We give a humble tribute to 13 service members who we add to the list of Americans who gave their lives fighting for this country. We also go over Rudyard Kipling's poem "Recessional" on this Memorial Day.

Welcome to Politics by Faith, our Memorial Day edition today. This is where we take the news of the day and we bring it to the Bible so we can walk away with peace and perspective. There's new headlines every day, but Ecclesiastes says there's nothing to do under the sun. So thanks for being here to get the true story, story of the day today, Memorial Day and peace deals. Just getting news last day or so about a new Iran peace deal possibility. I don't know the details. 

No one does. A lot of commenting on things that no people have seen. And there's been a lot of these deals, a lot of back and forths. We've seen this a bunch already. I'm kind of, you know, wake me when it's over. Like, let me know when we really have a deal and everyone signed a deal and all that stuff. 

As it relates to Memorial Day, I haven't really heard anyone talk about the Americans who have died in this effort. 13 Americans have died. Six in Kuwait when an Iranian drone strike hit one of our ports, our bases, command center. One in Iraq, there was an attack in Iraq, six crew members died. This was a military refueling aircraft crashed. And then Saudi Arabia, a service member was killed on an attack on our air base there. 

Let me read their names here. Captain Cody Cork from Winter Haven, Florida. Sergeant First Class Noah Tietjens from Bellevue, Nebraska. Sergeant First Class Nicole Amore from White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Sergeant Declan Cody from West Des Moines, Iowa. Major Jeffrey O 'Brien from Waukee, Iowa. 

Chief Foreign Officer Robert Marzan from Sacramento, California. Sergeant Benjamin Pennington from Glendale, Kentucky. Major John Klinner from Auburn, Alabama. A lot of people who are against this Iran war effort, and I get it, talk a lot about the money, how much it's costing, and that's a concern, of course. This has also cost 13 lives and we should know that. Now, I believe a noble effort, what we've done in Iran here last, however long it's been, a couple of months. 

We can't let Iran have nuclear weapons. Donald Trump has been talking about this since like the eighties. He talked about Iran not having a nuclear weapon on the escalator speech. When he first announced in 2015, coming down Trump tower, the escalator, he talked about how we can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon. So this isn't like some shocker, like, oh wow, Trump hates Iran. Like he doesn't want, like, no. 

We've known this forever. I'm for this effort to stop them from having him and to stop them from being a thorn in our side. Our national security strategy, the document talks about not having the Middle East be the center of our universe anymore of our national security concerns. Like why are we so focused on the Middle East all the time? And Iran is one major reason. There's two parts. 

in particular, that I want to read here from the Middle East section of, it's like a 30 page document, the National Security Strategy. And part of the document says, for half a century, American foreign policy has prioritized the Middle East above all other regions. And that's because the Middle East for decades has been the world's most important supplier of energy. There was a prime, like superpower competition going on, and that was ready to smash. into the wider world and even into America. Now, the fact that we are now the global oil superpower, taking a lot of energy, or literally a lot of focus away from the Middle East, that's been great. 

Second reference in this National Security Strategy says, we want to prevent an adversarial power from dominating the Middle East, its oil and gas supplies, and the choke points through which they pass. while avoiding the forever wars that bogged us down in the region at great cost. Donald Trump does not want a forever war. And he, the point of this is so that they don't control these choke points. Now they have for these last couple of weeks, but the point is long -term, we don't want that. And we've talked before, we don't have to do it all here. 

I don't want to get too off base for Memorial Day, but this administration has locked down every other choke point around the world that exists to protect America and the free world. Let's get a peace deal so we can open up that straight. I'd prefer if the Iranian regime was done for once and for all. I don't know if that will happen in the near term. It doesn't look like it so far. The Iranian people never rose up. 

They didn't know that. I don't blame them. I'm not like, wow, it's their fault. I'm not, I'm not blaming them. Right. The regime killed 35 ,000 of their Patriots just a couple of weeks before this whole thing started. 

I'm currently reading Gulag Archipelago and the whole opening couple of chapters are all about how the government just picks. people up off the street, anyone and everyone for even having a hint of being against the regime and how everyone's spying on their neighbors. And the littlest thing you could do against the government, they'll come and they'll grab you and they'll sweep you up and give you 10 years. And that's it. No matter who you were, what you were doing, it doesn't matter. And that Gulag Archipelago scenario, it's not far off from the reality in Iran. 

It's really easy for us in America to be like, well, just rise up. Like we did 250 years ago. Like that's it. Um, they also don't have guns, so kind of hard for them to rise up. I'm also for this Iran war. And again, the last thing I'll comment on Iran really big picture is, um, hurting Iran hurts China, which is the main goal period in foreign policy was. 

So what's broken about this situation and Iran and Memorial Day war war is awful. And it's the inevitable reality living in a fallen world. C . S. Lewis wrote an essay, it was actually a sermon, 1939, called Learning in Wartime. And he was talking to these students, and he said, he was answering the question, because people were asking, like, how can we be studying? 

How can we be sitting here learning, going to school, going to college, when there's a war going on, right? People felt, there's a lot of people even today and then, like very urgent, people are on the edge. And I love what C . S. Lewis said, he said, this war, and let me read the quote. He said, this war, creates no absolutely new situation. 

It simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it. But human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the search for knowledge and beauty would never have begun. We are mistaken when we compare war with normal life. Life has never been normal. Even those periods which we think most tranquil, like the 19th century, turn out on closer inspection to be full of crises, alarms, difficulties, and emergencies. 

Plausible reasons have never been lacking for putting off all merely cultural activities until some imminent danger has been averted or some crying injustice put right. But humanity long ago chose to neglect those plausible reasons. They wanted knowledge and beauty now and would not wait for the suitable moment that never comes. There's a lot of this today. We expect the world to be perfect. 

We expect everything to be normal. We expect things to be safe and secure. And when they're not, We're all like, ah, what are we going to do? The world's coming to an end. I don't know if I can do it. I can't even. 

It's like, no, no, it's always been like this. This is the, this is the normal. So what are you gonna do? Wait around until what? Until when? And war is normal. 

It's awful. And it won't stop until we're in heaven. This is the point of the podcast when we usually go over to the Bible. And I, I sort of want to do that today, but, um, I want to do it via a poem on this Memorial Day. On the radio show the other day, we read an easier poem, Henry. Henry Wordsworth, Henry, was Henry Wordsworth, was it Longfellow? 

I think it was Longfellow. His Decoration Day. Let me make sure I get that right. Wordsworth, I wish I'd tell you the right poem to read. Yeah, yeah. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Decoration Day. 

Yeah. But I want to read a different one here today. Well, the Longfellow one's so great. Your Silent Tense of Green, talking to the, people who have died in service. Your silent tents of green we deck with with fragrant flowers. Yours. 

the suffering been. The memory shall be ours. " That's the last line of that poem. It's great. But I want to start here or end here instead with Kipling's recessional. He wrote, God of our fathers, which is Exodus 3 .15. God also said to Moses, say this to the people of Israel. The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob has sent me to you. So The God of your fathers, this is my name forever. Lord of our far -flung battle line, British Empire, big empire, far away, distant, all God ordained, right? So Lord of our far -flung battle line, beneath whose awful hand We hold dominion over palm and pine. Awful here means like awesome, awe -inspiring. So it's beneath your God, your awesome hand that we hold dominion, control over palm and pine, meaning different climates around the world. Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget. The whole point of this poem is do not forget everyone that God is the source of all good things. God is the source of all of our prosperity. The tumult and the shouting dies. The shouting of victory too. The tumult of war, but it all passes. The captains and the kings depart. They die as time goes on, but still stands thine ancient sacrifice. So God, you remain. and humble and a contrite heart." That's Psalm 51 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Oh God, you will not despise. 

Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget. Far called, our navies melt away, on dune and headland sinks the fire. So again, as time goes on, things will disappear. All the things that we think are so important. Lo, all our pomp of yesterday is one with Nineveh and Tyre. 

All the celebrations that we have of our great victories, it's all going to go the same way of Nineveh. which doesn't exist anymore, and also places of judgment from God. Judge of the nations, spare us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget. If drunk with sight of power, we loose wild tongues that have not thee in awe. I think that's my favorite line of this poem. If drunk with sight of power, we loose wild tongues that have not you in awe. 

So if we get drunk with power, If we let loose people, leaders, who don't understand that you are, again, the source of all that is good, who do not have you in awe, who do not hold you in esteem, God, woe to us. Such boastings as the Gentiles use or lesser breeds without the law, Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget. For heathen heart that puts her trust. Oh, this is so good. For heathen heart. that puts her trust in reeking tube and iron shard, meaning weapons. 

So who's that heathen heart? Not the Christian heart, but the heathen heart, the pagan heart that puts their trust in weapons of war. All valiant dust that builds on dust. Genesis 3 .19 says, by the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken for you are dust and dust you shall return. So the weapons and the warriors, but the weapons in particular are dust that just builds on top of the dust that is us. And guarding calls not thee to guard. 

So God, it's all you. And if we don't call on you to help us, we got nothing. Woe to those who rely on the self versus relying on you, God. For frantic boast and foolish word, thy mercy on thy people, Lord. I love that's the last stanza. I love that ending because it ends with a plea to God, right? 

Every other stanza ends with, lest we forget, lest we forget. But the last line is a call to God, your mercy on your people, Lord, please. It's not our enemies that we need to worry about. It's forgetting God that we need to worry about. Same for America. Same for us today. 

Same for the Israelites back then. Deuteronomy 6 says, then take care lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Indeed, still today, thy mercy on thy people, Lord. YouTube . com slash at politics by faith. If you could subscribe over there, that'd be great. 

It helps us with the algorithm. So if you enjoy the show. Just subscribing really helps us spread the word.

Someone made up a new euphemism, the "teen takeover"! Also known as a "riot". How do we stop these? Should we arrest the parents? The Trump Administration thinks so, and can do it in DC.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. This is where we take the news of the day and we bring it to the Bible so we can walk away with peace and perspective. There's new headlines every day. Ecclesiastes says there's nothing new under the sun. Thanks for being here to get the true story. Welcome to our new set for if you're watching on YouTube. 

It's not new, it's a new angle, new background. So youtube . com slash at politics by faith. If you're watching on or if you're listening to on a podcast, you're just dying to see what could this new angle possibly look like? It sounds amazing. I need to see it. 

How can I see it? YouTube . com slash at politics by faith. It'd be hit subscribe. You could see it all the time. Thanks for being here. 

Story of the day. Teen takeovers. What's really going on here? First of all, who came up with this term? Teen takeovers? What about that euphemism for a riot? 

It's a riot or looting. We had a gentleman call in today who was actually on his way to court. Why was he on his way to court? Because his business, like a trampoline park, was the victim of a teen takeover. And I guess online, and this guy said like a week's notice, they're like, everyone we're meeting here. And it was the, it was the guy's trampoline park. 

So the big day came and the manager wouldn't let any of these kids in. So there were so many hooligans out in the parking lot that the police came and they cited the manager. for causing a public disturbance. customer that they didn't go but also once word spreads that this is this kind of establishment who wants to have their you know seven -year -olds birthday party at this kind of place anymore we had another caller in New Jersey's a police officer there's a bunch of these teen takeovers on the beach on the shore in New Jersey he said I had to call out a hundred police officers to show up over time to take care of this teen takeover on the beach. So there was a lot of money. It was very dangerous. 

People getting stabbed, people getting shot. It's a riot. Teen takeover, just a little teen takeover, like a teen takeover, like you're going and like dancing. That's like the word teen takeover makes it seem like it's from an episode of Saved by the Bell. And Screech and AC are going to meet up and have a dance off as they take over the local, you know, whatever pinball arcade. No, these are riots. 

There's a video of a brawl of black youths at a Chipotle that's been going viral. You've seen plenty of these videos already. Nothing new about this one other than it's in D . C. And this is where Trump's law enforcement is in charge. D . 

C. is an incredible opportunity for MAGA to show the country how it can govern well on a local level, because the federal government runs or can, is now, running the city of DC. There's no way Republicans are gonna win the city council majority in Chicago. So MAGA's never gonna run Chicago. MAGA's never gonna become mayor of whatever, Oakland. So we're never gonna be able to run a city, and we haven't for 60 years, but we can run DC, and we are right now. 

Jeanine Pirro, she's the US attorney for DC, but she's also the DA. She's the local DA. in a weird quirk of governance. So this is a huge opportunity to govern well. Now in this situation, when it comes to crime, again, we've got like maybe like a hundred young people or so at this fight and the entire Chipotle is trashed, of course. Here's Jeanine Pirro. 

This was just a day or so, I believe, I think it was before this all happened. This is Jeanine Pirro here. And as we grapple with this problem, There is one area that hasn't been discussed. Parental involvement has been a noted gap in any discussion. And I am here to say, as the United States Attorney in the District of Columbia, that ends today. Starting today, my office will aggressively prosecute parents under D . 

C.'s curfew law and the specific statute that that we will use is a violation of DC Code 22 -811, and it involves contributing to the delinquency of a minor. This statute makes it unlawful for an adult to enable, facilitate, or permit a minor to engage in delinquent acts. The penalty is up to six months imprisonment. So if the evidence shows the parent knew or should have known, or permitted or failed to prevent participation, we're going to charge them. And if you drop your kid off and you fail to supervise them, or you let them skip school to join the chaos, you are going to face fines, court ordered classes and possible jail time. You okay with this? 

This law is already on the books. It is unlawful for an adult to invite, solicit, recruit, assist, support, cause, encourage, enable, induce, advise, incite, facilitate, permit, or allow. So I think that's all the words that are like that. They really did all the thesaurus on that one. So it's illegal to do any of those things for a minor to be truant from school, possess or consume alcohol or any controlled substance, run away from home to commit a criminal activity, to violate a court order, to violate any criminal order in DC, which is a penalty which constitutes a misdemeanor, and to join a criminal street gang. 

It's already the law. Bureau's not saying, hey, we should pass this law. It's already the law. And to prove that they're serious about this, the FBI is now offering $5 ,000 for information leading to any arrests about what happened in that Chipotle. So will people rat each other out? Will they snitch for 5K? 

It shows that the FBI is serious about this. So I had some hesitation about this idea, to be honest, although, like, My first instinct is like, yeah, you got to do it. Just, I think it's worth thinking through a little hesitation because what we're dealing with is our kids with no dads. So are we fine to have the government arrest mom or fine arrest or make her own classes or whatever? Now it's like, you got any other ideas? Yeah. 

Punish the kids. Okay. They go to juvenile detention. Great. I'm for that too. But what about the parents? 

Parents? There's no dad. Why is this a bad idea? Why will this not work? I know the media is going to find the most sympathetic looking mom in all of DC. The mom who's working two, three jobs trying to make ends meet. 

she's not able to be home at night because she's working that that second, third shift and the government's going to come in here and fine her a thousand dollars and knock her feet out from under her and she's going to be on more welfare now because she was trying so hard she was about to make it work and what little money she's got the government come in and took her away from her. My goodness you can see the left making sob stories out of all this. Listen the left is so good they when it came to illegal immigrants were deporting illegal aliens They made every illegal alien you could find the most sympathetic person. Even Kilmar. Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The guy had a tattoo on his face. 

Human trafficker gangbanger Kilmar was a Maryland dad. So there was no problem making this all about mean old Republicans. So there's that to consider if you just want to give up on the idea and let the left win. Curious too if there's any, is there something in like the welfare law that says you can't commit a crime and still be on welfare? So I don't know. Maybe it's Hey mom, you're letting your kids do this, then we're gonna take your welfare next month as the punishment for your crime, right? 

So why don't you do what you can to get your kid to stop destroying Chipotle. We've talked before about holding parents accountable when it comes to school shootings. More parents are being charged with crimes regarding school shootings, but never for this behavior, breaking curfew, stuff like that. So pros and cons for sure. I'm curious if you're watching on YouTube, if you can leave your comment here. Should we arrest parents or should we charge the parents with a crime? 

for when their kids, let's be specific, trash a Chipotle. We had a few callers call in and say, it's not gonna change anything, so it's not worth doing. Their dad's already abandoned them, their mom's essentially abandoned them. It's not worth it. I'm like, all right. so but what are you proposing and i know like and i like my instinct is always to get to the root of a problem and i want to do that like we need to stop with all this broken family nonsense stop sleeping around we played a clip on the show this morning of a of a black guy in court and he had a shirt that said black excellence across the front big letters black excellence And the court goes, do you have any kids? 

The judge goes, do you have any kids? And he goes, yeah, I got four, five. What are their ages? Six, five, three, two, six months. Like the math didn't make sense. And he goes, where are they? 

He said, with their mothers. He said, how many mothers? Three. Five kids, three moms. And she said, that's not black excellence. Shame on you. 

There's no black excellence there at all. Wearing a shirt that says black excellence. It was a black woman judge. Called him out. It's good. We should be going after the dads, right? 

They're not far. They're around. And if you go after the mom, the mom will find the dad. He's the one who abandoned us. So that's the root of the problem, of course. The Washington Post has done this thing like, oh, there needs to be more late night hangout places, like rec centers for kids. 

The kids need to be in bed, all right? They need to be in bed. They need late night hangout places for one in the morning. They need to go to bed and they need jobs that they need to wake up early for so that they have reasons to live well. They need reasons to focus. Idle hands are the devil's workshop. 

That's not in the Bible. But second Corinthians three 11 is we hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy. They are busy bodies. Similar. Uh, so this is about, if you got nothing to do, then you meddle in other people's business, become a gossiper. 

Uh, Timothy says, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossipers and busybodies saying things they ought not to. So that's 1 Timothy 5 .13. So these are about words, like gossiping and stuff. But in the case we're talking about here, words and deeds. 

Bible says, you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you. This is Paul. On the contrary, we worked night and day laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. The kids who are doing all this, they are burdens on society. These kids need a job. 

They need work. They need something to do. They need a purpose and they need a family. They need parents who hold them accountable. They need dads who don't abandon them. They need guidance and direction and discipline. 

And they have none of it. And when parents don't parent, then the government's gotta parent. And that's not good. Let's go to the Bible. Proverbs 18, nine says, whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys. So what they mean is, so imagine two people, right? 

So you got one guy who's lazy and the other guy who's like a, like a robber who trashes Chipotle. He's this Bible verse says they're not literal brothers. They're of the same character. They're of the same kind, right? And the word destroy here in Hebrew means to ruin, to decay, to corrupt, to be rotted, and to be corrupt morally. So the lazy are in the same category as those who rob and pillage a community. 

Lazy people are a danger to themselves and others. And we see the fruit of all this brokenness. It's so sad. Now, yes, there are deep root issues we need to take care of here. As we say in the show all the time, there's thousands, Henry David Thoreau said, there's thousands hacking at the branches of evil to everyone who strikes the root. My nature is always to go to the root. 

We got to change this culture as quickly as possible. It's hard to change culture. It's possible, but it's hard, but there's different levels, right? So you have, you have your conscience, your family, church, and then government. When the conscience, this is what controls behavior. When the conscience is seared, when the family doesn't exist, And when no one goes to church, all we're left with is the government. 

And when the government does nothing, when they don't arrest or charge or punish anyone, then it's over. That's it. That's the last line of defense other than vigilantism, I guess. Right. So what's the government to do? I know we need deeper solutions, of course, but right here on this last level, on this government level, what do you do? 

Do you support this effort from Jeanine Pirro to give some accountability to the situation? Accountability. Our culture hates that because we've abandoned God. Of course, Romans 14, 12 says, so then each of us will give an account of himself to God. I'm talking about accountability. That's sure, it's true then, but there's also gotta be some accountability while still here on earth. 

Leave a comment in the YouTube page here. I'm curious what you think. Should we arrest or charge parents for the crimes of their kids with teen takeovers? YouTube . com slash at politics by faith. Spread the word.