by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : US President Donald Trump has said that there will be no deal to protect hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants from deportation without funding to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, the media reported.
“The Democrats have been told, and fully understand, that there can be no DACA without the desperately needed wall at the Southern Border and an end to the horrible Chain Migration and ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration etc,” Trump tweeted on Friday.
“We must protect our Country at all cost!”
Trump’s declaration casts doubt over how Democrats and Republicans will come together to protect the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) participants, of which there are nearly 800,000 who were brought to the United States illegal as children, from deportation because it is unlikely that Democrats will agree to substantial funding for Trump’s border wall in exchange for DACA protections, CNN reported.
Drew Hammill, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman, responded to Trump’s tweet late Friday by stating that Democrats were “not going to negotiate through the press and look forward to a serious negotiation at Wednesday’s (January 3) meeting when we come back”.
Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly will meet on January 3.
The top discussion topic will be renewed government spending talks.
Trump’s tweet is his clearest statement to date on his negotiating position with Democrats to achieve a deal on DACA, programmme launched by former President Barack Obama that Trump ended in September.
Trump has demanded that funding for the border wall would need to be part of any deal, but it remains unclear how far he would be willing to go to protect DACA recipients.
Earlier this year, the President had said that his administration was not looking at “citizenship” or “amnesty” but that they are “looking at allowing people to stay here”.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Announcement comes shortly after UN members voted overwhelmingly to oppose Trump’s Jerusalem decision
By Safvan Allahverdi,
Washington : The U.S. will reduce its funding of the UN by $285 million for the coming fiscal year, its envoy to the UN announced late Sunday.
“The inefficiency and overspending of the United Nations are well known. We will no longer let the generosity of the American people be taken advantage of or remain unchecked,” Nikki Haley said in a statement.
“This historic reduction in spending – in addition to many other moves toward a more efficient and accountable UN – is a big step in the right direction,” she added.
The announcement came shortly after UN member nations voted overwhelmingly to oppose a decision by President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel – a move that drew condemnation and protests from across the Arab and Muslim world.
The full 193-member UN General Assembly met last week for a rare emergency special session regarding Trump’s decision. Unlike at the Security Council, the U.S. has no veto power in the assembly.
A total of 128 members voted in favor of the resolution while nine countries voted against it and 35 others abstained. Twenty-one countries did not cast a vote.
In response, Trump threatened UN members that he would withhold billions of dollars in aid to countries that voted in support of the resolution denouncing the U.S. move.
“They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars, and then they vote against us. Well, we’re watching those votes. Let them vote against us. We’ll save a lot. We don’t care,” he said.
Haley also threatened UN members over the vote, saying there would be consequences and she would be “taking names” of countries who voted in favor of the resolution.
Jerusalem’s status has long been considered a final status issue to be determined by Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, and Trump’s decision is widely seen as undercutting that longstanding understanding. East Jerusalem, which Palestinians are seeking to make the capital of their state, has been under Israeli occupation since 1967.
The U.S. currently provides about 22 percent of the UN budget or approximately $3.3 billion per year.
—AA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Frank Islam,
It now appears that the Republicans will get a tax bill to President Trump to sign before the holidays.
The bill will be a gift for a few. But, because of its serious inequalities, for most Americans it will be a lump of coal in their stockings.
The tax plan was purportedly going to cut taxes for the many. The hard truth is this is not the case. The plan is just an extension of the Trump approach to governing in his first year – which is doing so in a manner which taxes us.
The Trump style and administration has taxed our patience, credulity, and sense of fairness and decency. The forms of taxation have been almost countless and endless. Here are a few of the lowlights.
Trump’s taxation without representation began in his inaugural address in which he promised to end “this American carnage” while providing us with a dark, gloomy and troublesome speech which was a form of carnage in its own right.
During the primary campaign and the general election contest, Donald Trump engaged in a virtually endless stream of pugnacious and petulant tweets. There was a faint hope that, after he was elected President, Trump would become more presidential, tweet less and think more.
That hope began to fade away in the interim before Trump took the oath of office on January 20, 2017. It was permanently quashed in the following months of 2017 as the Donald’s trumper-tantrums increased.
His missives sent nearly daily were full of sound and fury signifying something. That something is that Donald Trump is immature, obsessed with himself, and incapable of maintaining any sense of dignity or decorum.
Trump’s tweets are stealing the American soul and spirit. But his executive orders and the actions of his federal government departments and agencies are even more deadly. They are sticking a stake in the heart of America and Americans.
Since he has been elected President, Trump has issued numerous executive orders. Many of them have been mundane and inconsequential. Others, however, such as his executive orders which suspended immigration from predominantly Muslim countries tear at the fabric of this nation of immigrants.
While the President’s actions tend to be highly visible and voluble, the work of those in charge of the federal bureaucracy tend to be less visible but very damaging to the interests and concerns of millions of Americans.
Consider the following decisions made in December by the Federal Communications Commission and the National Labor Relations Board.
The Federal Communications Commission by a 3-2 vote decided to repeal the “net neutrality” rules for the Internet. This gives license to the giant internet service providers such as Verizon and Comcast to slow or block websites and apps and to charge more for faster speeds.
The National Labor Relations Board by a 3-2 vote reversed an earlier Obama-era ruling which had given unions and workers some leverage in negotiating with businesses such as hotel chains and fast food franchises as joint employers. The NLRB restored the previous standard saying that a corporate entity was an employer only if it exercised direct, immediate and unlimited control over workers at a franchisee.
These decisions are just the most recent examples of actions that favor the big guys and gals while taxing the little guys and gals. Similar moves within the domestic agencies such as the Department of Education, and the EPA during this first year of the Trump administration grind away at the interests of the “little people” as well.
Under Betsy DeVos’ leadership, the Department of Education has eliminated 72 policies affecting services to disabled students; withdrew the Obama administration guidance on sexual assault on college campuses; and, considered a number of measures that would have a negative effect on loans and loan servicing for millions of students.
Under Scott Pruit’s leadership, the Environmental Protection Agency has eliminatedreferences to climate change from its website; changed its position on a number of legacy toxic chemicals that were seen as problematic; and, repealed the Obama administration’s regulation on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
The list of things that are literally and figuratively taking our breath away could go on, and on. But, Donald Trump stands head and shoulders at the very top of that list.
And, at the top of his breath-taking away feats, is his inexplicable position regarding Russia. Or, perhaps his position is not inexplicable at all but merely the actions of an individual putting one’s self-interest above that of the nation’s interest.
Time will tell on that matter. Till then, we the citizens suffer. We continue to be taxed.
The famous bronze plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty reads,
“Give me your tired, your poor
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
In 2017,
We are tired
More than tired, we are exhausted.
We are poor
Poor in the sense of longing for leadership
We are the huddled masses
Huddled together to protect our democracy
We are yearning to breathe free
Free of who and that which taxes us.
In 2018,
We do not want our breath taken away.
We want to be inspired
To think great thoughts
To do great things
To be proud Americans again.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Paul Ryan
Washington : The House of Representatives will re-vote on Wednesday on the Republicans’ tax bill, though the legislation is still expected to pass both chambers in Congress and be on President Donald Trump’s desk in the next 24 hours, the media reported.
A version of the bill passed along sharp partisan lines, 227-203, with 12 House Republican members opposing the legislation, and no Democrats voting for it, earlier on Tuesday, reports CNN.
But shortly after debate started in the Senate, the House Majority Leader’s office advised its conference to be prepared to vote on Wednesday citing Senate rules that would likely strip out certain parts of the final bill in order to pass with a simple majority.
The Senate is expected to clear the bill later by early Wednesday morning, with Vice President Mike Pence presiding over the vote.
After the bill clears the House, the measure will then head to the President’s desk for his signature before the Christmas holiday.
As House Republicans prepared to vote on the tax bill the first time, Speaker Paul Ryan was seated next to the conservative House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican.
The two men went head to head at certain points on health care and spending bills, but on tax reform, the House Freedom Caucus has worked hand in glove with leadership.
Ryan spoke from the floor and said that this vote on the tax bill is a “generational defining moment”.
“This is without question the single most important thing we can do to once again make America the best place to do business,” Ryan said.
Meanwhile, protesters were repeatedly removed from the chamber for shouting “kill the bill, don’t kill us”, in the minute before the House vote.
The plan, which critics say is heavily weighted to ease the tax burden of businesses rather than the middle class, drops the corporate tax rate down from 35 to 21 per cent, repeals the corporate alternative minimum tax, nearly doubles the standard deduction for individuals and restructures the way pass-through businesses are taxed, reports CNN.
The bill keeps seven personal income tax brackets, and lowers that tax rates for most brackets, including dropping the top rate to 37 from 39.6 per cent.
It would also reduce tax breaks important to states and cities with higher taxes by placing a $10,000 cap on the deduction for state and local and taxes.
The bill would also repeal ObamaCare’s individual mandate and open up a section of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
US Vice President Mike Pence
Washington : US Vice President Mike Pence, who was scheduled to travel to Egypt and Israel on Tuesday, has postponed his trip until next month to ensure the Senate passage of the much-awaited Republican tax bill, the media reported.
“The largest tax cut in American history is a landmark accomplishment for President Trump and a relief to millions of hardworking Americans,” Pence press secretary Alyssa Farah said in a statement on Monday.
“The vice president is committed to seeing the tax cut through to the finish line.”
Pence is now expected to leave for Egypt, Israel and potentially additional countries in the region the week of January 14, senior White House officials said, though the revised trip is still being planned, reports CNN.
A White House official said that while the tax vote is still in “very good shape”, Pence — who can serve as a tiebreaking vote in the Senate — does not want to take any chances, especially in light of Senator John McCain’s expected absence due to health issues.
The trip was also slated to take place as Palestinians continue to protest President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, though the White House officials insisted the unrest and security concerns were not a reason for the postponement.
Meanwhile Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas cancelled his scheduled meeting with Pence in the wake of the Jerusalem announcement, as did the top Muslim and Coptic Christian leaders in Egypt.
A senior White House official declined to say whether Pence would seek to put his meeting back on with Abbas, who has said the US should no longer be involved in the peace process, in light of the postponement.
—IANS
