St. Cloud, MN: AFL-CIO operative using intimidation tactics, stirs racial unrest….

07/30/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….with the help of a college professor from Saint Cloud State University!

Update July 31: A critical commenter to this blog tells us that the anti-VFW rally has been moved to the St. Cloud Courthouse, but I am told by local patriots that it doesn’t matter because the barbecue at the VFW is expected to be huge and fun!
Update: One of our readers pointed out that this is the Red-Green Axis at work. Why didn’t I think of that!
They plan a rally against the local VFW (what! to teach them a lesson?) and want to silence concerned citizens with an “action” (confrontation?) by Somalis!
As regular readers know, the city of St. Cloud, Minnesota ( the heart of former Rep. Michele Bachmann’s district) has been swamped in recent years by Third World refugees from the UN/US State Department Refugee Resettlement program.

Jane Conrad, union organizer, stirring racial unrest in St. Cloud

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota is primarily responsible for the resettlement of mostly Somali refugees there. We believe that LSS is literally acting as an employment agency for the large meat packing companies operating in nearby towns and in need of an abundant supply of cheap labor. Why American union workers don’t get it is beyond me!
We have an extensive archive on St. Cloud and visited there in April. Click here for all of our previous news from St. Cloud going back many years.
Citizens have formed a ‘pocket of resistance’ and have begun to look into the economic impact the resettlement program has on local and state taxpayers. We reported here recently that Bob Enos of Willmar had made a persuasive argument about how local governments must begin looking at the fiscal cost to taxpayers of placing so many impoverished people on the state’s welfare rolls.
And here is Ron Brantsner (another citizen using his own personal time to research and speak about the economic impact, and the secrecy surrounding the role played by meat packers and Left-leaning foundations) speaking in Little Falls.
As far as I can tell the local paper (St. Cloud Times) hasn’t seen a need to write anything about the brewing storm.
***Update*** SC Times explains changes in rally locations for Saturday August 1, here.

Meeting cancelled at the last minute

Word coming out of St. Cloud is that Brantsner was scheduled to speak at a St. Cloud VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) just days ago when the meeting was abruptly cancelled due to fear that an “action” was being threatened against the VFW and meeting participants where the talk was scheduled. According to Gregory Jarrett, in an e-mail report to hundreds of like-minded citizens, we are told what happened when the meeting was cancelled:

Ms Conrad was apparently “forceful” enough to get the St Cloud PD to go to the VFW and “make a negotiated deal” to cancel an event [Brantsner was the scheduled speaker—ed]. Attendees traveled from all around Minnesota and had zero knowledge of the last minute cancellation of the EVENT in the basement room until virtually “at the front door” . Those attendees and local residents made the decision to support the Granite VFW and have a meal upstairs, with no scheduled presentation and no audio visual aids.

Working closely with Ms. Conrad on the “action” is SC State University faculty member Mark Jaede

Ms Conrad however in a further attempt to agitate and polarize the community directed an associate attend and to “report” back to her. The attendees (which include a Minnesota State Senator, hardly a radical racist) discussed the reason for the cancellation which then turned into folks standing up and voicing their own personal opinions. There was also a uniformed St Cloud Police Dept officer at the Dinner. The staff of the VFW club made it clear that there would be no “presentation”. The “cancelled” event turned into a social event where concerned and like minded folks got the opportunity to meet, discuss and exchange views.

Now, in a REAL attempt to “show them a thing or 2” Ms Conrad and Mr Jaede show zero concern for St Cloud, Veterans, Citizens, The Police Department and City Staff by going at it again.

Conrad (SEIU! and AFL-CIO) and Professor Mark Jaede (St. Cloud State Univ) have organized a rally against the offending VFW this Saturday.

Here is an e-mail from Jaede quoting Conrad:

From: ” Jaede, Mark G.” < mgjaede@stcloudstate.edu>
Date: July 29, 2015 at 5:04:33 PM CDT
To: ” scsu-announce@stcloudstate.edu” < scsu-announce@lists.stcloudstate.edu>, ” scsu-discuss@stcloudstate.edu” < scsu-discuss@lists.stcloudstate.edu>
Subject: [SCSU-announce] New announcement regarding rally at VFW

All:

I am very sorry that this announcement is necessary. I had thought the VFW, which serves veterans of all races, had made the right choice. Apparently not.

This message is from Jane Conrad, who can be reached at 320-267-0899:

A rally was planned to counter racist speaker Ron Branstner who was speaking at the VFW at 9 18th Ave N in St Cloud. Two hours after I let the police know about our action and after the police talked with management at the VFW the speaker was canceled. So I canceled the rally. However, I did find out that the VFW did allow the event to go forward with a racist speaker from Willmar, Bob Enos. To counter this we are planning a rally this Saturday at 1:00 in front of the VFW. Please join us a peaceful collective community action. We are all in this together.

So, Conrad and Jaede have put out the word—show up this Saturday to send a message to the VFW!
And here is Jarrett again in his e-mail to concerned citizens:

I would suspect that every Veteran in Minnesota and surrounding States will be made aware of this planned “Protest Rally” will attend and will stand UNITED in defense and in 100% defiance to radical outside influence’s who have now made the geographical battleground the St Cloud Granite VFW Club.

To all of you in ‘pockets of resistance’ across the country, get ready for intimidation tactics like this one to silence you!

St. Cloud residents hammer Rep. Emmer on Refugee Program; Somali teen murders African American

07/05/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Emmer responds in anger (not about the murdered teen, he didn’t like being questioned) according to this news at the Examiner entitled ‘Tom Emmer’s public meltdown.’
By the way, the thin-skinned Rep. Tom Emmer is the Republican who won the seat formerly held by Rep. Michele Bachmann. It sure looks like the 6th District of Minnesota will miss Bachmann as we learned recently that Emmer has joined forces with Rep. Keith Ellison to create a Somalia Caucus in Congress!

Here is Gary Gross writing at the Examiner. St. Cloud residents want to know what the cost is to the local taxpayer as Lutheran Social Services and the UN/US State Department continue to send refugees to the city that has a growing ‘pocket of resistance’ to the colonization plan.

A big crowd turned out for Congressman Tom Emmer’s townhall meeting Wednesday night. It wasn’t a good night for Emmer because he let his temper get the better of him early in the event.

The chief point of contention was over the refugee resettlement program. When citizens asked for a moratorium on the program until after an economic impact statement had been done, Congressman Emmer asked why anyone would have a problem with people in the United States legally. When an unidentified member of the audience said that refugees were draining St. Cloud’s resources, Emmer responded by saying that he’d seen the city of St. Cloud’s budget and that it looked fine. At that point, several people booed.

The main complaint is that refugees are depleting the school district’s funding. They’re allegedly also using health care programs, too. It was noted that school budgets aren’t part of St. Cloud’s operating budget. That’s shown in the school district’s budget. Also, the health programs that refugees are using are administered by Stearns County, not the City of St. Cloud.

Looking at St. Cloud’s city operating budget wouldn’t tell Congressman Emmer anything about the refugee resettlement’s financial impact on St. Cloud.

At another point, Emmer got upset about the possibility of Syrian refugees heading to St. Cloud, calling that possibility the “Syrian myth.” He later said that he’d checked with the State Department, who said that there wasn’t a chance of Syrian refugees coming to Minnesota.

Continue reading here.
He might be right about the number of Syrians that might be sent to Minnesota. I’m thinking the US State Department could actually have enough sense to not send more Muslims to Minnesota. Although if they get their wished-for 65,000 in the next 18 months, every state will be fair game.

Also from St. Cloud: Not a word in the national news about Somali refugee stabbing to death African American in St. Cloud

From Fox9.com (hat tip: Gary). A story posted the same day as Emmer’s meltdown story:

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (KMSP) –

20-year-old Davee Duvose lost his life early Friday morning after being stabbed by a 16-year-old at a St. Cloud house party, and he was just trying to protect his friend Chelsea Siegle.

“I was nonstop crying,” Siegle said. “I didn’t sleep for three days after that. He took care of everybody else before himself.”

The St. Cloud student was killed after he stepped in to protect Siegle from a violent stranger. Siegle, her girlfriends, and Duvose were at house party in St. Cloud when she was approached.

“One of the dudes came up to me and was asking me what’s your name what’s your number, you’re cute,” Siegle said. “And I said ‘no I’m good. Can you just leave me alone?’ And he was like, ‘you’re a bitch.’ I was like ‘excuse me?’”

16-year-old Muhiyadim Mohamed Hassan randomly jumped into the brawl with a kitchen knife after Duvose began protecting Siegle. She said Hassan just “came out of the blue and stabbed Davee.”

More here and link to ‘Go Fund Me’ for Duvose’s funeral. Will Obama speak at Duvose’s funeral? Or, will Rep. Keith Ellison? Emmer?
We paid to resettle Mohamed’s family and now taxpayers get to pay for a trial and incarceration—what a deal!

St. Cloud, MN: Reader asks 'where is the transparency' from federal refugee resettlement contractor

06/19/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

In a bunch of states in America, citizens concerned about the secrecy and the expense of the Refugee Admissions Program of the UN/US State Department are asking questions and demanding answers about how their tax dollars are being spent.
One of those states is Minnesota arguably one of the most densely refugee-populated states between those being placed there by several resettlement contractors including Lutheran Social Service of MN (see here for background) and those moving there from other resettlement cities (to be with their fellow Somalis).

Obama: ” Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing.”

When I read this letter from Minnesota resident Bob Enos in the St. Cloud Times, one of the things I wondered about was whether the US State Department and its contractor LSS got the memo from the White House to ALL FEDERAL AGENCIES (that would include the US State Department and the Dept. of Health and Human Services (ORR) right?) and their contractors!
Here is President Barack Obama:

Transparency and Open Government

Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies

SUBJECT: Transparency and Open Government

My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.

There is more here.
Enos at the St. Cloud Times (emphasis added is mine):

Lutheran Social Service recently had a meeting at the Stearns County Service Center in Waite Park.

This was a meeting of “stakeholders” involved with Lutheran Social Service’s contract with the federal government for relocating political refugees to the St. Cloud area. The meeting has not been publicized. Evidently, it is closed to the public.

Even though refugee resettlement in St. Cloud is fueled with federal tax receipts, Lutheran Social Service, as a private contractor, appears to be under no legal or moral obligation to provide transparency to the public. This is deceptive and underhanded, and it must end.

Furthermore, the public must demand a long-overdue accounting of the program, an independent audit of both the use of our tax dollars and the financial impact upon Stearns County taxpayers in areas such as social services, schools, subsidized housing, transportation and public safety.

If Lutheran Social Service ran this program with proceeds from the Sunday collection plate, that would be voluntary charity, and the public might have little say in the matter. Paying taxes, however, is not voluntary.

Lutheran Social Service must be held to the same standard of transparency as any government organization.

Doesn’t it make you wonder if Senators Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden, in crafting the Refugee Act of 1980, set up the present contracting system for the purpose of keeping the public in the dark? I would argue that these contractors, which receive the vast majority of their funding from taxpayers, are required to follow the President’s orders!

To citizen activists:

Note to the growing groups of grassroots activists looking to bring this secretive program out of the shadows, go here to the list of resettlement subcontractors working near you, ask them for the FY2015 R & P Abstract (see two posts on abstracts before today) for the city and ask them when the next “consultation” or “stakeholders” meeting will be held.
By the way, we have learned that the Refugee Council USA (the lobbying arm for the resettlement contractors) has instructed its members to NOT give citizens any information, so don’t be surprised if you are treated disrespectfully (or they pretend they don’t know what you are talking about!) when you call. But, do it anyway!
Demand transparency!
Demand that Obama’s executive order be respected!

Resettlement contractors hold “consultations” in your town, “stakeholders” invited, but not you, the taxpayer!

05/08/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Editor: It is very exciting that our learning curve is growing exponentially now that so many of you are digging into documents and asking questions where you live. Here is one more piece of information activists have found in St. Cloud, MN.

The other day I reported that the US State Department told Rep. Trey Gowdy that the resettlement subcontractors “hold community consultations” to gather information to prepare plans for your town.

But, guess what! You, the concerned citizen and taxpayer are not permitted to attend!

Lutheran Social Service of MN, director of Refugee Services Kim Dettmer (far right) in a panel discussion held by the Bremer Bank Foundation. Follow the money! Everyone must begin investigating the role these large rich foundations are having as they work to change your communities. Photo is from a 2012 meeting in St. Cloud: http://nonprofitresource.blogspot.com/2012/06/building-healthy-communities-through.html

This is the text of an e-mail a concerned citizen activist received from a spokeswoman, Kim Dettmer, for Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota:

Greetings;

I have received your email regarding your interest in refugee resettlement consultations. I will attempt, here, to clarify the purpose of these meetings .

The U.S. State Department requires all resettlement organizations, such as Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, to comply with federal program regulations that call for quarterly meetings among the key stakeholders directly involved in coordinating or providing services to refugees as part of the resettlement process.

The regulation reads:

” The Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) issued guidance in their Program Announcement # 14, dated September 26, 2013 (Appendix 1), to all Reception and Placement Agencies and State Refugee Coordinators concerning the need for greater Reception and Placement (R&P) local consultations concerning the placement of refugees. PRM requires all local R&P affiliates to convene quarterly consultations with stakeholders involved in the resettlement process.

Furthermore, per the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), requires states to convene meetings, no less than on a quarterly basis, where representatives of local resettlement agencies, local community service agencies, and other agencies that serve refugees meet with representatives of state and local governments to plan and coordinate the appropriate placement of refugees in advance of the refugees’ arrival.”

The regulations go on to state:

“The consultations may take place in-person, via teleconference, videoconference, or a combination of these. Resettlement agencies should ensure that the representatives from the following sectors are invited to the consultations.

· State refugee coordinator
· State refugee health coordinator
· Local governance (city and/or county, as applicable)
· Local and/or county public health (local health partners)
· Welfare and social services
· Public education

Local resettlement organizations should ensure discussion includes:

· Year-to-date arrivals and projections through the end of the current federal fiscal year compared to approved placement numbers
· Characteristics of arriving refugee populations, including nationality, ethnicity, average family size and composition, language and education background, and medical conditions
· Participant stakeholders’ abilities to adequately serve the actual and projected caseload
· Best practices
· Issues that prevent adequate resettlement or result in changes in placement plans”

To summarize, the purpose of these quarterly meetings is to convene those individuals and organizations directly engaged in delivering services to refugees during the resettlement process, and provides us with a crucial forum through which to coordinate those services.

Each participant is responsible for bringing to those conversations any concerns expressed by the broader public; however, these consultations are not intended to include the general public. [Note that the regulations must not say the public is to be excluded, or she would have quoted that. They are simply writing their own law here!—ed]

I hope this clarifies the purpose of these required meetings, and I welcome any feedback or input you might have that I could share with the quarterly consultation group.

Kim M. Dettmer, M.A.
Director of Refugee Services
Lutheran Social Service of MN
2400 Park Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55404
612-879-5258

Please call Rep Trey Gowdy, tell him this lack of transparency (this secrecy!) is wrong! Hold oversight hearings and get this whole law reformed or repeal it!

Call 202-225-6030

Gowdy is chairman of the Subcommittee responsible for the Refugee Admissions Program.

Readers, this post and others like it is archived in our ‘where to find information’ category.

I can’t emphasize enough that you, in your city or state, must begin to write a website, a blog or a facebook page to catalog everything you learn. Please exercise your free speech (people like Pamela Geller are putting their lives on the line for your right! ). Do your investigations and make sure you spread what you learn to others! Avoid the lazy, often hostile, mainstream media!

St. Cloud, MN mosque vandalism called hate crime; Muslim arrested this week

05/08/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Back in December the St. Cloud Islamic community was all in a rage over several incidents of vandalism that had occurred at a local mosque. The local ‘interfaith’ community rallied and the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American Relations (CAIR) arrived on the scene and even called in the feds in hopes of proving that a “hate crime” had occurred.

Here is CAIR’s commentary—making sure that everyone is notified that Muslims are victims of hate crimes in America!

Lori Saroya, [former] executive director of CAIR-MN, said the biggest concern is that the situation will escalate. There have been situations where vandalism has risen to arson in other cases, she said. [Where, Ms. Saroya, has a mosque been burned by Islamophobes?—ed]

Saroya urged community leaders to use safety measures outlined in a CAIR booklet “Best Practices for Mosque and Community Safety,” which was published in response to previous attacks on American mosques.

[….]

Since 2010, every new mosque project in Minnesota has faced community opposition, Saroya said, which can lead to safety concerns once a mosque is built.

Now comes news that an arrest has been made of a Muslim ‘worshiper’ who was caught in the act of vandalizing his mosque in a similar manner to previous attacks.

Is he just a nut? Or, did he have instructions to help create a public relations event to elicit sympathy for the local Muslim population at this particular time when tensions are high in St. Cloud? We may never know the answer because his story will never go beyond random-drunk-guy acting crazy!

Mosque vandal St. Cloud — Abdourahamane Diallo, a worshiper at the mosque, was arrested in the act of vandalizing St. Cloud Islamic Center.

From the St. Cloud Times (hat tip: June):

A St. Cloud man was arrested early Thursday after a report of vandalism at the Islamic Center of St. Cloud, in the 300 block of Fifth Avenue South.

Abdourahamane Diallo, 29, told officers he had vandalized the Islamic Center and a vehicle because he was frustrated and had lost an expensive phone earlier in the evening, according to a report from the St. Cloud Police Department. [Oh sure, you lose your phone and then go attack a mosque! Give me a break!—ed]

Police were called to the site shortly before 5 a.m. They learned that the window in a door and a window in a nearby vehicle had been broken while several people were attending prayer inside the center. Witnesses chased Diallo from the building to the end of the block and were walking him back to the scene when police arrived, the report said.

[….]

Diallo told officers he regularly attended prayer at the Islamic Center in the past.

Next time you hear about some mosque being attacked by vandals consider the very real possibility that it is an inside job!

Our extensive archive on St. Cloud going back to 2008 is here. St. Cloud is being colonized with Somalis with the help of Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota!

See Wednesday’s excellent opinion piece in the St. Cloud Times by AJ Kern, here.

Want to save your town from this? Time to make Muslim immigration a major issue for 2016!