Top 5 US news stories
September 11 2025
Charlie Kirk Assassinated at Utah University
Massive Manhunt Underway, No Suspects in Custody
Social Media Videos Suggest Charlie Kirk Killing Was a 'Professional Hit'
Killing of Charlie Kirk Highlights Rise of Political Violence in America
UK Fires US Ambassador Over Newly Revealed Ties to Jeffrey Epstein
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1. Charlie Kirk Assassinated at Utah University
In under a decade, 31-year-old Charlie Kirk rose rapidly from a political unknown to the vanguard of the modern conservative political movement, earning him a spot as one of President Trump’s closest confidants. The father of two was speaking to college students when he was shot dead Wednesday afternoon at Utah Valley University during the first stop of what was to be a fall college speaking tour. Kirk became well-known for debating students in front of an audience in a public setting, offering a conservative, and often provocative, perspective. Videos of him sparring with liberal-minded students garnered millions of views online. According to videos of the attack, Kirk was debating a student about mass shootings involving transgender people when he was shot. The act of political violence is a jarring coda to Kirk’s meteoric rise from college dropout to standard-bearer of the MAGA movement. Kirk left an indelible mark on the Republican party, drawing young voters to its ranks and influencing Trump’s presidency.
WSJ
2. Massive Manhunt Underway, No Suspects in Custody
An intense manhunt was underway Thursday for the person who killed Charlie Kirk, the charismatic founder of the nation’s pre-eminent right-wing youth activist group, in a brazen attack on a Utah college campus. No suspects were in custody early Thursday, more than 12 hours after Mr. Kirk, a close ally of President Trump and the founder of a prominent conservative youth activist group, was shot while speaking to students at Utah Valley University. The F.B.I. released the man its director had said was a subject of the investigation. Some video evidence indicated that the shooter fired from a rooftop down into the courtyard where Mr. Kirk was speaking. Videos recorded before and after the shooting show a person on the roof of a building more than 100 yards from where Mr. Kirk stood.
NYT
3. Social Media Videos Suggest Charlie Kirk Killing Was a 'Professional Hit'
BREAKING: The shooter was on the roof, dressed in all in black.
— Mike Coudrey (@MichaelCoudrey) September 10, 2025
You can see him stand up in this video after firing and then run away once he confirmed he had hit Charlie Kirk.
This was planned and meticulously executed. pic.twitter.com/j0vcmYf7Om
4. Killing of Charlie Kirk Highlights Rise of Political Violence in America
The killing of the conservative activist and influencer Charlie Kirk, as he spoke Wednesday to university students on a Utah campus, is the latest evidence that political violence is now a frequent and terrifying fact of American life. From President Trump, who was targeted in two assassination attempts last year, to lawmakers, judges and local elections officials, violence is now a continuous threat for public figures across the country. The shooting of Kirk is poised to drive a divided nation even further into its partisan silos, amplifying the animosity between the political parties. “It’s ‘us versus them’ on steroids,” Lilliana Mason, a Johns Hopkins University professor who studies political identity, said of the American political landscape. She added: “It’s not just a matter of us having political power versus them having power. It’s us surviving versus them surviving.” Last year, nearly 9,500 threats and concerning statements were leveled against Congress members, families and staff, and the Capitol complex, up from about 8,000 the year prior, the U.S. Capitol Police reported. In 2017, the number was less than 4,000. Judges and prosecutors have also been targeted. Compared with 2021, threats against federal judges doubled to 457 in the fiscal year that ended in September 2023, the U.S. Marshals Service has said. Kirk was talking about mass shootings when he was shot, responding to an audience question.
WSJ
5. UK Fires US Ambassador Over Newly Revealed Ties to Jeffrey Epstein
The British government announced on Thursday that it had fired its ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, after a flurry of newly published emails and other correspondence painted a vivid portrait of his close ties to the financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a statement, the Foreign Office said, “The emails show that the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment.” The revelations about Mr. Mandelson, and the fact that the government was caught off guard by them, are a stinging embarrassment to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was already reeling from the resignation last week of his deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, after a tax imbroglio.
NYT
September 11 2001: Four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001 kill 2977 in NYC and Washington DC
Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, two were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the third into the Pentagon (headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense) in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in a rural Pennsylvania field (present-day, Flight 93 National Memorial) during a passenger revolt. In response to the attacks, the United States waged the global war on terror over multiple decades to eliminate hostile groups deemed terrorist organizations, as well as the governments purported to support them.
Greg Loving
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Sources
- https://www.wsj.com/politics/charlie-kirk-turning-point-usa-5cfe4015?mod=article_inline
- https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09/11/us/charlie-kirk-shooting-news/heres-the-latest?smid=url-share
- https://www.wsj.com/politics/political-violence-america-charlie-kirk-09acfef7?mod=WSJ_home_mediumtopper_pos_3
- https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/world/europe/uk-ambassador-us-peter-mandelson-epstein-starmer.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
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