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DECEMBER 2022 ISSUE



EDITORIAL: OVER A CUP OF TEA



Killing of Journalist collateral damage in response to Duterte’s Drug War?
(Part 1)



A hard-hitting Filipino journalist and radio commentator, Percy “Lapid”Mabasa, was recently gunned down (October 3, 2022) by a hired killer riding in tandem with someone in a motorcycle, as Percy was about to enter the gate of the subdivision where he lived. With CCTV around and dashcam on the victim’s vehicle, the gunman’s identity was caught on camera and prominently flashed on TV and other media platforms. A cash bounty amounting to Php6.5 million in total (from volunteer sources) was publicly announced by the government’s Department of the Interior and Local Government in an effort to solve this crime. This prominent media attention reportedly “scared” the hired gunman, believing that whoever hired him would eliminate him soon, so he decided to surrender to the Philippine National Police, with the gun he used to kill Percy and told how he, together with five others, executed the order to assassinate the journalist. The gunman identified himself as Joel Escorial, who then named his companions (the motorbike driver, two siblings who did surveillance work, and two middlemen from “Bilibid”[jail system]). Escorial, in his signed confession, said his group was paid Php550,000 pesos ($10,000) to kill Percy Lapid, and that the person who contacted him to do the job was a Jun Villamor (one of the two middemen), an inmate in the National Bilibid Prison under the Bureau of Corrections (of the Dept. of Justice).

. -- READ MORE



our STORIES AND FEATURES





GOP Members of Congress Threaten Debt Limit Default To Cut Social Security and Medicare



By Alan Cohen


At some point next year, Congress will need to raise the nation’s debt limit to prevent the United States from defaulting on its financial obligations. However, key House Republican leaders have recently indicated that they plan to take advantage of the need to increase the federal government’s borrowing cap to force spending cuts to Social Security and Medicare, putting these two critical programs at risk.

When necessary, Congress has always acted to raise the debt limit if it does not, the nation would go into default—with disastrous consequences. Congress has done so 78 times since 1960: 49 times under Republican presidents and 29 times under Democratic presidents. It voted to suspend the debt limit—effectively raising it—three times under President Donald Trump and increased the debt limit twice under President Joe Biden in late 2021.
-- CLICK STORY TO READ MORE



The Expanding International Reach of China’s Police



By Jordan Link


Introduction and summary


The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS), its national police service and domestic security force, across the globe in ways that threaten U.S. national security interests by influencing security sector governance to undermine respect for the rule of law and human rights. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping, the MPS has significantly expanded its overseas activities, increasingly using security cooperation as a tool to expand its influence and shape global norms. While the U.S. foreign policy community has focused attention on the military-to-military security cooperation activities of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), there is little public understanding of how the MPS’ overseas activities directly compete with U.S. security cooperation programs. -- CLICK STORY TO READ MORE



A Primer on the 2022 National Security Strategy



​By Peter Juul and Heba Malik
The Biden administration’s 2022 National Security Strategy puts forward three core themes: strategic competition with China and Russia the importance of domestic industrial policy and investment and a focus on climate change as a central challenge. It also contains several subsidiary themes, including food security, pandemic response efforts, combating disinformation, countering corruption, and strengthening American democracy. These key themes and subsidiary points follow from the strategy’s fundamental assumption that “the United States is strong abroad because we are strong at home.”
A brief look at the National Security Strategy itself makes these three main themes clear—and shows how they complement and build off one another. -- CLICK STORY TO READ MORE


The Supreme Court Censoring History and Race Would Be a Mistake



​By Nicole Lee Ndumele, Ben Olinsky, & Marcella Bombardieri


This term, the Supreme Court is hearing several cases designed to achieve the long-standing, radical right-wing agenda of prohibiting the government from using race conscious remedies to address pervasive racial injustices. This goal—which effectively seeks to reverse key protections granted by the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution—would continue a campaign by the court’s extreme majority to reverse rights, laws, and precedents that have stood for generations and pervert the intentions and explicit language of the Constitution itself.
-- CLICK STORY TO READ MORE



Recent Legislative and Executive Acts Represent Promise for Women’s Economic Security



By Lauren Hoffman, Rose Khattar, Beth Almeida, & Bela Salas-Betsch


New data from the U.S. Census Bureau reveal that the gender wage gap narrowed slightly in 2021. This progress, while modest, reflects the robust economic recovery—fueled in part by the American Rescue Plan (ARP)—that saw women’s employment expand by more than 3 million jobs since the passage of the ARP in March 2021. In another win for women, the Biden administration’s transformative economic achievements—including the Inflation Reduction Act, student loan relief, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the bipartisan infrastructure law—will help alleviate many families’ and individuals’ economic pressures in myriad ways.

.-- CLICK STORY TO READ MORE



VOTING RIGHTS




In early US history, only white adult male property owners were allowed to vote. The 15th Amendment (ratified in 1870 and stipulated that men could not be denied the right to vote based on their race) and later the 19th Amendment (ratified in 1920 and granted women the right to vote) to the US Constitution set the foundation for voting rights in this nation. Subsequent to the passage of these amendments, African Americans and others still faced discriminatory laws and practices in many parts of the country, especially the South. Poll taxes and literacy tests were used to deliberately suppress African Americans’ freedom to vote. -- CLICK STORY TO READ MORE



LOCAL NEWS



MADISON & DANE COUNTY in Wisconsin



Dane County High School Climate Conference: Gen Z: Meeting the Challenge of Our Changing Environment



Madison Mayor's Blog: Support for Community Facilities Now Available



MORE NEWS/FEATURES



CAPAC Statement Supporting Affirmative Action During Supreme Court Oral Arguments





​WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 31 – Today, the Supreme Court of the United States will begin to hear oral arguments in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina, two cases that challenge the Court’s long-standing support for affirmative action in higher education. CAPAC fully supports affirmative action policies that consider race as one factor in a holistic admissions process. These race-conscious policies are critical to promoting campus diversity and closing educational gaps that are due, in part, to the prevalence of systemic racism in our society.. ,,”- READ MORE





Asian Americans for Affirmative Action: Why Should We Care?





Opinion piece by former OCA intern and Sri-Lankan American graduate from Columbia University, Melinda Samaratunga.


“Don’t you agree that affirmative action harms we Asian Americans?” My college friend posed this question to me as we sat in our dorm lounge, our go-to site for countless discussions and debates. We had just been speaking about affirmative action as two Asian Americans, and my friend expressed that, while she supports affirmative action because it creates more equity, she also believes it operates at the expense of Asian Americans. I knew I had to do more reading and research before giving her a well-informed answer. The Supreme Court is currently facing this decision, as it is considering whether race-conscious admissions programs at institutions such as Harvard University are legal ​.--READ MORE



Wisconsin Holiday Light Shows





Get in the holiday spirit with these spectacular light displays! Whether you and your crew prefer wandering through the illuminated winter wonderlands on foot or in a nice warm car, many communities around Wisconsin offer both walkable and drive-through experiences. Check out these spots for some festive fun.-- READ MORE



UNABLE TO CONTINUE WORKING?? There should be help. Social Security Disability and SSI - Programs designed to help individuals who are disabled from work. IF YOU APPLY FOR SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY AND/OR SSI AND YOU ARE DENIED, THERE IS HELP! Call 1-800-254-7766



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Contact





heidipascual2016@yahoo.com