Teen assailant murders four, stopped by good guy with gun
Another crazed teen entered a school with murderous intent and opened fire on Thursday. Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, experienced tragedy and heroism yesterday when an as-yet-unidentified 16-year-old opened fire on someone in the parking lot before entering the school. Inside, the murderer killed three children, aged five, eight, and 11, as well as a teacher, and critically injured at least two more. Police were on the way after the first shots were fired, but one armed community member refused to wait. The unnamed hero entered the building and shot to end the threat, killing the assailant. When police arrived, they confirmed the attacker, a local, was dead, rendered aid to the wounded, and evacuated the school. This tragedy is a stark reminder that a good guy with a gun is the best defense.

DHS sets record for border security
The Department of Homeland Security has ended fiscal year 2026 with zero illegal immigrants released into the U.S. Only a few illegal border crossers were apprehended, and none of those were set free; most were returned to Mexico, while some were detained or sent to another authority for detention or prosecution. Border Patrol reports 95% fewer apprehensions in the last year compared to the Biden administration, a new record low. DHS reports that the tighter security has disrupted smuggling cartels that traffic in humans and drugs, and that border deaths are down over 80% as well. Secretary Markwayne Mullin summed it up: “President Trump promised the American people a secure border, and the data proves he delivered.”

Trump rejects firing squad live stream
Nidal Hasan’s execution by firing squad will not be live streamed after President Donald Trump reversed the decision yesterday. In a social media post, Trump wrote, “[Hasan] will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed.” For several days, both Trump and the Pentagon had confirmed that Hasan’s military execution, the first in over 65 years, would be publicly streamed. While asserting that doing so would deter terrorists, Trump explained, “Many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device.” A survivor of the Ft. Hood attack, Alonzo Lunsford, welcomed Trump’s decision, stating, “It proves that we are a better people, a better nation, and that we’re not barbaric. We don’t glorify such actions.”

Alberta weighs separation referendum
The oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta is pursuing options concerning whether to start the process of independence from Canada. The vote at play for Albertans currently is whether they want to either remain a province or ask the government to start the legal referendum process. Alberta is significantly more conservative than the rest of the nation, and it has suffered from the ongoing trade standoff with the United States. Prime Minister Mark Carney has been campaigning very hard for Albertans to not pass a referendum, naturally blaming America for dividing the nation. Carney’s pro-Canada message surely touched some, but whether it will be enough to convince Albertans who have had long-standing grievances with the Canadian government remains to be seen.

Cue cards in a Senate debate raise eyebrows
Alaska Democrat Senate candidate Mary Peltola endured some mockery after reading off cue cards during her debate with Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan. Watching Peltola, Sullivan asked the moderators, “We weren’t supposed to get these questions beforehand, were we?” The moderators said no, and Peltola brushed it off, saying she was simply better prepared than her opponent. Social media was not impressed with Peltola’s answer. “Mary, blink twice if you are okay,” said National Republican Senate Committee official Joanna Rodriguez. “It seems you can’t string a sentence together without reading.” An official Republican research account hit Peltola: “Mary Peltola — who did not introduce a single bill to help Alaska fishermen during her first term in Congress — has to read off a script when talking about Alaska’s fishing industry.”

More voter fraud in California?
The Trump administration provided a list of 20,000 names to California election officials and asked them to vet the list for noncitizens. They did not comply, so the DOJ has filed a lawsuit to bar them from counting those ballots because they have not been verified as valid voters. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter says the lawsuit alleges that California is knowingly facilitating unlawful voting by allowing noncitizens to vote. The state mails ballots to every registered voter. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber claimed that the demand to refuse to count the already-mailed ballots was “unprecedented,” and Governor Gavin Newsom said the Constitution charges the states with verifying voters are citizens, not the federal government. However, federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in national elections, so if states do not abide by that law, the government must hold them accountable.

Vance’s six-point anti-fraud pledge
Vice President JD Vance has called on elected officials and government leaders to sign his new six-point pledge released Thursday. The pledge that 22 Republican governors have already signed calls on signatories to protect “vulnerable Americans” from fraud, to keep taxpayer-funded programs for American citizens, to ensure taxpayer-funded benefits are not being used to purchase luxury goods, to stop fraudulent payments before they are made, to hold those convicted of fraud accountable, and to arrest and deport illegal aliens who are convicted of fraud. Members of the Republican Study Committee in the House have signed the pledge, agreeing with Vance that Americans are sick of being robbed. Forty-one financial officers from the State Financial Officers Foundation across 28 states signed the initiative, committing to fight fraud alongside the Trump administration.

Cars can fly now
Last night, Elon Musk and Tesla unveiled the new Tesla Roadster, a futuristic vehicle that might have taken more from SpaceX than Tesla. For starters, it’s insanely fast, going from 0 to 60 in a single second — faster than any street-legal car and quicker than many race cars. But the most exciting part is that the new Roadster can fly. During Musk’s presentation, the car drove up an upside-down ramp, flipped right-side up, and hovered back down to the ground. While flying cars probably won’t be commercially widespread for a few more years, this proves that a car can fly on its own — and with a lot of money and an extensive background check, you can too.

EVs, hybrids surpass gas cars
For the first time in history, electric and hybrid vehicles have surpassed gas-only vehicles in global sales. Roughly 49% of global new car sales were either EVs or hybrids through the first half of 2026. The primary driver of this change has been the European market, where EV and hybrid sales increased by 45%, while global sales of gas-only powered vehicles dropped by 10%. Overall, vehicle sales dropped 5% in 2026. In the U.S. market, gas-only powered vehicles continued to dominate, accounting for 77% of all new vehicles sold through August.

White House limits Starshield for Ukraine
On Thursday, Reuters reported that the White House limited Ukraine’s satellite system used for battlefield communications and drone operations. The Defense Department received an order to slow the SpaceX Starshield service for the Ukrainian military. Officials did not specify who issued the order and denied the president’s involvement. President Trump recently pressured Kyiv to stop striking Russian refineries, since those strikes hurt fuel prices. The U.S. has also threatened to stop providing intelligence about Russian missile launches. SpaceX developed Starshield, an advanced version of the publicly available Starlink internet, for governments and national security customers, particularly the Pentagon. Ukraine said its military-grade internet receptors no longer work on fast-moving drones. On Thursday, it said the receptors still aren’t back to full performance. The day before, Elon Musk commented that the U.S. military, not SpaceX, controlled system limits.

MS NOW falsely reports on Patel’s whereabouts
In case readers of The Patriot Post somehow thought MS NOW, formerly MSNBC, could be trusted to report basic facts, they should think again. The Leftmedia organization reported Tuesday that FBI Director Kash Patel had just landed in Russia for a planned mid-October trip. No one knows where they got that idea, as Patel was at a law enforcement event in Virginia at the time. The Leftmedia hosts nonetheless speculated that Patel was asking Putin to interfere in the upcoming midterm elections. The Leftmedia is factually wrong and constantly smearing Republicans; what else is new? Gary Bauer said it best: “These leftist hacks don’t even pretend to follow the basic rules of journalism, particularly when it involves extraordinary allegations and speculation.”

Who funded the White House ballroom?
Recently obtained secret documents list the donors who supported President Trump’s White House ballroom. The list includes tech giants and billionaires, many previously undisclosed, and reveals payment amounts and plans. Nvidia and Apple gave $25 million, along with the Adelson family and billionaire Charles Ergen. Several other notable companies, such as Microsoft, contributed millions. Many of those companies have contracts with the government. Nvidia, for example, pledged its money soon after a microchip deal with Trump. The company requested its donation remain anonymous. The 67 major donations from private donors total $333 million, aligning with the Trump administration’s public statement. Trump was not on the list, though last year he said he was contributing.

Headlines

  • ATF suspends federal registration and approval rules for certain firearms (Fox News)
  • Pentagon sends hundreds of Army troops to Latin America for training as drug-trafficking campaign expands (Fox News)
  • “Today” show commissars interrogate Chick-fil-A boss about gay and trans stuff (The Federalist)
  • Republicans dominate five financially healthiest state governments, Democrats run the five worst (Washington Stand)

The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, Jacob Geoffrey, Hudson Baldwin, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.