Saturday, January 30, 2016

Marie Cohen Is A Classic Example Of A Chattel Hustler

I came across this particular piece, under child welfare, of by this former child welfare worker,

Marie K. Cohen
— Marie K. Cohen
This is the comment I left because I am quite sure she will not approve my comment:
This has to be one of the most convoluted, contrite proposals I have seen in a long time. I would prefer applying the term "ass-backwards" but that would be redundant, considering the fact that this comes from the mouth of a former child welfare worker who is poorly attempting to find her way back into the industry with a made up authority.
Seriously, you wish to promote legislation to pay someone else a substantial living wage to raise kids whose original parents have had their kids removed for living in poverty, and suffering the ills of such.
In short, this is nothing but a roadmap to selling chattle. 
The reason the Families First Act disregards foster care shortage is because it is designed to help families, you know, not use foster care because it does not work and is too expensive.

This is why the act is focused on home based, community based services, not, institutional.

It is a bill to keep families together.

This is the mentality which keeps poverty codified as a crime.

I guess she did not read my congressional testimony on this.

This woman is nothing more than a chattel hustler.

Families First Act Disregards Foster Care Shortage, Need for Some Group Homes

Congress appears to be on the right track with child welfare reform, as evidenced by a summary of the new Families First Act, which may soon be marked up by the Senate Finance Committee. The centerpiece of the legislation is the expansion of Title IV-E to provide preventive services to assist children in danger of being placed in foster care.
With the passage of this legislation, federal funding will support keeping children at home as much as it does foster care. It is a change that almost everyone seems to support.
The other major part of the legislation, however, is not without controversy. That is the part that seeks to eliminate most federal support for foster care group homes.
The legislation eliminates funding for placements that are not foster family homes after two weeks, with three exceptions: Qualified Residential Treatment Programs (QRTP’s), facilities for pregnant and parenting teens, and independent living arrangements.
The definition of QRTP has not been released, but it appears that Congress has in mind the types of arrangements that are currently known as residential treatment programs, which are large institutions where clients attend school and receive mental health treatment.
I have several concerns with this provision.
First, the bill fails to recognize the need for a continuum of care depending on the child’s needs. Such a continuum should include family foster care, therapeutic foster care, therapeutic community group homes and residential treatment centers. A child who leaves residential treatment is not necessarily ready for a foster family, and a child who can’t function in a family may not need a residential treatment program. What’s missing from the options provided by the new bill are therapeutic group homes, such as those operated by Boys Town, using the evidence-based Teaching Family model.
Secondly, the bill contains no provisions to increase the supply of high-quality foster care to meet the needs of all the children who will need to be accommodated when group homes close down. Today, there is a critical foster care shortage around the country, with children staying in offices, hotels and emergency shelters because foster homes are not available to them.
To make matters worse, many existing foster homes provide care that is neglectful or even abusive. As a former social worker with District of Columbia foster children, I have writtenabout neglectful foster parents. There was the foster parent who hadn’t been to her foster child’s school in more than a year, and refused to pick her up even when she was vomiting. There was the foster parent who refused to go to a meeting at her foster child’s school, saying, “If I cared I would go, but I don’t care.”
I asked my agency to close these homes, but the request was not granted. With the shortage of foster homes, agencies are reluctant to close homes that are anything short of abusive. And even in the case of abusive homes, we have all heard the stories of children who have been killed or injured in foster care.
Sometimes, as in the case of two-year-old Laila Marie Daniel in Georgia, it turns out that agency staff disregarded multiple reports of trouble in the home. I’m sure that the critical shortage of foster parents is part of the explanation.
Abusive and neglectful foster homes need to be closed, but they must be replaced and added to with a new source of high quality foster homes. How can this be done? The only way is to pay foster parents enough so that one foster parent in each home can stay home with the children, thus attracting a completely new source of foster parents.
In an earlier column, I wrote about the SOS Children’s Villages in Illinois and Florida. They not only pay foster parents a salary but provide houses large enough for six children. The provision of housing is particularly important in order to attract foster parents to cities with high housing costs, where many foster kids live.
Paying foster parents a full-time salary is an expensive proposition. But this expense can be offset by recruiting foster couples (either married couples or two single people living together as house parents) to care for five or six children. By locating them in communities like those provided by SOS Children’s Villages or the Mockingbird Society, foster parents can be empowered to help each other, and services to the children can be provided on site.
It would be irresponsible for Congress to pass the Families First Act without provisions for a therapeutic option between foster homes and residential treatment and for increasing the supply of quality foster care. The Senate Finance Committee should modify its bill by adding a provision for short-term therapeutic group homes and by providing new funding and incentives to encourage states to improve the quantity and quality of their foster homes.

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Privatization Of Human Capital

Privatization of human capital is evolving in national policymaking.

This is an initiative out of Wisconson to privatize public water utilities through a scheme to allow out of state contractors to come in and circumvent state level regulation.

Since there is a push to deregulate the EPA and its water oversight, more than likely their budgets are going to be cut again, making any type of enforcement a far fetched pipedream.

Wisconsin did it incrementally.

Michigan went along the route of the emergency manager.

Unfortunately, the Flint water fiasco kinda threw a monkey wrench into the water privatization scheme, but let's watch to see what this new state task force and congressional hearings turn up.

Bills Would Make It Easier to Privatize Public Water Utilities

Two bills are moving through the legislature that would make it harder for Wisconsin residents to have a say about whether their publicly owned drinking water supplies should be controlled by private corporations.

The measures, Assembly Bill 554 and Senate Bill 432, change the process for selling or leasing municipal water and sewer utilities. AB554 has been approved by the Assembly and sent to the Senate, and SB432 has received a committee hearing. The Republican-controlled legislature, which hopes to wrap up its work for the current session by March, seems likely to act on at least one of the bills before it adjourns.

Under current law, a municipality that wants to sell or lease its water utility must pass an ordinance that authorizes the sale, and then get the proposal approved by state Public Service Commission (PSC), which also sets the terms and price of the sale. The final proposal with terms and sale must then be approved by local voters in a referendum.

Under AB554, adoption of an ordinance for the sale would still be required, but a referendum would only be held if a petition with signatures equal to at least 10 percent of the votes cast in the municipality in the last governor’s election is submitted within 60 days of the ordinance’s adoption. If there is no referendum, or the referendum is approved, the PSC would then be required to give final approval and set the terms and price of the sale.

Among the bills’ backers are the construction industry; AquaAmerica, a private water and wastewater treatment utility that serves three million people in eight states; and the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, which represents nearly 600 of the state’s cities and villages.

The bills are opposed by numerous environmental groups, like the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, a handful of municipal utility groups, and AFSCME.

The League of Conservation Voters and AFSCME contributed about $95,000 between January 2010 and June 2015 mostly to Democratic candidates for statewide office and the legislature.

Construction interests, which support the bills, contributed nearly $8.1 million between January 2010 and June 2015 mostly to Republican candidates for statewide office and the legislature.

AquaAmerica employees did not make campaign contributions, but the company spent $36,500 on lobbying in 2015 when the bills were being developed.

The eight sponsors of the bills received just over $53,000 in construction industry contributions between January 2010 and June 2015. The sponsors and their construction industry contributions were:

Republican Sen. Frank Lasee, of De Pere, $17,957
Republican Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, of New Berlin, $8,758
Republican Rep. Joel Kleefisch, of Oconomowoc, $8,075
Republican Rep. Dave Murphy, of Greenville, $5,112
Republican Rep. Dan Knodl, of Germantown, $4,610
Republican Re. Tyler August, of Lake Geneva, $3,685
Republican Rep. Ken Skowronski, of Franklin, $3,675
Democratic Rep. Josh Zepnick, of Milwaukee, $1,299

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Friday, January 29, 2016

Michigan Medicaid Expansion Request For Flint Times Perfectly With Financial Markets

With Q2 earnings reports looking pretty darn good, it seems like this is the best time of any to start
watching financial trends in the world of Medicaid revenue maximization schemes.

When I mention financial trends, I do not strictly focus on private investment strategies, I look at tax write off to its own philanthropic foundations which, in turn, turn to the government sector to "leverage its investments", oops, I mean charitable contributions, with a return of garnering a cheap labor force and customer loyalty, to improve the lives of the less fortunate.

I then look at the government sector, and this area is what I call social programming.

Michigan just so happens to have graciously demonstrated itself as a living, breathing, real time model to observe the psyche of its fiscally conservative administration, as always, of course.

Here we have the Flint water crisis center stage with Detroit awaiting in the wings in dealing with the future well-being of its children.

These are two major municipalities, high density population, historically economically disadvantaged, which have been administratively abused and neglected under the foster care of an artificially created czar called an emergency manager, via a bill of attainder.

Children were harmed with the switching to a lesser quality water source, only for parents and people of affinity to be blatantly dismissed through obfuscatory policy making, like the 'boil water advisories' or the infamous 'two babies in a bath full of lead water' public health awareness poster.

The question now presents itself as to why such indolence to the concerns, validated by independent authorities, of the citizens of Flint, and I am also going to include Detroit as the problems with lead poisoning in Detroit far exceed Flint's man made disaster, were blatantly dismissed.

Going out on a limb, knowing just a little bit more than the average bear on Medicaid fraud in child welfare, I am going to have to take the bull by the horns and say it probably had something to do with a revenue maximization scheme to tap into the great big giant coffers of the Social Security Trust Fund.

I have alleged, and not one person has yet to assuage for me to think otherwise, that Michigan was executing its next phase of selling chattel, more intuitively known as launching the next wave of religious based, non profit, tax exempt (redundant, I know, but I am only emphasizing a point) social welfare programs fully cost reimbursed through the Medicaid Expansion.

Now, I know there are the naysayers who will call me out as, hmmm, how would you say....a disgruntled client by proxy, but when Maura Corrigan presented testimony to the U.S. Senate Ways and Means Committee on behalf of the American Enterprise Institute, laying out the red carpet for the latest and greatest social programming to "rehabilitate the poors" through Medicaid just a few months before Flint water crisis began to unfold, I would have to say that those naysayers need to sit down and let the DOJ take over.

Social investment is an emerging market as it is expanding its realms of unregulation as this is all far outside the purview of the SEC and IRS because they are non profits and deal with the privacy protections of child welfare.

This following article is from a commercial industry consulting firm of which sells child welfare Medicaid industry reports.

New Analysis Finds More Than Half Of Foster Children Enrolled In Medicaid Managed Care

Over half of foster children are now enrolled in some Medicaid managed care plan. And, that answer varies significantly by state – from 0% to 100%.

Why the variation? Medicaid eligibility criteria for children in foster care are as variable as Medicaid plans. States fall in three general categories with regard to these eligibility criteria:

Mandatory enrollment in FFS: The state requires all foster care children regardless of the circumstances to receive Medicaid services through the FFS delivery system. Historically, most foster care children were served in the FFS delivery due to a high rate of complex health issues, multiple touch points within the social service system, and a high amount of transiency.

Optional enrollment in Medicaid managed care plans: The state allows the foster care child to enroll in either the FFS or managed care delivery system. It is up to the child’s team – caseworkers, guardian ad litem, foster care family, etc. – to determine the delivery system that they think best fits the needs of the child.

Mandatory enrollment in Medicaid managed care plans: The state requires all foster care children, regardless of the circumstances to receive Medicaid services through the state’s managed care delivery system. This model has gained popularity as more states have moved towards the managed care delivery system and enrolled more and more complex populations in this model.

Q3 should be quite interesting, too!

Stay tuned as Detroit may be next in the Medicaid expansion request.

This is Michigan's latest bottom-up model for the last hold States to begin to roll out Medicaid expansion programs in child welfare.

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Tuesday, January 26, 2016

CONYERS and Jackson Lee Praise President Obama’s Actions on Solitary Confinement

              
WASHINGTON - Yesterday, President Obama announced that U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the Department of Justice, in response to the President’s directive in July, has issued a report concerning the use of solitary confinement in America.  The report includes recommended strategies for prisons at the federal, state, and local levels to pursue, safely reduce solitary confinement, and details changes that the federal Bureau of Prisons will undertake. The President also stated that he will adopt the recommendations in the report, and will direct all related federal agencies to review the findings and develop a plan to address their use of solitary confinement.

In response to the announcement, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) released the following statements:

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.
Congressman John Conyers, Jr.:  “I applaud the release of the report on solitary confinement by the President, and I am grateful for the thorough work of Attorney General Loretta Lynch in preparing the report and its recommendations.  Prisons have long over-relied on solitary confinement, which is often inhumane, ineffective, and financially wasteful.  As the report makes clear, we can reduce the use of solitary confinement while maintaining effective prison administration and not jeopardizing safety.   I hope states will adopt the changes that the President has directed to take place at the federal level, and I am particularly heartened that federal prisons will no longer place juveniles in solitary confinement, a practice that is harmful and inappropriate.  These changes are an important part of reforming our criminal justice system, I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in Congress to pass measures that will make the system both more effective and fair.”

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee: “The President’s action is a major and crucial step that will save lives of young juveniles. Solitary confinement is inhumane and can be especially destructive to children locked up in an already harsh system. Juveniles should be in a system that is rehabilitative, not life ending."

“That is why Ranking Member Conyers and I introduced a package of youth incarceration reform bills, including Kalief’s Law (H.R. 3155), a measure named in honor of a young man who tragically took his own life after spending two years in solitary at Riker’s Island without ever receiving a trial. Among other things, this bill would help avoid the loss of more young lives by banning solitary confinement for those 21 and under. "

“The President’s action is important and comes on the heels of the Supreme Court’s much needed action to grant relief to juveniles serving sentences of life without parole. But it is even more important that Congress codify both of these just and humane steps for all young people, not just juveniles. Our children deserve nothing less. I am committed to making this a reality through our bipartisan criminal justice reform initiative, a key component of which will be comprehensive young justice reform legislation.”

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Saturday, January 23, 2016

Michigan Adopts Three Fifths Legal Representation Of Parental Righrs

This case, as I determine as of this moment, is going to be historically pivotal in the direction of legal
Individual vs.States in economic rights
standings and policies of this nation towards the procurement of human capital, or in this specific incidence, the medical dependency of youth.

What we have here is a dramatic shift in the interpretation of child welfare law.

A judge, through a dependency court, has essentially emboldened the state with the powers of shared parental rights.

Even though the individual "sharing" parental rights with the state is a non-biological entity, the powers are split, without delineation percentage or weighted parental oversight in decision making.

What is most compelling of an interest is that there is distinct movement to expand, or, why do I not put this in a much more graphic term, how about, "bring back from the dead the raw power of Dred Scott standing, mixed with a heavy seasoning of the 'three-fifths' consideration of having constitutional rights".

Which party will possess the three-fifths of parental authority to have constitutional legal standing?

It began with the stripping of voting rights, and now comes the parceling of parental rights.

In this particular case, the Guardian Ad Litum has an unspecified percentage, and the step-father has a percentage.

To be fair, I have not read the ruling and cannot comment if this issue of which portion of the shared rights trump has been addressed.

Now, as this is a Michigan case, there is a possibility, but I am pretty sure I am spot on, the state is about to awaken, with the final ritual of policy making, the sleeping authoritative monster called the Michigan Children's Institute.

Through the history of this institution, its powers have expanded and contracted along side of socio-economic shifts.

Through the lens of privatization I can see the next pattern emerge in social programming, with cost reimbursements through Medicaid in dealing with an older youth population.

This has nothing to do with one's ancestry.  This has to do with maximizing billable opportunities.

Here is how it started.  Let's sit back and keep an eye on this case.

Teen taken by CPS reunited with family after nearly three months in Children's Village



PONTIAC, Mich. (WXYZ) - After spending 80 days away from her family at Oakland County Children's Village, the state is allowing a teenager to finally go home.

7 Action News cameras were there as 17-year-old Leiani McMichael exited the Oakland County Courthouse a happy teen, ready to go home.
Edwin Santana, her step-father, is happy to finally have her back.

"She's like, she's like my own daughter," Santana said. "She's been with me since she was 6 1/2."
Santana will have limitations when it comes to Leiani. Under an agreement with the state, Santana will share guardianship with a state appointed attorney. The attorney will have exclusive medical decisions over Leiani.

Child Protective Services took Leiani to live in Children's village in early November after accusing her mom of failing to give Leiani proper medical care.

Leiani's doctors contacted CPS concerned her mother, Rebecca Campos, was causing the teen to suffer from Conversion Disorder.

“Up until February 2015, Leiani was completely healthy, an amazing, thriving child,” said Rebecca.
Then, she started complaining that her stomach hurt. Doctors then diagnosed her with hernias, cysts, and removed her appendix. When she couldn’t keep food down, they gave her a feeding tube.

“Nobody could answer. Nobody knew why it got so extreme that a feeding tube had to be in place,” said Rebecca.

Then there was a problem with the feeding tube as Leiani visited her father who lives in California. Leiani needed surgery.

"After surgery Leiani didn’t wake up. She went into a coma,” said Rebecca.

She remained unconscious for days. When she did finally wake up, mom says Leiani was weak,
needed a wheelchair, had memory problems and started having seizures.

She took her to doctor after doctor searching for answers. Then, one doctor at the University of Michigan diagnosed her with conversion disorder. The doctor said Leiani didn’t need a feeding tube or a wheelchair. The problem was in her head.

"My wife was the one being accused of taking her to too many doctors appointments I guess, or not enough doctors appointments, it just snowballed," said Santana.

The family believes the state went too far and their attorney agrees.

As part of today's agreement, Leiani's mother and her younger sister must move out of their home, into an extended stay hotel.

"I don't like it but, it is what it is. As long as my girls are safe and they get to be reunited again and take the proper steps to bring them both together, my wife and I as a family then that's all that matters," said Santana.

The court has ordered a therapist help reintegrate the family that will now be split a second time by the state. 


 
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Friday, January 22, 2016

CONYERS Greets POTUS in Detroit

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan with U.S. Representative John Conyers as he greets U.S. President Barack Obama as he disembarks Air Force One  for the 2016 NAIAS
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan with U.S. Representative John Conyers as he greets U.S. President Barack Obama as he disembarks Air Force One  for the 2016 NAIAS

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Reps. Conyers and Lofgren Applaud Implementation of the Visa Waiver Program Improvement Act of 2015


WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today U.S. Representatives John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee released the following statements after the Departments of Homeland Security and State announced yesterday implementation of the Visa Waiver Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015: 

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.
Rep. Conyers: “Requiring all travelers under the Visa Waiver Program to have an unexpired, fraud-resistant e-passport is an important security measure.  I also support new requirements for Interpol screening of travelers and reporting on theft of passports.  These provisions are included in the new law and will help improve our security here at home.

“I did not support this legislation, however, precisely because it failed to include critical exceptions for humanitarian aid workers and journalists reporting on the war in Syria and the atrocities ISIS is committing in the Middle East.  It also codifies provisions that could result in discrimination against people simply because they are dual citizens based on ancestry, which could lead to our Visa Waiver Program partner nations placing new limits on travel by U.S. citizens to their countries.

“I am pleased to see that the Administration is taking a common sense approach to implementation through the exercise of the statutory waiver authority on a case-by-case basis when it is in the law enforcement or national security interest of the United States.  I am hopeful that further implementation announcements from the Administration will make clear that the United States will not discriminate against any travelers based solely on ancestry. Doing so would accomplish the national security goals of the new law, while also adhering to the letter and spirit of the statute.”

Rep. Lofgren: “We all agree that the first responsibility of government is to keep the American people safe.  That is why I joined in a bipartisan effort to craft compromise legislation that enhances security in the Visa Waiver Program and ensures that any vulnerabilities that could put the American people at risk are addressed.

“Yesterday’s announcement from the Administration recognizes that U.S. national security interests include statutory waivers for those who have spent time in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, or other designated countries to provide medical or humanitarian aid or as journalists or researchers and in the case of Iran for legitimate business travel.  This approach to implementation, along with the other provisions in the new law, makes us safer.  The bill, as drafted, explicitly permitted the Administration to implement the visa program in this way and Democrats would not have supported the measure without providing the ability of the Administration to implement the program in this sensible way.

“With respect to the legislation’s dual national provisions, we have received assurances from the Departments of Homeland Security and State that the United States will not allow other countries to dictate limitations on travel to the United States based solely on another country’s nationality laws and one’s parentage – or, in turn, have such limitations imposed on Americans traveling abroad. The legislation passed by the House never sanctioned discrimination against Americans based on heritage and I am pleased that the Obama Administration agrees and has made that point abundantly clear for all Americans.”

Background: Under the Act, certain travelers are no longer eligible to travel or be admitted to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program:

·         Nationals of VWP countries who have traveled to or been present in Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria on or after March 1, 2011 (with limited exceptions for travel for diplomatic or military purposes in the service of a VWP country); and

·         Nationals of VWP countries who are also nationals of Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria.

These individuals will still be able to apply for a visa using the regular immigration process at U.S. embassies or consulates.  For those who need a U.S. visa for urgent business, medical, or humanitarian travel to the United States, U.S. embassies and consulates stand ready to process applications on an expedited basis.

Under the new law, the Secretary of Homeland Security may waive these restrictions if he determines that such a waiver is in the law enforcement or national security interests of the United States. Such waivers will be granted only on a case-by-case basis.  Categories of travelers who may be eligible for a waiver include:

·         Individuals who traveled to Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria on behalf of international organizations, regional organizations, and sub-national governments on official duty;

·         Individuals who traveled to Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria on behalf of a humanitarian NGO on official duty;

·         Individuals who traveled to Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria as a journalist for reporting purposes;

·         Individuals who traveled to Iran for legitimate business-related purposes following the conclusion of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (July 14, 2015); and

·         Individuals who have traveled to Iraq for legitimate business-related purposes.

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Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder Emails Of The Flint Water Crisis

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder releases emails of the Flint water crisis. Enjoy.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder Emails of Flint Water Crisis

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Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Reps. Conyers and Lofgren Applaud U.S. Supreme Court Decision to Review President Obama’s Executive Immigration Actions


WASHINGTON, D.C.– U.S. Representatives John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Immigration and Border Security Subcommitteereleased the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will review of the Texas-led challenge (U.S. V. Texas, et al.) to the President's executive immigration actions Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) and expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA):

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.
"We are very pleased that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear this case. We are confident the Court will see through the dubious legal and procedural arguments by lower courts and find the President's actions fully comport with U.S. immigration law and the Constitution. Permitting these programs to move forward will provide an important measure of certainty for millions of Americans and their immigrant families.  

"DAPA and expanded DACA are common-sense, lawful exercises of executive discretion, just like actions taken by prior presidents of both parties for decades, including Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. 

“We are optimistic that the Supreme Court will issue its decision upholding these actions before the current term ends in June.  Hard working immigrant families have waited long enough for stability and the opportunity to come out of the shadows. Today’s Supreme Court moved us one step closer to the relief they so desperately need."

Background:

DAPA would allow certain immigrant parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents to register with the government, undergo a background check, and work without fear of deportation.  Expanded DACA provides the same protections to those who were brought to the United States as children and are Americans in every way but on paper. Last April,  Reps. Lofgren led 184 members of the House of Representatives and 34 Senators on an amicus brief in support of the Supreme Court granting review citing that “the significance of this to Congress’s ability to ensure rational, effective, and efficient enforcement of federal law by executive agencies cannot be overstated.”
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Monday, January 18, 2016

In Celebration Of The Legacy Of Coretta Scott King

John Conyers, Jr. and Coretta Scott King
Today, we celebrate the life of the greatest civil rights leader, the woman whose silent passion enshrined in the annals of history, the right to justice through a peaceful society for every individual.

Coretta Scott King ensured the legacy of her husband was preserved through the collaborative efforts of many, to usher in the legislation, after 17 tenacious years, which is now recognized as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

She is the inspiration for the blog Conyers in the House.

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Sunday, January 17, 2016

A Very Special Vow

Each year, the night before the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, I repost this piece to honor a very special vow I took with a very special man.

The issues surrounding unruly town hall meetings and angry mobs were addressed over 200 years ago in the Federalist Papers, specifically #9, Hamilton and #10 Madison.

Hamilton #9The utility of a Confederacy, as well to suppress faction and to guard the internal tranquillity of States, as to increase their external force and security, is in reality not a new idea. It has been practiced upon in different countries and ages, and has received the sanction of the most approved writers on the subject of politics.

What Hamilton basically says is that an insurgent faction disrupts consolidation and consensus of groups, better known as a republic. This idea was expounded and refined in Madison #10.

Madison identified the "inner tranquility" of the consolidation and consensus of groups as the "majority".  He further spoke of the futility of non-peaceful protests as they disregarded established legislative processes, having elected government representatives.

"Men of factious tempers, of local prejudices, or of sinister designs, may, by intrigue, by corruption, or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interests, of the people."

Historically, civil disobedience only works when functioning under the policy of peace. These protests are not peaceful in language or activities, an early presentation of failure of the insurgence.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise therof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.The Bill of Rights: First Amendment

The key word is "peace". Once this tenet of the First Amendment is violated, peace, the government is empowered to protect the people, pursuant to the General Welfare Clause in the U.S. Constitution. The following is an excerpt of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States, called the General Welfare Clause:

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

Violence, be it verbal, emotional, physical, or economic, becomes grounds for government intervention, or rather the calling of the police to maintain the peace. When this happens you have an insurrection, pursuant to the General Welfare Clause. Under this light, health care as commerce, or rather Universal Health Care, is seen as a "provision for the common defense social disease, meaning maintainability of individual and social health, becoming interchangeable with the temporal terminology of General Welfare.

Quintessentially, Universal Health Care is one in the same with the Common Defense and General Welfare of the people of the United States of America. Here is a visual model for greater understanding:

Universal = Common

Health = Defense

Care = General Welfare

There is a lack of organization and understanding, as the insurrections constantly demonstrate a significant failure in mastering a rudimentary education of the social mobilization.

Peace.


Learn more: BEVERLY TRAN: A Day of Peace http://beverlytran.blogspot.com/2011/01/day-of-peace.html#ixzz3xZG5gqHb
Stop Medicaid Fraud in Child Welfare 


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President Obama grants Gov. Rick Snyder's request for emergency declaration in Flint

It is my belief that the federal declaration of a disaster is being withheld also because there are a pending investigation into possible violations of state, federal laws.

President Obama grants Gov. Rick Snyder's request for emergency declaration in Flint

Request for major disaster declaration was denied

LANSING, Mich. - President Barack Obama today declared a federal emergency in Flint, based on Gov. Rick Snyder's request made on Thursday, January 14, providing resources to help provide residents access to safe, clean water.

Obama denied an additional request for a major disaster declaration.

"I appreciate the President approving my federal emergency request and supporting Flint during this critical situation," Snyder said. "I have pledged to use all state resources possible to help heal Flint, and these additional resources will greatly assist in efforts underway to ensure every resident has access to clean water resources."

Snyder received notice from FEMA this afternoon that emergency relief has been approved in the form of water, water filters, filter replacements and water test kits. The period of assistance is up to 90 days. Under the Stafford Act, resources totaling $5 million can be used for federal emergencies, and the state is required to match 25 percent. If the $5 million is exhausted, Congress has the option to approve additional funding.

The governor had also requested a major disaster declaration, which was denied based on the legal requirement that under the Stafford Act disaster relief is available only for natural events, fires, floods, or explosions. The state is now actively reviewing the process for appealing the disaster declaration denial.

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Saturday, January 16, 2016

Congressional Black Caucus Letter To POTUS on Flint Water Crisis

CBC Letter to President Obama on Flint Michigan Water Issue

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Friday, January 15, 2016

Maura Corrigan Is MIA Since Flint Water Crisis

Maura Corrigan, former Michigan Supreme Court Justice who stepped down from the bench to become the Director of the Michigan (former DHS) Department of Health and Human Services, and advisor to Governor Rick Snyder on child welfare, has gone missing since the Flint Water Crisis. 

If you know where she is, please, contact the #DOJ, immediately, or you can just send me the video of when you ask her about how Michigan is protecting its impoverished children in Flint and Detroit and send it to me.

Her last know whereabouts are the American Enterprise Institute.


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