North Korea could acquire the ability to deliver a nuclear weapon to the United States within “months,” a top American spy official said Thursday.
“It is the case that they are close enough now in their capabilities that from a U.S. policy perspective, we ought to behave as if we are on the cusp of them achieving that objective,” Pompeo said during a question-and-answer session hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
“When you’re now talking about months, our capacity to understand that at the detailed level is in some sense irrelevant,” he said. “Whether it happens on Tuesday or a month from Tuesday, we are at a time where the president has concluded that we need a global effort to ensure that Kim Jong Un doesn’t have that capacity.”
Pompeo’s artful assessment didn’t disguise the urgency of the North Korea nuclear threat, as he allowed that “intelligence is imperfect” but emphasized that every nuclear weapon or ballistic missile test heightens the danger posed by the regime. (Read more from “CIA Chief: North Korea Able to Nuke U.S. ‘Within Months'” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/north-korea-1151137_960_720-4.jpg640960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-10-19 14:40:202017-10-19 14:40:20CIA Chief: North Korea Able to Nuke U.S. ‘Within Months’
Recent satellite images suggest that construction has restarted on North Korea’s ominous “Hotel of Doom.”
The new images of the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang depict construction trucks surrounding the pyramid-like building as well as several other buildings, the Daily Mail reported.
Tourist photos have also recently surfaced showing cranes around the hotel.
The “Hotel of Doom,” as it was nicknamed, has cost approximately 470 million euros ($552 million) to date but has yet to host a single guest, the Independent reported.
The 105-story skyscraper was finally unveiled this summer after being under construction for nearly 30 years, although its doors still remain closed. (Read more from “North Korea’s ‘Hotel of Doom’ Shows Signs of Activity” HERE)
The American woman who was held captive by a Taliban-affiliated group in Afghanistan and rescued last week by Pakistani troops was rushed to the hospital on Monday for an unspecified reason, her Canadian husband said.
Joshua Boyle told the Associated Press in an email Tuesday that his wife, Caitlan Coleman, “has been through hell, and she has to be my first priority right now.”
Coleman, 32, was seven months pregnant when she and her husband, Josh Boyle, were abducted in Afghanistan in 2012 by the Haqqani network. The couple and their three children — all of whom were born in captivity — were freed Thursday in a “negotiated release,” an official told Fox News. (Read more from “Former Taliban Hostage Rushed to Hospital” HERE)
Before the Obama administration approved a controversial deal in 2010 giving Moscow control of a large swath of American uranium, the FBI had gathered substantial evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering designed to grow Vladimir Putin’s atomic energy business inside the United States, according to government documents and interviews.
Federal agents used a confidential U.S. witness working inside the Russian nuclear industry to gather extensive financial records, make secret recordings and intercept emails as early as 2009 that showed Moscow had compromised an American uranium trucking firm with bribes and kickbacks in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, FBI and court documents show.
They also obtained an eyewitness account — backed by documents — indicating Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed to benefit former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation during the time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that provided a favorable decision to Moscow, sources told The Hill. (Read more from “Russian Bribery Plot Preceded Obama Uranium Deal” HERE)
When President Trump announced last week he would not recertify Barack Obama’s expensive deal with Iran to stop its nuclear-weapons program, he cited a number of “serious flaws.”
He said Iran’s “fanatic regime” repeatedly has attacked and killed Americans, violated the limits on nuclear materials, ensured there will be no effective inspections and continues to pursue a missile program.
Now a new problem with the deal is being investigated: Obama allowed Boeing to sell airliners to Iran’s domestic airline companies, which are using them to transport military personnel and weapons.
The American Center for Law and Justice revealed Tuesday it has launched a Freedom of Information Act fight to obtain documents regarding any accommodations granted by Obama that facilitate Iran’s efforts to “transport jihadist soldiers to the battlefield.”
Such practices are “a blatant violation of international law,” ACLJ said. (Read more from “Jets-For-Jihadis Newest Wrinkle in Iran-Deal Probe'” HERE)
A British school has changed its policies to allow biological boys to sleep in the girls’ dorms, wear skirts, and use gender neutral pronouns and girl names.
The new policies at Gordon’s School in Woking, England, lets both boys and girls use whichever bathrooms the individual feels comfortable using and dress however they see fit, according to the Times on Sunday. The school policy allows boys to wear jewelry, makeup, and sport long hair.
“Parents of pupils were surprised by how open-minded we have been. Most schools are having these issues,” said Rob Pavis, the deputy head of the school.
Students had left the institution to embrace their gender identities elsewhere because they didn’t feel comfortable doing so at the boarding school. Gordon’s School made the changes after receiving guidance from the Boarding Schools’ Association, encouraging the school to let a boy sleep in the girls’ dorm if he intends to change his gender. (Read more from “School Allows Transgender Boys to Sleep in Girls’ Dorm” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/LoyolaMD_Dorm.jpg23043072Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-10-16 19:11:402017-10-16 19:11:40School Allows Transgender Boys to Sleep in Girls’ Dorm
As President Trump takes to Twitter to assail foes and tackle trolls, he can add another nemesis to his list: former Mexican President Vicente Fox.
Fox, 75, who served as president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006, has launched a mock 2020 presidential campaign against the sitting U.S. president. In a series of anti-Trump tweets and videos, Fox addresses myriad issues affecting the American people.
In a video released Sept. 7, Fox, calling Trump “last year’s rotting Halloween pumpkin,” says: “Donald, every time I make fun of you, which I do a lot, people say, ‘Why can’t you be our president?’ America, I feel your pain. We all do. And that is why today I am proud to announce my candidacy for president of the United States.”
The five-minute video opens with Fox wearing a hat with a vulgar expression, features him holding up his middle finger at times and introduces his campaign mascot: a goat wearing two signs: “Vicente for Presidente!” and “A taco truck on every corner!” The clip also shows a mariachi band crooning about Trump. (Read more from “Mexico’s Vicente Fox Trolls Trump, Announces ‘2020 Run’ for White House” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/16370085919_5b1ac1568a_b.jpg6831024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-10-15 09:43:222017-10-15 09:43:22Mexico’s Vicente Fox Trolls Trump, Announces ‘2020 Run’ for White House
Britain and Ireland braced Sunday for a lashing from Ophelia, the largest hurricane ever recorded so far east in the Atlantic Ocean, after it dumped heavy rains on Portugal’s Azores islands.
As the storm passed near the Azores archipelago on Saturday it was classed Category 3, which means it packed winds of at least 178 kilometres (110 miles) per hour.
Though cooler seas will weaken the storm as it churns towards the west coast of Ireland, it still has enough power to damage buildings and provoke “dangerous” sea conditions as well as potential flooding, Irish authorities said.
Meteorologists say Ophelia is the most powerful hurricane recorded so far east in the Atlantic and the first since 1939 to travel so far north.
It is the 15th named storm of the 2017 Atlantic season, which is expected to last until the end of November. (Read more from “Rare North Atlantic Hurricane Heads for UK” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/136311main_iss007e14883_med.jpg387516Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-10-15 09:19:382017-10-15 09:19:38Rare North Atlantic Hurricane Heads for UK
Ignoring Iranian warnings of retaliation, the Trump administration announced on Friday it will not be certifying the Iran nuclear deal. The administration is imposing new sanctions against the the regime’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, describing the group as playing a “central role” in “Iran becoming the world’s foremost state sponsor of terror.”
“I am announcing today that we cannot and will not make this certification,” President Donald Trump said during a speech at the White House. “We will not continue down a path whose predictable conclusion is more violence, more terror, and the very real threat of Iran’s nuclear breakthrough.”
“Friday’s announcement does not withdraw the United States from the Iran deal, which the president called ‘one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into,’” Fox News reported. “But the president threatened that he could still ultimately pull out of the deal.”
Congress now has 60 days to decide whether to reimpose the sanctions lifted as part of the 2015 deal, modify them or do nothing. If no agreement is reached with Congress, Trump has stated he will pull the United States out of the accord.
Trump also announced additional sanctions against the Revolutionary Guard.
“I am authorizing the Treasury Department to further sanction the entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for its support for terrorism and to apply sanctions to its officials, agents, and affiliates,” he said. “I urge our allies to join us in taking strong actions to curb Iran’s continued dangerous and destabilizing behavior.”
The Treasury Department also issued a statement regarding the sanctions.
“The IRGC has played a central role to Iran becoming the world’s foremost state sponsor of terror,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday. “We urge the private sector to recognize that the IRGC permeates much of the Iranian economy, and those who transact with IRGC-controlled companies do so at great risk.”
Mnuchin singled out the Guard as the “key Iranian entity” enabling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to engage in brutal violence against his own people. He also noted the IRGC Quds Force has provided material support to terrorist activities of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Taliban.
IRGC Command Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari warned if the Trump administration designated his force as a terrorist group, American forces can expect repercussions, particularly on the battlefield in the Middle East.
“If the news is correct about the stupidity of the American government in considering the Guards a terrorist group, then the Guards will consider the American army to be like Daesh all around the world particularly in the Middle East,” said Gen. Jafari, according to the Tehran Times.
“The Americans are too small to be able to harm the Revolutionary Guards,” added Ali Akbar Velayati, the top adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Breitbart reported, “In January 2016, IRGC vessels captured and humiliated 10 U.S. Navy sailors after their two ships drifted into Iranian waters. Iran ended up releasing the American sailors the following day.”
Trump has consistently criticized the Iran nuclear deal for failing to address the terrorist activities of the Islamic Republic. (For more from the author of “Iran Promises to Attack US If Trump Labels Army as ‘Terrorist Group’ – Trump Does It Anyway” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/iran-643322_960_720.png627960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-10-13 22:51:172017-10-13 23:12:21Iran Promises to Attack US If Trump Labels Army as ‘Terrorist Group’ – Trump Does It Anyway
By Julian Borger and Philip Jaekl. Senior neurologists have suggested that a spate of mysterious ailments among US diplomats in Cuba – which has caused a diplomat rift between the two countries – could have been caused by a form of “mass hysteria” rather than sonic attacks.
The unexplained incidents have prompted the US to withdraw most of its embassy staff from Havana and expel the majority of Cuban diplomats from Washington . . .
“From an objective point of view it’s more like mass hysteria than anything else,” said Mark Hallett, the head of the human motor control section of the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
“Mass hysteria” is the popular term for outbreaks among groups of people which are partly or wholly psychosomatic, but Hallett stressed there should be no blame attached to them.
“Psychosomatic disease is a disease like anything else. It shouldn’t be stigmatised,” said Hallett, who is also president of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. “It’s important to point out that symptoms like this are not voluntary. They are not a sign of weakness in an individual’s personality.” (Read more from “Mass Hysteria May Explain ‘Sonic Attacks’ in Cuba, Say Top Neurologists” HERE)
_________________________
Mass Hysteria? Not So Fast, Says Navy as it Analyzes Actual Sounds Captured by Injured Embassy Officials
By Josh Lederman and Michael Weissenstein. It sounds sort of like a mass of crickets. A high-pitched whine, but from what? It seems to undulate, even writhe. Listen closely: There are multiple, distinct tones that sound to some like they’re colliding in a nails-on-the-chalkboard effect.
The Associated Press has obtained a recording of what some U.S. Embassy workers heard in Havana in a series of unnerving incidents later deemed to be deliberate attacks. The recording, released Thursday by the AP, is the first disseminated publicly of the many taken in Cuba of mysterious sounds that led investigators initially to suspect a sonic weapon. . .
The recordings from Havana have been sent for analysis to the U.S. Navy, which has advanced capabilities for analyzing acoustic signals, and to the intelligence services, the AP has learned. But the recordings have not significantly advanced U.S. knowledge about what is harming diplomats. (Read more about whether the injuries suffered in Cuba are a result of mass hysteria or deliberate attacks HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/flag-1872567_960_720.jpg720960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-10-12 18:58:192017-10-14 20:37:27Top Neurologists Blame Mass Hysteria for Debilitating ‘Sonic Attacks’ in Cuba, But Now Navy is Evaluating Mysterious Sounds
