Hegseth has a word with the press about their coverage of the Iran attack. Plus, Trump’s NATO triumph
And what happened recently at NATO? Why, this. That link is from the leftist British rag The Guardian, by the way:
The president described the summit as “a very historic milestone” in which Nato allies committed to increase their defence spending to 5% of GDP. It was, he said, “something that no one really thought possible. And they said: ‘You did it, sir, you did it’. Well, I don’t know if I did it … but I think I did.”…
Trump described this as “the Hague defence commitment”, saying it was “a monumental win for the United States, because we were carrying more than our fair share” and “a big win for Europe and for actually western civilisation” because Europe would now be “stepping up to take more responsibility”. …
Earlier on Wednesday, Rutte offered sycophantic praise of the US president in his presence, saying that “Daddy sometimes has to use strong language” – a reference to Trump’s foul-mouthed outburst about Iran and Israel a day before. Just before heading to The Hague, Trump had accused both countries of not knowing “what the fuck they’re doing” after reports of breaches by both of a ceasefire he had imposed.
The Nato secretary general defended his tone towards Trump and denied it was demeaning, though he acknowledged it was “a bit of a question of taste”. Rutte said that Trump was “a good friend” and added: “Would you ever think that this would be the result of this summit if he would not have been re-elected president?” …
Trump said he had a lunchtime meeting with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “to see how he is doing” and said in response to a question from a Ukrainian journalist that he pledged to supply Kyiv with Patriot anti-missile interceptors, some of which had been sent to Israel.
I seriously wonder if Trump sleeps more than two hours a night. And when he sleeps, he probably dreams about what problems he will tackle the next day and the day after that.
NOTE: I found this refueling video:
And this is about the B-2 itself:
Precision flying, fueling… awesome.
Yes, Awesome. And very dangerous. They were very close. I wonder if China can do this?
I seriously wonder if Trump sleeps more than two hours a night.
You got that right.
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/classified-report-that-suggested-iranian-nuclear-program-still-intact-likely-relied-on-faulty-info-from-iranian-sources-former-intel-officers-say/
The refueling video is amazing as is the B-2 itself. One thing I’ve noticed in all the debate about the Iran-Israel war is how hungry the public is for an American military success story.
I understand the reluctance of getting involved in another conflict after the fiascos of Iraq and Afghanistan but people also want to feel pride in their military. Who knows what the final outcome of our attack on the Iran nuclear sites will be but the skill and precision demonstrated in carrying out this mission is nothing less than awesome.
We have a painting given to us by AesopSpouse’s dad, a fighter pilot in three wars, showing an early era of refueling in flight – the tanker plane is a bi-wing.
I don’t know when it was made, but it looks a lot like the one in this article, only in color and more “artistic” – probably painted much after the fact.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_refueling
“Some of the earliest experiments in aerial refueling took place in the 1920s; two slow-flying aircraft flew in formation, with a hose run down from a hand-held fuel tank on one aircraft and placed into the usual fuel filler of the other. The first mid-air refueling, based on the development of Alexander P. de Seversky, between two planes occurred on 25 June 1923, between two Airco DH-4B biplanes of the United States Army Air Service. An endurance record was set by three DH-4Bs (a receiver and two tankers) on 27–28 August 1923, in which the receiver airplane remained aloft for more than 37 hours”
Like everyone else, I am in total awe of the skill of both pilots.
But what kind of maniac would even think of refueling in flight, because it’s crazy!
Oh yeah — pilots.
@ miguel – Ace also has a couple of posts about CNN’s credulous (or malicious) story.
The most surprising thing is that they actually kinda sorta retracted their reporting.
https://ace.mu.nu/archives/415422.php
“Update: CNN’s Big “Scoop” Came from… Iranian Sources Passing Iranian State Propaganda”
Some illuminating information from the Free Beacon post that seems to be the original source.
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/classified-report-that-suggested-iranian-nuclear-program-still-intact-likely-relied-on-faulty-info-from-iranian-sources-former-intel-officers-say/
https://ace.mu.nu/archives/415419.php
“Pete Hegseth Blasts CNN’s RussiaGate Disinformation Whore Natasha Bertrand for Her False Reporting About the Iran Strike, Then CNN Lies to Cover Up Betrand’s Lies”
Yes, that Natasha Bertrand, continuing her string of fake news.
“Natasha Bertrand, along with “Fusion Ken” Dilanian, were the chief disinformation peddlers for Christopher Steele and FusionGPS’s completely-fake Russian hoax “dossier.”
Bertrand was also one of the earliest and most vigorous proponents of the Biden “51 Intelligence officials” lie falsely claiming that Hunter Biden’s laptop was a RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION OPERATION.”
Seen the challah? Heh. Take a look!: https://x.com/GadiTaub1/status/1938585039349903845
When aerial refueling goes wrong…
Wiki
The Palomares incident occurred on 17 January 1966, when a United States Air Force B-52G bomber collided with a KC-135 tanker during mid-air refueling at 31,000 feet (9,450 m) over the Mediterranean Sea, near the Spanish village of Palomares in Almería province. The collision destroyed the tanker, killing all four crew members, and caused the bomber to break apart, resulting in the deaths of three of its seven crew members.[1] The B-52G was participating in Operation Chrome Dome, a Cold War airborne alert mission involving continuous flights of nuclear-armed bombers.
At the time of the accident, the B-52G was carrying four B28FI Mod 2 Y1 thermonuclear bombs.[2][3][4] Three of these bombs fell on land near Palomares; the conventional explosives in two detonated upon impact, dispersing plutonium and contaminating approximately 2 square kilometers (0.77 sq mi) of terrain. The fourth bomb fell into the Mediterranean Sea and was recovered intact after an extensive 80-day search involving the U.S. Navy, including the use of submersibles such as DSV Alvin. A local fisherman, Francisco Simó Orts, witnessed the bomb’s descent into the sea and assisted in its recovery
yes it was a mccguffin in that raquel welch film, fathom, the target was a jade dragon statuette,
going back, after osirak, the iraqis did continue piece meal research at al atheer, and rashidiya, as well as al Quaim in the western part of the country, the treacherous french and germans were involved in that,
the iaea went along with that, the last involved sulfur processing as a pretext, al Quaim was not far from where the North Koreans set up a reactor od Deir er Zeur, which the Israelis had to blow up in 2007,
most of this was discovered in inspections that happened after the Gulf War, where unscom operated with some latitude,
Many years ago, I read that Trump sleeps only 4 hours each night. If so, he must sleep very well to maintain the energy he still has at his age.
An interesting tale
https://www.jfeed.com/news-israel/mossad-alleged-master-spy-catherine-perez-shakdam
Trump, Vance, and Hegseth (and others) are doing now what Bush the Younger and his team should have done, ~20 years ago.
The ‘leak’ that claimed the bombing mission actually failed almost exactly parallels the sort of false and half-true leaks and statements routinely put out by government officials and Democrats and press personnel (but I repeat myself) in during the Iraq/Afghanistan actions. It worked, back then, because for whatever reason, Bush and his people simply would not fight back. It took a long time, but in the absence of any pushback, eventually the Big Lie came to dominate and be accepted, even by many Republicans.
The moment they tried that playbook this time, Trump came down on them like an avalanche, and the balloon popped.