“We’re talking total destruction”

Irma worst case scenario: Cat 5 storm, direct hit on Miami.

“Major Hurricane Irma now ... I’d be surprised if storm didn’t become Cat 5 during next 5-7 days. Many EPS ensembles are very intense.

It would be much worse than Harvey. Miami is built right up to the ocean, all those tall building would receive the impact of Cat 5 winds plus devastating storm surge. We are talking total destruction.”

- Ryan Maue, Meteorologist (PhD) | Free ex parte opinions on Weather | Hurricanes | Climate Science | Politics | Think Tanker @CatoCSS

SethBrown321‏ @FnafSeth Aug 31, replying to Ryan Maue @RyanMaue

“I’d make evacuation plans now everyone in Florida, NC/SC, Georgia, DC, Maryland and Virginia.”

Source, Lion of the Blogosphere

The Economic Collapse, “Category 6? If Hurricane Irma Becomes The Strongest Hurricane In History, It Could Wipe Entire Cities Off The Map”, 1 Sep 2017:

Meteorologists have been shocked at how rapidly Hurricane Irma has been strengthening, and they are already warning that if it hits the United States as a high level category 5 storm the devastation would be absolutely unprecedented.  Of course we are already dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, and many experts are already telling us that the economic damage done by that storm will easily surpass any other disaster in all of U.S. history.  But there is a very real possibility that Hurricane Irma could be even worse.  According to the National Hurricane Center, at 5 PM on Friday Irma already had sustained winds of 130 miles per hour.  But it is still very early, and as you will see below, next week it is expected to potentially develop into a category 5 storm with winds of 180 miles per hour or more.

I suppose that it is appropriate that such a powerful storm has a very powerful name.  In old German, the name “Irma” actually means “war goddess”…

  The name Irma is a German baby name. In German the meaning of the name Irma is: Universal, from the Old German ‘irmin’. War goddess.

Irma began forming on Wednesday, and it intensified at a faster rate than any storm that we have seen in nearly 20 years…

Hurricane Irma formed early Wednesday in the warm waters off the coast of West Africa — and took just 30 hours to strengthen to a Category 3. That’s the fastest intensification rate in almost two decades. By Friday afternoon, the storm had also grown noticeably larger in size with a well-defined eye, a classic sign of a strong hurricane.

Though Irma poses no immediate threat to land, the outlook is ominous: In the Atlantic, Irma is expected to pass through some abnormally warm waters — the primary fuel source for storm systems. The official National Hurricane Center forecast says it will remain at major hurricane status for at least the next five days, and, in a worst-case scenario, Irma could eventually grow into one of the strongest hurricanes ever seen in the Atlantic.

So how powerful could Irma eventually become?

According to Michael Ventrice of the Weather Channel, Irma could easily become a “super typhoon” with “sustained speeds of over 180mph”…

Veteran USA forecaster Michael Ventrice posted the track model on Twitter overnight and warned it looked like the storm could be a “super typhoon”, with sustained speeds of over 180mph.

He wrote: “These are the highest windspeed forecasts I’ve ever seen in my 10 yrs of Atlantic hurricane forecasting.

“Irma is another retiree candidate.”

The scale we have right now really never envisioned storms that powerful.  In fact, some have suggested that we need to add a “category 6” to describe the kind of “super storms” that are now developing in the Atlantic.

One of the reasons why Irma is so unique is because it is a “Cape Verde hurricane”…

There are a few factors that worry hurricane forecasters more about this storm when compared to the myriad other tropical storms and hurricanes that tend to form in the Atlantic.

First, it’s a so-called Cape Verde storm, having formed off the west coast of Africa. These storms tend to be the ones that go on to affect the U.S., after gathering strength for many days during their march across the ocean. For example, Hurricane Andrew, which was the most recent Category 5 storm to hit the U.S. in 1992, was a Cape Verde-type storm.

Because they begin at a relatively low latitude and move west rather than northwest, it can be harder for upper level winds blowing across North America to pick up and steer these types of storms away from the U.S. coast.

Let us hope that this storm does get steered away from our coastlines at some point, but so far that is just not happening.

Many hurricanes are often weakened by wind shear, but that isn’t happening to Irma either.  In fact, CNN is reporting that “Irma will remain in a low-shear environment for the next several days”…

A strong high-pressure ridge to the north of Irma, over the Atlantic, is steering the storm to the west and limiting the wind shear in the upper levels of the atmosphere, which has allowed the storm to grow so quickly. Wind shear is like hurricane kryptonite, and prevents storms from forming or gaining strength.

Unfortunately, Irma will remain in a low-shear environment for the next several days, so there isn’t much hope that Irma will weaken any time soon.

Basically, conditions are nearly ideal for a “super storm” to develop, and if Irma does make it to the U.S. the destruction that it causes could be absolutely off the charts.

Of course at this point there is no guarantee that it will ever reach the United States.  But if it does, and if it is still a category 5 storm when it arrives, we could be facing an event unlike anything that we have ever seen before.

Do you remember Hurricane Katrina?  Well, scientists now know that when it hit New Orleans it had already been downgraded to just a “low category 3” storm…

To put this all in perspective, Katrina was a Category 5 hurricane out over some hot spots in the Gulf. But when it hit New Orleans, scientists now know, Katrina had winds at a low Category 3, and much of them Category 2, including the “left side winds” that then came down from the north and pushed the surge-swollen waters of Lake Pontchartrain over and through NOLA’s levees. (Hurricanes spin counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere, so when Katrina came ashore just east of New Orleans, its winds hit the city from the north.)

Only three Category 5s have come ashore in the United States in the past century — the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, Camille in 1969 and Andrew in 1992.

And Hurricane Harvey was just a category 4 storm.

If Hurricane Irma were to make landfall as a category 5 storm with sustained winds of 180 miles per hour, it would rip buildings and everything else in its path to shreds.

Next week we shall find out what happens.  Let us hope for the best, but let us also get prepared for the worst.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

Irmina Update:

The Island Packet, “Hurricane Irma back to Category 2, but its track makes a pronounced turn”, 2 Sep 2017:

Hurricane Irma become a Category 2 storm once more in the National Hurricane Center’s 5 a.m. update, but as its strength fluctuates, its track now shows a distinct northwestern turn.

Tropical weather track

Reload page every few hours for the latest tracking information.

Source: National Hurricane Center

Irma is currently located about 1300 miles east of the Leeward Islands, and is moving west at 14 mph. It has maximum sustained winds of 110 mph with gusts up to 132 mph.

While Irma has remained in a somewhat weakened state over the past day or so, it is expected to move into warmer waters and better wind conditions in about a day, and is expected to be a major hurricane again as it approaches the Lesser Antilles at the beginning of next week.

It is expected to reach Category 4 status by next Wednesday, with forecast sustained winds of 132 mph and gusts over 160.

The NHC track for Irma looks only five days out, but there are other, more speculative forecast models.

No coastal watches or warnings have yet been issued for Irma. Watches and warnings are typically issued 36 hours before a tropical cyclone poses a threat to a coastal area. So, as alarming as some of the information coming in might be, people can take solace in the knowledge that they will have plenty of warning if Irma looks to threaten the U.S. coast.

“It’s still 2,000 miles away, and anything over the Atlantic Ocean moving generally westward, by geographical definition, would be ‘aiming in the general direction of the United States,’” said NHC spokesman Dennis Feltgen. “It is far to early to tell what, if any, impacts will be felt on the continental U.S.”

Feltgen also said that Irma is a useful reminder that we are in the peak of hurricane season, and that as such, people in hurricane prone areas should be prepared, just in case.

“Check your supplies and make sure you have a hurricane plan,” said Feltgen. “The last thing you want is to be doing this on the fly if you happen to be in an area where hurricane watches or warnings go up. Not that we expect that to happen any time soon, but use this weekend, when stores are open and everyone has supplies, to take advantage of that.

The Telegraph reports:

Britain is home to 35,000 Islamist fanatics, more than any other country in Europe, the EU anti-terror chief has said.

Gilles de Kerchove warned that of those, 3,000 were “‘worrying” for MI5.

He also warned Islamic State will attempt a cyber-attack on nuclear power stations or air traffic control systems within five years, potentially by paying paying Russian hackers to break into vital computer systems.

Mr de Kerchove told Spain’s El Mundo newspaper: “The United Kingdom has identified 20,000 to 35,000 radicals.

“Of these, 3,000 are worrying for MI5, and of those 500 are under constant and special attention.

“France has 17,000. Spain many less, but more than 5,000 I suppose. In Belgium almost 500 have been to Syria and there are around 2,000 radicals or more.

“I wouldn’t like to put a concrete figure on it, but (in Europe) tens of thousands, more than 50,000.

“We must select those who are really worrying and the most dangerous, and they should be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

But for how long do we the native peoples of Western Europe have to play Damocles to this Saif ul-Ali?  Will there ever be a moment when someone ... anyone ... a pol, a journalist, a Third sector artiste ... actually speaks the simple truth that Islam cannot remain in the West?  It does not work for Europeans.  It is not wanted by Europeans.  And it is the will of Europeans which matters and which must be obeyed.

DM, “Police call for Notting Hill Carnival to be banned after 31 officers attacked during the two-day event”, 30 Aug 2017:

  - Police were slashed with broken bottles, spat at, bitten and had acid thrown at them
  - In one of the worst confrontations, three PCs had bloody spit sprayed in their faces
  - Frontline police said ‘enough is enough’ and called for organisers to help safeguard them
  - Four people were stabbed, more than 300 arrested and dozens of weapons seized

The Notting Hill Carnival was branded a disgrace last night after it was revealed that 31 police officers were attacked during the two-day event.

They were slashed with broken bottles, spat at, bitten and had acid thrown at them.

In one of the worst confrontations, three PCs had bloody spit sprayed in their faces by a man claiming to be HIV positive.

Frontline police said ‘enough is enough’ and called for organisers to help safeguard those who dedicate their lives protecting others.

Four people were stabbed, more than 300 arrested and dozens of weapons seized during Europe’s biggest street carnival. Although there were fewer arrests than last year’s record 454, a three-week crackdown had seen hundreds banned from attending.

Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation representing the capital’s 32,000 rank-and-file officers, said at least 31 officers were attacked.

‘We cannot carry on like this. It is a disgrace,’ he said. ‘My brave colleagues were attacked for just doing their job.

‘This is not acceptable. What other event would be allowed to carry on regardless with so many police colleagues under attack?’

‘There is a growing lobby calling for the carnival to be moved to Hyde Park and made ticket-only to deter opportunist criminals. Changes were first proposed in 2000 when two men were murdered. In 2008 there was a riot.

READ MORE...

On Channel 4 news tonight, anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy tragically failed to shame Sebastian Gorka over Trump’s Charlottesville comments.  I’m sure Gorka is nothing whatsoever to do with nationalism, but it was a joy to hear a forthright condemnation of antifa violence, and even better to behold the casting down of Guru-Murthy’s libral certainties.  The relevant exchange is from 6 min 35 sec:

The intimidating posts have been appearing all over Twitter (Picture: Twitter)

By contrast to the typical right-wing claim that “they” are trying to divide us with racial conflict (DDRR: dems da real racists), we should of course encourage racial divisiveness. However, it must be said that Tweets alleged of black gangs in the Houston area, of their intent to ‘loot the property of Trump voters” appear to be a ham-fisted attempt (e.g., using Sambo language) to instigate such division - not that we should put it past blacks to loot and terrorize the vulnerable and that is precisely the point: there is no need to exaggerate or characterize their criminality and hyper-aggression to the detriment of our ethic genetic interests.

There is no reason to doubt that there would be blacks taking advantage of vulnerable property in the wake of hurricane Harvey, but there are not many confirmed reports - yet.

Metro, “Gang members brandish guns and joke about looting ‘white neighborhoods’ in Hurricane Harvey”, 28 Aug 2017:

Gang members are boasting about looting homes as thousands are rescued from floods after Hurricane Harvey battered Texas.

Unverified Twitter accounts and hashtags like ‘harveylootcrew’ show men brandishing guns in posts about breaking into Houston houses and stealing goods.

One account shows a man wearing a bandanna with someone pointing two handguns at the camera. It’s captioned: ‘We out here lootin shit from white neighborhoods.’

Another post included a photo of a gun stuffed into his pants pocket and the comment: ‘I stay strapped when we out here lootin this bitch.’

Photos and videos on this particular account have since been deleted. The authenticity of these accounts are not known.

  Blacks might talk this way, but they are unlikely to write this way - “foh racist Trump supporters.”

Many people on Twitter are reporting them by looping in the Houston Police Department in the gang’s tweets.

A spokeswoman for Houston Police Department told Metro US officers are aware of four cases of looting that have taken place since Hurricane Harvey hit, and arrests have been made in each of those cases.

However, she said she could not speak to the Twitter accounts and hashtags which appear to show gangs making claims of looting.

At least six people have died in the chaos since Hurricane Harvey struck landfall on Friday.

Parts of Texas are bracing for up to 25 more inches of rain as Hurricane Harvey continues to batter the area.

Alexendre Jorge evacuates Ethan Colman, four, from a neighborhood severely affected (Picture: AP)

Michael Cohen, liaising with the Russian Federation.

Washington Post, “Top Trump Organization executive asked Putin aide for help on business deal”, 28 August, 2017:

A top executive from Donald Trump’s real estate company emailed Russian President Vladi­mir Putin’s personal spokesman during the U.S. presidential campaign last year to ask for help advancing a stalled Trump Tower development project in Moscow, according to documents submitted to Congress on Monday.

The request came in a mid-January 2016 email from Michael Cohen, one of Trump’s closest business advisers, who asked longtime Putin lieutenant Dmitry Peskov for assistance in reviving a deal that Cohen suggested was languishing.

“Over the past few months I have been working with a company based in Russia regarding the development of a Trump Tower-Moscow project in Moscow City,” Cohen wrote to Peskov, according to a person familiar with the email. “Without getting into lengthy specifics, the communication between our two sides has stalled.

“As this project is too important, I am hereby requesting your assistance. I respectfully request someone, preferably you, contact me so that I might discuss the specifics as well as arranging meetings with the appropriate individuals. I thank you in advance for your assistance and look forward to hearing from you soon,” Cohen wrote.

Click to page showing Trump-Russian links

Cohen’s email marks the most direct outreach documented by a top Trump aide to a similarly senior member of Putin’s government.

Cohen told congressional investigators in a statement Monday that he did not recall receiving a response from Peskov or having further contact with Russian government officials about the project. The email, addressed to Peskov, appeared to have been sent to a general Kremlin press account.

The note adds to the list of contacts between Trump associates and Russian officials that have been a focus of multiple congressional inquiries as well as an investigation led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III exploring Russian interference in the 2016 election. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that the Kremlin intervened to help elect Trump.

Cohen’s email to Peskov provides an example of a Trump business official directly seeking Kremlin assistance in advancing Trump’s business interests.

Cohen told congressional investigators that the deal was envisioned as a licensing project, in which Trump would have been paid for the use of his name by a Moscow-based developer called I.C. Expert Investment Co.

Cohen said that he discussed the deal three times with Trump and that Trump signed a letter of intent with the company on Oct. 28, 2015. He said the Trump company began to solicit designs from architects and discuss financing.

However, he said that the project was abandoned “for business reasons” when government permission was not secured and that the matter was “not related in any way to Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign.”

Cohen’s request to Peskov came as Trump was distinguishing himself on the campaign trail with warm rhetoric about Putin.

Cohen said in his statement to Congress that he wrote the email at the recommendation of Felix Sater, a Russian American businessman who was serving as a broker on the deal.

In the statement, obtained by The Washington Post, Cohen said Sater suggested the outreach because a massive Trump development in Moscow would require Russian government approval.

READ MORE...

Missile trajectory: it was launched from Pyongyang and flew in trajectory over Cape Erimo, Japan before landing in the distant Pacific.

      Apologies for the story source below [Infowars], but this particular story is confirmed and does not have a conspiratorial spin.

Infowars, “North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile Over Japan”, 28 Aug 2017:

Launch represents first missile test ever to pass over Japan on a high altitude trajectory.

North Korea launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile Tuesday that flew over the island nation of Japan.

The suspected Hwasong-12 missile was fired from Pyongyang at 5:57 a.m. and passed over the Tohoku region at the northern end of the country, the South Korean military said.

“It passed through the sky over Japan,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, later noting that the missile traveled 2,700 kilometers at a maximum altitude of around 550 km.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning similarly confirmed the missile’s flight path.

“We assess North Korea conducted a missile launch within the last 90 minutes,” Manning said. “We can confirm that the missile launched by North Korea flew over Japan.”

U.S. intelligence agencies were reportedly monitoring the launch site when Hwasong-12 missile equipment began to move in.

The Japanese government urged people living in Tohoku to take cover in underground shelters or solid buildings, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.

A video posted to Twitter from the region revealed the warning message sent out to local residents over loudspeaker.

“I woke up with a Siren and an announcement that North Korea launched a missile that would possibly hit cities within Hokkaido,” a Twitter user said.

Joe @jtnarsico

I woke up with a Siren and an announcement that North Korea launched a missile that would possibly hit cities within Hokkaido.
11:30 PM - Aug 28, 2017 · Hakodate-shi, Hokkaido

A senior U.S. intelligence official speaking with NBC News said the launch represents the first missile test ever to pass over Japan on a high altitude trajectory. North Korea previously launched a missile over the country in 1998 and again in 2009 – although Pyongyang claimed the second launch was of a satellite and not a missile.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed Tuesday morning to protect the country.

“We’ll make the utmost effort to protect the public,” Abe told reporters.

NHK later reported that the North Korean missile broke into three pieces during its 733 mile trip into the Pacific Ocean east of Hokkaido’s Cape Erimo.

Earlier this month Pyongyang put a plan on hold that called for launching four Hwasong-12 missiles over Japan and into waters near the U.S. territory of Guam.

The launch comes just hours after the U.S. and Japan ended the joint military exercise “Northern Viper” on Hokkaido.

On Saturday North Korea also launched three short-range ballistic missiles. Although U.S. Pacific Command initially reported that two of the missiles “failed in flight,” the agency later confirmed that both projectiles survived and flew “250 kilometers in a northeastern direction.”

U.S. Pacific Command also stated that one of the three missiles blew up “almost immediately” after launch.

The U.S. and South Korea, much to the dismay of Pyongyang, are currently carrying out the joint annual military exercise Ulchi-Freedom Guardian.

Reports Monday also indicated that North Korea is showing signs that indicate preparations for its sixth nuclear weapons test.

In a closed door parliamentary session, Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told South Korean lawmakers that recent activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site suggests an underground detonation may be in the works.

Pyongyang, according to Kim Byung-kee, a lawmaker of South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party (DP) who attended the meeting, “has completed its preparation to carry out a nuclear test at Tunnel 2 and Tunnel 3 of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.”

Byung-kee also said the NIS report detailed new construction at Tunnel 4, where excavation work paused last year.

This story is developing and will be updated as more information becomes available.

Sunday Express, 27 Aug 2017:

A POLISH tourist was gang raped in a “brutal and bestial attack” in front of her boyfriend before he was beaten up at an Italian tourist hotspot.

Police said the vicious attack on the Polish couple, who are 26-years-old, took place in Rimini on the Adriatic coast of Italy.

The man was beaten on the head and robbed according to Italian police.

The woman was raped repeatedly by four men early on Saturday on a stretch of the beach in Rimini, which is one of the most famous seaside resorts in Italy.

Passers-by called police after seeing the couple, bloodied and dazed, on the beach.

The couple were both hospitalised with injuries.

Italian police are still searching for the suspects of what they described as a “brutal and bestial attack.”

Forensics officers have been seen investigating the crime scene with images of Italian Scientific Police combing the beach for evidence.

They have called on the public “to cooperate with the police forces informing each and every element that may be of use in the investigation.”

The Polish consulate in Milan have said they are assisting the couple.

Italian newspaper Ansa said the girl’s attackers have been described as dark skinned.

The couple were planning a trip to Tuscany before returning to their native Poland.

Rimini is known for attracting young people and is a popular resort.