In short:

UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson was shot dead out the front of a hotel on Wednesday in what police are calling a “premeditated, targeted attack”.

The first unmasked photographs of a person of interest in the case have been released by the New York Police Department.

Multiple US media organisations, citing unnamed investigators, say the ammunition used to shoot Mr Thompson were inscribed with the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose”.

  •  eureka   ( @eureka@aussie.zone ) 
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    520 days ago

    That doesn’t excuse violence however.

    That alone, in isolation, may not excuse violence. But it didn’t happen in a vacuum. Their messages on the bullets are an explicit reference to systematic antisocial techniques used by these companies to unjustly deny coverage. Which has knowingly resulted in pushing families into poverty and deaths on a scale of millions, far more harm than any act of direct physical violence has.

    That kind of mass slaughter is certainly excusing of defense, physical or otherwise, and the legal system is clearly not a viable option looking at history. Even just looking at the exaggerated police response this assassination had compared to most other killings in the city is a hint that the legal system is rigged in the favour of the owning class of society. Violence becomes the only effective act of resistance remaining to protest this systematic mass killing which doesn’t involve slow and lengthy mass collective organisation requiring the co-ordination of many thousands. And, quite frankly, a handgun execution is far more humane than the kinds of slow deaths many people have suffered from at the hands of this company, so I don’t understand why this killing should be considered exceptional or disproportionate simply because it’s direct physical violence, as opposed to legalised denial of health service.

      •  eureka   ( @eureka@aussie.zone ) 
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        20 days ago

        Fair correction, thanks. Lots of it is illegal (hence some of those legal tactics mentioned on the shell casings), it’s simply just not punished justly by the legal system. It’s a distinction worth making, even if the material end result is similar.