But, he is up against a buzz saw—likely the most significant “Pocket of Resistance” anywhere in the country.
A what? A pocket of resistance?
That is a term one of Obama’s federal Office of Refugee Resettlement employees used at a 2013 refugee contractor pow-wow in Lancaster, PA to describe the citizens who were asking questions about the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program.
I was in the audience and wrote about it here:
[T]he keynote speaker talked about how ‘Welcoming America’was working to get YOUR minds right about your new refugee neighbors (and, they received a federal grant from ORR to do it!).
Before Susan Downs-Karkos from ‘Welcoming America’ spoke, we had been alerted by the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Director of Placement, Mitiku Ashebir that (gasp!) “three pockets of resistance against new arrivals” had developed. He assured the gathering it was not widespread and that Pennsylvania, thankfully, was not one of them. Drum roll please! Here are the pockets of resistance and Mr. Ashebir’s brief description of the unwelcoming problems:
New Hampshire—some mayors have problems, said Ashebir
Georgia—budget reductions for some service providers
Tennessee—they want to control arrival numbers! Imagine that!
As far as I know the resistance in Georgia and New Hampshire has been brought under control by Leftwing refugee industry activists, but they have not been able to quell the rebellion by Tennessee patriots who are hopping mad at the governor for going against the President and saying—send us more poor people from across the world. (Lee caves here.)
Consequently, see this mornings news about the uprising against the governor, a governor conservatives put their faith in and now feel he has betrayed them.
From the Dailyrollcall.com (every state should have a publication like this one to keep especially your Republicans accountable):
Bill Lee Tithes For the Federal Refugee Resettlement Program With Taxpayer Money
Why do millionaires like Bill Lee feel so free to use state tax dollars to live out their personal religious beliefs?
Remember when Bill Lee was campaigning and trying to dazzle gullible voters with his “brilliant” idea for an Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives?
Once elected he launched this initiative and it may end up being the vehicle for Bill Lee to funnel more state dollars to pad the pocketbooks of federal refugee contractors and other groups that want to get into the lucrative refugee resettlement business.
In fact, Bill Lee told us as much while he was on the campaign trail:
“My wife has worked in a ministry that serves Kurdish refugees, I’ve been to Kurdistan and served with refugees from ISIS in refugee camps,” Lee replied. “I believe that the work of nonprofits is powerful and important, and that’s what this is about. And I am a Christian, so my experiences and my work with non-profits that are doing effective work has been Christian organizations, so that’s what I talk about, because I talk about my experience, and I will support works that are doing, meeting some of the greatest challenges in our community that I believe government shouldn’t meet, it’s not the role of government to do that. But it is the role of the nonprofit community and I would encourage that kind of work, for sure.”
But he might just use the government to provide the greenbacks – we’ll get to that in a minute.
So why is anyone surprised that when offered, he jumped at the chance to say “YES!” I want to put Tennessee back into the refugee resettlement program!!!
And because of the 50-100 mile placement rules from the four urban centers where the federal resettlement contractor offices are located, when he consented for Tennessee, he pretty much put every county in the state up for grabs.
Please continue reading, and then see this….
Conservatives in Tennessee who put Bill Lee in office get a lump of coal for Christmas while the radical left TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) congratulates it’s lobbying effort on the consent push:
“We thank Governor Lee for his moral clarity and leadership in making his decision today…‘Refugee communities across Tennessee have played a powerful role in defending not only the resettlement program but the values and aspirations of this country’, said TIRRC Policy Officer Judith Clerjeune. ‘We will continue to work with refugee leaders and partner agencies to advocate for a robust and generous resettlement program.”’
During Bill Lee’s campaign his first major policy initiative was his “Roadmap for Rural Tennessee” which he highlighted by riding around on a tractor and talking about “his farming roots” and about how Tennessee is just one generation away from losing this way of life.
Not sure what happened to all that rural love, because what we have now, is the rural governor scrooging Tennessee’s rural counties in deference to the urban-based federal contractor resettlement agencies.
As of this writing, Lee’s ‘welcome refugees’ letter is not on file at the US State Department. See if your governor is here.
The nine federal refugee contractors salaried workers are working day and night to get those consents into the State Department by Christmas. Therefore….