Capital District Chapter of the NYS Alliance for Retired Americans

09/26/2021

Freedom to Vote Act Offers New Congressional Path For Voter Protection

As Federal efforts to ensure voting rights become even more important in the wake of numerous state actions to make it harder for register and cast ballots, the Freedom to Vote Act has emerged as an important piece of legislation in the Congress.

Experts from the non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice explain why…

The bill provides essential reforms needed to protect our democratic system.

08/05/2021

08/05/2021

Capital District Chapter of NYSARA Zoom Social Security Presentation.... FDR, the New Deal and Social Security with Michael Burgess.

07/12/2021

Checking the President’s Sanctions Power

A single emergency power accounts for 37 of the 40 national emergencies active today: the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which underlies most U.S. economic sanctions regimes. Although it was originally enacted to constrain the president during peacetime, Congress today has almost no ability to check presidential uses (or abuses) of this extremely broad power. Moreover, sanctions programs and targets have ballooned since IEEPA’s enactment, harming both Americans’ constitutional rights and the well-being of civilians abroad. The Biden administration has pledged to review the sanctions regimes currently in place, and voices inside and outside of government are calling for reform. A recent report released by the Brennan Center for Justice, Checking the President’s Sanctions Powers, delves into the problems with IEEPA and its implementation and offers recommendations to address them.

Join a timely online webinar and discussion on the need for sanctions reform moderated by the Director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, Hina Shamsi, in conversation with Asli Bâli, Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law and Faculty Director of the Promise Institute for Human Rights; Peter Beinart, journalist, Professor of Journalism and Political Science at CUNY, and author of The Beinart Notebook (https://peterbeinart.substack.com/); and Andrew Boyle, Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice and author of Checking the President’s Sanctions Powers.

This event is produced by the non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law in partnership with NYU's John Brademas Center.

Time
Jul 13, 2021 12:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Register at: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/2216257539472/WN_MuusGZnkS6ehIA83sEYxdg

A single emergency power accounts for 37 of the 40 national emergencies active today: the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which underlies most U.S. economic sanctions regimes. Although it was originally enacted to constrain the president during peacetime, Congress today has almo...

06/21/2021

NYS Writers Instate offers Perspective on Significance of Juneteenth Holiday and Promise of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation

The Decisive action by Congress and President Joseph Biden to declare Juneteenth a federal Holiday highlights the importance America seeking to live up to its ideals. Nowhere in American history is that aspiration more evident than in Abraham Lincoln’s message in signing the Emancipation Proclamation.

As a nation of laws and principle, it’s valuable to reflect on the importance of words to represent who we are and what we believe. The NYS Writers Institute shared an important reading of the document that helps to mark the significance of the occasion and our focus moving forward as a nation.

June 19 in America will henceforth be celebrated as "Juneteenth," a federal holiday. From the Times Union, "President Joe Biden signed legislation Thursday establishing a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery, saying he believes it will go down as one of the greatest honors he has as....

06/14/2021

Juneteenth Commemoration Offers Unique Perspective Legacy of Slavery
As America continues to struggle with the impact of its historic legacy of slavery, an upcoming
webinar to be presented by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School and NYU’s
Brademas Center will offer fresh insights.
The session will consider 9 monuments and landmarks, some of which are honest about the
history of slavery and some which are not.
The program is scheduled to commemorate Juneteenth, a holiday based on the historic day in
June 1865 that enslaved people in Texas learned of their liberation and the end of the Civil War.

How can a deeper understanding of the legacy of slavery help the United States better address its current injustices? In his new book, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, The Atlantic staff writer Clint Smith takes readers to nine monuments and landmarks ....

01/18/2021

Gov. Cuomo outlines 2021 Agenda: Reimagine, Rebuild, Renew

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has delivered a series of video State of the State Addresses detailing priorities for the year ahead and they have plenty of impact for older New Yorkers along with everyone else.

The continuing COVID 19 pandemic dominates the state’s focus but much of the agenda is focused on looking forward and overcoming the challenges to maintain public health and re-open the state’s economy.

Learn more: https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-outlines-2021-agenda-reimagine-rebuild-renew

08/15/2020

GRAND NURSING HOME in Guilderland NY The 120 residents celebrating the 85th birthday of Social Security with a delicious cake and a BIG RAFFLE of FUN PRIZES

08/13/2020

On Friday, August 14 Jill Biden and Louis Gossett Jr. will join Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Jon "Bowzer" Bauman, and Seniors for Biden for a virtual rally celebrating the 85th anniversary of the creation of Social Security. The event will focus on Joe Biden’s plan to protect seniors, which inclu...

06/15/2020

Trump opposes voting by mail, making it harder for older Americans to cast their ballots

President Trump has continued to denounce mail-in voting, falsely claiming that it enables widespread voter fraud -- even though he and senior members of his staff and cabinet themselves cast absentee ballots by mail. He favors forcing seniors to leave their homes to cast their ballots, often while under a shelter inplace order, and risking infection from the coronavirus.

Without the funding that the president opposes, the Postal Service could run outof money as soon as September. Mail service interruptions could begin just asabsentee voting by mail takes place in the states that have fully implemented it.

Amy Gardner and Elise Viebeck, "GOP pushes voting by mail — with restrictions — while Trump attacks it as ‘corrupt,’" The Washington Post, April 13, 2020.

Allison Pecorin, “Postal Service says it's going broke due to pandemic, Trump flatly opposes emergency aid,” ABC News, April 13, 2020.

05/27/2020

The President is using the Coronavirus as a smokescreen to cut Social Security. President Trump has made it crystal clear that he wants to cut earned benefits, telling a reporter in January that he plans to cut "entitlements" at the end of the year. Now, he has escalated his attack by pushing a coronavirus payroll tax cut that threatens Social Security's dedicated stream of funding. Referring to future stimulus bills on May 3, he appeared on Fox News and said "we're not doing anything without a payroll tax cut."