Video - Mike Gallagher

A memorial meant to honor faith, country, and a slain father was smeared in red within days of its unveiling. Online, some adults didn’t condemn it—they joked, vowed they’d do it again, and treated political murder like a punchline. Others are writing wills. The question isn’t only who held the spray can. It’s what kind of movement now finds that funny—and whether anyone still expects a conversation with it.

Fear is a reliable tool. It has been used before—cooling, Y2K, warming, COVID—and now it is being used again with AI. The latest wave arrived almost overnight, amplified by the very companies that stand to gain from rules that slow everyone else down. The record of these alarms is poor. That does not mean ignore risk. It means refuse to hand Congress the keys just because the clock is said to be ticking.

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Mike continues his annual tradition of playing this special message.

Mike and Joey look back 25 years later: pager messages that kept New York and South Carolina talking after the towers fell, Mike’s live audio from the Empire State Building as the second plane hit, and their first stunned reactions as the attack unfolded.

GOP organizers are betting a first-of-its-kind midterm convention and the president’s unmatched political showmanship can drive turnout the way a recent targeted rally delivered a 70% local win. Mainstream networks appear uninterested (and football is on), even as supporters argue the event is part of a years-ahead plan to hold Congress—and avoid the chaos they say Democrats have already previewed.

For years after 9/11, saying goodbye stopped at the checkpoint. A limited new program called "Gateside by TSA PreCheck" now lets vetted family members go all the way to the plane—so a child flying to grandma doesn’t have to leave mom and dad at security. It’s a small, overdue step back toward the ordinary life airports used to allow.

Republicans gather in Dallas with control of Congress on the line, but the steep price of participation is drawing attention. As party leaders focus on fundraising and the midterms, questions are emerging about the cost of holding power. How much is too much?

A deadlocked jury left a Massachusetts child-killing case unresolved, but the fallout did not stop. Online theories quickly targeted the father who first discovered the bodies, prompting legal threats. Attorney Kevin Reddington then went on Good Morning America to ask President Trump to pardon her. At the same time, a fundraiser appeared for her parents while callers split over a second trial versus whether the family should have intervened sooner. Reports of a copycat and an earlier similar case overseas only added to the questions now hanging over accountability, mental-health claims, and public sympathy.

A deadlocked jury after seven days leaves the judge ready to declare a mistrial in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial—until her lawyer wins one hour for a last-ditch appeal to replace the holdout instead.

A Republican treasurer-turned-governor candidate is spotlighting Pennsylvania’s tax-driven exodus and billions in overspending, while the incumbent governor quietly drops the very issues he once campaigned on.