Tex's Place

C.S. Lewis on the lost ideal of the Christian gentleman and the fate of the West By SEAN BERUBE It’s an all too popular adage today that “chivalry is dead.” The saying is often invoked to lament the poor manners of men who lack the qualities of a gentleman, whether that means holding a door open or offering a lady their seat on the bus. But chivalry had begun to die long before the saying became commonplace, and far more has been lost than the simple courtesies of a civilized society. In fact, CS Lewis wrote an entire essay lamenting the death, and subsequent need, of chivalry. His argument is that the abandonment of chivalry means more than the death of the virtuous man, but the destruction of civilization itself. Today, we’ll revisit this argument to rediscover the full meaning of chivalry, and why its the life-blood of a healthy, functioning civilization. Lewis begins his essay, The Necessity of Chivalry, by positing a simple question: “What, you may ask, is the ...

By Rusty Weiss California Governor Gavin Newsom (D.) warned President Trump that he had “just” made illegal ballot seizure a felony and was deploying election lawyers, drawing immediate, widespread mockery on X. "A warning to Donald Trump," he wrote, no doubt typing with Brylcreem-soaked fingers. "I’m deploying election lawyers to key battleground districts in California to protect every vote. And I just made it a FELONY to illegally seize ballots." The statement referenced legislation Newsom signed in mid-September as part of a package of election-related bills, making his use of the word "just" questionable. That law (AB 282) makes it a state felony to seize, or cause the seizure of, ballots, election records, or certified voting technology before election officials certify results. This all came about, mind you, because Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco seized roughly 650,000 ballots from the Prop 50 election in February 2026 after a 45,896-vote...

By Teri Christoph The U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) has responded to North Korea 's most recent show of force after Kim Jong Un's regime unleashed a barrage of roughly 10 short-range ballistic missiles Thursday. The missiles were shot into the Sea of Japan as tensions with South Korea continue to escalate. "We are aware of the missile launches and are consulting closely with our allies and partners," PACOM said in a statement.  "Based on current assessments, this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies," it concluded, adding, "The United States remains committed to the defense of the U.S. homeland and our allies in the region." U.S. Pacific Command Statement on DPRK Missile Launches The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea launched two ballistic missiles on October 29, 2026 (KST). We are aware of the missile launches and are consulting closely with our allies and partners. Based on current ass...

By Teri Christoph Just one day after the Fed declined to raise interest rates and five days until the midterms, Americans woke up to some encouraging economic news Thursday, as new government numbers show the U.S. economy is growing faster than expected. Those new numbers come via the Commerce Department and show that the gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a healthy 3.4 percent annual rate in the third quarter, which is up from 2.2 percent in the previous quarter , beating economists' expectations. BREAKING: The U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.4% in the third quarter, beating economists' expectations of 3.2%. The stronger-than-expected GDP report comes as President Trump makes his final push on the campaign trail, with the midterm elections just days away. https://t.co/8HJCTBZPki — Fox News (@FoxNews) October 29, 2026 Consumer spending also grew, clocking in with a solid 3.8 percent annual rate, while business investment surged, particularly in the ...

By Victor Davis Hanson Elon Musk’s shift to the right, support for Trump, and defense of free speech have turned a former liberal darling into a target of the Left’s growing hostility toward billionaires. As the midterms approach, the Left has gone nearly berserk in its hatred of trillionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. Yet its escalating venom would have been almost inconceivable before 2022, when Musk publicly declared that he would be voting Republican. Before Musk’s recent political reversal (he voted for both Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020), he was beloved by the Left as the first successful upstart challenger to the century-long dominance of the Big Three fossil-fuel automakers. Liberals once loved his revolutionary, electrically powered Teslas and drove them proudly as a green virtue signal. Not now. Far-left podcaster Jennifer Welch has run out of Nazi epithets for Musk. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—ironically, given her own limited talents—trashed Musk as “probably ...

By Sean Trende Scandals in America are weird. Sometimes, candidates are sunk by the stupidest whiff of misbehavior. Sometimes, candidates survive accusations that surely should end a political career. I’ve always thought that whether a scandal stuck or not depended on the reason people hire you to do the job in the first place. Someone like Bill Clinton or Donald Trump weathered scandals in part because America has always loved a good rogue and in part because those candidates were nominated despite their personal failures. Say what you will about a Clinton or Trump voter, they probably weren’t supporting these candidates because of their moral virtues to begin with. Other candidates, however, get elected because they “aren’t politicians,” are outsiders, or will clean up Washington. For them, the standard is different. Which brings us to Mary Peltola. The New York Times reports today that Mary Peltola’s campaign attempted to find and recruit a candidate named “Dan Sullivan” to app...

By Rick Moran I'm not generally given to hysteria. I don't necessarily think we should be now. But listening to the radical left Democrats who are going to run Congress if they win one or both houses next week should give anyone who treasures America as it is now and should always be the heebie-jeebies. Axios details what the radical left's agenda will be for 2026. There is no chance any of its proposals, like Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, or cutting off aid to Israel, will be signed into law by Donald Trump. Leftists know that. "The ultimate goal is to get these policies on the front burner for a Democratic president in 2029, even if that means forcing House Democrats into tough decisions," reports Axios. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) told Axios the left wants to force votes on these and other controversial issues "so that we can prepare for when we have the trifecta and so that we can really build the support we need." "Forcing the vote...

By Ashe Short If environmental groups get NWP 12 thrown out, thousands of pipeline water crossings a year may need individual permits. That would slow new pipelines and repairs to existing ones, and the costs could end up in higher energy bills, just as heating prices are forecast to jump this winter. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is leading 20 states into federal court to defend the permit upon which most U.S. pipeline water crossings depend. Lawsuits brought by multiple environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, seek to vacate Nationwide Permit (NWP) 12. That permit allows for an expedited, streamlined review process for pipelines to cross rivers and wetlands. Ending the permit would stop the development and maintenance of oil and gas pipelines, the attorneys general argue . “If NWP 12 were eliminated, pipeline construction and maintenance costs would increase, and pipeline availability would decrease,” the AGs say in their motion, which was filed last week but a...

By John Daniel Davidson Republicans have to decide whether they will be the party that fights to preserve America or go along with the party trying to destroy it. The midterm election cycle has confirmed that Democrats are committed to mass immigration and open borders whenever they regain the White House. That, along with non-enforcement and a halt to deportations and interior immigration enforcement, is going to be their de facto standing immigration policy moving forward. Where the right stands on immigration is much less clear. To its credit, the American right has never been as uniform or politically disciplined as the left, in part because it’s not motivated by revolutionary fervor. But that lack of uniformity has left Republicans less capable of responding to Democrats’ radical immigration agenda — and less certain of what degree of restrictionist policies they will actually support. The ongoing GOP civil war Donald Trump inaugurated a decade ago to a large extent hing...