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A founding father signed the Declaration of Independence, watched the British seize his home for SEVEN years, lost his wife while living as a refugee, and then at age 69 walked away from it all to start over on the frontier. Meet William Floyd. Buckle up. He never asked for any of this. His father died when he was a teenager, so Floyd dropped whatever education he might have had and took over the family farm on Long Island. He became wealthy, comfortable, established. His family had worked that same land for generations. Then he was sent to the Continental Congress, and in July 1776 he became the first man of the New York delegation to sign the Declaration of Independence. The punishment was almost immediate. Weeks later the British crushed the American army at the Battle of Long Island and took his entire estate. Then they did something extra: they turned his home into a barracks for their cavalry and occupied it for SEVEN straight years. His family fled across the water to Connecticut with essentially nothing. For those seven years a wealthy landowner and his children lived as refugees, surviving on the charity of relatives and friends, while enemy soldiers ate his food and slept in his beds. It got worse. In 1781, before the war was even won, his wife Hannah died in exile. She never saw home again. When Floyd finally returned in 1783, the estate was wrecked. The home his family had held for generations was a ruin left behind by foreign cavalry. Most men would have spent the rest of their lives quietly rebuilding what they lost. Floyd rebuilt it, remarried, served in the very first United States Congress, and then did the most surprising thing of all. At nearly 70 years old, an age when most Founders were writing memoirs and posing for portraits, Floyd sold his comfortable life, packed up, and moved to raw frontier land near the headwaters of the Mohawk River in central New York. He cleared wilderness and built a new homestead from scratch. He lived there until he died in 1821 at 87, a Founding Father who ended his life not in a mansion full of relics, but on the edge of the map, still building. Some men signed the Declaration and lost everything. William Floyd lost everything, got it back, and then chose to start over anyway.

I'm a cardiologist. I've held dying hearts in my hands in the cath lab at 3 AM. And I need to tell you something that changes everything about how we prevent heart attacks. For decades, the entire field was built on one target: lower LDL cholesterol. Statins save lives — that's settled science. But too many of my patients did everything right — took their statins, hit their numbers, lived clean — and still ended up on my table with a ruptured artery. We were treating the smoke while the fire kept burning. The fire is inflammation. And the evidence is now overwhelming. The CANTOS trial proved it first — lowering inflammation independent of cholesterol reduced cardiac events. But the newer data is what keeps me up at night. AI-enhanced CT angiography can now detect inflamed arteries by measuring changes in the fat surrounding your coronary vessels — the perivascular fat attenuation index. Higher inflammation in the fat around even one artery independently predicts cardiac death. When multiple arteries show inflammation, the risk multiplies dramatically — even in patients whose cholesterol looks perfect. This isn't theoretical. This is measurable. Right now. On a scan you can get this month. Low-dose colchicine — a drug that's been around for centuries for gout — is now FDA-approved specifically for reducing cardiovascular events. It works by quieting the inflammatory cascade that destabilizes the plaque sitting in your arteries. A pill that costs pennies is saving lives the statins couldn't reach. And the next wave is already in Phase 3 trials. Ziltivekimab — an IL-6 inhibitor — targets the central inflammatory pathway driving atherosclerosis. Phase 2 data showed a 90% reduction in hsCRP. The ZEUS cardiovascular outcomes trial is enrolling now, with results expected late 2026 into 2027. If positive, anti-inflammatory therapy will become standard in managing heart disease alongside lipid-lowering. The era of inflammation-targeted cardiology is arriving. But it goes deeper than drugs. AI is now predicting heart failure and cardiac events 5+ years before symptoms — integrating CT imaging, electronic health records, and genetic data with accuracy that jumps far beyond traditional risk calculators. And polygenic risk scores — a simple genetic test that flags inherited cardiovascular risk — are now formally recognized as a risk-enhancing factor in the 2026 ACC/AHA guidelines. A single blood draw can reveal risk that's been silently building since birth. Decades before the first chest pain. Here's what this means for you right now — today: Ask your doctor for a high-sensitivity CRP test. It's cheap, routine, and measures the systemic inflammation that standard cholesterol panels completely miss. You can have perfect LDL and inflamed arteries that are quietly preparing to rupture. If your hsCRP is elevated, discuss low-dose colchicine with your physician. It's FDA-approved for exactly this. Push for a coronary CT angiography with AI plaque and inflammation analysis if you have risk factors. This isn't the stress test your parents got. This is 3D visualization of your actual arteries — with AI quantifying not just how much plaque you have, but what kind it is and whether the surrounding tissue is inflamed. Consider polygenic risk score testing — especially with a family history of early heart disease. It's now guideline-supported. And the foundation that never changes: move daily, eat real food, sleep 7-9 hours, manage stress, and know your numbers — ApoB, Lp(a), hsCRP, fasting insulin. I left Iran as a child with nothing. I rebuilt everything in a country that gave me the freedom to become a physician. I've spent twenty years watching patients get second chances. The ones who haunt me aren't the ones who died on my table. They're the ones who survived but never acted on what the science was telling them — years before the event that didn't have to happen. You can have perfect cholesterol and still have a heart attack. Inflammation plus genetics can drive plaque rupture in arteries that look "fine" on a standard panel. The myth that normal cholesterol means you're safe has cost more lives than I can count. We now have the tools to detect the fire — not just the smoke. AI to see it. Genetics to predict it. Drugs to quiet it. And the ancient basics — movement, real food, sleep, purpose — to prevent it from starting. Prevention is the new cure. And the science to make it real is no longer coming. It's here.

Heartbreaking news from Mozambique. Catholic Bishop Osório Citora Afonso has been killed at his residence. We pray for the repose of his soul, and also pray for the many Christians around the world who continue to face persecution,violence & even death. osvnews.com/bishop-of-quel…

I feel a little like Forrest Gump... but I was also on the flight in Bosnia when Hillary Clinton claimed we "landed under sniper fire." We didn't. She didn't. The reporting I did on this for CBS Evening News led the broadcast two nights in a row.

@AlmaGems Where are these made?

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Four flights. 715 hours in space. Two trips to the Moon — and never once a footstep on its surface. Jim Lovell was one of the most experienced astronauts of his generation. He orbited the Moon aboard Apollo 8 in 1968, helping deliver a Christmas Eve broadcast that reached millions around the world. Later, as commander of Apollo 13, he led his crew through one of the most dangerous crises in spaceflight history and brought them safely home. He passed away on August 7, 2025, at the age of 97. Lovell never lived to see Artemis II launch. He wasn't there for the countdown, the liftoff, or the mission that would carry astronauts farther from Earth than any humans had traveled before. But before his death, he left behind something special. Months earlier, Lovell recorded a message for the Artemis II crew — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. NASA kept the recording private until the right moment. That moment came on April 6, 2026. As the crew floated aboard Orion on Flight Day 6, just hours before setting a new distance record from Earth, a familiar voice filled the spacecraft. "Hello, Artemis II. This is Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. Welcome to my old neighborhood." He spoke about Apollo 8, about seeing Earth rise above the lunar horizon, and about the wonder of looking back at a small, fragile planet from deep space. He told the crew he was proud to pass the torch and reminded them to enjoy the view. Then came his final words. "Good luck and Godspeed from all of us here on the good Earth." For a moment, the crew sat quietly. One astronaut finally broke the silence. "What an awesome message from Jim Lovell." Soon after, they pulled out a silk Apollo 8 mission patch that had traveled from Earth with them — a piece of Lovell's own mission history, sent by his son before launch. Later that day, Artemis II surpassed Lovell's distance record. The man who set it had already congratulated them. He just wasn't there to watch. Some records are broken. Some legacies keep traveling long after their owners are gone.

Last night I debated Adrian Fontes at the Yavapai County Farm Bureau Candidate Forum out at Mortimer Farms. The contrast couldn’t have been clearer for the farmers, ranchers, and rural families who packed the place. Arizona needs a Secretary of State who actually follows the law, secures our elections, and protects every legal vote — especially in rural counties where folks already have to drive farther and wait longer just to have their voice heard. Fontes brought the same tired excuses and disdain for the law we’ve seen from him for years. Rural Arizona deserves better than a guy who treats the rule of law like it’s optional. Arizona’s ag community gets it — secure elections aren’t a partisan game, they’re the foundation of our Republic. Huge thanks to the Farm Bureau for hosting a real forum where real issues got aired. I’m proud to stand with rural Arizona. I’m Alex Kolodin and I’m asking for your support to be the next Arizona Secretary of State. Let’s fire the lawbreaker and restore trust this November. 🇺🇸

He was born in Mexico City. He crossed the border without papers. And the day his green card arrived in the mail — he walked straight to a Marine Corps recruiting office and enlisted. That was Rafael Peralta. That was who he was from the very beginning. On November 15, 2004, 25-year-old Sergeant Rafael Peralta was leading his unit through house-to-house combat during the Second Battle of Fallujah — one of the bloodiest urban battles of the entire Iraq War. When he opened a door, insurgents opened fire. He was shot multiple times in the head and fell to the ground. Then a grenade landed inches from his face. Seven Marines who were present all say the same thing: despite his critical wounds, Peralta reached out, pulled the grenade beneath his body, and absorbed the full force of the blast. He died. They lived. The Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy both recommended him for the Medal of Honor — the nation's highest military decoration. Three different Secretaries of Defense denied it, claiming there was not sufficient proof that he had acted with conscious intent. Yet his own Navy Cross citation states clearly that he pulled the grenade to himself "without hesitation and with complete disregard for his own personal safety." His mother, Rosa Peralta, refused to accept the Navy Cross for seven years. She believed her son deserved more. She still does. In 2017, the U.S. Navy commissioned the USS Rafael Peralta — an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer — carrying his name across every ocean on earth. And now, in May 2026 — more than 21 years after his death — lawmakers in Congress have introduced legislation (H.R. 8973) and the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act includes a provision authorizing the President to award Sgt. Rafael Peralta the Medal of Honor posthumously. The Pentagon has also made a favorable determination supporting the award. The fight, at last, may finally be reaching its end. A man who was not yet a citizen fought and died for this country. He became a citizen while in uniform. And for over two decades, Washington debated whether his final act was heroic enough. We don't debate it. We know what he did. Did you know? Rafael Peralta had voluntarily requested to join his unit on that mission — it was not even his assigned assignment that day. He chose to be there. Say his name. Share his story. Make sure the world remembers Sergeant Rafael Peralta.

Useful Idiot Kristen Welker's PATHETIC defense of California election fraud DEBUNKED Larry O'Connor takes Welker to task for the rigged system she's dismissing. "The real scandal coming out of California right now is quite possibly every single thing we are seeing transpire before our very eyes is 100% legal." O'Connor explains that anyone with a functional brain can see what's happening in California and know that the election is being stolen. "You can steal something and not break the law. And that's what's happening here. They are stealing it without actually breaking the law." As a former Californian resident, O'Connor breaks down the entire process. "This is the election system in California as we speak. Anybody who is a registered voter gets a ballot mailed to them, and you register to vote because you walk into a DMV, and you automatically get registered no matter what. And as you know, California leads the nation in giving driver's licenses and registrations to illegal immigrants, people who are in the country illegally, and they're getting driver's ed. They're getting commercial driver's license in California right now. And when you go through the process, they register you to vote. And there is no check for citizenship. There's no check for ID, there's no check for anything. And they'll register to vote. And you're on the voter rolls." O'Connor even stated he hasn't lived in Los Angeles County since 2012, and he's STILL being notified by email that his ballot has been mailed to him. "I don't know who's got it. Whatever address I used to live in has has the Lawrence O'Connor ballot, and I'd love to know if I voted. I probably have without anyone knowing it." And then comes the issue of ballot harvesting... "In California, individuals can go and collect ballots from anyone. They can go and knock on the doors and say, 'Hey, give me your ballot. I'll take care of it for you' legally. And those people who knock on your door and collect your ballot, they call it 'ballot harvesting,' they can work for political entities. They can work for political action committees." "They can go and they can pick and choose what ballots they want to collect. And they bring them in or they don't. And every mail in ballot, there is no ID required for every single mail in or drop box ballot. All you've got to do is sign the ballot. But of course, it would be discriminatory to allow somebody who is illiterate and can't write their name to not vote." "So when you sign your ballot, you can just make a mark. You can make a smiley face if you want, but it's witnessed. Don't worry. There's a little box for a witness to sign. But of course, there's no name associated with a witness. It's just a signature. And oh, by the way, when those ballots are collected, the witness signature isn't checked." "They just check that there is a signature for a witness. So, of course, there's nothing keeping people from making a little mark on the signature for the voter. And then that same person squiggling the witness box, putting it in an envelope and then having those votes come in. Oh, what else are they doing in California? Well, they allow ballots that come in as late as a week after Election Day to be counted. That doesn't seem right. Oh. It's okay. The ballot had to be mailed or put into a Dropbox or delivered by Election Day. But of course, if it's not postmarked, they'll overlook that. If there's no postmark at all on the envelope, they'll just look at whatever date you put on it and they'll trust you, and then they'll count the ballots." "Every single thing I just described for you is accurate and legal. They're not breaking the law. They're following the laws that they have written so that they can get away with this garbage and everyone knows it." @LarryOConnor

@NoDMsPerfavore Air freshener

What's the tunnel for? 😂

In strictly theological terms, Catholics do not consider Mormons (Latter-day Saints) as Christians for these reasons: Rejection of the Trinity: Catholicism affirms one God in three co-equal, co-eternal Persons (Nicene Creed). Mormonism teaches three separate gods (God the Father, Jesus, and Holy Ghost) united in purpose, not in substance (tritheism). Different understanding of God: Catholics hold God as an eternal, immaterial Spirit who has always been God. Mormonism teaches God the Father has a physical body, was once a mortal man who progressed to godhood, and that humans can become gods. Additional scriptures and revelation: Catholicism holds that public revelation ended with the apostles; Scripture and Sacred Tradition are sufficient. Mormonism adds the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price as equal or superior scripture, plus ongoing prophetic revelation. Fundamentally different Christology: Catholic teaching is that Jesus is the eternal, uncreated second Person of the Trinity. Mormonism views Jesus as the literal spirit-brother of all humans, a created being who became divine (similar to other gods in their cosmology). Apostolic succession and authority: The Catholic Church traces its priesthood directly to the apostles through unbroken succession. Mormonism claims the original Church fell into total apostasy, requiring Joseph Smith’s restoration with new authority. These are only a few of the differences which places Mormonism outside historic, orthodox Christianity as defined by the early Church councils. Bottom line: LDS theology is a radical departure from the fundamental tenets of what one holds as a Christian.

@TinaBrogi We used to be reliably red, not sure if our current way of counting votes has anything to do with the change.

Turning Arizona red one voter at a time! 🇺🇸

@ledwith_michael And Blazing Saddles

Probably my favorite character actor: Ben Johnson. I hired him once to provide the voice over for a television commercial I did about horse racing. Ben Johnson 1953: “At the end of the year, I didn’t have $3, All I had was a wore-out automobile and a mad wife.” So, the 6-foot-2 Johnson returned to the movies, where he had worked as a stunt double for Gary Cooper, Joel McCrea, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. He was working as a 21-year-old Oklahoma ranch hand when his big break occurred. Johnson delivered 16 horses to a movie set – earning the unheard of sum of $300 – and was hired by producer Howard Hughes as a stuntman and wrangler. He also met his wife, Carol, on that trip to Flagstaff, Ariz. His next big break came in 1947, when he was working as a stunt double for Henry Fonda in “Fort Apache” and saved three stuntmen’s lives when he courageously stopped a runaway wagon in a scene-gone-wrong. Director John Ford rewarded him with a seven-year contract at $5,000 a week. Some of Johnson’s top movies include “The Wild Bunch,” “Shane,” “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,” “Rio Grande", "One-Eyed Jacks".

An excerpt from D-Day Easy Company CO, Lt. Thomas Meehan, to his wife before his jump into Normandy: “I'm going to take the best company of men in the world into France. We'll give the bastards hell. Strangely, I'm not particularly scared. But in my heart is a terrific longing to hold you in my arms. I love you Sweetheart – forever. Your Tom.” Thomas Meehan KIA on DDay 82 years ago.🪦

I was officially on 2 combat missions with the USAF. On one sortie, the guys fired cruise missiles and we took ground fire. They—the airmen—were “in combat.” I was not. I was a reporter embedded to report on what they were doing. It’s not the same thing. In my opinion.

Has there ever been a more appropriate situation for this meme?

@KatiePavlichNN Thanks for having him on! I ran across his story right here on X, pushed it up the chain to Sec Rollins, and she has taken action. American farmers and ranchers must be protected.

Carol Burnett was 68 when her daughter Carrie Hamilton died on January 20, 2002, at 38. The woman who had made millions laugh was suddenly a mother who could barely face morning. Her grief did not arrive from nowhere. Carol had already survived alcoholism, money trouble, broken dreams, and family love that was real but never easy. She was born in San Antonio on April 26, 1933, to Joseph Thomas Burnett, a movie theater manager, and Ina Louise Creighton, a publicity writer. After her parents separated, Carol was mostly raised by her grandmother Mae in a small Hollywood apartment. The apartment was tiny, but the weight inside it was huge. Her father drank. Her mother later drank too. Carol remembered the poverty plainly. “It meant that we were poor. Every week somebody would show up and give us a chicken to fry, and hand-me-down clothes for me to wear.” Carol and Mae lived down the hall from her mother, close enough for music and close enough for arguments. When adults fought over money and liquor, Carol drew a perfect family. It was a child’s quiet way of surviving a home where love existed, but safety did not. Then death came early. Her father died in 1954, at 47. Her mother died a few years later, at 46. Both deaths were tied to alcoholism. Carol was still trying to build a career, and she became responsible for her teenage half sister Chrissie. Somehow, that girl from a one-room apartment made it to Broadway in “Once Upon a Mattress” (1959). Later, “The Carol Burnett Show” (1967) turned her into a household name. Viewers saw the ear tug, the Tarzan yell, and the laughter. Not every scar beneath it. Carol married producer Joe Hamilton in 1963, and they had three daughters, Carrie, Jody, and Erin. Carrie was the oldest, creative and bright, but her teenage years brought addiction into Carol’s home. Carol remembered those years without softening the pain. “I'm happy to say she got off drugs, but during those three years it was hell. At one point I had to throw her into a rehab place before she was 18 and she hated me. She totally hated what I was doing to her.” That was not a television kind of motherhood. That was love doing the painful thing first, then waiting years to be understood. Carrie recovered. She became an actress, writer, singer, and playwright. Mother and daughter grew close enough to work together on “Hollywood Arms” (2002), a play shaped from Carol’s childhood pain. Then Carrie was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2001. It spread to her brain. Cancer-related pneumonia took her life five months later. Carol had buried parents. Now she had to bury a daughter. She did not pretend grief was graceful. “Carrie passed away and I... Well, I'm her mom, and I didn't want to get out of bed. And my husband said, 'Carol, you owe this not only to Carrie but you owe it to Hal to finish.' ” So Carol went to Chicago for the play Carrie would never see. In her hotel room, birds-of-paradise flowers were waiting, the same flower Carrie had tattooed on her shoulder. Later came champagne labeled “Louise,” Carrie’s middle name and Carol’s mother’s name. On opening night, it rained, and Carol felt her daughter near. What stayed with her most was Carrie’s fierce way of living. “The legacy is really the lives we touch, the inspiration we give, altering someone’s plan, if even for a moment, and getting them to think, rage or cry, laugh, argue, walk around the block dazed.” Carol never got over Carrie. She learned to breathe around the empty space. Some hearts keep laughing because stopping would hurt too much.

This is one of the most impactful speeches delivered by the Pope. He just received a 7-minute standing ovation for affirming the dignity of human life, from the moment of conception to natural death, in front of the Spanish Parliament "The defense of human life is neither a partisan issue nor a confessional interest: it is a goal of civilization." "Can a community that casts into the shadows the unborn child, the elderly, the sick, those who suffer in silence, or those who depend entirely on the care of others be called fully just?" Watch.