One Slim Finger in a Very Leaky Dike

The Washington Times appears to be the best MSM news source for the latest legislation on those 10,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees President Obama had planned on bringing in to the U.S. Should you decide to push through the sludge of those who are constrained by The Narrative muzzle, you’ll find only the usual declarations about our “heritage as a nation of refugees”, our mandate to “help those in need”, etc.

Paris was a horror but the ripples it created seem to have washed over the feet of our slumbering Congress, waking them to step around the puddles. They haven’t increased our national security as much we purportedly race-mongering haters would like, but this suspension of Obama’s Refugee Festival is a good place to start the pushback.

The tenor of this signed news piece by the Time’s Stephen Dinan is clear:

Distrusting President Obama’s assurances and brushing aside his insults, the House voted Thursday to hit the “pause” button on his plans to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S. this year, insisting he step up security checks to make sure terrorists can’t exploit America’s humanitarian heart.

The 289-137 vote saw 47 Democrats join Republicans, defying a veto threat from Mr. Obama, who has grown increasingly strident in accusing his critics of everything from hysteria to Islamophobia.

But his victorious critics said he himself is to blame for having repeatedly betrayed the country’s trust on security issues, including a lax policy on immigration enforcement and mistakenly blaming an anti-Islam film rather than terrorists for the 2012 Benghazi attack that killed America’s ambassador to Libya.

There is more detail at The Washington Times’ website, but here’s the level of our president’s response. You can tell he’s not used to being thwarted:

”The idea that somehow they [Syrian immigrants] pose a more significant threat than all the tourists who pour into the United States every single day just doesn’t jive [sic] with reality,” Mr. Obama said. “So my expectation is after the initial spasm of rhetoric, the people will settle down, take a look at the facts, and we’ll be able to proceed.”

The word Our First Linguist meant to use was “jibe” but he can’t help it; the man is limited by his Harvard Law gig.

You’ll notice he doesn’t mention “the reality of all the [illegal aliens] who pour into the United States every single day” across our degraded southwestern border. Like all politicians he cherry-picks his “facts”.

It took a while to sort through the verbiage and drill down to the language of H.R.4033. As the Times says, this is a “modest” piece of legislation. What is making the bureaucrat politicians squirm is Congress’ assigned responsibility for certifying each and every “refugee”. Basically it says, “You want ’em? Then you sign for ’em”:

The bill the House passed is modest. It would require the heads of the FBI, Homeland Security and the intelligence community to sign off on every refugee.

I don’t know who “the intelligence community” would be. The CIA director? You can almost hear them screaming from here.

There are several places I check for the passage of bills but this is too new for the government to have moved on releasing the details. This is all I have at the moment:

A BILL

To temporarily suspend the admission of refugees from Syria and Iraq into the United States and to give States the authority to reject admission of refugees into its territory or tribal land.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Refugee Relocation Security Act”.

SEC. 2. SUSPENSION OF ADMISSION OF SYRIAN AND IRAQI REFUGEES.

Beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security may not admit into the United States an alien from the countries of Syria and Iraq into the United States under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157) until such time as Congress passes a joint resolution giving the Secretary the authority to resume admitting such aliens under such sections.

There is a Section 3, giving the state governors authority to deny refugees in their sovereign borders, but as far as I can tell, that section didn’t pass. It is extremely frustrating to find the details.

If any of you frequent the law blogs, perhaps you could ascertain the specifics of what was actually accepted and voted on. What I have above was the section that does seem to have passed from HR 4033.

18 thoughts on “One Slim Finger in a Very Leaky Dike

  1. It’s a start, but Congress must really show it has a pair and send Obama into graceless tantrums, such as his last two he aimed at Americans. This [man] must be slapped down and hard and told not to speak until spoken to. He should be told to put his hands on the wall and to spread his legs and prepare for a pat-down.

    • “He should be told to put his hands on the wall and to spread his legs and prepare for a pat-down.”

      Hopefully preparatory to his being frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs by Federal Marshalls.

      • Short term that scene would be satisfying to *us*, but it would be devastating to my black neighbors and I hope that swaggering, arrogant faux-black puppet finishes out his term and goes away. Black people here have suffered a lot and have done so within living memory. The brutal closing of all schools (in a county contiguous to ours) rather than bow to integration was horribly shame-inducing.In those years when the schools were closed black children suffered more than white kids. It was harder and riskier to organize and co-operate the way they would today – e.g., with home-schooling cooperativesf. And generally speaking they were very poor, at the bottom of the working heap in a rural place where there weren’t many jobs for anyone.

        Black people here are descendants of the slaves who were freed after the Civil War; they chose not to leave but to build on what they had. It’s not that many generations since the cruel repression of “Reconstruction”…

        Even though things are integrated today (for instance, we probably had the first authentically and naturally integrated Boy Scout troop within the larger Boy Scout District in the state; and our sheriff is black) such scars run deep. Learning about the ancient European hatreds via GoV made me realize and accept that the ones here are no different and will never go away.

        For those of you living totally within the confines of a white world I can only say be careful what you wish for. The vast majority of real black people have no respect or liking for rabble rousers but they are very proud of “their” president. It is no different than the special love Catholics felt back when Kennedy’s Chicago cronies procured his chair in the Oval Office. Had he ended up being frog-marched out of the White House for some of his crimes and misdemeanors the cultural damage would be a current problem. Which is why Nixon refused to consider a re-count; he wanted the country to stay intact. Y’all would be wise to take his long view.

        • If the black community cannot eventually acknowledge that BHO has done more to delay racial reconciliation than most any other American leader in memory, then perhaps we ought to be giving their perceptions of value a bit less significance.

          • bobby b – It will take time for the black community to admit that about Obama, the same way it took Catholics to let the Kennedy myth go. In both cases it was media-driven myth. If they are not left with the image of Obama being “frog-walked” out of the White House then the usual defenses won’t set in.

        • It’s not about black or white.
          I would wish the same for John Kerry, or Hillary — had they inflicted on us the misrule we’ve been treated to.

          There are plenty of blacks who care not a whit for Mr. Obama. They base their judgment of him not on his race but on his character, abysmal as it is.

          • I agree with your statement “there are plenty of blacks who care not a whit for Mr. Obama”. But that would change if he were frog-marched” out of the White House. He is no worse than Clinton but certainly less affable…

      • Told you before, it’s written in stone;
        Americans will NEVER impeach the first black President!

        • Maybe not.
          But there are other means of removal: lightening, for one.
          He is, after all, a chronic golfer.

    • You’re talkin’ my language honey.
      And I want it filmed for posterity — and my own personal schadenfreude.

  2. This bill is more Failure Theatre from the Republicans meant to fool people into thinking that they’re actually trying to do something. Ryan is a radical open-borders politician who has succumbed to the Washington cartel and is bought and paid for by the Chamber of Crony Capitalism; he’s no more trustworthy than Boehner or McConnell (or Merkel, for that matter).

    As Sen. Jeff Sessions said about the bill: “It basically says the President has asserted that he is going to vet these people before they are admitted into the country as refugees. And they say, ‘well, we require that the appointees of President Obama, who are in charge of vetting, say they fully vetted him.’ That’s all it basically says.”

    It is impossible to vet Syrian refugees as there is no background data with which to query; FBI Director James Comey testified to this very thing last month before Congress. There is no vetting possible: adding a layer of vetting is meaningless. Relying on Obama appointees to defy Dear Leader to “pause” the program is a fool’s errand, we’ve seen how the Dems march in lockstep with their party leader. (Comey is the only one of them who might not be wholly compromised politically, Andrew McCarthy seems to think he’s a professional, and could be the only saving grace, if indeed he has any say in the final vetting from his department.)

    The power of the purse is the only way to effectively stop anything this despotic administration is doing, but the Vichy Republicans will not fight for principle because many of them have no principles and are just as enamored with Big Government as the crypto-Marxist Democrats, they just want to run it.

    Any effort to stop the influx of Syrian refugees should be attached to the upcoming spending bill. But Ryan and the establishment Republicans don’t want to be blamed for “shutting down the government” (even though it’s an executive decision to do so) because they might be the subject of a harshly worded op-ed in the New York Times.

    Pathetic.

    • I agree with you entirely, up until the last point: my appraisal of the GOP’s reasoning for its chronic capitulation, and in this case actual treason against the American people for failing to ensure our safety — the paramount responsibility of all government, and if cast off as an obstacle to their own “glory,” meriting the hang-man’s noose — it is my firm conviction that those who cast the votes to knowingly traumatize us care less for their treatment by the NYT than they do for their own glory and “legacy” in ushering in the Third Wave, as Alvin Toffler described.
      They should all be treated to the same fate as James II of England, ca. 1688. Or better yet, Charles I, 1649.

      • You’re right, that last point was weak. I was using the New York Times as a surrogate for the whole of the corporatist media and was trying to be snarky. It doesn’t actually represent what I believe; it came off as earnest, when I was going for snideness.

        The Republican leadership would rather have us believe they’re afraid of bad press than know the real truth: they don’t want a government shutdown because their patrons don’t want it to shut down, there’s too much money to be made all around. It is doubtful they are as ideologically driven as the Democrats and simple avarice is likely their motivation for selling out the nation. If they have signed on to advancing Third Wave supranationalism then it is to further their own riches and/or for the thrill of the game, though some probably have become true believers.

  3. This bill is just political theater to give some democrats cover in the coming election. Like most of the political theater over the last few years, it is all posturing and empty words. Congress has the ability to use the power of the purse to control the executive branch. The failure does not lie with Obama (for he is successful in his actions), but rather lies at the door of the congress and the compliant media.

    But perhaps I have overstepped. In actuality, much of what is happening is desired by both the Congress and the media. This level of corruption is not new. It is mentioned in the bible, and examples can be found in not-so-ancient Rome. Even as the empire was collapsing around them, the Roman elite found time to engage in power politics and betrayal. Later in the new Rome of Constantinople the same games were played with the same deleterious results.

    The enabling of Islam by European leaders is not something new. The French in the 1500s played the Ottoman Card, and were willing to sacrifice Christians from all over the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and even the Ukraine, in their mad quest for the Rhineland. They facilitated tearing Europe apart by their intervention in Germany during a hiatus in the 30 years war, and this betrayal continued even up to the time the Turks were stopped outside the gates of Vienna in 1683.

    Now some may see this latest attack as a form of Divine retribution acted upon in God’s (not man’s) time, but the reality is that what is happening in Europe today is a direct result of the ongoing arrogance of men who place themselves above honor and duty in their question for power and wealth. While you can argue that the masses have been corrupted by welfare and moral decay, the reality is that like a fish, the rot starts at the head.

    • Interesting you should mention the Gates of Vienna in 1683 and the behavior of political leaders.

      In the run-up (siege) to the battle the Viennese/Hapsburgs managed to get messengers out a couple of times.

      Starhemberg, the leader of Vienna’s defense, requested assistance from Louis XIV of France. The king said no; after all, if Vienna fell, he’d be in a position to snatch territory from the western portion of the Hapsburg empire. There’s your short-sighted viewpoint, most definitely.

      The pope said no also; he was in debt to Louis XIV and didn’t want to send troops; that might offend Le Roi Soleil. He did, however, send money to the cause.

      The German States were Protestant and couldn’t be counted on to help Catholic Hapsburgs; they weren’t even approached. Some Catholic German States did promise help, though (Bavaria, Schwabia, Saxony, Lorraine). The messengers then went to King Jan Sobieski of Poland, who said he’d ride to the aid of the Hapsburgs.

      But who in Europe was helping the Ottoman Turks? After all, their supply lines were quite extended. Vienna is not a seaport; it’s a river port. Seaworthy ships draft deeper than river boats for a good reason. Thus the Ottoman supply depots were on land; they didn’t get much in the way of victuals or materiel via water. To help ameliorate this distance, the Sultan had moved his court and a gigantic army from Adrianople to Belgrade (“seinem Hof und einem riesigen Heer von Adrianopel nach Belgrad”) in March 1683.

      He had also called upon the ancient ethnic relationship between the Magyars and the Turks, which benefited the Ottomans. So Hungary, a Catholic country right next to Austria, gave men, weapons, gunpowder and cannon, food, and whatever else he needed.

      Finally, after almost three months of siege, a 70,000-man army of the Poles and their allies arrived at Vienna late in the afternoon of September 11. (yes, there’s that day again) The next morning, formal battle was joined.

      Although the Christians eventually prevailed, it was by no means a certain outcome, even with the additional 70,000 warriors.

      That’s the kind of valor needed now. Those are the kinds of men–and some women–who are able and willing to confront Islamic supremacy. However, the political class is doing everything it can to paper over the real nature of the ISIS/Daesh “immigration” invasion, and even accuses valorous men and women of “crimes” like disturbing the peace or what-have-you as they see fit.

      The people are here; the people are there (Europe), too. But they need to believe that their actions will *count* and will be *valued.* Perhaps the two attacks in Paris this year, PLUS today’s escapade in Mali, the killing of Christian (but not Muslim) students at a college in Africa earlier this year, etc., ad naus., will cause more people to question their own consciences.

      The big question, one I think is being overlooked, is: How can regular, law-abiding Europeans arm themselves?

      (My source for the Siege of Vienna: “Die Tuerken vor Wien,” Werner Haas, in Aus Deutscher Geschichte, Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ: 1966).

      • Even Sobieski’s help was not assured until the last minute. He had to get the unanimous approval of the Diet to march to Vienna. Members of the Diet were being bribed to vote against the campaign. The pope had to send emissaries to Poland with enough gold to out-bribe King Louis’ people. It was touch and go there for a while.

  4. Are we so crazy that we can’t be concerned about the future of our own legacies we’ve brought into this world? Our own future in our youthful citizens is uncertain. What do they really know about security for their future? What do we really know about our own security now. Hate is all around in one form or another. Even on American soil – we wonder and wait for the next screenplay of conflicts to keep us in touch with tragedy of one life or another and of others. Historic events of long ago remains the excuse to make what’s wrong with some people now. Entitlements keeps too many people comfortable that it becomes a way of life. Others work multiple jobs for betterment hoping their children would appreciate their sacrifice. Education is important with goals to be in the workforce to keep some form of happiness of self and property and maybe a family. Wasn’t that once an American dream? Education, thriving economy and a government with strong representative leaders to govern our States with our Constitution to be upheld is the United States of America. Isn’t it also the President’s oath they pledge to when we the people trust they will honor? Do we not have a Senate and Congress to hear the concerns of the people for the Constitution of the United States of America to stay American? The security of Homeland is endangered. My status of working class is concerned about entitlements to people already making it their way of life, illegals who are here and who continue to come, and eventually let’s just say 200,000 more people with and without proper clearance – the rubber dreamboat is already too full. Prisons are too. Refugees needs to go to Jordan’s safe zone. They’ll be closer to help rebuild their countries.

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