Prime Minister Blasts Transgender ‘Nonsense,’ Will Not Change Gender on Passports

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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he has had enough transgender “nonsense,” refusing to capitulate to the movement’s demands for the government to create “non-binary” government documents for transgender people.

According to LifeSiteNews, Australia’s Labour Party recently released a proposed draft for a “national platform that commits to supporting identification options ‘beyond binary male/female’ on government documents such as passports.” A finalized platform will be voted on in December when the party holds its triennial national party conference.

The proposal says that “gender-confused Australians” will not attain “equal enjoyment of human rights without discrimination” unless the government gives them “autonomy regarding sex/gender markers, and obtain identification options that match their sex characteristics and/or gender identities, as preferred.”

The current Prime Minister is telling the Labour Party to “get real” and that the government will “never” cave into this demand.

“A Liberal-National Government will never remove gender from birth certificates, licenses and passports – who are Labor kidding? Get real,” said Morison on Twitter. “This is the problem with Labor, obsessed with nonsense like removing gender from birth certificates rather than lower electricity prices, reducing tax for hard-working families and small businesses.”

(Read more from “Prime Minister Blasts Transgender ‘Nonsense,’ Will Not Change Gender on Passports” HERE)

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National Guard Soldier Killed in Afghanistan Identified as Utah Mayor, Father of 7

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The American service member killed Saturday in an apparent insider attack in Afghanistan has been identified as Army Maj. Brent Taylor of the Utah Army National Guard.

Initial reports indicate Taylor was shot and killed by a member of the Afghan security forces, according to Operation Resolute Support, the NATO training mission in Afghanistan.

Another U.S. soldier was wounded in the attack, which occurred at the Kabul Military Training Center early Saturday afternoon. That soldier received medical treatment at Bagram airfield and returned to duty, NATO officials said.

Taylor deployed to Afghanistan in January as part of an advisory team that trains Afghan commando units, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Before his death, he had served more than a decade in the National Guard, including seven years on active duty. . .

In civilian life, Taylor was the mayor of North Ogden, Utah, a city of about 17,000 people about 45 miles north of Salt Lake City. First elected in 2013, Taylor told the Salt Lake Tribune earlier this year that serving as mayor was “one of the greatest honors of my life and the highlight of my civilian professional career.” (Read more from “National Guard Soldier Killed in Afghanistan Identified as Utah Mayor, Father of 7” HERE)

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Utahns Mourn Loss of ‘Genuine Hero’: North Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor Killed in Afghanistan in Apparent Insider Attack

By Salt Lake Tribune. After he got his orders in January to deploy to Afghanistan, North Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor went live on Facebook to tell his constituents he’d be gone and what to expect.

It was an easy choice for him, one that was months in the making, rooted in decisions he’d made years ago to serve God, his family and his country. . .

Taylor was killed during an apparent insider attack early Saturday in Kabul. The attacker was immediately killed by Afghan Forces, according to NATO. The Utah National Guard hasn’t confirmed Taylor was killed in the attack, but Maj. Gen. Jefferson S. Burton, the adjutant general, in a news release, said: “My heart breaks for the loss and sacrifice of our soldier, particularly for the family. I wish them all the comfort and courage to face the difficult days ahead.”

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said in a statement that he was heartbroken by Taylor’s death, calling the North Ogden mayor a “brave and selfless soldier.” . . .

Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, echoed Herbert, writing on Facebook, “We lost a genuine hero and one of the best people in our state. We must rally around his sweet family.” (Read more from “Utahns Mourn Loss of ‘Genuine Hero’: North Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor Killed in Afghanistan in Apparent Insider Attack” HERE)

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Huge Win for Freedom: Christian Woman Released After Almost a Decade on Death Row

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A Christian woman in Pakistan on death row for nearly a decade after she allegedly contaminated a water jug — an offense viewed as blasphemy in the Muslim country — was acquitted by the country’s top court on Wednesday.

Asia Bibi was ordered released eight years after she was sentenced to death in 2010 on blasphemy charges – a landmark ruling that sparked widespread protests around Pakistan by hard-line Islamists and even led to the murder of a local governor. . .

[T]wo women refused to drink from the container she had touched because she was not Muslim. A few days later, a mob accused her of blasphemy after the women went to a local cleric in Sheikhupura – a city in Punjab – to report her. . .

The three-judge panel upheld the blasphemy law itself, saying it was consistent with verses from Islam’s holy book, the Quran. But they said prosecutors had failed to prove that Bibi violated the law. In addition to citing the Quran, the judges also referenced William Shakespeare’s King Lear, saying Bibi was “more sinned against than sinning.”

The ruling sent shockwaves across the country with hundreds of Islamists blocking a key road link the city of Rawalpindi with the capital, Islamabad. Islamists gathered in the country’s largest city, Karachi, in the northwestern city of Peshawar and elsewhere. Police urged demonstrators to disperse peacefully. (Read more from “Huge Win for Freedom: Christian Woman Released After Almost a Decade on Death Row” HERE)

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Terrorists Obama Released for Bergdahl Are Back on the Battlefield

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Five members of the Afghan Taliban who were freed from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for captured American Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl have joined the insurgent group’s political office in Qatar, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Tuesday.

They will now be among Taliban representatives negotiating for peace in Afghanistan, a sign some negotiators in Kabul say indicates the Taliban’s desire for a peace pact.

Others fear the five, all of whom were close to the insurgent group’s founder and hard-line leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, bring with them the same ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam that characterized the group’s five-year rule that ended in 2001 with the U.S.-led invasion.

“The Taliban are bringing back their old generation, which means the Taliban have not changed their thinking or their leadership,” said Haroun Mir, political analyst in the Afghan capital. “What we are more worried about is if tomorrow the Taliban say ‘we are ready to negotiate,’ who will represent Kabul? That is the big challenge because the government is so divided, not just ideologically but on ethnic lines.” . . .

In an unexpected development, Pakistan also bowed to a long-standing Afghan Taliban demand that it release its senior leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who had been in jail in Pakistan since 2010. At the time, Baradar was reportedly jailed after bypassing Pakistan to open independent peace talks with Hamid Karzai, who was then Afghanistan’s president. (Read more from “Terrorists Obama Released for Bergdahl Are Back on the Battlefield” HERE)

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A Second Caravan Is Now Forming

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The 7,000-strong migrant caravan that’s heading toward the United States from Central America is not the only one the Trump administration may soon have to deal with. A second migrant caravan has formed at the Honduran border, although it is currently much smaller, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Thousands of Honduran migrants gathered in a Guatemalan city near the border with Honduras Tuesday to prepare for a new caravan that would follow in the footsteps of a larger group currently marching to the U.S.-Mexico border, posing a fresh challenge to Guatemalan and Mexican authorities seeking to contain a surge in mass migration.

Church-run charities assisting migrants and activists say as many as 2,500 Hondurans who crossed into Guatemala in recent days have gathered in the city of Chiquimula, near the border with Honduras. But estimates of the size of the new group vary widely, from that number down to a few hundred, according to Francesca Fontanini, spokeswoman for the Americas region for the United Nations office on refugees.

The migrants say they plan to head to Ciudad Tecun Uman, the Guatemalan border town that was overwhelmed by a larger group of migrants who rushed into Mexico over the weekend. (WSJ)

(Read more from “A Second Caravan Is Now Forming” HERE)

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Violence Erupts: Caravan Migrant Killed at Mexican Border

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On Sunday, a new wave of hundreds of migrants heading toward the U.S. attempted to force their way over Mexico’s southern border. Violence erupted, leaving one of the migrants dead after what the group says was a rubber bullet fired by Mexican federal police struck him in the head. Mexican authorities, however, deny that their security forces are to blame.

The incident took place at the border near Tecun Uman, where the group of migrants “broke through border barriers,” as another group had done last week. The situation quickly devolved into violence.

“At a news conference late Sunday, Mexican Interior Secretary Alfonso Navarrete Prida denied that his country’s forces were responsible,” the Associated Press reports. “He said that Mexican federal police and immigration agents were attacked with rocks, glass bottles and fireworks when migrants broke through a gate on the Mexican side of the border, but that none of the officers were armed with firearms or anything that could fire rubber bullets. Navarrete said some of the attackers carried guns and firebombs.” . . .

The Trump administration is preparing for the arrival of the waves of migrants and being vocal about those efforts. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told the press traveling with him in Prague Sunday that an additional 1,000 active duty Army troops are being prepped to join the approximately 2,000 National Guard forces already at the southern border. (Read more from “Violence Erupts: Caravan Migrant Killed at Mexican Border” HERE)

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Caravan Migrants Refuse Mexico’s Offer for Schooling, Jobs and Much More

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Caravan migrants heading to the U.S. have refused Mexico’s offer to receive refugee status that would provide schooling, jobs, medical care and shelter. . .

The program gives refugee status to those who apply and provide migrants access to shelter, medical attention, schooling and temporary employment opportunities to Central American migrants in the Chiapas and Oaxaca states, according to The AP. . .

Those of working age would clean, repair and maintain infrastructure in the two southern Mexican states, according to the program. Migrants can also obtain Mexico’s version of a social security number called CURP (Clave Unica de Registro Publico). This will allow the migrants to have legal proof of identity, enter and leave shelters and open bank accounts.

The program came in response to the “unprecedented flow of people from Central American countries who have entered [into Mexico] the last few days,” according to the program’s press statement.

“The government of the Republic reiterates that the unrestricted commitment to the human rights or migrants does not mean an endorsement to irregular, massive and undocumented entry into Mexican territory, on the contrary it makes a new call to those who wish to enter Mexico, to avoid risks unnecessary and subject to the procedures that Mexican law establish,” a Ministry of the Interior press statement said. (Read more from “Caravan Migrants Refuse Mexico’s Offer for Schooling, Jobs and Much More” HERE)

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After This Tragedy, Illegal Caravan ‘Taking a Break’

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The caravan traveling from Central America to the United States on Sunday decided to take a “break” in Southern Mexico after reports of a child was abducted, NBC News reported. Those who were on the caravan wanted to keep moving forward until a vote was taken and it was decided that they would stop for the day.

Tensions have been growing intense between those traveling on the caravan. Some of the illegal immigrants have relied on hitchhiking to travel between towns instead of walking the entire way. Part of the problem: as soon as seats become available, abled-body men rush to those vehicles, leaving women and children to walk.

A local nun scolded the men for their actions. She also said her church arranged for five vehicles to transport only women and children to their next stop in Niltepec, about 33 miles away. . .

The Mexican government seems to be in limbo, trying to decide whether or not they should help the caravan’s travelers press on or stop them from heading towards the United States. On Saturday, the Mexican government stepped in to help caravan riders for the first time. Grupo Beta, Mexico’s immigrant protection agency, gave rides to those falling behind and passed out water, The Washington Post reported. . .

To try and force more caravan riders to apply for asylum, around a hundred federal police dressed in riot gear blocked a rural highway in southern Mexico. Police eventually let the caravan continue after Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission reminded them that the stretch of highway, which lacked shade, water and restrooms, was not safe for the illegal immigrants. (Read more from “After This Tragedy, Illegal Caravan ‘Taking a Break'” HERE)

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DHS: We Can Confirm There Are Criminals, Gang Members in the Illegal Caravan

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The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed there are in fact criminals and dangerous gang members traveling inside the illegal caravan headed to north to the U.S. southern border. In addition, they are confirming President Trump’s claims “middle easterners” and citizens of countries outside of North and South America, are also in the caravan.

(Read more from “DHS: We Can Confirm There Are Criminals, Gang Members in the Illegal Caravan” HERE)

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S. Korean Police Warn Korean Citizens in Canada to Stay Away From Pot or Face Criminal Charges

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South Korean citizens living in Canada have received a new warning from police in their home country to stay away from pot or else they could face criminal charges at home.

The warning came earlier this week from Yoon Se-jin, head of the narcotics crime investigation division at Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency, who said violators could face up to five years in prison, the Korea Times reported.

“Weed smokers will be punished according to the Korean law, even if they did so in countries where smoking marijuana is legal. There won’t be an exception,” Yoon said, according to the Korea Times. . .

About 23,000 South Korean students are living in Canada, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs data, the Korean Times reported. . .

“South Korea can’t screen everyone who visited a foreign country, but the police maintain a blacklist that leads to certain individuals being supervised,” Lee Chang-Hoon, a professor in the department of police administration at Hannam University in Daejeon, said. (Read more from “S. Korean Police Warn Korean Citizens in Canada to Stay Away From Pot or Face Criminal Charges” HERE)

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