by Sandor Stern

Dear Republican Friends

Regarding Your Presidential Nomination

It’s been four years since I’ve contacted you but your choice for President has me too curious to remain silent. You have nominated Donald Trump who advocates deporting eleven million illegal immigrants, building an insurmountable wall along the Mexican border, and preventing Muslims from entering this country. He has been recently waffling over the Muslim ban and the President of Mexico has told him that Mexico will not pay for that wall. No one knows where he’ll end up but you nominated him when he was adamant about all these issues. You believed in them. There is an old adage: “Be careful what you wish for.” It would be wise to examine your wish. Let’s just start with deportation.

The deportation of millions of people has not been seen since Nazi Germany sent their “illegals” to concentration camps. Of course these victims had not illegally entered Germany. They were either German citizens or citizens of Nazi conquered countries. But in the eyes of the Nazis they were all illegal human beings who deserved to die. Can you grasp the enormity of the hostile reaction from around the world over Trump’s deportation plans? The United States of America, the democratic beacon to the world for two hundred years would employ this fascist draconian measure to uproot and send eleven million human beings — three out of every one hundred men, women, and children to countries in which they have no family, friends, jobs or familiarity. Can you imagine the recruitment bonanza for terrorist organizations? What destinations are we considering? Do you believe that all these people came from Mexico? They came from around the world including Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Why would you assume that their country of origin would accept them? They were not sent here by government decree. You expect these governments to welcome a strain on their economies? Do you think all you have to do is put these millions of people on airplanes and drop them in the respective countries? How? By parachute? No country is obligated to allow planes to land at their airports. Do we force that? How? A threat of military action?

Trump speaks of a force that will round up these people. How big and how costly will this force be? How long will it take to round up eleven million people? Do you think that they will all go like lambs to the slaughter? People born here, people who have lived here twenty years, people who have established businesses and professions — they will all bow peacefully to the inevitable? There will be people who will constantly move one step ahead of the deportation decree adding to the costs. There will be people so outraged by this government action against them they will take up arms. And what of their citizen neighbors? There will be millions of citizens who oppose this fascist act who will do everything in their power to help these illegals escape the deportation. And there will be millions of citizens like you who will aid the deportation. Trump is sowing the seeds for an armed revolution and you have placed him in the position of Commander in Chief.

The estimated cost of deporting eleven million people is in the hundreds of billions of dollars. But that is only the cost of the deportation force and the ancillary costs such as travel and food. There is a much bigger cost to add. What about the costs to landlords when millions of rental apartments and houses are emptied? What about the costs to businesses that lose employees and the retail businesses that lose customers? Those are costs passed on to the federal government in the form of lower tax revenues. And speaking of tax revenues, you have been fed a steady diet of misinformation regarding illegal immigrants. The vast majority of them pay taxes. If they are drawing a paycheck, that paycheck has tax deductions. Any employer who does not make those deductions is guilty of a crime. That’s his crime not the employee’s. Illegal employees represent a large chunk of Federal and State income. Even those who do not pay income tax pay sales tax on their purchases.

You have also been misinformed about the social welfare bestowed on these “undeserving illegals.” Those illegals who have social security and Medicare payments deducted from their paychecks will never receive a social security check or Medicare coverage when they retire because they have no social security ID or use a false one to get employment. You somehow envision all illegals as those groups of men standing in the parking lots of Home Depot hoping to get a day job. Would you like to live a life like that? Would you be happy picking fruit in the orchards of California, washing cars, bussing dishes, cleaning houses? These men and women are doing jobs that citizens will not do. The work is too hard and the pay too little. What happens when those illegals are deported? Who will do the work? Trump’s deportation policy will strip all these businesses of employees unless they pay living wages. The very reason they hire illegals is because they cannot afford increasing their costs. They will do that or go out of business. How happy will you be when you see the rising costs of everything including groceries?

Trump is talking about deporting the illegals and then allowing them to return legally. He is talking about vetting eleven million people. It will take years. What will these people do for income in the countries in which they have been deposited? The vast majority of these countries have huge unemployment which is the reason these people fled in the first place. And what of those who manage to be vetted and return? To what do they return? Will their old job be there? If they have no job to go to, will we allow them to return and join the ranks of the unemployed? Has anyone in your party bothered to think this policy through?

The deportation is about more than dollar costs. It is about our humanity. How can you watch families torn apart? How can you witness people being forced from their homes at gunpoint? How can you accept a high school or college student brought here as a toddler or born here forced to return to a country he/she has never known? I guess if you have no heart, you have no problem with this? I’m praying you have a heart and on examining what you’ve wished for, you will find it.

Just saying…

Your friend,

Sandy

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by Dennis J. Bernstein and Greg Palast

If you believe the Republican hysteria machine, there’s an unprecedented election crime wave sweeping America involving a staggering 7.2 million suspected double voters. Thousands of these supposed criminals — who, if found guilty, have committed a felony punishable by 5-years in the slammer — have already lost their right to vote, with 41,000 people in Virginia alone being struck off voter roles. Statistical analysis of the evidence uncovered by investigative reporter Greg Palast shows that one million Americans may lose their vote by November. It also shows that a high proportion of these black, white, and brown voters have one thing in common: they tend to vote blue. In this week’s Best Democracy Money Can Buy: Election Crimes Bulletin, Palast gives Flashpoints’ Dennis J. Bernstein the skinny on this election crime wave, which in reality is little more than a GOP-generated racist sham designed to filter the blue out of the votes at the polls.

Listen to the podcast in the player below or subscribe to it on iTunes. (Transcript available here.)

By Blogbot

This Wednesday, January 27th on SuicideGirls Radio, hosts Nicole Powers, and Moxi and Bradley Suicide will be joined by actress, activist, and humanitarian Michelle Jewsbury, who’ll be talking about her work with Young Vision Africa and her efforts to combat domestic violence.

You can listen – and watch – the world’s leading BYOB radio show live on Wednesday nights from 8 til 9 PM at our state-of-the-art all digital home: TradioV.com.

If you have questions for the SG Radio crew or our guests, you can call in during the live broadcast at: 1-855-TRV-inLA (1-855-878-4652)

For updates on all things SG Radio-related, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

**UPDATE**

ICYMI: This week’s powerful show featuring Young Vision Africa (YVA) president Alan Chorun and actress, writer, and activist Michelle Jewsburry, who does PR and fundraising for YVA, and is also working on a book and one-woman show based on her own experiences with domestic violence called “But I Love Him.” During the show we talked about the incredible work YVA do (a medical center they opened last year in Sierra Leone helped stem the spread of ebola). In the latter part of the show, we also discussed domestic violence, the reasons women stay, and what you can do to help those who are currently enduring it.

About Michelle Jewsbury

Michelle, also heavily involved in partnering with Young Vision Arica as head of Public Relations, is also a playwright and author. She has invested countless hours in crafting her memoir as well as a one woman show recounting her personal experience with domestic violence. Working diligently enhancing her craft on the stage as well as in front of the camera, Michelle has quickly become a force to be reckoned with in the entertainment industry. In addition to her accomplishments with Young Vision Africa and her stage and camera presence, Michelle has traveled to five continents as an advocate for the less fortunate, driven by her passion to make the world a better place.

For more on Michelle visit her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About Young Vision Africa

Young Vision Africa’s mission is to empower young leaders in developing nations to achieve sustainable change in their communities. Their hope is to challenge those with resources to fulfill their responsibility to those without. Young Vision Africa employs Sierra Leon nationals to help execute their work and achieve their goals, also in turn, providing jobs that are so desperately needed in the area. Feeling called to help those in the greatest need, Young Vision Africa desires to revive communities through the contagious inspiration of compassion and love.

For more on Young Vision Africa visit their website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

By Blogbot

This Wednesday, July 8th on SuicideGirls Radio, hosts Moxi Suicide, Nicole Powers and Bradley Suicide will be joined by Kidnapped For Christ filmmakers Kate Logan and Yada Zamora.

You can listen – and watch – the world’s leading BYOB radio show live on Wednesday nights from 8 til 9 PM [note new day/time] at our state-of-the-art all digital home: TradioV.com.

If you have questions for the SG Radio crew or our guests, you can call in during the live broadcast at: 1-855-TRV-inLA (1-855-878-4652)

For updates on all things SG Radio-related, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

**UPDATE**

ICYMI: This week’s show feat. Kidnapped For Christ filmmakers Kate Logan and Yada Zamora plus institutional abuse survivor @ghostofoplib.

If you’ve experienced institutional abuse and need help visit: https://pyia.org/

About Kidnapped For Christ

A young evangelical filmmaker, Kate Logan, is granted unprecedented access inside a controversial Christian behavior modification program for teens, where she discovers shocking secrets and young students that change her life.

Kidnapped For Christ is available now via iTunes. For more info visit kidnappedforchrist.com/ and follow their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About Kate Logan | @kateslogan (Director / Producer / Co-Writer)

Kate Logan’s directorial debut, Kidnapped For Christ, follows the harrowing journeys of several American teenagers who were taken in the middle of the night by strangers and shipped to an Evangelical reform school in the Dominican Republic.

Kidnapped won the Audience Award for Best Feature Documentary at the 2014 Slamdance Film Festival and was acquired by Showtime shortly after. Currently Kate is producing the upcoming documentary An Act of Love, on the Methodist minister Frank Schaefer, who was put on trial in his Church after officiating his son’s same-sex wedding.

Previously Kate has worked on Showtime’s controversial documentary on the infamous gangster rap mogul Suge Knight, directed by Antoine Fuqua, as well as the upcoming Independent Lens/PBS documentary Meet the Patels. She also worked with the independent distribution team that brought Simpson’s actor Harry Shearer’s film The Big Uneasy to theaters. Kate currently lives in Los Angeles next to loud neighbors who she tweets about.

About Yada Zamora (Writer / Producer)

Cuban-American Yada Zamora is an award-winning writer/producer who has been mentored by some of the biggest producers and writers in the film industry. In 2012 she and producing partner Paul A. Levin formed REDTHORN, with the goal to make ground-breaking original content for film and television across all genres, with the focus on storytelling above all.

By Blogbot

This Wednesday, June 24th on SuicideGirls Radio, hosts Moxi Suicide, Nicole Powers and Bradley Suicide will be joined by provocative LA street artist Plastic Jesus.

You can listen – and watch – the world’s leading BYOB radio show live on Wednesday nights from 8 til 9 PM [note new day/time] at our state-of-the-art all digital home: TradioV.com.

If you have questions for the SG Radio crew or our guests, you can call in during the live broadcast at: 1-855-TRV-inLA (1-855-878-4652)

For updates on all things SG Radio-related, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

**UPDATE**
ICYMI: Watch last week’s show featuring provocative street artist Plastic Jesus here or via the player below.

About Plastic Jesus

Plastic Jesus is a Los Angeles based street artist that specializes in bold stencil and installation work, inspired by world news events, society, the urban environment, culture and politics. His work combines humor, irony, criticism and unique opinion to create art that engages on many levels.

Often questioning the norms in society, Plastic Jesus confronts our compliance of culture and current affairs. The artist uses scale and contradiction as a means to highlight issues and opinions that often go unquestioned. The aesthetic appeal of his work combined with the engagement produces an addictive mix that challenges our acceptance.

Plastic Jesus is not about revolution, he is not an anarchist but would like to see some changes around the place. His work is more about shining a small light into some of those dark corners of society.

His work has been featured by the BBC, CNN, ABC News, Huffington Post, Gizmodo, Buzzfeed, The Sun, The Daily Mirror, LA Times, LA Weekly, The Daily Mail, MSNBC, The Daily Telegraph, Complex art and Design, Time, US Weekly, USA Today and more.

For more info visit plasticjesus.net and follow the synthetic idol on Twitter and Instagram.

By Nicole Powers

It’s frightening how little the West understands The People’s Republic of China. And what we don’t know is hurting us — and them. Inside China’s borders resides the largest population on the planet (1.357 billion compared to the United States’ paltry 318 million), which is guarded by the largest army in terms of active personnel and a formidable nuclear arsenal. China also hosts one of the fastest growing economies, and as a result, the planet’s largest middle class. The Republic is therefore revered by more open capitalist cultures as much as it is feared.

Those within China who have benefited from its unprecedented prosperity have paid a high price, however, in terms of freedom of expression and oppression. Meanwhile the foreign corporations that do business there, in order to continue to reap the rewards of China’s burgeoning markets, choose to turn a blind eye to these human rights abuses — they have to, since it’s the only way the state allows them to function. Thus, the Chinese government and the overseas corporations doing business within the Republic’s borders are essentially in cahoots in maintaining the status quo; The Great Wall of China is no longer a physical one protecting the insular nation, but one built on silence.

Chinese lawyer and human rights activist Chen Guangcheng.

Enter documentarian Vanessa Hope, whose previous credits include William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe and China in Three Words. Through the language of film, Vanessa — who has dedicated her personal and professional life to exploring China’s culture — hopes to foster greater understanding and break the state imposed and business endorsed wall of silence.

Her latest project All Eyes And Ears is remarkable, both in terms of scope and access. Through Vanessa’s lens, we follow the former Mormon Governor of Utah, Jon Huntsman, as he moves to China with his glamorous wife Mary Kaye and their adopted Chinese daughter Gracie to take up office as the Obama-appointed U.S. Ambassador. Vanessa took a longitudinal approach, filming over the course of five years from the end of 2009 through the beginning of 2014. Consequently, Huntsman’s term in office and Vanessa’s film bears witness not ony to the rise of authoritarian leader Xi Jinping, but also the rise of the proletariat in the Occupy-inspired Jasmine Spring. The arc of Huntsman’s story also converges with that of the blind, self-taught Chinese human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng, who escaped from house arrest in 2012 to claim asylum at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. This unexpected turn of events, which occurred during a key international diplomatic summit, sparked one of the greatest crisis in U.S. / China relations in recent times.

We caught up with Vanessa by phone to talk about the project. Read our exclusive interview with Vanessa on SuicideGirls.

For more information visit alleyesandears.org, and follow @VHopeful and @alleyesearsdoc on Twitter. If you’d like to support All Eyes And Ears, visit the Indiegogo page.

By Blogbot

This Wednesday, May 27th on SuicideGirls Radio, Nicole Powers will be joined by Xenia Sin, the badass lady who is responsible for bringing the Femen movement to North America. Society calls Femen feminists, they call themselves sextremists. There’s a major difference. We’ll find out what it is, and how they turned boobs into bombs, nipples into missiles, and bodies into the kind of manifestos that had men and women up in arms all around the globe!

You can listen – and watch – the world’s leading BYOB radio show live on Wednesday nights from 8 til 9 PM [note new day/time] at our state-of-the-art all digital home: TradioV.com.

If you have questions for the SG Radio crew or our guests, you can call in during the live broadcast at: 1-855-TRV-inLA (1-855-878-4652)

For updates on all things SG Radio-related, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

**UPDATE**

Our show feat. @XeniaFemen and @SageHack was a riot — watch it here:

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