Happy Wednesday Everyone! Today’s newsletter: 1,152 words…4.3 mins
🗞 Today’s Edition: 20 School Kids Gunned Down At Church, Nord Stream Saboteurs Caught, NYC’s Penn Station Revamp, Don Jr. Bets Big On Polymarket, 25+ Countries Pause Postal Services To The U.S., Greenland Coup, Cracker Barrel’s Reversal … & much more!
📜THE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
Left: Parents comforting their children, Police and EMS presence; Right: The killer and screenshots from his YouTube videos showing bullets, guns, magazines with tags scribbled on them and his detailed drawing of the Church he would attack.
💔 Unspeakable Evil: 20 Innocent School Kids Gunned Down In MN
A back-to-school Mass at Annunciation Catholic in Minneapolis, Minnesota turned into America’s latest nightmare.
Robin Westman, transgendered, early 20s, opened fire through the stained glass windows at 8:30 a.m., killing two children (ages 8 & 10) and wounding 17 others before ending his own life.
A string of disturbing YouTube clips — possibly his manifesto — paint a picture of obsession with mass shooters:
One video shows a red notebook with rambling scrawls, schematics, and eerie laughter.
Magazines were tagged with “for the children” and “kill Donald Trump.”
Writings referenced Sandy Hook killer Adam Lanza and detailed a self-destructive spiral.
The arsenal: A rifle, shotgun, and handgun.
The timeline: 3-4 minutes of firing through the church windows before police locked down the scene.
Survivors described diving under pews as bullets shredded the church windows.
What they said: Gov. Walz called it a “devastating violation of trust.” Mayor Frey said the community’s sense of safety is “shattered.” Trump noted the White House is monitoring closely and asked everyone to “join him in prayer”.
"This was a calculated act of violence against innocent children and others in worship. The sheer brutality and cowardice of firing into a church filled with children is utterly unfathomable".
💔 Bottom line: Another uniquely American tragedy — children in pews paying the price for a lone gunman’s psychotic fantasy. Minneapolis mourns, while the nation asks (again) if this is the “new normal.”
♟️THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
Nordstream Pipeline blast; Inset: Map showing the path of the Nord Stream Pipelines
🕵 Nord Stream Breakthrough: ALL Saboteurs Nabbed
Italian police arrested Serhii K., 49, a Ukrainian national accused of coordinating the pipeline blasts that crippled Russian gas flows to Europe. He was vacationing in Rimini when caught under a European warrant.
Investigators say Serhii’s crew rented the yacht Andromeda with fake passports, planted explosives near Bornholm, and left traces linking them to the blasts.
The group included a skipper, a coordinator, a bomb expert, and four divers who traveled to the Baltic Sea on the yacht - all with pro-level diving chops.
All 7 suspects identified: 6 arrests, 1 died fighting in Eastern Ukraine.
Fallout: Ukraine denies state involvement, but Western intel says a pro-Ukrainian group pulled the trigger. Germany calls it a “remarkable investigative achievement.”
💡 Bottom line: First arrest in geopolitics' biggest whodunit and Germany's about to get some very interesting answers.
📬 America's $800 Tariff Tantrum Breaks Global Mail
At least 25 nations — from the UK, Germany, and France to Japan, India, and Canada — have suspended parcel shipments to America after Washington axed the $800 “de minimis” exemption, starting Aug. 29.
The $800 "de minimis" rule let packages under $800 enter the U.S. duty-free—basically free shipping from across planet Earth. (Letters and parcels under $100 are still free…phew)
Foreign postal services say they can’t process the red tape fast enough, so they're just... not shipping. Peak "this is fine" dog energy.
Casualties: Etsy sellers, small biz imports, your Korean skincare addiction—all dead in the water.
💡 Bottom line: America just accidentally sanctioned itself out of global e-commerce.
🇩🇰 🇺🇸 Greenland Coup: Denmark Summons The U.S. To The Principal’s Office
America’s top diplomat, Mark Stroh, was summoned by the Danish FM after intel revealed alleged U.S. covert ops in Greenland.
Danish media say at least three Americans tied to Trumpworld tried pushing Greenland toward secession — building supporter lists and cozying up to local politicians.
Why it matters: Greenland isn’t just ice — it’s Arctic real estate, rare minerals, and a geopolitical prize. Trump once floated “buying it.” Denmark’s FM blasted the meddling as “entirely unacceptable.”
⚡ Bottom line: A rare open rebuke of Washington by an ally — Arctic chessboard officially heating up.
🗽THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
Top-left: Current Penn Station; The rest of the images are some of the proposals by developers for this iconic makeover.
🗽 Penn Station’s $7B Makeover: On “Trump Time”
The Feds are turbocharging the $7 billion Penn Station revamp, with construction set to begin by late 2027—an accelerated timeline branded, “Trump Time”
Trump’s DOT yanked the MTA from the project in April for “inefficiency”
The $7B overhaul is now under federal + Amtrak control
Andy Byford (London/NYC transit legend) tapped to lead. A master developer will be tapped by mid-2026.
Goal: Turn the nation’s busiest, bleakest hub into a world-class gateway.
🚉 Bottom Line: Penn Station's current vibe is "subway purgatory meets bus terminal depression." Literally anywhere is up from here.
🇺🇸 Cracker Barrel’s ‘Woke Logo’ U-Turn
In a rare U-turn, Cracker Barrel scrapped its new minimalist logo after a week of heavy backlash and brought back the beloved OG logo.
Trump called it “woke nonsense”
Stock slid 13% post-logo drop, then rebounded 8% after the reversal.
Execs admit they “could’ve done a better job” communicating.
💡 Bottom Line: Branding lesson: heritage chains mess with nostalgia at their peril.
🤖 CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AI’s Black Mirror Moments
💎 Trump Jr. Bets Big on Polymarket’s US Comeback
Donald Trump Jr.’s firm 1789 Capital dropped a double-digit million investment into prediction/betting platform Polymarket.
The blockchain-based platform once forced out of the U.S. but now back after snagging a CFTC-licensed exchange.
Don Jr. also joined Polymarket’s advisory board, adding to his seat at rival Kalshi.
💡 Why it matters: Prediction markets are booming (billions in wagers on elections, policies, global events), and Don Jr. is positioning them as “truth serum” against media spin. Critics? They call it legalized gambling in a suit.
🎬Google's Vids Goes Public: AI Video Editing for the Masses
Google's AI video editor Vids, now free for everyone—was previously locked behind Workspace paywall.
Creates 8-second videos from single images, auto-removes "ums" from recordings, plus 12 AI avatars to deliver your script.
Free version lacks the premium AI features like custom avatars
Business play: Replace $10K+ corporate video shoots with AI-generated content—because why hire humans when robots work for free?
💡 Why it matters: Google’s bet: scale content creation without scaling payroll.
📺 FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Origins of “Jessica”
William Shakespeare literally invented the name Jessica. It first appeared in The Merchant of Venice —meaning every Jessica owes her name to 16th-century English theater. Peak literary legacy.
💀 THE ROAST
Because World Leaders Beg To Be Dragged
