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ZeroPointNow

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Wake up. Break the cycle. Teach your children.
Joined Oct 24, 2016
1,140 Blog Posts

TWO MORE HURRICANES: #Jose And #Katia Threaten Gulf As #Irma Closes In On Florida

Wed Sep 6, 2017 7:07pm EST 2

Biblical shit’s going down in the gulf. While Hurricane Irma – the largest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic bears down on Florida – a week after southeast Texas was devastated by hurricane #Harvey, a new hurricane, Jose, has cropped up right behind the Irma. Meanwhile, recently upgraded Hurricane Katia churns in the gulf of Mexico.

The National Hurricane Center said that Jose is “quickly strengthening,” after quietly following Irma across the Atlantic for the past several days.

Via ZeroHedge: 

Located about 1040 miles east of the Lesser Antilles, Jose is headed at 16 mph on a steady west-northwest track, steered by the same ridge that is helping to direct Irma.

On its current track, Jose would reach the northern Leeward Islands by Saturday, but the ridge is predicted to weaken enough by Saturday to allow Jose to arc just northeast of the islands. Conditions are favorable for Jose to strengthen into a hurricane by later Wednesday, and it could approach Category 3 strength by late in the week. About 25% of the European model ensemble members bring Jose into the northern Leeward Islands, but all of the GFS ensemble members keep Jose north of the islands.

Irma and Jose

Katia

Recently upgraded from a Tropical Storm to a Category 1 Hurricane, Katia looks like it’s going to slam into the west coast of Mexico sometimes Saturday.

Meanwhile, Irma is destroying everything in its path

And the island of Barbuda – which some estimate 70% of has been destroyed.

And it was such a quiet hurricane season until Harvey kicked off the destruction.

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Russian ‘Troll Farm’ Paid Facebook $100,000 To Run ‘Politically Divisive’ Ads

Wed Sep 6, 2017 5:57pm EST 13

The depths of the insidious and ongoing Russian attacks on American psyches have been vastly underestimated. According to Facebook, 470 ‘inauthentic’ accounts ‘likely operated out of Russia’ by a ‘troll farm,’ bought roughly 3,000 ads for $100,000 – mostly in 2015, which spread MIND ALTERING PROPAGANDA, infecting the malleable minds of American voters.

“Our analysis suggests these accounts and Pages were affiliated with one another and likely operated out of Russia,” According to Facebook Chief Security Officer, Alex Stamos.

  • The vast majority of ads run by these accounts didn’t specifically reference the US presidential election, voting or a particular candidate.
  • Rather, the ads and accounts appeared to focus on amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum — touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights.
  • About one-quarter of these ads were geographically targeted, and of those, more ran in 2015 than 2016.
  • The behavior displayed by these accounts to amplify divisive messages was consistent with the techniques mentioned in the white paper we released in April about information operations.

Troll Farm!

Facebook reps told congressional investigators on Wednesday that the $100,000 in ad sales was traced to a Russian ‘troll farm’ with a history of pushing pro-Kremlin propaganda, according to the Washington Post.

“I get the fact that the Russian intel services could figure out how to manipulate and use the bots. Whether they could know how to target states and levels of voters that the Democrats weren’t even aware really raises some questions. I think that’s a worthwhile area of inquiry,” Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said during a May airing of the podcast Pod Save America. “How did they know to go to that level of detail in those kinds of jurisdictions?”

Sending Americans Into A FRENZY!

So – while the majority of the ads in question did not support any particular candidate, or even reference the election, and Facebook hasn’t released any examples of the RUSSIAN MIND CONTROL techniques used on unsuspecting Americans, one thing is clear according to Facebook:

A Russian ‘troll farm’ paid $100,000 to get people WORKED UP OVER VARIOUS ISSUES…

Perhaps learning the Clinton Foundation was a massive pay-for-play scheme taking millions of dollars from enemies of the United States got people worked up as well.

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Hurricane #Irma Headed Towards Miami After Direct Hit On Caribbean Island Of Barbuda

Wed Sep 6, 2017 4:48am EST 8

The strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic, #Irma, made a direct hit on the tiny flat island of Barbuda early Wednesday, devastating the Caribbean home to just 1600 residents with winds up to 185 mph. As of now, there are no reports on damage or casualties – as nobody has been able to make contact with the island for hours.

The Category 5 Hurricane is currently headed towards Puerto Rico, Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis, and the US Virgin Islands – which is under a 36 hour curfew. “The beginning of the curfew coincides with the expected arrival of heavy rain and strong winds associated with Irma,” he said in a statement.

 

U.S. Landfall?

While it’s still too early to say where Irma will end up, the latest models have it making a sharp turn north, carving a path right through southern Florida.

Via CNN:

“People are genuinely scared down here,” he said. “… We are dead center in the state but I’m not taking any chances, I also don’t want to put my family through the misery of riding out the storm we’ve done it before and it’s horrible.”
Frequently updated Google satellite map hereSome footage of #Irma

And right behind Irma is #Jose…

And now Tropical Storm #Katia has formed in the Gulf. 

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Report: S. Korea Requests Ton Of U.S. Naval Assets For Protection

Wed Sep 6, 2017 12:27am EST 0

Responding to North Korea’s sixth nuclear test, the South Korean government has reportedly requested requested a ton of U.S. hardware rush to their defense, including the 102,000 ton USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) which they would like deployed to the northeastern coast in order to prepare against military action against Kim Jong Un’s forces, dongA.com reports.  S. Korean Joint Chiefs of staff reportedly made the request during a meeting with U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Scott Swift yesterday.

Update: South Korea has reportedly denied requesting that the Reagan be deployed to the border.

Via Yonhap 

South Korea has requested the regular deployment of such high-profile U.S. assets as flattops, nuclear submarines and long-range bombers to the peninsula.

He pointed out that it’s a decision to be made by policymakers and his mission is to get options ready as a commander in charge of around 200 ships and submarines, 1,180 aircraft and more than 140,000 sailors.

He added a “dual-carrier operation” in the region can be an option as well, given the strategic significance of aircraft carriers.

“But proximity, in my mind, is less important as a maritime commander, because what naval forces bring is great flexibility. The (USS Ronald) Reagan is out and about in the Pacific,” he said.

He said it’s possible to bring the Reagan, which has its home port in Japan, to a strike group in the waters around Korea or let it continue operations under the original planning process.

He dismissed a view that the North Korea risks are out of control, saying there’s a broad range of options. Top U.S. government officials have stated that all options are on the table when it comes to dealing with Pyongyang.

Swift was quite the diplomat, stating “If there’s a desire to have another carrier and there’s a desire to have more ships, more submarines, we have the capability and capacity to support that direction,” speaking to U.S. capabilities if and when it is ‘desired,’ presumably by U.S. commanders.

081125-N-5961C-067
SAN DIEGO (Nov. 25, 2008) Sailors man the rails on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) while the ship makes her way past Point Loma into her homeport of San Diego. (U.S. Navy photo by Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Spike Call/Released)

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Vicente Fox Slams ‘Cruel’ Trump Over #DACA, Says Minorities To Be Majority In ‘Few Years’

Tue Sep 5, 2017 11:08pm EST 10

Vicente Fox was able to get through an anti-Trump tirade without dropping any F-bombs, in a reaction to the decision to cancel the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (#DACA) program – which a Mark Zuckerberg linked study found would cost ‘Dreamers’ 800,000 jobs which can now to go American citizens and foreigners legally residing in the U.S.

Fox starts off with a sharp ‘TRUMP! You have failed America, cancelling DACA,” adding “This measure is cruel and heartless. Worst than any machine. You’re cancelling the future of 800,000 children and young people. You are so mistaken, the future of any country is the minorities which will be majorities – in a few years. You can not stop the change. The progress. The future, of that great nation.”

Who else thinks this is ‘CRUEL’ specifically?

For starters, former Hillary staffer in charge of ShareBlue, Peter Daou – who founded the new liberal propaganda repository Hillary tweeted about the other day:

Who else thinks this is cruel? Why, a ton of liberal pundits, politicians, and CEOs! It’s as if they compared notes for the word of the day.

Twitter is in fact chock full of tweets from prominent liberals who all thought to describe Trump’s decision to end #DACA as ‘cruel,’ despite several lawsuits challenging its legality in the first place.

 

 

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Hillary’s New Book Shifts Blame For Election Loss On… BERNIE SANDERS!?

Tue Sep 5, 2017 7:35pm EST 4

(optional background music)

Hillary Clinton slammed Bernie Sanders in her new book, What Happened, calling the Senator from Vermont an ‘over-promiser’ whose attacks on her during the primary caused ‘lasting damage’ which paved the way for Donald Trump’s ‘Crooked Hillary’ campaign – while President Obama counseled her to ‘grit my teeth and lay off Bernie.’

In the book – slated for release on September 12th (1 year and 1 day after she was chucked into a van like a side of beef), Clinton says Sanders “had to resort to innuendo and impugning my character” because the two Democrats “agreed on so much,” according to CNN. 

Clinton went on to blame some of Bernie’s supporters, “the so-called ‘Bernie Bros,’ took to harassing my supporters online. It got ugly and more than a little sexist.”

“When I finally challenged Bernie during a debate to name a single time I changed a position or a vote because of a financial contribution, he couldn’t come up with anything,” Clinton wrote. “Nonetheless, his attacks caused lasting damage, making it harder to unify progressives in the general election and paving the way for Trump’s ‘Crooked Hillary’ campaign.”

Cheating? What cheating? 

Since the 500 page What Happened isn’t available for our reading pleasure, I’m going to make a long-shot prediction that there’s no mention of Hillary colluding with Donna Brazile to cheat against Bernie in the primaries… Because I’m sure the optics on that weren’t as bad as Bernie doing what every political candidate has done since the beginning of time and talking shit about their opponent.

Meanwhile, What Happened can be summed up in one meme:

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Meet The New Antibiotic-Resistant ‘Hypervirulent’ Superbug Discovered In China

Tue Sep 5, 2017 5:54pm EST 4

To take your mind off nuclear war with North Korea and deadly hurricanes, let’s talk about other ways to cull the herd…

Scientists in Hangzhou, China have discovered a new strain of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia which spreads incredibly fast, after a 2016 outbreak in a hospital ICU led to the deaths of five patients ranging in age from 53 to 73. In findings published in The Lancet, researchers conclude that the new superbug poses a “substantial threat to human health” due to the fact that it is “simultaneously hypervirulent, multidrug resistant, and highly transmissible.”

drugs.com

K. pneumoniae  (ST11 CR-HvKP) is a triple threat; a deadly combination of two previously known strains of pneumonia; one which shrugs off all but the toughest antibiotics, and the other which is classified as ‘very severe’ and ‘hypervirulent’ in terms of lethality and how quickly it spreads.

The new report also reveals that samples from other parts of China tested positive for the new superbug, noting that “[f]ailure to control its early spread right now, will make a global epidemic of carbapenem-resistant [CRE], hypervirulent K. pneumoniae hard to avoid,” advising that “Control measures should be implemented to prevent further dissemination of such organisms.”

Epidimiologiests Liang Chen and Barry Kreisworth call the new strain of pneumoniae an “alarming evolutionary event.”

While Allergan’s U.S. approved antibiotic of last resort ‘Avibactam’ can likely handle ST11 CR-HvKP, it is not available in China, which currently has nothing it its pharmaceutical arsenal to battle the infection.

Via NPR

The microbe can fight off all drugs available in China, Chen says. “We don’t have anything in China to stop it,” he says. “There is a drug available in the U.S. that should be effective against it, but we haven’t tested it yet.”

In the outbreak, the five patients who died were all older than 53. They were all on ventilators after undergoing major surgeries. And they died from severe lung failure, multiorgan failure or septic shock, the researchers found.

“The disease progresses very fast,” Chen says. “It starts in the lungs and then infects other organs, like the liver.”

Until China approves Avibactam or a similarly effective antibiotic of last resort, doctors and health officials can prevent the spread of hypervirulent pneumonia by quickly identifying outbreaks and isolating the infected.

 

 

 

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Barclays Warns Hurricane Irma Damage Could Be ‘Largest Ever’ – Insurance Co’s Spiral

Tue Sep 5, 2017 2:51pm EST 5

With winds topping 180 mph, Category 5 Hurricane Irma has been deemed the strongest Atlantic hurricane on record – which, writes Barclays, could hit southern Florida early next week. Evacuation orders have been issued to the Keys.

“We think Irma’s insured damage in Florida could be the largest ever in the US perhaps equivalent to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 ($50bn on an inflation-adjusted basis). In a worst case scenario, catastrophe modelers AIR Worldwide and Karen Clark and Co. have estimated a repeat of the 1926 Miami hurricane could result in $125-130bn of insured damage.”

This is substantially higher than the mostly uninsured property affected in Texas by hurricane Harvey, and has sent the S&P Property & Casualty Insurer Index tumbling.

ZeroHedge

Via CNBC:

Stock prices of home insurers tied to Florida plunged Tuesday after Irma strengthened into a Category 5 storm. This latest storm system follows Harvey, which dumped several feet of rain, destroyed thousands of homes and killed over 50 people in a matter of days.

Shares of HCI Group, Universal Insurance Holdings, and Heritage Insurance Holdings, which provide property and casualty homeowners insurance in the Sunshine State, were down 13, 16, and 13 percent, respectively.

Reinsurers XL Group and Everest contributed some of the largest losses to the S&P 500’s decline, down 5 and 4 percent, respectively.

Barclay’s Jay Gelb writes:

“We would view Irma as more of a risk to the traditional reinsurers as well as third-party providers of reinsurance capital than the primary commercial insurers and personal lines insurers based on the industry’s long-standing view that Florida poses substantial windstorm risk. Of the companies we cover, reinsurers expected to have among the largest exposures to a Florida hurricane could include RE, XL, VR, RNR, and AHL. Among primary commercial insurers, we would expect AIG to have among the largest exposure.”
Update: 
Universal Insurance highlights the previously announced placement of its 2017-2018 reinsurance programs (effective June 1, 2017)  
  • As publicly disclosed at the time, UPCIC has a net retention of $35 million per catastrophe event for losses incurred, in all states, up to a first event loss of $2.65 billion. In addition, under an excess catastrophe contract specifically covering risks located outside the state of Florida and intended to further reduce UPCIC’s $35 million net retention, UPCIC has obtained catastrophe coverage of $30 million in excess of $5 million covering certain loss occurrences, including hurricanes, in states outside of Florida.
  • In certain circumstances involving a catastrophic event impacting both Florida and other states, UPCIC’s retention could result in pre-tax net liability as low as $5 million — the $35 million net retention under the all states reinsurance program could be offset by as much as $30 million in coverage under the other states reinsurance program. These retention amounts are gross of any potential tax benefit the Company would receive in paying such losses. UPCIC’s statutory surplus as of June 30, 2017 was $351 million.

To top it off, gulf residents will be dealing with Jose next…

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WH Source: Sessions’ ‘Amazing’ DACA Speech Rocks The Left

Tue Sep 5, 2017 1:07pm EST 6

AG Jeff Sessions announced that the Trump administration is ending the Obama-era DACA program, stating “We cannot admit everyone who would like to come here. That is an open border policy and the American people have rightly rejected it… it’s just that simple.”

Axios reports a White House source said Sessions gave an ‘amazing’ press conference which rocked the left.

Key excerpts from his statement:

  • “The executive branch, through DACA, deliberately sought to achieve what the legislative branch specifically refused to authorize… such an open-ended circumvention of immigration laws was an unconstitutional exercise of authority.”
  • “The nation must set and enforce a limit on how many immigrants we admit each year and that means all can not be accepted.
The reaction, per a source close to the White House: “In one amazing press conference, Jeff Sessions lit up the entire institutional left, the mainstream media and probably caused a couple tears to hit the floor from some West Wing Democrats.”
And yes, the butthurt is strong;

Let’s see if Hurricane Irma and Jose can wag the dog on this one…

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Trump Tax Overhaul Progressing, Cohn Wants Before End Of Year For 2018 Midterm Campaigns

Mon Sep 4, 2017 8:25pm EST 6

Politico reports that the Trump team and congressional leaders, who have nicknamed themselves the ‘Big 6,’ are making ‘significant strides’ in overhauling the U.S. tax code beyond the six-paragraph framework presented in July, the goal being to push tax reform through before the end of 2017 in advance of 2018 midterm campaigns.

“We’ve got a great, I would say, ‘skeleton’ for tax reform.” –Gary Cohn, Director National Economic Council

The buts and bolts are said to include: 

  • Capping the mortgage interest deduction for homeowners
  • Eliminating the ability for people to deduct state and local taxes
  • Eliminating the ability for businesses to deduct interest
  • Allowing small businesses to deduct investments such as new equipment or facilities
  • A corporate tax rate in the 22 – 25% range (higher than the 15% Trump wants)
  • Possibly taxing 401(k) contributions up front – an idea which would raise billions of dollars in the short term
  • Mandatory repatriation of corporate cash held offshore at a low tax rate

“Yes, we will be open to losing tax revenues in these early years,” Kevin Brady, chairman of the Way and Means Committee, said at a tax event at Ronald Reagan’s California ranch.

It is unclear whether or not the suggested cuts will be permanent, or temporary with a sunset provision similar to many of the cuts signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003 – only to be made permanent by President Obama in 2012.

“A mix of permanent and temporary cuts could, on paper, look to the budget scorers like something that would not add to the deficit over the typical 10-year window and would allow politicians more cover to pass such a package.” –Politico

Hurry up! 

One of the few things Republicans agree on when it comes to the Trump agenda is the need for tax reform. Via Politico: 

Republicans want the fall to be all about taxes, if they can help it. It seems like their best and perhaps only route toward a major legislative victory before the fever of the 2018 midterm elections takes hold.

“People are feeling optimistic because they do not see failure as an option. They’ve put all of their eggs in one basket now, and that basket is tax reform,” said one source familiar with the administration’s tax talks. “The fear of failure on this will cause people to agree with things they may not normally agree to.”

The White House has reportedly created a ‘mini war-room’ inside of its existing communications shop to address taxes, in which Comms director Hope Hicks and Treasury official Tony Sayhegh will team up to sell the plan to the public.

“The question now is whether this is becoming more of a policy pursuit or a political success,” said one Republican close to the administration. “Now, it looks like the latter. The president campaigned on signing the biggest tax cut in history, and he’s on track to do that for the middle class even if he has a compressed time frame to get it done.”

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