It was impressive to see the ingenuity and innovation happening at Morton Industries and their new East Peoria facility! I’ll continue to support pro-growth policies, like the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, that help manufacturers like Morton Industries expand, create more good-paying jobs, and invest in our region.

33 years ago this weekend, two Delta Force snipers made a choice almost nobody would make. Master Sergeant Gary Gordon was 33, from Lincoln, Maine, with a wife and two young kids at home. Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart was 35, a farm kid from Newville, Pennsylvania. On October 3, 1993, they were in a Black Hawk circling over Mogadishu when another Black Hawk, Super 64, was shot down. Pilot Mike Durant was alive in the wreckage with a broken back and a crushed leg. His crew was hurt. There were no friendly ground forces anywhere near them, and hundreds of armed militia and locals were already converging on the crash site. From the air, Gordon and Shughart could see exactly what was coming. They asked to be dropped in. Command said no. They asked again. No again. They asked a third time and finally got the green light. Their helicopter set them down nearby and they fought their way to the wreck on foot. Two men, carrying only what they had on them. They pulled Durant out of the cockpit, set him up in a safer position, and started holding off the crowd. For a while, it worked. They kept the mob back with precise, steady fire while the numbers against them kept growing. Shughart was killed first. Gordon kept fighting alone. When he was nearly out of ammunition, he went back to Durant, handed him a rifle, and told him good luck. Then he went back out. He was killed minutes later. Durant was captured, beaten, and held for 11 days. He came home alive. He has said for decades that he's only here because of those two men. In 1994 Gordon and Shughart were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the first since Vietnam. The Navy later named two ships after them, the USNS Gordon and the USNS Shughart. They didn't stumble into that fight. They watched it from above, understood the odds, and asked three times to go anyway. Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart. Remember their names.

Thank you for your service, DR. Few understand how much bravery you have had to display to do what you do. I salute and admire you. Godspeed on the book tour. (And I STRONGLY double-down on your SGE comment!)

🥸 2️⃣0️⃣ There was no active comparator, and only 2% of participants had a body mass index below 30. With 4 milligrams, more than 40% reached a body mass index below 30. The authors suggest that the minimum effective dose remains important to consider for each patient.

🫡

Had this man not found the courage to fight back after being repeatedly attacked with an axe capable of cutting through metal—while bleeding profusely—and had the presence mind to trigger the hijack/emergency code, initiate the emergency response and open the cockpit door to allow passengers to assist him, the aircraft’s subsequent dive could have had catastrophic consequences. Had that aircraft not been recovered, the geopolitical consequences for the Middle East could have been profound and potentially irreversible. Sometimes history turns on the courage, resilience and presence of mind of one person. Yes. One Indian man.

Huge kudos to the 4 senators and the White House for completing negotiations on energy permitting reform. The bill has been so difficult because the 4 senators came with very different priorities and constituencies. Capito (R-WV): pipelines and permitting certainty Whitehouse (D-RI): reducing emissions Lee (R-UT): removing regulatory barriers and protecting states' rights Heinrich (D-NM): protecting lands; transmission and renewables They came to the table because the current system fails on all four sets of priorities. But permitting reform is not zero sum. This deal advances all of them. It's good for America and the American people.

Scott Adams did not get his Medal of Freedom when alive. I asked the right people. You can consider this a small matter, or one of ego or pride. Do you think Trump's big donors would have had such a problem? All of this "little" (it was a big deal to many of us) stuff adds up.

American energy dominance means putting American workers, families, and our national security first. By unleashing the full potential of American energy, we can end our reliance on foreign adversaries, lower costs, and create more good-paying jobs here at home. washingtontimes.com/news/202…

Congratulations, @jgebbia!

BREAKING: Trump’s Education Department is tying federal student loans to what graduates actually EARN. Programs that fail the earnings test in 2 out of 3 years will lose access to federal Direct Loans. It’s assessed program by program. English, music and social work are NOT automatically being cut off. The rule starts July 2027, with the first possible loan cutoffs in July 2028. If colleges want to sell degrees as investments, they should have to answer for the returns.

RAV IS "STEPPING INTO CNN'S POSITION. THANK YOU TO THE WHITE HOUSE!" "Seeing X BLOW UP, telling everybody how great RAV's coverage has been this week. Thank you to the WH for the opportunity and TRUSTING us to cover @POTUS." @taymitchell_tv

I don’t often write about myself, but today I shared something deeply personal: my experience fighting cancer while continuing to do a job I love. Cancer tried to make my world smaller. I was determined not to let it. I am incredibly grateful to be cancer-free, and even more grateful for President Trump, my family, friends, colleagues, medical team and faith that carried me through the hardest days. I hope sharing my story might offer some strength to even one person still in the fight. usatoday.com/story/opinion/v…

Some of y’all are really upset because I have WHITE children in my program. It’s been constant in my DMs etc. And I’m not apologizing for helping a child. You can debate race, privilege and politics all day. I’m dealing with actual children standing in front of me who need guidance, structure, skills and people who care about them. When they walk through my doors, they’re MY boys. They’re going to learn. They’re going to be challenged. They’re going to be corrected. And they’re going to be loved. I’ve had to grow and challenge some of my own prejudices over the years too. But one thing I know now: a child’s skin color will NEVER be my reason for refusing to pour into him.

Here's the problem with energy export bans... Countries that import energy prioritize sources based on price, reliability and security. The lower price, the better, obviously. But importers don't just choose on price. Reliability is whether the system can meet peak needs. Energy demand fluctuates, sometimes significantly. Winter Storm Uri was an extreme event in the US. Countries place high value on creating a system of suppliers and built infrastructure that can flex to meet those events. Security is broader. It asks whether a country has dependable access to supplies at reasonable costs despite geopolitical, infrastructure, or economic turmoil. One way to reduce that vulnerability is to secure supplies through long-term agreements with allies, even if they are somewhat more expensive. After Russia invaded Ukraine, and also during tariff negotiations, the US raised its hand. We said: 'Buy from us. You can trust us to deliver the combination of affordability, reliability, and security that others can't.' And they did. Europe and East Asia increased their purchases. The US has become a trusted supplier of energy to many countries. At least it has been. Calls for a domestic ban on diesel exports in response to high prices threaten that. The US can't claim to offer reliable and secure supplies if we change the rules stop delivering supplies they rely on when markets become stressed. Will countries still buy our energy if we price it low? yes. But they won’t buy the same quantities or pay the same premiums for American products if that supply becomes effectively interruptible whenever domestic politics become uncomfortable. The US isn’t the lowest-cost producer. The American energy industry prospers by offering the combination of price, reliability, and security that importers value. That reputation took years to build. Even discussing whether we will honor it during periods of stress risks diminishing its value.

Thank you to Bloomington Mayor Dan Brady and our local officials for joining me to discuss our ongoing efforts to secure federal disaster relief following the severe storms that hit Bloomington-Normal and rural McLean County last month. I’ll continue working with President Trump, his Administration, and FEMA to stress the need for this relief and ensure our communities have the resources they need to recover. wglt.org/local-news/2026-09-…

I’ll grab you a prayer card, Roger!

Fulton Sheen explained that since God is the source of our rights, the communist must wage war against God in order to deny the true source of our rights

UPDATE: I am in St Louis

NYT: A Reclusive G.O.P. Billionaire Pulls Back His Money From Senate Republicans Timothy Mellon, one of the party’s biggest donors in 2024, has so far withheld his midterm donations for Republican senators because he is unhappy about the failure to pass a key Trump priority. nytimes.com/2026/09/23/us/po…