A speech by an Air Force general about diversity and treating others with "dignity and respect" is resonating well beyond the 4,000 cadets he was hoping to reach.
Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria gave a forceful talk to a group of cadets on Thursday after five black students at the Air Force Academy's prep school in Colorado found racial slurs written on the message boards outside their rooms two days earlier.
"If you can't treat someone with dignity and respect, then you need to get out," he said. "If you can't treat someone from another gender, whether that's a man or a woman, with dignity and respect, then you need to get out."
The general continued: "If you demean someone in any way, then you need to get out. And if you can't treat someone from another race or a different color skin with dignity and respect, then you need to get out."
The speech received wide support, including a message from former Vice President Joe Biden.
Silveria, who is in his first year as the superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy, told the cadets to reach for their phones and shoot video of the speech so that they remember his message and can refer to it at any time.
"You should be outraged, not only as an airman but as a human being,'' he said.
"If you're outraged by those words, then you're in the right place. That kind of behavior has no place at the Prep School, has no place at USAFA and has no place in the United States Air Force."
Silveria also made reference to racially-charged events from across the country that sparked demonstrations.
"We would be naive to think that we shouldn't discuss this topic,'' he said. "We would also be tone-deaf not to think about the backdrop of what's going on in our country. Things like Charlottesville and Ferguson, the protests in the NFL."
The use of racial slurs in the military can be considered violating orders and conduct becoming of an officer. The cadets who wrote the slurs could be court-martialed if they are identified, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.
"No one can write on a board and take away our ideals,'' Silveria said.
North Korea is "carefully examining" a plan to launch a missile strike on a US Naval Base in the Pacific.
It comes after President Donald Trump threatened the regime with "fire and fury like the world has never seen".
Trump's dramatic attack came amid claims North Korea has produced a mini nuclear warhead to fit inside its missiles.
Arms folded angrily, President Trump said: "North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States.
"They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.
"He has been very threatening beyond a normal statement."
North Korea is seriously considering a missile attack on Guam (Image: Rex Features)
Kim Jong Un's regime has been testing intercontinental ballistic missiles (Image: REUTERS)
"And as I said, they will be met with fire, fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before. Thank you."
Hours later a spokesman for the Korean People's Army said the strike plan will be "put into practice in a multi-current and consecutive way any moment" once Kim Jong Un makes a decision.
KCNA, Pyongyang's state-run news agency, also carried a statement from a different military official which said North Korea may carry out a pre-emptive operation if the US shows signs of provocation.
US Air Force B-1B Lancers in Guam (Image: US DOD/PACAF)
The US Naval Base in Guam is believed to be the target.
The 30-mile island is around 3,500km from North Korea and is the most important American military base in the region.
It is home to dozens of air craft carriers, fighter jets, bombers, submarines and destroyers.
The latest war of words began when North Korea warned the US would "pay the price for its crime... thousands of times" following a new wave of UN sanctions.
A North Korean missile launch shown in a photo from state media at the end of July (Image: Getty)
Donald Trump boarding Air Force One last week to begin his holiday (Image: AFP)
Earlier today the President, who is on a 17-day summer holiday, retweeted a Fox News report that said US spy satellites had detected North Korea moving its anti-ship cruise missiles.
And US analysts say North Korea has produced a miniaturised nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles, the Washington Post reported.
Intelligence officials said the development meant the secretive state had crossed the threshold to become a fully fledged nuclear power, according to the report.
Although North Korea has had nuclear capabilities for years, being able to transport a weapon thousands of miles would be a major step.
In a confidential assessment, seen by the newspaper, analysts said: "The IC [intelligence community] assesses North Korea has produced nuclear weapons for ballistic missile delivery, to include delivery by ICBM-class missiles."
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (Image: AFP) This month, the US ordered all American passport holders to leave North Korea by September 1.
Americans who want to travel to the secretive state will have to obtain special validation from now on.
US authorities stressed applications will only be granted in "limited circumstances".
On Saturday, the UN Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea over its missile tests that could slash the reclusive country's $3 billion annual export revenue by a third. SOURCE: CLICK HERE
A U.S. destroyer used a “maneuvering drill” near Chinese-built islands in the South China Sea to send a message about territorial claims on the water around them, Reuters reported Thursday.
U.S. officials told Reuters that the USS Dewey “engaged in normal operations” by conducting a “man overboard” exercise within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef, which houses the Spratly Islands, an area that China and its neighbors have fought over.
Officials said the move was to show that its pass-by was not “innocent passage,” which is when a warship recognizes a territorial sea by crossing it quickly and without stopping.
“The ship’s actions demonstrated that Mischief Reef is not entitled to its own territorial sea regardless of whether an artificial island has been built on top of it,” one official said.
The recent patrol drew anger from China, which has been building artificial islands to bolster its claims to the disputed waters.
In response, two Chinese guided-missile warships warned the Dewey to leave the waters. The country also lodged “stern representations” with the United States, according to Beijing officials.
This is not the first time the United States has seemed to challenge Chinese claims on the South China Sea.
In October 2015 the Navy sent a destroyer within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island built by China in the Spratly archipelago. The move infuriated Chinese officials, who called it “dangerous” and “provocative.”
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) at the time was critical of the service for not providing more details on patrol, but then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter defended the move.
The patrol was “conducted in full accordance with international law" and was "a normal and routine operation," Carter told lawmakers in January 2016.
And in October 2016 the Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur challenged “excessive maritime claims” near the Paracel Islands by sailing within the waters claimed by China.
White House officials have said the United States will conduct more robust South China Sea operations after former President Barack Obama was criticized for potentially reinforcing China's territorial claims. The freedom-of-navigation operation Thursday was the first such move since October.
China commonly refers to its maritime claims as the "nine-dash line," which stretches from Taiwan in the north, east to the Philippines, south to Malaysia and west to Vietnam, effectively covering the entire South China Sea.
North Korea is seriously considering a missile attack on Guam (Image: Rex Features)
Kim Jong Un's regime has been testing intercontinental ballistic missiles (Image: REUTERS)
A North Korean missile launch shown in a photo from state media at the end of July (Image: Getty)
Donald Trump boarding Air Force One last week to begin his holiday (Image: AFP)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (Image: AFP)