Tag: Bill Lee

Posted on

Governor Lee Chooses Refugees Over 6,300 Tennessee Citizens with Disabilities

Even if Governor Lee doesn’t care about people with disabilities, at least the leftist Tennessean newspaper does. In December, the paper ran a pretty detailed story about Tennesseans born with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are supposed to get services from TennCare, but aren’t.

Right now there are 5,000 of these folks actively trying to get services but instead, they are “stuck on a waiting list.” TennCare, one of the worst agencies in the Tennessee state government, isn’t even asking the Governor or the legislature for enough money to serve all these people. TennCare says it’s willing to wait for however many years it takes for the money to be there to help these people.

There’s been no mention that the Governor included the money in his budget either. Instead, he’s been talking about spending down the state’s TANF (cash welfare) reserve probably as a way to funnel more money to the refugees he’s trucking into the state. Unlike most other legal immigrants, refugees are immediately eligible when they get here to apply for all forms of public assistance, including cash welfare.

In fact, the federal government mandates that refugees be enrolled into TennCare if they’re eligible. The federal government admits that they used to reimburse the state for the money the state spends on TennCare for refugees, but then stopped because Congress decided to spend less money on refugees. Congress decided to let states that wanted refugees use state money instead.

That’s why Tennessee has sued the federal government – because the state is being forced by the federal resettlement contractor-profiteers to use state money to fill the money gap created by the federal government which the Governor apparently agrees the state should do. Like pay for TennCare for refugees.

And that leaves less state money to pay for people with disabilities who are waiting for help from TennCare.

So next time you read or hear folks from Bill Lee’s administration say nonsensical things like “if we don’t take refugees, the state won’t get the federal money to support them” realize it’s the same political propaganda put out by the federal resettlement contractors.

In and amongst Bill Lee’s rambling and disconnected first radio interview trying to justify his decision to keep the refugees flowing into Tennessee, he said he was following his heart, his Christian faith, his (supposed) conservative values – “It was a decision based on a number of factors. Including my heart. Including my faith belief that we have a Biblical mandate to provide refuge for those who are persecuted and oppressed.”

So where’s his HEART for the state’s disabled?

Tennessee’s 2019 overall ranking for intending to help individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities is 26th among states. BUT Tennessee is 48th in actually delivering the services to those who need it Ten years ago, Tennessee ranked 43rd in this category. The number of families receiving the needed supports in terms of state spending has been virtually stagnant since 2011. 

Someone should remind Lee that whether or not he likes it, the decision he made is about state policy, not his Bible, his heart or even finding cheap labor for the Lee Company or his corporate cronies at the Chamber of Commerce. (You know, “business decisions” like his campaign donations to pro-abortion candidates Megan Barry and Phil Bredesen).

He has a duty to care first and foremost for the citizens of Tennessee.

And if he can’t find the ethical courage to honor the oath he took when he became governor, he could defer to 1 Timothy 5:8  which we presume is in the same Bible he consulted for his decision on refugee resettlement:

But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

Bill Lee wants Tennessee voters to accept that his decision to resettle refugees is just about disagreeing on the issue. Fool us once, shame on you, fool us twice shame on us.

 

Posted on

Criminal Justice Reform In Tennessee Is All About Release Part 1.

How would you feel if hardened prisoners, convicted by juries, and sent to prison to fulfill their sentences were now walking the streets of your neighborhood? Well, if they aren’t yet, they will be soon, so buckle up and be aware. And no, this isn’t just occurring in major cities in liberal states, it’s happening in unlikely areas, including Tennessee.

On December 11 2019, Tennessee Dept of Corrections Commissioner Tony Parker, along with Gov Bill Lee celebrated the groundbreaking of a women’s shelter that would help former female inmates’ transition from prison life. While I believe these programs are helpful, there is an entire slice of this reform that is going unspoken.

 “When you look at the root causes of crime, what drives it – addiction and mental health issues – we know the answer to reducing recidivism here in Tennessee is programs like this” Said Parker.  First of all, the Commissioner of The Tennessee Dept of Corrections is stating criminals are either mental or on drugs is misleading, as many that deal with criminals (like I did for 20 years) every day know a vast number of criminals are just opportunistic thugs.

 While the criminal justice system in the United States is far from perfect, releasing those who have committed crimes of all kinds is not the answer, despite the intentions of Christian organizations who believe criminals can be cured. One such group is the Tennessee based Men of Valor, a group supported by long time former board member Gov. Bill Lee.

Men of Valor is an exceptional organization that has changed many lives and boasts on its website “Men of Valor is committed to winning men in prison to Jesus Christ and discipling them. Our purpose is to equip them to re-enter society as men of integrity – becoming givers to the community rather than takers.”   We are all for changing minds and helping people find God, but at what expense must Tennesseans be willing to pay if the program doesn’t work for all those being released, and is it appropriate for all offenders?

In the meantime, while concerned over recidivism rates, Men of Valor and other organizations are offering assistance to inmates, a blanket set of conditions for newly released prisoners has been discovered. Typically, when those who have committed serious crimes have completed a prescribed amount of time, they are often released under the supervision of Parole, with less serious offenders to Probation.

Under Parole or Probation, a former inmate must abide by strict sets of rules and conditions and be supervised by their named Parole or Probation officer. If the released offender breaks those rules and conditions, he is arrested and is sent back to prison. Wait. Read that again. If the released offender breaks those rules and conditions, he is arrested and is sent back to prison. Well, not in Tennessee under Lee’s administration.

As law enforcement officers are being subjected to every kind of harassment, disrespect, assaults and targets on their backs, departments are facing dangerous shortages, and manpower issues. What’s just as serious is the system breaking down around them, leaving their jobs in many cases obsolete. Unfortunately, this includes Parole and Probation. According to sources, Parole officers are not allowed to make arrests based on the violation’s offenders committed, even if it was one of their prescribed conditions. This would include drug possession and, in some cases, weapons. Why? Because in the state of Tennessee, Parole officers are not given powers of arrest.   This in turn has empowered former prisoners released under supervision to do whatever they want, including violate their terms of release. If such terms are broken, the Parole officer cannot make the arrest, but rather must obtain a warrant, then request local law enforcement execute it. Many times warrants are not entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system in a timely matter, giving the former inmate a pass if he/she has contact with police. 

Last week, Gov.Bill Lee’s Criminal Justice Reform Task Force released their report, which has many scratching their head, as it is more about release then reformation. Labeling the breaking of their terms and conditions “technical violations” is soft balling the ever growing problem of prisoners failing to follow the rules. From the report it states:

“The data indicated that a large number of individuals are entering prison after a failure on community supervision, often because of technical violations. Nearly 5,000 individuals entered prison from parole, probation, or community corrections in FY2018, representing 39 percent of all admissions for that fiscal year. Between FY2010 and FY2019, the number of revocations for a technical violation increased by 53 percent, while the number of revocations for a new charge decreased by 8 percent. Just over 50 percent of all community supervision revocations in FY2018 were due to a technical violation as defined by the TDOC, up from 38 percent in FY2010. As Tennessee increases the use of community supervision as an alternative to incarceration, consistent and standardized evidenced-based supervision practices are necessary.”

Ya think? If parolees or probationers are only being arrested on technical violations, not new charges, that simply means they are not capable of following rules.  If they can’t, follow rules or conditions what makes one think they can follow laws? It does not help, that in Tennessee, Parole and Probation officers have no powers to arrest. 

“In 2016, in part seeking to address the growing number of technical violations, Tennessee enacted the Public Safety Act, establishing the use of a graduated sanctions matrix to respond to non-compliant behavior in a swift, certain, and proportional way. However, the data examined demonstrated that graduated sanctions are currently being used inconsistently across the state. Furthermore, the matrix establishes several zero tolerance policies that disproportionately affect individuals with substance use disorders. This zero-tolerance conduct, which results in immediate revocation, includes refusing to submit to a drug screen, testing positive for methamphetamine, or testing positive multiple times for any other type of drug use.”

So, the answer has been to not allow officers to re arrest those who originally were jailed for drug offense but now allow them to use or possess drugs. This can only get worse, as drug users often resort to more violent crimes to feed their addiction.

Coming up in Part 2, a look at some of those former prisoners released under “community supervision” that have committed murders in Tennessee, in the last several months.

 

Posted on

Biblical Bill and Marsha Blackburn Work Their Individual Agendas to Undermine the President

Whoa! Biblical Bill’s lefty admirers have let the cat out of the bag. The refugee resettlement program isn’t about being a humanitarian. It isn’t about saving Christians. It’s about giving Pompeo foreign policy bargaining chips!

It’s also about keeping the gravy train of taxpayer money flowing to “charities” like Catholic Charities. Someone has done a great job of digging into the public money data which federal contractors have become addicted to:

In 2018 alone, over $1.2 billion has been awarded by our federal government to organizations and religious charities for refugee resettlement, unaccompanied alien children, refugee and entrant assistance, etc.

Catholic Charities of Tennessee (CCTN)’s latest available financials show that refugee resettlement money and services have come to dominate their work since they took over Tennessee’s program after Bredesen withdrew the state in late 2007. “Service fees” money is typically what the federal government pays for the privilege of having so-called charities like CCTN disburse taxpayer money.

Don’t be misled by the entry “Basic Needs/Counseling/Job Training/Elder Care” – most likely that is funded through the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services formula grants for refugees and immigrants.

And what about those “Hispanic Services” CCTN now offers to complement the “Immigration Services” they offer?

Anyone really believe Bill Lee and Mike Pompeo’s weekend jaunt wasn’t deliberate? Don’t for one minute underestimate Bill Lee’s ego – he’s being touted by his Tennessee admirers as the expert who can help Pompeo fix the U.S. refugee resettlement program. And don’t think any of this is innocent.

Like Biblical Bill, Pompeo has a use for refugees, whether as bargaining chips for foreign allies or to mollify State Department careerists he now oversees. The same leftist New Yorker reporter who understands that the President is trying to dismantle the dysfunctional refugee program, has outed Pompeo as wanting to keep the numbers high.

Fake news? Maybe not.

Refugee Resettlement Watch reported an even more persuasive statement made by refugee contractor HIAS’ Melanie Nezer:

“Pompeo is the critical stakeholder,” one refugee advocate said.

Now that he’s served both as CIA director and secretary of state, activists hope that Pompeo has earned an appreciation for the diplomatic leverage having a robust refugee program can give the U.S. in negotiations with other countries.

“It’s a bargaining tool: We’ll take a certain number of refugees. These are the things you will do for us,” explained Melanie Nezer, a top official with HIAS, one of several organizations that helps refugees.

What Nezer knows that gullible Republicans including Bill Lee don’t, is that from the first minute, refugees are handled by the paid federal contractors who work at the overseas Refugee Service Centers. Once there in the U.S. who do you think handles all the goodies they get from the American taxpayer? The paid federal contractors, that’s who. And whose financial health is dependent on how many refugees they resettle? The paid federal contractors, that’s who. Their messaging is not how good the American taxpayer is, it’s look what we have done for you, if it wasn’t for us fighting for your rights, the Republican meanies wouldn’t even let you come to their country or their state.

Look what President Trump has done – tried to keep you out.

And look who Bill Lee has surrounded himself with – Tennessee Globicans like his Director of External Affairs, Joseph Williams who, like Bill Hagerty,, was a Jeb! delegate, and his chief of staff anti-Trumper Blake Harris.

Then there’s Sen. Marsha Blackburn doing her level best to deceive her way out of a bad bill that we now learn really does go against Trump’s American first immigration efforts.

A leaked State Department memo about Marsha’s bill confirms what Dailyrollcall previously reported:

Blackburn’sbillmandates a fast track for Syrians, Iraqis and Kurds who claim they were in some way connected, however loosely or remotely, to America’s fight against ISIS. The bill’s language in this regard isvery broadly written.

No cap is put on the numbers to be admitted as refugees, nor does this priority group of refugees count towards President Trump’s FY2020 cap of 18,000 refugees. Vetting for this particular pool of potential U.S. entrants, is vague at best.

The State Department memo states:

Bill Lee is manipulating Tennessee Christians. Marsha is manipulating Tennessee voters.

But Bill Lee and Marsha Blackburn are both undermining President Trump.

Posted on

Biblical Bill Started Planning TN’s Refugee Resettlement in October Behind Legislature’s Back

Biblical Bill (BB) has been a busy little bee.

In January, shortly after taking office, he signed Executive Order 3 which “mandates openness, transparency and accountability within the executive branch”

Then he started learning how to do his job which he said eleven months later, he still hadn’t figured out how to do it.

Fast forward to now and his announcement that has leftists “taking a victory lap” and more clearly identifying the Republicans within the state’s GOP that now have that big “L” as in liberal, stamped on their forehead.

The totally transparent BB repeatedly told the media as late as December 2, 2019, that the deadline to decide whether to consent to resettling refugees was January 21, 2020:

“The state’s deadline for consent is January 21. We will continue working with the federal government to determine the best outcome for Tennessee.”

In a radio interview the day after Lee blind-sided everyone, House Speaker Cameron Sexton said that legislators were also thinking that the Governor would issue a decision sometime in January:

“We had heard for a while that he was leaning in this direction but we were under the belief that it would be sometime in January. There were members who had reached out to the administration had conversations with the governor and with staff and so we were thinking it was going to be a little longer than what it was going to be so the announcement did take us by surprise when the call came in.”

Apparently the Governor showed no more courtesy to the legislators than he did to Tennessee citizens:

“We got a call from a staffer a couple of hours before [the Governor announced his decision] and then we saw the letter a few minutes before it went out to the media on what his stance was.”

But it turns out that as early as the beginning of October, the Governor was working on his plan to put the state back into the business of resettling refugees.

In defense of BB’s decision, a self-described Governor confidante and serial facebook poster has told everyone about U.S. Secretary Mike Pompeo’s visit to the Governor’s church and how they have spent time canoodling and solving the problems of the dysfunctional refugee resettlement program:

October 13, 2019, was barely three weeks after President Trump issued his Executive Order giving states the option to not consent to resettling refugees. On the heels of the EO, the FY2020 Funding Notice was issued clearly setting out that the consent from the EO was only for the period of time from June 1, 2020 through September 30, 2020 – the end of the federal fiscal year.

So of course it makes total sense that when Biblical Bill got around to letting the legislative leadership know what he was doing, he wrote that “[m]y consent is valid initially for one year and that we will work closely with President Trump you, and your colleagues to ensure this process is effective as we work together with the Trump administration to facilitate and carefully monitor continued refugee resettlement for the next year.”

Which year or years Bill? Sounds ominously that BB is sending a very strong signal of his intent to commit Tennessee in perpetuity – or at least until a Democrat governor comes along to withdraw the state from the program.

So here’s the timeline:

-January 24, 2019 – Governor Lee signs Executive Order 3 which “mandates openness, transparency and accountability within the executive branch” [was this supposed to apply to him also???}
-September 26, 2019 – President Trump issues his Executive Order on refugee resettlement
-October 13, 2019 – Mike Pompeo spends weekend with BB & his wife and attends BB’s church
-November 5, 2019 – Governor Lee is looking to give state held money to non-profits
-December 18, 2019 – Christmas comes early and Governor Lee blind-sides everyone with his announcement to put Tennessee back into the business of resettling refugees

The Governor should consider that he only gets to submit a budget – it’s the legislature that has to pass it. And the Governor can’t pass legislation. All he can do is send his bills to the peons elected by the great unwashed and leave it to them to get his agenda passed – or not.

Posted on

Bill Lee – You Weren’t Elected to Be the State’s Lead Pastor

And citizens aren’t your congregants.

Heart, values and faith are all important ingredients that every decision-maker across all walks of life hopefully bring to the table. But you Governor, have an added duty. You Governor, took an oath to uphold and govern according to the U.S. and Tennessee Constitutions. This oath still counts for something no matter how many times you tell us that you aren’t a politician.

And just to be clear, there was absolutely no rush to formalize your consent to put Tennessee back into the refugee resettlement program before the start of Christmas – that is unless you thought no one was watching or would forget about it once 2020 arrived.

Well, you are probably as wrong about that as you are about the decision you made.

You told radio listeners on Friday, that you made your decision for several different reasons but in the end, based it on your religious beliefs. 

You also tried to use President Trump and Ronald Reagan for cover. Your Biblical beliefs blinded you to the fact that Trump has been trying to dismantle the dysfunctional refugee resettlement program since he took office.

Clearly the President underestimated the resolve of GOP governors to support his America First immigration agenda. After all, how could the President have known that Biblical Bill would choose people living on other continents over the 5,000 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities living in Tennessee on a waiting list for help. The state says our most vulnerable citizens will have to wait for help until there’s more money.

And what about the veterans in Tennessee that also are waiting for help?

You made a mockery of the President’s “Make America Great Again” movement when you tried to use it to justify your decision to consent for opting the state back into the refugee program. What’s more, you went above and beyond the consent period required by the Executive Order. Consent was only supposed to be for June 1, 2020 through the end of the federal fiscal year which everyone knows is September 30, 2020. But you made your consent valid for a year from December 18, 2019.

And the same document that outlines all the stuff on consent says you didn’t even have to consent until late spring, like May 2020. So at the very least, you could have waited until after Christmas. Or maybe even like sometime in January which was the time you led legislators to believe was when you were going to decide.

You keep telling us that you’re new to this job, but after almost a year into it, how do you not understand simple courtesy?

Governor, you are not the only Bible reader in Tennessee. Biblical mandates are for individuals. But instead, Tennessee’s got Biblical Bill who has decided to use his authority as Governor to impose a Scriptural mandate on state taxpayers. 

And let’s talk about your Biblically-based inconsistencies when it comes to issues this past year:
-you’ve spent more time on school vouchers than the heartbeat bill. Even non-Bible scholars know that protecting life is in those pages somewhere.
-on thetransgender bathroom issue you said it was an area of life that the government should stay out of and that a state-wide policy would be divisive. Well, the Bible has something to say about that controversial issue also.
-and that marriage thing? That’s a twofer – Biblical and Tenth Amendment.

Are we to understand that as a faithful and devout Christian who says he supports the Tenth Amendment, it’s more like your position on the gas tax – that marriage thing is now “water under the bridge.”?

Rest assured though, that blind-siding us with your consent to put the state back into paying for a voluntary federal program is definitely unfinished business.

Nevertheless, Tennesseans were brought up with good manners so we want to thank you for the Christmas card!

Posted on

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.

Shortly after the Governor announced consenting to bring more refugees to Tennessee, a Bill Lee Facebook devotee put out hints about what is in the works:

Kurds which seem to be a Lee-Blackburn obsession, are overwhelmingly Muslim and have been in a long-standing battle with other Muslims over terrain. Let’s also remember that the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers’ Party), a U.S. designated terrorist group is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF is a multi-ethnic group of secular forces in northern Syria led primarily by the YPG, a Kurdish militia group.

So exactly how does the Governor plan to “hold Churches and Christian organizations accountable for the refugees they resettle in Tennessee”?

It’s so simple even Governor Lee figured it out – do it the same way the federal government holds states accountable – by attaching conditions to money.

Lee can use his Office of Faith-based & Community Initiatives to offer state grants to the hard leftist federal resettlement contractors who just happen to also be faith-based non-profits. They’re paid by the feds to only provide 30 days of service during which, they get refugees a social security card, enroll kids in school and get anyone eligible for TennCare signed up.

Churches that want to get into the lucrative refugee industry by providing services after the federal resettlement contractors finish their 30 days, can also get in on the state money.

Money? What money?

Was a hint thrown out today by House Speaker Cameron Sexton during hisradio interview about the Governor’s consent on refugee resettlement?

Could the money be coming from the state’s accumulated TANF (cash welfare) reserve funds?

It was reported on November 5th, that the Governor originally supported holding onto the extremely large accumulated bundle of TANF money being held by the Tennessee Department of Human Services:

“However, Lee changed course on Monday by telling reporters he was open to using the surplus on a variety of options to continue helping Tennessee’s poor. His announcement was coupled with news that the state was planning on spending up to $70 million of the surplus on grant awards to nonprofits throughout the state starting in January.”

Maybe like the non-profits involved or soon to be involved with refugees? Would the Governor’s church qualify?

Tennessee has sued to challenge the federal refugee program because of the federal government shifting federal costs associated with the refugee program to the state government. This has been acknowledged in federal reports. And the cost transfer occurs whether or not the state consents to paying these added federal costs.

No worry now, because Governor Lee has now consented to paying the federal costs transferred to Tennessee on top of the state incurred costs for the refugee program and is possibly willing to add some of the TANF money to the effort.

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.

Merry Christmas!                  

Posted on

GOP Consent For Refugee Resettlement a Stab in the Back

According to the President’s Executive Order the Governor and the county executive must both agree in writing in order for refugees to be resettled in that county and/or 50-100 miles out from the consenting county.

How a non-consenting neighboring county might feel about that? Tough nuggies.

Knoxville’s city council has voted unanimously to beg Governor Bill Lee for refugees and has directed their lefty mayor Madeline Rogero, “to send a letter to the U.S. secretary of state to share the city’s plans to participate “’in this very worthy program.”’

We hate to burst their bubble, but the consent has to come from Knox County whose Republican Mayor Glenn Jacobs is “a proud Trump supporter.”

Two weeks after issuing his Executive Order on refugee resettlement, the President told the 20,000 strong at the Minnesota rally, that:

“Since coming into office, I have reduced refugee resettlement by 85 percent. And as you know, maybe especially in Minnesota, I issued an executive action making clear that no refugees will be resettled in any city, or in any state, without the express written consent of that city or that state.”

The President has gone out on a limb to help elected officials with an immigration program that may ultimately change a state, county or town from red to a shade of blue. Trump probably didn’t expect that GOP governors were going to stand with Democrats to undermine him.

Maybe his administration figured that 24 states which are already blue, would each happily take 750 refugees. (that would be the full 18,000 admission number for FY2020).

As of now, Republican governors from Arizona, Utah, New Hampshire, and North Dakota want more refugees. Their consent supports both the resettlement industry and the federal contractors who are suing Trump for trying to put American interests and needs first.

Conservative Review Senior Editor Daniel Horowitz, has accurately diagnosed the problem– “[m]any Republicans voted for Donald Trump in the primary because they were sick of business as usual with Republican politicians acting like Democrats.”

Do the GOPers think that Democrat governors are consenting to show their support for the President’s policies?

These GOPers are also rewarding the political groups actively working to unseat the President. They can try to spin it, but consent means publicly linking arms with the growing House Refugee Caucus and the Soros-linked Evangelical Immigration Table, to oppose the President and undermine his immigration policies, including refugee resettlement.

The membership overlap between the Refugee Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus should surprise no one. Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal who each have a foot in both caucuses, have also collaborated with TIRRC here in Tennessee and spent time getting cozy with AMAC.

Because of the Tennessee lawsuit, Bill Lee should know that consenting to continued refugee resettlement also means he’s okay with state taxpayers being forced to pay the state and federal costs of the program.

Religious moralizing by Tennessee evangelicals doesn’t cut it either. In a cleverly worded letter to Governor Lee they state that “since the Refugee Act of 1980, no refugee resettled to the U.S. has taken a single American life in an act of terrorism.”

 According to these compassionate Christians, it’s not good enough that the victim(s) attacked is severely injured; they have to actually die and it has to be labeled “terrorism” for it to matter.

Two years ago, Sudanese refugee Emanuel Samson, shot up a church in Nashville, killing Melanie Crow and injuring seven other worshippers.

 

In 2011, Omar Mohamed Kalmio, a Minnesota Somali refugee, murdered 4 people in North Dakota. This was after he and a group of Somali men had knife attacked a man in Minneapolis five years earlier.

In 2008 Esar Met, a Burmese Muslim refugee raped and murdered a young Burmese Christian refugee girl in Salt Lake City.

There are multiple cases of U.S. refugees who have been sentenced for planning bomb attacks which fortunately were discovered before being executed, except for these:

2012 – Abdullatif Ali Aldosary, an Iraqi refugee, set off a bomb at a Social Security Office in Arizona
2016 – Ahmad Rahimi set off bomb in NY injuring 29 people

A small sampling of violent attacks by U.S. refugees which fortunately did not end in the victims dying includes:

2014 – A group of Iraqi refugees brutally gang raped a 50 year old woman in Colorado which left her with a colostomy bag. These guys earned their refugee status because they assisted US forces in Iraq either as informants or interpreters
2016 – Dahir Adan, a Somali refugee who went on a stabbing spree in a St. Cloud mall injuring 9 people. That same year, Abdul Razak Ali Artan, committed a vehicle-ramming and stabbing attack at Ohio State University wounding 13 people.

The World Relief resettlement contractor with help from George Soros, is leading this evangelical letter writing. This is the same federal contractor who took the money but dumped refugees in Murfreesboro without providing the services.

Knoxville’s Bridge resettlement agency is a local affiliate of World Relief and like all resettlement contractors has prospered financially from the more than 2,000 refugees it has resettled in Knoxville.

Even if Governor Lee and Sen. Blackburn choose to ignore the dangerous undersides of refugee resettlement at least Congressman Chuck Fleischmann is. He’s asking to have certain Islamist organizations investigated for “promoting extremist ideology and terror finance.”

 

The organization appears to have deep ties to Knoxville.

 

Make sure you are sharing information with your county executives, your mayor, your state legislators and Governor Lee and tell them NO consent for resettlement in Tennessee.

Posted on

Tennessee Soros Funded Groups Win Big if Governor Lee Caves on Refugee Resettlement

It’s no secret that the ACLU, TIRRC and the TN American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC) have put Soros money into their bank accounts. After all, their political agendas – short and long term – are 100% aligned with Soros’ agenda for our country, especially the South.

Changing the demographics, particularly in Southern towns and cities, facilitates the bigger political agenda of these groups and George Soros.

Less conspicuous, is the support provided by organizations like the Nashville Chamber of Commerce. In 2001, they greedily took money from the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) which was looking for new places to deliver refugees by “Building the New American Community” (BNAC).

One of the core principles of the BNAC project was for the new Americans to form coalitions, become voters and take leadership roles in their receiving communities. Let the transformation begin!

And that’s precisely what has happened with the help of groups like the ACLU and TIRRC (TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition) which helped spin off the AMAC.

These groups have led “the resistance” in Tennessee – opposition to every immigration related policy initiated by the Trump administration and every immigration related policy at the state level including the anti-sanctuary city law.

Even though these groups didn’t stop the sanctuary city bill from becoming law despite Haslam not signing it, they may very well win the fight on refugee resettlement with the help of leftist mayors, local chambers of commerce, county commissions, city councils, and Governor Lee.

Here’s what the left knows and understands – elected leaders on the right can’t take the heat that comes with saying no. The left knows that leaders on the right will use any justification they can think of – alleged economic benefits, reviving stagnant towns, need for labor, or a duty to “welcome the stranger.”

The left knows something else that Governor Lee may or may not know – consent is only required for refugee resettlement from June 2020 through the end of September 2020, which is the end of the federal fiscal year.  

From now until June, the 18,000 refugees coming to your towns and cities, are being restteled the same way they were under the 2019 guidance – NO CONSENT NEEDED!!!!

Add to this, that the Executive Order which set up an imperfect process for consent is currently being litigated by the federal contractors.

The left has made state and local consent about refugee resettlement a referendum on all of Trump’s immigration policies. They have broad-brushed the refugee agenda in a way to enable compassionate Christians to rationalize ignoring the political and demographic implications which in the end, will feed the anti-Christian agenda of the radical social justice left.

Don’t fall for it. The refugee resettlement industry has nothing to do with welcoming the stranger and these so-called religion-identified NGOs are unwilling to serve refugee interests unless your federal and state governments pay them to do it!

If you need further proof, consider that the Nashville International Center for Empowerment (NICE) is a federal refugee resettlement contractor which was started and continues to be led by Gatluak Thach, himself a former Sudanese refugee whose bio suggests that he is a Christian. He already made his pitch for consent to the legislators, like one Christian to another. However, he aligns with the radical left, serving on TIRRC’s board alongside the former co-chairs of AMAC. By his organization’s own description, NICE resettles people of all religions and ethnicities including refugees from Somali, Iraq and Iran.

There’s a tendency to think that Sudanese refugees to the US are mostly Christian. Not so. From FY2011 to current, almost 85% of the Sudanese refugees brought to the US identified as Muslim.

As to all the misinformation about states being able to pick and choose which ethnic or religiously-identified refugees they prefer for resettlement it’s simple – they can’t. The FY2020 terms of consent specifically state:

The consent may not be conditioned on acceptance of certain refugees or on any other factor, such as refugees’ race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin.

For example, from FY2015 – FY2019, 812 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo have been brought to Tennessee. The on-going internal conflicts in the DRC are tribal, not religious. Refugee Resettlement Watch, reminds us that in 2013, the Obama administration promised the UN that the US would take 50,000 DRC refugees. “from fiscal year 2014 to today we have admitted 58,999 and there is no sign of the migration stopping” even though Jesuit Refugee Service reported this October, that “hundreds of Congolese refugees are voluntarily returning home.”

At the same time that DRC refugees were being brought to Tennessee, from FY2015 – FY2019, over 2,000 refugees from countries like Somalia, Burma, Syria and Iraq (over 80% identify as Muslim), also arrived.

Since October 2017, the beginning of Trump’s first full year setting priorities for refugee resettlement, through right now, 680 Syrians were brought to the US, of which, 601 identify as Muslims. This might be a good question to pose to Sen. Blackburn who is co-sponsoring S.2641, one goal of which is to increase the resettlement of Syrians.

Since President Trump set the annual cap for FY2020 admissions at 18,000, a total of 2,066 refugees have arrived with 33 resettled in Tennessee.

The SIV (Special Immigrant Visas) for Afghanis and Iraqis who supposedly helped US troops and who get to pick where they want to live, can arrive with refugee status, so far in FY2020, have numbered 2,857. Since FY2007, the US has admitted a total of 62,192.

Refugee Council USA, the lobbying arm of the refugee industry, has had its followers hounding governors, state legislators, mayors and county executives, with all kinds of refugee stories, mythical scenarios of how refugees revive dying communities and bring nothing but economic prosperity.

They also assure these state officials that the federal government 100% funds the program.

Completely not true. In fact, not even close. And that’s why Tennessee sued. After all, numerous federal reports have admitted to shifting the federal costs of the program to states and local governments.

But if Governor Lee caves and decides to consent to resettling refugees, the lawsuit goes away, Tennessee taxpayers pay the state and the federal costs of the program and the radical left resistance in Tennessee walks away with a big, giant political win.

The New York Times story from Monday mentioned that 16 governors, 6 of whom are identified as Republicans, have submitted letters consenting to continued refugee resettlement in their states. The State Department is supposed to post all consent letters on its website but that hasn’t happened yet. The only website keeping track is Refugee Resettlement Watch and by Ann’s count, only 9 governors have issued consent, 4 of whom are Republicans – Arizona, Utah, New Hampshire and North Dakota.

Is it possible that Bill Lee has submitted a letter of consent but didn’t bother to tell us? Have you taken the time to contact his office, your state legislators, your mayor, your city council or commission members? If not, why not??????

Posted on

“NICE” If You Can Get the Government to Fund Your “Charitable” Work

NICE is the Nashville International Center for Empowerment federal refugee resettlement contractor located in Nashville.

The federal contractor met with Lt. Gov. Randy McNally shortly after the President issued his Executive Order on refugee resettlement. NICE is trying to convince Tennessee state leadership to reverse course, say yes to the business of resettling refugees in Tennessee and help federal contractors like NICE heal their sagging budgets.

 

NICE probably has a much better understanding of the willingness of the Lee administration and weak-kneed Republicans who are willing to sell out trusting Republican voters in the face of $$$$$. Governor Lee recently said he hasn’t made up his mind about whether to consent to resettling refugees in Tennessee.

That’s money and economic development like the kind Tyson Foods with sales in 2018, of $40 billion dollars and which is building its 5th plant in Tennessee. That’s the same company that helped make Shelbyville an employment magnet for Somali refugees.

That’s the same Tyson Foods that’s building the new big shiny chicken processing plant in Gibson County, the kind of rural West Tennessee area which gubernatorial candidate Lee said he was committed to for economic development.

Tennessee state Senator John Stevens whose district includes Gibson County just also happens to be a named plaintiff in the state’s Tenth Amendment lawsuit against the federal refugee resettlement program. Bet he’s getting some pressure.

But don’t fall for the idea that the Trump EO on refugee resettlement makes the lawsuit unnecessary, because it won’t stop refugees from being resettled in Tennessee.

Remember, the lawsuit is not about refugees. It’s about the federal government forcing Tennessee to spend state revenue for the resettlement program even though the state withdrew from the program over 10 years ago. The lawsuit is about state sovereignty and the Tenth Amendment – it’s about any federal program that the federal government decides it will have states subsidize even if they don’t want to and even if they don’t receive any federal money or benefit in return.

Federal refugee resettlement contractors like NICE get most of their money from the federal government. Resettlement contractors like NICE are paid for each individual refugee they bring to a community. With the Trump administration consistently lowering the number for annual refugee admissions, local resettlement offices have been closing.

In Tennessee, World Relief closed its Nashville office after taking the money but not before it dumped refugees in Murfreesboro without providing the services.

No doubt NICE is doing whatever it can to avoid the same fate. 

NICE, started by a former refugee, was founded in 2005 as an ethnic assistance organization originally named the Sudanese Community and Women’s Service Center. NICE matured into a full-fledged refugee resettlement contractor in 2011, and it’s financial profile changed pretty dramatically with the infusion of federal cash:

Before federal money:    2009    – $76,645  and  2010 – $175,233       

After federal money begins to flow and dominates the percent of total budget:

2011                $400,503         (76%)             

2012                $906,348         (88%)             

2013                $805,031         (81%)             

2014                $1,219,679      (77%)

2015                $1,113,582      (73.5%)

2016                $1,305,399      (70.7%)

2017                $1,059,505      (61.7%)

2018                $781,316         (44.8%) 

No doubt NICE has pitched the usual leftist propaganda about the economic benefits of cheap refugee labor to Lt. Gov. McNally. Republicans have always understood that helping their big corporate cronies like Tyson get out of the quagmire of cheap illegal alien labor is answered by the cheap legal labor pool of refugees.

Even if it means pushing the cost onto everyday Tennesseans. Oh yeah, and then there’s the displacement of disabled and sick Tennesseans who still are waiting for TennCare help, but which refugees who meet eligibility can get as soon as they arrive.

And then there’s Bill Hagerty…..

Shortly after Haslam appointed Bill Hagerty to be the Commissioner of Economic & Community Development (ECD), Hagerty made Lamar’s son, Will Alexander ECD’s Chief of Staff.

During Will’s tenure with ECD, he served on NICE’s board as Treasurer as a representative of TN ECD while at the same time, NICE’s President & CEO, Gatluak Thach was on the Board of TIRRC alongside the co-chairs of Governor Haslam’s Muslim Advisory Council.

Cozy.

In 2016, ECD had Wolfgang Roeder, an ECD business consultant, serve on the NICE board. Wolfgang’s job was to “help with any expansion projects, access to ECD grants and to Tax credits. 

Perhaps Lt. Gov. McNally and Governor Lee need to hear from the everyday Tennessean who isn’t getting propped up by the federal government money?

 lt.gov.randy.mcnally@capitol.tn.gov                          https://www.tn.gov/governor/contact-us.html 

Don’t leave the new Speaker of the House, Cameron Sexton, out of the conversation:  speaker.cameron.sexton@capitol.tn.gov

One other thing – you might want to tell these Republican leaders that these groups they seem to anxious to accommodate didn’t put them into office – Tennessee Republican voters did and it’s been documented over the years that immigrants tend to vote Democratand no amount of Republican appeasement is going to change that.

These Republican leaders need to understand that continuing to sell out Tennessee conservatives based on perceived economic gain, might serve their political ambitions, but in the long-run, will lead to our demise

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on

AMAC Board Member Welcomed Anti-Semites Ilhan Omar and Rep. Pramila Jayapal to Nashville

It’s looking more and more like 2016 was the start of TN’s American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC) love affair with anti-Semites. 2016 was the year that anti-Semite Linda Sarsour was featured at an AMAC event. That same year Ilhan Omar and her radically progressive anti-Semite defender, Pramila Jayapal were brought into AMAC’s circle of friends.

2016, was the year Omar was elected to the Minnesota state legislature and Jayapal moved up from the Washington state legislature to the U.S. House of Representatives.

This is the same year that AMAC’s Board member, Somali agitator Mohamed Shukri Hassan, welcomed Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal to a home-based gathering in East Nashville.

Shukri Hassan met Jayapal and Omar in Nashville

Shukri Hassan attended the January 10, 2019, meeting with Governor-elect Lee.

Like Omar, Shukri Hassan got into the U.S. via the refugee resettlement program. Both of them grew up benefitting from the goodies generous Americans make available to refugees. Yet both of them are steeped in disdain for this America and American conservatives who ascribe to Judeo-Christian principles.

In fact, sharia adherent Omar and Hassan hate us so much that they have devoted their lives to changing our country.

Before launching her legislative career, Ilhan Omar was a board member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s CAIR-Minnesota organization. Shukri Hassan was president of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) while he was a student at TN State University. The MSA was one of the first Muslim Brotherhood organizations established in the U.S.

Being an anti-Semite comes naturally to sharia and Muslim Brotherhood followers.

CAIR’s connections to U.S. designated terrorist group HAMAS have been established with credible evidentiary documentation in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism prosecution. Since its founding, HAMAS has remained committed to a singular purpose – the elimination of the State of Israel and genocide for its Jews through violent jihad.

A lawsuit revived in federal court last year has exposed details about the connections of the U.S. HAMAS support network and certain Islamist organizations including the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP). It was the leaders of IAP who founded CAIR.

Nihad Awad, CAIR’s national executive director has stated publicly that he supports HAMAS. Prior to forming CAIR, Awad was the president of IAP.

AMAC’s Shukri Hassan arrived in Tennessee in 2006. His mother was the first to arrive in the U.S. as a refugee and was resettled in Georgia. After Shukri Hassan and his six siblings were able to join her, they all relocated to Tennessee.

Shortly after finishing high school, Shukri Hassan joined TIRRC (TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition) to learn the ins and outs of being a leftist agitator and working as a “Welcoming TN Coordinator” speaking to Chambers of Commerce and Rotary clubs.

At the same time, Shukri Hassan worked as an Outreach Coordinator for the Metro Public Health Department as a caseworker for the now-defunct Center for Refugees & Immigrants of Tennessee (CRIT).

CRIT was originally named the Somali Community Center but changed its name after its Executive Director, Abdirizak Hassan pled guilty to federal grant fraud. The federal charge relates back to his indictment in 2001 for felony illegal banking. Prior to serving as ED of the Somali Community Center/CRIT, Hassan ran a hawala money changing business which counter-terrorism investigators was linked to a bank service linked to al-Qaeda.

Before Shukri Hassan began serving as a Board member and the Program Director for AMAC, he took a fellowship with AMAC’s sister organization, the American Center for Outreach (ACO). The ACO
was started by a Kurdish refugee who was a former lobbyist for TIRRC.

After she left, ACO was led by former CAIR director, Paul “Iesa” Galloway.

AMAC may not call itself CAIR, but it operates same way using the same tactics.

U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal who traveled with Ilhan Omar to the house party in East Nashville, has a special soft spot for Somalis like Omar and Shukri Hassan.

Before she got into politics, first as a state Senator and then polluting the U.S. House of Representatives with her radical progressive politics, she led a leftist organization called the Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington (state). In 2003, under her leadership, the organization stopped the deportation of Somali criminals and visa overstayers in the U.S.

Incredibly, the judge in the case remarked that “the government had provided no concrete evidence to support the notion that al-Qaida is active in Somalia, or that there is any connection at all between the Somalis and terrorism.”

FBI statistics show that the district Ilhan Omar represents in Congress, has the highest rate of terrorist recruitment in the United States.

Like Omar, Jayapal is a strident and shrill opponent of President Trump and his policies about importing more refugees from terror-prone countries.

Jayapal is currently the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) which Ilhan Omar joined as soon as she was elected to the U.S. House.

It was through the arm-twisting efforts of the CPC and the Black Congressional Caucus that forced Pelosi to allow the anti-semitism resolution to be highjacked away from Omar’s relentless Jew-hating speech so that she and her fellow Islamists somehow became the victims.

Only 23 Republicans – none from Tennessee by the way – had the moral and political fortitude to vote against the resolution.

Across the board, Tennessee Republican House members voted FOR a resolution that legitimized the myth of Islamophobia, avoided any condemnation of Ilhan Omar, and deflected from the bigger problem of anti-Semitism.

Tennessee Republicans that voted FOR the resolution (because they were too scared to be called racists?) – Tim Burchett, Scott DeJarlais, Chuck Fleischmann, Mark Green, David Kustoff, Phil Roe and John Rose.

Do these guys have any idea what’s really going on in their own state?????