 I did want to address one issue that we didn't talk about, but I've talked about in the past, but I was inspired today to talk about it again because of an article I read about this and a poem I read, and I'm going to read you a poem. So those of you who don't want to hear me read a poem, leave, right? So I'm going to read you a poem. But I want to just say something and I've said this before, but I want to say it again, given what's just happened in Afghanistan, just attribute really to the men and women who join our military, who are volunteers, and particularly the men and women who joined the military after 9-11, many of whom I think joined for the right reason, their country was under attack, freedom, liberty, their way of life was under attack, their families were under attack, and they joined for very selfish reasons. They joined to fight for the values that they believed in. They joined to fight for a country they still believed in and for what they thought, at least it represented. And those men and women have been betrayed. They've been stabbed in the back. They've been put out there as sacrificial lambs, sheep led to the slaughter in the name of nation building, in the name of altruism, in the name of buying the hearts and minds of our enemies, in the name of, I don't know, but in the name of bad military strategy and cowardly politicians and the evil of altruism. And while I have zero sympathy to the generals, zero sympathy to Joint Chiefs of Staff, I really do care about the soldiers. And I do believe that we have experienced over the last 20 years a great tragedy when it comes to those soldiers and not just the 5,000 or 6,000 who were killed, the tens of thousands who were maimed, injured, lives were changed forever, but the hundreds of thousands who served put their life at risk at the end of the day for no reason. They had a reason, but our political leaders did not. They did not live up to the value of these young men and women represented, to the value that these young men and women embraced that led them to go and serve in the military. And it, you know, I think more than anything, we saw this a few weeks ago when Kabul was overrun, troops were deployed to the Afghan airport to facilitate the, you know, the evacuation of American soldiers, American diplomats, American, Americans in Afghanistan, and to evacuate at least a small portion of the people who helped us and who we had promised that they could come to the United States. And these troops were placed in an impossible situation, a truly impossible situation. They were undermanned, understaffed, surrounded by the enemy, civilians all around them, a consequence of failed strategy for 20 years that allowed the enemy to thrive and win and be successful. And 13, 13 Marines died in a suicide attack on that day. And you know, I say this often, but it just drives me crazy, right? Nobody seemed to care. Not a single general resigned because of the intelligence and military failure that was involved in what took place, both with the suicide bomber, but more importantly, with the Taliban overthrowing Afghanistan to give a Kabul like that, and nobody saw it coming. No politician took responsibility. The president of the United States certainly didn't. Yes, he went to receive the bodies, but I think he was looking at his watch to see when this will all be over, so he could get back to the White House to do whatever he does. It was a disgusting disgrace in terms of the tragedy that these soldiers suffer, the consequence of a military and political leadership that doesn't care about them. I mean, let's be honest, doesn't care about them. There's a line in the poem that I'm going to read that I want you to really ponder and focus on. It comes early in the poem, but it's maybe the most important one. Well, it's more than a line. It's three lines. There's not to make reply. There's not to reason why there's but to do and die. So this poem was written about a true event in the Crimean War. This is a war between England and Russia, and it doesn't matter the details of the war, but it is a war in which a brigade of light brigade, there was light writers, because of a real error, a mistake of the generals, a political blunder, a military blunder were sent to their death. It's the charge of the light brigade. It's by Alfred Lloyd Tennyson. So I'm going to read it. I'm not a great reader poetry, so but I think it's, I think it represents, it doesn't really convey everything, but it just gives the, it gives a dramatic illustration of what is involved, the kind of betrayal that's involved. Hopefully you appreciate this half a league, half a league, half a league onward, all in the valley of death rode the 600 forward the light brigade charge for the guns he said into the valley of death rode the 600 forward the light brigade was they a man dismayed not though the soldiers knew someone had blended there's not to make reply. There's not to reason why there's but to do and die into the valley of death rode the 600 cannon to the right of them cannon to the left of them cannon in front of them volleyed and thundered storm that was shot and shell boldly they rode and well into the jaws of death into the mouth of hell rode the 600 flashed all their sabers bare flashed as they turned in air sabering the gunners there charged an army while all the world wondered plunged in the battery smoke right through the line they broke cossack and russian reeled from the sabers stroke shattered and sundered then they rode back but not not the 600 cannon to the right of them cannon to the left of them cannon behind them volleyed and thundered stormed at with shot and shell while the horse and hero fell they had fought so well came through the jaws of death back from the mouth of hell all there was left of them left of 600 when can they glory fade oh the wild charge they made all the world wondered honor the charge they made honor the light brigade noble 600 so if we do nothing else let us honor the soldiers the men and women who have fought for their values but for us for our values have fought to make us safe and who because of their innocence and because of their virtues fell as those in the light brigade fell because of the incompetence the betrayal the immorality the treason yes the treason of their commanding officers and the politicians so you know if i had a hat i take it off to to those troops in iraq in afghanistan and all over you know they they're dying today not today but they're dying to this day in africa all over the world in what they think is the fence of this country but that's innocence i don't blame them i blame the people who should know better what we need today what i called a new intellectual would be any man or woman who is willing to think meaning any man or woman who knows that man's life must be guided by reason by the intellect not by feelings wishes wins or mystic revelations any man or woman who values his life and who does not want to give in to today's cult of the spare cynicism and impotence and does not intend to give up the world to the dark ages and to the role of the collectivist broads all right before we go on reminder please like the show we've got 163 live listeners right now 30 likes that should be at least a hundred i figure at least a hundred of you actually like the show maybe they're like 60 of the mathews out there who hate it but but at least the people who like it you know i want to see i want to see a thumbs up there you go start liking it i want to see that go to a hundred it all it takes is a click of a click of a thing whether you're looking at this uh and and you know the likes matter it's not an issue of my ego it's an issue of the algorithm the more you like something the more the algorithm likes it so you know and if you don't like the show give it a thumbs down let's see your actual views being reflected in the likes but uh if you like it don't just sit there help get the show promoted of course you should also share and uh you can support the show at your own book show dot com slash support on patreon or subscribe star or locals uh and uh and show your support for all for for the work for the value hopefully you're receiving from this and uh and of course don't forget if you're not a subscriber even if you even if you just come here to troll or even if you're here like Matthew to defend marks uh then uh you should subscribe because that way you'll know when to show up you'll know what shows are on when they're on you're good notified right so um yes like share subscribe support like share subscribe support there you go easy do one all of those please