EDITORIAL
BY DHIREN SHAH
Hello Readers,
This past weekend, the government was shut down due to the budget not being approved by Congress. The Senate approved a deal last week, but it was not approved by the House. The settlement of billions of dollars is always on the minds of their vote bank and their party and personal benefit. Most of the time, it is about politics rather than the people. The welfare system in this country is to help the poor who do not work on paper.
As I have heard, many low-income families make ends meet by working with cash money while still getting government benefits. The programs were developed to help those with low incomes under the poverty level to get some benefits from the government including SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), and TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) also known as welfare. TANF is for people with children to get better food and help for their lives. The programs are good, but some groups are taking undue advantage from them. Also, a political advantage is taken with these programs as the award recipients are afraid of losing benefits if they do not support certain candidates.
Millions of documents were released this past week in connection with Jeffrey Epstein. Donald Trump has not been involved in any of the released documents as per the news media. However, former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton’s names were standing out in the Epstein case, and both Clintons agreed to testify to Congress, with the proceedings led by the Republicans.
The killing of Alex Pretti by immigration officers has spread protests all over the country. The two federal immigration agents were identified as border patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have demanded that ICE stop harassing people and leave Minnesota. In response, the Trump administration has sent Tom Homan to the area and has shifted Kristi Noem away to calm down things. So far, it seems to be working.
Donald Trump has been playing the tariff game since beginning his second term. India has been buying Russian Oil at a very low price. Trump punished India and raised the tariff to 50%. The USA is the world’s largest importer. Total trade in 2024 was 32.2 trillion US dollars. The US is trading about 13.6% (About 3.3 trillion), China was trading about 10.4%, followed by Germany 5.8%. Due to the 50% tariff, India’s economy was affected. So, India settled and will stop importing oil from Russia. At the same time, Trump has eased up on the tariffs. India has not officially confirmed the news.
Have a wonderful week. I’ll talk to you next week.
