Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes claims proper vetting procedures and databases are in place for Syrian refugees contradicting sworn FBI congressional testimony that sufficient databases don't exist.

Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes claims proper vetting procedures and databases are in place for Syrian refugees contradicting sworn FBI congressional testimony that sufficient databases don't exist. | PJ Tatler:
"In the wake of Friday’s horrific terror attacks in Paris, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes was dispatched to the Sunday morning talk shows to spin his boss’ claim the previous day that the ISIS threat had been “contained.”
...Ben, are you confident enough in our vetting process as the United States brings Syrian refugees into our country to pledge that this will never happen here?
RHODES:  Well, first of all, Jake, the threat of foreign fighters has been front and center from the very beginning of this counter-ISIL campaign.  
We have made that a focus, so that we’re working with countries to share information, to improve their laws and authorities to be able to monitor and detain people.
And we’re going to continue to do that.
That will be a focus of discussion here in Turkey.
With respect to refugees, we have the most extensive security vetting that we have ever had to deal with Syrian refugees coming into the United States that involves not just the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, but also our intelligence community, the National Counterterrorism Center, so that anybody who comes to the United States, we are carefully vetting against all of our information.
...But as I reported here two weeks ago at PJ Media, FBI Director Robert Comey testified before the House Judiciary Committee that vetting Syrian refugees will be “challenging” when asked by Rep. Louie Gohmert about the quality of intelligence and information that exists on Syrians:
Gohmert: Well, without a good fingerprint database, without good identification, how can you be sure that anyone is who they say they are if they don’t have fingerprints to go against?
Comey: The only thing we can query is information that we have.
So, if we have no information on someone, they’ve never crossed our radar screen, they’ve never been a ripple in the pond, there will be no record of them there and so it will be challenging..."

Four campus stories that will make your BRAIN HURT

Four campus stories that will make your BRAIN HURT - The College Fix:
College students are living up to all the names they’ve been called this week.
Exhibit A: Protest supporting black students canceled because it was organized by white students.
MRCTV reports:
An organized protest at Cornell University supporting racial equality has been canceled after a black student group complained about the “lack of people of color in the planning and attendance” of the event, which appears to have been organized by a white student.
Exhibit B: Student government bans 9/11 remembrance because it would make campus “unsafe.”
Campus Reform reports:
The undergraduate student government at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities rejected a resolution for a moment of recognition on future anniversaries of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. … “The passing of this resolution might make a space that is unsafe for students on campus even more unsafe,” said [a student government representative].
Exhibit C: Student government shuts down campus group that wants to cheer up dying people because they don’t like the club’s name.
The College Fix reports:
A student proposal at Pitzer College to start a DreamCatchers club to cheer up terminally ill hospice patients was “tabled indefinitely” by the school’s student government after its members expressed concerns that the term “dreamcatchers” was a form of cultural appropriation toward Native Americans.
Exhibit D: Asian student shamed and silenced for saying “black people can be racist” and asking her peers to look beyond skin color to see people’s hearts.
The Daily Caller reports:
An Asian student at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California, was shutdown in mid-speech during a campus protest Thursday, when she said that “black people can be racist.”
Here’s the video:

Cruz: Obama 'Does Not Wish To Defend This Country,' Refugee Plan 'Nothing Less Than Lunacy' - Breitbart

Cruz: Obama 'Does Not Wish To Defend This Country,' Refugee Plan 'Nothing Less Than Lunacy' - Breitbart:

"He added, “President Obama and Hillary Clinton’s idea that we should bring tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim refugees to America is nothing less than lunacy. If you look at the early waves of refugees that have flooded into Europe, one estimate was that 77 percent of those refugees were young men, that’s a very odd demographic for a refugee wave. The director of national intelligence here in America has said of those in Europe, it is clear that a number of them may well be ISIS terrorists. It makes no sense whatsoever for us to be bringing in refugees who are intelligence and cannot determine if they are terrorists here to kill us or not."

Hillary Still Wants to Bring in 65,000 Syrian Refugees

Hillary Still Wants to Bring in 65,000 Syrian Refugees | The Weekly Standard
During Saturday night's Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton was asked about bringing in Syrian refugees.
"I think that is the number one requirement. I also said that we should take increased numbers of refugees.
The [Obama] administration originally said 10 [thousand]. 
I said we should go to 65 [thousand], but only if we have as careful a screening and vetting process as we can imagine, whatever resources it takes.
I do not want us to in any way inadvertently allow people who wish us harm to come into our country."
This is particularly relevant, as early reports on yesterday's attacks in Paris suggest that they may have been committed by Syrian refugees.
Clinton did not explain the specifics of her proposed screening and vetting process.
Watch the exchange here:

History for November 16

History for November 16 - On-This-Day.com
Burgess Meredith 1908, Clu Gulager 1928, Steve Railsback 1948 


Marg Helgenberger 1958 - Actress ("C.S.I."), Oksana Baiul 1977, Maggie Gyllenhaal 1977 - Actress 


1952 - In the Peanuts comic strip, Lucy first held a football for Charlie Brown. 


1973 - Skylab 3 carrying a crew of three astronauts, was launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, on an 84-day mission. 


1973 - U.S. President Nixon signed the Alaska Pipeline measure into law. 


1981 - A vaccine for hepatitis B was approved. The vaccine had been developed at Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research. 


1998 - It was announced that Monica Lewinsky had signed a deal for the North American rights to a book about her affair with U.S. President Clinton. 


1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court said that union members could file discrimination lawsuits against employers even when labor contracts require arbitration. 


1999 - Chrica Adams, the pregnant girlfriend of Rae Carruth, was shot four times in her car. She died a month later from her wounds. The baby survived. Carruth was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years and 11 months in prison for his role in the murder. 


2004 - A NASA unmanned "scramjet" (X-43A) reached a speed of nearly 10 times the speed of sound above the Pacific Ocean. 

Matt Drudge Slams Obama for Importing Muslims into the United States - Breitbart

Matt Drudge Slams Obama for Importing Muslims into the United States - Breitbart:

"But many migrants have brought their belief in jihad into the United States.

Since 2011, more than 100 Muslim immigrants have been charged with jihad-related crimes in the United States, as domestic surveillance has expand to keep pace with jihadist plots. Even the Southern Poverty Law Center, a progressive advocacy group, admits that many Muslim migrants have gotten involved in terrorism.

The Washington Post has acknowledged this large-scale import of terrorism:"

ALERT: As ISIS Celebrates Paris Terror, This GOP Candidate Steps Up With A Plan To Keep US Safe -

ALERT: As ISIS Celebrates Paris Terror, This GOP Candidate Steps Up With A Plan To Keep US Safe -:
"Could it happen here? That’s the question many Americans are asking in the wake of the horrific terror attacks in Paris that left at least 127 dead and 180 injured, some seriously. Others are wondering not “could” it happen in America, but “how long” before we suffer the kind of barbaric bullet and bomb assaults carried out late Friday in the City of Light, reportedly by eight ISIS terrorists armed with automatic weapons and suicide belts."

I’D BET THEY’RE ASLEEP IN BERKELEY. I’D BET THEY’RE ASLEEP ALL OVER BLUE STATE AMERICA

Instapundit » Blog Archive » I’D BET THEY’RE ASLEEP IN BERKELEY. I’D BET THEY’RE ASLEEP ALL OVER BLUE STATE AMERICA: Greg Gutfeld…:
I’D BET THEY’RE ASLEEP IN BERKELEY. 
I’D BET THEY’RE ASLEEP ALL OVER BLUE STATE AMERICA: 
Greg Gutfeld asks what part of ‘never forget’ we all forgot.
Pretty much all of it. 

Earlier this year, Mark Steyn said, “Our generation will be treated far more brutally by history because these guys are all standing up there at the big ‘Never Again’ ceremony slapping each other on the back and saying what marvellous fellows they are, that’s on page 1, and on page 37 there’s the story of this weeks’ Kosher grocery bombing. 

It’s disgusting…

What people don’t understand, I think, is when countries transform, is that you not only lose your future, you lose your past too.”

Or as Gutfeld tweets today, “#MTVStars is top US [Twitter] trend. Never forget indeed.”

2002!!!-----The Barbarians at the Gates of Paris by Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal Autumn 2002

The Barbarians at the Gates of Paris by Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal Autumn 2002
The Barbarians at the Gates of Paris
Surrounding the City of Light are threatening Cities of Darkness.
Autumn 2002
Everyone knows la douce France: the France of wonderful food and wine, beautiful landscapes, splendid châteaux and cathedrals. More tourists (60 million a year) visit France than any country in the world by far. Indeed, the Germans have a saying, not altogether reassuring for the French: “to live as God in France.” Half a million Britons have bought second homes there; many of them bore their friends back home with how they order these things better in France.

But there is another growing, and much less reassuring, side to France. I go to Paris about four times a year and thus have a sense of the evolving preoccupations of the French middle classes. A few years ago it was schools: the much vaunted French educational system was falling apart; illiteracy was rising; children were leaving school as ignorant as they entered, and much worse-behaved. For the last couple of years, though, it has been crime: l’insécurité, les violences urbaines, les incivilités. Everyone has a tale to tell, and no dinner party is complete without a horrifying story. Every crime, one senses, means a vote for Le Pen or whoever replaces him.

I first saw l’insécurité for myself about eight months ago. It was just off the Boulevard Saint-Germain, in a neighborhood where a tolerably spacious apartment would cost $1 million. Three youths—Rumanians—were attempting quite openly to break into a parking meter with large screwdrivers to steal the coins. It was four o’clock in the afternoon; the sidewalks were crowded, and the nearby cafés were full. The youths behaved as if they were simply pursuing a normal and legitimate activity, with nothing to fear.

Eventually, two women in their sixties told them to stop. The youths, laughing until then, turned murderously angry, insulted the women, and brandished their screwdrivers. The women retreated, and the youths resumed their “work.”

A man of about 70 then told them to stop. They berated him still more threateningly, one of them holding a screwdriver as if to stab him in the stomach. I moved forward to help the man, but the youths, still shouting abuse and genuinely outraged at being interrupted in the pursuit of their livelihood, decided to run off. But it all could have ended very differently.

Several things struck me about the incident: the youths’ sense of invulnerability in broad daylight; the indifference to their behavior of large numbers of people who would never dream of behaving in the same way; that only the elderly tried to do anything about the situation, though physically least suited to do so. Could it be that only they had a view of right and wrong clear enough to wish to intervene? That everyone younger than they thought something like: “Refugees . . . hard life . . . very poor . . . too young to know right from wrong and anyway never taught . . . no choice for them . . . punishment cruel and useless”? The real criminals, indeed, were the drivers whose coins filled the parking meters: were they not polluting the world with their cars?

Another motive for inaction was that, had the youths been arrested, nothing would have happened to them. They would have been back on the streets within the hour. Who would risk a screwdriver in the liver to safeguard the parking meters of Paris for an hour?..."

What France and Europe Might Learn

What France and Europe Might Learn:

• By constantly endorsing pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli policies, France has obviously been seeking to appease Islamic countries. France seems convinced that such policies will keep Muslim terrorists from targeting French nationals and interests. The French are now in grave danger of mistakenly believing that the November 13 attacks occurred because France did not appease the Muslim terrorists enough.
• When the terrorists see that pressure works -- increasing the pressure should work even more!
• The French and Europeans would do well to understand that there is no difference between a young Palestinian who takes a knife and sets out to murder Jews, and an Islamic State terrorist who murders dozens of innocent people in Paris.
• The reason Muslim extremists want to destroy Israel is not because of the settlements or checkpoints it is because they believe that Jews have no right to be in the Middle East whatsoever. And they want to destroy Europe because they believe that Christians -- and everyone -- have no right to be anything other than Muslim.
• The terrorists attacking Jews also seek to destroy France, Germany, Britain and, of course, the United States. These countries need to be reminded that the Islamist terrorists' ultimate goal is to force all non-Muslims to submit to Islam or face death.

Earlier this year, France was one of eight countries that supported a Palestinian resolution at the United Nations Security Council, calling for a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines by the end of 2017.
This vote means that France supports the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, likely to be ruled by the same type of people who on Friday carried out the most grisly terror attacks in France since World War II.
Today, every Palestinian child knows that in the best case, a future Palestinian state will be run by Hamas or Islamic Jihad, and in the worst case by the Islamic State and its affiliates. 
Has it occurred to anyone in Europe that the Palestinian people might not want to live under the rule of any of the groups, any more than Europeans would?
France and the rest of the EU countries have long been working against their own interests in the Middle East. 
By constantly endorsing pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli policies, France has obviously been seeking to appease the Arab and Islamic countries. 
France seems convinced that such policies will keep Muslim terrorists from targeting French nationals and interests. 
That is probably why the French have made the catastrophic mistake of believing that the policy of appeasement toward Arabs and Muslims would persuade the Islamist terrorists to stay away from France. 
The French are now in grave danger of mistakenly believing that the November 13 attacks occurred because France did not appease the Muslim terrorists enough.
...The French and Europeans would do well to understand that there is no difference between a young Palestinian who takes a knife and sets out to murder Jews, and an Islamic State terrorist who murders dozens of innocent people in Paris. 
Once the French and other Europeans understand this reality, it will be far easier for them to engage in the battle against Islamic terrorism.

Noon-toon

‘Nobody Kicks Them Out’: French Senator Accuses Banned ‘Hard Salafist’ Imams of Still Being in the Country | Video | TheBlaze.com

‘Nobody Kicks Them Out’: French Senator Accuses Banned ‘Hard Salafist’ Imams of Still Being in the Country | Video | TheBlaze.com:

"During a live interview on CNN Saturday evening, French Sen. Nathalie Goulet went after a group of Sunni fundamentalists who she contended remain in the country illegally.

Goulet’s criticism of the Salafists came after CNN anchor Rick Berman asked her “what will change” after the recent terrorist attacks in Paris that left more than 120 people dead.

“I think we have a lot of imams who are basically hard Salafists and who are not allowed to stay in France anymore, and nobody kicks them out,” Goulet said. “I think we have to apply the rules…you know, the state of law has to be respected.”

Trump surges among likely Republican primary voters

Trump surges among likely Republican primary voters: Reuters/Ipsos poll - Yahoo News: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After a week in which he hosted Saturday Night Live and stood center-stage at a Republican debate, Donald Trump is surging among Republicans likely to cast votes in the party’s presidential primary.
According to the five-day rolling Reuters/Ipsos presidential poll, Trump has leapt some 17 percentage points among likely Republican voters since Nov. 6, when he was essentially tied with Ben Carson at about 25 percent.
Trump now captures 42 percent of those voters while Carson has fallen off slightly."

How Can Anyone Be Shocked?

How Can Anyone Be Shocked?

• The West, especially Europe, continues to be taken aback every time a new terror attack occurs, as if each one were the first.
• "We are importing Islamic extremism, Arab anti-Semitism, national and ethnic conflicts of other peoples, as well as a different understanding of society and law." — From a leaked German intelligence document.
• The current generation of European political leaders has exhibited an irresponsibility and lack of leadership that is almost infantile.

"One of the most surprising aspects of the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday night is how "deeply shocked" members of the European political establishment appeared to be.
Angela Merkel, David Cameron and the Pope all expressed their condolences -- and "deep shock" -- at the well-coordinated, citywide terror attacks in six different places across Paris, which as of this writing have claimed at least 128 lives and more than 200 wounded. 
...Although the writing has literally been on the wall in blood for the past decade and a half, the West, especially Europe, continues to be taken aback every time a new terror attack occurs, as if each one were the first..."

WATCH: Migrants Dislike Food, Demand TVs, Threaten To Go Back To Syria

WATCH: Migrants Dislike Food, Demand TVs, Threaten To Go Back To Syria:

"Clearly used to appearing in front of a television camera, a glamorous, well-coiffured and made up Syrian migrant launches into a tirade against the generosity of Western European states. Gesturing to the modern accommodation building behind her, the clearly middle-class Syrian complains in perfect English: “This is not a life when you get inside to a room without a TV. Just a bed, there is no fridge, no lockers, no privacy”.

Telling the television crew why the group of 15 had walked out on their free accommodation and food, the woman said:"

France: Essential To Fight Warming In Wake Of Paris Attacks

France: Essential To Fight Warming In Wake Of Paris Attacks | The Daily Caller
The United Nations will still hold its global warming summit in Paris this month despite deadly terror attacks that rocked the French capital Friday night. France’s foreign minister says the summit is “essential” to fighting global warming.

.@LaurentFabius says #COP21 is essential to combat #climatechange and that it will take place despite #ParisAttacks https://t.co/mHTZR3hQe8— UN Climate Action (@UNFCCC) November 14, 2015

Despite the deadly attacks carried out by terrorists linked to the Islamic State, the U.N. has no plans to cancel the summit. U.N. and French officials likely see the summit as too important to cancel even in the wake of these shocking attacks. (RELATED: French Authorities Secure Concert Hall: 12 Freed, 118 Dead)

Indeed, many world leaders believe fighting global warming is a bigger long-term threat than terrorism. Minister Fabius himself warned that “climate change is a threat to peace” and a greater threat than terrorism.

“Terrorism is significant, but naked hunger is as significant as terrorism,” Fabius said in a speech last month. “And the relationship between terrorist activities and naked hunger are obvious. If you look at the vectors of recruitment into terrorist cells, most of the most vulnerable are hunger-prone areas.”

History for November 15

History for November 15 - On-This-Day.com
William Pitt the Elder 1708 - Known as the Great Commoner, 1st Earl of Chatham, Georgia O'Keeffe 1887, Joseph Wapner 1919, Ed Asner 1929 


Petula Clark 1932, Frida Lyngstad (ABBA) 1945, Beverly D'Angelo 1954 


1806 - Explorer Zebulon Pike spotted the mountaintop that became known as Pikes Peak. 


1864 - Union Gen. William T. Sherman and his troops began their "March to the Sea" during the U.S. Civil War. 


1901 - Miller Reese patented an electrical hearing aid. 


1939 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC. 


1940 - The first 75,000 men were called to Armed Forces duty under peacetime conscription. 


1969 - In Washington, DC, a quarter of a million protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the Vietnam War. 


1992 - Richard Petty drove in the final race of his 35-year career. 


1993 - A judge in Mineola, NY, sentenced Joey Buttafuoco to six months in jail for the statutory rape of Amy Fisher. Fisher was serving a prison sentence for shooting and wounding Buttafuoco's wife, Mary Jo.