Starving the beast! Another way to set policy at the Department of State

02/28/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Politico is reporting that they are getting out their worry-beads all over the world as the Trump Administration works on its first budget.
Could this mean what we hope it means—a reduction in the millions of dollars we give away to the UNHCR while they dictate to us, telling us which refugees and how many America must take.

unhcr-headquarters-in-geneva — UN High Commissioner for Refugees huge glass-domed office building in Geneva, Switzerland. How many of your tax dollars, paid out through the DOS, keep this international organization going? Aid organizations seem to like nice buildings!

Politico (it is kind of cryptic, but hopeful sounding!):

U.S. diplomats and aid workers have been afraid that President Donald Trump wants to sideline them in favor of the military.

On Monday, they got even more reason for concern.

The Trump administration is developing a federal budget proposal the White House says will give defense programs a $54 billion boost while cutting funding to the other agencies, including the State Department, and especially foreign aid programs.

Lawmakers, foreign embassies and others were scrambling to get the details of the budget plan Monday. Officials at the State Department declined to share their budget reduction targets — it was not clear if the guidance had yet been delivered to them — but some reports forecast as much as 30 percent reduction, a devastating blow.

[….]

Funding for the State Department and foreign assistance falls under what’s called the “international affairs budget,” a category that doesn’t include the military. Those programs overseas — including everything from embassy security to pandemic prevention to refugee assistance via the United Nations — cost roughly $58.8 billion. The vast majority of that figure goes to the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

[….]

On a call with reporters, officials with the Office of Management and Budget noted that most federal agencies will be expected to trim their budgets. But they singled out foreign aid programs in particular, indicating the administration believes that other countries are merely taking advantage of the United States.

More here.
I wish I knew exactly how much the US Department of State is paying the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. If anyone can figure it out, send it our way!
Here is one place to start your research!

South Carolina Lutheran agency cutting staff; will bigwigs in Baltimore see pay cuts?

02/28/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Ho hum! One more story about a federal resettlement subcontractor having to fire staff because this entire UN/US Refugee Admissions Program was so ill-conceived in the first place and because these supposed ‘religious’ charities became fat and happy on taxpayer dollars rather than raising private money for their “good works.”

lirs-building — The Lutheran Center (LIRS headquarters) is a six-story structure constructed in 1999 on property owned by Baltimore’s historic Christ Lutheran Church. The building is located near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor in the historic Federal Hill neighborhood, a charming area rich with history and an eclectic array of eateries and shopping venues. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2014/07/08/lutherans-may-be-operating-centers-for-unaccompanied-minors-in-your-state/

Here is the news from Charleston, South Carolina’s Post and Courier.
BTW, did you see the news about a town hall somewhere being opened with prayer and the Libs in the audience started shouting: “separation of church and state!” Well, where are they with the resettlement contractors? Where is the ACLU and its lawsuits claiming there should be a separation of church and state?
I digress, here is the news from South Carolina:

Refugee resettlement agency Lutheran Services Carolinas expects to layoff and reassign staff in the wake of President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order dramatically reducing the number of refugees who can enter the United States.

Federal courts have halted Trump’s order suspending the U.S. refugee admissions program. But the courts did not touch a provision of the order that slashed the cap on refugees from 110,000 to 50,000 this fiscal year. As of January 31, just under 40,000 refugees have been admitted to the U.S., including 28 in Charleston. [For the umpteenth time, there was no slashing in half! That 110,000 (ceiling!) was Obama’s last wish, nothing more! Average has been around 65,000 since 9/11.—ed]

Agencies such as Lutheran Services Carolinas, which resettles refugees in Charleston, Columbia and Raleigh, rely on federal money tied to each refugee they help resettle.

Yes! As I have been saying, it’s a kind of ponzi scheme built on ever-increasing numbers of refugees (paying clients!) being admitted to the US.
Post and Courier continues…..

Lutheran Services Carolinas is an affiliate of Baltimore-based Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of nine national organizations*** working on behalf of the federal government to help resettle refugees. Linda Hartke, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, estimates between 70 and 80 positions so far have been cut at partner agencies across the country.

“We and all of the resettlement networks are looking at reductions of staff,” Hartke said. “There’s not funding to pay for staff if refugees aren’t arriving. There’s some work that needs to be continued, but if the arrivals are dropping by more than 50 percent, it’s not good stewardship of resources to try to maintain staff infrastructure.”

***Update*** Hartke to receive Maryland business award, here.

Now, let’s have a little look at LIRS financial situation….

Why does no mainstream media ever bother doing this?
First, see one of their pages at USA Spending. From 2008-2016 they received $358,862,898 of your money from the US Treasury.

screenshot-374 — I’ve screenshot only 5 of 164 “transactions” here at USA Spending: https://www.usaspending.gov/Pages/AdvancedSearch.aspx?k=Lutheran%20Immigration%20and%20Refugee%20Service

This (below) is a page from the most recent Form 990 that I could find. Do you see that the federally-funded portion of their total revenue that year ($59,862,898) included $55,341,275 in federal grants and that loan servicing fee ($1,817,755) is likely the travel loan collection fee they receive from collecting money from refugees for their airfare (that was all your money too).
Thus 95% of their income comes from you—the American taxpayer!
Look at that paltry little bit of money they raised privately!

screenshot-376 — http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/132/574/2014-132574854-0bc6c937-9.pdf

Will any of the bigwigs in Baltimore see a pay cut or is Ms. Hartke preserving their resources at the top?
Is that good stewardship? I find it uncomfortable to report people’s salaries, and if this was a real non-profit group or a private business instead of a quasi-government agency, it would be none of our business what they pay their staff.
However, it isn’t a real non-profit group and since we pay the vast majority of their salaries, you should know what you pay them.
For comparison, go here to see what members of Congress make ($174,000 on average). Speaker of the House Paul Ryan makes less ($223,500) than Ms. Hartke! (You are paying for both of them!)

screenshot-375 — http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/132/574/2014-132574854-0bc6c937-9.pdf

So how many of you are crying for the contractors now?
For our complete archive on LIRS, click here.
***These are the nine federal refugee contractors:

Numbers update from Wrapsnet as refugee arrivals slow to US

02/27/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

In advance of a new EO supposedly coming out on Wednesday, checking the numbers this morning here are a few things I learned.

tillerson-and-trump — Sec. of State Tillerson and Pres. Trump can still set the ceiling lower than 50,000!

Total arrivals this fiscal year (which began on October 1, 2016) are at 36,822. Last time we checked on 2/23 we were at 36,637.
President Trump has set the ceiling for this fiscal year which ends on September 30th at 50,000 (a number we argue is not that low when one examines all of the post 9/11 years, see here. Bush’s lowest year was 39,554).
47% of the 36,822 are Muslim refugees of some stripe.
Here is how they break down:

Ahmadiyya: 130

Shiite: 2,152

Sunni: 8,659

Muslim (who apparently don’t designate a sect): 6,547

A couple of things that interested me in the numbers. First we are bringing in large numbers of Burmese Muslims now (Rohingya, I presume). 817 are recorded as from Burma. In reality we don’t know exactly where they came from. They could be from the Muslim country of Bangladesh. These are not our responsibility!
Then for Iraqis we admitted both sides of the warring factions: 1,472 are Shiites and 2,506 are Sunnis.
So, let me get this straight! From Iraq we must have Sunnis saying they are persecuted by Shiites and Shittes saying they are persecuted by Sunnis, and we bring them both to be resettled in your cities. How long before they go after each other on American soil?
So here (from Wrapsnet) is a map of where the 36,822 were placed one day short of 5 months in to FY2017.
Wyoming remains the only state in the nation with no refugee program. Of course Washington, DC only gets a tiny number.
screenshot-369

screenshot-370 — Florida is 1,197. Alaska is 41 and Hawaii is 3.

Here are the top ten receiving states.
I repeat! Governor Abbott’s withdrawal of the state of Texas from the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program did not slow the flow to the state! If you want to help President Trump succeed, Texans need to focus their political activism on Senator John Cornyn as we explained here.

screenshot-368

This post is filed in our Trump Watch! category as well as ‘refugee statistics’ and ‘where to find information.’

L.A.R.K. program proposed for care of detained terrorists……

02/27/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

L.A.R.K. stands for ‘Liberals Accept Responsibility for Killers’

This is a joke people!

Names have been removed or changed in this internet message that has been making the rounds for years.
The letter is attributed to a Canadian Minister of Defense which tells you right away it is a joke (imagine boy Trudeau, or any previous prime minister of Canada, having such a brave and humorous Minister in his cabinet!).
screenshot-363
However, I am posting it just to make the point about the value of messages like this that circulate to thousands and thousands of people around the globe achieving a life of their own! (This one has been circulating in one form or another since as early 2002, we learned.)
The messages contain nuggets of truth and such enormous common sense that they resonate and people send them on definitely much more frequently than any serious factual blog post I could write. (Maybe you have already seen it many times!)

And, I am posting it so that you can have a good Monday morning laugh!
It is also a test to see if some Lefties will claim I am spreading fake news. Let’s see if this turns up somewhere to discredit my work.

A Canadian female liberal wrote a lot of letters to the Canadian government, complaining about the treatment of captive insurgents (terrorists) being held in Afghanistan National Correctional System facilities. She demanded a response to her letter.

She received back the following reply:

National Defense Headquarters
(General’s name removed)

Dear Concerned Citizen,

Thank you for your recent letter expressing your profound concern of treatment of the Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists captured by Canadian Forces, who were subsequently transferred to the Afghanistan Government and are currently being held by Afghan officials in Afghanistan National Correctional System facilities.

Our administration takes these matters seriously and your opinions were heard loud and clear here in Ottawa.

You will be pleased to learn, thanks to the concerns of citizens like yourself, we are creating a new department here at the Department of National Defence, to be called ‘Liberals Accept Responsibility for Killers’ program, or L.A.R.K. for short.

In accordance with the guidelines of this new program, we have decided, on a trial basis, to divert several terrorists and place them in homes of concerned citizens such as yourself, around the country, under those citizens personal care. Your personal detainee has been selected and is scheduled for transportation under heavily armed guard to your residence in Toronto next Monday.

Mohammed Ahmed (name shortened) is your detainee, and is to be cared for pursuant to the standards you personally demanded in your letter of complaint. You will be pleased to know that we will conduct weekly inspections to ensure that your standards of care for Ahmed are commensurate with your recommendations.

Although Ahmed is a sociopath and extremely violent, we hope that your sensitivity to what you described as his ‘attitudinal problem’ will help him overcome those character flaws. Perhaps you are correct in describing these problems as mere cultural differences. We understand that you plan to offer counselling and home schooling, however, we strongly recommend that you hire some assistant caretakers.

Please advise any Jewish friends, neighbors or relatives about your house guest, as he might get agitated or even violent, but we are sure you can reason with him. He is also expert at making a wide variety of explosive devices from common household products, so you may wish to keep those items locked up, unless in your opinion, this might offend him. Your adopted terrorist is extremely proficient in hand-to-hand combat and can extinguish human life with such simple items as a pencil or nail clippers. We advise that you do not ask him to demonstrate these skills either in your home or wherever you choose to take him while helping him adjust to life in our country.

Ahmed will not wish to interact with you or your daughters except sexually, since he views females as a form of property, thereby having no rights, including refusal of his sexual demands. This is a particularly sensitive subject for him.

You also should know that he has shown violent tendencies around women who fail to comply with the dress code that he will recommend as more appropriate attire. I’m sure you will come to enjoy the anonymity offered by the burka over time. Just remember that it is all part of respecting his culture and religious beliefs’ as described in your letter.

You take good care of Ahmed and remember that we will try to have a counsellor available to help you over any difficulties you encounter while Ahmed is adjusting to Canadian culture.

Thanks again for your concern. We truly appreciate it when folks like you keep us informed of the proper way to do our job and care for our fellow man.

Good luck and God bless you.
Cordially,

(General’s name removed)
Minister of National Defense

I’d love to see a letter like this proposing that Liberals take refugees in to their own homes! Are you a clever writer?
We have a category entitled ‘Laugh of the day’ where this is now archived.

Hungarian Prime Minister calls out George Soros in state of the nation speech

02/26/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

“It’s hard to think of any citizen of the world who would have done more to deserve the award.”

(Former President Bill Clinton upon presenting Soros with the IRC’s “Freedom Award” in 2013)

The incomparable bloggers at 100% Fed Up ask, when will American political leaders expose Soros’ huge impact in directing America’s political landscape through hundreds of groups funded by the Hungarian-born George Soros?
The answer is not likely soon since even Republican leaders are lapping up his money—see Breitbart here earlier this month: ‘Records: Soros Fund Execs Funded Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, John McCain, John Kasich, Lindsey Graham in 2016.’
Refugees are Soros’ invasion army!
Here is 100% Fed Up:

Will anyone [in] our US government call out and expose the effect 187 radical organizations directly funded by leftist George Soros have on our nation?

orban-and-soros — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban goes after Soros in state of the nation address. Hey Prez. Trump, invite Orban to White House! Send a message that nationalists stick together to defeat globalists!

When will our elected officials start exposing his influence Soros’ large tentacles have on influencing the Democrat Party and anarchist groups in America, leading to riots and unrest by paid protesters in America?

Will the world continue to cower when it comes to the secret dealings of radical globalist George Soros, who is fighting for open-borders in Europe and in the US? Or will we start to really expose him by openly discussing his actions and revealing the truth about his “seemingly benign” organizations like one brave Hungarian prime minister is doing?

Hungary’s populist prime minister on Friday lashed out against billionaire financier George Soros, claiming he and groups backed by him want to secretly influence the country’s politics.

In his annual state of the nation speech, Viktor Orban said groups partly funded by Soros, who was born in Hungary, needed to be made transparent and identifiable.

“Large-bodied predators are swimming here in the waters. This is the trans-border empire of George Soros, with tons of money and international heavy artillery,” said Orban, who received a Soros-funded scholarship as Hungary was transitioning from communism to democracy in the late 1980s.

“It is causing trouble … that they are trying secretly and with foreign money to influence Hungarian politics,” Orban said.

Continue reading here.
Now go here to see the 187 organizations being funded by George Soros and his non-profit empire.
But missing from the list is one of nine major federal resettlement contractors—-the International Rescue Committee. (Others of the nine may also be getting booty from Soros, but the IRC is out front about it, as we have reported ad nauseam!)
We have many posts on the relationship, click here, to learn more.
However, I just now went back to 2013 to see exactly what the IRC said about Soros at its New York City gala to honor him.

screenshot-357 — Clinton with David Miliband, former British Foreign Secretary and now CEO of the IRC feted George Soros in glitzy NYC gala.

From Forbes:

So while CBS CBS +1.00% anchor Scott Pelley, the annual benefit’s emcee, kept things moving, and saxophonist Joshua Redman and pianist Aaron Goldberg provided lively entertainment for the 1,000 attendees, it was the honorees who were the real stars of the evening.

[….]

The night’s headline honoree was yet another accomplished former refugee, hedge fund billionaire George Soros, who escaped from Hungary in 1946. He was lauded by Bill Clinton (“It’s hard to think of any citizen of the world who would have done more to deserve the award,” the former president said), his son Jonathan and United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power.

[….]

Upon receiving the award (a photograph of Einstein taken by the late Fred Stein, an acclaimed photographer whom the IRC helped flee Nazi Germany), Soros somberly declared that Syria was a “glaring failure of international governance” and pressed the IRC to take action. The event raised $3.5 million to help. True to form, Soros immediately pledged $1 million.

See who else was there, click here.
Our George Soros archive is here and see our David Milliband archive by clicking here.

Send a message to Donald Trump!

Tell him to roll out the red carpet for Viktor Orban and watch the leftwing media rage. LOL! Maybe do it on the evening of the Correspondent’s shindig! Click here for WH website comments page.