Global Airline Security Threat: ‘Fraudulent Travel Documents’

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We posted on the illegal identities trade involving Syrians and Palestinians in Honduras and Mexico  in a NatSecDaily Brief this Memorial Day, weekend in the US, “Does Illegal Identities trade in Mexico and Honduras threaten US National Security?” How problematic that is to global airline security is illustrated by this Air Travel World report on the concern raised by security specialists this week at the Barcelona SITA Air IT Summit, “Fraudulently obtained travel documents a growing security challenge .”  The author, Ms. Anne Paylor, wrote:

Matthew Finn, managing director at independent security consultancy AUGMENTIQ, told the SITA Air Transport IT Summit in Barcelona this week that there had been a shift away from people trying to falsify travel documents, but an increase in identity fraud involving genuine but fraudulently obtained passports.

“You can’t assess the risk of a person if you don’t know who they are,” Finn said.

He cited one European Union government as having recently declared that it issued some 6 million passports in 2015. However, it estimated that of these, as many as 650,000—or roughly 10%—were issued to false identities.

Finn of AUGMENTIQ  noted how daunting  the verification problem is:

“They were genuine documents, but issued to someone who doesn’t exist. The weak link in the chain is the breeder documentation used to establish identity,” Finn said. He  pointed out that in many states, particularly failed or fragile states, fake birth certificates and other “breeder” documents are relatively easy to obtain. The integrity of breeder documentation, he said, should be considered as important as the integrity of travel documents themselves.

Finn pointed out that governments and industry need to be able to verify the identity of passengers in order to address security and other challenges.

According to AUGMENTIQ, identity fraud is increasing dramatically and the share of fraudulently obtained genuine travel documents accounts for a growing share—as much as 23% in 2009 (the most recent figures available).

“Our challenge now is more about determining that the document truly belongs to its holder rather than whether the document itself is a forgery or counterfeit,” Finn said.

He also urged much greater collaboration between all stakeholders, pointing out that Interpol holds a database of 57 million lost and stolen ID documents that, if more widely distributed, could help flag cases of ID fraud.

“Where vulnerabilities exist, they will be exploited,” he said. “If there is no confidence in the integrity of the document issuance process, there cannot be any confidence in the authenticity of the document being presented or the veracity of the holder’s identity.”

Finn concluded:

 If we cannot establish a person’s identity, we cannot ascertain the risk he or she may pose to the aviation industry or, indeed, to the countries they are traveling to along the way.

We don’t  know  whether EgyptAir and the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry has availed of the opportunity to run checks of the passenger manifest on Flight 804 against the Interpol data base cited by Finn of AUGMENTIQ.  Nor do we know how complete that data base is and the process for updating it.  Surely the proportion of false identifications since 2009 has grown with the mass flight  from hot spots in the Muslim Ummah since 2011 and the rise of the Islamic State in 2013. The magnitude of false identities using legitimate passports, birth certificates and driver licenses has soared given the Middle East refugee crisis. This has exacerbated the infiltration of Islamic terrorists, among the stream of refugees and migrants, whether in the EU or in the Western Hemisphere.  This ATW report illustrates the huge problems confronting the TSA and the DHS ICE in  the  US given what is already a hot air travel season with massive travel delays and failures to vett screeners, let alone detect possible terrorists.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the NatSecDaily Brief.

Why Morality is the Only Thing We Should Legislate

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“You can’t legislate morality!” is a common battle cry today. It’s thought to be a quintessentially American idea, even though the Founding Fathers never expressed such a sentiment. Nor did the early Americans who would unabashedly enforce a biblically based code of morality in their localities, both via social pressure and governmental laws, with transgressors sometimes spending time in stocks — or worse. No, our common battle cry is a modern idea, and one of modernism. It also betrays a fundamental, and dangerous, misunderstanding of law’s nature.

In reality, the only thing we should legislate is morality. The only other option is legislating whims or immorality.

One problem with addressing this issue, which I have done several times, is that many readers have a reason-clouding emotional reaction induced by the assumption that I’m advocating big government. So I’ll preface what follows by saying that even if we enact just one law — let’s say, prohibiting murder — we have legislated morality. The only people who could credibly say they wouldn’t legislate morality are those who wouldn’t legislate at all: anarchists.

I’ll start by putting this simply. Could you imagine a legislator saying, “This law doesn’t prevent something that’s wrong, but I’m going to impose it on you anyway”? What if he said, “This other law doesn’t mandate anything that is a good, but I’ll compel you to adhere to it simply because I feel like it”? Would you suppose his legislation had a sound basis? Or would you think that, unlike a prohibition against murder or theft, the imposition of something lacking a moral foundation (“rightness” or “wrongness”) was the very definition of tyranny?

Generally speaking, a law is by definition the imposition of a value (which can be positive, negative or neutral), and a just law is the imposition of a moral principle (good by definition). This is because a law — with the exception of laws for naming post offices and such (which don’t constrain us and which won’t be included henceforth when I speak of “laws”) — states that there is something you must or must not do, ostensibly because the action is a moral imperative, is morally wrong, or is a corollary thereof. If this is not the case, again, with what credibility do you legislate in the given area? There is no point imposing something that doesn’t prevent a wrong or mandate some good. This is why there will never be a powerful movement lobbying to criminalize strawberry ice cream or kumquats.

As an example, what is the possible justification for speed laws? Well, there is the idea that it’s wrong to endanger others or yourself, and, in the latter case, it could be based on the idea that it’s wrong to engage in reckless actions that could cause you to become a burden on society. Of course, some or all of these arguments may be valid or not, but the point is this: if a law is not underpinned by a valid moral principle, it is not a just law. Without morality, laws can be based on nothing but air.

One cause of the strong negative reaction (generally among libertarian-leaners) to the above is the word “morality” itself; as with “capitalism” in liberal circles, the term has taken on a negative connotation. Yet this is partially due to a narrow and incorrect view of what morality is. Use the word, and many imagine the Church Lady or a preacher breathing fire and brimstone; moreover, reflecting our libertine age’s spirit, people’s minds often automatically go to sex. “Stay out of the bedroom!” we hear, even though the only side legislating bedroom-related matters today is the Left (e.g., contraception mandate, forcing businesses to cater faux weddings). It’s almost as if, dare I say, some people are worried that others may ruin their fun.

Morality encompasses far more than sexual matters, however. Yet it is narrow in one way: it includes only correct principles of rightness. And, again, when these are not the stuff of laws, elements of wrongness will be.

Speaking of which, everyone advocating legislation seeks to impose a conception of morality or, as modernists are wont to put it, a “values” set. For example, the only justification for forcing bakers to service faux weddings is the (incorrect) notion that it’s “wrong” to deny such service. ObamaCare could only be justified based on the idea that providing medical care for those who can’t afford it is a moral imperative. And “transgender” bathroom laws would have to be based on the fancy that it’s wrong to disallow someone from using facilities associated with his “gender identity.”

A common argument I’ve heard in response to the above is “No, I don’t legislate morality; something should only be illegal if it harms another.” Other arguments are that we should merely prohibit “force” or protect “property rights.” Leaving alone the deep matter of what constitutes “harm,” these assertions are, with all due respect, dodges. Is it “wrong” to harm another, use unjust force against him or violate property rights? If not, why trouble over it?

People making the harm, force or property-rights argument are almost universally sincere, except with themselves, as it’s self-deception. It’s a way of preserving a mistaken ideological principle (“Don’t legislate morality”) by obscuring what it is you’re actually doing when making law. It’s also dangerous because it keeps things on a more superficial level. It’s a way relativistic moderns can avoid dealing with something they consider inconvenient, messy and divisive: determining “What is good?” But when you don’t work hard to settle what is good, you end up with what is bad.

Another reason many people are oblivious to the values/morality underpinning their conception of law is that many moral principles are now woven so seamlessly into our civilization’s fabric that we don’t recognize them as “morality.” Yet a moral does not cease to be a moral because it becomes a meme. Consider that while we take for granted that theft, murder and slavery should be governmentally prohibited, most pre-Christian pagans would have found such an idea foreign. Pillaging for a living, Viking-style, was common and accepted; might made right. And while you might not murder or enslave your fellow group members (one problem Athenians had with Spartans was that the latter enslaved other Greeks: the Helots), outsiders were fair game. In fact, if there had been such a thing as a libertarian Roman, he just might have said to Christians endeavoring to outlaw the brutality of the arena, “You can’t legislate morality!”

There can be no such thing as a separation of morality and state. That is, unless we want to regress to man’s default, the immoral state.

Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on Twitter or log on to SelwynDuke.com

Nora Patterson former Democrat and Planned Parenthood Board Member running for Florida Senate

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nora patterson at opening of pp facility in sarasota

Nora Patterson (sixth from the left) at ribbon cutting of largest Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Florida, located in the City of Sarasota.

Career politician Nora Patterson has filed to run for the Florida Senate in District 23. Patterson will be running against Florida State Representatives Ray Pilon and Greg Steube and former Florida State Representative Doug Holder in the Republican primary in Sarasota County, Florida.

Patterson is a long time supporter and former President of the Board of Directors of the largest Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Florida, located in Rosemary District, a minority area in North Sarasota County.

In 1998, when running for the Sarasota City Commission, Rod Thompson from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that Patterson “has served as president of the board of directors for Planned Parenthood of Southwest Florida” … and she is “very much a supporter of Planned Parenthood.”

john and nora patterson

John and Nora Patterson at the March 2013 Planned Parenthood annual dinner. Source: Gulfshore Media, LLC.

In June, 2006 Patterson, with her husband John who is a partner with Shutt & Bowen, LLP law firm, attended a Planned Parenthood fundraiser. Sarasota Magazine reported on the Ruby Gala and wrote:

At the Ruby gala, big names were everywhere: Cornelia Matson in regal purple, Lee Peterson, Nancy Reinheimer, Betty Schoenbaum, Anita Holec, Caren Lobo, Flori Roberts,Leila Gompertz-too many to name. And husbands galore! Many politicos-Mayor Mary Ann Servian, former Mayor Mollie Cardamone, Commissioner Ken Shelin, School Board members John Lewis and Carol Todd, County Commissioner Nora Patterson and Betty Castor. Alex Sink, and other candidates for office were also there.

In 2007 Sarasota County voted for an $8 million bond to help fund a new Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.

While a Sarasota County Commissioner Patterson was the only one to vote to continue using county taxes to fund Planned Parenthood. Steven Ertlet from LifeNews.com in 2008 reported:

Sarasota County in Florida has cut the money it sends to a local Planned Parenthood abortion business. Officials, citing poor economic conditions and the need to better balance the city budget, removed the second $12,500 of the original $25,000 allocated for Planned Parenthood family planning programs.

[ … ]

Nora Patterson was the only member of the commission to vote to retain the Planned Parenthood funding. The county gave the abortion center a $30,000 grant in 2007 and $28,000 in 2006.

Zac Anderson from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports, “Patterson is viewed as a moderate on a number of issues. She is a former Democrat who supports abortion rights ‘up to a certain point in the pregnancy’ and once served as president of the board of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Florida, although she noted her board stint was before the local affiliate performed abortions.” [Emphasis added]

Patterson’s efforts to distance herself from Planned Parenthood is misrepresenting the fact that she has consistently supported abortions, and the funding thereof, using Sarasota tax dollars ever since she left as President of Southwest Florida Planned Parenthood.

Stephanie Armour from the Wall Street Journal reports:

Three Planned Parenthood Federation of America clinics in Florida were ordered to stop performing second-trimester abortions after an investigation found they didn’t have the proper licenses, the state Agency for Health Care Administration said Wednesday.

The investigation also found one clinic that wasn’t keeping proper logs relating to fetal remains, according to the agency. The state may take additional actions, including administrative sanctions, against the clinics.

“Licenses are in place to protect the patient from unscrupulous operators and the state of Florida will ensure every facility is held accountable for its actions,” the agency said in a news release.

[ … ]

Florida Gov. Rick Scott last month ordered an investigation of Planned Parenthood clinics in the state following an antiabortion group’s release of undercover videos of Planned Parenthood officials discussing the procurement of fetal tissue for research following abortions.

Perhaps Sarasota County voters should judge Nora Patterson on the company she keeps? That company being Planned Parenthood, and the industrial complex that makes a profit off of baby body parts.

Nora Patterson has been a loyal soldier in the war against the innocent and unborn.

RELATED ARTICLES:

4 Ways the Senate Could End Taxpayer Funding of Planned Parenthood

What the New York Times Didn’t Tell You About the Planned Parenthood Video Analysis

Black Pastors Demand Smithsonian Remove Planned Parenthood Founder’s Bust

‘Planned Parenthood Is Flailing’: Bobby Jindal Fights Back After Louisiana Sued for Terminating Medicaid Contract

The Feminist War on Family Science

States Sue Obama over Transgender Bathroom Mandate by Ben Johnson

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AUSTIN, Texas (LifeSiteNews) – Eleven states will sue the Obama administration over a controversial federal guidance requiring public schools and universities to allow transgender students to use the restrooms, showers, and overnight accommodations of the opposite biological sex.

The states filing the lawsuit include Texas, Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

The lawsuit accuses the Obama administration of turning “educational settings across the country into laboratories for a massive social experiment, flouting the democratic process, and running roughshod over commonsense policies protecting children and basic privacy rights.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the multistate legal action during a press conference this afternoon.

The Obama administration’s guidance requires schools to give anyone who identifies as transgender access to hotel rooms or dorm rooms, locker rooms, and restroom facilities used by the opposite sex. The Obama administration says this is necessary for transgender people – who account for 0.3 percent of the U.S. population – to feel “safe,” but opponents say it exposes women to the advances of sexual predators who will use the law for their own ends.

Schools that fail to comply could be deemed guilty of violating Title IX, a 1972 law written to prevent discrimination against biological women. Nothing in that law refers to transgender status or gender identity.

Although the Obama administration’s guidance does not have the force of law, it holds the implicit threat of withholding billions of dollars in federal education funding from needy schools if it is not implemented.

“In President Obama’s final drive to fundamentally transform America, he has pushed aside the concerns of parents and schools, the privacy and safety of students, and ignored the boundaries of his constitutional power,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. “We commend Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and these 10 other states for resisting the president’s locker room and bathroom decree that sacrifices the privacy and safety of children.”

Many of the plaintiffs cited legal and constitutional protections that constrain the federal government from setting local school policy.

“School policies should be determined by individual states, educators and parents – not dictated by a presidential decree,” said West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in a statement.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery saw it as another example of the president legislating by executive fiat. “Our office has consistently opposed efforts like this to take away states’ rights and exclude the people’s representatives from making these decisions, or at a minimum being able to engage in a notice and comment period under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA),” he said.

Read more.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Is America bored with protecting its girls and women?

Putting the brakes on ‘fundamental transformation’

When will public opinion turn against the Left’s efforts to force ‘transgender rights’ on Americans?

University of South Florida: ‘Jihad U’

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The Canary Mission reports:

In part 2 of our report on the University of South Florida (USF), we provide more damning examples of incendiary activities of radical students and graduates.

In addition, we give a run-down of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) USF’s nefarious 2013 BDS Resolution. We end with links to the remaining USF students making campus unsafe for pro-Israel and Jewish students.

The USF Media Group Spreading Hate

Peace House Productions is an ironically-named brainchild of 2014 USF graduate and SJP member Ahmad Saadaldin. Their  videos demonize Israel and make anti-Semitic references to a “Jewish Lobby.” They claim Jews are obsessed with money and use bribery to pass bills through congress.

On February 2, 2016 — after Florida became the fifth American state to pass a resolution condemning the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel BDS movement — Peace House produced avideo featuring SJP USF member Mahmoud Ali-Mohamed portraying the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

The video — a spoof on MTV Cribs —  portrays the AIPAC actor walking around the Florida Legislature as if it were his own house. He is depicted presenting a bill and then bribing Senator Joe Negron to get it passed. The AIPAC actor holds a check for Negron with the amount “whatever you need” after which he states that “when you got money you can do whatever you want.”

The video ends with the AIPAC actor stating “I know there are a lot of problems in this state…but all your Floridians should be worried about is me, and what I want, and that’s your money.” He then “opportunistically” dresses up as a beggar in order to dishonestly solicit funds.

Another video features University of Tampa student Taylor Valentine and Ali-Mohamed, again playing AIPAC — dressed in a suit patterned with dollar signs. The AIPAC actor holds up his middle finger to the first amendment and states, “We have money, just tell us how much you need.” AIPAC is then portrayed paying off senators to pass an anti-boycott bill. Towards the end of the video, the actor says “It is not about doing what is right, it is about taking what you can when you can.”

Radical Sister and Brother Pair

Recent USF graduate sibling pair of Danya and Homam Zituni are members of numerous anti-American and anti-Israel groups including SJP, BDS, CAIR, MSA, Students for a Democratic Society and Stop FBI Repression.

In a January 2015 radio interview with WMNF.org, the Zitunis called to “keep the FBI out of mosques.” Danya had previously organized a call-in day against the FBI, to discuss “state repression” and the “persecution” of the “Arab and Muslim Americans in the United States.”

On March 17, 2015 Danya posted her intention to engage in “…good ole radical islamism/communism with my comrades.”

In a May 23, 2015 post she slammed both the US and Israel stating, “The only thing Zionists say which I absolutely cannot disagree with is ‘If you hate Israel, then you hate the United States!’”

On July 3, 2015 she participated in the burning of multiple American flags, which she called“…the largest symbol of White supremacist national oppression and imperialism.”

On social media, Homam Zituni goes by the alias “George Nasser.” He was self-described on his Twitter page (before shutting it down) as a “Marxist-Leninist. Proletarian Feminist. Aspiring revolutionary.”

He is an avid supporter of terrorist-murderer Rasmea Odeh — posting numerous times on Facebook and Twitter in praise of her. On January 27, 2015, Zituni called to prepare for an “Emergency Response to demand ‪#Justice4Rasmea” calling her a “Palestinian Hero.”

The Billboard and the BDS Campaign

In January 2013, SJP USF launched a divestment campaign, featuring an insidious and highly misleading cartoon video. The video misinformed students that USF invests in companies that make fighter jets and rockets that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) “uses against civilians in the Gaza strip.” In the video, bombs labeled “made 2 kill” are dropped on the Gaza strip, with the resulting explosions exclaiming “kaboom” and “kill!”

The campaign eventually generated a 2014 petition that SJP USF claimed reached over 10,000 student signatures.

On May 5, 2014, SJP USF was given the opportunity to present their petition to the CEO and Foundation Board Chair of USF. Following the presentation, the USF Investment Committee issued a resounding rejection of the petition. Lara Wade-Martinez, the Director of Media Relations at USF added that the matter would not be taken up again or voted on at future meetings.

SJP USF considered the Foundation’s rejection as equivalent to “silencing”. In January 2015 they purchased a large billboard near the Tampa campus. The billboard featured a person’s face with tape over the lips and demanded that the university end investment “in Israeli Apartheid.”

On January 14 2015, Zaid Dabus, the SJP USF spokesperson was interviewed by WMNF news regarding the billboard. He stated that it was a response to a meeting with the USF Foundation which “went terribly.” Dabus claimed “they killed the bill within less than 15 minutes…they [SJP] get absolutely shut out in less than 15 minutes by a group of super rich foundation members.” Dabus then falsely claimed the Palestinians are targeted based on race, “just like in South Africa.”

When the interviewer questioned the claim, asking “Palestinians can vote and be members of Knesset, and you still call it apartheid?” Dubas answered: “First and foremost I’m not an expert on the politics of that, I don’t live there, I’m not from there, I’ve haven’t come from there, I’ve never experienced that”, but that “there’s no way they have equal rights” because “people on the inside” say  “they are not allowed on the same bus.”

Other USF Anti-Israel and Anti-Semitic Activity

  • On February 14, 2015, SJP USF posted a link from their Facebook to an article, stating entirely fabricated claim that “Israeli authorities usually open the floodgates to their dams in the direction of the Gaza Strip – without prior notice – in order to discharge the enormous quantities of water that had accumulated due to the heavy rains in the region.” The story was debunked by Al Jazeera. There are no dams in Southern Israel — it’s a desert.
  • In November 2014, SJP USF member Khadra Ali-Mohamed organized a campaignto condemn the National Basketball Association (NBA) for bringing an Israeli basketball club to play two pre-season games in New York. The campaign claimed the NBA would be honoring “war criminals” if they played.
  • Following the August 2014 Gaza war ceasefire, SJP USF member Omar Erchidaccused Israel on his personal blog of “systematic and indiscriminate killing.” He also likened Hamas terrorists to “freedom fighters” and praised their decision to remain armed. Erchid labeled supporters of Israel’s defensive actions in Gaza “genocide apologists” and falsely claimed that Hamas was “Firing homemade rockets into areas where there is almost no chance of casualties.”
Danya Zituni, sister of Homam Zituni (below), is a graduate of SJP USF. She is involved in a number of anti-Israel/anti-American groups. Zituni has participated in the burning of multiple American flags, expressed her desire for the collapse of the global financial system, announced on Facebook “My heroes have always killed colonizers” and supports a number of terrorists including Assata Shakur whom she calls a “sister & comrade”. [more…]
Homam Zituni, brother of Danya Zituni (above), graduated USF in 2014 where he was active in SJP, MSA and BDS. In 2013 he interned at CAIR. Zituni has referred to convicted terrorist-murderer Odeh Rasmea a “Palestinian Hero”. He describes himself on his Twitter page as a “Marxist-Leninist. Proletarian Feminist. Aspiring revolutionary.” [more…]
Yasmeen Yousef  was the president of SJP USF and has since graduated. She considers Israel a “terrorist state.” She led SJP in a divestment campaign and participated in a BDS protest to blockade a port in Tampa and prevent the unloading of Israeli goods. [more…]
Zaid Dabus was interim President for SJP USF in 2015. He lied in an interview on WMNF News saying Palestinians are targeted based on race, “just like in South Africa” and that “they are not allowed on the same bus.” [more…]
Hannan Danon is responsible for SJP USF’s hate-ridden, inaccurate social media. One such example is the ironic and hypocritical attack directed at Canary Mission — for exposing students supporting terrorist-bomber Rasmea Odeh (below). [more…]
Mahmoud Ali-Mohamed: Is a member of SJP and MSA at USF. Ali-Mohamed stars in blatantly anti-Semitic YouTube videos smearing the “Jewish Lobby”. He makes viewers believe AIPAC runs the government through bribes. If that wasn’t scary enough, Ali-Mohamed is also a Student Government Senator at USF. [more…]

canary missionABOUT THE CANARY MISSION:

The Canary Mission database was created in order to document people and groups that are promoting hatred of the USA, Israel and the Jewish people, particularly on college campuses in North America.

Canary Mission is run by students and concerned citizens motivated by a desire to combat the rise in anti-Semitism on college campuses. The purpose of the website is to expose those who promote lies and attacks on Israel and the Jewish people. We pursue our mission by presenting the actions and records of individuals and organizations at the vanguard of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. By shining a light on hate group members and their activities, the public will become better informed about those involved in hate movements in their communities.

Canary Mission believes that we all have the right to know if an individual has been affiliated with movements that seek the destruction of Israel, routinely engage in anti-Semitic rhetoric and actions, and promote hatred of Jews.

Canary Mission provides freely available material gathered from publicly available sources. We have organized this information in a concise and easily searchable format for the easy access of the general public and anyone interested in tracking hate movements on college campuses.

RELATED ARTICLE: Why Are ‘Peace-Activists’ at U South Florida Rallying for a Convicted Terrorist-Murderer?

‘The State Baptizes Rampant Immorality with the Water of Consensus’

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History tells us that what marks the decline and fall of civilizations is the state’s embrace of immorality. From ancient Greece to the Roman Empire to Venezuela.

Consensus is the opiate of the state.

The title of this column was taken from the article The Founding Father of Fascism by Jeffrey Tucker. In his column about British philosopher Thomas Carlyle Tucker wrote:

Why the state? Because within the state, all that is otherwise considered immoral, illegal, unseemly, and ghastly, can become, as blessed by the law, part of policy, civic virtue, and the forward motion of history. The state baptizes rampant immorality with the water of consensus. 

[ … ]

The exercise of such power necessarily requires the primacy of the nation state, and hence the protectionist and nativist impulses of the fascist mindset. [Emphasis added]

Russian born American Writer and Novelist, Ayn Rand wrote, “The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow. They come to be accepted by degrees, by dint of constant pressure on one side and constant retreat on the other – until one day when they are suddenly declared to be the country’s official ideology.”

Are today’s uncontested absurdities created by public consensus, the state or something else? 

World Net Daily’s Janet Porter writes, “When you issue an invitation to predators to walk into women’s private dressing rooms and restrooms, don’t be surprised when they accept… [T]ransgenderism (men who identify as women and vice versa) is a mental disorder. Before the name calling and threats begin, I’m not the one who said that; the American Psychiatric Association is. The current APA “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (DSM-5) states that “people whose gender at birth is contrary to the one they identify with” are diagnosed with “gender dysphoria” – a mental disorder.” Read more.

obamagayMany believe that America is in decline because its leaders are embracing immorality, they fail to distinguish evil from good, wrong from right, rhetoric from reality. 

In The ‘Top Ten Absurdities’ of the Gender Confused/Genderphobic are these failures to distinguish reality from rhetoric:

  1. Questioning one’s birth sex (male/female) is the new normal.
  2. Calling someone a boy or girl is racist, bigoted and makes you a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
  3. Tolerance is a one-way-street (its my gender confused way or the highway).
  4. Buggery is normal and healthy behavior, procreating is evil.
  5. I can change my sex regardless of the laws of biology, science and genetics.
  6. By simply changing my appearance, I am the sex I am portraying.
  7. The needs of the 2% (gays) outweigh the needs of the 98% (straights).
  8. It is okay to become a priest or boy scout leader in order to have sex with an underage boy.
  9. Child pornography and pornography in general are healthy.
  10. Muslims are our friends, Christians and Jews are the enemy.

Genderphobia may be defined as:

An overwhelming and unreasonable fear of forces that cause controversy, fragmentation, scandal, chaos or discord within the LGBTQ community, thereby disturbing homosexual peace and order, which requires immediate and brutal condemnation.

Genderphobia has led to a movement where the absurd (the quality or state of being ridiculous or wildly unreasonable) has become the norm and national public policy. Among those exhibiting Genderphobia, i.e. ridiculous and unreasonable qualities, are politicians, Hollywood stars, university professors, public school teachers, parents and their children.

Does the genderphobic state fail to distinguish evil from good, wrong from right, rhetoric from reality? Since the 1950s we have seen the absurd become America’s official ideology.

Is it now time for mankind to embrace good, right and reality?

The state has been the creator of our most profound absurdities.

Is it time to reign in the state before it becomes so powerful that is holds the reigns of the the people?

That is the question.

RELATED ARTICLES: 

Why is Obama Obsessed with our Sexual Identities?

SHAPIRO: Your Daughter Must Pee Next to a Man, and You Will Be Compelled to Agree

What Really Drives the LGBT Agenda

Federal Court: Schools May Not Provide Separate Bathrooms Based on Biology

K-12 School Proposes Removing Urinals and Making Bathrooms Gender Neutral

My Dad Was Transgender. Why I Still Think Gender Can’t Be Changed

Texas Sues Obama Administration Over Transgender Bathroom Directive

EDITORS NOTE: If you have other “gender confused” absurdities please add them in the comments section below. We will be posting other Top Ten Absurdities lists. If you have any areas of interest please note them in the comments section.

Left Forum 2016 Speaker: ‘There are among refugees also terrorists, rapists, criminals…but so what?’

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The Leftist crowd was angry not at his insouciance over civilizational suicide, but over his “xenophobic” characterizations. That there are “terrorists, rapists, criminals” among the refugees and migrants is an obvious and abundantly documented fact, but for all too many people nowadays, it is morally wrong to state inconvenient facts.

“Žižek at Left Forum: ‘Terrorists, rapists, & criminals among refugees, but who cares?,’” RT, May 23, 2016:

Slavoj Žižek, “the most dangerous philosopher in the West,” stirred the melting pot Sunday as the closing speaker at Left Forum 2016 in New York City, making controversial comments about the refugee crisis.

The Slovenian academic was heckled during his epic three-and-a-half hour session at the conference titled ‘Rage, Rebellion, Revolution: Organizing our power’ held at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and streamed live throughout the weekend on RT.com.

Žižek was already labeled a “racist,”“antisemite,” and “misogynist” before he hit the stage, which perhaps is why he started his speech by saying, “If you want to start exchanging insults, I can be extremely brutal, I always win. But, let’s not do it today, maybe.”

That truce with his friend and critics on the left was temporary, after his subsequent words ignited a firestorm that continued to burn on social media Monday.

“The obvious threat, that there are among refugees also terrorists, rapists, criminals, I mean this in a totally neutral way, of course there are but so what?” he said, when discussing reasons behind the “catastrophe” in Europe.

While a more conservative or mainstream audience might have been shocked by his blasé “so what?” attitude towards what they perceive to be a global threat, his comments seemed to ‘trigger’ something else in this left-wing crowd, angry over what they interpreted as “xenophobic” characterizations….

RELATED ARTICLE: Bronx: Muslim with large knife collection and beheading videos charged with aiding the Islamic State

Huge Victory for Free Speech and Unborn Babies Against Planned Parenthood

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In a huge victory for free speech and unborn babies, United States District Judge Nancy Torresen, yesterday, issued a preliminary injunction barring the Maine Attorney General and City of Portland police officers from enforcing the Noise Provision of the Maine Civil Rights Act (“Act”).  Under the Act, after being warned by a police officer, it is illegal to make noise that can be heard inside an abortion clinic with the intent to interfere with a medical procedure.

Thomas More Law Center Wins Huge Victory for Free Speech and Unborn Babies Against Planned Parenthood - Judge Torresen

In a 35–page opinion and order, Judge Torresen, an Obama appointee, held that the Noise Provision of the Act is content-based because it restricts speech based on its purpose, and therefore, is facially unconstitutional. Read Judge Torresen’s entire opinion here.

The Thomas More Law Center (“TMLC”), a national, nonprofit public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed a lawsuit in December 2015, on behalf of Pastor Andrew March after a Portland police officer officially warned Pastor March under the Act, and ordered him to quiet his pro-life speech on the public sidewalk outside the Portland Planned Parenthood facility or face prosecution. Despite this threat of prosecution, Pastor Andrew March courageously continued to plead for the lives of the unborn at the doors of the Planned Parenthood facility.

Thomas More Law Center Wins Huge Victory for Free Speech and Unborn Babies Against Planned Parenthood - Kate Oliveri

Kate Oliveri, the Thomas More Law Center Trial Counsel handling the case, commented, “This is a victory regardless of whether you acknowledge that unborn children posses lives worth defending. Free speech rights are central to maintaining a free society and the court took a huge step toward protecting those rights for all citizens of Maine.”

The Planned Parenthood facility, located on a loud and busy thoroughfare in downtown Portland, has been the focus of pro-life counselors and prayer groups for the last several years. However, in October 2015, the Maine Attorney General resurrected the 15-year-old Noise Provision of the Act to sue Pastor Brian Ingalls in a state court for his opposition to abortion on those sidewalks. This occurred only two weeks after the City of Portland admitted that their a previous attempt to drown out free speech on the public sidewalk—a 39 foot buffer zone—was unconstitutional. The state case against Brian Ingalls is still pending.  After the State sued Pastor Ingalls, Pastor March stepped in and began his preaching to save the lives of unborn babies.

Because a judge must determine that a plaintiff seeking a preliminary injunction has a likelihood of success on the merits, by granting TMLC’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Judge Torresen has indicated that Pastor March will ultimately prevail in his claim that the Act is an unconstitutional suppression of free speech when the case goes to summary judgment. In the mean time, the order assures that Pastor March and other individuals can continue to preach pro-life messages and pray without being silenced by the Noise Provision.

Thomas More Law Center Wins Huge Victory for Free Speech and Unborn Babies Against Planned Parenthood - Andrew March

Judge Torresen focused on the “intent to interfere with a medical procedure” portion of the statute. This portion restricts speech based on the purpose for which the speech is made and differentiates speech based on the message expressed. In order for a content-based restriction on speech to be constitutional, it must be the least restrictive means of furthering a compelling governmental interest. Judge Torresen concluded that the State had other content-neutral means of keeping peace at abortion clinics.

After Cruz I Needed A Break — Time to Rally Behind the GOP Nominee!

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I am chairman of the Conservative Campaign Committee. Our mission which we have chosen to accept is to travel the country helping conservatives get elected. Since January, our CCC team, my wife Mary and I have been traveling state to state campaigning for Ted Cruz. We were in Indiana when Cruz suspended his campaign. A day later, Mary and I flew back home to Florida.

Like fellow members of Cruz’s army of passionate loyal supporters, we were emotionally spent.

Reading my email, it seemed our national conservative family of Trump and Cruz supporters were engaged in a huge family feud. Emotions were raw. The Bible tells us that it is unwise to make decisions when you are afraid, angry or tired.

Feeling a bit of all three emotions, Mary and I concluded that we needed a break. While staying engaged in the congressional races taken on by our CCC team, I tuned out all political news. Friends who support Trump were clamoring for me to endorse him immediately. But I was not ready.

I spent a few days taking care of household chores that piled up while we were on the road. Mary purchased a vintage sideboard from the Goodwill, $50 reduced to $40 with the senior discount. I spent several hours in my work shed sanding, varnishing and restoring it. It looks beautiful.

You know how proud parents are. My 87 year old Dad praised me when Cruz was winning states as if Cruz’s success was solely due to my efforts. When Cruz suspended his campaign, Dad phoned accusing me of dropping the ball. I explained to Dad that Trump’s despicable smear campaign against Cruz was too much to overcome. Even Dad believed the false allegation that Cruz lied about Dr Ben Carson. I told Dad that when 38% of voters believed the absurd allegation that Cruz’s dad had something to do with the assassination of JFK, it was time for Cruz to suspend his campaign. 

After the GOP convention, I will rally behind and do everything in my power to elect the Republican presidential nominee.

Why? Because while our new Republican president may or may not defend conservative principles and values, we know the Democrat party is fully committed to implementing the LGBT and Leftist radical agendas; hellbent on fundamentally transforming America. If a democrat is elected president, the federal government will double-down on the Obama Administration’s attack on Christianity, assisting LGBT activists in bullying Americans into anti-Christian behavior. Obama’s relentless pursuit to force Catholic nuns, Little Sisters of the Poor, to fund abortion services against their faith is a harbinger of things to come under another democrat dictatorial regime.

Democrats already have it in the works to criminalize and prosecute skeptics of climate change. A democrat president will surely appoint a Leftist to the US Supreme Court ushering in decades of intensified Leftist tyranny.

Even as we speak, judges have repealed parents rights to follow God’s command to “train up a child in the way it should go”. Boldly admitting their purpose to make America’s children available for LGBT indoctrination, judges are decreeing no home schooling. 

School boards are preventing parents from opting their children out of gay lessons. 

Males physically penetrating each other is their business. Activists and the federal government partnering to pressure states to mandate that parents surrender their children to be taught that such behavior is beautiful, wholesome, good and even superior to traditional male/female relationships is a bridge too far. This is what the Democrat party is aggressively engaged in mandating; surely fast-tracked if a democrat wins the White House.

If I allowed a democrat to take the Oval Office it would make me complicit in furthering the Left’s cultural and moral demise of America. A memo exposed the democrat politicized and controlled DOJ plan to legalize 12 new perversions including bestiality, pedophilia and incest. 

How on earth could I claim some moral high ground as an excuse to not vote, write in a candidate or run a sure to fail third party candidate; resulting in allowing the Left’s hostile total takeover of America?

As a Christian, I rest in the knowledge that the battle is not mine, it is the Lord’s. However, this truth does not allow me to roll over and play dead; allowing evil to go unopposed in my country.

Since our nation’s divinely inspired and blessed unique founding, far too many patriots have suffered, sacrificed and died to give us the extraordinary freedoms we have enjoyed for over 200 years. Thus, it would be cowardly, irresponsible and dishonorable to surrender God’s gift of our great land to tyranny and total debauchery. We must not allow the Godly thread woven into the fabric of our heritage that has held it together to be removed.

In other words, I cannot permanently give up bringing Godly salt to the political process. I will not turn my back on politics, spending my time going fishing and restoring vintage furniture.

I am a conservative American who happens to be black. My country is worth enduring every pain, disappointment and frustration in the battle to restore it. With my last breath, I will fight America’s demise and fundamental transformation. Come November 2016, I will vote for the Republican presidential nominee.

“We will bring this plane down”: Flight 804 Downing Raises Airport Security Questions

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Yesterday, we posted on the NatSecDailyBrief about the ACARS-Inmarsat data reports on smoke detected aboard the ill-fated EgyptAir  MSFlight 804.  We noted comments by a commercial pilot on an Aviation Herald article speculating  that there could have been an internal explosion in the nose of aircraft possibly affecting the avionics and fly by wire computer system. That might have caused the downing.

Watch this U.K. Telegraph of Debris recovered from MSFlight 804.

Note what the U.K. Telegraph reported in its blog on the downing  of  MSFlight 804:

Data from the final moments before EgyptAir flight MS804 crashed into the Mediterranean suggest an “internal explosion” tore through the right side of the aircraft, a pilot said last night.

Investigators trying to determine whether the A320 was brought down by terrorism or a technical fault are poring over a series of warnings indicating smoke filled the cabin shortly before it disappeared from radar.

French authorities confirmed that smoke detectors went off aboard the flight a few minutes before it crashed but said it was not clear what caused the smoke or fire.

A commercial pilot with a major European airline told The Telegraph that other parts of the data log suggested that windows in the right side of the cockpit were blown out by an explosion inside the aircraft.

“It looks like the right front and side window were blown out, most probably from inside out,” said the pilot, who flies an A330 similar to the crashed A320 and spoke on condition of anonymity.

[…]

Until investigators find the aircraft’s black boxes, which are still missing in the Mediterranean, the ACARS offers the best sense on what was happening aboard.

Three different warnings showed there were faults in the windows next to the co-pilot, suggesting they could have been blasted outwards by an onboard bomb. That does not mean the explosion came from the cockpit but indicates the right side of the plane was more badly damaged than the left.

The pilot suggested the smoke detectors may have been triggered not fire but by fog which filled the cabin as it lost air pressure in the moments after the explosion.

[…]

According to the Wall Street Journal, people “familiar with the matter” say that the alerts could be an indication of a problem with the flight control system.

While not ruling out a bomb, Bob Mann, a US aviation expert, says the latest data indicate a number of possibilities. “The data could indicate rapid decompression or smoke and a progressive loss of flight control systems.

Note how difficult the French security investigations are looking into the backgrounds of the more than 85,000 workers at the Paris airports and the short interval of conducting the security  sweep on Flight 804:

Although no terrorist group has claimed responsibility, French detectives are examining a pool of around 85,000 people with “red badge” security clearance that gives them access to restricted areas of Charles de Gaulle airport.

The task is complicated by the fact that many work for sub-contractors and turnover is high. Screenings are often limited to checking an employee has no criminal convictions and does not appear on a terror watch list.

Last December around 70 red badges were withdrawn from staff at Charles de Gaulle who were found to have praised the attacks in Paris, prayed at mosques linked to radicalism or showing signs of growing religiosity like refusing to shake hands with women.

A French trade union also warned that short stopovers like that made by Flight 804, which was on the ground a little over an hour, gave little time for security staff to carry out thorough security checks.

Then there were the New York Times reports about graffiti daubed on the aircraft in Cairo back in 2013 saying, “We will bring this plane down”:

It has emerged that the crashed aircraft had once been daubed with graffiti by vandals who wrote: “We will bring this plane down”.

The New York Times reported that the vandalism was done two years ago and was a protest against Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the Egyptian president who seized power in a coup, rather than a jihadist threat.

The airline went on to fire a number of staff with alleged Muslim Brotherhood sympathies in 2013 as part of a general purge of suspected Islamists after the military takeover.

And in the weeks following the Paris attacks in November, French police said Arabic graffiti such as “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) were found daubed on EasyJet and Vueling planes at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and at Lyon airport.

It also emerges that EgyptAir was exempted from a trial of the new French security system for vetting passengers:

Charles de Gaulle airport will begin testing a passenger screening tool known as the passenger name record (PNR) next week. The system, already in use in Britain, identifies passengers whose profiles indicate a potential risk. It cross-references names, addresses and means of payment with police crime and terrorism files.

However, EgyptAir will not be among the eight airlines that will take part in the trial, which the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, says is long overdue.

The system is to become fully operational by the end of the year in France, which has received nearly £14 million in EU aid to finance its introduction.  It can detect passengers who have travelled to countries such as Syria and Yemen, with their return dates.

The evidence keeps piling up that supports the  comments of ex-CIA director Ambassador Woolsey and  investigations by the Lisa Benson Show National Task Force for America that international airports, including those in the US,  are not secure.  That is particularly acute given the difficulty of profiling airport workers with security access to aircraft on the tarmac and now we learn vetting passengers from terrorist hot spots.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in NatSecDailyBrief.

Hersheypark deprives guests of gender-specific restrooms

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The Christian Action Network reports:

Hersheypark has released a statement saying they will allow guests and employees to choose their restroom preference based on how they gender-identify.

Specifically, the company states: “Guests and employees may continue to use the restrooms with which they gender-identify, or are welcome to use the many family restrooms available across the destination.”

Hersheypark says it attracts millions of visitors every year, and to make sure the park remains a welcoming place it stands by its core values of respecting others and their differences.

Read more from the park below:

“Every year, the employees of Hershey Entertainment & Resorts (HE&R) welcome over 6 million guests from down the street and around the world. We recognize that the more perspectives we have within our company, the more welcoming we are to all those who visit and seek employment here. In fact, our company has four core values, one of which is “respectful of others,” which we define as treating all people with dignity, while respecting their differences and ideas.

For decades, Hersheypark has been dedicated to the safety and security of our guest and employees. It is foundational to our brand. Additionally, the Park has and will always strive to accommodate all guests and employees – including members of the LGBT community – to ensure those visiting or working at Hersheypark are comfortable and feel secure.

To that end, the park will continue its practice of treating all guests and employees the same no matter race, ethnicity, sexual identity, etc. Guests and employees may continue to use the restrooms with which they gender-identify, or are welcome to use the many family restrooms available across the destination.

ABOUT THE CHRISTIAN ACTION NETWORK

Christian Action Network (CAN) was founded in 1990 by Martin Mawyer. Based in Lynchburg, Virginia, the group is a public advocacy and education organization based on biblical principles, values, traditions and American ideals. Its primary goals are to protect America’s religious and moral heritage through educational efforts.

CAN accomplishes its education work through direct-mail campaigns aimed at impacting public policy, along with public speaking engagements, documentary films, radio and TV interviews, books, and alliances with other organizations to impact change. Learn more by clicking here.

Islamic State: ‘Only one way for U.S. to gain victory … taking the Qur’an out of the hearts of Muslims’

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If we didn’t have learned imams such as John Kerry and David Cameron and Pope Francis assuring us otherwise, we might almost get the impression that the Islamic State had something to do with Islam. It’s a good thing we have such erudite leaders who are so helpful in aiding our understanding of the enemy ideology.

Abu Mohamed al-Adnani

Abu Mohamed al-Adnani formerly Taha Subhi Falaha

“‘There is only one way for the US to gain victory,’ ISIS spokesman warns,” Rudaw, May 21, 2016:

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A spokesman of the Islamic State (ISIS) said in a defiant audio message that his group would not be defeated, even if it loses its strongholds in Syria and Iraq or its leader is killed in US air strikes.

“Your threats do not frighten us and you will never win over us,” Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, the official spokesman of the terrorist group, said in an audio message posted online Saturday.

The militant, whose real name is Taha Subhi Falaha, said that even if ISIS loses its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa or Mosul in Iraq, that would not amount to defeat, nor would the death of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

“The loss of Raqqa, Mosul and the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would not mean that we have lost,” the spokesman said in the 30-minute recording.

He said Western reports about the group growing weaker – as US military officials have recently been saying – are untrue.

“You think defeat is the loss of a city or a land? Were we defeated when several cities of Iraq were taken away from us and we went to the desert? Will we lose if you control Mosul, Raqqa and other cities that were previously controlled by us: Definitely ‘no,’ because defeat is only the loss of the wish and will to fight.”

Naming several top ISIS leaders that have been killed in US airstrikes over the past several months, Adnani said their deaths – or the deaths of other living leaders – would not drive the group to defeat.

“There is only one way for the US to gain victory and that is by taking the Quran out of the hearts of Muslims,” Adnani claimed.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Russia: Imam gets three years prison, had weapons and explosives in mosque

Media darling Muslim selfie girl loves Hitler, hates Jews

VIDEO: Tuberculosis [and others diseases] a ‘ticking time bomb’ in Muslim migrant flow to U.S.

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BugWhile we fixate on a terrorism threat coming from not thoroughly vetted refugees, could there be a more likely security and safety risk with the myriad diseases permitted entry into the US in the refugee population (and in the stream of Unaccompanied Alien Children)?

In fact, when I first began writing RRW, it was a shock to learn that the Allen County (Indiana) health department was being overwhelmed by the number of TB cases among the newly resettled Burmese refugees.  Treating them was breaking the health department’s budget.

New “welcoming” communities (Reno***, Rutland, Missoula, Ithaca?) have you considered the cost and the health risks to your citizens?

Be sure to see the Minneapolis Star Tribune of only a week ago where we learn that after 20 years of decline, the US TB rate is moving upward. Reporters begin their story with a Spanish teacher in Vermont who learns she has TB! 

So, what has changed in 20 years?  Could it be the massive flow of migrants from TB hotspots around the world into America?

Reporter Michael Patrick Leahy has been reporting at Breitbart about Tuberculosis over the last week.  Here is his story from yesterday.  And, don’t miss the earlier one about the high levels of latent TB in the Somali population in Minnesota, here.

Theres_a_Deadly_Flesh_Eating_BLeahy yesterday:

Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, is criticizing the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for allowing refugees to enter the United States without screening and treatment for latent tuberculosis.

Seven of the agency’s own public health experts said such screening and treatment “would potentially save millions of dollars and contribute to United States TB elimination goals” in a research article published in December.

“Admitting people who might cause an epidemic makes no sense whatsoever from a public health standpoint,” Orient tells Breitbart News.

“It suggests that those who favor it do not care about the cost in suffering, death, and expense to Americans,” Orient says, adding she agrees with the public health experts currently or formerly employed at the CDC who concluded that screening of refugees for latent tuberculosis and successful treatment of those who test positive for the disease prior to their entry into the country is the proper public health policy for the United States.

But the political leadership at CDC does not appear to be following the screening and treatment recommendations of the study done by its own experts, and has not yet responded to inquiries from Breitbart News whether it plans to change course.

“If for humanitarian reasons we wish to help people fleeing persecution, there is still no need to release them into the general population of susceptible individuals. Officials who place politics above the health of Americans need to be held accountable and removed from positions of authority,” Orient says.

Be sure to watch the video linked in this next paragraph and consider the FACT that you, the US taxpayers, are paying for this expensive treatment for Drug Resistant TB, so that these people can move to your towns!

Even those refugees treated for active Multi Drug Resistant (MDR) tuberculosis, as shown in the below video of Burmese refugees who have the disease being treated in a refugee camp in Thailand, are allowed to enter the United States despite recent studies that indicate that between 4 percent and 5 percent of those deemed successfully treated experience a recurrence of tuberculosis within 2 years.

Child refugee? Photo: Twitter

There is much more, continue reading here.

See our extensive ‘health issues’ category with 292 previous posts by clicking here.

*** In that Abstract we discussed a week ago for the new resettlement site in Reno, the Abstract indicates that the wait time for health screening of refugees arriving there will be 15-30 days.  I doubt that refugees are quarantined during the wait time!

RELATED VIDEO: Flesh-eating skin disease grips ISIS-controlled areas in Syria WARNING: GRAPHIC

RELATED ARTICLES:

City Journal: Refugees bring numerous health problems with them to your towns; more reporting needed

CDC says 157 pregnant women in U.S. test positive for Zika

Flesh eating disease spreads in terrorist-controlled Syria

‘Faith’ group exploring bringing refugees to Cape Cod and Nantucket

Florida: Congressional Candidates Sukhia and Thomas Sign Term Limits Pledge

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We took Congressional candidate Ken Sukhia to task in a recent post for apparent waffling on the issue of Congressional term limits. Since then Sukhia has clarified his position, making a bold commitment in favor of the popular reform by signing the U.S. Term Limits Congressional pledge.

The former federal prosecutor and GOP primary candidate for Florida’s 2nd Congressional District put pen to paper and pledged to “cosponsor and vote for” the Congressional term limits amendment if elected to the Congress this year.

Sukhia is the 13th Congressional candidate in Florida to sign the pledge in 2016, a list which includes a prominent primary opponent Mary Thomas. Thomas was first to sign and has been using the pledge to differentiate herself from the rest of the primary field. She presented the pledge for Sukhia’s signature during a recent debate.

Other primary opponents running for this open Panhandle seat include Jeff Moran and Neal Dunn, neither of whom have pledged support for Congressional term limits. To see the full list of signers in Florida, go here.

With support from large majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents, most politicians claim to support term limits in some vague way and then take no action once elected.  However, pledge signers are genuine supporters of term limits who have specified exactly what action they will take on behalf of voters.

Activists are urged to present the USTL pledge to Congressional candidates.

If they sign, we’ll do our best to let the voters in their districts know it. If they don’t, well, we’ll let them know that too.

ABOUT US TERM LIMITS

US Term Limits is known as the largest grassroots movement in American history, and US Term Limits (USTL) was, and still is, the leader of that movement.

US Term Limits stands up against government malpractice. We are the voice of the American citizen. We want a government of the people, by the people, and for the people- not a ruling class who care more about deals to benefit themselves, than their constituents.

We have worked tirelessly with citizens all across the nation, helping them better understand why term limits are a necessary government reform, and how to implement that vision from your town council to Congress.

Did Terrorism Take Down EgyptAir Flight 804?

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EgyptAir Flight 804 took off from Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris at 11:09 PM Wednesday, May 18, 2016 with 56 passengers and 10 crew members, including 3 security personnel aboard on the final leg of a journey scheduled to arrive in Cairo at 3:15 am local time. During May 18th Flight 804 flew from Asmara, Eritrea to Cairo and then onto to Tunis before arriving in Paris.  The aircraft may have been cleaned, catered and refueled at stops in Asmara and Tunis.  At Charles de Gaulle it went through a security sweep.

After takeoff, Flight 804 reached a cruising altitude of 37,000 feet. It checked in with Athens air traffic control (ATC) at 1:24 AM, Thursday, May 19th.  At 2:27 AM it failed to check in with Athens ATC as it was transiting into Cairo air traffic control.  It catastrophically dropped from its cruising altitude of 37,000 feet plunging into the Mediterranean with all 66 passengers and crew aboard approximately 173 miles from Egypt.

The Airbus A320-200 is a workhorse for major international airlines. The EgyptAir version used on Flight 804 was fairly well maintained. Most importantly it uses a computerized fly by wire system, not susceptible to manipulation from the flight deck. Moreover, both the flight captain and co pilot had 6,000 and 4,000 hours of flight experience, respectively; 2000 of which were on the A-320.  Hence the violent swerving motions alleged caught by Athens ATC on radar were either due to mechanical failure or a bomb exploding on board.  Flight accident experts contend that only a small amount of explosives at that altitude could lead to breakup of the aircraft.

The hunt is on with U.S. Navy P-3 Orion air craft, Egyptian C-130’s and naval vessels, Greek Air Force and Navy frigates, and UK Royal Navy vessels combing the vicinity of the target area of the Flight 804 crash in the Eastern Mediterranean.  They are searching for wreckage, passenger effects and most importantly the audio signals of the pinging locator identifying the flight recorder black boxes.  The latter may be a daunting task as the Mediterranean is more than a mile deep in the crash area.   Egyptair is in the midst of receiving the relatives of French, Egyptian and other nationalities among the passengers on board. They were flown to Cairo for briefings on Friday before an official press conference.

Early on both the U.S. and later Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority officials speculated that information they have received suggest that it may not have been mechanical failure, but likely terrorism.

In the meantime, neither suspected terrorist groups ISIS or Al Qaeda have claimed responsibility.  You may recall just after the downing of the Russian MetroJet A321 with 224 passengers  and crew aboard  in the Sinai Peninsula on October 31, 2015, ISIS claimed responsibility for what allegedly was a soda can bomb placed in a baggage hold.  Terrorism experts speculate that  master bomb maker Saudi Ibrahim al-Asiri of Al Qaeda in the Arabia Peninsula has been heavily involved in development of unique explosives barely detectable.   As one example the laptop that exploded aboard a flight in Somalia last summer that blew a hole in the aircraft skin killing the terrorist using the device.

U.S. intelligence has shared watch list information with the French and Egyptian services.  Passenger manifests on each segment of Flight 804 will be reviewed to check out the relatives of passengers aboard.  Perhaps there are also data transmissions from the INMARSAT systems might be reviewed. Data from the INMARSAT tracking system, you may recall were retrieved following the downing of Malaysian Air MH-370.   Mary Schiavo, aviation safety expert nd former Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation,  indicated in a CNN interview that in 2014 the US implemented so-called enhanced safety inspection system on international flights to the US. These entailed checking aircraft baggage holds, washroom and catering waste disposal bins.  A spokesperson for Egyptair queried by CNN on the sweep conducted at Charles de Gaulle airport indicated that cockpit, air service and security teams were screened as well as inspection of the aircraft baggage hold, disposal and storage bins.

Knowledgeable counterterrorism sources have suggested that it might have been an inside job, meaning aircraft cleaners, caterers and fuelers who  had access to the aircraft during intermediate landings.  The issue at Charles de Gaulle is acute.  French authorities have been  airport workers at Charles de Gaulle after revelations about Paris ISIS massacre perpetrators.  The authorities  withdrew credentials from more than 70 airport workers engaged in radical Islamic activities.  The other possibility is that there may not have been security sweeps conducted at intermediate flight destinations in Asmara, Eritrea and Tunis.

This is a concern that was discussed  on  Lisa Benson Radio programs  last fall with Ambassador R. James Woolsey alerting listeners and social media about domestic and international airport insecurity.

Listen to the PODCAST: Is it Safe to Fly?:

Investigations by the National Security Task Force of America at more than 13 U.S. airports revealed non competitive contracts for maintenance, baggage handling and aircraft cleaning and refueling. Many of the contractors employed refugee émigrés. A major international maintenance contractor with contracts in 70 municipalities and airports has hired over 500,000 refugee émigrés, globally.  An ISIS fighter killed in Syria was a Somali émigré employed with a cleaning and fueling contractor at the Twin Cities airport in Minneapolis.  He had complete access to the airport tarmac with his SIDE badge. The Atlanta Hartsfield airport reported the theft of dozens of these SIDE badges.  Further, the US Department of Homeland Security revealed that 73 TSA screeners were found on no fly lists. Investigations by the French Interior Ministry revealed that one of the Paris massacre perpetrators in November 2015 was employed as an airport maintenance worker at Charles de Gaulle airport. Then there was the evidence from the March 2016 Brussels airport bombing, that one of the ISIS perpetrators was  a returning fighter. He had been employed at both the airport and the European Parliament building adjacent to the subway bombing site in Brussels.

Thus, while we wait for further developments on the mysterious downing of EgyptAir 804, we might express concerns to Congress requesting them to hold hearings on airport security including the clearance of maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage handling and fueling contractors.

RELATED ARTICLES:

The Captain Of Flight MS804 Is A Muslim Linked To Major Muslim Terrorist Involved In Killing Americans In Benghazi

Why was smoke detected on EgyptAir Flight 804 before it went down?

Why Airport Security Will Always Be a Fiasco with TSA

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the Nat Sec Daily Brief. The featured image is of an EgyptAir Airbus A320 taking off from Vienna International Airport. Photo: Thomas Ranner/Associated Press