As a boy, my hero was Davey Crockett, who famously defended the Alamo in 1836, using the butt of his rifle after his ammo was exhausted.

As a teenager, my hero was my father, who was part of the Normandy Invasion during World War II and spent his first night on French soil sheltering from falling debris, under a German jeep with the corpse of a German soldier.

Later, Senator John McCain was . . . and is . . . still my hero. He spent five years being tortured as a prisoner of North Vietnam, despite being offered freedom to be with his father, a famous admiral. He stayed because he wouldn’t leave his fellow prisoners. He was inexcusably trashed by a pathetic Presidential candidate.

This week, we learned that Alexei Navalny was effectively tortured and killed by the murderous thug who “owns” Russia! Navalny last hugged his wife and kids on January 17, 2021. He made the “mistake” of standing up for freedom in a dictatorship, partly by exposing the kleptocracy that Putin created and partly by Navalney’s raw courage. R.I.P. Alexei!

Like most leaders, Putin has sycophants, such as Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson, who may be even more disgusting than the leaders they defend.