Russia S Newest High-Altitude Jet Engine

Jihad Report Sep 03, 2016 - Sep 09, 2016 Attacks 40 Killed 299 Injured 428 Suicide Blasts 8 Countries 14 Russia’s newest High-Altitude Jet Engine

Russia has successfully created a “combined aircraft engine” that will allow sixth-generation space planes to fly in both Earth’s atmosphere and near space at hypersonic speed, the commander of Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces (RVSN) has announced. “An engine for a promising space plane has been developed at Strategic Rocket Forces Academy,” General Sergey Karakaev, RVSN’s commander, told reporters on Wednesday. “The know-how allowed us to create a combined [aircraft] power plant that enables switching the engine from an atmospheric flight mode to a rocket mode while flying in space,” he said, as cited by TASS. The engine will be on display at Russia’s grand international arms expo, Army 2016, in September, General Karakaev said, adding that the new engine had “proved operational” in live tests. Read more

Russian 6th-gen drone fighter jets to fly in swarms, enter near space He did not elaborate on the type or design of aircraft that might make use of such an engine, but its advanced capabilities allowing flights to near space and back indicate it could be earmarked for a sixth-generation fighter jet. Earlier media reports have stated that research and development of a 6G jet is in progress in Russia. While not much is known about Russia’s cutting-edge fifth-generation T-50 jet, there is even less information on the concept for a 6G fighter. Air Force Commander General Viktor Bondarev said in March that a 6G jet is being designed in both manned and unmanned versions. He noted that the human body “has its limits,” while an unmanned 6G jet’s avionics and flight control systems “are much more functional and can withstand any G-force.” On Tuesday, a senior military industry official shed more light on the enigmatic yet revolutionary Air Force project. “The main principle of deploying this aircraft is a so-called swarm… There will be one or two manned aircraft in the group, the others will be unmanned,” Vladimir Mikheev, who is an advisor to the deputy head of the Radioelectronic Technologies Concern [KRET], Russia’s largest military electronics manufacturer, told TASS. The capabilities of unmanned 6G jets would far surpass those of the fifth-generation aircraft, he added. Apart from reaching hypersonic speeds of about 4-5 Mach, it will be able to leave the atmosphere, penetrating near space, and then re-enter hundreds of miles away. The 6G jet is also said to be armed with an electromagnetic gun capable of taking out an enemy aircraft’s avionics and computer-manned weapons systems at ranges of up to 10 kilometers (6 miles). A prototype is expected to make its maiden flight by 2025, according to TASS. Russia is among very few countries that have invested in 6G jet projects while still developing 5G fighters. In 2011, Boeing said it was working on a 6G project for the US Air Force and Navy. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have also announced similar projects, which will be unveiled in years to come The Federal Seizure

Last Friday, President Obama ordered that well over half a million — 582,578 — square miles off the coast of Hawaii be seized as property for the federal government. Now a “national marine monument,” large swaths of the Hawaiian coast are off limits to commercial fishing. This is a huge blow to commercial fishermen in Hawaii, who are not happy that they will be barred from fishing in over 60 percent of the water off of the islands. The Associated Press talked to Edwin Ebiusi Jr. of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, who said “Today is a sad day in the history of Hawaii’s fisheries and a negative blow to our local food security.” “Sean Martin, president of the Hawaii Longline Association, said his organization was disappointed Obama closed an area nearly the size of Alaska without a public process,” the AP reports. Martin’s point is on the money: When the president seizes huge tracts of land or water in the name of “public good,” the American people get no say and merely limited access to that land. Under the 1906 Antiquities Act, the president has almost unlimited authority to arbitrarily seize land and waters. The only limits on the authority were imposed by Congress in 1950 after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared Jackson Hole, Wy., federal land in 1943, and after President Jimmy Carter federalized over 50 million acres in Alaska. But the president’s power is only limited in those two states. Obama’s legacy proves that a president’s unlimited authority to federalize “national monuments” needs to be checked by Congress. President Obama has seized more than any other president, and without limits on the presidential power going forward, more and more Americans will continue to be harmed by such cases going forward. The reasons for the president’s land/ocean grabs are political: his concerns about climate change are so grave, that the federal government has to — must! — take over more land. In his speech about the new marine monument in Hawaii, Obama stated: “Since taking office, I’ve protected more than 548 million acres of our lands and waters for our children and grandchildren. I have to say that Teddy Roosevelt gets the credit for starting the National Parks system, but when you include a big chunk of the Pacific Ocean, we now have actually done more acreage than any other President.” He added that by declaring the new marine monument in Hawaii, he has “created the largest marine reserve” and that “this is an area twice the size of Texas that’s going to be protected, and it allows us to save and study the fragile ecosystem threatened by climate change.” He also stated that “while some members of the U.S. Congress still seem to be debating whether climate change is real or not, many of you [in island nations] are planning for new places for your people to live.” It’s a weird, sad day in America when the president praises himself for seizing hundreds of thousands of acres with just one, simple unilateral action. It’s time for Congress to put checks on the presidential powers granted by the outdated Antiquities Act, so we can prevent future presidents from seizing more American land for a purely political reason that is open to debate — whether the White House likes it or not.

The Obama Laundry

The Obama administration is acknowledging its transfer of $1.7 billion to Iran earlier this year was made entirely in cash, using non-U.S. currency, as Republican critics of the transaction continued to denounce the payments. Treasury Department spokeswoman Dawn Selak said in a statement late Tuesday that the cash payments were necessary because of the "effectiveness of U.S. and international sanctions," which isolated Iran from the international finance system. The $1.7 billion was the settlement of a decades-old arbitration claim between the U.S. and Iran. An initial $400 million of euros, Swiss francs and other foreign currency was delivered on pallets Jan. 17, the same day Tehran agreed to release four American prisoners. The Obama administration had claimed the events were separate, but recently acknowledged the cash was used as leverage until the Americans were allowed to leave Iran. The remaining $1.3 billion represented estimated interest on the Iranian cash the U.S. had held since the 1970s. The administration had previously declined to say if the interest was delivered to Iran in physical cash, as with the principal, or via a more regular banking mechanism. Earlier Tuesday, officials from the State, Justice and Treasury departments held a closed-door briefing for congressional staff on the payments, according to a Capitol Hill aide familiar with the session. The officials said the $1.3 billion was paid in cash on Jan. 22 and Feb. 5. The aide was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity. The money came from a little-known fund administered by the Treasury Department for settling litigation claims. The so-called Judgment Fund is taxpayer money Congress has permanently approved in the event it's needed, allowing the president to bypass direct congressional approval to make a settlement. The U.S. previously paid out $278 million in Iran-related claims by using the fund in 1991. Republicans have decried the payments as ransom, a charge the Obama administration has rejected. On Tuesday, a group of Republican senators announced their support for legislation that would bar payments from the Judgment Fund to Iran until Tehran pays the nearly $55.6 billion that U.S. courts have judged that it owes to American victims of Iranian terrorism. "President Obama's disastrous nuclear deal with Iran was sweetened with an illicit ransom payment and billions of dollars for the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism," said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the bill's primary sponsor. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also introduced a bill that prohibits cash payments to Iran and demands transparency on future settlements. "Sending the world's leading state sponsor of terror pallets of untraceable cash isn't just terrible policy," Royce said. "It's incredibly reckless, and it only puts bigger targets on the backs of Americans... This cash bonanza has emboldened Iran's radical regime, and undermined America's national security." Both the House and Senate plan to hold hearings on the payments. JPL Updates

Mission managers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, are assessing two power system-related anomalies affecting the operation of NASA's ISS-RapidScat instrument aboard the International Space Station. RapidScat measures surface wind speeds and directions over the ocean. RapidScat is currently deactivated and in a stable configuration. A RapidScat project anomaly response team has been formed, working in conjunction with the space station anomaly response team. RapidScat will remain deactivated as the investigation continues. On Aug. 19, the RapidScat team was notified by the International Space Station payload operations center at Marshall that the station's Columbus Module experienced an anomaly with one of the two units aboard the station that distribute electrical power to the module. The anomaly resulted in the loss of power to several payloads aboard the space station, including RapidScat. Later that day, as JPL mission managers attempted to reactivate RapidScat, one of the outlets on the power distribution unit experienced an electrical overload. That outlet powers the station's RapidScat, High-Definition Earth Viewing Experiment (HDEV) and Solar Monitoring Observatory (SOLAR) payloads. On Aug. 23, the crew manually isolated RapidScat's external payload site from its Columbus module power circuit. Ground teams then successfully restored power to the affected power distribution unit outlet, and SOLAR and HDEV powered up successfully, with no sign of electrical overload. This action isolated the outlet overload to the RapidScat site. It is not yet known if the fault is on the Columbus or RapidScat side of the power supply interface. Mission managers are handling the incidents as two separate anomalies: loss of power to multiple payloads connected to the power distribution unit, and the electrical overload on the unit's outlet during the attempted reactivation of RapidScat. RapidScat's survival heaters are currently on (the heaters receive power from a different Columbus power circuit). The heaters are designed to keep the instrument within allowable flight temperatures indefinitely. RapidScat, launched on Sept. 21, 2014, was developed as a speedy and cost-effective replacement for NASA's QuikScat satellite. RapidScat's all-weather measurements of ocean surface wind speed and direction contribute to improved weather and marine forecasting, including hurricane monitoring, as well as to climate studies. ISS-RapidScat is a partnership between JPL and the International Space Station Program Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, with support from the Earth Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Other mission partners include the Kennedy Space Center, Florida; NASA Marshall; the European Space Agency; and SpaceX Asteroid Surprise

A small asteroid designated 2016 RB1 safely flew past Earth today at 10:20 a.m. PDT (1:20 p.m. EDT / 17:20 UTC) at a distance of about 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers, or just less than 1/10th the distance of Earth to the moon). Because the asteroid's orbit carried it below (or over) Earth's south pole, it did not pass within the orbits of communication or weather satellites. 2016 RB1 is estimated to be between 25 to 50 feet (7 and 16 meters) in diameter. It is the closest the space rock will come to Earth for at least the next half century. Asteroid 2016 RB1 was discovered on Sept. 5, 2016, by astronomers using the 60-inch Cassegrain reflector telescope of the Catalina Sky Survey, located at the summit of Mount Lemmon in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Arizona -- a project of NASA'S NEO Observations Program in collaboration with the University of Arizona. DHS Election Seizure

Why does the Department of Homeland Security all of a sudden want to oversee security for the election in November? Just a little while ago I checked the Drudge Report, and I was greeted by the following headline all in red: “HOMELAND SECURITY TO TAKE CHARGE OF ELECTIONS”. I was immediately alarmed, because I had already heard about how local election databases had been hacked, and Donald Trump has expressed concern that the presidential election in November could be rigged somehow. So I immediately clicked on the link and it took me to an article from the Washington Examiner… Even before the FBI identified new cyber attacks on two separate state election boards, the Department of Homeland Security began considering declaring the election a “critical infrastructure,” giving it the same control over security it has over Wall Street and the electric power grid. The latest admissions of attacks could speed up that effort possibly including the upcoming presidential election, according to officials. “ We should carefully consider whether our election system, our election process, is critical infrastructure like the financial sector, like the power grid,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said. I would definitely agree with Johnson that our election system is critical infrastructure. But can a Department of Homeland Security that has been packed with Obama appointees actually be trusted to handle the security for our elections in a fair manner? Unfortunately, I believe that is a legitimate question. However, I will concede that something needs to be done. Just the other day, FBI Director James Comey admitted that his agency is taking the threat of election cyberattacks “very, very seriously” after a couple of local election databases were successfully attacked. The following comes from ABC News… Three days ago, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., sent a letter to Comey, expressing concern that “the threat of the Russian government tampering in our presidential election is more extensive than widely known and may include the intent to falsify official election results.” In late June an “unknown actor scanned a state’s Board of Election website for vulnerabilities” and, after identifying a security gap, exploited the vulnerability to conduct a “data exfiltration,” or unauthorized data transfer, the FBI said in a recent bulletin. Earlier this month, hackers used the same vulnerability in an “attempted intrusion activities into another state’s Board of Election system,” the FBI said. The integrity of our elections is absolutely paramount. Without free and fair elections we might as well not even have a country. So the fact that hackers have proven that they can hack into some of our systems is quite alarming indeed. According to the Daily Beast, voter databases in Arizona and Illinois were the ones that were victimized… The FBI’s analysis of the hacks, contained in a security alert first reported by Yahoo News, shows that Arizona’s elections website was penetrated in June using a common vulnerability that’s well known to security experts. Then, in July, Illinois’ voter files were accessed apparently using stolen login credentials, which could have been obtained by spear phishing a state employee. So was much damage done by these hackers? Well, it has been documented that many voters in Arizona did have their party affiliations changed without their knowledge or consent, and this rendered them unable to vote during the primaries… During the primary election in Arizona, for instance, a number of voters found that their party affiliation had been changed without their knowledge. When they showed up to vote in the state’s closed primary elections, some were told they were ineligible to vote with the party of their choice. State officials have blamed the problem at least in part on an error at the state’s driver registration bureau. But similar problems have reportedly cropped up in California, Connecticut, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania. Needless to say, we can’t have hackers messing with our elections, and something needs to be done. I just don’t know if the Department of Homeland Security can be trusted or if they are the ones that should be fixing this problem. Before I close this article today, there is one more item that I would like to bring up. In the past, there has been much speculation on the Internet that some sort of “event” could suspend or delay the coming election, and that is why the following headline from U.S. News & World Report caught my eye: “A Candidate’s Death Could Delay or Eliminate the Presidential Election“. This is how that article begins… The presidential election could be delayed or scrapped altogether if conspiracy theories become predictive and a candidate dies or drops out before Nov. 8. The perhaps equally startling alternative, if there’s enough time: Small groups of people hand-picking a replacement pursuant to obscure party rules. The scenarios have been seriously considered by few outside of the legal community and likely are too morbid for polite discussion in politically mixed company. But prominent law professors have pondered the effects and possible ways to address a late-date vacancy. “There’s nothing in the Constitution which requires a popular election for the electors serving in the Electoral College,” says John Nagle, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, meaning the body that officially elects presidents could convene without the general public voting. The IMF Moves the Next Chess Piece

Among all globalist organizations in the world, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is one that sits at the top of the list as an entity that seeks to protect the interests of multinational corporations; more specifically, banking institutions. This position was not different at the last G-20 meeting in China, an event that came and went as many others have: lots of posing and no solutions to any of the problems that the planet is suffering. The G20 summit ended with what is called a “firm intention” of curbing protectionism without concrete measures. While banks and corporations are protected by the bureaucracies that work for them in every single G-20 nation, its members and the IMF say that less protectionism and more openness is necessary. G-20 members, especially those in the more selected G-7 group are the nations that advocate for free trade agreements such as the TPP and TTIP, which are corporate sponsored plans to seek complete control of national governments, world resources and the elimination of any and all environmental standards that get on their way to controlling it all. The so-called lack of agreement on how to end protectionism had Chinese President, Xi Jinping upset, as he had recommended that G-20 members stopped talking and started walking. His colleagues, however, have shown much interest in geopolitical issues settled in bilateral meetings. “ We will support the mechanisms of international trade and we will oppose protectionism to reverse its fall,” Xi said at the closing ceremony. He also mentioned the need to stimulate growth not only with monetary and fiscal measures, but with innovation. China’s efforts in this field are now undeniable after three decades, turning its economy into a manufacturing engine with low value-added. There was no reference to global stimuli or other joint mechanisms for the different situation of each country. References to protectionism come after ‘Brexit’ and also make reference to Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen’s defense of sovereignty and independence when it comes to monetary, fiscal and economic policy. The new British Prime Minister, Theresa May, has heard from its usual trading partners like the US and Japan that Britain’s exit from the European Union will not be free. The director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, defended a more rational and democratic economic model. “We need to increase growth, but this has to be more balanced, more sustainable so it can benefit more people,” she said at the summit. The joint statement among the 20 largest economies in the world includes other classics such as the promise to avoid currency devaluation to spur exports and to fight tax evasion, among others. The G-20 was created to respond to the financial crisis of 2008 with the intention of negotiating strategies in the medium and long term. However, as it is the case of the G-7, only corporate interests are firmly represented at these meetings in which much is said, but little is done. The Southern Invasion

Herds of African immigrants are being housed in shelters in the Mexican border town of Tijuana while they await entry into the United States under what appears to be a secret accord between the Obama administration, Mexico and the Central American countries the Africans transited on their journey north. A backlog of African migrants is overwhelming limited shelter space in Tijuana and Mexican officials blame the slow pace of U.S. immigration authorities in the San Isidro port of entry for granting only 50 asylum solicitations daily. Details about this disturbing program come from Mexico’s immigration agency, Instituto Nacional de Migracion (INM), and appear this week in an article published by the country’s largest newspaper. “Mexico is living through a wave of undocumented Africans, due to a humanitarian crisis on that continent, that has saturated shelters in Tapachula, Chiapas, and generated pressure on shelters in Tijuana, Baja California,” the news article states. The African migrants’ journey begins in Brazil under a South American policy that allows the “free transit” of immigrants throughout the continent. Ecuador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama facilitate the process by transferring the concentration of foreigners towards Mexico based on an agreement that Mexico will help them gain entry into the U.S. so they can solicit asylum. The Africans are mostly entering Mexico through the southern state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala. This week alone 424 Africans arrived at the Chiapas immigration station, which is situated in Tapachula. Shelters in Tijuana currently have 154 migrants from African countries waiting on their U.S. asylum solicitations, according to figures provided by the INM. “The undocumented don’t want to stay in Mexico,” the news article clarifies. “They want to make it to U.S. territory to solicit asylum based on the life conditions that prevail in the continent.” Authorities in Tijuana are offering support to migrants from El Congo, Somalia, Ghana and Pakistan to facilitate entering the U.S. through the San Isidro crossing, according to the news story. San Isidro is the largest land border crossing between San Diego, California and Tijuana. The Obama administration has done a great job of promoting its various back-door amnesty programs, which include perpetually extending a humanitarian measure designed to temporarily shield illegal immigrants from deportation during emergencies. It’s known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and in the last few years migrants from several African countries have received it so the new influx is not all surprising. Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone got TPS back in 2014 over the lingering effects of the Ebola Virus and earlier this year Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson extended it. The administration cited the “continued recovery challenges” the African countries face for the extension. Last summer Johnson extended a TPS for Somalians until March 17, 2017, which could have served as a driving force behind the sudden surge via Latin America. A notice in the Federal Register says the extension was warranted because the conditions in Somalia that prompted the TPS designation continue to be met. “There continues to be a substantial, but temporary, disruption of living conditions in Somalia due to ongoing armed conflict that would pose a serious threat to the personal safety of returning Somali nationals, as well as extraordinary and temporary conditions in the country that prevent Somali nationals from returning to Somalia in safety,” the notice states. “The Secretary has also determined that permitting eligible Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is not contrary to the national interest of the United States.” Mexican immigration authorities say 424 migrants from African countries arrived at the southern state of Chiapas over two days last week. The National Immigration Institute said Tuesday that it has issued them 20-day transit visas that will allow the migrants to reach the U.S.-Mexico border, where they plan to request asylum. Officials call it an unusual surge and say most of the migrants first went to Brazil or Ecuador to start their journey through Latin America. Most of the Africans presented themselves voluntarily to immigration officials in the Chiapas town of Tapachula. They did not specify their nationalities. Immigration support staff in Tijuana has been aiding migrants from the Congo, Somalia and Ghana to arrive at the U.S. port of entry at San Isidro. DHS Interpretation

In December, we described a new phase in the global threat environment, which has implications on the homeland. This basic assessment has not changed. In this environment, we are particularly concerned about homegrown violent extremists who could strike with little or no notice. The tragic events of Orlando several days ago reinforce this. Accordingly, increased public vigilance and awareness continue to be of utmost importance. This bulletin has a five-month duration and will expire just before the holiday season. We will reassess the threats of terrorism at that time. Wells Fargo Phony Accounts Wells Fargo said the bank fired 5,300 employees over "inappropriate sales conduct", creating and marketing literally millions of ghost accounts to funnel fees and other financials.  Wells Fargo has long been the envy of the banking industry for its ability to sell multiple products to the same customer, but regulators on Thursday said those practices went too far in some instances.  The largest U.S. bank by market capitalization will pay $185 million in penalties and $5 million to customers that regulators say were pushed into fee-generating accounts they never requested.  "We regret and take responsibility for any instances where customers may have received a product that they did not request," the bank said of a settlement reached Thursday with California prosecutors and federal regulators.  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will receive $100 million of the total penalties - the largest fine ever levied by the federal agency.  "Today's action should serve notice to the entire industry that financial incentive programs, if not monitored carefully, carry serious risks that can have serious legal consequences," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray.  Los Angeles officials and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency were also party to the settlement.  In a complaint filed in May 2015, California prosecutors alleged that Wells Fargo pushed customers into costly financial products that they did not need or even request.  Bank employees were told that the average customer tapped six financial tools but that they should push households to use eight products, according to the complaint.  The bank opened more than 2 million deposit and credit card accounts that may not have been authorized, the CFPB said Thursday. WELLS FARGO SAYS CROSS-SELLING A REGULAR PRACTICE Wells Fargo regularly releases numbers about how many products it sells to customers, a practice it calls "cross-sell." Its wealth and investment management unit, for example, sold 10.55 products per retail banking household in November 2015, up from 10.49 a year earlier, according to the bank's annual 10-K financial filing. In the second quarter, however, the bank changed how it tallies up some of those numbers and said it was considering more changes. Piper Jaffray analyst Kevin Barker said he does not think the crackdown on Wells Fargo will have much of an impact on others in the industry. "I think this is unique to Wells Fargo and their particular situation and how hard they push on cross-sell," he said.