I hope you and your family had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. I also hope you took the opportunity not only to enjoy the extra time with your family but also to thank God for all the sacrifices that brave men and women have made throughout our history to win and preserve our freedom.

These moments — including Flag Day, the Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving — are ideal moments for you to talk with your children and grandchildren. Sadly, they are likely breathing the poisoned air of our culture, which often tells them that patriotism/nationalism is evil, and that they should not be proud of America. 

The best antidote to this cultural indoctrination is for people who love America to speak up. We have an obligation to our veterans and those who died for our freedom to do this. 

And that is what the president and first lady did last week as they quietly participated in the “Flags In” ceremony with members of the Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery. 

Trump then flew to Japan to strengthen our alliance with a nation that was once a bitter enemy. He praised Japan’s purchase of 105 F-35 fighters, sending a clear message to North Korea and China about the strength of our alliance. 

He ended the trip with a visit to the USS Wasp. I stayed up late Monday night watching his remarks to our sailors and Marines. You can watch it here.

Vice President Mike Pence gave a moving address at the formal Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. He told the audience:

The unbroken cord of military service stretches into the mists of American history. From Bunker Hill to Belleau Wood, from San Juan Hill to Saipan, from the Coral Sea to Kandahar, heroic Americans have answered their nation’s call and paid the ultimate price for our freedom. Their duty was to serve. Our duty is to remember.

You can read Pence’s speech here.

For various reasons, I found this Memorial Day weekend to be particularly poignant. While the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are winding down, anyone paying attention to the headlines knows that the sacrifices made before will be required yet again. Let’s pray that God’s hand of protection still remains on us when that inevitability occurs.

Where’s Joe?

Hiker Amanda Eller was found after 17 days in the Hawaiian jungle. It was exciting to see news of Eller’s rescue over the weekend. 

We might want to send the same search team who found her out to look for Joe Biden. As far as I can tell, he did not do anything publicly over the holiday weekend. 

The Washington Post ran this headline: “Biden’s Campaign of Limited Exposure.” That sounds familiar. The last presidential candidate to try that was Hillary Clinton. 

Maybe he wasn’t out and about because of embarrassment. What is he going to say to the brave men and women he wants to lead as our next commander-in-chief? As President Trump tries to deal with a rising China, “Uncle Joe” recently declared that China is not our enemy. 

As Trump puts the screws to the mullahs of Iran, Biden was part of the administration that negotiated the failed Iranian nuclear deal, which gave that regime more than $1 billion in cash. 

How would Biden address the threat of North Korea’s rogue regime? He and Obama did nothing for eight years, which is why Trump entered office with such a mess on the Korean peninsula. 

Would Biden talk to U.S. troops about his plans for Russia? When Russia invaded Ukraine, Obama and Biden sent the Ukrainians socks. Will Biden show off his flexibility for Putin like Obama did?

Would Biden talk to soldiers about increasing the defense budget to maintain our military strength? Not likely. The appeasement base of the Democrat Party would go ballistic.

On second thought, maybe limited exposure for the former vice president is the right strategy.

EU Elections

Voters across Europe went to the polls this weekend to cast their ballots for the European Parliament. The results stunned many observers.

The Brexit Party in Great Britain, which is just six weeks old, trounced well-known establishment forces. In Italy, the conservative/populist League Party won big. In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally outpolled the globalists, led by French President Emmanuel Macron. Populist parties in Poland and Hungary also performed very well.

Who knows what will happen in Great Britain, as Prime Minister Theresa May steps down in coming days. It is possible that former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson or Brexit leader Nigel Farage may succeed her as prime minister. 

Cook Apologizes

Apple CEO Tim Cook delivered the commencement address at Tulane University recently. He made headlines for apologizing to the graduates, saying, “In some important ways, my generation has failed you… We spent too much time debating.”

That’s a bizarre thing to say, but it is indicative of the left. While Cook was specifically referring to climate change, the left generally doesn’t want debate. 

We see how the left has shut down debate on university campuses. And, of course, Cook is part of the Big Tech social media complex that does not want free and open debate either. 

Look around the world at other countries where there is little to no debate. They are not pleasant places to live. Debate is what has so far prevented us from becoming like China, Cuba, Russia and Venezuela. And we will continue to debate. 

We do not want open borders and international government forced on us. We do not want to subsidize abortion on demand. We will not surrender our right to own firearms. We will not kick God out of the public square. And we will not allow the left to define the America we love as “evil.”

Gillette Doubles Down

If I were the CEO of Gillette, I know who I would fire this morning — the head of my marketing department. The company is doubling down on its embrace of left-wing politics by running a new ad appealing to, well, I’m not sure. 

The ad depicts a father teaching his transgender son, meaning his former daughter, how to shave. 

Gillette previously made headlines for taking on “toxic masculinity” in its ads. But this new campaign embraces a whole new concept of masculinity, and one I doubt many Gillette users embrace.