When I was 12 or 13, I went to the local mall (Note to younger readers: A “mall” is sort of like Amazon Prime, but in real life) and bought two albums: one by the Grateful Dead, the other by Iron Maiden.
Honestly? I didn’t know anything about either band. Because, in rural America, neither got airplay.
I just thought their t-shirts looked cool.
The Dead sucked. Apologies to Dead Heads, but I just don’t get it. Way too meandering. ("Casey Jones" was fun, though.)
But Maiden blew my adolescent mind. I was instantly hooked: There were songs about Pharaohs on their deathbeds and World War II air battles. They even helped me in high school English and history.
Forty years later, the band is still going strong, still releasing new albums, and still touring the world. (Which gets rarer as you get older: By the time you hit your 50s, almost all your boyhood heroes are retired or dead.)
Plus, as fate (and/or brainwashing) has it, my oldest kid (19) is also a superfan. So last Friday night — 9/11 — he left from James Madison University, I left from Richmond, and we journeyed towards Northern Virginia for our third Maiden concert together.
After Hurricane Helene flooded our home and cars (including my very pretty Alfa Romeo), I got a Tesla Model S. Going from a gas-powered, temperamental Italian sports car to an EV was a big adjustment, but now I like it: Zero to 60 in 3.2, and other than the door handles occasionally acting wonky, it was maintenance-free. No oil changes, no headaches, no nothin’.
So imagine my astonishment when my car rejects the Supercharger.
It’s after the concert, late at night. I’ve got about 40 miles of range left. My kid stuck around to help me, but no dice. Car won’t charge.
We’re on the phone with Tesla. We’re asking Grok and Googling. My youngest kid (17) is offering ideas from home, but the damn car still won’t charge!
We rebooted the Tesla. We switched credit cards. We tried different chargers at different stations.
I couldn’t understand it. I’ve used Superchargers before without an issue! And 99% of the time — especially since moving to Richmond — I charge at my house, and that always worked fine.
In fact, I charged this stupid car the day I left!
‘Round 3 a.m., my youngest kid theorizes that it must be a voltage thing, so if I can find something called a Destination charger, that just might work.
According to Tesla, there was a nearby hotel that had one. Yay! I figure I’ll grab a room there, charge up, and leave the next day.
Only… we get there, and the hotel says they don’t have a Destination charger. (Or they had one and got rid of it.)
So we find another location at another hotel. (This time I called first and confirmed, because I’m only semi-stupid.) Fantastic.
I get there with less than 30 miles left. It’s now 4 a.m.
Of course, both Destination chargers are occupied. No sweat. I’ll wake up early, wait for ‘em to leave, charge up and go.
I get up at 6:45. Both cars are still there.
Ah well.
I go back and check every half-hour: nope, still there.
‘Round 10 a.m., I left a note on both cars’ windshields, explaining my predicament and asking ‘em to pretty-please text me when they leave.
Due to battery drain, my range is now only 25.
My youngest kid finished his SAT and drove up to help me. (He loves cars. Always has. He knows more about my car than I do.) He arrived at 2 p.m. — and both those cars STILL hadn’t moved. (The nice folks at the hotel gave me ‘til 4 p.m. to leave, which I appreciated.)
Before he left home, my kid somehow hacked my Tesla account (which should probably concern me), bought me an adaptor, and said our solution was a thingy called a Chargepoint. According to his phone, there was one moderately close by, connected to a Volvo dealership.
Tesla’s battery drain continued. We arrived at the Volvo dealership with 12 miles left.
And… the salesman tells us the Chargepoint is private. Our hardship left him unmoved.
Ugh. My kid sees another Chargepoint on the map, inside of a George Mason University parking lot. We drive there with our fingers crossed.
We get there with just 9 miles left!
And it works! The car is juicing up!
Of course, a Chargepoint is slower than a Supercharger. We only gained 20 miles of range an hour. So this was gonna take a while.
And y’know what? It actually turned into an awesome experience.
We Uber’d back to my kid’s car, returned to the hotel, and paid for a second night. Then we went sightseeing in D.C. and had a great meal together. He 100% saved the day.
He also told me he decided to follow in his older brother’s footsteps and join the Army reserves when he turns 18, too.
A near-disaster turned into a blessing: I got to spend Friday night with my 19-year-old and head-bang away to my childhood heroes — and then I got to spend Saturday with my 17-year-old, who has brains and courage to spare.
It was the best weekend in a really long time.
PRediction: The debate over 9/11 will loom large over the midterms — and beyond.
Most of the time, memorial events have a short shelf-life. They come and go, over and done, gone and forgotten.
This will be different.
Because it’s raised the question of what 9/11 means to our country. One side says it was a terrible tragedy that triggered an even greater calamity: A vengeful America attacked the wrong people, punished millions of innocent Muslims, and foolishly created an unknown number of new terrorists.
As Abdul El-Sayed said, “Hurt people hurt people.”
The other side says the problem is radical Islam — and America’s failure to take the threat seriously.
Whoever wins the debate will have the upper hand moving forward. Memo to the GOP: It’d be VERY wise to invest in youth education.
If you’re under 30, your memories of 9/11 are either blurry or nonexistent. Zoomers are basically a blank slate.
Socialism is winning because the socialists are investing in youth education.
Of course, the socialists also have help: Communist China and TikTok have done a helluva lot of damage. (It’s essentially a state-sponsored propaganda campaign.)
Bottom line? We’re not going to win this war if we don’t fight back.
PRojection: An extension of the 9/11 debate is a simple question: Did America win or lose the War on Terror?
The socialists certainly believe we lost. In their retelling, the story of post-9/11 America was one self-inflicted wound after another. (And something-something Israel.)
But it’s not just socialists saying it anymore. You can look at the Taliban: They’re still in power in Afghanistan, riding high in American military equipment.
Doesn’t exactly feel like a victory, does it?
Or some point to the Muslim mayor of New York City, Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed rising in Michigan, the growing popularity of pro-Palestinian propaganda, and the emergence of the Muslim socialist movement.
Additionally, since 9/11, America’s Muslim population has skyrocketed: By some metrics, we’ve welcomed nearly two million new Muslim immigrants.
Which was a deliberate policy decision.
But on the other hand, if someone had told you on Sept. 12, 2001 that 25 years would go by without another 9/11-style attack on our soil — or anything close in proportion — you’d probably drop to your knees and thank the Lord Almighty.
Because that was a deliberate policy decision, too.
Multiple policies, actually — including the much-derided Iraq War.
One of the consequences of “regime building” in Saddam’s sandbox was that thousands upon thousands of foreign terrorists flocked to Iraq during the insurgency. Too many American troops were killed — but FAR MORE terrorists were killed, too.
Maybe, if those terrorists hadn’t been killed in Iraq, they would’ve attacked us in our homeland. Maybe the Iraq War was a stroke of geopolitical genius, because it served as a siren’s call for jihadists — far from our homeland, where our soldiers and Marines were waiting with the dogs of war.
Did America win or lose the War on Terror?
It’s an open debate. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
PRaise: Another musical sojourn — but instead of heavy metal, let’s do-si-do in the opposite direction.
War and tragedy are responsible for great music. (Some of the best ever was during the Vietnam era. No matter what you thought of the war, the music was AMAZING.) Same goes for 9/11: From Alan Jackson to Toby Keith, we love ‘em all.
Here’s a gem you probably haven’t heard: Tori Amos’ "I Can’t See New York":
Lyrics include:Thirteen thousand and holding
Swallowed in the purring of her engines
Tracking the beacon here
Is there a signal there?[…]
And you said (you said)
And you did (you did)
And you said you would find me here
And you said (you said)
And you would find me even in death
And you said
And you said
You'd find meBut I can't see New York
As I'm circling down
Through white clouds
Falling out and
I know his lips are warm
But I can't seem to find
My way out, my way out
I can't see New York
As I'm circling down
Through white clouds
Falling out and
I know his lips are warm
But I can't seem to find
My way out, my way out
Of this hunting ground
For some weird reason, Tori Amos and Iron Maiden don’t go on tours together. Too bad. (I’d buy a ticket for sure.)
PRedator: Let’s anoint two sets.
First, this video of Mayor Zohran Mamdani and AOC requires no further set up:
C-SPAN, an outlet that could not get any more politically neutral, shared this clip showing AOC and Mamdani laughing it up during the reading of names at the 9/11 commemoration ceremony. It’s that patently offensive and rude. https://t.co/rm7I9SdflM
— Shayna Maidel (@1ShaynaMaidel) September 11, 2026
Second: Apparently, if you don’t Supercharge your Tesla regularly enough, the device breaks down. Which is something I kinda-sorta wish someone told me beforehand.
Yo Elon: That’s a REALLY bad design flaw!
C’mon, man. We expect more from our super-geniuses.
