Number 4. The Sun. Secret CIA technology used to locate downed airman in Iran’s desert.
As I write this, news has just broken that the rescued F-15 Weapons System Officer (“Wizzo”), shot down over Iran’s desert, was recovered with the help of science- fiction-sounding new technology. A procedure dubbed the “ghost murmur” detected the injured Colonel’s heartbeat—yes, his heartbeat—from miles away to pinpoint his precise location.
That is what allowed airborne assets to target and destroy Iranian forces who got too close to the downed flyer before friendly help arrived.
That almost sounds unfair—which, in a shooting war, is always preferable.
Meanwhile, I really stand in awe of the ability of the Iranian state media, what’s left of it, to put a good face on total disaster. Iran showed photos of C-130 wreckage on the ground. But the remarkable thing was their messaging.
Reports indicate that besides the F-15E, the U.S. lost two Hercules transport airplanes (the C-130s), at least one MH-6 Little Bird helicopter, two MQ-9 Reaper drones, and an A-10 Warthog. Estimated cost $500 million.
I don’t know if that accounts for the overtime pay for airmen, soldiers and Marines or not. Not to mention catered sandwiches and coffee for personnel in various SCIFs around the globe.
The fact that the Hercules and the Little Bird were destroyed by the U.S. so as to keep them from falling into IRGC hands was entirely overlooked by Iranian reports. Instead, the story was: “Look! The Americans came! We shot missiles! The aircraft were destroyed! Here is the proof!”
I suppose all that is true… after a fashion. (Maybe not the missiles part.)
This rescue mission was huge in scope, complex in design, detailed in timing, and just as successful as we have come to expect.
At this writing, the Iranians have agreed to negotiate toward uninterrupted commerce in the Strait of Hormuz. There is nothing like the threat of a civilization-ending military strike—from a man who can probably bring it about—to help one find a path forward. One would hope Iran will not be bound by the combination of ideology, history, zealous conviction and pride that seems to be their guiding light.
Iranian leadership, what’s left of it (but I repeat myself) might do well to recall Solomon’s words:
It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way. (Proverbs 19.2)
Or this one:
Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will healing to your body and refreshment to your bones. Proverbs 3:7-8
I am not sure we could find a better imitation of Monty Python’s Black Knight than Iran’s recent stance toward U.S. and Israeli attacks.
YouTube posts a video with costs of the F-15 rescue enumerated (timestamp 01:51). That part may be accurate, but the AI-generated action sequences leave me thinking I am watching a video game instead of a news report.
I’ve gotta love a country that can spend half a BILLION dollars to rescue two guys in impossible terrain 7,000 miles from home.
Lest you think the ghost murmur tech is new, some of us have known about it for years. I saw on Star Trek’s S1E20 in 1967.
Number 3. CBN. Artemis II goes further and speaks out about God’s universe.
The NASA mission called Artemis II goes to the moon for a flyby and then return home. It did not orbit the moon, just went around once and returned via the gravitational pull of both earth and moon. (At this writing, they are not back yet. Let’s not be presumptuous.)
Speaking of Star Trek, I have known how this gravity thing works since S1E19. Back then, the gravity slingshot was fast enough to send the Enterprise back in time. Maybe the gravitational field has faded since then. This week, maybe it just gets them back to earth 10 days after they started.
When Artemis II pilot Victor Glover was asked by a CBS reporter if he had an Easter message, he demurred. Not really, he seemed to suggest, and then proceeded with one of the clearest Christian testimonies that could be asked.
"We have a sin nature, and we need Jesus," Glover said. "Jesus is that bridge that spans sin…”
This was off the cuff, unplanned.
It’s almost like Glover knew what he believed. I wonder what government education program helped him with that.
Or maybe it was just an unpaid Sunday School teacher stumbling through a lesson with inattentive adolescents—who had no idea one of them would someday go to the moon.
Number 2. LA Times. SoCal hospices claim unbelievable (actually unbelievable) success rate for patients beating cancer.
This is amazing news. We all know that cancer is a killer. Hospice is a program of palliative care that eases a terminal patient in the last days of his or her life. No one is expected to get out of hospice alive.
And yet, here is Topanga Hospice Care Inc. in Artesia, California, boasting an 85% survival rate! More than 8 out of 10 cancer patients recovered well enough to leave the program, thanks to a generous (and unwatchful) Medicare program that laid out $9 million for care.
So, either Topanga discovered the Fountain of Youth—or they merely bilked the taxpayers out of $9 million worth of cancer treatments for people who didn’t have cancer.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has pointed out that about one-third of all the hospice care facilities in the nation are in Los Angeles County. Maybe there just a lot of sick people there… or maybe something in California’s funding system allows a lot of slack.
CBS News reports that a single Van Nuys address was home to 89 different hospice care centers. Well… everybody needs a business model. It strikes me that the Van Nuys commercial landlord was probably the big winner here.
In the last three months, Oz has taken over 200 hospice care centers out of service, alleging fraud.
Money talks: unlimited funding turns lots of people into geniuses overnight. They could get rich. If only they could stay out of prison.
Number 1. The Western Journal. DOGE success: US government employment lowest in 50 years.
The Federal government employed 2.7 million people as of February this year. That is down by over 10% in the last 18 months. At the same time, private sector employment is up, more than offsetting losses in the public space.
The 2.7 million nearly matches fedgov employment in—wait for it—1966. We presently have the fewest federal employees since before the Apollo program.
Elon Musk has been either a hero or a villain in the last year, sometimes both at once. Despite some odd personal quirks, questionable allegiances, and what some might call a bizarre family life, his DOGE initiative—to reduce the size of government—seems to have gotten serious results.
Now, I’m waiting for him to put a dozen starlinks in orbit around the moon so we don’t have 40 minutes of dead air when the next mission goes behind it.
And thanks for joining The Alligator News Roundup for Friday, April 10, 2026. I would be surprised if the first draft of the F-15 rescue movie script has not already been written. I can hardly wait to see what Hollywood will do with that one.
Have a good weekend!
