This Thanksgiving, parents across America have much to be thankful for — their children, their health, and the simple gift of gathering around the table with people they love. We’ll share food, laughter, and stories about how quickly the kids have grown. And yet, many parents will also feel a quiet, unspoken worry about the world their children are growing up in. Today’s kids face a culture that’s louder and more confusing than ever before. From social media to entertainment, they’re bombarded with messages about identity, relationships, and sex that can leave them adrift. They’re told to “follow your feelings” and “do what feels right.” Commitment is treated like a burden, and pornography is always one click away. It’s no wonder parents worry about how their kids will turn out — or whether they’re equipped to guide them through it all. But amid the noise, Thanksgiving gives us a moment to pause and remember there’s still so much to be grateful for. Because despite the cultural chaos, research continues to show there is a proven path that works, one that’s as practical as it is hopeful. It’s called the Success Sequence. Researchers Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill at the Brookings Institution uncovered this refreshingly simple roadmap to stability. Finish high school. Get a full-time job. Get married. Then have children, in that order. It may sound old-fashioned, but the results are remarkable. Only about 3 to 4% of young adults who follow this path end up in poverty. What once seemed like common sense has become one of the strongest predictors of lifelong success. And it’s not just about money. Young people who follow this path will have fewer sexual partners, fewer sexually transmitted infections, and more stable families. I’ve seen this to be true throughout my medical career. Decades of experience tell us that children who grow up with both parents in a committed home are more likely to thrive emotionally and physically. That’s something to be thankful for, not just as researchers or clinicians, but as parents and grandparents who want to see the next generation flourish. So this Thanksgiving, as we give thanks for food and family, let’s also give thanks for the wisdom that still lights the way forward. Let’s be grateful for the teachers, mentors, and parents who still model responsibility, hard work, and faithfulness. And let’s be grateful that even in a changing world, some truths don’t change. The future isn’t fixed. Despite what the headlines say, our kids aren’t doomed by the world around them. The choices we encourage and the examples we set can profoundly shape their lives. The Success Sequence isn’t about restriction, it’s about freedom. It gives young people a sense of direction and the structure they need to build meaningful lives, one decision at a time. That’s what I’m most thankful for this year, the privilege and responsibility of guiding the next generation. As parents and grandparents, we get to be the competing voice our children need. We get to show them that real joy doesn’t come from instant gratification, but from purpose, discipline, and love. So yes, be thankful for the turkey and the laughter, but most importantly, be thankful for the family gathered around the table. Look at your children and the generations below you and be thankful for truth that still holds, for children who still turn out right, and for the grace that allows us to keep trying. The world may change. The challenges may look different. But the truth doesn’t change, and that’s something worth celebrating every Thanksgiving. * * * Joe S. McIlhaney, Jr., MD, is a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist who resides in Plano, Texas. The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire. * * * Right now, DailyWire+ annual memberships are fifty percent off during our Black Friday sale. Join now at dailywire.com/blackfriday.

The Biden administration justified bringing the suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, over to the United States because he had worked with U.S. government entities, including the CIA, in Afghanistan, according to CIA Director John Ratcliffe. Lakanwal, 29, who entered the U.S. as part of the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome, allegedly shot the National Guard members only blocks from the White House, leaving them in critical condition. “In the wake of the disastrous Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation,” Ratcliffe told Fox News Digital. On September 3, 2021, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas introduced Operation Allies Welcome, saying it was “the ongoing effort to bring Americans home, and to bring vulnerable Afghans to the United States and support their resettlement.  The President of the United States has the authority to designate a federal agency to lead a federal response.  Last Friday, he designated the Department of Homeland Security as the lead federal agency to coordinate Operation Allies Welcome to help ensure unity of effort, clear roles and responsibilities, synchronized priorities, and effective coordination across the federal government.” Right now, DailyWire+ annual memberships are fifty percent off during our Black Friday sale. Join now at dailywire.com/blackfriday. “The federal government has been focused on the screening and vetting of individuals evacuated from Afghanistan,” he continued. “The Department of Homeland Security remains ever vigilant against attempts by foreign adversaries to exploit vulnerable populations as a means of gaining access to the U.S. for nefarious purposes.  Consequently, as part of a collaborative, interagency effort that includes DHS, the Departments of Defense and State, the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center, and other agencies, the Federal Government has established a robust screening and vetting architecture with the dual goals of protecting the homeland and providing protections for vulnerable Afghans.” “We have a moral imperative to protect them, to support those who have supported this Nation,” he stated. “We have an obligation to do so in a way that protects our national security and preserves public safety.”

'Perfect time for radical transparency'

Everyone knows love works in mysterious ways; but rarely more mysterious than in the story of Zach and Isabelle. Partners in life and partners in podcasting, it was 7 years ago that the two Minnesotans were partners of a distinctly less pleasant kind. At 18, Zach Zarembinski was rushed to Regions Hospital in St. Paul […] The post Two People from Minnesota Who Met in the Hospital After Waking up from Comas Are Getting Married appeared first on Good News Network.

There’s no way around it: the holidays can be tough right now. Due to the economic crisis, some far-flung families can’t afford to get together. Others can’t swing the traditional feast, and they’re dialing it back. Other families have lost people over politics or another cause, and there are heartbreakingly empty seats at the dinner table. Still others simply have nobody to share the day with for any of a number of reasons. In 2022, we started a new tradition with our first online OP Friendsgiving. This community is like a family, complete with grouchy uncles and a few members who make us shake our heads with their political beliefs. But truly, we have such a lovely community of people here from so many different backgrounds. The conversations are enlightening and ever-interesting. Let’s “get together” here! I realize this isn’t a substitute for truly being with the people you love, but I hope it helps the day go by a little more easily, just knowing that someone out here cares about you. We’ll be keeping this post front and center on Thanksgiving Day. I’m going to post a bit about our Thanksgiving to get things started, and the things I’m grateful for this year. Please take a moment in the comments to do the same if you feel so moved and let other commenters know that they’re not alone. Our Thanksgiving menu It’s just my daughter and me today, because we did a bigger celebration earlier in the month when my mother and stepfather were here. So we’re not going insane in the kitchen today. We’re having: Roasted chicken Mashed potatoes Garlic green beans Cornbread stuffing with sage and dried, sweetened cranberries Gravy Pumpkin cheesecake It’ll still be delicious and will leave us with some tasty leftovers. Aden contributed a Thanksgiving poem for preppers. Aden wrote the most beautiful poem that I have to share with you. As a prepper, it will really hit home. It’s called Comparison, The Thief of Joy. He’s so creative and I enjoy sharing this every year. What I’m grateful for this year This year, I’ve had to accept that my disability isn’t going away, so I’ve begun building a life that makes it a bit easier to deal with. I’m incredibly grateful for my family. My girls and I have such a beautiful relationship, and it’s a priceless treasure. The fact that they are adults (25 and 30) and they still want to talk to their mom nearly every day just brings a glow to my heart every time I hear the phone ring. This year, my youngest invited me to live with her while I’m trying to find some normalcy, and I am so happy to get this extra time to spend with her. I love you, girlies – you make me the luckiest mom ever. My bestie is wonderful. I’m an introvert. I have very few friends. But my best friend…holy cow. She is so supportive and always there to lend an ear or a shoulder. She is driven, goal-oriented, and has a passion for music that will make her a name on everyone’s lips one day in the not-so-distant future. She sings, she plays instruments, she writes songs. I feel so lucky to be able to hear her originals before they’re released to the world and to know the backstories behind them. Beyond all that, she is kind, loyal, and fierce. I love you, bestie, and would hate to do life without you. I have the most amazing readers in the Bloggerdom. My work is such a privilege. I know everybody says this, but I really never expected to be a blogger with lots of readers. The fact that I’ve gotten to know such a wonderful, supportive, and caring community through the work that I do is a gift that constantly amazes me. I’m going into my 13th year of blogging on The OP and I feel endless gratitude that you all help me do what I love every single day. I always wanted to write, and your visits to my website make that possible. How could I get any luckier than this? You guys mean the world to me. What about you? What’s a dish that you make every Thanksgiving without fail? Would you share the recipe with us in the comments? Is there a story behind the recipe? If so, please tell us! What are you grateful for this year? What makes your heart sing? Let’s talk about it. And if you are struggling, tell us. Hopefully, a burden shared is a lighter burden. That being said, we here at the OP love our readers, and we’re so glad that we can provide information and entertainment to you. Happy Friendsgiving, from my family to yours. The post Welcome to the OP Friendsgiving 2025 appeared first on The Organic Prepper.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, take a moment to remember the many Americans who gave their last full measure 82 years ago in the attack on the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. Almost two years after Pearl Harbor, the assault by the 2nd Marine Division on a Japanese-held stronghold started on Nov. 20, 1943, five days before Thanksgiving. In a brutal three-day battle, over 1,000 Americans were killed, and almost 2,300 were wounded. In proportion to the forces engaged, it may have been one of the most costly battles in U.S. military history, with as many casualties suffered in three days as in the six-month campaign on Guadalcanal. Betio Island, the main island of the Tarawa Atoll, was a little over two miles long and no more than half a mile wide. It is about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii and was important to the Allied communication lines with Australia and New Zealand. It was part of the outer defense line of the Japanese Empire. Tarawa was the opening campaign of the U.S. drive across the central Pacific. Even though no point on the island was more than nine feet above sea level, the Japanese force of 4,800 soldiers had honeycombed the island with a formidable array of barbed wire, mines, bunkers, pillboxes, log barricades, and gun emplacements with interlocking fields of fire. It was the most fortified atoll the U.S. would invade. The Japanese commander, Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki, boasted that “a million Americans couldn’t take Tarawa in a hundred years.” When the battle was over, only 17 Japanese were alive, along with 129 forced Korean laborers. The U.S. Navy Task Force supporting the Marines, led by Admiral Harry Hill, included three battleships—two of which, the Tennessee and the Maryland, had been damaged at Pearl Harbor—as well as several light and heavy cruisers and destroyers and three aircraft carriers. A New Challenge Even though the U.S. Marines had a long and storied history, they had relatively little experience in the type of large-scale amphibious assault against a heavily defended island that the Tarawa attack would require. Although the 2nd Marine Division had already fought a bloody campaign on Guadalcanal, alongside the 1st Marine Division, the initial landings there were unopposed. That would not be the case on Tarawa. And on Tarawa, the Marines, for the first time, would be up against Japan’s elite Special Naval Landing Force—the Imperial Marines. The 16- and 14-inch guns of the battleships, along with the guns of the cruisers and destroyers, conducted a massive pre-invasion bombardment. In addition to air attacks launched from the carriers, the warships fired more than 3,000 tons of shells. Unfortunately, as the Navy and the Marines experienced again and again in subsequent island assaults, the sandy soil absorbed much of the high explosives, and most of the Japanese bunkers survived. There were also complaints from the Marines that the shelling was lifted too early, giving the Japanese time to get their men back down to the shoreline defenses before the Marines landed. Even worse was a problem that affected much of the Pacific island-hopping campaign—the lack of precise information on the topography and the tides and currents surrounding these islands. The first three waves of Marines were carried in LVTs or amphtracs, an armored, amphibious tractor that could get over the reef surrounding the island. In fact, Tarawa was the first battle using the LVTs, which had been originally developed for rescue operations in the Florida Everglades. But because there were not enough of them and so many were lost in the initial assault, the following waves of Marines were carried in Higgins boats, which drew three to four feet of water. In a mistake that would end up costing many lives, the battle planners miscalculated the tide, and the Higgins boats were stranded in low water over the coral reef. The Heroism of Marines In what is probably one of the greatest examples of bravery, fortitude, and sheer grit in the history of the Marine Corps, the Marines dismounted from the Higgins boats and waded hundreds of yards through chest-high water under intense enemy fire, loaded down with weapons and packs. Five thousand Marines managed to get ashore on the first day, but the lagoon was filled with the floating bodies of hundreds of dead Marines. In fact, the Marines were pinned down on the beach because of the fanatical Japanese resistance and a seawall that their amphtracs could not get over. They had numerous other problems, from seawater soaked radios to delays in getting their artillery support  ashore to water contaminated from being stored in insufficiently cleaned oil drums. There were countless acts of bravery during the battle by both Marines and sailors. On the second day, two Navy lieutenants on their own initiative rescued 150 wounded Marines who were stranded on the reef, one of them using a commandeered Higgins boat after his own boat was wrecked. That Navy lieutenant even took out a Japanese sniper who had swum out to a wrecked Higgins boat. He received the Navy Cross for his gallantry—and when the war ended, Lt. Eddie Albert resumed his acting career. Four Medals of Honor were awarded, including one for Colonel David Shoup, who had landed with his Marines on the first day and had continued to direct attacks despite being wounded with shrapnel in both legs. The battle to take this tiny island, which was only barely the size of New York’s Central Park, was vicious, with the Marines fighting from one pillbox, bunker, and strongpoint to another. Each one had to be destroyed and every Japanese soldier killed, because none would surrender. The Marines fought off multiple Banzai charges, a foreshadowing of what was to come in other island assaults in the next two years. Marine Corps Gen. Holland “Howlin Mad” Smith, who is known as the father of modern U.S. amphibious warfare, was the commander of the Amphibious Corps, which included the 2nd Marine Division. He compared the Marine assault on Tarawa to Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg. The number of casualties and the photos of dead Marines published in newspapers from that “stinking little island” shocked the American public. But Henry Shaw, the former chief historian of the Marine Corps, said that Tarawa provided the Marines and the Navy with the textbook on how to conduct amphibious landings. The lessons they learned helped save countless American lives in the island assaults that followed in the Pacific Campaign that ultimately led to the Japanese surrender in 1945. So as we sit down to our Thanksgiving dinners with our families, all of us should remember and give thanks to the American Marines and sailors who 72 years ago fought for the freedom, liberty, and security we enjoy as Americans. They didn’t experience a peaceful Thanksgiving, but they—and the men and women in our military today—are the reason all of us will be able to enjoy a peaceful holiday with our families. The post This Thanksgiving, Remember the Marines Who Gave Everything at Tarawa appeared first on The Daily Signal.

While more confusing than the traditional "fire make hot" methods of cooking, you can get your head around how they work.

Advances in survey techniques and DNA monitoring have led to a more reliable population count.