Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Australian Anti-War Activist Joan Coxsedge's March 22, 2016 Letter

The following letter from Australian anti-war and Latin American solidarity activist Joan Coxsedge—who is also a former member of the Victoria state parliament--originally appeared in an Australian-Cuban solidarity group’s newsletter)

“March 22, 2016

“Dear Comrades
,
“Hope all is well. Obama came, saw and went. For Cubans of a superstitious bent, the deluge of rain that greeted the president as he arrived at Havana’s Jose Marti Airport was noted. Like his visit.

“Ever since the 1959 Cuban Revolution swept away US puppet Batista, the tiny island has stood as a beacon of dignity and independence to its vast army of supporters. And what a struggle to remain so in the face of Washington’s brutal blockade that forced Cuba to redistribute poverty rather than wealth. Despite its desperate circumstances, we could only admire its outstanding achievements in the areas of healthcare and education, paid maternity leave and equal pay rates, all provided as a right to its citizens regardless of income. Not like the US or Australia where wealth determines everything.
 
“Cuba also spends money and resources on overseas medical missions, while Washington fights wars, kills people and imposes blockades. Which is why my blood boiled when Obama had the gall to raise the issue of Cuba’s human rights during his brief visit. What a bloody cheek, what arrogance from the leader of a nation with such an atrocious track record. It’s the United States that should be taking lessons from Cuba.

“Obama didn’t hand back Guantanamo Bay, 45 square miles stolen from the Cubans more than a century ago, which the US continues to occupy under a 113- year old neo-colonial treaty. Cuba has refused to cash in the annual $4,085 ‘rental’ since 1960.

“And I presume the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program, a Bush-era scheme, is still in place, which offers speedy entry into the US for any Cuban medic who defects. Its sole purpose is to undermine Cuba’s medical missions, a brilliant initiative where over 50,000 Cuban medical personnel deliver health care to people in 60 countries, poor people who don’t have access to such care. Cuban doctors have saved 85,000 lives in Bolivia alone.

“When anyone raises the issue of human rights, you tell them: Cuba did not impose a stifling 55-year blockade on the United States, did not put the United States on a list of sponsors of terrorism, did not try to assassinate US presidents or try to overthrow the US government to promote ‘regime change’ or give overt and covert support to violent terrorist groups to attack Washington or use biological weapons. Cuba did not, in breach of international law, beam propaganda radio and TV signals into the US, or use agencies like USAID to financially support anti-government groups in the name of ‘robust democracy assistance.’

“And while you’re at it, remind detractors that the US has refused to sign the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights!

“But there is a hell of a challenge facing the Cuban Government. Opening up Cuba’s economy could damage the strong community bonds that have enabled Cubans to survive all the horrors that have been thrown at it. As I write, new hotels are proliferating to cope with the influx of American tourists, leading to a surge in prices for accommodation, food and taxis, numbers that will inevitably grow.

“At risk, the beautiful, unique colonial-era architecture and other places that make Cuba so special. How ironic it would be if the hordes of overweight, hamburger-chomping Americans could achieve what invasions, assassination attempts and CIA plots could not do, bugger up Cuba’s revolutionary ideals. We firmly believe that Cubans will never allow that to happen.

“According to Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, UN Commissioner for Human Rights, his conviction of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, shows that no-one is above the law. Bull. Those responsible for far worse bloodshed are still at liberty and unlikely to ever be prosecuted.

“A year ago, a report called Body Count compiled by international physicians, revealed that at least 1.3 million people had died in the US-led ‘war on terror’ in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. A figure that does not take into account casualties in other war zones such as Yemen, with the authors stressing that the figure is a ‘conservative estimate’. To this appalling death toll we must add the numbers of people killed during the NATO bombing of Libya and those killed in Syria by terrorists armed and funded by the West. The West’s neocons and their allies are responsible for the greatest amount of death, destruction and human misery on this planet since the days of the Third Reich whose foreign policy they have emulated. Why aren’t the likes of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Tony Blair, Hillary Clinton and John Howard in the dock?

“No, we must hate Karadzic and not delve too deeply into how the secessionist wars in Yugoslavia started and who lit the fuse. Yugoslavia was ‘expendable’ and the West supported the destroyers like Croatian’s Tudjman and Bosnia’s Izetbegovic who got ‘good press’ coverage because their policies suited the elites.

“Two elections on the way, with the US result probably having more impact here than our own. Neo-fascist buffoon Trump, a rich, white xenophobic crackpot, heavily supported by angry middle and working class Americans tossed onto the economic rubbish dump, their lives blighted by four decades of engineered competition with low-wage overseas labor and ‘free trade’ agreements, versus the Clinton Machine.

“Clinton loves Wall Street, Israel and the TPP. A dedicated imperialist, militarist and racial opportunist, she is strongly supported by the corporate media.

“Sanders? The corporates don’t like his message and ignore him, but he’s still in the ring.

“Like Tony Abbott, unfortunately. It’s been announced that Abbott has joined a group of other horror-heads - Tony Blair and John McCain - who’ve been invited by Ukraine’s President Poroshenko to advise him how to rule Ukraine! Poroshenko must be desperate.


“ Joan Coxsedge”

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

`Richard Farina Is Gone' Eulogistic Folk Song Lyrics















A eulogistic folk song about the '60s folk singer and author of the novel "Been Down so Long It Looks Like Up to Me"

(chorus)

Richard Farina is gone
There's not too much to say
Learn from what he saw
And fear not your own grave.

(verses)

A sudden bulletin
On the radio
Told of his accident
On a motorcycle. (chorus)

A poet and a writer
He had a way with words
A rebel and a fighter
And a charmer of women. (chorus)

He filled the scene with laughter
And brought fun to the world
His artwork was the life he lived
With freedom and enthusiasm. (chorus)

He left behind his book and songs
He left behind his love
His spirit still lives in memories
Although he died so young. (chorus)

Monday, March 21, 2016

`Kerouac and Cassady' Biographical Folk Song Lyrics




A biographical folk song from the early 1980s about the Beat Generation of the late 1940s and 1950s.
(lyrics)

(chorus)

Kerouac and Cassady
Loved the road, tried to be free
Kerouac and Cassady
Escaped the claws of McCarthy.

(verses)

Kerouac walked through the cold town of Lowell
His mother wished him to succeed
He came to New York, fell into a scene
And started to write and to write endlessly.
Cassady lived for the moment intense
Madly he drove in from Denver
Their own little world of excitement
Created with the help of their friends. (chorus)

Outside all the cold organizations
Away from the meaningless mold
Instead they slept late and partied, got stoned
And searched for the love and the bold.
Cassady lived it out, while Kerouac wrote it down
The new song of the open road
Out to the Coast and back east again
With women to love at each end. (chorus)

They fell for each other, while living unknown
And whiskey helped ease Jack's pain
And long overdue fame struck Kerouac
And he knew not what more he should say.
Their lives fell apart and Neal was framed up
And Kerouac lost himself in his booze
He moved to the right to protect his new wealth
And his Beat friends all moved out of sight. (chorus)

A lonely old man right at the end
With nothing new to write or to love
His myth and his legend are revived again
By people whose spirits are eternally young." (chorus)






Thursday, March 17, 2016

Donald Trump's Democratic Party Campaign Contributions Revisited

In 2016, billionaire real estate dealmaker and television celebrity Donald Trump is campaigning for the 2016 presidential nomination of a Republican Party whose candidates for federal office have historically received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Trump since 1990, according to the Center for Responsive Politics' Open Secrets websitedata.


For example:

1. On August 19, 2012, Donald Trump gave a $100,000 campaign contribution to the GOP's Congressional Leadership Fund political action committee [PAC];

2. On October 6, 2010, Donald Trump gave a $50,000 campaign contribution to the GOP's American Crossroads PAC;

3. On May 21, 2013, Donald Trump gave a $50,000 campaign contribution to the GOP's Kentuckians for Strong Leadership PAC;

4. On December 24, 1999, Donald Trump gave a $50,000 campaign to the GOP's Donald J. Trump New York Delegate Committee PAC;

5. Between March 29, 2013 and June 9, 2014, Donald Trump gave 2 campaign contributions, totaling $64,800, to the Republican National Committee [RNC];

6. Between April 6, 2011 and April 9, 2014, Donald Trump gave 4 campaign contributions, totaling $126,400, to the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee;

7. Between May 29, 2008 and July 26, 2012, Donald Trump gave 2 campaign contributions, totaling $59,200, to the Republican National Committee [RNC]; and

8. On August 23, 2010, Donald Trump gave a $30,400 campaign contribution to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Yet 2016 Republican Party presidential candidateTrump has, historically, also contributed--and Democratic Party politicians, campaign committees and PACs have, historically, accepted--hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to the campaign committees and PACs of Democratic Partycandidates for federal office.

For example:

1. Between October 8, 2002 and November 3, 2008, the Democratic Party's Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee accepted 7 campaign contributions, totaling $97,000, from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump;

2. Between June 17, 2000 and December 31, 2007, the Democratic Party's Democratic Congressional Committee accepted 6 campaign contributions, totaling $43,050, from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump;

3.  On April 13, 2005, the Democratic Party's New Jersey First PAC accepted a $5,000 campaign contribution from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump;

4. On September 20, 2010, the Democratic Party's Democratic Committee of New York State accepted a $10,000 campaign contribution from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump;

5. Between November 2 1994 and September 25, 1998, the Democratic National Committee [DNC] accepted 2 campaign contributions, totaling$15,000, from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump;

6. Between October 26, 1993 and April 24, 1998, the Democratic Party's Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee accepted 4 campaign contributions, totaling $21,000, from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump;

7. Between March 5, 1990 and October 29, 1999, the Democratic Party's Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee accepted 5 campaign contributions, totaling $18,600, from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump;

8. On April 30, 2008 Democratic Party politician Robert Andrews accepted a $6,900 campaign contribution from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump;

9. Between August 26, 1998 and March 1, 2006 the Democratic Party's National Leadership PAC accepted 5 campaign contributions, totaling $9,000, from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump;

10. Between May 1, 2002 and November 12, 2007,2016 Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton accepted 8 campaign contributions, totaling $10,660, from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump;

11. Between March 21, 1989 and June 24, 2003, 2004 Democratic Party presidential candidate John Kerry accepted 4 campaign contributions, totaling $4,000, from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump;

12. On December 31, 2001, 2012 Democratic Party vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden accepted a$1,000 campaign contribution from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump;

13. Between June 14, 1989 and March 26, 2009,Democratic Senator Harry Reid accepted 6 campaign contributions, totaling $9,400, from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump;

14. Between February 25, 1999 and April 7, 2010,Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer accepted 8 campaign contributions, totaling $9,250, from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump;

15. Between April 25, 1990 and August 27, 2007,Democratic Congressional Representative Charles Rangel accepted 12 campaign contributions, totaling $18,600, from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump; and

16. Between June 14, 1993 and December 19, 2003, now-deceased Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy accepted 5 campaign contributions, totaling $5,000, from 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Donald Trump's Funding of Ex-NYC Democratic Mayor Dinkins' 1980's Campaign Revisited

In 2016, billionaire real estate dealmaker and tv celebrity Donald Trump is campaigning for the 2016 Republican Party presidential nomination.  Yet during the 1980's, Trump apparently contributed a lot of money to help fund the election campaigns of Democratic Party politicians in New York City like former Democratic New York City Mayor David Dinkins. As the 1992 book by former Village Voice reporter Wayne Barrett, Trump: The Deals and The Downfall, noted:


"...Though Trump was the largest individual giver in city and state elections from the mid-seventies on, he had voted only three times, routinely skipping even presidential elections...

"When David Dinkins...ran for Manhattan borough president in 1985...Donald [Trump] wanted to help Dinkins without surfacing...So Nick Ribis and several other Trump aides, particularly unknown casino brass from Atlantic City, dumped thousands into the Dinkins coffers without getting noticed. Trump's partner [real estate developer Abe] Hirschfield hosted Dinkins's headquarters in his midtown hotel while simultaneously financing the entry into the race of a second white candidate who had no chance to win but could only help Dinkins, who is Black...Donald [Trump]...did raise $20,000 for GOP candidate [for NYC Mayor] Rudy Giuliani [in 1989), co-chairing one fund-raiser at the Waldorf-Astoria in the spring...Even while he endorsed Giuliani he had Tony Gliedman, as an old tennis buddy of David Dinkins, heading a real estate fund-raising committee for the Dinkins campaign...".

And in its December 7, 1988 issue, the New York Times reported that "Donald Trump" was "prepared to spend $2 million of his money on anti-Koch television commercials in next year's mayoral race," in which Dinkins subsequently defeated former New York City Mayor Koch in the Democratic Party's mayoralty primary.

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Donald Trump's Historical Cuomo Dynasty-NY Democratic Party Connection Revisited--Part 2

The son of 20th-century millionaire real estate dealmaker Fred Trump [II]--celebrity real estate dealmaker and billionaire Donald Trump--wants to be nominated by the Republican Party National Convention to be the Republican Party candidate for U.S. president in the November 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Yet, ironically, members of the Trump family were apparently business associates, campaign contributors/fund-raisers, or political allies of current Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Andrew Cuomo's father, former Democratic New York Governor Mario Cuomo, historically. And the Trump family's private real estate dealmaking firm apparently profited, historically from Fred Trump [II] and Donald Trump's 20th-century connection to the Cuomo Dynasty and New York State's Democratic Party. As the 1992 book by former Village Voice reporter Wayne Barrett, Trump: The Deals and The Downfall revealed:

"The retention of the Falcone [law] firm was hardly Trump's only Cuomo move. In November 1985, Donald [Trump] hired Albany Lobbyist and former [NY State] transportation commissioner Bill Hennessy, who'd just resigned as chairman of the [New York] state Democratic Party...When Cuomo's [NY State] Thruway Authority chairman resigned in 1987, the governor appointed Hennessy immediately and permitted him to remain a 90 percent partner in his lobbying firm, which continued to lobby state agencies...On a $2,000-a-month retainer, plus a $500 per diem rate, the Hennessy firm's main job for Trump was to lobby some of the very transportation officials he [Hennessy] had appointed...

"As potent as the Falcone and Hennessy combination was, Donald [Trump] did not stop there. In the spring of 1986, Trump hired UDC [Urban Development Corporation]'s in-house counsel, Susan Heilbron...The two first discussed the job while they sat together in December 1985 during...talks. Well known at the top levels of the Cuomo administration, Heilbron helped engineer the selection of her best friend as [UDC Director] Tese's new counsel, Joanne Gentile...

"Trump also tried, over a period of 6 months in 1986 and 1987, to lure Sandy Frucher into his lair. Frucher, one of the governor's half-dozen top advisers, eventually declined, after countless courting sessions.

"On Falcone's recommendation, Sive Paget & Riesel, the...environmental law firm Trump retained..., hired Richard Gordon, the executive director of the Friends of Mario Cuomo. Gordon, who had worked with the Cuomos since the 1982 campaign, remained director of the campaign committee, even though his law firm had a multiplicity of matters before state agencies.

"Trump's most unusual reach, however, was for a very special driver and bodyguard, Joe Anastasi...Anastasi had been Mario Cuomo's personal bodyguard for years, starting when [Mario] Cuomo was lieutenant governor, and had accompanied him throughout the 1982 [NY] gubernatorial campaign, starting most mornings in [Mario] Cuomo's kitchen in Queens...After [Mario] Cuomo became governor, Anastasi was on his security detail in New York City...

"In 1986, Anastasi began accompanying Trump on various trips around the country...Lucille Falcone hosted the annual Cuomo fund-raiser at the Sheraton.Trump bought the most expensive ringside table...Trump was Cuomo's biggest 1989 corporate giver, donating $25,000.

"A few nights after the fund-raiser, Donald [Trump] went to a second, private Cuomo affair--Andrew Cuomo's birthday party at a midtown pub. The party was co-hosted by one of Andrew [Cuomo]'s closest friends, Dan Klores, the...aid to public relations czar Howard Rubenstein, who had handled the Trump account for years...Donald [Trump]...spoke to...Andrew [Cuomo] for a half hour. Andrew [Cuomo] would later claim that it was the first time he'd ever met Trump...It was just one more rhetorical Cuomo ploy--hiding a compromising business arrangement behind the supposed detachment of personal distance...

"Over the years, Donald [Trump] had devised a strategy for every significant public official in his path: the seduction of the elusive [Mario] Cuomo had simply been the most manipulative and extended..."

Saturday, March 12, 2016

`Stop Bigotry' Demonstrators Protest Trump In Chicago


Donald Trump's Historical Cuomo Dynasty-NY Democratic Party Connection Revisited--Part 1

The son of 20th-century millionaire real estate dealmaker Fred Trump [II]--celebrity real estate dealmaker and billionaire Donald Trump--wants to be nominated by the Republican Party National Convention to be the Republican Party candidate for U.S. president in the November 2016 U.S. presidential election.


Yet, ironically, members of the Trump family were apparently business associates, campaign contributors/fund-raisers, or political allies of current Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Andrew Cuomo's father, former Democratic New York Governor Mario Cuomo, historically. And the Trump family's private real estate dealmaking firm apparently profited, historically from Fred Trump [II] and Donald Trump's 20th-century connection to the Cuomo Dynasty and New York State's Democratic Party. As the 1992 book by former Village Voice reporter Wayne Barrett, Trump: The Deals and The Downfallrevealed:

"...Donald [Trump]'s penetration of the Cuomo inner circle was a textbook case in seduction, and his compromising relationship with the administration would last...Trump knew he had a bit of history going for him. In 1958, Mario Cuomo had joined his first law firm--Brooklyn's Corner, Weisbrod, Froeb and Charles. Senior partner Richard Charles, who became [Mario] Cuomo's mentor at the small firm, had already been representing Fred Trump [II] for decades, and [Mario] Cuomo was assigned as a young associate...[Mario] Cuomo['s]...counsel as governor...remembers their travels out to Fred Trump's headquarters on Avenue Z for business lunches at which [Fred] Trump dished out the cheese sandwiches himself...

"When [Mario] Cuomo became [former Democratic New York Governor Hugh] Carey's running mate in 1978 and was elected lieutenant governor [of New York], [Donald] Trump contributed $4,000 to his...campaign committee...In the 1982 race [for New York governor[...he'd called [Mario] Cuomo's old friend and finance chairman, Bill Stern, on October 11, 1982, and made a $3,500 donation for the general election.

"...Several Trump business entities combined [on November 13, 1984]...to give the Friends of Mario Cuomo $15,000--making Trump one of the top donors at [Mario] Cuomo's annual fund-raiser.[Mario] Cuomo had personally approved Trump's invitation that August [in 1984] to serve on the campaign committee's board of advisers. The board was formed as `a permanent finance committee' of 30 to 50...individuals from every major region and industry in the state to raise a minimum of $30,000 each...Trump's role on the advisory board meant he was charged with raising at least as much as he directly donated...

"...In 1983...Lucille Falcone, a [then-] 33-year-old lawyer...was seen as merely an appendage of the governor's office...In 1983 ...news stories described her as the girlfriend of [Mario] Cuomo's 25-year-old son, [now current Democratic New York Governor]Andrew. She then scurried back to her law firm and took over the Friends committee. It was Falcone who recommended that Trump be named to the board of advisers in a letter to [Mario] Cuomo.

"Falcone was the only person to have worked at both of Mario Cuomo's law firms. She was a young associate at the Charles firm in Brooklyn, recruited from law school in 1976 by [Mario] Cuomo's close friend, Pete Dwyer, the treasurer of his [losing] 1977 mayoral campaign [for NYC mayor]. In early 1981, she was asked to join a new firm that had just been formed at [Mario] Cuomo's request by Jerry Weiss, who had been [Mario] Cuomo's special counsel as lieutenant governor...

"The small firm that the [then-] 38-year-old Weiss assembled was intimately connected with [Mario] Cuomo from the beginning--[then-] law studentAndrew [Cuomo] worked summers there, the campaign finance committee met there, and the firm's biggest client became the campaign's most generous donor.


"Shortly after [Mario] Cuomo won his astonishing victory [in the 1982 gubernatorial election], the firm was recast with two new partners as Weiss, Blutrich, Falcone and Miller and began to prosper, quietly, though everyone of its partners was [then] only `30 something.' Andrew [Cuomo] joined the [Mario] Cuomo administration as...special assistant and soon became the second most powerful state official...He'd begun dating Falcone in 1982 and worked closely with her on the annual dinner dances in 1983 and 1984...Andrew [Cuomo] joined the {Weiss, Blutrich, Falcone and Miller law] firm in May of 1985...

"Shortly before [then-] 25-year-old Andrew [Cuomo]became the firm's youngest partner, [Donald] Trump quietly retained it...His relationship with the firm would last for almost 2 years, though it did not surface publicly until August of 1986. The legal work it did for [Donald] Trump remains unclear, apart from Andrew [Cuomo]'s concession that it represented [Donald] Trump in lease negotiations...When Trump's retention of the firm did hit the newspaper in 1986, Trump's response was: `They are now representing us in a very significant transaction.'

"Though Andrew [Cuomo] insisted in later interviews that the firm did not interact with [New York State] officials on behalf of clients, Falcone did just that for Trump. She arranged and attended a July 21, 1985 lunch at the World Trade Center with Trump and Sandy Frucher, the president of the state's Battery Park City Authority. During the lunch, Trump expressed an interest in being designated for a choice hotel site on the Battery Park site, just off Wall Street..."


(end of part 1)

Friday, March 11, 2016

Donald Trump's Historical Exploitation of Polish Immigrant Workers Revisited

In recent months, billionaire television celebrity and real estate dealmaker, plutocrat and 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump has been scapegoating immigrants and claiming that immigrants are somehow responsible for the loss of union wage jobs for U.S.-born citizen workers during the last 40 years.


Yet, when Donald Trump built his Trump Tower in Manhattan in the late 20th-century, much of the construction and demolition-related work was apparently done by exploited, undocumented, low-wage immigrant workers from Poland. As the 1992 book by former Village Voice reporter Wayne Barrett,Trump: The Deals and The Downfall, recalled:

"...Though Trump Tower was to be Donald [Trump]'s most lavish project, he decided at the very outset to try to cut costs in clearing the site, selecting a demolition contractor with no heavy demolition experience simply because it had agreed to do the job at Trump's suggested $775,000 price.

"The contractor, William Kaszycki, was able to submit so low a bid because most of his workers were illegal Polish aliens working at rates one-half to one-third those of union scale. Kaszycki's wife recruited the workers in Poland...On Trump's job 200 of them worked 12 to 18-hour shifts with no days off or overtime and slept in groups of eight in a slum apartment or motel room...

"...Kaszycki and Trump were jointly sued...by labor lawyers seeking the welfare fund payments for the Polish workers that were never paid...U.S. District Court Judge Charles Stewart finally found that theTrump Organization and the president of the union...had `a tacit agreement to employ the Polish workers and deprive them' of union benefits, concluding that `the Trump defendants knowingly participated in the fiduciary breach.' Stewart determined that $325,000 in welfare payments had been improperly withheld--and fined the Trump Towercorporate entity over a million dollars...'

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Donald Trump's Late 1970's Hotel Commodore Tax Break and Democratic Party Connections Revisited

2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump, ironically, was apparently aligned politically with Brooklyn's Democratic Party machine organization during the same period when he was given a big tax break for his Hotel Commodore real estate project by New York City's local government; which was then managed by local Democratic Party politicians on behalf of special real estate interests (like the Trump family firm) and special corporate and Wall Street interests. As the 1992 book by formerVillage Voice reporter Wayne Barrett, Trump: The Deals and The Downfall, observed:


"With Stanley Steingut as [NY State] assembly speaker and [Abraham] Beame as [NYC] mayor, the ancient and insular wing of the Brooklyn [Democratic] party long identified with the Trump family was now the most powerful Democratic faction in state and city politics...

"On May 20, 1976, the [New York City] board [of estimate], which met in the upper floor of {new York's] City Hall, unanimously passed the [Hotel] Commodore deal...The private parties hadn't put a dime on the table, while the public sector had delivered a gigantic and exclusive tax break...Trump had been handpicked by bureaucrats and politicians to become the solitary recipient of an unprecedented give away, stretched so far into the future that it was statistically likely to outlive even its [then-] 30-year-old beneficiary...No other Manhattan hotel would ever receive so selective and grand a subsidy...

"...Without the guarantee Fred [Trump II] wound up giving his son, Donald [Trump] would have had no Commodore mortgage...Fred [Trump II] was his silent partner in the Commodore project...

"Donald [Trump]...went from paying $42,386 in taxes in 1977 to paying none in 1978 and 1979. He escaped tax liability in 1979 on at least $3.4 million in earnings with a carefully structured package of real estate losses and interest payments..." 

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Donald Trump Company's Racially Discriminatory Rental Policy Revisited

During the 1970's a major racial discrimination suit was brought by the U.S. Justice Department against the family business, coincidentally, of 2016 Republican party presidential candidate Donald Trump and his father--because it apparently refused to rent apartments to African-American tenant applicants in some of the housing developments it owned and managed. As the 1992 book by former Village Voice reporter Wayne Barrett, Trump: The Deals and The Downfall, noted:


"...The Justice Department...brought a major racial discrimination suit against the [Trump] company, contending that the Trumps had systematically refused to rent to Blacks. Four superintendents or rental agents working for [Donald and Fred] Trump confirmed to federal authorities that applications for apartments were coded by race. Doormen were told to discourage applications from Blacks by telling them that there were no vacancies or by jacking up the rent...One staffer said that his instructions came straight from Fred [Trump II] and the company went so far as to try to figure out how `to decrease the number of Black tenants' already in one development `by encouraging them to locate housing elsewhere.'

"The government was willing...to sign a consent decree with the Trumps, compelling them to take certain affirmative steps to integrate their estimated 14,000 unites in the New York area, but Donald [Trump] and [Roy] Cohn agreed that they'd much rather fight...

"The litigation dragged on for a year and a half...Finally, Donald [Trump] signed the consent decree. The government called the decree--which required advertisements in minority papers, minority employment promotions, and a preferential vacancy listing with the Urban League--`one of the most far reaching ever negotiated.'...

"...Four years later, in the summer of 1978, the Justice Department found the Trumps in contempt of the decree and called them back into court...It all remained irrelevant to Donald [Trump]. The bottom line was that two government discrimination lawsuits had had no effect on the company's ability to make development deals, usually with the government's help..." 

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Black Male Worker `Not Seasonally Adjusted' Unemployment Rate Increases To 9.2 Percent In February 2016

Between January and February 2016, the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Black male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States increased from 9.1 to 9.2 percent; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all Black workers (youth, male and female) in the United States was still 8.9 percent in February 2016, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Between January and February 2016, the “not seasonally adjusted” number of Black female workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States labor force decreased by 30,000 (from 9,927,000 to 9,897,000); while the “not seasonally adjusted” number of Black female workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 5,000 (from 9,134,000 to 9,129,000).  In addition, the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Black female workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States was still 7.8 percent in February 2016.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Black youths between 16 and 19 year-of age was still 21.4 percent in February 2016; while the “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 14.3 percent during that same month. In addition, the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age in the United States was still 15.5 percent in February 2016; while the “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 14.5 percent during that same month. And the “not seasonally adjusted” number of Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age in the U.S. labor force decreased by 31,000 (from 1,166,000 to 1,135,000) between January and February 2016.

The “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latino male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States was still 5.5 percent in February 2016; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all Latino workers (youth, male and female) in the United States was still 5.9 percent during that same month. In addition, the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 5.5 percent in February 2016.

The “not seasonally adjusted” number of unemployed  Asian-American workers increased by 25,000 (from 343,000 to 368,000) between January and February 2016; while the official unemployment rate for Asian-American workers in the United States increased from 3.7  to 3.9 percent during the same period, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

In February 2016, the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all white workers (youth, male and female) in the United States was still 4.6 percent; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for white male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States was still 4.5 percent during that same month.  In addition between January and February 2016 the official “not seasonally adjusted” number of jobless white male workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 6,000 (from 2,904,000 to 2,910,000); while the “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 3.9 percent in February 2016..

In February 2016, the “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all female workers over 16 years-of-age in the United States was still 4.8 percent; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 4.5 percent during that same month..

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all male workers over 16 years-of-age in the United States was still 5.5 percent in February 2016; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 5.1 percent during that same month. In addition, the “not seasonally adjusted” number of all unemployed male workers over 16 years-of-age in the United States increased by 68,000 (from 4,569,000 to 4,637,000) between January and February 2016; while the “not seasonally adjusted” number of unemployed male workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 71,000 (from 4,087,000 to 4,158,000) during the same period.

In February 2016, 8,219,000 workers in the United States were officially unemployed, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data; and in February 2016 the “not seasonally adjusted”” unemployment rate for all U.S. workers (male, female and youth) was still 5.2 percent.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ March 4, 2016 press release:

“…Job losses continued in mining…In February, the unemployment rate held at 4.9 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 7.8 million, was unchanged…The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged at 2.2 million in February and has shown little movement since June. In February, these individuals accounted for 27.7 percent of the unemployed…

“The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (also referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was unchanged in February at 6 million and has shown little movement since November. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours have been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job…

“In February, 1.8 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force…These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

“Among the marginally attached, there were 599,000 discouraged workers in February…Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them….

“Employment in mining continued to decline in February  (-19,000), with job losses in support activities for mining (-16,000) and coal mining (-2,000). Since a recent peak in September 2014, mining has shed 171,000 jobs, with more than three-fourths of the loss in support activities for mining.

“Employment in other major industries, including manufacturing, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, professional and business services, and government, showed little change over the month….


“In February, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls declined by 3 cents to $25.35...”

Friday, March 4, 2016

Donald Trump's Roy Cohn-McCarthyism Historical Connection Revisited

During the 1970's, 2016 Republican party presidential candidate Donald Trump, coincidentally, apparently retained the former right-wing chief counsel to U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy and McCarthy's U.S. Senate investigative committee that violated the civil liberties of many U.S. citizens during the 1950's McCarthy Era,Roy Cohn, to be his lawyer. And, coincidentally,Donald Trump's lawyer during the 1970's, Roy Cohn, was also apparently an adviser, historically, to both former Democratic New York City Comptroller and former Democratic New York City Mayor Abe Beame and former Brooklyn Democratic Party Boss and machine-politician Meade Esposito. As the 1992 book by former Village Voice reporter Wayne Barrett,Trump: The Deals and The Downfall, recalled:


"...In Manhattan, he [Donald Trump]...met the man who, after Fred [Trump II], would become the most important influence on his early career, Roy Cohn. Infamous for his 1950's role as chief counsel to Senator Joe McCarthy,...Cohn was by the early seventies a walking advertisement for every form of graft, the best-known fixer in New York...

"The son of a Bronx judge, Cohn was reared in the clubhouse culture of the city, attending dinner parties as a teenager with Carmine DeSapio, Ed Flynn, and the other Democratic bosses who ruled New York. He had also met Abe Beame in his father's house, and over the years became an adviser to both Beame and new Brooklyn Democratic Chairman Meade Esposito...

"In the spring of 1974, soon after [former Democratic NYC Mayor] Beame's inaugural, both Cohn and theTrumps had tables at the Brooklyn Democratic Party's annual dinner at the Waldorf--a ballroom filled with a dozen indicted, soon-to-be-indicted, or convicted public and party officials...

"It was only a few months after Beame won the mayoral runoff that Donald [Trump] first retainedCohn...

"...Roy Cohn...became Donald [Trump]'s mentor, his constant adviser on every significant aspect of his business and personal life...Many of those with public and private power who met young Donald [Trump]...were introduced to him byCohn...Cohn...literally adopted Donald [Trump]. He began to see Trump as potentially his most successful protege' and instrument...Cohn would ultimately be disbarred for stealing from other clients..."

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Donald Trump's Rent-Stabilized Apartment Revisited

Although 2016 Republican party presidential candidate Donald Trump has apparently been against  regulating the rents landlords may charge New York City tenants who live in residential apartment buildings that contain 6 units or more--in order to prevent overcharging and rent-gouging of tenants by New York City landlords--for many years, Trump, himself, apparently once, ironically, lived in a rent-stabilized apartment in Manhattan. As the 1992 book by formerVillage Voice reporter Wayne Barrett, Trump: The Deals and The Downfall, observed:


"...Though Donald [Trump] would spend years railing against New York's rent regulation system, his first apartment [a studio off Third Avenue at 196 East 75th Street] was rent stabilized, limiting rent increases...

"...He hired an Irish maid and quickly developed a reputation among the building's workers as a cheap tipper...

"Yet,, in January 1975, he was pictured...assailing the `ridiculous' rent stabilization system..."

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Donald Trump's Prep School Educational Background and Vietnam War Draft Avoidance Revisited

Unlike most voters in the United States, ultra-rich celebrity deal-maker and 2016 Republican party presidential candidate Donald Trump didn't graduate from a high school in a U.S. public school system; and unlike many elderly right-wing Republican party voters, Trump apparently was able to avoid being drafted into the U.S. military during the Vietnam War era of the 1960's. As the 1992 book by former Village Voicereporter Wayne Barrett, Trump: The Deals and The Downfall, recalled:


"...Donald [Trump]...went to Kew Forest, a small private Queens institution...located just a few miles from the Trump home...He was...pulled out by Fred [Trump II] at the end of seventh grade and sent to...New York Military Academy...

"He went to college at Fordham...in his red Auburn-Healey 3000...After his sophomore year, he suddenly transferred to Wharton [Business School of University of Pennsylvania]...Everyone was surprised that he had been admitted since he was hardly a star student at Fordham and Wharton was a highly selective school. There he...stayed far away from the anti-war tumult that hit Penn's campus in the late sixties. He graduated in 1968...

"Somehow, with 5 years of military training and a string of cadet honors at New York Military Academy [NYMA], the baseball-tennis-squash star qualified for a medical deferment, classified 1Y after a physical exam at the Armed Forces Center in New York on September 17, 1968...In 1969, the same year Richard Nixon became President, Donald [Trump] registered as a Republican...."