Janet Napolitano screws up again
Gaffestastic Janet Napolitano is at it again — this time earning the partially justified derision of Canadians after suggesting that 9/11 terrorists entered the U.S. through the northern border:
The furor began when Napolitano was asked to clarify statements she had made about equal treatment for the Mexican and Canadian borders, despite the fact that a flood of illegal immigrants and a massive drug war are two serious issues on the southern border.
“Yes, Canada is not Mexico, it doesn’t have a drug war going on, it didn’t have 6,000 homicides that were drug-related last year,” she said.
“Nonetheless, to the extent that terrorists have come into our country or suspected or known terrorists have entered our country across a border, it’s been across the Canadian border. There are real issues there.”
When asked if she was referring to the 9-11 terrorists, Napolitano added: “Not just those but others as well.”
It was, of course, lax policing at our overseas consulates in Saudi Arabia (hello, Visa Express) that opened the door to the 9/11 jihadis. And it was the failure of interior enforcement that enabled them to stay.
Napolitano was boneheadedly wrong about the 9/11 – Canadian border claim, and she tried to finesse it with a dishonest clarification:
In a release Tuesday night following the interview, she called Canada a “close ally and an important partner” and said she was simply misunderstood.
“I know that the September 11th hijackers did not come through Canada to the United States,” she said in the statement.
“There are other instances, however, when suspected terrorists have attempted to enter our country from Canada to the United States. Some of these are well-known to the public — such as the Millennium Bomber — while others are not due to security reasons.”
On the second point, which she apparently had to be reminded about by more informed staffers, she is of course correct. Canada’s National Post, in response to Napolitano’s blunder, is too quick to gloss over the national security concerns to our north. A reminder from last spring:
Comprehensive immigration enforcement reform, however, means paying attention to all our ports of entry–air, land, and sea. And all our borders–southern and northern. In Invasion , I recounted how Border Patrol agents would stick orange rubber cones on vast, unguarded swaths of the northern border. I’ve reported on the security threat posed to the U.S. by Canada’s lax asylum policies, jihadi-friendly positions, and McCustoms’ attitude. Daniel Stoffman’s “Who Gets In” diagnosed the systemic ills of Canada’s immigration system, which in turn, poses dangers to us.
A new DHS report reveals that little has changed. Via USAT:
Montana has the longest unprotected border in the world with a sparse population and vast terrain on the U.S. side and 90% of Canada’s population within 100 miles on the other. That makes the area vulnerable to illegal crossings into the United States by terrorists and extremists groups, the Helena Independent Record says.
While the state’s northern border population is sparse, the area is highly traveled. More than 70 million international travelers and 35 million vehicles crossed the northern border last year. Agents made about 4,000 arrests and intercepted 40,000 pounds of illegal drugs, the newspaper reports.
“There is an undisputed presence in Canada of known terrorist affiliate and extremist groups, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria,” according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security.
With Google Earth revealing 58 unmanned roads or trails leading in and out of the country, local law enforcement say they lack the manpower to properly guard the border. Currently, there are 190 officers working the northern border.
The Helena Independent Record has an excellent investigation of northern border vulnerabilities here.
The DHS northern border report is here.
And here’s a reminder of how vigilance–and behaviorial profiling–at the northern border saved untold American lives: Remember Diana Dean.
Too bad we don’t have a DHS Secretary serious or informed enough to speak competently about these matters without cue cards.
Maybe she needs her own teleprompter, too.
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Trackbacks
- Crossing the border is not a crime per se says Janet Napolitano | Napolitano also says 9/11 terrorists came from Canada? | Fire Andrea Mitchell!
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- Janet Napolitano Now Blames Canada for 9/11? « Peace and Freedom Global Future
- Oliver North Speaks Out Against DHS Anti-Right-Wing Report: “I Am an Extremist” « Frugal Café Blog Zone
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- Napolitano is lost… | NEOAVATARA
- Canadians Wonder: How Did U. S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano got her job? « Peace and Freedom Global Future
- There Is A Reason The Stupid DHS Report Came Out « Vets On The Watch
- How’s Obama Doing? Just Ask America’s Closest Allies « Peace and Freedom Global Future
- Michelle Malkin » Janet Napolitano screws up again
- Is Obama confirming his U.S. citizenship still a valid issue? « Jim Blazsik
- Why Is DHS Blaming Canada? Homeland Security Napolitano Downplays Mexico’s Illegal Alien Border Problems, Claims Canadians Aliens Are Just As Dangerous « Frugal Café Blog Zone
- Gaffestastic: Napolitano Strikes Again | Jeffrey A. Setaro
- JayNo Janet Napolitano screws up again is she getting close to being thrown under the Bus Yet America? | Fire Janet Napolitano
- Can Someone Get Napolitano A Teleprompter? « Pink Elephant Pundit
- South Park Janet Napolitano: Blame Canada - The Underground Conservative
- Janet Napolitano: Blame Canada! South Park Addition:) «
- Hot Air » Blog Archive » House GOP: Napolitano must go
- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano: political stunt woman | Radio Vice Online
- Janet Napolitano Making Her Predecessors Look Competent « Unambiguously Ambidextrous
- Werner Patels - A Dose of Common Sense
- I think it is time for Janet Napolitano to go. « The Western Experience
- Scared Monkeys Radio Daily Commentary - Thursday, April 23, 2009 - Janet Napolitano’s Canadian Blame Is Misplaced | Scared Monkeys
- Napolitano Ticks Off Canadians « Beltway Snark
- Janet Napolitano: “I like Hermann Goering” « Mark Epstein
- Napolitano gets “stupider” and “stupider” Each Passing Moment, Time For Her To Go :: Chicago Ray’s rants
- Fox News’ Shepard Smith Drops F-Bomb in Unhinged Rant Against Torture | The Great Illuminator
- It’s time to fire Napolitano « Cadillac Tight
- Ask Dr. Davermann - Volume 5 - 04/23/09
- Texas Rainmaker » The Tax Cheat, the Dunce and the Snoozer
- Just How Hot Is That Water You’re In, Janet Napolitano? Bachmann Asks If You’re “Stark Raving Mad” « Frugal Café Blog Zone
- No More Excuses for Shameful Smears: DHS Targets US Military Heroes, Christians and Not the Real Radical Terrorists « Frugal Café Blog Zone
- First J-Lo, Then K-Lo, Now Ja-No… « Around The Sphere
- Dirty Democrats » GOP Reps Call On Napolitano to Resign For Her “Tyrannical” Statements
- Bigoted & Botched: DHS Report Assaults US Military Veterans, Why OKC Bomber McVeigh Only Person Addressed by Name « Frugal Café Blog Zone
- 100 Day Report Card: D- « Blog Entry « Daniel J. Summers
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(Yawn). Janet is speaking again? Gee, it wasn’t long ago when I was yawning over another Janet. She is trying hard to get foot and mouth disease.
Yeah, the blue shirt….
Let’s not forget my favorite:
Curly: (to the block of ice he is shaving) “Hey, mister! Never seen you around here before. Tell me, are you married or are you happy?”
I’d go even farther than that:
Her kinda stupid is dangererous. These people have no idea what they’re dealing with. And this chick was tough on borders in Arizona? Says who? John McCain and John Kyl?
Nah…That’s Sheriff Joe’s job. She begged him to support her for Governor than turned on him after in office. Typical slime politician.
we have lost a whole generation of commedy because it isn’t p.c. meanwhile we get politicians who won’t do their jobs because they they are so p.c. they would rather create new legislature obfuscating the issue than enforcing the laws which already exist. what the hell happened to build the wall legislation of 2 years ago? when phoenix arizona is ranked as the number 2 kidnapping capitol of the WORLD, so much so that the police have a code for it, gtm, grand theft mexican, you have no credibility to become dhs secretary.
And, tragically, comity, as well….
off
Just giving here the benefit of the doubt Hawk, I mean, if she’s only a half-wit, It can’t possibly be ALL her fault, right?
And comedy, don’t forget comedy.
Yeah…
comedy is the best…
love that stuff.
How silly of me! Of course it’s BOOOOOOOOSH’s fault.
Sadly that is partly true in this case. Jorge Arbusto was more passionate about defending Iraq’s borders than ours.
So…I’m at a small family owned cafe at lunch. I guy walks in and starts speaking in Spanish to the son working the counter (who has brown skin). The son doesn’t understand a word the patron is saying, but the guy keeps yammering in Spanish. You know the attitude, this is America, I’m brown, you’re brown, Spanish is the official language here. It turns out the family running the cafe is Egyptian ( the father actually served in the U.S. Army, the son is as Gringo as I am).
I laughed.
Southpaw, the irony is chilling. The Egyptian served his adopted country, the other has decided that his invation of a sovereign country should learn his language. I love it. God bless hard work and assimilation. The others will never get it and don’t want to.
Well, from watching this story on Fox News, I know/remember these tidbits from today’s and previous stories:
Terrorists DID come across the northern border;
The northern border IS a great security risk;
Crossing the border into this nation IS a crime.
But, true to nature, a DHS spokesman said on the last point that JN “misspoke” about that.
Should we trust the top cop to who doesn’t even know the law?
Incompetence is becoming the defining characteristic of the Obama administration. Granted, most of us knew that would be a defining characteristic but it’s just so magical to watch it in action.
Janet Napoleondynamite along with the White House are apparently fans of my favorite show on television, South Park. Don’t blame Cuba, Veneuzula, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan or anything other country, BLAME CANADA! It’s about time I say.
http://thelcabroadside.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/janet-napolitano-blame-canada-south-park-addition/
Nothing like one of these administration twits confusing a bunch of visa overstays as invaders from our Northern border.
What’s next… a John Candy look-alike from DHS going up to Quebec to attack the CN Tower?
I read about this this morning in a Canadian news article and read the comments. The Canucks were mad as hell, and I do not blame them. Ashcroft was not exactly great in the job, but at least he was much more diplomatic.
What Janet said was akin to 90% of the guns in Mexico are from the United States. As in, 90% of the terrorism problem in the U.S. comes from Canada. The truth is though, the Canadians are more liberal than the U.S., but when it comes down to it their interests are much more in common to ours. One of the comments I read was from a Canadian who opined, I think if not already, soon we will be missing Bush. Although Bush was not so interested in border enforcement like he should have been, at least we knew that terrorists would not have risked attacking us with someone they knew would respond to an attack in the oval office. So, in a sense, even in my disappointment, I miss Bush too.
It is our responsibility to guard our borders. We should appeal to Canada for partnership, a task I believe will gain much more than appeals to Mexico.
Indeed. Let the insightful political wisdom of Mr. Jerome Horowitz guide us all through these troubling times.
She knows the law. Thats the whole point – they all know the law. And thats why they have all been put into the exact positions they are in.
And thats why they wont be fired. They are fulfilling the expectations of the president and of those who put him in power. They are not going to be dismissed this early on in the administration, because there is no reason to.
When an employee is meeting MY expectations, I dont really care if YOU think he is not meeting MY job requirements.
These selections dont happen over-night.
Just how stupid can you be and get a job in the Obama administration? Sadly, I suspect we have not yet discovered the answer to that question…
The stupeficating stupefaction of the fumbling, bumbling, and tongue-stumbling current administration and their oft-times incoherent, ignorance exposing and gaffulating use of American English that is dumbing down America in the eyes of the world, is not to be borne.
The scary thing is that the next generation of leaders, that is: the faculty, staff and student body of the great and not so great American educational institutions, you know, those who prove that education seems to have no correlation to intelligence, who fear independent thought and eat up the institutional drivel like Ms. Pac-Man on a quest, just keep their Ostrich brains buried in the Rodney King mantra: “Can’t we all just get along?”
Well, Ms. Pac-Man et al, the answer is: NOPE! Not gonna happen.
You say you believe in euthanasia? Then pull the plug on the current batch of brain dead liberal Washingtonians.
If you’re going to show pictures of female politicians with firearms, Sarah Palin would be welcome.
Any picture of Janet … not so much.
I don’t know about the rest of you but I sure feel better knowing that Janet is in control of our borders….(sarc off).
Napolitano is an impudent ass fashioned in the likeness of her Messianic leader..
The more I see it the more I believe it: The Blue Lips bunch are actively turning their backs on the traditional “Friends” of the USA and trying to make subservient relationships with our enemies.
Granted, our “Friends” haven’t been acting like true friends the last eight years but a fair weather friend is better than having to buff up your tongue so it doesn’t irritate your enemy’s bottom.
We should really be asking ourselves – do we want to be supplicants to Mexico and tell Canada to kiss off? Do we insult the UK but shake Venezuela’s hand? Bow to the Saudi King? Get Cuba a new source of revenue? Next thing you know, Putin will have to send flowers on Saturday morning to thank us for Friday night’s fun..
Never, ever, for one minute think that these people don’t know what they are doing. That is the biggest mistake anyone makes about an opponent. They are smart, organized and efficient – even if they do not appear to be so. Every word they say means something and has political significance.
I honestly didn’t want to think the President would hand over the deck like this but.. recent history proves me wrong.
Actually you are the one that needs it. It’s really sad to say that most of you guys (typically old white men) ranting in this forum don’t mix well with the reality.
BTW, does Faux News dare to report this?
That is a racist and inflammatory comment. If you are going to claim to be “tolerant”, be even handed about it. Lucky for you, us old white guys have thick skin. We also don’t make our livings race baiting.
In Zimbabwe, there are very few old white men left to bother you. I hear it is a Leftist’s paradise where they hate the United States and all we do. Maybe you would be happy there.
To hear the New York Times say that is like hearing a North Korean Farm Worker praise Kim Jong Il. Hold on a second.. That’s not a North Korean Farm Worker, it is Ole Blue Lips next week..
Well, “(typically old white men) ranting” is the race-baiting reality you live in, not me, but you’re entitled to a synopsis.
The country is headed in the right direction…
So the “headed in the right direction” number went from 40 to 48% since February, yet the only number we get is 44% say were headed in the wrong direction. Hmmm. Do you suppose that number is up or down since February? I’d really like to know – why do you suppose that’s not included?
See how easy it is to be spoon-fed “data” you agree with? I see they added in some Bush bashing so your day must be complete.
Here’s my reality edelracebater:
– New Your Times
– AP&GfK poll
– Survey Specialist Dennis Junius
and AP writer Christine Simmons
Strikes one, two and three.
Oh My…I forgot to include that little tidbit they place at the bottom:
The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
You’re OUT!
racist hypocrite
You’re delusional sir.
And it’s rather prejudiced and racist of you to claim the posters here are typically old white men. Maybe by your standards, Obama supporters are young black thugs? That’s not a claim I would make, but it seems to fit your view of the world.
And on the delusion point. The NY Slimes ultra spin machine wouldn’t dare report the truth… which you can read below.
Nepalitano is to Obama what Jocelyn Elders was to Clinton.
Totally Incompetent, a mercy hire, a total “eff” up (To say the least). I wouldn’t put either in charge of a Latrine Dig, much less something with real importance.
And just WHY did edelweiss NOT include typically old Coconut men? I will tell you why: edelweiss is a closet racist and hispanicphobe! Acidic edelweiss!
Your Klan robes at the cleaners right at the moment edelweiss? Getting ready to meet your mentors Robert Byrd, David Duke?
(NJ-Aviator started it)
Hey! I’m a blonde, blue-eyed female, edelweiss–
Mind you, I am caucasian. Is that what you meant by ‘white’?
you libs are just a parody of yourselves…everything you ’say’ you hate, you are!
its beyond understanding and becomes a matter of spiritual darkness…
Wow, I didn’t know that 90% of Canada’s population had moved to southern Saskatchewan. Someone needs to tell us these things around here. No wonder housing prices are skyrocketing here in Regina.
and I am a redhead on the edge.
Welcome to the typical old white men club…
Sarc/off
edelweiss said
Actually you are the one that needs it. It’s really sad to say that most of you guys (typically old white men) ranting in this forum don’t mix well with the reality.
Wrong!
I came to this wonderful country many years ago, i thank GOD everyday for becaming a US citizen! English is my third language and i’m not old or white or man! Wrong, wrong, wrong! The reality(Obama’s world) you refer to, i grew up around it! And it sucks so bad that i think YOU have no ideia what is like! So you’re wrong again! I live it! When you liberals want to CHANGE the greatest country in the world i have to ask: Change into what? South America by opening our borders so our country can be infested with the worse they have to offer? We have to be selective when allowing people to come here.
I came from Latin America, It ain’t paradise. Go live in Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia,Brasil etc, for a while and when you came back then we can talk with the same level of information about your “reality”. You have NO ideia how bad crime and organized drug related crimes are. If you did and you knew how easy it is for those scum bags to cross our borders you would be freaking out right now.
this inept cretin is the norm for this administration, incompetence rules and some of them are rumor has it highly educated. productive indeed, the only thing going for this make believe administration is that it’s made up of unethical crooks and truly stupid parasites.
Okay, Mountain Flower, now your own colors have shown through. You’re clearly racist and totally intolerant of views not your own.
BTW, have you actually seen any pictures of some of the posters on here? I have, and they are absolutely not all old white guys. So you are now also proven to speak out of your posterior orifice, which knows even less than your pea sized brain.
Obama and his merry band of lunatics would be knee slapping funny if they weren’t so dangerous.
But… But… But… Now that Obama is President the International Community is going to love us again (NEVER HAPPEN) even the terrorist friendly Canadians GRIN who got the American President they wanted elected so bad KARMA BITES.
This has got to be the lamest American Administration in recent American History.
Way to go Janet slap the Canadians around some more…..pitiful.
thanks, scituate_tgr–I think I’m very happy to be here…
Likely to soon be seen in the “Help Wanted” section of Washington area newspapers:
Wanted – DHS Secretary. Applicant must be able to locate North America on a map and delineate the USA from its neighboring countries. As w/ all our open positions, experience is not necessary but in this case highly – highly – desired.
How can I (a young white female) be racist toward my own race? It’s a fact folks, excluding white supremacists, most Obama ranters are old white men since right-wing ‘evangelical’ Conservative Republicans are predominantly old white men. White women, Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, newly naturalized citizens, gays/lesbians, college students and professors, city-dwellers… are mostly pro-Democratic and in favor of Obama. It’s a fact, Conservatives have not only lost the culture war, but also the confidence of the majority of Americans.
Stupid question.
Racist: a person who views others or makes judgments predicated primarily on the basis of racial identity.
A racists can be for or against their own race. The cutting edge is what they use for their lens, through which they see the world.
The rest of your unsupported BS is…well,
unsupported BS.
First you compose an implausible racist scenario, and then counter it w/ bigotry? Ooookaaay…
Hmmm. Our lovely hostess really resembles an old white guy to me.
I know, she is just one. But so is the nice looking 20 year old classmate of mine at a local college that explained to me just how conservative she is last night.
Then there’s a few posters here that are not old guys, and some not white, either.
Come to think of it, most of the posters here I have knowledge of aren’t old white guys.
Neither are the many women I know that are more conservative than the majority of the republican caucus in the house and senate.
Maybe mountain flower thinks she knows something the rest of us don’t, but somehow I think that only applies when she’s breathing the thin air in the Alps.
grow up and get a clue.
edelweiss said:
Grow up Twit, you need to grow out of that Edukashaun you supposdly received at the University. The reason Lord Erkel won is because everyone that voted for this imbecile expected more free everything. The 50% of us that actually work and pay taxes support the other 50% that either do not work or feel anything other than being a CEO is not worth the time and energy to work toward that goal. Furthermore, you are the classic White, Liberal,Democrat that has a White Guilt complex. Have you ever been in the Center City spooning soup to the Crackheads?
If you think that people deserve to be treated differently (for whatever reason, good or bad…) because of race, by definition, you are racist – plain and simple.
…Throw in some age generalization too for good measure.
This is the most basic part of the problem. Other than being a lawyer and Gov. of AZ for a while she has no experience in law enforcement directly.
Her knowledge of the system has been gained purely administratively, not from any hand’s on experience.
Appointing her to DHS Secretary is probably O’s worst choice to date of the cabinet level jobs…IMHO.
Ah, to be living on daddy’s trust money…
Daddy – that
typicalrich old white man.Let me see if I can turn the stampede in a different direction.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124044199838345461.html
This is an IMPORTANT article on where we are, and how to get to where we should be.
READ IT…
My belief is that a tax revolt will be the lever that opens this box.
Stop being cowed, fearful dupes, and open your minds to the possibilities of trying what has not been tried.
STARVE THE BEAST
The Washington Post of Jan. 24:
“Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack … learned that his new workplace contains a post office, fitness centers, cafeterias and 6,900 employees. But he remained uncertain about exactly how many employees he supervises nationwide. ‘I asked how many employees work at USDA, and nobody really knows,’ he said.”
On April 23rd, 2009 at 11:05 am, edelweiss said:
I am an old white guy, and a Reagan Conservative. In fact, I thought I was as conservative as they come. That was until I married my Vietnamese wife and met her extended family. They lived in one of the communist/socialist utopias you seem to admire. Now, they are Conservative. Not that I am, but they make me look like a John McCain RINO by comparison.
With this group,you might want to knock a few Asians, Buddhists,naturalized citizens,city-dwellers and a Lesbian off your list of Obama supporters. Not everyone has drank the Kool-Aid; plenty of people have come to this country legally to escape the type of government that Obama is trying to form. They don’t want freebies. They want freedom.
You will get a little older, and hopefully you will become successful at what you choose to do. When that happens, I bet that you too will be yelling for people to get off the wagon that you are pushing up the hill.
Maybe 60%? Just guess…
Wrong question. Cancel “
work,” use “employed” and you might get the correct number. Some are just warm bodies there. Work is a notion anathema to some government employees. Ergo, the vague 60% (? of what) is a great answer.