News Roundup: Paris Attack Reactions, Refugee Crisis, Marine Sets Pull-Up Record, What’s Your Cage Fighter Ring Entrance Music?

French President Takes Huge Gamble:

French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday urged his countrymen to defy terrorists by going back to their normal way of life, visiting cafes, museums and sports stadiums, and not caving in to fear and xenophobia.

Hollande also said France would honor its duty to offer protection to refugees who flee countries like Syria and Iraq “because they are being tormented by the same who have attacked us.”

Hollande told mayors from around the country that France would take in 30,000 refugees over the next two years as planned, The New York Time reported.

However, he said France will “do the necessary verifications” to make sure refugees entering the country don’t pose a security risk.”

The reactions to last week’s horrific terrorist attacks have been roiling the world all week. It’s been a sight to behold. Between the reactions of the French, social media, and the American politicians, I’m starting to think this struggle between Western civilization and barbarism won’t end very well.

For starters, look at how French government is reacting. Now, I have HUGE respect for the Gendamerie guys, the RAID crew, and the rest of the French law enforcement guys who are taking care of business over there. It is no small feat of courage to assault a booby-trapped building where you know there are a bunch of hard-core jihadis armed with booby traps, suicide vests, and machine guns willing to blow the shit out of themselves to get to paradise and take you with them. These anti-terrorism guys are some of the best in the world, and it’s about time they’re being unleashed. No mercy, fellas. SOFREP writer and former Delta operator George Hand (go read his articles right now) found this cool infographic on how the raids went down:

But their leadership still looks feeble. As I wrote last week:

The president of France is vowing to wage a merciless war. Pardon me if I don’t really believe him. Recall that he also declared war after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and promptly lost interest in the whole thing. An ACTUAL step that a serious country would take would be the immediate closing of the borders, massive deportations, and a complete halt of all immigration from Islamic countries until you regain some control over the jihadi cancer in your country, both foreign and domestic.

They aren’t doing it. You read what Hollande said. He’s doubling down. And who knows, maybe he’s just facing reality. After all, there are generations of muslims spread all over Europe now, so perhaps this is a little like trying to close the proverbial barn door after the horses have all ran away. But still: over 150 of your people murdered, many more maimed and traumatized, all from Jihadists who used the refugee crisis to get into the country, and you insist that tens of thousand more young, middle eastern muslim men should come right in? At least hit PAUSE for a minute, man. Figure out what you’re dealing with. This seems like madness to me.

Far from the carnage and safely ensconced in their comfort bubbles, the social media posts have been predictably depressing. If you haven’t seen it, the silly, silly liberals, who all of a sudden believe in Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the bible, have been using a meme with a picture of Jesus’ family saying something along the lines of, “Remember the last time a middle eastern couple was refused shelter. OOOOOO GOOD ONE!

As I commented to some doofus, yeah: A couple. Not hundreds of thousands of military-aged, well fed males with iPhones demanding you veil up before cleaning up the state-provided apartment while they collect a government check. Sheesh. But I’m not totally heartless. Unlike Chris Christie, I’d be willing to take the kids under the age of five. I would then train them to be my own private, fanatically devoted army, like the kids in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom.

And if I hear one more person invoking the Statue of Goddamn Liberty and Ellis Island, I’m going to tear that freaking thing down. A POEM IS NOT AN IMMIGRATION POLICY. I don’t care what we did hundreds of years ago with immigrants. We also used to enslave black people to pick our crops and drink buckets of radiation water to cure impotence. We don’t do THAT stuff anymore, do we? Times change, fer chrissakes.

The media/academic/marxist left (I repeat myself, I know,)  is roughly 100% united in it’s support of the refugee program. Remember, a picture of a dead Syrian boy whose father wanted free dental care means that Europe must open it’s doors to millions, but show a picture of bloodstains and piles of bodies from jihadists to bolster a point that perhaps the open-borders policy is leading to dangerous people coming in, and you’re a stone-hearted UnPerson. Yes, dopes, I know the attackers weren’t refugees. They DID use the refugees as cover to cross borders, which is just as bad. And since this attack was France, and not America, everyone promptly lost interest.

The tactical arguments are also hilarious. A popular talking point is, “If we do (insert common-sense tactic here,) then ISIS wins!” For a stellar example, let us turn to the empty head of world-reknowned military campaigner and CNN war analyst Sally Kohn. My fellow SOFREP writer Frumentarius and I had a little fun with this dope:

Opinion: Bombing terrorists makes them stronger via @sallykohn https://t.co/lVUPWEdwjJ pic.twitter.com/nsBKWjjrXH

— CNN (@CNN) November 18, 2015

https://twitter.com/BKactual/status/667006310446211072

Back to the refugee question. This is what you have to do with the argument: Start asking the nutty leftists not if they’ll take them in, but how many. Because, as we’re finding out, pretty much all of southwest Asia, most of the middle east, and the entire continent of Africa would like to come to Europe and the U.S. That’s over a billion people. So how many is too many? What is the number that would make them balk? Is there a number? Oh, and while you’re at it, someone ask French President Hollande, “How many terrorist mass murders would have to be committed before you would consider pausing the refugee/immigration programs from the Middle East?” Because apparently, the answer is more than two in one year.

Obama’s reaction was shocking to me. Has this guy completely checked out, or what? I watched his press conference in Turkey live. He seemed annoyed that he even had to be talking about this. Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m pretty much on his side when it comes to not sending thousands of OUR guys to deal with an Arab problem. We’ve spent too much blood and treasure over in that part of the world over the last 15 years, and for what? It’s just as shitty as it’s always been. I don’t want to see one more American killed trying to help these people while they conduct their nutty tribal warfare. Plus, it was France that was got lit up; let them take the lead with these monsters. Wall the place off and let nature take it’s course.

But if you aren’t going to go on offense, you better have a damn good defense. And this crazy man with his open-borders obsession seems to be going off on the deep end here. As detached and bored as he was at that press conference, he finally came alive when talking about his true enemies: The American people who disagreed with him.

Get it through your head, guy: The NUMBER ONE job of the president of the United States is to protect and defend America and the American people. It’s not to give Syrian refugees a better life. It isn’t to give Africans and Afghans asylum. It sure as hell isn’t to allow Mexico and Latin America to send an unending stream of MS-13 and drug cartel members over the border. It’s US.

He doesn’t seem to get that. He’s constantly talking about what America needs to do for everyone else. Buddy: Wake the hell up. Nobody wants to hear that shit right now. During the Haitian earthquake, we sent 7000 marines, billions of dollars, and a goddamn aircraft carrier over there. WE DO OUR PART. China sent a retired dentist with halitosis. (probably.) Stop lecturing us on how cold we are. 

I always used to make fun of all the right-wing kooks who would talk about the POTUS being a Muslim, too, but goddamn…he has me starting to wonder. Old Barry McChoom seems weirdly emotionally attached to the idea of the refugees. It OFFENDS him that we’re even questioning him. To Obama, it doesn’t matter if we have to lose the few civil liberties we have left. It doesn’t matter that we have to put up with massive police presence everywhere, have our online activity monitored, or go through hell at the airport. It doesn’t matter that every once in a while, a few people might get their heads cut off or shot to death or blown to pieces. All of this must be endured to ensure young foreign Muslim men come and go in America as they please. Sounds crazy when said out loud, doesn’t it? I know the real reason, but damn.

But all of the refugees will be “vetted.” Stop it, please. How are you going to “vet” someone from Syria? Check the meticulously-maintained Syrian DMV? Send your 23 year-old state department intern into ISIS-controlled Aleppo to ask the aspiring refugee’s neighbors if he ever mentioned Jihad?  The FBI knows it’s impossible. Even the crazy leftists at the Huffington Post admit it’s impossible. Are you really going to put your faith into the US government hacks who say, “Trust us!” as they allow the Tsarnaev Brothers to overstay their visas, or these two Iraqi refugees recently arrested in a terror plot?

It’s cool. Don’t listen to me. Listen to this Syrian guy living in the U.S.: 

Succar, a member of the Bay Ridge Community Council, said corruption in his homeland is so rampant that anyone could easily pay bribes and obtain official identification papers bearing a fake name to disguise their real identity.

“You can go to the Syrian government today and say to them, ‘I need a piece of paper that says I’m Tony Caterpillar.’ And they give it to you,” he said.

“These are not forged documents. These are written out by a government employee who needs money, whose family has no food.”

Exactly. But the main argument against the refugees is the government’s long history of deceit and duplicity. Of course, it’s hard to tell people to oppose a handful of refugees. I don’t want to deny ALL of them, either, especially any kids. The problem is, the government LIES. They lie so they can implement the policy; get the pipeline of people coming in from out of the country established.

Then, once the media has stopped paying attention, the “vetting” facade goes away, the numbers of people being admitted goes through the stratosphere, and it’s too late to do anything about it because the program is now well underway. We’ve seen these assurances from the feds before. Remember the 1986 amnesty? Just a few people, they said. This won’t affect future immigration, they said. We’ll be tough from here on out, they said. Obamacare is totally sustainable, they said. California’s high speed rail will “only” cost 35 billion, they said. This single gas station in Afghanistan totally won’t cost 43 million dollars, they said. I could go on and on.

That’s why people are up in arms. It’s not about the present, it’s about the future. It’s about the fundamental dishonesty of the fanatics in charge of the U.S. Government and the lengths they will go to in order to achieve their political goals. So when I hear how arduous their “vetting process” is, I just assume it will end up being some bored government worker pencil-whipping people through.  Whatever paltry number of refugees he assures us we will take, it will end up being far more, I’m sure. And Obama is mocking people because they’re concerned about these Jihadi nut cases who, as we speak, are killing all over the world?

Never let it be said that I offer only criticisms without any ideas for a better path. A far better solution, in my opinion, is to establish a refugee camp within Syria itself. It’s their country. It has huge swathes of land that are uninhabited already. The United Nations, backed by the United States and the Arab world, could establish a working settlement there easily, complete with security and a no-fly zone. We give the freaking United Nations 5 billions dollars a year (at least!). Time for them to step up to the plate. You could care for 10 times the refugees at a tenth of the cost, since each refugee brought to the United States costs a huge amount of money. As a matter of fact, this is almost exactly what we did back in the Gulf War to protect the Kurds in Northern Iraq from Saddam. Why can’t this work?

It wouldn’t even have to be in Syria. Start supporting Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and make the camps there, if necessary. These rich bastards have plenty of space, complete with air conditioning. If they don’t want to play ball, it’s time for the Feds to grab their nuts and lean on the Arabs a little bit here. Between the falling oil prices, their extensive welfare state, and the ongoing struggle with the Yemeni rebels, the Saudis are in no position to have any of their foreign aid or weapons deliveries halted. They’ll play ball. That billion dollar weapons deal we just approved for them? Be a shame if something happened to that, yaknowwhatimean?

Thankfully, some sort of reality is starting to set in with the Democrats, at least in the House of Representatives. They understand that just because this NUT B.O. has abdicated any amount of fucks, they still have a career ahead of them. On Thursday, they passed a bill demanding the refugee program add certain security guarantees by a veto-proof margin. By listenting to the usual hysterically shrieking ladyboys, you’d think the bill said to round up everyone with a middle eastern name and ship them off to the death camps. Please. The bill’s mildness is, in itself, just symbolic. But even the Democrats are starting to be alarmed at the aloofness of the Prez. They know if something bad happens in their states and it can be tied to the refugee program, the Democratic party will eat a shit sandwich for a generation.

And how about those other Democrats! The ones running for president, I mean. Are they comedy gold? Hillary Clinton is doing her best Lois Griffin impersonation:

Did you see that she released her plan for defeating ISIS? It was hilarious. Step one: Defeat ISIS. Huh. I wish I’d thought of that. She wants 65,000 refugees. All when our war-weary veterans are dying from lack of health care? Fuckouttahere. Bernie Sanders probably wants ALL of them.

And my God, my man Bern is a maniac. If you watched that last debate, he completely disqualified himself. He should have been carried out of that room nude. He’s still babbling on about global warming and refuses to talk about Islamic terrorism. Bern, you crazy old coot, let me help you out here. All of the soccer mommies out there don’t give a rat fuck if the temperature goes up a degree in a hudred years, they care that little Johnny might get his brains blown out by crazy Islamists as he rides his bike outside. Even fellow crazy old Marxist Jerry Brown is questioning the White House loonies.

Irrational? Maybe a little, sure, but that’s the way it is. You can make fun of them and mock them all you want, but people have families, and they are a hell of a lot more concerned right now about nutty ISIS than global warming. Like Frumentarius pointed out with his column the other week, you wonder why Trump is doing well in the polls? THIS IS WHY. In times of unease, people want a strong leader who talks tough, speaks plainly and vows, “Not on my watch.” They don’t want some crazy old man who looks like he’s waiting for a free bowl of soup from the homeless shelter ranting about the minimum wage. Fuck me.

So here we are. It seems everyone is paralyzed. Sure, there have been raids in France. But the heart of ISIS; the ideology of radical Islam? The Western world is sitting around staring at their shoes, because they have no idea what to do. Nobody wants to commit to a long, bloody ground war, especially the United States, for obvious reasons. It remains to be seen whether the French airstrikes we’ve seen are going to be sustained, or if this is all just a bit of showmanship to show that they’re Really Doing Something This Time.

You know what it kind of reminds me of? That time that the US and Honduran government made a big show out of a single plane load of 40 illegal immigrants that had been deported from the U.S. The first lady of Honduras was out there with a shitload of media handing out teddy bears,  the US government and the media colluded to sell the, “Look everyone! We’re Doing Something!”  narrative… and then the planes promptly stopped… and the tens of thousands of other illegal immigrants were allowed to stay. It’s all theater.

You probably thought I forgot about that one, didn’t you? I FORGET NOTHING.

L.A. County Police Officer/Former Marine Slain Unarmed Sitting in Car:

LOS ANGELES — A police officer in Downey, about a dozen miles southeast of here, was shot and killed outside the city police department late Wednesday night in what law enforcement officials said was a “botched robbery attempt.”

The officer, Ricardo Galvez, 29, was sitting in his personal car in the Downey Police Department parking lot after a canine training session when two men ran up to the vehicle and shot him, said Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

I listened to the local news coverage of this horrible crime. They keep saying, “attempted robbery,” but all the witness accounts state that the men just ran up, started firing, and then ran away. That doesn’t sound like robbery to me; that sounds like an assassination. But maybe the cops aren’t telling us the whole story. Very say, and a reminder of what kind of scum we have out there.

A five-year veteran of the Downey police, Officer Galvez was a Marine who had done two tours overseas, said Lt. Mark McDaniel of the Downey Police Department. Officer Galvez died at the scene.

RIP Officer Galvez. Semper Fi.

Marine Veteran Breaks Pull-Up Record:

A Marine veteran has beat the record for the number of pullups completed in a day, earning a spot in the annual Guinness Book of World Records book.

Veteran Sgt. Guy Seaman, who goes by the name Guy Valentino, decided to spend Veterans Day besting a sailor’s pullup record.

He had 24 hours to do more than 5,804 pullups in order to beat the record set Sept. 27 by Navy Air Traffic Controller 1st Class (AW) Mike McCastle. And even though he had nearly a decade on McCastle, Valentino blew through the sailor’s record, completing 5,862 pullups on Nov. 11.

I did the math. That’s 244 pull-ups every hour for 24 hours. Yowza. Congrats, Guy.

Yeah, I think I’d go with “Guy Valentino” also, especially if you’re a Marine. Who wants to be associated with the Navy with a name like, “Seaman?” Or any other, uh, association that you filthy people can come up with.

Cool Story About Gold-Record Rapper and Army Veteran No Malice:

Before becoming a celebrated MC as one half of the Clipse, No Malice was a member of the United States Army. He was a high school grad with a son on the way and was uncertain about his family’s future.

The army move made sense for No Malice. As a kid in Norfolk, Va., the MC (born Gene Elliott Thornton Jr.) would play with toy soldiers and army trucks. His dad, an Air Force air traffic controller, was also an influential figure. One day, he shared stories of friends he lost in the Vietnam War, a conversation that still echoes in No Mal’s mind.

“I saw a certain kind of sorrow that I wouldn’t normally associate with my dad,” he explained. “So, when I think about Veterans Day, I tend to think about those people who lost their lives, who sacrificed, those who have given their lives and their families who are still here mourning them.”

Well said. Bet you didn’t think old BK kept his eye on the rap game, did you? I don’t want to brag or anything, but I can spit the lyrics to, “Microphone Fiend” pretty much note for note.

No Malice, AKA Gene Thorton Jr., was a generator repair specialist. Those guys are pretty much at the top of the “important people” list at any FOB or fire base.

It just shows you all of the different types of people who go into the military. It really is one of the few places on earth where people from all walks of life, who would normally never meet each other, become friends for life. It’s one of the great things about the U.S. military.

Then there’s this:

“I was listening to country music, believe it or not,” he said. “One of the homies was listening to that every day. When I got there, and I was listening to it, I was hating it. By the time it was time to leave, I was loving it. You can definitely learn. That’s what it’s about. It’s a melting pot.”

Made me laugh. I have met some bad-ass black dudes from America’s inner cities in the contracting world that knew every Toby Keith song note for note. I love it.

Marine Accused of Stolen Valor Has Actual Valor:

66-year-old Jack Hughes was returning home from a Veterans Day event in St Louis, when he was assaulted by a group of Marines upon landing at Charlotte Douglas Int’l Airport on Sunday.

Hughes says a man started walking towards him yelling: “Your ribbons are crooked … you’re a phony.” He called him a fraud and accused him of impersonating a veteran, while taking a swipe at his Purple Hearts — which Hughes received from battle in Vietnam.

The Vietnam vet showed local news media a picture of an officer presenting one of the medals to him in a hospital bed, as well as the telegrams informing his parents he’d been wounded in battle.

Still visibly shaken from the incident, Hughes said one of the men ripped the buttons right off his jacket. The attack on his credibility was expected in the ’60s when he recalls returning home from war and people throwing rotten eggs at his uniform.

But that was then. “I can’t believe one veteran would do that to someone else,” Hughes said about the recent incident at the airport. They were recording the whole thing while taunting him in front of a crowd of people.

He showed the group his VA health care card but apparently that wasn’t enough to convince them. While police finally intervened and made the group apologize to Hughes – he says that’s not enough. He doesn’t want this to happen to another veteran.

What in the ever loving fuck, Marines? I enjoy a good case of stolen valor as much as the next guy, but damn. What, were they looking for a cool video to put on YouTube? Come on. How about talking to the man for a few minutes. Freaking tards.

All because he had a few crooked ribbons? Come on, boots. You know who else had crooked ribbons? Yeah, that guy. Throttle it the hell back before you make assholes of yourselves. This guy probably has more time knee deep in Vietcong guts than you jerkoffs have in the entire Marine Corps. Take it easy.

Australian Army Chaplains to Lose 100-Year-Old Motto Because of Muslim Offense:

The cap badge and motto of the Australian army chaplains is presently identical to those held by the British army, a legacy and tradition dating back to the founding days of the Australian nation as it established itself as a Dominion independent of Great Britain. Emblazoned on a Maltese cross and wreath in purple and gold, the motto ‘In This Sign Conquer’ is thought to be a reference to the crusades.

Now just five months after a Muslim Imam joined the Australian forces religious advisory committee, that history is to be swept away, reports Australia’s Daily Telegraph. Despite the sudden push for change, there is not thought to presently be a single Australian Muslim chaplain in the army.

A spokesman for the Australian Department for Defence has denied this symbolism had anything to do with the decision to change, remarking: “The motto of the Australian Army Chaplains is being changed to better reflect the diversity of religion throughout the Australian Army… The new wording on the Australian Army Chaplaincy badge is under consideration and no decision has been made at this time”.

The “Smart Gun” is Still Worthless:

In May 2014, NRA staffers secretly tested the Armatix iP1, the so-called “smart gun” that at the time was causing a furor among both media and gun owners nationwide. What we found was disappointing at best, and alarming at worst.

The Armatix pistol initially required a full 20 minutes to pair with the watch, even with the aid of an IT pro trained in its use. Without pairing, the Armatix functions like any other handgun, capable of being fired by anyone.

Once paired, a “cold start” still requires a minimum of seven push-button commands and a duration of 12 seconds before the gun can be fired.

While the gun holds a maximum of 11 rounds (10+1), the best our experts could manage was nine consecutive rounds without a failure to fire (and that only once). Three or four misfires per magazine were common, despite using various brands of ammunition.

Although the Armatix has a decent single-action trigger, it has the worst double-action trigger we’ve ever tested, requiring more force than any other pistol we’ve fired.

The pistol must be within 10 inches of the watch during “start up.” This slows and complicates the use of the pistol if one hand is injured or otherwise unavailable.

The design of the Armatix’s hammer prevents it from being safely thumbed forward.

All this malfunction comes at a high price: At $1,798 ($1,399 for the base pistol and another $399 for the enabling watch), the Armatix is a more than five times the cost of other common .22s, like Walther’s excellent P22 ($319) or Browning’s tried-and-true Buckmark ($349), and four and a half times that of Smith & Wesson’s M&P22 polymer semi-auto ($379) or Ruger’s SR22 ($379). It’s also more than three times the cost of pistols like Glocks and Smith & Wesson M&Ps made in true self-defense calibers.

Choosing Your Fighting Music:

One of the nice things about having the Armed Forces Network overseas is that they air all of the Pay-Per-View UFC and boxing events at no charge. As a (very) amateur boxing and Muay Thai enthusiast, I try to catch all of the big name fights, including last weekend, when Ronda Rousey got her ass handed to her by Holly Holm.

But I’ll be honest: Most of the time, I’m let down by the music the fighters chose for their ring entrances. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying all of the songs suck or anything. But most of the time, they just don’t seem to capture the drama of the moment. So I started thinking, “What would my walkout song be?”

What makes a good entrance song? Obviously a ton of variables. First off, it should be DARK. These Brazilian guys who come out to Samba music just doesn’t do it for me. It isn’t fear-inspiring. It should be hard; edgy. Also, I think that a slow beginning with an increasing crescendo is important. You don’t want to just have immediate screaming with zero build up. I love the song, “Fucking Hostile” by Pantera, but it just begins at 100 and never lets up.

I’m also looking for some sort of rhythm that goes well with WALKING out. You put on Slayer’s, “Raining Blood?” It’s impossible. You’ll break out into a dead sprint and start punching people in the face before you ever reach the ring. And don’t forget, you want a song that the crowd knows and can appreciate. As much as you may be into that obscure Norse-God black metal band from Sweden, the crowd may not be as into it as you are. I think you have to go with a classic. The more people that are into it, the more the crowd will go nuts, right?

After thinking about it for a while, I decided I shouldn’t screw around, and went with a classic from my childhood:

It has everything: The ominous opening riff, the ponderous, cadence-like beat, a general air of menace, the lyrics that say, “I’m coming to kill you. ” Perfect for any cage fighter. That’s it; I’ve made my decision. I WANT CORMIER.

Honorable mention: “Crawl Away,” by Tool. Leave your choice in the comments.

Nude Man Terrorizes Skate Park, Rides The Lightning:

LOGAN — Police used a taser to arrest a Logan man Friday afternoon who was naked and running around the skate park.

Logan City Police Captain Curtis Hooley said officers received a call at 12:45 p.m., complaining of a man who was running nude around the area, west of the Aquatic Center. When they arrived on the scene they found 22-year-old Oscar Gutierrez naked and carrying a large rock in his hands.

Hooley said Gutierrez did not smell of alcohol but officers are not sure if he had any other drugs in his system, or just suffering a psychiatric issue.

“He certainly wasn’t acting normal. He would grunt more when he was requested to do different things but he didn’t really speak with our officers. We not sure exactly what was going on with him that caused him to act in this bizarre manner.”

Hmm. What, oh what, I wonder could possibly be the reason? Find me on Twitter @BKactual.

(Featured image courtesy of AFP PHOTO / FRANCOIS LO PRESTI)