Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 4/21

[SVPete]

The Morning Briefing: Tough Luck, Haters — The Glorious Warthog Gets Another Reprieve

https://pjmedia.com/stephen-kruiser/2026/04/20/the-morning-briefing-tough-luck-haters-the-glorious-warthog-gets-another-reprieve-n4951987

This probably won't be a super long "Top 'O the Briefing," but it will be a happy one. We can all use a little happiness from time to time, even noted darker personality types like myself. We take our victories where we can get them these days, and this news has brought a lot of smiles to Tucson, Ariz. More on that in a moment.

Despite the best efforts of its detractors to put it out to pasture, one of the greatest jets in the history of America's air arsenal will not be going anywhere just yet. This is from my friend and RedState colleague Ward Clark:

Every grunt's favorite Cold War leftover piece of close air support, it seems, is getting a few more years of active service. On Monday, the Secretary of the Air Force announced, with a nod to the Secretary of War, that the great A-10 Thunderbolt II, better known as the Warthog, will have its service life extended until at least 2030.

The A-10 has been a fixture in the Tucson sky since the mid-1970s. Even I was young then. When they take off from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, they fly right over my neighborhood. I get a great view of them when they are landing, too, and I could sit outside and watch them all day.

Back in the Carter Administration I worked at Kaiser electronics, who made the panel and head-up displays for the A-10 (among other military planes). For part of my time I tested and aligned Projection Units (USAF-speak for HUD) for the A-10 project. Even in the late 70s it was common knowledge at Kaiser that USAF brass wanted to kill the Warthog.

Production of the A-10 ended in 1984, and aircraft company Fairchild-Republic is long defunct. Short of a years-long total redesign, the only source of replacement A-10s will be boneyard Franken-resurrections from Davis-Monthan AFB.

[SVPete]

UW–Stevens Point athlete identified, arrested after assaulting TPUSA reporter with parents

https://www.campusreform.org/article/uwstevens-point-athlete-identified-arrested-assaulting-tpusa-reporter-parents/29733

Footage circulating online appear to show a University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point athlete and her family confronting a Turning Point USA journalist during an anti-ICE protest is now under federal investigation.

Federal authorities are investigating the assault of conservative journalist Savanah Hernandez during an anti-ICE protest, as online footage appears to show demonstrators physically confronting a reporter documenting the event.
...
Reporting by OutKick identified one of the individuals shown in the footage as a women’s soccer player Paige Ostroushko from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. The report stated that the athlete appeared in videos of the confrontation and was listed on the university’s athletics roster prior to the incident.

Following the circulation of the footage, the athlete was later removed from the university’s women’s soccer roster webpage, according to additional reporting documenting changes to the team’s online roster.
...
”Found out that the 3 people that attacked me today are a family that states they’re Ukrainian-Iranian,” she wrote. “After the daughter assaulted me, the mom came up and attacked me stating ‘you f*cking hit my daughter?’ The man who violently pushed me to the ground then screamed ‘don’t touch my f*cking daughter.’ Prior to their assault, all three had come up to me and were calling me a ‘b*tch,’ screaming in my face, putting dildos in my face, blowing whistles in my ears and then assaulted me as I was trying to leave.”
...
A video of the aftermath of the assault on Hernandez shows Paige attempting to run from law enforcement before being arrested. She subsequently posted a video of her own in which she claims to have been “f***ing assaulted by a f***ing piece of s*** Turning Point b****.”

Hernandez confirmed that Paige and Chris will be charged with misdemeanor assault, but that “somehow Deyanna (sic) is not being recommended for charges despite being caught on camera attacking me alongside her daughter.”

This article gives a fairly complete account of the attack on Hernandez.

[SVPete]

Powerful California official pocketed thousands from Chinese school founder at center of fraud probe/b]

https://nypost.com/2026/04/20/us-news/fiona-ma-took-money-from-chinese-school-ceo-probed-for-fraud/

California state treasurer Fiona Ma took thousands in campaign donations from the founder of a Chinese boarding school at the center of a bombshell fraud probe — and reportedly promised to hook up the children of Chinese elites with jobs and internships during a secret visit in 2023.

Ma, who is running for lieutenant governor, has accepted more than $30,000 from Steven Ma, the founder of a $34,000-per-year, Qingdao-based boarding school under investigation for allegedly churning out bogus California diplomas for well-connected Chinese students.

An astonishing 1000-page audit conducted by Riverside County found “a pattern of favors, official acts, promises, and payments” related to a government-approved pilot program between Pegasus California School and Val Verde School District in Riverside County.

Pegasus California School handed out diplomas that looked like they were issued by Val Verde schools in California — a selling point for Chinese students wanting a spot in the elite University of California system — with the help of top officials with the Department of Education and Val Verde School District who pushed the program, according to the audit.

Steven Ma worked closely with former California (Superintendent of Public Instruction) Tom Torlakson, Val Verde school administrator Michal McCormick and consultant Dave Long to help catapult the Chinese students into coveted University of California spots — in an arrangement deemed “sketchy” by one university official cited by Business Insider.

I don't know which is more disturbing, Treasurer Fiona Ma taking a pay-to-play campaign "contribution" or former Superintendent of Public Instruction (!!!!) Tom Torlakson helping corrupt a California high school and University of California admissions. I know to expect educratic stupidity from Lib/Prog candidates for Superintendent of Public Instruction, but this corruption does surprise me a bit.

Need I say that ordinary lower and middle class Chinese families aren't the ones paying the school in Qingdao (Tsingtao) $34K a year?

[ADsOutburst]

Footage circulating online appear to show a University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point athlete and her family confronting a Turning Point USA journalist during an anti-ICE protest is now under federal investigation.

Federal authorities are investigating the assault of conservative journalist Savanah Hernandez during an anti-ICE protest, as online footage appears to show demonstrators physically confronting a reporter documenting the event.
...
Reporting by OutKick identified one of the individuals shown in the footage as a women’s soccer player Paige Ostroushko from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. The report stated that the athlete appeared in videos of the confrontation and was listed on the university’s athletics roster prior to the incident.

Following the circulation of the footage, the athlete was later removed from the university’s women’s soccer roster webpage, according to additional reporting documenting changes to the team’s online roster.
...
”Found out that the 3 people that attacked me today are a family that states they’re Ukrainian-Iranian,” she wrote. “After the daughter assaulted me, the mom came up and attacked me stating ‘you f*cking hit my daughter?’ The man who violently pushed me to the ground then screamed ‘don’t touch my f*cking daughter.’ Prior to their assault, all three had come up to me and were calling me a ‘b*tch,’ screaming in my face, putting dildos in my face, blowing whistles in my ears and then assaulted me as I was trying to leave.”
...
A video of the aftermath of the assault on Hernandez shows Paige attempting to run from law enforcement before being arrested. She subsequently posted a video of her own in which she claims to have been “f***ing assaulted by a f***ing piece of s*** Turning Point b****.”

Hernandez confirmed that Paige and Chris will be charged with misdemeanor assault, but that “somehow Deyanna (sic) is not being recommended for charges despite being caught on camera attacking me alongside her daughter.”

I see the tendency towards activistic idiocy runs in the family. What's that saying, something about apples and falling from trees?