Trump backs air taxi program connecting
Texas metro areas
Posted By: sunset, 3/11/2026 1:18:06 AM
The future of travel may soon include flying taxis—and Texas is now one of the federal government's testing grounds. The Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation announced eight proposals selected for a new Advanced Air Mobility initiative, the Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Integration Pilot Program (eIPP). Under the program, Texas will work with federal regulators and private aviation companies to test air taxi operations connecting major cities across the state. The aircraft being tested are known as electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, or eVTOLs
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Battered and unseaworthy, HMS Middleton was dragged by tugs into Portsmouth naval base on Sunday. The Hunt class mine countermeasures vessel (MCMV) returned to the home of the Royal Navy on March 8 after being brought back from the Gulf by a heavy-lift ship. The ignominious piggy-back was cheaper than letting the more than 40-year-old ship make the 6,200-mile journey back from Bahrain under her own power and freed her crew to join other ships. But her return meant the end of the Royal Navy's anti-mine vessel presence in the Middle East after almost 50 years. Only unmanned drone systems are left, according to the Navy.
The future of travel may soon include flying taxis—and Texas is now one of the federal government's testing grounds. The Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation announced eight proposals selected for a new Advanced Air Mobility initiative, the Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Integration Pilot Program (eIPP). Under the program, Texas will work with federal regulators and private aviation companies to test air taxi operations connecting major cities across the state. The aircraft being tested are known as electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, or eVTOLs
The United States Navy has destroyed 16 Iranian boats suspected of preparing to lay naval mines near the Strait of Hormuz, marking one of the most direct maritime confrontations in the ongoing Gulf War. According to the United States military, the vessels were targeted after intelligence suggested they were equipped for mine-laying operations in the strategic waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes. Officials from the US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the strike on Tuesday and released unclassified footage showing several Iranian vessels being destroyed during the operation.
The French Navy will send eight frigates and two amphibious assault ships to the Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea, joining aircraft carrier FS Charles De Gaulle (R91), following an Iranian drone attack on a Cyprus-based joint operating installation. “While the crisis in Iran – the war in Iran – is affecting the entire region, it is important for me to come here alongside you, along with the Prime Minister of Greece, to tell you that when Cyprus is attacked, it is Europe that is attacked, and that the defense of Cyprus is obviously a crucial issue for your country, (snip) but also for France and, with it, the European Union,”
Oil plunges 10% as Trump warns to hit
Iran ‘twenty times harder’ if it blockades
Strait of Hormuz 7 replies
Iran ‘twenty times harder’ if it blockades
Strait of Hormuz 7 replies
Oil prices plunged 10% Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Tehran would be hit “twenty times harder” if it attempted to halt oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, while also signaling that the conflict with Iran could end soon. International Brent crude was down nearly 11% at $88.36 per barrel at 9.25 p.m. ET Monday. U.S. crude oil
fell over more than 10% to $85.17 per barrel. The declines come after oil surged past $100 Monday. Located between Oman and Iran, the Strait is a vital transit route. Roughly 13 million barrels passed through the waterway in 2025, accounting for about 31% of global seaborne oil flows,
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced a new policy that would ban foreign nationals and non-citizens from accessing its loan services — a continuation of efforts to refocus federal resources to ventures that align with American prioritization.
"The Trump SBA is committed to driving economic growth and job creation for American citizens," SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said in a statement on Friday.
The requirement will apply to its Surety Bond and Microloan programs and is an expansion of changes made in February to the SBA’s 504 and 7(a) programs — loans for small businesses looking to finance working capital, equipment or acquisitions.
The Pentagon on Sunday announced that U.S. forces have carried out a lethal strike on a vessel allegedly carrying suspected narco-traffickers in the Eastern Pacific, killing six people on board.
The U.S. Southern Command said it conducted "a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations" at the direction of the new leader of the Southern Command, Gen. Francis L. Donovan of the Marine Corps, who took over in January.
"Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," the Southern Command said in a press release.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., will retire at the end of his current term and is backing San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond to succeed him, he confirmed to Fox News Friday.
Issa’s seat is in California’s newly redrawn 48th District, which has been reshaped to favor Democrats under the state’s Prop 50.
"Today I’m announcing my enthusiastic endorsement of Supervisor Jim Desmond for Congress to represent California’s new 48th district," "Jim is not only a personal friend, he’s a true patriot, a Navy veteran, a successful businessman and has a 20-year record of public service. He understands this community, was born and raised here and will make a terrific Congressman."
Just one year after Iran unveiled its first drone carrier, the Shahid Bagheri — designed to carry multiple squadrons of drones and operate helicopters — the U.S. military said it struck the vessel, which is now burning. In a statement issued overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, the commander of U.S. Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, said American forces had sunk or destroyed more than 30 vessels during the campaign. He added that in the past several hours, U.S. forces had also struck an Iranian drone carrier roughly comparable in size to a World War II–era aircraft carrier. The Shahid Bagheri features a runway allowing drones to take off and land.
In the aftermath of the Israeli-U.S. strikes on Iran, American allies in the Persian Gulf are hearing a sound that Ukrainian soldiers have long come to dread: the foreboding hum of the Shahed-136 ‘kamikaze’ drone.
First designed in Iran, the Shahed has already become a fixture of modern warfare, with Tehran’s strategic partner, Russia, utilizing the technology in its years-long invasion of Ukraine.
Now, the drones — the most advanced of which is the long-ranged Shahed-136 — have become central to Iran’s retaliation strategy against the U.S. and its regional allies, with thousands unleashed so far.
The US has delivered “overwhelming and unprecedented” strikes into Iran in the first 100 hours of "Operation Epic Fury", the US commander in charge of combat operations in the region said. To put things in perspective, Admiral Brad Cooper said the initial 24 hours of the February 28 Iran strikes were double the scale of “Shock-and-Awe” strikes on 2003 in Iraq. “We continue with 24/7 strikes into Iran from seabed to space and cyberspace,” Cooper said. "In simple terms, we're focused on shooting all the things that can shoot at us... We're also sinking the Iranian Navy, the entire navy."
Spain has denied the US permission to use their shared bases to launch attacks against Iran. The country's socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned Israel and the US for striking Iran and killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said Spain wanted 'democracy, freedom and fundamental rights for the Iranian people', but it would not allow its bases to be used in the ongoing military action. The decision puts Spain at odds with its European partners including the UK, France and Germany, who on Sunday said they would defend their interests in the region through defensive action to destroy Iran's capability to fire missiles and drones.
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U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) is proposing a bill that, if passed, would make the first $75,000 of a household income tax free.
If the bill -- called the Keep Your Pay Act -- passes, it would more than double the standard deduction for taxpayers.
Under Booker’s proposal, which was revealed Monday, the median American family would see their taxes cut by roughly 85%. Single filers and heads of households would also receive proportional tax relief through the Keep Your Pay Act.
In a video advocating his bill, Booker said in part: "The tax system, we all know this, is rigged. It’s rigged against working people and all full of things to help
Iran could use drones to make a deadly strike on California at any time, a top US Army expert says — and we’re nowhere near ready for what could happen.
Iranian forces have the technology, the ability and the motivation to launch withering drone attacks on targets in California, according to Brett Velicovich, a former US Army intelligence and special operations soldier who spent years using drones to hunt and kill the leaders of ISIS and other terrorist groups.
Velicovich said America’s enemy is almost certainly trying to launch an attack on Californian shores with the use of drones. The FBI’s warning to local law enforcement,
Chuck Schumer is promoting the SAVE Act without even realizing it.
While speaking to the press this week, the clearly panicked senator said that the SAVE Act would purge millions of people from the voter rolls. Does he mean illegal aliens and dead people? It’s probably safe to assume he does.
This is exactly why millions of patriotic Americans support the SAVE Act, Chuck.Chuck Schumer criticized the proposed SAVE America Act, claiming that the legislation could purge millions from voter rolls.
The Senate minority leader also took aim at tech billionaire Elon Musk, alleging that an AI-driven system linked to his efforts could remove voters without notice.
Former first lady Jill Biden announced she will publish a memoir this summer about her time in the White House, including reflections on the end of her husband Joe Biden’s presidency and his decision not to seek re-election.
In a video posted to Instagram, Biden stated:
I entered the role of first lady in a unique time in our nation’s history, in the midst of a pandemic and the shadow of an insurrection. Those days tested all of us—our resilience, our compassion, and our belief in one another—but we persevered. Serving in the historic East Wing was the honor of my life.
Ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz ditches
Seattle for Miami as Dems move to impose
‘millionaires’ tax’ 21 replies
Seattle for Miami as Dems move to impose
‘millionaires’ tax’ 21 replies
Former Starbucks owner and CEO Howard Schultz says he is leaving Seattle for Miami after 44 years in the java giant’s home state of Washington — as Dems there have been pushing for a so-called “millionaires’ tax.”
He has paid about $44 million for a 5,500-square-foot penthouse at the Surf Club, Four Seasons Private Residences in Surfside, Fla., the Wall Street Journal reported.
“For those of you who know us well, we have entered the ‘retirement’ phase of our lives,” Schultz wrote about himself and his wife Sheri Schultz in a late Tuesday LinkedIn post. “We are enjoying the sunshine
The Bank of England is to end the tradition of printing images of great Britons on the verso of paper money notes, stating it has decided to proceed with pictures of wildlife instead after it wanted something “not divisive”.
Sir Winston Churchill will no longer grace the pockets of Britons after it was announced the 50-year practice of printing portraits of famous Britons on the opposite side of notes from that of the reigning monarch is to end. The Bank of England, which issues money on behalf of the government, said in a statement on the change, emphasised that the change was supported by their research into public taste,
The first six days of war in Iran cost U.S. taxpayers at least $11.3 billion in munitions alone, according to Pentagon estimates reviewed by lawmakers, and experts say the final cost will only increase. That total does not include the cost of operating and maintaining the military force engaged in the war or battle damage sustained from Iran’s attacks.
The military used about $5.6 billion in munitions in the first two days of the conflict, according to a person with knowledge of the estimate. The munitions cost was first reported by The Washington Post.
The money spent on munitions, and the added expense of any damage done to U.S. military infrastructure
Iranian regime loyalists displayed a taped-together cardboard cutout of their new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly injured in recent strikes and has not been seen since his elevation.
The makeshift stand-in appeared at a pro-regime rally in Tehran, where organizers brought the life-size cutout of Khamenei onto the stage, according to Israeli journalist Amit Segal. Regime loyalists hailed and swore allegiance to the cutout, which appeared crudely assembled and held together by strips of tape, Segal reported.
Yamaha, Exxon's blue-state exits only
the latest in money and business fleeing
to MAGA states 17 replies
the latest in money and business fleeing
to MAGA states 17 replies
Yamaha Motor Company is now the latest seismic hit to California after announcing that, after half a century, the nearly $7 billion company is leaving the deep blue state.
Yamaha, which announced the move Tuesday, is not alone. Several prominent companies with longstanding ties to California have also relocated their headquarters or significant operations in recent years, often citing factors such as business climate, talent access and operational efficiency.
Hours later, ExxonMobil announced plans to end its New Jersey corporate registration and redomicile in Texas, citing a better business-friendly legal environment, after years of shareholder and climate-related legal battles, according to Fox Business News.
Tuesday on MS NOW’s “The Briefing,” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said President Donald Trump would try to “seize ballot boxes’ to “subvert the vote” in the midterm elections.
Host Jen Psaki said, “The administration subpoenaed records from 2020 from Arizona. We know that’s not about changing the outcome of the 2020 election. We know that they’ve already gone through that. It’s obviously about 2026. What do you make of that and what’s your level of concern about it?”
Schiff said, “I think the subpoenas in Arizona, America, Maricopa County, the FBI raid in Georgia, this is all trying to establish some kind of phony predicate
For years, the British £5 note has carried the face of Winston Churchill. The wartime prime minister who rallied Britain during its darkest hour has stared out from wallets and cash registers across the country, a constant reminder of the man who helped lead Britain through World War II.
Now the Bank of England is considering scrapping that tradition.
And what might replace one of Britain’s most consequential leaders says quite a lot about where parts of the country’s cultural establishment think Britain should be headed.
Animals. Plants. Landscapes.
Not the people who shaped the nation’s history. Wildlife.
The idea surfaced after the Bank of England asked the public what themes they
The Trump administration’s messaging on America’s military involvement in Iran has been, to put it lightly, a mess. And it’s clear after listening to his remarks about the conflict that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is not helping the situation. Since the U.S.-Israeli-led operation against Tehran began, Graham has rushed to every microphone and television camera available to express his unbridled enthusiasm about the campaign. When he isn’t bragging about how much money the U.S. is going to make as a result of the conflict, he’s calling for more American intervention in countries like Cuba and Lebanon.
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Several companies want to provide pilotless passenger aircraft. Looking for interested passengers.