5-23-25
Monologue:
Always Remember and Never Forget
Triple Dipper:
1. Big Beautiful Bill
2. The Intolerant Left
3. Adventures in Woke World
Guests
3pm: Congressman Gary Palmer
3:30: JP on Sports
Resources
1.Big Beautiful Bill
https://1819news.com/news/item/alabamas-house-republicans-vote-for-trumps-one-big-beautiful-bill
https://dailycaller.com/2025/05/22/why-two-republicans-voted-against-trumps-big-beautiful-bill/
2. The Intolerant Left
https://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2025/05/23/are-some-racist-slurs-ok-n2657525
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2025/05/23/chris-cuomo-obliterated-leftists-who-cant-condemn-the-assassination-of-israeli-embassy-staffers-n2657528
https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-woman-charged-allegedly-attacking-72-year-old-trump-supporter-wearing-maga-hat
https://www.dailywire.com/news/med-school-caught-rejecting-white-and-asian-applicants-with-better-scores-than-minorities-it-accepts?topStoryPosition=undefined&author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&category=Exclusive&elementPosition=1&row=1&rowHeadline=Top+Stories&rowType=Top+Stories&title=Med+School+Caught+Rejecting+White+And+Asian+Applicants+With+Better+Scores+Than+Minorities+It+Accepts
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/3419843/jewish-museum-murders-result-of-left-normalizing-violence/
3. Adventures in Woke World
https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/05/21/thune-clears-way-vote-ending-californias-ev-mandate/
Rightside Way Monologue
We are entering into the Memorial Day weekend and I want to stress how
important it is that we always remember, and never forget….those words may
sound synonymous but they really aren’t……to “always remember” implies that
something from the back of the mind needs to be brought forward…to “always
remember” is an intentional thing….you do it on purpose….you bring it up
because you mean to…...to “never forget” means that we don’t let it go…..to
“never forget” means that we hold onto something…..it’s special, it will be with
us……and this weekend is designed as a time of memory…..a time when we do
both of those things…..we always remember, and we never forget……we
memorialize our fallen and give them honor, acknowledge their sacrifice, and we
ensure that we as individuals, as communities, as states and as a nation, endeavor
to always remember….to bring those honorable sacrifices to the front of our
minds…..and to never forget…..to determine as a people that we will not let go of
the understanding that we are made free by those sacrifices…….
I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery…..I
have, and it is humbling……if you’ve never been to Arlington Cemetery you should
make it a point to do so……the fields of perfectly spaced white headstones in
perfectly manicured grounds are interspersed with occasional tombs and
trees…..it is everything that a deceased military member should have to honor
their passing……the funeral I attended was for a Special Forces soldier…..the flag
draped casket was moved to the gravesite by a horse drawn caisson….the family
was gathered…..a firing party delivered the rifle volley…..a bugler just off in the
near distance played taps…..the casket team folded the flag with precision….and
on behalf of a grateful nation the folded flag was presented to the next of kin……
it seemed like a holy moment, like speaking above a whisper would have been
disrespectful…..
Equally pressing is the ceremony that is held by the troops at the field of battle
when they have lost one of their own……I’ve been there too…..and it sticks with
you……I will never forget having a friendly conversation with young cavalry first
lieutenant named Erik McRae…..we sat next to each other on the FOB in central
Baghdad shooting the breeze in early June during a down moment…….I asked him
about himself, where he was from, what he did back home……he was a good kid
from Oregon who had married his young sweetheart just a couple of weeks
before he deployed……an All-American boy-next-door kind of guy who was just 25
years old that day in Baghdad…..the very next day after our visit he was gone…..
June 4, just over a week from now will mark 21 years to the day that Erik McRae,
and two of his men….. Specialists Justin Eyerley and Justin Linden were killed in a
coordinated attack in central Baghdad by a combination of IED strikes and small
arms fire…..as his patrol of gun trucks was hit by the first IED 1LT McRae jumped
out of his own uparmored Humvee, gave immediate directions to his Platoon, and
ran forward to the Eyerly and Linden whose vehicle had been hit by the
explosion….that’s when the enemy detonated the secondary explosion and kicked
off the firefight with small arms and RPG’s……We lost all three men that
day…..and days later we had the ceremony at FOB Volunteer…..it was marked by
their boots on a pedestal…..in front of their rifles with bayonets fixed and pointed
down, their dog tags hanging from the pistol grips, with their helmets, or in
McRae’s case his Cavalry Stetson, sitting on top…..and we honored them…..we
honored who they were but we also honored and remembered what they did,
and why they did it……honor can be coupled with memorial……it is a reasonable
combination of things…..honor and memorial…..especially given the sacrifices that
they made…..sacrifices that we built this nation upon…..It has been 21 years since
then, but I plan to always remember and never forget…..
Arlington, and other cemeteries throughout America, are where the accounts are
kept…..they are where we keep the ledger of what it takes to be a free nation…..
Freedom is not something to be taken lightly……freedom is far too often just that
somewhat esoteric thing that seems nebulous, or ethereal, like you can almost
touch it but not quite……but the day that you don’t have it you are suddenly
keenly aware of it……too easily taken for granted, too easily forgotten, but never
easily gained….. never easily gained…….freedom, in fact, is the most expensive
commodity known to man…..more than any precious metal, or earthly
possession……freedom is that thing that should equal for our existence to air,
water, and food as one of the essentials of life……and it is costly because it is paid
for by the blood, and sweat, and labor of men and women……and constantly
refreshed and kept viable by nearly every generation…….I asked my father once if
he ever thought that I would go to war and I will always remember his response,
he said, “Son, there has never been an American generation without a war”…….it’s
just a fact…..and this Memorial Day it is important that we pause in the midst of
our time off, and cooking hot dogs on the grill, or hanging out at the lake, or just
enjoying a day away from our usual routines….and take stock of the reason why
the day exists…..and those it was designed to honor…..
What we now call Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day and
became an officially acknowledged event in May 1868 to honor the war dead
from the Civil War……General John Logan proclaimed it in his General Order no.
11 and said, “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing
with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense
of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every
city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land”……On that first official
“Decoration Day” 5,000 participants decorated the graves of thousands soldiers
buried at Arlington Cemetery….Then Congressman, and future President, James
Garfield gave a speech to the crowd that day in which he said, “I am oppressed
with a sense of the impropriety of uttering words on this occasion," he added, "If
silence is ever golden, it must be here beside the graves of fifteen thousand men,
whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem, the
music of which can never be sung”……It grew from there and in the early 1900’s
the graves of WWI veterans were added to the day of decoration…and with each
war….as the cost of freedom was refinanced again and again….more and more
graves became a part of the solemn celebration…...in 1971 Congress passed the
National Holiday Act and the last day of May officially became Memorial Day…..
Ronald Reagan once gave a speech at Arlington Cemetery on Memorial Day in
1982…..he said then, “The United States and the freedom for which it stands, the
freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that
freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they
whom we commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we—in a less final,
less heroic way—be willing to give of ourselves."
So my hope is that this weekend you will have a wonderful time with family and
friends….perhaps get a little rest….sleep a bit later than usual…..eat some hot
dogs and have a beer…..but somewhere in there take a second, pause, and
remember why you have that day off……tell your kids and grandkids……even if
you don’t have a military connection in your own life it does not mean for a
second that you cannot appreciate the freedom…..actual freedom…..that you
enjoy here in the greatest nation on the earth…..remind yourself that freedom is
not free, and that men and women have gone before us to ensure that freedom
remains dynamic, and not static……and if you served yourself then remember
your brothers-in-arms who served with you…..and for those who didn’t come
home do them the honor of being intentional to always remember, and never
forget.
And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way!