President Obama’s last week in office has brought with it a flood of breaking news. The biggest story, of course, is his commutation of Chelsea Manning’s 35 year prison sentence. My own impression is that his decision is designed as a cynical bit of legacy-building, with the added benefit of perhaps inducing Julian Assange to leave the Ecuadorian embassy. Although that prospect appears increasingly remote, it very well might have factored into his judgement. Overlooked in news coverage of the Manning commutation is the grant of clemency to Oscar Lopez Rivera, a leader of the Marxist-Leninist Puerto Rican terror group FALN. Like Bill Clinton’s pardon of previously released FALN terrorists, which was intertwined with his wife’s Senate bid in New York, this decision was politically-based. In this case, as a parting gift to violent socialists who still comprise a significant portion of the Democratic base and will populate future revolutions.

Another early Christmas present for the hard left  comes in the form of the President’s revocation of the federal government’s Wet Foot, Dry Foot policy. It should be recalled that the policy itself was implemented prior to a pivotal election year, when former President Clinton was attempting to empty Guantanamo Bay of Cuban refugees. In order to prevent a repeat of Mariel-which sunk a young Bill Clinton’s chances of being reelected governor of Arkansas-he struck a deal with Fidel Castro which limited the number of Cubans who would be allowed to enter the United States. As Humberto Fontova astutely points out, one of the unreported effects of this adjustment will be an increase in the number of dependents flowing into the United States with a commensurate decrease in the amount of skilled professionals immigrating.

Even as the Obama administration’s days draw to a close, it continues to imperil the health and safety of ordinary American citizens, as ICE and CBP effectively serve as a shuttle service for unidentified illegal aliens under the pretext of being reunited with family. How many innocent people will meet the same fate of Sarah Root because of this willful indifference to the lives of Americans? Even  as people living throughout the United States are placed in imminent danger through the reckless ideology of the outgoing administration, the tide of refugees from Asia, Africa, and broken nations like Haiti shows no signs of ebbing. The conditions Barack Obama and his lawless bureaucracy have established bear all the hallmarks of the disaster we’ve seen unfold across Europe over the past 2 years.

Unfortunately, there are also ominous hints being dropped by President-Elect Donald Trump, who has responded favorably to proposals to salvage his predecessor’s patently unconstitutional administrative amnesty. In addition to going back on one of the central planks of the platform upon which he was elected-and deflating any enthusiasm felt by his staunchest supporters-this maneuver would significantly enhance the prestige and power of the very worst people, e.g. Paul Ryan, John McCain, and Lindsey Graham. The idea that one of the first domestic policy decisions will be to embrace the instincts of open borders fetishists and neoconservatives is unconscionable. If Trump had campaigned on a promise to continue the disastrous immigration policies of the current administration, he never would have made it past New Hampshire. This is an idea which needs to be categorically rejected by any right-thinking immigration patriot.

In order not to black pill the majority of our audience, we should leave you with a bit of good news from abroad. It seems that Norway has finally shown some of the Scandinavian backbone which Sweden surrendered several centuries ago. While the Norwegians haven’t ejected every jihadist apologist and Muslim fifth columnist from their nation, 2016 did see a record number of deportations. Although too many of these deportees were Europeans, it’s significant that there is a growing movement within that country to assert its sovereignty in the face of a Muslim population that has grown to nearly 150,000.

Perhaps it’s not too late to save Europe.

The sans culottes of the treason lobby-as well as their illegal alien shock troops-took to the streets recently in order to inveigh against President Obama’s symbolic, pathetic action against OTMs from Central America. I wonder why the American public isn’t more enamored of these lovely young DREAMers.  You can watch Part II here. The after-action report by Joanna Marzullo can be read after the jump. 

For those of you who are still wondering why the issue of who we admit to the United States from abroad is so controversial these days, I would recommend reading this story about a little incident which occurred on an international flight this weekend. The nationality of the failed Shaheed is unclear, but something tells me that-like Syed Farook-he was a beneficiary of our country’s increasing hospitality towards the developing world.

And while the cadres of the Islamic State no doubt want to keep most of their tax-paying slaves within ISIS-controlled territory-if for no other reason than to bolster their finances-the idea that they aren’t simultaneously attempting to insert future martyrs into the stream of refugees flooding into Europe, Canada and the United States is patently absurd. Indeed, no less than the head of the House’s Homeland Security Committee has affirmed that this is part of their strategy.

So while the President’s decision to exercise greater scrutiny over certain visa programs-once he’s alerted to their existence-is worthy of a golf clap, it’s a bit misguided, given the parlous state of our systems of immigration enforcement. Or non-enforcement, as the case increasingly seems to be.

Oh well. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, after all. Let’s hope there are still some of us with feet by the time our government starts exercising some prudence in whom it allows onto American soil.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding an oversight hearing today exploring the Obama administration’s opportunistic and lethal negation of federal immigration enforcement. In light of recent events, it should be well worth watching. You can see it for yourself beginning at 10 AM EST on the Committee’s website.

The father of Jamiel Shaw asks some pointed, very disturbing questions which this administration and Congress have yet to answer.

Ignore the misleading headline; the actual institutions “tackling” the purported scourge of merchandise unapproved by the National Football League are local law enforcement agencies and the Department of Homeland Security. That’s right, the cabinet-level, taxpayer-funded agency designed to ensure the safety of American citizens is acting as the Pinkerton (agency) for Roger Goodell’s incredibly flush, tax-exempt, legally protected monopoly.

Beyond the dubious assertion of privilege-the NFL has a history of legally threatening small business owners-there’s the obscenity of ICE and CBP allocating extraordinarily scare resources-or so we’re told-to matters which have absolutely nothing to do with immigration enforcement. Is it any wonder that virtually no illegal aliens, in any substantial numbers, are being deported?

If this post seems like a broken record, it’s probably because you remember reading identical complaints in years past. As Mark Steyn has observed, the more the state grows, and the more duties accrue to its subsidiary arms, the less proficient it becomes at managing one of its chief duties, i.e. ensuring the survival of its citizens from foreign threats. There’s no better illustration of this maxim than the transformation of the Department of Homeland Security into the enforcer for the NFL. It’s something to contemplate as you sit down to watch Super Bowl XLIX later today.

With Election Day imminent, it’s only appropriate that this edition of the Daily Rattle begins with a few news items dealing with important votes taking place throughout the country. One of the most revealing contests does not involve a single political candidate, but is actually a referendum taking place in the deep-blue state of Oregon. Measure 88, a ballot proposition that would invest illegal aliens living in that state with driver’s licenses-just like their fellow lawbreakers to the north-looks to be headed towards a resounding defeat, to the surprise, no doubt, of everyone but those of us who have been paying attention. Thankfully, this ACLU-crafted invitation to further criminality-and potential mayhem in the skies-will be rejected by sensible Oregon voters, even if the pathetic incumbent-along with the lovely, immigration fraud enabler to whom he’s married-remains in the governor’s mansion.

Unfortunately, the political appeal for defending the health and security of American citizens is  a concept that’s all but lost on those currently running the Republican Party. You need look no further than Democratic political consultant-and advisor to former President Jimmy Carter-Pat Caddell to realize the utter stupidity of the GOP neglecting the most important domestic policy issue of our time. His description of the GOP as the Stupid Party encapsulates our feelings on this subject, as most of you already know. For anyone doubting the validity of this assertion, a recent survey demonstrating that the vast majority of Coloradans want all illegal aliens deported-contrary to the pro-amnesty stances proffered by candidates of both parties-should dispel your skepticism. As should the remarkably successful senatorial campaign of Scott Brown, who has bravely bucked the trend of Republican candidates dodging the subject of patriotic immigration reform, no doubt to the horror and consternation of the editors at the Wall Street Journal.

The results of these elections will have momentous consequences, not the least of them being a potential increase in crime unleashed by relaxed-or non-existent-immigration enforcement. USA Today has confirmed what almost everyone suspected regarding last year’s politically-motivated release of thousands of illegal aliens from federal custody during the sequestration process. Namely, that these individuals were not benign Dreamers, but rapists, human traffickers, and kidnappers, insincere protestations  to the contrary  by administration flacks notwithstanding. Kudos to the New Hampshire Union Leader for seeking the disclosure of the names of criminal aliens whose identity ICE bureaucrats were attempting to hide from public. And if you’re under the impression that aliens who’ve committed a serious crime will eventually be punished, no such luck. The case of Cynthia Garcia-Cisneros demonstrates that even killing two children through your own lethal negligence will not ensure prison time, let alone deportation for your crimes.

Whether or not the African immigrant who raped and mutilated his wife will be punished for his acts of barbarity remains to be seen. He does not appear to be a beneficiary of the President’s unconstitutional DACA amnesty, so the chances that he’ll be able to skate on these charges-or illegally cast a ballot in the upcoming elections-appear remote. However, the potential for increased violence visited upon innocent Americans as a result of our government’s open borders policies will no doubt increase in the days ahead, as the President amps up his de facto, patently unconstitutional administrative amnesty. In fact, the Obama White House is making no bones about its intent in this regard, as the recent speech by Leon Rodriguez celebrating its forthcoming abuse of power makes clear, as does the order for thousands of work authorization permits for the illegal aliens who will presumably be regularized once the election is over. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez’s specious assertion that the upcoming expansion of  Obama’s administrative amnesty will result in shared prosperity is no doubt intended to allay concerns over the upcoming deluge. Perhaps these propagandists should tell the scores of IT workers who were blackballed from gainful employment by favor-seeking tech firms-about the benefits of mass immigration.

The Obama administration has had its hands full, what with bypassing the constitutional process, easing the lives of criminal aliens-while simultaneously obstructing any investigation into the release of these domestic threats-and allowing over 100,000 Haitians to come to the United States without visas, but it hasn’t neglected to harm American interests in other ways. I’m thinking chiefly of the obstruction of justice related to the Fast and Furious debacle, which proceeds unabated. Thankfully, Judicial Watch continues to shine a spotlight upon one of the greatest crimes perpetrated by the Department of Justice.

As a result, the public now has access to a Vaughn index describing Fast and Furious records, including a tranche of e-mails detailing Attorney General Eric Holder’s intimate involvement in leading the spin machine devoted to exculpating this administration from blame for the fallout from Fast and Furious. Judicial Watch has also obtained information about the pivotal role Valerie Jarrett, President Obama’s Svengali-played in the potential perjury of the outgoing Attorney General before Congress. Like the true dimensions of the invasion coming across our southern border from Central America, most major media outlets have decided to ignore one of the most flagrant examples of Executive corruption within the past five decades.

Another underreported story is the Enterovirus D68 outbreak which continues to claim the lives of young children throughout the nation. In the state of California, the rate of infections has doubled within a week, while questions about its origin remain unanswered, contrary to the tendentious conclusions reached by those acclaimed epidemiologists at Media Matters. Moving on to another lethal virus, the National Border Patrol Council has confirmed that hundreds of foreign nationals from the three African nations devastated by Ebola have been detained at the Mexican-American border over the course of the past year. As others have pointed out recently, a dire scenario involving this epidemic involves the spread of the virus throughout Central America, which would make the recent surge of unaccompanied minors look positively benign by comparison. It’s unclear whether future ebola victims traveling to the United States will be entitled to reap the benefits of Obamacare, but rest assured that the procedures used to handle their cases will be based upon political opportunism as much-if not more so-than common sense.

However we deal with them, I’m sure their treatment will elicit cries of xenophobia and lectures on discrimination from the president of Mexico, who continues to believe that our immigration policies should be contoured to accommodate the aspirations of the corrupt, extraordinarily wealthy elite which rules his country. The fact that there might be legitimate economic, cultural, defense or health reasons to limit entry to the United States never occurs to those ensconced in power, whether they reside in Mexico City or in the Big Apple. Just as the concept of having a unifying culture has become anathema to the ruling class, so has the concept of having a common language which binds citizens.

Overseas, civilizational decline proceeds apace, assisted in no small part by the anti-democratic institutions which have been established to serve as a check on the bien pensant attitudes of their native peoples. More than 100,000 uninvited migrants have breached the border crossing which separates France from Italy, according to Le Figaro. The situation in Spain is not much better, as a violent confrontation between a border guard and migrant which occurred recently in Melilla-one of the last obstacles impeding refugees from access to continental Europe-illustrates. In fact, the reality of this nightmarish situation has become so glaringly evident that many European nations-the United Kingdom among them-are rethinking their support for a rescue program which has only served to encourage more potentially deadly journeys across what the Romans once called mare nostrum. I suppose we should be grateful that some European leaders are at least paying lip service to national sovereignty, although none has been as bold as Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, who wants to know why Third World refugees feel entitled to permanent resettlement in developed, First World nations.

If only America had a leader willing to resist the monolith of multiculturalism and open borders activism. Unfortunately, the one state that has thus far rejected the United Nations refugee resettlement program which has unraveled so many tightly knit, beautiful American communities is led by a man who appears ready to accede to the wishes of the UN and U.S. State Department. The consequences of continuing this long march towards oblivion could not be more dire, as the recent jihadist attacks in Canada make clear. The terror attack in Ottawa was enabled in large measure by the manipulation of the immigration system, as Debbie Schlussel points out in an illuminating post exploring some of the history behind  Michael Zehaf-Bibeau’s attack on Parliament Hill and Canada’s National War Memorial. Given the current state of our relationship with Muslim newcomers, it’s not surprising that even before the terrorist assaults in Canada Western nations were advising their soldiers to become invisible. A perfect metaphor, alas, for our current state of affairs.

Update: Seth Barron, of City Council Watch, has an invaluable op-ed in the New York Post exploring why this law is so galling.

As most of you probably know by now, the verminous members of the New York City Council have enacted yet another law intended to allay any fears the thousands of criminal aliens residing in the Big Apple may have about potential deportation. In this case, the bill would forbid cooperation between the Department of Correction and NYPD and federal immigration officials when an illegal alien has been detained in the City. Refusing to honor immigration detainers is a goal for which open borders fanatics have lobbied political officials for several years.

Prepare to hear more stories of police officers and civilians ruthlessly murdered by these privileged aliens, although don’t expect any expressions of remorse or regret from figures like Donna Lieberman. Admitting that you cheered the passage of a bill which will result in the deaths of innocent people-even if they are Americans-is not something that sounds good in a political sound bite, however much spin you put on it.

If there’s one thing this administration is proficient at, it’s squandering the hard-earned wealth of its subjects. Sorry, its citizens. A perfect illustration of the contempt Barack Obama and his flunkies have for the American people is the newest budget request intended to “deal with” the flood of Central Americans gushing over our southern border. Contrary to the typically inaccurate reporting on this issue, almost all of this money will be earmarked for the resettlement of these uninvited guests in the interior of the United States.

Former Congressman Ernest Istook Jr. explores a much more cost-efficient option in an op-ed for the Washington Times, which we recommend anyone confused about the precise details of the President’s plan read in its entirety. We also would like to highlight a remarkably scathing critique of this latest scheme to bypass immigration controls by open borders advocate and proud Gang of Eight member Jeff Flake, who was invited onto yesterday’s PBS Newshour to debate La Raza alumna Cecilia Munoz.

Just remember, the Obama administration has never told the truth about immigration, so why should it start doing so now?