Month: February 2013

The latest Malta mess; maybe just send them home to Somalia!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

After all, they are dancing in Mogadishu again (we learned that from reader ‘riveratlantic’)!  The Netherlands and Denmark are planning to refuse more Somali ‘asylum seekers’ and the new President of Somalia told Somalis in America to come on home last month!

It came to a head over a broken toilet!

A group of Somali illegal alien/asylum seekers on the tiny island of Malta stormed to the police station to say that they had been evicted from a ‘center’ where they were being housed until their asylum claims could be processed.

Before I get to the toilet destruction news, remember that we have helped exacerbate Malta’s African illegal alien problem because we (beginning with the Bush State Department) have been transforming the economic migrants flowing across the Mediterranean from Libya into legitimate refugees and bringing them to the US.

Just last month we learned that an attache’ and another employee of the Italian Embassy in Kenya were helping facilitate the flow of Somalis  to Malta (for a handsome sum).

Here is the story from the Times of Malta (emphasis mine):

It started with a broken toilet, led to a mass exodus to the Ħamrun police station and ended with a handshake.

A group of 32 Somali men marched to the Ħamrun police station yesterday morning, claiming they had been evicted from Marsa open centre by management for no reason and flashing their centre residence cards in indignation.

But according to centre director Ahmed Bughri, the men were never kicked out and had simply been told that if they did not abide by open centre rules, they could “go live somewhere else”.

Some of the alleged toilet-wreckers that stormed to the police station. Look closely, some of these young men could soon be on a flight to your US city!

The incident came on the back of rising tensions between a Somali contingent and open centre management, stemming from damage done to some of the centre’s newly refurbished toilets and kitchens.

According to Dr Bughri, a small group of residents were systematically dirtying and damaging bathrooms and kitchens at the centre, to the detriment of their own colleagues.

Open centre staff on Monday found that one of the new toilets had been completely broken and knocked onto its side. Dr Bughri fined each of the residents who had a key to the toilet €10, to make up for repairs.

This did not go down well with many of those affected, who say they already live from hand to mouth on the monthly €130 allowance given to them.  [I think this is about $170 in US Dollars—-ed]

And matters reached a head yesterday, following an argument between Dr Bughri and one of the fined Somalis.

“I cannot have residents damaging or dirtying facilities and then not doing anything about it,” Dr Bughri said. “We’ve worked hard to improve this open centre and we won’t let it slide back into its previous state.”

He denied evicting the residents and said they had misunderstood his warning to either abide by the rules or leave.

Airlift to Mogadishu anyone?

Click here to see our extensive archive on Malta and how we (US State Department/Catholic Charities) unilaterally changed the definition of a refugee.

Climate refugee “crisis” alive and well

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Longtime readers know that a few years ago I posted some stories (see our ‘climate refugee‘ category) about the on-going conflict within the UN “community” about changing the definition of refugees to incorporate those people the “sustainability” movement claims will be flowing by the millions as the sea levels rise!

The whole thing is so silly and just a clear ploy for the first world to pay big bucks to the third world, or to open ones’ borders to the teaming (economic migrant) masses.   But, I see the pressure is still on to broaden the definition of refugee to include anyone running from the weather.

By the way, this is the definition of a refugee as set by the UN Refugee Convention in 1951:

The 1951 Refugee Convention establishing UNHCR spells out that a refugee is someone who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

The “humanitarian” refugee advocates objected at the time I was writing some posts on the subject (and probably still do!) to watering down the definition to include weather migrants.

But, here is a pitch by a  blog called “Sense and Sustainability” promoting the idea (again) of changing the definition of “refugee.”

Somali refugees displaced from their homes by floods cross a swollen river in Kenya. But, are identified as “climate refugees!”
Brendan Bannon/AFP/Getty Images

Human displacement due to climate change will be the “defining issue of our times!”  Really!

According to the UNHCR 2012 publication “The State of the World’s Refugees,” human displacement as a result of climate change will be “a defining issue of our times.” Environmentally induced migration and displacement could reach unprecedented dimensions, with predictions ranging from 25 million to one billion by 2050.

Despite global concern for those displaced by climate change, “climate refugee” remains merely a descriptive term under the UNHCR’s international refugee regime. The 1951 Convention does not account for people fleeing natural disasters, and thus confers no legal obligation of asylum on States. Even defining the term “climate refugee” poses problems, as this type of displacement can be attributed to many factors, including scarcity of land resources, political pressures, and natural hazards. While climate change may exacerbate these problems – causing more frequent extreme weather events or gradually reducing agricultural productivity – it is virtually impossible to separate climate causes from other drivers of migration. Accordingly, no established methodology exists for calculating the actual number of people displaced by climate change.

Whatever quibbles statisticians may have over the numbers, one thing is clear –millions of people remain displaced and unaccounted for as they do not fit neatly into the UNHCR’s definition of refugee. Is it a matter of renaming this category of people to fit within the international refugee regime? Or, in a warmer world, must the definition and understanding of the concepts of ‘refugee’ and ‘protection’ adapt?

There is a nice example here about Vietnam attempting to solve its own flooding problems (no proof that global warming makes the Mekong Delta wet!) without resorting to caterwauling that their citizens should be sent to the first world (although we are still taking “political” refugees from Vietnam, a practice that should have ended decades ago).

Sense and Sustainability goes on:

We must continue to seek durable solutions for this group, one of the world’s most marginalized refugee populations. We see in this population the human face of climate change, and we must accommodate this emerging breed of refugee within international frameworks. In the name of climate change, we have adapted our infrastructure, our lifestyles, and our understanding of sustainability.  Why not our definition of refugee?

About the photo:  It was used to illustrate this 2006 article about the coming weather migrant hordes with absolutely no proof that “climate change” made this river rise!  Let’s just put some Africans together in a photo with water and it will prove to the gullible public that global warming is real!

Investigation: Nearly 20,000 ‘Mom and Pop’ stores involved in trafficking food stamps

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

First, according to Hot Air which tipped us off to this news:

During President Obama’s first term in office, participation in the federal food stamp program increased from about 32 million Americans in 2009 to approximately 48 million by October of 2012 — an average growth rate of just over 11,000 recipients per day…..

And, now the Obama Agriculture Department is going to crack down (they say!) on the practice of swapping food stamps for cash—a practice I believe is behind the sharp rise in food stamp use (not that we have more hungry people)!

RRW readers know that Food Stamp Fraud has been a side interest of mine ever since I noticed a trend in who is actually committing the fraud—immigrant store owners and their customers.*  If you search RRW for ‘food stamp fraud’ you will very quickly see exactly who I mean (LOL! the ‘Mohammad’ coefficient is very high).

Mohammad Khan was busted for trafficking food stamps in this convenience store in Hagerstown, MD in 2008. Joe Crocetta, Staff Photographer Hagerstown Herald Mail

I believe there is an international understanding that all one needs to do is to get an “investor” visa, buy a cheap convenience store and set up the “trafficking” of SNAP (taxpayer) dollars from the patsies in the federal government to one’s wallet and to wallets across the world.

It works like this:  customer exchanges his benefit by receiving approximately 50 cents on every dollar exchanged.  The store owner then submits the charge for the full dollar to the government agency administering the program as if food has been purchased in that amount.   Some stores I’ve reported on have scammed the taxpayer to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars before being caught—prison terms are for less than 5 years generally (and although there may have been deportations, I don’t recall seeing one).

Here is The Hill yesterday (the last line is the best):

The Obama administration is taking additional steps to crack down on cash payments for food stamps.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Thursday announced it would take action against the “bad actors” who abuse the program by extending the legal definition of “trafficking” to include indirect ways of receiving cash for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

It is already illegal to sell SNAP benefits directly for cash, but the new rules would also bar cash refunds for products purchased with food stamps.

“Where there is a will to commit malfeasance, bad actors will try to find a way, and we must do everything we can to stay ahead of the curve,” said Agriculture Under Secretary Kevin Concannon. “Today’s announcement reaffirms USDA’s ongoing commitment to cracking down on abuse and protecting taxpayers’ investment in this critical nutrition lifeline.”

The USDA is also mulling a proposal to immediately freeze the payment of SNAP benefits to retailers “suspected of flagrant trafficking violations,” rather than waiting for an investigation to suspend the store’s ability to redeem the SNAP benefits. Comments are being accepted on the proposed rule.  [The investigations can take more than a year, as we saw in our local bust in 2008, so this is an important change.—ed]

Last year, the USDA permanently disqualified almost 1,400 retailers from participating in SNAP for exchanging cash for benefits or falsifying applications.

According to the most recent SNAP fraud report by the USDA, food stamp trafficking “diverted an estimated $330 million annually from SNAP benefits –— or about one cent of each SNAP dollar — between 2006 and 2008.”

Out of the nearly 240,000 stores active in the SNAP program, about 8.2 percent trafficked, according to the 2011 investigation.

Get that!  They disqualified 1,400 stores, but they estimate 8.2% are crooks!  If my math is correct 8.2% of 240,000 stores is 19,680 stores!  They have a long way to go!

*Note to “customers” who sell their stamps for cash, you are criminals and can be prosecuted too!

Update!  Here is a story from New Mexico with a greater variety of food stamp scamming techniques.  What does this tell you!

She said the biggest issue is people who sell their EBT card and report it lost or stolen. Out of the 138,927 cards issued to New Mexicans in 2012, more than 93,000 were replacement cards, Squier said. That’s about 70 percent.

 

Minneapolis Somalis venting after student riot; and what did St.Valentine’s Day have to do with it?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

No surprise that the Somali refugee “community” would blame everyone else but themselves for the riot that broke out in a high school cafeteria, here, last week when tensions boiled over between Blacks and the Somalis (also black).

Here is the Minneapolis Star Tribune with the standard whiny blame game report—it’s all about police brutality and cultural misunderstanding don’t you know.

Frustration with South High School and Minneapolis police handling of an altercation there last week continues to run high among some students and parents of Somali descent.

Several parents spoke in indignant terms Tuesday about how they believed police had used excessive force while subduing the Thursday melee that involved several hundred students.

Instead of taking their grievances to the Police Department, they held a press conference FIRST!   More cultural competence needed at South High, according to community organizer now school board member Hussein Samatar.

Their comments followed a news conference where school board member Hussein Samatar, called for more efforts to keep students safe in school, improvements in the cultural competence of South staff members and more support for students enrolled in rigorous classes.

On Tuesday afternoon, a police spokesman said the department hadn’t received any complaints about the incident, but later Chief Janeé Harteau said she would investigate the concerns.

“I have requested and opened an internal review of the incident,” Harteau said. “We value the strong relationships we have built with the Somali community, and I take any allegation that threatens that in anyway very seriously.”

[How high did you want us to jump Mr. Samatar? Sir!—ed]

Valentine’s Day?

St. Valentine a symbol of evil for Muslims

Then this comment from South’s Principal is curious!

South Principal Cecilia Sadler also spoke publicly Tuesday for the first time about the incident. She said “some fights that escalated in our lunchroom were not able to be dispersed quickly” and grew. She said Valentine Day heightened student emotions.

What!  There was too much love in the air?  Do any of you remember riots on Valentine’s Day when you were in school because so many students had the ‘love jones’ and were emotional that day?

Nah!  Too much evil according to Islamic teaching.

Yes, Muslims are forbidden from celebrating or taking part in any way in St. Valentine’s Day festivities.    I don’t know if there was any connection with the riot to the Islamic prohibition against Valentine’s Day, but I bet you a buck there was and everyone is too chicken to say it (except for Principal Sadler’s oblique reference).

Here is Islam Q & A on Fatwa No 73007:

What is the ruling on Valentine’s Day?

Firstly:

Valentine’s Day is a jaahili Roman festival, which continued to be celebrated until after the Romans became Christian. This festival became connected with the saint known as Valentine who was sentenced to death on 14 February 270 CE. The kuffaar still celebrate this festival, during which immorality and evil are practised widely.   [You are a kuffaar, if you are not a Muslim—ed]

Secondly:

It is not permissible for a Muslim to celebrate any of the festivals of the kuffaar, because festivals come under the heading of shar’i issues which are to be based on the sound texts.

[….]

Partially joining in, at the very least, is disobedience and sin.

[….]

As for the festival and its rituals, this is part of the religion which is cursed along with its followers [Christians are cursed!  Get it!—ed], so joining in with it is joining in with something that is a cause of incurring the wrath and punishment of Allaah.

Watch for it!  Readers (especially those in Minneapolis!) let me know if thanks to this St. Valentine’s spontaneous “riot” Mr. Samatar and the school board ban Valentine’s Day activities next year.  That is the stealth Jihad, that is how Shariah creeps into America!  And, heck, maybe it isn’t even spontaneous or creeping!

The “Rainbow Nation” is being crushed by refugees, asylum seekers, economic migrants, and assorted illegal aliens

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Michelle meets Mandela in the “Rainbow Nation” in June 2011. AP Photo/ Debbie Yazbek

I haven’t mentioned the troubles in South Africa for a while.  Yeh, believe it or not, they have more problems in Michelle Obama’s favorite country than an Olympic “bladerunner” star murdering his gorgeous girlfriend.

Their borders are flooded with “asylum seekers” who have heard about their Commie Constitution and Bill of Rights (and believe the promises to be true).

I reported in a post last spring that:  The African National Congress (the party of Mandela) says everyone gets:  a job, food, housing, fairness, peace and security.

Michelle brought her mom, Mrs. Robinson, and the girls to South Africa in 2011 to admire what Nelson Mandela had brought to the formerly apartheid nation (now the supposed model to the world)—fairness and socialism for all, here.

So, guess what!  The ANC is, a year later, looking for a way to stop the flow of migrants who want what has been promised and is considering refugee camps as a possible way to control the border-crossers.    This is the story I came across today, but there is this story I missed from December that comes before today’s news about camps.

Sound familiar?

From Business Day Live (Johannesburg) (emphasis mine):

THE African National Congress (ANC) has once again signalled that it wants to see the country’s immigration policy comprehensively reviewed, citing concerns over the abuse of the asylum-seeking system and competition for jobs between foreigners and local unemployed.

Since 1994 South Africa has adopted one of the most liberal immigration policies in the world. This, together with corruption, and poor border and immigration management, has meant that South Africa has the highest number of asylum seekers in the world and an unknown number of illegal immigrants.

But immigration policy has become ambiguous in recent years, with mixed signals coming from the department and ministry of home affairs over its future direction.

Government officials said this week that, in its national conference resolution on peace and stability adopted last week, the ANC stated that undocumented immigrants posed an economic and security threat. The party further believed that the inward flow of low-skilled labour needed to be balanced with the negative effect on employment.

[…..]

The harder line on immigration was reinforced in the organisational report to the ANC conference last week.

[…..]

“During the last five years there were developments that pointed to the need for a more comprehensive approach to the question of management of foreign nationals entering South Africa,” Mr Mantashe’s report reads.

These included the high number of cases of crime involving foreign nationals and the number of undocumented foreign nationals who have jobs in the leisure, hospitality and agricultural sectors in the face of high unemployment among locals.

Now, here is the story this week about fears that the ANC will establish refugee camps:

REFUGEES and asylum seekers receive substantially less protection from the government than they used to when the asylum system was first established in the 1990s. This is claimed by Lawyers for Human Rights and the African Centre for Migration and Society, in a new report published last week.

The report, which monitors trends over the past two years, says South Africa has experienced a de facto policy shift in its approach to asylum seekers and refugees, although immigration policy has not been officially reviewed.

However, a policy review is imminent, raising fears among human rights groups that the country will tighten immigration at the expense of rights.

Would someone tell Obama (both Obamas) and Grover Norquist (the bullfrog slayer) that a country cannot survive OPEN BORDERS and full rights to stuff—welfare, jobs, housing, food and fairness—as is plainly demonstrated by the RAINBOW NATION!

Sheesh!  The next thing you know they will be wanting a border fence!

For our whole archive on South Africa, go here.