NASA astronaut and biochemist Peggy Whitson will return to Earth as the planet’s new record holder for longest time cumulatively spent on space by an American or a. Category 5 Hurricane Irma, the strongest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic north of the Caribbean and east of Florida, blasted its way through some of the first. Archives and past articles from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com.

Here's the Destructive Path Hurricane Irma Is Carving Through the Caribbean Towards Florida [Updating]Category 5 Hurricane Irma, the strongest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic north of the Caribbean and east of Florida, blasted its way through some of the first targets on its route on Wednesday—and the initial outlook is not pretty. Irma has continued to terrify with sustained winds of 1. The storm is still heading northwest along some of the most heavily populated islands it will pass before potentially hitting Florida; behind it, authorities are still assessing damage, rescuing casualties and counting the dead. Here’s what we know about Irma’s wake so far. Antigua and Barbuda. According to the New York Times, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne initially said the islands had braved the storm with significantly less damage than expected, and “I dare to say that no other country in the Caribbean would have been as well prepared as we were.”But Browne, who was on Antigua, did not receive accurate reports from the other island, which turns out to have been devastated. Later in the day, the prime ministe told reporters he estimates upwards of 9.

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Barbuda, with a population of roughly 1,6. The entire housing stock was damaged,” Browne said. It is just a total devastation. Barbuda is literally a rubble.”Photos of Barbuda show the island essentially wiped of most standing structures and strewn with masses of debris. Per the Times, the damage to Antigua could have been far worse. Anguilla, St Martin and St Barthélemy.

Anguilla, an overseas British territory, the French and Dutch- administered St Martin, and French- administered St Barthélemy are a short stretch northwest of Antigua and Barbuda and were next in line to be slammed. South Florida Caribbean News reported Anguilla had taken a direct hit from Irma but survived largely intact.

Local resorts, airports and seaports saw minimal damage, “although many private residences sustained some damage.”Photos posted by 1. Watch Agent Online. Radio Anguilla reporter Nisha Dupuis, who broadcast live through the storm, suggest the damage certainly could have been worse.

According to the BBC, French President Emanuel Macron has warned damage to St Martin and St Barthélemy is major, with deaths expected, and that the path to recovery would be “hard and cruel.” Damage in the Dutch section of St. Martin to the south is also widespread; French Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said Irma had destroyed some of the sturdiest structures on the island. The airport on the Dutch side had been ripped to shreds in places, while the rest of the Dutch half of the island suffered ravaged towns, power outages and a communications blackout. St. Kitts and Nevis, a small two- island nation to the south, appears to have weathered Irma fairly well. British and US Virgin Islands.

The full extent of damage is unclear, but according to the New York Times, taxi driver Javorn Micheal Fahie of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands said he saw numerous roofs ripped off houses in his neighborhood.“Oh boy,” he told the Times. A lot of wind and rain ..

Everything is empty.”Kelsey Nowakowski, who lives in St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, told the paper the storm felt “seismic” and “catastrophic.” Video posted by Weather. Nation showed major storm surges, toppled trees and flooded neighborhoods.

Another Twitter user posted photos of what appeared to be a Department of Labor building in the area, which was surrounded by ravaged and flooded streets. Puerto Rico. Next in Irma’s path was Puerto Rico; according to NBC meteorologist Bill Karins, the hurricane passed slightly north of the island, and was projected to spare its densely populated capital of San Juan the worst of the storm. The storm is still lashing Puerto Rico, though it will take some time for the full extent of the damage to become clear. AP reporter Dánica Coto‏ warned some 6. According to CNN, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said, “From the center of operations that we have over here in San Juan, there is pretty significant damage already done.”What’s next. After Puerto Rico, Irma is scheduled to continue heading west, putting it on a trajectory to slam the northern Dominican Republic and Haiti, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Cuba, the Bahamas and finally Florida this weekend.

The Washington Post warned “the latest computer models show [Irma] aimed at South Florida as if following directions by GPS,” and it seems increasingly likely to hit the state’s tip before turning north and raking the east coast along the Miami- Ft. Lauderdale- West Palm Beach corridor.“That’s extremely bad,” University of Miami senior research associate and Post contributor Brian Mc. Noldy told the paper.

That’s basically every East Coast Florida city. This could easily be the most expensive U. S. storm if this happens.” Per CNN, authorities in Florida are sending mixed messages about whether residents should evacuate before the storm hits later this week.

Two nuclear plants in the region, Turkey Point and St. Lucie, are possibly in the direct path of the hurricane, but utility Florida Power & Light insisted to the Miami Herald the facilities were designed to withstand extreme conditions. This is a breaking news story and may be updated as more information becomes available.

Robert Spencer (author) - Wikipedia. Robert Bruce Spencer (born February 2. American author and blogger and a key figure of the "counter- jihad" movement in the United States.[1] He appears frequently on Fox News[2] and has given seminars to various law enforcement units in the United States.[3]Spencer, a self- proclaimed expert on radical Islam,[4] has published a number of books on the subject including two New York Times bestsellers.[5] In 2. Jihad Watch, a blog which he describes as containing "news of the international jihad, [and] commentary"[6] which is dedicated to "bringing public attention to the role that jihad theology and ideology plays in the modern world, and to correcting popular misconceptions about the role of jihad and religion in modern- day conflicts".[7]He has also co- founded Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) and the Freedom Defense Initiative with blogger Pamela Geller, with whom he also co- authored a book, The Post- American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America. His viewpoints have been described as anti- Islamic or Islamophobic,[8] while he denies this and says he focuses his criticism on radical Islam and its violence.[4] In 2. UK Home Office has barred Spencer and Geller from travel to the UK for 3 to 5 years for "making statements that may foster hatred that might lead to inter- community violence".

Background. Spencer is a member of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, the Eastern Catholic Antiochian Greek Catholic counterpart of the ancient Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch.[9][1. It is a sui iuris church of the Catholic Church whose adherents are, according to Spencer, "mostly concentrated in Lebanon and Syria, also in Jordan and the Palestinian territories."[6] In a 2. Spencer stated that his grandparents were forced to emigrate from an area that is now part of Turkey because they were Christians.[6] According to a 2. New York magazine, Spencer's father worked for the Voice of America during the Cold War, and in his younger days, Spencer himself worked at Revolution Books, a Maoist bookstore in New York City founded by Robert Avakian.[1. Spencer received an M.

A. in 1. 98. 6 in religious studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His masters thesis was on Catholic history.[1. He has said he has been studying Islamic theology, law, and history since 1.

He worked in think tanks for more than 2. Free Congress Foundation, an arm of the Heritage Foundation.[1. Spencer named Paul Weyrich, also a Melkite Catholic, as a mentor of his writings on Islam. Spencer writes, "Paul Weyrich taught me a great deal, by word and by example – about how to deal both personally and professionally with the slanders and smears that are a daily aspect of this work."[1. Views on Islam. Spencer does not believe that traditional Islam is "inherently terroristic" but says he can prove that "traditional Islam contains violent and supremacist elements", and that "its various schools unanimously teach warfare against and the subjugation of unbelievers".[1. However, he rejects the notion that all Muslims are necessarily violent people.[1.

He has said that among moderate Muslims, "there are some who are genuinely trying to frame a theory and practice of Islam that will allow for peaceful coexistence with unbelievers as equals."[1. Spencer co- founded Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) and the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) with Pamela Geller in 2.

Both organizations are designated as hate groups by the Anti- Defamation League[1. Southern Poverty Law Center.[1. In an interview with The Washington Post he was ".. Spencer chuckled. Why not?" he asked. It's fun.""[2. 2]The Council on American- Islamic Relations has also condemned Robert Spencer on various occasions.[2. Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto accused Spencer of "falsely constructing a divide between Islam and West".

She said he was using the Internet to spread hatred of Islam by presenting a "skewed, one- sided, and inflammatory story that only helps to sow the seed of civilizational conflict".[2. Spencer stated that the passage Bhutto cited was written by Ibn Warraq.[2. Karen Armstrong has criticized Spencer's work as showing "entrenched hostility" towards Islam, and contends that his citations of Islamic scripture are cherry- picked,[2. Spencer never cites the Koran's condemnation of all warfare as an 'awesome evil', its prohibition of aggression or its insistence that only self- defence justifies armed conflict.." She concludes that "His book is a gift to extremists who can use it to 'prove' .. Spencer responds: "Yet the verse she quotes (2: 2. Persecution is worse than killing.'" Spencer accuses Armstrong of context- dropping by omitting the fact that this was a defense for Muhammad's war in response to his persecution.[2.

Abraham Foxman of the Anti- Defamation League (ADL) called Spencer and Geller American anti- Muslim writers because their writings "promote a conspiratorial anti- Muslim agenda under the pretext of fighting radical Islam. This belief system parallels the creation of an ideological—and far more deadly—form of anti- Semitism in the late 1. He continued, "we must always be wary of those whose love for the Jewish people is born out of hatred of Muslims or Arabs."[2. The Institute on Religion and Democracy said about him: “Spencer’s comprehensive understanding of his Christian faith and Islam along with lucidly insightful writing give the lie to his international notoriety as a bigoted ‘Islamophobe.'”[3. Dinesh D'Souza, of the Hoover Institution, wrote that Spencer downplays the passages of the Quran that urge peace and goodwill to reach one- sided opinions. He contends that Spencer applies a moral standard to Muslim empires that could not have been met by any European empire.[3.

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) listed Spencer as a "Smearcaster" in an article in 2. Islamic texts and commentaries, Spencer concludes that Islam is innately extremist and violent".[3. During a chapter of ACT!

America in Mission Vejo in 2. Spencer said that: "When we see the Islamic State (ISIS), we see not only that they embody Islam as I have explained here in this, that's all in the Quran what they do, but also that they embody what may be, the foremost evil force that the world has ever seen."[3. Steve Bannon praised him: "He's… one of the top two or three experts in the world on this great war we are fighting against fundamental Islam."[3.

Reverend C. John Mc. Closkey praised him: "Robert Spencer, perhaps the foremost Catholic expert on Islam in our country".[3. Author Peter D. Hannaford praised his book Did Muhammad Exist?: "He has engaged in concerted detective work of a scholarly nature.

His book is no polemic. It is a serious quest for facts. Watch American Hostage Online Fandango. The ones wrapped up in the Muslim canon are, alas, elusive ..

This book is well- written and moves right along despite considerable detail."[3. Wolf Bachner from the website Inquisitr defended him in the introduction for an interview: "Spencer uses the authentic teachings of the Qur’an and the Hadith, decades of Islamic Jurisprudence and the actual words of living Islamic clerics and leaders to illustrate the undying hostility expressed towards the non- Muslim world by centuries of Islamic doctrine."[3. Mark Steyn praised him: "Robert Spencer, the author of several bestselling books on Islam, a brave crusader against the dopier multiculti illusions and the proprietor of the indispensable Jihad Watch.. Robert Spencer raises."[3.

Daniel Pipes praised him: "A number of individuals on the MPAC list of 2. Take the example of Robert Spencer: he has a mere M. A. in religious studies, lacks fluency in Middle Eastern languages, and has not lived in a Muslim- majority country, to be sure, but he has developed a deep erudition on Islam demonstrated in his many books. Indeed, I challenge MPAC to put him toe- to- toe with any Ph.

D'd expert on Islam of its choosing. I nominate that foremost credentialist, John Esposito, for the job."[3.