Mid-Day Snapshot · May 24, 2024 | Truth2Freedom's Blog

“From The Patriot Post (patriotpost.us)”.

THE FOUNDATION

“Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.” —John Adams (1765)

Fellow Patriots, on this day in 1830, the B&O Railroad began the first passenger service between Baltimore and Ellicott’s Mill, Maryland. Rail would dominate transportation for most of the next century. —Mark Alexander

PUBLISHER’S NOTE:

Our office will be closed on Monday, May 27, in honor of Memorial Day, and our editions will return on Tuesday. We’re eternally grateful to the Patriots who gave their all in defense of our great nation.

IN TODAY’S DIGEST

ON THE WEB

Ron Helle: Prophets Among Us
In Brief: The Alito Flag Story Just Got Even Dumber
The Pop Culture Contrarian Podcast: Cancel Culture Butt-Kicks Butker

FEATURED ANALYSIS

NYT Scoop: Alito Is an ‘Insurrectionist’

The Supreme Court justice has faced attacks over a couple of flag displays at his homes.

Nate Jackson

Democrats need to delegitimize the Supreme Court so they can eventually pack it with loyal leftists. Keep that in mind every time they attack Clarence Thomas over a vacation or Samuel Alito over a flag.

The latter justice has been the subject of leftist consternation for the last week or so, ever since The New York Times put a team of crack journalists on the case of a couple of flags flown by the Alito family.

First up was a breathless story drawing a straight line from Justice Alito to January 6. “At Justice Alito’s House, a ‘Stop the Steal’ Symbol on Display,” read the Times headline, followed by the teaser, “An upside-down flag, adopted by Trump supporters contesting the Biden victory, flew over the justice’s front lawn as the Supreme Court was considering an election case.”

The story didn’t use the word “insurrectionists” (or, as Joe Biden recently called them, “erectionists”), but the Times insists the connection was clear: “The upside-down flag was aloft on Jan. 17, 2021, the images showed. President Donald J. Trump’s supporters, including some brandishing the same symbol, had rioted at the Capitol a little over a week before.”

Never mind that Alito was on the losing side of that election case, meaning the flag had no bearing on the outcome of the case.

More importantly, “I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” Justice Alito said in an emailed statement to The Times. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”

Shannon Bream of Fox News shares what the Times didn’t tell you:

I spoke directly with Justice Alito about the flag story in the NYT. In addition to what’s in the story, he told me a neighbor on their street had a “F*** Trump” sign that was within 50 feet of where children await the school bus in Jan 21. Mrs. Alito brought this up with the neighbor. According to Justice Alito, things escalated and the neighbor put up a sign personally addressing Mrs. Alito and blaming her for the Jan 6th attacks.

So, where did the “Stop the Steal” connection come from? An “expert” cited by the Times called an upside-down flag “the equivalent of putting a ‘Stop the Steal’ sign in your yard.”

Oh, so it’s a dog whistle for “experts.”

The truth is that an upside-down flag has long been understood as a sign of distress.

A few days later, the Times put three journalists on another story about a “provocative flag” flown by the Alitos: “The justice’s beach house displayed an ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag, a symbol carried on Jan. 6 and associated with a push for a more Christian-minded government.” The Times spends much of its word count in both articles discussing ethics rules for jurists, though none of those rules apply to spouses.

This flag appeared at the Long Beach Island house in 2023, but it, too, sounded the same dog whistle for “Stop the Steal.”

Senator Dick Durbin called it part of “the Court’s ongoing ethical crisis.” Senator Mazie Hirono wailed, “We have an out-of-control Supreme Court majority.” Clearly, the real game here is to delegitimize the Court. Senator Jeff Merkley literally said it: “Frustration with the Court in the sense that it is illegitimate is extremely high.”

The long-term objective is delegitimizing the Court, but the short-term aim is winning a couple of cases. “Alito must recuse himself immediately from cases related to the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection,” Durbin insisted. He didn’t say it, but these hit pieces are also retribution for Alito having written the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

The Democrats attempt to smear and discredit every originalist, and they have been doing so since Ted Kennedy made a sick sport out of “borking” nominees to the bench. Alito was the victim of that same vile tactic in 2006, which left Mrs. Alito in tears at the time.

Furthermore, call me crazy, but it’s pretty rich for leftists to be outraged about flags. They burn the American flag, for one thing, in addition to kneeling instead of saluting it during the national anthem. Spare me the outrage over flying it upside down.

They also plaster rainbow flags over almost literally everything (including the American flag) for large parts of the year, especially “Pride Month,” which — I appeal to heaven! — starts in a few days. Last year in June, Joe Biden flew the garish transgender flag from the White House itself — while some dude flashed his prosthetic breasts on the lawn, I might add. Biden’s State Department flies the rainbow flag at its facilities all over the world (except in Muslim countries).

“The Constitution provides that the government shall not establish any official religion,” opined Senator Brian Schatz, but the rainbow flag is arguably a symbol of the Left’s state religion. But the Times reporters have their knickers in a twist over a Revolutionary-era flag.

The “Appeal to Heaven” flag, by the way, originates with an important American named George Washington. Maybe the Times reporters have heard of him. He specifically commissioned it in 1775, and it was designed by his personal secretary, Colonel Joseph Reed. In a sense, it was the symbol of a real insurrection — the one against the British tyrants who overtaxed and tried to disarm American colonists. Come to think of it, that sounds familiar…

Follow Nate Jackson on X/Twitter.

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Executive News Summary

Trump takes to the South Bronx, GOP shoots down awful border bill, CNN’s sinking ratings hit a new low, and more.

Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler

Cross-Examination

Trump takes to the South Bronx: “Build the wall!” That cry, along with “We love Trump!” were the prevailing chants yesterday at a Donald Trump rally in the deep-blue South Bronx that drew as many as 25,000. The majority-minority borough isn’t likely to go for Trump in November, but the movement his campaign has seen in New York — Joe Biden won the state by 23 points in 2020 but leads by only nine points now — is telling. It’s been 40 years since a Republican won New York. That was when Ronald Reagan swept 49 of the 50 states against Walter Mondale. “These millions and millions of people that are coming into our country,” said Trump to a notably black and brown audience, “the biggest impact, and the biggest negative impact, is against our black population and our Hispanic population, who are losing their jobs, losing their housing, losing everything they can lose.” That economic message should scare the daylights out of Biden and his fellow Democrats. Polls aren’t votes, of course, and neither are rallies. But as The Wall Street Journal’s James Freeman observed on Fox News this morning, “What you’re seeing here, I think, is the modern version of Reagan Democrats.”
GOP senators shoot down awful border bill: Just as he threatened to do, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer brought a horrible border bill before his chamber for another vote yesterday, hoping to give Biden and his fellow Democrats a lifeline while putting the Republicans on the defensive on a hugely important campaign issue ahead of the 2024 election. And just as the Republicans did the first time, they shot it down in flames, 43-50, with a few Democrats crossing over and joining them. As The Washington Post reports, “The no votes included two senators, Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.), who originally negotiated the deal and criticized the vote as political gamesmanship.” Said a disingenuous Schumer ahead of the vote: “To my Republican colleagues: You wanted this border bill, today we vote on this border bill, and it’s time to show you’re serious about solving the problem.” To which we reply: Where were you and your fellow Democrats during the first three and a half years of the Biden presidency while 10 million illegals were waltzing across our wide-open southern border?
Does the NFL’s Goodell value diversity of opinion? “Listen, we have over 3,000 players,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell yesterday. “They have diversity of opinions and thoughts just like America does. I think that’s something we treasure. That’s part of what ultimately makes us as a society better.” That’s certainly a walk-back from the league’s comments last week in the wake of Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s commencement speech at tiny Benedictine College, a Catholic liberal arts school in Atchison, Kansas. At the time, Goodell’s diversity officer said of Butker: “His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion. Which only makes our league stronger.” As we noted last week, Butker’s message was perfectly suited to his devout Catholic audience, but it was too much for the woke Left, whose adherents headed to Change.org to create a petition calling for the Chiefs to release their kicker “for discriminatory remarks.” The petition has topped out at around 225,000 signatures, which amounts to around one indignant leftist snowflake for every 1,500 Americans.
Norfolk Southern agrees to $310M settlement: It was a little over a year ago that a Norfolk Southern train derailed in the small town of East Palestine, Ohio, resulting in the spill of hazardous chemicals. Both waterway and air contamination forced the evacuation of many residents. In April, Norfolk Southern agreed to a $600 million class-action settlement with residents within a 20-mile radius of the derailment. On Thursday, the railroad company agreed to a $310 million settlement with the EPA and DOJ, which includes a $15 million civil penalty for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act. That said, Norfolk Southern is not expressing liability for the derailment. While no one was killed in the incident, the sheer scope of the toxic spill registers as among the worst in U.S. rail history.
NYC begins evicting illegals from shelters: Following a deal reached with migrant advocacy groups, New York City will begin evicting from its shelters illegal aliens who have exceeded the 30-day limit for adults or the 60-day limit for young adults ages 18 to 23. The city currently has more than 65,000 migrants filling its shelters, which are intended for the city’s homeless population. Migrants with young families will be permitted to reapply for shelter once they hit their time limit; however, others will be required to leave. Any agreement that allowed the city to evict migrants from shelters would produce cries of “inhumanity,” complained Democrat Mayor Eric Adams. “People said it’s inhumane to put people out during the wintertime, so now they say it’s inhumane to do it in the summertime. It’s humane to do it in the springtime. It’s humane to do in the fall time.” He added, “It’s always inhumane to have to not be able to house 198,000 people.” Well, Adams and the residents of NYC wouldn’t have to deal with this problem in the first place if it wasn’t for Joe Biden’s border malfeasance.
CNN’s sinking ratings hit a new low: CNN hasn’t seen numbers this bad in over three decades. Last week, the Leftmedia cable news outlet pulled in just 83,000 viewers among the prized 25-54 age demographic during its 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. time slot. To make matters worse, over the entire week, CNN hit 494,000 viewers. The last time CNN saw numbers this bad was back in 1991. Meanwhile, CNN’s biggest competitors, Fox News and MSNBC, saw two million and 1.1 million totals, respectively. Last June, CNN fired CEO Chris Licht, who was directing the news outlet to become more straight news and less leftist-biased. CNN editor-in-chief Mark Thompson replaced him, but that move has not reversed the sinking ratings. Responding to CNN’s abysmal viewership, Fox News’s Joe Concha gloated, “Being MSNBC Light appears to not be the smartest strategy. And all the propping up of Abby Philip and Kaitlyn Collins isn’t improving the situation.”
Crockett trademarks slam against Greene: In an awful sign of the times — and of the type of people we’re attracting to Washington, DC, these days — Democrat Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett has filed for a trademark of the insult she hurled last week at her Republican “colleague” Marjorie Taylor Greene during a House hearing. As The Hill reports: “An application for ‘bleach blonde bad built butch body’ was filed by Crockett’s campaign Sunday with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.” Just think: In the days and weeks ahead, you too might be able to festoon your vehicle with that very phrase on a bumper sticker, or sport a similarly adorned T-shirt, and the profits will go to the classless Crockett. As the Washington Examiner’s Christopher Tremoglie observed: “At any other time in recent history, [this] would have caused outrage, especially within the LGBT community. Calling a female ‘butch’ and then having the audacity to file a trademark application using the term would have resulted in protests and demands to resign by the fanatical left-wing political activists plaguing this nation.”
Quantico update: Both individuals who attempted to breach Marine Corps Base Quantico in a box truck posing as Amazon delivery drivers early this month were Jordanian, and both were in the U.S. illegally. One of the men crossed into the country illegally over the southern border. The other Jordanian overstayed his student visa. Other than that, DHS notes that neither individual has a criminal history in the U.S. Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill blasted DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the agency’s lack of clarity and transparency surrounding this potential terrorist incident. Senator Lindsey Graham sent a letter to Mayorkas asking, “Are either of them on any terrorist watchlist?” Congress has launched an investigation into what Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green called a “brazen attempt.” He warned, “The consequences of these potential national security threats running loose in our country will come back to haunt us.” Both Jordanians are in ICE custody.

Headlines

Majority of House Democrats vote against barring illegal immigrants from voting in DC elections (Daily Wire)
Supreme Court says South Carolina election map doesn’t impermissibly exclude black voters (ABC News)
NCAA signs off on deal that would change landscape of college sports — paying student-athletes (NBC News)
Louisiana legislature approves bill classifying abortion pills as controlled dangerous substances (AP)
South Carolina becomes 25th state to protect minors from gender transition procedures (Washington Stand)
Up to 50% of UCLA med students are failing basic tests after lowering admissions standards for minorities (Not the Bee)
Hundreds walk out of Harvard College graduation; UCLA contends with new protest (NBC News)
Three more Israeli hostages’ bodies found in Gaza (BBC)
Humor: Democrats release damning photo of Justice Alito reading the Constitution (Babylon Bee)

For the Executive Summary archive, click here.

Follow Thomas Gallatin and Jordan Candler on X/Twitter.

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Haley Finally Sort of Comes Around

The failed presidential candidate took one last swipe at Donald Trump before saying she’d vote for him over Joe Biden.

Douglas Andrews

Whew!

Ever since Wednesday, March 6, the political world has been on the edge of its seat. That was the day when Nikki Haley decided that a narrow victory in Vermont’s open primary wasn’t going to propel her to the Republican presidential nomination against Donald Trump — not when she got clobbered in each of the other 15 Super Tuesday contests.

At that point, the cause of many sleepless nights and the question on every pundit’s mind became, Will she or won’t she? Indeed, would the queen of the crossover Democrats and the Never-Trumpers now finally do her part, just as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis did when he bowed out, to unify the party and endorse Donald Trump?

Sadly, the answer was: No.

“I have no regrets,” Her Magnificence said at the time. “And although I will no longer be a candidate, I will not stop using my voice for the things I believe in.” Haley then challenged her vanquisher, saying that it’s now “his time for choosing,” and adding, “It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him.”

Then she went silent for the next 11 weeks, allowing desperate Joe Biden to panhandle for her voters. “Donald Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters,” said Biden in a statement. “I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign.”

Days turned to weeks, and the anticipation became all but unbearable until Wednesday, glorious Wednesday. On that day, the trumpets sounded, and she damned her party’s runaway standard-bearer with faint praise:

As a voter, I put my priorities on a president who’s going to have the backs of our allies and hold our enemies to account, who would secure the border, no more excuses. A president who would support capitalism and freedom, a president who understands we need less debt not more debt. Trump has not been perfect on these policies. I’ve made that clear, many, many times. But Biden has been a catastrophe. So, I will be voting for Trump.

And there it was. She said she’d vote for the candidate she’d called “unhinged,” the candidate she’d said was “not qualified” to be president.

To which Donald Trump likely said, “Nikki who?”

What prompted Haley to finally speak? Perhaps her struggle for relevance. She hadn’t been heard from since March 6, and earlier this month, Trump made it clear that she wasn’t under consideration as his running mate. So, in response to being scorned, Haley comes out with this smug, narcissistic, back-handed non-endorsement. That’s the best she can do? That’s as magnanimous as she can be? This is how she tries to unify the party?

For comparison, this was Ron DeSantis on the day he dropped out of the race: “It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee, and I will honor that pledge. He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.”

Yesterday, Trump responded to Haley’s unhelpfully lukewarm non-endorsement: “I think she’s going to be on our team because we have a lot of the same ideas, the same thoughts,” he told News 12 New York. “I appreciated what she said. You know, we had a nasty campaign, it was pretty nasty. But she’s a very capable person, and I’m sure she’s going to be on our team in some form, absolutely.”

That sounds like a smart play from Trump. What could’ve been cause for a lashing out is instead a thoughtful and measured response aimed directly at the suburban women who may ultimately decide the presidency on November 5.

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Elections Determine the Judiciary

Just as Donald Trump remade the judiciary during his term in office, Joe Biden is doing the same.

Brian Mark Weber

Everybody’s talking about the 2024 presidential election. Right now, though, the focus is on inflation, immigration, abortion, and protests on college campuses.

Those issues matter, but sometimes presidential appointees are more important than any policy or position, and judicial appointments are one of the most overlooked but critical decisions a president can make. Although Donald Trump has been out of office for nearly four years, the ripple effect of the judges he selected has helped to stem the tide of leftist activism to some degree. Likewise, however, Biden’s appointments today will also outlast his presidency.

NBC News reports, “The winners of the presidency and the Senate majority in the 2024 election will have the power to shape the courts for the next few years, and the two men have dramatically different criteria in choosing nominees.” You don’t say.

This exchange between Senator Ted Cruz and a Biden judicial appointee who put a 6’2″ male in a female prison because of preferred pronouns and hormone treatment will sufficiently illustrate what’s at stake.

Although Trump didn’t place as many judges on the federal bench as his predecessor, Barack Obama, his appointments were noteworthy. At the end of Trump’s presidency, according to Pew Research, “There were 816 active judges serving across the three main tiers of the federal court system: the Supreme Court, 13 regional appeals courts and 91 district courts governed by Article III of the U.S. Constitution. Trump appointed 28% of those judges. That includes three of the nine sitting Supreme Court justices, 30% of the nation’s active appeals court judges and 27% of active district court judges.”

While these numbers make it seem like conservatives are making inroads, the Biden administration is moving at breakneck speed to fill even more vacancies than Trump.

“Confirming more than 234 judges — the number confirmed during Trump’s presidency — with lifetime appointments would provide Biden with the type of governing imprint that Trump, should he win in November, could not erase,” Politico excitedly reports, adding, “If Democrats can exceed 234 judges, they will have replaced about one-quarter of the federal judiciary and with an unprecedented level of diversity on the bench.”

We certainly hope Biden won’t be in the Oval Office next January 21, but these appointments will still help thwart Trump’s agenda should he win the election on November 5.

The most important judicial selection, of course, is that of a Supreme Court justice. Roe v. Wade and affirmative action in college admissions are gone, thanks to Donald Trump’s three High Court appointments, and reducing regulatory power is on the table this year. Currently, conservative-leaning justices hold a 6-3 edge, but Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito are in their 70s, while John Roberts and Sonia Sotomayor are knocking on the door at age 69, so it’s possible the next president may need to appoint multiple replacements.

The mere idea that another Trump term might lead to an even greater conservative majority on the High Court worries people like former Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer.

Pfeiffer observed, “Republicans who did not like Trump, at the last minute, were willing to hold their nose and vote for Trump because they care about the Supreme Court. So, I think we can do that in reverse.”

Unless there’s an unexpected vacancy in the coming months, that strategy will not likely pay off. But that won’t stop Democrats from scheming to influence the process.

Since the New Deal, Democrats have salivated over the idea of packing the Supreme Court. While they haven’t let that one go, more recent tactics include pushing for term limits, threatening to add more justices to lower courts, and drumming up public support to force conservative justices to recuse themselves.

Sometimes, they just abuse the process altogether. For example, before 2017, Judiciary Committee chairs wouldn’t move judicial nominees through the process unless both of the U.S. senators from the nominee’s state agreed. It was more of a long-honored tradition than a requirement, but Democrats turned it into a makeshift filibuster to block Republican nominations during Trump’s presidency, and it was ultimately discontinued.

Now, fearful of Trump’s return, Senator Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin seeks to restore the practice before the November presidential election. Even some Republicans support Durbin’s move to make the process less political. It will be interesting to see whether the majority party keeps it in place if reinstated.

For now, Biden keeps rushing to fill empty spots with nominees loyal to his radical agenda. CBS News reports that while Biden has now outpaced the number of Trump’s appointments, “surpassing the 234 judges Trump named to the federal bench during his first and sole term may be difficult given the Senate’s schedule in the run-up to the November election, since several Democratic senators in states won by Trump in 2020 are working to hold on to their seats and are likely to spend the coming months on the campaign trail.”

The big takeaway, then, is that choosing a president goes far beyond the immediate politics of the day. Our votes matter, and the person we choose to lead the nation will affect our lives for years to come.

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Cognitive Dissonance in Germany

On the one hand, Germans reject transgenderism for minors. On the other, they decriminalize possession of child porn.

Emmy Griffin

Germany is the birthplace of Lutheranism and, as UK Anglican priest Father Calvin Robinson points out, all the heresy. The German people, the German Protestant Church, and the German Roman Catholic Church are struggling mightily against the heresy of the LGBTQ+ agenda (which contradicts explicit teaching from the Bible) and particularly the transgender agenda (which is also a Marxist version of gnostic dualism).

There is a glimmer of hope, though, for Germany. Medical professionals there gathered and put “gender-affirming care” for minors up for a vote. Overwhelmingly, the delegates — who represent all the medical organizations in Germany — voted against it for minors struggling with gender confusion. That means German children are now protected from the scientific experimentation of bad actors and activist medical professionals who are giving them puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender mutilation surgeries.

They also voted against “self ID” — i.e., minors are not allowed to self-identify as an incorrect gender unless they have the okay from a psychiatric diagnosis. Could this be a tacit admission that transgenderism is a mental illness?

Sadly for Germans, though, this all seems to be one step forward and two steps back. As their medical assemblies display some common sense, the government just decriminalized child porn possession and distribution.

Possession of child pornography had been a felony in Germany since 2021 but has been downgraded to a misdemeanor with a minimum sentence of three months prison time for possession and six months for distribution. This was seen as a big win for a pro-pedophile lobbying group that is pushing to get the age of consent lowered to 12.

It is truly a sick and sad day for Germany when an openly pedophilic group is allowed to hold sway over decisions that affect an entire country. These people are perverted and depraved, willing to prey on the most vulnerable for their own pleasure and power.

On X, this story is slapped with a Community Note saying that the downgrade was intended to protect good people who were reporting possession by another person or perhaps had confiscated it as evidence when turning that person in.

That is decidedly untrue. If that were the case, it would have been easy to stipulate that exception in the law without reducing charges and associated penalties. News and opinion magazine Reduxx not only eviscerated this particular Community Note but also exposed that the poster was associated with the German government trying to spin this.

So Germany’s governing bodies are okay with the predation of children via child porn by not prosecuting with any real consequence those who exploit them while the medical associations are no longer exploiting children with “gender-affirming care”? This is an exchange of one form of exploitation and depravity for another, and it’s morally backward.

Germany, like many Western countries, sees only consent and expert advice as the rule by which to live. Exploitation of the vulnerable at any level is a sin. But leftists have abandoned the idea of individual sin and replaced it with the assertion that broader society as a whole is to blame for individual woes. As political pundit Ben Shapiro perfectly put it: “That is the basic Left-wing theology when it comes to curing the sin of the world, considering sin does not abide at the level of the individual; sin only abides at the level of the society. It is the Marxist materialist idea that the only reason people are bad is because the systems under which they live are inherently bad and corrupt, and therefore, if we can cure those systems, then humanity will be magically and absolutely transformed.”

That’s why Germany or any country led by the Left cannot have any sort of moral clarity. That’s why there is cognitive dissonance.

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Profiles of Valor: Farewell Col Bud Anderson (USAF)

Blue skies and tailwinds to the last member of the World War II Triple Ace Club.

Mark Alexander

The nose art “Old Crow” on iconic P-51 Mustangs flying at air shows today is immediately recognizable by aviation enthusiasts and historians as the name then-Capt Clarence “Bud” Anderson gave to all the planes he flew during his 30-year military career. In the European Theater during World War II, that would include his P-39 with the 363rd Fighter Squadron, three P-51Bs for combat tours with the 357th Fighter Group, and his 357th Fighter Group P-51D. In Vietnam, Bud flew combat missions in his “Old Crow II” F-105D as commander of the 355th TFW at Takhli Royal Thai AFB, Thailand.

Bud was a farm boy raised in New Castle, California, by teetotaling parents, so in some circles, he said “Old Crow” referenced “the smartest bird in the sky,” but all who knew him understood it was the brand of the cheapest Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey available at the time, his favorite.

When Bud was seven, his father arranged his first ride — it was in an open-cockpit Stearman PT-17 biplane. He was hooked. He learned to fly in 1941, his first year in college. But prompted by the attack on Pearl Harbor, in January 1942, he enlisted with the U.S. Army Air Forces, earning his wings in September.

Ahead of D-Day, he deployed to Europe, where he would serve two tours, primarily escorting and defending heavy bombers against the Nazi Luftwaffe. He flew his first mission in February of ‘44 and earned his first confirmed kill on March 8, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 that was attacking an ailing B-17 Flying Fortress. He recalled: “We were heading home, three or four guys, with [1st Lt. John England] along with us. We saw a Boeing B-17 below us, smoking, so we were headed over there when three Messerschmitt 109s came up. They didn’t even see us. We cut them off at the pass, and I saw one and said, ‘This one’s mine.’ I wanted one bad.”

As the two engaged in concentric circles, Bud says: “It’s hard to get a shot in at 90 degrees. I was pulling a lot of Gs. I fired blind, and when he next came in view, black smoke was coming out — I got him in the coolant system. He went up and bailed out.” Bud’s wingman declared: “Best shooting I’ve ever seen in my life! He hit that son of a b***h out there at over 40 degrees!”

His second Bf 109 kill was a month later, along with a Heinkel He 111 heavy bomber. His fifth shoot-down was another Bf 109 over Frankfurt on May 12, making Bud an Ace. In the next two weeks, he took down three more enemy aircraft and, in June, shot down three Focke-Wulf Fw 190s, confirming him as a Double Ace. He scored his 12th kill in July and then took some much-needed R&R. Returning to the 357th in November, over the next 45 days, he shot down four more Fw 190s, becoming a Triple Ace plus one.

Notably, he became close friends with renowned fighter and test pilot Chuck Yeager, who also flew P-51s with the 357th. As he and Chuck were joy-flying over Switzerland in January 1945, he lamented missing out on a big day in the sky: “When I learned that while we were joyriding over the Alps, the rest of the 357th had scored a one-day record of 56.5 shoot-downs, I got sick!”

Yeager would write later, “On the ground, he was the nicest person you’d ever know, but in the sky, those damned Germans must’ve thought they were up against Frankenstein or the Wolfman; [Bud] would hammer them into the ground, dive with them into the damned grave, if necessary, to destroy them.” He added, “Bud was the best fighter pilot I’ve ever seen.”

Bud flew a total of 116 combat missions totaling 480 hours without ever taking a hit. But of the 28 pilots who deployed with him in Europe, half were either killed or became POWs by the end of the war. He lamented: “You come home and there’s an empty bunk over there at night. Each guy had to figure out how to cope with that. Some guys just could pull the shade down and ignore it. Some people would not make friends — close friends — because of it.”

He was promoted to Major at the end of his second tour, and the 357th FG was credited with 609 enemy aircraft kills, producing 42 Aces — more than any other fighter group, with Bud Anderson leading the pack. Bud talks about his combat missions here.

For the record, 1,283 American pilots became fighter Aces during World War II. That would include famed Medal of Honor recipient Marine Maj Joe Foss. He matched the 26 kill record held by America’s top World War I ace, Eddie Rickenbacker, who was an inspiration for Bud Anderson. Foss became America’s first “ace-of-aces” in World War II.

After World War II, Bud married his sweetheart Eleanor Cosby, and they were together for 70 years until her death in 2015.

He served with many Air Force commands, including command of an F-86 squadron during the Korean War, concluding his combat tour in Vietnam commanding the 355th TFW. He retired in 1972 as a Colonel and logged more than 7,500 hours in more than 100 types of aircraft over the course of his career. He then had a second career as a manager with the McDonnell Aircraft Company’s Flight Test Facility at Edwards AFB until 1998.

Among his military decorations are the Legion of Merit (2), Distinguished Flying Cross (5), Bronze Star Medal, and Air Medal (16). His first Distinguished Flying Cross citation notes: “For extraordinary achievement and heroism in aerial combat and the destruction of three enemy airplanes over enemy occupied Continental Europe. The skillful and zealous manner in which Captain Anderson has sought out the enemy and destroyed him, his devotion to duty and courage under all conditions serve as an inspiration to his fellow flyers. His actions on all these occasions reflect the highest credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States.”

In 2022, on his 100th birthday, Bud Anderson was promoted to the honorary rank of Brigadier General by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen Charles Brown.

This week, Bud took off for the last time, after 102 years of life. He is remembered fondly by all who knew him for his infectious enthusiasm, determination, and optimism.

An inscribed copy of his 1990 memoir, To Fly and Fight: Memoirs of a Triple Ace, sits next to me as a source for this tribute. When contemplating the heroic service of such men, it is always a blessing to have an abundance of their own words.

Bud Anderson: Your example of valor — a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty, and in disregard for the peril to your own life — is eternal. Blue skies and tailwinds, sir, ceiling and visibility unlimited! We are humbled by your service, and lifting up your family in prayer.

This upcoming Memorial Day, as Ronald Reagan noted in a Memorial Day address four decades ago, “Let us pledge that their lives, their sacrifices, their valor shall be justified and remembered for as long as God gives life to this nation.”

“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

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VIDEOS

The Chiefs Shut Down Angry Feminists — The NFL and the Chiefs have responded to all the backlash from Harrison Butker’s viral commencement address at Benedictine College, and it’s beautiful.
PopCon #45: Cancel Culture Butt-Kicks Butker — Most would consider being the second-most-accurate kicker in NFL history his greatest achievement, but not to Harrison Butker. The most important role for the star placekicker is husband and father.
Illegals in Chicago Fake Armed Robberies for Immigration Benefit — Illegal immigrants in the Windy City are paying to be “victimized” in fake armed robberies, attempting to obtain a visa and protection from deportation.
‘Answer the Question!’ — Rep. Jim Jordan confronts ATF Director Steven Dettelbach over the deadly raid on Bryan Malinowski.
Dear Infidels: A Warning to America — Radical Islam poses a significant threat to our freedom. The rise of anti-American rhetoric and violence in cities and universities is a direct result of the indoctrination led by those perpetrating a religious war against the West.
‘Attritable Assets’ — Meet the Manta Ray. It’s unmanned, it’s huge, and it can remain on station for months at depths no manned submersible could ever hope to achieve.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion.

SHORT CUTS

Jordan Candler

Fact-Check: Misleading

“If you want a safe town or a safe neighborhood, you’re better off, you are statistically safer, if you have immigrants because they commit crimes of violence at a rate lower than people who are born in the United States.” —Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) conflating unvetted, illegal border crossers with vetted, legal asylum seekers and naturalized citizens

The BIG Lie

“Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican allies don’t care about securing the border or fixing America’s broken immigration system. If they did, they would have supported the toughest border enforcement in history. Instead, they put partisan politics ahead of our national security.” —Joe Biden

Non Compos Mentis

“Two years ago, our nation’s first black vice president, President Kamala Harris…” —Joe Biden

“The African continent’s going to have a billion people not too soon.” —Joe Biden (Africa population: 1.5 billion.)

Dumb & Dumber

“Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas are totally out of control. These individuals continue to detonate the credibility of the United States Supreme Court.” —House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)

“If [Trump’s] reelected, who do you think he’ll put on the Supreme Court? You think he’ll put anybody who has a brain?” —Joe Biden

Fearmongering

“[Trump] is paving the way to become a Vladimir Putin or to become an Adolf Hitler or a Kim Jung Un. That’s what he wants to be.” —Congressman Dan Goldman (D-NY)

Race Bait

“I do think that there is a thing called ‘pretty privilege.’ There is a thing called ‘white privilege.’ There is a thing called ‘tall privilege.’ And we have to acknowledge that, and so part of it is about race.” —”The View” co-host Sunny Hostin regarding the acclaim of WNBA player Caitlin Clark

Tone-Deaf

“I’m middle class.” —actress Cate Blanchett, who’s worth almost $100 million (Maybe she meant with Bidenflation…)

Belly Laugh of the Day

“Students have been on the right side of history time and time again.” —Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)

Upright

“Dealing fentanyl is more like dealing a poison than dealing a drug, and the penalty should be more like a murder charge than a drug charge.” —Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX)

And Last…

“[The NFL] has had its share of players arrested for domestic violence and convicted of wire fraud, forgery, money laundering, counterfeiting, tax evasion, drug trafficking, driving while intoxicated, burglary, armed robbery, aggravated assault, rape, manslaughter and even murder. Perhaps it’s a bad look to criticize a player calling for men to be God-fearing, responsible husbands and fathers.” —Laura Hollis

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