-We begin today’s rattle with an interesting story about an Indian-or Muslim, depending upon PR needs of the open borders squad-athlete who was ushered into this country by our very own Senator Chuck Schumer. Unfortunately, this gifted sportsman is also a sex offender. Perhaps this isn’t quite as bad as having an alien interning for your office who is also a registered sex offender, but it does make you question the collective wisdom of our Democratic friends in Congress. Maybe we shouldn’t be taking their advice, vis-a-vis, controversial immigration decisions made by the Executive branch.

-In a reminder that there are actually rational people living in The People’s Republic of Vermont, the voters of Rutland have just turned out their incumbent mayor, Chris Louras, after he attempted to deluge their town with Muslim refugees from Syria and Iraq. While ignoring the public’s deep discontent with our government’s refugee resettlement programs-when not imputing racism and bigotry to Americans who express reservations about these schemes-is the norm, even the alternative weekly was forced to concede the enormous political consequences of this decision.

-For those of you who were wondering whatever happened to the thousands of unaccompanied minors who were allowed to enter into this country, wonder no more. According to an in-depth backgrounder from the Center for Immigration Studies, our government has absolutely no clue what it’s doing. While over 80 percent of their sponsors are illegal aliens, 44 percent of the UACs in question were ordered deported. Have the vast majority of these children been deported? Of course not, silly!

-You may ask yourself, “Why is this important?” It’s a good question. After all, it’s not as if these individuals will bring brutal Central American inter-gang warfare to the placidity of our nation’s suburbs, right? Well, I have some bad news for you on that score. It turns out that Latin American gangs, including MS-13, one of the most prolific and ruthless criminal networks in the Western Hemisphere, has actually established a pretty firm beachhead in our own backyard. Naturally, almost all of these gangbangers are criminal aliens. In an ironic twist, the moniker of the man who made an abortive attempt to unify the Mara Salvatrucha within the United States is, you guessed it, Dreamer.

-For those of you who think Europe’s approach to immigration is any less self-defeating and preposterous than the United States, I give you France. A nation where municipal authorities in Calais are attempting to prevent thousands of migrants from recreating the notorious refugee camp known as The Jungle. The biggest proponents of turning The Camp of the Saints into reality are, of course, other Europeans who believe Western civilization is uniquely evil. The ostensible plight of migrants from the third world is simply a cudgel with which the Gramscian left-with the help of corporate bean counters-can beat native Europeans into submission.

-After all, what are a few dozen, or a few hundred, honor killings in the grand scheme of things? Is the systemic dehumanization and murder of girls in nations which were responsible for the idea of religious toleration and freedom of conscience too high a price to pay for erecting the beautiful mosaic? When bad whites are saying intemperate, obnoxious things about people who are off-white, doesn’t that negate their entire philosophical worldview?  Even if that perspective is confirmed multiple times every single day?

-Everyone knows that the real reason millions of Muslims across the world support ISIS, Al Qaeda, and similar jihadist networks is because there isn’t enough inclusion in Hollywood casting decisions. See, the real villain isn’t Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It’s those bastards who refused to green light an all-Muslim reboot of Star Trek!

-The cognitive dissonance at work in the mind of an an open borders leftist must be overpowering. They want to live in a high-trust, quasi-collectivist techno-utopia-along the lines of something created by Gene Roddenberry-yet simultaneously support policies which make this already far-fetched goal virtually impossible. The mentality of a social justice warrior in high dudgeon can be found in this VICE piece, which laments the role homeless shelters have been playing in the deportation of migrants. The traditional liberal concern for the working class and the poor is discarded when it conflicts with the categorical imperative, i.e. preserving diversity. The spiritual hollowness and intellectual vapidity of this type of leftist ‘thinking’ was brilliantly and caustically skewered by George Orwell nearly a century ago. It’s good to know that some things haven’t changed all that much.

-I’d like to leave you on a good note, so here’s some refreshing news to come out of Austria. 8 Iraqi men have been convicted of the gang rape of a tourist. Unlike the Middle Eastern cab driver in Halifax who was, to all intents and purposes, high-fived by a Nova Scotia judge for raping an unconscious passenger, these rapists were actually given (relatively) stiff prison sentences. What’s more, we’ve discovered that these horrific incidents actually constitute an anomaly within the Islamic immigrant community.

Migrants and refugees from other countries expressed concern that the crime will make Austrians hostile toward all newcomers.

“Eight people raping a woman — that’s honor-less! Such a thing doesn’t exist in our religion,” Burhan Akbas, a migrant from Turkey, said.

“When such people come here and screw up like that, then everybody will think that Chechens, Afghans, all refugees from war areas are all the same,” Mansur Salamou, an asylum-seeker from Chechnya, said. “But it’s not like that. For example, the majority of us — we also cause problems, commit crimes. But no rape! Only criminal assaults and robberies.”

See, Europeans?! You only have to worry about being assaulted and robbed by the millions of North African and Middle Eastern refugees and migrants making their way towards Europe. What a relief.

Just a reminder that tomorrow night the Irish Exit will host Let’s Talk About Open Borders, a discussion of an issue that impacts us all. You can find out more about the event here, and purchase your tickets here. Is a borderless, multicultural society an atomized dystopia devoid of social capital? Or is it the economically dynamic nirvana envisioned by its advocates? Or is it, perhaps, some strange amalgam of both?!

Find out the answers on Tuesday, as you eat some delicious finger foods and swill some beer in (relative) luxury. Until then, take a look at my examination of  immigration, as it’s been portrayed in popular culture, from this ancient, pre-Trump essay.

For those of you still laboring under the impression that Islam is not at war with the West-including the presumptive Democratic nominee for President-I have some shocking news. It turns out that the followers of Mohammed have other ideas. The plan to assassinate free speech, counterjihad activist Pamela Geller-which was, thankfully, thwarted through the work of the FBI and a tactically placed drone strike-was simply one of many plots devised by jihadist networks which have agents inside of the United States. Networks that have yet to be penetrated by American human intelligence and which now have a steady supply of recruits thanks to horrifically misguided immigration policies.

What should continue to infuriate those of you who have been paying attention is the way this issue is being framed by willfully ignorant and/or malicious hacks within the enemedia. A typical example of journalistic malpractice can be found in the Daily Mail, which-as Robert Spencer points out-has the strange distinction of being the newspaper most preoccupied with the Islamification of Europe while simultaneously denying that Islam itself is a problem. Apparently, the target of at least 2 known assassination plots provoked her would-be murderers by publicly dissenting from the dogma promulgated by the Fourth Estate’s favorite religion. A religion which is unique in enjoying blanket immunity from criticism.

Perhaps that has something to do with how adherents to the Religion of Peace deal with legitimate critiques of their faith. A pattern of violence and coercion that can be traced back to the founder of this religion, who himself didn’t countenance rational criticism. This campaign of brutality and intolerance has been so successful that it has silenced all but a few courageous voices in the West, which in turn makes it that much easier for jihadists to hunt down its intended targets, a reality which hasn’t been lost on Mark Steyn. It has also turned the mainstream media, ranging from commercial and public broadcasting networks-both radio and television-cable news, national and regional newspapers, and incredibly powerful websites into mouthpieces for the most retrograde, illiberal ideology known to man.

One wonders if the people asserting that Pamela Geller “provoked” these Islamic bombs-duds, fortunately, in this case-feel the same way about Gerard O’Neill and Dick Lehr. Did they provoke mobster James Bulger Jr. through their critical investigative reporting into his murderous criminal empire? What about controversial author and radio host Howie Carr? Was the grizzled Irish mobster nicknamed Whitey justified in his attempt to eliminate Carr for his insolence? Employing the logic used by the regressive left to slander Geller and her allies in the counter-jihad movement, one would come to that ineluctable conclusion.

What’s perplexing  is the implicit assumption that by blackening the name of  notorious “Islamophobes” and trying to preempt any public debate on the nature of Islam these journalists are assuring their own safety, which could not be further from the truth. The idea that you can somehow preserve the institutions of Western civilization  for yourself while eroding them for your perceived enemies-who actually believe in and exercise those values, unlike your reactionary Islamist allies-is a staggering form of cognitive dissonance. The brutal, globally shared execution of non-right wing, non-Islamophobic journalist Steven Sotloff should have demonstrated this, if the murder of dozens of other journalists, NGO workers, and even an Israel-hating, Italian Marxist did not. Somehow, the rather elementary notion that you can’t compromise with people who demand your complete and utter submission-up to and including your own death-hasn’t penetrated the minds of those who man North American and European news desks.

The collective amnesia these individuals must suffer from is astounding to contemplate. I would recommend reading The Camp of the Saints, a grim portrait of the future of the West, but I doubt it would change their minds, which seem predetermined to ignore any portions of reality which conflict with their surreal conception of human nature. Then again, there’s always the chance that some will come to their senses. If so, perhaps Pamela Geller won’t be our Cassandra. If not, we have a bleak future, and many regrets, ahead of us.

Even as the usual suspects beat their compassionate breasts in the wake of the latest drowning of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, there are some political figures who are willing to speak the unvarnished truth. One of them is UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who has correctly pointed out that it was the Franco-Anglo-American attack upon Libya which spawned  these “tragedies.” Although not entirely responsible for these disasters at sea, it should be noted that bribing the late despot Moammar Gadhafi was a more effective deterrent to these catastrophes than providing Al Qaeda in North Africa with its own reliable air force. 

Personally, I think a much more effective policy than paying the Dane geld to kleptocratic African or Middle Eastern feeder states, or reestablishing the rescue operations that encourage further invasion of the European continent, would be taking a cue from our Founding Fathers. After all, notwithstanding the beatific description of these individuals used by every media organization of note, they are not migrants, they are pirates, and  the destruction of the vessels these ostensible refugees are using before they imperil their own lives and the lives of others would be the prudent course of action. At least, from a rational point of view, which doesn’t seem to prevail among the global brain trust tasked with finding a solution to this problem.

Perhaps we need more ritualistic massacres of Christians by these down trodden migrants before the matter of preemption is raised. I would recommend that Prime Minister Renzi, the head of the Holy See, and others so eager to extend the hospitality of Europe to these uninvited guests read a certain book before proceeding to endorse policies that will undoubtedly worsen an already untenable situation.

From the invaluable European weblog The Gates of Vienna comes a deeply disturbing video that highlights the extent of illegal migration currently afflicting the continent, especially now that the ‘Arab Spring’ has loosened border controls throughout North Africa and the Middle East.

The confluence of  liberalized intra-European visa requirements, large scale exoduses from failed Arab-Muslim states across the Mediterranean, and a European Union still unable to effectively address the “peaceful” invasion that is starting to resemble a real-life version of The Camp of the Saints, has turned what was once a minor inconvenience into a problem with potentially disastrous consequences for the future of Europe. 

Christopher Caldwell examined the inexorable changes European nations are undergoing in his book Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, which should serve as a warning to American policy-makers and liberal actvists who routinely extol multiculturalism and mass immigration as the ultimate solution to America’s irredeemably racist past. In fact, the new Islamic immigrants have not ameliorated the racial and religious hatreds that wracked Europe during the 20th century. If anything, they’ve reinvigorated long-dormant feelings of anti-Semitism and bigotry, and given a new lease on life to native European racists. From Londonistan’s boycott of Holocaust Remembrance Day, to the sustained jihad waged within formerly peaceful Swedish hamlets like Malmo, to the French banlieues that have become so anarchic that they are the subject of futuristic, apocalyptic, yet not entirely implausible, action films modeled after movies like The Running Man, Europe’s grand experiment has proven to be a colossal failure. 

The shocking video above should stand as a pointed reminder of what can happen to a place that has lost sight of its roots, which in this case stem from Enlightenment values, the Renaissance, and Western civilization at its very core, i.e. classical Greece and Rome. That genuine European heritage is the very antithesis of the ersatz culture Eurocrats are trying to fashion from the seeds of politically correct, leftist dogma, post-war bureaucratization and hierarchy, and massive waves of unassimilable Islamic immigrants. That segment should serve as a sobering message to all of us of what happens when we cede the right to determine our future on our terms. Today those images come from Europe, but can America be far behind?

For those of you who have followed the recent spectacle of the Tamil vessel that docked in Canadian waters, you’re well aware of the increasing weariness many Canadians have expressed over their nation’s extremely liberal refugee/asylum policies. Now comes word that many of these newcomers will be entitled to health benefits that exceed those granted to native Canadians.

The question is, how will this impact Canadian public opinion? Although the open borders lobby would like you to believe that Canadians monolithically support greater immigration, the truth is that most of the country, including its most populous province and political nerve center, are incredibly dissatisfied by the immigration policies set in Ottawa.

However, the fact that Canadians don’t want mass immigration has done virtually nothing to alter the political elite’s conviction that the policies generating problems like the Tamil boat people should be continued in perpetuity. Much like the media and political establishment in this country, the Canadians who crafted these policies are safely insulated from the most harmful consequences of their shortsighted decisions. The good news is that most Canadians have begun to realize that the era of unrestricted immigration and open borders needs to come to an end.

For some great insight into why Canada’s immigration policies are so problematic, I refer you to my favorite Canadian think tank, The Fraser Institute, which has done some outstanding research in this regard.

•  46 criminal gang members were rounded up by a joint federal-local task force in Oklahoma. 34 of those apprehended were foreigners from Mexico and other Central American countries.  “We’ve got a serious issue in south Oklahoma City,” said Oklahoma state Representative Mike Christian, who has been pushing for stronger immigration laws. “We call it Little Baghdad and it’s because of these illegal alien gangbangers, which I call domestic terrorists.”

•  Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, is forming a new posse. Posse 58, which will be composed of armed volunteers, will have the duty of enforcing immigration laws. Operating mostly in the desert, posse members will have authority to make arrests when under official supervision.

•  Australia has immigration problems of its own. The country is a destination for refugees from Southeast Asia. The government’s problem is trying to sort out which are legitimate refugees and which should be deported back to their home countries. Whith limited resources and heavy procedural burdens, the government can’t get the job done. Barely one percent of refugees end up being deported every year.

•  The Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (ALIPAC), has endorsed Republican Sharron Angle for Senator of Nevada. Ms. Angle is running against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a close election. Harry Reid has drawn criticism from immigration activists for sponsoring the DREAM Act, which would lead to citizenship for over a million illegal aliens brought to the United States as minors. ALIPAC refers to it as the Nightmare Act.

•  Kansas Secretary of State candidate Kris Kobach is working on legislation to deny citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants. Mr. Kobach is helping Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce, sponsor of SB 1070, craft the bill, but admits it will be difficult, as it is ultimately a federal, and not a state, issue. “Most countries — almost every country on earth — do not confer birthright citizenship,” said Mr. Kobach. To that end, he also supports federal legislation to stop “anchor babies” from providing a back door that allow entire families of illegal aliens from gaining US residency.

•  Harvard President Drew Faust visited Illinois Senator and DREAM Act co-sponsor Dick Durbin with an illegal alien in tow. The illegal alien, Eric Balderas, has notoriously flouted US immigration laws, yet continues to study at Harvard, and gets private meetings with US Senators inside the US Capitol building. Ms. Faust, despite admittedly harboring and trafficking in illegal aliens, remains at large. American-Rattlesnake was unable to get the Senator to comment on a proposal to allow juvenile car thiefs to keep the cars they’ve stolen and receive taxpayer-funded driver education courses.

•  Rattlesnakes bear live young. You can’t tell a snake’s age by counting the rattles. Juveniles form up to seven rattles joints in one year while adult snakes will only form one or two new rattles joints a year. Rattle joints break off naturally in rough terrain, but rattlesnakes in captivity can accumulate rattles up to 20 joints long.

An issue I’ve explored in previous posts, the flood of Tamil refugees exploiting Canada’s generous-verging on the absurd-asylum policies has engendered a situation that is untenable for the current Conservative government and the vast majority of Canadians.   Granted, there are probably some legitimate asylum-seekers sprinkled among the potential terrorists and TB-afflicted, but does that justify allowing every single Tamil refugee entree to Canadian society? This question is especially pertinent when-as Mr. Levant so astutely points out-many of these same people will be returning to their homeland very shortly in order to “vacation.”

The problem of broken borders is one shared by our neighbors to the north, as this story from the Voice of America illustrates. Apparently, a ship filled of Tamil refugees is seeking to dock in Canada, most likely because of its extremely liberal asylum policies.

You might ask yourself, why not just return these people to their country of origin? After all, it’s quite possible that this boat carries people who belong to international terrorist groups, almost certain that it has among its passengers human smugglers, and the fact that it is transporting those suffering from tubercolosis has been all but been confirmed by official sources.

The reason this ship can’t be returned is because Canada is bound by international law, which apparently nullifies any obligation the Canadian government has to protect its citizens from foreign invasion. Despite Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s admirable attempts to limit the onslaught of boat people from Sri Lanka, the truth is that Canada will never be able to fix this problem until it asserts its sovereign right to decide who it wants to accept or reject from its shores.

Until then, it’s open season for any politically opportunistic “refugee.”