Refugees everywhere

Robbie wrote: If a refugee family showed up at my door you can bet i'd house them and feed them until they were able to get their feet. In fact, my wife and I discussed just that earlier this summer. Anyone done it?

Please don't. Volunteer and donate to your local 501c3 State Department Refugee Affiliate. Catholic Charities, Church World Service, Jewish World Service, International Institute,etc.

Here's a link showing all the affiliate sites in the USA: http://www.wrapsnet.org/Portals/1/Affiliate%20Directory%20Posting/PRM%20Affilaite%20Map%20with%20details1.13.15.pdf

There are some really great people who are refugees, and most families don't look for handouts, they love friendship and integrating into American life, but there are some families that look for handouts, or will always think you are wealthy.

When we were in Erie some of my wife's clients came to our house. They were surprised to see that we did not have children and both of our cars were older. They always offered to feed us after that. They thought we were poor.

Brian wrote: If China can build islands at 8 acres a day, relocate them there. Seriously.

FTFY

I think you are already starting to see people in Germany revolt with the influx of refugees coming in. Here is an interesting read from a guy who took in some refugees:

http://www.someecards.com/news/so-that-happened/german-man-syrian-refugees-viral-message/

92dxman wrote: I think you are already starting to see people in Germany revolt with the influx of refugees coming in. Here is an interesting read from a guy who took in some refugees: http://www.someecards.com/news/so-that-happened/german-man-syrian-refugees-viral-message/

But but but this doesn't jive with my preconceived notions of Syrians....or Germans!

Being sarcastic here, of course.

aircooled wrote: That might be a wee bit of an overstatement:

Might be, if that were not the only place I have ever seen that quoted the low number. Show me someplace where large groups of muslim immigrants have played nice with the locals and you "might" have a good point. Look at what has happened in Sweden, France or Australia. How many of these folks have gone to Muslim countries,say Saudi Arabia, Dubai or UAE? An incredibly small number.

PHeller wrote:

Robbie wrote: If a refugee family showed up at my door you can bet i'd house them and feed them until they were able to get their feet. In fact, my wife and I discussed just that earlier this summer. Anyone done it?

Please don't.

Why not? Thanks for the link by the way, I'm just curious to hear your perspective.

PHeller wrote: There are some really great people who are refugees, and most families don't look for handouts, they love friendship and integrating into American life, but there are some families that look for handouts, or will always think you are wealthy.

I get this rationale, but I also believe this is true of all people, and dealing with it/figuring out who is who is part of life. Heck, there are really wealthy americans who are out there just looking for people to take something from and I have to deal with them too.

Robbie wrote: All I can say is that I have no idea how I would handle trying to live and have a family in a war torn country. I guess that is one thing I have really lucked out of. If a refugee family showed up at my door you can bet i'd house them and feed them until they were able to get their feet. In fact, my wife and I discussed just that earlier this summer. Anyone done it?

My family has a few times with mostly good results. The refugees that came from Bosnia, Liberia and Vietnam were wonderful. Wanted to get on their feet as soon as possible, going so far as to start their own businesses (lawn care and oddly making beef jerky). They kept the duplex like it their own. One family is still here (old couple, too old to move back really), but one guy went back to Bosnia when his town was safe again.

Sadly the family from New Orleans we helped after Katrina was a disaster. They trashed their side of the duplex, got rude when we asked them to maybe keep things up, got the cops called on them a few times, and required a long drawn out eviction process to get them to leave.

My city is a hub for refugees (Clarkston, GA) so if one of the refugee centers calls us we'll hear them out as usual and help if we can.

Even if we are able to screen thousands of people, with no way to really identify practically all of them, no mechanism to see if they are actually telling the truth about their intentions, and are more efficient than mankind has ever been in screening a group of people, say we are 99% accurate, which is an extremely generous estimate. Even if you did have solid identification and a way to discover their history, which we do not, it is still going to be too dangerous. If we are that incredibly efficient, we are still bringing a thousand terrorists in for every 100,000 people.

I know what you might say, the US has always welcomed refugees, and you would be correct, but this is different. In this case, a group that is at war with our allies, illustrated by the recent events in France, has literally stated their intention of using this crisis to bring their people into our country, and the countries of our European allies. It is foolish and irresponsible not to be more circumspect in this situation.

In reply to Toebra:

interesting position. Given that in 11 years 750,000 refugees have come here with 0 terror incidents attributed to them. 10,000 is a drop in the bucket. France in letting in 30,000 AFTER Paris happened. These people are escaping the very people we are trying to stop. Screen yes, people much smarter than me can figure up a metric, but let them come. They are just tired of having their family and friends die.

Politically if they come and no incidents happen it is a winner Dem, if they come and something does happen and it is one of them it is a big looser for the Dems. I don't see either result effecting the GOP base. That is as close to a political discussion I am willing to go on here for Margie's rules.

I don't know any Syrians. I know Iraqis, Iranians, Indians, Pakistanis, Saudis, Egyptians, Isrealis and had a good classmate from UAE. Might be nice to meet some Syrians. Who knows maybe they have some cool food.

I like food.

Apparently the Austrian's are concerned about the influx of refugees too.

Austria Runs of of Long Guns

Flight Service wrote: Who knows maybe they have some cool food. I like food.

QFT!

Man, the little old Bosnian lady that lived next door could do some AMAZING things with just a few ingredients. They built a smoke house behind the duplex and used it for not just making meat jerky, but also cooking other stuff. She used these crazy trash can lid sized baking pans and would bake rolls in them in the smokehouse. One time she made some dish that was just goat, potatoes, and onions, all cooked in the smokehouse. We all sat in the back yard like a picnic and just ate and talked (no dishes, just grab a piece and get eating).

My wife still dreams about the spring rolls the Vietnamese mom made. Just. Wow.

I kinda miss drinking with the other Bosnian guy. He was a little crazy but he loved to fish.

KyAllroad wrote: One of the problems that occurred to me recently (during an interview with a Syrian he said he was about to be conscripted into the military so he left the country) is that it appears that millions of people aren't willing to take up arms in order to make their homeland what they want it to be and are simply bailing out. Over and over I hear it said that "when things get better they will return". But who is going to make them better?

This is a very very good question that I actually have been putting thought into gradually over the last 6 months.

The best answer I can come up with so far seems to be that this is a problem of the arrogance of developed nations.

And bear with me a sec, this probably doesn't lead where you think.

The gist of this is that we, in our compassionate or idealistic blindness, are in the process of trying to prevent what we now consider atrocities or man made disasters from happening to less developed nations of peoples.

I however posit that those things are actually necessary for the development of nations beyond that current level.

Our intervention, well intentioned though it may be, isnt acknowledging the blood equity we've paid ourselves to reach our current status. We may be trying to save people from the mistakes we've made as a caring parent might their child, but give some thought to the idea that a nation of people MUST go through those kinds of convulsions in order to advance?

If we keep stepping in at the wrong time or in the wrong way, or with less than the full weight of whatever tool we're using, things don't have a chance of changing. Over history, nations rise and fall, are takers and are conquered. The idea that the time of these things is over and in the past somehow may be locking these lesser nations into a path of arrested development.

That their own populace is not willing to take up any arms should be a sure sign that this nation is highly likely to fall or get conquered if not for the intervention of more developed nations. The population of Syria is around 22 million. around 4 million have fled and that amounts to around 20%. Nations in history don't typically survive those types of population changes without significant transformations, and by us propping this shakey nation up just because we fear the power vaccuum of its neighbors rushing in, we're preventing a development cycle thats been around a long time.

If anything I could compare it to, think of the bailouts.

The French jumped into the American revolutionary war, that sure didn't harm the US' defensive capability in the long run...

yes, but reflect on the level of commitment the french extended to us. It was not small, or brief in nature.

You'll notice what i said was: "if we keep stepping in at the wrong time or in the wrong way, or with less than the full weight of whatever tool we're using, things don't have a chance of changing."

what we've committed in terms of resources doesn't even touch what we spend on our social programs proportionately, let alone what we spend on those debts drawn on that spending.

trucke wrote: Apparently the Austrian's are concerned about the influx of refugees too. Austria Runs of of Long Guns

I would take anything written by that site with a grain of salt the size of the moon.

In reply to KyAllroad:

that's alot of salt.....

madmallard wrote: yes, but reflect on the level of commitment the french extended to us. It was not small, or brief in nature. You'll notice what i said was: "if we keep stepping in at the wrong time or in the wrong way, or with less than the full weight of whatever tool we're using, things don't have a chance of changing." what we've committed in terms of resources doesn't even touch what we spend on our social programs proportionately, let alone what we spend on those debts drawn on that spending.

So would Syria become kind of like Israel then, and have lots of backing from the US? I think a big reason so many radical Muslims dislike the US/western culture is because of the presence in Israel being seen as us trying to expand our culture/overtake theirs. If Syria were treated in similar fashion, and seen as "another Western outpost" by locals, does that help the problem, or make it worse?

Israel would be a weird comparison in this case, because its actually already gone through the cycle of conquest and even re-patriation, which we were not part of when the 'nation' started taking shape. That was mostly Britain as they had assumed a military control in the region from WW1 on.

a more realistic parallel would be if Syria was claimed by another nation during this time but was left as an autonomous region for some reason, then the refugees tried to go back to Syria and then try to declare its independence from whom claimed them.

slefain wrote:

Flight Service wrote: Who knows maybe they have some cool food. I like food.

QFT! Man, the little old Bosnian lady that lived next door could do some AMAZING things with just a few ingredients. They built a smoke house behind the duplex and used it for not just making meat jerky, but also cooking other stuff. She used these crazy trash can lid sized baking pans and would bake rolls in them in the smokehouse. One time she made some dish that was just goat, potatoes, and onions, all cooked in the smokehouse. We all sat in the back yard like a picnic and just ate and talked (no dishes, just grab a piece and get eating). My wife still dreams about the spring rolls the Vietnamese mom made. Just. Wow. I kinda miss drinking with the other Bosnian guy. He was a little crazy but he loved to fish.

The more I eat a different ethnicities foods, the more I like them.

Joey

joey48442 wrote:

slefain wrote:

Flight Service wrote: Who knows maybe they have some cool food. I like food.

QFT! Man, the little old Bosnian lady that lived next door could do some AMAZING things with just a few ingredients. They built a smoke house behind the duplex and used it for not just making meat jerky, but also cooking other stuff. She used these crazy trash can lid sized baking pans and would bake rolls in them in the smokehouse. One time she made some dish that was just goat, potatoes, and onions, all cooked in the smokehouse. We all sat in the back yard like a picnic and just ate and talked (no dishes, just grab a piece and get eating). My wife still dreams about the spring rolls the Vietnamese mom made. Just. Wow. I kinda miss drinking with the other Bosnian guy. He was a little crazy but he loved to fish.

The more I eat a different ethnicities foods, the more I like them. Joey

Love trying new foods. Have tolerated almost every ethnic food genre that I have tried so far, loved most of them. The only one that I have given up trying is Indian food. My palette does not agree with it.

In reply to mtn:

Only things I've completely disliked are shwarma & Asian chicken dishes.

Flight Service wrote: I don't know any Syrians. I know Iraqis, Iranians, Indians, Pakistanis, Saudis, Egyptians, Isrealis and had a good classmate from UAE. Might be nice to meet some Syrians. Who knows maybe they have some cool food. I like food.

There's a huge Syrian contingent in MA (and ironically, MA is refusing them now). My friend Jamie is half-Syrian and half-Irish and she's GORGEOUS. That's what I know there.

My biggest issue with them coming to RI is that RI is already broke. Providence (capital city) will be insolvent in another 5-10 years at this rate, as it is becoming a hopeless ghetto that the state is already supporting and getting dragged down by. We already have one of those: Central Falls, a hopeless ghetto of a city that is now insolvent. Add a whole lot more despair and it can't be good.

I'm torn on the issue. There's the practical NIMBY part and then there's the "give me your tired, poor, huddled masses" part. I dunno.

WOW Really Paul? wrote: In reply to mtn: Only things I've completely disliked are shwarma & Asian chicken dishes.

Can't get enough Shawarma! I probably eat it twice a month. Do you not like Garlic?

mtn wrote:

WOW Really Paul? wrote: In reply to mtn: Only things I've completely disliked are shwarma & Asian chicken dishes.

Can't get enough Shawarma! I probably eat it twice a month. Do you not like Garlic?

Shwarama is fantastic. Besides, are you really going to argue with these folks?

I've never heard of Shwarama, but after looking it up I would say I would like it very much.