As most of you probably know, a federal judge has blocked portions of President Trump’s executive order pertaining to refugees from 7 Muslim majority nations. Josh Blackman has published a good summary of what this injunction accomplishes, as well as a copy of the temporary restraining order itself. According to reports, it applies to a few hundred foreigners who were either on American soil or on their way to the United States before the EO was issued. Although these individuals have temporary avoided the fate of the character portrayed by Tom Hanks in The Terminal, it’s worth noting that there are much bigger issues at stake in this debate.

The open borders know nothings have deftly exploited the ignorance of large swathes of the American public to score a public relations victory against a man whom they’ve impotently warred against for over a year. Ironically, one of the refugees Democratic partisans claimed to be rescuing was able to succinctly explain why our new President’s immigration policies were in fact pretty reasonable. Beyond the simple observation that this executive order is not a ban on Muslim refugees, we have to confront the truly bizarre notion that our current refugee resettlement policy is somehow beneficial to American citizens. While some armchair analysts on social media have made the assertion that this is not the point of refugee resettlement-a point on which we agree-others have claimed that not importing tens of thousands of Muslim refugees from abroad poses a risk of future terrorism. By this token, Japan-which has a de facto ban on Muslim immigration-should be as unlivable as Afghanistan or Pakistan. Or, at the very least, have as many terrorist attacks as Turkey.

It’s a patently absurd suggestion, yet one which is repeated without shame by open borders apologists who have no rational justification for our country’s bizarre refugee resettlement program. Just as the beliefs of Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande-two European leaders who have presided over an unprecedented spree of Muslim terror within their countries-is a laughable excuse to invite in potential security risks, so to is the misguided notion that we’re creating terrorists by not letting potential terrorists onto American soil. Nearly half of the refugees admitted to the United States, and over 30% of those admitted since the 9/11 attacks, are Muslim. To comprehend why this is such a problem you need only scroll through a week’s worth of posts on Refugee Resettlement Watch.

Leaving aside the potential for terrorism-both domestically and abroad-exploitation of the welfare system, and crime, there’s the fundamental incompatibility of cultures. As the economist Nassim Taleb has pointed out, Americans expect foreigners who come here to accept American values and customs-and at a bare minimum, not to impose their values upon us. Whether or not this is a realistic expectation is another matter, but the idea that every person coming here does so because they want to become part of American society-a notion regurgitated endlessly by open borders advocates-is simply preposterous.

Even those who don’t pose a direct threat to the health and safety of American citizens-who don’t engage in honor killings, as dozens of Muslims families in the United States do each year-hold beliefs that are fundamentally at odds with those which shaped this nation. While those views are normal in Iraq, Somalia, or Syria, they are not in the United States, and we should not attempt to normalize them-to borrow a phrase from the unhinged left. President Trump’s order, however crudely executed, was the right thing to do. Hopefully, it’s just the beginning of a completely new approach to this vital issue.

This month saw the admission of a record number of Syrian refugees to the United States. Nearly 500, according to the State Department Refugee Processing Center. Perhaps unsurprisingly, every single one is a Muslim. 10 Christians, in toto, have been admitted to the U.S. for FY 2016, which saw the importation of over 2,200 Syrian refugees. Although it has gotten little press outside of Christian publications, and what coverage it has received has been deliberately misleading, the fact that our government is turning its back on Christians is an inescapable truth.

Aren’t there some prosperous Gulf Arab states which could support the needs of these desperate Sunni Muslim refugees? Of course there are, but they refuse to take them. They refuse to take them for a number of reasons, but I can’t help but think that one of them is the complete silence North American and European media outlets, i.e. propaganda vehicles, have greeted this stunning lack of generosity on the part of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the like. While we are regularly treated to sickeningly self-righteous homilies on OUR responsibility towards these exiles from Syria, rarely do we hear voices condemning the stunning hypocrisy and venality of wealthy, Sunni Muslim nations who’ve turned their backs on their brothers and sisters.

For honest reports about the State Department’s plans to take a wrecking ball to communities throughout the country, check out the citizen testimony forwarded to Refugee Resettlement Watch, which has been doing what the Fourth Estate adamantly refuses to, i.e. telling the truth. For the record, this is the State Department that actively discriminates against Christians seeking sanctuary, despite the fact that they have nowhere else to turn  within their own region, where they are mercilessly persecuted for their faith. A faith which predates the advent of Islam by 7 centuries.

Unlike those who make it to Germany, the Christians seeking shelter in the United States don’t even have the opportunity to be persecuted by their Muslim antagonists. We’re doing that job for them. Shameful.

One of the most frustrating aspects of news coverage of the latest jihadist massacre on French soil is its repetitive quality. Just as with the Charlie Hebdo assassinations and Porte de Vincennes siege, along with other Islamic blood-lettings within Europe, the multicultural messaging service has gone to extraordinary lengths to obscure the rather obvious reasons why this horrific act of war took place.  The Daily Beast is an archetypal example of this species of journalism, ascribing blame to the socio-economic difficulties faced by Muslim immigrants and questioning the efficacy of Belgian intelligence-gathering methods. The cognitive dissonance at work is exemplified by media outlets which have referred to the Muslim invaders who perpetrated this atrocity as Frenchmen, rather than more appropriate terminology, such as invaders. 

While the facts on the ground reporting is valuable-you can find a live blog of the Paris attacks and their aftermath by going to The Guardian website-the analysis of this unprecedented bloodshed by Islamic terrorists on French soil is woefully lacking. Even as milksop, Chamber of Commerce lackeys such as Rick Snyder recognize the inherent danger in welcoming thousands of unverified Syrians to the United States, the mainstream media refuses to acknowledge the elephant-or in this case, jackal-in the room. Just today, I’ve listened to no less than 3 reports lamenting the impact this latest jihadist massacre will have on Europe’s Muslim population, including a segment on what is arguably the most insipid NPR program in existence, The Takeaway, where the interviewee praised Germany’s Dr, Kevorkian, Angela Merkel, for her open door policy, vis-a-vis Middle Eastern and North African refugees.

There are, of course, rational appraisals of what’s currently happening overseas, but you have to scour the Internet in order to find these alternative voices. One of them is David P. Goldman, who accurately evaluates what France should expect-and how its government will respond-in light of these ruthless attacks on its citizens. Contrary to Prime Minister Hollande’s bold declarations in the wake of this unspeakable atrocity, Spengler believes that the ruling class in that country will not have the fortitude to do what is necessary to weed out what is now a domestic base of terror. Of course, there are many men and women in France who yearn to resist the tide of anti-civilization that has encroached upon their nation without their consent, and they are probably going to support Marie Le Pen in the upcoming election.

The fact that millions of voters are willing to defy the consensus of bien-pensant opinion in order to help preserve and maintain what remains of a culture that can only be destroyed but certainly not replicated by the parasites who are living upon its fruits demonstrates that the lights haven’t yet gone out in the West. It’s a welcome and hopeful sign of a future that isn’t shaped by the forces of darkness, where we do not have to repeat the mistakes of the past. A future where the City of Light is not extinguished.

Mark Dayton did his best impression of a pre-metrosexualized Merle Haggard this week, advising anyone who didn’t cotton to the impoverishment of the once great state of Minnesota to get the hell out! Although some analysts have observed the Bush family’s distaste for their fellow Americans, the naked contempt a sitting governor has for the values of his fellow citizens seems to be a new plateau in the treason lobby’s anti-Americanism.

Welcome to the new Democratic Party, and the new America.

h/t Pamela Geller

To the surprise of very few, the Associated Press reports that over an 8 month period Mexico deported more Central Americans than the United States. Take particular note of this passage:

 In most cases, Mexico holds migrants only long enough to verify their nationalities, and quickly bundles them aboard buses to take them back to their home countries.”

That is not the case in the United States, where most who claim “credible fear” can remain pending an asylum court case, as long as the Border Patrol can’t prove the person has a criminal record.

Combined with the Obama administration’s complete abandonment of worksite enforcement, the imminent resettlement of thousands of Syrian Muslim refugees, and its omnipresent threat to completely disregard the law, this latest revelation makes it perfectly clear that this White House holds American citizens in contempt and does not care about their thoughts in the slightest.

Is it any wonder that, in addition to having a Congress which is universally loathed, we have a President of staggering unpopularity? Where is Tom Tancredo when we need him?

The past few weeks have been filled with news of dramatic happenings throughout the globe, not the least of which is the rapidly metastasizing ebola epidemic. In order to put things into proper perspective, it’s always useful to have an intelligent, rational guide who’s not captive to multiculturalist dogma and elitist groupthink. Thankfully, the latest edition of Radio Derb has just arrived! 

From the latest political turmoil engulfing Hong Kong-including the Chinese Communist Party’s ham-fisted attempts to crush the Occupy Central democracy movement-to the dubious hiring practices of this city’s Marxist mayor, John Derbyshire covers it all. Definitely worth checking out for those of you who have been enjoying a news sabbatical.

On the heels of yet another thwarted bombing by an Islamic terrorist mentored by Yemeni cleric-and American citizen-Anwar al Awlaki, we now discover that an Albanian Muslim living in the United States has been convicted of immigration fraud. That, however, is not the story. This website has extensively chronicled the extent of fraud present in our overburdened, dysfunctional immigration system, which too often serves as a revolving turnstile for criminals and terrorists of all stripes. As the Washington Post explains, the reason this conviction is so significant is because Brahim Lajqi also threatened to blow up the White House and the U.S. Treasury Building, among other vital targets lying within the District of Columbia.

How he entered the United States illegally is an interesting story unto itself.

Lajqi, an ethnic Albanian who came to the United States through Mexico in the mid-1980s, is a self-described “extremist militant,” who said he was trained by Bosnian Muslim rebels, according to court papers.

Apparently, Islamic terror networks and terrorists have been exploiting the poorly secured southern border many years before Hezbollah got into the business. What makes this story even more infuriating is the purported rationale for Lajqi’s decision to wage jihad against the institions of the American government and its citizens. He was angry at American involvement in Kosovo. That would be the involvement on behalf of Lajqi’s fellow Muslim Albanians living inside of what was then part of Yugoslavia, which ineluctably led to Kosovar independence, which again was supported by the United States government. In other words, the man whose people would not have an independent state were it not for American benevolence was in the process of trying to murder and/or maim hundreds-or possibly thousands-of  people whose country not only allowed him to live here illegally for years but who gave his people an identifiable homeland recognized by the international community.

This case illustrates two fundamental aspects of our baffling immigration system.

1. The choke points leading into the United States are too accessible to terrorists and criminal syndicates. Even though securing every inch of a 2,000 mile-long border is impossible, there are methods to keep the number of illegal aliens entering this country to a minimum, and thus minimize the risk to American citizens. This is something that even President Bush-hopelessly misguided on immigration issues throughout most of his two terms in office-grudgingly recognized.

2. Pretending that people who come from a completely different culture can seamlessly integrate into American society, despite  multiculturalism’s dilution of  the bonds of American citizenship, is a recipe for disaster. The incompatibility between a free, pluralistic society and exiles or migrants whose conception of freedom is entirely different from that of the West is something that astute writers have been pointing out in Europe for years. The notion that a radicalized, anti-American minority of Muslim immigrants-or in this case, illegal aliens-is not yet a problem for this country is not born out by the evidence.

Despite the misleading portrayals of these newcomers, fueled equally by a fantasy notion of  past waves of immigration and an attachment to discredited multicultural platitudes, there are many people whose sole objective in coming to the United States is to do us harm. And when they can’t make it to the United States itself, they attempt to murder Americans overseas, as the deadly assault outside of an American base in Germany-by another Kosovar-demonstrates. It’s time to do away with the sentimentality that has characterized our approach to this subject for decades and accept the fact that some people do not belong on American soil, regardless of what heart-warming media narrative the media constructs on their behalf.