School District Implements Iris Scanners on Buses After Student’s Death

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IritransThe Antelope Valley Schools Transportation Agency is using biometric iris scanners on special needs buses to prevent tragedies like the recent death of an autistic student who was abandoned on his school bus.

Hun Joon “Paul” Lee, a 19-year-old autistic student, was left on a contracted school bus in a district parking lot for hours Sept. 11, when he was found unresponsive laying in the aisle. A substitute driver picked him up at 8:30 a.m. and his parents believe he never got off the bus. Lee’s mother realized something was wrong when his bus didn’t arrive after school, NBC Los Angeles reports.

The nearby Antelope Valley Transportation Agency, meanwhile, is conducting a pilot program with iris scanners on special needs buses in hopes of preventing a similar tragedy from occurring in that district.

“Students will biometrically (iris) scan identity as the board and exit the school bus,” according to a Monday press release. “The IRITRANS system will notify the driver visibly and audibly if the child is about to get on or off at the wrong bus stop. When the bus reaches the end of its daily route, the driver simply ends the route on the IRITRANS mobile device and if all students have not exited the bus, the device will notify the driver both visually and audibly to recheck the bus.”

“Lost or sleeping kids. It happens every year in most school districts nationally only we rarely hear about it,” IRITRAK president John DeVries said. “Kids left sleeping on a bus is at epidemic proportions nationally.” (Read more from “School District Implements Iris Scanners on Buses After Student’s Death” HERE)

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This Is the Year Drones Armed With Lasers May Arrive [+video]

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defense-large (3)Flying military robots armed with high-energy lasers? It’s a future that is exciting, terrifying — and perhaps just two years away.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., or GA-ASI, the San Diego-based company that makes the Predator and Reaper drones, is undertaking a privately funded study to integrate a 150-kilowatt solid-state laser onto its Avenger (née Predator-C) drone. If the company succeeds, a drone with a high-energy laser will be a reality at some point in 2017, company executives told Defense One.

“We’re funded right now to develop a laser module compatible with the aircraft and study putting it on the Avenger,” Michael Perry, Vice President for Mission Systems at GA-ASI, told Defense One. “We hope to be funded to do that,” he said.

The company is far better known for its MQ-1s and MQ-9s — the backbones of the Pentagon’s drone strike force — than for its work with lasers. But in June, the company delivered a 150-kilowatt liquid laser to the Pentagon for extensive testing at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. For comparison, the 30 kw laser (output) currently on the Ponce in the Persian Gulf has more than enough output to destroy an enemy drone or blow a hole in a boat. In addition to 5 times the power, the significant increase in beam quality provides significantly higher lethality than the system on the Ponce.

Bringing these two technologies together involves a lot more than strapping a laser cannon under the drone’s wings. Hitting a target with a laser mounted on a vibrating platform moving quickly through air laden with dust and water vapor is tougher than launching a Hellfire at a moving vehicle. (Read more from “This Is the Year Drones Armed With Lasers May Arrive” HERE)

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Scientists Have Revealed Where the Flu Develops, Study Shows How It Spreads

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CoughResearchers have found that flu develops in the roof of the mouth – and that it is spread through coughs and sneezes.

The key area of where flu develops is located in the soft palate separating the back of the mouth and the nasal cavity, according to new research.

Scientists have found that the inflammation associated with infection in the soft palate stimulates the sneezing and coughing, with it propelling the flu virus out of the mouth enabling it to spread easily.

Dr Kanta Subbarao, of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in the US said: “Historically, the soft palate has not been examined in animal models of influenza.”

Published in the science journal Nature, the research was carried out on ferrets whose mouths are similar to humans. (Read more from “Scientists Have Revealed Where the Flu Develops, Study Shows How It Spreads” HERE)

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Watch: Carly Fiorina Showing Her True Colors With What She Just Said About Ben Carson’s Muslim Comments

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489472662-640x480 (1)By Breitbart News. Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina impressed many with her strong performance in the second presidential debate, as she railed passionately against Planned Parenthood and outlined her hardline views on foreign policy.

But she showed off a lighter side on Monday night during an appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” . . .

She denounced rival Ben Carson’s recent comments about not wanting a Muslim elected to the White House.

“Well I think that’s wrong,” said Fiorina.

“You know it says in our Constitution that religion cannot be a test for office,” she added. “It is also true that this country was founded on the principle that we judge each individual and that anyone of any faith is welcome here.” (Read more from “Watch: Carly Fiorina Showing Her True Colors With What She Just Said About Ben Carson’s Muslim Comments” HERE)

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Ted Cruz Hammers Carson’s Anti-Islam Comments

By Mark Hensch. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is criticizing GOP rival Ben Carson for saying that a Muslim should not be president of the United States.

At a campaign stop in Des Moines, Iowa, on Sunday evening, Cruz said religious convictions should have no bearing on one’s fitness for the Oval Office.

“You know, the Constitution specifies there shall be no religious test for public office and I am constitutionalist,” he said, according to The Des Moines Register.

“My view, listen. The president’s faith is between him and God,” the 2016 Republican White House hopeful added of President Obama. “What I’m going to focus on is his public policy record.”

Carson sparked controversy by declaring on Sunday that Islam has no place in a potential White House administration. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Here’s the Phrase Angry Muslims Are Using to Taunt NJ School Officials [+video]

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muslims-jersey-2-575x290Muslim parents taunted school officials in Jersey City, New Jersey after schools would not close for Eid al-Adha.

The Blaze reported:

The Jersey City Board of Education voted last week not to close schools for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, one of the most important holidays for Muslims.

School board members in New Jersey made their decision Thursday despite appeals from Muslim attendees who showed up to advocate that the board change the school schedule. . .

“We’re going to be the majority soon,” another said.

(Read more from “Here’s the Phrase Angry Muslims Are Using to Taunt NJ School Officials” HERE)

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New Twist: Judge Napolitano Says Muslim Boy’s ‘Clock’ Was a ‘Hoax’ [+video]

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obama-defended-the-kid-who-was-arrested-after-bringing-a-homemade-clock-that-looked-like-a-bomb-to-school[This week] on “The Kelly File,” Judge Andrew Napolitano reacted to allegations that Texas teenager Ahmed Mohamed did not create a clock and instead simply took apart an existing clock and transplanted the guts into a pencil box . . .

Mohamed and his family have not commented about claims that the clock is a hoax, and they are still planning on keeping thousands of dollars in donations and taking legal action against the school and the police.

Judge Napolitano said it now appears that this was a “purposeful hoax.”

He added that if the parents were involved in a hoax, then this is a fraud case, since thousands of dollars have been donated to Mohamed through a legal fund and a scholarship fund.

“If this was part of a purposeful stunt and if the parents were involved in this and if everybody from Mark Zuckerberg to President Obama fell for this, this is not good,” Judge Napolitano said. (Read more from “New Twist: Judge Napolitano Says Muslim Boy’s ‘Clock’ Was a ‘Hoax'” HERE)

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Obama Admin Had Tapes Proving Bergdahl Deserted and Joined Taliban but Ignored Them [+video]

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bowe-bergdahl-talibanRetired Colonel David Hunt broke the news tonight on The O’Reilly Factor that the the Obama administration had proof that Bowe Bergdahl deserted to the Taliban.

The Obama administration did not use the evidence in his trial.

Colonel David Hunt explained it tonight:

Col. David Hunt (retired): June 30, 2009, Bergdahl deserts his post in southeast Afghanistan. July 1st and 2nd, in a standard briefing to a commander of his unit, Fourth Brigade ot the 25th Infantry division, we have tapes of Taliban talking on Bergdahl’s phone saying that Bergdahl wanted to join them. And we have the Taliban on their own phones talking about Bergdahl trying to join them. This information was known July 2nd on and yet we still traded him for five terrorists, had a White House ceremony and now we’ve taken two years since he’s come back to do something which takes 90 days. The government has not yet and it doesn’t sound like it’s going to even use these tapes against Sgt Bergdahl . . .

Col. David Hunt: There are programs, we’ve been doing it since World War II, in which we listen to the enemy, and people who are speaking Pashtun and any language the Taliban in that section are using, were listening because they were told to and they were also listening to Bergdahl’s phone. What they heard was the Taliban on Bergdahl’s phone because he had joined them by then. So it’s a military program.

(Read more from “Obama Admin Had Tapes Proving Bergdahl Deserted and Joined Taliban but Ignored Them at Trial” HERE)

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RINOs in Senate Take Lead to Prevent Government Shutdown

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Congress_Immigration-06023-3555Senate Republicans are taking the lead in a carefully orchestrated plan with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to avoid a government shutdown next week.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday filed a motion to advance legislation that would redirect Planned Parenthood funding to community health centers and fund the government until Dec. 11 . . .

Democrats will filibuster the stopgap funding measure because of the Planned Parenthood rider, setting up votes on a so-called “clean” continuing resolution next week.

Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the Senate’s No. 3 Republican, said the House and Senate had been in talks and leaders decided that it was better for the Senate to move forward first, to show that a funding bill cutting off Planned Parenthood would fail.

“It was concluded that giving the Senate ball control by taking the first whack at this and demonstrating what the traffic will bear in terms of where the votes are in the Senate, would give the House an indication of where we are,” Thune said. (Read more from “Senate GOP Takes Lead to Prevent Government Shutdown” HERE)

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This Is the Fastest Growing Immigrant Community in America

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citizenship-Getty-640x480Muslims are the fastest growing bloc of immigrants, according to new census data published by the Center for Immigration Studies.

The report, which analyzes data from American Community Survey (ACS), finds that the foreign-born population in the U.S. hit a new record high 42.4 million in July 2014.

The report details that some of “the sending countries with the largest percentage increases in the number of immigrants living in the United States since 2010 were Saudi Arabia (up 93 percent); Bangladesh (up 37 percent); Iraq (up 36 percent); Egypt (up 25 percent); Pakistan, India, and Ethiopia (all up 24 percent); Nigeria and Ghana (both up 21 percent)” . . .

As Breitbart News has previously documented, every year the United States voluntarily imports more than a quarter of a million– or 280,000– Muslim migrants. This number includes 117,423 migrants who were permanently resettled with Legal Permanent Resident status, as well as an additional 122,921 temporary Muslim workers and foreign students, and 39,932 Muslim refugee and asylees. This means that each year, the U.S. admits a number of Muslim migrants larger in size than the entire population of Des Moines, Iowa.

According to Pew Research, only 11 percent of Muslim Americans identify as Republican or leaning-Republican, making them one of the most reliable Democrat voting blocs in the country. As Politico recently reported, the Obama Administration is working to get green card holders registered to vote. Because refugees and green card holders can freely collect welfare, this magnifies the existing cultural challenges for Republicans in getting non-Western voters to support Western political ideas. (Read more from “This Is the Fastest Growing Immigrant Community in America” HERE)

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Top Former General: Syria Is A Geopolitical Chernobyl

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140226-putin-russia-military-750a_4eeedb96f23edfb4cd42615d86323da2One of America’s top former generals compared the situation in Syria Tuesday to a historic nuclear disaster, implicitly criticizing the U.S. for allowing it to worsen, and accused Russia’s President of trying to re-establish an empire.

Retired Gen. David Petraeus, testifying before the Senate Armed Service Committee, also recommended that the U.S. establish safe zones for Sunnis inside Syria and potentially put American boots on the grounds in Iraq to stop the spread of ISIS.

The former commanding general of U.S. forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan equated the situation in Syria today with one of the most deadly nuclear accidents in history.

Syria “is a geopolitical Chernobyl — spewing instability and extremism over the region and the rest of the world,” Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee, referencing the 1986 nuclear meltdown in the former Soviet Union. “Like a nuclear disaster, the fallout from the meltdown of Syria threatens to be with us for decades, and the longer it is permitted to continue, the more severe the damage will be.”

Part of the solution to stabilizing the situation inside Syria would entail helping to protect large swaths of the Sunni population from bombing by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in order to bring in more willing partners to fight ISIS. (Read more from “Top Former General Accuses Putin of Attempting to Re-Establish Russian Empire” HERE)

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