Faith, Rhetoric, and the Machinery of Death: From Holy Wars to Stochastic Terrorism

September 14, 2025

Ancient Flames, Modern Sparks

For centuries, religion has claimed to elevate humanity, to give meaning, morality, and order. Yet stripped of its sanctity, it often stands revealed as a mechanism of control, division, and death. When combined with ignorance, it has fueled the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the genocides of our time.

In the modern West, this same mechanism has mutated. It now thrives not only in holy texts, but in political rhetoric, media amplification, and social media hate. Words have become weapons. This is the era of stochastic terrorism — when speech, dehumanization, and propaganda make violence statistically inevitable, if individually unpredictable.

The blood shed under banners of faith and the blood spilled under banners of ideology are one and the same. Both prove a single truth: when belief is weaponized, civilization itself is on the chopping block.

From Dangerous Union to Civilizational Decline

In July 2025, I argued in The Dangerous Union: Religion, Ignorance, and the Decline of Civilization that religion, when armoured with ignorance, has become one of history’s most destructive forces. That article was written as an urgent op-ed — a wake-up call.

This expanded essay further develops the argument. It traces the blood-soaked record of religion across centuries, shows how radical faith still shapes today’s conflicts, and asks whether civilization can endure if we continue to confuse faith with governance.

1. Religion’s Historic Toll

• The Crusades (1095–1291): 10,000+ civilians massacred in Jerusalem — Muslims, Jews, and Christians slaughtered alike.
• The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648): Eight million dead, Germany’s population halved.
• Islamic Conquests (7th–9th centuries): Expansion by force, with non-Muslims taxed, enslaved, or coerced into conversion.
• The Inquisition (12th–19th centuries): Tens of thousands executed for heresy in Spain alone.
• Partition of India (1947): Up to 2 million dead, 14 million displaced in the largest forced migration in history.
• Modern jihadism: From 9/11’s 2,977 victims to Boko Haram and ISIS, leaving millions dead or displaced.

Religion, armoured with ignorance, has claimed more lives than it has ever saved.

2. Faith as Tyranny’s Mask

• Iran: Thousands executed under sharia law; 750 protesters killed in a single year.
• Saudi Arabia: Apostasy still punishable by death; Wahhabi dogma enforced by public executions.
• Taliban: Girls banned from schools; floggings and amputations restored as public spectacle.

Here, religion does not guide souls — it shackles them. Power wears the mask of piety, and tyranny thrives.

3. Ignorance: The Spark of Fanaticism

• Rwanda (1994): 800,000 murdered in 100 days by tribal propaganda mythologized as truth.
• Myanmar (2017–2021): Over 700,000 Rohingya Muslims expelled by a Buddhist-dominated state.
• Christian Nationalism in the West: Calls for biblical law threaten the secular backbone of democracy.

Ignorance provides the fuel. Religion provides the spark. The fire consumes everything.

4. Stochastic Terrorism: The New Holy War

If religion was the crusader’s sermon, stochastic terrorism is the politician’s soundbite. Both sanctify violence, both escape accountability.

The Process:

1. Inflammatory Rhetoric — Opponents branded “fascists,” “terrorists,” “enemies of the people.”
2. Culture of Hate — Media repetition conditions audiences to see fellow citizens as monsters.
3. Lone Actor Effect — One unstable individual interprets the words as marching orders.
4. Plausible Deniability — Leaders shrug: “I never called for violence.”

Case Studies:

• Ruth Marshall: A University of Toronto professor, tweets that “shooting is too good” for political opponents. Extremism dressed up as progressivism.
• Charlie Kirk Assassination (2025): A gunman, politicized by rhetoric, kills a conservative activist. Bullets engraved with slogans, blood spilled in the name of ideology.
• Ilhan Omar Outrage Cycle: Her cautious remarks after Kirk’s killing are clipped, distorted, and weaponized into viral outrage — proof of how amplification feeds polarization.

This is terrorism by probability, not by command. And it is tearing democracies apart.

5. The Media–Party Death Spiral

In the Middle Ages, pulpits amplified sermons of holy war. Today, the pulpits are digital: Twitter, TikTok, cable news.

• Republicans: “Radical left lunatics,” “domestic enemies,” “lock them up.”
• Democrats: “Fascists,” “threats to democracy,” “white supremacist terrorists.”

The media profits from outrage, platforms reward virality, and every shocking soundbite is amplified until someone acts. When they do, both sides exploit the blood to fuel the next cycle.

6. The Western Blind Spot

The West hides behind tolerance. Critiquing faith is branded bigotry. Calling out incendiary rhetoric is dismissed as censorship. Universities muzzle debate, politicians excuse extremism, and citizens are conditioned to look away.

But tolerance without limits is surrender. To excuse radical faith or stochastic speech is not virtue — it is complicity.

7. A Higher Principle Without Fanaticism

Human beings still need a principle greater than themselves — God, ethics, natural law. Meaning restrains selfishness, anchors morality, and sustains civilization.

But faith civilizes only when it remains personal.

• Faith inspires compassion when private.
• Faith kills when fused with power.
• Rhetoric guides debate when respectful.
• Rhetoric kills when it dehumanizes.

The lesson is universal: belief must remain in the heart, not in the gun or the law.

Conclusion: Breaking the Machinery

From Crusades to Charlie Kirk, the machinery has never changed: belief weaponized + ignorance tolerated = bloodshed.

“Civilization will not survive if we stop talking, stop listening, and stop exchanging ideas through honest debate. The moment we are silent, allow censorship, and trade debate for dogma, rage, or hate, we invite collapse.”

The path forward is clear:

• Private faith, not political law.
• Policy debate, not personal demonization.
• Media accountability, not click-driven outrage.
• Reason above revelation, humanity above ideology.

Every time we excuse violent religion or violent rhetoric, we gamble with blood. Enough. Civilization’s survival depends on breaking the cycle — before it breaks us.

 

Stochastic Terrorism in North America: From Rhetoric to Violence

 

September 12, 2025

What Is Stochastic Terrorism?

Stochastic terrorism is the weaponization of rhetoric: using hostile or dehumanizing language that makes political violence statistically inevitable, but individually unpredictable.

The process works like this:

1. Inflammatory Language — Influential figures brand opponents as traitors, fascists, or monsters.
2. Cultural Climate of Hate — Repetition across media conditions audiences to see targets as less than human.
3. The Lone Actor Effect — An unstable individual interprets the rhetoric as a call to action.
4. Plausible Deniability — The instigator escapes accountability, claiming, “I never called for violence.”

It is a slow-motion form of terrorism that corrodes democracies from within.

Ruth Marshall: Crossing the Line

https://nationalpost.com/news/toronto/university-toronto-ruth-marshall-social-media-charlie-kirk-assassination?itm_source=top-news

Dr. Ruth Marshall’s social media outburst — “Shooting is too good for so many of you fascist c**ts” — is a clear case of stochastic terrorism in practice.

Even if said in anger or “metaphorically,” words like these validate the fantasy of violence. They create a moral permission structure for extremists. When professionals with titles speak this way, the damage is multiplied. Institutions that allow such rhetoric to go unpunished tacitly endorse it.

Marshall’s statement is not dissent — it is extremism cloaked in progressive language. She should be removed from her professional post.

Charlie Kirk’s Assassination: From Words to Blood

On September 10, 2025, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was gunned down during a public event in Utah. The killer’s bullets were engraved with anti-fascist slogans like “Hey fascist, catch!”

• Governor Spencer Cox called it a political assassination.
• Investigators confirmed the shooter had become increasingly politicized, consumed by rhetoric portraying Kirk as a dangerous enemy.
• Social media exploded: some mourned, others justified, and still others glorified the act.

This is the brutal reality of stochastic terrorism: rhetoric produces an unstable actor, and rhetoric then consumes the aftermath — inflaming both sides in a cycle of polarization and vengeance.

Ilhan Omar: Amplification in Real Time

After Kirk’s killing, Rep. Ilhan Omar appeared at a Zeteo Town Hall with Mehdi Hasan. She offered condolences to Kirk’s family, but quickly pivoted to critique his record on guns, Juneteenth, and George Floyd.

• Conservative influencers clipped her remarks and accused her of “smearing Kirk after his death.”
• LibsofTikTok, End Wokeness, Red State, Robby Starbuck — all demanded her resignation or deportation.
• Rep. Lauren Boebert escalated further, invoking Omar’s Somali heritage and telling her to “go back.”

Omar defended herself, noting she had condemned the murder multiple times. But the nuance didn’t matter — the clips went viral, weaponized as proof that Democrats were justifying political violence.

This is how amplification works:

• Speech → Outrage Clips → Social Media → Media Ecosystem → Entrenchment.
• The original content is distorted, context stripped, and the outrage cycle itself fuels polarization.

The Role of Media and Parties

Both parties exploit this cycle.

• Republicans: Lean into apocalyptic rhetoric — “radical left lunatics,” “enemies of the people,” “lock them up.”
• Democrats: Use equally dehumanizing frames — “fascists,” “domestic terrorists,” “threats to democracy.”

The media thrives on this conflict. Outrage equals ratings. Platforms reward virality. Every shocking soundbite or misinterpreted clip is given maximum oxygen, feeding a climate where unstable actors inevitably act out.

Why It’s Dangerous

Political violence is not an abstraction anymore:

• A gunman attempted to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
• Paul Pelosi was attacked in his home.
• Judges, governors, and members of Congress now live under permanent threat.
• And now, Charlie Kirk has been murdered.

Each case is unpredictable, but all are inevitable in a culture saturated with dehumanization.

Accountability Must Replace Excuses

1. Call It What It Is — Stochastic terrorism, whether from left or right, must be named.
2. Institutional Consequences — Professionals like Ruth Marshall must be fired. Rhetoric that validates violence cannot be tolerated.
3. Media Reform — News outlets must stop laundering violent rhetoric into clicks. Condemn, don’t amplify.
4. Political Restraint — Leaders must debate policy, not demonize millions of citizens. Words matter.
5. Civic Education — The public must understand how stochastic terrorism works — and how to resist feeding it.

Conclusion

Stochastic terrorism is the silent engine of political violence in North America. Ruth Marshall’s words, Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and Ilhan Omar’s amplification cycle all demonstrate the same truth: violent rhetoric creates violent climates, and violent climates breed violent acts.

Democracy cannot survive on this trajectory. Breaking the cycle means accountability for reckless speech, reform in media practices, and leadership that values reason over rage.

Every time we excuse violent rhetoric, we gamble with blood.

The Next Financial Time Bomb: CLOs, the New CDOs in Disguise

 September 10, 2025

The financial world is sleepwalking into another disaster. Policymakers, investors, and the public are being lulled into a false sense of security by slick presentations and reassuring jargon. But make no mistake: Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs) are shaping up to be the next great financial implosion — echoing the toxic cocktail of Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs), Credit Default Swaps (CDSs), and Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBSs) that brought the global economy to its knees in 2008.

Wall Street is at it again. With a straight face, bankers and asset managers are peddling Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs) as if they’re safe, sophisticated investments. In reality, they are the spiritual heirs of the toxic Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs), Credit Default Swaps (CDSs), and Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBSs) that detonated the global economy in 2008.

The story is the same: bundle risky loans, slice them into tranches, slap on investment-grade ratings, and sell them as “diversified.” Back then, it was subprime mortgages. Today, it’s leveraged loans to shaky corporations. Different asset, same con.

CLOs: A $1.4 Trillion Monster

CLOs are already a $1.4 trillion asset class, dominating the leveraged loan market. They package risky, non-investment grade corporate loans — often fueling private equity takeovers and buyouts — into shiny “structured products” that are sold as safe, diversified, and sophisticated.

Sound familiar? That’s the same playbook used to sell subprime mortgage securities two decades ago. Back then, it was “safe, diversified home loans.” Today it’s “safe, diversified corporate loans.” Different words, same scam.

The Illusion of Safety

Wall Street and asset managers insist that CLOs are safer than CDOs because they are backed by “senior secured loans” and have stronger structural protections. That’s what they said about mortgage tranches before defaults spiked and AAA paper became worthless overnight.

Here’s the truth:

1. Overexposure – CLOs now hold 64% of all leveraged loans. If corporate defaults rise, the entire system cracks.
2. Weaker Borrowers – Private equity and middle-market CLOs are stuffed with highly leveraged companies one downturn away from default.
3. Liquidity Mirage – CLO ETFs and funds promise daily liquidity, but the underlying loans are thinly traded. In a crisis, investors rushing to exit will find there are no buyers — just like 2008.

A System Built for Collapse

CLOs rely on waterfall structures and “coverage tests” that are supposed to protect senior tranches. But these protections only work at the margins. If defaults surge, losses cascade up the structure and wipe out investors. The equity tranches are just casino chips, but even supposedly safe AAA tranches could be rattled.

Meanwhile, middle-market CLOs — a fast-growing segment of this market — are built on private loans with limited transparency, less stringent oversight, and higher concentrations of subprime assets. It’s the same dangerous opacity that let CDOs spiral out of control before regulators even realized what was happening.

The Government Bailout Playbook, Reloaded

Here’s what will happen when the CLO machine cracks:

• Billions in losses for investors, pensions, and insurance companies.
• Contagion across the credit markets as leveraged loans tank.
• Governments and central banks are forced to step in, again, with taxpayer bailouts to rescue “too-big-to-fail” institutions.

We’ve seen this movie before. In 2008, the bailout of banks and AIG left taxpayers holding the bag. This time, it may be even bigger — because CLOs are more concentrated, larger in size, and deeply entwined with private credit markets.

A Call to Wake Up

The warning signs are flashing. Rising interest rates, shaky corporate earnings, and ballooning private credit make a CLO crack-up not a matter of “if,” but “when.” And when it comes, the fallout will be global.

We need:

• Regulators are willing to shine light on CLO structures before it’s too late.
• Investors who stop blindly trusting the same institutions that sold toxic CDOs.
• Politicians who refuse to once again socialize Wall Street’s greed while privatizing the profits.

Conclusion

CLOs are not the safe, clever products they’re marketed as. They are Wall Street’s next great weapon of mass financial destruction. The parallels to CDOs, CDSs, and MBSs are undeniable — and unless the alarm is sounded loudly and action is taken quickly, history will repeat itself in another avalanche of defaults, panic, and bailouts.

The house of cards is being built. The question is: will we stop it before it falls?