Give us your huddled masses yearning to breathe free

I lift my lamp beside the golden door

The Guardian

The US state department has announced a new refugee program under which ordinary Americans can financially assist and sponsor refugees seeking resettlement.

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24 thoughts on “Give us your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”

  1. [continuing from above link]

    On Thursday, the state department revealed the Welcome Corps, a pilot program which will seek to mobilize 10,000 Americans as private sponsors for at least 5,000 refugees in its first year.
    “The Welcome Corps is a new service opportunity for Americans to welcome refugees seeking freedom and safety and, in turn, make a difference in their own communities,” the program’s website said.
    “Together, sponsor groups welcome refugee newcomers by securing and preparing initial housing, greeting refugee newcomers at the airport, enrolling children in school, and helping adults to find employment.”
    Under the program, all refugees admitted through the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), including those supported via Welcome Corps, will undergo extensive security vetting and a health screening conducted by the federal government. Only those cleared will be approved for settlement in the US.
    […]
    Both American citizens and permanent residents can form Private Sponsor Groups (PSGs). Each group must have at least five members who are above 18 years old and who live in or near the same community. Sponsors are required to raise at least $2,275 for each refugee, which will be used for their initial basic needs until the refugee finds employment.
    PSGs are not required to identify a particular refugee to sponsor. Instead, the Welcome Corps will match sponsors to selected refugees. In mid-2023, the program will expand to allow private sponsors to identify refugees they wish to sponsor and also refer applicants to the USRAP for consideration.
    In addition to the minimum financial commitment, PSGs commit to providing “welcoming services” to refugees for their first 90 days in the community, including housing, basic needs and connections to healthcare, education and employment services.
    Welcome Corps will provide PSGS with resources such as a budget template, fundraising support and an arrival checklist.
    […]
    In total, at least 103 million people are currently forcibly displaced.

  2. but what about the Dreamers and the other folks who’ve lived exemplary lives in the shadows here for decades yearning Ms Liberty’s lamp will someday shine on them opening wide those golden doors?

  3. speaking of golden doors but this time closing them

    U.S. Representatives Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) introduced the Democracy For All Amendment at the start of the 118th Congress, which would overturn legal precedents that have allowed unrestrained campaign spending and dark money to corrupt American democracy.
    Democracy for All Amendment would overturn Citizens United v. FEC – ahead of the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s January 21, 2010 decision – which allowed corporations and special interest groups to spend nearly unlimited funds on election campaigns. It would also address the fundamental flaws underlying the Court’s reasoning in that and an entire line of cases dating back to the 1976 Buckley v. Valeo decision, which prevented meaningful regulation of campaign expenditures by corporations and special interest groups.
    “The flow of unrestricted corporate and dark money into our elections has dangerously eroded the American people’s faith in our democracy, and in our government’s ability to deliver for them and their families. Citizens United was one of the most egregious enablers of special interest money, but it was only the latest in a long line of Supreme Court cases that opened the floodgates. To truly rein in dark money, we must amend our Constitution,” said Schiff. “The Democracy for All Amendment will close legal loopholes that wealthy megadonors, corporations, and special interest groups have exploited for far too long, and return power to the people once and for all.”
    “We just witnessed the most expensive midterm cycle in our nation’s history, proving what we already know; it’s past time to eliminate the corrupting influence of special interest money in our politics. Cosponsoring the Democracy for All Amendment was one of the first legislative actions I took after being sworn in four years ago. I’m proud to co-lead this legislation in the 118th Congress and be among a growing number in Congress who are doing everything we can to overturn Citizens United and return power to the American people,” said Phillips.
    “Corporations are not people and money is not speech,” said Jayapal. “In every election following Citizens United, billions of dollars of dark money have been dumped into our electoral system, giving corporations and the richest Americans outsized power and influence. It’s time to ensure our democracy works for all people by getting big money out of politics and ensuring every voter’s voice is heard.”
    “The disastrous Citizens United decision has undermined our democracy and drowned out the voices of the people for long enough,” said McGovern. “Americans overwhelmingly support protecting access to abortion, preventing gun violence, and lowering health care costs—but wealthy special interests too often stand in the way of action. Corporations are not people, and they shouldn’t have more of a say in our elections than everyday Americans. It is critical that we overturn the Citizens United decision to get big money out of politics.”
    Schiff has re-introduced his constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United since 2013 and has been a strong proponent of fixing America’s broken campaign finance system since he was first elected in 2000, after a race that was at the time the most expensive in the history of the House of Representatives. The first bill he cosponsored in Congress was the bipartisan McCain-Feingold Act to regulate the financing of political campaigns, which was later passed and signed into law.
    [continues]

  7. Stephen pays tribute to New Zealand’s departing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, checks in on the latest lies from Rep. George Santos, and wonders if we should worry about a suspected Russian spy ship that was seen off the coast of Hawaii

     

    click here for a follow up later in the show on a portion of his monologue:

    “geoprge santos joins stephen colbert to clear his name(s)”

  8. Seems that Germany by its refusal to supply arms to Ukraine has kicked off a tumble of other NATO and a few non-NATO countries to ship tanks and heavy artillery to Ukraine.  Not only are the tanks and artillery NATO spec, they also cover various configurations.  Best talk is about supply F-16’s.  That changes the ground game and air coverage.  Also, there are weapons that can hit Ukraine Crimea region.  Drive the russians out. I won’t use what my cousins are saying as this is a family channel.

  10. Why do I think that opportunity to sponsor someone will be used for human trafficking?  What about the paperless who’ve lived here most of their lives?

    Despite my feelings about global overpopulation, the accountants say we need more young ones to work and prop us up. Then, they will need even more to do the same for them. Why, it’s almost like they’ve decided life is just a giant Ponzi scheme.

  14. In case you have not heard yet, twitter has blocked “Rep. George Santos” official twit account.  So far his other account has not been blocked.  Guesses as to why include they cannot verify his identity.

  15. Well – twit is having a rough day keeping the “Rep. George Santos” official account either suspended, blocked or working.  It has been up and down, currently up.  I cannot imagine the sfb lite keeping the account suspended because “George” seems to be his kind of guy.

  16. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/20/politics/us-russia-wagner-group/index.html
     

    “The US Treasury Department will designate the Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group as a “transnational criminal organization” and will impose additional sanctions next week against the group and its support network across the world, the White House said on Friday.”

    “…the US has released newly declassified photos of Russian railcars traveling from Russia to North Korea and back in November, in what the US believes was the initial delivery of infantry rockets and missiles for use by the mercenary organization Wagner Group in Ukraine.”

    “Wagner is becoming a rival power center to the Russian military and other Russian ministries,” Kirby said, and the US has intelligence suggesting that the Russian Defense Ministry “has reservations” about Wagner’s heavy recruitment from Russian prisons.”

  18. pogo (or anybody else who is familiar with House rules),

    Before the lemmings jump off the fiscal cliff and everyone suffers from what will happen economically if debt ceiling debate struggles on for months, is there a way under rules that united Dems along with a few sensible GOPers could force a vote? 

    can’t imagine that there aren’t some repubs worried over their own finances tanking or that shutting down the gov again will hurt them next election.  guess the ones who kept voting to raise it during the former guy’s and dubya’s  reigns when they added to the debt bigly aren’t concerned about being called hypocrites.

     Raise the Debt Ceiling

  19. patd, I plead ignorance to house rules but I believe the speaker controls the votes on the floor of the house.

  20. Dumbass thumped  by Judge Middlebrook to the tune of $937,989.39, to be paid to Hillary R. Clinton, et al. because 

    This case* should never have been brought. Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start. No reasonable lawyer would have filed it. Intended for a political purpose, none of the counts of the amended complaint stated a cognizable legal claim.

    Thirty-one individuals and entities were needlessly harmed in order to dishonestly advance a political narrative. A continuing pattern of misuse of the courts by Mr. Trump and his lawyers undermines the rule of law, portrays judges as partisans, and diverts resources from those who have suffered actual legal harm.

    *UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
    SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
    CASE No. 22-14102-CV-MIDDLEBROOKS

    DONALD J. TRUMP, Plaintiff,
    v.
    HILLARY R. CLINTON, et al., Defendants. 

    And that’s the first 2 paragraphs of the SANCTIONS decision.  Ouch.

  21. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/20/politics/mike-pompeo-nikki-haley-trump-vp/index.html

    “Pompeo, in his book “Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love,” takes several shots at potential 2024 Republican rivals, including Haley and former national security adviser John Bolton, as the onetime Kansas congressman and CIA director fuels speculation about his own presidential ambitions.”

    “…claims in his upcoming memoir that former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley plotted with former President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner to try to become Trump’s vice president, according to an excerpt of the book obtained by CNN.”

    “Haley refuted Pompeo’s allegations on Thursday, saying she “never had a conversation with Jared, Ivanka, or the president about the vice presidentship.”

    “Pompeo even says he’s not sure if it’s true,”…

  22. https://www.npr.org/2023/01/19/1149861784/debt-ceiling-brinksmanship

    “But if you want to be honest about it and you’re saying the budget’s a big deal, it’s like, well, you got to go where the money is,” he says. And that money is in entitlements that make up the nation’s social safety net: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security. If some Republicans want to try to change those, Amodei has a piece of advice for them: “Better have your helmet and your chin strap on.”

    Stop calling Social Security an “entitlement,” when we all pay into it. I don’t know if I will ever see a dime of it. My mom, uncle, and three grandparents didn’t, but it should be there.

    If it’s untenable, maybe come up with a new program starting with folks born in 2010, since they haven’t started working/paying into the system yet.

  23. Hi All! I am Colorado Bob’s little sister. He asked that I let you guys know where he has been the last week.
    He has not been feeling good for several months and last Friday called 911. He spent several days in the hospital and sadly they have told him he is in liver failure. We have called in hospice and taking things one day at a time. He has a good attitude considering the situation. If you would like to reach out to him via email, I will be happy to print them and take to him. His email is coloradobob1@gmail.com Thank You

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