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Hurricane Irma churned across the Atlantic Ocean in September 2017, battering several Caribbean islands before moving on to the Florida Keys and the U.S. mainland. As the clouds cleared over places like the Virgin Islands, the destruction became obvious even from space. These natural-color images, captured by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite, show some of Irma’s effect on the British and U.S. Virgin Islands. The views were acquired on August 25 and September 10, 2017, before and after the storm passed. They are among the few relatively cloud-free satellite images of the area so far....

FAJARDO, P.R. — Puerto Rico, dealt only a glancing blow by Hurricane Irma, has become an impromptu emergency hub for its Caribbean neighbors that were left devastated by the storm’s wrath. Puerto Ricans relieved at being spared the worst destruction donated water, clothing, first aid and other supplies, and dozens of recreational boaters sailed to nearby islands to deliver the assistance and evacuate now-homeless islanders on the return trip. A 54-foot dive boat named the Tobias cast off on Sunday morning from the marina here, the largest in the Caribbean, and made its way eastward under a searing sun to...

St. John and St. Thomas residents recount tales of survival and resilience as the eye of one of the largest Atlantic Ocean hurricanes passed directly overhead. There was only one staticky satellite line available to residents of St. John attempting to reach family and friends on the US mainland Friday morning. On Wednesday, the US Virgin islands were hit by hurricane Irma, whipping through the area as a Category 5 storm with wind speeds up to 185 miles per hour for more than 24 hours. "I've had to sit through a Taliban gunfight, and this was scarier," Laura Strickling told...

The governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands has ordered the territory's national guard to begin seizing guns and ammunition from citizens in preparation for Hurricane Irma's landfall. In an executive order signed Monday, Gov. Kenneth Mapp instructed Adjutant General Deborah Howell "to take whatever actions she considers necessary to carry out the assigned mission" of maintaining and restoring public order. "The Adjutant General is authorized and directed to seize arms, ammunition, explosives, incendiary material and any other property that may be required by the military forces for the performance of this emergency mission," the governor said in the order. The...

U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp signed an emergency order allowing the seizure of private guns, ammunition, explosives and property the National Guard may need to respond to Hurricane Irma.

While thoughts and prayers are with our Texas FRiends and neighbors, we are at the peak of the Atlantic Tropical Storm season. Hurricane Irma continues its trek from Cape Verde across the pond and toward the Hebert Box (see below). People with interests in the Southeastern U.S. and Gulf of Mexico should be alert to the forecast path updates for this powerful storm. It is important to note that the average NHC track errors are about 175 and 225 statute miles at days 4 and 5, respectively. Hurricane Irma originally had a small wind field. In the past 24 hours,...

...HURRICANE WARNINGS ISSUED FOR PORTIONS OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS... ...HURRICANE WATCHES ISSUED FOR THE BRITISH AND U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS AND PUERTO RICO...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Puerto Rico's federally appointed financial oversight board said on Wednesday it will investigate the U.S. commonwealth's debt "and its relationship to the fiscal crisis" which has left it with $72 billion in debt and a 45-percent poverty rate. The board, a creation of the 2016 federal Puerto Rico rescue law known as PROMESA, said in a statement that the investigation will review the fiscal crisis, examine the debt and how it was issued, including disclosure and selling practices. "The Oversight Board considers this investigation an integral part of its mission to restore fiscal balance and economic...

Two former Capitol Hill staffers were indicted this week in connection with the alleged sharing of "private, nude images and videos" swiped from a congresswoman's cellphone. The congresswoman is Virgin Islands Del. Stacey Plaskett, her office confirmed Thursday evening. The footage depicts Plaskett, identified in court documents as "Delegate S.P.," and her husband. In March 2016, Plaskett entrusted her iPhone and its password to staffer Juan McCullum, who, the indictment alleges, copied the nude images and videos after offering to take the phone to an Apple store for repairs. In July 2016, McCullum, who had left Plaskett's office, allegedly created...

Where America’s Day BeginsTumon–While the rest of the country debates President Trump’s Twitter use, health care reform, tax reform, border security, the war on terrorism, and the 2018 midterms, it’s easy for some stories to fall by the wayside.The 2016 election was dominated by many issues, but trade was a key factor that helped push Donald Trump over the top. The main villain was China. Yet, trade isn’t the only arena where we’re going to do battle with this Asian economic powerhouse.In the Pacific, China is spreading dollars, subsidizing building projects across Tonga and the Federated States of Micronesia. The...

Although Puerto Rico is on its way to holding a status plebiscite over the summer and the governing New Progressive Party has petitioned Congress for Puerto Rico’s admission as a state, some argue the island will have a higher chance of becoming a state if U.S. lawmakers were to declare Puerto Rico an incorporated territory en route to statehood. Right now, the dominant argument among all sectors is that Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory, but pro-statehood lawyer Gregorio Igartúa, who has taken several cases to the courts that seek to grant more rights to Puerto Ricans living in Puerto...

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/18/us/tax-break-bringing-businesses-and-fraud-to-the-virgin-islands.html?_r=0

Navy SEAL Erik told Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM that according to one of his “well-placed sources” in the New York Police Department, “the NYPD wanted to do a press conference announcing the warrants and the additional arrests they were making” in the Anthony Weiner investigation, but received “huge pushback” from the Justice Department. saying he had no problem believing reports that the FBI was highly confident multiple foreign agencies hacked Hillary Clinton’s private email server. “I mean, it’s not like the foreign intelligence agencies leave a thank-you note after they’ve hacked and stolen your data,” Prince said to SiriusXM...

Hillary Clinton is considering scrapping her 2016 presidential ambitions because of revelations she fears could become public in the coming months concerning former President Bill Clinton’s relationship with billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned. The former first lady had been expected to announce her 2016 White House bid last month, but she didn’t. The spin from supporters is the lack of a strong Democratic rival gives Clinton more time, but Radar’s source says the Radar stories about her husband’s trip to Epstein’s “orgy island” gave her cold feet. Former “sex slave” Virginia Roberts, who claims she was forced...

A secret plea deal for Britain’s Prince Andrew’s pal Jeffrey Epstein protected the prince and any other high-powered friends who may have used his alleged sex slaves, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned. Federal prosecutors promised they “will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein” if the Wall Street money manager pled guilty to two relatively minor state underage sex charges that put him in a local jail for 13 months, the confidential plea agreement obtained by Radar says. A lawsuit filed by four women, who say federal prosecutors illegally ignored them and kept them in the dark...

The attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands is targeting dozens of conservative and libertarian organizations in a racketeering lawsuit against climate change skeptics that has been widely described as an effort to silence political opponents. In a subpoena issued in March, the office of USVI attorney general Claude Walker demanded from Exxon Mobil copies of communications between the oil company and 90 different political and policy organizations “and any other organizations engaged in research or advocacy concerning Climate Change or policies.” The subpoena was part of a national, coordinated legal campaign by state attorneys general and left-wing advocacy groups...

The attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands is targeting dozens of conservative and libertarian organizations in a racketeering lawsuit against climate change skeptics that has been widely described as an effort to silence political opponents. In a subpoena issued in March, the office of USVI attorney general Claude Walker demanded from Exxon Mobil copies of communications between the oil company and 90 different political and policy organizations “and any other organizations engaged in research or advocacy concerning Climate Change or policies.” The subpoena was part of a national, coordinated legal campaign by state attorneys general and left-wing advocacy groups...

Subpoena demands Exxon correspondence with Heritage, Cato, Mercatus, Hoover, and Reason, among others The attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands is targeting dozens of conservative and libertarian organizations in a racketeering lawsuit against climate change skeptics that has been widely described as an effort to silence political opponents. In a subpoena issued in March, the office of USVI attorney general Claude Walker demanded from Exxon Mobil copies of communications between the oil company and 90 different political and policy organizations “and any other organizations engaged in research or advocacy concerning Climate Change or policies.”

A group that would normally fly under the radar -- the USVI GOP -- has been thrust into the political spotlight, as a slate of nine unbound delegates could ultimately help swing the Republican presidential nomination. The Virgin Islands, with under 3,000 registered Republicans who are ineligible to vote in the presidential election, will send to Cleveland nine of the at least 136 total “unbound” delegates who are free to vote for anyone they wish on the first ballot. But since the Islands’ contentious March 10 GOP caucus, competing groups have duked it out in court and on the airwaves...

Making sense of the 2016 Republican primary is a task best left to future historians, but here’s one rough measure of how crazy things have become: Results of one hotly contested primary in March are still being disputed. And the fight has gotten so bitter that negative campaign ads are being run on the radio—not against one of the GOP candidates but against one of the lowly 2,472 elected delegates tasked with going to the Republican convention and voting for the party nominee. The story involves a multigenerational rivalry between two Republican powerbrokers from Michigan, and at stake are six...