Today’s Big Story

Charlie Kirk Killed

The conservative activist was assassinated at Utah university

A manhunt is ongoing for the killer of conservative activist and influential Trump ally Charlie Kirk, who died after being shot at a university in Utah on Wednesday. Authorities believe the shot came from a rooftop—approximately 200 yards away—in what looks like a sniper attack. Hopes for the fast capture of the shooter evaporated quickly when Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, announced that the authorities had released two potential suspects that were cleared of any connection.

Authorities did not immediately identify a motive but the circumstances of the shooting drew renewed attention to an escalating threat of political violence in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.

“This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. “I want to be very clear this is a political assassination.” And while many politicians stuck to unifying themes, President Donald Trump put out a message going after the left (before a suspect has even been identified). “For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals,” he said in a video message Wednesday night. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”

Trump had a close relationship with Kirk, whose ability to galvanize young conservatives with his criticisms of the left had been crucial to rallying support among a new generation of voters. Kirk was also close friends with several people in the president’s orbit, including his eldest son, Donald Jr. To honor Kirk, Trump has ordered “all American flags throughout the United States lowered to Half Mast until Sunday evening at 6 P.M.”

The president is still on track for a visit to New York today on the anniversary of the last significant event to unite nearly all Americans across parties: the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Suspected Russian Incursion in Poland

The incident caused Poland to invoke NATO’s Article 4, so what comes next?

Poland invoked Article 4 of NATO’s treaty on Wednesday after the alliance’s fighter jets shot down Russian drones that entered its airspace in the early hours of the morning. Russian drones have crossed into Poland before, including twice last week, but this was the first time that Russian drones had been shot down over the territory of a NATO country.

Article 4 allows member states to start a formal discussion within the alliance about threats to their security … but it does not commit the alliance to military action. “What is clear is that the violation last night is not an isolated incident,” said Mark Rutte, NATO’s secretary general. “We will closely monitor the situation along our eastern flank, our air defenses continually at the ready.”

Bob Deen, an analyst at the Clingendael think tank in The Hague, said the article is “designed to promote better coordination and understanding within the alliance on external threats.” It’s still unclear if Russia had intentionally sought to expand the conflict. Russia’s defense ministry said it had “not planned” to hit any targets in Poland and suggested Poland was out of range of its drones, which is not true. President Donald Trump reacted Wednesday with a degree of bemusement, posting to Truth Social, “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!”

The State of Airline Loyalty

A new global ranking breaks down which airline miles programs are worth your time and ticket prices

Amid economic, geopolitical, and environmental volatility, consumer appetite for travel has paradoxically grown even stronger. For airlines, there’s a massive opportunity in this moment to gain market share by capturing deeper customer loyalty. But as Afar points out, navigating the world of mileage programs can be extremely challenging.

It gets even more complicated when carriers suddenly either change how points are earned and redeemed or devalue them. The result is that many travelers are left wondering whether airline loyalty is even worth it anymore. To help take some of the guesswork out of which companies offer the best value for travelers, Point.me, a points and travel reward search platform, released its second annual ranking, this time analyzing 59 global airline loyalty programs.

AAdvantage, American’s loyalty program, scored 87.63 points out of 100, finishing second globally behind Flying Blue, the loyalty program of KLM-Air France. Other U.S. airlines in the top 10 were the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan (now merged with Hawaiian Airlines and called Atmos Rewards, which was created too late to be part of the study), with 82.38 points; United’s MileagePlus, with 79.88 points; and JetBlue’s TrueBlue program, with 69.88 points.

Style Move: The Ralph Tuck

An elegantly disheveled move from the master of layering

Make it a great day.