MINEOLA, NY(TIP): Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and her executive staff , on November 15, joined members of the Asian media and community members for a discussion about the administration’s priority agenda and opportunities for community engagement.
Present at the meeting were Asian Advisory Board Members Abdul Aziz Bhuiyan, Advocate for the Bangladesh Community and President of Hillside Masjid, Dr. Isma Chaudhry, Executive Director of Islamic Center of Long Island, Christine Liu, Board Member of the Chinese American Association of North Hempstead, Dr. Bhavani Srinivasan, Board Member of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin Ammad Sheikh, President of South Asian Sports, Satnam Parhar, Past President of the India Association of Long Island, Minsun Kim, President of Long Island Conservatory and of the Korean American Association of Greater N.Y. Willy Wang, Community Leader for the Taiwanese Community, Charles Chan, Community Advocate for Hong Kong and East Asian Communities, Board member of North Shore Child and Family Center and St. Mary’s Church of Manhasset, and James Mun, President, Korean-American Association of Long Island.
Deputy County Executives present included Tatum Fox, Deputy County Executive for Public Safety, Evlyn Tsimis, Deputy County Executive for Economic Development, Mark Page, Deputy County Executive Finance, Brian Schneider, Deputy County Executive for Parks and Public Works, John Chiara, Deputy County Executive for Compliance, Kyle Rose-Louder, Deputy County Executive for Health and Human Services, and Mike Martino, Director of Communications
The Media included China Press, SinoVision TV, Bollywood Insider, Dunya News, The Indian Panorama, The South Asian Times, Korea Daily, Korean Media, Korean Channel, NY Radio Korea, ITVUSA, Pakistan News, Awaz Newspaper, Interfaith paper of Long Island, Weekly Bangladesh, Bangla Patrika, Weekly Bangalee, Voice Of South Asia, Kate (Lei Zhu),Y.K. Chan, JUS Punjabi, Sing Toa Daily Press, Punjab TV Channel (PTC).
MINEOLA, NY(TIP):Festival of Lights-Diwali- was celebrated at the Executive and Legislative Chambers of Nassau County, Nov 2. Around 350 guests attended. Dignitaries present included Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, Town of North Hempstead supervisor Judy Bosworth, Councilwoman Anna Kaplan, and Senator Eline Phillips.
On the occasion, 9 individuals were honored. They included Pinki Jaggi,Vimal Goyal, Krishandra Rudra, Saroj Aery, Pritpal Singh Bindra, Aditya Sehgal, Deepak Bansal ,Kesh Berry and Dr Budhdev Manvar.
The guests were entertained to an interesting cultural program.
NEW YORK CITY(TIP): The Indian Consulate in New York hosted, November 9, Diwali with Media friends. The formal event had all the ease of informality, as the Consul General Sandeep Chakravorty sought to make it a memorable event, without the speeches and formal observances. The only formalities observed were the lighting of the lamp and words of welcome. The lamp was lighted by a group of ladies, led by the first lady of the Consulate Taruna Chakravorty.
Kevin Thomas is honored. Seen from L to R: Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, Kevin Thomas, Consul General Sandeep Chakravorty
The singers won the hearts of the audience with their mellifluous singing. The young dancers left all wondering their consummate performance.
Kevin Thomas, who won a Senate seat in New York Senate, happens to be the first Indian American ever to be elected to a State Senate. He was felicitated. Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations honored Kevin with a shawl while the Consul General Sandeep Chakravorty presented him a plaque.
“Times have changed indeed, and some of the policies Nehru has pursued may have become irrelevant. However, critics would be deluding themselves if they are to deny his extraordinary legacy and his outstanding contribution in building a modern India in a traditional society. Nehru’s wisdom was the wisdom of the time, and we may be able to draw many lessons from that today. Our lives are not merely self-made instead we stand on the shoulders of those who have preceded us. Jawaharlal Nehru may have made his share of mistakes as any other human being, and yet, if we are to deny his rightful place in history, we will be doing it at our peril!”
Ever since the ascendance of BJP to the pinnacle of power in India, a visible campaign against one of the most influential leaders India had ever seen – Jawaharlal Nehru – is underway. One may wonder about this vitriolic campaign waged against a man who has contributed so much to the development of a nation and may ask why now?
As Shashi Tharoor has pointed out in his biography of Nehru “Nehru’s legacy is ours, whether we agree with everything he stood for or not. What we are today, both for good or for ill, we owe in great measure to one man”. He was a true visionary who has not only built many of India’s venerable institutions but also laid the foundation for a pluralistic India. However, many in the opposition today are afraid that Prime Minister Modi’s plan may include dismantling the legacy of Nehru while appropriating the legacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, another great leader of the Congress Party.
As Indians, we do take pride in the age-old civilization and culture and its lasting imprint on our lives. However, when the nation gained its independence, India was an impoverished country with 80 percent of the people who could not afford two meals a day. The average life span of an Indian was 31 years with only 20% of people who could read or write.
From that Nehru built a country that is democratic and inclusive uplifting the masses that previously held no hopes of redemption from feudalism and Casteism that plagued the land. He was a great advocate for equity and justice in an unequal society and used his superb influence to incorporate those protective provisions into the Constitution.
The constitution of India was amongst the largest in the world with 395 Articles and 9 Schedules. The preamble spells out the underlying philosophy and the solemn resolve of the people of India to secure justice, liberty, equality and fraternity for all its citizens. What Nehru has accomplished through this document with significant help and support from B.R. Ambedkar also is part of his vision to empower marginalized sections of the society.
Nehru was a strong proponent of self-reliance, apparently recognizing that underdevelopment was the result of a lack of technological progress. Consequently, a new Industrial policy was enacted to develop critical industries. While Independent India was in its infancy, he identified the production of power and steel for self-sufficiency and planning. In collaboration with other countries, India built steel plants in Rourkela (Orissa), Bhilai (M.P.) and Durgapur (W. Bengal). Dam projects were undertaken in various places to produce hydro-electric power, including the flagship Dam at Bhakra Nangal, Punjab. The first oil refinery was inaugurated in Noonmati, Assam in 1962 as another leap forward towards industrialization. Nehru called them ‘the temples of modern India’.
He built IITs, IIMs, and AIIMS for higher level education and thousands of Primary, Secondary and higher-secondary schools that have transformed the lives of millions of its citizens and many of those graduates from these prestigious institutions are heading multi-national corporations across the globe today and it is a matter of great pride and joy to India.
Nehru belonged to the privileged class, and he could have carried on while protecting the status-quo, yet he did not. He was a true visionary who saw the dire need to change the direction of the country in order to have a real transformation in the social order. Seventy years later, many of his dreams have come to fruition and at the uppermost; thanks to his stewardship, India remains a vibrant democracy and a beacon to many nations particularly in the developing world.
However, BJP and the RSS are carrying on a campaign to place blame on Nehru and criticize him for his failure on the partition and the current stalemate in Kashmir. They have not forgiven him either for pursuing a policy of non-alignment globally or upholding the values of secularism at home. For the hardcore Sangh Parivar forces, Nehru has become anathema, a legacy that has to be erased.
Since 2014, the status of Nehru Memorial and library has been diminished, and an earnest effort is underway to change the character and focus of the Museum. The Culture Minister in the BJP government not only approves discussions and seminars opposing Nehruvian ideology within its four walls but openly boasts about the place that it is no longer confined to Nehru. To add insult to injury, Mr. Arnab Goswami, a strident critic of Nehru family, has been added as a member of the Board to oversee the museum. According to some sources, the long-term plan may include converting the Nehru Memorial library into a Museum that houses the memory of all Prime Ministers.
The right-wing bodies including Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have been on an overdrive to erase Nehru’s name from history books after the BJP government unveiled a new education policy in 2015. In Rajasthan, a BJP-ruled state, references to Nehru has been already removed from textbooks. Students of Class VIII will no longer learn that Jawaharlal Nehru was India’s first Prime Minister. Asked about this serious omission, Education Minister Vasudev Devnani said the following” it was the decision of an autonomous body and the government and I have nothing to do with it.”
Prime Minister Modi, in his first Independence Day address to the nation, although he invoked great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, and Jayaprakash Narayan but omitted any reference to Nehru. He also used the occasion to sentence the planning commission as the relics of the past, the signature machinery, Nehru promoted for making five-year plans for the effective use of the resources for development. The new President of India, Ramnath Kovind did not mention Nehru’s name either in his maiden address to the nation.
Times have changed indeed, and some of the policies Nehru has pursued may have become irrelevant. However, critics would be deluding themselves if they are to deny his extraordinary legacy and his outstanding contribution in building a modern India in a traditional society. Nehru’s wisdom was the wisdom of the time, and we may be able to draw many lessons from that today. Our lives are not merely self-made instead we stand on the shoulders of those who have preceded us. Jawaharlal Nehru may have made his share of mistakes as any other human being, and yet, if we are to deny his rightful place in history, we will be doing it at our peril!
(The author is a former Chief Technology Officer of the United Nations and Vice-Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, USA)
The Indian-Americans have a moral duty to prevent India from being labeled as a “Country of Particular Concern” by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
By Mike Ghouse
“The quality of life is directly proportional to freedom from religious and cultural tensions”, says the author.
If India were to be ascribed with such a label, it would hinder the flow of foreign direct investments and subsequent reversal of economic prosperity achieved in the last twenty years. This label may not affect the poor Indians, but it will severely impact all those Indians working in information technology related jobs and businesses involved in software development and services.
South Africa once was an apartheid nation, and its prosperity came to a grinding halt when the foreign corporations realized that they are supporting a regime that discriminates her citizens. The harassment, lynching, and killing of Dalits, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and others in India needs to stop; if not, it will hurt all Indians as the investors will start pulling out of the country. Who wants to invest in a place where their investment is not secure?
The success of the American economy is based on the rule of law, the law is enforced equally, and no criminal will get away with the power of his or he monies. If someone violates the rules, the individual or the company will pay the penalty, and this builds confidence and trust in the society and frees them from tensions. Every Indian should feel secure about his or her faith, ethnicity, language and culture.
The First Amendment of America’s constitution serves as a model of success for any government. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Ambassador Sam Brownback had once said that the prosperity of a nation hinges on religious freedom. Indeed, the success of a country is directly proportional to religious liberty. It frees people from the daily tensions of what to eat, drink, wear and believe. It allows them to become a productive employee to the company, and a fully participating member of the family by giving the family the full attention it deserves instead of worrying about a fellow employee at the place of work.
Furthermore, the quality of life is directly proportional to freedom from religious and cultural tensions.
The sense of security is diminishing rapidly. A Christian is apprehensive of going to the Church on a Sunday, and a Muslim is afraid of storing meat in his refrigerator should the vigilantes descend on him. The women including little girls are not safe either. The murderers and rapists got felicitated with Garlands from among the current leaders instead of sending them to prison. The man who lynched and brutally killed a Muslim man was videotaped and shared on WhatsApp, and the lyncher was rewarded with a party ticket to contest elections. This is shamefully a weekly occurrence.
Ambassador Brownback had once said referring to mob violence around the world. If the leaders respond immediately to such incidents and tell the nation that the lynching and harassment of fellow citizens will not be acceptable, then the violence will cease or at least mitigate. Unfortunately, the current Indian leadership has remained silent when vigilantes kill and maim the people, causing every Indian to live in fear – both the minorities and the ones who frighten.
Please note that Hindutva ideology propagated by RSS and its family of parties is not Hinduism. Hindutva is to Hinduism; what Islam is to Islamists. Hindutva and Islamist are anti-Hinduism and anti-Islam respectively. It may take a few generations for Hindutvavadis and Islamists to see the value of respecting the otherness of the other and accepting the God-given uniqueness of the other. When we get there, conflicts will fade, and solutions emerge. Ultimately, every Indian wants to live in peace and feel secure about his faith and focus on contributing to the common good of the nation.
The Indian Americans have equal access to all the opportunities in the market without discrimination, and I hope the Indian Americans would want India to treat her minorities as America does hers. It is an embarrassment to note that a few Indian Americans don’t want Muslims, Christians, and Dalits to have equal rights in India. On top of it, they are poisoning their children with ill-will towards each other.
The good news is that most of the American Indian youth are rejecting the ugliness of their parents and choose to respect the otherness of the other. After all, they have to work with people of different faiths and races, and it would be a pain for them to work with others if their parents have dumped their biases on their children. Should parents poison their children?
We appeal to all the India oriented American organizations including the Hindu America Foundation, the Indian American Muslim Council, Federation of Indian American Christian Organization of North American to support our petition.
The petition will be addressed to the Government of India to issue Visa’s to the Commissioners of USCRIF. They can do the investigations about the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, Sikh Genocides, Gujarat Massacre, Lynching and harassment of Dalits, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and others.
If India gets a “Clean Chit” it will ensure continued prosperity and investor confidence in India’s democracy. However, if the Indian government is found guilty of the violations of religious freedoms, then two choices left to deal with are; risk losing the confidence of the investors in the stability of India or fix the problems and earn a clean chit. Every Indian American must ensure the sustainability of India’s democracy and prosperity.
In Washington DC, there are three Indians who regularly attend the meetings about religious freedom issues from among about seventy-five individuals to talk about the concerns in different nations. Jay Kansara has been representing the Hindu America Foundation, John Prabhudoss represents Federation of Indian American Christians of North America, and Mike Ghouse serves the Center for Pluralism, standing up for the rights of people from all faiths. Now, Ajit Sahi of Indian American Muslim Council has joined the group to address Religious freedom issues of Indian minorities. The Dalits and Sikhs have been represented on an off by different visitors.
Swami Agnivesh was in Washington DC and spoke to a group of defenders of religious freedom across the world. The Ambassador of religious liberty Hon. Sam Brownback presided the meeting. He was eloquent and precise, and it was an honor to meet the man whom I have come to admire for his stand on eradicating bonded labor and fighting for religious freedom of all Indians.
“Dear Ambassador Brownback and my fellow campaigners for human rights and religious freedom. I am grateful to you for this opportunity to speak here. Since the time allotted for me to speak is limited, I will get to the point immediately.
There is a grave threat today to civil liberties in general and religious freedom in particular in India. Indeed, the levels of violence we see in today’s India against the social and religious minorities are in many ways unprecedented in recent decades. The victims of such vicious violence are some of India’s poorest and most disadvantaged communities. They include Muslims, Christians, the Dalits, who are the former untouchables of the Hindu caste society, and the Adivasis, or the indigenous tribal people whose very existence is under threat.
Moreover, the perpetrators of this violence are directly linked with the RSS, which is the mother organization of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party. Especially since Mr. Modi became India’s prime minister in 2014, the attacks on the religious minorities have sharply increased. Armed mobs owing allegiance to the RSS and other Hindu groups have been lynching to death Muslims at will, accusing them of eating beef or slaughtering a cow. Such Hindu mobs also disrupt mixed-religion weddings in which the groom is Muslim, and the bride is Hindu because they don’t want Hindu girls to marry Muslim boys. There have been instances in which such Muslim grooms have been killed, too.
Similarly, these vigilante groups owing allegiance to the RSS have been attacking Christian Churches, priests, and congregants all over India. Once again, they blame the victims for the violence, accusing the Christians of converting Hindus to Christianity.
For thousands of years, the Dalits have suffered the worst violence and indignities at the hands of upper caste Hindus. However, now, that indignity is doubled because laws have been created to deny positive quota benefits to Dalits who convert out of Hinduism to Christianity and Islam. Converted Dalits face even greater violence and assault.
As for the Adivasis, the indigenous people, the RSS-BJP have for decades been forcing Hinduism on them even though millions of these Adivasis clearly state that they are not Hindus and they have their indigenous faiths. I have myself been a victim of their violence over the years. Twice in the last six months only I have been attacked by these violent mobs. Of course, it is futile to expect any police action against such violent perpetrators.
If I, being a prominent human rights defender in India, cannot expect the police to act against my attackers, you can imagine what would be the story of these social and religious minorities I have spoken about, the Dalits, the Adivasis, the Christians and the Muslims, who are being targeted in their hundreds of thousands across India.
Even more worrying is that some organizations in the United States that claim to represent the interest of the Hindus defend the highly divisive and violent activities of the RSS-BJP and instead blame the religious minorities. They try to create a false equivalence between the highly organized and structural violence of the RSS-BJP, who are in power in the federal government in India as well as more than a dozen and a half of India’s 29 states, and random acts of violence against Hindus that may occur.
The truth is that the biggest perpetrator of anti-minority violence in India is the RSS-BJP, which is now in power across India and is therefore grossly abusing its control of government machinery to provide impunity to its henchmen carrying out such violence. It would be a pity if the international community did not open its eyes and take notice of this worsening situation in the India of Mahatma Gandhi”.
Swami Agnivesh also added that he was coming from giving the keynote address at the Parliament for World’s Religions in Toronto, Canada and that the Hindu rightwing forces tried to prevent him from speaking there. He also said he had been a campaigner for justice for 50 years and had faced numerous attacks on his life, the most recent in Jharkhand in July, when hundreds of goons attacked him, and then again in Delhi in August. Swami Ji also spoke of his work with bonded laborers and said his organization had secured freedom and rehabilitation for more than 170,000 bonded laborers in India in the last thirty plus years.
(The author is a public speaker and the Executive Director of the Center for Pluralism in Washington, DC. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. More about him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeghouse/)
A conviction, in the court of an additional sessions judge, of two individuals held guilty of killing two others shows how the dogged pursuit of justice can deliver results. The murders were among the thousands in Delhi in 1984, and the murderers may have gone scot free had it not been for the work of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up in 2015, which secured a conviction in the first case it presented before a court.
Victims of the 1984 Delhi riots have cried for justice for long and battled with indifference, the police not registering cases, active interference in investigations, as well as decades of delay, but some of them have continued their quest for justice. Successive governments have paid more lip service than taken action. This SIT, however, identified 52 of the 280 cases it scanned for further investigation. The dedicated team has shown that passage of time and indifference still allow for evidence to be found and presented in a manner which can bring justice.
The shame of the killings of 1984 forced the horror to be brushed under the carpet. The survivors lived with the trauma of having seen their friends and family members murdered by mobs. Even when cases were registered, only shoddy action followed. A number of inquiry commissions were set up, but convictions were few and far between. The Delhi Police in 1994 had closed ‘for want of evidence’ even the case that has resulted now in convictions. The negative attitude and tardy progress have led to a feeling of injustice among the Sikhs. This, even though a certain number of men have been convicted of murder over the years. The sentencing of Naresh Sherawat and Yashpal Singh by Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Pandey for killing Hardev Singh and Avtar Singh in the Mahipalpur area on November 1, 1984, in South Delhi during the riots is a salve on the wounds of victims. It is also an example that justice delayed may not always mean justice denied.
SACRAMENTO(TIP): The death toll from the devastating Camp fire jumped to 63 on Thursday, November 15, as search crews recovered seven more bodies in the burn area.
The number of people unaccounted for jumped dramatically to 631 people, up from 130 on Wednesday evening.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told reporters that crews found three bodies in Magalia, three in Paradise and one in Concow. One body in Paradise was found in a car that had been flipped on its side.
The blaze has scorched 141,000 acres and destroyed 11,862 structures. It was 40% contained as of Wednesday evening.
The Paradise fire is now by far the worst fire in California history, destroying an entire town in a matter of hours.
Officials said it could take weeks to complete the search for victims,
Thousands of survivors are now without homes and living in shelters and tent cities.
The fire is also causing a major public health problem as smoke choked huge swaths of Northern California, including Sacramento and the Bay Area.
It has pushed the region’s air quality into the unhealthy zone on the Environmental Protection Agency’s index. Many schools have been closed.
WASHINGTON(TIP): A November 15 Washington Post report says WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange has been charged under seal, prosecutors inadvertently revealed in a recently unsealed court filing — a development that could significantly advance the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and have major implications for those who publish government secrets.
The disclosure came in a filing in a case unrelated to Assange. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kellen S. Dwyer, urging a judge to keep the matter sealed, wrote “due to the sophistication of the defendant and the publicity surrounding the case, no other procedure is likely to keep confidential the fact that Assange has been charged.” Later, Dwyer wrote the charges would “need to remain sealed until Assange is arrested.”
Dwyer is also assigned to the WikiLeaks case. People familiar with the matter said what Dwyer was disclosing was true, but unintentional.
Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia said, “The court filing was made in error. That was not the intended name for this filing.”
An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment.
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have long been investigating Assange, and in the Trump administration had begun taking a second look at whether to charge members of the WikiLeaks organization for the 2010 leak of diplomatic cables and military documents which the anti-secrecy group published. Investigators also had explored whether WikiLeaks could face criminal liability for the more recent revelation of sensitive CIA cyber-tools.
Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III has also exploring the publication by WikiLeaks of emails from the Democratic National Committee and the account of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John D. Podesta. Officials have alleged the emails were hacked by Russian spies and transferred to WikiLeaks.
Mueller has also been exploring, among other things, communications between the group and associates of President Trump, including political operative Roger Stone and commentator and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi.
In July, his office charged 12 Russian military spies with conspiring to hack DNC computers, steal the organization’s data and publish the files in an effort to disrupt the election and referred in an indictment to WikiLeaks, described only as “Organization 1,” as the platform the Russians used to release the stolen emails.
A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.
It was not immediately clear what charges Assange would face. In the past, prosecutors had contemplated pursuing a case involving conspiracy, theft of government property or violating the Espionage Act. But whether to charge the WikiLeaks founder was hardly a foregone conclusion. In the Obama administration, the Justice Department had concluded that pursuing Assange would be akin to prosecuting a news organization. Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, though, had taken a more aggressive stance and vowed to crack down on all government leaks.
Barry J. Pollack, one of Assange’s attorneys, said, “The only thing more irresponsible than charging a person for publishing truthful information would be to put in a public filing information that clearly was not intended for the public and without any notice to Mr. Assange. Obviously, I have no idea if he has actually been charged or for what, but the notion that the federal criminal charges could be brought based on the publication of truthful information is an incredibly dangerous precedent to set.”
The filing in the Eastern District of Virginia came on August 22, in a case that combines national security and sex trafficking. Seitu Sulayman Kokayi, 29, was charged with enticing a 15-year-old girl to have sex with him and send him pornographic images of herself. But he was detained in part, according to the court filing, because he “has a substantial interest in terrorist acts.”
His father-in-law, according to the filing, has been convicted of terrorist acts. The case involves previously classified information, according to government filings, and prosecutors plan to use information obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Kokayi was indicted last week and is set to be arraigned Friday morning.
The case had been sealed until early September, though by itself it attracted little notice. On Thursday, November 15 evening, Seamus Hughes, the deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University who is known for scrubbing court filings, joked about the apparent error on Twitter — which first brought it to the attention of reporters.
Even if he is charged, Assange’s coming to the United States to face trial is no sure thing. Since June 2012, Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy, afraid that if he steps outside he will be arrested.
When he first sought asylum in the embassy, he was facing possible extradition to Sweden in a sex crimes case. He has argued that case was a pretext for what he predicted would be his arrest and extradition to the United States.
In the years since, the Swedish case has been closed, but Assange has said he cannot risk leaving the embassy because the U.S. would attempt to have him arrested and extradited for disclosures of U.S. government secrets. Throughout that time, the U.S. has refused to say whether there are any sealed charges against Assange.
If Assange were to leave the embassy and be arrested by British authorities, he would likely still fight extradition in the British courts.
WASHINGTON(TIP): Indian American Neomi Rao has been nominated by US President Donald Trump to fill Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s seat on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.
Trump, during Diwali celebrations at the Roosevelt Room of the White House, announced the nomination of the 45-year-old regulatory czar for the DC Circuit which is considered next to the US Supreme Court.
If confirmed by the Senate, Ms Rao, who is currently administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), would be the second Indian-American judge in this powerful court after judge Sree Srinivasan, who was appointed during the previous Obama regime.
“She is going to be fantastic. Great person,” Trump said.
Ms Rao will fill the seat vacated by Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh, who served on the appeals court for 12 years.
A formal announcement on her nomination is expected to be made by the White House.
“I just nominated Rao to be on the DC circuit court of appeals, the seat of justice Brett Kavanaugh. That could be a big story,” Trump announced.
Ms Rao thanked the President for the “confidence” he has shown in her.
Called the ‘regulatory czar’ of Trump administration in her current capacity, she oversees implementation of the administration’s deregulatory agenda and regulation-related executive orders.
She was confirmed by the Senate with a 54-41 vote in July 2017 to head the OIRA and is known among legal circles as a highly respected administrative law scholar who has distinguished herself for her right-of-center views, media reports stated.
A former clerk for conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Ms Rao was recommended for the post by former White House counsel Don McGahn. Trump’s nomination of Ms Rao is in recognition of her contribution in cutting down regulations.
Ms Rao has previously served in all three branches of the federal government, and before taking on her current role in the executive branch, she was associate counsel and special assistant to the president for the George W Bush administration.
A graduate of Yale University and the University of Chicago Law School, Ms Rao also worked in the private sector, in the international arbitration group of the London-based law firm, Clifford Chance LLP.
LONDON(TIP): Two Indian-origin Ministers on Thursday, November 15 resigned their positions in protest at the draft withdrawal agreement passed by the British Cabinet, while a Pakistani-origin politician resigned from his role as trade envoy to Pakistan over the government’s approach to offering asylum to Asia Bibi as well as the Brexit deal.
Shailesh Vara, the Minister of State for Northern Ireland and Suella Braverman, a Minister within the Ministry for Exiting the EU, both tendered their resignations to the Prime Minister in letters made public on Thursday morning, joining more senior figures, including Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey.
Sri Lankan-origin Ranil Jayawardena also stepped down as a Minister. Rehman Chishti said he was stepping down as the Conservative Party’s vice chairman and the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Pakistan.
Mr. Vara became the first Minister to tender his resignation following the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. In his letter, he said that he could not support an agreement that left Britain in a “half-way house with no time limit on when we will finally be a sovereign nation.”
“There is every possibility that the U.K.-EU trade deal that we seek will take years to conclude. We will be locked in a customs arrangement indefinitely, bound by rules determined by the EU over which we have no say,” he warned.
Pointing to Northern Ireland, he warned that it would be subject to a different relationship with the EU with the rest of U.K., threatening the economic and constitutional integrity of the U.K. While Mr. Vara had supported the Remain campaign in the run up to the referendum, he supported the leadership bid of Brexiteer Michael Gove in his party leadership campaign in 2016 following the resignation of David Cameron.
“The proposed Northern Ireland Backstop is not Brexit,” insisted Ms. Braverman in her resignation letter. “It prevents an unequivocal exit from a customs union with the EU.”
Ms. Braverman was an influential campaigner to leave the EU, chairing the European Research Group, which has been campaigning for a “hard” Brexit, until she joined the government earlier this year.
Mr. Chishti also expressed his disagreement with the withdrawal agreement and his disagreement with the “lack of leadership shown by the U.K. government” over the Asia Bibi case. “What I found shocking is that this British government is failing to put into practice the core values that our country stands for; religious freedom, justice, morally doing the right thing… the government should not wait to see if another country offers sanctuary, we should have had the conviction to lead on this matter and offer sanctuary ourselves straight away,” he wrote in his letter.
The resignations further reduce the presence of Indian-origin Ministers in the U.K. government, following the high-profile resignation of Priti Patel last year. Rishi Sunak, the son-in-law of Infosys’ Narayana Murthy, remains a Minister within the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as does Alok Sharma, Britain’s Minister for Employment.
WASHINGTON(TIP): Indian Americans were praised by the US President Donald Trump for their “incredible” performance in his administration. Trump has appointed more than two dozen Indian Americans to senior positions since he assumed office in 2017.
“I’m grateful to have numerous Americans of Indian and Southeast Asian heritage who fulfill critical roles across my administration. And they’ve done an incredible job,” Trump said as he hosted Diwali celebrations in the Roosevelt Room, November 13.
Except for the former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, around two dozen of his top Indian-American lieutenants were present at the celebrations.
Ms Haley, the first-Indian-American appointed to top Cabinet-level position, resigned last month as the US ambassador to the UN.
In eight years, former president Barack Obama had appointed more than 50 Indian-Americans to key administration positions, including Raj Shah as United States Agency for International Development administrator; Nisha Desai Biswal as the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia and Richard Verma as the US Ambassador to India.
By appointing more than two dozen Indian Americans in key administrative positions, Trump seems to be on the track to breaking the record set by his predecessor.
“Many of them are here today, including the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commissions, Ajit Pai,” Trump said as he called upon him.
“Ajit, where’s Ajit? Come here, Ajit. I just didn’t like one decision he made, but that’s all right,” he said as the small audience burst into laughter. “Not even a little bit. But he’s independent,” said the president.
Seema Verma, who in her capacity as administrator of the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, is playing a key role in healthcare reforms, Trump said.
“Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Neil Chatterjee. Where is Neil? Good. Nice to see you,” said the US president indicating that he personally knows each one of these Indian-Americans.
“The acting administrator of Drug Enforcement, and another person that I’ve become very close to, Uttam Dhillon,” Trump said.
“Music has connected the world and is the common expression of every human being” – Maestro Amjad Ali Khan
“…the finest living exponent of the sarod” – The Guardian
Sarod Maestro Amjad Ali Khan’s concert ‘Musical Celebration of Lights and Life’was presented by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) on November 3, at Symphony Space, Manhattan, New York City.
The theme of the concert was “Diwali, The Festival Of Lights”.
The event was enthusiastically attended by about 600 leading members of the Indian diaspora from the fields of the arts and culture, entertainment, sports, finance, and medicine, among other fans.
The evening began with an address by IAAC board member Anurag Harsh,who thanked the patrons and IAAC members for supporting Indian arts. Chairman Dr. Nirmal Mattoo spoke of his long association with Amjadji.
This was followed by the lamp lighting ceremony to kick off the Diwali concert. Besides, the stage was lit with diyas and flowers giving a very festive appearance.
“The most charismatic performer of Indian Ragas…”
-The New York Times
THE CONCERT
The concert was in 3 sections.
The first section or the appetizer to the “main course” as his younger son Ayaan put it, was performed byhis sons, Amaan Ali Bangash (older) and Ayaan Ali Bangash (younger). They played Raag Jhinjhoti in 2 compositions with 91/2 beats and 16 beats.
The second set or the “main course” brought Khan Saheb, as he is popularly called, to the stage. Accompanying the Maestro on the stage were Anubrata Chatterjee, son and disciple of Pandit Anindo Chatterjee andAmit Kavthekar, disciple of Alla Rakha Khan Saheb and Ustad Zakir Hussain.
Commending IAAC for their service, he also spoke about his association with New York City,coming here as a young boy in 1963. “Music has connected the world and is the common expression of every human being” he said. It being Diwali, he decided on melodies played at the time of roshni, melodies that have the happiness of light and also sadness of entering a different world. He started with Raag Shyama Gauri with 14 beats time cycle.
The next piece played was Raag Saraswati, which is a rare raga, having no record of this raga on sarod and hence is difficult, technically. Another composition was Raag Durga. Both are named after goddesses and are so different musically, but they come with a beautiful message.
In addition, celebrations continued for #GandhiAt150 with the maestro playing a few songs popularized by Mahatma Gandhi.
left to right: Anubrata Chatterjee, Amaan Ali Bangash, Amjad Ali Khan, Ayaan Ali Bangash, Amit Kavthekar
Khan Saheb noted that most of the songs are based on language whether folk music, Dhrupad, Dhamar, Thumri etc. In the 13th century sufi saint Hazrat Amir Khusrau created the qawwali with many new instruments, new raagas. He created a new style of singing called tarana that doesn’t deal with language, so he created a language of music, of syllables. Khan Saheb having composed many taranas, sang one at the concert in Raag Bahar. His next piece was Raag Malkauns composition in Jhaptal 10 beats time cycle with a taarana of different kind.
In conclusion of his solo, he played the devotional songs which were also favorites of Mahatma Gandhi, Vaishnava Jana To and Ram Dhun.
In the third set, joining him on stage were his older son Amaan Ali Bangash and younger son Ayaan Ali Bangash. They played Raag Desh, a composition in a beautiful melody and the Bengali song by Tagore Ekla Chalo Re.
Amjad ji spoke to the audience, explaining the necessity to file his nails on stage, as there are grooves in his nails, after each item. Sarod cannot be played with fingertips and the musician needs to press with the edge of the fingernails to bring out the resonance, to bring out the human emotions.
Khan Saheb also spoke of Tagore, who was a great poet and also a great composer. The maestro had the honor of playing with the great singer Suchitra Mitraand had made an album of 10 songs of Tagore. Most of Tagore’s songs were based on Indian classical Ragas but Tagore took liberty with them. Only a genius can do that and only another genius such as Amjad Ali Khan Saheb can play as melodiously as he did this evening.
Ending the event, host Anurag Harsh, whom the maestro had praised earlier in the evening, wished the audience a very happy Diwali. The event was followed by a dinner and VIP reception.
Amaan Ali Bangash, Amjad Ali Khan, Ayaan Ali Bangash Photos / Courtesy IAAC.
ABOUT MAESTRO AMJAD ALI KHAN
He is India’s most celebrated classical musician and an undisputed master of the Sarod, a stringed instrument used in classical Indian music. He is the seventh generation of musicians playing the same instrument, being heir to a long and distinguished musical lineage. He gave his first performance at age six and has since performed his own compositions with the finest orchestras and ensembles in venues around the world, including an acclaimed performance at the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Norway. The Grammy-nominated musician has won many prestigious awards including the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum, UNICEF’s National Ambassadorship, and India’s prestigious awards, the Padma Vibhushan and the Sangeet Natak Academi award for music.
Based on his belief that music transcends all, he has broadened the appeal of Indian music and its spirit throughout the world, transcending race, region and generation. In the current political climate, there is even more reason to find commonality and feel inclusive. Human emotions are universal and are the common thread binding us as a community. Khan affirms “Since my childhood, I always wanted my instrument, the Sarod to be able to express the entire range of human emotions…to Sing, Shout, Whisper and cry. All the emotions! It has been a long journey so far and by the benevolence of the heavens, the Sarod has become far more expressive than it was 35 years ago.”
Khan has had a long association with New York. In his own words, “ New York holds a very special place in my heart and my association with this city goes back nearly fifty-five years. Today, I feel so happy to see the awareness and love that Indian music has generated over the period of time, especially in this part of the world.”
To learn more about Maestro Amjad Ali Khan and his sons, visit ww.sarod.com.
Aries:Ganesha says a marvelous of inspired activities and results follows last period’s similar one. The activities themselves will be many and varied – there’s nothing left out I could say. Home, family, parents and pets, dependents, work, performance, office, colleagues, social life, the arts and creative pursuits. You need to have the time and energy for it all, of course, but you’re genuinely inspired and can definitely handle it all. You do your best in this busy, very active phase. The main thrust and focus of all your activities will definitely be finances.
Taurus:Your schedule will be even more frantically busy. You’ve taken on a lot and are determined to do justice to do it all. This will be the way things are for most of the month ahead that is certain. If you were busy last period, now it’s something in a different league altogether. Work, family, socializing, partying, hectic lobbying, net – working – you name it. Rest and relaxation will therefore be vital and imperative on a regular basis to prevent a burnout. Prayers, meditation, tantra and mantra, religion and rituals will give solace, strength and inspiration. Love, romance, money matters, sheer unadulterated hard and slogging are what you’re busy with.
Gemini:Journeys and relationships and acquisitions all conspire to come together, and yet you are both enthused and happy as you cope. Not just cope, you will handle them rather brilliantly, despite your hectic schedule of activities. They will center around all/some of: travel, loans, sex, passion, funds, buying/selling/shopping, (these three most certainly) and reaching out to people Both professional networking and personal bonding will be equally important, equally valid in your mind.
Cancer: You will start implementing your new plan/scheme for living right from this period. Journeys, travels and/or mental growth take precedence in your schedule. You will embark on both with zest and great sincerity – a) as a true learning experience, and also b) as a means of contacts, relationships/ties. You have realized both the value and relevance of genuine bonding and are keen to have the best of it all. Your own siblings, relatives and people really close to you will come to mean much more and react well to you. You will also be drawn greatly to the much more elevated plane, to intellectual activities, education and higher studies, even research.
Leo: Another grand period, full of joys and achievements, Ganesha gives you much. Achievements, Accomplishments, wish-fulfilment, but at a price. There’s always a price, remember – there are no free lunches in life as they say. But you are both willing and able to say this price – effort, sincere commitment, and of course hard work. You will concentrate on increasing your influence and status as well as your bank balance, realizing that both matter equally to you. Money issue will be handled with both flair and wisdom, especially your resources, income so that you can maximize them. Expenses have to be addressed and dealt with.
Virgo: From the last period where you zeroed in on finances and achievements, you shift your focus to your good interactions and bonding with people you care for. Games, parties, ceremonies and functions, lots of publicity and lots of business activities. Your mood will be very focused on – loving, giving and sharing. It is truly this cementing of ties is probably what you enjoy the most, even at your party and socialize. Alongside, the mental stresses will continue in your money angle, and you’ll still have to give income and assets a lot of attention. Ganesha says – brokerage, commission agencies, ties and collaboration will all prove fulfilling.
Libra:You’re able to really relax, let go of your worries. Peace and harmony, striving for balance and Excellence, and above all, realizing the value and place of domestic commitments, will make you both happy and contented. Your personal, intimate life of love, and bonding, as well as family attachments and caring will be of paramount importance. You will try to seek and find these in love, romance, marriage, or in a relationship that brings the same kind of ties. Your own responses are strong too.
Scorpio:Your ties and bounds have been reinforced, and there has been quite a shift in your thinking and focus. All these lead you to enjoy rather than resent your daily round of activities – domestic chores and commitments/duties at home and at work, family and filial responsibilities will all be handled with sensitivity and grace to your own gain. The main thrust of activities will definitely deal with house, home, land, property, building or matters connected with all of the above.
Sagittarius: You’ve put your house in order, both literally and figuratively, over the past period. This period will therefore be really and truly time to relax and be happy. Have a load of fun, wine and dine your friends, be a happy host, enjoy life and above all live well, love well. More than assets, success, money you will realize that to make these meaningful, you need love, the warmth of companionship, and you will be going all out to get it. It’s what you feel will be your greatest achievement to date. This is the outcome of your changed attitude, in which you have the firm conviction and strong belief that marriage, romance, the joys of wedded bliss are much more your scene.
Capricorn:Your self-belief and confidence have increased, and you now feel a surge of power and greatness with Regard to passion, sex, finance, religion. Religion may take the form of ceremonies and praying for the living and the dead. You also need to build up your own mental and spiritual strengths, says Ganesha. They will be of help since there is a slight risk of ill health, or of accidents befalling you. This is something you have definitely to watch out for, guard against. Adequate precautions – of all kinds, not just physical or health wise, will need to be put in place. Even in your emotions and your relationships, adds Ganesha.
Aquarius: You’re both busy and active once again on the professional and social scenes, both. What this period will definitely bring in will be the 3 Fs of family, finance and food, and much more. A wide spectrum of business and professional transactions, deals and negotiations will have to be handled as well, along with the angles of money of high finances even should. As I explain, the threes Fs will be linked to form part of the whole, and on a large scale. You will be entertaining, attending or giving parties, being a good host/hostess, even dealing with dietetics and nutrition.
Pisces: You will need to pull out all the stops and not just work hard but think and plan ahead equally intensively. You will now find yourself entering extremely busy, involved, perhaps occasionally even confused phase, with much to do/cope with/handle. There will be both personal and professional issues to address. Some Compromises, too, will have to be worked out. You’ll have to do within your involvements with domestic pursuits and family matters, your children, and their affairs, and finally your own creativity, most especially. You’ll have to work at reconciling this last with all the huge demands on yourself that you will now perceive. To be fair, you do try to do your best.
The Democratic Party made a comeback in Tuesday’s midterm elections after spending two years in the political darkness, when it seized control of the House of Representatives. Yet, predictions of a “blue wave”, as a backlash to the racially charged, polarizing campaign led by President Donald Trump, failed to materialize. The Democrats secured control of the 435-member lower chamber of Congress, flipping at least 26 seats from their Republican incumbents. This outcome, which will likely give the Trump administration pause for thought on the policy agenda for the remainder of its tenure, ends one-party rule in Washington. Yet, Mr. Trump hailed the results as a “tremendous success”, alluding to the fact that Republicans gained at least two seats in the Senate, giving them a clear majority in the 100-seat upper chamber. Results among the 36 gubernatorial races favored Democrats: although Mr. Trump’s support paid off in some swing States crucial to his 2020 re-election campaign, including Florida, Iowa and Ohio, his party failed to hold on to power in Wisconsin and Michigan. Democrats flipped seven States out of Republican control. While the 2018 midterm election results tracked the typical historical pattern of the party controlling the White House facing setbacks on Capitol Hill, the voter split appeared to reflect the legacy of Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign. Republicans polled well in small towns and rural areas, while Democrats fared well in urban and suburban districts across the country. The Grand Old Party scored well in Senate races in Texas, Indiana, North Dakota and Missouri.
Does this mean that the bitter polarization, racial hatred and culture wars that buoyed Mr. Trump’s prospects in 2016 have become entrenched in American society? Perhaps, but what the Democratic sweep of the House implies is that the constitutionally mandated system of checks and balances will be actively in force from January 2019. This could come in the form of House subpoenas to the White House, impediments to the progress of the additional tax cut proposals of the White House, or even putting the brakes on hardline stances impacting trade policies. Democrats under the likely leadership of Representative Nancy Pelosi may be tempted to lead the charge on inquiries into some of the Trump Organization’s murkier business dealings, or the Robert Mueller-led investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. But for now the Democrats are unlikely to go as far as attempting to impeach Mr. Trump. And rightly so, for a sober assessment of the midterm election mandate would focus on jobs, healthcare, and immigration, issues that matter most to the common American. If bipartisanship, and not belligerence, emerges between the two sides, that might then afford some space to discuss concerns about the functioning of the U.S. democratic machine, including campaign finance laws, redistricting and voter suppression.
His temporary replacement, Matthew Whitaker, has expressed skepticism over the scope of the Russia investigation—which he’ll now oversee.
Intelligence and law-enforcement experts—as well as sitting members of Congress—have pointed out that the question of whether Russia has any kind of financial leverage over the president is highly relevant to determining whether Trump could have been coerced into conspiring with Moscow’s election interference in 2016. Indeed, several of the Justice Department and FBI officials who have investigated Trump’s campaign—and who have been attacked by Trump directly—have extensive experience in probing money laundering and organized crime, particularly as they pertain to Russia.
President Donald Trump has forced out Attorney General Jeff Sessions just one day after the midterm elections and after nearly a year of berating him for recusing himself from the Justice Department’s Russia investigation. His temporary replacement—Matthew Whitaker, his chief of staff—is now effectively Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s new boss. But he’s expressed repeated skepticism over the scope of Mueller’s inquiry in the past, raising immediate questions about whether he will try to limit it.
Trump, who has been unsparing in publicly castigating his own Cabinet official, had been hinting that he would ask for Sessions’s resignation following the elections. Privately, Trump has reportedly called him an “idiot” and said that hiring him was a mistake. He first asked Sessions to resign following Mueller’s appointment to lead the probe in May 2017, according to The New York Times, but then wouldn’t accept his resignation.
Legal experts and political strategists who have either worked directly with the president or observed his behavior from afar attributed Trump’s reluctance to fire Sessions to two major considerations: fears in the White House that the move would cost the president support among GOP voters and members of Congress, who generally like and support Sessions, and the risk of provoking further allegations of obstruction of justice—both of which could deepen the challenges already facing the administration.
Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, told me that Trump’s decision to oust Sessions and replace him with Whitaker probably wouldn’t be considered an obstructive act in and of itself. But it could add to the “totality of the circumstances” surrounding a series of moves Trump has taken to try to stymie the Russia investigation since early last year, Honig said, including his firing of former FBI Director James Comey and his attacks on Sessions.
David Kris, a founder of Culper Partners who served as the assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s National Security Division from 2009 to 2011, said it was “obvious” that Trump was motivated “by his well-expressed feelings of dislike toward the Mueller investigation. There can be no serious question about that.” Kris, like Honig, said that ousting Sessions and appointing Whitaker “could be another element in a bill of particulars” used by prosecutors to specify the ways that Trump “has used the powers of the presidency toward a corrupt end.”
With the midterms out of the way, however, Trump evidently feels freer to make changes to his Cabinet, regardless of how it may be perceived by investigators who have been closely examining his behavior for signs of corrupt intent with regard to the Russia investigation over the last 18 months.
Whitaker will be the acting attorney general until a permanent replacement is nominated, Trump tweeted on Wednesday, and he’ll be overseeing the Mueller investigation directly in his new post. While he has touted Mueller’s character—“There is no honest person that sits in the world of politics, in the world of law, that can find anything wrong with Bob Mueller,” he told CNN last year—he seems to have already formed an opinion on the probe itself. In a tweet, Whitaker said an article that characterized Mueller’s investigators as a “lynch mob” was a “must read,” and he told CNN that if Sessions were fired, his replacement could “reduce” Mueller’s budget in such a way that it would grind his investigation almost to a halt. He also shared an article on Twitter that explored the process by which Trump could fire Mueller, said in a radio interview that “there is no criminal obstruction-of-justice charge to be had” against Trump, and defended the Trump campaign’s decision to meet with Russian nationals to obtain dirt on Hillary Clinton—a meeting Mueller has been closely examining. “You would always take the meeting,” Whitaker told CNN last year. “You certainly want to have any advantage, any legal advantage you can.” Whitaker is also friendly with Sam Clovis—a key grand-jury witness in the Mueller probe—and chaired his state-treasurer campaign in 2014.
Whitaker most clearly expressed his view of the Mueller probe in an op-ed last year, writing that the inquiry had gone “too far,” and arguing that the president’s personal finances were a “red line” that the special counsel had come “dangerously close to crossing.” (Mueller subpoenaed the Trump Organization earlier this year, but it is not clear which documents his team had requested. ) Whitaker added that “investigating Donald Trump’s finances or his family’s finances falls completely outside of the realm of his 2016 campaign and allegations that the campaign coordinated with the Russian government or anyone else. That goes beyond the scope of the appointment of the special counsel.”
In reality, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave Mueller a fairly broad mandate when he appointed him following Sessions’s recusal in May 2017: Mueller was free to investigate not only Russia’s election interference and potential coordination between Trump’s campaign and Moscow, but “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation” as well. Mueller has also been farming out aspects of the investigation to prosecutors in New York and Washington, D.C., that don’t fall squarely within his mandate.
Moreover, intelligence and law-enforcement experts—as well as sitting members of Congress—have pointed out that the question of whether Russia has any kind of financial leverage over the president is highly relevant to determining whether Trump could have been coerced into conspiring with Moscow’s election interference in 2016. Indeed, several of the Justice Department and FBI officials who have investigated Trump’s campaign—and who have been attacked by Trump directly—have extensive experience in probing money laundering and organized crime, particularly as they pertain to Russia.
David Laufman, a former high-ranking DOJ official who oversaw parts of the Russia investigation in his role as chief of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, said Trump’s “installation of a political loyalist who previously questioned the merits of the special counsel investigation must be viewed precisely for what it is: a preliminary assault on the special counsel’s latitude to complete his essential work and by extension on the rule of law.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday, following Sessions’s resignation, that Whitaker “should recuse himself from” the Russia probe “for the duration of his time as acting attorney general” given his previous comments “advocating defunding and imposing limitations on the Mueller investigation.” Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, who is set to chair the House Oversight Committee when the new Congress convenes next year, called Whitaker’s supervision of the Russia probe “wholly inappropriate” and told the Justice Department to preserve documents in preparation for an inquiry into his appointment. House Democrats could also opt to subpoena Whitaker to testify under oath once they take power in January.
Trump’s move could still backfire. Without the administration’s protection, Sessions may now find himself both more vulnerable and more inclined to cooperate with Mueller, who has been investigating a period last summer when Trump privately discussed firing Sessions and attacked him in a series of tweets. At one point, the FBI opened an investigation into whether Sessions perjured himself in congressional testimony when he said he had no contact with Russians during the campaign. “It’s possible that Sessions will now be either angry or, at a minimum, no longer feel any need to curry favor with the president,” Kris said. Sessions’s conversations during the campaign with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and the Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos have been closely scrutinized by the special counsel, moreover, and Sessions’s campaign-era interactions with Trump would not be covered by executive privilege, Kris noted.
Sessions had mostly laid low in the face of the president’s taunts, but he’s not shied away from defending himself when necessary. “I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in,” he said in August. “While I am attorney general, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations. I demand the highest standards, and where they are not met, I take action.”
(The author is a staff writer at The Atlantic where she covers national security and the intelligence community)
(First published in The Atlantic, Nov 7. Republished courtesy The Atlantic)
“Modi with his mismanagement of economy and administration has brought the biggest insult and miseries to Indians with India now ranking 103rd out of 119 countries on the Global Hunger Index 2018. In 2014 India used to rank 55th on GHI. India stood 103rd on the Global Hunger Index along with Nigeria and has been categorized as a country with ‘serious levels of hunger’,”says the author.
According to Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), there are currently nearly 31 million unemployed Indians looking for jobs. CMIE is a board that tracks business and economic data of the country.
5 states with highest unemployment rate in descending order are; Tripura 39.1%, Chhattisgarh 22.2%, Haryana 17.6%, Chandigarh 15%, Himachal 14% and all 5 are ruled by the BJP.
5 states with lowest unemployment rates in ascending order are; Telangana 0.4%, Karnataka 0.8%, Tamilnadu 1.9%, Uttarakhand 2.4%, Puducherry 3.5%, except Uttarakhand that is ruled by BJP, rest 4 are ruled by opposition parties.
If there can be a grade below “F” in economy management and general administration Modi deserves to be awarded that grade for ruining Indian economy, general administration and above all peace and harmony among different sections of the Indian society. Modi inherited the economy when it was on an upswing, and oil prices were sliding down. His predecessor PM Singh steered the economy through the difficult Great Recession that practically bankrupted the world economy in 2008. Under him India made a commendable comeback averaging a GDP growth rate of 8.2 per cent (2004-014) despite steeply rising crude oil prices. Modi is still below this at 7.2 % average with a few months left of his 5 years term. That too after changing the base year for GDP calculation to 2010-11 from 2004-05 — the benchmark used under PM Singh. If previous bench mark is used for Modi than GDP growth rate will come down to below 5% and if Modi benchmark is used for Singh; than growth rate will be 10.4% under PM Singh!
India has become a laughing stock around the world because Modi is in perpetual election mode blurring rhetoric’s and no actions along with promoting Savarkar/Golwalkar’s understanding of religion to divide India. Truth, facts, reality, data, problems, challenges, genuine issues have become meaningless for Modi. Some of the world-renowned economist has ranked his government probably the worst ever in governance standards for his mindless demonetization to rob the poor, ill planned GST implementation with over 213 amendments in its first year, negligible to no recoveries by banks under NPA aka Bad Loans that has gone up to USD 135.6 Billion under Modi from USD 27 Billion in 2014, Aadhaar execution and foreign policy etc.
Foreign portfolio investors have withdrawn over USD 7.1 Billion in the first quarter of 2018-19. Under Modi Rupee that was 63.38 to a 1 USD in 2014 as of Oct 31, 2018 was trading at 74.02 to 1 USD; a whopping 16% devaluation. 52 per cent of India’s Foreign Exchange reserves are short-term foreign currency debt maturing this fiscal year which makes India highly vulnerable, especially when US Fed is raising interest rates to cool down the US economy from overheating and inflation.
Modi with his mismanagement of economy and administration has brought the biggest insult and miseries to Indians with India now ranking 103rd out of 119 countries on the Global Hunger Index 2018. In 2014 India used to rank 55th on GHI. India stood 103rd on the Global Hunger Index along with Nigeria and has been categorized as a country with ‘serious’ levels of hunger.
The World Bank released its first report on Human Capital Index (HCI) on Oct. 18, 2018, which placed India at the 115th position, lower than Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The report ranked 157 economies on parameters like child mortality, health and education. Singapore topped the list after it was highly rated for its universal healthcare system, education exams results and life expectancy figures, followed by South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Finland.
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Recent Oxfam survey showed that that the share of the wealth of the richest 1% persons had increased to 73% this year. According to the survey, India’s poorest saw their wealth rising by one percent during the same period. In 2014 when Modi came to power the share of the 1% richest persons was 49%. A 25% gain for the wealthy in 4 years of Modi!
On the other hand under Singh, India lifted a miraculous 271 million out of poverty establishing irrevocably that “inclusive growth model”, is the most suitable option for India. Under Modi rule only his Crony Capitalist and Religious Gurus turned Crony Capitalist friends; their net worth has grown from 100% to 200%. None of these industrialist or Religious Gurus have ever invented anything; they have become rich by getting free access to PSU Banks aka public money, natural resources like oil, gas, minerals including land belonging to Indians and by exploiting or getting changed the trade & commerce policies to their advantage by bribing the politicians across the aisle.
According to a report by Centre for Sustainable Employment of the Azim Premji University; “The current rate of unemployment is the highest seen in India in the last 20 years.” This shortage of jobs is compounded by depressed wages, with 82% of men and 92% of women earning less than Rs 10,000 per month. The report also notes that the growth in GDP hasn’t resulted in a commensurate increase in employment.
A 10% increase in GDP now results in less than 1% increase in employment,” says the study. “Nationally, 67% of households reported monthly earnings of up to Rs 10,000 in 2015. In comparison, the minimum salary recommended by the Seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC) is Rs 18,000 per month. This suggests that a large majority of Indians are not being paid what may be termed a living wage, and it explains the intense hunger for government jobs,” the report observes. Worryingly, it adds that 90% of industries even in the organized manufacturing sector “pay wages below the CPC minimum. The situation is worse in the unorganized sector”.
According to Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), there are currently nearly 31 million unemployed Indians looking for jobs. CMIE is a board that tracks business and economic data of the country.
5 states with highest unemployment rate in descending order are; Tripura 39.1%, Chhattisgarh 22.2%, Haryana 17.6%, Chandigarh 15%, Himachal 14% and all 5 are ruled by the BJP.
5 states with lowest unemployment rates in ascending order are; Telangana 0.4%, Karnataka 0.8%, Tamilnadu 1.9%, Uttarakhand 2.4%, Puducherry 3.5%, except Uttarakhand that is ruled by BJP, rest 4 are ruled by opposition parties.
According to mathematician Anand Kumar, founder of Super 30 educational program for the underprivileged; “In India, there is a huge craving for education, but quality education is not accessible to all of them. There is no dearth of talent in India, but equal opportunities in terms of quality education and modern-day requirements often eluded a large number of students.” But for Modi with dubious educational record of his own, hardly educated ministers and the states ruled by his party BJP; “Education is not on their priority list.” Only Kerala ruled by left front and Delhi ruled by AAP in India had made “Education” a priority under their governance. Modi can spend almost a USD 1 Billion on 2 statues of Sardar Patel & Shivaji but not on Education! In the name of education he can grant $135 Million, subsidized land and “Institute of Eminence” status to yet to be born Jio Institute of his friend Mukesh Ambani a crony Capitalist that has grown from $19 billion to $43 Billion in net worth under Modi. Funniest part is Ambani group companies have no experience or expertise in the field of Education. Their experience is in how to get easy money/funding and natural wealth like oil wells, spectrum, land, mining rights etc. and defense contracts at terms favoring to them not to the owners the “Indian Public”. Team Modi is spreading lies and misinformation for last 41/2 years by using people’s money through ads in India’s morbid media: They have been shouting from the roof tops in India and the world arena that “India has superseded China as the world’s fastest growing economy. The fact is in 2017 India’s GDP was $2.59 Trillion and China’s $12.24 Trillion that is almost 5 times the Indian GDP. Per Capita GDP for China is $8,827.00 and for India it is $1,940.00 that is almost 1/5 of China. India’s Military spending was $63.9 billion, and China spent $228 billion almost 4 times than India. For India to take over China’s per capita GDP, the Indian economy needs to grow more than 30 percent annually. At the present rate of 6.1% at which Indian economy is growing it will take more than 125 years for India to match China’s success story. (Ashok Swain professor of Peace & Conflict Research at Uppsala University, Sweden)
India Under Modi is heading for the biggest humanitarian crisis:Modi’s moral police is more concerned with the length of a prominent celebrity women’s skirt or cleavage exposure or cows being transported or beef being consumed or love-Jihad or anti-Romeo squads than the lack of healthcare for the poor, modern education and employment opportunities for the youth or the unabated farmer suicides or rampant unemployment. The worst is cow transporters and beef eaters can be lynched to death by cow vigilantes with impunity from the government. The people’s courts dispensing instant justice without a trial and lynch mobs carry out the execution. Modi was describedby Katrina Lantos-Swett, vice-chair of the influential US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) as the “poster child for India’s failure to punish the violent”. Cow protection has taken higher precedence over the right to life of humans. More precious resources are being directed for unproductive cow sheds, money to feed them, hospitals and ambulances than for the basic health care facilities for poor human beings. They don’t even get transportation for their dead loved ones from the hospitals.
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Earlier, India was compared with modernizing countries like China, but today India is being bracketed with regressive Islamic fundamentalist regimes. India’s international image on being democratic, secular and scientific has been seriously dented. Modi himself gave examples of Karan and Ganesh to support the claim that cosmetic surgery and genetic science existed in India thousands of years ago. The first head transplant that of Lord Ganesh was done in India! An analysis of 198 countries by the Pew Research Center finds India is the fourth-worst country in the world for religious intolerance and violence. Only three countries – Syria, Nigeria and Iraq – are before India in this name-and-shame list, and even Pakistan fares much better than India on this front, being in the tenth position.
According to a very prominent economist, former High Commissioner to UK, journalist, author, human rights activist and former BJP Federal Minister Arun Shourie; current problems in India reflects “The Gujarat Model.”No Cabinet functions there and no cabinet functions here. The state legislature was reduced to impotence and irrelevance. The Parliament has been reduced to impotence and irrelevance. The judiciary was subordinated there and judiciary has been subordinated here. The Agencies and Police forces were made into Private Forces and Private Armies. That has been done here. It is exactly “The Gujarat Model.”
He further added that Modi invoke God and says it is God who has willed in whatever he is doing citing “Higher Purpose”. If anybody gets hurt, if any institution suffered upon or country is being torn apart; it is done for “Higher Purpose”. Modi has become the Agent of God!
All the above points to that Indian’s have been let down again byits morbid media, economist, intellectuals, religious, business & political leaders across the aisle. Whatever little integrity was left of them under Congress; that has been reduced to Zero rather negative under Modi. Barring a few dozen journalist, intellectuals, economist, religious & political leaders; the millions from the privileged class that could have spoken against the Modi’s atrocious regime either have been bribed to keep quiet rather to praise Modi government and some have chosen to keep quite under the extreme fear created by Modi supporters that any criticism of Modi regime is anti-national.
Behind most neighbors
Modi regime is propagating, encouraging and protecting misguided Hindus to impose their personal Hindutva beliefs on other Hindus as well as on non-Hindus. Some of their beliefs are indefensibly hateful and insulting, and do not concur with Hinduism.
It is a lesson for Indian voters as well as other voters around the world that they cannot vote for development only if it does not include tolerance, human rights, healthy debates on important issues like education, healthcare, employment, inclusive economics and progressive politics. Unfortunately Indians voted for Modi for his exclusive promise of development in 2014 that even after his 41/2 years of rule is nowhere to be seen rather country is facing a grim reality of biggest humanitarian crisis in the near future because of extreme poverty, massive unemployment, lack of healthcare, intolerance, fewer economic & education opportunities for majority of the population.
(Compiled by the author with inputs from eminent scholars, historians & journalists. The author is a New Jersey based social activist. He can be reached at davemakkar@yahoo.com)
WASHINGTON(TIP): A record high number of immigrants were ordered to be removed from the U.S. in 2018, a rise that many immigration advocates call the culmination of nearly two years of anti-immigration measures from the Trump administration. The president made immigration a central focus of the midterm election campaign.
Immigration officials ordered 287,741 new deportations in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2018, according to the report from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). TRAC obtained the data from the Department of Homeland Security through Freedom of Information Act requests.
It’s the highest number of new removal filings since the group began tracking deportation orders in 1992.
According to TRAC’s data, the most common reason for new deportations was “entry without inspection,” accounting for 42.5 percent of new deportees. This group includes any undocumented individual living in the U.S. who hasn’t declared themselves to immigration officials, Mackler said.
Just over 5 percent of new removal filings were based on aggravated felony charges, and 1.3 percent were on the basis of possible terrorist ties, according to data compiled by TRAC.
Immigrants from Mexico were the most frequently expelled nationality, accounting for just over 26 percent, or 73,339, new removal filings.
Migrants from three Central American nations — including Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras — together accounted for nearly half of all new deportation filings, or 130,667 cases, according to TRAC’s report. Those countries, wracked by violence and economic hardship, are the source of the migrant caravan currently making its way north through Mexico to the U.S. border.
Courts in Texas ordered more new deportations than any other state, ordering 60,431 new removals in the year ending September 30. Texas courts have led the number of new deportations since 2008, according to TRAC.
THOUSAND OAK CITY, CA(TIP): A US Marine veteran dressed in black sprayed bullets inside a crowded dance bar popular with college students Wednesday, November 7 night, killing at least 12 persons, including a police officer, Sgt. Ron Helus, here in a ‘horrific’ mass shooting incident, reminiscent of Oct. 1, 2017 shootings in Las Vegas where 64-year-old Stephen Paddock broke through the window of his suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and fired at 22,000 people gathered at the country music concert, resulting in the death of 58 persons.
Besides the 12 killed, twenty-one persons were hurt. They were taken to area hospitals where they were treated for their injuries and released.
Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean identified the gunman as 28-year-old Ian David Long, a retired Marine who served in Afghanistan. The suspect used a .45 caliber Glock handgun during the shooting, Dean said.
Long, who shot himself, was dead when officers made entry into the bar, Dean said as he described the shooting incident as ‘horrific’.
He said the motive of the shooter is still unclear. He was known to authorities for minor crimes. The shooter was on active duty with the US Marine Corps from August 2008 to March 2013, according to Department of Defense records. He also served in Afghanistan from November 2010 to June 2011.
Sheriff Sgt. Ron Helus was among the first to arrive on the scene, entering the bar with a California Highway Patrol officer. Helus exchanged gunfire with the suspect before being shot multiple times. He later died at a hospital.
The tragedy left a community that is annually listed as one of the safest cities in America reeling. Shootings of any kind are extremely rare in Thousand Oaks, a city of about 130,000 people about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Los Angeles, just across the county line.
Scores of people stood in line for hours to donate blood for the wounded, and all morning, people looking for missing friends and relatives arrived at a community center where authorities and counselors were informing the next-of-kin of those who died. Many people walked past TV cameras with blank stares or tears in their eyes. In the parking lot, some comforted each other with hugs or a pat on the back.
It was the nation’s deadliest such attack since 17 students and teachers were killed at a Parkland, Florida, high school nine months ago. It also came less than two weeks after a gunman massacred 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
Democratic Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, in his first public appearance since winning office on Tuesday, lamented the violence that has come again to California.
“It’s a gun culture,” he said. “You can’t go to a bar or nightclub? You can’t go to church or synagogue? It’s insane is the only way to describe it. The normalization, that’s the only way I can describe it. It’s become normalized.”
President Donald Trump praised police for their “great bravery” in the attack and ordered flags flown at half-staff in honor of the victims.
Authorities searched Long’s home in Newbury Park, about 5 miles from the Borderline bar, for clues to what set him off.
“There’s no indication that he targeted the employees. We haven’t found any correlation,” the sheriff said. “Maybe there was a motive for this particular night, but we have no information leading to that at all.”
Long was in the Marines from 2008 to 2013, rose to the rank of corporal and served in Afghanistan in 2010-11 before he was honorably discharged, the military said. Court records show he married in 2009 and was divorced in 2013.
Authorities said he had no criminal record, but in April officers were called to his home, where deputies found him angry and acting irrationally. The sheriff said officers were told he might have PTSD because of his military service. A mental health specialist met with him and didn’t feel he needed to be hospitalized.
WASHINGTON(TIP): President Donald Trump on Wednesday, November 7, sacked US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, virtually taking operational control of a sensitive probe into foreign interference in the 2016 election and the possibility of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
For months, Trump publicly attacked Sessions for recusing himself from overseeing the probe in 2017 and blamed his decision for allowing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to appoint a special counsel.
Trump said Sessions will be temporarily replaced by his chief of staff, Matthew Whitaker, who is a Republican loyalist. Now, with Whitaker at the helm, Trump has someone leading the Justice Department who has already suggested that Mueller’s probe should be reined in.
CBS News reported that Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein is no longer leading the Mueller inquiry, and that Whitaker will now assume control.
In a tweet on Wednesday Trump said: “We are pleased to announce that Matthew G Whitaker, Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice, will become our new Acting Attorney General of the US. He will serve our country well (sic).”
“We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service and wish him well! A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date,” he tweeted.
Observers opine that Trump’s move will have potential implication on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe as Whitaker has been overtly critical of the Mueller’s team to investigate beyond allegations Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia in 2016 and other ties between the President, his family and aides, and Kremlin.
Questions are also being raised about the validity of appointment of Whitaker as Acting Attorney General.
Meanwhile, thousands, on November 8, took to streets asking Whitaker to recuse himself from Mueller investigation.
The coming days are likely to witness an interesting tug of war between Republicans and Democrats on the issue of Mueller Investigation.
New York Attorney Ravi Batra described Jeff Sessions as a man of honor.
“Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a man of honor – he honored his oath to the Constitution, and then he honored the president of the United States in faithfully discharging the laws of the United States. The uncomfortable tension between the attorney general and the president speaks to American exceptionalism. Indeed, it is dissent itself that serves to ‘check and balance’, so that we may form a more perfect nation.”
Record number of women win; Four Indian Americans re-elected to House
WASHINGTON(TIP): US President Donald Trump has described the midterm election results as a “tremendous success” even as opposition Democrats wrested the House of Representatives from the ruling Republican party, which managed to retain its majority in the Senate in the highly polarized polls.
Trump, who campaigned aggressively in the last several weeks, Wednesday, November 7, offered an olive branch to Democrats, saying he wanted to work together with the Democratic leadership to continue delivering for the American people, including on economic growth, infrastructure, trade, lowering the cost of prescription drugs.
“Last night the Republican Party defied history to expand our Senate majority while significantly beating expectations in the House for the midterm year,” Trump told reporters, hours after the Republicans lost control of the House for the first time in eight years.
“These are some of the things that the Democrats do want to work on, and I really believe we’ll be able to do that. I think we’re going to have a lot of reason to do it,” he said as he termed the midterm poll results as a “tremendous success”.
The Democrats now have majority in the 435-member House, while Trump’s party has retained majority in the 100-member Senate.
At the time of going to press, late November 8 night, Democrats had won 229 House seats with Republicans getting 199, while 11 were still undecided.
Democrats polled 52% of votes in an election which has sent 99 women to the House, surpassing the previous record of 84 women elected to the House.
In the Senate, Democrats won 46 seats, a loss of 2 seats while Republicans won 51, a gain of 2 seats. 3 remain to be decided
The statements from the Democratic party leaders after the results indicated it would make it tough for President Trump, who wants major legislative changes on some of his signature issues including immigration, tax and healthcare reforms.
By capturing the House of Representatives, the Democrats may exert a major institutional check on Trump and break the Republican monopoly in Washington.
In the House of Representatives, the Democrats seized at least 30 seats from Republican hands, enough for the majority in the 435-membered chamber. In the outgoing House, the Republicans had 235 seats while the Democrats 193.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi hopes to return as Speaker when the new Democratic majority takes over in January. After House win, the top Democrat in the US House of Representatives pledged a new era of congressional scrutiny over President Donald Trump, shrugging off White House threats of political warfare if Democrats launch investigations into his affairs.
Emboldened Democrats want healthcare protected and Trump impeached.
Democrats have a clear message for party leaders who will take control of the US House of Representatives next year, according to a Reuters/Ipsos national opinion poll: Protect their healthcare and impeach President Donald Trump.
The poll released on Thursday, November 8, found that 43 per cent of people who identified as Democrats want impeachment to be a top priority for Congress. That goal was second in priority only to healthcare
Party leaders on Wednesday, November 7, vowed to use their majority to impose a new level of scrutiny on the Trump White House, but said impeachment would require evidence of action to subvert the Constitution.
A divided country has much to worry in the coming months, even as the Republicans and Democrats head for a collision course.
Xfinity X1 Customers Can Easily Access the Destination by Saying “South Asian Entertainment” into the X1 Voice Remote
PHILADELPHIA, PA (TIP): Comcast, on October 15, announced that from October 15 – November 15, Xfinity TV customers will have access to a specially curated collection of over 370 hours of South Asian entertainment in celebration of Diwali, the festival of lights that coincides with the Hindu New Year. Customers can say “South Asian Entertainment” into the X1 voice remote to access the Rangoli-themed destination, including:
A free preview of Eros Now On Demand from November 1-7, including South Asian movies like Sniff and Munna Michael.
Streaming movies like The Tiger Hunter and Miss India America on Netflix, which is now integrated on X1.
A collection of TV programming from India network favorites such as Zee TV, Sony Entertainment Television, STAR India PLUS, TV Asia, STAR BHARAT, STAR India GOLD, NDTV 24×7 and NDTV Good Times, plus sports content through Willow.
A unique on demand video featuring a burning Diya to play on the TV during Diwali celebrations.
Stingray Music Videos such as: Dochey: A.R. Rahman Feat Shreya Ghoshal and Lady Kash and Krissy; Sonu Nigam: Bole Chudiyan; Bally Sagoo: Dil Cheez; and Alka Yagnik & Sonu Nigam: Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna.
“We’re proud to offer the most international content from around the globe with over 415 networks in more than 20 languages year-round,” said Rebecca Simpson, Executive Director International Strategy. “Diwali is now upon us and we’re thrilled to join the festivities by offering our On Demand Diwali destination, giving customers access to a comprehensive library of films, a beautiful Diya video, music, and hundreds of South Asian channels – underscoring our commitment to provide the largest international offering in the industry along with a truly unique and easy to navigate user experience.”
In addition to the Xfinity On Demand Diwali programming, Comcast is partnering with the Shah twins to celebrate Diwali in style. Poonam and Priyanka Shah are viral internet sensations who have wowed audiences with their unique Indo-American choreography, modeling and now acting. The Shah twins will be performing at select Xfinity stores in Ashburn, VA on November 2nd, Union City, CA on November 3rd and Sugar Land, TX on November 4th. Their Comcast Xfinity commercial can be accessed online and in Xfinity stores across the country.
About Comcast
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company with two primary businesses, Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal. Comcast Cable is one of the nation’s largest video, high-speed internet, and phone providers to residential customers under the Xfinity brand, and also provides these services to businesses. It also provides wireless and security and automation services to residential customers under the Xfinity brand. NBCUniversal operates news, entertainment and sports cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television production operations, television station groups, Universal Pictures and Universal Parks and Resorts. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.
WASHINGTON DC. (TIP): The National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA), an organization of several Indian American groups, will host a three-day conference in Tysons, Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC, from November 16 to 19.
A number of NFIA members from different parts of the country will discuss issues pertaining to Indian Americans at the event, the organization said in a press release.
WHAT: NFIA Convention WHERE: Sheraton Tysons Hotel, Tysons, VA WHEN: November 16-18, 2018
The theme of the conference will be “NFIA and Indian Americans: We’re going places.”
The event will include seminars, banquets, cultural programs and opportunities for delegates to network, the release said.
The convention will be held under the leadership of NFIA President Sudip Gorakshakar of Artesia, Calif., Convener Pooja Thomre and Secretary Lavanya Reddy.
The release four co-conveners that will oversee the event: Angela Anand from Virginia, Y.N. Gupta from Maryland, Pat Patnaik from California and Raj Razdan from Georgia.
NFIA was founded in 1980, by Dr. Abraham Thomas, among others, with the goal of unifying the Indian American community by coordinating and promoting the activities of its member associations throughout the United States.
NEVADA(TIP): A multi-faith service to express “Solidarity with Pittsburgh and the Jewish Community” was held at Temple Emanu-El, Nevada’s oldest Jewish congregation, in Reno, on October 30 evening.
Few hundred religious-community-civic leaders and others from northern Nevada attended the service. It included various prayers, remarks, candle-lighting, etc.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, and who spoke on the occasion; recited Gayatri Mantra, considered the most sacred mantra in Hinduism, in Sanskrit and most of those gathered recited after him.
(Press Release)
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