American defense firms should be alert for Russian actors sabotaging their operations at home and abroad as Moscow seeks to undermine support for Ukraine, US intelligence and national security agencies said Thursday read more
All branches of the U.S. military still require women to pass strict fitness tests if they want to take on the most physically challenging specialty jobs read more
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday proposed a nearly $6.5 billion budget for the coming year that directs half of new spending toward a school voucher program. read more
An ad company's foray into TV operating systems (OSes) illustrates a significant shift for TV hardware toward products that are increasingly focused on ad sales and tracking. read more
The poll also finds widespread opposition to pardoning January 6th protesters and restricting women from military combat. read more
Non-paywall version...
Bill Clinton reveals regret over Russia-Ukraine deal that saw Kyiv give up nuclear weapons (April 2023)
www.the-independent.com
... Former US president said he knew that Vladimir Putin did not support' the 1994 agreement for Russia to respect Ukraine's sovereignty
Former President Bill Clinton has revealed misgivings over his role in pressing Ukraine to accept nuclear disarmament during his presidency in 1994.
Mr Clinton spoke to Irish news service RT on Tuesday, and said he felt a "personal stake" in Ukraine's fate as it struggles to fend off an invasion from Russia under Vladimir Putin.
He revealed that he did not think Russia would have invaded Ukraine in 2014 and again in 2022 if Kyiv was still armed with nuclear weapons. ...
@#8
Oh the Humanity: Herbert Morrison and the Hindenburg
www.airships.net
Is an apparent comparison to the crash of the Hindenburg valid?
Time will tell ...
Current events do, however, have a possibility to be even worse....
fwiw...
Bob Casey Concedes to David McCormick in Pennsylvania Senate Race
www.newsweek.com
... Democratic Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey conceded on Thursday to his Republican challenger, David McCormick, in Pennsylvania's hotly contested U.S. Senate election.
"I just called Dave McCormick to congratulate him on his election to represent Pennsylvania in the United States Senate," Casey said in a video statement posted to his account on X, formerly Twitter.
"As the first count of ballots is completed, Pennsylvanians can move forward with the knowledge that their voices were heard, whether their vote was the first to be counted or the last," Casey continued.
McCormick put out a statement thanking Casey and saying he "dedicated his career to bettering our commonwealth."
"I am so honored to represent every single citizen in Pennsylvania in the United States Senate and will fight for you every day," McCormick said. ...
Air Force captain becomes first woman in service history to receive Silver Star as crews honored for drone fight
taskandpurpose.com
... The assault was the Air Force's largest air-to-air engagement in five decades. Over 60 pilots, crew and ground troops faced hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles.
On Nov. 12, 30 fighter pilots and airmen were recognized for missions during the largest air-to-air enemy engagement in over 50 years, according to the Air Force. The crew of one F-15E, pilot Maj. Benjamin Coffey and weapon systems officer Capt. Lacie Hester, were awarded the nation's third-highest valor award, the Silver Star.
With that award, Hester is the first woman in the Air Force to receive the Silver Star and the 10th woman in the Department of Defense's history. Together, the Air Force said Coffey and Hester's squadron shot down 70 drones and three ballistic missiles.
"It takes a high-performing team with high-performing individuals to be able to find these things to begin with and then to engage it," Coffey said in a press release.
The missions came during a massive aerial attack of missiles and unmanned drones fired from Iran from the morning of April 13 into the early hours of April 14. In total, 66 airmen from the 494th Fighter Squadron and 494th Fighter Generation Squadron worked together to repel the massive aerial attack on Israel. ...
During the fight, Coffey and Hester depleted their air-to-air missiles and rockets. Instead of returning to their base, they engaged targets with the F-15's Gatling gun, shooting down several one-way attack drones at extremely low altitudes.
"Although intelligence provided the numbers of how many drones we could expect to see, it was still surprising to see them all," Hester told the Air Force.
Coffey and Hester also overcame a serious malfunction of one of their missiles. While engaging a drone, the crew launched an air-to-air missile, but the missile failed to detach from the wing of their F-15, a hung missile.' That forced the team to land with a potentially armed missile attached to their wing.
As they approached the landing strip, the base entered alarm red status, meaning the base was locking down due to an incoming attack and debris falling around it from destroyed drones and missiles. Despite being told to seek shelter in bunkers, support crews remained exposed to keep all the jets in the fight, refueling and rearming the jets.
"Really, all we could tell them was stay airborne as long as you can, with the gas that you have," F-15 pilot Maj. Clayton Wicks told CNN. Wicks who controlled jet operations on the ground during the attack. "Don't divert, because even our divert airfields " we don't know what's going on there either, so if stuff is blowing up over our heads, very likely stuff is blowing up there too." ...
Yup. And, in the past, the One app seems to [intentionally?] restrict the number of people it processes.
One example...
CBP One Mobile Application Violates the Rights of People Seeking Asylum in the United States
www.amnesty.org
... The mandatory use of the CBP One mobile application as the sole means of seeking asylum in the United States is a clear violation of international human rights and refugee law, said Amnesty International in a new report published today.
The report, USA: CBP One " A blessing or a trap?, documents the human rights concerns associated with the mobile app and sheds light on the implications of the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways Final Rule, more commonly known as the Asylum Ban, introduced by the Biden Administration on 11 May 2023.
The Asylum Ban imposes severe restrictions on asylum seekers entering the United States from Mexico at the southern border, denying human rights and violating international law. Amnesty International considers that the Final Rule violates the right to seek asylum, as well as the principles of non-refoulement and non-penalization. Under this rule, individuals are required to use the CBP One application to schedule appointments at ports of entry in order to be considered eligible for asylum, adding layers of complexity and obstacles to an already challenging process.
"The use of the CBP One application conditions entry and access to asylum on appearing at a port of entry with a prior appointment, which is not feasible for some people," said Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International. "While technological innovations could potentially provide for safe transit and more orderly border processes, programmes like CBP One cannot condition and limit the manner to seek international protection in the United States." ...
Amnesty International's report documents the significant hurdles faced by asylum seekers in using the CBP One application, including technological barriers, language and literacy limitations, misinformation and the arbitrary nature of appointment allocation. The CBP One application, available only in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole, operates on a system where daily appointments are mainly distributed at random, leading to inconsistent experiences among asylum seekers, leaving them in uncertainty and at risk. ...
Hegseth police report detailing alleged sexual assault released
www.axios.com
... A woman told police she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Pete Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to 22 pages of graphic investigative reports made public late Wednesday. ...
Related....
DOJ Proposal in Antitrust Case Aims to Undo Google-Anthropic Partnership
www.pymnts.com
... The Justice Department's proposal to resolve its antitrust case over online search against Google reportedly would force the tech giant to unwind its partnership with artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic.
A recommendation in the Justice Department's court filing Wednesday (Nov. 20) that Google be barred from partnerships with companies that control where consumers search for information, is intended to apply to the company's investment in Anthropic, Bloomberg reported Thursday (Nov. 21). ...
@#26 ... His answer is plunge Americans into hardship so he can continue his tax cuts, i.e., even MORE debt. ...
Musk, Ramaswamy Proposal to Slash Spending Could Include VA Medical Services
www.military.com