Most ‘Super’ Supermoon Of 2013 Takes Place This Weekend, June 22-23

EarthSky – “Full moon falls on June 23, 2013 at 11:32 UTC (6:32 a.m. CDT in the U.S.). Thus, for many, the moon appears about as full in the June 22 evening sky as it does on the evening of June 23. This full moon is not only the closest and largest full moon of the year. It also presents the moon’s closest encounter with Earth for all of 2013. The moon will not be so close again until August, 2014. In other words, it’s not just a supermoon. It’s the closest supermoon of 2013.

At United States’ time zones, the moon will turn full on June 23 at 7:32 a.m. EDT, 6:32 a.m. CDT, 5:32 a.m. MDT and 4:32 a.m. PDT.

We astronomers call this sort of close full moon a perigee full moon. The word perigee describes the moon’s closest point to Earth for a given month. Two years ago, when the closest and largest full moon fell on March 19, 2011, many used the term supermoon, which we’d never heard before. Last year, we heard this term again to describe the year’s closest full moon on May 6, 2012. Now the term supermoon is being used a lot. Last month’s full moon – May 24-25, 2013 – was also a supermoon. But the June full moon is even more super! In other words, the time of full moon falls even closer to the time of perigee, the moon’s closest point to Earth. The crest of the moon’s full phase in June 2013, and perigee, fall within an hour of each other…

June 2013 presents the moon’s closest encounter with Earth until August 10, 2014, at which time the moon will be a scant 5 kilometers closer to Earth. The full moon will come even closer to Earth on September 28, 2015 (356,877 kilometers) and closer yet on November 14, 2016 (356,509 kilometers). November 2016 will feature the closest full moon until November 25, 2034! …

If you live along a coastline, watch for high tides caused by the June 23 perigee full moon – or supermoon – over the next several days.” Read more.

Texas: Bomb Threat Made Against Courthouse If Demands Of Fort Hood Jihadi Killer Nidal Hasan Were Not Met

If a bomb had actually detonated for peaceful purposes, it wouldn’t have been terrorism. It would have simply been a violent workplace …

Associated Press – “BELTON, TX — Someone threatened to bomb a county courthouse near Fort Hood unless officials met the ‘demands’ of the Army psychiatrist charged in the 2009 shooting rampage on the Texas Army post, a sheriff said Wednesday.

After the Wednesday morning call that mentioned Maj. Nidal Hasan, law officers evacuated the historic courthouse and Bell County Justice Center, but found nothing after searching extensively with bomb-sniffing dogs, Bell County Sheriff Eddy Lange said. The jail was put on lockdown.

Employees were allowed back inside the buildings a few hours later. The time that the caller said the bomb would explode at the courthouse had long expired, said city of Belton spokesman Paul Romer.

Bell County has a contract with nearby Fort Hood to house all of its defendants, including Hasan, because the Army post does not have holding facilities. Lange said this was the first threat related to Hasan, and it came a day after a military judge who reviewed the security plans for Hasan’s murder trial said she was unaware of any threat to any individual or group.

Hasan has made no demands of the jail staff, Lange said.

Hasan has not made any demands at court hearings. But he objected Tuesday to the judge’s denial of his ‘defense of others’ strategy, which must show that killing was necessary to prevent the immediate harm or death of others. Hasan, an American-born Muslim, has said he shot U.S. troops because they were an imminent threat to Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.” Read more.

Flashback: Fort Hood Shooter Who Killed 13 Americans For The Cause Of Allah Says He Did It To Save The Lives Of Taliban Fighters – “A judge says she won’t decide whether to delay the Fort Hood shooting suspect’s trial until he provides evidence to support his defense strategy — and she might not accept it. Maj. Nidal Hasan said Tuesday his defense will explain that he killed 13 people in the 2009 shooting rampage because soldiers were about to deploy to Afghanistan. He says he was trying to prevent the imminent death of Taliban fighters.” Read more.

Flashback: Obama Administration Makes it Official: The Fort Hood Massacre by Jihadist Nidal Hasan Was ‘Workplace Violence’ and Nothing More – “Sen. Susan Collins on Wednesday blasted the Defense Department for classifying the Fort Hood massacre as workplace violence and suggested political correctness is being placed above the security of the nation’s Armed Forces at home. During a joint session of the Senate and House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, the Maine Republican referenced a letter from the Defense Department depicting the Fort Hood shootings as workplace violence. She criticized the Obama administration for failing to identify the threat as radical Islam.” Read more.

I Kid You Not: Egypt Appoints Tourist Killer Terrorist As Governor Over Major Tourist Hotspot

For … business purposes? This is one I can’t figure out. Perhaps Mohammed Morsi is actually trying to dissuade non-Muslims from visiting Egypt entirely in the hopes of encouraging more Sharia tourism? …

By Max Fisher, The Washington Post – “It was only 16 years ago, in 1997, that members of an Egyptian militant group called Gamaa Islamiya stormed the ancient Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, a tourism magnet, and massacred 62 tourists before killing themselves, part of their insurgent campaign against the government. This week, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi swore in Adel Mohamed al-Khayat, a former leader of Gamaa Islamiya and now a member of its political arm, as the new governor of Luxor governorate.

Gamaa Islamiya swore off violence and denounced al-Qaeda a decade ago. But they are still listed by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist group, which cites a number of other terrorist attacks before the group’s 1999 about-face and says that part of the group never renounced violence. Khayat joined Gamaa before it renounced violence and he was serving as one of its leaders, according to Reuters, when the 1997 attack took place, albeit in a different province.

The growing political influence of Islamism in Egypt, both moderate and not, is a trend larger than just Khayat or his group. It would hardly be fair to blame Morsi for Gamaa Islamiya’s long-standing base of support in some rural area of Egypt. But his decision to appoint Khayat, whose group is best known for terrifying foreigners into avoiding Egyptian tourism sites, to the job of running Luxor is baffling. The region is known as a major, international tourist draw, making it not just a source of Egyptian pride but of increasingly crucial and scarce tourism revenue.

Tourism has dropped in Egypt since the January 2011 revolution, costing the country an estimated $2.5 billion at a time when it needs every penny. So many of Egypt’s problems are worsened by the country’s economic struggle that you might think Morsi would seize any opportunity he could to boost tourism income. Although Khayat has said he welcomes ‘all forms of tourism’ – a subtle pledge, perhaps, that yes Westerners are still allowed in Luxor – his appointment seems unlikely to bolster tourist confidence in the region.” Read more.

Egypt Tourism Minister Quits Over New Luxor Governor – “Egypt’s tourism minister has resigned a day after President Mohamed Morsi appointed a new governor to Luxor province from an Islamist party linked to a massacre of holidaymakers in the temple city. Hesham Zazou said on Wednesday he ‘couldn’t continue in the role of tourism minister’ after the appointment of Adel al-Khayat, a former member of the political arm of Islamist group Gamaa Islamiya.” Read more.

Flashback: Brotherhood ‘Inspired’ Egyptian Businessmen Now Encouraging ‘Sharia Tourism’ – “In what appears to be another expression of the strengthening of Islam under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, Channel 2 News reported on Sunday of a new initiative in Egypt which encourages ‘sharia tourism.’ The new project, initiated by local businessmen, is directed at the religious sector in Egypt and allows it to take a vacation which follows the rules of Islam. Two businessmen have launched the initiative as part of a local company called Shouq Travel, and they invite vacationers to arrange their vacation according to Sharia law.” Read more.