May 30, 2017

Missile Defense Test Succeeds, Pentagon Says, Amid Tensions With North Korea

Source: New York Times

An upgraded American interceptor rocket collided with a mock intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday afternoon in the skies over the Pacific Ocean, the Pentagon said, marking the first successful test of whether the Defense Department could shoot down a warhead from North Korea heading toward the continental United States at speeds approaching true battle conditions.

At a time when tensions with North Korea are running high, the successful test gave the Defense Department’s beleaguered missile defense program a victory — the ability to say that it is making strides in protecting the United States from a nuclear warhead that could be launched from a mountainside in North Korea. With the test on Tuesday, five of the last 10 tests have at least partly succeeded.

The test “demonstrates that we have a capable, credible deterrent against a very real threat,” said Vice Adm. James D. Syring, the director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, calling the test a “critical milestone for this program.”

But while Defense Department officials said initial indications showed that the test met its primary objective by hitting the target, they provided no details. The department will continue to evaluate other data to determine how the system performed over all. The test on Tuesday was against a single missile, but the North Koreans have begun to practice shooting multiple missiles at a time in an effort to confuse American defenses.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/30/us/politics/missile-defense-test-north-korea.html

May 28, 2017

Sources: 3rd US Naval Strike Force Deployed to Deter North Korea

Source: Voice of America

The United States is sending a third aircraft carrier strike force to the western Pacific region in an apparent warning to North Korea to deter its ballistic missile and nuclear programs, two sources have told VOA.

The USS Nimitz, one of the world’s largest warships, will join two other supercarriers, the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Ronald Reagan, in the western Pacific, the sources told VOA's Steve Herman.

The U.S. military has rarely simultaneously deployed three aircraft carriers to the same region.

But North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threat is seen as a major security challenge for President Donald Trump, who has vowed to prevent the country from being able to strike the U.S. with a nuclear missile, a capability experts say Pyongyang could have some time after 2020.

Read more: https://www.voanews.com/a/third-naval-strike-force-deployed-north-korea/3873637.html

May 27, 2017

Exclusive: Tillerson declines to host Ramadan event at State Department

Source: Reuters

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has declined a request to host an event to mark Islam's holy month of Ramadan, two U.S. officials said, apparently breaking with a bipartisan tradition in place with few exceptions for nearly 20 years.

Since 1999, Republican and Democratic secretaries of state have nearly always hosted either an iftar dinner to break the day's fast during Ramadan or a reception marking the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the month, at the State Department.

Tillerson turned down a request from the State Department's Office of Religion and Global Affairs to host an Eid al-Fitr reception as part of Ramadan celebrations, said two U.S. officials who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

According to an April 6 memo seen by Reuters, the office - which typically initiates such events - recommended that Tillerson hold an Eid al-Fitr reception.

Read more: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN18M2IE

May 22, 2017

Nicky Hayden dies from injuries suffered in bicycle crash

Source: ESPN

CESENA, Italy -- Former MotoGP world champion Nicky Hayden died in hospital on Monday, five days after he was hit by a car while training on his bicycle. Hayden was 35.

Maurizio Bufalini Hospital in Cesena, where Hayden had been since the collision last Wednesday, made the announcement. Hayden had severe cerebral damage and multiple traumatic injuries.

"The medical team has verified the death of the patient Nicholas Patrick Hayden, who has been undergoing care since last Wednesday May 17 in the intensive care unit of the Bufalini Hospital in Cesena following a very serious polytrauma which occurred the same day," the hospital statement said.

Hayden was training on the Rimini coast following a motorcycle race at nearby Imola. The Peugeot that hit Hayden had its windshield smashed.

Read more: http://www.espn.com/racing/story/_/id/19437147/american-motorcycle-racer-nicky-hayden-dies-injuries-suffered-bicycle-crash

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Yes, i'm aware this article is not Trump related.

Many people here will likely not know who Hayden was, but he had a profound affect on my early life and is largely the reason i ride motorcycles today. A quote i saw on Facebook read: "A lot of people followed Michael Jordan, others followed Pelé, Steve Young or Ayrton Senna. But i always watched Nicky Hayden."

He was always described as one of the hardest working, yet most likable and nicest rider in the MotoGP paddock.

May 8, 2017

Tiffany Trump to attend Georgetown Law School in the fall

Source: Politico

Tiffany Trump, the 23-year-old daughter of President Donald Trump, will be attending Georgetown Law School in the fall, a representative for the family confirmed.

She had previously toured Harvard Law School last December. But her chosen school is much closer to her father and half-sister Ivanka Trump. The law school is about a mile-and-a-half walk from the White House and is ranked 15 by U.S. News and World Report.

...

Tiffany Trump, the only child of Donald Trump and Marla Maples, graduated last spring from the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in sociology and urban studies. Trump has interned for Vogue (reportedly arranged by Ivanka), released a song called “Like a Bird,” and has done some modeling as well.

She’s given hints of her future education plans to her social media followers. Last year she posted a picture of her LSAT prep books with the phrase “I got this,” garnering more than 7,000 likes on Instagram.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/08/tiffany-trump-georgetown-law-school-238112

May 2, 2017

Justice Department will not charge Baton Rouge officers in fatal shooting of Alton Sterling

Source: Washington Post

The Justice Department has decided not to bring charges against the officers involved in the death of Alton Sterling, whose videotaped shooting by police in Baton Rouge last summer prompted unrest across the city, and is planning to reveal in the next 24 hours that it has closed the probe, according to four people familiar with the matter.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Sterling family had yet to be informed by the Justice Department of the decision, and it is unclear how and when the department will announce its findings.

“We have not heard nor received an update and are unaware of any charges that may or may not be filed,“ said Ryan Julison, a spokesman for the Sterling family’s attorneys. “We have not received word, nor has the family been given any notice of upcoming updates regarding this case.”

The case will be the first time under Attorney General Jeff Sessions that the department has publicly declined to prosecute officers investigated for possible wrongdoing in a high-profile case, and officials in Baton Rouge have been girding for possible reaction there.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-department-will-not-charge-baton-rouge-officers-in-fatal-shooting-of-alton-sterling/2017/05/02/ac962e66-2ea7-11e7-9534-00e4656c22aa_story.html?utm_term=.0b0220e68b46