The Free Press

Welcome back to This Week in Canada, where America is the enemy, and every time Trump lowers the trade temperature, Canada cranks it back up. Let’s jump right in!

Canadians have been angry with American presidents before, but we always distinguished the country from the man running it.

During the Iraq War in 2003, 83 percent of Canadians said they liked Americans, according to one survey, even though 57 percent disliked the George W. Bush administration. In 2023, only 1 percent of Canadians said Canada should treat the United States as an enemy, while 73 percent said it should be seen as a valued ally or at least as a friend.

Barely 20 percent of Canadians now call the U.S. an ally, a survey by Leger found, and 41 percent see America as an “enemy country.” The second percentage has jumped 15 points since June 2025, and among Canadians at least 55 years old, 51 percent regard the country with which we share the world’s longest undefended border as an enemy.

I wrote about this unprecedented deterioration in Canadian attitudes back in February, when I wondered if the changes were anti-Americanism or anti-Trumpism. A Politico poll then found that nearly half of Canadians considered the U.S. a bigger threat to world peace than Russia. More than half of those surveyed said that America was no longer a reliable ally and that they would rather rely on China than on President Donald Trump’s America.

It’s Tuesday, September 8. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Mike Doran asks, what is Trump thinking about Iran? Arthur Brooks tells students how to be happy at college. Why did a woman get convicted for letting her son go on a walk? And more.

But first: Inside the day Charlie Kirk was killed.

A year ago this week, on September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was speaking onstage at Utah Valley University when a crack splintered the air. A 31-year-old father of two was shot dead in front of millions.

Most of us remember where we were that day, but few know the behind-the-scenes story of what happened next. Spencer Cox does. The Utah governor was at the scene just hours after the shooting, and at the center of the effort to find the man responsible. He emerged as a powerful voice after the tragedy, calling on Americans to mend a politics that sometimes feels broken.

In an interview with our Peter Savodnik days after the shooting, Cox spoke about “which direction he thought Americans, and America, would choose” in the aftermath of the murder. Today, we know something about the answer: Kirk’s death was not the wake-up call some hoped it would be. Instead, the killing unleashed deranged conspiracy theories, fueled radicalization, and deepened the rage that threatens to define our politics.

That’s why, as we approach the anniversary of the murder, it’s worth returning to what actually happened that day, and what Cox saw firsthand. In today’s lead story—an exclusive excerpt from his new book, Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt—Cox pulls back the curtain on those 48 hours. It’s a gripping account of a moment that changed the country—and a reminder of just how far we still have to go to find our way back.

—The Editors

• Germany’s far right Alternative for Germany party won a landmark landslide victory in a regional election on Sunday. The party pulled in 43.8 percent of the vote, marking its highest finish in history, but falling short of the number required to give them exclusive control of the legislature.

• President Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, arrived in Kyiv for peace talks on Sunday, immediately after talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The visit marks the pair’s first diplomatic visit to Ukraine.

• Canada’s new tariff of up to 50 percent on American goods is set to take hold on Tuesday. The move comes as a response to President Trump’s previous tariff threats against the country, and could affect roughly 700 kinds of imports.

• U.S. gas prices hit a Labor Day weekend record on Monday. The average price of regular gas was $4.14 a gallon, and diesel reached an all-time high of $5.85.

• An Amazon cargo plane overshot the runway in Miami this weekend. The accident killed at least five people and injured five more, with the investigation ongoing.

• An armed man lunged at Ohio’s Democratic nominee for governor, Amy Acton, at her campaign event on Saturday, injuring several people as he rushed the stage. Police found him in possession of a taser and two pistols.

• President Trump suggested renaming New Mexico “New America” in social media posts on Sunday. The change would be the latest in Trump’s long campaign of renaming landmarks, though the president does not have the legal authority to rename states.

A Chinese hypersonic missile targeting either U.S. coast would leave room for “about 10 minutes of warning time.” Zachary Krevor, CEO of Stratolaunch, is building vehicles to help the Pentagon learn to detect, track, and intercept this threat. Today, Krevor joins Aaron MacLean to explain how China and Russia have outpaced the U.S. in hypersonic weapons …

On a sunny day in June, Karyann Parkinson made a fateful choice that could affect her life for years to come: She let her 5-year-old son, Sam, walk alone to a neighborhood pond to collect goose feathers.

Nothing happened to Sam, at least not physically. But for her choice, Parkinson was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a first-degree misdemeanor in Virginia. In August, she was convicted by a local judge after a bench trial in the Williamsburg Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court and given a six-month suspended jail sentence.

Knowing Parkinson—a then-neighbor and former student—and having attended the trial, it seems she was punished less for making a debatable parenting choice and more for refusing to come to heel when questioned about her decision. It’s not so much that she let Sam collect goose feathers as that she did not genuflect to the proper authorities. That makes the case no less of an outrage. Parkinson has found herself in every parents’ nightmare—hence why it made national news. So how, exactly, can a mother be given a suspended jail sentence for simply letting her son go for a walk?

The facts are not in dispute. The Parkinsons live in Ford’s Colony, which describes itself (quite accurately) as a “secure, multigenerational gated community. . . situated on a landscape of golf courses, ponds, wetlands, and woodlands in Williamsburg, Virginia.” That morning, Parkinson—then eight months’ pregnant with her fifth child—took her daily walk on one of Ford’s Colony’s trails. Sam, then 5 years and eight months old, went along, riding his bike. The walking trail is set apart from the development’s speed-controlled roads with occasional marked crosswalks. On their walk, Parkinson observed Sam crossing the road showing adequate precautions, as she had taught him.

The war with Iran has now passed its six-month mark. Hostilities abate, then flare up again—most recently over the weekend, with American forces striking two Iranian tankers in the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for attempted attacks on U.S. ships. As the war turns hot, then cold, then hot again, one question is on everyone’s minds: What is the president thinking? This piece by Mike Doran, first published in Tablet, is an attempt at an answer, and one that—unlike so much that is written on this conflict—generates more light than heat. We’re pleased to run it in our pages. —The Editors

Lindsey Graham and Donald Trump agreed on the objective: an Islamic Republic stripped of its nuclear program and of the power to hold the region hostage. But they frequently disagreed about how to make Tehran yield. Graham never wavered. More force, he recommended.

Three weeks into the war, the senator revealed the advice he had given the president: “Keep it up for a few more weeks, take Kharg Island. . . [and] let this regime die on the vine.” In May, he put the theory plainly: “Hurt them more. Maybe they’ll make a deal if you hurt them enough.” And in June, three weeks before his death, he predicted that if Iran contested the Strait of Hormuz, “We will obliterate them.”

Since last Easter, Trump has repeatedly threatened Tehran in accordance with the late senator’s advice. During the summer, the U.S. military prepared what reportedly would have been the largest strike of the war. At the urging of regional allies, however, the president again gave the military the order to stand down. Graham did not live to accept that rejection, but many of his political allies, my friends among them, reached what they considered to be an obvious conclusion: Trump had lost his nerve.

Almost exactly one year ago, on September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was speaking onstage at Utah Valley University when a crack splintered the air. A 31-year-old father of two was shot dead in front of millions.

Most of us remember where we were that day. But few know the behind-the-scenes story of what happened next. Spencer Cox does. The Utah governor was at the scene just hours after the shooting, and at the center of the effort to find the man responsible. He emerged as a powerful voice after the tragedy, calling on Americans to mend a politics that sometimes feels broken.

In an interview with our Peter Savodnik days later, Cox spoke about “which direction he thought Americans, and America, would choose” in the aftermath of the murder. Today, we know something about the answer: Kirk’s death was not the wake-up call some hoped it would be. Instead, the killing unleashed deranged conspiracy theories, fueled radicalization, and deepened the rage that threatens to define our politics. Which is why, as we approach the anniversary of the murder, it’s worth returning to what actually happened that day—and what Cox saw firsthand. That is the story he tells today in an exclusive excerpt from his new book, Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt. We’re honored to bring it to you today. —The Editors

“We need you. Immediately.”

I’d just sat down to lunch with my staff when my assistant entered the room and uttered those words.

When you’re governor, a weight sits on your shoulders every minute of every day. It’s one of the very first things we learn in Baby Governor School (the training newly elected governors receive from sitting governors): Tragedy will come for each of us when we least expect it.

From the tone of my assistant’s voice, I knew this was my turn.

I stepped out of the room, where my Highway Patrol security detail stood in the lobby. “Sir, there has been an incident at Utah Valley University. Charlie Kirk has been shot.”

Right now, all across America, 2.7 million adolescents are abandoning their families to be raised instead by other adolescents. We call this Lord of the Flies–like rite of passage “going off to college,” and parents believe it is one of the most exciting and happiest moments of their children’s lives. My wife and I certainly hoped so when, some years ago, we delivered our eldest child to a leafy quad in central New Jersey. “You’ll have the time of your life,” I assured him.

In truth, I wasn’t so sure. Despite being an academic of long standing, I don’t have much firsthand knowledge of the freshman experience, having only ever taught graduate students over the past 30 years. And neither my wife nor I had anything like a traditional college experience. (I did my bachelor’s by distance learning in my late 20s, after taking a “gap decade”; my wife dropped out of high school at 16 to sing with a rock band.)

Still, all of our friends had regaled us with glowing accounts of their freshman experiences: the newfound freedom, the friendships that had lasted for decades, and the new adult identity they gained. Testimonials aside, some data bear out these positive memories. According to a survey of college grads by the National Association of Colleges and Employers in 2023, when asked if they would go to college again, 91 percent say they would. And the older they get, the more graduates feel warm and fuzzy nostalgia for their college experience. At my own university, alumni weekends are joyful affairs at which people remember going off to school with unalloyed fondness.

And yet, as a social scientist, I was—and am—confronted by other data showing that the actual experience for many, perhaps most, of today’s college enrollees is not consistent with those happy memories. A Healthy Minds Network study recently revealed that more than one-third of U.S. college students (37 percent) currently screen positive for moderate or severe depressive symptoms. Among Canadian first-year students, 27 percent have moderate to severe depressive symptoms when they enter university, rising to 33 percent by the following March. For anxiety, the equivalent rates were 32 percent and 37 percent. Not surprisingly, many freshmen in the U.S. end up dropping out almost immediately: About 23 percent now do so in their first year.

Americans are stressed about work. For some, it’s because the machines might be coming for their jobs. For others, 40 years of the 9-to-5 with a gold watch at the end seems like a quaint fantasy from a bygone era. When anyone can strike it rich as an influencer or prediction markets bettor, is the grind even worth it?

It’s Labor Day, and work is on our minds. How do we make our work meaningful? And how much is too much? The Front Page will be back tomorrow, but today we’re publishing an essay by reformed workaholic Lindsay Crouse. She once gave up nights and weekends writing for The New York Times about how perseverance makes successful people—until she “started to recognize another, darker trend in this relentless compulsion to stay and strive.” In an excerpt of her new book, The Case for Quitting: The Surprising Benefits of Opting Out, she argues for a new way of thinking that all of us would do well to consider—workaholics, slackers, and everyone in between. “Quitting is not simply a failure of resolve or easy way out,” she writes. “Often, it’s the courageous first step to something better.” —The Editors

For a long time, I was an eager disciple of the grind. One night, I hit a dead end.

I was pregnant and exhausted. I had just run a marathon, because I’d registered and paid and I don’t quit, but I hadn’t trained enough and days later, my legs still felt like stilts. It was midnight, Thanksgiving weekend, and I was still working.

I was nearly 40, and yet I related to how students at pressure-­cooker universities sometimes describe themselves: like ducks, gliding along on the surface while my legs churned furiously below. It wasn’t that I was failing, at least not if you asked the internet. I had a good job at The New York Times, and raced marathons on the weekends, for fun.

Every spring break, students would send messages asking how to be like me, and I’d usually shoot back the same advice I told myself: Keep showing up. Never, ever quit. But it was starting to feel a little like a lobotomy. The harder I worked, the duller I grew. Instead of moving forward, I was spinning and stuck.

I desperately wanted to stop. I needed to stop.

Welcome back to The Weekend Press! Today, Natan Sharansky remembers the book that saved his life in a KGB prison. Joe Nocera sits down with Ken Feinberg, who 25 years ago helped distribute billions of dollars to the families of 9/11 victims. Robert Mass explains why old age is no excuse to stop learning. And more!

But first: Farewell, Gloria Steinem.

This week, Gloria Steinem passed away at the age of 92. For decades, Steinem has been the face of second-wave feminism. A self-described “entrepreneur of social change,” she co-founded Ms. magazine in 1971, a publication that championed equal rights and banded legions of women together in that fight.

Most of the country remembers Steinem for her tireless activism, her style, or the time she went undercover as a Playboy Bunny; but few had the privilege of knowing what truly made Steinem exceptional behind the scenes.

Phyllis Chesler is one of them. An 85-year-old author and activist, Chesler was a friend of Steinem’s for more than half a century. In early 1971, she attended the very first meeting that led to the founding of Ms. magazine, and over the decades that followed, the two collaborated frequently, including on an anthology of Wonder Woman comic strips.

“Gloria had a way of making herself ‘liked,’ ” Phyllis writes today. “She was polite. She listened. She asked for advice.” But Steinem didn’t fit easily into a box. She frequently provoked the ire of fellow feminists. She worked with the Central Intelligence Agency. And later in life she advocated for positions that Phyllis believed represented a departure from Steinem’s “own feminist principles.”

“But you, too, were only human. Yes? And you were, first and last, a political being,” Phyllis writes.

Today, Steinem’s old friend pays tribute to the woman she knew, and reflects on the movement she leaves behind.

This week, former congressman George Santos was given a lifetime ban from the prediction market Kalshi, after allegedly making $17,000 betting on whether he would go to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. (He never made it; though he blames bad weather and travel mishaps.) But Santos isn’t going down without a fight. “You can burn me, but you can’t get rid of me, because I’m like the phoenix. I come right back, bitch,” Santos said during a special on-air call on this week’s episode of Second Thought. He then told Suzy Weiss and Dan Ahdoot that he plans to fight the ruling: “I’ll see you in court, Kalshi.”

Click below to watch their full call with Santos. Plus, Suzy and Dan break down John Galliano’s cancellation, the killer who confessed on a podcast, and some of the strangest stories you may have missed in popular culture this week.

We’ve published lots of other pieces worth catching up on this week, including River Page on the environmentalists who won’t let an Alaskan town have a road, Arthur Brooks on why the boomers won’t grow up, Caitlin Flanagan on Lindsay Clancy’s cult following, Rod Dreher’s farewell to Wendell Berry, and more . . .

A new batch of ads from single Free Pressers is live on our site! Click here to meet a skydiving massage therapist in North Carolina; an international lawyer with a strong artistic side; or a gefilte fish–loving woman in Jerusalem. Your special someone could be just one email away! If you’d like to take a chance at Free Press love, write a paragraph that defines you, including your age, where you live, and what you’re looking for, and send it over to [email protected].

How should you spend the rest of your weekend? We asked our Washington, D.C., correspondent Audrey Fahlberg for her recommendations . . .

📚Read . . . Looking for a fun thriller to kick off back-to-school season? Read The Secret History by Donna Tartt, a spooky novel about a murder involving a quirky cohort of classics students at a small liberal arts college in Vermont. I’ve read it twice and couldn’t recommend it more!

🍸Mix . . . Espresso martinis have always been a transitional end-of-summer-beginning-of-fall cocktail for me. But D.C. is still a swamp this time of year, so the frozen element is a requirement this Labor Day weekend. For a twist on everyone’s favorite caffeinated cocktail, simply pour some cold brew/espresso into an ice tray. Combine those coffee ice cubes into a blender with your favorite coffee liqueur, your preferred vodka, and a dash of simple syrup, and voilà, you have the perfect farewell-to-summer cocktail slushy. Add a splash of half-and-half or flavored creamer for a frappé feel. (Pro tip: Trader Joe’s has a solid and affordable espresso martini mix if you don’t feel like trekking out to your local liquor store to buy all the fixings.)

📺Watch . . . Martha Stewart specials on YouTube. Call me crazy, but as soon as the calendar hits the “-ber” months, I start pulling out my pumpkin-themed pillowcases and brainstorming fun ways to make the next few months as festive as possible. There’s no one better to usher in the autumnal spirit than Stewart. Yes, Martha is type A as can be and rarely smiles. But the woman has taste, and enough ghost-themed cookie recipes to last you a lifetime. My mom and I fell down a YouTube rabbit hole the other day watching her Halloween specials and had an absolute blast. (Oh, and if you haven’t seen the Martha documentary on Netflix, that’s a must-watch, too.)

Last but not least: Feast your eyes on this poster of James Dean, from the film adaptation of East of Eden. And, while you’re at it, click here to read the book with Free Pressers worldwide today!

That’s all, folks! Have a great weekend.

“Do you think the 9/11 fund will be the lead of your obituary?” I asked Ken Feinberg.

Feinberg didn’t hesitate. “Without a doubt,” he replied in a Boston accent thicker than Ben Affleck’s in Good Will Hunting. “It was a historic event, unique in American history, and I was the center of attention concerning that fund, which has not been replicated since.”

The center of attention he most certainly was, and we’ll get to that shortly. But first, let me set the scene. It was 6 p.m.—cocktail hour. I was in my New York office, and Feinberg, an esteemed attorney specializing in mediation, was wearing a polo shirt in his summer place on Martha’s Vineyard. We have known each other for 30-odd years, so he was perfectly willing to go along with my request that he abide by the Two Drinks protocol and bring some wine to our Zoom interview. He poured himself a glass of sauvignon blanc. I poured a glass of cabernet. We toasted to our long acquaintanceship—dare I say, friendship—and then, between sips, got down to business.