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LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • JULy 11-17, 2019
Presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren releases...
PAGE 1 waiting over 20 years to come to the United States and be reunited with their families. “We need to do two things: We need a president who will do everything she can to move this system along and make it work better and we are also going to need an overhaul at the congressional level,” Warren told the Asian Journal following her remarks on Tuesday, July 2. “That means that we must rewrite our immigration laws so they align with our values and a big part of our values is keeping families together.” Also part of her plan is to “redistribute unused visas to reduce this backlog and reunite more families with their loved ones.” During a two-day tour of the Silver State, her event last Tuesday was her first shot at meeting community members in Las Vegas, during which she spoke about fighting against government cor-
ruption, investing in minority businesses through a capital fund, and other issues pertinent to AAPIs. “Elizabeth has always been a fighter...who knows how to win. She’s what our country desperately needs and now, she’s fighting to build an America that works for everyone,” Filipino American Sonny Vinuya, president of the Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce, said in his introduction of the senator. Warren, a former law professor who has been a Massachusetts senator since 2013, started off her remarks with a story about how her mother took on a minimum wage job to save their family home. “However, today, a full-time, minimum wage job in America will not keep a mom and a baby out of poverty. That is wrong and that is why I am in this fight,” she declared. The senator slammed the federal government for working “great for those at the top [but] doesn’t work
for anyone else, calling it “corruption pure and simple.” She hinted at an anti-corruption plan that includes ending lobbying, requiring that the Supreme Court “follow basic rules of ethics,” and transparency in tax returns for candidates running for federal office. She went on to propose a wealth tax, which would put a 2% tax on those with over $50 million in net assets. “When I talk about things like the wealth tax, which would be a 2% tax on everybody with more than $50 million in accumulated wealth and how we can use that money to provide universal child care, universal pre-K and cancel student loan debt for about 95% of folks that have got it, it’s not just progressives who want to sign up,” Warren told the Asian Journal. As a figure among progressives in recent years, Warren said a plan PAGE 4
PAGE 1 that service, thanks them for their work on these important matters, and is confident that the new team will carry on in the same exemplary fashion.” Kupec said the new team would be made up of political and career appointees — some of who work in the DOJ’s Consumer Protection Branch. According to court papers, legal team members include Deputy Assistant Attorney General David Morrell, who previously worked as a lawyer in the Trump White House and is now head of the Consumer Protection Branch; and Christopher Bates who serves as a senior counsel at the DOJ. Also included are four career DOJ attorneys, Glenn Girdharry, Colin Kisor, Christopher Reimer, and Daniel Schiffer. The change comes amid questions on whether the Trump administration’s efforts on adding the question may have been motivated by racial bias, with U.S. District Court Judge George Hazel last week ordering a court case looking into the motivation to go forward. It also comes after the Supreme Court last month blocked Trump’s initial effort to add the question in a 5-4 ruling, with Chief Justice Roberts saying that a sufficient reason for adding the question would be needed. He said that the rationale given by the Trump administration were “contrived.” With the clock ticking and cen-
sus forms already printing as scheduled without the question, Trump said last week that he was considering declaring an executive order. He also suggested that the question could be added on to the questionnaire as an addendum if approved later. Attorney General William Barr told the Associated Press on Monday that he had been in contact with Trump and saw a legal way for the census to ask about citizenship. “I agree with him that the Supreme Court decision was wrong,” said Barr. He added that he believed there to be “an opportunity potentially to cure the lack of clarity that was the problem and we might as well take a shot at doing that.” Despite Trump having said last week that the main reason for wanting the question on the census was for electoral district drawing purposes, his administration has for months argued that the question on citizenship would help administer the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965, which is supposed to prevent voter discriminagion against minorities. Advocates against the question have maintained that the question — which hasn’t been on the census since it was dropped in 1950 — would discourage a significant amount of people from participating in the census, thus making it likely for certain communities to be misrepresented. Many have also argued that
when it comes to the issue of knowing the non-citizen demographic of the U.S., there are other less-intrusive ways of getting that data. The decennial count looks for population changes and other information about who makes up the United States — citizens and non-citizens alike. The census also, more importantly, uses the derived data to address many of the nation’s needs like determining how seats in Congress are set, and how funding for certain programs like Medicaid benefits, law enforcement, and public schools should be allocated. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, on Monday criticized the Trump administration’s continuous efforts towards adding the question, saying that the administration was looking to “make American white again.” “This is about keeping — you know, Make America, you know his hat — Make America White Again. They want to make sure that people, certain people, are counted,” said Pelosi. She continued, “What they want to do is to put a chilling effect so that certain populations will not answer the form.” It is still unclear as of press time what new rationale the Trump administration will introduce or what next steps it will take, but Barr told reporters that the DOJ would reveal “in the next day or two” how it will proceed. (Rae Ann Varona/ AJPress)
Trump administration gets new legal team as fight...
Manny Pacquiao (right) engages training consultant and long-time trainer Freddie Roach in a mitt training session at the latter’s Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles California on Monday afternoon. Photo by Wendell Alinea/Manny Pacquiao Promotions
Thurman vows to bring back old self vs Pacquiao by Dino
Maragay Philstar.com
KEITH Thurman is raring to prove that his last fight was a fluke, promising to return to his devastating form against Manny Pacquiao when they lock horns on July 20. The last time Thurman stepped on the ring, he almost got the shock of his life against an unheralded Josesito Lopez. That fight, which was held only last January in Brooklyn, saw Thurman almost out on his feet in the seventh round after getting repeatedly tagged by a limited but determined Lopez. He had earlier floored Lopez in the second round, but the challenger proved to be a tough nut to crack. Fortunately for Thurman, he recovered and did just enough for the rest of the bout to escape with a victory via majority decision, retaining his WBA “super” welterweight champion in the process.
Worth noting was the fact that prior to the Lopez clash, the undefeated Thurman was coming off a two-year layoff to recover from an injury. He had won all 28 fights before taking on Lopez, with 22 of those wins coming by way of knockout. He admitted that the long hiatus was a factor in his performance against Lopez. “I was really nervous about making weight after walking around at 182 for the past two years,” Thurman said in a recent boxingscene.com report. Now, the fighter out of Clearwater, Florida will try to erase the bitter memory of that mediocre outing when he stakes his crown against Pacquiao at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. “I’m trying to be that great, devastating champion once again, and come July 20, I will prove that I am,” added Thurman, referring to the version of him that pulled off notable wins against Robert Guerrero, Luis Collazo, Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia.
Initially installed as the favorite against Pacquiao, Thurman has now become an underdog against Pacquiao, who at 40 years old remains a world-class fighter capable of putting on great performances. Beating an ageing Pacquiao is still a tall order nowadays, but for Thurman, losing is not an option. He even seeks to win by emphatic fashion. “Of course, I’d like to get the knockout or TKO, but either way, you’re going to see a world-class performance that has me standing alone on top of a division that has so many great fighters,” he continued. Thurman believes his fight with Pacquiao — the WBA’s “regular” 147-pound champion — will be an intriguing one and is bound to answer questions. “Does Manny belong in the ring with a fighter in his prime? Is Keith Thurman still Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman after some vulnerability against Josesito Lopez?” he said. n
Amal Clooney to represent Rappler’s Maria Ressa... PAGE 1 news and standing up to human rights abuses. We will pursue all available legal remedies to vindicate her rights and defend press freedom and the rule of law in the Philippines,” Clooney said in a press statement released by London-based law firm Doughty Street Chambers. According to the statement, Clooney will work with a team of international lawyers as Ressa’s counsel and coordinate with at-
torneys in Manila. Ressa, named Person of the Year by Time Magazine in 2018, is the co-founder and editor of Rappler, which has gained distinction for its unflinching coverage of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against illegal drugs. She has been arrested twice this year on cyber libel and tax evasion charges. In a statement, Ressa said: “I am delighted that Amal Clooney and her team will be representing me at the international level
to challenge the violations of my rights and those of the media organisation I represent.” Clooney was appointed special envoy for media freedom by the British government. She has previously defended Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo who were jailed for more than 16 months in Myanmar under the country’s Official Secrets Act for reporting on a massacre of Rohingya civilians. They were freed in May. (AJPress)