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Domestic Policies Foreign Policies Immigration Reform News Politics Syria

Refugees From Reality

Leave it to the GOP (and some uninformed Democrats) to make a frightening situation something to panic over. The Paris attacks were terrible. The threat of more terrorist attacks on Europe is very real. But if you want to stop terrorists from coming into the United States, tampering with the refugee system is exactly the wrong place to start.

The United States has accepted about 70,00 refugees into this country since 2009.  And there’s a lengthy process. One-third of them were from countries that, on first glance, might supply potential terrorists. How many of these refugees turned out to be terrorists or involved in potential terrorist plots? None.  Further, if ISIS or any other group wanted to send potential terrorists to the United States, why would they choose a process that is thoroughly vetted and could take up to two years? It makes no sense. Which is why, I’m sure, the Republicans are pursuing legislation that would affect the refugee program.

It would be far easier for a potential bomber to come in as a tourist. Or as a worker who doesn’t need a visa. Or as a student.  But of course, no politician wants to shut down tourism or interfere with students who want to come to the U.S. to study or with someone who will do a job that an American won’t or can’t (including high tech jobs that require math, which seems to be another GOP weakness). That would be an economic catastrophe. So instead, they’re going after the one program that vets all applicants over a specified period of time as their target.

Even better, Donald Trump leads the GOP with a policy of building a very high wall on the Mexican border to stop the hordes who are coming to the United States. The truth is that more people are leaving the US for Mexico than are trying to come to this country.  The people who really want to come in, the drug smugglers, have built sophisticated tunnels. A wall won’t stop them.

President Obama is exactly right to veto any legislation that is built on fear, xenophobia and ignorance, which the right seems to think will win it an election next year. Hillary Clinton has proposed a specific, pragmatic policy for dealing with ISIS that goes beyond mere rhetoric and fearful slogans. It’s a policy that even conservatives view as thoughtful and worth considering.

Fear has been the coin of the realm for the Republican Party since 2001. They’ve run on a platform that says only they can keep us safe and I’m sure they’ll plug that exhausted line until November. What they need is a detailed plan for actually fighting ISIS both militarily and diplomatically with our allies. It will take thought and political will rather than blame. So far, I haven’t heard anything that gives me confidence in their ability to confront the threat.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Barack Obama paris Politics terrorists

Ted Cruz Suggests President Obama Prefer Muslims Over Americans – Video

Ted Cruz has figured out a way to get another rise in the polls from the clueless Republican base with another dumb attack on the President. In talking to one of the original Obama Haters, Sean Hannity on Fox News, Cruz talked about the recent terrorist events in Paris, and his completely foolish views that the president prefers Muslims over Americans.

HANNITY: Senator, [Clinton] couldn’t say [“radical Islam”] during the debate Saturday, couldn’t say it today. Bernie Sanders thinks climate change is a bigger national security threat.

I want you to respond to that. And as you are, we have new footage, by the way, from inside the Paris cafe of some of the refugees (sic) attacking these innocent men, women and children. So what’s your answer to her and Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama when they say these things?

CRUZ: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the modern Democratic Party, has a blindness to radical Islamic terrorism, and they’ve endangered the safety and security of this country, the safety and security of millions of Americans.

You know, have you noticed that the one time President Obama and Hillary Clinton are willing to use military force is when using it benefits radical Islamic terrorists? Go back to the beginning of the administration, Libya. Listen, Qaddafi was a bad man. He had a terrible human rights record, but he had voluntarily handed over his nuclear weapons efforts. He was aiding the United States in going after radical Islamic terrorists. He was targeting the terrorists. And what did Obama and Clinton do? They led NATO in bombing Qaddafi and doing everything they could to drive him out of power. And the consequence was they handed Libya over to warring tribes of radical Islamic terrorists. One of the reasons Benghazi happened, four Americans were murdered—It wasn’t just Hillary Clinton’s malfeasance on that night. It was the failed foreign policy that had handed that country over to radical Islamic terrorists.

They did the same thing in Egypt. Mubarak, again a flawed man, a dictator with a terrible human rights record, but he consistently stood as an ally with America against radical Islamic terrorists. What did Obama and Clinton do? Pushed Mubarak out and pushed the Muslim Brotherhood, which finances radical Islamic terrorism…

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News paris Terrorism terrorist

Mastermind of Paris Terrorist Attacks Confirmed Dead

The man responsible for the Paris attacks last weekend was confirmed dead by French authorities this morning.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud was identified by his fingerprints collected at the scene in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. His body was found “riddled with impacts,” according to the prosecutor’s statement.

The operation started with shootings at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, officials said. It resulted in the initial arrest of three people inside an apartment. At that point, a woman triggered a suicide vest.

Police fired nearly 5,000 rounds during the Saint-Denis raid, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said Wednesday, adding that it was a particularly difficult raid because the apartment had an armored door.

Investigators were led to the apartment building in Saint-Denis after reviewing cellphone records and surveillance video indicating that Abbaoud, previously thought to be in Syria, was staying there, Molins said.

Molins said the blast from the suicide bomber caused the building to partially collapse, which has added to the amount of time needed to conduct the investigation because officials have had to reinforce the walls before collecting more evidence.

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Politics Terrorism

Man Threatens to Kill 1 Muslim a Week in Canada

Following the ISIS claimed attacks in Paris where at least 129 innocent people were killed and hundreds more injured, a man in Canada wearing a Joker mask posted a video on YouTube promising to kill one Muslim or Arab a week.

The video was posted Tuesday on YouTube, but has since been taken down. In it a man speaking in a Quebecois-sounding accent said that starting next week he would kill an Arab or a Muslim each week all across the province.

He was brandishing what appeared to be a handgun and said he had like-minded people on board who would help him to carry out the threat, reported the National Post.

Quebec provincial police, Sûreté du Québec, wouldn’t confirm or deny investigating the video.

Montreal’s police (SPVM) said they were aware of the video and were trying to establish whether the person falls under their jurisdiction.

“If you make threats on social networks or on the web, there are very concrete consequences in the real world, the criminal code allows us to press charges against people who do things like this,” SPVM spokesperson Laurent Gingras told Vice News.

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CNN Politics

CNN Anchors Want Muslims to Take Responsibility for ISIS’s Attack in Paris – Video

I don’t know what to say about CNN anymore. Recently, because of the nonsense from Don Lemon, an online petition was circulated demanding his firing. Now, after the horrible ISIS attacks in Paris, two CNN anchors asked a Muslim why that community didn’t know or report the attack before it happened!

“Why is it that no one within the Muslim community there in France knew what these guys were up to?” asked CNN anchor John Vause as he interviewed Yasser Louati, a representative for the Collective Against Islamophobia in France. “Because it seems to me that this was a pretty big plan. Surely someone beyond the seven guys who’ve been killed over the last 48 hours would have to have known something and that was probably within the Muslim community but yet no one said anything.”

“Sir, the Muslim community has nothing to do with these guys,” Louati replied, “Nothing. We cannot justify ourselves for the actions of someone who just claims to be Muslim. Our secret services knew about these guys and, again, just like during the January attacks, it turns out they were all on a black list somewhere somehow on a desk. So right now we can’t take responsibility for anything.”

But the anchor and his co-anchor refused that argument and the conversation, no, the accusation continued for almost six minutes as the anchors insisted that someone in the Muslim community should have known and reported the planned ISIS attack.

Video

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Politics

Fox’s Shep Smith Slams “Extremest” Governors Refusing Refugees – Video

I’ve said this about Fox’s Shep Smith before, that he is working on the wrong network. Now, there are times when Shep toes the line and push the Republican talking points, then there are times when he goes out on a limb all by himself and, yes, speak the truth!

Since the terrorist attacks in Paris and the revelation that one of the attackers made their way into France as a refugee, there have been much talk, primarily among Republican presidential candidates and some governors, that America should turn away any and all refugees from Syria. And it was totally expected that the hosts at Fox News will mindlessly push that talking-point, but there goes Shep again, stepping out on another limb.

“In the face of terror, will we panic, or be calm and deliberative in approach? Confronted with those who want to change our way of life, will we abandon our freedoms and the rights granted to us by the Creator? Or will we welcome huddle masses yearning to breathe free?”

Smith of course is talking about the Republican presidential candidates and the 15 or so governors, primarily Republican governors, promising to reject any refugee sent to their state. Shep continued;

“Our shining city on a hill is vulnerable. We’ve always known that. If we change it to accommodate the savages, have they won? And what then would be left to protect? We profess to stand as an example for all the world. Our unique experiment in freedom, tolerance, openness, and equality is our gift to societies and peoples everywhere. Come, join us. Enjoy a chance at the American dream. Today, we mourn, but we cannot allow ourselves to become like those who want to destroy us. We cannot resort to the tactics of the barbarians. We must fight for what we believe in and who we are, guard our freedoms faithfully for the generations to follow. And we must not let the rhetoric of potential and political extremists among us lead us to self-destruction. When there’s panic, we show resolve. When there’s calm for extremism, we resist. We are America. We must lead.”

Video

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Domestic Policies Foreign Policies ISIS News Politics Russia Syria Terrorism

Does This Mean War?

I’m being a bit of a coward by posing my title as a question, but I do firmly believe that the western world is headed towards a much larger, more coordinated and, ultimately, more deadly military conflict. If it sounds like war, smells like war, destroys like war, breeds intolerance like war, then it must be a war.

And we’re in one.

I fear that there are more attacks coming in places that think they’re prepared, but are not. After all, Vladimir Putin thought he was going to help Assad in Syria and escape the fate that has befallen the United States, France and Great Britain. He was wrong, and 224 Russians savagely and tragically lost their lives. The French have been attacked twice this year. Israel is under constant threat.Who’s next?

I went on Facebook on Friday night after reading about the attacks and saw many people who had attached the peace sign with the Eiffel Tower in it, the French flag, and pictures of the people I know from their Paris vacations. But I also saw some vitriolic hatred directed towards all Muslim, and I mean ALL Muslims, even though they are not terrorists, and I saw the requisite number of posts calling President Obama a Muslim and blaming him for this, and seemingly every other attack, whether it was on US soil or not. It’s still gauche, evidently, to blame GW Bush for September 11, but blaming Obama for an attack on Paris is de rigueur, at least among a certain segment of the population.

Foreign policy will be a key factor in the upcoming presidential election and the GOP field had better begin focusing on policies other than building a very high wall on the Mexican border, throwing people out of the country and reestablishing the fortress America that served us so badly from 1924 to 1965. It also means that Bernie Sanders had better come up with a foreign policy plank that offers Democrats a choice between him and Hillary Clinton. Obviously, she has the most experience in the field by a wide margin. She’s got to make Americans believe that she can keep us safe, but engaged in the world. We need to stay strong.

My heart goes out to those who lost a loved one or who was injured in the attacks. The world has now shifted.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Politics Terrorism

At Least 46 Killed, 100 Hostages Taken in Paris Shootings

USA Today is reporting least 46 people were killed late Friday after gunmen opened fire at three locations in central Paris and fled in a car. They later took around 100 people hostage in a concert hall, police said.

At about the same time, two  explosions were heard at or near the the Stade de France, the national stadium, where Germany and France were holding a soccer match, the Associated Press reports. It was not immediately clear if the two events were related.

According to the Associated Press, a police official said 11 people were killed in a Paris restaurant in the 10th arrondissement, and about 35 killed in the Bataclan theatre, where a hostage-taking is under way.

The newspaper Liberation said officials speaking over a loudspeaker at the stadium asked the crowd to evacuated calmly. French President Francois Hollande was at the game at the time and left to deal with the crisis.

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isil ISIS News

ISIS Beheader “Jihadi John” Possibly Killed in US Airstrike – Video

The face of ISIS, the man seen on video beheading three U.S citizens, was the target of a successful U.S airstrike. His fate is still unclear.

Mohammed Emwazi has participated in numerous propaganda videos showing the killings of Westerners, including American journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley, American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, officials said.

A senior U.S. official told NBC News that the Kuwait-born British citizen was directly “targeted” by the strike in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, Syria, on Thursday night.

“There is no vengeance, but there is accountability,” said the official, who stressed that “we are still assessing and not confirming” whether Emwazi had been killed.

A senior U.S. counter-terrorism official also told NBC News early Friday that there was “no definitive proof yet that he was killed.”

Video

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Politics

Source: U.S Intelligence Believe ISIS Brought Down Russian Plane – Video

CNN is reporting that a source close to the U.S Intelligence community believes the terrorist group, ISIS had something to do with the recent crash of Russia’s Metrojet Flight 9268 over the Sinai Peninsula, a crash that killed 224 passengers.

According to CNN’s reporting, the source said, “there is a definite feeling it was an explosive device planted in the luggage or somewhere on the plane.”

Video

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BLM Politics

Fox News Contributor – BlackLives Matter “Will Join Forces with ISIS”

He is a regular face on Fox News especially when Fox is looking for a black person to talk bad about other black people. And he has called the BlackLivesMatter movement all sorts of names in the past. So him saying “Black Lies Matter will join forces with ISIS to being [SIC] down our legal constituted republic…” is nothing strange. Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is just saying what he is getting paid to say.

Today, Fox’s favorite black sheriff took to his twitter account and tweeted this;

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isil ISIS Politics Syria

Major ISIS Leader Killed in US Special Forces Raid

Another win for America. Another win for the president many Republicans say is “soft on terrorism.”

Islamic State senior commander, Abu Sayyaf, was killed and his wife captured in Syria during a raid by U.S. Special Forces, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said.

The operation in eastern Syria was authorized by President Barack Obama, according to a statement from Carter. He said Abu Sayyaf helped direct Islamic State’s oil, gas and financial operations and that his wife, Umm Sayyaf, was suspected of involvement in the militant group’s activities.

The raid comes after Obama’s meeting at the presidential retreat at Camp David with leaders of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which has expressed concerns about the president’s policies in Syria and Iraq.

“The operation represents another significant blow to ISIL, and it is a reminder that the United States will never waver in denying safe haven to terrorists who threaten our citizens, and those of our friends and allies,” Carter said, using an alternative term for Islamic State.

Abu Sayyaf was killed when he engaged U.S. forces, none of whom were killed or injured, according to the statements from Carter and Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the White House’s National Security Council. Umm Sayyaf is being held by the U.S. military in Iraq, Meehan said.

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