Should be mandatory in every state

Missouri House passes photo ID requirement for voters

Photo identification (free from the DOT) is a credible security tool whether writing a check, enrolling in college or boarding a plane. Where I live I had to show photo ID just to get a beach pass sticker for my vehicle. Why would we insist on a lower standard when it comes to the enormity of the ballot box?

Pure and simple. Democrats are against photo ID because their constituents have a proclivity for voting more than once, voting while deceased, and voting while living in the U.S. illegally. 

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Voters would need to present photo identification at the polls under a measure passed by the Missouri House on Thursday.

House members voted 114-39 along party lines in favor of the bill. It now heads to the Senate, where a similar proposal is pending in committee.

Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon in 2011 vetoed another photo-identification bill. If Republicans stick together, they have the numbers to override another veto.

Voters would need to bring a form of government-issued photo ID to the polls in order for their votes to be counted under the House legislation, with some exceptions. Acceptable forms of ID would include military identification, but not student IDs from colleges and universities.

Voter-identification laws of some type are in effect in 33 states this year.

Republican supporters arguing for the bill said a photo-identification requirement is needed to prevent possible fraud.

"Elections are the purest form of participation in the political process," said bill sponsor Rep. Justin Alferman, R-Hermann. "We need to make sure that our elections are held to the highest standards."

Opponents, primarily Democrats, say there haven't been any cases of voter-impersonation fraud — where someone attempts to fraudulently vote as someone else — in Missouri. Democratic Secretary of State Jason Kander, who is running for the U.S. Senate, has also said that an analysis by his office suggests that such a requirement would disenfranchise about 220,000 currently registered voters who do not have a valid government-issued ID and would no longer be able to vote under a photo-identification requirement.

"This is harsh, it's extreme, it's wrong and it's unconstitutional for the people who are already currently eligible voters," said Rep. Randy Dunn, a Kansas City Democrat, during debate on the House floor.

The bill passed Thursday in the House includes a provision for the Legislature to pay for a form of acceptable identification or documentation needed for an ID. If lawmakers don't fund the program, with legislative researchers estimate will cost about $10.7 million the first year it's enacted, photo ID wouldn't be required.

The House also passed a proposed amendment to the Missouri Constitution to allow such a law in a 116-40 vote Thursday. The move would be necessary because the state Supreme Court in 2006 ruled that a state photo ID requirement wasn't narrowly tailored and was an undue burden on voters, so if lawmakers only pass a statutory change it likely would be struck down.

The proposals have support from leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature and are among the first bills of the 2016 session, which began this month, to move forward in both the House and Senate.

The chairman of the Senate committee reviewing that chamber's legislation has said those bills could be voted out of committee as early as Monday.

The constitutional amendment would appear on the ballot during November's general election, unless the governor calls a special election.

Should be mandatory in every state

Hostage Bait

University of Virginia student detained by North Korea

Well, here we go again. How many does this make now? From the multitude of countries to visit this blockhead just had to pick North Korea. His detainment in that fine country prevented him from completing the rest of his itinerary, a thrill seeking holiday in Iraq collecting autographs from ISIS fighters.

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North Korea said Friday that it had arrested a University of Virginia student for allegedly committing "anti-state" acts orchestrated by the U.S. government.

In language that mirrors past North Korean claims of outside conspiracies, state media claimed Otto Frederick Warmbier entered the North as a tourist with a plot to undermine unity among the North Koreans with "the tacit connivance of the U.S. government and under its manipulation."

The report from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Warmbier was "arrested while perpetuating a hostile act," but didn't say when he was detained or explain the nature of the act.

The University of Virginia's website listed Warmbier as an undergraduate commerce student. A LinkedIn page under Warmbier's name indicated that he was originally from Ohio and a third-year student at the university.

An official at the U.S. embassy in the South Korean capital Seoul told Reuters it was aware of the reported arrest, but had no further comment.

A spokesman for China-based Young Pioneer Tours, which specializes in travel to North Korea, told Reuters that Warmbier had been detained on Jan. 2, while on one of the company's tours.

"We are in touch with Otto's family, the U.S. State Department and the Embassy of Sweden in Pyongyang and doing all we can to secure his release," Gareth Johnson said. Sweden handles U.S. consular issues in North Korea because Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations.

The announcement came as Washington, Seoul and others are pushing hard to slap North Korea with tougher sanctions for its recent nuclear test. In the past, North Korea often announced the arrests of foreign detainees in times of tension with the outside world in an apparent attempt to wrest concessions or diplomatic maneuvering room.

North Korea regularly accuses Washington and Seoul of sending "spies" to overthrow its government to enable the U.S.-backed South Korean government to control the entire Korean Peninsula. Some foreigners previously arrested have read statements of guilt that they later said were coerced.

Warmbier would be the third Westerner known to be held by the secretive Communist state. Last year, South Korean-born Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim was sentenced to life in prison for alleged subversion.

Earlier this month, a Korean-American man told CNN that he was being held by North Korea on suspicion of spying. The U.S. State Department said it could not confirm the CNN report. It declined to discuss the issue further.

North Korea has previously released or deported U.S. detainees after high-profile Americans visited the country. In late 2014, for instance, North Korea released two Americans after a secret mission to the North by James Clapper, the top U.S. intelligence official. Critics say such trips have provided diplomatic credibility to the North.

The United States and North Korea are in a technical state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea.

Hostage Bait

Killary Clinton Outraged Over Flint, Michigan Water Crisis

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder just switched places with Lois Lerner.

For Democrats, this is a bigger scandal than the IRS. Oh...and I'm sure she never anticipated this:

Flint mayor endorses Hillary Clinton after work on toxic water crisis

Her involvement in this is purely political. Rick Snyder is a Republican. Do you think for one second had this occurred in Pennsylvania where the governor is a Dem she would have opened her big mouth? Suddenly she's troubled about lead poisoning but could care less about 4 dead Americans who died in Benghazi of 'lead poisoning' when she delivered her infamous eulogy "What difference does it make".

Video 208 

Had to smile when I heard this, "when they asked for help... he stonewalled"



Now watch this 180 take on (D) Rahm Emanuel. Everybody and their brother knows 'dead fish' withheld the Laquan McDonald video until after the election. Watch her walk a fine line trying to save dead fish yet not piss off the voters who hate him. BTW...we are only 21 days into the new year and already 100 people have been shot in Chicago. Probably because the background checks are not extensive enough.

Video 209

Killary Clinton Outraged Over Flint, Michigan Water Crisis

Time to 'Sequester' Air Force One Vacation Flights

On a tip from Ed Kilbane

Video 207

Time to 'Sequester' Air Force One Vacation Flights

New issue of ISIS magazine Dabiq calls for war on . . . Muslims

Guess you can say this just blew Barry's facade of portraying Gitmo as "a recruiting tool for terrorism" out of the water. 

Another interesting tidbit.

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The latest issue of Islamic State's online magazine targets the terror group's fellow Muslims even more than the West.

Dabiq, as the English-language publication is called, devotes a majority of the 56 pages in the latest issue to justifying the killing of Shia Muslims. In numerous articles, the magazine goes to great lengths to give a theological basis for killing members of the minority Muslim sect that controls Iran and Iraq and has been at odds with Sunni Muslims for over a millennia.

“The magazine spends so much time justifying the killing of innocent Shiites that it suggests that ISIL is frustrated that too few Sunnis favor sectarian massacres,” Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst for the Clarion Project, said. “ISIS is making the argument because it sees a problem it needs to address.”

ISIS' literary arm charges that Shia Muslims, or Shiites, qualify as apostates to the Sunni majority and therefore deserve to be killed. The radical terror group's target audience seems to be fellow Sunnis who consider Shiites to be Muslims, or at the very least, not deserving of being murdered.

“The spark has been lit here in Iraq, and its heat will continue to intensify – by Allah’s permission – until it burns the Crusader armies in Dābiq.”

- Quote from Abu Mus’ab az-Zarqawi in the latest issue of Dabiq.

“ISIL's focus on justifying killing Shiites is because it is being pressed by Shiite forces in Iraq and Syria,” Mauro said. ”ISIL is hoping to enlist Sunnis by framing its jihad as part of a prophetic battle where the Shiites and Jews eventually unite behind the Antichrist.

Fanning the flames of the Sunni-Shia split, which dates to shortly after the death of Mohammad, benefits ISIS by helping it recruit Sunnis, Mauro said. And the terror group's leadership appears to believe a final battle has been prophecized.

Worldwide, Sunnis make up about 85 percent of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims. Sunnis, who believe the true lineage of Mohammad lies with those who most closely followed his teachings, control powerful Muslim nations including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan. In addition, most Muslims in Africa are Sunnis.

Shia Muslims are a relatively small minority of Muslims, concentrated in Iran and Iraq. They believe bloodlines, not devotion, dictate the prophet’s line of successors. Throughout history, Shia Muslims have rejected the authority of Muslim leaders elected by the people, instead following a line of clerics they consider to have been appointed by Mohammad or Allah.

The divide goes back to the period following Mohammad’s death in 632, when his close confidante Abu Bakr became the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. Shias believed the rightful heir was Mohammad’s cousin and son-in-law, Ali bin Abu Talib.

Both sects have spawned more than their share of terrorists, though the terror organizations operate differently. Al Qaeda, ISIS, Al-Shebab and Boko Haram are Sunni organizations, while Iranian-sponsored terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, are Shia.

The 13th issue of Dabiq, a copy of which was provided to FoxNews.com by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), is titled "The Rafidah: From Ibn Saba' To the Dajjal." Rafidah is derogatory term for Shia Muslims that translates to “rejecters.”

In the forward of the issue, the terror group praises the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernadino, Calif., calling it a demonstration of Muslims’ willingness to make sacrifice for the sake of “fulfilling their duty to Allah.” The forward then uses the attaclks carried out by married couple Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik as a call to arms for targeting "crusaders" on their own soil.

“The spark has been lit here in Iraq, and its heat will continue to intensify – by Allah’s permission – until it burns the Crusader armies in Dābiq,” reads a quote from Abu Mus’ab az-Zarqawi, an Iraq-based Al Qaeda leader killed in 2006.

The issue also touches upon other matters, including an article on the recently killed executioner for ISIS, “Jihadi John,” an article praising the widows of ISIS fighters and a piece blasting Saudi Arabia.

But what is most clear throughout the issue is a concerted effort to wipe out the Shia population of the Middle East. At first glance, it may seem odd that ISIS is focusing its efforts against fellow Muslims and not the West, but Mauro says that it is part of a very elaborate campaign on the Islamic State’s part.

“It is still important for ISIL to attack the U.S. and Europe for branding purposes," Mauro said. "It helps them make their case that they are looked favorably upon by Allah and that they are growing stronger, regardless of whatever territorial losses they suffer on the ground.”

New issue of ISIS magazine Dabiq calls for war on . . . Muslims