Israel couldn’t wait any longer.
When news of Israel’s stunning air strikes on Iran’s nuclear program broke late last night it was a surprise, which at the same time had an air of inevitability.
Israel’s Operation Rising Lion struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear program, reportedly taking out major nuclear facilities. Explosions were heard in Tehran. Israel’s Prime Minister said:
“Iran has produced enough highly enriched uranium for nine atom bombs, nine,” Netanyahu said. “In recent months, Iran is taking steps that it has never taken before, steps to weaponize this enriched uranium. And if not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time.”
Hours later, officials confirmed that Iran launched approximately 100 retaliatory drones toward Israeli territory, which the IDF was working to intercept.
The strikes, which killed top Iranian leaders, were a last resort according to Netanyahu:
“Because if we don’t act now, there will not be another generation. If we don’t act now, we simply won’t be here. We have internalized the lessons of history. When an enemy says he intends to destroy you — believe him,” he continued.
Fox commentator Mark Levine was more colloquial, saying that Iran’s leaders are “about to get their asses kicked.” Netanyahu took pains to send word to the Iranian people, as opposed to the regime. The plugged in Free Beacon has a fascinating account of Israel’s targeting the residences of senior Iranian officials.
Brendan O’Neill calls the Israeli action “a surgical strike against Islamicist tyranny:”
Naturally, given this is a military venture by the state that luvvies and activists love to hate, Israel’s operation already finds itself shrouded in misinformation and shrill censure. Israel is a ‘rogue’ nation launching an ‘unprovoked’ assault on poor Iran, cry the morally lost leftists of the West. They echo the Iranian regime itself, which tweeted: ‘Remember we didn’t initiate it.’ Excuse my language, but yes you f–king did. You initiated this when you sponsored the largest mass murder of Jews since the Nazis and the largest exiling of Jews since the Arab wars of the 1940s.
The United States, in the midst of nuclear talks with Iran that were clearly going nowhere good, was informed in advance of the strikes. Delving into Israeli news sources, Powerline found this amazing but as of yet unverified nugget:
The US participated in a massive campaign to lull Iran into thinking an attack was not going to happen immediately, Channel 12 reports.
US President Donald Trump said Thursday that an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites “could very well happen” but advised against it, saying the possibility of a deal was “fairly close” if Tehran compromises on its atomic ambitions in ongoing talks with the US.
The Drudge Report, now in its dotage a disappointing liberal outpost, blares that the “world is on edge.” Despite the terrible gravity of this developing situation, I can’t help thinking that the world has a little less reason to be on edge now that the Iranian regime’s nuclear program has been weakened. If Israel succeeds, writes Philip Klein, it will have done a service to the world. Meanwhile, The Free Press has put together a package headlined “Everything You Need to Know about the Iran Attack,” by such luminaries as Eli Lake, Naftali Bennett, Mike Pompeo and Michael Oren.
When Grown Senators Cry: The junior Senator from California, Alex Padilla, with tears in his voice, explained the trauma of being removed from a presser given by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and manhandled and handcuffed by Noem’s security detail. Padilla said repeatedly that of the could happen to a U.S. Senator like him, it could happen to anybody. And you know what? He’s absolutely right. Anybody who lunges belligerently at a Cabinet member is going to face exactly the same treatment.
National Review’s Andy McCarthy analyzes “The Padilla Incident and the Greater Peril.” McCarthy begins:
It is more out of concern as a citizen than as a subject of legal analysis that I’m assessing the incident in California today, in which that state’s obstreperous Democratic senator, Alex Padilla, was manhandled and temporarily detained by federal agents when he crashed an event at which Trump Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was speaking. (See our James Lynch’s report.)
But okay, let’s do some legal analysis.
To begin with, people are on edge. There have been violent attacks on ICE personnel who work at Secretary Noem’s direction, so it was reasonable for agents providing security at a Noem press availability — in Southern California, ground zero of the mayhem — to worry about the potential that she could be forcibly attacked. Nor should we forget that there were two assassination attempts on now-President Trump in the last year (both before the election).
Stunts like Padilla’s (did you notice how instantaneously Dems were able to man the microphones after Padilla?) and protests seem to be all that the left has. But the Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel notes the “diminishing returns” of the wall-to-wall protests:
Americans this Saturday will be treated to “No Kings Day.” Organizers brand it a “nationwide day of defiance” featuring protests in more than 2,000 cities against President Trump’s “authoritarianism.” A more honest tag line: Join our latest futile gesture, one even more likely than those past to benefit Mr. Trump…
The bigger problem for Democrats? For too many weary Americans, it continues to feel as if protest is all the left’s got. The foot-stomping is unaccompanied by serious plans for immigration reform, or an outreach to Republicans on a way forward, or a discussion, or regret for the mistakes that led to their loss last November. It’s all outrage.
The law of diminishing returns holds that increasing one factor of production while holding all else steady will inevitably reduce gains. Democrats long ago hit zero output from their protests, and continued digging a hole. Until the party recognizes—and breaks—this cycle, they are leaving Mr. Trump the political field.
Chicago journalist John Kass writes that the left reveals its true identity through riots. When it comes to who is financing the riots, “suddenly journalists don’t want to follow the money anymore,” according to Issues and Insights.
The Democratic primary for the New York Mayor’s race is Jube 24. The final debate is over with the New York Times declaring former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and socialist Zohran Mamdani the frontrunners. It was a nasty debate with Mamdani telling Cuomo, “I never had to resign in disgrace.”
Mamdani has put together “a budding Asian multi ethnic coalition,” according to City Journal, but his stance on policing and education may limit his broader appeal:
During Wednesday’s mayoral primary debate, Mamdani was the only leading candidate who did not pledge to expand the New York Police Department, calling instead for the creation of a “Department of Community Safety,” whose mental-health professionals would respond to 911 calls. And while Mamdani told Gothamist that he “has no plans” to change the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), Chalkbeat reported the opposite in late May, noting that (despite being a graduate of Brooklyn Technical High School) he favored “an independent analysis of the specialized HS exam for gender and racial bias.”
The left said President Trump would crater the economy. But as Byron York notes that did not happen.
As you probably know, an assisted dying bill called the Medical Aid in Dying Act [MAID—get it] will be considered by the state legislature. Rep. Elise Stefanik has a good summary of what the bill would do. Kevin Yuill of Spiked Online locates the roots of the assisted dying movement in eugenics.
Speaking of eugenics, King Charles III, who is his own second and third cousin three times removed, had to make a stolen land acknowledgement when he addressed the Canadian Parliament? The Daily Caller had the scoop. Wonder if poor Charles felt like he was having his own “No Kings Day.”
