Why it's not unreasonable to register Muslims as enemy aliens

The lamestream media are jumping all over The Donald for suggesting that it might not be a bad idea to create a database to track Muslims in the Excited States. In what MSNBC calls an "extreme response" to the Islamic terrorist attacks in Paris, the Republican presidential wannabe told an NBC News reporter, "I would certainly implement that. Absolutely."

Between campaign events in Newton IA, yesterday, Mr. Trump told the reporter that Muslims would be signed up at "different places," adding, "It's all about management." Asked whether registering would be mandatory, Trump responded, "They have to be."

While some of his GOP rivals have been chastised by President 0 for suggesting that Christian Syrian refugees be given preference over Muslims, Mr. Trump has raised the bar, advocating new restrictions on civil liberties and enhanced surveillance activities, including keeping a Big Brother eye on what's going on inside mosques. Earlier this week, he said that the country was "going to have no choice" but to close certain mosques because "really bad things are happening, and they're happening fast."

Cue the cries of outrage from the PC police, the meeja, the Democrats, the one-worlders, etc etc and so forth. A columnist for Canada's Notional Pest called the Donald an archtype of "the Ugly American". The columnist forgets -- if he ever knew -- that the Ugly American was the hero of the novel.

While Walt is not yet ready to endorse anyone, he does not think it's so unreasonable for an aspiring candidate to suggest that the safety and security of America -- and the Rest of the West -- demands a little extra surveillance of those who have declared themselves to be our enemies, bent on attacking us infidels not just in the Middle East sandpit, but wherever we live.

Nor is there a lack of precedent for preventive measures. A hundred years ago, while the Great War raged, Canada declared immigrants from places like "Galicia" (the Ukraine) and other parts of the Austro-Hungarian empire, as well as Germany, "enemy aliens", and deprived them (temporarily) of certain rights, including the right to own and dispose of property. Agent 3 assures me that, when searching old land titles back in the day, he often saw endorsements on deeds and mortgages in which the grantor/mortgagor had to swear that he was not a member of the wrong ethnic group. And the restrictions applied to everybody in that group, no matter how strong their attachment to their adopted land.

There is also the rather shameful example of the internment of Japanese in both the USA and Canada, during World War II. 1000s of Japanese, including naturalized citizens of Japanese ancestry, were turfed out of their homes and farms along the west coast, for fear that they would aid and abet the Japanese soldiers and sailors who were presumed to be lurking just offshore in their little submarines, waiting for just the right moment for another sneak attack.

I do not say that the rounding up and detention of all these people -- most of whom were innocent -- and the confiscation of their property was right. It was not. But that is not what Mr. Trump is suggesting. He is merely saying that it would be a good idea to know who the Muslims among us are, since they are all potential targets for "radicalization" by the Islamic extremists.

It's not as if it hasn't happened. Young Muslim men and women, some of them converts to Islam, have already gone to fight for ISIS. Some of them have just stayed at home and attacked the nearest target, as in the case of the Parliament Hill shooting in Canada just over a year ago. Following that incident, the RCMP and CSIS (Canada's alleged spy agency) were asked why they hadn't been keeping an eye on the shooter. But if you don't know who they are, how can you watch them? That's what Mr. Trump is suggesting. I don't think that's so unreasonable.