Chobani yogurt tycoon, Hamdi Ulukaya, gets Global Citizen award from DC think tank along with Cindy McCain (update)

Editor’s note: As I reported here last week, I received a letter at my home from a Washington, DC lawfirm representing Chobani, LLC and its principal shareholder Hamdi Ulukaya. The letter also references Mr. Ulukaya’s foundation (The Tent Foundation).

They claim that several points I made in a post below are false based on information published by the New York Times, Bloomberg and CNN.

After considering how best to address their many concerns with my post, I determined that it would be most efficient and transparent to simply present their point of view. 

 

So here it is:

~They say that Chobani and Mr. Ulukaya support diversity of opinion.

~They say that Chobani and the Tent Foundation have not advocated bringing more refugees to the US. (They do not say whether Mr. Ulukaya has called for an increase in refugee admissions to the US, only that the Chobani company and Tent have not.)

~They say that Chobani, the Tent Foundation and Mr. Ulukaya have been clear about their objective to provide opportunities for refugees. (Ed—That transparency includes having the Tent Foundation publish a refugee hiring guide jointly with a US refugee resettlement contractor, see here.)

~They say that private companies like Chobani are not involved in selecting refugees or the number of refugees to be admitted and that only the federal government plays that role. (Ed.—of course Chobani cannot make, or be involved in, federal decisions on refugee selection, numbers, and their placement.  Any such involvement, if shown would be the proper subject of an Inspector General investigation. But, as evidenced by the refugee hiring guide, the Tent Foundation has become an important vehicle for Mr. Ulukaya to show support for the the federally-funded resettlement contractor community.)

~ They say that the Foundation, Chobani LLC or Mr. Ulukaya have not lobbied to influence the refugee resettlement work of the federal government. (Ed.—Even without lobbying, as shown by the hiring guide prepared by the largely federally-funded Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service for the Tent Foundation, the Foundation has shown support for the federal resettlement contractor community.)

~ They say they do not approve of my discussion about a business model built on a steady supply of cheap legal immigrant labor that must rely on welfare to supplement inadequate wages.

~And they clearly disagree with my opinion that it isn’t humane to remove people from their cultural comfort zones to supply the labor needs of large global corporations. (Ed—they say they support diversity of opinion.)

~ They report in the letter that they told World Net Daily to remove a false statement about Chobani pledging to hire more refugees.  (Ed.—I assume that means they want it to be clear that Chobani has not pledged to hire more refugees, but isn’t that what the Tent Foundation is all about?)

~Taking offense at my inference that refugees are at the lower end of the pay scale, they cite several media outlets reporting that Chobani employees are paid well above state and federal minimum wages, receive group health benefits and participate in a retirement plan. 

A 2016 report from CNN (cited in the letter as documentation of salaries) mentions that Chobani is proud of its starting hourly wage that is in the $11-$12 per hour range (below the presently accepted living wage of $15 an hour), but that Mr. Ulukaya says he is planning to move gradually to the $15 an hour wage.  That sounds good, but the CNN article is more than two years old so it would be useful to know if clear progress toward that higher wage has been made in keeping with Mr. Ulukaya’s “Humanity First” solution to immigration.

~They state that Chobani has never tried to exploit wage discrepancies between American workers and the refugee workers at the Chobani plants.  (Ed.—In case you are wondering how many refugees are employed by Chobani, a 2016 report at the Huffington Post says the company employs refugees at 30% of the work force.  I have seen other reports with up to 40%.  https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chobani-ceo-refugee-immigrant-hamdi-ulukaya_us_58189ac4e4b0990edc336cab )

We will be seeking more information from primary sources to make our own assessment of the issue of wages.   As for welfare utilization, perhaps Chobani LLC in both New York and Idaho, seeking to set the record straight, would undertake a survey of their refugee employees use of social services including food stamps, housing subsidies and medical care, etc. and make public that information.

More later…..

 

Below is the original post that prompted the October 2, 2018 letter to me from the law firm representing Chobani LLC.  The post should now be read with the additional context provided above.   

 

The original post follows:

 

What does this have to do with refugees?

Everything(!) because Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya is the primary pusher, through his Tent Foundation***, for global corporations to promote bringing more refugees to the US (and to move others around the world) to provide them with a steady supply of cheap LEGAL immigrant labor.

We have written a lot about Chobani Yogurt and its hiring practices in New York and in Twin Falls, Idaho. See my Chobani files here.

Chobani was back in the news this week because he received a Global Citizen Award along with the ‘maverick’s’ widow.  I suspect if someone researched the Atlantic Council you would find George Soros lurking somewhere in its background!

The gang is all here…..

 

global citizen awards

 

I laughed to see the headline at Breitbart, thanks to Richard @highblueridge for sending it:

Chobani CEO Pleads with Corporations to Hire Refugees: U.S. Needs ‘Humanity First’ Immigration Policy

 

LOL! Humanity first! really!

Is it humane to bring more low-skilled workers to the US, yanking them from their cultural comfort zones around the world so they can work menial jobs in the food industry (think Meatpackers! and of course Yogurt manufacturers) via refugee contractors (aka head hunters) who then help the refugees sign up for all of their welfare services (because wages aren’t high enough, they need to be subsidized by you!).

You have to hand it to them!  They have figured out a great business model.

I swear that these big global companies must send everyone to some sort of Public Relations 101 class where they are taught to fit the word “humanity,” “humanitarian,” or “humanitarianism” in to every public utterance they make.

Note that the word ‘humanity’ is never applied to impoverished, job-seeking, Americans!

Read my lips: It is about cheap compliant labor! 

(With the Democrat’s side-benefit being that they get more socialist-leaning voters from the refugee arrivals.)

Read John Binders story from Breitbart.

Then, you can have even more fun if you follow the link to the CNN report about Ulukaya’s big award—awarded to him by no less than another of our old favorites from the Obama Administration—Samantha Power (see my many posts on what one writer called Hillary, Susan Rice and Power—Obama’s “humanitarian Vulcans!”).

Here is CNN:

US yogurt billionaire’s solution to immigration: ‘Humanity first’

(CNN) Hamdi Ulukaya, who built yogurt empire Chobani after immigrating to the US in the mid-90s, is challenging Americans to rethink the way they view immigration.

“I have nothing against America first, but ‘humanity first too,'” said Ulukaya in an exclusive interview with CNN on the sidelines of an event for his nonprofit, called Tent Partnership for Refugees.

Staying out of politics but taking a whack at Trump (ROFLMAO):

lavinia and chobani
Above the political fray? Here is Ulukaya at the Clinton Global Initiative with refugee contractor Lavinia Limon.  It was her resettlement agency responsible for the refugees being placed in Twin Falls.  Did they have a deal even before his plant was built? Imagine where we would be today if Hillary or John McCain had ever become President!

Ulukaya has sought to keep his mission of assisting refugees above the political fray. But on occasion he has denounced the administration’s immigration policies and the way it enforces them. The issue is deeply personal for Ulukaya — a self-made billionaire who grew up tending goat and sheep in rural Turkey.

Ulukaya started recruiting immigrants and refugees to work at Chobani in 2010 — a strategy that drew vicious attacks from far right-wing conspiracy theorists who have spread lies about the company, including allegations Chobani embarked on a secret plot to increase America’s Islamic population.

About 30 percent of Chobani’s employees are immigrants or refugees. He says his employees and suppliers are worried.

[….]

Ulukaya, who launched Tent in 2016, has successfully urged companies to develop solutions by “mobilizing resources, innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit of the business community.”

“They [companies] all know that if you don’t find the way to solve this problem, or make it easier, this human tragedy is going to turn into one of the biggest problems for our children going forward,” he said.

This week, Tent added 20 brands to a growing list of partners pledging to hire refugees or help them build a better life. The latest companies to commit to the cause include Hilton, pasta maker Barilla, Microsoft and Uniqlo. In total, Tent has secured promises from more than 100 companies.

Samantha-Power and obama
Samantha Power, one of Obama’s “Humanitarian Vulcans” responsible for the destruction of the Libyan state and consequently the migrant invasion of Europe.     https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2012/05/31/white-houses-power-doing-rinkey-dink-do-gooder-stuff/

[….]

“Even if governments were stepping up to do the right thing, which many, including the US government, are not, the crisis is too big for government,” said Samantha Power, the former US ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017, as she presented Ulukaya the Atlantic Council’s Global Citizen Award this week.

[….]

In 2005, Ulukaya bought a defunct food factory in upstate New York with a small business loan to start making cheese. He eventually grew that into Chobani, which has become the top-selling Greek yogurt brand in the US. Several years after opening his factory, he started hiring refugees who lived in nearby areas.

He tapped the refugee community again in Idaho when Chobani opened a plant in Twin Falls, which is close to the dairy farmers who supply the raw material for his yogurt. Because of his efforts to hire and help refugees, Ulukaya has become the target of far-right websites and bloggers. One site accused Chobani of “call[ing] on [the] biggest American companies to join [an] Islamic surge.”

Laughing again! So will Chobani threaten to sue CNN for bringing all this up again???

More here.

Do not miss my post about how the Tent Foundation hired the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (one of nine federal resettlement contractors) to write a refugee hiring guide.

***Go here and have a look at the global corporations supporting the movement of refugee laborers around the world.  Notice Twitter is one of Tent’s corporations. And, I am sure you will find others that you might not have suspected.

P.S. Why has no one written a book on Samantha Power, a dangerous woman who will be back if the Dems regain the Oval Office?

 

Hungarian Prime Minister calls for global alliance against migration

The Soros Troika! I didn’t plan it this way, but realize that this post and my two previous posts this morning (here and here) all have a connection to the master borderless-world manipulator, George Soros.
Invasion of Europe news….
Here is Reuters on Hungarian PM Vikto Orban’s  impassioned speech over the weekend:

Orban and Soros
The titans…..

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungarian leader Viktor Orban called on Sunday for a global alliance against migration as his right-wing populist Fidesz party began campaigning for an April 8 election in which it is expected to win a third consecutive landslide victory.

Popular at home but increasingly at odds politically and economically with mainstream European Union peers, Orban has thrived on external controversy, including repeated clashes with Brussels and lately the United Nations.

Those conflicts, mostly centered on migration since people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa flooded into Europe in 2015***, have intensified as the elections approach and Orban poses as a savior of Europe’s Christian nations.

“Christianity is Europe’s last hope,” Orban told an audience of party faithful at the foot of the Royal Castle in Budapest. With mass immigration, especially from Africa, “our worst nightmares can come true. The West falls as it fails to see Europe being overrun.”

Reuters reports on how Orban has turned around a sagging economy….

But migration dominates his agenda now.

Orban said on Sunday that Europe faces a critical fissure between nation states of the East and the West, which he called an “immigrant zone, a mixed population world that heads in a direction different from ours”.

As the West wants eastern Europe to follow its lead, an increasingly vicious struggle was likely, he said, alluding to a plan to redraw the European alliance advocated by the leaders of France and Germany.

“Absurd as it may sound the danger we face comes from the West, from politicians in Brussels, Berlin and Paris,” Orban said to loud applause. “Of course we will fight, and use ever stronger legal tools. The first is our ‘Stop Soros’ law.”

We told you here a few days ago about efforts to stop Soros from pushing Muslim migration on Hungary (and Europe generally), continue here for more at this Reuters story.
Go here for my complete ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive.
***Unintended consequences! Remember Samantha Power said that the Syrian invasion (she didn’t use the word invasion) resulted in a monumental shift in world history.  She was right even if it wasn’t in the direction she was hoping for.  Power too was under Soros wing.
Additionally she played a huge role in the Libyan debacle and thus created the launch pad for the African invasion of Europe.

Obama's 'Final Year'—finally gone!

Subtitle: Why Donald Trump is in the White House!

 

Obama's men and Power
Ben Rhodes, Samantha Power, John Kerry,  and of course Obama.  Four reasons (five if you throw in Susan Rice) why Trump won!

 
There is a new documentary film being released (in a few theaters near you) about the final year of the Obama Administration and how their foreign policy decisions (blunders!) helped put Trump in the White House.
But, the film idea didn’t start out that way. When filming began, Trump wasn’t supposed to win!
Be prepared for a sympathetic look, dripping with nostalgia, for the good ol’ days.
My special interest in viewing the film is to see what more the ever-cocky Samantha Power has to say.  You will find her discussed many times over the years here at RRW from her earliest mention in 2008 as Obama’s ‘Iraqi refugee czar’ to her rise to her UN catbird seat.
See the trailer (here if it doesn’t play below):  Pay special attention to the 1:25 minute mark (5 months left which means it would have been early September 2016) where Samantha Power says this:

“We have to be sure to make it harder to dismantle if we take a different turn.”

Does she mean make it harder to dismantle Obama’s foreign policy legacy (which was pretty lousy anyway) in case Trump wins? Did she suspect then that Trump might very well succeed?
The dossier and the FISA applications????  Wasn’t she fingered as a chief ‘unmasker?’ Hmmm!
 

 
(By the way, the 1:38 minute mark is pretty good too—Ben Rhodes realizes that they have lost!)
Now here is a bit of the text from the Times of Israel where the reporter seems to be wishing the Obama gang was back.

‘The Final Year’ follows the Obama administration’s last attempt to shape world affairs. (Magnolia Pictures)

For those tired of watching reruns of “The West Wing,” there’s a new political thriller out — and it just so happens to be real.

The recently released documentary “The Final Year” is the story of the Obama administration’s final 12 months in office as told by former president Barack Obama’s foreign policy team.

Leading roles are played by Obama administration stars. US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power and Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, along with Secretary of State John Kerry — and the president himself — all race against the clock to broker a deal with Iran, negotiate a climate accord in Paris and find a solution to the Syrian crisis, among the other issues on their diplomatic agenda.

For the individuals portrayed in the documentary, “The Final Year” was intended to solidify Obama’s foreign policy legacy, but President Donald Trump’s ultimate victory leaves the Obama team more stunned than assured.

“We tried to change the ending but we couldn’t do it,” joked director Greg Barker in an interview with The Times of Israel …..

[….]

“Samantha [Power] gets very excited and we’re talking about these ideas, and I’m thinking, ‘Wow, this is great. We’re going to change the world.’”

But by the fourth quarter of Obama’s final term, the glamour of their vision had succumbed to the political reality of the office.

The role refugees played in Trump’s victory….

Barker said that Power now believes that the Obama administration’s failure to take definitive action in Syria prompted a domino-effect of world events.

“[Power] will say that you can make the case that without the Syria tragedy and the outflow of refugees, you may well not have had Brexit in the UK, you may well not have had Trump without this fear of ‘The Other’ which was perpetrated by a million refugees flowing into Europe,” Barker said.

“She’ll make the case that the world could be a very different place [if not for the Syria crisis],” he added.

More here.
Note that comments to the Times of Israel are not flattering to the team.
Heck, it would be fun to watch this in a theater wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat!

Hillary’s legacy in Libya could affect you!

UN short-circuiting the flow from Libya to Europe by sending migrants to the good ol’ welcoming USA?

Hillary, along with her gal pals Susan Rice and Samantha Power, are the leading culprits in the Obama Administration’s disastrous involvement in the overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and the creation of a failed state that has become a primary route for the migrant invasion of Europe.

hillary and gal pals
Susan Rice, Samantha Power and Hillary. Photo is from a blog called The Political Girl that asks: Are women leading the way in Libya?

 

Now we learn that the UN, partially in hopes of saving the present Italian government (Italians are pretty angry about the Libya to Italy express), is planning to open up a refugee holding facility in Tripoli where migrants will be detained until they can be moved to transit centers.

But, guess what! Most in the transit centers will go to Canada, Norway, and drum roll—the United States.

Hillary gloats about knocking off Gaddafi turning Libya into a completely unstable hell hole, and America gets more refugees!

From Reuters  (emphasis is mine):

ROME (Reuters) – The U.N. refugee agency is seeking to open a refugee transit center in Tripoli early next year to resettle or evacuate as many as 5,000 of the most vulnerable refugees out of Libya each year, a senior U.N. official said on Friday.

It is a small fraction of the total number of Libya’s migrant population, estimated at as many as 1 million, but would be a welcome outlet for the 43,000 refugees that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates are now trapped in Libya.

“We hope to have the (written) authorization soon,” Roberto Mignone, the UNHCR’s representative in Libya, told Reuters in Rome. The U.N.-backed Tripoli government has already approved the project verbally, he said.

[….]

Italy has become the main migrant route to Europe since an agreement between the EU and Turkey shut down smuggling through Greece last year, but arrivals have fallen sharply since July, when an armed group clamped down on departures.

With the backing of the European Union, Italy has financed, trained and equipped by the Tripoli-based coast guard. With a national election due early next year, Italy is also promising tens of millions of euros to Prime Minister Fayez al-Seraj and municipal governments to put a stop to smuggling.

[.…]

Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti has said he is depending on the U.N. refugee and migration agencies to improve conditions for refugees and migrants now trapped in Libya.

“We can’t be the only solution,” Mignone said, also because Libya remains very dangerous and international staff still have very limited access to the country.

[….]

While the UNHCR hopes to resettle many of them, it is a lengthy process. Many countries do not have a permanent diplomatic presence in Tripoli, further complicating matters.

So the agency will seek to evacuate most of them, Mignone said, to emergency transit centers in Romania, Slovakia or even Costa Rica, where they will have more time to apply for resettlement. The agency is currently working to open another emergency transit center in Niger, he said.

More at Reuters, here.

Here is one article I found telling us that ‘refugees’ in a transit center in Slovakia are destined for Canada, Norway and the US.  And, I had previously written a post on the Costa Rica transit center with our old friend HIAS being paid by the US State Department to work there.  I better start paying more attention to these transit centers!

So, if the scheme goes through, illegal aliens in Libya will be moved to a transit center and ultimately Anytown, USA instead of pushing on to Europe.

Yippee! They could be part of Donald’s FY18 45,000!

(Fiscal Year 18 begins tomorrow!)

See all my posts, going back years, on the ‘Invasion of Europe’ by clicking here.

Hillary's Libyan legacy still responsible for invasion of Europe as Italy panics

Invasion of Europe news….
I’m not going to let you all forget that it was Hillary and her girls who were responsible for the overthrow of Libyan strongman Muammar Ghaddafi that resulted in the opening of the flood gates from Africa to Europe for tens of thousands of mostly economic migrants from the heart of Africa to countries like Italy geographically on the frontline of the invasion.
Even Obama didn’t have the stomach for the slaughter of Ghaddafi.  I followed the whole sorry tale from its earliest days here at RRW.

Susan Rice, Hillary and Samantha Power. Hillary admitted that in 2011 Obama was reluctant to follow Europe’s lead and get involved in Libya, but that she marshaled the forces (including Susan Rice and Samantha Power) to persuade Obama to help overthrow Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Ultimately, she said, it was the President’s decision thereby tossing blame back on Obama when the results of her actions have proven so disastrous. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2015/10/23/hillary-and-the-girls-are-to-blame-for-libyan-hellhole-european-invasion/

 
Of course the Europeans made that fatal mistake in the earliest days of the invasion by not turning back (using safe methods) the first boats that were launched from the Libyan coast. Now they rescue each one sending a signal to people smugglers to keep ’em coming!

Here is the latest news from Middle East Monitor:

Italy panics as North Africa migrants surge

Italy will host a meeting between European and North African countries next week in a bid to strengthen support for an agreement it struck with Libya to fight people smuggling as migrant arrivals surge.

The prime minister of the UN-backed government in Tripoli, Fayez Al-Seraj, will meet with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and interior ministers from eight European countries including Germany and France on Monday.

Last month, Italy pledged money, training and equipment to help Libya fight people smugglers, a deal that was endorsed by European Union member states.

But Libya is still far from stable. Two governments are vying for power – in Tobruk to the east and Tripoli to the west – and the country remains mired in factional fighting and lawlessness.

The authorities in eastern Libya have rejected the deal struck between Rome and Tripoli.

“I’m not so naive as to not understand the situation there,” Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti told reporters. “But we cannot remain immobile and wait for the country to stabilise.”

He said the Libya agreement and next week’s meeting were not just “talk”, but strategic steps toward managing mass migration to Europe.

So far this year more than 16,000 migrants – a 36 per cent increase on the same period last year – have been rescued at sea and brought to Italy after Libya-based people smugglers piled them onto flimsy boats.

Don’t miss Hillary cackling about her success in killing Gaddafi. She looks like an absolute loon here:

 
Another version of Hillary’s  looney laugh, is here. Don’t you think it might be too early for her to come out of the woods!
Our archives on the ‘Invasion of Europe’ are here.