In 1968 I was stationed at Kadena AFB, Japan. I was training to be a crew member of an RC135 that would fly over the Gulf of Tonkin. I went to the local medical office for my flight physical. They asked me to take my shoes and socks off, so they could take a “footprint” of my feet. I asked them why. It was a question I wished had never been asked or answered. They said that because in the event of a crash, sometimes the only way to identify the remains was to use footprints. Ouch.

I went through a total of 7 SERES (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) schools. One of them involved a course called. “Resistance to Interrogation.” This was highly classified for about 25 years. Then, without warning, I got a certificate of graduation in the mail form the USAF. The only thing one needed to know about this training was that we were “waterboarded” as part of our training. Waterboarding is when they strap someone down on a board, place a cloth over their nose and mouth, and then pour water on that cloth. Only during my case wasn’t water, it was stale coffee. This may explain why I still can’t stand coffee.

Some of the people in my class did not survive this training and they were quickly assigned to alternative duty.

I attended Level C training, because I was a graduate of the Defense Language Institute in Vietnamese and had a very high-level security clearance. This all came back to me when watching the news about the F15 pilot who was shot down over Iran. It was with extraordinary joy and relief that we learned that he was rescued this morning and was evacuated safely along will all the rescue party.

This is one of the best things about USAF. They truly mean it when they say no man left behind. Without going into detail, when a pilot was shot down in Vietnam, the airborne voice intercept operators, like me, would frequently be monitoring the NVA radio traffic in connection with this event. Most of the time, the results were great, but there were times when the pilot was killed or captured. Imagine listening to the enemy radio and hearing them gloat that they had captured one of our pilots alive. On the one hand, at least his family would know he had survived. One the other hand, once it was obvious that the pilot had been captured, it was impossible to continue further attempts at rescue.

This was a difficult blog for me to write. It is something that haunts me to this day. At this point, I am praising GOD that we got him back. Just imagine what Iran would have done if they held one of our pilots hostage. Negotiating in good faith is not on the list.

It infuriates me that Democrats continue to trash Donald Trump and, in some cases, even root for the enemy. An enemy that has been chanting “Death to America” for over 47 years. An enemy that would not hesitate to kill us and sadly, wouldn’t have hesitated to attack us with a nuclear weapon if that were remotely possible.

Once the decision was made to attack Iran, the country, including the MSM should have united behind our President. It is a sad commentary on the Democrat Party that they find this to be a bridge too far. There are some things more important than political parties and winning elections. Even more important than hating Donald Trump. Those who cannot recognize this are unworthy of being elected to political office.

In the meantime, let us all celebrate the safe return of that courageous F15 pilot. When I flew on combat missions there was always a choice between carrying an extra Smith & Wesson Combat Masterpiece 38 caliber pistol or carrying an extra radio. I always chose the extra radio, because if shot down my plan was to scream for help as loud as possible. Those of us who have had extensive SERE training fully understand what was at stake. We were all at risk of finding ourselves wearing the same shoes.

What a wonderful Easter surprise.

TDM

NO KINGS!

My wife spotted a tee shirt. As soon as I saw it, it had to be mine. The tee shirt has a large silhouette of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on the top. Under neath it just says “yours.” I am not sure everyone gets it. But to those of us who lived in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, it was referred to as the UP. Once someone realizes this, the tee shirt says, “UP Yours.” Spot on, no matter how you want to interpret it. 

Living in the UP is not exactly living fancy. The towns are exceptionally small. The largest city in the UP is Marquette, which has about 20,000 people. We lived in “Die Right” Michigan. At least for most of my life, I thought this was “Die Right.” Then a couple of years ago, some friends of ours wanted to visit the place where I grew up, for some obscure reason. I couldn’t even find “Die Right” on a map. I almost gave up until I saw a small, sorta town, called “Diorite.” For the first time in my life, after about 70 years of getting this wrong, I learned that “Die Right” was actually “Diorite.”  Who knew? Certainly not me.

If you watch the MSM or, heaven forbid, read any of the ridiculous stories posted on Facebook you probably believe all or some of the following:

 *Iran was no threat to the U.S. Israel tricked us into attacking Iran.

*Pete Hegseth is incompetent and the military campaign is underperforming.

*Double secret Epstein documents will finally expose Donald Trump.

*Most of Trump’s inner circle hates him and doesn’t trust him.

*ICE is murdering people in cold blood for no reason.

*There is zero evidence of voter fraud during the 2020 election.

*It is extremely rare for an illegal alien to vote.

I could go on, because unfortunately, there is much more. All of it negative. All based on Trump Derangement Syndrome (“TDS”). All designed to prevent Trump from getting credit for anything. A couple of days ago, one could argue that the TDS crowd was winning. Not so much today. At last account virtually every other country in the Middle East has lined up behind the U.S. All those NATO countries who tried to pretend this wasn’t their problem, suddenly. announced plans to show up with Navy forces to help keep the Strait of Hormuz open. 

Here is what the MSM missed. Iran has been threatening the Strait of Hormuz since 1979. Somewhere between 20% and 25% of the oil used by the entire world travels through the Strait of Hormuz. But there is one significant. exception. The U.S. gets less than 1% of its oil from there. We drill more oil than we use.

There were reports that none of our NATO allies wanted anything to do with the war in Iran. Then, Trump looked NATO in the eye and said, “Are you serious?” They listened. Suddenly they are all sending ships to help keep Hormuz open.

Bingo. Card Played. Iran is toast. It is only a matter of when and how the current regime falls completely apart. In a few days, the sun will come out, ships will start sailing through Hormoz and Trump will have, again, accomplished the impossible. Everyone, except the editorial staff at CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, the New York Times, and the Washington Post will understand. My hunch is that by the fall of 2026, most of the country will understand this too. 

A friend of mine recently said: “I hate Donald Trump, but I LOVE President Trump.” As for me, I thank God that Donald Trump, not Joe Biden and certainly not Kamala Harris is President of the United States. Sometimes God is kind to fools and orphans and even voters in the U.S. who embrace nonsense if clothed in the self-righteous nonsense fueled only by TDS. 

It is really this simple. If the enemy at the gate is real, and it is, then we desperately need a Commander in Chief who is not only determined to take on the enemy, but also ready, willing, and able to do whatever is necessary to defeat that enemy. What, exactly, could be a higher threat than a nation that has pledged
“Death to America”, not only getting a nuclear weapon, not only having intercontinental ballistic missiles, not only being the number one sponsor of terrorism in the world but bragging about getting that nuclear weapon while promising to use it.

NO Kings necessary, a simple real President will do nicely.

TDM

TDM

The first time I realized that PTSD was real for Vietnam Combat Veterans like me, was on January 16, 1991. I was flying back to San Francisco from Dallas. Suddenly everything at Dallas International came to a dead stop. President George H.W. Bush spoke to the nation advising that “just two hours ago, allied air forces began an attack on military targets in Iraq and Kuwait”. Since I had flown on over 300 combat missions in Southeast Asia, this hit me like a brick wall. I realized that, once again, people like me were flying on combat missions. I had suppressed my personal feelings about this for over twenty years. That speech instantly brought it all back.

On March 4, 2026, CNN’s chief White House correspondant Kaitlan Collins asked:  “Is it the position of this administration that the press should not prominently cover the deaths of U.S. service members?” 

This immediately reminded me of the real issue, explained by Abraham Lincoln during the Gettysburg Address. He was in Gettysburg in connection with setting aside the national cemetery there. He was not even the featured speaker at that event. That was Edward Everett. Everett had been the governor of Massachusetts, Minister to Great Britain, and President of Harvard University. He spoke for over two hours. No one remembers what he said. Lincoln spoke for about two minutes and changed the world.

At the time, there was serious dispute regarding the future of the civil war. In 1864 Democrats nominated George McClellan for President. His slogan was “An honorable, permanent and happy peace.” He was willing to renounce emancipation in favor of preserving the union.  

This is why Lincoln’s words at Gettysburg mattered then and they matter even more now. Everyone there wanted to honor “the brave men, living and dead, who struggled there.” Lincoln obviously agreed with that, but then he noted that honoring the dead, while appropriate, missed the point. The only true way to honor those who have fought in a war, is to win.

 “But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Democrats threw away the victory gained when Richard Nixon negotiated an end to the war, preserving South Vietnam. After kicking Nixon out of office, they made it impossible for Gerald Ford to sustain peace. Ultimately, South Vietnam was defeated, and the U.S. suffered a humiliating defeat, throwing all those sacrifices on the scrapheap of history.

This is what Kaitlin Collins and too many members of the MSM miss. The only true way to honor the fallen is to “dedicate ourselves to the unfinished work” for which they fought. That is what Pete Hegseth was trying to say when he said: “When a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front page news. I get it. The press only wants to make the president look bad. But try for once to report the reality. The terms of this war will be set by us at every step.”

Hegseth is no Lincoln, but he was trying to make the same point. The only real way to honor the fallen is to dedicate ourselves to the mission itself. The real issue here is to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon which they would likely use resulting in an unimaginable nuclear conflict. Both Democrats and Republicans agreed on that goal, until people obsessed with TDS changed the goal to stopping Donald Trump, even at the cost of great harm to the country and the entire world.

The only way to honor those who are sacrificing every day is to be dedicated to making that sacrifice count. The only real way to achieve that is to win. There is no substitute for victory.  

The Vietnam War taught us the horrible price paid by those who fought in that war compounded by the insane decision by the Democrat party with support from the MSM that after careful reflection, the war started by a Democrat President wasn’t actually worth the effort, so they just threw it all away. Destroying Richard Nixon mattered much more than the cause for which over 55,000 men and women paid the ultimate price.  I still deal with the pain of that decision every day.

TDM

On September 17,1787, Elizabeth Willin Powel asked Ben Franklin: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a  republic or a monarchy?” Franklin replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” Our founding fathers had wisely set up a balance of power that while giving the Executive the power to defend the country, it also provided significant power to the Legislature and the Supreme Court.

Throughout history, there have been times when a President had to make critical decision regarding our very survival as a nation. Abraham Lincoln chose to fight to preserve the Union rather than just let Southern states walk away.

This reminds me of a time when I met Tip O’Neill. He had recently retired and was speaking at a small luncheon meeting in Boston. He had been Speaker of the House from January 4, 1977 to January 3, 1987. His tenure was the longest uninterrupted Speaker of the House in U.S. history. He was a strong Democrat who frequently clashed with President Ronald Reagan.  I was expecting a typical highly partisan performance. But then someone asked him about when Reagan ordered the invasion of Grenada on October 25, 1983. This was known as Operation Urgent Fury and was successful in overthrowing the Marxist government of Maurice Bishop. He told about how Reagan invited him to the White House to tell him about the planned operation. O’Neil said he spent much of his career opposing Reagan, but on this occasion, privately, his only response to Reagan was “God Bless you Mr. President.”

This was a reminder that a President is the Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces. That even the strongest political opponents most respect the awesome responsibility of the office of President of the United States. During times like this, the President represents all of us. Reagan wasn’t the Republican President of the United States, he was President of the United States. O’Neill did not necessarily agree with Reagan regarding the actions in Granada, but he absolutely realized the need for the nation to unite behind a President during times like this.

Sadly, there is little evidence that modern Democrats understand this basic principle. Senator Mark Kelly, a retired Navy Captain, told American military personnel it was not only ok but their duty to resist illegal orders. Fortunately, there is little evidence that any member of our military chose to do this. Now, Donald Trump, has ordered our military to attack Iran. The reason is very clear. It has been the stated policy of the United States, by both Republican and Democrat Presidents, that Iran could never be allowed to gain access to a nuclear weapon. They may have differed regarding how to achieve this, but there was no disagreement regarding the principle. This is easy to understand; Iran has been the number one state sponsor of terrorism for decades. Iran has repeated stated that it wants to destroy Israel. Virtually everyone agrees that if they got a nuclear weapon, and a missile capable of delivering it, that there was substantial risk they would attack Israel. It is hard to imagine a more serious threat, not only to this country, but to the entire world, than to have a country decide to use a nuclear weapon. It could set off a world war that would kill an unimaginable number of people.

Yet the modern Democrat Party has refused to unite behind Donald Trump. Instead, they are doing everything possible to undermine his decision. Minority leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries even publicly predicted that the Iran operation will result in failure for the U.S.

It is important to realize that the men and women fighting against Iran includes both Democrats and Republicans. They are fighting on behalf of the entire Country. During times like this we should all be united in supporting them and our commander in Chief, President Donald Trump. There really is no substitute for this. Political dispute must end at our nation’s borders.

I spent three tours in Vietnam flying on combat missions. I had to swear an oath to follow the orders of the President of the United States, who happened to be Lyndon B. Johnson at the time. I did not like Johnson and thought he was a terrible President, but I also realized he was President of the United States, and it was necessary to respect the office, even if it was extremely difficult to respect LBJ.

Regarding Iran, it is hard to imagine a greater threat to our national security than allowing the number one sponsor of terrorism worldwide to have access to a nuclear weapon. One may not like Donald Trump nor the way he is overseeing this, but the importance of the country succeeding is undeniable. It is too bad so many people in the Democrat Party and in the MSM fail to understand this important principle. During times like this, if a President fails, we are all at risk.

We need more Tip O’Neills, not Hakeem Jeffries or Chuck Schumers.

TDM

I wanted to watch the State of the Union Address last night. I was hopeful that Donald Trump would do ok. But to be honest, there was concern. The negative press against this President is unprecedented. He has even been called dangerous, a threat to democracy, a Nazi. Then there was the problem that Trump tends to drone on and on and become boring and repetitive. We have already seen this before. If Trump could just shut up and talk less about himself.

But a miracle happened last night. Donald Trump delivered what may have been the most effective State of the Union Address in the history of the United States. He was absolutely brilliant. He was focused and he held the national audience in the palm of his hand throughout the entire evening. He embarrassed Democrats when he said: “So tonight, I’m inviting every legislator to join with my administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support: The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”

Democrats, too absorbed with hatred for Donald Trump and lock step thinking fell into the trap. They sat frozen to their seats. It was obvious, if Trump was for it, they were against it, even when he was right. They wanted to put on a show by refusing to stand and applaud anything. Big, extremely humiliating mistake.

Then, Trump introduced a series of heroes and by the end of the evening, Democrats were forced to stand to their feet and applaud anyway. Ultimately Democrats acted like silly, immature school children while Trump looked and acted like a President of the United States. It was a masterpiece. 

While Democrats went from throwing up to standing in applause, it was followed by the worst possible rebuttal speech, by the liberal left Governor of Virginia focused on destroying the oldest commonwealth in the United States. The worst possible choice for the rebuttal speech gave a typical Democrat talking points presentation oblivious to what Trump had just said in the State of the Union Speech. The contrast was stunning.

I honestly believe this will go down as one of the greatest State of the Union speeches in the history of the country, while her partisan insulting rebuttal will be ignored, assuming anyone even bothered to tune in.

If you were concerned about the mid-term elections, and you are a Republican, those fears disappeared in front of our own eyes. If you are a Democrat, hoping that the walls would finally close in on Donald Trump, you just got a case study on why it is so easy to underestimate this man.

I do not know how many people watched this speech. It is easy to predict that the liberal left and the MSM will try to spin this away. But to those who watched this, it is impossible to ignore. Donald Trump didn’t just hit it out of the park; he hit it across the street and over the parking lot next door. 

This morning, I read the headlines. Here they are. For Democrats, this is a day of mourning:

CNN “Trump parades wins and slams ‘crazy’ Democrats in State of the Union.”

NBC “State of the Union address highlights: Trump clashes with Democrats in speech declaring a ‘golden age’ of America.” 

AP “FACT FOCUS: A look at Trump’s false and misleading claims in his State of the Union speech.”  If you care to read this, here is the link: A look at Trump’s false and misleading claims in his State of the Union address | AP News

I doubt that many people not already filled with TDS will bother to read this. Most notably there is little mention of the rebuttal given by Abigail Spanberger, the Virginia Governor. Once again Democrats focused on accusing Trump of telling lies and exciting violence. Earth to Democrats, that ship has sailed.

TDM

Donald Trump seems to be one of those people who never knows when to shut up. He goes on and on often repeating the same story over, and over, again. It is always the same: first he trashes Biden, then he gloats about all his accomplishments. It is often easy to understand why so many people are filled with TDS.

But then you watch people full of TDS say incredibly stupid things and the truth emerges. Trump is a master at trolling people. Some people like him, some people hate him, but no one can ignore him. Trump lives in the minds of people filled with TDS, and as a result they often end up embarrassing themselves. For years, no decades, we were inundated with smug arrogant liberals solemnly declaring that the science was indisputable, global temperatures were rising rapidly, because of excess CO2, and if we didn’t act immediately, we were doomed. The scientists, trying to push this false narrative, quietly changed global warming to climate change. That should have been a major clue, but no one in the MSM noticed.

Then a funny thing happened on the way to the forum. None of the predictions by the climate change crisis folks were even close to being accurate. People who did five minutes of research quickly recognized the obvious disconnect between actual data and the “scientific facts” hammered down our collective throats by the MSM.

The imaginary threat of CO2 gas resulted in some stupid decisions. It was bad enough that we had wind farms. It was bad enough that we subsidized people making a fortune selling inferior solar panels. The icing on the cake was the demand that everyone be forced to purchase electric vehicles, to save the planet. This ignored the obvious fact that so-called renewable energy sources are incapable of meeting the additional demand necessary to charge electric vehicles.

Then we had the Munich Security Conference. Both AOC and Gavin Newsom traveled to Munich., they consider themselves as candidates to be President of the United States. They went to Munich with the intention of humiliating Trump while simultaneously showing off their foreign policy acumen. They all face planted, but AOL was much worse than Newsom. When the press asked her an unexpected foreign policy question, regarding whether she would support the U.S. sending troops to Taiwan if China tried to invade, she folded like a cheap umbrella. She may not realize this, yet, but she self-eliminated from the 2028 Presidential sweepstakes. Gretchen Whitmer, Governor of Michigan, also showed up, but face planted even worse when she said AOC knows much more about foreign affairs than her. Ouch!

This was so obvious that even CNN noticed. They didn’t even pretend that any of these clowns are remotely capable of being President of the United States.

In the meantime, Trump just reversed Obama’s 2009 “endangerment finding” that concluded a range of greenhouse gases were a threat to public health.

Trump revokes landmark EPA ruling that greenhouse gases endanger public health

Even BBC nailed it.

“The burden on the economy results in higher prices and manufacturing has left. It’s gone to China, where it’s made in a dirtier way,” she told the BBC.

“So, to say that we’re reducing global emissions by ending energy intensive manufacturing in some countries, then having it go to China and India, where it’s made in a dirtier way, does not reduce global emissions.”

We should all want environmental laws that make sense. That benefits everyone. But putting strict rules on the U.S. while China and India just ignored them, is dumb. The real problem was that only scientists who supported the “Obama” doctrine were assumed to represent the entire scientific community. How many times were people with serious questions about the science silenced. This is like what happened during COVID. During COVID, doctors and scientists expressing legitimate concerns were either ignored or silenced. That did not, unfortunately, mean they were wrong.

Donald Trump built a “Troll Road”  that is littered with the bodies of the so-called cultured elite, consumed by their hatred of him to even consider the possibility that he was right about anything. The only thing they know for sure is that if Donald Trump is for it, they must be against it.

He lured the liberal left and the MSM to loudly demand full release of the “Epstein Files,” certain that there must be something there that implicated Trump. They were wrong. It is Democrats and loud-mouthed liberals who are falling on their swords.

The Supreme Court ruled against Trump regarding tariffs, but those who view this as a Trump defeat need to be careful. Trump has already used authority under other laws that allows him to continue and even increase the tariffs. In addition, many countries have already signed trade agreements that benefit the United States.

In addition, it is impossible for the liberal left and their fawning supporters in the MSM to continue to claim that the Supreme Court is totally under the control of Donald Trump. No one can even argue that this is what Trump wanted or expected.

The result, plain and simple, is that once again the liberal left and the MSM really believed the walls were closing in on Donald Trump, only to see him standing there, at the podium, smiling. There is an old saying, Democrats should be required to memorize, “if you shoot at a king, don’t miss.” The actual source of this quote is debatable, but the meaning is spot on:

“If you’re going to shoot the king, don’t…

Democrats have shot at Donald Trump time and again, and he is still standing there, smiling. Each time this happens, he looks stronger than before. When you combine this with his incredible skill at trolling political opponents, the result is a perfect storm. Regardless of what the liberal left believes or its’ fawning supporters in the MSM desperately wants to believe, the reality is that Trump is a genius at trolling them, with devastating results. This “defeat” at the Supreme Court is no exception.

Unless Democrats learn to get off the Troll road, they are likely to wake up in late November wondering, again, what happened. For whom the troll tolls, it tolls for thee.

TDM

Republicans are famous for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Now, they appear to be poised to do it again. The SAVE Act is quite simple. In order to vote in an election, you must prove you are a U.S. Citizen, and you must provide Photo ID. There is overwhelming support for this in both parties. Yet only one Democrat voted for it in the House and, so far, only one Democrat will vote for it in the Senate. Sadly, it now looks like Republicans will allow Democrats to block this bill without even having to explain why. If they do that, Republicans are likely to get absolutely trounced in the midterms. This has the potential to place Democrats in power permanently. This seems obvious, but apparently not to RINO Republicans.

We moved to Florida from California a little over three years ago. It is not unusual for someone to ask me why people in California vote for such stupid people. The answer is obvious. Republicans used to at least put up a fight and Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor. But while Democrats have had the upper hand in California for far too long, it is now impossible for a Republican to win a state-wide election. That explains why someone as disgusting as Adam Schiff is a United States Senator.

Governor Newsom seized the day to do all mail-in voting during COVID and then made this permanent. Now every election is mail in. Oh, you can go to a voting place on election day, if you want, but they will just point at a box and tell you to drop your ballot in a box. No one checks anything.

When you get a driver’s license in California you are automatically registered to vote. You can get a driver’s license in California without proving you are here legally. Only recently did California allow “real id” driver licenses, which require proof of legal residency. This was done reluctantly because rules were passed requiring real ID to fly on a commercial airliner. That rule, of course, has been delayed and now people can bypass the system by paying $45 and having the TSA confirm ID.

California openly takes action favoring illegal aliens. Of course, you can’t call anyone an illegal alien, only “undocumented.” In addition to the driver’s license, you can get free medical care and avoid immigration control by hanging around a “sanctuary city.” It is obvious that California doesn’t mind if people here illegally vote, in San Francisco and Oakland they specifically authorize non-citizens to vote.

So, when you combine all mail in voting, no ID check, and open encouragement of letting anyone vote, Democrats are almost guaranteed to win any election. One notes that in communist countries, free elections are a myth. That is why in Venezuela, Maduro, who was being trounced in every poll, easily won election by a landslide. As Joe Biden once said, it doesn’t matter who votes, it only matters who counts the votes.

President Biden: It’s Not About Who Gets To Vote, It’s About Who Counts The Vote | Video | RealClearPolitics

“Biden also recognized that the fight over Republican states changing voting regulations, the Senate filibuster, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement bill is subsumed by the basic fact, as Stalin reportedly said in 1923, that elections are often decided by “who counts the vote.”

“We missed this time,” Biden said. “And the [Republican] state legislative bodies continue to change the [local election] law, not as to who can vote, but who gets to count the vote.”

“It’s about election subversion,” Biden explained. “Not just whether or not people get to vote, who counts the vote. That’s what this is about.”

If Republicans do not pass the SAVE Act, Democrats will absolutely pass some voting rights act that will virtually eliminate any potential of non-Democrats winning another election. If Democrats take control of the House, they will do everything possible to stop Trump. If they also take control of the Senate, it will be extremely difficult for Trump to do anything. Democrats are likely to impeach him, for something, regards of the facts or evidence and with absolutely zero regard for the majority of people who voted to elect him in 2024.

On the other hand, if Republicans pass the SAVE ACT, we just might find out what voters really want in every election, including in Blue States. How unthinkable.

TDM

The decision by the NFL to select “Bad Bunny” to put on the halftime show defines imagination. The Superbowl is famous for commercials, purchased at great expense. Some of these commercials are brilliant. Others, not so much. But one thing is certain, advertisers are willing to pay big bucks, because they desperately want a shot at connecting with a massive TV audience.

So, who exactly, watches the Superbowl? In 2025 the Superbowl averaged a record 127.7 million U.S. viewers. One notes that there were about 1.87 million viewers for the Spanish-language broadcast.

The Superbowl kickoff will take place before the teams even enter the stadium.  There are solo performances, of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (or the black national anthem),  America the Beautiful and the national anthem. Green Day is the official opening act, along with La Russell and Teddy Swims. Green Day is famous for “American Idiot,” a protest song against George W. Bush and the Iraq war. More recently they have changed the lyrics to “I’m not a part of a Maga Agenda.” Some have predicted the NFL would never allow them to do something like that, but with Green Day, nothing is guaranteed.

It is predicted that 64% of Americans will watch the Superbowl. I will not be among the audience. Even if I decide to watch the game, I absolutely will not watch the half time show. Perhaps I am wrong, but I suspect those people watching Bad Bunny perform will be underwhelmed.

Frankly, I view the entire show as an insult. I suspect there will be a whole lot of other people who feel the same. The result is that all those people who do decide to watch the game, are extremely likely to use Halftime to get snacks and another drink. Bad Bunny only sings in Spanish, and he often performs wearing a dress. If you happen to attend an NFL game in person, look around you for people who will be impressed by this.

One must wonder how this could happen. Is NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell really this stupid? Or does he simply not care. Here if what Bad Bunny said at the Grammy awards:

“Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say, ICE out,”

“We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans,” Bad Bunny continued. “I know it’s tough to not hate these days. And I was thinking, sometimes we get contaminated. The hate gets more powerful with more hate.”

 Here is how Goodell responded:

“Bad Bunny, and I think that was demonstrated last night, was one of the greatest artists in the world,” Goodell said during a press conference on Monday, calling to mind the performer’s win at the Grammys on Sunday. “And it’s one of the reasons we chose him. The other reason is he understood the platform he was on. This platform is used to unite people … and I think artists in the past have done that. Bad Bunny understands that and I think he’ll have a great show.”

The real problem is not Donald Trump or his policies. There was a time when we honored the office of President of the United States, even if it was extremely difficult to honor the person holding office at the time. Now people filled with TDS feel justified in not only trashing Trump, but also anyone who dared support him. They also feel justified in trashing the country. Sadly, the problem is made worse by a MSM that is incapable of reporting any story with even a hint of objectivity. Instead, they honor those most willing to trash their own country. In addition, they often resort to parroting Democrat talking points without any regard to the actual facts.

I suspect at least some people won’t bother to watch the Superbowl. Others will watch the game, but not the half-time show. As for those who choose to watch Bad Bunny, keep this in mind. No other country on this planet would tolerate this kind of public disrespect for their own country. In many places, someone who did this would be lucky to survive. Freedom is what makes us great. Free Speech is an important liberty. So is the freedom to push back against those who repeat obvious lies and don’t even pretend to be objective. People have the right to say what they want, we also have the right to tune them out, in every way possible.

Perhaps I am wrong, but I believe the NFL is very close to going a bridge too far. They risk offending the people they desperately need to succeed. The NFL needs us. We do not need the NFL.

TDM

No one would ever confuse me with a friend of Don Lemon. I never thought he was particularly good and seldom even attempted to watch his show. CNN fired him, after 17 years, in 2023. The final straw was his morning show with Caitlin Collins and Poppy Harlow. Don wasn’t thrilled with being demoted to the morning show. It didn’t appear that Kaitlin Collins and Poppy Harlow were thrilled with him either. They reported hated his guts.

Since then, he has been trying, and failing, to build an audience on his own. That may explain why he opted for this silly stunt of interrupting a church service allegedly to protest ICE.

Hating ICE is one thing, pulling a ridiculous stunt like this and then recording yourself in the process, is a new standard of stupidity. He may or may not be convicted, but he is destined to spend a fortune on legal fees, and regardless of the alleged support from the usual suspects in the MSM, no one even pretends this was a clever idea. Put a fork in Mr. Lemon because he is way past done.

He another example of DEI hiring practices responsible for putting unqualified people in positions for reasons other than merit. He is also on the growing list of legally challenged Democrats. One problem for them, is that unlike the Republicans targeted by the Biden Administration, these clowns committed real crimes, they broke real laws, there is actual documentation and they have real prosecutors on the case.

Tom Holman said something that should terrify Democrats. He said they were investigating the people who organized and funded these “Anti-ICE Protests” and they would be held accountable. The next stage in events will be the arrest of people. Not just protestors, but people who organized and funded this nonsense.

In addition, Trump putting Tom Holman in charge, leaves Democrats with fewer opportunities for exaggeration. He doesn’t mimic Democrats in making wild accusation like when Noem described Rachel Good and Alex Pretti as “domestic terrorists.” He doesn’t pretend that the ICE agents involved made no mistakes. This approach has been devastating to the entire Democrat narrative. ICE Agents aren’t perfect, but they also aren’t NAZI or the Gestapo. When one side looks and acts like an adult, it just makes the irrational and delusional protestors look, well, irrational and delusional.

In addition, the FBI just released millions of Epstein documents and none of them create a problem for Donald Trump. This is beginning to look like another brilliant move by Trump to lure Democrats and the MSM into breathless anticipation of finally getting “something” to stop Trump. Some are even trying to convince us that this time the walls are really closing in on Trump. That is ridiculous. The Biden Administration had those files for years. If there was anything that would really hurt Trump, that would have pounced immediately. Didn’t happen. Instead, we learn that people like billionaire Reid Hoffman, are getting a lot of attention. You know the Reid Hoffman who funded E. Jean Carroll in her lawsuit against Donald Trump. The same Reid Hoffman who donates regularly to Democrat politicians. There is also mention of Elon Musk, but that is not exactly news. The point being is that this final release is going destroy the illusion that Trump was involved and replace him with people the MSM would prefer to ignore. In addition, they can’t ignore this, because Trump lured them into covering this as the crime of the century.

In previous years, wild violent protest across the country fueled turnout by the Democrat Party and helped it trounce Republicans during the mid-term elections. This year they may be replaced with public trials of paid agitators funded by high profile Democrat donors. In addition, unquestionable evidence of systemic voter fraud is starting to be on full display. Don’t underestimate those voting records seized in Fulton County. If Republicans can pass legislation that requires proof of citizenship and photo ID to vote, something extremely popular with most Americans, Democrats may find it more difficult to win elections in places like New York, New Jersey, Virginia, California, Illinois and gasp, Minnesota.

According to recent reports, Trump has $100 million in campaign funds. The DNC has $1.3 million. The smart money is not exactly fawning over the Democrat Party.

There is an old saying that “if GOD gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Don Lemon probably thought that in addition to elevating himself, he was delivering a death blow to Donald Trump. Instead, he may end up being a gift, because he exposed the liberal left in a way that is very difficult to ignore.

TDM

The two recent shooting deaths in Minneapolis were the result of split-second decisions by federal officers. In the first case, the federal officer shot at a woman because he believed she was trying to hit him with her car. The second was when someone confronting police was discovered to be carrying a firearm. When officers saw the gun, they shot and killed him. Both cases are truly tragic.

It is easy for some people to assume that both cases amounted to murder by federal officers. That is wrong. While the officers may or by not have made the correct decision, in both cases they didn’t have much time. One could argue that they could and should have used more restraint, but that is quite different from murder. More importantly, both incidents could have been avoided if there was not an organized movement designed to make it difficult if not impossible for ICE to do its job. We recently saw proof of the extent to which this was coordinated when someone managed to hack their secret group messaging system.

This was made even worse by the reckless and irresponsible rhetoric of both Governor Walz and Mayor Frey. They slammed ICE with wild unmerited accusations and encouraged people to confront ICE and photograph them so Walz could prosecute them at some point in the future. This borders on or crosses the line between political rhetoric and inciting an insurrection.

The decision by Donald Trump to publicly order ICE into Minneapolis is part, but only part of the problem. These results were easy to predict. Since they were to be expected, the Trump administration should have been prepared to manage this better.

The losers here are those people who have conspired against ICE. In their haste to organize all those protestors, they forgot something important. Their private communications have been hacked and exposed. They just may have documented their own criminal conduct.

Trump will withdraw ICE, just like he did in Los Angeles and Chicago. But that does not mean he is abandoning Minneapolis. Instead, ICE will be replaced by an extremely dangerous team of FBI and DOJ investigators. The Trump team now knows the identity of the real players, and it knows how the money flows.

In addition, it is significant that Trump sent Tom Holman to Minneapolis because he wanted an adult in charge. Both Kristi Noem and Gregory Bovino made the situation worse by poor use of words. Noem referred to the people who were shot as “domestic terrorists.” Bovino said that Alex Pretti was there to engage in a mass shooting. This gave undeserved ammunition to the people desperate to blame everything on Trump and/or ICE.

The next question is whether Democrats will shut down the government, again. They are already in a lose-lose situation. If they don’t shut down the government, they will lose at least some of their left-wing radical base. But if they shut down the government, this will have an immediate negative impact on a lot of voters. That is particularly true with much of the nation is being slammed by a major snowstorm.

The real problem for Democrats is that even the MSM is unable to cover-up their systemic radicalism and incompetence. New York is already getting a full dose of Democratic Socialism, otherwise known as Communism. Communism has been an abject failure everywhere it was tried. New York is extremely unlikely to be an exception. Combine this with the massive fraud in Minneapolis and the statewide incompetence in California and this is close to being a perfect storm.

As Abraham Lincoln once said: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

Idiotic comments by Hollywood Celebrities and the people in Minneapolis stupidly assaulting armed ICE officers are proof that a lot of the people are fooled all the time. But a significant percentage of people are not involved in protests, and they are not worried about ICE officer interfering with their lives. They are more concerned about the price of gas, and if that continues to drop Democrats are in serious trouble.

There is another quote from Alexander Pope in his poem “An Essay on Criticism”: “fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”  Remind you of anyone?

TDM