Latest news with #Bartkus
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Anti-Natalist's Revenge
When a young man detonated a car bomb in the parking lot of a Palm Springs, California, fertility clinic last week, killing himself and injuring four others, I assumed the attack was related in some distorted way to pro-life politics. Despite the Trump administration's recent embrace of in vitro fertilization, some pro-lifers, especially conservative Catholics, are opposed to the practice because it can lead to the disposal of embryos. That fact, coupled with the historical association between extreme anti-abortion sentiment and clinic bombings, led me to anticipate a news cycle concerning radical efforts to restrict abortion. I was wrong. The bombing, carried out by a 25-year-old California native named Guy Edward Bartkus, was an attempt to prevent couples from accessing IVF, not because the process produces some embryos that wind up dead, but rather because it produces some embryos that wind up alive. Bartkus, who left behind an online screed titled 'Fuck you pro-lifers!' complete with an index of links and an .mp3 file explaining his agenda, was an avowed 'pro-mortalist'—someone who objects to the creation of new people because, the reasoning goes, no one can consent to being conceived, and that initial unfairness only exposes new consciousness to the suffering of life and the inevitability of death. This is the mind virus that Bartkus was hoping to spread with his attack and its explanation. For that reason alone, it deserves refuting: Life is good and worth defending. Bartkus's manifesto is arranged like a 'frequently asked questions' section, in which he expresses his philosophy and addresses possible counterarguments. 'Understand your death is already a guarantee, and you can thank your parents for that one,' he wrote. 'All a promortalist is saying is let's make it happen sooner rather than later (and preferably peaceful rather than some disease or accident), to prevent your future suffering, and, more importantly, the suffering your existence will cause to all the other sentient beings.' In Bartkus's view, to have children is to act as 'willing agents for a DNA molecule'—that is, to blindly submit to an animal urge to perpetuate one's genes. None of this is novel, as Bartkus himself pointed out when he cited his philosophy's kinship to negative utilitarianism, abolitionist veganism, and 'efilism,' an evidently Reddit-based phenomenon that views humans as mere slaves to DNA. 'Pro-mortalism' is a derivative riff on anti-natalism, a philosophy whose most learned proponent is the South African academic David Benatar. (Benatar has maintained a higher-brow version of the argument against reproduction for the past two decades.) But its most infamous proponent is Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter, who sketched out an extremely dark version of the same morbid theory in his library of audio recordings and then enacted it. [Marc Novicoff: The loneliness of the conservative pronatalist] The FBI has classified Bartkus's attack, which devastated the clinic's offices, as terrorism, though he failed to actually destroy any embryos; the facility's lab is located offsite. Perhaps the spectacle was intended more to provoke a response from the public than to prevent any particular embryos from developing—and his death surely will be marshaled by both sides of American politics to represent our current failings. To many on the left, the bombing may register as another episode in the country's ongoing mental-health crisis, with Bartkus as the avatar of dangerously ill youth who could have benefited from early intervention to counter what appears to have been long-term suicidal ideation. For many on the right, the act may read as more overtly political—a sign of the anti-life left's derangement. Bartkus did address his missive to pro-lifers, and his philosophy is directly contrary to the kind of anti-abortion politics the Trump administration is very deliberately cultivating. Both analyses contain elements of truth. Bartkus described himself as having borderline personality disorder, and his manifesto is at times rambling and incoherent (as in a subsection where he declares his preference for Satan over God). Although he wasn't clear about what kinds of suffering make life unworthy of living, he did provide an explanation of his timing by referring to the recent death of a long-distance friend, who he said had died after asking her boyfriend to shoot her in her sleep, which the boyfriend then did, multiple times. Bartkus also appears to have been under the influence of one of those toxic internet subcultures that acts like a transmissible mood disorder, imparting not only grim ideas but also a certain climate of mind. From that vantage, goodness and joy are rendered irrelevant, and all of life's pain and suffering are read as justifications for their chosen resentments. But sickness and grief don't negate the fact that the ideas behind Bartkus's manifesto are serious, deranged responses to current politics, as acts of terrorism frequently are. Attacks like his aren't representative of any mainstream tendency—but they do reveal what's simmering below the surface of society: in this case, angst and uncertainty about whether perpetuating human life is an altogether good thing for humans or the planet. It's difficult to persuade someone convinced otherwise that human life is more of an affirmative good than a hazard. 'Oh, what can you do with a man like that?' John Cheever once wrote. 'How can you dissuade his eye in a crowd from seeking out the cheek with acne, the infirm hand; how can you teach him to respond to the inestimable greatness of the race, the harsh surface beauty of life; how can you put his finger for him on the obdurate truths before which fear and horror are powerless?' You can't, it seems. But for anyone on the fence, or who finds themselves somewhat tempted by Bartkus's premises, I wish they could see that life is indeed good, even when it isn't easy or pleasurable. Humanity is capable of unique greatness—not only via the spectacular achievements of artists, scientists, and philosophers in which all of us share by nature of kinship, but also in moral terms: the daily miracle of individuals encountering complicated and frustrating situations and choosing to do the right thing anyway. The world is full of such people, though they may be overlooked by those cynical toward humanity's contributions to history. Their perseverance in goodness is sufficient argument for more of us, more human excellence, great and small. May the future always belong to humankind. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Atlantic
The Anti-Natalist's Revenge
When a young man detonated a car bomb in the parking lot of a Palm Springs, California, fertility clinic last week, killing himself and injuring four others, I assumed the attack was related in some distorted way to pro-life politics. Despite the Trump administration's recent embrace of in vitro fertilization, some pro-lifers, especially conservative Catholics, are opposed to the practice because it can lead to the disposal of embryos. That fact, coupled with the historical association between extreme anti-abortion sentiment and clinic bombings, led me to anticipate a news cycle concerning radical efforts to restrict abortion. I was wrong. The bombing, carried out by a 25-year-old California native named Guy Edward Bartkus, was an attempt to prevent couples from accessing IVF, not because the process produces some embryos that wind up dead, but rather because it produces some embryos that wind up alive. Bartkus, who left behind an online screed titled ' Fuck you pro-lifers! ' complete with an index of links and an .mp3 file explaining his agenda, was an avowed 'pro-mortalist'—someone who objects to the creation of new people because, the reasoning goes, no one can consent to being conceived, and that initial unfairness only exposes new consciousness to the suffering of life and the inevitability of death. This is the mind virus that Bartkus was hoping to spread with his attack and its explanation. For that reason alone, it deserves refuting: Life is good and worth defending. Bartkus's manifesto is arranged like a 'frequently asked questions' section, in which he expresses his philosophy and addresses possible counterarguments. 'Understand your death is already a guarantee, and you can thank your parents for that one,' he wrote. 'All a promortalist is saying is let's make it happen sooner rather than later (and preferably peaceful rather than some disease or accident), to prevent your future suffering, and, more importantly, the suffering your existence will cause to all the other sentient beings.' In Bartkus's view, to have children is to act as 'willing agents for a DNA molecule'—that is, to blindly submit to an animal urge to perpetuate one's genes. None of this is novel, as Bartkus himself pointed out when he cited his philosophy's kinship to negative utilitarianism, abolitionist veganism, and 'efilism,' an evidently Reddit-based phenomenon that views humans as mere slaves to DNA. 'Pro-mortalism' is a derivative riff on anti-natalism, a philosophy whose most learned proponent is the South African academic David Benatar. (Benatar has maintained a higher-brow version of the argument against reproduction for the past two decades.) But its most infamous proponent is Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter, who sketched out an extremely dark version of the same morbid theory in his library of audio recordings and then enacted it. Marc Novicoff: The loneliness of the conservative pronatalist The FBI has classified Bartkus's attack, which devastated the clinic's offices, as terrorism, though he failed to actually destroy any embryos; the facility's lab is located offsite. Perhaps the spectacle was intended more to provoke a response from the public than to prevent any particular embryos from developing—and his death surely will be marshaled by both sides of American politics to represent our current failings. To many on the left, the bombing may register as another episode in the country's ongoing mental-health crisis, with Bartkus as the avatar of dangerously ill youth who could have benefited from early intervention to counter what appears to have been long-term suicidal ideation. For many on the right, the act may read as more overtly political—a sign of the anti-life left's derangement. Bartkus did address his missive to pro-lifers, and his philosophy is directly contrary to the kind of anti-abortion politics the Trump administration is very deliberately cultivating. Both analyses contain elements of truth. Bartkus described himself as having borderline personality disorder, and his manifesto is at times rambling and incoherent (as in a subsection where he declares his preference for Satan over God). Although he wasn't clear about what kinds of suffering make life unworthy of living, he did provide an explanation of his timing by referring to the recent death of a long-distance friend, who he said had died after asking her boyfriend to shoot her in her sleep, which the boyfriend then did, multiple times. Bartkus also appears to have been under the influence of one of those toxic internet subcultures that acts like a transmissible mood disorder, imparting not only grim ideas but also a certain climate of mind. From that vantage, goodness and joy are rendered irrelevant, and all of life's pain and suffering are read as justifications for their chosen resentments. But sickness and grief don't negate the fact that the ideas behind Bartkus's manifesto are serious, deranged responses to current politics, as acts of terrorism frequently are. Attacks like his aren't representative of any mainstream tendency—but they do reveal what's simmering below the surface of society: in this case, angst and uncertainty about whether perpetuating human life is an altogether good thing for humans or the planet. It's difficult to persuade someone convinced otherwise that human life is more of an affirmative good than a hazard. 'Oh, what can you do with a man like that?' John Cheever once wrote. 'How can you dissuade his eye in a crowd from seeking out the cheek with acne, the infirm hand; how can you teach him to respond to the inestimable greatness of the race, the harsh surface beauty of life; how can you put his finger for him on the obdurate truths before which fear and horror are powerless?' You can't, it seems. But for anyone on the fence, or who finds themselves somewhat tempted by Bartkus's premises, I wish they could see that life is indeed good, even when it isn't easy or pleasurable. Humanity is capable of unique greatness—not only via the spectacular achievements of artists, scientists, and philosophers in which all of us share by nature of kinship, but also in moral terms: the daily miracle of individuals encountering complicated and frustrating situations and choosing to do the right thing anyway. The world is full of such people, though they may be overlooked by those cynical toward humanity's contributions to history. Their perseverance in goodness is sufficient argument for more of us, more human excellence, great and small. May the future always belong to humankind.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Palm Springs clinic bomber had access to large quantity of chemical products, FBI says
The man who authorities believe detonated a powerful explosive device outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic had "access to a large quantity of commercially available chemical products which could be combined to create a home-made explosive device,' the FBI revealed Thursday. The agency said it was still investigating the case and did not provide further details. "Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, the FBI is unable to disclose specific case details regarding the makeup of the explosive device," the FBI said. On Saturday morning, a bomb was detonated at American Reproductive Centers in Palm Springs, destroying much of the building, injuring four people and killing the suspected bomber. Guy Edward Bartkus is the sole suspect in the bombing, which the FBI has labeled as domestic terrorism. Read more: Palm Springs bombing investigation turns to the explosives: How were they sourced and built? DNA tests of body parts found at the scene show Bartkus, 25, was killed in the blast. The FBI described the Palm Springs blast — powerful enough to damage buildings several blocks away — as 'probably the largest bombing scene that we've had in Southern California,' eclipsing the 2018 bombing of a day spa in Aliso Viejo. Law enforcement sources told The Times that the bomber used a very large amount of explosives — so much that the bomb shredded his remains. The sources said authorities recovered explosive materials from Bartkus' home and that he was skilled in assembling explosive devices and was a longtime rocket builder. The clinic posted a photo of the blast's aftermath that showed the building's roof caved in, debris flowing into the streets and smoke billowing from inside. Officials have not yet determined a motive in the bombing. But a website that contained no name but appeared connected to the bombing laid out the case for 'a war against pro-lifers' and said a fertilization clinic would be targeted. Authorities have yet to confirm if Bartkus was the author of that site. 'Here you can download the recorded stream of my suicide & bombing of an IVF clinic,' the site began, but no such file existed. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Anti-Baby Zealot Blows Up IVF Clinic, Accidentally Becoming the Attack's Only Casualty
The second decade of the 21st century has given us a treasure trove of bonkers ideologies and obsessive subcultures. From Marc Andreessen's fanatic Techno-Optimists to the violent rationalist sect of the Zizians, would-be cultists are spoiled for choice in 2025. Now, it seems there's a new one on the scene: the self-described "pro-mortalists." The philosopher Thaddeus Metz, at the University of Pretoria, describes pro-mortalism as the "view that it is often prudent for individuals to kill themselves and often right for them to kill others, even without their consent." On its own, pro-mortalism isn't really viewed as a developed ideology. Rather, it's an idea stemming from a fringe philosophy known as "negative utilitarianism," the principle that we should limit human suffering while maximizing pleasure. That sounds lovely on paper. But in practice, critics of negative utilitarianism like Metz highlight its tendency to lead to anti-natalism — the extremist view that it's wrong to bring new life into the world — and pro-mortalism. The two ideas seem to be used interchangeably by forum philosophers and YouTube theorists, though anti-natalism once had a decent following on Reddit, whose discussions centered around the ethics of bringing children into the world without their consent. Among its pro-mortalism's acolytes was Guy Edward Bartkus, the 25-year-old man who recently carried out a terrorist attack on a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California. Late last Saturday, Bartkus detonated a car bomb outside of the American Reproductive Centers building, an in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic — a medical practice that helps people get pregnant using various biotech tricks, basically — east of Los Angeles. Bartkus died while attempting to record and upload the attack, while four others were injured, according to NBC. The clinic's embryos were undamaged, and IVF treatment is reportedly continuing this week. Though his footage didn't make it to the web, authorities found writings as well as a pro-mortalism website that are shedding light on Bartkus' radical anti-life beliefs. "Welcome! Here, you can download the recorded stream of my suicide and bombing of an IVF clinic!" the website greets. In a section labeled "possible FAQs," Bartkus makes his case for pro-mortalism, addressing the audience he seemed to anticipate would flock to his site after the attack. "Understand your death is already a guarantee, and you can thank your parents for that one," Bartkus wrote. "All a pro-mortalist is saying is let's make it happen sooner rather than later (and preferably peaceful rather than some disease or accident), to prevent your future suffering, and, more importantly, the suffering your existence will cause to all the other sentient beings." Bartkus is notably cautious to distance himself from nihilism — an older and better-established school of thought — calling pro-mortalism the "polar opposite" of that "nonsense." Instead, he claims the suicide of a fellow negative utilitarian friend sent him over the edge. Meanwhile, questions have been raised online regarding an alleged FBI presence in the town of Twentynine Palms where the suicide bomber lived, in the days leading up to the explosion. When a KESQ 3 reporter asked if the FBI could confirm the presence of federal agents in Twentynine Palms prior to the bombing, a spokesman said he "cannot," before abruptly ending the twenty-minute press conference. Local police Chief Andy Mills also revealed that Bartkus was "chatting with people in online groups, in online forums, as well as posting stuff on YouTube where he was experimenting with different types of explosive materials," but added that he was "very confident" Barkus acted alone. More on crime: Crypto Tycoon's Daughter Narrowly Escapes Kidnappers in Paris
Los Angeles Times
21-05-2025
- Los Angeles Times
What investigators know about the Palm Springs bombing suspect
It has been four days since the bombing of the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic in Palm Springs left one dead and at least four injured in what the FBI called 'an intentional act of terrorism.' DNA tests of body parts found outside the facility showed that the suspect, 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus, was killed in the blast. Law enforcement sources told The Times they are looking into videos, audio files and other online postings attributed to Bartkus as they try to determine the motive for the attack. They also are exploring whether incidents in Bartkus' childhood laid the foundation for later beliefs in 'antinatalism,' an idea that procreation is wrong in an overpopulated world struggling with environmental harm and violence. Here's what we know about the investigation: YouTube videos probably posted by the suspect depict M-80s exploding in desert sand, a hydrogen balloon being set ablaze, and a bucket of radioactive uranium ore that causes a radiation detection device to wail. The voice in the videos, my colleagues have reported, is the same as the one captured on a 30-minute audio file that authorities believe was made by Bartkus. In the audio file, the speaker gives the following reason for bombing a fertility clinic: 'Basically, it just comes down to I'm angry that I exist and that, you know, nobody got my consent to bring me here.' In an interview with my colleague Jenny Jarvie, the suspect's estranged father, Richard Bartkus, said the boy, then 9, set his family's Yucca Valley home on fire. In 2008, the elder Bartkus said, his son took some matches outside his family's rented house to conduct what he called an experiment. The boy burned down the house, a shed, and all of the family's possessions, Richard Bartkus said. 'It destroyed the whole house,' he said. 'So he didn't feel good about that at all.' But his son, Richard Bartkus said, continued to ramp up his experiments with explosives — making rockets, stink bombs and smoke bombs. The elder Bartkus said he became more strict with his son, worrying that his experimentation with increasingly powerful explosives was getting out of hand. Court records offer a window into the family discord that marked the suspect's youth, including his parents' messy divorce and allegations of verbal and emotional abuse. After Bartkus' mother moved out of the family home with her son and daughter in 2012, records show, she obtained a restraining order against Richard Bartkus, saying she felt 'scared of his irrational behavior.' Richard Bartkus disputed many of her allegations. The investigation also is focused on how Bartkus obtained a massive cache of explosives, some of which were found in a house in rural Twentynine Palms that he shared with his mother. My colleagues have reported that investigators are likely to look into Bartkus' proximity to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, which is touted as the largest Marine training base in the world. Capt. Johnathon Huizar, a spokesman for the combat center, said there is no record of Bartkus — who was not a Marine — entering the base. Huizar would not comment on whether there have been any recent instances of lost or stolen explosives. In 2021, 10 pounds of plastic explosives vanished from the base during a training exercise and were suspected to have been stolen, according to news reports. The material was ultimately recovered, according to news reports, but the military has released little information about the episode. Joann says, 'Coronado.' Shelley says, 'Manhattan Beach area.' Email us at essentialcalifornia@ and your response might appear in the newsletter this week. Today's great photo is from contributor Amanda Villegas, of a hillside property in Silver Lake that features an 1,150-square-foot ADU below the existing house and which cost $830,000 to build. Hailey Branson-Potts, staff reporterKevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew Campa, Sunday writerKarim Doumar, head of newsletters How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
