Saturday, November 12, 2016

It is always an uphill battle for the City of Flint, Michigan.

This is from "The Guardian."

The Flint River Water Project is ongoing.

12 November 2016
By Ray Felton

Residents of Flint, Michigan (click here) who are facing the risk of lead contamination in their water are entitled to water bottle delivery to their home, a federal judge ruled this week:

David Lawson, a US district judge, said in a preliminary injunction that officials must deliver each week four cases of bottled water per resident to Flint households that do not have properly installed taps.

"The interim relief is intended to provide a rough substitute that municipal water systems must furnish: delivery of safe drinking water to the point of use," Lawson wrote in the 37 page order. "The court is convinced that this service can be achieved by means of the current water main and service line infrastructure, augmented by effective water filters that are installed and maintained properly."...

The judges order primarily focuses on the delivery of potable water at the point of use. If the point of use even with the filters does not deliver safe drinking water than the solution is otherwise.

The order while helpful does raise the question about replacing the pipes as a necessary function to having safe drinking water at the point of use.

The water in Flint, Michigan will have to be monitored and sampled. Residents need to accompany those tests with a record of filters and replacements. A town registry can be ordered by the mayor and council and it can become a legal record to present to the courts as pipe replacement goes forward.

I worry about the hate far more than any other promise by Trump.

Legislative measures to undo DACA have been tried in the Congress since President Obama wrote the executive order. The reason they did not fail is because the US Senate Democrats demanded a 60 count vote. I would expect the same with the Senate having 51 seats this session which is down from 52.

It is always a question as to whether the US Senate will continue the filibuster. Last session it was changed to pass nominations with a simple majority. I would imagine that will stand for this session of Congress for obvious reasons, namely Supreme Court nominees.

But, will the US Senate completely eliminate the filibuster? I think there is a chance.

Outside any legislation from the US Congress, a lot of Mr. Trump's promises will be through executive order. My concern is the violence that will break out following his signing of such orders.

The idea Mr. Trump's executive orders will be any more potent than existing law is questionable. ICE already has a law called the 287(g) Program.

...The 287(g) program, (click here) one of ICE’s top partnership initiatives, allows a state and local law enforcement entity to enter into a partnership with ICE, under a joint Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).  The state or local entity receives delegated authority for immigration enforcement within their jurisdictions....

There is also "The Criminal Alien Program."

The Criminal Alien Program (CAP) (click here) provides ICE-wide direction and support in the biometric and biographic identification, arrest, and removal of priority aliens who are incarcerated within federal, state, and local prisons and jails, as well as at-large criminal aliens that have circumvented identification. It is incumbent upon ICE to ensure that all efforts are made to investigate, arrest, and remove individuals from the United States that ICE deems priorities by processing the alien expeditiously and securing a final order of removal for an incarcerated alien before the alien is released to ICE custody. The identification and processing of incarcerated criminal aliens, before release from jails and prisons, decreases or eliminates the time spent in ICE custody and reduces the overall cost to the Federal Government.
Additionally, integral to the effective execution of this program is the aggressive prosecution of criminal offenders identified by ERO officers during the course of their duties. ERO, in conjunction with the Offices of the United States Attorneys, actively pursues criminal prosecutions upon the discovery of offenses of the nation's criminal code and immigration laws. This further enhances public safety and provides a significant deterrent to recidivism.

Besides ending DACA through an executive order, Mr. Trump is threatening to remove federal funding to sanctuary cities. There is going to be a problem with that. There are approximately 300 sanctuary cities in the USA of which are both liberal and conservative. The major cities have already stated they will not bend to the Trump threats of federal monies.

Sanctuary cities began in the 1980s when there was a great deal of death in Central America. I don't know that Central America has changed all that much, but, the original people protected in these cities were refugees. Can modern day Undocumented be called refugees? Possibly. We have witnessed children placed on trains to the USA to escape the ravages of drug lords and the violent culture that accompanies them.


The area of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras is where the narrowing between the continents occurs and the children came from those three countries.

The Sanctuary Movement began with a document called Special Order 40.

Special Order 40 (click here)
Special Order 40 was enacted in 1979 by the Los Angeles City Council and Los Angeles
Police Chief Daryl Gates, directing police officers not to initiate police action “with the objective of discovering the alien status of a person” (otherwise known as racial profiling) or to arrest or book persons in violation of federal immigration laws. Supporters of the order argue that the order is necessary to encourage illegal immigrant crime victims and witnesses to report crimes to police. Critics argue that the order encourages illegal immigration and prevents police from identifying and detaining suspected alien criminals and gang members for federal immigration authorities.


In 2006, public interest group Judicial Watch filed suit against the Los Angeles Police Department arguing that police should not undermine the nation’s immigration laws. Most recently, in 2008, the alleged murder of 7-year-old Jamiel Shaw, son of a U.S. Army sergeant serving in Iraq, by a suspected illegal immigrant gang member, raised calls to remove Special Order 40 protections for alien gang members. Nevertheless, most of the Los Angeles political establishment and current Police Chief William Bratton continue to resist any modification of the order.


In 2011, the LA Police Department reaffirmed Special Order 40 NR11039kr to protect human life. There is no way to adequately address the numbers of the undocumented. As a result that same principle of preserving the truth in reporting regarding crimes still holds it's purpose.

...The LAPD (click here) recognizes that criminals often prey on those who are most vulnerable, and those living in Los Angeles without legal sanction often are vulnerable to crime and criminals.  LAPD Chief Charlie Beck understands the fear that can grip an illegal immigrant, but stresses, “It is imperative that our immigrant communities, regardless of their country of origin, understand that they are not at risk of being deported or subject to any other penalty for reporting crimes that they have either been the victim of or a witness to.”

By joining with the many Consul Generals and Immigrant Organizations, it is hoped that the myth about reporting crimes will be dispelled, and that community members will be better informed and less fearful. The LAPD knows that without the communities help, it is impossible to combat the fear and incidents of crime within Los Angeles. We ask that everyone do their part in making our neighborhoods safe, and we pledge to uphold our promise, “To Protect and To Serve.”...


DACA in many ways did the same thing. It provided protection of young people that grew up in the USA and provided a platform for their safety, continued education, but, more over their way into a job that would provide them with an employer that could then sponsor their Green Card. Hopefully that has happened in large numbers over the past years that DACA has been in place. DACA never provided for any path forward, it simply ended the necessity of Homeland Security's ICE to pursue these individuals. By doing so, the load on the immigration courts could be relieved and sincere criminals could be better processed. This also provided long standing cases with the courts to move along.

The real issue before the USA is Immigration Reform. I don't care how many executive orders Mr. Trump writes the immigration laws of the USA are broken and the entire process of carrying out immigration hearings is severely backlogged and lengthy by it's nature alone. Only with Immigration Reform will this change.

The end of the Daesh regime is being realized by the Iraqi military.

There is still the possibility of a backlash in nations around the globe as loyalists resist surrender. The regime in France has been tenacious, but, there will be no more training grounds once the civil war in Syria ends. If it ever ends.
 
November 12, 2016
Baghdad, Considering their stonghold (click here) over Mosul threatened as the Iraqi army advances, the Islamic State (IS) fighters have started employing boys as young as 12 to the frontlines with suicide belts. Witnesses in Raqqa and Mosul – as well as the UN’s high commissioner for refugees – said Isis had also displaced tens of thousands of residents for use as human shields as it came under increasing military pressure, the Guardian reported. Of the nearly 48,000 refugees that have fled Mosul, many have described how the Islamist occupiers are becoming more brutal.
Several residents have said that in the past week, many had been killed by Isis for reasons as trivial as carrying a mobile phone sim card. According to the UN high commissioner for human rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, Isis has killed nearly 60 alleged spies and battlefield deserters in Mosul in the last two days. On Monday, an underground prison was found in the Shura district, containing 961 emaciated men and boys who had been forced into tiny cages and had been tortured....
In all honesty, the concern over the Asian Pacific region and trade is somewhat premature. Trump likes Russia, so the issue is will Russia continue it's movement into isolationism or not? Then there is China and it's relationship to the region. In my opinion, as noted with the Philippines, China is already isolating and claiming it's sovereign territory. As of today, it seems to me the 'Family of Nations' is a faux security to financial stability. 

If Congress agrees with all Trump's musings the world will be a very different place by the year 2016. 

I sincerely believe China and Russia are already isolationist powers in transition from globalization.

Evidently, Trump gave an interview with 60 minutes where he makes more empty promises without specifics.

November 12, 2016
 
...Meanwhile, (click here) protesters angered by Mr Trump's election gathered in several US cities for a third night on Friday. Thousands took to the streets of Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, voicing anger at the president-elect's comments about immigrants, Muslims and women.
Police in Portland are investigating the shooting and wounding of a protester on a bridge where anti-Trump demonstrators were marching. Officers had earlier used stun grenades to disperse a crowd of hundreds of people in the city centre....

Where is the sample policy for "Trumpcare?"

None of this is making news in the USA.

California is where the gunman attacked people at a polling place.

November 12, 2016

Indian-New Zealand doctor (click here) and former Young New Zealander of the Year Diyva Dhar claims she was threatened with a knife and racially abused in California the day after Donald Trump was elected president.
The incident was among a wave of hate crimes since the shock US election result on November 9.
In a Facebook post, Dhar said: "I just had a white man shove me, point a knife at me and call me n***** very aggressively for several minutes. And...I'm in California. I'm praying for my friends and all targeted minorities across the country."
Dhar said she and two to three bystanders called police about the incident.
"I just wanted people to know because change often happens quietly and if we aren't aware it can catch us unguarded. Please reach out to your friends and tell them to stay safe," she said....

The protests have moved outside of the USA.




Kiwis clashed (click here) over US President-elect Donald Trump at a protest in Auckland today.
Opponents and pro-Trump supporters squared off during a protest in Aotea Square which saw an American flag burned and heated confrontations.
People opposing Trump's election announced this morning that they would be staging a peaceful protest at 2:30pm, run by a group calling itself 'Aotearoa Against Trump.'
The group describes itself as a 'grassroots movement established in reaction to Trump's election to facilitate education, discussion and ultimately, change of the system that has led us to this point.'...
...California legislators have released a joint statement expressing their rejection of Trump's politics of "resentment, bigotry and misogyny."
International demonstrations are also being organised, including a protest outside the American embassy in Israel.
November 12, 2016
...A relaxed Kerry, (click here) jeans and open-neck shirt, landed at Christchurch early this evening after a whistle-stop tour of the ice continent where he was struck by its "majesty and awe".
Kerry, 72, spoke to assembled media briefly on the tarmac before jetting off to Wellington where he will hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister John Key tomorrow.
The long-time champion for action against climate change described his two-day trip to Antarctica as "an extraordinary experience".
He visited New Zealand's Scott Base where he was given a "terrific tour" and saw scientists preparing for field missions.
Yesterday, Kerry took a helicopter ride where he says he got a "sense of the majesty and awe of the place".
But most importantly, Kerry said, was to see the "really vital science" being done in Antarctica, which is providing "critical knowledge" on the Antarctic ice sheet, melt rates, its potential impact, and helps guide policy decisions.
"For those of us deeply concerned and involved in climate change this was very, very helpful, very instructive," he said....

This morning New Zealand is encouraging Nobel Laureates to consider a new place to call home.

November 11, 2016

...Within just a 24-hour period, (click here) the Immigration New Zealand website received 56,300 visit from the US - up 2500 per cent from its daily average of 2,300 visits....