Former Army personnel officer here, 6 years active duty, one in a combat zone. Processed many medals. Some insights on the Walz stolen valor controversy. A thread…

Hypnotic

“God is the third rail of rock and roll.” Reflecting on faith, honesty, and choosing to talk openly about God in music. Full conversation on The Magnificent Others with this week’s guest Michael Sweet of Stryper.

Watch this.

Ah yes, Illinois… a famous Republican stronghold. We’ve had 4 years of a Republican governorship since 2003 and even he had Democratic supermajorities in the House and Senate. Illinois is world famous for terrible Democratic governance. This is a truly absurd comment.

I have many thoughts on the Nikole Hannah-Jones story, especially having attended the kind of schools she sent her daughter to, but if we're looking for takeaways, here's a simple one. When an expert in education so thoroughly demonstrates a jarring and near complete lack of expertise in the act of getting an education for her own daughter, we should stop taking advice from her on curriculum, instruction, and all other fads disguised as wisdom she offers. That seems like the least we could do. Her daughter's personal struggle, which is indeed sympathetic, wasn't much of a teachable moment for her, as she doesn't seem to have updated any of her priors (and actually fudges funding facts, so as not to disrupt the narrative of under-resourced schools). But it should be a teachable moment for us, about the outsized influence of a scholar who claims to know better than anyone what her daughter would be up against in the school to which she chose to send her, but was inexplicably surprised and left her daughter completely unprepared for it.

Astonishing

Watching this should make your blood boil. These are not journalists. They are paid propagandists with teleprompters. They lied to your face. For years. About everything that mattered. They did it because they despise this country and they want to gut the life you built, the kids you raised, and the flag you still stand for. They deserve nothing but contempt.

Good interview this morning on @AM560TheAnswer

Looking forward to talking Illinois Politics with Mike @koolidge, filling in for @DanProft on Chicago's Morning Answer this morning in about 5 minutes. 560theanswer.com/listenlive

Piker isn’t an op. His positions are standard talking points on the academic left which the Democrats have ceded their party to. None of his ideas are even controversial in the Columbia faculty lounge.

All of this

Has anyone at CNN explained the difference between Islam and Islamism to Abby Phillip? Or are we just all gonna move on?

This morning I taught a class of 7-8 year-olds and worried that I went too hard on the 9/11 remembrance and hoped I didn't scare them. Now I'm watching footage from that day and realizing I absolutely did not go hard enough.

I reread this every year. I cry like a baby every year. Todd Beamer died a father, husband, and hero. Todd: Hello… Operator… listen to me. I can’t speak very loud. This is an emergency. I’m a passenger on a United flight to San Francisco. Our plane has been hijacked. Lisa: I understand. Can they see you? Todd: No. There are three that we know of. They have knives — razor knives, like box cutters. Someone announced from the cockpit there was a bomb. It sounded fake. Lisa: Your name?Todd: Todd Beamer. United Flight 93.Todd: They killed one passenger in first class. They forced most of us back. Fourteen of us here. Five flight attendants. The guy with the bomb ordered us to sit on the floor. Lisa: Are you okay? Todd: We’re going down… wait. No. We’re leveling off. We changed directions. We’re flying east again. Todd: A guy named Jeremy called his wife. She told him two planes hit the World Trade Center. Lisa, is that true? Lisa: I have to tell you the truth. It’s very bad. Both towers are gone. A third plane hit the Pentagon. Our country is under attack. I’m afraid your plane may be part of their plan. Todd: Oh God. Lisa, will you do something for me? Call my wife and my kids. Promise me you’ll call. Lisa: I promise. Todd: Our home number is… You have the same name as my wife. Lisa. We’ve been married ten years. She’s pregnant with our third child. Tell her I love her. I’ll always love her. We have two boys — David, he’s 3, and Andrew, he’s 1. Tell them their daddy loves them and he is so proud of them. The baby is due January 12th. I saw an ultrasound. We still don’t know if it’s a girl or a boy. Lisa: I’ll tell them. I promise, Todd.(Lisa patches in the FBI.) Agent: Todd, your plane is on a course for Washington. Best guess is the White House or the Capitol. Todd: I understand. I’ll be back. Todd: Everyone knows this isn’t a normal hijacking. We have decided we will not be pawns in their plot. Lisa: What are you going to do? Todd: Four of us are going to rush the one with the bomb. Then the cockpit. A stewardess is getting boiling water. We’ll take them out. Todd: Would you pray with me?They pray the Lord’s Prayer. Then: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Todd: God help me. Jesus help me.Are you guys ready? Let’s Roll.

Must read @Ayaan essay @tabletmag: "...among the most neglected pieces of evidence from Sept. 11 because it contradicts the explanations of the attack that most Western commentators preferred. Atta was not poor. He was not radicalized by drone strikes that had not yet happened, nor by American support for Israel. He was not in any formal or organizational sense an 'Islamist.' Rather, he had an uncompromising and militant commitment to Islam that he was ready to die for." tabletmag.com/sections/news/…

Do t believe I’ve ever seen this footage of the second plane hitting. Insane.

Never forget what happened on September 11, 2001, 25 years ago today, and never forget who did it.

CNN host, while laughing at her guest, pretends not to know — or actually doesn’t know — what Islamism is.

People say: "I wish one middle-class income could support an entire family like it did in the 1950s." Okay. Then take the entire 1950s package—not just the parts you romanticize. • No Netflix, Disney+, Spotify, or endless subscriptions • One small TV with 3 channels, if you're lucky • One basic car for the whole family • No yearly vacations or cheap flights across the country • No smartphones, laptops, gaming consoles, or internet • Every meal cooked at home from scratch • Kids sharing bedrooms • A house under 1,000 sq. ft. for a family of 4–6 • One bathroom for everyone • Little to no air conditioning in many places • Clothes repaired, reused, and handed down • Eating at restaurants was an occasional luxury, not a weekly habit The comparison isn't just income. The average household today consumes far more space, technology, entertainment, travel, convenience, and services than the average household did 70 years ago. That doesn't mean housing, healthcare, and education aren't more expensive today—they are. But when people compare lifestyles across generations, they often compare a 1950s income to a 2020s standard of living. Those aren't the same thing. If you want the economics of the 1950s, you have to accept the lifestyle of the 1950s too.

In a very hot DALLAS 🥵🌇 from now until early Friday for the RNC Midterms Convention, hit me up if you’re here as well 🇺🇸🐘