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U.S. Navy’s MQ-25A Stingray Unmanned Tanker Begins Taxi Trials

The Aviationist Blog - Sat, 31/01/2026 - 15:58
The first production representative MQ-25 taxied under its own power at Boeing’s facilities, following a series of rigorous ground trials over several months. Boeing and the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) announced on Jan. 30, 2026, that the production representative prototype of the MQ-25 Stingray unmanned refueling tanker has started taxi trials at […]

Indiana football just demonstrated that discipline trumps talent. Big implications for my LSU Fighting Tigers

Snafu-solomon.blogspot - Sat, 31/01/2026 - 15:57

 

With a week to reflect, I’m convinced this was the greatest moment in sports history.

A 2-star recruit leads the worst program ever to a national championship, beats his hometown team that wouldn’t let him walk on, and finishes it by running over the same guy who knocked him out… pic.twitter.com/WwlcVNs6TT

— SMB Attorney (@SMB_Attorney) January 31, 2026 The Indiana quarterback was/is not the most athletic player on the field this year. He was good no doubt but I think he proved a winner by being disciplined to a T. The whole team did. I can't think of any big time game Indiana was in this year where they had the superior athlete. Not one.
What they did have in spades was superior discipline.
The old saying that discipline trumps talent was proven once again.  Don't get me wrong.  Indiana has good players.  SOME NFL level talent players.  But few that knock your socks off.
They had the second thing that is proven for success.  They had superior EFFORT.
Finally they had a no quit attitude.  In the one or two tight games they were involved in, they maintained the discipline, effort and combined it with a no quit attitude to overcome/overwhelm their opponent in the end.
I started watching them late in the season but they gave a condensed life lesson to many youngsters.
The implications for college football and LSU football is immense.
We have Kiffin now a proven winner...but so was Kelly.  Kiffin supposedly has the drive and determination AND WORK ETHIC that Kelly didn't.
That alone points to success or rather MUCH more success than we had under Kelly.
But with the blue print we were just given will that be enough?  Yeah we just bought one of the most expensive rosters in the nation.
We have talent coming out our ass but is that enough if we don't have discipline, effort and a no quit attitude?
I'm a little concerned.
That Indiana coach rewound the clock and is onto something.  He added missing ingredients to his team (along with good players) and made something special. Not as good as our 2019 team but definitely in the top 5.
Kiffin brings swagger (don't know how to quantify that).  Kiffin brought in talent.  Kiffin has a brain trust out of this world on both sides of the ball.
But if we don't have discipline, effort and a no quit attitude then this team will not deliver what everyone in my state expects which is a National Title.

I was doing some quick doom scrolling and hit a rabbit hole that I've been resisting for years...do we attack for business or democracy?

Snafu-solomon.blogspot - Sat, 31/01/2026 - 14:23
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Elected or dictator. Doesn't really matter in the Middle East or Africa as long as the leadership bows to Globalist interests and to be blunt, independence is not what they want.
After seeing this instagram post I hit a quick search and landed on the Wiki page. I don't got time so I wanted the quick and dirty.  What I found was a mind fuck. We've been fucking with Iran for a VERY LONG TIME. Check this.In the aftermath of the overthrow, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi returned to power, and negotiated the Consortium Agreement of 1954 with the British, which gave split ownership of Iranian oil production between Iran and Western companies until 1979.[12] Mosaddegh was subsequently charged with treason, imprisoned for three years, then put under house arrest until his death and was buried in his own home in order to prevent a political furor.[13][14] In 2013, the United States government formally acknowledged its role in the coup as being a part of its foreign policy initiatives, including paying protesters and bribing officials.[15]

How similar does that look to what's happening NOW?

Nuclear weapons and terrorism is the hook.  It worked in Iraq.  A modified version worked in Libya (I know it was different now but was just jazzed up by the military intervention and ignored various reports about it being about something else entirely). 

I'm on the ledge on this one and need right wing/military dudes to walk me back.

In 1933, Butler became involved in a controversy known as the Business Plot, when he told a United States congressional committee that a group of wealthy American industrialists were planning a coup d'état to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Butler also claimed that the plotters of the alleged coup intended on using Butler, at the head of a group of veterans, to place the federal government under arrest. The individuals alleged to be involved in the coup all denied the existence of such a plot and the media ridiculed Butler's allegations, but a final report following an investigation by a special House of Representatives committee confirmed at least some of his testimony.

After retiring from the Marine Corps, Butler became an outspoken critic of American foreign policy and military interventions, which he saw being driven primarily by U.S. business interests. In 1935, Butler wrote the book War Is a Racket, where he argued that imperialist motivations had been the cause behind several American interventions, many of which he personally participated in.


Smedley Butler's voice is speaking so loud in my brain that I almost can't see straight and its damn near giving me vertigo.

Are we getting played?  Are there things lurking in the background of all this that we're missing?  

Trump portrays himself as the anti-war president (I do believe that's his instinct but Venezuela has me kinda paused up...the fight to rid ourselves of a dictator has taken a quick swing to controlling the oil) but damn...the fights are limited but seem to be picking up speed.

Is the looming strike against Iran about nuclear weapons/ballistic missiles or is it about something else entirely that we're missing???

Anyone remember yellow cake uranium and how a man of honor was used to push that narrative? 

Tell me this is useless speculation and to stop spinning like a top.

RN Wildcat Demonstrates Live Use of Drones for Real Time Targeting

The Aviationist Blog - Sat, 31/01/2026 - 03:15
A Wildcat helicopter conducted simulated Martlet missile strikes on moving targets at the National Drone Hub, Predannack, using live data provided by Puma and Providence UAVs.  The trials, involving a Wildcat from 815 Naval Air Squadron (NAS), uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) from 700X NAS at nearby RNAS Culdrose, and support from 847 NAS and industry […]

F-35As Deployed to Puerto Rico Now Moving Across the Atlantic

The Aviationist Blog - Fri, 30/01/2026 - 23:00
USAF F-35As deployed to Puerto Rico for the attack on Venezuela might now be part of what Trump called a ‘massive armada’ moving towards Iran. In recent days, a series of U.S. military movements have drawn heightened attention across the Middle East. These developments have coincided with ongoing regional tensions following domestic unrest in Iran […]

NRO Officially Declassifies JUMPSEAT First Gen Signals Intelligence Satellites

The Aviationist Blog - Fri, 30/01/2026 - 16:30
Launched between 1971 and 1987 primarily to collect intelligence data on foreign weapon testing, the last satellites in the JUMPSEAT family were withdrawn from service in 2006.  A memorandum dated Dec. 4, 2025 from the office of Christopher J. Scolese, Director of the U.S. National Reconaissance Office (NRO), formally declassified the existence of and some […]

Iran Might Have Received Mi-28 Havoc Attack Helicopters

The Aviationist Blog - Fri, 30/01/2026 - 13:25
Recently emerged images show a Mi-28NE helicopter in a hangar geolocated in Iran, following reports of multiple Russian Il-76MD cargo aircraft flying into the country. Photos emerged on Jan. 28, 2026, show what has been described as a single Mi-28NE Havoc in an Iranian facility. Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) profiles later geo-located the pictures of the […]

Press release - Cyprus Presidency debriefs European Parliament committees on priorities

Ministers are holding a series of meetings in parliamentary committees to present the priorities of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council.
Committee on Constitutional Affairs
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
Committee on Culture and Education
Committee on Development
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection
Committee on International Trade
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy
Committee on Legal Affairs
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Committee on Fisheries
Committee on Security and Defence
Committee on Transport and Tourism

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Press release - Cyprus Presidency debriefs European Parliament committees on priorities

Ministers are holding a series of meetings in parliamentary committees to present the priorities of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council.
Committee on Constitutional Affairs
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
Committee on Culture and Education
Committee on Development
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection
Committee on International Trade
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy
Committee on Legal Affairs
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Committee on Fisheries
Committee on Security and Defence
Committee on Transport and Tourism

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Briefing - 2028-2034 MFF: Quality analysis of the Commission’s impact assessments - PE 774.720 - Committee on Legal Affairs - Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs - Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development - Committee on...

The European Commission drew up seven impact assessments (IAs) in support of 18 programme proposals for the 2028-2034 multiannual financial framework (MFF) and the proposed regulation on a horizontal performance framework. The broad scope of these IAs does not allow individual programme proposals to be assessed in any detail – as is particularly salient in the case of the IA on the national and regional partnership plans, covering nine legislative proposals. All IAs acknowledge a deviation from the scope and depth of a standard IA as defined by the Better Regulation Guidelines (BRG). This is justified with Tool #9 of the BR Toolbox, which indicates the specificity of the MFF, but does not define how related IAs should be carried out. As a result, the application of the better regulation principles varies widely across the MFF IAs. They are similar insofar as the Commission chose for all of them a mostly horizontal rather than policy-specific approach and did not include any budgetary considerations and scenarios. These choices affect the quality of key sections of the IAs considerably, albeit to varying extents. The problem definition often lacks specificity and substantiation. Similarly, the IAs' objectives remain largely unspecific, which, in turn, affects the IAs' monitoring and evaluation provisions and risks hampering the future measuring of the objectives' achievement. The description of policy options is in most cases short and vague, which weakens the impact analysis. The depth to which economic, social and environmental impacts are assessed varies across the sampled IAs. The analysis remains predominantly qualitative, with quantification largely lacking. All seven MFF initiatives are deemed relevant for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and are thus listed in the 'SME filter'. The IAs state that they place great emphasis on simplification and burden reduction. None of them is accompanied by a subsidiarity grid, and they discuss subsidiarity, European added value and proportionality rather briefly. While the IAs differ considerably in terms of quality and transparency when it comes to their evidence base and methodology, all of them acknowledge certain limitations and a lack of data (notably quantitative data). Consultation activities were largely limited to open public consultations. The Regulatory Scrutiny Board (RSB) found significant shortcomings in all seven draft IAs, prompting it, exceptionally, to issue opinions without qualification. The persisting flaws in the final IAs suggest that the RSB recommendations have at best been partially addressed. Altogether, the limited quality of the MFF IAs appears to reflect a missed opportunity to provide policymakers with high-quality and transparent evidence for one of the most important policy packages to be negotiated in the coming months and years.
Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Iconic Airbus Beluga Super Transporter Retires to Become STEM Hub at Broughton

The Aviationist Blog - Thu, 29/01/2026 - 22:04
The fifth of five Airbus A300-600ST ‘Beluga’ transports has flown into retirement at Airbus’ Broughton facility in North Wales, where it will be used to promote STEM to schools and community groups.   As the Airbus fleet of Beluga super transporter aircraft readies for withdrawal by 2027 in favour of the larger, more efficient A330-743L BelugaXL, […]

STELLUNGNAHME zur Entlastung 2024: Gesamthaushaltsplan der EU – Europäischer Auswärtiger Dienst - PE779.394v03-00

STELLUNGNAHME zur Entlastung 2024: Gesamthaushaltsplan der EU – Europäischer Auswärtiger Dienst
Ausschuss für auswärtige Angelegenheiten
Evin Incir

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2026 - EP

Video einer Ausschusssitzung - Donnerstag, 29. Januar 2026 - 08:00 - Ausschuss für auswärtige Angelegenheiten

Dauer des Videos : 120'

Haftungsausschluss : Die Verdolmetschung der Debatten soll die Kommunikation erleichtern, sie stellt jedoch keine authentische Aufzeichnung der Debatten dar. Authentisch sind nur die Originalfassungen der Reden bzw. ihre überprüften schriftlichen Übersetzungen.
Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2026 - EP

Video einer Ausschusssitzung - Mittwoch, 28. Januar 2026 - 16:00 - Ausschuss für auswärtige Angelegenheiten

Dauer des Videos : 60'

Haftungsausschluss : Die Verdolmetschung der Debatten soll die Kommunikation erleichtern, sie stellt jedoch keine authentische Aufzeichnung der Debatten dar. Authentisch sind nur die Originalfassungen der Reden bzw. ihre überprüften schriftlichen Übersetzungen.
Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2026 - EP

REPORT on EU strategic defence and security partnerships - A10-0005/2026

REPORT on EU strategic defence and security partnerships
Committee on Security and Defence
Michał Szczerba

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Video of a committee meeting - Tuesday, 27 January 2026 - 16:00 - Committee on Foreign Affairs - Committee on Budgets - Committee on International Trade - Committee on Security and Defence

Length of video : 90'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Video of a committee meeting - Tuesday, 27 January 2026 - 13:45 - Committee on Security and Defence

Length of video : 15'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

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