Bay Area Leaders: United States Should Welcome Syrian Refugees

Given that one terrorist may have arrived in France with a crush of migrants fleeing the war-torn Middle East, the attacks that claimed 129 lives in Paris intensified opposition to allowing Syrian refugees into the United States.

More than half of U.S. governors said they would refuse to accept Syrian refugees into their states after the ISIS-backed Paris attacks. Republican presidential candidates joined the chorus, citing safety concerns.

But President Barack Obama called for a balance of caution and compassion. He also denounced remarks from Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush that the U.S. should only help Christian refugees as shameful and un-Amercan.

“Slamming the door in their faces would be a betrayal of our values,” he told reporters Monday. “Our nations can welcome refugees who are desperately seeking safety and ensure our own security. We can and must do both.”

Immigration experts say states may have no legal right to reject refugees. Regardless, Gov. Jerry Brown as well as several Bay Area lawmakers agreed with the president that the U.S. should open its arms to people escaping the same violence that shook Paris.

“I intend to work closely with the president so that he can both uphold American’s traditional role as a place of asylum, but also ensure that anyone seeking refuge in America is fully vetted in a sophisticated and utterly reliable way,” Brown said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “You can be sure that we will do everything in our power to protect the people of our state."

The State Department already agreed to accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees this fiscal year. Last year, of the 70,000 refugees admitted into the U.S., about 1,700 came from Syria. Fifty settled in Sacramento, another 50 in San Diego and 17 in Oakland, according to the State Department.

Months before the Paris attacks, the White House asked Silicon Valley coders to develop technologies to address the refugee crisis, which has displaced 12 million Syrians. Kickstarter, Twitter, Airbnb and Instacart responded with tools to raise money and find shelter for the millions of people escaping civil war in the largest migration to sweep Europe since WWII.

But the need continues to far outweigh the global response. Several Bay Area leaders have urged the nation to do more for refugees escaping a common enemy.

“As we learn more about the complexity and the extent of the attacks on Paris, this tragedy continues to send shockwaves through the world community,” Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose) wrote on Facebook Tuesday. “I am hopeful that we will not allow our anger and outrage towards these terrorists and their cowardly attacks on civilians to turn us away from compassion and generosity. We need to find ways to help the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who are entering through our thorough screening and resettlement process now to find safe haven in the United States. As a world leader, we need to help these people escape from the brutal ISIL regime—they are fleeing the very perpetrators of these senseless acts of violence.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein agreed that the U.S. can protect its borders while helping those in need.

Unlike many of her high-profile Republican colleagues, California’s GOP vice chair Harmeet Dhillon echoed the call for charity.

“Most refugees are people fleeing horrific violence, persecution and repression,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “Many life in fear of their lives; a few are refugees of conscience. Most western nations have allowed a place for refugees who can prove their case.”

As an attorney, she said, she has refugees from India, Eritrea and Tibet.

“One of the reasons many are concerned is that we do not trust this government, which let an ambassador be murdered on U.S. soil, to protect us from Trojan horses and fake refugees,” she continued. “That is a reality. Let’s be careful, and smart and vigilant—but not lose our humanity, and not turn on our fellow human beings with hateful rhetoric by judging them guilty just because of where they came from seeking peace and safety.”

Santa Clara County has helped place some of the tens of thousands of migrant Latin American children who showed up unaccompanied at the U.S.-Mexico border last year. Local nonprofits joined county counsel in that effort. It remains to be seen whether county officials will make a similar effort for Syrian refugees.

The International Rescue Committee helped resettle refugees from all over the world in the U.S. To date, the nonprofit, which runs an office out of the South Bay, has settled dozens of Syrian families throughout Northern California, including in Turlock, Oakland, Sacramento and San Jose.

Jennifer Wadsworth is the former news editor for San Jose Inside and Metro Silicon Valley. Follow her on Twitter at @jennwadsworth.

111 Comments

  1. This article is complete nonsense. From the article:

    Immigration experts say states may have no legal right to reject refugees.

    Why do these un-named individuals get to pick and choose their legalities? Millions of illegals are flooding in, but our gov’t does nothing. In fact, they encourage illegal immigration (and the feds have opened the floodgates now to Middle Eastern illegals). Who are these “immigration experts” that the writer quotes? Do they include folks who have lost their jobs as a result of the influx of foreigners?

    This country can absorb a constant, regulated stream of legal immigrants. But since Obama started inviting everyone in the Middle East and Africa who claims “discrimination”, the floodgates have been opened wide. America cannot absorb this giant flood of alien invaders. We cannot afford it, and the unemployment rate is rising as a direct result. Furthermore, the entire argument is bogus: the world has literally millions of square miles available to resettle people. Why must they be sent to our communities??

    Donald Trump has just stated that he will provide assistance IN SYRIA to setttle Syrian immigrants, with American military protection. What’s wrong with that? It would be much cheaper than bringing hundreds of thousands more here to live on taxpayers’ loot. Syrian immigrants, like most third world immigrants, have no job skills, thus they will be on the dole for a long time, if not permanently.

    The hypocrisy in this situation is so thick you couldn’t cut it with a razor knife: not one advocate of more immigration will open their own homes to even one foreigner. The giant influx of foreigners that is now being foisted on unwilling states and communities has no skills, and it is comprised of mostly young, angry males. Once here, they immediately disperse, leaving no good way to keep track of them. Plenty of them are going to go out and make trouble for American citizens.

    In fact, the government wants things this way. If it didn’t, it certainly has very good ways to control these people: it could start by fingerprinting, and then denying taxpayer benefits to anyone who doesn’t regularly report to a local immigration office. So, based on their actions (rather than their holier-than-thou words), the federal and state governments are colluding against American citizens to disrupt our country and our economy.

    Who do ‘our’ officials represent? The very same arguments now being used to justify this official negligence have always been available. But prior governments have represented American citizens first and foremost. But now that has been turned upside-down, and citizens of foreign governments get priority over taxpaying American citizens.

    I can think of no better way to get Donald Trump elected, than to continue with this anti-American, anti-taxpayer, anti-worker disaster. Because his repeatedly stated position is this:

    Donald Trump’s Initiatives:

    1. Mandate e-verify

    2. Strengthen interior enforcement

    3. End Visa-overstays

    4. Stop amnesty

    5. Improve Border Enforcement/Control Our Borders

    6. Reduce Illegal Immigration rewards

    7. Build the Wall

    8. Create Illegal Alien Hotline (Not anonymous)

    9. Cut off Federal Funding for ‘Sanctuary Cities’

    10. Create “Sheriff Joe Prisons” for Illegal Aliens convicted of committing crimes here in the U.S., beyond the crime of remaining here ILLEGALLY!

    What is wrong with that??

    Every day the news media has more stories about atrocities being committed by illegals. Every day we read about European cities being decimated by illegal immigrants: thousands of cars have been wantonly burned by illegals in many European cities, and stores are looted and burned regularly. That violence is certain to escalate here because it is already starting to happen here, too.

    Instead of the mindless pablum and empty phrases in this article, made by hypocrites who encourage illegal immigration — just so long as it’s not in their neighborhood, why doesn’t the author interview people who have lost their jobs because of this growing problem? They should be very easy to find.

    • You are pathetically ill-informed. Refugees are not illegal immigrants. They are thoroughly screened before being allowed to enter the United States and when they do so, they do so legally. The Federal government has jurisdiction over immigration and refugee matters, not the states, so, no, a state government, or the fools running some of them, CANNOT refuse to allow them entry.

          • > Do you realize that what you think and what is true are not one and the same?

            PRICE-JANG:

            You must have a very powerful shaman who talks to the higher ups in the spirit world.

            Would you care to share with members of lesser tribes who your shaman is?

            Many of us would love to have a shaman as wise, and fair, and powerful as yours.

          • Susan P-J opines:

            “Do you realize that what you think and what is true are not one and the same?”

            The head of the FBI has just admitted that it is impossible to screen the flood of Syrian refugees and other immigrants. They are just bringing them in wholesale, with no vetting!

            So who should we believe? Susan? Or the FBI Director?

            Next, this article starts out with this preposterous statement:

            Given that one terrorist may have arrived in France… the attacks that claimed 129 lives in Paris intensified opposition to allowing Syrian refugees into the United States.

            Wait, WHAT??

            ONE terrorist? This was a coordinated attack on at least three fronts. Multiple terrorists were involved. The author of this article has a very big credibility problem.

            Next: ‘KATH’ sez that states have no jurisdiction. We will see about that.

            States provide ballots for elections, including federal elections. Right now at least thirty (30) state Governors have told the feds they will not comply with Obama’s plan to dump hundreds of thousands of foreigners — citizens of other countries, not American citizens — into their states, unscreened. (For those recently edumacated in .gov propaganda factories {AKA: schools}, that’s more than half the U.S. states.)

            And just now the House of Representatives passed a bill by a VETO-PROOF majority, rejecting Obama’s importing of all these foreign opportunists.

            America can take in immigrants, she always has. But the current flood is unprecedented, and it does not even include an accurate accounting of the illegals flooding in. That’s easy to prove, because it is illegal in most jurisdictions to even ask someone’s immigration status!

            I suppose Kath and Susan are taken aback by Donald Trump’s continuing popularity. Well, girls, this is the reason: Americans can see what’s happening, and they don’t like it. An anyone who approves is putting the welfare of mostly young, angry, unemployed, unskilled, and disaffected males from the Middle East and Africa above the welfare of taxpaying American citizens, who are expected to pay the freight for this new Muslim flood.

            This influx is a recipe for major trouble, and for what? Even their fellow Muslims won’t take in a single one of them. Why should we?

            Some folks are totally naive and credulous, actually believing what this government is telling them. Didn’t Watergate teach people anything? The sooner they wake up, the better.

      • Yes, the Feds have jurisdiction and states may not refuse these folks but the states do have the right to limit or stop any STATE aid or assistance.

        THOROUGHLY SCREENED? You’re kidding right?
        As to a complete screening, hard to restrain laughter. No one from any part of our government is going to whatever village or city in any war torn state to confirm any of the following:
        1. Actual residency
        2. Associates and associations of any individual
        3. ACTUAL. identity of the person being admitted
        4. Actual proof of familial relationship or fealty
        5. Whether the person has previously been wanted or arrested or convicted of any crime, let alone been investigated for potential acts of terrorism or simply pport for same
        6. Whether they have or have not been “educated” in a madrasah that foments revolution and hatred of anyone not willing to live in their twisted 13th century view of the world, religious acceptance or more notably religious non-acceptance of Shia, Christian, agnostic, Jew or any non-Sunni religious.

        The reason is that there are no reliable records to check that might confirm or deny the safety of allowing such persons into the US. Absent an internal conflict for control of the country, even in peace time the records system in most of these countries people are fleeing from are desultory at best and unreliable in the reality. With the government in tatters, whatever affirmation it might provide is laughable. Very few of these nations have proveable identification of even the folks who work in government, let alone the other 95% of the populace. The manager of the Paris attacks has been in and out of the EU a dozen times (that they know of) using multiple ID’s and names.

        Even assuming only 2% of those admitted are males of combat age (cannot possibly be true when one just looks at the hordes crossing EU borders on television) that’s 200 of the 10,000. The terrorists acting in Paris included both men AND women of various ages and it was a woman who blew herself up as the police caught her and others in sweeps. The French arrested over 450 people in their initial investigation of the crimes this week, and they are only 48 hours into that!

        With 200 persons ready for combat AND assuming there are three supporting actors handling logistics for the “fighters” that’s 800 people in the group available to foment atrocities in the US. That exceeds the entire sworn component of law enforcement in the nation’s tenth largest city.

        How much are you willing to risk on Mr. Obama’s assertion that it’s just widows and children coming here. Really, I’d be a lot happier if he let them all move in next door to him in Chicago so when he returns to being a “community activist” he can bear the full weight of a very dumb decision with his own family at risk. He can keep the secret Service Protection. The odds are not favorable for a peaceful existence even with 139 person team guarding his family.

      • Thoroughly screened? Are you that uniformed. We already know that they cannot be vetted. 10,0000 of these people, get real. They don’t carry driver’s license and other documents. We can’t inquire from previous employers and neighbors. The CIA and FBI have already reported that it is very unrealistic to think they can be vetted. Is it too much to ask that we protect our own people and way of life. Please do not place me in a position to say, ‘I told you so.’

  2. Based on the track record of these so-called “leaders” and their inability to get anything right because they strive only to be on the side of political correctness i’m just gonna get out in front and say they are all full of manure.

  3. FBI director Comey and DNI director Clapper along with former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee,Mike Rogers,have all stated on the record recently that there is no way to properly vet these refugees because there is no data-base for verification. Folks are not anti-refugee, they are afraid of those posing as refugees who would do us harm. When you talk of 65,000 to 100,000 or more coming here even 0.5% of them being infiltrators means hundreds of threats. Common sense says at least make sure you know who is coming in here, does it not?

    • The correct number is 10,000 Syrian refugees to be allowed here. We are a nation of 300 million. I think we can absorb 10,000 men, women, and children. Please do not exaggerate.

          • I am sure that is what the French told themselves up until last week.

          • Officeranonymous – Almost all he terrorist were home grown French citizens (and Belgian). Just like all the terrorist in this country, the ones who murder people en mass in public places are white American males.

          • What really scares me about people like Jang is that they truly exist and that some of the same “thinkers” in our government hold these same beliefs. I will never walk through life in a white threat level state of vegetation. Let us all hold hands and sing together. Perhaps the “badman’ will go away….

          • Jang,

            So the Tsarnaev brothers were not Islamists and children of Islamic immigrants?

            The murderer at that college in Oregon was not an Islamist?

            Major Hassan was not an Islamist?

            The 9/11 terrorists were certainly NOT homegrown terrorists.

            And, in a backhanded kind of way, you are making my point for me, which is this: why should the American public place any faith whatsoever in the federal government’s ability to filter out potential terrorist from among the ranks of these refugees when:

            (A) The federal government has failed to prevent any of the above-mentioned attacks despite the well-documented warning signs and indicators that these people (with the possible exception of the Oregon college incident) were extremists who were planning to commit violence upon American Soil

            (B) The federal government has failed to articulate in detail the processes by which militants and potential terrorists can be successfully identified from among the ranks of these refugees

            (C) The executive branch has shown no willingness to enforce current immigration law (not executive orders which do not have the same force of law that the Constitution and actual legislation possess), despite the Presidents solemnly sworn oath the support and defend the Constitution and this Nations Laws

            (D) The federal government has completely failed to secure our national borders against illegal immigration

            (E) This administration has released numerous terrorists from Guantanamo many of whom have been well documented to have returned to a life of jihad/terrorism shortly after their release

            The actions and behaviors of the federal government as a whole and this administration in particular have guaranteed that I would not be willing to gamble the lives and safety of my family, friends and loved ones against the governments assurances that Islamists and terrorists will be effectively prevented from entering this country.

        • The more important question on SJI is how many Ms. Ivory Tower Price-Jang will absorb into her household? So, Susan, how many alleged refugees are you taking into your house?

  4. Yet this very same president at the very same time has denied entry to Christian and Jewish refugee’s from the Middle East and North Africa as they are targeted for mass murder, kidnapping, rape, burning, drowning, stoning and beheading by the same people he would let in. I’m sure they will get along just great with the LGBT community here!

  5. “Given that one terrorist may have arrived in France with a crush of migrants fleeing the war-torn Middle East, the attacks that claimed 129 lives in Paris intensified opposition to allowing Syrian refugees into the United States.”

    Firstly, it is NOT a given that ONLY one terrorist ‘may’ have arrived in France among these ‘refugees’.

    The reality is that ONE has been identified SO FAR, in an investigation that is in its infancy and with a situation that is ongoing as, even as i write, a gun battle is occurring in a portion of Paris as law enforcement attempts to arrest a NINTH terrorist conspirator.

    It is scientifically impossible to prove a negative, i.e. additional terrorists haven’t entered France (or other countries, which is just as significant and relevant a question) amongst all these ‘refugees’.

    Just as it is scientifically impossible to prove that no terrorists have entered THIS country posing as refugees in the past or that none WOULD enter in the future.

    To date, NOT ONE PERSON OR AGENCY has articulated a system of checks by which the safety of the American public as balanced against a desire to provide humanitarian assistance to these refugees as they enter the US. And, why should they be welcomed into the US? With our unemployment as it is, with $17 trillion in national debt, WHY should we welcome thousands – or hundreds of thousands – of people who have no job prospects, no visible means of support, and whose LACK of ties to terrorism cannot be established.

    And, while we are at it, why is this administration hell-bent on admitting these hundreds of thousands of MUSLIM immigrants while at the same time ignoring the Kurds, Christians an others who are suffering as much or more at the hands of ISIS, have traditionally suffered just as much at the hands of Al Quaeda and who, if we are being completely honest, have historically suffered at the hands of mainstream Muslims for centuries. After all, the Koran demands that unbelievers be converted and, if they cannot be killed, they can be killed, forced to pay a tax (the jizya) or be enslaved. As well, the Koran demands that homosexuals (the LGBT et. al. communtity) be killed. It permits spousal rape, pedophilia, and female genital mutilation.

    And WHY should we embrace a belief system so contrary to the tenets and principles on which America was founded, particularly at the expense of other groups of people which are being victimized by the adherents of Islam as much, if not more than these ‘Islamic refugees’, groups whose beliefs and principles are far more consistent with those of America’s founding.

    • You do realized that the terrorist in Paris were all European citizens (France, Belgium) and were not from abroad, right? France’s problem is home-grown terrorists. France has done a poor job of integrating its Muslim-French population into society. They are denied jobs and house in public housing in gettoes. Muslim-Americans are much better integrated into American society; most are well educated, often with advanced technical skills.

      • Your lack of (even recent) historical perspective is rather shocking. Firstly, the ghettos in which these immigrants now live were not ghettos, for the most part, prior to their residence there. Secondly, While by our standards they would be considered to be ghettos, they’re a hell of a lot better than anything they had in their nations of origin. Furthermore, in addition to being GIVEN housing, they’ve also been given living stipends. They are not employed because, largely, they are unemployable. They are poorly educated, if at all, bring few, if any marketable job skills and their children tend to do very poorly in schools. Even when their children go to Muslim-oriented schools, these schools tend not to teach to the same standard as more western schools. Indeed, these schools – echoes of their equivalents in their nations of origin – tend to be more focused on inculcating children into the nuances of Sharia law than they are in teaching to modern standards.

        Theses issues are not unique to France. These ghettos exist all over Europe wherever virtually unchecked Muslim immigration has been embraces. They are so prevalent that France alone lists over 750 zones not fully controlled by the state (http://sig.ville.gouv.fr/Atlas/ZUS/).

        In these areas, and around their periphery, things like rape go unchecked, reflecting the extant Muslim culture in refugee camps. The story in Sweden is particularly dark and disturbing as documented here: http://www.d-intl.com/2013/10/15/sweden-a-new-hell-for-women/

        Germany’s problems are nearly as bad. http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6527/migrants-rape-germany
        http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33999801

        Furthermore, according to a report from British newspaper, The Mirror:
        “At least 20,000 bloodthirsty jihadis have infiltrated Syrian refugee camps and are plotting to enter Europe, a senior official warned tonight.

        Lebanese Education Minister Elias Bou Saab said he fears Islamic State radicals make up at least 2% of the 1.1million Syrians living in camps across his country.

        And he warned of a covert jihadi “operation” to get across the Med and into Europe. His warning came as David Cameron made a whistle-stop tour of refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan yesterday to try to win back public support on the Syria crisis.

        “My gut feeling is they (IS) are facilitating such an operation. To go to Europe and other places… From Turkey to Greece,” Mr Bou Saab said.”

        http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/officials-warn-20000-isis-jihadis-6443516

        Rather than reading ad hominem attacks or emotionally-based opinions with no foundations in facts, I would like my detractors to debate this issue based on the documentation I have provided. Please, do some quality research and educate yourselves.

        • Jang has the same mentality as the BLM movement. Everything is based on lies and demands for things they don’t want to work toward. We need to embrace everyone and spread wealth to everyone even those who have zero work ethic or job skills. Its the Socialist way of life… I suspect Jang is a big Bernie in 2016 supporter.

      • I see that Susan P-J has ignored every question she was asked and dodged every point that was raised. Instead, she deflected onto something irrelevant.

        This isn’t about “Muslim-Americans”, this is about a growing horde of angry, disaffected, unemployed and mostly young males, with no job prospects, no skills — but with a vision of cashing in when they get here. They will be sadly disillusioned. If that isn’t a recipe for disaster, what is?

        Officeranonymous has plenty of good questions, but Susan has no answers.
        And like any hypocrite, she will never open her own home to any of these freeloaders; instead she expects taxpayers to pay the freight for her great idea.

        Too bad we won’t see Susan eat her words, because it’s just a matter of time before something like the French attack happens here, and when that happens Susan will skedaddle. Plenty of ‘home-grown’ attacks have already happened here, but to people like Susan, terrorists like the Tsarnaev brothers don’t count.

  6. Uggh, I can’t stand these replies.

    50 years ago the US allowed Jewish refuge’s into the country, trying to escape the genocide happening at home. ISIS is worse. It’s full out gendercide. Is that a word (Jen is it?) It is irrelevant of age or ethnicity, and comes down to a single chromosome.

    We can house them. If we can build a shopping mall and high density housing nearly overnight with modern construction techniques, we can put them up in something a little more substantial than a tent. We can feed them, we have the ability to grow food in any environment(Even space). We can give them land and give them the ability to start over.

    If we’re lucky, the ones that are thankful for our generosity will turn in the sleepers and fakers. We can’t create internment camps, we can’t restrict their travel or their human right to try and become a US citizen. We have to learn from those mistakes.

    • > we can’t restrict their travel or their human right to try and become a US citizen.

      Yes, we can.

      The U.S. had NO immigration “legal” immigration between 1925 and 1965. We can do it again.

      U.S. immigration policies are NOT normal by the standards of other countries’ immigration policies. “Progressives” (i.e. Democrats) look at everything through the prism of tribalism (i.e., “racism”). They can easily flop from one side of an issue to the either side on the basis of “racism”.

      They can EXCLUDE immigration from northern Europe becuase the U.S. is “too white”. They can ADVOCATE immigration from Third World Corruptistan because it fosters “racial diversity” in the U.S..

      Notwithstanding that the U.N. Convention on Genocide includes under genocide “Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_Convention

      You know, “conditions” like immigration policies that alter the ethnic or religious character of the American nation.

      • You appall me with your misguided belief (because Obama said so) that these people have been properly screened. And for the gentleman who compared these refugees to the Jews escaping the Holocaust. Seriously? I dont recall any terrorists hiding amongst the Jews. Sorry Kath but I do feel for these refugees who are legit (yes the overwhelming of them are legit) but what is an acceptable number that are able to slip through and able to kill hundreds on this soil? The left loves to suck their thumbs and embrace the world. Maybe its time to wake up and realize that there are some very unsavory sadistic people that would cut your head off, set you on fire or drown you alive… Wake up please.There is no way these people can be properly screened as your leader has insisted is occurring. He is a liar and you believe him. Good luck!

        • Except for the Saudis who flew the plane into the World Trade Center, all mass murderers in this country have been while males. BTW- I believe Saudis can come here with nothing more than a tourist visa.

          • > all mass murderers in this country have been while males.

            Probably wrong, but certainly bigoted and cynical.

            The Department of Commerce has established four official demographic groups for the U.S. census:

            White
            Black
            Asian
            Non-white Hispanic

            Arabs and Iranians are included in the “white” demographic. Hence, the government classifies Islamic terrorists – arab or Iranian- as “white”.

            Even more deceitful is the way the federal government manipulates crime statistics.

            A crime by a Hispanic perpetrator against a white victim is classified as “white on white” crime.

            A crime by a white perpetrator against a Hispanic victim as classified as an interracial crime.

            Therefore, Hispanics have a low rate of involvement in interracial or “hate” crimes, while whites have a high rate of involvement in such crimes.

          • Your response has nothing to with mass murderers in this country who have all been white males. Do some research.. And i can see that nothing is going to get you beyond your fear. End of dicussion.

          • Love the ignorant replies and ad hominem attacks by Jang and Paco. They are clearly incapable of defending their postions on merit and fail to provide any meaningful and verifiable support of their positions.

            As a retired member of the Law Enforcement Community, I can verify that everything that SJOUTSIDETHEBUBBLE has said with respect to how the DOJ catalogs the ethnicity of criminals and their victims is absolutely true. The system is stacked in such a way that obtaining meaningful demographic data from the DOJ is difficult at best and impossible at worst.

          • I’ve seen some really great facts here on this subject today all of which will fall on deaf progressive ears.

            Facts don’t seem to matter much until you wake up one morning and you find your severed head sitting on your butt.
            Then you remember that the real enemy of America, is America, George Bush, the Tea Party, and white males, because they didn’t stop these people before you woke up!

            Keep up the good work, I’m enjoying it!

    • Cousin Cortese: who are the “we” that you say can feed and house thousands of immigrants? We can’t even feed or house our own native born. How much of your cash beyond what the government takes from you have/will you contribute to your noble cause? Maybe you and Susan Price Jang can get together, pool your resources, and buy some Syrian family a house and feed them. Let us all know when you and she do that, Cousin Cortese. Talk is cheap. Money talks, BS (Josh won’t let me write the whole word) walks.

  7. RMC, since when it is a ‘human right’ to try and become a US citizen. While on the one hand our founders described ‘inalienable rights’ which were granted unto all human beings the result of, alternately, ‘God’s Law’ or ‘Natural Law’ depending on the founder describing the origin and foundation of these rights, these rights have everything to do with the human condition. They acknowledge the necessity for all human beings to be able to express themselves freely, worship freely and with minimal intervention or control on the part of any governing body, the right to self defense, the right to earn and own private property, among other rights. Nowhere in those ‘human’ or ‘civil’ rights is there the inclusion of citizenship of this – or any other – nation.

    Indeed, the founders made it clear that, while nations and governments may rise or fall, these human rights transcend governments, constitutions, and nations. They asserted that ‘God’s Law’ or ‘Natural Law’ was the supreme authority on which these human rights were founded and under which all other law must be subordinated.

    While you – and many others, for that matter – might, technically, be correct in your assertion that these refugees *could* be housed here, I have yet to hear any rational argument as to why they *should* be housed here. Nor have I heard any compelling argument as to why it is unacceptable to establish refugee camps on their nations of origin and to provide aid and succor there, rather than here.

    Lastly, I fail to see a compelling reason why ‘land’ should be given to any refugee – particularly since doing so would almost certainly deprive someone else of their personal property which is absolutely a violation of the constitution.

    • I’ll give you a reason Officer. You swore an oath on the bible, our money has “In god we trust” on it. Our country is steeped in Christianity. What would Jesus do? Our countries founding Christian principles dictate that we help those in need, even if they are of a different religion.

      • 1. “My kingdom is not of this world . . .”

        2.”Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars”.

        In my humble opinion, Christians who give away the property or living space of OTHER people are NOT being Christian. Re-read the Seventh and Ninth Commandments.

        Defining national borders is NOT in the dominion of Christian doctrine.

      • RMC
        Uggh! The Bible, Christianity, The Constitution are not a suicide pacts! There is nothing in our laws that say’s
        we have to let every person in the world that doesn’t like were they are into this country. If you want to help them export our revolution!

        • You fail grasp the very concept that in this country, I can believe what I want as long as I’m not hurting anyone with my beliefs. You can “be good” if you’re Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Athiest, agnostic, or Sikh.

          It doesn’t matter where good values come from as long as they’re good. Turning our backs on non-combatants fleeing war is pretty bad.

          This “Terrorism” is the new world war. It’s one minor group of people bastardizing a religion to manipulate people into a fascist frenzy. I feel bad for the actual good Muslims. One bright spot in all of this though, looks like the Saudi’s are finally going to step up to police their own corner of the world. IS has been a huge embarrassment for the Muslim community.

          http://www.wnd.com/2015/11/saudi-king-calls-on-world-to-fight-terror/

          Here’s another thing to think about… Taking these people in actually makes it safer for our true combatants. Let me bold this underneath..

          Taking these people in actually makes it safer for our true combatants.

          Let me explain…

          One common hardship our soldiers face in these middle east countries is, they can’t tell the “Good guys” from the “bad guys” The bad guys don’t play by the rules. If we pull the majority of folks that want nothing to do with this war away, then all that’s left are the true combatants.

          You’re basically reducing your collateral damage and loss of US soldiers by sheltering these folks.

          There’s a million things to think about on this, more than I can write here. I’m sorry, but most of you here are just learning too far to the right to see the advantages in the long and short term in housing the Syrian refuges. You just see things too short sighted, and nothing I can explain will fix that.

          • Good guys, bad guys, bad guys are counting on good fools like you. Don’t you believe them?

          • > It’s one minor group of people bastardizing a religion to manipulate people into a fascist frenzy.

            Another pernicious mis-understanding on your part (shared by many many others).

            “Islam” is not merely a religion; it is at the same time a program for civil government. That’s the whole point of the “Caliphate”.

            A peaceful, prosperous country governed by the “rule of law” can have only ONE fundamental body of law. Ours is the U.S. Constitution.

            The idea of separation of Church and State is baked into the U.S. system of government. In the Islamic concept of law, “Church and State” are united..

            The U.S. Constitution and Islamic law (“sharia”) are TOTALLY incompatible.

            Muslims are welcome to practice their “religion” in the Unitied States, but they are NOT welcome to advocate the overthrow of the U.S. Constitution and our system of government.

            If they want to live under sharia, they can’t do it here.

            On the other hand, if they accept NOT living under sharia, they are incomplete, unfulfilled Muslims.

            Bottom line, they CAN’T be REAL Muslims and live in the United States.

            Sounds irreconciileable to me.

          • Bottom line, they CAN’T be REAL Muslims and live in the United States.

            SJO your understanding of religious evolution is so short sighted…

            Christians used to believe stoning unbelivers to death was just.

            Deuteronomy 17
            If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant; 17:3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; 17:4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel; 17:5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.

            So tell me, what has changed? Also tell me why Muslim’s can’t change.

            I’ll tell you what changed. People realized, “THIS IS BS”. A lot of people in the Muslim community are looking at the Quran and saying, “THIS IS BS!” A lot of non-Muslim, Atheist, Christians, and Muslims in Syria are saying, “THIS IS BS!” That is why we need to let them come here, and we need to go bomb ISIS back into the stone age.

            Simple math. We kill all the ISIS, nothing left but the folks that want to change, and hopefully we don’t have to go to war with anyone like that ever again.

          • RMC,
            What you are referring to was called the Christian transformation, it ended the inquisition.
            Islam is still in it’s inquisition mode. When they get out of it they will be welcomed into the civilized world.
            Until then they need to be contained some were else.
            Sharia law has no place in our civilized world.

          • RMC, your comments including the quote from Deuteronomy reflect a poor understanding of the basic tenets of modern Christianity. While basic rules of civility such as the Ten Commandments have carried over to modern times, the reality is that the Birth of Christ, his death and his subsequent resurrection are the foundation of the New Covenant between God and Man. It is a broader, more inclusive Covenant which embraces anyone who believes as one of God’s people and not only the Jewish people. Therefore, the principles of Modern Christianity are intended to be reflective of that New Covenants, a covenant which rejects things like stoning sinners (something which is broadly embraced by the adherents of modern Islam).

            Furthermore, it is those principles which were the foundation for the Christian Reformation (Thank you Martin Luther) which rejected the unification of ‘church’ and ‘state’. And it is on the Christian Reformation that the American Constitutional principles of the separation of Church and State as described by the founders (specifically that there should be no state religion of any kind). This principle is antithetical to Islam. The Koran makes no differentiation between domestic life, religious life, civic life and governance. All are meant to advance Islam, whether by proselytizing, conquest (by ‘sword’) or subjugation by enslavement and Jizya. Islam has never had its version of the Reformation, and, indeed, the mere notion of an equivalent reformation is antithetical to Islam in every way.

            Yes, plenty of Muslims live peacefully in this and other Western nations. But make no mistake that it is a central, fundamental goal of Islam to subjugate the entire world under a Caliphate. It says so. Right there. In the Koran:

            “O you who believe! Take not as (your) Bitanah (advisors, consultants, protectors, helpers, friends) those outside your religion (pagans, Jews, Christians, and hypocrites) since they will not fail to do their best to corrupt you.”
            Qur’an 3:118
            Mohsin Khan translation

            “Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God’s religion reigns supreme.”
            Qur’an 2:193
            N. J. Dawood translation in
            “The Koran” (Penguin Books)

            And in the Hadith:

            Sahih Muslim (1:33) The Messenger of Allah said: “I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and they establish prayer and pay zakat.”

            Sahih Muslim (19:4294) – “When you meet your enemies who are polytheists (which includes Christians), invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them … If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them”

            And, unfortunately, these are some of the few things we can embrace as true of Muslims. Why? Because, according to their Holy Scriptures, it is entirely acceptable to lie to and deceive any non-Muslim and, at times, to spouses, something called al-Taqiyya:

            Bukhari (49:857) – “He who makes peace between the people by inventing good information or saying good things, is not a liar.”

            Qur’an (3:54) – “And they (the disbelievers) schemed, and Allah schemed (against them): and Allah is the best of schemers.” The Arabic word used here for scheme (or plot) is makara, which literally means ‘deceit’.

            Muslim (32:6303) – “…he did not hear that exemption was granted in anything what the people speak as lie but in three cases: in battle, for bringing reconciliation amongst persons and the narration of the words of the husband to his wife, and the narration of the words of a wife to her husband (in a twisted form in order to bring reconciliation between them).”

          • “…but most of you here are just learning too far to the right to see the advantages in the long and short term in housing the Syrian refuges (sic). OK Cousin Cortese, how many Syrian refugees can we put you down for?

      • Yes, Sir. I did indeed give my oath. It was to uphold and defend the constitution.

        The Constitution does not require that foreign refugees be granted entry to this country.

        The Constitution does not permit the POTUS to twist and bend immigration law to suit his personal preferences.

        Neither my Faith, nor my Oath require that I define helping those in need as granting unreserved access to anyone and everyone claiming ‘refugee’ status and fleeing every third world cesspool across the globe. Or ANY nation for that matter.

        God gave me an intellect, the powers of discernment, a strong moral sense. Which means that my first duties are to:

        1. My family and loved ones
        2. The Constitution, and the Nation defined by our Constitution
        3. The community which I once served (I have a job-related disability retirement now)

        My strong moral sense and my faith do not require that I engage in the suicide pact described by others with those who would seek to destroy our nation and harm those I’ve sworn to protect, nor to turn a blind eye to the fact that those individuals can and will easily infiltrate themselves into our nation in order to advance their destructive, homicidal, xenophobic, misogynistic, homophobic beliefs and practices within the nation I’ve sworn to serve and protect and in complete contravention to the Constitution which I have sworn to uphold and defend.

        Finally, I find it to be the most base calumny, deception and hypocrisy to be told by those who advance the notion that the curtailment of one of those fundamental human rights – that of self-defense, as articulated in the 2nd Amendment – is worth it if ‘it saves just one life’ when those same deceitful hypocrites reject the implementation of comprehensive safeguards to ensure that fundamentalists, jihadists and terrorists do not make entry into our great nation where they can wreak destruction upon our society and mortal harm against our citizenry.

  8. I believe our WORLD should stand TOGETHER against these terrorist bullies. These “refugees” are children, seniors, the disabled, women, fathers, husbands, brothers etc. To me, refusing safety to these suffering people makes us no better than the terrorist bullies who are torturing and killing innocent people all over the world.

    We are the “human race” and should act in a speedy and compassionate manner, rather than allowing politics and FEAR to dominate our actions.

    • Why are the Husbands, fathers, brothers sons…any able bodied “men” not fighting against the terrorists oppressing them? Their wifes? mothers? sisters? Children? And forcing them.all to leave their HOMES?

      Please note that I am not smart enough to formulate and ask this question … I am simply repeating a question asked by that noble journalist who used to get warm feelings in his legs at the mention of Obama’s name…. Chris Matthews.

      • Because they don’t have roads, running water, sewers, waste treatment plants, a newby island, a flowing fountain of work from tech.

        They don’t have a police force that gets to drive around in air conditioned, suped up crown vic’s (I don’t know what you drive these days) They don’t get enough pay to actually own land, speaking of, a lot of these places are Monarchy’s and Dictatorships where nobody is allowed to do that but the king.

        They don’t have access to the things we have. They just don’t have it. We piss and moan about the “1%” here, over there it’s the “0.001%”

        I can’t really use the Robinson terminology of “Apples to Oranges” More like “Apples to dog poop”

        • And why is any of that our problem? The same can be said of most of Sub-Saharan Africa, much of the Far East, virtually all of Mexico. Are we to let them ALL in to suck off what we in America have built over the last few centuries with our hard work? How many of these folks have you given your time and money to support, Cousin Cortese? Talk is cheap CC. How many refugees have you personally taken in?

          Cousin Cortese, you also informed us above that: “Christians used to believe stoning unbelivers (sic) to death was just.” Sorry to break it to you, Cousin Cortese, but Deuteronomy was written LONG before Christians existed.

        • First, this movement doesn’t care about money. One prong of the Islamists plan for one world religion for their birthrate to exceed the birthrates of the countries they are being welcomed into. How much does that cost? The birthrate in Europe and America has been declining for decades. While the muslim birthrate has been increasing.

          Why has the western birthrate declined? Oh maybe the breakdown of the traditional family, contraception, abortion, and that love that used to “dare not speak its name…”

          What does that cost invaders? Nothing, in fact bleeding heart liberal governments are paying them for their efforts with that lovely program know as welfare – with your tax money and mine!

          Islam has a rich tradition or polygamy and when that isn’t enough to satisfy the men RAPE and if that isn’t bad enough there is always rape of children.

          This isn’t a secret this is well documented in the cultures these people hail from and being experienced in every European country that has welcomed mualim refugees.

          Germany and France are on the verge of a civil war because of this.

          If this refugee migration isn’t stopped now it will only get worse. If you think what is happening right now in Europe cannot happen in the USA you are as naive as the president is pretending to be.

    • Kathleen.
      Most refugee mothers and children got left behind.
      70-80% are military aged MEN.
      At least 2 of the Paris terrorist including last night suicide bomber were woman.
      Suicide bombers are recruited starting at age 3 or 4 and taught to hate all non Muslims.

      Are all Muslims terrorist? Of coarse not. but most terrorist are Muslims, and they are counting on people like you to give them the opportunity to show you what they can do.

      Now tell me how your going to pick out the good ones?

      • “Most refugee mothers and children got left behind.” Not true.

        “Are all Muslims terrorist? Of coarse not. but most terrorist are Muslims, and they are counting on people like you to give them the opportunity to show you what they can do.” That mentality is was terrorists are counting on. If they can play the race card to we bleeding heart Americans, then we won’t vet anyone coming here. Innocent people are dying and refugees are terrified and seeking refuge. Turning our backs on them out of fear is pure cowardice, in my opinion.

        “Now tell me how your going to pick out the good ones?”

        Not ALL illegals entering this country are criminals, rapists, and murderers, despite Trumps claims to the contrary. However, I get your point. My Father was in three wars and told me horror stories about women and children trying to kill them. I guess for me the real question is who is funding these scum bags of the earth? http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/how-the-islamic-state-makes-its-money/ar-BBn9DWw?li=AAa0dzB.

        Weapons etc. are not cheap. We need to follow the money and do the research ourselves and stop believing all the BS the government, and the media are feeding us.

        • Kathleen: it is naïve people with a good heart like you that the jihadists rely upon. Do some research and you will find that every country that has let in a significant number of muslims over the past 25 years is now suffering from the increase in crime committed by these so-called “good muslims”. Every such country is drowning under the weight of the social welfare benefits these unemployable “good muslims” collect. Just look at Sweden, where rape was virtually unknown until they let in tens of thousands of “good muslims.” A “good muslim” is entitled under the Quran and Sharia law to do anything at all to non-muslims—lie, cheat, steal, rape, murder… WAKE UP Kathleen. Muslims, not even the “good” ones, don’t think like we do, just as criminals don’t think like law abiding people do. The initial spread of Islam throughout North Africa, India, and Malaysia from the 7th century forward was accomplished exclusively by war upon the indigenous peoples of those countries. After the conquest, they forced people to convert or die, though they made an exception for rich people who they allowed to buy their way out. The spread of Islam by military conquest continued until Ferdinand and Isabella defeated them and expelled them from Spain in the 15th century. The current tactic is more subtle—move in, breed like rabbits, demand special treatment; insist that they be allowed to live by Sharia law, not the law of the country they occupy. Under Sharia law if a woman is raped, it is she who is punished. Are you willing to go back to the 7th century Kathleen where a goat is more valuable than a woman?

  9. There are no “compassionate conservatives”, this term is obviously an oxymoron ! Be careful not to confuse that term with “Christian conservatives” because they’re more than likely all morons !! The piosity of these hypocritical & sanctimonious bigots is only exceeded by their demonstrable hatred & stupidity !!! These hare-brained,hidebound,holier-than-thou halfwits & heinious haters whose insane diatribes can be found above are a far greater danger to our way of life than fanatical Islamic terrorists will ever be & we can only stop them on election day !!!! The Republicans must be repudiated at the ballot box next year,because nothing less than the very fabric of our democracy & the future of our planet are at stake !!!!!

    • Republican/Christian/ Conservative half-wits etc, etc etc… ?

      You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. I hope your ready to accept Islam or at least capable and willing to pay the Jizyah to the local imam.

      • Why would I accept Islam ? I don’t accept any form of mythology masquerading under the guise of religion & anyone who does so has been duped,due to their own ignorance & gullibility ! Certainly we have many more important issues to deal with than what non-existant deity you’re enamored with & why those who have chosen to believe ridiculous competing nonsense are now your mortal enemy !?! FIGHT FAITH FOMENTED FOPPERY !!

        • Islamists do not accept the notion of a free unbeliever. They believe that Christians and Jews, especially, should be enslaved or killed. They believe that homosexuals (read the entire LGBT alphabet soup) should be stoned to death. They believe in conversion to Islam by force. And that it is their option to not kill those who refuse to convert. They believe it is their right to impose a tax (the Jizya) on those who refuse to convert or to enslave them. Sharia law -the prevailing rules governing the domestic, civic, religious and political lives of ALL Muslims holds that a man cannot be convicted of raping a woman unless four other men testify on her behalf. It is well documented that the Islamists of ISIS (and al Quaeda before them) routinely practiced rape, forced sodomy, pedophilian and bestiality. There is even infrared video taken by the US military (from a helicopter, in one instance, I believe) of a member of al Quaeda having sex with a goat.

          Muslims, have historically been responsible for the destruction of non-muslim places of learning and aritifacts, a practice which has been documented even in recent history.

          – Around 1200, Muslim warlord Bakhtiyar Khalji burned the Nalanda University and Vikramasila University in India
          -Between 1948 and 1967 Jordan destroyed the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem
          -Between 1948 and 1967, Jordan destroyed the Jewish Quarter of Hebron
          – After destroying the Jewish Quarter in Hebron, Jordan destroyed the Abraham Avinu Synagogue and built an animal pen on what remained.

          Clearly, Islamists don’t adhere to any kind of live-and-let-live mentality and don’t really accept with good grace the rejection of Islam by non-believers.

        • Why would you accept Islam? Very well informed people following this subject through history are very well aware that Islam is an all or nothing proposition. You either submit or you don’t. In fact the word “Islam” means “surrender” or “submission.”

          Contrast that to the Judeo-
          Christian tradition which acknowledges man possesses FREEWILL -to choose God or not…

          I wish you well explaining your position to the Jihadi’s you may encounter in your life. I hope you survive without compromising your freewill.

    • We don’t have to look any farther than Frank to see a true bigot. Try not to loose your head Frank!

    • Mr. Mockery:

      You’re a bit vague on your Democrat credentials.

      Are you a real, authentic, committed, no-holds-barred, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton loving never-apologize Democrat for life?

      Or, are you just some junior college Young Republican swilling down cheap generic beer from the Seven Eleven in your mothers basement and just trying to make Democrats look bad?

      We need your answer urgently. The election of Hillary Clinton hangs in the balance. Real Democrats are worried that you could screw it up.

  10. “50 years ago the US allowed Jewish refuge’s into the country, trying to escape the genocide happening at home.” — Robert Michael Cortese

    There was a Jewish genocide in 1965? I find that hard to believe for the simple reason that were it true there would be at least two-dozen films depicting it available on Netflix and a second History Channel dedicated to disseminating its politically protected claims of unknowable suffering and unspeakable evil into the psyches of gullible American TV addicts, 24/7. Besides, by 1965 Israel offered refuge to every Jew in the world — and had room aplenty, having by that time dispossessed most Palestinians of their ancestral homes, farms, and villages.

    That’s not to suggest that Jews don’t have a role in today’s Syrian crisis, as the Anti-Defamation League just this week criticized America’s governors for declaring their states off-limits to refugees. Of course, the ADL, which recognizes Islamic terrorism as Israel’s most valuable asset in the marketplace of world opinion, had nothing to say when Benjamin Netanyahu, after claiming Israel is “not indifferent to the human tragedy of the refugees,” firmly stated that he had no intention of accepting any Syrian refugees into his country. One rule for them, another rule for everyone else.

    Netanyahu may be an arrogant, warmongering Zionist, but on this issue his brand of patriotism serves his countrymen well. I only wish America had a leader who’d put the safety of his fellow Americans ahead of his desire to undermine the traditional culture (which he despises). This nonsense about “vetting” the Syrians is laughable: not only do the refugees not come with résumés, they don’t come with verifiable references, trackable histories, or psychological profiles. There exists no legitimate way to vet them, a fact that will not stop our government from giving us its assurances.

  11. RMC please….Christians DID NOT believe in stoning. Deuteronomy is part of the old testament or old covenant that God had with the Jews. The Christian Era began near the end of Jesus life on earth aND with it the New Covenant. Which is the New Testament and which replaced the old law with the new law. I could provide quotes but it would require cut and pasting ALL of the Bible old and new. Spend some time with that and with the volumes of scholarly work on the subject….

    • > Christians DID NOT believe in stoning. Deuteronomy is part of the old testament or old covenant that God had with the Jews.

      Good catch, Wheedle! You got to it before I could.

      I suspect that RMO may have been snoozing more than a few times in catechism class. Somehow, he missed out on the important difference between the “Old Testament” and the “New Testament”.

      I also wonder what dreamstate RMO was in when he concluded the following:

      “A lot of people in the Muslim community are looking at the Quran and saying, “THIS IS BS!””

      Muslims saying the Quran is BS?

      Really? I don’t think I have ever seen any of these Muslims on TV — alive.

      • Rejecting the Koran [ I think] would be considered by a true muslim as “apostacy” a crime for which the punishment is death.

  12. All this talk about Christianity is hog-wash. Someone mentioned all US mass murders were committed by white males. Here’s a stat for you: Islam is the only religion currently preaching mass murder, rape and beheading to get to heaven. While only a small number of Muslims are terrorists, almost all terrorists are Muslim. Furthermore according to a recent PEW poll of the Middle East, about half don’t recommend destroying ISIS.
    If some citizens are ‘haters’ for not wanting 10,000 Syrian refugees (to start), Obama is a hater for not asking for 50,000, or even all excess refugees from around the world that have no other country to go to – right? Aren’t we haters for not taking them all – helpless women and children, you know.
    One of my favorite stats, which you can find at Gallup, is that Republicans contribute more to private charities than Democrats. My guess is Democrats would rather spend OPM.

  13. A small, incomplete list which shows why we should not let in 10,000 Syrian refugees. The Homeland Security vetting didn’t prevent these acts by a few individuals, so why should we believe they can properly vet 10,000? And as for Zoe Lofgren’s plea about women and kids, did she miss the fact that a Muslim woman blew herself up as French police closed in.
    • A Kazakhstani immigrant with lawful permanent resident status allegedly conspired to purchase a machine gun to shoot FBI and other law enforcement agents if they prevented him from traveling to Syria to join ISIS.
    • An immigrant from Saudi Arabia, who applied for and received U.S. citizenship, swore allegiance to ISIS and pledged to explode a propane tank bomb on U.S. soil, prosecutors said.
    • A Uzbek man in Brooklyn encouraged other Uzbeki nationals to wage jihad on behalf of ISIS, and raised $1,600 for the terror organization.
    • The Boston Bombers, who killed three and injured more than 250, were invited in as refugees. The younger brother applied for citizenship and was naturalized on September 11th, 2012. The older brother had a pending application for citizenship.
    • A Moroccan national who came to the U.S. on a student visa was arrested for plotting to blow up a university and a federal court house
    • 6 Members of Minnesota’s Somali-American refugee community have recently been charged with trying to join ISIS. The Washington Times reported that “the effort [to resettle large groups of Somali refugees in Minnesota] is having the unintended consequence of creating an enclave of immigrants with high unemployment that is both stressing the state’s safety net and creating a rich pool of potential recruiting targets for Islamist terror groups.”
    • An Uzbek refugee living in Idaho was arrested and charged with providing support to a terrorist organization, in the form of teaching terror recruits how to build bombs. He was later convicted three terrorism-related charges.
    • An American citizen whose family is from Syria was sentenced to up to five years in a juvenile prison for plotting to support ISIS and rob a gun store to kill members of the American military.
    • An immigrant from Syria, who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, was accused by federal prosecutors of planning to “go to a military base in Texas and kill three or four American soldiers execution style.”
    • A college student and Somali immigrant, who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, attempted to blow up a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Oregon. He is serving a 30 year prison sentence.
    • An immigrant from Afghanistan, who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, and a legal permanent resident from the Philippines, were convicted for “join Al Qaeda and the Taliban in order to kill Americans.”
    • An Iraqi immigrant, who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, was arrested for lying to federal agents about pledging allegiance to ISIS and his travels to Syria. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott referenced the case when announcing his state would fight against accepting Syrian refugees.
    • Two immigrants from Pakistan, who later applied for and received U.S citizenship, were sentenced to decades-long prison sentences for plotting to detonate a bomb in New York City.
    • An immigrant from Yemen, who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, was arrested for trying to join ISIS. He was also charged with attempting to illegally buy firearms to try to shoot American military personnel. He is currently awaiting trial. He faces additional charges related to assaulting deputies while in custody.
    • An immigrant brought here by his family from Kuwait at a young age, and who was later approved for U.S. citizenship, carried out the Islamist attack that recently killed 5 military personnel in Chattanooga. The gunman was killed by police.

    • Thank you JMO for illustrating a point that I had intended to make myself in a post which I have been contemplating.

      Having read through the article and the posts here. I feel compelled to make the following comments:

      First, those ones who have criticized those of us who have raised objections to the plan to admit thousands of refugees from the mideast have levied a number of implicit and explicit accusations in their comments which I would like to summarize:

      1. Those who object to refugees being settled in the US are racists.
      2. Those who object to refugees being settled in the US are islamaphobes.
      3. Those who object to refugees being settled in the US are fear mongers.
      4. Those who object to refugees being settled in the US are ignorant.
      5. Those who object to refugees being settled in the US are uncharitable.
      6. Those who object to refugees being settled in the US are un-American.
      7. The primary perpetrators of these various sins are Christian and/or Conservative

      I may have left some out, but these seem to be the prevailing sentiments among the likes of RMC, Kath, Paco, Susan, and Frank

      Addressing these in turn I have the following comments:

      1. While the impetus for this debate has largely to do with refugees ostensibly from Syria, the concerns raised have less to do with national or ethnic origin and everything to do with the belief system of those who are seeking refugee status. As someone noted above, while not all Muslims are terrorists, virtually every single terrorist act in the last three or so decades has been perpetrated by Muslims. India, The Philippines, Indonesia, and North Africa (among other regions/nations) all are afflicted by Islamic terrorism and jihadists. I, personally would be just as critical if large numbers of (ostensibly) Muslim refugees from these other areas were going to be settled in the US. I suspect those who have been (more or less) on my side of the argument would feel the same. Our skepticism and distrust have entirely to do with the beliefs of those who are seeking refugee status. And we want guarantees that jihadists will not be permitted in the US where they can do harm to the American people on our own soil.

      2. The definition of a phobia is an irrational fear. ‘Islamaphobia’ would, therefore, be defined as an irrational fear of the adherents of Islam. To that accusation I would observe the following:

      a. Islamists are the most prolific perpetrators of terror across the globe and have been since Islam’s inception.
      b. Mohammed and its successors cut a bloody violent terror-filled swath across Asia and into huge areas of Europe before they were finally thrown back. They raped,pillaged, plundered, enslaved, burned, stole whatever and whomever they wanted.
      c. Racism is enshrined in the Koran, largely in Mohammed’s admonitions to kill or enslave Jews and Christians.
      d. Homophobia is enshrined in the Koran which exhorts the followers of Allah to kill homosexuals.
      e. Xenophobia is enshrined in the Koran as well, which demands that Muslims convert all the world to Islam by any means including force.
      f. Islamists continue these practices today with very little objection from within the Muslim world unless they happen to be Muslims who disagree with the other Muslims as to their particular brand of extremism.

      3. I think the above accurately describes why people have legitimate fears and concerns about letting Muslim refugees from any nation into the US for any reason. How do you sort out the peaceful ones from the jihadists. And Lord knows we’ve got more than enough jihadists in the US already.

      4. It is the furthest thing from ignorance to raise these fears. I have cited the Koran in defense of my position. Others have cited facts from the DOJ. Still others have cited news pieces. One thing that our opponents have not done is use any recognized form of logical discourse to refute these facts.

      5. To my mind Charity begins at home. We owe far more to our veterans than can ever be repaid and yet the VA continues to fail in its mandate to care for those who have sacrifices so much for all of us. I should know. My sister is a disabled vet from GW2 and struggles routinely in getting the care she needs. Too many American citizens are out of work or homeless and we spend far too much of other people’s money in programs that fail them as well. We don’t need to add more to our national debt trying (and inevitably failing) to help foreigners when we so miserably fail our own.

      6. What I find to be un-American is failing Americans. We need to get our debt under control so that we stop squandering our children’s futures, leaving them in debt also. We need resolve our problems of unemployment and homelessness before we start trying to solve the rest of the world’s problems by bringing those problems onto our shores.

      7. While, yes, I am a Christian, and more of a libertarian than republican, I DO value charity and practice it. I think we need to focus more on the problems within our own shores and not bring more problems into our borders. There are ways to help those in need overseas and still leave those people in or near their countries of origin. This is well within the mandate of the UN, if the UN wasn’t, itself, by turns, corrupt and effete. Furthermore, if these people have such trifling dedication to their birthplaces that they won’t defend themselves their families or their homelands against those who seek to do them harm. You’d never see that in America. And frankly, I don’t think we need to import a mix of uneducated desperate unemployable wimps (remember something on the order of 70% of these refugees are adult, military-aged men) any more than we need to import the jihadists who inevitably will infiltrate themselves in among the wimps.

      Lastly, and having something to do with the notion of charity beginning at home. I feel confident in asserting that the likes of Kath, Susan, RMC, Paco and Frank would be among the first to decry the injustice of the concentration of wealth among the so-called 1%’ers. But I have not read a single criticism of the fact that there is not one Arabic nation which has expended treasure or effort to help these refugees. Indeed, the .25%’er princes of Saudi Arabia are far more interested in spending billions on constructing scores of new mosques in Europe than they are in spending one riyal on charity towards these refugees. So maybe charity doesn’t begin at home if you’re Arabic or Persian.

  14. I Love what JMO, has said about why we should not let them all in, to suck off of what we created for the last centuries, as Americans!
    The elitest, in you is laughable JMO. The true Americans, were killed or herded into reservations. The Buffalo, were nearly exterminated. The land was desicrated, beyond belief. What was not exterminated , removed, or buried, was finished by the legal system, with false treaties. Slavery, and the KKK, were hanging innocent people for the joy of eradication..
    You my friend are an empty vessel. of Denial.
    LETS GIVE AMERICA
    BACK

    • Funny thing about the so-called ‘American Indians’. They were actually far from the noble savage that people try to make them out to be.

      1. Various tribes routinely stampeded entire herds of bison (buffalo are actually native to Asia and Africa) off of cliffs since it was easier to harvest meat that way than by means of bow and arrow.

      2. Indians committed as many kinds of atrocities (scalping, for example) upon rival tribes as Muslims seem inclined to commit upon opposing sects (Shia vs Sunni, anyone?) Jews, Christians, unbelievers, pagans… basically anyone who doesn’t subscribe to whatever the daily flavor of extremism happens to be. Interestingly, one particular depravity which American Indians appeared not to share with Muslims is bestiality. Again, there is plenty of both historical and modern video documentation of various Muslims having sex with livestock. Of course, Indians didn’t have the advantage of modern technology and chemistry to come up with such novel inventions as suicide vests laced with rat poison, and infecting women with HIV in order shame them into becoming suicide bombers. We have Palestinian terrorists to thank for that lovely contribution to the world after israeli emergency medicine become sufficiently effective that terrorists were no longer getting the kind of body counts they were hoping for with regular suicide bombs. Sadly, that’s probably one of the last significant original contributions to modern civilization by Islamic culture since Algebra.

      3. Indians routinely raided other tribes for slaves, especially woman. Modern Muslims have an unrepentant tradition of slavery; Muslims historically enslaved people wherever they conquered/plundered/pillaged. North African and Arabic tribes sold slaves to European (primarily Portuguese) slave traders who in turn sold them in Europe and the New World. Oddly, in the New World, these slaves were actually bought as indentured servants who were typically freed after their term of service was up.

      Parenthetically, Note to the BLM movement: the first legal slave owner in America was a BLACK MAN (!!!) by the name of Anthony Johnson who sued in court to be able to own actual slaves. He was an Angolan who was captured by a rival tribe and sold. He was subsequently freed and later owned White (and gasp you should!!!) slaves! A man by the name of John Punch was the first documented slave in America (as opposed to indentured servants).

      4. Although American Indians weren’t as xenophobic as many Muslims seem to be today and never had any kind of holy scripture which enshrined the kind of xenophobia (and other institutionalized bigotries) which Muslims, past and present, have practiced broadly, they were, nonetheless pretty xenophobic, or, at the least, extremely territorial, attacking other tribes as opportunities presented themselves.

      Sorry to strip away the romanticism attributed to the American Indian, but it had to be done.

        • Exactly to which moral lapses do you refer. Nowhere in this discussion have I seen anyone suggest that people in need – Syrian or otherwise – should be ignored. What I and others here have stated is that the proposal to bring thousands of refugees – whether tens of thousands or hundreds – represents substantial risks to the American people and that the process of bringing them here represents substantial costs over and above the cost providing shelter, food, and medical care. I submit to you that, rather than spending money on transportation to the US, moneys should be sent – in partnership with America’s allies and, presumably, with the UN to care for those refugees in camps in or near their nations of origin.

          I believe that this is all the more important due to the fact that at least 13% of Syrian refugees support ISIS. Even if only 10,000 refugees come to the US, that means that there is likely to be around 1300 supporters of ISIS within that group. Why should we permit onto American Society and among innocent American citizens people who embrace an organization which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel, the US, Christians and Jews one which practices all manner of atrocity – beheadings, burnings of people, the rape of women and children, and slavery.

          This isn’t the past as far as Muslim’s are concerned. It is the history of Islam, past to present and every indicator suggests that huge swaths of the Muslim world see this as their future as well.

        • One other point: the atrocities committed by Muslims do not exist solely in the past. That they are very much a part of the present of the Muslim world – transglobal and transnational – is a well-documented fact. Islamists, jihadists, terrorists – whatever you choose to call them – are active on every continent on the globe except for Antarctica. And, you can bet your bottom dollar that if there was a significant population of ‘zionists’ on Antarctica Jihadists would find a way to attack them as well.

        • > Don’t use the past as an excuse for moral lapses of today.

          Hmmmm.

          What moral reference are you using to define as lapses those things about which you would like to be judgmental?

          I’ve noted that certain “progressives” seem to think that “morality’ is an “oppressive” concept.

    • And, a point about the KKK: The KKK was formed as the militant wing of the Southern Democrat Party after the South lost the Civil War.

      The Republican party was the Abolitionist party, formed to end slavery.

      After the predations of the KKK, the NRA helped members of the NAACP – a Republican-affiliated organization at the time – in the ’60’s to try to combat the resurgence of the KKK in the South.

      (http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/negroeswithguns/rob.html)

      Woodrow Wilson, darling of the Democrat party was a devout racist – probably the only thing on which I agree with the BLM movement – wrote the book on which the atrocity of a film, Birth of a Nation, was based. He was also a close friend of Margaret Sanger who was a KKK sympathizer and a racist who formed Planned Parenthood as a means of controlling and reducing the Black population. This is well documented in Sanger’s autobiography.

      Senator Robert Byrd, another darling of the Democrat party, was also a devout racist and high-ranking member of the KKK. He never renounced his ties to the KKK.

      Senator John C. Stennis was also a Democrat and devout racist. Among his many sins and according to that bastion of right-wing propaganda, Wikipedia,

      “Originally, Stennis was an ardent supporter of racial segregation, like most Southern Democrats at the time. In the 1950s and 1960s he vigorously opposed the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and he signed the Southern Manifesto of 1956, supporting filibuster tactics to block or delay passage in all cases.
      Earlier, as a prosecutor, he sought the conviction and execution of three sharecroppers whose murder confessions had been extracted by torture, including flogging.[8] The convictions were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark case of Brown v. Mississippi (1936) that banned the use of evidence obtained by torture. The transcript of the trial indicated Stennis was fully aware that the suspects had been tortured.”

      Harry Truman, another Democrat was also involved with the KKK.

      Associate Justice Hugo Black – a Democrat on the US Supreme Court also was a member of the KKK

      Senator Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi was also a member of the KKK.

      Democratic Governor Bibb Graves of Alabama was almost certainly the exalted Cyclops of the Montgomery chapter of the Klan.

      Democrat Governor Clifford Walker was a member of the KKK

      George Gordon, a Democrat and Congressman for Tennessee’s 10th congressional district became one of the Klan’s first members. In 1867, Gordon became the Klan’s first Grand Dragon for the Realm of Tennessee, and wrote its “Precept,” a book describing its organization, purpose, and principles.

      Not really related to Syrian refugees, but VBS DID bring up the KKK.

        • SPJ you say the parties have switched role?

          Please name names and back them up with facts.

          In today’s media age if there was a Republican politician who was a member of the KKK there wouldn’t be enough minutes in the day or enough cable news channels availible for people of any walk of life to denounce that membership.

          If there were even a hint of membership CNN and MSNBC’s ratings would experience ratings that might indicate relevance.

          …and no David Duke doesn’t count since he was repudiated by the party even though elected by people in his area.

    • Let’s give America back to whom, Gil? And why? Mexicans killed “Native Americans” as wantonly as the Anglos did. For example, Mexicans and Apaches killed each other for a couple of centuries. Padre Serra was no Mother Teresa. The Spanish & Portuguese did a number on the indigenous people throughout Central and South America. So, if all of us bad guys need to pack up and move back to Europe Gil, you’d better start packing too. But if I were you, I’d skip Paris and Brussels right now.

  15. If there were cattle in one country and several of those cattle had “mad cow disease”, even though not all the cattle did, does anyone want to eat a burger made of of one of these. No, that potential threat would be quarantined.

    Why play Russian Roulette with the safety of US citizenry?. Let these refugees go back and fight for their country the same way every other free country has had to do. The US has already spilled enough blood trying to free countries in the Middle East. Why can’t all these oil rich Arab states, the Saudis and the Kuwaitis etc, import these refugees.

    Isn’t anyone concerned that this mass influx of refugees might take jobs away from the illegal aliens we already have here?

  16. JOHNMICHAEL O’CONNOR, OFFICERANONYMOUS, J.S. ROBILLARD:

    Excellent research and factual analysis.

    It is, or course, valuable to have this information on the record and I think it confirms and fortifies the understandings held by the majority of Americans.

    I would just like to steel you to the near certainty that you will achieve NO conversions, NO change of heart, and NO agreement among the usual suspect.

    This should not taken as evidence of underperformance or failure to persuade on your part. This is simply the nature of the ethos and mental states of the individuals you are addressing.

    • For my part, I understand that I may win no converts among the likes of Kath, Susan, Paco, etc. Rather, my intent is to inform those who may be somewhat more open-minded or undecided. I try to back up my assertions with facts to which those folks can turn and with enough original citation to enable them to become better-informed more easily.

      These others’ personal bigotry is plain to see as is their willful ignorance. Another intent is to illustrate why it is that they are ignorant bigots.

      Further, I want to try to increase the knowledge of those who may agree with us but not be as informed as they would like so that they, too, can defend their positions in a rational and meaningful way.

      Plus, let’s face it: slaughtering sacred cows is fun!!!

      Thank you SJOTB, JMO, OA and JSR for your contributions in this debate. I know that we have at times debated on opposing sides of various issues (well, except maybe for JSR), but it is gratifying to know that such disagreements have not poisoned our ability or intent to debate well, nor overcome our ability to come together on those issues on which we find ourselves in agreement. That requires its own kind of open-mindedness and a certain commitment to intellectual honesty, and it is appreciated.

  17. I DID NOT HEAR AN “AMEN” !
    AMAZING WHAT COMES OUT OF THOSE HOLES IN THE GARDEN, WHEN A HOSE IS USED TO FLUSH THEM CRITTERS OUT.
    LET”S GIVE AMERICA, BACK !

    SILICON VALLEY, APPLE, HAS ALREADY LEFT, FOR CHINA. MANY ARE FOLLOWING! ALL THOSE TRILLIONS ARE OFF SHORE, AND LIKELY TO REMAIN THERE. EVEN ILLIGALS ARE LEAVING IN DROVES.
    HAND PICKED TOMATOS AND FRUIT ARE A THING OF THE PAST.
    IT MAY ALREADY BE TOO LATE!
    HAPPY HOLIDAYS

    • Maybe they have no confidence that their ride on the gravy train will continue past Jan 2017.

      Let’s expedite the exodus.

    • Gee I don’t know Gil, am I wrong? Are Illegals – sorry “undocumented” for the overly sensitive – feeling secure in their entrenched existence here in the USA given the popularity Trump currently enjoys in the polls? (He is leading among possible challengers to HRC isn’t he?)

      I really don’t understand you at all. You are a craftsman, a businessman… self made I gather. You seem to have accomplished so much here in The US. Maybe you were born here maybe you weren’t. I don’t know and don’t care.

      You have probably accomplished all of this despite the fact that you probably have encountered road blocks and obstacles. Some were probably the result of bias and discrimination. Other problems might be the result of ridiculous goverment oversight and intervention in your business which they know/knew nothing about.
      Despite all that you and your business prevail and produce the best product in every respect because you are at heart a craftsman and artist who takes pride in the product you produce.

      You pay your taxes … are you happy with the amount the Govt takes off the fruits of your labor? Happy with ridiculous regulation?

      Are you happy with what the Govt does with the money you pay? Specifically the amount that they give to people who are fully capable of some sort of labor but do nothing more than collect a Govt check, live in Govt subsidized housing , produce children they have no interest in raising, engage in all sorts of criminal behavior and are a further burden on society due to the crimes they commit and then in the costs to feed house and provide medical and dental for while incarcerated?

      We have where is the lie in all this? Is the lie that the US is the land of opportunity? People stream in saying this only to enroll on the welfare roll and then say, ” I can’t find a job all companies are racist,… nobody hires me because the company is racist… the only job I could find would only pay me minimum wage because the company is racist while it pays whitey more because he is white…? And on an on.

      How many employees do you have? What percentage are documented? Would you hire a skilled American before hiring an unskilled foreigner? Would you hire a skilled foreigner before a skilled American? Would you pay someone based on there skill and experience and time/loyalty to your company or because he was a “carnale” out of the pinta who grew up on the east side and spent his youth being discriminated againt by “the man” just because he beat and robbed, extorted and sold/used drugs and flunked every class in every school he attended and the only math he knows are common fractions used in the drug trade. …and the only finances and taxes he worries about are amounts owed to the regional bank?…or because he was a Native American from the rez and dealing with his own set of issues?

      Where does it end? Are we a nation of laws and accountability? Or a nation of whining victims able to capitalize on whatever manufactured outrage of the moment will produce that next settlement check?

      I think these are legitimate questions put to you who is so quick to judge others in these matters.

      Feel free to respond in all Caps if it helps you … let it all out!

  18. More BS disguised as wisdom from the Village BS: “LETS GIVE AMERICA BACK.”

    Since “let’s” is a contraction of “let us,” someone unfamiliar with Village BS might assume this frequent commenter has taken a lead role in returning the Americas to the aboriginal people. But he’s done no such thing. He not only continues to live on this continent, he continues to profit by serving the needs of other non-aboriginals, thus promoting their existence here. Of course, he might still be here because he’s under the illusion he himself qualifies as an aboriginal, as do many other racists with Iberian surnames (and haplogroups).

    But in fairness to the man, even if he wanted to lead the way out of this hemisphere he probably realizes he belongs to no other land. Neither Spain nor Portugal suffer any confusion about citizenship or immigration law, and have from the time of the Conquista de America considered Native Americans and mestizos inferior; neither nation would be welcoming. It appears history has fastened Mr. Hernandez to his birthplace.

    So what motivates this local businessman — a taxpaying citizen of this nation, to assail his countrymen with his insulting nonsense whenever they express the desire to protect their country’s sovereignty? Once again, it’s his racism sneaking through; at some deep, twisted level, the villager finds it intolerable for non-Hispanics/non-Aboriginals to make any claim to American soil (although he enthusiastically supports the rights of Hispanics to live wherever they choose). His brand of hypocrisy, one that I’ve witnessed since childhood, is born of a simmering resentment — one emphasizing ethnicity over both nationality and achievement, that has been passed down through the generations by people too ignorant to realize they were crippling their children. Viva La Raza.

  19. Finfam, the depth of your lectures are astounding. This nation has Nationalized millions of acres. There is but 5% of the original forests left standing. You are a very unusual individual. You talk, but really say nothing. NO, I take that back. You say so much about what you are NOT.
    Our native inhabitants, need to be recognized as the true and original inhabitants of the great country. They were stewarts of this land for thousands of years, until it was taken from them, and raped and pilliaged by greed.
    Share your toys , or go sit in your corner!

    • > Our native inhabitants, need to be recognized as the true and original inhabitants of the great country.

      “First tribe into the forest gets to keep it and eat all the spotted owls. Everyone else can go to hell.”

      The law of the primitives.

    • Read up on history, Gil. Mexicans killed their share of the “stewarts of this land.” Your knowledge of history and your attempts at logic are as flawed as your spelling Gil.

  20. If Obama accepts 10,000 Syrian refugees, we’ll have more stories like this one from Minneapolis, as well as at least a few dozen terrorists on US soil.

    Two Muslim truck drivers — former Somali “refugees” — refused to make deliveries of beer to stores for their employer. So they were understandably fired. They claimed it was a violation of their religious beliefs — even though Islam bars only the consumption of alcohol. And, as the employer pointed out, the workers knew they would have to deliver alcohol before they took the job.
    Obama’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) represented them in the case, providing tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars in legal support, judicial filings and court appearances against the employer who was hopelessly outgunned by the Federal government.
    And this week the Muslims were awarded a stunning $240,000 by a jury, presided over by an Obama appointee who stunned legal analysts by allowing the case to go forward at all.
    Fox News hosts Megyn Kelly and Andrew Napolitano were flabbergasted:
    “The Obama administration actually represented the two Muslims in this case. But has sometimes taken a very different position in the case of Christians trying to assert their religious beliefs.”
    She then said to Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano:
    “So in the case of the Muslim truck drivers, the Obama administration through the EEOC is all in. This is what they said: ‘We are proud to support the rights of workers to equal treatment in the workplace without having to sacrifice their religious beliefs or practices; it’s fundamental to the American principles of religious freedom and tolerance.’ But when it comes to the Christian bakers, it’s not as fundamental.”
    Napolitano was equally perplexed:
    “That’s correct. It’s unfortunate when the government interferes in a private dispute over religious views, and takes sides, and chooses one religion over another.”
    To their point, the Christian owners of “Melissa’s Sweet Cakes” were fined $135,000 by the state of Oregon for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple. And Kentucky clerk Kim Davis was jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
    Napolitano offered an explanation for the administration’s interest in the Muslim truck driver case:
    “The way the feds intervened … they wanted this case because they wanted to make the point that they’ve now made.”
    The U.S government and the courts can’t properly have one set of laws for Christians and another set of laws for Muslims and other religious groups. But now they do. Obama’s actions and this court’s ruling throws into relief that not all Americans are legally recognized as possessing religious liberty and freedom of conscience.
    As George Orwell might put it, Obama has now established that Muslims are more equal than Christians in America.

  21. > They claimed it was a violation of their religious beliefs — even though Islam bars only the consumption of alcohol.

    Right. “Islamic” bars can ban the consumption of booze, but I bet that Obama’s feds would require that they allow breast feeding.

  22. JMO says:

    If Obama accepts 10,000 Syrian refugees…

    That number is propaganda. Here is the true number Obama has in mind:

    President Barack Obama vowed Saturday that his country will be a welcoming place for millions fleeing the violence “as long as I’m president.” [millions?!]

    Ten seconds of truth: https://youtu.be/5BT3lFJZa0g

    • I know, Smokey. I was just quoting Obama’s number. I don’t believe it will be that limited.

  23. The latest Green Card (permanent residency) totals are from 2013. These are legal immigrants; the numbers of illegals is much higher. (Since 2013 Syria has rocketed ahead of every other country). All Green Card totals have sharply increased over the past two years.

    Look at a map; these are Islamic countries. All of them. For example, Ireland is a very poor country (except for the larger cities). But Ireland is a Christian country, so they get no Green Cards. And except for Kosovo (another Muslim country), no European country gets a Green Card allocation. Look at the ten-second video in my post above, and the President’s agenda will be clear.

    When Obama said he intended to radically transform America, he wasn’t kidding. The next Presidential election will be crucial in determining if Obama’s policies are continued, or reversed. Vote accordingly, and keep these totals in mind:

    Green Card Totals
    Fiscal Year 2013
    (K = thousands):

    Pakistan (83K)
    Iraq (83K)
    Bangladesh (75K)
    Iran (73K)
    Egypt (45K)
    Somalia (31K)
    Uzbekistan (24K)
    Turkey (22K)
    Morocco (22K)
    Jordan (20K)
    Albania (20K)
    Lebanon (16K)
    Yemen (16K)
    Indonesia (15K)
    Syria (14K)
    Sudan (13K)
    Afghanistan (11K)
    Sierra Leone (10K)
    Guinea (8K)
    Senegal (7K)
    Saudi Arabia (7K)
    Algeria (7K)
    Kazakhstan (7K)
    Kuwait (5K)
    Gambia (5K)
    United Arab Emirates (4K)
    Azerbaijan (4K)
    Mali (3K)
    Burkina Faso (3K)
    Kyrgyzstan (3K)
    Kosovo (3K)
    Mauritania (2K)
    Tunisia (2K)
    Tajikistan (2K)
    Libya (2K)
    Turkmenistan (1K)
    Qatar (1K)
    Chad (1K)

    That’s just one year, folks. And the influx is accelerating out of control…

    • > no European country gets a Green Card allocation

      Doesn’t sound like “fairness” to me.

      Won’t this exclude Bill and Hillary Clinton’s extended family. Not to mention excluding President Obama’s Irish extended family members.

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