Russian Intercept; Secessionist Leader Secedes; Ghost Ship in North Korea; Election Spring; and a God in the Machine

Military

US fighter jets intercept Russian bombers near Alaska thehill

The official noted that TU-95s are capable of carrying nuclear weapons, but the planes involved in Monday’s incident did not appear armed. The interception was conducted in a “safe and professional” manner, the official added, as the bombers did not violate U.S. airspace or break international norms.

California Secessionist Leader Throws in Towel, Moves to Russia foreignpolicy

“I have found in Russia a new happiness, a life without the albatross of frustration and resentment towards ones’ [sic] homeland, and a future detached from the partisan divisions and animosity that has thus far engulfed my entire adult life,” Marinelli wrote in a letter to his supporters on Monday, referring to the Golden State as “occupied California.”

Politics

The White House’s misleading statements about Trump’s ‘armada’ heading to North Korea washingtonpost

The Trump administration is again facing questions about why it appeared to mislead — or, at the very least, failed to correct the record about pervasive reports — that the USS Carl Vinson was headed to North Korea starting 10 days ago. Newly discovered photos show that it was actually traveling in the other direction — into the Indian Ocean — as recently as four days ago.

Also see Trump’s ‘armada’ heading to North Korea was really off Australian coast politico

Brexit

June 8 general election will let Theresa May 'secure a post-Brexit future' say Tory ministers telegraph.co.uk

Previously, Mrs May had been anticipating a rush to complete the Brexit talks by March 2019 with little time left afterwards before the 2020 general election.

Also see General election: What you need to know bbc

Religion

God in the machine: my strange journey into transhumanism theguardian w!

At Bible school, I had studied a branch of theology that divided all of history into successive stages by which God revealed his truth. We were told we were living in the “Dispensation of Grace”, the penultimate era, which precedes that glorious culmination, the “Millennial Kingdom”, when the clouds part and Christ returns and life is altered beyond comprehension. But I no longer believed in this future. More than the death of God, I was mourning the dissolution of this narrative, which envisioned all of history as an arc bending towards a moment of final redemption. It was a loss that had fractured even my experience of time. My hours had become non-hours. Days seemed to unravel and circle back on themselves.

On the one hand, this is simply the story of a girl who was a false convert and her (ongoing) quest to find what is to her a more palatable god than the One of the Bible - on the otherhand it's a interesting tale of the god she found buried within the 'science' of the transhumanism movement.