Diaboli, any organization that encourages or supports political violence should be investigated.

But this is the height of hypocrisy.

These are proud (dare I say Proud Boys?) supporters of the most recent organized and orchestrated attempt of a violent takeover of the government of the United States that happened on January 6, 2021.

But let’s use their logic in how they rationalize that event into something it was not.

On January 6, 2021, an assembly of American citizens joined together in solidarity to support and defend the Constitution of the United States by the exercise of their First Amendment-protected right to protest the government for a redress of grievances. A select portion of this group was exploited by a corrupt and weaponized government operation which entrapped, targeted, defamed, violently arrested, maliciously and falsely charged, fraudulently convicted, and unjustly punished and imprisoned them. (https://www.wearej6.com/the-story)

If that was an expression of their First Amendment rights to free speech, freedom of assembly, and to redress grievances, and does not rise to the level of encouraging political violence, let alone engaging in it, how does a monologue on late-night television foster something the federal government need investigate?

Or, more troubling, what argument does the government make that statements made by Jimmy Kimmel warrant government-imposed censorship?

Kimmel said “”We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trg to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,”

When the government says it will investigate organizations based on the government’s determination of its political affiliation or policies, absent any reasonable and articulable suspicion of criminality, i.e. probable cause, we should all be gravely concerned.

“…upon the death of a principal government figure or in the aftermath of a national tragedy.”

Let’s call this what it is. This involves using the power of the government to investigate and prosecute crimes and turning it into a means to suppress political opposition. If those who shouted from the mountaintops that prosecuting the J6 defendants was weaponizing the Justice system against “innocent” citizens, absent any actual proof of such, here it is in real time.

That any American sees this as a legitimate means to “Make America Great Again” is astounding. But if you need more evidence of this troubling government trend targeting those who do not support this president, here it is.

DOJ removed a study showing far-right extremists are responsible for higher levels of violence than far-left groups or Islamic Jihadists. (Deity of your choice) forbid we have information to base our opinions and actions on.

Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists, including 227 events that took more than 520 lives,” the study said. “In this same period, far-left extremists committed 42 ideologically motivated attacks that took 78 lives.

This is an image of the report from archive searches. Why conceal a report if one is interested in the truth? Because they’e not interested in the truth, they’re interested in suppressing dissent. And every American who doesn’t realize that dissent from government policy is the very foundation of our power over the government is suffering from delusions.

All this came about, or at least was brought into the light of day, with the murder of Mr. Kirk. The leadership of the FBI, the Justice Department, and political allies of the President have worked themselves into a frenzy trying to paint the suspect as a left-wing ideologue programmed by NPR, Sesame Street, and other “left-leaning organizations.

Which brings me to my final point. By what measure do we determine a situation requires the flag to be flown at half staff? From various organizations (none of them left-leaning if that gives you comfort) “The President of the United States can order the flag to be flown at half-staff. This happens upon the death of a principal government figure or in the aftermath of a national tragedy.”

Mr. Kirk was a controversial individual who made frequent and outrageous remarks that were homophobic, xenophobic, disparaging of individuals and groups, and promoted clearly false theories of election fraud and the great replacement concept.

And he had every right to do so under our principle of Free Speech.

However, to accord such an individual with the honor of flags being flown at half-staff, transportation on official government aircraft, and the trappings of an official state funeral is to sully the purpose of such honors.

Mr. Kirk’s death was a criminal act, tragic, unfortunate, and horrifying. But it was not a national tragedy any more than any other violent act. If the deaths on the same day of two young children in school who were also murdered aren’t even mentioned, how is that the appropriate use of this practice? Perhaps, if it were, the flag would never be flown at top staff again, and that might be too painful a reminder of our continued violent tendencies.

Having seen over the years how Mr. Trump treats those in his circle when they no longer suit his purpose, there is only one conclusion here. Mr. Kirk served the president well in his campaign, and now his death is a convenient way for Mr. Trump to foment more government control over those who would challenge him.

If that were not the case, none of this would be happening.

Mr. Kirk was not a saint or someone to be venerated any more than any other human being. Mr. Trump should not be empowered to target his enemies in such a manner. And those who are blind to this virus will come to regret it.