May 25, 2017 Living in the USA

   Blackberry blossoms abound.. spring flowers all over, music flowing across America, but you have to look a bit.

   In the meantime the battle to dump Trump goes on at full steam and I still find reasons to say calm down and give the man a chance. A chance to get somethings right and hopefully be corrected where his aim is far off the mark.

  Today's SF Chronicle has some interesting articles that illuminate the situation in the USA, and California.

   http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Refugee-arrivals-to-Bay-Area-U-S-are-plunging-11174688.php

  Refugee Arrivals to Bay Area/US are plunging.

  
Nationwide, 3,316 refugees were admitted in April, down two-thirds from October, when 9,945 people were admitted, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data. Only four states saw an uptick in resettlements.

In California, 338 refugees arrived in April, down 58 percent from October’s total of 814. The dip — which has alarmed advocates for refugees and prompted questions from some lawmakers — has been particularly striking in Alameda County, data show.

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In his second executive order, signed in March, Trump sought to suspend the nation’s refugee program for 120 days and cut the number of refugees allowed every year to 50,000 from 110,000. But the order — like the first — was blocked by federal courts.
On Thursday, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., declined to reinstate the revised travel ban, saying it “drips with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination.” The administration will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, said Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

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So far in the 2017 fiscal year, which ends in September, more than 42,000 refugees have been admitted to the U.S. — well below the 110,000 that resettlement organizations had expected before the election, according to the Pew Research Center analysis.

  but wait, what is this notice?

If Trump’s desired ceiling of 50,000 refugees were to be fulfilled this year, advocates said, many people would be left in difficult or deadly situations.

Also in the same paper today...

 Meanwhile in California.... Operation Dignity will be 'vacating'  an American Refugee camp. Their property will be discarded. Courtesy of the City of Oakland .... 'many people will be left in difficult or dangerous situations...'

Survey finds surge in homelessness in Oakland, Alameda County
http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Homeless-count-in-Alameda-County-finds-5-629-11173433.php

Many of the 2,761 homeless people live in the encampments that have sprung up over the past year, sprawling beneath Interstate 880 overpasses and along desolate stretches in West Oakland. Others are largely unseen, staying in transitional housing or shelters.

The survey was part of a county-wide effort in which 345 volunteers counted 5,629 sheltered and unsheltered homeless people in all of Alameda County on the morning of Jan. 30. The number reflected a 39 percent increase from 2015, when 4,040 homeless people were counted in Alameda County.

“People are living in places not meant for people to live — in cars and abandoned buildings and alleyways and parks and overpasses and camps and encampments,” said Elaine de Coligny, executive director of EveryOne Home, a nonprofit that seeks to end homelessness in Alameda County and administers the survey. “We’ve seen this as we drive around this county. We can see this problem is growing.”
Nearly 70 percent of homeless people in the county survey were considered “unsheltered,” sleeping in places such as vehicles or on sidewalks.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/06/californias-governor-once-opposed-sanctuary-status-have-time-and-trump-changed-his-mind/

 this paper has the entire world in a nutshell today...

http://www.sfchronicle.com/world/article/British-bomber-said-to-have-pleaded-Forgive-11174481.php


MANCHESTER, England — The alleged culprit in a deadly concert bombing was driven by what he saw as unjust treatment of Arabs in Britain, a relative said Thursday, confirming he made a final phone call in which he pleaded: “Forgive me.”

Salman Abedi was particularly upset by the killing last year of a Muslim friend whose death he believed went unnoticed by “infidels” in Britain, said the relative, speaking on condition of anonymity over concerns for her own security.

“Why was there no outrage for the killing of an Arab and a Muslim in such a cruel way?” she asked. “Rage was the main reason,” for the blast that killed 22 at the end of an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena on Monday, she said, speaking by telephone from Libya.

 .... and so rage was the main reason, the young Muslim man was very angry...
Hmmmm... Anybody for a some New Prophets?