Free Republic

Despite Swiss Air’s ten-year affiliation with Läderach, the airline dropped the chocolatier after protests and extensive vandalism by left-wing activists, homosexuals, and young socialists, according to a report by LifeSite News. Jürg Läderach, who owns the high-end chocolate company, is also the president of “Christianity for Today” (CFT), a Swiss evangelical organization Last fall, activists attacked a Läderach store in Basel, Switzerland, using Butyric acid, forcing the store to close for two days. This assault was just one instance of vandalism against the chocolatier, which reportedly took place at seven different stores. According to the Swiss news magazine Beobachter, negative...

Boeing posted an image today of a Louisiana Air National Guard F-15C wearing a pair of conformal fuel tanks (CFTs). The tanks are part of a new initiative to give the F-15C fleet more gas and weapons carrying capability in order to execute what the Air National Guard calls future "persistent air dominance missions." The 159th Fighter Wing "Bayou Militia" is the first unit to receive the tanks for testing and evaluation. Boeing's Randy Jackson stated the following in an email to the The War Zone: "The first flight with the tanks was achieved in just 10 months after the...

Lockheed Martin and the IAF are in negotiations to examine the possibility of extending the flight range of the Israeli version of the future fighter aircraft F-35 by 30%. The issues was discussed during the Paris Air Show, attended by a delegation of senior representatives of Lockheed Martin (who arrived in Israel this week for another round of talks). At the same time, it is known that a team of the IAF is currently in Fort Worth, Texas, to work on the aircraft, in preparation for its arrival in Israel at the end of 2016. According to current knowledge, Israel...

The Eurofighter Typhoon’s proposed conformal fuel tank (CFT) configuration has entered windtunnel testing in the UK, partner company BAE Systems has revealed. BAE says it is “currently assessing the aerodynamic characteristics of carrying two fuselage-mounted conformal fuel tanks on the Typhoon aircraft”, using a high-speed windtunnel at its Warton site in Lancashire. “This testing will help to accelerate the clearance process for such tanks to be integrated on to Typhoon, offering increased range and flexibility to the aircraft,” the company adds. BAE Systems A new configuration item for the Tranche 3 production standard Typhoon, the conformal structures would free up...

Message for wealth-bashing millionaire actor Ed Asner: Man up and take responsibility for lying to America's schoolchildren. Confronted by a producer for Fox News Channel's "The Sean Hannity Show" this week, the left-wing celebrity claimed he couldn't remember "a thing (he) said" on a vile propaganda video produced and published by the California Federation of Teachers. Asner narrated the unforgettable eight-minute anti-capitalist screed geared toward children. Think Occupy Wall Street meets Sesame Street. "Things go downhill in a happy and prosperous land after the rich decide they don't want to pay taxes anymore," Asner warbles in a folksy grandpa voice....

I believe there is a difference between rank-and-file teachers and the leadership of radical teachers’ unions. The trouble is, the rank-and-file sits idly by as the radicals embarrass them, time and time again. Perhaps we’ve reached the point where the rank-and-file can rightfully be accused of being complicit of such behavior. Why aren’t teachers angrily denouncing a recent resolution passed by the California Federation of Teachers in which the union "reaffirms support for death row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal"? The American Federation of Teachers, led by Randi Weingarten, has to date issued no statement in opposition to this offensive resolution....

....Seventy-eight percent of likely California voters support a 1 percent increase in the income tax rate for Californians earning more than $500,000 a year, according to the poll, which was conducted by Democratic pollster Ben Tulchin and sponsored by the California Federation of Teachers. .....The teachers union is looking to partner with other labor groups to put the tax before voters in November. Such a measure would need approval from two-thirds of voters. The measure is seen as a "sweetener" to lure more voters to the polls should there be another measure on the ballot in the fall asking voters...

As Democrats scramble to find a new budget course after talks collapsed this week, the California Federation of Teachers is calling for a 1 percent tax hike on the top 1 percent of earners as part of a state budget solution. The union estimates the tax hike would raise an estimated $2.5 billion as the state faces a remaining $15.4 billion deficit, said spokesman Steve Hopcraft. The proposal would hike taxes by 1 percent on personal income above $500,000. CFT represents 120,000 teachers and school employees at all levels, including the University of California. To back its efforts, CFT commissioned...

The California Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit today against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state officials to recoup $12 billion in education funds it says the state owes schools. The suit in San Francisco Superior Court comes as CFT campaigns against Proposition 1A, a spending limit and temporary tax hike on the May 19 ballot. That proposal, in conjunction with Proposition 1B, would help provide schools $9.3 billion of the $12 billion that CFT is demanding. But CFT opposes Proposition 1A because it believes the measure would limit long-term funding for schools. The lawsuit is partly a political attempt...