Under Trump, U.S. Debt Grew by Size of Brazilian Economy in Just Two Years
December 12th, 2018Via: Los Angeles Times:
U.S. government debt is on track this year to rise at the fastest pace since 2012, as a stronger economy fails to keep pace with the wave of red ink that’s rising under the Trump administration.
Total public debt outstanding has jumped by $1.36 trillion, or 6.6%, since the start of 2018, and by $1.9 trillion since President Trump took office, according to the latest Treasury Department figures. The latter figure is about the size of Brazil’s gross domestic product.
If this year’s growth rate is sustained through the end of the year, it would be the biggest jump in percentage terms since the last year of President Obama’s first term, when the economy needed fiscal stimulus in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
As of Monday, the nation’s debt stood at a record $21.9 trillion.
Related: Trump Commits to $750 Billion U.S. Defense Budget a Week After Saying $717 Billion Is ‘Crazy’
Record for High-Temperature Superconductivity
December 12th, 2018Room temperature superconductors belong in the same basket as fusion power plants artificial general intelligence: They were only a couple of decades away when we read about them in Omni magazine in the 1980s.
Via: MIT Technology Review:
Chemists found a material that can display superconducting behavior at a temperature warmer than it currently is at the North Pole. The work brings room-temperature superconductivity tantalizingly close.
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The history of superconductivity is littered with dubious claims of high-temperature activity that later turn out to be impossible to reproduce. Indeed, physicists have a name for this: USOs, or unidentified superconducting objects.
So new claims of high-temperature superconductivity have to be treated with caution. Having said that, the news today that the record for high-temperature superconductivity has been smashed is worth looking at in more detail.
Trump Commits to $750 Billion U.S. Defense Budget a Week After Saying $717 Billion Is ‘Crazy’
December 11th, 2018Drain the swamp. Mmm hmm.
Via: Independent:
President Donald Trump has backtracked on his proposal to shrink military spending, instead agreeing to Defence Secretary Jim Mattis’ request for a $750 billion budget for the upcoming 2019 fiscal year.
Last week, Mr Trump tweeted that a $716 billion Defence Department budget is “crazy.”
The following day, Mr Mattis, Texas Representative Mac Thornberry and Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe—both Republicans and chairs of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee, respectively—met with Mr Trump to discuss the need and justifications for an increase to military spending.
The three Republicans all oppose the White House’s initial budget plan for $700 billion, which were part of the Trump administration’s plan to cut five per cent of budget spending on all federal agencies. The proposed budget cut would have reduced the $716 billion allocated funding in 2019 to $700 billion in 2020, a stark contrast to the Pentagon’s proffered $733 billion budget for 2020.
Following the meeting, Mr Trump reversed his positions supporting Defence budget cuts and agreed to the $750 billion budget request. The new proposed budget is about a $20 billion increase from the $733 billion budget proposal Pentagon officials initially proposed.
Walmart Testing Robotic Fry Cook
December 11th, 2018Via: Yahoo Finance:
Walmart (WMT) is in the early stages of testing a kitchen robot assistant named “Flippy” at its Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters to see whether or not it’s the right fit for its in-store delis.
Flippy is the world’s first autonomous robotic kitchen assistant powered by artificial intelligence from Miso Robotics, a two-year-old startup. The robot made headlines a year ago debuting as the burger-flipping robot at a CaliBurger franchise in Pasadena.
More recently, Flippy got a gig at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles with vending food service company Levy Restaurants, part of Compass Group, to fry up chicken tenders and tater tots. Through the World Series, Flippy churned out 17,000 pounds worth of the fried foods. It’s able to fry up to eight baskets of food simultaneously.
Free Gas Over Yemen’s Skies: Saudi Jets Refueled By American Taxpayers Due To “Accounting Errors”
December 10th, 2018Via: ZeroHedge:
The White House wants to stay the course in Yemen even as the Senate is set to push back against US military support to the Saudi-led bombing campaign. But now a bombshell report reveals the Pentagon has been fueling Saudi and UAE jets free of charge due to “errors in accounting where DoD failed to charge” according to US defense officials.
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For the entire three-and-a-half years of the program, the Pentagon never had an official servicing agreement in place with the Saudis and further never informed Congress.
The vital refueling role that the US military has played in the war goes back to March 2015 and is reported to be “enormously expensive”. The recipient country, in this case the Saudis, is required by law to pay the costs but the Pentagon now admits “they in fact had not been charged adequately” in an official DoD letter obtained by The Atlantic.
The Pentagon is now “currently calculating the correct charges” but it’s unclear if the missing funds going back years — footed by the American taxpayer — will ever be obtained especially as the DoD doesn’t even know what it’s owed.
The DIY Rocketeer Building SpaceX Replicas of Self-Landing Rockets
December 8th, 2018Via: Motherboard:
Joe Barnard left his background in videography and music production to launch his life of amateur rocketry, and he shares his DIY adventures in building rockets on his YouTube channel BPS.space.
Live: Yellow Vests Protest in Paris
December 8th, 2018Via: Russia Today:
China Launches Probe to Explore Dark Side of Moon
December 8th, 2018Via: Reuters:
China on Saturday launched a first probe ever to explore the dark side of the Moon, marking another milestone in its ambitious space program, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
The probe, the Chang’e-4, is expected to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the Moon, according to Xinhua. Previous spacecraft have seen the far side of the Moon, but none has landed on it.
Paris in Lockdown as France Braces for New Anti-Macron Riots
December 7th, 2018Via: Reuters:
Paris was in lockdown early on Saturday with thousands of French security forces braced to meet renewed rioting by “yellow vest” protesters in the capital and other cities in a fourth weekend of confrontation over living costs.
The Eiffel Tower and other tourist landmarks were shut, shops were boarded up to avoid looting and street furniture removed to avoid metal bars from being used as projectiles.
About 89,000 police were deployed across the country.
Of these, about 8,000 were deployed in Paris to avoid a repeat of last Saturday’s mayhem when rioters torched cars and looted shops off the famed Champs Elysees boulevard, and defaced the Arc de Triomphe with graffiti directed at President Emmanuel Macron.
Protesters, using social media, have billed the weekend as “Act IV” in a dramatic challenge to Macron and his policies.
More MKULTRA Documents Released
December 7th, 20182018 MKULTRA Document Releases on BlackVault
Via: TheSun:
“It shows that the entire story is not yet out – which is contrary to what the CIA wants us to believe.”
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He believes the missing information may relate to top secret mind control projects which are STILL taking place.
