OCT 2025. Blues Vol 41 No.10

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK Is America Broken? As I began writing this month’s editorial, it was 7:45 a.m. on September 11. In another minute, twenty-four years ago, a highjacked airplane would slam into floors 93-99 of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Seventeen minutes later hijacked Flight 175 would strike floors 77 to 85 of the South Tower at 9:03 am. An hour and forty-two minutes later, both towers would be piles of rubble killing 2,977 people including 343 firefighters, 71 police officers, 8 paramedics, and 55 military personnel. Thousands more would die in later years from illnesses linked to exposure to toxic dust and debris at Ground Zero. The only positive thing to come out of 9/11 was it united us all with a common goal - fight the enemy not each other. But that national unity began to erode within months due to partisan politics and differing views on the subsequent "War on Terror". By 2002, the initial surge of bipartisanship was gone, and by 2003, divisions over the Iraq War had grown into major rifts. It was politics as usual, and we were once again at war with each other. The Left vs The Right. Today’s America is no different than it was before 9/11. Evil monsters still roam our streets 6 The BLUES OCTOBER ‘25 killing the innocent. On August 22, 2025, a beautiful 23-year-old Ukrainian woman, Iryna Zarutska, was going home after work in North Carolina on a light rail train when a monster stabbed her to death for no reason at all. Iryna fled to America to escape the war in Ukraine only to be killed on her way home from work in America where she thought she could live and work without fear of death. Five days later, Robin Westman, a mentally ill transgender woman who was obsessed with school shootings and killing young children, would fire over 100 rounds into a Catholic church in Minneapolis. He/She killed two beautiful children, 10-year-old Harper Moyski, and 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and wounded 17 others. Innocent kids just praying in church. And just yesterday, on September 10, a political assassin shot and killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk during an event in Utah. The suspect was identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson who was in a romantic relationship with his transgender roommate. “This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation," said Utah Governor Cox during a press conference. "I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination.” "Nothing I say can unite us as a country ... Nothing I can say will bring back Charlie Kirk," Cox said. "Our hearts are broken ... we mourn as a nation." "We just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be. To ask ourselves, is this it? Is this what 250 years has wrought on us? I pray that that's not the case," he said. "I pray that those that hated what Charlie Kirk stood for will put down their social media and their pens and pray for his family, and that all of us will try to find a way to stop hating our fellow Americans." Despite the touching and poignant words from Governor Cox, the sick and twisted left seized on the moment when political analyst Matthew Dowd said on MSNBC:

“Kirk has been "one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this, who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups. And I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions." The asshat was fired later that night for his hateful words. But Dowd couldn’t have been more wrong. Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, was a loving husband to wife Erika and an unbelievable father to his 3-year daughter and 1-year old son. First lady Melania Trump offered her condolences to the Kirk family on X: "Charlie’s children will be raised with stories instead of memories, photographs instead of laughter, and silence where their father’s voice should have echoed. Charlie Kirk’s life should serve as a symbolic reminder that compassionate awareness elevates family, love, and country." I met Charlie at a GOP fund raising event in Houston a couple of years ago. He was the sincerest, most caring young man I had ever met at a campaign event, and I remember thinking, this guy is going to be president one day. Sadly that will never happen because a monster took him from us way too soon. President Trump posted a video on X hours after the shooting saying, “Charlie was the best of America, and the monster who attacked him was attacking our whole country,” Mr. Trump said. “An assassin tried to silence him with a bullet, but he failed because together we will ensure that his voice, his message and his legacy will live on for countless generations to come.” On this day, not only are we remembering those we lost on 9/11, but we mourn the loss of all our brothers and sisters we’ve lost in this country due to violence. Perhaps it’s time we think back to the days after 9/11 when America was united and we stood by each other, focused our anger on the real enemies of America and not each other. Political violence has no place in America. Violence in our schools and churches has no place in America. Violence against one another has no place in America and it needs to end now. Martin Luther King Jr said it best “Violence never brings permanent peace" and "Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it" The BLUES - OCTOBER ‘25 7