Washington Post – by Dan Lamothe

The U.S. military began preparing in earnest for Hurricane Irma on Wednesday, readying four Navy ships for potential disaster relief while moving aircraft and U.S. troops in advance of the arrival of the Category 5 storm.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has approved the use of the USS Oak Hill and the USS Kearsarge, amphibious ships now off Florida’s east coast, if help is requested from Gov. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), said Army Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. The ships were originally deployed late last month with hundreds of Marines and sailors aboard to respond to Hurricane Harvey in Texas, but could instead be sent to Florida.   Continue reading “U.S. military preparations for Hurricane Irma now include four Navy ships and thousands of troops”

CBS News Los Angeles

COSTA MESA (CBSLA.com) — A new study finds that protests in California are getting more violent.

Professor Brian Levin says that their research shows that along with a rise in hate crimes in California that is double what is being seen in the rest of country, that violent political confrontations are also increasing.

The director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino told the joint session of the state legislature last week that violent political confrontations are rising in California by nearly double.   Continue reading “Study: Violent Political Confrontations Rising In California”

The Verge – by James Vincent

Is your digital assistant taking orders behind your back? Scientists from China’s Zheijiang University have proved it’s possible, publishing new research that demonstrates how Siri, Alexa, and other voice-activated programs can be controlled using inaudible ultrasound commands. This provides a new method of attack for hackers targeting devices like phones, tablets, and even cars. But don’t get too worried — the technique has a number of key limitations that means it’s unlikely to cause chaos.   Continue reading “Inaudible ultrasound commands can be used to secretly control Siri, Alexa, and Google Now”

The Last American Vagabond – by Joe Martino

Hurricane Harvey has been making headlines all over due to the scale of destruction it has caused in Texas. While covering Harvey for Al Jazeera, reporter Shihab Rattansi told MSNBC host Ali Velshi last week that fossil fuel companies have been robbing locals in the Texas, Louisiana, and Gulf Coast area of infrastructure funds that could have lessened their suffering dramatically.

Shihab says himself that as an “Al Jazeera guy,” his job is to “get to the point.” Al Jazeera has always been known for creating news and media focused on openness, transparency, and calling out corruption — things we don’t often see in North American mainstream media.   Continue reading “MSNBC ‘Loses Connection’ Right As Reporter Exposes Oil Industry For Robbing Locals Of Infrastructure Funding”

NPR

A descendant of a nephew of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee announced yesterday that he had resigned as pastor of his church in Winston-Salem, N.C. Robert Wright Lee IV, who came to national attention denouncing his relative’s legacy on NPR and elsewhere, said he made the decision after Bethany United Church of Christ moved to vote on his tenure there.

“We are all called by God to speak out against hate and evil in all its many forms,” he wrote in a blog post. “There are so many good things going on with this congregation and I do not want my fight to detract from the mission. If the recent media attention causes concern with my church, I reluctantly offer my resignation.”   Continue reading “Lee Relative Who Denounced White Supremacy Resigns As Pastor Of N.C. Church”

MassPrivateI

A 1956 Oscar winning movie called, wait for it… ‘The Red Balloon’ shows a French mute kid chasing a balloon through the streets of Paris. And not one police officer or person was ‘terrified’!


Continue reading “Police are “terrified” of red balloons and terrorist clowns”

Gateway Pundit – by Brock Simmons

Originally designed 13 years ago, the 747 Supertanker was intended to be the biggest forest fire fighting weapon the world had ever seen. Evergreen International Airlines, based in McMinnville, Oregon, took one of their cargo 747’s, and redesigned the interior with firefighting equipment. There was even room in the top part to house a logistical command center, chock full of computers and other equipment to analyze and manage the firefighting operations.   Continue reading “Forest Fires Rage As 747 Supertanker is GROUNDED – Forestry “Service” Won’t Give It Permission to Battle Fires”

IState TV

Two days into the start of my daughter’s 7th grade school year, she brought home a document that triggered a bit of an apoplectic, expletive-laden meltdown for me, and it was all centered around one word, Patriotism. The document was a form the school wanted me to sign acknowledging my receipt of something called the “Framework for Citizenship- The Student Code of Conduct.”

This document, to me, read like a badly written Sci Fi novel, only the Fi was missing, as in, this was a non-fiction declaration.   Continue reading “Public School Demands Patriotic Global Citizen Alliance From Kids”