ADOT programs making international commercial traffic more efficient

PHOENIX – Education and cooperation on both sides of the international border make for safer and more efficient movement of commercial truck traffic between Arizona and Mexico.

That’s the theme of meetings, events and programs the Arizona Department of Transportation offers for transportation leaders, elected officials and heads of trucking firms on both sides of the border. ADOT’s goal: educating the trucking industry about how safety compliance can reduce inspection times and make roads safer.

“There is a great spirit of cooperation among law enforcement agencies and the transportation industry on both sides of the border, and we want to continue that with educational programs and other efforts that will help everyone involved,” said Tim Lane, director of ADOT’s Enforcement and Compliance Division, which conducts safety inspections at Arizona’s commercial ports of entry in addition to making sure commercial vehicles follow federal and state regulations.

In 2015, $30 billion in both imports and exports moved through the state’s border ports, supporting 100,000 Arizona jobs.

“These innovative programs that make our border inspections more efficient have a direct impact on international commerce and Arizona’s economy,” ADOT Director John Halikowski said. “They are helping improve the flow of commercial traffic while keeping Arizona’s highways safe.”

ADOT, in partnership with the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, holds commercial vehicle industry days to provide information about safety regulations, permitting and the inspection process. ADOT has future plans to conduct commercial motor vehicle training in Mexico to help improve the cross-border experience for Mexican companies and stakeholders.

Members of ADOT’s Border Liaison Unit hold regular meetings in Yuma and San Luis, Nogales and Douglas on topics including permits, weight limits, inspection procedures, brakes and securing loads. The unit also plans annual workshops to discuss crucial issues for cross-border traffic.

Soon, ADOT’s outreach will include sessions in Mexico offering an International Border Inspection Qualification program, in which drivers can receive a certificate documenting their training to help streamline the inspection process and allow ADOT inspectors to focus on those who haven’t completed the program.

“Drivers, trucking companies and law enforcement all agree that safer vehicles are good for both the industry as well as for the public sharing the roads with commercial trucks,” Lane said. “The Border Liaison Unit and the International Border Inspection Qualification program are designed to make that happen.”

Also part of outreach in Mexico will be introducing innovative social media technology to improve communication between drivers and inspectors. In a pilot program, the WhatsApp application will allow drivers to check on border wait times, ask questions and share photos of their vehicles with ADOT inspectors to find out whether something could delay them in the inspection process.

To learn more about the Border Liaison Unit and Arizona-Sonora border relations, visit azdot.gov/BorderLiaisonUnit.

Amateur Radio Volunteers Assisting in Italian Earthquake Response

IARU R1 logo(1)Radio amateurs are taking part in the response to the 6.2 magnitude earthquake on August 24 in central Italy, International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 (IARU-R1) President Don Beattie, G3BJ, reports. IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Coordinator Greg Mossop, G0DUB, has requested that 7060 kHz (LSB ±10 kHz) be kept clear of non-emergency traffic, as well as any other center-of-activity (COA) frequencies that may be in use for emergency communication within Italy. (On 80 meters, the COA frequency is 3760 kHz). Other frequencies reported to be active include 7045, 3643, and 3580 kHz (PSK).

The earthquake claimed some 240 lives, although rescue operations are still under way. According to the IARU Region 1 website, Italian radio amateurs are active in the emergency response, and no outside assistance has been requested at this time.

According to Beattie, the Italian Amateur Radio volunteers are “following their planned response with their government” and that any requests for information on missing persons should be made via the Red Cross or other recognized relief organizations.

The worst loss of life was in the town of Amatrice, where more than 180 people died. Tremors in the aftermath of the initial quake were felt as far away as Rome. Survivors are staying in tents or otherwise out of doors. A reported 4300 people were said to be active in rescue operations in the region.

Amateur Radio Relay League sponsors National Parks on the Air

NPOTABeginning on January 1 and running through December 31 of 2016, the Amateur Radio Relay League will sponsor the special event National Parks On the Air (Facebook). This event does not begin until January 1, so amateur radio operators have time to register.

Since the 100th anniversay of the ARRL ended in 2014, amateur radio operators have pushed for another year-long event . The ARRL responded to the requests with this year-long event coordinated with the National Parks Service to celebrate their 100th anniversary. There are several awards and certificates available for this event, but HAM operators must register through the ARRL special web site.

Ham operators conduct several events throughout the year to earn certificates and awards. One is called contesting where an operator attempts to contact as many other Ham radio operators around the world as they can in a specified time. Ham operators set up in remote locations and send special cards, called QSL cards, to Ham operators who contact them.

A recent example is the 2015 Route 66 On The Air event. They even made a stop and broadcast in Williams and Flagstaff.

Ham radio operators will “activate” radio units in various parks, such as the Grand Canyon. “Chasers” will try to contact these Activators all year long to collect certificates. Regular paper logs will not be accepted for the event. Amateur radio operators will have to register in the ARRL Log of the World

The history of amateur radio extends to the days when radio transmissions began. Most contacts were made through morse code (called CW or continous wave in Ham radio) transmissions. Today there are a plethora of different radios and contact methods. You are encouraged to learn and use CW, but it is no longer required to obtain a license from the Federal Communications Commission.

Those “activators” will also demonstrate the capablity of Ham radio for uninitiated visitors to the park. They will answer questions and advise people on how they can become licensed Ham radio operators.

If you are interested in learning more about the Amateur Radio Service, how to obtain a license and participate in this event, you can check out the ARRL web site.

US Senate votes against UN Small arms treaty

Gun-and-GavelWASHINGTON — According to an article on The Hill,

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) introduced an amendment that would prevent the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty in order to uphold the Second Amendment. His amendment passed on a 53-46 vote.

The vote was along party lines with Democrats voting against the Constitution and Republicans voting for Second Amendment rights.

The Hill did report:

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) offered an alternative amendment that clarified that under current U.S. law, treaties don’t trump the Constitution and that the United States should not agree to any arms treaty that violates the Second Amendment rights. His amendment passed by voice vote.

The Supreme Court has ruled in The Cherokee Tobacco Case (78 U.S. 616, 20 L.Ed. 227, 11 Wall. 616 in 1870) and United States v. Wong Km Ark, (169 U.S. 649, 18 S.Ct. 456, 42 L.Ed. 890, 1898) that treaties cannot supercede the Constitution of the United States of America.

Happy Liberation Day Italy

April 25

Happy Liberation Day! The day tyranny died in Italy!640px-Flag_of_Italy.svg

Liberation Day is a national holiday in Italy that is annually celebrated on April 25. It marks the fall of Mussolini’s Italian Social Republic and the end of the Nazi occupation in Italy in 1945, towards the end of the second World War.

More allegations of CIA drug trafficking

World News Daily Report photo

World News Daily Report photo

EL PASO, Tx. — According to a report by Barabara Johnson on the World News Daily Report web site, Minutemen in Texas have arrested two drug traffickers who claim to be working for the CIA.

According to the report, seven of the militia men stopped a large black SUV moving rapidly across the border in the Chihuahuan desert near El Paso. They stopped it after a 15-mile chase. The militia made a citizens arrest and called the border patrol. The group discovered 1363-pounds of cocaine.

The men produced what appeared to be CIA identity cards, but CIA spokesman Dean Boyd denied any link with the operation. Boyd said:

The CIA doesn’t take part in drug smuggling operations at the US-Mexican border. I do not know, for now, if the men are actually affiliated to the agency in any way, but I can tell you the cocaine doesn’t belong to the CIA.

The artcile said that the U.S. Custom service has announced that they will conduct a full investigation into the story of the two men.

In 1996, Gary Webb wrote a series of articles in the San Jose Mercury News called Dark Alliance which alledged that the CIA transported cocaine to gangs in South Central LA to pay for the activities of anti-government Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Mainstream media attacked Webb and the San Jose Mercury News which led to his dismissal. After starting to rebuild his career and after just receiving an advance for a new book, he was found dead on December 10, 2004 in Carmicheal, California of two gunshot wounds to the head. It was ruled a suicide.

One of the former “Kingpins” alluded to in the article recently spoke about the articles and the death of Gary Webb and a new documentary is being produced about the incident called Freeway: Crack in the System.

New Geological Analysis Greatly Bolsters Probability Tomb of Jesus has Been Found

300-4JERUSALEM /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A recently completed study by an Israeli geologist has greatly increased the probability that an ancient tomb on the outskirts of Jerusalem is the final resting place of Jesus of Nazareth and his family.

The new findings by Dr. Aryeh Shimron have linked an ossuary, or bone box, inscribed with the phrase “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus” by its chemical “fingerprint” to a tomb encased in a rose garden between a group of nondescript apartments in Talpiot, a Jerusalem suburb. The tomb, discovered during construction in 1980, housed a remarkable collection of ossuaries upon which were inscribed several names associated with the family of the New Testament Jesus.

Although the names in the Talpiot Tomb, (which included “Jesus, son of Joseph,” “Maria,” “Mariamene,” “Yose,” and others) were common in first-century Jerusalem, a cluster of names associated with Jesus in one location is statistically compelling, and unique in the archeological evidence of his life. If yet another name associated with the New Testament family can now be sited at Talpiot, it becomes a kind of statistical snowball and creates a near-certainty that the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth has been found.

“I think I’ve got really powerful, virtually unequivocal evidence that the James ossuary spent most of its lifetime, or death time, in the Talpiot Tomb,” Shimron told the New York Times.
Continue reading

ISIS Camp a Few Miles from Texas, Mexican Authorities Confirm

350Ciudad_juarez_street

Wikipedia Photo

MEXICO — Recent reports racing across the Internet indicate that ISIS has set up cells inside Mexico and that Mexican authorities are aware of their presence.

Judicial Watch reports that the ISIS terrorists are being assisted by the Mexican drug cartels. Their report states;

…cartel-backed “coyotes” are also smuggling ISIS terrorists through the porous border between Acala and Fort Hancock, Texas.

According to Judicial Watch:

ISIS is operating a camp just a few miles from El Paso, Texas, according to Judicial Watch sources that include a Mexican Army field grade officer and a Mexican Federal Police Inspector.

The exact location where the terrorist group has established its base is around eight miles from the U.S. border in an area known as “Anapra” situated just west of Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Another ISIS cell to the west of Ciudad Juárez, in Puerto Palomas, targets the New Mexico towns of Columbus and Deming for easy access to the United States, the same knowledgeable sources confirm.

During the course of a joint operation last week, Mexican Army and federal law enforcement officials discovered documents in Arabic and Urdu, as well as “plans” of Fort Bliss – the sprawling military installation that houses the US Army’s 1st Armored Division. Muslim prayer rugs were recovered with the documents during the operation.

This report should certainly shed light on one of the purposes of the Second Amendment and why “civilians” are supposed to be able to own “military-style” weapons according to Federalist Paper No. 29.

More at Judicial Watch

Need a part-time surveillance job?

Love your country, but never trust its government.—Robert A. Heinlein; Author, WWII US Navy Veteran

Metro Phoenix? No. This is an operation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Metro Phoenix? No. This is an operation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Sierra Vista, AZ — Though you may be tired of the NSA snooping through your emails and checking out your nude photos on the cloud, you now have the opportunity to get paid for surveillance.

EKS Group, LLC out of Brandon, Florida—with an office in Sierra Vista, Airzona—is looking for part-time Surveillance Role Players for some operation in Phoenix?

EKS Group is owned by a disabled American veteran that was established in Sierra Vista in December 2006 and is a member in the Chamber of Commerce. They provide both counter intelligence and human intelligence services to the DoD.

The applicant must be 21-years of age, a U.S. Citizen and be able to maintain a secret DoD clearance. The applicant must complete a 40-hour Surveillance Operations Course.

The job is physically demanding and applicants must have the ability to walk up to 18-miles per day up to twelve consecutive days. The applicant must be able to drive or ride in a vehicle for up to twelve hours per day.

The work environment includes exposure to temperatures over 100-degrees to cold conditions below 32-degrees. The applicants are required to perform in both rural and urban environments. There are no rural or urban environments in Phoenix that reaches a low of 32-degrees in the summer.

Jade Helm, although publicly announced, is unusual in its scope. Recently discharged veterans have said they participated in operations of this sort, but not on this scale and usually on Federal facilities. National Guard units conduct operations off of bases. This raises little concern since they do conduct rescue and humanitarian operations during disasters.

Most main-stream media in Texas are running stories that this is perfectly all right and everyone should remain calm. The operation is centered around a fictional invasion of Texas. The Washington Post agrees.

A Texas sheriff deputy pointed out that the military are, “…going to set up cells of people and test how well they’re able to move around without getting too noticed in the community. They’re testing their abilities to basically blend in with the local environment and not stand out and blow their cover.”

The title of this job sounds like the “cells of people” they are going to move and they may act in that capacity. The text of the job, however, appears as though they are setting up informers and drivers to move the “cells” in the region of the operations.

The Army still seeks Internment/Resettlement specialists. A move which seems inconsistent with the closing of Gitmo by this administration.

In February of last year, Justice Antonin Scalia spoke at the University of Hawaii lamenting the decision of the Supreme Court in the 1944 case of Korematsu v. United States (323 U.S. 214). He is quoted as saying:

“Well of course Korematsu was wrong. And I think we have repudiated in a later case. But you are kidding yourself if you think the same thing will not happen again.”

These factors have caused liberty advocates to vocally question the so-called National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA. The NDAA is revised to authorize an Army which must be authorized every two-years. The Navy, and by extension the Marines, are the only authorized military forces in the Constitution unless the Congress declares every two-years that an Army is necessary.

The NDAA of 2012, signed by President Obama on December 31 of 2011, contained so-called “indefinite detention” clauses allowing the military to detain anyone at anytime for any reason without trial according to some claims.

According to Russia Today, the Congress re-affirmed indefinite detention this year. According to reports, Justice Scalia seems to have been correct.

In signing the 2012 NDAA, President Obama wrote:

“I want to clarify that my Administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a Nation.”

There is no such assurance when he signed the recent NDAA with indefinite detention authority.

Meanwhile, more videos of concern are surfacing on the Internet. A YouTube video from DAHBOO777 showed a marshal-law type exercise in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He apparently received another video, recently, purported to be from Canada showing trains moving military equipment toward the west coast. Canada and the United States signed an agreement to assist one another in times of civil disobedience. According to the video, Facebook has been taking it down from Canadian sites.

So if a clean-shaven soldier in a well-pressed uniform approaches you and politely asks you to step into the back of a van with no threat of force, he is not mental. He’s Canadian.

Congressional proposal formally extends I-11 to Southern Arizona

PHOENIX –– As planning for the Interstate 11 and Intermountain West Corridor advances, Arizona Department of Transportation Director John Halikowski today expressed appreciation for the efforts of U.S. Senator John McCain and U.S. Senator Jeff Flake for their work to introduce the Intermountain West Corridor Development Act of 2015 to Congress.

The bill formally extends Interstate 11 from Wickenburg south through the Tucson area to Nogales, Arizona. Interstate 11 had previously received a congressional designation from Phoenix to Las Vegas. The Intermountain West Corridor Development Act would not only formally designate I-11 across Arizona from border to border by establishing a new international trade corridor, but would also extend the interstate north through Nevada as well, with plans to ultimately connect with existing high-priority corridors to the Canadian border.

This act formalizes and reinforces ADOT’s overall concept for Interstate 11 in Arizona. ADOT, through its two-year feasibility study, which was completed last fall, focused on and supported the concept of Interstate 11 that runs border to border throughout Arizona, beginning at the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge and ending at the Arizona-Mexico border.

“I applaud the efforts of Senators McCain and Flake for their continued support to make Interstate 11 a reality,” said Halikowski. “As a part of ADOT’s Key Commerce Corridor plan, investment in corridors like Interstate 11 provides tremendous opportunities for Arizona to connect to other economic centers and up our game through increased trade, tourism, commerce, job growth and economic development throughout Arizona and the Intermountain West.”

The Intermountain West Corridor Development Act is also supported by Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.).

Other benefits of Interstate 11 include connections to major trade hubs and transcontinental roadways and railroad corridors, while improving safety and travel time along the north-south corridors of the western United States.

Last fall, the Arizona and Nevada departments of transportation completed an initial two-year feasibility study as the first step in the Interstate 11 process. In December, the Arizona State Transportation Board took action to approve $15 million for the Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement, which will allow ADOT to begin an environmental study in the area between Nogales and Wickenburg. The Tier 1 EIS is expected to begin later this year and is estimated to take three years to complete.