Early in my son's elementary school career I routinely got notes from his teachers asking me to stop by the following morning. "What happened," I would ask him? I'd listen to his story. The next morning I would talk with the teacher. Only after I'd heard both sides, I'd make up my own mind about
The media frequently mentions the "FISA Courts" while reporting on National Security Agency (NSA), FBI and other intelligence activities that may involve US citizens. Below is a brief description of the court's purpose and how it works.
The NRA collects $350 million a year in member dues by promoting the idea if citizens cannot buy semi-automatic assault weapons, the government is going to come into their homes and take their guns or worse. It is time that the voices of innocent Americans are heard more loudly on Capitol Hill than the voices of lobbyists.
Cyber is everywhere in our lives today and it is our greatest strategic weakness. In this war of bits, bytes, and the dark web, there is no "frontline" and Congress is not doing its job: Building an army to protect you and I – the American people – from a nefarious global network of economic terrorists.
Securing the border along with resolving the legal status of Dreamers who have been living in the shadows of America for many years would build public confidence in the government's ability to manage our immigration system. Public confidence is the necessary pre-requisite to a comprehensive 21st century immigration reform plan.
The Trump Administration created a "Dreamer crisis" and then gave Congress six months to "fix" the problem. That's not constructive. The Trump Administration must work with Congress to fashion a legislative process which builds the trust of the American people and sets the stage for future legislation to modernize our antiquated immigration system.
Contrast the national median income for a family of four -- $55,775 -- against the average bureaucrat or congressional or presidential staffer, who earns twice what the average American family does (members of Congress earn 3.2 times their average constituent), and the picture becomes clear. They can't possibly understand the daily life of the average American. In this context, the GOP proposal to "repeal and replace Obamacare" makes perfect sense. From their cushy perch -- $16000 a year for health insurance is not such a big number.
The people who are coming to town halls have a point. Their justifiable anxiety (some of it sparked by politicians and the news media) stands in the way of a down-payment on reforming Obamacare in short run and reforming our health care delivery system in the medium to long term. These vocal town hall participants are part of the 1 percent of the USA population that incur 23 percent of the cost of health care in the United States. Here's how we can help these people without raising insurance premiums for the other 95 percent!
The debate was focused on whether or not to protect undocumented aliens in the United States because they do "jobs Americans won't do" – for example agriculture, food processing, and unskilled construction. But no attention has been paid to protecting jobs Americans are doing from documented alien labor. Despite the loss of +/- 200,000 US technology jobs, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) proceeded to awarded 85,000 "temporary high skilled knowledge worker visas (H1-B) last year
It is an axiom of American politics that Americans reject a public health care option. Rhetoric to the contrary: 49.6 percent of the American people get their health care paid for by a government-run insurance program. The dictionary definition of a public option! Instead of railing against it -- why not seize the opportunity?