Day: May 1, 2016

Too funny! Mayor of Rutland, VT says we got our heroin epidemic under control, so now let's take some Syrian refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update May 27th:  Be sure to see yesterday’s post about the heated public meetings in Rutland this past week, here.

Yippee! Vermont’s “first relocation community for Syrians!”

I wasn’t planning to write anything else today (although I know I have to do the April round-up), but this story from Vermont Public Radio made me laugh and I wanted to share it.

rutland_mayor_christopher_louras-vpr-keck-file
Rutland’s fifth term mayor Christopher Louras: Whoever he talked to at Homeland Security apparently forgot to tell him about FBI Director Comey’s testimony about not being able to vet Syrians.

Frankly this mayor sounds a bit naive (I was going to say goofy, but maybe that is too unkind).  I know, it is Vermont.
But, apparently even in Vermont there are some citizens with some sense who want to know how and why this invitation to 100 Syrian (Sunni Muslim) refugees wasn’t publicly discussed before the mayor offered up their town.
The mayor assures the critics that he has talked to two ‘high level’ Washington government people and they assured him there wouldn’t be any terrorists in the bunch and that it wouldn’t cost the city a dime because each refugee gets a whole $925 (from Washington’s money trees) and then they would be self-sufficient in 4-8 months. (Stop laughing all of you!—ed)
Vermont Public Radio (first sentence here needs a bit of work!):

Earlier this week that the city of Rutland will take in 100 Syrian refugees starting in October. Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras says he’s been working closely with state and federal refugee agencies to create Vermont’s first relocation community for Syrians.

Local people are always last to learn about their town being targeted because the only way to get this plan in place is to keep it secret from the general public.  And, by the way, once the flow starts it won’t be held to 100 refugees.

But local lawmakers and residents in Rutland are saying they didn’t even know about the plan before it was announced this week. [Surprise!—ed]

[….]

“Frankly it started with the conversation at the national level around the Syrian refugee resettlement. The fact that a number of governors said they weren’t going to open their doors , and Gov. Shumlin said he wanted to open our doors to Syrian refugees,” said Louras. “It got me thinking that the city of Rutland is right for refugee resettlement. Our population has been declining; we have a lot of capacity for jobs and housing, and this is an opportunity to grow our community culturally and provide a level of diversity in the community that we really, really need.”

[….]

I was fortunate enough to have a very long conference call with two individuals at the highest level department of state and department of homeland security to discuss the security measures that are in place,” explained Louras. “And then I followed up those conversations with individuals I know at high levels of law enforcement. I can assure the residents of Rutland that there is no [safety] risk from Syrian refugees.”

[….]

Some of the criticism the idea has received on social media centers around the idea that Rutland already has enough challenges it needs to focus on, including the heroin epidemic. Louras says the city has a handle on the crisis…

[….]

“There’s no cost at the local level, there’s not going to be any impact to our tax base,” said Louras. “When refugees initially come to any community, they are given $925 for each person in the household, and then there’s no further funds from the Department of State after that. So Vermont Resettlement Program does one thing very very well: they ensure that their clients become self-sufficient within four to eight months.”

Swallowed it hook, line and sinker!
99% of the Syrians coming to the US right now are Sunni Muslims.  I wonder how Rutland’s mosque supply looks, does anyone know?
We’ve written about Vermont before, click here, for more.

One Catholic in the world is not advocating for the wholesale movement of Syrians to the West….

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

He is the Archbishop of Aleppo, Syria and in this interview with Catholic News Service he is highly critical of Canada’s mass importation of Syrians.  (By the way, we have never seen a breakdown of the percentage of Muslim v. Christian Syrians Canada is admitting.)
Archbishop of Syria
I’m guessing he would be even more appalled if he knew how the US Conference of Catholic Bishops takes millions of tax dollars every year and is now busy scattering Syrians to the four winds and into every corner of America.
Here is what he says about the cradle of Christianity potentially being devoid of Christians.
I wonder does this give any good Catholics pause about what is being done in their name when thousands upon thousands of Syrians are scattered for permanent resettlement?

MONTREAL (CNS) — Seated in a quiet room, the Melkite Catholic archbishop of Aleppo, Syria, spoke slowly, in an almost muffled voice.

He goes on to describe a horrible bombing of the city.  Then this….

The city is 8,000 years old. It gave civilization to the world,” said Archbishop Jeanbart, giving details about what Aleppo brought to history, culture, science and economics. Located in northern Syria, until recently Aleppo was a driving force for the country’s economy, providing work to 1.2 million workers and hosting 150,000 university students.

“More than half of the city’s population left over the last four or five years,” added the archbishop who has served there since 1995.

Ever since the war started, Archbishop Jeanbart has said that his wish is to see the population — and especially the Christians — stay in Syria. When asked what he thinks about Canada welcoming 25,000 Syrian refugees in the past few months, he was not impressed.

“We’re not happy when we see the Canadian government moving refugees and facilitating their integration. It hurts us. A lot,” he said.

[….]

….he would rather see the Canadian government making more efforts to allow the Syrian population to stay in Syria.

[….]

We will reconstruct our country. We want to build and stay,” he said, pounding the arm of his chair. “We want it to be our country and stay in this country where Christianity was born, and give a testimony of Christ’s love and charity, and of the possibility to live together, as men believing in God and respectful of one another.”

Continue reading here.
Go here to see our complete Canada archive with recent posts about ‘Boy’ Trudeau’s impulsive, supposedly humanitarian, airlift of over 25,000 Syrians in only a few months.
And, I wonder if the Pope ever listens to others of his faith who clearly must disagree with what he (the Pope) is advocating.

Syrians in Greece picky about where they will go, reject Ireland

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Whew! Does this mean Ireland could dodge a bullet!
Invasion of Europe news….
Probably not as the Irish government still plans to persuade them to resettle there and begin Syrian Muslim colonies in the Republic of Ireland.  Of course this begs the question—if they think they can go country-shopping, how desperate are the Syrian migrants who came over from safe Turkey (a Muslim country) to claim asylum in Europe?

Joan_Burton_July_2014_(cropped)
Joan Burton, Deputy Prime Minister: Not to worry, we will take our full quota whether the ‘refugees’ like it or not. Do-gooders know best. Photo and bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Burton

From the Irish Independent:

The Acting Tánaiste has claimed refugees from the Syrian conflict are snubbing the chance to come to Ireland as they would rather be reunited with family members in other European countries.

Just 10 people out of the planned 2,600 have relocated to Ireland from refugee camps in Greece and Italy under an EU relocation programme.

Joan Burton said the small numbers could be explained by the fact refugees were seeking to join relatives elsewhere.

“They would like to go to friends, relatives and communities and these are, for the most part, in Germany, Austria and the Scandinavian countries. That is what refugees do,” she said.

[….]

However, despite the low numbers arriving to date, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald insisted Ireland remained committed to relocating the numbers committed to under the EU plan.

[….]

Ms Fitzgerald said Ireland had committed to taking 2,600 refugees under the EU relocation programme by the end of next year and 4,000 overall when other schemes are included.

Ireland has already a growing Muslim population, here they take in Rohingya.
For more on the ‘Invasion of Europe’ go here.