Citizen Writers Fighting Censorship by Helping Americans Understand Issues Affecting the Republic.
February 28, 2026 is another Red Letter Day in history. It’s so amazing to be alive and witness it like a spectator sport from the safety of America. The U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran is an international reset.
Some weekends feel bigger than sports. Some feel bigger than policy. And then there are weekends like this one where leadership, competition, conviction, and country all collide. I was working on this piece with a Deployment Freedom Cigar lit, paired with a very special small-batch pour of MB Roland Dark Fired Kentucky bourbon. Smoke steady. …
Nearly a hundred years ago, Sir Herbert Butterfield sat down and committed the unforgivable sin of telling historians, strategists, and polite academics something they still hate hearing today: war is not a clean system. It is not a spreadsheet problem. It is not solved by better charts, prettier maps, or a PowerPoint deck with the right color palette. War—every war—boils down to frightened human beings trying to reconcile self-preservation, honor, faith, and meaning while other frightened human beings try to kill them.
That was 1967. Vietnam was raging. Cadets were not being groomed for cable news panels or Senate confirmation hearings. They were being prepared for jungles, rice paddies, ambushes, and body counts. Humor, especially gallows humor, wasn’t a problem to be solved—it was a survival mechanism. The name “Fighting Cocks” wasn’t vulgar to them; it was irreverent, aggressive, and just juvenile enough to signal that these were young men who understood they were not being trained for polite society. They were being trained for war.
Invictus” is a short poem first published in 1888 that expresses the speaker’s resolution to remain in control of his fate.
COL David Hackworth was possibly the most gifted warfighter in Vietnam and one of the most, if not THE most, decorated Army officer in that war. However, like some other combat leaders in history, had difficulty keeping quiet when he needed to.
Dedicated to people who understand that leadership, markets, marriage, and golf all share one brutal truth: performance gets exposed when expectations meet reality.
Phase 2 of a color revolution is the “streets on fire” phase. It looks organic. It feels spontaneous. It’s loud, chaotic, righteous, and emotionally intoxicating. This is where the dogs flood the streets. Students, activists, professional grievance collectors, and social-media revolutionaries with ring lights and Venmo links all sprint after the same thing: meaning.
Steve, George & Diane discuss how the violence in the streets has been created by a spiritual void. Christians have been silent in face of the evil which is consuming America. In comparing Christians in 1963 to Christians now Diane was referring to the TV western, “The Dakotas.”
A house divided cannot stand. Right now, the National Rifle Association is living that proverb in real time, and it’s painful to watch—because for generations the NRA wasn’t just an organization. It was the standard-bearer. The steward. The institution that most Americans, whether they owned a firearm or not, understood as the big dog in the fight over the Second Amendment.
But charm alone goes only so far. In his negotiations, President Trump always carries a big stick. Sometimes the stick is a squad of B-2s loaded with bunker busters. Other times, it is 150 aircraft and special forces carrying a discombobulator that will send your troops home in oversized shoe boxes.
Dedicated to Americans who understand that real leadership doesn’t panic in a storm, doesn’t outsource conviction, doesn’t flinch when the numbers are ugly, and never forgets that families, not frameworks, are the foundation of everything worth protecting.
There are rock stars… and then there are Michigan rock stars—the kind forged in cold air, hard miles, deer sign, and a stubborn refusal to apologize for loving the outdoors. Ted Nugent is that kind of animal.
Elected sheriffs are more independent and more effectively represent the people in their counties than sheriffs appointed by WA’s governor. Dems HATE independent public officials! THAT is why Dems in the state have been scheming to reduce the authority of our 39 sheriffs for YEARS and to defund them.
While most people think leadership means podiums, applause lines, and professionally distressed jeans, the real work happens quietly—between meetings, between tee boxes, and sometimes between flights where the Wi-Fi barely works but decisions still do.
Reagan, Obama and Trump all faced crisis. Leadership is the difference.
Before the World Was Soft Civilization did not create the warrior brain. Civilization survived because of it. Long before laws, courts, or polite abstractions about peace, human beings existed in a world where violence was not exceptional—it was routine. Hunger, predators, rival tribes, and scarcity were constant pressures. The human nervous system evolved not to be calm, but to be ready.
I was a general’s aide-de-camp, which meant my actual job was not assisting, but intercepting stupidity before it reached flag rank. My boss lived in a world where things simply worked. Vehicles appeared complete. Schedules ran. Equipment existed. That didn’t happen by magic — it happened because several people quietly absorbed chaos so he never had to.
This column is dedicated to Americans who understand that real leadership doesn’t punch a clock, borders aren’t suggestions, families aren’t optional, and strength isn’t negotiable—even when the calendar flips to a new year and half the country is still recovering from New Year’s resolutions they broke before the ball hit the ground.
Chuck Cordak “Life’s too short for weak pours, weak swings, or leaders who confuse comfort with competence.” (Add weak coffee to that list—and FAFO to the list of things you don’t test.)