But my TX carry card ID gets me a closed room visit with the TSA?
[Daily Caller] The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) disclosed to a congressional office that illegal migrants flying without proper identification can use an arrest warrant as an alternate form of identification when presenting to airport security, according to a letter the Daily Caller News Foundation exclusively obtained.
Responding to Republican Texas Rep. Lance Gooden’s Dec. 15 inquiry about illegal migrants flying across the country, TSA Administrator David Pekoske explained that certain Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents may be considered acceptable forms of alternate identification for non-citizens, including a "Warrant for Arrest of Alien" and a "Warrant of Removal/Deportation."
"TSA’s response confirms the Biden Administration is knowingly putting our national security at risk," Gooden told the DCNF. "Unknown and unvetted immigrants shouldn’t even be in the country, much less flying without proper identification."
"TSA is committed to ensuring that all travelers, regardless of immigration status, are pre-screened before they arrive to the airport, have their pre-screening status and identification verified at security checkpoints, and receive appropriate screening based on risk before entering the sterile area of the airport," Pekoske wrote.
[TOLO] "Don't you recognize us? Sure, we used to commit civilian atrocities, plant IEDs, destroy crops and electrical pylons, but we're totally cool now! Give us money"
The prime minister made the remarks at a high-level meeting held on Wednesday at the ARG (Presidential Palace) in Kabul to assess the status of the Afghan economy.
The meeting was attended by members of the Islamic Emirate cabinet and UN representatives as well as representatives of 20 foreign countries.
PM Mullah Akhund also called on the international community to recognize the current Kabul administration and urged the US to release the Central Bank’s assets.
He called on the Islamic countries to not wait and let the US be the first to recognize Afghanistan, after which "you would also recognize it," said the prime minister.
He said the lack of recognition is creating severe challenges in a variety of ways.
"If the economic process is implemented, I believe Afghanistan would be pulled out of the current crisis," he said.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting minister of Foreign Affairs, said that Afghanistan already has an independent government.
"It is obvious to them that Afghanistan has a government which is responsible, committed and believes in acting in mutual interest," he said.
Talking at the meeting, the UN envoy in Afghanistan Deborah Lyons said the role of women and girls is vital for economic progress in the country.
"Indeed, economic progress, diversity, and inclusion, human rights and equality amongst all citizens are closely connected. As many countries have learned in these last many decades, economic growth stems from innovation and engagement of all citizens," she said. "This requires education for all, creativity, building technical capacity and using the diversity and talents of the many ethnic groups throughout an entire population."
"Women and girls in Afghanistan represent half of the population, and, as other countries around the world have learned, are critical for economic prosperity," Lyons added.
This comes as the current Afghan government has yet to be recognized by any foreign countries.
The Islamic Emirate has made the upholding of human rights, women's rights, and the formation of an inclusive government the preconditions for the recognition of the current Afghan government.
However, Kabul repeatedly said that it has completed all of these conditions.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/20/2022 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] President says possible action being considered as Saudi and Emiratis step up push to blacklist Iran-backed rebels following deadly missile and dronezap on UAE.
[AlAhram] The French Senate has voted in favor of banning the wearing of headscarves in sports competitions, arguing that neutrality is a requirement on the field of play.
The French upper legislative house voted late Tuesday in favor of amending a proposed law stipulating that the wearing ``of conspicuous religious symbols is prohibited`` to take part in events and competitions organized by sports federations.
In their text, senators clearly said that the amendment aims at banning ``the wearing of the veil in sports competitions.`` They added that headscarves can put at risk the safety of athletes wearing it when they practice their discipline.
The amendment proposed by right-wing group Les Republicains and opposed by the French government was adopted with 160 votes in favor, and 143 against. A commission composed of members from the Senate and the lower house should now gather to find a compromise on the text before it is published, meaning the amendment can still be erased.
It is unclear whether the ban would be implemented for the 2024 Gay Paree Olympics. The Olympic organizing committee did not immediately answer a request for comment.
The vote came a year after politicians in the French parliament's lower house approved a bill to strengthen oversight of mosques, schools and sports clubs in a bid to safeguard La Belle France from radical Islamists and to promote respect for French values; one of President Emmanuel Macron's landmark projects.
With La Belle France bloodied by terror attacks, few disagree that radicalization is a danger. But critics also see the law as a political ploy to lure the right wing to Macron's centrist party ahead of this year's presidential election.
In the amendment, senators said all citizens are free to exercise their religion, but insisted that everyone should refrain from putting forward their differences.
``Today, there is legal uncertainty about the wearing of religious symbols, and it is necessary for the state to clearly define the rules,'' the amendment voted by senators read. ``If the wearing of the veil is not explicitly forbidden, we could see the emergence of community sports clubs promoting certain religious signs.``
The French soccer federation already bans women from wearing headscarves in official matches, as well as at competitions it organizes. A collective of headscarf-wearing soccer players called ``Les Hijabeuses,`` in relation to the word hijab referring to the headscarf, has been campaigning against that ban.
The group says all Moslem women should have the right to play their favorite sport at competitive level while wearing a headscarf if they want to. It has launched legal action at the Council of State, La Belle France's highest administrative jurisdiction, to overturn the federation ban.
[An Nahar] German prosecutors accused a Syrian doctor Wednesday of torturing detainees and killing one of them while working in military hospitals in his war-torn homeland, on the first day of a landmark crimes against humanity trial in Frankfurt.The accused, 36-year-old Alaa Mousa
...in our archives as Alaa M....
arrived in Germany in 2015 where he continued to practice medicine until his arrest.
The trial at Frankfurt's higher regional court is the second of its kind in Germany, and adds to other European efforts to hold loyalists of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... 's regime to account for alleged war-era atrocities.
Mousa faces 18 counts of torturing detainees at military hospitals in Homs and Damascus in 2011-12, including setting fire to a teenage boy's genitals.
He also faces one count of murder, for having allegedly administered a lethal injection to a prisoner who resisted being beaten.
The accused helped to perpetrate "a systematic attack on the civilian population," said federal prosecutor Anna Zabeck as she read out the charge sheet.
He "tortured detainees by inflicting substantial bodily harm on them," she told the court.
The defendant, who wore a blue suit and an FFP2 face mask in court, kept his head down while the charges were being read out.
Mousa left Syria for Germany in mid-2015, arriving not as a refugee but on a visa for skilled workers.
He worked in several places as an orthopaedic doctor, including in the spa town of Bad Wildungen, before being arrested in June 2020 after Syrian witnesses came forward.
He worked at a clinic near Kassel in central Germany, where multiple Syrians recognized the doctor from his time in Syria and reported him to German police.
I wouldn't let Turkey play with my money, but I suppose the UAE can afford to throw it away pointlessly.
[IsraelTimes] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to a currency swap deal equivalent to $4.74 billion to boost Turkey’s depleted foreign exchange reserves, the Ottoman Turkish central bank announces.
Under the agreement reached between their central banks, Turkey and the UAE agreed to swap 65 billion Ottoman Turkish lira and 18 billion UAE dirham for a period of three years, with the possibility of extending the deal further.
The agreement aims to help Turkey’s reserves following a series of interventions by the central bank, which sold foreign currency to prop up the lira amid a currency crisis.
It comes as Turkey and the UAE have taken steps to improve relations following years of tensions. Turkey and the UAE found themselves on opposing sides of regional conflicts, including a proxy conflict in Libya and disputes in the Gulf and the eastern Mediterranean.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/20/2022 11:41 Comments ||
Top||
#3
TW-
thx for the sleuthing
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/20/2022 13:15 Comments ||
Top||
#4
As I understand, in the UK, Akram's file was closed or he was taking off whatever list he was on. I wonder if that kept him from showing up further down the pipeline into the US.
#5
Since Illegals can show Arrest Warrants for TSA ID purposes, perhaps he showed his "Watchlist" documents to get to board a flight here? Makes as much sense
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/20/2022 13:38 Comments ||
Top||
#6
How long before "rap sheet" becomes a synonym for "green card - the long form?"
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/20/2022 13:39 Comments ||
Top||
The Times on Thursday said Akram had twice been referred to a British government program called Prevent, which aims to dissuade people seen as vulnerable to radicalization.
It cited sources as saying Akram was referred in 2016 and 2019 over “concerns about his anti-Western and conservative Islamic views.” But it was unclear whether he engaged with the voluntary scheme, the daily added.
[OneIndia] Has anyone actually listened to a Hindu chant?
Drones continue to be the biggest security threat with Pakistain procuring a large number of them from the Chinese.
The Intelligence Agencies have time and again warned that Pakistain would look to hit India with drones. One such attack was reported in Jammu last year. The agencies say that Pakistain could look to replicate a UAE kind of strike in which drones were used.
In January the Intelligence Bureau had said that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba held a meeting of its top commanders in Pakistain during which their drone strategy against India was discussed.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/20/2022 00:00 ||
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[Rudaw] Over a thousand people from northeast Syria (Rojava) migrated illegally to the Kurdistan Region earlier this month, fleeing insecurity, economic crisis and unemployment. However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... they spend their days and nights in a Duhok camp without stoves.
Baradarash camp in Duhok province hosts 1,222 refugees who arrived in the last week from Rojava. However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... they have not received stoves and oil to warm themselves up with. Instead, they use blankets to survive freezing weather.
They migrated to the Kurdistan Region for various reasons, notably the economic crisis at home.
Sadiqa Shukri is from Kobane. She and her three children use blankets to warm themselves up in their small tent.
"They keep crying [at night], saying that they are cold. They hug me to warm up and I bring them blankets," she told Rudaw on Tuesday.
The newly-arrived refugees include 456 people who came alone. Three to five of them live in a tent.
Water entered the tent of Issa Hawas and his friends.
"Our blankets and pillows became wet. The snow caused us to suffer a lot. We waited until morning to dry up our goods," he told Rudaw.
Camp administration says stoves and oil will be distributed soon.
"We have a plan for cold weather. Firstly, we will distribute 25,000 litres of oil through [Directorate of Migration and Crisis Response] DMCR to the refugees. We will also distribute stoves in the near future," Aram Hadi, manager of Bardarash Camp, said.
[IsraelTimes] Eviction is first to take place in flashpoint Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood since 2017; city hall says it will use plot to build special needs school for Paleostinians, kindergartens
Israeli police evicted a Paleostinian family and demolished their home in the flashpoint East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah before dawn on Wednesday, arresting 18 Paleostinians and Israeli activists at the scene.
The Jerusalem city hall said it plans to build a special needs school for the neighborhood’s Paleostinian residents on the plot, as well as six kindergartens and other public facilities.
Continued on Page 49
Once again the Biden administration sides with those who flout law and order. In this case, Arabs who have refused since 1968 to pay any rent on apartments that don’t belong to them.
[IsraelTimes] US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield references the eviction and demolition this morning in the flashpoint Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem in comments to the UN Security Council.
“To make progress, both Israel and the Palestinian Authority must refrain from unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions and undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution,” Thomas-Greenfield says. “That includes annexations of territory, settlement activity, demolitions, and evictions – like what we saw in Sheikh Jarrah – incitement to violence, and providing compensation for individuals imprisoned for acts of terrorism.”
Her statement marks the first public comments from the US on the eviction, which was the first in that neighborhood since 2017.
In response, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan tells the council that the family evicted is “a family that stole public lands for their own private use… This is a municipal issue that has gone through all the respective channels of the independent Israeli legal system.”
Thomas-Greenfield also references the synagogue hostage situation in Colleyville, Texas, over the weekend.
“The harrowing events in Colleyville, Texas, this past weekend… reminds us that we all must work together to stand against antisemitism and extremism,” she says. “The United States will continue to champion justice for victims of antisemitism, and for Holocaust survivors and their descendants.”
She also references the new makeup of the UN Security Council, after Tunisia and others finished their terms earlier this month, and the United Arab Emirates, among others, joined.
“For the first time in many years, all members of this Council have diplomatic relations with the State of Israel,” says Thomas-Greenfield. “This is a testament to the important shifts underway in the Middle East, and indicative of Israel’s contributions on the world stage. Let us avail ourselves of this opportunity to move beyond our standard talking points and identify ways to support the parties in pursuit of a sustainable and lasting peace for all of their people.”
[IsraelTimes] Six people are arrested during a protest outside Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon’s home against an eviction and home demolition in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem earlier today.
More than 100 left-wing protesters, including Meretz MK Mossi Raz, gathered outside Leon’s home to protest the eviction.
Activists say that similar protests are taking place around the country, including outside the home of Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz. Attendees, including Raz, complain of police pushing and shoving them during the protest.
"I came with dozens of protesters to protest outside the home of Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon in Rehavia about the terrible eviction of the Salihya family," Raz tweets. "The police are acting with violence, detaining non-violent mostly peaceful protesters and they shoved me."
A spokeswoman for Raz says he intends to appeal to Public Security Minister Omer Barlev about the alleged police violence.
Around 3 a.m. this morning, the Salihya family was evicted by police from the home that the state says was built illegally, following a protracted legal battle and several-day standoff.
The Turkish version of sowing their fields with salt.
[NPASYRIA] The Ottoman Turkish-backed Sham Legion cut down, on Tuesday, more than 100 olive trees owned by residents of villages affiliated with Sherawa district in the countryside of Afrin, north of Aleppo.
Militants of the faction cut down 50 olive trees in the village of Basofan that are owned by Zakyya Merzo, a resident of the village, a local source told North Press.
"The turbans of the faction also cut down 75 olive trees in the village of Fafertin that are owned by Khalil Nasotka, a resident of the village," the source added.
The Ottoman Turkish-backed armed factions cut down olive trees and turn them into firewood to sell them in local markets of Afrin or export them to areas held by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... (HTS, formerly al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front).
The city of Afrin and its villages, north of Aleppo, have been controlled by Ottoman Turkish forces and the affiliated factions since March 2018.
Since then, the region has been witnessing ongoing security chaos accompanied by infighting among turbans of the Ottoman Turkish-backed factions, arrests, and kidnappings amid the factions’ disability to settle the security and spread safety.
That’s like wishing for world peace... and as effective.
[An Nahar] The International Support Group for Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...The land area formerly occupied by the state of Lebanon, before that Phoenicia... (ISG) said Wednesday that it has taken note of steps to reconvene the Council of Ministers, urging the resumption of its meetings as soon as possible."The ISG urges expeditious and effective government decisions to initiate the direly needed reforms as well as measures, among which the swift adoption of a budget for 2022, that would enable an agreement with the IMF to support a way out of the macro-economic and fiscal crises," it said in a statement.
It further called on the Government of Lebanon to take the necessary steps to "ensure fair, transparent and inclusive elections in May 2022 as scheduled, including by enabling the Supervisory Commission for Elections to carry out its mandate."
As for the Beirut port blast investigations, the ISG reiterated its call for :justice and accountability through a transparent and independent investigation" and for "the respect of the independence of the judiciary."
The ISG also emphasized that it "continues to stand by Lebanon and its people."
The International Support Group has brought together the U.N. and the governments of China, La Belle France, Germany, Italia, Russia, the UK and the U.S., together with the EU and the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... . It was launched in 2013 by the U.N. Secretary-General with former President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... to help mobilize support and assistance for Lebanon’s stability, illusory sovereignty and state institutions.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2022 00:00 ||
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#1
Looking at the headline, I had Bee. It's Lebanon, fer cripes sake!
[An Nahar] A U.N. agency appealed Wednesday to the international community to donate tens of millions of dollars to help improve living conditions for Paleostinians in crisis-hit Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...a formerly French, now an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. ... .The appeal by the agency for Paleostinian refugees, or UNRWA, is asking for an additional $87.5 million is to provide Paleostinian refugees with cash assistance to the poorest, cover hospital expenses, as well as transportation for children so that they can go to school. Maybe they could use the bomber's allocation?
UNRWA says more than 210,000 Paleostinian refugees are among the most vulnerable and that some basic commodities have become out of reach for many as Lebanon sinks deeper into the economic meltdown. It added that more than 58% of Paleostinian refugees here have reduced the numbers of meals they eat every day.
About 400,000 Paleostinian refugees and their descendants mostly live in a dozen refugee camps in Lebanon, set up for those who fled or were pushed out during fighting surrounding Israel's creation in 1948. An additional 27,000 Paleostinians fled from Syria over the past decade during its deadly civil war.
The Paleostinians in Lebanon are prohibited from working in professional jobs, have few legal protections and cannot own property.
Paleostinian refugee Hiam Habib said UNRWA's assistance was dropping while everything becomes so much more expensive. She spoke from the Paleostinian refugee camp of Burj al-Barajneh in southern Beirut, a few miles away from UNRWA's offices.
"We urge UNRWA to find solutions for us otherwise I will end up with my family in the street," she said, sitting next to an electric heater, turned on to minimum power because it was working on a neighborhood's private generator.
Lebanon's crisis erupted in October 2019, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the ruling class. It has left tens of thousands of people jobless, and nearly 80% of the country's population of 6 million, including about 1.5 million Syrian and Paleostinian refugees, live in poverty. The Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its value, wiping out the purchasing power of middle class and low-income families.
"The situation is dire," said Claudio Cordone, director of UNRWA Affairs, Lebanon. He called on the agency's partners to work together to help so that Paleostinian refugees, "wherever they are, can live in dignity as they deserve."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2022 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Protesters and activists on Wednesday staged a sit-in outside the Justice Palace in Beirut in solidarity with a tossed in the slammer Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! man who took hostages Tuesday at a Bekaa bank and forced employees to give him $50,000 in cash from his own account.The man, Abdallah al-Sahi, had turned himself in to security forces after obtaining the money. Bekaa prosecutor Judge Munif Barakat later issued a decision ordering the confiscation of the $50,000.
Al-Sahi announced a hunger strike on Wednesday according to media reports.
As al-Sahi’s move won praise on social media, the head of the depositors association, Hassan Mughniyyeh, accused the judiciary of collusion with the banks.
"We won’t allow that Abdallah al-Sahi be persecuted," Mughniyeh added, revealing that he had called the man’s sister and agreed with her that the sum of money "would not be handed over no matter what happens."
The Association of Banks in Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady days of human sacrifice to Baal Moloch... meanwhile condemned "the repeated attacks that have recently targeted a number of branches, endangering employees’ lives."
In a statement, the Association condemned "all forms of violence," warning that "attempted murder or even threatening to burn employees alive are acts that cannot be justified nor accepted under any circumstances."
"The recovery of deposits has one path: a comprehensive recovery plan that would revive the country through which the state would preserve depositors’ money," ABL added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2022 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
[An Nahar] The International Support Group for 
...a formerly French, now an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. ...
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady days of human sacrifice to Baal Moloch...
