As the Air Force struggles to ease its pilot shortage, it can still fill all its cockpits, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said June 7. But that has come at the expense of staff jobs normally assigned to pilots, leading the service to reconsider whether those staff jobs actually need to be filled by rated officers, he said.

Speaking at a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event, Brown said the Air Force is looking “across the entire ecosystem” of recruiting, training, and retaining pilots to find ways to close the gap in flyers, which has hovered around 1,800-2,000 for the past eight years.

“What I’ll tell you is that we are 100 percent manned in the cockpit,” Brown said. “Where we take our cuts are on the staff. So, we’re probably 70 percent manned on the staff.”

This is what I was thinking of with regards to the war in Ukraine.

Before the fighting started, all possible outcomes seemed equally possible. If you did not look too closely at numbers of soldiers and weaponry, that is.

But once it did start (when Schrödinger’s box was opened), it became clear very rapidly that Ukraine had no chance of winning.

So why are we still acting as if the box remains closed?

Because that way we get to spend billions more on armory, and we get western people to support Zelensky and his neo-nazis as those same people suffer from high prices for everything.

Any outcome is still possible!

Take the Kakhovka dam narrative, or Nord Stream or any of the numerous other examples.

When both sides accuse each other of perpetrating a certain event, Schrödinger’s box remains closed.

Which is exactly what our politicians and arms makers desire.

They don’t want us to know that they’ve been beaten by Russia, because you would no longer support their policies and their arms purchases. They want “superposition”.

They can’t very well declare victory -though they try-, but they don’t need to either.

They need uncertainty. Politicians, arms makers and media. They all profit from keeping you in the dark.

Presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says that he supports Second Amendment and would not seek a gun confiscation program if elected.

Asked about his stance on gun rights by The Epoch Times, Kennedy, the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, replied, “I support the Constitution that includes the Second Amendment.”

“I’m not going to take anybody’s guns away,” he said. “I think at this point in history all that would do is to increase this toxic polarization.”

Kennedy said that he grew up in rural areas, and thus understands how “integrated” firearms are into the culture of such people.

“It’s existential for those people who live in those areas,” Kennedy said, citing the self-sufficiency required to live far from civilization centers.

Webmaster addition: See The Right To Keep And Bear Arms

A sweeping law could see Australians jailed for three years for posting what’s deemed ‘offensive’ on Facebook in an attempt to protect minority groups.

Queensland’s Labor government has introduced a bill that would dramatically increase the maximum prison sentence for racist, anti-gay, anti-trans or seriously bigoted statements. Making such statements already carry a maximum six-month jail term, but that would be increased to three years under the new bill.

According to the Daily Mail, Inflammatory Facebook posts would be a criminal offence with the legislation covering ‘any form of communication to the public, including by speaking, writing, printing, displaying notices, broadcasting, telecasting, screening or playing of tapes or other recorded material, or by electronic means’. Posting a Nazi symbol on social media, or carrying it around publicly, will also prompt jail time.

The Biloxi National Cemetery in Mississippi, a graveyard for war veterans, has raised a gay pride flag to fly among the American flags at the entrance to the cemetery.

The decision was made possible by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough’s authorization for all VA facilities to raise the LGBT flag in 2022.

If the US wishes to be considered an authority on democracy and human rights, it ought to come clean about the killings of President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

During her regular daily briefing, Zakharova was asked about the statement by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said Washington intends to champion human rights and fundamental freedoms in China and worldwide.

“Washington itself has long fallen short of the standards of democracy that it publicly declares everywhere,” Zakharova replied, adding that the US promotes “pathetic, hypocritical rhetoric” abroad to hide its neo-colonial ambitions and geopolitical interests.

“The history of American politics contains many unsightly facts that are deliberately hushed up by the US authorities,” Zakharova noted. As an example, she cited the Kennedy family – and the recent anniversary of the June 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles, during the presidential primaries in which he was a favorite.

The RFK assassination came two months after the fatal shooting of civil rights leader Martin Luther King – and almost five years after the November 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, the 35th US president, Zakharova told reporters.

“I suggest to Mr. Blinken to muster up the courage and publish all the materials regarding the political assassinations of the US presidents, in particular John F. Kennedy, and tell his people – his people, first of all – the truth about what happened in Dallas” she said.

“Only when they close the case on these political killings, can they try to correct other countries,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman argued. “While such egregious crimes remain unresolved, and the killers not found and convicted, if I were American leaders I would not open my mouth about other countries, and certainly stop lecturing everyone else how to live.”

Solve the Kennedy assassination – both of them, actually – and then maybe you will be regarded as an authority. Or maybe not.

Webmaster addition: See The Death Of John Kennedy: The Media helped sell the lie of the lone assassin.

The University of Pittsburgh demanded that conservative students pay $18,734 in security and damage fees after a mob of 250 leftist protesters rioted at their scheduled event, according to a demand letter submitted to the school by Alliance Defending Freedom.

On April 18, student groups Intercollegiate Studies Institute and University of Pittsburgh's College Republicans chapter hosted a moderated debate between the Daily Wire's Michael Knowles and BASED Politics co-founder Brad Polumbo.

The debate was titled "Should Transgenderism Be Regulated by Law?" The event included an audience question-and-answer session and a meet-and-greet.

The College Republicans planned the event months in advance, following all university policies and procedures, according to the ADF.

The university initially informed ISI that the event would cost $2,000 in security fees, ADF's demand letter explained. However, as the date neared, the costs increased substantially, the legal firm stated.

On May 19, ISI was told that security fees amounted to over $18,000. On June 1, the university demanded that the group "process this transfer very soon."

On Tuesday, CNN reported on a supposed bombshell story involving Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Anchor Kate Bolduan promised viewers "new details about the close relationship" between the two men and their alleged mutual friend, conservative legal activist Leonard Leo.

However, the report turned out to be old news, centered on a Federalist Society event in Florida three years ago where DeSantis praised Thomas as "our greatest living justice." CNN then showed a video of DeSantis and Thomas hugging one another.

The country may have narrowly avoided a debt default catastrophe by passing a debt ceiling deal on June 3, but that doesn’t mean we should allow the fiasco to fall into the memory hole. David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, joins host David Sirota to dissect the event, discuss the political misuse of the debt limit, and explore what was traded away in this crisis.

While the Biden administration is literally advertising the deal as a bipartisan triumph, the two scrutinize its controversial implications: slashed budgets, renewed student debt payments, and major fossil fuel concessions. Dayen, who covers the intersection of politics and economics, questions the acceptance of such outcomes by the Democrats: Are these political tradeoffs, or do they represent the party’s true goals?

The Supreme Court will soon rule on college admissions affirmative action. (Heck, they might have already announced their decision by the time you read this.)

Here are some key points the Court should make in upcoming years to counter the growing antiwhite hate and discrimination of our era.

“What should the Supreme Court do next?”

In an increasingly childish age in which the dominant worldview tends to be similar to those of Marvel movies in which there are Good Guys who clearly deserve to beat up the Bad Guys, the Court can speak out for the grown-up idea that in American law no race is born good or bad.

All last week, something seemed…off. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something wasn’t right. Like there was a void.

Then it hit me!

As Texas Republicans were slaughtering each other in the statehouse, “red state Twitter” had gone silent! You know, those rightists who arrogantly boast, “Gyuck gyuck I dun lives in a RAYED STAYT, so let Califernya burn, AHM doin’ fine!”

But here were red state Republicans in red state Texas battling to take out a deep red AG. At the same time, in Foster County, North Dakota, Shannon Brandt, the man accused of murdering a teenager for being a “Republican extremist,” had his charges reduced from murder to manslaughter by the DA. Brandt could be out in five years.

Anticipating this brutal column, CNN has just fired Chris Licht. If the next chairman plans to last any longer, he’d better implement these changes right away!

At the risk of raising a topic even more boring than Ukraine, let’s talk about what’s happening at CNN. There was a major article (i.e., long) in The Atlantic this week about the civil war erupting at CNN over the new CEO, Chris Licht, and his attempt to turn the network into one that people want to watch.

The point of the article was to show that Licht is failing—CNN employees don’t like him, no one understands what he’s trying to do, and ratings are worse than ever.

But what the article actually illustrated is how completely out of touch the media are with normal people. Any effort undertaken by these dolts to reform themselves is doomed to failure.

Marburg is a hemorrhagic fever that kills the majority of the people it infects. Fortunately, no one in the United States has ever died from Marburg nor has any American ever been infected by the disease. The reason for this is not hard to understand. The virus is native to Africa and is transmitted to humans via monkeys and bats that live in that area. In other words, there is no evidence that Americans are at risk of contracting or dying from Marburg. Nevertheless, in December 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a “Notice of Declaration” in which they stated the following:

The recurrent but unpredictable and variable nature of Marburg disease outbreaks and the transmission profile makes marburgviruses a threat to the public health security of the American people, requiring vigilance and a continuing need for development of medical countermeasures. Similar to determinations and experiences with Ebola virus outbreaks, marburgvirus has been determined to have the potential to be a threat to US public health security.” Notice of Declaration

This is just wrong. There’s no evidence that Americans are at risk of contracting or dying from Marburg. There have been no outbreaks in the US and no proof there will be any in the future. So, why would HHS deceive the public on a matter of such importance? That’s the question?

Webmaster addition: Has anyone been doing gain of function research on Marburg?

The FBI’s informant file of a $5 million bribery scheme allegedly linked to President Joe Biden concerns the family’s business deals in Ukraine, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) revealed Monday.

In May, Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) made bombshell claims after reviewing an FBI FD-1023 form that documented the informant’s allegations of an alleged bribery scheme involving an exchange of money for policy decisions between now-President Joe Biden and a foreign national. Comer disclosed the informant tip is dated June 30, 2020.

“Yes, it is Ukraine,” Comer told The Just the News. “This form 1023 involves a business person from Ukraine, who allegedly sent a bribe, a substantial bribe to then Vice President Joe Biden.”

The Biden family frequently visited Ukraine for its respective business. Then-Vice President Joe Biden served as the Obama administration’s Ukrainian “point person” on U.S. foreign policy. He visited Ukraine six times while serving as vice president.

Hunter Biden joined the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma in April 2014, two years before Joe Biden stated he forced the firing of Ukraine prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who investigated the company. Joe Biden approved an official statement about Hunter’s Burisma board position, emails show.

Webmaster addition: Latest word is that Chris Wray has agreed to release the FD1023 to the Oversight Committee. What has most likely happened is that Ukrainians bribed then VP Biden for favorable policy decision. It is then likely that Zelensky used that to blackmail now-President Biden into unquestioning support for the Ukrainian war. So, the price to start a nuclear world war appears to be just $5 million!

My favorite part of the whole Chris Licht Fired story is everyone pretending former CEO Chris Licht was the problem.

Licht was obviously a hapless narcissist dumb enough to allow a fake “journalist” from the far-left Atlantic to follow him around for a year. He got what he deserved. But firing Chris Licht is like firing the cabin boy for the sinking of the Titanic.

Licht wasn’t the problem.

CNN is the problem.

If you need proof of this, let’s look at why Licht was fired… We all know why. He was fired over former President Trump dominating a CNN town hall. That’s all. That’s it. All that happened on that fateful night was that Trump managed to do three things: 1) express his beliefs, 2) look like a man in command of the day’s issues, and 3) overcome the not-very-bright moderator brought in to trip him up.

Think about that…

The leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, the man currently ahead of His Fraudulency Joe Biden in the polls, looked good while informing the country of his vision for the future, so the CEO had to go.

The embattled, confused, and doomed far-left CNN is about to lose another CEO. According to numerous reports, after just a little over a year at the dying network, Chris Licht is out,  he’s toast… Chris Licht is moving to Donesville.

Lol.

Trump broke CNN.

The walls really started closing in (if you’ll pardon the expression) on Licht after former President Trump’s CNN town hall triumph last month. Because Trump was allowed to state his beliefs and come off as charming and in command, the Woke Nazis in the media, including at CNNLOL, freaked out. Licht tried to trip Trump up. Of course, he did. He’s a leftist. His mistake was having a lightweight like Kaitlan “Nurse Ratched” Collins moderate. She tried her worst, Trump did his best, and the Woke Gestapo never forgives.

The situation along the U.S.-Mexico border is not just about a ‘rise in illegal immigration,’ it is actually an orchestrated invasion of our country paid for by American tax dollars and facilitated by the treasonous Biden regime.

In a recent social media post, independent journalist Michael Yon, who has been documenting the situation for months while on the ground in Central and South America, posted a video of busses streaming out of a jungle assembly area under escort by police and military, en route to the United States.

“NOW — buses filled with unvetted Aliens just departing jungle. Driving through a network largely funded by US taxpayers to invade United States. Most are military aged males,” he posted on Twitter June 3.

“The men in these buses may be anywhere in America within 10-15 days. This is an invasion force facilitated by US military, Department of State, Homeland Security, CIA, and more. The routes in green — I just drew with my finger. Those are the routes the aliens just took from Colombia to get to the circle in Panama where I just made the video,” he added.

War is an ugly affair and politics aside, one’s heart goes out to the young Ukrainian conscripts who are caught up in the slaughter.

The real criminals in this are the politicians in Washington and London who are fueling the conflict in Ukraine with billions in arms and ordnance. In their efforts to sustain the war they are being ably assisted by the western mainstream media, which persistently misrepresents what is happening on the ground.

This is being done to deceive the Western public and ensure the continued supply of arms and ordnance to Ukraine. What they don’t show is the full horrific consequences of this ‘aid’.

In one night alone during the counteroffensive Ukrainian forces sustained over a thousand dead, and that’s our conservative estimate. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense Ukraine lost over 3,700 men and 50 tanks during the opening days of its counteroffensive. Unfortunately we cannot provide a link to substantiate this because Russian outlets that are reporting it are being systematically censored in the West.

Smoke from Canadian wildfires shrouded New York in a record-breaking apocalyptic smog on Wednesday as cities along the United States’ East Coast issued air quality alerts and thousands evacuated their homes in Canada.

The Big Apple’s mayor urged residents to stay indoors as the thick haze of pollution cast an eerie yellowish glow over Manhattan’s famous skyscrapers, delayed flights and forced the postponement of sporting events.

More than 100 million people across America’s north-east, and extending west to Chicago and south to Atlanta, were under pollution warnings after the smoke drifted from Canada, the US Environmental Protection Agency said.

In Canada itself, the devastating wildfires have displaced more than 20,000 people and scorched about 3.8 million ha of land. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this is the worst wildfire season Canada has ever had.

New Nord Stream Cover-Up Story Is Based On Dubious 'Leak'

On April 10 some briefing slides for the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff appeared on the internet. They seemed to be genuine. But later a second larger batch was claimed to have come into the hands of so called journalist. I had and still have strong doubts about that second round:

When media reported on the first batch of 'leaked' Pentagon briefing slides they also published pictures of the originals.

Then came a second round which conveniently was more about bashing Russia than on the releases itself. Those leaks were labeled as new or from a previously unknown source. Among those stories were: ...
...
We have pictures of the first stash of the files. The briefing slides seem real to me. The language is correct Pentagon lingo. The abbreviations used are typical. But some of the information therein, like the casualty numbers, is dubious. Do the Joint Chiefs of Staff really get briefed with Ukrainian defense ministry numbers that are know to be mere fantasies? The Pentagon and/or the CIA certainly have their own casualty estimates. Why not brief those?

We have seen no picture of any slide that the additional stories are based on. Why were those not published?

A plausible explanation is that the first release was a real leak but that someone is now pushing new 'leaks' to dedicated outlets that are only half true or mere propaganda.

Another 'exclusive' in today's Washington Post, allegedly based on the same leak, only increases my doubt about that alleged second stash of documents:

U.S. had intelligence of detailed Ukrainian plan to attack Nord Stream pipeline

This is getting silly now.

The Kakhovka dam just exploded in Ukraine, flooding a huge territory and causing another insane ecological disaster. Russia and Ukraine spent yesterday trading accusations, while the U.S. leaked it was “leaning towards Russia as the culprit of the attack.” The synchronicity was uncanny, with the media’s dam freakout coming exactly as public panic about the previous lunatic infrastructure attack came full circle, moving from certainty Russia blew up the Nord Stream pipeline to belated claims we knew all along Ukraine did it. It’s as if officials want the world to take American intelligence assessments more as Gilbert Gottfried routines than truth.

At 10:52 a.m. yesterday, the Washington Post published an exclusive called, “U.S. had intelligence of detailed Ukrainian plan to attack Nord Stream pipeline.” The story contended the United States learned from a “European intelligence service” in June, 2022 that Ukraine was planning a “covert attack” on Nord Stream, using divers who “reported directly to the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces,” General Valery Zaluzhny. Apparently, U.S. and European allies knew about the Ukrainian plan and were impotent to stop a move they worried “risked a severe Russian response.”

The only people in the country who didn’t roll eyes or laugh at these latest anonymous contortions were reporters. “Americans Were Aware of Intelligence Warning of Ukrainian Pipeline Attacks,” wrote the New York Times, while Rolling Stone declared, “The U.S. Knew Ukraine Was Planning to Attack Russia’s Nord Stream Pipelines,” and so on. My favorite was the Godfather-themed header on the site of former Mother Jones writer Kevin Drum, “Ukraine was behind the Nord Stream bombing all along”:

Cambridge is teaching students that Anglo-Saxons did not exist as a distinct ethnic group as part of efforts to undermine “myths of nationalism”.

Britain’s early medieval history is taught by the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, but the terms within its own title are being addressed as part of efforts to make teaching more “anti-racist”.

Its teaching aims to “dismantle the basis of myths of nationalism” by explaining that the Anglo-Saxons were not a distinct ethnic group, according to information from the department.

The department’s approach also aims to show that there were never “coherent” Scottish, Irish and Welsh ethnic identities with ancient roots.

The increased focus on anti-racism comes amid a broader debate over the continued use of terms like “Anglo-Saxon”, with some in academia alleging that the ethnonym is used to support “racist” ideas of a native English identity.

The Equal Protection Project (EPP)(EqualProtect.org) of Legal Insurrection Foundation filed a Civil Rights Complaint with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Education regarding a paid summer research internship program open only to non-whites.

The University of Minnesota has a summer internship program called the Multicultural Summer Research Opportunities Program (“MSROP”) – a 10-week summer research program for undergraduate students that is only available to non-white applicants….

The racial guidelines are explicit and unambiguous – no white students allowed, you must “Identify as a Student of Color or Native American.” ….

Webmaster addition: I can't believe what this nation has turned into!

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a measure into law forcing people to file lawsuits against the state in Cook County and Sangamon County.

Cook County is home to Chicago. Sangamon County is home to Springfield.

See where I’m going with this?

If you want to challenge executive orders or state laws, you must file them in the county housing the governor or the most corrupt county in the country housing the most corrupt city in the country.

How do I fascist? Don’t stand in Pritzker’s way or his cronies!

If you have one racism, and you add another racism, how many racisms do you have?

The College Fix reports:

1619 Project releases new ‘reparations math’ curriculum for high school students

High school students will learn about the causes of racial inequality and discuss reparations for slavery as part of a new “reparations math” curriculum developed by the creators of the controversial 1619 Project.

The 1619 Project Education Network, overseen by the Pulitzer Center, released the outline for “Reparations Math and Reparations History” on May 8.

“Students apply math skills, research into historical wealth gaps in the U.S., and an analysis of different reparations models to an investigation into whether or not reparations should be paid to the descendents of enslaved people in the U.S.,” the network’s website states.

The concepts in question are designed to be taught over the course of three to four school weeks, or approximately 15 class periods, according to the proposal.

Former Harvard professor and far left activist Cornel West is entering the 2024 race for president in the People’s Party. West is obviously a longshot, but he could attract some voters from the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party.

The Hill reports:

Cornel West announces 2024 run for president as People’s Party candidate

Progressive activist Cornel West announced his 2024 campaign for president with the People’s Party on Monday

“I have decided to run for truth and justice, which takes the form of running for President of the United States as a candidate for the People’s Party,” West said in a video announcement on Twitter launching the third-party presidential bid.

According to the New York Post, a New York City hotel worker was brutally attacked on Tuesday by an irate asylum-seeker who bludgeoned him over the head with a “No Parking” sign.

The Roosevelt Hotel on East 45th Street closed for several years, was recently turned into the city’s main “asylum seeker arrival center” by Democratic Mayor Eric Adams. The migrant, who had been kicked out of the hotel for disorderly conduct, attempted to re-enter the building early on Tuesday but was refused entry by a 36-year-old hotel worker familiar with his unruly behavior.

The migrant attempted to join his wife, who also resides at the hotel. Frustrated by the situation, the migrant allegedly waited outside the building for the worker to leave so that he could confront him. When the worker exited the hotel, he noticed the migrant and began running to East 46th Street and Fifth Avenue.

The migrant reportedly chased after the worker and picked up a metal “No Parking” sign belonging to Gotham Hotel, and bashed the worker over the head, police said.

Last week, The California Senate passed a bill that makes it illegal for businesses to require their employees to confront shoplifters.

Senate Bill 553, introduced by State Sen. Dave Cortese (D-Cupertino), focuses on strengthening occupational safety by addressing workplace violence and expanding the scope of protection and prevention measures. If the bill is approved by the California State Assembly and subsequently signed into law by the Democrat governor Newsom, it will come into effect on January 1, 2024.

“What we’re saying in the bill is, it’s not ok for an employer to take a rank and file worker, somebody whose job is really something else, a reporter for example, and say ‘hey if there’s an intruder, we’re going to deputize you. You’ll be the one to intervene.’ People get hurt and oftentimes killed that way,” Cortese told KTVU.

Part of the measure would prevent companies from requiring their staff to confront active shooters or shoplifters.

The bill is introduced during a period when there is an increase in crime happening in retail stores since the enactment of criminal justice reforms. Many retailers are facing lower profits due to theft, especially organized retail crime. Additionally, there is a growing trend of violence associated with these theft incidents. Store owners are calling for more effective measures to prevent such crimes from happening.

US Department of Defense officials have decried new laws in various states that push back against LGBTQ activism – such as bans on sex-change surgeries for children – arguing that the legislation could undermine the readiness of America’s military.

“LGBTQ+ and other diverse communities are under attack just because they are different – hate for hate’s sake,” chief DOD diversity officer Gil Cisneros said on Wednesday at a Pentagon event celebrating Pride Month. “But we must stick together, and we must be prepared to confront any such challenge directly.”

Cisneros was referring to bills passed or proposed in more than a dozen Republican-controlled states on LGBTQ-related issues. Some US states have outlawed giving hormone blockers or sex-change surgeries to minors and prohibited schools from counseling children on gender identity without parental consent. Florida has banned classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation, targeting curriculums that Governor Ron DeSantis has condemned as “indoctrination.”