JFK Allowed Passengers to Exit Without Going Through Customs

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Passengers arriving at Kennedy Airport on an international flight were allowed to exit the busy hub without going through Customs — for at least the second time in recent months, the Daily News has learned.

Bumbling airline and security officials let travelers on American Airlines Flight 1223 from Cancun, Mexico, out of the airport on Monday morning without having their passports or bags checked, sources told The News . . .

A 34-year-old man who had been in Cancun to attend three Phish concerts told The News he was able to glide from the plane to the baggage claim area without having to endure the usual maze of Customs and Border Protection security checks.

“It’s absolutely absurd,” the business adviser said. “To think that anyone could be walking off of that plane and just get right into the city. It could be terrorists, El Chapo’s henchmen, anyone.”

The jam band fan said he even approached a Transportation Security Administration agent near the exit, but was told he was free to go. (Read more from “JFK Allowed Passengers to Exit Without Going Through Customs” HERE)

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ISIS Has Whole Fake Passport ‘Industry,’ Official Says

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By Brian Ross, Michele McPhee and Lee Ferran. The terror group ISIS has created a whole “industry” out of the production of fake passports, a high-level French official said today.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters that through ISIS’s operations in Syria, Iraq and Libya, the group has acquired blank passports and has now set up a “real fake document industry.” Cazeneuve made the statement following a meeting with top European officials where he proposed setting up a new task force to help nab people attempting to come into the European Union with fake papers.

Last month ABC News reported that U.S. intelligence suspected ISIS had acquired thousands of blank Syrian passports and at least one passport printing machine after taking over government offices in Syria. Officials from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) said in a 17-page report that the terror group has likely been able to print legitimate-looking Syrian passports since at least last summer – and raised the possibility that people using the forged documents have snuck into America.

“Since more than 17 months [have] passed since Raqqa and Deir ez-Zour fell to ISIS, it is possible that individuals from Syria with passports ‘issued’ in these ISIS-controlled cities or who had passport blanks, may have traveled to the U.S.,” the HSI report says. (Read more from “ISIS Has Whole Fake Passport ‘Industry,’ Official Says” HERE)

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Islamic State Plans Attacks From Camps in Europe, Europol Says

By James G. Neuger. Islamic State has set up a special operations command to mastermind more terrorist attacks on “soft targets” in Europe, drawing on training camps on European soil and with France as the most at-risk country, the European Union’s crime-fighting agency said.

The model is the simultaneous shootings at several locations in Paris in November which killed 130, with most of the bloodshed at a concert hall in eastern Paris, said the agency, known as Europol.

It is possible that similar operations “are currently being planned and prepared,” Europol said in a report released on Monday during a meeting of EU interior ministers in Amsterdam. “The wide range of possible targets in combination with an opportunistic approach of locally based groups creates a huge variety of possible scenarios for future terrorist events.” (Read more from “Islamic State Plans Attacks From Camps in Europe, Europol Says” HERE)

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Ted Cruz Makes a Joke About Donald Trump for ‘Two Corinthians’ Gaffe

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Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are currently leading in nearly every poll across the nation, so it’s only natural that the two take shots at each other from time to time.

Trump recently misspoke by saying “two corinthians” rather than “second corinthians” at an event, and the ever-witty Cruz was right there to call him on his gaffe.

Here you go…

At an Iowa campaign event Monday, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz cracked a joke on front-runner Donald Trump and his “two Corinthians” gaffe.

While answering a question at a town hall meeting, Cruz referred to a Bible verse from the book of 2 Chronicles. Before he could finish the verse, someone interrupted Cruz and said, “two Chronicles.”

(Read more from “Ted Cruz Makes a Joke About Donald Trump for ‘Two Corinthians’ Gaffe” HERE)

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Enrollment Growth in Obamacare Health Insurance Slower Than Expected

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Reflecting slower than anticipated enrollment growth in health insurance purchased through the Affordable Care Act, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has lowered its estimate of how many people will get coverage through the law in 2016.

In any given month this year, about 13 million people on average are now expected to be enrolled in a health plan purchased on a marketplace created by the law, often called Obamacare.

That is down from 21 million people previously estimated by the budget office, whose projections about the impact of legislation are closely watched by both parties in Washington. The lower enrollment number brings the budget office closer in line with the Obama administration, which scaled back its own enrollment targets for 2016, citing the difficulty of reaching new consumers who have not so far taken advantage of the marketplaces.

The lower enrollment number brings the budget office closer in line with the Obama administration, which scaled back its own enrollment targets for 2016, citing the difficulty of reaching new consumers who have not so far taken advantage of the marketplaces.

The insurance marketplaces, a key pillar of the health law, allow people who do not get coverage through an employer to shop among plans that must meet basic standards and cannot turn away customers with preexisting medical conditions. (Read more from “Enrollment Growth in Obamacare Health Insurance Slower Than Expected” HERE)

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Zika Virus Is Spreading, How Do We Stop It?

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What [do we] do about the Zika virus?

As this — another viral disease — emerges, we’re again facing down a primordial threat that reminds us we are animals in an ecosystem. It’s an ecosystem that’s changing with us and because of us. Beating back Zika will require openness to innovation in both technology and policy.

The primary mosquito species now transmitting Zika virus throughout numerous countries in the Americas, Aedes aegypti, actually evolved alongside humans to target us specifically, versus other animals.

Now it is spreading its domain, due to the warming climate and its predilection for our built-up environment. Mosquitos have already altered human history before by causing millions of deaths via the spread of yellow fever and Dengue, two viruses that are closely related to Zika . . .

While we lack definitive proof that the virus caused the severe cerebral and skull deformities these newborns are suffering with, the evidence we’ve got mandates decisive action. Doctors have found Zika virus in the amniotic fluid of affected fetuses and in the placentas and brains of miscarried fetuses with microcephaly. (Read more from “Zika Virus Is Spreading, How Do We Stop It?” HERE)

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The Shocking Confessions of Flight Attendants on Anonymous App Whisper

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Despite dealing with demanding passengers, unwieldy trolleys and turbulence at 30,000ft, flight attendants are well-known for their reassuring manner and helpful attitude.

But behind those smiles and pristine uniforms, some members of cabin crew are gradually losing their patience with difficult passengers in what one hostess describes as a ‘lonely’ job.

Air stewards have taken to Whisper, the anonymous confession app, to reveal what they’re really thinking during the flight, from hoping turbulence ‘knocks you on your ass’ to fantasising about a crash so that they can play the hero.

In one post, a flight attendant stated that during an emergency landing she spent the entire time hoping that the delay wouldn’t interfere with her 2pm hair appointment, and another revealed that she had caused a diversion when she sneakily smoked a cigarette in the toilet and set off the alarms . . .

One air hostess claimed that while working for an Australian airline, she had started drinking before both take-off and landing and another stated that they often walked up and down the aisle on a night flight to laugh at the passengers’ sleeping faces. (Read more from “The Shocking Confessions of Flight Attendants on Anonymous App Whisper” HERE)

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Trump Just Received Massive Endorsement That Will Have Black Lives Matter Howling

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By Jack Davis. The National Black Republican Association endorsed Donald Trump Friday for president.

“As citizens who happen to be black, we support Mr. Trump because he shares our values,” said a statement from NBRA chair Frances Rice. “We, like Mr. Trump, are fiscally conservative, steadfastly pro-life and believers in a small government that fosters freedom for individuals and businesses, so they can grow and become prosperous.

“We are deeply concerned about illegal immigration, a major cause of high black unemployment, especially among black youth. Black Americans across America are beginning to wake up and see clearly the reality of what is happening in black neighborhoods.

“Democrats have run black communities for the past 60 years and the socialist policies of the Democrats have turned those communities into economic and social wastelands, witness Detroit, Baltimore and South Chicago.

“We believe that Mr. Trump has demonstrated that he can push back against the mainstream media, end political correctness and free black communities from the destructive grip of socialist Democrats.” (Read more from “Trump Just Received Massive Endorsement That Will Have Black Lives Matter Howling” HERE)

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Trump’s Boast: Blacks Will Like Me Better Than Obama

By Howard Kurtz. Donald Trump is making a bold prediction about black voters.

In an interview airing Sunday on Fox’s “Media Buzz,” Trump told me there is already great affection for him in the black community.

“Look, the African Americans love me because they know I am going to bring back jobs,” he told me at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.

Okay, a pretty standard Trumpian boast. But then he said this:

“They are going to like me better than they like Obama. The truth is Obama has done nothing for them.” (Read more from “Trump’s Boast: Blacks Will Like Me Better Than Obama” HERE)

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‘McLaughlin Group’ Host Just Made a Huge Prediction About What the FBI Will Do to Hillary Over Email Scandal

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By Ian Hanchett. Chicago Tribune Editorial Board member Clarence Page and “McLaughlin Group” host John McLaughlin predicted the FBI will recommend Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton face prosecution for mishandling classified information on Friday.

(Read more from “‘McLaughlin Group’ Host Just Made a Huge Prediction About What the FBI Will Do to Hillary Over Email Scandal” HERE)

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Hillary’s Team Copied Intel off Top-Secret Server to Email

By Paul Sperry. The FBI is investigating whether members of Hillary Clinton’s inner circle “cut and pasted” material from the government’s classified network so that it could be sent to her private e-mail address, former State Department security officials say.

Clinton and her top aides had access to a Pentagon-run classified network that goes up to the Secret level, as well as a separate system used for Top Secret communications.

The two systems — the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet) and Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS) — are not connected to the unclassified system, known as the Non-Classified Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNet). You cannot e-mail from one system to the other, though you can use NIPRNet to send ­e-mails outside the government.

Somehow, highly classified information from SIPRNet, as well as even the super-secure JWICS, jumped from those closed systems to the open system and turned up in at least 1,340 of Clinton’s home e-mails — including several the CIA earlier this month flagged as containing ultra-secret Sensitive Compartmented Information and Special Access Programs, a subset of SCI. (Read more from “Hillary’s Team Copied Intel off Top-Secret Server to Email” HERE)

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Trump Just Made a Ridiculous Claim About the ‘Loyalty’ of His Supporters

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Donald Trump is so confident about the loyalty of his supporters that he predicted Saturday they would stick with him even if he shot someone.

The Republican presidential front-runner bashed conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s support of rival Ted Cruz and welcomed a figure from the GOP establishment, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, in rallies nine days before the Iowa caucuses open voting in the 2016 campaign.

“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?” Trump told an enthusiastic audience at a Christian school, Dordt College. “It’s like incredible.”

Beck campaigned for Ted Cruz and held little back in going after Trump. “The time for silliness and reality show tactics has passed,” Beck charged at a Cruz rally. He warned that a Trump victory in the Feb. 1 caucuses could have lasting consequences: “If Donald Trump wins, it’s going to be a snowball to hell.”

Trump demonstrated the extent to which some in the Republican establishment have begun to accept a potential Trump nomination when Grassley introduced him at a later event in Pella.

(Read more from “Trump Just Made a Ridiculous Claim About the ‘Loyalty’ of His Supporters” HERE)

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Soldier From Bergdahl’s Company Just Dropped Bombshell About Bowe’s REAL Motivation for Leaving

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While Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has claimed that he left his post in 2009 to make an unauthorized trip to higher headquarters, one soldier who served with him says the accused deserter spoke of another reason at the time.

Bergdahl, 29, was arraigned at Fort Bragg, N.C., last month on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. The latter charge carries a potential life sentence, while the former can lead to the soldier’s imprisonment for up to five years.

Bergdahl left his post in Afghanistan in June 2009 and subsequently became a Taliban prisoner, until his release in May 2014 in exchange for the so-called “Taliban Five,” being held at the Guantanamo Bay.

During a panel discussion at the University of Alaska, Anchorage (UAA) on Thursday, former soldiers who served with Bergdahl, shared what they recalled about him and what they believe should happen to him now. The men were part of the 501st Infantry Regiment, based in Alaska, but deployed in Afghanistan in 2009.

Former Sgt. John Rice, a friend of Bergdahl, told the audience that the accused soldier spoke of wanting to spend time with the Taliban. “Bergdahl had said he wanted to essentially, not join the Taliban, but he wanted to be similar to a reporter that’s embedded in the Taliban and he wanted to write a book about it,” Rice said, according to local NBC affiliate KTUU. (Read more from “Soldier From Bergdahl’s Company Just Dropped Bombshell About Bowe’s REAL Motivation for Leaving” HERE)

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