>>15225978

France's first lady plagued by rumors she was born 'male'

Emmanuel Macron’s wife has found herself under a barrage of online claims that she is transgender, born as a male, with the media pointing the finger at far-right conspiracy theorists.

Amid speculation over her gender that has taken the Francophone section of Twitter by storm this week, Brigitte Macron is going to file a complaint, according to French media citing people from her inner circle. However, she is yet to make an official comment on the matter.

Online rumor has it that the French first lady was born a man named “Jean-Michel Trogneux,” while her official biography states she was given the name Brigitte Marie-Claude Trogneux and was born female.

Probe triggered over claims pharma firms pushed ‘unapproved’ drugs on trans kids READ MORE: Probe triggered over claims pharma firms pushed ‘unapproved’ drugs on trans kids

French media say they managed to track down the claim, and say it first cropped up in late September in the outlet ‘Facts and Documents,’ which is said to specialize in far-right conspiracy theories. However, it was not until this Monday that the claims began making the rounds on social media. According to Numerama news website, a total of 34,000 posts have been identified on Twitter, sharing the claims under the hashtag #JeanMichelTrogneux. The outlet goes on to accuse “accounts peddling conspiracy theories, far-right circles, anti-vaxxers, QAnon groups and singer Francis Lalanne” for making the rumor one of the most discussed topics in the ‘French’ section of social media.

As ‘proof’ of the claims, social media users cite, among other things, the scarcity of Brigitte Macron’s photos in her youth that have been made public, as well as her alleged tendency to “hide her neck.”

A key name in the story is journalist Natacha Rey, who claims to have investigated Brigitte Macron’s past for three years. In a recent interview, Ray said she had managed to procure documents confirming that the first lady had been born male, and that this ‘evidence’ was “in a sealed envelope, in the care of a lawyer,” adding that she would make it public if and when sweeping Covid vaccine mandates were introduced in France.

French media report that over the past week there have been several attempts to edit the Wikipedia article devoted to the 68-year-old first lady, with users trying to add claims that her name at birth was Jean-Michel Trogneux. As a result, the page has been put in a ‘semi-protected’ status to prevent such changes.

In fact, Brigitte Macron is not the only first lady or female head of state who has been targeted with such rumors. For instance, back in 2017 conservative radio show host and the man behind the InfoWars website, Alex Jones, claimed that Michelle Obama, the wife of the 44th US president, “appears to have a very large penis” and also “looks like a tr*nny.”

Similarly, there have been claims that Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, is also transgender.

It is worth noting, though, that none of those rumors have ever been proven or backed up with conclusive evidence.

https://www.rt.com/news/543748-claims-macron-wife-transgender/

>>15225978

Third Test Of The Air Force's Hypersonic Weapon Has Failed Like The Ones Before It

1/2

The U.S. Air Force has failed for a third time to conduct a successful test of the rocket booster on a prototype AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon hypersonic missile, or ARRW. This can only add to the palatable frustration within the service, as well as elsewhere in the U.S. military and in Congress, about the progress, or lack thereof, in the testing of various new hypersonic weapons.

The Air Force Life Cycle Management Command's Armament Directorate confirmed to The War Zone today that another attempted ARRW flight test had failed on Dec. 15, 2021. The Air Force says that it has not yet determined the cause of the issue that led to the test being aborted. The prototype missile never left the wing of the B-52H bomber carrying it.

"On 15 Dec. 2021, the Department of the Air Force attempted a booster test flight of the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) from a B-52 Stratofortress," Air Force Brig. Gen. Heath Collins, the service's Program Executive Officer for Weapons, told The War Zone in a statement. "The launch sequence was aborted before release with an unknown issue. The missile will return to the factory and analysis of the telemetry and onboard data will begin immediately. The program will seek to resume flight test as quickly as possible."

This comes some five months after the second attempt to conduct this flight test of the ARRW's rocket booster. The Air Force deemed that test in July to have been a partial success, even though the rocket did not ignite as intended, because the prototype weapon separated safely from the B-52H bomber that it had been loaded onto and provided an opportunity to evaluate other aspects of the launch procedure.

The Air Force's first attempt had come in April. In that case, as in this latest test, an unspecified issue forced the mission to be scrapped and the weapon remained on the wing of the B-52H the entire time.

The primary goal of this particular test has been to demonstrate the rocket booster's ability to perform as intended. The Air Force had hoped to conduct three successful booster tests this year ahead of the start of testing of prototypes with actual hypersonic boost-glide vehicles loaded inside them.

As designed, ARRW uses the rocket to boost the entire weapon to a designated speed and altitude, after which the nose cone breaks apart and an unpowered hypersonic boost-glide vehicle is released. That vehicle then glides back down toward its target at hypersonic speed, defined as anything above Mach 5, while following a shallow, atmospheric flight path. It will also have a high degree of maneuverability, allowing it to make erratic course changes that, together with how fast it is moving, make it extremely difficult for opponents to spot, track, or otherwise react to, let alone defend against.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43575/third-test-of-the-air-forces-hypersonic-weapon-has-failed-like-the-ones-before-it

>>15226605

Third Test Of The Air Force's Hypersonic Weapon Has Failed Like The Ones Before It

2/2

The first indication that another ARRW test attempt might have been imminent on Dec. 15 had come when one of NASA's WB-57F test aircraft was spotted on online flight tracking software flying off the coast of Southern California in the same general area as the previous two attempted launches. WB-57Fs have taken part in previous flight testing of the AGM-183A, as well. This particular WB-57F, which carries the U.S. civil registration code N926NA left Southern California on Dec. 16, further indicating that whatever mission it had been tasked with was complete.

A third failure in a row for the ARRW program is undoubtedly troubling, even if some hiccups are to be expected in the development of any new advanced weapon system. “I’m not satisfied with the pace,” Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall had said about the testing of new hypersonic weapons, in general, at the Air Force Association's annual Air Force Association Air, Space & Cyber conference in September. “We’re making some progress on the technology; I would like to see it be better.

Problems encountered in the testing of new hypersonic systems extend beyond the Air Force, too. In October, the Pentagon announced the failure of a test of a still unspecified hypersonic missile from the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska on Kodiak Island. The U.S. Army and Navy are also set to begin tests next year of a jointly developed hypersonic missile that employs a different style of boost-glide vehicle from the one inside ARRW.

The Air Force, as well as other branches of the U.S. military, have repeatedly touted new hypersonic weapons as key to future warfighting plans, especially in potential high-end conflicts against near-peer adversaries, such as China and Russia. At the same time, Secretary Kendall had also said in September that he was "not satisfied with the degree to which we have figured out what we need for hypersonics — of what type, for what missions.”

All of this also comes as China and Russia have begun to field their own hypersonic weapons and are continuing to develop additional types. China, in particular, has rocked national security circles with its reported testing of some kind of Fractional Orbital Bombard System that employs a hypersonic glide vehicle, which you can read more about here. North Korea also claimed earlier this year to have tested a ballistic missile tipped with a boost-glide vehicle.

“What you need to be worried about is that in the last five years, or maybe longer, the United States has done nine hypersonic missile tests, and in the same time the Chinese have done hundreds,” now-retired Air Force Gen. John Hyten, who was Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Defense Writers Group event in October. “Single digits vs hundreds is not a good place.”

Hyten reiterated those same points in an interview with CBS News that aired in November.

The Air Force, as well as prime contractor Lockheed Martin, is clearly hoping to get on to the next test of ARRW as soon as possible. Lockheed Martin notably held an October ceremony in Alabama to open a new factory in which these missiles will be made. In the past, the Air Force had stated its goal was to reach an early operational capability with this weapon, leveraging unused prototype missiles, by September 2022.

So far, however, ARRW's progress in testing has been, at best, disappointing.

Contact the author: joe@thedrive.com

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43575/third-test-of-the-air-forces-hypersonic-weapon-has-failed-like-the-ones-before-it

>>15226650

>Logically speaking, there was a Beginning, so there has to be an End.

FALSE. there is no logical basis for that statement. patently absurd.