Discussion on The Critical Hour about Boris Johnson and Brexit (8/20/19)

Same Game, New Tactic: Trump Goes After Legal Immigrants, States Fight Back & Sue

New York state, New York City, Connecticut and Vermont sued the federal government Tuesday over new Trump administration rules blocking green cards for many immigrants who use public assistance, including Medicaid, food stamps and housing vouchers. The states and city join a growing list of entities suing over the change, one of the Republican administration’s most aggressive moves to restrict legal immigration. The rules set to take effect in October would broaden a range of programs that can disqualify immigrants from legal status if they are deemed to be a burden to the US. What’s the real impact behind this action? 

Planned Parenthood announced on Monday that it will drop participation in a federal program that supports family planning services because of new restrictions placed on it by the Trump administration, calling a recent regulation an "assault on access to birth control and reproductive health care, especially for people struggling to make ends meet." What impact will the administration's actions have on access to women’s health care for poor women and women of color? 


US President Donald Trump dismissed concerns of recession on Sunday and offered an optimistic outlook for the economy after last week’s steep drop in the financial markets. "I don't think we're having a recession," Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington, DC, from his New Jersey golf club. "We're doing tremendously well. Our consumers are rich. I gave a tremendous tax cut , and they're loaded up with money." Oh, really Donald? So, riddle me this: why are several senior White House officials discussing whether to push for a temporary payroll tax cut as a way to arrest an economic slowdown? 

[My segment; starts at 39:50] UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced fresh calls to ensure there is no return to a hard border on the island of Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The prime minister wrote to EU Council President Donald Tusk on Monday evening, outlining his opposition to what he called the "anti-democratic" Northern Ireland backstop. In the letter, Johnson said that while he wants the UK to leave the EU with a deal, he could not support any withdrawal agreement that "locks the UK, potentially indefinitely, into an international treaty which will bind us into a customs union and which applies large areas of single market legislation in Northern Ireland." What does this mean, and why is Johnson taking this position now?
[My related article: For What It’s Worth: The Yellow Vests and the Left]

GUESTS:

Carlos Casteneda — Attorney with The Law Offices of Thomas Esparza Jr. 

Attorney Mark Shmueli — Manages a solo practice dedicated exclusively to immigration law. Shmueli represents asylum seekers before the Asylum Office and Executive Office for Immigration Review and handles employment-based non-immigrant and immigrant visa petitions. He has authored articles on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions and the Violence Against Women Act for the Maryland Bar Journal and is a frequent lecturer at national and local conferences on immigration law. 

Deirdre Fulton McDunough — Communications director at Maine Family Planning. 

Jay Thibodeau — Communications director at Abortion Care Network. 

Dr. Jack Rasmus — Professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California and author of "Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression."

Jim Kavanagh — Political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist.

Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War."

Listen to "Same Game, New Tactic: Trump Goes After Legal Immigrants, States Fight Back & Sue" on Spreaker.

The Critical Hour is a daily 60-minute news analysis and talk radio program on Radio Sputnik hosted by Dr. Wilmer Leon. Introduction above is theirs, with related articles of mine referenced in brackets.