JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER.
1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
BIDEN AND MICROCHIP COMPANIES AND IMMIGRATION.
REVELATION VERESE BY VERSE BY DR JACK AND REXELLA VAN IMPE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIYtJAUUx0o&list=PLQ6QjtBzr5_eln4Wwdyqw8niA97w7bpv6
TAPE 1 - REV CH 1 - 4:6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4egxDQbC-Po&list=PLQ6QjtBzr5_eln4Wwdyqw8niA97w7bpv6&ind
TAPE 2 - REV CH 4:7-8 TO 9:31
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAHF8qRW_0c&list=PLQ6QjtBzr5_eln4Wwdyqw8niA97w7bpv6&index=3
TAPE 3 - REV CH 10:1 TO 14:1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8nvow7gDsI
TAPE 4 - REV CH 14:2 TO REV 18:25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jzejO8qr1g
TAPE 5 - REV CH 19:1 TO REV 22:20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFSaL7wuOZU&list=PLQ6QjtBzr5_eln4Wwdyqw8niA97w7bpv6&index=6
TAPE 1 - REVELATION RUMBLINGS
DANIEL VERSE BY VERSE BY DR JACK AND REXELLA VAN IMPE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zvrylU6E2A
TAPE 1 - DAN 1:1 TO DAN 3:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dySOniNlbjA
TAPE 2 - DAN 4:1 TO DAN 6:28
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPlfIHcQVrE
TAPE 3 - DAN 7:1 TO DAN 9:27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHB_jtS6NF8
TAPE 4 - DAN 10:1 TO DAN 12:13
ISLAM I BELIEVE IS A MADE UP FAKE CHRISTIAN RELGION IMMITATION.DREAMPT UP IN 600BC. (WATCH 2ND)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EaopH_EPfc
ARABS-NAME AN IMPORTANT ARAB IN HISTORY (WATCH 1ST)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deiShtWReYE
GAYS MARRYING-EVERYBODY CAN JOIN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/pope-francis-opens-meeting-on-future-of-catholic-church-by-saying-everyone-must-be-allowed-in/
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=POPE+FRANCIS+ANYBODY+CAN+JOIN+THE+CATHOLIC+CURCH+VIDEO&t=newext&atb=v387-1&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DMKh2nNVjV24
JVI THE FINAL POPE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIY8wdebNqo
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
STRONGS CONCORDANCE FOR VIOLENCE IN THE BIBLE-SEE IT FOR YOURSELVES.
2554. chamas - Strong's Concordance - chamas: to treat violently or wrong - Part of Speech: Verb - Transliteration: chamas -Phonetic Spelling: (khaw-mas') - Definition: to treat violently or wrong - make bare, shake off, violate, do violence, take away violently, wrong -A primitive root; to be violent; by implication, to maltreat -- make bare, shake off, violate, do violence, take away violently, wrong, imagine wrongfully.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
SECOND ANGEL: The Middle East DR DOCTORIAN
Then Isawthat the second angel had a sickle in his hand,such asis used in harvesting. The second angelsaid, “Harvest time has come in Israel and the countries all the wayto Iran.” Isawthose countriesin a fewsplitseconds. “All of Turkey and those other countries that have refused me and refused my message of love shall hate each other and kill one another.” I saw the angel raise the sickle and come down on all the Middle East countries.I saw Iran, Persia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, all of Georgia – Iraq, Syria,Lebanon,Jordan, Israel, all of Asia Minor – full of blood. Isaw blood all over these countries. And I saw fire; nuclear weapons were used in many of those countries. Smoke rising from everywhere. Sudden destruction – men destroying one another. I heard these words, “Israel, Oh Israel, the great judgment has come.”The angel said, “The chosen, the church, the remnant, shall be purified. The Spirit of God shall prepare the children of God.” I saw fires rising to heaven.The angel said, “This is the final judgment My church shall be purified, protected and ready for the final day. Men will die from thirst. Watershall be scarce all over the Middle East. Rivers shall dry up, and men will fight for water in those countries.” The angelshowed me that the United Nationsshall be broken in pieces because of the crisisin the Middle East. There shall be no more United Nations. The angel with the sickle shall reap the harvest.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
ISAIAH 54:3
03-King James Bible-For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
The right hand was a symbol of strength-Exodus 15:6, ” Your right hand, O LORD, is majestic in power. Your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy.”
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
8 Assyria (SYRIA) also has joined with them; They have helped the children of Lot. Selah
9 Deal with them as with Midian, As with Sisera, As with Jabin at the Brook Kishon,
10 Who perished at En Dor, Who became as refuse on the earth.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb, Yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 Who said, “Let us take for ourselves The pastures of God for a possession.”
13 O my God, make them like the whirling dust, Like the chaff before the wind!
14 As the fire burns the woods, And as the flame sets the mountains on fire,
15 So pursue them with Your tempest, And frighten them with Your storm.
16 Fill their faces with shame, That they may seek Your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be [e]confounded and dismayed forever; Yes, let them be put to shame and perish,
18 That they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord, Are the Most High over all the earth.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE.
Suspected explosive-laden drone crashes in Golan; Iraqi militia claims responsibility-Some damage, but no injuries, reported; IDF assesses UAV, which did not trigger sirens, launched from Syria-By ToI Staff and Agencies-DEC 28,23
An apparent explosive-laden drone, believed to have been launched from Syria, crashed in the southern Golan Heights Wednesday night, in an attack claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iran-backed paramilitary groups.The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed near the moshav of Eliad in northern Israel, causing no injuries but some damage to a number of unspecified structures.In a statement to Golan Heights residents, authorities said the “hostile unmanned aircraft” was located by IDF troops operating in northern Israel.According to reports in the Hebrew media, the UAV did not trigger Israel’s sirens and there was no attempt to intercept it as it had gone undetected. The IDF assesses that the aircraft was launched from Syria, according to the reports.There was no immediate comment from the IDF.A statement from the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose formation of armed groups affiliated with the Hashed al-Shaabi, itself a coalition of former paramilitary forces integrated into Iraq’s regular armed forces, says they carried out the attack using “appropriate weapons,” without elaborating.The group previously claimed responsibility for launching a UAV at Israel that was intercepted at sea, Channel 12 reported Wednesday.The group has also repeatedly attacked US sites and troops in Iraq and Syria since October 7, when Hamas, also backed by Iran, launched its murderous attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages. The group opposes US support for Israel in its war against Hamas.A tally by US military officials has counted 103 attacks against its troops in Iraq and Syria since October 17. Most of the attacks have been claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.On Monday, the US military carried out strikes on three sites used by the Iran-backed forces in Iraq after an attack wounded three American personnel earlier in the day.The drone attack, claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, wounded three US military personnel, one critically.The retaliatory US strikes killed at least one person and wounded 24, security forces later said.“The strikes were intended to degrade and disrupt the ongoing series of attacks against the United States and our partners, and to deter Iran and Iran-backed militia groups from conducting or supporting further attacks on United States personnel and facilities,” US President Joe Biden said in a letter on Wednesday to the top leaders of the US Congress.The US strikes in Iraq likely killed “a number of Kataeb Hezbollah militants” and destroyed facilities used by the group, the US military said.Baghdad strongly condemned the US military action and said “it runs counter to the pursuit of enduring mutual interests in establishing security and stability, and it opposes the declared intention of the American side to enhance relations with Iraq.”The US — which led the 2003 invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein — now has about 2,500 soldiers deployed in Iraq and around 900 in Syria as part of efforts to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State terror group.In his letter, Biden warned that the US “stands ready to take further action, as necessary and appropriate, to address further threats or attacks.”Washington has also said Iran has been “deeply involved” in planning operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, where a number of commercial ships have been attacked by the Tehran-backed Houthis.Iran denies involvement in the attacks by the Houthis, who control much of Yemen including the capital and have attacked commercial vessels that they say have Israeli links, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.On Tuesday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel was being attacked in seven separate theaters amid the ongoing Gaza war, and the military has so far responded in six of them.“We are in a multi-front war. We are being attacked from seven different arenas: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, [the West Bank], Iraq, Yemen, and Iran,” said Gallant at a meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.“We have already responded and acted in six of these areas, and I say here in the clearest way: Anyone who acts against us is a potential target, there is no immunity for anyone,” he added.On Monday, an alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria killed a senior officer in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.Brig. Gen. Razi Mousavi was killed in the strike in the Damascus suburb of Sayeda Zeinab. Iran has vowed to retaliate.
Police arrest suspect for desecrating Jerusalem Muslim cemetery with donkey head-By AFP and ToI Staff-DEC 28,23
Israeli police on Wednesday said they had arrested an Israeli suspected of having desecrated a Muslim cemetery in annexed east Jerusalem’s Old City by hanging a donkey’s head.Describing the 35-year-old as “unbalanced,” police said he was arrested after they were alerted that a man had “broken the law and disrupted public order by hanging the head of a donkey” at the cemetery.Israeli settlers storm the Bab al-Rahma cemetery in occupied Jerusalem and hang a "donkey's head" on a grave. pic.twitter.com/dmwf2LnBge — Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 27, 2023-Photographs circulating on social media showed the head of a donkey hanging from a fence of the cemetery.Police said the man was carrying an axe at the time of his arrest, adding that another suspect who allegedly had helped in taking him there was also in custody.“A Jewish extremist slit the throat of a donkey today at the Golden Gate cemetery before hanging it over the Muslim graves there,” the Waqf Islamic affairs council said in a statement. “It was a serious desecration of one of the main historic Muslim cemeteries in Jerusalem.”
Jordan’s Abdullah, Egypt’s Sissi meet in Cairo to discuss Gaza war-By Reuters and ToI Staff-DEC 28,23
Jordan’s King Abdullah and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi met in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss bilateral ties as well as the war in Gaza against Hamas, their offices say.A press statement from Sissi’s office said the two leaders reject any potential move that would create an influx of Palestinian refugees and called on the international community to push for a ceasefire, increase more aid into Gaza, and work toward “a political track for a just and comprehensive settlement leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state” on the 1967 borders, with east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.Egypt has made clear throughout this latest war that it does not want to take in a wave of Palestinian refugees.Sissi previously warned that a mass influx of refugees from Gaza would eliminate the Palestinian nationalist cause, risk bringing terrorists into Sinai, where they might launch attacks on Israel, and endanger the Israel-Egypt 1979 peace treaty.
ISRAEL INSTEAD OF JUST SOME USELESS ISRAEL HATING U.N AGENCIES COMING IN ISRAEL. BAN ALL THE WHO AND THE REST OF THE U.N AGENCIES FROM ISRAEL.AS WELL AS THAT BAN ALL THE MAJOR LIBERAL MEDIA COMMUNIST NAZIS FROM FILMING IN ISRAEL. COMMUNIST NAZI NEWS (CNN), COMMUNIST BROADCASTING CENTER IN CANADA (CBC), NAZI BROADCASTING COMMUNISTS (NBC), COMMUNIST BROADCASTING STOOGES (CBS), ME STUPID NAZI BROADCASTING CENTER (MSNBC), AND ALL THE REST OF THE NAZI ISRAEL HATER LIBERAL PROPAGANDISTS. ONLY LET ISRAEL SUPPORTING STATIONS IN ISRAEL. LIKE FOX NEWS TO COVER THE NEWS AND TELL THE TRUTH WITHOUT PUSHING THE MUSLIM COCKROACH NARATIVE OF ISRAEL IS KILLING ALL CIVILIANS. WELL ISRAEL SINCE THESE LIBERAL NUTJOB STATIONS ARE COMPLAING ENDLESSLY ABOUT THE SO CALLED ISLAMIC COCKROACHES ARE BEING ANNILATED. LETS REALLY TEACH THESE LIBERAL COMMUNIST NAZIS ABOUT GETTING RID OF USELESS EATING PUPPET ARABS IN GAZA. FIRST WE POUR TONS OF WATER IN THE GAZA RATS TUNNELS. THEY WANT WATER TO DRINK IN THEIR SADAM HUSEIN RAT HOLES. GIVE THEM WATER TO DRINK. THEN THE RATS THAT COME OUTTA THE TUNNELS FROM DROWNING. THE IDF WILL HAVE ALL THE OPEN TUNNELS COVERED. AND LETS PLAY SHOT GUN SALLY WITH THE HAMAS COCKROACHES TRYING TO ESCAPE FROM DROWNING.THE U.N AND LIBERALS USE THESE ARAB COCKROACH PUPPETS AGAINST ISRAEL. SO ISRAEL SHOULD HAVE A LINE OF DEAD ARAB PUPPETS. ON HOME MADE PIGS WITH THE ISLAMIC SATANIC PEDOPHILIA DEATH CULT TERRORISTS PROPPED UP BY METAL POLES. AND ISRAEL MUST CUT THE HEADS OFF THESE COCKROACHES AND PLACE A DONKEY HEAD ON THESE ISLAMIC PARASITES. AT THE EGYPTIAN, LEBANNON AND SYRIA BORDERS. WITH DONKEY HEADS SMOTHERED IN PIGS BLOOD. AND SAY YOU WANNA PLAY LIKE CHUCKY IN THE CHUCKY MOVIES. WELL TWO CAN PLAY THE ISLAMIC DEATH CULT GAME. OF PUTTING COCKROACHES ON POLES FOR THE GOOD OF THE EARTH. AND OF COURSE FOR THE CHILDRENS SAKE. AND ALSO LETS LET THE MIGRATING BIRDS AND ANIMALS FEAST ON THEIR FLESH AS A WARNING TO THESE ISLAMIC COUNTRIES OF WHATS GONNA BE COMMING UPON THESE SATANIC DEATH CULTISTS IN THE NEAR FUTURE. WHEN EZEKIEL 38 & 39 WILL BE FULFILLED AGAINST RUSSIA, GERMANY, IRAN, IRAQ, TURKEY, ETHIOPIA, LIBYA, SUDAN, AND MORE ISLAMIC SATANIC DEATH CULTIST COUNTRIES. WHEN ISRAEL FLATTENS THESE MUSLIM COUNTRIES TO PARKING LOTS LIKE THE SONG BOMB BOMB BOMB-BOMB BOMB BOMB IRAN BY THE BEACH BOYS SAYS. ISRAELS GOT AT LEAST 10 ATOMIC BOMBS FOR THESE MUSLIMS, THEN CHINA, AND ALL WORLDS ARMIES WHO COME AGAINST ISRAEL. AND IN EVERY CASE THESE WARS ARE IN THE SPRING OR FALL BIRD MIGRATION SEASON. BECAUSE ISRAELS PROTECTOR GOD WILL MAKE THESE ARMIES A SACRIFICE OF BIRD SEED TO THE MIGRATING BIRDS AND ANIMALS. GERMANY MADE ISRAELIS BURN IN OVENS, AND MADE ISRAELIS DRY BONES IN EZEK 37.THEN GOD BROUGHT ISRAEL BACK TO THEIR OWN LAND IN 1948. THEN IN 1967 GOD GAVE JERUSALEM BACK TO ISRAEL. AND BEFORE THE WORLD GETS SLAUGHTERED BY ISRAELS NUKES WHO EVER COMES AGAINST ISRAEL.THEIR HAD TO BE AN ISRAEL ON EARTH. FOR THESE COCKROACH SATANIC DEATH CULTISTS TO COME AGAINST ISRAEL. ACTUALLY ITS GOD HIMSELF THAT FORCES THE RUSSIAN, GERMAN, MUSLIM HAVE BEENS TO COME AGAINST ISRAEL LIKE A CLOUD. SO ISRAEL WILL BE NUKING THESE COUNTRIES ON THE MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL. WHILE GOD WILL BE CAUSING A GREAT EARTHQUAKE TO SWALLOW UP SOME OF THESE 300 MILLION USELESS EATER HAS BEENS. AND GOD WILL ALSO SHOOT 100LB HAILSTONES, GREAT RAINS AND THEY WILL KILL EACH OTHER WITH FRIENDLY FIRE. SO GERMANY BURNED ISRAELIS TO BONES. WELL ISRAELS ENEMIES WILL BE THE SAME EXCEPT A DIFFERENT EXCHANGE-BUT SAME RESULT. SO THEIR WILL BE THE SLAUGHTER OF 5./6TH OF THESE ISRAEL HATERS. AND SENT BACK TO THE SIBERIAN DESERT IN RUSSIA. FOR WAVE 2 IN THE NEXT ISRAEL SLAUGHTER OF THE RUSSIA, CHINESE COMMUNIST NAZI ARMIES. BUT BACK TO THE POINT. ISRAEL WILL NUKE THESE ISRAEL HATERS INTO HELL OF THEIR SOUL AND SPIRIT FOREVER,NEVER ENDING. WHILE ON EARTH GOD GIVES THE DEAD FLESH OF THESE COMMUNIST AND DEATH CULTISTS TO THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS A FEAST ON THIS HORDE OF BIRD FOOD. SO THE ENEMIES OF ISRAEL WILL BE BURNT UP BY ISRAELS NUKES.THEN THE BIRDS AND ANIMALS HAVE A FEAST ON THEIR FLESH AND BLOOD. AND THE BONES OF THIS ISRAEL HATING HORDE WILL BE BURIED IN MASS GRAVES IN THE JORDAN VALLEY. SO SEE ISRAELIS GOT BURNT-DRY BONES IN MASS GRAVES. ISRAELS ENEMIES WILL GET THE SAME RESULT JUST BIRD FOOD INSTEAD OF OVENS.THE RUSSIA, GERMAN, MUSLIM COCKROACHES 300 MILLION WILL BECOME DRY BONES IN MASS GRAVES IN THE JORDAN VALLEY. YOU WANNA KILL GODS PROTECTED PEOPLE ISRAEL. YOU AND YOUR COUNTRY AND ENEMIES WILL DIE THE SAME WAY. WARNING TO INDIVIDUAL OR COUNTRY ISRAEL HATERS.YOU WILL PAY WITH THE LAKE OF FIRE FOREVER, NEVER ENDING WITH YOUR NEVER DYING BODIES.
AND ONE LAST THING. THESE COCKROACH SATANIC DEATH CULT ARABS IN GAZA. HAVE EGYPT, LEBANNON OR SYRIA TO GO TO. BUT THESE COCKROACH DEATH CULT NATIONS WON'T EVEN TAKE THESE SATANIC PUPPETS FROM GAZA IN. THIS JUST TELLS US THAT THE COCKROACH MUSLIM COUNTRIES JUST USE THESE PUPPET GAZANS AS A TOOL AGAINST ISRAEL.AND YOU PULL ON THE PUPPET GAZA STRINGS TO MAKE ISRAEL REACT. THEN CLAIM ISRAEL IS KILLING ALL THE COCKROCH ISRAEL HATING DEATH CULT KIDS. AND CIVILLIANS. WHEN ISRAEL IS PROTECTING ITSELF FROM THIS SATANIC PEDOPHILIA DEATH CULT. WELL IF THE COCKROACH MOON GOD ALLAH IS SUCH A SAVIOUR OF THE SUNNI COCKROACHES. HOW COME THIS LAZY MOON GOD CAN'T EVEN CHANGE HIS OWN DIAPER AND SAVE ALL THESE COCKROACHES IN GAZA. IS MY QUESTION TO THIS USELESS HEMOROID GOD. OR WERE IS THE SHIITE SAVIOUR OF THE COCKROACHES IN GAZA.THIS SO CALLED PEDOPHILE HERO IS SUPPOSE TO BE THE 12TH IMAM. OR MAUHDI A DIRECT DECENDANT TO THE PEDOPHILE MOHAMMID OF THE SEX FOR MURDER DEATH CULT ISLAM. WERE IS THIS IDIOT BUT SITTING IN A WELL IN IRAN PICKING HIS NOSE AND EATING IT FOR THE LAST 2,600 YEARS. ISLAMS SO CALLED GODS CAN NOT EVEN SAVE THEIR OWN MADE UP BUTTS, MUCH LESS PUPPETS IN GAZA. THESE 2 FAKE GODS NEED THE LIBERAL ISRAEL HATERS TO PROTEST AGAINST ISRAEL AND SAVE THE PUPPETS BUTTS.
Gaza population in ‘grave peril,’ says WHO-By AFP and ToI Staff-DEC 28,23
GENEVA, Switzerland — The population of Gaza is in “grave peril”, warns the head of the World Health Organization, citing acute hunger and desperation throughout the war-torn Palestinian territory.The WHO said it delivered supplies to two hospitals on Tuesday, with only 15 out of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip functioning with any capacity at all.WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on the international community to take “urgent steps to alleviate the grave peril facing the population of Gaza and jeopardizing the ability of humanitarian workers to help people with terrible injuries, acute hunger, and at severe risk of disease.”In a statement, the WHO says its staff reported that “hungry people again stopped our convoys today in the hope of finding food”.“WHO’s ability to supply medicines, medical supplies, and fuel to hospitals is being increasingly constrained by the hunger and desperation of people en route to, and within, hospitals we reach.”The bloodiest-ever Gaza war erupted when thousands of Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel on October 7 and killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians in their homes including entire families, and people at an outdoors music festival, amid widespread brutalities.Terrorists also took about 240 hostages, of whom 129 remain inside Gaza, according to Israel, in the worst mass terror attack in the country’s history.
Dozens arrested in anti-Israel protests at two major US airports-Police make over 60 arrests near New York’s JFK and Los Angeles’ LAX as demonstrators block roads; LA police says protesters attacked officer, passersby-By Agencies Today, 5:38 am-DEC 28,23
Pro-Palestinian protesters blocked morning traffic on Wednesday around Los Angeles International Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport – two of the nation’s busiest – in coast-to-coast demonstrations that ended with dozens of arrests.The demonstrations stopped cars on the outskirts of New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, where some travelers set off on foot to bypass the jammed roadway, as well as Los Angeles International Airport. Over 60 people were arrested during the two Protests, police said.In New York, activists locked arms and held banners demanding an end to the Israel-Hamas war and expanded rights for Palestinians, bringing traffic to a standstill on the Van Wyck Expressway leading up to the airport for about 20 minutes.Some of the anti-Israel protesters chanted “from the river to the sea,” a phrase that is perceived as a call for the destruction of Israel and which Jewish watchdogs call antisemitic. The slogan generally appears as the first half of the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — referring to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, which encompasses Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.Video posted to social media showed passengers, some carrying suitcases, leaving vehicles behind and stepping over barriers onto the highway median.Twenty-six people in the protest were arrested for disorderly conduct and impeding vehicular traffic, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey dispatched two buses to help travelers caught in the backup reach the airport, agency spokesperson Steve Burns said.NON-STOP PROTESTS: Police made dozens of arrests during Wednesday's pro-Hamas demonstration near JFK Airport. #NewYork #NYC #NewYorkCity #Israel #Palestine #Hamas #Terrorism pic.twitter.com/d3IuHoEV1V — Jonathan Choe Journalist (Seattle) (@choeshow) December 27, 2023-Around the same time as the New York protest, a major thoroughfare leading to the Los Angeles airport was shut down by another group of pro-Palestinian protesters, who dragged traffic cones, trash bins, scooters and debris into the lanes, according to news helicopter footage.In a statement, the Los Angeles Police Department accused protesters of throwing a police officer to the ground and “attacking uninvolved passersby in their vehicles,” without providing further details about either incident.The group appeared to flee when police arrived, though the Los Angeles Police Department said traffic around the airport remained impacted roughly two hours after the demonstration was declared unlawful.A spokesperson for the LAPD said 35 people were arrested for rioting and one person was arrested for battery of a police officer. No officers were injured, according to the spokesperson. An estimated 215,000 passengers and 87,000 vehicles were expected to pass through the Los Angeles airport on Wednesday.Passengers are WALKING past the protest blockade to get to their terminal. The protest is happening along I678 and the service road next to it leading to JFK International Airport in New York City. pic.twitter.com/EVD4uO2ct3-— Oliya Scootercaster ???? (@ScooterCasterNY) December 27, 2023-Anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protests have broken out in cities and universities across the United States since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on October 7, after thousands of Hamas terrorists led a murderous invasion into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 240 hostages of all ages.Israel launched a war against Hamas, vowing to destroy the terror group that rules Gaza.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims more than 20,000 people have been killed in the Strip during the war, though this figure cannot be verified and does not differentiate between combatants and civilians. Israel says it has killed some 8,000 Hamas operatives.In New York, pro-Palestinian organizers have responded to the growing death toll in Gaza with escalating actions aimed at disrupting some of the city’s best-known events, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the annual tree-lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center.At a news conference Tuesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams criticized some of the protest organizers’ tactics and suggested police may need to ramp up their response.“I don’t believe that people should be able to just take over our streets and march in our streets,” he said. “I don’t believe people should be able to take over our bridges. I just don’t believe you can run a city this complex where people can just do whatever they want.”JTA contributed to this report.
IRGC threatens ‘direct action’ against Israel over senior commander’s slaying-Spokesman for Iranian paramilitary group says either it or allied partners will enact revenge for death of Razi Moussavi, who will be buried in Iran Thursday-By Agencies and ToI Staff 27 December 2023, 11:40 pm 1
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Israel on Wednesday that it or its allied groups would take “direct” action to avenge the killing of senior commander Razi Moussavi.The IRGC general was killed Monday in an Israeli missile strike near the Syrian capital, according to state media, at a time of heightened regional tensions around the war raging in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.The Israel Defense Forces, which has allegedly launched hundreds of strikes on Iran-linked targets in war-torn Syria in recent years, said only that it does not comment on foreign media reports.The body of Moussavi, a commander in the IRGC’s foreign operations arm the Quds Force, was taken to Iraq for funeral rites in Shiite Muslim holy sites a day ahead of his burial in Iran planned for Thursday.IRGC spokesman Ramezan Sharif warned that “our response to Moussavi’s assassination will be a combination of direct action as well as (from) others led by the Axis of Resistance,” the local Mehr news agency reported.Sharif charged that the Israeli killing of the general near Damascus “was likely due to its failures after the ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood'” — a reference to the deadly October 7 assault Hamas launched against Israel.Some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were massacred amid scenes of horrific brutality, and around 240 were seized as hostages and dragged to Gaza as thousands of Hamas-led terrorists poured into Israel from the land, air and sea, launching devastating attacks on more than 20 different communities in southern Israel.In response, Israel launched an aerial campaign and subsequent ground invasion in the Gaza Strip, vowing to topple Hamas and end the terror group’s 16-year rule.The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said that since the start of the war, more than 20,000 people have been killed, mostly women and children. The figures reported by the health ministry are not verifiable, however, and do not differentiate between combatants and civilians. Israel believes that some 8,000 Hamas and Hamas-affiliated terrorists have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war.The deadly Hamas attack and the war in Gaza have reverberated across the Middle East, drawing attention from armed groups backed by Iran in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.Earlier this week, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned against allowing threats to fester along Israel’s border, saying that the military was dealing with threats on six of seven fronts, in what was seen as an implied message to Iran.“We are in a multi-front war. We are being attacked from seven fronts — Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), Iraq, Yemen and Iran,” he said. “We have already responded and acted on six of those fronts.”Iran, which supports Hamas financially and militarily, has hailed the deadly attacks against Israel by its proxies and allies as a “success” but denied any direct involvement.President Ebrahim Raisi has said Iran sees it as “its duty to support the resistance groups” but insisted that they “are independent in their opinion, decision and action.”Sharif claimed Moussavi’s killing was an Israeli attempt “to expand the war to other geographical areas.”In Iraq, hundreds of mourners Wednesday flocked to attend memorial prayers for Moussavi, whose coffin was taken to the Imam Ali shrine in the Shiite shrine city of Najaf.“America is the enemy of God,” some of them chanted.The pallbearers included members of the Hashed al-Shaabi, mainly pro-Iranian former paramilitary units that have been integrated into Iraq’s regular armed forces.His remains were then taken to Karbala, another shrine city, ahead of his repatriation to Iran.Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, Mohammed al-Sadiq, told AFP that Moussavi’s death was the latest of the Israeli “enemy’s list of crimes.”Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
Israel logistics startup forges overland trade route to bypass Houthi Red Sea crisis-Trucknet seeks to facilitate the operation of an alternative land bridge for the transfer of goods from the ports of Dubai through Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to Israel’s Haifa port By Sharon Wrobel 27 December 2023, 10:56 pm
Trucknet Enterprise, an Israeli smart transportation company has forged agreements this month to facilitate an overland trade route for the transfer of goods from the Persian Gulf through Saudi Arabia and Jordan to Israel bypassing the Red Sea waterway, which is currently a target of numerous attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi militants.Earlier this month, Eilat-based Trucknet, which operates a digital marketplace to match importers with transportation companies, signed a cooperation agreement with Emirati-based counterpart Puretrans FZCO and the Dubai port-operating company DP World. The agreement is geared to facilitate the transport of cargo on trucks on a bi-directional land route connecting the ports of Dubai or Bahrain, passing through Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and getting to the port of Haifa, as well as Egypt, where cargo can continue to Europe.On Sunday, Trucknet signed a similar memorandum of understanding with Alexandria-based logistics services company WWCS which operates as an agency for the management of container transportation from ports and serves the Egyptian market. The cooperation will allow the use of Israel’s border crossings for the transfer of goods on the land route, from the port of Dubai, through Saudi Arabia and Jordan to Israel, and from there, through the Mediterranean Sea or via land, to Egypt, Trucknet said.“This week we completed the construction of a land bridge route that will connect the United Arab Emirates to Israel and Egypt,” said Trucknet founder Hanan Friedman.A pilot to test the land transport line for trucks from the ports of Dubai to Israel has been ongoing in recent weeks.The agreements for cooperation for the establishment of an alternative land route comes as Yemen’s Houthis, an Iranian proxy, have launched a flurry of drone and missile attacks on commercial vessels with Israeli ownership or bound for one of the country’s ports since the start of its war on October 7 with the Hamas terror group.Most have failed to reach their targets and many have been intercepted, but the ongoing threat prompted the world’s major shipping companies, including Denmark’s Maersk and German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd, as well as oil giant BP, to temporarily suspend sending their vessels through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, threatening to shut down a key trade route connecting Asia, Israel and Europe.Instead, container ships bound for Israel and linking to Europe from the Far East are diverting to a longer route around Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, increasing the shipping time of goods by two to four weeks and raising the costs per ship by up to $1 million. That is as ships sailing for Israel since the war erupted already have higher freight costs, as they need to pay an additional war risk premium levied by marine insurers.Meanwhile, Maersk earlier this week announced that it was preparing to resume the route through the Red Sea after a US-led multinational naval coalition started to operate to try and protect shipping from attacks by Houthi militants.“The purpose of the route is not to replace the use of the Suez Canal, but to create a complementary express route, which will be used as a bypass route for the Houthi threat in the Red Sea in times of emergency, and will shorten shipping times by 10 days,” said Friedman. “Transit time for cargo on container ships coming from Dubai or Abu Dhabi ports to the Haifa port is about two weeks while unloading and putting the cargo on trucks via the land route will take four days.”Trucknet said that the land route, which received the necessary approvals from Israel’s Defense Ministry and Israeli authorities, is expected to save 80% of the time the sea route takes, at a lower cost also due to the current high insurance costs levied on shipping companies.Founded in 2016 by CEO Friedman, Trucknet has developed a cloud-based platform to match cargo and available trucks, which it says enables transportation and logistics companies to lower transport costs and save resources by optimizing shipments across all modes of transportation. The AI-based technology uses business intelligence and machine learning for the automatic matching platform which also includes features such as real-time tracking of trucks, the status of shipments and emissions calculations for each shipment.The startup, which listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in 2021, has more than 40 employees and operates offices in France, Romania and Israel.The war began on October 7, when some 3,000 Hamas terrorists burst across the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing over 240 hostages of all ages under the cover of a deluge of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities. The vast majority of those killed as gunmen seized border communities amid horrific acts of brutality were civilians, including babies, children and the elderly.The Houthis say the Red Sea strikes are in solidarity with the people of Gaza, where the Hamas-run health ministry says more than 20,900 people have been killed in the conflict. However, these figures cannot be independently verified, and are believed to include both Hamas terrorists and civilians, and people killed as a consequence of terror groups’ own rocket misfires.Already before the outbreak of the Hamas war, the idea of establishing a trade land bridge connecting Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE from the Persian Gulf to Israel’s seaports, was in the works, but the current situation has brought plans for the project fast forward, according to Friedman.Saudi Arabia and Israel do not have diplomatic relations, though the White House has been pushing them toward normalizing relations in the months before the war. That’s after the signing of the Abraham Accords, the US-brokered agreement that normalized ties between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain in 2020. Morocco followed suit and normalized relations with Israel soon after.“The cooperation and the high willingness we found among the transport and logistics companies in the Arab countries, proves that the ties that are being forged these days with Israel are in the common interest of all parties, which can and will lead to the transformation of Israel into a significant logistics traffic center on an international scale,” said Friedman.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Northern towns rocked by heaviest Hezbollah barrages since outbreak of war-No injuries, but buildings in largely evacuated Kiryat Shmona suffer damage as at least 34 rockets fired from Lebanon, day after Israeli strike kills Hezbollah man and 2 others
By Emanuel Fabian and Agencies 27 December 2023, 8:01 pm
Sirens sounded repeatedly in northern Israel on Wednesday as rockets fired from Lebanon pummeled the towns of Rosh Hanikra and Kiryat Shmona in a major escalation of violence along the restive border, as Israel’s top general vowed that the country’s military was prepared to battle the Hezbollah terror group, even as heavy fighting persisted in Gaza.No injuries were reported in the attacks, which apparently marked the most intense volleys on northern Israel since the region was plunged into war on October 7. Israel responded to the attacks with airstrikes in southern Lebanon.The uptick came after an alleged Israeli strike killed a Hezbollah member, as well as his brother and his brother’s wife, and with Iran vowing revenge for the killing of a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officer in Syria, which it has blamed on Israel.At least 18 rockets were fired at coastal Rosh Hanikra at around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, in an attack that Hezbollah claimed was aimed at an Israeli Navy base in the area. At least six of the rockets were said to have been intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, with several others falling in open areas.Several hours later, a second barrage was fired at the city of Kiryat Shmona. Six of the rockets impacted inside the city, causing damage to residential buildings and infrastructure, while another four landed in open areas within the municipal boundary, officials said. An additional three rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome, with the remainder landing in open areas.Authorities in Kiryat Shmona said that at least 16 rockets were fired at the city, although Hezbollah claimed to have launched 30 in total.The city, normally home to over 20,000 people, has been largely evacuated in recent months, along with other towns near Israel’s border, due to near-daily rocket, missile and drone attacks launched by Hezbollah and allied groups. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the rocket barrages, as well as for three explosive-laden drones that hit the Mount Dov area, where several IDF positions are located, saying that they had launched the attacks “in response to the enemy’s repeated crimes.”Visiting Northern Command headquarters on Wednesday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said that the military is “at a very high level of readiness” amid escalating Hezbollah attacks.“Our first task is to return residents safely, and that will take time. Today we approved a variety of plans for the future, and we need to be ready for an offensive, if necessary,” he said in remarks provided by the IDF.“The IDF and within it the Northern Command are at a very high level of readiness. So far, the campaign here has been managed correctly and meticulously, and this is how it should continue. We will not return the residents without security and a sense of security,” he added. According to a security official speaking to Reuters news agency, Hezbollah fired more rockets and drones on Wednesday than it had on any other day since it the daily skirmishes began.In response to the heavy fire from southern Lebanon, Israeli fighter jets struck the launch site of the drone attack, as well as other targets close to the border, the IDF said in a statement.The near-daily clashes on Israel’s northern border began following Hamas’s deadly onslaught inside Israel on October 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza through which Israel has vowed to eliminate the Palestinian terror group. Along with allied Palestinian factions along the Lebanon border, Hezbollah has said that it is carrying out attacks on Israel in a show of support for the people of Gaza.Iran-backed groups in Yemen, Iraq and Syria have also attacked Israel and US troops in the region repeatedly since October 7, in what is widely seen as a bid to stretch military forces thin as Israel battles Hamas in Gaza.Four civilians and nine soldiers have been killed in attacks on the northern border, which have included dozens of anti-tank missile attacks. There have also been several rocket attacks from Syria, without any injuries.Hezbollah has named 129 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 16 Palestinian terror operatives, a Lebanese soldier and at least 19 civilians, three of whom were journalists, have been killed.A strike on the southern city of Bint Jbeil late Tuesday night attributed to Israel killed three people, according to Lebanese media, two of them civilians.According to the country’s state-run National News Agency, the bodies of Ibrahim Bazzi, his wife Shorouk Hammoud, and Ibrahim’s brother, Ali Bazzi, were pulled from the rubble of their destroyed home.Another member of the family was reportedly wounded.Ibrahim Bazzi was identified by one of his relatives as a Lebanese-Australian dual citizen. Although family members in the village alleged that Ali Bazzi was a civilian, Hezbollah put out a statement announcing his death as a “martyr on the road to Jerusalem,” as it typically does when one of its fighters is killed.Ibrahim Bazzi was said to have lived in Sydney and was only in Lebanon to visit his wife Hammoud, who just recently received a travel visa for Australia and so was not yet living with her husband.Asked about the incident, the Israeli military said one of its jets had struck a Hezbollah military site overnight in Lebanon. Australian media quoted a spokesperson for Australia’s foreign ministry as saying it was aware of the report and was seeking confirmation.Bint Jbeil is a Hezbollah stronghold and large parts of it were destroyed during the 2006 war between Israel and the Iran-backed terror group.Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.
Chip implants from Swedish developer support digital health pass storage under your skin-Dec 23, 2021, 3:04 pm EST | Chris Burt
Several thousand people in Sweden have implanted microchips under their skin to give them closer-than-close access to their digital information, including digital ID credentials. Now, Tech Xplore reports that digital health pass credentials can also be stored on the subcutaneous chips.DSruptive Subdermals developed the chips, which can store electronic keys, business cards, public transport passes, and now proof of vaccination. A representative of the company demonstrated how it works, pulling up a PDF of his vaccination record on his smartphone after scanning a chip embedded in his arm.Managing Director Hannes Sjoblad says that advanced versions of the implants cost a hundred euros (roughly US$113), but can last for twenty or even forty years, compared to health wearables that can cost twice as much and then last for only a few years.Privacy is not jeopardized by the implants, according to the company. The chips are not powered, and cannot transmit any data by themselves, so Sjoblad says they should not be looked at as tracking devices.He also states a position firmly opposed to mandatory implants of the chips for anyone, including prisoners.A customer of the company tells Tech Xplore that she feels her personal data is better protected on the chip than elsewhere. A recent survey of UK and U.S. millennials suggests that many of them are more comfortable with the idea of implants than sharing their personal data with governments.
Biden wants an industrial renaissance. He can’t do it without immigration reform.Intel’s planned microchip plant outside Columbus, Ohio, is the administration’s poster child for reviving high-tech manufacturing. But failure to allow a small number of foreign-born doctorates to stay in the U.S. could cause the effort to fizzle.A graphic of a computer chip is displayed behind President Joe Biden.President Joe Biden's dream of turning the United States into a hub of microchip manufacturing lacks a key ingredient — a small yet critical core of high-skilled workers. | By Brendan Bordelon and Eleanor Mueller-Updated: 08/11/2022 06:01 PM EDT
JOHNSTOWN, Ohio — Just 15 minutes outside of downtown Columbus, the suburbs abruptly evaporate. Past a bizarre mix of soybean fields, sprawling office parks and lonely clapboard churches is a field where the Biden administration — with help from one of the world’s largest tech companies — hopes to turn the U.S. into a hub of microchip manufacturing.In his State of the Union address in March, President Joe Biden called this 1,000-acre spread of corn stalks and farmhouses a “field of dreams.” Within three years, it will house two Intel-operated chip facilities together worth $20 billion — and Intel is promising to invest $80 billion more now that Washington has sweetened the deal with subsidies. It’s all part of a nationwide effort to head off another microchip shortage, shore up the free world’s advanced industrial base in the face of a rising China and claw back thousands of high-end manufacturing jobs from Asia.Construction site.Within three years, Johnstown, Ohio will house two Intel-operated chip facilities together worth $20 billion. | Brendan Bordelon/ POLITICO-But even as Biden signs into law more than $52 billion in “incentives” designed to lure chipmakers to the U.S., an unusual alliance of industry lobbyists, hard-core China hawks and science advocates says the president’s dream lacks a key ingredient — a small yet critical core of high-skilled workers. It’s a politically troubling irony: To achieve the long-sought goal of returning high-end manufacturing to the United States, the country must, paradoxically, attract more foreign workers.“For high-tech industry in general — which of course, includes the chip industry — the workforce is a huge problem,” said Julia Phillips, a member of the National Science Board. “It’s almost a perfect storm.”From electrical engineering to computer science, the U.S. currently does not produce enough doctorates and master’s degrees in the science, technology, engineering and math fields who can go on to work in U.S.-based microchip plants. Decades of declining investments in STEM education means the U.S. now produces fewer native-born recipients of advanced STEM degrees than most of its international rivals.Foreign nationals, including many educated in the U.S., have traditionally filled that gap. But a bewildering and anachronistic immigration system, historic backlogs in visa processing and rising anti-immigrant sentiment have combined to choke off the flow of foreign STEM talent precisely when a fresh surge is needed.Powerful members of both parties have diagnosed the problem and floated potential fixes. But they have so far been stymied by the politics of immigration, where a handful of lawmakers stand in the way of reforms few are willing to risk their careers to achieve. With a short window to attract global chip companies already starting to close, a growing chorus is warning Congress they’re running out of time.“These semiconductor investments won’t pay off if Congress doesn’t fix the talent bottleneck,” said Jeremy Neufeld, a senior immigration fellow at the Institute for Progress think tank.President Joe Biden stands with Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger.A sense of urgency is starting to outweigh the reluctance of companies, like Patrick Gelsinger's Intel, to advocate directly for immigration reform. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo-Given the hot-button nature of immigration fights, the chip industry has typically been hesitant to advocate directly for reform. But as they pump billions of dollars into U.S. projects and contemplate far more expensive plans, a sense of urgency is starting to outweigh that reluctance.“We are seeing greater and greater numbers of our employees waiting longer and longer for green cards,” said David Shahoulian, Intel’s head of workforce policy. “At some point it will become even more difficult to attract and retain folks. That will be a problem for us; it will be a problem for the rest of the tech industry.”“At some point, you’ll just see more offshoring of these types of positions,” Shahoulian said.A Booming Technology-Microchips (often called “semiconductors” by wonkier types) aren’t anything new. Since the 1960s, scientists — working first for the U.S. government and later for private industry — have tacked transistors onto wafers of silicon or other semiconducting materials to produce computer circuits. What has changed is the power and ubiquity of these chips.The number of transistors researchers can fit on a chip roughly doubles every two years, a phenomenon known as Moore’s Law. In recent years, that has led to absurdly powerful chips bristling with transistors — IBM’s latest chip packs them at two-nanometer intervals into a space roughly the size of a fingernail. Two nanometers is thinner than a strand of human DNA, or about how long a fingernail grows in two seconds.A rapid boost in processing power stuffed into ever-smaller packages led to the information technology boom of the 1990s. And things have only accelerated since — microchips remain the primary driver of advances in smartphones and missiles, but they’re also increasingly integrated into household appliances like toaster ovens, thermostats and toilets. Even the most inexpensive cars on the market now contain hundreds of microchips, and electric or luxury vehicles are loaded with thousands.It all adds up to a commodity widely viewed as the bedrock of the new digital economy. Like fossil fuels before them, any country that controls the production of chips possesses key advantages on the global stage.Workers wearing masks labor at a factory.The Chinese government has also been pouring billions of dollars into a crash program to boost its own lackluster chip industry. | Chen Yuxuan/Xinhua via AP-Until fairly recently, the U.S. was one of those countries. But while chips are still largely designed in America, its capacity to produce them has declined precipitously. Only 12 percent of the world’s microchip production takes place in the U.S., down from 37 percent in 1990. That percentage declines further when you exclude “legacy” chips with wider spaces between transistors — the vast majority of bleeding-edge chips are manufactured in Taiwan, and most factories not found on that island reside in Asian nations like South Korea, China and Japan.For a long time, few in Washington worried about America’s flagging chip production. Manufacturing in the U.S. is expensive, and offshoring production to Asia while keeping R&D stateside was a good way to cut costs.Two things changed that calculus: the Covid-19 pandemic and rising tensions between the U.S. and China.Abrupt work stoppages sparked by viral spread in Asia sent shockwaves through finely tuned global supply chains. The flow of microchips ceased almost overnight, and then struggled to restart under new Covid surges and ill-timed extreme weather events. Combined with a spike in demand for microelectronics (sparked by generous government payouts to citizens stuck at home), the manufacturing stutter kicked off a chip shortage from which the world is still recovering.Even before the pandemic, growing animosity between Washington and Beijing caused officials to question the wisdom of ceding chip production to Asia. China’s increasingly bellicose threats against Taiwan caused some to conjure up nightmare scenarios of an invasion or blockade that would sever the West from its supply of chips. The Chinese government was also pouring billions of dollars into a crash program to boost its own lackluster chip industry, prompting fears that America’s top foreign adversary could one day corner the market.By 2020 the wheels had begun to turn on Capitol Hill. In January 2021, lawmakers passed as part of their annual defense bill the CHIPS for America Act, legislation authorizing federal payouts for chip manufacturers. But they then struggled to finance those subsidies. Although they quickly settled on more than $52 billion for chip manufacturing and research, lawmakers had trouble decoupling those sweeteners from sprawling anti-China “competitiveness” bills that stalled for over a year.Samsung Electronics Co. Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong speaks.Samsung, which Lee Jae-yong is vice chair of, is suggesting it will expand its new $17 billion chip plant outside of Austin, Texas, to a whopping $200 billion investment. | Pool photo by Kim Min-HeeBut those subsidies, as well as new tax credits for the chip industry, were finally sent to Biden’s desk in late July. Intel isn’t the only company that’s promised to supercharge U.S. projects once that money comes through — Samsung, for example, is suggesting it will expand its new $17 billion chip plant outside of Austin, Texas, to a nearly $200 billion investment. Lawmakers are already touting the subsidies as a key step toward an American renaissance in high-tech manufacturing.Quietly, however, many of those same lawmakers — along with industry lobbyists and national security experts — fear all the chip subsidies in the world will fall flat without enough high-skilled STEM workers. And they accuse Congress of failing to seize multiple opportunities to address the problem.STEM help wanted-In Columbus, just miles from the Johnstown field where Intel is breaking ground, most officials don’t mince words: The tech workers needed to staff two microchip factories, let alone eight, don’t exist in the region at the levels needed. “We’re going to need a STEM workforce,” admitted Jon Husted, Ohio’s Republican lieutenant governor.But Husted and others say they’re optimistic the network of higher ed institutions spread across Columbus — including Ohio State University and Columbus State Community College — can beef up the region’s workforce fast.“I feel like we’re built for this,” said David Harrison, president of Columbus State Community College. He highlighted the repeated refrain from Intel officials that 70 percent of the 3,000 jobs needed to fill the first two factories will be “technician-level” jobs requiring two-year associate degrees. “These are our jobs,” Harrison said.Harrison is anxious, however, over how quickly he and other leaders in higher ed are expected to convince thousands of students to sign up for the required STEM courses and join Intel after graduation. The first two factories are slated to be fully operational within three years, and will need significant numbers of workers well before then. He said his university still lacks the requisite infrastructure for instruction on chip manufacturing — “we’re missing some wafer processing, clean rooms, those kinds of things” — and explained that funding recently provided by Intel and the National Science Foundation won’t be enough. Columbus State will need more support from Washington.“I don’t know that there’s a great Plan B right now,” said Harrison, adding that the new facilities will run into “the tens of millions.”A lack of native STEM talent isn’t unique to the Columbus area. Across the country, particularly in regions where the chip industry is planning to relocate, officials are fretting over a perceived lack of skilled technicians. In February, the Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation cited a shortage of skilled workers when announcing a six-month delay in the move-in date for their new plant in Arizona.“Whether it’s a licensure program, a two-year program or a Ph.D., at all levels, there is a shortfall in high-tech STEM talent,” said Phillips. The NSB member highlighted the “missing millions of people that are not going into STEM fields — that basically are shut out, even beginning in K-12, because they’re not exposed in a way that attracts them to the field.”Industry groups, like the National Association of Manufacturers, have long argued a two-pronged approach is necessary when it comes to staffing the high-tech sector: Reevaluating immigration policy while also investing heavily in workforce development-The abandoned House and Senate competitiveness bills both included provisions that would have enhanced federal support for STEM education and training. Among other things, the House bill would have expanded Pell Grant eligibility to students pursuing career-training programs.“We have for decades incentivized degree attainment and not necessarily skills attainment,” said Robyn Boerstling, NAM’s vice president of infrastructure, innovation and human resources policy. “There are manufacturing jobs today that could be filled with six weeks of training, or six months, or six years; we need all of the above.”But those provisions were scrapped, after Senate leadership decided a conference between the two chambers on the bills was too unwieldy to reach agreement before the August recess.Katie Spiker, managing director of government affairs at National Skills Coalition, said the abandoned Pell Grant expansion shows Congress “has not responded to worker needs in the way that we need them to.” Amid criticisms that the existing workforce development system is unwieldy and ineffective, the decision to scrap new upgrades is a continuation of a trend of disinvesting in workers who hope to obtain the skills they need to meet employer demand.“And it becomes an issue that only compounds itself over time,” Spiker said. “As technology changes, people need to change and evolve their skills.”“If we’re not getting people skilled up now, then we won’t have people that are going to be able to evolve and skill up into the next generation of manufacturing that we’ll do five years from now.”Congress finally sent the smaller Chips and Science Act — which includes the chip subsidies and tax credits, $200 million to develop a microchip workforce and a slate of R&D provisions — to the president’s desk in late July. The bill is expected to enhance the domestic STEM pool (at least on the margins). But it likely falls short of the generational investments many believe are needed.
“You could make some dent in it in six years,” said Phillips. “But if you really want to solve the problem, it’s closer to a 20-year investment. And the ability of this country to invest in anything for 20 years is not phenomenal.”Immigration Arms Race-The microchip industry is in the midst of a global reshuffling that’s expected to last a better part of the decade — and the U.S. isn’t the only country rolling out the red carpet. Europe, Canada, Japan and other regions are also worried about their security, and preparing sweeteners for microchip firms to set up shop in their borders. Cobbling together an effective STEM workforce in a short time frame will be key to persuading companies to choose America instead.That will be challenging at the technician level, which represents around 70 percent of workers in most microchip factories. But those jobs require only two-year degrees — and over a six-year period, it’s possible a sustained education and recruitment effort can produce enough STEM workers to at least keep the lights on.It’s a different story entirely for Ph.D.s and master’s degrees, which take much longer to earn and which industry reps say make up a smaller but crucial component of a factory’s workforce.Gabriela Cruz Thompson, Intel Labs’ senior director of university research and collaboration,said about 15 percent of factory workers must have doctorates or master’s degrees in fields such as material and electrical engineering, computer science, physics and chemistry. Students coming out of American universities with those degrees are largely foreign nationals — and increasingly, they’re graduating without an immigration status that lets them work in the U.S., and with no clear pathway to achieving that status.Employees working in a factory.About 15 percent of factory workers must have doctorates in fields such as material and electrical engineering, computer science, physics and chemistry. | Walden Kirsch/Intel Corporation-A National Science Board estimate from earlier this year shows a steadily rising proportion of foreign-born students with advanced STEM skills. That’s especially true for degrees crucial to the chip industry — nearly 60 percent of computer science Ph.D.s are foreign born, as are more than 50 percent of engineering doctorates.“We are absolutely reliant on being able to hire foreign nationals to fill those needs,” said Intel’s Shahoulian. Like many in the chip industry, Shaoulian contends there simply aren’t enough high-skilled STEM professionals with legal status to simultaneously serve America’s existing tech giants and an influx of microchip firms.Some academics, such as Howard University’s Ron Hira, suggest the shortage of workers with STEM degrees is overblown, and industry simply seeks to import cheaper, foreign-born labor. But that view contrasts with those held by policymakers on Capitol Hill or people in the scientific and research communities. In a report published in late July by the Government Accountability Office, all 17 of the experts surveyed agreed the lack of a high-skilled STEM workforce was a barrier to new microchip projects in the U.S. — and most said some type of immigration reform would be needed.Many, if not most, of the foreign nationals earning advanced STEM degrees from U.S. universities would prefer to stay and work in the country. But America’s immigration system is turning away these workers in record numbers — and at the worst possible time.Ravi (not his real name, given his tenuous immigration status) is an Indian national. Nearly three years ago, he graduated from a STEM master’s program at a prestigious eastern university before moving to California to work as a design verification lead at an international chip company. He’s applied three times for an H-1B visa, a high-skilled immigration program used extensively by U.S. tech companies. But those visas are apportioned via a lottery, and Ravi lost each time. His current visa only allows him to work through the end of year — so Ravi is giving up and moving to Canada, where he’s agreed to take a job with another chip company. Given his skill set, he expects to quickly receive permanent legal status.“The application process is incredibly simple there,” said Ravi, noting that Canadian officials were apologetic over their brief 12-week processing time (they’re swamped by refugee applications, he said).If given the choice, Ravi said he would’ve probably stayed in California. But his story now serves as a cautionary tale for his younger brother back home. “Once he sort of completed his undergrad back in India, he did mention that he is looking at more immigration-friendly countries,” Ravi said. “He’s giving Canada more thought, at this point, than the United States.”Ravi’s story is far from unique, particularly for Indian nationals. The U.S. imposes annual per-country caps on green cards — and between a yearly crush of applicants and a persistent processing backlog, Indians (regardless of their education or skill level) can expect to wait as long as 80 years for permanent legal status. A report released earlier this year by the libertarian Cato Institute found more than 1.4 million skilled immigrants are now stuck in green card backlogs, just a slight drop from 2020’s all-time high of more than 1.5 million.The third rail of U.S. politics-The chip industry has shared its anxiety over America’s slipping STEM workforce with Washington, repeatedly asking Congress to make it easier for high-skilled talent to stay. But unlike their lobbying for subsidies and tax breaks — which has gotten downright pushy at times — they’ve done so very quietly. While chip lobbyists have spent months telling anyone who will listen why the $52 billion in financial incentives are a “strategic imperative,” they’ve only recently been willing to discuss their immigration concerns on the record.In late July, nine major chip companies planned to send an open letter to congressional leadership warning that the shortage of high-skilled STEM workers “has truly never been more acute” and urging lawmakers to “enact much-needed green card reforms.” But the letter was pulled at the last minute, after some companies worried about wading into a tense immigration debate at the wrong time.Leaders in the national security community have been less shy. In May, more than four dozen former officials sent a leader to congressional leadership urging them to shore up America’s slipping immigration edge before Chinese technology leapfrogs ours. “With the world’s best STEM talent on its side, it will be very hard for America to lose,” they wrote. “Without it, it will be very hard for America to win.”The former officials exhorted lawmakers to take up and pass provisions in the House competitiveness bill that would’ve lifted green card caps for foreign nationals with STEM Ph.D.s or master’s degrees. It’d be a relatively small number of people — a February study from Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology suggested the chip industry would only need around 3,500 foreign-born workers to effectively staff new U.S.-based factories.“This is such a small pool of people that there’s already an artificial cap on it,” said Klon Kitchen, a senior fellow focused on technology and national security at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.Kitchen suggested the Republican Party’s wariness toward immigration shouldn’t apply to these high-skilled workers, and some elected Republicans agree. Sen. John Cornyn, whose state of Texas is poised to gain from the expansion of chip plants outside Austin, took up the torch — and almost immediately got burned.Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa’s senior Republican senator, blocked repeated attempts by Cornyn, Democrats and others to include the green card provision in the final competitiveness package. Finding relief for a small slice of the immigrant community, Grassley reasoned, “weakens the possibility to get comprehensive immigration reform down the road.” He refused to budge even after Biden administration officials warned him of the national security consequences in a classified June 16 briefing, which was convened specifically for him. The effort has been left for dead (though a push to shoehorn a related provision into the year-end defense bill is ongoing).Many of Grassley’s erstwhile allies are frustrated with his approach. “We’ve been talking about comprehensive immigration reform for how many decades?” asked Kitchen, who said he’s “not inclined” to let America’s security concerns “tread water in the background” while Congress does nothing to advance broader immigration bills.Most Republicans in Congress agree with Kitchen. But so far it’s Cornyn, not Grassley, who’s paid a price. After helping broker a deal on gun control legislation in June, Cornyn was attacked by Breitbart and others on his party’s right flank for telling a Democratic colleague immigration would be next.Sen. John Cornyn listens.Sen. John Cornyn, whose state of Texas is poised to gain from the expansion of chip plants outside Austin, has supported immigration for high-skilled STEM workers. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images“Immigration is one of the most contentious issues here in Congress, and we’ve shown ourselves completely incapable of dealing with it on a rational basis,” Cornyn said in July. The senator said he’d largely given up on persuading Grassley to abandon his opposition to new STEM immigration provisions. “I would love to have a conversation about merit-based immigration,” Cornyn said. “But I don’t think, under the current circumstances, that’s possible.”Cornyn blamed that in part on the far right’s reflexive outrage to any easing of immigration restrictions. “Just about anything you say or do will get you in trouble around here these days,” he said.Given that reality, few Republicans are willing to stick their necks out on the issue.“If you look at the messaging coming out of [the National Republican Senatorial Committee] or [the Republican Attorneys General Association], it’s all ‘border, border, border,’” said Rebecca Shi, executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition. Shi said even moderate Republicans hesitate to publicly advance arguments “championing these sensible visas for Ph.D. STEM talents for integrated circuits for semiconductors.”“They’re like … ‘I can’t say those phrases until after the elections,’” Shi said.That skittishness extends to state-level officials — Ohio’s Husted spent some time expounding on the benefits of “bringing talented people here to do the work in America, rather than having companies leave America to have it done somewhere else.” He suggested that boosting STEM immigration would be key to Intel’s success in his state. But when asked whether he’s taken that message to Ohio’s congressional delegation — after all, he said he’d been pestering them to pass the chip subsidies — Husted hedged.“My job is to do all I can for the people of the state of Ohio. There are other people whose job it is to message those other things,” Husted said. “But if asked, you heard what my answer is.”Of course, Republicans also pin some of the blame on Democrats. “The administration ignores the fire at the border and the chaos there, which makes it very hard to have a conversation about controlling immigration flows,” Cornyn said.And while Democratic lawmakers reject that specific concern, some admit their side hasn’t prioritized STEM immigration as it should.“Neither team has completely clean hands,” said Sen. Mark Warner, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Warner noted that Democrats have also sought to hold back STEM immigration fixes as “part of a sweetener” so that business-friendly Republicans would in turn back pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. He also dinged the chip companies, claiming the issue is “not always as straightforward” as the industry would like to frame it and that tech companies sometimes hope to pay less for foreign-born talent.But Warner still supports the effort to lift green card caps for STEM workers. “Without that high-skilled immigration, it’s not like those jobs are going to disappear,” he said. “They’re just gonna move to another country.”And despite their rhetoric, it’s hard to deny that congressional Republicans are largely responsible for continued inaction on high-skilled immigration — even as their allies in the national security space become increasingly insistent.Stuck on STEM immigration-Though they’ve had to shrink their ambitions, lawmakers working to lift green card caps for STEM immigrants haven’t given up. A jurisdictional squabble between committees in July prevented advocates from including in the House’s year-end defense bill a provision that would’ve nixed the caps for Ph.D.s in “critical” STEM fields. They’re now hoping to shoehorn the provision into the Senate’s defense bill instead, and have tapped Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina as their champion in the upper chamber.But Tillis is already facing pushback from the right. And despite widespread support, few truly believe there’s enough momentum to overcome Grassley and a handful of other lawmakers willing to block any action.“Most members on both sides recognize that this is a problem they need to resolve,” said Intel’s Shahoulian. “They’re just not at a point yet where they’re willing to compromise and take the political hits that come with it.”A portion of land in Johnstown, Ohio.Intel is still plowing ahead in Johnstown — backhoes are churning up dirt, farmers have been bought out of homes owned by their families for generations and the extensive water and electric infrastructure required for eight chip factories is being laid. | Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo-The global chip industry is moving in the meantime. While most companies are still planning to set up shop in the U.S. regardless of what happens with STEM immigration, Shahoulian said inaction on that front will inevitably limit the scale of investments by Intel and other firms.“You’re already seeing that dynamic playing out,” he said. “You’re seeing companies set up offices in Canada, set up offices elsewhere, move R&D work elsewhere in the world, because it is easier to retain talent elsewhere than it is here.”“This is an issue that will progressively get worse,” Shahoulian said. “It’s not like there will be some drop-dead deadline. But yeah, it’s getting difficult.”Intel is still plowing ahead in Johnstown — backhoes are churning up dirt, farmers have been bought out of homes owned by their families for generations and the extensive water and electric infrastructure required for eight chip factories is being laid. Whether those bets will pay off in the long-term may rest on Congress’ ability to thread the needle on STEM immigration. And there’s little optimism at the moment.Sen. Maria Cantwell, the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said she sometimes wishes she could “shake everybody and tell them to wake up.” But she believes economic and geopolitical realities will force Congress to open the door to high-skilled foreign workers — eventually.“I think the question is whether you do that now or in 10 years,” Cantwell said. “And you’ll be damn sorry if you wait for 10 years.”CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misstated the last name and title of Gabriela Cruz Thompson. She is Intel Labs’ senior director of university research and collaboration.
How aging, injury and capture impact the challenge of change in biometric identifiers-Professor Stephanie Schuckers breaks down persistence for fingerprint, face and iris-Dec 25, 2023, 10:14 pm EST | Joel R. McConvey
One of the oft-cited advantages of using biometrics for verification and authentication is that they are unique to a person’s body and therefore more stable and difficult to steal than physical ID documents. But bodies change over time: even someone who never loses their passport is certain to lose their youth.Biometric identification methods rely on matching a biological signature made up of measurements converted into vectors with a registered copy of that signature. But the temporal persistence or stability of biometrics varies by modality. As a wide variety of biometrics and digital identity applications become increasingly integrated into daily life, it is worth considering how providers and users address questions around aging and physical transformation.What we know about biometric persistence-Biometrics are unquestionably more secure than a paper ID document that can be lost or stolen. It is not easy to steal someone’s face. However, new engines for fraud have emerged in the form of generative AI, deepfakes and sophisticated 3D spoofs. Are changes in the body the key to biometric security, or a hindrance? Stephanie Schuckers of Clarkson University says the approach to physical variables changes for each modality. Fingerprints, faces, irises and palms tell different stories and are subject to change in different ways.Fingerprint biometrics-Fingerprints, notoriously, do not change – but of course, says Schuckers, they do, particularly in young children.“The relative position between the minutiae is fairly stable,” she says, but you have to scale it as a child grows, measuring at intervals – a process that has not yet been standardized. “Right now, there are multiple papers on how to scale it. But it’s still not totally solved, because how you scale makes a difference.” Schuckers says other factors in accounting for change in children’s prints include the resolution of the scanner – “a 500 DPI scanner is fine to a point right now, but as the fingerprint gets smaller and smaller, you need much higher resolution scanners” – and the relative elasticity of the fingerprint.The latter is an issue both for newborns and senior citizens, whose prints are less elastic and have thicker ridges, making them harder to read. Cuts and scars can also cause permanent change if they cut through the regenerating layer beneath the fingerprint. But, Schuckers says re-enrolment is an easy fix for most people, and that with fingerprint biometrics there are always multiple options.“Fingerprints are formed in the womb. It’s just a matter of measuring it and scaling it properly, and it should be persistent throughout your life. Fingerprints can last a lifetime as long as you have an algorithm and hardware and software that can account for all these things.”Face biometrics-We all know how faces change, from beards to glasses to wrinkles beside the eyes. Schuckers says the long and the short of it with face biometrics is that algorithms are far, far better than they used to be, and continually improving. With vast databases of accrued images to learn from, performance rates are near perfect, and algorithms can account for aging with standardized re-enrolments in tandem with passports (i.e. every ten years or so).The story is different for kids, for whom performance rates remain in the low 90s. “It used to be that it just didn’t work at all,” she says. “But these more advanced algorithms – not trained on children, still trained on adult data – are able to handle more variability and are doing better.” She says most of the data for facial recognition is in the upper half of the face, and points out how photographs of people as children are often recognizable as the adults they will become, with most changes visible in the lower half of the face. “So I would say face is getting better, for kids” she says, “but it’s more like a decent performance after a few years” and multiple re-enrolments.Iris biometrics-“Iris is really interesting,” says Schuckers, “because it is stable throughout the lifetime.” She has written papers arguing as much. But there is some controversy, she says, around dilation. “As you age, the way your eyes dilate changes, and the algorithms to accommodate dilation differences have some adjustments that they make if one image is dilated differently compared to another one. But those adjustments aren’t very good sometimes. And so, the key to that persistence is that the dilation of the pupil is similar when you can actually control it with light.” If you can adjust conditions to control the variable, she says, irises have been shown to be stable throughout a person’s life, barring outliers such as surgery or diseases like cataracts.The issue with iris biometrics for kids is not temporal change – research has shown that irises do not significantly change between the ages of 4 and 11 – but squirminess at point of capture. “Once you get below five, the systems aren’t designed for that. A child can’t focus long enough. So it’s kind of similar to the fingerprint: it’s stable, but capturing it needs to be specialized for children’s work.”While the fundamental stability of the iris from cradle to grave is still technically an open question, Schuckers points out that the iris is a muscle, and that with proper capture and algorithmic adjustments, it should theoretically be consistent for a person’s whole life.Capture and liveness the key-Schuckers has not yet researched palm vein biometrics deeply enough to make a formal comment, and other modalities like body odor and gait have limited use cases compared to the big three. But, says Schuckers, the key to biometric identification is not really in persistence, anyhow – but rather, in liveness.“People ask me the question, which modality is easiest to spoof? And I don’t think it’s the right question anymore,” she says. “Systems understand that they need to have a mechanism to adjust for liveness,” and which modality is easiest to hack may depend on how much investment has been put into liveness detection at capture. Photographs, says Shuckers, are easy to find, and data breaches and the dark web are making fingerprint data easier than ever to come by. How a biometric changes is ultimately less important than whether or not it is attached to a living person.“So it’s really like, does it matter that my fingerprints are being stolen, or is it more important to just make sure the data is not useful?” she says. “That’s what we try to do with liveness.”
The future of travel, biometrics, and a greater need for hybrid credentials-Dec 25, 2023, 9:51 pm EST-By Jon Payne, Director, Business Development & Strategic Alliances, Identity Verification at Entrust
In 2023, travel reached levels we hadn’t seen since before the pandemic. More travelers than ever are moving through security lines, also bringing increased wait times. Now, it’s up to government administrators like TSA to ensure safe, secure journeys, while also catering to customer needs like speed and seamless check-in.It’s time to accept that our current travel credentialing system is outdated. Some documents, like our passports, we have for 10 years, which is a long time to go without an update. Moreso, this increase in travel has also brought on new types of fraud. As AI expands, we have seen an uptick in criminals using fake digital identities, and these will only continue to get more sophisticated and harder to spot.Common threat vectors now include, for example, AI-generated morphed photographs where two faces are merged into one photograph to allow either person to pass through a checkpoint. Or digital injection attacks where biometric data is injected into a system in ways intended to evade endpoint security checks.It’s time to seek new travel credentialing systems that employ improved technology while also improving traveler experience. Concerns that AI (including biometrics) presents new risks are well-founded, but these technologies also offer ways to ensure systems are secure.Growing importance of biometrics-In 2024, we expect to see an increase in improved credentials and a move to digital, secure authentication methods like biometrics. Travelers are, in fact, demanding this – when given the option between biometrics or a password, 58 percent of respondents choose to use biometrics over half the time.Today, we have identity technology that enables travelers to register their biometric and passport information remotely, even before they leave their own homes, while maintaining a level of security that meets the requirements of travel providers, ports, border authorities, and more.With this digital verification process, travel access points can streamline application processes and reduce errors as an applicant’s passport information and biometric data can be collected electronically, eliminating the need for manual entry. This, in turn, also reduces the risk of fraud by using biometric data to verify an applicant’s identity instead of a document that could be more easily tampered with.We are already seeing this in use with Eurostar, an international high-speed rail service in Western Europe. The Eurostar SmartCheck system is now providing a biometric walkthrough experience. This project issues Digital Travel Credentials (DTCs) to travelers as an optional extra. A DTC is derived from a conventional passport; it’s a digital representation of the traveler’s identity stored securely on a mobile device.From there, the DTC can be submitted to the carrier and border authorities so the traveler can walk seamlessly through the most touchpoints in their journey. Their face, in essence, becomes their ticket, reducing verification redundancies and saving time at the checkpoint gate.In the coming years, this can be applied beyond Eurostar where it has already seen success. Imagine using only your face to get through airport security lines or border control. Not only would governments be more confident that travelers are who they say they are, but travelers would enjoy quicker processing times without having to wait through several different checkpoints.Embracing a hybrid travel experience-Today, travelers want to travel at the click of a few buttons, skipping wait times and reducing touchpoints. In fact, TSA Precheck, a system to speed up airport screening, now has over 17 million members. However, while technologies are employed to speed up the process, these systems still need to ensure security throughout a user’s entire journey and figure out the best tools to create a seamless experience.With the rapid development of generative AI and increasingly sophisticated deepfakes, even the most seasoned security professionals may struggle when it comes to spotting fake documents and IDs. These near-perfect replicas could give bad actors easy access through physical security safeguards and could result in false passports, visas, and more, if appropriate security measures are not designed into digital systems.This is a primary reason hybrid experiences will be key for improving customer experience and security. While DTCs allow you to electronically share the ePassport data and facial image in advance of travel while also capturing the most current version of your likeness at a check-in gate, don’t expect to be getting rid of our physical assets completely. Hybrid solutions, where a person has both a physical ID and an electronic one derived from it, will be invaluable for a secure experience-For instance, in credit card security, multiple clouds can be used to connect the bank and customer information, confirm credit limits, embed data in the magnetic stripe of the card, and then distribute the information. This creates a hybrid “digital-first” experience, enabling digital account onboarding through identity verification and authentication, and delivering both a digital credit card along with the physical credential to provide the customer with secure, accessible options. The same can be done with travel documentation.Travelers will soon get used to having a hybrid passport experience: both a physical passport book and a digital version of the same on their smartphone for easier assertion – like sending your information through an online booking system or travel app.The next era of digital travel-As these digital travel solutions evolve, we expect to see the use of biometric technologies like face-only travel expand within the next decade. Of most significance when it comes to digital and hybrid travel is the ability for the traveler to own their identity. Digital credential systems provide a more privacy-centric experience, allowing citizens to control their identity data and submit it only to those who need to see it. Digital identity also introduces the possibility of selective disclosure, allowing the user to share only the data points that are relevant to each use case.As we move into the digital travel age, a top priority will be giving travelers more control over their own data. As digital adoption goes up and friction goes down, travelers’ control over their own personal information will increase.-About the author-Jon Payne is Director, Business Development for Entrust‘s Identity Verification business unit. He joined Entrust in 2021 via the acquisition of WorldReach Software. Jon has more than 25 years’ experience in immigration policy and operations, having served as Regional Director, Americas at UK Visas, and as Director of CSC’s Global Citizen Services Center of Excellence. DISCLAIMER: Biometric Update’s Industry Insights are submitted content. The views expressed in this post are that of the author, and don’t necessarily reflect the views of Biometric Update.
