America Seeing Itself Through New Eyes!

Dan Cirucci On The Radio With MATT ROONEY!

Click here to listen to Dan on the radio with MATT ROONEY during the Matt Rooney Show this past weekend. Dan Cirucci and Asm. Paul Kanitra join Matt to plug Monday's Trenton rally against
Sanctuary Statehood. Matt and Dan also opine on topics including federal shutdown politics, the mismanagement of "blue" states, and the passing of an American icon: Chuck Norris.

Listen As I Cohost The Matt Rooney Show!

Guest co-host @dancirucci joins @MattRooneyNJ to discuss the beginning of the Sherrill Administration in New Jersey and the one-year mark for President Trump’s second term.... 📻🎙️

Listen below: https://t.co/Mase6OvBT5

— Save Jersey (@SaveJersey) January 19, 2026

Remembering Rush Limbaugh On His Birthday!

On your birthday, we are reminded how impactful one's life can be. Rush continues to inspire us all to make the very best of our time here.

With love,
Kathryn pic.twitter.com/ai5gQQAWCG

— Official Rush Limbaugh (@OfficialRushUSA) January 12, 2026

And Now, Our Favorite Photo Of The Day!

 

Yes, We Still Miss Him Every Day, Especially Now

 

Yes, She Belongs In The R&R Hall Of Fame!

 A very important message from COPOMIAO:

Italian American Legend Connie Francis Belongs in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Connie Francis, the voice of a generation, is conspicuously absent from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, located in Cleveland, Ohio. The Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO) is rallying public support and calling for the Rock Hall to #LetHerIn.

COPOMIAO launches advocacy campaign on behalf of Francis, whose chart-topping ballads once ruled the airwaves — and now trend across TikTok by the billions. As the nation remembers Connie Francis, one question, amplified by disbelief, grows louder: Where the girls are? Everywhere but the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, it seems. "The Rock Hall has faced ongoing criticism for under-representing early female pop vocalists and girl groups — many of whom, like Connie Francis, laid the foundation for pop and rock in the 1950s and '60s," said COPOMIAO President Basil Russo. "There's a strong case to be made that she deserves induction for her cultural influence and pioneering success as one of the first female pop superstars. Madonna — a successor to Francis in both Italian American heritage and chart dominance — was inducted in 2008. Francis's exclusion today appears indefensible." Consider her legacy: 200+ million records sold worldwide  First woman to top the Billboard Hot 100  Top-selling female artist for a decade 27 billion TikTok views featuring her music (and counting) 53 Billboard Hot 100 chart hits COPOMIAO is rallying the public to contact the Rock Hall and advocate for the recognition Connie Francis deserves.

Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero passed away peacefully in Pompano Beach, Fla., on July 16 at the age of 87.

The voice of a generation, Francis broke through at a time when women were expected to sing, not lead. Born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero in Newark, N.J., to Italian immigrant parents, she grew up speaking Italian and performing at local events by age 4. After years of grinding out talent contests and TV appearances, she exploded onto the scene in 1958 with "Who's Sorry Now?" From there, she became a trailblazer: the first woman to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Everybody's Somebody's Fool," and the first to headline major tours across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. She recorded in over a dozen languages, starred in Hollywood musicals, and even opened for the Queen of England. By the mid-1960s, Francis had become not only a household name but also a symbol of Italian American pride.

Formed in NYC in 1975, the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO) — a national coalition of 74 cultural, educational, fraternal and anti-defamation groups — seeks to promote our history and traditions for today’s generations, and tomorrow’s.

Bill Cuts PBS, NPR, USAID Funds, Heads to Trump

BIG NEWS! The House late yesterday passed a GOP-backed bill slashing $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting, sending the measure to President Trump for his signature and the president (who has backed the measure) will happily sign it.

• The final vote was 216–213, with two Republicans—Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Mike Turner (Ohio)—joining Democrats in opposition.
• The bill slashes $8 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development and more than $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS.
• The Senate passed the bill early Thursday morning, with moderate Republicans Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) siding with Democrats.

VIDEO: Inside The World Of Karoline Leavitt . . .

Had an incredible tour of the White House with the fearless and brilliant @PressSec! 💫🇺🇸 Her courage, grace, and dedication to America are truly inspiring. A strong conservative voice who isn’t afraid to stand for the truth beautiful inside and out! pic.twitter.com/DBdvxl69Rp

— 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐇𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 (@DKH013) May 5, 2025

Trump Ends NPR, PBS Taxpayer Funding

Last night, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order ending the taxpayer subsidization of National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) — entities that receive tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds each year to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as “news.”

Here are some examples of the trash that has passed for “news” at NPR and PBS:

• NPR ran a story titled “Cannibalism: It’s ‘Perfectly Natural,’” in which an author described eating another human’s placenta: “It was really the prep that made it taste good. Granted, the [husband] was a chef and so he knew how to prepare it osso bucco style and used a really nice wine I had brought. It smelled great. It didn’t taste bad.”
   
• In 2021, NPR declared the Declaration of Independence to be a document with “flaws and deeply ingrained hypocrisies.”
  • In 2022, NPR scrapped its decades-long Independence Day tradition of reading the Declaration of Independence on air to instead discuss “equality.”
  • NPR subsequently issued an “editor’s note” warning the Declaration of Independence is “a document that contains offensive language.”
     
• NPR apologized for calling illegal immigrants “illegal.”
   
• NPR sounded the alarm about young men who abstain from masturbating to pornography.
   
• NPR featured a Valentine’s Day story centered around “queer animals,” in which it suggested the make-believe clownfish in “Finding Nemo” would’ve been better off as a female, that “banana slugs are hermaphrodites,” and that “some deer are nonbinary.”
   
• PBS devoted a panel to what it “mean[s] to be woke” and “white privilege.”
   
• NPR routinely promotes the chemical and surgical mutilation of children as so-called “gender-affirming care” without mentioning the irreversible damage caused by these procedures.
   
• In 2021, a PBS station aired a “children’s program” that featured a drag queen named “Lil’ Miss Hot Mess.”
   
• NPR educated the nation on the “whole community of genderqueer dinosaur enthusiasts” and “trans-ceratops.”
   
• Then-PBS White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor characterized President Trump’s patriotic 2020 Mount Rushmore speech as a love letter to “white resentment” that promoted the “myth of America.”
   
• NPR reported on the “cousin of diet culture” known as “healthism, which is the idea that we have to be healthy” — as if that was a bad thing.
   
• NPR assigned three reporters to investigate how the thumbs-up emoji is racist.
   
• NPR suggested doorway sizes are based on “latent fatphobia.”
   
• PBS produced an entire movie celebrating a transgender teenager’s so-called “changing gender identity.”
   
• NPR absurdly claimed “limited scientific evidence of physical advantage” exists between male and female athletes.
   
• NPR lamented that “animals deserve pronouns, too.”
   
• NPR ran a feature titled “What ‘Queer Ducks’ can teach teenagers about sexuality in the animal kingdom.”
   
• In 2023, PBS’s Washington Week roundtable covered up Joe Biden’s clear mental decline, with far-left “journalist” Jeffrey Goldberg claiming Biden was actually “quite acute.”
   
• NPR dedicated an entire segment to the “population of anthropomorphic animal enthusiasts known as ‘furries.’”
   
• PBS produced a documentary making the case for reparations.
   
• NPR disparagingly referred to pro-life Americans at the March for Life as “anti-abortion rights activists.”
   
• NPR explored “the racial origins of fat phobia.”
   
• NPR management asked its editors to avoid the term “biological sex” when discussing transgender issues.
   
• PBS show Sesame Street partnered with CNN on a one-sided narrative to “address racism” amid the Black Lives Matter riots.

NPR and PBS have zero tolerance for non-leftist viewpoints:

• In 2020, NPR refused to cover the explosive Hunter Biden laptop scandal in the runup to the election, baselessly claiming its “assertions don’t amount to much” and writing they “don’t want to waste the listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions.”
   
• When a 25-year veteran NPR reporter and editor spoke out about the network’s obsession with liberal causes, they suspended him.
  • The editor found that registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans 87 to zero in their newsroom.
  • NPR prolifically reported on the Russian collusion hoax, with the editor describing “[Adam] Schiff talking points” as “the drumbeat of NPR news reports.”
     
• NPR CEO Katherine Maher once called President Trump “racist,” shared a photo of herself wearing a “Biden for President” campaign hat, serves on the board of a Soros-funded activist group, and described “reverence for the truth” as a “distraction.”
   
• In 2023, a study found that congressional Republicans saw 85% negative coverage while congressional Democrats saw 54% positive coverage on PBS’s flagship news program.
   
• According to a 2024 study, PBS news staff used 162 variations of the term “far-right,” but only six variations of “far-left.”
   
• Media bias rating agency AllBias — which surveyed nearly 24,000 readers — found NPR’s bias aligns with “liberal, progressive or left-wing thought and/or policy agendas.”
   
• NPR repeatedly dismissed the theory that COVID-19 originated in a lab — a conclusion now deemed likely by the FBI, CIA, and Department of Energy.
  • April 2020: “Scientists Debunk Lab Accident Theory Of Pandemic Emergence”
  • May 2020: “As Trump Pushes Theory Of Virus Origins, Some See Parallels In Lead-Up To Iraq War”
  • May 2021: “Many Scientists Still Think The Coronavirus Came From Nature”
  • March 2023: “Virologist says COVID origin report could make it harder to study dangerous diseases”
  • September 2024: “New research points to raccoon dogs in Wuhan market as pandemic trigger. It’s controversial”
     
• A 2024 Media Research Center study found that PBS’s coverage of the Republican National Convention was 72% negative, while coverage of the Democratic National Convention was 88% positive.

WOW! Philly Radio Talker Chris Stigall Goes National

The following is Chris Stigall's posting from his X account.  PS: We douldn’t be happier for Chris. No one is more deserving of this!

 

Celebritizing The Presidency: Origins And Outcomes

It's 2024 and in the battle for presidency we now have a certified celebrity (and former president) running against a wannabe celebrity who's launched a pop up campaign built around imagery, sloganeering and cosmetic promises.

And we just witnessed the routing of a sitting president, triggered in part by an op-ed penned by the celebrity pal of the victim's former running mate.

How did we get to this point? How did the Presidency of the United States become celebritized?  Because, make no mistake, that's where we're at.

In the modern era of mass communication it all started with Franklin D. Roosevelt and the emergence of radio. In Roosevelt's day, radio was the most powerful medium imaginable. For the first time, the president could enter your living room and speak directly to you. You could hear his voice, live on the radio. His cadence, his tone, his feelings and his emotion became reachable, touchable, real. And FDR mastered the power of radio with his legendary fireside chats.

Radio is what they call a "hot" medium. It's intimate and engaging because it requires the listener to imagine the appearance, the movements and the mannerisms of the person whose voice comes through the speaker. FDR understood this and he tailored his messaged warmly and informally as if he were having a conversation with one person, sitting right beside him.

Roosevelt also surrounded himself with famous friends. He welcomed the support of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, the most popular young movie stars of the era and he made sure to be seen not just with them but with the then reigning "King of Hollywood" Clark Gable as well as other stars of the 1930s and 40s. Roosevelt often colluded with the big Hollywood studio bosses and was regularly featured on the silver screen in the filmed Movietone News that was the in-theater precursor to television. FDR's face, his distinctive profile, his voice and his moving image were everywhere. He was the first celebrity president of the electronic age.

In the years that followed Roosevelt's death it was hard for any leader to match let alone eclipse his celebrity.  True, Harry Truman played the piano while Lauren Becall sat atop the spinet and swooned. And Ike brought an iconic smile and the first Madison Avenue produced TV spots to the presidency. But it wasn't until John F. Kennedy in 1960 that celebrity reached a new zenith in the oval office.

Few people recall that among his many other endeavors, Kennedy's millionaire dad, Joseph P. Kennedy was a Hollywood producer. The old man was determined that his strikingly handsome young son would become the leader of the free world. So John Fitzgerald  "Jack" Kennedy was given the moniker JFK and presented to the public via the best image-makers money could buy. He was dressed by the finest tailors, photographed by world renowned photographers, depicted in the most eye-appealing settings, seen with all the right people and armed with the words and witticisms of America's top speechwriters and wordsmiths. America was sumptulously seduced.

Just as FDR mastered radio, JFK was the first president to master  the world of television, a "cool" medium which perfectly suited Kennedy's magnetic presence. Of course, it helped that Jack Kennedy was also smart, charming and married to a beautiful, classy, worldly woman who gave birth to two adorable children. And it also helped that he hobnobbed with the likes of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack while she brought artists such as Pablo Casals into the White House to perform. They probably single handedly popularized the word glitterati. And all of this reached a dazzling crescendo on May 19. 1962 when Marilyn Monroe sang "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" before a captivated crowd at Madison Square Garden. That was the night that celebrity and the presidency were as tightly bound as Marilyn and her dress.

Still, it took another 20 years for America to crown its first genuine celebrity president by bringing an actual, verified, rock-solid Hollywood star into the White House. And, as the late producer, director and actor John Houseman would say, Ronald Reagan "did it the old-fashioned way, he earned it." Reagan served eight tumultuous years as Governor of California and didn't win the White House until his second try when he was nearly 70 years-old.

By the time he became president Reagan had been a celebrity for nearly four decades. He was comfortable with fame and all its trappings. Indeed, for the better part of his life, that's all he knew. On top of that, he had already mastered radio (he was an announcer and a sportscaster) the movies (he appeared in more than 50 films and helmed the Screen Actors Guild) and television (he hosted and appeared in a top-rated TV series). This made Reagan a triple threat and established him as The Great Communicator. 

And let's not forget that First Lady Nancy Reagan had herself been an actress and had appeared on stage and in the movies. So, this pair needed little or no media training, that's for sure. And while Hollywood stars and other celebrities remained within their galaxy, the Reagans were mostly unfazed by Tinseltown's glitz and glamour. They'd been there, done that. And this is precisely what set them apart.

As they sat in front of the tube each evening and ate their dinner off of TV trays, Ronald and Nancy Reagan wore celebrity like a set of snuggly jammies. In the process, they gave celebrity the one thing it most sorely lacked -- credibility! Knowingly or not, they opened the door to the possibility of a President Donald J. Trump.

Like Reagan, Trump was a celebrity for many years before he sought the presidency. And like Reagan, he was (and is) comfortable with his own fame. Like Reagan he was successful in several other endeavors before he sought the White House. Like Reagan, Trump had also been a TV host and star of a top-rated show. And like Reagan, Trump has sought the presidency more than once. Beyond all that, both men have been the target of an assassin's bullet and both men survived.

The difference is this: Donald Trump has taken the credibility that the Reagan's gave celebrity and he's made it familiar and accessible. Trump's authenticity is on display 24/7 for everyone to see. And Trump has weaved all this into a powerful movement based on the sort of bedrock faith that creates an army of true believers. 

Not since FDR has America seen this sort of trust in one personality. Not since JFK have we seen this sort of affection for an imperfect but nonetheless compelling public figure. And not since Reagan have we seen have we seen this sort of adulation. 

Of course, between Reagan's departure from office in 1989 and the emergence of Trump in 2016 we did have the era of Barack Obama. But for all its flash and graphic messaging, Obama's presidency lacked the depth of Roosevelt, the panache of JFK, the comfort of Reagan or the daring of Trump. Indeed, while Obama wrote about audacity President Trump continues to define it.

Where does all this leave us? Well, we now know that celebrity, embodied by the right personality, is more than skin deep. It's more than surface celebrity. It's powered by ideas, aspirations and character. It reaches us on a visceral level. And all this is part of its allure.

Now combine this with power -- real power, as in the Presidency of the United States -- and you have something that's transformative.

Listen: Originally Broadcast On April 3, 1965

See Ya Tonight With Rooney At 9:15 On WPHT!

Very busy show tonight on @1210WPHT...

Hour 1: @AswVickyFlynn breaks down the #Rutgers encampment aftermath. Time to defund?

Hour 2: U.S. Senate hopeful @CurtisBashaw 🐘

Hour 3: @dancirucci explains why the current campus mayhem isn't anything like the 60s.

7-10PM EST. 🎙️🚨🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/yHrHufzIyj

— Matt Rooney (@MattRooneyNJ) May 5, 2024

Imagine! . . . And He Said This A Long Time Ago!

 

Two Local Talkers Gain National Recognition

Congrats to two of our favorite radio talkers Dom Giordano and Rich Zeoli for ranking high in TALK magazine's list of the top 100 in the USA. Dom (#17) is the undisputed Dean of local talk radio and Rich (#24) is the indomitable General of the Zeoli Army! HOORAY for both of them!

Tonight, LIVE With The Incomparable Matt Rooney!

Tune into 1210 WPHT AM radio Philly (or via Audacy everywhere online) LIVE tonight (Sunday) at 9:15 PM when I join my pal, the incomparable Matt Rooney! Don't miss this!

Well, This Sorta Needed To Be Said, Yes?

I get pretty wound up today. 😂 Any Republican talking down Trump’s performance last night isn’t anyone I trust. Listen on Spotify: https://t.co/yCbHRNRLYJ
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://t.co/89V6PGmrym
Watch on Rumble: https://t.co/bYvL6JMiYX pic.twitter.com/e7ccVsThlz

— Chris Stigall (@ChrisStigall) March 6, 2024

This Looks Like Lots Of Fun, Philly!

This will be one for the ages! Tomorrow morning at 7am - for the full hour - Philadelphia sports radio legend @_AngeloCataldi joins me on @AM990TheAnswer. We talk @Eagles, Andy Reid, @TonyBrunoNation, his biggest regrets, and the money! Oh, the money. pic.twitter.com/MG7TOQR0nN

— Chris Stigall (@ChrisStigall) December 20, 2023

He Foresaw It All, And We Miss Him Every Day

On one of his last episode, Rush predicted the Democrats would indict Trump to prevent him from becoming President again

"They are terrified of him, because they are terrified of you, and you will never abandon him" pic.twitter.com/zFn0fEKOLa

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) December 6, 2023