Charles Barkley was not known for holding back on the basketball court during his 16 seasons in the NBA. After retiring and entering broadcasting, that trend continued, though his tools shifted from physical prowess to rhetorical flourishes. The man has opinions. Some are commonsense, some are controversial — such as the time he suggested that even Stevie Wonder could hit a free throw if given 23 chances to do so. On a recent episode of Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” podcast with Big Cat and PFT Commenter, he offered one of his more outlandish personal rules: he never attends weddings and only occasionally attends funerals. It sounds crazy. Only it’s not. When he explained his reasoning, it became apparent that Sir Chuck has a point, or at least a fourth or maybe even half of one. When it comes to funerals, he will make exceptions for people who were “really special,” even though, in his words, they’re not going to know he was there. For more casual acquaintances, he’s staying home. In both situations, though, his justification for doing so is the same. As he told the two hosts, “I don’t really want to go and see somebody who I liked, the last time I saw him was dead, period.” Fair point. I wholeheartedly agree with him. I’ll always regret walking past my grandfather’s casket when I was in the fourth grade. That body inside wasn’t him, or even the shell he was at the end after the stroke, and that image will stay with me until the day I die. It’s not a memory I want to be seared in my mind, but it’s never coming out. Frankly, funerals aren’t really for the person who died; they’re for the family, so maybe Barkley could try my novel approach to attending. It’s pretty complicated and involves going but not walking past the casket during the viewing portion of the service. It’s a solid tactic and one that I strongly recommend everyone employ. Remember the person for who they were when they were still operating on this plane and skip that one last look. His position on weddings is less defensible. He skips those because it’s the bride’s day and he doesn’t want to upstage her. I am not the man’s personal assistant. I do not know what weddings he’s being invited to. During that portion of “Pardon My Take,” he discussed turning down his invite to the recent low-key event at which Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce tied the knot. If he skips weddings for non-famous people to avoid upstaging the bride, he’s got a point. It’s fairly easy to imagine the bride having a less-than-stellar day because the guests, at least the male guests, spent more time trying to get autographs and pictures with Chuck rather than focusing on her and the solemn joining of two into one. When the bride is Taylor Swift, though? Yeah, he’s not going to steal any of her sparkle. It is important to note that when his daughter Christiana wed in 2021, Barkley did walk her down the aisle. Whether or not she shares her father’s views on weddings and funerals is unknown. What is known, though, is that the Round Mound of Rebound is at least honest when RSVPing rather than making up excuses, and in an increasingly discourteous world, that’s worth something. But, Charles, if you’re reading this, please send a gift from the registry for the happy celebrations. Or flowers for celebrations that end with the phrase “of life.” You may not understand how the internet works, but there are people you can call to handle such tasks for you. *** Rich Cromwell is a writer living in Northwest Arkansas. He produces the Cookin’ Up a Story podcast, which you can listen to here. You can also follow him on X: @rcromwell4

Despite all the complaining he did about the significance of his role on “Dutton Ranch,” actor Ed Harris will reportedly be returning for season two. Per sources who spoke with Deadline, the second season of the popular “Yellowstone” spinoff has already been picked up by the network, and Harris’s character will be part of the story to some degree. Harris, 75, made headlines earlier this week after going on a rant about how small his role was in the show. He did eventually admit that he thought the series was “pretty good” overall. “Midway through the first season, I was ready to say, ‘get me the f*ck out of here,’ to tell you the truth,” Harris said on the red carpet for Apple TV’s “The Dink.” “I didn’t feel I was being used. I felt very misled. Prior to signing on for it, I was talked to quite a bit about what the season was, and what my character was going to do, and that I was one of the four main characters. And that wasn’t really the case.” He brought up how one scene of him singing in a bar got cut from the finished product. “They said it was too ‘up’ for the dark ending of the episode … I’m like, ‘F*ck you people!’ That, to me, is reason enough to say, ‘I’m voiding my contract,’” Harris said. “Dutton Ranch” showrunner Chad Feehan left the series ahead of the premiere due to behind-the-scenes friction. The Deadline sources claimed that this was potentially due to how Harris’s character arc was handled, and said the actor was involved in choosing Feehan’s replacement. Paramount+ has not issued any public statements on these claims. “Yellowstone” creator and “Dutton Ranch” executive producer Taylor Sheridan has made it a habit to underutilize big stars. He’s addressed this in the past, saying he’s well aware it can cause controversy. He did the same with Demi Moore on “Landman.” “The critics are going to come after me. I’m underutilizing [Moore], can’t write for women, all this nonsense. Then I’m going to kill your husband and you’re going to have to run the oil company. The critics and me … I don’t care what they think, and it annoys the sh*t out of them that I don’t care. I’ll be the first to tell you that there are things that I do that rage-bait them a bit, and this is one of them. F*ck ’em, honestly,” Sheridan said last month, as The Daily Wire previously reported.

Democratic Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty and Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes were caught on a hot mic discussing whether disruptive activists could be barred from future city council meetings after anti-ICE protesters repeatedly hijacked a meeting this week. The exchange occurred Tuesday after the Sacramento City Council recessed and removed the audience following multiple interruptions during a contentious debate over the city’s participation in the Central California Intelligence Center (CCIC), a federally funded intelligence-sharing hub. A livestream of the meeting reviewed by Fox News captured Talamantes approaching McCarty while his microphone remained live. “We should go over this disruptions thing, because if we want to ban somebody in the future, like to take them out, we have to point out specifically …” Talamantes said. “I know, but the city attorney said we can’t do that,” McCarty replied. “We did it last time,” Talamantes responded. “We can’t,” McCarty said. “I spent my first six months going over this. I wanted to give people, like, probation, like, you can’t come …” Talamantes then reached down to turn off the microphone and the conversation continued off-camera. The discussion came after a lengthy public comment period devolved into repeated shouting matches over the city’s continued acceptance of federal funding for the intelligence center. The opponents claimed the intelligence center could facilitate cooperation with federal immigration authorities despite California’s sanctuary laws. Sacramento police however, contests that the city complies with California state law and doesn’t share any identifying information. As deliberations continued, audience members repeatedly interrupted council members. One attendee shouted at McCarty, “Kevin, I need your f*cking eyes. Kevin, listen to me. Stop being an a**hole, dude.” After Talamantes finished speaking, another protester yelled, “You’re a pick-me b*tch,” McCarty issued what he called a “final notice,” warning the audience that continued disruptions would force officials to clear the chamber. Moments later, attendees continued shouting. “You can’t do this behind closed f*cking doors!” one protester yelled. “We are the community,” another shouted. Council officials then recessed the meeting and ordered the public removed before resuming business. Afterward, McCarty revealed that the discussion away from the public concerned rules already on the books rather than any effort to create new rules on public participation. “Every Tuesday, Vice Mayor Talamantes and I are responsible for overseeing and ensuring transparent, accessible, and open Council meetings,” McCarty said in a statement. “Unfortunately, when meetings are repeatedly disrupted, we must discuss existing policies and rules to ensure Council meetings remain effective, orderly, and respectful for both the residents in attendance and the Councilmembers.” Talamantes similarly defended the discussion, saying the council has an obligation to maintain order while allowing public participation. She also condemned threats directed toward her and her family during recent meetings. Sacramento’s published rules already allow the presiding officer to warn or remove disruptive attendees and, when necessary, clear the chambers so meetings can continue. The hot-mic exchange nevertheless drew criticism from activists who attended the meeting. Joshua Masias, an organizer with the Sac Immigration Committee, argued Talamantes appeared eager to silence political opponents. “It’s very authoritative how she wants to use her power,” Masias told The Sacramento Bee. “It stuck out to me that she was the only one to try to silence the crowd.” The contentious meeting marked the latest in a string of Sacramento City Council sessions disrupted by anti-ICE activists, with several recent meetings interrupted by shouting, singing protests, and repeated confrontations between demonstrators and city officials.

My earliest museum memory isn’t an artifact of the past. It often floats from its unlocked chamber in my mind and colors my understanding — what I believe to be true about myself and the world around and above me.  It was winter in early grade school. We poured out of the bus and into the sunny snow, our senses crisp in a uniquely pre-smartphone way. Our guide led us deep into the belly of the Nebraska State Capitol, into the gallery chambers of the “living museum,” stopping to explain our history and democratic processes, a story told by each painting and relic.  As the day faded and we drew near to the exit, she stopped once more. “The Blizzard of 1888, by Jeanne Reynal,” she said, gesturing up toward a mural on the domed ceiling. I knew the story: Schoolteacher Minnie Freeman of Valley County rescued her students from the 18-hour storm by tying them together with a rope and forging through the -34 degree wind toward the nearest farmhouse. My copy of Mari Sandoz’s “Winter Thunder” was dogeared and tired.  The hand-smashed tile mural was black and speckled with indigo. Minnie was gold, her students stick-like figures bound by a single gold thread. Minnie herself was being guided by a golden tether, I noticed, to a large entity in red, its arm outstretched to shield her from the snow. “The artwork of the Capitol tells the story of Nebraska,” say the authors of “Creative Genius: The Art of the Nebraska State Capitol.” “It tells us where we came from, how we govern, how we live, how we create, and more.”  “As we take time to consider our shared histories and stories,” they write, “the artwork within the Nebraska State Capitol reminds us of where we started and where we can go.” On Capitol Hill, a different story is being told by the Smithsonian, the largest museum, education, and research complex in the world, which operates 21 museums, 14 research centers, and the National Zoo.  “Is it important to be polite?” Republican Rep. Brandon Gill asked Anetha Hartig, director of the National Museum of American History, last Tuesday.  “Yes, sir,” she answered.  “That’s interesting, because the same MASS Action Toolkit that your organization has been promoting references politeness as a defining characteristic of white supremacy culture,” he said in his Texas lilt, referring to the Museums as Sites for Social Action training material used by Director Hartig’s organization. “Ma’am, are you a white supremacist?” he asked.  “Mmm, no, sir,” she said with a hum, underlining a passage on the page in front of her in green pen.  “You’re not,” he replied. “Can you help me square why your organization says that being polite is part of being a white supremacist?”  Though the moment went viral as the hearings on the Hill wore on, no one who had been following the Smithsonian’s increasingly ideological programming was shocked. According to a chart unveiled by the National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2020, “Aspects and Assumptions of Whiteness in the United States” include the nuclear family (2.3 children being the ideal social unit), objective and rational linear thinking, hard work, timeliness, and planning for the future. “At a time when the soul of our country is being tested, our Talking About Race portal will help individuals and communities foster constructive conversations and much-needed dialogue about one of our nation’s most challenging topics: racism and its corrosive impact,” the museum began in a July 15, 2020, Twitter thread. “As an institution devoted to learning and education, we welcome those discussions while also encouraging the public to take a holistic approach and read the information in its full context,” it concluded. The African American history museum later apologized in a statement, saying, “Education is core to our mission. We thank you for helping us to be better.” Smithsonian staff said they “erred in including the chart” in their online content and removed it from their website. Yet the lesson appears to have gone unlearned. The MASS Action Toolkit, co-authored by half a dozen current and former Smithsonian staff members, was lauded in a 2022 Excellence in DEAI Report, co-authored by Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch, which praised the toolkit as a resource for the dissemination of formal Smithsonian-wide training. “One major aspect of the work that takes time is shifting leaders and museum professionals away from white-dominant characteristics of perfection, risk aversion, and conflict avoidance to move toward action,” the report stated. These are not the only instances of the Smithsonian abusing its mission. On July 4, the White House’s Domestic Policy Council presented a comprehensive report on the topic, titled “Saving America’s Story: How Ideological Capture at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History Erases Our Heritage,” where the entity’s shift from history to activism is clearly documented:  Anthea Hartig, [the National Museum of American History’s] director since 2019, has explicitly stated that she sees history as a “prime tool of social justice” and one of her roles as connecting “research and scholarship to activism and advocacy.” Hartig has also stated that “we work to reframe the traditional celebratory narrative of U.S. history for visitors. She claims to have had a personal head start “propped up as I was and I am by the cushions of whiteness and the pillows of the bourgeoisie.” Hartig believes the museum profession has “to figure out” how “we’re going to” “problematize” the “250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026,” that “loving America is very complicated,” and that objects in the Museum’s collection should be used to move attention away from an “Anglo-centric” focus on the American Founding. The internal efforts and museum exhibits dedicated to pushing this agenda are too numerous to name, and they are rampant across the Smithsonian’s many museums. “An exhibition affiliated with the forthcoming Museum of the American Latino, shown temporarily at the Museum of American History, contained section after section on white colonization and racism,” wrote the editors of the National Review in mid-2025.  “The future American Women’s History Museum — the new museums check all the identity-politics boxes — plans to feature biological men who identify as transgender,” they continue. “Multiple items at the National Museum of African American History and Culture glorify the Marxist activist Angela Davis.”  So, the Smithsonian is captured. Why does it matter?  Since 1846, the Smithsonian’s foundational mission has remained the same: “the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” But to the 16.5 million students who pour off buses and through its doors each year, a museum’s charge is much more than that: it’s a golden thread, preserving the physical manifestations of our collective memory, bringing us together through a shared vocabulary, stewarding and preserving artifacts that tell our true stories, reminding us where we started, and where we might go.  “That’s why we have the Museum, Matty,” wrote Lois Lowry in her classic, “Messenger,” “to remind us of how we came, and why: to start fresh, and begin a new place from what we had learned and carried from the old.” *** Grace Salvatore is the senior editor of media, arts, and culture at Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Restoring the West and a contributor to Independent Women’s Voice. This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested Lorenzo Thompson, an illegal immigrant from Jamaica working as a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines, last week at the Nashville International Airport. The Department of Homeland Security told Fox News that Thompson came to the United States on a six-month visa under Biden in 2021, but refused to leave when the visa expired. “Against our nation’s laws, [Lorenzo Thompson] overstayed his visa and failed to depart. He will remain in ICE custody pending his immigration proceedings,” an ICE representative told Fox News. The agency added that illegal immigrants like Thompson who self-deport are given $2,600 cash stipend, a free flight home, and the opportunity to return to the United States legally. “We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream,” the agency said. “If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.” Thompson’s local union chapter, TWU Local 556, said it is in communication with Thompson’s family and is working with its legal counsel on how to address the situation. “Our priority is, and always will be, standing with and supporting our Members,” it said in a statement. “Every Member deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, and we are committed to ensuring this Member and their family know they are not alone during this difficult time.” The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement and the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) both shared a statement of solidarity with Lorenzo. “Today, we stand with our brother Enzo and his union family. Together, we reaffirm our commitment to standing by workers and their families through every challenge,” the AFA said. A GoFundMe for Thompson started by his friend Kristin Foster has raised $43,018 of its $45,000 target as of Thursday afternoon. “Lorenzo came to the United States legally from Jamaica in 2021, seeking safety from life-threatening abuse,” Foster stated. “Since arriving, he has worked tirelessly to build a stable life, following every legal step toward citizenship. He has no criminal record. No parking tickets. He holds a valid work permit, has a pending case with US immigration and is a dedicated Flight Attendant for a beloved airline.”