AZ integral to contrasting refugee resettlement reports

Refugee status often contrived to exploit: Arizona falls prey

First we direct your attention to a compelling commentary by conservative columnist Michelle Malkin, titled, “Citizen revolt: Resist refugee resettlement dumps!”

Read it from beginning to end. We promise you the facts will shock you out of your shoes.

Then hop over to the local newspaper. Monday’s pathetic edition was so anorexic it contained only two sections. Sports was one. Leftward skewed news was the other. Characterized by oversize photos, regurgitated reports and purchased content, it is rife with hearing aid ads and even those dealing with ED, aimed at the senior citizens who are accustomed to the flaccid plop of a folded newspaper on their driveway.

You’ll find an intriguing Page One report  that coalesces flawlessly with Malkin’s stunning assessment This one, however, details the welcoming of costly “refugees.” And, of course, it’s taking place right here under our noses in Arizona.  It’s time to get up to speed on this far-reaching problem as our state thrusts its finger in the eye of our citizens, but also President Trump, who has set more rational standards.

On September 26, 2019, President Trump signed an Executive Order specifying a humanitarian and responsible approach to refugees that protects the welfare of American citizens. This brief fact sheet clearly states his rational approach to  dealing with refugee resettlement, which increases transparency and prioritizes America’s citizens.

Important takeaways from the White House fact sheet:

The primary goal of our refugee policy is to enable refugees to ultimately return home, where they can help rebuild their communities – which also supports our foreign policy interests.

The United States spends billions of dollars resettling refugees that could be invested in our citizens here at home.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spent more than $96 billion on programs supporting or benefiting refugees between 2005 and 2014. HHS surveys show that 45 percent of refugees arriving between 2011 and 2015 were receiving cash assistance and 49 percent were receiving Medicaid.

President Trump is prioritizing the safety and security of the American people by making sure we do not admit more people than we can vet. The United States can only admit so many refugees while ensuring we maintain a high standard of screening.

Proper controls are vital, as many refugees come from countries that are known sources of terrorism or lack the modern record keeping to help us identify their nationals.

Law enforcement has apprehended a number of alleged terrorists in recent years who passed through our refugee program.

This is the man the Democrats are intent on impeaching.

Radicals determined to take joy out of holidays

…as anarchists and their climate change theology rev up

Headlines blasted economic doom and gloom citing lower numbers of Black Friday sale shoppers in stores, while short-shrifting the fact that on-line sales have burgeoned. The anti-Trump media would like Americans to think the economy is collapsing, when just the opposite is true. Fortune.com reports the stock market has hit19 new highs in 2019.

Americans were reported to have spent a record $4.4 billion online on Thanksgiving Day alone. Nearly half of those purchases were purchased on smartphones, up 19 percent from last year.  Online spending for Black Friday is estimated at $7.4 billion this year — which doesn’t reflect the masses of shoppers who shopped in person.

The excellent economic news had no bearing on radical climate change activists such as those associated with eco-protest group Extinction Rebellion (XR) or kept them from inciting disruptions. The aim of the group which claims to have chapters in dozens of countries is to create chaos surrounding their core issue of climate change. The fact that the matter remains up for debate within the scientific community, many unequivocally asserting climate fluctuation is cyclical,* is of no consequence to the disrupters, who have staged public “die ins,” shut down airports, roadways, bridges and shopping centers, while endangering public safety.

Arrests are not an inconvenience for XR activists, rather they are part of the plan, as one of the organizers stated, “Our aim is creating a law and order crisis that the state can no longer really contain.”

Its maniacal tactic is to declare the absolute correctness of unproven issues and use it to create mayhem and social unrest. Their hope is their goal of anarchy will follow.

This NASA Science site which we have previously referred to is now accompanied by a disclaimer: “This page is kept for historical purposes, but the content is no longer actively updated.” Dissent has been silenced as further evidenced by search engines that have now obliterated all but prevailing opinion.

A strident Swedish teenage climate activist who insulted the President of the United States, encouraged worldwide student school strikes for climate and blasted United Nations representatives with her “How Dare You” speech — threatening, “We will not let you get away with this…we will never forgive you” — has won. It has yet to be explained how she was able to address the United Nations.

The issue has been hijacked by anarchists and a brash teen afflicted with Asperger Syndrome who is the daughter of an opera singer and an actor. She is mysteriously financed and does not appear to attend school — yet she commands international attention as she issues threats and accuses the U.S. and industrialized nations of “stealing my dreams.” Hatred of America, the most generous nation on the planet, is a guaranteed attention grabber.

No longer private, sex becomes “fluid,” celebrated

Leftist AZ Republic drops Page One impeachment focus, when it can spotlight “gender fluidity”

It’s a good bet most of us reached adulthood, surviving nicely, without ever having heard the word “transgender.” It erupted and was planted firmly on the word map by former U.S. Olympic decathlon medal winner, Bruce Jenner. Married to three different women over the years, he decided he wanted to be like them, rather than with them. He began by growing long fingernails, which he had manicured and painted in not-to-be-missed colors. Then came the makeup. Sultry long tresses, followed, of course, by the mandatory hormones and surgeries.  Soon Bruce made a debut as a seductress on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine garbed in slinky white satin, with the words “Call me Caitlyn“ superimposed over what was previously his hairy midsection.

In August 2019, SRAZ wrote, “Drag Queen Story Hour: Libraries dedicated to corruption of our kids,” describing kindergarteners being exposed to transgender men, outrageously cross-dressed, coming into the barely out of toddlerhood classrooms to read them fairy tales in an effort to normalize the abnormal.

This American Library Association link and quote is today’s new reality:

“Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) is just what it sounds like — drag queens reading stories to children in libraries, schools, and bookstores. DQSH captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models. In spaces like this, kids are able to see people who defy rigid gender restrictions…”

Monday’s edition of the failing Arizona Republic which revved up its downhill content slide in 2008, celebrates a headstone placed on the grave of a “transgender man who died a century ago… given back his identity.” It describes a man, Nicolai De Raylan, who came to Phoenix in 1906 for his health. He was married to two different women, who we are led to believe never suspected he was actually a she.  Now the Arizona LGBT+ History Project is putting a tombstone on his grave and garners front page attention for doing so.

We wonder if De Raylan, who lived his life as a man, would have approved being outed — whether accurately or not — without his consent. But with the Arizona Republic, agenda takes precedence over all else.

 

 

Phx thieves have advocates who denounce police

Local newspaper supports lawlessness

The City of Phoenix has a transportation farce known as light rail. It was the costly brainchild of then-Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, whose family and friends benefited from its construction, as businesses along its path suffered or permanently closed while it cut through the city. Construction began in March 2005. It began operation Dec. 27, 2008.

Just like riding a bus, going to the movie, or getting a haircut, there are fees to access the service. According to its website, there are various ways and places to purchase tickets, including fare vending machines at the light rail stations. Reduced fares are available to youths ages 6-18, seniors 65 and over, and the disabled. Violators are supposedly subject to fines ranging from $50 to $500, plus any court fees, and may lose their transit privileges — which is nothing more than an idle threat.

Therein lies the rub, as Shakespeare’s Hamlet might have said. No one routinely collects the tickets, which has made the trains a haven for the non-paying homeless. Because the rail cars are air conditioned, they provide these folks a respite from the summer heat and winter chill, plus a soft seat and scenic ride.

Since they are driving paying passengers away, police have begun occasional “fare sweeps” to “encourage fare and code of conduct compliance,” as described by the failing newspaper’s ASU Cronkite journalism school student intern Alyssa Stoney. Her sympathy clearly lies with the non-paying riders, whose advocates are given prominence in the newspaper’s report.

Yes. Street bums have advocates.

Light rail is estimated to cost over $140 million dollars per mile to build. That does not include the expense of maintenance and operation. It is obviously not a free ride, even for those taxpayers who were forced to fund it to the tune of $1.4 billion at its 2008 opening, though have never ridden it. Expansion continues.

But a group calling itself ‘Living United for Change in Arizona’ protested the “police sweeps.” Going by the acronym LUCHA, it is warmly described by co-executive director Alejandra Gomez as a “membership-led economic justice organization that is trying to support the most vulnerable communities that struggle on a day-to-day basis to make ends meet.”

New flash for Alejandra: So do many honest, hardworking Phoenix citizens who pay for what they use. Not doing so is theft, which is a crime.

Phoenix police chief prioritizes firing officers

Newspaper negatively chronicles police shootings

Police work is not your run-of-the-mill occupation. Few jobs have as an integral aspect the fact that when you leave for your shift, you might not return to your family. Rotating schedules include nights and weekends; routinely make officers absent from family events and holidays. High stress levels of crime scenes, where police often have to make split-second, life or death decisions take their toll. Police are accused of using excessive force when trying to subdue those high on drugs and/or armed. Now mandated body cams show isolated aspects of an arrest, calling into question the officer’s decisions. Officer suicides are no longer a rarity.

Corrections officers are attacked and killed while on the job in Arizona prisons. Two such murders took place recently.

The public expects rapid responses from dedicated officers. Yet the local newspaper and the Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams, appointed in 2016, show them no mercy. Scrutiny and criticism have become routine. How many times did you see the video of the arrest of a family of shoplifters, mischaracterized as a little girl taking a doll from a Dollar Store? The officer was fired.

The Sunday edition of the Arizona Republic ran an oversize Page One article and two full jump pages with photos, including sympathetic depictions of shooting “victims.” The lengthy all caps headline?

AZ POLICE SHOOTINGS: SOME OFFICERS FIRE AGAIN AND AGAIN. The sub header: 79 officers shot two or more times — 52% worked for Phoenix — 21.5% worked for Mesa.

Mesa’s controversial Police chief Ramon Batista resigned yesterday following a no confidence vote by Mesa’s police union and Fraternal Order of Police. The Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, (PLEA) abruptly called off a pending vote of no confidence in Chief Williams, with no explanation.

Monday night an impaired wrong way freeway driver was responsible for colliding with Tempe police officers traveling to a crime scene in separate marked vehicles. This past Saturday night, two PPD officers were hospitalized following a DUI-related crash where the impaired driver, traveling at a high rate of speed, slammed into their patrol car as they were making a traffic stop. She was cited and released.

Imagine if the impaired driver was an off-duty officer. There is no doubt the case would not have been handled so gingerly. Career officers are now fearful of reprisals.

Phoenix Police Chief Williams has fired five officers so far this year.

A slippery solution for AZ’s failing students

Fail safe scheme falsely insures top-notch results

Earlier this month we covered the colossal testing failures being promoted by Arizona’s public schools. The bottom line is that Arizona students are doing even worse on tests than their previously low scores. More than half who took the tests failed — for the FIFTH year in a row!

This marks the first year high schools were given the ability to opt out of participating in this specific assessment, which no doubt thrilled the school administrators, since school funding is based in part on student proficiency in basic skills. Now some schools are resorting to trickery to boost scores, giving those who earn a “B,” for example, a bright shiny “A,” if they were deemed “proficient.”

But wait…there’s more! The latest educrat mumbo-jumble is based on the fact that a student’s ACT scores can determine students’ chances of being accepted into college, class placement, or even access scholarships. The added bonus is students have an opportunity to finagle their scores. As of September 2020, students who have taken the ACT test will have the option to retake individual sections of the test instead of the entire exam. Those who take the test more than once will be given an ACT “superscore” that averages their highest possible ACT composite score. These perks come on the heels of the ability to “pre-test.”

 It’s not difficult to see where this is going. Being a “super scorer” is not an indication of brilliance, unless brilliance is determined by the ability to pre-test, take and retake the test and use the highest score across all attempts to maximize the submitted score. 

What better training for the real world where there are rarely opportunities for do-overs — and certainly not chances to use false cumulative scores? In addition, beginning September 2020, students will have the opportunity to take the ACT online during national test dates, guaranteeing there will be no failures.

ACT initially came into being in the 1950s when schools actually taught. At that time, the acronym stood for American College Testing. Today, ACT stands for nothing. It is a registered trademarked company, headquartered in Iowa with regional offices across the United States and international locations.

Education has become a big business, with undisguised leftist leanings,* that routinely produces a shoddy product — pathetically under-educated American students. Teachers, its first line marketers, now routinely go on strike as we witnessed in Arizona. This model would never survive in a truly competitive environment where outcomes matter.

 *Center for Responsive Politics

Tucson: People’s Republic of Pima to vote on sanctuary city status

It’s no secret Tucson, Arizona, located in Pima County, is a leftist bastion. The city, a stone’s throw from crime infested Mexico (read State Dept. warning under link), will be voting Nov. 5, on Proposition 205, that, if passed, will codify it as a sanctuary city. Such an act will be an anomaly in the state that is overwhelmed with illegal aliens and their negative impact on schools, medical facilities, the court system, countless social services, and citizen employment. No other Arizona city has made the claim that supporting such a preposterous policy would be beneficial to its citizens. The ballot measure, organized by extremists aligned with The People’s Defense Initiative, is officially titled, “Tucson Families Free and Together.”

The adage we heard from our parents, “You’re known by the company you keep,” bears out here.

Among the supporters of this extremist measure are:*

Pima County Democrat Party

Arizona Democrat Party Progressive Caucus

Green Party of Pima County

Progressive Democrats of America

Progressive Democrats of Southern Arizona

ACLU of Arizona

American Friends Service Committee

Democratic Socialists of America, Tucson

Jobs with Justice

National Lawyers Guild

No More Deaths

Planned Parenthood

Standing Up for Racial Justice

Pima Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO

An interesting political mix stand in opposition:

Gov. Doug Ducey (R)

U.S. Sen. Martha McSally (R)

Mark Kelly (D), 2020 candidate for U.S. Senate

Mayor Jonathan Rothschild (D), Tucson

Councilmember Regina Romero (D), 2019 candidate for mayor

Councilmember Steve Kozachik (D), Tucson

Councilmember Richard Fimbres (D), Tucson

Councilmember Paul Durham (D), Tucson

Ed Ackerley (I), candidate for mayor in 2019

Chris Magnus, police chief of Tucson

Former Gov. Jan Brewer (R)

Former State Sen. Steve Farley (D-LD9)

The spineless Arizona Daily Star fails miserably at tightrope walking as it waffles between placating its left-leaning readers or endorsing dysfunction, while piling on the Tucson Police Department, states:

“The Arizona Daily Star Editorial Board supports the goal and mission of Prop. 205, but we cannot support this specific initiative. There is another way, albeit an imperfect way, to accomplish many of the Tucson Families Free and Together goals: Work with the Tucson Police Department, the various TPD advisory boards, community groups and the Tucson City Council to revise the TPD general orders that govern how the force operates.”

Several years ago the Huffington Post headlined its report: “Liberals in Southern Arizona Seek to Form New State.” The reporters got some key items very wrong, such as the description of John McCain and Barry Goldwater as “conservative giants.”  But the failed novelty of Tucson severing itself into a 51^st state is all the more disappointing in light of the city’s promotion of Prop. 205.

*H/T Ballotpedia