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Mammoth Springs

Friday, October 2, 2015

Under Duress

I glean news from a variety of sources, center, left and right. I rarely go to either edge of the extreme fringe, the AlterNet, MondoWeis, Breitbart, Geller wings of absurdity and lunacy. It is so hard to find objective and non slanted information these days. Really have to be intellectually vigorous when sorting things out.

So when I read that the Obama Administration was giving over 1500 individuals with terrorist connections amnesty and resident status on Geller's site the other day I took it with a grain of salt and decided to do some further investigation, just in case. Couldn't be, could it?

Unless I am missing something, it appears it is true. Here is a link to the original article at Judicial Watch. Scary.
As if the President Obama’s sweeping amnesty measures haven’t compromised national security enough, the administration let 1,519 “inadmissible” foreigners embroiled in terrorism into the U.S. last year because the crimes were committed “while under duress.”
Before the Obama administration tweaked a federal law last year, these foreign nationals would have been banned from the country for supporting terrorist causes. But under the changes the Secretary of Homeland Security has “discretionary authority” to waive certain grounds of inadmissibility relating to terrorism. We’ve seen this discretionary authority abused in the last few years and in fact, the administration has eliminated a zero tolerance policy for granting asylum or residency to individuals who have provided any sort of terrorism-related support...
The government’s latest available figures for granting asylum or residency to individuals embroiled in terrorist causes are incredibly disturbing, especially since the agency charged with keeping the nation safe, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), appears to downplay the seriousness of the crimes. Judicial Watch obtained the numbers from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) annual report to Congress on the DHS secretary’s application of discretionary authority.
The biggest chunk of exemptions was processed for refugee applicants and lawful permanent resident status, with 806 and 614 respectively. The rest were processed under other DHS programs such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS), asylum and relief through a Justice Department initiative. The bottom line is that the U.S. government is allowing them all to stay in the country with rights and benefits afforded to legal residents despite their terrorist connections and associations.
More than half of the candidates rewarded by DHS last year provided material support to terrorist organizations, according to the DHS report. The others received military-type training from a terrorist organization, voluntarily provided medical care to members of a terrorist group and solicited funds or individuals for membership in a terrorist organization. After a case-by-case review, Obama’s DHS Secretary, Jeh Johnson, determined that the recently admitted terrorists only participated in these activities “while under duress.” So, welcome to America!
On the heels of a lone wolf sleeper shooting in Australia today I wonder if we have lost our freaking collective mind. Personally I would feel much more comfortable with the old policy of zero tolerance, especially after the Boston tragedy. But this administration has a seeming soft spot for islamic terrorists, optimistic that they can turn them from the dark side with some good old fashioned american cooking. Here's a link to the actual report from Homeland Security. And the determination itself, pushed by one John Kerry. By the way one of the most recent government assessments pegged the incidence of asylum fraud at 70% of all applications. Feel better?

I was sick to my stomach after hearing about our fearless leader's speech at the United Nations the other day. The typical kill them with kindness, they just need jobs blather we have come to expect from the Obamaites. But this time coming out of the great one's own mouth. From the New York Times:
UNITED NATIONS — President Obama called upon a conclave of world leaders on Tuesday to fight violent extremism not just with weapons but with ideas, jobs and good governance, a strategy he has long advocated. There are few signs that it is succeeding.
Military pressure, Mr. Obama said at a United Nations summit meeting, will be insufficient to vanquish groups like the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
“This means defeating their ideology,” he said. “Ideologies are not defeated with guns. They are defeated by better ideas — a more attractive and compelling vision.”
Our President's doe eyed naiveté would be comical if it didn't have such tragic implications. He has an obvious internal defect that fails to grasp the true nature of the conundrum, that we are indeed at war with radical Islam.

That the nature of the struggle stems not from lack of opportunity, vision or jobs but instead from a theological and cultural divide with a violent creed that lacks respect for human rights and civility, envisions global domination and caliphate, engages in routine honor killing and the subjugation and brutalization of women, that regularly bombs wedding parties, that treats the annual haj like the bull run at Pamplona, that kills rival sects, bloggers and political opponents, even if they are children, that forbids people from changing their religion, that clearly lacks any semblance of civility as practiced by the rest of the world.

Do people from other religions commit unspeakable acts? Of course they do. But certainly not on this level of scale and regularity. Would be unthinkable for the lutherans to leave pressure cookers full of nails at a marathon, to target innocents like the muslims do on a routine basis. People who we accept on our shores, who we send to our schools for free, who take advantage of our welfare system, look how we get repaid for our kindness. Look at the number of jihadists that travel from Minnesota back to the battle front every year. Look at the Major Nidals and the Tennessee shooter.

And we permit the terrorists to return, because our leader has his head so far up his ass sucking up to the only group he seems to worry about alienating, the erstwhile religion of peace. Because he can't recognize the actual nature of the conflict, which is as plain as the nose on your face to the great majority of people. The typical liberal conceit, everybody will adopt our western notions if we can just shine a light.

We expect very little of human beings in this world, most cultures have a pretty hands off approach. Do what thou wilt but don't hurt anybody if you can help it and allow people to make their own personal choices.

We harbor a minimal expectation that our fellow hominids will act like human beings and not savages. I know that I am hopelessly old fashioned but I take extreme umbrage when people decide to fly airplanes into the Pentagon and World Trade Center and kill large numbers of my fellow americans. I take these sorts of things very personally.

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Naama Henkin and her husband Eitam were shot dead by Palestinian terrorists in front of their four young children in the West Bank the other day. Hamas and others were quick to praise the "brave resistance" for the "heroic" attacks.
On Friday, after the attack on the Henkins, a senior Palestinian activist said in a telephone interview that Palestinians should “use all methods of resistance” against Jewish settlers. The activist, Sultan al-Einein, a member of the central council of Fatah, the political party led by Mr. Abbas, added, “We should kill their women as they have killed ours.”
His statement came after a branch of a Fatah militant group, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attack on its website.
A Hamas spokesman praised the attack by the "brave resistance," calling the murderous act "heroic," and vowing to continue the struggle against Israel. The organization call for its members to carry out more attacks against Israel.
The Popular Resistance Committees also "blessed" the attack, saying it was a natural reaction to "Israeli crimes."
So bring on the terrorist refugees, Barack. Hard not to want to love these people to death. Who doesn't have a soft spot for them? Jobs, that's it, they need jobs. I want to hire somebody whose job skills include cutting off people's heads.

I have full confidence that the new Department of Redeemed Terrorists will do a simply stellar job reintroducing these people to polite society. Liberals can even adopt them if they wish.

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The president is beginning to look like a cuckolded eunuch in his foreign policy. He has lost respect from friend and foe alike. The Iranians are laughing at him, the Saudis, the Russians, everybody knows he is all talk and won't back anything up. Yesterday it was David Cameron contradicting him.

Our President, known for his analytic nature, can't believe that the rest of the world won't defer to his brilliant rationalization for doing nothing and be content to watch the rebel forces get ground up by both Isil and Assad. Now he wants to befriend the Kurds again. Be afraid of this man, Kurds, be very afraid. He will sell you out as soon as it is convenient.

Nature abhors a vacuum and for good or ill, Putin is filling it, no longer able to stand by while the great world power stands around with its finger up its ass.

Punked.

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Following consultations with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State have determined that the grounds of inadmissibility at section 212(a)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B), bar certain aliens who do not pose a national security or public safety risk from admission to the United States and from obtaining immigration benefits or other status. Accordingly, consistent with prior exercises of the exemption authority, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Attorney General, hereby conclude, as a matter of discretion in accordance with the authority granted by INA section 212(d)(3)(B)(i), 8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(3)(B)(i), as amended, as well as the foreign policy and national security interests deemed relevant in these consultations, that paragraphs 212(a)(3)(B)(iv)(VI)(bb) and (dd) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(iv)(VI)(bb) and (dd), shall not apply with respect to an alien who provided limited material support to an organization described in section 212(a)(3)(B)(vi)(III) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(vi)(III), or to a member of such an organization, or to an individual described in section 212(a)(3)(B)((iv)(VI)(bb) of the INA,8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(iv)(VI)(bb), that involves (1) certain routine commercial transactions or certain routine social transactions (i.e., in the satisfaction of certain well-established or verifiable family, social, or cultural obligations), (2) certain humanitarian assistance, or (3) substantial pressure that does not rise to the level of duress, provided, however, that the alien satisfies the relevant agency authority that the alien:
(a) Is seeking a benefit or protection under the INA and has been determined to be otherwise eligible for the benefit or protection;
(b) Has undergone and passed all relevant background and security checks;
(c) Has fully disclosed, in all relevant applications and/or interviews with U.S. government representatives and agents, the nature and circumstances of any material support provided and any other activity or association falling within the scope of section 212(a)(3)(B) of the INA,8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B), as well as all contact with a terrorist organization and its members;
(d) Has not provided the material support with any intent or desire to assist any terrorist organization or terrorist activity;
(e) Has not provided material support (1) that the alien knew or reasonably should have known could directly be used to engage in terrorist or violent activity or (2) to any individual who the alien knew or reasonably should have known had committed or planned to commit a terrorist activity on behalf of a designated terrorist organization, as described in section 212(a)(3)(B)(vi)(I) or (II) of the INA,8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(vi)(I) or (II);
(f) Has not provided material support to terrorist activities that he or she knew or reasonably should have known targeted noncombatant persons, U.S. citizens, or U.S. interests;
(g) Has not provided material support that the alien knew or reasonably should have known involved providing weapons, ammunition, explosives, or components thereof, or the transportation or concealment of such items;
(h) Has not provided material support in the form of military-type training (as defined in section 2339D(c)(1) of title 18, United States Code);
(i) Has not engaged in any other terrorist activity, including but not limited to providing material support to a designated terrorist organization, as described in section 212(a)(3)(B)(vi)(I) or (II) of the INA,8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(vi)(I) or (II), to which no other exemption applies;
(j) Poses no danger to the safety and security of the United States; and
(k) Warrants an exemption from the relevant inadmissibility provision in the totality of the circumstances.
Implementation of this determination will be made by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), in consultation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or by U.S. consular officers, as applicable, who shall ascertain, to their satisfaction, and in their discretion, that the particular alien meets each of the criteria set forth above.
This exercise of authority may be revoked as a matter of discretion and without notice at any time with respect to any and all persons subject to it. Any determination made under this exercise of authority as set out above can inform but shall not control a decision regarding any subsequent benefit or protection applications, unless such exercise of authority has been revoked. This exercise of authority shall not be construed to prejudice, in any way, the ability of the U.S. government to commence subsequent criminal or civil proceedings in accordance with U.S. law involving any beneficiary of this exercise of authority (or any other person). This exercise of authority creates no substantive or procedural right or benefit that is legally enforceable by any party against the United States or its agencies or officers or any other person.
In accordance with section 212(d)(3)(B)(ii) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(3)(B)(ii), a report on the aliens to whom this exercise of authority is applied, on the basis of case-by-case decisions by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or by the U.S. Department of State, shall be provided to the specified congressional committees not later than 90 days after the end of the fiscal year.
This determination is based on an assessment related to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States as they apply to the particular persons described herein and shall not have any application with respect to other persons or to other provisions of U.S. law.

Jeh Charles Johnson,
Secretary of Homeland Security.
John F. Kerry,
Secretary of State.

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