Month: June 2018

“Hey… what about my needs?”

 

However, not everything Trump-related is humorous…

Watch Kim Jong Un’s reaction to Trump’s joke during the lunch of the #TrumpKimSummit #tictocnews https://t.co/YXlHs6hWhK pic.twitter.com/9ue0WchtvD

— TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) June 12, 2018

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Submitted by Kevin Paul,

Many Trump supporters, and even some on the left, like to talk about the “Deep State” secretly having complete control of our government, thus rendering our elected leaders to be nothing more than meaningless figureheads. Let’s investigate.

Long before the term ‘Deep State’ became popular, the term “Military Industrial Complex” was coined by President Dwight Eisenhower.

He gave his now famous Military Industrial Complex (MIC) speech on Jan 17, 1961.

During his ominous farewell, Ike mentioned that the US was only just past the halfway point of the century and we had already seen 4 major wars. He then went on to talk about how the MIC was now a major sector of the economy.  Eisenhower then went on to warn Americans about the “undue influence” the MIC has on our government. He warned that the MIC has massive lobbying power and the ability to press for unnecessary wars and armaments we would not really need, all just to funnel money to their coffers.

Jump to Ike’s warning about the “unwarranted influence… by the Military-Industrial Complex” at 8:41

His warning though proven correct, was sadly not heeded.  Within a few years JFK was assassinated shortly after giving his “Secret government speech” warning the American people about “secret governments and secret organizations that sought to have undue control of the government.

JFK was in his grave for less than 9-months before Gulf of Tonkin incident which was a series of outlandish lies about a fictitious attack on a US naval ship that never happened, which caused the US to enter the Vietnam war.

President Johnson lied his way into a war with North Vietnam and within less than a year would joke that “maybe the attack never happened”. By the time the war ended in 1973, Johnson’s bundle of lies had killed 2.45 million people.

The MIC however, saw the Vietnam war as a great victory and a template for the future success to their objectives. Ever since the Vietnam War, the MIC has urged the government to enter into as many ambiguous and unwinnable wars as possible, since unwinnable wars are also never-ending. Never-ending wars equate to never-ending revenue streams for the war industry.

Eisenhower warned us about the concept of one particular industry taking control of our government, but sadly his predictions fell of deaf ears.

Since Eisenhower’s time several other over “Industrial Complexes” have followed the MIC example and taken control of our government to suit their needs as well. Their objective is to buy out politicians in order to control the purse strings of Congress and they have been highly successful.

The list of these ÏC industries includes, but is not limited to the companies below:

1. The Drug Industrial Complex. (DIC)

The prescription drug industry has massive control of our government and our health care system. A recent Mayo Clinic study concluded that 70% of Americans are on at least one prescription drug.

The most tragic example is opioids, though similar arguments can also be made in reference to the anti-depressant epidemic, obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

The sicker America is, the better it is for the DIC.

The drug lobby is 8x larger than the gun lobby and is indirectly responsible for the deaths of between 59.000 and 65,000 people in 2016 alone, but if we dig deeper, that number could easily be 2 or 3 times higher, Since deaths related to opioids from infection related to opioid related infections are extremely common Anti-depressants are being prescribed 400% more than they were in the 1990’s. They are commonly prescribed to adolescent women and we live up to the name “Prozac Nation” when we realize that 1 in 5 women between the ages of 40 and 59 are taking antidepressants. The list of other prescription medicines to enhance the DIC revenue streams is extensive.

There are two primary industrial complex rules when it comes to prescription drug centric treatment:

Firstly, no curing is allowed, ever.  Treatment of conditions with temporary benefits is allowed, but healing is not permissible, since it interrupts revenue streams.

And second, any and all “natural” or homeopathic treatment whether it be related to diet, supplements vitamins, anti-oxidants or physical exercise/meditation should all be relegated to “quackery.”  Doctors who do not adhere to the prescription drug method of treating patients should also be referred to as adherents to “quackery” and should be reprimanded, fined and in extreme cases have their medical licenses revoked.

2. Real Estate Industrial Complex. (RIC)

Goal: Keep housing prices rising as much as possible, year after year after year.

How this is implemented: Endorse the borrowing of money to entice people into buying excessively large homes in order to promote the “dream” of home ownership. Once people buy into this scheme, they are then saddled with massive home taxes to their city and the burden of the taxes utilities that go along with owning an excessively large home. Stigmatize anyone who is over the age of 25 and lives in the same domicile as a parent or grandparent.

Make sure all media channels repeat over and over incessantly that high real estate prices are “signs of a great economy,” while ignoring the crippling effect high home prices have on working class families who can barely pay their mortgage.

3. College Industrial Complex (CIC)

The average tuition in 1971-1972 was $1832.00 and now it is officially over $31,000.00.

There are over 60 colleges and universities where the tuition has already exceeded $60,000.00 per/year.

A college education used to be something that people saved and paid cash for, but now there has been a cultural shift where students are expected to take out loans that are often in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain a college degree.
Why is this all so expensive? When we look at our universities and colleges, we see an obsession with elaborate new buildings and sports stadiums, more than actual learning.

There are several emerging/innovative ideas to make a college education better, faster and far more affordable. Such concepts probably won’t take hold until the inevitable collapse of the entire educational system takes place.

4. Health Insurance Industrial Complex (HIC)

Much of the US healthcare system is now governed by the “Healthcare Affordability Act” passed by the Obama administration in 2010.

The HIC proved how powerful they were when Congress was not allowed to read the legislation before voting for it, publicly displaying that the HIC who wrote the bill behind closed doors is more powerful than Congress itself.

What transparent public committees were behind this important legislation?

In reality, there was no transparency at all, this is stated clear as day by Healthcare Affordability Act primary architect Jonathan Gruber stated: “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage, Call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically, that was really, really critical for the thing to pass.”

The Speaker of the House at the time was Nancy Pelosi, who famously said from the leadership podium as House Speaker: “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.’

Our elected officials were not allowed to read the most important legislation of the past 30 years before voting for or against it. There is no greater testimony to the level of dysfunction in Congress than the Healthcare Affordability Act, formed by secret committees and then not allowing Congress to read it before voting.

*  *  *

Let’s think back to 1961 when Eisenhower warned us about what would become the Vietnam War. The American people’s ignoring his warning caused arms manufacturers and big business to assume nearly complete control of US government.

If we had listened to Ike, millions of people would not have died in the wars of the last 57 years and we would have trillions of dollars less in debt. Perhaps we still have time to heed his warning before our entire country collapses under the weight of corruption, crippling debt and never-ending wars, let’s hope so.

*  *  *

Kevin Paul is the founder of Alternativemediahub.com, which refers to itself as “The megaphone of independent journalism.” Born in MA, he came within 2% of winning the R party nomination to oppose Ted Kennedy in 2006 and holds degrees in business and political science.

 

 

 

 

 

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein threatened to “subpoena” GOP members of the House Intelligence Committee during a tense January meeting involving committee members and senior DOJ/FBI officials, according to emails seen by Fox News documenting the encounter described by aides as a “personal attack.” 

That said, Rosenstein was responding to a threat to hold him in contempt of Congress – and the “threat” to subpoena GOP records was ostensibly in order for him to be able to defend himself. 

Rosenstein allegedly threatened to “turn the tables” on the committee’s aggressive document requests, according to Fox.

“The DAG [Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein] criticized the Committee for sending our requests in writing and was further critical of the Committee’s request to have DOJ/FBI do the same when responding,” the committee’s then-senior counsel for counterterrorism Kash Patel wrote to the House Office of General Counsel. “Going so far as to say that if the Committee likes being litigators, then ‘we [DOJ] too [are] litigators, and we will subpoena your records and your emails,’ referring to HPSCI [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] and Congress overall.”

A second House committee staffer at the meeting backed up Patel’s account, writing: “Let me just add that watching the Deputy Attorney General launch a sustained personal attack against a congressional staffer in retaliation for vigorous oversight was astonishing and disheartening. … Also, having the nation’s #1 (for these matters) law enforcement officer threaten to ‘subpoena your calls and emails’ was downright chilling.” –Fox News

The committee staffer suggested that Rosenstein’s comment could be interpreted to mean that the DOJ would “vigorously defend a contempt action” — which might be expected. But the staffer continued, “I also read it as a not-so-veiled threat to unleash the full prosecutorial power of the state against us.“

But really – Rosenstein appears to have been warning the GOP Committee members that he would aggressively defend himself. 

G-Men Hit Back

A DOJ official said that Rosenstein “never threatened anyone in the room with a criminal investigation,” telling Fox that the department and bureau officials in the room “are all quite clear that the characterization of events laid out here is false,” and that Rosenstein was merely responding to a threat of contempt.  

The FBI, meanwhile, said that they disagree with “a number of characterizations of the meeting as described in the excerpts of a staffer’s emails provided to us by Fox News.“

“The Deputy Attorney General was making the point—after being threatened with contempt — that as an American citizen charged with the offense of contempt of Congress, he would have the right to defend himself, including requesting production of relevant emails and text messages and calling them as witnesses to demonstrate that their allegations are false,” the official said. “That is why he put them on notice to retain relevant emails and text messages, and he hopes they did so. (We have no process to obtain such records without congressional approval.)”

Details of the encounter began to trickle out in early February, as Fox News’ Greg Jarrett tweeted: “A 2nd source has now confirmed to me that, in a meeting on January 10, Deputy A-G Rosenstein used the power of his office to threaten to subpoena the calls & texts of the Intel Committee to get it to stop it’s investigation of DOJ and FBI. Likely an Abuse of Power & Obstruction.”

A 2nd source has now confirmed to me that, in a meeting on January 10, Deputy A-G Rosenstein used the power of his office to threaten to subpoena the calls & texts of the Intel Committee to get it to stop it’s investigation of DOJ and FBI. Likely an Abuse of Power & Obstruction.

— Gregg Jarrett (@GreggJarrett) February 3, 2018

Fox says that the emails they reviewed provide additional evidence of the encounter – while a former DOJ official said that the exchange may shed light on how the relationship between the agency and the Republican-led House committee has broken down in subsequent months. 

“This is much worse than a deteriorating relationship – this is a massive breakdown in the system. A deputy attorney general does not make subpoena threats lightly. This is not the norm to say the least,” said Tom Dupree, former principal deputy assistant attorney general for the George W. Bush administration. “It’s hard to tell whether [Rosenstein] was sending a message to back off, or whether he was just trying to illustrate how invasive he considered the demands from Congress. But either way, it is a clear signal that the relationship is fractured, and it’s not clear how things will get repaired.”

The fight between the DOJ and Congressional investigators over the boundaries of Congressional oversight vs. the DOJ’s apparent concern for protecting sources and methods (and evidence of potential crimes) has set the tone for a sustained dispute over records, and has set in motion the latest round of confrontations between Chairman Devin Nunes and Rosenstein – who has requested records related to the FBI’s use of a confidential informant to spy on the Trump campaign. 

Asked about the January meeting, Nunes provided a statement to Fox News noting they referred the incident to House Speaker Paul Ryan’s office: “The Intelligence Committee considers staff concerns at the most serious level, especially those involving interactions with the executive branch. Based on the justified concerns expressed by our lead staff investigators, we referred this matter to the Speaker’s Office.” –Fox News

A source on the House Intelligence Committee told Fox that “going to the DOJ IG [Inspector General] is one of several steps under consideration” by the panel. Meanwhile, Dupree noted that current tension between the DOJ and Congress go well beyond traditional oversight wrangling. 

“Rarely, if ever, has it deteriorated to this point where you have what appears to be threats going back and forth between the two sides,” he said. 

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Authored by Tom Lewis via GoldTelegraph.com,

The United States of America is beginning to lose its reserve currency dominance.

Countries around the world are working to find ways to circumvent the US dollar when it comes to trade and settlement. In addition to that, nations are requesting for their gold holdings stored overseas to return home.

Turkey has been the latest country to request their gold as they pulled 220 tons of gold out of the US Federal Reserve system on April 19, 2018. The countries 220 tons of gold is valued at $25.3 billion. Turkey has followed countries such as:

• Germany

• Netherlands

• Austria

• Belgium

• Russia

• China

• Azerbaijan

With regards to bringing or storing their gold home.

via zerohedge

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan decision to withdraw their gold was an act of trying to prioritize his nation’s currency. He recently urged the international monetary fund to pay loans in gold instead of US dollars.

He was quoted saying:

These debts should be in gold. Because at this point the karat of gold is unlike anything else. The world is continually putting us under currency pressure with the dollar. We need to save states and nations from this currency pressure.

Even though Turkey has drawn lots of attention with regards to pulling its gold from the United States Federal Reserve System, as mentioned above they are not the only nation currently wanting to bring their gold home.

But why are these countries rushing to get their Gold back?

It’s not a secret that there is a lack of confidence with regards to the U.S. Treasury’s claim that it currently holds 261,000,000 ounces of gold in Fort Knox and other locations. On top of that, the official gold reserves have never gone through a thorough independent audit.

Which you would think makes lots of countries feel quite uneasy with regards to their gold holdings.

So instead of putting their complete faith in the words of the US government, countries feel that it’s safer to bring their gold home.

On top of countries requesting their gold back, nations around the world are trying to avoid the US dollar especially in a time of looming trade wars and hefty tariffs initiated by the United States.

Countries such as Russia and China constantly accumulate gold with the rumored plan to create a gold backed currency with the ambition to dethrone the United States as the reserve currency. Another country such as Iranhas recently issued a statement that it will also be moving away from the dollar and start using the euro as its official reporting currency.

Clearly, the lack of trust in the federal reserve system is not just with the libertarian crowd anymore, a growing number of countries continue to pull their gold holdings from U.S vaults and attempt to avoid the dollar. The big question is, is the United States reserve currency status soon to be in jeopardy?

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About 240 years and numerous industrial revolutions from the first, America could be on the verge of a new age of automation, one controlled by Silicon Valley robots and artificial intelligence.

In fact, automation could destroy as many as 73 million U.S. low skilled, low wage laborers by 2030, a recent report by McKinsey Global Institute stated.

The dire prediction that robots could take a bulk of the middle-class jobs — has led many of macro strategists to believe that significant economic disruptions are coming to America.

Karen Harris, Managing Director of Bain & Company’s Macro Trends Group, presented her fascinating keynote tilted “Labor 2030: The Collision of Demographics, Automation, and Inequality” at the Strategic Investment Conference 2018, in March.

Harris started the conference by telling John Mauldin, who hosted the conference, “the combination of a demographically shrinking workforce plus increasingly cost-effective automation will aggravate inequality, constrain demand, and put a cap on economic growth.”

Harris also warned, “this will have all sorts of unpleasant effects in the next decade.”

Last week, Axios Editor Steve LeVine told CBSN that U.S. lawmakers and businesses are not prepared to help low skilled, low wage laborers navigate the changing tides of the economy and adapt to new skills and survive the coming “economic tsunami” via automation.

“The biggest takeaway is that the future is now,” LeVine said in an interview on Friday. “We’re not prepared at all,” he said, for the “jobs apocalypse” resulting from automation.

Some of the difficulties ahead relate to lawmakers, who are not actively moving quick enough to repair America’s broken education system to provide new laborers the skills needed to be productive in the modern economy while automation replaces bottom-tier jobs.

“You see scores of companies complaining they can’t find enough skilled labor…they are not prepared to train new workers. And as a country we have not even started talking about, ‘How do we retrain our workforce?’” LeVine said.

Automation is coming after jobs, from fast food burger flippers to accountants. CBSN examined which jobs are the most at risk:

Some of the jobs on the cutting block include “fast casual cooks” — think McDonald’s and Shake Shack low skilled, low wage employees.

Not too long ago, we reported on one burger chain in California that hired “Flippy”, a robotic kitchen assistant, to cook burgers.

CBSN believes movers, warehouse workers and retail workers including cashiers are also about to get axed because of the introduction of automation. There is also a significant risk that autonomous cars and trucks could disrupt the transportation industry.

To get a glimpse of the coming economic disruption headed to America via the automation tsunami. Deutsche Bank provides a series of visuals (below) indicating the shifting winds created by robots and artificial intelligence.

World robot shipments forecasts by region (DB estimates)

(Source: IFR, Deutsche Securities estimates)

Labour force of More Developed World (MDW) and China (in mln)

(Source: IFR, Deutsche Securities estimates)

Major industrial users of robots

(Source: IFR, Deutsche Securities estimates)

Trade balances in related machinery

(Source: IFR, Deutsche Securities estimates)

And lastly, Deutsche Bank offers a counter-narrative to President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” narrative in the revival of America’s manufacturing industry.

For instance, the bank’s research desk focuses on Nike and other apparel companies that have limited plans on re-shoring their manufacturing facilities in the United States. It is more than likely that these companies will focus on low-wage outsourcing and the introduction of automation, indicating overseas factories will stay put. In a rare case, Adidas recently opened a manufacturing facility in Atlanta, Georgia, however, most of the factory was automated.

“Nike and other apparel companies employ similar types of robotic setups in their factories. Of course, the pursuit of lower manufacturing costs has been a crucial part of textile and footwear manufacturing since at least the industrial revolution.

 

The nature of cost reduction is changing, though. In the past decade, most cost optimization took the form of geographic relocation as firms moved production to China and then Vietnam as they sought lower-wage workers. But despite the rise in labor costs in these countries, a migration to new lower-wage nations is unlikely.

It is true that a lot of noise has been made about re-shoring to developed countries, particularly the US. Adidas has opened a partially automated factory in Atlanta, while Under Armour has discussed plans to open a manufacturing center in Baltimore.

So far, though, the large apparel groups have not done this en masse. True, Adidas has said it wishes to increase the output of its Speedfactories in Ansbach and Atlanta to 1m pairs of shoes each year by 2020. But this is equivalent to just one day’s requirement.

The ‘real’ investment by Adidas in its Speedfactory programme has already taken place in Vietnam. The world’s largest shoe contract manufacturers have invested over $200m each year recently to automate production lines that produce over 50m pairs of shoes each year. Rival Nike has completed a similar plan with its manufacturing partners. Its automation investment in China and Vietnam has been very fruitful for the company.”

To sum up, the coming jobs apocalypse driven by debt, demographics, and automation could displace tens of millions of bottom-tier jobs. In return, this transition could trigger significant economic disruptions, which could only accelerate into the 2020s. The magnitude of today’s workforce shift is expected to match that of the automation of agriculture from 1900 to 1940. The automation of farming transformed America’s economy and severely disrupted labor markets, ultimately climaxing into the Great Depression and subsequent world war.

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Authored by Nikita Vladimirov via Campus Reform,

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a statement of interest in a lawsuit challenging the University of Michigan’s controversial speech code policies.

The DOJ announced the move in a press release Monday, summarizing the facts of the case and explaining the government’s position on campus free speech.

As previously reported by Campus Reform, the school’s broad disciplinary code attracted attention from a free speech watchdog, Speech First, that sued the university over its “highly subjective” policies earlier this year.

“Speech First alleges that the University of Michigan’s policies on ‘harassment,’ ‘bullying,’ and ‘bias’ are so vague and overbroad as to prompt students to limit their speech out of fear that they might be subject to disciplinary sanction, including ‘individual education’ or ‘restorative justice’ at the hands of the University’s Bias Response Team,” the DOJ said in a statement.

“The United States’ Statement of Interest argues that the University of Michigan’s Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities, which prohibits ‘harassment,’ ‘bullying,’ and ‘bias,’ is unconstitutional because it offers no clear, objective definitions of the violations,” the department continued.

“Instead, the Statement refers students to a wide array of ‘examples of various interpretations that exist for the terms,’ many of which depend on a listener’s subjective reaction to speech.”

According to the press release, the DOJ is also taking aim at the school’s bias response policy, arguing that it “chills protected speech” by encouraging students to “report any suspected instances of bias” to the school’s Bias Response Team.

“Freedom of speech and expression on the American campus are under attack,” Acting Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio said in a statement.

“This Justice Department, under the leadership of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is committed to promoting and defending Americans’ first freedom at public universities.”

Nicole Neily, president of Speech First, praised the Trump administration for its interest in the lawsuit, lauding the DOJ for its effort in protecting the First Amendment rights of students. 

“We’re delighted that the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a statement of interest in our case against the University of Michigan,” Neily told Campus Reform.

“Over the past year, DOJ has shown that they place a high priority on the First Amendment rights of students across the country, and we look forward to the court ruling on the merits of Speech First v. Schlissel.”

University of Michigan officials, however, have reportedly disputed the accuracy of the DOJ’s statement, arguing that the school’s Bias Response Team does not have the power to discipline students.

“Contrary to the department’s statement, the university’s Bias Response Team does not ‘have the authority to subject students to discipline and sanction,’” said university spokesman Rick Fitzgerald, as reported by Michigan Radio. “It provides support to students on a voluntary basis; it does not investigate claims of bias or discipline students in any way.”

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Days before the Singapore summit, where the first-ever sitting between an American president and a North Korean leader occurred on Tuesday, Beijing released an image of what appears to be a prototype or scale model of the Chinese ‘Dark Sword’ unmanned stealth fighter, already dubbed a “nightmare for the U.S.,” which could be the world’s first “sixth generation” stealth jet.

Beijing has been making headlines for its rapid military modernization efforts while it attempts superpower status. As of recent, Beijing announced the deployment of fifth-generation fighter jets, testing of hypersonic aircraft and missiles, and even conducted live-fire war exercises in the South China Sea, which should not be taken lightly.

According to Jane’s Defence Weekly, an undated photograph shows a full-scale model or technology demonstrator of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC)’s An Jian (Dark Sword) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) published on numerous Chinese online news sites on June 05.

An image showing what appears to be a full-scale Dark Sword UCAV model. (Source: Via CJDBY.net)

The recent picture is now “fueling a flurry of debate on its development status,” said Jane’s Defence Weekly.

Kelvin Wong, a Singapore-based defense analyst for Jane’s Defence Weekly, describes the supersonic and stealthy characteristics of Dark Sword:

“The photograph shows in the background a large, elongated, gunmetal-colored airframe with canard surfaces and a ventral engine air intake that adopts a diverterless supersonic inlet (DSI) design. The Chinese characters for ‘dark’ and ‘sword’ are clearly emblazoned on the platform along the air intake’s port side, although the image does not capture the rest of the airframe beyond its mid-section, except for a glimpse of a canted starboard vertical tail.

Additionally, saw-tooth edges can be seen on the Dark Sword’s port side landing gear door before the rest of the air vehicle is out of the frame.

Details of the UCAV’s physical dimensions and capabilities remain undisclosed, but visual estimation using the group of 19 unidentified persons in the foreground – presumably the Dark Sword’s engineering team – as markers suggest that the platform is at least 12 m in length.

The Dark Sword UCAV is understood to be an effort by AVIC’s Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute (also known as the 601 Aircraft Design Institute) to develop a highly maneuverable supersonic unmanned air superiority or deep-strike platform.”

Allegedly, a conceptual model of the aircraft was revealed at the Airshow China 2006 exhibition, which was more than 12-years ago. The streamlined design, coupled with a delta wing and twin slanted verticle stabilizers appear almost identical on the 2006 model versus the full-scale aircraft (shown below).

Justin Bronk, an air-combat strategist at the Royal United Services Institute, told Business Insider that the Dark Sword “represents a very different design philosophy” than the U.S. sixth-generation fighter jet plans.

Bronk examined the image of the Dark Sword and drew the conclusion that the jet was developed for supersonic flight rather than full stealth capabilities.

“The Chinese have gone with something that has a longer body, so it’s stable in pitch. It’s got these vertical, F-22 style vertical stabilizers,” which suggest it’s “geared towards supersonic performance and fighter-style capability.”

“Something like this could transit to areas very fast, and, if produced in large numbers without having to train pilots, could at the very least soak up missiles from US fighters, and at the very best be an effective fighter by itself,” said Bronk. “If you can produce lots of them, quantity has a quality all its own.”

Having deployed the Chengdu J-20, a stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft developed by China’s Chengdu Aerospace Corporation for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force, it seems as Beijing is swiftly transferring these applications to unmanned platforms.

China could be ready to jump into the golden era of unmanned aircraft after it has spent years reverse-engineering Western design and technology. How will Washington respond?

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Authored by Joseph Lafave via The Daily Caller,

Polio, a deadly and crippling infectious disease, has returned to Venezuela after almost 30 years.

The illness, caused by the Poliovirus, has been confirmed in a patient in the Venezuelan state of Delta Amacuro, The Telegraph reports

According to the Telegraph, Delta Amacuro is one of several Venezuelan states where cruicial vaccines are increasingly scarce following the collapse of the country’s socialized healthcare system implemented by dictator Hugo Chávez.

Besides polio, other diseases including “diphtheria, tuberculosis, measles, and malaria,” are infecting an increasing number of Venezuelans.

“The government is not approving the money for the vaccines,” said MP Manuela Bolivar, while speaking to The Telegraph.

“This situation is unfortunate but we saw it coming, because we’ve been denouncing for years that there are not enough vaccines,” she said.

The healthcare system in Venezuela has not been immune to the country’s economic downfall.

“The virus especially affects people in conditions of malnutrition and unvaccinated, as in this case,” said Doctor Jose Felix Oletta, a former Minister of Health.

Several healthcare professionals have fled the country, and basic medical supplies are hard to come by, according to Foreign Policy.

The Venezuelan regime continues to blame the United States for its economic woes and promises the rest of the world that the government is caring for its citizens. In May, a Venezuelan government representative guaranteed that “essential medicines” are being provided to the “most vulnerable sectors” during a presentation to the World Health Organization.

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For over a year, the state of Florida did not run FBI background checks on tens of thousands of residents applying for concealed weapons permits starting in February 2016 – because an employee forgot the password to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), reports the Tampa Bay Times. 

The screwup by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services was discovered by the Office of Inspector General, and meant that anyone from felons to people with mental illness may have been granted the right to carry a firearm in public. 

The employee in charge of the background checks could not log into the system, the investigator learned. The problem went unresolved until discovered by another worker in March 2017 — meaning that for more than a year applications got approved without the required background check. –Tampa Bay Times

The report found that there were 134,000 requests for permits in the fiscal year ending in June 2015, and 245,000 applicants over the next 12 months. 2017 applications topped both, at 275,000 applications. 

After the screwup was discovered, officials scrambled to run background checks – flagging 365 applications which required further review, and 291 revocations. The employee who forgot the password, Lisa Wiolde, has been fired for negligence. 

“Upon discovery of this former employee’s negligence in not conducting the further review required on 365 applications, we immediately completed full background checks on those 365 applications, which resulted in 291 revocations,” Putnam said in the statement. “The former employee was both deceitful and negligent, and we immediately launched an investigation and implemented safeguards to ensure this never happens again.” –Tampa Bay Times

Employees interviewed for the IG report said that the NICS background checks are “extremely important,” and confirmed that concealed weapons licenses “may have been issued to potentially inelligible individuals.” The employee said that if the checks weren’t done, it could cause “an embarassment to the agency.”

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam has made it a priority to speed up the issuing of concealed weapons permits since he was elected in 2010. In 2012, he held a news conference to celebrate the state’s one millionth concealed weapons permit, noting the time it took to process an application fell from 12 weeks to 35 days on his watch. There are now 1.8 million concealed weapon permit holders in Florida. –Tampa Bay Times

Putnam, now a Florida gubernatorial candidate on the GOP ticket, touts the expansion of concealed carry permits as one of his hallmark accomplishments. Now, especially in the wake of the Parkland High School shooting which left 17 dead, Putnam’s reputation is sure to take a hit. 

“The integrity of our department’s licensing program is our highest priority,” said Aaron Keller, a department spokesman, when contacted Friday by the Times. “As soon as we learned that one employee failed to review applicants’ non-criminal disqualifying information, we immediately terminated the employee, thoroughly reviewed every application potentially impacted, and implemented safeguards to prevent this from happening again.”

 

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