looks pretty real, but you never know
Navy names new class of Guided Missile Frigate ships
Oct. 8 (UPI) – The secretary of the Navy has announced the name of the new class of Guided Missile Frigate ships.
Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite revealed USS Constellation, currently referred to as FFG 62, as the name of the first ship in the new Guided Missile Frigate FFG(X) class of ships on Wednesday.
The announcement was made while aboard the second ship to bear the name, Constellation, which currently stands as a museum in Baltimore Inner Harbor, a statement said.
The name was selected in honor of the first U.S. Navy ships that Congress authorized in 1794 named United States, Constellation, Constitution, Chesapeake, Congress, and President which "established the Continental Navy as an agile, lethal and ready force for the 19th century," according to a statement.
https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2020/10/08/Navy-names-new-class-of-Guided-Missile-Frigate-ships/7461602175162/
More than 1,000 Air Force cyber security operators to transfer to Space Force
Maj. Gen. Kim Crider said space "will become the next front of the cyber conflict"
WASHINGTON — As many as 1,000 enlisted personnel and 130 officers currently in Air Force cyber security jobs will be asked to join the U.S. Space Force, a senior official said Oct. 8.
The selected airmen from cyber security career fields also have expertise in space programs and could be transferring to the Space Force in fiscal year 2021, said Maj. Gen. Kimberly Crider, Space Force chief technology and innovation officer.
The officers and enlisted personnel were hand picked to join the Space Force as the service experiences a growing demand for cyber security talent, Crider said Oct. 8 at the CyberSatGov virtual conference.
“We worked this out very closely and carefully with our Air Force partners across the Department of the Air Force,” Crider said. These cyber experts are needed for “defensive operations,” she said.
The cyber experts will join more than 2,400 space systems operators who will be transferring to the Space Force in fiscal year 2021.
The Space Force is building up its cyber security human capital and technical capabilities as satellites and ground systems become increasingly vulnerable to intrusions and electronic attacks, said Crider. “Cybersecurity is an ever advancing area, and we always want to stay in front of that threat.”
She noted that Trump administration on Sept. 4 issued Space Policy Directive 5 focused on the cyber security of space systems.
“We recognize that as cyber warfare and hybrid threats become the weapon of choice for state and non state actors, and the global economy and daily life grow increasingly dependent on space space systems, will well become the next front of the cyber conflict,” Crider said.
She said the Space Force is investing in technologies to protect satellites and ground systems.
The commander of the Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center Lt. Gen. John Thompson on Monday spoke about the service’s growing demand for cyber security expertise and technologies.
“We need cybersecurity systems that can detect and mitigate attacks,” he told a virtual conference hosted by California Polytechnic State University.
https://spacenews.com/more-than-1000-air-force-cyber-security-operators-to-transfer-to-space-force/
Joe Biden Wants You to Send Him Your Favorite Cat Pics
Huh…?
Everyone who owns a cat secretly yearns to capitalize on their cute, furry faces and indifference to humans, in the hopes of achieving Internet stardom. Well, now could be your chance, assuming your pet doesn't mind being dressed in Biden-Harris swag.
Earlier today, Sara Pearl, the Supervising Producer of the digital team behind Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' campaign, tweeted out a simple request: "Looking for cats for Biden to be featured in a campaign video. Do your thing Twitter."
Pearl also re-shared an earlier tweet of a video featuring "Dogs for Biden-Harris," which features dogs of all shapes and sizes, scampering around in t-shirts or handkerchiefs promoting the Democrats looking to move into the White House in 2021.
To build up anticipation for the forthcoming cat video, Pearl noted "Dogs for Biden got 2.7 million views here." Biden also shared the dogs video on October 5, with the caption: "These good boys are ready to build bark better." (How Biden and his team will play on his campaign slogan of "build back better" with a cat-appropriate pun remains to be seen.)
Actual picture used in article is of a dog?
https://www.newsweek.com/cats-biden-1537627
Suburban Chicago couple charged with child labor trafficking
CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago couple was charged in federal court Thursday with child labor trafficking, for allegedly forcing an illegal alien teen from Guatemala to work for them. The case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Department of Labor, with significant assistance from the Aurora, Illinois, police department and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Santos Teodoro AC-Salazar, 23, and Olga Choc Laj, 30, both of Aurora, Illinois, are charged with using force, threats of force and threatening abuse of the law and legal process in order to force the minor female to comply.
Court documents allege Choc Laj accompanied the teenage victim to the United States from Guatemala, having given false identification to U.S. border authorities to illegally smuggle her into the country. The charges further allege that once in the U.S., Choc Laj harbored the victim at her Illinois residence and forced the victim to provide labor and services for Choc Laj’s financial gain. AC-Salazar is alleged to have later joined Choc Laj in their residence and participated in the labor trafficking by, among other things, forcing the victim to perform household chores, including taking care of the defendants’ infant child.
The public is reminded that charges are not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The charges in the complaint are punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison. If convicted, the court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/suburban-chicago-couple-charged-child-labor-trafficking
New experts named for lawsuit challenging Connecticut’s school mask rules
An epidemiologist and a child psychiatrist who say wearing masks is harmful to children are the new expert witnesses in a lawsuit challenging Connecticut’s mask requirements for schools, according to court documents filed Thursday.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit, including parents of schoolchildren and the Connecticut Freedom Alliance, filed disclosures in Hartford Superior Court naming epidemiologist Knut Wittkowski and child psychiatrist Dr. Mark McDonald as their experts.
A judge ordered the plaintiffs to produce new expert witnesses by Thursday, after ruling their original two witnesses - an ophthalmologist and a forensic psychiatrist - were not qualified to testify in support of their claims that masks harm children and do not prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Wittkowski is the founder and chief executive of the biostatistics firm ASDERA, and a former biostatistician and epidemiologist at Rockefeller University in New York. In April, Rockefeller University issued a statement saying Wittkowski’s opinions discouraging social distancing in order to hasten herd immunity to the coronavirus did not represent the views of the school, its leadership or its faculty.
https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-news-connecticut-mask-lawsuit-schools-20201008-mom7htj7nbaede6u34tquvqhzu-story.html
US Navy inspections of Ingalls-built ships uncovered significant problems, report shows
WASHINGTON – Across all three U.S. Navy ship classes being built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Navy inspectors in 2018 and 2019 found serious technical issues, according to an unclassified report sent to Congress earlier this year.
The Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey, known as INSURV, which conducts acceptance trials for new ships found that DDG-117, the Paul Ignatius, had the lowest overall score of any of the five previous destroyers built at Ingalls since the program restarted. And issues with the America-class amphibious assault ship Tripoli in 2018 set the service’s acceptance of the new ship back a whole year.
Both Ingalls' parent company Huntington Ingalls Industries and the Navy say all issues discovered on ships during acceptance trials are handled prior to delivery, and that Ingalls' ships have performed well recently. But the issues in 2018 and 2019 raise concerns about a shipyard the Navy depends heavily on as it tries to expand its fleet.
According to the annual unclassified INSURV report sent to Congress in April, the America class LHA, Arleigh Burke class DDG, and the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock (LPD) all showed issues in multiple areas in recent years.
On the destroyer Ignatius, inspectors found four of what’s known as “starred deficiencies,” which the Navy’s INSURV instruction defines as a deficiency that significantly degrades the ships ability to perform a primary or secondary mission, or impacts the safety of the ship. Starred deficiencies must be corrected before delivery.
https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/10/08/us-navy-inspections-of-ingalls-built-ships-uncovered-significant-problems-report-shows/
Navy destroyer helped recover $720 million in drugs during 9 month deployment
The USS Pinckney, a guided-missile destroyer, returned to Naval Base San Diego this week after recovering $720 million worth of marijuana and cocaine during its nine-month deployment.
The Navy ship, which left San Diego in January with the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, embarked on a counter-narcotics mission in April while the USS Roosevelt was sidelined in Guam following a massive coronavirus outbreak on the ship.
The Pinckney joined the U.S. Southern Command and Joint Interagency Task Force in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. There, with an embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment, the ship’s sailors recovered an estimated 9,800 kilograms of suspected cocaine and an estimated 2,800 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated wholesale value of $720 million, Navy officials said this week.
“The sailors of Pinckney have helped make the United States a safer place to live,” said Cmdr. Andrew Roy, the ship’s commanding officer. “I thank all Pinckney sailors and U.S. Coast Guardsmen who overcame many obstacles to make sure illicit narcotics will never make it into our homes, schools, or communities.”
https://www.ocregister.com/2020/10/08/navy-destroyer-helped-recover-720-million-in-drugs-during-9-month-deployment/