Air dominance is one of the key aspects of modern warfare, particularly for the political West and its numerous vassals and satellite states. At present, the Kiev regime is still not very reliant on such a doctrine as its dwindling stock of Soviet-era aircraft allows for very limited use of jets, particularly as Russian platforms, vastly superior in both numbers and capabilities, dominate the skies. Thus, the Neo-Nazi junta troops are forced to make do with what they have. The former USSR’s massive long-range ground-based air defenses somewhat offset this, as the Kiev regime inherited an enormous quantity of SAM (surface-to-air missile) systems, but this too is fading away as Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) hunt down the remaining air defenses.

In order to prevent this, NATO is moving toward fighter jet deliveries to Kiev as the very last step in conventional weapons supplies. The main issue with this has been the training of Ukrainian pilots to be able to fly NATO platforms, as the process normally takes years. Another important segment is that the pilots themselves are not too keen on transitioning to Western aircraft such as the F-16, for instance, which is much lighter and less capable than the Soviet-era Su-27 jets the Kiev regime forces have been flying. However, the chronic lack of spare parts and munitions for these jets is certainly making them less viable, even with the integration of Western weapons such as the AGM-88 HARM (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile) and JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) bombs.

The issue could be partially sidestepped in the coming days and weeks as Slovakia and Poland are moving to send their legacy MiG-29 fighter jets. Warsaw seems to be closer to completing this than Bratislava, as its much larger defense sector already has plans to replace the Warsaw Pact-era aircraft with the F-35A and South Korean FA-50. On the other hand, Slovakia hopes to make a barter deal with the US, aiming to get F-16s for the delivery of its MiG-29s to Kiev. It remains to be seen how the Biden administration will respond to these requests. Poland is the likelier candidate for immediate deliveries, in part due to its larger fleet of MiG-29 jets, as well as the fact that most of these are still operational, unlike the Slovakian ones (officially retired in 2022).

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Israeli regime’s murder of Rachel Corrie, an American pro-Palestine activist, in the Gaza Strip, but her parents are still battling for accountability and justice. 

Corrie, a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was crushed to death by a 60-tonne Israeli armored bulldozer on March 16, 2003, while acting as a human shield to stop a Palestinian home from demolition in the Rafah refugee camp.

Since her death, which happened at the height of the Second Intifada (uprising), the 23-year-old activist has been remembered as an icon for the Palestinian struggle against Israel’s decades-long occupation.

“I think freedom for Palestine could be an incredible source of hope to people struggling all over the world,” she wrote just two weeks before her death.

 For the sake of its own geopolitical interests the US administration supports the unprecedented legal bacchanalia unleashed by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Russian embassy in Washington said in a comments released on Friday.

"We took notice of the statements of representatives of the U.S. administration on the alleged justification of the decision of the International Criminal Court to issue warrants of the arrest for President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova. For the sake of its own geopolitical interests Washington supports the unprecedented legal bacchanalia unleashed by the ICC, knowing full well that Russia, like the United States, does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC," the Russian diplomats stressed.

"Allowing unacceptable remarks about the Russian leader, the U.S. authorities deliberately keep silent about their own atrocities in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Libya and Vietnam. Moreover, in an attempt to protect its citizens from international prosecution by all available means, the United States even takes odious measures," the added.

On Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis conducted a press conference to mark three years since the U.S. promoted a “Slow the Spread” approach to COVID-19.

At the Winter Haven event, which took place at The Fire Restaurant on West Central Avenue, DeSantis was joined by Florida’s surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo.

In his speech, Dr. Ladapo stated that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have a “terrible safety profile” and questioned if anybody should be taking them.

“People believe that what is happening isn’t actually happening. These vaccines have a terrible safety profile… I’m not sure anyone should be taking them, that is the honest truth. I don’t think anyone probably should be taking them. They have a terrible safety profile,” Ladapo said.

It is almost surreal to contemplate the changes that took place over the past 12 months. One year ago this week, Sir Tony Blair published an article on the pages of his very important Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. It was titled, “The Immediate Challenge in Ukraine: Maximum Pressure Combined With Structured Negotiation” (as opposed to just ordinary kind of negotiation for simpletons).

The Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter opens his treatise with the statement, “Putin has badly miscalculated,” and drivels on about how the West "has impressively united to assemble a vast arsenal of sanctions which will over time collapse the Russian economy. ... in the end, this aggression may well herald the downfall of Putin." Sir Tony portrays the man himself as an anxious wreck, "detached from reality and with no one around him prepared to tell him the truth." In other words, an archetype of a megalomaniacal cartoon villain.

Florida Senator Rick Scott on Friday demanded answers from the Biden administration on a watchdog report that said grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was directed to China's Wuhan Institute of Virology, and pressed the administration to explain if it is barring future funding to the lab that some think is the source of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Scott noted that an HHS report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that NIH failed to properly monitor their grant awards, including one to the Wuhan lab. The OIG report found that HHS grants to the non-profit group EcoHealth Alliance weren't properly monitored as they made their way to the lab.

"NIH allowed EcoHealth Alliance to sub-award the grant to the Communist Chinese government and failed to conduct proper oversight," Scott wrote. "American tax dollars should always be protected from waste, fraud, and abuse. It is vital that NIH provide oversight of how these funds are spent on grants."

One of the most successful disinformation campaigns in modern American electoral history occurred in the weeks prior to the 2020 presidential election. On October 14, 2020 — less than three weeks before Americans were set to vote — the nation's oldest newspaper, The New York Post, began publishing a series of reports about the business dealings of the Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in countries in which Biden, as Vice President, wielded considerable influence (including Ukraine and China) and would again if elected president.

The backlash against this reporting was immediate and intense, leading to suppression of the story by U.S. corporate media outlets and censorship of the story by leading Silicon Valley monopolies. The disinformation campaign against this reporting was led by the CIA's all-but-official spokesperson Natasha Bertrand (then of Politico, now with CNN), whose article on October 19 appeared under this headline: “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday ordered states to stop blocking contaminated waste from a fiery train derailment in Ohio from being sent to hazardous waste storage sites around the nation.

A handful of politicians and states have sought to block shipments from East Palestine, including Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who last week said he had stopped waste from the derailment from coming into his state.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan said there was no reason for states to block shipments of the type of waste that certified facilities routinely handle every day.

Eventually, the Supreme Court may hear one or more challenges to Democrat-state laws that ban rifles Americans most commonly acquire for legitimate purposes, including self- and collective defense. Rupp v. Bonta, which challenges California’s ban, is moving as we speak, and its outcome may depend on which veterans of the United States Marine Corps the federal judge handling the case believes.

The Ninth Circuit has remanded the case to Judge Josephine Staton, of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (Western Division), for consideration in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling, in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), that firearm-related restrictions are unconstitutional if they’re inconsistent with the nation’s history and tradition of restrictions, an argument made by then-Judge (now Supreme Court Justice) Brett Kavanaugh in his dissent in Heller v. District of Columbia (2011).

A terrifying new street drug is sweeping through America. It’s gruesomely eating away at addict’s flesh. This dangerous substance is an animal tranquilizer called Xylazine, better known as Tranq. But it gets worse, Fentanyl, which is already responsible for deaths of tens of thousands of young Americans is now being mixed with Tranq.
Philadelphia has become ground zero for this destructive drug trend, but it’s spreading. Board certified neurologist, Dr. Russell Surasky joins OAN’s Alicia Summers to discuss the growing problem.

Five senior officials have disclosed that local, state, and federal law enforcement and security agencies are getting ready for a potential indictment of former President Donald Trump as soon as next week. The agencies are in talks about potential security measures for the Manhattan Criminal Court and its surroundings, should Trump be charged in relation to a supposed hush money payment made to Stormy Daniels.

The magnitude of agencies involved includes the NYPD, New York State Court Officers, the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. The scale of preparation highlights the gravity of the situation and the chaotic impact that an indictment could have on Trump’s 2024 campaign and legal future.

Webmaster addition: Oh look, a repeat of Jan 6!

Officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, announced on Friday that they would conduct an investigation into widespread reports of problems with printers during the contested November election following complaints from scores of voters and legal action from former GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

Former Arizona Supreme Court Justice Ruth McGregor said she would lead the “independent” probe, according to county officials. The former justice was a member of the state’s highest court from 1998 to 2009 and took part in the 2019 investigation into security issues involving Arizona prisons.

McGregor plans to hire a team of “independent experts to find out why the printers that read ballots well in the August Primary had trouble reading some ballots while using the same settings in the November General,” Maricopa Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates and Vice Chairman Clint Hickman noted in the statement. “Our voters deserve nothing less.”

Russia has threatened to destroy any fighter jets given to Ukraine by its allies, after two countries promised planes.

Slovakia became the second Nato country to pledge Kyiv some MiG-29 aircraft on Friday, a day after Poland.

Slovakia's fleet was grounded last year and it no longer uses the jets.

Ukraine has asked Western countries for modern jets, but because of long training times, these are seen only as long-term options.

It sees extra aircraft as important for its defences and possible counter-attacks, a year into Russia's invasion.

Other Nato countries are considering sending planes such as the MiG-29 - a model which dates from the time of the Soviet Union - which Ukrainian pilots are trained to fly.

The Washington Senate Law & Justice Committee is scheduled to vote on House Bill 1240 next week, which seeks to establish a state definition of “assault weapon” that could be applied to most firearms, according to the Gun Owners of America (GOA).

The proposed law aims to prohibit the manufacture, distribution, and sale of assault weapons, with exemptions for licensed firearm manufacturers and dealers for sale to law enforcement agencies and armed forces branches, sale or transfer outside the state, and inheritors.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) released a statement encouraging its members and Second Amendment supporters to oppose the bill, which it describes as a comprehensive ban on the future transferring, importing, and manufacturing of many semi-automatic firearms commonly used for self-defense, competition, and recreation.

The Manhattan District Attorney's office has asked for a meeting with law enforcement ahead of a possible indictment of former President Donald Trump next week, according to a court source.

According to the source, the meeting was requested Thursday and hasn't been set. The meeting is to "discuss logistics for some time next week, which would mean that they are anticipating an indictment next week," the source familiar with the planning said.

The source of the early reports from an "international team" of virologists is The Atlantic, which lays out from the onset the familiar narrative that the wet market near the Wuhan Institute of Virology must have been the natural source of the novel coronavirus.

"This week, an international team of virologists, genomicists, and evolutionary biologists may have finally found crucial data to help fill that knowledge gap," the Atlantic claimed. "A new analysis of genetic sequences collected from the market shows that raccoon dogs being illegally sold at the venue could have been carrying and possibly shedding the virus at the end of 2019. It’s some of the strongest support yet, experts told me, that the pandemic began when SARS-CoV-2 hopped from animals into humans, rather than in an accident among scientists experimenting with viruses."

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, is requesting a transcribed interview with Biden family business associate Rob Walker, the Daily Caller has learned.

A memo released by the Oversight Committee on Thursday revealed that Biden family members received over $1.3 million in payments from accounts linked to Rob Walker.

“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating President Biden’s involvement in his family’s business practices. The Committee has identified you as a critical witness in this matter and has reviewed evidence showing you received millions of dollars originating from a Chinese energy company and elsewhere. The Committee invites you to participate in a transcribed interview with Committee staff,” the letter says.

At its 2023 Investor Day presentation in Texas, Tesla revealed its plans to produce its next generation EV motor without any rare earth minerals. As a global leader in the electric vehicle market, Tesla’s plan for zero rare earth permanent magnet motors, if successful, could have a significant impact on the rare earth market—particularly China’s rare earth monopoly.

“As the world transitions to clean energy, the demand for rare earths is really increasing dramatically, and not only will it be a little harder to meet that demand, but mining rare earths has environmental and health risks,” said Colin Campbell, VP of Powertrain Engineering at Tesla.

“We have designed our next drive unit, which uses a permanent magnet motor, to not use any rare earth materials at all,” he announced.

We knew this was the endgame more than two weeks ago when we reported that “Credit Suisse Crashes To All Time Low After Boosting Deposit Rates To Reverse Bank Run” in which we reported that after a quarter of “staggering” bank runs, the second largest Swiss bank – clearly panicking – was offering a 6.5% annual rate on new three-month deposits of $5 million or above – and a rate as high as 7% for one-year deposits – far above matched maturity Bills, and suggesting that to attract a client, the bank is forced to eat a loss.

The hope, we explained, “was that after it attracts enough new clients, the bank will then be able to quietly lower the rates and make the new accounts profitable, however as the various DeFi blow ups of 2022 showed, it never quite works out that way.”

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Michael Regan said on Friday that he expects the cleanup in East Palestine, Ohio, to take three months.

“We are absolutely laser focused on ensuring that Norfolk Southern cleans up this mess as quickly as possible. We are optimistic that the cleanup will be complete in three months,” Regan said during a conference call on Friday.

“We will continue to be transparent. We will continue to ensure that the people of East Palestine get the protection that they deserve and that Norfolk Southern will be held accountable,” the EPA administrator added.

Webmaster addition: The clean-up will take a lot longer than that! Especially with the latest dioxin numbers!

House Oversight Committee Republicans are seeking to bring in Hunter Biden associate John R. Walker for questioning after poring over years' worth of his bank records and uncovering a $35,000 payment to Hallie Biden, Beau Biden's widow.

Panel chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) released a letter Thursday with new details on the $3 million payment that Walker received from a Chinese firm, after issuing a subpoena to Bank of America for his financial records. 

The information provided by Comer stated that Walker received a $3 million wire transfer from Chinese State Energy HK Limited, a firm affiliated with CEFC China Energy, then distributed $1.3 million to accounts associated with Biden family members.

Update (1345ET): At least four major banks including Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank have placed restrictions on their trades involving Credit Suisse or its securities, Reuters reports, citing five unidentified people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Another source at a major global bank, who deals directly with Credit Suisse in Asia, said their bank had started asking the Swiss lender to gross settle, a trading scenario where the counterparty demands upfront payment from Credit Suisse instead of collecting later any money the Swiss lender might owe them as a result of the trade.

Another global bank has reduced its unsecured exposure to Credit Suisse, which includes all lending with no collateral, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The bank is still providing repurchase agreements, which is secured lending.

Webmaster addition: Credit Suisse's stock price continues its plunge.

French President Emmanuel Macron used special constitutional powers to pass a controversial pension bill through the National Assembly (the lower house) without a vote, a move likely to ignite protests on the streets of Paris.

The New York Times reported that Macron's government used Article 49.3 of the Constitution to push through the pension reform bill without a parliamentary vote, highlighting the unpopularity of the proposed increase in retirement age by two years to 64.

AFP said there was chaos in the parliament and even outside after the government invoked 49.3:

Lawmakers were shouting, their voices shaking with emotion as Macron made the risky move, which is expected to trigger quick motions of no-confidence in his government. Riot police vans zoomed by outside the National Assembly, their sirens wailing.

Macron's government has emphasized the need for pension reforms to ensure the sustainability of the pension system for the next ten years, as it is projected to have an annual deficit of 10 billion euros ($10.73 billion) from 2022 to 2032.