A college chum, actually one of me closest friends had the predecessor of the following car. It had a 429. We called it the "country squirrel" since it was a bit "squirrily" under power, and yes, I did a bit of tuning on the car. After the 1973 oil crisis, American automakers began abandoning their biggest engines. Compression ratios fell, horsepower ratings dropped, emissions equipment became increasingly important, and the era of the traditional big-block muscle car was fading fast. Yet Ford continued offering a 460-cubic-inch V8 in a wood-paneled station wagon. Through 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, and 1978, buyers could still order a Country Squire with simulated woodgrain sides, three rows of seating, an AM/FM 8-track stereo, power accessories, and a 460 under the hood. While the rest of the industry was moving toward smaller engines and lighter vehicles, Ford was still selling one of America's biggest family wagons with one of its largest passenger-car V8s. The 1973–1978 LTD Country Squire was enormous. Federal 5-mph bumper requirements added substantial length and mass, contributing to a wagon that stretched well beyond 18 feet. Depending on model year and configuration, the wheelbase was around 121 inches. The Country Squire could carry up to eight passengers, with a rear-facing third-row seat in the cargo area. Fold the rear seats down and the wagon offered an enormous load floor. A power-operated tailgate window, roof rack, full-size spare tire, and extensive power equipment made it less like a modern SUV and more like a living room on wheels. The standard V8 was the 400-cubic-inch engine, while the 460 was available as the big-engine option. In these years, the 460 was a very different engine from the high-output versions that had powered Ford muscle and luxury cars earlier in the decade. Emissions regulations and fuel-economy concerns had dramatically reduced its output. Depending on the model year and configuration, horsepower was roughly in the 200-hp range. But peak horsepower wasn't what mattered in a nearly 5,000-pound station wagon. The 460 produced substantial low- and mid-range torque, making it well suited to moving a heavily loaded wagon or towing a boat or trailer. The Country Squire represented a particular part of American life that has almost disappeared. It was the family vehicle for long road trips, vacations, trips to the lake, and hauling boats, luggage, camping equipment, and anything else that could fit inside. Eight passengers could climb aboard, load the cargo area, attach a trailer, and head across the country. The wagon was enormous, but that was precisely why families bought it. And then there was the woodgrain. The "wood" wasn't actually wood. It was a simulated woodgrain vinyl appliqué applied to the steel body. Nobody really believed the car was made from timber, and nobody needed to. The woodgrain had become part of the Country Squire's identity. It signaled that this was Ford's premium full-size wagon, complete with comfortable seating, air conditioning, extensive equipment, and, if ordered, a very large V8. The Country Squire also became an enduring symbol of the American family wagon. Although the Griswold family's famous "Wagon Queen Family Truckster" in National Lampoon's Vacation was based on the later downsized Ford LTD Country Squire wagon, the exaggerated image captured the same cultural idea: the enormous American family wagon loaded with people and luggage and heading across the country. By 1978, Ford was preparing to move away from the full-size land-yacht formula. Smaller engines such as the 351 became increasingly important as buyers and manufacturers focused more heavily on fuel economy. For 1979, Ford downsized the full-size LTD and Country Squire onto the new Panther platform. The new wagon was dramatically shorter and lighter, and the 460 disappeared from Ford's passenger-car lineup. That marked the end of an era. For years, Ford had offered something that seems almost impossible by modern standards: a huge family station wagon with three rows of seats, fake woodgrain, a massive cargo area, and a 460-cubic-inch V8. It wasn't a muscle car. It wasn't supposed to be fast. Its job was to carry everything, tow what needed towing, and keep doing it for years. The 460 Country Squire was the final expression of the American land-yacht wagon. Big, heavy, comfortable, practical, and powered by an engine that belonged to an earlier era. Today, clean examples remain surprisingly affordable compared with many classic muscle cars. And that's part of what makes them so interesting. The Country Squire never needed to be a superstar. It was simply the biggest family wagon Ford could build and for a few years after the oil crisis, you could still order it with a 460.

For thirty years before he ran for office, Donald Trump quietly paid mortgages, flew sick children across the country, and wrote checks to strangers who needed help. You will not find those stories on the evening news. So here they are. Start with what people who knew him before politics say. He has never had a drink. He has never smoked. He has never used drugs. He built his business on long hours, and the people who worked for him will tell you he outworked all of them. Nobody called him a bigot until the day he announced for president. That timing tells you something about the accusation. Now to the record. In 1986, a Georgia widow named Annabell Hill was about to lose the family farm at a foreclosure auction. Trump saw her story on the news, picked up the phone, called the auction, and stopped the sale. Then he sent her the money to keep the farm. In 1988, an Orthodox Jewish family in Los Angeles had a three-year-old son named Andrew Ten who needed treatment in New York. The boy could not survive without a full life-support setup, and no airline would carry it. His father asked Trump for help. Trump put the family on his own jet and got them there. In 1991, two hundred Marines came home from Desert Storm to Camp Lejeune and found out the military had no aircraft to fly them the rest of the way to Florida. Trump's airline, the Trump Shuttle, made two runs between North Carolina and Miami and got every one of them back to their families. In 1995, a passing driver in New Jersey pulled over to help change a flat on Trump's limo. Trump asked what he could do in return. The man only wanted flowers sent to his wife. A few weeks later, the story goes, the flowers came with a note saying the couple's mortgage had been paid off. People have been repeating that one for three decades. In 1996, Trump sued the town of Palm Beach, Florida. The town had been leaning on his Mar-a-Lago club for one reason. He let in Jewish members and Black members, and the older clubs did not. Abraham Foxman, who ran the Anti-Defamation League at the time, said Trump shined a light on the ugly side of Palm Beach that the glitter usually hid. Foxman also said other clubs started admitting Jews and Blacks after Trump forced the issue. In 2000, Trump was watching Maury Povich and saw a little girl named Megan who lived with brittle bone disease. He said her attitude got to him. He called the show and sent her family a large check. In 2008, Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother, and nephew were murdered in Chicago. Trump moved Hudson and her family into his Chicago hotel at no charge and had his security team watch over them while they grieved. In 2013, a Buffalo bus driver named Darnell Barton saw a woman standing at the edge of a bridge. He stopped the bus, walked over, put an arm around her, and talked her back to safety. Trump read about it and mailed Barton a check, because he thought a man like that deserved a reward. In 2014, Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi spent seven months in a Mexican prison after he took a wrong turn at the border with legally owned guns in his truck. President Obama never placed the call to Mexico that the sergeant's family begged for. Trump sent Tahmooressi a check for $25,000 to help him rebuild his life once he got home. In 2016, Melissa Young stood at a Trump rally in Wisconsin and cried while she thanked him. She had competed as Miss Wisconsin USA in 2005, then got sick with an illness that has no cure. During her worst stretch, a handwritten note arrived from Trump calling her the bravest woman he knew. She said the doors Trump opened for her ended up giving her Mexican-American son a full ride to college. That same year, Lynne Patton, a Black executive at the Trump Organization, put out a video answering the people calling her boss a racist. She admitted she had fought addiction for years. She said the Trump family never pushed her out. They stood by her the whole way. Also in 2016, a young Illinois volunteer named Shane Bouvet told reporters that Trump had stepped in to cover his father's cancer treatment. His father, Donald Bouvet, beat the cancer. Trump has stayed in touch with the family ever since. And there is a story that has floated around New York business circles for years. A Black business owner could not get a loan anywhere in the city. Someone told him to go see Trump. Trump lent him the money and told him to pay it back when he could. The man came back later with a check and said the business was doing well. Trump tore the check up. Read that list again and notice who is on it. A farm widow. A Jewish family. Marines. A bus driver. A jailed serviceman. A sick beauty queen and her Mexican-American son. A grieving Black singer. A struggling Black executive. When Trump saw someone in trouble, he helped, and he did not check their race or their religion first. Nearly forty years ago, Oprah asked him on air if he would ever run for president. He told her he would not rule it out if things in this country ever got bad enough. He looked at America in 2015 and decided that day had come. The man who spent decades helping people one at a time decided to help the whole country. Ask yourself when you last heard of Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama doing any of this with their own money. Then ask yourself why the media, Hollywood, and the progressive left have spent ten years trying to destroy a man with this record. He loves this country. The record shows it

I BET YOU DIDN'Y KNOW ABOUT THIS: AFTER FLIGHT 77 HIT THE PENTAGON ON 9/11, THE FOLLOWING HAPPENED. A daycare facility inside the Pentagon had many children, including infants who were in heavy cribs. The daycare supervisor, looking at all the children they needed to evacuate, was in a panic over what they could do. There were many children, mostly toddlers, as well as the infants who would need to be taken out with the cribs. There was no time to try to bundle them into carriers and strollers. Just then a young Marine came running into the center and asked what they needed. After hearing what the center director was trying to do, he ran back out into the hallway and disappeared. The director thought, "Well, here we are, on our own." About 2 minutes later, that Marine returned with 40 other Marines in tow. Each of them grabbed a crib with a child, and the rest started gathering up toddlers. The director and her staff then helped them take all the children out of the center and down toward the park near the Potomac . Once they got about 3/4 of a mile outside the building, the Marines stopped in the park, and then did a fabulous thing - they formed a circle with the cribs, which were quite sturdy and heavy, like the covered wagons in the Old West. Inside this circle of cribs, they put the toddlers, to keep them from wandering off. Outside this circle were the 40 Marines, forming a perimeter around the children and waiting for instructions. There they remained until the parents could be notified and come get their children. The chaplain then said, "I don't think any of us saw nor heard of this on any of the news stories of the day. It was an incredible story of our men there.” There wasn't a dry eye in the room. The thought of those Marines and what they did and how fast they reacted; could we expect any less from them? It was one of the most touching stories from the Pentagon. It's the military, not the politicians that ensures our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It's the military who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag. If you care to offer the smallest token of recognition and appreciation for the military, please pass this on and pray for our men and women, who have served and are currently serving our country, and honor the memory of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice! God Bless The USA! Never forget!!!