NEW YORK (TIP): Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden announced his endorsement of Sara Gideon in the Maine U.S. Senate race, citing her record of fighting for Mainers by working to expand access to affordable health care, cracking down on the skyrocketing price of prescription drugs, and taking bold action on climate change.
“I want to congratulate Sara Gideon on her win in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. This November, we need to restore the soul of America by ending the Presidency of Donald Trump. To do that, I need the help of every voter in Maine,” said Joe Biden. “But ending the Trump nightmare is not enough. We can’t just go back to the way things were. We need to make progress on health care, the climate crisis, criminal justice reform, our courts, and so much more. And to do that, I need Sara Gideon in the U.S. Senate. Sara has been a leader on expanding health care coverage and lowering costs. On fighting against opioids and fighting for working families. She’s taken on the drug companies and she’s fought for the environment. I support Sara Gideon for U.S. Senate and hope you will too.”
“I’m so honored to have Vice President Biden’s support in this race and I know that together, we will make real progress on the issues that matter most to Mainers,” said U.S. Senate candidate Sara Gideon.“Here in Maine, we’ve fought to expand access to affordable health care, passed meaningful prescription drug reform, and set ambitious goals to fight climate change – and that’s the kind of leadership Mainers and Americans need in Washington. The future of our country is at stake in this election, and I’m proud to stand with Joe Biden to win back the White House and flip the Senate in November.”
Sara has visited all sixteen counties in Maine over the course of her campaign, holding in-person and virtual events to meet and talk with voters about their concerns and challenges they face. Sara has been endorsed by over 75 elected officials from across Maine, as well as the Maine AFL-CIO, Maine State Building and Construction Trades Council, Maine State Association of Letter Carriers, the Massachusetts and Northern New England Laborers District Council (LiUNA MNNELDC), the Painters and Allied Trades International Union District Council 35, the Human Rights Campaign, the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, NARAL, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, End Citizens United, and Everytown for Gun Safety.
WASHINGTON (TIP): US President Donald J. Trump has nominated Sutapa Ghosh Stricklett, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (Bureau for Asia).
Her nomination was sent to Senate July 22.
Sue Ghosh Stricklett is an attorney in private practice with over twenty-five years of experience in national security law and foreign affairs. The scope of her practice includes Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance, intellectual property licensing and technology transfer, U.S. dual-use and defense trade control licensing, and sanctions law enforcement. She has served as an Asia policy advisor to three Presidential campaigns and several major Indo-American advocacy organizations.
Ms. Stricklett hails from Queens, New York, and is a graduate of the State University of New York, Buffalo. She earned her J.D. from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America.
Stricklett has been the general counsel for American Hindu Coalition, which says it is a non-partisan organization that says its aims is to “build a stronger America through Hindu Enlightenment Principles.”
She is the author of several articles in US media advocating close relations with India and on “Trump’s outreach to Hindu Americans, both before and after his election” with a slew of important appointments in his administration.
NEW YORK (TIP): Indian origin Seema Verma, Chief of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, violated federal contracting rules by steering millions of taxpayer dollars incontracts that ultimately benefited GOP-aligned communications consultants, according to a report by Inspector General, released July 16.
HHS is one of the largest contracting agencies in the Federal Government and in fiscal year 2019 awarded contracts totaling approximately $27 billion, of which $7 billion related to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contracts. Congress has expressed concerns about and the media has reported on CMS’s awarding of contracts for strategic communications services. Separately, OIG had begun preliminary work to review the strategic communications services contracts during CMS Administrator Seema Verma’s tenure. Based on this preliminary work, they conducted an audit of these CMS contracts.
According to the report “CMS prepared the required documentation for awarding contracts for strategic communications services in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). However, CMS (including the CMS Administrator and other senior leaders) did not administer and manage the contracts in accordance with Federal requirements. Specifically, CMS allowed a subcontractor individual to perform inherently governmental functions, such as making managerial decisions and directing CMS employees. CMS also administered its strategic communications services contracts as personal services contracts. CMS officials exerted a level of control over the contractors’ work that exceeded what is allowed under service contracts; in essence, CMS administered these contracts as if the services had been procured under CMS’s statutory authority to contract for experts and consultants. Lastly, CMS did not comply with FAR requirements in managing contract deliverables and approving the use of a subcontractor, did not maintain complete working files for all three contracts, and paid some questionable costs.”
President Trump nominated Seema Verma to be the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on November 29, 2016, and she was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 13, 2017. As Administrator of CMS, she oversees one of the largest federal agencies that administers vital healthcare programs to over 100 million Americans.
NEW YORK (TIP): Prominent Indian American community leader Dr. Sampat Shivangi has been elected as a Republican delegate for the fifth consecutive term to the party’s August convention in Florida that would formally nominate US President Donald Trump as its candidate for the November presidential elections.
Dr.Sampat S. Shivangi has been a conservative lifelong member of the Republican party, hailing from a strong republican state of Mississippi. He is the founding member of the Republican Indian council and of Republican Indian National Council which aims to work to help and assist in promoting President Elect Trump’s agenda and support his advocacy in the coming months. RINC is based on the principles of RJC and want to promote conservative ideas and principles.
Dr.Shivangi is the National President of Indian American Forum for Political Education which is the oldest Indian American association .For the last three decades he has lobbied for bills in US congress on behalf of India through his enormous contacts with US Senators and Congressmen. He is close to Bush family and was instrumental in lobbying for first Diwali celebration in the White house and President George W. Bush to make his trip to India. He had accompanied President Bill Clinton during his historic visit to India.
NEW YORK (TIP): Indian origin Democrat Sara Gideon, the speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, on Tuesday July 14 formally became the Democratic nominee to challenge Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.
“We did it! Thank you to everyone who has supported our campaign to elect a senator who will fight for Mainers—not special interests,” Gideon said in a tweet after her victory.
“We are facing unprecedented challenges right now. The coronavirus pandemic continues to threaten our health, our safety, and our economy. And a broken Washington fails to take action because politicians put special interests and partisan politics before the people they’re supposed to represent. If we are going to come together and make real progress to improve the lives of people here in Maine and across the country, then we need new leadership. Because, after 24 years in Washington, Senator Collins has become part of that broken system, putting special interests and her political party first”, she further said in a statement.
Sara launched her campaign in June 2019 and has visited all sixteen counties in Maine, holding in-person and virtual events to meet and talk with voters about their concerns and challenges they face. Sara has been endorsed by more than 75 elected officials from across Maine, as well as the Maine State Building and Construction Trades Council, Maine Service Employees Association, Maine State Association of Letter Carriers, the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, the National Resources Defense Council Action Fund, NARAL, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, End Citizens United, and Everytown for Gun Safety.
Daughter of Indian-American father and Armenian mother, Sara has raised a massive USD 23 million, which is a Maine record.
TRENTON, NJ (TIP): Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration official Dr Rik Mehta has won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate from New Jersey and will take on incumbent Democrat Cory Booker in the general election in November.
Mehta defeated another Indian American Hirsh Singh by 12,532 votes, 39%-34%. Mehta is the first Asian American to win a statewide primary election.
“Thank you to voters who voted for me and the Republican and conservative leaders statewide who embraced our campaign from the start as the only one capable of attracting new voters to the Republican ranks, defeating Cory Booker in November, and lifting down ballot candidates in key congressional, special legislative, county, and local races”, Mehta said in a statement.
Dr. Rik Mehta is a biotech entrepreneur, innovator, healthcare policy expert and a licensed pharmacist and attorney. Trained at world-renowned Rutgers University as a pharmacist and lawyer, Dr. Mehta worked at the United States Food and Drug Administration as a Consumer Safety Officer to advance policies to expedite and increase access to quality, affordable drugs and health care. He also enforced against pharmaceutical companies taking millions of illegal prescription opioids off the market.
NEW YORK (TIP): House Oversight and Reform Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney is facing a primary challenge from Indian American Suraj Patel in New York’s 12th congressional district, which includes parts of Manhattan and Queens. Maloney, who defeated Patel with 60% of the vote in 2018 primary elections, is facing a much closer race this time around. Because of the significant volume of absentee ballots left to be counted, the tight margin may shift and the race likely will not be called until next week. Absentee ballots are still being counted and will be accepted until June 30, as long as they are postmarked by June 23.
As of June 24 morning, Maloney leads with 41.5 percent support, followed by Patel at 40 percent. Two years ago, New York University lecturer and former hotel executive Suraj Patel attempted to unseat longtime incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney in District 12. He fell short by about 20 points. This time, he’s only down by about 1.5 points and fewer than 1,000 votes. With as many as 109,500 absentee ballots outstanding in the district amid the coronavirus pandemic, Patel could very well close the gap in the coming weeks as they’re counted.
Patel said his campaign believed he would prevail as mail-in ballots are counted. “We are confident in our path to victory after a strong performance on Election Day, which traditionally favors establishment voters,” Patel said in a statement. “Over 58 percent of New Yorkers have rejected the incumbent’s politics of the past. We have a mandate for change, and the final tally will reflect that. We are proud to have run the best absentee ballot field program in this race, and now the energy and momentum is on our side. With thousands of votes outstanding — many from young voters and people of color — we will fight to ensure that every vote is counted, every voice is heard, and New Yorkers have the representation they deserve.”
On the other hand, a confident Maloney thanked voters for their support and did not signal any concern about the coming results.
“I am so grateful to all the voters who showed up yesterday, who voted early and who voted absentee to return me to Congress,” Maloney said. “This campaign was an opportunity not to just highlight my record of accomplishment and vision for a fairer future, but to talk about the opportunities ahead to advance police and criminal justice reform, to expand assistance to the millions impacted by COVID-19, and to hold President Trump accountable in what we are working to ensure are the final months of his disastrous presidency” she said in a statement.
WASHINGTON (TIP): Representative Elijah E. Cummings, a son of sharecroppers who rose to become one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress and a central figure in the impeachment investigation of President Trump, died on Thursday, October 17 in Baltimore, New York Times reported. . He was 68.
His death was confirmed by a spokeswoman, Trudy Perkins, in a statement that said he died of “complications concerning longstanding health challenges.” No other details were given.
As chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Mr. Cummings, of Maryland, had sweeping power to investigate Mr. Trump and his administration — and he used it.
A critical ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mr. Cummings spent his final months in Congress sparring with the president, calling Mr. Trump’s effort to block congressional lines of inquiry “far worse than Watergate.”
Mr. Cummings called the president’s stonewalling “far worse than Watergate.”
He was sued by Mr. Trump as the president tried to keep his business records secret.
Mr. Cummings was in his 13th term serving as a representative for Maryland. He had been absent from Capitol Hill in recent weeks because of his illness. But before that, he could often be found in the Speaker’s Lobby fielding reporter’s questions or quietly reading in the motorized wheelchair he used.
Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Democrat of Maryland, who served with Mr. Cummings in the House, said his death left an “irreplaceable void.”
Hakeem Jeffries
✔
@RepJeffries
Deeply saddened by the passing of Chairman Elijah Cummings.
He spoke truth to power, defended the disenfranchised and represented West Baltimore with strength and dignity.
Congress has lost a Champion. Heaven has gained an Angel of Justice. May he forever #RestInPower.
WASHINGTON(TIP): US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has refused to sign the peace deal that his special representative has inked with the Taliban, mainly because it does not guarantee the continued presence of US forces in the country to defeat al-Qaeda or the existence of the democratically elected government, a media report said Wednesday, September 4.
Pompeo is “declining to put his name to the deal” that has been hammered out by Special US Representative on Afghan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad after nine rounds of talks with the representatives of the Taliban in Doha, the Time magazine reported on Wednesday, September4.
“It doesn’t guarantee the continued presence of US counterterrorism forces to battle al-Qaeda, the survival of the pro-US government in Kabul, or even an end to the fighting in Afghanistan,” reported Time magazine, which based its report on unnamed senior Afghan, European Union and Trump Administration officials.
“No one speaks with certainty. None,” said an Afghan official taking part in briefings on the deal with Khalilzad.
“It is all based on hope. There is no trust. There is no history of trust. There is no evidence of honesty and sincerity from the Taliban,” and intercepted communications “show that they think they have fooled the US while the US believes that should the Taliban cheat, they will pay a hefty price.”
According to Time magazine, the Taliban has asked for Pompeo to sign an agreement with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the official name of the government founded by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 1996.
“Having the Secretary of State sign such a document would amount to de facto recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political entity, and he declined to do so,” the report said, quoting the Afghan officials.
Pompeo’s office declined to comment.
If the deal is signed, the US has agreed to withdraw some 5,400 US troops, roughly a third of the present force, from five bases within 135 days.
QUEENS, NY(TIP): Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, in partnership with the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College and NYC Parks, announced the full schedule of the fifth annual “Katz Concert Series,” a slate of free outdoor concerts taking place this summer in various locations throughout Queens.
“Summers are all about free concerts in the parks,” said Borough President KATZ. “We’re delighted to continue the partnership and bring this concert series back for the families of Queens.”
“Queens College is delighted once again to partner with Borough President Melinda Katz and NYC Parks in presenting the Katz Concert Series, which showcases wonderful musicians in outdoor venues throughout our borough,” said WILLIAM TRAMONTANO, Interim President of Queens College. “This vital series fulfills the goals of the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College, making top cultural programming readily accessible to our students, their families and the Queens community.”
“There’s nothing sweeter than free summer concerts in NYC Parks,” said NYC Parks Commissioner MITCHELL J. SILVER, FAICP. “Borough President Katz’s Concert Series brings communities together to celebrate music and gives everyone a great reason to enjoy all that our parks have to offer.”
The 2019 Katz Concert Series began on June 18 with a Celebrate Jerusalem concert in MacDonald Park in Forest Hills featuring Yoel Sharabi and his band. It resumes Sunday, July 21 in Springfield Gardens and runs through August 25 at other parks in Rockaway Beach, Long Island City, Bayside, Cambria Heights and Far Rockaway, and on the campus of Borough President Katz’s alma mater, St. John’s University.
The full upcoming schedule for the Katz Concert Series can be found below, along with brief descriptions of the scheduled talent. All performances are free admission and will last approximately 90 minutes. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and/or blankets to these outdoor events.
***PLEASE INCLUDE IN YOUR COMMUNITY CALENDAR***
http://www.queensbp.org/katzconcerts/
SUN JULY 21 AT 5:00PM – SPRINGFIELD PARK – MR. CHEEKS (Hip Hop artist)
@ Springfield Park, Springfield Boulevard between 146th and 147th Avenues in Springfield Gardens
Terrance Kelly, known professionally as Mr. Cheeks, is a Grammy-winning rapper who was born in South Jamaica in Queens in 1971. Before establishing himself as a solo artist in the early 2000s, Mr. Cheeks made a name for himself as a member of the Lost Boyz in the mid- to late ’90s. Mr. Cheeks and the other members of the Lost Boyz practiced a sincere, literate, non-sensational style of New York Hip Hop that garnered substantial critical acclaim.
TUE JULY 23 AT 7:00PM – THE GREAT LAWN AT ST. JOHN’S UNIVERSITY – QUEENS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
@ St John’s University (Great Lawn), 8000 Utopia Parkway in Jamaica
Queens Symphony Orchestra (QSO) was founded in 1953 by Borough President Katz’s father, David Katz, and is comprised of professional musicians who also perform on Broadway and with the New York City Ballet and other freelance regional orchestras. QSO’s mission is to serve the culturally diverse members of the Queens community.
During this concert on the Great Lawn at St. John’s University, the Queens Symphony Orchestra will explore how various cultures celebrate their fellowship through music. From the classical staples such as Strauss’s waltzes and Dvořák’s Slavonic dances, to the tangos and sambas of South America and popular Chinese tunes, the unending joy of dance music from around the world will be experienced during a concert entitled “Dances that Move the World.”
SUN JULY 28 AT 6:00PM – ROCKAWAY BEACH – YESTERDAY & TODAY (Beatles tribute band)
@ Rockaway Beach, Beach 94th Street and Shore Front Parkway in the Rockaways
Yesterday & Today is an established, professional, fun and entertaining Beatles cover band with a large and loyal following. With its superb harmonies and expert musicianship, Yesterday & Today is able to beautifully recreate all those magical Beatles songs we know and love.
SUN AUGUST 4 AT 5:00PM – HUNTERS POINT SOUTH PARK – DANCE PARTY WITH DJ REKHA (Bhangra music)
@ Hunters Point South Park, Center Boulevard between 50th Avenue and 2nd Street in Long Island City
Rekha Malhotra, known professionally as DJ Rekha, is a London-born musician, DJ, producer, curator, and activist who specializes in Bhangra music, a type of upbeat popular music associated with the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent and with the Punjabi diaspora in Europe and North America. DJ Rekha has gained popularity by fusing Bhangra music with international Hip Hop and drumbeats. Her show will also include a live percussionist and a free Bhangra dance lesson.
SUN AUGUST 11 AT 5:00PM – FORT TOTTEN PARK – ALIVE N’ KICKIN’ (cover band from the ‘60s to today)
@ Fort Totten Park, Totten Avenue at Cross Island Parkway in Bayside
Led by co-founder and lead singer Pepe Cardona, Alive N’ Kickin’ has been a mainstay of the tri-state music scene for decades. Their number one hit single –“Tighter, Tighter”–was written and produced by Tommy James of Tommy James and the Shondells, who also wrote and recorded such hits as “Mony, Mony,” “I Think We’re Alone Now,” and “Crimson and Clover.” Tighter, Tighter” sold over a million copies and earned Alive N’ Kickin’ a gold record.
SUN AUGUST 18 AT 5:00PM – CAMBRIA HEIGHTS PLAYGROUND – BARTLETT CONTEMPORARIES (dance band playing R&B, Pop, Hip Hop and Jazz)
@ Cambria Heights Playground, Francis Lewis Boulevard and 121st Avenue between 219th Street and 222nd Street in Cambria Heights
The Bartlett brothers, Charles and Carl, grew up in Queens in the early 1960s. While attending the former Andrew Jackson High School in Cambria Heights, Charles and Carl started their dynamic dance band known as the Bartlett Contemporaries and had the distinct honor of performing at the 1964-1965 World’s Fair and at the home of legendary big bandleader Count Basie. With the inclusion of a new generation of members, the band maintains a fresh and current approach to today’s trends in music while covering classic R&B with a next generation sound.
SUN AUGUST 25 AT 5:00PM – O’DONOHUE PARK – DR. K’S MOTOWN REVUE (Motown cover band)
@ O’Donohue Park Bandshell, Seagirt Boulevard between Beach 17th Street and Beach 19th Street in Far Rockaway
This outstanding band of musicians and singers takes you on a realistic journey of the Motown sound that makes you want to sing along. They have kept true to Motown’s roots, and each and every performance of the group transports listeners back to another era. Their audiences, both young and not so young, can’t help dancing to that Motown beat.
Follow Borough President Katz via @QueensBPKatz on Twitter and Facebook.
WHO INFLUENCES WHOM, WHEN, WHERE AND HOW IS THE ESSENCE OF ALL POLITICS
“Based on Kamala Harris’ performance and her competitiveness, there is no doubt in my mind that she will be able to convince the delegates at the nominating convention that she is second to none. Patrick Buchanan, political pundit and the former Speaker, Newt Gingrich have also said that Kamala Harris is likely to be the candidate”, says the author.
Before the debate Kamala Harris had the name recognition problem. Vice President Biden was well known and was enjoying a commanding lead in the polls. Kamala Harris had to formulate strategy to become most competitive. She knew the power and influence of the national TV audience could make a difference. Therefore, she came to the debate very well prepared.
Born to her mother from Chennai, India and father from Jamaica, both Ph.D.’s, Kamala Harris is a smart student and had accumulated political skills by serving as San Francisco’s District Attorney and California’s Attorney General, before she was elected U.S. Senator, first for Indian American.
Kamala Harris knew that unless she is most competitive with Biden and Sanders, she had no chance to emerge out of 20 candidates. Thus, she applied the principle: WHO INFUENCES WHOM WHEN WHERE AND HOW IS THE ESSENCE OF POLITICS.
She was well aware that the national debate would draw a large audience and if she makes a difference she could break out. She turned out to be right. The second debate drew an audience of 18 million people against 24 million for first Trump debate.
She knew that once she impresses such a large audience, political equilibrium and polls would change. She was right. How did she do it? What was her strategy?
NBC had several anchors, who were not well organized. The debate was not well programmed. Different anchors were asking questions after questions giving very little time for the candidate to answer. As a result, the competition to be heard was stiff. It was not easy to break in especially when several were attempting to speak. There was total confusion and no order. This is where Kamala Harris emerged as a big winner. Her tactics and strategy succeeded.
Kamala Harris was bent upon taking the big elephant Biden blocking her march to the convention.
Gentlemen, you can’t fight here, this is the debate stage! Senator Kamala Harris’s first attempt at a breakout moment in this debate was a painfully rehearsed line designed to be dropped the minute there was some crosstalk she could break into:
“Hey guys, America does not want to witness a food fight. They want us to know how we are going to put food on their table.”
It won immediate applause, sustained applause, undermining their party’s political well-being. This is a debate. Everyone on stage is supposed to be making a case for why they should be president, which when facing other candidates in an election, is traditionally done by drawing distinctions between yourself and your opponents.
More broadly, the line speaks to the self-defeating tendency of Democrats to imagine that their own affinity for compromise reflects the median voter’s preference for conciliatory politics. People say they have partisan conflict, yes—but they vote for people who draw sharp distinctions between themselves and their (negatively defined)opponents. It was a good line for Harris in the moment, but it was a cynical line masquerading as a plea for unity.
Kamala Harris ( extreme right) gives Joe Biden (extreme left) the punch in the debate. Seen in the center is Bernie Sanders. CNN Screenshot
“I believe you are not a racist. It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two U.S. Senators who built their reputations and career on segregation of race in this country. And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose bussing. And you know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the Second Class to integrate her public schools and she was bussed to school every day and that little girl was me.”
Almost immediately after she punched Biden, a video of Kamala Harris as a child dressed for school was circulated in the social media.
Biden was flustered, caught off-guard by this unexpected expression of lived experience. Biden was not just criticized for his nostalgia play. He was confronted with the fact that his efforts as a young senator would have ended one of the country’s few attempts to make equal treatment a reality, to give black students the kind of education that white students took for granted . And while it is tempting to portray this as ancient history, it is not. Harris was born in 1964, just three months after President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Bill. Biden joined the Senate in 1973. It was 1977 when Biden introduced Bill that would, in his words, “strike at the injustice of court-ordered busing.”
Astring of recent polls suggest that Kamala Harris’s performance in the debate last week has propelled her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in July 2020. A Quinnipiac University poll of Democrats and Democratic leaning voters nationally showed Kamala Harris, whose criticism of Biden’s record on race was one of the most discussed moments of the second debate last week, gaining significant momentum in the campaign.
KAMALA HARRIS POLLS AT 20% IN THE QUINNIPIAC POLL, TRAILING FRONT RUNNING BIDEN BY JUST 2 POINTS.
Other polls also show strong support for the California Democrat. A Suffolk University/USA Today poll of likely Iowa Democratic caucus goers also showed her in second place to Biden. The former Vice President led that poll with 24% of respondents saying they support him, and 15.6% reported favoring Harris.
In a poll of Democrats and Democratic leaning independents conducted by CNN and SSRS in the days after the debate, 17% of respondents said they supported Harris, again placing her in second place to Biden. That represented a jump from 8% from the month before.
After the second debate, it is clear that both Biden and Sanders have lost their momentum to the women candidates, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren. 56% of the primary voters are women. If so, it is possible that the voters may prefer to elect a woman.
ROADMAP TO NOMINATION
I list below the number of delegates from early States till March 3, 2020: Iowa 49; New Hampshire 33; Nevada 48; S.C. 63 – total of 193. CA 495; Texas 262; NY 270, MA 114, IL 184, FL 248, MI 147. Before March 3, we would have elected 193. By the end of March, two thirds of all delegates would have been elected.
Therefore, if Kamala Harris does reasonably well in Iowa, NH, S.C. and Nevada, she would become the front runner on March 3 after the primaries because CA has 495 delegates. Right now, the wind in California is blowing in her favor. Biden has lost his territory big.
Kamala Harris has already tested the national waters thru her first debate. It is easier for her to challenge her competitors Biden, Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren in the second and future debates. Kamala Harris is continuing to receive wide media coverage.
STRATEGIC SKILLS AND ABILITY TO CHALLENGE THE OPPONENT IN THE GENERAL ELECTION WILL BE THE DECIDING FACTOR FOR SELECTING THE NOMINEE. Based on Kamala Harris’ performance and her competitiveness, there is no doubt in my mind that she will be able to convince the delegates at the nominating convention that she is second to none. Patrick Buchanan, political pundit and the former Speaker, Newt Gingrich have also said that Kamala Harris is likely to be the candidate.
Winning the nomination is one thing. Can Kamala Harris challenge President Trump in the General Election in November 2020? Will she able to draw working class white votes from the rust belt states of PA, WI, OH, MI? Will the moderate and conservative White women vote for her? Will she compromise too much with the extreme left to get the nomination but only to lose in the general election? Can she suggest a workable bipartisan solution to the Immigration problem? These questions cannot be answered now until the political process takes place.
If Kamala Harris clinches the nomination for the President from the Democratic Party, it would be a great achievement for her, and the Indian Americans will be proud.
(The author is MBA, Columbia School of Business and Chairman, Asian American Republican Committee. He can be reached at vpwaren@gmail.com)
Freshman New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed Paul Manafort’s “little” jail sentence
ALEXANDRIA, VA(TIP): Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced on Thursday, March 8, to 47 months in prison for tax and bank fraud related to his work advising Ukrainian politicians, much less than what was called for under sentencing guidelines.
Manafort, sitting in a wheelchair as he deals with complications from gout, had no visible reaction as he heard the 47-month sentence. While that was the longest sentence to date to come from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, it could have been much worse for Manafort. Sentencing guidelines called for a 20-year-term, effectively a lifetime sentence for the 69-year-old.
Manafort has been jailed since June, so he will receive credit for the nine months he has already served. He still faces the possibility of additional time from his sentencing in a separate case in the District of Columbia, where he pleaded guilty to charges related to illegal lobbying.
Before Judge T.S. Ellis III imposed the sentence, Manafort told him that “saying I feel humiliated and ashamed would be a gross understatement.” But he offered no explicit apology, something Judge Ellis noted before issuing his sentence.
Manafort steered Donald Trump’s election efforts during crucial months of the 2016 campaign as Russia sought to meddle in the election through hacking of Democratic email accounts. He was among the first of Mr. Trump’s associates charged in the Mueller investigation and has been a high-profile defendant.
But the charges against Manafort were unrelated to his work on the campaign or the focus of Mr. Mueller’s investigation- whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russians.
A jury last year convicted Manafort on eight counts, concluding that he hid from the IRS millions of dollars he earned from his work in Ukraine.
Manafort’s lawyers argued that their client had engaged in what amounted to a routine tax evasion case and cited numerous past sentences in which defendants had hidden millions from the IRS and served less than a year in prison.
Prosecutors said Manafort’s conduct was egregious, but Judge Ellis ultimately agreed more with defense attorneys. “These guidelines are quite high,” Judge Ellis said.
Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys had requested a particular sentence length in their sentencing memoranda, but prosecutors had urged a “significant” sentence.
Outside court, Manafort’s lawyer, Kevin Downing, said his client accepted responsibility for his conduct “and there was absolutely no evidence that Mr. Manafort was involved in any collusion with the government of Russia.”
Though Manafort hasn’t faced charges related to collusion, he has been seen as one of the most pivotal figures in the Mueller investigation. Prosecutors, for instance, have scrutinized his relationship with Konstantin Kilimnik, a business associate U.S. authority say is tied to Russian intelligence, and have described a furtive meeting the men had in August 2016 as cutting to the heart of the investigation.
After pleading guilty in the D.C. case, Manafort met with investigators for more than 50 hours as part of a requirement to cooperate with the probe. But prosecutors reiterated at Thursday’s hearing that they believe Manafort was evasive and untruthful in his testimony to a grand jury.
Manafort was wheeled into the courtroom about 3-45 p.m. in a green jumpsuit from the Alexandria jail, where he spent the last several months in solitary confinement. The jet-black hair he bore in 2016 when serving as campaign chairman was gone, replaced by a shaggy gray. He spent much of the hearing hunched at the shoulders, bearing what appeared to be an air of resignation.
Defense lawyers had argued that Manafort would never have been charged if it were not for Mueller’s probe. At the outset of the trial, even Judge Ellis agreed with that assessment, suggesting that Manafort was being prosecuted only to pressure him to “sing” against Mr. Trump. Prosecutors said the Manafort investigation preceded Mr. Mueller’s appointment.
The jury convicted Manafort on eight felonies related to tax and bank fraud charges for hiding foreign income from his work in Ukraine from the IRS and later inflating his income on bank loan applications. Prosecutors have said the work in Ukraine was on behalf of politicians who were closely aligned with Russia, though Manafort insisted his work helped those politicians distance themselves from Russia and align with the West.
In arguing for a significant sentence, prosecutor Greg Andres said Manafort still hasn’t accepted responsibility for his misconduct.
“His sentencing positions are replete with blaming others,” Mr. Andres said. He also said Manafort still has not provided a full account of his finances for purposes of restitution, a particularly egregious omission given that his crime involved hiding more than $55 million in overseas bank accounts to evade paying more than $6 million in federal income taxes.
The lack of certainty about Manafort’s finances complicated the judge’s efforts to impose restitution, but Ellis ultimately ordered that Manafort could be required to pay back up to $24 million.
Freshman New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed Paul Manafort’s “little” jail sentence Thursday, saying it’s proof the US justice system is broken.
“Paul Manafort getting such little jail time for such serious crimes lays out for the world how it’s almost impossible for rich people to go to jail for the same amount of time as someone who is lower income,” the Bronx-born congresswoman tweeted.
She added: “In our current broken system, ‘justice’ isn’t blind. It’s bought.”
Earlier Thursday, President Trump’s former campaign chairman was sentenced to just under four years in prison for a massive fraud scheme tied to his work as a political consultant for Ukraine’s pro-Russian government.
Sentencing guidelines recommended 19 1/2 to 24 years. But Judge T.S. Ellis III said that was “excessive.”
In the D.C. case, Manafort faces up to five years in prison on each of two counts to which he pleaded guilty. The judge will have the option to impose any sentence there concurrent or consecutive to the sentence imposed by Judge Ellis.
“I applaud and join PM Shinzo Abe, whose nation saw North Korean ICBM rockets flyover Japan, to nominate President Donald J. Trump for the Nobel Peace prize. Unlike prior presidents who could deliberate into inaction, President Trump charged in with “Fire & Fury” and “Little Rocket Man” and promised devastation of DPRK and Chairman Kim jong Un. The rest, as they say is history as the North Korean Missiles have stopped flying.
While it isn’t easy to always agree with Trump’s “ways & means”, his foreign policy goals are more often than not – dead on. Credit the disturbed Deep State has a hard time comprehending, let alone supporting.
The Arab Spring was started by a male Street Vendor in Tunisia after he was insulted by a female cop, and after unsuccessfully trying his best to protest, he self-immolated. Trump gave voice to the overwhelming number of unhappy and angry hardworking Americans who feel they and their children had been dealt out of the American Dream by lobbyists and Special Interests (who created the most unnecessary and corrupt 4Trillion dollar TARP as a reward to those who had then just destroyed America’s pensions & 401Ks in 2007).
Trump is the updated version of Teddy Roosevelt, as he changed “walk softly and carry a big stick” to “walk loudly and carry a big stick!” In today’s noise-filled life, Trump has cut through the status quo with his unending Tweet-storms, disrupted geopolitics, and made America stronger and safer, even if not liked as much as before. The British Empire’s biggest empire-building asset – “it’s been decided” – no matter if right or wrong – it was followed through as ‘it’s been decided.” Trump is a ‘decider” and the American Empire is on the march to greater peace & security.”
WASHINGTON (TIP): The U.S. Department of Justice may announce as early as next week that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has given the Attorney-General his report on the federal Russia investigation, CNN said on Wednesday, February 20, citing unnamed sources.
After the expected announcement, U.S. Attorney General William Barr will review Mr. Mueller’s findings and submit his own summary to Congress, CNN reported. Democrats have been concerned that Mr. Barr, who has discretion over what is ultimately made public, will choose to limit disclosure.
Under Special Counsel regulations, Mr. Mueller must submit a confidential report to the Attorney-General. Mr. Barr, in turn, is required to provide information on the report to the judiciary committees of Congress.
Looks like the halcyon days of Supreme Court justices like William J. Brennan Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Earl Warren, Potter Stewart, William O Douglas, Felix Frankfurter are permanently over, or at least for a very long time.
This is what happens when economic prosperity heads full speed towards a brick wall as is increasingly happening to the US as it begins its irreversible long slide down.
This is the court of Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts, of late Antonin Scalia disguised but intensely opinionated, conservative, fundamentalist, (bigoted?) Catholic / Christian judges.
It’s why as NYT wrote in a long and thoughtful piece about 10 years ago that the world has now stopped reading or giving credence to the opinions of SCOTUS. It is too right wing, too biased, (Christian parochialism?) to be worthy of universal respect as in past eras. It is the Supreme Courts of Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and India (alas, now increasingly of slavishly westernized and deracinated from Indic cultural ethos and pandering to western sensibilities) which are respected and regarded.
SCOTUS on narrow technical grounds just denied an American Muslim the right to last rites by a Mullah / Maulvi in the judgment on Dunn v. Ray. Domineque Ray, was executed Thursday evening by the State of Alabama. Mr. Ray did not contest the state’s power to kill him, he simply asked that Alabama permit his spiritual adviser to be in the execution chamber to comfort him as the state extinguished his life. Ray is a Muslim, and the prison’s policy allowed him to be attended by a Christian chaplain but not by a Muslim imam.
“Religious liberty for me, but not for thee”.
The word “empathy,” it should be noted, does not mean “sympathy.” Sympathy implies a kind of partisanship — to be sympathetic to a party is to be favorable to their claims. Empathy means something else. It is the ability to place yourself in someone else’s shoes and to understand their perspective even if you have not shared their experiences. It is a white Christian man’s ability to see that the world sometimes operates differently for an African-American Muslim.
It should have been an open-and-shut case. As Justice Elena Kagan noted in a dissenting opinion, “the clearest command of the Establishment Clause is that one religious denomination cannot be officially preferred over another.” If Alabama allows Christian inmates to be attended by a clergy member of their faith, then it must offer the same accommodation to people of other faiths.
Neal Katyal, a former acting Solicitor General of the United States who, by virtue of the fact that he practices before the Supreme Court, must be careful about criticizing its judges too harshly, compared the Ray decision to notorious decisions such as “Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, Korematsu, and the Chinese Exclusion Act cases.” The National Review’s David French labeled Ray “a grave violation of the First Amendment.”
Nearly a hundred years ago the Ramakrishna Mission Vedanta Society in California was gifted a huge property by a wealthy devotee in her will. Her family filed suit. The openly and blatantly racist and religiously bigoted judge (there are scads of them even in federal courts of the Confederate South) set aside the bequest on totally specious grounds and awarded the property to the family. It looks like SCOTUS under Trump is rapidly returning to the Dred Scott days of viewing slaves as property.
WASHINGTON, DC(TIP): US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order declaring a national emergency, which will empower him to fund the construction of a massive wall along the US-Mexico border to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country and curb drug smuggling.
The move would help Mr. Trump get $5.6 billion for the construction of the wall that, he has asserted, is essential for national security.
President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action – including a national emergency – to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
The President is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country, she said.
The White House statement came soon after Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell made the move public.
“I had an opportunity to speak with President Trump and he, I would say to all my colleagues, has indicated he’s prepared to sign the bill. He also (will) be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time. I indicated I’m going to support the national emergency declaration,” Mr. McConnell said.
On the Democrats saying they will challenge the move in the Supreme Court, Sanders said, “We’re very prepared, but there shouldn’t be [legal challenges]. The president’s doing his job. The Congress should do theirs.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that declaring a national emergency would be a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that Trump broke his core promise to have Mexico pay for his wall”.
It is yet another demonstration of President Trump’s naked contempt for the rule of law. This is not an emergency, and the president’s fearmongering doesn’t make it one, they said in a joint statement.
He couldn’t convince Mexico, the American people or their elected representatives to pay for his ineffective and expensive wall, so now he’s trying an end-run around Congress in a desperate attempt to put taxpayers on the hook for it. The Congress will defend our constitutional authorities, they said.
Opposing the proposed move, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said that Mr. Trump’s hankering for a wall at the southern border cannot be justified by calling a national emergency.
This would be a clear abuse of presidential power — one that sidesteps the role of Congress in the appropriation of funds. Shame on any member of Congress who doesn’t clearly and vigorously speak out on this illegitimate invocation of emergency authorities, ACLU said.
Senator James Inhofe said Mr. Trump had no choice but to declare a national emergency.
I want to make sure this declaration has minimal, if any, impact on our military and reimburse all the necessary accounts affected by the decision. As I heard in a hearing yesterday, military housing and all military installations are facing disrepair and poor conditions. We cannot afford to allow them to be further impacted, he said.
WASHINGTON(TIP): In a show of unprecedented bipartisan support, 67 lawmakers from both chambers of the US Congress attended a Congressional reception on Capitol Hill Feb 7 for new Indian Ambassador Harsh Shringla. Among the attendees at the invitation-only reception were TV Asia chairman and CEO, Padma Shri H R Shah, several business associations and members of the media.
The Congressional reception was hosted by the Co-Chairs of the Senate India Caucus and Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Congressman George Holding (R-NC).
The event was attended by lawmakers from both the Senate and the House. In addition, prominent members of the Indian American community from across the US.
In their welcome remarks, Senator Warner, Senator Cornyn, Congressman Sherman and Congressman Holding, underlined the importance of the India-US strategic partnership and the critical role played by Congress, in particular, the India Caucus in strengthening relations.
They extended a warm welcome to Ambassador Shringla and committed to working together in building closer ties between the two countries.
The lawmakers also appreciated the significant role played by the Indian American community in building bridges of understanding across the two cultures and nations. They called upon the new members of Congress to join the India Caucus. Conspicuous by attendance were: Congressmen Frank Pallone (D-NJ), one of the co-founders of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans; Congresswomen Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) as well as Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Ro Khanna (D-CA).
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), in her remarks mentioned she will be introducing a bill in the 116th Congress to award a Congressional Gold Medal to Mahatma Gandhi in this 150th Birth Anniversary year.
Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-NY) said in his remarks that Mahatma Gandhi had been an inspiration for him. Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-NY) mentioned her support for India’s permanent membership of the UN Security Council. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) also attended and spoke about the great contributions of the Indian American community across all fields in the US.
Ambassador Shringla thanked the Caucus Co-Chairs for their warm welcome. The Ambassador noted that the bipartisan support for the India-US strategic partnership was reflected in the turnout of the Members of Congress across the aisle for the event.
Further, the overwhelming support for the relationship with India is attested by the fact that the India Caucus is the largest country-specific Caucus on the Hill.
He thanked the Indian American Diaspora for serving as cultural Ambassadors of India and contributing to a strong foundation for the strategic partnership between the world’s oldest and largest democracies.
The Ambassador also spoke briefly about the progress made in bilateral ties over the past year across all domains – defense, economic and trade, energy cooperation, culture and people-to-people exchanges.
Following the Congressional reception, Ambassador Shringla hosted a meet and greet and dinner event at his residence.
WASHINGTON(TIP): The House intelligence committee will launch a broad new investigation looking at Russian interference in the 2016 election and President Donald Trump’s foreign financial interests, Chairman Adam Schiff announced Wednesday, February 6, moving ahead with the aggressive oversight that Democrats have promised now that they are in the majority.
Schiff said the investigation will include “the scope and scale” of Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election, the “extent of any links and/or coordination” between Russians and Trump’s associates, whether foreign actors have sought to hold leverage over Trump or his family and associates, and whether anyone has sought to obstruct any of the relevant investigations.
The announcement came one day after Trump criticized “ridiculous partisan investigations” in his State of the Union speech. Schiff dismissed those comments Wednesday.
“We’re going to do our jobs and the president needs to do his,” Schiff said. “Our job involves making sure that the policy of the United States is being driven by the national interest, not by any financial entanglement, financial leverage or other form of compromise.”
The California Democrat also announced a delay in an upcoming closed-door interview with Trump’s former fixer and personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, “in the interests of the investigation.” The interview was originally scheduled for Friday. It will now be held on Feb. 28, Schiff said.
Schiff said he could not speak about the reason for the delay. Hours after the meeting was pushed back, a document was filed under seal in the criminal case against Cohen brought by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office. The court’s docket did not contain any details about the nature of the document.
Special counsel spokesman Peter Carr declined comment, as did Lanny Davis, an attorney for Cohen.
The intelligence committee also voted Wednesday to send Mueller the transcripts from the panel’s earlier Russia investigation. Republicans ended that probe in March, concluding there was no evidence of conspiracy or collusion between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign. Democrats strongly objected at the time, saying the move was premature.
Since then, both Cohen and Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone have been charged with lying to the panel. Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying to the House and Senate intelligence committees about his role in a Trump business proposal in Moscow. He acknowledged that he misled lawmakers by saying he had abandoned the project in January 2016 when he actually continued pursuing it for months after that.
Stone pleaded not guilty to charges last month that he lied to the House panel about his discussions during the 2016 election about WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group that released thousands of emails stolen from Democrats. Stone is also charged with obstructing the House probe by encouraging one of his associates, New York radio host Randy Credico, to refuse to testify before the House panel in an effort to conceal Stone’s false statements.
Schiff has said Mueller should consider whether additional perjury charges are warranted.
The committee had already voted to release most of the transcripts to the public, but they are still being reviewed by the intelligence community for classified information.
Mueller requested Stone’s interview transcript last year and the panel voted to release it in December. Schiff wouldn’t say whether Mueller had requested other transcripts but noted that the committee had voted to withhold a small number of transcripts from the public and also that some witnesses had been interviewed since then. The transmission of the transcripts to Mueller, expected immediately, will give him full access to all of the committee’s interviews.
Among the transcripts are interviews with Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.; his son-in-law, Jared Kushner; his longtime spokeswoman, Hope Hicks; and his former bodyguard Keith Schiller. There are dozens of other transcripts of interviews with former Obama administration officials and Trump associates.
Democrats also opposed a Republican motion at the meeting Wednesday to subpoena several witnesses. Republicans said they were witnesses who Democrats had previously wanted to come before the panel.
A Republican aide said that witness list included FBI and Justice Department officials involved in the Russia investigation and others who could shed more light on research by former British spy Christopher Steele. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the committee’s business is confidential.
Steele’s research was funded by Democrats and later compiled into an anti-Trump dossier that became public.
Trump Signs Bill Reopening Government for 3 Weeks through February 15
WASHINGTON (TIP): The House and Senate both approved a measure Friday, January 25 to temporarily reopen the federal government with a short-term spending bill that does not include President Donald Trump’s requested $5.7 billion for a border wall, CNN reported.
The measure — a three-week stop-gap spending bill would reopen shuttered parts of the government through February 15 with President having signed the Bill.
Congressional approval of the measure came quickly after the President conceded earlier Friday to mounting pressure over the ongoing shutdown, agreeing to a temporary funding measure that would allow federal employees to return to work.
“I will sign a bill to open our government for three weeks,” the President said in an address on Friday, saying that he was announcing that “we have reached a deal to end the shutdown.”
Trump said that “a bipartisan conference committee of House and Senate lawmakers and leaders” will work to “put together a homeland security package for me to shortly sign into law.”
“Over the next 21 days, I expect that both Democrats and Republicans will operate in good faith,” the President said.
Democrats have insisted throughout the shutdown that the President should sign a measure to reopen the government before they proceed to a debate on border wall funding. After weeks of resistance, Trump agreed to just that on Friday, paving the way for congressional Democrats and Republicans to approve a stop-gap funding bill.
The action on Capitol Hill comes after weeks of negotiations largely going nowhere. And it is not yet clear what kind of a deal can be struck between Democrats and Republicans in the weeks to come over border security.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer suggested at a news conference on Friday that the President’s decision to accept a stop-gap funding measure amounted to a validation of the position taken by Democrats during the shutdown fight.
“The President has agreed to our request to open the government and then debate border security,” Schumer said.
Schumer appeared optimistic that a resolution over border security can be reached once the government is reopened.
“We in Congress will roll up our sleeves and try to find some agreement on border security,” Schumer said.
Democrats have maintained throughout the shutdown fight that they support border security measures, but not new funding for a border wall, a signature promise of Trump’s campaign for the White House.
“We don’t agree on some of the specifics of border security. Democrats are firmly against the wall,” Schumer said on Friday.
“But we agree on many things such as the need for drug inspection technology, humanitarian aid, strengthening security at our ports of entry. And that bodes well for finding an eventual agreement,” he added.
In his Rose Garden remarks, Trump did not appear conciliatory nor did he concede defeat. Instead, he continued to paint the matter as a national security crisis and said another shutdown is possible if lawmakers cannot agree to new border wall funding.
“As everyone knows I have a very powerful alternative but I’m not going to use it at this time,” Trump said after declaring he’d struck a deal to reopen government. CNN reported exclusively on Thursday that a national emergency proclamation had been drafted that would allow for potentially billions of federal dollars to be put toward wall construction.
“If we don’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shut down on February 15 again, or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and the Constitution of the United States to address this emergency,” Trump said. “We will have great security.”
Nearly his entire Cabinet and many of his senior advisers had assembled along the Rose Garden colonnade to listen to Trump speak. They offered enthusiastic applause during his speech, which Trump opened by saying he was “very proud to announce today that we have reached a deal to end the shutdown and reopen the federal government.”
“I will make sure that all employees receive their back pay very quickly or as soon as possible. It’ll happen fast,” Trump said.
“When I say make America great again — it could never be done without you,” Trump said, calling federal workers “great people.”
The shutdown over the Mexico wall demand will long define Donald Trump’s presidency
It began as a populist campaign promise that brought President Donald Trump’s supporters cheering to their feet and paved the way for his election. Now, the border wall with Mexico has become a morass of partisan bickering that has stalemated the U.S. federal government into a three-week-long shutdown, leaving nearly 800,000 public sector workers furloughed without pay. At the heart of this political crisis is the increasingly bitter polarization of public opinion over immigration. On the one hand, Mr. Trump has steadily contributed to the strident and crude anti-migrant rhetoric, characterizing prospective migrants from Latin America as drug-dealers, rapists and violent criminals and shutting down the U.S. border to travelers from certain Muslim-majority countries. On the other, his insistence that he will not sign any appropriations bill to break the funding logjam in Congress and end what could soon become the longest shutdown in U.S. history, unless that bill includes $5.7 billion in financing for a border wall, has gone down badly with Democrats, who control the House. Matters took a darker turn as Mr. Trump doubled down on his refusal to negotiate over funding for the wall and said he may declare a state of national emergency over this uncomfortable status quo.
There are disquieting questions about the veracity of some of Mr. Trump’s claims: migrant border crossings have been in decline for the best part of two decades; it is through legal ports of entry and not unauthorized crossing points that hard drugs such as heroin enter the U.S.; and even the State Department has admitted that no terror operatives have entered the U.S. through Mexico. Then there is the more blatantly flawed reasoning touted by the President that “Mexico will pay” for the wall. Now it appears that even Mr. Trump is backing down on his claim, arguing that Mexico would only “indirectly” fund it through trade deals. It is well-known that only corporations pay tariffs under these deals, not governments, and hence no such payment will come from Mexico. Even as the acerbic back-and-forth between Mr. Trump and Congressional Democrats continues, the deeper malaise is a profound disagreement among Americans on what their nation’s very soul stands for. Is the U.S. truly a melting pot, a country built on the prowess of entrepreneurship and technology, in large part driven by immigrants seeking the “American dream”? Or is it a declining world power that has squandered too much to other nations and peoples and is readying itself for an uncompromising battle to claw back what it reckons it has lost? If it is the latter, then we could expect Mr. Trump’s vision to succeed, but if not, a course correction is in order.
WASHINGTON(TIP): Indian American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, representing Illinois’ 8th District, heavily criticized President Donald Trump in response to new developments threatening the nation’s and Illinois’ economies as a result of the government shutdown predicated on President Trump’s demand for a border wall that was supposed to be paid for by Mexico in the first place:
“President Trump is destabilizing and hobbling an already wobbly economy to fulfil only half of a campaign pledge he has made since 2015. After abandoning a bipartisan budget compromise the Senate passed last week unanimously, the President has shut down the federal government to appeal to a shrinking minority of Americans and right-wing talk show personalities. Instead of having Mexico pay for the border wall as the President has promised since 2015, he is asking for as much as $5 billion from taxpayers for a wall that will not accomplish its stated goal and which most Americans do not want. The President stubbornly keeps pushing for a wall to protect himself from the far right’s criticism. America needs enhanced border security using smart technology and border agents treated with respect by not being forced to work without pay during the Christmas holidays”, he said.
Krishnamoorthi pledged President Trump to end the shutdown for the health and stability of nation’s economy. “The stock market is in a record freefall, he is attacking the independence of the Federal Reserve, and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin called leading banks in an unsuccessful effort to stabilize the markets, all at a time when working families across the country are relying on a strong economy to start 2019. The Trump shutdown is a self-inflicted wound that puts our economy and these families in jeopardy and that damage will only grow worse if the President drags this shutdown out to January 3rd and into the new Congress.”
He also feels that theshutdown will lead to thousands of Illinois workers being furloughed.
“Some 6,200 federal workers in Illinois are being furloughed or forced to work without pay over the Christmas holidays, and tours of the Lincoln Home in Springfield have stopped during the 200th birthday of the State of Illinois. The President needs to stop playing the role of the Grinch and start showing the American people he can fulfil his responsibilities as the Commander-in-Chief.”
WASHINGTON(TIP): Defense Secretary James Mattis will resign at the end of February, he informed President Trump in a letter Thursday, December20. The defense secretary said he is stepping down because of the differences in viewpoints with Mr. Trump.
News of Mattis’ impending departure comes the day after Mr. Trump’s sudden announcement about Syria, a decision he made without consulting security officials in his administration.
“Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position,” Mattis wrote.
Mr. Trump announced the news in a tweet and praised Mattis’ tenure as secretary.
“During Jim’s tenure, tremendous progress has been made, especially with respect to the purchase of new fighting equipment,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. “General Mattis was a great help to me in getting allies and other countries to pay their share of military obligations. A new Secretary of Defense will be named shortly. I greatly thank Jim for his service!”
A senior White House official said that Mattis came to the White House for a meeting, not previously scheduled, around 3:30 p.m. Thursday, and informed the president he would be leaving. The president hopes to announce a replacement by the end of the year.
Text of Defense Secretary’s resignation letter.
“Dear Mr. President:
I have been privileged to serve as our country’s 26th Secretary of Defense which has allowed me to serve alongside our men and women of the Department in defense of our citizens and our ideals.
I am proud of the progress that has been made over the past two years on some of the key goals articulated in our National Defense Strategy: putting the Department on a more sound budgetary footing, improving readiness and lethality in our forces, and reforming the Department’s business practices for greater performance. Our troops continue to provide the capabilities needed to prevail in conflict and sustain strong U.S. global influence.
One core belief I have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships. While the US remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies. Like you, I have said from the beginning that the armed forces of the United States should not be the policeman of the world. Instead, we must use all tools of American power to provide for the common defense, including providing effective leadership to our alliances. NATO’s 29 democracies demonstrated that strength in their commitment to fighting alongside us following the 9-11 attack on America. The Defeat-ISIS coalition of 74 nations is further proof.
Similarly, I believe we must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries whose strategic interests are increasingly in tension with ours. It is clear that China and Russia, for example, want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model – gaining veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic, and security decisions – to promote their own interests at the expense of their neighbors, America and our allies. That is why we must use all the tools of American power to provide for the common defense.
My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues. We must do everything possible to advance an international order that is most conducive to our security, prosperity and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances.
Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position. The end date for my tenure is February 28, 2019, a date that should allow sufficient time for a successor to be nominated and confirmed as well as to make sure the Department’s interests are properly articulated and protected at upcoming events to include Congressional posture hearings and the NATO Defense Ministerial meeting in February. Further, that a full transition to a new Secretary of Defense occurs well in advance of the transition of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in September in order to ensure stability Within the Department.
I pledge my full effort to a smooth transition that ensures the needs and interests of the 2.15 million Service Members and 732,079 DoD civilians receive undistracted attention of the Department at all times so that they can fulfill their critical, round-the-clock mission to protect the American people.
I very much appreciate this opportunity to serve the nation and our men and women in uniform.”
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers expressed regret that Mattis was leaving the administration. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said she was “shaken” by Mattis’ resignation and expressed admiration for the letter he wrote to the president. “I think that everybody in the country should read his letter of resignation,” she told reporters. “It’s a letter of great patriotism, respect for the President, but also a statement of his values.”
“Mr. Trump, wary of not disrupting his West Asia policy, may stay the course on Saudi Arabia for now. But the growing criticisms of the partnership on Capitol Hill can’t be ignored. The Senate has already voted with a huge majority to move forward legislation to end the U.S. involvement in the Yemen war.”
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has reportedly concluded that Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince, personally ordered the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. The murder of the Saudi dissident journalist at the Kingdom’s Istanbul consulate on October 2 has already triggered a global outrage against MBS, as the Crown Prince is known. But U.S. President Donald Trump seems unfazed by both the findings of his spy agency as well as the mounting global outcry. He called the CIA assessment “very premature”, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S.’s “historic commitment” to Saudi Arabia is “absolutely vital to America’s security” and its “interests in the Middle East”.
Thinking like realists
This is a popular argument in Washington. Realists would say the relationship with Saudi Arabia is so vital for American national interests that the U.S. should overlook certain aspects of Saudi behavior. The Trump administration repeats this argument to justify its lack of action against Riyadh in the wake of the murder of Khashoggi. But does Saudi Arabia actually have such leverage over America?
The Saudi-U.S. partnership can be dated back to the 1945 meeting between President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Saudi King Abdulaziz ibn Saud, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia and father of current monarch Salman bin Abdulaziz. In the meeting, held on board the USS Quincy in the Suez Canal, both leaders came to a two-way agreement: the U.S. would support and provide military training for Saudi Arabia, while the Kingdom would provide oil and political backing in return. This alliance made sense for both countries during the Cold War. The Saudis were anxious about communist expansion into the Arab/Muslim world. Half of Yemen fell into the hands of Marxists in 1967, and in 1978 communists took power in Afghanistan. And the U.S. wanted uninterrupted flow of oil for its own economic expansion and the post-war reconstruction of Europe. It also wanted a political ally in West Asia.
But the conditions that laid the foundation of this partnership have changed. The Soviet Union fell apart almost three decades ago. America’s dependency on Saudi Arabia for oil has also decreased over the years. True, Saudi Arabia remains a major supplier of oil to the U.S. But it doesn’t have the leverage over the American economy as it had in 1973 when Arab countries imposed an embargo on mostly Western nations in protest against their support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War with Egypt. The U.S. is now one of the top three crude producers, along with Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Other arguments in favor of stronger partnership cite the massive Saudi investments in the U.S., both treasury securities and private businesses. But Saudi Arabia acts in its interest, not with the goal of helping the U.S. economy. If it sells its U.S. assets, that would also hurt the Saudi economy badly. After all, from economic diversification at home to security guarantees, Saudi Arabia needs the U.S. more than the other way around, which offers Washington room for strategic man oeuvre.
While the strategic potential of the partnership has been shrinking, the U.S. has come under greater scrutiny, especially in the post-9/11 world, for its support for Saudi Arabia, the Wahhabi kingdom that stands opposed to everything the U.S. preaches on global stages — from democracy and respecting human rights to religious freedom and independent media. It was this broad context that allowed former U.S. President Barack Obama to take a different approach towards Saudi Arabia. He retained the fundamental elements of the partnership, including trade and economic ties, arms sales and security guarantees, while refusing to act in Syria on the Saudis’ behalf and moving further ahead to strike a nuclear deal with Iran. He even asked the Saudis and the Iranians to share West Asia and institute a “Cold Peace” in the region.
Back to square one
But President Trump has reversed this approach and rebuilt the administration’s West Asia policy, making Saudi Arabia its centerpiece. The twin objectives of the Trump policy are to ensure Israel’s security and roll back Iranian influence. It’s this tilt that is now stopping him from moving against the Saudis. The administration has already declared what its Iran policy is. It has already pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal. And the Americans need Saudi support in their effort to isolate and weaken Iran, something Israel too has been demanding for years. But this is not a larger national security argument, nor is it a realistic one. When the fundamentals of a partnership get weakened and the region undergoes major changes, how long can the U.S. allow its Iran obsession to dictate its policies towards West Asia?
From the realpolitik point, even if the U.S. wants to limit Iranian influence, Saudi Arabia under MBS is not helping the cause. It lost the Syria war. Its intervention in Yemen drove the Houthis further into Iran’s embrace. The Qatar blockade has divided the Arab world (Qatar has now quit OPEC as well). The detention of the Lebanese Prime Minister last year has played Lebanese politics into the hands of Hezbollah, the Iran ally.
Mr. Trump, wary of not disrupting his West Asia policy, may stay the course on Saudi Arabia for now. But the growing criticisms of the partnership on Capitol Hill can’t be ignored. The Senate has already voted with a huge majority to move forward legislation to end the U.S. involvement in the Yemen war. Republican Senator Bob Corker accused the White House of “moonlighting as a public relations firm for the Crown Prince”. Rand Paul, another Republican Senator, says it’s time for America to stand up and tell Saudi Arabia, “enough”. These are not isolated moral outbursts; they suggest changing undercurrents. There is a growing realization in Washington that the Saudi pillar of its West Asia policy is getting weak. Mr. Trump, driven by his own notional obsessions, might overlook it. But future American Presidents can’t. They may have to start from where Mr. Obama stopped.
(Source: The Hindu. The author is a columnist. He can be reached at stanly.johny@thehindu.co.in)
HOUSTON(TIP): Following his second funeral service on Thursday, December 6 morning, the former president was buried at the family gravesite beside his wife of 73 years, Barbara Bush, who died in April at the age of 92, and their daughter Robin, who died of leukemia in 1953 when she was only three.
After a state funeral on Wednesday in Washington that was attended by the country’s five living presidents and foreign dignitaries, Bush’s flag-draped coffin was flown to Houston.
Located on the campus of Texas A&M University, the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum houses Bush’s presidential archives and is also home to exhibitions dedicated to him and the former first lady.
Bush’s granddaughter Jenna Bush Hager takes comfort in the fact that the three of them have finally been reunited. “I had the opportunity to talk with my grandpa about the afterlife,” the Today show star, 37, captioned a touching tribute on Instagram. “This is what he said: He answered without any hesitation. ‘Yes, I think about it. I used to be afraid. I used to be afraid of dying. I used to worry about death. But now in some ways I look forward to it.’ And I started crying. I managed to choke out, ‘Well, why? What do you look forward to?’ “
In response, he said: “‘Well, when I die, I’m going to be reunited with these people that I’ve lost.’ And I asked who he hoped to see. He replied, ‘I hope I see Robin, and I hope I see my mom.’”
Her grandfather went on to share that he didn’t know whether his daughter would still look like “the 3-year-old that she was, this chubby, vivacious child,” when they saw each other again, or whether she would be all grown up.
George W. Bush expressed the same gratitude for their reunion during the emotional eulogy he delivered at his father’s state funeral on Wednesday. “Every day of his 73 years of marriage, dad taught us all what it means to be a great husband … He was dedicated to her totally,” the 43rd president reflected on his parents’ relationship.
Following the death of wife Barbara on April 17, Bush 41 remained devoted to his bride, sitting beside her casket for hours in his wheelchair as mourners paid their respects while she laid in repose one day before her invitation-only funeral.
But the weight of her passing clearly took a toll on Bush, who was hospitalized less than 24 hours after burying his wife after contracting an infection that spread to his blood. He later recovered and traveled to the family’s beloved summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, in mid-May, but a week later was readmitted to the hospital for low blood pressure and fatigue.
In the days since the former president’s death last Friday at the age of 94, Washington and the rest of the country have come together to mourn his loss.
His remains laid in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, followed by a state funeral at the Washington National Cathedral on Wednesday. President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, as well as all living former presidents and their spouses — Barack and Michelle Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter — attended to pay their respects in person.
Shortly after the service, George W. and wife Laura Bush as well as their extended family traveled back to Houston with Bush’s casket on Special Mission 41. Following the second funeral service, the casket was transported by train to Bush’s final resting place at College Station, where he rejoined his wife and daughter at last.
“We’re going to miss you,” George W. added during his eulogy. “So through our tears, let us know the blessings of knowing and loving you, a great and noble man … The best man a son or daughter could have … And in our grief, let us know that dad is hugging Robin and holding mom’s hand again.”
ISTANBUL(TIP): A Turkish newspaper reported on Thursday, November 22, that CIA director Gina Haspel signaled to Turkish officials last month that the agency had a recording of a call in which Saudi Arabia’s crown prince gave instructions to “silence” Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Asked about the report, a Turkish official said he had no information about such a recording. Saudi Arabia has said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had no prior knowledge of Khashoggi’s killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul six weeks ago.
“There is talk of another recording,” Hurriyet newspaper journalist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote in a column, saying the purported call took place between Prince Mohammed and his brother, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington. “It is being said that CIA chief Gina Haspel indicated this during her visit to Turkey,”” he wrote, adding that they had discussed Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom’s de facto ruler. “It is being said the crown prince gave orders to ‘silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible’,” in a call which was monitored by the US agency, he said.
Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 in an operation that Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan has said was ordered by the highest level of Saudi leadership.
After offering numerous contradictory explanations, Riyadh said last week Khashoggi had been killed and his body dismembered when negotiations to persuade him to return to Saudi Arabia failed.
(Source: Agencies)
CIA did not blame Saudi crown prince, says Trump
WASHINGTON(TIP): “They didn’t conclude,” Mr. Trump said on Thursday, November 22, when asked about the CIA’s evaluation by reporters at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, BBC reported.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that the CIA did not blame Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for ordering the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Khashoggi was murdered on October 2 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Officials told U.S. media such an operation would have needed the prince’s approval.
“They didn’t conclude,” Mr. Trump said on Thursday when asked about the CIA’s evaluation by reporters at Mar—a—Lago in Florida, BBC reported.
“They have feelings certain ways. I have the report, they have not concluded, I don’t know if anyone’s going to be able to conclude the crown prince did it,” he said.
The President has repeatedly stressed the importance of Saudi Arabia to the U.S. following the killing.
Earlier this week, Mr. Trump released a statement suggesting that the crown prince “could very well” have known about the incident.
His statement said: “[It] could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!”
On November 17, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that Mr. Trump had confidence in the CIA following conversations with Director Gina Haspel and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the Khashoggi murder.
Sources quoted in the U.S. media at the time stressed that there was no single piece of evidence linking the crown prince directly to the murder, but officials believed the killing would have required his endorsement.
Saudi Arabia called the claim false and insisted that the crown prince knew nothing about plans for the killing.
The Gulf kingdom’s public prosecutor says Khashoggi was killed as a result of a “rogue operation”.
However, the Hurriyet newspaper reported on Thursday that Ms. Haspel told Turkish officials last month the CIA had a recording in which the crown prince gave instructions to “silence” the Saudi writer as soon as possible.
When asked about the claims by reporters, Mr. Trump said: “I don’t want to talk about it. You’ll have to ask them.”
The Saudi crown prince left on a visit to “brotherly Arab states” on Thursday, Saudi state media reported, beginning a regional tour with the United Arab Emirates.
It will be his first official trip abroad since Khashoggi was killed.
The crown prince is also expected to participate in a G20 meeting of world leaders in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the end of the month that will be attended by leaders from the US, Turkey and a number of European countries.
Meanwhile, France has announced that it is imposing sanctions on 18 Saudi nationals —— the same individuals targeted with sanctions by the U.S., UK and Germany — allegedly linked to the Khashoggi murder.
Their list of individuals does not include the crown prince, a spokesperson for the French ministry of foreign affairs said.
(Source: IANS)
Signup to our Newsletter!
Don’t miss out on all the happenings around the world
