Immigration: a continuing series

By Cathy Keim

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the need to pause our immigration programs due to the many problems associated with them. It is such a complex issue, with so many areas to address, that I decided to start a continuing series where I can look at some of the more pressing problems in more detail.

We do not have an immigration problem; it could more accurately be called an invasion. Armed with Ted Kennedy’s immigration reform of the 1960s, our elite political class has decided that America needs a remake and one of their methods to achieve this is to bring in immigrants, refugees, illegal aliens, and foreign students by any means available.

For over thirty years we have been experiencing increasing numbers of people flooding into the country, but we have not been making an effort to assimilate them. The government school system does not even try to teach our own children the core beliefs upon which our country was founded or what it even means to be an American, so why would we make an effort to teach these newcomers our unique American heritage?

Immigration without assimilation equals invasion (to quote Bobby Jindal – ed.) and spells the end of America as we know it. There are many agents pushing for this expansion of our population from corporations wanting cheap labor to politicians wanting sure votes to refugee resettlement agencies (VOLAGS) that get paid by the head to bring in refugees. Obviously the motivations and methods vary, so I will address different issues separately instead of trying to cover it all at once.

One of the extremely frustrating aspects of this invasion is that ordinary Americans can see very clearly the negative effects of the masses of mostly poorly educated immigrants flooding our communities, but our elites, buffered by their upscale communities and private schools, refuse to heed the calls for halting immigration.

The Syrian refugee issue has been dominating the immigration discussion recently. It is troubling because these refugees cannot be vetted to insure that there are not jihadists hiding amongst the thousands of people fleeing the fighting. I have already touched upon some of the relevant issues, so today I will concentrate on the question of why are so many people are fleeing the Muslim crescent from Libya to Afghanistan?

The United States government has to accept responsibility for their part in the crisis through their destabilizing various governments in the area during the Arab Spring. Once the dictators were toppled, the vacuum led to an increase in fighting and chaos causing people to flee to safer areas. Some of the people came from areas that are not more chaotic than usual, but are joining the masses as economic immigrants hoping for a better life elsewhere.

When hundreds of thousands of people are on the move fleeing from war, terror, and economic chaos, it is impossible to check their credentials or vet them for security risks, disease, or criminal behavior. While our government helped create the mess, we do not have to bring them into our own country to pay penance. As pointed out before, it is much more cost effective to help them in safe places nearer their homelands so that they can return when the situation permits.

But what if there is a bigger plan behind the forced immigration? The Koran calls for hijrah, or the emigration of Muslims to other lands based on the original hijrah when Mohammad fled Mecca for Medina in 622 AD. This is the date which is used as the beginning of Mohammad’s revelations and when he became a military and political leader, not just a religious leader. Islam is a total package of political thought with military force and a religious component. It is not a just a religion. It was in Medina that Mohammad became a warlord who wreaked havoc on all those around him who didn’t conform to his ideas. Writer and expert on Islam Robert Spencer pointed this out recently:

“And whoever emigrates for the cause of Allah will find on the earth many locations and abundance,” says the Qur’an. “And whoever leaves his home as an emigrant to Allah and His Messenger and then death overtakes him, his reward has already become incumbent upon Allah. And Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful.” (4:100)

ISIS published an article calling for Muslims to flood into Libya where arms are plentiful and then make the voyage to Europe. The USA made sure that Libya collapsed and this is the result.

While we are certain that a percentage of the emigrants coming from the Middle East and North Africa are jihadists, what of the others that are simply fleeing the violence? ISIS has a plan for that too. The ISIS view of the world is a dark one, for they are sure that they are ushering in the end times and the return of the Mahdi.

Unlike Christian sects that have fled to the hills to await the return of Christ, ISIS takes a more forceful view. They intend to usher in the end times with murder and mayhem. They take a dim view of wishy-washy Muslims or Muslims that live in the gray zone. This would be people that just live their lives, work hard, pay their bills, and don’t give much attention to religion or don’t practice Islam according to ISIS standards. I would guess that the vast majority of mankind falls into this gray zone. While they may be called Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or some other sect, they probably don’t really pay much attention to their religious condition. In the West, this would include the secular people that do not give any credence to any deity.

ISIS has a strategy to push the West through terrorist attacks into retaliating against their Muslim populations, thus causing the non-engaged Muslims to feel a grievance against their government and move from the gray zone into active ISIS activity.

This cycle of terrorism by an ISIS-inspired Muslim living in the West, the government’s crackdown on Muslims as we are seeing in France, the resulting reaction against being treated as guilty by association, and the resulting increase in violence is exactly what ISIS desires. They want all of us to move from a gray zone, which allows for people of different faiths or no faith to live together, to a black zone where you are either for us or against us.

I will take up this development in the next installment of the series.

No matter what ISIS is doing, the first step we need to do is secure our borders and stop the influx of immigrants until things can be sorted out.

There is an opportunity to use the power of the purse to halt the Refugee Resettlement program by refusing to fund it in the omnibus spending bill that must be passed by December 11. Please call your Senators and Representative in Congress at 202-224-3121 to encourage them to not fund this program.

What if Paris happened here?

By Cathy Keim

Editor’s note: It was through complete happenstance that Cathy sent me this account yesterday, but in the wake of the terror in Paris I thought it was incredibly good timing so we can prepare for when our turn comes – and it will come.

Earlier this week I was able to attend a class on Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE) sponsored by the Maryland State Police. It was taught by Corporal Ted Antal and Trooper First Class Steve Hallman.

The poster announcing the class states: “The world we live in is changing rapidly and threats to our way of life are all around us. Come out for an evening of learning how to increase your chances of surviving an active shooter event. The Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE) course, designed and built upon the Avoid, Deny, Defend strategy developed by ALERRT in 2004 provides strategies, guidance, and a proven plan for surviving an active shooter event. Topics include the history and prevalence of active shooter events, the role of professional guardians, civilian response options, medical issues, and drills.”

The class lasted a little over two hours and was packed with information to get you thinking about what you would do to survive if caught in a Ft. Hood, Columbine, Sandy Hook or Aurora, Colorado situation. They made the point that these shooter events are increasing, with 160 Active Shooter Events identified by 2013.

The Department of Homeland Security defines the Active Shooter as “an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area; in most cases, active shooters use firearm[s] and there is no pattern or method to their selection of victims.”

The instructors pointed out that an active shooter event (ASE) is different than a robbery or an assault. The shooter’s sole intention is to kill, so your strategy must recognize this fact and plan accordingly. They also advised everybody to join the DO NOT NAME THEM campaign. These killers are cowards that want notoriety by their wicked deeds. Do not give them that satisfaction. Do not use their names, as that is what they were seeking.

The next segment of the presentation was very interesting as it delved into the psychology of a disaster response. Amanda Ripley in her book, The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes – and Why explains how with a little training the brain can function much better when a traumatic event occurs.

She applies three steps to the response cycle:

1. Denial
2. Deliberation
3. Decisive Moment

The faster that you can move through denial and deliberation and get to the action of the decisive moment, the more likely you are to survive the earthquake, fire, or ASE. The instructors used videos, recordings of actual events, and simulations to drive home their points, one of the most important being that Ms. Ripley found: “Most unexpectedly, she discovers the brain’s ability to do much, much better, with just a little help.”

Despite the horror of the situations that the troopers were presenting, they kept coming back with that point: Training can increase your ability to respond to a crisis. While civilians are not going to have the resources or the ability to access the type of training that the military and police take part in, we are still able to take responsibility for our families and ourselves. Even if somebody is able to call 911 when an ASE occurs, the police will not arrive for crucial minutes. You are on your own to survive until help arrives.

You are not helpless. You can take action to Avoid, Deny, Defend. If you can exit the situation, then do so quickly and then call 911 for help. If you cannot escape, then deny the shooter access to you. Barricade yourself in a room, but don’t just curl up in a fetal position. Prepare to defend yourself with whatever you have available. Be creative and think outside the box.

Finally, they reviewed what happens when the police arrive. I found this section very interesting as they explained the priorities of the police. They are not there to help the wounded. They are there to stop the killing. They will not stop, even for an injured partner, until they stop the killers. The logic is obvious once you think about it: if they stop to help people, the killer can continue to kill others. Once the killers are stopped, then they switch to stop the dying, and finally evacuate the area.

For your safety when the police arrive be sure to follow commands, show your palms, and do not move. If you are armed, put the gun on the floor. The police are coming into a dangerous situation and they cannot know whom the bad guys are. Do not complicate the situation for them. They will probably shout at you because their adrenalin is pumping too. Just do what they scream!

Trooper Hallman suggested that you buy some tourniquets and have one in your desk at work and one in your car. Blood loss is the primary cause of death in a shooter event, so being prepared to stop the bleeding from a gun wound can save a life. Sadly, people do bleed to death before the EMS teams can get into the building.

You can purchase a tourniquet that you can put on yourself or another person for about $25. Having some emergency medical supplies in your desk at work, car, and home can save lives.

Another tip that I have heard before is to carry a tactical flashlight. You can temporarily blind an assailant with the bright light and/or you can hit them with it.

None of this information is going to turn you into Rambo, but it could buy you precious time to escape or survive in a disaster. Just taking the time to think through some situations and buy a couple of medical supplies could have great benefits.

A last word from Corporal Antal and Trooper First Class Hallman was that if you are involved in a disaster, be aware that there will be long lasting mental trauma from the event. Be sure to reach out and get the support that you need from professionals, family, or friends.

The next CRASE training is not scheduled yet, but you can write to Trooper First Class Hallman at Stephen.Hallman@Maryland.gov for further information. This presentation is well worth attending.

Sound advice

Amongst the voluminous fundraising chaff that comes at the end of each quarter from politicians and candidates alike, there sometimes comes valuable information. It’s worth reminding people again that Congressional candidate Dan Bongino knows something about security as a former Secret Service agent, so an item he wrote yesterday which ended up on my Facebook page is, to me, worth repeating:

I do not want to unnecessarily alarm you, nor do I intend this post to be a call for more “police-state” actions but I feel it important to sound the alarm.

The terrorist attack in the mall in Kenya is indicative of two troubling trends. The first is a tendency for previously parochial terror groups to look for international targets to leverage the media coverage of their carnage and the second is a renewed interest by terror groups in “soft-targets”.

If you are the owner or manager of any facility which attracts crowds (i.e. malls, arenas) be aware that your facility may become a target. From my experiences in the Secret Service, there are a number of relatively painless steps you can take to help mitigate the threat.

First, use your relationships with local law enforcement entities to determine what the law enforcement response would be to an “active-shooter” in your facility. Your employees should be intimately familiar with this plan.

Second, make sure law enforcement cooperation includes a blueprint of your facility. It is no coincidence that this is one of the first things an attacker or group of attackers looks for.

Third, rehearse your escape plan. In moments of profound fear and stress, your body will revert to your LOWEST level of training as blood is diverted to major muscle groups and clear thinking becomes nearly impossible. Your escape must be second-nature and require little to no conscious focus.

Sadly, we are in a new era of “sole-proprietor” terror where anyone with an Internet connection and a troubled mind can cause untold carnage. Ignoring this will not make it go away and there is no need to live your lives in fear but there is no good excuse for a failure to plan.

God bless America and all those who defend her.

To me, the key point is the third one because it makes the most sense – it all goes back to the animal instinct of “fight or flight.”  Yet there’s a lot I see between the lines as well.

Now I certainly don’t want to encourage any more of a police state than we already have. Unfortunately, though. these are the cards we are dealt when we live in a jurisdiction which is making the personal protection of a firearm harder to come by and the idea of (legally) concealing it nearly impossible. (Many of those commenting on the Facebook page make that same point.) Look at the Navy Yard shooter for example: it’s the latest case where the people who had weapons to stop him weren’t on site and a further example where a “gun-free zone” makes the occupants less safe than they otherwise should be. “Sole-proprietor” terrorists know this.

Unfortunately, since the “fight” option is off the table because one is unarmed, the “flight” option is the more viable. Having worked in the architectural field, I understand the life safety aspect of multiple exits from a space – although their idea of a life-threatening event is a fire – but places like shopping malls don’t always make them obvious because they don’t want their merchandise walking away through the necessary but rarely-used exits; it’s the reason they are normally tied to the fire alarm system (if opened, the alarms go off.) It goes back to the second point Dan makes, because if someone can understand the blueprints and has a team of terrorists they can block off possible egress points and trap occupants inside.

In this case, there was no fundraising appeal in the piece, but it also brings up a question: what can (and will) Dan do if he’s elected? The Second Amendment isn’t among the key issues he highlights on his campaign page (although the palette of issues he speaks about touches on most basic concerns) so I guess the question is just how far would Dan like to go in terms of eliminating the federal restrictions on self-protection through firearms? In Maryland, the only people who can outgun the police are the criminals, and the tendency of state law is to place the common citizen at the mercy of both. There’s also a relevant discussion of the Supremacy Clause and whether Maryland’s new laws – or similar laws enacted by any other state – violate the Second Amendment, but that’s for another venue.

One has to ask in this day and age, though: why shouldn’t people be allowed to defend themselves with a weapon? If only the criminals and the government have them, the word describing the rest of us would be: victims.