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Emotional Reunion: USS Abraham Lincoln Finally Pulls Into San Diego After Record Deployment

The US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has finally returned to port in San Diego after spending over ten months at sea – most of that time being engaged in war with Iran as part of Trump’s Operation Epic Fury.

It made a badly needed port call in Thailand last month before traversing the Pacific Ocean to get back to its home port. The carrier spent a record 265 consecutive days at sea, and over 300 days in total on the deployment.

Via AP: Sailors stand aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier returns to Naval Air Station North Island after deployment Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Coronado, CalifThe plight of the Lincoln carrier and its crew of some 5,000 sailors and Marines grabbed international headlines for months, given reports of substandard living conditions, food and supply shortages, and mental health crises which led to attempted suicides among servicemembers.

The Navy later acknowledged some of the problems, such as resupply and logistics challenges, amid an avalanche of stories that included dangerous hygiene challenges and derelict facilities.

In late September, acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao informed Congress that eight sailors in the USS Lincoln’s carrier strike group attempted suicide during the lengthy and strained deployment.

US War Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the carrier on Wednesday when it docked, and in a ceremony awarded crew with the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest military award which can be bestowed on a unit.

Emotional reunions with families after grueling deployment:

It’s an emotional day in Coronado, California, as hundreds of families prepare to reunite with loved ones who were aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which has been at sea for more than 300 days. Nearly 5,000 service members were aboard the Lincoln, which has been supporting the U.S. war against Iran. Its deployment included a record-setting stretch of uninterrupted time at sea. “Thank God they’re home. Thank God it’s over and nothing by happiness from all these people,” one mother told @CarterEvans.
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 8, 2026
He has resisted the constant criticism related to the Lincoln, which some reports and Congressman held up as “a symbol of dysfunction or a symbol of low morale or a symbol of a failed mission.” Hegseth said in his remarks aboard the ship:

“There were a few folks in the media who tried to turn the USS Abraham Lincoln into some sort of a symbol, a symbol of dysfunction, or a symbol of low morale, or a symbol of a failed mission,” Hegseth said.

“When I talk to your leadership,” he added, “I know it’s the exact opposite.”

The Lincoln departed its San Diego home base on Nov. 21, 2025, on what was supposed to be a seven-month deployment. 

Sailors meeting their recently born children for first time:

A sailor’s wife arrived to welcome home her husband from the USS Abraham Lincoln’s historic deployment, with their 10-week-old son in her arms. Mackenzie said they’d planned the pregnancy around her husband’s return, and “he’s finally going to get to meet his son” after the carrier’s extended tour in the Middle East.
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 8, 2026
After departing, the carrier made a mere one-day stop in Guam two weeks before Christmas. “[It] was so brief that much of the crew likely never went ashore,” observed the War Zone’s Ian Ellis-Jones.

Typically, a carrier crew might expect a port call every 30 to 45 days, with each break spanning around 3 to 5 days.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 10/08/2026 – 21:20

Authentic Christianity has always made powerful people uncomfortable. Ask NFL Hall of Famer, Super Bowl champion, and outspoken Christian Tony Dungy.
In a short preview of an interview with sports journalist and former ESPN anchor Sage Steele — a preview posted Wednesday to the social media platform X — Dungy indicated that he “kinda knew” NBC would not bring him back for another season as an analyst on the network’s “Sunday Night Football” studio show, in part because of his Christian views.
“There were things that they didn’t want me to talk about,” Dungy said in a tone of resignation, adding that “they knew who I was when I got hired” and “it is what it is.”
Steele then noted that it seemed from the outside that NBC parted ways with Dungy over his pro-life principles.
The legendary former player and coach responded with a chuckle.
“There are some things that, I guess, on TV, especially, they want you to be careful because they want to attract everybody. They wanna have an audience of everyone. They don’t always appreciate you speaking about your faith.”
In other words, Dungy effectively confirmed Steele’s suspicion without saying it directly. He also indicated that he regretted nothing.
“But for me, I’m always gonna do that,” he said of honestly discussing his Christian beliefs, “and I’m gonna try to do it in a respectful way, but people are gonna know that I’m a Christian, so, that part is never gonna leave.”
The Hall of Famer also stated clearly what his public comments and social media posts have made clear for years.
“I am pro-life,” he said, “and I’m not gonna be ashamed to say that.”
The full interview will appear on “The Sage Steele Show” Wednesday, Oct. 14.

Hall-of-fame coach Tony Dungy opens up about getting fired by NBC and the role his Christian faith and pro-life views may have played. FACT: he only discussed his personal beliefs during his personal off time – never once on the air during his 17 years at NBC.
Catch the full conversation next Wednesday 10/14 on The Sage Steele Show.
@TonyDungy
— Sage Steele (@sagesteele) October 7, 2026

For the current season of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has joined the program’s studio crew.
Ironically, Dungy spent part of his brief playing career with the Steelers. He even forced a game-clinching fumble in Pittsburgh’s 1978-79 Super Bowl victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
In 1996, Dungy took over as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Six seasons and four playoff berths later, he moved on to the Indianapolis Colts, where he made the playoffs every year, including a 2006-2007 Super Bowl win over the Chicago Bears, in which he earned a notable distinction as the first black head coach ever to win a Super Bowl.
Notable, that is, to everyone but Dungy.
Prior to that game — now nearly 20 years ago — the sports media made a big fuss over the fact that whoever won the game, either Dungy or Bears head coach Lovie Smith, would earn that distinction.
“More than anything, I’ve said it before, Lovie Smith and I, not only the first two African-Americans, but Christian coaches, showing that you can win doing it the Lord’s way,” Dungy said after winning the championship, according to Bleacher Report. “And we’re more proud of that.”
At the time, Sarah Braunstein of Bleacher Report was outraged. She insisted that Dungy “compartmentalized his identity: He separated his race from his religion — and he privileged the wrong one.”
Braunstein’s harangue continued.
Instead of citing his black predecessors, she added, “Dungy tried to circumvent race and claim that it was more important that he’d won the Super Bowl as a Christian, thus giving credit and power to a group that has no lack of it.”
In other words, Dungy is no stranger to venomous reactions from sports-media figures who were woke even before wokeness was a thing. After all, his outspoken Christianity has always riled up the wicked.
Fortunately, Dungy has never changed. In fact, his X feed remains as Christian as ever.

Dr. Sean McDowell gave the message again this week at Grace Family Church. He addressed the question “If God is real and God is good, then why do bad things happen?”
Many people can’t believe in God because of the suffering they see in the world. How does a Christian answer that question?
His point: Evil is what comes when good gets corrupted. So where does “good” come from? Who decides what’s right and what’s wrong? That standard has to come from God.
God is powerful enough to stop evil and He will—at the end of the world. But God can’t force us to do good and not do anything evil because He has given us free will.
Why would a good God allow pain and suffering? Because we do have free will and sometimes pain can be God’s megaphone to a deaf world.
— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) September 20, 2026

Pastor Daryl gave the message at Grace Family Church this morning. Finishing the series on evidence and belief in the scripture he asked the question, “What will you do with Jesus?”
Jesus made claims to be the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God. Do I believe that?
As Christians we are supposed to represent Jesus. We don’t always do that well but that doesn’t change who Jesus is or what He said We have to believe Jesus is perfect in spite of the fact that people who believe in Him aren’t perfect.
— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) September 27, 2026

In short, NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” executives might not exactly qualify as the modern equivalent of bloodthirsty Roman emperors, but if those executives did indeed part ways with Dungy on account of his faith, then they have countenanced a milder-yet-still-reprehensible form of persecution.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post NFL Legend Tony Dungy Says His Christian Faith Played a Role in His Firing from NBC: ‘They Knew Who I Was’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

A man was shot and wounded Thursday afternoon in his SUV by a Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in New York City while a child was in the back seat, officials said.

Johnnie “DJ” Jones, a freshman offensive lineman for the Missouri Tigers, is recovering after undergoing a heart transplant, coach Eli Drinkwitz announced Thursday.In a social media post, Drinkwitz provided a positive health update, saying Jones’ surgery went well and Jones was recovering.”We are incredibly grateful for the medical team who cared for DJ and for the donor and donor family whose extraordinary gift made this possible,” the seventh-year Tigers coach wrote.HEALTHY ATHLETE HAD NO SYMPTOMS BEFORE MANDATORY HEART SCREENING REVEALED HIDDEN DEFECTJones had been hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, while awaiting a transplant, Drinkwitz said during a news conference Tuesday.Missouri’s staff first identified a problem with Jones’ heart during freshman intake testing over the summer, Drinkwitz said earlier this week.The team’s medical staff sought a second opinion with the Mayo Clinic when they weren’t getting a resolution or answers after two weeks of observation.CLICK HERE FOR MORE OUTKICK SPORTS COVERAGEDoctors at the Mayo Clinic detected a much more serious heart problem, Drinkwitz said. The coaching staff was told last week that Jones needed the transplant.The 18-year-old Jones graduated from Venice High School on Florida’s Gulf Coast and signed with Missouri as a four-star recruit. Missouri enters Week 6 of the college football slate at 4-1 and host Columbia on Saturday.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Multiple federal agencies announced on Wednesday that they had seized 90 shipments of fuel illicitly intended to be sent from the United States to a sanctioned corporate entity in Cuba.
The post U.S. Seizes $2.8 Million in American Fuel Illicitly Headed to Cuba appeared first on Breitbart.

Working-class New Yorkers are being forced into receiving second-tier healthcare while the illegal aliens overrunning the socialist-led city are getting cared for at the prestigious Mount Sinai Hospital.
The post Report: Illegals Receive Top-Tier Healthcare over Citizens in Zohran Mamdani’s NYC appeared first on Breitbart.

On Thursday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made clear the public will be able to see the December 3, 2026, execution of terrorist Nidal Hasan.
The post Sec. Hegseth: Public Will Get to Watch Nidal Hasan’s Execution appeared first on Breitbart.

Money in politics is troublesome enough, but when it knowingly comes from foreign sources, it’s also illegal. That is the problem for ActBlue, the official fundraising platform for Democratic Party candidates that has been under investigation for doing exactly that. 
The post Peter Schweizer: Foreign Money in Politics? Campaigns Don’t Seem to Care appeared first on Breitbart.

Troops from Eritrea reportedly crossed the border into Ethiopia on Wednesday, apparently to conduct “surveillance” on two towns in Tigray, the restless tribal province that is once again clashing with Ethiopia’s central government.
The post Eritrean Troops Enter Ethiopia as Conflict with Tigray Separatists Intensifies appeared first on Breitbart.