Two Speeches,  Speech One

This week, we take the unusual step of publishing two contrasting speeches. One is from the President of the United States, the Commander in Chief of our nation’s military forces, speaking to men and women who soon will be under his command. The other is from a well-known journalist who warns of the country the Commander is creating.

The contrast could not be greater in terms of personal and national character.  One of these speeches is a disgrace. The other is distinguished.

It will take you about three times longer to read the first speech than to read the second one.

We begin with President Trump, who wore his red “Make America Great Again” cap throughout his speech at West Point, where reports say there were awkward pauses for applause, which was tepid.

TRUMP: Well, I want to thank you very much. This is a beautiful place. I’ve been here many times going to high school, not so far away. Good, a good place. Also, a military academy. Not quite of this distinction, but it was a lot of fun for me. And I just wanna say hello cadets and on behalf of our entire nation, let me begin by saying congratulations to the West Point class of 2025, you are winners, every single one of you.

Thank you. And now we want you to relax and I’m supposed to say, “At ease.” But you’re already at ease. You’re at ease because you’ve made a great choice in what you’re doing. Your choices in life has been really amazing. So this is a celebration and let’s have a little fun. I want to thank your highly respected superintendent, General Stephen Glenn, and he is really, uh, something, I got to know him backstage with his beautiful family and his reputation — His wife is just incredible, his reputation is unbelievable.

And thank you very much. And your daughter is a winner also. Just like everybody out there, real winner. Thank you. Thank you. I also want to thank your [Inaudible] General RJ Garcia, Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, Army Chief of Staff, General Randy George, Senator Ashley Moody, Representatives Steve Womack, Bill Huizenga, Pat Ryan, Mark Green, Keith Self.

Acting US attorney, Alina Habba. And very much, uh, just all of the friends. We have a lot of friends in the audience today. And I just want to thank ’em all for being here. We have a tremendous amount of my friends. They wanted to come up and they wanted to watch this ceremony and they wanted to watch you much more so than me. So I just want to thank so many people are here.

Over the past four years, an extraordinary group of professors, teachers, coaches, leaders, and warriors have transformed this class of cadets into an exceptional group of scholars and soldiers. And so let’s give the entire group, the entire West Point faculty, the staff, for their incredible love of you and outstanding devotion to the corps.

Let’s give them a little hand. And importantly, we can’t forget all of those people beaming with pride, look at them in the audience, oh, they’re so proud. They’re in the stands. So thank your parents, your grandparents and family members who made this all possible for you. Thank you. And I think they must have done something right based on what I’m looking at. America loves our military moms and dads.

Nearly one-third of the cadets graduating today are themselves the children of veterans. So to everyone with us this morning who served America in uniform, no matter your age, please stand so we can salute your service, we’d like to see who you are. Congratulations. Great job. Every cadet on the field before me should savor this morning. ’cause this is a day that you will never, ever forget.

In a few moments, you’ll become graduates of the most elite and storied military academy in human history. And you’ll become officers in the greatest and most powerful army the world has ever known. And I know because I rebuilt that army and I rebuilt the military. And we rebuilt it like nobody has ever rebuilt it before in my first term.

Your experience here at West Point has been anything but easy. — came for duty. You came to serve your country and you came to show yourselves, your family, and the world that you are among the smartest, toughest, strongest, most lethal warriors ever to walk on this planet. Looking out at all of you today, I can proudly say, mission accomplished.

Great job. But now you have to go on. You have to forget that ’cause now you have another. It’s a sad thing, isn’t it? You know, you can’t rest on your laurels no matter what. You just have to keep going. You take it, you take a little day off and you go on to the rest. ’cause you have to have victory, after victory, after victory.

And that’s what you’re gonna have as you receive your commissions as second lieutenants, each of you continues down the same hallowed path, walked by Titans and legends of US, military law. Giants like Ulysses S. Grant, John Black Jack Pershing, Dwight David Eisenhower, the one and only Douglas MacArthur, old blood and guts, George Patton and Stormin’ Norman Schwarzkopf, all great.

So many more. They and countless other patriots before you have walked out of these halls and straight into history. And today, you officially join those immortal heroes in proud ranks of the long gray line. You know that term. So beautiful. The long gray line. Among the 1,000 cadets graduating today, 26 of you wear the prestigious Star Wreath, signifying the highest level of academic achievement.

Please stand up. 26. Let’s see if somebody stands who shouldn’t be standing. Congratulations. That’s a big honor. This class includes an incredible four Rhodes Scholars. Stand up, please. Four. Wow. That’s tied for the most of any West Point class since 1959. That’s great. Four. Congratulations. Boy, oh boy, oh boy.

I wanna bring them right to the Oval Office. I don’t wanna have them go too far away from me. Eight cadets here today took on the challenge of designing their own hypersonic rocket. Oh, we can use you. We’re building them right now. You know, we, uh, we had ours stolen. We had — We are the designer of it. We had it stolen during the Obama administration.

They stole it. You know who stole it? The Russians stole it. Something bad happened. But we’re now — We’re the designer of it and we’re now building them and lots of them. And earlier this year, they launched it into space, setting a world record for amateur rocketry. Can’t get you in there fast enough.

This class excelled not only mentally but also physically last January when more than 1,000 cadets volunteered for an 18-and-a-half mile march on a freezing winter night. Cadet Chris Verdugo completed the task in 2 hours and 30 minutes flat, smashing the international record for the competition by 13 minutes.

Where is he? Where is he? Come up here. Come up here, Chris. Get up here, Chris. Wow. Come here. That’s — By 13 minutes. Come here, Chris. I wanna see this guy. Say something. Come here. Come here.

VERDUGO: [Laughs] It’s been a long five years, but I couldn’t have done it without any of these guys. Love you guys all. Thank you. Thank you.

TRUMP: Wow. That’s great. Keep it going, Chris. That really is the definition of Army strong, isn’t it? International. International. This class includes 513 graduates who completed Air Assault School, 70 who completed Airborne School, eight who made it through the ultra-elite Army Diver School, among the most difficult and grueling programs anywhere on Earth.

That includes the first two women in West Point history to complete Diver School; cadets Megan Cooper and Clara Sebu. Where are you? Stand up. Where are they? Wow. Great job. That is not easy. Congratulations, Megan, Clara. That’s a job well done. Fantastic. Thank you very much. Some of you achieved a different kind of distinction here at the academy, including seven

No. Don’t tell me I’m doing this. Oh, I’m so sorry. Would you like to stand up? (laughs) I don’t know. I think I saw Chris standing up. Chris, what, what’s going on here? Well, you had one good, one not so good. Right, Chris? Can’t believe Chris is standing up. But we want everyone to leave here today, Chris, so you’re gonna be okay because I’m gonna do something with a clean slate.

So in keeping with tradition, I hereby pardon all cadets on restriction for minor conduct offenses effective immediately. So you’re all okay. You’re all okay. The class of 2025 is a lot to be proud of, including your first-rate athletes and athletics. You are something. I’ve been watching too. I watch. I love the sports stuff.

What you’ve done is pretty amazing. Last year, for the first time ever, army lacrosse became the number one ranked men’s lacrosse team in the entire country. Look at that. Those of you on the team, stand. That’s a big honor. Stand. Great. That’s a tough sport too. That’s number one in the country. Your sophomore year, Army football beat Navy 20-17. And the you did it again, beating Navy 17 to 11 and dominating Air Force 23 to three.

But, this year, the Black Knights fought your way into the top 20 nationally and racked up your longest winning streak since 1949 with the help of graduating quarterback Cadet Bryson Daily or, as you call him, Captain America. Captain America. Stand up, Bryson. Where is Bryson? We gotta get him up here, right?

Come on, Bryson. Come on up. Man, oh, man, I heard — I heard he’s, uh — well, I came to a game, and he was — I said, “Yeah, he can get into the NFL, can’t he?” But he chose this life and, you know what, I think he made a good choice. Come on up here, Bryson. Come on up. Wow.

BRYSON: All right. Go, Army football. Shout out to Hogs, H4. Um, can’t wait to graduate. Love you, guys. Thank you. It’s nice to meet you, sir.

TRUMP: If there anything we can do, just let me know. Okay? It’s a great honor.

What a great guy. Well, I just tapped his shoulders like I hit a piece of steel. The guy’s in good shape. There’s a reason, you know, there’s always a reason for success. Thank you, Bryson. At a time when other top college quarterbacks were thinking about going pro, Bryson’s mind was on something else. As he told an interviewer earlier this year, “I’m focused on my career as an infantry officer.” That’s what he wants to do. So, Bryson, you did the right thing, and that’s service at its finest.

Thanks, Bryson. That’s amazing. He’s an amazing guy with an amazing team. Each of you on the field today is among the most talented members of your generation. You could have done anything you wanted. You could have gone anywhere. You could have gone to any school. This is one of the hardest schools to get into.

And writing your own ticket to top jobs on Wall Street or Silicon Valley wouldn’t be bad, but I think what you’re doing is better. Instead of sports teams and spreadsheets and software, you chose a life of service, very important service, instead of stock options. And I do that stuff. It’s sort of boring, honestly.

Compared to what you’re doing, it’s real boring. You chose honor and you chose sacrifice. And, instead of business suits and dress shoes, you chose muddy boots and fatigues, keeping yourself in shape, because West Point cadets don’t just have the brightest minds, you also have the bravest hearts and the noblest souls.

You’re amazing people. I could not be more proud to serve you as your commander-in-chief. And our country is doing well. We’ve turned it around. Very quickly, we’ve turned it around. I just got back from the Middle East, and I was at, as you know, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE. And, I will tell you, they said, all three leaders, great leaders of those three nations, they all said the same thing.

The United States of America is hotter now than we’ve ever seen it and, a year ago, it was as cold as it gets. And it’s true. It’s true. We have the hottest country in the world, and the whole world is talking about it. And that’s an honor for all of us. I cannot wait to see the glory that is still ahead.

However, for the West Point Class of 2025, and we’re gonna help you a lot because we’re gonna give you a nation as good or better than it ever was. That’s what I promise you. All the victories that you’ve had together on these grounds will soon pale in comparison to the momentous deeds that you’ll perform on the mission you’re accepting today and as, uh, future leader of America’s Army.

And we have that Army geared up. We have ordered, you know, we just want $1 trillion military budget, general. Do you know that? 1 trillion? Some people say, “Could you cut it back?” I said, “I’m not cutting 10 cents.” There’s another thing we can cut. We can cut plenty of others, right, Dan? We can cut plenty of other things.

And you have a good man in Dan, too, general. I think you’re gonna find that it’s a very different, uh, warfare out there today. Now, they’ve introduced a thing called drone. A drone is a little bit different. It makes — You have to go back and learn a whole new form of warfare, and you’re gonna do it better than anybody else.

There won’t be anybody close. Generation after generation, the men and women of the Army have done whatever it takes to defend our flag, pouring out their blood onto the fields of battle all over the world. And, all over the world, you’re respected like nobody is respected. Our soldiers have sprinted through storms of bullets, clouds of shrapnel, slogged through miles of dirt and oceans of sand, scaled towering cliffs of jagged rock.

And, time and time again, the American soldier is charged into the fires of hell and sent the devil racing in full retreat. No task has ever been too tough for America’s Army. And now that 250-year legacy of glory and triumph belongs to you, the 1,000 newest officers of the greatest fighting force in the history of the world.

And that’s what you are, and that’s what you’re being thought of. Again, you are the first West Point graduates of the Golden Age of America. This is the golden age, I tell you. Promise. We’re in a new age. This is the Golden Age, and you are the going to lead the Army to summits of greatness that has never reached before.

And you see that. And you see what’s happening. You see what’s going on in the world. Each of you is entering the Officer Corps at a defining moment in the Army’s history. For at least two decades, political leaders from both parties have dragged our military into missions, it was never meant to be. It wasn’t meant to be. People would say, “Why are we doing this? Why are we wasting our time, money, and souls,” in some case. They said to our warriors on nation-building crusades to nations that wanted nothing to do with us, led by leaders that didn’t have a clue in distant lands, while abusing our soldiers with absurd ideological experiments here and at home. All of that’s ended.

You know that. All of it’s ended. It’s ended, strongly ended. They’re not even allowed to think about it anymore. They subjected the Armed Forces to all manner of social projects and political causes while leaving our borders undefended and depleting our arsenals to fight other countries’ wars. We fought for other countries’ borders, but we didn’t fight for our own border.

But now we do, like we have never fought before, by the way. But under the Trump administration, those days are over. We’re getting rid of the distractions and we’re focusing our military on its core mission, crushing America’s adversaries, killing America’s enemies, and defending our great American flag like it has never been defended before.

The job of the US Armed Forces is not to host drag shows, to transform foreign cultures, but to spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of a gun. The military’s job is to dominate any foe and annihilate any threat to America, anywhere, anytime, in any place. A big part of that job is to be respected again.

And you are, as of right now, respected more than any army anywhere in the world. And that’s happening. And I can tell you, you are respected like nobody can believe. As president, I am laser-focused on our core national interests. My preference will always be to make peace and to seek partnership, even with countries where our differences may be profound.

As you know, we’re working on a lot of things right now. When I left office four years ago, we had no wars, we had no problems, we had nothing but success. We had the most incredible economy, the greatest, single greatest economy for a president in history. I think we’re gonna beat it this time by a lot, if you want to know the truth.

But we had something going on very special. But if the United States or its allies are ever threatened or attacked, the Army will obliterate our opponents with overwhelming strength and devastating force. That’s why my administration has begun a colossal buildup of the United States Armed Forces, a buildup like we’ve never had before.

Peace through strength. You know the term, I’ve used it a lot. Because as much as you wanna fight, I’d rather do it without having to fight. I just wanna look at them and have them fold. And that’s happening. That’s happening. And I’ve approved a one-trillion-dollar investment. And that will be, again, the largest ever in the history of our country.

And we are buying you new airplanes, brand-new, beautiful planes, redesigned planes, brand-new planes, totally stealth planes. I hope they’re stealth. I don’t know, that whole stealth thing, I’m sorta wondering. You mean if we shape a wing this way, they don’t see it, but the other way they see it? I’m not so sure.

But that’s what they tell me. We have the best tanks anywhere in the world. We’re gonna start shipbuilding again. We’re gonna start ship. We used to build a ship a day. Now we don’t build them anymore. We had a lot of people that didn’t know much about getting things built. But that’s all I’ve done in my life, is build.

We’re gonna have the best missiles, we already do, drones and much, much more. And earlier this week, I think you’ll like this, I announced that we are officially building all in America, made in America, designed in America. We’re the only ones that could do it, because we’re the only ones that, with the great technology, we’re building the Golden Dome Missile Defense Shield to protect our homeland and to protect West Point from attack.

And it will be completed before I leave office. And you know, you wouldn’t think this, but our enemies are very unhappy about it. You’ve been hearing, you’ve been reading, “Why are they doing that? Why?” Well, we’re doing it because we wanna be around for a long time. That’s why we’re doing it. We’re also restoring the fundamental principle that a central purpose of our military is to protect our own borders from invasion.

Our country was invaded for the last four years, and they’ve allowed people to come into our country that shouldn’t be, that shouldn’t be here. Criminals walk in, no vetting, no check-in, no nothing. Where are they coming from? And they were taking people outta prisons. They were taking gang members. They were taking the mentally insane and allowing them to come in. And we’re getting them out of our country.

We have no choice. We’re getting them out and bringing them back where they came from.

Have no choice. And it’s not easy. It’s not easy. But hopefully the courts will allow us to continue. You know, we had the greatest election victory. This was, uh, November 5th was we won the popular vote by millions of votes. We won all seven swing states. We won everything. We won 2,750 districts against 505, 2,750 against 505. We had a great mandate and it gives us the right to do what we wanna do to make our country great again.

And that’s what we’re going to do. And on day one, I deployed our military to the southern border, and since that day we’ve reduced the number of illegal border crossings where there used to be hundreds of thousands of people coming into our country a day, we had nobody come in in the last week and a half.

We were at 99.999%, 99.999. Think of that. That was with the help of our military. We had one person come in. One. You know why? He got very sick, and we brought him through to have him brought to a hospital. One person. And for that, please don’t hold me responsible, but that’s okay. They did the right thing.

Gone are the days where defending every nation but our own was the primary thought. We are putting America first. We have to put America first. We have to rebuild and defend our nation. And very shortly you’re going to see a nation better than it’s ever been. And you see that with the trade. For years, we’ve been ripped off by every nation in the world on trade.

We’ve been ripped off at the NATO level. We’ve been ripped off like no country has ever been ripped off. But they don’t rip us off anymore. They’re not gonna rip us off anymore. And you’re seeing it. You have to watch what we’re doing on trade. I know it’s not your primary thing, but it’s quite important in all fairness.

But watch. You’ll see what’s going on. You’ve been reading about it over the last few days. We’re making deals with other nations that were not even — Nobody thought it would be even possible. And uh, the reason is very simple. They respect us again. They’re respecting our country again. That’s what you want.

And everything we do, we are bringing common sense back to America. It’s all about common sense. We can say we’re liberal, we’re conservative. The new word is progressive. They don’t like using the word liberal anymore. That’s why I call them liberal. But, but, uh, whatever you are, you know, most importantly, you have to have common sense because most of it’s — General, most of it’s about common sense when you get right down to it. And uh, we have a lotta people with a lotta, lotta very smart people, but they have to have common sense.

And we’ve liberated our troops from divisive and demeaning political trainings. There will be no more critical race theory or transgender for everybody forced onto our brave men and women in uniform or on anybody else for that matter in this country. And we will not have men playing in women’s sports if that’s okay.

I mean, I wouldn’t wanna have to tackle as an example Bryson as a man, but I don’t think a lotta women wanna tackle him. I don’t think so. How crazy is it, men playing in women’s sports? How crazy is it? So ridiculous. So demeaning. So demeaning to women. And it’s over. That’s over. We’ve ended it. And promotions and appointments will not be based on politics or identity.

They’ll be based on merit. We won that case in the Supreme Court of the United States. We’re allowed to go back to a system of merit. We’re a merit-based country again. Today, morale in the armed forces is soaring to the highest levels in many decades after years of recruiting shortfalls. And we had years and years of recruiting shortfalls, and just last year was the worst of all, the last year of the Biden administration.

We couldn’t get anybody to join our military. We couldn’t get anybody to join our police or firefighters. We couldn’t get anybody to join anything. And right now, just less than a year later, we just set a brand new peacetime recruiting record. The most, most people joined. And we are brimming — In fact, be careful.

There’s somebody gonna try and take your job. Be careful. You better be good. We are brimming with confidence and we’re brimming with people. We had the most, best recruiting month that we’ve had in memory. Nobody remembers anything like it. And that’s all because they have spirit now. They have spirit. They have a spirit for our country.

And now everybody wants to be doing what you’re doing. Think of that. So, it’s really a great honor, I will say. And I’m pleased to report that by next week, the army is expected to surpass its recruiting targets for the entire year. Something that hasn’t happened in 28 years where we’ve had that. So that’s pretty good.

And it’s nice to know that you’re doing something that everybody wants to do. Isn’t it really nice? Wasn’t — I hated to hear that. During the campaign, I was hearing that, the, you couldn’t get people to enlist. But now we’re getting people, and it’s sad because we’re telling so many people, “I’m sorry, we can’t do it.” My administration is doing everything possible to forge the most powerful military ever built.

But ultimately, the task of keeping America strong and safe in the years ahead is going to belong to you. Among you are the lieutenants, majors, colonels, and generals who’ll lead the army for the next 10, 20, 30, and even 40 years. So as commander-in-chief, let me offer a few words of advice as you begin your army careers.

And I thought I’d do this, and I can make this to a civilian audience or to a military audience. It’s pretty much the same. And, uh, I did this recently at uh, Ohio State, and they really liked it. I gave them a little advice as to what I see for what you wanna do and some tips. And first of all, and you’ve already done it different from civilians.

They’re making their decision right now. You’ve already made your decision. I love your decision. You have to do what you love. You have to do what you love. If you don’t love it, you’ll never be successful at it. And you’ve done this, and you really, many of you in the audience, many of you that are graduating, uh, you come from military backgrounds or you love the military, it’s what you want to do, it’s what you want to talk about.

One thing I see about people that love the military, that’s all they want to talk about. I’ll be out to dinner, and generals if they, if they love their job, usually the only good ones are the ones that want to talk about it all the time. But if they talk, that’s what they want to talk about. I rarely, really very rarely see somebody who’s successful that doesn’t love what he or she does.

You have to love what you do. In your case, the military is what you chose. And I’ll tell you what; you cannot go wrong. You’re gonna see it too. You’re gonna love it more and more with time. You know, I work all the time. That’s all I do is I work, whether it’s politically. Or before that, I did — I was a very good businessman in case you haven’t heard, really good.

But I was good ’cause I loved it, I loved it. I learned from my father a little bit of — My father was a happy guy and all he did was work. He’d work Saturdays, Sundays. He’d work all the time. And he was a happy guy. He just loved life. And I learned that. I say, “You know, it makes him happy.” I’ve seen other people that never work and they’re not happy.

But you gotta love it, otherwise you won’t be successful. In the army, there are a lot of different paths you can take, so follow your instincts and make sure that you take the path that you love, that you’re doing something that you love within your military. You will be happier and the army will be far stronger for it. Second is to think big.

Always think big. If you’re going to do something, you might as well think big, do it big because it’s just as tough, and sometimes it’s a lot easier thinking big than doing a small task that’s more difficult. One of your greatest graduates, General Eisenhower used to say, “Whenever I run into a problem that I can’t solve, I always like to make it bigger to solve it and solve more of it.” If you go in to solve a problem, and it might as well be a big problem as opposed to a small problem that lots of people can take advantage of and solve.

So you can achieve something really amazing. Think big. Third though, you gotta do this. Uh, brainpower you have to have, potential you have to have, but to be really successful, you’re always going to have to work hard. An example is a great athlete, Gary Player. Great golfer. He wasn’t as big as the other men that were playing against him; great, big, strong guys.

Gary was a smaller guy. I don’t want to say too small. He is a friend of mine. He gets a little angry at people because he hits the ball just as far. He said, “I hit the ball further than them. Why am I small?” But he worked very, very hard. He was always doing exercise, he was always — He was well ahead of his time.

He never stopped. He won 168 golf tournaments. He won 18 majors, nine regular, and nine on the senior tour. 18 with 168. That’s the most tournaments, internationally the most tournaments anybody’s ever won. But he made a statement years ago, and I heard it, I heard it. He’s the first one. I think I’ve heard it a couple of times since, but he was the first.

He said, “It’s funny, the harder I work, the luckier I get.” And think of that, the harder I work, the luckier I get. And he worked hard, and you’re working hard, and the harder you work, the luckier you’re gonna get. Fourth is don’t lose your momentum. Momentum’s an amazing thing. Keep it going. I tell a story sometimes about a man who was a great, great real estate man.

He was a man who was admired for real estate all over the world, actually, but all over the country. He built Levittowns. He started as a man who built one house, then he built two, then he built five, then he built 20, then he built 1,000, then he built 2,000 and 3,000 a year. And he got very big, very big.

He was great at what he did. You see them all over the country still, Levittowns, so a long time ago. But he was, uh, the first of the really, really big home builders. And he became very rich, became a very rich man, and then he decided to sell. He was offered a lot of money by a big conglomerate, Gulf and Western, big conglomerate.

They didn’t do real estate, they didn’t know anything about it, but they saw the money he was making; they wanted to take it to a public company. And they gave him a lot of money, tremendous amount of money. More money than he ever thought he’d get. And he sold this company and he had nothing to do. He ended up getting a divorce, found a new wife.

Could you say a trophy wife? I guess we can say a trophy wife. It didn’t work out too well. But it doesn’t — And that doesn’t work out too well, I must tell you. A lot of trophy wives doesn’t work out, but it made him happy for a little while at least. But he found a new wife. He sold his little boat and he got a big yacht.

He had one of the biggest yachts anywhere in the world. He moved for a time to Monte Carlo and he led the good life. And time went by and he got bored. And 15 years later, the company that he sold to called him and they said, “The housing business is not for us.” You have to understand, when Bill Levitt was hot, when he had momentum, he’d go to the job sites every night.

He’d pick up every loose nail, he’d pick up every scrap of wood. If there was a bolt or a screw laying on the ground, he’d pick it up and he’d use it the next day and putting together a house. But now he was spoiled and he was rich, he was really rich. And they called and they said, “This isn’t for us, this business.

We need to do other things. Would you like to buy it back? We’ll sell it back to you cheap.” And they did. He bought it, he bought it. He thought he made a great deal and he was all excited. But it was 15 years later, he lost a lot of momentum. Remember the word momentum, and he lost everything, it just didn’t work, he lost everything.

And I was sitting at a party on Fifth Avenue one night a long time ago, and you had the biggest people in New York, the biggest people in the country, all in that party, and they were all saluting each other, how great they were, they were all telling each other, “I’m greater than you.” It gets to be really, gives you a headache sometimes, but they had all these people telling their own stories about how fantastic.

A cocktail party, and I looked over, and I was doing well, I was, I don’t know, I was invited to the party, so I had to be doing well. I was very, very young, but I made a name in real estate. And I looked over, and at the party sitting in a corner all by himself, nobody was talking to him, was Mr. Levitt.

He had just gone bankrupt, lost everything, he had lost everything, his home, everything. And I went over and talked to him because he was in the real estate business and I loved real estate, and I said, “Hello, Mr. Levitt, how are you?” He said, “Hello, Donald, it’s nice to meet you.” He knew me from being in the business.

I said, “Uh, so how’s it going?” He goes, “Not well. It’s really not going well, as you’ve probably read, it’s been a very, very tough period for me, son.” And I said, “So what happened? it’s just, anything you can do?” He goes, “No, there’s not a thing I can do.” He said, I’ll never forget, he said, “I’ve lost my momentum, I just didn’t have it. I used to have it but I lost my momentum.” So it’s a story I tell, and you have to know when you have the momentum, but sometimes you have to also know when you’ve lost the momentum and leaving a field, sometimes leaving what you’re doing sometimes is okay, but you gotta have momentum, but you have to know if that momentum’s gone, you have to know when to say it’s time to get out.

And it’s a very sad story, I remember that story so well like it was yesterday. Fifth, you have to have the courage to take risks and to do things differently. Eisenhower, again, was threatened with court martials as a young officer for advocating a new doctrine of tank warfare. Billy Mitchell was thrown out of the army for pioneering the use of air power.

They said, “What do you mean air power, don’t be ridiculous?” People willing to try and do things differently, it’s never gonna be easy for them, but they’re the ones that are gonna really do the important things, they’re the ones who are gonna make history. So don’t be ashamed and don’t be afraid, this is a time of incredible change and we do not need an officer Corps of careerists, and yes-men, and people that want to keep it going the way it’s been because it changes rapidly, especially what you’re doing.

Because believe it or not, you’re in a, a business and profession where things change as rapidly like warfare, the type of warfare. Unfortunately we’re getting to see it with Russia and Ukraine, and we’re studying it and it’s a very terrible thing to study. But we’re seeing the different forms of warfare.

We’re seeing the drones that are coming down at angles and with speed and with precision. We’ve never seen anything like it, we’ve never seen anything like it, and we’re learning from it, but your profession changes very rapidly, you’ve gotta keep, you’ve gotta be at the top of it, you’ve gotta be right at the head of the needle.

We need Patriots with guts, and vision, and backbone who take personal risks to ensure that America wins every single time, we wanna win our battles. You know, I defeated ISIS in three weeks. They told me it would take five years, and the general that did it, you know that story, was named Razin Caine. His name is Dan Caine, but his nickname was Razin Caine.

I said, “Your name is Razin Caine, I love that, is that a nickname?” “That’s what they call me, sir.” “I love you General, I think you’re the guy I am looking for, I want to know a guy named Razin Caine.” And he is now the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and he’s a highly respected man, and we defeated, think of it, ISIS, they said, they said, “How long in Washington?” “Sir, it will take four years to defeat them, maybe five, and maybe we won’t because they’re all over the place.” And then I met a man that said we can do it in three weeks, and he did it three weeks, and that’s, uh, why he’s the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff right now.

And, uh, we did things that nobody thought were possible. We’ve had great military success, when you have the right leader and you have the right people, and we have the right people, you’re gonna have tremendous succ- — success. Six, never lose your faith in America and the American people because they’re always gonna be there for you.

I went through a very tough time with some very radicalized sick people, and I say, I was investigated more than the great late Alphonse Capone. Alphonse Capone was a monster, he was a very hardened criminal. I went through more investigations than Alphonse Capone, and now I’m talking to you as president, can you believe this?

Can you believe it? So you gotta fight hard, and you gotta never give up and don’t let bad people take you down. You gotta let them, you gotta take them down. Got a lot of bad people out there and those people, you have to figure it out, but you also have a lot of great people. Finally, hold on to your culture and your traditions, because that’s what makes something really great, and that’s what’s made the army great, the culture and the tradition.

Whether we’re talking about a battalion, a business, a sports team, or even a nation, history has shown that in many ways culture is destiny. So do not let anyone destroy the culture of winning, you have to win. Winning is a beautiful thing, losing not for us, it’s not for us, not for anybody here. If it was, you wouldn’t be here.

From the earliest days of our nation, this supreme tradition of American military service has been passed down from soldier to soldier and generation to generation, and it’s a beautiful thing to watch. Graduating today is Cadet Ricky McMahon. Ricky’s great-grandfather, stand up wherever you are, Ricky, because you’re gonna like this.

Ricky’s great-grandfather served in World War I. His grandfather served in World War II, and his uncle, father and mother all graduated from West Point. Where is Ricky? In 2004, when Ricky was just a little, little tiny boy, who would think about that Ricky, a little tiny boy? His dad, Lieutenant Colonel Michael McMahon, made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation in Afghanistan.

Today, Lieutenant Colonel McMahon rests not far from here in the West Point Cemetery. Last year, two decades after losing his father, Ricky placed a gold chip from his dad’s 1985 class ring into a crucible along 87 other rings were with it of past West Point grads that were melted down to forge those now worn by the class of 2025. Do you all know that?

Do you know that, what you’re wearing? I want one. Ricky, I want one. Each of you will carry Michael’s memory with you always as you continue the legacy he gave you. It gave you something that would be so proud, he would be so proud, he is proud as he looks down. To Ricky and his mom, Jeanette, you embody what this place is all about, and I know Michael, he’s up there, he’s smiling broadly.

So proud. He’s so proud of you today, you know that. And, uh, he’s a man that couldn’t be, and he is a man that couldn’t be more proud. And I want to just, uh, I just love that story. And everybody’s ring, they’re gonna remember you, they’re gonna remember your family, and most importantly, you’re gonna remember a great tradition.

It’s a great tradition of West Point and of winners. Thank you very much. It’s great to meet you. Thank you. You can sit down. You want to come up? If you want to come up, come up. Come on up. Come on up here. That’s nice. A handsome guy. They’re all good-looking here. I don’t know what’s going on. Uh, whole crowd is beautiful. Thank you very much.

MCMAHON: I’d like to thank my mother, I’d like to thank my family, and I’d like to thank G-3. Go Gophers.

TRUMP: These are good-looking people, I’ll tell you General, what’s going on over [Inaudible]? Look like all a bunch of male models, I can’t stand it. (laughs) For two and a half centuries, our republic has endured because of heroes like Michael. They’ve laid down their lives for America, and because young people like all of you have picked up the banner of service and carried forward the flag of freedom from Lexington to Yorktown, from Gettysburg to Sicily, and from Inchon to Fallujah, America has been won and saved by an unbroken chain of soldiers and patriots who ran to the sound of the guns, leapt into the maw of battle and charged into the crucible of fire to seize the crown of victory no matter the odds, no matter the cost, no matter the danger.

All over the world, our soldiers have made sacred the ground where they shed their blood and showed their valor. From Seminary Ridge to San Juan Hill, Belleau Wood, Omaha Beach, Leyte Gulf, and Ardennes Forest, Chosin Reservoir, all over. And even a place called Pork Chop Hill. And in all of those battles and so many more, some of the best, brightest and bravest have come from right here at the US Military Academy at West Point, one of the great enabled places anywhere in the world.

America’s army has never failed us, and with leaders like the West Point class of 2025, the Army will never fail. We will never let you down. And over the last week, I had the honor of speaking to the heads of many countries and they would say, two weeks ago they say — The 8th, they said, “Sir, we’re celebrating the victory today of World War II.” And I said, “Wow, that’s nice.” Then I’d call another one, unrelated. “Sir, we’re celebrating the victory of World War II.” Then I called up President of France on something also unrelated.

He said, “Sir, we’re celebrating our victory over World War II.” I said, “Well, whoa. What have we here?” We help them a lot. And I- I had this Russia, I talked to Putin about ending that terrible war that’s going on. And he said they’re having a big victory march. And they did lose, in all fairness, 51 million people.

But they were all celebrating. The only country that wasn’t celebrating was the United States of America. And I said, isn’t it amazing? We were the ones that won the war. And we were helped. We were helped. In some cases we had to help them, but we were helped by some of the nations, and we were strongly helped by a couple of them.

But every one of them was celebrating. They had Victory Day, they called it Victory Day in Europe, Victory Day all over. And we weren’t even thought about, nobody had a Victory Day, and so I named that special day and another special day from now on as a holiday, but a holiday where we work because we don’t have enough days.

We’re going to be having so many holidays, we’re not going to be able to work anymore. But I named it for World War II, and a separate day in November, as you know, for World War I. I said, you know, all of these countries that participated in the war are celebrating, but the greatest country of them all, and the country that won the war, nobody even talked about.

And so, we’re going to be talking about it too from now on, and I think you’ll appreciate it. We won the First World War. We won the Second World War, and you know where we won them from? Right here at West Point. West Point won the war. You won two world wars, and plenty of other things, but you want to think of it. We don’t want to have a third world war, but we won the First World War.

We won the Second World War right here from West Point. And that’s something, and we’re gonna be talking about it. You know, they can talk about it, and in some cases, as you know, they didn’t do too much to help. They were ground down, but they were celebrating victory. No, we’re gonna celebrate victory because we’re the ones that won that war.

Standing before you today, I know that you will never stop. You will never quit. You will never yield. You will never tire. You will never, ever, ever surrender. Never give up. Remember that. Never give up. That’s another little factor I could have added. Never, ever give up. Raise your right hand. I pledge I will never, ever give up. You can never give up. You can never give up. If you do, you’re not gonna be successful because you’ll go through things that will be bad.

You’re gonna have great moments, you’re gonna have bad moments. You can never give up. Through every challenge and every battle, you’ll stand strong, you’ll work hard, you’ll stay tough, and you will fight, fight, fight, and win, win, win. So, I wanna just congratulate you all. I’m going back now to deal with Russia, to deal with China. [Laughs] What’s that- what’s that all about?

Trump critics attacked the speech.  Many of them probably prefer the speech we’ll have tomorrow.

 

Christopher Kit

The first governor the Missourinet covered was Christopher S. Bond. We went on the air January 2, 1975 with a welcome by Bond in one of our first newscasts.

Today, I will be helping Columbia television station KMIZ telecast and webcast his memorial service from the rotunda of the Capitol where he served for ten years, two years as state auditor and eight years as governor.  The Capitol is less than an hour’s drive from Mexico, his hometown.

The memorial service will be at non today, after which he will lie in state until mid-day tomorrow. A celebration of his life will take place Thursday at Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church in St. Louis.

He called himself “Kit,” and signed all of his letters that way.  But I never called him that. I think “Kit” is okay for a child but not for somebody who earned the prestigious titles of governor and senator. A grownup, especially a governor or a senator, should be Christopher. I’ll let a frontiersman from two centuries ago get away with it, but it’s just not dignified when applied to a Governor. Or a Senator and, once upon a time, in a time far, far away, a potential candidate for vice-president.

THIS is Kit:

Kit is about forty years old and it’s the time of year for it to go live outside for the summer.  We bring it indoors when the weather starts to turn a little crisp and park it next to a window so it can view winter, as we do, from the warmth of the house.

This is  Christopher.

That’s fifty years ago, after he had helped me get the American Freedom Train to come through Jefferson City for the American Revolution Bicentennial. I was the local committee Secretary and Carolyn McDowell was the committee chairman.  My friend, Jim Wisch, who also helped me build a grandfather clock from a kit (I’m sorry, it’s unavoidable in telling the story), did the woodwork for the plaque with the locomotive on it.

Some people have asked me to talk about Christopher Bond and I’ve talked about some of his legislative successes, his actions overturning a 140-year old extermination order by one of his predecessors telling Mormons to get out of Missouri or he would have the state militia kill them, his work on realigning government, his work ethic, and other things.  But I overlooked one of his best accomplishments. Alan Greenblatt, the editor of Governing magazine brought it up after learning of Bond’s death. He headlined it “When a Governor Preserved Part of His State’s Heritage.

With his reminding me, I recalled it well. Half a century ago, the St. Louis Mercantile Library decided to pay for a new air conditioning system by selling more than 100 drawings by Missouri’s most famous 19th Century artist, George Caleb Bingham.  Bingham’s works are universally appreciated not only as art but also because of the historical stories they tell. The drawings are of people who appear in one of his most famous works—County Election.

Bond mobilized school children to donate their dimes and pennies to help the state buy the drawings.  Any school that raised $250 got a Bingham print. More than three-hundred schools took part and their children raised about $40,000.

The children inspired adults, businesses, and the legislature to put up the rest of the money,  more than two-million dollars, to make the purchase.

The drawings, now in a trust, are protected from being sold.

Greenblatt concludes, “After I learned about Bond’s intervention… it became a habit for me to ask governors and former governors if they had ever done something similar — something that wasn’t part of their larger political agenda but something that had an impact they could talk about with their grandchildren. None have yet given me a satisfactory answer. So kudos to Kit Bond, as he was known, for using his bully pulpit in this particular way.”

I first met him when he was running against incumbent Congressman Bill Hungate, one of the stars of the Watergate hearings, in northeast Missouri.  He came to the radio station where I was in my first year as news director, the late KLIK, and we sat on a couch in the front office and talked about why he thought he was qualified to go to Congress. He lost but he gave Hungate a stronger run than he had ever faced.

That was 1968, the year John Danforth broke Democratic control of state politics. He hired a bunch of young assistants, Christopher Bond being one of them.  The list of people who came through the “Danforth Incubator” includes future governors, judges of the state supreme court, federal prosecutors, Republican Party leaders, and a couple of future governors—Bond and John Ashcroft.

Before Bond became governor he had to prove he was a Missourian. His primary opponent, Representative R. J. “Bus” King, charged Bond would not have lived in Missouri for the required ten years before the election.  He had gone to law school in Virginia, clerked for a federal judge in Georgia, worked for a law firm in Washington, D.C., applied for a marriage license in Kentucky and lived in DC after his marriage.

Bond argued all of those addresses were temporary and were connected to his education and his professional development. But, he said, he never intended to abandon his Missouri residence. The court ruled that “residence” is “largely a matter of intention” not requiring a physical presence. Therefore residence was “that place where a man has his true, fixed and permanent home and principal establishment, and to which whenever he is absent he has the intention of returning.”

Bond became the youngest governor in Missouri history in January, 1973. Some of the old guard, even in his own party, treated him with some disdain, some even referring to his as ‘Kid” Bond.

1972 also was the year Missourians approved a realignment of state government. Our youngest governor’s first big job was a complete reordering of the hundreds of state agencies, boards, and commissions into a little more than a dozen departments.

When a tornado hit Farmington in ’74, Bond and some members of the Capitol Press Corps hopped on a National Guard helicopter and flew over to check the damage. Bond and the press corps got along pretty well but on this flight there was no collegial chit-chat. Bond had his briefcase and was working on things all the way over and all the way back, a work ethic I appreciated.

By re-election time, Bond had won the respect of the old guard and was such a rising star in the party, nationally, that President Ford had Bond on the short list as a running mate. But when Joe Teasdale ran a populist campaign that Bond never seriously challenged, Teasdale emerged a surprise winner by about 13,000 votes.  The stunning defeat ended his hopes of rising to national importance.

I remember hearing him talk about how his loss not only was difficult for him, it was doubly difficult for his wife.  While he was mourning the end of his dreams, she was dealing with the loss of HER dream. And she had to deal with the end of his national ambitions, too.  It’s a lesson I’ve told other potential first-time candidates to think about—-that they don’t run for office alone; that their family is running, too, and is living all of the joys and sadnesses the campaign produces.

Bond filled his time as the head of the Great Plains Legal Foundation while working to rebuild the Republican Party. He came out slugging in the 1980 campaign and clobbered Teasdale by about ten times more votes than was the losing margin to Teasdale in ’72.

He laid out for a couple of years then ran for the U. S. Senate and won the first of his four six-year terms.

When he retired from the Senate fifteen years ago, he said,

“There is no greater honor than being given the people’s trust, to represent them. I have done my best to keep faith with my constituents in every vote I have cast and every issue I have worked on.

“As I look back, the successes we have achieved during my time here have always come because people were willing to reach across the aisle for the common good…

“In a world today where enemies are real—the kind who seek to destroy others because of their religion—it is important to remember there is a lot of real estate between a political opponent and a true enemy.

“Public Service has been a blessing and a labor of love for me. Little in life could be more fulfilling.”

Senator Christopher Bond of Missouri was known for his pork-barrel politics, the politics of getting as much federal money for his state as possible.  While some think being “The King of Pork” is not a distinction, Bond was proud of the title—-because it was done for his folks back home.

I saw him occasionally in the years since (such as at the Greitens Inauguration in 2017).  Age shortened his height but not his public stature. He  always had the smile, always the twinkle in the eye, always was glad to see someone, always ready with a quip.

He was 86 when he died last week.

One final story—about Kit.

In those days the press corps was made up of a lot of young men and women.  We had our softball teams and our basketball teams. One day the press corps played a game against Governor Bond and his staff.  The press corps won.  I hit a shot that nailed the governor in the shin at third base.

In May of 1984,  my city league softball team played the governor’s staff and I had to leave my position at third base to fill in for an absent pitcher.  Early in the game, one of the governor’s staff hit a shot straight back at me. It hit me in the left eye and I was in the hospital for a few days after doctors stitched the eye and the surrounding area back together.  On day a nurse brought a nice plant to my bedside. She and the other nurses were really impressed that the governor would send a plant to one of their patients.

We call the plant Kit.  And it will always remind me of a guy named Christopher.

(photo credits: Kit—Bob Priddy; County Election—Art.com; Old Bond—UPI; Official portrait of Bond—Bob Priddy)

 

Bombs Away for Kansas City; Sweep for the Birds; Gem for the Battlehawks. Blues for the Blues. But first, some history for today.

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

May 6, 1917—-Bob Groom of the St. Louis Browns throws a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox a day after the Browns’ Ernie Koob had no-hit the Sox at Sportsman’s Park. The catcher for both games was Hank Severeid, the only catcher in MLB history to catch no-hitters on two consecutive days.  Groom went on to an 8-19 record that year and finished his ten  year career a year later.  Ernie Koob was 6-14 that year and out of baseball after another year and a five-year record with the Browns of 23-31.

The Browns were 57-97 that year, seventh in the then-eight team America League which is about what they usually were before they left St. Louis after the 1954 season to become the Baltimore Orioles (of which we will have some news in a few more paragaphs)

Baseball Reference records, “The St. Louis Browns are perhaps history’s worst Major League franchise. The Browns existed from 1902 to 1953 in the American League and managed just 11 winning seasons over that span. They lost more than 100 games eight times, finishing dead last in the AL 10 times. They finished as high as second in the AL standings just three times. The Browns won just one pennant, in 1944, when the majors were not at full strength due to World War II.”  (To which we add that they lost in six games to the Cardinals during the “trolley car series,” when all games were played in old Sportsman’s Park.

But for two days in 1917, the Browns were untouchable.

 

Severeid went on to a solid career, ten of his years with the Browns for whom he caught 100 or more games eight times. He had a solid major league career (.289 career batting average) and spent several more successful years as a minor league catcher and manager. He died in 1968 at the age of 77, still the only catcher to get pitchers through no-hitters on successive days.

Only one pitcher has ever thrown back-to back no-hitters: Johnny Vander Meer of the Reds beat the Boston Bees (later the Braves) on June 11, 1938 and no-hit the Brooklyn Dodgers in his next start June 15.

The only time there have been back-to-back no-hitters involving the same two teams was in 1968 when Gaylord Perry of the Giants beat Bob Gibson of the Cardinals 1-0 and the next day when the Cardinals’ Ray Washburn beat the Giants the next day 1-0. The last two outs he got that day were future Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Willie McCovey.

Those two games are the only time in MLB history there have been no-hitters in two consecutive games.  The second Browns no-hitter had been in the second game of a double header. 

That’s your baseball history lesson for the day. Now let’s look at the history being made by today’s players.

(Royals)—The Kansas City Royals started their week against the Chicago White Sox last night  after finishing their previous week with a team-record seven home runs in one game.  They polished off the Baltimore Orioles 11-6 to go three games over .500 at 19-16.

It was a historic game for catcher Luke Maile, who homered for his first hit with the Royals. He’s the 29th player in team history to have a home run as his first hit.

Cole Ragans already was playing at a historic level going into the game. Although he’s just 1-1 with a 4.40 ERA so far this year, he has struck out 11.16 batters per nine innings through five starts this year and has allowed 0.69 home runs per nine innings.  OptaSTATS says only two other pitchers since 1901 have ever started a season with allowing fewer than 0.80 homers and at least 11 strikeouts through fifty starts with a team are Nolan Ryan and Kevin Gausman.,

We all know who Nolan Ryan is. But Kevin Gausman? He’s bounced around among five teams in thirteen years, has a career record of 104-105.

Ragans was dominant in his return to the mound Monday, tying a season-high with 11 strikeouts in five innings as the Royals shut out the Chicago White Sox 3-0 at Kauffman Stadium. With that, the Royals continued their current hot streak. KC won its 12th game in 14 tries and also improved its season record to 20-16.

Ragans didn’t appear to show any ill effects from his earlier problem.

(CARDINALS)—-A double-header sweep of the Mets gets the Cardinals within three games of break-even 35 games into the season. They can thank Mike McGreevy, who was called up from Memphis by a rule that lets teams add an extra player for doubleheaders. McGreevy relieved Andre Pallante in second game when the bases were loaded and there was only one out in the fourth inning. McGreevy shut down the Mets on one hit and one walk the rest of the way, struck out five, and got the Mets to hit into five groundouts.

The Cardinals had won the first game 5-4

Alex Burlison broke out of his season-longer homerless streak with a two-run rip in the first game. In fact, he hadn’t hit a home run since last August 17. He’d had only three extra base hits so far this season.

The Cardinals kept rolling last night, beating Pittsburg 6-3 in a series opened. Home runs by Jose Berrero hitting his first home run since 2023 with Alex Burlison and Wilson Contreras adding shots of their own to give the Cardinals the lead.

(ST. LOUIS BLUES)—The coach has turned into a pumpkin for the St. Louis Blues. There will be no Cinderella story for them this year.

Once almost written off as a playoff team, the Blues stormed through the last third of the season to make it in the field.  Down two games to none to Winnipeg in the first round of the playoffs, but Blues came back to force a seventh game.

The Blues led by two goals with less than two minutes to play but the Jets tied the game with 1.6 seconds left and got the game winner at the 16:30 mark of overtime.

(FOOTBALL)—-Spring pro football reached the halfway mark in the regular season last weekend.

(BATTLEHAWKS)—Two weeks after losing their first game of the year to Arlington, the St. Louis Battlehawks put together what was called a “defensive gem,” against the same team, 12-6.

The Arlington Renegades had  scored thirty points three times this year, including the first game against St. Louis, in Arlington.

Battlehawks linebacker Pita Taumoepenu was the key to the St. Louis defense. With less than two minutes to play, Taumoepenu slapped the ball out of the hands of Arlington’s quarterback and two teammates pounced on it. It was the fourth turnover forced by the Battlehawks, the second within the final five minutes.

The win keeps St. Louis’ title hopes alive as they go to 4-2 on the season and get back to 2-2 in their UFL conference.

Now we move to sports with another turnoff the wheel.

(INDYCAR)—Alex Palou heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with momentum rarely seen in INDYCAR—winning three of the first four races of the season and already building a big lead as he runs for his fourth series championship.

Palou calls his start from the pole and his win on the road course at Barber Motorsports Park “the best race” of his career. He led 81 of the 90 laps. “It was a perfect day, a perfect weekend,” Palou said. “The car was amazing, super-fast. I had a ton of fun. I was a bit lonely there, but I loved it. It was an amazing day.” He was lonely, it seemed. His margin of victory over Christian Lundgaard was sixteen seconds. Penske driver Scott McLaughlin, who had won the last two races at the track, finished third.

Palou’s worst finish in the firs four races is second.

Next up will be two races at the track that gives the series its name, a race on the infield road course next weekend and then the crown jewel of the year for the series, the Indianapolis 500, where Josef Newgarden will try to become the first driver to win three 500s in a row.

(NASCAR)—Consider last weekend’s NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway a breakthough run for defending Cup champion Joey Logan, who avoided trouble as he worked his way from 27th starting position to victory circle. It’s his first top-five finish of the year.

He had worked his way up to second place behind Michael McDowell but took the lead with four laps left in regulation.  McDowell, a lap later, got into some dirty air behind Ryan Blaney and wrecked. He finished 26th.

Blaney was passed by Ross Chastain, who had started 31st, on the restart. It’s Chastain’s best finish of the year.

Nobody led more laps than Kyle Larson  but the best he could do at the end was fourth.

For the first time after 21 straight races, Denny Hamlin did not finish on the lead lap. He lost an engine early. His string of 21 straight top fives is the eighty longest in NASCAR history.

(FORMULA 1)—Oscar Piastri picked up his fourth win of the year in the Grand Prix of Miami. Teammate Lando Norris came home behind him.

(Photo credits: Severeid–Becket Marketplace; Palou–Rick Gevers, Indianapolis 2024)

 

 

 

Remember Our Place 

When things seem they could get no worse, it is helpful to turn to music for relief.  Long before William Congreve linked music with savage breasts (I am unable to envision such things as SAVAGE breasts), the Roman poet Lucan wrote an epic poem called Parsalia that talked of someone “..whose charming voice and matchless music” moved “the savage beasts, the stones, and senseless trees.”

—beasts, not breasts in the original Latin.

I draw sustenance from a movie song that reminds me all of the hot air emanating from the Asylum on the Potomac amounts to cosmic nothingness.

So the next time you find  your gorge rising (a phrase that was a gift to the English language by William Shakespeare in Hamlet: “I could never be a doctor. Blood, vomit, open wounds—all that stuff makes my gorge rise.”), be comforted and calmed by the internationally famous Galaxy Song.

It begins with this prelude:

“Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown, and things seem hard or tough, and people are stupid, obnoxious or daft, and you feel that you’ve had quite enough.”  And it continues:

Just remember that you’re standing on a planet that’s evolving,

And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour;

That’s orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it’s reckoned,

A sun that is the source of all our power.

The sun and you and me

And all the stars that we can see

Are moving at a million miles a day.

In an outer spiral arm,

At forty-six thousand miles an  hour.

Of the galaxy we call the Milky Way.

 

Our galaxy itself contains 100 billion stars

It’s 100,000 light years side to side.

It bulges in the middle, 16,000 light years thick.

But out by us it’s just 3,000 light year wide.

We’re 30,000 light years from our glactic central point.

We go round every 200 million years

And our Galaxy is only one of millions of billions

In this amazing and expanding universe.

 

The Universe itself keeps expanding and expanding

In all of the directions it can whiz

As it can go, at the speed of light. you know..

12 million miles a minute,

and that’s the fastest speed there is.

So remember when you’re feeling very small and insecure

How amazingly unlikely is your birth.

And pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space

Because there’s bugger-all down here on Earth.

The famous composer/lyricist duo of Eric Idle and John Cleese have given us this musical reminder that on the cosmic scale, it doesn’t matter what idiocy comes from the stable genius. He’s really just a tiny atom in the grand scheme and it would do all of us—citizens, law firms, judges, and schools for starters—to look at him that way.

Would He Really Have Said This? 

We wonder if he even saw it. Or read it.

He certainly didn’t write it because he only writes in the middle of the night and what he writes is semi-incoherent and dotted with numerous misspellings, usually lacking honesty, is often loaded with hateful attacks on those who dare to disagree with him, and id intended only to keep his base inflamed.

His Holy Week statement, issued on Palm Sunday, clearly was written by someone else. It is typically Trump, though, in that it reeks of faux sincerity and reverence.

Last Sunday, the day the statement was released, the White House listed his schedule for the day:

12:01 AM The President arrives Palm Beach International Airport

12:10 AM  The President departs Palm Beach International Airport en route Mar-a-Lago
12:25 AM  The President arrives Mar-a-Lago

10:26 AM  The President departs Mar-a-Lago for his golf club

10:34 AM  The President arrives at Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach

5:00 PM  The President departs Mar-a-Lago enroute to Palm Beach International

5:15 PM  The President Arrives Palm Beach International

5:25 PM The President departs Palm Beach International en route Joint Base Andrews

7:30 PM  The President arrives at Joint Base Andrews

7:40 PM  The President departs Joint Base Andrews en route to the White House

7:50 PM  The President arrives at The White House.

We doubt that The President paused during his afternoon of worshiping the putter and the 5-iron and the 2-wood to have a prayer to celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection, as he promised that he would be doing.

This Holy Week, Melania and I join in prayer with Christians celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ — the living Son of God who conquered death, freed us from sin, and unlocked the gates of Heaven for all of humanity.

Beginning with Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and culminating in the Paschal Triduum, which begins on Holy Thursday with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, followed by Good Friday, and reaching its pinnacle in the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night. This week is a time of reflection for Christians to memorialize Jesus’ crucifixion—and to prepare their hearts, minds, and souls for His miraculous Resurrection from the dead.

During this sacred week, we acknowledge that the glory of Easter Sunday cannot come without the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross. In His final hours on Earth, Christ willingly endured excruciating pain, torture, and execution on the cross out of a deep and abiding love for all His creation. Through His suffering, we have redemption. Through His death, we are forgiven of our sins. Through His Resurrection, we have hope of eternal life. On Easter morning, the stone is rolled away, the tomb is empty, and light prevails over darkness — signaling that death does not have the final word.

This Holy Week, my Administration renews its promise to defend the Christian faith in our schools, military, workplaces, hospitals, and halls of government. We will never waver in safeguarding the right to religious liberty, upholding the dignity of life, and protecting God in our public square.

As we focus on Christ’s redeeming sacrifice, we look to His love, humility, and obedience — even in life’s most difficult and uncertain moments. This week, we pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our beloved Nation. We pray that America will remain a beacon of faith, hope, and freedom for the entire world, and we pray to achieve a future that reflects the truth, beauty, and goodness of Christ’s eternal kingdom in Heaven.

May God bless you and your family during this special time of year and may He continue to bless the United States of America.

It makes sense, doesn’t it?  The President, who proclaimed that he would “celebrate the crucifixion and resurrection” would observe Palm Sunday by playing golf all day surrounded by PALM TREES.

Now that’s a sincere Christian for you. It’s a definition of Palm Sunday most of us never considered.

We wonder if he defended the Christian faith by mentioning the Savior’s name on the golf course, perhaps when one of his shots went the wrong way.

We have read some news accounts of The President’s Palm Sunday looking for accounts of Melania joining him in this celebration and observance, as he said she would. But nobody reported her presence.  It was probably a plot by the Associated Press to ignore her presence.  Had to be. Or maybe it was CNN or CBS or ABC or NBC.

And we wonder how his prayer “that America will remain a beacon of faith, hope, and freedom for the entire world” with a future “that reflects the truth, beauty, and goodness of Christ’s eternal kingdom in Heaven” sounds to the tens of thousands of people who are targets of his revenge and his deportations.

They didn’t have time for Palm Sunday golf.  They were too busy—really praying.

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The Immigrants 

I had planned on a more frivolous entry for today, but Monday I read Barbara Shelley’s commentary on The Missouri Independent website and I think it is far more important than anything I could offer.  She was an respected reporter with the Kansas City Star in my reporting days and remains a respected observer of our times. In this entry, she puts human faces onto the victims of President Trump’s vicious immigration policies that show no concern for who is hurt by them—people or our nation.

Once in America, immigration was a sign of our greatness, of our country’s promise, and our ancestors (yours and mine) came here to seek it. Now those people are villainized with lies from our President.

It is heart-breaking for one who memorized in his school days Thomas Wolfe’s Promise of America to read Barbara’s description of what President Trump has brutally cancelled in our national character. Perhaps you memorized it, too:

” So, then, to every man his chance—to every man, regardless of his birth, his shining, golden opportunity—to every man the right to live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever thing his manhood and his vision can combine to make him — this, seeker, is the promise of America.”

Here’s her commentary about the crushing of that promise:

Friends and family arrived bearing flowers. Smiling volunteers pointed the way to seats.

Everyone loves a naturalization ceremony. I attended one recently at a branch of the Kansas City Public Library and watched 71 new American citizens swear allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. Even more immigrants had taken the oath earlier in the day.

“This room is full of the most brilliant minds that the world knows,” Wasim Khan, a cultural leader, told the group. “You guys are the teachers. You know what it takes to be here.”

After the ceremony, as League of Women Voters volunteers swooped in to invite the new citizens to register, I asked a few people how long they have been in America.

Eight years, 12 years, too many years to count.

Naturalized citizenship is a long, expensive process and everyone who achieves it does so through a combination of grit and good fortune.

I’ve attended several of these ceremonies over the years to cheer on people I’ve had the privilege to know.

One was a piano teacher who came here from Kyrgyzstan to study at American universities. Several others arrived as refugees. They overcame language barriers and all the hardships of poverty to arrive at their naturalization ceremonies as educated, hardworking contributors to their communities.

The recent ceremony was no different from others I’ve witnessed, but I couldn’t summon the usual measure of joy.

Rather, I kept wondering what a naturalization ceremony will look like once the xenophobic policies of the Trump administration have been fully brought to bear.

Last year, I signed up to participate on a team that would sponsor a refugee family, in cooperation with a resettlement agency. I told myself that it would be a satisfying act of resistance in case Donald J. Trump won the presidency.

Along with others, I welcomed a family of eight at Kansas City’s airport on a snowy evening 12 days before Trump’s inauguration. They were exhausted and one person was ill but they were here and we were ready to introduce them to America.

We had no idea how difficult that was going to be.

Within a week of taking office, Trump had slammed the door to new refugee admissions and cut off funding for the families who had recently arrived.

The resettlement community had anticipated the first move. It was gobsmacked by the second. With an executive order, Trump wiped out money that was supposed to pay for rent and utilities, medical screenings and other services for hundreds of people who had entered the United States legally in the last 90 days.

Agencies went into emergency fundraising mode, but Trump’s action was crippling. The agency I volunteer for lost nearly $1 million of federal money it had counted on. Part of that amount was already spent in rent deposits and other costs.

It’s nearly impossible to cover a gap like that through donations. Within weeks two agencies in Kansas City laid off close to half their staffs. A smaller nonprofit laid off its entire refugee services staff. A mid-Missouri agency shut down its resettlement program.

My role in the resistance now includes scanning job ads for something that might work for adults who speak only a little English and will have to ride to work on the bus. I’ve become familiar with the difficulties of booking an appointment at the local Social Security office — and good luck once Elon Musk gets through with that program.

The family that my team works with was routed from their ancestral home and spent years in limbo in a neighboring country. The adults are fully aware that the leader of the United States does not want them here.

Their status is legal, but they are afraid. They grieve family members left behind in a refugee camp, clinging to hopes of a reunion that may not happen in this lifetime.

In my head, I construct sentences that begin with “at least.”

At least they aren’t here on humanitarian parole status — a category of immigrants more endangered than refugees.

At least they have a place to stay, a small rental house in a hollowed-out part of Kansas City. A recent New York Times story reported on newly arrived refugees in St. Louis languishing in motels on highway interchanges because the resettlement agency there was unable to pay apartment leases.

At least members of my family have friends. Immigrants from their home country have sought them out and embraced them.

The situation could always be worse. But it is bad enough.

Refugee resettlement is a way of participating in the global good. Therefore, it is not a priority in Trump’s “America First” agenda.

The immigrants whom I witnessed as they became naturalized citizens last month represented 36 nations, including some of the most troubled, like Haiti, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

They had cleared a high bar to get to the ceremony. All of them passed a civics test that most Americans would find daunting. They were deemed to be of “good moral character,” a standard that we don’t necessarily demand from our nation’s leaders.

Congratulations to the new Americans. May we always find a path for them.

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Or, may we rediscover the greatness that provided a path for them and have the courage to admit the disgrace we have allowed our President to bring to the Promise of America.

Spineless

So they don’t want people such as you and me to tell them face to face what their apparent saint in the White House is doing to the country with no apparent regard for who among us is hurt by his actions.

A few days ago, Congressman Richard Hudson of North Carolina suggested his fellow Republicans avoid holding in-person town hall meetings after some constituents unloaded on some of his colleagues when they did hold one.  One video showed one of those who represents folks like us fleeing from the stage because he couldn’t stand the heat.

Hudson is the Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. He charged, without offering any proof that we have heard, that the town halls are being hijacked by Democratic activists, which seems to imply that there are no Republicans who have been moved to activism because all Republicans think the big guy is doing such wonderful things .

Funny, isn’t it?—that whenever people take to streets with pitchforks that it’s never the local folks who are causing the ruckus. It’s those lousy activists from the other party or other side of an issue who have driven for several hours just to be nasty to those poor elected representatives.

Some of those encouraging our representatives not to talk to us say those troublesome outside agitators are being paid!  How interesting that the Congresspeople seem to think nobody from their districts wants to put in their two cents worth about the events in Washington and wants a chance to be heard without buying anything, or anybody. It’s those well-paid troublemakers from somewhere else. Surely, the home folks wouldn’t be that worked up.

So they flee, shouting “outside agitators” over their shoulders.

There are two words that are not spoken as frequently as they should be to our political leaders at all levels who make such claims: “Prove it.”

Here in Jefferson City, it’s not much of a problem.  I can’t remember the last time our Congressman even showed a face around here, let alone had the mistaken impression that constituents might not be thankful for the voting record of their representative and what is being done to them. The one time I dropped by our most recent Congressman’s office, I found the door locked and when someone opened it, the attitude seemed to be “Who do you think you are?”

But elsewhere? Activists from the minority party are coming out of the woodwork and they’re not all outside or paid. But if even one insider in the district is asking questions, the Representative for that person should feel obligated to answer. Refusing to do so makes the Representative who lacks the courage to question anything his exalted leader is saying or doing uncomfortable. And what about the good unpaid people of the majority party? Would they never think to complain?

Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee claimed, “It’s pretty clear that they’ve got professional instigators, people that are showing up that are not even constituents,. And it’s getting dangerous. They’re going to people’s houses, they’re putting notices out, where do they live, where do they go to church, where do they eat — they did that on me. That kind of activity … breeds a very dangerous situation for families.”

Nobody in the White House is creating “a very dangerous situation for families”?

Speaking truth to power isn’t welcomed. The big guy in the White House won’t tolerate it from members of Congress or even from world leaders and lately has been denouncing some of his media interrogators as beneath his disrespect.  Members of Congress are upset when their constituents do have the courage to comment, and the constituents aren’t nice about it. They are upset at an obligation they should feel to hear what their people think even if it’s direct.

The big problem is that Republican members of Congress can’t dodge the issues. Or maybe we should say they can’t DOGE the issues.

Get a spine, Congressfolk.  Look at what the impact on the folks back home caused by a little man with a messianic complex. Come home and tell your farmers their markets are going to suffer because of tariffs, that the concerns about the social safety net are not valid, that the dismantling of the weather bureau and the disaster relief agencies  and the air traffic control system—and the price of Mexican beer should not be of concern.

We recall from our history-readings that when Andrew Jackson felt he had been wronged by future Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton and when Jackson was threatening to shoot Benton in a Tennessee hotel confrontation, he sounded at Benton, “Defend yourself, you damned rascal!”

It’s time for the damned rascals who are scared of the man in the White House (whose idol happens to be Andrew Jackson) who places loyalty above service; retribution above public responsibility; and lies above truth to explain themselves to the people who trusted them enough to put them in their offices.

Those who lack the courage to explain to their people why they lack the courage to oppose policies hurtful to the public interest don’t deserve more time to display their spinelessness.

Well—

They can run but they can’t hide.  And when they run again, the voting activists that they did not wish to face where they live might have a more important message than the “outside agitators” they didn’t want to address had.

All They Did—-

It will take a while, maybe several years, before some high school students living in an unincorporated area of 140 people of central Missouri fully appreciate what they have done.

They have won the State High School 2A basketball championship. But it’s more than just a trophy for the town of Eugene.

The exhilaration that comes from championships is a temporary thing. It might linger for several hours or for a few days before life takes over.

But legacies are eternal. And they have created a legacy.

All these students did was to give their little community where the number of students in the Cole R-V School District outnumbers the population of the community by more than four to one, the first state championship in community history—in any category.

The best at something in the entire state of Missouri, population 6.2-million.

It was not exactly a “Hoosiers” moment because they did not beat the dominant big-city team for the title, but to Eugene, Missouri, it IS a “Hoosiers” moment because it is the first time the school has won a state title in anything.

For the rest of their lives they will bound together by this historic event, For the rest of their lives they will be remembered as members of the first team in school history that—-

The chance to be a state champion comes rarely. Even if there are more trophies in the future, theirs will be the historic one, the one that says for the first time, Eugene was the best of its kind in the whole state.

They shall grow old, but they will always be young when others look at their trophy decades from now. They’ll be the ones every team to come wants to be like.

All they did was to give a120-year old community —that has never thought itself big enough to incorporate as a real town —the chance to proclaim itself the best of its kind in Missouri.

And these children shall become legends.

 

Patrick and Volodymyr

A country facing tyrannical control.  Enemy forces are at the gate. Should an effort be made for a cease fire or even full peace?  How great a price will be paid either way?

The other day I picked up a book containing a speech that might have been given 250 years ago. The style of public speaking has changed a lot in that time. But the situation and he sentiments of he remarks are appropriate for our time.

…The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained — we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable — and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

We don’t really know how accurate the account of this great American speech is. There was no transcript taken at the time in the Virginia House of Burgesses. .Author Willam Wirt reconstructed it in his 1817 biography of Patrick Henry, leading some historians to question its authenticity.

Whether these words were fully spoken 250 years ago, on March 23, 1775 or whether they were partially made up or completely made up by Wirt 208 years ago, the situation and the sentiment have a certain resonance as the President of Ukraine deals with Russia’s war on his country and the demands by Ukraine’s (former?) ally that it turn over a major part of its economy to the United States and a significant part of its territory to Russia.

We doubt that our president ever read the speech or, if he did, that he ever understood its importance to our nation’s attitude about ourselves or others who share our democratic vision.

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?”

What should be OUR answer in today’s world? We already know his answer. Chains and slavery.

Nick Stays; Robin Goes; Mizzou Men Choke down the Stretch; Three Missouri Teams in D2 Tournament  

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(BOLTON—Fears that Nick Bolton would bolt from the Kansas City Chiefs have been laid to rest with a three-year, $345-million deal. In just three years after leaving the University of Missouri, Bolton has become one of the premier line backers in the NFL.

The Chiefs have lost wide receiver Justin Watson to the Houston Texans. Watson’s main value has been as a fill-in when other receivers have gone out with injuries. He might not be the last receiver who becomes expandable. Juju Smith-Schuster, DeAndre Hopkins, and Mecole Hardman are headed toward free agency.

Kansas City is losing Joe Thuney, a mainstay on their offensive line and a guy who moved from guard to tackle to try to provide protection to Patrick Mahomes that had been missing most of the season.  Thuney’s going to the Chicago Bears and is taking his $16 million salary with him, freeing up some cap space financially to let the Chiefs restructure some pieces. Andy Reid says Thuney is one of his favorite guys but he’s a victim of the salary cap, which Reid calls “a nightmare.” The Chiefs hope Mike Caliendo or Kingsley Suamataia will fill the left guard spot next year.

Some of that help might come from two now-ex 49ers, Left tackle Jaylon Moore and running back Elijah Mitchell, whose star has been eclipsed by Christian McCaffery,

The Chiefs got a scare in the last few days with the arrest of star rookie receiver Xavier Worthy on a felony assault charge in Texas. But the prosecutor has refused to press charges after Worthy’s lawyers argued the woman involved was an ex-girlfriend who refused to leave Worthy’s apartment after the pair had broken up, and had filed the complaint after Worthy refused her extortionist demands.

The prosecutor says the case is still open, though.

(MIZZMEN)—Legendary Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summit once said, “Offense sells tickets, defense wins games, and rebounding wins championships.” The Missouri Tigers sold a lot of tickets but the rest—–

The Tiger basketball team has forgotten how to play defense and in the process has thrown away (another problem) a higher national ranking and a more favorable seeding in the NCAA tournament.

Missouri has allowed opponents to top 90 points in five of their last six regular-eason games. The Tigers go into the post-season on a three-game losing streak, have gone 2-4 to close out the season, and have dropped from fourth in the conference standings to seventh.

Missouri is clinging to the top 25 polls—22nd in the coaches poll and 21st in the AP sportswriters poll. They are a seventh seed in the SEC tournament and play Thursday night against the winner of the Mississippi State-LSU game.

Three Tiger have won some recognition from the conference.  Caleb Grill is the 6th-man of the year. Antony Robinson III has been named to the all-defensive team. And Mark Mitchel is on the Third All-Conference team.

(LADY TIGERS)—Mississippi State scored 31 unanswered points on the way to ending the season for MU’s women’s basketball team. The final margin was twenty—75-55. Missouri missed 18 consecutive shots during that string. They also finishd with 30 turnovers for the game, hardly a distinguished going-away performance for coach Robin Pingeton, who has coached her last game at Missouri after fifteen years.

Her 250 wins are the second most for any women’s coach at MU.

Here’s something that’s been overlooked in the reporting about her coaching career—

She was a fine player.  Her record of 2,502 career points at Saint Ambrose University remains a school record after 35 years. She was an All-American in basketball AND softball and played three seasons in the old Women’s Basketball Association.

A search for a new coach will kick into high gear after post-season tournaments wrap up.

(LADY BEARS)—The Missouri State Lady Bears are wrapping up the school’s last year in the Missouri Valley Conference by being co-champions of the regular season. They’re the number two seed in the conference tournament this week. The winner of the tournament gets the conference’s automatic slot in the NCAA tournament. They went 24-7 in the regular season, 16-4 in the conference regular season.

(LINCOLN)—Lincoln University in Jefferson City is headed to the NCAA Division II tournament for the first time in 44 years.  The Blue Tigers put defensive clamps on Missouri-St. Louis 58-51, holding UMSL to just 18 field goals.to win the Great Lakes Valley Conference crown.  Lincoln (23-8) will play Lake Superior Sate University from Michigan in the first round of the Midwest Regional.

Other Missouri teams will play a few more games. UMSL will face Ferris State in the D-2 tournament’s first round.  Missouri S&T has the top seed in that tournament.

(THE BASEBALL)—A couple of former Cardinals greats are taking headlines away from this year’s players.

(ALBERT)—Albert Pujols has shown he can manage, and how. His first two jobs as a manager have been eye-opening. He won the Dominican Winder League Championship with the Leones del Escongido and then managed the Dominican Republic national team to the Caribbean Series Championship. He’ll manage the Dominican Republic national team in next year’s World Baseball Classic.  But he has his eyes on a Major League manager’s job.

He’s one of two Cardinals greats considered as possible replacement for Oliver Marmol. The other is Yadier Molina.

(MOLINA)—Yadier Molina wants to manage in the big leagues but for now, his focus is on his family.  He has told The Athletic’s Kaatie Woo, “I’ve been away from my family for many years. I decided to take a break and put them as my priority right now.”

He’s been a “special assistant for the Cardinals for a couple of years but hasn’t been active. But for now, he wants to focus on family life, including watching his 16-year old son play catcher on the high school team in Texas, where the Molina family lives.

In 2023, Yadi managed the Puerto Rican national tam in the World Baseball Classic and is considered the likely manager for the team next year. He also has managed in the winter league short season after the regular season for MLB.

He has given a little jolt to Cardinals fans, though, telling Woo he so badly wants to manage that he would take an offer from the Cubs if one is made. But he’s not in any hurry to by in a major league dugout.

(OUR TEAMS)—The Cardinals are 8-9 through the weekend, 2 ½ games behind Toronto in the Grapefruit League. The Royals are 10-7. The Giants lead he Cactus League at 11-7.

(A few brief notes about those who go in circles or run on squiggly tracks, too)

(NASCAR)—Christopher Bell has won his third straight NASCAR Cup race, holding off Denny Hamlin in a two-lap overtime shootout at Phoenix in the second-closest finish in track history  0.045 second.  Bell had the race under control until a crash brought out the yellow and required a restart.

Bell and Hamlin both drive for Joe Gibbs Racing, giving the team its first 1-2 finish of the year.

Kyle Larson finished third, right on Hamlin’s rear bumper with Josh Berry and Chris Buescher rounding out the top five.

Far back in the field was Katherine Legge (LEG), who was 30th and spun twice as she became he first woman to start a Cup race since Danica Patrick ran the Daytona 500 seven years ago. Legge, who has made several Indianapolis 500 starts and who has won sports car races, is only the eighth woman to compete in NASCAR’s top series in the last 43 years considered the modern era.

The next race is at Las Vegas where Bell hopes to equal Bill Elliott’s 1992 record as the only driver to win four of the first five races of a season.

(INDYCAR)—INDYCAR returns to the rack next weekend at the Thermal Club road course in Thermal, California.

(FORMULA 1)—The F1 season opens next Saturday with the Grand Prix of Ausralia.