Cardin Introduces Legislation to Hold Private Prisons Accountable for Treatment of Federal Inmates

Washington, D.C. - November 5, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) unveiled legislation Tuesday that will hold private prisons that receive federal funds to the same transparency standards as federal prisons. After welcoming an expert panel hosted by Open the Government, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Senator Cardin officially introduced S. 2773, the Private Prison Information Act (PPIA), which would mandate private prisons with federal inmates and detainees be bound by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In addition to Cardin, the legislation is cosponsored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), as well as Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

“Private prisons account for 20 percent of our federal prison and detention population and 70 percent of all immigration detainees. Yet the operators of private prisons hide behind loopholes in the law when it comes to how they perform their job. If they are receiving federal funds and housing federal inmates and detainees, they must be held accountable to the same standards as our federal prisons,” said Senator Cardin.

More than 25 percent of all people in federal custody are held in private prisons and detention facilities and, since 2000, the number of people housed in private prisons has increased by 39 percent. The Department of Justice Inspector General has found that federal prisons run by private companies are substantially less safe and secure than ones run by the federal Bureau of Prisons.

S. 2773, the Private Prison Information Act (PPIA) has been endorsed by: Open the Government, ACLU, NAACP, Human Rights Watch, Southern Poverty Law Center, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), FreedomWorks, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Project on Government Oversight (POGO), and the Rutherford Institute, among others.

“For-profit prisons should no longer be able to use their status as private entities to bypass the public access and information laws with which federal prisons must comply,” said Lisa Rosenberg, executive director of Open the Government. “The PPIA will help close this FOIA loophole and mitigate waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars by holding corporations accountable for their contractual obligations to the federal government.”

“Currently, oversight of America's private prisons is limited to the federal agencies overseeing them, leaving the American people without any way of knowing how their taxpayer dollars are being spent and keeping them in the dark about how private prisons are being operated, even as private prison companies pour millions into politics.Without oversight, profit-driven private prisons are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and shielded from sufficient public accountability,” said CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder, “The Private Prison Information Act will build on FOIA to ensure the American people have access to key information about private prisons in order to hold this multi-billion industry accountable for its actions.”

“For the last 40 years, the Freedom of Information Act has been critical in guaranteeing transparency in government. The private prison industry is now responsible for the incarceration of tens of thousands of federal prisoners, and detention of over 70 percent of all immigrant detainees, but is not obligated to provide the public with critical information under the law. The Private Prison Information Sharing Act will ensure that the public has access to the records necessary to ensure that they are holding these entities accountable,” said Eunice Cho, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU National Prison Project.

Watch the full panel discussion HERE

Senate Democrats Block Permanent Funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Washington, D.C. - November 5, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- Alexander continued: “This is not an Alexander proposal. This is a package of proposals by 29 Senators—17 Democrats and 12 Republicans. It's ready to pass the Senate. It's ready to be worked on with the House of Representatives and signed by the President.”

Alexander concluded his floor remarks: “We're not on vacation. I know everybody's talking about impeachment, but we have lots of students around this country who would like to have a simpler way to go to college. We have lots of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other Minority Serving Institutions that would like to have permanent funding.”

“We have lots of employers and potential employees who want a short-term Pell grant. And, according to the Congressional Budget Office, simplifying the FAFSA would make 250,000 Americans eligible for the maximum Pell grant. All of that is ready to go. Not by a gimmick, but by a Budget Committee approved method that President Trump and President Obama both had in their budgets.”

And regarding the House-passed legislation, Alexander noted:

“Unfortunately, that bill is a shortcut the House took, which has no way to pass the Senate. It's based upon a budget gimmick. It uses a method of funding that many Senators objected to. It creates a new funding cliff within 23 months. It is unnecessary to rush this short-term solution because the Secretary of Education has written all of the heads of Historically Black Colleges and Universities to say that there are sufficient funds until next September, so there is no funding problem.”

Watch Chairman Alexander’s floor speech here.

See Also:

Booker Urges Senate, McConnell to Renew Funding for Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education

Trump Drafts Executive Order To End Social Media Censorship of Conservatives

Source: News Punch
August 22, 2019
According to Bloomberg News, an Executive Order has been drafted that will instruct law enforcement and federal antitrust agencies to open probes into the “platform bias” of Google, Facebook and Twitter in regards to the censorship and suppression of conservative voices on social media.

The executive order is in its preliminary stages and hasn’t yet been run past other government agencies, said a White House official.

Bloomberg News, which has seen a copy of the draft executive order, reports: The document instructs U.S. antitrust authorities to “thoroughly investigate whether any online platform has acted in violation of the antitrust laws.” It instructs other government agencies to recommend within a month after it’s signed, actions that could potentially “protect competition among online platforms and address online platform bias.”

Read more...

American Legion Welcomes Recognition of Additional Vets as House Passes LEGION Act

Indianapolis, IN - July 24, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- The head of the nation's largest veterans organization, welcomed today's passage by the House of Representatives of a bipartisan act which will recognize veterans who served during periods not previously considered "wartime."

The Let Everyone Get Involved In Opportunities for National Service Act (LEGION Act) opens the door for hundreds of thousands of veterans to access American Legion programs and benefits for which they previously had not been eligible. As a congressionally-chartered organization, the legislation was required for The American Legion to change its eligibility criteria.

"Today's passage of the LEGION Act is a victory for veterans who until now have not had their service to our nation fully recognized," American Legion National Commander Brett Reistad said. "These veterans and their family members can now enjoy all the benefits of their service which they so richly deserve."

The gaps in the war eras were largely during the Cold War, a time when threats to U.S. national security was real, especially to the men and women serving in uniform. Overall, estimates show that about 1,600 U.S. servicemembers were killed or wounded in hostile operations during periods that were not previously recognized as times of war by the federal government.

On Feb. 14, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., introduced the LEGION Act, along with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. It passed the Senate by unanimous consent on June 11. Reps. Lou Correa, D-Calif., and Ben Cline, R-Va., introduced the House version.

President Trump is expected to sign the LEGION Act law soon.

Reistad evoked the memories of The American Legion's founders who launched the organization 100 years ago this year.

"As we celebrate our centennial anniversary, we hold to the same truths that our founders appropriately crafted a century ago," Reistad said. "Among those: a veteran is a veteran. It does not matter whether a veteran fought enemies on foreign soil, protected our interests in an ocean far away or secured our national defense here at home. Their service is what matters most. Now, thanks to this legislation, all veterans will be properly remembered for their service."

With a current membership of nearly two million wartime veterans, The American Legion was founded in 1919 on the four pillars of a strong national security, veterans affairs, patriotic youth programs and Americanism. Legionnaires work for the betterment of their communities through nearly 13,000 posts worldwide. From the drafting of the original GI Bill to the creation of the Department of Veterans Affairs, The American Legion is the most influential voice for America's veterans. The American Legion, www.legion.org, will be celebrating its centennial through Veterans Day.

The fight over the Census citizenship question isn’t over yet

Source: New York Daily News
June 10, 2019
Chief Justice John Roberts and the four liberal justices determined that the Justice Department’s stated reason for including the question — that it would improve administration of the Voting Rights Act — was not the real and complete story. It was, in their view, a pretext, even though it is a perfectly valid and sufficient reason.

This defeat, such as it was, is extremely narrow. “We do not hold that the agency decision here was substantively invalid,” Roberts wrote for his 5-4 majority. They simply “remanded” the case, asking the Commerce Department to show the “real” reason and assure the lower court that it’s not improper

Read the whole story...

Federal Reserve Must Protect Economy and Consumers from Facebook’s Monopoly Money

Washington, D.C. - July 11, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs – is demanding the Federal Reserve provide detailed answers to how they will upgrade the payments system to prevent critical economic infrastructure from being controlled by powerful special interests.

In June, Facebook unveiled details of its proposed currency, Libra. This new currency will give Facebook competitive advantages with regard to collecting data about financial transactions, as well as control over fees and functionality. On May 9th, Ranking Member Brown and Chairman Crapo sent a letter to Facebook requesting information about their privacy practices as well as their currency announcement.

“For example, Facebook recently announced its plans for “Libra,” a digital currency backed by a basket of global currencies and other assets to be governed by a group of private companies, including Facebook. This could have far-reaching consequences for billions of individual consumers and the broader financial system, raising data privacy, systemic risk, and anti-competitive concerns,” wrote Brown.

Brown went on to write, “We cannot allow giant companies to assert their power over critical public infrastructure. The largest banks and the largest tech companies do not act in the interest of working Americans, but in the interest of themselves and their investors. The Fed must take a proactive role to ensure that the payments system remains accountable to the public.”

Ranking Member Brown has raised concerns in the past over technology companies getting involved in the business of banking, including opposing the OCC’s plan to create a special charter for financial technology companies that would provide them the benefits of a bank charter without requiring the strict regulations other banks face.

Read the letter here

Laura Loomer Files $3 BILLION Lawsuit Against Facebook for Defamation

Source: Laura Loomer

On Tuesday, Larry Klayman, the founder of Freedom Watch and a former federal prosecutor announced the filing of a defamation lawsuit by conservative investigative journalist Laura Loomer against Facebook. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Case No. 9:19-cv-80893), alleges that Facebook and its wholly owned sister company Instagram, in banning Ms. Loomer from the social media sites, maliciously defamed her by publishing that she is a “dangerous individual” and a domestic Jewish terrorist.

Read more...

In a July 4th Announcement, Pro-Trump Law Professor Victor Williams Challenges Mark Warner in Virginia U.S Senate

Arlington, VA - July 8, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- On July 4, 2019, attorney and well-known Pro-Trump law professor Victor Williams formally announced his 2020 run for the U.S Senate from Virginia.

Branding his Senate campaign Victor for Williams, his website -- vw4v.com -- states "16 years of Mark 'Russia-Hoaxer' Warner is enough."

Prof. Williams was a very-early 2016 Donald Trump supporter. Williams founded and chairs "Law Professors for Trump" to fight for our 45th President, for America First policies, and for confirmation of Trump nominees.

Williams's group takes this fight to the media and to the federal courts. The independent association of law faculty is now advancing Trump's 2020 re-election.

Professor Williams chose beautiful Occoquan Regional Park, at the Leadership Institute's 49th Annual Conservative July 4th Soiree, for his campaign launch. Virginians from across the state attended the celebrated event.

Williams' early Senate campaign has already seen success. As he announced on July 4th, and as his website (vw4v.com), states its goal:

We seek to 'jumpstart' the GOP Senate nominee selection process to insure that Virginia Republicans have ample time to both raise funds for and unify around the strongest woman or man that emerges from the scrum."

Just four days after Williams' announcement, on July 8th, former congressman Scott Taylor did just that -- formally announcing his decision to run. Williams immediately praised Taylor for his "stellar service to our nation – both in the military and in Congress."

Williams welcomed Taylor to the race and expressed hope that other contenders would begin the race early, saying

"With Republicans unified and working together from the beginning, I know that Mark 'Russia-Hoaxer' Warner will be soundly defeated in November 2020."

At his own July 4th campaign launch, Williams stated that his early campaign launch was also the beginning of a historic effort to appeal to conservative-moderate Democrats, Libertarians, and Independents to reject Warner:

"Working together against Warner, Virginians of all (or no) partisan stripes, can send the DC swamp a populist message -- America First. Stand Proud with President Trump, or Stand Aside.

National Democrats Order Warner to "Jump," and He Responds "How Far Left?"

For years, Mark Warner has dutifully asked "how high?" anytime the national party ordered him to "jump." Now Warner asks: "how far left?"

And Virginians now respond: "16 years of Mark Warner is enough -- way too much!"

Williams is harshly critical of incumbent Warner for following national Democrats in their hard-left lurch to:

*Legalize and Encourage Late-Term Abortion and Post-Birth Infanticide;

*Raise Taxes and Kill Economic Growth with Regulations;

*Open the Southern Border to Mass Alien Inflows (an Invasion by any other name) and then give Illegal Aliens Free Health Care;

*Eliminate Medicare and Perhaps even Private Insurance with Socialist Insurance Schemes;

*Enact Parts of AOC's Green-New-Deal Fantasy that Immediately Kills Virginia's coal Industry;

*Strip-Away American History Memorials, Traditions, and Statutes. Threaten Constitutionally Guaranteed Rights (by restricting free speech, free religious exercise, and individual firearm possession).

Williams says that Warner betrays Virginia values and Virginia voters.

Warner has repeatedly embarrassed Virginia by his absurd anti-Trump slanders, and his partisan Russia-hoax investigations against President Trump, the Trump family and Administration associates.

Like so many elitists suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, Warner just cannot accept the truth. No Collusion. No Obstruction.

Instead, it was Mark Warner who was caught having extensive contacts with a Russian oligarch's lobbyist (March and April of 2017) to gin-up the hoax.

Williams's Senate campaign will explain how ongoing anti-Trump congressional investigations are unconstitutional. They "are just the latest shameful stage in the establishment crusade against disruptive Donald Trump and the 2016 American voters."

Prof. Victor Williams calls for all Virginians to "Stand Proud with President Trump" and defeat Mark 'Russia-Hoaxer' Warner.

The SAFE Act - Protecting Election Integrity

Washington, D.C. - July 6, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Securing America’s Federal Elections (SAFE) Act of 2019 (H.R. 2722), legislation to guard against foreign interference in our democracy.

This bill would provide funding to states to replace outdated and vulnerable voting equipment, mandate paper ballot voting systems and risk-limiting post-election audits, and mandate strict cybersecurity requirements for both election technology vendors and for voting systems.

The SAFE Act is supported by organizations including Common Cause, People for the American Way, End Citizens United Action Fund, Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, NAACP, and Public Citizen.
The SAFE Act:

Authorizes $600 million in Voting System Security Improvement Grants for states to modernize and secure their election infrastructure, which was appropriated by the FY 2020 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill that the House passed on Wednesday.

Authorizes $175 million every two years to states to maintain the state’s election infrastructure.

Mandates that voting systems use individual, durable, voter-verified paper ballots – a widely agreed upon reform to protect our elections from manipulation.

Requires states to conduct post-election risk-limiting audits to ensure election integrity; whether it is a programming error or a cyber-attack, these audits help detect inaccuracies.

Sets strict cybersecurity standards for both election technology vendors and for voting systems.

Fosters accountability for election technology vendors, creating a “qualified election infrastructure vendor” designation.

Bans Internet accessibility or connectivity for devices on which ballots are marked or counted.

Requires voting machines to be manufactured in the United States.

Opinion on the Citizenship Question

By Shonda Ponder

Several Senators are calling for the Census paperwork to start printing without the "politically motivated" citizenship question.

Here is my personal opinion:

It doesn't matter whether the citizenship question is "politically motivated" or not. What matters is, IS IT A VALID QUESTION!

The answer is yes.

If we have people being counted on the census, we need to know if they are citizens. If they are not, we need to know why they are not. Are they permanent legal residents? Are they temporary workers or visitors? Are they here legally? WE NEED TO KNOW ALL THAT!

Yes. That information is important.

If the census can ask us whether we are black, white, Native American or Hispanic, then it should be able to ask us if we are a citizen.