Signs of War – USS John S. McCain
You be the Judge… Look closely at the Damages to the USS John S. McCain!
The U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with a merchant vessel off the east coast of Singapore early Monday morning. 10 sailors are currently missing, with an international search and rescue effort underway. According to a Navy official, the McCain reportedly lost steering control prior to the collision, but has since regained it.
A U.S. Navy press release states that the John S. McCain was underway east of the Straits of Malacca while transiting to what they refer to as a “routine” port visit in Singapore. At 6:24 a.m. Japanese standard time, a commercial vessel, the Alnic MC, collided with the McCain on its port side, aft – or the rear portion of its left side, looking ahead.
Maritime collisions involving two ships are considered rare, but this was the second collision involving an American naval destroyer since June.
Here are a handful of other recent collisions involving United States Navy vessels at sea — several of which included fatalities.
June 17, 2017: Seven sailors were killed when the Fitzgerald, a destroyer, was broadsided by a Philippines-registered cargo ship, about 60 miles off the coast of Japan. A Navy report released in August found that within 90 seconds of the collision, seawater began rushing through a gaping hole in the starboard hull, filling berths in which sailors had been sleeping. In response to the report’s findings, which blamed the ship’s crew, the Navy relieved two senior officers.
May 9, 2017: A 60- to 70-foot South Korean fishing boat collided with theLake Champlain, a guided-missile cruiser, on its port side while the cruiser was conducting routine operations in international waters. No one was injured. Fishing boat crew members later said the fishing vessel did not have a radio, so they did not hear the calls from the Navy, a Navy officialsaid at the time.
Aug. 19, 2016: The Louisiana, a nuclear ballistic-missile submarine, and the Eagleview, a Military Sealift Command support vessel, collided while conducting routine operations in the Strait of Juan de Fuca off the coast of Washington State. There was damage to the hulls of both the Eagleview and the Louisiana. No one was injured.
July 22, 2004: The John F. Kennedy, an aircraft carrier, and a dhow, a small traditional Arab sailing boat, collided in the Persian Gulf. The dhow sank immediately, and all those aboard are believed to have died. It is still unclear how many people were on it, but dhows — which are used mainly for transportation and fishing — can generally carry up to 15 people.
The Kennedy, which was engaged in night air operations at the time, had made a hard turn to avoid the tiny vessel. The carrier was unscathed from the impact on its starboard hull; its crew and aircraft were all accounted for, but two jet fighters on the deck were damaged when the ship turned. The Navy relieved Stephen G. Squires, the commanding officer of the Kennedy, after the episode.
Revelation 22:12 King James Version (KJV)
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
Not so fast, Sir Isaac Newton
“What goes up, must come down.” I contest Sir Isaac Newton’s Law of gravity.
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John 3:15 “That everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
This picture illustrates it best! What goes up does not always come down… #OneWayUp
If we’re a country with no history, Who are We? -JDA-
You 
history [his-tuh-ree, his-tree]
Bitcoin is gaining grounds within the United States
In the trash business it pays to be, well, scrappy.
That pluck and panache has guided John Arwood for decades as he’s transformed his Florida-based operation into a major force in the Southeast. One of his latest innovations is becoming the first U.S. hauler to accept bitcoin—a digital currency created in 2009—as payment for related services that he offers nationwide.
“I’m fascinated with being on the latest edge of technology and I’m always trying things that are outside the box,” the president of Arwood Waste and Arwood Waste National says. “I see bitcoin as being a currency of the future.”
Since Arwood added bitcoin to his billing menu last summer, at least one customer per month has taken advantage of it. In a nutshell, bitcoins are stored in a digital wallet that exists either in the cloud or on a user’s computer, according to a CNN Money primer. The wallet, the equivalent of a virtual bank account, allows users to send and receive bitcoins, buy goods or save money.
Arwood envisions bitcoin as one ticket to boosting his customer base. In 1984, he and his father founded Arwood Waste in Jacksonville, Fla., a trash, demolition and recycling business that now serves the Interstate 95 corridor between Brunswick, Ga., and Palm Coast, Fla. Two decades later, he expanded online and on the ground by launching Arwood Waste National, a network allowing customers in all 50 states access to garbage compactors, portable toilets and commercial and residential dumpsters.
It’s that latter audience that has been receptive to filling Arwood’s digital wallet. He’s hoping that coast-to-coast presence combined with the bitcoin bait will lure behemoths such as Google, Apple and General Motors.
“I’m hoping that one day I’ll snag one of them,” Arwood says. “It might sound like I’m greedy but I just want to build a niche with these big companies that need garbage services just like everybody else.”
U.S. borders are not a barrier for the 41-year-old entrepreneur. Arwood is already marketing his services in Canada and Australia, where he figures he will have an edge because bitcoin is more popular and accepted. On the international front, he wants to restrict his business to English-speaking countries because he doesn’t want to have to hire translators at his Florida call center.
Bitcoin transactions allow for a universal payment system, Arwood says. That saves him from the hassle of keeping up with the changing laws and rules centered around international fund exchanges.
David Biderman of the Washington, D.C.-based National Waste & Recycling Association, says he would be surprised to find waste haulers at the vanguard of using bitcoin because the industry is so conservative.
He wasn’t at all shocked to find out that the resourceful Arwood was the lead dog.
“More of our members will start to use bitcoin if it becomes a more widely accepted form of commerce,” says Biderman, general counsel and vice president of government affairs at NWRA. “It only makes sense when residential and commercial customers are comfortable with bitcoin, the same way that credit cards and payment over the Internet became more common and people become more comfortable with it.”
Waste Management spokeswoman Toni Beck says her company is keeping an eye on bitcoin but “not giving it active consideration at this time because it’s a little too early to tell what role it will play in commerce.”
Arwood, the founder of National Garbage Man Day, embraces his iconoclasm.
He attributes his forward thinking to the early 1980s when he accompanied his father to work at a steel tank manufacturing factory and discovered that he could make money collecting and selling scrap metal destined for the garbage bin.
That fueled his fondness for experimentation and for unearthing treasure in trash. He found his marketing groove in the early 1990s when he began designing web sites for his ventures.
“I’m just a little garbage guy living in a country town who has learned how to reach customers worldwide,” Arwood says with a laugh. “Every day there’s a new challenge and a new door that opens that’s unique.”
Best Selling Children’s Book in Charlotte North Carolina
I highly recommed reading this book.
What a wonderful adventure story for young kids to read about. The writing is geared toward the older grade schools kids. I think 3rd or 4th grade readers could read with help – unless they are advanced. Kids as young as Kindergarten or 1st grade could be read to, but you would have to do so in one sitting. I imagine the little ones might get scared about being stranded – especially if they are emotional. I love the problem solving skills that could be expanded on with questions and discussion with youngsters. Very well written and great comments at the end of each chapter to help discuss the progress and the story. Also, I did get this book as a gift.
Tyler Hartmann had made mistakes, but today was the worst so far. The ship he was on with his mom had been caught in a storm and slammed against some rocks. Soaked by the pouring rain and confused by the darkness, Tyler and the other children had jumped into a lifeboat. It was what they’d been taught by the captain their first day on the ship. But the adults had all gotten on a separate lifeboat. When the two crafts hit the water and were battered by the waves, there had been no way to keep them together. We are on our own. Just Us Kids!
Ivanka Marie Trump will be the First Women President of the United States
Think of Ivanka Trump as the ultimate Trump Brand Extension, a Presidential candidate in training. Watch Ivanka Run!
Early life and education
Ivanka Marie Trump was born in Manhattan, New York City, and is the second child of Czech-American model Ivana Marie (née Zelníčková) and to the 45th President of the United States Donald John Trump.[5] Her father has German[6] and Scottish ancestry.[7] The name Ivanka is a diminutive form of Ivana.[8] Trump’s parents divorced in 1991, when she was ten years old.[5] She has two brothers, Donald Jr. and Eric; a half sister, Tiffany; and a half brother, Barron.
Trump attended the Chapin School in Manhattan until she was 15,[9] when she transferred to Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut, where she characterized its “boarding-school life” as like a “prison”, while her “friends in New York were having fun”.[9]
After graduating from Choate,[10] she attended Georgetown University for two years, then transferred to the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, from which she graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 2004.[9][11][12]
Trump is bilingual, speaking English and French, and has an elementary knowledge of her mother’s native language of Czech.[10][13][14]
Business
Before joining the family business in 2005, Trump briefly worked for Forest City Enterprises.[15] In 2007 she formed a partnership with a diamond vendor, Dynamic Diamond Corp., to create Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry, a line of diamond and gold jewelry, sold at her first flagship retail store in Manhattan.[16][17] In November 2011, Trump’s retail flagship moved from Madison Avenue to 109 Mercer Street, a larger space in the fashionable Soho district.[18][19] On October 2, 2015, retail website racked.com reported that “Ivanka Trump’s flagship store on Mercer Street appear[s] to be closed” and, noting that the shop had been “stripped clean,” said that it is unclear exactly when the shop stopped doing business.[20] As of October 2016, though, the company’s website lists Trump Tower as its flagship boutique and its only dedicated retail shop, with the brand also available at fine-jewelry stores throughout the US and Canada, as well as in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.[21]
Trump is currently Executive Vice President of Development & Acquisitions at the Trump Organization.[citation needed] In December 2012, members of 100 Women in Hedge Funds elected Ivanka Trump to their board.[22]
FYI, John Eisenhower, son of 34th president Dwight D. Eisenhower, worked for his father in a much more official capacity, serving as an adviser on national security affairs during his father’s second term.
Political Corruption – Roosevelt said it Best!
“A man who has never gone to school may steal a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”
―― Theodore Roosevelt—
I think that absolute power corrupts absolutely. But for an American politician looking to make some money, even a little power will do quite nicely.
The history of American politics is lined with public officials lining their pockets.
We should create a truly elite list of America’s most crooked politicians, (if we added sex scandals, you’d be here all day). And because practically every public official has at some point battled allegations of corruption!

― Theodore Roosevelt–
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (/ˈroʊzəvɛlt/ roh-zə-velt;[a] October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919) was an American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, naturalist, and reformer who served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. As a leader of the Republican Party during this time, he became a driving force for the Progressive Era in the United States in the early 20th century.
Giving New Life to Junk & Trash | Reducing, ReUsing & Recycling in Everything We Do
It’s been said for a long time, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” While there’s a lot of truth in that statement, it’s hard to find a better example than John Arwood and the way he operates his business. If you stop to think about it, every day we come across junk and waste in our lives. Maybe it’s household clutter or a garage that we’ve been meaning to clean out. Maybe it’s old business equipment that we think is outdated so we discard it for the newest, shiniest version. Whatever it is, it usually ends up taking space in a landfill. As the person in charge of hauling tons of this junk away, John Arwood and his company have always sought a better way.
Started At An Early Age
Getting his start at a young age collecting, reusing, and recycling glass bottles, scrap metals and wood while working alongside his father, John Arwood learned the foundations that have led to over 30 years of success in the waste disposal and sanitation industry. In 1978, Arwood was at work with his father, John C. Arwood, at a steel tank manufacturing factory when he realized that much of the scrap metal laying around as trash could be cleaned up and reused. With permission, he started collecting the small pieces in five gallon buckets to take home, clean, and sell back to be used again. Experiencing success through hard work to accomplish a unique vision sparked something in John Arwood that would drive him from that point forward. Since then, he has had over 30 years of success in the waste management and recycling industry–still, he’s never lost sight of the basics.
It’s How They Run Their Business
Businesses often make the same mistakes as individuals when it comes to trashing things too soon. At Arwood Waste, they believe in getting every ounce of life from what they use. “I regularly purchase my competitors equipment (garbage trucks, dumpsters, etc.) and then refurbish them to compete right back in the same markets they were retired from,” says Arwood. They’ve learned that with a little clean up work and repairs, they can apply the principle of “Re-Using” to reduce their costs and increase their profits.
A couple of other ways Arwood Waste works as a company to reduce their waste footprint is by utilizing electronic communications with their customers as much as possible and only printing with black ink. They email order confirmations, receipts and have an online form for just about everything related to the external and internal operations of their business. By contrast, most of their nationwide and local competitors send invoices with 3 to 4 sheets of paper, carbon copies and have multiple colors printed on them. When they do have to mail invoices, Arwood works to re-use the return envelopes they’ve received from others. These efforts keep them from generating unnecessary paper waste both inside and outside the company. From recycling “waste” fluids in their vehicles to re-using lunch table scraps for composting, almost nothing goes to waste at Arwood Waste.
Take The Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle Challenge Yourself
With every junk removal project, demolition job or roll off dumpster load John Arwood and his employees are keeping their eyes open for those hidden treasures. From toys that can be easily cleaned up and donated, to exercise and recreational equipment like bicycles with broken chains or just a busted tire. With just a little love (and if you know what to look for) so many of the items we throw away can live new lives.
Now it’s your turn. Before you throw away that next piece of “junk”, stop and think of how you might be able to repurpose it, donate it or re-use it. It’s good for the environment and might just save you some money!
Image: Alan Levine via Flickr
I agree with Snoop Dogg – Losers Never Win
Snoop Dogg knows what’s going on better than the average American. The actions of Colin Kaepernick and his efforts of forcing politics down the throats of fellow football players are appalling. The Star Spangled Banner is played before nearly every sports event nationwide and with the same respect is played at all military ceremonies. It is a part of our history and means just as much as our flag does. Therefore to disrespect the national anthem, and take a knee as opposed to the appropriate action of standing with your hand placed over your heart is essentially the same as standing on the American flag itself. Football is a team sport, and according to Snoop Dogg, “just like when you’re playing football, you’re supported by a team. When you wanna be a revolutionary, you have to be supported by a team. He didn’t have a team supporting him.” Rather than trying to gain team support, Kaepernick is pressuring his peers to get involved in politics in all the wrong ways. Snoop Dogg said it best when he pointed out that Kaepernick needs “to be back to what he’s doing and if this is what he wants to do, he needs to leave football out of it and just do it full time.” Snoop Dogg after all knows a thing or two about football. He is the founder and primary orchestrator for the very successful Snoop Youth Football League which provides the opportunity for inner-city children to participate in youth football and cheer activities. What kind of an example is Kaepernick setting for our youth like those in Snoop Dogg’s program? The answer is not a very good one, and I agree with Snoop Dogg.
http://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/6957582/the-history-national-anthem-sports-espn-magazine