Good Evening Everyone: Today’s newsletter: 1,123 words…4.2 mins
🗞 Today’s Edition: Charlie Kirk Assassinated, Poland Spooked By Russian Drones, US-India Hit Reset, Mural Campaign For Zarutska, Larry Ellison Now The Richest Man Alive, Uber Offers Helicopter Rides… & much more!
📜THE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
Charlie with his wife and two young kids; Charlie at one of his campus events encouraging debate and discourse regardless of political lean.
🕊 Charlie Kirk Assassinated
Conservative commentator and American youth icon, Charlie Kirk, was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem.
A gunman fired from the Losee Center rooftop (campus building) ~200 yards away, striking Kirk in the neck during the kickoff of his “American Comeback Tour.”
Chaos followed—students ducking, blood, screams, videos of Kirk collapsing mid-sentence. He was rushed to a hospital but died hours later.
The manhunt: Authorities initially detained a person of interest, only to later clarify no suspect was in custody. The FBI and ATF are now leading the investigation. The UVU campus was locked down; classes canceled and a massive manhunt is underway.
Reactions: Leaders from both sides of the isle strongly condemned the attack as “political violence” and urged unity. Foreign leaders from the UK to Israel commented on this shocking event.
📌 Why it matters: Kirk wasn’t just a culture warrior—he was the megaphone for American youth. His assassination turns the spotlight on America’s accelerating cycle of political violence and raises a chilling question: are college tours now security risks, not just ideological battlegrounds?
🕯Bottom line: Kirk’s death marks a dark escalation in America’s political divide—where words, rallies, and rhetoric are increasingly met with bullets.
♟️THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
🇵🇱 🇷🇺 Poland Spooked By Russian Drones
Poland just had its first direct military clash with Russia since the Ukraine war began.
Overnight, 19 drones—launched from Russia and Belarus—violated Polish skies.
NATO jets (Dutch F-35s, Polish F-16s, Italian AWACS) scrambled, downing eight.
Airports shut, debris hit homes, no casualties.
Warsaw immediately pulled the Article 4 alarm—NATO’s crisis hotline.
“The situation is more perilous than ever before, and we must brace for various scenarios.”
Moscow flatly denied these allegations stating they had "no plans to target any sites on Polish territory", insisting those drones can’t even fly that far (max range 700 km).
Bonus excuse: Electronic warfare could’ve scrambled the GPS causing navigational errors and/or the drones might have flown in from Ukrainian territory.
💡 Bottom line: NATO has been talking “red lines” for two years. Now a Russian drone just tripped one—inside Poland. The choice: treat it as an accident and move on, or admit the alliance is staring at its first Article 5-adjacent moment in decades.
🇺🇸 🇮🇳 Washington & Delhi Hit Reset
It seems Modi’s photo-op with Putin and Xi has done its job. After months of tariff tantrums and below the belt remarks by the President and his economic adviser Peter Navarro, the US and India are rebooting trade talks.
What they said:
Trump: “I am confident that we will encounter no challenges in achieving a favorable outcome for both of our Great Countries”
Modi: "India and the US are close friends and natural partners. I am confident our trade negotiations will pave the way for unlocking the limitless potential…”
💌 Bottom line: This isn’t kumbaya yet—auto parts, soybeans, booze tariffs still divide. But investors smell a deal.
🇫🇷 :🚫 France Says: Block Everything
France’s new “Block Everything” movement hit the streets Sept. 10, staging roadblocks, burning barricades, and strikes against Macron/Bayrou’s €43.8B austerity budget to cut France’s ballooning deficit.
Born online as “apolitical,” this revolt boasts 70% hard left protesters—boosted by Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise and union muscle.
Their demand? Macron must resign
The state’s answer: 80,000 cops nationwide, tear gas in Paris, 200+ arrests.
For rookie PM Sébastien Lecornu (appointed just yesterday), this is trial by Molotov.
🥖 Bottom line: Macron’s austerity gamble may have unlocked his biggest protest wave since the Yellow Vests.
🗽THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
Source: X/@AlphaApproved
🫢 Navarro Left Red-Faced
Navarro woke up and chose humiliation. His unhinged anti-India tirade—calling them the “Maharaja of Tariffs” , “Vampires” and "Kremlin’s laundromat" —face-planted spectacularly .
X’s Community Notes eviscerated his claims, highlighting U.S. imports of Russian uranium and India’s sovereign energy security moves.
He then got ratio'd by his own poll (75% rejection rate), prompting him to lash out at Elon Musk for “propaganda”.
⚡ Meanwhile, Trump and Modi are cozying up for a trade reset, making Navarro look like a rogue keyboard minion.
🕊 Murals for Iryna
Intercom CEO Eoghan McCabe posted on X that he’s is offering $500K in grants for murals of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska across US cities.
Elon Musk just threw in $1M, turbocharging the campaign.
The goal: Honor her life and spread awareness nationwide so her story is not forgotten.
🕯 Why it matters: The campaign, touted as a memorial, doubles as a rallying cry against "soft-on-crime" policies, with McCabe blaming "leftist politicians" for freeing her alleged killer (a 14x repeat offender).
⚡ Expect Iryna’s face to pop up on walls from NYC to LA. Interested artists? Or want to contribute? Hit Katie at [email protected].
🤖 CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AI’s Black Mirror Moments
💰 Ellison Overtakes Musk As Richest Man On Earth
Larry Ellison, 81, just flipped the billionaire leaderboard—his net worth surged $101B in one day to $393B, unseating Elon Musk as the richest man on earth.
Oracle stock jumped 41% on the news of massive cloud contracts and bullish forecasts.
This is the largest single-day wealth increase ever recorded on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
⚡ Bottom line: AI is the rocket fuel: cloud revenue is projected to hit $144B by 2030 and one of tech’s oldest sharks is riding the wave.
🚁 Uber Takes Ride-Hailing Vertical
Uber is lifting off—literally. Starting 2026, Blade helicopter rides will be bookable via the Uber app, thanks to Joby Aviation’s $125M Blade acquisition.
The move revives Uber’s long-gestating air transport ambitions after selling Elevate in 2020.
⚡ Bottom line: Commute traffic? Still miserable. But now you can dodge it 200 feet in the air—if your wallet can handle the vertical upgrade.
📺 FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
Cape Agulhas, South Africa
The Southernmost Tip Of The African Continent
The southernmost point of Africa is Cape Agulhas (not the Cape of Good Hope)
Located at approximately 34°50′S latitude in South Africa, it marks the southernmost tip of the continent where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet.
💀 THE ROAST
Because World Leaders Beg To Be Dragged
Out of respect for Charlie Kirk and his family at this devastating moment, there will be no memes or roasts today.