Report: Airline Giant Requests Boeing to Cease Production of Max 10 Jets the Airline Initially Purchased

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United Airlines Holdings Inc. reportedly made the decision to pause its orders for Boeing Co.’s 737 Max 10 jets Tuesday, according to Bloomberg.

United’s CEO, Scott Kirby, disclosed the airline’s pivot to Boeing’s 737 Max 9s and Airbus SE’s A321 planes during a JPMorgan investor conference. “We’ve asked Boeing to stop building Max 10s, which they’ve done, for us and start building Max 9s,” United Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby said in a statement, Bloomberg reported. “It’s impossible to say when the Max 10 is going to get certified.”

Kirby pointed out the uncertain timeline for the Max 10’s certification as a key factor in United’s decision to alter its fleet acquisition strategy. Despite this shift, Kirby confirmed United’s intent to revert to the Max 10 once it receives the necessary clearance, according to Bloomberg. He also acknowledged discussions about substituting some of United’s substantial order, totaling 277 units of the Max 10 variant, with Airbus A321 aircraft.

“We are in the market for A321s, and if we get a deal where the economics work, we’ll do something,” Kirby said, Bloomberg stated. “If we don’t, we won’t and will wind up with more Max 9s.” (Read more from “Report: Airline Giant Requests Boeing to Cease Production of Max 10 Jets the Airline Initially Purchased” HERE)

American-Israeli Captive in Gaza Announced Dead, Family Maintains Calls for Immediate Hostage Deal

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An American-Israeli citizen held hostage by Hamas in Gaza was announced dead by the Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday.

Itay Chen, the 19-year-old son of Ruby and Hagit Chen, went missing in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel that killed over 1,200 civilians and took hundreds of others hostage. Itay, one of the American hostages believed to be remaining in Hamas captivity, was killed during the Oct. 7 attacks — and his family is maintaining their call for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.

“Last night, we were notified by the Israeli Defense Forces that, based on intelligence materials, our son, Itay Chen, was killed by Hamas on Oct. 7 defending civilians on the border of Gaza,” Ruby and Hagit said in a statement on Tuesday. “Our hearts are broken. We loved him so much, and we would have done anything to bring him home alive.”

Israel and Hamas are currently trying to broker a deal through U.S., Egyptian and Qatari negotiators to to free the hostages in exchange for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza. Ruby previously told the DCNF that a deal to secure the hostages must be the central priority.

“We urge all the players, specifically the United States, to put any pressure it has on Qatar, on Egypt, even on the state of Israel to get a deal done,” Ruby told the DCNF. Ruby also requested people keep his family, and all of the hostages and their families, in their prayers. (Read more from “American-Israeli Captive in Gaza Announced Dead, Family Maintains Calls for Immediate Hostage Deal” HERE)

Special Counsel Robert Hur Gives Explosive Testimony to Congress About Criminal Probe Into Biden

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Special Counsel Robert Hur gave explosive testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday in which he confirmed that President Joe Biden made false statements during his interview with investigators.

Hur found during his criminal investigation that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials,” but argued for no charges to be brought because Biden had serious cognitive issues — including not remembering when his son died or when he served as vice president in the Obama administration. Hur concluded that a jury would view Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Hur told Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) that the Biden administration tried to alter his report before it was released to the public.

Hur pushed back forcefully against claims from Democrats during the hearing, like Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who falsely claimed that Hur exonerated Biden.

“So this lengthy, expensive and independent investigation resulted in a complete exoneration of President Joe Biden,” Jayapal claimed. “For every document you discussed in your report, you found insufficient evidence that the president violated any laws about possession or retention of classified materials. The primary law that you analyze for potential prosecution was part of the Espionage Act, 18 U.S.C. 793, which criminalizes willful retention or disclosure of national defense information. Is that correct?” (Read more from “Special Counsel Robert Hur Gives Explosive Testimony to Congress About Criminal Probe Into Biden” HERE)

Oops: Released Transcripts Show Biden Lied About Key Detail in Documents Probe

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President Joe Biden lied about his testimony with special counsel Robert Hur, according to new transcripts of Hur’s interviews with Biden over his handling of classified documents.

Hur’s February report concluded that Biden willfully retained classified documents but recommended no criminal charges in part because it said that Biden had a faulty memory and would appear as a sympathetic old man to a jury. One of the key details included in the report was that Biden did not remember the year his son Beau died. Biden said that he was taken aback by a question about his son, claiming that it was Hur who brought up the death.

“There’s even a reference that I don’t remember when my son died,” Biden said in February. “How in the hell dare he raise that? Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself: It wasn’t any of their damn business.”

The transcripts, obtained by ABC, show that it was actually Biden who brought up his son. Biden’s confusion came after he was asked about what he was doing after Trump took office.

“And so I hadn’t, I hadn’t at this point … I hadn’t walked away from the idea that I may run for office again. But if I ran again, I’d be running for president,” he said, according to the transcript obtained by ABC. “And, and so what was happening though — what month did Beau die? Oh, God, May 30th-” (Read more from “Oops: Released Transcripts Show Biden Lied About Key Detail in Documents Probe” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Trump Wins Delegates Needed to Become GOP’s Presumptive Nominee for Third Straight Election

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Donald Trump, whose single turbulent term in the White House transformed the Republican Party, tested the resilience of democratic institutions in the U.S. and threatened alliances abroad, will lead the GOP in a third consecutive presidential election after clinching the nomination Tuesday.

With wins in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington state, Trump surpassed the 1,215-delegate threshold needed to become the presumptive Republican nominee. He’ll formally accept the nomination at the Republican National Convention in July, by which point he could be in the remarkable position of being both a presidential candidate and convicted felon. Trump has been indicted in four separate criminal investigations and his first trial, which centers on payments made to a porn actress, is set to begin March 25 in New York City.

Trump’s victory in the GOP primary ushers in what will almost certainly be an extraordinarily negative general election campaign that will tug at the nation’s already searing political and cultural divides. He’ll face President Joe Biden in the fall, pitting two deeply unpopular figures against each other in a rematch of the 2020 campaign that few voters say they want to experience again.

Trump’s victory in the GOP primary ushers in what will almost certainly be an extraordinarily negative general election campaign that will tug at the nation’s already searing political and cultural divides. He’ll face President Joe Biden in the fall, pitting two deeply unpopular figures against each other in a rematch of the 2020 campaign that few voters say they want to experience again.

Thirty-eight percent of Americans viewed Trump very or somewhat favorably in a February poll conducted by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs, compared to 41% for Biden. (Read more from “Trump Wins Delegates Needed to Become GOP’s Presumptive Nominee for Third Straight Election” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Psychiatrist Sees Signs Biden Was Medicated for State of the Union Performance

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A psychiatrist who has worked with elderly dementia patients said President Biden exhibited signs of stimulant use to mask cognitive decline in his amped-up, aggressive State of the Union speech on Thursday.

Mr. Biden, 81, often raced through his remarks with the speed of an auctioneer, loudly shouting his words despite having a microphone in front of him.

Speed and volume of speech can be a sign of using Adderall or another amphetamine, said Dr. Carole Lieberman, a forensic psychiatrist based in Beverly Hills, California.

“If you look at how Joe Biden usually is — slow and stumbling — compared to how he was during the State of the Union — fiery and angry — these are signs that are typical for someone taking Adderall or any amphetamine,” she said.

Dr. Lieberman, who has not personally examined the president, said the signs of potential pharmaceutical use go beyond how Mr. Biden spoke during the nearly 90-minute speech, but also in his mannerisms. (Read more from “Psychiatrist Sees Signs Biden Was Medicated for State of the Union Performance” HERE)

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Trump’s Driver on J6 Disputes Infamous Claim POTUS Tried to Grab Steering Wheel to Go to Capitol: Report

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Former President Donald Trump’s driver disputed the infamous claim that the former president tried to grab the steering wheel from him on Jan. 6, 2021, and go to the U.S. Capitol, according to a transcript obtained by The New York Times (NYT).

Following his speech on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump reportedly entered his armored vehicle and began discussing how big the crowd was at his address. Trump then said that he wanted to go to the U.S. Capitol, the president’s driver said in an interview with House lawmakers, according to The NYT. Trump’s lead Secret Service agent Robert Engel told the president that such a move was not possible because they did not have the plans to do so, the driver told The NYT. At no point did Trump yell at the driver to go to the Capitol nor did he lunge for the steering wheel, the driver reportedly testified.

“The president was insistent on going to the Capitol,” the driver said in the transcript, according to The NYT. “It was clear to me he wanted to go to the Capitol. He was not screaming at Mr. Engel. He was not screaming at me. Certainly his voice was raised, but it did not seem to me that he was irate — certainly not, certainly didn’t seem as irritated or agitated as he had on the way to the Ellipse.”

The driver’s testimony contradicts that of Cassidy Hutchinson’s, a former White House aid to Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows. Hutchinson previously testified that she had heard that the former president had reached for the steering wheel the day of the Capitol riot. Hutchinson told House investigators that Trump had ordered his deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato and Engel to take him to the Capitol before then reaching for the steering wheel from the backseat and grabbing Engel by the clavicle.

“I did not see him reach,” the driver told investigators, The NYT reported. “He never grabbed the steering wheel. I didn’t see him, you know, lunge to try to get into the front seat at all. You know, what stood out was the irritation in his voice, more than his physical presence.” (Read more from “Trump’s Driver on J6 Disputes Infamous Claim POTUS Tried to Grab Steering Wheel to Go to Capitol: Report” HERE)

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High School Asks Student to Remove American Flag From Truck. It Doesn’t End Well

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Authorities at a rural high school in southeastern Indiana apologized after a social media post about them asking a student to take down the U.S. national flag from his truck last Thursday on the campus went viral, according to reports.

The counselor and vice-principal of East Central High School in St. Leon summoned the student, Cameron Blasek, over the matter, and threatened him with insubordination if he did not remove the flag from his truck, local outlet The 765 reported. Principal Thomas Black reportedly also told him the school had the right to request him to take down the flag.

“I kind of just told them straight up from the get-go, I said, ‘It’s not gonna happen,’” Blasek recalled, FOX News reported. “I read them their own handbook and I read them all the guidelines and I read them Indiana State laws and everything that shows them that I’m perfectly legal and fine to fly that flag.”

The only mention of the word “flag” in the school’s handbook was the flag twirling section, WKRC reported.

The school claimed to have the right to the request since Blasek’s truck was on the school’s premises, and the school can enforce a rule, even if unwritten, on a case-by-case basis, the school authorities reportedly replied to Blasek.

(Read more from “High School Asks Student to Remove American Flag From Truck. It Doesn’t End Well” HERE)

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Ex-Obama Official Tried to Remove Chinese Drone Company From U.S. List of Chinese Military Companies

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Former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch tried to secretly push the Department of Defense to remove a controversial Chinese drone company from a U.S. list of Chinese companies that are part of the communist country’s military.

Reuters reported that SZ DJI Technology Co. turned to Lynch and two other former U.S. officials — former Assistant United States Attorney Michael Gertzman and Associate White House Counsel in the Obama administration Roberto Gonzalez — to get them removed from the list.

All three former U.S. officials — who now work together at the Paul, Weiss law firm — signed the letter to the Pentagon official last year and put a “confidential treatment requested” label on the letter.

DJI represents a potential threat to U.S. national security, the Pentagon said in 2021. (Read more from “Ex-Obama Official Tried to Remove Chinese Drone Company From U.S. List of Chinese Military Companies” HERE)

Multiple Palestinians Arrested at Start of Ramadan for Plotting Islamic Terror Attacks

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Law enforcement officials in Italy arrested three Palestinians this week at the start of Ramadan for allegedly planning to conduct terror attacks on foreign soil.

Italian police did not disclose the names of the three Islamic terrorist suspects but said that they were connected to the Palestinian terror group Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades.

“The suspects engaged in proselytism and propaganda (…) and planned attacks, including suicide attacks, against civilian and military targets on foreign territory,” police said.

The arrests happened in the Italian city of L’Aquila where the suspects made contact with an existing terror cell.

“It is rare for terrorist organizations such as the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades to orchestrate schemes to target civilians on foreign soil,” said Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal. “However, this heinous plot serves as a stark reminder that this group and its affiliates in the West Bank and Gaza are not ‘resistance fighters,’ as they claim to be, but cold-blooded terrorists with the sole purpose of inflicting death and destruction.” (Read more from “Multiple Palestinians Arrested at Start of Ramadan for Plotting Islamic Terror Attacks” HERE)