It’s Friday, July 10. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: River Page goes cold turkey on tech with the modern-day Luddites. Why the Michigan Senate race matters. Michael Shermer on why the Charlie Kirk conspiracies are immune to facts. Olivia Reingold explains why Clavicular just popped up in Israel.
But first: Frannie Block reports on a dark tale of a teenage boy accused of sexual assault, and the tragedy that came next.
Your child has been accused of terrible wrongdoing, the school you trusted presumes him guilty, and you can’t find any way to defend him.
I’ve spoken to so many families who have been through this.
There was the 12-year-old in Illinois who saw his friend tying a jump rope into a noose in the schoolyard—and asked if he was okay—only to be accused of a “hate crime.” And the 17-year-old in California whose life was derailed when someone found a picture of him wearing a dark acne mask—and claimed it was “blackface.”
But this is one of the hardest stories I’ve ever told.
“I didn’t do this,” 15-year-old Owen Poirier told his parents when they picked him up from school for the last time.
They didn’t know what he was talking about. They just knew that he had been suspended that morning and that he was facing a criminal investigation.
Later, they learned that a girl had claimed Owen touched her crotch on the school bus. Eventually, they discovered that there was scant evidence to support this allegation. The school’s principal admitted months later in an email: “There was no sexual assault.”
But by then, it was too late. Owen had killed himself.
If he was still alive today, he would be 18, working at the family business, and preparing to take over one day. Instead, his parents are locked in a legal battle over who is to blame for Owen’s death. The truth is starting to emerge in court, where a disturbing picture is being painted, of due process trampled, and a rush to judgment that cost a boy his life.
—Frannie Block
Can you escape your smartphone? That’s the goal of a festival called the Summer of Ludd, named after those 19th-century Luddites who smashed up the looms that were replacing human labor. We sent River Page to meet the contemporary Luddites trying to break free from their screens. Come for the deep dive into the battle to stay human in the digital age. Stay for the anti-tech performance art and the attendee who calls herself “Waterbed.”
What does Michigan’s Democratic primary race for the Senate, being fought by incumbent congresswoman Haley Stevens and far-left Abdul El-Sayed, say about the direction of the party? It might just say everything. At their fiery debate on Tuesday night, the two Democrats went after each other as much as they did the presumptive Republican opponent. Noah Bernstein reports from Michigan on how the state became a major battleground in the Democratic Party’s war against itself.
The evidence keeps piling up against Tyler Robinson, accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk last year. On Thursday, prosecutors played an interview with Robinson’s former lover, who said Robinson told him that he wished “he hadn’t done it.” If you think this evidence will destroy the grotesque conspiracy theories about Kirk’s death, think again, says Michael Shermer. Read Michael’s column on what we’ve learned from this week’s court hearing, and why it won’t matter to the likes of Candace Owens.
Fewer than six months ago, the “looksmaxxing” streamer Clavicular was partying to “Heil Hitler,” a Kanye West song that samples audio of an Adolf Hitler speech. Now he is paying a visit to the Holy Land. Cue outrage from his followers and friends, many of whom have a track record of antisemitism. So what is the controversial Gen-Z icon doing in Israel? Olivia Reingold picked up the phone and asked him exactly that.
Is the war between the United States and Iran back on? How should we make sense of the fragile state of the Strait of Hormuz? And what about the future of the European alliance, America’s relationship with Turkey, and China? Rafaela Siewert spoke with Niall Ferguson about all those questions and more.
War is not just bullets and bombs. War can be waged on many other fronts, even in space. In today’s episode of “School of War,” Aaron MacLean sits down with Edward Fishman to discuss how economic choke points became yet another weapon in America’s arsenal, and what our adversaries are doing to try to catch up.
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EDITORS’ PICKS
The biggest story in politics this week was the dramatic fall of Graham Platner. Who could have seen this one coming? Anyone with two eyes, according to Caitlin Flanagan. In case you missed our coverage, read Caitlin, as well as Eli Lake and Kat Rosenfield, on the story of how the most controversial Senate candidate this cycle finally crashed out. And check out our editorial on the “Believe Women” double standard that allowed Platner to last this long.
For a prognosis on whether the Democratic Party can survive the far-left faction that promoted Platner, and has seen primary victories from New York to Colorado in recent weeks, we turned to Evan Barker. She was a Democratic operative from 2018 to 2023, which meant working for some of the people behind the victories by New York City’s Brad Lander and Darializa Avila Chevalier, and Colorado’s Melat Kiros. Because she saw the coming earthquake from the inside, you should read her playbook for Democrats worried about this trend.
“Imagine being terminally ill, slowly losing your functions, your faculties, your dignity, your bladder control—and there at your bedside, fluffing your pillow and slipping ice chips through your pale, parched lips, is the star of Eyes Wide Shut.” This week, Kat Rosenfield took us into the world of death doulas, who are reintroducing some humanity into a process made sterile by corporate influence. They can absorb the burdens that a dying person and their loved ones don’t want to put on each other. Kat also wrestles with a giant question: Who can we trust to be beside us as we approach the threshold?
Now what do we do? President Donald Trump’s declaration on Wednesday that the ceasefire with Iran was over, along with calling the regime’s leaders “sick people” and “scum,” left many Americans wondering what our country’s options are. Aaron MacLean’s piece this week soberly assesses them, arguing that nothing will be easy or without risk, but there is no going back.
Ezra Jin, the pastor of one of China’s largest underground churches, spent 266 days in Chinese prison for the crime of practicing and preaching his faith. On the eve of America’s 250th birthday, he came home and was reunited with family members in Los Angeles. This week, Frannie Block broke the news of Jin’s release, how it happened, and what it might mean for other Christians who are still behind bars in China.
