History

Declassified 9/11 Presidential Daily Briefings

Heed the Book, Question the Narrative The CIA posted the 1998-2001 portfolio this morning. I write this as a man who has watched official story-making do its work twice in one lifetime. The first time, the country buried a presidential warning under a commission narrative and a laugh line. The second time, agencies, legacy newsrooms, and the platforms that now police speech treated dissent on a virus, a lab, and a shot as a hygiene problem. I do not stitch those years into one plot. I use the second as a warrant to reopen the first. Once a government has sold…

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From the Archives: 9/11 Remembered

Everything Has Changed N.B. First published as Volume II:26 on JamesKBishop.com, September 12, 2001. I wrote it from Internet America, then the largest independent ISP in Texas. The security team stayed on duty more than twenty-four hours. We were sure a cyber attack against the Internet itself was coming. It did not. The planes had already done the work. This is what I filed while we waited. On Tuesday, the world became smaller. The hijacking and suicide mission of four commercial flights caused the destruction of the World Trade Center, severe damage to the Pentagon, and a loss of life that…

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Reclaiming America’s Story

Inside the Smithsonian’s Assault on American History Americans have every right to expect their flagship national history museum to tell the story of the United States with honesty, balance, and pride. The National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution was founded for precisely that purpose: to commemorate our heritage of freedom, highlight the basic elements of American life, and instill a deepened faith in the country’s destiny. Yet a comprehensive White House report released this month tells a different tale. Titled Saving America’s Story: How Ideological Capture at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History Erases Our Heritage,…

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The Revolution Always Eats Its Own

How the Radicals Are Devouring the Democrat Party The images from the last week tell the story better than any poll or press release. On one side, Hakeem Jeffries beams as he congratulates the new DSA-backed members of New York’s congressional delegation, calling them public servants, union organizers, and community activists, as if they’re simply Democrats who took a different path. On the other side, the same radical energy that carried those candidates to victory turns inward almost immediately. Crowds chant “You’re next” at Jeffries himself. In San Francisco, longtime progressive stalwart Scott Wiener is surrounded, harassed, and physically intimidated at…

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Beyond Debate

Moral Clarity, Historical Truth, and the Longest Hatred Sam Harris’s essay “Why It’s Futile to Debate Israel’s Enemies” lands with unusual force. I live less than two miles from major mosques and witness daily the rapid demographic, linguistic, and cultural transformations reshaping neighborhoods, parks, schools, and playgrounds. As a father, a conservative commentator, and someone who has spent decades in security and risk analysis, I recognize the patterns Harris exposes. Consequently, the ancient hatred many believed the Holocaust had consigned to history books now walks openly in streets, on campuses, and even in statements from elected officials. Harris, the prominent atheist…

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Mine Alone: The Weight of Command

Eisenhower’s Absolute Accountability on D-Day Last year we honored the raw courage of Rudder’s Rangers at Pointe du Hoc and the big guns of the Battleship Texas pounding the Normandy beaches. This anniversary, let us look higher in the chain: to the supreme commander who carried the loneliest burden of all. On the evening of June 5, 1944, at Greenham Common airfield in England, General Dwight D. Eisenhower walked among the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division. The iconic photograph captures the moment: Ike in simple uniform, surrounded by young men in full jump gear, faces darkened with camouflage, some with…

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Because They Lived

Lives of Courage: Memorial Day Stories of Brotherhood and Legacy This Memorial Day, we pause not only in solemn remembrance, but in profound gratitude. We are not gathered at gravesides, before memorial walls, or in quiet moments of reflection merely because brave Americans died in service to our nation. We are here, deeply moved, forever changed, because they lived. In a world that often rushes toward the next distraction, Memorial Day calls us back to what truly matters. It is a sacred invitation to honor the full lives of those who answered the call with courage, served with integrity, and gave…

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The Battle of San Jacinto, 190 Years On

18 Minutes That Changed History Imagine the muggy afternoon of April 21, 1836, along the banks of the San Jacinto River. Tall grass swayed in the breeze as nearly 900 Texian soldiers, many still raw volunteers, silently prepared for battle. Across a short stretch of prairie, Santa Anna’s army of about 1,400 rested in camp, confident that the fleeing Texans posed no immediate threat. Then, at 4:30 p.m., the order came: “Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!” In just 18 furious minutes, the Texas Revolution would be won. This is the story of San Jacinto, the stunning victory that secured Texas independence…

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Jimmy Carter’s Lasting Damage

The Hubris That Betrayed Us Amy Curtis nailed it. This man did more damage to the world and the country than we will ever fully comprehend. https://t.co/p3VQPLeqMT— Amy Curtis (@RantyAmyCurtis) April 14, 2026 It started early. Just two weeks into his presidency, on February 2, 1977, Jimmy Carter delivered a fireside chat from the White House, sitting comfortably in a beige cardigan sweater. With the nation facing natural gas shortages and a brutal winter, he urged Americans to turn down their thermostats to 65 degrees by day and 55 at night as a patriotic act of conservation and sacrifice. The image…

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The Runaway Scrape

Terror, Mud, and the Flight for Life, 190 Years On Imagine the panic sweeping across Texas settlements in late March and early April 1836. News of the Alamo’s fall and the Goliad Massacre traveled faster than any courier. “Santa Anna is coming; he will show no mercy!” Families abandoned homes in haste, loading wagons with whatever they could carry while burning crops and cabins to deny supplies to the enemy. Rain turned roads into rivers of mud. Children cried. Women drove oxen through flooded crossings. Disease stalked every camp. This was the Runaway Scrape, the desperate eastward exodus of thousands of…

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