THE WAR ROOM: President Trump over the weekend posted an extreme threat to Iranian infrastructure replete with a common obscenity.

  He wrote; “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”

  An Iranian response said, “Iran’s steadfastness and resistance have driven Trump to the brink of madness.”

  Trump is clearly frustrated that America’s military might so far has been unable to bend the Iranian leadership to his will. They still have the Strait of Hormuz closed to oil shipping and are able to continue attacking neighboring countries, including Israel.

  Oddly, Trump for the moment is fixated on opening the strait even though he says the US doesn’t need it. The strait’s closure has raised oil prices for the world, including the US.

RESCUE DAWN: In a daring nighttime mission, US special forces rescued the second pilot from the F-15 fighter jet shot down over Iran. The first pilot was picked up within hours.

  President Trump posted that, “This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour.”

  The rescue operation involved hundreds of US forces, but it was Seal Team 6 that went deep into Iran to rescue the destroyed jet’s wounded weapons officer. No Americans were injured or killed in the operation.

  After ejecting from the jet, the officer armed with only a pistol had climbed a 7,000 foot ridge and hidden in a mountain crevice. The airman had been equipped with a beacon and a secure communication device for coordinating with rescue forces, but he limited its use so Iranians would not pick up the signal.

  The CIA had created a deception campaign, falsely revealing that the airman had been found and was being brought out of the country in a ground convoy. It was the CIA that found where the pilot was hiding.

  The operation involved landing large aircraft in Iranian territory. Two special forces transports became stuck on the ground and were destroyed by US forces.

DANCE FEVER: The Trump administration filed an emergency appeal to a court order halting construction of the President’s massive ballroom, arguing that building it is a matter of national security and personal safety for the President.

  In the motion that sounds in part like it was written by Trump himself, Justice Department lawyers say, “No taxpayer dollars are being used for the funding of this beautiful, desperately needed, and completely secure (for national security purposes) ballroom.” It’s as if Trump intends to conduct his presidency out of the ballroom.

  The National Trust for Historic Preservation  sued to block the ballroom project in December.

  The government brief argues that building materials including bullet and blast proof glass and roofing have already been ordered. It’s the classic Trump argument that he’s already done it … legal or not … so you can’t stop him now.

MOONSHOT: At 7 this morning EST the Orion space capsule was less than 27,000 miles from the moon and nearly 241,000 miles away from Earth. The four astronauts are travelling at 1,222 mph and are on schedule to fly behind the moon today.

INFINITE SCROLL:

— Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained the 22-year-old newlywed Honduran wife of a US Army sergeant, a woman who had been brought to the US as a toddler.  Annie Ramos, 22, was arrested on an Army base in Louisiana.

  Sgt. Matthew Blank, 23, said he had brought his wife on base to get her military ID and benefits in preparation for moving into military housing.

— The Trump administration also announced the arrests of two Los Angeles-based relatives of a high-ranking member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard killed in an American drone strike in 2020.

  Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that federal authorities detained Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter. Soleimani is the niece of the late Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, who led Iran’s Quds Force.  Soleimani Afshar and her daughter, Sarinasadat Hosseiny, were living a “lavish lifestyle” in Los Angeles, according to Rubio.

  The State Department  described Hamideh Soleimani Afshar as an “outspoken” supporter of Iran’s “terrorist regime” and said that her legal residency in the US had been rescinded.

— Pope Leo, the first American Pope, took an anti-war swipe at President Trump during his Easter homily saying: “Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!”

HOOP DREAMS: The UCLA women yesterday absolutely buried South Carolina 79-51 to win the team’s first ever national championship. UCLA was ahead the entire game, led by Gabriela Jaquez’s 21 points and 10 rebounds.

  In the men’s semi-finals, UConn beat Duke by a single point to meet Arizona tonight after they defeated Purdue 79-64.

 THE SPIN RACK: NBC “Today Show” anchor Savannah Guthrie returned to work today. She admitted a “deep disappointment with God”  for the unsolved Arizona kidnapping of her mother, Nancy, in an Easter message delivered on video. Guthrie is a deeply religious person who believes “God has a plan” for everyone, but she said, “I have questioned whether Jesus really ever experienced this particular wound that I feel — this grievous and uniquely cruel injury of not knowing, of uncertainty and confusion and answers withheld.” — In the California mountains, Big Bear’s celebrity bald eagle couple Jackie and Shadow welcomed two eaglets cracked out of their shells this past weekend, watched live on camera by 2.5 million people.

BELOW THE FOLD: Tickets for the Opening Ceremonies at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles start at $329 and go as high as $5,519. The ceremony will also be on television.

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