Today's News: June 05, 2018

World News

China removes missile launchers from disputed island after row with US, images show
Fox – China apparently removed surface-to-air missile systems from the contested islands in the South China Sea, new satellite images show.

NATO warplanes begin policing Montenegro’s airspace
RT – NATO aircraft have started policing Montenegro’s airspace, a year after the small state became a member of the Western military alliance. Italian and Greek warplanes conducted an exercise in the skies over the capital Podgorica on Tuesday. They intercepted an “intruder” aircraft and forced it to land in a symbolic start to the mission, AP reported.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Trump calls off event for NFL’s Eagles, cites anthem dispute
Fox Sports – President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his Tuesday ceremony celebrating the Philadelphia Eagles‘ Super Bowl victory after many players declined to show up. The White House accused the players of abandoning their fans, and Trump quickly scheduled a ”Celebration of America” with military bands as he stoked fresh controversy over players who protest racial injustice by taking a knee during the national anthem.

Film producer Harvey Weinstein due to enter plea on rape charges
Reuters – Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is expected to enter a plea in a New York court on Tuesday to charges of rape and sexual assault, the first cases involving the disgraced producer to be tested in criminal court since scores of accusers emerged last year, New York court documents showed.

Kent State Gun Girl Challenges David Hogg: ‘Let’s Arm Wrestle’
Infowars – Kent State graduate Kaitlin Bennett called out anti-gun activist David Hogg on Twitter Sunday, challenging him to an arm wrestling competition to decide the fate of The Second Amendment.

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens resigns, ending political career once aimed at presidency
Kansas City Star – Eric Greitens stormed into the Governor’s Office in January 2017 vowing to clean up a state government he said was corrupt.
He resigned Tuesday — effective at 5 p.m. Friday — just as abruptly as he had arrived on Missouri’s political scene, his career buried under an avalanche of scandal and felony charges.
Even as he announced his historic decision to step down, Greitens asserted his innocence and argued that he was the victim of a political conspiracy.
“This ordeal has been designed to cause an incredible amount of strain on my family. Millions of dollars in mounting legal bills, endless personal attacks designed to cause maximum damage to family and friends,” he said.

Mitch McConnell cancels Senate’s traditional August recess
Fox – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Tuesday that he’s canceled the chamber’s traditional August recess, citing Democrats’ “obstruction” and the need to pass spending bills.

David Koch Steps Down From Company, Political Groups
Wall Street Journal – Billionaire businessman David Koch, who along with his brother has used his fortune to help reshape Republican politics, announced Tuesday that he is retiring from his family-owned company and all political organizations.

Judge Gives Manafort Until Friday to Answer Tampering Allegation
Newsmax – A federal judge in Washington has given former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort until Friday to respond to allegations that he made several attempts to tamper with witnesses in his ongoing prosecution.

Economy & Business

Mexico set to impose 20% tariff on U.S. pork legs
Reuters – Mexico will impose a 20 percent tariff on U.S. pork imports, two industry officials with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters on Monday, for the first time providing details of the country’s retaliatory measures to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Energy & Environment

9,900 earthquakes unleashed on Hawaii Island in the last 30 days
CNN – From earthquakes to seeping lava, Hawaii’s Big Island has seen plenty from nature since the first eruptions of Kilauea volcano.
And the lava keeps spewing, swallowing homes and igniting fears of more destruction to come.

Science & Technology

Maker of fearsome animal robots slowly emerges from stealth
DailyMail – It’s never been clear whether robotics company Boston Dynamics is making killing machines, household helpers, or something else entirely.
For nine years, the secretive firm – which got its start with U.S. military funding – has unnerved people around the world with YouTube videos of experimental robots resembling animal predators.
In one, a life-size robotic wildcat sprints across a parking lot at almost 20 miles an hour. In another, a small wheeled rover nicknamed SandFlea abruptly flings itself onto rooftops – and back down again. A more recent effort features a slender dog-like robot that climbs stairs, holds its own in a tug-of-war with a human and opens a door to let another robot pass.
These glimpses into a possible future of fast, strong and sometimes intimidating robots raise several questions. How do these robots work? What does Boston Dynamics intend to do with them? And do these videos – some viewed almost 30 million times – fairly represent their capabilities?

Governments And Social Media Companies Are Collaborating To Censor Anyone That Would Dare To Question Mainstream Media Narratives
End of the American Dream – The era of free and unfettered speech on the Internet is rapidly ending. All over the world, national governments are working very closely with social media companies to take control of “Internet news”. Up until recently, the Internet really was a wonderful marketplace of ideas, and ordinary people like you and I were empowered to share information with one another like never before in human history. But now the elite have seen the power that this can have, and they are cracking down hard. The term “fake news” has come to mean any source that would dare to question the official narratives that are being fed to us from the mainstream media, and in reality the push to censor “fake news” is really just an all-out effort to eliminate independent thought. Before the Internet, it was much easier for the elite to control the flow of information, and now they are taking unprecedented measures to control the flow of information in the digital age.

Health

Gardasil HPV Vaccine Acceptance into China Creates Instant Billionaires
Health Impact News – Last month (May, 2018) we published a report from the vaccine marketing trade publication, Fierce Pharma, that Merck’s sales this year were beating financial forecasts, primarily due to its entrance into the China market for its top-selling Gardasil HPV vaccine

Court Rules Maine Must Put Medicaid Expansion in Motion
Newsmax – Maine must follow the voter-approved Medicaid expansion law and submit a plan by June 11 that starts the process for providing the health coverage for thousands of low-income people in the state, a Superior Court judge has ruled, the Press Herald reported on Tuesday.

6 Reasons to Still Hate Obamacare
Newsmax – The fight is far from over on the future of the Obama-era health insurance overhaul. Republicans are making a last-ditch effort this year to turn the program and the money over to the state. This isn’t full Obamacare repeal, but it would make a world of sense. States would be free to experiment and find ways to reduce costs and provide better services.
Here are six reasons Obamacare needs to be repealed now, more than ever.