Thursday,August 28, 2025

August 28, 2025

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Trans gunman kills two children and injures 17 people in Minneapolis . . . Police responded to a mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Wednesday, where they said two children were killed and 17 people injured. The suspected shooter of a group of Minneapolis Catholic school students at morning Mass Wednesday has been identified as Robin Westman. Court records show that a Minneapolis juvenile named Robert Westman had their name legally changed to Robin in 2019, and FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that the shooter was born Robert and later identified as Robin. He was carrying three firearms, according to authorities – a rifle, a pistol and a shotgun. Fox News

'Entitled, Penny-Sniffing K***s': Minnesota Gunman Railed Against Jews In Journal

Minneapolis mayor uses shooting presser to speak out about transgender rights — as gunman ID'd as trans . . . Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey preached about trans rights during a presser on the mass shooting that left two children dead at Annunciation Catholic School, hours after it was revealed gunman Robin Westman identified as a transgender woman. "I have heard about a whole lot of hate that's being directed at our trans community," Frey told reporters at an update presser Wednesday afternoon. "Anybody who is using this … as an opportunity to villainize our trans community, or any other community out there, has lost their sense of common humanity. New York Post

Trans Minnesota School Shooter's YouTube Included Anti-Trump Messages

But of course, the main danger from domestic terrorism comes from the right, according to Democrats.

MSNBC's Jen Psaki spins Minneapolis church school shooting into attack on prayer, Trump . . . "Prayer is not freaking enough. Prayers does not end school shootings. prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers," Psaki said. Psaki followed up with another tweet, writing, "When kids are getting shot in their pews at a catholic school mass and your crime plan is to have national guard put mulch down around DC maybe rethink your strategy." Fox News

Trans-Identifying Shooter's Mom Worked At Catholic School And Church Where He Opened Fire

Politics

CDC director resists ouster, says she will not resign . . . Susan Monarez, who was ousted as CDC director on Wednesday afternoon after only weeks on the job, said hours later that she had not been fired and would not resign. The Department of Health and Human Services posted a statement on X saying around 5:30 p.m. EDT, saying, "Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." Her attorney released a defiant statement. "When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted," the statement said. The Hill

Pritzker says 'action will be met with a response' after Trump threatens to send National Guard to Chicago . . . Illinois' Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said the state "will not stand idly by" if President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to deploy the National Guard to Chicago to respond to crime in the Windy City. "Unlike Donald Trump, we keep our promises," the governor wrote Wednesday on X. "We will not stand idly by if he decides to send the National Guard to intimidate Chicagoans." "Action will be met with a response," he continued. Fox News

DC Mayor Concedes that Trump Takeover Has Reduced Crime . . . D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a press conference on Wednesday that the federal surge in the nation's capital is helping reduce crime. "We know that we have had fewer gun crimes, fewer homicides, and we have experienced an extreme reduction in carjackings," Bowser declared at a conference dubbed "Situational Update Federal Surge." Daily Signal

Americans Back Trump on Crime Crackdown, Poll Shows

Culture

Public School District Votes To Display Israeli Flags To Combat Antisemitism . . . he Beverly Hills Unified School District voted 3–2 to require Israeli flags be displayed at every campus and district site during the month of May. The policy is embedded in a board resolution adopted Tuesday that says the district "will display the Jewish Israeli flag at each school and facility … throughout the month of May every year," while also adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism and setting commemorations tied to Jewish history. Daily Caller

Court Rules on Whether It Can Decide 'Truth or Falsity' of Religious Belief . . . A federal appeals court Tuesday threw out a class-action lawsuit against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ruling the suit violated church autonomy. The lawsuit was brought by three former members of the church, who accused it of intentionally misrepresenting its religious history and fraudulently using tithes. Daily Signal

National Security

John Bolton Inquiry Began Under Biden . . . The investigation into President Trump's former national security adviser, John R. Bolton, began to pick up momentum during the Biden administration, when U.S. intelligence officials collected information that appeared to show that he had mishandled classified information, according to people familiar with the inquiry. The United States gathered data from an adversarial country's spy service, including emails with sensitive information that Mr. Bolton, while still working in the first Trump administration, appeared to have sent to people close to him on an unclassified system. New York Times

So maybe this isn't just Trump targeting his enemies, as some charge.

With Russia's help, North Korea expands its nuclear weapons capability . . . Just three days after President Donald Trump sketched out an idea to meet with North Korea's Kim Jong Un again, Kim responded by accepting a different kind of invitation — to Beijing, where he will join Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping in a show of defiance against the Western-led global order. The comments express significant concern over the growing relationship between North Korea and Russia, highlighting the potential threat to global security dynamics. Washington Post

International

Putin defies pressure for peace with massive strike hitting EU mission in Kyiv . . . The pressure being put on Vladimir Putin by Donald Trump and European leaders to end the war in Ukraine shows no sign of having an effect. Early Thursday, Russia launched a deadly attack on Kyiv that killed at least 12 and damaged buildings housing the EU and British delegations. There were no injuries to EU staff in the attack. Politico

The U.K. Tried to Clamp Down on Migration—and Wound Up With an Unprecedented Wave . . . Nigel Farage is back—and Reform UK is currently leading in the polls—largely thanks to an unexpected twist: After Brexit, the U.K. government of then Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson embarked on a new migration experiment. It slammed the door on European immigration only to open it to the rest of the world. The idea was to goose a sluggish economy by attracting the planet's best and brightest people. Wall Street Journal

Money

First Google, Now Microsoft: Tech Staff Are in Revolt Over Gaza . . . While tech giants have long given employees latitude to engage in political speech at work, the latest wave of activism over the war in Gaza has put some workers at odds with their employers. On Wednesday Microsoft said it had fired two employees that were part of the group that stormed its offices this week. Last year Google fired dozens of workers after they staged similar sit-ins. Wall Street Journal

Public strongly backs Trump's idea to have Uncle Sam hold a stake in U.S. companies

Cracker Barrel had good reasons to rebrand. But after its new logo misfired, here's what's next . . . Like its namesake barrels that transported soda crackers until boxes replaced them, Cracker Barrel needed to change. Cracker Barrel's customer traffic was down 16% compared to 2019. Research showed consumers thought the brand fell short of competitors in essential ways, from the quality of the food to value and convenience. But over the past week, Cracker Barrel's attempted revamp hit a wall. The company saw severe backlash over its plans to modernize and simplify its nostalgic logo – including from President Donald Trump. Associated Press

Guilty Pleasures

Tons of overripe tomatoes become projectiles in Spain's 'Tomatina' food fight . . . Thousands of people from around the world seeking a uniquely messy thrill spent one wild hour flinging bushels of overripe tomatoes at each other during Spain's "Tomatina" celebration Wednesday. The mother of all food fights painted a packed central street in the eastern town of Buñol deep red as revelers squished, smashed and hurled 120 tons of the overripe fruit. Tarps covered building fronts as an estimated 20,000 people let loose amid screams and laughter. Associated Press