Last Call For Syrian Shutout

It began last night with Alabama GOP. Gov. Robert Bentley vowing that he would not allow any Syrian refugees at all to relocate to his state, and within 24 hours the number has grown to 21 governors who are too stupid to read the Constitution...and not all of them Republicans.

Several state governors announced on Monday that they will not accept Syrian refugees following the attacks in Paris, citing concerns for security.

The governors of Idaho, Iowa, Maine, South Carolina, Georgia, Nebraska, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Ohio, Mississippi, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Texas, and Arkansas announced measures on Monday to stop or oppose any additional Syrian refugees from resettling in their states. Alabama and Michigan made similar announcements on Sunday.

The terrorist attacks in Paris have brought renewed attention on the U.S. refugee program, specifically the threat that ISIS could exploit the process to infiltrate and attack the United States. Several Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates have called on the administration to stop taking Syrian refugees, citing security concerns.

The governors of Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, and Connecticut, meanwhile, have backed the Obama administration’s policy, voicing their support for accepting refugees in their states.

New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan became the first Democratic governor to join the dozen-plus Republican governors in calling for a halt to new Syrian refugees.

Protecting the safety and security of our people is the first responsibility of government,” Hassan communications director William Hinkle said in a statement. “The Governor has always made clear that we must ensure robust refugee screening to protect American citizens, and the Governor believes that the federal government should halt acceptance of refugees from Syria until intelligence and defense officials can assure that the process for vetting all refugees, including those from Syria, is as strong as possible to ensure the safety of the American people.”

Look, even if this wasn't an absolutely moronic and childishly political waste of time with the whole "The US federal government determined refugee status", exactly how do you enforce Syrian refugees not living in your state?  What kind of fascist nonsense is this?

Are you guys planning checkpoints and identification cards?  Will you deploy armed National Guard troops to use deadly force?  What's the play here, guys?  How far down the "papers, please" waterslide are these governors going to go (and yes, this includes Matt Bevin.)  Special ghetto areas? Security sweeps? Publishing their names and addresses in a registry for "citizen safety"?

I think we have a right to know here.  What's your play, governors?  How are you going to keep your state "safe" from Syrians who have suffered through a four year civil war and constant bombing?

Put up or shut up.

Bringing Bankrupt Ideology To A Pastry Fight

John Oliver sums up in two minutes my feelings on Paris and the monsters who perpetrated the attack.  Needless to say, you're in for some outstanding premium cable profanity, so this is very NSFW for language.

Experience Matters

Republican presidential candidates in the back of the pack behind Donald Trump and Ben Carson may finally have their best reason yet to attack the frontrunners, both of whom have never held public office. In the wake of Paris, they say, now's not the time for an untested GOP candidate without foreign policy "experience".

“Well obviously, extending, you know, our support to the French,” he said Sunday on Fox News when asked what a President Carson’s first steps would have been following the Paris terror attack. When host Chris Wallace pressed him three times on who he would call first to put together an international military coalition, Carson demurred three times before saying he would call "all of the Arab states" and "all of our traditional allies."

"I don't want to leave anybody out," Carson said.

Donald Trump, who before the attack had said his ISIS policy would be to "bomb the s--t out of them," was unusually absent, not just from the Sunday interview circuit but the discussion. He had spent the weekend shouting on Twitter in all-caps: "When will President Obama issue the words RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM?" "He is just so bad! CHANGE." "We need much tougher, much smarter leadership - and we need it NOW!"

The violence in France comes at a time in the cycle when numerous 2016 operatives say voters are starting to shift from not just deciding who they like, but who they want to serve as president. Even before the attacks, for instance, a super PAC supporting John Kasich held a focus group in New Hampshire last week and reported that every attendee mentioned "experience” as important to them.

It was the first time that had happened, according to Matt David, a strategist for the Kasich super PAC.

On Sunday, Kasich, who has been almost alone in touting his congressional committee experience on the campaign trail, was rushing to get out all his specific prescriptions on Fox: arming the Kurds, putting in a no-fly zone, tying in the Saudis and Jordanians, coordinating intelligence better internationally.

"There’s so many things we need to do and, frankly, we’re behind the curve,” Kasich said.

Bush, Kasich, Rubio and Sen. Lindsey Graham were among those who spoke fluently on foreign affairs on the Sunday shows.

In other words, Republican foreign policy now consists solely of how quickly each candidate wants to get us back into a Middle Eastern invasion.  It's 2003 all over again, and the supposed "moderates" like Kasich are calling for heavily military intervention in Syria.  Suddenly, Ben Carson and Donald Trump's ignorance on global affairs might actually matter to GOP voters.

But it's just another reminder than in many ways, the Republican alternatives to Trump and Carson are even more dangerous to have in power.

StupidiNews!

• In retaliation for Friday's attacks in Paris, French jets bombed ISIS targets in Raqqa, Syria for a second day as the death toll in what President Hollande called "an act of war" reached 129.
• Several Republicans are calling for Congress to bar resettlement of Syrian refugees in the US, the GOP governors of Alabama, Michigan and Louisiana all say they will not take any.
• French investigators have named Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian national currently in Syria, as the mastermind behind Friday's attacks as French police continue to raid for suspects.
• Hotel giant Marriott will buy rival Starwood in a $12.2 billion deal that would create the world's largest hotel company, with 5,500 worldwide hotels combining Marriott and Sheraton.
• German carmaker Daimler AG says it will use old electric vehicle batteries to create a storage facility for electricity powered by renewable energy.