{"id":6729,"date":"2014-10-09T19:29:15","date_gmt":"2014-10-09T19:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=6729"},"modified":"2014-10-09T19:29:15","modified_gmt":"2014-10-09T19:29:15","slug":"isil-threat-real-or-imagined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=6729","title":{"rendered":"ISIL threat: real or imagined?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n<p>Here&#8217;s my fervent hope for the moment: it is for otherwise responsible members of Congress to quit saying things they cannot prove beyond any doubt &#8212; not just reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., says at least 10 Islamic State fighters have been captured on our southern border.<\/p>\n<p>Not so, says Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.<\/p>\n<p>http:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2014\/10\/isil-us-border-homeland-security-duncan-hunter-111722.html?hp=l8<\/p>\n<p>Who&#8217;s telling the truth?<\/p>\n<p>My relative lack of cynicism leads me to believe the guy in charge of protecting the homeland. That would be Secretary Johnson.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s not unduly create fear and anxiety in the American public by passing on speculation and rumor,&#8221; Johnson told CNN.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Hunter is feeding the national anxiety over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.<\/p>\n<p>Does he have proof that these individuals were apprehended and they, indeed, are members of the monstrous terrorist organization? No. Johnson replies that his agency has seen no &#8220;credible intelligence&#8221; that ISIL is at our southern doorstep, ready to cross into the U.S. territory and begin its reign of terror on unsuspecting and innocent Americans.<\/p>\n<p>There is, though, another way to look at this matter.<\/p>\n<p>It is that Border Patrol, Immigration and Naturalization Service, the FBI and local police authorities are on their toes. Suppose they are capturing individuals linked to ISIL.\u00a0Wouldn&#8217;t that mean they&#8217;re doing their job?<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll stick with Secretary Johnson&#8217;s assessment that the situation lacks &#8220;credible intelligence&#8221; to suggest ISIL is on the march in North America.<\/p>\n<p>We need physical proof, folks, that this is happening. And I&#8217;m not talking about fuzzy photos that Bigfoot believers produce to &#8220;prove&#8221; the existence of a mythical creature.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s deal in reality and forgo the fiction.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s my fervent hope for the moment: it is for otherwise responsible members of Congress to quit saying things they cannot prove beyond any doubt &#8212; not just reasonable doubt. U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., says at least 10 Islamic State fighters have been captured on our southern border. Not so, says Homeland Security Secretary &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=6729\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">ISIL threat: real or imagined?<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,11,12,13,18],"tags":[1481,2160,2347,2439],"class_list":["post-6729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international-news","category-medical-news","category-military-news","category-national-news","category-state-news","tag-duncan-hunter","tag-homeland-security-department","tag-isil","tag-jeh-johnson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}