End of Day: Terror & Immigration, Lone Wolf vs. Directed Attacks, Ramadan Countdown

Media Traps for Nervous Nellies in the GOP

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Terror & Immigration - While media and political elites continue to mock those who suggest we need stricter immigration controls to combat terrorism, the headlines suggest otherwise. For example:

• Belgium and France are on alert for imminent attacks by two teams of ISIS commandos who left Syria a week ago. The terrorists are reportedly attempting to infiltrate Europe in the current stream of refugees.
• CIA Director John Brennan testified before Congress today. He warned that ISIS was planning new attacks and, according to the Associated Press, is likely "working to smuggle [terrorists] into countries, perhaps among refugee flows or through legitimate means of travel." (More on Brennan's remarks below.)

None of this should surprise us. ISIS has bragged about the fact that it is exploiting the refugee crisis.

Here's something else that will infuriate you: Earlier this week, Obama Administration officials told members of the House Homeland Security Committee that 480,000 people overstayed their immigration visas last year alone. Investigations were launched into 10,000 individuals, but fewer than 2,000 were arrested. That's just 0.04% of the total overstays.

Democrats pushed back, suggesting that individuals with travel visas do go through some security checks. But do they really? According to a recent Government Accountability Report, more than one-third of the countries participating in the visa waiver program are not sharing vital information on terrorist records or criminal histories.

Yet our politically correct leaders appear paralyzed in the face of these warnings, unwilling to compromise in any way their open borders ideology. How many more Paris, Brussels and Orlando-style attacks must we endure before our leaders muster the courage to enact commonsense immigration controls?

Lone Wolf vs. Directed Attacks - Conventional wisdom within the Obama Administration appears to be that we will all feel better if the government declares that a terrorist attack was committed by a lone wolf. But several security experts are pointing out that this is an old paradigm.

The new paradigm has been developed by savages in the desert who are changing their strategy faster than Obama can find one. Terrorist leaders know that virtually every form of communication can be hacked by our intelligence agencies. So now they are simply using public statements.

For example, ISIS has issued videos urging jihadi sympathizers in the West to stay and fight where they are. Rather than trying to go to Syria jihadis are being told to "resist with all means, kill them, slaughter them, burn their cars and homes. I say to my brothers, if you see a police officer -- kill him. Kill them all. Kill all infidels that you see in the streets."

That is exactly what happened in Magnanville, France, this week when a police commander was ambushed in his driveway. After murdering the police commander, the jihadist went inside and livestreamed the brutal killing of the police commander's wife.

ISIS is successfully recruiting jihadists through mass media. They carry out these attacks generally as they become more devout, one reason why attacks spike during Ramadan. And following the playbook laid out by ISIS, they proudly announce that they carried out the attack in the name of ISIS.

ISIS recruits, inspires and takes credit for each jihadi attack, believing that other jihadists will be inspired by these evil acts.

Meanwhile, there are reports that Orlando shooter Omar Mateen posted warnings on his Facebook page that more attacks were coming. "In the next few days you will see attacks from the Islamic State [ISIS] in the usa," Mateen posted. Intelligence officials believe Mateen had at least four Facebook accounts.

Ramadan Countdown - I know our elites insist that this terrorism has nothing to do with Islam. But I can't help but notice that there is no movement of people committing mass murder in the name of Pope Francis. Christians don't go on killing sprees during Easter or Christmas. Jews don't attack nightclubs or cafes during Chanukah.

This murderous phenomenon is specific to Islam.

Ramadan began on Sunday, June 5th and will end on Tuesday, July 5th.

This year during Ramadan, like virtually every year before, this holiest of holy days for Muslims when the faith of jihadis burns hottest, life for the rest of us becomes more dangerous. By one count, nearly 600 people have been killed since Ramadan 2016 began, mostly in the Middle East.

But, as Islamic supremacists have been imported into the United States, 49 Americans were killed in Orlando this week.

A police chief and his wife were murdered in France. Twenty-four hours later, a Muslim stabbed a teen-ager in a "Ramadan sacrifice." Thankfully, she survived.

Sadly, four Israelis sipping coffee in Tel Aviv did not survive a Ramadan attack on June 8th.

Buckle up. We've got 19 more days to go.

Hugh's Change Of Heart - A week ago, I reported that columnist Hugh Hewitt was calling for radical changes at this year's Republican National Convention so that delegates could be unbound on the first ballot in order to dump Donald Trump and prevent his nomination.

What a difference a week makes! Hugh has had a change of heart.

You can read more in his latest column, but Hewitt was impressed by Trump's latest speeches on religious liberty and national security. Orlando changed the dynamic of the race and, according to Hewitt, Trump "demonstrated that unlike Clinton and Obama, he understands the magnitude of the crisis."

Hewitt adds that Trump must "methodically prosecute the case that throughout her career, Clinton has consistently displayed a disqualifying lack of judgment. He needs to develop this argument, detail it and drive it home."

I agree and it won't be hard, which brings me back to CIA Director John Brennan's testimony.

Brennan also told members of Congress today that ISIS is working to coordinate its loosely affiliated network of allied groups. While ISIS is headquartered in Iraq and Syria, it has affiliates in many nations, including Afghanistan, Egypt, Nigeria and Libya.

But, according to Brennan, "The branch in Libya is likely the most advanced and most dangerous."

Why is there an ISIS branch in Libya? Because Hillary Clinton led the charge to go to war and depose Muammar Qaddafi.

I have no doubt that Donald Trump can prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton. I only hope that the nervous Nellies in the GOP can discipline themselves so they avoid falling into media traps, joining circular firing squads and instead, just stay out of his way!

Hugh Hewitt concluded his latest column with this call for party unity: "For the good of the country, Republicans have to be clear about the binary choice in front of us [and] close ranks around Trump . . . the one man who can beat [Hillary]."
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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