Disturbing news- GOP and Tea-Party Senator Rand Paul has blocked funds for elderly and disabled refugees. The bill that Senator Paul blocked had even come from a disturbing agreement between Democratic and Republican Senators to offset the costs of the program with fee increases for visa applications, a move that would cause severe hardship for lower income immigrants. (Article Link)

What in God's name is going on in Alabama? This past week, a federal judge refused to block several key components of what critics have called the harshest anti-immigrant and anti-undocumented immigrant bill in the country.

I've got a lot of love for my alma matter, Pomona College in Claremont, California. The AAPI student activism and organizing at the Claremont Colleges is energizing, vibrant, and just all-around dope. As a senior, I was one of three head mentors for the Asian American Mentor Program.

For the first time in history, the President of the United States met formally with the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) today. President Obama and senior members of his staff met with CAPAC in the Cabinet Room of the White House, where they discussed, among other topics, immigration reform, AAPI judicial nominations, health disparities, data disaggregation, and White House engagement with AAPI communities.

On Saturday August 11th, a police gang task force raided the Eden Shopping Center - a central part of Northern Virginia's Vietnamese American, Southeast Asian American, and Asian American community - in Falls Church, Virginia. Despite disrupting the entire marketplace and swarming the shopping center with agents, the police only arrested 19 people on misdemeanor gambling charges (WaPo article).

More promising news on the judicial diversity front - President Obama has nominated Judge Jacqueline H Nguyen of the Federal District Court of California's Central District to the 9th Circuit United States Court of Appeals. If approved, Judge Nguyen would be the first Asian American female judge on the Court of Appeals, and only the second Asian American overall! However, given all of the obstructive and often-racist stonewalling of President Obama's judicial nominees by Republican Senators, who knows what will happen. Here's to hoping that Judge Nguyen is quickly confirmed.

Another update on the American Jobs Act. Thursday September 22nd, there will be a conference call for AAPI leaders with Chris Lu of the Obama administration and Congressman Mike Honda on the impact of the proposed American Jobs Act for AAPI communities. See press release below:

For some reason, Newt Gingrich is still running for President, and according to Politico, he has a new plan to win the Republican nomination for the 2012 Presidential Election: court the Asian American vote!

Last week, I wrote about the fact sheet that the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders put out on President Obama's American Jobs Act proposal, and how it might benefit AAPI communities (Blog Post).  I also criticized how the American Jobs Act website didn't have a section on the jobs' proposed impact on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, even though we've been hit disproportionally in certain ways by the recession.

The NCAA and the multi-billion dollar sports-entertainment industry have been criticized for profiting so greatly when its business model essentially relies on unpaid labor, also known as "student athletes." This great Atlantic Magazine article ("The Shame of College Sports") critiques the dark side of the NCAA and its affiliates.