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    Centrist Republicans Float Re-electing McCarthy as House Speaker In Wake of Israel Attacks

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    13
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    The old saying goes “the more things change the more they stay the same…”

    Some Republicans are mulling a move to reinstate Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as House Speaker in the wake of the deadly attacks in Israel.

    On Saturday morning, Palestine militant group Hamas launched its surprise attack on Israel, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare war on the organization and order retaliatory action.

    “Israel attacks have moderates holding out for the one person who can truly unite us: Kevin McCarthy,” a House GOP lawmaker said.

    Last week, McCarthy was ousted by the votes of eight Republicans and all House Democrats thanks to a rule change McCarthy agreed to when he was elected speaker.

    However, handing McCarthy back the Speaker’s gavel is an uphill battle due to the support Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) have already garnered. Last week, former President Donald Trump threw his support behind Jordan for Speaker.

    McCarthy, for his part, is “aware and grateful” for the efforts to reinstate him, but he’s not engaging at this point, the House GOP lawmaker said.

    However, some Republicans are optimistic that it could be done, given the severity of the attack in Israel. They believe the urgency surrounding the attacks could pressure the eight House Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy to switch their stance. Many Republicans are still upset with those who voted against McCarthy, who is a vocal supporter of Israel, and are “using this moment to show how wrong they were,” per the House GOP lawmaker.

    “A short window is all we need in the House to reinstate Kevin McCarthy and change the rule,” Rep. John Duarte (R-CA) said.

    House Republicans plan on meeting behind closed doors on Monday to hash out details and differences of opinion. On Tuesday, there will be a candidate forum to hear the pros and cons of each speaker candidate.

    The conference plans to hold a secret vote on Wednesday to see who it wants to nominate for speaker on the floor. The nomination will go to whichever candidate secures a majority of the GOP conference. That figure could be as low as 113, including the three nonvoting GOP delegates to the House. If all 435 House members participate, a successful candidate will need 217 votes to become speaker.

    Mexico’s Hosts Russian and Chinese Military Units in Independence Parade

    By
    Paul Crespo
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    3
    Kremlin.ru, via Wikimedia Commons

    ANALYSIS – In the ‘what the h*ll are you thinking’ category – a contingent of Russian soldiers marched in the annual Mexican Independence Day parade over the weekend. 

    Russian troops had participated before, but not since Moscow launched its war of aggression against Ukraine.

    This year marked 213 years since the end of Spanish rule in Mexico. 

    And even as deadly fentanyl precursor ingredients are entering Mexico, to then be made into the deadly drug and flood the U.S., a Communist Chinese military honor guard from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) also marched alongside Mexican troops.

    The presence of the Russian troops drew criticism because of the Russia’s brutal invasion of its neighbor. Mexico, which has long harbored bitterness against the United States for intervening militarily in Mexico in the 1800s, has condemned Russia’s invasion but has adopted a policy of ‘neutrality’ and has refused to participate in sanctions.

    Populist socialist Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known as AMLO) noted that a contingent from China also participated. “All the countries that Mexico has diplomatic relations with were invited,” he said.

    AMLO admitted the issue had become “a scandal,” but blamed it on the news media being against him.

    Ukraine’s Ambassador to Mexico, Oksana Dramaretska, posted online that “The civic-military parade in Mexico City was stained by the participation of a Russian regiment; the boots and hands of these war criminals are stained with blood.”

    But this is only the latest Russian flirtation by AMLO.

    As Arturo Sarukhan writes in his commentary for Brookings: “…it would seem that some in Mexico, unwittingly, or wittingly, seem intent on opening a ‘second front’ for Moscow from there.”

    What’s behind all of this? Given that Mexico trades in two days with the United States what it trades in a whole year with Russia, ideology seems to be paramount. The traditional left in Mexico — and throughout Latin America in general — tend to support policies that push back against “Western imperialism” but is also skeptical of liberalism and what it perceives as its institutions and stakeholders, which — like many authoritarian regimes — it considers to be tools of Western values and hegemony. 

    It should therefore come as no surprise that the Mexican left is inclined to swallow and regurgitate Russian disinformation and propaganda (“NATO aggression,” “denazification of Ukraine”), see sanctions as another form of “imperialism” and an attempt to corner Russia, and resort to RT and Sputnik as sources of valid information.

    The Kremlin, creating a contrast with U.S. troops on Russia’s borders, has also asked frequently, if rhetorically, what if Russian troops were stationed across the border in Mexico?

    Maybe this is one way for Moscow to make that point. But there is more to the story.

    As ABC News reported:

    Some members of López Obrador’s Morena party have publicly expressed affection for Russia even after the invasion, and López Obrador has frequently criticized the United States for sending arms to Ukraine.

    López Obrador’s administration has continued to buy Russia’s Sputnik COVID vaccine and intends to use it as a booster shot later this year, along with Cuba’s Abdala vaccine.

    Experts have questioned the use of those vaccines, along with Mexico’s own Patria vaccine, as a booster for new variants, because all of them were designed in 2020 to combat variants circulating at the time.

    Mexico would rather buy old and likely ineffective vaccines from Russia, than be on better terms with the United States. Under AMLO Mexico is also a helpful tool for Moscow in other ways.

    As Sarukhan wrote:

    …Viktor Koronelli, Russia’s ambassador to Mexico, who said during the recent launching of the Mexico-Russia friendship caucus that “Mexico will never join anti-Russian sanctions” and that “across the world, there are countries like China, like India, like Mexico, that will never say ‘Yes, Sir’ to Uncle Sam’s orders.”

    Despite all this Russian bravado and bluster, I would be just as concerned, or more so, about the Chinese military presence in the parade.  As AMLO noted, a contingent from  China also participated, and no one complained about that.

    But China’s influence in Mexico is likely far more significant than Russia’s, and far more threatening to the United States.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    US Navy Vet Back Online as Pro-Russia Disinformation Queen

    By
    Paul Crespo
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    0

    ANALYSIS – Just months after the Department of Justice (DoJ) opened an investigation on her for posting leaked Pentagon intelligence on Ukraine, a US Navy veteran-turned-pro-Russian propagandist is back online. 

    Sarah Bils, a divorced 38-year-old New Jersey native, and former Navy technician, was unmasked in April after falsely posing as a Russian Jew reporting from occupied Ukraine. And deplatformed shortly thereafter by X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube.

    But the attractive Bils, who had a security clearance while in the Navy, is back online on both platforms, as well as Telegram, spewing anti-American and pro-Putin propaganda under the name ‘DD Geopolitics.’ 

    She has repeatedly posted since the relaunch faithfully parroting the Kremlin line. Bils has also encouraged followers to donate to the Russian army and the brutal Wagner Group mercenaries.

    In a bizarre rant on September 4, she lashed out at the United States, blaming it for ‘constant meddling’ and provoking the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

    Pekka Kallioniemi, an expert on Russian disinformation at the University of Tampere in Finland, questioned how Bils was able to restart her pro-Kremlin operations so soon after the opening of that DOJ probe.

    ‘I find it surprising that the FBI appears to be turning a blind eye to the online activities of people who are clearly working on behalf of America’s enemies,’ he said.

    Well, it is called freedom of speech, and as we have seen under the Joe Biden regime, one person’s disinformation is another’s strongly held political convictions. 

    The best way to combat false information in a free society is with truth, not government or social media censorship.

    Meanwhile, as the Daily Mail reported:

    It comes after a ten-month investigation into her online activities by volunteers from the pro-Kyiv open-source intelligence group, ‘The UnIntelligence Agency.’

    She has already garnered more than 200,000 followers across X – formerly known as Twitter – YouTube, and the social media messaging platform, Telegram, which draws in a wide range of guests.

    They include Moscow’s envoy to the UN and Alexander Dugin, a far-right political philosopher, described as the Russian president’s ‘brain’ on foreign policy.

    ‘Donbass Devuskha hasn’t pulled a disappearing act, she’s just had a fabulous makeover,’ Bils wrote earlier this summer. 

    Bils began her rise as the preeminent English-language pro-Russian disinformation queen just eight months before she was demoted and discharged from the Navy in November 2022. She had been serving since 2009.

    While the Navy hasn’t provided reasons for her demotion and discharge, divorce papers filed in the state of Washington show that prior to her discharge she had been suffering from a variety of health problems.

    Still, many suspect that her pro-Russia postings, and possible connections to Jack Teixera, the ex-U.S. Air National Guardsman who leaked a treasure trove of highly classified materials online, were related to her being demoted and dumped from the Navy.

    Soon thereafter, DoJ opened an investigation into Bils earlier this year when she distributed stolen, classified documents about U.S. arms deliveries to Ukraine.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Families of Marines Killed During Afghan Retreat Blast Biden and Milley

    By
    Paul Crespo
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    1
    Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Michael J. McCord provide testimony at a Senate Armed Services Committee budget hearing, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., March 28, 2023. (DoD photo by Chad J. McNeeley)

    ANALYSIS – ‘Gold Star’ families of U.S. troops killed in the August 2021 Abbey Gate bombing at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan, are blasting Team Biden excuses over the disastrous retreat. Saturday marked the two-year anniversary of the terrorist attack during Joe Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from the country.

    At least 183 people were killed in the attack, including the 13 U.S. service members (12 Marines and a sailor).

    Shamefully, Biden allowed the Taliban to retake the country almost 20 years to the day of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on Washington, DC, and New York City.

    AND HERE, TWO YEARS AFTER THE AFGHAN COLLAPSE, WE STILL DON’T HAVE ANSWERS, AND NO ONE HAS BEEN HELD ACCOUNTABLE.

    As I wrote about earlier, senior Biden defense officials spent the days before and after the deadly 2021 attack in Kabul obsessing on getting Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to sign off on their Climate Change plan rather than focus on the chaos and death in Afghanistan.

    Now, several of these Gold Star families spoke at a House Foreign Affairs Committee roundtable where they expressed their anger at the Biden administration, including Chairman of the Chiefs Mark Milley, who they blame, in part, for the bombing that killed 13 service members.

    As the hearing was about to commence, Milley released a statement in which he said the U.S. owes Gold Star families “everything.”

    “We owe them transparency, we owe them honesty, we owe them accountability. We owe them the truth about what happened to their loved ones,” Milley said.

    But the families didn’t appear impressed. Instead, they were angry about the “excuses” and misinformation they received.

    Fox News reported on their justified anger and venting. Kelly Barnett, the mother of Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Taylor Hoover, said “I don’t want to hear lies, I don’t want to hear excuses from Joe Biden, from the administration.”

    Hoover’s father, Darin Hoover, called on top Pentagon brass to resign. 

    He poignantly noted: “Today is the date, two years ago, that we received our kids home at Dover. Two years ago today, where we were disrespected with stories of Biden’s son and him looking at his watch. And today, here we sit as their families, begging you two years later, to find these answers.”

    Christy Shamblin, mother-in-law of Marine Corps Sergeant Nicole Gee, who was pictured prominently with an Afghan baby in her arms prior to her death, asked why credible warnings were ignored in the days leading up to the attack.

    Some even accused the Pentagon of giving them ‘made-up stories’ about their loved ones in the aftermath of the attack.

    As Breitbart News reported:

    …[in a Fox interview] Cheryl Rex, whose son, Lance Corporal Dylan Merola, was killed in the Kabul airport attack in 2021 reacted to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley saying that he believes military briefers gave all the information to the families of those killed in the bombing all the information they could by stating that the briefing on her son was completely inaccurate…

    …[When Rex was asked] “Do you believe that all the information was there, or do you agree with other families that it wasn’t about the information, it was about the warnings that were ignored?”

    Rex answered, “Me personally, he did not — the brief report was not correct. They changed my son’s location a couple of times. They were trying to accommodate his wounds that were not even in the right spots of his body according to his autopsy report. He did not — the brief report is nothing [like] what we were actually told… I feel it was made-up stories that they were trying to cover up the wounds.”

    These Gold Star families deserve answers and accountability. And so do the American people.

    ‘Barbie’ Movie Banned in Vietnam as Hollywood Again Kowtows to China

    By
    Paul Crespo
    -
    1

    ANALYSIS – China’s outrageous claim to almost the entire South China Sea – everything within a “nine-dash line” drawn on Chinese maps – has taken its most recent victim – the movie-viewing public in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government has banned the movie due to a scene with that Chinese-made line on a map.

    China takes its illegal claim very seriously and strives to impose its visual representation on maps everywhere, including those appearing in Hollywood movies.

    While it’s unclear why the soon-to-be-released film ‘Barbie’ about the iconic doll and her boyfriend Ken would get embroiled in international politics, it has. 

    This south China Sea has been a flashpoint between Vietnam and China for years. The artificial line is shown on Chinese maps to mark their claims over the area despite Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan claiming parts of the same vast expanse of sea.

    Chinese warships and fishing vessels routinely operate in these waters to establish de-facto presence, often provoking clashes with neighboring countries.

    The Daily Wire (DW) reported:

    “We do not grant license for the American movie ‘Barbie’ to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line,” Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Department of Cinema, a government body in charge of licensing and censoring foreign films, was quoted as saying in the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper.

    The movie’s trailer shows Barbie leaving her perfect doll world and to explore the “real world” after becoming disillusioned with her life.

    So why did a big Hollywood studio decide to include this ridiculous claim in their otherwise non-political movies?

    All I can think of is – in order to please the communists in Beijing. China is obviously a far bigger market than Vietnam. And who knows if Chinese investors were involved in the movie’s production.

    DW notes:

    “Barbie” isn’t the first film banned for including the nine-dash line. The Vietnamese government also blocked the DreamWorks animated film “Abominable” (2019) and the action-adventure film “Unchartered” (2022) for the same reason. Netflix removed the Australian spy drama “Pine Gap” in 2021 for their inclusion of the line.

    Hollywood blockbusters including the Marvel films “Eternals” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” have also been in China after directors or actors involved in the films made comments critical of China.

    Another big controversy exploded in 2019 over the Tom Cruise movie ‘Top Gun: Maverick.’ Initially the movie appeared to remove the flags of Taiwan and Japan from Maverick’s flight jacket. The flags were part of historical patches representing prior U.S. naval deployments to the region.

    As NBC News reported:

    In 2019, the trailer for “Top Gun: Maverick” showed Cruise’s character, U.S. Navy pilot Pete Mitchell, in the same bomber jacket he wore in the original film. But two of its flag patches — representing Japan and the Republic of China, the official name for Taiwan — appeared to have been replaced by other emblems.

    The move was criticized at the time as an act of self-censorship to please China’s censors. Beijing sees Taiwan, a self-ruling democracy of 24 million people, as an inalienable part of its territory and lashes out at any reference to it as a sovereign nation.  

    In this case Hollywood, or Cruise, had a change of heart and reversed their apparent kowtowing to China. CHinese investors also pulled out of the movie.

    NBC News continued:

    On the film’s release last month after a two-year pandemic delay, both flags had been restored. At an advance screening in Taipei, the audience broke out in cheers and applause at the sight of the Taiwanese flag on the big screen, local news outlet SETN reported.

    Sometimes in Hollywood the good guys do win. Sadly, not in the case of Barbie.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    France’s Riots are Like our BLM Riots – Not Really About the Police

    By
    Paul Crespo
    -
    5

    ANALYSIS – Another summer of rage erupts in Paris, this time sparked by the police shooting several days ago of a 17-year-old Muslim man of North African origin. Many liken the fiery French riots to our own Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots of 2020. 

    And in many ways, they are similar.

    They both used the police killing of a man of color to justify violence, arson, looting, and spreading chaos. Their initial stated agenda was to highlight police brutality and police racism, then just racism. 

    Then a bunch of other stuff.

    In the United States, a lot of the BLM rioting was targeted at President Donald Trump. In France, some of the rage is directed at Jews. 

    Meanwhile, both violent rampages were quickly co-opted, if not initially instigated, by extremist ideologies and agendas. In the U.S., BLM was run by the far left and often became dominated by issues totally unrelated to the police or even racism. 

    In Paris, the riots are as much about a growing unassimilated Arab/North African Muslim minority bringing radical Islam to France, as it is about the police or race.

    It’s also about being anti-Jewish, anti-Catholic, and anti-French.

    Just as BLM often disparaged all of white America as being racist while targeting cops, many French Muslims see the entire French system as evil.

    And part of that ruling system includes French Jews.

    The Times of Israel reported that “perpetrators did vandalize a monument for Holocaust victims in Nanterre, the Paris suburb where the 17-year-old, identified in the French media only as Nahel M., was killed. The perpetrators spray-painted the words ‘Police scum’ on the monument.”

    Antisemitic chants have also  been heard during the riots, “part of a well-documented sentiment among some Muslims who see Jews as part of an oppressive power structure.”

    While Jews haven’t been attacked directly yet, these riots remind many French Jews of 2014, when Muslim rioters singled out Jewish-owned shops in a Paris suburb nicknamed “little Jerusalem” due to its large Jewish population.

    That anti-Jewish violence, which also targeted several synagogues, was partly spurred by Muslim anger toward Jews amid the 2014 Gaza war between Israel and Hamas and other terrorist groups.

    Today we have Israel engaged in a major military operation in the West Bank against Palestinian terrorists using the Jenin refugee camp as a base for attacks against Israelis. This operation began Monday, and we have yet to see its impact on the riots in France.

    If the conflict extends in the West Bank, expect things to heat up more in Paris.

    But as The Times of Israel also noted, this violent uprising in Paris is far more widespread than ever before. And might be a turning point for how the French view their suicidally insane immigration policies.

    “In 2014, I was afraid as a Jew. This time, I’m afraid as a Frenchman,” said Jonathan C., noting that he does not have a Middle Eastern appearance.

    The Times added:

    Police and firefighters are common targets of violence by rioters whom many believe are acting out of resentment of French society, where the anti-immigration far right is the second-largest political force.

    Other incidents are seen by some as reflecting a religious dimension of the riots, which are occurring in heavily Muslim areas.

    On Thursday, two unidentified individuals beat up and robbed a priest in Saint-Etienne near Lyon. Disagreements exist on whether the assault, the second attack of a priest in the region in three weeks, was part of the riots.

    Hate attacks against Christians are multiplying in France, where in 2021 the interior ministry recorded 1,052 anti-Christian hate crimes, nearly double the assaults on Jews. It meant that Christians were, in absolute numbers at least, the religious group that was most targeted that year.

    This worries many in France. They see the huge number of antisemitic and anti-Christian attacks, as well as attacks against police, as part of a resurgence of radical Islam in unassimilated migrant communities.

    Even if these riots subside, the bigger danger remains. And that should be a concern for not just Paris, but other major European cities as well.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    9/11 Families Group Speaks Out Against PGA-LIV Golf Merger

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    1

    A prominent 9/11 group is speaking out after the PGA Tour announced its merger with Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf.

    9/11 Families United released a statement slamming the PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan for partnering with the Saudi-backed entity, noting that Saudi operatives played a role in facilitating the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

    “PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan co-opted the 9/11 community last year in the PGA’s unequivocal agreement that the Saudi LIV project was nothing more than sportswashing of Saudi Arabia’s reputation,” said 9/11 Families United Chair Terry Strada, whose husband Tom died in the World Trade Center’s North Tower. “But now the PGA and Monahan appear to have become just more paid Saudi shills, taking billions of dollars to cleanse the Saudi reputation so that Americans and the world will forget how the Kingdom spent their billions of dollars before 9/11 to fund terrorism, spread their vitriolic hatred of Americans, and finance al Qaeda and the murder of our loved ones.”

    “Make no mistake – we will never forget, “the statement continued. “Mr. Monahan talked last summer about knowing people who lost loved ones on 9/11, then wondered aloud on national television whether LIV Golfers ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour. They do now as does he. PGA Tour leaders should be ashamed of their hypocrisy and greed. Our entire 9/11 community has been betrayed by Commissioner Monahan and the PGA as it appears their concern for our loved ones was merely window-dressing in their quest for money – it was never to honor the great game of golf.”

    The PGA Tour suspended 17 golfers from the tour for participating in LIV Golf, kicking off a year of lawsuits between the two golf entities. Eleven pro golfers sued the PGA for allegedly monopolizing competition. However, all 11 plaintiffs left the lawsuit by May of this year after LIV got involved as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, souring the public image of the golfer’s stated principled stand against the PGA.

    According to The Daily Wire, the PGA filed a countersuit in September, alleging that LIV golf had unlawfully aided the 17 golfers in violating their contracts with the PGA by offering them separate contracts to play for LIV.

    LIV Golf offered major golf stars huge payments to abandon the PGA Tour. Stars like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, and Bryson DeChambeau, were paid between $100k-$200k without having to win or even qualify for a single tournament.

    With the merger, all lawsuits have been dropped.

    The PGA Tour commissioner said the deal will push golf into the future and give fans the best experience.

    “Going forward, fans can be confident that we will, collectively, deliver on the promise we’ve always made — to promote competition of the best in professional golf and that we are committed to securing and driving the game’s future,” Monahan said.

    Former President Donald Trump has been a strong proponent of a merger between the two gold powerhouses.

    Last year, Trump accurately predicted a merger was “inevitable.”

    “All of those golfers that remain ‘loyal’ to the very disloyal PGA, in all of its different forms, will pay a big price when the inevitable MERGER with LIV comes, and you get nothing but a big ‘thank you from PGA officials who are making millions of dollars a year,” Trump posted on Truth Social in July 2022.

    “If you don’t take the money now, you will get nothing after the merger takes place and only say how smart the original signees were. Good luck to all and congratulations to really talented Cam Smith on his incredible win!”

    Trump, who hosted LIV Golf events at his golf properties, posted a response to the merger on Truth Social.

    “Great news from LIV Golf,” Trump posted on Truth Social in all caps after the announcement.

    Amanda Head: Tell Us What You Think – Coronation Edition

    By
    Amanda Head
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    2

    There’s a new King of England.

    Did you miss the coronation? Let Amanda spill all the juicy details!

    Watch this special coronation edition of The Hollywood Conservative below:

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Forget China, You Can Now Take a Balloon to Edge of Space

    By
    Paul Crespo
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    0
    Image via Pixabay free images

    ANALYSIS – Until now, only billionaires could afford to enter sub-orbital space. And it needed to be by high-powered rocket (think Jeff Bezos in his Blue Origin, or Richard Branson in his Virgin Galactic). 

    Star Trek actor William Shatner also did a flight on a Blue Origin’s rocket.

    But now you too can see the earth from 20 miles high. It will cost you just over $120,000 and it’s by a high-altitude balloon.

    And, no, it’s not aboard a Chinese spy balloon. These will be private companies running the trips.

    The billionaires in rockets still have one treat we can’t get – they can briefly experience weightlessness. They also go twice as high.

    Space officially starts at the Karman line, 62 miles above the earth’s surface. But for most people there won’t be that much of a difference.

    And at half the price, no training required, and a much softer, smoother ride, these edge-of-space balloons will be far more accessible and may become popular among the slightly less rich.

    And unlike the rockets, these balloons will give you a much longer ride, with luxury amenities, food, and drink.

    There now appears at least two companies on the verge of launching these space balloon trips. One is American and the other is French.

    Both seem to avoid mention of the 1937 Hindenburg hydrogen-filled dirigible disaster.

    The French company Zephalto with its Celeste balloon will provide Michelin-starred fine dining. It is partnered with France’s national space agency.

    These balloons filled with helium or hydrogen will depart from France with two pilots on board and six passengers and rise 15.5 miles into the stratosphere.

    Once at peak altitude, the balloon, carrying a pressurized capsule, will stay aloft for three hours, giving guests a chance to take in views previously seen only by astronauts. While in the air, passengers will be served high-end French food and wines.

    These near-space rides will start at €120,000 ($132,000) per person in 2025, Bloomberg reports.

    The other option will be Florida-based Space Perspective, which is testing its own passenger balloon, designed to reach the edge of space.

    Eight civilians and a pilot will be able to comfortably travel up 100,000 feet (19 miles) to near space in a reusable pressurized capsule carried by a gigantic hydrogen-filled balloon called Spacecraft Neptune – because Neptune’s atmosphere is predominantly hydrogen.

    The company operates out of leased facilities at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, but plans to expand to Alaska and Hawaii, and then possibly to other countries around the world.

    Flight will cost about $125,000 per person. And it plans to launch a year earlier than the Celeste.

    Neptune’s ride will be similar to the Zephalto balloons, ascending at a sedate 12.5 miles per hour. It will give passengers two full hours to observe 360° views of Earth rotating beneath them and space above.

    The overall ride will last six hours – two hours to ascend, two hours to float along the stratosphere, and two hours to descend into the Atlantic Ocean, where a recovery ship will be waiting.

    The capsule comes complete with luxury seating, refreshments, a restroom, and Wi-Fi (so you can post to Instagram or live stream on Facebook as you fly – because – of course). The company plans to offer flights for weddings, corporate events, and scientific excursions.

    Its flights are scheduled to begin in 2024, but the first batch of 600 tickets is already sold out.

    Bon voyage. No smoking aboard.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Navy Seal Who Killed Bin Laden Blasts U.S. Navy’s Woke Recruitment Tactic

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0
    President Donald J. Trump is presented with a 10th Combat Aviation Brigade challenge coin following an air assault and gun rain demonstration at Fort Drum, New York, on August 13. The demonstration was part of President Trump's visit to the 10th Mountain Division (LI) to sign the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019, which increases the Army's authorized active-duty end strength by 4,000 enabling us to field critical capabilities in support of the National Defense Strategy. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Thomas Scaggs) 180813-A-TZ475-010

    Things have gone too far.

    After the U.S. Navy confirmed it hired an active-duty drag queen to recruit candidates the Navy Seal who was a part of the team that killed Osama bin Laden couldn’t help but share his reaction to the news.

    “Alright. The U.S. Navy is now using an enlisted sailor Drag Queen as a recruiter. I’m done,” Robert O’Neill, who said that he fired the shot that killed bin Laden in 2011, tweeted. “China is going to destroy us. YOU GOT THIS NAVY. I can’t believe I fought for this bulls***.”

    “You’re doing it wrong, @USNavy,” he added. “Talk to someone [who’s] actually done something! Not yeomen with t*** and a D***!”

    Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, who performs as a drag queen named “Harpy Daniels,” revealed in a November TikTok video that he would serve as the Navy’s first “digital ambassador.” 

    “From joining to 2016 and being able to share my drag experience on my off time with my fellow sailors has been a blessing,” Kelley wrote on Instagram in November when he announced his Digital Ambassador appointment.

    “This experience has brought me so much strength, courage and ambition to continue being an advocate and representation of queer sailors!” he told his more than 8,000 followers. “Thank you to the Navy for giving me this opportunity! I don’t speak for the Navy but simply sharing my experience in the Navy! Hooyah, and let’s go Slay!”

    In his Instagram video, Kelley said he is “being the representation of people who were oppressed for years in the service.”

    According to The Military Times, the U.S. Army missed its fiscal 2022 goal by 15,000 soldiers while the other branches of the U.S. military, with the exception of the Space Force, “barely made quota or had to pull extensively from their pools of delayed-entry applicants.”

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