ICE Director: No Illegal Alien Should ‘Be Comfortable’

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan said at a White House press briefing Wednesday that no illegal immigrant should “be comfortable” in the U.S.

Homan was at the briefing with U.S. Attorney John Huber to support two anti-illegal immigration bills that Congress is set to vote on. One of the bills will not allow jurisdictions that refuse to comply with immigration detainers to receive grants from the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. The other bill would increase the punishments for a deported illegal immigrant who returns to the U.S.

The ICE director said that these bills signify additional tools in his toolbox to combat illegal immigration. The Daily Caller previously reported that while immigration reduction groups are in support of the laws, they don’t think they go far enough. The Davis-Oliver Act would also target sanctuary cities and illegal immigrants who have returned back to the U.S. in addition to several other measures . . .

The 33-year law enforcement veteran highlighted the effects of President Trump’s executive orders on illegal immigration and said that since these were signed in late January ICE has arrested 66,000 individuals known or suspected of being in the country illegally. This is a 39.3 percent increase over the same period in 2016. (Read more from “ICE Director: No Illegal Alien Should ‘Be Comfortable'” HERE)

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WHAT’S WRONG WITH NANCY? Pelosi Appears Dazed — Stops Speaking, Stares at Audience

As Nancy Pelosi struggles to beat back an insurgency by her House Democratic colleagues over a string of election losses, there are new questions over her health after she suffered multiple brain freezes during a recent appearance in New York City.

During a Sunday event at the 92nd Street Y, Pelosi would awkwardly stop mid-sentence repeatedly, stare at the audience, and then continue speaking.

Speaking about her father, Pelosi said, “He was part of a group called the Berkson Group and they did rallies and pageants and parades and um, and when he stood up on the floor of Congress, ‘I stand here as a representative of the—” she said before halting and staring at the audience.

Then she resumed, “members of the Jewish army.”

Moments later, while she was talking about a planning an agenda after losing four special elections, she said, “For us, we have to make sure that our members—-participate in that.” (Read more from “WHAT’S WRONG WITH NANCY? Pelosi Appears Dazed — Stops Speaking, Stares at Audience” HERE)

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New Invasive Measures Are Coming to Your Local Airport

The federal government will soon begin searching through travelers’ books at the airport as airlines test out fingerprint scans.

Next time you choose to take a flight in the United States, you will not only be given the option of a free walk through the full body scanner or a complimentary rub down courtesy of the Transportation Security Administration. Your next flight might include a search of your laptop, books, and possibly a fingerprint scan. Since the launch of the Trump administration travelers have been subject to increasingly invasive measures in the form of laptop searches and discrimination against those traveling from majority Muslim countries.

Now the TSA is testing out new measures that require passengers to remove books and paper goods from their carry-on luggage. According to new reports from The Wall Street Journal and Sacramento Bee, the TSA had already begun to roll out these new invasive policies.

“While I expect going through airline security to be time-consuming and mildly annoying, my attitude changed recently as I prepared to board a flight out of Sacramento International Airport in the days after Memorial Day weekend,” the Sacramento Bee wrote. “As I stood in line, Transportation Security Administration officials announced at SMF that everyone was to take books, magazines and food out of their bags and put them into a separate bin for inspection. That was it. A line was crossed for me.”

As the Bee notes, reading material is extremely personal and revealing about a person. If individuals know that their reading habits – whether they relate to philosophy, politics, sexuality, or religion – will be scrutinized they may began a process of self-censorship. It also presents the question, what type of reading material could be questionable or even, banned? At this point the TSA is claiming that bombs could be hidden within books and are not focusing their efforts on content specifically. However, this is likely the beginning of an incremental strategy to remove as much freedom as possible for travelers. As the Sac Bee wrote, “We need to resist the creep of authoritarianism. During the Cold War, spying on neighbors was common in the Soviet Bloc. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, people reported others for listening to Western Classical Music.”

The American Civil Liberties Union noted that there have already been multiple cases of passengers singled out for their First Amendment-protected expressions. “For example, in 2010 the ACLU sued on behalf of a man who was abusively interrogated, handcuffed, and detained for nearly five hours because he was carrying a set of Arabic-language flash cards and a book critical of U.S. foreign policy,” the ACLU writes. We also know that the DHS database known as the “Automated Targeting System,” which tracks information on international travelers, has included notations in travelers’ permanent files about controversial books in their possession.”

In a recent interview with Fox News, John Kelly, Secretary of Homeland Security, seemed to confirm the goal of implementing the strategy on a nationwide scale. Kelly was asked whether or not the new policy of unpacking carry on luggage and separating food and electronics into separate bins will indeed go nationwide.

“Yes, I mean, the reason we’ve done, TSA, of course, works for me,” Kelly stated. He then blamed the need for these programs on travelers who are “trying to avoid the $25 or $50 or whatever it is to check a bag” by stuffing their bags too full and TSA monitors can not see what’s inside. When pushed further about the program going nationwide, Kelly states, “We might, and likely will.”

These plans were confirmed once again on Wednesday, as Secretary Kelly announced plans for new strategies to be implemented by the TSA. “We cannot play international whack-a-mole with each new threat,” Kelly said. “Instead, we must put in place new measures across the board to keep the traveling public safe and make it harder for terrorists to succeed.”

Although DHS officials declined to comment on specifics, ABC News reports that passengers may notice more swabbing of passengers’ hands and luggage to test for explosives. It is highly likely that the agencies book policy will be a part of these new strategies.

“Instead of handing your boarding pass and ID to a Transportation Security Administration agent, you could soon simply place two fingerprints on a scanner to be recognized and ushered through security — and then you could repeat the process to board the plane,” Yahoo writes.

These changes are part of an initiative started by Delta Air Lines. Delta has started the practice at Delta’s SkyClub lounge at National airport. Sandy Gordon, Delta’s vice president of airport operations, says the airline aims to have the strategy added to the check-in experience. Yahoo notes that the process saves minimal to no time since the process is still a part of the routine admittance policies for boarding a flight. Sandy Gordon said Delta is working with the TSA to get full approval for the program.

Yahoo’s writer said they also had to scan their driver’s license and enter Social Security number to participate in the fingerprint scan. The fingerprint and iris scans will be stored with the private company Clear. The company is promising not to sell the information to third parties, but Jeramie Scott, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s Domestic Surveillance Project, says that Clear’s privacy policy doesn’t require it to delete your data if you cancel your membership.

This is a test. This an important moment in time where passengers and travelers will have to decide if they are willing to put up with anything for the right to travel. The DHS has already begun implementing biometric entry and exit requirements for international travelers arriving and leaving the United States. This is part of the larger strategy of dividing Americans over illegitimate fears of terrorism and foreigners so they willingly give up what little civil liberties they have left. (For more from the author of “New Invasive Measures Are Coming to Your Local Airport” please click HERE)

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Top-Ranking Vatican Cardinal Charged With Sex Offenses in Australia

A cardinal in charge of the Vatican’s finances has been charged with multiple sexual offenses by Australian police, in one of the most significant indictments against a top-ranking leader of the Catholic Church.

Cardinal George Pell faces multiple charges of “historical sexual assault offenses,” the Australian criminal justice system’s term for offenses committed in the past, Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton announced at a news conference on Thursday morning in Australia . . .

Patton said that Pell was treated no differently than any other defendant because of his high rank in the Vatican — notifying a legal representative and summoning the defendant to court at a later date is the recommendation of Australian prosecutors in a case like his.

In the Vatican, Pell’s job as secretariat of the economy is so crucial that it has been described as the second-most-powerful role in Rome, after only the pope. But for years, he has faced accusations of improper behavior connected with clergy sexual abuse in Australia. (Read more from “Top-Ranking Vatican Cardinal Charged With Sex Offenses in Australia” HERE)

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Something GOOD Happened on an Airline. For a Change.

Here’s a story that breaks the recent trend of awful airline public-relations nightmares.

A Phoenix, Ariz., woman and her family were given 21 years of free flights on Spirit Airlines after she gave birth, mid-flight, to a healthy baby boy.

Cristina Penton was 36 weeks pregnant when she boarded Spirit flight 971 from Fort Lauderdale to Dallas with her other children. During the flight, she unexpectedly went into labor.

“Everything started happening very quickly,” Penton told WGNO. “I didn’t think I was having the baby because it was too soon, but after a few minutes I knew I needed medical attention. The flight attendants contacted doctors on the ground and they advised the flight attendants to see if there were any medical personnel on board. As it turned out, there was a pediatrician and a nurse. Soon after that, it was clear I was having my baby, and I was in pure panic.”

A spokesman for Spirit said that while a baby being born during a flight is “very rare,” flight attendants are trained to handle medical emergencies and can communicate with doctors on the ground with the plane’s in-flight communication system. When it was clear that Penton needed help, these flight attendants leaped into action.

Fortunately, there were some medical professionals on board to help – a pediatrician and a nurse. A fellow passenger on the plane, Shelley Hedgecock Starks of Fort Worth, captured the whole thing on video. She was sitting behind Penton when she went into labor, Fox5 News reports.

“I just asked her, ‘Do you want me to video this so you have a memory of what’s going on here?’” she asked Penton. “She’s married, apparently. But her husband wasn’t there. Her children were in shock so they weren’t in any situation or wanted to video that.”

Nurse Rhondula Green helped deliver the baby.

“I was asking for gloves, and the pediatrician was like, ‘They don’t have any gloves,’” Green said in an interview with Fox5. “And I was like, ‘They have to find some gloves.’ And then by the time I was getting my gloves on, the head was starting to crown.”

“A few seconds late[r], the head comes out. And the mom is like, ‘Take it! Take it!’” Green recalled. “He popped out, literally. Like, we barely caught him and then we just gave him to her.”

Penton’s baby, Christoph Lezcano, was born weighing seven pounds and measuring 19.5 inches long.
As Green went back to find her seat, the passengers on the plane clapped and cheered. “It was an awesome moment,” she said.

“The Spirit crew was very attentive and took care of me throughout the flight,” Penton said. “They helped make what could have been a terrible situation as good as it could possibly be.”

In addition to the free airfare, Spirit paid for a rental car to drive Penton and her family back home and presented baby Christoph with several gifts, including a onesie that says “Born to fly.”

Please do not be encouraged to go into labor aboard a plane after reading this story. (For more from the author of “Something GOOD Happened on an Airline. For a Change.” please click HERE)

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Enough About Medicaid. What About the Rest of Us?

There is more to life than Medicaid.

D.C. conservatives say it’s the best Medicaid reform bill ever. Democrats and progressive Republicans say it’s a crippling cut to the poor and immoral. What nobody is talking about is the rest of the health care and health insurance market and how it is immoral to ensure than no middle-income family can live with dignity without unsustainable taxpayer support. Whatever we do or don’t do with Medicaid, why do we need to destroy the rest of the market for the debate over Medicaid? Why is nobody talking about healing the private market first?

Obamacare’s actuarily insolvent regulations and market-distorting exchanges and subsidies, built on top of existing government-sponsored distortions, destroyed health insurance in America and made health care unaffordable for all but the wealthy. That is a fact. That premiums have tripled in only the fourth year of implementation and that they will skyrocket thanks to only one or two insurers having a monopoly in most of the country is a reality before our eyes, not just a projection score from CBO. Why is nobody discussing ways to solve the private market crisis — repeal of Obamacare and enactment of free-market, supply-side health care reforms?

The supposed rationale for this arson of our health care system was the pursuit of universal coverage. But the reality is that 84 percent of all coverage increases came from Medicaid, not from the private insurance market. Even much of the remaining 16 percent increase since 2011 came from 1) Young individuals who never wanted insurance but were coerced into it by the individual mandate; 2) More people getting employer plans thanks to the recovering job market. Unemployment decreased from 10 percent to 4.3 percent; and 3) Individuals who are getting lavish subsidies but only need the subsidies because the Obamacare regulations made insurance unaffordable without them. Private insurance coverage for everyone older than 26 has actually decreased since enactment of Obamacare.

The remaining middle-income Americans and small business owners, thus, must suffer from crushing costs the size of another mortgage … for what?

Why did we have to destroy the entire market just to expand Medicaid?

A true compromise that will expose the duplicity of progressive Republicans and Democrats

To that end, here is my proposal to solve the problem and assuage the concerns of progressive Republicans while disarming the talking point of the left.

You want Medicaid expansion? Here, go have it. We won’t touch it at all. Go enjoy it. It’s all funny money anyway, and we have long since crossed the point of no return with the debt. As late as 1987, we spent just $27 billion on Medicaid; as late as 2008, we spent $200 billion on it; and now we spend close to $400 billion. The debate between the two sides is over whether we will spend $500 billion or $620 billion on Medicaid by 2026, both lowball estimates unless we actually solve the core problem and open up a free market in health care and health insurance. Plus, either way, the proposed “cuts” to Medicaid under the GOP plan will never occur, cannot occur given the dynamics of the rest of the bill, and are merely a talking point to get conservatives on board with maintaining the core of Obamacare.
Perforce, if this is the big reason why RINOs are having tantrums, let’s cede this issue, which will be ceded anyway, and demand repeal of the more critical elements of Obamacare in return.

In addition, let’s throw $200-$300 billion over 10 years at a federal high-risk pool that is structured like the “Maine model” to ensure insurers can’t bid up the price and make it an open-ended entitlement, but will deal with the remaining chronically ill who are not covered by other programs. This is more than enough to deal with the remaining people who aren’t on Medicare, Medicaid+expansion, SCHIP, VA, TRICARE, state programs, and existing state and federal programs for pre-existing conditions. Yes, we already spend $1.6 trillion on health care. Now, enough is enough.

Again, this is not my ideal plan, but we are going to spend this money anyway under every plan anyway. (For more from the author of “Enough About Medicaid. What About the Rest of Us?” please click HERE)

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House Cracks Down on Illegal Alien Crime With Two BIG Votes

Illegal immigrant crime became a central theme in candidate Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. This week, the House of Representatives takes steps to crack down with two key pieces of legislation.

Kate’s Law would increase penalties for criminal illegal aliens who attempt to re-enter the United States after deportation. The bill is scheduled for a vote on the House floor Thursday.

During his campaign, President Trump promised to ask Congress to pass Kate’s Law on his first day in office. The White House released a statement Tuesday strongly urging the Congress to pass the bill and declaring that President Trump would sign it in its current form.

The Administration strongly supports H.R. 3004, Kate’s Law. This bill commemorates Kate Steinle, the 32-year-old woman who was shot and killed two years ago in San Francisco as she walked along a pier with her father. The alleged shooter, Francisco Sanchez, was an illegal immigrant who had already been deported five times and had seven felony convictions.

H.R. 3004 would increase the penalties that may be imposed on criminal aliens convicted of illegal reentry, deterring reentry and keeping criminal aliens off our streets. The bill is consistent with the Administration’s broader efforts to strengthen enforcement of our immigration laws and improve the security of our Nation’s borders.

If H.R. 3004 were presented to the President in its current form, his advisors would recommend that he sign the bill into law.

The second piece of legislation, the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, targets sanctuary cities that violate federal immigration policy. The bill would defund sanctuary jurisdictions by withholding Homeland Security and Justice Department grants from cities that refuse to comply with federal immigration law. It would also expand mandatory detention policies to cover illegal immigrants with D.U.I. violations and those who have had a visa revoked.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., is sponsoring both pieces of legislation.

“The House Judiciary Committee is working to improve our nation’s immigration laws and policy, and today I have introduced two, straightforward bills to enhance public safety,” Goodlatte said in a press release Friday. “We owe it to the families of those who lost loved ones to take action to prevent these horrible crimes. They have waited far too long.”

House Democrats are opposed to both bills, but according to The Hill, Democratic leadership is going easier on Kate’s Law. The “public’s perception of allowing people to come back in, commit crimes and not have a more serious sentence” might harm vulnerable Democrats during election season, said House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

While both bills are likely to pass in the House, it is unclear what fate awaits this legislation in the U.S. Senate. (For more from the author of “House Cracks Down on Illegal Alien Crime With Two BIG Votes” please click HERE)

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Doctor: Insurance Wouldn’t Pay for Patients’ Treatments, but Offered Assisted Suicide

Dr. Brian Callister, a physician in Reno, Nevada, says two recent patients both needed life-saving treatments. “Not palliative care, not hospice, these would have been curative procedures,” Callister recalls.

One patient was from California and the other was from Oregon, both states that passed physician-assisted suicide laws. Instead of offering to pay for their treatments, Callister says, the insurance medical directors in both states offered to cover his patients’ assisted suicide.

Watch the video to hear more about these cases, and why Callister, who says he’s taken care of “somewhere in four figures worth of terminally ill patients,” now opposes assisted suicide. (For more from the author of “Doctor: Insurance Wouldn’t Pay for Patients’ Treatments, but Offered Assisted Suicide” please click HERE)

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Pro-Life Group Claims Twitter Has ‘Suppressed’ Its Message

A pro-life group is claiming Twitter has “suppressed” its ads.

Live Action, a nonprofit organization founded by Lila Rose to promote the end of abortion, released a statement Tuesday about its clashes with the social media giant. Twitter censorship accusations have been growing increasingly frequent in recent years.

“While Planned Parenthood is allowed to advertise on Twitter, the social media company has suppressed Live Action’s ads, calling our pro-life messages offensive and inflammatory,” Live Action wrote.

Live Action claims Twitter asked the group to delete many of its tweets regarding Planned Parenthood, the No. 1 abortion provider in the United States.

“While it won’t censor Live Action’s and Lila Rose’s tweets outright, Twitter has banned our ability to advertise our content until we delete all the tweets it deems offensive—or, in reality, all the tweets that offend Planned Parenthood,” the organization wrote.

“Twitter has told us that we must delete all of our tweets: 1. calling for the end of taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood; 2. all of our tweets of our undercover investigations into Planned Parenthood and; 3. any ultrasound images of preborn children,” said Live Action in the June 27 article.

Twitter’s content is monitored by the Twitter Trust and Safety Council. Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry of The Week called the council an “Orwellian nightmare” when it was founded in February 2016.

Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, similarly raised concerns about the council, writing last year that “among the more than 40 organizations that make up the council, one finds such groups as the ‘Dangerous Speech Project,’ a group with ties to the liberal John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and to financier George Soros’ Open Society Institute.”

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (For more from the author of “Pro-Life Group Claims Twitter Has ‘Suppressed’ Its Message” please click HERE)

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Paris to Build a ‘Wall’ Around Eiffel Tower as Terrorism Becomes Mundane in Europe

Americans are still waiting for a border wall, but France is set to get a wall of their own by the end of the year.

Unlike the American iteration, this barrier won’t be erected on the French border. It’s set to surround the Eiffel Tower to shield it from terrorist attacks.

Last month, the Paris city council approved a $20 million bulletproof glass wall, just over 8 feet high, that will surround the iconic tower.

In a country proudly obsessed with art and beauty, this will be an obnoxious eyesore and a reminder that war and violence is just a breath away in the seemingly pacific city of romance.

Paris, like so many other European cities, has become ground zero for relentless terrorist attacks by Islamists.

I recently had the opportunity to visit France as a tourist, and enjoyed it immensely. The food was amazing (of course), and the service surprisingly friendly.

Perhaps this is because the country has been inundated by terrorist attacks and the people are just happy that tourists still decide to show up. A recent report showed that the tourism industry in Paris suffered a stunning $750 million drop and a decline of about a million visitors from 2015 to 2016.

The heightened level of security struck me as I traveled through the northern part of the country, especially when I was in Paris. The City of Lights is now constantly patrolled by men in military uniforms with rifles at the ready.

When I visited the Hôtel National des Invalides, a national military history museum, a soldier with rifle drawn sifted through my belongings at the gate to make sure I didn’t have anything suspicious.

These are scenes that, fortunately, are still quite uncommon in the United States.

While Americans have become exasperatingly used to heightened security at airports and public events—where the Transportation Security Administration obnoxiously shakes down grandmas looking for bombs—we still haven’t been subjected to a constant military presence on this level.

But who is to say it isn’t necessary at this point? The soldiers in France, while unnerving, at least demonstrate that force will be met with force.

Since the massive 2015 terrorist attack in Paris that took the lives of over 200 people and injured countless more, there have been numerous other incidents and arrests.

In the past few months alone, there have been attacks at the Louvre, Notre-Dame, and Champs-Élysées. The most recent attempted attack took place at Champs-Élysées, in which a van loaded with an AK-47 rifle, handguns, and a glass bottle rammed a police van.

Fortunately, that attack was stopped before any innocent people could be killed. The attacker, who was killed by police, had been on a terrorist watch list.

This occurred just days after I strolled down the famous avenue. It was strange to think that as I walked the path of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Charles de Gaulle, and the liberating armies of World War II, Islamists were targeting it for a bloodbath.

As France grapples with this constant, exhausting, and unnerving menace, it may serve as a warning to Americans, who fear that these same problems will reach our country.

It’s why President Donald Trump’s message of “extreme vetting” of immigrants and travelers to the U.S. has resonated with voters.

At a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Robin Simcox, a Heritage Foundation expert who specializes in terrorism and national security, broke down the numbers of the rising wave of terrorist plots not only in France, but throughout Europe.

They numbers have risen with the creation of the Islamic State in the Middle East.

“At least 5,000 to 6,000 Europeans who have fought alongside ISIS and other Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq are now returning to their home countries,” Simcox said.

Outsiders and homegrown radicals have stepped up their attacks in the last few years, a trend unlikely to abate. Many countries, such as Germany, have experienced an explosion of incidents.

“There was an eightfold increase in [terrorist] plots [in Germany] between 2015 and 2016, largely due to a surge in plots involving refugees,” Simcox said. “In fact, Germany faced more plots last year than it did in the entire 2000-2015 period.”

So, what can be done to ensure this menace doesn’t continue to grow and destroy our way of life?

Simcox offered a variety of strategies to combat it, which he highlighted in his paper, “The Threat of Islamist Terrorism in Europe and How the U.S. Should Respond.”

Some of the most important takeaways center on intelligence sharing between countries, breaking the military power of the Islamic State, and importantly, being mindful of the fact that we are at war with the Islamist ideology and are not just fighting military battles.

This is a war of hearts and minds, not just tanks and bombs. As Trump’s adviser on national security, Sebastian Gorka, said:

We will have won when the black flag of jihad, when the black flag of ISIS, is as repugnant across the world as the white peaked hood of the Ku Klux Klan and the black, white, and red swastika of Hitler’s Third Reich.

It is also important to look at examples of success in countries where counterterrorism methods seem to be effective.

For instance, The Guardian recently reported how Italy has managed to avoid major terrorist attacks despite threats to obliterate Rome.

While simple good fortune can’t entirely be ruled out, Italy has used methods—developed in the 1970s to counter the mafia—to monitor suspicious activity and foil plots before they happen.

These methods, too, raise questions regarding how far the West is willing to go to curtail civil liberties to counter the scourge. It is a good reminder that it is often best to solve these issues before they reach our shores.

This struck me as I toured the D-Day landing grounds in northern France. The beaches are hallowed ground, and serve as monuments to the bravery of the Allied forces who liberated a continent.

Yet they demonstrate how a festering, uncontrolled evil left unchecked often leaves a burden of sacrifice far greater in its wake. Tens of thousands, indeed hundreds of thousands of young Americans were killed to free a world of Nazi tyranny.

Our own generation is faced with a new evil that threatens our way of life. In Europe, that peril is fast becoming a mundane reality. We have a duty to ourselves and future generations to reverse that trend. (For more from the author of “Paris to Build a ‘Wall’ Around Eiffel Tower as Terrorism Becomes Mundane in Europe” please click HERE)

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