November 18, 2015

"I want to encourage you, Mr. President, come back and insult me to my face."

"Let’s have a debate on Syrian refugees right now. We can do it anywhere you want. I prefer it in the United States and not overseas where you’re making insults. It’s easy to toss a cheap insult when no one can respond, but let’s have a debate."

Ted Cruz has a way with words.

What was Obama's insult? "Apparently, they are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America. At first they were too scared of the press being too tough on them in the debates. Now they are scared of three-year-old orphans. That doesn't seem so tough to me."

148 comments:

Bay Area Guy said...

Obama really does not know how to debate. He constantly makes the strawman fallacy.

Yes, we really, really, really don't want widows and orphans from Syria, Mr. President.

It is a bizarro world, when the Prime Minister of France Hollande is much tougher and shows more leadership than the US President when it comes to using military force. Whoda thunkit?

damikesc said...

Our President...is an internet troll.

MayBee said...

He is a troll.

Obama is an internet troll. And Putin is a militaristic troll.

MayBee said...

Remember the guy who said we needed to debate ideas and respect other people's opinions? Remember that Obama?
Anyone who really believed that has to feel like a chump.

Etienne said...

We were so scared of women and children in 1942 that we put all the Americans with Japanese ancestry into concentration camps.

Ah, but was it really the women and children that scared us, or was it something else.

America deserves Obama. It deserves its worthless Congress, its worthless Supreme Court. It's worthless WMD stockpile.

Pettifogger said...

Under our system, the people (as a collective body) get the government they deserve. As a collective body, we are profoundly screwed up.

Brando said...

Rather than see these two pandering popinjays debate, I would actually like to see a good faith debate between those insisting that we can adequately verify that the Syrians in question will not include terrorists and so we should let them in, versus those arguing that we can never be certain and so we must figure out something else to do with them. The cheap shots I've seen on social media (e.g., "if you believe only a small minority of gun owners shouldn't be reason for gun control, why should a small minority of dangerous Syrians be reason to keep them all out?") suggest we're past the point of trying to sensibly debate this troubling issue and we're now just signaling. Just like usual.

TreeJoe said...

What a petulant president. I realize most historians will be kind to him for a variety of reasons, but Obama deserves personal skewering for centuries to come for his enjoyment of punching down at opponents while simultaneously castigating them for being obstinate.

Nonapod said...

Given the ridiculous number of strawmen Obama is constantly constructing there's gotta be a worldwide shortage on straw. Doesn't he care about all the hungry livestock he's depriving?

Anonymous said...

"...let's have a debate."

Or pistols at dawn. Or canes on the floor of the Senate, old school.

n.n said...

Obama would prefer to avoid acknowledging responsibility for the humanitarian disaster created by his political opportunism, staged coups, regime assassinations, and social justice policies. His solution is to propagate a refugee crisis, while leaving other people and a wasteland behind. Fortunately, a Russian-led coalition has stepped forward and is confronting the chaos on the ground.

Todd said...

How is it that President 3-putt can bravely stand up to Republicans all day long but not to any of America's enemies? How is it he feels brave enough to apologize on our behalf to our enemies but not brave enough to actually protect us?

As Pettifrogger says, we [as a country] are surely getting the government we deserve.

Matt said...

Piece of advice for Ted Cruz: "Never wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it."

eric said...

What a child. A petulant little child.

He must be surrounded by grinning sycophants to think these types of things should be said and not be immediately embarrassed for his ass hattery.

I can't wait for the little man to leave office.

Virgil Hilts said...

I think its interesting how Trump and Cruz are teaming up. Cruz seems to be doing more of what this article says -- invading safe spaces, riding the third rail -- has been the key to Trump's success. Hard to imagine Romney doing this. He was too much of a gentleman.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/17/charles-hurt-donald-trump-fuels-support-by-riding-/

Gahrie said...

I wish our president hated our nation's enemies one tenth as much as he hates Republicans.

Larry J said...

Obama, Harry Reid, and others like them make me sorry that dueling was outlawed.

Bay Area Guy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bleh said...

I think Obama also said something about the hypocrisy of "folks whose families have benefited from asylum laws" or something like that. I interpreted it as a cheap shot at the Cubans running for president.

Monkeyboy said...

My guess that the president responds with "well your mom takes Syrian refugees", and the left hoots like howler monkeys.

At some point we are going to get what we deserve as a people, and it's worrying how little I care.

YoungHegelian said...

I think Congress should put forth a bill that admits the Syrian women & children & leaves the men of military age behind.

Let's see Obama veto that/

The lefties need to move on past this & start coming up with good-faith bi-partisan actions. If Obama, by executive action, settles a bunch of refugees here, and if even one of them goes on a rampage under his administration, the Democratic Party can kiss its ass good-bye for the next ten years.

Etienne said...

While Obama and his Army are trying to assassinate and overthrow the head of a foreign government, they get upset that Americans don't want to house the people fleeing their imperialism.

It's just not fair.

AlbertAnonymous said...

Obama doesn't want to defeat ISIS.

Here's the proof.

1. We have the greatest military power in the world, capable of defeating ISIS.
2. Obama, as commander in chief of that power, can wield it almost at his will.
3. We have not defeated ISIS.

Ergo, Obama does not want to defeat ISIS.

We can do it, but we haven't, so clearly he doesn't want to do it. Now you all can argue amongst yourselves over WHY he doesn't want to do it. But, whatever the reason(s), the fact is Obama does not WANT to defeat ISIS.

Robert Cook said...

"We were so scared of women and children in 1942 that we put all the Americans with Japanese ancestry into concentration camps.

"Ah, but was it really the women and children that scared us, or was it something else."


Yes, it was...it was racism.

Anonymous said...

Obama called the idea of vetting Syrian refugees by religion "shameful." He alluded to the fact that some of these same politicians — namely Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), whose father fled Cuba decades ago — had benefited from America's willingness to accept refugees. Then he lied about Republicans being afraid of widows and 3 year old orphans.....funny, but most of the footage I saw, had grown men migrating....Didn't see many women and children by themselves.

bleh said...

By the way, my skin crawls when I hear a politician use the word "folks." It's almost like they're trying to take folksy to the extreme by using that word. They're so folksy.

Folks.

knighterrant said...

I am no more afraid of being killed by terrorists now than I was last week, which is to say not at all. I am far more likely to die violently at the hands of a drunk driver. There is a tiny chance a mugger will kill me, but it is still greater than a terrorist. A nervous cop shooting me? Very unlikely but still more likely than a terrorist. A terrified concealed carry gunist popping a cap in me by mistake is improbable but more possible than a terrorist offing me.

bleh said...

Maybe we should build a detention facility for processing the refugees. Maybe at Guantanamo?

YoungHegelian said...

@RC,

It was more than racism, RC. The Roosevelt administration put Jehovah's Witnesses in camps, too. They seriously considered putting away some of the German & Italian community, too, but there were just too many of them, and they all had vocal & well-known advocated (e.g. Joe DiMaggio's mom for the Italians). There were few Japanese, they were on the "vulnerable" West coast, & they had no members of their community that could be advocates to the wider US population.

Two other points: 1) racist or not, Korematsu is still on the books as American law, & can be used again in the next national emergency & 2) when Brazil joined the war, there was espionage by spies in the Brazilian Japanese community against the war effort.

Robert Cook said...

"By the way, my skin crawls when I hear a politician use the word "folks." It's almost like they're trying to take folksy to the extreme by using that word. They're so folksy."

Yes, it's patronizing.

tim in vermont said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Thorley Winston said...

I agree with Brando. This is a serious issue and I’m tired of “signaling” being a substitute for the kind of discussion needed to find a proper resolution to it. Even though I’m not a Cruz supporter, I blame Obama more so for it because he’s the president and it’s his responsibility to either get people on board with his policies or find one that can be supported an implemented when he’s left office a little over a year from now. He’s had 27 governors who have said “no” and while he might have the power to run roughshod over them, trying to do it unilaterally like his amnesty via executive order isn’t sustainable.

If you want to look at things from just a pure politics perspective, the person who could benefit most from this is Hillary Clinton. I think if Mrs. Clinton (who I assume favors bringing in the “refugees”) said publicly that we should disclose to the governors (at a level that doesn’t adversely impact national security) how we’re screening the people claiming refugee status and that we would offer incentives to cover the costs for States that accept them, she’d look a lot more presidential than the guy holding the job now. I don’t however think that’s in her nature.



Lydia said...

Obama just can't catch a break -- now at Reuters: Honduras detains 5 Syrians heading for U.S. with stolen Greek passports

Fen said...

If we were afraid of woman and children, we wouldn't allow a petulant childish bitch to be our president.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

"Widows and orphans"? Really? That's Obama's prediction of who will arrive?

The best estimate is that after the ca. 75% male, fighting-age population is safely installed, they will call for their (non-widowed) wives and their (non-orphaned) children.

If Obama has evidence of widows and orphans on the trail to Europe (some 20% of whom are actually Syrian, btw -- can we maybe talk about the other 80%?), I should like to see it. When I see women and children on the trail, it's families traveling together. But mostly it's men traveling alone. This is vastly unlike any other refugee crisis I've heard of. Families always traveled together.

Nichevo said...

11/18/15, 3:04 PM

Thanks Al (errant ain't the half of it)... Since you feel safe everybody should feel safe and there's really no need for all those stupid Levantines to flee, is there? No danger.

Why should anyone rely on your judgment of the threat, instead of their own?

Michael said...

Our president is a proper dick. I mean, really. OK, asshole, we will take all the widows and orphans. Every last one of them. But not one single male. Your move dipshit.

Dan Hossley said...

How pathetic. Obama can't explain his so-called strategy to defeat ISIS to a bunch of White House reporters and is reduced to hurling insults while employing his signature "straw man" argument.

This is the leader of the free world? I don't think so.

I Callahan said...

Yes, it was...it was racism.

No, Bob, it was not. That is such a chickenshit copout.

It was old-fashioned human fear. Our country had just been bombed by the Japanese military, in case you weren't following US history in high school. This is how humans have reacted to such situations for thousands of years, until the enlightened ones came along and told humanity that "they're doing it all wrong."

The absolute arrogance of the American left is still something to behold.

bleh said...

When I think of Obama, some of the words that come to mind are:

petulant (as many here have noted)

immature

undignified

cowardly

To his credit, he's not a criminal like Hillary. That's something.

Brando said...

The Japanese internment during WWII is very different from this case for a few reasons:

1) In WWII, we were talking about people who were already American citizens--many who were born here. The Syrians are people trying to get in.

2) In WWII, the people we were interning were already here, not people being turned away at the border/ports.

If we were rounding up all Americans of Syrian descent and putting them in camps, that would be far more analogous to what FDR did. It may be a compassionate thing, or a beneficial thing, for us to take in refugees--but we are not under an obligation to do so (except perhaps in the sense that you have an obligation to give to charity--which of course you don't, really). It's not bigoted or hysterical to ask what we're doing to ensure we don't get some dangerous terrorists in the mix, particularly when that may have been what happened in Paris, and we are fighting an enemy that has announced that is their plan.

Obama owes everyone an explanation as to why their fears aren't justified.

MountainMan said...

Obama needs to become familiar with Federal law with respect to refugees:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/427262/refugee-religious-test-shameful-and-not-american-except-federal-law-requires-it-andrew

tomaig said...

BDNYC: "I think Obama also said something about the hypocrisy of "folks whose families have benefited from asylum laws" or something like that. I interpreted it as a cheap shot at the Cubans running for president."

That's how I read it, too.

Michael said...

Cook

It was racist as well to detain Germans and Italians. Check out the number of Japanese living in Hawaii who were interned. Ditto New York and New Jersey. Not to mention Alabama.

I have devised a keyboard with a single key for the word racist. I will sell you one. Cheaper than carpal tunnel surgery

Bay Area Guy said...

@Brando - re WWII, I think that's right.

The problem of the Japanese internment (pushed by liberal icons Gov. Earl Warren of Cal and Prez FDR) was that we failed to distinguish between American citizens of Japanese descent and Japanese non-citizens.

Ironically, old J. Edgar Hoover was the only high-ranking official who balked at FDR's policy.

By failing to honestly describe the valid objections to mass Syrian immigration, Obama has self-identified as a charlatan.

Real American said...

I fail to see why so many people think Obama is smart. He's nothing more than a hack leftist. He can't debate his opponents. He must demonize them. He can't defend his own policies, so he attacks Republicans with fallacious arguments. 1/20/17 can't get here soon enough.

Nichevo said...

MountainMan said...
Obama needs to become familiar with Federal law

FTFY

Preferably from the inside.

Kevin said...


Why doesn't President Thin Skin emulate the Democrat Hero President FDR's policy when he allowed tens of thousands of persecuted Jews into America prior to and during WWII to escape Nazism and the holocaust...?

Oh.

Er.

Never mind...

Gahrie said...

I am no more afraid of being killed by terrorists now than I was last week, which is to say not at all

Are you at all interested in keeping it that way?

Because that's kind of our point.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Obama's superb oratorical skills, and ability and willingness to bring people together, is what got him elected. Those same factors will see us through this latest crisis!!

MathMom said...

Obama taunts Republicans because they will not behead him.

If Syrian "refugees" of military age get the chance, they will.

Kevin said...

I am no more afraid of being killed by terrorists now than I was last week, which is to say not at all"

I'm pretty sure that would have been the reply of the occupants of the World Trade Center Twin Towers prior to 9/11...and most Parisians prior to last Friday evening.

Your attitude is patently ridiculous. Not to mention insulting to the victims.

garage mahal said...

Haha. Ivy League debater with girlish high pitched voice issues challenge. I doubt Cruz could take his wife.

Kevin said...

Pretty sure he could wipe the floor with President Thin Skin McTeleprompter...

traditionalguy said...

The Japanese Americans on the west coast spoke Japanese that was understood by the Jap Fleet that sailed halfway to bomb Pearl Harbor and were coming back to invade and destroy California Defense plants after a quick sinking of Nimitz carriers at Midway.

Midway was our miracle. Otherwise the Japs would have been in San Francisco bombing the Golden Gate Bridge a month later.

I Callahan said...

I am far more likely to die violently at the hands of a drunk driver.

And we have pretty strict laws to deter drunk driving, even though most drunk drivers are NOT going to kill anyone or get into an accident. All under the guise of prevention. Something we're NOT doing with terrorists. Letting in a bunch of Syrian refugees is like letting all of the drunk drivers out of jail and telling them that drunk driving is no longer illegal, to use your analogy. Think that's going to happen some time soon?

There is a tiny chance a mugger will kill me, but it is still greater than a terrorist.

Cities have (illegal) laws against carrying guns openly. They have cops walking the beat in places as well. Also under the guise of preventing being mugged. Once again, something we're not doing with terrorism.

A nervous cop shooting me? Very unlikely but still more likely than a terrorist.

And with all of the laws supposedly protecting the innocent from being shot by nervous cops, it still happens. Yet when it comes to terrorism, we're just going to open the borders and let them in.

A terrified concealed carry gunist popping a cap in me by mistake is improbable but more possible than a terrorist offing me.

Now this I'd like to see some stats on. I think you're more apt to be shot by a cop than by a "concealed carry gunist" (by the way - what is a "gunist")?

So to follow your logic, let's not prevent any of it. Let drunk drivers out of jail with full pardons; let muggers out of jail; let's not probe cops who shoot people; and let's let people in from a country that is a terrorism hotbed.

Yep. Great ideas!

I Callahan said...

Haha. Ivy League debater with girlish high pitched voice issues challenge. I doubt Cruz could take his wife.

I'd take that bet any day of the week. You got the stones to accept?

David Begley said...

Ted just moved himself up in the polls as the GOP base despises Obama. And the base also knows that Ted would destroy Barack in a debate. Barack would be reduced to tears or saying "you know" ten times in a row.

Ted is running against Barack as much as he is running against the GOP field. Ted frequently paints Hillary as Obama's third term. That is true unless Hillary gets too confused about her policies.

Hagar said...

By all means let us have a debate about immigration, but this issue is not the place to have it.

It is like gun ownership; it is not the people who buy their guns from a licensed dealer and fill out the paperwork we need to worry about.

Original Mike said...

"Apparently, they are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America. At first they were too scared of the press being too tough on them in the debates. Now they are scared of three-year-old orphans. That doesn't seem so tough to me."

Remember when a topic here was how likable Obama is?

Rick said...

The Boston Bombers came here as kids.

Refugees are less likely to make a successful transition to our culture than self-selected economic or cultural immigrants. These last have made a value judgement about the relative cultures and life they will have once here and exhibited a net preference. Refugees are more likely to resent our culture and feel they were forced into it.

Combine this with many of our institutions' goal of fostering hatred for America and its non-leftist citizens it's reasonable to believe an unacceptably large percentage of these people will become political extremists down the road.

I'm for immigration of people who embrace American values. But not of people who ruined their own countries (or watched doing nothing) and want to come here and promote those same values.

Three year olds don't stay three. It ought to be politically embarrassing for the President of the United States to admit he's not looking down the road to understand what impact this will have on future generations.

Fen said...

Yah Garage's major concern these days is AIDs dementia.

I don't know why you people are civil with him here, considering his cheerleading of the deaths of innocents on older threads.

Grackle said...

I envision Ted Cruz standing over the prone Obama, like Ali over Liston screaming "what's my name?"

False Grackle

Rick said...

traditionalguy said...
The Japanese Americans on the west coast spoke Japanese that was understood by the Jap Fleet that sailed halfway to bomb Pearl Harbor and were coming back to invade and destroy California Defense plants after a quick sinking of Nimitz carriers at Midway.


The Japanese never planned to invade the American mainland. They didn't even invade Hawaii which would have been a tremendous blow.

Rusty said...

Fen said...
Yah Garage's major concern these days is AIDs dementia.

I don't know why you people are civil with him here, considering his cheerleading of the deaths of innocents on older threads.


You should always be charitable to the mentally challenged.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"Ted just moved himself up in the polls as the GOP base despises Obama. And the base also knows that Ted would destroy Barack in a debate. Barack would be reduced to tears or saying "you know" ten times in a row."

It's not just the base. The zeitgeist is changing so rapidly on the immigration issue. Good for Cruz for recognizing that. If 2016 can be made to be about immigration (of any stripe) then the Donks are boxed into playing defense and there will be scant opportunities for wailing about racism, warring on women, or transgender rights.

Etienne said...

traditionalguy said...The Japanese Americans on the west coast spoke Japanese...

The Syrians speak Arabic, French, and Turk. Oh dear...

Lots and lots of concentration camps. But think of the jobs! Federal contracts to build them.

Sign me up!

Fernandinande said...

BDNYC said...
By the way, my skin crawls when I hear a politician use the word "folks."


"I don’t know what the term is in Austrian", but it might be "Ein Volk".

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

With Obama, the Presidency of the United states has as much prestige and dignity as an episode of I Love Lucy.

Todd Roberson said...

One constant meme I always hear in these arguments is something to the effect of -

"by God, we've got the strongest military on earth, so why don't we ... etc. , etc., etc."

Do we really?

How do we know?

We certainly have the best funded military on earth, but - as seen in our education system - top funding doesn't always add up to the best results.

I'm wondering if thee are weaknesses in our military that are being hidden from the public? Otherwise, why all the failure in every military endeavor we've been in since Mr. Obama took office?

damikesc said...

Rather than see these two pandering popinjays debate, I would actually like to see a good faith debate between those insisting that we can adequately verify that the Syrians in question will not include terrorists and so we should let them in,

I'd settle for a discussion of how bringing them here is a benefit. I don't feel any moral need to bring them here. I don't like the expense of us paying to bring them here, shelter and feed them, and then have them on welfare forever. Even if they AREN'T terrorists, it's still a lot of money we don't have.

Piece of advice for Ted Cruz: "Never wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it."

I also like "Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and the beat you with experience"

A terrified concealed carry gunist popping a cap in me by mistake is improbable but more possible than a terrorist offing me.

Going with what one must go through to get CCW...no, not likely.

And the only apt comparison to WW II here is if FDR demanded we bring in the Nazis victimized by the Night of the Long Knives.

Etienne said...

The difference between the Japanese women and children we put into concentration camps, is that the Syrian women and children, really have endorsed the kamikaze attack.

Diamondhead said...

"With Obama, the Presidency of the United states has as much prestige and dignity as an episode of I Love Lucy."

Not really fair to Lucy, is it?

Curious George said...

Wasn't this the same asshole telling us that ISIS was "a JV team" and no threat before the took over Syria and half of Iraq? And said ISIS was "contained" hours before they killed 130 people in France?

What a douchebag. Fucker has no morals, no shame. No clue.

Known Unknown said...

"I'm wondering if thee are weaknesses in our military that are being hidden from the public? Otherwise, why all the failure in every military endeavor we've been in since Mr. Obama took office?'

Need to look no farther than rules of engagement.

Nichevo said...

Maybe we're going about this the wrong way. Maybe the approach should be

"But they won't like it here. We're not really good enough to house and feed them. We're jerks like Cook and everybody says. We're just not worthy to receive them.

"They will be happier closer to home with people they appreciate, with a better culture than ours, who speak their language, etc.

"So let's just pass the billions this will cost us to (gag) Turkey et al and let them handle it. So much better for them. Think of those poor widows and children having to go all that way, and sometimes drown like the Syrian Beach Boy. So sad.

"You are a jerk if you make those poor poor people come all the way to France or America to be safe! Make them safe at home! Or at least next door where they can hope to go home some day!"

(Better, Ann?)

The Godfather said...

So here's my proposal. It seems that most of the "migrants" into Europe are males. They say they want to get settled and then send for the wives and children. Very sensible. (Although I guess I can wonder how worried they are about conditions "back home" if they leave the wife and kiddies there, but never mind.) They've left "Syria" because of ISIS or because of Assad. So let's take the men (say ages 18-50) into the nearest NATO base, give them 4-6 weeks of basic training, give each one an AK-47 and a thousand rounds of ammo, and send them back to retake their country. Maybe we train a few of them as forward observers and supply them with radios to call in air strikes and drones. The press reports that IS forces are about 20,000. A couple hundred thousand armed "migrants" ought to be able to take their home lands back.

JAORE said...

"To his credit, he's not a criminal like Hillary. That's something."
- You might want to rethink that statement in a few years.

"I doubt Cruz could take his wife."
Why would he want to do THAT? Ewwww.

Nichevo said...

Godfather +1

Bonus:

"While you're fighting so bravely, we will take good care of your vulnerable family members. REAL GOOD care of them. WHILE you're fighting."

Robert Cook said...

"It was old-fashioned human fear."

Fear based on racism. (In fact, racism, at bottom, is fear-based...the fear of the unknown, the fear of those who are not like or of "us," and therefore, possibly a threat.)

The Japanese-Americans looked like the Japanese nationals who had bombed Pearl Harbor. Throughout WWII the Japanese were grotesquely caricatured as myopic, buck-toothed dwarfs, almost a species of sub-human goblins. Of course when Americans looked at their Japanese neighbors they were going to associate them with these caricatures.

Annie said...

Regarding the post about a 'religious test', which relates to this one -

" Under federal law, the executive branch is expressly required to take religion into account in determining who is granted asylum. Under the provision governing asylum (section 1158 of Title 8, U.S. Code), an alien applying for admission

must establish that … religion [among other things] … was or will be at least one central reason for persecuting the applicant.

Moreover, to qualify for asylum in the United States, the applicant must be a “refugee” as defined by federal law. That definition (set forth in Section 1101(a)(42)(A) of Title , U.S. Code) also requires the executive branch to take account of the alien’s religion:

The term “refugee” means (A) any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality … and who is unable or unwilling to return to … that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of … religion [among other things] …[.]

The law requires a “religious test.” And the reason for that is obvious. Asylum law is not a reflection of the incumbent president’s personal (and rather eccentric) sense of compassion. Asylum is a discretionary national act of compassion that is directed, by law not whim, to address persecution.

There is no right to emigrate to the United States. And the fact that one comes from a country or territory ravaged by war does not, by itself, make one an asylum candidate. War, regrettably, is a staple of the human condition. Civil wars are generally about power. That often makes them violent and, for many, tragic; but it does not necessarily make them wars in which one side is persecuting the other side.

In the case of this war, the Islamic State is undeniably persecuting Christians. It is doing so, moreover, as a matter of doctrine. Even those Christians the Islamic State does not kill, it otherwise persecutes as called for by its construction of sharia (observe, for example, the ongoing rape jihad and sexual slavery). To the contrary, the Islamic State seeks to rule Muslims, not kill or persecute them."...........

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/427262/refugee-religious-test-shameful-and-not-american-except-federal-law-requires-it-andrew

Shouldn't a law professor know this?

Writ Small said...

Trump fans who are worked up over Obama's cheap shot might wish to do a little self-reflection.

Sammy Finkelman said...

Cruz is bluffing. He's making specious arguments based upon ignorance and counting on the fact that Obama wouldn't debate him and probably isn't good enough to debate him.

That's part of the problem.

Take the argument:

I don’t know how this isn’t obvious to the folks at the Daily Beast, but the fact that ISIS appears to have intentionally and successfully exploited the refugee system to bust an agent into enemy territory only helps the arguments of those concerned about security and refugees. It’s not like the fakeness of the passport means that the terrorist is fake. He was all too real. And it doesn’t mean he didn’t come into enemy territory by claiming to be a refugee. He still did that.

This ignores the all important point that he would not have come into the United States that way!

Because we would have detected the forgery. Almost immediately.

Syrian passports have certain serial numbers and so on and this one had an unused number. And the United States government knows about that and would check.

This also ignores another point. You know, with diseases, there is the idea of quarantine. You wait 40 days or whatever until you can be sure somebody is not infected. It works actally with this, too. It’s an unintentional quarantine, but there’s definitely a long quarantine period, and that alone pretty much guarantees that anyone being brought into the United states is not a terrorist.

All these refugees acoming in now are already in the pipeline. They’ve waited a minimum of six months, and more likely more than ayear, a year and a half maybe two.

No terrorist organization is going to send anyone to wait around in a refugee camp, where he might give himself away, or defect, with no guarantee of being picked to go anywhere in particular.

In fact, I kind of think he might be motivated to talk just to try to get himself out of there.

The people coming into Greece now may have left Damascus three weeks before.

Actually that also would not be a link to ISIS. Maybe this guy left Raqqa two weeks before getting into Greece.

That’s not the case with any of the refugees coming into the United States.

How can this point be missed?

More important, actually, the vetting is good enough to catch something like this.

It probably would have caught this terrorist in Europe, too, if he had tried to register as a refugee, or undergone even light interrogation, but he probably did not use that passport to travel out of Serbia, but rather switched passports or was smuggled hidden in a car, then made sure to take his passport with him to the stadium to mislead people.

Obama is exaggerating. He "improves" his argument, as he usually does. They are not all widows and 3-year old orphans. But they are included in Cruz's prohibition, so i guess Obama counts that as a fair remark..

Winston said...

I think Lucy in the candy factory episode works perfectly, John Kerry as Ethel.

holdfast said...

"I doubt Cruz could take his wife."

Yeah, you ALWAYS let the Wookie win.

garage mahal said...

"Yah Garage's major concern these days is AIDs dementia."

Very well done Fen! You recycled an insult you heard from someone else that was hurled at Andrew Sullivan 10 years ago.

MAJMike said...

As I recall, the DemCong told us that, "...dissent was the highest form of patriotism."

Lewis Wetzel said...

"More important, actually, the vetting is good enough to catch something like this."
Oh, bullshit, Finkelman.
Describe the vetting process in detail for me, please.
You can't.
It's classified.

grackle said...

I can't wait for the little man to leave office.

Me neither, Obama is annoying in the extreme.

The Japanese never planned to invade the American mainland.

Because they never got the chance.

tastid212 said...

i'd think that any politician who wishes to be re-elected would fear a replay of the Willie Horton situation, only with an arabic name this time.

but then some politicians aren't up for re-election.

Curious George said...

Sammy Finkelman said...

"No terrorist organization is going to send anyone to wait around in a refugee camp, where he might give himself away, or defect, with no guarantee of being picked to go anywhere in particular."

'In fact, I kind of think he might be motivated to talk just to try to get himself out of there."

And your basis for this? ISIS gets the dumbfucks to strap on boom belts. And go on suicide missions. If that isn't enough to make them defect, give themselves away, I don't think holing up in refugee camp is much of an issue.

Hagar said...

Actually, the Japanese did invade part of the Aleutian Islands, AK.

Lewis Wetzel said...

The federal government long ago gave away any credibility it had on the subject of border security. All the Dems, and a good number of Republicans, don't give a shit about the Americans hurt by a defacto open borders policy.
They can't deport illegals with criminal records, but they are going to watch these Syrian refugees like a hawk?
How stupid do they think we are?

readering said...

I can never get enough of Obama or anyone else insulting Cruz. The guy's insufferable.

Rick said...

garage mahal said..

Garage does bring up an important point: how do you get the kill blog commenter add-on to work on this website? I tested it on another website so I know the installation worked. But on that website a "hush" button appears when you highlight the poster's name. On this nothing appears. I tried right-clicking and clicking through to the blogger file.

Hagar said...

People are hopping mad about the situation along our Mexican border, and the politicians that know about it, also about games that the State Dept. and the Democrat left have played in the past with certain "refugee" groups.
However, mixing up the different situations and arguments just plays into Obama's Alynskyite hands. This is his kind of game.

Towhee said...

I wonder if the gal who set off her suicide vest in France today was a widowed orphan? How many more days before we can talk about this President in the past tense?

mccullough said...

Can we banish these two dipshits back to Harvard Law School where they belong. I have a problem with an immigration policy that allowed each of these fools' fathers into the US.

cubanbob said...

readering said...
I can never get enough of Obama or anyone else insulting Cruz. The guy's insufferable.

11/18/15, 5:20 PM"

Funny most decent and sane people feel the same about Cruz or anyone else insulting Obama, Hillary and any other progressive.

Opus One Media said...

My thoughts turn back 30 years ago when the old Gipper let a couple hundred thousand Cuban crazies and criminals into the country we managed to get through it. But then again he was a Republican. ROGER. Over and out.

Nichevo said...

Harold House: that was Carter. Anything else to say or shall you just change your name and try again on another blog?

mccullough said...

Harold,

That was Carter and he changed his policy a few weeks before the election. Also the governor of Arkansas lost his re-election in part for taking in the marielitos. But he learned his lesson.

damikesc said...

My thoughts turn back 30 years ago when the old Gipper let a couple hundred thousand Cuban crazies and criminals into the country we managed to get through it. But then again he was a Republican. ROGER. Over and out.

About 125,000. And that they were criminals et al was not known at the time.

And Reagan had no part in it. April thru October 1980 was before he was in office. It was a Carter thing. And he got plenty of heat for it also.

Nichevo said...

I suspect HH is a chickenshit hit-and runner and won't be back, especially after his blog suicide there. Someone might Chase him but I can't be bothered.

Come back, HH! Regale us with more wit and wisdom!

MacMacConnell said...

If Obama is correct that these "refugees" can be adequately vetted then the FBI Director, CIA Director and damn near all of the White House National Security staff should be held in contempt for lying to Congress, that is not what they testified to.

Roughcoat said...


Late to the party, but concerning the internment of Japanese ethnics in World War II:

1. A significant number of those who were interned were indeed Japanese nationals residing in the United States on extended work visas. They were technically citizens of Japan and, that being the case, the United States was obliged by law, and by established international protocols, to intern ALL foreign nationals of countries which had entered into a formally declared state of hostilities with the United States. There was nothing extraordinary about such internment. The vast majority of these Japanese nationals resident in the U.S. were adults with children who had been born in the United States and who were thus to be entitled to be treated as American citizens. However--and here it got complicated--inasmuch as those children were minors (which includes teenagers under the age of 18) they could not be separated from their parents and thus had to accompany their parents into the camps.

2. Contrary to the mythology promulgated by apologists and revisionist historians, the Japanese ethnic community in the prewar United States--on the West Coast, and in Hawaii--had its share of agents working for the Japanese government. Most of them were shut down after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and this no doubt due to the fact of their internment.

avwh said...

We owe one giant "thanks for nothing!" to the press for never holding this asshole's feet to the fire. They wouldn't vet him when he ran; they don't investigate or barely report on any of the myriad screwups his Administration has had, and let him get away with anything.

7+ years into the job, he's still as petulant as ever, still tossing out useless, inapt strawmen, and still more angry about Republicans than the real enemy who, y'know, really does want to kill us. And the press still laps it up.

cubanbob said...

Harold House said...
My thoughts turn back 30 years ago when the old Gipper let a couple hundred thousand Cuban crazies and criminals into the country we managed to get through it. But then again he was a Republican. ROGER. Over and out.

11/18/15, 5:38 PM"

First thing when trying to make a point is to avoid transparent and obvious idiocies.
Second thing is even if for the sake of humor and argument we were to take your firt idiocy as true that is no reason to continuing doing so. By the way the old bag the Hildabeast will be the same age as Reagan if God forbid that criminal grifter is elected.

The good thing is as long Obama continues with his arrogant idiocy the greater the likelihood of a Republican victory.

Roughcoat said...


With respect to my comments above about World War II internment policy: when a Japanese American who was interned as a child complains about his internment it is well to ask whether his parents were American citizens. If they weren't--if they were still officially Japanese citizens--the internment of the entire family was entirely justified and required by law.

That said, many Japanese Americans, i.e. people born in Japan who had become naturalized American citizens, were also interned. Their internment was unlawful and a great injustice. The vast majority of these Japanese Americans were loyal to their adopted country and the young men who served in Nisei army units in the European Theater compiled one of the most impressive combat records in the annals of U.S. military history. Other Japanese Americans served in the Pacific Theater, mostly with the Marines, and their combat record was equally impressive.

alan markus said...

Wow, it's always fun watching someone shit on themselves on the internet, Harold House. Just in case there is a temptation to delete, here it is for posterity:

Blogger Harold House said...
My thoughts turn back 30 years ago when the old Gipper let a couple hundred thousand Cuban crazies and criminals into the country we managed to get through it. But then again he was a Republican. ROGER. Over and out.

11/18/15, 5:38 PM

Fabi said...

I guess Cook forgets that Germans and Italians were interned during WWII. Where's your idiotic cry of racism now?

Michael K said...

Throughout WWII the Japanese were grotesquely caricatured as myopic, buck-toothed dwarfs, almost a species of sub-human goblins.

Says the boy who has never served in the military and who has no idea about morale. The Japanese were convinced that we were soft and would cave if we lost a battle or two. At Guadalcanal, Japanese wounded shot Americans trying to help them, and give treatment. Pretty soon there was a shortage of Japanese prisoners.

The Japanese prison camps were nightmares. Read "King Rat" for one description. When American were invading Peleiiu, the Japanese took American POWs and put them in a ditch and poured gasoline into the ditch and set it on fire.

In the Owen Stanley mountains, Japanese troops used American and Australian prisoners as food. Butchering pieces of flesh from living prisoners and eating it. The living prisoners were kept alive to preserve the flesh left which was to be used for the next meal.

Yes, it was racism.

Michael K said...

I knew a woman whose family was interned. Her father had a vegetable market in LA. While they were in the campy, which was only until the threat of invasion was over in late 1942, the white market stall owners kept his property for him. They returned it when they were released.

Yes, it was hysteria and some of it was due to a phenomenon in Hawaii called The Niihau Incident.

The Niʻihau incident (or Battle of Niʻihau) occurred on December 7, 1941, when Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service pilot Shigenori Nishikaichi (西開地 重徳 Nishikaichi Shigenori) crash-landed his Zero on the Hawaiian island of Niʻihau after participating in the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was killed in a struggle with people on the island.

The island's Native Hawaiian residents were initially unaware of the attack, but apprehended Nishikaichi when the gravity of the situation became apparent. Nishikaichi then sought and received the assistance of three locals of Japanese descent in overcoming his captors, finding weapons, and taking several hostages. Eventually, Nishikaichi was killed by Niihauans Benehakaka "Ben" Kanahele and Kealoha "Ella" Kanahele;[1] Ben Kanahele was wounded in the process, and one of Nishikaichi's confederates, Yoshio Harada, committed suicide.


This was known soon by US authorities and there was panic that other Japanese ethnics could turn on the US and support the Japanese Navy. There were incidents in Honolulu that were magnified and the panic was unjustified as the Japanese Navy was very poor on logistics but that was not understood until after Midway.

The internment should be considered in the same light as the British shipping thousands of Germans to Canada even though they were Jews fleeing Hitler. This included children .

Christy said...

Just a note: France's home grown terrorists are the terrifying babies brought in a couple of decades ago from their former North African colonies.

Paco Wové said...

Nichevo: HH is a long-time Althouse troll. He shows up every 6-12 months, says something incredibly stupid – so stupid it makes GM look brilliant – gets called on it, and slinks off for another 6 -12 months.

khesanh0802 said...

@The Godfather "Although I guess I can wonder how worried they are about conditions "back home" if they leave the wife and kiddies there, but never mind." I have had the same thought. Would you abandon your family in a war zone, even a refugee camp, and go off seeking a better situation? I know I wouldn't regardless of how much better my chances would be alone.

Original Mike said...

Does Harold House = hd house?

victoria said...

I am not an Obama fan but i like it. Ted Cruz is a bully, and a bag of wind.


Vicki from Pasadena

victoria said...

Yes, Eric, i consider Ted Cruz a child.

Vicki from pasadena

Roughcoat said...


In World War II the Japanese were consistently and savagely barbaric in their behavior towards enemy combatants, prisoners of war, civilians in occupied countries--anyone they regarded as their inferiors, which meant anyone who was not Japanese, which meant everyone except themselves. This is an entirely factual statement and is not open to argument. I've written books and articles on the Pacific War based on interviews with veterans of that conflict. I've interviewed and written about veterans of the 192nd and 194th Tank Battalions who served on Bataan, took part in the Bataan Death March, made the journey on the so-called Hell Ships from the Philippines to the Japan, and who spent the better part of three horrific years in Japanese prison camps and laboring as slaves in Japanese coal mines and other industries. The suffering they endured and the cruelty of the Japanese beggars description. The Japanese make ISIS look like pikers. Wartime propaganda depicting them as sub-human is entirely accurate and appropriate if their behavior is the measure. It is only inappropriate if one is so compromised by moral relativism as to be rendered incapable of making value judgments about what it is to be human or sub-human, as the case may be.

chickelit said...

Ted is running against Barack as much as he is running against the GOP field. Ted frequently paints Hillary as Obama's third term. That is true unless Hillary gets too confused about her policies.

It seems true that Hillary so far represents a third Obama term. I'd like to see evidence to the contrary.

chickelit said...

@victoria: Obama is the Charlie Sheen of politics: He's perfectly willing to risk mortal infection for his own gratification. Just look at how surly both Obama and Sheen become under the spotlight.

chickelit said...

The one human trait Obama lacks is humility. I sincerely believe that he regards humility as a weakness. For him, it is pride ueber alles. I believe this was inculcated in him from an early age.

Michael K said...

"I am not an Obama fan but i like it. Ted Cruz is a bully, and a bag of wind.


Vicki from Pasadena'

Says the left wing troll.

HuffPo is your normal habitat.

chickelit said...

Says the left wing troll.

Yes, but she's our left wing troll -- not Huffpoo's.

MathMom said...

We listened to Unbroken on our road trip from Texas to Alaska last summer. In it, the atrocities of the Japanese are documented, and they sound very much like ISIS.

When we finished listening to it, I was convinced that atomic bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the correct decision. The Japanese in WWII were bloodthirsty savages with no remorse.

If we could get ISIS in one place, nuking them would be justice.

Michael K said...

"Yes, but she's our left wing troll -- not Huffpoo's."

Well, we could leave her in a glass case and a sign, "Break if you need troll."

Jupiter said...

The Tsarnaevs weren't terrorists when they came to this country. They would not have turned up on any list that the pinheads at DHS use for "vetting". They became terrorists, after this country let them in. But we should have known they would become terrorists, because they were already members of a terrorist organization - Islam. The same is true of most of the Syrian refugees.

Seeing Red said...

The Japanese either had or were planning to have safe houses in Mexico to run to after attacks.

narciso said...

game, set, match:

http://www.weaselzippers.us/240621-national-reviews-kevin-williamson-responds-to-hillarys-refugee-comments-in-a-way-only-he-can/

james conrad said...

So Obama helped create millions of refugees and the killing of hundreds of thousands in Syria by not acting on his "red line" and now he wants to insult others for their lack of compassion? This guy really is a despicable human being.

eric said...

Blogger victoria said...
Yes, Eric, i consider Ted Cruz a child.

Vicki from pasadena


I'm pretty sure we all consider you a child, Vicky.

Anonymous said...

Obama acts like one of the petulant kings on Game of Thrones. How dare anyone fail to agree with him? They must be dolts and poltroons.

Matt Sablan said...

This is a huge problem with the left right now. There's no honest discussion with the vast, vocal majority of them. You can see it on most online forums. It's just a waste of breath talking to them because they don't assume good faith and think that the right are slightly less moral than Megatron and Cobra Commander.

Todd said...

Rick said... [hush]​[hide comment]
garage mahal said..

Garage does bring up an important point: how do you get the kill blog commenter add-on to work on this website? I tested it on another website so I know the installation worked. But on that website a "hush" button appears when you highlight the poster's name. On this nothing appears. I tried right-clicking and clicking through to the blogger file.

11/18/15, 5:26 PM


It does work on this blog through Google Chrome (I am using version 46.0.2490.86 m). It is the KF plug-in. I got it reinstalled a few weeks ago after having to move to a new laptop and it really cleans up the place. The ability to "hush" those that only show up to sling poo is wonderful. I enjoy a good debate and a good back-n-forth but I do require a curtain minimal level of honesty and decorum in those that I interact with. You might be surprised with how few individuals you actually need to "hush" to class up the place. I think my list only has 3 maybe 4 folks on it. Good luck.

Robert Cook said...

"I guess Cook forgets that Germans and Italians were interned during WWII. Where's your idiotic cry of racism now?"

That was also racism, or just xenophobia, if you don't want to accept that racism can be based on more than just skin color or facial features. We referred to Germans as "krauts" or "heinees" and Italians as "dagos" or "wops."

Nichevo said...

Cook,

So what?

Robert Cook said...

Nichevo,

Well, in the larger picture, with regard to everything having to do with human existence: So what?

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Oh dear, we were racist to the Master Race? Imagine our shame.

Nichevo said...

No, Bob, I mean what's your point? Racism alleged, so...actionable how? Surrender to the Axis? Be nicer? We didn't deserve to win? The GIs in the trench at Pelelieu deserved to be drenched in gasoline and burned alive? What the fuck are you saying? What are you ever saying? You think the Axis wasn't insulting us? You think your heroes the Russians were nice and nonracist? (Ask any Chechen)

You swim in irrelevancies.

Matt Sablan said...

"We referred to Germans as "krauts" or "heinees" and Italians as "dagos" or "wops.""

'We' did not. I wasn't even born then.

Nichevo said...

Cook, let me put it another way, in the words of Francis Ford Coppola:


Kurtz: We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write "fuck" on their airplanes because it's obscene!


Surprising to find you enmeshed in such hypocrisy.
/sarc

Hyphenated American said...

I say, lets house 10 random Syrian "refugees" in the White House with Obama, and 100 Syrian refugee children will attend his daughters' school. Isn't it what Obama is about? And let's put this in the law, and make Obama veto it.

Robert Cook said...

"'We' did not. I wasn't even born then."

Matthew, I really thought you were not so literal-minded, and were above such missing-the-point pedantry.

Robert Cook said...

Uh...Nichevo...talk about missing the point...sheesh!

It is a truism that when fighting a war, all people will insult their opponents as being sub-human cretins and monsters; those who have fought us, you can be sure, were the same and characterized us as devils and monsters. This makes it easier to live with killing one's enemies.

The "racism" has to do with the internment in American prison camps of American citizens (and non-citizen residents) simply because they were Japanese (and to a lesser extent) German or Italian. Was there reason to believe those interned were sympathizers with the war aims of their ancestral (or recent) homelands? Or was this simply because of their names, features, and ancestry?

Nichevo said...

Bob, if I show you all your self-contradictions on this topic, will you acknowledge them or just ignore? If the latter I won't bother elaborating.

Robert Cook said...

If you can show me where I have contradicted myself, I will acknowledge...if I agree they are self-contradictions.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Does this guy's bluster ever end?