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By Roz Rogoff

About this blog: In January 2002 I started writing my own online "newspaper" titled "The San Ramon Observer." I reported on City Council meetings and other happenings in San Ramon. I tried to be objective in my coverage of meetings and events, and...  (More)

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My New Letter to President Trump

Uploaded: Mar 27, 2017

The original text of this letter was provided by Oxfam, an international rescue organization that I support financially. I made some changes to the Oxfam version to personalize it for myself. My input is shown in italics. The rest is copied from the text provided by Oxfam. Here is a link to the Oxfam website with the original text of the letter for anyone wishing to send a similar letter to President Trump.
https://secure2.oxfamamerica.org/page/speakout/abandon-the-ban

It's Happening Again!

Eighty years ago an evil Dictator took over Germany. He murdered millions of people for no other reasons than their religion, race, disabilities, or THE COUNTRIES THEY CAME FROM.

I know you are not an evil person, but you are repeating the same vile actions as Hitler. Your attempt to shut out people from several Muslim majority nations and suspend the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program runs counter to the fundamental values that we cherish as Americans.

Today, 65 million people have been forced to flee their homes from unspeakable horror due to conflict, violence, and persecution.

The US refugee resettlement program already thoroughly vets refugees. It’s an exhaustive screening process that can take over two years due to required screenings, in-person interviews, investigations, and clearance by a host of US government agencies including the Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and intelligence agencies. There are no shortcuts.

Tens of thousands of refugees are scheduled to arrive over the next 4 months - women, men, and children who had already completed years of rigorous vetting – have been impacted by the ban.

I beg you to please abandon your attempts to block vulnerable refugee families from seeking safety in the United States. Do not send these people back to a terrible fate such as what happened to Jews, Poles, Gypsies, Dwarfs, and millions of others under the Nazis.

The US has safely resettled tens of thousands of Muslim refugees over the years who have not only become US citizens, but who have also enriched the country economically, socially, and culturally.

As my Grandmother used to say, "Be a mensch." Do the right thing, not the political thing or the cowardly thing, but the RIGHT THING, and let these people in.
Community.
What is it worth to you?

Comments

Posted by Sam, a resident of Oak Hill,
on Mar 28, 2017 at 12:50 am

Please, Roz. Your open letter begging and beseeching Donald Trump to change his ways is a complete and utter waste of time and effort. He is who he is, and he never pretended to be anyone else than himself throughout his campaign. Those of us who recognized him for who he is voted for Hillary Clinton not so much because we liked Clinton but because we knew what would happen if Trump were elected President. You and others like you, on the other hand, wasted the one and only true power you had to stop Trump from becoming President by throwing away your votes away on Johnson and Stein. You helped Trump get elected. You helped ensure that America's immigration policies were completely turned upside down. And now you think that writing an open letter to Trump is going to have any effect at all???! Get a clue, Roz. I didn't even bother to read your open letter. I guarantee you that Donald Trump never will. If you find that writing an open letter to Trump on this matter is therapeutic and helps ease your conscience for your small part in helping him get elected, fine. But I suggest that if you really want to make a real difference in the direction of this country, then a better use of your time would be to more carefully consider how to use your one real power -the power of your VOTE - next time.


Posted by rosalindr, a resident of San Ramon,
on Mar 28, 2017 at 10:30 am

rosalindr is a registered user.

Sam,

I can see you are very passionate about my "wasting my vote," but you are also completely wrong. I live in California. I knew with absolute certainty that Hillary would win California. She did. She won the whole 55 electoral votes from California.

I voted for Gary Johnson because I truly wanted him to win, but I knew without a doubt that he had no chance whatsoever. Same with Jill Stein. But they were reasonable alternatives to the two major party candidates that allowed those of us who would not vote for either of those two to be able to cast our votes without compromising.

Where third party candidates made a difference was in the swing states like Ohio and Michigan. However blaming voters for voting their preferred candidate and not compromising to help your preferred candidate win those electoral votes is unfair. Hillary should have done a better job to win those voters over.

Roz


Posted by cbonner, a resident of Alisal Elementary School,
on Mar 28, 2017 at 4:55 pm

cbonner is a registered user.

"You helped ensure that America's immigration policies were completely turned upside down."

by this do you mean enforcing the laws currently on the books, especially with regard to criminals? lol


Posted by rosalindr, a resident of San Ramon,
on Mar 28, 2017 at 11:05 pm

rosalindr is a registered user.

cbonner,

Most of the people coming here from Trump's banned countries are not criminals and have been thoroughly vetted over a period of two years by numerous Federal Agencies. They are refugees escaping from very dangerous places, who have been waiting for years to be accepted. There's nothing lol about it.

Roz


Posted by cbonner, a resident of Alisal Elementary School,
on Mar 29, 2017 at 6:53 am

cbonner is a registered user.

"immigration policy" is completely different than "refugee resettlement". They are two different things. My comment was a response to another poster. His post was very lol-worthy as a point of fact.


Posted by RU Kiddingmii, a resident of Valley Trails,
on Mar 29, 2017 at 7:06 am

RU Kiddingmii is a registered user.

Hi Roz: I thought you announced us you were moving and no longer going to write your column? When is that again?? I will never be able to get back the 2.25 minutes I wasted reading this today.


Posted by rosalindr, a resident of San Ramon,
on Mar 29, 2017 at 1:32 pm

rosalindr is a registered user.

cbonner,

Thank you for the clarification.

RU,

And I will never get back the 20 seconds I spent reading your comment. I was trying to come up with a snappier insult but unfortunately I don't have a nasty streak like yours.

You also appear to have limited reading comprehension, since most of this column was copied from an email from Oxfam, an international rescue organization. I only wrote the few sentences in italics.

Oxfam is not a "Libertard" Democrat group. It is an international organization that helps resettle displaced people escaping from tyranny.

You may not care about those people. You may think it is funny to make jokes about millions of people being displaced or murdered in other countries, but since some of my family members who lived in Hungary during WWII were among the millions of people displaced or murdered, I'm kind of sensitive to it.

Roz


Posted by RU Kiddingmii, a resident of Valley Trails,
on Mar 31, 2017 at 10:24 am

RU Kiddingmii is a registered user.

Roz/rosalindr: It would be helpful and more transparent if you were to have left my original post in order for folks to see what it said. No where did I reference or use the word "libtard" as you claim in your response. Furthermore, no where did I "make fun of or laugh" at "these people" whomever "these people" whom you refer to are.

I simply asked why you are still writing your column in March, when in your December 18, 2016 blog entitled "Hanging My Hat Up for Real" YOU announced that you would be "... hanging up my hat, er, blog at the end of this month"?

I also felt it was a waste of my time to have read this current blog (although I have enjoyed some of your past blogs).

With regards to my "mean streak" - really? In both this blog and your 12/18 blog, you call Trump, Hitler. Who has the mean streak, Roz?


Posted by rosalindr, a resident of San Ramon,
on Mar 31, 2017 at 2:25 pm

rosalindr is a registered user.

RU,

I apologise for hiding your comment. I was over sensitive. I just un-hid it.

BTW in my "Is Donald Trump the new Hitler" blog, I did add a comment that he isn't evil like Hitler, just that he made promises to his followers that were similar to the ones Hitler used in 1933 to get elected, and I was right about that.

Web Link


Roz


Posted by Michael Austin, a resident of Pleasanton Meadows,
on Mar 31, 2017 at 5:34 pm

Michael Austin is a registered user.

I can provide first hand oral history how the United States military invaded and occupied Indian lands. While so engaged they raped, murdered and looted the Indian people.

They demonstrated their masculinity by way of picking up infants by their feet and bashing the infants heads against trees and rocks.

I have a head full of the horror the United States military and their crimes against the Indian people.


Posted by rosalindr, a resident of San Ramon,
on Mar 31, 2017 at 8:05 pm

rosalindr is a registered user.

Michael,

I'm very sorry the Native Americans were treated so badly by European immigrants and their descendents. This has happened not only here to indigenous people but in many other countries as well. Your description of killing babies is similar to what Nazi guards did to infants in concentration camps. There are people who get into positions of power over others and handle it in the worst ways. "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Roz


Posted by Goes, a resident of Canyon Oaks,
on Apr 4, 2017 at 4:24 am

Goes is a registered user.

The author of the text should as soon as possible go to psychiatric research because it shows signs of persecution phobia.


Posted by DKHSK, a resident of Bridle Creek,
on Apr 6, 2017 at 10:12 am

DKHSK is a registered user.

Wow...it just never ends.

You seriously diminish the horror of what the Nazis did when you compare Trump to Hitler.

Hitler EVERYWHERE equals Hitler NOWHERE.

Dan


Posted by DKHSK, a resident of Bridle Creek,
on Apr 6, 2017 at 10:19 am

DKHSK is a registered user.

I'll make it even clearer for those who can't figure out the difference:

HITLER EXTERMINATED HUMAN BEINGS!!

To say this is equal to Trumps policy is to completely misunderstand Trumps policy.

It's a sad thing to say that a number of people in this country, mostly Democrats and liberals, feel the same way as you and cannot see the complete fallacy in logic.

Dan


Posted by rosalindr, a resident of San Ramon,
on Apr 6, 2017 at 2:40 pm

rosalindr is a registered user.

Dan,

I agree with you. I do not believe Trump is anything like Hitler except for his new order limiting immigration from predominantly Muslim countries. Immigration should based on vetting each individual immigrant and not on their religion or country.

Roz


Posted by rosalindr, a resident of San Ramon,
on Apr 6, 2017 at 2:52 pm

rosalindr is a registered user.

Here's a link to a new interview with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in which he explains that President Trump is working on removing Syrian President Bashar Assad from power Web Link I am glad President Trump recognizes the terrible conditions in Syria forcing many people to flee for their lives.

Assad has been bombing and gassing thousands, if not millions, of people in parts of Syria that oppose him, including women and children. I should be comparing Assad to Hitler. He is an evil dictator.


Roz


Posted by DKHSK, a resident of Bridle Creek,
on Apr 6, 2017 at 3:24 pm

DKHSK is a registered user.

"Except"...just wow.

And is there any verified proof that the Assad regime used gas in Syria? He and Russia (no thanks to that Red line from Obama) has ISIS on the run on all fronts, so he decides to gas civilians?

This does not pass the smell test.

Dan


Posted by Rose92, a resident of Amberwood/Wood Meadows,
on May 19, 2017 at 2:45 am

Rose92 is a registered user.

As evangelical Christians, we are guided by the Bible to be particularly concerned for the plight of refugees, individuals who have been forced to flee their countries because of the threat of persecution. Evangelical churches and ministries have long played a key role in welcoming, resettling, and assisting in the integration of refugees from various parts of the world. As such, we are troubled by the recent executive order temporarily halting refugee resettlement and dramatically reducing the number of refugees who could be considered for resettlement to the U.S. Web Link


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