thestream--2020-11-11--‘The Theory and Practice of Anarcho-Tyranny,’ by Immanuel Goldstein

If you read 1984 , you ’ ll remember that it contains a book-within-the-book .
The beaten-down hero , Winston Smith , receives the samizdat manuscript from a member of the possibly fictional group , The Brotherhood .
It claims to represent an underground resistance movement against the perfected totalitarian state led by the Ingsoc ( English Socialism ) Party .
As readers , we never find out if The Brotherhood really exists .
It might be just a glue-trap for catching potential dissidents .
Likewise , we never learn if there is really such a person as Immanuel Goldstein @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on whose followers acts of terrorism and sabotage get blamed ( as Stalin once blamed Trotsky ’ s ) .
Perhaps the ruling elite of the Ingsoc Inner Party merely invented him , as a devil to play off against its equally nebulous substitute god , Big Brother .
Whether or not Goldstein ever existed , he ’ s listed as the author of this book-within-a-book .
Entitled The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism , it explains the Machiavellian logic behind the otherwise puzzling practices of the Party .
In it , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of self-brainwashing to believe whatever the Party teaches , however self-contradictory .
We also learn the origins and inner logic of a nightmarish ideology and regime .
For George Orwell ’ s purposes , this manuscript served to offer his quite serious diagnosis of how socialist parties ( national in Germany , international in Russia ) betrayed the egalitarian ideals in which that movement was rooted .
As someone struggling to hold onto his own faith in liberal , democratic socialism , Orwell hoped that 1984 could rescue that movement from totalitarian temptations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from Orwell ’ s ( and “ Goldstein ’ s ” ) original text in 1984 .
The new aristocracy was made up for the most part of bureaucrats , scientists , technicians , trade-union organizers , publicity experts , sociologists , teachers , journalists , and professional politicians .
These people , whose origins lay in the salaried middle class and the upper grades of the working class , had been shaped and brought together by the barren world of monopoly industry and centralized government .
As compared with their opposite numbers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ avaricious , less tempted by luxury , hungrier for pure power , and , above all , more conscious of what they were doing and more intent on crushing opposition .
This last difference was cardinal .
By comparison with that existing today , all the tyrannies of the past were half-hearted and inefficient .
Part of the reason for this was that in the past no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance .
The invention of print , however , made it easier to manipulate public opinion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ carried the process further .
With the development of television , and the technical advance which made it possible to receive and transmit simultaneously on the same instrument , private life came to an end .
Every citizen , or at least every citizen important enough to be worth watching , could be kept for twenty-four hours a day under the eyes of the police and in the sound of official propaganda , with all other channels of communication closed .
The possibility of enforcing not only complete obedience to the will of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opinion on all subjects , now existed for the first time .
A Fragment from the Novel 2048 Below is a fragment from my unwritten novel 2048 .
It looks back at how freedom was lost in the U.S. and throughout the West .
Like Goldstein ’ s work , it dissects the totalitarian movement we see at work today .
But it does so from the viewpoint of almost 30 years later , when it has triumphed almost completely .
To describe how our current zealots think and act , I ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ best describes the current theory and practice of today ’ s Woke left .
At first blush , the name of this political system suggests self-contradictory nonsense .
Anarchists oppose the very existence of government itself .
Tyrants are rulers who expand their power relentlessly , in defiance of national customs and natural law .
What would it even mean to say that someone favors at once both Anarchy and Tyranny ?
However , practical politics frequently force us to work beyond the boundaries of merely logical thought .
What someone in power @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and often has ) contradict the stated ideals he claims to work toward , and the ethics he proclaims .
Crude examples of this from the past would include corrupt popes who used their office to enrich their family members .
Or evangelical Christians who cited the Bible in defense of enslaving black people .
Or liberal Democrats who found it advantageous to keep millions of poor people dependent on massive government programs , for multiple generations .
What we see in the new generation of Anarcho-Tyrants is something more sophisticated and so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ take the most viscerally appealing and politically useful elements from each of two contrary tendencies .
He then can combine them .
He may cherry pick from the weapons offered by Anarchy and Tyranny , as he finds useful .
The goal , of course , is always perfectly consistent : to gain and hold more money , status , and power .
Look at the question of “ liberating ” people from certain legal , ethical , and social restrictions .
For instance , traditional sexual mores and morals .
The liberal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that religious strictures cut off certain avenues of human happiness .
For instance , the Biblical ban on homosexual behavior , or on abortion for sexual convenience .
So he would agitate to see the relevant laws change , so the State would stop interfering with private conduct .
The Anarcho-Tyrant sees further .
He realizes that the very existence of churches and families stands in the way of his own exercise of power .
They are barriers against the complete domination of the State , the Media , and the educational establishment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of social control .
So he argues that even the existence and free expression of such religious beliefs or family values somehow oppress groups he designates as “ victims.
” ( For instance , pornographers , professional abortionists — and their customers . )
These traditional beliefs retard the absolute “ equality ” of dissenters with people who honor those beliefs .
They result in “ exclusion.
” That ’ s a phenomenon old-fashioned liberals would have accepted as part of the quaint practice of “ free association.
” But the Anarcho-Tyrant has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He will use the power of the State to repress the speech and actions of millions of private citizens .
But in doing so he ’ ll claim to be “ liberating ” disgruntled minorities .
Of course what he ’ ll actually be doing is liquidating rivals for cultural power .
That much becomes clear once a tipping point is passed .
Once the “ oppressed ” groups , such as the LGBT movement , become more powerful than their “ oppressors , ” logically the liberation movement should be over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to dismiss his most fervent soldiers till the war is completely over .
He wants , and will demand , unconditional surrender from these conservative forces .
He will not be satisfied until every church preaches , and every local school teaches , the same “ liberating ” creed .
That is , until they are effectively annexed by the State , like the “ Patriotic ” Catholic Church in China .
From 2010 on or so , the wealthiest , largest churches proved so eager to remain “ respectable ” that they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of homogenizing and rendering harmless Christian resistance .
So did Pope Francis ’ alliance with Communist China , which signaled his acceptance of the Chinese model of church-state relations worldwide .
Again , from my unwritten novel 2048 , the most dramatic expression of Anarcho-Tyranny , of course , emerged in the rise of the powerful movements Black Lives Matter and Antifa .
These began as street protest groups in the early 2020s .
By 2035 they had become quasi-official political police , though not bound by the same written laws or judicial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unconscious ) seems to have been the German National Socialist SS .
It began as a party militia , but after the Nazi rise to power became a part , and the dominant part , of that country ’ s official police force .
Beginning in 2020 , but escalating quickly after the contested election of Joseph Biden and the Democratic takeover of the U.S. Senate , these two movements became crucial .
They served as political enforcers for one political party against all others .
They also served the most radical wing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one-time moderates .
The street riots of 2020 nominally started as “ peaceful protests ” over a few alleged incidents of police brutality .
They soon turned into dangerous , destructive attacks on entire neighborhoods .
The opportunity for looting and violence rewarded the most aggressive “ street soldiers ” of the left , and terrorized opponents .
Meanwhile , with almost no exceptions , local officials who were Democrats refused to impose law and order .
So far , this sounds like simple Anarchy .
But a closer look reveals the paradoxical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these riots occurred , most local governments where they occurred had disarmed private citizens .
They had stripped them , in defiance of the U.S. Constitution , of their right of self-defense .
Hence the people were utterly dependent on the police force ’ s “ monopoly of violence.
” But mayors and governors who stood down those police left citizens helpless , and handed the monopoly of violence instead to political gangs .
In some places where laws permitting private firearms still existed , citizens offered resistance to these attacks on their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Democratic officials pivoted quickly from the Anarchic pole to the Tyrannical , sending well-armed officers to arrest those “ guilty ” of self-defense .
Most were accused of grossly inflated crimes , and served long prison sentences .
Making examples of people like Kyle Rittenhouse , Jake Gardner , and Mark and Patricia McCloskey served its purpose .
When the new , 19-member U.S. Supreme Court effectively nullified the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution , expected popular resistance hardly materialized .
Few wanted to be the last person imprisoned in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by “ slaveowners.
” Once the citizenry of the United States had been completely disarmed , the last backstop that country ’ s founders had trusted against tyranny was gone .
And the rest , as they say , is history .
John Zmirak is a senior editor at The Stream , and author or co-author of ten books , including The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism .
He is co-author with Jason Jones of “ God , Guns , & the Government .
”

If you read 1984, you’ll remember that it contains a book-within-the-book. The beaten-down hero, Winston Smith, receives the samizdat manuscript from a member of the possibly fictional group, The Brotherhood. It claims to represent an underground resistance movement against the perfected totalitarian state led by the Ingsoc (English Socialism) Party.
As readers, we never find out if The Brotherhood really exists. It might be just a glue-trap for catching potential dissidents. Likewise, we never learn if there is really such a person as Immanuel Goldstein. He is the reviled scapegoat dissident on whose followers acts of terrorism and sabotage get blamed (as Stalin once blamed Trotsky’s). Perhaps the ruling elite of the Ingsoc Inner Party merely invented him, as a devil to play off against its equally nebulous substitute god, Big Brother.
A Book Within a Book
Whether or not Goldstein ever existed, he’s listed as the author of this book-within-a-book. Entitled The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, it explains the Machiavellian logic behind the otherwise puzzling practices of the Party. In it, we learn about Doublethink, the practice of self-brainwashing to believe whatever the Party teaches, however self-contradictory. We also learn the origins and inner logic of a nightmarish ideology and regime.
For George Orwell’s purposes, this manuscript served to offer his quite serious diagnosis of how socialist parties (national in Germany, international in Russia) betrayed the egalitarian ideals in which that movement was rooted. As someone struggling to hold onto his own faith in liberal, democratic socialism, Orwell hoped that 1984 could rescue that movement from totalitarian temptations.
1984 … or 2020?
Here is a chillingly contemporary selection from Orwell’s (and “Goldstein’s”) original text in 1984.
The new aristocracy was made up for the most part of bureaucrats, scientists, technicians, trade-union organizers, publicity experts, sociologists, teachers, journalists, and professional politicians. These people, whose origins lay in the salaried middle class and the upper grades of the working class, had been shaped and brought together by the barren world of monopoly industry and centralized government. As compared with their opposite numbers in past ages, they were less avaricious, less tempted by luxury, hungrier for pure power, and, above all, more conscious of what they were doing and more intent on crushing opposition. This last difference was cardinal. By comparison with that existing today, all the tyrannies of the past were half-hearted and inefficient. … Part of the reason for this was that in the past no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance. The invention of print, however, made it easier to manipulate public opinion, and the film and the radio carried the process further. With the development of television, and the technical advance which made it possible to receive and transmit simultaneously on the same instrument, private life came to an end. Every citizen, or at least every citizen important enough to be worth watching, could be kept for twenty-four hours a day under the eyes of the police and in the sound of official propaganda, with all other channels of communication closed. The possibility of enforcing not only complete obedience to the will of the State, but complete uniformity of opinion on all subjects, now existed for the first time.
Sounds … familiar, doesn’t it?
A Fragment from the Novel 2048
Below is a fragment from my unwritten novel 2048. It looks back at how freedom was lost in the U.S. and throughout the West. Like Goldstein’s work, it dissects the totalitarian movement we see at work today. But it does so from the viewpoint of almost 30 years later, when it has triumphed almost completely.
To describe how our current zealots think and act, I’ve borrowed the term Anarcho-Tyranny. It best describes the current theory and practice of today’s Woke left.
How Anarcho-Tyranny Works
At first blush, the name of this political system suggests self-contradictory nonsense. Anarchists oppose the very existence of government itself. Tyrants are rulers who expand their power relentlessly, in defiance of national customs and natural law. What would it even mean to say that someone favors at once both Anarchy and Tyranny? However, practical politics frequently force us to work beyond the boundaries of merely logical thought. What someone in power wants to do may very well contradict the stated ideals he claims to work toward, and the ethics he proclaims.
The Anarcho-Tyrant sees that the very existence of churches and families stands in the way of his own exercise of power. They are barriers against his complete domination.
Crude examples of this from the past would include corrupt popes who used their office to enrich their family members. Or evangelical Christians who cited the Bible in defense of enslaving black people. Or liberal Democrats who found it advantageous to keep millions of poor people dependent on massive government programs, for multiple generations.
Cherry-Picked Weapons
What we see in the new generation of Anarcho-Tyrants is something more sophisticated and so more perverse. The Anarcho-Tyrant wishes to take the most viscerally appealing and politically useful elements from each of two contrary tendencies. He then can combine them. He may cherry pick from the weapons offered by Anarchy and Tyranny, as he finds useful. The goal, of course, is always perfectly consistent: to gain and hold more money, status, and power.
Look at the question of “liberating” people from certain legal, ethical, and social restrictions. For instance, traditional sexual mores and morals. The liberal, in past decades, might conclude that religious strictures cut off certain avenues of human happiness. For instance, the Biblical ban on homosexual behavior, or on abortion for sexual convenience. So he would agitate to see the relevant laws change, so the State would stop interfering with private conduct.
Bulldozing Any Institutional Resistance
The Anarcho-Tyrant sees further. He realizes that the very existence of churches and families stands in the way of his own exercise of power. They are barriers against the complete domination of the State, the Media, and the educational establishment. And these are his chosen instruments of social control.
So he argues that even the existence and free expression of such religious beliefs or family values somehow oppress groups he designates as “victims.” (For instance, pornographers, professional abortionists — and their customers.) These traditional beliefs retard the absolute “equality” of dissenters with people who honor those beliefs. They result in “exclusion.”
Liberation Via Government Control
That’s a phenomenon old-fashioned liberals would have accepted as part of the quaint practice of “free association.” But the Anarcho-Tyrant has progressed far beyond such 18th century scruples. He will use the power of the State to repress the speech and actions of millions of private citizens. But in doing so he’ll claim to be “liberating” disgruntled minorities.
Of course what he’ll actually be doing is liquidating rivals for cultural power. That much becomes clear once a tipping point is passed. Once the “oppressed” groups, such as the LGBT movement, become more powerful than their “oppressors,” logically the liberation movement should be over.
Unconditional Surrender
But the Anarcho-Tyrant knows better than to dismiss his most fervent soldiers till the war is completely over. He wants, and will demand, unconditional surrender from these conservative forces. He will not be satisfied until every church preaches, and every local school teaches, the same “liberating” creed. That is, until they are effectively annexed by the State, like the “Patriotic” Catholic Church in China.
From 2010 on or so, the wealthiest, largest churches proved so eager to remain “respectable” that they quickly complied. This sped the process of homogenizing and rendering harmless Christian resistance. So did Pope Francis’ alliance with Communist China, which signaled his acceptance of the Chinese model of church-state relations worldwide.
Political Street Gangs Matter
Again, from my unwritten novel 2048, the most dramatic expression of Anarcho-Tyranny, of course, emerged in the rise of the powerful movements Black Lives Matter and Antifa. These began as street protest groups in the early 2020s. By 2035 they had become quasi-official political police, though not bound by the same written laws or judicial review. The model here (perhaps unconscious) seems to have been the German National Socialist SS. It began as a party militia, but after the Nazi rise to power became a part, and the dominant part, of that country’s official police force.
Beginning in 2020, but escalating quickly after the contested election of Joseph Biden and the Democratic takeover of the U.S. Senate, these two movements became crucial. They served as political enforcers for one political party against all others. They also served the most radical wing within that party, terrorizing and silencing one-time moderates.
the Anarcho-Tyrant will use the power of the State to repress the speech and actions of millions of private citizens. But in doing so he’ll claim to be “liberating” disgruntled minorities.
The street riots of 2020 nominally started as “peaceful protests” over a few alleged incidents of police brutality. They soon turned into dangerous, destructive attacks on entire neighborhoods. The opportunity for looting and violence rewarded the most aggressive “street soldiers” of the left, and terrorized opponents. Meanwhile, with almost no exceptions, local officials who were Democrats refused to impose law and order.
Prosecuting the Victims
So far, this sounds like simple Anarchy. But a closer look reveals the paradoxical power of Anarcho-Tyrannical practice. Long before these riots occurred, most local governments where they occurred had disarmed private citizens. They had stripped them, in defiance of the U.S. Constitution, of their right of self-defense. Hence the people were utterly dependent on the police force’s “monopoly of violence.” But mayors and governors who stood down those police left citizens helpless, and handed the monopoly of violence instead to political gangs.
Please Support The Stream : Equipping Christians to Think Clearly About the Political, Economic, and Moral Issues of Our Day.
In some places where laws permitting private firearms still existed, citizens offered resistance to these attacks on their property and safety. At this point, the Democratic officials pivoted quickly from the Anarchic pole to the Tyrannical, sending well-armed officers to arrest those “guilty” of self-defense.
Making Examples
Most were accused of grossly inflated crimes, and served long prison sentences. Making examples of people like Kyle Rittenhouse, Jake Gardner, and Mark and Patricia McCloskey served its purpose. When the new, 19-member U.S. Supreme Court effectively nullified the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, expected popular resistance hardly materialized. Few wanted to be the last person imprisoned in defense of “outdated” freedoms inscribed by “slaveowners.”
Once the citizenry of the United States had been completely disarmed, the last backstop that country’s founders had trusted against tyranny was gone.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
John Zmirak is a senior editor at The Stream, and author or co-author of ten books, including The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism. He is co-author with Jason Jones of “God, Guns, & the Government.”


thestream--2020-11-11--Senator Asks DOJ If Hunter Biden’s Chinese Business Deals Complied With Foreign Agent Registration L

Senator Asks DOJ If Hunter Biden’s Chinese Business Deals Complied With Foreign Agent Registration Laws

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley called on the Justice Department Tuesday to assess whether Hunter Biden and his uncle , James Biden , should have registered as foreign agents of China for their work with a Chinese energy firm .
According to a Senate report released in September , the Chinese company , CEFC China Energy , wired Hunter Biden at least $ 5 million from August 2017 through October 2018 to help develop investment deals for the company in the U.S. and other countries .
CEFC also paid Biden ’ s law firm $ 1 million in March @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a former CEFC executive who was indicted for bribery related to business deals in Africa .
CEFC ’ s former chairman , Ye Jianming , reportedly has links to the Chinese Communist Party and was an official with a group tied to the People ’ s Liberation Army .
James Biden , who is the younger brother to Joe Biden , worked with Hunter Biden on the CEFC project , according to emails obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation .
In a letter to Attorney General William Barr , Sen. Grassley asserted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Chinese government , ” and that the firm intended to influence U.S. policy and public opinion on behalf of Beijing .
“ CEFC was the perfect vehicle to bring financial benefits to the communist regime under the guise of a private sector company , ” Grassley wrote to Barr .
“ CEFC is clearly a foreign principal as defined by FARA [ Foreign Agents Registration Act ] and Hunter Biden ’ s and James Biden ’ s work for CEFC directly benefitted the communist Chinese government thereby making them potential agents of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disclose any investigation into whether Biden should register under FARA , or whether he was ever notified that he should register under the law .
The Justice Department requires agents of foreign governments or foreign entities linked to a foreign government to register under FARA .
Few FARA cases had been prosecuted until the Trump era .
Prosecutors have indicted former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort , former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig , former business partners of Michael Flynn , and others under the law .
Hunter Biden appears to have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may require FARA registration .
Hunter Biden sent a text message to Tony Bobulinksi , a prospective business partner on the CEFC deal , saying that he wanted to avoid registering as a foreign agent , as well as avoid running up against the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act .
“ We [ sic ] don ’ t want to have to register as foreign agents under the FCPA which is much more expansive than people who should know choose not to know , ” Hunter Biden wrote Bobulinksi on May 1 , 2017 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Bobulinski said he has turned over his emails , texts and other CEFC-related documents to the Senate Homeland Security Committee and the FBI .
The Daily Caller News Foundation reported that the FBI obtained Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ( FISA ) warrants against Patrick Ho , the CEFC executive , based on suspicions that he was working covertly on behalf of a foreign country .
Ho was sentenced to 30 months in prison in his bribery case .
A lawyer for Hunter Biden did not respond to a request for comment .

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley called on the Justice Department Tuesday to assess whether Hunter Biden and his uncle, James Biden, should have registered as foreign agents of China for their work with a Chinese energy firm.
According to a Senate report released in September, the Chinese company, CEFC China Energy, wired Hunter Biden at least $5 million from August 2017 through October 2018 to help develop investment deals for the company in the U.S. and other countries.
CEFC also paid Biden’s law firm $1 million in March 2018 to represent Dr. Patrick Ho, a former CEFC executive who was indicted for bribery related to business deals in Africa.
CEFC’s former chairman, Ye Jianming, reportedly has links to the Chinese Communist Party and was an official with a group tied to the People’s Liberation Army.
James Biden, who is the younger brother to Joe Biden, worked with Hunter Biden on the CEFC project, according to emails obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
In a letter to Attorney General William Barr, Sen. Grassley asserted that CEFC was “an extension of the Chinese government,” and that the firm intended to influence U.S. policy and public opinion on behalf of Beijing.
“CEFC was the perfect vehicle to bring financial benefits to the communist regime under the guise of a private sector company,” Grassley wrote to Barr.
“CEFC is clearly a foreign principal as defined by FARA [Foreign Agents Registration Act] and Hunter Biden’s and James Biden’s work for CEFC directly benefitted the communist Chinese government thereby making them potential agents of that government.”
Grassley asked Barr to disclose any investigation into whether Biden should register under FARA, or whether he was ever notified that he should register under the law.
Please Support The Stream : Equipping Christians to Think Clearly About the Political, Economic, and Moral Issues of Our Day.
The Justice Department requires agents of foreign governments or foreign entities linked to a foreign government to register under FARA. Few FARA cases had been prosecuted until the Trump era. Prosecutors have indicted former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig, former business partners of Michael Flynn, and others under the law.
Hunter Biden appears to have been aware that his work with CEFC may require FARA registration.
Hunter Biden sent a text message to Tony Bobulinksi, a prospective business partner on the CEFC deal, saying that he wanted to avoid registering as a foreign agent, as well as avoid running up against the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
“We [sic] don’t want to have to register as foreign agents under the FCPA which is much more expansive than people who should know choose not to know,” Hunter Biden wrote Bobulinksi on May 1, 2017 in a message obtained by the DCNF.
Bobulinski said he has turned over his emails, texts and other CEFC-related documents to the Senate Homeland Security Committee and the FBI.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reported that the FBI obtained Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against Patrick Ho, the CEFC executive, based on suspicions that he was working covertly on behalf of a foreign country.
Ho was sentenced to 30 months in prison in his bribery case.
A lawyer for Hunter Biden did not respond to a request for comment.
Copyright 2020 The Daily Caller News Foundation
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].


thestream--2020-11-11--Veterans Day: A Warrior’s Mission to Honor His Brothers

Veterans Day is a time to honor all who ’ ve proudly worn our nation ’ s uniform .
For combat veteran Beau Wise , it ’ s also a time to remember his two big brothers , Jeremy and Ben .
Jeremy , a U.S. Navy SEAL who later became a contractor for the CIA , was killed in a 2009 sneak attack by al Qaeda in Afghanistan .
Just over two years later , U.S. Army Green Beret Ben Wise died after being badly wounded during a firefight with the Taliban .
Beau , who was subsequently pulled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only service member in American history to lose two brothers during the war in Afghanistan .
As Beau says in the new trailer for our forthcoming book Three Wise Men : A Navy SEAL , a Green Beret , and How Their Marine Brother Became a War ’ s Sole Survivor , the hardest thing he ever had to do was tell his parents that they ’ d lost a second son upon their arrival in Germany , where military surgeons had spent several days frantically trying to save Ben ’ s life @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Beau for more than two years and also becoming close friends , I can not imagine what he and his family have been through .
In Beau ’ s case , he is haunted not only by the deaths of his two brothers , but harrowing images he saw on the battlefield during his own two Afghanistan deployments .
While working together , Beau told me that he had considered ending his life in the aftermath of his second brother ’ s death .
Beau then bravely decided to include his near-suicide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be released in January .
By sharing this painful memory , Beau is hoping to help fellow veterans who might be considering suicide , which takes the lives of far too many of our nation ’ s heroes on a daily basis .
Veterans Day is the perfect time for Americans to come together to help these warriors find light amid the darkness .
Despite everything Beau and his loved ones have been through , they have managed to maintain their strong faith in God .
As you will read in Three Wise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fought in Afghanistan after Jeremy ’ s death .
Faith would later comfort Beau as he coped with Ben ’ s unthinkable passing just over two years later .
Sergeant First Class Ben Wise is buried with the Bible of a close friend and fellow combat veteran , Kevin Flike .
Etched on Ben ’ s headstone is Philippians 3:12-21 , which reads in part , “ Their mind is set on earthly things .
But our citizenship is in heaven .
And we eagerly await a Savior from there , the Lord @ @ @ @ @ @ @ power that enables him to bring everything under his control , will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
” In faraway Khost , Afghanistan , a plaque honors the lives of seven fallen CIA heroes , including former Navy SEAL Jeremy Wise .
Dedicated in 2010 by then-CIA Director Leon Panetta , the plaque includes a verse from Isaiah 6:8 : “ And I heard the voice of the Lord , saying , ‘ Whom shall I send , and who will go for us ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ I am ; send me.
” Thank God for blessing our country with heroes like Ben , Jeremy and Beau Wise .
In addition to the best medical and mental health care , those who took it upon themselves to defend freedom and our flag deserve the eternal appreciation and respect of a grateful nation .
For all Americans , every day should be Veterans Day .
Tom Sileo is a contributing senior editor of The Stream .
Three Wise Men : A Navy SEAL , a Green Beret and How their Marine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Survivor is available now for pre-order and will be released on January 5 , 2021 .

Veterans Day is a time to honor all who’ve proudly worn our nation’s uniform. For combat veteran Beau Wise, it’s also a time to remember his two big brothers, Jeremy and Ben.
Jeremy, a U.S. Navy SEAL who later became a contractor for the CIA, was killed in a 2009 sneak attack by al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Just over two years later, U.S. Army Green Beret Ben Wise died after being badly wounded during a firefight with the Taliban. Beau, who was subsequently pulled from further combat duty, is the only service member in American history to lose two brothers during the war in Afghanistan.
As Beau says in the new trailer for our forthcoming book Three Wise Men: A Navy SEAL, a Green Beret, and How Their Marine Brother Became a War’s Sole Survivor, the hardest thing he ever had to do was tell his parents that they’d lost a second son upon their arrival in Germany, where military surgeons had spent several days frantically trying to save Ben’s life.
Even after writing Three Wise Men with Beau for more than two years and also becoming close friends, I cannot imagine what he and his family have been through. In Beau’s case, he is haunted not only by the deaths of his two brothers, but harrowing images he saw on the battlefield during his own two Afghanistan deployments.
While working together, Beau told me that he had considered ending his life in the aftermath of his second brother’s death. Beau then bravely decided to include his near-suicide attempt in our book, which will be released in January. By sharing this painful memory, Beau is hoping to help fellow veterans who might be considering suicide, which takes the lives of far too many of our nation’s heroes on a daily basis. Veterans Day is the perfect time for Americans to come together to help these warriors find light amid the darkness.
Despite everything Beau and his loved ones have been through, they have managed to maintain their strong faith in God. As you will read in Three Wise Men, prayer sustained Ben as he fought in Afghanistan after Jeremy’s death. Faith would later comfort Beau as he coped with Ben’s unthinkable passing just over two years later.
Please Support The Stream : Equipping Christians to Think Clearly About the Political, Economic, and Moral Issues of Our Day.
Sergeant First Class Ben Wise is buried with the Bible of a close friend and fellow combat veteran, Kevin Flike. Etched on Ben’s headstone is Philippians 3:12-21, which reads in part, “Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
In faraway Khost, Afghanistan, a plaque honors the lives of seven fallen CIA heroes, including former Navy SEAL Jeremy Wise. Dedicated in 2010 by then-CIA Director Leon Panetta, the plaque includes a verse from Isaiah 6:8: “And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am; send me.”
Thank God for blessing our country with heroes like Ben, Jeremy and Beau Wise. In addition to the best medical and mental health care, those who took it upon themselves to defend freedom and our flag deserve the eternal appreciation and respect of a grateful nation. For all Americans, every day should be Veterans Day.
Tom Sileo is a contributing senior editor of The Stream. Three Wise Men: A Navy SEAL, a Green Beret and How their Marine Brother Became a War’s Sole Survivor is available now for pre-order and will be released on January 5, 2021.


thestream--2020-11-11--Joe Biden’s ‘Transition Agenda’ is Full of Big Government Power Grabs

Joe Biden plans to hit the ground running after Inauguration Day .
Biden and his running mate , Kamala Harris , have released a sweeping transition agenda they hope to implement after taking power .
It focuses on several main issues : COVID-19 , economic stimulus , racial equity and climate change .
While Biden campaigned as a moderate Democrat , this transition agenda is very radical .
It includes a whole host of policies that go far beyond the “ return to normalcy ” rhetoric that defined his campaign .
Never Let A Crisis Go To Waste For example @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continuing COVID-19 pandemic by further making use of the Defense Production Act .
The emergency law allows the federal government to seize control of private industries and dictate their manufacturing .
Biden says he would use this power to commandeer more private manufacturers and force them to build up the U.S. ’ s supply of Personal Protective Equipment ( PPE ) .
Biden also says he would use the COVID-19 crisis as cause to push for a massive expansion of government control of Americans ’ healthcare .
Per his transition website , Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ option ” that “ competes ” with private health care companies .
As Pacific Research Institute healthcare analyst Sally Pipes has explained , this would lead to socialized healthcare in short order .
Why ?
Well , the government can force medical providers to accept lower rates and subsidize itself .
Businesses can ’ t .
No private company can “ compete ” with an institution that writes the rules of the game .
They could eventually all go out of business , leaving just the government .
Biden says this plan is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ response .
But his public option would prove more than a short-term measure — it would almost certainly put the U.S. on the path to permanent government-run healthcare for all .
On the economic front , Biden ’ s rhetoric focuses on restoring order and stability , but the details of his transition agenda involve a radical transformation of our economy toward more state control and intervention .
For example , Biden ’ s emergency economic recovery plan includes permanently implementing a federal $ 15 minimum wage .
Slipped into his crisis response @ @ @ @ @ @ @ controls on the labor market and , according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office , eliminate millions of jobs .
That ’ s right : Biden has snuck a highly debated big-government economic policy into the fine print of his COVID-19 emergency plan .
And this quiet economic overhaul extends beyond the minimum wage .
“ This is no time to just build back to the way things were before , with the old economy ’ s structural weaknesses and inequalities still in place , ” reads Biden ’ s transition website .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and build a new American economy for our families and the next generation.
” This overhaul would include a federal bailout for bankrupt state and local governments and further expansion of what was supposed to be a short-term , ultra-generous augmentation of unemployment benefits .
Indeed , remember the benefits that paid 70 percent of the unemployed more to stay home on welfare than to go back to work ?
Biden wants to extend what was sold as an emergency measure .
( And , I ’ m sure , extend it after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The obvious labor disincentive created evidently does not concern Biden , or , he has decided it is a price worth paying for a massive expansion of the welfare state .
So , too , Biden would seize upon the pandemic to inject the government further into the labor market through the creation of a “ Public Health Jobs Corps.
” And , as part of his “ emergency ” economic response , Biden wants to pass the PRO Act , a law permanently destroying many gig economy jobs and erasing right-to-work laws @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t forget about climate change , of course .
The Biden-Harris transition agenda also promises to immediately address climate change and “ achieve a carbon-pollution-free power sector by 2035.
” In pursuit of this drastic goal they would inject government resources into the upgrading of 4 million buildings and 2 million homes as well as promoting the construction of 1.5 million new “ sustainable ” housing units .
We should acknowledge that all of these policy overhauls are eminently debatable .
While free-marketeers and fiscal conservatives will no doubt find many of them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support the Biden agenda .
What ’ s really disheartening is the quiet manner in which clearly radical policy provisions have been slipped into the Biden transition agenda and emergency response .
In this , we can observe one of the perennial dangers of government power — that it will seize on emergencies to expand , yet never fully recede .
This is the danger economist Robert Higgs identified in his seminal work Crisis and Leviathan as “ the Ratchet Effect.
” As I ’ ve written before : Brad Polumbo ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Opinion Editor at the Foundation for Economic Education .

Joe Biden plans to hit the ground running after Inauguration Day.
Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, have released a sweeping transition agenda they hope to implement after taking power. It focuses on several main issues: COVID-19, economic stimulus, racial equity and climate change.
While Biden campaigned as a moderate Democrat, this transition agenda is very radical. It includes a whole host of policies that go far beyond the “return to normalcy” rhetoric that defined his campaign.
Never Let A Crisis Go To Waste
For example, Biden promises to respond to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic by further making use of the Defense Production Act. The emergency law allows the federal government to seize control of private industries and dictate their manufacturing. Biden says he would use this power to commandeer more private manufacturers and force them to build up the U.S.’s supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Biden also says he would use the COVID-19 crisis as cause to push for a massive expansion of government control of Americans’ healthcare. Per his transition website, Biden will push for a government-run “public option” that “competes” with private health care companies.
As Pacific Research Institute healthcare analyst Sally Pipes has explained, this would lead to socialized healthcare in short order. Why?
Well, the government can force medical providers to accept lower rates and subsidize itself. Businesses can’t. No private company can “compete” with an institution that writes the rules of the game. They could eventually all go out of business, leaving just the government.
The details of Biden’s transition agenda involve a radical transformation of our economy toward more state control and intervention.
Biden says this plan is needed in the name of emergency pandemic response. But his public option would prove more than a short-term measure — it would almost certainly put the U.S. on the path to permanent government-run healthcare for all.
Radical Economic Transformation
On the economic front, Biden’s rhetoric focuses on restoring order and stability, but the details of his transition agenda involve a radical transformation of our economy toward more state control and intervention.
For example, Biden’s emergency economic recovery plan includes permanently implementing a federal $15 minimum wage. Slipped into his crisis response, this provision would put national price controls on the labor market and, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, eliminate millions of jobs.
That’s right: Biden has snuck a highly debated big-government economic policy into the fine print of his COVID-19 emergency plan. And this quiet economic overhaul extends beyond the minimum wage.
“This is no time to just build back to the way things were before, with the old economy’s structural weaknesses and inequalities still in place,” reads Biden’s transition website. “This is the moment to imagine and build a new American economy for our families and the next generation.”
Federal Bailouts and Benefits
This overhaul would include a federal bailout for bankrupt state and local governments and further expansion of what was supposed to be a short-term, ultra-generous augmentation of unemployment benefits. Indeed, remember the benefits that paid 70 percent of the unemployed more to stay home on welfare than to go back to work?
Biden wants to extend what was sold as an emergency measure. (And, I’m sure, extend it after that, and after that.)
Please Support The Stream : Equipping Christians to Think Clearly About the Political, Economic, and Moral Issues of Our Day.
The obvious labor disincentive created evidently does not concern Biden, or, he has decided it is a price worth paying for a massive expansion of the welfare state. So, too, Biden would seize upon the pandemic to inject the government further into the labor market through the creation of a “Public Health Jobs Corps.”
And, as part of his “emergency” economic response, Biden wants to pass the PRO Act, a law permanently destroying many gig economy jobs and erasing right-to-work laws nationwide.
And Then There’s Climate Change
Oh, and don’t forget about climate change, of course.
The Biden-Harris transition agenda also promises to immediately address climate change and “achieve a carbon-pollution-free power sector by 2035.” In pursuit of this drastic goal they would inject government resources into the upgrading of 4 million buildings and 2 million homes as well as promoting the construction of 1.5 million new “sustainable” housing units.
“The Ratchet Effect”
We should acknowledge that all of these policy overhauls are eminently debatable. While free-marketeers and fiscal conservatives will no doubt find many of them harmful, people of good faith may support the Biden agenda.
What’s really disheartening is the quiet manner in which clearly radical policy provisions have been slipped into the Biden transition agenda and emergency response. In this, we can observe one of the perennial dangers of government power — that it will seize on emergencies to expand, yet never fully recede.
This is the danger economist Robert Higgs identified in his seminal work Crisis and Leviathan as “the Ratchet Effect.” As I’ve written before:
Higgs showed how throughout history, crises have been used to excuse government power grabs. After each crisis, the government lets go of some of the power, but never all of it. As a result, the federal government’s power (the Leviathan) has ‘ratcheted up,’ crisis after crisis, throughout the last hundred years.
This is seemingly what the transition agenda is constructed to do. Of course, Biden and Harris have every right to argue for their progressive, big-government agenda once in office. However, we should all demand that they be upfront with the American people about what they are doing. Otherwise, millions may unknowingly acquiesce to permanent government power grabs — masquerading as short-term emergency measures — that we may never fully be able to reverse.
Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is a libertarian-conservative journalist and Opinion Editor at the Foundation for Economic Education.
Originally published at FEE.org. Reprinted with permission.


thestream--2020-11-11--Military Photo of the Day: November 11, 2020

An active duty U.S. Marine thanks a World War II veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor for his service at Marine @ @ @ @ @ 5 , 2019 .
On this Veterans Day , we thank , honor and remember @ @ @ @ @ women who have selflessly worn our country ’ s uniform during its more than 240-year @ @ @ @ @ at The Stream are eternally grateful to these heroes and their families for defending freedom @ @ @ @

An active duty U.S. Marine thanks a World War II veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor for his service at Marine Corps Base Hawaii on December 5, 2019.
On this Veterans Day, we thank, honor and remember all the brave men and women who have selflessly worn our country’s uniform during its more than 240-year history. All of us at The Stream are eternally grateful to these heroes and their families for defending freedom and our flag.
Thank you.
Please Support The Stream : Equipping Christians to Think Clearly About the Political, Economic, and Moral Issues of Our Day.


thestream--2020-11-11--It’s Out of Our Hands, But God’s Still Got This

It ’ s out of your hands .
If you ’ re not a lawyer , an investigator , or a witness — or maybe someone who can encourage a witness to speak out — your influence on this election is down to just two things .
You can speak out to encourage those who are in the fight .
And you can pray .
Otherwise , you ’ re stuck with whatever happens .
It ’ s out of your control .
And here ’ s what I ’ ve learned : Out of control isn ’ t always @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if you trust God with it .
Stuck With No Way to Solve It I remember vividly the first time I had to trust God with a bad situation that was totally out of my control .
I was studying music at Michigan State in the mid 1970s , and also playing some concerts around the state .
But I ’ d made a huge mistake booking one of those concerts .
( I do not recommend making huge mistakes so you can trust God to solve them . )
Somehow I scheduled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Christian band leader named Thurlow Spurr in Monroe , Michigan , the same night I was supposed to be in East Lansing for a rehearsal with MSU ’ s Wind Ensemble .
This was bad .
Really bad .
Musicians don ’ t miss concerts .
Ever .
Period .
I ’ d rehearsed with the Thurlow Spurr group , I ’ d played two other concerts with them , and there was no way to replace me for this one .
Backing out would mar the concert and utterly destroy my reputation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t miss concerts , and you don ’ t miss rehearsals , either .
The saying at Michigan State was , “ You can skip a rehearsal for a death in the family : your own.
” Sound like a joke ?
Not so much .
Two years earlier , when I was a freshman .
I ’ d showed up at the band director ’ s office with a note from a campus doctors .
I was pretty sick .
The doc thought I had appendicitis , and I was to meet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I was going to have to miss marching band practice .
Mr. Bloomquist , the director , looked at the note , looked at me , and said , “ 6:30 ?
Practice will be over by then .
You don ’ t really need to skip , do you ?
” I had my appendix out that night .
The surgeon told me afterward that I was even sicker than I ’ d realized .
Not even appendicitis ; only a death in the family : Your own .
Actually , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when I came back a week later , he made a pointed comment : “ Well , I ’ m sure glad to see we can all make it this time.
” I never saw anyone else miss a rehearsal , ever .
Just once I saw a student walk in late .
I mean that literally : It happened exactly once in four years .
Mr. Bloomquist ’ s glare is still burned in my memory .
The year after I graduated , I had nightmares seven nights in a row that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Solved It ; God ’ s Got This I couldn ’ t miss the concert , and I couldn ’ t miss the rehearsal .
I was stuck .
No way out .
So I did the only sensible thing : I laughed .
And I prayed .
I said , “ Okay , God , this one ’ s way beyond me .
It ’ s all yours now .
How are you going to solve this ?
” You pray that way sometimes , when you have no other option .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ We ’ re doing really well here .
I ’ m going to cancel that evening rehearsal.
” And that was it .
It was easy !
But it was also just as unheard of as a student showing up late .
It was the only rehearsal he ever canceled , in my four years there .
This election is out of our control now , other than moral support and prayer .
Let me encourage you in your praying .
When things are out of our hands , that ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in God ’ s .
He ’ s not stuck .
He ’ s not up in heaven moaning , “ Oh , nuts .
I ’ ve sure got Myself in a pickle this time.
” He ’ s the all-powerful , all-wise , all-loving King of the Universe .
He ’ s got this .
Put It In Hands , and Be Encouraged That doesn ’ t mean we know how He ’ s going to work it out .
He ’ s got a whole list of options to draw @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , for example , he had a whole invading army just suddenly up and leave overnight .
Another time he let the nation of Judah suffer and be conquered , carried off in exile to Babylon .
He had his purposes both times , and both times they were good .
God intended the exile to cure the nation of idolatry .
Have you ever stopped to consider how well that worked ?
To this day , you never again hear of the Jews worshiping any God but the one God .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was to set the stage for the coming of Christ ?
God knew what He was doing .
So you and I can and must pray , saying , “ This is urgent , Lord , but it ’ s totally out of my control .
I yield to your will .
I know your purposes are higher and wiser than mine .
Nevertheless I ask you to work mightily and make this election right.
” It ’ s not that much different from a lot of our prayers .
Someone gets sick @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or a family member rejects , or a thousand other things .
I ’ m sure you ’ ve got “ impossible ” prayer answers you could tell about , too .
Remember them as you pray .
Remember who God is .
Be encouraged .
Tom Gilson ( @ TomGilsonAuthor ) is a senior editor with The Stream and the author or editor of six books , including the recently released Too Good To Be False : How Jesus ’ Incomparable Character Reveals His Reality .

It’s out of your hands. If you’re not a lawyer, an investigator, or a witness — or maybe someone who can encourage a witness to speak out — your influence on this election is down to just two things. You can speak out to encourage those who are in the fight. And you can pray. Otherwise, you’re stuck with whatever happens. It’s out of your control.
And here’s what I’ve learned: Out of control isn’t always such a bad place to be, if you trust God with it.
Stuck With No Way to Solve It
I remember vividly the first time I had to trust God with a bad situation that was totally out of my control. I was studying music at Michigan State in the mid 1970s, and also playing some concerts around the state. But I’d made a huge mistake booking one of those concerts. (I do not recommend making huge mistakes so you can trust God to solve them.) Somehow I scheduled myself to play a concert with a Christian band leader named Thurlow Spurr in Monroe, Michigan, the same night I was supposed to be in East Lansing for a rehearsal with MSU’s Wind Ensemble.
This was bad. Really bad. Musicians don’t miss concerts. Ever. Period. I’d rehearsed with the Thurlow Spurr group, I’d played two other concerts with them, and there was no way to replace me for this one. Backing out would mar the concert and utterly destroy my reputation.
No Way Out
You don’t miss concerts, and you don’t miss rehearsals, either. The saying at Michigan State was, “You can skip a rehearsal for a death in the family: your own.” Sound like a joke? Not so much.
Two years earlier, when I was a freshman. I’d showed up at the band director’s office with a note from a campus doctors. I was pretty sick. The doc thought I had appendicitis, and I was to meet with a surgeon at 6:30 pm. I was going to have to miss marching band practice.
Mr. Bloomquist, the director, looked at the note, looked at me, and said, “6:30? Practice will be over by then. You don’t really need to skip, do you?” I had my appendix out that night. The surgeon told me afterward that I was even sicker than I’d realized.
Not even appendicitis; only a death in the family: Your own. Actually, he did excuse me for it, but when I came back a week later, he made a pointed comment: “Well, I’m sure glad to see we can all make it this time.”
I never saw anyone else miss a rehearsal, ever. Just once I saw a student walk in late. I mean that literally: It happened exactly once in four years. Mr. Bloomquist’s glare is still burned in my memory. The year after I graduated, I had nightmares seven nights in a row that I was late for band.
God Solved It; God’s Got This
I couldn’t miss the concert, and I couldn’t miss the rehearsal. I was stuck. No way out. So I did the only sensible thing: I laughed. And I prayed. I said, “Okay, God, this one’s way beyond me. It’s all yours now. How are you going to solve this?” You pray that way sometimes, when you have no other option.
Two days later Mr. Bloomquist told us, “We’re doing really well here. I’m going to cancel that evening rehearsal.” And that was it. It was easy! But it was also just as unheard of as a student showing up late. It was the only rehearsal he ever canceled, in my four years there.
This election is out of our control now, other than moral support and prayer. Let me encourage you in your praying. When things are out of our hands, that’s a great time to put it in God’s. He’s not stuck. He’s not up in heaven moaning, “Oh, nuts. I’ve sure got Myself in a pickle this time.” He’s the all-powerful, all-wise, all-loving King of the Universe. He’s got this.
Put It In Hands, and Be Encouraged
That doesn’t mean we know how He’s going to work it out. He’s got a whole list of options to draw from. Once in the Old Testament, for example, he had a whole invading army just suddenly up and leave overnight. Another time he let the nation of Judah suffer and be conquered, carried off in exile to Babylon.
He had his purposes both times, and both times they were good. God intended the exile to cure the nation of idolatry. Have you ever stopped to consider how well that worked? To this day, you never again hear of the Jews worshiping any God but the one God. And have you ever considered how essential that was to set the stage for the coming of Christ? God knew what He was doing.
Please Support The Stream : Equipping Christians to Think Clearly About the Political, Economic, and Moral Issues of Our Day.
So you and I can and must pray, saying, “This is urgent, Lord, but it’s totally out of my control. I yield to your will. I know your purposes are higher and wiser than mine. Nevertheless I ask you to work mightily and make this election right.”
It’s not that much different from a lot of our prayers. Someone gets sick, or we lose a job, or a family member rejects, or a thousand other things. I’m sure you’ve got “impossible” prayer answers you could tell about, too. Remember them as you pray. Remember who God is. Be encouraged.
Tom Gilson (@TomGilsonAuthor) is a senior editor with The Stream and the author or editor of six books, including the recently released Too Good To Be False: How Jesus’ Incomparable Character Reveals His Reality.


thestream--2020-11-11--WWII Paratrooper Veteran Jumps Out of Helicopter to Honor Veterans

A 99-year-old World War II paratrooper veteran parachuted out of a helicopter on Tuesday to honor U.S. veterans , NBC News reported .
Jim “ Pee Wee ” Martin parachutes to commemorate veterans and was part of a paratroopers regiment in World War II , according to an NBC News video .
“ You stand in a door .
You may have a little , little apprehension , but no fear .
No fear at all , ” Martin said .
The Huey helicopter Martin jumped out of is the same type his late son used in Vietnam , according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how do I feel about my personal service ?
I ’ m proud of what I did and our people are proud of it , but we don ’ t go around and talk about it .
It ’ s not necessary , ” Martin said , according to the video .
Martin also mentioned COVID-19 to NBC and encouraged others to wear masks .
“ Protect each other .
And that starts with wearing a mask , ” Martin said in the video .
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ news publisher that can provide a large audience .
For licensing opportunities of our original content , please contact licensing @ dailycallernewsfoundation.org .

A 99-year-old World War II paratrooper veteran parachuted out of a helicopter on Tuesday to honor U.S. veterans, NBC News reported.
Jim “Pee Wee” Martin parachutes to commemorate veterans and was part of a paratroopers regiment in World War II, according to an NBC News video.
“You stand in a door. You may have a little, little apprehension, but no fear. No fear at all,” Martin said.
The Huey helicopter Martin jumped out of is the same type his late son used in Vietnam, according to the NBC video.
“And how do I feel about my personal service? I’m proud of what I did and our people are proud of it, but we don’t go around and talk about it. It’s not necessary,” Martin said, according to the video.
WATCH:
WATCH: Jim “Pee Wee” Martin, a paratrooper who helped liberate France during World War II, made a recent jump at 99 years old to honor other veterans. @kevtibs has the story. pic.twitter.com/HkW5U2XSXO — NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) November 11, 2020
Veteran Jim "Pee Wee" Martin, a paratrooper in World War II, is still leaping into action at 99 years old. Coming up, @KevTibs shares the story of Jim's recent jump, his service and his new fight. Watch this story from our #ThoseWhoServe series tonight on @NBCNightlyNews. pic.twitter.com/fuf7EQ4CaT — NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) November 10, 2020
Martin also mentioned COVID-19 to NBC and encouraged others to wear masks. “Protect each other. And that starts with wearing a mask,” Martin said in the video.
Please Support The Stream : Equipping Christians to Think Clearly About the Political, Economic, and Moral Issues of Our Day.
Copyright 2020 The Daily Caller News Foundation
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].


thestream--2020-11-11--They Served So We Could Live Free

They Served So We Could Live Free

I remember when video montages of soldiers returning home began circulating shortly after the second Iraq War began .
I discovered , to my surprise , that they reliably reduced me to tears .
There is something about the videos of returning vets that perfectly encapsulates the strength and depth of human love .
Children bursting into tears as their uniformed fathers unexpectedly fill classroom doors .
Wives flinging their arms around their husbands , too overcome to even kiss them .
Mothers sobbing , hugging , and sobbing some more .
The sheer power of family is there for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , are the sacrifices these families make while their loved ones are overseas .
Fathers and mothers miss birthdays .
Recitals .
Graduations .
Anniversaries .
Even births .
They do these things to serve on the front lines so that everyone else can enjoy these things .
They endure the pain of separation while , at home , things proceed as normal .
In fact , they endure these things for this very reason .
Rarely do those of us without family members in the military stop and consider this .
Veteran @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do so .
Over the past year , I have been working on an essay series about eyewitnesses to the 20th century .
As we enter the third decade of the 21st century , many of those who lived through the great events of the last century are departing , one by one .
I wanted to hear their stories firsthand , before they are gone .
I spoke with many combat veterans of America ’ s wars .
Like the only surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II , or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ missions in World War II , Korea and Vietnam .
Their stories were an incredible glimpse into what veterans endure on our behalf .
Bud Anderson is 98 years old and the highest scoring American fighter ace alive .
A World War II triple war ace , he flew combat missions over Europe , Korea and Vietnam .
He was a California boy working as a junior aircraft mechanic when the Japanese attacked .
“ That ’ s when I knew we were off to war , ” he told me .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pearl Harbor was.
” Anderson ended up based in RAF Leiston , in England , flying combat tours against the Luftwaffe with the 363rd Fighter Squadron of the 357th Fighter Group .
“ We had good pilots in our group , ” he told me proudly .
“ All we had to do was be turned loose and we were going to chew somebody up .
I was quite proud of our unit .
That was one of the greatest times of my life , working with these guys.
” “ Those Farmers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I asked him what it was like to fight the German pilots over Europe , his response was to the point : “ It was very rewarding .
It was scary when you first got over there , before you got any kind of experience .
You looked down , and that ’ s enemy territory .
If I go down , all these farmers are going to pitchfork me .
They ’ re just waitin ’ .
” He remembers the first time he shot down a German fighter like it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of Germany when here came three ME-109s , ” he told me .
“ We were on the left side , and they were coming in from the right side .
They obviously couldn ’ t see us , because there was seven of us .
I thought : ‘ One of these is mine.
’ We cut ‘ em off at the pass , before they could do any attacking .
I latched onto this guy .
It was down low , where an ME-109 could give the Mustang a harder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get on this guy ’ s tail .
I was coming at him at very steep angles , and I just couldn ’ t slide in behind him.
” Anderson decided to gamble .
“ I had been through three gunnery schools , so I knew how to shoot .
I said , ‘ When this guy comes around again ’ — we ’ re both in a very high-speed turn , that means your wingtip is vertical — ‘ I ’ m going to get my stick site right on him , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mean I can ’ t see him , because he ’ ll be under my nose .
‘ I ’ m going to pull through to my estimated lead , fire a burst , and see what happens.
’ Sure enough , I hit him with a golden bullet .
He pulled up and bailed out.
” John Anderson , another pilot , pulled up beside him .
“ He ’ s grinning like a kid , and he gave me the OK sign.
” Bud wondered whether John had shot the plane @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a kill had to come from other members of the squadron .
Back on solid ground , he asked several members of the squadron whether they ’ d seen who made the kill .
But all of them had been out of position and couldn ’ t confirm .
He headed over to the club for a drink .
There John ran over to him from the bar , beaming .
“ Andy , ” he said , “ that ’ s the greatest shot I ever saw .
You got the sucker @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Anderson ran his fingers down up and down his left shoulder and shrugged it off .
“ Aw , Johnny , lucky shot.
” And then , he told me with a laugh , “ I rushed to the phone and claimed my first victory.
” Anderson would rack up 16 and a quarter kills and several probably kills over the course of 116 missions .
Even now , all these years later , part of him still misses it all .
“ I enjoyed squadron life , ” he told me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ combat unit more than anything I did .
The camaraderie .
Most of us guys would say we were fighting for our country , or the flag .
But we were fighting for each other .
I think that ’ s true of any good combat unit with good morale .
A guy gets wounded , and the first thing he wants to now is when can I leave to get back to my unit .
That kind of a feeling.
” On the other side of the world , a very different @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the fight against the Japanese in the Pacific , I got in touch with 96-year-old Hershel “ Woody Williams , ” the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II .
From the Sands of Iwo Jima A farm boy from West Virginia , Woody ’ s first combat experience was in Guam in July of 1942 .
After that , the Marines headed to Iwo Jima .
None of the GIs were aware that the island was crisscrossed by miles of tunnels and 22,000 waiting Japanese soldiers .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1945 .
Woody Williams landed with the First Battalion , 21st Marines on February 21 .
It was a brutal , bloody fight .
“ On the 23rd , we were still fighting for the first airfield , ” he told me .
“ They had pillboxes protecting the airfield .
As we tried to advance , they had all of the advantages .
They were inside a concrete structure .
We were out in the open , running from one position to another .
We were a great target .
We kept @ @ @ @ @ @ @ break through those pillboxes .
Every time we ’ d try , they ’ d kill another group of us and we had to retreat.
” What Williams did next would earn him one of the most prestigious military awards in the history of combat .
Covered by four riflemen , he fought for four hours under nonstop enemy fire , constantly returning back to his lines to prepare more demolitions charges and fetch more flamethrowers .
When I asked him about it , he sounded as if he were reciting a military @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Back “ I was able to eliminate the enemy in seven of those pillboxes .
We couldn ’ t do anything about the pillboxes ; they were built so strong with some form of concrete that had metal rods in it .
Artillery , bazookas — it didn ’ t do anything to them .
They were fully protected .
They had an aperture across the front of every pillbox that was about eight inches in height .
That ’ s where they could stick their rifles and machine guns out—and that was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ To clear the pillboxes , Woody had to somehow get close enough to pour fire through the opening .
“ With 70 pounds on your back , you don ’ t get up and walk around very much , ” he recalled .
“ I was crawling towards that pillbox in a ditch that the Japanese had dug to enable them to go from one pillbox to another without getting above ground .
I was in their ditch , and they were shooting at me with a machine gun .
I remember the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flamethrower .
I saw smoke coming out of the top of the pillbox .
So when they were reloading their machine gun or had run out of bullets , I jumped up and ran to the side to get out of their line of fire .
That ’ s when I decided I ’ d go up on top of the pillbox to see where the smoke was coming from .
If there was a hole up there I could put flame down through it.
” The smell of burning human flesh would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a four-hour fight , and Woody Williams witnessed the event that would become an icon : The American flags being raised on Mt .
Suribachi .
He was 1,000 yards away from the volcano .
In March , he was wounded when shrapnel hit him in the leg .
In October , he found out that he would be awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman himself .
But when I asked Woody which memories truly stand out , it was none of those .
It was meeting Americans , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ war , on a plane back to the U.S. “ Men that had at one time weighted 170 or 180 pounds now weighed 80 or 90 pounds .
They looked like skeletons .
Their cheeks were hollow , their eyes were sunken .
You could see every bone in their body .
They were absolutely the happiest people that I think I ’ ve ever seen in my life , because now they were free.
” In fact , Woody discovered that his seat on the airplane had been designated for another former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make the flight .
“ One of them said something I ’ ve never forgotten : ‘ You will never know what freedom is until you have lost it.
’ I ’ ve never forgotten that.
” In addition to World War II veterans , I also interviewed Vietnam vet Philip Caputo , author of Rumor of War ( widely considered to be one of the greatest combat memoirs of all time ) .
I spoke to H. Lee Barnes , veteran of both the conflict in the Dominican Republic and Vietnam .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a North Dakota farm boy who first saw combat in Operation Desert Shield-Desert Storm .
Lamb ’ s son was born just before he deployed to Iraq , so he came home to a six-month-old son who had no idea who he was .
Lamb doesn ’ t count Desert Storm has his first combat experience , because he says that he was shot at but wasn ’ t aware of it .
“ My first real experience with combat was the Battle of Mogadishu , Somalia , ” he told me .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Aidid .
My first experience was watching all the guys around me .
The fighting didn ’ t seem to bother them , they were doing what they needed to do .
I was a little scared and amped up .
I said a lot of prayers there .
On October 3 , when Black Hawk Down happened , it got really intense because the number of people trying to kill us was significant.
” Anyone who has seen the film Black Hawk Down knows that Lamb is referring to .
One helicopter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ badly that the body of Cliff Wolcott , the pilot , was trapped inside .
“ We couldn ’ t just leave because we had to stay there until we could cut the pilot ’ s body out of the wreckage , ” Lamb said .
Nobody even considered leaving before recovering the pilot , despite the danger of cutting open a downed chopper under fire .
“ We were going to stay.
” Lamb watched the film , he said , “ with the guys I served with there .
It was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even more intense was watching our wives .
They went through what we went through , but they were in a worse situation .
We were in a gunfight on the battlefield .
That ’ s not such a big deal once you get used to it .
But they have no information and are slowly finding out their husbands are wounded , or killed or missing.
” “ We Couldn ’ t Get Him Out of There ” He saw terrible things during that battle that he can never forget .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and we started fighting our way to that aircraft , we were taking heavy fire .
Earl Filmore was struck in the head and killed immediately .
Moving forward , a young Ranger , Jamie Smith , was hit high in the femoral artery .
I was next to him when that happened .
I immediately put direct pressure on his wound .
Nothing heroic , just doing what we were trained to do .
When we got him behind cover , we took turns applying direct pressure .
Kurt Schmid kept him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he eventually passed away because we couldn ’ t get him out of there.
” “ The first time I ever shot a guy — that was a moment of clarity , ” he told me .
“ It ’ s not like in the movies .
It ’ s not like you think on the range .
You think : Here ’ s a guy .
I ’ m going to shoot him , and then it ’ s all over .
But it ain ’ t all over .
People don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would think.
” Some people , he mused , are “ tougher than reinforced woodpecker lips.
” Throughout it all , he prayed for survival , and he prayed that he wouldn ’ t be a coward .
God answered and granted both of his requests .
He would later serve five more tours in Iraq , or what he refers to as “ the current war.
” On Veteran ’ s Day , take a moment to remember the families that have been shattered and those who still wait anxiously for news @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from parents , wives separated from husbands , and the thousands who sleep beneath white crosses in Arlington and in those great repositories of American courage across the nation and around the world .
The world is free and remains free because they died , and because so many who live are willing to carry scars with them .
Their bravery , their sacrifice , and their deeds of valor deserve both our gratitude and remembrance .
Jonathon Van Maren is a public speaker , writer and pro-life activist .
He is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Is Believing : Why Our Culture Must Face the Victims of Abortion , and co-author of A Guide to Discussing Assisted Suicide .

I remember when video montages of soldiers returning home began circulating shortly after the second Iraq War began. I discovered, to my surprise, that they reliably reduced me to tears. There is something about the videos of returning vets that perfectly encapsulates the strength and depth of human love. Children bursting into tears as their uniformed fathers unexpectedly fill classroom doors. Wives flinging their arms around their husbands, too overcome to even kiss them. Mothers sobbing, hugging, and sobbing some more. The sheer power of family is there for all to see.
So, too, are the sacrifices these families make while their loved ones are overseas. Fathers and mothers miss birthdays. Recitals. Graduations. Anniversaries. Even births. They do these things to serve on the front lines so that everyone else can enjoy these things. They endure the pain of separation while, at home, things proceed as normal. In fact, they endure these things for this very reason. Rarely do those of us without family members in the military stop and consider this.
Veteran’s Day is one opportunity to do so.
Listening to Witnesses
Over the past year, I have been working on an essay series about eyewitnesses to the 20th century. As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, many of those who lived through the great events of the last century are departing, one by one. I wanted to hear their stories firsthand, before they are gone. I spoke with many combat veterans of America’s wars. Like the only surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, or the triple war ace who flew combat missions in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Their stories were an incredible glimpse into what veterans endure on our behalf.
Bud Anderson
Bud Anderson is 98 years old and the highest scoring American fighter ace alive. A World War II triple war ace, he flew combat missions over Europe, Korea and Vietnam. He was a California boy working as a junior aircraft mechanic when the Japanese attacked. “That’s when I knew we were off to war,” he told me. “I didn’t even know where Pearl Harbor was.”
Anderson ended up based in RAF Leiston, in England, flying combat tours against the Luftwaffe with the 363rd Fighter Squadron of the 357th Fighter Group. “We had good pilots in our group,” he told me proudly. “All we had to do was be turned loose and we were going to chew somebody up. I was quite proud of our unit. That was one of the greatest times of my life, working with these guys.”
“Those Farmers Are Going to Pitchfork Me”
When I asked him what it was like to fight the German pilots over Europe, his response was to the point: “It was very rewarding. It was scary when you first got over there, before you got any kind of experience. You looked down, and that’s enemy territory. If I go down, all these farmers are going to pitchfork me. They’re just waitin’.”
He remembers the first time he shot down a German fighter like it was yesterday. “We got about halfway out of Germany when here came three ME-109s,” he told me. “We were on the left side, and they were coming in from the right side. They obviously couldn’t see us, because there was seven of us. I thought: ‘One of these is mine.’ We cut ‘em off at the pass, before they could do any attacking. I latched onto this guy. It was down low, where an ME-109 could give the Mustang a harder time. I just couldn’t get on this guy’s tail. I was coming at him at very steep angles, and I just couldn’t slide in behind him.”
“A Golden Bullet”
Anderson decided to gamble. “I had been through three gunnery schools, so I knew how to shoot. I said, ‘When this guy comes around again’ — we’re both in a very high-speed turn, that means your wingtip is vertical — ‘I’m going to get my stick site right on him, pull through him.’ This’ll mean I can’t see him, because he’ll be under my nose. ‘I’m going to pull through to my estimated lead, fire a burst, and see what happens.’ Sure enough, I hit him with a golden bullet. He pulled up and bailed out.”
John Anderson, another pilot, pulled up beside him. “He’s grinning like a kid, and he gave me the OK sign.” Bud wondered whether John had shot the plane down rather than him. Confirmation of a kill had to come from other members of the squadron.
“My First Victory”
Back on solid ground, he asked several members of the squadron whether they’d seen who made the kill. But all of them had been out of position and couldn’t confirm. He headed over to the club for a drink. There John ran over to him from the bar, beaming. “Andy,” he said, “that’s the greatest shot I ever saw. You got the sucker out there at about 60 degrees!” Anderson ran his fingers down up and down his left shoulder and shrugged it off. “Aw, Johnny, lucky shot.” And then, he told me with a laugh, “I rushed to the phone and claimed my first victory.”
Anderson would rack up 16 and a quarter kills and several probably kills over the course of 116 missions.
Even now, all these years later, part of him still misses it all. “I enjoyed squadron life,” he told me. “I enjoyed being in a combat unit more than anything I did. The camaraderie. Most of us guys would say we were fighting for our country, or the flag. But we were fighting for each other. I think that’s true of any good combat unit with good morale. A guy gets wounded, and the first thing he wants to now is when can I leave to get back to my unit. That kind of a feeling.”
Woody Williams
On the other side of the world, a very different war was being fought. To hear about the fight against the Japanese in the Pacific, I got in touch with 96-year-old Hershel “Woody Williams,” the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II.
From the Sands of Iwo Jima
A farm boy from West Virginia, Woody’s first combat experience was in Guam in July of 1942. After that, the Marines headed to Iwo Jima. None of the GIs were aware that the island was crisscrossed by miles of tunnels and 22,000 waiting Japanese soldiers. The first division landed on February 19, 1945. Woody Williams landed with the First Battalion, 21st Marines on February 21.
It was a brutal, bloody fight. “On the 23rd, we were still fighting for the first airfield,” he told me. “They had pillboxes protecting the airfield. As we tried to advance, they had all of the advantages. They were inside a concrete structure. We were out in the open, running from one position to another. We were a great target. We kept losing Marines very rapidly and could not break through those pillboxes. Every time we’d try, they’d kill another group of us and we had to retreat.”
What Williams did next would earn him one of the most prestigious military awards in the history of combat. Covered by four riflemen, he fought for four hours under nonstop enemy fire, constantly returning back to his lines to prepare more demolitions charges and fetch more flamethrowers. When I asked him about it, he sounded as if he were reciting a military report.
With 70 Pounds on His Back
“I was able to eliminate the enemy in seven of those pillboxes. We couldn’t do anything about the pillboxes; they were built so strong with some form of concrete that had metal rods in it. Artillery, bazookas — it didn’t do anything to them. They were fully protected. They had an aperture across the front of every pillbox that was about eight inches in height. That’s where they could stick their rifles and machine guns out—and that was the only place we could hit.” To clear the pillboxes, Woody had to somehow get close enough to pour fire through the opening.
“With 70 pounds on your back, you don’t get up and walk around very much,” he recalled. “I was crawling towards that pillbox in a ditch that the Japanese had dug to enable them to go from one pillbox to another without getting above ground. I was in their ditch, and they were shooting at me with a machine gun. I remember the bullets ricocheting off the back of my flamethrower. I saw smoke coming out of the top of the pillbox. So when they were reloading their machine gun or had run out of bullets, I jumped up and ran to the side to get out of their line of fire. That’s when I decided I’d go up on top of the pillbox to see where the smoke was coming from. If there was a hole up there I could put flame down through it.” The smell of burning human flesh would haunt Woody for decades.
The Flags Raised on Mt. Suribachi
It was a four-hour fight, and Woody Williams witnessed the event that would become an icon: The American flags being raised on Mt. Suribachi. He was 1,000 yards away from the volcano. In March, he was wounded when shrapnel hit him in the leg. In October, he found out that he would be awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman himself.
But when I asked Woody which memories truly stand out, it was none of those. It was meeting Americans, who had been the Japanese’ prisoners of war, on a plane back to the U.S. “Men that had at one time weighted 170 or 180 pounds now weighed 80 or 90 pounds. They looked like skeletons. Their cheeks were hollow, their eyes were sunken. You could see every bone in their body. They were absolutely the happiest people that I think I’ve ever seen in my life, because now they were free.”
In fact, Woody discovered that his seat on the airplane had been designated for another former POW who had died before he could make the flight. “One of them said something I’ve never forgotten: ‘You will never know what freedom is until you have lost it.’ I’ve never forgotten that.”
Kyle Lamb
In addition to World War II veterans, I also interviewed Vietnam vet Philip Caputo, author of Rumor of War (widely considered to be one of the greatest combat memoirs of all time). I spoke to H. Lee Barnes, veteran of both the conflict in the Dominican Republic and Vietnam. I also talked with Kyle Lamb, a North Dakota farm boy who first saw combat in Operation Desert Shield-Desert Storm. Lamb’s son was born just before he deployed to Iraq, so he came home to a six-month-old son who had no idea who he was.
Lamb doesn’t count Desert Storm has his first combat experience, because he says that he was shot at but wasn’t aware of it. “My first real experience with combat was the Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia,” he told me. “We were there to get Mohamed Aidid. My first experience was watching all the guys around me. The fighting didn’t seem to bother them, they were doing what they needed to do. I was a little scared and amped up. I said a lot of prayers there. On October 3, when Black Hawk Down happened, it got really intense because the number of people trying to kill us was significant.”
Black Hawk Down
Anyone who has seen the film Black Hawk Down knows that Lamb is referring to. One helicopter that got shot down was smashed so badly that the body of Cliff Wolcott, the pilot, was trapped inside. “We couldn’t just leave because we had to stay there until we could cut the pilot’s body out of the wreckage,” Lamb said. Nobody even considered leaving before recovering the pilot, despite the danger of cutting open a downed chopper under fire. “We were going to stay.”
Lamb watched the film, he said, “with the guys I served with there. It was pretty intense for us. What was even more intense was watching our wives. They went through what we went through, but they were in a worse situation. We were in a gunfight on the battlefield. That’s not such a big deal once you get used to it. But they have no information and are slowly finding out their husbands are wounded, or killed or missing.”
“We Couldn’t Get Him Out of There”
He saw terrible things during that battle that he can never forget. “Once the first bird got shot down and we started fighting our way to that aircraft, we were taking heavy fire. Earl Filmore was struck in the head and killed immediately. Moving forward, a young Ranger, Jamie Smith, was hit high in the femoral artery. I was next to him when that happened. I immediately put direct pressure on his wound. Nothing heroic, just doing what we were trained to do. When we got him behind cover, we took turns applying direct pressure. Kurt Schmid kept him alive well into the night, and he eventually passed away because we couldn’t get him out of there.”
“The first time I ever shot a guy — that was a moment of clarity,” he told me. “It’s not like in the movies. It’s not like you think on the range. You think: Here’s a guy. I’m going to shoot him, and then it’s all over. But it ain’t all over. People don’t die as easily as you would think.” Some people, he mused, are “tougher than reinforced woodpecker lips.” Throughout it all, he prayed for survival, and he prayed that he wouldn’t be a coward. God answered and granted both of his requests.
He would later serve five more tours in Iraq, or what he refers to as “the current war.”
Remembering With Gratitude
On Veteran’s Day, take a moment to remember the families that have been shattered and those who still wait anxiously for news from loved ones. The children separated from parents, wives separated from husbands, and the thousands who sleep beneath white crosses in Arlington and in those great repositories of American courage across the nation and around the world.
The world is free and remains free because they died, and because so many who live are willing to carry scars with them. Their bravery, their sacrifice, and their deeds of valor deserve both our gratitude and remembrance.
Jonathon Van Maren is a public speaker, writer and pro-life activist. He is the author of The Culture War and Seeing Is Believing: Why Our Culture Must Face the Victims of Abortion, and co-author of A Guide to Discussing Assisted Suicide.