Sorry to blast you, but there's more
It's rare that we fill your inbox twice in a morning, but I can't ignore this
At The Racket News™️ we are very respectful of your time, and your inbox. I apologize for blasting your inbox again today, but I feel there’s more to say.
David Thornton echoed my exact sentiments this morning with invocation to mourn for Charlie Kirk, and mourn for America. I have one update on this: FBI Director Kash Patel pulled the trigger a bit prematurely and then had to retract his X post that a suspect was in custody. The person of interest has been released, presumably cleared. Patel posted “our investigation will continue.”
The investigation should continue, and I have faith in local law enforcement and the FBI to identify and apprehend Kirk’s murderer. If not justice for the country, then for Kirk’s widow, his 4-year-old daughter and his 1-year-old son. Whoever did this must face justice, and not for political points. We are either a nation of laws, or we are a nation of thugs. It matters not whether those thugs masquerade wearing coats and ties, sitting in tufted leather chairs, in offices appointed with burled walnut and mahogany (or in some cases, rococo and gold, as tastes differ), or if the thugs are mentally ill train-riders who have been released from psychiatric care too many times.
I demand the same thing from government that President Ronald Reagan did: to “get it off our backs, out of our pockets and up to the standards of decency and excellence envisioned by the founding fathers.” Government cannot always be the solution, but it should not be the problem. A government staffed with incompetents, cranks, and political sycophants cannot help but be the problem. But even worse, it can make us a government of thugs. And private citizens like Charlie Kirk, whose politics might not totally align with mine, should not fear going out in public to speak to college students in the warm sun. I would say the same thing about political speakers with whom I completely disagree. If we are not to be thugs, we must not act like thugs, praising (or even obliquely wishing for) the demise of our adversaries.
If we are not to be thugs, we must not defend killers and assassins and terrorists. If we are not to be thugs, we should mourn for the innocent lives. And that brings me to the more about today. Of course, it’s 9/11.
Twenty-four years ago, I was at work in Warner Robins, Georgia, where I worked with my now-wife (we weren’t even dating then). Together we watched the tragedy unfold. We were speechless when the South Tower collapsed, and tearful when the North Tower followed. We were fearful when we learned of the dead at the Pentagon and in a field in Pennsylvania. We were angry when we finally processed what had happened to our nation.
Every year, at work, on this day I publish a short timeline of what happened on 9/11/2001. Here it is. I humbly ask everyone reading this to take time to reflect on this country, its direction, and the state of our souls.
Never forget. 24 years ago this day.
7:59 am - Flight 11 takes off from Boston
8:15 am - Flight 175 takes off from Boston
8:20 am - Flight 77 takes off - Dulles to LA
8:42 am - Flight 93 takes off from Newark
8:46 am - Flight 11 hits the WTC North Tower
9:03 am - Flight 175 hits the WTC South Tower
9:37 am - Flight 77 hits the Pentagon
9:42 am - All U.S. flights grounded
9:59 am - South Tower collapses
10:03 am - Flight 93 crashes in Shanksville, PA
10:28 am - North Tower collapses
12:16 pm - All U.S. airspace closed
Remember the nearly 3,000 victims of this act of terror.
Let us commit not to be thugs, but to be participants in what the United States of America was designed to be.
