Deep despair and fame

It’s Christmastime, and for many people, that doesn’t bring joy. It brings despair.

Claudio Manuel Neves Valente entered the United States from his native Portugal in August, 2000, on an F-1 student visa. Bill Clinton was president. Al Gore was running against George W. Bush in a close race. I have no idea if 23-year-old Neves Valente cared about politics at the time—he did apparently care about physics. Something happened in the last 25 years to bring that man to a place of deep despair. We may never know what it was, as things go with these type of tragedies.

Surveillance footage shows Brown University shooting suspect Claudio Manuel Neves Valente renting a car at 270 Atlantic Ave. on Dec. 1, 2025.STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

He took time to plan these murders. Authorities had trouble finding Neves Valente because he used a phone that was not easily tracked; he rented a car and changed the license plates, using out-of-state plates. He wore a face mask, which has become a common sight since COVID-19. He rented a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire in November.

In 2000, Neves Valente enrolled at Brown University to pursue his Ph.D. in physics. By 2003, he had withdrawn from the program. The murders at Brown occurred in the building where they taught physics classes, though the victims were there for an economics exam brushup. It was solid shoe-leather police work, following every lead, that put the murder of an MIT physics professor, who also was Portuguese, together with the shootings at Brown. Professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro was once a classmate of Neves Valente, the media has reported. The two men are about the same age.

From all the preparations, it seems that Neves Valente had planned to commit these murders and get away with it. But as most amateur criminals do, he left a wide trail for the authorities to follow. It simply took time for the investigation to close in. Thursday, they found Neves Valente dead in that storage unit, apparently by suicide.

I am seeing a pattern in some of these recent killings. In July, Shane Tamura drove across the country from Las Vegas, openly walked into the building housing the headquarters of the NFL, and killed four innocent people. He took an elevator to the wrong floor. Police found his body: he had shot himself in the chest, writing in a note, “Study my brain please. I'm sorry.” The post-mortem medical examination showed Tamura suffered from CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a form of brain injury that has afflicted some who played football. Tamura was a talented high school football player. It’s clear he never intended to get away with his act of despair.

Tyler Robinson murdered Charlie Kirk like an animal, with his grandfather’s hunting rifle. He had hoped to retrieve the gun from where he hid it after committing the crime. He had planned to get away with it, and go on with his life. He nearly did, but video evidence, his own confession to his transgender lover, and of course, the literal smoking gun found by police led him to surrender to authorities. It was anger and despair that drove Robinson to kill, though he will likely pay the price with his own life at the hands of justice.

The cold-blooded murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson happened over a year ago, on the streets of Manhattan. A cult has formed around Thompson’s killer, Luigi Mangione. Some call him the “hot assassin.” The New York Times publishes fashion pieces about his suits. One journalist, Vicky Ward, is writing a book on the case (Mangione has pleaded not guilty of both state and federal charges). “Sitting there, dressed in expensive suits and shirts,” she wrote, “his face pale but serious, he looks almost young enough to have stepped straight out of a classroom at a fancy New England prep school.” It pains and saddens me to no end that Mangione gets this attention, and Brian Thompson is essentially forgotten, his high-school age kids fatherless, his widow still grieving. Mangione is a celebrity and many agree with his “cause”—that health care insurance carriers are evil institutions.

I could go on: the Catholic church shooting in Minneapolis, where police recovered 116 rifle bullet casings, and the body of killer Robin M. Westman, dead by suicide. The October shooting and arson at an LDS church in Lansing, Michigan, motivated by hatred of Mormons. Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, was killed by police during the attack.

All of these killers acted out of a deep despair, something inside them that propelled them down a dark path to murder. Their motivation was not to rob, or inherit money, as so many other high-profile killings over the years. It was not political, like the attempted assassination of then-candidate Donald Trump. It was not particularly due to some manifesto or desire for domination (the Zizians come to mind). It was not anti-semitism, which in itself is a cancer growing in the world. (I won’t get into that sad topic today.)

These killings were done because those who perpetrated them had sunk into a deep despair, that there was nothing left for them in this world except to kill, to achieve a level of fame by infamy, and to either live with the cowardice, or to die in the attempt. Somehow, some of these convinced themselves they commit a high-profile crime and not be arrested for it. Even with preparation, it’s really hard to evade detective work these days—it’s delusional to try. But the human brain, in despair, is capable of amazing acts of self-deception.

It’s Christmastime, and for many people, that doesn’t bring joy. It brings despair. For those who believe that Christmas is for “normies” with families that gather around the hearth, stockings hanging over the mantle, huddle around a finely decorated tree to open lavish gifts and eat a delicious meal, their reality doesn’t live up to the gauzy expectations.

The poisonous political, social, and online climate of the world lately feeds despair. From sports-induced brain trauma, to denied health claims, bills piled up, crushed dreams of school, family, science, fame, art, and celebrity, people are falling into deep despair.

No wonder there’s a bit of an uptick in young men joining the Christian faith. Without solid organizations, offering a moral footing in the world, any young man would be adrift.

I would be remiss if I didn’t offer a corrective, something to counter the despair of the day. It’s a simple word: hope. I don’t mean it like a campaign slogan, Obama’s “hope and change.” We don’t need the change, unless by that it’s a personal change. Simple hope.

The New Testament story of the birth of Yeshua, the Christ, involves three “wise” men from the east. They were likely Persians or perhaps from even further away. They were learned, having the Hebrew Torah and other books to study. They were observant of the sky and earth. They saw an astronomical event and decided to follow it, along with the prophetic words of the scripture. They journeyed to Jerusalem, where they believed they could find the place where the king of the Jews was born. They didn’t likely arrive at his birth, like the children’s tales have it. But they did arrive and pay homage to the baby boy they found. Gold, frankincense, myrrh, for a king, a priest, and a sacrifice.

The wise men had hope. They did not despair. Herod despaired. He had his men kill all the young boys born in Bethlehem. But an angel told Joseph to move his family to Egypt until the political winds died down. Joseph heard the angel and had hope.

Hope is real, and He is a person. Hope is the hand who will pray for you, feed you, clothe you, and show you love. Hope is the arm that will wrap you in a hug. Hope is the face that will see you eye to eye in prison, or in tatters, or in your shame, and look upon you as a fellow human being with dignity. Hope is grace and mercy in the face of despair.

Christians are the hands and feet of Christ. Through us, His life—He is alive, in heaven—is taken to earth. It is enough for Christians to know He is coming. But that faith is not here in the world. All the world needs is hope.

Be hope to someone today. You may be the one who stops a murder. You may be the one who, in a stitch of time, turns a despairing person on the road to death, to life. The world does not need any more despair. The world needs hope. Christian, that is your call this Christmas.

SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS: You can follow us on social media at several different locations. Official Racket News pages include:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewsRacket
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/NewsRacket

Our personal accounts on the platform formerly known as Twitter:

David: https://x.com/captainkudzu
Steve: https://x.com/stevengberman
Jay: https://x.com/curmudgeon_NH

Tell your friends about us!