Rob Maness

I stand with President Trump. #TeamTrump2024

On this day in 1862, Stonewall Jackson was inventing a style of warfare that would still be taught at West Point a century later, and the United States Army had no idea what was happening to it. The Shenandoah Valley runs southwest to northeast through Virginia like a natural highway. Whoever controlled it could threaten Washington from one end or the Confederate breadbasket from the other. In the spring of 1862, the Union sent Major General Nathaniel Banks up the Valley with around 9,000 men to clear it out. McClellan was driving on Richmond from the east, and the Valley was supposed to be a tidy side errand. Jackson had roughly 17,000 men, total. Spread across three different Union commands chasing him were close to 60,000. He proceeded to humiliate all of them. Jackson's secret was speed and secrecy. His infantry marched so fast and so far that they earned a nickname: foot cavalry. They covered 25 miles a day in heat and rain, in shoes that were falling apart, eating green corn out of fields. Jackson told no one his plans, not his subordinates, not his staff. When a brigadier once asked which road they were taking, Jackson replied, "Can you keep a secret?" The brigadier said yes. Jackson said, "So can I." On May 23 he had stunned a Union garrison at Front Royal, captured nearly the entire force, and put himself behind Banks's left flank. Banks suddenly realized he was about to be cut off from his base at Winchester and from the Potomac River beyond it. He turned his army around and ran north up the Valley Pike. May 24 was the chase. Jackson's vanguard caught Banks at the village of Middletown around noon. Confederate guns unlimbered on a low ridge and opened fire directly into the strung-out Union wagon train on the open turnpike. Drivers panicked. Mules bolted. Wagons crashed into each other and tipped into the ditches. Then Turner Ashby's cavalry came down the road at a full gallop and rode straight through the wreckage, sabering teamsters and grabbing prisoners by the handful. A few miles east, another piece of Jackson's command hit a small Union force guarding the Manassas Gap Railroad at Buckton Station. The fight was sharp and short. Two of Ashby's best officers were killed leading the charge, but the station fell and the rail line was cut. Banks lost more than a third of his army in 48 hours. The next day, May 25, he was driven through the streets of Winchester by Jackson's screaming infantry and did not stop running until he crossed the Potomac into Maryland. The panic reached Washington. Lincoln, convinced Jackson was about to attack the capital, personally pulled troops away from McClellan's drive on Richmond to chase the man in the Valley. He never caught him. By the time the campaign ended in June, Jackson had marched 646 miles in 48 days, won five battles against three separate armies, and saved the Confederate capital without ever going near it. Twenty thousand exhausted men in butternut, led by a Presbyterian deacon who sucked on lemons and prayed before every battle, had changed the war.

An old but great thread from my friend @thomasbsauer. Every serious military engagement costs the lives of patriotic Americans like these. We need to make absolutely sure that our mission justifies their sacrifice.

Late one night, on a snowy evening in 1982, my brothers and I were watching PBS at my parent’s house in Baltimore. It was a Friday, which meant The Avengers at 11 pm, followed by Monty Python’s Flying Circus at midnight, and then, our favorite - Second City TV. It was snowing on this particular evening, and my brothers and I were stretched out on the floor next to the wood stove with a couple of dogs who never wandered too far from the heat, quietly coveting Emma Peel, and laughing uproariously as John Cleese tried to buy some cheese from the proprietor of a cheese shop that didn’t carry any cheese. And then, five minutes into SCTV, an inexplicably dressed man-child armed with a musical triangle and gelled hair slinked onto the set in a pair or trousers pulled up to his sternum and made us laugh so hard we woke up the parents. That was my introduction to Ed Grimley, the first of many characters to spring from the mind of Martin Short, a comedic genius that I finally got to know last night, thanks to a film called Marty: Life is Short. This is the best documentary I’ve seen in years, and I’m recommending all of you watch it this weekend. The director, Lawrence Kasdan, captures the essence of his subject – and his dear friend - in a way that feels utterly authentic. The movie is filled with famous people who don’t come off as famous, partly because their fame is secondary to their obvious affection for Marty, and partly because they are captured almost entirely in home movies. Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, Steven Spielberg, Kathreen O’Hara, Eugene Levy – all the Second City players, in fact, and many of the SNL alum – appear in hundreds of clips, filmed mostly at Snug Harbor, Marty’s lakefront cottage in Ontario. It’s through their eyes that we really get to know Martin Short in a deeply personal way that never feels mawkish or manipulative, in spite of all the tragedy he’s endured. In large part, Life is Short is a love story between Marty and his late wife, Nancy Dolman, who died from cancer at 58. I knew their marriage was special, but I didn’t know how completely devoted they were to one another, or what a singular talent Nancy was, in her own right. What a pleasure to get to know her in this way. Of course, Marty’s grief at her passing was profound, but so too was his resilience. It’s one thing to “get on with life,” as we all must to do in the wake of a tragedy. But it’s another to do so in the public eye, as a comedian. Marty persevered, without a trace of self-pity, just as he did as a boy, when his beloved older brother died in a car accident. And just as he is doing today, in the wake of his daughter’s tragic suicide. In his first public comment on that particular tragedy, Marty quoted George Eliot. “The dead are never dead until they are forgotten.” Who knew Jiminy Glick was made of such tough stuff? Life is Short is also full of wisdom for anyone crazy enough to try and make a living in the entertainment business, and Marty is very candid about his many professional disasters. “98 percent of this business is failure,” he says. “Nothing works and then something works.” And then again, later in the film, he says something similar to fellow actor John Mulaney, who was devastated by the low ratings and terrible reviews for one of his projects. “90% of everything you try creatively is going to fail, John. Get used to it. That’s the job.” I’d never compare my own career to Marty’s or juxtapose whatever creativity I might possess to his immense and sprawling talent. But I understand the importance of failing and take great comfort in knowing that on that score, we have both excelled. Anyway, I’m not sure why this movie stuck such a chord with me, or why I feel compelled to recommend it. Maybe it’s the nostalgia of seeing Ed Grimley on my screen all these years later, and recalling those late nights with my brothers at my parent’s house alongside the dogs and the wood stove, and all the belly-laughter that Marty and his Second City pals inspired. Or maybe it’s the passing of my Aunt Janet last week, and seeing my mother cope with the loss of her sister with such dignity and grace. Or maybe it's those other sisters from Greece that have been on my mind all morning - Melpomene and the Thalia. The famous Muses of Tragedy and Comedy, whose dramatic masks are forever entwined, and destined to worn by us all. Whatever the cause, Marty made an impression, and the film is worth your time. Maybe not as relevant this weekend as Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan, but a fine reminder that another Memorial Day is upon us, and that life is indeed, short.

The Mandolorian and Grogu movie has opened to the lowest box office of any Star Wars movie ever. This is despite a seven year gap between the last Star Wars movie. Disney has done the truly incredible — destroyed the Star Wars franchise.

Hero Purple Heart vet whom Graham Platner said 'didn't deserve to live' slams Dems backing him: 'Say that to my face' trib.al/qhcewqa

Dems: "Trump called veterans suckers and losers!" Narrator: This was denied by everyone involved and no proof this ever happened. Dems senate nominee Graham Platner on Reddit: "That dumb motherf***** didn't deserve to live!" (soldier was shot, seriously wounded, received Purple Heart, Platner refuses to apologize). "The U.S. Army is "absolute trash" and "full of fat, lazy trash who would rather not be in uniform". Narrator: He also has a Nazi tattoo and downplayed military sexual assault. Dems: "He's our guy! He's AWESOME!" You can not make this up.

Wow what a scumbag she turned out to be AGAIN!! They ALL used DJT and when the well dried up and he didn't do what these people who have now turned on him so visciously wanted they launched this wild campaign to attack him. People like this witch have contributed to the attempts on his life with their lies and bullshit. It's unforgivable!

Standing on the ramp as they load the caskets, the only thing you ever wish is that it was you and not them. You rarely feel sadness. Often it’s just anger and guilt. But then it’s time. Time to go back out the door, time to get back in the seat, time to do what needs to be done. Then that time comes to an end and all you wonder is how you made it. Memorial Day feels different when you know that you will never again face personal risk yourself in defense of this country. I am eternally grateful for those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. We will never forget. We will honor your memory. We will continue to live and be grateful for the freedoms you were willing to die for.

The communist is going to spend Memorial Day partying with the Nazi who laughed at dead Americans. I can’t think of anything more on brand for these garbage people.

The Weight We Choose To Carry armedforces.press/opinion/2026/0… @USArmy @usairforce @af_academy @DeptofWar @nato @usnavy @WestPoint_USMA @NavalAcademy @AFSpecOpsCmd @SecWar @matthewlohmeier @AirCommandoHF @USCG

Today in history. May 24, 1775, John Hancock is unanimously elected President of the Second Continental Congress. The courage of this Son of Liberty gets overlooked way too often. He was a wealthy merchant and notorious smuggler who built a fortune dodging British trade restrictions on tea, molasses, and whatever else he could run. That put a huge target on his back. The British had been after him for years. One of the biggest flashpoints came in 1768 when they tried to seize his sloop Liberty, which set off riots in Boston. Hancock was right in the thick of the Patriot movement as a leader in the Sons of Liberty. He hated British policies and wasn’t afraid to say it. He didn’t personally dump the tea during the Boston Tea Party, that was other guys under Samuel Adams, but he backed it fully. He helped run the town meetings leading up to it and supposedly told the crowd, “Let every man do what is right in his own eyes.” The British definitely saw him as one of the main troublemakers. His boldest moment came with the Declaration of Independence. Congress approved it on July 4, 1776, and rushed it straight to printer John Dunlap. Those first copies, the Dunlap Broadsides, only carried two signatures: John Hancock as President and Charles Thomson as Secretary. Those were the versions sent out to the colonies, the army, and eventually across the ocean to Britain. The story goes that when King George III got word of the Declaration, that’s all he saw: just those two names, with Hancock’s giant, defiant signature jumping off the page. The fancy handwritten version with all 56 signatures didn’t get finished until early August, and even then a few delegates added theirs later. Hancock’s oversized “John Hancock” basically invented the phrase for signing something big and bold, because he knew he was making himself Public Enemy Number One. He led Congress longer than anyone else during the Revolution, from 1775 to 1777. He poured his own money into the cause, commanded Massachusetts militia, and later became the state’s first governor. The British had orders to arrest him and Samuel Adams even before the shots at Lexington and Concord. He put his fortune, his freedom, and his life on the line when a lot of others were still playing it safe.

Dear South Carolina Republicans: There is ZERO excuse for keeping a Democrat U.S. House seat. You will destroy your political careers.

🚨 UPDATE: Xavier Becerra just announced he would "finish" High Speed Rail "on budget and on time." "On time" was SIX YEARS AGO! They've already spent HALF the budget and haven't laid any track! Now we're seeing why even Joe Biden and his team thought Becerra was useless...Vote for Change. Vote Steve Hilton. Vote TODAY!

Remember, when you see January 6 pictures and video, many of the individuals recorded were undercover operatives.

I would love if some day X had a little icon next to the names of lobbyists and influencers getting paid by foreign governments Think about what that would do to help save the country

What @ChrisCillizza is saying is that @JohnCornyn didn’t have enough heat to make the Save Act happen. I thought he was this well respected leader with influence that he used for Texans and it turns out he was as impotent as, well, every other old timey Republican. Well, I guess John’s not going to get his amnesty fantasy now. Oh well.

Who are you remembering for Memorial Day? Please drop their story in the comments below, so I can read about them and honor them. This weekend I’ve been thinking about Nick. We were NCOs together. He was the funniest guy in the room and out others first. I miss him.

Remembering the colleagues we lost: A veteran's Memorial Day reflection - my latest at @foxnews foxnews.com/opinion/rememb…

“Vote for Ken Paxton on Tuesday, HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!!!” Thank you, Mr. President! Texas, make sure to get out and vote on Tuesday, May 26!

Tomorrow, on Memorial Day, I’m releasing a special segment with Ron White. From memory alone, Ron recalls every name, by rank, in order, of every U.S. service member killed in the Afghanistan war, from the very first casualty all the way to the final 13. Over two hours straight. In the full episode (dropping Tuesday), Ron walks through exactly how he did it, including using the studio itself to visually anchor the names of the final 13 to objects around the room. His closing message is one we should all carry with us. May we never forget their sacrifice.