The Indian Panorama

Tag: American Politics

  • Perspective : SHAME, YET AGAIN, ON THE U.S. JUSTICE SYSTEM

    Perspective : SHAME, YET AGAIN, ON THE U.S. JUSTICE SYSTEM

    Guyanese American’s 30-year unlawful imprisonment a systemic evil

    By Albert Baldeo

    “An unjust law is no law at all…Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”- Martin Luther King Jr.

    The evil and injustice that plague our judicial system have been painfully confirmed-yet again. Mark Denny, a 47 year old Guyanese national who came to achieve the American dream, was dealt an excruciating blow by the perverse inequities inherent in the USA’s justice system. He was freed from a U.S. prison where he spent nearly 30 years for a crime he never committed, and now faces the legal challenge of fighting to remain in the United States where he has lived since the age of five.

    He spent the past three decades behind bars for a brutal rape and robbery he didn’t commit, yet he waxed magnanimously after his release, stating that he was “overwhelmed thinking of what I’ll do next to get my life back on track.”

    Denny continued that, he has “no ill feelings towards the victim. Going to prison was a traumatic experience mentally. There’s a lot of people in my position. I appreciate everyone for all they have done for me.”

    He is the 24th person to have his conviction vacated by the Conviction Review Unit of Brooklyn District Attorney, Eric Gonzalez, who said his review team examined evidence and interviewed witnesses as well as Denny’s co-defendants in the case, a legacy of his predecessor, the legendary Ken Thompson.

    “The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.”- John F. Kennedy

    As if that injustice was not enough, the Daily News reported that Denny has new legal hurdles. He came to the US as a child from Guyana as a lawful permanent resident, and was ordered to be deported due to his conviction. Indeed, the collateral consequences of a conviction are devastating, and perpetuate a vicious cycle.

    Trust me, I suffered American injustice first hand. Many legal experts are still at a loss to fathom how I could have logically obstructed a bogus federal crime, when my campaign contributions did not contravene the NY City Campaign Finance Act. Others reason that my attempts to buck the system and run for public office was the real crime, noting that more connected politicians have done worse than what was alleged against me, yet suffered no consequences-from Presidents to Governors to Mayors.

    Others condemn how our laws can be manipulated by vile prosecutors to convict a candidate for federal obstruction while merely trying to comply with a mandated Campaign Finance Board Audit-a civil, administrative matter. This abomination exemplifies how the government can indiscriminately expand legal boundaries, invent a federal crime, and then selectively charge you over thousands of candidates for “committing, conspiring and/or obstructing” it. The jury acquitted me of all predicate mail and wire fraud charges, yet were coerced to convict me for obstructing a non-existent crime by the use of an overreaching Allen charge, despite their deadlock! See, e.g., http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/errol-louis-nyc-campaign-finance-tangle-article-1.2403316.

    Inhumane and barbaric injustice is all too common in America. Indeed, you, a law-abiding citizen, could be made the next “criminal” of the USA. We are the prison capital of the world. Thousands of laws exist that most people are not aware of, and which penalize conduct that few would even imagine was criminal.  Daily, ordinary Americans are prosecuted and even jailed for routine activities that somehow contravene the multitude of statutes and regulations that can be used by governments to trap the unwary. Surveillance cameras, immigration raids, drug-sniffing dogs, SWAT team raids, roadside strip searches, blood draws at DUI checkpoints, mosquito drones, Tasers, privatized prisons, GPS tracking devices, zero tolerance policies, over criminalization, free speech zones—these are all symptomatic of our police state in America.

    “I was made, by the law, a criminal, not because of what I had done, but because of what I stood for, because of what I thought, because of my conscience.” (Statement during trial, 1962)- Nelson Mandela

    In their revealing book, One Nation Under Arrest: How Crazy Laws, Rogue Prosecutors, and Activist Judges Threaten Your Liberty, Paul Rosenzwieg and Brian W. Walsh highlight the over criminalization- the skyrocketing trend at both the state and federal levels of criminalizing conduct that could be regulated through civil law or administrative action, or should not even be regulated at all. Many other treatises expose our emerging, chilling, Orwellian police state. In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected and how prosecutors can overreach and pin dubious federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. Government employment in criminal justice has grown by 1 million employees since 1980, as noted by Michelle Alexander in The New Jim Crow.

    Our so called “Department of Justice” is accountable for the outrageous reality that the USA has the highest per capita incarceration in the world. Although we have only 5% of the world’s population, we top the world’s prison population with 25% of that total! Worse yet, the US incarcerates a disproportionate ratio of minorities-1 in every 15 African American men and 1 in every 36 Hispanic men are incarcerated in comparison to 1 in every 106 white men. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reveals that 1 in every 3 black men go to prison in their lifetime, making our justice system one big cesspool of brazen injustices, unashamed bullyism and transparent contradictions.

    In 2008, two judges, President Judge Mark Ciavarella and Senior Judge Michael Conahan, were convicted of accepting money from Robert Mericle, the builder of two private, for-profit youth centers for the detention of juveniles, in return for contracting with the facilities and imposing harsh adjudications on juveniles brought before their courts to increase the number of residents in the centers. Appropriately, it was dubbed the “kids for cash” scandal for the judicial kickbacks. Unfortunately, the Constitution has been sadly transformed to, “One Nation under Arrest, With Liberty and Justice for Some!”

    “Therefore, send not to know…For whom the bell tolls…It tolls for thee. -John Donne

    This catastrophic reality is further exacerbated by the fact that America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, has led the world in making incarceration a leading industry by itself. Our multimillion-dollar prison complex is one of the fastest-growing public private industries, with Wall Street investors, having its own trade exhibitions, conventions, websites, and mail-order and internet catalogs. 95% of people charged with crimes plead guilty in the US, an inexhaustible supply source, and a tragic reality of how justice is dispensed in America.

    Prosecutors and law enforcement budgets are rewarded for convictions, but they are never asked to account for their perverse contribution to the prison budget, increases in welfare and Medicaid dependence on the nation, and the destruction of innocent lives wantonly wrought with immunity and impunity, on their way to higher offices.

    Most Americans have suffered the brunt of injustice, discrimination and oppression at every level, from top to bottom. Immigration raids on homes and businesses, livelihoods disrupted, and families torn apart, the DACA rescission, undocumented children taken out of schools, state and federal agencies harassing residents, the attack on Obamacare and the FBI overreaching minor infractions to major crimes, have all put us under siege.

    America is losing its soul through over criminalization, making and enforcing far too many stereotypes and criminal laws that are making criminals out of those who are respectable, law-abiding citizens. The abuse of the criminal law and practice over the past few decades by the government have raised troubling questions about the fairness of our criminal justice system as it affects all of us. We must fight back and realize the dream of making democracy, equal justice and the rule of law a priority for all!

    Remember what Edward R. Murrow cautioned, “A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” Don’t be a sheep! Enough is enough!

    (The author is a civil rights activist and community advocate, and his political battles placed previously ignored minority communities like Richmond Hill and Ozone Park firmly on the political and economic map. As the President of the Baldeo Foundation and Queens Justice Center, he has continued to fight for equal rights, dignity and inclusion in the decision- making process. He can be contacted at the Baldeo Foundation: (718) 529-2300).

  • US votes Obama as ‘most admired’ man

    US votes Obama as ‘most admired’ man

    WASHINGTON (TIP): For the 10th year in a row, Americans have named former US president Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as the man and woman they admire most, according to a recent Gallup poll published on Thursday, December 28.

    Obama edged out President Donald Trump, 17 per cent to 14 per cent, while former secretary of state Clinton moved past Michelle Obama, 9 per cent to 7 per cent and First Lady Melania Trump scored one per cent, the poll said. Obama wins over Trump, who is suffering brutally low approval ratings as he is about to complete his first year in the White House, came in second place followed by Pope Francis.

    (Source: PTI)

  • Roy Moore Fails to Stop Doug Jones’ Certification as Alabama’s first Democratic Senator in 25 years

    Roy Moore Fails to Stop Doug Jones’ Certification as Alabama’s first Democratic Senator in 25 years

    WASHINGTON (TIP): An Alabama circuit judge on Thursday, December 28, rejected Republican Roy Moore’s request to halt the certification, arguing the court did not have jurisdiction. Meanwhile, officials from the secretary of state’s office dismissed accounts of voter fraud provided by Moore’s attorneys.

    “There have not been any issues at this time that have been reported and determined to be verified as fraud,” said John Bennett, Merrill’s deputy chief of staff.

    Still, Moore, 70, the defiant former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, refused to concede.

    The three Republicans who make up Alabama’s canvassing board — Gov. Kay Ivey, Atty. Gen. Steve Marshall and Secretary of State John Merrill — certified Jones as the victor of the closely watched Dec. 12 special election.

    “I’ve had to fight not only the Democrats but also the Republican Senate Leadership Fund and over $50 million in opposition spending from the Washington establishment,” he said in a statement after Republican state leaders certified Jones’ win. “I have stood for the truth about God and the Constitution for the people of Alabama”

    “I have no regrets,” he added. “To God be the glory.”

    In the 80-page complaint filed in state court, Moore’s attorneys asked that state officials be ordered to preserve election-related documents and data, block the certification, and direct state officials to set a new special election.

    On Thursday, an attorney for Jones filed a motion to dismiss Moore’s complaint on the grounds that “there is a lack of subject matter jurisdiction; [the complaint] fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted; and/or [it] has no basis in the law.”

    In a statement, a spokesman for the Jones transition team urged Moore to bow out of the race.

    “This desperate attempt by Roy Moore to subvert the will of the people will not succeed,” Sam Coleman said. “The election is over, it’s time to move on.”

    In the complaint, Moore’s attorneys maintain that he will “suffer irreparable harm” if the election results are certified “without preserving and investigating all the evidence of potential fraud.” He would be denied “his full right as a candidate to a fair election,” they argue.

    Merrill, a Republican, maintains his office has found no evidence of voter fraud. Last week, he issued a statement noting that his office had discounted one widely publicized report of potential voter fraud — a viral video in which a male voter claimed in a local news broadcast that he and others had come “all the way from different parts of the country” to vote and canvass for Jones.

    “The Alabama Secretary of State’s Office was able to identify the young man who was anonymously featured on the news broadcast,” Merrill said in a statement. “After additional research was conducted, it was determined that this young man has lived and worked in Alabama for more than one year and is currently a registered voter in this state.”

    Yet Moore’s campaign states in the complaint that Merrill never conducted a “meaningful, in-depth investigation of voter fraud.”

    They also list a series of election “anomalies,” claiming there were an unusual number of out-of-state drivers’ licenses and suggesting that Democrats attempted to intimidate voters, with a Democratic super PAC running “fraudulent, false and misleading advertisements” against Moore.

    “I am looking forward to going to work for the people of Alabama in the new year,” Jones said in a statement. “As I said on election night, our victory marks a new chapter for our state and the nation. I will be an independent voice and work to find common ground with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get Washington back on track and fight to make our country a better place for all.”

    Official totals indicated Jones won by 21,924 votes, his margin of victory up to 1.6 percentage points from the previous unofficial total of 1.5 points.

     

  • Indian-American Ajit Pai at center of US move to repeal net neutrality rules

    Indian-American Ajit Pai at center of US move to repeal net neutrality rules

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Ajit Pai, a son of immigrant Indians, also the one who heads the US FCC is at the center of the debate ever since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the telecom regulator of the United States of America, has repealed a landmark law the country passed in 2015 to ensure net neutrality in the US. Net neutrality, they say, ensures that no service provider will speed up or throttle a particular service because of its business interests.

    Pai is a Republican and was made the FCC chief in January 2017, the same month the Trump administration took over the White House. Ajit Pai was appointed a commissioner in the FCC in 2012 by then president Barack ObamaThe move by Pai, whose FCC bio states that “consumers benefit most from competition, not pre-emptive regulation and regulators should be skeptical (sic) of pleas to regulate rivals”, has sharply divided America with critics saying repealing the net neutrality law will kill the spirit of free internet.

    Critics argue that the repeal plan will benefit only few big telecom players who wield immense power over the flow of internet and telecommunication channels. Opponents of the repeal bill, named Restoring Internet Freedom Order, say it will effectively shut down or marginalize small players and will start a rush of predatory discriminating practices where one telecom company will try all to disadvantage a rival company’s data flowing through its cables.

    And above all, internet users will be the ultimate losers with their freedom to get unrestrained access to all content and data gone, the critics add.

     

  • Indian American lawmakers against Trump administration’s tax bill

    Indian American lawmakers against Trump administration’s tax bill

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Indian American congressmen came down heavily on the tax reforms of the Trump administration calling the tax bill passed by the US Congress as “tax scam.”

    Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said that the tax bill would add nearly $1.5 trillion to the national debt while destabilizing the healthcare system of the nation.

    “House Republican egos just wrote a check the middle class shouldn’t have to cash. The tax bill Republicans just jammed through would add nearly $1.5 trillion to the national debt while raising taxes on working families, and destabilizing our health care system by leaving 13 million more Americans without insurance – including 2 million who currently have employer-provided coverage,” Krishnamoorthi said in a statement.

    “This legislation is a ticking tax bomb: millions of middle-class families could see their taxes increase over the next decade as state and local tax deductions and other middle-class provisions get dramatically scaled back.  Health insurance premiums will jump by 10 percent per year, and massive additional debt will be piled on the backs of our children and future generations,” he added.

    The tax bill that is considered to be the biggest reform of the US tax code in 30 years was approved by the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

    Though the Democratic party unanimously voted against the act, the $1.5 trillion tax bill was passed by the Senate and House of Representatives which is considered as President Donald Trump’s first major legislative victory.

    “The Republicans can’t fool the American people with their trickle-down scam. 76 percent believe that the tax bill will help large corporations while only 28 percent believe that the tax cuts will be used to create jobs. This unpopular #GOPTaxScam must be rejected,” tweeted Rep. Ro Khanna.

    “It’s hard to believe, but Republicans have made the final version of their tax bill even more generous for the wealthiest Americans by lowering the highest individual rate to 37 percent. How is this supposed to grow the economy? The #GOPTaxScam is a bad deal for the middle class,” he wrote in another tweet.

    Lowering the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent is one of the major reforms brought by the Republicans. Along with this, the bill allows tax cuts for businesses, lower rates for many individuals and a narrower estate tax.

    “The GOP tax scam bill is an all-out war on any idea of opportunity in this country. It’s a massive tax break for the ultra-wealthy on the backs of middle-class families. It’s outrageous that Republicans in the House voted to pass this love letter to their largest donors and corporations,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal.

    “This tax “plan” is little more than a gift to corporations and the top one percent and an attack on our values,” alleged Senator Kamala Harris.

    “Instead of a real middle-class tax cut, the overwhelming majority of the benefits of this bill — an astounding 83 percent — go to the top one percent over the next decade,” she said.

     

     

  • Lawmakers Ask Ethics Agency to Look into Sexual Misconduct Allegations against Trump

    Lawmakers Ask Ethics Agency to Look into Sexual Misconduct Allegations against Trump

    Their letter comes after Republican congressional leaders pushed back on conducting an investigation.

    WASHINGTON (TIP): In the wake of congressional leaders dodging calls for a probe into accusations against President Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, two lawmakers are calling on an independent federal agency to investigate the claims instead.

    In a letter issued Wednesday, December 13, Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) asked the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to investigate the 19 allegations of sexual misconduct lodged against Trump, who has firmly denied all accusations.

    “Credible claims of inappropriate conduct against the holder of the highest office in the nation have gone uninvestigated,” the two representatives wrote. “Following the release of a video tape in October 2016 in which then-candidate Donald Trump admits ― and brags about ― making unwanted and inappropriate sexual advances toward women, numerous individuals came forward to share their own personal stories of their encounters.”

    The tape they reference is the infamous audio recording in which Trump brags about kissing women without their consent and says he can just “grab ’em by the pussy.” The audio, a 2005 conversation with then-“Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush, was released by The Washington Post shortly before Trump won the election.

    Trump now denies the audio is authentic.

     Crowley and Speier’s letter comes a day after 59 Democratic congresswomen signed a letter urging the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to investigate the allegations. However, both House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) haven’t been receptive to requests for an investigation.

    Crowley and Speier’s suggestion to go through the U.S. Office of Government Ethics would bypass their objections.

    Several of Trump’s accusers have also banded together to ask for an investigation.

    “We believe public officials must set the gold standard for professional behavior, particularly those who hold the high offices of representative, senator, and ― especially ― president of the United States,” Crowley and Speier wrote.

  • Trump’s Jerusalem decision evokes mixed reaction

    Trump’s Jerusalem decision evokes mixed reaction

    Hailey calls it courageous and historic:  The world views it differently

    Hamas calls for Palestinian uprising in reply to Trump’s Jerusalem plan

    NEW YORK (TIP): While US envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley has hailed President Trump’s decision on Jerusalem as a “courageous” and “historic” step by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Hamas has urged Palestinians to abandon peace efforts and launch a new uprising against Israel in response to US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as its capital.

    Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital December 6, reversing decades of US and international policy on the holy city, in a major announcement which many Arab leaders warned could trigger an upheaval in the already volatile Middle East.

    Indian-American Haley said that for 22 years, there had been an overwhelming bipartisan consensus in favor of moving the US embassy in Israel to its rightful place in the Israeli capital city of Jerusalem.

    “On Thursday, the President took a courageous and historic step that was long overdue. Across the globe, America has its embassy in the capital city of the host country. Israel will now be no different. It is the just and right thing to do,” she said, December 6.

    “This is following members of Congress. This is doing what the American people said. But we are also taking Jerusalem out of the discussion because the two sides have to come together on how they’re going to see Jerusalem, what they’re going to see as their capital,” she said.

    Haley said several top American lawmakers have described Trump’s decision as “provocative” and “counterproductive”.

    In a joint statement Congressmen David Price, Peter Welch, John Yarmuth, Barbara Lee and Earl Blumenauer said Trump’s announcement demonstrates “his complete disregard” for long-standing American and international diplomatic practice.

    “It unilaterally undermines prospects for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and recklessly endangers US, Israeli, and regional security. For more than 50 years, Republican and Democratic Administrations have recognized that the US should stand as a good faith arbiter for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” they said.

    The lawmakers said that recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel outside the framework of a final status agreement between the parties does more to sabotage than to advance peace.

    Congressman Alcee Hastings warned that the ramifications of the decision could be profound.

    “I fear that the President made his decision based on political expediency rather than sound foreign policy,” he said.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who hailed Trump’s announcement as a “historic landmark”, said on December 6, many countries would follow the US move and contacts were underway. He did not name the countries he was referring to. “President Trump has immortalized himself in the chronicles of our capital. His name will now be held aloft, alongside other names connected to the glorious history of Jerusalem and of our people,” he said in a speech at Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

    “We should call for and we should work on launching an intifada (Palestinian uprising) in the face of the Zionist enemy,” Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a speech in Gaza. Haniyeh, elected the group’s overall leader in May, urged Palestinians, Muslims and Arabs to hold rallies against the US decision on Friday, calling it a “day of rage”.

    Naser Al-Qidwa, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and senior official in his Fatah party, urged Palestinians to stage protests but said they should be peaceful.

    India has not made any comment so far.

     

  • House Passes Tax Bill in Major Step Toward Reform

    House Passes Tax Bill in Major Step Toward Reform

    Bill Signals G.O.P. Prioritizes Corporate Tax Cuts

    WASHINGTON (TIP): In what appears to be the first major step in the direction of implementation of Trump’s agenda, the House passed a sweeping rewrite of the tax code on Thursday, November 16, by 227-205. The Bill seeks to enact $1.5 trillion in tax cuts for businesses and individuals and deliver the first major legislative achievement of President Trump’s tenure.

    The House tax bill, which passed in the Ways and Means Committee last week, would cut taxes more than $1.4 trillion over 10 years. It cuts the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent, collapses the number of tax brackets to four from seven, switches the United States to an international tax system that is more in line with the rest of the world, and eliminates or scales back many popular deductions, including one for state and local taxes paid.

    The House easily passed its tax bill, with lawmakers voting shortly after Mr. Trump came to Capitol Hill to address House Republicans. Representatives voted along party lines, except for 13 Republicans, many of whom fought to keep the deduction for state and local taxes. The Republicans who voted no were from New York, New Jersey, California and North Carolina. Zero Democrats voted for it.

    Attention now turns to the Senate, which was grappling on Thursday with another setback after a congressional analysis found that their revised tax bill would actually raise taxes on lower-income Americans within a few years.

    The Joint Committee on Taxation projected that Americans earning $30,000 or less would see their taxes increase beginning in 2021, if the Senate bill becomes law. The committee also projected that Americans earning $75,000 or less would face large tax increases in 2027, after the individual tax cuts expire. The updated analysis stems from the Senate’s last-minute inclusion of a provision that would repeal the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that most people buy health insurance. The repeal would lead many lower-income Americans to choose not to buy insurance, and thus not claim tax subsidies that currently help them defray the costs of health coverage.

    The tax overhaul still faces significant obstacles, as Republicans must align the House legislation with the bill that is working its way through the Senate Finance Committee this week and contains big differences that will have to be bridged.

    Republicans are under pressure to get legislation to Mr. Trump’s desk by Christmas, especially after failing in their attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act this year, even though their party has full control of government. Lawmakers also want to push the legislation through quickly to avoid giving lobbyists and Democrats time to mobilize.

    Republicans do not wish to witness a replay of their health care catastrophe, during which the House managed to pass a repeal bill in May, but the narrowly divided Senate could never do so.

    “For the first time in 31 years we are wiping the tax code clean and replacing it with one that is fairer and simpler for everyone,” said Representative Devin Nunes, Republican of California and a member of the Ways and Means Committee.

    House Republican leaders were unable to win over a number of Republicans from high-tax states like New York and New Jersey, who have fought to preserve the deduction for state and local taxes. The House bill allows the deduction of up to $10,000 in property taxes, but that provision was not enough of a concession for them.

    At least five Republicans from New York and three from New Jersey had come out against the bill before Thursday’s vote.

    “I just have too many constituents who are going to see their taxes go up,” said Representative Lee Zeldin, who represents a district on Long Island and was one of several New York Republicans who spoke out against the tax bill on Thursday morning. “You’re taking more money from a place like New York in order to pay for deeper tax cuts elsewhere,” Mr. Zeldin said.

    Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40) said: “The fact is, this bill is so skewed to benefit the wealthiest 1% in America that it could more accurately be named ‘H.R. 1%.”

    Congressman’s statement further said, “On behalf of America’s future generations who will be saddled with an unsurmountable debt created by H.R. 1, the Republican tax plan, I strongly opposed this bill.  This rushed piece of legislation will not only add more than $1.7 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years, but it will also shift the burden of paying for that debt to our hardworking families.

    “Despite our Republican colleagues’ assertions that this tax plan will benefit the majority of Americans, numerous economists disagree.  They note that nearly 45% of all households with children will see a tax increase, while 80% of our wealthiest citizens will receive a tax cut by 2027.

    “Even more egregious, this tax bill seeks to eliminate the long-standing state and local tax deduction, subjecting every wage earner’s income to double taxation.  This defeats the original framers’ intent to avoid a system of double taxation.  The original tax code, drafted in 1913, consisted of three pages in its entirety and included the state and local tax deduction at the core of its responsible tax policy to ensure state and local governments could raise revenues for public schools, police, fire, and emergency services.

    “Plain and simple, this tax plan is a tremendous windfall for our wealthiest 1% and large corporations.  It favors large businesses over small businesses, it favors sending jobs overseas rather than creating jobs at home, it favors the wealthy over hourly wage earners, and it pays for these tax cuts for the wealthy by raising taxes on our middle class families to the detriment of Medicare, Medicaid, education, and other vital public services.

    “The fact is, this bill is so skewed to benefit the wealthiest 1% in America that it could more accurately be named ‘H.R. 1%.’  In the name of the other 99% of Americans, I voted against H.R. 1.”

     

     

     

     

  • An Open Letter to President Trump – STOP USING AMERICA’S CHILDREN AS PAWNS: EXTEND DACA

    An Open Letter to President Trump – STOP USING AMERICA’S CHILDREN AS PAWNS: EXTEND DACA

    “I received a letter just before I left office from a man. I don’t know why he chose to write it, but I’m glad he did. He wrote that you can go to live in France, but you can’t become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Italy, but you can’t become a German, an Italian. He went through Turkey, Greece, Japan and other countries. But he said anyone, from any corner of the world, can come to live in the United States and become an American.”

                                                                                    -President Ronald Reagan

    The Trump administration is again using America’s children as pawns, unfairly pushing harsh policies to push his own agenda. Proposals last Sunday threaten to derail efforts to protect the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applicants from deportation.  800,000 of young immigrants, many of whom were brought into the U.S. illegally as children, are being exploited in a deadly game of cat and mouse.

    It is un-American to link the fate of Dreamers to an unreasonable anti-immigrant wish list. Congress must immediately pass the bipartisan Dream Act independently, and on its own merits.  With Democrats threatening gridlock in Congress, it is the American people who suffer most when this impasse happens. Playing the Trump card has taken on a mean-spirited meaning.

    The President’s unreasonable demands include overhauling the country’s green-card system, hiring 10,000 more immigration officers and building the quixotic wall along the southern border. Trump administration officials said the president will insist on their passage in exchange for supporting legislation that would extend the DACA program.

    The specific list includes limiting family-based green cards to spouses and the minor children of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents and creating a point-based system, boosting fees at border crossings, make it easier to deport gang members and unaccompanied children, and overhaul the asylum system.

    It also includes new measures to crack down on “sanctuary cities,” which don’t share information with federal immigration authorities, among other proposals-like New York City. The ability of federal, state and local authorities to detain illegal immigrants would be fully enshrined in law. Visitors who come legally but overstay their visas, would now face a misdemeanor penalty.

    “These priorities are essential to mitigate the legal and economic consequences of any grants or status to DACA recipients,” White House legislative affairs director Marc Short, unashamedly and inhumanely, told reporters. “We’re asking that these reforms be included in any legislation concerning the status of DACA recipients.”

    Initiated under President Barack Obama, DACA protected and helped 800,000 young Americans, helped them to emerge from the shadows, and shielded them from deportation. It allowed them to continue working legally in the U.S. Trump announced a phase-out of the program last month, but he has given Congress six months to come up with a legislative fix, but it is an inhumane proposal that makes these innocent lives unwilling pawns in the vicious game of politics.

    In a joint statement, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the list “goes so far beyond what is reasonable” and “fails to represent any attempt at compromise. The Administration can’t be serious about compromise or helping the Dreamers if they begin with a list that is anathema to the Dreamers, to the immigrant community and to the vast majority of Americans. If the President was serious about protecting the Dreamers, his staff has not made a good faith effort to do so,” they said.

    Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, is justified in accusing the administration of trying to “use Dreamers as bargaining chips to achieve the administration’s deportation and detention goals. Congress should reject this warped, anti-immigrant policy wish list. Immigrants are humans; we should craft policies that treat them as such.”

    Mr. President, you can, and must do, better!

    Albert Baldeo

    New York

    (Albert Baldeo is a civil rights activist and community advocate. As President of the Baldeo Foundation and Queens Justice Center, he has continued to fight for equal rights, dignity and inclusion in the decision making process. He can be contacted at the Baldeo Foundation: (718) 529-2300.)

  • Trump Signs Executive Order to Weaken Obamacare; Says the order is “only the beginning”

    Trump Signs Executive Order to Weaken Obamacare; Says the order is “only the beginning”

    WASHINGTON (TIP): President Donald Trump on Thursday, October 12, used his presidential powers to weaken Obamacare after fellow Republicans in Congress had failed to repeal the 2010 law which he loathed no end and have been itching to do away with.

    Trump signed an executive order aimed at letting small businesses band together across state lines to buy cheaper, less regulated health plans for their employees with fewer benefits.

    It is Trump’s first definitive step to dismantle Obamacare since taking office in January. He had promised during his election campaign that one of his top priorities will be to dismantle former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement.

    Trump has come under severe criticism at the hands of Femocratic leaders for having taken to signing an executive order on the issue where Republicans had earlier failed in their repeated attempts to bring down Obamacare.

    Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer accused Trump of “using a wrecking ball to single-handedly rip apart our healthcare system.”

    “Having failed to repeal the law in Congress, the president is sabotaging the system”, Schumer said.

    The House of Representatives in May passed Republican legislation to gut Obamacare. But attempts by Senate Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare failed in July and September, in part because the proposed legislation would have caused millions of Americans to lose healthcare coverage.

    Republicans call Obamacare, which extended health insurance to 20 million people, a government intrusion into Americans’ healthcare, and have been promising for seven years to scrap it.

    Trump’s order weakens Obamacare in part by giving people more access to plans that do not cover essential health benefits such as maternity and newborn care, prescription drugs, and mental health and addiction treatment.

    Obamacare, known formally as the Affordable Care Act, requires most small business and individual health plans to cover those benefits.

    The order also sought to change an Obama-era limit on the time span people can use short-term health insurance plans, which are cheaper but cover few medical benefits. Those plans are currently limited to three months.

    Trump said the order was “only the beginning” and that his administration would take additional actions. He said he would “pressure Congress very strongly to finish the repeal and the replace of Obamacare once and for all.”

    The action could open Mr. Trump to legal challenges from Democratic state attorneys general, who have said they will sue Mr. Trump if he tries to destroy Obamacare.

    California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, said Trump’s executive order is just another step toward imploding the Affordable Care Act. “It should come as no surprise that California is prepared to fight in court to protect affordable healthcare for its people,” Becerra said. “We’re heading in a different direction.”

    Trump has taken a number of other steps since January to weaken or undermine Obamacare. He has not committed to making billions of dollars of payments to insurers guaranteed under Obamacare, prompting many to exit the individual market or hike premiums for 2018.

    The administration also halved the open enrolment period, which begins Nov. 1, and slashed the Obamacare advertising and outreach budget.