09/15/25
Good morning! It’s Monday, September 15th.
Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie Day
Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie. Just reading that made me want to brush my teeth.
And now, the news.
Russian Drones
Starting with… not Charlie Kirk. That’s right – tell your friends and family. There will obviously be an update, it’s news, but it’s not the only news. There are actually bigger, more urgent stories, as you’ll hear here. They’ve gotten a little pushed to the back somehow, but that’s not going to be the case here. Because this show is free (and also priceless), which means I don’t have to go by what’s getting clicks. I just get to actually tell you the news. (Look how mature I’m being and not at all self-congratulatory. I’m so great. Truly the best in the biz. You. Are. Welcome.)
Anyway, let’s start with news that’s not going to sound amazing when I tell you but just… right now all have have to do is know about it, not worry about it.
On Saturday, the NATO allies Poland and Romania scrambled their fighter jets in response to Russian missile and drone attacks in Ukraine.
The Polish military says no airspace violations were recorded, but further south, a Russian drone did violate Romanian airspace. Though it’s important to note that it did not fly over populated areas or pose an imminent danger to the population.
This is the eleventh violation of Romanian airspace since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. So it’s not amazing, but it’s not cause for a full alarm. In fact, the scrambling of the jets isn’t even that big of news. However, this comes on the heels of last week’s scramble, when those same fighter jets had to shoot down Russian drones as they entered Poland overnight, marking the first time in the history of NATO that alliance fighters did that in allied airspace.
Russia called it a classic mistake, while Poland and other European countries said it was intentional. Then everyone turned to Trump who, fresh out of the weekend where he definitely was very busy golfing and did not have some sort of medical emergency that we won’t know anything about until someone’s brave enough to write a book and make money off their bravery so he for sure knew what was going on said it, “could have been a mistake.”
Say what you what want about Donald Trump, and you know I love to say a lot, but that dude isn’t make a dime off bravery. That’s for sure.
This event prompted Article 4 of the NATO treaty, which states that when one member is under threat, there needs to be a family talk. Article 5 is the one that says come for one, come for all. And admittedly, come for one, now we all gotta talk is a little less scary, but the invocation of Article 4 is still serious because it shows that Russia has stepped up their fight against Ukraine.
Which is wild because I’m pretty sure Donald Trump posted on his ironically named Truth Social “Vladimir, STOP!” so… frankly I’m not sure how we’re still in this mess at all.
Maybe Putin doesn’t have push notifications on?
House Rep. McCaul Announces Retirement
-via AP News
In vaguely related news (you’ll see, let me get there), Texas House Rep Michael McCaul announced that after 11 terms, he will not seek re-election next year.
You sure? You don’t want to stick around? You’re just getting settled in.
11 terms! Can we please get some term limits here!
Anyway, when McCaul made his goodbye speech, he managed to slip this very chill gem in, regarding last week’s Russian incursion into Polish airspace: “We’ve never seen anything like this in recent times. And so, what I’m concerned about is that the escalation here and the temperature rising, we got to be very careful not to be on the precipice of a World War III.”
And then he added I’d love to stick around to help but their giving me the light. That’s my time. You all have been a great audience. Tip your servers!
McCaul represents Texas US House District 10. Now, he did win in 2024 with 63% of the vote but Texas is a purple state. It’s a swing state. It’s 1% more democratic than republican. I know I just went on and on about… well about anything I want, because this is my show (what a cool life!) but in particular about the Texas State House dems who left to draw attention to the gerrymandering bill that Trump asked for, which redrew the maps and was supposed to give Republicans 5 more seats? Well Texas is already wildly gerrymandered. McCaul’s seat, for example, goes from just outside Houston to Austin, but wraps around Austin, doesn’t include it. Both of those being, of course, historically blue cities. This district isn’t as much of a given as it might appear at first glance.
Anyway – every seat. We’re working for every seat.
435 house seats. 33 Senate seats. 36 gubernatorial seats. Honestly, watch your attitude or your couch and bus seats will be on notice as well.
Charlie Kirk Suspect Caught
-via BBC
And as noted at the top of the show, yes there is an update in the assassination of Charlie Kirk. On Friday afternoon, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was taken into custody after his father persuaded him to turn himself in.
He turned himself in.
Which explains why FBI Director Kash Patel said in the news conference following Robinson’s arrest, “this is what happens when you let good cops be cops. This FBI and our partners are proud to stand here today to bring justice to the family of Charlie Kirk.” And then immediately he thanked Trump, who helped them, and said, “In 33 hours, we have made historical progress.” Lol what did you do? He turned himself in!
Yes, in 33 hours you managed to literally show the entire world that you are wildly underqualified for your job. “FBI director Kash Patel to face congressional hearing amid missteps on Charlie Kirk assassination”
That headline is from an Australian news outlet! They were like, we have big spiders but you’re never going to believe this guy… mate.
Put another shrimp on the barbie.
Patel will, in fact, face the House Oversight Committee this week, so we’ll talk more about that when it happens.
Let’s look at Robinson, though. Who is this guy? Well, let’s be very clear – he is a white cis het man born and raised in Utah. His family is proudly MAGA. So when the president, without having any reason at all, pointed and said this was because of the radical left – he did so to pour gasoline on the fire. Just because he was wrong, as quite frankly many assumed he was, doesn’t mean we should point fingers back and return that gasoline.
He was 22 and, according to headlines, “hadn’t voted in the last few elections and had only recently. Become more political.” Yeah. Duh. He was 22. That’s a bummer (it’s something I’m working on, relax), but that’s fairly typical for a 22-year-old.
Here’s the key, though. Two things to know.
This guy was hyper online and was something called a groyper. Stay with me. Nick Fuentes – you might recognize his name. He is a nazi, a white supremacist nazi that Trump has dined with before. He had dinner with him while he was campaigning and that’s who I refer to when I said that Trump literally dines with nazis. Nick Fuentes is, like Charlie Kirk was, a podcaster with a very loyal following. But Fuentes’ people, known online as groypers, don’t like Kirk (or, frankly, Trump) because, if you can believe it… they don’t go far enough. For example, when Trump said, after the Charlottesville march, when Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides” and we were disgusted because he was calling neo-Nazis very fine people? The Fuentes side started to distance themselves from Trump because he said said the non neo-nazis were fine people.
The insurrection that happened? Because Trump eventually put a stop to it – Fuentes views that as weak.
Yeah. Super chilling.
The things that were written on the casings had nothing to do with transgender folks (despite Patel originally saying that because, again… why are you even here? I have a podcast, can I be an astronaut? Because that’s about how qualified these people are for their jobs.), they we’re hyper online things. “Hey fascist catch” was on one of the casings, which would lead you to believe he was more liberal. But groypers, and hyper-online people in general, are trolls. And you can see more proof of this hyper-online activity by the arrows that are also on the same casing, which are used by a small subset of people to translate as like the end of an argument. And the reason you know you can further link him to this group of people is because the other casing has Bella Ciao lyrics on it, which is an anti-nazi song, which again, because they are trolls, the groypers kind of co-opted for themselves.
Another casing just said “if you can read this you’re gay lmao” again, very dumb internet trolling stuff.
Look, it would be great if we could put people neatly into a box. Actually, if we’re wishing for things it would be great if people like Charlie Kirk and Nick Fuentes decided to use their very large platforms to espouse, you know, politeness. And also it would be great if people didn’t murder people.
But if we can’t do that, it would be great if people fit neatly into categories. This was a hyper-online person whose politics are confusing. But let’s be very clear before people try and twist the narrative: at the end of the day, this was an angry, white man with a gun in a country that sees hundreds of them a year and has decided that they’re fine with the death as long as the guns survive.
And I want to be very clear, I do not believe that Charlie Kirk should have died exercising his First Amendment right, despite how abhorrent I found his beliefs to be. However, he also advocated for exactly where we are in this country. I’m not saying it’s ironic, I’m not saying it with any joy, please believe me, I’m just… I don’t know… it didn’t seem right to not mention it at all. Especially when that was something he was a big advocate for. “I think it's worth it. I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year, so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.”
Ironically, somehow, I believe in a safer world for Kirk than he believed in for himself.
I guess I especially want to make it clear that I’m not celebrating Kirk’s death (though if you know me, you know I’m not) because there is a oxing website now where people can tattle on people posting positively about Charlie Kirk’s death. The expressed purpose of this website is to get people fired.
Now, on the one hand… no one should be doing that anyway.
But on the other hand… free speech goes both ways. Please, open the schools. Open a book. Open a dictionary. “Irony” is towards the front.
Meanwhile, Utah’s Governor Cox told ABC News that Robinson had been, but is no longer, co-operating with authorities.
Yeah man – he’s a 22-year-old who murdered someone. In cold blood. Did you think you were dealing with a rational adult? What are we doing here? Is anyone qualified for anything? Were you also a podcast host?
Oh no… am I qualified for anything?
From Chicago to Memphis
-via CBS News
And finally… in a Friday interview on Fox and Friends, Trump announced that he’s no longer sending the National Guard to Chicago, but instead they will go to Memphis. Adding, wait, their mayor’s Black too, right? Then yeah, okay, Memphis. (That’s not a funny joke, but it is not inaccurate)
It hasn’t happened yet, but will happen, “very shortly.”
On the show, he said "I'll be the first to say it now, we're going to Memphis. I would have preferred going to Chicago."
You know you choose, right? I mean, I don’t you should do either city. Any city, actually but like – who’s driving the bus here? That’s a very odd statement. Apparently the president of Union Pacific railroad (but Trump refused to say his name) told Trump he can’t even walk a block in Memphis and instead you have to drive around in armored vehicles.
There is no president of Union Pacific! There is a CEO but Beth White, the most recent president is a lady and she stepped down in July. A replacement has not been named.
He just says stuff. Armored vehicles! Every time you blink, you’re murdered. Crime in Memphis is at 25-year low!
Go away! Go hang out with the president of Union Pacific.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Hey Sunday was the Emmy’s and I’m recording this before all the winners but I’m proud of Kristen Bell, in general. Other people were there too I think. Again, haven’t watched it yet.
It’s also dot day.
Big day.
But more than dots and pies and pie like math and pie like sweets – because you’re the sweetest of all, and something something something about math… I’m proud of you.