Box Score of the Week

Cleveland Indians at Minnesota Twins - May 21, 1961.

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Special programming note

I gladly cede the time slot for my weekly radio show today in order for audio of Charlie Kirk's memorial service to air instead. Coverage will begin at 1:00 pm Central Time. 

If you happen to be in the Twin Cities, you can listen on good ol' fashioned AM radio at 1280. Otherwise you can stream it online at AM1280ThePatriot.com or the iHeart radio app.

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The right decision arrived at incorrectly.

 Multiple things can be true: 

• Jimmy Kimmel's late night "entertainment" talk show is little more than an anti Trump bitch fest for despaired leftist voters to go for therapy. Hence, not entertaining. 
• Kimmel was gaslighting his audience earlier this week by suggesting that Charlie Kirk's assassin was affiliated with MAGA. 
• The U.S. government has absolutely zero business meddling into whether or not the company airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! should continue to do so. 

The Federal Communications Commission essentially strong arming Sinclair into removing Kimmel's program indefinitely is on par with the Biden administration coercing social media platforms into flagging user posts containing what Team Biden considered "misinformation" (i.e. only women can get pregnant). Both Sinclair execs and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg could have (and should have) told the respective presidential admins to pound sand. And there would have been zero legal repercussions had they done so.

If the Trump admin was a little more politically savvy, they would have allowed Kimmel's show to drown in the backlash that was occurring due to his gross misstatement regarding Kirk's murderer. 

So if Kimmel was about to go on the air and make things infinitely worse by digging in, I'm actually *not* sure what ABC was supposed to do except yank him. They aren't required to allow him to enrage half of America on their airwaves if they know it's coming in advance. pic.twitter.com/Ue1bwB9v8E

— Jeff Blehar is *BOX OFFICE POISON* (@EsotericCD) September 19, 2025

As you might imagine, the left was engaged in its normal hyperbole regarding this situation. I could post literally scores of tweets conveying such lunacy, but this one from MSNBC's Chris Hayes underscores the left's utter tone deafness.  

This is the most straightforward attack on free speech from state actors I've ever seen in my life and it's not even close. https://t.co/uMjEZkIpat

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) September 17, 2025

I dunno, Chrissy. I say a private citizen receiving a surprise IRS audit after speaking critically of a sitting President ranks higher. Your mileage may vary though. 

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Quick Hits: Volume CCCLXXXIII

- The long awaited Minnesota political announcement has finally occurred. 

Tim Walz launched a third bid for the governor’s office on Tuesday, putting an end to months of speculation about whether he would seek another four years in the job.

Walz enters the race with more than $1 million in the bank and the power of the incumbency. But the two-term Democrat is also facing headwinds after his support has eroded in greater Minnesota.

Before he was first elected governor in 2018, Walz served six terms in Congress representing southern Minnesota.

If he prevails, Walz would become the first person in Minnesota history to win three four-year terms as governor.

What's fascinating (if not downright stupefying) is that Walz is still above 50% in approval rating, yet the majority of the same people surveyed also believe he should not seek a third term. Obviously he's undeterred by the latter sentiment. 

While Walz is certainly ripe for defeat, the Republican Party of Minnesota is (SURPRISE!) still a gong show. Whomever emerges as the GOP candidate to oppose Walz has to know there won't be a competent party apparatus behind them. So now more than ever is it imperative that the Republican candidate with the best chance to win a general election is elevated as the nominee. Unfortunately, the most formidable general election candidate has rarely been given the nod over the past 20 years. 

- It never ends with this franchise. 

 

ESPN sources: Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy is expected to be sidelined two-to-four weeks with a high ankle sprain.

With McCarthy out, Vikings QB Carson Wentz is now in line to start. pic.twitter.com/iZ1qvackMV

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 15, 2025

So if history is any indication, the Vikings, with a veteran quarterback on whom they took a flier, will gallop ingloriously to the NFC Championship Game (see: 1998 with Randall Cunningham replacing an injured Brad Johnson and the 2017 season with Case Keenum supplanting Sam Bradford)! 

OK, in all seriousness, that's not likely to happen. But it will be interesting how coach Kevin O'Connell navigates the situation if Wentz plays well and the Vikings go 2-1 or 3-0 over their next three games before the bye week. By that point, McCarthy will likely be ready to play. Do they delay his development yet one more season if the team is on an upward swing thanks in large part to Wentz? I'm glad I don't have to make that call.

- So this is the U.S. Attorney General in a Republican presidential administration. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi: "There's free speech and then there's hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society...We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech." pic.twitter.com/Bqj6TQOGwP

— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) September 16, 2025

"Charlie" of course is in reference to the recently assassinated Charlie Kirk.....who would be in vehement disagreement with Bondi here.  

 

Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There's ugly speech. There's gross speech. There's evil speech.

And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment.

Keep America free.

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 3, 2024

Bondi later doubled down.

The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh calls for the firing of AG Pam Bondi today after she announces the DOJ may prosecute Office Depot for refusing to print posters for a Charlie Kirk vigil in Michigan.

Walsh wrote on 𝕏: “Get rid of her. Today. This is insane. Conservatives have fought… pic.twitter.com/GMWe5B0mTV

— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) September 16, 2025

This is reminiscent of the Biden administration looking to coerce social media companies into flagging posts containing "misinformation," which in this day and age is totally subjective. 

One silver lining: AG Bondi appeared to unify the left and right against her ridiculous (and flat out wrong) notions. 

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Box Score of the Week

Oakland Athletics at Minnesota Twins - May 4, 1984.

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The game where Oakland slugger Dave Kingman hit an infield pop up.......and it never came down. 

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The NARN Closer's playlist - 9/14/2025

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Take another look, take another ride. Can't we make them leave the hate behind?

Obviously my heart is heavy on this Sunday in the aftermath of the tragedy involving Charlie Kirk this past week. I could easily go three hours on that topic alone, but I'll squeeze in what I can in the allotted two hours. Today's airing of my radio show The Closer will begin at 1:00 PM Central Time. 

Right at 1:00, two local college students by the names of Harrison and Alli will join the broadcast to discuss their motivation to continue Charlie's work. Then in the 2:00 hour, I will weigh in on myriad aspects of the Kirk tragedy. 

At 1:30, Israel native Lawrence Badzin will call in from his homeland to promote an exhibit telling the story of Kfar Azza, which was one of the many communities devastated by the 10/7/2023 attacks launched by Hamas. 

So please call (651) 289-4488 if you'd like to weigh in on any of the topics we plan on addressing.

 

You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 or, if you're near downtown Minneapolis/West Metro area, 107.5 FM on your radio dial. In and out of the Minneapolis-St Paul area you can listen to the program on the Internet by clicking this link, or check us out via iheart radio as well as Amazon Alexa (just say "Alexa, play The Patriot Minneapolis"). If you're unable to tune in live, please check out my podcast page for the latest show post.

And if you're so inclined, follow along on Twitter at #NARNShow or "Like" our Facebook page, where we also conduct a "Live Stream" of the broadcast.

Until then.....

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They got him.

Charlie Kirk's assassin has been arrested.  

The suspect is a 22-year old Utah native who had only recently become "more political," including expressing his disdain for Kirk. How it got to the point where the alleged shooter wanted to murder him hasn't been made clear as yet. By all accounts, the young man grew up in a stable household with both parents being registered Republicans (as an aside, that's all progs needed to hear to convince themselves that the alleged shooter was too a Republican). So how is it that things can go off the rails so quickly and dramatically? 

Adam Carolla hosts a terrific podcast, usually for hilarity's sake. But here, in the immediate aftermath of Kirk's death, he shares pearls of wisdom on how young people can get to such a dark place. 

Charlie Kirk 1993 - 2025

Rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/tp12N1Gtf8

— The Adam Carolla Show (@AdamCarollaShow) September 11, 2025

I still recall progs' reaction to the shooting incident in Tucson, AZ back in early 2011, the one which killed multiple people and seriously wounded then Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Leftists and their media allies worked overtime to blame "right wing rhetoric" for motivating the gunman to do what he did. Unless the political left are willing to be introspective over their hyperbolic proclamations that President Donald Trump and anyone associated with him are "fascists," then odds are close to 100% that additional assassination attempts on prominent right wingers will continue.

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