#hias pennsylvania

[kyistell]

What states do you headcanon play hockey, and what positions do they play?

HIA, it hasn't been 2 days, what are you talking about? Anyway I got them all down finally, I'm not gonna say they all make sense but most of them have a team so it's finneee...probably?

HOCKEY STATES WOOOOOO-

Jersey: Defense, left-wing

New York: Forward, center

Massachusetts: Forward, right-wing

Connecticut: Defense, right-wing (doesn’t play anymore)

Pennsylvania: Forward, center

Gov: Defense, left-wing (barely has anytime to play but tries to when he can)

Rhode: Defense, right-wing

North Carolina: Forward, left-wing

South Carolina: Defense, right-wing

Alabama: Forward, center (only plays roller hockey, college football offseason)

Missouri: Defense, right-wing (only plays roller hockey)

Tennessee: Defense, left-wing (doesn’t play often)

Arizona: Forward, right-wing

Colorado: Defense: right-wing

Minnesota: Forward, left-wing

Oregon: Defense, left-wing

Montana: Forward, center

I feel like most of these are self explanatory, like NY Jersey and other NE states, but others I may have to explain I think...oops?

Okay so, the Carolinas playing isn't really THAT surprising, they have a team (I don't know which state the team belongs too and I am perfectly fine not knowing lol), same with Tennessee, Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri.

Now Alabama on the other hand, football offseason, literally only roller hockey, besides ya know...violence. Hockey can be a very southern sport when you think about it.

Gov plays because once again, North East, but also because I have a feeling he would be very into the Washington Capitals. It isn't like he gets the chance to play often but when it's a slow winter day he can and will go and play on a lake somewhere with the NE states.

Connecticut doesn't play anymore because he is dramatic (RIP the Whalers, you will be missed until Carolina pulls out the jerseys again), and probably because of injuries or something, he's mainly just dramatic.

Anyway won't lie, this list is mainly off of vibes and whether or not they have a team. For example, California has three teams and yet it is impossible for me to see that man play any sport except maybe beach volleyball. Meanwhile Rhodey is on here and yet he doesn't have a team, I can just see him using hockey as a way to remove stress, it's therapy but WAAYYY more expensive.

Loved doing this one if it wasn't obvious lolz!

[eretzyisrael]

by David Swindle

HIAS generated critical headlines earlier this month when Ashley Chteh, a volunteer at  HIAS Pennsylvania, was recorded helping to burn an Israeli flag and saying “Down with the Nazi regime.”

The nearly 145-year-old nonprofit founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society quickly noted that HIAS Pennsylvania was an independent partner of HIAS. “This person is not and never has been affiliated with HIAS, and is no longer affiliated with HIAS PA,” it stated. “We strongly condemn antisemitism in all its forms. Hate has no place in our world.”

HIAS has been drawing additional criticism, including that it has contributed to rising antisemitism stateside since Hamas’s terror attacks in Israel.

“Sadly, since Oct. 7, HIAS has again failed to prioritize Jewish safety, as HIAS did in decades gone by,” Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, told JNS. “HIAS works to bring Muslims to America, most of whom are Jew-haters and Israel-haters.”

On Oct. 7, HIAS posted: “We are horrified by the attack against civilian populations in Israel on Shemini Atzeret, one of Judaism’s holiest days. Civilians throughout the region are living in fear of even more violence, more suffering and more loss.” It has since posted that it is “heartbroken by the violence that continues to devastate Israeli and Palestinian families.”

The nonprofit was “originally set up by Jews to help fellow Jews for reasons of religious imperative and communal solidarity,” and worked to help the American Jews find relatives in Europe post-World War II.

Today, its mission has changed. It is now “a multi-continent, multi-pronged humanitarian aid and advocacy organization with thousands of employees dedicated to helping forcibly displaced persons around the world in keeping with the organization’s Jewish ethical roots,” per the HIAS website. It has also quoted the Talmud on X.

Klein, however, charges that HIAS has “failed to call for the defeat or surrender of Hamas, even though this is absolutely necessary to stop more Oct. 7s from occurring.”

A JNS review of HIAS’s X account returned no references to “Hamas.” The terror organization, which the United States has designated for 26 years, is mentioned several times on the HIAS website, but the organization doesn’t appear to have called for Hamas to be removed.

HIAS has also “promoted untrue accusations about Islamophobic and anti-Arab attacks in Israel and the ‘West Bank,’” Klein said.

He also criticized HIAS’s efforts to push Israel to resettle 30,000 illegal Eritrean and Sudanese immigrants, saying that “HIAS inaccurately calls these economic migrants ‘asylum seekers,’ despite their lack of legal or moral entitlement to asylum.”

“There have been huge problems with these illegal economic migrants committing crimes and attacking elderly Jews in southern Tel Aviv, making life unbearable for many poor elderly Jews,” Klein said.

“Especially at this time, when there are so many displaced and injured Jews who need assistance in Israel—and antisemitism is hurting Jews throughout the world—HIAS needs to return to prioritizing Jewish lives and safety,” he stressed.

‘Aiding displaced persons, regardless of their faith’

JNS asked HIAS how, if at all, it has done its work differently since Oct. 7, particularly given rising Jew-hatred.

“With growing antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred around the world, HIAS will not stray from our mission,” Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS, told JNS. “In Israel, we are assisting Jewish evacuees as well as non-Jewish Ukrainian and African asylum seekers.”

“Our work in Israel is a reflection of our work around the world—aiding displaced Jews and, as a Jewish organization, aiding other displaced persons regardless of their faith identity,” he said.

JNS asked what percentage of the refugees with whom HIAS works are Jewish, and the nonprofit did not respond.

[cookinguptales]

Haven’t done this in a little while, but like. Folks, I’m het up. 

Emboldened by his reelection, Governor Abbott has decided to bus more asylum seekers up north and today Philly got a busload. One of them was a little girl who was so dehydrated and feverish that she was immediately hospitalized upon arrival. Another woman said that during the two-day bus ride, they were only given one small prepackaged meal.

I know that the cruelty is the point, I know that this is all political theater so his racist supporters will keep voting for him, but fuck! How do you not read a news story like this and not feel helpless?

The good news, though, is that we’re not helpless. I’m proud of my state for electing Fetterman and Shapiro, and I’m proud of my city for being a sanctuary city. I’m proud that Philly turned out to help these people and will continue to do so for as long as Abbott decides to keep being a piece of shit.

There are a lot of organizations doing good work in Philly, and a lot of ways to help. Philly’s city .gov website put out a guide on how to help the incoming asylum seekers, and along with that, here are three organizations you can give to and/or volunteer with that have vowed to help these people as they come into the city:

Nationalities Service Center Philadelphia

Provides a range of services to incoming refugees, victims of human trafficking, and unaccompanied children.

HIAS Pennsylvania

Provides legal and social services to low-income immigrant populations in PA and has for decades.

Mayor’s Welcoming Fund

A new fund set up by the mayor’s office to distribute donations to a group of smaller local nonprofits to help support and settle incoming asylum seekers.

Based on Abbott’s past behavior, there’s probably a lot more bullshit where this came from, and he’s probably going to be sending people to a lot of different cities. Obviously, my home is close to my heart and I donate to my local organizations -- and I’d love it if you did so as well -- but I also highly encourage you to look up your own local organizations dedicated to helping. 

This is a widespread problem and it’s only going to get wider, but I believe in the kindness of strangers, and I believe that there will always be people everywhere who want to help.

So please support them.

[fdelopera]

Also let's point out that this Islamist psyop from the Islamic Republic of Iran is out here empathizing with the white supremacist Neo-Nazi from Pennsylvania who slaughtered 11 Jews at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

And this Neo-Nazi's "excuse" for slaughtering 11 of us in Pittsburgh was that Jews who work at HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) of Pennsylvania are helping destitute refugees, including Muslim refugees, as part of their mission to "help refugees of all faiths and backgrounds." He also quoted the New Testament before going on his rampage (which Christians have broadly disavowed and condemned, like in the article I've linked).

But Islamists don't give a shit about Muslim refugees, unless they can strap bombs onto them and turn them into "martyrs."

Islamists and white supremacist Neo-Nazis are linking hands and doing a circle dance together to the tune of "Throw the Jew Down the Well."

When you see an "antizionist jew" remember what you are looking at

[hagleyvault]

Today’s #Bluesday post features a ca. 1890s cyanotype photograph from the Hagley Library’s Louis E. and Max Levy photograph album. The album was created by Louis Edward Levy (1846-1919) and Max Levy (1857-1926), two brothers whose parents immigrated to the United States from Bohemia in 1854.

After studying and working in the fields of architecture, mathematics, astronomy, and microscope photography, the brothers worked together to found a photoengraving business in Baltimore in 1875. In 1877, they moved to Philadelphia and reorganized the firm as the Levytype Company. Here, they formally introduced their invention of a new photochemical engraving process, jointly patented on January 4, 1875, which they called "Levy-type".

Other inventions followed, including the engraved glass grating known as the Levy line screen. Invented in 1887, these were the first commercial halftone screens, which became universally used for producing half-tone photoengravings, and are still an industry standard to this day. This innovation was followed by the acid blast, or etching machine, in 1897 and the etch-powdering machine in 1901. In 1900, the firm was renamed the Graphic Arts Company, and the brothers added a printing and publishing department to their business.

Outside of their work in the photography industry, the brothers were prominent members of the Philadelphia Jewish community. Most notably, Louis was the founding president of the Association for the Protection of Jewish Immigrants, known today as HIAS Pennsylvania, and wrote extensively on immigration related issues.

The Louis E. and Max Levy photograph album (Accession 1976.252) contains personal cyanotype photographs taken by the brothers of their homes, travels, friends, and family. Included are scenes from Philadelphia, Boston, Roxbury, Dedham, Concord, Northboro, and Nantucket, Massachusetts; snapshots of children and other people; and various interiors. To view this album online now, click here to visit its page in our Digital Archive.

[ruminativerabbi]

Buffalo

Like most American Jews (and, I imagine, most American non-Jews as well), I was confused back in 2017 when white supremacists marched through the streets of Charlotteville, Virginia, chanting “Jews will not replace us.” At first, I supposed that the slogan referenced some crazy belief that Jews were slowly taking over the nation and pushing non-Jews out of their jobs, their communities, and even their place in American society. That there are hundreds of millions more non-Jews in the United State than there are Jews seemed not to matter; all that I thought I heard those people saying was that they were afraid that, one by one, the non-Jews of the nation would somehow be replaced by Jews. But then I learned that that was not at all what they meant and that the idea was that Jews, by controlling the federal government and its immigration policies, were behind the effort to bring gigantic numbers of non-white foreigners into the country and that it was those people—dark-skinned types from Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa—it was those people whom the Charlottesville marchers were afraid were slowly going to take over their jobs, their churches, and eventually their state legislatures and their delegations to the Congress. So the verb was transitive, not intransitive: the marchers were insisting that the Jewish plan was to replace them not with themselves but with various kinds of people of color and foreign ethnicity, but that that was not going to work because they were not going to permit it to happen.

At the time, this theory—that white “legacy Americans” (to use the more recent term of choice) need seriously to fear being replaced by non-white newcomers who will slowly become the majority in their towns and states, and eventually in the nation itself—was new to me. But that was then. And, in the meantime, it has taken off in the blogosphere and on the kinds of internet websites that appeal to white supremacists. Brenton Tarrant, the man who murdered more than fifty worshipers in two different mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on March 15, 2019, left behind a seventy-five page long manifesto that he called “The Great Replacement,” in which he detailed his theory that people of color—and particularly Muslims—were on their way to becoming the majority in New Zealand and that it was only a matter of time before they replaced the white population and were in a position to elect their own officials who would complete the task of transforming New Zealand from a republic of primarily white people with European ancestors into some version of a caliphate. That Muslims currently constitute a mere 1.3% of the population of New Zealand did not apparently strike the shooter as a relevant statistic.

Closer to home, Robert Gregory Bowers, the man accused of murdering eleven and wounding six worshipers at the Tree of Life Synagogue on October 27, 2018, is also a proponent of this “Great Replacement” theory. (He apparently chose his target in Pittsburgh because one of the congregations housed there was part of the HIAS-sponsored “National Refugee Shabbat” intended to build support for treating refugees seeking asylum in our nation kindly, generously, and fairly.) And Patrick Crusius, the man charged with murdering twenty-three people in a Wal-Mart’s in El Paso on the third of August in 2019, appears also to have written a manifesto similar to the one composed by the Christchurch killer, one in which he writes openly that his belief in that same theory prompted him to take action against the Latino population in his home state.

And now we have Buffalo, a tragedy allegedly perpetrated by a teenager earlier this week in which ten people were killed and another three injured. Of the thirteen, eleven were Black Americans, which was apparently the point: the young man accused of the crime, Payton S. Gendron, allegedly drove hours from his home in Conklin, New York (south of Binghamton on the border with Pennsylvania), to a supermarket he had already scouted out and which he correctly imagined would be filled with Black shoppers on a weekday afternoon. And he too was a fan of the “Great Replacement” theory, as evidenced by the fact that the manifesto he posted on Google Docs was to a large extent cribbed from the manifesto composed and posted by Brenton Tarrant before he shot all those people in New Zealand. For good measure, he wrote approvingly as well both about Anders Breivik, who murdered seventy-seven people, mostly teenagers in an Oslo summer camp, in July of 2011, and Dylann Roof, who murdered nine Black worshipers at the Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston in 2015, and who has since been sentenced to death.

Where did any of this come from? Even if we are prepared to ignore the illogic of someone killing innocents in a supermarket, none of whom was an immigrant to these shores or a refugee, to address the nefarious plot to replace white Americans with darker-skinned replacement citizens, it is still hard to imagine what could motivate someone to adopt a worldview so little in sync with reality. Is this then just a kind of mental illness in which an outlandish theory takes root in the psyche of a group of fellow travelers and leads them to act in a way that would be explicable if the theory were grounded in fact? Or is this something else, perhaps the poison fruit of some sort of malign nostalgia for a fantasy version of bygone days—when the Congress was completely white, gas was thirty-five cents a gallon, and women had no ambitions other than marriage and motherhood? (Just for the record, women have been part of the work force since Colonial days and Congress hasn’t been completely white since the middle of the nineteenth century when the first Black members of Congress were elected in the 1860s. Gas, however, really was once thirty-five cents a gallon, and in my very own lifetime too.) Or is this merely traditional racism dressed up to sound slightly less disreputable than it otherwise would—in other words, an effort to justify the hatred specifically directed at Black people or Hispanic people by asserting that such people are provoking the hatred directed against them and therefore deserve to be hated. (In other words, is “Great Replacement” theorizing just a refurbished version of the favorite theory of old-school anti-Semites—that we Jews are responsible for the hatred directed against us—revised to suit prejudice based on race or ethnicity rather than religion?)

The irony in all this is that, of all peoples, Jews really do know what it means to be replaced. In my opinion, Aharon Appelfeld’s book, Blooms of Darkness, is one of the best Shoah-based novels ever. (I’ve written about it in this space too: click here and here to revisit two of those letters.) It’s an understated work about a little boy, Hugo, whose father has already been deported and whose mother, facing her own imminent disappearance, has the notion of begging an old friend , a Ukrainian woman named Mariana, to hide her son. Mariana agrees, but fails to make clear that she lives in a brothel where she works as a prostitute and that most of her clients are German soldiers. The story is dramatic and extremely moving, but the most powerful part of the book is at the end. The war is over. Mariana is arrested as a collaborator who gave comfort to the enemy and is summarily executed. Hugo is alone in the world, then somehow realizes that the city he is in is actually his home town, that his parents’ neighborhood is nearby, that he finally actually can return home. And so he set forth, this little boy of eleven, and eventually does find the right neighborhood. But everyone—every single Jewish soul—has vanished and been replaced by Gentiles who have taken over their homes and their businesses. He actually finds his parents’ home and, peering through the window, sees some other family seated at his parents’ dining room table enjoying their evening meal. The sense of unimaginable loneliness a child in that situation would feel is effectively conveyed in the author’s sparse, unadorned prose; what made Appelfeld a truly great author was his ability to tell complicated, emotionally overwhelming stories plainly and simply. If Hugo, the little boy, were somehow to step out of his book to visit in jail with the Buffalo shooter, he could explain what it means actually to be replaced, to be dragged away from the stage on which your life is unfolding so that your own murderers and their relations can settle into your space and eat their meals on your mother’s good china. He could explain that this really did happen, but who is going to explain to people caught up in the concept of replacement theorizing that nothing even remotely like that is happening to white Americans?

Questions relating to immigration and the bestowal of refugee status are legitimate topics for debate among principled citizens eager to promote the best interests of the nation and its citizens. But when that debate crosses the line to invoke a phantom phenomenon by its nature so unnerving and upsetting that it encourages its adherents to conclude that only violent action can resolve the matter fairly—then the discussion no longer serves the nation and instead becomes part of the problem it was undertaken in the first place to address.

It's hard to feel sympathy for a mass murderer and I don’t. Not really. Not at all, actually. But another part of me wonders where the real responsibility here lies if not with those who intentionally and maliciously got a young person—a boy not yet old enough to buy cigarettes legally in New York or to order a glass of beer in a bar—to imagine that he would be acting nobly and patriotically by murdering innocent men and women shopping in a supermarket on a sunny afternoon. The fate of the accused will be decided in court. But the matter of what role others played in prompting him to act—that too is part of the issue our nation needs to face in the wake of the massacre in Buffalo.

[creepingsharia]

42 governors, including at least 19 Republicans, consent to resettle MORE refugees

How to turn red states blue, and first world third. Trump should have ended the fraudulent refugee resettlement program on day one in office.

Read more at Refugee Resettlement Watch via Three More Republican Governors Turn on Trump, Cave to Leftists on Refugee Program Reform 

The list below is from one of the taxpayer-funded enemies within who is flooding America with refugees and flipping cowardly, weak-kneed Republicans (in name only). via Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services

Governors who have given consent

Gov. Wolf (D-PA) Public Statement and Letter of Consent

Gov. Whitmer (D-MI) Public Statement and Letter of Consent

Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) Public Statement via Spokesperson

Gov. Murphy (D-NJ) Public Statement and Letter of Consent

Gov. Polis (D-CO) Public Statement and Letter of Consent

Gov. Grisham (D-NM) Letter of Consent

Gov. Baker (R-MA) Public Statement and Letter of Consent

Gov. Kate Brown (D-OR) Letter of Consent and Tweet

Gov. Gary Herbert (R-UT) Letter of Consent (& Salt Lake Tribune Article)

Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA) Letter of Consent

Gov. Burgum (R-ND) Public Statement, Consent Letter, and AP article

Gov. Northam (D-VA) Press Release and Letter of Consent 

Gov. Sununu (R-NH) Letter of Consent and AP Article

Governor Steve Bullock (D-MT) Letter of Consent

Governor Laura Kelly (D-KS) Letter of Consent and Press Release

Governor Ducey (R-AZ) Letter of Consent and Article

Governor Cooper (D-NC) Letter of Consent

Governor Lamont (D-CT) Letter of Consent

Governor John Carney (D-DE) Letter of Consent

Governor Kim Reynolds (R-IA) Letter of Consent

Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) Letter of Consent and Press Release

Governor Gina Raimondo (D-RI) Letter of Consent

Governor Eric Holcomb (R-IN) Letter of Consent

Governor J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) Public Statement with Expected Consent and Letter of Consent

Governor Bill Lee (R-TN) Letter of Consent, Press Release, and Letter to the Lt. Governor & State Speaker of the House

Governor Tony Evers (D-WI) Letter of Consent

Governor Janet Mills (D-ME) Letter of Consent

Governor Kevin Stitt (R-OK) Letter of Consent

Governor Pete Ricketts (R-NE) Anticipated Consent via Spokesman

Governor Steve Sisolak (D-NV) Letter of Consent

Governor Kristi Noem (R-SD) Article on Consent

Governor Bashear (D-KY) anticipated consent 

Governor Justice (R-WV) Letter of Consent & Press Release

Governor Edwards (D-LA) Letter of Consent and article 

Governor Hutchinson (R-AR) Letter of Consent and article 

Governor Newsom (D-CA) Letter of Consent

Governor Parson (R-MO) Letter of Consent and article

Governor Little (R-ID) Letters of Consent by county and article

Governor Larry Hogan (R-MD) Letter of Consent and article

Governor Dunleavy (R-AK) Article on Consent

Governor Cuomo (D-NY)

Governor Phil Scott (R-VT) Article on Consent

Local Authorities who have given consent*

*Non-exhaustive list

Mayor Ben Walsh – Syracuse, NY

Mayor Jacob Frey Tweet of consent– Minneapolis, MN

Mayor Andrew Ginther– Columbus, OH

Mayor Steve Schewel and Letter of Consent – Durham, NC

Mayor Jenny Durkan Letter of Consent – Seattle, WA

Mayor Nancy Vaughan Letter of Consent – Greensboro, NC

Alexandria City Council resolution, statement from Mayor Justin Wilson – Alexandria, VA

Durham County, NC Board of Commissioners – Letter of Consent

Knoxville City Council Consent – Knoxville, TN

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price (R) letter to Governor Abbott

Erie County, NY – Letter of Consent

Mayor Byron Brown Letter of Consent – Buffalo, NY

Mayor Patti Garrett Letter of Consent – Decatur, GA

Chatham County, GA – Letter of Consent

Polk County, IA – Letter of Consent

Warren County, KY – Letter of Consent 

Daviess County, KY – Letter of Consent

Mayor Nicole LaChapelle Letter of Consent – Easthampton, MA

Mayor Alex B. Morse Letter of Consent – Holyoke, MA

Mayor David Narkewicz Letter of Consent – Northampton, MA

Mayor Kimberly Driscoll Letter of Consent – Salem, MA

Mayor John Engen Letter of Consent – Missoula, MT

Mayor David Engen Letter of Consent – Grand Forks, ND

Mayor Frank G. Jackson Letter of Consent – Cleveland, OH

Mayor Michael P. Summers Letter of Consent – Lakewood, OH

Mayor Timothy J. DeGeeter Letter of Consent – Parma, OH

Mayor Nan Whaley Letter of Consent – Dayton, OH

Erie County Pennsylvania – Letter of Consent

Mayor Jorge O. Elorza Letter of Consent – Providence, RI

Bexar County, TX – Letter of Consent

Mayor Ron Nirenberg Letter of Consent – San Antonio, TX

Mayor Levar Stoney Letter of Consent – Richmond, VA

Kalamazoo County, MI – Letter of Consent

Kandiyohi County, MN – Letter of Consent 

Pima County, AZ Letter of Consent – Pima County, AZ

Mayor Kim Maggard Letter of Consent – Whitehall, OH

Mayor Betsy Price Letter of Consent – Fort Worth, TX

Mayor John Dailey Letter of Consent and Proclamation – Tallahassee, FL

Burleigh County, ND – Commission Vote

Franklin County, OH – Final Resolution / Commission and Article

Mayor of Dallas Letter of Consent – Dallas, TX

Mayor Thomas McNamara Letter of Consent – Rockford, IL

Winnebago County, IL – Letter of Consent 

DuPage County, IL – Letter of Consent

Mayor Jim Bouley Letter of Consent – Concord, NH

Mayor Kate Gallego Letter of Consent – Phoenix, AZ

Mayor Jonathan Rothschild Letter of Consent – Tucson, AZ

Mayor Edward Terry Letter of Consent – Clarkston, GA

Mayor William Reichelt Letter of Consent – West Springfield, MA

City of Ypsilanti, MI – Council Resolution and Consent 

Olmsted County, MN  Letter of Consent 

Mayor Lyda Krewson Letter of Consent – St. Louis, MO

Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin Letter of Consent – Raleigh, NC

Cass County, ND – Letter of Consent

Mayor Alvin Brandl Letter of Consent – Madison, NE

Mayor Jim Donchess Letter of Consent – Nashua, NH

Mayor Joyce Craig Letter of Consent – Manchester, NH

Hamilton County, OH – Letter of Consent

Montgomery County, OH – Letter of Consent

Mayor Lucy Vinis Letter of Consent – Eugene, OR

Mayor Christine Lundberg Letter of Consent – Springfield, OR

Mayor Wayne Evans Letter of Consent – Scranton, PA

Mayor Andy Berke Letter of Consent – Chattanooga, TN

Cache County, UT – Letter of Consent

Salt Lake County, UT – Letter of Consent

Weber County, UT – Letter of Consent

Fairfax County, VA – Letter of Consent

Mayor Sherman Lea, Sr. Letter of Consent – Roanoke, VA

Mayor Kelli Linville Letter of Consent – Bellingham, WA

Pierce County, WA – Letter of Consent 

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway Letter of Consent – Madison, WI

Mayor Fischer Letter of Consent – Louisville, KY

Mayor Kenneth Miyagishima Letter of Consent – Las Cruces, NM

Mayor William Peduto Letter of Consent – Pittsburgh, PA

Mayor Mark Behnke Letter of Consent – Battle Creek, MI

Macomb County, MI – Letter of Consent

Washtenaw County, MI – Consent Resolution 

Wayne County, MI – Letter of Consent 

Oakland County, MI – Letter of Consent 

Mayor David Berger Letter of Consent – Lima, OH

Mayor Martin Walsh Letter of Consent – Boston, MA

Mayor Joe Hogsett Letter of Consent – Indianapolis, IN

Dallas County, TX – Letter of Consent

Ingham County, MI – Consent Resolution 

Mayor Stephen C.N. Kepley Letter of Consent – Kentwood, MI

Las Vegas, NV – Article on Consent 

Henderson, NV – Article on Consent 

Reno, NV – Article on Consent

Wake County NC – Letter of Consent 

Buncombe County NC –  Letter of Consent 

Onondaga County, NY – Article on Consent 

Cook County, MN – Article on Consent

Cumberland County, PA – Article on Consent

Ramsey County, MN – Article on Consent

Minnehaha County, SD – Article on Consent

 Boulder County, CO – Article on Consent

Grand Traverse County, MI – Article on Consent

New Castle County, DE – Article on Consent

Utah County, UT – Article on Consent

Otter Tail County, MN – Article on Consent

Twin Falls County, ID – Article on Consent

Spokane County, WA – Article on Consent

Dane County, WI – Press Release on Consent

Boone County, MO – Article on Consent

Mecklenburg County, NC – Article on Consent

Ann Corcoran of RRW blog notes:

I continue to argue that these nine contractors are the heart of America’s Open Borders movement and thus there can never be long-lasting reform of US immigration policy when these nine un-elected phony non-profits are paid by the taxpayers to work as community organizers pushing an open borders agenda.

Church World Service (CWS)

Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC) (secular)

Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM)

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)

International Rescue Committee (IRC) (secular)

US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) (secular)

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS)

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)

World Relief Corporation (WR)

[plausability-spectrum]

These people are only able to get here because tax-funded ngos are facilitating the logistics. That's who the politicians need to be talking about.

Why are politicians on both sides of the aisle giving tax dollars to these non-governmental organizations whose primary purpose is to displace the very people that created the tax dollars?

Christopher Rufo explains the whole process and the destruction of a small Pennsylvania town in this article. The ngos he mentions are JFCS (Jewish Family and community Services) and their parent company HIAS (Hebrew Immigration Aid Society.)

Anytime a presidential candidate or politician is talking about this invasion, these ngos and any other must be called out.

Think about them when you're at work tomorrow. Knowing part of your paycheck is going to these ngos who are then taking more of your paycheck and giving it to migrants.

Try and have a wonderful day despite those thoughts. 🤗

https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=64686

Only way to fix this problem.

VOTE TRUMP 2024

[upennmanuscripts]

Family Resemblances, Part 2

Fifty-two discoveries from the BiblioPhilly project, No. 26/52 A guest post by University of Pennsylvania Manuscripts Cataloging Librarian, Amey Hutchins

   Carta executoria, Philadelphia, Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E 241, fols. 1v–2r (large illuminated initial D, coat of arms; facing text page)

As Richard L. Kagan explains in Lawsuits and Litigants in Castile,1 minors (under the age of 25) and women of any age were not allowed to litigate on their own behalf in the Castilian courts. The exception to the rule about women was that widows were allowed to bring lawsuits, which meant that they could protect their dowries from creditors of their dead husbands. One of the cartas executorias at the Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E 241, records an example of a widow filing a pleito de hidalguía, the lawsuit by a private individual to prove a claim of nobility. Her name first appears as “Marí Lopez de Colmenares muger de Pedro de Matienzo ya defunto vezína de la dicha vílla de Carrión” (Marí Lopez de Colmenares, wife of Pedro de Matienzo already deceased, resident of the town of Carrión, fol. 2r).

This carta executoria was probably quite plain in its original form, with the floral borders added later. For comparison, simple pairs of diagonal lines like these in the upper margin of another, less extravagant, carta executoria,  UPenn Ms. Codex 74:

Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, UPenn Ms. Codex 74, fol. 6v

…are visible under the borders in Lewis E 241:

Lewis E 241, fol. 17r

…and the notarial marks like these at the bottom of each page in UPenn Ms. Codex 74:

UPenn Ms. Codex 74, fol. 6v

…have been roughly avoided by the later decoration in Lewis E 241:

Lewis E 241, fol. 17r

At the end of the text of the carta executoria, the later decoration does not fill the lower margin, in order not to cover the title-like summary at the end, where the name of Marí Lopez de Colmenares appears again, slightly damaged:

Lewis E 241, fol. 28r

The full-page illuminations in Lewis E 241 are at the end of the manuscript, not the beginning, and this departure from the usual order, together with the later date of the decoration, makes the shadowy double portrait at the end of the manuscript (fol. 30r) a bit enigmatic.

   Lewis E 241, fols. 29v–30r

Lewis E 241, fol. 30r (detail)

Is it a retrospective portrait of Marí and Pedro? A portrait of their son García de Matienzo (named in a later addition on fol. 28v), with his wife? Or another member of the same family?

With thanks to Richard Kagan, Johns Hopkins University; Scotland Long, University of Pennsylvania; and Francis Turco, Temple University, for their assistance.

from WordPress http://bibliophilly.pacscl.org/family-resemblances-part-2/

[jewish-privilege]

When Mary McCabe explains America’s immigration courts to children who have been separated from their parents, she tries to make it interactive.

She draws a sketch of a courtroom and asks kids to identify the figures in the room — like the judge or the lawyers — and where they sit. For younger ones, ages 6 or 7, she brings a box of crayons and a sketchpad for doodling. Older kids sometimes play with a toy that drips colored oil into water. Anything to give them a little diversion from her discussing why they are apart from their parents — and what happens next.

...HIAS Pennsylvania is one of the Jewish groups actively aiding families that have been separated at the southern U.S. border under a new government policy dictating that every illegal migrant who crosses the United States border will be prosecuted and detained. Since children cannot be prosecuted with adults, they are reclassified as unaccompanied minors and taken away, either to mass children’s shelters or foster homes. More than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents, according to The New York Times.

...McCabe and her colleagues have counseled a dozen separated children now living in a shelter in Pennsylvania about their legal rights, the process of seeking asylum and how they may be able to see their parents again. She has counseled children ranging in age from 6 to 15.

“One 7-year-old girl said, ‘My mom can’t talk to me, she doesn’t have a phone now, she can’t talk to me,’” McCabe recalled. “Some of the older ones are also really suffering. … They were fleeing gang or domestic violence, and they often came with their parent because their parent was also afraid. A lot of times the older kid is afraid the parent will be deported.”

A broad spectrum of Jewish groups have spoken out against the policy, along with many other religious organizations. Some Jews, on the southern border and elsewhere, are working to provide physical or legal assistance to migrants, or to organize other local Jews to speak up.

“Obviously Jews had a history of immigration and of moving when sometimes they haven’t wanted to, and having to find places where they’re welcome,” Mayor Jonathan Rothschild of Tucson, Arizona, told JTA. His city is 60 miles from the border.

“There’s also a moral faith that follows religion,” the Jewish lawmaker said. “You can’t but have your stomach turned by the stories that we hear.”

Last week, 27 Jewish groups — including, in a rare show of unanimity, the leadership of all four major American Jewish religious movements — signed an open letter to Sessions decrying the policy, saying it “undermines the values of our nation and jeopardizes the safety and well-being of thousands of people.”

“I haven’t seen anything like this in this field since the first executive order came out,” said Mark Hetfield, president of the national HIAS organization, referring to the January 2017 travel ban on seven Muslim countries. Nearly all major American Jewish groups opposed that policy as well.

...One of Rothschild’s constituents is Alma Hernandez, a Mexican-American Jewish woman running this year for the Arizona House of Representatives. Hernandez, 24, who resigned as the coordinator of Tucson’s Jewish Community Relations Council to run for office. This year, perceiving a lack of progressive political action from the established Jewish community, she co-founded the activist group Tucson Jews for Justice, which plans to participate in rallies against the separation policy and other issues.

“These are people that are our neighbors. It’s a little frustrating sometimes, especially right now,” Hernandez said.

...McCabe said that she understands the decision to take the risk to cross the border after hearing stories of the gangs and violence that threaten families in Central America. While she is not Jewish, she says working for a Jewish organization has made her even more aware of the need to provide a safe haven to families seeking asylum.

“What happened in the 1930s and ’40s has had an impact on our asylum system,” she said. “That’s partly why we have this asylum system. The Jewish community cares that people who are being targeted for persecution have a way to be safe because people died. I feel like I’m just stating the obvious.”

Read Ben Sales full piece at JTA.

[jayostrich]

About 40 members of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard’s 193rd Special Operations Wing, based at Harrisburg International Airport, have been on the front line fighting the COVID-19 pandemic at a drive-through testing center in Montgomery County.

[bbcbreakingnews]

Trump aide’s grandmother DID die from coronavirus, says uncle

President Donald Trump‘s aide Stephen Miller’s maternal grandmother died of the ‘late effects’ of COVID-19, his uncle revealed, blasting the Trump administration for mishandling the pandemic. 

Mother Jones first published the blockbuster allegations and the White House’s response: that 97-year-old Ruth Glosser was not killed by COVID-19 and rather ‘died peacefully in her sleep from old age.’ 

Miller’s uncle David Glosser, a Trump critic who has been estranged from his nephew since the 2016 election, painted a different picture of Glosser’s demise and gave Mother Jones a copy of her death certificate that says ‘respiratory arrest’ due to ‘COVID-19’ killed her.  

White House aide Stephen Miller’s grandmother died of the ‘late effects’ of COVID-19 his uncle revealed

David Glosser, Miller’s uncle on his mom’s side, took to Facebook to report that his mother and Miller’s grandmother had died of COVID-19 on the Fourth of July. Glosser then showed Mother Jones reporter David Corn his mother’s death certificate 

Proof: The White House claimed that Miller’s grandmother did not die from COVID-19 – despite the death certificate listing it

David Glosser described his mother and Stephen Miller’s grandmother Ruth Glosser in a July 4 Facebook post, calling her a ���scholar, a social worker and the teacher of a generation of social work students in Western Pennsylvania’ 

‘She had what might be regarded as a weak case,’ David Glosser told Mother Jones’ David Corn. ‘She survived the immediate acute effects but lost 20 pounds within a few weeks and was very much weakened.’ 

‘She lost the will to eat because of enormous fatigue, enormous confusion, and the loss of her sense of smell and taste, and her lungs continued to deteriorate,’ he continued. ‘Finally, she could not sustain a level of oxygen to remain conscious. In accordance with her living will, the oxygen was withdrawn.’

‘She basically fell asleep and died,’ Glosser said. 

She had been living in an assisted living facility outside Los Angeles, after spending most of her life in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a small city east of Pittsburgh.  

 The White House lashed out when Corn asked for comment. 

‘This is categorically false, and a disgusting use of so-called journalism when the family deserves privacy to mourn the loss of a loved one,’ an unnamed White House spokesperson said. ‘His grandmother did not pass away from COVID. She was diagnosed with COVID in March and passed away in July so that timeline does not add up at all.’ 

‘His grandmother died peacefully in her sleep from old age,’ the statement continued. ‘I would hope that you would choose not to go down this road.’ 

But Glosser had posted a note about his mother’s death publicly to his Facebook account, indicating she had died ‘of the late effects of COVID-19’ the morning of July 4. 

‘She was a scholar, a social worker, and the teacher of a generation of social work students in Western Pennsylvania. She founded and administered a foster parent’s program for children with special needs in Johnstown, and was a pillar of the community,’ Glosser wrote. 

Glosser also made reference to the family’s immigrant past – which he has called attention to previously when publicly criticizing Miller, his nephew. 

‘Her passion was the careful documentation of the Glosser family and its flight from Czarist persecution in what is now Belarus to life and freedom in the USA,’ Glosser wrote on Facebook. 

He asked people to donate in his mother’s honor to HIAS, a Jewish group dedicated to helping refugees.  

Talking to Mother Jones, Glosser said that while the Trump administration is not to blame for his mother being 97-years-old, the president ‘and his enablers bear tremendous responsibility for the failure to respond and their continued unwillingness to do what public health experts say must be done.’ 

Glosser said an effective response might have seen 20,000 U.S. deaths. 

‘So Trump bears substantial responsibility for the deaths of over 100,000 Americans who didn’t need to die, including my mother,’ Glosser said. 

Miller’s role in the COVID-19 crisis was to help Trump draft an Oval Office speech, delivered on March 11. Trump announced a travel ban from Europe that caused chaos and confusion for American travelers who believed they wouldn’t be let back in the U.S.  Miller, an immigration hard-liner, has seemingly influenced Trump to continue pressing anti-immigrant policies throughout the pandemic. 

Miller’s wife, Vice President Mike Pence’s spokeswoman Katie Miller, who is pregnant with the couple’s first child, tested positive for COVID-19 in May. She’s fully recovered and back at work. 

Glosser told Corn he hadn’t spoken to Miller since the 2016 campaign and described him as an ‘ambitious kid’ who ‘for some reason decided to become infatuated with the idea of white supremacy.’  

Miller, Glosser said, ‘sees Trump as a useful idiot in his quest to advance his white power agenda … He has been able to use Trump to advance his political vendetta against the world.’ 

Glosser also told Mother Jones that he wasn’t surprised Miller had a role in the administration’s coronavirus failure. 

‘He has no ability to demonstrate empathy,’ Glosser said. 

Ruth Glosser, according to David Glosser, was highly ‘disturbed’ when Trump became president.   

‘She was terribly torn between the normal love for grandchildren and horror at the racist content of Trump’s policies and Stephen’s role in it,’ David Glosser said.   

The post Trump aide’s grandmother DID die from coronavirus, says uncle appeared first on BBC BREAKING NEWS.

from WordPress https://bbcbreakingnews.com/trump-aides-grandmother-did-die-from-coronavirus-says-uncle/

[philaparkandrec]

Broadening horizons for immigrant youth

As part of our inclusion efforts, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation seeks to welcome all new residents. A partnership at Tarken Recreation Center is helping immigrant youth acclimate to their new country. This specialized program helps youth with language, socialization, and athletics.

Participants receive homework help from bilingual volunteers. HIAS Pennsylvania coordinates these volunteers and curriculum. The youth learn soccer skills from Philly Open Soccer. The City's Language Access Program (LAP) arranged this impactful partnership. Meka Perez is Parks & Rec's coordinator for LAP.

Recently, the program added field trips to their activities. On October 12, 2019, youth from the program attended the Unity Cup championship game in Chester, PA. Transportation was generously provided by the Unity Cup, directed by Bill Salvatore.

According to Meka, field trips, "...broaden the children's horizons. The goal is to open them up to new experiences outside their neighborhood and Tarken. Seeing the Unity Cup game encourages them to continue to develop their soccer skills. We'd love to see them play in the Unity Cup when they're old enough!"

After the field trip, Alex Ponson, one of the founders of Open Soccer, noted how special the event was. "For most, if not all, it was their first time in a professional stadium. It is definitely something they'll remember for years to come. One of our kids said it helped make for his ‘best weekend ever’."

For more information on the program, contact Language Access Coordinator, Meka Perez at meka.perez@phila.gov.

[celldeal57-blog]

Immigration: Symbol Lai Helps Direct The City Of Philadelphia’s Position On Immigration

 Added on September 18, 2018  Grace Shallow

Symbol Lai (above, far left) is the deputy director in the city’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (OIA), which was formerly known under Mayor Michael Nutter as the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant and Multicultural Affairs. OIA — which adopted its name when Mayor Jim Kenney was elected in 2016 — is designed to provide immigrants support and a voice on a citywide level.

What needs in this city is OIA responding to?

It’s a broad set of needs because it’s municipal government. But in general, the mission of the office was to make sure the immigrants and immigrant communities have a connection to municipal government. They need a little bit more attention and strategies to make sure that municipal government can respond to their needs, and they feel like they have a line of communication. Since the Office of Immigrant Affairs took form in government, a lot of things have changed. The 2016 election happened, so it’s responding to a new sense of urgency.

Because we are the voice of the city, we have a bigger platform than individual nonprofits and we can help set a new standard.

Are there any specific initiatives that have been born out of that sense of urgency?

Right after the election happened, a group of lawyers teamed up with community legal organizations and the American Bar Association, and they convened a meeting under the name Take Action Philly. It’s now called the New Americans Campaign (NAC) and they’ve continued to hold citywide citizenship screenings. Our office is part of the conversation to keep this program going, to work with the partners to coordinate, to essentially coordinate an effort, but NAC is headed by HIAS Pennsylvania. So that’s one example of a concrete program that our office is involved in that came in response to the 2016 election.

The second program that we’ve done is called the Immigrant Worker Academy, and it is a community outreach program around immigrant workers’ rights. We partner closely with a neighborhood organization that gives us guidance around some of the languages are spoken, what the particular needs are of that neighborhood. We provide a lot of the labor and convene the facilitators and to make sure that the event that happened, that folks are kind of leading immigrants and the constituents where they’re at.

This came out because folks said that, as it is, immigrant workers are some of the most vulnerable people in the workforce, considering language and racism and cultural barriers. After the election, a lot of the service providers started realizing that people were even more scared in workplaces.

What is OIA’s role in immigration policy for the city?

A lot of what our office does is make that line between federal policy and municipal policy clear. There’s a lot of changes coming down from the federal pipeline, but it’s not always clear about how it plays out on a local level and what are the legal implications of that for families in Philadelphia. One of the responsibilities of the office is to make sure that the information that folks are receiving is not going to generate more paranoia and that the implications of where the city stands on these things is very, very clear for people.

It’s also to make sure that this is communicated to our nonprofit partners so that they know exactly what parameters they have to operate in and that offers them when they know what kind of space and what kind of leeway that they have. It allows people to create more support to make sure that immigrants feel very welcome in the city.

Does OIA typically support the view of immigration taken by the city, which are usually spearheaded by Mayor Kenney?

Yeah, we’re a city office. I guess the way to think about it is we’re the city’s position on immigration. Our office works closely with Mayor Kenney to develop the different stances and different policies to respond some of the federal problems.

What are immigrants’ most paramount needs?

Where to begin? There’s a lot. I think safety is one, especially now where the xenophobic rhetoric is so blatant and complicit. Others are whether or not they have access to a job, whether or not they are entitled to a home, whether or not they’re entitled to public education or language access in different arenas. If you wanted to sum it up, whether they have the ability to go about their daily lives without actually having to question access to certain things.

What do you think OIA’s impact is on the typical immigrant in Philadelphia?

It’s hard to say. I do think that it’s helpful to have an office where somebody and any of our community partners feel like they have a direct line to call. If something happened, they can call on our staff and then we can kind of troubleshoot it. Bureaucracy can be something that’s very unwieldy and very imposing. The office makes it feel more manageable.

-Text and image by Grace Shallow.

Source: https://philadelphianeighborhoods.com/2018/09/18/immigration-symbol-lai-helps-direct-the-city-of-philadelphias-position-on-immigration/

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/united-states-of-america/synagogue-shooting-suspect-faces-new-hate-crime-charges/

Synagogue shooting suspect faces new hate crime charges

A federal grand jury added new hate crime charges on Tuesday in a new superseding indictment against Robert Bowers, who allegedly killed 11 Jewish worshipers in an anti-Semitic attack in Pittsburgh last October.

Bowers, 46, originally faced 44 federal charges over the Oct. 27, 2018, attack at the Tree of Life synagogue.

The new indictment adds an additional 19 charges: 11 counts of hate crimes leading to death, two counts of hate crimes leading to injury and six corresponding firearms charges, according to the Department of Justice.

Cathal McNaughton/Reuters

A woman reacts at a makeshift memorial outside the Tree of Life synagogue following Saturday’s shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, Oct. 29, 2018.

Bowers allegedly entered the synagogue armed with multiple firearms, including three Glock .357 handguns and a Colt AR-15 rifle, and expressed a desire to “kill Jews” before opening fire, the DOJ said in a statement.

In addition to the 11 deceased victims, Bowers also allegedly injured multiple others, including four responding officers, police said.

Bowers now faces 63 federal charges, 22 of which are punishable by death, according to the superseding indictment.

The indictment also revealed new details about the suspect’s mental state and his alleged connections to gab.com, a website where he allegedly made racist statements and criticized the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, according to the DOJ.

AFP/Getty Images

A Department of Motor Vehicles ID picture of Robert Bowers, the suspect of the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

“A statement on his profile expressed the belief that ‘jews are the children of satan,’ and other posts referred to Jewish people using anti-Semitic slurs,” the DOJ statement said.

Before entering the Tree of Life Synagogue, Bowers allegedly posted a message on the gab website, saying: “HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

Bowers pleaded not guilty to the initial 44 count indictment in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania last year.

He faces a maximum penalty of life without parole, followed by a consecutive sentence of 250 years, according to the indictment.

[plusorminuscongress]

New story in Politics from Time: President Trump Arrives in Pittsburgh to Mixed Feelings as City Mourns After Synagogue Massacre

(PITTSBURGH) — President Donald Trump came to pay tribute Tuesday to those touched by the worst instance of anti-Semitic violence in American history, traveling to a city where he faced an uneasy welcome from those grieving.

Trump stepped into the role of national consoler, a title he wears uncomfortably, as he arrived in Pennsylvania to visit Squirrel Hill, the Pittsburgh neighborhood that is home to the Tree of Life synagogue, where 11 people were gunned down during Sabbath services on Saturday.

When Air Force One touched down at the airport outside Pittsburgh, Trump and first lady Melania Trump were not greeted by the usual phalanx of local officials that typically welcomes a visiting president, a reflection of controversy surrounding the visit.

The White House said Trump was coming to “express the support of the American people and to grieve with the Pittsburgh community.” But local and religious leaders were divided on whether Trump should be there.

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, a Democrat, told reporters before the visit was announced that the White House ought to consult with the families of the victims about their preferences and asked that the president not come during a funeral. Neither he nor Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf planned to appear with Trump.

Trump’s itinerary remained under wraps even as he stepped off the plane, trailed by his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who are Jewish, and members of the first lady’s staff carrying white flowers. The White House invited the top four congressional leaders to join Trump in Pittsburgh, but none accompanied him.

A spokesman for Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he already had events in his home state, pushing back on the suggestion that he declined. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan’s office said he could not attend on short notice. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also opted not to participate.

Questions have long swirled about the president’s credibility as a unifier. Since his 2016 campaign for the White House, Trump has at times been slow to denounce white nationalists, neo-Nazis and other hate-filled individuals and groups that found common cause with his nationalistic political rhetoric.

Trump traveled to the historic hub of the city’s Jewish community as the first funerals were scheduled to be held for the victims, who range in age from 54 to 97. He is expected to meet with first responders and community leaders. The death toll includes a set of brothers, a husband and wife, professors, dentists and a physician. It was not immediately clear whether Trump would meet with any family members.

Those who live in the tight-knit community were uncertain about whether they wanted the presidential visit. To Marianne Novy, Trump wasn’t wanted “unless he really changes his ways.” For David Dvir, politics should take a pause for grief: “It’s our president, and we need to welcome him.”

Barry Werber, 76, who said he survived the massacre by hiding in a dark storage closet as the gunman rampaged through the building, said he hoped Trump wouldn’t visit, noting that the president has embraced the politically fraught label of “nationalist.” Werber said the Nazis were nationalists.

“It’s part of his program to instigate his base,” Werber said, and “bigots are coming out of the woodwork.”

Novy, 73, a retired college English professor, said she signed an open letter asking Trump not to come to Pittsburgh. “His language has encouraged hatred and fear of immigrants, which is part of the reason why these people were killed,” she said.

Just minutes before the synagogue attack, the shooter apparently used social media to rage against HIAS, a Jewish organization that resettles refugees under contract with the U.S. government.

Dvir, 52, the owner of Murray Avenue Locksmith in Squirrel Hill, said of Trump: “I think he made some mistakes, but he is a great president.” He added that it would be “a shame” if the community protested the president’s visit.

Asked Monday if Trump had done enough to condemn white nationalism, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president “has denounced racism, hatred and bigotry in all forms on a number of occasions.”

She added: “Some individuals — they’re grieving, they’re hurting. The president wants to be there to show the support of this administration for the Jewish community. The rabbi said that he is welcome as well.”

Beth Melena, campaign spokeswoman for Wolf, said the governor did not plan to return to Pittsburgh as part of Trump’s visit on Tuesday. She said he based his decision on input from the victims’ families, who told him they did not want the president to be there on the day their loved ones were being buried.

“Community leaders expressed to the governor that they did not feel it was appropriate for Trump to come, so the governor made a decision not to join him on his visit out of respect for the families and the community,” Melena said.

But Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who was conducting Sabbath services at the Tree of Life synagogue when the shooter opened fire, made clear the president would be welcome, telling CNN: “The president of the United States is always welcome. I am a citizen. He is my president. He is certainly welcome.”

Shulamit Bastacky, 77, a Holocaust survivor and neighbor of victim Melvin Wax, expressed hope that fraught political issues and protests would not overshadow the remembrances.

“This is not the place to do it,” she said. “You can do the political part everywhere else. Not at this time. This would be like desecrating those people who were killed. They were murdered because they were Jews.”

“You can protest later on,” she added. “To me, it’s sacred what happened here.”

___

Lemire reported from New York. Associated Press writer Catherine Lucey contributed from Washington.

By ZEKE MILLER, ALLEN G. BREED and JONATHAN LEMIRE / AP on October 30, 2018 at 05:03PM