Word went out on X that the second crew member had been rescued, but there was no official confirmation until now. Both Axios and Fox News have confirmed. From Axios:

Behind the scenes: According to two sources, the F-15 pilot and weapons systems officer both made contact via their comms systems after ejecting.

• The pilot was rescued several hours after the plane was shot down. It took more than a day to locate and rescue the second crew member.

• U.S. special forces were deployed on the ground in Iran on Friday and again on Saturday as part of the search and rescue mission.

And from Jennifer Griffin of Fox:

The tweet:

Fox News can confirm that the 2nd crew member of the downed F15E fighter jet has been rescued and he and the members of the rescue team that extracted him from behind enemy lines in Iran are all safely out of Iran. That according to two senior US officials and multiple well placed sources in the region. The Weapons Systems Officer ejected along with the pilot when their F15E Strike Eagle they were flying was struck Thursday night (early Friday local time) in southwest Iran.

The WSO used the SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training to evade capture, hiding on an elevated ridge after hiking away from the wreckage and putting out an emergency beacon.) US Special Operations rescue forces to include PJs (United States Air Force Pararescuemen (PJs) and many layers of elite rescue forces took part in the complex, layered mission to both find the crew member and also keep the Iranian forces who were hunting the American weapons system operator at bay. There are videos that have appeared from local eyewitnesses that show what appear to have been injured and dead Iranian members of the IRGC and Basij who were looking for the downed American crew member. Fox has learned there was fighting on the ground but no Americans killed during the operation. “It was a very complex operation to retrieve the downed service member,” a well placed source briefed on the operation told me. Many different branches of the US military were involved in the rescue.

Fox News can confirm the A10 Warthog that crashed Friday was involved in providing cover for the rescue teams searching for the pilot. That A10 crashed in Kuwait (first reported by ABC Friday) but the A10 pilot managed to eject safely and was rescued. There was destruction of aircraft which have sensitive equipment on board, I am told, all part of this complex CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue) mission.

The F15E was pretty much destroyed on impact. Two rescue helicopters were hit by enemy fire on Friday and crew members onboard were injured by enemy fire but managed to make it out of Iran.

There were a lot of elements to this rescue, I am told.

What an absolutely incredible story. Good news for Easter. Hallelujah.

As usual, the best laid plans to write or record a podcast are upended by the news, which changes every day in dramatic and unpredictable ways. One could make the argument that culture has collapsed because the Trump show has replaced it and Americans can’t stop watching.

Is this World War III? Well, it will be if Russia or China get involved. That would be our Fourth Turning roaring. There is always a war. Only war can bring countries together when they are ripped apart, ironically. Although the Trump haters are so invested in their war on Trump that they might just side with the enemies. WHO KNOWS!

Either way, I wanted to bring this news to you. I know it’s not exactly popular with MAGA. I don’t know how I feel about it, but as with Venezuela, ultimately I see it as a moral good. Not because of Israel, but because they slaughtered thousands of their citizens just for protesting. I’m sorry, but I can’t defend or protect that. Do I want war? No, of course not. Forever wars, no way.

Does it make it more likely the Democrats will win in 2028? I guess we’ll have to see how it goes. Many believe we should not fight on Israel’s behalf. Many will think this is a “Wag the Dog” pivot away from Epstein.

But I don’t think so. This was a FAFO moment. And they FAFO’d.

Here are some videos and tweets.

Trump announced that he has captured the President of Venezuela, Maduro, and his wife, and will put them on trial here in the United States.

I don’t think I am smart enough to explain this military action. I know that there is a good chance a faction of MAGA will be upset by it (like Marjorie Taylor-Greene, etc). I know for sure the Democrats would oppose military action against Hitler if Trump ordered it. Maduro was everything they said Trump was and here they will be, all day long, defending him.

At any rate, I don’t know if it’s right or wrong, I’ll be honest about that. Perhaps you folks know better than I do. But a good many Trump supporters are in favor of it.

Here is the press conference.

What I do know is that I can’t trust the Left at all with anything they say now. They use the word “illegal” as though it has any meaning whatsoever (although it does reference Mark Kelly’s video warning troops not to obey the Commander in Chief if his actions are “illegal.”)

To the Left, it’s the Boy Who Cried Wolf on repeat. This military action is on par with renaming the Kennedy Center and building the ballroom. Everything Trump does is met with the same amount of hysteria. So, how to take them seriously?

For what it’s worth, the people of Venezuela are celebrating today. The Democrats are, of course, siding with the brutal dictator. Whatever happens next, I’m happy for the people of Venezuela.

He was hit right in the chest. You can watch the video below (warning, graphic):

Apparently, there was a shot that went through Charlie Kirk’s throat. This is very serious, needless to say.

Megyn Kelly is on live:

Five years later, he decided to go on a shooting spree at a Catholic Church, killing two children and leaving many of them in critical care.

His social media has been scrubbed, but plenty of us were able to download the videos posted on YouTube just before the shooting. If you are interested, I will post them below, along with screenshots:

As you will see from the screenshots, Westman referenced everything from killing Jews to revenge for Vicki Weaver (Ruby Ridge), but also the Pride flag with a gun laid over it, and “Kill Donald Trump.”

So not a “Groyper,” but also not exactly a typical Leftist, just a pure psychopath with so much hate and self-hate they decided to kill the most innocent, the most vulnerable, trapped inside a church while praying. There is nothing courageous or “badass” about that. What a miserable, lowlife coward.

This is the second transgender person who has shot and killed Christian children, after Audrey Hale in Tennessee. That obviously doesn’t mean transgender people are more likely to go on mass shooting sprees. But it does mean what I’ve been warning about for a while now, that the Left could be escalating.

I think people like this who want to kill will use any excuse. They want to die and don’t want to die alone, and somewhere in there is a fetish for this kind of massacre.

As a former Democrat, I used to believe the problem was the guns. I thought we should get rid of them, and that would solve the problem. But at some point, I realized that the argument was taking us nowhere. The answer has always been to protect people — children especially — from gun violence.

I also used to think “thoughts and prayers” were useless. I don’t think that anymore. For those suffering today, prayer can help alleviate their suffering. That’s not “nothing.”

So, for the families of those killed and injured today:

Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

The media narrative will be the Executive Order that demands flag burning be punished by one year in jail. The truth is a bit more nuanced, though it is worth examining. They will look into other ways the person can be punished, which is how others have been punished in the past by destroying or burning Leftist symbols like the Pride Flag and the Black Lives Matter flag. Those were deemed hate crimes.

In some cases, other charges were brought to punish the person for the hate crime, as with these cases below:

When it comes to BLM, the destruction itself is seen as a hate crime, which can be punished with jail time. See below:

However, I believe there is a distinction when it comes to the United States flag. Burning it might be a hate crime, but that is our right as Americans. We should preserve that right, regardless of the circumstances.

For one thing, we’re all Americans with the same rights. I would never burn the flag myself but the reason I’m proud to be an American is that I have the right to free speech.

That’s my opinion. What do you think?

So please stay safe anyone who is in Hawaii and on the coast of California. It’s hard to believe this could actually be happening and maybe (hopefully) it won’t actually make land fall but in case you didn’t know…

Trump will kick off a year of rallies for the 250th, starting in Iowa.

Big news from , click here.

ACLU coming out to protect biological men from playing unfairly in sports with biological women:

That’s it for now. I’ll be posting a piece tonight, I hope.

Trump finishes off incredible week of wins. I’ve never seen any president do as much in such a short time.

I am a little worried about Medicaid. I think it will hurt Trump supporters and others in rural states where jobs are in short supply heading into the midterms. But perhaps there will be some wiggle room there.

Elon Musk went to war on Trump on X, calling again for a third party and threatening to primary everyone who “campaigned on reducing the deficit,” though as I recall, they didn’t campaign on that.

And so it is done.

Looks like negotiations failed, Trump told the media he was waiting two weeks and then he bombed the sites.

Here is 2way reporting live:

Here is Sky News:

That’s all I know right this minute.

Here is Ben Shapiro’s LIVE:

And Benjamin Netanyahu:

The Democrats are, as usual, blaming Trump because what else can they do ever about anything?

Some tweets….

Here is the fact sheet from the White House:

REDUCING DRUG PRICES FOR AMERICANS AND TAXPAYERS: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to bring the prices Americans and taxpayers pay for prescription drugs in line with those paid by similar nations.

The Order directs the U.S. Trade Representative and Secretary of Commerce to take action to ensure foreign countries are not engaged in practices that purposefully and unfairly undercut market prices and drive price hikes in the United States.

The Order instructs the Administration to communicate price targets to pharmaceutical manufacturers to establish that America, the largest purchaser and funder of prescription drugs in the world, gets the best deal.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services will establish a mechanism through which American patients can buy their drugs directly from manufacturers who sell to Americans at a “Most-Favored-Nation” price, bypassing middlemen.

If drug manufacturers fail to offer most-favored-nation pricing, the Order directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) propose rules that impose most-favored-nation pricing; and (2) take other aggressive measures to significantly reduce the cost of prescription drugs to the American consumer and end anticompetitive practices.

GETTING A BETTER DEAL FOR AMERICANS: President Trump is once again taking action to keep pharmaceutical manufacturers from charging Americans high drug prices while giving steep discounts to other wealthy nations.

According to recent data, the prices Americans pay for brand-name drugs are more than three times the price other OECD nations pay, even after accounting for discounts manufacturers provide in the U.S.

The United States has less than five percent of the world’s population, yet funds roughly 75% of global pharmaceutical profits.

Drug manufacturers discount their products to gain access to foreign markets and then subsidize those discounts through high prices charged in America—in essence, Americans are subsidizing drug-manufacturer profits and foreign health systems, despite drug manufacturers benefiting from generous research subsidies and enormous healthcare spending by the U.S. Government.

In his first term, President Trump took historic action to keep Medicare and seniors from paying more for drugs than economically comparable countries, which the Biden Administration rescinded before it could take effect.

Instead of fixing this problem, the Biden Administration’s greatest achievement was to negotiate prices that were, on average, 78 percent higher than in 11 comparable countries as part of Biden’s effort to “beat Medicare.”

DELIVERING ON PROMISES TO PUT AMERICAN PATIENTS FIRST: President Trump is delivering on his promise to once again put America first by furthering efforts to get American patients and taxpayers a fair deal for prescription drugs.

This Order builds on actions from President Trump’s first term to make progress on reducing price disparities at home and expands those efforts by including Medicaid in addition to Medicare.

President Trump recently signed an Executive Order to take additional action to lower drug prices, including by providing massive discounts to low-income patients for lifesaving medicines, facilitating importation programs, and increasing the availability of generic and biosimilar medicines.

President Trump is also working to make drug prices radically transparent, as he recently signed an Executive Order to build on his historic price transparency efforts undertaken during his first term.

President Trump has been relentless in his effort to address the unfair and outrageous prices Americans pay for prescription drugs:

President Trump: “In case after case, our citizens pay massively higher prices than other nations pay for the same exact pill, from the same factory, effectively subsidizing socialism aboard [abroad] with skyrocketing prices at home. So we would spend tremendous amounts of money in order to provide inexpensive drugs to another country. And when I say the price is different, you can see some examples where the price is beyond anything — four times, five times different.”

Trump Eases up on Tariffs to avoid a recession, from the Daily Wire:

The United States and China on Monday announced an agreement to significantly reduce tariffs for 90 days while trade negotiations continue after top American and Chinese officials met in Switzerland over the weekend.

The deal means that President Donald Trump’s 125% reciprocal tariff on China will be reduced to 10%, with a 20% fentanyl tariff still in place, a significant drop from the 145% tariff placed on Chinese goods in the last few weeks. China will drop its retaliatory tariffs on the United States from 125% to 10%. The reductions are to be in place by Wednesday, May 14.

About that luxury jet…

Trump has accepted, or will accept, a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar, which will then be sent to the Trump museum after he leaves office. Plenty of Trump supporters on X, including Laura Loomer, are not a fan of the action. They say it’s a bad look. Trump strikes me as the kind of person who would prefer an upgrade for plane travel, to put it mildly:

Last living American hostage to be released from Gaza:

I’m trying to finish a podcast but the screaming chainsaw next door keeps preventing me from recording. Hopefully later tonight.

Today, they will attempt to use another weapon in their imaginary arsenal to try to use this moment to turn the public away from the Republicans. They will I don’t know if the Right would do the same thing if the situation were reversed. What I do know is that the Left isn’t anchored in faith like the Right. There is a major difference there. Their lavish praise on the Pope has always struck me as odd, given that.

Anyway, my deepest condolences to those around the world who might feel it today.

I always thought Pope Francis was a product of the Obama era. His death marks the end of that era, something I could sense already, even without this last gasp. I wonder which direction the Church will head in this time.

This is a “Fourth Turning,” the outcome of which remains uncertain. The only thing we know for sure is that we won’t be going back to the way things were before. We’re moving forward to something new.

Godspeed.