The Patriot Post® · Wednesday: Below the Fold
How much damage to Iran’s nuke program? The Defense Intelligence Agency produced an initial assessment of Operation Midnight Hammer — American B-2s dropping Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs) on Iran’s nuclear development sites. That assessment was leaked to CNN and The New York Times by an unnamed source whom Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called a “low-level loser.” The Leftmedia gleefully reported that Iranian nuclear capability had not been obliterated but only damaged and set back a few months. One side consisting of Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, and the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency says the sites hit by the MOPs were either “obliterated” or buried in the explosion, so exact damage assessments are impossible, though the IAEA chief says Iran’s enriched uranium cannot be located. The other side says the damage has been assessed and it wasn’t serious.
NATO shifts: Donald Trump arrived in the Netherlands yesterday for a NATO summit on the heels of his brokering a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran. This latest meeting follows NATO allies agreeing to increase their security contributions to 5% of their GDP, thanks to Trump’s repeated efforts to encourage them to meet their defense spending obligations. Prior to Trump’s arrival, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praised the president for his “decisive action in Iran,” adding, “You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done. Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win.” Trump has also tempered his rhetoric regarding NATO, including affirming his commitment to the Article 5 mutual defense pact as other nations begin proving worthy of the alliance.
Impeachment vote fails: Rep. Al Green (D-TX) has dedicated his time in this Congress to disrupting any meaningful proceedings. Earlier this year, he was ejected from Trump’s non-State of the Union address for attempting to shout over the president. Yesterday, 128 of his fellow Democrats voted to table his impeachment resolution against President Trump over Operation Midnight Hammer. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other Democrat leaders — Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar — joined with 125 other Democrats to kill the motion, while only 79 voted in favor. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined Green in calling for Trump’s impeachment. In their view, Trump’s strike on Iran constitutes a declaration of war without the prerequisite act of Congress, which glosses over the fact that the last congressionally declared war was World War II.
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg wins Dem primary: Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who infamously prosecuted Donald Trump by turning a dubious bookkeeping violation into 34 felonies, won yesterday’s Democrat primary with over 70% of the vote. Bragg is seeking reelection even as New York City has experienced a significant rise in crime, specifically within its subway system. Bragg avoided speaking about his prosecutorial record, other than to insist that he “worked closely with law enforcement partners to prosecute those who threaten the safety of anyone utilizing our transit system.” Instead, he focused on his advocacy for mental health initiatives. While crime has dropped across the first quarter of 2025, this arguably has more to do with Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement than anything Bragg has done. Bragg will face Republican former prosecutor Maud Maron and independent Diana Florence in the general election.
Over 80% back Trump’s deportation of criminal illegals: Donald Trump wasn’t shy about explaining his immigration plans for his second term; he promised the largest deportation effort in history. So far, that high mark has not been met, but deportations have been ramping up and voters support it. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 83% of voters support Trump’s pursuit and deportation of criminal illegal aliens. Only 13% of likely voters said the deportations were not important, while 57% said it was very important. In a blow to leftist narratives, 80% of Hispanics and blacks agreed that the deportations were important.
Iran and the open border: Thanks to the Biden administration’s open border malfeasance, more than 700 Iranian nationals who illegally entered the U.S. via the southern border were subsequently released into the U.S. despite terrorism concerns. It is unclear how many of those Iranians were on the terrorism watch list. Given the U.S.‘s recent strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, concerns are mounting about the threat posed by possible Iranian terror cells within the U.S. The DHS issued a memo warning of a “heightened threat environment” following Trump’s announcement of the strike against Iran, noting that law enforcement has disrupted “multiple potentially lethal Iranian-backed plots” since 2020. On Sunday, ICE agents arrested 11 Iranian nationals who were illegally in the U.S. and are known or suspected of having terrorist ties.
Sanders has no answer for human meaning under socialism: Leftist Sen. Bernie Sanders was recently a guest on Joe Rogan’s podcast, where he opined that he believed socialism would help solve the problem of artificial intelligence. Noting Andrew Yang’s universal basic income idea as a solution for AI taking jobs but leaving people without meaning, Rogan asked, “How do we convince all of these people that they have to not just take this money from the government, but also take action to give themselves meaning in their lives?” The question left Sanders stumped. He offered up no answer, calling it a “trillion-dollar question” and then sought to move on. But Rogan again pressed, asking how one finds meaning without a job. Sanders said he did not know, but was sure that socialism was the answer to the problem of wealth inequality.
BYU study finds boys run faster than girls even before puberty: The International Swimming Federation, International Cricket Council, and World Athletics are sporting groups that have banned boys who’ve been through puberty from competing against girls, but World Athletics has acknowledged the truth that BYU just confirmed: boys have physical advantages over girls even before puberty. BYU’s study of 3,621 children aged 6-12 shows that boys run faster than girls with an average differential of 7.7%. As always, these studies show average, not specific, performance. For example, one second-grade girl ran faster than all but four of the sixth-grade boys, but that’s an outlier. Gender cultists use specific examples like that particularly athletic girl to argue that gender doesn’t affect athletic ability, but BYU’s study refutes that idea. The average boy ran 5-7% faster than the average girl.
Headlines
Top Biden aide admits to Congress she directed autopen signatures without knowing who gave final approval (Fox News)
Big law firm sues Hunter Biden for unpaid legal bills tied to gun trial, other cases (National Review)
Karmelo Anthony indicted on first degree murder charge (Daily Wire)
“Trans” TikTok influencer “Lilly Tino” under investigation in Florida for filming in women’s restrooms (Not the Bee)
Humor: Trump bombed Iran. Here’s how 12 media outlets covered the story. (Babylon Bee)
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