Blog reader Lanny Stricherz contacted his Representative in Congress, Kristi Noem, to express his desire to welcome Syrian refugees into the strongest, richest nation in the world. Rep. Noem responds with poorly justified cowardice:
Dear Lanny,
Thank you for contacting me with your thoughts about our national refugee policy as it relates to displaced Syrians.
I’ve heard a great deal of concern from South Dakotans about Syrian refugees in recent weeks. My top priority is to protect the safety and security of our nation. In that respect, I believe we need to temporarily suspend accepting refugees from Iraq and Syria. More specifically, I believe we should put a pause on the program until the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of the FBI, and the Director of National Intelligence can certify that the individual does not represent a security threat [Rep. Kristi Noem, e-mail to constituent Lanny Stricherz, 2015.12.14].
Noem’s staff appears to have been cutting and pasting here: what “individual” is she talking about?
Noem’s staff also appears to have forgotten that a good horsewoman doesn’t show fear. Our fearful Rep. Noem here follows Governor Daugaard in warping the October 8 Senate testimony of FBI Director James Comey and other security officials who said that yes, there are gaps in our intelligence from Syria but that we are aware of those gaps and are toughening our refugee screening to compensate. She follows Senator John Thune in an absurd quest for 100% certainty and security that does not guide any other policy decision in Congress. Shutting down the government threatens national security, but Rep. Kristi Noem made that threat happen in October 2013 and after two weeks voted to extend that threat.
Understanding how weak her response is, Rep. Noem adds some filler to sound informed:
The Syrian Civil War has been going on for more than four years now. Rebel groups and the Assad regime have been clashing continuously over its course and terrorist groups, like ISIL, have capitalized on the instability. It is a tragedy that so many innocent people have been caught up in the conflict [Noem, 2015.12.14].
This paragraph adds nothing to the discussion Mr. Stricherz requests about admitting Syrian refugees. He and the rest of us are all aware of these basic facts that have caused the refugee crisis. Rep. Noem acknowledges that we’re talking about innocent people who could use our help. She proceeds to admit that America is supposed to be all about helping people, then casually dismisses that fundamental principle as if no rigorous argument is necessary:
America’s history of accepting refugees is a proud part of our national identity, but security must be a priority. Until we can say with certainty that individuals are refugees and not militants, we cannot afford to take them in [Noem, 2015.12.14].
Talk about not doing her homework. Rep. Noem here presents no evidence that those “innocent people” are going to kill us. She presents no evidence that ISIS has infiltrated the refugees; she ignores the fact that, since September 11, 2001, the United States has taken in 784,000 refugees, including 1,925 Syrian refugees this year, and three have been arrested for terror-related activities overseas and none have been arrested for domestic terrorism. We’ve taken in refugees from Vietnam, Cuba, Bosnia, Somalia, and Rwanda, and none of those waves of refugees led to reigns of domestic terror. None of the Paris attackers were refugees.
Rep. Noem fails to present any evidence that ISIS even wants to bother with using refugee resettlement as a method of sneaking into the United States. Infiltrating the ranks of refugees is perhaps the least efficient way to get into the United States.
Rep. Noem fails to acknowledge that bringing refugees to the United States actually reduces the risk of terrorism here and abroad. Resettle refugees far from the conflict, far from neighboring rival nations, and they are less likely to become radicalized. More simply, be nice to people, and they are more likely to be nice to us.
But Rep. Noem wants to assure Mr. Stricherz that she’s nice:
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. Please know that I, along with my legislative team, am closely monitoring this situation. Please don’t hesitate to contact my office if you are in need of assistance [Noem, 2015.12.14].
…unless you’re a Syrian refugee fleeing the terror and oppression of ISIS and the occasional barrel bombs from Assad, cruise missiles from Russia, and drones from the USAF. Then your need for assistance is outweighed by Rep. Noem’s embrace of politically driven, unsubstantiated fears that make her just about as bad as Donald Trump and make America look like a land without moral courage.
Related Reading: Perhaps Rep. Noem should consult with national security expert Bill Murray:
I think normal people hate all this fighting….People think we made this movie to brush up the American image. It might or might not need brushing up, but that image is very different from what it was when I was a child. Now there is brand confusion with Afghanistan and Iraq. I think many Americans do not know what is going on, but the fact that we are now seen as bullies and not do-gooders is of concern [Bill Murray, discussing his new film Rock the Kasbahat the Marrakech International Film Festival with Liza Foreman, “Bill Murray Befriends the Muslim World: ‘Not Every Flower Is the Same’,” The Daily Beast, 2015.12.12].
Are we bullies or do-gooders, Rep. Noem? Are we cowardly or courageous?
Noem: Make ISIS Less Fearful.
Consider this: All refugees already are required to pass a background check which includes biometric data (fingerprints etc.), a search of criminal databases, a review of documentation, and even an in-person interview before they are allowed to relocate to the US. This process can take anywhere from 18 to 24 months and involves several different government agencies.
Meanwhile if you wish to purchase a gun you fill out a form and the “background check” can take less than 10 minutes. Purchasers can, and often do, lie on their forms and there is little anyone can do about it since contrary to what some think the government doesn’t have a gigantic database with everyone’s pesonal history on it. If someone has been diagnosed with a mental health issue which could preclude them from owning firearms and they fail to disclose it on their form chances are it won’t be discovered due to HIPPA laws.
So where is the real threat? We are told a 10 minute background check to buy a gun is sufficient, while a screening process that could take up to two years for refugees is someone not enough? Does this not seem inconsistent?
In case you wish to review more detail about the refugee screening process: http://time.com/4116619/syrian-refugees-screening-process/
All hat and boots…..no cattle.
At least don’t Noem didn’t accuse HRC of being responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths in Benghazi and Libya and Egypt like Trump did.
Noem mentioned her legislative team. Would that be Fake News Korp? Many of her constituents get their news from there so she should be well attuned to their concerns. Spoon fed propaganda pablum.
Lanny,I’d almost be willing to trade you congresscritters-even up-except I don’t like horses and already am served by one’s ass.
mfi, how I long for the days of Mike Mansfield and Everett Dirksen.
I sent an email to Rep. Noem and received the same canned reply. I did not expect any different. Useless!
I asked Kristi not to call me any more. I told her I didn’t love her and that I never did. She keeps calling and leaving messages.
Craig, I appreciate that comparison. Easy access to guns for millions of Americans appears to facilitate threats to our domestic security more frequently than difficult access to refuge for thousands of Syrians, yet Rep. Noem asks for no such absolute certainty about the harmlessness of individual gun acquisition.
So what else is new? Sounds like the Noem to me.
Exactly Cory…..and in her copy/pasted letter, she uses these words –
“My top priority is to protect the safety and security of our nation.” And that is the question for Ms Noem when it comes to Americans and gun violence (she does know about the Sioux Falls gun hoarding, bomb hoarding, shoots bullet through neighboring wall case – doesn’t she?)
If safety/security of our nation is her top priority, why does she pick and choose when she does that? Sigh
Safety/security is code for 2nd Amendment.
ter·ror·ism
noun: terrorism
the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims
Someone please remind me how Richard Dear, the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood was not committing an act of terrorism…. probably better stop letting Christians into the United States now too.
Nothing to see here, just grab that pitchfork and march towards the people with brown skin. Which ones you might ask, it doesn’t matter really.
The real shame here is that these hyperpartisan R’s know better. If Obama and Kerry were trying to keep refugees out, they would be falling all over themselves to let them in. Disgusting when political expediency Trumps human decency.
Does anyone ever expect more than a regurgitated Republican talking point from our representative?
I won’t let my Dem friends forget how they lashed Herseth to the stake and allowed this to happen. We had a competent Congress woman serving the needs of all.
Stephanie understood through hard work the operations of everything that came across her desk. Noem, not so much.
Amen, Les.
I am puzzled by the Republican stance against Syrian refugees. The French terrorist leaders were apparently born in France and Belgium. The Boston bombers’ heritage was from the Southwest Asia region. The San Bernardino terrorists consisted of one native born US citizen and one Pakistani by way of Saudi Arabia.
It would seem it is more effective for ISIS to recruit native born citizens and immigrants from countries that are considered “safe”.
Hey, Les, don’t blame me! I didn’t not vote for SHS!
WROG, I share your puzzlement. Noem’s stance is grounded in xenophobia, not evidence or rational analysis. Paula Hawks needs to get on this issue and ride.
ISIS is playing the GOP like a fiddle. Rep. Noem and her cohorts are behaving just as ISIS wants them to, taking actions that will stir up hate for the USA in the Muslim world. We have destabilized the region, armed all sides of the conflict, then Noem sends the message that we won’t even take women and children displaced by the conflict. And while the Repubs in congress fault the President’s measured actions in Syria, those chicken@#%^$ won’t even take a vote on whether we are at war with ISIS. The irresponsibles we elect just want to collect their big paychecks and be armchair cowboys & girls.
Nice audition photo for a Cabela’s ad though. Form over substance. Strike a pose.
“”Noem’s stance is grounded in xenophobia, not evidence or rational analysis””. I wish Noem had a stance, she could possibly be educated.
I wonder: did the ISIS leaders watch the British 2006 film Death of a President, a pseudo-documentary on the October 2007 assassination of President George W. Bush? A man of Syrian descent is convicted of the crime, but evidence surfaces that the assassin was really a Gulf War vet whose soldier son died in Iraq.
and the US congress is packed with red state idjets by way of gerrymandering and xenophobia.
mfi, it is not only the congress packed with ignorant republicans, look at South Dakota. Heck, take a look at this from North Carolina. http://www.roanoke-chowannewsherald.com/2015/12/08/woodland-rejects-solar-farm/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link
Add it all together and then listen to the republican clown car occupants, we have stepped back in time to 1515. They even wanted to “burn the mother***********” to a black lives matter protester at a Trump rally. This is the America NOem and her fellow chickens want to have for the rest of us. They want you to go to church and pay your tithe so you can hear the hate from the pulpits as well as the God tee vee with the voice from the big feller itself. me so afwaid…
I, too, received the same response from Noem. Am assuming it is a move to save money.
Cancer rates are up in the land of tobacco road and coal miner’s black lung disease and it is solar panels causing the cancer. Retired science teacher has lucrative career being science adviser professional witless for wingnut campaigns.
“Syrians on my front porch? Yikes!” If Palin could see Russia from her backyard, can Kristi see Canada from her porch?
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/12/11/1459197/-Prime-Minister-s-reaction-to-refugees-arriving-in-Canada-will-be-a-highlight-in-world-history
It seems that even our own special forces are afraid. No, you say, how can they be afraid of ISIS, you may ask. Turns out, they are afraid of NOem and any other woman who may think they are equal to the task they do. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/us-special-forces-completely-terrified-of-periods-women-in-general_56702043e4b0e292150f270b
Do we really live in 2015 or did something happen to us to bring us back to 1515 and before?
We haven’t regressed too far or instead of allowing the black guy to live in the White House,they’d be lynching him in front of it.
Right on a Jerry. Draft em.
I’m listening to the lower tier GOP presidential debate on CNN, the issue is national security and these jerks are falling over themselves trying to chastise Trump while at the same time not to offend him.
None have offered any concrete solutions to protect Americans from terrorists, they only tell us how scared we should be.
With an hour into the debate I’m waiting to hear someone say the best safeguard against terrorism is citizens vigilance (as in the guy that got his home shot up in Sioux Falls).
WOW for once Noem makes sense. By the way she never was a good horse person.
Our safety is to important to risk letting in a few ISIS members. Cory you live only 300 miles from one of the top recruited cities in the USA (the twin cities )
Roger, my friend, you have a very strong constitution to be able to watch these bozoheads without loosing your lunch. Whenever I even hear any of them speak, I want to dismember myself with a dull table knife.
Just grab one of your smokewagons there Sam2 and bunker down. Put some Slim Jims around the perimeter of your bunker and keep eating bacon bits while keep wearing the Depends so you do not have to show your arse. That will surely thwart them as sure as NOem would with her shrill nonsense.
Roger, pbs is running a great piece on prohibition while you burn oxygen on a debate. Settle down and have a drink, Sam. Our country is only based on fear because we allow it into our lives.
jerry,
These guys would be funny or even amusing if our national security wasn’t such an important issue. It disturbs me that what many or implying or even hoping for are more terrorist attacks.
And yes I do have a strong constitution, to have survived in Western South Dakota some for sixty yeears I’ve had to have one.
Les, I suppose you’re right on having better things to watch or do, but I just can’t help myself.
When I was in college a wrote an A paper on prohibition and still am interested in new and relevant discoveries.
Sam2 just parroted the republican talking point about letting in a few ISIS members during their debate.
Sam apparently didn’t read all the comments here and particularly missed the ones about the screening process for refugees.
NOem loves her some ISIS as she is now a recruiter for them by keeping refugees from the United States. What NOem and the rest of the holy rollers want is for a holy war or crusade to begin so she can be ruptured or is it raptured. These fakes have me so I can’t tell the difference. It is all cool so long as NOem and her clan stay above the fight and let the poor boys and girls do the bleeding in some far off sandbox. The false sense of security she gives, means nothing as there are way more than plenty white boys that hate Obama right here in good ol South Dakota to worry us more than some Syrian women and children. These fellers have guns and they don’t know how to use them.
ISIS was born because of republicans like NOem who lied us into the fiasco in Iraq. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/michael-morell-bush-cheney-iraq-war
Whenever you hear a republican soiling their pants about what they created, they need to be called on it. Their lies brought about ISIS and this world of war we now find ourselves in.
Roger – researching the “danger to our country” issue will clearly inform you that it is around 112 X more likely you will be shot or blown up by a white Christian terrorist, and about 30 X more likely that you will be somehow killed by a Police Officer here in the good ol’ US of A to by any foreign radical terrorists. Just sayin’. Waste of hot air on a diversionary issue. But boy does it boost TV ratings (ad $$$).
Richard S. Being that I am a Native American living in western South Dakota that 30X odds being killed by a white police officer would increase my odds.
As I said about that Sioux Falls ammosexual, I fear those types more than I fear an international terrorist.
Barbara reminds us of a very important point: the Canadians Prime Minister himself is greeting Syrian refugees at the airport and treating them like fellow human beings:
If Rep. Noem is worried about the security threat posed by Syrian refugees, she needs to shut down the porous U.S.–Canadian border through which these dangerous Syrians could so easily enter our country.
And yes, Sam2, thank you for reminding us that Rep. Noem needs to call on Governor Daugaard to shut down the South Dakota–Minnesota border. Station the National Guard at Big Stone City, Elkton, Brandon, barricade the other crossings. Anyone who goes to the Bears-Vikings game in Minneapolis this Sunday should not be allowed back into South Dakota without undergoing a rigorous screening process.
Vance, the same letter, complete with the poor writing in the first paragraph? Wow, they need a better communications person.
It’s a bit of a stretch, Jerry. Republicans like Noem are hardly running our country and creating Isis. The chessboard has many players.
No stretch at all Les, the facts bear it out. NOem bleats the cowardice that shows ISIS that we are paper tigers, so frightened by women and children that we refuse them shelter from the storm. They loop off a couple more heads and blow up some UNESCO Heritage sites and republican governors like Daugaard and our silly congresswoman wet their pants in fright. No stretch at all to see that there are huge profits to be made for the owners by using fear. You surely do understand that the war in Iraq was driven by a proven lie by the republican regime or do you not believe them when they confess to the deed? The chessboard is actually quite small Les.
Shortly after 9-11,dumbass dubya had several Taliban visit his brush factory in Crawfish,Texas and handed them a check for around 40 million dollars to fight opium poppy growing in Afghanistan. Remember Taliban-the bunch responsible for 9-11?
Sam. Our country is only based on fear because we allow it into our lives.
Actually,Les one political party actively cultivates and campaigns using fear as a weapon against their Dem opponents.
The chessboard starts here. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/22/opinion/prosecute-torturers-and-their-bosses.html?smid=re-share&_r=3
From President Bush downward, these are the men and women who started the birthright of ISIS, the republicans own this group for what it is and what it has become. For NOem to suddenly now claim fear, is a bit of a stretch as she and her party have suckled this beast for some time now.
She’s a pawn in their game, Jerry. She’d prob lose her life to defy the CIA ‘s objective no differently than happens in SD. I believe you have to be amoral rather than immoral and ignorant to match those who’ve driven Isis to the surface.
A pawn still has a place on this chessboard. As a pawn, they can be lost without much fanfare for the checkmate goal. Your amoral opinion is right on the money as far as I can see. That is what should be a concern for voters, but NOem has an R in front of her name, so ignorance is accepted here without much question.
Jerry@”NOem bleats the cowardice that shows ISIS that we are paper tigers, so frightened by women and children that we refuse them shelter from the storm.” WronG, Jerry! You minimize the intelligence of ISIS! They understand Noem and associates bleat the war drum for the profiteers of death and destruction or ISIS wouldn’t exist.
There are a few angry folks frightened and discouraged and the rest are so busy playing games on their devices they don’t notice or seem to care about much.
Agreed Les, but as ISIS is an intelligent adversary, they must recruit. In order for madmen to recruit, they must be able to show there is no hope but to join them. That is the point I was trying to make. NOem and the rest are a recruiting theme for ISIS and they are exploiting the republican ignorance as to how guerrilla warfare is waged. NOem and her handlers want ordinary South Dakotan’s to believe that the way to victory is by bombing them into the stone age. I know for a fact that we tried to do the same thing in Vietnam and it did not work. The way to engage ISIS is to simply cut off their sources of income and recruiting. The way to end recruiting is to allow hope for the refugees. Hope kills radicalization.
Well said Jerry!
Yes, Jerry. We mostly agree.
To say Noem is, like those who lied us into Iraq puts her at the same table wth bush and Cheney. Not something I can see.
You and I are a recruiting theme for ISIS, Jerry. We have everything those young people could want regardless of dem or pub. There are a hundred other reasons to hate us. Probably number one being our invasive nature of killing them while our buddies steal their natural resources..
I believe the way to engage ISIS, is to take away their reason to exist, not to starve the innocents along the way. Stop invading their countries!
If you wish to characterize Noem as just another lying, cheating congress person going along to get along, a long long time, I fully agree.
Noem, like another Cheney, Bush? Possibly we are all as accountable, for not doing all we could have to stop this mess.
I see your point of comparing NOem with Bush and Cheney as she was not there to cast the vote on the big lie. NOem should subjected to questioning though, by her political opponent on why she wants to halt the immigration of these refugees because of their religion. Her opponent should ask what the difference is between the Syrian’s who flee for their lives because of American involvement in the region and Karen’s who also fled for their lives because of our involvement in that region. At some point we are all going to have to answer why today is different than what our founders meant to refugees from all over the world. The Muslims and the Jews seem to be the only ones who fit the bill on who we want and who we don’t regarding religion. Everyone else is cool as long as you ain’t Mexican.
You guys may be confusing chess with tiddly winks. Wingnuts are willing to say anything to stir up their voters,truth and reality be damned. They know once the ball gets rolling towards a war,they can dial up fauxknee patriotism,slap on an ‘murrican flag pin and bash Democrats to the roaring applause of the ignorants that keep voting for them.
I tip my hat to a serious tiddly winks player mfi. You are correct though when you get the media blaring their horn, it does make it impossible to get a message of concern out if the president is on the same page as the media. Ignorant representatives in congress though do have a bull horn at home and that is what makes NOem’s bleat something for what media we have here will take notice on. As others have noticed, NOem is what she is, just another flake that gets nothing done except to agitate hate against those who suffer the most. Typical right wing cowardice.
Maybe NOem and company should take a step back and think what they are presenting to the people. If you cannot sell them anything but fear, then you are not doing your job. http://www.chron.com/about/article/ut-austin-texas-dildos-mass-farting-fart-protest-6694231.php#item-38488
Using same logic
Let’s ban people against Planned Parenthood as the are potential killers !