And, guess what? You, who either don’t want to see any more refugees coming to America or at least want a say in who we are accepting and whether they are placed in your town, are screwed.
Sorry to sound vulgar, but it is true, because the other side is highly organized and you have no national voice helping to guide you on what to do locally to push back.
It is make or break time! You’ve got a few more weeks to get your message to your local mayors, city councils, and governors.
And, locally is where the refugee contractors are making their big move now (in addition tosuing the President over the September EOthat supposedly will give states an opportunity to opt-out of resettlement).
I’m not naming names, but for those of you hoping a national immigration control organization located in Washington, DC (or anywhere in America) will focus on the refugee issue and tell you what to do, forget it!
You are on your own.
And, notice where the debate is! It isn’t on the issue of whether we should be bringing tens of thousands (hundreds of thousands!) of refugees to the US annually from countries that hate us; it isn’t on whether the whole program is unconstitutional and needs to be dumped and rewritten (if we even want more refugees); it is on which of your towns will be changed forever and who gets to decide that!
Trump’s EO was far from perfect, but he is concerned about the secrecy that has heretofore been the watchword of refugee resettlement decision-making in America. The contractors, which have monopolized all resettlement in the US for decades, love calling the shots from Washington and are fighting tooth and nail not to lose that power.
The nine federal contractors*** and their friends throughout the Open Borders Industry are highly organized with an extensive grassroots network, so when Trump opened the door with his September Executive Order about local and state governments having some say in the decision-making process they have turned on their networks and their people have gone to work.
Indeed, they expect Trump to be gone so they can go back to business as usual of changing America one town at a time, their Executive Order pushback has become a key element in their strategy.
I’ve always hated the expression, but since Trump handed them a lemon they are making lemonade!
Here is the first of many examples, Mary Poole the refugee advocate who opened the door to a new resettlement office in Montana says it best.
Missoula refugee resettlement agency wades through Trump order
Missoula is one of roughly 190 communities in the U.S. that resettle refugees. Only a handful of states don’t. So far none has banned further resettlement, and letters of support are reported from city councils in the likes of Decatur, Georgia; and Alexandria, Virginia.
In 2016 Mary Poole successfully pushed for the opening of an International Rescue Committee subcontractor office for Missoula.
Gary Herbert, Utah’s Republican governor, wrote Trump a letter requesting he “allow us to accept more international refugees in Utah.”
Democratic governors Jay Inslee of Washington and Kate Brown of Oregon have voiced support for resettlement, and on Tuesday Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, announced North Dakota would continue to receive refugees “as long as local governments agree to it,” the Grand Forks Herald reported.
Such responses underline what Soft Landing Missoula’s Mary Poole sees as a bright side to the executive order.
“While it makes an additional hurdle and roadblock, and it’s unfortunate, I think what we’re really going to see are people going to bat for (accepting refugees) in a way we haven’t seen before,” she said. “I’m pretty excited to see that visual representation nationwide to show how important this is.”
And so they are!
Their people are pushing local governments everywhere to shove it back at Trump and put in writing that they WANT MORE REFUGEES!
Some examples that have come across my desk in recent days:
And, in Tennessee the Tennessee Office of Refugees run by Catholic Charities has sent out an e-mail with contact information for TN mayors to make it easier for their anti-Trump EO supporters to weigh in:
Contact your local elected officials to let them know their constituents support refugee resettlement.
Chattanooga City Mayor
Andy Berke
(423) 643-7800
mayor@chattanooga.gov
Hamilton County Mayor
Jim Coppinger
(423) 209-6100
Email: hamiltontn.gov/Mayor/form.aspx
Knoxville City Mayor
Madeline Rogero
(865) 215-2040
mayor@knoxvilletn.gov
Knox County Mayor
Glenn Jacobs
(865) 215-2005
Email: knoxcounty.org/email/email_new.php?email_name=county.mayor
Memphis City Mayor
Jim Strickland
(901) 636-6000
mayor@memphistn.gov
Shelby County Mayor
Lee Harris
(901) 222-2000
officeofthemayor@shelbycountytn.gov
Nashville Metro Mayor
John Cooper
(615) 862-6000
You can be sure that information like that is going out in your state too!
Because you aren’t going to hear it from any organization giving you marching orders….
…. my message to you is get to your local government and speak up before they do—a big challenge because they have a huge head start on you!
Contact your governor too!
Even if you think that your voices won’t be heard, tell your local and state elected officials what you think anyway, otherwise they will assume that supporting the idea of more refugees for your town or city is a political freebie for them!
Oh, and if you want to make a big splash—challenge your local elected officials in the next election. Even if you think you can’t win the first time out, your local media will be forced to report on your platform.
A very simple message to your elected officials is this: care for refugees where they live in the world, and let’s take care of poor and vulnerable Americans here first!
***The nine federal contractors listed below have dozens of subcontractors working under them around the country. So although your local resettlement agency has a name not listed here, you can be sure they work for one of the nine major contractors.
They are all very Leftwing political organizations, but the most actively anti-Trump in recent months are in red. You might argue that the Bishops are very political and they are, but I’ve noticed that they are laying low these days (there are a large number of Catholic Trump supporters) and USCRI has been unusually quiet.
I’ve been noticing an increase in the number of readers who want more information on how they can actually fight back against a tide of, for lack of a better description, progressive political activity including election victories by the Open Borders Left intent on changing America by changing the people.
First and foremost remember they have been working away at their progressive agenda for years, for decades! Community organizing is in their DNA!
They get up every day—day in, day out—planning their transformation of America into what they think will be a socialist/communist nirvana once they get enough people on their side.
Finding those people includes importing them legally or illegally in whatever way they can.
Conversely, you have been getting up every day going to work, spending time with the kids and grand kids, doing your duties and generally enjoying life.
We have a lot of catching up to do!
So here we sit in November 2019 and your most important goal, above all other goals, is to keep Donald J. Trump in the White House for four more years.
I know, I know, he is an imperfect man, but he is all we have and you have only eleven months remaining to stop America’s slide into socialism!
Why do you think the impeachment hearings are on in the House of Representatives—the Leftists know that the only thing standing between them and their ultimate goal of a socialist country is a President Trump!
Therefore, if you have formed, or are planning to form a local citizens group, or re-energizing a local Tea Party group, anything and everything you can do to support the President is your top priority now.
If he wins in 2020, we get four more years of peace and prosperity, not to mention four more years to put some of our reforms in place (like dumping or reforming the US Refugee Admissions Program!).
If he loses, we are finished and I mean that!
Re-elect Trump!
I’m no expert, but here are some of the things I think you need to be doing in addition to re-electing the President:
Your next priority is to defeat the progressives who are running your local governments.
I know that is a tall order, but I’m telling you, mayors, city councils, state legislators, those are the offices the socialist Democrats are working to control.
You need to find good people to run against them.
Even if you can’t win yet, people who think like you must run in order to get your message out. Your local Leftwing media will be forced to report your ideas if candidates are presenting them.
And, if yours is a contested Congressional District, get involved and work to defeat the Democrat. You can see the damage being done to the country under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi.
Knowledge is power! So you must have your facts!
***Update*** See my new category ‘Knowledge is Power’ by clicking here.
Of course you need to know about myriad issues, but it is my view that the most important issue of all time is immigration because once they change the people, there is no going back.
If I were running a local citizens group I would have a couple of people assigned to learning about all of the programs that admit immigrants and refugees to America—the refugee program that I write about all the time, Temporary Protected Status, DACA, the insane Diversity Visa Lottery.
Those experts can then share with your group what they learn which includes investigating those programs in your own state. Find out who the players are on the Left and in your state government and when the time is right expose them.
As part of investigating, especially as it relates to the refugee program, you must find and infiltrate your local interfaith groups. They are the primary promoters of the refugee program.
A reader told me that Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service’s new CEO was speaking next month to a local Interfaith group and what that says to me is that they are getting ready for a new push into new communities as they anticipate a post-Trump White House.
Frankly, you are going to have to designate someone (with acting skills!) to infiltrate their groups.
All of your research is important to educate your fellow citizens, but will be especially useful in the four more years you will be buying by getting Donald Trump back in the White House.
Bring in speakers!
(LOL! I am not talking about me, I’m not good at it!)
Bite the bullet and find the funds to bring in people knowledgeable about immigration issues, about socialism/communism, about Islamic fundamentalism, and about how to community organize!
Unfortunately the Left is rolling in money and they use it to spread their propaganda. It annoys me that conservatives are often so cheap and don’t spring for national level speakers to educate and energize local grassroots groups.
Send me an e-mail and I will name some national level educators for your group, but be prepared to pay them for their time and for the knowledge they have worked hard to acquire!
But, don’t let this happen: A knowledgeable speaker comes in, attendees shake their heads about what they are learning, saying to themselves—‘it is awful’—and go away and do nothing! Provide specific goals for the audience to follow before they leave the room!
There is nothing worse than for a handful of group organizers to hold meetings, do all the work, and everyone else walks away after the meeting and says ‘see you next month.’ (Tick-tock and then there is one less month until the 2020 elections!)
Give out assignments! And, you must meet more than once a month!
Network, network, network!
It is not enough to be simply a news junky who spends your day reading the news on the net (tweeting!) and feeling superior because you know more than your friends.
You absolutely must network with other like-minded groups and individuals in your state even if you have to hold your nose because you don’t like so-and-so who is involved with that group. Get over it! The stakes are too high for you to let petty differences hinder your work—the work to get Trump reelected in less than 12 months.
But, that said, I am not a fan of creating one large group. It is too easy to take down. Create and encourage many small groups. It will confuse the opposition! By the way, it is one of their tactics. They don’t have that many activists, they just make it look like they do by spawning ever-more groups.
If you are sitting alone at your computer screen and reading this, find two more people and form a group, give it a name and get to work!
Communicate
You’ve done all that, you’ve gathered your facts, you have people planning to run for local offices, how do you get your message out?
That is a problem as the Left now controls most local newspapers (they have been working at that for more than a decade while you led your life). If you plan events, demonstrations, conferences, they might publish your news.
And, occasionally they publish letters-to-the-editor, but don’t rely on your local paper to carry your message.
Find social media experts in your group and use any and all forms you can find.
I’m a big fan of setting up a blog or website to spread the message to your members and to gain new members in your community. However, after my experience of RRW being silenced for a few months, I know it isn’t as easy any longer to set up blogs.
The advantage of a website or blog is that you can archive everything your team of investigators is learning.
I know you might be saying, but then the other side will know about us. Yes, they will, but the downside of not publicizing your work is that you won’t find more people to join you!
If you are interested, send me an e-mail and I’ll send you the name of a professional who can help you get a site up. But, again be prepared to spend a little money!
And, even if they might not publish your letters-to-the-editor, assign some people in your group to write them anyway. If you are responding to the news or another opinion piece they have already published, you might get your letter in print.
This is getting too long, sorry!
Just remember!
Even as we gripe that the President isn’t doing this, or that, or LOL! saying things you wish he wouldn’t, he is all that is standing between us and a new America, filled with new Americans marching down the path toward a socialist/communist future for our once great country—a future that might only be 11 months away!
Today, while reading one more storyabout how the President is killing the US Refugee Admissions Program, it reminded me that I wanted to go back and have a look at the Refugee Council USA report where they list the many refugee offices that have closed in the last two years.
Longtime readers may remember that in the heyday of the Obama Administration the US State Department was working feverishly (and secretively) with its nine major contractors to find new locations to place refugees. We wrote about it many times.
In fact, in June of 2018, Judicial Watch sued in an attempt to get the list of proposed Obama sites and the criteria used to choose them, see here. I don’t know where the case stands, but will find out.
However, when I went to the Refugee Council USA site for their report on Trump-era office closures this morning, the report was blacked out. WTH! Readers were directed to a new initiative.
This is a good opportunity to hammer the point again—they never give up!
The Open Borders pushers are always on the offense coming up with some new effort to show their supporters they are working hard to move the needle in their direction in support of mass migration.
Frankly, other than Trump, people who want to see restraint used in how much immigration America can sustain are almost always playing defense!
Anyway, here istheir latest initiative which began yesterday. For some strange reason they want their supporters to black out their social media accounts. But, more importantly they are looking for support for the so-called GRACE ACT which seeks to set a minimum refugee number each year of 95,000!
Go hereto see the GRACE ACT which would. among other things, set the minimum number of refugees to be admitted to the US each year at 95,000.
You are probably saying, that it won’t go anywhere and you would be right.
However, with each of these campaigns where they are on the offense and the media laps it up, they move the needle in their direction.
So why can’t we do that and demand a moratorium—zero admissions—until our whole US immigration system is revamped?
We could (and it would help Trump!), but it would look extreme and heaven-forbid the immigration control groups running the show in Washington don’t want to look extreme, not ever!
How about a new group! Something like Migration Moratorium NOW!
He’s baaaaack! Dr. Luke Tripp of St. Cloud State is once again accusing “white conservatives” of stirring up St. Cloud racial tensions as he does it himself! And, he clearly is fixated on former Rep. Michele Bachmannwho we first noticed he targeted in 2010 and reported on these pages.
This man is not a peacemaker!
Tripp went to Colorado in February. See what they said about him (taxpayers of MN pay his salary!): “In honor of Black History Month, Adams State University will host “Then and Now: The Revolutionary Workers League in Detroit and Black Lives Matter,” a lecture by Dr. Luke Trip [Tripp-ed] A longtime activist and educator, Trip is currently professor of African American Studies at St. Cloud State University. He holds degrees from St. Benedict College, Wayne State University, and the University of Michigan. He was among the founders of the League of Revolutionary Workers in Detroit and served as the first Minister of Education of the Detroit Chapter of the Black Panther Party. He was chair of UHURU (Freedom in Swahili), a black student lead organization active in the liberation movement of the 1960s. https://www.adams.edu/news/feb1705.phpBut, before I get to Dr. Tripp’s latest tirade…
I’ll remind readers of the chaos going on in St. Cloud as the next City Council meeting is to be held tomorrow evening and that Councilman Jeff Johnson, we hear, is planning to introduce his resolution seeking more transparency and economic analysis of the impact of Somali refugee resettlement on that community.
See my ever-expanding St. Cloud archive here(the city I call the canary in the coal mine!).
I first wrote about Tripp,the former Detroit revolutionary and Black Panther organizer,here in January 2010.
In that article we reported on his efforts to ‘get’ then Rep. Michele Bachmann. Frankly the African Muslim migrants require the leadership of, shall we say the communist/socialist, Leftwing community organizers like Tripp.
You should have heard about the concept either from James Simpson’s‘Red-Green Axis’writing or perhaps you have heard him speak! Tripp is the personification of the concept.
Editor: Knowledge is power! For all of you trying to understand what is going on in St. Cloud, it is important for you to know who the ‘community agitators’ are. Tripp is one. He may in fact be the leader. But, I haven’t the time or energy to summarize all of my previous writing on Tripp and his Somali legions. I expect you to do your homework! As the old saying goes—you must know your enemy. And, read! Read! Read!
Before I get to Dr. Tripp’s lastest blast (still focusing on the departed Michele Bachmann), here is another post on Tripp from April 2010. Go here for other mentions here at RRW. Don’t miss Tripp’s involvement with the Somalis who successfully sued a local meat plant. (Special accommodation for Islamic prayer times = shariah law!).
Now here is Tripp’s salvo from last Thursday at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorderwhere he is wearing his “women’s studies” hat:
(Sounds pretty racist to me, what do you think?)
I witnessed and experienced how St. Cloud earned the dubious reputation of “White Cloud.”
[….]
Go here and see Tripp talking about his Marxist activities in Detroit. Did they destroy the auto industry? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yyZz8k3k4E
I believe that Jeff Johnson’s resolution calling for a temporary ban on resettlement of refugees in St. Cloud is aimed at Somalis who are under attack in St. Cloud because of their race (they are Black), their religion (they are Muslims), and their immigration/refugee status (they are perceived to be untrustworthy aliens).
The City of St. Cloud, historically a very conservative White town, has only recently become home to a significant population of about 6,000 Somalis who represented about eight percent of St. Cloud’s population of 68,000 people in 2013. There has been a series of hateful attacks against the growing Somali community since they began arriving here in the 1990s.
[….]
The animosity against Somalisreflects the sentiments of a significant segment of conservative White residents in the city of St. Cloudwhose views were politically expressed by their right-wing extremist ex-congresswoman, Michele Bachmann,who represented Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District from 2007 to 2015. Bachmann was a staunch advocate of barriers against immigrants and their culture. Her voting record on anti-immigration legislation is graded A+.
There is more. But, this is the funny part: I thought I recognized those words! Check out what he said in 2010. In addition to sounding racist he must be lazy! Throughout the above tirade he simply rehashed his many tired old charges from 2010! (I’ve highlighted one of those rehashed paragraphs in red—one from last week above and the other from 2010 below–this is hilarious!)
This is the same paragraph in a February 2010 rant (and why the fixation on Bachmann? Alinsky rule***):
The animosity against Somalis reflects the sentiments of a significant segment of conservative White residents in the city of St. Cloudwhose views are politically expressed by their right-wing extremist congresswoman, Michele Bachmann, who represents Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District.Bachmann is a staunch advocate of barriers against immigrants and their culture. Her voting record on anti-immigration legislation is graded A+.
***This is Alinsky Rule 13: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” He is making Bachmann the face of the problem. He is sending a message to the Mayor and Council of St. Cloud—we (bullies) will do this to you too if you go against us!
Bottomline readers, please listen!
You will continue to lose if your elected officials are more afraid of trained agitators like Luke Tripp and his legions (which includes the Islamic supremacists) than they are of you—American citizens who want answers and demand a right to help decide the future of your communities!
I know it is uncomfortable, but get over it! You (conservatives of whatever color) need to fight the way they fight! Make your elected officials more uncomfortable than they do!
Start by picking a target and steal yourselves for the anger, the chaos and the controversy that is happening and will happen—saving western civilization isn’t for the faint-hearted!
You are going to get so sick of hearing this from me!
Reader Paul reminded me again of this quote by David Gergen reported in the NY Times in 1993, here.
I’m taking my cue from Richard Nixon!
What Nixon advised is likely the single most important thing that you can do to bring attention and possible change to the refugee resettlement industry where you live (or to any issue that concerns you!).
Gergen said of Nixon:
He learned the importance of saying the same thing, over and over and over: “Nixon taught us about the art of repetition. He used to tell me, ‘About the time you are writing a line that you have written it so often that you want to throw up, that is the first time the American people will hear it.’ ”
The more I think about this, the more I realize what masters the Left are at this: “Diversity is beautiful,” “America is a nation of immigrants,” “Refugees undergo ‘robust’ screening,” yada, yada, yada.
(LOL! btw, try to work that word ‘robust’ into anything you do. I want to barf whenever I hear it from the Left, so let’s have some fun with it!)
We don’t repeat things enough! Why is that? We tend to think our people are smart enough and will get it the first time? We aren’t willing to get to the barf stage?
Anyway, back to my headline….
For a few months, I had high hopes that we were going to see some significant demands for reform of UN/US Refugee Admissions Program in Washington. Dropping the ceiling to 45,000for this fiscal year is not significant. If no reform of the general structure of the program happens, as soon as Trump is no longer Prez they will just boost the number to make up for lost time.
Therefore….
As I have already said, our energy must now shift back to grassroots activism on the local and state level. And, first, don’t worry that you haven’t hundreds of people behind you, just get to work yourself (with maybe a friend or two, for help and support).
Lancaster, PA
Let’s use Lancaster, PA which I wrote about yesterday as a model for a step-by-step action plan.
First, go here and find your State Refugee Coordinator. The list is a little old but through these contact numbers you should find your state’s key people. (This link and many others are at my Frequently Asked Questions, here.)
Ask the coordinator politely for your State’s refugee plan (usually not of great interest because it’s likely written in a mealy-mouth format, but get it). Tell the coordinator where you live and ask to be included in (put on the list for notification of) the “QUARTERLY CONSULTATIONS.”
Obviously for our Lancaster model, find the coordinator for Pennsylvania (often these are employees of the State government).
Next, find out, which resettlement contractors/subcontractors work where you live. Find any office here that is within 100 miles (generally 2 hours drive time) from where you live. Refugees can be placed within that distance from the office. If you live on a state border, be sure to check the neighboring state.
For Lancaster, there are two contractors listed (one for Church World Service the other two for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service). You might find numbers and addresses have changed because the feds are pretty lousy at keeping this up to date.
Contractors are the abbreviations in the left hand corner: Church World Service and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
For folks in Lancaster, call all three subcontractor offices and politely ask forR & P (Reception & Placement) Abstractsfor FY16, FY17 and the new one for FY18. These are plans for your town. Of course the FY18 plan is most interesting, ask for three years for comparison.
And, so you understand, if you get one abstract from one contractor that will only be information on their batch of refugees. They ‘bid for bodies’ so in order to fully understand what the total number is for your town, you must add the abstract projected numbers together. There might be 4 or 5 contractors operating in the same city!
You will likely be told NO, you can’t have them. By the way, on FY18, until a couple of weeks ago, they might have said you can’t have that one because it is a document not yet approved by the State Department. But since the fiscal year began on October 1, that excuse is no longer valid. (See what the Abstract looks like here).
Welcoming Mayor Gray. Has he ever seen the Abstracts for Lancaster?
If you get a NO at the contractor’s office, go back to your state coordinator and ask him/her for those important documents. Be sure to say you want the entire document which includes more than just the pages with numbers and spells out the amenities your town is offering refugees.
At this point if you are still getting a runaround, you may have to use your state’s public information law to attempt to get them.
Put your mayor and council on the spot!
However, while waiting for that to work through the system, ask your Mayor and Council for the R & P Abstracts. Either your local elected officials will say they don’t have such documents, or they will say you can’t have them.
For Lancaster, contact “welcoming” Mayor Gray!
Now you have some excellent political ammunition if they don’t give you the R & P Abstract.
Either the mayor/council is completely unaware that a document like this exists or they keep it from you on purpose, and either way they are politically in a hot seat!
They are either so incompetent they didn’t know that a federal contractor was sending plans for their (your) town to Washington, or they did know and kept it from the citizens (aka voters). Lack of transparency/secrecy are words that you can use against them (until you want to barf!).
Republican Rep. Smucker. If he can’t get the Abstracts he should be pretty angry at the US State Department!
Next! Contact your Representative in the US Congress. It looks like for most of Lancasterthat is Rep. Lloyd Smucker.
You are going to report to his staff (try his local office first) that you are getting a runaround and can’t get the R & P Abstractsfor Lancaster and ask his staff to get them for you.
Again, this is an important exercise, not so much that the documents contain bombshells (although most I’ve seen are very interesting), but it will tell you something about the man representing you in Congress. If he can’t get the documents (and get you invited to quarterly consultations), he is weak, or he is lying.
You will do the same exercise with the US Senate offices of Pat Toomey an Bob Casey.
For additional fun contact your governor’s office too. See if the governor’s office is being kept informed by the state coordinator (who may actually be employed by the governor’s office).
Presumably you now have the documents and are on the list to be invited to the next QUARTERLY CONSULTATION (aka Stakeholder meeting). Look for another post from me on what to do next involving publicizing what you have learned and pushing for the Abstract to be made public BEFORE it goes to Washington next year!
If no transparency….
If you are still getting a runaround, you have some perfect ammunition to use in the next mayor/city council election (and in 2018 for your member of Congress!). They are all keeping you, taxpaying citizens of refugee resettlement towns and cities, in the dark about plans from Washington about your very neighborhoods!
Say that over and over and over again until you want to throw up!
This post is filed in my ‘What you can do’ category, here.
