Muslim refugees...

The following was written by:

“Dylan Irons is an adjunct lecturer of international business and Korean studies at Belmont University and also a contributor to the Policy Wire. He received his master’s degree in global affairs with an emphasis on refugee studies from Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. Since 2012, he has worked with various refugee organizations in Korea and the United States, including the Mulmangcho School for North Korean Refugee Youth and the International Rescue Committee. He can be reached at Dylan.Irons@adjuncts.belmont.edu”

in the 1/1/16 Tennessean.

http://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/contributors/2015/12/30/demystifying-resettlement-refugees-us/77947300/?fb_comment_id=1194185110595632_1196524480361695&comment_id=1196524480361695#f323945a8c

I take exception.

Dylan writes: “To apply for refugee status, displaced persons must avail themselves to a foreign government. 

They are then taken to an office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where they provide an affidavit detailing persecution undergone in their home country. 

Once the application for refugee status is submitted, the UNHCR investigates the claim and determines if it has merit. This process can take up to two years, longer given the mass movement of people into Europe at the moment.”

So what you are telling us is that the 10,000 that Obama wants to bring in to the US in 2016 has been in the pipeline for two years.

Let me be blunt. You are either naïve or trying to mislead us.

Dylan writes: “Once the United States receives a referral from the UNHCR, the refugee in question is then vetted by the Department of State, screened by the FBI, examined by the Department of Homeland Security, investigated by the National Counterterrorism Center, interviewed by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and undergoes extensive medical evaluations.”

Snip

Dylan writes: “Refugees are the most security-screened persons coming into the United States.”

You need look no further than the Boston Marathon, the San Bernardino massacre or the Bowling Green plot to understand how ridiculous the idea that vetting of these people can actually protect us by identifying the radical islamists.

You need only look to the 51% of Muslims in the US who favor imposition of Sharia Law in the US to understand why we need no more Muslims being allowed to immigrate here for any reason.

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/americanattacks.htm

http://www.jihadwatch.org/.../51-of-u-s-muslims-want...

Dylan writes: “People are scared — according to Haslam, “as scared as much as anything I've ever seen.” But rejecting refugees only makes us more vulnerable. Accepting Syrian refugees fleeing ISIS into the Volunteer State and beyond undercuts the legitimacy of ISIS. 

Let me understand. Letting people who have individuals in the group with a track record of terrorism and with knowledge that we cannot properly vet them into the country…….Makes us LESS vulnerable?

Really?? 

Again I speak bluntly. You are either naïve or trying to mislead us.

Dylan writes: “By rejecting them, we are pushing them back into the fold of the very terror they are fleeing.”

It is their fight. They should return and they should fight it in their country. They have no moral or legal right to have us adopt them and bring their problems into the US.

Dylan writes: “The governor said the more he learned about the vetting process, the more secure he felt about refugee resettlement.

He also encouraged President Barack Obama to be more engaged with local governments to allay fears and concerns. 

I ask him to do the same with his constituents — engage with and educate people on what the actual process is rather than catering to fear mongering.”

The governor has so damaged his political position within the state by his lack of opposition to Obama that he would do well to switch parties to be a Democrat. He has no future as a Republican unless he rapidly changes direction.

Dylan, if you want to aid these people I urge you to go to their country and start working and quit talking.

And here I edit my previious comment. You are well educated and you are intelligent. What I, and many others do not understand is why with the intelligence and the education you have you do not focus on solving our problems instead of bringing in more.

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper


 “It’s the presumption that Obama knows how all these industries ought to be operating better than people who have spent their lives in those industries, and a general cockiness going back to before he was president, and the fact that he has no experience whatever in managing anything. Only someone who has never had the responsibility for managing anything could believe he could manage just about everything.” - Thomas Sowell in Reason Magazine

Baseball Thoughts

The major leagues have started in earnest but high school baseball is tailing to its end. The boys of late winter and spring along with the parents and families who have packed away their insulated underwear, hoodies, gloves and blankets, are staring at a summer that, after a short vacation, will lead to "two a days" and "run 20 drop and roll and get up and...." But you get the idea.

Sports for kids are one of the greatest of mankind's inventions. Along with the obvious lessons for the kids, you get to know where they are, what they are doing and who they are with.

Have you ever noticed that, for the vast majority, when the game is over the young men stand around and talk and laugh with each other. It is as if they know it is just a game and the memories won't be about who won or lost but of the fun they had.


"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper “It’s the presumption that Obama knows how all these industries ought to be operating better than people who have spent their lives in those industries, and a general cockiness going back to before he was president, and the fact that he has no experience whatever in managing anything. Only someone who has never had the responsibility for managing anything could believe he could manage just about everything.” - Thomas Sowell in Reason Magazine

Worth keeping

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, ‘Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.’ The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, ‘You’re in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.’ She rolled her eyes and said, ‘You must be a Republican.’ ‘I am,’ replied the man. ‘How did you know?’ ‘Well,’ answered the balloonist, ‘everything you told me is technically correct , but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help to me.’ The man smiled and responded, ‘You must be a Democrat.’ ‘I am,’ replied the balloonist. ‘How did you know?’ ‘Well,’ said the man, ‘you don’t know where you are or where you are going. You’ve risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You’re in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but, somehow, now it’s my fault.’



"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

 “It’s the presumption that Obama knows how all these industries ought to be operating better than people who have spent their lives in those industries, and a general cockiness going back to before he was president, and the fact that he has no experience whatever in managing anything. Only someone who has never had the responsibility for managing anything could believe he could manage just about everything.” - Thomas Sowell in Reason Magazine

Don't look now

 

 

but we have just lost the war with radical islamists. And like our withdrawal from Vietnam showed the Muslim terrorists that to win all they had to was just hang on North Korea has shown them how to force us to change our culture.

 “EXCLUSIVE: The chilling effect of the Sony Pictures hack and terrorist threatsagainst The Interview are reverberating. New Regency has scrapped another project that was to be set in North Korea. The untitled thriller, set up in October, was being developed by director Gore Verbinski as a star vehicle for Foxcatcher star Steve Carell. The paranoid thriller written by Steve Conrad was going to start production in March. Insiders tell me that under the current circumstances, it just makes no sense to move forward. The location won’t be transplanted. Fox declined to distribute it, per a spokesman.”

https://deadline.com/2014/12/north-korea-thriller-gore-verbinski-steve-carell-canceled-new-regency-1201328532/

We don’t observe Ramadan? A cyber attack will force ATT to shut down its network. Or maybe Kroger will be told it must stop selling pork or else their stores will be bombed… Or any number of things.

Funny, most of us won’t even know we’re under attack.

 

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

“It’s the presumption that Obama knows how all these industries ought to be operating better than people who have spent their lives in those industries, and a general cockiness going back to before he was president, and the fact that he has no experience whatever in managing anything. Only someone who has never had the responsibility for managing anything could believe he could manage just about everything.” - Thomas Sowell in Reason Magazine

How I feel about it

I'm leaving AOL and while doing some clean up work I found a discourse I had with this dude on the Tennessean's old comment section who made me angry enough to roll away from the fire and attempt to educate him.

He wrote: "You prove you cant teach an old dog new tricks. You are set in your way and if anything counters it. It must be wrong. We will progress despite old fools like yourself.”

I reply: I usually do not comment on spelling and English because heaven knows I am as bad as anyone but when you call someone “old fools like yourself,” you should know that it should be “……..old fools like you.” 

BTW – My generation and the one following it beat Germany and Japan, won the Cold War against the Soviet Union, cured polio and almost completely stamped out such childhood diseases as whooping cough, mumps, measles and chicken pox. Along the way we developed the world’s greatest communication system, brought the Internet into service and, may the Lord forgive us, 200 or so TV channels full of blather and some occasional pieces of information. We recognized how wrong we were treating our citizens of color and expanded minority rights. We established free health care for the poor and Medicare for the aged. Social Security provided both insurance and a minimum retirement package. We put electricity and running water into every home and provided a school for every child. We noticed that the environment was becoming polluted and established a government agency that passed rules that cleaned up our air and water. We made air travel as available as bus travel was in 1950. 

So, new tricks? Jeff, my generation invented hundreds of new tricks. What has your generation done? You are losing the War on Terror against a bunch of dedicated but rag tag Muslim radicals. Instead of integrating people you are separating them into groups that must be protected by “hate laws.” Instead of establishing a true early warning system for bad weather you waste billions studying a false premise that man can control the earth’s climate. Instead of establishing a national health insurance system that covers everyone you have elected a President that has passed a law that is removing coverage for millions and increasing the cost for millions of others while telling those that work they need to pay for more free insurance for the Democrats base voting bloc. The agency that cleaned up the environment has spun out of control and is now focused on destroying whole industries. You have allowed an educational system that was the envy of the world to become a brain washing facility for politically correct goals. Students graduate not knowing our history. They may know how to Tweet on Twitter but they can’t write a complete sentence. They may be computer whiz’s but they haven’t the education that would allow them to invent the computer. 

My generation went to the moon. Your generation has abandoned manned space travel.

You speak of the “real cost” of carbon energy yet you cannot even begin to quantify that “cost.” You speak of “transition” to new energy sources yet you cannot show how your favorites…wind, solar and water…can provide the amount needed much less at an acceptable price.

I gave you proof that Dr Jones knows that MMGW has not happened. I gave you evidence that CO2 amplification has been vastly overstated. I now give you the fact that global temperatures have stopped rising some 16 years ago. And I have given you the requirements for something being a “scientific theory” and noted that MMGW doesn't even come close.

So have a nice day, Jeff. And try to remember that us old fools have been around the world a few times, three county fairs and uncountable goat ropings. In other words, don’t come unarmed to a battle of wits.


"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper “It’s the presumption that Obama knows how all these industries ought to be operating better than people who have spent their lives in those industries, and a general cockiness going back to before he was president, and the fact that he has no experience whatever in managing anything. Only someone who has never had the responsibility for managing anything could believe he could manage just about everything.” - Thomas Sowell in Reason Magazine

Nasty pictures

One of the commentators over at Talk Left regularly comment that I am a racist because of an unflatterng picture I posted of Obama, aka The Won, aka Dear Leader and documented liar.

He seems to forget the many nasty pictures the Left posted of Bush.

 

He is, of course a hypocrite.

 

 

But that's how it works. And criticism of Dear Leader means you are a racist. Any nasty of Bush is okay.

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper “It’s the presumption that Obama knows how all these industries ought to be operating better than people who have spent their lives in those industries, and a general cockiness going back to before he was president, and the fact that he has no experience whatever in managing anything. Only someone who has never had the responsibility for managing anything could believe he could manage just about everything.” - Thomas Sowell in Reason Magazine

When to leave a poker game

is the subject of much debate. Some say set a fixed amount of winnings or losings. I say some things will tell you. For example.

I was in a good fixed limit holdem game and was up about 60 big blinds. The game was solid. lots of fun to play. No whiners. No out of line loose play. Like I said. You could play poker and have fun!

Then it changed. A  guy sat down on my immediate right chug-a-lugged his Bud Lite, loudly ordered another and raised his first hand, chased a another player's pocket queens and made a 9 4 two pair on the river. And did it again and again. Accompanied by loud explanations as to why he called and raised and did it again and again.

Now I confess that I don't mind one loose player in a game. H/she you can beat. Two you can't. So even though he was on my left, and I much prefer loose players on my right, I decided that I was A Much Better Player Than H/she and dug in... In other words greed over took my common sense which was screaming "Leave! Leave!"

 Even worse a friend sat down on my right side and wanted to discuss the state of his world. Now normally I don't mind socializing. That's what poker is all about. But the combination of the loose dude yelling and my bud complaining the game got worse.

And the other dude talked louder and louder. And mostly in my ear. I asked him not to and he apologized and quit for about 5 minutes and then did it again. I called the floor supervisor and she did and he did ...again for about 5 minutes.

And another loose loser joined him and the game turned into show down.

Now I know some people say you can't beat a loose game by playing tight and you can't beat a tight game by playing loose. I disagree. If it turns into a showdown game it is just luck and if it is tight and you play loose you can't win in the long run... Which the dude on my Left did. But, or so I am told, before he busted out he burned a whole lot of other people's chips as well as his own.

But I digress.

After about an hour I had lost about a third of my winnings despite using good starting card selection and paying close attention to position. Not to forget saying to myself , "Don't get frustrated."

Finally I picked up an AK of clubs. Yes. Big slick on the button. A player in the middle raised and I made it 3 bets to go. Loud dude happily made it 4 bets. Not having completely lost my mind I just called.

The flop came  65 of clubs and 8 of hearts. Loud dude bet. Two people called. I raised to get a free card and everyone called.

The turn was a K of diamonds. Not the card I ws hoping for but hey! Top pair with an A kicker. Loud dude checked and it was checked around to me. I bet. He raised. Everyone folded to me. I called.

The river was a 5 of diamonds. Loud dude bet. I almost raised but I'm not completely stupid. I called and he turned over a 4 7 off suit. He had made a terrible call in the worst position and beat my ears off with his rainbow straight on the flop.

 

So I took the 50% I had left and made it to the cage. Why?? Not because of his play but because:

I flopped a big draw and made a big pair on the turn which sucked me along and 2 pair on the river which cost me more.

When you're getting hit with hands like it's time for a drink and beddy bye.

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper “It’s the presumption that Obama knows how all these industries ought to be operating better than people who have spent their lives in those industries, and a general cockiness going back to before he was president, and the fact that he has no experience whatever in managing anything. Only someone who has never had the responsibility for managing anything could believe he could manage just about everything.” - Thomas Sowell in Reason Magazine