Sunday, September 24, 2017 - Today is
Heritage Day in South Africa
President Trump tweets on Kim
Jong-un
U.S. President Donald Trump
has tweeted that Kim Jong-un, whom he called a "madman," will be tested
like never before.
President Trump and North Korean
dictator Kim Jong Un escalated months of tensions this week, trading fierce
threats and pointed insults like "rocket man" and "dotard" in high-profile
addresses on two continents.
North Korea has released
fake images of Kim Jong-Un's lethal missiles shooting down a U.S.
bomber.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho
warned yesterday that it is "inevitable" that his country will launch a missile
toward the mainland United States in revenge for the insults President Trump has
directed at leader Kim Jong Un. But if North Korea's foreign minister hoped to
draw a response from U.S. President Donald Trump with his speech
yesterday to the U.N. General Assembly, he got his wish. Trump said North
Korea's leaders "won't be around much longer," if they attempt to launch a
strike on the U.S.
Many members of the national media hate
President Trump so much that they'll even defend North Korea if it keeps them
consistent in their opposition to everything he does.
President Trump's new Executive Order on
North Korea sanctions is a unilateral declaration of economic warfare designed
to bring the North to its knees through the aggressive use of secondary
sanctions against any country that trades with or finances the communist
nation.
U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers and F-15
jets, flying in international waters, carried out a show of force yesterday off
the coast of North Korea aimed at countering what the Pentagon called
Pyongyang's "reckless behavior."
And South Korea's weather agency said a
magnitude 3.2 earthquake was detected in North Korea yesterday close to where
the country recently conducted a nuclear test, but it assessed the quake as
natural.
The U.K. is facing another financial setback from
the 'Brexit'
Moody's has downgraded the U.K.'s credit
rating from Aa1 to Aa2, citing fears that it will have a hard time making trade
deals in the wake of the "Brexit."
In Mexico, villagers feel
forgotten
Inhabitants of the villages that dot the
largely rural southern edge of Mexico City say they feel abandoned as aid and
rescue workers focus on the 38 buildings that collapsed in the
earthquake nearer the city's downtown district.
Meanwhile, two more earthquakes shook
southern Mexico yesterday, further rattling a country still coming to grips with
the devastation from stronger temblors earlier this month.
Six injured in London acid
attack
A still image from video shows
ambulances and other emergency services response vehicles outside Stratford
station, in London, yesterday. The London Metropolitan Police are investigating
after the six people were injured by a "noxious substance" thrown during a
fight at a shopping center.
Syria looks for peace
By Lisa Levine, News of the Force Tel Aviv
Syria's foreign minister told world
leaders yesterday that victory against terrorists in his war-ravaged nation "is
now within reach."
The Turkish Parliament yesterday renewed
a bill allowing the military to intervene in Iraq and Syria if faced with
national security threats - a move seen as a final warning to Iraqi Kurds to
call off their independence referendum set for tomorrow. Turkey's government
will never accept a separate Kurdish state in neighboring Iraq, and won't
refrain from taking steps to prevent it, the government says.
Iran's Khoramshahr missile was displayed
by the Revolutionary Guard during a military parade marking the 37th anniversary
of Iraq's 1980 invasion of Iran, in front of the shrine of late revolutionary
founder Ayatollah Khomeini, just outside Tehran. U.S . President
Donald Trump took to Twitter yesterday to weigh in on the news
that Iran defied his warnings with a new ballistic-missile test. Iranian media
reported the missile could carry multiple warheads but wasn't designed for
nuclear capabilities.
And Israeli air force jets have attacked
several targets near the Damascus airfield, Syrian media has reported. The
attack seems to have been directed at a Hizbollah weapons storage
warehouse.
Couzin Gym's Thought for the
Day: Trouble in a marriage often starts when a man gets so
busy earning his salt that he forgets his sugar.
NOAA news
Tens of thousands of residents in
northwestern Puerto Rico were ordered to evacuate amid fears that a dam holding
back a large inland lake was in imminent danger of failing because of damage
from Hurricane Maria. Puerto Rico is already experiencing major flooding in
numerous areas, including San Juan. NOAA's National Weather Service
has warned the failure of Guajataca Dam in northwest Puerto Rico was
"imminent" and could lead to “life-threatening" flash flooding.
In the northern Puerto Rico town of Vega
Baja, the floodwaters reached more than 10 feet. Stranded residents screamed
"save me, save me," using the lights in their cell phones to help rescue teams
find them in the darkness.
Just as large swaths of the Caribbean
try to recover from powerful hurricanes that turned small paradises into islands
of destruction, another storm - Tropical Storm Lee - is gaining strength in the
Atlantic.
Hurricane Maria is expected to soon
create dangerous waves and strong rip currents along parts of the southeast U.S.
coast as the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas are no longer
under hurricane warnings. During the past several hours, NOAA buoy #41047,
located to the east of the storm's center, reported sustained winds of 68
mph and a wind gust of 85 mph.
And a 150-pound sub-adult male was
the 1,000th turtle in the state of Hawaii to be rehabilitated and released
back into the wild by NOAA.
U.S. Navy and Marine Corps
BAE Systems has been awarded a
$51.3-million contract for maintenance and modernization of the U.S. Navy's
USS Roosevelt guided missile destroyer.
A U.S. Marine Corps CH-53E Super
Stallion helicopter with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 162
(Reinforced), 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, has departed its base for Puerto
Rico.
A Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey has landed
in St. John, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, bringing in personnel and
equipment.
The "Red Devils" put the faces to Marine
Corps fighter pilots at California's Miramar Air Show.
U.S. Marine Corps aircraft joined
Japanese and South Korean military aircraft in a sequenced bilateral show of
force over the Korean Peninsula.
And the Marine Corps Reserve will host a
golf tournament on Oct. 7th in South Bend, Indiana. It's part of an effort to
raise money for the annual "Toys for Tots" drive. The event will be held at the
Elbel Golf Course. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. and shotgun at 10 a.m. There
will be food, prizes, games and a raffle. The event ranges between $60 and
$400. If you would like to register, you must sign up by Oct. 1st.
Homeland insecurity
The city of San Diego, Calif., has
turned to the Department of Homeland Security for help in combating a hepatitis
outbreak.
A local company in Bozeman,
Montana, that supplies laser technology to the military and Homeland
Security has gotten a visit from Sen. Jon Tester, who is seeking alternatives to
building a costly wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
A rash of recent high-profile cyber
attacks has security experts scrambling to find solutions.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security
says Wisconsin's voter registration system was unsuccessfully targeted by
Russian hackers. The Department of Homeland Security and election officials from
around the country are expected to meet next month to begin working
toward a solution to the problem.
U.S. Army
Struggling with an embarrassing series
of misconduct and behavior problems among senior officers, the Army is putting
together new ways to address the problems of its misbehaving generals.
A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter has
collided in mid-air with a drone during an air patrol over New York City,
where international diplomats have gathered for the United Nations General
Assembly meeting.
Robert Perez, a U.S. Army captain
stationed at Fort Benning, Ga., smiled for the first time in a week as he
saw his parents arrive at Florida's Orlando International Airport after
they escaped from Hurricane Maria.
An Atlanta, Ga., man was convicted
on Wednesday of placing malicious code on a U.S. Army computer that
eventually cost taxpayers about $2.6 million.
One hundred soldiers of the U.S.
Army Reserve's 603rd Military Police Company, which is based in Belton,
Kansas, have returned home from their service at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba.
Scientists from the U.S. Army Research
Laboratory (ARL) have devised a way to extract fuel power from urine by
combining it with a newly engineered nanotechnology.
The U.S. Army said yesterday it has
deployed more than 1,900 soldiers and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers personnel to
Puerto Rico and the U.S. territories since Maria hit.
South Carolina State University
President James Clark is no stranger to flying an airplane, and he's
now participated in a U.S. Army Reserve tandem jump.
Police on Long Island, N.Y., say a
woman was seriously injured when an unoccupied U.S. Army Reserve Humvee on
display rolled out of gear and pinned her against a truck at a food
festival.
And members of the Michigan Army
National Guard's C Co., 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment have qualified
with the British Army's primary assault rifle, the SA80.
MacArthur Justice Center sues St. Louis over
'unlawful' arrests of protesters
A new lawsuit seeking class-action
status says that St. Louis, Mo., officials are improperly arresting,
jailing and prosecuting protesters, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has
reported. The lawsuit, filed by the MacArthur Justice Center on behalf of St.
Louis resident and tech executive Nick Apperson, says that Apperson has
repeatedly been arrested during protests for activity that is protected by the
First Amendment.
Rather than issuing a citation and
releasing arrestees, the St. Louis police jail them and charge them with
outdated and unconstitutionally vague and overbroad municipal ordinances, the
suit claims. Then prosecutors refuse to drop charges against protesters or "cop
watchers," the suit says, and require those charged to waive civil claims to
receive a plea offer.
The suit says that Apperson, 32, was
"brutally wrestled" to the ground, handcuffed and jailed during a July 21st
protest at the city’s medium-security jail, known as the "workhouse," after
which Apperson was charged with a civil violation of interfering with an officer
and resisting arrest, the newspaper says.
Apperson was arrested on Feb. 10th
after asking about and videotaping officers who held someone at gunpoint "on a
public street in front of a popular restaurant in the middle of the day."
Apperson was again charged with interfering with an officer and resisting
arrest, the suit says.
On Aug. 9, 2016, Apperson was arrested
at the Muny and charged with disturbing the peace during a demonstration in
which protesters sang racial justice hymns and carried banners on the
anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, the suit says. Each time, the suit
says, Apperson was forced to post "an arbitrary amount of bail" and was never
taken before a judge.
The suit seeks monetary damages and a
judge’s order that would halt the practices.
The ACLU also filed a lawsuit Friday
claiming the police violated protesters’ rights.
U.S. Coast Guard
Crew members of USCGC Alex
Haley have medevaced a man from aboard a Chinese research vessel
sailing near Alaska.
In a statement yesterday, the Texas
General Land Office said it is working with the U.S. Coast Guard to test the
vessels displaced by Hurricane Harvey for oil leaks.
The U.S. military continues to evacuate
hurricane victims from Dominica. Hurricane Maria forced them to seek shelter at
the Muniz Air National Guard Base and U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen, in
Puerto Rico.
U.S. Coast Guard Training Center Cape
May, N.J., is the Coast Guard's only boot camp, producing 3,500
new Coast Guard members each year. The facilities are on a 352-acre
peninsula along Cape May Harbor.
Did you know? Applicants to all U.S.
service academies, except the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, must
obtain a nomination from an official nominating source.
An abandoned "ghost boat" that washed
ashore near Melbourne Beach, Fla., last week was last registered in the
name of a man who is jailed in Key West for attempted murder, kidnapping,
and a variety of other charges, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission (FWC) has confirmed. Jeffrey Ray Sundwall, 47, of Key
West, is an inmate at the Monroe County Detention Facility. The abandoned
45-foot sailboat Cuki was reported last Tuesday morning to be on the
sand at Spessard Holland South Beach Park. A magnet for park visitors, the
vessel may not be removed for another two weeks to two months because of
its size. Jeffrey Ray Sundwall was Cuki's
last registered owner logged in the NOAA registry, Coast Guard spokesman Luke
Clayton has confirmed. In March, Sundwall was charged with attempted
murder, kidnapping-false imprisonment and sexual assault in an alleged incident
with a Texas woman aboard a different boat - a 34-foot trawler named
Today, Monroe County Sheriff's records show. According to the offense
report, Sundwall used a neck restraint device to choke the victim unconscious,
committed sexual battery, and forced her to smoke crack cocaine. At the time,
the trawler was anchored off Christmas Tree Island near Key
West.
The U.S. Coast Guard is putting the
finishing touches on its new head-quarters facility at Texas' Corpus
Christi International Airport.
Rescue crews responded
on Friday night to Essex Bay, Mass., where two kite surfers were
stranded after their boat became disabled, the U.S. Coast Guard
said.
And the Coast Guard rescued 12
people from aboard a 160-foot vessel taking on water near Port Mansfield,
Texas, on Friday.
UFO news
The earliest sighting of a UFO in Hull,
in the U.K., can be traced back to June 1801.
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