America’s First Permitted Home Constructed by a 3D Printer Cost $10,000

A proof-of-concept home constructed by a 3D printer in 48 hours, at a cost of $10,000 was demonstrated in Austin, Texas.  New Story, a housing non-profit, teamed up with a construction-technology firm called Icon to build the 350 sq ft home as a prototype for low-cost homes planned for El Salvador late next year. -GEG

A collaboration between housing non-profit New Story and construction technology firm Icon aims to use 3D printing technology to house the homeless. While it’s early days yet, they hope to produce low-cost 3D-printed homes in El Salvador by late 2019.

New Story and Icon debuted an initial proof-of-concept model, pictured, at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, yesterday. The home is similar in nature to the Apis Cor house and measures just 350 sq ft (32 sq m).

It was created with a mobile 3D-printer developed by Icon named the Vulcan. The Vulcan functions much like other 3D printers used in construction and extrudes mortar out of a nozzle in a pre-programmed pattern, slowly building up layers until a basic house structure is formed. This is then finished by humans who add windows, a roof, and the like.

The proof-of-concept model cost US$10,000 to produce and took 48 hours to make, including the finishing touches.

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US Commander Says He Is Ready To Risk The Lives of His Troops to Defend Israel


US and Israeli war games in Israel are simulating battles on three fronts: Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza in Palestine.  A war is expected in Gaza, which may be uninhabitable by 2020 because of the Israeli military blockade of trade.  US Third Air Force Commander Lt. General Richard Clark said, “We are ready to commit to the defense of Israel, and anytime we get involved in a kinetic fight, there is always the risk that there will be casualties.” -GEG

Last Sunday, the largest joint military exercise between the United States and Israel began with little fanfare. The war game, dubbed “Operation Juniper Cobra,” has been a regular occurrence for years, though it has consistently grown in size and scope. Now, however, this year’s 12-day exercise brings a portent of conflict unlike those of its predecessors.

Previous reports on the operation suggested that, like prior incarnations of the same exercise, the focus would be on improving Israeli defenses. “Juniper Cobra 2018 is another step in improving the readiness of the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] and the IAF [Israeli Air Force] in particular to enhance their operational capabilities in facing the threat posed by high-trajectory missiles,” Brig. Gen. Zvika Haimovitch, the IDF’s Aerial Defense Division head, told the Jerusalem Post.

However, this year’s “Juniper Cobra” is unique for several reasons. The Post reported on Thursday that the drill, set to end on March 15, was not only the largest joint US-Israeli air defense exercise to ever happen but it was also simulating a battle “on three fronts.” In other words, Israel and the US are jointly simulating a war with Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine – namely, the Gaza strip – simultaneously.

What makes this last part so concerning are Israel’s recent statements and other preparations for war with all three nations, making “Juniper Cobra” anything but a “routine” drill. It is instead yet another preparation for a massive regional conflict, suggesting that such a conflict could be only a matter of months away.

As MintPress recently reported, Israeli officials recently told a bipartisan pair of US Senators that it needed “ammunition, ammunition, ammunition” for a war against Hezbollah in Lebanon — a war that will expressly target Lebanese civilians and civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools, and apartment buildings. The alleged motive for the invasion is the presence of Iranian rocket factories. However, this allegation is based solely on the claims of an anonymous deputy serving in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and was first reported on by a Kuwaiti newspaper known to publish stories planted by the Israeli government.

In addition, Israel has been laying the groundwork for an invasion of Syria since last year and is largely responsible for the current conflict in Syria that has raged on for seven years. Israel’s current push to invade Syria is also based on flimsy evidence suggesting that Iran is establishing bases in Syria to target Israel.

Israel has also been preparing for a conflict on the embattled Gaza strip, which – owing to the effects of Israel’s illegal blockade and the devastation wrought by past wars – is set to be entirely uninhabitable by 2020. Reports have quoted officials of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, which governs the Gaza strip, as saying that they place the chances of a new war with Israel in 2018 “at 95 percent” and that war games, like Operation Juniper Cobra, were likely to be used to plan or even initiate such a conflict. This concern was echoed by IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, who stated that another Israeli invasion of Gaza, home to 1.8 million people, was “likely” to occur this year. Eizenkot ironically framed the imminent invasion as a way to “prevent a humanitarian collapse” in Gaza.

Such a war is likely to be ignited by the unrest destined to follow the US’ imminent move of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The move, set to take place in May, led Hamas to call for a third intifada, or uprising, in response to the US’ unilateral decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in defiance of the international consensus.

Beyond the fact that Israel is preparing to go to war with several countries simultaneously is the fact that US ground troops are now “prepared to die for the Jewish state,” according to US Third Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Richard Clark. “We are ready to commit to the defense of Israel and anytime we get involved in a kinetic fight there is always the risk that there will be casualties. But we accept that, as in every conflict we train for and enter, there is always that possibility,” Clark told thePost.

However, more troubling than the fact that US troops stand ready to die at Israel’s behest was Clark’s assertion that Haimovitch would “probably” have the last word as to whether US forces would join the IDF during war time. In other words, the IDF will decide whether or not US troops become embroiled in the regional war for which Israel is preparing, not the United States. Indeed, Haimovitch buoyed Clark’s words, stating that: “I am sure once the order comes we will find here US troops on the ground to be part of our deployment and team to defend the state of Israel.”
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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Fired and Replaced with CIA Director Mike Pompeo

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was fired by President Trump and will be replaced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Pompeo is hawkish toward Iran and Russia and is friendly to the globalist agenda which now dominates the Trump administration. All others have been purged. -GEG

  • President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he dismissed Rex Tillerson as secretary of state at least in part over a disagreement on how best to proceed with the Iran deal.
  • “When you look at the Iran deal, I thought it was terrible. He thought it was okay. I wanted to either break it or do something, he felt a little differently,” Trump said.
  • Trump campaigned on ripping up the Iran deal, but has so far only decertified it, rather than removing the US as a party to the agreement.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he dismissed Rex Tillerson as secretary of state at least in part over a disagreement on how best to proceed with the Iran deal.

“We got along actually quite well, but we disagreed on things,” Trump said as he boarded the Marine One presidential helicopter en route to view prototypes for his proposed border wall.

“When you look at the Iran deal, I thought it was terrible. He thought it was okay. I wanted to either break it or do something, he felt a little differently,” Trump said.

“So we were not really thinking the same. With Mike, Mike Pompeo, we have a very similar thought process. I think it’s going to go very well. Rex is a very good man. I like Rex a lot. I really appreciate his commitment to service and I’ll be speaking to Rex over a long period of time,” Trump said.

Trump campaigned on ripping up the Iran deal, but has so far only decertified it, rather than removing the US as a party to the agreement. Experts say that Iran could quickly start enriching uranium and building nuclear systems if the US withdrew from the deal.

Iran has threatened to withdraw from the deal after Trump put additional sanctions on Tehran, but it has so far remained a part of it and international inspectors have consistently reported that it’s holding up its end of the agreement.

The Trump administration has taken aim at Iran for its behavior in the Middle East, where it has a large military and paramilitary presence in the Syrian civil war. The US also accuses Iran of trying to create a land bridge from Tehran to Beirut in Lebanon by gaining control of Syria’s southern regions and influence over Iraq.

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