Seven losses in a season is unfamiliar territory for the San Francisco 49ers. With two Super Bowl appearances in five seasons, general manager John Lynch openly admits the 49ers haven't earned the right to be called "as good" as the 2023 NFC championship group. San Francisco is 5-7 but only two games behind NFC West-leading Seattle with five games remaining as the Chicago Bears (4-8) arrive Sunday. "I've found the whole discussion on Kyle rather comical," Lynch said in an interview Friday with KNBR in San Francisco. "We have won four of the last five division championships. We've been to two Super Bowls. The standard here is to win championships, and we've fallen short of that, I understand. "But we have an excellent head coach, and the fact that people are talking about stuff like that, I do find it comical. We're 100 percent behind Kyle and what he brings to our organization. Like I said, our focus is really on the Bears and doing everything we can. That's where Kyle's focus is, and that's where all our focus is." San Francisco lost 35-10 in the snow at Buffalo last Sunday night and the 49ers placed their top two running backs on injured reserve due to injuries in that game. Christian McCaffrey (knee) and Jordan Mason (ankle) could return for Week 18 at Arizona if the 49ers are still fighting for a playoff spot. More from this section In a top-down ranking of NFC teams by record and playoff position, the 49ers are No. 11 entering Week 14. "You are what your record says you are in this league, and that isn't very good. So I think we've been through a lot as a team, this current team with a lot of stuff that has happened to members of our organization. Injuries, tragic circumstances, ultimately those are just excuses. One thing I can tell you is I'm proud of how this group has stuck together, had each other's back. The other thing I can tell you is the story's not written yet. We're still grinding, and we're still playing." The 49ers last missed the postseason in 2020 with a record of 6-10 that followed an appearance in the Super Bowl -- San Francisco's first title game loss of two to the Kansas City Chiefs. San Francisco's upcoming schedule after Sunday includes a short week before playing the division rival Rams on Thursday, at Miami (Dec. 22), a Monday night matchup with the Detroit Lions on Dec. 30 and the finale against the Cardinals. --Field Level MediaNASA's 2 stuck astronauts face more time in space with return delayed until at least late March

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has named billionaire investment banker Warren Stephens as his envoy to Britain, a prestigious posting for the Republican donor whose contributions this year included $2 million to a Trump-backing super PAC. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has named billionaire investment banker Warren Stephens as his envoy to Britain, a prestigious posting for the Republican donor whose contributions this year included $2 million to a Trump-backing super PAC. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has named billionaire investment banker Warren Stephens as his envoy to Britain, a prestigious posting for the Republican donor whose contributions this year included $2 million to a Trump-backing super PAC. Trump, in a post on his Truth Social site Monday evening, announced he was selecting Stephens to be the U.S. ambassador to the Court of Saint James. The Senate is required to confirm the choice. “Warren has always dreamed of serving the United States full time. I am thrilled that he will now have that opportunity as the top Diplomat, representing the U.S.A. to one of America’s most cherished and beloved Allies,” Trump said in in his post. Stephens is the chairman, president and CEO of Little Rock, Arkansas-based financial services firm Stephens Inc., having taken over the firm from his father. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Trump has already named many of his nominees for his Cabinet and high-profile diplomatic posts, assembling a roster of staunch loyalists. Over the weekend, Trump announced he intends to nominate real estate developer Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France. During his first term, Trump selected Robert “Woody” Johnson, a contributor to his campaign and the owner of the New York Jets football team, as his representative to the United Kingdom. AdvertisementThis latest development has sparked fear and uncertainty among NATO member countries, many of whom rely heavily on the alliance for their security and defense. The prospect of the U.S. withdrawing from NATO would fundamentally alter the balance of power in Europe and beyond, leaving many countries vulnerable to potential threats from adversaries such as Russia.

In the Netherlands, one of Europe’s largest meat producers, people are falling out of love with meat. One in five young people would like to give up meat, and half of Dutch people want to eat less. Meanwhile, two-thirds of people support a shift to more plant-based food system, according to a new survey . Read more: Why This Dutch Town Is Encouraging Residents To Eat Vegan Food The research, commissioned by ProVeg Netherlands, revealed support for a plant-based transition was found across age groups, rural and urban areas, and political viewpoints. It also uncovered not only a willingness to give up meat among the Dutch, but that a quarter of people hope that one day we will completely stop using animals for food. ProVeg calculated a 30 percent reduction in Dutch meat consumption if all those who said they wanted to eat less meat did so. This would go about a third of the way to meeting the government’s emissions target for animal farming, saving 1.6 megatons of CO2 per year. This would also save 116 million animal lives annually. Animal welfare a top consideration According to the survey the top reasons that people support a plant-based transition are: animal suffering, deforestation and biodiversity loss, and the preservation of marine life. Preventing food shortages, pandemics, and health problem came next, followed lastly by climate change and nitrogen pollution. The latter two issues are behind the Dutch government’s bid to bring down farmed animal numbers in the country. Read more: Dutch City Becomes First In The World To Ban Meat Adverts In Public Although 45 percent of people surveyed are already flexitarian, meat and dairy remain dominant in Dutch diets. Animal sources make up 58 percent of protein consumed , compared to 42 percent from plant sources. The main barrier to more people acting on their desire to eat less meat is taste and believing meat is necessary for health, according to the survey. But ProVeg notes that since the wish to eat less meat is already there, it would be possible to make the Netherlands more plant-based without having to convince people of the benefits first. Efforts to do this are already underway. The government has a target of making the protein ratio 50/50 from animals and plants by 2030. Meanwhile several Dutch supermarkets are trying to aid this transition by increasing the proportion of plant-based protein they sell. Read more: Farmed Animals Numbers Drop In Europe As Meat Production FallsZaleski: USPS is not a business

National security advisors to incoming President Donald Trump are considering in a bombing campaign. They would not be thinking this way had not Israel been remarkably successful in wiping out Iran’s air defenses. The star of the show was the F-35. Interest in the Trump camp , with Elon Musk one of the strongest voices, just took a . including the Russian supplied S-300 MPU-2, an advanced version of the S-300. It was paired with radars including the Russian Rezonans-NE which, it was claimed, could detect Israeli stealth aircraft and missiles. The S-300 interceptor missiles fly at speeds between Mach 6 and Mach 8.5. Iran acquired four S-300 systems, finally delivered in 2016. Iran also sported a large number of other air defense systems that apparently were also liquidated. The F-35 is America’s stealth tactical bomber. It is currently in production in a program that will ultimately cost the US taxpayer trillions of dollars. Because of the high price tag and numerous birthing problems, many of them centered on software code issues, top Trump people, including Elon Musk, aim to stop F-35 production and replace the stealth fighter with drones. The US has had some stealth drones for quite a while, but they are man-in-the-loop drones that require constant communications to reach their targets. The use of radio communications creates opportunities for any adversary as he can intercept the radio transmissions, locate the “stealth” drone through triangulation, and, as the Iranians proved, even grab control of the stealth drone and capture it. That’s what happened on December 5, 2011 when a US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone was electronically captured by the Iranians over the town of Kashmar. The Iranians knew about the use of Sentinel drones over its territory, used to track Iran’s nuclear program, but needed to find a way to intercept them. Watching the communications, they were able (probably with help from Russia) to build a controller and devised a way to grab control of the drone and land it. The Iranian pilot did fairly well, but his landing was rough and a wing was broken and the underside of the drone damaged. Even so it was a spectacular coup by Iran, and gave Iran and Russia access to a top secret platform with capabilities far greater than anything the Russians, or even the Chinese, had at the time. The RQ-170 drone program remains highly classified, but other than the B-21 Raider, it is the only stealth drone in the US inventory. The B-21 is a strategic bomber, but it is believed to be able to operate without a crew as a smart drone. The B-21 program is hugely expensive, with the price of each platform closing in on $1 billion per copy. Israel has a sizable inventory of drones —surveillance, command and control and attack types. But Israel’s Air Force (IAF) relies on manned aircraft for its operations. Israel’s version of the F-35 is called Adir (Mighty One). It is a customized version of the F-35 that includes domestically developed electronic countermeasures and does not include Lockheed’s logistics tracking system (as that would mean its aircraft would be tracked, a significant vulnerability in the F-35 program). The Adir also supports Israeli weapons, air to air weapons such as Python and standoff weapons such as the Popeye Turbo with an accuracy better than 3 meters (9.8 feet). It should not be forgotten that a key advantage of a full-sized aircraft over a drone is the weapon’s load, including smart weapons, and the ability to shift to alternative targets. Drones are much more limited, and drones that can release actual weapons (for example the Hellfire missile or small unguided weapons) don’t have the punch that a big platform brings to the table. Today’s trend is to build drones that fly along with fighter aircraft or even bombers. It remains to be seen if these newer companion drones really augment air force capabilities. Examples include the Russian Okhotnik-B S-70 and the US XQ-58A Valkyrie. While we do not know the costs (including R&D) for the Russian drone, the Valkyrie is likely priced at around $25 million a copy, about a third of the cost of the F-35. These models are unproven and their functionality in combat mostly speculative. Future drones will increasingly use artificial intelligence and synthetic mapping to hit targets, reducing if not eliminating radio communications but still relying on GPS satellites for course correction. One problem in this approach is that there is a considerable delay between an actual strike and reporting on the success of the attack, as the protection of the drone requires operating in silent mode. Probably additional drones will be needed to assess results, or satellites capable of surveying targets attacked. Israel attacked Iranian targets using non-stealth fighter aircraft such as the F-15 and F-16 and the F-35 whose main function was to take out Iran’s air defenses. Along the way Israel also crippled Iranian early warning radars in Syria and Iraq. Below is a map of the targets in Iran successfully hit by the IAF raid prepared by the Institute for the Study of War: We actually know very little about the logistics of Israel’s operation against Iran. No doubt that information is highly classified. However it is obvious that Israel’s attack, even taking into account the significant restrictions imposed by the Biden administration, was a great success. Similarly Israel was successful in knocking out Syrian air defenses, again reportedly using its F-35s. The Israeli operations in Syria and Iran are the first use of the F-35 against Russian-produced air defenses, demonstrating the value of the stealth feature of the aircraft. There is a strong lesson for potential adversaries including Russia. The Russians lacked stealth technology until recently. Russia’s Su-57 fighter bomber has recently to enhance its stealth characteristics (meaning reducing its radar signature). The Russians also are developing a more advanced stealth fighter, the Su-75 Checkmate. And Russia also is building a stealth bomber (the US already has the B-2 and is soon to deploy the B-21 Raider), the Tu-PAK-DA (expected to go into production in 2027). The Russians have also been pushing to develop technologies that can detect enemy stealth aircraft. Low observable technology is built around the idea of reducing radar signatures dramatically in X-band radar. X-band radars are the dominant type of air defense radar sets worldwide. Alternative radars, such as or , can detect stealth aircraft but they are range limited and not accurate enough for most countermeasures. (The Russians have built L Band radars and other aircraft including the Su-27, to give them an ability to detect US stealth fighters.) In the United States those who want to cancel the F-35 program will have to answer the question of why production should be stopped on the F-35, a platform that tackled Russian air defenses and an expansionist Iran and taught both of them a lesson.

Joining forces with Rooney, who has also enjoyed a stellar playing career and is now making a name for himself as a promising manager, McKenna is set to form a dynamic coaching duo that is sure to make waves in the world of football. Their shared history and mutual understanding of the game will be invaluable assets as they work together to lead Plymouth Argyle to new heights.