Prayer Vigil for Refugees

[Sandy]

I was in Washington, DC on business yesterday and today, and stayed at a hotel on McPherson Square a couple of blocks from the White House. I decided to take my afternoon walk through Lafayette Park across from the White House, and Blair House, since the British PM was also in town, just to see if I could glimpse anything. The view was blocked by the inauguration reviewing stand, but when I got to the park, there was something going on. At first, I thought it might be a pro-life rally or something, and then I thought it must be a Holocaust remembrance, since there were Rabbis in and among the crowd, but it wasn't that either, because there were also a fair number of Muslims, no burkas but lots of head scarves. As it turned out, it was a prayer vigil for the refugees who were about to be trapped by one of the President's latest executive orders. I stayed for a while.

The speaker made note of the irony of the Vice President's remarks just an hour or so earlier, regarding the sanctity of life, as the administration prepared to issue an executive order that not only flies in the face of that principle, but undoes one of the very core values upon which this nation was founded. This wasn't an angry mob shouting slogans, this was a group of people who were genuinely fearful, and who understood the implications of an order that delays any admissions by 120 days (on a false premise that the vetting process isn't strong enough) which will lead to the inevitable death of many of those seeking refuge in the US. Some of them applied seeking political asylum, because either the ISIS leadership or the Assad regime wants them dead. This will assure the deaths of many of them. How can you claim to believe in the sanctity of life, and refuse to use the power you have to give protection to someone who is desperately asking you for it? They are refugees from wars and violence stemming mostly from bad US policy and interference in their region, but we won't take them in any more.

I was encouraged by the experience. It's not a common, everyday experience for Muslims, Jews and Christians of all stripes (including some Southern Baptists that I met) in that kind of unity. Lots of conversation afterward, hand shaking, embracing. I can't recall a similar experience in my life where I encountered people from so many different religious backgrounds in the same place and time. I had friendly conversations with a Jesuit priest, a couple of Rabbis from Providence, and a Muslim couple who were worried about their children's safety in school.

Lawsuits already filed, and my guess is the courts will overturn the order, because it is clearly aimed at a religious group, and that's a constitutional no-no. If opposition to Trump cuts across all those lines, that's good news that bodes well for 2018.

[Haruo]

Local and state government leaders hereabouts are not taking the order lying down, either.

[Dave Roberts]

That was good news, Sandy. My fear is that Trump also will try to quash First Amendment dissent to "petition for redress of grievance."

[Haruo]

Yes, or try to make his opinion superior, and immune, to the courts.

[Sandy]

Or making court appointments to support his declarations. With Steve Bannon replacing the intelligence services and military presence on the national security council, and his influence in the White House, we're going to see a lot of the alt-right scum he's been baiting for years in the national government.

[Jim]

It must be so fulfilling and loving to have a prayer vigil for non-existent refugees of Saturday. Poor Schumer even shed some tears that Trump (and I) called as fake as a three-dollar bill. The number of folks who flew in from overseas on Saturday was some 325,000, give a score or so and the overbearing, wicked grand total of 109 were detained for discovering their actual circumstances, with about all of them properly disposed of by now, though not by firing squad. For those in the forum who might be too sensitive—even traumatized—by such governmental imperialism that naturally calls for prayer and maybe a novena or two or perhaps a collective confessional to an accommodating priest out on bail awaiting pedophile charges, let there be a special dispensation of calmness from the nearest imam not currently tied up in beheading a Christian or three. Otherwise, two aspirin and a long nap might help, as well, as yet another attempt is made to handle the shock of the election. A shrink might be advised except that most shrinks need shrinks and the circle of finding one might never be unbroken by and by.

[Haruo]

[Haruo]

[Sandy]

[KeithE]

[Jim]

[KeithE]

[Jim]

I admit that I was out of order and apologize for that. No one here is better at spewing garbage than I am, and sometimes I get carried away. I think you’ll admit that the brethren have called me just about every vile thing imaginable, apparently because I offer views different from theirs, though they simply preach to the choir and I find that boring. I rarely respond to the slurs, which say more about the slurers [sic] than about me. No attempt was made to be sardonic about the unbelievable Abstract. I believe it was former Southern Seminary President Honeycutt who allowed profs to sign on with reservations.

[Haruo]

One more r, Jim: slurrers.

[Haruo]

On the other hand, I did not see a threat from Jim in the sentence Keith blued. It looks to me like a warning about what Jim sees as a threat from a third party (unless somehow Jim has realigned himself and now calls himself a refugee (with a semi) sort of the way I have threatened to be a Muslim with a mosque). I'll admit I don't get the allusion. Did some refugee recently try to run a semi over ... oh, wait, I remember, it's an allusion to something that happened in Europe, and as I recall the culprit was a Tunisian, not a refugee. Inadequately "vetted", perhaps (I doubt it; I think the slip-up came after he was in-country), but if so it was not the US that failed to vet him enough.

[Rvaughn]

There has actually been a good bit of this tactic used abroad by terrorists, maybe not always semis. There were over 80 killed in Nice, France; about a dozen in Berlinm Germany; 4 killed and several injured in Jerusalem maybe a week or so ago; and so on. I think there was only one similar case (that I know of) in the U.S. In 2006 Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar ran his SUV into a crowd at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. About 9 or 10 people were injured, but none seriously. IIRC, Mr. Taheri-azar was an Iranian who had come to the US to attend UNC Chapel Hill; a terrorist, but not a refugee.

[Sandy]

[Haruo]

Good summary, Sandy.

[Haruo]

[Jim]

I’ll try my best to understand this terribly complicated ninth-grade history lesson. In the meantime, I’ve just finished the long but thorough Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson (2013) that probably is the definitive description of the Middle East during World War I, after which Europe’s imperialist nations divided up the territories that **** the region today. The lesson of Syria is that wannabe tyrants had better make no moves against the incumbent tyrant until they’re certain of victory. The lowliest platoon lieutenant has this much sense, indeed far more sense than a band of hotheads who obviously were not aware—or had forgotten—the bloody episode of Assad’s father in the early 80s. Muslims kill other Muslims with nearly the same gusto as that reserved for the outright infidels. See attached.

[KeithE]

[Sandy]

[Haruo]

Yes, and the existence of the Kurds (and other stateless people) in the region, and of the differing wishes of the Turks and Russians and Israelis and Iranians (who are all involved in both Iraq and Syria's travails, along with ISIS), don't help.

[KeithE]

We simply need to stay out of the area (troops, drones, aircraft/refuelers, special ops, corporations). But we should be willing to assimilate refugees and provide humanitarian aid. Such goodwill will minimize the chances of any attacks on us. That is how to keep America safe.

[Jim]

I hope Trump’s promise of eradicating ISIS takes the form of getting out of the Middle East altogether and letting the Muslims eliminate each other according to their “religious” requirements. Enough military might should be left in order to safely and quickly evacuate U.S. operatives, and then withdrawn. Currently, the Israelis can take care of themselves with U.S. help in terms of tangible contributions. As for the Syrian problem, Trump is right in agreeing to send resources to the Middle East for the purpose of allowing and encouraging the misplaced Syrians to establish adequate living conditions wherever they may be with always the view of going to what’s left of their homes and rebuilding. The lessons of Europe are that accepting them as refugees or immigrants is asking for trouble big-time. This goes for Muslims from all the Mideast. Islam, far from being a religion, is a movement that has its symbols, rites, etc., designed to make it seem religious, especially in areas that are collectively bankrupt educationally. Anywhere else, it would be called voodoo. Beheading, stoning, genital “cleansing,” honor killings, drowning people trapped in cages defy even a suggestion of its being civilized, much less religious.