One of the PARIS TERRORISTS may have been a Syrian Migrant..

[rwetmore]

This is why we should not take any of these people into this country:

http://news.yahoo.com/two-men-linked-pa ... 55102.html

Obama wants to take in a few hundred thousand Syrian refugees. And Trump is lambasted for frequently saying 'our leaders are stupid', and yet us Trump supporters are supposed to be the fools?

[rwetmore]

And yet Trump has said -- very sensibly and smartly I might add -- that we should set up militarily guarded safe zones for the migrants somewhere in the region over there. He has also said that while he feels for the migrants from a humanitarian standpoint, it's far too big a risk to let them come here. It could be the ultimate Trojan Horse he's said. Of course, he's ridiculously right on the money, and now it seems many people's fears about the migration have come true.

[lennygoran]

and yet us Trump supporters are supposed to be the fools?

Well you are but that's beside the point-way to early to reach conclusions about all who were involved. Regards, Len

[jbuck919]

and yet us Trump supporters are supposed to be the fools?

Well you are but that's beside the point-way to early to reach conclusions about all who were involved. Regards, Len

You are being too kind in addressing this outrageous assertion. There is actually something in the US called a refugee resettlement area (not well-publicized, for obvious reasons), and it has to qualify to have the privilege of accepting refugees. My sister lives in one, and I wish I could make this area one also. That infusion might be just what it would take to lift us out of the doldrums. Put my fear of being murdered by a Syrian refugee on a number line and it comes out a negative number. They, and I, have more to be afraid of from all the gun lovers in the area.

[Chalkperson]

This is why we should not take any of these people into this country:

http://news.yahoo.com/two-men-linked-pa ... 55102.html

Obama wants to take in a few hundred thousand Syrian refugees. And Trump is lambasted for frequently saying 'our leaders are stupid', and yet us Trump supporters are supposed to be the fools?

I never realized how incredibly stupid you were until I read this Thread. Now I know.

Take your racism elsewhere, and join your idol Trump in the Buffoon cage at the zoo.

You deserve each other.

[rwetmore]

This is why we should not take any of these people into this country:

http://news.yahoo.com/two-men-linked-pa ... 55102.html

Obama wants to take in a few hundred thousand Syrian refugees. And Trump is lambasted for frequently saying 'our leaders are stupid', and yet us Trump supporters are supposed to be the fools?

I never realized how incredibly stupid you were until I read this Thread. Now I know.

Take your racism elsewhere, and join your idol Trump in the Buffoon cage at the zoo.

You deserve each other.

Oh yes, I'm a complete and utter fool for being gravely concerned about members of ISIS infiltrating our country through the Syrian migrant crisis when it appears at least two of those who just launched an attack in Paris were ISIS members who specifically entered Europe as Syrian migrants. Never in world history has there been a dumber person than me....

[Holden Fourth]

This is why we should not take any of these people into this country:



Take your racism elsewhere, and join your idol Trump in the Buffoon cage at the zoo.

You deserve each other.

This has nothing to do with ethnicity or race! This is all about ideologies.

The ideologies in question are in complete contrast to just about everything we hold dear and sacred in the western world. For example, we are talking about the rights of women and girls. We are talking about the right to free speech. We are talking about the right to hold our own beliefs and have that right upheld by the laws of our country. We can be Shinto, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Atheist. Agnostic, whatever and we should respect the right of any person to hold one of those sets of beliefs to be true.

Surely, any ideology that opposes those rights should not have a place in our society. What they do in their own societies is up to them but they should keep that there. We've been to war to protect our own ideologies in the past, this is how seriously we've taken it.

I don't agree with Trump or any of the other 'buffoons' (as you call them) but reality is here (indeed it arrived on your shores in full force on September 11th 2001). What happened in Paris is minor in comparison. But what both acts have done is galvanise thought and hopefully action. We can't just sit back and let this happen.

Now if you also think that is 'racist' of me, I personally don't care.

[lennygoran]

This has nothing to do with ethnicity or race! This is all about ideologies.

My feeling is that most of these poor syrian refugees don't hold the isis philosophy-I'm against religious fanatics as much as anyone. Regards, Len

[rwetmore]

My feeling is that most of these poor syrian refugees don't hold the isis philosophy

Yes, I'm sure. None the less, ISIS members can easily use the Syrian refugee migration to infiltrate the West.

[John F]

Time for a reality check, rwetmore. As of now, 1am on Sunday, according to reports on ESPN, the French authorities have identified few of the 8 attackers who were killed. One was found with a Syrian passport near him, as reported in the AFP story you quoted, though whether it was his own or someone else's or a forgery isn't yet known. Another lived a poor suburb of Paris and was a known petty criminal with a police record of many arrests. It's not known how many others may have been involved, who they were, where they were from, and what their motives and purposes was.

So your title for this thread, "PARIS TERRORISTS were Syrian Migrants," is not supported by the facts as now known and is probably false. Even if it's partly right, the attackers are a vanishingly small part of the Muslims now in France, let alone the hundreds of thousands fleeing the war in Syria. CMG members are therefore right to dismiss and condemn your posts as almost pure prejudice.

The fear that a few ISIS terrorists might get into the U.S. among the many seeking political asylum is neither here nor there. Terrorists find ways to come and go as they please with no need for that kind of cover. The cadre who flew airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon certainly had no such need. That argument is merely an excuse for an anti-Muslim immigration preference for which there is no sound basis and which makes a mockery of the promise engraved on the Statue of Liberty.

The Syrian exodus is one of the great human tragedies of our time, probably the greatest since the Nazi holocaust and the Stalinist purges of the '30s and '40s. No doubt it's for that reason that the countries of Europe have been so receptive to the refugees. So far, the United States has admitted about 700 of them, which is pathetically inadequate to the scale of the tragedy and to our country's resources, capabilities, and leadership position in the modern world. Anti-Muslim prejudice may be unavoidable in idle bar-room chatter but it has no place in serious policy discussions and decisions, not in America of all places. We closed our door to the Jewish refugees from Hitler's murderous antisemitism, to our national shame, and we must not make the same immoral choice again.

[Chalkperson]

This is why we should not take any of these people into this country:

http://news.yahoo.com/two-men-linked-pa ... 55102.html

Obama wants to take in a few hundred thousand Syrian refugees. And Trump is lambasted for frequently saying 'our leaders are stupid', and yet us Trump supporters are supposed to be the fools?

I never realized how incredibly stupid you were until I read this Thread. Now I know.

Take your racism elsewhere, and join your idol Trump in the Buffoon cage at the zoo.

You deserve each other.

Oh yes, I'm a complete and utter fool for being gravely concerned about members of ISIS infiltrating our country through the Syrian migrant crisis when it appears at least two of those who just launched an attack in Paris were ISIS members who specifically entered Europe as Syrian migrants. Never in world history has there been a dumber person than me....

I believe at most two attackers came via Greece.

These are the fighters, suicide bombers, not logistics or planning.

The support structure for this operation could be as high as fifty people.

Eight suicide vests were prepared. Smuggling that into any country is akin to serious drug smuggling.

The coordination and practice runs probably took two months or more.

If you think that a network like that could enter the United States together, or even over months or years as refugees then your mathematical skills are way off.

Your Thread title is incorrect, and sparked my indignation, and I'm as horrified at these heinous acts as anyone.

But for the United States to ignore the humanitarian crisis would be abhorrent.

But you and your Buddy Trump care nothing for these people.

ISIS want the European Borders closed, then refugees have nowhere to run.

Homeland Security are going to vet thoroughly any refugee seeking to come here.

You want them all barred because that's the Republican Way.

I don't think it's the American Way.

My feeling is that most of these poor syrian refugees don't hold the isis philosophy

Yes, I'm sure. None the less, ISIS members can easily use the Syrian refugee migration to infiltrate the West.

The West, yes, I agree, in Europe.

[John F]

This morning the NY Times's lead story confirms what I've posted: one attacker "may have" traveled on a Syrian passport, another was a French petty criminal. President Hollande blames the attack on ISIS and says it was "prepared, organized and planned from abroad, with complicity from the inside." But I don't believe he actually knows this - the investigation has just begun, and as of this morning it isn't yet known who most of the attackers were - and his statement may be more political than factual; if instead the attack was prepared, organized and planned in France or indeed in Paris, under the noses of French security, there will doubtless be calls for his resignation. Here's the story.

Three Teams of Coordinated Attackers Carried Out Assault on Paris, Officials Say; Hollande Blames ISIS
By ADAM NOSSITER, AURELIEN BREEDEN and KATRIN BENNHOLD
NOV. 14, 2015

PARIS — Three teams of Islamic State attackers acting in unison carried out the terrorist assault in Paris on Friday night, officials said Saturday, including one assailant who may have traveled to Europe on a Syrian passport along with the flow of migrants.

“It is an act of war that was committed by a terrorist army, a jihadist army, Daesh, against France,” President François Hollande told the nation from the Élysée Palace, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. “It is an act of war that was prepared, organized and planned from abroad, with complicity from the inside, which the investigation will help establish.”

As the death toll rose to 129 — with 352 others wounded, 99 of them critically — a basic timeline of the attacks came into view.

The Paris prosecutor, François Molins, said the attackers were all armed with assault rifles and suicide vests. Their assault began at 9:20 p.m. Friday, when one terrorist detonated a suicide bomb outside the gates of the soccer stadium on the northern outskirts of Paris. It ended at 12:20 a.m. Saturday when the authorities stormed a concert hall, the Bataclan. One attacker there was killed; two others detonated suicide vests. Inside the hall, 89 people, who had been listening to a rock band, had been shot to death.

The man with the Syrian passport — which Greek officials said had been registered at the Aegean island of Leros on Oct. 3 — was 25, and died at the stadium. Another assailant, who died at the concert hall, was 29 and a native of Courcouronnes, about 20 miles south of Paris. He had a criminal record and was known to be involved in extremist Islamic ideology, Mr. Molins said.

The hunt for possible accomplices of the terrorists gained steam on Saturday. Officials in Belgium announced three arrests, one of them linked to a rental car found in Paris. In Germany, the police were exploring whether a man they arrested last week with weapons in his car and his GPS navigator set for Paris was linked to the attacks. But it remained unclear how a plot of such sophistication and lethality could have escaped the notice of intelligence agencies, both in France and abroad...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/15/world ... tacks.html

[John F]

Further news from ESPN:

The Syrian passport one of the attackers was carrying wasn't issued in Syria but in Greece. Many of the refugees arrive there with no papers and are given special passports based on what they tell the authorities, so they can be moved on to other countries. This means the attacker need not have come from Syria but just shown up on Leros, mixed with the real refugees, and gotten a passport under false pretenses, i.e. a false passport. Two other attackers had Turkish passports which are also false.

This raises a new possibility. The attackers may have been in Europe all along, and got these false passports so that when they killed themselves, they would implicate the real but innocent refugees - who, in effect, are enemies of ISIS - and cause panic in the European countries, also enemies of ISIS, who have given these people refuge, and may turn against them. Presently nobody knows what the true story is and it may take some time to find out; meanwhile, possibilities like this should keep us from jumping to conclusions.

[lennygoran]

Yes, I'm sure. None the less, ISIS members can easily use the Syrian refugee migration to infiltrate the West.

So let's come up with a solution that is humane and safe! Regards, Len

[rwetmore]

Further news from ESPN:

The Syrian passport one of the attackers was carrying wasn't issued in Syria but in Greece. Many of the refugees arrive there with no papers and are given special passports based on what they tell the authorities, so they can be moved on to other countries. This means the attacker need not have come from Syria but just shown up on Lesbos, mixed with the real refugees, and gotten a passport under false pretenses, i.e. a false passport. Two other attackers had Turkish passports which are also false.

This raises a new possibility. The attackers may have been in Europe all along, and got these false passports so that when they killed themselves, they would implicate the real but innocent refugees - who, in effect, are enemies of ISIS - and cause panic in the European countries, also enemies of ISIS, who have given these people refuge, and may turn against them. Presently nobody knows what the true story is and it may take some time to find out; meanwhile, possibilities like this should keep us from jumping to conclusions.

OK, you've made your point and it is a valid one. It's possible. However, the main point is we don't know who these people are and don't have a reliable enough way of distinguishing real Syrian refugees from ISIS members mixed in among them. From ISIS's perspective, the migration crisis presents a golden opportunity to easily infiltrate the West in large numbers. You would have to be blind to not see that. If even one member of ISIS came through the via the Syrian migration and has already committed and attack killing over a 100 people, then we should not risk there being many more who come in that way to conduct future attacks.

Lots of things are possible. Trump himself has said that his instinct is that the overwhelming bulk of the migrants are innocent Syrian refugees and probably not ISIS, i.e. the migrants are not an ISIS Trojan Horse, but that 'probably' is not good enough. It's hard not to agree with that.

Mind you, neither myself or Trump are advocating nothing should be done for the migrants -- just that bringing them here is too big of risk, and setting up some kind of safe zone over there somewhere would be far more prudent at this point.

[rwetmore]

Yes, I'm sure. None the less, ISIS members can easily use the Syrian refugee migration to infiltrate the West.

So let's come up with a solution that is humane and safe! Regards, Len

Yes, agreed.

[rwetmore]

This is why we should not take any of these people into this country:

http://news.yahoo.com/two-men-linked-pa ... 55102.html

Obama wants to take in a few hundred thousand Syrian refugees. And Trump is lambasted for frequently saying 'our leaders are stupid', and yet us Trump supporters are supposed to be the fools?

I never realized how incredibly stupid you were until I read this Thread. Now I know.

Take your racism elsewhere, and join your idol Trump in the Buffoon cage at the zoo.

You deserve each other.

Oh yes, I'm a complete and utter fool for being gravely concerned about members of ISIS infiltrating our country through the Syrian migrant crisis when it appears at least two of those who just launched an attack in Paris were ISIS members who specifically entered Europe as Syrian migrants. Never in world history has there been a dumber person than me....

I believe at most two attackers came via Greece.

These are the fighters, suicide bombers, not logistics or planning.

The support structure for this operation could be as high as fifty people.

Eight suicide vests were prepared. Smuggling that into any country is akin to serious drug smuggling.

The coordination and practice runs probably took two months or more.

If you think that a network like that could enter the United States together, or even over months or years as refugees then your mathematical skills are way off.

Your Thread title is incorrect, and sparked my indignation, and I'm as horrified at these heinous acts as anyone.

But for the United States to ignore the humanitarian crisis would be abhorrent.

But you and your Buddy Trump care nothing for these people.

ISIS want the European Borders closed, then refugees have nowhere to run.

Homeland Security are going to vet thoroughly any refugee seeking to come here.

You want them all barred because that's the Republican Way.

I don't think it's the American Way.

It's hard to know how to respond to all of this, as you seem to just be mostly ranting and raving here.

I'm not saying the whole attack was planned and implemented by ISIS members who all specifically came claiming to be Syrian refugees. It would seem to be too soon for that even if it's something they could do in the future. You miss the fundamental point, IMO. And what makes you think Homeland Security can distinguish ISIS members from genuine Syrian refugees? I do not have any confidence that they can, and that it's far too big of a risk.

[rwetmore]

Islamic State reveals it has smuggled THOUSANDS of extremists into Europe

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/555 ... e-Refugees

Now, could they be lying? Of course, but we can't take the chance.

[rwetmore]

Here is a piece that just nails this and so many other issues in so many ways, IMO:

It’s time for Obama to make a choice: Lead us or resign

http://nypost.com/2015/11/14/its-time-f ... or-resign/

Whatever Bush 43's many faults or mistakes were, he never ever projected weakness or fear in taking the fight to this enemy; he always projected strength and resolve. These people, i.e. ISIS etc., will eat you alive if you, i.e. our leadership in this case, shows any weakness or fear such as Obama has.

[rwetmore]

Another salient piece:

Denial, Global Warming and the Slaughter in Paris

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2 ... /75780112/

Note this passage in particular:

"Last month FBI Director James Comey warned Congress that the incoming refugees cannot be adequately vetted, and if ISIS is weaponizing them we have no way of knowing it."

[rwetmore]

Another piece just updated less than a half hour ago:

French official: One suicide bomber entered EU by hiding in tide of refugees

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/15/world/par ... index.html

[Chalkperson]

This is why we should not take any of these people into this country:

http://news.yahoo.com/two-men-linked-pa ... 55102.html

Obama wants to take in a few hundred thousand Syrian refugees. And Trump is lambasted for frequently saying 'our leaders are stupid', and yet us Trump supporters are supposed to be the fools?

I never realized how incredibly stupid you were until I read this Thread. Now I know.

Take your racism elsewhere, and join your idol Trump in the Buffoon cage at the zoo.

You deserve each other.

Oh yes, I'm a complete and utter fool for being gravely concerned about members of ISIS infiltrating our country through the Syrian migrant crisis when it appears at least two of those who just launched an attack in Paris were ISIS members who specifically entered Europe as Syrian migrants. Never in world history has there been a dumber person than me....

I believe at most two attackers came via Greece.

These are the fighters, suicide bombers, not logistics or planning.

The support structure for this operation could be as high as fifty people.

Eight suicide vests were prepared. Smuggling that into any country is akin to serious drug smuggling.

The coordination and practice runs probably took two months or more.

If you think that a network like that could enter the United States together, or even over months or years as refugees then your mathematical skills are way off.

Your Thread title is incorrect, and sparked my indignation, and I'm as horrified at these heinous acts as anyone.

But for the United States to ignore the humanitarian crisis would be abhorrent.

But you and your Buddy Trump care nothing for these people.

ISIS want the European Borders closed, then refugees have nowhere to run.

Homeland Security are going to vet thoroughly any refugee seeking to come here.

You want them all barred because that's the Republican Way.

I don't think it's the American Way.

It's hard to know how to respond to all of this, as you seem to just be mostly ranting and raving here.

I'm not saying the whole attack was planned and implemented by ISIS members who all specifically came claiming to be Syrian refugees. It would seem to be too soon for that even if it's something they could do in the future. You miss the fundamental point, IMO. And what makes you think Homeland Security can distinguish ISIS members from genuine Syrian refugees? I do not have any confidence that they can, and that it's far too big of a risk.

i think we have far more to fear from Domestic Terrorism, the Gun Lobby, the Tea Party, and other Americans than one lone ISIS sympathizer.

How about banning or at least changing the gun laws, School Shootings, Spree Killings, these kill more than all the terrorist attacks put together. Every month. Every year. It's a disgrace.

How about the Police killing people of color as if their lives were worthless because they are black?

Yours is a typical US over reaction, similar to interning the Japanese during WW2,

The word 'paranoid' springs to mind.

[Chalkperson]

The AP says 24 people involved, trained in Syria...

http://bigstory.ap.org/urn:publicid:ap. ... 8287a823d0

[jbuck919]

Whatever Bush 43's many faults or mistakes were, he never ever projected weakness or fear in taking the fight to this enemy; he always projected strength and resolve.

To paraphrase a WW II soldier about another George, General "Blood and Guts" Patton: His guts, their blood.

[Holden Fourth]

This epitomises my view of the what is happening in the world at this point in time. History repeats......

A German's View on Islam - worth reading because this is by far the best explanation of the Muslim terrorist situation I have ever read. His references to past history are accurate and clear. The author of this email is Dr. Emanuel Tanya, a well-known and well-respected psychiatrist--a man, whose family was German aristocracy prior t...o World War II, and owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of our world had come.

My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.'

We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.

The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous. Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.

China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual, prior to World War II, was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians, most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt. Yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

Islamic prayers have now been introduced into Toronto and other public schools in Ontario, and, yes, in Ottawa too while the Lord's Prayer was removed (due to being so offensive?! To whom? Not to the vast majority of Canadians!).

The Islamic way is only peaceful until the fanatics move in.

In Australia, and indeed in many countries around the world, many of the most commonly consumed food items have the halal emblem on them. Just look at the back of some of the most popular chocolate bars, and at other food products in your local supermarket. Foods on aircraft have the halal emblem, just to appease the privileged minority who are now rapidly expanding throughout the world.

In the U.K, the Muslim communities refuse to integrate and there are now dozens of ?no-go? zones within major cities across the country that the police force dare not intrude upon. Sharia law prevails there, because the Muslim community in those areas refuses to acknowledge British law.

As for we who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts -- the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Anyone who doubts the seriousness of this issue and just deletes this email without sending it on, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand.

So, I beg you, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on in the hope that thousands, world-wide, read this, think about it, and send it on - before it's too late . . .. because we remained silent

[jbuck919]

As for we who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts -- the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

If that's what he (correctly) thinks, then why does he go on at such length with a mishmash of other stuff which, assuming it is true and wherever it may fit on the spectrum of right and wrong, will only have the effect of inflaming hatred against Muslims and deflecting us from pursuit of the overwhelming priority?

[John F]

Emanuel Tanya's rant is both obvious and useless. Of course the majority is politically passive or easily led, even in a functioning representative democracy, but what does Tanya propose we outsiders do about it? Tut-tutting to Germans in the 1930s or Arabs in the 2000s about right-wing extremists would only have aroused resentment against us - who do we think we are? The alternative to such futile efforts at persuasion, economic and military coercion applied from outside, hasn't worked very well for us in the Middle East during this century, and barring a sensational attack against America like for which ISIS claims responsibility, we aren't going to war again. Tanya offers no proposal of any kind, except that people forward his e-mail as a chain letter. Pathetic, and like I say, useless.

[rwetmore]

Trump interview today on the Paris attacks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5mlAtSCwSw

[Auntie Lynn]

Lenny is whistling past the graveyard...

ISIS is here and they are coming after you, babe - I realize your great good idiot friend Obama sez ISIS is contained and there is no such thing as terrorism and if you believe that, I have a bridge of solid gold slightly to the north to sell you.

If you don't have a gun, better get one...

[lennygoran]

Lenny is whistling past the graveyard...

Auntie you still here-so were you fired by SF-I sure hope so!

And is that what got you your award?

"Lynn Inglese was named a recipient of the Civic Recognition Award on Monday. Inglese joins the ranks of others from California who have received this honor.

The purpose of the Civic Recognition Award is to inspire people to help others and improve their communities. Recipients come from all walks of life and all 50 states. Under certain circumstances, the award can be issued posthumously.

It is hoped the Civic Recognition Award will encourage people in San Francisco and across California to live their lives around ten values than enhance the wellbeing of individuals, families and communities. Those ten values are compassion, courage, forgiveness, generosity, humility, inclusiveness, integrity, kindness, respect and service.

Inglese is among a select number of individuals recognized in San Francisco. Many individuals never receive a civic award despite years of community involvement. While formal recognition should never be one's motive for acts of kindness, receiving an award is an affirmation of the positive impact one's actions can have.

It should be a proud moment for Inglese's family and friends, and an opportunity to share inspiring stories. If fact, by discussing the award, the inspiration provided by Inglese's good deeds is multiplied. Discussion of the award can also help spread the word about the ten values embodied by the award. It is a fact that many individuals feel motivated to do more after hearing about the good deeds of others. Award recipients themselves can feel encouraged or inspired by the recognition to help more.

The positive impact of Civic Recognition Award winners like Inglese on their community cannot be measured. These winners were often the first to help people in need and the first to welcome a new neighbor. The existence of community non-profit organizations of all kinds is a lasting testimony to the good works of involved individuals who, like Inglese, stepped forward to make a difference.

The lives of Civic Recognition Award winners like Inglese are also often examples to children. Children look up to role models to help shape how they behave in school, relationships or when facing challenging situations. When children emulate positive role models, they respond to situations in healthy ways that can contribute to individual and community well being. Positive role models are essential to every child's well being.

The Civic Recognition Award is one of the highest recognitions possible for individuals. Residents of San Francisco and all of California can feel proud that one of the own, Lynn Inglese, has been recognized with this high distinction."

Len

[Auntie Lynn]

Of all the idiot threads I have read here, and there's been a lot, this one takes the cake.

You will be sorely disappointed to learn that people who do what I do as well as I do it in the music business - NEVER get fired EVER...

Sorry to disappoint you, but I am still holding down 3.5 jobs and my phone never stops ringing...

[lennygoran]

Of all the idiot threads I have read here, and there's been a lot, this one takes the cake.

You will be sorely disappointed to learn that people who do what I do as well as I do it in the music business - NEVER get fired EVER...

Sorry to disappoint you, but I am still holding down 3.5 jobs and my phone never stops ringing...

Auntie even more idiotic than the things you support-I can see why they mistreated you and probably canned you at the ballet! Still why take it out on us-even after Cohen's people treated you so nicely for the root canal? Len


Lynn Inglese 2 years ago
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Go Marco

[John F]

Those ten values are compassion, courage, forgiveness, generosity, humility, inclusiveness, integrity, kindness, respect and service.

Humility, respect? That can't be our Auntie Lynn.

Back on topic. As of yesterday afternoon, the French authorities had identified three of the seven dead attackers as French citizens and another as a resident in Belgium. A manhunt is on for the Belgian's brother who, with yet another brother, is suspected of important involvement in the plot. So far, only one of the attackers has even the appearance of being a Syrian, and that's because of a false passport. So much for rwetmore's premature and false conclusion that "PARIS TERRORISTS were Syrian Migrants." This act of terrorism, like several others in France during the last year, appears to be home grown - an even more chilling possibility.

To the contrary, links with ISIS in Syria may be real but in the opposite direction. It appears that at least one of the French attackers may have traveled to Syria to fight for ISIS or receive training there, returning then to France. And it may well be that elements of the plot were hatched in Syria. ISIS has claimed responsibility, and while they haven't proven it, that may be true. But as with the attack on the World Trade Center, the band of terrorists need not be dispatched direct from terrorist HQ, but may be assembled elsewhere and do much of the planning and preparation independently.

As I've said before, the investigation is just beginning, and it's rash or worse than rash to jump to conclusions. Let's cool it, follow the news, and see what the story really is.

[lennygoran]

As I've said before, the investigation is just beginning, and it's rash or worse than rash to jump to conclusions. Let's cool it, follow the news, and see what the story really is.

I think this is excellent advice. Regards, Len

[John F]

Updates from National Public Radio:

So far, authorities have named five of the seven men who perpetrated attacks across Paris. They are:

— Ismael Omar Mostefai, 29, born in Courcouronnes, a suburb of Paris, who attacked music fans at the Bataclan and then blew himself up using a suicide vest.

— Samy Amimour, 28, from the Paris suburb of Drancy, was another of the suicide bombers at the music venue.

— Ahmad Al Mohammad, 25, died after detonating a suicide bomb outside the soccer stadium. His name was on a Syrian passport found alongside his body. The Paris prosecutor Molins said in a statement that while the authenticity of the passport has been questioned, a man with Mohammad's fingerprints match those of a man who used the same passport to enter Greece in October. Molins said that passport check in Greece is part of a requirement that all asylum seekers register at their first point of entry in the European Union.

— Bilal Hadfi, 20, a French national and one of the other suicide bombers outside the stadium.

— Brahim Abdeslam, 31, died when he denotated a suicide vest on Boulevard Voltaire. A French national living in Belgium, he is the brother of fugitive suspect Salah Abdeslam, 26, for whom police are still on the hunt.

Citing two sources close to the investigation in Paris, NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports that officials believe Salim Benghalem, a French national, orchestrated the attacks, while Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian, ordered them. The two men are believed to be in Syria. Benghalem, 35, is considered the supervisor for French would-be jihadists who travel to Syria to live and train with the group. He is the most high profile Frenchman with ISIS and considered the 'Jihadi John' of France. He grew up in the Paris suburb of Cachan.

[Chalkperson]

I just 'red' that the Governors of Texas and Alabama are as cowardly and racist as dear Randall.

They are refusing refugees.

Just like those who tried to refuse entry to the Jews as Hitler rose to power.

Shame they don't have the legal authority to do that.

I hope NJ resettles them all on Randall's street, making him run for cover in Texas.

Before he flees, he can try and convince them climate change is not real.

They can teach him what it's like to flee from ISIS

Addendum.

The Governors of Indiana, Michigan, Arkansas, Louisiana have also shown themselves to be bigoted, racist, scum.

Not an ounce of humanity in any of them.

[rwetmore]

I just 'red' that the Governors of Texas and Alabama are as cowardly and racist as dear Randall.

They are refusing refugees.

Just like those who tried to refuse entry to the Jews as Hitler rose to power.

Shame they don't have the legal authority to do that.

I hope NJ resettles them all on Randall's street, making him run for cover in Texas.

Before he flees, he can try and convince them climate change is not real.

They can teach him what it's like to flee from ISIS

Addendum.

The Governors of Indiana, Michigan, Arkansas, Louisiana have also shown themselves to be bigoted, racist, scum.

Not an ounce of humanity in any of them.

Gee, thanks.

[rwetmore]

As I've said before, the investigation is just beginning, and it's rash or worse than rash to jump to conclusions. Let's cool it, follow the news, and see what the story really is.

Fair enough, but remember we have ISIS telling us that they are in the process of using the migration as means to infiltrate the West with their members. Now as I said, they may be lying, but they also may not be. I mean it would be foolish of them not to try, and there is every reason they could easily succeed in doing so. The most prudent thing to do still, IMO, is to create some of kind of militarily guarded safe zone or something for the refugees.

[rwetmore]

The bottom line though is Obama is in way over his head and doesn't know what he's doing. This is a very, very, VERY precarious situation. I can tell you right now that if there are attacks in this country from just one ISIS member who is found to have come here as a Syrian migrant, all hell will break loose.

[lennygoran]

The bottom line though is Obama is in way over his head and doesn't know what he's doing.

How nonsensical your statement is-just like Trump. Regards, Len

[John F]

we have ISIS telling us that they are in the process of using the migration as means to infiltrate the West with their members

Can you give a source for that? I haven't read it myself, and it seems odd that they would give away such a strategy since terrorism to succeed depends on catching the victims unprepared. Better to do it and not say so. Unless of course they aren't actually doing it and just want to discredit the refugees and turn the Europeans against them.

As it turns out, all but one of the attackers in Paris were French or Belgian, and since the seventh was using a false passport, it's not known who or what he was.

[Chalkperson]

I just 'red' that the Governors of Texas and Alabama are as cowardly and racist as dear Randall.

They are refusing refugees.

Just like those who tried to refuse entry to the Jews as Hitler rose to power.

Shame they don't have the legal authority to do that.

I hope NJ resettles them all on Randall's street, making him run for cover in Texas.

Before he flees, he can try and convince them climate change is not real.

They can teach him what it's like to flee from ISIS

Addendum.

The Governors of Indiana, Michigan, Arkansas, Louisiana have also shown themselves to be bigoted, racist, scum.

Not an ounce of humanity in any of them.

Gee, thanks.

The list is growing...

States saying they won't accept #SyrianRefugees in light of #ParisAttacks:

AL
AZ
AR
FL
IL
IN
LA
MA
MI
MS
NC
OH
TX
WI

http://bit.ly/1RZD8Kr

Luckily your State is not on the list yet Randall.

[Chalkperson]

we have ISIS telling us that they are in the process of using the migration as means to infiltrate the West with their members

Can you give a source for that? I haven't read it myself, and it seems odd that they would give away such a strategy since terrorism to succeed depends on catching the victims unprepared. Better to do it and not say so. Unless of course they aren't actually doing it and just want to discredit the refugees and turn the Europeans against them.

As it turns out, all but one of the attackers in Paris were French or Belgian, and since the seventh was using a false passport, it's not known who or what he was.

I saw this too in a number of places.

There is a word for it, propaganda!

Terrorism is about fear, rhetoric goes a long way when used like this, at times like this.

Also, the French authorities know all about the threats, and we're doing everything they could. But you can't secure everywhere and the Terrorists lucked out.

BTW, it's not being reported very much, but the guard at the football stadium who thwarted the suicide bomber was a Muslim.

[Chalkperson]

The bottom line though is Obama is in way over his head and doesn't know what he's doing. This is a very, very, VERY precarious situation. I can tell you right now that if there are attacks in this country from just one ISIS member who is found to have come here as a Syrian migrant, all hell will break loose.

All hell did break loose, Randall.

Bush, Cheney and Blair faked the evidence, lied to their Countries, went after oil as the spoils of War and invaded Iraq. Instead of concentrating on the legitimate target/war which was Afghanistan.

The only people who benefited were Haliburton and other similar companies.

[rwetmore]

we have ISIS telling us that they are in the process of using the migration as means to infiltrate the West with their members

Can you give a source for that?

I posted a link to one source in this thread already. I guess you missed it. Here it is again:

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/555 ... e-Refugees

[John F]

Grandstanding and playing on people's fears which, it appears as the facts emerge in Paris, are quite unjustified. If there's a lesson to be learned from the Paris attacks, it's that we have more to fear from radicals among our own citizens than from the possible ISIS wolf in sheep's clothing among the refugees. But not one Republican acknowledges this. To hear them talk, all the Paris terrorists entered France with the flood of Syrian refugees. Fact check, anyone?

What strikes me most about this is that the opposition to accepting Syrian refugees is almost entirely from Republicans. Only one Democratic politician, the governor of New Hampshire, has joined them in the xenophobic chorus - and she's running for the Senate against a Republican incumbent and has a political reason to talk tough. All three Democratic presidential candidates favor giving asylum to tens of thousands more refugees from the war in Syria, when they have been thoroughly screened to make sure they are what they claim to be.

Also discouraging is the insupportable suggestion from some Republican politicians that only Christians among the Syrian refugees be admitted. Anti-Muslim bigotry in the U.S. is strong among militant Christians, the ignorant public, and and those who seek their votes. This is shameful. It is also unconstitutional. Of course that doesn't bother the bigots, who cherry-pick the constitution and indeed the Bible for whatever supports their own prejudices, and disregard what they don't like.


G.O.P. Governors Vow to Close Doors to Syrian Refugees
By PATRICK HEALY and JULIE BOSMAN
NOV. 16, 2015

Republican fury over illegal immigration and border security took on a new dimension Monday as a growing number of governors, presidential candidates and members of Congress rushed to oppose or even defy President Obama’s plan to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees. Twenty-five Republican governors vowed to block the entry of Syrian refugees into their states, arguing that the safety of Americans was at stake after the Paris attacks by terrorists including a man who entered Europe with a Syrian passport and posed as a migrant. Among the governors were those from Illinois, Massachusetts, Texas and other states that have already resettled relatively large numbers of refugees from among the 1,900 Syrians accepted by the United States in the last four years.

One Democratic governor, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, also urged the Obama administration to stop taking in Syrians until the federal vetting procedures for all refugees are “as strong as possible.”

Echoing the political debate over immigration and border security, several governors warned that refugees could arrive without verifiable documents or slip through the screening process and that they could pose a terrorist threat once here. “I’m not interested in accepting refugees from Syria,” said Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, a Republican. “We would have to be very cautious about accepting folks without knowing a lot more about what the federal government’s plan looks like.”

The governors’ legal standing was quickly challenged by immigration groups and some Democrats, and Mr. Obama said the resettlement of refugees would go forward next year. The State Department said it had not reached a conclusion about whether states could legally refuse them.

Mr. Obama, in remarks to reporters at the G-20 summit meeting in Turkey, said the United States had a moral obligation to accept refugees, as European nations have done, and he criticized Republican candidates like Senator Ted Cruz and former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida who have said the United States should focus on protecting Christians fleeing warfare and persecution, as opposed to Muslims. “We do not have religious tests for our compassion,” Mr. Obama said. “That’s not who we are.” Mr. Obama did not cite any Republicans by name, but he mentioned that “some of these folks themselves come from other countries” — a shot at Mr. Cruz, who was born in Canada and whose father fled Cuba and settled in the United States.

Mr. Cruz, campaigning in Charleston, S.C., after Mr. Obama’s remarks, called it “absolute lunacy” to resettle large numbers of Muslims from Syria. “Who in their right mind would want to bring over tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, when we cannot determine, when the administration cannot determine, who is and isn’t a terrorist?” he asked. A spokeswoman for Mr. Cruz said he would introduce a bill to keep Syrian refugees from entering the United States, though it was not immediately clear if the ban would apply only to Muslims or to all refugees.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/17/us/po ... ugees.html

[karlhenning]

The bottom line though is Obama is in way over his head and doesn't know what he's doing.

Irony hardly gets any sharper than this.

Cheers,
~k.

[rwetmore]

Here is a salient piece that's hard not to agree with:

Stop the Bleeding

By Thomas Sowell
November 17, 2015

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articl ... 28747.html

[karlhenning]

I see that El Tupé and Jeb! are tripping over themselves to race to the depths of moral repugnance. With Thanksgiving coming, it is nice to reflect how lucky the Pilgrims were, that they passed the Refugee Religion Test at Plymouth.

Cheers,
~k.

[John F]

Another Frenchman:

Voice on ISIS Recording Said to Be French Jihadist

French news outlets, including Agence France-Presse and Le Figaro, are reporting that investigators have identified the voice on an Islamic State audio recording claiming responsibility for the Paris attacks that was posted online.

Citing a person close to the investigation whom it did not name, the news agency said the voice is believed to be that of Fabien Clain, a 35-year-old Frenchman with known ties to radical Islamist networks in the southern city of Toulouse. He was a close associate of Mohamed Merah, the militant who shot and killed seven people, including three Jewish children, in Toulouse in 2012.

Mr. Clain was convicted of recruiting jihadists in 2009 and was sentenced to five years in prison, the news outlets said; after he was released, he went to Syria.

http://www.nytimes.com/live/paris-attac ... icle-embed