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Transport Topics / November 30, 2015 FedEx Corp and Dutch counterpart TNT Express have won U.S. antitrust permission to merge, according to a listing of approved deals the Federal Trade Commission issued Nov. 24. The European Union has yet to sign off on the proposed transaction, although the companies have said they received assurances that EU antitrust regulators would allow it to go forward. In early November, the companies announced that the FedEx tender offer had been extended until Jan. 8 to allow more time for completion of regulatory reviews in countries such as China and Brazil. The companies announced in April that FedEx would buy TNT for $4.9 billion in order to better compete in Europe. The deal should catapult FedEx to second place in Europe behind Deutsche Post's DHL.

Russia arms Su-34s with air-to-air missiles in Syria for 1st time Russian Su-34 bombers, additionally equipped with air-to-air missiles, have set out on their first mission in Syria. The decision results from the downing of a Russian Su-24 bomber by Turkish F-16s on November 24. “Today, Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers have made their first sortie equipped not only with high explosive aviation bombs and hollow charge bombs, but also with short- and medium-range air-to-air missiles," said Igor Klimov, spokesman for the Russian Air Force. "The planes are equipped with missiles for defensive purposes," he added. The missiles have target-seeking devices and are “capable of hitting air targets within a 60km radius,” he said.

Isis: The munitions trail The Financial Times / November 30, 2015 As a known arms dealer for rebels fighting Isis in his east Syrian home town, Abu Ali was sure his days were numbered when, a year ago, two jihadi commanders stepped out of their pickup truck and walked towards him. He was baffled when they handed him a printed paper. “It read, ‘This person is permitted to buy and sell all types of weaponry inside the Islamic State,’” recalls Abu Ali. “It was even stamped ‘Mosul Centre’.” Rather than being detained or expelled as they had feared when the jihadi group swept through eastern Syria last year, many black-market traders such as Abu Ali were courted by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis). They were absorbed into a complex system of supply and demand that keeps the world’s richest jihadi group stocked with munitions across a self-proclaimed “caliphate” spanning half of Syria and a third of Iraq. “They buy like mad. They buy every day: morning, afternoon and night,” says Abu Ali, who, like others who have operated inside Isis territories, asked not to be identified by his real name. Isis seized hundreds of millions dollars worth of weapons when it captured Iraq’s second city, Mosul, in the summer of 2014. Since then, in every battle that it has won, it has acquired more material. Its arsenal includes US-made Abrams tanks, M16 rifles, MK-19 40mm grenade launchers (seized from the Iraqi army) and Russian M-46 130mm field guns (taken from Syrian forces). But dealers say despite this, there is one thing Isis still needs: ammunition. Most in demand are rounds for Kalashnikov assault rifles, medium-calibre machine guns and 14.5mm and 12.5mm anti-aircraft guns. Isis also buys rocket-propelled grenades and sniper bullets, but in smaller quantities. It is difficult to calculate the exact sums involved in Isis’s multimillion dollar munitions trade. Earlier this year, skirmishes along the front lines near the eastern city of Deir Ezzor — just one of many Isis battlefields — required at least $1m-worth of munitions each month, according to interviews with fighters and dealers. A week-long December offensive on the nearby airport alone required another $1m, they said. Isis’s need for ammunition reflects its battle tactics: the group relies heavily on truck bombs, suicide vests and improvised explosives during both advances and retreats. But the fast-paced fighting in between — mostly with Kalashnikovs and truck-mounted machine guns — can consume tens of thousands of bullets in a single day. Fighters say that ammunition trucks resupply various front lines every day. To secure this supply, Isis runs a complex logistics operation, which fighters say is so critical that it is directly overseen by the higher military council that is part of the group’s top leadership. This is similar to the way it controls the trade in oil, the group’s main source of revenue. The best sources of ammunition are Isis’s enemies. Pro-government militia in Iraq sell some supplies to black marketeers, who then sell on to Isis dealers. Most of all, Isis fighters rely on their rivals in Syria’s three-way war between President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and the rebels fighting to topple both him and Isis. This is where Syrian arms dealers play a critical role. Abu Ali fled when asked to join their ranks but Abu Omar, a veteran black marketeer in his sixties, plunged into the trade. “We could buy from the regime, the Iraqis, the rebels — if we could buy from the Israelis, they wouldn’t care, as long as they got the weapons,” says Abu Omar. Speaking to the Financial Times while knocking back whiskies at a bar in Turkey, he recounts his year as a gunrunner for Isis. He abandoned the trade in August, he says, after deciding Isis was “oppressive”. Isis commanders provide stamped IDs for traders who have been officially approved by two members of Isis’s security branches. The group then imposes an exclusivity clause: the gun-runners can move freely and ply their trade — as long as Isis is the only customer. The jihadis’ opponents are intrigued by the group’s ability to move huge supplies of munitions quickly during fighting. In northern Iraq, Kurdish peshmerga fighters recovered detailed documents of weapons and ammunition shipments outlining orders that had been made for the battles that had just ended. “Within 24 hours, the ammunition was sent to them by car,” says one security official in Iraq, who asked not to be named. Fighters and dealers credit the speed to the jihadis’ communications systems. A roving “committee” appointed by the top military council in Iraq speaks constantly with weapons “centres” in each province, they say, which in turn take requests from military emirs. Exchanges between emirs and the “centres” can sometimes be heard on walkie-talkie frequencies by their enemies. From the Iraqi-Syrian border, Kurdish peshmerga fighters huddle around a device tuned to a crackling Isis frequency, as fighters shout for “kebab”, “chicken tikka” and “salad”. “Kebab is probably a heavy machine gun,” says Abu Ahmad, a rebel commander from eastern Syria who fought under Isis until he fled to Turkey this summer. “The salad would be Kalashnikov ammunition. You’ve got explosive bullets, penetrating bullets — a mix, just like salad,” he laughs. Abu Omar says he contacted the centres using WhatsApp, the mobile texting service. Every few days the roving committee issues price lists that the centres use for the bullets and grenades that are most in demand. The centre to which Abu Omar reported would text him any price updates. Dealers say their commission ranged from 10 to 20 per cent. Prices are rising as US-backed coalition fighters drive the group farther from the Turkish border, limiting potential smuggling routes, Abu Ahmad told the FT. Isis has issued more licences to boost competition and lower prices, one dealer complained, leading arms traders to jostle for the same deals. Most munitions come from Syria, now a source of weapons for the wider region. Gulf backers send their favourite rebel groups truckloads of munitions over the Turkish border. Corrupt fighters divert some to local dealers; the border provinces of Idlib and Aleppo have now become the biggest black market in the country, say locals. Ideology hardly matters after five years of war, Abu Ahmad says. “Some (dealers) even hate Isis. But that doesn’t matter when it comes to making a profit.” Dealers use a network of drivers and smugglers to hide munitions in trucks delivering civilian goods such as vegetables and materials for construction. “You have trucks moving in and out like crazy. They are always using things that aren’t suspect,” says Abu Ahmad. “Fuel trucks are used a lot, because they come back to Isis territory empty.” Munitions from Moscow and Tehran that are meant for Mr Assad are another top source of weaponry bought on the black market, often in areas such as southern Suwaida. “They like Russian products,” says Abu Omar. “The Iranian stuff they will buy — but only cheaply.” In an area with few economic opportunities left, stopping the trade becomes all the more challenging. Every time an arms trader flees, many more are desperate for a chance to make money. “Today, it’s all about money. Nobody cares who you are . . . They just care about the dollar,” said Abu Omar. ISIS Bombs The bombs that have made Isis infamous in battle are also the most difficult part of the group’s supply chain to disrupt. Experts at the UK-based Conflict Armament Research group (CAR), which has been working with the Kurdistan Region Security Council in Iraq to track Isis munitions, say Isis buys and uses almost anything to make bombs. “We’ve seen everything from mobile phones and Motorola walkie-talkies to garage door openers and circuit boards of laptops,” says James Bevan, director of CAR, which is tracking Isis ammunitions and explosives on abandoned battlegrounds with the support of the Kurdistan Region Security Council in Iraq. Many of the goods that the group is buying — such as electronics that are made into bomb triggers — are so innocuous they are near-impossible to control. Other materials, such as aluminium oxide and fertiliser, which CAR has found to be chemicals that Isis often seeks beyond its borders, have legitimate commercial uses in mining or agriculture, making them difficult to to crack down on. These materials come from all over the world, says one Iraqi official: “Just put your finger on a map, and they’ve got something from there.” There are a number of conduits used to get these materials to Isis. The biggest by far is Turkey. CAR discovered that some Turkish companies buying demolition and mining materials, for example, are selling to clients who then secretly pass them on to the jihadi group. The range of materials that Isis accesses through its frontmen gives a sense of how difficult it is to stop the flow. The FT has discovered the case of a businessman in the southern Turkish town of Akcakale who disappeared four months ago after it was discovered he was purchasing plumbing pipes and fertiliser that his employees say were sent on to Isis. CAR has also documented cases of chemicals and agricultural products such fertiliser coming into Isis hands after passing through Lebanon and Iraq. The group uses these materials to make large quantities of bombs. CAR researchers entered an abandoned bomb facility in Iraq with Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces and found enough explosives to fill half a 20-foot shipping container. Abu Ahmed, a rebel commander who fought with Isis for a year, says the group even has facilities to make armour for the vehicles that it makes into car bombs. “They want to be sure the suicide bomber driving the car reaches his target without being shot,” he says. “Whereas I’ve almost never seen them armour the vehicles they actually use to drive around.” .

U.S. tightens visa waiver program in wake of Paris attacks Reuters / November 30, 2015 The White House announced changes to the U.S. visa waiver program on Monday so that security officials can more closely screen travelers from 38 countries allowed to enter the United States without obtaining visas before they travel. Andorra Australia Austria Belgium Brunei Chile Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Japan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Monaco Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal San Marino Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan United Kingdom Under the new measures, which were prompted by the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris by Islamic State militants, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would immediately start to collect more information from travelers about past visits to countries such as Syria and Iraq, the White House said. The changes will "enhance our ability to thwart terrorist attempts to travel on lost or stolen passports," says White House spokesman Josh Earnest. The DHS would also look at pilot programs for collecting biometric information such as fingerprints from visa waiver travelers, the White House said. The DHS would also ask Congress for additional powers, including the authority to increase fines for air carriers that fail to verify passport data, and the ability to require all travelers to use passports with embedded security chips, the White House said. The White House also wants to expand the use of a "preclearance program" in foreign airports to allow U.S. border officials to collect and screen biometric information before visa waiver travelers can board airplanes to the United States. Republican Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Leader, said on Monday that lawmakers were interested in requiring all countries in the waiver program to issue “e-passports” with chips and biometrics. One change would be to make sure that passengers were screened against a database of lost and stolen passports. After the Paris attacks, the House passed a bill that would bar refugees from Syria and Iraq from entering the United States until security officials certify that they are not threats. The bill would cripple Obama's plan to accept 10,000 refugees in the next year and he has vowed to veto it. But the White House has decided to [ignore the congressional bill barring refugees and] give regular updates to state governors about refugees who resettle in their states, Earnest said. U.S. officials have quietly acknowledged that they are far more worried about the possibility that would-be attackers from the Islamic State or other militant groups could enter the United States as travelers from visa waiver countries rather than as Syrian refugees. The U.S. government [allegedly] takes 18 to 24 months to screen would-be Syrian refugees before they are allowed to board flights to the United States. In contrast, an estimated 20 million people fly to the United States each year from visa waiver countries such as France and Britain. Officials have acknowledged that a European traveling to Syria to train with a group like Islamic State might be able to later enter the United States without significant scrutiny, if they are not already known to U.S. intelligence or partners such as Britain’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 or France's DGSI.

Newborn buried alive under rubble, abandoned Associated Press / November 29, 2015 The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department on Saturday found a newborn baby buried alive near the Los Angeles River in Compton, California. Police responded to calls on Friday around 4 p.m. after passersby heard the cries of a child along the bike path that runs at the edge of the LA River. As searched, deputies heard a baby’s muffled cry and located a newborn baby girl buried alive under pieces of asphalt and rubble inside a crevice located along a bike path. Deputies removed the rubble and pulled the baby out. The baby girl, believed to be 24 to 36 hours old when found, was wrapped in a blanket and cold to the touch. Deputy Adam Collette says that when he removed asphalt and rubble covering the child and held her, he could see the relief in her face. The girl was triaged at the scene and taken to the hospital for observation. Doctors say the baby might have died within hours had she not been discovered. The mother, Porche Laronda Washington, 33, was arrested Thursday and is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood. Washington faces charges of attempted murder and child endangerment.

New York woman murders newborn Associated Press / November 30, 2015 A young woman gave birth in a convenience store where she worked, killed the baby and dumped his body in a garbage bin outside, authorities said Monday. Tara Tomlin, 20, of Livingston, was charged with second-degree murder on Saturday, a day after state police say her newborn son's body was found in a plastic bag in a trash bin outside an Xtra Mart in her Hudson Valley hometown. Troopers said they found the body early Friday during a search that was prompted by a 911 call from someone saying he suspected there was a baby outside the store. An autopsy determined the baby died from asphyxiation, police said. Tomlin was being held without bail Monday in the Columbia County Jail.

Clinton vows hundreds of billions for infrastructure, jobs Associated Press / November 29, 2015 Hillary Clinton unveiled the first piece of a new jobs agenda on Sunday, promising hundreds of billions of dollars in fresh federal spending in an effort to compete with the liberal economic policies of her primary challengers. Her initial proposal, a $275 billion infrastructure plan, falls short of the $1 trillion pledged by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to rebuild the nation's crumbling bridges, ports, highways and airports. But it marks an effort by Clinton to fulfill her party's desire to use national programs to boost the middle class without alienating independent voters more concerned with increasing the federal deficit. Already Clinton has proposed an array of new federal programs, including a $350 billion college affordability plan. Other new policies, like universal pre-K, combating substance abuse and expanding family leave, could add hundreds of billions in spending. Clinton aides say her economic initiatives will be the most expensive of her campaign and plan to roll out proposals for new investments in manufacturing and research in the coming weeks. On Sunday, Clinton added a pledge to give all American households access to high-speed Internet by 2020. So far, she's offered few specifics about how she'd fund her plans. Her campaign said that her infrastructure proposal would be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes but didn't detail which breaks would be targeted. At the same time, Clinton has pledged to roll out hundreds of billions of dollars in middle-class tax cuts, saying she'd increase taxes on the wealthy to fund the new breaks. She's vowed not to raise taxes on families earning less than $250,000 a year, using that pledge to draw a contrast with Sanders. Clinton says Sanders would require middle-class Americans to pay higher taxes to fund his single-payer health care plan, a charge his campaign disputes. "I'm the only Democrat in this race pledged to raise your income, not your taxes," Clinton said. But Sanders argues that Americans want the federal government to do more to help working Americans, who've spent years struggling through a sluggish economic recovery. His policies include a $750 billion debt-free college plan and $5.5 billion youth jobs program. He's not detailed the cost of his single-payer health care plan, but his campaign says it would save taxpayers money in the long run because it would eliminate wasteful health spending. "Let me also say that if these were normal times, many people in our country could be supportive of establishment politics, establishment economics and establishment foreign policy," he told New Hampshire Democrats. "But these are not normal times." Clinton's infrastructure proposal allocates $250 billion in direct investment by the federal government over the next five years. An additional $25 billion would fund a national infrastructure bank, an idea unveiled by President Barack Obama in his first term that has been blocked repeatedly by congressional Republicans. The bank would support $225 billion in loans intended to spur private investment in struggling projects, adding a total of $500 billion in new infrastructure funds into the economy, Clinton’s campaign estimates.

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Associated Press / November 29, 2015 Somewhere in America, a tractor-trailer loaded with hidden surveillance equipment is parked at a truck stop or warehouse while authorities wait for thieves to steal it. No one is sure when, or even if, crooks will take it. But such "sting trailers" have been successful in busting up crime rings and recovering pilfered merchandise. "It's like fishing," said D.Z. Patterson, an investigator for Travelers insurance. "You've got your worm in the water, but there are hundreds of other worms out there. They have to pick yours." Cargo theft has become a huge problem that the FBI says causes $15 billion to $30 billion in losses each year in the U.S. Law enforcement and the insurance industry are fighting back by tempting thieves with "sting trailers" laden with cameras and GPS tracking devices, hidden within both the trailers and the inventory they contain. The prevention efforts aren't new, but the reason for them is particularly acute during the holiday shopping season, when such thefts tend to increase as crooks look to score from retailers loading up on merchandise, according to FreightWatch International, a security company based in Austin, Texas. Over time, the sting trailers have given authorities a glimpse into how this breed of thief operates and helped truck owners improve security. Thieves prefer nondescript trailers that would be hard to identify after being stolen, so it's best if a brand name or distinctive markings are emblazoned on the sides. Hidden cameras have recorded which locks are problematic for crooks, leading anti-fraud specialists to recommend truck owners install the highest-tech locks. And, officials have learned, it's better to hide GPS tracking systems as best you can, because the criminals know what they look like and how to disable them. New York-based Travelers Cos., which has a large office in Hartford, believes it is the only insurance company using a sting trailer, though a handful of others are used by law enforcement agencies and retail and trucking companies. Its trailer was developed in 2008 at the company's Windsor, Connecticut, lab and is equipped with $100,000 worth of surveillance gear. Law enforcement agencies nationwide have used it hundreds of times, resulting in dozens of arrests. "The primary purpose is to assist law enforcement in targeting organized cargo rings," said Scott Cornell, a theft investigator for Travelers. "Every time the sting trailer breaks up a ring ... every trucking company or anyone in supply chain that moves cargo in that area benefits. It has clearly reduced thefts in areas where there have been arrests." But the effect is never permanent, he said. "If you take out a ring, you may see reduced thefts for six, eight, 10 months, but another group is going to move in," he said. Some criminals have countered efforts with technology that can jam a tracking device's signal, said Steve Covey, a commercial fraud investigator with the National Insurance Crime Bureau. The nonprofit group, based in Des Plaines, Illinois, works with law enforcement agencies and insurance companies to prevent theft. "They figure out what they have to defeat, so they do their homework and try something new, and maybe that will work for a while," Covey said. "And maybe the companies will come up with something to fix that problem. It keeps mushrooming." Getting even bolder, thieves have been using identity theft and bogus documents to pose as drivers for real companies to pick up trailers of goods at warehouses, according to Covey and Scott Cornell, a Travelers theft investigator. There were 152 cargo thefts nationwide in July, August and September, a 24 percent drop from the same months last year, FreightWatch reported this month. But the average value per cargo theft, nearly $200,000, increased 7 percent from April, May and June. New Mexico state police and the National Insurance Crime Bureau in January used Travelers' trailer to try to catch thieves looting trucks along Interstate 40 in Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma. The trailer, loaded with Bose speakers equipped with tracking devices as an extra precaution, sat there for days before thieves came calling. They took some of the cargo and put it in their own truck just east of Albuquerque. Authorities later learned the suspects would start in California with an empty truck and load it up with goods stolen from trucks all along I-40. Police tracked the stolen speakers to a rental storage center in Lyon Township, Michigan, where a state trooper found two suspects, a tractor-trailer and two rental units filled with stolen electronics and other goods. At the nearby home of one of the suspects, authorities found more than $1 million worth of merchandise and other items they believe were bought with proceeds from thefts, including a $500,000 Ferrari. In 2013, the Travelers trailer was taken by members of a Miami-based group that was stealing cargo in eastern Pennsylvania and taking it to sell in New Jersey, Cornell said. Two people were arrested after driving the trailer into New Jersey.

Fleet Owner / November 27, 2015 A new rule to protect drivers from being compelled to violate federal safety regulations is set to publish Monday in the Federal Register. Known as the “driver coercion” rule, it provides the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) with the authority to go after not only carriers, but also shippers, receivers, and transportation intermediaries. “This Rule enables us to take enforcement action against anyone in the transportation chain who knowingly and recklessly jeopardizes the safety of the driver and of the motoring public,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. The final rule, to take effect 60 days following its publication, addresses three key areas: procedures for commercial truck and bus drivers to report incidents of coercion to the FMCSA, steps the agency could take when responding to such allegations, and penalties that may be imposed on entities found to have coerced drivers. “Any time a motor carrier, shipper, receiver, freight-forwarder, or broker demands that a schedule be met, one that the driver says would be impossible without violating hours-of-service restrictions or other safety regulations, that is coercion,” said FMCSA Acting Administrator Scott Darling. “No commercial driver should ever feel compelled to bypass important federal safety regulations and potentially endanger the lives of all travelers on the road.” In formulating this Rule, the agency heard from commercial drivers who reported being pressured to violate safety regulations with “implicit or explicit threats” of job termination, denial of subsequent trips or loads, reduced pay, forfeiture of favorable work hours or transportation jobs, or other direct retaliations, the agency says. Some of the FMCSA regulations drivers reported being coerced into violating included: hours-of-service limitations designed to prevent fatigued driving, commercial driver’s license (CDL) requirements, drug and alcohol testing, the transportation of hazardous materials, and commercial regulations applicable to, among others, interstate household goods movers and passenger carriers. And while Congress in MAP-21 called on FMCSA to address the matter, particularly with regard to time lost at the shipping dock, many in the industry have felt driver coercion is a complex problem best solved in the marketplace. “With the looming shortage of drivers, the market economy will dictate that those shippers that tie up drivers and tractors aren’t going to be well served by the trucking industry,” Transplace CEO Tom Sanderson told Fleet Owner recently. “Trucking companies today, more so than ever, will not put up with any kind of abuse or coercion by a shipper or broker of their drivers.” The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Assn. (OOIDA), however, in its formal comments on the rule applauded FMCSA “for taking the important step of recognizing the direct impact of economic conditions in the trucking industry” on highway safety. “The marketplace demands for just-in-time shipping and greater transportation efficiency have meant ever increasing pressure to perform on one party, the driver,” OOIDA said. “This is the first time this agency has attempted to address the causes of violations of the motor carrier safety rules, rather than merely interdicting violations after they have occurred. This is a completely untapped area for substantial improvements in motor carrier safety.” More information on what constitutes coercion and how to submit a complaint is available on the FMCSA website.

Terry Dotson, now there's an icon from the days of Mack Trucks, Inc.

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Figures from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) show the United States has issued green cards to 680,000 immigrants from Muslim countries over the last five years. The figure, higher than the population of Washington, DC, will repeat itself in the next five years unless immigration policies are changed, according to the DHS. In response to the 24 state governors who have vowed to block efforts to resettle Syrian refugees in their states following the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) director Robert Carey sent out a letter this week proclaiming that states cannot deny benefits and services to refugees based on their nationality or religion, meaning Syrians cannot be discriminated against. The letter said states that do not comply with the requirement would be breaking the law and could be subject to enforcement action, including suspension or termination of the federally funded program. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Per Senator Jeff Sessions: According to published Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data, the U.S. issued 680,000 green cards to migrants from Muslim-majority countries in the five-year period from FY2009 through FY2013. Among those receiving green cards are individuals admitted to the United States as refugees, who must apply for adjustment to Lawful Permanent Resident (green card) status within 1 year of admission. Refugees have instant access to federal welfare and entitlements, along with local benefits and education services; these costs are not offset. 680,000 is not an estimate of total migration, as it does not include temporary migrants who return home, nor is it an estimate of population change, as it does not include births or deaths, among other considerations. Assuming no change in visa policy, the U.S. can expect to give green cards to another 680,000 more migrants from these countries over the next five years. A green card entitles recipients to access federal benefits, lifetime residency, work authorization, and a direct route to becoming a U.S. citizen. The numbers could be higher still: Census Bureau data shows migration from the Middle East to be one of the fastest-growing categories. Additionally, if left in place, the President’s refugee plan would substantially boost the annual number of migrants from this region admitted to the U.S. who, in turn, would be able to petition for their relatives to migrate to the U.S. in the future. Refugee and asylee admissions from Iraq, Somalia, and Iran alone contributed 124,000 individuals from FY09-FY13. Related reading - http://www.sessions.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2015/11/subcommittee-chart-u-s-issued-680-000-green-cards-to-migrants-from-muslim-nations-over-the-last-five-years .

Too often, discussions of any one particular immigration program lack broader numerical context. Refugee admissions, asylees, and parolees are all additional to our huge annual intake of 1 million green card holders, the 700,000 foreign workers and the 500,000 foreign students. So before addressing the policy question of whether or not to admit additional groups of refugees, we should first consider our broader immigration situation. Senator Jeff Sessions Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnkzi9bZ6Xw ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Senator Jeff Sessions Says 12 Asylum Seekers Planned Attacks International Business Times / November 26, 2015 In an attempt to block President Obama's plan to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees next year, Senator Jeff Sessions has given 12 examples where radicalized refugees that have slipped through the cracks. The Alabama Republican released the list ahead of the December appropriations debate, during which Congress will decide how much federal money to give the president's refugee program. Since the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, Republicans have been raising concerns the U.S. could be the target of terror attacks from Syrian refugees admitted into the country as asylum-seekers. On the list is a Bosnian refugee who traveled to Syria to join ISIS just eleven days after becoming a U.S. citizen, and six of his countrymen who supported terrorists financially from back in the States. Senator Sessions' list includes refugees who have been arrested or indicted in the past year for aiding terrorist organizations, and include displaced people from Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kenya, and Bosnia. The 12 refugees arrested, indicted or convicted in year 2015 for terror charges: A warrant has been out for Liban Haji Mohamed's arrest since January, for providing material support to the terrorist groups Al-Shabab and Al-Qaeda. The 29-year-old is believed to have fled the country to join Al-Shabab in Eastern Africa three years ago, via the Mexican border after being put on a no-fly list. A former taxi-cab driver in Washington, DC, Mohamed first came to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia. Carl Ghattas, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Washington, D.C. Field Office, said it was important to locate Mohamed 'because he has knowledge of the Washington, D.C. area’s infrastructure such as shopping areas, Metro, airports, and government buildings . . . [t]his makes him an asset to his terrorist associates who might plot attacks on U.S. soil.' Abdinassir Mohamud Ibrahim moved to the United States as a refugee from Somalia in 2007 at the age of 22. In February, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for providing material support to Al-Shabab. He also admitted to lying on his refugee application, saying he was a member of the minority Awer clan in Somalia that was being persecuted by the majority Hawiye clan. In fact, Ibrahim was part of the Hawiye clan and related 'to known Somali terrorists'. Abdullah Ramo Pazara came to the U.S. as a Bosnian refugee and left to fight with ISIS in Syria just eleven days after officially becoming an American citizen in 2013. Pazara has not been charged with supporting a foreign terrorist organization because he is believed to be dead, however, six of his fellow Bosnian natives (follows) were arrested for supporting terrorism in the Middle East. According to reports, at the time of his death, Pazara had climbed the ISIS ranks to become a deputy to one of the organization's top commanders. Bosnian war hero Ramiz Zijad Hodzic, who came to the U.S. as a refugee, was charged in February with conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists, with providing material support to terrorists, and conspiring to kill and maim persons in a foreign country. According to the indictment, Hodzic purchased military equipment to give Pazara (number two on this list) to use when he joined ISIS including 'United States military uniforms, tactical combat boots, military surplus goods, tactical gear and clothing, firearms accessories, optical equipment and range finders, rifle scopes, equipment, and supplies'. Ramiz Zijad Hodzic's wife, Sedina Unkic Hodzic was also charged in February with conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists and providing material support to terrorists. Sedina, according to the indictment, raised funds for ISIS and wired the money abroad. She is also said to have shipped six boxes of U.S. military uniforms, combat boots, tactical clothing and gear, military surplus items, firearms accessories, rifle scopes, optical equipment, first aid supplies, and other equipment to foreign terrorists. Fellow Bosnian Armin Harcevic was charged in February with conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists, and with providing material support to terrorists. He allegedly collected money from third parties to sent to terrorists abroad. Like the other Bosnians, Nihad Rosic was charged in February with providing material support to foreign terrorists. But he is also believed to have been planning to leave the country in order to join jihadist in Syria as well. Before his arrest, Rosic was a truck driver and former mixed martial arts fighter, who had a criminal history including a charge for punching a woman in the face while she held a child and beating his girlfriend with a belt. Bosnian-born Mediha Medy Salkicevic worked at a cargo company operating out of Chicago's O'Hare airport before her arrest in February for providing material support to terrorists. She allegedly raised funds and then wired it to terrorists, along with her own money. Bosnian Jasminka Ramic faces charges of conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists and providing material support to terrorists. Abdurahman Yasin Daud was born in a refugee camp in Kenya, to a Somalian family, and eventually came to the U.S. at the age of nine, going on to become a permanent resident. He was arrested along with six others for attempting to flea the country to Syria to join ISIS, according to an criminal complaint filed in April. Guled Ali Omar was also born in a Kenyan refugee camp to Somalian parents and immigrated to the United States as a child. His older brother Ahmed Ali Omar, left the United States in 2007 to fight with Al-Shabab and another one of his brothers, Mohamed Ali Omar, was convicted in March for threatening federal agents. Omar himself was arrested in April for conspiracy and attempt to provide material support to ISIS. U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Andy Luger, said that Omar previously tried to leave the U.S. and 'never stopped plotting'. Fazliddin Kurbanov came to the U.S. with his family as a refugee from Uzbekistan in 2009. Kurbanov was reportedly born a Muslim, but his family later converted to Orthodox Christianity. When he came to the U.S., it's believed he converted back to Islam and radicalized. In August, he was found guilty on charges of conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization and possessing an unregistered destructive device. U.S. Assistant Attorney General John Carlin Kurbanov 'conspired to provide material support to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and procured bomb-making materials in the interest of perpetrating a terrorist attack on American soil.'

When the Russian bomber was shot down [over Syria], Russia sent out two "search and rescue" helicopters to save the flight crew. When one of the helicopters landed, it was blown up by militants with a U.S.-made TOW anti-tank missile. The American TOW missile system was provided to the militants by Saudi Arabia, and delivered via Turkey. Related reading - http://www.businessinsider.sg/syria-rebels-and-tow-missiles-2015-10/?r=US&IR=T

The story behind Thanksgiving – what really happened Most people associate the holiday with happy Pilgrims and Indians sitting down to a big feast. And that did happen - once. In 1614, a band of English explorers sailed home to England with a ship full of Patuxet Indians bound for slavery. They left behind smallpox in the New World which virtually wiped out those who had escaped. As a result of the smallpox, the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts Bay to find only one living Patuxet Indian, a man named Squanto who had survived slavery in England and learned English. He taught the Pilgrims to grow corn and to fish, and negotiated a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Nation. At the end of their first year, the Pilgrims held a great feast honoring Squanto and the Wampanoags. But as word spread in England about the paradise to be found in the new world, religious zealots called Puritans began arriving by the boat load. Finding no fences around the land, they considered it to be in the public domain. Joined by other British settlers, they seized land, capturing strong young Indians for slaves and murdered the rest. The Pequot Indian Nation however had not agreed to the peace treaty Squanto had negotiated and they fought back. The Pequot War was one of the bloodiest Indian wars ever fought. In 1637 near present day Groton, Connecticut, over 700 men, women and children of the Pequot Tribe had gathered for their annual Green Corn Festival which is our Thanksgiving celebration. In the predawn hours, the sleeping Indians were surrounded by English and Dutch mercenaries who ordered them to come outside. Those who came out were shot or clubbed to death while the terrified women and children who huddled inside the longhouse were burned alive. It was a massacre. The next day the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared "A Day Of Thanksgiving" because 700 unarmed men, women and children had been murdered. Cheered by their "victory", the brave colonists and their Indian allies attacked additional Pequot village. Women and children over 14 were sold into slavery while the rest were murdered. Boats loaded with a many as 500 slaves regularly left the ports of New England. Bounties were paid for Indian scalps to encourage as many deaths as possible. Following an especially successful raid against the Pequot in what is now Stamford, Connecticut, the churches announced a second day of "thanksgiving" to celebrate victory over the heathen savages. During the feasting, the hacked off heads of Natives were kicked through the streets like soccer balls. Even the friendly Wampanoag did not escape the madness. Their chief was decapitated, and his head hung on a pole in Plymouth, Massachusetts for 24 years. The killings became more and more frenzied, with days of thanksgiving feasts being held after each successful massacre. George Washington finally suggested that only one day of Thanksgiving per year be set aside instead of celebrating each and every massacre. Later Abraham Lincoln decreed Thanksgiving Day to be a legal national holiday during the Civil War -- on the same day he ordered troops to march against the starving Sioux Indians in Minnesota. The Wampanoag Indians were not the friendly Indians as is traditionally told. Nor were they invited out of the goodness of the Pilgrims' hearts to share the fruits of the Pilgrims' harvest in a demonstration of Christian charity and inter-racial brotherhood. The Wampanoag were members of a widespread confederacy of Algonkian-speaking peoples known as the League of the Delaware. For six hundred years, the Wampanoag Indians had been defending themselves from my other ancestors, the Iroquois, and for the last hundred years they had also had encounters with European fishermen and explorers but especially with European slavers, who had been raiding their coastal villages. They knew something of the power of the white people, and they did not fully trust them. But their religion taught that they were to give charity to the helpless and hospitality to anyone who came to them with empty hands. Also, Squanto, the Indian hero of the Thanksgiving story, had a very real love for a British explorer named John Weymouth, who had become a second father to him several years before the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth. Clearly, Squanto saw these Pilgrims as Weymouth's people. To the Pilgrims, the Indians were heathens and, therefore, the natural instruments of the Devil. Squanto, as the only educated and baptized Christian among the Wampanoag, was seen as merely an instrument of God, set in the wilderness to provide for the survival of His chosen people, the Pilgrims. The Indians were comparatively powerful and, therefore, dangerous; and they were to be courted until the next ships arrived with more Pilgrim colonists and the balance of power shifted. The Wampanoag were actually invited to that Thanksgiving feast for the purpose of negotiating a treaty that would secure the lands of the Plymouth Plantation for the Pilgrims. It should also be noted that the Indians, possibly out of a sense of charity toward their hosts, ended up bringing the majority of the food for the feast. A generation later, after the balance of power had indeed shifted, the Indian and White children of that Thanksgiving were striving to kill each other in the genocidal conflict known as King Philip's War. At the end of that conflict most of the New England Indians were either exterminated or refugees among the French in Canada, or they were sold into slavery in the Carolinas by the Puritans. This early trade in Indian slaves was so successful that several Puritan ship owners in Boston began the practice of raiding the Ivory Coast of Africa for black slaves to sell to the proprietary colonies of the South, thus founding the American-based slave trade.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had given prior information to the United States of the flight path of the plane downed by Turkey on the Syrian border. "The American side, which leads the coalition that Turkey belongs to, knew about the location and time of our planes' flights, and we were hit exactly there and at that time," Putin said at a joint press conference with French counterpart Francois Hollande in the Kremlin. Putin on Thursday dismissed as "rubbish" Turkey's claim that it would not have shot down the jet if it had known it was Russian. "They [our planes] have identification signs and these are well visible," Putin said. "Instead of [...] ensuring this never happens again, we are hearing unintelligible explanations and statements that there is nothing to apologize about." ------------------------------------------ “We have still not heard any comprehensible apologies from the Turkish political leaders or any offers to compensate for the damage caused or promises to punish the criminals for their crime,” Putin said. “One gets the impression that the Turkish leaders are deliberately leading Russian-Turkish relations into a gridlock – and we are sorry to see this,” Putin added. ------------------------------------------ A Russian warplane recently entered Israeli-controlled airspace from Syria, says Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon. The brief intrusion was resolved quietly, with Yaalon noting “we must not automatically react and shoot them down when an error occurs." "There was a slight intrusion a mile (1.6 kilometers) deep by a Russian plane from Syria into our airspace, but it was immediately resolved and the Russian plane returned towards Syria," said Yaalon. "It was apparently an error by the pilot who was flying near the Golan," he said without elaborating when the incident had occurred. "Russian planes do not intend to attack us, which is why we must not automatically react and shoot them down when an error occurs," said Yaalon. ------------------------------------------ Putin has also accused Turkey of buying oil from the Islamic State jihadist group, whose financing heavily relies on the sale of energy resources. Putin said there was "no doubt" that oil from "terrorist-controlled" territory in Syria was making its way across the border into Turkey. "We see from the sky where these vehicles [carrying oil] are going," Putin said. "They are going to Turkey day and night." "These barrels are not only carrying oil but also the blood of our citizens because with this money terrorists buy weapons and ammunition and then organize bloody attacks," he added. ------------------------------------------ ISIS earns millions of dollars selling oil on the black market in Turkey, says Iraqi parliament member and former national security adviser Mowaffak al Rubaie. He also said wounded terrorists are being treated in Turkish hospitals. “In the last eight months ISIS has managed to sell ... $800 million dollars worth of oil on the black market of Turkey. This is Iraqi oil and Syrian oil, carried by trucks from Iraq, from Syria through the borders to Turkey and sold ...[at] less than 50 percent of the international oil price,” said Mowaffak al Rubaie. “Now this either get consumed inside, the crude is refined on Turkish territory by the Turkish refineries, and sold in the Turkish market. Or it goes to Jihan and then in the pipelines from Jihan to the Mediterranean and sold to the international market.” “Money and dollars generated by selling Iraqi and Syrian oil on the Turkish black market is like the oxygen supply to ISIS and it’s operation,” he added. “Once you cut the oxygen then ISIS will suffocate.” The Iraqi Iraqi parliament member said there is “no shadow of a doubt” that the Turkish government knows about the oil smuggling operations. “The merchants, the businessmen [are buying oil] in the black market in Turkey under the noses – under the auspices if you like – of the Turkish intelligence agency and the Turkish security apparatus,” he said. Citing Iraqi intelligence services, Mowaffak al Rubaie also accused Turkey of providing medical treatment to terrorists in hospitals along the border and at times even in “Istanbul itself.” “There are security officers who are sympathizing with ISIS in Turkey,” the Iraqi politician believes. “They are allowing them to go from Istanbul to the borders and infiltrate ... Syria and Iraq.” “There is no terrorist organization which can stand alone, without a neighboring country helping it – in this case Turkey,” Rubaie said, urging Ankara to come clean and join the international efforts to destroy the terror group.

Sanders is 75 years old. I've nothing against the man but he's too old to be running for president. And a second term isn't even feasible. We all know that from age 50, our minds begin to slow. By age 80, it's very obvious. I don't feel a president's age should exceed 70 while in office. Both Hillary Clinton and Jeff Sessions are 68. The latter would be a far better choice.

Boy, 7, and Parents Murdered in Ohio Associated Press / November 24, 2015 A 7-year-old boy and his parents were shot dead inside their Ohio home by a man who police said lived across the street. John E. Anderson, 31, his wife Christina Chaffin Anderson, 30, and their son, Landon Anderson, seven, were found dead by police inside their Hilltop home on Monday. Their daughter, 12-year-old Makyleigh Anderson, was also shot and was rushed to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in critical condition. All the victims suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Police were responding to a 911 call made by a woman about 5 p.m. who said that her husband had been shot by an intruder who was still inside their home. Barry Kirk, 50, was found running from the Anderson home and was shot after being chased by police. Three officers fired their weapons at him and he was hit multiple times. Kirk, who police said was “a neighbor who knew his murder victims,” was taken to Mount Carmel West, where he died. In 911 calls, both the daughter and Christina Anderson are reportedly heard begging a dispatcher for help. "Somebody's in my house; they're trying to hurt me and my mom and my brother. Please help," a girl's voice says. A family friend who lived in the house called it a "home invasion" in a second call. Gunshots can be reportedly heard in both calls. Kirk was investigated six years ago for threatening a mass shooting, according to police records. He threatened the shooting after becoming upset with an employee at the Ohio governor's office in July 2009 over an unemployment claim. "I guess I'm going to have to make a big boom or start shooting people," Kirk said. "I don't want to but I will get radical," Kirk said. "I just want you to know this so when it happens and hits the newspapers, you'll know it was me." When an investigator went to Kirk's house later that day and asked if he planned to shoot anyone, Kirk said he did, "without hesitation." A year later, in October 2010, Kirk pleaded guilty to a count of telephone harassment. He was fined and sentenced to a year's probation. Besides the telephone harassment conviction, Kirk served eight months in prison in the 1980s on a vandalism charge out of Cuyahoga County. He also was cited numerous times for traffic violations, and had 2004 charges of assault and domestic violence dismissed. .

Memphis mother murders toddler Associated Press / November 24, 2015 A teenage mother who allegedly killed her two-year-old son by placing him under a mattress and leaving him there for half an hour as a form of discipline has been indicted on a murder charge. Raven Campbell, 19, from Memphis, Tennessee, put little Jermyle Campbell under the mattress for “20 to 30 minutes” on numerous occasions to punish him. But this time, when she removed the heavy mattress from atop her son's body, he was not breathing. Paramedics arrived at the family home and the toddler was rushed to hospital, where he was declared dead. An autopsy later showed that he had passed away from dehydration and hyperthermia. The toddler was also found to have bite marks and scratches on his body. Campbell admitted to police that she was responsible. Campbell has been charged of first-degree murder in the perpetration of aggravated child abuse and neglect. She was also indicted on a count of aggravated child endangerment yesterday in relation to her toddler son's death. In June, Memphis Police revealed they had been called to the family home dozens of times before - for reasons ranging from domestic disturbances to woundings and a possible attempted suicide. Campbell is currently being held without bond. .

Pennsylvania father tortures and murders 6-week-old baby to death WGAL Susquehanna Valley / November 20, 2015 A 6-week-old baby boy has died just weeks after authorities say his father beat him. Pennsylvania State Police say 22-year-old John Tyler Howard-Bee caused traumatic physical injuries to his son, Connor Howard-Bee. Howard-Bee is now charged with homicide. According to police, Howard-Bee originally denied causing harm to his son, but later admitted to police that he hit and shook the baby to "get him to stop crying." The father is also accused of jamming his thumb into the baby's eye socket to try to quiet him. The infant was taken to Hershey Medical Center for treatment. While at the hospital, an examiner found that almost every bone in the baby's body was broken. After almost two months in intensive care, he died late last week. Police say Howard-Bee was the baby's sole caretaker at the time of the abuse. .

Houston baby burned to death in oven Associated Press / November 19, 2015 A Houston mother, Racquel Thompson, left her 19-month-old baby, two 3-year-old toddlers and 5-year-old son home alone so she could go out with her boyfriend to get pizza and pickup a prescription. The two 3-year-old siblings put the 19-month-old little girl in the oven and turned it on. The siblings say the baby J'Zyra Thompson, kicked the oven door while she was trapped inside. The oldest sibling, 5, was asleep at the time. Thompson said she attempted CPR, but the baby was already dead due to multiple burns. Police say Racquel Thompson had left the children without informing a grandmother who also lived at the apartment complex. Thompson told officials she often left the kids home alone to drive her boyfriend to work at a pizza place. The three surviving children are in foster care, as CPS could not find suitable relatives to care for them. Criminal charges are expected, though none have yet been filed. The ex-boyfriend father of at least two of the children, Fredrick Price, said he hadn't been in contact with the children in months. .

Reuters / November 24, 2015 The U.S. Marine Corps awarded Tysons Corner-based consulting firm [middle man] Science Applications International Corp (SAIC) and UK-based BAE Systems contracts for the first phase prototypes of a wheeled amphibious combat, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday. BAE is offering a variant of the Italian Iveco SuperAV (http://www.army-technology.com/projects/iveco-superav-8x8-armoured-personnel-carrier/). SAIC is offering a variant of the Singaporean Terrex (http://www.stengg.com/products-solutions/products/terrex-8x8-armoured-personnel-carrier). BAE Systems was awarded a $103.8 million contract for 13 vehicles. SAIC was awarded a $121.5 million contract, also for 13 vehicles. Last year the Marine Corps started a competition for the amphibious combat vehicle, with the first phase known as the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV)1.1. The program will be a modest replacement for the tracked Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle that was being developed for the Marines by General Dynamics Corp before its cancellation in 2011 after large cost increases and technical issues. The competitors included Lockheed Martin Corp, General Dynamics, and Michigan-based Advanced Defense Vehicle Systems. At least one of them, Lockheed Martin, might file a protest. John Garner, program manager for the advanced amphibious assault, said the plan was to buy three more prototype vehicles from each company when funding was available. The Marine Corps will carry out testing, select one company from the two competitors, and make a production decision by “late spring, early summer of 2018,” Garner said. Garner said the first phase of the program would cost around $1.2 billion and the winner would ultimately produce 204 vehicles. Garner said that they were buying numerous prototype vehicles because it would allow the Marine Corps to shorten the testing period and not lead to delays if a vehicle needed repairs. He added that while land and water capabilities were given equal importance in making the selection, “extra credit” was given to the amphibious capability of the vehicle because “fundamentally this vehicle has to be an amphibious vehicle." The winning companies will build the vehicles in 2016, and conduct aggressive testing in 2017 that will inform the Marine Corps development of requirements for its next iteration of the vehicle — ACV 1.2 — according to Col. Roger Turner, director of the Marine Corps' Capabilities Development Directorate. The Marine Corps will be able to refine what ACV 1.2 will look like and then "we will move out with the remainder of the program once we know what details of ACV 1.1 will yield. ACV 1.1. has been met with criticism because it will likely be a displacement hull vehicle, meaning it bobs through the water at a low speed. Critics argue that slow-moving vehicles that must travel 100 miles to shore over the course of a few hours could be sitting ducks for enemies that can lob shore-based missiles at them in the water. But the Marine Corps believes it's taking the right path, saying its priority is to build wheeled vehicles that are well suited to move quickly across land, where the majority of missions will take place.

“We cannot take any more refugees in Europe. That’s impossible,” French prime minister Manuel Valls told journalists today. Meanwhile in Sweden, the locals are burning down the refugee centers, 17 so far (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3315739/The-tranquil-Swedish-village-living-hell-refugee-invasion-locals-migrants-throw-stones-children-aged-five-need-POLICE-ESCORT-school.html). The Swedish government, which had gotten approval from its over-taxed people, now will finally begin to limit the refugee inflow. If Europe stops accepting refugees, will the White House agree to take more?

Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark explains that the existence of the Islamic State helps Sunni countries Turkey and Saudi Arabia geostrategically, by countering the shi'ite powers: Iran, Iraq and Syria. "All along there’s always been the idea that Turkey was supporting ISIS in some way… Someone’s buying that oil that ISIS is selling, it’s going through somewhere, it looks to me like it’s probably going through Turkey, but the Turks haven't acknowledged that." “Let’s be very clear: ISIS [iSIL] is not just a terrorist organization, it is a Sunni terrorist organization. It means ISIS blocks and targets Shia, and that means it’s serving the interests of Turkey and Saudi Arabia even as it poses a threat to them,” Clark said. "There’s no good guy in this, this is a power struggle for the future of the Middle East," concluded Clark. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Wesley Clark responded to yesterday’s shoot down of a Russian fighter jet by pointing out that Turkey is supporting ISIS. Clark said there was a “larger context” to the incident, pointing out that ISIS is a Sunni terrorist organization and therefore targets Shia nations. “That means ISIS is serving the interests of Turkey and Saudi Arabia even as it poses a threat to them because neither Turkey or Saudi Arabia want an Iran-Iraq-Syria-Lebanon bridge that isolates Turkey and cuts Saudi Arabia off,” said Clark. Asked whether he agreed with Vladimir Putin that Turkey was aiding ISIS, Clark responded, “All along there’s always been the idea that Turkey was supporting ISIS in some way,” before going on to accuse Ankara of funneling ISIS terrorists through Turkey and buying ISIS’ stolen oil in the black market. “Someone’s buying that oil that ISIS is selling, it’s going through somewhere, it looks to me like it’s probably going through Turkey,” said Clark, before also going on to accuse Putin of supporting terrorists through his allegiance with Bashar Al-Assad. “There’s no good guy in this, this is a power struggle for the future of the Middle East,” concluded Clark. As we previously highlighted, $800,000,000 worth of ISIS oil has been sold in Turkey, a supposed U.S. ally. ISIS trucks are routinely allowed to cross back and forth between the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa and Turkey. As Nafeez Ahmed documents, a large cache of intelligence recovered from a raid on an ISIS safehouse this summer confirms that “direct dealings between Turkish officials and ranking ISIS members was now ‘undeniable.’” A former ISIS communications technician also told Newsweek that part of his job was to, “Connect ISIS field captains and commanders from Syria with people in Turkey on innumerable occasions.” “ISIS commanders told us to fear nothing at all because there was full cooperation with the Turks,” he said. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DecIAlW9t9o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ RT / November 27, 2015 Journalists from the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet were arrested Tuesday for reporting on the Turkish government’s illegal supplying of weapons to radical terrorists in Syria. The editor-in-chief Can Dundar and Ankara correspondent Erdem Gul were arrested for publishing photos of weapons being transported to Syria by Turkish intelligence (National Intelligence Organization, aka MİT) The trucks belonging to MİT were stopped by a prosecutor who sought to have the gendarmerie (military unit assigned to police duties) search the vehicles in the southern Turkish province of Adana in January 2014 before they crossed into Syria. Claiming that the trucks were carrying “humanitarian aid to Turkmens” in the war-torn Syria, the Turkish government accused the followers of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen in the state’s judiciary and security institutions of illegally ordering the search. On May 29, Cumhuriyet published photographs taken by the police and gendarmerie forces, showing artillery shells, mortar bombs and machine gun ammunition hidden in crates below boxes of medicine on the trucks. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on live TV described the newspaper’s action as “espionage and treason”. Turkey has claimed it was sending medicine and other items for civilian use. However, the published photographs proved that underneath the medicine was heavy arms. Once published in the newspaper, Erdogan said: "So what if it’s arms? In another statement, President Erdogan said “So what if these are arms, we’re helping out the Turkmens in the region.” Journalists from Cumhuriyet newspaper accused by Erdogan of treason say they were doing their job, and alerted the public of what was going on in Turkish policy. After the newspaper broke the story, the government imposed a media blackout on the event.