4716-ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? | View Thread

Hurricane Michael made landfall early Wednesday afternoon near Mexico Beach, Florida, as a high-end Category 4 hurricane, with sustained winds of 155 mph, just 2 mph below Category 5 strength.

The hurricane will likely devastate Florida’s Panhandle communities. It is, simply, a history-changing storm. According to the National Hurricane Center, “most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.”

As Michael approached land, meteorologists struggled to find words to describe it. On Twitter, the National Weather Service said, in all caps, “THIS IS A WORST CASE SCENARIO.” The hurricane’s winds and waves were so strong, their rumblings were detected on seismometers — equipment designed to measure earthquakes. Michael is expected to produce storm surge — typically the deadliest part of any hurricane — of up to 14 feet, smashing local records.

No storm remotely this strong has ever hit this part of Florida. The previously strongest hurricane to hit the Florida Panhandle had winds of 125 mph, 30 mph weaker than Michael’s. The local National Weather Service office in Tallahasseeissued a chilling warning that Michael was “not comparable to anything we have seen before.”

Only the 1935 “Labor Day” hurricane, which hit the Florida Keys, and 1969’s Hurricane Camille, which struck Mississippi, were more intense at landfall in all of U.S. history. Michael is the fourth Category 4 hurricane to hit the U.S. in just 15 months, joining last year’s trio of Harvey, Irma, and Maria — an unprecedented string of catastrophic hurricane disasters.

In the hours before landfall, Michael rapidly intensified, strengthening from a Category 1 to a strong Category 4 in less than 36 hours — consistent with recent research on climate change’s impact on storms. Michael did this after passing over unusually warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, which likely helped to increase the storm’s moisture content and provide fuel for more intense thunderstorms, a deeper central pressure, and stronger winds. Sea levels in the Gulf of Mexico have risen by about a foot over the past 100 years, so there’s a direct link between Michael’s coastal flooding and long-term climate change.

Recovery from Michael is likely to be a painfully slow process. The Panhandle is the most impoverished region of Florida, and this kind of a storm would be difficult to overcome even for wealthy communities. Calhoun County, just inland of where Michael made landfall, is the lowest-income county in the state, with a median household income of less than $32,000 per year. As we saw during last month’s Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas, it’s likely that thousands of people couldn’t even afford to evacuate.

Even if Michael wasn’t making landfall in a particularly vulnerable section of U.S. coastline, it would be an unrecoverable storm for many families. Our inaction on climate change made Michael into an unnatural disaster.

(GRIST)

Over the past two weeks, with next to no media coverage, the United States has moved substantially closer toward open military confrontation with both Russia and China, the second- and third-ranked nuclear powers in the world.

On October 3, the United States threatened, for the first time since the Cold War, to directly attack the Russian homeland. UN Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison accused the country of violating the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty by developing a nuclear cruise missile and said that Washington was preparing to "take out" the weapon with a US strike.

This statement came just three days after a Chinese warship set a collision course with a US destroyer carrying out a so-called "freedom of navigation" operation in the South China Sea, forcing the American ship to maneuver to avoid a collision and the potentially deadliest military clash in the Pacific in decades.

Behind such hair-raising incidents, the United States is undertaking serious, long-term preparations to restructure the American economy to fight a major war with a "peer" adversary, entailing radical changes to American economic, social and political life.

This is the essential content of a 146-page document released by the Pentagon last Friday, titled "Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States." It makes it clear that Washington is preparing not just for isolated regional clashes, but rather for a massive, long-term war effort against Russia and China under conditions of potential national autarchy.

The document made clear that a major restructuring of the American economy will be necessary to reach the United States military's stated goal of being prepared to "fight tonight" against a "peer adversary." The United States must "retool" for "great-power competition," the document declared.

"America's manufacturing and defense industrial base," observes the report, creates the "platform and systems" upon which "our Warfighter depends." This complex encompasses not just the government, but the private sector, as well as "R&D organizations" and "academic institutions." In other words, the entire economy and society.

It warns that "The erosion of American manufacturing over the last two decades... threatens to undermine the ability of U.S. manufacturers to meet national security requirements. Today, we rely on single domestic sources for some products and foreign supply chains for others, and we face the possibility of not being able to produce specialized components for the military at home."

Correcting this strategic deficiency, the report concludes, means that "support for a vibrant domestic manufacturing sector, a solid defense industrial base, and resilient supply chains is a national priority."

The report squarely targets China, declaring, "China's economic strategies, combined with the adverse impacts of other nations' industrial policies, pose significant threats to the U.S. industrial base and thereby pose a growing risk to U.S. national security."

The promotion of US manufacturing dominance, in other words, is vital for promoting military dominance.

The protection of heavy industry goes together with the administration's efforts to defend America's high-tech sector, the source of a vast portion of US profitability.

As the report notes, "One of the Chinese Communist Party's primary industrial initiatives, Made in China 2025, targets artificial intelligence, quantum computing, robotics, autonomous and new energy vehicles, high performance medical devices, high-tech ship components, and other emerging industries critical to national defense."

It warns that "Chinese R&D spending is rapidly converging to that of the U.S. and will likely achieve parity sometime in the near future," and worriedly points to the fact that the Chinese manufacturer DJI dominates the commercial aerial drone market.

The Pentagon's plans for protecting and expanding the US high-tech sector include its backing for the administration's efforts to limit the admission of Chinese students to US universities through visa restrictions. The report complains that, with as many as 25 percent of "STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics] graduates in the U.S. being Chinese nationals... American universities are major enablers of China's economic and military rise."

The vision in the document, in other words, is the concrete expression of the conception outlined in the latest US national security strategy, calling for "the seamless integration of multiple elements of national power-diplomacy, information, economics, finance, intelligence, law enforcement and military."

A leading element of this equation is the American corporate technology sector, which has scrambled for fat Pentagon contracts to develop the latest generation of weapons systems. In exchange for these payouts, and aggressive protection from their international rivals, they have worked closely to implement what one leaked internal Google document called a "shift towards censorship" in cooperation with the demands of the US military and intelligence agencies.

The logic of this growing fusion between the repressive apparatus of the state and increasingly powerful monopolies is the necessary correlation between "total war" and a "totalitarian" society, in which key constitutional provisions are rendered effectively meaningless.

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 10/12/2018 7:03:48 PM
	Censorship crackdown? Top 10 alt-media pages newly banned by Facebook & Twitter Published time: 12 Oct, 2018 10:58Edited time: 12 Oct, 2018 17:42 © Getty Images / alashi Sites dealing with government transparency, pages dedicated to police brutality and alternative media – take a closer look at the top ten accounts with millions of followers that were recently suspended by Twitter and Facebook. PAGE: The Free Thought Project NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS: 3.1mn ABOUT: The widely known website which calls itself “a hub for free thinking conversations” focuses on government transparency. Founded in 2013 by Jason Bassler and Matt Agorist, the site claims to “shed light” on “corrupt entities”across our planet. Its reports have covered the Monsanto row, police brutality and shootings in the US, as well as an insight into how the American government gets personal information about any citizen. BANNED ON FACEBOOK: YES BANNED ON TWITTER: YES PAGE: The Anti-Media NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS: 2.1mn ABOUT: Initially launched on Facebook by blogger and entrepreneur Nick Bernabe, the Anti-Media is now an independent news aggregator with a hefty amount of followers. The group, which poses as “non-partisan” and “anti-establishment,” publishes loads of “mainstream” stories, including ones dealing with the UN report about a number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, the Tesla crisis, and Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. BANNED ON FACEBOOK: YES BANNED ON TWITTER: YES PAGE: Police the Police NUMBER OF LIKES: 1.9mn ABOUT: A page dedicated to exposing US police brutality. The name of the group is apparently inspired by heated discussions following the recent string of deadly shootings by police officers across the country. People on social media, critics and analysts wonder who will regulate police where there is evidence of misconduct. BANNED ON FACEBOOK: YES BANNED ON TWITTER: YES RT ✔@RT_com #Facebook has purged over 800 pages for 'inauthentic behavior'. Some were alt-media outlets with millions of followers. One of those purged is RT America's @RachBlevins https://on.rt.com/9gb4 7:36 PM - Oct 11, 2018 Facebook pulls alt-media pages, dismisses as spam ahead of 2018 elections — RT US News Facebook is again being called out for purging political accounts too far left and right of center, after it removed more than 800 pages just in time for the 2018 midterm elections. Some had millions... rt.com 61 93 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy PAGE: Filming Cops NUMBER OF LIKES: 1.5mn ABOUT: Started in 2010, the blogging service’s moto is “Declare War on Police Brutality.” It has been documenting police abuse ever since. It insists that it is not demonizing officers, but is trying to report on “state-monopolized police brutality,” which it says is ignored by mainstream media. BANNED ON FACEBOOK: YES BANNED ON TWITTER: YES PAGE: Nation In Distress NUMBER OF LIKES: 3.2mn ABOUT: The group’s page on Facebook and information about it is blocked. It allegedly posted images and memes praising Donald Trump and attacking Democrats. The page also reportedly claimed to be the first online publication to have endorsed Trump. BANNED ON FACEBOOK: YES BANNED ON TWITTER: NO PAGE: Cop Block NUMBER OF LIKES: 1.7mn ABOUT: A police accountability project launched by libertarian Pete Eyre and blogger Ademo Freeman in 2010. The group’s activists insist that police badges don’t grant extra rights and attempt to draw attention to police brutality across the US. BANNED ON FACEBOOK: YES BANNED ON TWITTER: NO Cardboard cutouts of Mark Zuckerberg stand outside the US Capitol in Washington © AFP / Saul Loeb PAGE: Policing the Police NUMBER OF LIKES: 54K ABOUT: Another Police accountability page which was active only on Facebook BANNED ON FACEBOOK: YES BANNED ON TWITTER: NO ACCOUNT FOUND PAGE: Cop Logic NUMBER OF LIKES: 129K ABOUT: The project claims to be highlighting and documenting “the absurd and unpredictable antics of cops” across the globe. BANNED ON FACEBOOK: YES BANNED ON TWITTER: NO PAGE: Press for Truth NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS: 340K ABOUT: An independent media outlet which claims to produce content rarely covered by mainstream media. Notably, a day before being banned, it released a story by the project’s investigative journalist, Dan Dicks, whocompared Google Hub and Facebook Portal to George Orwell’s 1984 dystopia. BANNED ON FACEBOOK: YES BANNED ON TWITTER: NO Dan Dicks@DanDicksPFT I’m not American and I didn’t break the rules...350k followers gone in the blink of an eye! This isn’t about coordinating or spamming or even stopping “fake news”...it’s about the msm wiping out their competition while the oligarchy maintains the status quo. This is political The Wall Street Journal ✔@WSJ Facebook has taken down 559 pages and 251 accounts--virtually all of them American--because they “have consistently broken our rules against spam and coordinated inauthentic behavior." https://on.wsj.com/2PvCTMj 3:09 AM - Oct 12, 2018 111 100 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy PAGE: Rachel Blevins NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS: 69K ABOUT: RT America correspondent Rachel Blevins (un)surprisingly found herself among those dragged under in the‘inauthentic behavior’ purge. She says that Facebook took down her page and marked it as “spam” because of posts that were allegedly “misleading users.” BANNED ON FACEBOOK: YES BANNED ON TWITTER: NO Rachel Blevins@RachBlevins A few words on the Facebook purge... My page had nearly 70,000 followers before it was taken down and marked as "spam" because of posts that were allegedly "misleading users," according to Facebook's vague statement. Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/C3V4_PIeZ4A 10:17 PM - Oct 11, 2018 · Washington, DC 363 277 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy (RT)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 10/12/2018 11:36:50 PM
	HURRICANE CENTRAL Hurricane Michael Update: Bodies Found on Florida's Mexico Beach; Toll Had Already Reached 13 By Ron Brackett \| 2 hours ago \| weather.com 08:22 Stunning, Unedited Look at the Damage From Mexico Beach to Port St. Joe, Florida The destructive power of Hurricane Michael destroyed Mexico Beach and Port St. Joe, Florida. Hurricane Michael continued its rampage through the mid-Atlantic early Friday morning after ravaging parts of the Florida Panhandle, Georgia and the Carolinas, spawning deadly floods that rose so fast that there was little time to evacuate. At least 13 deaths have been blamed on the powerful storm – four in Florida, three in North Carolina, one in Georgia and five in Virginia. That number is almost certain to rise after Miami Fire Chief Joseph Zahralban, leader of a search-and-rescue unit, told the Associated Press that crews were finding bodies in and around Mexico Beach, the Florida Panhandle town nearly obliterated by the hurricane. "There are individuals who are deceased. We do not have a count, but we are working to identify them," Zahralban said. For the latest on Michael's impacts, click here Florida emergency officials earlier said they have received thousands of calls asking about missing people. But with cellphone service down for much of the area, it is possible that some of those unaccounted for are safe and just haven't been able to contact friends or family to let them know, officials said. Michael made landfall as a high-end Category 4 storm on the Florida Panhandle Wednesday, smashing towns to rubble. On Thursday, the Carolinas and Georgia saw trees knocked down, hundreds of thousands without power, and roads closed by standing water. Evacuations were ordered in Irmo, South Carolina, after multiple homes took on water. The storm's downpours flooded homes in Virginia on Thursday and led to water rescues and numerous flash flood emergencies later in the day. Serious coastal flooding was also reported overnight along North Carolina's Outer Banks, where some residents had to be evacuated as floodwaters inundated roads and homes. (MORE: The Victims of Hurricane Michael) Siobhan McGirl WDBJ7 ✔@siobhan_mcgirl Crazy video: floodwaters pushed open the front doors of Supply Resources in Danville. The owner showed us inside as he was cleaning up. Everything is caked in mud and destroyed. 11:19 PM - Oct 11, 2018 15 See Siobhan McGirl WDBJ7's other Tweets Twitter Ads info and privacy In Florida, from Panama City through Mexico Beach — where the storm made landfall — and into Apalachicola, houses were swamped or blown apart, roofs were ripped off, boats sank and trees toppled in the high winds. Aerial images at Mexico Beach Thursday morning showed extreme damage, with homes swept completely off their foundations and destroyed and few properties left standing along the coast. "Mexico Beach took the brunt," FEMA Administrator Brock Long said. "That’s probably ground zero." Eric Zerkel ✔@EricZerkel Mexico Beach, Fla. man ... wow. via @NOAASatellites 7:45 AM - Oct 12, 2018 8 16 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy More than 1.5 million homes and businesses lost power because of the storm, according toPowerOutage.us. Florida Homeowners told to stay away: Authorities said with so many search and rescue missions ongoing and widespread extreme damage, it's too early for homeowners to return to survey the damage. "It's still not safe to return, particularly to Bay County, Florida," Long said Friday. Deaths reported: Four people were killed in Florida's Gadsden County, according to Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Anglie Hightower. One of them was Steve Sweet, 44, who died when a tree slammed into his Gretna home. Details were not available on the other three deaths. Food and water airdrops happening: Gov. Rick Scott said in a Friday morning tweet that helicopters are dropping emergency food and water supplies into the towns hit hardest by the storm. View image on Twitter Devika Krishna Kumar ✔@Devikakrishnak A vital road is completely damaged in Alligator Point, #Florida making rescue challenging and cut off residents from the outside. Those that are able to come out are using ATVs and bicycles #HurricaneMichael 2:23 PM - Oct 12, 2018 · Alligator Point, FL See Devika Krishna Kumar's other Tweets Twitter Ads info and privacy Psychiatric hospital cut off: In the town of Chattahoochee, the Florida State Hospital, which is the state's largest and oldest psychiatric hospital, was inaccessible in the wake of Michael, according to the Miami Herald. The facility's 975 residents and 325 staffers had ample supplies, especially after food and water drops via helicopter, but the hospital lost all communication with the outside world, the report added. (MORE: How to Help the Victims of Hurricane Michael) Two Panama City hospitals evacuate: Bay Medical Sacred Heart began evacuating patients about 3 a.m. Thursday after the hospital was damaged by the hurricane on Wednesday. Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center also was damaged and began moving patients on Thursday. Both hospitals said their emergency rooms would remain open. Major damage reported at Tyndall Air Force Base: The base, which sits across the bay from Panama City, posted on its Facebook page Thursday that the base had widespread catastrophic damage. The post also said there was roof damage to nearly every house on the base. No injuries were reported. A wind gust of 129 mph was measured at the base. Base personnel had been ordered to evacuate on Monday. The Facebook post said evacuees should plan on being away for an extended time. Brennan Prill@bren_prill Trees snapping as #HuricaneMichael makes land fall. 12:36 PM - Oct 10, 2018 775 533 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy Devastation in Mexico Beach: Images from Mexico Beach showed widespread devastation with homes reduced to kindling and roofs lying in the middle of U.S. 98. Storm surge lapped at roof eaves. Mayor Al Cathey, 71, told the Tampa Bay Times, "We’re broken here. This devastation is beyond. I think it’s sort of obvious we need some help." Dozens Didn't Flee: State officials said as many as 285 Mexico Beach residents chose not to obey evacuation orders ahead of the storm. The National Guard was able to rescue about 20 people overnight, but it was unknown how many residents were missing, or if there were any deaths. (PHOTOS: Before and After Images Show Michael's Devastation) A warehouse of boats is seen damaged at Treasure Island Marina in Panama City Beach, Florida, after Hurricane Michael made landfall along the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images) Panama City residents feel wrath of Michael: Vance Beu, 29, was staying with his mother at her Panama City apartment when a pine tree slashed through the roof. Beu said the roar of the storm sounded like a jet engine as the winds accelerated. "It was terrifying, honestly. There was a lot of noise. We thought the windows were going to break at any time. We had the inside windows kind of barricaded in with mattresses," Beu said. Apalachicola suffers heavy damage: Sally Crown, who rode out the storm in her house, ventured out after the storm had passed. "It's absolutely horrendous. Catastrophic," she said. "There's flooding. Boats on the highway. A house on the highway. Houses that have been there forever are just shattered." Trees downed across capital city: In Tallahassee, the power loss from Michael surpassed the loss from Hermine over two years ago, according to Mayor Andrew Gillum. Nearly all customers citywide were in the dark on Thursday. Gillum urged patience and optimism from residents as the city works through its recovery. "I'm counting our many, many blessings. This storm for us certainly was not as bad for us as it could have been." Building permit fees waived: Leon County officials said Friday morning that all building permit fees will be waived for storm-related repairs in the wake of the storm. Homeowners and licensed contractors qualify for this special exception. Federal disaster approved: President Donald Trump approved a major disaster declaration for the state in the wake of the storm, making federal aid available for state and local response efforts. Georgia Agriculture decimated: With the harvest underway, many farms in South Georgia had their crops ravaged by the storm. "Our worst dreams are being realized," Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black told reporters Thursday morning. Black told AJC.com that he expects the losses to exceed $1 billion to crops like cotton, pecans and fall vegetables, which were currently being harvested. View image on Twitter Bob Kemerait@bobkemerait Mitchell County. "The crop is gone, but there was no blood. I am thankful for the safety of my family. Three storms- 2016, 2017, 2018. Where do I go from here?" 6:43 PM - Oct 11, 2018 65 41 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy 11-year-old girl killed: In southern Georgia, a girl was killed when a carport hit her home in Seminole County. The county coroner later identified her as Sarah Radney. Numerous tornadoes reported: The National Weather Service said it had confirmed three tornadoes were spawned by Michael. An EF0 tornado touched down a couple of miles southwest of Atlanta and snapped several large trees. A high-end EF1 tornado touched down in Crawford County. Numerous trees were knocked down or uprooted. Several homes were damaged by falling trees, the NWS said. Damage was also found in Peach County that was thought to be caused by a brief tornado, but NWS said it wants to re-examine radar data to confirm it. Thousands lose power: After its assault on Florida, Michael's wind and rain pelted southern and central Georgia, knocking out power and downing trees in the southwestern corner of the state. At the peak of the outages, about 350,000 homes and business were without power. The Carolinas Another storm brings flooding: Just weeks after being slammed by Hurricane Florence, the Carolinas are yet again seeing impacts from a tropical system. On Thursday morning, flooding was reported in parts of western North Carolina after hours of heavy rain overwhelmed rivers and streams. Several roads in Boone, North Carolina, were impacted the floodwaters Thursday morning, the city's police department tweeted. Gov. Roy Cooper said “dozens” of people wererescued from flash floods and rising rivers, the News and Observer reported. Carolyn Morrisroe@CarolynMorrisro Photos of flooding in the area of S. Main, S. Church and Kanuga in Hendersonville, NC this morning. Wash Creek is running about 5 feet deep through the parking garages at Beacon Commons. #hurricanemichael 7:18 AM - Oct 11, 2018 5 See Carolyn Morrisroe's other Tweets Twitter Ads info and privacy Three deaths confirmed: A North Carolina man was killed Thursday after a tree fell on his car in Iredell County, north of Charlotte. He was later identified by WJZY-TV as 38-year-old Brian Cooper. Two others died in Marion, northeast of Asheville, when they crashed into a tree that had fallen into the roadway. "We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the loved ones and friends of those killed," said Cooper in a statement. Homes flooded: Water rose knee-high and waist-high in communities near Columbia, South Carolina. At least 20 people were evacuated from their homes in Irmo, the State reported, and more than 40 homes had water in them, said Ben Smith, assistant chief of the Irmo Fire District. Virginia Five killed in the floods: At least five people died in the state late Thursday and early Friday because of the flooding. One of the victims was identified as Lt. Brad Clark, who died in a crash while responding to a weather-related incident. Flooded roads and water rescues: At least 1,200 roads were closed and water rescues need as rain from Michael flooded southwest and central Virginia on Thursday, the National Weather Service reported, including Roanoke, Danville and southern Pittsylvania County, and Henry County. Hundreds of trees were down in Henry County, too. Reports said several had fallen on homes with people trapped inside. In Hanover County, emergency officials rescued a person after a tree fell on a house. Water rescues were also needed in Richmond. 'Once in a generation': "Yesterday was a once in a generation, perhaps lifetime, storm event for #DanvilleVA," said Danville Vice Mayor Lee Vogler in a Friday morning Facebook post. Henri Gendreau@HenriGendreau Flooding in Roanoke has shut down Franklin Road and Wonju Street intersection. Here, behind nearby dealership, where employees are moving cars out of the way: 1:19 PM - Oct 11, 2018 44 46 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy Tornado warnings: James City County tweeted Friday that the National Weather Service had confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down in the Norge area. The tweet said 32 homes were damaged, and no one was injured. Officials estimate damage to be at $1.8 million. More than a half dozen tornado warnings were issued Thursday evening for parts of southwestern and central Virginia. - Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. (weather.com)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 10/13/2018 10:32:09 AM
	Italy Slumps Into Bear Market As European Stocks Hit 20-Month Lows by Tyler Durden Thu, 10/11/2018 - 11:50 European stocks have all but erased all gains since the end of 2016.. Led by a collapse in Italian equities (now down over 20% into bear market territory)... Get back to work Mr.Draghi... Business Finance 22 (zerohedge.com)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 10/13/2018 3:26:04 PM
	Mark Wallheiser / Getty Images HURRICANE MICHAEL Hurricane Michael is a monster storm and an unnatural disaster By Eric Holthaus on Oct 10, 2018 Hurricane Michael made landfall early Wednesday afternoon near Mexico Beach, Florida, as a high-end Category 4 hurricane, with sustained winds of 155 mph, just 2 mph below Category 5 strength. The hurricane will likely devastate Florida’s Panhandle communities. It is, simply, a history-changing storm. According to the National Hurricane Center, “most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.” As Michael approached land, meteorologists struggled to find words to describe it. On Twitter, the National Weather Service said, in all caps, “THIS IS A WORST CASE SCENARIO.” The hurricane’s winds and waves were so strong, their rumblings were detected on seismometers — equipment designed to measure earthquakes. Michael is expected to produce storm surge — typically the deadliest part of any hurricane — of up to 14 feet, smashing local records. No storm remotely this strong has ever hit this part of Florida. The previously strongest hurricane to hit the Florida Panhandle had winds of 125 mph, 30 mph weaker than Michael’s. The local National Weather Service office in Tallahasseeissued a chilling warning that Michael was “not comparable to anything we have seen before.” Only the 1935 “Labor Day” hurricane, which hit the Florida Keys, and 1969’s Hurricane Camille, which struck Mississippi, were more intense at landfall in all of U.S. history. Michael is the fourth Category 4 hurricane to hit the U.S. in just 15 months, joining last year’s trio of Harvey, Irma, and Maria — an unprecedented string of catastrophic hurricane disasters. In the hours before landfall, Michael rapidly intensified, strengthening from a Category 1 to a strong Category 4 in less than 36 hours — consistent with recent research on climate change’s impact on storms. Michael did this after passing over unusually warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, which likely helped to increase the storm’s moisture content and provide fuel for more intense thunderstorms, a deeper central pressure, and stronger winds. Sea levels in the Gulf of Mexico have risen by about a foot over the past 100 years, so there’s a direct link between Michael’s coastal flooding and long-term climate change. Recovery from Michael is likely to be a painfully slow process. The Panhandle is the most impoverished region of Florida, and this kind of a storm would be difficult to overcome even for wealthy communities. Calhoun County, just inland of where Michael made landfall, is the lowest-income county in the state, with a median household income of less than $32,000 per year. As we saw during last month’s Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas, it’s likely that thousands of people couldn’t even afford to evacuate. Even if Michael wasn’t making landfall in a particularly vulnerable section of U.S. coastline, it would be an unrecoverable storm for many families. Our inaction on climate change made Michael into an unnatural disaster. (GRIST)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 10/13/2018 4:17:13 PM
	New Pentagon report outlines US preparations for total war with Russia and China Andre Damon World Socialist Website Thu, 11 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC Over the past two weeks, with next to no media coverage, the United States has moved substantially closer toward open military confrontation with both Russia and China, the second- and third-ranked nuclear powers in the world. On October 3, the United States threatened, for the first time since the Cold War, to directly attack the Russian homeland. UN Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison accused the country of violating the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty by developing a nuclear cruise missile and said that Washington was preparing to "take out" the weapon with a US strike. This statement came just three days after a Chinese warship set a collision course with a US destroyer carrying out a so-called "freedom of navigation" operation in the South China Sea, forcing the American ship to maneuver to avoid a collision and the potentially deadliest military clash in the Pacific in decades. Behind such hair-raising incidents, the United States is undertaking serious, long-term preparations to restructure the American economy to fight a major war with a "peer" adversary, entailing radical changes to American economic, social and political life. This is the essential content of a 146-page document released by the Pentagon last Friday, titled "Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States." It makes it clear that Washington is preparing not just for isolated regional clashes, but rather for a massive, long-term war effort against Russia and China under conditions of potential national autarchy. The document made clear that a major restructuring of the American economy will be necessary to reach the United States military's stated goal of being prepared to "fight tonight" against a "peer adversary." The United States must "retool" for "great-power competition," the document declared. "America's manufacturing and defense industrial base," observes the report, creates the "platform and systems" upon which "our Warfighter depends." This complex encompasses not just the government, but the private sector, as well as "R&D organizations" and "academic institutions." In other words, the entire economy and society. It warns that "The erosion of American manufacturing over the last two decades... threatens to undermine the ability of U.S. manufacturers to meet national security requirements. Today, we rely on single domestic sources for some products and foreign supply chains for others, and we face the possibility of not being able to produce specialized components for the military at home." Correcting this strategic deficiency, the report concludes, means that "support for a vibrant domestic manufacturing sector, a solid defense industrial base, and resilient supply chains is a national priority." The report squarely targets China, declaring, "China's economic strategies, combined with the adverse impacts of other nations' industrial policies, pose significant threats to the U.S. industrial base and thereby pose a growing risk to U.S. national security." The promotion of US manufacturing dominance, in other words, is vital for promoting military dominance. The protection of heavy industry goes together with the administration's efforts to defend America's high-tech sector, the source of a vast portion of US profitability. As the report notes, "One of the Chinese Communist Party's primary industrial initiatives, Made in China 2025, targets artificial intelligence, quantum computing, robotics, autonomous and new energy vehicles, high performance medical devices, high-tech ship components, and other emerging industries critical to national defense." It warns that "Chinese R&D spending is rapidly converging to that of the U.S. and will likely achieve parity sometime in the near future," and worriedly points to the fact that the Chinese manufacturer DJI dominates the commercial aerial drone market. The Pentagon's plans for protecting and expanding the US high-tech sector include its backing for the administration's efforts to limit the admission of Chinese students to US universities through visa restrictions. The report complains that, with as many as 25 percent of "STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics] graduates in the U.S. being Chinese nationals... American universities are major enablers of China's economic and military rise." The vision in the document, in other words, is the concrete expression of the conception outlined in the latest US national security strategy, calling for "the seamless integration of multiple elements of national power-diplomacy, information, economics, finance, intelligence, law enforcement and military." A leading element of this equation is the American corporate technology sector, which has scrambled for fat Pentagon contracts to develop the latest generation of weapons systems. In exchange for these payouts, and aggressive protection from their international rivals, they have worked closely to implement what one leaked internal Google document called a "shift towards censorship" in cooperation with the demands of the US military and intelligence agencies. The logic of this growing fusion between the repressive apparatus of the state and increasingly powerful monopolies is the necessary correlation between "total war" and a "totalitarian" society, in which key constitutional provisions are rendered effectively meaningless. The central target of such measures will be the forcible suppression of the class struggle in the name of promoting "national security." The escalation of global US militarism has coincided with a major upsurge in the class struggle, including the rejection of a concessions contract by workers at UPS, the logistics giant whose powerful workforce is capable of crippling not just America's industrial base, but substantial sections of the wartime economy. (sott.net)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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HURRICANE CENTRAL

Hurricane Michael Update: Bodies Found on Florida's Mexico Beach; Toll Had Already Reached 13

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2 hours ago

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