‘Do not go gentle into that good night’: Remembering Charlie Kirk



I’ve only felt this weight once before. It was 2001, just as my radio show was about to begin. The World Trade Center fell, and I was called to speak immediately. I spent the day and night by my bedside, praying for words that could meet the moment.

Yesterday, I found myself in the same position. September 11, 2025. The assassination of Charlie Kirk. A friend. A warrior for truth.

Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins.

Moments like this make words feel inadequate. Yet sometimes, words from another time speak directly to our own. In 1947, Dylan Thomas, watching his father slip toward death, penned lines that now resonate far beyond his own grief:

Do not go gentle into that good night. / Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Thomas was pleading for his father to resist the impending darkness of death. But those words have become a mandate for all of us: Do not surrender. Do not bow to shadows. Even when the battle feels unwinnable.

Charlie Kirk lived that mandate. He knew the cost of speaking unpopular truths. He knew the fury of those who sought to silence him. And yet he pressed on. In his life, he embodied a defiance rooted not in anger, but in principle.

Picking up his torch

Washington, Jefferson, Adams — our history was started by men who raged against an empire, knowing the gallows might await. Lincoln raged against slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. raged against segregation. Every generation faces a call to resist surrender.

It is our turn. Charlie’s violent death feels like a knockout punch. Yet if his life meant anything, it means this: Silence in the face of darkness is not an option.

He did not go gently. He spoke. He challenged. He stood. And now, the mantle falls to us. To me. To you. To every American.

We cannot drift into the shadows. We cannot sit quietly while freedom fades. This is our moment to rage — not with hatred, not with vengeance, but with courage. Rage against lies, against apathy, against the despair that tells us to do nothing. Because there is always something you can do.

Even small acts — defiance, faith, kindness — are light in the darkness. Reaching out to those who mourn. Speaking truth in a world drowning in deceit. These are the flames that hold back the night. Charlie carried that torch. He laid it down yesterday. It is ours to pick up.

The light may dim, but it always does before dawn. Commit today: I will not sleep as freedom fades. I will not retreat as darkness encroaches. I will not be silent as evil forces claim dominion. I have no king but Christ. And I know whom I serve, as did Charlie.

Two turning points, decades apart

On Wednesday, the world changed again. Two tragedies, separated by decades, bound by the same question: Who are we? Is this worth saving? What kind of people will we choose to be?

Imagine a world where more of us choose to be peacemakers. Not passive, not silent, but builders of bridges where others erect walls. Respect and listening transform even the bitterest of foes. Charlie Kirk embodied this principle.

He did not strike the weak; he challenged the powerful. He reached across divides of politics, culture, and faith. He changed hearts. He sparked healing. And healing is what our nation needs.

At the center of all this is one truth: Every person is a child of God, deserving of dignity. Change will not happen in Washington or on social media. It begins at home, where loneliness and isolation threaten our souls. Family is the antidote. Imperfect, yes — but still the strongest source of stability and meaning.

RELATED: Trump to award Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom: 'A giant of his generation'

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Forgiveness, fidelity, faithfulness, and honor are not dusty words. They are the foundation of civilization. Strong families produce strong citizens. And today, Charlie’s family mourns. They must become our family too. We must stand as guardians of his legacy, shining examples of the courage he lived by.

A time for courage

I knew Charlie. I know how he would want us to respond: Multiply his courage. Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins. Out of darkness, great and glorious things will sprout — but we must be worthy of them.

Charlie Kirk lived defiantly. He stood in truth. He changed the world. And now, his torch is in our hands. Rage, not in violence, but in unwavering pursuit of truth and goodness. Rage against the dying of the light.

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Why Charlie Kirk’s assassination will change us in ways this generation has never seen



Reactions flooded in long into Wednesday night, following the public assassination of Charlie Kirk. Some were angry; others wept; some were numb; others, cautious; and still others openly celebrated. Few, however, grasped the scale of the personal intensity Americans felt.

We live in an age of instant information and cheap virality, and we have to struggle with the contradictory feelings of social isolation and personal connectivity the handheld-screen age brings. This is that age’s first truly awful monocultural moment. It’s going to take time to truly know what this cruel murder means for these United States, but you can be sure it’s much bigger than we think.

A lot of people who didn’t know Charlie felt like they did. And they see a mentor or a friend, a younger or older brother, a son, a father, a husband.

We’ve experienced awful viral moments before. Just earlier this week, we were gripped by video of a beautiful Ukrainian woman stabbed to death on public transit. Only last year, the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump and the murder of a father and husband in front of his family echoed from country music to hip-hop and from Capitol Hill politics to boardwalk T-shirts.

Although we heard of Corey Comperatore’s sacrifice and prayed for him and his family, most of us didn’t know him. The footage from that July afternoon showed a president unbowed and unbroken, triumphant and defiant, pumping his fist above his head and rallying his supporters. We were shocked at how close we had come to a world-changing event — how a breeze, a projector screen, and the Holy Spirit had saved this country from open violence.

This time is different. There’s no embattled but victorious defiance. There’s a quiet, sinking feeling. It was hard to go to sleep last night knowing that Charlie's widow put her toddler and baby to bed in a world where Daddy isn’t coming home. In the morning, nothing had changed that. Capitol Hill was quiet, and St. Peter's lonely bells marked the moment the Pentagon had been hit. They could have tolled for a country once more on the brink, 24 years on.

There’s another difference between Utah and Butler. It’s a sad thing to admit, but the American people know presidential assassinations. We know assassinations of politicians, too. If you lived a full life in these United States, born any time in the past 200 years, you’ve seen a president shot or even killed. We don’t like it, but we understand that our presidents have stepped into the arena. Even awful attacks on representatives, senators, governors, and mayors seem to somehow fit into our violent American experience.

Charlie doesn’t fit. He was young — far too young. He held conventions and he had a podcast, and he went to college campuses to set up a tent to debate other viewpoints and see if he could convince or be convinced himself. He didn’t insult people or try to make them look stupid for clicks and laughs. If he was “controversial” and “divisive,” it was because some people disagreed with his beliefs — beliefs shared by millions of normal Americans.

We knew he could change his mind in a debate, because we saw it happen after he debated Tucker Carlson on the government’s role in its citizens’ lives. When I first met him, he was probably 25 and not yet married. I was shocked by his kind humility and his hunger to learn from people around him. He wasn’t brash or conceited in the way most people are when they achieve the success he had by that age. And he was very hardworking.

I didn't see a dry eye on BlazeTV or Fox News Wednesday night, because all of us had the opportunity to meet this man, either as a friend or just a friendly acquaintance, or a student, or a guest, or a host. We all knew him, but the very personal feelings of loss extended far outside those of us who shared an industry with him.

Charlie’s qualities were on display to the millions of Americans who tuned in to his show, or who came out to his events on campus, or who were first introduced to these ideas by his work. Remember: Before the shot rang out, you’d probably have had to be a Utah reporter or Utah Valley University student or local to know Charlie was even there, and yet thousands of young people had turned out to see him.

When are some other times you saw thousands of young people turn out for a speaker? Especially one who isn’t a politician. It’s not very common, and for a peaceful while, it wasn’t even news — just another leg on the tour. How many times had Charlie done this: shaken hands, taken pictures, or just responded to tweets and comments from young fans? Far beyond the people who were his friends or who knew him are the millions who felt like they knew him.

Sure, our technological age can isolate us, but it can also bring people we’ve never met into our lives. It can create the feeling of knowing someone, especially when you tune in every week — or every day. A lot of people who didn’t know Charlie felt like they did. And they see a mentor or a friend, a younger or older brother, a son, a father, a husband.

And what was he doing when he was gunned down? He wasn’t egging on a crowd, jeering at protesters, sneering that elections have consequences, or blaring into a megaphone. He was seated under a tent on a sunny day with an open mic, engaged in open dialogue on an American college campus. There’s no good reason on God’s green earth he should not have been allowed to call his wife that evening or see his young children again.

This isn’t taxes or health care or energy policy. This isn't even the shooting of a famous politician or the murder of a beautiful stranger, as horrible and jarring as those things are. This hits deeper.

When people celebrated his assassination, they weren’t talking about someone who wielded power — they were talking about someone who believed a lot of things we believe, who had a young, happy family, and who was engaged in fair discourse on a peaceful campus.

On her show last night, host Emily Jashinsky wondered if the name he chose for his organization those 13 years ago was prophetic. I can’t say. I know he knew what we were up against, though. I know he’ll be remembered for a long time, and I know his absence will be felt terribly by his wife and his children, his friends and his colleagues, and by millions beyond them. And I do know this is a moment that will be remembered for many, many years.

Our chances aren’t great. It doesn’t have to get worse. That’s not yet written. But that means things are going to have to get a lot better — and fast. This is it. This is our turning point. Which way, America?

“After Party with Emily Jashinsky”: Honoring the legacy of Charlie Kirk, with Chris and Sarah Bedford

Blaze News: Charlie Kirk: Loving father, fearless communicator, happy warrior — 1993-2025

The Spectator: Charlie Kirk saw himself as holding back a revolution

Blaze News: Greg Gutfeld fires off emotional message after assassination of Charlie Kirk

Blaze News: New York Times continues SPLC demonization of Charlie Kirk, accuses him of provocation

Blaze News: MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd fired over Charlie Kirk comments

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Iryna Zarutska’s name should shame the woke



The brutal murder of Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte train shocked the city and the nation. Yet, the reaction from Mayor Vi Lyles revealed something deeper — and more troubling — about the worldview now shaping our institutions.

Instead of calling it what it was — a violent crime committed by “a mentally deranged lunatic” and “well-known career criminal,” as President Trump described the suspect — Lyles chose to label it a “tragic event.” The tragedy, she suggested, was not the victim’s death so much as society’s failure to provide resources for the killer.

We cannot blame 'the system.' We cannot blame God. Facing consequences for our actions is not oppression — it is humanizing.

That rhetorical move matters. It echoes the same radical philosophy that has taken over higher education and increasingly influences our politics. In this worldview, criminals are not moral agents. They are victims of circumstance.

The death of free will

As a humanities professor, I have heard this refrain for decades. Subjects meant to explore the human condition and the pursuit of wisdom have been hijacked by an ideology that insists “marginalized” individuals cannot be held responsible for their actions.

The logical problem should be obvious. If the “oppressed” are not responsible for their actions, then they lack free will. That is a dehumanizing philosophy. It strips away moral agency and reduces people to products of “the system.”

Yet, radical professors advance this philosophy because it props up political causes that would collapse under scrutiny. Their favorite tool is the fallacy of appealing to pity: “Don’t hold me accountable, I had a hard life.” But if failure is always the system’s fault, then so is success. The DEI professor will tell you that bad outcomes come from oppression — and good outcomes come from privilege. Individual responsibility vanishes.

Crime 'happens' to the criminal

In this view, crime happens to the criminal. The system, not the sinner, makes the choice. The remedy? Education and therapy. Punishment for evil is rejected outright.

Take two examples.

First, Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson (D). Listen to him describe gun violence and you’d think guns sprout legs and walk into the city from other states. Who are the human beings pulling the triggers? That question is avoided, because the system supposedly forced them into crime.

Second, watch the recent Jubilee video featuring Patrick Bet-David. Anti-capitalist students invoked the plight of the single mother. To hear them tell it, single motherhood simply “happens.” No choices, no responsibility. Just victims of capitalism who have no choice but to work four jobs. The notion that having unprotected sex outside marriage is a choice is brushed aside.

This isn’t compassion, let alone justice. It’s a simple refusal to acknowledge reality.

Complaints against God

Charlotte’s racial equity policies rest on this same rejection of free will. And beneath that rejection lies something even deeper: complaints against God Himself.

Christianity teaches that God created men and women with real differences and that He governs the circumstances into which we are born. Radical critics call this unfair. Why can’t Bet-David be a single mother? Why should people be born rich or poor? Why does God still hold us accountable?

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Maxiphoto via iStock/Getty Images

The apostle Paul anticipated this very objection in Romans 9:19: “Then why does God still find fault? For who resists His will?” The ultimate complaint is against divine providence.

But denying free will is absurd. Many born into hard circumstances have learned to be wise and seek God. Many born into privilege have chosen evil. Our choices define us.

The humanizing truth

We cannot blame “the system.” We cannot blame God. Facing consequences for our actions is not oppression — it is humanizing. It reminds us that we have the dignity of free will and the responsibility to choose between good and evil.

And here is the one solution the radical professor will never offer: There is forgiveness for our sin, freely given in Christ. That is the antidote to a culture that excuses evil and denies accountability.

Qatar sheltered Hamas — now let it shelter Gazans



Hamas’ barbaric October 7 massacre of Israelis — including children and the elderly — was driven by hatred, yes, but it was also enabled. Governments, organizations, and media outlets all played a role. Israel, Arab states, the United States, the United Nations, and especially Qatar share responsibility. Now, as Israel nears victory and “day after” debates begin, the international community needs to rethink its approach to both Gaza and Doha.

Qatar has long styled itself as a mediator. In reality, it has become a saboteur.

Qatar must face consequences. Gaza must be freed from Hamas. And America must stop funding its own adversaries.

Qatar has provided safe haven to Hamas leadership for years and continues to do so, depending on how many survived Israel’s decapitation strike in Doha on Monday. Despite reports suggesting the United States asked Qatar to host Hamas leaders for negotiation purposes, the relationship long predates October 7 and any such arrangement.

Qatar also hosted Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, until his death in 2022. Its most powerful media arm, Al Jazeera, has functioned as a Hamas mouthpiece, even providing journalistic cover to operatives like Anas al-Sharif.

The emirate’s interference doesn’t stop there. It funds radical movements across the region, destabilizing neighbors and prompting a Gulf Cooperation Council blockade in 2017. That blockade responded to Qatar’s ties with Iran, support for terrorist groups, and meddling in other nations’ internal affairs.

Closer to home, Qatar has poured billions into American universities. Between 2021 and 2024 alone, it gave more than $2 billion, fueling a surge of “illiberal, anti-democratic sentiment” on campuses. At the same time, the United States maintains its largest Middle East air base, Al Udeid, in a country that bankrolls terror.

That’s a strategic liability. Iran’s 2021 missile strike on Al Udeid — and later attacks during Operation Midnight Hammer — showed the base’s vulnerability. Meanwhile, thousands of U.S. troops and families stationed there effectively subsidize Qatar’s radicalism.

President Trump’s February 4 proposal to relocate Gazans out of Gaza broke the stalemate. Critics howled, but the plan remains the only one that secures Israel, dismantles Hamas, and opens a path to reconstruction under new governance.

Temporary relocation of Gazans to Qatar is the most viable option. This is not forced displacement. It recognizes that civilians cannot live in a war zone and that years of Qatari-backed Hamas indoctrination require deliberate de-radicalization. Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have refused refugees for exactly that reason. Qatar — the principal sponsor — should shoulder the burden.

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Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images

At the same time, the United States should withdraw from Al Udeid and construct a state-of-the-art base in a rebuilt Gaza.

That move would be more than symbolic — it would be strategic. A U.S. base in Gaza would guarantee security during reconstruction, prevent Hamas 2.0 from rising, and inject jobs, contracts, and services into the local economy. Gaza’s Mediterranean location also offers direct access to Africa, where China is expanding at America’s expense.

This isn’t fantasy. It’s a workable blueprint: Arrest remaining Hamas leaders in Doha; relocate civilians to safety; rebuild Gaza free of terror-backed regimes; and establish a permanent U.S. presence that stabilizes rather than inflames.

Protests will erupt. Denunciations will come. But serious problems demand serious solutions. Qatar must face consequences. Gaza must be freed from Hamas. And America must stop funding its own adversaries.

America’s rights come from God — not from Tim Kaine’s government



Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) recently delivered a lecture that should alarm every American. During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, he argued that believing rights come from a Creator rather than government is the same belief held by Iran’s theocratic regime.

Kaine claimed that the principles underpinning Iran’s dictatorship — the same regime that persecutes Sunnis, Jews, Christians, and other minorities — are also the principles enshrined in our Declaration of Independence.

In America, rights belong to the individual. In Iran, rights serve the state.

That claim exposes either a profound misunderstanding or a reckless indifference to America’s founding. Rights do not come from government. They never did. They come from the Creator, as the Declaration of Independence proclaims without qualification. Jefferson didn’t hedge. Rights are unalienable — built into every human being.

This foundation stands worlds apart from Iran. Its leaders invoke God but grant rights only through clerical interpretation. Freedom of speech, property, religion, and even life itself depend on obedience to the ruling clerics. Step outside their dictates, and those so-called rights vanish.

This is not a trivial difference. It is the essence of liberty versus tyranny. In America, rights belong to the individual. The government’s role is to secure them, not define them. In Iran, rights serve the state. They empower rulers, not the people.

From Muhammad to Marx

The same confusion applies to Marxist regimes. The Soviet Union’s constitutions promised citizens rights — work, health care, education, freedom of speech — but always with fine print. If you spoke out against the party, those rights evaporated. If you practiced religion openly, you were charged with treason. Property and voting were allowed as long as they were filtered and controlled by the state — and could be revoked at any moment. Rights were conditional, granted through obedience.

Kaine seems to be advocating a similar approach — whether consciously or not. By claiming that natural rights are somehow comparable to sharia law, he ignores the critical distinction between inherent rights and conditional privileges. He dismisses the very principle that made America a beacon of freedom.

Jefferson and the founders understood this clearly. “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights,” they wrote. No government, no cleric, no king can revoke them. They exist by virtue of humanity itself. The government exists to protect them, not ration them.

This is not a theological quibble. It is the entire basis of our government. Confuse the source of rights, and tyranny hides behind piety or ideology. The people are disempowered. Clerics, bureaucrats, or politicians become arbiters of what rights citizens may enjoy.

RELATED: If Tim Kaine’s right, America’s founders were wrong

Photo by John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images

Gifts from God, not the state

Kaine’s statement reflects either a profound ignorance of this principle or an ideological bias that favors state power over individual liberty. Either way, Americans must recognize the danger. Understanding the origin of rights is not academic — it is the difference between freedom and submission, between the American experiment and theocratic or totalitarian rule.

Rights are not gifts from the state. They are gifts from God, secured by reason, protected by law, and defended by the people. Every American must understand this. Because when rights come from government instead of the Creator, freedom disappears.

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RFK Jr. did what GOP cowards won’t



What you saw in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s testimony last week before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee wasn’t a debate. It was the uniparty on parade — this time bowing before its favorite idol: the magical power of vaccines.

The spectacle jolted me back to my early days in this business. Years ago, I spoke at an event for a group I liked and respected called TeenPact. They brought Christian high school kids to the Iowa statehouse to watch government in action. By the time I showed up, the students looked checked out — politics as civics theater wasn’t holding their attention.

Are COVID accountability and healthy children worth smashing the idols? Or do we risk slaughtering too many sacred cows in pursuit of what’s good and true?

So I asked them a question: “Did any lobbyists offer you a steak and martini lunch today?” Silence fell over the room, parents included. But the kids snapped to attention. Now they were listening. I laid it out plain: This is how politics really works.

Later, the event organizer scolded me for “cynicism.” I scolded him back for his naivete. Kids don’t need fairy tales. They need to know how deep the rabbit hole goes. And last week, Kennedy showed America again how deep it goes — and how unwilling even the supposed “good guys” are to face it.

That Senate hearing was a prophetic moment. Think John the Baptist telling Herod to stop sleeping with his brother’s wife — except in Washington, it was RFK Jr. telling Elizabeth Warren she took $855,000 from Big Pharma. The only way it could have been sweeter is if he told her to send it back to an Indian reservation.

The shrieking from Democrats when their idols get smashed is sweet music to my ears. The hair on my neck stood up. And here’s the truth: We could force those demons to screech every day if Republicans showed the same conviction.

RELATED: Sudden child deaths after COVID shots? Trump FDA director promises answers.

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Instead, too many of our biggest “MAGA influencers” cash checks from foreign governments and then distract us with memes about Greta Thunberg. Too many Republicans act like the kids at that TeenPact event — eager to play politics but unwilling to face the ugly reality.

Tell me: Has anyone in the GOP’s GriftCon Inc. ever sacrificed like RFK Jr. just did? Or has the steak-and-martini circuit always been the bottom line — red state and blue alike? By the time the pharma checks clear, almost no one even asks hard questions anymore. Not about mRNA side effects. Not about why this generation should be the first in American history to normalize transgendering the kids.

Selling out is always a choice. Washington has simply turned it into a career path. Yet if a man with Kennedy’s checkered past can claw his way back from ruin to speak hard truths, maybe the rest of us can do the same.

Are COVID accountability and healthy children worth smashing the idols? Or do we risk slaughtering too many sacred cows in pursuit of what’s good and true?

The answer involves nothing less than the survival of the nation and the state of our souls. No big deal. I’m sure it’ll all work itself out — at least until our children are speaking Chinese or praying to Allah.

Bobby Powell gave his last breath working to expose Jan. 6 corruption



Michigan radio journalist Bobby Powell poured his heart into finding and telling the truth about suspicious actors at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Sadly, his heart gave out before he could finish his work.

Bobby suffered nine heart attacks after Jan. 6. It would not be hyperbole to suggest that Jan. 6 killed Bobby Powell. He predicted it would. He was 61.

‘I refuse to let the history I recorded on January 6th slide down the rabbit hole.’

It was that ninth heart attack that took his life at about 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 4, just weeks after he wrote me an email titled, “Final Thoughts.” We never got the chance to do the interview I requested after reading his final note.

“Well, I’m just about down to my last breath, and I refuse to let the history I recorded on January 6th slide down the rabbit hole,” Powell wrote on Aug. 11. “They’ve tried to bribe me, kill me, and maybe even had a hand in inducing a few of those heart attacks I’ve had.”

Since Bobby died destitute, his son Adam asked the Jan. 6 community to help pay for funeral expenses. In just two days, Adam’s crowdfunding campaign raised $23,000.

Bobby Powell was the cover story of a 2022 issue of Insight by The Epoch Times. The Epoch Times

Bobby was passionate and outspoken about what he witnessed on the east patio of the Capitol on Jan. 6. His frustration grew when it seemed almost no one wanted to hear about the two suspicious actors he captured on video.

He could be gruff. In one of my stories, I called him “grizzled.” I think he wore that like a badge of honor. He spent more than $20,000 and sacrificed his health trying to get the word out about these provocateurs.

Bobby Powell tells his Jan. 6 tale to Joseph Hanneman in “The Real Story of Jan. 6 Part II: The Long Road Home.”

As soon as Bobby began seeking media coverage for his Jan. 6 work, he was demonetized on social media, where he published a blog called “The Truth Is Viral.” That drop in income forced him to sell his Michigan home and live in an RV in Florida.

He said a prominent Michigan Republican Party official offered him $200,000 to go away. When Bobby refused, he was threatened that if he didn't put a lid on his Jan. 6 fedsurrection talk, he could be killed. For this reason, he moved around a lot from campground to campground in Florida, always looking over his shoulder.

I hope the many politicians and media figures who rebuffed, scorned, or ignored him since Jan. 6 are now inspired to take a look at the evidence he left behind. The silence from them, the FBI, and the Justice Department speaks loudly — even more so now that Bobby's voice has been stilled.

‘I swore that I would tell the truth to my last breath, no matter what the cost.’

Maybe the new Jan. 6 Select Subcommittee chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) will investigate the men Bobby suspected were fed provocateurs.

In the Aug. 11 email, Bobby's last message to me was a warning.

“You’re a good man, Joe. You’ve been there for me when many others didn’t have the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing and speak truth to power,” Bobby wrote. “Unfortunately, I cannot say that about many other ‘MAGA Influencers,’ politicians, or so-called ‘journalists.’”

During my first interview with him in 2022, Bobby shed tears. This tough Marine Corps veteran broke down over the phone — simply because I said that I believed him. His story rang true because it is true. He was beyond relieved to have a new ally. I wrote about his efforts many times over the next three years.

January 6 was supposed to be Bobby's last assignment before he retired after more than three decades in radio journalism. He hosted his own podcast, “The Truth Is Viral,” and was host of “Your Defending Fathers” on WCHY-FM 97.7 in Cheboygan, Michigan.

Little did he know as he filmed the crowd around the famous Columbus Doors at the U.S. Capitol the gravity of what he was witnessing. He emailed me in 2022:

Two men I recorded attacking the building in separate incidents, smashing a window and pushing people inside the East Entrance doors, have not been arrested, nor are they on the list of suspects being sought by the FBI.

That remains the case today. Neither bad actor — dressed suspiciously like plainclothes federal agents — has been publicly identified, arrested, or prosecuted.

It was not for lack of trying on his part. In January 2021, Bobby contacted the FBI and its Joint Terrorism Task Force. He offered a copy of the 29 minutes of high-definition video he shot on Jan. 6. They never called back.

Bobby was filming the crowds on the east patio of the Capitol at about 2:15 p.m. on Jan. 6 when Hunter Allen Ehmke jumped on a window sill and began smashing the glass. Ehmke was later arrested, convicted, and ordered to serve four months in jail.

‘Be careful who you trust, Joe. Wolves in sheep’s clothing are all around us.’

When Bobby spun around with his camera, he caught the man as he pulled out a large section of the tempered glass and dropped it on the ground.

Bobby Powell shows me his Jan. 6 footage in his RV near Tampa in November 2022. Paulio Shakespeare/The Epoch Times

Minutes later, when Bobby was approaching the entrance to the giant Columbus Doors, another man dressed in tactical clothing placed a hand on his back and shoved him intothe foyer. That man was holding open one of the doors with a heavy wooden rod.

Bobby personally handed thumb drives with video of these incidents to prominent Republicans in Congress and scores of media celebrities and influencers. Only a few gave his story the attention it deserved — if any attention at all.

Trying to engage with the self-appointed “Sedition Hunters” in late 2002, Bobby asked them why his two feds were not on the Sedition Hunters’ website. Bobby made up hashtags for the two provocateurs: #CapitolGlassMan and #CapitolDoorman.

Sedition Hunters eventually put up a page with photos of the GlassMan. They even claimed to know his name, but no one was ever arrested.

Joseph M. Hanneman

Missing CCTV video

One of the topics we were going to discuss in our final interview was a gap in the Capitol Police CCTV security video from inside the Columbus Doors.

The missing footage should have shown #CapitolDoorman holding the huge ornate doors open with a wooden pole and pushing protesters inside the Capitol. This footage was somehow missing from the video from Camera 7029 published online by the Republican House Subcommittee on Oversight.

This was a great find by the intrepid Marine. The gap in video has not yet been solved. That is a project I will take on in Bobby’s memory.

During his final two years, Bobby got bowled over by two hurricanes. Before one of them, he emailed me that his RV was hunkered down in an alley between two brick buildings in the Tampa area. Hurricane Debby flooded his RV in August 2024. After that storm, Bobby and a neighbor used his boat to rescue a 90-year-old man and his caregiver from the floodwaters.

Peter Ticktin, an attorney for President Donald J. Trump, was one of the few officials who accepted a thumb drive with Bobby Powell’s Jan. 6 video evidence. Photo courtesy of Bobby Powell.

“On the bright side, I have a roof over my head, air-conditioning, internet, and I’m not dead yet,” he wrote me in an Oct. 2 email. “Compared to others, I have a lot to be thankful for.”

Bobby's heart was badly scarred and less able to pump effectively every day. He knew his time was growing short.

Not much heart muscle

“My cardiologist said my heart is about 30% muscle and 70% scar tissue that doesn’t beat at all,” he wrote in late 2024. “I asked why I was out of breath all of the time, and she told me, ‘Because every step you take is like carrying a 250-pound man on your back. Your heart has to pump twice as hard whenever you do anything.’”

Even with that challenge, Bobby was determined to forge ahead with his work. He attended the Capitol premiere of my documentary “The Real Story of Jan. 6 Part II: The Long Road Home.” He recorded a testimonial for our producers after the screening.

Bobby testified in several Jan. 6 trials in Washington. He was kept out of others by DOJ prosecutors who didn't want federal juries to see his fedsurrection footage. The court cases gave him an outlet to keep sharing his story. It also took a heavier toll on his health.

“My cardiologist tells me that every day I wake up is a gift from God,” he wrote on Aug. 11, 2025. “I’m still limited in my abilities, but I think I can handle a call-in show I’m planning; until I can’t.”

In December 2022, he wrote me from his hospital bed after Jan. 6 heart attack No. 4.

“This is number four since J6, five total in the last three years,” he said. “And it’s the last one I will survive.”

Bobby said both atria of his heart were badly damaged by the attack. He had to wear a defibrillator jacket until a permanent defibrillator could be implanted.

Bobby Powell was all thumbs-up from his hospital bed in December 2022. Photo courtesy of Bobby Powell.

After we filmed a documentary interview in his RV near Terra Ceia, Fla., in November 2022, we talked about his Christian faith. I gave him a blessed challenge coin designed by my friend Father Richard Heilman. The coin had been touched to a relic of the True Cross of Christ, which makes it a third-class relic.

One side of the coin has the image of St. Michael the Archangel with the Latin phrase Defende Nos in Proelio (Defend Us in Battle). The other side has a likeness of St. Joseph holding the Child Jesus, with the Latin phrase Sancte Joseph Castissimi • Terror Daemonum, noting Joseph's warrior title as the Terror of Demons.

I gave this blessed coin to Bobby Powell in November 2022. He said he would keep it on him at all times. Joseph M. Hanneman/Blaze News.

Bobby understood as well as anyone that we are engaged in spiritual warfare. As St. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:

Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.

Bobby said he tried to live his life every day for Christ. In his final email to me, he wrote of regret for not teaching his daughter more about Jesus.

“I could never speak to her about Christ’s love for us,” he wrote. “She’d just look at me with her big, beautiful eyes and say, ‘Oh Daddy, you know I don’t believe in that.’"

“I thought I would have plenty of time to teach her about Christ, but she died at just 24 from an idiopathic heart attack.”

Bobby said his hurt and regret fueled a commitment that drove his Jan. 6 work.

“I lifted her ashes to the heavens and swore to Almighty God that I would never be afraid to tell the truth again for fear of being called a ‘conspiracy theorist’ or a ‘kook,’ even though all of my conspiracy theories turned out to be true," he wrote.

“I swore that I would tell the truth to my last breath, no matter what the cost.”

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Stop pretending Posse Comitatus neuters the president



President Trump drew heavy criticism for calling up the California National Guard to confront anti-ICE rioting in Los Angeles in July. On Sept. 3, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer blocked the move, claiming it violated the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. He delayed his order until Sept. 12, but the administration immediately appealed, and the Ninth Circuit has already granted a partial stay while the case moves forward.

Critics insist Trump is misusing the military as some kind of “secret police.” They invoke the Posse Comitatus Act as if it were an absolute ban on military involvement in domestic affairs. That is flatly wrong. The Act does not prohibit the president from using the Army, Marines, or National Guard to enforce federal law. It simply requires that such forces be deployed under the president’s authority, not at the whim of a sheriff or local marshal.

The real danger comes not from Trump’s use of the National Guard, but from a judiciary willing to invent limits the Constitution never imposed.

The Constitution itself grants the president this power. Article IV, Section 4 reads:

The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.

Congress reinforced that authority in the Insurrection Act of 1807, which authorized the president to use the Army when it became “impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State or Territory by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings.” In short: When mobs threaten federal law, the president has the duty — and the power — to act.

What Posse Comitatus really meant

Before 1878, federal marshals could deputize Army units as a local posse. That pulled soldiers out of their chain of command and placed them under partisan officials. Officers objected, rightly fearing the practice would corrupt the Army. They welcomed congressional intervention.

The Posse Comitatus Act corrected that flaw. It barred the military from being drafted by civil authorities except when the Constitution or Congress explicitly authorized it. The Act did not strip the president of power. It reaffirmed that only the president, acting under constitutional authority, could commit troops to restore order.

History bears this out. The U.S. military has intervened in domestic affairs 167 times since America’s founding. Soldiers put down the Whiskey Rebellion in the 1790s, enforced fugitive slave laws in the 1850s, and captured John Brown at Harpers Ferry in 1859. After the Civil War, troops secured polling places so freedmen could vote. The Act was not written to stop such uses, but to prevent local abuse.

As scholar John Brinkerhoff explained in 2002, “All that [the Posse Comitatus Act] really did was to repeal a doctrine whose only substantial foundation was an opinion by an attorney general. ... The president’s power to use both regulars and militia remained undisturbed.”

Why Breyer is wrong

Judge Breyer’s ruling misreads both history and law. By treating Posse Comitatus as a blanket prohibition, he ignores the Constitution and the Insurrection Act. His injunction assumes any federal troop support is unlawful. But the law says otherwise: Troops cannot be used under lesser authority than the president’s. Trump acted as president. That is the highest authority the law contemplates.

The Ninth Circuit has already acknowledged the seriousness of the case by issuing a partial stay. That matters. Pulling remaining troops before the courts finish their review risks chaos. Keeping them in place while the appeal proceeds protects public order.

RELATED:A president’s job is to stop the burning if governors won’t

Photo by SAHAB ZARIBAF/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Prudence, not prohibition

The Posse Comitatus Act never emasculated the presidency. It preserved the president’s authority while removing soldiers from the clutches of local sheriffs. The only real limitation is prudence. Presidents must decide when the threat justifies force and when restraint serves the nation better.

I have opposed proposals to use the military in the so-called war on drugs and other ill-considered campaigns. Prudence matters. But the Constitution is clear: When federal law is under assault, the president can act.

The real danger comes not from Trump’s use of the National Guard, but from a judiciary willing to invent limits the Constitution never imposed. Los Angeles cannot be allowed to burn while mobs terrorize federal officers. The president has the duty to restore order.

That is why the administration is right to appeal. The courts should correct this error and reaffirm what the Constitution already guarantees: the president’s authority to protect the republic against domestic violence.

Indiana’s sellout, Iowa’s stand



Over the weekend, Indiana’s lieutenant governor decided to show his cards. On social media, he boasted of supporting the importation of 40,000 Haitians into his state. Then, in a tacit admission that he knew how wrong this was, he shut off the comments, then deleted the post.

If he’s so proud of turning his state into a third-world dumping ground, why silence the people who elected him? Because he knows his constituents — Trump voters in a state the president won by 20 points in 2024 — vehemently reject it. He tried backtracking with another post, but that was too little, too late.

America’s culture comes from Americans. Indiana deserves leaders who understand that. Iowa will have one.

When a Republican openly advocates something his base opposes, he’s telling you whom he serves. Not the people of Indiana. Not the voters of the GOP. He serves the corporatist and globalist interests that see middle America as expendable.

The real divide

This fight is no longer Republican versus Democrat. It isn’t conservative versus liberal. The real question is simple: Do you believe America is for Americans or not?

Do landowners in Iowa actually own their land, or are they just maintaining it and paying taxes on it until some globalist interest comes along and decides to take it? Do the people of Indiana get to pass on their heritage, or must they watch it be erased by forced demographic change?

Democrats like Tim Walz in Minnesota and Rob Sand in my home state of Iowa are eager to impose that future. But too many Republicans are playing along, including Indiana’s lieutenant governor.

What’s at stake

I’m running for governor because part of a governor’s job is to protect and preserve the culture of his state. And culture begins with people — families and communities who built the heartland on hard work, dedication, grit, integrity, and a belief that a holy and righteous God still rewards such things with peace and prosperity.

That means ending the punishment of Americans who play by the rules, only to be undercut for cheap labor and political power. Donald Trump understood this, which is why he became the most successful Republican leader of the modern era. Yet too many in the party haven’t learned the lesson — or refuse to.

RELATED:A storm is brewing in Iowa — and Republicans should take note: ‘There are danger signs’

Photo by Dee Liu via Getty Images

Iowa’s fight

Here is what must be done to preserve our way of life.

We need an economy that works for families — not for Wall Street. As governor, I will launch the largest skilled-trade expansion in Iowa’s history. These are good jobs AI won’t erase, jobs that don’t require sending our kids off to universities that saddle them with six figures in student loan debt and leftist indoctrination.

Our communities must shape government, not the other way around. They are not cogs in the globalist-corporatist machine. They are the bedrock of America’s culture, traditions, and faith. They built the greatest nation in history, and they deserve protection.

America’s culture comes from Americans. Indiana deserves leaders who understand that. Iowa will have one. If elected governor, I will use every power vested in me to protect and preserve Iowa’s culture — a culture rooted in Iowans themselves.

From Silicon Valley to Moscow, a supply chain of death



As Ukrainian cities suffer under the escalating Russian missile and drone attacks, an unsettling truth has emerged: The weapons killing innocent Ukrainians are powered by components sold by European and even U.S. companies. Confirmed across multiple investigations, these Western-made electronics are frequently found in wreckage from Russian attacks.

The Ukrainian National Police document war crimes, and in the wreckage of Russian jets and drones, they’re finding Western-made sensors, microchips, and navigation systems.

Companies whose products powered Russian weapons may find that in the court of global opinion, they’re the next Switzerland.

This is a modern echo of an old disgrace: Switzerland’s wartime profiteering during World War II. While claiming neutrality, Switzerland sold munitions to Nazi Germany. Today, many Western firms appear similar on paper — even as their products power violence in practice.

Ukrainians pay the price

The consequences, then and now, are devastating. Ukrainians bury their loved ones while billions of dollars move through “innocent” supply chains — supply chains that ultimately help lead to the very funerals and heartbreak we see today.

A 2023 study by a Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty investigative unit found more than 2,000 different electronic components — many made by U.S., Japanese, and Taiwanese firms — inside five types of Russian Sukhoi warplanes.

Friends of mine in the Ukrainian National Police confirmed that Western-made parts routinely show up in missiles and surveillance gear recovered after attacks. These items often pass through intermediary nations, such as China, Turkey, and even some EU member states, shielding the original suppliers.

‘Out of our hands’

How do the companies respond when questioned? Most point to legal compliance, third-party distributors, and plausible deniability. “We didn’t know,” they say. “It’s out of our hands.”

But when a buyer in a Russia-aligned country suddenly orders 2,000 units of a component normally purchased in batches of 100, it shouldn’t just raise a red flag — it should sound a blaring siren, a warning no one can miss.

Imagine you’re the CEO of an imaginary company, East Elbonian MicroSystems, a U.S.-based manufacturer of high-frequency guidance chips used in both civilian drones and industrial automation. For five years, you’ve sold 100 units annually to a Turkish buyer.

Suddenly, your Turkish buyer places an order for 2,000 chips. The order comes with an up-front payment and a request for expedited delivery. You have recently read reports that chips identical to yours have been recovered from the wreckage of Russian missiles that struck Ukrainian hospitals and apartment buildings.

You don’t wait. You send a senior compliance officer to Istanbul, unannounced. “We need to see where these chips are going,” the officer says upon arrival at your Turkish buyer’s office. “We’ll need full documentation within 24 hours — sales logs, shipping manifests, end-user agreements.”

If your Turkish buyer can’t provide a legitimate explanation for the spike in orders, you terminate the relationship immediately. No more shipments. No more plausible deniability.

Legacies of shame

This is not radical. It’s standard practice in sectors like pharmaceuticals and banking. Robust end-use documentation, site visits, and statistical audits are basic components of ethical commerce. So why not in defense-adjacent tech?

The answer is as old as Switzerland’s wartime banks: profit. Tragically, the cost of not taking action is measured in shattered lives. It means more orphans growing up without parents, more widows mourning at fresh graves, more families torn apart by midnight missile strikes.

It means children losing limbs to drone shrapnel, hospitals overwhelmed with burn victims, and schools reduced to rubble. Each shipment of unchecked components contributes to a growing ledger of human suffering — paid for in blood, grief, and futures stolen before they begin.

RELATED: Survival over pride: The true test for Ukraine and Russia

Photo by Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

In the U.S., politicians from both sides of the aisle ideally would write laws mandating that all firms producing dual-use components publish regular audits and require reporting on statistically unusual purchases.

Companies would have incentives to comply. History offers a powerful cautionary tale. After World War II, Switzerland faced global outrage for war profiteering. In 1998, the complicit banks agreed to a $1.25 billion settlement. The reputational damage led to public boycotts and a tainted legacy that persists to this day.

Come clean now, or face justice

Legal consequences loom for any U.S. company complicit in war profiteering. Ukrainian investigators, particularly in the National Police, are meticulously cataloging dual-use components from other countries.

When the war ends, expect publicity and accountability to follow. Companies whose products powered Russian weapons may find that in the court of global opinion, they’re the next Switzerland.

Companies that pretend not to know where their components end up still have time to redeem themselves. But that time is running out. Remember — journalists like me may be eager to tell the world exactly what you knew and when you knew it.