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1-15-25

Monologue:

Boots on the Ground

Triple Dipper:

1. Modern Suffrage
2. Live Free or Die
3. Relief!

Guests

3:30: Emily Jones

4pm: Grand Council w/ Jeff Poor and Dale Jackson

Resources

1. Modern Suffrage

https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/federal-court-stops-biden-admins-title-ix-gender-ideology-mandate-nationwide/amp/

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/gop-lawmakers-riley-gaines-slam-dems-voting-against-protection-women-girls-sports-act

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/aoc-mocked-hysterical-rant-defending-trans-athletes-girls-sports-trans-girls-girls.amp

https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/11/17/keep-how-i-led-successful-fight-bar-trans-women-my-all-female-college/

https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/11/01/exclusive-george-mason-punishes-law-students-saying-males-dont-belong-womens-restrooms/

https://www.thehill.com/homenews/senate/5084717-hegseth-backs-women-in-combat/amp/

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/pete-hegseth-confirmation-hearing/card/what-pete-hegseth-has-said-about-women-in-combat-ExI0S8oJufFt6pRKT8nr


2. Live Free or Die

https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/01/13/concealed-carry-reciprocity-congressional-republicans-are-trying-again-n2184307

https://www.yahoo.com/news/gun-laws-rolling-multiple-states-103026178.html

https://www.wate.com/news/tennessee/gov-lee-signs-bill-preventing-local-government-from-enacting-red-flag-laws/amp/

https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/press-releases/2023/05/22/whitmer-signs-extreme-risk-protection-order-legislation-to-keep-michigan-communities-safe

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20250108/illinois-gun-seizure-mandate-passes-house-headed-to-governors-desk


3. Relief!

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna184606

https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/norfolk-southern-asheville-newport-north-carolina-tennessee.amp

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/helene-milton-losses-50-billion-each-hurricanes-rare/

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article295727399.html

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2025/01/11/fema-kicks-hurricane-survivors-out-of-temporary-housing-n2650368

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-09/biden-to-address-the-nation-about-la-fires

https://www.scrippsnews.com/us-news/california-wildfires/house-speaker-mike-johnson-says-there-should-be-conditions-on-federal-wildfire-aid-for-california

Rightside Way Monologue

Yesterday we spent a great deal of time focusing on the status of the US military

and the confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, Trumps nominee to be the

Secretary of Defense……if you missed the show let me just recap by telling you

that Hegseth knocked it out of the park!....literally, he had the leftwing members

of the Senate Armed Services Committee tongue tied as he kept his composure,

evidenced a grasp of the facts and laid out the foundation for the restoration of

peace through strength by rebuilding a military that can both deter and defeat

our enemies…..he heralded the end of wokeness, DEI, and the streamlining of the

bloated Defense bureaucracy…..but most importantly, Hegseth said that his focus

would be on the individual soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that would serve

under him…..it was a breath of fresh air……

Those young men and women who serve our nation in uniform…..who volunteer

to go to hard places and do hard things….they deserve a leadership that has their

back, a leadership that takes responsibility and will be accountable for mistakes

and give credit to the actual warfighters when it goes well…..but as I thought

about all of this I couldn’t help but reflect in a personal way……I’ve been

downrange and had times when it felt like no one in the rear knew what you were

going through….. asinine orders and directives that made someone at

headquarters feel good about themselves fell flat when they were sent out to the

front lines….. As the war in Afghanistan started I found myself deploying

immediately…..9/11 happened and 90 days later I was headed out to take a team

to the far reaches of the Afghan theater where we lived among the Afghan people

for nearly a year…..just before I left to mob out of Fort Bragg I had a visitor…..A

legendary Green Beret….an awardee of the Medal of Honor….named Ola Lee Mize

came to see me…..he walked into my office unannounced….he wanted to see

me…..When Colonel Mize wanted to see you everything stopped and you saw

him….the man had fought in Korea and three tours in Vietnam and was one of the

founders of the Special Forces School and the Combat Diver School…..Besides the

Medal of Honor he also had the Silver Star, 5 Bronze Stars for Valor and the

Purple Heart…..but what got me was how anyone who had ever served under him

revered him…..I once attended a special ceremony for him where men came from

all over the nation to honor him….men who said they owed him their lives, and

would follow him anywhere…..Colonel Mize walked into my office that day in

December of 2001 and sized me up for a minute…..he shut the door to my office

and stood there a few seconds and then he said, “Williams, I hear you’re going to

the war”…..I said “yes sir”…. He nodded and asked, “Where are you going to

be?”…..I told him I didn’t have my assignment yet but I understood I was going to

be out on a remote team……he nodded again and then got real serious and said,

“Let me tell you something. Gonna come the day that you’re going to be out

there with your men and some blankety-blank in the rear is going to tell you what

to do and you’re going to know it ain’t right. You tell him to go to Hell….you take

care of your men.”……what do you say to that?......I just said, “Yes sir”…..and then

he shook my hand and said, “alright, you do good now.” And then he turned and

walked out…..I have never forgotten that….and I leaned on that advice several

times since then…..that’s why I listened so avidly to Pete Hegseth’s opening

statements yesterday……you see, I am a third generation Army Officer…..my

father, grandfather and I…….but my son is on active duty now……and the fact that

the man who wants to lead the Department of Defense spoke so avidly, so

passionately, about being there for the troops, and restoring morale, and

rebuilding capabilities, and removing obstacles, and awarding actual merit……it

was more than just refreshing…..it was even a bit emotional…..I served in part

under Reagan and I retired under Trump…..but I also served under Clinton and

Obama……I want for this current generation, to include my son, to have the

best…..to have the best weapons, the best choices, the best training, the best

leaders and the best experiences……

My hope is that this morale and leadership will pour over into our society….by

and large I believe that America stills loves its troops…..we do…..and they deserve

it…..but leadership from DC makes a difference……my sincere hope is that

returning a policy of peace through strength will mean that society follows

suit…..in a strong way…..sitting here on my desk in the Rightside Studio I have Ted

Nugent’s autograph that I got in Baghdad in 2004 when he and the late Toby Keith

came over to play for the troops……that was a crazy day with a crazy story that I

might tell you later……there are still those stars and celebrities who will go where

the troops are to bring them some relief and entertainment when their far from

their homes…..but how many really do what they can to honor them…..to really

honor them…..leadership in DC can actually ask for them to do so…..leadership

that cares about the troops will actually reach out to celebrities and ask them to

please go over there and do what you do and tell the young men and women that

they are important and they are not forgotten……I don’t believe that kind of focus

on troops has been there the past four years……no one has been pressing

Hollywood to go see soldiers……but there was time…..a time when they lined up

to do it…..Bob Hope spearheaded the USO shows…..troop knew that when they

were over there that America would come to see them and remind them of

home…..and one of the best was John Wayne…..when I got back from my first

tour in Afghanistan I was demobing at Fort Bragg…..On one of those Sunday

mornings I decided I was going to church and took a short walk over to what is

known as the Special Warfare Chapel…..if you’re ever at Fort Bragg (which is

currently called “Fort Liberty”) I encourage you to check out the SWC Chapel…..its

a full sized church…..the stain glassed windows depict soldiers kneeling in prayer

on the battlefield……but standing in front of the Chapel is a granite monument

that says, “in tribute to the men of the Green Berets. US Army Special Forces,

whose valiant exploits will inspire mankind”….and in very small script at the

bottom of the base it says, “presented by John Wayne, July 4, 1968”…..you gotta

love that…..Green Beret’s, John Wayne and Jesus……But John Wayne loved

troops…..the year before that monument Wayne had released his epic film called

“The Green Berets”…..critics hated ity…..Roger Ebert said the film was “cruel and

dishonest”….the New York Times said it was “rotten and false”……war protests

were underway back in the states but troops were overseas fighting and dying

and John Wayne wasn’t going to make a anti-war movie…..he told a story that the

troops loved….it made them proud….it did honor to their sacrifices…..but he

didn’t stop there….Wayne visited troops in Vietnam multiple times…..one of the

written accounts of his time with soldiers said "[The soldiers] felt this giant hand

on their soldier and a voice saying: 'Hello, soldier. I'm John Wayne and I just want

you to know a hell of a lot of folks back home appreciate what you're doing,'" and

some of them would break out in tears……Troops would write him letters

thanking him for being one of them and he would write back and tell them the

letters meant more than they could ever know…..Wayne said once, “I cannot sing

or dance, but I can certainly talk to the kids.”……

The point was that it was not about him…..it was about them…..it was about what

Pete Hegseth told the nation yesterday, and about what Colonel Mize said to

me……you take care of your men…….you make sure they know that they are more

important than anything else……that we know and appreciate the fact that all the

gee-whiz firepower in the world, all the technology, all the strategy, and all the

muckety mucks back in the Pentagon don’t mean anything more than the men or

women who put their boots on the ground……

I am hopeful…..I am ready to see it…..I want it for my son, and your sons and

daughters, and the next generation after that…..I want a return to the halcyon

days of duty, honor, country and putting the troops first….

And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way……

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Rightside Media was created by  Phil Williams, a former Alabama state senator, retired army Colonel, and practicing attorney.

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