Charles krauthammer making his point. Our friend and colleague passed away six months ago leaving behind his wife robin and sonav daniel. Charles had been working on a book called the point of it all. He asked his son to finish it. I was surprised at how the book begins considering it is a topic charles did not want to talk about when i interviewed him a few years back. Is there a way that we can talk about your family and being married, you are happily married, you have a kid. You dont want to do that at all . It is an interesting topic, but i have never done it. 2 million words, and you dont see any of it, there is a reas reason. Bret okay. All right, lets start again. I dont deny that i have a wife, but i never wrote about her, except for once i never wrote about daniel. When he was born, i wrote a column about his birth. And it was a good column, and it was nice, and then when he was one, i wrote one on his first birthday. And then i realized i am never going to do this again. This is using him, this is going to be his vision of his self through my eyes. And i simply wont do it. So rather than a reference to him here or there, i never wrote about them again, ever. Two things in 28 years. Im not a touchy, feeley guy. Thats probably why i quit psychiatry. If you are not in the feelings and emotions and all the back story, then you ought to be doing something else. Bret you see that we had to cut the camera in the middle, hbecause he did not want to tak about it. This book leads with the column about you. Memories of a newborn father,98 june 28th, 1985. Three weeks ago, daniel appear krauthammer, our first entered the world. It was a noisy and boisterous entry as befits a 10pound krauthammer. It has been just as noisy and boisterous since. I had been warned by friend and foe that life would never be the same. They were right. He put it in the collection. It was at the time i took it over, the publishers and the editors wanted it to be at the front. And i think my dad would have agreed with that. But i felt it was, it was the right thing to do. I felt, you know, he expressed a lot of his love by protecting, and by not wanting to take advantage of the thing that was most dear to him for any purposes other than the love itself. Which is why it was framed so much sometimes, not from me or my mom, but i am the one making the call. I love him for that protection. But i would rather be sheltered myself. Bret when you see him staring you through, what do you think . It is so interesting to me, because, you know, he says he is not a touchyfeely guy. On the one hand, that is really true. The most wry and ironic and funny, and he does not get mushy and soppy on the outside about anything. But i think at his core, he was all heart. And i think everybody who knows him knew that. Which is why people are so drawn to him. I think one of his Favorite Movie characters ofeo all time s hungry bogart inc. Casablanca. Deep down he always does the right thing and cares deeply about everyone he loves. And i think that my dad, a lot of the privacy was wanting to keep the most precious and important things to him, just to him, because i think that everyone deals with how much do you wear your feelings on your sleeve, it is very difficult frankly, talking about a lot of this and making the decision to take on the book. To put the very personal things that i put in the book in there, and to talk with you about the book. But now that he has gone from this life, i believe he would say im doing the right thing. Ie bret what do i do . It seems my job as the father, a verb that must count as one of the ages more inventive creations. How exactly to father. I really donthe know. The Womens Movement to which the idea owes its currency is right to insist that the father do more, but more of what . I have been asking myself that lately as i rock him and hold him and speak to him in the gravest of tones. We both know, we all three know the truth. Nature has seen to it that anything i can do, she can do better. Mine is literally a holding action. The column is poignant on several levels, it captures the awe and the uselessness of fathers at the beginning. We have nothing to do, nothing to offer, really. But on the other level, your father was not able to do the 3 00 a. M. Changing and the feedings. I guesso where you are going is, my father had some bad luck, and his life was different, and my life was different because of that. But how he lived his life of, you dont let things get in your wayyo. Got ready, get set, go. Wait, go that is nice. Okay, there you go. Go back. He made my life wonderful. And he did not let what happened to him affect me. Your barely doing it with a six. Bret did they think about having more children . I think they mentioned that they wanted me to have a sister or brother. But apparently that was not to be. Bret not in the cards. Your dad called your mother his coauthor in life. My father and my mother shared an incredible bond in their lives that were intertwined in a deeply profound way. They met when they were both grad t students at oxford, and s college, which was an all mens college, and my mothers college was an all Womens College had just bought the manor house. So my dad saw this forum and check where you want to live, singlesex, singlesex, coed, check. So that was the beginning of it. So theyd met there, and they began their relationship. And they were apart for a while, because my dad went back to america to go to harvard medical school, and my mom went on to practice law in londonrd and paris, and that candle stayed aflame. And then she moved to the states to get back together with him. And they were married. Bret in between there there was the accident. Love is love. And i think thats really the whole story from both her point of view that that was something to deal with, and that was going to be a fact in life, but thats not what mattered. Bret coming up. The last thing he said to me about it was dont publish it if it is not worth it. My Psoriatic Arthritis pain . I had enough its not getting in my way. Joint pain, swelling, tenderness. Much better. My psoriasis, clearer. Cosentyx works on all of this. Four years and counting. So watch out. I got this watch me. Real people with active Psoriatic Arthritis are feeling real relief with cosentyx. Cosentyx is a different kind of targeted biologic. It treats the multiple symptoms of Psoriatic Arthritis to help you look and feel better. It even helps stop further joint damage. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability. To fight them may occur. Tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen. Or if youve had a vaccine, or plan to. Serious allergic reactions may occur. I just look and feel better. I got real relief with cosentyx. Watch me feel real relief. Ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. man and woman [burst of t lking to animals] vo it feels good to give back. attendant thank you so much. woman oh, you are so welcome. vo you can choose the aspca to get two hundred and fifty dollars from subaru when you get a new subaru, like the all new outback. vo 2 get 0. 9 on a new outback during the subaru share the love event. Hour 36 in the stakeout. As soon as the homeowners arrive, well inform them that Liberty Mutual customizes home insurance, so theyll only pay for what they need. Your turn to keep watch, limu. Wake me up if you see anything. [ snoring ] [ loud squawking and siren blaring ] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. [sneeare you ok . Fles] yah, its just a cold. Its not just a cold if you have high blood pressure. Most cold medicines may raise blood pressure. Coricidin hbp is the. 1 brand that gives. Powerful cold relief without raising your blood pressure. Bret when Charles Krauthammer died last summer, Daniel Krauthammer inherited the job of completing the book his father left unfinished. Charles previous book things that matter was a huge best seller. The point of it all would be the final word from the influential writer and commentator. Daniel wondered if he was up to the task. The point of i the point of it all started as his next collection, he also had a book on Foreign Policy in big nideas he was working on. Those two projects he was moving away with when his Health Crisis struck. But as things were getting better, and we saw, we thought we saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and i had jerryrigged all kinds of stuff in the hospital room for him to work at his computer. So he got back to working on the book. On organizing it. Starting to lay it out more. And when we got the final prognosis, it was only a few weeks that we had. And he entrusted it to me to finish for him. And the last thing he said to me about it, dont publish it if it is not worthy. And i took that to heart in a way that is more important to me than anything. Bret he chose most of the pieces. You chose some too. He put together most of the pieces that are in the book now. But i also read through quite literally everything he ever wrote. And also speeches, transcripts, interviews, and found some very important pieces that i filled in with some important profound areas that needed to be in. Bret this is like a puzzle you are putting together here and moving pieces around. It felt a little bit like a rubiks cube. I was trying to get all of the colors in the right place. Each time he moved one, a peace move. Because the book is so expensive and cover so many topics. Everything from baseball, chess, politics, life, fatherhood. It all needed to have an underlying tissue and core that ran through the whole thing. Bret daniel explains the court in the introduction to the point of it all. What is the point of it all, our life, the existence appeared are vast complex of humanity. Politics should not say. Keeping politics out of it was the point of my fathers life work. Individuals must find their own meaning. Bret he did not want to be defined by his disability at all. He did not want to talk about it. We did not want to shoot it in a way that it even appeared on d television. In fact, there are many people who watch fox and never knew that he was in a wheelchair. You were hesitant to include anything that focused on that. But in the end, you chose to do it. Why did you do it . I tried to do it the way that hed lived with it. You dont hide it, but you dont say, this is what defines me. There wereha columns that he wre that i. Found i found inspiring. And i wanted them to be in the book. Which in the end is the way he wanted. The statement that charles submitted at george ws council of bioethics on the debate of cloned human embryos for research. I am one of those who has spoken that says the research has to be permitted so that i can walk, or people like me can walk. But i am not only a patient. Im also a father. Andm what i have cited myself about this issue and what we should say to other people that suffer from disabilities is that we have children, and we want to raise them in a world. We want to bequeath them world and moral universe in which we think they ought to live. And that we may be jeopardizing the moral quality of that universe, this humanity of the universe by cavalierly breaking moral rules that we have observed for generations in order that people like me can walk. There was one thing that he said in your last interview, everyone has their cross to bear, everyone. Mine is just more invisible. And that touched me, because everybody does have something, and a lot of it we cant see. Here we are on the set. Heres the location. Who is at sea . [laughter] bret was there ever a time growing up where you said, other kids dads can do this. He cant do this. Or either of you lamented at some point . Not really. How was it . Okay. Of course you are aware of it, but some kids fathers arent there, some kids fathers are absent or bad fathers. On the hole, i count myself as the luckiest son in the world. I dont think that he fell once. It was all on purpose. It was all in purpose. He was a Camp Counselor to my childhood. Lets pass it around a little bit, guys. Lets pass it around. He always made sure that i was outdoors doing something. Okay, listen up. Everybody know how to play . Yes we are not going to playon i. Whether it was swim or archery, and i think this was pretty much how he grew up always outside. We would go to my grandmothers house in long beach and have two camps where we will play spitball, and do all the things that he did as a kid. That was a huge amount of fun. Andug i think that he really enjoyed imparting all of that to me. He was also insistent that i learned how to ski. We went on ski vacations all the time when i was growing up. And he would, you know, he would have the hot chocolate at the bottom of the hill, but be watching and making sure that i was learning all the right moves and the hockey stuff. He wanted me to ski elegantly, not just recklessly. How do you like that . Bret for someone with your level of paralysis, you are able to do a lot. Your car is not exactly an off the road vehicle. Usually the first is 20 minutes of sheer terror, i cannot believe that this thing is going to work and we will go. And i intend it to go. And it has the ejection seat. Thats what that red one is. Bret [laughs] when i got in that thing it was like, dont touch anything. To the radio is fine, and the air conditioning is great. I grew up there, yes, it was kind of cool. There were all of these buttons on the dashboard, but in terms of my dad driving, it was really more the aggressive driver growing up on the canadian ice. Whenever it was snowing, everybody kind of running out there. The sky is falling. And driving to work without the snowplow coming up. Bret i remember he was leaving the garage one time and i walked out and i waved at him. I said, just a word to the wise, dont wave at me. It is very dangerous. Yes, you have to go both hands on the wheel and break. One of my, probably one of my earliest memories in that van are my dad was driving us down the bridge, m which i had been viover, so my dad said, yes, i want to you to get a view of the statue of liberty. But i was looking, and it could not see. He said, do this. You take all the pillows that i had been napping on, stuff them under your butt, and strap in really tight. And as soon as i said i was ready, he pushed on the brakes, slow down to a crawl, and i have this perfect view of the statue of liberty. Meanwhile hundreds of cars areib piling up behind us, honking, yelling, trying to pass us. And my dad could not care less about that. He knew that i was getting something to make my life more rich. And that was all he cared about in that moment. When my son was small i would take him skiing on weekends, the east coast you had to drive a long way to find a place. So the rides are three hours each way. A and he has a wonderful mind. Curious. And he would say to me, dad, teach me something. I said, okay, you pick a topic. He would say, the constitution. Tell me what you know. So i would talk to them for three hours about thes constitution. I remember once, he said, history of the jews. Bret [laughs] spoke with her was history of the jews part one and two. It was a series. I love those memories. We have lots of long car rides. Bret time in the car was precious. Yes, a lot of the backbone remembers how he told things. He told it so well and in such a cohesive story that it was a grand sense of history. Bret i knew that he could fill to the commercial break, but i did not know it was three hours on the competition. We could do it now if there was recording back then, but no, i was the sole audience for that. Yes, i mean, he knew the ins and outs about a lot of things. Bret after the break. A reaches a point where you have a real life, you have a wife and a child, i have a job, what am i doing . And it seems really bad. Its gentle on her skin, and dermatologist recommended. Tide free gentle. Safe for skin with psoriasis and eczema. Skip to the good part with alkaseltzer plus. Now with 25 more concentrated power. Nothing works faster for powerful cold relief. Oh, what a relief it is so fast most people think as a reliable phone company. But to businesses, were a reliable partner. We Keep Companies ready for whats next. man we weave security into their business. second man virtualize their operations. woman and build ai customer experiences. second woman we also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. Like 5g. Almost all of the fortune 500 partner with us. woman when it comes to digital transformation. Verizon keeps business ready. Live from americas news headquarters i am mike krzyzewski, Merry Christmas to you from the cathedral in washington to the vatican, millions of people are celebrating christmas. In rome, pope francis delivered his annual Christmas Day message offering hope against the message has become an occasion for people to address suffering and press for solutions. Thousands of christians also descended on bethlehem, said to be the birthplace of, festivities included daylong observances, music, and parades around manger square. And sadly, the notre dame in paris was not open this Christmas Day, breaking a 200 30year tradition, that is because fired devastated the gothic landmark last april. And they fear that it cannot be saved. Now back to this fox news special. Bret Charles Krauthammer was best known for writing about politics. The power, the policies, the people who dominated the news. The point of it all, not any of that, to charles, the point of it all was stuff that folks not politically obsessed live for. Family, friends, a day at the ballpark. A good movie. As game of chess. Well, maybe not chess. It is a poison. Bret [laughs] you reach a point on the internet and you are playing speed chess in the middle of the ninth, and you realize you are in a motel room and drinking bret [laughs] you know that you have hit bottom. You cannot finish your subscription, and you cannot do it again. Bret this is one of my favorites, talking to him on the back porch of your place out there by the bay about chess. And he is really getting into it. I mean, like really getting into it to the point where i ask him, do you go over the top . Yes, i have binges. For several years, this has happened to me ever since i was 20. I go into it for a few years and then i have to quit and then a comeback back, of course. Y i think orwell said, you have a promising young man with a Bright Future anyone to destroy him, teach him chest. Bret did you play with him . I did when i was a kid. The bret were you good . I was not as good as him, bug i was pretty good pretty taught me, and we played a lot. Maybe i was turned off by seeing where it led. There is a point where you have a real life, a wife, a child, and you say, i have a job, what am i doing, so i gave it up to three years ago. But in part it is because of you. Because now that i do special report every night, we would meet on monday nights, and it was too exhausting. Bret he blamed his lack of chess playing on me. Thank you, by the way. But i remember when he mentions is monday night chess club. He had an entire room that was the chest room, it was monday nights, and they would have three, four, five games going at a time. And no talking. Bret genius, insanity, innocence, august 20th, 1993. Chess enjoys in unholy reputation for psychic derangement. When not with frank madness, oddness, isolation. I remember psychiatrist friends of visiting me at a chess club, walked in, sat down and said, jeez, i could run a group here. He loved to think and he loved puzzles. There was an abstract beauty to it to that to him was almost like art, and iov think bret which is how he looked at baseball too. Suffering a relapse and loving it. Its one thing to repair your sons Little League team. Run, run, run. I get it, after all he is your kid. You paid for the moment, the uniform, the bat, and when he turns nine, the cup. You have a stake in him and by extension his team, but what possible steak do grown men have in 25 strangers, vagabond mercenaries, playing a game for half the year. Ive been a baseball fan most of my life, why should i care about these tobacco spitting, adjusting, multimillionaires who have never heard of me, would not care if i was dispatched to my maker by the exploding scoreboard, why . I have no idea. Reading what he wrote about it, it struck me that he had such an appreciation for the raw beauty, the perfect double play, or throwing just the right toin pitch to just the right batter at just the right moment, and so, there was a little kid in him, for sure, that loved going to the ballpark and eating hot dogs. But i think that there was a deeper and more soulful meaning, that there is something innately beautiful, and what he compared to music or number theory, or art, it really expressed something in the human soul. Bret he called opening day religious holiday. Did he impart that love of baseball do you . He did. I cannot claim to be as phonetic a fan as he was, but i grew up playing baseball, Little League. He was probably just at every single game and practice i played. Bret is that right . Yes, and we went to ball games all the time. The orioles when i was little, then the nats when i moved tots washington. It was kind of oured time toge together. Bret he loved the movies. Yes. His favorites were always casablanca, and lawrence of arabia and north byar northwest. He could recite them line by line. And with me, we had this tradition every Christmas Day, we are jewish, so we did not have a lot to do. He would rent a whole bunch of videos, and we would lock ourselves in our tv room and watch movies from dawn till dusk, and my mom would slip a sandwich under the door every once in a while. But he would choose a scene, whether it was westerns, scifi, and it would be the classics of the genre. So this is how he taught me the great movie cannon, to speak. But yeah, he just loved movies. Bret up next. Did the kids in the class go, your dad is a bounder, why did you not tell me that . Li thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats differently. For psoriasis, 75 clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. For Psoriatic Arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. And the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Tell your doctor about your medicines and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Ready to treat differently with a pill . Otezla. Show more of you. Bret Daniel Krauthammer was born in 1985. By the time he was in high school, the cold war was over, the nation was saved, and the dotcom economy was booming. Charles knew it could not last. But how do you get a bunch of teenagers to listen . Heres how it works, there is a Spring Campaign in a fall campaign. Bret did he know all of your friends . Yes, everybody went to our house. He was one of the favorites if not the favorite dad on the block. This game is so much like the real thing it is scary. I gave a lecture at my sons high school in the late 80s. I was trying to make them understand that what you are living through is totally unusual. I was impressing upon them what a wondrous age this was, which if you are 17, i think trouble getting a date is not exactly a message that you are going to accept. Bret do you remember that . I do, vaguely, he did feelhe that 90s were a an anomaly to history and a grand battle of ideas o and ideologies, and this that we have to fight for and protect. And the 90s felt like everything is great. Bret did the kids in the class go, your dad is a downer . Yeah, but i think would hit, but also happen when i was in high school was september 11th. That was just before, and i rememberer that day it took him three hours to drive downtown to my high school, which normally takes 15 minutes. But he picked me up, and i remember a lot of teachers and my friends going to ask him what this means, and he said, this means things are serious. And you know, in retrospect, that was kind of the book end to that bubble, and that time when all of us kids just thought that this was the way it was. Bret charles never wrote with more urgency than in the wake of the terror attacks. Your dad was an advocate for muscular response post 9 11. Did he look back and say, maybe we should not of been that aggressive . I think his words before himself very well in the book. Iraq was problematic. People forget that there was broad support from the public and congress including from those who became the highest ranking foreign policies figures in the obama administration. Hillary clinton, john kerry, chuck hagel, and joe biden and they forget to the contacts. Restoring Saddam Hussein to fulo economic power, while positioning him posting chins to again threaten his neighbors and restart his wmd program. I suspect historymd will see george bush as a man who by trial and error, but also with impressions and principal establish the structures that will enable us to prevail. Yes, there is a lot of secondguessing and all the years since. There are a lot of places along the way where things could have and should have been done differently. He did always pertain a view that we needed a strong Foreign Policy that was also careful. And i think that that is something that sometimes people paper over. He was a very careful and thoughtful source in terms of both not wanting america to extend blood and treasure where it was not in americas interest. But also not waiting too long for something would come back to harm our country directly. Bret ry what is not a bell about the book, so much of what charles wrote during the obama, bush, or reagan administrations remains relevant today, in some instances, more than ever. Police on patrol, april 11, 2014. Two months ago, a petition bearing more than 110,000 signatures was delivered to the Washington Post demanding a ban on any article questioning global warming. It arrived before my calling. Which consisted of precisely that, heresy. The column ran as usual, but i was gratified by the show of intolerance, because it illustrated my argument, that the left is no longer trying to win the debate, but stopping debate altogether. Banishing from Public Discourse any and all opposition. The proper word for that attitude is totalitarian. He saw the 20th century totalitarianism of communism, radical islamism for that matter and, all seeking utopias that were going to level human civilization because they thought to change human nature. A in the american context he saw a liberalism as it not nearly that dangerous, but having those same seeds of being a little too utopian. He feared that whatever good intentions you could have a state that grew and squashed the individual. Thats what he wanted to avoid. Bret he wrote that the founding of the United States was a miracle. Every fourth of july. We would have a big fourth of july party at our summer house on the chesapeake bay. We would do all the hot dogs and crab cakes and fireworks, and all that. But the centerpiece of the entire event was a Group Reading of the declaration of the american independence. It was always extraordinarily moving event. You think that it could be cheesy or hokey, but you read those words and to understand that two men were putting their lives on this. He saw his role largely as a reminding us that it does not just stickho around inevitably,t has to be guarded and it has to be passed down by generation. Ss in the book, he really gets into the nature of what liberal democracy means, and why that is leading america flourish. Let us begin on thanksgiving by giving things that we are not french. And i say this was no malice. I mean it this way. We both had glorious, liberating revolutions. But ours was not cursed by excessive rationalism. Nor by its twin, hatred of religion. The American Revolution repatriated liberty, and established a new political order. But its ambition stopped there. It left the weekend alone. He is very clear eyed, he sees threats to democracy, to america, to our promise as a superpower and our way of life, but he also had a confidence in america, and he believed that we would figure it out. Bret the same feeling on the porch reading the declaration of the independence. Absolutely. He had a very big picture view of the world of history, and i think thats what made his political analysis of a different order, he was not just talking about the politics that they get this candle or this election, it was what does this mean in the grand scheme of m everything . Thats another layer of what i wanted to finish it for my dad and put it out there, because i think his ideas can apply at anytime, anyplace. Bret its hard not to come away from that thinking that he was a man of true faith. Right . Thats next. Pain so the whole world looks different. The unbeatable strength of advil. What pain . But he wanted snow for thelace holidays. So we built a snow globe. Ill get that later. Dylan but the one thing we could both agree on was getting geico to help with homeowners insurance. What . Switching and saving was really easy i love you what . Sweetie hands off the glass. Ugh call geico and see how easy saving on homeowners and condo insurance can be. I love her here, it all starts withello hi . How can i help . A data plan for everyone. Everyone . Everyone. Lets send to everyone wifi up there . Uhh. Sure, why not . Howd he get out . a camera might figure it out. That was easy glad i could help. At xfinity, were here to make life simple. Easy. Awesome. So come ask, shop, discover at your local xfinity store today. When it comes to using data, which is why Xfinity Mobile is a different kind of Wireless Network that lets you design your own data. Choose unlimited, shared data, or mix lines of each and switch any line, anytime. Giving you more choice and control compared to other top wireless carriers. Save up to 400 a year when you switch. Plus, unwrap 250 off a new samsung phone. Click, call or visit a store today. It is christmas time, what would christmas be without the platoon of annoying pet a bloggers writing annually to strip christmas of any christian content . Almost never find Orthodox Jews complaining about a christmas crash in the public square, because their children are rich in their own tradition, know who they are, they are not threatened by christians celebrating their religion in public, they are enlarged by it. Merry christmas to all. Bret Charles Krauthammer told me he was not very religious. But there is more to the story. Wikipedia describes you as jewish, but not religious. That is a very clear characterization. My father was a religious jew. And he said, i dont want to make you religious. I dont want to force you, but i want to make sure that you are tnot ignorant, because then you will not have any choice. So i studied hebrew, i studied the scripture. I studied and i made my own choice. I chose differently from my father, but the education he gave me had the inevitable effect. Of attaching me to a culture that i find precious. Bret found that fascinating having attended that beautiful Funeral Service in the synagogue that he planned himself, it is hard not to come away from that thinking that he was a man of true faith. Right . There was a very complex and subtle religiosity and spirituality and sense of identity that he had. His own family history, the peoples history, the culture, the language, all the text, the great tradition of it bret your father and mother liked to the music. They created an Organization Pro music at the break, thought to find and save and revise jewish music, Classical Music written by jewish composers in a jewish style that had otherwise been lost to history and to bring it back to the form that it was in. My father cofounded a hebrew high school, specifically so that i could have what he thought was what i needed a fuller hebrew and jewish education, and he has been involved in a lot of different works of jewish charities, particularly in education and culture. So that heritage was courting him and so important to him. We did not use electrical devices on the sabbath. As a result, when we sat down to the last sabbath meal towards the end of the day, we relied for illumination on light from the windows. As the day waned, the light began to die, and when it came for the hebrew recitation, three times of the 23rd psalm, there was so little light that i can no longer read. To this day whenever i hear the 23rd psalm, i am filled with the most profound memories of father and family, of tranquility and grace in gentle gathering darkness. Bret as his son, how would you describe his relationship with god . His sense of god was kind of the grandest possible sense of it as removed from a personal god who knows you and me and involves himself in our lives, but he got there both through the abstract thought and beauty of thehe jewish religion, and physics and astrophysics, and thinking about the universe. And he often liked to quote einstein, with one in the same with nature, how miraculous it is that we live in the universe for all of the physical laws allow life to exist and allow us to come about, to think, to have consciousness, that if one does not have some kind of reverence for that, then youre missing something. Th bret he obviously passed that on, the reverence on to y you. I have had my own religious journey to a degree. Not just similar to my dad, i grew up more religious household. He wanted me to have that structure early on, which i am very thankful for. But then began to think on my own about exactly what i believe. I would say, i have a similar sense of deep reverence for the unknown, but for duties. And i feel extremely grateful to have that jewish identity, and that is for my dad and my mom. Bret it has helped to deal with his loss . Yes, it is a way to connect with him. I dont know if or where god comes into it, but i do know that i feel closer to him because of what our traditions gave us. Bret when we return. It is the one part of the book that my father would not have included if he was still alive. I want. Its the easiest because its the cheesiest. Kraft. For the win win. Yeah. Only pay for what you need with Liberty Mutual. Only pay for what you need with Liberty Mutual. Con Liberty Mutual solo pagas lo que necesitas. Only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. At chevy, were all about bringing families together. This time of year, thats really important. So were making it easier than ever to become part of our family. Thats why our chevy employee discount is now available to everyone. The chevy price you pay is what we pay. Not a cent more. Family is important to us. And we want you to be part of ours. So happy holidays. And welcome to the family. All the chevy family get the chevy employee discount for everyone today. Frustrated that clean clothes you want to wear always seem to need an iron . Next time try bounce wrinkle guard dryer sheets. Just toss it in the dryer to bounce out wrinkles. We dried these shorts with bounce wrinkle guard, and a pair without. The bounce wrinkle guard shorts have fewer wrinkles and static, and more softness. Its the worlds first mega sheet that does the job of three dryer sheets. It also comes in unscented. If you dont love bounce wrinkle guard, well give you your money back. [sneeare you ok . Fles] yah, its just a cold. Its not just a cold if you have high blood pressure. Most cold medicines may raise blood pressure. Coricidin hbp is the. 1 brand that gives. Powerful cold relief without raising your blood pressure. Country roads, take me home theres a booking for every resolution. Book yours at any price, at booking. Com i try never to use the word i. A lot of colonists write the word letter i all the time. Every time you use a date is a failure. Bret charles did occasionally write words about himself. When daniel dug up those paces, he did not see failure, but a triumph of spirit. The final chapter of the book is called speaking in the firsn person. It is the one part of the book that i t know my father would nt have included if you were still alive, but i thought about this a a great deal, and i want to te world to see some of that inner man. So this last chapter had some very personal writings that have not been seen before where he talks about my mother. He talks about his challenges in life. About choosing to take chances. If you choose to be and Nuclear Scientist and dont think you s will be a scholar. Im here to tell you that that is false. I started my life as a doctor. I spent seven years a doctor and a psychiatrist, and then one day at the end of those seven years i realize that this was not what i was going to do and to be. So i said goodbye to my last lpatient. Eni turned in my beeper, and i quit. At the same time, my wife who was a lawyer decided that she did not love the law when she quit as well. We left our home and we came to washington to seek our fortune. She became an artist and a sculptor, and i became a writer and a columnist. And things have turned out rather well. Dont be afraid to choose. To choose what you love, and if you dont want love what you have chosen, choose again. And it ends with my eulogy to him which was a very hard decision whether to put that in or not, because again, i wanted to hold dear and precious those things that were just my gift to him, but, but i want the world to know what kind of man he was. He quite simply willed himself omto accomplish things that most people would see as impossible. That was a great lesson of his example. To build the life that you want, that you intend. Dont be defined by what life throws at you, and youth cannot control. Except to the hand you are dealt with grace, and then go on to play that hand as joyously and industriously, and vigorously as you can. Bret like his father, daniel attended harvard and oxford, and stanford too. He has work to stands in hollywood, silicon valley, and government, but putting his life on hold to care for his dad finished the book and launch a website, charleskrauthammer. Com to advance charlespr legacy. Is so many of his greatest qualities, it was the simplicite that was his greatest gift. His love was full, unadulterated, unconditional, and allencompassing. Bret you really like the way that he ended pieces, why . He has a way of drawing you logically to the end of his argument, but then he steps back ar a minute and leaves you with an uncertainty to ponder, whether it is bioethics, or the nature of the universe and god and space, that there are mysteries that we do not to know now, and we may never know. And that may be the definingha part of what it means to be human. My father has now made the step into the greatest unknown of them all. He did not know what laid ahead for him, nor did he pretend to know, and neither do i. I do not know if i will ever see my fathr again, but i do know that heth will always be with me. In my heart, in my mind, and in my soul, until the day i draw my final breath, i love him, and i will miss him. Bret that is spent 25. Merry christmas to all, happy new year. Charles, my friend, we miss you. Americas fight for freedom against british rule was not the only revolution. It happened right here in the state of texas. The odds of success just as long. The spectacular victory just as impressive. But to this point, not as widely known. Thats about to change as we bring you sam houston and the texas fight for freedom. Its not just a battle. Its a myth. But its a good myth. Its about brave people making a sacrifice for something they