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A pair of Russian satellites has been exhibiting “unusual and disturbing behavior” that could lead to a dangerous situation as they flew near a U.S. government spy satellite, the commander of U.S. Space Command said this week.

According to Time, the Russian spacecraft were launched in November and have crept within 100 miles of the American satellite USA 245 at certain times.

“The Russian satellites launched in 2017 exhibited characteristics of a weapon when one of those satellites released a high-speed projectile into space,” Space Force Gen. John “Jay” Raymond said in a statement, according to CBS News.

“Similar activities in any other domain would be interpreted as potentially threatening behavior,” he said. “This is unusual and disturbing behavior that has the potential to create a dangerous situation in space.”

Raymond also criticized Russia for this behavior, saying that it does not “reflect the behavior of a responsible spacefaring nation.”

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The Kremlin has previously said that the satellites in question were not space weapons but “inspector” spacecraft conducting an “experiment,” according to Time.

“The purpose of the experiment is to continue work on assessing the technical condition of domestic satellites,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in December, according to the TASS news agency.

U.S. officials have been in contact with Russia about the issue, according to Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov.

“We in fact received appropriate signals from them, and we [will] give answers to these signals after they are processed internally in necessary formats,” Ryabkov told Russia’s Interfax news agency, CBS News reported.

This confrontation is the first publicly identified direct threat to an American satellite and demonstrates the need for the newly minted Space Force, according to Pentagon, White House and congressional supporters.

This is why America needs a military service dedicated to organizing, training and equipping forces to provide @US_SpaceCom to deter adversaries & defend US & Allied #space capabilities.https://t.co/0t09iFrvt2 @SpaceNews_Inc

— United States Space Force (@SpaceForceDoD) February 11, 2020

Echoing sentiments felt during the Cold War, the Space Force has shifted focus to defending satellites and mobilizing against perceived threats from other nations, such as Russia and China, according to Time.

However, there are a few people in Washington who do not feel that such measures are necessary, the report said.

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“The last thing we need is more bureaucracy at the Pentagon, but that’s exactly what the Space Force is likely to give us,” William D. Hartung, the director of the Center for International Policy’s arms and security project, said.

“Creating a separate branch of the armed forces for space also risks militarizing U.S. space policy and promoting ill-advised and dangerous projects that could involve deploying weapons in space,” he said.

Michael Thompson, an amateur satellite tracker, noted Russia’s space activities in a series of tweets last week.

“The relative orbit is actually pretty cleverly designed where Cosmos 2542 can observe one side of the KH11 when both satellites first come into the sunlight, and by the time they enter eclipse, it has migrated to the other side,” he tweeted.

The relative orbit is actually pretty cleverly designed, where Cosmos 2542 can observe one side of the KH11 when both satellites first come into sunlight, and by the time they enter eclipse, it has migrated to the other side. pic.twitter.com/zaEBZJhFaO

— Michael Thompson (@M_R_Thomp) January 30, 2020

Thompson also pointed out that when the Russian satellites were launched, Russia said only Russian satellites would be inspected.

Cosmos 2542 made another maneuver on January 31st and is now drifting back towards USA 245.
Closest approach is currently set for February 7-10. https://t.co/tCdnThvx16 pic.twitter.com/TNMQnHiOu7

— Michael Thompson (@M_R_Thomp) February 2, 2020

“This is all circumstantial evidence, but there are a hell of a lot of circumstances that make it look like a known Russian inspection satellite is currently inspecting a known US spy satellite,” he wrote.

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A certain death has come to those who cannot find a spot of warmth in their heart for the well-meaning teenage rebel.

We’re not talking full-on James Dean, “Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?”/”What have you got?”-style rebellion. (Not that there isn’t something to be said for that sort, in small doses.)

We’re talking about Ferris Bueller here. Maybe Donnie Darko at the margins. Ren McCormack in “Footloose.” Olive Penderghast in “Easy A.” The kind of character who, in the face of some combination of power-hungry high school apparatchiks, self-absorbed parents and malevolent anthropomorphic rabbits of unknown origin (“Donnie Darko” only), manages to strike a blow for a certain kind of freedom from arbitrary rules and the draconian punishments visited upon those who transgressed them.

The reason people love such movies is that they know these authority figures all-too-well and either wouldn’t have dared to transgress them during high school, or did and found out that John Hughes usually doesn’t write the ending.

There’s also the fact that, in this day and age, it’d be difficult for any of these characters to exist. We’ve seen helicopter parents and how they work. Remember the opening scene in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” when he talks about how he never fakes a phony fever because that’s a one-way ticket to the doctor’s office? Well, anything else is these days, too — and even if everything is OK, as it invariably is, they’ll probably FaceTime you throughout the day or, even worse, bring you into work with them.

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On occasion, however, it seems that a student and/or students are able to end up with that perfect third act in real life.

In Franklin County, Virginia, we have some upstanding young Americans who would be getting a movie deal now if they hadn’t been standing up for Old Glory. That still just makes it cooler.

According to Virginia-based cable channel BTW21, a mother of one of the students at Franklin County High School said it began with her son realizing he was getting in trouble.

“My son called me from school saying that he saw an administrator around his truck and is now being called to the office,” she said.

The woman said her son and two of his friends were told they could no longer fly American flags on their vehicles because it was “offensive” and “disruptive.”

That was Monday of last week. On Tuesday, this is what happened:

That is, from what we can gather, a convoy showing the kind of support that Old Glory got in just 24 hours. If they thought they had “offensive” and “disruptive” before, they got a lot more of it in just 24 hours.

More goodness:

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A lot of you were hearing “The Star-Spangled Banner” over this, I was, too, but I was also hearing “Footloose” and thinking of all John Lithgow’s scowling in that movie.

And by golly, the students seem to have gotten their happy ending.

BTW21 reported the boy’s mother said “she received a call from the school principal Jon Crutchfield on that evening.”

“He has apologized to the boys and told them that it is not against the rules to fly their flag on their truck,” she said.

“Apparently, it was a big misunderstanding that should have never gotten this far.”

The story is continuing to updated slowly, so the details might change. BTW21 and The Western Journal have both reached out to the Franklin County Public Schools Administration but haven’t heard back yet. If we do, we’ll let you know.

For right now, however, it looks like the script played out for our high school rebels as it was supposed to.

The good guys won. Petty rules were defeated. Kids can continue to fly the flag.

And who’s to say the stars and stripes can’t have a Hollywood ending?

After all, you can forget sometimes, but remember what flag flies over Hollywood — no matter how much it may irk Californians.

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An elementary school in Arizona had a party to celebrate second-grader Addy Loncar, who was adopted by her father last week.

Last Friday, Addy, 7, was surrounded by classmates and teachers at Val Vista Academy in Gilbert, Arizona, to celebrate an adoption that had been three years in the making.

According to KPHO/KTVK, Addy’s mother, Emily, married Branden Loncar approximately three years ago.

Loncar wanted to formally adopt Addy as his own daughter, a process that took some time but has been worth the effort.

Gilbert school throws party for 2nd grader to celebrate her adoption day https://t.co/5KoAO0HkiY via @azfamily @AcademyVal

— Val Vista Academy (@AcademyVal) February 8, 2020

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Loncar said that he seized the opportunity to be a father, especially in light of his own upbringing.

“[With] the absence of a biological father in her life and in my own life, I’ve always told myself that if I had the ability to do so, I want to be the good father that I never had,” Loncar said.

Emily spoke about the adoption process, which she said was a long journey.

“A lot of court hearings and dates, and then after we got the ok, it still took about a year into our marriage before he was legally allowed to adopt as a spouse,” Emily said.

At school, Addy’s classmates were eager to celebrate alongside their friend and planned a sweet surprise.

“We made her a big card, and they all signed it, and then they decided, ‘Well, we can’t stop there. We need to have donuts,’” Marie Greiling, Addy’s teacher, explained.

Loncar believes the milestone day will be a memory Addy remembers her entire life.

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While Addy’s legal status has changed, Loncar said their relationship will continue as it has been from the start: as father and daughter who love one another.

“It doesn’t change anything,” Loncar said. “I’ve always treated her like my daughter, and she’s always treated me like her dad.”

Clutching the hand-made card in her hands, Addy read the sweet notes her classmates wrote, congratulating her on her big day.

“I love my Dad and he is grateful for me,” the beaming second-grader said.

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So, the question is: How long does this stay up?

It’s not just rhetorical.

A YouTube sketch comedy group that’s had one of its videos on gender issues banned in the past has produced a new video on the phenomenon of parents who let their children decide their own gender.

And you can pretty much start the pool in terms of how much longer this latest clip has on Google’s video platform.

According to The Christian Post, the sketch was posted by We The Internet TV late last month, and it deals with a father whose 3-year-old son has just told him he’s a girl.

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“We’re all hanging out on the couch watching Netflix together, and Tommy turns to Sarah and me and says, ‘I’m a girl now,’” the father says to a co-worker.

“I had no idea, but who am I to question my 3-year-old child, right?”

“Yeah, you’re just his parent,” the co-worker says.

“Well, it’s not actually ‘his,’” the father replies.

“Right! Sorry, her,” the co-worker responds.

Actually, it’s more complicated like that. The young boy — sorry, girl — wants their own preferred pronoun, which sounds suspiciously like a fart.

Will [fart noise] start kindergarten? Well, it seems like they don’t want to do so — and 3-year-olds are always right, after all.

“Also, we’re starting [fart noise] on hormone blockers next week, so we don’t really have a lot of free time,” the parent explains.

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Meanwhile, another father comes in and says his potty-trained daughter has decided she’d prefer to continue going in her pants. Her decision, after all.

And then another parent comes in announcing her son’s an astronaut — because, obviously, he told her so.

The sketch goes on like this for a while — and then the boss comes in. The boss is a child, of course, because who else would we listen to?

This displays one of the essential fallacies of pre-teen transgender movement, particularly with children who don’t show signs of deep and profound gender dysphoria: We act as parents not because we want to oppress our children but out of love.

We don’t simply allow children to make their own decisions for themselves.

They can’t play Nintendo Switch and ignore homework because they believe they’re Luigi.

We don’t let them eat an entire box of pasta for dinner — much less cook it on the stove.

They’re not allowed to watch horror movies at age 5.

Why? Because they don’t have that judgment.

But when it comes to gender issues, however, some parents are willing to grant an extraordinary amount of unscientific leeway.

The video hasn’t been taken down yet, so it’s hard to tell if that will happen, or if so, when.

That being said, this is the kind of trenchant logic that tends to get pushback on YouTube — especially when you consider a previous video the group did on transgender issues resulted in a YouTube ad ban in 2018.

This wasn’t a comedy sketch, according to The Federalist, but an interview with Dr. Deborah Soh.

The interview was mostly about Soh’s support of James Damore, the Google employee who was fired after a paper he wrote on gender relations and political correctness within the company.

However, in “the video that the banned ad promotes, called ‘Sex, Gender and Bulls—, Part 1,’ WTI’s head writer, Lou Perez, interviews Soh about the transgender movement.”

WTI said that the ad was banned because it promoted “dangerous or derogatory content.”

Will the same happen here? Will the video get pulled down?

Well, it certainly makes too much sense on an issue Google and YouTube have a very definite line on.

You make the call.

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