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OK, this is a call to all FReepers with any experience flying moderate to big planes. I'm writing a sci-fi romance thriller and I have a scene for which I need your expert input. The basic idea is I have someone trying to sneak into Italy on an Amazon Prime Air jet. The article at the link shows the picture. The one pictured is a Boeing 767 modified for freight. So here's the problem. I have a special agent/scientist trying to do a rogue covert insertion, but his partner turns out to be working for the bad guy, unwillingly. So...

Quick question to law enforcement FReepers. I'm writing a novel, sci fi romance yada yada, and I have a scene I'm trying to write where the hero is borrowing a motorcycle to meet a friend, and on the way back from the secret meeting, an officer pulls him over for speeding. Story-wise, I need this to escalate to where he gets taken in, the feds pick it up, and intervene, because he is the person of interest in the 'gravitational anomaly' case (long story). Now, the hero here is a fish out of water. He's a time traveler from ancient...

Hi everyone. I've been away for a while, and had a lot of time to get my sci-fi romance adventure novel going full steam ahead. I'm at a point in the story where my main character is backpacking her way across Europe on a shoestring, while trying to elude a number of suspicious characters. I spent some time quasi-backpacking overseas a few decades ago, but not along the route my character is taking, which includes England, France, Switzerland and Italy. If anyone has any direct personal experience with these places and is willing to share those experiences in this thread...

From the article: The calling to resist abusive political authorities lies first and foremost with lower magistrates. The Bible makes clear that God instituted multiple authorities, not just one. The Bible speaks of "the powers that be," not just one power, of the multiple "authorities that rule," not just a single authority. All political authorities are equipped with the power of the sword to do good and to punish evil. That power must be exercised internally within the government as well as externally within the community. When an inferior magistrate does evil, a fellow or superior magistrate must correct or...

CHICAGO - In one of his first public interviews since being picked by new Governor Bruce Rauner to be the state's new school superintendent, Rev. James Meeks told WLS 890 AM this morning that he intends to implement the Common Core curriculum in the state's schools. Meeks, a Democrat, headed the Illinois Senate Education Committee while he was a state senator serving his Chicago-based district. He continues to pastor the 15,000-member Salem Baptist Church and has become an advocate of school choice over the years. ...

There is something going on here in Springfield, IL. A suspicious letter was delivered to the governor's office. According to local news, they are preventing people from entering or leaving the building, and have closed building ventilation. They have also blocked of sections of the capital area. I'm on my droid, so this is all I have right now. This could be related to pension reform vote also hsppening today. Or not. Developing ...

So I just paid my first not-exactly-a-premium to Christian Healthcare Ministries. I had to wait a little while, got one of those “we are experiencing a higher than normal call volume” messages. When I finally got through I spoke with a nice the young lady and was able to pay up over the phone. When that was done, I asked her how business had been. She said it was so crazy busy they were trying to staff up to handle the volume. I said that was cool, and she said, yep, it’s a God thing, and I had to agree....

It's gotten little attention, but it's true: The individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act requires all Americans to have health insurance or face penalties, but members of medical-sharing ministries are exempt from the individual mandate that will be enforced beginning in 2015. It's there because of the work of then-Congressmen Tom Perriello, a Virginia Democrat and Sens. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, and Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa, who fought to add the exemption to the law. It's the same principle that allowed for the Amish to be exempted from the individual mandate—with the crucial difference that it's a...

Post #10 by ScouseSniper on Illinoiscarry.com, under a thread titled "What is up with the Bloomberg Bus tour? ": "I have a cousin who lives outside of Phoenix who ran out to the grocery store the evening after the MAIG bus stop there and he saw the bus parked outside of a hotel. He was curious so he pulled in the parking lot to take a look at it. What struck him was that they had three, yes three, security guards who were FULLY ARMED with SEMI-AUTO PISTOLS keeping people at a distance from the bus. "So...let me get this...

In this video, a group of officers arrive at a home and, through a closed screen door, demand that the occupants come outside. The unidentified man inside, along with his female companion, demand that the officers produce a warrant, but they don’t. When the police continue to demand that they come outside, and order that both occupants raise their hands, the man responds that he doesn’t live in a police state with martial law. He also warns the police that he is video-recording everything. Eventually, the police breakthrough a side door and tase the man with the video camera. It...

What is Sen. Tom Coburn getting at here? Oklahoma senator Tom Coburn revealed that he believes “the State Department has real trouble” after yesterday’s House Oversight Committee hearing on Benghazi, but said this morning that, at the moment, he can’t reveal why. “Having sat on the Intelligence Committee and seen the review of e-mails that went back and forth as they developed the list, there’s a glaring problem there that will eventually come out — and I can’t talk about it now — but there was an omission that was given to the intelligence committee,” Coburn said on Morning Joe...

Here's the tweet: The #Benghazi TPs were written at request of the House intel committee Rs so they could go on TV. Cong forced admin to do them now attack— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) May 10, 2013

Hat tip to Fubar at illinoiscarry.com, who wrote: Great Video under 5 minutes. "You don't know what freedom is because you never lost it!" With a pointed finger Manuel Martinez called out Anti-Gun Committee Leader Floyd Prozansky during heated testimony on Friday. You can bet Prozansky got the message. To quote Mr. Martinez: "malicious individuals, masquerading as Democrats,.. established ... a dictatorial regime ... in my nation called Communism, Socialism, Stalinism, Marxism, and whatever other named -ism you want to put on it. The reason why it was done was to take away the guns from the People." Mr. Martinez...

In case anyone hasn't heard, the 7th circuit denied Lisa Madigans request to have the ban on concealed carry ruled unconstitutional. Thus they are now under the gun to pass a conceal carry law by June 9, 2013. The judge who wrote the dissenting opinion basically gave them a layout on how to pass a very bad bill in his opinion that would not infringe the second amendment. Hogwash, but now Michael Madigan is going to try to railroad a bill through ala NY style. Only difference is we have a few days to react where they had none. They'll...

A Way for Your Voice to be Heard at Speaker Madigan's Public Hearings on Proposed Right to Carry and Other Gun Issues. Public Invited to Speak and/or File Witness Slips Speaker Mike Madigan has called for two public hearings for Illinois residents to voice their support or opposition to proposed Right to Carry legislation. This is an opportunity to speak out against a Chicago-style carry law and in support of a fair and reasonable law. It is also an opportunity to speak against firearm and magazine bans and other firearm related issues. Please plan to attend one of these meetings...

Springfield, IL. – The Illinois Sheriffs’ Association at their Winter Training Conference adopted the attached resolution which mirrors the National Sheriffs’ Association Resolution passed at their Mid-Winter Conference in Washington, D.C. Seventy-three Sheriffs were in attendance at the Illinois Conference held in Springfield. The Sheriffs also voted unanimously not to support the proposed legislation House Bill 132 that bans certain weapons. Sheriffs from across the state of Illinois believe that it is their responsibility and duty to uphold the Constitution including the Second Amendment. Rational law abiding citizens are not the cause of random acts of horrific violence in our...

The Empire Strikes Back: Round two of the effort to cynically use the Sandy Hook tragedy to deprive Illinoisans of their constitutional right to bear arms.... HB0132: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=85&GA=98&DocTypeId=HB&DocNum=132&GAID=12&LegID=68539&SpecSess=&Session= The legislation appears to deny the use of most modern firearms, ammo mags over ten rounds, makes it harder to quickly access your weapon in your home and car, appears to also negate the recent case law that allowed glove compartment storage, and makes it easier to lose your FOID card if you don’t play their game. There does appear to be some sort of grandfathering, but only if you slobber and...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: On January 16, 2013, President Barack Obama unveiled 23 Executive Actions that his administration plans to take on schools and guns. To be sure, none of these gun control initiatives would have prevented the Connecticut school massacre from occurring in December, although the restrictions will greatly infringe upon the rights of law-abiding Americans. MEMO FROM: Michael Hammond, GOA legislative counsel RE: Obama’s Gun Control Proposals DATE: January 16, 2013 THE PRESIDENT’S EXECUTIVE ACTIONS Here’s a brief list of Obama’s Executive Orders and my comments: (1) Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available...

I was shocked to hear some in my local media market trying to rewrite Obama as a gun-friendly, Second Amendment guy, just trying to introduce some “reasonable” regulation in an understandable reaction to the recent spate of "gun violence." The following links are provided to show that this is a complete mischaracterization, that Obama has in fact been out of step with the Second Amendment for a long time, and in fact has been focused for at least 17 years on the same kind of all-out ban that just passed in New York: In 1996, Obama responded to a political...

Despite the strong emotions of the moment, the reality is that we have to get through this. Whether we are in for a short or a long winter is unknown, and dependent entirely on the mercy of God. Still, it should be the objective of each of us to not merely survive, but to flourish during these dark times. With that in mind, I have a question for our financial experts. I am being given an opportunity to convert a service annuity into a lump sum payment. The lump sum is equal to twelve years of pension payments. I hope...