Armstrong Williams 🇺🇸

Charlie Kirk closed his eyes to this earth for the last time… and opened them to eternity for the first. A powerful video where he shares his journey of faith. His life was short, but a life well-lived. Rest in peace, brother. Your wisdom will echo through the lives you’ve touched, and your influence will remain forever irreplaceable.

Tom Homan made it clear: ICE is preparing a major surge in New York City despite Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s opposition to federal immigration enforcement. Mamdani says he supports New York’s sanctuary policies and won’t assist with deportations. Homan’s response: if you disagree with federal immigration law, take it to Congress not City Hall. Homan also noted that President Trump campaigned on securing the border and enforcing immigration law, and said the administration intends to fulfill that promise regardless of local political opposition. AW

The Fog of War and the Danger of Ego President Trump says Iran “didn’t obey what they were supposed to obey.” That word obey should give every American pause. Nations negotiate, deter, compromise, and sometimes deceive. They do not simply “obey” another president. The greatest danger in war is not only the battlefield it is when a leader’s ego becomes inseparable from national policy. After U.S. strikes, Iran declared itself no longer bound by the agreement, launched missiles and drones, and placed American forces and regional allies at greater risk. Every retaliation now fuels the next. Strength is essential. But strength without humility can become recklessness. History reminds us that fear is not the same as respect, and dominance is not the same as lasting peace. War must never become a contest of personalities. The fog of war is thickest when ego clouds judgment. America needs strength guided by wisdom, power restrained by humility, and leaders focused not on who will obey but on preventing what comes next. AW

Mark your calendars. 📍 Location: Plaza in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. 📅 Dates: July 28 – August 23 The National Military Monument will feature towering digital displays that continuously scroll through the names of more than 41 million Americans who have answered the call to military service throughout our nation’s history. AW

@Arightside Those who worked in service for our benefit were the very reason I am here today. Each sacrifice and everyone! To preserve our Freedoms and Liberty! Thank you, Dear Sir, For sharing this information! My cup runneth over!

A massive digital board is being built beside the Lincoln Memorial for an undertaking unlike anything America has ever attempted. For one month, it will display the name of every American who has died in service to our nation since the Civil War. One name after another. Hour after hour. Day after day. There will be no speeches powerful enough to match what that screen will say in silence. Every name represents a life given, a family forever changed, and a debt the rest of us can never fully repay. Freedom has always carried a price. For one unforgettable month, America will watch that price pass before its eyes…one name at a time. 🇺🇸 AW

ANNOUNCEMENT: A Once-in-a-Generation Tribute on the National Mall Many of you have been asking when this remarkable tribute will open so you can bring your families to experience it firsthand. Mark your calendars. 📍 Location: Plaza in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. 📅 Dates: July 28 – August 23 Since 2018, USAA’s Poppy Wall of Honor has become one of our nation’s most moving tributes to military sacrifice. Stretching more than 130 feet, the transparent wall is filled with more than 645,000 handcrafted poppies, each representing an American service member who gave his or her life in service to our nation since World War I. This summer, in recognition of America’s 250th anniversary, USAA is presenting an even more extraordinary tribute. The National Military Monument will feature towering digital displays that continuously scroll through the names of more than 41 million Americans who have answered the call to military service throughout our nation’s history. Standing before it, visitors will witness an almost unimaginable procession of names. One after another, they remind us that history is not measured only by battles won or wars remembered, but by individual lives devoted to something greater than themselves. Every name belonged to someone. AW

Every name matters. For 30 Days, a massive digital display at the Lincoln Memorial, created by USAA, will honor every American who has died in service to our nation since the Civil War. Millions of names. Millions of stories. Millions of families forever changed. History is not measured only by battles won or lost. It is measured by the lives given in defense of freedom. May every passing name remind us that liberty has never been free and that remembrance is one of the greatest acts of gratitude a nation can offer. 🇺🇸 AW

From the World War II Memorial this morning, the smoke from the Canadian wildfires has finally lifted, but helicopters still circle overhead. To many, it’s just another sound in Washington. To me, it’s the sound of vigilance a reminder that while most of us enjoy the blessings of freedom, someone is always standing watch. Today, I honor every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, Guardian, Coast Guardsman, reservist, intelligence professional, military family, and Gold Star family. Freedom endures because ordinary Americans continue to accept extraordinary responsibilities. May God bless those serving far from home, and may God bless the United States of America. AW

The Hardest Truth in War Every war begins with the promise that it will end soon. History says otherwise. As American soldiers die in the conflict with Iran, the nation must face the reality that war develops its own momentum. Each strike invites retaliation. Each casualty hardens public anger. Each tactical victory can widen the conflict without bringing peace any closer. America must defend its forces, allies, and interests. But military strength alone cannot produce a lasting political solution. Bombs can destroy missile sites. They cannot erase generations of hostility or guarantee stability. The central question is simple: What is the achievable end state? Our soldiers deserve a mission with clear objectives, honest risks, and a defined path toward conclusion. They should never be asked to sacrifice their lives for an open-ended strategy driven by retaliation rather than purpose. The wise strategy requires two tracks at once: overwhelming readiness to protect American forces and relentless diplomacy to create a credible path out of war. This is not weakness. It is statesmanship. The greatest military power is not the nation that can fight forever. It is the nation wise enough to know when force has achieved its purpose and diplomacy must take its place. The families of our fallen deserve more than patriotic speeches. They deserve clarity, accountability, and leaders determined to prevent more empty chairs at American dinner tables. The greatest victory is not winning the next battle. It is ending the war before another generation is asked to fight it. AW

The more God blesses me with wisdom gained through life’s experiences, the less I believe life is about controlling outcomes and the more I believe it is about preparing our character for whatever comes next. The years have taught me that certainty is an illusion. We make plans, set goals, and map our futures, only to discover that the moments defining our lives often arrive unannounced. A single conversation, an unexpected loss, a new opportunity, or an unforeseen challenge can alter our course forever. What matters most is not our ability to predict tomorrow, but our readiness to meet it with faith, humility, courage, and gratitude. Character is forged long before it is tested. Faith is strengthened long before it is needed. Looking back, I see that many of the doors God closed became blessings I could not yet understand, and many of the hardships I resisted became the very experiences that shaped my deepest convictions. Wisdom rarely comes through comfort. More often, it is born through perseverance. None of us knows what tomorrow holds. But we can choose how we will live today with integrity, generosity, compassion, and unwavering faith. For me, that is where true peace is found: not in knowing the future, but in trusting the God who already does. AW

Monaco is a reminder that greatness is not measured by size. Barely two square kilometers on the Mediterranean, it has become one of the world’s wealthiest and most recognizable nations through stability, entrepreneurship, and vision. From its legendary harbor and grand casinos to its Formula 1 circuit and royal heritage, Monaco proves that excellence is built by purpose, not geography. Some places occupy little space on a map, yet leave an outsized mark on history. 🇲🇨 AW

Homeland Security says preliminary record matching identified more than 256,000 potential noncitizens on voter rolls in California, New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, including nearly 191,000 in California alone. Officials stress these are preliminary findings that must be verified, since many noncitizens legally have Social Security numbers. The states have until July 24 to respond. Every eligible American regardless of party should want accurate voter rolls and confidence that every lawful vote counts. AW

It is no accident that Adolf Hitler’s regime persecuted Christian churches that refused to submit to Nazi control, destroyed synagogues, and committed genocide against six million Jews during the Holocaust. It is no accident that Hitler temporarily allied with the officially atheist Soviet Union to invade and partition predominantly Catholic Poland in 1939. Joseph Stalin, an avowed atheist who led the officially atheist Soviet Union, and Mao Zedong, an atheist who led Communist China, presided over regimes collectively responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of their own people while systematically suppressing religious faith and institutions. Pol Pot, the atheist leader of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, sought to eradicate religion altogether. North Korea remains an officially atheist state where religious freedom is among the most severely restricted in the world. The United States will endure only if we never forget John Adams’ timeless admonition: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” AW

The older I become, the more I realize that history is not merely a record of what happened it is a mirror revealing who we are. Civilizations rise, fortunes are built and lost, wars are fought, technologies transform the world, and generations come and go. Yet the questions that matter most never change: Will we choose courage over comfort? Character over popularity? Faith over fear? Truth over convenience? We spend much of our lives chasing what is temporary while overlooking what is eternal. Titles fade. Wealth changes hands. Power is borrowed. But integrity, kindness, wisdom, and the lives we touch become the true measure of a life well lived. Leave behind more than possessions. Leave principles. Leave hope. Leave a legacy that reminds future generations not simply that you lived, but that because you lived, the world became a little better. AW

The future of warfare didn’t begin in the Pentagon it began in a parent’s basement in Indiana. American teenagers Olaf Hichwa and Soren Monroe-Anderson built drones, went to Ukraine to learn from the front lines, established operations there, and even traveled to China to study advanced drone manufacturing. They learned from the world’s toughest battlefield. Those lessons helped build Neros Technologies into a major force in America’s drone revolution. In 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Drone Dominance initiative awarded Neros a contract worth up to $500 million. The bigger lesson? Tomorrow’s military breakthroughs may come not only from defense giants, but from young innovators bold enough to learn, adapt, and build the future. AW

From the South of France: Every Bond adventure deserves unforgettable Bond girls. 🍸⚓️AW

Fog of War Wars often do not end with a decisive battlefield victory. They evolve into contests of endurance, economics, and political will. That increasingly appears to be the case in the confrontation between the United States and Iran. The Strait of Hormuz remains the strategic center of gravity. Nearly a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil passes through this narrow waterway, making it one of the most consequential maritime chokepoints on Earth. Iran understands it cannot match American military power conventionally, so it continues to leverage geography, asymmetric naval tactics, drones, mines, and missile threats to raise the cost of U.S. operations. For Washington, military superiority is unquestioned. The challenge is sustaining economic and political support for a prolonged campaign. Rising energy prices, global market uncertainty, and domestic political pressures all influence strategic decision-making as much as events on the battlefield. Iran, meanwhile, is wagering that time favors Tehran. The regime’s objective is not necessarily military victory but survival. If it can withstand sanctions, a naval blockade, and continued military pressure while convincing the United States that the costs outweigh the benefits, it may achieve its primary strategic goal. This has become a war of attrition. Every drone launched, every commercial vessel diverted, every missile intercepted, and every fluctuation in oil prices becomes part of a larger battle over endurance rather than territory. History teaches that wars of endurance often become the most dangerous. Miscalculation, rather than deliberate strategy, can trigger a much larger confrontation. One successful strike against critical infrastructure, one naval collision, or one attack causing significant civilian casualties could transform a limited conflict into a regional war. The fog of war reminds us that the greatest uncertainty is not who possesses the stronger military, but who possesses the greater capacity to absorb pain, sustain resolve, and shape events before time runs out. AW

Tim Walz’s pardon board cleared the record of Tue Lue Vang, who admitted repeatedly raping a girl beginning when she was 10. The board cited immigration and family concerns. Federal officials later revoked his status and deported him to Laos. Protecting children must come first. AW

Fog of War The battle unfolding in the Persian Gulf is no longer confined to Iran and the United States. It is becoming a regional conflict in which Gulf states are increasingly finding themselves under missile and drone attack because they host U.S. military forces, provide logistical support, or occupy strategic positions along vital shipping routes. Recent strikes have targeted locations in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Jordan, and commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s strategy is not to defeat the United States in a conventional war. Rather, it seeks to impose costs through asymmetric warfare using drones, cruise missiles, proxy forces, naval mines, and attacks on commercial shipping to demonstrate that no military operation against Iran can remain geographically contained. Tehran has spent decades preparing for this kind of conflict, dispersing missile batteries, hardening infrastructure, and developing capabilities designed to threaten one of the world’s most important energy corridors. For the Gulf monarchies, the danger is profound. They are longtime American security partners, yet many have also sought stable economic and diplomatic relations with Iran. Every incoming missile forces these governments to make increasingly difficult choices between deterrence, self-defense, and avoiding a wider regional war. The Strait of Hormuz remains the strategic center of gravity. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and significant volumes of liquefied natural gas have historically passed through this narrow waterway. Even intermittent attacks on tankers or disruptions to shipping can ripple through global energy markets, insurance rates, inflation, and supply chains far beyond the Middle East. AW

My post was about how Calhoun died, not an evaluation of his historical legacy. His views on slavery and race are well documented and have been debated for generations, but that was not the subject of my comment. It’s possible to discuss the circumstances of someone’s death without reopening every aspect of their life or political beliefs. AW

@Arightside Calhoun was a racist bigot who said slavery and segregation was good for the races. He certainly was a "powerful voice," but to portray him only as that is an historical distortion.

The sudden passing of Senator Lindsey Graham adds another solemn chapter to the history of the United States Senate a history repeatedly interrupted by death arriving without warning. In 1850, Senator John C. Calhoun died after his health rapidly collapsed during the national struggle over slavery and the preservation of the Union. His death removed one of the South’s most powerful voices at a defining moment. In 1861, Senator Stephen Douglas died after becoming exhausted and gravely ill while traveling to rally support for the Union. That same year, Oregon Senator Edward Baker became the only sitting United States senator killed in combat, falling at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff and leaving President Abraham Lincoln mourning a close personal friend. In 1875, former president and sitting Tennessee Senator Andrew Johnson suffered a fatal stroke. His death ended one of the most extraordinary and controversial careers in American political history. In 1935, Louisiana Senator Huey Long was assassinated inside the state Capitol. His death extinguished a growing national movement and removed a possible challenger to President Franklin Roosevelt. In 1936, Iowa Senator Richard Murphy was killed in an automobile accident. His unexpected death created an immediate vacancy during Roosevelt’s reelection year. In 1940, Idaho Senator William Borah died following a cerebral hemorrhage. Known as the “Lion of Idaho,” his death deprived the Senate of one of its most influential foreign-policy voices as the world moved toward war. In 1968, New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated after winning California’s Democratic presidential primary. His killing devastated the nation, transformed the presidential campaign and extinguished the hopes of millions who believed he could heal a divided America. In 1991, Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz was killed when the aircraft carrying him collided with a helicopter near Philadelphia. Seven people died, including two children on the ground. His death stunned Pennsylvania and removed a rising Republican leader known for independence and bipartisan respect. In 2000, Georgia Senator Paul Coverdell died after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. His passing cost the Republican Party a trusted strategist and temporarily altered the Senate’s political balance. In 2002, Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife, daughter and members of his campaign team were killed in a plane crash just days before an election. His death transformed the race, devastated the progressive movement and shook the Senate across party lines. Now, the sudden death of Lindsey Graham leaves South Carolina without one of its longest-serving and most internationally recognized voices. It also leaves unfinished work involving national defense, Israel, Ukraine, Iran, the federal courts and America’s role in the world. History records the offices people held. God knows the lives they lived. Life is uncertain. Time is precious. Faith is eternal. AW

Argentina has granted legal rights to two goldfish. Humane treatment of animals matters, but when governments and courts devote extraordinary attention to symbolic causes while citizens struggle with crime, inflation, housing, education, and national security, it’s fair to ask whether priorities have become badly misplaced. Common sense leadership begins with solving people’s problems first. AW