Welcome to the RedState Weekly Briefing — where we take a quick look at the week’s most viewed stories in case you missed any of them. What do you suppose caught people's attention in this latest whirlwind week? Grab a cup of coffee (or something stronger if you're so inclined), and sit down with this 21st Century Weekend Edition of your favorite (online) publication.
One added note: This week, our top stories fall into two categories — before and after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The "before" stories...don't quite hit the same as they once did. Typically, I aim for a cheeky headline for this. That didn't feel right today, so I just went with one that captures some of the current mood.
#1 - Charlie Kirk Assassinated During Event at Utah Valley University — by Jennifer Van Laar
President Trump announced through his Truth Social account that Charlie Kirk has died, saying:
"The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!"
Charlie Kirk was 31 and is survived by his wife, Erika, and their two children.
#2 - The Left May Have Just Lost a Generation of Voters — by Brad Slager
What the left is unaware of is that this grievous murder of a prominent voice on the right will stiffen the resolve of a new class of students rising through the ranks. Seeing their guiding voice eliminated due to intolerance will expose so much of the messaging they are assaulted by, and they will have a dawning on what they are facing.
They miss out on something larger emerging. The Left might see this as a successful elimination of an opponent, but it has exposed the hollow nature of their entire movement, and the next generation has now been made aware.
#3 - JD Vance Crushes Lefties' Dreams After Democrats Release Alleged Trump-Epstein Birthday Note — by Katie Jerkovich
The Vice President reacted to Leavitt's post about the so-called Trump-Epstein birthday card, and called it rightly what it is, "BS."
"The Democrats don't care about Epstein," Vance wrote. "They don't even care about his victims. That's why they were silent about it for years."
"The only thing they care about is concocting another fake scandal like Russiagate to smear President Trump with lies," he added. "No one is falling for this BS."
#4 - Office Depot Actually Does Right Thing After Employees' Rejection of Charlie Kirk Memorial Poster — by Bob Hoge
We’ve seen so many brands—Bud Light, Target, and Jaguar, to name a few—turn on their customers in some sort of twisted effort to prove their “woke” bona fides.
The tide is changing—yes, the employees at this Office Depot location were clueless droids—but corporate made the right decision in saying, this kind of B.S. has to stop. I don’t believe we would have seen this even a couple of years ago.
#5 - LAPD Drops Kamala Harris Like a Hot Rock, Amid Criticism — by Jennifer Oliver O'Connell
Why Bass and Newsom haven't been run out of town on a rail beggars belief. But the quick action to strip Harris' LAPD detail shows that these failures are on a short leash with the citizenry and devoid of any further goodwill or political capital. It's only a matter of time.
Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami fought against the former L.A. DA Gascón and also ran against him for the office. Hatami took to X to call out everybody involved in this Harris/LAPD security debacle, and ably exposed the hypocrisy of forcing the taxpayer to supply protection for Harris that she is well able to afford herself. Even more rich: protection that Harris has consistently denied the average citizen in her decades of "leadership" in California and when she served as Vice President of the United States.
If you enjoy the Weekly Briefing, be sure to check out "RedState Radio," our weekly podcast. It features a rundown of our top stories of the week, along with chats with a couple of our contributors about what they've been covering. This week, we're joined by streiff and Jennifer Oliver O'Connell. If you like RedState, we think you'll like this added feature. Liking, subscribing, and following are much appreciated.
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