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Honduras arrests five US-bound Syrians with stolen passports BBC / November 18, 2015 Police in Honduras have arrested five Syrians who were travelling on stolen Greek passports and intended to enter the United States by land. The five men were detained on Tuesday night after arriving on a flight from neighbouring El Salvador, police said. A spokesman for the Honduras's special police force, Anibal Baca, said they had been tipped off by Greece about the men's imminent arrival. Greek diplomats in Honduras say none of the five speaks a word of Greek. They were held at the international airport in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa. According to Honduran police, they were planning to travel to the northern city of San Pedro Sula. From there, they intended to cross into Guatemala and then Mexico before reaching the US border, some 2,000km (1,2000 miles) away. Unknown identities "The passports were stolen in Athens," said Mr Baca, from the Police Investigations Division (DPI). "Those are not their real names. We are still trying to establish their identities," he told La Prensa newspaper. The names on the passports are: Charalampos Kyrimopoulos, Alexandros Tzempelikos, Vasileios Bouzas, Konstantinos Marinakis and Anastasios Bellios. Interpol will assist Honduran police with the investigation. American politicians have expressed concern over the arrival of Middle Eastern refugees following Friday's attacks in Paris. Republicans in the House of Representatives said they were drafting legislation to introduce tougher controls on Syrian and Iraqi refugees. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Obama on Wednesday vowed to veto a GOP-drafted bill that would suspend the program allowing Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the U.S. until key national security agencies certify they don't pose a security risk. "The certification requirement at the core of H.R. 4038 is untenable and would provide no meaningful additional security for the American people, instead serving only to create significant delays and obstacles in the fulfillment of a vital program that satisfies both humanitarian and national security objectives," the White House said in a statement. The statement continued: "Given the lives at stake and the critical importance to our partners in the Middle East and Europe of American leadership in addressing the Syrian refugee crisis, if the President were presented with H.R. 4038, he would veto the bill." The refugee issue has emerged as a key political issue in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in Paris. More than half -- 31 -- of the nation's governors, mainly Republicans, oppose letting Syrian refugees into their states and most GOP presidential candidates have called for a pause in allowing them into the country. A Bloomberg Politics poll released Wednesday found that 53% of American adults don't want Syrian refugees resettled in the U.S., while 28% say the Obama administration should proceed with its plan to accept 10,000 refugees next year without religious screening, and 11% say only Christians from Syria should be allowed in. Related reading with spot on video - http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/18/virginia-mayor-wartime-internment-of-japanese-justifies-ban-on-syrian-refugees “We don’t know who these individuals are. Any idea (that) you can do a background check of someone that’s been living in Syria is absolutely ridiculous. These are dangerous times, whether people want to admit it or not. We want to keep the war out of Mississippi, here on the homefront.” Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Virginia mayor asks to suspend relocating of Syrian refugees (Associated Press) — The mayor of Roanoke, Virginia has asked agencies to suspend relocating Syrian refugees to the area in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks and other threats. Mayor David Bowers said in a statement Wednesday that area relocation efforts should be stopped "until these serious hostilities and atrocities end" or are brought under control. He cited the Paris attacks and the bombing of a Russian airliner. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for both. Bowers also invoked the U.S. government's internment of Japanese-American people in camps during World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Bowers said it appears that the threat of harm to America from the Islamic State "now is just as real and serious as that from our enemies then." _______________________________ Mayor Bowers probably meant well but didn't present his case properly. Actor and Japanese-American George Takei corrected him: "Mayor Bowers, there are a few key points of history you seem to have missed. The internment [not a "sequester"] was not of Japanese "foreign nationals," but of Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were US citizens. "I was one of them, and my family and I spent four years in prison camps because we happened to look like the people who bombed Pearl Harbour. It is my life's mission to never let such a thing happen again in America." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Three young men on scooters -- one of whom wore a T-shirt bearing "an ISIS symbol" -- stabbed a Jewish teacher in Marseille, France, Wednesday evening, prosecutor Brice Robin said. The assailants insulted the teacher, threatened to kill him and stabbed him in the stomach, arms and legs. The attackers carried a phone with a photo of Mohammed Merah, who was responsible for a series of 2012 attacks on soldiers and schoolchildren in Toulouse and Montauban.

Truck News / November 17, 2015 How to enjoy the benefits of downspeeding, without the unintended consequences As more fleets spec’ downsped powertrains in the pursuit of greater fuel economy, not all are cognizant of the effect engine downspeeding can have on related drivetrain components. That was the warning from Bob Ostrander, chief engineer with Meritor, who conducted a Webinar on downspeeding this week. While Ostrander recognized downspeeding can improve fuel economy by about 1% for every 100 rpm slower the engine turns at cruise speed, he also said it has the potential to place more torque on drivertrain components. A traditional pre-EPA10 linehaul spec’ would typically feature an overdrive transmission and axle ratios in the “mid-3s”, with all drivetrain components rated at about 1,850 lb.-ft. of torque. “As we get into a downsped spec’ with today’s engines, many of these are coupled with direct drive transmissions and we’re seeing rear axle ratios of 2.47 and faster – Meritor just recently released a 2.28 ratio – and as a result, you then have to be cognizant you’re going to need higher torque-rated drivetrain components to handle the torque coming through the system,” Ostrander warned. “Keep in mind, if you don’t have the rear axle doing torque multiplications, you’re going to have to make up for it someplace else.” One of the risks involving downspeeding, Ostrander pointed out, is deploying it into unsuitable applications such as city delivery routes with frequent starts and stops. This becomes challenging when a single truck performs both linehaul and regional haul work. But there are alternatives to downspeeding in these applications, which provide similar benefits, Ostrander explained, including pairing slower rear axle ratios with a close-coupled overdrive transmission. “You will be able to accomplish the fuel savings you’re looking for with a slower axle ratio coupled with an overdrive transmission and you can get most of what you are trying to seek without running the risk of subjecting the truck and drivetrain components to very high torques and the issues that may come along with it, including the reduced life and performance of your products,” Ostrander explained. For linehaul applications where downspeeding is well suited, Ostrander warned about the risks associated with the rapid torque rise produced by newer, downsped engines. He said today’s downsped engines can go from idle to peak torque in as little as half a second. During this torque spike, Ostrander said actual peak loads are sometimes far greater than the pre-determined output torque and can momentarily overshoot the approved torque loads until the system dampens it out. “That’s where you can end up with some issues,” he said. “It doesn’t take long to end up with fracturing issues. These quick, momentary transient conditions can lead to unintended consequences such as fractured components, from clutches to rear axles.” Ostrander suggested fleets talk to their engine OEMs to discuss strategies for mitigating these peak torque transient conditions. He also noted ceramic clutches in more widespread use today have a faster response time, making it easy for an inexperienced driver to accidentally slip off the clutch, which can send a shock load through the system. Even low rolling resistance tires can play a role, Ostrander said, since slip torque doesn’t always occur, again placing more strain on components. One option is to upsize the driveline to something like, in Meritor’s portfolio, the RPL35, which is designed to withstand higher torque loads. While a traditional powertrain, with a 1,550 lb.-ft.-rated engine and 3.55 rear axle ratios and overdrive transmission will see torque into the driveshaft of no more than 16,000 lb.-ft., a downsped powertrain with 2.47 rear axle ratios and a 1,750 lb.-ft.-rated engine could produce torque loads closer to 21,000 lb.-ft. “So we’re talking about a 5,000 lb.-ft. difference and we have to understand and account for that as we’re sizing and spec’ing our trucks,” Ostrander pointed out. The RPL35 is rated to 21,500 lb.-ft. With drivetrain torques as much as 44% higher than in a traditional linehaul spec’, Ostrander said fleets employing downspeeding that haven’t accounted for this have seen issues such as broken driveshaft u-joints, fractured rear axle pinion stems and damaged transmission gears, synchronizers and clutches. Another step fleets can take is to torque-limit the engine. This can limit the maximum amount of torque produced by the engine until the truck reaches cruising speed, eliminating the torque spikes Ostrander alluded to. “You really need to talk to your engine folks and ask, what controls do they have in place to clip that peak overshoot, to try to bring that down?” Ostrander said. “The torque values coming off the cam bus to the engine are not necessarily the real torque driven through the system momentarily. Talk to your engine people about what strategies they have to clip that torque.” It’s also a good idea to reduce engine speed at clutch engagement to about 700-900 rpm, Ostrander said, especially if ceramic clutches are used. The bottom line, Ostrander said, is that when employing downspeeding, fleets need to consider the effect on all related components, and speak with their suppliers to ensure the entire drivertrain is spec’d accordingly. “Talk to your truck OEM, your engine supplier. Make sure you have the right controls in place so you can optimize for downspeeding but mitigate these peak transient torques,” Ostrander advised. “You have to take a look at everything from the engine all the way back.” For trucks that have already been deployed with downsped powertrains and traditional components, Ostrander suggested speaking with engine reps to see if they can re-program the engine to reduce torque spikes. He also warned against simply spec’ing larger drivetrain components as the sole approach to addressing these issues. “Don’t simply say you’re going to put bigger drivetrain components in there because if you don’t put in proper mitigation controls for peak torque, you’re simply going to move that problem someplace else,” Ostrander said. “You may end up moving that problem into a very expensive component and I know of cases where that has happened. Take a look at the whole truck and if you’re going to put in larger-sized components, let’s make sure the entire vehicle is properly designed to handle that.” Meritor has produced a white paper on the effect downspeeding has on drivetrain components, available for download here.

Today’s Trucking / November 17, 2015 Three Canadian groups will be taking over a U.S. tollway for nearly the next century under terms of a new deal that’s been signed. A consortium made up of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), have signed a US$ 2.8 billion agreement to acquire Skyway Concession Company LLC, which manages, operates and maintains the Chicago Skyway. The group is purchasing the Skyway from partners Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte S.A. (Spain) and Macquarie Atlas Roads (Australia) and Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, which was awarded the concession for the route in 2005 for US$1.83 billion, marking the first privatization of a highway in the U.S. The consortium will run the Skyway for the next 89 years, the time remaining when the original lease was sold 10 years ago. The route is a 12.5 kilometer (7.8 mile) highway that forms a critical link between downtown Chicago and its south-eastern suburbs. As an essential part of the Chicago road network, it delivers reliability and time savings for its users in one of the busiest corridors in the U.S. according to the three groups. “Skyway represents a rare opportunity for us to invest in a mature and significant ‎toll road of this size in the U.S.," said Cressida Hogg, managing director and head of infrastructure, CPPIB. "This investment fits well with CPPIB’s strategy to invest in core infrastructure assets with long-term, stable cash flows in key global markets."

Transport Topics / November 17, 2015 Kentucky hasn’t had a tolled bridge in 69 years, but that will change in a big way in 2016. The Bluegrass State is less than a year from the completion of the $2.3 billion Ohio River Bridges project that spans three bridges, each of which will be electronically tolled via E-ZPass. The Kentucky Public Transportation Infrastructure Authority is the financing arm of the state’s large transportation projects. KPTIA’s application for membership in E-ZPass was approved this month, and the tolling system will be called RiverLink. The Ohio River Bridges project includes a new bridge that will handle six northbound lanes of Interstate 65, a revamped Kennedy Bridge which will carry six lanes of I-65 southbound and a bridge connecting Prospect, Kentucky, and Utica, Indiana. RiverLink spokeswoman Mindy Peterson said the latter bridge has been needed for decades. Drivers currently wanting to make that crossing need to go 8 miles out of their way into downtown Louisville. The current Kennedy Bridge carries just seven lanes of traffic, four northbound and three southbound, so I-65’s capacity will nearly double to 12 lanes. Heavy trucks will likely pay $10 with an E-ZPass transponder, and non-commuter passenger cars will pay $2 per toll once either the I-265 bridge or the revamped Kennedy bridges opens. Rates for non-E-ZPass users have not yet been set. Both are expected to be ready by next October or November, while the new I-65 bridge is expected to open by the end of next month. Construction began on both new bridges in July 2013. “It’s a good thing for those drivers that have E-ZPass,” Kentucky Motor Transport Association President Jamie Fiepke said. “It should simplify the process for them.” The Ohio River Bridges project also is designed to simplify driving in metropolitan Louisville by untangling the infamous “Spaghetti Junction,” where I-64, I-65 and I-71 come together at the Kennedy interchange, which opened during the 1960s. “That interchange was a mess,” Fiepke said. “It was on the top 10 of ATRI’s list of bottlenecks.” Kentucky will be the 16th state using E-ZPass, joining Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia. Separately, 42.6 miles of western Kentucky’s Pennyrile Parkway was designated as I-69 on Nov. 16 by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau. The upgrade project cost $110 million, nearly all of it paid for with federal funding. “This route is a key segment of one of the nation’s most economically needed freight corridors,” said Nadeau, who joined Foxx at a ceremony in Madisonville. “Improving its ability to handle the predicted increase in traffic will make a big difference to those living in and traveling throughout the region.” Kentucky’s transportation cabinet predicts that use of the highway will nearly triple to 41,000 drivers a day by 2035.

Trailer/Body Builders / November 17, 2015 Dealers sold 63,820 trucks with GVW ratings above 10,000 pounds during the month, up 6% from October 2014 (60,442) and 1% from September 2015 (63,143). Compared with October 2014, Class 8 truck sales fell 13% (20,972, compared to 22,032). Class 7 sales rose to 5,282, up 10% from 4,781. For the year, truck dealers have sold 602,912 trucks with GVW ratings above 10,000 pounds, up 12% from 546,050 in 2014. Class 8 sales have reached 208,793, a 16% increase from the same period last year (180,320). Class 7 sales are up 9% (49,080, compared to 45,160).

When you plant a bomb on a civilian airliner and murder 224 Russian people, Putin doesn’t waste time taking action. Dropping cruise missiles from TU-22M3s, TU-95s and TU-160s, supported by cutting edge SU-30SMs. Plus SU-24M and SU-34 tactical bombers, and SU-25 ground attack aircraft. No holds barred warfare is how one annihilates ISIS, an eye for an eye. .

Car & Driver / November 17, 2015 As we’ve suspected pretty much since GMC reintroduced its Canyon mid-size pickup for 2015, there will be an upscale Denali trim level, and it’s coming late next year as a 2017 model. GMC has finally revealed the Canyon Denali, and it traces the now-familiar (and 17 years old!) luxe Denali theme perfectly. The Denali package includes the anticipated chrome grille, chrome body trim, and dazzling—and surprisingly not-chrome—machined 20-inch wheels. Each of the six available paint colors come paired with a Jet Black cabin swathed in “Mulan” leather seats (the fronts are heated and ventilated), Denali-inscribed doorsills and floor mats, and a standard heated steering wheel, eight-inch touch screen, navigation, automatic climate control, and remote engine starting. The Canyon’s 3.6-liter V-6 is standard, as well, but buyers also can opt for the lineup’s newly available 2.8-liter diesel four-cylinder. Being top-of-the-line, the Canyon Denali comes only with the four-door crew-cab body, although the choice of two- or four-wheel drive is left up to the consumer. There’s no word yet on pricing, but don’t be surprised if the Canyon Denali costs more than $40,000. Photo gallery - http://www.caranddriver.com/photo-gallery/never-a-doubt-gmc-finally-releases-the-canyon-denali-weve-been-expecting

A wealth of misinformation here. I also don't care for the the inaccurate comment, "A poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly organized military". In our youth, we were taught that the Soviet Union ran around the world orchestrating regime change. That was partially true. However, we were not taught that the US did it as well. We literally took the land to make the Panama Canal. A case of earning respect with a big stick. The U.S. conducted regime change that put the Shah in power. It was an illegal act, an interference into the internal affairs of another country, purely for our economic benefit. My point is, we were no angels for decades, and conducted regime change at the request of American interests and big business. We're lucky the Shah's government lasted as long as it did. This article's key point is that between January 1979 and September 2011, a 32 year period, 4,000 Americans were killed by terrorists. Okay, but that's a drop in the bucket when compared to the number of Americans killed by......Americans. Last year alone, there were 14,249 murders in the United States. ISIS doesn't need to attack the US........we're achieving their goal for them. Over 99 percent of the murders in America were caused by.......non-Muslim Americans (Christians). Murders in the United States of America (FBI UCS Annual Crime Reports) 2010 14,772 2011 14,661 2012 14,866 2013 14,319 2014 14,249

If one didn't know better, you'd think there is a confidential agreement that the Middle East countries will not actually "use" their armed forces, rather, the west will always come in and [try to] save the day. When have they done so? Why didn't the Arab League push Iraq out of Kuwait? Saudi Arabia and the other Middle East countries didn't lift a finger, but rather did little more than allow us to stage from their lands (western blood was spilled....rather than their own). Any ordinarily prudent person would find this extremely odd. The Middle East isn't our neighborhood. When it has issues, the Arab League should man up and deal with it. If and when Middle East evil flows beyond that region's borders and threatens the U.S., only then should we become involved (and strike with unforgettable fury).

Again, I deeply value the relationship between the U.S. and France. However, the woes that Western Europe have now due to these people, particularly France and Belgium, are self-inflicted (plus the UK and Sweden....Germany is about to get a wake-up call). That they invited tens of thousands of these people, without background checks, defies the imagination. And remember, only a small portion of these "refugees" are actually refugees (from Syria). The 1995 Schengen agreement (the abolishment of border controls) was a huge security mistake and now the EU countries are all realizing it. The fight against ISIS should be led by the Arab League headed by Saudi Arabia. Given their punishments rival those of ISIS, including flogging, amputation, eye gouging, death-by-stoning and beheading, there's every reason to believe that Saudi Arabia is the ideal country to lead the Middle East countries against ISIS.

In dismissing the idea of a large-scale military strategy as misguided (the failed US strategy with al-Qaeda), Obama has a point. 'We can retake territory, and as long as we leave our troops there we can hold it, but that does not solve the underlying problem of eliminating the dynamics that are producing these violent extremist groups,' said Obama. Americans do not want to station U.S. troops in the Middle East, in yet another vain attempt to create peace, over a time frame that amounts to.....forever. The occupation of Iraq has broken us......and for what benefit? We haven’t the desire, or the finances, to be the region’s baby-sitter for an indefinite period of time. The Arabs have been fighting for a thousand years. We tried bringing milk and sliced bread to Iraq. It didn’t work, because they are obsessed with a war of religions. Only the Arab world can help itself. Only when they are forced to change, will they change. Allowing the population of the Middle East to flood Europe and America isn’t the answer. (12,000 alleged Syrian and Iraqi refugees, whose backgrounds are impossible to factually check, are set to arrive in Australia. God save the Commonwealth) Under the banner of the Arab League, the armed forces of Arab countries need to clean up their own neighborhood. Bahrain Iran (taking part) Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria (taking part with Russian support) United Arab Emirates (UAE) Yemen One more point needs to be made. When people in other global regions are in trouble, they “expect” the US to come running and provide assistance. If/when we don’t, the US is ridiculed as selfish. But when we spread our wings and try to maintain peace in the world, the very same people complain that the US is undesirably acting as the world’s policeman, and attempting to dictate how the rest of the world lives (They want us to go away). We’re criticized for not doing, and also ridiculed for doing. Meanwhile, our coffers in 2015 do not allow us to participate around the world as we did in decades past. We already spend more on defense and counter-terrorism than any other country in the world, and after Paris, that amount is going to leap upward. The world is changing.......the U.S. no longer has deep pockets (we can't even keep up with road repair). Global regions are going to have to learn to help themselves, because the U.S. no longer has the deep pockets and large footprint of the past.

Fleet Owner / November 16, 2015 When Matthew Thiese and his team set out to learn why truck drivers crash, they looked at about 25 different variables including age, gender, weight, experience, heart disease, feeling tense, low back pain as well as alcohol and tobacco use. After recruiting drivers at truck stops, truck shows and on line – and ultimately including 797 in their analysis – three factors consistently stood out: pulse pressure, feeling physically exhausted after work and cell phone use. While cell phone use makes intuitive sense as a crash factor, because of the obvious distraction, the other two factors – pulse pressure and feeling physically exhausted after work - are baffling, says Thiese, Assistant Professor at the University of Utah’s Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health. His work was supported by the federal government. "In terms of looking at crash risk, I was surprised that feeling physically exhausted after work was related to being involved in a crash," he says, "but then I was also surprised at how many drivers had uncontrolled hypertension or uncontrolled high cholesterol, so those two were both surprising to me, too - more so the hypertension." He notes that many drivers who said they were on medication, about 100 of the participants, still had high blood pressure. "I was surprised by that. I would've thought there would be more people who had it under control especially because they need certification every two years to drive. There are no outward signs of high blood pressure and some medications have side effects which affects compliance. I absolutely understand that, but it was still surprising." The study, funded by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, part of The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had a specific goal of looking at doing a large study of truck drivers to describe their health. "There's really not much out there looking at it," Thiese says. "To my knowledge this is the largest study that's ever address all of these different factors. Our objective was to look at these data and how they associate with crashes." In future studies, Thiese wants to learn why pulse pressure and feeling physically exhausted correlated so high with crashes. "We know that these medical conditions occurred before the crash, so it's more suggestive of causation. We're working on a grant to actually perform a longitudinal study, where we enroll drivers and actually follow them through time, so that we can really get a handle on that strength of relationship between the predictive elements of a medical factor and having a subsequent crash." [Note: Pulse pressure is different than blood pressure which reads the diastolic and systolic pressures like 120/80. Pulse pressure is the difference between the two and represents the force that the heart generates each time it contracts. A high pulse pressure is believed to be a predictor of cardiovascular disease.] What can drivers take away from the study? "I want drivers to consider that there is not one risk factor for being involved in a crash. There are a lot of different factors, which also gives drivers many opportunities to try and reduce their own crash risk. There's been a lot of focus on sleep apnea. There's increasing focus on diet and exercise, and for some drivers, positive changes are feasible. There are other things that they can do, but for some drivers, it's just really hard to eat healthy, or they don't for one reason or another." He concludes: "Being physically exhausted after work, your pulse pressure, not talking on a cell phone - these are three very different things that, in theory, if you're able to address, you should be able to reduce your crash risk." The study was published in the October, 2015 issue of Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

Heavy Duty Trucking / November 16, 2015 For the first time in 25 years, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will increase its fines for safety violations in 2016. This came as a result of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (H.R. 1314), signed by President Obama on November 2. Section 701 of the Bill, entitled the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, allows OSHA to increase its fines based on inflation, where it was previously exempt from doing so. The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 gave most federal agencies the authority to review and adjust their civil penalties once every five years in order to keep pace with inflation. But OSHA was excluded form this legislation at the time, leaving OSHA fines stagnant for over two decades. Now OSHA will be required to make inflationary increases to its penalties every year, putting the agency in line with other federal agencies. OSHA will first enact a one-time catch-up assessment that will increase penalties to reflect the changes in inflation from 1990 - 2015, with a cap at 150%. Current estimates using October 1990 to September 2015 CPI data (the latest data available) allow for a nearly 80% increase in OSHA fines for 2016. This means that OSHA fines for willful or repeat violations could increase from a current maximum of $70,000 per violation to approximately $125,000 per violation. Fines for serious and other-than-serious violations could increase from $7,000 per violation to approximately $13,000 per violation. The law allows some leeway for OSHA to avoid inflicting the maximum catch-up penalty, but the general consensus is that employers should expect the worst. According to Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, David Michaels, "Simply put, OSHA penalties must be increased to provide a real disincentive for employers accepting injuries and worker deaths as a cost of doing business." The catch-up adjustment will take effect no later than August 1, 2016. Thereafter, employers should expect to see OSHA fine increases by January 15 of every year as the agency makes adjustments based on the annual percentage increase in the CPI. This potentially huge increase in the cost of OSHA fines makes it even more important for fleets to shore up safety programs and continue to stress a culture of safety.

U.S. States Shun Syrian [alleged] Refugees CNN / November 16, 2015 The governors of 31 (was 24) states have announced they will not accept Syrian refugees. All but one have Republican governors. The announcements came after authorities revealed that at least one of the suspects believed to be involved in the Paris terrorist attacks entered Europe among the current wave of Syrian refugees. He had falsely identified himself as a Syrian named Ahmad al Muhammad and was allowed to enter Greece in early October. Some leaders say they either oppose taking in any Syrian refugees being relocated as part of a national program or asked that they be particularly scrutinized as potential security threats. Only 1,500 Syrian refugees have been accepted into the United States since 2011, but the Obama administration announced in September that 10,000 Syrians will be allowed entry next year. Authority over admitting refugees to the country, though, rests with the federal government -- not with the states -- though individual states can make the acceptance process much more difficult, experts said. American University law professor Stephen I. Vladeck put it this way: "Legally, states have no authority to do anything because the question of who should be allowed in this country is one that the Constitution commits to the federal government." But Vladeck noted that without the state's participation, the federal government would have a much more arduous task. "So a state can't say it is legally objecting, but it can refuse to cooperate, which makes thing much more difficult." Kevin Appleby, director of migration policy at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said one tactic states could use would be to cut their own funding in areas such as resettling refugees. The conference is the largest refugee resettlement organization in the country. But "when push comes to shove, the federal government has both the plenary power and the power of the 1980 Refugee Act to place refugees anywhere in the country," Appleby said. In announcing that his state would not accept any Syrian refugees, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Monday on his personal account, "I demand the U.S. act similarly," he said. "Security comes first." Texas will not accept any Syrian refugees & I demand the U.S. act similarly. Security comes first. https://t.co/uE34eluXYd — Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 16, 2015 In a letter to President Barack Obama, Abbott said "American humanitarian compassion could be exploited to expose Americans to similar deadly danger," referring to Friday's deadly attacks in Paris. In a statement from Georgia's governor, Republican Nathan Deal, he said Georgia will not accept Syrian refugees "until the federal government and Congress conducts a thorough review of current screening procedures and background checks." I've issued an executive order directing state agency heads to prevent the resettlement of Syrian refugees in GA. https://t.co/4b41tsIYcm — Governor Nathan Deal (@GovernorDeal) November 16, 2015 Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley also rejected the possibility of allowing Syrian refugees into his state and connected refugees with potential terror threats. "After full consideration of this weekend's attacks of terror on innocent citizens in Paris, I will oppose any attempt to relocate Syrian refugees to Alabama through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program," Bentley said Sunday in a statement. "As your governor, I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm's way." I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm's way. We refuse Syrian refugees. https://t.co/HTpflJUiPc — Gov. Robert Bentley (@GovernorBentley) November 16, 2015 There is currently no credible threat against the state, the governor's office said, and no Syrian refugees have been relocated to Alabama so far. As the list of states blocking refugees grows, at least one state, Delaware, announced that it plans to accept refugees. "It is unfortunate that anyone would use the tragic events in Paris to send a message that we do not understand the plight of these refugees, ignoring the fact that the people we are talking about are fleeing the perpetrators of terror," said Gov. Jack Markell. States whose governors oppose Syrian refugees coming in: -- Alabama -- Arizona -- Arkansas -- Florida -- Georgia -- Idaho -- Illinois -- Indiana -- Iowa -- Kansas -- Louisiana -- Maine -- Maryland -- Massachusetts -- Michigan -- Mississippi -- Nebraska -- Nevada -- New Hampshire -- New Jersey -- New Mexico -- North Carolina -- North Dakota -- Ohio -- Oklahoma -- South Carolina -- South Dakota -- Tennessee -- Texas -- Wisconsin -- Wyoming States whose governors say they will accept refugees: -- Colorado -- Connecticut -- Delaware -- Hawaii -- Pennsylvania -- Vermont -- Washington Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said the state would "put on hold our efforts to accept new refugees." "Michigan is a welcoming state and we are proud of our rich history of immigration. But our first priority is protecting the safety of our residents," said Snyder. He demanded that the Department of Homeland Security review its security procedures for vetting refugees but avoided blanket suspicion of people from any region. "It's also important to remember that these attacks are the efforts of extremists and do not reflect the peaceful ways of people of Middle Eastern descent here and around the world," Snyder said. And Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson posted on his official Twitter account that he would "oppose Syrian refugees being relocated to Arkansas." Action taken by some states is similar to several European countries who have forcefully opposed accepting refugees. Hungary built a razor-wire fence along its border, and neighboring countries have been following suit. And previously generous countries such as Sweden and Germany that welcomed thousands were already pulling back. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said in a statement, "(At) this time, I find the idea of accepting Syrian refugees highly concerning and have no plans to accept them into our state and believe the federal government has an obligation to carry out extensive background checks on everyone seeking to enter the United States." Mississippi, Ohio bristle at taking refugees The governors of Ohio and Mississippi also announced their states would not allow Syrian refugees. Jim Lynch, a spokesman for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, issued this statement: "The governor doesn't believe the U.S. should accept additional Syrian refugees because security and safety issues cannot be adequately addressed. The governor is writing to the President to ask him to stop, and to ask him to stop resettling them in Ohio. We are also looking at what additional steps Ohio can take to stop resettlement of these refugees." Kasich is a Republican presidential candidate. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant wrote on Facebook that he was working with the state's homeland security department to "determine the current status of any Syrian refugees that may be brought to our state in the near future. “We don’t know who these individuals are. Any idea (that) you can do a background check of someone that’s been living in Syria is absolutely ridiculous,” Bryant said. “These are dangerous times, whether people want to admit it or not,” Bryant said. “We want to keep the war out of Mississippi, here on the homefront.” "I will do everything humanly possible to stop any plans from the Obama administration to put Syrian refugees in Mississippi. The policy of bringing these individuals into the country is not only misguided, it is extremely dangerous. I'll be notifying President Obama of my decision today to resist this potential action." Louisiana: 'Kept in the dark' Louisiana governor and GOP presidential candidate Bobby Jindal complained bitterly in an open letter to Obama that the federal government had not informed his government about refugees being relocated to his state last week. "It is irresponsible and severely disconcerting to place individuals, who may have ties to ISIS, in a state without the state's knowledge or involvement," says Jindal. He demanded to know more about the people being placed in Louisiana to avoid a repeat of the Paris attacks and wanted to know whether screening would be intensified for refugees holding Syrian passports. And he suggested Obama hold off on taking in more refugees. "It would be prudent to pause the process of refugees coming to the United States. Authorities need to investigate what happened in Europe before this problem comes to the United States," Jindal said. Republican candidate Donald Trump called accepting Syrian refugees "insane." "We all have heart and we all want people taken care of, but with the problems our country has, to take in 250,000 -- some of whom are going to have problems, big problems -- is just insane. We have to be insane. Terrible," Donald Trump said at a rally in Beaumont, Texas. While addressing reporters on Monday, Obama called out Republican candidates who have objected to admitting refugees to the United States. "When I hear a political leader suggesting that there should be a religious test for which a person who is fleeing from a war torn country is admitted... when some of those folks themselves come from families who benefited from protection when they were fleeing political persecution, that is shameful," the President said. "We don't have religious tests to our compassion." New York: 'Virtually no vetting' A senior White House security official attempted to allay concerns about the vetting of Syrian refugees. On NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said, "We have very extensive screening procedures for all Syrian refugees who have come to the United States. There is a very careful vetting process that includes our intelligence community, our National Counter Terrorism Center, the Department of Homeland Security, so we can make sure that we are carefully screening anybody that comes to the United States." New York Rep. Peter King cast doubt on Rhodes' comments. "What he said about the vetting of the refugees is untrue. There is virtually no vetting cause there are no databases in Syria, there are no government records. We don't know who these people are." On Sunday, investigators said that one of the Paris bombers carried Syrian identification papers -- possibly forged -- and the fear of Syrian refugees grew worse. "It's not that we don't want to -- it's that we can't," Florida Sen. and Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio told ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "Because there's no way to background check someone that's coming from Syria." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Associated Press / December 2, 2015 Texas has sued the U.S. government in an effort to block six Syrian refugees from resettling in Dallas this week. The lawsuit filed Wednesday comes after the nonprofit International Rescue Committee defied orders from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to halt the arrival of Syrian refugees in Texas following the November attacks in Paris. Texas wants to delay the arrival of the refugees for at least a week, until a federal judge can hear the challenge. The Obama administration has said states don't have the authority to block refugees. Abbott is among more than two dozen governors, mostly Republicans, who have vowed to keep new Syrian refugees from resettling in their states. Abbott earlier Wednesday called the planned arrival irresponsible. .

Former CIA Director: ISIS Will Strike America Time / Michael Morell / November 16, 2015 The head of the UK’s domestic security agency recently warned that ISIS is planning mass casualty attacks in Britain. His concerns are well founded. We will not be far behind. I was an intelligence officer for 33 years. When intelligence officers write or brief, they start with the bottom line. Here it is: ISIS poses a major threat to the US and to US interests abroad and that threat is growing every day. The nature and significance of the threat flows from the fact that ISIS is— all at the same time— a terrorist group, a state, and a revolutionary political movement. We have not faced an adversary like it before. As a terrorist group, ISIS poses a threat to the Homeland. That threat today is largely indirect — ISIS’s ability to radicalize young Americans to conduct attacks here. The FBI has over 900 open investigations into homegrown extremists, the vast majority radicalized by ISIS and a large number of which relate to individuals who may be plotting attacks here. Such attacks have already occurred in the US. Others have been arrested before they could act. While the sophistication of such homegrown attacks is likely to be fairly low, the potential exists for the quantity of these kinds attacks to be large. The number of ISIS followers in the US is in the thousands. It dwarfs the number of followers that al-Qaeda ever had. Over time, if not significantly degraded, the ISIS threat to the Homeland will become a direct one—that is, an ISIS ability to plan and direct attacks on the Homeland from the group’s safe haven in Iraq and Syria— just like the group did in Paris last week. Such attacks are deeply concerning because they carry the potential to be much more sophisticated and complex—and therefore more dangerous—than than homegrown attacks, again just like in Paris last week, or London in 2005, or even 9/11 itself. And, in something that should get everyone’s attention, ISIS has shown an interest in weapons of mass destruction. “Over time” may be shorter than many think. The attack in Paris was the first manifestation of an effort that ISIS made to put together an attack capability in Europe—an effort that they began less than a year ago. The head of the UK’s domestic security agency recently warned that ISIS is planning mass casualty attacks in Britain. His concerns are well founded. We will not be far behind. As a state, ISIS poses a threat to regional stability—a threat to the very territorial integrity of the current nation states there, a threat to inflame the entire region in sectarian war. All this in a part of the world that still provides almost a third of the world’s oil supply; a region that is home to one of America’s closest allies, Israel; and a region that is home to a set of close American allies— the Gulf Arab states—that are willing to resist Iran’s push for regional hegemony. And, as a revolutionary political movement, ISIS is gaining affiliates among extremist groups around the world. They are signing up for what ISIS desires as its objective—a global caliphate where day-to-day life is governed by extreme religious views. In the mind of ISIS, its global caliphate would extend to the US itself. When they join ISIS, these affiliates evolve from focusing on local issues to focusing on establishing an extension of the caliphate themselves. And, their targets evolve from local to international ones. This is the story of the bombing of the Russian airliner by an ISIS group in the Egyptian Sinai. ISIS has gained affiliates faster than al-Qaeda ever did. From nothing a year ago, there are now militant groups in nearly 20 countries that have sworn allegiance to ISIS. They have conducted attacks that have already killed Americans, and they carry the potential to themselves grab large amounts of territory. Libya is a place that this could happen in the near term. An intelligence officer has many jobs. One is to describe for a president the threats that we face as a nation, and that is what the previous paragraphs did. Another is to look a president in the eye when his or her policies to deal with these threats are not working and say so. Mr. President, the downing of the Russian airliner, only the third such attack in 25 years, and the attacks in Paris, the largest in Europe since the Madrid bombings in 2004, make it crystal clear that our ISIS strategy is not working. Michael Morell is the former deputy director of the CIA and has twice served as acting director. He is author of the book “The Great War of Our Time: The CIA's Fight Against Terrorism — From al Qa'ida to ISIS”, which warned against the types of attacks that occurred in the Sinai and Paris.

Here is another angle of the situation that all should know, the thought process of many people in that region. What is the truth? We common people simply don't have enough facts to make an educated guess. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The US, ISIS and the conspiracy theory sweeping Lebanon BBC / August 12, 2014 Is America behind the creation of the Islamic State? The BBC's Suzanne Kianpour, in Beirut, looks at the latest conspiracy theory doing the rounds in Lebanon. "In the Middle East, conspiracy theories are in our blood," said one former Lebanese official. He was referring to the latest talk of the town: the United States is behind the creation of the Islamic State group (formerly known as Isis, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and Hillary Clinton admitted it in her book "Hard Choices". As Islamic State (IS) militants advanced into Lebanon last week - spreading terror into the village of Arsal, bordering Syria, and driving hundreds out of their homes - whispers pinned the blame for their actions on the US. Horrific videos of IS atrocities against Lebanese Armed Forces circulated on the internet. So did the theory that America is behind the existence and emboldening of the group. To back up their claim, conspiracy theorists online pointed to a powerful piece of "proof": the word of Hillary Clinton - the former US secretary of state widely expected to make a bid for the presidency. Dispelling rumours Screenshots of supposed "excerpts" from her book spread far and wide on social media in Lebanon, claiming the US created IS to instill instability in the region for American gain. The rumor even prompted the Lebanese foreign ministry to summon US Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale. Furthermore, to try and quash the gossip, the US embassy in Beirut issued a statement on Facebook: "Any suggestion that the United States ever considered recognising the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as anything other than a terrorist organization, or had any role in its creation, is patently false. Allegations circulating in Lebanon to the contrary are a fabrication." Instead, what Hillary Clinton has said is that the failure to help Syrian rebels led to the rise of IS. It's not completely shocking that such a theory may have started, given America's history of supporting militant and guerrilla groups; the mujahideen in Afghanistan, from which al-Qaeda emerged, quickly comes to mind. The fact that US allies in the Gulf are accused of supporting IS also doesn't help their case. "Such theories abound, largely because Washington has shown a propensity for outsourcing regime change. Support for insurgent groups in that context is certainly not a new practice and, as of late, has not been a particularly effective one," says Octavius Pinkard, a Brussels-based specialist in foreign policy analysis and Middle East politics, who has been conducting fieldwork in Beirut. Tarnished image Rumors like these risk harming US interests in Lebanon - a nation where they have a keen interest in maintaining soft power. Symbolic confrontation and proxy battles for clout with another group also seeking to win over the Lebanese people, Hezbollah, are nothing new. But a theory that America is to blame for beheadings and the barbaric acts attributed to IS can be severely damaging to the US image - leaving them at risk of losing support and the tide turning against them. Recently, the narrative on the streets of Beirut has increasingly been that Hezbollah won't let IS get to the Lebanese capital, not "America will help us." "Most people here believe the US and Saudi are one and when it comes strictly down to oil money, the ultimate benefactor from the whole IS debacle is Saudi/the US. As history has taught us, it is usually the benefactors who are the instigators," says Amer Murad, a native of Beirut. "An important development that we have seen is the collaboration between the Lebanese Army and Hezbollah in their efforts to protect Lebanon from threats posed by the Syrian civil war spilling over into Lebanese territory," Octavius Pinkard says. As the conflict in Syria/Lebanon evolves, so does the perception of Washington. And it appears the Hezbollah/Damascus/Tehran trio is winning the propaganda battle. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suspicions Run Deep in Iraq That C.I.A. and the Islamic State Are United The New York Times / September 20, 2014 The United States has conducted an escalating campaign of deadly airstrikes against the extremists of the Islamic State for more than a month. But that appears to have done little to tamp down the conspiracy theories still circulating from the streets of Baghdad to the highest levels of Iraqi government that the C.I.A. is secretly behind the same extremists that it is now attacking. “We know about who made Daesh,” said Bahaa al-Araji, a deputy prime minister, using an Arabic shorthand for the Islamic State on Saturday at a demonstration called by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr to warn against the possible deployment of American ground troops. Mr. Sadr publicly blamed the C.I.A. for creating the Islamic State in a speech last week, and interviews suggested that most of the few thousand people at the demonstration, including dozens of members of Parliament, subscribed to the same theory. (Mr. Sadr is considered close to Iran, and the theory is popular there as well.) When an American journalist asked Mr. Araji to clarify if he blamed the C.I.A. for the Islamic State, he retreated: “I don’t know. I am one of the poor people,” he said, speaking fluent English and quickly stepping back toward the open door of a chauffeur-driven SUV. “But we fear very much. Thank you!” The prevalence of the theory in the streets underscored the deep suspicions of the American military’s return to Iraq more than a decade after its invasion, in 2003. The casual endorsement by a senior official, though, was also a pointed reminder that the new Iraqi government may be an awkward partner for the American-led campaign to drive out the extremists. The Islamic State, also known by the acronym ISIS, has conquered many of the predominantly Sunni Muslim provinces in Iraq’s northeast, aided by the alienation of many residents to the Shiite-dominated government of the former prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. President Obama has insisted repeatedly that American military action against the Islamic State depended on the installation of a more inclusive government in Baghdad, but he moved ahead before it was complete. The Parliament has not yet confirmed nominees for the crucial posts of interior or defense minister, in part because of discord between Sunni and Shiite factions, and the Iraqi news media has reported that it may be more than a month before the posts are filled. The demonstration on Saturday was the latest in a series of signals from Shiite leaders or militias, especially those considered close to Iran, warning the United States not to put its soldiers back on the ground. Mr. Obama has pledged not to send combat troops, but he seems to have convinced few Iraqis. “We don’t trust him,” said Raad Hatem, 40. Haidar al-Assadi, 40, agreed. “The Islamic State is a clear creation of the United States, and the United States is trying to intervene again using the excuse of the Islamic State,” he said. Shiite militias and volunteers, he said, were already answering the call from religious leaders to defend Iraq from the Islamic State without American help. “This is how we do it,” he said, adding that the same forces would keep American troops out. “The main reason Obama is saying he will not invade again is because he knows the Islamic resistance” of the Shiite militias “and he does not want to lose a single soldier.” The leader of the Islamic State, for his part, declared on Saturday that he defied the world to stop him. “The conspiracies of Jews, Christians, Shiites and all the tyrannical regimes in the Muslim countries have been powerless to make the Islamic State deviate from its path,” the leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared in an audio recording released over the Internet, using derogatory terms from early Islamic history to refer to Christians and Shiites. “The entire world saw the powerlessness of America and its allies before a group of believers,” he said. “People now realize that victory is from God, and it shall not be aborted by armies and their arsenals.” Many at the rally in Baghdad said they welcomed airstrikes against Mr. Baghdadi’s Islamic State but not American ground forces, the position that Mr. Sadr has taken. Many of the 30 lawmakers backed by Mr. Sadr — out of a Parliament of 328 seats — attended the rally. Mr. Sadr’s supporters opposed Mr. Maliki, the former prime minister, and many at the rally were quick to criticize the former government for mistakes like failing to build a more dependable army. “We had a good army, so where is this army now?” asked Waleed al-Hasnawi, 35. “Maliki gave them everything, but they just left the battlefield.” But few if any blamed Mr. Maliki for alienating Sunnis, as American officials assert, by permitting sectarian abuses under the Shiite-dominated security forces. Omar al-Jabouri, 31, a Sunni Muslim from a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad who attended the rally and said he volunteers with a Shiite brigade, argued that Mr. Maliki had alienated most Iraqis, regardless of their sect. “He did not just exclude and marginalize the Sunni people; he ignored the Shiite people, too,” Mr. Jabouri said. “He gave special help to his family, his friends, people close to him. He did not really help the Shiite people, as many people think.” But the Islamic State was a different story, Mr. Jabouri said. “It is obvious to everyone that the Islamic State is a creation of the United States and Israel.”

This is a problem of the Arab World. This region's United Nations of sorts is called the Arab League. Why should western soldiers spill blood when the extremely-well equipped armed forces of wealthy Arab League member countries won't lift a finger ? I support helping countries and regions that are trying to help themselves. But I don't support helping those who refuse to act in their own neighborhood. Thus, we should use our time and resources to protect the United States from ISIS intrusion. I deeply value the relationship between the U.S. and France. However, if France wants to get revenge and attack ISIS in the Middle East, it has its own vast arsenal that easily wipe any entity off the face of the earth. Naturally the US can provide intelligence support, although I think the intelligence capabilities of the western powers in general is weaker than in decades past.

Where might terrorists source their weapons? ---------------------------------------------------- Weapons stolen from Army Reserve center in Massachusetts CNN / November 16, 2015 Weapons were stolen from an Army Reserve center in Worcester, Massachusetts, the FBI said. The agency and local police are searching for the weapons, spokeswoman Kristen Setera said late Sunday. They were found to be missing after a break-in at the Lake St. Army Reserve Center. CNN affiliate WCVB reported that the break-in occurred late Saturday. "We have entered those weapons into NCIC, a national database, and alerted our federal, state and local law enforcement partners," Setera said. "There is no indication that these missing weapons are connected to any kind of terrorism threat whatsoever. Nevertheless, every effort will be made to recover these weapons immediately," she said. The FBI refused to say what types of weapons went missing.

Paris attacks: The West’s fatal misunderstanding of Islamic State Reuters / Rasha Elass / November 15, 2015 The horrendous attacks on Paris have an eerie resemblance to the events of Sept. 11, 2001, in that they seem to have caught everyone off guard. Until perhaps Friday, the main perception among Western intelligence agencies and Washington policymakers has been that Islamic State poses “no immediate threat” to the United States or the West. “Unlike Al Qaeda, ISIS is more interested in establishing a Caliphate and not so interested in attacking the West,” a retired CIA officer explained during a closed meeting at one of Washington’s think tanks. He was echoing a common sentiment, and insisted that “Al Qaeda remains the main threat.” Even U.S. President Barack Obama recently said with confidence that Islamic State was being “contained.” But we cannot forget that Islamic State came to the world stage barely over a year ago, when it took Mosul and subsequently one third of Iraq as well as one third of Syria in a matter of weeks. Some of the terror group’s major advances on the ground took mere hours, advances that Obama later said will take years to roll back. I remember covering the war at that time from Damascus, Syria, and later from Beirut, where I kept in constant communication via the Internet with the Syrian rebels and civilians who had suddenly found themselves under Islamic State rule in the eastern Syrian province of Deir al Zor. During those first few days, many went underground, not sure what to do about their new, brutal occupier, who proceeded to slaughter more than 700 men from the Arab Sunni Muslim tribe of Shueitat because the tribe did not pledge allegiance to Islamic State. The militant group commanded all men of fighting age in Deir Al Zor to report to Islamic State checkpoints, surrender weapons, and either pledge allegiance to Islamic State or leave the territory immediately. “We never thought the West would allow a group like ISIS to expand, but now I know that we have been played. We have been extremely stupid,” one anti-Islamic State rebel told me on condition of anonymity to protect his family. He sounded embittered by what he called a shocking and swift victory for the group, and he spoke to me from his car, which he said he had parked just outside an Internet cafe to piggy-back on the Wi-Fi signal without anyone hearing our conversation. He said Islamic State had setup checkpoints everywhere. “The only thing that makes sense to us is that the world wants to dump all its trash here,” he said, referring to the Islamic State jihadists, whom he said were mainly non-Syrian, but other Arab nationals, Chechens, and Westerners. “And then the West will come and bomb them all. This must be the strategy because nothing else makes any sense.” Conspiracy theories aside, there is some truth to the idea that some countries, as naive and misguided as they have been, privately sighed relief to see their own Islamist nationals travel to Islamist territory to meet their fate. “It’s better than having them stay in our country,” one Western diplomat told me on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. “Statistically, a newly arrived jihadist to ISIS territory is killed within weeks, so good riddance.” He added that all the West had to worry about were the “lone-wolf attacks” inspired by Islamic State. Unfortunately, the Paris attacks have disproved this theory, and it is time to shed other falsely comforting illusions as well. Namely, let us not forget that some of the United States’ staunchest allies have been, and remain, responsible for facilitating the arrival of money, materiel, and jihadists into Islamic State territory, not to mention providing the ideological guidance for the terror group. They have been doing so in the hopes of toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Jihadists have crossed the borders of Jordan and Turkey into Syria, seemingly at will. Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, and Saudi Arabia have not stopped their private citizens from sending money to various Islamist brigades, including Islamic State. They also give airtime to the muftis who provide ideological guidance to Islamic State, religious scholars who condone sectarian killing, gruesome beheadings, and sexual slavery on theological grounds. It has been too convenient a falsity also for the West to believe that Syria’s war is Syria’s problem, or at least someone else’s problem, when so many world players are already involved in the war there, either directly or by proxy.

In the worst of Friday's attacks, gunmen stormed the Bataclan theater during a rock concert, taking the audience hostage and firing on them repeatedly. 89 people were killed and many more wounded. Julien Pearce, a journalist at Europe 1 radio who escaped by crawling onto the stage, said he got a good look at one attacker who appeared "very young." "That's what struck me, his childish face, very determined, cold, calm, frightening," Pearce said.