Displaying posts published in

2016

Arrests Show Jihadists Infiltrating Syrian Refugees : Abigail Esman

When Europe agreed to open its borders to Syrian refugees in response to one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our age, officials assured the Western world: we’ve got this. There will be no jihadists among them; and if there are, we’ll be sure they won’t get in.

But it wasn’t exactly true. Jihadists, we now know, have been among them. They have gotten through. And now those same officials are starting to admit things might get even worse.

On Saturday, only weeks after Germany’s national security agency confessed it had been alerted to the presence of jihadists who posed as asylum-seekers, German police arrested three Syrians on charges of planning a major attack in Dusseldorf. The arrests followed a confession by a fourth suspect, arrested earlier in France, who had informed officials there about the plot. All four suspects, reported the Washington Post, had traveled to Europe along the well-worn, so-called Balkan Route. Prosecutors say the attack aimed to kill “as many bystanders as possible with guns and other explosives,” as had a plot foiled days earlier in Antwerp.

Europeans already are on edge as a result of the multiple terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels over the past 18 months. But news of these arrests, coupled with heightened concerns among German intelligence officials, alarmed communities both in Germany and in neighboring countries. Yet despite this development, intelligence officials in the Netherlands, which shares a border with Germany, maintained until just last week that there is minimal chance that any asylum seeker there is a terrorist.

That changed suddenly on Tuesday, with the disclosure by the same French suspect that the militants arrested in Dusseldorf had been part of a group of 20, divided between asylum centers there and in the Dutch city of Nijmegen.

Not that this should be a surprise. Since the beginning of the crisis, Holland’s screening of migrants has been sloppy. A report released in May by Holland’s Ministry of Security and Justice noted that several screening centers were careless and inadequate, failing to meet established standards. Perhaps as a result of hastened procedural demands as the stream of refugees has increased, neither computer systems nor inspectors seems prepared to meet the challenges: as Dutch daily the Telegraaf observed, the system for checking fingerprints crashes daily; document screeners fail several times a week; and “it is unclear whether all baggage of the asylum-seekers is being properly inspected.”

Nick Cater The Revolt of the Outsiders

“The uncomfortable truth for the political class is that in so far as Trump exploits hatred, the principal object of that hatred is not Hispanics, Muslims, women or homosexuals. The hate is aimed squarely at the political class itself. The anger welling up around their ankles is the product of exasperation towards politically correct, morally arrogant, know-it-all, condescending urban sophisticates—people in other words just like themselves.The dominant political and cultural fault line—from Washington to Warsaw to Wangaratta—is not the divide between Left and Right, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, workers and employers, or the haves and the have-nots. It is between insiders and outsiders. It is a clash between the cosmopolitan, socially liberal values of the tertiary-educated elite and the pragmatic, socially conservative outlook of the rest of society.”

The populism that inflicted Clive Palmer on Canberra and has now secured Donald Trump’s presidential nomination is not driven by cheap bigotries, as those it targets would have us believe. Rather, it is a clash between a dominant, insular elite and everyone else

Another academic hit job on conservatives falls apart By Theodore Dawes

Four years ago, I wrote an article for American Thinker that I believed was the final word on academic “studies” that were contorted to put conservatives in a bad light. The study, which purportedly found that conservatives “are losing faith in science,” said nothing of the kind. It found that conservatives are losing faith in the scientific community. The authors simply declared the scientific community and science are the same, thus arriving at the conclusion they so desperately wanted to reach.

It was a real twofer: a bogus study that showed exactly why conservatives are losing faith in the scientific community.

But now there appears before the court of public opinion an even better example. Sharp-eyed readers may recall that in 2013, three professors from Virginia Commonwealth University found that conservatives tend to exhibit forms of “psychoticism,” such as authoritarianism and tough-mindedness.

That’s an oversimplification, of course, but not much of one – and it’s exactly how it was stated in thousands of articles.

Liberals were said to exhibit “neuroticism” and “social desirability” and were therefore more likely to support public expenditures on public assistance.

“Social desirability” can be stated in plain English as a “conscious effort to get along,” says Steven Hayward at Powerline, who brought the important facts to light in recent days.

As he notes, the original article on the study was published in the American Journal of Political Science. The article includes this comment.

In line with our expectations, P [for “Psychoticism”] (positively related to tough-mindedness and authoritarianism) is associated with social conservatism and conservative military attitudes. Intriguingly, the strength of the relationship between P and political ideology differs across sexes. P‘s link with social conservatism is stronger for females while its link with military attitudes is stronger for males. We also find individuals higher in Neuroticism are more likely to be economically liberal. Furthermore, Neuroticism is completely unrelated to social ideology, which has been the focus of many in the field. Finally, those higher in Social Desirability are also more likely to express socially liberal attitudes.

San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association appears to have a strong ‘pro-Mexico’ agenda By Sierra Rayne

According to FactCheck.org, “it’s not accurate to call the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association ‘very pro-Mexico’ or ‘very strongly pro-Mexican.'”

The same article claims that Donald Trump’s comments that U.S. district judge Gonzalo Curiel is a “member of a club or society very strongly pro-Mexican” are “an inaccurate description of a group for Latino lawyers and law students in San Diego.”

To clarify, membership in the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association also includes judges, in addition to lawyers and law students, and one could reasonably argue that not only is it inappropriate, but it also potentially runs contrary to federal statues and the common law for sitting judges to be members of such activist organizations.

Luis Osuna, president of the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association, is quoted as saying “[w]e have no pro-Mexico agenda.”

That doesn’t appear to be what the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association’s social media feed shows.

On February 3, 2015, the organization tweeted, “Are you a member of House of Mexico? You can learn more about their great work below: http://fb.me/76CDut6Au.”

The House of Mexico, whose home page is the link the association tweeted, has a self-stated mission “to share, celebrate, educate and promote the rich art, culture, and history of Mexico.”

Then, on September 2, 2015, the organization tweeted, “SDLRLA supports House of Mexico San Diego” with an link to a Change.org petition to “Tell House of Pacific Relations that Mexico needs a stand-alone house in Balboa Park.” According to this petition being promoted by the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association:

The continued attacks on Mexico and Mexicans must end. We say, “Basta! Enough!” Mexico deserves its own house in a prominent location.

If this doesn’t reflect a “pro-Mexico agenda” by the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association, it will interesting to hear what does.

American Charged With Aiding Islamic State Man accused of joining, then quitting group By Kate O’Keeffe

The Justice Department on Thursday unsealed charges against an American who had allegedly traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State terror group.

While federal prosecutors have been steadily charging people for helping Islamic State from the U.S., there are far fewer cases involving Americans who have allegedly traveled to the Middle East to join the group, become disenchanted, and returned.

Mohamad Jamal Khweis, a 26-year-old who last lived in Alexandria, Va., left the U.S. in December 2015 to join Islamic State, alleged the May 11 complaint, which charged him with providing material support to the terror group.

He lived in Islamic State safe houses in Syria and Iraq, told the terror group he would be willing to become a suicide bomber, and participated in Islamic State-directed religious training for nearly a month before leaving the group’s territory and surrendering in March to Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, the complaint alleges.

It wasn’t immediately known who Mr. Khweis’s attorney is. A U.S. relative of Mr. Khweis had earlier called him “a very respectful and quiet young man” who had “nothing to do” with Islamic State.

Mr. Khweis will have an initial appearance at the federal courthouse in Alexandria on Thursday afternoon, the Justice Department said.

Though Islamic State’s social media presence remains powerful, the number of Americans traveling to the Middle East to fight alongside the terror group has been dropping, James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, told reporters in May at FBI headquarters.

Since August, one American a month has traveled or attempted to travel to the Middle East to join the group, compared with about six to 10 a month in the preceding year and a half, Mr. Comey said. CONTINUE AT SITE

Trump, the Judiciary and Identity Politics Making an issue of Judge Curiel’s ethnicity was squalid—and the other side of a coin that liberals have played for years. Michael Mukasey

Federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born in Indiana to parents of Mexican origin and belongs to an association of lawyers of Mexican origin, is sitting on a case in the Southern District of California that charges fraud against Trump University. Donald Trump in recent days has attracted much attention by suggesting that Judge Curiel should be disqualified for bias because the judge’s rulings are adverse to Mr. Trump and because, in campaigning for the presidency, the candidate has criticized Mexicans and proposed building a wall on the southwest U.S. border.

Mr. Trump’s claim against Judge Curiel is both baseless and squalid, but some in the chorus of critics are not themselves entirely without fault.

First, let’s dispose of the recusal question. Two statutes bear on recusal of a federal judge; neither remotely supports Mr. Trump’s argument. One, and part of the other, treat recusal for bias in fact. To justify such a finding, the complainant must show that a judge has a financial interest in a case, or that the judge has a relationship with parties or lawyers in it. Sworn evidence of the judge’s personal bias or prejudice is another justification for recusal. No evidence of such bias—indeed no evidence at all—has been submitted to the court by Mr. Trump or his lawyers.
The remaining provision requires a judge to disqualify himself “in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” The provision doesn’t require a formal motion, but directs the judge to act, if necessary, on his own, as he would if he had a financial interest of which he was aware.

There is case law on what circumstances suggest that a judge’s impartiality “might reasonably be questioned”—the key word of course being “reasonably.” A judge is enjoined to weigh the importance of public confidence in the courts against the distinct possibility that someone questioning his impartiality might simply be seeking to avoid anticipated adverse consequences of his presiding over the case.

That is, parties shouldn’t use recusal as a device to judge-shop. Because the job of a judge is to rule, and rulings necessarily favor one party or the other, adverse rulings—even a disproportionate number—generally are not considered evidence of partiality.

Race, religion and even gender have been used as suggested bases for “reasonably” questioning a judge’s impartiality. Thus black judges, particularly those with professional histories before they took the bench that included civil-rights work, have been asked to recuse themselves in civil-rights cases. A female judge in the Southern District of New York in 1975 was challenged in a sex-discrimination case, as was a Mormon judge in a 1984 case that allegedly involved the “theocratic power structure of Utah.” These challenges were rejected. CONTINUE AT SITE

THE DEATH OF FREE SPEECH IN EUROPE-VIDEO

Across Europe, cartoonists, artists and writers are forced to live under police protection, and also often face criminal prosecution — all for the “crime” of offending Islam. “‘Respect’ means, for them, submission.” It starts with censoring cartoons… Here is Gatestone Institute’s Giulio Meotti in our latest video:

Don’t miss our next video — subscribe free to the Gatestone Institute YouTube channel!

RUTHIE BLUM; UNEATEN BIRTHDAY CAKE NEXT TO POOLS OF BLOOD

‘Uneaten birthday cakes next to pools of blood’

An Israeli parliamentarian who arrived on the scene of Wednesday night’s Palestinian terrorist attack in Tel Aviv summed up in a phrase what terrorism is all about.

“Uneaten birthday cakes next to pools of blood,” is how Likud MK Amir Ohana described what he encountered in the immediate aftermath of the shooting spree at the Max Brenner chocolate shop and cafe in the Sarona shopping complex.

No matter how precisely witnesses describe the attacks Israelis experience on a regular basis — the fear, the screams, and the killings — it is rare for words to capture carnage so well.

Yes, “uneaten birthday cakes next to pools of blood” tells us everything we need to know about the setting and its significance in the twisted, brainwashed minds of young people in the Palestinian Authority. It is precisely what the two young men, relatives from the village of Yatta near Hebron who brought makeshift assault rifles with them to an eatery on a summer’s eve, had envisioned. It was exactly their goal to slaughter Jews, some of them in casual dress and flip-flops, enjoying a respite from the oppressive heat of the day, others dressed to the nines, celebrating personal milestones.

Indeed, “uneaten birthday cakes next to pools of blood” says it all. It is a reminder of the funerals that will soon take place and the devastation entire families will feel for the rest of their lives; the months of physical rehabilitation and trauma awaiting those who were injured; and the tears of mothers, fathers, sons and daughters praying at bedsides.

“You never get used to it,” said a surgeon from the Sourasky Medical Center, where the wounded — among them one of the two terrorists — are being treated.

The rest of us in Israel, meanwhile, will be treated by the international community to reprimands about the need for peace, just as we are already being bombarded on local talk shows with the urgency for “an agreement with the Palestinians.” Like the terrorist attacks themselves, these pronouncements are repeated virtually without let-up.

The difference this time is the addition of the discussion about how Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s new defense minister, who assumed his role only last week, is going to meet the challenge, particularly as a proponent of the death penalty for terrorists, which the Jewish state does not have. Natch.

This is something the Arabs in Judea and Samaria, east Jerusalem and Gaza are keenly aware of, along with the knowledge that if they engage in particularly gruesome violence, they will be hailed as heroes by their society and leaders. Those who are killed while murdering Jews can look forward not only to paradise in the afterlife, but being martyrs after whom sports arenas, cultural events and streets are named.

Thankfully, Lieberman — whose alleged first order of business over the weekend was to strike terrorist bases in Syria — did not talk politics. Instead, he gave a brief press conference at the scene of the attack with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu had just landed in Tel Aviv from a two-and-a-half-day trip to Russia, ostensibly to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of full diplomatic relations with Moscow, but really to cement growing ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is the sad but necessary upshot of the Obama administration’s attitude toward Israel in particular and the Middle East in general.

Michael Cutler Moment: Obama’s Refugees, Illegal Aliens and the Tsunami of Deadly Diseases in America

This special edition of The Glazov Gang presents The Michael Cutler Moment with Michael Cutler, a former Senior INS Special Agent.http://jamieglazov.com/2016/06/09/michael-cutler-moment-obamas-refugees-illegal-aliens-and-the-tsunami-of-deadly-diseases-in-america/

Mr. Cutler discussed Obama’s Refugees, Illegal Aliens and the Tsunami of Deadly Diseases in America, unveiling the lethal violation of the nation’s most basic public health protocols.

Don’t miss it!

And make sure to watch The Michael Cutler Moment: Obama’s Pathway to the “Borderless World,” in which Mr. Cutler unveiled how the Radical-in-Chief is opening America to Islamic terrorists and transnational criminals.

In Robust Response to Tel Aviv Terror, Trump Rips ‘Uncivilized’ Palestinians Who Praised Attack

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump harshly condemned on Thursday the recent bloody terror attack in Tel Aviv, citing the teachings of anti-Israel hatred rampant in Palestinian society as a driving force behind the violence.

“I condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the outrageous terrorist shootings that took the lives of at least four innocent civilians and wounded at least twenty others in Tel Aviv yesterday,” he said in a statement. “The Israeli security forces’ investigation is ongoing, but some facts have already emerged — and they are grim.”

On Wednesday, two Hamas-affiliated terrorists, dressed in black business suits, entered the popular Max Brenner chocolate bar/cafe at the Sarona Market shopping complex. After sitting down and ordering food, the terrorists — who it was later determined hail from the village of Yatta near Hebron — opened fire. Before being neutralized by security guards, they managed to kill four people — two men and two women — and wound many more.

Trump slammed Gaza-based Hamas for its celebration over the attacks and the terrorists themselves. “Just as fast as the condolences arrive from the civilized world is the praise arising out of the uncivilized one. Hamas praised the attack, calling the attackers ‘heroes.’ Reports out of Hebron indicate that residents of the terrorists’ hometown lit up the night sky with celebratory fireworks,” he stated, adding that it was “despicable” that one Palestinian “news organization” called the attacks a “Ramadan treat.”