President Donald Trump will travel for the first time on the new Air Force One aircraft Wednesday, according to the White House.Trump will be traveling to North Dakota to visit the Theodore Presidential Library as part of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations, marking it the inaugural use of the Qatari-donated aircraft over a week after the U.S. Air Force began its commissioning flights.The aircraft had to undergo significant renovations to deem it suitable for presidential use, and after the modifications “final exam,” it must complete an unknown amount of commissioning flights that allow the White House to confirm mission-capability and finalize protocols for the president’s safety.After the flights are completed, the aircraft will be officially “commissioned” into the active executive airlift fleet and available for presidential use alongside the VC-25A and C-32 fleets.The commissioning flights have yet to be completed, and a timeline has not been made clear.One of the original VC-35As previously used by Trump took its last flight a day prior to the aircraft’s commissioning flights commencing. Initially, plans to replace the aging VC-35A with two new VC-25B were slated for 2024, but supply chain issues and a lack of properly cleared workers delayed Boeing’s plans until 2028,…

Max Blumenthal, the editor-in-chief of The Grayzone, has said that Israel is going to continue to escalate the war in Lebanon after a major failure in Iran. Both the US and Israel have been unsuccessful in their stated goals in Iran, making the interim peace agreement nothing more than a surrender document. Blumenthal said in an interview with Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi, aired on Sunday, that Israel needs the US for “firepower.” “Israel cannot do anything without US firepower, and the US was not willing to commit the amount of men and materiel to do what Israel needed,” Blumenthal said. “US-Iran Deal Is Near” Narrative Returns, But Tehran Refuses To Surrender Hormuz Leverage Israeli officials have repeatedly criticized the memorandum of understanding signed by Washington and Tehran on June 17th. The country has argued that it does not serve the Jewish state’s interests, and Israel was not a part of the signing. Meanwhile, the IDF has continued striking what it describes as Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, in violation of the MOU’s terms, risking the fragile deal. Israel was “completely unable to break Iran’s deterrence” and proved vulnerable to Iranian counterattacks, he added. “They’re going to focus on Lebanon and continue…

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NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Tuesday accused Justice Clarence Thomas of echoing “one of Dred Scott’s core tenets” by opposing the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold birthright citizenship. In Jackson’s concurrence with the majority’s opinion in Trump v. Barbara, she argued that the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause was historically intended to apply to all people born in the United States, including children of illegal immigrants, contrary to Thomas’s position that the amendment was ratified specifically to provide slaves freed after the Civil War with citizenship.”Freed Blacks fought for the shared humanity of all people. And the Great Emancipator eventually foresaw that the only path forward that could prevent a return — in any form — to slavery and race-based subordination was to link the fates of all,” Jackson wrote. “Of course, the ultimate irony is that for all the talk about the detestable Dred Scott decision, the Government and [Thomas] propose a return to its core tenet. Their bottom line is that, for certain people, being born on American soil will not suffice to confer citizenship.”By invoking “Dred Scott,” Jackson is referencing an 1857 Supreme Court decision in which the majority held that…

Frank Welch, who served as Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard during the service’s post-9/11 transformation, died June 25 at his home in Spotsylvania, Virginia. He was 65.Welch was the Coast Guard’s ninth top enlisted chief, serving as MCPOCG from October 2002 to June 2006, a period when the Coast Guard joined the Department of Homeland Security, established specialized units to engage in high threat operations, deployed to support Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, responded to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and reorganized into sectors.He served as senior enlisted adviser to then Commandant Adm. Thomas Collins, providing insight on major issues facing the enlisted force, including personnel concerns and challenges with the service’s aging equipment and work and living conditions. Welch enlisted in the Coast Guard in November 1979, serving as quartermaster aboard four cutters and as officer in charge of two, the coastal patrol boats Sockeye and Point Chico. He later served as command master chief for the Ninth District — now the Great Lakes District — and school chief of the Chief Petty Officer Academy in Petaluma, California.In a Coast Guard-wide message Friday to service members, Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday and MCPOCG Phillip Waldron described…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A mother of two and longtime postal worker was killed while delivering mail Tuesday in North Carolina, officials said, leaving her children orphaned just months after their father died in a December car accident.Brandi Reynolds, who was a postal deliver driver for the United States Postal Service, was shot and killed on Friday just before 4:16 p.m. in Hayes, North Carolina, according to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. William Craig Durham was arrested after allegedly killing Reynolds and is charged with kidnapping and murder.Authorities found Reynolds dead when they arrived to the scene.LISTEN TO THE NEW ‘CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO’ PODCAST Reynolds was employed as a rural mail carrier for the USPS, according to The Wilkes Record. She was delivering mail when Durham allegedly shot and killed her, according to the Charlotte Observer.SUSPECT CHARGED IN FATAL STABBING OF POSTAL WORKER IN NYC DELI OVER SPOT IN LINE HAS HISTORY OF KNIFE VIOLENCEAuthorities alleged in an arrest report obtained by the Charlotte Observer that Durham restrained Reynolds and removed “the victim from one place to another without the consent of the victim.”LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? FIND MORE ON THE…

Israel has continued its military intervention in Lebanon, despite a memorandum of understanding and an interim peace deal that could be the first step to ending the war with Iran. What is making matters worse is that Israel is also preparing for a permanent occupation of Lebanon. This continued military presence in Lebanon is problematic, said Tehran-based Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi. He told RT that Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon reflects its broader territorial ambitions and shows that the US is failing to uphold its commitments under the interim peace deal with Iran. Israel has rejected all calls to stop the aggression in Lebanon. It has expressed its disgust with the US’s willingness to sign a peace agreement for the war-mongering ruling class in Jerusalem. Israel Rejects Iran & US Calls To Halt War With Lebanon Iran and the US reached a tentative agreement earlier this month. Tehran demanded that Israel withdraw from southern Lebanon. Last week, West Jerusalem and the Lebanese government signed a US-brokered deal for the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces pending Hezbollah’s disarmament. –RT Israel Continues Its Attacks On Lebanon Despite MoU Signing by Trump In all fairness, Israel did not sign the memorandum of understanding, the…

America is celebrating its 250th anniversary this Fourth of July, and retailers are matching the milestone with some of their biggest summer discounts. Standout deals include Apple AirPods for $99, a reader-favorite Shark vacuum at 50% off and a commemorative America 250 baseball cap, plus savings on everything from grills and robot vacuums to kitchen appliances.Trending dealsLevi’s men’s 505 regular fit jeans: $32.99 (56% off)HeyDude Wendy slip-in loafers: $29.74 (54% off)Portable tire inflator: $21.99 (45% off)Mini chainsaw: $29.99 (40% off)UPF protection shirt: $14.99 (25% off)Kitchen and grilling dealsStock up on blenders, coffee makers and grills while deals last.Keurig K-Elite K-Cup pod coffee maker: $94 (55% off)HexClad 10-inch hybrid frying pan: $132 (22% off)Iceman by Chefman Slush-Ease: $275.39 (21% off)Ninja FlexFlame grill and smoker: $999.99 (17% off)Original price: $649.95 Save $231 on the Vitamix Ascent X3, a high-performance blender built for everything from smoothies and frozen desserts to hot soups. Discounts this deep on Vitamix blenders are uncommon, making this a notable deal while supplies last.Original price: $219.99 The Keurig K-Duo brews both K-Cup pods and ground coffee, giving you more flexibility for your morning routine. It also includes settings for hot and iced coffee, with a stronger brew mode designed to reduce…

For more than 15 years, the Office of Naval Research has explored how video games can affect human cognition. While researchers often found evidence that they can improve cognitive performance, the concept has had limited application into real-world programs.That may be changing.In January, Marine Corps University began using a modified version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7 at its sergeant’s course in Quantico, Virginia, to help strengthen leadership, communication, critical thinking and decision making under pressure.The program, called Research into Competency Acquisition with Novel E-gaming, or R-CANE, was developed through a partnership with Virginia Tech and the University of Memphis with funding from the Office of Naval Research.Brig. Gen. Matthew Tracy, commanding general of Marine Corps Education Command and president of Marine Corps University, described R-CANE as enhancing “natural intelligence” rather than traditional training. Although the game has Marines playing avatars that use weapons and fight enemy combatants, he said the purpose is improving cognitive performance.“What the game allows us to do is manipulate that cognitive load on the Marines’ actual brain and their ability to take in information, process that information, observe, create a plan on the fly, articulate that plan amongst their team, reassess that plan, create…

By 1940, both England and Germany realized that the Kriegsmarine’s U-Boats were the key to the Battle of the Atlantic. Eliminating the German submarine threat was Britain’s top priority. Expanding the U-Boat fleet was Germany’s greatest hope to bring the British to their knees. In those dark days, the British Isles were surrounded, and the issue was greatly in doubt. A Lancaster B Mark I “Special” bomber modified to carry the 22,000-lb. Grand Slam bomb. Image: Author’s Collection Even though the Royal Navy was developing a convoy system to defend the precious merchant fleet supplying England, U-Boats at sea proved quite difficult to locate and destroy. In May 1940, the RAF went on the offensive, and the German shipyards and naval bases at Hamburg, Emden, and Kiel were targeted. However, the raids were generally ineffective. Even so, the chance to destroy U-Boats while they were in port, or still under construction, was an opportunity that Bomber Command simply couldn’t pass up. And the Germans knew it. U-Boats Under Cover As the Kriegsmarine inherited a wide range of new bases in the North Sea along the Channel Coast and in the Mediterranean, the Germans moved to create specialized defensive structures to protect…