NASA to face space suit crunch in future, says report

As per a new study, experts say that NASA is quite ill prepared to have space suit for future missions and it might have to face a crunch in deep-space missions.

The spacesuits NASA astronauts currently use on the International Space Station (ISS) -- known as Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMU) -- were developed more than 40 years ago and have far outlasted their original 15-year design life.

"Despite spending nearly $200 million on NASA`s next-generation spacesuit technologies, the Agency remains years away from having a flight-ready spacesuit capable of replacing the EMU or suitable for use on future exploration missions," NASA Office of Inspector General`s Office of Audits said in the report.

"As different missions require different designs, the lack of a formal plan and specific destinations for future missions has complicated spacesuit development. Moreover, the Agency has reduced the funding dedicated to spacesuit development in favour of other priorities such as an in-space habitat," the report said.

Meanwhile, NASA seems to be running out of the space suits it does have for the astronauts on the ISS. Only a fraction of the original space suit supply for the station is fully functional right now, and NASA may risk not having enough space suits to last through the end of the ISS programme, currently scheduled for 2024, The Verge reported on Thursday.

US says time to act on North Korea, China says not up to Beijing alone

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned on Friday that failure to curb North Korea`s nuclear and missile development could lead to `catastrophic consequences,` while China and Russia cautioned Washington against threatening military force.

Washington has recently lavished praise on Beijing for its efforts to rein in its ally Pyongyang, but Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made clear to the U.N. Security Council it was not only up to China to solve the North Korean problem.

"The key to solving the nuclear issue on the peninsula does not lie in the hands of the Chinese side," Wang told the 15-member council in remarks contradicting the White House belief that it does wield significant influence.

The ministerial meeting of the council, chaired by Tillerson, exposed old divisions between the United States and China on how to deal with North Korea. China wants talks first and action later, while the United States wants North Korea to curtail its nuclear program before such talks start.

"It is necessary to put aside the debate over who should take the first step and stop arguing who is right and who is wrong," Wang told the council. "Now is the time to seriously consider resuming talks."

Tillerson responded: "We will not negotiate our way back to the negotiating table with North Korea, we will not reward their violations of past resolutions, we will not reward their bad behavior with talks."

North Korea did not take part in the meeting.

In Tillerson`s first visit to the United Nations he scolded the Security Council for not fully enforcing sanctions against North Korea, saying if the body had acted, tensions over its nuclear program might not have escalated.

"Failing to act now on the most pressing security issue in the world may bring catastrophic consequences," he said.

The United States was not pushing for regime change and preferred a negotiated solution, but Pyongyang, for its own sake, should dismantle its nuclear and missile programs, he said.

"The threat of a nuclear attack on Seoul, or Tokyo, is real, and it`s only a matter of time before North Korea develops the capability to strike the U.S. mainland," Tillerson said.

Tillerson repeated the Trump administration`s position that all options are on the table if Pyongyang persists with its nuclear and missile development, but Wang said military threats would not help.

`FRIGHTENING` CONSEQUENCES

Wang said dialogue and negotiations were the "only way out."

"The use of force does not solve differences and will only lead to bigger disasters," he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday that a "major, major conflict" with North Korea was possible over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov cautioned on Friday that the use of force would be "completely unacceptable."

"The combative rhetoric coupled with reckless muscle-flexing has led to a situation where the whole world seriously is now wondering whether there`s going to be a war or not," he told the council. "One ill thought out or misinterpreted step could lead to the most frightening and lamentable consequences."

Gatilov said North Korea felt threatened by regular joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises and the deployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier group to waters off the Korean peninsula.

China and Russia both also repeated their opposition to the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea. Gatilov described it as a "destabilizing effort," while Wang said it damaged trust among the parties on the North Korea issue.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told the council that to bring North Korea back to the table the international community "must send a strong message that provocation comes at a high price."

"There is no doubt that dialogue is necessary ... however under the current situation where North Korea continues to advance its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, meaningful dialogue is clearly not possible," he said.

The Trump administration is focusing its North Korea strategy on tougher economic sanctions, possibly including an oil embargo, a global ban on its airline, intercepting cargo ships and punishing Chinese banks doing business with Pyongyang, U.S. officials told Reuters earlier this month.

Since 2006, North Korea has been subject to U.N. sanctions aimed at impeding the development of its nuclear and missile programs. The council has strengthened sanctions following each of North Korea`s five nuclear tests.

Hannity Comes Forward with BOMBSHELL WARNING: “End of Fox News Channel As We Know It”

Things haven’t been going well at Fox News.

Bill O’Reilly, the face of Fox News, was pushed out after sexual harassment allegations.

Jesse Watters is in trouble for a comment he made about Ivanka Trump.

We all know how the Roger Ailes situation went down.

Now, rumors are swirling that the co-president of Fox could be on the chopping block.

According to Sean Hannity, that’s a huge mistake that could be the end of FNC as we know it.

From Variety:

Sean Hannity took to Twitter Thursday to defend embattled Fox News co-president Bill Shine following a report that suggested Shine’s future with the network could be on unsteady ground.

“Gäbe i pray this is NOT true because if it is, that’s the total end of the FNC as we know it. Done. Best Sean,” Hannity tweeted, with a link to Gabe Sherman’s New York magazine story citing unnamed sources who claimed that Shine has become worried about what he perceives as lack of public support for him from 21st Century Fox leaders Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch. Hannity then apologized for inserting a diaeresis into Sherman’s name, writing, “Ha. Gabe sorry about the 2 dots. I couldn’t do that again if I tried. Best Sean.”

Hannity and Shine have a long history at the 21st Century Fox-owned cable-news outlet. Hannity recommended that Fox News hire Shine early in the network’s history, and Shine was an early producer on “Hannity & Colmes,” one of the first primetime programs on the network’s schedule.

 Fox has still been killing it in the ratings so they have that to hang their hat on.

However, they need to get it together on the public relations front.

Sen. Sasse Just DESTROYED The Media And Planned Parenthood In EPIC Fashion

There is so much misinformation on abortion spread by the mainstream media that it can be overwhelming.

There are people out there who think abortions are only 3% of what Planned Parenthood does. That’s false.

There are people who think women will be left high and dry if Planned Parenthood goes away. That’s false.

There are people who believe Planned Parenthood provides desperately needed mammograms. That’s false.

There are people who think the “selling baby parts for profit” thing was made up by conservatives. That’s false.

It’s hard to blame them for believing all this when you consider how the media has been pushing these lies 24/7.

Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse has had enough of it and he spoke to a pro-life crowd recently and didn’t hold back.

From Newsbusters:

Pointing to the 196,543 pairs of baby socks at the U.S. Capitol representing half of the babies aborted per year by Planned Parenthood, Sen. Sasse urged, “we need to have images like this so that people start to reflect on the magnitude of this suffering that’s happening out there.”

Life, he argued, transcends party politics.

“I’m a conservative Republican, but I care about a whole bunch of things far more than I care about the Republican party or the Democratic party,” Sasse declared, referencing DNC Chair Tom Perez’s controversial words that “every candidate who runs as a Democrat” and even “every Democrat, like every American” should support abortion.

Love it.

He wasn’t done.

He called out the media in the perfect way as well.

“The picture I tweeted out is just science,” Sen. Sasse affirmed. “It’s a picture of an actual baby. It’s a picture of what’s actually happening inside a mom’s womb. And that kind of picture needs to be the thing that we’re about…”

But that’s not how many in the media see it. Talking afterwards with MRC Culture, Sasse condemned the media’s handling of abortion.

“First of all, there’s just not honesty in dealing with the magnitude of the crisis and where Americans actually are on the issue,” he noted. “…Think about the butcher that is Gosnell, and how the media just tried to overlook that for ages.”

Here’s some video.

Gotta love that!

Always nice to see people in positions of power standing up for what’s right.

Bill Nye Pushes Sick “Ice Cream Orgy” Cartoon to Kids

Bill Nye, “the Science Guy,” is quickly gaining a reputation as being the pervy guy after he debuted a new video apparently aimed at children that suggests heterosexuality is just one of the many “flavors” of sexuality.

On an episode of his Netflix series “Bill Nye Saves the World,” Nye introduced the video with a condescending, “We are enlightened and forward-thinking, but not everyone sees it this way, but there are lots of flavors to sexuality.”

The video then showed a cartoon of ice cream cones of different flavors, where the vanilla ice cream tried to convert the other flavors to being vanilla. (The cartoon includes some not-too-subtle jabs at Christianity, too.)

Other flavors of ice cream in the video, such as strawberry and chocolate appear to represent alternatives to heterosexuality. The vanilla ice cream told the others that the “big ice cream in the sky” wants all ice cream to be vanilla. He also told them that vanilla is the most natural of ice creams.

Everyone should pretend to be vanilla, he said, until they no longer have the urge to be vanilla.

The group engaged in a conversation where the other ice cream flavors told vanilla that not everyone wants just one flavor of ice cream. The group pressured the vanilla ice cream into tasting one the other flavors, and when he did, he discovered that he liked it, and the group ended up in a giant ice cream orgy.

Take a look:

Wow.

Nye’s credibility has suffered over the years with his ideas on climate change and environmentalism, but this ice cream analogy is over-the-top degenerate.

It is especially offensive that Nye would intentionally use cartoon characters and ice cream, two things children love, to push his anti-Christian message. The so-called scientist is just one of many who are trying to shove their liberal views down our children’s throats, and it needs to end.

H/T PJ Media

CNN Mistakes Chinese Troops for American Marines

One would think that after being called out numerous times for reporting fake news and spreading misinformation, CNN might try to sharpen its investigative skills and get things right for once. One would think.

Apparently that’s not the case as the network has once again been caught reporting something fake — this time about the U.S. Marines.

In a report on the U.S. Marines nude photo scandal on Wednesday, CNN’s attempt at real journalism was overshadowed by the fact that the network had its own photo faux pas that included a photograph of the Chinese military carrying Chinese weapons, boarding a Chinese helicopter.

Oh, boy.

Defense One editor Marcus Weisgerber spotted the error and promptly called out CNN for it:

 What an embarrassing mistake.

Apparently, CNN’s primary concern is not being able to spot the difference between the Chinese military and the U.S. military. (The red star might have been a clue.)

It has more important things to do, like push the Democrat agenda. But pushing that agenda has blinded them to what actual news looks like and, as a result, the network has a disgusting track record.

For example, it tried to get away with exaggerating about the size of President Donald Trump’s inauguration crowd in comparison to the crowd at former President Barack Obama’s inauguration.

They also don’t always vet their guests.

Apparently, they can’t add. They once reported that 110 percent of Scottish voters went to the polls.

 The network doesn’t seem to know its geography, either, after it reported that the capital of Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Indonesia. (It’s the capital of Malaysia.)

And their hosts appear to simply make things up as they go along just to see if they can get away with it.

CNN’s lies are almost too much to keep up with.

H/T Task and Purpose

Teen girl fatally shot by brother after giving him a birthday hug

A Florida teen with a history of gun violence shot his 13-year-old sister in the back of the head moments after she hugged him on his 17th birthday, police say.

Martaevious Santiago pointed a loaded semi-automatic handgun at his sister Tedra King as she turned away after a hug in the kitchen of the family's Florida City home, Miami-Dade police said.

Then he pulled the trigger.  

Santiago told cops that the shooting was an accident. Authorities charged him with manslaughter, the Miami Herald reported. 

Santiago's family and friends have called the killing a freak accident.

'He said, "Daddy, I'm sorry. It was an accident. I'm sorry, Dad," his stepfather, Vernon Williams, told WSVN 7 News, adding: 'I can't fault anyone for this here. It happened.'

 'He didn't mean to kill his sister,' family friend Shamara Perpall told the station.

The accused shooter's life had already been marred by gun violence even before the Tuesday night tragedy.  He told the radio station WLRN, in a series on young gun violence survivors,  that he himself had been to jail 18 times, mostly for robberies.

In December, Santiago was shot in the leg in his driveway, the station reported. His friend was shot in the head and nearly died.

Eleven months earlier, Santiago's younger brother Martwan was shot four times, according to the report. One bullet went through his spine and paralyzed him from the waist down.

Local leaders ripped the killing as an example of why Florida should change its gun access laws. The Sunshine State had by far the highest number of people with concealed weapons carry permits, about 1.4 million, as of March 2015, Politifact reported.

 'Criminally or accidentally, the carnage continues. A 13-year old middle schooler is latest victim of heartbreaking, reckless gun violence,' tweeted Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.

'Accidental but not acceptable. In the streets, at home, easy access to guns is, itself, indicting. How many more will it take?' he added, using the hashtag #EnoughCarnage.