Before the engines roared at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, the world’s largest single-day sporting event pulled off the ultimate tribute to America’s fighting forces: total, spine-tingling silence. Nearly 400,000 fans packed into the Brickyard for the 110th running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” but before the green flag waved, the massive crowd went completely silent as the somber, 24-note melody of “Taps” echoed across the track in honor of America’s fallen service members. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) couldn’t help but marvel at the powerful moment, taking to X to declare it the highlight of his holiday weekend. “Our country never takes for granted the profound sacrifices that have been made in the defense of freedom,” Johnson wrote. Our best moment of the Indy 500 yesterday was when nearly 400,000 Americans at the world’s largest single-day sporting event went completely silent for the playing of Taps. Our country never takes for granted the profound sacrifices that have been made in the defense of… pic.twitter.com/HZWUdhRavP — Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) May 25, 2026 For more than 75 years, “Taps” has been the emotional cornerstone of the Indy 500’s pre-race pageantry. Played by a lone bugler and accompanied by a military rifle volley, it’s the ultimate “calm before the storm.” But this hauntingly beautiful tune wasn’t born in a cozy studio. It was forged in the bloody trenches of the Civil War. In July 1862, Union General Daniel Butterfield decided the Army’s standard “Lights Out” call was way too harsh for exhausted soldiers who had just survived horrific combat. Lacking any musical training, Butterfield hummed a new melody to his brigade bugler, Oliver Wilcox Norton, who scratched out the notes on the back of an envelope. The battlefield lullaby quickly morphed into a funeral farewell. During that same campaign, Captain John C. Tidball used the new tune to bury a soldier, fearing that a traditional three-gun salute would tip off nearby Confederate troops. By 1891, the U.S. Army made the 24-note salute mandatory for all military funerals, locking it into American history forever. Sunday’s race needed that peaceful moment, because what followed was absolute, unadulterated chaos in a finish worthy of Indy history. In a late restart on the final lap, David Malukas snatched the lead, seemingly destined for his first Indy 500 win. But Felix Rosenqvist had other plans. In a gutsy, high-octane move right after the final turn, Rosenqvist roared into the outside lane, passing Malukas with just feet to spare. When the smoke cleared, Rosenqvist snagged the checkered flag by a razor-thin 0.0233 seconds—the absolute closest finish in Indy 500 history. FELIX ROSENQVIST WINS THE CLOSEST FINISH IN INDY 500 HISTORY! pic.twitter.com/BBGobsgX3I — INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) May 24, 2026 From a breathtaking moment of silence honoring America’s bravest, straight to a historic fraction-of-a-second photo finish— an American Memorial Day weekend.

In a stirring, emotional and inspiring commencement speech at West Point, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth perfectly articulated the warrior’s credo for the graduates while he devastated the woke ideology that had permeated the military in recent years. “On a day like today, there’s no better way to start than with a word from Scripture,” he began. “And on a day as special as this, for the 998 great Americans of this class, there’s no more fitting verse than from Isaiah 6:8: Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said. “Here I am. Send me.” “Many of you, even in your short time in uniform, have endured what I call the slow slide of the U. S. Army,” Hegseth recalled. “You’ve seen standards lowered. You’ve seen an obsession with race and gender. You’ve seen the watering down of discipline, codes weakened and traditions tossed aside in the name of political correctness. Statues taken down, paintings placed in the basement.” “I’m here to tell you the slow slide here at West Point and across the United States Army is over,” he declared. “Political leaders with ideological agendas and weak military leaders who were just looking to curry favor for the next star allowed our cherished army to slide off our true north. But you, our warriors, will snap it back. You are the future. Others may have allowed it to slide away. You will not. You will restore our army. And I will empower you to do it.” “The single dumbest phrase in military history was peddled in our army only a few short years ago,” he continued. “You’ve all heard it, maybe in your first two years at West Point: ‘Our diversity is our strength.’” “The single dumbest phrase in military history,” he stated. “We had generals saying this with a straight face on national television. It was absolute nonsense. Now, these sorts of silly things can be laughed at when they occur in a civilian lounge or civilian faculty lounge or debated in graduate seminars. But they cannot be tolerated in our formations. These ideas are what get people killed. Diversity is not our strength. Unity is our strength.” “When you’re out there in your formations as platoon leaders at the tip of the spear,” he said, “You will not compromise; you will not seek color, and you will not try to meet arbitrary quotas based on immutable characteristics. You do not have time to celebrate identity months. And you will not make excuses for yourselves and you will not accept excuses from others. You will lead. That’s what this academy has trained you to do, to lead us.” “There’s no substitute for preparation ever,” he said. “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Plan for recovery, resupply, alternate communications, rehearse and refine.” He turned to his ow personal history to illustrate his point: The first air assault I ever did, leading a platoon in Baghdad in the middle of the night on an al-Qaeda objective, we had 36 hours to prepare, and I spent every minute of those 36 hours preparing. It paid off. Because when the pilots dropped us a few hundred meters in the wrong spot in the middle of a mud field and the GPS didn’t work, there was one man that platoon was looking at. It was me. And because I’d done every map recon, every satellite imagery recon, every recon I could, I had a general sense of where we were and could orient at that moment in the right direction. If I had not prepared, they would have looked at me and I would have looked right back at them. And nothing I did was perfect. Nothing you’ll do will be perfect, but at least you can prepare. Always be the most prepared member in your unit.  Be decisive and be aggressive. Pick a course of action and carry it through until you have a point to reassess. Second guessing. Set the example and display courage. Both physically and morally to make the tough calls, especially when it’s not popular. It doesn’t mean you won’t be afraid. But it means you will be prepared to push through it. Know the purpose of your mission and explain it to your soldiers. “My job is easy,” he said. “Your job is hard. Your job is to forge a team of American soldiers who will stand tall, not back down, look the enemy in the eye, and whisper, ‘Send us.’ You are in the profession of arms. You feel comfortable inside the violence, so that our fellow citizens can live peacefully. Lethality is your calling card, and victory our only acceptable end state.” “My seven kids are here with me today,” he noted. “My wife, Janie, and I brought them. Our oldest is 15 years old. He may. look at attending West Point one day. Or heaven forbid, the Naval Academy,” he joked. “Who knows? We have five boys and two girls, all Americans, all children of God. I don’t know what path God will choose for them. And I know that I’ll fiercely love them no matter what they do. But I can tell you this, nothing in the world would make me prouder than to hear one of them stand up and proclaim, ‘Send me.’” “We live in a culture of clickbait and rage bait and vapid social media and celebrity gossip,” he said. “In a world like that, it’s really easy to get distracted and lost. And no matter what my kids end up choosing, I pray like this audience: they choose substance. I pray they choose service. And I pray they choose purpose. ‘Send me’ is the timeless, selfless call to service. It’s the craving to serve something greater than yourself.”

Democrats around the country, including California’s Gavin Newson, are up in arms over spikes in gas prices caused by President Donald Trump’s war against Iran. Missing in their condemnations is any acknowledgement that nobody is better at spiking gas prices than Democrats. An analysis of AAA gasoline prices found that drivers in states led by Democrats are paying an average of 41 cents more than drivers in Republican states. Blue states currently average about $4.78 per gallon while red states average $4.37 per gallon Drivers are hit by the blue-state premium regardless of whether the United States is at war with Iran or not.  States such as California, Washington, Oregon, and New York have implemented various carbon pricing systems, low-carbon fuel standards, emissions mandates, or cap-and-trade programs that place additional costs on fuel producers and refiners. Consumers in those states often see those carbon emission fees reflected at the gas pump as producers pass the costs on alongside already high state taxes. California charges a $0.70 tax per gallon of tax, Illinois $0.66, Washington $0.59 with the rest trailing from there with a majority of these states having automatic increases for inflation.  Leading the pack is California, where gas is currently $6.14 per gallon. The price is driven up by massive taxes, and costly green initiatives that make high gas prices inescapable for drivers. Economist Severin Borenstein of UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business Energy Institute said that California’s gas is over a $1.50 higher than the national average “due to the higher taxes we have, the environmental fees we have and that we use a cleaner burning gasoline.” California law requires that the only fuel allowed is California Reformulated Gasoline, a highly regulated gasoline blend that is more expensive. Yet Newsom has used the increase caused by unrest in the Middle East as a political cudgel against Trump. Earlier this year he said that the “average price of gas is up 50 cents nationally since Trump launched his war with Iran — the fastest spike at the pump in years.” “No amount of spin from Trump and his lackeys can cover up the fact that Americans shelled out an extra $1.5 billion for gas this past week because of his disastrous war with Iran,” Newsom said. Democratic Senator Patty Murray, who represents Washington, home of the second-highest gas prices in the country, said last month, “Gas prices and energy prices are surging. Trump wants to totally defund programs that help drive down costs.” She added that the Trump administration has blamed Joe Biden’s clean energy policies for causing price increases, saying, “I guess I missed the part where Joe Biden declared war on Iran.” Washington has a 55 cent tax on every single gallon of gas, and also has strict mandates for special blends of fuel that are more expensive. When it comes to energy prices, Democrats regularly fight against initiatives that would make things cheaper for consumers. New York’s Kathy Hochul, for example, blocked a new pipeline from being built that would dramatically reduce costs for energy in her state. The American Energy Alliance says “residents are stuck with higher natural gas prices due to having to import natural gas from overseas as a result of regulatory restrictions preventing the construction of much-needed pipeline infrastructure.” Hochul was backed by liberals in the U.S. Congress, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Their statement lists concerns about “environmental justice,” “climate goals,” and “marine ecosystems,” without mentioning cost of living. “This project, which would bury 17 miles of fracked gas pipeline under the ocean floor in ecologically sensitive waters near Staten Island and the Rockaway Peninsula, poses significant and far-reaching implications for public health, environmental justice communities, climate goals and marine ecosystems,” they said.  Yet Hochul and other top Democrats in New York are slamming Trump for the Iran war. “War with Iran and tariffs are driving up gas prices across the state,” Hochul said. “ New Yorkers shouldn’t have to foot the bill for the mess Washington Republicans created.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) similarly argued last week that “Americans are paying over $4.50 a gallon for gas because Trump refuses to end this war.”

Former MTV reality television star Spencer Pratt is the first to admit that he has no political experience — but he says he does have a plan to help the homeless in Los Angeles if he’s elected mayor, and it’s modeled on a veteran training center in Arkansas. Pratt, speaking with CNN’s Elex Michaelson, said that he wanted to build a rehabilitation center for homeless addicts — a move that he argues would swiftly and dramatically cut down the number of homeless in L.A. — similar to a training center for military veterans operating in Bentonville, Arkansas. “You don’t get off these drugs with beds,” Pratt said, digging at incumbent Democratic Mayor Karen Bass, whose plan was to throw more money, clean needles, and shelters at the problem. “You need support. You need a real solution. And what’s happening? We’ve done it now, what, for 10 years. Their plan does not work. Their experience is complete failure. This is not Spencer saying this. This is every single person with eyeballs driving around L.A.” Instead, Pratt argues that the treatment should be mandatory and that those in treatment should be pushed not just toward recovery but toward the skills and discipline that will help them succeed. “If they want to come back to the city, we have a job for them — not just a bed off Skid Row,” Pratt explained. “They’re sober off fentanyl for two days, they go into a bed, they come out right back on to where all the drugs [are]. We need to actually help these people and get that back into society.” The model is the University of Health and Performance (UHP), a 19-day immersive training program designed to help veterans transition from military to civilian life. Tuition, meals, health and fitness instruction, and lodging are all free — and veterans leave with the confidence and skills to build a new civilian life. Pratt told Michaelson he was eyeing property in “beautiful nature” and had already approached several people about helping fund the project. In addition, he said he wanted to bring in “top doctors” to make sure he was doing things the right way, because he wanted the center to become “a shining light of hope.” “You need to offer people a chance,” he said. “It’s going to be somewhere where people will go, and they will say, ‘Thank God for Spencer.'” Pratt squared off with his opponents during a recent televised debate, arguing that Bass had done little to solve the problem and that Democratic socialist Councilwoman Nithya Raman’s offer of help was likely to be met by violence from addicts just looking for another fix. WATCH:

The heroic Army veteran at the center of a nasty controversy involving Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner is now speaking out, and he says the Democrats still backing Platner owe his children an explanation. According to the New York Post, Purple Heart recipient Ted Daniels blasted top Democrats for continuing to support Platner after resurfaced Reddit comments showed the candidate mocking Daniels and saying he “didn’t deserve to live” following a brutal firefight in Afghanistan. The controversy around Platner has only intensified after online critics also resurfaced images allegedly showing the Democrat with a Nazi-linked tattoo, fueling even more backlash surrounding the campaign. Daniels, whose helmet-cam footage from a 2012 Taliban ambush went massively viral years ago, told the Post he doesn’t even want an apology from Platner anymore because it wouldn’t feel genuine. Instead, he said he wants liberal lawmakers like Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, and Hakeem Jeffries to explain to his kids why they are backing a candidate who mocked the possibility of their father being killed in combat. Daniels went viral years ago after helmet-cam footage showed him sprinting into open fire during a Taliban ambush while bullets ripped around him. FUNKER530 / YouTube He was reportedly hit four times while trying to pull enemy fire away from the rest of his squad. Every member of his team survived, and Daniels later received a Purple Heart for his injuries. Years later, Platner, now the presumptive Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, allegedly mocked Daniels on a burner Reddit account, calling him a “dumb motherf*cker” and saying he should not have survived. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) The New York Post reported that Platner has since deleted large portions of the account history. Daniels also criticized Platner over past comments targeting Chris Kyle and Vice President JD Vance over their military service. “I don’t understand the hatred toward veterans who served honorably,” Daniels told the New York Post. “That part gets me.” Platner has defended himself by pointing to his own military service, saying accusations that he disrespects veterans are “offensive” and “slanderous.” He has not apologized for the comments. Despite everything, Daniels said he is not attacking Platner’s military record and still considers him “a brother” because of his service. But he also suggested it’s a lot easier to trash someone online than say those things face-to-face. The controversy exploded even further after Dave Portnoy publicly torched Platner over the tattoo controversy while rejecting an apparent attempt by the campaign to get Barstool involved in an anti-private-equity Red Sox message push. Portnoy blasted Platner in a private exchange. “Yeah I’d be happy to talk to him about that tattoo and him being a Nazi,” Portnoy wrote before later posting screenshots of the exchange online.