Category: Taxpayer goodies

Nearly 36,000 'grocery' stores engaged in food stamp trafficking over a recent three year period (Obama)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

So, why am I writing about this?  If you are a relatively new reader, you probably don’t know that I followed food stamp fraud stories for many years as a sideline to my refugee research work.  (We had a bust in my county just as the refugee arrivals began in earnest.)
I first became interested in it when I noticed that the majority of busts I was reading about, mostly at small grocery stores and convenience stores, were of immigrant owners and managers.
 

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One recent bust in Maine: http://fox23maine.com/news/local/portland-shop-owner-pleads-guilty-to-welfare-fraud

 
If you click here you can see many years worth of stories on food stamp fraud here at RRW. Many are million dollar frauds involving trafficking perpetrated by frankly many Middle Eastern/Asian immigrants some of whom sent the money they ripped off out of the country.
Here is a story about a recent report from the Dept. of Agriculture on the extent of the fraud.  Let’s hope Big Don will take care of these crooks!
Remember readers, trafficking involves big bucks, your money! It is not about people buying junk food on food stamps.
From CNS News:

(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has published a report estimating that 35,891 food retailers around the country engaged in food stamp fraud, illegally “trafficking” more than $1 billion in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits annually over the three-year period from 2012 through 2014.

 

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Most of the fraud is in small groceries and convenience stores!

 
CNS News continues….

“Retailer trafficking of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits occurs primarily when SNAP recipients sell their benefits for cash to food retailers, often at a discount,” the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service said in a summary of the report.

“SNAP benefits are permitted for the purchase of eligible food items from authorized food retailers,” said the report. “The sale or exchange of SNAP benefits for anything other than food sold by an authorized SNAP retailer is illegal.”

[….]

“An estimated $1.077 billion in SNAP benefits annually were trafficked and thereby diverted from their intended purpose,” said the report.

“Overall, about 1.5 percent of total SNAP benefits were trafficked; and approximately 11.8 percent of all authorized SNAP stores engaged in trafficking,” it said.

[….]

“Trafficking is defined as buying or selling benefits for cash or consideration other than eligible food, and the penalty is permanent disqualification,” said the report. “Permanent disqualification occurs when a retailer’s authorization to redeem SNAP benefits is revoked.”

States where ‘diversity is beautiful’ have the highest number of illegal operations.

A breakdown by states showed that the largest number of retailers permanently disqualified from SNAP in fiscal 2016 were in New York (448), the second largest number was in Florida (175), the third largest was in California (133) and the fourth largest was in New Jersey (130).

Go get’em Donald!
Again, see my food stamp fraud archive by clicking here.  There are some doozy stories there!

SOS! from Ireland to South Dakota, media covers for global migration plan

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Amazing!
I am sure that when State Senator Neal Tapio proposed his bill and secured a hearing on it—a bill to slow refugee flow from certain countries to SD—he couldn’t have envisioned how that failed bill has now exposed so much about the fearful ‘leaders’ and the dishonest media in that state….
….’leaders’ who apparently aren’t afraid of jihadists, but of the power of BIG Business (like the meatpackers who want the cheap labor and call the shots) and Chamber lobbyists.
Did the newspaper there also bow to BIG MEAT power, or was it the Chairman of the committee who pressured the newspaper to change its story on the hearing in less than an hour?

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Chairman, Republican Senator Bob Ewing was clearly embarrassed when Hohmann said “you don’t want to hear the truth.”  My guess is that he called the Argus Leader and had the original story taken down! Just a guess on my part!

How fortuitous it was that Leo Hohmann, James Simpson and Phil Haney were all there to see it first hand.
They knew the local Argus paper had reported fairly in the first few minutes after they testified only to see that story removed and replaced (except for the url, LOL!) within the hour.
So Senator Tapio didn’t get his bill advanced out of committee, but in fact gained much more in the fight to save western civilization. He exposed the feckless leaders in the legislature and the media’s dishonest complicity with them.
Be sure to see my two previous posts on Hohmann’s reports here and here.  (See the weak women ‘leaders’ selling us out!)
Then here is today’s news on how newspapers worldwide are doing the bidding of the global elites and attempting to reduce the natural and sensible resistance people have to being taken over by literally alien cultures.
 

Irish gov’t paid media for positive spin on plan to import 1 million migrants, but that doesn’t happen in U.S. right?

A very disturbing story appeared in the European press this week that should concern all of us on this side of the Atlantic.

Stick with me while I explain why.

According to the Times of London, concerns have been raised about an “ethically dubious deal” between the government and national newspapers that involves journalists writing positive pieces about the Ireland 2040 plan.

The government’s “strategic communications unit” arranged for sponsored content to appear in local, regional and national newspapers including the Irish Independent and The Irish Times.

What is the Ireland 2040 plan, you ask?

It’s a €116 billion national development plan to prepare for an estimated population growth of one million people over the next two decades.

And where is this population growth going to come from, since Irish women have stopped having babies, as evidenced by their paltry 1.7 children per woman fertility rate?

More…
So how does this relate to South Dakota, continue reading here (I don’t want to give it all away).
But here is a hint, the (second) story the Argus Leader reported about the Tapio bill hearing is entitled:

Citing concerns of discrimination, S.D. panel shelves refugee resettlement ban

But the url still shows what the original title was:

https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/21/supporter-s-d-bill-ban-refugee-resettlement-you-dont-want-hear-truth/358003002/

Hohmann had told the chairman of the committee something he didn’t want to hear (there were audible gasps in the hearing room) and you can see it in the url above.

“You don’t want to hear the truth!”

Read the full account at LeoHohmann.com.
It is happening all over the world! But, unless you are carefully monitoring your media, you would never know!
(Real) leaders looking for something to do?
Craft bills and resolutions even if you know they won’t go anywhere, but do it to expose your weak elected officials and your dishonest media like this bunch in South Dakota.
For more on South Dakota, you might want to visit my archive on the state here.  It is a state I visited in the summer of 2016 on my tour of western states where BIG MEAT rules!
 

In South Dakota, it is about pleasing the Chamber, about low wage workers and fear

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….but the fear isn’t about fear for the safety of citizens of South Dakota, it is the fear the Left and Islamic supremacists know how to stir—the fear of being called names or appearing ‘unwelcoming’ that will be the death of the west!

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Hohmann asks: Does Morgan Evanson, stabbed in Minneapolis only a few months ago by a still at-large Somali man, feel she was enriched?

And, so they give us gobbledygook about the beauty of cultural diversity and enrichment, about the need for vibrant communities.
Leo Hohmann has penned a follow-up to his story of a few days ago about his eye-opening trip to the American heartland.
(If you missed Hohmann’s first account of his opportunity to testify before the South Dakota Senate, go here first, and then read on below).
I’ll call my post:

Women helping women! Not!

From Leo Hohmann:

Chamber of Commerce praises ‘diversity & cultural enrichment’ Muslim refugees bring to US cities

As I walked through the state Capitol in Pierre, S.D., last week, I was struck by the magnificent beauty of the building, especially the murals that cover the interior walls and ceilings.

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Debra Owens of the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce praised the cultural enrichment that Somalis bring to the state.

Many of the murals have a Christian theme.

The one right over the main Senate chamber depicts the settlers of this great state as they reached out to the Native Americans with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[….]

The very word “Islam” means “submission.” They push. We submit. This is the new norm in Western societies from Germany and Sweden to Canada, Australia and the U.S. This is how Western societies are being weakened from within.

As I sat through the senate hearings Wednesday on a bill that would have declared a moratorium on refugee arrivals from 10 Sharia-compliant nations, it became obvious that refugee advocates are skilled at dodging and deflecting questions/concerns South Dakotans have about the culture of violence being imported into their state.

It’s being imported to Sioux Falls and Aberdeen under the guise of humanitarianism and fixing labor shortages.

But perhaps the dumbest reason of all used to justify the resettlements was put forth by the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, which sent lobbyist Debra Owens to the Capitol to tell the people’s legislature that refugee resettlement brings “cultural enrichment and diversity” that benefits South Dakota.

Kris Langor
SD Republican Senator Kris Langer fretted that the state might look “unwelcoming.”

As if the South Dakota culture has not become sufficiently enriched over the last 100-plus years and needs Somalia to help it out. Give me a break. That was an insult to the intelligence of every citizen of this wonderful state, including the Native Americans.

Hohmann lists and rebuts the many excuses he heard from legislators and those testifying on behalf of bringing more Somalis to South Dakota.
He asks?

Did Morgan Evenson, 24, benefit from cultural enrichment and diversity when she was stabbed 14 times by a Somali migrant while walking home from work in downtown Minneapolis?

I’ve only given you the bare bones of Hohmann’s story, go here and read it all.
Then you might want to visit my archive on South Dakota here.  It is a state I visited in the summer of 2016 on my tour of western states where BIG MEAT rules!
Endnote:  You should see this story today at ‘Progressives for Immigration Reform’ on how wages are rising for low-skill workers now that immigration is slowing.
The meatpackers of South Dakota will have to (boo hoo!) pay more for their slaughterhouse slave laborers if this keeps up!

Was there fraud in the huge resettlement of Burmese 'refugees' to the US?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

They must have found something at the USCIS or a thousand Burmese living in the US right now wouldn’t have gotten a letter to report to a USCIS office.
Was there fraud in transit country, Malaysia???
(Checking Wrapsnet I see that since FY06 we have admitted a whopping 167,583 Burmese people and they were coming before 2006 and are still coming, see map below.)
Here is a short article at the Des Moines Register about the “summons” Burmese living in Iowa have received:

Dozens of refugees in Iowa received letters from immigration officials asking them to appear for an interview and provide information that validates their status.

The refugees are from the country formerly known as Burma, a group that has grown in the past five years to include more than 8,000 living in Iowa.

[….]

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Abigail Sui, program manager of Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Resources in Des Moines.   http://www.embarciowa.org/

She [Abigail Sui] said at least 50 refugees in Iowa, all who came from Burma and to the U.S. through Malaysia, got the letter from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Department that requested the in-person interview. One letter required travel to Indianapolis, while a refugee from Indiana appeared at the USCIS offices in Des Moines for an interview Monday, according to EMBARC.

[….]

“A current USCIS investigation has raised concerns about identity and biographic information provided to USCIS in a number of cases involving Burmese refugees, including many who have resettled in the U.S.,” said Sharon Rummery, a USCIS public affairs officer based in San Francisco.

She said in an email that the USCIS sent 1,000 requests for interviews nationwide that “will help determine the refugee’s immigration status or eligibility for future immigration benefits.”

The interviews are voluntary, but Sui said that she thinks consequences are possible if the refugees do not go.

Already facing resettlement hardships, the refugees would have to fund a trip to the interviews and take time off work, said Sui. In addition, no interpreters would be made available.

Can you hear the immigration lawyer stampede now—no taxpayer-funded interpreters is a big no-no!  And, how dare the Trump Administration dig more deeply into the US Refugee Admissions Program.
More here.
Here is a map from the US State Department’s Refugee Processing Center showing where the 167,583 Burmese have been placed since FY06.  Obviously there is an error as there is no number on the dark blue Indiana.   Texas takes top honors.
 

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New readers may not know that Wyoming is the only state with no refugee program.

 
My archive on the Burmese may be found by clicking here.
Most of the Burmese are not Muslims but in the last few years, the US has begun admitting larger numbers of the so-called ‘Rohingya,’ Muslims from Burma and Bangladesh.

Get those federal "monitoring reports" for your community (if you can!)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’m reminded by this report on the San Diego refugee housing scandal at Inewsource.org.
The US State Department on some sporadic basis sends monitors out to refugee resettlement offices around the country to see if your local resettlement agency is compliant with guidelines for the care of refugees they have placed.
Years ago I spoke with Chris Coen who had a blog called ‘Friends of Refugees’ and he regularly submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to the State Department for those monitoring reports, then patiently waited YEARS to get responses.  Lacking patience, I never sought them (little did I imagine that nearly 11 years later, I am still doing this!).

Mireille Cronin Mather
IRC’s representative in San Diego: Mireille Cronin Mather

Now that we know that the Tillerson State Department is trying to clear its FOIA backlog, maybe some of you should try again to get the reports for contractors operating in your towns.
Clearly the reporters at Inewsource.org were able to obtain one for the International Rescue Committee in San Diego.
Here is the title and first paragraph of their latest report.  The contractors are extremely vulnerable on the issue of how they care for refugees they are paid to care for (I’ve been hearing it for years), and it goes to the heart of the question about whether this is really a ‘humanitarian’ program or simply driven by money.

Federal monitors warned San Diego refugee nonprofit of problems with resettlement practices

Federal monitors raised concerns about a local refugee resettlement agency’s housing placement practices months before the organization’s employees committed additional violations, which KPBS uncovered and detailed in a series of reports last year.

Continue here.
Now see what a Monitoring report looks like.  2016 report for IRC in San Diego:
 
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Here is the State Department’s FOIA guideline site.
If you need to know which resettlement agencies are working near you, go here for a directory.  Pick offices that are within a hundred miles of your home.
This post is filed in my ‘What you can do’ category, see here.