The Front Page Cover "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
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Featuring:
America's Refugee, Asylum, and
Visa Waiver Programs: A Broken System
Steven Emerson
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"Rise up together as one voice"
"Be careful where you stand"
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Clinton's Potty Break Interrupted by Demo 'Debate' 
Roughly 99.99% of Americans missed the fact that there was a Democrat presidential debate Saturday night. It's painfully obvious that the Democratic National Committee is protecting Hilly Clinton by scheduling debates when no one will be watching because they're out last-chance Christmas shopping and at the movies for opening weekend of Star Wars. So Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley can be forgiven for complaining. The party, which was once a raucous bunch that reveled in the old Will Rogers line — "I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat." — is now bending over backwards to make sure Hilly's path to coronation is not blocked again. Even if she's late back to the stage after a bathroom break.
Naturally, there weren't many highlights. Whereas Republicans are engaged in a spirited debate about immigration, foreign policy and NSA surveillance, the three Democrats on stage Saturday offered nothing but leftist platitudes primarily on national security. They seek to gently criticize the atrocious state of affairs (under Barack nObama's leadership, they'd rather you didn't notice) while reminding viewers that Republicans are just plain terrible people.
Since Clinton will be the nominee, we'll focus on her with three low lights. An example of the lightly treading around nObama's failures was Clinton's reference to "glitches" in nObamaCare — like skyrocketing premiums and deductibles. She's fix that, though, she promises. On Syria and the Islamic State, she said, "We now finally are where we need to be." Famous last words that will show up in many a Republican campaign ad. And on Republicans and the Islamic State, she insisted that the GOP frontrunner "is becoming ISIS's best recruiter." She explained, "They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists." Then again, Clinton doesn't have a great track record blaming videos for trouble in the Middle East.
All in all, you were better to finish that Christmas shopping than to sit through the Democrat drivel.
-The Patriot Post
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nObama Blames Cable News For Terrorism Concern
It was a vignette that the nObama administration didn't want The New York Times to publish. Barack nObama held an off-the-record meeting with journalists last week to explain his antiterrorism strategy and the ground rule was that anything nObama said could not be attributed to him. It was a way for nObama to mold the media into a more forceful propaganda arm for his agenda. Initially, the Times wasn't going to play the commander in chief's political game. In an article originally published Thursday evening, the Times wrote, "In his meeting with the columnists, Mr. nObama indicated that he did not see enough cable television to fully appreciate the anxiety after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, and made clear that he plans to step up his public arguments. Republicans were telling Americans that he is not doing anything when he is doing a lot, he said." You don't hear nObama complaining how the media has distorted gun culture in this nation, but he defended his antiterrorism policies by blaming criticism of his strategies on the media and stupid Americans.
Later that night, as The Federalist reported, the editors did not stand up to the executive branch like the time it published the Pentagon Papers. Instead, it deleted the telling paragraph and inserted a paragraph of administration catch phrases. Commentator Charles Krauthammer said of nObama's statement, "This is his usual professorial condescension." Over the weekend, nObama doubled down on his assertion, telling NPR the media has been hyping the Islamic State: "All you have been hearing about is these guys with masks or black flags who are potentially coming to get you." As for the citizens of this nation worried about security, let them eat cake. -The Patriot Post
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Court Rules Against School That Didn't Hire Homosexual
A judge in Massachusetts severely restricted the ability of religious organizations to fulfill their missions when he ruled that a Catholic school was guilty of discrimination for rescinding its job offer to a man later discovered to be homosexual. Matthew Barrett interviewed for the position of director of food services at Fontbonne Academy, an all-girls Catholic school, in 2013 and he was offered the job. But when he listed his husband as his emergency contact, the school rescinded his offer.
Judge Douglas H. Wilkins ruled the academy was guilty of discrimination, despite the school arguing that Barrett's lifestyle was inconsistent with its teachings. As the school's lawyer told Boston's ABC affiliate WCVB, teaching doesn't occur just outside the classroom, and Barrett's employment would conflict with what is taught in the theology classroom. "As an educational institution, Fontbonne retains control over its mission and message," Wilkins wrote. "It is not forced to allow Barrett to dilute that message, where he will not be a teacher, minister or spokesperson for Fontbonne and has not engaged in public advocacy of same-sex marriage."
Furthermore, the judge ruled that the school could have been exempt from the state’s discrimination laws if the school only taught girls who believed the same things as the school. In making this ruling, the judge from the first state to legalize same-sex marriage is standing directly against Christian institutions charged with going into all the world to heal the sick, visit those in prison and feed the hungry. Using this same thinking, it's not much of a stretch for the state to force Christian hospitals to perform gender-reassignment surgery, or perform abortions. -The Patriot Post
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Nonjudgmental Absurdity It's been a slow year for the Christmas bashing that's become rather routine at the Capitol rotunda in Tallahassee, Florida. Pam Olsen, president of the Florida Prayer Network, the group that has provided a Nativity scene there for the last two years, is taking a pass. "After much prayer, I truly want the message of Christ, The Son of God, born in a manger so long ago in Bethlehem, to be heard very clearly at this difficult time, instead of the dissension in the Capitol rotunda — this is not the year for that kind of debate in our rotunda," Olsen said in an open letter. 
The "debate" to which Olsen refers has been the recent effort to turn the rotunda into a citadel of competing displays, that mostly illuminate the determination of those who can't stand to see Christians enjoying themselves during the holidays. It is coupled with the timidity of public officials cowed by political correctness. Political correctness that demands equal respect for the sacred and the profane.
Thus in 2014, for the sake of "balance," the rotunda sported a protest display from the Satanic Temple. It featured an angel falling into a pit of fire. "There's no significance to it; it's just a display that we put up to counteract the Nativity scene," explained Satanic Temple member John Porgal at the time. "It's all or none, and this represents the other side of the manger scene."
All or none also included a six-foot pole comprised of beer cans celebrating "Festivus," a fictitious holiday spawned by the sitcom "Seinfeld." Other atheist banners, including a display from the "Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" whose followers are known as "Pastafarians," were also part of the mix. -The Patriot Post
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Tea Party Declares WAR on Speaker Paul turncoat-Ryan
{teaparty.org} ~ Last October, America’s Tea Party and Conservative movement made a decision to trust Congressman Paul turncoat-Ryan with the most powerful position in the House of Representative’s, that being the coveted position of Speaker of the House... turncoat-Ryan promised to adhere to conservative values and govern from a perspective of smaller government, less spending, lower taxes and American security would be paramount for his agenda’s. As all of you have heard, Speaker turncoat-Ryan did not just break his pledge to conservatism, he Baptized his role as Speaker with nothing short of liberal holy water. I won’t rehash what all is in this behemoth $1.2 Trillion dollar spending monstrosity, but for conversation purposes, just know that it funds everything that slaps conservatism in the face and spit’s on Tea Party values. If nObama’s spending wasn’t bad enough, this Omnibus spending bill also funds those cities which harbor illegal aliens and much, much more that is surely to hack off those of us that love our nation. If this Omnibus bill is any sort of indication of the way Speaker turncoat-Ryan is going to govern, it is time to do what “Barney Fife” told us to do so many years ago, “NIP-IT, NIP-IT” in the bud now! http://www.teaparty.org/tea-party-declares-war-speaker-paul-ryan-135422/
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Hilly LIES about how much support she gets from Wall Street
{soopermexican} ~ So there were a whole lot of lies being told at the Democrat Debate tonight, but one of the bigger ones was when Hilly deflected Bernie Sanders’ attack on her support from Wall Street... Her response was very Clintonian – in that it was a lie: Trying to downplay her Wall Street ties, Clinton said about 3 percent of her donations come from “people in the finance and investment world,” and invited viewers to check opensecrets.org, the Center for Responsive Politics’ website. We did, and it shows that her campaign and the super PAC supporting her received $5.7 million from the securities and investments industry, out of $97.8 million total. That’s almost 6 percent. It’s closer to 3 percent if you only count fundraising by her official campaign. But in the context of a clash with Sanders, who pointed out he doesn’t have an allied super PAC, it’s misleading to overlook hers.http://therightscoop.com/at-demdebate-hillary-lies-about-how-much-support-she-gets-from-wall-street/
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Supreme Court Ignores Gun Rights…Again
{Robert Chambers} ~ The Second Amendment is on trial every moment of every day in this country and the obstacles to keeping it in place are getting worse... The Supreme Court rejected an appeal earlier this month that came from gun owners trying to challenge the ban of assault weapons in a the Chicago suburb, Highland Park. The appeal, filed by the Illinois State Rifle Association, argues against the ban by citing a violation of constitutional rights. The Supreme Court is claiming that it is in response to the San Bernardino shooting. Two conservative justices said that they would have both heard the case and struck down the suburb’s ban. The federal appeals court in Chicago upheld the ban on semi-automatic weapons and large capacity magazines..
It's time for the Democrats to speak up on national security
{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ The Democrats hold their third presidential debate Saturday evening in Manchester, New Hampshire... Until now, the Democratic candidates have spent far less time than their Republican counterparts discussing foreign policy and national security issues, both in the debates and on the campaign trail. The last Democratic debate took place just one day after Islamic terrorists gunned down 129 people in Paris. This prompted moderators to ask the candidates more questions than originally planned about foreign policy and terrorism. But as the Washington Examiner's Byron York pointed out, the candidates mostly just touched on security matters before pivoting to issues related to the economy and other domestic matters. It's easy to see why. Democratic voters are less concerned than Republicans about national security. York cites a New Hampshire town hall meeting at which Democratic primary voters seemed more interested in domestic issues such as genetically-modified food and student loans than where the candidates stand on foreign affairs and terrorism. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/its-time-for-the-democrats-to-speak-up-on-national-security/article/2578764?utm_campaign=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest%20PMI&utm_source=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest%20PMI%20-%2012/19/15&utm_medium=email.
nObama’s Syrian Secret Weapon – Eating Zombie Disease
{constitutionrising.com} ~ Scabies and hepatitis weren’t enough to stop the illegal alien hordes crossing our southern border. The Customs and Border Patrol agents were told by DHS to just “deal with it,” and take it home to their families if that is how things worked out... The Ebola threat from African foreigners to American citizens and anyone else in the country was also not enough of a concern to restrict travel. We Americans are just supposed to accept whatever threat is out there as well as the refusal of our hijacked, non-representative government to act in the interests of our security. We’re on our own. Now another threat is emerging, a perfect complement to the nObama regime’s terrorist import program. Those posing a danger to us now do not even need to harbor bad intentions. They simply need to have been bitten by the wrong sand fly and be approved to move to America and we’re at risk. The infection is particularly dangerous and ominous in nature, a potentially fatal flesh-eating disease that manifests itself in three different forms. The hot spot of the infection is nObama’s breeding and recruiting ground for future Islamic “Americans,” Syria..
Omnibus Passing Opens Door for Paul turncoat-Ryan Criticism
{Natalie Myers} ~ It is not often that the Democratic party praises someone from its opposition, but this week, nObama openly praised Republican Speaker, Paul turncoat-Ryan for doing his part to avoid a government shutdown... nObama praised former Speaker John backstabber-Boehner for raising spending levels before leaving office and making way for turncoat-Ryan, whom according to nObama, did his part to negotiate with the Democrats to pass the Omnibus bill. nObama called the passing of Omnibus as a win for his administration, predicting the last year of his presidency will also see more success for items on his agenda, although he admits he will still have some unfinished business when he leaves office..
The segregation we don’t talk about enough 
{Aparna Mathur} ~ Economic segregation is on the rise in America. A recent report from Pew Research Center suggests that there has been an increase in residential segregation by income over the past three decades in the United States... The data show that between 1980 and 2010, there has been an increase in the share of lower-income households located in a majority lower-income census tract, and an increase in the share of upper-income households located in a majority upper-income census tract. This finding is corroborated by another study for the period 1970 to 2000 which uses a new measure of income sorting.
{Aparna Mathur} ~ Economic segregation is on the rise in America. A recent report from Pew Research Center suggests that there has been an increase in residential segregation by income over the past three decades in the United States... The data show that between 1980 and 2010, there has been an increase in the share of lower-income households located in a majority lower-income census tract, and an increase in the share of upper-income households located in a majority upper-income census tract. This finding is corroborated by another study for the period 1970 to 2000 which uses a new measure of income sorting.The trends of segregation by race are less clear. A recent National Bureau of Economic Research paper using a new methodology to capture racial segregation, finds that, across almost every region of the country, the likelihood of a black family having an opposite-race neighbor declined by more than 15 percentage points between 1880 and 1940. Other studies using traditional segregation measures and more recent data, typically suggest that racial segregation may have declined marginally in recent times, but still remains relatively stark in many metropolitan areas in the South, Northeast and Midwest, where a vast majority of blacks reside. Blacks more likely to live in concentrated poverty.
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Germans Stock Up on Weapons for Self-Defense
{Soeren Kern} ~ Germans, facing an influx of more than one million asylum seekers from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, are rushing to arm themselves... All across Germany, a country with some of the most stringent gun-control laws in Europe, demand is skyrocketing for non-lethal self-defense weapons, including pepper sprays, gas pistols, flare guns, electroshock weapons and animal repellants. Germans are also applying for weapons permits in record numbers. The scramble to acquire weapons comes amid a migrant-driven surge in violent crimes — including rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults — in cities and towns throughout the country. German authorities, however, are going to great lengths to argue that the German citizenry's sudden interest in self-defense has nothing whatsoever to do with mass migration into the country, despite ample evidence to the contrary..
HealthSpan announces it's dropping nObamacare health plans
{Jeff Dunetz} ~ nObamacare received a major blow last week when Cleveland-based insurance company HealthSpan announced it will no longer sell Affordable Care Act (ACA) health plans... is disbanding its physicians’ network, and has notified its brokers it will stop paying commissions for small group and individual customers. According to HealthSpan spokesman Chuck Heald, the ACA was a big money loser for the company: HealthSpan will stop selling individual and small-group health plans on the ACA’s exchanges to focus more on Medicare and employer plans, Heald said. HealthSpan jacked up premium rates for 2016 individual and small-group plans anywhere from 9% to 32% to account for the sicker-than-expected exchange population. HealthSpan also had to pay more than $17 million into the ACA’s risk-adjustment program in 2014, which did not fit into its original forecast, and the insurer has estimated another $19 million in risk-adjustment payments to the government for 2015..
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America's Refugee, Asylum, and
Visa Waiver Programs: A Broken System
Steven Emerson
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{jewishworldreview.com} ~ Foreigners, including refugees, have no basic or universal right to enter the United States; that entry is granted as a privilege. In today's complex and dangerous environment, and in light of the growing worldwide terror threat, entry into this country is a matter of national security..
In a new white paper, the Investigative Project on Terrorism examines gaps in the immigration system which could allow terrorists to enter the United States as refugees, to apply for asylum once in the U.S., or to simply enter as passport holders from the 38 countries in the Visa Waiver Program.
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The U.S. House is expected to vote this week on legislation to tighten the Visa Waiver Program's conditions, but the white paper makes it clear that such action is one small step in a long journey toward buttressing the system against abuse by terrorists.
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Weaknesses in the system include the general tendency to give refugees and asylum seekers the benefit of the doubt in their accounts of their plight and background; the excessive speed with which Lawful Permanent Resident status is granted to asylees and refugees; the problems that arise from the fact that many refugees cannot provide documentation of their actual birth dates; inconsistency in the vetting process; inadequacies of the various application forms; and more. Congress needs to address these problems immediately - before the system is overloaded to the breaking point.
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Among the paper's recommendations:
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The Department of Homeland Security should seek access to the watch list of countries in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), as well as access to their criminal records and fingerprint databases. VWP countries which do not keep electronic records of arrests of their citizens or lack electronically searchable fingerprint databases should be encouraged to develop such a program as a condition of continued enrollment..
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The United States should increase its use of the information sharing and fingerprint exchange along with our allies in the Five Country Conference, a consortium of immigration agencies in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Similar electronic fingerprint efforts should seek access to fingerprints with EUROPOL, and used for voting in places like Yemen, and for United Nations programs in Malawi, Chad, Thailand, and all refugee camps in the future.
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Ask the United Nations to explain its "benefit of the doubt" policy and further explore Citizenship and Immigration Services' high approval and low denial rates for immigration benefits. Congress has stated that a "rubber stamp" culture exists at CIS, which seems to be corroborated by statistics.
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Extend the statute of limitations for lying on visa waiver, refugee, and asylum applications from five years to 10. The existing statute provides a relatively brief window in which to catch someone. Having the ability to prosecute someone within 10 years would be a valuable tool for rooting out people who may turn to terror after establishing a life in the United States. There is already a 10-year precedent for similar immigration related crimes including passport and naturalization fraud.
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To combat the problem of stolen passports, which terrorists have used in numerous plots, VWP countries that fail to report passport thefts or other irregularities should immediately be suspended
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President nObama has consistently downplayed the terror risks involved in the refugee crisis. Speaking shortly after the Paris terror attacks led to widespread reluctance to admit these refugees into the U.S., nObama admonished his critics: "We are not well served when, in response to a terrorist attack, we descend into fear and panic. We don't make good decisions if it's based on hysteria or an exaggeration of risks."
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It is highly doubtful, however, that critics of nObama's plan really are exaggerating the risks, since there are multiple cases of individuals coming to the U.S. as refugees only to get involved in terrorist activity later. In addition, the U.S. refugee system already is overtaxed and could be overloaded to the point of breakdown with the new refugee influx. Moreover, it is not just America's refugee program that is vulnerable: virtually every aspect of our apparatus for immigration, particularly our systems for granting asylum and refugee status, including the Visa Waiver Program, is broken and on the verge of collapse.
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Terrorists are taking advantage of three potential points of entry into the U.S.: the Visa Waiver Program, the system for admitting refugees, and the system for granting asylum.
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The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) enables citizens of 38 designated countries to travel visa-free to the United States for up to 90 days. More than 21 million people entered the U.S. from VWP countries in 2013.
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The VWP gives travelers the privilege of bypassing the State Department's visa screening process and presenting themselves to U.S. border officials at any port of entry without a background check conducted overseas.
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Terrorists have frequently exploited the VWP to gain entry into the U.S. Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, entered the U.S. under the VWP on February 23, 2001. Moussaoui flew from London to Chicago and then on to Oklahoma City, where he attended flight school. Moussaoui was arrested by the INS in Minneapolis on August 16, 2001 as a visa waiver overstay. He was subsequently tried and convicted of conspiring to kill Americans as part of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Moussaoui will spend the rest of his life in jail.
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The European Union (EU) Terrorism Situation and Trend Report of 2007 stated that several Islamic terrorist suspects were arrested in VWP countries in 2006: one was arrested in Belgium, nine in Denmark, 139 in France, eleven in Germany, 34 in Italy, 51 in Spain, three in Slovakia; and three in Sweden.
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Meanwhile, the United States admitted 588,364 refugees between 2004-13, an average of 58,836 per year. As of August 2014, the State Department had 2,500 Syrian referrals for the refugee program and anticipated similar numbers in 2016. The administration now wants 10,000 Syrian refugees resettled in America. That is a 277-fold increase over the 2013 total (when only 36 were admitted into the country).
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Terrorists have exploited the refugee and asylum process as well. The mastermind of the 1993 terror bombing of the World Trade Center, blind sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, and two other terrorists involved in that attack sought asylum in the U.S. Many other terrorists have also taken advantage of the weakness of the refugee and asylum system. Boston Marathon bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev came to the United States as children and received asylum through their parents. A set of Albanian brothers of Macedonian origin involved in the foiled plot against soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey were from a refugee family who came to the U.S. illegally as minor children with their parents.
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America's asylum and refugee system needs major repair. It needs a massive top-to-bottom overhaul, including a thoroughgoing reevaluation of the institutional culture and attitudes that prevail among officials who are charged with admitting refugees and asylees into the United States. As Barack nObama prepares to overload an already seriously dysfunctional system to the point of almost certain collapse, the reform and repair of this system is an urgent national security issue.
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Absent that, the various agency leaders, administration officials, and politicians of both parties who failed to act should be held accountable for any terror attacks from refugees and asylees admitted into the United States under the purview of this severely damaged system.
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Read the white paper in its entirety here.
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