RUTHFULLY YOURS

Since the Paris terrorist attacks on November 13, the State Department has admitted 276 Syrian refugees into the United States – 270 Sunni Muslims (97.8 percent), five (1.8 percent) described merely as “Moslem,” and one Christian (0.3 percent), according to data from the State Department Refugee Processing Center.

The Christian, a Greek Orthodox, is the only non-Muslim among the 276 Syrian refugees admitted since the deadly attacks just over a month ago.

Of the 276, 140 are male, 136 are female; 71 (25.7 percent) are men between the ages of 14 and 50, while 64 (23.1 percent) are women across that age group.

Another 127 (46 percent) are children aged under 14, of whom 63 are boys and 64 are girls.

The attack in Paris, which was claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL), stoked fresh fears that terrorists may be entering Western nations posing as refugees – as occurred in the case of at least two of the Paris terrorists, according to police investigators.

That prompted a contentious debate over the admission of Syrian refugees into the U.S., where President Obama plans to resettle 10,000 during fiscal year 2016.

All across American universities the Social Justice Warriors (SJW) are on the march demanding increased black faculty, more black undergraduates, various buildings re-named, more public lectures on race, class and gender, the immediate firing of those who give offense plus various Stalinist measures to purge campuses of anything antithetical to their anti-intellectual agenda (for example, see here). And these lists grow longer by the day and, sad to say, university administrators can’t wait to surrender

Can we rid the campus of these misguided fools? Are we condemned to an academic life where free and open discussion is subordinated to creating “safe spaces,” trigger warnings, and formal channel to report professors who accidently hurt somebody’s feelings?

The situation initially appears bleak. Forget about stiffening the administrative spines — these apparatchiki were chosen by virtue of their cowardice and lack any incentive to expel, let alone arrest, disruptors. Similarly useless is reasoning with these fools. That a non-negotiable demand is impractical, too expensive or illegal hardly settles the matter in this quest for a Utopian fantasy.

The decision to refer the case of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl to a general court martial on charges of desertion by Gen. Robert B. Abrams, the head of Army Forces Command at Ft. Bragg, N.C., shows there remains at least one general not cowed by President Obama’s purge of command officers deemed insufficiently subservient to his policies of appeasement and unilateral disarmament. As Breitbart reported:

Bergdahl, who was kidnapped by the Taliban following his abandonment of a forward operating base in Afghanistan, was charged this year with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. If charged with the latter, he could potentially face life in prison. If charged with only desertion, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Hopefully he will face life in prison and is lucky a firing squad is not in the cards. It was not what President Obama, who welcomed the parents of deserter Bergdahl to the White House Rose Garden to cheer the alleged good news of the return of the deserter six other soldiers died looking for, wanted to hear. President Obama, who said we traded five Taliban commanders for Bergdahl because we leave no soldier behind, has had no regrets about leaving former Marine Amir Hekmati a prisoner in Iran. Nor did he raise a finger as Andrew Tahmooressi was left to rot in a Mexican prison for taking the wrong exit.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter used his personal email account for government business, the Pentagon acknowledged late Wednesday, putting him among a group of officials that includes former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who have drawn critical scrutiny for how they have handled official communications.

The disclosure of Mr. Carter’s private email use, which a top aide said he has discontinued, has threatened to overshadow a sensitive overseas mission in which the Defense secretary is visiting key U.S. allies to secure greater commitments in the international fight against Islamic State extremist group. He has visited Iraq and Turkey this week.

Mr. Carter, confirmed by the Senate in February as President Barack Obama’s fourth Defense secretary, occasionally used his personal email account for work-related matters, but concluded doing so was a “mistake,” and discontinued that practice, said a statement by the Pentagon press secretary, Peter Cook.