Daring raid rescues downed pilot
The F-15E Strike Eagle pilot was worth the risk and the cost.
Good morning. Today’s newsletter has a reading time of 7 minutes.
YOUR NEWS SUMMARY:
Mar-a-Lago raid turning out to be the travesty it always looked like: Once again, many thanks to Judicial Watch.
Due to the dogged persistence of this conservative watchdog organization, we’re now privileged to see Justice Department documents that confirm what we always suspected about the armed FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago: that this shockingly outrageous action taken against a former (and future) President was carried out even though the Biden FBI knew they had no justification for it.
Heck, it’s TRUMP, they no doubt rationalized. So why not just raid his home anyway? You know, in the interest of democracy and all that. Because Trump’s an authoritarian, and if he were reelected, he might abuse his power. Why, abusing power is OUR job!
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In what US officials described as “one of the most challenging and complex” rescue missions in the history of U.S. special operations, the second crew member of the F-15E Strike Eagle jet that was shot down in Iran was found and rescued alive. The other pilot was rescued Friday, but the two were separated by miles after ejecting, and the second had to survive for 24 hours while Iraqi forces were moving into the area. One CIA analyst called it “the ultimate needle-in-a-haystack” mission. President Trump said the jet was likely brought down by a “lucky” shot from a shoulder-fired missile.
Not only was the search-and-rescue mission a success in saving American service members without a single casualty, it was also a massive PR and psy-ops success. Even other Arab nations are now mocking Iran for being unable to stop the US from coming in and plucking their soldiers out of Iran without Iran being able to do anything about it. In a region where people respect the “strong horse,” that made Iran look like a weak jackass, or as many put it, “a paper tiger.”
After the mission, Trump said it illustrates a core principle: “We will never leave an American warfighter behind.”
In a separate incident, a second US plane, an A-10 Warthog, was also struck by Iranian fire, but the pilot was able to get it over Kuwaiti airspace before safely ejecting.
Instapundit has a great round-up of commentary on the rescue, both about what a remarkable military achievement it was (whatever happened to all that blather about how Pete Hegseth wasn’t “competent”?), the media second-guessing, and the whining about how the US blew up two planes on the ground to keep their tech from falling into Iranian hands. Those would be the same liberal outlets that didn’t say squat when Biden left billions of dollars’ worth of usable military hardware in Afghanistan for the Taliban.
But this may be our favorite X comment of all:
“I’m noticing a lot of foreigners who seem to not understand why we’d risk hundreds of lives, spend millions of dollars, and sacrifice several aircraft to rescue one guy. And the reason they don’t understand is also the reason people can’t be made American by a piece of paper.”
In other major developments:
President Trump will hold a press conference at 1pm EST today to give an update.
Today is President Trump’s deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or he’ll start bombing bridges and power plants. He warned Iran of that in a profane Truth Social post on Sunday (more on that elsewhere in today’s newsletter.)
Vice President Vance and other Trump officials spent the weekend in negotiations with the Iranian regime on ceasefire talks brokered by Pakistan. No word at this writing of any agreement.
Israel reported that four people were killed Monday when an Iranian missile hit a residential building in Haifa.
Iran’s #2 military figure, intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, was reportedly killed in strikes overnight.
President Trump shocked even some of his supporters by issuing a blunt and profane threat to Iran on Truth Social on Easter Sunday morning. To put it in cleaned-up terms, he warned that his deadline was looming and if Iran didn’t open the Strait of Hormuz, “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one.” Admittedly, that doesn’t capture the feel of it. For the unexpurgated version, click here, but be warned about the language.
While we understand that Trump had his reasons for being so blunt (Iran is refusing to surrender and continuing to threaten and attack its neighbors and block oil tankers, so he needs them to know he means business; and apparently, killing most of their leaders hasn’t made the point yet.) Still, if he had to put it that way, we wish he’d not done it on Easter morning and had at least refrained from using the F-word. Frankly (to use a better f-word), we’re annoyed by the normalization of that word, which if used at all, used to be used only among adults.
The Democrats started using it constantly in a misguided attempt to sound like relatable humans to the working Americans they know nothing about (they assume we sit around saying it while scratching our rear ends and planning lynchings.) Yesterday, on the drive home from church, we saw a pickup truck with a big sticker taking up most of the back window that read, “F*** your feelings.” We assume that was someone on the right. We expect that from Democrats, but we had hoped that conservatives still had better manners than to plaster that on their vehicles. We’re also starting to see it on T-shirts and other places where it’s displayed in front of children.
While we’re generally adamant defenders of free speech, there’s a difference between having a right to say something and thinking that doing it is a good idea. You may have the right to walk into a school in a T-shirt covered in F-words, but you shouldn’t do it, just like you shouldn’t hire a drag queen to read stories to third graders. This used to be pretty obvious stuff that went without saying, but now here we are, having to say it.
We know that many supporters love that Trump is blunt, and we get that he’s trying to hammer home a hard point to the mullahs. But any President is also the ultimate role model to kids. The message could have been just as threatening without the f-word. It’s become a form of lazy language, appearing about as often as “like” and “y’know,” only lowering the tone of public discourse. It’s making our society crude, crass, lowbrow and other words that actually should be used more often.
Bad news for those yearning for a day when AI can do all of our thinking for us: Studies by MIT and Stanford found that major AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are too agreeable and tend to send users into a “delusion spiral” of destructive thinking.
The Daily Mail reports, “When people asked questions or described situations in which their beliefs or actions were incorrect, harmful, deceptive or unethical, the AI replies were still 49 percent more likely to agree with the user and encourage their delusions as being the correct viewpoint compared to responses from other people.”
Meanwhile, a study by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies found that major AI platforms are basically propaganda amplifiers. When asked questions about global conflicts, “state-aligned propaganda appeared in 57 percent of responses.” They amplify propaganda by creating reports based on more propaganda.
To sum up: AI tends to repeat state propaganda and reinforce its users’ delusion. So, it can’t replace thinking, but it could replace the mainstream media.
Speaking of the media: Over the weekend, allegedly reputable media outlets racked up quite a streak of dumb mistakes. TMZ repeated a leftist wishful thinking rumor about President Trump having a “health crisis,” which was complete nonsense.
NBC’s Kristen Welker declared that “there is no head of DHS” (Markwayne Mullin was confirmed and sworn in two weeks ago.)
And perhaps the most jaw-dropping of all, the New York Times gave us this gaffe: “A North American Treaty Organization Without America?” Er…NATO stands for “North ATLANTIC Treaty Organization.” It’s in Europe, not America. And that wasn’t even buried in the story, that was the HEADLINE!
Truly, the comedy movie “Idiocracy” has become a documentary.
You’d think that his own incompetence would disqualify Gavin Newsom from becoming President, but that never seems to concern Democrats. However, a new obstacle has started rising in recent days: his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Things she’s said recently and that have resurfaced from the past have started ringing alarm bells with voters feeling Hillary-style “unelected co-President” vibes.
We already reported on her saying she took her kids to red states to see racism, sexism and bullying firsthand. But wait, there’s more. A 2022 interview resurfaced where she claimed that Evangelicals are “pulling us back as a country.”
And Miranda Devine at the New York Post has more, like how she accused Trump of waging an “all-out war on women” for firing Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem (which Democrats have been demanding for months), even as Trump is waging an actual war to replace an Iranian regime that really does brutally oppress and murder women.
Newsom also recently claimed that when she reads her young sons stories, she changes the male characters’ genders to female (that could get her a job writing “Star Wars” scripts, but not a co-presidency.) Most chilling, she declared that she doesn’t like the title “First Lady” and prefers “First Partner.”
Devine also notes that Mrs. Newsom uses the word “incredulous” without knowing what it means. So we’ll help her out with an illustration:
“We are incredulous at the idea that anyone with a brain thinks this couple should be in the White House.”
DAILY BIBLE VERSE
24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 1 Peter 2:24 KJV
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I am not a fan of the F word, and don't like it and don't use it. But I voted for Trump for president and get things done, not to be a pastor. He is doing a superior job as president and if he comes with some rough edges so be it.
a couple of comments if I may : Patriots in Texas and NM have been using the F word for a long time ( it beats murder)
and
It's sad that there are more pro Iranian Dictator supporters in the free US than in Iran 🤔