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NWCorona's JournalChina launches Tiangong-2 orbital module
Source: Nasaspaceflight
China took another step on its long march to a permanent orbital outpost with the launch of the Tiangong-2 orbital module from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The launch, conducted by a Long March 2F – took place at 14:04 UTC from the 921 Launch Pad of the LC43 Launch Complex. The new orbital outpost will enable the crews to remain in orbit for 30-day missions.
Original built as a back up to Tiangong-1, TG-2 is expected to be identical in size to the previous Chinese station that was launched in 2011.
2016-09-14-231302The original plan was for Tiangong-2 to be launched at the end of 2013 or early in 2014. However, following the successful flights to Tiangong-1, China changed the original roadmap.
That path involved the new orbital module being used to test technologies that will be essential to the future Tiangong modular space station, the first module of which – the Tianhe Space Station Core Module – will be launched in 2018.
Read more: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/09/china-launch-tiangong-2-orbital-module/
Witness says Philippine president ordered killings
Source: Seattle Times
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A former Filipino militiaman testified before the country’s Senate on Thursday that President Rodrigo Duterte, when he was still a city mayor, ordered him and other members of a liquidation squad to kill criminals and opponents in gangland-style assaults that left about 1,000 dead.
Edgar Matobato, 57, told the nationally televised Senate committee hearing that he heard Duterte order some of the killings and acknowledged he himself carried out about 50 of the abductions and deadly assaults, including a man who they fed to a crocodile in 2007 in southern Davao city.
The Senate committee inquiry was being led by Sen. Leila de Lima, a staunch critic of Duterte’s anti-drug campaign that has left more than 3,000 suspected drug users and dealers dead since he assumed the presidency in June. Duterte has accused de Lima of involvement in illegal drugs, alleging that she used to have a driver who took money from detained drug lords. She has denied the allegations.
“Our job was to kill criminals like drug pushers, rapists, snatchers,” Matobato said under oath, adding some of the targets were not criminals but opponents of Duterte and one of his sons in Davao city.
Read more: http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/witness-says-philippine-president-ordered-killings/
Bravo to Sen. Leila de Lima. Hopefully this brings him down.
Leaked documents reveal secretive influence of corporate cash on politics
Source: The Guardian
The pervasive influence of corporate cash in the democratic process, and the extraordinary lengths to which politicians, lobbyists and even judges go to solicit money, are laid bare in sealed court documents leaked to the Guardian.
The John Doe files amount to 1,500 pages of largely unseen material gathered in evidence by prosecutors investigating alleged irregularities in political fundraising. Last year the Wisconsin supreme court ordered that all the documents should be destroyed, though a set survived that has now been obtained by the news organisation.
The files open a window on a world that is very rarely glimpsed by the public, in which millions of dollars are secretly donated by major corporations and super-wealthy individuals to third-party groups in an attempt to sway elections. They speak to a visceral theme of the 2016 presidential cycle: the distortion of American democracy by big business that has been slammed by both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.
In a case that is the subject of a petition currently in front of the US supreme court, five Wisconsin prosecutors carried out a deep investigation into what they suspected were criminal campaign-finance violations by the campaign committee of Scott Walker, Wisconsin governor and former Republican presidential candidate. Known as the “John Doe investigation”, the inquiry has been a lightning rod for bitter disputes between conservatives and progressives for years
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/14/corporate-cash-john-doe-files-scott-walker-wisconsin
British SAS sniper kills ISIS flamethrower executioner with a crack shot to save 12 hostages
"The expert British special forces marksman was almost a mile away when he gunned down the feared ISIS executioner and three others as they were set to turn a flamethrower on the civilians who were accused of being spies.
The SAS sniper fired a single round from his high calibre .50 Barrett rifle at the fuel tank of the executioner's flamethrower, causing it to explode, incinerating him and three other ISIS members who were poised ready to film the killing of the civilians.
A source told the Daily Star Sunday that it was part of a rescue operation near Raqqa in Syria earlier this month.
The so-called ISIS executioner who was killed in the mission is said to have been on a US 'kill list' for months because of his brutal method of killing prisoners with his flamethrower, burning them alive.
The source told the newspaper:“The SAS team moved into an overwatch position above a village where they were told the execution was going to take place.
“Up to 12 civilians were going to be murdered – eight men and four women. They were suspected of being spies.
“The executioner gave some sort of rambling speech over a loud hailer then when he finished the SAS sniper opened fire.""
http://www.joe.ie/news/british-sas-sniper-kills-isis-flamethrower-executioner-with-a-crack-shot-moments-before-he-torched-12-hostages/559788
Live feed to Hillary's speech on national security. She on right now
This is the most frightening spider statistic ever: spiders walk across our faces as we sleep!
The thought of being in the same room as a spider gives most of us the creeps - so imagine finding out they also walk across our faces as we sleep!
“Huntsmen can walk across you and you wouldn’t know,” Michael Tate from NSW’s Central Coast Australian Reptile Park told 2UE radio.
“By the time you’re 35 years old, and if you’re living in Sydney, several huntsmen will have walked across your face during your sleep,” Tate said, who is more commonly known as ‘Ranger Mick’.
You’re not alone if hearing this makes you want to jump out of your skin and sleep wrapped in bubble wrap!
“It’s very likely that someone may have had prey caught on their face by a huntsman. Bushy eyebrows are the perfect hunting ground for a spider,” he said."
But it gets worse...
"according to arachnid curator Rod Crawford of Seattle’s Burke Museum, we swallow eight spiders a year in our sleep, he told Scientific American."
https://au.be.yahoo.com/lifestyle/real-life/a/32563209/this-is-the-most-frightening-spider-statistic-ever/#page1
Fox Lands Black Superhero Drama From Greg Berlanti, Salim and Mara Brock Akil
"Fox may soon be adding another DC Comics character to its roster.
The network has given a pilot production commitment to Black Lightning, the black superhero drama from prolific superhero series producer Greg Berlanti, and The Game's Salim and Mara Brock Akil, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
One of DC Comics' first major African-American superheroes, Black Lightning was created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden and debuted in 1977. The hourlong drama will center on Jefferson Pierce, who hung up his suit and his secret identity years ago. However, with a daughter hell-bent on justice and a star student being recruited by a local gang, he'll be pulled back into the fight as the wanted vigilante and DC legend Black Lightning.
The Akils will write and exec produce the project with Berlanti and his producing partner Sarah Schechter. Their respective banners, Akil Productions and Berlanti Productions, will produce in association with Warner Bros. TV.
Black Superhero Drama From Greg Berlanti, Salim and Mara Brock Akil in the Works
Should Black Lightning be picked up, it would be the first broadcast series to feature an African-American superhero as its lead. Netflix, of course, has Marvel drama Luke Cage premiering at the end of the month.
Black Lightning could potentially join the Fox's other DC Comics-inspired drama, Gotham, which centers on a young Bruce Wayne and features other characters from the Batman comics including Catwoman, Penguin and Poison Ivy. Fox also has sophomore drama Lucifer, which is based on a character from DC Comics' Vertigo imprint."
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/fox-lands-black-lightning-project-926678
/revision/latest?cb=20090116172924
While not my favorite character I still have some Black Lightning comics. I hope it turns out good!
Departing cruise ship creates tsunami that destroys docks, boats
The Carnival Vista, the largest cruise ship in Carnival’s fleet, pulled out of the Port of Messina in Sicily, Italy, recently with quite the head of steam, leaving an estimated $280,000 worth of damage in its wake. Literally.
As the 134,000-ton cruise ship pulled out of port, its engines churned up the water and created a mini-tsunami that slammed into the Marina del Nettuno.
The strong wake overturned concrete docks that sank boats, as shown in the amazing CCTV footage above provided by the Daily Mail.
The $780,000 cruise ship that launched in May continued on its merry way apparently oblivious to the destruction it left behind, according to Russia Today and Ansa. An investigation is underway by the Messina harbor master.
Read more at http://www.grindtv.com/random/departing-cruise-ship-creates-tsunami-destroys-docks-boats-video/#ZaKXXAjEhf8XJava.99
That would suck!
Goldman Sachs Bans Partners From Giving to Certain Campaigns
Source: Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banned all of its partners from making campaign contributions to state and local candidates running for office, as well as state or local officials running for federal office.
As of Sept. 1, every partner is considered a “restricted person” prohibited from engaging in political activities or making campaign gifts to those candidates or officials, according to an Aug. 29 internal memo sent to partners.
“The policy change is meant to prevent inadvertently violating pay-to-play rules, particularly the look-back provision, when partners transition into roles covered by these rules,” the New York-based firm said in the memo, reported earlier Tuesday by Politico. “The penalties for failing to comply with these rules can be severe and include fines and a ban on the firm from doing business with government clients in a particular jurisdiction for a period of at least two years.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission enacted the pay-to-play rule in 2010 after a series of scandals involving money managers accused of trying to improperly influence state officials to win investment-management business. Some of that influence included arranging political contributions. This year, the rule extends to the presidential race since Republican nominee Donald Trump chose Indiana Governor Mike Pence, a sitting state official, as his running mate.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-06/goldman-sachs-widens-campaign-gift-restrictions-to-every-partner?utm_content=business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&cmpid%3D=socialflow-facebook-business
Anybody else see the stare down match between Obama and Putin?
Obama definitely isn't weak!
Obama, Putin Discuss Syria Cease-fire at G-20 in Hangzhou, China
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/amp/obama-putin-discuss-syria-cease-fire-g-20-hangzhou-china-n642806
This isn't good at all.
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