It's not a trap if you're not messing with it.
Early voting starts today in Texas!
Be sure toCHECKyour ballot before scanning it in!
Japan, UK and Italy to Speed up Joint Next-Generation Fighter Jet Project to Replace F-2, Tempest
https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/japan-uk-italy-fighter-jet-joint-development/2024/10/20/id/1184762/
The defense ministers of Japan, the U.K. and Italy agreed to accelerate the joint development of a next-generation fighter jet, and announced that a trilateral government organization would be established by the end of this year to work with the parties producing the aircraft, Japanese officials said Sunday.
The three countries agreed in 2022 to jointly produce a new combat aircraft that will be ready for deployment in 2035, under the Global Combat Air Program, or GCAP, to strengthen cooperation in the face of growing threats from China, Russia and North Korea.
The next generation fighter jet would replace Japan’s retiring F-2s that it jointly developed with the U.S. and Britain’s Tempest.
On Sunday, Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, after meeting with his U.K. and Italian counterparts, John Healey and Guido Crosetto, said a joint body called theGCAP International Government Organization, or GIGO, will be set up by the end of this year to oversee the aircraft’s development.
The ministers met on the sidelines of the Group of Seven defense ministers meeting in Naples, Italy.
Several private sector companies, including Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Britain’s BAE Systems PLC and Italy’s Leonardo, are taking part in the project.
GIGO, to be based in the U.K. and headed by a Japanese official, will oversee the aircraft’s development.
“We now see the launch of GIGO and a joint venture on track” toward signing their first contract next year, Nakatani said.
Sunday’s agreement addresses concerns over the progress of the project despite changes of leadership in both Japan and the U.K.
Mitsubishi Heavy and their U.K. and Italian counterparts had a 1/10th model of the joint fighter jet on display at their GCAP booth for the first time in Japan at a major aerospace exhibit in Tokyo last week.
Akira Sugimoto, MHI’s Japan program senior representative for GCAP, said that the joint fighter jet development will be meaningful for Japanese suppliers and for the country’s industrial base.
“Our basic position is to bring our strengths together to develop a high quality fighter jet. I believe Japanese suppliers have outstanding technologies and I do hope as many of them as possible would join (GCAP),” Sugimoto said.
“I think it will also help Japanese suppliers to enhance their capacity to develop equipment and contribute to provide a better outlook and business environment and stability,” he said.
Japan, which is rapidly building up its military, hopes to have greater capability to counter China’s rising assertiveness, and the joint fighter jet project would help strengthen Japan’s mostly domestic and underdeveloped defense industry.
Japan has significantly eased its arms export restrictions to allow foreign sales of the future fighter jet and licensing back of weapons, such as surface-to-air PAC-3 missile interceptors produced in Japan to complement U.S. inventory, which has decreased because of its support for Ukraine.
Youngkin: Biden DOJ Suing to Stop Va.'s Election Integrity
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/virginia-doj-weaponization/2024/10/20/id/1184780/
Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin is accusing a weaponized Department of Justice under President Joe Biden of exploiting its power to interfere in the lawful actions by the state to maintain election integrity.
The Biden DOJ has sued Virginia in the final weeks before the November election for having executed a duly instituted — and vetted — election integrity law that has been in place for nearly two decades related to the responsible management of voter rolls in the key state that has become a potential presidential election battleground.
"To be clear, this is not a purge: This is based on a law that was signed into effect in 2006 by then-Democrat Gov. Tim Kaine," Youngkin told "Fox News Sunday." "And it starts with a basic premise that when someone walks into one of our DMVs and self-identifies as a noncitizen, and then they end up on the voter rolls, either purposely or by accident, that we go through a process, individualized — not system, not systematic — an individualized process based on that person's self-identification as a noncitizen to give them 14 days to affirm they are a citizen.
"And if they don't, they come off the voter rolls."
Even after executing the 18-year-old law, an alleged illegal voter still has access to casting a ballot, Youngkin noted, laying aside the Democrats' narrative that voter roll management equates in any way to voter suppression.
"And by the way, they have one last safeguard, which is they can come and same day register and cast a provisional ballot," Youngkin added.
Virginia's code 24.2-439 requires government registrars to cancel noncitizens' voter registrations deemed to have been sought under false pretenses, and Virginia code 24.2-1019 requires registrars to immediately notify their county or city prosecutor.
The election integrity measures are not only put in place under a Democrat then-Gov. Kaine, but they have been vetted by the DOJ in the past, and executed dutifully by Virginia.
"Back in 2006, the then-Justice Department actually approved of this law and said that it is not only further constitutional, but we have given it thorough review, and we're OK with you moving ahead with it," Youngkin added in Sunday's interview.
"Now, 25 days last week before the election, a Justice Department decides they are going to bring suit after this law has been in effect for 18 years, administered by Democrat and Republican governors."
The timing of the lawsuit reeks of political weaponization of justice — if not interference — that seems to run rampant in this November's pivotal election, Youngkin concluded.
"And this is the reason why I believe that Americans and Virginians wonder what the Justice Department is up to: It's been in effect for 18 years," he said. "It's been applied universally by Republican and Democrat governors."
"And now all of a sudden, when Virginia is getting tight," he continued, "it launches a lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Virginia when we are trying to make sure that citizens vote, not noncitizens."
Good luck getting the motards here to stand and fight.
As much as she was bouncing while running, I'm surprised her boobs didn't drop out.