By John R. Stoeffler
I lost my first child on the day I was born on April 19, 1775…I am America. He fell on the green at Lexington, his heart pierced by a British musket ball. Many more of my sons and daughters would fall on that day and in the years to come until the guns grew still and peace came to me on that glorious day at Yorktown.
Eighty-six years later my heart was nearly broken as my sons and daughters donned the blue and grey and took up arms against each other. At Manassas, Missionary Ridge and elsewhere my children fell. And I grieved. During this devastating time, my son Abraham Lincoln eloquently expressed my feelings at a place called Gettysburg when he pledged that those who had fallen “shall not have died in vain; and that Government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
Fifty-two years had passed when I was called upon to aid my cousins in Europe. This time my children crossed the sea and “over there” at places like the Somme and the Meuse-Argonne many gave their last great measure of personal sacrifice to stem tyranny’s tide.
In the 1940s my children became embroiled in the biggest war the world has ever known. From a harbor called Pearl to Iwo Jima, Anzio, Bataan, and Bastogne they fought and died that the peal of freedom’s bell would not be stilled. And only then, when it was done, did Johnny comes marching home again.
In 1950, my loved ones were again off to stay tyranny’s iron hand in a faraway place called Korea. At places with names like Pork Chop Hill and Heartbreak Ridge did my children again fight and die for freedom, and again I wept for those who fell.
In the 60s and 70s my children took up arms in freedom’s name. From the Mekong to the DMZ to a valley called the Ia Drang many gave some and some gave all. The pride I have in them for the courage and the sacrifice each made has never faded.
Since Viet Nam, more of my sons and daughters have given their all on freedom’s behalf in places with equally strange sounding names like Mosul, Fallujah, the Korengal Valley and Helmand Province.
There are those who hate me and what I stand for. Given the chance they would snuff out the inseparable essentials of my existence, liberty and freedom. They have different names and faces, but their nefarious goal remains the same – to destroy my children and me. Nothing made this so clear as the attack on September 11, 2001 when those dark forces ended the lives of nearly 3,000 of my children for the sole reason that they are Americans.
For some, time passes and memories fade, but through all this I tell you that I remember each of these my children. The faces of those who fell at Bunker Hill are as fresh in my mind today as those who perished at Gettysburg, Chateau-Thierry, Normandy, Pusan, Baghdad, and, yes, on United Flight 93. I know of the dreams each had for their family, and those their family had for them. And where they now lie, be it in my bosom or in some distant land makes no difference as every name and face is forever etched in my mind and heart.
No, I can never forget these my children for I AM AMERICA, and I shall always remember.
Why Is Memorial Day Important?
Towards the end of May, U.S. citizens around the country observe Memorial Day. Many people visit cemeteries or places that remind them of their loved ones. Pancake breakfasts, BBQs, swimming parties, and picnics are also common ways to celebrate the holiday and kick off the summer months. But there’s so much more to Memorial Day than gatherings and summer fun. What is Memorial Day, and why do we celebrate it?
In “To Lucasta, On Going to the Wars,” Richard Lovelace (1618–1657) writes of a soldier who laments leaving the “chaste breast and quiet mind” of his mistress to embrace “a sword, a horse, a shield.” But he concludes the poem with this thought:
“Yet this inconstancy is such
As thou too shalt adore;
I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
Loved I not Honour more.”
Over 200 years later, Karl Maeser (1828–1901), founder of Brigham Young Academy, precursor to Brigham Young University, also spoke of honor. This quote, which comes from Brett and Kate McKay’s The Art of Manliness: Manvotionals, is long but deserves to be rendered in full:
“I have been asked what I mean by ‘word of honor.’ I will tell you. Place me behind prison walls—walls of stone ever so high, ever so thick, reaching ever so far into the ground—there is a possibility that in some way or another I might be able to escape; but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of that circle? No, never! I’d die first.”
Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation Monday that will make it easier for authorities to seize firearms from persons who are thought to pose a danger to themselves or others, often known as “red flag” laws.
“Extreme risk protection orders have been proven to reduce suicides, save lives, and keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and violent criminals,” Whitmer said in a statement released on Monday.
According to a legislative analysis of the bill published by the Michigan House of Representatives, Senate Bill 83 allows certain individuals to file a “extreme risk protection order” with the circuit court if “evidence supports that a respondent poses a significant risk of self-injury or injury to others by possessing a firearm,” according to a legislative analysis of the bill published by the Michigan House of Representatives.
President Biden should be worried because he has a lot of explaining to do.
Multiple whistleblowers inside the FBI and IRS have come forward and revealed that the federal government holding records, which are unclassified, that prove Biden was part of a criminal bribery scheme with a foreign national.
Republicans have subpoenaed the document but the FBI has refused to hand it over.
Making matters worse, former Obama staffer Mike McCormick worked in the White House during Biden’s time as vice president.
“Joe Biden is a criminal,” McCormick said. “That’s the bottom line. I’ve got the evidence.”
The Left is waging a full-fledged cultural revolution against traditional America. And the Maoist results are often as absurd as they are terrifying.
Special-counsel John Durham just issued his final report on wrongdoing within the FBI, CIA, and the Department of Justice.
The summary confirms that our premier investigatory and intelligence agencies interfered in the 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.
Directors and high-ranking FBI officials lied under oath. They misled Congress. They altered court documents and deceived federal judges.
The FBI hired a foreign national to gather dirt on Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign—while he was being paid by the rival Hillary Clinton campaign.
The House on Thursday passed legislation that would permanently classify fentanyl-related substances (FRS) as Schedule I drugs that are subject to the toughest federal prison terms and penalties, over the objection of most Democrats.
Lawmakers approved the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act in an 289-133 vote that saw 132 Democrats oppose the bill even though the White House signaled support for it. In the final vote, 74 Democrats supported the bill and only one Republican voted against it.
Supporters of the bill have argued that there are thousands of fentanyl analogues that cannot be analyzed quickly enough to understand which are harmful and which are not, which is why all fentanyl-related substances need to be classified in Schedule I. FRS has been temporarily classified that way on an emergency basis since 2018, and the House bill would make that permanent.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was finally able to see a long sought-after 2021 cable from diplomats warning the Biden administration about the situation of Afghanistan that was ignored, according to Just the News. The chairman and the committee's highest-ranking Democrat Representative Greg Meeks (D-NY) managed to obtain a reading of the cable after much evasion by the Department of State. The Texan chairman had to warn the Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that he risked being found in contempt of Congress after ignoring a subpoena for the document.
Representative McCaul proclaimed, "[t]he dissenters [in the cable] were absolutely right about everything they said...And it was a warning to the administration about what was going to happen and what they needed to do. [The dissenters] deserve a medal...Unfortunately, the administration didn’t heed all their warnings and we got what we got."
On Wednesday, House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) took significant action to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress.
"[Rep. James Comer] threatens to initiate contempt of Congress proceedings if FBI Director Christopher Wray continues to defy his subpoena," the House Oversight's official Twitter account posted. "The FBI has failed to produce the unclassified record that alleges a criminal bribery scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national. This record is two weeks past due."
The Democratic Marxists can always rely on Ol' Mitch to come through for them.
A growing number of Democrats are expressing hope that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and his GOP colleagues will get involved in debt limit negotiations as the deadline to avoid a default inches closer.
The debt ceiling, or the highest amount the federal government can borrow, will either need to be raised or abolished sometime next month to avert a default. Economists have long warned that such a default would wreak havoc on the economy. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States will be unable to pay its bills by June 1.
The man who put his feet on Nancy Pelosi's desk got 3.5 years in jail.
A western Michigan man who pleaded no contest to shooting an 84-year-old woman campaigning against abortion rights at his home was sentenced to community service Tuesday.
Richard Harvey, 75, was ordered to complete 100 hours of community service. Judge Suzanne Hoseth Kreeger also gave him a suspended jail sentence of two months and a delayed sentence of one year on probation.
Harvey pleaded no contest last month to felonious assault, careless discharge of a firearm causing injury and reckless discharge of a firearm.
Kreeger also must pay $347.19 in restitution and cannot have any contact with the woman he shot, 84-year-old Joan Jacobson.
Jacobson was shot Sept. 20 at Harvey’s home in Odessa Township, a community about 130 miles (210 kilometers) northwest of Detroit. Jacobson told investigators that she was asking a woman at the home to vote against a proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to abortion in the state when she was told to leave. The amendment later passed.
Harvey has said the shooting was accidental, but Jacobson has maintained she believes it was intentional after she had argued with Harvey’s wife, Sharon Harvey.
Jacobson was treated at a hospital for a shoulder wound.
Abbott and Costello. Laurel and Hardy. Jerome Powell and Ben Bernanke. Two Federal Reserve Chairs walk into a Perspectives on Monetary Policy panel discussion at the Thomas Laubach Research Conference, and one of them says, “Boy, the food here is too expensive.” And the other one says, “I know, and such small portions for more dollars.” Bernanke and Powell participated in a good old-fashioned and cozy tête-à -tête to discuss current events, mainly inflation and the banking turmoil. But while the two monetary policy legends blamed external factors for all the damage since the COVID-19 public health crisis, neither man looked into the soul of the Eccles Building to ascribe a modicum of blame.
There were two main headlines emanating from the May 19 Powell-Bernanke event. The first was that the current Fed chair does not believe interest rates may need to rise further as the credit crunch from the banking crisis might be enough to maintain inflation’s downward trajectory and achieve the institution’s 2% target rate. The second was that Bernanke seemed far more confident speaking to the audience than his colleague on stage, as Powell read primarily from several pieces of paper.
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favor of a 94-year-old woman who challenged a Minnesota county that seized and sold her condo to pay off her tax debt and then kept a $25,000 profit.
In a unanimous ruling, the justices said Hennepin County violated the U.S. Constitution’s Takings Clause, which prohibits the government from taking property without just compensation.
Geraldine Tyler lost her condo in a dispute with county officials after she owed $15,000 in property taxes. She had purchased it in 1999 but moved into a senior living facility in 2010. After moving out, she did not pay taxes on the property.
The county foreclosed on the condo, sold it for $40,000 and kept all the money instead of returning the $25,000 left over after the $15,000 tax debt was paid.
Ms. Tyler lost her initial challenge in lower court, prompting her to take the dispute to the high court.
I thought they wanted world control only over the pandemics. Now they have added climate change crisis for a reason to control the world. Then what?
Former US Representative and Regent Graduate School Dean Michele Bachmann is attending the 76th World Health Assembly this week in Geneva, Switzerland.
Michele joined Steve Bannon again on Wednesday to discuss the meetings on The War Room. According to Michele, the UN, World Health Organization (WHO), Bill and Melinda Gates Society, and World Trade Organization are all represented at the meetings this week.
Michele told Steve they are not even hiding their intentions during their meetings. Michele told Steve earlier today that WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who lied to the world about the COVID19 pandemic origins and mortality rate, is demanding the WHO hold “sovereignty” over all member nations due to the global warming climate crisis.
Everybody is jumping on the Reparations Bandwagon these days. The Climate Change nuts are unbelievable. They want money for free. They keep quoting studies that they make up.
A new study by the environmental research group One Earth estimates the world’s top fossil fuel companies have emitted around 36% of all global emissions since 1988. That amounts to 403,092 metric tons of CO2 emissions, based on the group’s 2023 analysis that builds on the Carbon Majors 2018 data set.
The aim of the study is to provide, for the first time, a methodology to quantify the economic impacts of individual companies’ damage to the climate. Estimates for the reparations are conservative, as they do not take into account factors including lives and livelihoods lost, species extinction, and biodiversity loss.
