🌊 Her Word Is Not Her Bondi

Happy National Constitution Day, Roca Nation.

Today we commemorate the signing of the Constitution of the United States. Now do exactly what the Founders would’ve wanted and use the day to score political points!

But now that you mention the British, we head across the pond for today’s We The 66 deep dive on the free speech “crisis” at the Oxford Union. A fascinating story.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Bondi Faces Backlash

Attorney General Pam Bondi faced backlash over her comments about hate speech following the assassination of Charlie Kirk

• During a podcast interview, Bondi stated, “There's free speech and then there's hate speech” and promised the Justice Department would “absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech”

• Critics included many conservative commentators, who pointed out that Kirk himself had written, “Hate speech does not exist legally in America” and that all speech is “protected by the First Amendment”

• Civil liberties groups also pushed back, with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression writing, “There is no hate speech exception to the First Amendment”

Dig Deeper

• Bondi also criticized businesses that deny service to Charlie Kirk mourners, threatening prosecution over an Office Depot worker who refused to print a picture of Kirk for a vigil. Conservative influencer Matt Walsh called for Bondi's removal, writing, “Conservatives have fought for decades for the right to refuse service to anyone. We won that fight. Now Pam Bondi wants to roll it all back for no reason”

• Bondi responded to the backlash by clarifying her position in a written statement to Axios, saying, “If you are using the assassination of Charlie to encourage more acts of imminent violence, you will be held accountable under my leadership at the DOJ,” but also said she would not prosecute or investigate “hate speech”

KEY STORY

Israel Launches Ground Offensive

Israeli forces began a large-scale ground offensive in Gaza City

• Israel had been preparing for and threatening a major offensive on Gaza City for months, with the Israeli cabinet approving the plan in early August

• On Tuesday, the IDF began the long-anticipated invasion of the city, home to roughly 1M people, sparking international condemnation, mass protests in Israel, and concerns from Israeli defense officials about endangering the 48 hostages still believed to be held in Gaza

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the operation a “powerful assault” against Hamas’ “last major stronghold”

Dig Deeper

• The operation began shortly after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio left Israel for Qatar, where he is attempting to restart ceasefire negotiations. Rubio warned that there was only a “very short window” for a diplomatic solution

• Israel's latest invasion came as a UN commission of inquiry released a report concluding that Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The panel found reasonable grounds that Israeli forces carried out four out of five genocidal acts defined under international law

KEY STORY

Candace Owens Uproar

Candace Owens caused an uproar after stating that Bill Ackman had “blackmailed” Charlie Kirk to be more pro-Israel

• Owens – a conspiratorial, right-wing podcaster – has become extremely anti-Israel and, critics say, anti-Semitic in recent years. On Monday, she declared that Bill Ackman – a Jewish and pro-Israel hedge fund billionaire – had “blackmailed” Charlie Kirk shortly before his death, telling him at an August meeting that Kirk had to be more pro-Israel. Owens did not provide evidence

• On Monday night, Ackman wrote a lengthy response refuting Owens’ claims; on Tuesday, Charlie Kirk’s executive producer did so too, writing that “Charlie personally told me he had a very cordial relationship with Bill”

Dig Deeper 

• Kirk’s executive producer Andrew Kolvet wrote on X, “I have been asked about the Bill Ackman event more than a few times now so I asked our staff who were traveling with Charlie to find out what’s true and what’s not. His team was with him ‘100% of the time when he wasn’t in his hotel room.’ Here’s what they told me: ‘Bill never yelled at Charlie, never pressed him on Bibi [Netanyahu], never gave him a list of Charlie’s offenses against Israel.’ There was concern raised about having Tucker at SAS [a TPUSA Event] (we don’t believe this came from Bill) and Charlie’s reply was: ‘Honestly, people telling me not to have Tucker makes me want to have Tucker, and I am going to lock him in for AmFest too.’ Charlie personally told me he had a very cordial relationship with Bill and the event was productive. Those are the facts”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

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KEY STORY

Tyler Robinson Charged

Utah prosecutors charged Tyler Robinson with aggravated murder and announced they would seek the death penalty for the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk

• Robinson was a 22-year-old student arrested on September 11, one day after the shooting at Utah Valley University

• On Tuesday, Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray charged Robinson with seven felony counts, including aggravated murder, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering

• Prosecutors said Robinson's DNA was found on the trigger of the rifle used in the shooting, and surveillance footage showed him walking with an unusual gait consistent with hiding a rifle in his pants while crossing campus

• Robinson appeared virtually at his court hearing, with the judge announcing that Robinson would be given a court-appointed defense attorney and held without bail

Dig Deeper 

• According to prosecutors, Robinson told his roommate in a text message after the shooting, “I had enough of his hatred… Some hate can't be negotiated out”

• Robinson allegedly left a note under his computer keyboard stating: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I'm going to take it”

• A 71-year-old man named George Zinn was initially arrested at the scene after falsely confessing to the shooting, telling police, “I shot him; now shoot me” to draw attention away from the real shooter. Authorities said there was no evidence that Zinn colluded with Robinson, though

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🇺🇸 President Trump filed a $15B defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and several prominent reporters, citing articles that allegedly damaged his reputation through claims of fraud. The suit also targeted interviews with Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, who called Trump a fascist 

⚖️ A federal appeals court blocked President Trump’s attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook

💣 Two men were arrested after placing an explosive device under a FOX 13 news vehicle in Salt Lake City, Utah, with the bomb failing to detonate despite being lit

🧑‍⚖️ A judge dismissed terrorism charges against Luigi Mangione in the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting case, including first-degree murder counts that could have meant life imprisonment

🪦 Hollywood legend Robert Redford died Tuesday at age 89 at his Utah mountain home, surrounded by loved ones

What does Roca Nation think?

🍿 Today’s Question: What movie has your favorite soundtrack? Name a few if you have to.

🌎 Yesterday’s Question: If you couldn’t live in the US (or Canada or wherever you are), where would you live?

Reply to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🪙 Cosmic Currency: Seven gold Sacagawea dollar coins that traveled aboard NASA’s space shuttle Columbia in 1999 sold at auction for a combined $3.28M, potentially making them the most valuable modern coins ever sold. The coins orbited Earth for nearly 2M mi during the historic STS-93 mission

⚕️ Narcan Vigilantes: Self-styled street vigilantes in San Francisco are spraying Narcan into the noses of homeless people who aren’t overdosing, forcing them into withdrawal-like symptoms to clear sidewalks

🇮🇪 McGregor Taps Out: UFC fighter Conor McGregor withdrew from Ireland’s presidential race just hours before scheduled appearances at council meetings, where he needed to secure nominations

🍾 Pop Goes the Prosecco: Costco recalled thousands of Kirkland Signature Prosecco bottles across 11 Midwestern states after multiple reports of bottles spontaneously exploding without warning or handling

🍚 Rice and Shine: Nigerian chef Hilda Baci shattered the world record for cooking the largest pot of jollof rice, creating an 8,780kg feast in Lagos that fed thousands of spectators

ROCA WRAP
The Iron Bar Survivor

Phineas Gage

A railroad foreman survived having a 13-pound iron rod shot completely through his skull. 

On September 13, 1848, Phineas Gage was directing his crew near Cavendish, Vermont, preparing the roadbed for a railroad. The 25-year-old foreman had commissioned his own custom tamping iron – a pointed steel rod over three feet long and more than an inch thick – for packing explosive charges into rock. As Gage prepared a blast that afternoon, his attention shifted to his workers behind him. He turned and looked over his shoulder, while the tamping iron remained in the blast hole. As he turned, the iron sparked against rock, and the gunpowder exploded prematurely.

The massive tamping iron rocketed from the hole like a javelin, entering Gage’s left cheek just below the jaw. The rod continued upward, passing behind his left eye, through his brain’s frontal lobe, and completely out the top of his skull. Incredibly, Gage was thrown backward but remained conscious. Within minutes, he was sitting upright in an oxcart for the three-quarter-mile ride to town.

When the physician arrived, Gage greeted him with remarkable composure. The doctor initially couldn't believe Gage’s account of what happened – until he saw brain matter pulse through the gaping exit wound at the top of his skull. Another doctor took over Gage's care, removing bone fragments and protruding brain tissue while keeping the wounds partially open for drainage. Despite developing serious infections and slipping into delirium, Gage survived the most improbable brain injury in medical history.

Though Gage physically recovered and lived another 12 years, those who knew him said he was “no longer Gage.” The responsible, well-regarded foreman became impulsive and profane, unable to hold down his railroad job. Yet Gage's story didn't end in tragedy. After years of struggle, he found work as a stagecoach driver in Chile, where the structured demands of the job helped him regain social skills and function normally for nearly seven years. When Phineas Gage died in 1860, his skull and the famous tamping iron were donated to Harvard Medical School, where they remain on display.

The story of Phineas Gage is proof that some people really are hard-headed enough to survive anything.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

If you’ve had enough of the Charlie Kirk story then that’s the end of the newsletter for you. If you would like to see more about the new leaked texts and hear our breakdown of the latest conspiracy theories, check out our first-ever live show on the topic. You can listen to it on Apple and Spotify, too.

Thank you for reading Roca, and have a wonderful day.

–Max and Max