Paris Mayhem

"This again!"

 

Damn Inky for bringing up one of those inconvenient questions you don't like because you don't like the answer!

And damn you because now I've got that theme music in my head!

 

More Republican irony: They're against providing shelter to others in their time of need. Yet, in the predominant religion of most of their members, one of the main stories is how the parents of their deity were rejected in their time of need from receiving shelter.

 

LOL. I swear, listening to atheists try to make Bible based arguments is always fun. It's up there with getting lectured to by the Godless with the words of the Pope.

We should probably remember that Jesus' family were not refugees. They were not homeless. And, they did not remain in Bethlehem long after his birth. They went back to their home.

 

The Times looks at the rise of ISIS:

And there were, in fact, more than hints of the group’s plans and potential. A 2012 report by the United States Defense Intelligence Agency was direct: The growing chaos in Syria’s civil war was giving Islamic militants there and in Iraq the space to spread and flourish. The group, it said, could “declare an Islamic state through its union with other terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria.”

“This particular report, this was one of those nobody wanted to see,” said Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, who ran the defense agency at the time.

“It was disregarded by the White House,” he said. “It was disregarded by other elements in the intelligence community as a one-off report. Frankly, at the White House, it didn’t meet the narrative.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/19/w...e-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

 

The US was only going to admit 10,000 refugees next year anyway. Let's just go back to Plan A. Take in this tiny little sliver and cynically pat ourselves on the back for being such good guys.

 

I'm genuinely curious. For the ones who post a lot on this and other threads like it, do you guys/gals talk this much politics in your everyday lives face-to-face with people? With your co-workers, buddies at the bar, significant others?

No snark. Honestly curious.

 

God no.

I'm willing to discuss politics if someone is wants to, but I don't go around initiating political conversations.

I'll talk horserace politics with one of my best friends who used to work in high level Dem jobs -- both campaigns and in government -- but we don't argue, or try to change each other's minds. If anything, we want to hear what the other side thinks. Have literally never argued politics with him, as many times as we've discussed it.

And, I never post about politics on facebook. I have no interest in debating politics with someone I went to grade school with, but haven't seen in 30 years.

 

I take that to mean "No, it hasn't been proven any of the Paris attackers were Syrian refugees, so all this hysteria about them is stupid."

 

Speaking of which. From President Obama:

"And I would add these are the same folks who suggested they’re so tough that just talking to Putin or staring down ISIL" will work, he said. "But they're scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America as part of our tradition of compassion. First, they were worried the press was too tough on them in the debates; now they're worried about 3-year old orphans. That doesn’t sound very tough to me."

 

They don't operate logically?

Seriously, I don't think they're after the most logical thing, just the one with the most impact in terms of unexpectedness and death. A long, drawn screening process would certainly be conducive to that if the terrorists did eventually get in that way. Terrorist plots usually are months or years in the making, anyway, aren't they?

Not saying that I'm paranoid that terrorists would be coming in as refugees. I'm actually not. But I could see them trying to do it, as part of the lulling process.

 

Getting someone who already holds a US Passport, or someone with a passport from a European country, or a friendly Muslim country, who can get a tourist or student Visa would be easier, and make more sense.

But, ISIS doesn't strictly operate top down. If we don't know who the refugees are, then we don't know what their motivations for coming here are.

And, Muslim terrorists do operate on long timelines. How long did it take to pull off 9/11? How long were some of those terrorists in the US?