No Religious Test? Actually, Yes, There Is + More – Daily Digest

Posted on Thu 11/19/2015 by PA Pundits - International

THE FOUNDATION

“The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by decency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment.” —George Washington, 1783

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

No Religious Test? Actually, Yes, There Is

During his Monday press conference in Turkey, Barack Obama slammed opponents of his agenda to flood our nation with Syrian refugees. “When I hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test for which a person who’s fleeing from a war-torn country is admitted … that’s shameful,” he lectured. “That’s not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion.”

Except American law says we do have a religious test for admitting refugees (in contrast with no religious test for holding public office). Specifically, former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy notes, “Under federal law, the executive branch is expressly required to take religion into account in determining who is granted asylum. Under the provision governing asylum (section 1158 of Title 8, U.S. Code), an alien applying for admission ‘must establish that … religion [among other things] … was or will be at least one central reason for persecuting the applicant.’” Furthermore, Section 1101(a)(42)(A) of Title 8, U.S. Code defines a refugee as a person “who is unable or unwilling to return to … that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of … religion [among other things].”

The reason we have asylum laws, and the reason they are geared toward a religious test, is that refugees are often fleeing their homeland because of religious persecution. The Islamic State is specifically and horrifically targeting Christians for persecution, slavery (including for sex) and death. Yet just 53 of the Syrian refugees Obama has admitted since 2011 have been Christians.

Exit question: Remember the time Obama fought extra hard to deport a Christian homeschooling family back to Germany? Was that a religious test?

But Before Russia Commits to Attacking the Islamic State…

Everyone wants the Islamic State thrown upon the ash heap of history. But while Barack Obama expected Russia to fall in line with his coalition to do something about the Islamic State, Russia’s involvement comes with some demands, demonstrating that there is a power struggle to figure out just who is the top dog in Middle East policy. Obama and other Western leaders want Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad deposed and a fledgling government established with the mission to spearhead the defeat of the Islamic State. How’s that working in Libya?

But in comments Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia’s puppet dictator has to stay for Moscow to turn its attention from bombing moderate Syrian rebels threatening Assad to the caliphate. “It seems to me there are no longer any doubts that it is simply unacceptable to put forward any pre-conditions for joining forces in the fight against terror,” Lavrov said. Perhaps Obama and Co. thought Russia would remember that old “reset” button because the Islamic State bombed its passenger jet that left 224 people dead in the Sinai desert. But Lavrov said it was the West that needed to find its focus after the Paris attacks. He continued, “I hope that the change in position of our Western colleagues — which unfortunately came at the cost of the terrible terror attacks — will be seen on the part of our other Western partners.”

Frankly, it’s hard to fathom why Obama still prioritizes ousting Assad over dealing with the Islamic State. Obama probably feels like he’s about to get kinged on the checkerboard, as he will demand Russia and Iran distance themselves over the fight in Syria. But Russia already has the most influence in the region. Vladimir Putin is three moves ahead on the chessboard.

Secret Service Hitmen Get Slap on the Wrist

They say the best way to ensure a permanent job is to become a government employee. Whether we’re talking about the IRS or the VA, the adage is truer than ever. Both agencies have tolerated and even rewarded insidious behavior. Well, now you can add to the list a third federal bureaucracy — the Secret Service. Recall that the agency has made a mockery of itself and even jeopardized national security under the Obama administration. For example, agents rendezvoused with prostitutes in Colombia and allowed a knife-wielding man to breach the White House perimeter. It’s no wonder Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, initiated a probe earlier this year. But in an almost surreal twist, dozens of agents retaliated by exposing confidential information on Chaffetz. It was nothing less than a smear campaign designed to punish the enforcer. Did we mention it is also illegal?

This week, a very “apologetic” Secret Service Director Joseph P. Clancy revealed what his agency plans to do about it. “I would like to publicly renew my apology for this breach of trust and affirm my commitment to restoring it,” he told Congress, adding he’s “determined to ensure all employees are held to the highest standard of professional conduct.” However, the punishment, as reported by the Associated Press, isn’t exactly what we would call hardline: “Clancy said most agents were receiving between three and 12 days of suspension. Supervisors have not yet been disciplined, which Clancy said could range from a letter of reprimand to being fired.” Rep. Scott Perry, obviously befuddled, responded, “The toughest disciplinary action right now is not a loss or revocation of your security clearance, is not a loss of your employment — it’s 12 days suspension.” Our own Mark Alexander considers the Secret Service’s attempt at intimidating a sitting Congressman tantamount to IRS targeting, only this was more specific and more egregious by a law enforcement agency. The incident, he says, ranks right up there with the worst sabotages of any member of Congress. Giving miscreants a slap on the wrist and calling it “punishment” is exactly why Americans have next to no trust in the federal government.

Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column

Read Suicide of the West. According to Obama, if you are concerned about Jihadi immigrants, “that’s shameful.”

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FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS

Announcing Record Gun Sales for 2016

By Allyne Caan

Founding Father Patrick Henry once warned, “Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.”

And in his 1996 book, “The Vision of the Anointed,” Thomas Sowell describes the pattern by which liberal elites impose their leftist policy aims — first convincing the masses a grave problem exists, then miraculously providing the Big Government solution. In other words, approaching the jewel of Liberty to take it. “[W]e’re hyped to believe that something is a terrible crisis for which something must be done,” Sowell said, “And what[’s] … fascinating to me … is that very often the thing that’s said to be in crisis has often been getting better for years on end, but that gets ignored.”

It’s as though Sowell foresaw the Obama administration.

After nearly doubling the national debt, driving up health care premiums to unaffordable levels, wielding his pen with one hand while giving Congress the finger with the other, and, oh yes, “containing” the Islamic State, Obama is turning his final year’s attention to eviscerating the Second Amendment. That’s right, he’s set his sights on gun control.

He must be hoping the climate will change.

In an interview published this week in GQ magazine, Obama said, “The main thing that I’ve been trying to communicate over the last several of these horrific episodes is that, contrary to popular belief, Americans are not more violent than people in other developed countries. But they have more deadly weapons to act out their rage. … I will do everything I can to make sure that there’s a sustained attention paid to this thing.”

That’s certainly in line with his June 2014 lament about his supposed greatest frustration: “the fact that this society has not been willing to take some basic steps to keep guns out of the hands of people who can do just unbelievable damage.”

How does this fulfill Sowell’s prophecy? Well, contrary to Obama’s rhetoric meant to hype Americans into believing gun violence is a terrible crisis about which something must be done (i.e. rights must be surrendered), gun violence has actually seen a major decline in America over the past two decades.

The Daily Signal reports some heartening statistics: “In 1994, there were 23,326 murders in the United States; by 2013, that number had fallen to 14,196, an incredible 39-percent decline. More specifically, according to the Department of Justice, the number of firearm-related homicides declined from 18,253 in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011. The Department of Justice further concludes that even non-fatal gun-related crimes are declining, dropping 69 percent between 1993 and 2011.”

And while gun control proponents claim gun violence victimizes 33,000 Americans each year, they conveniently leave out that two-thirds of these gun deaths are suicides.

Little wonder that Americans believe gun violence is on the rise. Indeed, a 2013 Pew research poll found 56% of Americans thought gun violence was higher at polling time than 20 years earlier, while just 12% thought (accurately) that it was lower.

Meanwhile, a Gallup poll from last month found 70% of Americans believe crime in general is on the rise. And this, Gallup noted, “[d]espite government data showing declining violent crime rates in the U.S. over the past two decades.”

But who needs facts when fiction is much more conducive to one’s agenda? And Obama is dead set on using his last year in office to disarm as many Americans as he can. See for example his citation of the Australia model of gun confiscation.

Of course, few things drive Constitution-loving Americans to become gun-owning (or multiple-gun-owning) Americans more quickly than the threat of increased gun control.

Indeed, since Obama took office, gun production has more than doubled, rising 140% to 10.8 million in 2013. By comparison, the number of guns manufactured increased by 18% during the Bush administration and decreased by 9% under Clinton.

But sure, Obama, please continue your alarmist talk about guns — it’s already proven an amazingly effective way to arm the American people.

MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Todd Starnes: Obama Is Importing Muslims, Deporting Christians
Larry Elder: The Paris Attacks and the Rise of ISIS
E. Calvin Beisner: Climate Policies Kill Through Fuel Poverty

For more, visit Right Opinion.

TOP HEADLINES

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report

OPINION IN BRIEF

Todd Starnes: “Last year, the Obama administration led a fierce legal battle to have a German Christian family thrown out of the United States. The Romeikes fled their homeland in search of a nation where they could homeschool their children. A judge initially granted them asylum — believing they were escaping from religious persecution. However, the Obama administration waged a fierce campaign against the Romeike family, demanding they be returned to Germany. The family lost court battle after court battle, but at the eleventh hour the White House relented and decided begrudgingly to let them stay. And just a few months ago a federal immigration judge ordered a dozen Iraqi Christians deported from a facility in San Diego. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson declined to tell The San Diego Union-Tribune why the Iraqi Christians were being sent back to their native land. So the next time President Obama wants to lecture the nation about religion maybe he could explain why his administration is importing Muslims and deporting Christians.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “Ten million ignorances do not constitute one knowledge.” —German-Austrian politician Clemens von Metternich (1773-1859)

For the record: “[Obama’s] getting a lot of pressure by the Iranians. Otherwise he should have … partnered with Arab moderate forces such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, UAE. They are fighting terrorism very much and very well in Yemen, in Sinai, in Libya, elsewhere. But the reason that he’s not … is because the Iranians are pressuring him, because the Syrian regime is pressuring him. They don’t want those areas, those Sunni areas to be liberated by Sunni moderates because they won’t have access to them. That’s the bottom line of it.” —Walid Phares, National Defense University professor

Non Compos Mentis: “I do want to remind you, before we killed a jihadist named [Anwar al-] Awlaki, he did a video that said to Americans, ‘Join the Jihad and get guns, because it’s so easy in the United States of America to get a weapon.’ … I think it ought to cause us to have another consideration of sensible gun-safety laws.” —Rep. Jan Schakowsky (“According to reports, terrorists in the Paris attack used fully automatic weapons.” —The Hill)

The BIG Lie: “[Oklahoma City bomber] Timothy McVeigh was a Christian. Just sayin’.” —Joy Behar of “The View” (No, McVeigh was an agnostic.)

Annals of the absurd: “There have been a lot of monster Christians. Hitler was a Christian.” —Whoopi Goldberg of “The View” (No, Hitler hated Christianity and at best forced Christians to swear allegiance to him first. He was his own God.)

Village Idiots: “I think that we first of all need to be in a place of peace. We need to go and not use our young men and women to conduct war anymore — that’s over. You don’t go down to the level of the people who are the murderers and become murderers yourselves. I think those days, I hope, are over.” —Michael Moore

“You know, those people who have snuck in, that I don’t know if they’ve snuck in, but maybe they become Americanized. Maybe the anger goes away. Maybe what they snuck in to do, they’re not going to do because we do have an acceptance of these people.” —Bloomberg’s Margaret Carlson (“Great point, Margaret. If only we’d had a little longer to hug it out with the 9/11 terrorists.” —Newsbusters’ Mark Finkelstein)

And last… “Obama can’t build a website or tell us who said it was a YouTube video or who ordered Fast & Furious, but he can screen 10K refugees no problem.” —Twitter satirist @weknowwhatsbest

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis!
Managing Editor Nate Jackson

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