China has developed the ability for space-based warfare including satellite targeting missiles and other weapons that can destroy the U.S. communication net.
Space warfare experts say that the United States’ dependence on satellites for communications among military units is a weakness that is being targeted by the Chinese in the event of future military conflict.
“The current and evolving counterspace threat posed by China to U.S. military operations in the Asia Pacific theater and outside is extremely serious,” Ashley Tellis, former State Department and National Security Council strategic specialist, told Congress.
The experts believe that in the short term China will focus on producing missiles capable of destroying U.S. satellites in space. They testified that most current models used by the military for potential conflicts assume that their satellite based communication system would not be disrupted.
Robert Butterworth, former chief of strategic planning for Air Force Space Command, said that while war with China is not an imminent threat, Congress needs to remember that China won’t be dissuaded in their efforts by the world reminding them about current norms against weaponizing space.
The gunman who walked into a Maryland shopping mall and shot two people inside a skateboard store reportedly was just looking to kill.
Police say that Darion Aguilar had a journal where he wrote that he was looking to kill people and that he was ready to die. The journal didn’t name anyone specifically that Aguilar wanted to kill but he mentioned having a “general hatred of others.”
He also wrote in the journal that he needed to seek help from a mental health professional but that he had not talked with his family about that need.
Detectives who have been going through Aguilar’s computer, cell phone and journal say that there is absolutely no connection to the two people he gunned down. There is also nothing that indicates why he chose the skateboard shop Zumiez for his rampage.
Police released new information yesterday that said Aguilar assembled his shotgun in the dressing room of the store and then opened fire.
Winter weather shocked the Deep South on Tuesday, leaving many communities without power and roads completely impassable for most cars.
The National Guard had to be called out to bring supplies to area schools where children were forced to spend the night in gymnasiums with teachers. Military Humvees are being used to move school buses that were stranded on highways.
Nearly all public entities and most businesses were shut down in the Atlanta area early Wednesday because of the winter conditions.
The weather conditions across the south led to people abandoning their vehicles on highways from Mississippi to the Florida panhandle.
Thousands of churches opened their sanctuaries to motorists who were stranded by the weather. Action Church of Canton, Georgia told the Associated Press that they had close to 20 people that were stranded near them come in for food, warmth and shelter.
Suburban Atlanta police even had to deliver a baby on the interstate when the mother was unable to make it to the hospital. Mother and baby were both fine.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a statement on Tuesday saying they are working with three companies that produce intravenous saline to combat a shortage at American hospitals.
Valerie Jensen, FDA’s Associate Director for Drug Shortages, says that the product manufacturers, Baxter International, Hospira and B. Braun Medical, have committed to stepping up production.
“We have not heard of anyone running out of the IV solutions at this point,” Jensen said, “but we know the hospitals are not comfortable with the low supplies.”
Manufacturers had notified the FDA at the end of 2013 they anticipated delays in filling orders but a significant increase in flu cases have magnified the shortages.
Healthcare providers are reportedly saving saline only for the most seriously ill patients and in many cases using smaller bags to extend the supply.
The Grammy Awards have caused significant controversy that has led several commentators and celebrities to call them “evil” and “demonic.”
Former Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron, who is preparing for the NFL Draft, took to Twitter to question the performances.
“Is it just me or are some of the Grammy performances so far seem to be really demonic?” McCarron tweeted. “Looks like there is a lot of evil in the world.”
His words were likely referring to the performance by Katy Perry in which she was dressed as a witch, had multiple symbols on stage considered to be satanic symbols and was burned at the stake. McCarron later responded to someone on Twitter saying that he wondered what Perry’s father, a pastor, had to say about what she had done.
The performance of Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z also drew complaints because of their overt sexual moves. At one point, Jay-Z fondles intimate parts of his wife’s body on stage.
Lawmakers have raised the alarm over the discovery of abortion fees being hidden inside premiums for the Affordable Care Act, in violation of federal laws.
Nowhere on the healthcare.gov website does an applicant discover that they will be paying at least $1 a month to fund abortions.
Representative Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania, chair of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health, told Fox News that when the President promised the healthcare bill would not cover abortion it was a lie because the bill stipulated the $1 a month surcharge for abortions.
A house bill is being introduced this week to demand full disclosure of the hidden abortion funding and a separate itemized premium. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor will introduce the bill, the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act”.
The communications director for Rep. Pitts told Fox they could not find a single plan within the Healthcare Marketplace that disclosed the abortion funding as part of their plans.
A Congressman speaking at the 41st annual March For Life has declared that those who are standing up for the lives of babies are “winning.”
New Jersey Representative Chris Smith told the thousands who braved the bitter cold of Washington DC to rally on the National Mall that their side was gaining the upper hand in the battle to save lives.
“By the grace of God and because of you … we are winning,” Smith said. “To the youth, especially, never quit or grow weary or discouraged. Your generation will end abortion.”
Smith is the author of the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” which will soon receive a vote in the House of Representatives.
The event featured Republicans from the House of Representatives and a Washington state Democratic Representative. The major Democrat scheduled to attend the event, Illinois Rep. Dan Lipinski, cancelled claiming delays at an airport in his home state.
The grand marshal for the 2014 March for Life told the Christian post the cold weather just showed their dedication to end murders via abortion.
“When I woke up this morning I thought, why did God do this to us, give us such a cold day for the March for Life,” Tom Hogan said. “But then I thought, what He wants us to do is show our determination and that no matter what, we are against abortion and we want to get Roe vs. Wade overturned.”
A report from a Wall Street analyst says that the government’s unemployment numbers are grossly underestimating the percentage of Americans who want work but can’t find it.
David John Marrotta said in a memo obtained by the Washington Examiner hat the true unemployment rate in the U.S. is 37.2%, almost five and a half times the 6.7% rate that has been touted by the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department.
“Unemployment in its truest definition, meaning the portion of people who do not have any job, is 37.2 percent. This number obviously includes some people who are not or never plan to seek employment. But it does describe how many people are not able to, do not want to or cannot find a way to work. Policies that remove the barriers to employment, thus decreasing this number, are obviously beneficial,” Marrotta wrote.
The major factor in the government’s number is that they remove anyone from the index who says they have stopped looking for work because they’ve been frustrated at their inability to find a job.
The memo also said that the Misery Index, which is calculated based on inflation and unemployment, is much higher than government reports. The official government statistics put the misery index at 7.54 while the true numbers have the number at close to 14.7, higher than during the Ford administration.
Another polar blast is heading toward the eastern United States and could bring heavy snow to the northeast.
The storm through the day Tuesday is predicted to bring up to 12 inches of snow to the eastern seaboard from Virginia to Massachusetts. The storm will also bring heavy winds that could cause snowdrifts, poor travel conditions and downed power lines.
The Federal Government shut offices for Tuesday in preparation for the storm’s arrival. Forecast models called for 6 to 10 inches in the capital.
In addition to the snow and winds, the storm will bring cold temperatures far into the south. Forecasters call for lows in the teens from towns as far south as Memphis, Tennessee through the entire northern part of the country.
Temperatures across the eastern U.S. could be as much as 25 degrees lower than normal for this time of year.
The men who have their fingers on the button have been cheating to keep them there.
Thirty-four nuclear missile launch officers have been stripped of their certification and duty after it was discovered they had been cheating on monthly required tests to maintain their positions. The cheating was discovered during an unrelated investigation into drug use among Air Force officers.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James told reporters Wednesday that the officers were texting each other answers. The tests were monthly exams on the operation of the missile systems. In addition to the officers who actually cheated, any officer aware of the cheating who did not report the situation to superior officers were also removed from duty.
Three of the officers involved in the cheating scandal were also arrested as part of a drug sting that covered six bases in the U.S. and England.
The missile command system covers 450 nuclear missiles.