Welcome to the RedState Weekly Briefing — where we take a quick look at the week’s most viewed stories in case you missed any of them. What do you suppose caught people's attention in this latest whirlwind week? Grab a cup of coffee (or something stronger if you're so inclined), and sit down with this 21st Century Weekend Edition of your favorite (online) publication — here we go!
#1 - How Israel Lured Iran's Top Generals to Their Deaths Will Blow Your Mind — by Bonchie
It was a boon for Israel because Iran's command and control structure was cripled. It took almost a day for the Mullahs to finally muster a military response, and by then, the IDF had severely hampered their ballistic missile capabilities. While initial barrages did cause damage, including tragically killing several civilians due to Iran's indiscriminate salvos, in context, they were very ineffective counterstrikes, accomplishing nothing of military value for Iran.
Still, as impressive as the nuts and bolts of the plot were, it's how thought-out this all was that's truly incredible. It's one thing to place fake calls through Iranian back channels. It's another to have every general who answered the phone fall for the ruse.
#2 - New: Details of Minnesota Assassin's Letter Revealed, and It's Pretty Clear Why the Story Disappeared — by Bonchie
Early on, it was revealed that Boelter was appointed to a government workforce board by Walz. What their actual relationship was remains unclear, but it appears the killer thought they had a relationship. For whatever reason, Boelter had convinced himself that he needed to kill others so that Walz could run for the U.S. Senate. As noted, though, the Minnesota governor had already ruled out a run when Sen. Tina Smith announced her retirement.
In other words, Boelter is just an insane person. Nothing in his letter makes logical sense, and there is no indication he did what he did in support of Trump or anyone else on the political right. Instead, he seems to have been infatuated with Walz and created a justification to kill in service to him.
#3 - Watch: Iran Threatens 'Surprise' the 'World Will Remember for Centuries,' Puts Out Disturbing Video — by Bonchie
This does seem to put to bed the idea claimed by isolationists that the entire case against Iran is manufactured and that they had no intention of developing a nuclear weapon. As the vice president, who is the furthest thing from a warhawk, explained on Tuesday, the intelligence they've seen is clear, and even if it weren't, there is no other reasonable explanation for the levels of enrichment Iran has sought and achieved.
With that said, do I think Iran actually has a nuclear weapon that it is preparing to use to turn the war upside down? I'd hate to be wrong about something so serious, but if we are just speculating, I think this reeks of desperation. Iran is getting its clock cleaned right now. It has lost its own airspace, and the IDF is bombing regime targets without any resistance. Further, Iran's ballistic missile and launcher stocks seem to be running low, as their barrages against Israel continue to get smaller and smaller, making them easier to intercept.
#4 - Joy Behar Forgets Arnold Schwarzenegger Is an Immigrant and Asks About ICE Raids—His Answer Is Epic — by Becky Noble
"The Governator" sat down with Joy and Whoopi, et al, but the fun, at least for us, began when Joy Behar asked Schwarzenegger about the ICE raids going on in California. Either Joy is completely unaware that Arnold is a legal immigrant, or she really is as big a buffoon as we thought. Whatever the case, none of them got the answer they wanted from the actor. Behar began saying, "You're an immigrant to this country, did you have a visceral reaction to what they're doing, to what ICE is doing when you see the videos of it?"
Schwarzenegger began by saying that he was "so proud and happy that I was embraced by the American people like that." He described coming to America at the age of 21, "with absolutely nothing," and going on to create not just a bodybuilding career, but also successful careers in acting and politics, as well as his family. He says, "In no other country in the world could you do that... All this is because of America." The ladies dutifully nodded, but it surely couldn't have been the answer they were looking for. Unfortunately for them, Arnold was just getting started.
#5 - Major ICE Raid at an Omaha Meat-Packing Plant Reveals an Unfortunate Truth — by streiff
The logic that ultimately drove our immigration policy to become effectively one of open borders under Joe Biden was built on the idea that Americans would not work in construction, manufacturing, food processing, or even the hospitality sector because... well, no one ever told us why Americans wouldn't do those jobs.
Omaha provided a laboratory to evaluate that claim. If Green Valley Foods required illegals to operate, then it was doomed. But something extraordinary happened:
Every seat in the waiting area of Glenn Valley Foods was occupied with people filling out job applications early Thursday afternoon, two days after the meatpacking plant became the center of the largest worksite immigration raid in the state of Nebraska so far this year.
Dozens of prospective employees, many of them Spanish speakers, had been coming in and out of the plant all day. Some were hoping to land a new job; others were coming in for training.
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