From the desk of Rich Stephens
News for the week ending 9-20-25
Below find the expanded text from tonight’s broadcast. For corrections or additions, contact Rich directly.
Politics
Trump Has a Busy Week
On Monday, President Trump signed an executive memorandum, directing his cabinet to establish a Memphis Safe Task Force with the objective of reducing violent crime in Memphis. According to the FBI, Memphis had the highest per capita rate of violent crime in the country in 2024. President Trump then traveled to the UK on Tuesday for an official state visit. He met with Prime Minister Kier Starmer and signed a technology agreement aimed at collaboration on AI, quantum computing and nuclear energy. The President and first lady also attended a state banquet hosted by King Charles at Windsor Castle. First Lady Melania Trump also attended events with members of the Royal Family.
On Friday, the president finished a busy week by signing a number of executive orders and proclamations including establishing national POW/MIA recognition day, restricting H1B visas by requiring a payment of one hundred thousand dollars as a condition of approval, and establishing what he is calling a gold card immigration program. The gold card program prioritizes immigrant visa applicants who can pay $1M USD. You can find most of this directly at whitehouse.gov, but specific links are:
Memphis Safe Task Force Press Release
Press Conference with UK PM Starmer
Technology Prosperity Press Release
First Lady UK Events Press Release
Senate Oversight FBI Hearings
FBI Director Kash Patel appeared in front of the Senate oversight committee Tuesday and Wednesday to testify about the work of the FBI. Questions covered a broad array of topics including the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, the manhunt for Charlie Kirk’s killer, immigration enforcement, and White House policy and priorities. Some exchanges became heated, with Senator Corey Booker becoming angry, yelling over the chairman, and accusing director Patel of being rude and disrespectful. The FBI director characterized a number of questions as probing for “a media hit and a fundraising clip and I’m not going to give it to you”.
Rashida Tlaib and Byron Donalds
An even more heated exchange occurred Thursday during a House Oversight Committee hearing on policing in Washington DC. Representatives Tlaib and Donalds engaged in a screaming match. After going over her time, Representative Tlaib asserted that she was not attacking people, but rather being critical of systems. She then referenced a fascist takeover, and representative Donalds asked her to yield for a question. She declined and the hearing devolved into yelling and accusations.
California Yes on 50
California Democrats held a live stream fund raising event Tuesday evening. Governor Gavin Newsom, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Robert Beto O’Rourke and others spoke in support of California’s redistricting bill that will be on the ballot in a November 4th special election. They raised nearly seven hundred fifty thousand dollars over the course of the 4 hour online event, hoping to combat national Republican opposition to the bill. Arnold Schwarzenegger has openly opposed the bill, which sidesteps the bipartisan redistricting committee that he supported during his tenure as governor of the state.
California Glock Ban
Also in California this week, Assembly Bill 1127 was passed and sent to the governor’s desk. The bill makes the sale or transfer of any “semi-automatic machine gun convertible pistol”, and effectively outlaws all modern Glock pistols.
Pro-Firearms Attorney Breakdown
Florida Officially Open Carry
On the other coast, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier signaled Tuesday that the state will not challenge an appellate court’s decision last week to overturn the state’s ban on open carry of firearms. Florida is already a constitutional carry state, so citizens may now carry openly and without a license.
Congress Argues Over Government Shutdown
Congressional Republicans and Democrats both held press conferences Friday to plead their respective cases for the pending government spending bills. Republicans have proposed a short term continuing resolution to fund the government for seven weeks without any additional appropriation of funds. Democrats however argue that the some Affordable Care Act tax credits will expire during that time and drive up the cost of health care. Republicans contend that this represents a trillion dollars of additional spending and Democrats claim that millions of Americans will lose health care. If the two sides can’t reach an agreement by October first, the current federal government spending will expire, triggering a shutdown.
Senate Democrats Press Conference
Congressional Republican Press Conference
Current Events
Pennsylvania Officers Shot, Killed
Accompanied by a deputy sheriff, 5 York County Pennsylvania detectives attempted to serve a warrant on a 24 year old suspect who fired on the officers. 3 detectives were killed and 2 were injured and hospitalized. Police believe the subject was there to kill the residents. The press conference explaining the timeline and series of events is below. As this is an ongoing investigation, some details are limited.
PA State Police Press Conference
United CEO Accused Killer Back In Court
The man accused of killing the CEO of United Healthcare last year appeared in court this week. The judge in the case dismissed terrorism charges, stating that the state had not met their burden. Crowds gathered outside the courthouse, demanding his release. He faces additional state and federal charges and could still face the death penalty.
Terrorism Charges Dismissal Order
Charlie Kirk Assassin Charged
In Utah, the man accused of shooting Charlie Kirk was arraigned after a press conference announcing formal charges. County Attorney Jeff Gray stated that charges include:
- Aggravated murder (a capitalize offense)
- Felony discharge of a firearm
- Obstruction of justice for moving the rifle
- Obstruction of Justice for disposing his clothes
- Witness tampering for asking his roommate to delete texts.
- Witness tampering again related to roommate
- Commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child.
The state indicated their intent to seek the death penalty. Utah County does not allow downloading or linking to court documents without paying a fee. For that reason, we are linking to other sources who have paid to download the documents.
Robert Redford
Robert Redford. passed away this week at his home in Utah. Known for his roles in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Jeremiah Johnson, Redford won 5 golden globes and numerous other awards. Robert Redford was 89 years old.
*Note: We were unable to obtain the original statement from Mr. Redford’s agent. From what we gathered, it was sent directly to the AP. While we generally will not use other news agencies as a source, this was widely reported, consistently by many sources and has not been refuted. If we are able to learn more, we will update or remove this story.
Finance and Markets
Interest Rates
Fed chair Jerome Powell spoke Wednesday following the release of his announcement that the fed will lower the base interest rate by a quarter of a point to 4-4.25%. He also noted that the fed goal is for interest rates to be 3.6% at the end of this year, 3.4% at the end of 2026 and 3.1% at the end of 2027. This does not represent a plan, only a projection.
Market Data
Markets continued to climb this week with the down adding 481 points to close at 46315. The NASDAQ added 490 points, a 2% gain, closing at 22631 on Friday. The S&P closed up 80 points, ending up the week at 6664. Gold saw similar gains, closing at 3686, a $45 lift.
Sports
In sports, Sunday, Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh hit his 54th home run of the season, tying Mickey Mantle’s 1961 single season record by a switch hitting batter. Tuesday, Raleigh added his fifty fifth and fifty sixth against the Royals to match the Mariners single season record. As of this morning, Raleigh is leading the MLB with fifty seven home runs on the year.
The Phillies clinched the NL East pennant last weekend, but the other five divisions are undecided with seven games remaining in the regular season.
In college football, seventeenth ranked Texas tech scored 24 fourth quarter points to take down number sixteen Utah.
Arkansas lost at Memphis after fumbling in the red zone late in the game with a chance to kick a go ahead field goal.
Number eleven Oklahoma held off Twenty second ranked Auburn to win twenty four to seventeen and the Florida Gators continued their decline, falling to one and three in a twenty six to seven loss at Miami.
Rich Stephens
The Cold Take