U.S. Admits 680K Immigrants From Muslim Countries Over 5 Years

/1 Comment/in , /by

As we ominously watch European cities like Brussels and Paris beleaguered by a growing population of homegrown radical Islamists, we must ask what our government is doing to prevent the United States from following the same trajectory. As noted a number of times, our immigration from countries infected with radical Islam has doubled in recent years, totaling over 1.6 million from 2001-2013.

According to a new analysis from the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, chaired by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), this trajectory has grown sharply just over the five most recent years. Counting all of the green cards issued to foreign nationals of predominantly Muslim countries between FY 2009 and FY 2013 alone, the subcommittee found that 680,000 individuals have been granted legal permanent residence in America. That is a larger number than the population of our nation’s capital.

This coincides with census data analyzed by the Center for Immigration Studies, which estimates a 415,784 net increase in the population of nationals from predominantly Muslim countries living in the U.S from 2010-2014. If net population growth, which is mitigated by deaths and emigration grew by that much, it makes sense that the initial migration numbers have been much higher. One could only imagine what the numbers would be had Marco Rubio gotten his way and successfully passed the Gang of 8 immigration bill.

In recent years, most estimates pegged annual Muslim immigration at roughly 100,000 per year, but this analysis suggests that the trend is growing to more than 10% of our annual intake. Remember, there is only an estimated 630,000 Muslims in the entire country of Belgium, and yet, they are in lockdown and have rampant problems of homegrown terror. We have admitted more Muslims to the U.S. in five years alone. And all indications point to the fact that the trend is growing every year because immigration from Muslim countries is the fastest growing of all parts of the world.

While the overall size of our country is obviously much larger than European countries, making the overall assimilation problems less impactful, the numbers still matter when calculating the percentage of those likely to become radicalized and the number of potential terrorists we are cultivating here at home.

Shouldn’t we focus first on assimilating those already here and counteracting the growing homegrown radicalization before we expand upon the already record-high baseline of immigration from countries that are so infected with Islamic supremacism?

The American people clearly get it. According to a new poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates, 84% of Americans believe immigration from the Middle East is very or somewhat dangerous. These sentiments are shared by 75% of Democrats, 80% of Blacks, and 90% of Hispanics. The poll also found that just 25% of Americans and 38% of Democrats want to bring in Syrian refugees.

The question for Republican politicians next week as they debate the funding for refugees in the Omnibus bill is will they take yes for an answer from the American people. (For more from the author of “U.S. Admits 680K Immigrants From Muslim Countries Over 5 Years” please click HERE)

Watch a recent interview with the author below:

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Russia Beefs up Military Assets in Syria in Response to Turkey’s Downing of Jet

/0 Comments/in , /by

Russia ramped up the threat of a military confrontation between Turkey and Moscow Wednesday – a day after a Russian warplane was shot down by Turkey – by announcing that a state-of-the-art air defense missile system will be deployed at a Russian air base in Syria and that all its bombers will now be escorted by fighter jets on their missions.

Russian President Vladmir Putin ordered the S-400 missiles sent to the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia, just 30 miles away from the border with Turkey, are capable of striking targets within a 250-mile range with deadly precision. The military also moved the navy missile cruiser Moskva closer to the shore to help protect Russian warplanes with its long-range Fort air defense system.

“It will be ready to destroy any aerial target posing a potential danger to our aircraft,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting with military officials. He also announced the severance of all military ties with Turkey and said that from now on, Russian bombers will always be escorted by fighters on combat missions over Syria.

Tuesday’s incident was the first time in half a century that a NATO member shot down a Russian plane. If Russia responds by downing a Turkish plane, NATO member Turkey could proclaim itself under attack and ask the alliance for military assistance.

Most observers believe that a direct military confrontation is unlikely, but that the shooting down of the plane will further fuel the Syrian conflict and complicate international peace efforts. (Read more from “Russia Beefs up Military Assets in Syria in Response to Turkey’s Downing of Jet” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Austrian ISIS ‘Poster Girl’ Beaten to Death

/3 Comments/in , /by

Austrian newspapers report that the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) beat to death Samra Kesinovic, a teen recruit whose flight to Syria became a major international story earlier this year, when she attempted to escape the radical Islamic group.

A Tunisian woman told Kronen Zeitung that she had lived with Kesinovic and other young female recruits in Raqqa, Syria, the de facto capital of ISIS. But the Austrian government could not confirm or deny the woman’s comments . . .

The tabloids, along with British outlets, did not provide specific details about Kesinovic’s death. Israeli expert of the United Nations Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTED) David Scharia said her friend Sabina Selimovic perished in September 2014 during fighting.

“The parents of the girl concerned have been informed that there is a risk that their daughter is dead,” said Konrad Kogler, the director-general of public security for Austrian police, at the time.

Keinovic allegedly wanted to return home late last year. Both girls reached out to their parents and said they were “sick of living with the Islamic State.” But they did not think they could return home because they have been publicly identified as jihadists. (Read more from “Austrian ISIS ‘Poster Girl’ Beaten to Death” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Cyber-Thieves ‘Target Christmas Shoppers’

/0 Comments/in , /by

Cyber-thieves are preparing malware and spam campaigns in a bid to catch out retailers and shoppers during the run-up to Christmas, experts say.

One gang had updated the sophisticated malware it used to target tills in stores, security company iSight said.

There had also been an increase in spam and phishing emails crafted to catch out people seeking bargains.

And some crime groups had made fake copies of popular shopping apps in a bid to steal payment-card data.

The warnings are being given just prior to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which bracket the weekend following the US Thanksgiving holiday, when many online and offline stores offer special deals. (Read more from “Cyber-Thieves ‘Target Christmas Shoppers'” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Obama Just Responded to Downed Russian Plane With Startling Message to Putin; Russia: Video “Proves” Jet Never Entered Turkish Airspace [+video]

/9 Comments/in , /by

By Randy DeSoto. President Obama blamed Russia on Tuesday for its warplane being shot down by the Turkish air force.

Speaking alongside French President Francois Hollande, Obama said that officials are still gathering facts and urged the two sides to avoid escalating the situation.

“Turkey, like every country, has a right to defend its territory and its airspace,” the president said.

“I do think that this points to an ongoing problem with the Russian operations,” he added. “In the sense that they are operating very close to a Turkish border, and they are going after moderate opposition that are supported by not only Turkey but a wide range of countries.”

He said that if Russia directed its efforts toward the Islamic State, “some of those conflicts, or potentials for mistakes or escalation, are less likely to occur,” according to Fox News . . .

As reported by Western Journalism, earlier today Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced Turkey’s actions as a “stab in the back by the terrorists’ accomplices.” He warned of “significant consequences” for relations with the nation. (Read more from “Obama Just Responded to Downed Russian Plane With Startling Message to Putin” HERE)

_____________________________________

Russian Defense Ministry Video Proves Su-24 Never Entered Turkish Airspace

By Sputnik News [this is a “news” agency funded by the Russian government]. While authorities in Ankara have insisted that it shot down the Russian Su-24 bomber after the aircraft entered Turkish airspace, the Russian Defense Ministry has released video proving that the plane never left Syrian airspace.

According to a leaked letter written to the UN Security Council by the Turkish Ambassador, Turkey’s military justified the shooting down of a Russian bomber by claiming that the aircraft had entered Turkish airspace for 17 seconds.

(Read more from “Russian Defense Ministry Video Proves Su-24 Never Entered Turkish Airspace” HERE)

_____________________________________

Turkmen Forces in Syria Admit to War Crimes by Claiming They Killed Parachuting Russian Pilot

By Reuters. Turkmen forces in Syria shot dead the two pilots of a Russian jet downed by Turkish warplanes near the border with Turkey on Tuesday as they descended with parachutes, a deputy commander of a Turkmen brigade told reporters.

(Read more HERE about the illegal killing of the pilot of the downed Russian plane)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Team Rubio’s Pathetic National Security Attack on Cruz

/2 Comments/in , /by

We are now back to the arsonist blaming the firefighter for arson, again.

This time Marco Rubio’s backers have really stepped in it with Iowa voters by running an ad insinuating that Cruz is responsible for Paris-style terror attacks because he voted to reform the NSA bulk data collection. The Cruz campaign probably couldn’t pay Team Rubio enough money to continue running those ads because Iowa voters hate the mass surveillance state.

Sean Noble, a Rubio backer, is running $200,000 worth of ads in Iowa through his 501(c)4 group assailing Cruz as weak on national security because he championed the Freedom Act. This is a line of attack recently lodged by Rubio himself and dutifully picked up in the beltway “conservative” media over the past week. What is so pathetic about this attack is that voters oppose the NSA bulk data collection and this bill was sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee to strike a balance between preserving the vital tools needed to track terrorists and ensuring that the NSA doesn’t cast a wide net around all Americans.

Not only was this bill supported by Sen. Lee, it garnered the support of Sens. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Steve Daines (R-Mt), two supporters of Rubio. A number of House members supporting Rubio for president voted for the Freedom Act as well. All but 47 Republicans voted for the bill, and a good number of the no votes felt the Freedom Act didn’t go far enough in curtailing the NSA.

In fact, Mr. Noble worked for Sen. Jeff Flake who also voted for the Freedom Act. I guess his boss and all of Rubio’s backers are also weak on national security.

The reality is that no surveillance state is robust enough to compensate for the security risks incurred from the massive immigration, particularly from stateless Middle East refugees, Rubio planned to bring in under the Gang of 8 bill. This line of attack from Rubio really speaks to the dyslexic national security priorities he shares with Sens. McCain and Graham. They believe we should get involved in every Islamic civil war in the Middle East and supported the arming of Al Qaeda in Libya, and now in Syria. Then they support open borders and the importation of Islamic refugees from the civil wars in which they involved us. Finally, they want a mass surveillance state to attempt to cure the problems they caused.

How about not supporting Islamist rebels and the Arab Spring that gave rise to ISIS in the first place? How about supporting Cruz’s immigration plan that speaks to the direct threat of importing Islamists to our own shores? How about supporting Cruz’s bill to strip citizenship from those who are actually caught fighting for ISIS.

Team Rubio seems to have its constitutional arguments and national security/immigration policies flipped on its head. Their arguments might have gained some resonance against a Ron Paul-style challenger, but against Cruz that dog won’t hunt. (For more from the author of “Team Rubio’s Pathetic National Security Attack on Cruz” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Fact Check: Claims ‘No Refugees’ Since 9/11 Took Part in Terror Plots Ring False

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: Fox News After the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris last week, many news sources claimed that not a single refugee had been charged with terrorism in the U.S. since the attacks on 9/11, but the assertion does not stand up to scrutiny.

The noted publication The Economist proclaimed: “750,000 refugees have been resettled in America since 9/11; Not one has been arrested on domestic terrorism charges.”

In fact, several refugees have been convicted in high-profile terrorism plots, and several more were “asylees” — people allowed to stay in the U.S. for the same reasons as refugees, but who do not go through the same screening process. In one case, two Iraqi refugees in Kentucky were convicted after it turned out they had used IEDs to attack U.S. soldiers in Iraq and were plotting other attacks. An FBI agent recalled that they bragged about that and said they had soldiers “for lunch and dinner… meaning that he had killed them,” ABC News reported an FBI official as saying in 2013.

A Department of Justice report noted that one of those refugees, Waad Ramadan Alwan, left fingerprints on unexploded IEDs in Iraq and that he was sentenced to 40 years in prison after he “pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill U.S. nationals abroad; conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction (explosives) against U.S. nationals abroad; distributing information on the manufacture and use of IEDs; attempting to provide material support to terrorists and to [Al Qaeda in Iraq] and conspiring to transfer, possess and export Stinger missiles.”

His conspirator, Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, was also let in through the refugee program and is now serving a life sentence. (Read more from “Fact Check: Claims ‘No Refugees’ Since 9/11 Took Part in Terror Plots Ring False” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Republican Elites Experienced Only in Failure

/3 Comments/in , /by

Latest polls show that Donald Trump is trusted more to deal with international terrorism than the squatters who refuse to leave Republican Party leadership posts. This is shocking to their narrow thinking. Their talking points tell them that voters are supposed to flock to a President with “experience” when the world gets dangerous. They have the talking points right there in front of them on their desk. Yet the voters aren’t following the script. What gives? Didn’t the grassroots read their talking points?

Tone deaf, GOP officials keep pushing the stale old Christmas fruit cake with the texture of a brick that nobody wants. They can’t get it through their heads that voters don’t care how long their curriculum vitae is. The people care about whether they are restoring and protecting our country and looking out for us. Those who have spent their lives studying the status quo love the status quo too much to be the people’s choice.

The trouble with experts in Washington, D.C. is how little they know. To borrow a phrase from Ronald Reagan, the problem is not that Republican elites are ignorant, but they ‘know’ so many things that simply are not so. They repeat vapid clichés to each other and memorize false assumptions. Such indoctrination is what they call experience.

The reality is that “experience” is mostly the self-congratulatory clique giving awards to each other (including job titles). The paper credentials that these candidates wave around are just nepotism. Given the results since the Republicans took the House of Representatives in 1994, what good is all their experience?

By contrast, Trump claims to be a proven leader with a special kind of experience overlooked in Washington: getting results. But that doesn’t sit well with those whose expertise is limited to leading faculty lounge policy seminars.

The irony is strong—the voters are shouting: “YOU’RE FIRED!” Yes, that’s the catch phrase made famous by Trump himself. The elites just can’t understand that this is all about them. The question on the table is not who would make the best President. The topic at hand is who can physically drag the insiders outside the city limits and dump them at the bus station with a ticket home.

Consider winning or losing the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln appointed a General with great experience on paper to lead the Union army: General George McClellan. But he failed in the real-world on the battlefield … because he lacked grit and determination.

So Abe Lincoln replaced McClellan with gruff and rough-around-the-edges Ulysses S. Grant. And Grant got things done. President Lincoln, when informed that General Grant drank whiskey while leading his troops answered:

Real-world results trump paper credentials. Grant’s drinking was considered uncouth and ungentlemanly in the time. Officers were refined gentlemen. Yet Lincoln would rather have all his generals be like Grant, because Grant actually won battles, even with whisky on his breath.

The voters are flocking to a quality that is sorely lacking: there is a personality type that simply refuses to accept defeat. That often means getting back up again no matter how many times one gets knocked down. The voters realize that the policy wonkery in your head doesn’t count if you can’t use it to win.

Just as Hollywood created a romantic dream of glamour, perfection, and idealism through public relations and story-telling, the myth of Washington similarly grew up through fairy tales and carefully stage-managed public relations. The cult of Washington is a mirage cultivated by Hollywood and the news media. And in that idealized PR image, the occupants of the halls of power loom larger than life.

Of course, policy analysts, like me, do have valuable things to contribute. Just as a brave soldier in the field needs someone back home manufacturing the hand grenades, mortar shells, and bullets to win, it’s very hard to “get things done” without analysts figuring out the best plans for action. But insiders devalue experience like Trump’s because they don’t value real results.

Consider: you wake up after spending 20 years on the couch watching ESPN and ignoring the deterioration of your country around you, only to discover that a nest of raccoons has invaded your roof. So you call pest control.

But the raccoons announce that they can stay embedded in your roof … because one of the town’s exterminators was born in Canada. The raccoons get to stay because the other exterminator is brash and rough around the edges, says controversial things, and defies conventional wisdom. Another pest control professional is new, just changed careers, and used to be a doctor. So the raccoons get to stay, because the exterminators are not satisfactory.

No. the homeowners want the pests gone. They don’t care if Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, or Ted Cruz are perfect. They want the current occupants evicted. The voters don’t care if the lawyer evicting hold-over tenants is a saint or a perfect gentleman. They just want their house back. They want the current occupants evicted. They don’t care who does it.

I got kicked out of a discussion group in 2012 because I tried to explain that Republican leaders must look in the mirror, figure out how they lost the trust of the grassroots, and make serious, heart-felt changes. I warned that Republicans will stay home and not vote. The defenders of the establishment describe why it would be unfortunate for conservatives not to vote.

But it is going to happen, whether you like it or not, whether you agree or disagree. Unless the GOP leadership undergoes a deep, heartfelt, gut-check change, millions of voters will skip the election, and the GOP will keep losing. But insiders argue that should not happen, therefore it won’t. Their refusal to change will doom the GOP. (For more from the author of “Republican Elites Experienced Only in Failure” please click HERE)

Originally published in the Fairfax Free Citizen on November 23, 2015

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

A New Military Power Rises in the Mideast, Courtesy of One Man

/0 Comments/in , /by

Martyrs’ Day is a new addition to the United Arab Emirates calendar this November, wedged between the Islamic holy days and the Dubai Shopping Festival.

Many nations commemorate their fallen soldiers, but the U.A.E. has always been different. The glittering towers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi are monuments to an alternative Middle East, standing above the fray, where investors can forget the region’s conflicts and make money. If that’s now changing, it’s largely the work of one man.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of the U.A.E.’s capital Abu Dhabi and the de-facto national leader, controls 6 percent of the world’s oil and its second-richest wealth fund. At 54, young for an Arab leader, he’s trusted by Washington and feted in Moscow. And he’s spent three decades beefing up his small nation’s military, making him one of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s best customers.

Sheikh Mohamed has always been security conscious. As a young prince in the air force in 1990, when U.S. troops were massing in the Persian Gulf to fight Saddam Hussein, he drove through the sand dunes to meet an American general for lunch, stashing a rifle under the front seat, just in case he got shot at. Now, to Gulf leaders, the neighborhood looks more dangerous than ever, with Islamic State taking root and Iran rising — and the crown prince wants his country to have more weapons . . .

From the Switzerland of the Persian Gulf to its Sparta, is how one Western official describes the transformation. It’s one full of risks, because the U.A.E.’s business model has largely worked — turning it from a $50 billion economy in 1990 to the Arab world’s second-largest after Saudi Arabia, with output of $400 billion last year. (Read more from “A New Military Power Rises in the Mideast, Courtesy of One Man” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Watch: Cruz on ‘Lunacy’ of Transgender Policies

/3 Comments/in , /by

GOP presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) spoke out Thursday on the growing debate over transgender policies for school facilities including restrooms and lockers, specifically the push for kids to use facilities consistent with their “gender identity.”

“The federal government is going after school districts, trying to force them to let boys shower with little girls,” Cruz said on the conservative radio show “Louder With Crowder.” “Now listen: I’m the father of two daughters, and the idea that the federal government is coming in saying that boys, with all the God-given equipment of boys, can be in the shower room with junior high girls – this is lunacy!

“And I bet you there are a whole lot of parents – particularly parents of daughters – that are not eager to have the federal government saying ‘Guess what? Your daughter has to shower with a boy, if he wants to be in there,’” he continued.

Cruz later added, “You know, the funny thing is, my five-year-old knows there’s a difference between boys and girls, and yet modern Leftists can’t figure that out.”

Cruz’s references to the federal government’s involvement in this issue likely allude to the Obama administration’s legal support for transgender students in two recent cases. (Read more from “Cruz on ‘Lunacy’ of Transgender Policies” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.