San Jose, CA – On Saturday, March 25, the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC) and the South Bay Islamic Association (SBIA) will be co-sponsoring a day of solidarity with the American Muslim community. A march of solidarity will begin in San Jose Japantown and will end with a rally at San Jose City Hall.

an José, CA – On Thursday, March 16, President Donald Trump presented his first budget proposal to Congress. That proposal, combined with his backing of the House Republican American Health Care Act (AHCA) proposed the week before, add up massive cuts to programs that help the poor and working class, together with large tax cuts for the rich. Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, told the press with a straight face that the budget proposal was “compassionate” even though those facing the biggest cuts are children, seniors and the disabled.

ACHA would give hundreds of billions in tax cuts to the rich

San José, CA – On Monday, March 13, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its report on the proposed American Health Care Act or ACHA. The ACHA is the House Republican bill that is supported by President Trump. The CBO report estimated that 14 million would lose health insurance the first year after the passage of the ACHA. This number will rise to 24 million people who would lose health insurance over the next ten years. This will basically double the percentage working-age adults who go without health insurance from 10% to 19%. This would save the federal government $1200 billion, most of which will go to tax cuts that mainly benefit the rich.

The American Health Care Act

San José, CA – On Monday, March 6, the House of Representatives Republican leadership, backed by President Trump, rolled out their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare). The Republicans hope to ram their bill, known as the American Health Care Act or AHCA, through congress this month, without an analysis of how many people would lose their insurance coverage or how much it would cost.

On Sunday, Feb. 19, a standing-room only crowd of more than 700 packed the San Jose Day of Remembrance event. Every year the San Jose Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC) organizes this event to commemorate Executive Order 9066. Executive Order 9066 paved the way for the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II.

On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which authorized the removal of 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent from the West Coast of the U.S. to concentration camps. Despite not a single case of espionage by Japanese Americans, they were removed en masse by a combination of what has been called “war hysteria, racial prejudice, and a failure of political leadership” under the guise of national security.

El 25 de enero, el presidente Trump firmó una orden ejecutiva que da inicio a la construcción de un muro fronterizo entre México y los EE.UU., incrementa el número de agentes de patrulla fronteriza, y aumenta la cooperación entre las autoridades federales de inmigración y las agencias locales de policía. Esta es la primera orden ejecutiva de Trump contra los inmigrantes y sin duda alguna no será la última.

San José, CA – On Jan. 25, President Trump signed an executive order ordering the construction of a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, an increase in the number of Border Patrol staffing, and stepping up federal immigration authorities’ use of local police. This is the first executive order on immigration by Trump, to be followed by others in the near future.

Republicans in Congress have already voted to cut the taxes that pay for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Up to now these tax cuts have been vetoed by President Obama. But with the inauguration of Donald Trump, Republicans in the Senate and House will be free to cut ACA taxes and give hundreds of billions of dollars to the richest Americans.

Commentary by Masao Suzuki

One of the first things that Donald Trump said that he would do as president is repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as Obamacare. The ACA has dramatically reduced the number of Americans without health insurance, from more than 41 million in 2013 to less than 29 million two years later, a drop of 13 million people. A repeal of the ACA would increase the number of uninsured by 20 million people, so the that number of uninsured would rise to record levels.

While Donald Trump claims to be for the working man, his tax proposal is just another Republican tax cut for the rich and big business. The biggest single tax break would be for corporations, whose tax rate would be cut from 35% to 15%. This and other tax cuts for corporations and other businesses would cut federal tax revenue by about $4.5 trillion dollars over the next ten years, or about $450 billion dollars a year. This would mainly benefit the top 1%, who own about half of corporate and business wealth and other high-income individuals who could change their tax status to be a business.

President-elect Donald Trump has promised a new level of repression against undocumented immigrants in the U.S., 70% of whom are Mexican and Central American. Throughout his campaign for president, Trump has targeted Mexican immigrants with racist attacks, calling them drug dealers, criminals and rapists. His new “Contract with the American Voter” describing his 100-day action plan follows through his campaign promises.

San Jose, CA – After the police killing of two more Black men in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sept. 21, Masao Suzuki, chair of the Joint Nationalities Commission of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, condemned the epidemic of police crimes and urged people to build the movement.

San José, CA – On Feb. 14, nearly 300 people came to San José State University’s Morris Dailey Auditorium for the 36th Annual Day of Remembrance. This event commemorates the anniversary of Executive Order 9066 issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Feb. 19, 1942 that led to the incarceration of about 120,000 Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II.

Report shows rising income inequality while maintaining myth of the middle class – Commentary by Masao Suzuki

San José, CA – In December of 2015 the Pew Research Center released a report on the decline in middle-income Americans, who now make up a minority of the population, down from 60% in the 1970s. Their share of income has fallen even more, from more than 60% in the 1970s to only 43% in 2014, as upper-income households share has risen from 30% to 49% over the same period of time. The Pew report also has other important information on wealth, debt, occupation and education, which were generally not reported in the mainstream corporate media.

Problems around the world hit U.S. economy

San José, CA – On Oct. 2, the Department of Labor reported that the U.S. economy created only 142,000 net new jobs in September. This was in much less than the 200,000-plus jobs that mainstream economists expected. Even worse, the Labor Department reported that their revised estimates for July and August turned out to be 59,000 fewer new jobs than originally reported.

Spy accusations part of U.S. preparations for war with China

San José, CA – On Sept. 11, the Justice Department dropped its charges against Xi Xiaoxing, who had been chair of the physics department at Temple University, until his arrest in May. Professor Xi’s home was raided and searched by a dozen FBI agents at dawn, some with guns drawn, when he was arrested and led away in handcuffs in front of his wife and two daughters. He was charged with sharing designs for a ‘pocket heater’ used in superconductor research with scientists in China.

San José, CA – In May of 2015, the official unemployment rate was 5.5%, close to the 5.0% rate in December 2007 when the last recession began. But despite what appears to be a recovery in the labor market, wages continue to rise at a very slow rate while profits have soared. In fact, businesses used the recession to continue their restructuring of the labor market in their interests, to the detriment of those who have to work for a living.