Germany: Leftwing Jews fuming because Jews who fear Islam have joined the political Rightwing

10/16/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, those Jews who fear the Muslim migration to Germany have done the unforgivable and formed a lobbying group with Germany’s AfD party (think of it as the Germany first! party).

Invasion of Europe news…..

merkel poster with migrants — When Chancellor Merkel chose these new Germans her political fate was sealed, but did she seal Germany’s fate too?

From Religion News Service:

Jewish lobby in far-right German party denounced for anti-Muslim views

PARIS (RNS) — A small group of German Jews has launched a lobby group within the far-right Alternative for Germany party, prompting a swift rejection from the country’s established Jewish organizations and accusations that the move was an anti-Muslim ploy.

The founding of the 24-member “Jews in the AfD” group on Oct. 7 seems like a contradiction given the party’s staunch nationalist views that include playing down Germany’s Nazi past, including the Holocaust, and the close ties some members have to anti-Semitic movements. [Notice how the reporter here is throwing in bias to set the readers mind right in the opening paragraphs!—ed]

But it highlights one of the party’s main policies — opposition to accepting mostly Muslim immigrants in Germany — through its accusation that the newcomers are deeply anti-Jewish. A wave of about a million new immigrants in 2015, many of them from Islamic countries, has been decisive in boosting support for the AfD.

The AfD, founded in 2013 as an anti-European Union protest party, won 12.6 percent of the national election a year ago. It is now the largest opposition party in the Bundestag (parliament). The party has used this platform to challenge many of the country’s postwar taboos.

[….]

The JSUD was one of 17 Jewish organizations, including the influential Central Committee of Jews in Germany and the country’s General Rabbinical Conference, that issued a joint statement denouncing the new AfD lobby.

Other Jewish groups, including the World Jewish Congress, have added their support to the statement, bringing the total of signatories to 42.

“The AfD openly agitates against Muslims and other minorities in Germany … trying to present Muslims as enemies of the West and of the Jews,” said the statement, titled “No Alternative for Jews.”

“Muslims are not the enemies of the Jews!” the statement says. The enemies of all democrats in this country are extremists, regardless of whether they have extreme right, radical left or radical Muslim views.”

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open Germany’s borders to the waves of migrants marching across Europe in 2015 changed the country’s political landscape and sapped support for her Christian Democratic party and its Social Democratic coalition partners.

The AfD and the Bavarian-based Christian Social Union, a Merkel ally that has moved strongly to the right to counter the AfD’s challenge to its voter base, have used fear of Islam, a few sex crimes committed by migrants and concern about the cost of caring for the newcomers to stoke mistrust of Muslims.

It is a very long article, read it all here.

My ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive is here.

Trump has not yet signed refugee determination, therefore zero refugees being admitted to the US right now

10/04/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

“Whatever that number is, it will absolutely be driven principally by the capacity of my agency and the law enforcement, security, and vetting practices.”

(Francis Cissna, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS))

Granted we are only 4 days into the month of October so things could change tomorrow or the next day, but so far zero refugees have been placed since the new fiscal year began on Monday (October 1).

Here we hear from Voice of America and a distressed resettlement lobbyist about the disappointment in the refugee industry.

Trump Administration Misses Refugee Admissions Deadline

The Trump administration has missed the end-of-fiscal-year deadline to set the maximum number of refugees that will be allowed in the United States in the next 12 months.

Mary Giovagnoli1 — An “extraordinarily disappointed” Mary Giovagnoli of the Refugee Council USA, the lobbying arm for the refugee contractors.

“Consultations and the subsequent Presidential Determination (PD) normally take place by Oct. 1. However, on some occasions, the consultations and subsequent PD have been completed later,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement to VOA. “We do not expect this will have any operational impact on the Refugee Admissions Program.”

The agency declined a request from VOA to provide a timeline for the consultations.

[….]

Last month, the administration proposed a record-low refugee ceiling for the 2019 fiscal year of 30,000 refugees. By law, Congress must be consulted about the cap before a final number can be issued.

“We are extraordinarily disappointed that the administration has failed to honor the spirit and the letter of the law when it comes to consultations,” said Mary Giovagnoli. executive director of Refugee Council USA. “For two years in a row now, the administration has just failed to take it seriously.”

President Donald Trump has dramatically cut refugee arrivals to the United States since taking office.

[….]

Francis Cissna, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said at a conference Monday that new vetting measures have increased processing times for refugee admissions.

He added that the suggested ceiling of 30,000 for FY2019 takes into account the “operational realities” of those measures for “national security and public safety.”

“The number is not final yet. The president has not signed the proclamation. Whatever that number is, it will absolutely be driven principally by the capacity of my agency and the law enforcement, security, and vetting practices,” Cissna said.

More here.

Click here for my complete file on RCUSA (Refugee Council USA).

Monday a big day for refugee contractors, expect more stories like these….

09/27/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

What is Monday? It is the beginning of the federal fiscal year. It is the first day of FY19. It is the day when the writing will be on the wall for many refugee resettlement offices around the country.

Screenshot (1457) — Dumb way to run an organization! Did no one in the refugee industry ever question a business model where some non-profits are 97% and up federally funded?

Why? Because in 1980 Jimmy Carter signed the Refugee Act of 1980 in to law and set up a house of cards that needs to fall now. Originally (supposedly!) designed as a public-private partnership, the federal government and ‘humanitarian’ non-profit groups were to share equally in the costs of admitting tens of thousands of refugees to the US each year.

But, over the years, because Congress has been so remiss in overseeing the program (the Rs want cheap labor!), those non-profit groups (aka federal contractors) have gotten fat and confident (like Aesop’s grasshopper) on ever larger amounts of federal funding and too lazy to raise sufficient amounts of private money to see them through if for any reason the number of paying clients/refugees declined.

(An aside: The inability to raise enough private money is also indicative of the fact that there isn’t enough interest by average Americans in financially supporting the program in the first place.)

So here we are with one story after another about what Monday will bring to dozens of resettlement contractors around the country.

From Austin, Texas we learn that a Catholic contractor—Caritas—is closing its refugee program.

The Statesman:

EXCLUSIVE: As refugees dwindle, Caritas will end resettlement program

Since 1974, the organization has helped thousands of people fleeing war or persecution find a new life in Austin. But after 44 years, Caritas is ending its refugee resettlement program and as of Monday, it will no longer serve new refugees.

“It’s really a tragedy that this program has to go away,” said Jo Kathryn Quinn, executive director for Caritas.

Screenshot (1459)

[….]

For the past two years, Caritas has seen a sharp decline in the number of refugees arriving in Austin, and the development has made the program “financially unsustainable,” Quinn said. Between 2010 and 2016, Caritas resettled an average of 576 refugees each year. Since last October, Caritas has resettled 151 refugees, but the nonprofit has not received any new refugees since April.

“Having zero refugees arrive in two months was unheard of for us,” Quinn said. “It was the final alarm bell that told us that we couldn’t continue this way.”

[….]

In June, Caritas’ board of directors voted to close the program at the end of the fiscal year at the recommendation of the nonprofit’s executive leadership.

When fewer refugees arrive, less federal money comes in to support them as well. Refugees receive a one-time amount of $1,125 from federal funds for resettlement needs, including housing and food, said Adelita Winchester, Caritas’ director of integrated services. Caritas would supplement federal funds with about $1 million annually in philanthropic donations,Winchester said. [The reporter has missed an important piece of information. The refugee gets $1,125 and Caritas gets another $1,125 for themselves per refugee.—ed]

“We didn’t have any excess philanthropic dollars to shift to aid this program,” Quinn said.

More here.

Now to California…..

From KPBS San Diego:

Budget Cuts, Layoffs And Closures Hit Refugee-Serving Organizations

Donna Duvin is executive director at the San Diego office of the national nonprofit International Rescue Committee, or IRC, one of nine federally funded resettlement agencies in the U.S. Duvin said the local office’s VESL funding dropped by 34 percent this year forcing the agency to replace some paid instructors with volunteers and interns.

miliband-in-manhattan — Red meat for readers! I love running this photo of the IRC’s David Miliband outside their Manhattan office. He is the Brit who is compensated at nearly $700,000 annually as he calls the shots about who will be placed in your towns.

“As the numbers began to fall, the support that we had from the county that passed through dollars from the federal government, those declined as well,” Duvin said.

Duvin said in past years more than three-fourths of the agency’s budget relied on government dollars, causing a loss of millions as the office’s arrivals dipped by 85.5 percent since 2016. She said the budget changes during that time forced the agency to eliminate 15 positions.

Apparently the IRC is trying to raise private money to keep some functions going. LOL! Maybe CEO David Miliband could give up some of his nearly $700,000 in annual salary to keep some low-level staffers in a job!

The IRC is not alone.

A representative for the national resettlement agency Church World Service estimated it lost possibly hundreds of staffers when it closed 10 offices after it was forced to merge operations with other organizations in some U.S. cities. And a spokesman for World Relief said it laid off 140 employees after shutting down five offices across the U.S.

More here.

Expect more stories over the coming days.

What you can do….

If you are looking for something to do, go to this list from last year of the resettlement agencies working in your towns and cities and call them. See if they are still in operation, or plan to close soon.

Reminder!

The 1980 structure of the US Refugee Admissions Program is still in place and the Trump Administration must push now for a complete reform of the program or in 2021 or 2025, it will be full steam ahead for these contractors. They will quickly staff-up and a new President could say—We must make up for the lost Trump years and quadruple the numbers of refugees coming in.

Italy: 50 of the latest batch of migrants allowed in have vanished, Catholic Church let them go!

09/07/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Invasion of Europe news…..

It was less than two weeks ago that we told you about the stand-off between Interior Minister Salvini and the forces arrayed against him demanding he allow the latest migrant transport ship to unload its cargo.

Father Francesco Soddu of Caritas: After all they weren’t in detention! They “voluntarily” departed!

He relented once a commitment was made for most of the 144 to be placed in the care of other countries.

Additionally dozens were to be taken in by the Catholic Church (we cheered that agreement where the migrants would not be a cost to the taxpayers of Italy).

Guess what?

It is those the church took in who have disappeared in to Europe!

From The Local:

Around 50 of the 144 migrants recently allowed into Italy after being stranded for days on a coastguard vessel have disappeared from reception centres, the country’s hardline Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Wednesday.

These migrants “were so in need of protection, a roof and a blanket that they decided to leave and disappear,” Salvini said on Facebook.

“This is the umpteenth confirmation that those who arrive in Italy are not skeletons fleeing war and famine,” he claimed.

The migrants were picked up by the Diciotti coastguard ship on the night of August 15th and were left stranded at sea for ten days as Salvini refused to allow the vessel to dock in an Italian port. The interior minister, who heads the anti-immigration League party, finally relented after Ireland, Albania and the Italian Catholic church agreed to lake most of them in.

The head of Catholic charity Caritas, which was hosting the migrants at its Rocca di Papa reception centre south of Rome, said it was a “voluntary departure”.

The group was not in detention, Father Francesco Soddu told Ansa news agency, and suggested that they may be trying to reach other countries in Europe.

More here.

Guess those 50 are no longer Italy’s problem—Germany? France? The Netherlands? Here they come!

Go here for more on the ‘Invasion of Europe.’

Immigration the number one issue as Swedes vote this Sunday

09/04/2018 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

“….the myth of the Sweden model is melting away.”

(A “sad” former Prime Minister Carl Bildt)

Who is to blame for that but the present and former government officials who opened the door to uncontrolled migration from Africa and the Middle East!

All of Europe will be watching as the country, considered the most welcoming of the welcoming countries of Europe, goes to the polls this coming Sunday.

We will be watching too because I’ve long predicted that Sweden falls first to Islamic supremacism, albeit they have some strong contenders in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands. France under Macron is a top contender as well. And, then Spain has edged its way forward with its recent welcome of migrant transport ships.

On Sunday we will see if Sweden pulls in the reins in this race to cultural annihilation…..

New swedes — ‘New Swedes’ gather for a political discussion

Here the New York Times gives us a detailed rundown (with its normal dripping bias on full display) of what the stakes are and what might happen.

LOL! Even the title of the NYT piece says that if you oppose the socialist (open borders) government then you might not be moral.

Sweden Was Long Seen as a ‘Moral Superpower.’ That May Be Changing.

STOCKHOLM — In a civic center in Rinkeby, a heavily immigrant district of northwest Stockholm, several hundred people gathered recently for a forum on Sweden’s coming election and the future of the country.

The conversation, about the nature of Sweden’s democracy and the importance of voting, was sophisticated and passionate. But it was frustrating for one participant, Ahmed Ali, a Somali immigrant, who thought people were dancing around the main issue.

“The stakes are really high in this election,” he said in an interview. “There are more extremists in the country, and they have more influence. They don’t have a real political agenda. They just hate immigrants. And this xenophobia is happening all over Europe.”

As an angry and divided Sweden prepares to vote on Sunday, the shape of the next Swedish government is utterly unclear, because of the rapid rise of the anti-immigration, anti-Europe Sweden Democrats, a populist nationalist party that is expected to win a fifth of the vote.

Swedish politician — A very important election for Afro-Swedes says **Kahin Ahmed** who opposes the recent surge in populism

“This election is very important to us,” said Kahin Ahmed, 48, who is running for a local seat, but complains that none of the Swedish parties put immigrants or black people high enough on their party lists to get elected in proportionate numbers, even in areas like this one. “There is a racist party moving forward fast, and we have to stop them.”

Sweden, long considered “a moral superpower,” as the political scientist Lars Tragardh put it, has traditionally welcomed immigrants. But that is changing under the pressure of globalization, immigration and anxiety about national and cultural identity. As in Germany and France, parties of the extremes, of the left and especially of the right, are increasing their support at the expense of those that have traditionally dominated.

Sweden “is joining the rest of Europe,” Carl Bildt, a former prime minister from the center-right Moderate Party, said with evident sadness. “And the myth of the Sweden model is melting away.”

The melting was in evidence recently in Sergels Square in central Stockholm, where Martin Westmont, a candidate for the Stockholm regional council, made the Sweden Democrats’ case to the voters.

Swedish Democrats is the party to watch!

“We’re the new wave,” he said. The election “will be a revolution.” He predicted that the Social Democrats, the party who built the famous Swedish welfare state, would collapse, “even if not this time,” and “we will become the largest party.” Many voters were still reluctant to tell pollsters that they would vote for the Sweden Democrats, Mr. Westmont suggested.

Populism has shifted the political discourse to the right and raised the temperature, even among the traditionally phlegmatic Swedes. Political support is fragmenting, with the long-dominant Social Democrats heading for their worst showing in a century.

Continue reading here.

See my Sweden archive here. ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive is here.