200,000 Salvadorans may be forced to leave the U.S. as Trump ends immigration protection

Demonstrators march Dec. 6 in Washington during a rally in support of the Deferred Action for the Childhood Arrivals and Temporary Protected Status programs. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

By Nick Miroff January 8 at 12:55 PM

In one of its most significant immigration decisions to date, the Trump administration said Monday it will terminate the provisional residency permits of about 200,000 Salvadorans who have lived in the country since at least 2001, leaving them to potentially face deportation.

The administration said it will give the Salvadorans until Sept. 9, 2019, to leave the United States or find a way to obtain legal residency, according to a statement Monday from the Department of Homeland Security. The Salvadorans were granted what is known as Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, after earthquakes hit the country in 2001, and their permits have been renewed on an 18-month basis since then.

Monday’s announcement was consistent with the White House’s broader stated goal of reducing legal immigration to the United States and intensifying efforts to expel those who arrived illegally. But Homeland Security officials characterized the decision by Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in narrower legal terms: as a recognition that conditions in El Salvador had improved enough since the earthquakes to make the TPS designation no longer warranted.

“Based on careful consideration of available information, including recommendations received as part of an inter-agency consultation process, the Secretary determined that the original conditions caused by the 2001 earthquakes no longer exist,” Monday’s DHS statement read. “Thus, under the applicable statute, the current TPS designation must be terminated.”

The DHS statement also noted that the U.S. government has deported more than 39,000 Salvadorans in the past two years, demonstrating, it said, “that the temporary inability of El Salvador to adequately return their nationals after the earthquake has been addressed.”

DHS announced on Jan. 8 that it will end protected immigration status for about 200,000 migrants from El Salvador. This is what you need to know about TPS. (Melissa Macaya, Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

DHS officials said 262,500 Salvadorans have been granted TPS permits, but recent estimates indicate the number of people who reside in the country with that status is closer to 200,000.

Immigrant advocates, Salvadoran government officials and many others had implored Nielsen to extend the TPS designation, citing the country’s horrific gang violence and the potentially destabilizing effect of so many people being sent home.

Others urged her to consider the approximately 190,000 U.S.-born children of Salvadoran TPS recipients. Their parents must now decide whether to break up their families, take the whole family back to El Salvador, or stay in the country and risk deportation.

Senior DHS officials told reporters Monday that the families would have to make that decision, and that the impact on American businesses, among other potential consequences of the TPS decision, were not part of Nielsen’s decision-making process. They said it is up to Congress to determine a remedy.

“Only Congress can legislate a permanent solution addressing the lack of an enduring lawful immigration status of those currently protected by TPS who have lived and worked in the United States for many years,” the DHS statement read. “The 18-month delayed termination will allow Congress time to craft a potential legislative solution.”

[‘I consider this my country’: Salvadorans in U.S. devastated by TPS decision]

Trump administration officials have repeatedly said they viewed the TPS program as an example of American immigration policy gone awry, noting that when Congress created the designation in 1990, its purpose was to provide “temporary” protection from deportation following a natural disaster, armed conflict or other calamity.

In November, DHS ended TPS for 60,000 Haitians who arrived after a 2010 earthquake, and for 2,500 Nicaraguan migrants protected after Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

A six-month extension was recently granted to 57,000 Hondurans, a decision made before Nielsen’s arrival by then-Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke. That move frustrated White House officials who wanted Duke to end the program.

Lawmakers from both parties who represent cities and states with large immigrant populations blasted Monday’s DHS decision, including Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who called it “a shameful and cynical move” whose purpose was to “score political points with the extreme right wing Republican base.”

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) said he urged the Trump administration to “reconsider” the TPS decision. “Since 2001, these people have established themselves in the United States, making countless contributions to our society and our local communities. It would be devastating to send them home after they have created a humble living for themselves and their families.”

There were new signs Monday that TPS could end up as a bargaining chip in a potential congressional immigration deal. A source familiar with the negotiations said Congress could step in to help the Salvadorans, Haitians and other groups whose temporary protected status is now set to expire in 2019.

Democrats and Republicans have been privately discussing the possibility of curbing the diversity visa lottery program — which grants about 55,000 green cards each year to immigrants from nations with low immigration rates to the United States — in exchange for extending TPS protections as part of the talks over the fate of younger immigrants known as “dreamers” who were brought to the country illegally as children.

President Trump has railed against the diversity program, saying that any deal to provide legal status to the dreamers must get rid of it.

[Trump to end provisional residency protection for 60,000 Haitians]

“The fix has been in for these TPS decisions, regardless of the facts on the ground in these countries,” said Kevin Appleby of the New York-based Center for Migration Studies.

“The decision on El Salvador is particularly damaging,” he said. “It not only will uproot families and children who have lived here for years, it also will further destabilize an already violent country. It is incredibly shortsighted and undermines our interest in a stable Central America.”

DHS said in its announcement that it conducted extensive outreach to Salvadorans living in the United States, including “community forums on TPS, panel discussions with Salvadoran community organizers, stakeholder teleconferences, regular meetings with TPS beneficiaries, news releases to the Salvadoran community, meetings with Salvadoran government officials, meetings at local churches, and listening sessions.”

Secretary Nielsen met recently with the El Salvador’s foreign minister and U.S. ambassador, and spoke with President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, according to the announcement sent to lawmakers.
Jaime Contreras, vice president of Local 32BJ, the largest property service local in the Service Employees International Union, called Monday’s decision “shameful.” In the Washington area, he said, TPS recipients clean Ronald Reagan National Airport, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and “every major landmark you can think of.”

“They have families here. A lot of these people own homes,” said Contreras, whose union represents about 160,000 commercial office cleaners, security officers and others nationwide. “It’s time for Congress to do the right thing.”

Ed O’Keefe, David Nakamura and Maria Sacchetti contributed to this report.

Sanctions Against General Over minority Abuse

By Shoon Naing and Simon Lewis-2018-01-07

Myanmar 'feels sad' over a US decision to sanction a military general, a government spokesman said, after Washington linked the commander last week to abuses against the Rohingya Muslim minority. "This targeted sanction is based on unreliable accusations without evidence, as we have repeatedly said, so we feel sad for that," Zaw Htay, spokesman for Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, told Reuters by phone late on Tuesday. The Trump administration announced on Dec. 21 that it was sanctioning Major General Maung Maung Soe, who was in charge of a crackdown on the Rohingya minority in the western state of Rakhine.

The United States, as well as the United Nations, have called the crackdown "ethnic cleansing". About 655,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine state and sought shelter over the border in Bangladesh, according to the United Nations. The United States said American officials had "examined credible evidence of Maung Maung Soe's activities, including allegations against Burmese security forces of extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, and arbitrary arrest as well as the widespread burning of villages".

The military and the civilian government of Suu Kyi have denied allegations of widespread abuse in Rakhine. The testimonies of Rohingya refugees were only "talking stories", Zaw Htay said, adding that Myanmar would act if it received "reliable and strong evidence" that its troops committed crimes.
"We have told international governments and human rights groups including the UN that the current government is committed to protecting and promoting human rights," said Zaw Htay. The U.S. Treasury said Maung Maung Soe, former chief of the army's Western Command, would have his US assets frozen and Americans could no longer deal with him.

Reuters was unable to determine if Maung Maung Soe had business interests in Myanmar or elsewhere.

Maung Maung Soe was transferred from his post in Rakhine and "put in reserve", an army spokesman told Reuters on Nov. 13. No reason was given, but the military said the same day action would be taken against officials who were "weak in acquiring information" and who allowed the militant Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) to spread through Muslim villages in Rakhine. Reuters was unable to contact Maung Maung Soe. Major General Tun Tun Nyi of the military's public relations division, the True News Information Unit, said he had no comment on the sanctions and declined to answer questions on Maung Maung Soe.

MODERN FORCE

As well as dominating the country's politics for decades, Myanmar's army - known as the Tatmadaw or 'Royal Force' - has gained notoriety for brutal counter-insurgency tactics employed against rebels seeking autonomy in the borderlands since independence from Britain in 1948, according to historians and human rights monitors.

But since it began ceding power in 2011 - albeit under a constitution that keeps soldiers in key posts - the army has sought to burnish its image as a modern fighting force. It has defended its actions in Rakhine, with military investigators concluding that troops adhered to rules of engagement and sought to minimise civilian casualties while responding to "terrorist" provocations. But the spiralling Rohingya crisis has dashed hopes of expanding engagement with Western armies, Andrew Selth, an academic who has researched Myanmar's armed forces, wrote in September.

"This is a significant loss for the Tatmadaw, which is keen to learn about foreign military policies and practices," Selth wrote on the website of the Sydney-based Lowy Institute. "Such contacts would have also helped its officers learn about international norms of behaviour and the role of armed forces in democracies."

CLEARANCES

Myanmar's military does not provide detailed biographies of senior officers.

In February last year, a state media report said Maung Maung Soe was a brigadier general in the far south of the country, near the border with Thailand. He was referred to as a major general in charge of the military's Western Command in October, 2016, shortly after ARSA attacked three border posts there, killing nine guards. In the weeks after the attacks, Rohingya villagers told Reuters of gang rapes by soldiers and extrajudicial killings. Two military sources told Reuters that Maung Maung Soe oversaw battalions Nos. 352, 551, 564 and 345, which led the so-called "clearance operations", and he reported directly to a Bureau of Special Operations in the capital Naypyitaw.

His forces were again in combat following more widespread ARSA attacks on Aug. 25 this year, although troops from elite units that report straight to Naypyitaw were airlifted into Rakhine ahead of those attacks. New York-based Human Rights Watch said in October that Battalion 564 was identified by villagers as taking part in an alleged massacre of scores of people in the village of Maung Nu, close to the unit's base in the Buthidaung area.

The day Maung Maung Soe's replacement as the commander in Rakhine was announced, the military released a report saying its own internal investigation had exonerated security forces of all accusations of atrocities, including in Buthidaung.

5-Hour Rule: If you’re not spending 5 hours per week learning, you’re being irresponsible 

Photo credit from left to right: Pete Souza, gatesnotes.com, Wikipedia Commons

Michael Simmons-Oct 12, 2017

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time — none. Zero.”
 — Charlie Munger, Self-made billionaire & Warren Buffett’s longtime business partner

Why did the busiest person in the world, former president Barack Obama, read an hour a day while in office?

Why has the best investor in history, Warren Buffett, invested 80% of his time in reading and thinking throughout his career?

Why has the world’s richest person, Bill Gates, read a book a week during his career? And why has he taken a yearly two-week reading vacation throughout his entire career?

Why do the world’s smartest and busiest people find one hour a day for deliberate learning (the 5-hour rule), while others make excuses about how busy they are?

What do they see that others don’t?

The answer is simple: Learning is the single best investment of our time that we can make. Or as Benjamin Franklin said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

This insight is fundamental to succeeding in our knowledge economy, yet few people realize it. Luckily, once you do understand the value of knowledge, it’s simple to get more of it. Just dedicate yourself to constant learning.

Knowledge is the new money

“Intellectual capital will always trump financial capital.” — Paul Tudor Jones, self-made billionaire entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist

We spend our lives collecting, spending, lusting after, and worrying about money — in fact, when we say we “don’t have time” to learn something new, it’s usually because we are feverishly devoting our time to earning money, but something is happening right now that’s changing the relationship between money and knowledge.

We are at the beginning of a period of what renowned futurist Peter Diamandis calls rapid demonetization, in which technology is rendering previously expensive products or services much cheaper — or even free.

This chart from Diamandis’ book Abundance shows how we’ve demonetized $900,000 worth of products and services you might have purchased between 1969 and 1989.

This demonetization will accelerate in the future. Automated vehicle fleets will eliminate one of our biggest purchases: a car. Virtual reality will make expensive experiences, such as going to a concert or playing golf, instantly available at much lower cost. While the difference between reality and virtual reality is almost incomparable at the moment, the rate of improvement of VR is exponential.

While education and health care costs have risen, innovation in these fields will likely lead to eventual demonetization as well. Many higher educational institutions, for example, have legacy costs to support multiple layers of hierarchy and to upkeep their campuses. Newer institutions are finding ways to dramatically lower costs by offering their services exclusively online, focusing only on training for in-demand, high-paying skills, or having employers who recruit students subsidize the cost of tuition.

Finally, new devices and technologies, such as CRISPR, the XPrize Tricorder, better diagnostics via artificial intelligence, and reduced cost of genomic sequencing will revolutionize the healthcare system. These technologies and other ones like them will dramatically lower the average cost of healthcare by focusing on prevention rather than cure and management.

While goods and services are becoming demonetized, knowledge is becoming increasingly valuable.

Perhaps the best example of the rising value of certain forms of knowledge is the self-driving car industry. Sebastian Thrun, founder of Google X and Google’s self-driving car team, gives the example of Uber paying $700 million for Otto, a six-month-old company with 70 employees, and of GM spending $1 billion on their acquisition of Cruise. He concludes that in this industry, “The going rate for talent these days is $10 million.”

That’s $10 million per skilled worker, and while that’s the most stunning example, it’s not just true for incredibly rare and lucrative technical skills. People who identify skills needed for future jobs — e.g., data analyst, product designer, physical therapist — and quickly learn them are poised to win.

Those who work really hard throughout their career but don’t take time out of their schedule to constantly learn will be the new “at-risk” group. They risk remaining stuck on the bottom rung of global competition, and they risk losing their jobs to automation, just as blue-collar workers did between 2000 and 2010 when robots replaced 85 percent of manufacturing jobs.

Why?

People at the bottom of the economic ladder are being squeezed more and compensated less, while those at the top have more opportunities and are paid more than ever before. The irony is that the problem isn’t a lack of jobs. Rather, it’s a lack of people with the right skills and knowledge to fill the jobs.

An Atlantic article captures the paradox: “Employers across industries and regions have complained for years about a lack of skilled workers, and their complaints are borne out in U.S. employment data. In July [2015], the number of job postings reached its highest level ever, at 5.8 million, and the unemployment rate was comfortably below the post-World War II average. But, at the same time, over 17 million Americans are either unemployed, not working but interested in finding work, or doing part-time work but aspiring to full-time work.”

In short, we can see how at a fundamental level knowledge is gradually becoming its own important and unique form of currency. In other words, knowledge is the new money. Similar to money, knowledge often serves as a medium of exchange and store of value.

But, unlike money, when you use knowledge or give it away, you don’t lose it. Transferring knowledge anywhere in the world is free and instant. Its value compounds over time faster than money. It can be converted into many things, including things that money can’t buy, such as authentic relationships and high levels of subjective well-being. It helps you accomplish your goals faster and better. It’s fun to acquire. It makes your brain work better. It expands your vocabulary, making you a better communicator. It helps you think bigger and beyond your circumstances. It puts your life in perspective by essentially helping you live many lives in one life through other people’s experiences and wisdom.

Former President Obama perfectly explains why he was so committed to reading during his Presidency in a recent New York Times interview: “At a time when events move so quickly and so much information is transmitted,” he said, reading gave him the ability to occasionally “slow down and get perspective” and “the ability to get in somebody else’s shoes.” These two things, he added, “have been invaluable to me. Whether they’ve made me a better president I can’t say. But what I can say is that they have allowed me to sort of maintain my balance during the course of eight years, because this is a place that comes at you hard and fast and doesn’t let up.”

6 essentials skills to master the new knowledge economy

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” — Alvin Toffler

So, how do we learn the right knowledge and have it pay off for us? The six points below serve as a framework to help you begin to answer this question. I also created an in-depth webinar on Learning How To Learn that you can watch for free.

1. Identify valuable knowledge at the right time. The value of knowledge isn’t static. It changes as a function of how valuable other people consider it and how rare it is. As new technologies mature and reshape industries, there is often a deficit of people with the needed skills, which creates the potential for high compensation. Because of the high compensation, more people are quickly trained, and the average compensation decreases.
2. Learn and master that knowledge quickly. Opportunity windows are temporary in nature. Individuals must take advantage of them when they see them. This means being able to learn new skills quickly. After reading thousands of books, I’ve found that understanding and using mental models is one of the most universal skills that EVERYONE should learn. It provides a strong foundation of knowledge that applies across every field. So when you jump into a new field, you have preexisting knowledge you can use to learn faster.
3. Communicate the value of your skills to others. People with the same skills can command wildly different salaries and fees based on how well they’re able to communicate and persuade others. This ability convinces others that the skills you have are valuable is a “multiplier skill.” Many people spend years mastering an underlying technical skill and virtually no time mastering this multiplier skill.
4. Convert knowledge into money and results. There are many ways to transform knowledge into value in your life. A few examples include finding and getting a job that pays well, getting a raise, building a successful business, selling your knowledge as a consultant, and building your reputation by becoming a thought leader.
5. Learn how to financially invest in learning to get the highest return.Each of us needs to find the right “portfolio” of books, online courses, and certificate/degree programs to help us achieve our goals within our budget. To get the right portfolio, we need to apply financial terms — such as return on investment, risk management, hurdle rate, hedging, and diversification — to our thinking on knowledge investment.
6. 
   
7. Master the skill of learning how to learn. Doing so exponentially increases the value of every hour we devote to learning (our learning rate). Our learning rate determines how quickly our knowledge compounds over time. Consider someone who reads and retains one book a week versus someone who takes 10 days to read a book. Over the course of a year, a 30% difference compounds to one person reading 85 more books.

To shift our focus from being overly obsessed with money to a more savvy and realistic quest for knowledge, we need to stop thinking that we only acquire knowledge from 5 to 22 years old, and that then we can get a job and mentally coast through the rest of our lives if we work hard. To survive and thrive in this new era, we must constantly learn.

Working hard is the industrial era approach to getting ahead. Learning hard is the knowledge economy equivalent.

Just as we have minimum recommended dosages of vitamins, steps per day, and minutes of aerobic exercise for maintaining physical health, we need to be rigorous about the minimum dose of deliberate learning that will maintain our economic health. The long-term effects of intellectual complacency are just as insidious as the long-term effects of not exercising, eating well, or sleeping enough. Not learning at least 5 hours per week (the 5-hour rule) is the smoking of the 21st century and this article is the warning label.

Don’t be lazy. Don’t make excuses. Just get it done.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” — Mahatma Gandhi

Before his daughter was born, successful entrepreneur Ben Clarke focused on deliberate learning every day from 6:45 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. for five years (2,000+ hours), but when his daughter was born, he decided to replace his learning time with daddy-daughter time. This is the point at which most people would give up on their learning ritual.

Instead of doing that, Ben decided to change his daily work schedule. He shortened the number of hours he worked on his to do list in order to make room for his learning ritual. Keep in mind that Ben oversees 200+ employees at his company, The Shipyard, and is always busy. In his words, “By working less and learning more, I might seem to get less done in a day, but I get dramatically more done in my year and in my career.” This wasn’t an easy decision by any means, but it reflects the type of difficult decisions that we all need to start making. Even if you’re just an entry-level employee, there’s no excuse. You can find mini learning periods during your downtimes (commutes, lunch breaks, slow times). Even 15 minutes per day will add up to nearly 100 hours over a year. Time and energy should not be excuses. Rather, they are difficult, but overcomable challenges. By being one of the few people who rises to this challenge, you reap that much more in reward.

We often believe we can’t afford the time it takes, but the opposite is true: None of us can afford not to learn.

Learning is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity.

Start your learning ritual today with these three steps

The busiest, most successful people in the world find at least an hour to learn EVERY DAY. So can you!

Just three steps are needed to create your own learning ritual:

1. Find the time for reading and learning even if you are really busy and overwhelmed.
2. Stay consistent on using that “found” time without procrastinating or falling prey to distraction.
3. Increase the results you receive from each hour of learning by using proven hacks that help you remember and apply what you learn.

Over the last three years, I’ve researched how top performers find the time, stay consistent, and get more results. There was too much information for one article, so I spent dozens of hours and created a free masterclass to help you master your learning ritual too!

Sign up for the free Learning How To Learn webinar here >>

If you enjoyed this story, please click the 👏 button and share to help others find it! Feel free to leave a comment below.

The Mission publishes stories, videos, and podcasts that make smart people smarter. You can subscribe to get them here. By subscribing and sharing, you will be entered to win three (super awesome) prizes!

Oceans suffocating as huge dead zones quadruple since 1950, scientists warn

Areas starved of oxygen in open ocean and by coasts have soared in recent decades, risking dire consequences for marine life and humanity

A fisherman on a beach in Temuco, Chile that is blanketed with dead sardines, a result of algal blooms that suck oxygen out of the water. Photograph: Felix Marquez/AP

Damian CarringtonEnvironment editor-Thu 4 Jan ‘18 19.00 GMT

Ocean dead zones with zero oxygen have quadrupled in size since 1950, scientists have warned, while the number of very low oxygen sites near coasts have multiplied tenfold. Most sea creatures cannot survive in these zones and current trends would lead to mass extinction in the long run, risking dire consequences for the hundreds of millions of people who depend on the sea.

Climate change caused by fossil fuel burning is the cause of the large-scale deoxygenation, as warmer waters hold less oxygen. The coastal dead zones result from fertiliser and sewage running off the land and into the seas.

The analysis, published in the journal Science, is the first comprehensive analysis of the areas and states: “Major extinction events in Earth’s history have been associated with warm climates and oxygen-deficient oceans.” Denise Breitburg, at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in the US and who led the analysis, said: “Under the current trajectory that is where we would be headed. But the consequences to humans of staying on that trajectory are so dire that it is hard to imagine we would go quite that far down that path.”

“This is a problem we can solve,” Breitburg said. “Halting climate change requires a global effort, but even local actions can help with nutrient-driven oxygen decline.” She pointed to recoveries in Chesapeake Bay in the US and the Thames river in the UK, where better farm and sewage practices led to dead zones disappearing.

However, Prof Robert Diaz at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, who reviewed the new study, said: “Right now, the increasing expansion of coastal dead zones and decline in open ocean oxygen are not priority problems for governments around the world. Unfortunately, it will take severe and persistent mortality of fisheries for the seriousness of low oxygen to be realised.”

The oceans feed more than 500 million people, especially in poorer nations, and provide jobs for 350 million people. But at least 500 dead zones have now been reported near coasts, up from fewer than 50 in 1950. Lack of monitoring in many regions means the true number may be much higher.

The open ocean has natural low oxygen areas, usually off the west coast of continents due to the way the rotation of the Earth affects ocean currents. But these dead zones have expanded dramatically, increasing by millions of square kilometres since 1950, roughly equivalent to the area of the European Union.

Furthermore, the level of oxygen in all ocean waters is falling, with 2% – 77bn tonnes – being lost since 1950. This can reduce growth, impair reproduction and increase disease, the scientists warn. One irony is that warmer waters not only hold less oxygen but also mean marine organisms have to breathe faster, using up oxygen more quickly.

There are also dangerous feedback mechanisms. Microbes that proliferate at very low oxygen levels produce lots of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
In coastal regions, fertiliser, manure and sewage pollution cause algal blooms and when the algae decompose oxygen is sucked out of the water. However, in some places, the algae can lead to more food for fish and increase catches around the dead zones. This may not be sustainable though, said Breitburg: “There is a lot of concern that we are really changing the way these systems function and that the overall resilience of these systems may be reduced.”

The new analysis was produced by an international working group created in 2016 by Unesco’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. The commission’s Kirsten Isensee said:

“Ocean deoxygenation is taking place all over the world as a result of the human footprint, therefore we also need to address it globally.”

Lucia von Reusner, campaign director of the campaign group, Mighty Earth, which recently exposed a link between the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico and large scale meat production, said: “These dead zones will continue to expand unless the major meat companies that dominate our global agricultural system start cleaning up their supply chains to keep pollution out of our waters.”

Diaz said the speed of ocean suffocation already seen was breathtaking: “No other variable of such ecological importance to coastal ecosystems has changed so drastically in such a short period of time from human activities as dissolved oxygen.”

He said the need for urgent action is best summarised by the motto of the American Lung Association: “If you can’t breathe, nothing else matters.”

TNA candidate assaulted by EPDP supporter in Chavakachcheri

07Jan 2018

A Tamil National Alliance candidate in the upcoming Local Government polls was allegedly assaulted by a supporter of the paramilitary group, EPDP, on Saturday. 

The assault took place as the victim, 67 year old Kasilingham Satkunathevan, was campaigning door to door with leaflets.

The EPDP supporter became angered that Mr Satkunathevan had come to his house to campaign, hitting him with a broom stick and an axe handle. 

The victim sustained injuries to his arm and has been admitted to Chavakachcheri hospital for medical treatment. 

Related Articles: 

07 January 2018 : Sri Lankan police to increase security operations ahead of elections

02 January 2018 : Army seeks information on election candidates

10 April 2017 : Former EPDP member sentenced to death for rape and murder of 12-year-old

29 May 2015 : EPDP rejects allegations of link to Vithiya murder

SRI LANKA: WOMEN EAGER FOR CHANCE IN ELECTIONS

IMAGE: WMC MEETS AND TRAINS WOMEN CANDIDATES FROM KURUNAGALA WHO RECEIVED NOMINATIONS FOR THE UPCOMING LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS. ( CREDIT @WOMENANDMEDIA )

 By UCAN

 

By Niranjani Roland and Quintus Colombage.-07/01/2018

Rural Sri Lankan women have a better chance to fight for their rights by winning positions in local government.

More rural women will stand in local elections on Feb. 10 after parliament passed a law last year that local governments must have a 25 percent quota for female election candidates.
Women represent 52 percent of Sri Lanka’s population but their representation in local politics has been the lowest among South Asian nations.

The country is ranked 180th out of 190 in the rankings of female representation in parliament.
R.G. Podimenike, convener of the Eastern United Women Organization (EUWO), a group of female social activists, said the organization had formed nominations for 27 women candidates to contest the elections.

 

“The 25 percent quota encourages rural women to enter politics and make political decisions in their local bodies,” she said.

“We have formed a multi-ethnic group including Buddhists, Christians, Muslims and Hindus. We trained the women candidates to eliminate gender-based violence, enhance democratic governance, access government services and promote ethnic reconciliation among multi-ethnic groups who faced three decades of war.”

Podimenike said the EUWO decided to contest local elections mainly to address the issues of women, children and war-affected people irrespective of ethnicity.

Women’s rights groups including the EUWO demonstrated in the streets to increase women’s political representation in line with equality, democracy and justice.

According to the Election Department, female representation is about 4 percent in provincial councils and about 5 percent in parliament.

Chandrani Bandara, Minister of Women and Child Affairs, said there are only 13 female parliamentarians out of 225.

Arulanathan Jerarajani, 33, a mother of one from Kantale in Trincomalee, said 24 female candidates will contest the elections under her direction.

“It took a long wait for this political culture to change and women did not have such an environment in the past,” she said.

“Many of our candidates have been social workers for last 15 years. They have worked with grassroots people. We will forward our election manifesto in the coming weeks.

“Many of us are new to politics and will be fighting male candidates who have experience in politics. Some rumors have been spread to spoil our image too.”

Sister Nicola Emmanuel of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary congregation, said women had played many roles in Sri Lanka’s post-war situation. They had protested about disappeared people, political prisoners and land grabbing.

“This is a good opportunity for 89,000 rural war widows to fight social stigma and raise their voices for their affected people,” said Sister Emmanuel, a human rights activist in Vavuniya.

Country Like No Other

By Nishthar Idroos –January 7, 2018

In this contemporary period of time in history never seen a people trampled, oppressed as the Sri Lankans. Perpetrators of this awful oppression are none other than their own leaders. Few see this persisting tyranny. The most unbearable is the economic oppression. Its subtle and not readily comprehensible, nonetheless impact is crushing. It’s like boulders falling on an unsuspecting people. Ordinary folk rendered impecunious for no fault of their own. Almost overnight there is an attack on their purchasing power. An overnight robbery.

The innocent masses do not know whom to blame except to make passing remarks. They do not understand Keynesian Economics nor do they understand the harsh impact of inflation, or quantitative easing. For sure they do not understand sophisticated ways of stealing whether it’s the bond scam or MiG scam. They do understand one thing, the hundred rupee that enabled them to purchase three loaves of bread just a couple years ago will only make them get just one, barely.

Does Punchi Singho really understand the impact of white elephants by way of ports, airports, convention centers and cricket stadia built on credit extended by the mischievous Chinese in the district of Hambantota? Does he understand that he and all his progeny will pay for this for a good time to come? It’s already happening.

 

Regardless of race, religion, region or caste Sri Lankans are unsuspectingly manipulated and controlled. Ridiculed and deceived especially during elections. Certainly humiliated and immorally so by none other than their very own politicians who come in their numbers just before an election and let loose powerful cannonballs – lies and damn lies that sells  well amongst a gullible audience.

I can hear the power hungry scoundrels cackling through every orifice of their foul anatomies contemplating loud which lie to let loose when. They are sheepish and servile for the moment. Once elected they will break all records in amassing lucre and in double quick time voters won’t be able to even recognize them due to their newly adopted adipose structure. Also they will start to kill, rape, intimidate etc. This is entrenched reality in Sri Lankan politics in the local government. A country like no other. This writer is placing facts and certainly not dabbling in some sort of hyperbole.

It was Samuel Johnson who made that very famous pronouncement that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel – how true!  In Sri Lankan politics it is the last resort of scoundrels. Educational qualifications and backgrounds of many members of our national legislature bear ample testimony. Their behavior in the national legislature is just additional information.  Local governments are studiously bound to follow the trend.

When it comes to the Sinhala Buddhists masses I have a sympathetic soft corner, simply because they withstood the brunt and sacrificed the most. Whether it was the relentless terror of the LTTE, the unforgettable yet deadly Tsunami of 1994, the recurring dengue outbreaks, the mysterious kidney disease in the central districts, unending economic burdens that threaten to annihilate them and last and certainly not least the chronic poverty that persists like a ravenous blight devouring a toll and crying for more. The Sinhala Buddhists have indeed paid dearly.

Additionally when the war came to an end in mid-2009 it was joyous occasion because prosperity and dignity now could be restored to all Sri Lankans especially to the Sinhala Buddhists. It was not to be so. What actually happened is even darker than the LTTE revolt. Sinhala Buddhist leaders preempting their own people from enjoying the true dividend of peace. They initiated their own agenda and the motherland is in a worse predicament than the LTTE days.

 

The above is not to say that other minorities did not have issues or problems. They too had many but in my opinion a people who  for a long time being victims of  manipulation and deception deserved as stronger attention.

Many things have gone wrong in this beautiful paradise. Look at Sri Lanka Cricket. Its coach is being paid obscene amounts for record losses of the national team suffered under his stewardship. Sri Lanka had lost a home ODI series against Zimbabwe 2-3 before suffering a whitewash at the hands of India, losing three Tests, five ODIs and a one-off T20 International.

It’s again that kind of season once again in Sri Lanka. Season during which paper merchants make a killing and the general masses are cheated in the name of democracy. Glistening poster paper with faces of every potential scoundrel litter the street. Public walls becomes a virtual menagerie. Lithographed posters that eventually become fodder for Appuhamy’s Billie’s.

It’s made to understand that 33 political parties and 12 independent groups have deposited bonds for the upcoming local government elections. Most of them seen coming to handover their nominations wearing milky white clothes. This is the first and greatest deception our politicians enact. Though outwardly white hearts and minds are not so. They’re busy engaged in the calculus. How to earn the fast buck.

Read More

A ROBUST REGULATOR: A FUNDAMENTAL INGREDIENT IN A SUSTAINABLE MARKET ECONOMY

2018-01-08

This is about a lifestyle where the Government focuses its scarce resources on necessities like health, education, water and electricity, roads and communication etc

I am hopeful of course, that the Ministry of Finance will work in close consultation and cooperation with the Ministry of Policy Development and Economic Affairs

The role of the Financial Ombudsman in this regard may also require to be studied. Then, the less than aware “mantra” that the Market Economy has failed will also subside

The country needs to move upward, onward, and forward together. Enough is enough of distractions

The Central Bank has experienced a five-month period of regulating the financial system minus political interference

I was pleased to learn that regulatory authorities such as the CBSL, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Utilities Commission, will come under the purview of the office of THE PM

 

I first published an article with the above-mentioned caption, in the “Accountant” (now “Abacus”) the magazine of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) in February 2009. I had this published in several papers in the print media in subsequent years, during the previous political regime.  

The Thought Leadership Forum of 2005 - 
An Awareness Building Initiative

A ROBUST REGULATOR A FUNDAMENTAL INGREDIENT IN A SUSTAINABLE MARKET ECONOMY.docx by Thavam on Scribd

LG result will set course for 2-years

Political parties in both South and North are testing the waters

"This Tamil fellow is toxic"
http://www.tamilguardian.com/

Kumar David-January 6, 2018, 7:11 pm 

Local Government elections should, primarily, be about local affairs and local welfare, national political skulduggery should be secondary. Pradeep Kariyawasam in a piece on LG elections and Colombo’s health problems (Sunday Island, 24 December) calls attention to one such issue. But Sri Lanka is over-politicised, stricken with the ailments but few of the benefits of democracy. The potential fallout from next month’s LG elections has taken attention away from choosing competent councillors and addressing issues at grassroots. The UNP and SLFP inYahapalana, the Poroppaya (or Pohottuwa or whatever) and the JVP are testing the waters in the South and the TNA is anxious about the North; all with an eye on the 2020 general election. February will not only be a weathervane for 2020 but will also set the mood for political chicanery and horse-trading in the next two years.

I will try to discuss the LG scene without letting my prejudices intrude too much – tough! Despite frequent‘ breaking news’ flashes from the Rajapaksa Joint Opposition (JO), and not withstanding the media (Sinhala and English) unearthing the impending doom for the UNP-SLFP alliance, the Sirisena-Ranil duo seems to hang together comfortably. I wouldn’t know about acrimony in private, but in public both display proper protocol and at this time, prior to LG elections, this apex relationship seems amicable. At the next lower level there is much backbiting between UNP, JO and Sirisena cohorts, but cynic that I am, I attribute this simply to pre-election opportunism.

President Sirisena and his Ministers and MPs are searching, it seems searching desperately, for options and possibilities; the number of Deputy Ministers is swelling. Team-Sirisena will not give up on its relationship with the UNP, especially if it comes third (or fourth behind the JVP), neither has it ruled out a post-election deal with the JO. It depends on how the chips fall. If, lubricated by cross-over opportunists, Team Sirisena does well enough not to need to kowtow before Rajapaksa, rapprochement with the JO is possible. If the price of reunification is kneeling before Rajapaksa, then it will prefer to stay with the UNP and think about what to do at leisure. That is, the Sirisena-SLFP will, logically, prefer the status quo to genuflection before Rajapaksa’s throne.

The JVP is, as usual, shooting in the dark without torchlight or searchlight. It eschews an alliance with the left, including the CP, smaller parties like the ULF (LSSP Majority Group) and the NSSP, and like Don Quixote, tilts at windmills. Most people say it will secure more seats than before, but for sure it will fall short of its potential had it spearheaded a left alliance. Daft, self-destructive, self-centred egotism; but that’s an occupational hazard of the JVP.

The UNP is battling to defend the Ashes and will be grateful if it does better than the English touring team in Australia. The UNP-Front will be satisfied if it can retain the same proportion of total votes as in the 2015 parliamentary elections and come first in the Moratuwa to Negombo costal belt, the Central Province, parts of Uva and pockets in the NWP and EP. The UNP and its buddy Mano Ganesan will carry all the geographical constituencies in Colombo City and most of the proportional seats. However, there is visible dissatisfaction on economic issues, the inability to bring big time Rajapaksa era crooks to book, the bond scam, and permitting thieving, conniving, fornicating relatives of the Rajapaksa household to get away Scot free after running Sri Lankan Airlines to the ground and foisting a $702 million write off on the state (you and me). Enough, normally, to destroy an incumbent regime.

The crucial enigma

The big unknown for the UNP is the effect of the racist campaign mounted by the JO with the support of clergy and media (Sinhala and English). I expect the SLPP (poroppaya) to do well in Ratnapura and Kurunegala Districts and the Southern Province. If the UNP creeps in as a close second in this Sinhala heartland (it cannot possibly come first), it spells curtains for the JO bandwagon.

The performance of the JO, alias SLPP, alias poroppaya is an enigma. The course of politics in the next two years will be decided by this more than any other result. If it does well, we are in for another spell where the politics of race and religion will dominate. If so, the primary culprit is not any political entity, not even the JO, fundamentally; it is the people. If the Sinhala-Buddhist mass will not permit devolution of administration to the Ceylon Tamils, then what? What the Tamils will do remains to be seen, but the groundwork for Prabakaran Mark II would have been laid. I mean it, if Tamils and Muslims are not allowed to run their affairs in their principal areas of domicile, do you, dear reader, have any better predictions about the long term?

The Sirisena-Ranil government has cut and run on the proposed constitution. Unless the UNP scores a resounding LG victory, which is unlikely, we can kiss the new constitution goodbye. Then the TNA, Tamils, the liberals, the left and this correspondent can all go lick their wounds. If it turns out to be a big victory for poroppaya in the Sinhala-Buddhist heartland, it will signal a return to the bad old SWRD-JR era. If you disdain what I say, let’s go our separate ways for now and catch up after more blood has flowed. I see this election as a referendum on Sinhala-Buddhist ethics, limits and hegemonic aspirations; it is more than a storm in a local government tea cup.

If (once) the constitution goes belly-up, Eelamists and Tamil nationalists will eviscerate Sampanthan, Sumanthiran, the TNA and its principal constituent the ITAK. The critique will be: "You led us up the gum tree again. B-C Pact, Dudley-Chelva Accord, JR’s half-baked 13A, the lessons are obvious. The Sinhala majority will never give us reasonable space; but you compromisers, have hoodwinked the Tamils and made asses of yourselves – again!" The obvious TNA defence that it tried hard and was cheated will not cut any ice with the Tamils.

I have consistently maintained that Gota cannot win a presidential election. No one can do better than Mahinda did in 2015 if all the minorities – Muslims, Ceylon and Upcountry Tamils and Catholics – band together in a rock-hard obstacle. In that case Gota will be defeated by more than 10 points – worse than 45:55. However, parliamentary, provincial and local polls are different because minority votes are locked away in their own regions. Gota losing a presidential election and the UNP and Team-Sirisena losing local and provincial polls in the Sinhalese areas, are not inconsistent.

The opposition has built its campaign against this government from day-one with sustained non-cooperation, by engineering strikes, disruptions and sometimes sabotage. Yahapalana’s response has been capitulation (SAITM), flummoxed confusion (student boycotts and trade union actions), or popularity contests (Sagala, Kiriella, Rajitha, Mangala versus Team-Sirisena). Bourgeois-democracy bares its bottom widest at election time.

The point has been made that it is reductionist to attribute an extensive strike wave to JO machinations alone. That’s true; yes, when the opposition’s instigation sowed the seed, it fell on fertile ground. Worker disillusionment is in part due to a non-performing economy and in part the ‘tragedy of the traditional working-class’. As technology advances the mode of production breaks new ground alienating the old working-class. This motivated a surge of white worker support for Trump in "rust belt" states. Many state/corporate institutions in Lanka are crumbling; railways, ports, buses, government hospital, postal and other sectors are ramshackle, but modernisation will endanger jobs. This is why modernisation, improvement and efficiency enhancement are often opposed by trade unions. The traditional or old working-class all over the world is being marginalised and the capitalist order has no solution to this social debacle.

The GMOA is a different story. Doctors are conspiring to defend a closed shop and sabotage private medical education so as to eradicate competition. Talk of patient welfare and standards is hogwash. Professor ANI Ekanayaka ("Peace . . . at any Cost", Island 1 Jan 2018) is ferocious and forthright in taking a scalpel to the throat of humbug doctors, hoodlum undergraduates and spineless leaders. The voter sees a President, a PM and a subject Minister, all blathering babes in wet nappies, too yellow livered to confront and break the sabotage of public health services or oust brutish students. Tough decisions are evaded, consequently, the old war-winning team shines in forceful contrast. This time I make no electoral predictions; wonky predictions are the bane of every political columnist.

Correction: In the penultimate paragraph last week I said FDI in Sri Lanka between 2011 and 2016 fluctuated between "$900 billion and $700 billion". Of course it’s million not "billion". Sorry.