Below find the expanded text from tonight’s broadcast. For corrections or additions, contact Rich directly.
World News
Peace in Gaza, maybe.
Monday President Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss an end to the war in Gaza. They announced that Israel has agreed to a framework to end the war. The 20 point plan proposed by President Trump includes a cease fire, return of hostages and disarming of Gaza. Saturday Trump indicated that Hamas had responded, that Israel has ceased offensive military operations and that Hamas must move quickly to prevent a resumption of aggression.
In US immigration news, we have a pair of ongoing stories. The Des Moines Iowa school board met Tuesday to discuss district superintendent Ian Roberts. They stated that Roberts had provided a driver license and social security card at the time of his hiring. DHS published additional details Friday saying that Roberts was charged in 1996 for possession of narcotics with intent to sell, possession of a forgery instrument and of a forged instrument in New York. He also had a 2012 reckless driving, unsafe operation and speeding conviction in Maryland and weapons charges in 2020 and 2022. He was issued a final order of removal in May of 2024. Detained by Ice last week, Iowa revoked his educators license and DHS informed the school district that he is not authorized to work in the US. The school board voted 7-0 to accept his resignation.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia received a pair of rulings this week as well. One court denied his request to reopen his asylum request, upholding his deportation. Another court ruled that there is a likelihood that his federal prosecution is vindictive in nature. We will bring you updates to this case as they are available.
Last Sunday morning a man drove his truck through the doors of an LDS church in Grand Blanc Michigan and began shooting before setting the building on fire. Four people lost their lives and eight more were wounded. Local law enforcement neutralized the shooter within minutes but the ATF and FBI are both continuing to investigate this crime.
Monday morning a gas explosion at a residential high rise in the Bronx caused a partial collapse of the building. The ventilation shaft for the boiler in the building was destroyed along the full height of the building, but no injuries have been reported.
In Politics, incumbent New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that he will not remain in the race to remain Mayor. The field is now narrowed to Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, Democratic candidate Zohran Mandani and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Tuesday President trump announced an agreement with Pfizer to bring American drug prices into alignment with the lowest amount paid by other developed countries. Pfizer has also agreed to participate in a direct-to-consumer website where patients can purchase medication at steep discounts. The website trump rx dot com will launch in early 2026.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke Tuesday morning to a group of generals and staff in Quantico Virginia. The military leadership was gathered from around the world over the last week for this meeting and Secretary Hegseth spoke about ending DEI and improving standards, saying they must be “uniform, gender neutral and high”. He spoke about fitness standards and grooming standards saying that all soldiers will be required to pass PT tests twice a year and to shave every day. His overall goal is to form a “cohesive, formidable and lethal department of war” saying that is his duty, consistent with his constitutional oath.
Legislators in Washington failed to pass a spending bill Tuesday, triggering a shutdown of the federal government, effective at midnight. Wednesday both Republican and Democratic representatives held press conferences throughout the day to blame the other side. By Wednesday afternoon they were swapping AI videos of each other. House Speaker Mike Johnson indicated that the house will not hold additional votes next week, instead waiting on the Senate to pass the House funding bill.
I get that my sources for this story are thin, but there are hours of press conferences where Mike Johnson, Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer and others are standing up, asserting that their story is fact, their side is right and the other side is to blame. Attempting to unpack that will wade much too far into my opinions, so I’m stopping with the jokes they’re telling.
The treasury department announced this week that when the government reopens they intend to mint a 250th American Birthday, one dollar coin featuring President Donald Trump.
Markets rose this week, with the Dow closing up about 1% at 47059. Nasdaq had similar gains, ending the week at 22780 and the S&P closed at 6715. Gold continued to rise, gaining 127 dollars and closing at 3887. For context, The Dow is up about 3% from the first Friday in September while gold is up nearly 9%.
Sports
Formula 1
This week’s Formula 1 race is in Singapore and will feature the Mercedes of George Russel starting from pole, followed by Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri, Kimi Antonelli and Lando Norris in fifth. The Williams pair who qualified 12th and 13th, were disqualified for a violation of technical regulations and will start in the rear. Spoiler Alert: Russel won, Verstappen finished second, followed by Norris, Piastri and Antonelli.
The first round of the MLB postseason wrapped up earlier this week with LA sweeping Cincinnati, Detroit ousting Cleveland, the Cubs getting past the Padres and the New York Yankees defeating Boston after their bullpen collapsed in a game 1 loss. The Yankees traveled to Toronto and one again dropped game 1, giving up ten runs and only plating one. Similarly the Brewers recorded nine runs in their win over the cubs and the Dodgers managed a comeback win over the Phillies. The Tigers needed eleven innings to take their game 1 matchup against the Mariners.
NCAA Football
In college football, number 3 Miami beat in-state rival FSU twenty eight to twenty two. Alabama handed Vanderbilt their first loss of the year in a thirty to fourteen game. Number Seven Penn State fell to three and two in their thirty seven to fourth two loss to unranked UCLA, and the unranked Florida Gators head coach and play caller Billy Napier proved once again that he has no idea how the game clock works but his team managed to beat number nine Texas in a twenty nine to twenty one game.
Below find the expanded text from tonight’s broadcast. For corrections or additions, contact Rich directly.
UN General Assembly
We begin with world news. The United Nations met in New York for the 80th General Assembly. World leaders gave speeches that largely centered on women’s rights, climate change and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Trump spoke Tuesday, noting malfunctioning teleprompters and an escalator before telling the assembly that the UN has tremendous potential but is not living up to it. He scolded NATO countries for continuing to buy oil and gas from Russia, called for the end of research into biological weapons, and chided the UN for providing support to uncontrolled migration. He also criticized climate change as being a con and green initiatives as a scam to “redistribute manufacturing and industrial activities from developed countries that follow the insane rules that are put down to polluting countries that break the rules and are making a fortune.”
Ahead of Trump’s speech Tuesday morning, the Secret Service announced it had found and dismantled a collocated network of 300 SIM servers housing one hundred thousand sim cards in the New York area. The network was capable attacks including denial of service attacks in the area and allowed anonymous, encrypted communication between nefarious actors. Given the proximity and timing, Secret Service is investigating whether this operation was intended to disrupt the UN General Assembly in New York this week.
Friday morning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived to speak at the UN. Video feeds showed Muslim representatives from around the world filing out as he took the podium to cheers and clapping by supporting delegates. He condemned the October 7 attacks by Hamas and read the names of the 20 hostages still believed to be alive. He announced that his speech was being broadcast via loudspeakers across Gaza as well as live streamed to every cell phone in Gaza. He spoke directly to the hostages, telling them that Israel has not forgotten them and will bring them home.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul held a press conference Friday announcing proposals for income tax cuts, inflation refund checks and expansion of child tax credits. Tax cuts for the middle class are expected to impact 77 percent of New Yorkers.
On Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the indictment of former FBI director James Comey by a federal grand jury. The two charges, stem from Comey’s testimony to the senate in September of 2020 and include giving a false statement to congress and obstruction of a congressional investigation.
Monday, President Trump spoke alongside RFK Jr and Marty Makary (ma-carey) of the FDA to announce new guidance for infant vaccines and the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy. The FDA is notifying physicians and updating labels to indicate that the drug can increase the risk of autism when taken during pregnancy. Additionally, they are recommending that vaccines be spread out in infants to reduce autism risk.
Hakeem Jeffries held a press conference Thursday to speak about the potential of a government shutdown if the legislature can’t reach an agreement on a funding bill. He continued to assert that the republican plan constitutes a cut because some Affordable Care Act tax credits will expire in the coming weeks and called their position indefensible.
President Trump called Democrat demands unserious and ridiculous in a post on Truth Social announcing that he was cancelling a meeting with Democratic leadership earlier in the week. Both sides maintain that if a shutdown occurs, it will be the complete fault of the other.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier spoke in Orlando Monday morning to discuss the state’s efforts to combat violent extremism.
In response to the death of Charlie Kirk and other instances of politically motivated violence Florida is launching a portal myfloridalegal.com/cve where citizens can report threats of violence online.
Uthmeier vowed to prosecute speech not considered to be protected by the first amendment, saying that it is not a violation of the first amendment to expect teachers to create a safe learning environment.
State department of education commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas ‘Stassi’ also spoke, saying that teachers are tasked with protecting the health, safety and welfare of students, but some have celebrated violence and this is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
He indicated that the state will investigate these instances and revoke licenses of educators who fail to protect the health, safety and welfare of students. A link to the portal and press releases from state officials are available at the cold take dot com.
In another story related to free speech, Californians held a rally Monday in la to protest what they called an attack on free speech, accusing the FCC of authoritarian tactics over the removal of Jimmy Kimmel from the late night lineup on ABC. This story has been extremely hard to cover because of the amount of back and forth.
Initially, Nexstar, one of the largest ABC affiliate networks, decided to take the show off the air. After that, ABC suspended the show ‘indefinitely’ which turned out to be only a week. When ABC announced the return of the show, Sinclair joined Nexstar in preempting the broadcast, but both announced Friday that they would put Kimmel back on the air.
Tuesday’s return show drew five times its normal viewership despite being shown in only 77% of markets. Ultimately I don’t feel that this story really rises to the level of news. However, there is a question about whether the FCC statements constitute censorship given their ability to fine ABC or revoke broadcast licenses. Again, I can’t tell you what to think, just what happened and this one had more back and forth than Djokavik and Sinner in the Wimbledon finals…
Speaking of censorship, in response to a subpoena from the house judiciary committee, Google sent a letter to Representative Jim Jordan stating that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Google was pressured by the Biden administration to censor and remove content that did not violate platform policies. The company stated specifically that YouTube has removed restrictions on COVID-19 and election related integrity content and that channels removed under these restrictions will be given the opportunity for reinstatement.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy spoke Friday about unlawful issuance of commercial driver licenses across the country. The DOT has issued an emergency rule preventing non-citizens from acquiring a CDL unless they meet a new, much more strict set of rules. The order also requires all states to immediately pause issuance of non-domiciled CDL’s until they can come into compliance with the new rules. Additionally, the department of transportation is giving California 30 days to become compliant or lose $160M in transportation funds the first year and $320M in the second year.
Wednesday morning a person climbed to the roof of a building near an ICE facility in Dallas and shot at the building, vehicles and surrounding area. No law enforcement officers were injured, but three detainees were shot, one of whom did not survive. FBI director Kash Patel posted a picture on X of unused ammunition with the words ‘Anti Ice’ written on one. While the name of the suspect, who took his own life at the scene, has circulated widely in the media, it has not been released in any official capacity, so we cannot bring any additional details at this time.
At the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce Florida on Tuesday Ryan Routh was convicted of attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Routh represented himself during the federal prosecution of his attempted shooting of then-presidential-candidate Donald Trump last September at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach Florida. He could spend the rest of this life in prison.
SpaceX completed several successful Falcon 9 missions this week. In California, Space Force satellites were put into orbit on Monday. In Florida on Wednesday, a payload of three separate NASA vehicles was launched to study space weather closer to the sun. Starlink Satellites were also deployed from both coasts in tandem missions on Thursday.
In Sports, Heading into today, seven NFL teams remain unbeaten while the Dolphins, Titans and Giants have all begun the season oh and three.
NCAA Football
In college football, Friday night the eighth ranked Seminoles suffered a double overtime loss at unranked University of Virginia.
Ryder Cup
[RYDER CUP WRAPPING UP TODAY – STATUS]
MLB
[MLB – Raleigh – Judge – Playoffs]
Finance and Markets
In Finance and Markets, Fed chair Jerome Powell spoke Tuesday, largely reiterating his comments during last week’s rate cut announcement. He indicated higher prices in the last month over one year ago, noting that it looks related to tariffs but believes this to be a short term challenge. He also said that the Inflationary impact from tariffs has not had much effect on consumers and that companies are not currently hiring but the fed is working to understand why.
Markets were flat this week, posting modest gains from one week ago. The Dow fell 68 points, NASDAQ lost 147 points, the S&P 500 dropped 21 points and gold continued to climb, adding 74 dollars this week to close Friday at three thousand, seven hundred sixty dollars per ounce.
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:
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”.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
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.
Below find the expanded text from tonight’s broadcast. For corrections or additions, contact Rich directly.
Charlie Kirk Assassination
We begin tonight with the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The conservative speaker, political activist was also the CEO and founder of turning point USA. He was holding a speaking event at Utah Valley University. I mistakenly and falsely reported Thursday that this was Utah State University. At 12:23, a single shot was fired from a Mauser model 98 .30-06 rifle. Recovered later, the shell casings still in the magazine were engraved with messages including “If you read this, you are gay LMAO” and “Hey Fascist! Catch! ↑→↓↓↓”. The arrows reference a call code in a video game called Helldivers 2 and is the command to call in a bomb. Condemnation for the killing was swift and came from both supporters and detractors including progressives like AOC and hosts of The View. Ilhan Omar’s response was somewhat mixed with condemnation of the shooting alongside criticism of Charlie Kirk himself.
The manhunt for the killer took 33 hours and resulted in the suspect being turned in by his father.
The same day, A 16 year old student at evergreen high school in Colorado shot and wounded two other students before taking his own life. He used a revolver and reloaded several times. Authorities credit lockdown drills and procedures with saving lives.
Another shooting this week took place in Jerusalem at the Ramot Junction bus stop Monday morning. Two men boarded a bus and shot 18 people, killing 6 before an IDF soldier, aided by an armed civilian intervened, killing the terrorists. Hamas took credit for the shooting. The following day, Israel conducted air strikes in the Qatari capital of Doha, targeting senior leadership of Hamas.
The White House Statement: White house statement: “this morning, the trump administration was notified by the united states military that Israel was attacking Hamas, which very unfortunately was located in a section of Doha, the capital of Qatar. Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the united states that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker peace does not advance Israel or America’s goals. However, eliminating Hamas who have profited off the misery of those living in Gaza is a worthy goal. President Trump immediately directed special envoy Whitcoff to inform the Qataris of the impending attack, which he did. The president views Qatar as a strong ally and friend of the united states and feels very badly about the location of this attack. President Trump wants all of the hostages in Gaza and the bodies of the dead released and this war to end now. President trump also spoke to prime minister Netanyahu after the attack. The prime minister told president trump that he wants to make peace and quickly. President trump believes this unfortunate incident could serve as an opportunity for peace. The president also spoke to the Amir and prime minister of Qatar and thanked them for their support and friendship to our country. He assured them that such a thing will not happen again on their soil.”
Monday, the DEA released a statement announcing the results of a recent operation in which 23 domestic field divisions coordinated with seven foreign regions to target the Sinaloa cartel. The one week surge resulted in six hundred seventeen arrests, seizure of four hundred twenty firearms and thousands of pounds of drugs, including four hundred eighty kilos of fentanyl, over seven hundred thousand counterfeit pills and nearly seventy five hundred kilos of cocaine.
Wednesday morning, an appellate court in Florida ruled that the state’s ban on open carry of firearms, citing Heller, McDonald and Bruen. Ultimately they determined that “The Constitution protects the right to carry arms openly and for self defense”.
Ron Desantis announced Monday that Florida will hold a sales tax holiday through the end of this year on all camping, fishing and hunting equipment, including firearms and ammunition. He credited low debt and a budget surplus as the foundation for tax cuts.
He noted that Florida is the number one ranked state economy three years running in a CNBC rating report and has a triple A credit rating from all major ratings agencies. The Florida unemployment rate has been lower than the national average for 57 straight months.
He also mentioned his desire to eliminate property tax on primary residences in Florida, saying that you should be able to own your primary home free and clear, not paying rent indefinitely to the government.
Monday, the Supreme Court ruled on an injunction request from the Department of Homeland Security. A lower court had issued a temporary restraining order, barring DHS and ICE from considering various criteria when deciding to speak to individuals about their immigration status. In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court granted a stay with Justice Kavanaugh saying officers are authorized to “interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or to remain in the United States.” Protesters in LA staged 24 hour protests outside an ICE facility there. The ACLU also held a press conference to protest what they called unlawful policing by the federal government, DHS and ICE.
In financial news, after hitting an all time high in August, lumber futures have fallen to (what After hitting an all time high in August, lumber futures have fallen to five hundred eighty eight dollars at close on Friday. This drop of thirty seven dollars includes a recovery from Thursday’s low of five hundred seventy one dollars and fifty cents.
Home starts were up in July, but permits were down from June. This week, the United States Census Bureau will release the August builder numbers and the Fed will meet to discuss interest rates. We will update this story next week when those numbers are available.
Financial markets added modest gains after the last two weeks of loss with the Dow closing Friday at fourty five thousand, eight thirty four, a gain of about 1 percent for the week. The nasdaq gained nearly one and a half percent, closing at twenty two one fourty one and the s&p had similar gains, closing at sixty five eighty four. Gold meanwhile continued to climb, closing at thirty six fourty one, up three hundred dollars in a month.
In Sports, Carlos Alcaraz defeated Jannik Sinner Sunday in 4 sets to win the US open and take the number one world ranking away from Sinner. Alcaraz commented after the match that he sees jannik more than his own family. The two have combined for the last eight Slam trophies.
At Monza Sunday, Max Verstappen won from pole after setting the formula one track record in qualifying Saturday. The McLaren pair completed the podium with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc finishing fourth.
President Trump was in attendance for Thursday night’s MLB matchup at Yankee Stadium to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the nine eleven terror attacks. After meeting briefly with the president before the game, Aaron Judge sent a 3-2 pitch into the bullpen for his 45th home run of the year and 260th of his career. Leading off in the third, Judge sent another ball to the bullpen to tie Joe Demagio for fourth on the Yankees all time home run list. Friday he sent a home run over the green monster and out of Fenway to pass Demagio. Judge is now tied with Bryce Harper for 89th on the MLB career home run list.
In college football yesterday, unranked Georgia tech upset number twelve Clemson 24 to 21 by kicking a 55 yard field goal as time expired. Number 16 Texas A&M beat 8th ranked Notre Dame 41-40 and 6th ranked Georgia escaped number 15 Tennessee in overtime to win 44-41. Miami covered the spread, beating USF 49-12.
Remembering 9/11
Thursday’s special edition was to remember the victims of the World Trade Center attacks 24 years ago today. Richard Cyril Rescorla was born in England in 1939. After serving with the British Army in Cyprus and northern Rhodesia, he moved to Brooklyn and joined the US Army. He became a platoon leader in Hal Moore’s famous air cavalry and fought in the battle of Ia Drang. After Vietnam, he began working in corporate security the World Trade Center. Together with another veteran who specialized in counter terrorism, he accurately predicted the 1993 bombing and helped to identify the perpetrators. Convinced that the building still represented a significant target for terrorism, Rick pushed for and then conducted fire and evacuation drills with all of Morgan Stanley’s employees, spanning 22 floors of the South Tower. On September eleventh, 2001, Rick disregarded Port Authority messages to stay in place and instead calmly evacuated the 2700 Morgan Stanley employees and re entered the building. He was last seen on the tenth floor of the south tower, heading up. His awareness of the risks and preparation saved hundreds of lives on nine eleven.
At Annunciation Roman Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota a gunman approached just before 8:30 Wednesday morning and fired through windows at parishioners and school children. Two students, ages 8 and 10 were pronounced dead at the scene. Fifteen other children, ages 6 through 15 were injured as well as three parishioners in their 80’s. All of the injured are expected to survive.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey spoke saying “There are no words that can capture the horror and the evil of this unspeakable act. Children are dead. There are families that have a deceased child. You cannot put into words the gravity, the tragedy or the absolute pain of this situation.”
Monday, Waymo and New York City mayor Eric Adams announced that a permit has been issued to allow the autonomous taxi service to begin operating in the city.
Monday Attorney General Pam Bondi spoke in New York to announce that Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada Garcia confessed and pled guilty to charges related to drugs, human trafficking and homicide and will spend the rest of of this life in Prison.
Cofounder of the Sinaloa Cartel, partner to El Chapo, the 77 year old pled guilty to only two of 17 charges, one of racketeering conspiracy and one count of running a continual criminal enterprise.
Monday, Kilmar Abrigo Garcia, originally from El Salvador, appeared at the federal building in Baltimore. He spoke through a translator before going inside, expressing gratitude for the support of his wife, family and the community. He was taken into ICE custody while inside. Afterwards, his attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of Murray Osorio PLLC spoke at length on his behalf:
“Mr Abrego Garcia was taken into custody by ICE this morning. As he was leaving the jail in Tennessee on Friday, he’s been given a notice, requiring him to check in at 8 am this morning. The notice stated that the reason was ‘interview’, clearly that was false. There was no need for them to take him into ICE detention. He was already on electronic monitoring from the us martial service and basically on hours arrest. The only reason that they’ve chosen to take him into detention is to punish him. To punish him for exercising his constitutional rights. His constitutional right to fight back against being illegally deported to El Salvador, his constitutional right to speak up, through his court filings on the torture and treatment that he received in El Salvador at the direct request of our government. His constitutional right not to allow his harm to be twisted to take a guilty plea if he doesn’t want to, his constitutional right to exercise his right to a jury trial on his criminal proceedings if he so chooses, and his constitutional right and his right under the bail reform act to leave the prison and come home to his family. He’s being punished for exercising those rights.
We asked the ICE officer what the reason for his detention was. The ICE officer didn’t answer. The ICE officer stated that he’ll be taken to a detention center. We asked the ICE officer which detention center, the ICE officer said that they weren’t able to say. We asked the ICE officer for a copy of any paperwork that’s being served on him today. The ICE officer wouldn’t even commit to even giving us that paperwork.
In the last 5 minutes, Mr. Abrego Garcia has filed a new lawsuit in the federal court for the federal district of Maryland challenging his current confinement and challenging deportation to Uganda or to any other country unless and until he’s had a fair trial as in an immigration court as well as his full appeal rights.
In 2019 Mr. Abrego Garcia had a full trial. It lasted over two days, in this building behind me. And the result of that trial is that the judge entered an order that he could not be deported to El Salvador. That order was not even appealed by the government. If they want to deport him to any other country, they need to go through that exact same process. Unless and until they have gone through that process, they do not have the right to put him on an airplane, and that’s what we’re going to be asking the district court to insure. That he is not put on any flight to any country whatsoever, whether it’s Uganda, south Sudan, unless and until he has had a full and fair trial in an immigration court as well as his full appeal rights.
So he’s filed a lawsuit, seeking to insure that he is not removed from the united states pending his immigration proceedings. “
Rear Adm. Adam Chamie of the United States Coast Guard spoke Monday to announce the largest offload of seized drugs in US history. Coast Guard cutter Hamilton offloaded 76,140lbs of drugs including over 61,000lbs of cocaine and 14,000lbs of marijuana.
Tuesday, NYC Mayor Eric Adams held a press conference to swear in DJ Daniel as Deputy Mayor for Public Safety.
DJ has been sworn into over 1350 law enforcement agencies across the United States, including NYC Police Commissioner and honorary member of the US Secret Service.
The 13 year old cancer survivor from Houston, TX has battled brain and spinal cancer since 2018 when he was given just 5 months to live. 7 years and 13 surgeries later, he dreams of becoming a police officer.
Cracker Barrel attempted to remodel their restaurants, revamp their menu and change their logo. Met with relentless online pressure, they announced on Instagram that they will cancel their new logo and indicated they may also halt remodeling of stores.
Harjinder Singh, an Indian national who entered the United States illegally was arrested in California for a fatal crash in Florida last week. Singh, who had been issued commercial driver licenses by both California and Washington state, made an unlawful U turn on Florida’s turnpike and three people were killed when their van struck his trailer. Singh has been transferred to and charged in Florida.
The United States Department of Transportation secretary Sean Duffy spoke in response Tuesday to explain steps being taken to reduce the number and severity of crashes. He noted USDOT will begin to remove funding from states that do not adhere to guidance requiring English language proficiency for issuance of driver licenses.
Desantis spoke Saturday alongside lieutenant governor Jay Collins and state troopers.
Last week a truck driver from India, in the United States illegally, attempted to make an improper U turn on Florida’s turn pike, killing three people.
In response Desantis announced an immigration enforcement operation led by FHP, but involving other state and federal agencies. It began last week and as of the 23rd nearly 200 arrests had taken place including 37 individuals who had previously received final orders of removal, 8 who had been deported and illegally reentered. One had been deported 4 times previously.
Since march fhp has arrested 3600 individuals following 4700 background checks via federal databases. More than 600 had prior criminal history.
On Monday, President Trump signed several executive orders. One takes steps to end cashless bail nationwide while another is specific to cashless bail in Washington D.C. A third directs prosecution of anyone burning an American flag and the last covers additional measures for tackling crime in D.C.
Staying in New York City, but moving to politics, mayoral candidates Curtis Sliwa and Zohran Mamdani both held press conferences to address crime in the city. Mamdani spoke about transportation safety and promised to address underfunded and partially complete projects like McGuinness Blvd in Greenpoint. Sliwa focused on violent crime in the Bronx and signaled his desire to hire an additional 7000 NYPD officers. He also spoke in support of President Trump, noting executive orders signed Monday to end cashless bail.
I watched Mamdani’s statement live and cannot find the video online now, but here is my transcription:
“…it begs the question of what the safety of New Yorkers is worth. Is it not worth more than $12,500 and a cameo on a TV show? Is it not worth more than crab cakes and clams at Gracy Mansion? I ask you this in sincerity because this fight has been built around the losses of loved ones in this neighborhood and yet we know that it’s a fight to ensure no one else is lost in this neighborhood.
And that decision by the administration, to implement half of this road dyke is a decision that put New Yorker’s lives in danger. And as has been said by the other incredible elected officials around the city, this doesn’t just have meaning here in Greenpoint, it sets a model for the rest of the city. And for too long that has been a model that has said that if you have enough money you could buy your way. But what this model represents is that working people can and must be safe no matter if they drive if they bike, if they walk, if they ride the bus if they take the train they must be safe across the city and we will make decisions with safety as the imperative.”
“that’s why I speak so much about turning the page on the politics of the past. Because corruption isn’t just about what politicians stand to gain. It’s also about what the public loses. And we know that my opponents do not share this commitment…we have spent much of this press conference speaking about Mayor Adams, but Andrew Cuomo is no better.
This is a man who thinks it’s’ right to turn on red here in NYC. This is a man for whom this city is a place to be feared, not a thing to be loved and served. And as mayor, I understand the crisis that we are facing and I understand that the core of the fight to serve this city is a love of this city and a love of the people who call this city home.
So we will make McGuinness safe, we will make New York City safe.”
On Sunday, Nevada faced off against Chinese Taipei in the 2025 little league World Series. Chinese Taipei hadn’t won the title since 1996 but held Nevada hitless through 4 and one third. They were also able to capitalize on some pitching mistakes to take an early lead. Chinese Taipei ultimately prevailed 7-0 to end a 7 year streak for the United States.
Cadillac F1
Tuesday, the Cadillac F1 team, slated to start in the 2026 season, announced their official driver lineup across their social media platforms. Former Mercedes driver and Lewis Hamilton teammate Valteri Bottas will join ex-Red Bull driver Sergio Perez in Cadillac’s inaugural season.
Daniil Medvedev lost the match and his temper in the first round of the US Open Sunday. He played Benjamin Bonzi who is ranked 51. He delayed the match for several minutes to yell at the chair umpire and microphones. Another outburst happened Wednesday following Taylor Townsend’s defeat of Jelena Ostapenko. Videos of both events are available at The Cold Take dot com. Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz, Novak Djokavak (SINNER?) all advanced to the Men’s 4th round. On the women’s side, Townsend and Coco Gauf join Jessica Pegula and Arnya Sabalenka in the 4th round. We’ll bring you final tournament results next week.
College Football Gameday celebrated the retirement of 90 year old Lee Corso yesterday. Famous for dawning the head, and sometimes the entire costume of the team he picks to win, Lee has been a Saturday morning staple since 1987. Ahead of number 3 Ohio State’s fourteen to seven win over preseason number one university of Texas, Corso donned Brutus Buckey’s head one last time. Brutus was the first mascot head he tried in 1996.
Florida State upset eighth ranked Alabama in Tallahassee 31-17.
Number 9 LSU defeated 4th ranked Clemson at Clemson 17-10
Tuesday, David Mencer, Israeli Govt. Spokesperson for the national public diplomacy directorate in the prime minister’s office gave a press conference in Tel Aviv. He spoke about the government’s five stated principals for ending the war in Gaza:
Disarming Hamas
Returning All Hostages, living and dead
Demilitarizing Gaza
Israeli Security Control Over Gaza
Establishment Of Alternative Civilian Administration
He expressed thanks to the Lebanese government for their commitment to disarm Hezbollah and signaled Israel’s readiness to both assist Lebanon and reduce IDF presence at the border saying “If the Lebanese armed forces take the necessary steps to implement the disarmament of Hezbolah, Israel will engage in reciprocal measures, including the phased reduction of the IDF presence in coordination with the US led security mechanism.
Now is the time for both Israel and Lebanon to move forward in a spirit of cooperation, focusing on a shared objective of disarming Hezbolah and promoting the stability and prosperity of both nations.”
He also voiced disagreement and displeasure at the media narrative around aid to Gaza.
Markets remained flat with the Dow closing down 408 points for the week, a loss of point zero one percent. Nasdaq similarly dropped 41 points while the S&P fell 6. Gold closed at 3446 per ounce, a 76 dollar pickup.
“We wanted to make sure that we could show that we could cut through the bureaucracy and all the red tape and also took significant funding and I congratulate all of you and my partners in state government for helping deliver this very ambitious capital plan. $68.4 billion dollars which is allowing this to happen. And part of the funding does come from congestion pricing. It’s working, we know that. Send our friends in Washington a message. It is working. And we know that traffic is down and business is up and people are happy…”
Governor Hochul expressed optimism in the project, stating, “This project hopefully will restore people’s faith in our capacity and our desire to get the big transformation projects done”.
In Los Angeles, Jasveen Sanga, known as the Ketamine Queen of North Hollywood, agreed to plead guilty to charges related to ketamine distribution, which include one count of causing death. These charges are linked to the October 2023 death of actor Matthew Perry and could lead to a maximum sentence of 65 years.
In July, several Conroe Police Officers and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Deputies worked with U.S. Marshals for Operation Heat Wave. From August 4-8, this operation led to the arrest of 71 individuals and the clearing of 91 felony warrants, including serious offenses such as parole violations, possession of child pornography, assault, family violence, and drug-related charges. Additional warrants were cleared for various crimes including firearm possession by a felon and larceny.
Hurricane Erin
Hurricane Erin is the first Atlantic hurricane and also the first major hurricane of the season. It caused significant damage along the East Coast of the United States, especially in the coastal areas of North Carolina.
The main impact of Hurricane Erin was on the environment, particularly affecting sea turtle populations. It also led to coastal flooding and dangerous surf conditions along the East Coast.
Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron Desantis announced that state Attorney General James Uthmeier has written a letter to the census bureau and copied the white house, urging a review of the 2020 census data. He said Florida was underrepresented by 3.5% and is attempting to gain additional congressional seats as well as electoral votes for presidential elections. Additional congressional apportionment would necessitate redrawing the district maps for the state.
Democrats returned to Texas Monday after leaving the state for two weeks to deny quorum and prevent a vote on redrawn congressional district maps. After an all-day debate, the maps were passed in an 88-52 vote on the house floor Wednesday. In response, the California legislature passed a measure Thursday that will send their own redrawn district maps to a referendum vote in a November special election.
Noem on the Border
Secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem Spoke Tuesday at the border in Texas. She announced that we will be painting the entire southern border wall black to make it hotter in the heat and discourage illegal border crossings. She also noted that her department is currently constructing almost .5 miles / day of border wall. She noted that work is being done to secure not only the southern border, but the northern and maritime borders as well.
Trump Penalty Overturned
The New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division issued a decision in Donald Trump’s appeal of a 2023 ruling against him. He was initially ordered to pay $464 Million Dollars for fraudulent business practices in New York. The full decision is more than 300 pages and the 5 justice panel voiced deep disagreement between themselves over whether the Attorney General had the authority to bring the case, whether it should be retried, or referred ultimately to a higher court.
World News
Trump Meets Zelenskyy in the Oval Office
Trump spoke Monday ahead of a meeting with Ukranian President (name) as well as 7 other European leaders.
They took questions from the media. Trump expressed optimism ahead of the meeting. “The war’s gonna end. When it ends, I can’t tell you, but the war is going to end and this gentleman wants it to end and Vladamir Putin wants it to end. I think the whole world is tired of it and we’re gonna get it ended.”
When asked about Melania’s letter to Putin, Trump said, “So the first lady felt very strongly, she has watched the same thing that you watch and that I watch. I see things that you don’t get to see and it’s horrible. But she’s got a great love of children. She’s got a wonderful son that she loves, probably more than anyone, including me, I hate to say it, but she love her son. She loves children and she hates to see something like this happening. And that goes for other wars too.”
Meeting with President Trump and Zelenskyy
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte
UK PM Starma
President Macron of France
Prime Minister Meloni of Italy
Chancellor Merz of Germany
President of Finland Alexander Stubb
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen
Trump: “the Alaska summit reinforced my believe that while difficult, peace is within reach and I believe that in a very significant step, President Putin would accept security guarantees for Ukraine and this is one of the key points that we need to consider and we’re going to be considering that at the table also…I’m optimistic that collectively we can reach an agreement that would deter any future aggression against Ukraine…We also need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory taking into consideration the current line of contact…and negotiating positions.”
Ahead of the meeting, Monday morning UK PM Keir Starmer traveled to Washington DC with other European leaders. ‘…hugely impacted Ukrainians who’ve suffered hugely, but it’s also impacted Europe, it’s impacted every single family and community in the United Kingdom, so everybody wants it to end, not least the Ukrainians. But we’ve got to get this right. We’ve got to make sure there is peace, that it is lasting peace and that it is fair and it is just. That’s why I’m traveling to Washington with other European leaders to discuss this face to face with president trump and president ze because it is in everybody’s interest, it is in the UK’s interest that we get this right’ FULL POST
Sports
The Little League World Series will wrap up tomorrow. Some notable games include the Tuesday night matchup between Sioux Falls South Dakota and Bonney Lake Washington. Led by pitcher Maxen Snoozy who recorded a total of 14 strikeouts, at one point striking out 10 in a row, Sioux Falls defeated Bonney Lake.
The next night, the South Dakota squad took a commanding lead in extra innings. Tied at one, the Sioux Falls squad exploded with 5 runs including an RBI double from, Snoozy. They would watch that lead disappear and lose to Irmo South Carolina in a walk off single to right field.
Tomorrow’s final should be a thriller.
The New York Yankees waited out a 2 hour delay Tuesday in Tampa before Aaron judge recorded his 40th home run of the season. The 13-3 win included 9 total home runs by 6 Yankees to tie a franchise single game record.
And while today is officially the first day of college football, most teams will kick off a week from now. Notable August 30th matchups include Texas at Ohio State, LSU at Clemson, an Alabama at Florida State. Notre Dame will visit Miami a day later.
Markets
In markets news, Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled Friday the potential of lowering interest rates next month. Noting “the balance of risks appears to be shifting” he also referenced a softening labor market, in which job growth has slowed but unemployment has not increased substantially.
On the back of his comments, markets rebounded from a week of losses.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 45952, a 1000 point gain over the last week and climbing nearly 900 points on Friday alone.
NASDAQ lost 126 points on the week but erased large losses with a 406 point Friday gain.
The S&P 500 finished 17 points in the black after recovering from a mid week slump with Friday’s gains.
Gold held more or less steady, closing at 3370.
Like it or not, that’s what happened.
And if I misstated or missed something all together, please let me know.
