Happy (Jewish) New Year!
Rosh Hashanah, the two-day Jewish New Year, begins this evening at sundown and ends Wednesday at sundown. (Jewish holidays always begin and end and sundown.)
More here: Rosh Hashanah 2025: A guide to the Jewish New Year | The Jerusalem Post
One of the key aspects of Rosh Hashanah is the blowing of the shofar, made from a ram's horn:
This is actually from Yom Kippur, which happens at the end of the "Ten Days of Atonement" which begins with Rosh Hashanah. (I will not be working on Yom Kippur, next Thursday.)
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Just One Thing: Yes, Charlie Kirk's murder IS a turning point
Please read and subscribe to my Substack...start with today's note: A Few Thoughts About the Charlie Kirk Memorial
I'm not going to write a lot now (on Sunday evening) because I have a lot of thinking to do before tomorrow's show. I've said for a week that I do think the assassination of Charlie Kirk will be a turning point, if you will pardon the obvious and intentional pun using his organization's name, but not the one that people were talking about in the first couple of days after the horrific murder. By which I mean it will NOT result in any important change in political rhetoric on either side. The left remains full of haters who can't see past Donald Trump and the right will see no need to change their rhetoric when the left doesn't...and even if the Dems did tone it down, Donald Trump never would and he sorta defines Republicans right now.
Instead, and I hesitate to say something this categorical, but the very-conservative part of the conservative movement has simply shown itself to be full of better people than the very "progressive" part of the left. I don't mean everyone. I'm talking about averages. And I'm talking about perceptions. Here's what I sent a friend:
Imagine a political spectrum from -10 to +10 of liberal to conservative. (Doesn’t matter which side is – and which side is +.) For those between maybe 6 and 9, and I think TPUSA people are there as are many people on the far left (and I’m leaving 10 for the people who are perceived as nuts even by members of their own party), the conservatives are, on average, simply better people than the liberals. The fact that there’s been no violence, no calls for violence, no “mostly peaceful protests” with cities ablaze in the background over the killing of someone FAR more consequential than George Floyd is an incredible statement about conservatives and, I think, a lesson not lost on very many people who have been politically inactive (or even religiously inactive) and now think they might have found their tribe. The far left are destroyers. The far right, and again I don’t mean the lunatics but rather people like Kirk, Hegseth, etc., even though I find their religiosity somewhat off-putting (while also understanding that I'm not their target audience for that message), seem like builders and also shoe the “conserve” part of “conservative”…the opposite of destroy.
I watched this video earlier today...it has almost 9 million views...and this, even more than Sunday's remarkable memorial service for Charlie Kirk, embodies why I think the impact of Kirk's death will be significant and, more importantly, durable:
At the memorial yesterday, I thought this was by far the most powerful moment...and I'm sure I'm not alone.
I thought this was one of the best speakers at the memorial:
In what was otherwise a great night for MAGA and the conservative movement (in a political sense...obviously it's horrendous that this memorial service was necessary), this was the only moment that I thought was a big of an unforced error. That said, if this was the only blunder in hours and hours of speeches, it was a pretty good performance by the many speakers.
This was intense:
And I think it's important to actually share some Charlie Kirk video:
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Today's Guests
Michael Dougherty is the Boulder County District Attorney and candidate for Attorney General of Colorado. We'll talk about his decision to retry a man previously convicted of murder whose sentence was overturned because of malfeasance by CBI scientist Missy Woods.
Retrial set in Colorado murder case after life sentence thrown out | 9news.com
Boulder DA to retry Michael Clark murder charge CBI DNA scandal
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Elena Czarnowski is Founder of Kid Laboratories, sometimes called America’s STEM teacher
Building Confidence in Teens Through STEM Education
We'll talk about financial literacy and whether it should count as a STEM skill in addition to being nearly essential for kids to learn.
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Other Stuff
Obviously much of the show is going to be about the many ripples moving through American politics and culture in the aftermath of the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
I'll put a few topics related to that here, and then topics about other things just below.
I emailed this reporter and said "Thank you for a lovely, interesting, and generous article." It's worth reading as a human-interest story regardless of whether you are/were a Charlie Kirk fan: For Erika Kirk, a Husband’s Life Cut Short by Violence He Seemed to Foresee - The New York Times
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Erika Kirk and America’s Religious Revival - by Maya Sulkin
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Charlie Kirk Memorial: Trump, Erika Kirk Eulogize Turning Point USA Founder - WSJ
Non-Charlie Kirk topics
How will this work?
White House discloses more details of deal to save TikTok
Trump’s TikTok deal is a ticking time bomb waiting to happen
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So, let's get this straight: RFK Jr is going to throw a few people at a problem that lots of people have been studying for years and find an answer in a couple of months. Naaah. Nonsense, like almost everything else about RFK.
(If we get the actual report before or during the show I'll try to add it here)
Trump administration set to tie Tylenol to autism risk, officials say - The Washington Post
Speaking of idiocy engendered by RFK: RFK Jr.'s vaccine panel makes few policy changes
CDC advisory committee recommends MMR vaccine delayed until children are 4
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I'll have a story to share on the air about this, from my time as a part-owner of a Chicago nightclub that was on the banks of the Chicago River: Chicago River hosts first swim in nearly a century
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This is interesting as a business story as much as sports story: The W.N.B.A.’s Growing Fan-Base - The New York Times
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Trump upends H-1B visas: White House tries to tamp down corporate panic for high-skill visa holders after last-minute overhaul - POLITICO
The executive order: Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers – The White House
China to launch K Visa to invite foreign talent from October 1 amid H1-B visa chaos - India Today
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This doesn’t seem criminal (yet) since he was a private citizen and influence is often sold but “a bag of cash” sure is an ugly look: Trump Justice Dept. Closed Investigation Into Tom Homan for Accepting Bag of Cash - The New York Times
What to Make of the Tom Homan Bribery Allegation? | Andy McCarthy - National Review
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Idiots: U.K., Canada and Australia formally recognize a Palestinian state, breaking with the U.S.
Why Starmer recognising Palestine is the ultimate in fantasy politics
Rising push for 2-state solution in Mideast conflict could backfire | AP News
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The former CEO of Disney (which owns ABC) is upset that ABC indefinitely suspended Jimmy Kimmel. I think he's mostly right though Kimmel's offense was so egregious that he absolutely deserved some degree of punishment, like temporary suspension. I do think that the severity of the punishment represented one or more of other factors: 1) The show isn't doing well and Kimmel is expensive so it's a way to get rid of him sooner, and/or 2) ABC was afraid of retribution from the FCC and the Trump administration (including President Trump himself) if they didn't take aggressive action.
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This tweet from Brendan Carr during the first Trump administration was in a different context (about tobacco advertising) but still seems rather on-point:
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Johnny Carson was asked about why he never did what Jimmy Kimmel has been doing for years now (as has Stephen Colbert, who will also soon lose his job):
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The end of an era, or maybe just of a motel: American Motel, long notorious in Wheat Ridge, will be demolished soon
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Unsurprising: Taliban rejects Trump's bid to take over Afghan air base that U.S. controlled for almost 20 years - CBS News
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Today's Video
It's unanimous (or at least it should be)