A happy welcome to Thanksgiving week!

An estimated 55.4 million of us will be traveling this Thanksgiving, according to AAA. That’s up 2.3% from last year and will be the third highest Thanksgiving travel period since 2000.

But before we get packin’, snackin’ and scootin’, let’s gulp us down some Brew. (And maybe get a lump in our throats.)

A Remarkable Moment of Silence

We kick off with a beautiful moment from the world of soccer. The under-21 teams for Israel and Poland were set to play a match Friday night. The UEFA (Union of European Football Association) rejected calls for a moment of silence to recognize the horror of October 7.

So what did these two young teams do? Nothing.

The ref blew the whistle to start the match, and neither team moved. For one minute, all the players stood for a moment of silence to commemorate those lost.

UEFA refused to organize a minute of silence before the start of the match between #Israel and Poland (under-21 team). In response, the two teams decided not to play the first minute of the match and observe a minute of silence in homage to the victims of #7October pic.twitter.com/wcwojTDBUy

— Michael Weingardt (@Michael_Wgd) November 17, 2023

Speaker Johnson Releases J6 Tapes

Finally. After nearly three years, lots of “narrative,” and an extraordinary effort to keep them from the light of day, the J6 Tapes have been released to the public.

Speaker Mike Johnson says his decision to release the remaining footage “will provide millions of Americans, criminal defendants, public interest organizations, and the media an ability to see for themselves what happened that day, rather than having to rely upon the interpretation of a small group of government officials.”

Follow the link below to view the January 6th tapes for yourself.

To restore America’s trust and faith in their Government we must have transparency. This is another step towards keeping the promises I made when I was elected to be your Speaker.

This website will be updated…

— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) November 17, 2023

Yeah, there was trouble on January 6. Some real ugliness. But the tapes are revealing a much fuller picture, a more honest picture. Especially when set against the narrative imprinted on the nation. Especially when people are rotting in prison who were denied access to the exculpatory evidence found on these tapes. Especially for those who took their lives after being called terrorists by the nation they loved. 

Let’s take a look, shall we, at the worst assault on our nation since 9/11, since Pearl Harbor, since the Civil War, since the Fall of Man!

Remember when corporate media called this the most dangerous attack on our country since the civil war? pic.twitter.com/SyJviVVvEW

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) November 17, 2023

Insurrectionists? I guarantee you’ll see more rowdy crowds at the mall Black Friday. Yet people who entered the Capitol whose only interaction with cops was a welcoming nod or a query about the location of the closest restrooms had their lives ruined. Why? And why were these tens of thousands of hours buried?

Could it be because of perplexing footage like this? Does it prove an “inside job”? No, but what in the world?!

🔥🚨BREAKING: The recent release of the J6 videos by Speaker Johnson appears to be proving the insurrection was an inside job.

In this video alone we can see that Capitol police release a ‘protester’ and allowed him to keep his gear after he got out of view. pic.twitter.com/p78iVQ8bLE

— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) November 17, 2023

“Here, dangerous insurrectionist here to overthrow the government. Here’s your suspicious bag of stuff back. Oh, a fist-bump for your trouble.” Who fist-bumps insurrectionists? Teammates, on the other hand … 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene is calling for a new J6 Select Committee. “There needs to be investigations and accountability for all the lies, deceit and lives ruined,” she tweeted Sunday.

And what of Pelosi’s prime time-loving, evidence falsifying, one-side presenting J6 Committee? Sen. Mike Lee is calling for an investigation into them. He wants to know what the committee “deliberately hid from us.”

Our John Zmirak has posted a powerful article about Johnson’s action called “By Releasing the J6 Tapes, Speaker Johnson May Have Saved America.”

An Apology to Our Heroes Might Be Nice: Army Invites Back Those Kicked Out Over COVID Vax Refusal 

No apology, but the equivalent of a “Baby, Please Come Home.” The U.S. Army has sent letters to those servicemen and women booted for refusing to take the mandated COVID-19 vaccine. The letter tells the warriors that with he lifting of the COVID-19 mandate, they can contact the Army to correct the “involuntary separation” black mark on their record. And they can re-up: “Individuals who desire to apply to return to service should contact their local Army, US Army Reserve (USAR) or Army National Guard (ARNG) recruiter for more information.”

Army invites back all the soldiers it kicked out for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/HCGXNpkmyD

— Kevin Bass PhD MS (@kevinnbass) November 17, 2023

Biden’s woke military is not only facing woeful recruiting shortfalls — the “worst in a generation,” says TaskandPurpose.com — it also faces the possibility of a widespread war in the Middle East, to say nothing of what may happen in Ukraine or Taiwan.

But who is going to re-enlist in an Army that treated them so poorly, and who still cares more for diversity than defense? And again, where is the apology for those who were forced out? Or, for that matter, the apology to the healthy men and women in the military forced to take a vaccine that is delivering more harm to the young then good? It’s one thing to die protecting your country. It’s another to die protecting Pfizer’s profit margin. 

Springsteen Threating to Bolt Country if Trump Re-Elected? Or is an Old Joke Being Recycled?

Twitterverse lit up Friday with the story that Bruce Springsteen was joining the ranks of Barbara Streisand, Cher and Madonna in threatening to leave the country if Trump were re-elected in 2024.

Look. Streisand’s always been a snooty liberal. Cher tends to gripe about things as a matter of course. Madonna? The lady who dreamed of blowing up the White House with Trump in it the first go around? Since she’s a woman worth a quarter a billion dollars with a terrorist’s heart and a desperate need for attention, it’s probably safer if she’s not in the country. But Bruce? The Boss? That one hurt.

I know Springsteen is a big liberal, hanging with the elites, writing books with Obama. But turning his back on America? Leaving Jersey? Spitting in the face of those who vote a different way … in essence, betraying the hard-working, put upon, struggling characters he made famous in his songs?!

I heard the words of his great song, “Youngstown”:

From the Monongahela Valley
To the Mesabi iron range
To the coal mines of Appalachia
The story’s always the same.
700 tons of metal a day, sir, you tell me the world’s changed.
Once I made you rich enough, rich enough to forget my name …

I thought of the American family brought together by his music. And his line from “Highway Patrolman”: “Man turns his back on his family, well, he just ain’t no good.”

Yeah, the news had me in a state. Like I was riding a “Downbound Train.”

Yet here’s the thing. I’m seeing no evidence that Springsteen made any comment about leaving the U.S. if Trump were elected in 2024. If the guy who sang “Born in the U.S.A.” were bailing on the U.S.A. it’d be everywhere. The only thing close is a joke made a couple weeks before the 2020 election during a tour in Australia. “I love Australia,” Springsteen told the Australian press. “Every time, we have nothing but good times down there. It’s always a treat to come. Love the people, love the geography, great place for motorcycle trips, it’s close to our hearts.  If Trump is re-elected — which he will not be; I’m predicting right now he’s gonna lose — if by some happenstance he should be, I’ll see you on the next plane.”

Newsweek rewrote its story about the quote after it became clear Springsteen only meant it in jest while schmoozing the Aussies.

Now Springsteen may well say he’s gone if Trump returns in 2024. But the avalanche of criticism and calls of “good riddance!” based on a tweet that seems based on an old joke is unfair to the man.   

And a perfect example of why we need caution and care when reacting to anything on X.

Perhaps when using social media we should make the same vow Springsteen makes in one of his obscure nuggets: “You be true to me and I’ll be true to you.”

Along The Stream

With a long holiday weekend coming up, let’s talk books and movies:

Mark Judge reviews “Muzzle: A Powerful Movie About Honor, Made By People Who Don’t Hate Americans or Christians.”

Watch Nancy Flory interview Casting Crowns’ lead singer Mark Hall about “Casting Crowns’ Documentary Home By Sunday Released to Theaters November 30.”

She also talks to author Jerry Jenkins about his third novel based on The Chosen series, And I Will Give You Rest.

Plus we mark the passing of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and co-author of the counter-terrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.