Programming note: please join Mark later today at SteynOnline for the conclusion of our latest seasonal Tale for Our Time - Anthony Trollope's Christmas at Thompson Hall.
~Some readers have wondered why I have not commented on the weekend shooting at Brown University. That's chiefly because I have no insight into the event you haven't heard from others:
This beautiful young girl was one of the murdered students at Brown University. It takes special courage to lead an organization of conservatives on a left wing campus, and I am very sorry our country has lost one of its bright young stars.
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord. https://t.co/icGrwJAAlX
— JD Vance (@JDVance) December 15, 2025
The loss of a child offends the natural order. The loss of a child at Christmas taints the season for what's left of a parent's life. We know the murder of Sarah Beckstrom at Thanksgiving was a direct consequence of government policy whose terrible costs do not fall on those who impose it. Why Ella Cook was killed we cannot yet say. However, her fellow victim has now been named:
The second victim of the Brown University shooting has been identified as 18-year-old Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov.
After brain surgery at age 10, he always dreamed of becoming a neurosurgeon, which is what he was studying for.
His family says he was "the most kind-hearted person"... pic.twitter.com/iTovKplfrG
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 15, 2025
So a rare public conservative on a left-wing campus and a young man called Mukhammad are killed in the classroom of a Jewish professor. Any or none of those could be relevant factors. Alternatively, it could be some other motive - or no motive at all. Just the rotten luck of the draw. I hope we shall find out, but - thanks to the usual clown-car of forty-eight different municipal, county, state and federal "law-enforcement" agencies - the murderer remains at large. As Josh writes in our comments section:
Everyone in the vicinity of Providence, RI—be on the lookout for a blurry man with a mask. That is all. As in, 'that is all we know.'
Well, not all. The police assure us that:
'Providence citizens are safe. But the Brown Univ shooter's whereabouts are unknown & he's armed and dangerous.'
He's armed and dangerous to everyone BUT Providence citizens? That's a special providence, all right! Permit Parking and a bulletproof vest.
'Providence Mayor Brett Smiley whines at press conference: "We've all been working for 49 hours straight. We are TIRED."'
Understandably. You spent hours grilling a white veteran from Wisconsin on suspicion of being the shooter. And the bastard wouldn't confess. He should be charged with obstructing a police investigation.
So the clown-car leaked the army sniper's name to the media, and he happened to be staying at the same Hampton Inn in Coventry, Rhode Island as the CNN crew. So, as is traditional, they were on hand to film the joint FBI/ATF raid (why both?) in the early hours of the morning.
And then, after more leaks to the media about combing through the sniper's "extensive mental health history", the coppers changed their minds. Oh, well. I'm sure it won't make any difference when any would-be landlord or employer of the no longer "person of interest" runs an AI bot check on him in years to come.
It is difficult to prevent a random mass-shooting, but the multiple-agency clown-car could at least try harder not to bungle the aftermath. Yet then one recalls that the most lethal single-shooter in history - the Vegas guy firing on a country-music festival from his hotel room - had his home left unsecured by the municipal cops the county sheriffs the state troopers the G-men the Nato deployment, and thoroughly burgled. More recently, the Charlie Kirk tranny-fetish furry was arrested only because his dad turned him in.
The Wisconsin army sniper became a "person of interest" because the FBI noticed that his cell phone data showed that he had driven to Rhode Island from several states away. In the 24/7 panopticon security-state that's all it takes to have the joint FBI/ATF/Dead Moose Junction swat team kicking your door down. On the other hand, if the police chance to be already present at your mass shooting, the Keystone chorines will duck out of sight to give you a cleaner shot:
Ok - this does have to be discussed.
Bondi Beach is a block from a police station. Three officers - most or all female, as it happens - were on the scene throughout the shooting. As far as I can tell, they basically hid and did nothing for 10+ minutes, until an unarmed man... pic.twitter.com/agQ2ZNWP53
— Wilfred Reilly (@wil_da_beast630) December 15, 2025
There are consequences to all the bollocks.
The Bondi Beach massacre provides an interesting insight into "random" shootings. While the Keystone chorines were looking for a Holden Commodore to cower behind, the killers began firing from a bridge on which there were multiple persons. Yet the Messrs Akram did not shoot the passers-by ...because they were too busy focusing their long-range weaponry on, inter alia, little ten-year-old Matilda, one of the first to be gunned down. They were there to kill Jews and were disciplined enough not to get distracted.
As I have written, nothing is certain in the west's future except more violence and in response more state bollardisation of daily life. Unlike Bondi and Brown, this isn't a big news story but nevertheless:
Churchgoing woman suffered severe burns in random toxic chemical attack while walking at park
"Random", huh?
Ashley Wasielewski, 46, was walking laps around Forsyth Park in Savannah Wednesday night after attending a Christmas program at a nearby church when a stranger approached her from behind and poured the corrosive liquid over her head, according to her devastated friends and family.
She let out a blood-curdling scream as the chemical burned her skin, ate through her clothing, and melted her car's key fob in her pocket...
Ms Wasielewski has burns over half her body:
"She looked down and her pants were starting to burn off her body. She started screaming. They didn't rob her. They didn't take anything from her. This was a random person in the park who went out of their way to disfigure another human being."
That is Ashley Wasliwski pictured above, before a stroll in the park left her disfigured and what remains of her life horribly diminished. Are you quite sure all these "random" attacks are entirely random - like those on Iryna Zarutska and Bethany Magee?
It is devastating that a career criminal with 72 PRIOR ARRESTS is now accused of attacking 26-year-old Bethany MaGee on Chicago's L train, and setting her on fire.
This would never have happened if this thug had been behind bars. Yet Chicago lets repeat offenders roam the... https://t.co/1vaHyCd8sp
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) November 23, 2025
"Random" attack after "random" attack.
Or might there be some basic crude selectivity about them? One that is urged and encouraged by politicians, media, academics et al?
~Thank you to all those new members of The Mark Steyn Club in this our ninth year, and thank you to those old members who've signed up a chum for a Christmas Gift Certificate or a Steyn Club Gift Membership. Steyn Clubbers span the globe, from London, Ontario to London, England to London, Kiribati. We hope to welcome many more new members in the years ahead.