F-35 Jet Fails to Meet Basic Operating Standards in 65 Areas – Pentagon Report
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter still suffers at least 65 basic deficiencies where it continues to fail to meet basic testing specifications, the Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) said in a report.
The JPO [F-35 Joint Project Office] completed the readiness review for JSE [joint simulation environment] trials in September 2023, and certified it as ready for testing, despite 65 deficiencies against the baseline JSE requirements, the report said on Friday.
The F-35 program development cycle continues to experience delays due to immature and deficient Block 4 mission systems software and avionics stability problems with the new Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) hardware going into Lot 15 production aircraft, the report said.
“As a result, deliveries of production Lot 15 aircraft in the TR-3 configuration are on hold until more testing can be completed and the avionics issues resolved. …[T]hese delays prevented the F-35 JPO from adequately planning and programming for hardware modifications … of the upgraded hardware configuration,” the report said.
Also, the necessary flight test instrumentation, including both aircraft and open-air battle shaping instrumentation, for both, the remaining TR-2 configuration and upgraded TR-3 aircraft, are not all on contract and will not be available in time, the report added.
East Palestine Water Still Contaminated As Biden Prepares Victory Lap
President Biden’s planned trip to East Palestine, Ohio, is pure politics as the election cycle begins. The White House plans to do a victory lap on its response to the train derailment that nuked the small town with toxic chemicals one year ago.
Yet, a new report reveals the federal government’s response has been sub-par, with cancer-causing chemicals still found in surrounding rivers and streams.
One year after the Norfolk Southern train derailment, NewsNation found toxic chemicals in rivers and streams around East Palestine. This comes even as the Environment Protection Agency has given residents the all-clear to return.
As residents return, some are developing “rashes, chronic nose bleeds, respiratory infections and many other side effects,” according to NewsNation.
“I undressed to get into the shower, and I had a rash all over the side of my face on both sides and all over my chest,” East Palestine resident Kaitlyn said.
Jessica Conard, another resident, said, “We are still experiencing some acute health care impacts” after the train derailment one year ago.
“Ultimately, what we need to understand is that there are still unmet needs here in terms of medical, and the health of this community needs to come first,” Conard said.
Dr. Arthur Chang, the chief medical officer in the CDC’s environmental health division, confirmed to the media outlet a chemical exposure blanketed the town and persisting symptoms from residents are proof:
“We may not know how to get rid of the vinyl chloride from the body, but we know how to treat those cancers.”
Meanwhile, shortly after the incident, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine asked the Biden administration to issue a disaster declaration after 116,000 gallons of the carcinogen vinyl chloride exploded after the train derailment. The White House has since ignored this request while residents continue to suffer health problems.
NewsNation pointed out, “Despite calls for concern, the CDC is not testing the health of East Palestine residents or collecting samples.”
We have questions:
- Why is that?
- Why is the federal government ignoring the suffering in East Palestine?
However, separate from the federal government, Erin Haynes, a professor at the University of Kentucky, has been tracking the health of 400 residents.
Haynes said, “Three out of four of the participants reported having at least one new health symptom,” adding, “Eighty percent of the respondents reported an upper respiratory health symptom.”
“The main question is if these symptoms remain. And half of the residents, even in our follow-ups, are saying that their symptoms remain,” she said.
Shockingly, NewsNation said, “Haynes is the only person tracking the short and long-term health effects in the community.”
“Unfortunately, I have not seen an organized public health response from our federal agencies,” Haynes continued, noting, “The public health response was severely lacking.”
More from NewsNation:
Americans have witnessed the Biden administration’s neglect of East Palestine, prioritizing endless foreign wars and a border invasion while their own citizens suffered in what could be one of the worst chemical disasters in years.
Someone needs to tell the clueless Biden team their victory lap is not only premature but a disgrace to the residents who are suffering. Clearly, Ukraine was more important than East Palestine.
Recall days after the derailment…
East Palestine, Ohio Mayor Trent Conaway: “I found out today through one of the briefings that [Biden] was in the Ukraine giving millions to people over there and doing nothing for us. I’m furious.”pic.twitter.com/8jn32aI4kc
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) February 21, 2023
Germany to Introduce ‘Payment Cards’ for Migrants
Asylum seekers in Germany will cease receiving cash payments during the course of this year, and will be issued special debit cards instead, the governor of Hesse, Boris Rhein, has announced. The cards will reportedly have limited functionality, with features like free cash withdrawal and transfers to recipients inside and outside of Germany disabled.
A number of municipalities across the country have introduced the new payment method ahead of nation-wide implementation. These include several communities in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Thuringia. Bild reported last month that at least 15 asylum seekers left their localities after Thuringian authorities imposed the new protocols.
Speaking on Wednesday, Rhein revealed that 14 out of 16 German states had agreed on uniform standards for such cards, with Bavaria and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern seeking other schemes. They will, however, introduce the new payment method as well, which is expected to be finalized by this summer.
According to Rhein, “with the introduction of the payment card we reduce the administrative burden on local municipalities [and] prevent the possibility of transferring money from state subsidies to countries of origin, and thus combat the inhuman human-trafficking crime.”
The pre-paid card will not be linked to an account, and will not feature card-to-card transfers within Germany or to recipients abroad. It will also not function in any country other than Germany, should an asylum seeker travel elsewhere. Local governments will also have the option of limiting the card’s functionality solely to a single region.
Asylum seekers will apparently be able to withdraw small amounts of cash using the cards, with the monthly ceiling to be determined by local authorities.
While German Finance Minister Christian Lindner hailed the scheme as a “milestone,” critics from the left have denounced the measure as “cheap populism” and “discrimination.”
More than 350,000 people applied for asylum in Germany in 2023, the highest number since 2016 and a 51% rise compared with the previous year, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) reported in early January.
Last month, Germany’s parliament passed legislation that facilitates the deportation of failed asylum seekers. Among other things, the new rules considerably extend the custody period pending deportation in a bid to prevent situations where failed applicants simply abscond around the time they are supposed to be sent home.
Moreover, police were granted additional power to search migrant accommodations and access their cell phones to facilitate identification of asylum seekers.
Biden Promises More US Airstrikes
President Joe Biden has defended the US response to a recent drone strike that left three American soldiers dead, claiming that the air raids have targeted militia groups in Iraq and Syria allegedly backed by Iran.
In a statement issued on Friday, Biden said he personally ordered the Pentagon’s response to last weekend’s deadly drone strike on a Jordanian military base housing US troops.
“This afternoon, at my direction, US military forces struck targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militia use to attack US forces,” the president said, referring to Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite military unit.
“Our response began today,” Biden stated, adding that retaliatory strikes would continue “at times and places of our choosing.”
US defense chief Lloyd Austin also warned that the latest round of strikes is just “the start of our response,” adding that “the president has directed additional actions.”
US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, previously announced that it had carried out air raids on more than 85 targets across both Iraq and Syria, also citing last Sunday’s drone strike in Jordan.
The operation involved “numerous aircraft,” including long-range bombers flown from the US, which dropped over 125 precision munitions on their targets, the command added. Those targets were said to include command and control centers, intelligence sites, weapons caches, and supply-chain facilities of Iranian-backed militias.
US Judge Dismisses Disney Lawsuit Against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
A federal court has thrown out Disney’s lawsuit against Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The lawsuit had claimed that the DeSantis administration had violated the company’s First Amendment rights by removing Disney World’s special district […]
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Judge Aquits Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Over Oil Protest
A judge has acquitted climate activist Greta Thunberg of a charge that she refused to follow a police order to leave a protest blocking the entrance to a major oil and gas industry conference in […]
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