Political assassinations and Midnight Hammer

What a headline! With the summer solstice done and gone, let’s back up. Before visiting Operation Midnight Hammer, let’s have an update on Minnesota State Sen. Hoffman and his wife Yvette.

“We continue our healing journey and are both incredibly lucky to be alive,” as stated by a family member. John was shot point blank nine times and Yvette eight times with a 9mm handgun. This was a cold-blooded political assassination attempt by Vance Boelter,  who was wearing a costume police uniform and driving a fake police Ford SUV.

The Hoffmans’ daughter was home at the time and called (the true) police at 2:05 a.m. June 15. The senator and his wife live in Champlin, Minn. Our continued prayers are lifted up for their speedy recovery.

The shooter next went nine miles to Brooklyn, Minn., and assassinated State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. The shooter was there at 3:35 a.m. the same morning. A statement put out by their family reads:

“A way to honor Melissa and Mark Hortman:

(This was written by their two grown children Sophie and Colin Hortman)

• Plant a tree

• Visit a local park and make use of their amenities, especially a bike trail

• Tell your loved ones a cheesy dad joke and laugh about it.

• Bake something—bread for Mark or a cake for Melissa, and share it with someone.

• Try a new hobby and enjoy learning something

• Stand up for what you believe in, especially if that thing is justice and peace

• Pet a dog. A golden retriever is ideal, but any will do.”

My chocolate lab, Mocha, must have felt my deep sympathy as she’s rubbing her nose on my leg! Man, hard to have a dry eye after that.

All this senseless killing of a state representative and her husband over what? The Minnesota legislature had just finished their legislative session the previous day. Melissa was Speaker of  the House and she and some of her colleagues went out for dinner to celebrate passing what we all “The G Bill,” which is the governor’s budget allowing state government to function for the next fiscal year. 

In Minnesota, like our state, the fiscal year is July 1 to June 30.

God bless the Hortman family and the family of John and Yvette Hoffman. May they have a speedy recovery. God’s blessings on both.

Totally switching gears here. The United States of America’s military launched “Operation Midnight Hammer.” This operation was to take out three hardened nuclear sites within the country of Iran.

We sent 7ea B2 Spirit Attack bombers with two MOP bombs on each bomber. MOP stands for Massive Ordinance Penetrator; bombs that are commonly called “bunker busters.” Each weighs 30,000 pounds, so carrying a payload of 60,000 pounds each, they flew from Whiteman Air Force Base located about 60 miles southeast of Kansas City, Mo., to Iran. There would be a pilot and copilot in each bomber.

They would have a 15-hour trip to delivery site and another 15-hour flight home. Yep! The pilots sat in the cockpit for 30 hours straight! Every 6,900 miles refueling was required in the air! My point is that the logistical coordination, along with the professionalism of not only our Air Force pilots and all military personnel was/is almost uncomprehendable. No other country could have accomplished this mission.

The MOP bombs were dropped at Fordow, a nuclear facility. The nuclear site was 300 feet down inside a mountain. Early battle damage assessment is total annihilation of that facility.

At the other two nuclear sites we used Tomahawk missiles from our submarines approximately 400 miles away. Another amazing feat. Early battle assessment was the same as Fordow, complete annihilation.

We all owe a huge thank you to our president, our secretary of defense and their staffs and an even bigger (huger) thank you to 4-star Gen. Dan “Razin” Cain, who is the chairman of our joint chiefs. He is the top general over all military branches—Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps., Coast Guard and...remember?...Space Force. Thank you to all members of our great military. The world is definitely a safer place with Iran not having nukes or the ability to manufacture them.

God bless the United States of America!