RAPID DEVELOPMENT: America’s First Unmanned Fighters Are Here: YFQ-42 and YFQ-44.

General Atomics’ CCA will be called the YFQ–42A and Anduril Industries’ CCA will be dubbed the YFQ–44A.

Under Air Force naming conventions, Y designates prototype, F means fighter, and Q means unmanned. Once a prototype moves into production, the Air Force would drop the Y from the prefix.

The chief said the unveiling represented far more than a name.

“We have two prototypes of Collaborative Combat Aircraft that were on paper less than a couple of years ago,” Allvin said. “For the first time in our history, we have a fighter designation in the YFQ-42 Alpha and the YFQ-44 Alpha—maybe just symbolic, but it’s telling the world that we are leaning into a new chapter of aerial warfare.”

CCA drones are designed to be “loyal wingmen” that can fly alongside new and existing crewed fighter jets, including the F-35 Lightning II. The Air Force believes a single manned fighter can control a larger number of drones than originally envisioned and can do so using less-sophisticated autonomous technology.

Plus, now that the airframes are nailed down, the computer hardware and software can always be upgraded later for greater autonomy.

STARBASE AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’ YET: You Won’t Believe What’s Coming to Texas.

LEGALIZED THEFT:

🚨 Gavin Newsom & his allies just forced 12 historic family farms & dairies out of Point Reyes National Seashore in California.

They claim it’s about saving the environment — but the truth couldn't be more different.

Here is the true story — and it's heartbreaking. ⬇️🧵1/ pic.twitter.com/f9vd4ksDos

— James Li (@5149jamesli) March 4, 2025

Read the whole thread but keep any prescribed blood pressure medication handy.

A GIRL-DAD ASKS: Just Curious, How Many Dems Have Their Daughters Competing Against Trans Dudes in Sports?

WHERE IS THE GOP’S NEXT GIULIANI? GrannyKiller Cuomo Runs For Mayor. “For some reason, the egos of disgraced New York Democratic politicians are so large that they never seem to think they’re too disgraced to run for office again. Just like Anthony Weiner before him, disgraced former New York governor Andrew Cuomo thinks he can run for New York City mayor and people will forget the sex scandal that drove him out of office.”

OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY IS ALWAYS CHEAPER:

Hey, I said "someone should do something," not "I should do something." https://t.co/kZ4Xml4wQI

— Noam Blum (@neontaster) March 3, 2025

SABOTAGE: Inside the Democrats’ Plans to Disrupt Trump’s Speech.

SPACE: NASA’s Europa Clipper Flies Past Mars On Its Way To Jupiter’s Icy Moon.

Launched on October 14, 2024, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Europa Clipper is embarking on a 1.8-billion-mile (2.9-billion-kilometer) trek to the Jupiter system. The $5.2 billion mission is NASA’s first dedicated effort to explore Europa, a world that may harbor an underground ocean beneath its thick ice shell. Scientists believe this ocean could have the right conditions to support life.

The spacecraft itself is a giant among interplanetary probes. Spanning the length of a basketball court, its massive solar panels make it one of NASA’s largest planetary exploration missions.

The spacecraft was initially placed on a path with extra buffer space around Mars, a precaution to ensure that any early mission complications wouldn’t risk an unintended collision with the planet. But with all systems operating flawlessly, mission planners gave the green light for a precision flyby.

Godspeed…

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: The Government Is Paralyzed? Oh, no! Anyway… “They’re setting us up to do the Jeremy Clarkson meme. They’re actually setting America up to do the meme.”

THEY GAVE PEACE A CHANCE UNDER TRUMP 45 AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENED:

Despite regional tensions, Abraham Accords ties remain strong.

The Abraham Accords Peace Institute's analysis shows that in 2024, economic relations and trade continued to grow between Israel and all of its peace partners in the Arab world.

• Trade between Israel 🇮🇱 and the…

— Abraham Accords Peace Institute (@Peace_Accords) March 3, 2025

Full text:

Despite regional tensions, Abraham Accords ties remain strong.

The Abraham Accords Peace Institute’s analysis shows that in 2024, economic relations and trade continued to grow between Israel and all of its peace partners in the Arab world.

• Trade between Israel and the UAE reached $3.24 billion in 2024, an increase of 10% from 2023.

• Trade between Israel and Bahrain reached $108.5 million in 2024, an increase of 843% from 2023.

• Trade between Israel and Morocco reached $109.9 million in 2024, an increase of 40% from 2023.

• Trade between Israel and Egypt reached $579 million in 2024, an increase of 31% from 2023.

• Trade between Israel and Jordan reached $477.6 million in 2024, an increase of 7% from 2023.

Now is the time to deepen and expand the Abraham Accords, and shape a future of peace, prosperity and partnership for the entire region.

Previously: Psaki Rejects the Abraham Accords as ‘Tactics of the Prior Administration.’

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Fire Up the Grill! The U.S. Government Wants You to Eat These 5 Wild Animals.

A BILLION HERE AND A BILLION THERE…: Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC announces new $100B investment in US.

Taiwanese chip giant TSMC announced at the White House Monday that it will invest an additional $100 billion in the U.S. for three new advanced semiconductor manufacturing plants, a new infusion on top of the manufacturer’s existing plans.

TSMC CEO C.C. Wei credited President Donald Trump for the projects, which will include a new Arizona R&D center — a critical part of the technology supply chain that the company has never moved outside of Taiwan.

“We have to thank President Trump’s vision and his support,” Wei said. “TSMC started the journey of establishing the advanced chip manufacturing in Arizona. And now, let me proudly say the vision becomes reality.”
The company — which makes some 90 percent of the world’s most cutting-edge chips for customers like Nvidia and Apple — previously committed over $65 billion to build three factories in Arizona under a CHIPS and Science Act contract with the Biden administration. TSMC agreed to build a factory in the U.S. to cut reliance on geopolitically risky Taiwan during Trump’s first term.

It’s tragic what’s happened to Intel but some yuge friendshoring from Taiwan Semi is more than welcome.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Let’s Get This ‘Nuke the Dept. of Education’ Ball Rolling ASAP. “Democrats are essentially owned by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the National Education Association (NEA), which is the largest labor union in the United States. The continued bloating of the Dept. of Education is integral to the unions’ grift. The success of that grift is integral to the unions’ continued control over the Democratic Party. The circle must remain unbroken in order for the public school progressive indoctrination mills’ continued functioning.”

IT WAS BIDEN’S PARTY; WE JUST GET THE HANGOVER:

The Fed's GDP estimates crash on Biden hangover and falling government spending.

More is coming.

Because the more DOGE cuts — and the more wars end — the richer we’ll be. But the worse GDP will look on paper. pic.twitter.com/qLXukVc7QS

— Peter St Onge, Ph.D. (@profstonge) March 3, 2025

No matter how Washington does its accounting, deficit spending is a net drain on GDP.

ICYMI [VIP]: Off-Ramps to Nowhere. “World War I was the war that broke Europe. The Russo-Ukraine War has broken the American public’s patience with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, and maybe even with NATO — and, like WWI three years in, there’s still no end in sight. The parallels are disturbing.”

DEMOCRATS JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY: Colorado bill looks to expand SNAP to allow restaurant food purchases.

While the bill does not specify particular restaurants that will participate in the program, it lays out requirements for the state to set up an application process for restaurants to apply to the program.

Participating restaurants would be required to be licensed by the state Department of Health and authorized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to receive SNAP.

It also says that participating restaurants may be “encouraged” through the program’s rules to:

• Utilize practices of procuring locally produced foods for hot or prepared meals.

• Serve foods that represent diverse cultural traditions.

• Serve geographically diverse regions of the state.

• Offer the option for a patron to choose how to pay for their meal in underinvested communities.

So much delicious red tape, I’d be surprised if many — any? — restaurants decide to participate.

AND SHE LOOKED MAHVELOUS: Melania Goes to Capitol Hill.

“YES” TO BOTH POINTS:

This is a warning for the GOP as well. The coalition in and around the White House right now is a big tent and it is not "traditional Republican". Either they take care of Main Street or they will be in trouble, too.

— Carol Roth (@caroljsroth) March 3, 2025

OH MY:

BREAKING: Head of FBI field office in New York *resigns* after the Department of Justice accused his office of hiding thousands of Epstein documents.

James Dennehy says he was forced to resign in an email to staff.

"Late Friday, I was informed that I needed to put my retirement… pic.twitter.com/rNZWQpGT8O

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 3, 2025

Full text:

James Dennehy says he was forced to resign in an email to staff.

“Late Friday, I was informed that I needed to put my retirement papers in today, which I just did. I was not given a reason for this decision,” Dennehy said.

Dennehy had previously told his office to “dig in” after Trump was elected.

The resignation comes after AG Pam Bondi instructed FBI Director Kash Patel to launch an investigation into claims that the New York field office was hiding thousands of documents.

Bondi said a source came forward claiming the field office had thousands of pages of docs.

“I repeatedly questioned whether this was the full set of documents responsive to my request and was repeatedly assured by the FBI that we had received the full set of documents,” Bondi said.

“Late yesterday, I learned from a source that the FBI Field Office in New York was in possession of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein.”

“Despite my repeated requests, the FBI never disclosed the existence of these files. When you and I spoke yesterday, you were just as surprised as I was to learn this new information.”

Developing…

LAUGHING WOLF: The Zelensky Implosion. “What Zelensky displayed is far too common in Western Europe, where it is fashionable and acceptable (and far too common for my taste) to display such arrogant entitlement towards America and Americans. I will note that when you get out into the countryside, or more into Eastern Europe, this fades. Or, at least it did when I last traveled around a bit.”

Read the whole thing.

I’d just add that Zelenskyy permanently pissed off an awful lot of Ukraine supporters. And people who might have been on the fence, he probably pushed off of it.

THIS WEEK’S THURSDAY [VIP] ESSAY ARRIVED A LITTLE EARLY: Off-Ramps to Nowhere: Trump’s Fruitless (So Far) Peace Effort in Ukraine.

Putin’s peace terms remain as maximalist as ever, after three years of grinding losses and increasing reliance on those donkeys. He insists on Ukraine surrendering territories that Russia has failed to conquer, an effective veto over Ukraine’s government, and the demilitarization of a country he’s invaded twice in recent years. None of that is reasonable.

On the other side of the negotiating table (that neither side is willing to come to) is Zelenskyy. His peace demands are also maximalist. He wants Russia to leave territories Ukraine cannot reconquer, the presence of tripwire allied forces, and NATO membership. None of that is plausible.

Both leaders, if not actually divorced from reality, are at least enjoying trial separations. The most obvious example is Zelenskyy’s “WTF Were You Even THINKING?” (Hat tip, Florida Man Friday) performance at the White House on Friday. The deal had been pre-negotiated, giving America an economic stake in Ukraine that not even Putin could afford to ignore. All Zelenskyy had to do was put on a damn suit, smile, sign the papers, and enjoy lunch afterward with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

What followed, as I’m sure you already know, was the biggest geopolitical self-own since British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich in 1938 praising himself for delivering “peace in our time.”

Did I exaggerate with the Munich comparison? Probably. But only time will tell by how much.

Much more at the link.

COMING RIGHT UP:

Watch Starship's eighth flight test → https://t.co/alyJTRtgTh https://t.co/hlpEF4ICyT

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 2, 2025

GOOD LUCK WITH ANY OF THAT, FELLAS, CONSIDERING WHAT’S LEFT OF YOUR BASE AND WHERE YOUR MONEY COMES FROM:

New @playbookdc: Last month, a group of moderate Democratic consultants, campaign staffers, elected officials & party leaders gathered in Loudoun County, Virginia, for a retreat where they plotted their party’s comeback.

We got their takeaways. pic.twitter.com/lA1nVshriG

— Adam Wren (@adamwren) March 2, 2025

PRIVATE SCHOOLS WOULD HAVE TO BE CRAZY TO ACCEPT IT (AND ALL THE STRINGS THAT WOULD COME WITH IT), FOR STARTERS: Brits do it. Dutch do it. Even down in Oz they do it. Why can’t US have public funding for private schools?

ANALYSIS: TRUE. To Be a Peacemaker and Peacekeeper, Trump Must Build Up the Navy.

Maintaining a strong Navy used to be taken for granted; it was obvious to everyone from Main Street to the White House that not only was it the right thing to do, but it also was in the nation’s economic and security self-interest. At the end of the Cold War, however, the notion of the Navy as a global peacekeeping and peacemaking force collapsed along with the Berlin Wall.

This is not an issue of simply picking up where the Cold War left off. The Navy today has shrunk to perilous levels, and the broad national and human infrastructure required to maintain it—a Constitutional requirement—has atrophied to a dangerous degree. To make matters worse, we seem to have forgotten how to dig ourselves out of the deep hole we have created.

In reality, rebuilding the Navy is a relatively straightforward task. It starts with recruiting, training, and putting to work the men and women necessary to build and maintain the fleet. This will be a job for industry, government, and schools at every level. The effort and expense should fit nicely with the emerging public and political determination to re-energize the country and its place in the world. After all, the Navy and its shore establishment are critical national infrastructure and contribute greatly to both U.S. economic and industrial vitality.

But straightforward doesn’t mean easy.

Or cheap. But a strong navy pays for itself with peace and peaceful commerce.