Another One: Flight Aborts Landing at D.C. Airport to Avoid Departing Plane

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An American Airlines flight from Boston aborted its landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, Tuesday to avoid a plane departing from the same runway.

“An air traffic controller instructed American Flight 2246 to perform a go-around at Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA) Airport to ensure separation was maintained between this aircraft and a preceding departure from the same runway,” the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement.

American Airlines said the flight landed “safely and normally” and described the move as standard operation to give the plane more time for the other plane to take off.

“American has a no-fault go-around policy as a go-around is not an abnormal flight maneuver and can occur nearly every day in the National Airspace System,” the airline said in its statement.

“It’s a tool in both the pilot’s and air traffic controller’s toolbox to help maintain safe and efficient flight operations, and any assertion that flight 2246’s canceled approach was more than that is inaccurate,” the airline continued. (Read more from “Another One: Flight Aborts Landing at D.C. Airport to Avoid Departing Plane” HERE)

Trump Encourages Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to ‘Fire Every Single’ General Involved in Botched Afghanistan Withdrawal

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President Trump argued on Wednesday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should “fire every single” US military general involved in the Biden administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The Pentagon chief was seated to Trump’s left during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, when a reporter asked about the current employment status of the generals tasked with organizing the August 2021 US exit from Afghanistan.

“I’m not going to tell this man what to do but I will say that if I had his place, I’d fire every single one of them, Pete,” Trump responded.

Hegseth jumped in to note that under his leadership, the Department of Defense is conducting “a complete review of every single aspect of what happened with the botched withdrawal of Afghanistan and plan to have full accountability.”

“We’re taking a very different view, obviously, than the previous administration,” the defense secretary continued, noting Trump’s nomination of retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John Dan “Razin” Caine to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “And there will be full accountability.” (Read more from “Trump Encourages Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to ‘Fire Every Single’ General Involved in Botched Afghanistan Withdrawal” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

‘There’s No Reason To Spend $1 Trillion On The Military’—Trump’s Statement Sends US Defense Stocks Spiraling While Europe’s Surge

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U.S. defense stocks have taken a major hit after President Donald Trump suggested the country could cut its military budget in half. Meanwhile, European defense companies are thriving as investors expect a boost in spending across the region.

Trump on Feb. 13 floated the idea of significantly reducing the U.S. defense budget, which currently hovers around $1 trillion. He indicated plans to meet with China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin to discuss global military spending cuts. “At some point, when things settle down, I’m going to meet with China and I’m going to meet with Russia, in particular those two, and I’m going to say there’s no reason for us to be spending almost $1 trillion on the military … and I’m going to say we can spend this on other things,” Trump said.

Markets reacted quickly, with major U.S. defense stocks dropping. Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC), General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), and Raytheon Technologies (NYSE:RTX) all slipped on the news. But this downturn is just a continuation. They have been in freefall following reports that the Department of Defense is preparing for spending cuts ahead of an audit by the Department of Government Efficiency, championed by Elon Musk.

While U.S. companies struggle, European defense stocks are soaring. Investors are betting on increased military budgets across Europe as the region faces pressure to boost its own defense spending. Rheinmetall saw a surge of 21.89% in the last 30 days and Thales climbed 19.23%. Others, like BAE Systems and Airbus, saw an increase but later stabilized. (Read more from “‘There’s No Reason To Spend $1 Trillion On The Military’—Trump’s Statement Sends US Defense Stocks Spiraling While Europe’s Surge” HERE)

Trump Hits Jack Smith’s Lawyers With Bombshell Executive Order

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President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the law firm representing former special counsel Jack Smith.

Covington & Burling LLP currently represents Smith in a personal capacity and previously provided pro bono legal services to the special counsel’s office, according to White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf.

The new executive order suspends the security clearance held by Smith’s attorney Peter Koski, along with those of any other attorneys at the firm who assisted Smith as special counsel, pending a review of their roles, if any, in the “weaponization of the judicial process.”

It also directs the Office of Management and Budget to “terminate any engagement” with the firm.

“We’re going to call it the deranged Jack Smith signing or bill,” Trump told reporters before the signing, according to CNN. Afterward, he handed the pen he’d used to an attendee and said, “Why don’t you give it to Jack Smith?” (Read more from “Trump Hits Jack Smith’s Lawyers With Bombshell Executive Order” HERE)

USAID Blew Hundreds Of Thousands In Taxpayer Slush Funds On Ukrainian ‘Pickle Maker,’ Pet Accessories

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The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) spent millions of American taxpayer dollars propping up pet projects like dog collar manufacturing and pickle making in Ukraine and then spent months stonewalling members of Congress about that spending, according to findings obtained by The Federalist.

Sen. Joni Ernst’s staff uncovered the secret slush funds when, after months of enduring the agency’s excuses to justify its resistance to oversight, they were finally permitted access to “very limited data.” In October 2024, as Ernst has since detailed, the senator’s staff visited USAID headquarters in person for an “in-camera review” of Ukraine assistance data even though, her team discovered, the documents were not classified.

Even though they were heavily restricted during their investigation, Ernst’s team discovered a variety of U.S. taxpayer-funded grants funneled to Ukrainian businesses under the guise of both Competitive Economy Program (CEP) and Investment for Business Resilience funds.

Among the grants Ernst’s staff discovered were hundreds of thousands of dollars devoted to literal pet projects including approximately $300,000 to a “pet tracking app,” approximately $300,000 to a “dog collar manufacturer,” and approximately another $109,000 to a “pet food packaging producer,” according to a findings breakdown Ernst’s office sent to The Federalist.

Fashionistas also benefitted from the taxpayer-funded expenditures with a women’s clothing company, a fashion photographer, a “purveyor of contemporary knitwear,” a “luxury bridal brand,” a “marketplace for designer artisanal pieces,” and even a “trade mission for a fashion design house,” raking in approximately $733,000 combined. (Read more from “USAID Blew Hundreds Of Thousands In Taxpayer Slush Funds On Ukrainian ‘Pickle Maker,’ Pet Accessories” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Latest Allegation at the FBI Must Be Investigated

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a new sheriff in town with Kash Patel and Dan Bongino serving as its director and deputy director respectively under the second Trump presidency, but that doesn’t mean the riffraff that’s infected this agency are gone. Progress has been made to dismiss, reassign, or outright fire the problematic staffers that had turned the FBI into the Democratic Party’s police force. The latest allegation must be investigated.

Independent reporter Michael Shellenberger said that sources told him that agents were destroying servers that contained sensitive documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein and the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

(Read more from “Latest Allegation at the FBI Must Be Investigated” HERE)

Trump Killed ‘Bidenbucks’ — Congress Needs To Bury It

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In his first two months in office, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14019, transforming the federal government into a get-out-the-vote machine for Democrats.

On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump rescinded the order, putting an end to the constitutionally suspect directive that election integrity watchdogs referred to as “Bidenbucks.”

But without congressional action, the next leftist leading the executive branch could easily bring back Bidenbucks and eviscerate the foundation of election integrity.

“I think the way that this gets solved going forward is Congress has to enact a law to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” David Craig, legal director for the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), told The Federalist in an interview. “That is the final development that will forever fence off an administration from trying this in the future.”

FGA has been on the front lines in the battle against Biden’s so-called “Promoting Access to Voting” order for the better part of the past four years. The foundation sued the Biden Department of Justice in April 2022 in federal court after multiple federal agencies shrugged off Freedom of Information Act requests for documents and communications tied to the executive order. (Read more from “Trump Killed ‘Bidenbucks’ — Congress Needs To Bury It” HERE)

Fired CBS News Reporter Reveals Photos of Files on Hunter Biden, COVID Origins Seized by Network: ‘Attack on Investigative Journalism’

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Fired CBS News reporter Catherine Herridge posted photos of the confidential files seized by the network — which “included sensitive reporting about COVID-19 origins and Hunter Biden.”

The award-winning investigative journalist — who was dismissed last February as part of wider layoffs by embattled parent company Parent Global — stirred a firestorm in her bid to regain the materials before the network gave back the items weeks later.

“Exactly one year ago, @CBSNews returned my investigative reporting files,” Herridge wrote on X on Wednesday.

“Today, I am releasing photos of the records for the first time so you can see the sheer volume involved.”

One photo showed stacks of folders next to a Home Depot-labeled box.

Herridge wrote that the material encompassed four large moving boxes weighing over 100 pounds in total that were seized by the network. (Read more from “Fired CBS News Reporter Reveals Photos of Files on Hunter Biden, COVID Origins Seized by Network: ‘Attack on Investigative Journalism’” HERE)

DNI Gabbard: NSA Employees Tied to Explicit Chatrooms to Be Terminated, Security Clearance Revoked

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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” that employees at the National Security Agency tied to explicit chatrooms will be terminated based on a directive she had issued.

Host Jesse Waters said, “I told you how government chat rooms were being used to brag about fetishes and kinks. A journalist just uncovered more messages. Journalist Christopher Rufo just uncovered more messages. Viewer warning. Creeps that the NSA were fantasizing about having hermaphrodite babies so they could raise the nonbinary. They were also trashing conservatives like Ben Shapiro, calling them effen monsters. And after Pat Robertson died, CIA workers celebrated. ‘I was always taught never to say anything about the dead unless it’s good. He’s dead. Good.’ The NSA was also caught badmouthing RFK but they really don’t like Tulsi Gabbard. They say she’s fervently anti-queer, a Russian agent and in the MAGA cult. This is the deep state the media says is fake. They’ve been shrouded in bureaucracy forever and we are shining a light on the infection and cleaning it out.”

He asked, “What are we going to do about that?

(Read more from “DNI Gabbard: NSA Employees Tied to Explicit Chatrooms to Be Terminated, Security Clearance Revoked” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Trump Calls for Ukraine to Hold Elections to Potentially Replace Zelensky as He Takes Swipe at President’s Approval Rating

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By New York Post. President Trump said Tuesday that Ukraine should hold elections to potentially replace Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law, essentially martial law in Ukraine,” Trump said at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago after his US delegation finished talks with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia.

Trump claimed Zelensky, who was first elected in 2019, has a “4% approval rating” — despite polls showing the Ukrainian president hovering just above 50%.

Presidential elections were scheduled for April 2024, but none were held since Ukraine has been in a state of martial law since Russia launched the largest invasion since World War II in February 2022.

Zelensky in 2023 said an election would give way to “political divides” at a time when the country should be focused on defense. (Read more from “Trump Calls for Ukraine to Hold Elections to Potentially Replace Zelensky as He Takes Swipe at President’s Approval Rating” HERE)

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Ukraine Official Says Minerals Deal Agreed With US

By BBC News. Ukraine has agreed the terms of a major minerals deal with the US, a senior official in Kyiv has told the BBC.

“We have indeed agreed it with a number of good amendments and see it as a positive outcome,” the official said, without providing any further details.

Media reports say Washington has dropped initial demands for a right to $500bn (£395bn) in potential revenue from utilising the natural resources but has not given firm security guarantees to war-torn Ukraine – a key Ukrainian demand.

US President Donald Trump said he was expecting his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington to sign the deal this week, after the two leaders exchanged strong words about each other.

Without confirming that an agreement had been reached, Trump said on Tuesday that in return for the deal Ukraine would get “the right to fight on”.

“They’re very brave,” he told reporters, but “without the United States and its money and its military equipment, this war would have been over in a very short period of time”. (Read more from “Ukraine Official Says Minerals Deal Agreed With US” HERE)