The notion of competing inside Nassau Coliseum brings a smile to the face of Ryan LaFlare, a 33-year-old UFC fighter with a fully stacked Long Island resume.
He was an All-County wrestler at Lindenhurst High School, wrestled at Nassau Community College and still holds the Farmingdale State men’s lacrosse record with 131 career goals. He’s raising his family in West Islip and co-owns Long Island MMA in Farmingdale.
“To me, fighting in Long Island is the epitome,” LaFlare said. “This is where I grew up. I grew up going to shows at the Coliseum.
“I used to pass it every day and be like, ‘One day I want to be in there.’ Even going to Disney on Ice with my kids there, it’s crazy that I’m going to be able to put on for my city over there.”
That excitement will go away soon. But don’t be offended, Long Islanders, it’s not about you. There’s work to be done on fight night, namely getting by welterweight Alex Oliveira on July 22 on the UFC’s first card ever on Long Island.
“At the end of the day, the octagon has eight sides, there’s still gonna be three people once that cage door shuts: you, your opponent, the referee,” LaFlare said. “It doesn’t really matter where you are once the fight starts. I think the buildup is one thing, but the fight is something totally different.”
LaFlare (13-1, 6-1 UFC) has the traveling resume to back up that point as well. He’s fought for the UFC in Sweden and the United Arab Emirates and twice in Brazil.
He last fought in February at UFC 208 — at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. At the time, it was the closest he’d ever fought to his home in Long Island. Technically, it’s the same body of land. No bridges or tunnels are needed to get from Suffolk to Brooklyn. But that geographic distinction long ago was engulfed by Big Town. In 1898, Brooklyn became one of the five boroughs of New York City.
“They kind of teased me with the Brooklyn card. I’m like, finally I’m home,” LaFlare said. “I’m not saying it wasn’t amazing to fight there. But the Coliseum …”
Yes, the Coliseum. For Long Islanders, that’s the big time. It’s where they watched Islanders games for so many years. It’s where they went to their first concert. The circus, pro wrestling, the Harlem Globetrotters, Ice Capades, expos. Nearly every major artist or band played the Coliseum, from Paul McCartney to Prince, from Led Zeppelin to U2, and, of course, Billy Joel.
LaFlare is one of six local fighters on the UFC Long Island card, the promotion’s first here and fifth in New York since the state legalized mixed martial arts in March 2016. He’ll be joined by Chris Weidman, Dennis Bermudez, Gian Villante, Chris Wade and Brian Kelleher.
“The reason why I fight, it’s something different every fight,” LaFlare said. “Sometimes I wake up, I love being competitive, I love testing myself and seeing how far I can take this. Sometimes I wake up and say, ‘Man, all these people are counting on me, everyone looks up to me, I have to put on a show.’ Another thing is financially for my kids. Every day is something different. You have to keep digging deep and finding different reasons why you’re doing what you’re doing.”
Eddie “Truck” Gordon hasn’t worked in the finance world since his mixed martial arts career first bloomed, but he’s taken one principle to heart — diversify.
Freeport’s Gordon is plotting his next move in the cage, but the former UFC fighter has enough going on outside the sport these days to keep busy.
“One thing I did learn in college is that those multi-billionaires, they have seven streams of income,” Gordon said. “If one slows down, you still have cash flow coming in.”
Gordon won season 19 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” but a career in MMA never was a thought. He was a star on the football field at Freeport High School and played at Fordham while earning a business degree, but pro football was never the plan either.
“I knew I wanted to get a good education,” Gordon said. “I’m a numbers guy, that’s why I was in finance. In football, the numbers are not in your favor. Do you want to sit there and go to Arena leagues, Canadian league, kind of hope to go the NFL one day? I didn’t want to live that life.”
After college, Gordon said he worked at JP Morgan before moving to a private publishing company as a financial adviser. An outing with his co-workers brought him to Philadelphia for UFC 101 in 2009. A former wrestler, Gordon fell in love with MMA watching legend Anderson Silva knock out Forrest Griffin.
“I told them, ‘I could do this,’ and they all laughed at me,” Gordon said.
Gordon put together a respectable MMA career, going 8-4 with a 1-3 mark in the UFC, the lone victory clinching his “TUF” title. He returned to the show for a “redemption” season this year but lost in the first round. At a career crossroads, Gordon isn’t taking much for granted.
“Most athletes don’t realize that you are a brand and you can only fight for so long,” Gordon said. “At times we feel like we’re invincible, but that’s the furthest thing from the truth. We don’t know when it’s going to be our last fight.”
Gordon still lives in Freeport with his four young boys and is engaged to be married later this year.
The uncertainty of MMA has Gordon planning for the future. Even before his fighting career, Gordon had a custom cabinet business with his father that they still manage. He started a health beverage line that he dubs “weight-loss coffee” that he said has been profitable.
Gordon’s newest work as a motivational speaker is the venture he’s most passionate about.
As part of a sponsorship deal, Gordon gave a speech to employees at the company. A business partner of his sponsor then asked if Gordon could speak to their company. From there, Gordon started offering his services for workshops and graduations.
“I’m passionate about it. I went to a couple of schools and I got that same adrenaline rush talking to these kids,” Gordon said. “I thought, if I had someone come talk to me, I would probably have believed in myself a little more, who knows, maybe started a little earlier. So talking to kids, I love it. I got more opportunities to talk to companies and some other things, and it pays well, so to do something I love that doesn’t really feel like work, that’s awesome.”
Speaking to children inspired him to start the Eddie Truck Gordon Foundation, the purpose of which is to reach out to underprivileged kids and help battle drug addiction.
“I want to show them that it doesn’t matter where you came from, as long as you believe in yourself there’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” Gordon said.
Gordon, who turns 34 later this month, also is turning his experience into a book.
“I never thought in my life that I would be writing a book, but after doing all this speaking, people kept saying they wanted something to walk away with,” Gordon said. “I thought it would be a lot easier, I have to give authors and writers a lot of credit.”
Despite the full plate, Gordon isn’t relaxing his training. He last fought for CFFC in August 2016, defeating Chris Lozano in a split decision.
With “TUF” behind him, Gordon has been training for the inaugural RISE Submission Invitational, a grappling event at The Space at Westbury on July 29, where he’ll face former UFC fighter Chris Cope.
“It’s my first grappling tournament, and I’m using it to work on my weaknesses. That’s only going to make me a better fighter,” Gordon said. “There’s no pressure for me. I get to grapple with some of the best guys in the world every single day for free. Not taking anything away from Chris Cope, but he’s not Matt Serra.”
Gordon said he’s received multiple fight offers since “TUF Redemption,” some better than those he got after winning the show in 2014. A UFC return would be nice, but in a changing MMA landscape, Gordon believes it’s not a requirement to continue growing as a fighter and brand.
“I think right now, it’s probably the best I’ve been mentally for fighting,” Gordon said. “I’m stable, I don’t have to take fights for the money. Now I can actually pick and choose when I’m going to fight, who I’m going to fight, and it gives me so much freedom.”
The MTA says its plan to get through the Long Island Rail Road’s so-called “summer of hell” will provide enough options and redundancies to serve all of the LIRR’s daily riders.
At the same time, experts warn there’s ample opportunity in the complex plan for something to go wrong, and the consequences could be severe.
The multi-faceted plan is designed to accommodate all of the LIRR’s daily riders — numbering 300,000 on any given workday — despite operating with three fewer tracks at the railroad’s primary hub, Penn Station, to accommodate long-delayed track improvements.
To maintain its existing capacity, the railroad is lengthening some trains, running additional trains just outside the rush hours, and supplementing rail service with first-of-their kind express bus and ferry routes. The LIRR is also relying on customers’ willingness to travel to alternative stations, such as Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, throughout the summer, and will offer reduced fares as an incentive to do so. In addition, construction work on river crossings, including the RFK bridge, is being hastened to make it easier for those who take to their cars.
The MTA has said it will be flexible with its plan, and re-evaluate and change it as needed throughout the summer. But for Long Islanders who simply have to get to Manhattan this summer, there’s ample opportunity for something going wrong on a commuter railroad already operating at the brink.
Will it work? Here are some of the factors that may make the difference.
Penn Station
On an average day, the nation’s busiest rail hub is a crowded, confusing and chaotic place. With construction blocking access to three of Penn’s tracks, and Amtrak and NJ Transit sharing tracks that the LIRR usually has to itself, it could be especially hectic. To reduce the pressure on Penn, the LIRR is counting on some commuters choosing other options, including subways and other LIRR city terminals. But the vast majority of LIRR trains will still go to and from Penn Station.
Although the LIRR has said only peak trains will be affected by the service disruptions, Penn may also be more crowded than usual during off-peak hours. Some late-night travelers will also be impacted, as the LIRR is canceling three overnight trains to and from Penn throughout the summer.
Commuters at the newly opened West End Concourse at Penn Station, part of the Empire Station/Moynihan Train Hall Development that is part of the Farley U.S. Post Office building. Photo by Craig Ruttle
On the upside, the newly opened west-end concourse at Penn, beneath the old Farley Post Office, provides new space for commuters to congregate and disperse. It will be especially important once the LIRR starts running longer trains that release more commuters than usual onto a platform all at once.
Alternative terminals
This summer could be the coming-out party for the LIRR’s other NYC terminals, which are typically viewed as the stepchildren of Penn Station – most notably Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn and Hunterspoint Avenue in Queens. With six tracks, a relatively new customer concourse, and connections to several major subway lines, Atlantic is equipped to handle more riders than it does now.
Hunterspoint Avenue, on the other hand, is old and rickety – handling just a handful of customers a day. But for commuters heading to the East Side of Midtown Manhattan, it could be an attractive option.
As an incentive for riders to use the alternative terminals — and help make up for the inconvenience of having to doing so — the LIRR is reducing fares to and from Atlantic and Hunterspoint Avenue by an average of 25 percent this summer. But many commuters have said commuting to and from stations in Queens or Brooklyn doesn’t work for them, both because of the added distance from their workplaces and the infrequency of service.
Subways
The LIRR’s summer plan will lean heavily on the MTA’s subway system to carry customers to their jobs from key transfer points, such as Jamaica, where riders can grab the E, J and Z trains, Hunterspoint Avenue, where passengers can catch the 7, and Atlantic Terminal, which connects to many of the city’s main subway lines.
The MTA says it has more than enough capacity to handle the extra riders. Railroad spokesman Shams Tarek noted that even if every affected commuter chose to ride the subway — an “impossible scenario”— the impact would be negligible on a system that transports 1.6 million riders every morning.
But the extra riders will come at a time when the subway system is under considerable strain itself, with growing delays caused by overcrowding on trains and at platforms. The recent problems led the MTA to take on a top-to-bottom review of the subway system, and prompted Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to declare the system in a state of emergency on June 29.
In addition, the LIRR has only offered to honor railroad fares on subways in the mornings.
Ferries
Among the more murky elements of the MTA plan is the creation of as many as three new ferry routes to help commuters get to and from East 34th Street in Manhattan. The MTA has yet to name the vendors that will operate the routes, and securing vessels in the peak summer season is a challenge, experts said.
The MTA says the Glen Cove and Long Island City ferries will accommodate 2,300 people.
It’s unclear how popular the new service will be, but New York City’s ferry system has struggled to meet growing demand, even chartering extra boats in recent months.
Some Long Island residents and officials have already raised several concerns, saying the plan has not been adequately studied for its environmental impact and will bring unwelcome car traffic.
The MTA previously said it was looking into setting up a third ferry route to serve South Shore Nassau commuters, including those on the Long Beach and Far Rockaway lines, but it has yet to materialize.
A ferry leaves Hunters Point South ferry landing in Long Island City. Photo by Jeff Bachner
Express buses
The MTA says it has secured 200 coach buses both from its own fleet and from two New Jersey-based private vendors — Coach USA and Academy Bus — to carry 10,000 commuters to and from eight designated locations on Long Island and three in Manhattan — at East 34th Street near the Midtown Tunnel, near Penn Station, and near Grand Central Terminal.
But the buses will have to navigate the infamous traffic on the Long Island Expressway and connecting roads, a deterrent for commuters looking for predictability. The MTA has said it will be flexible, and could opt to reduce the number of buses provided if there are too few takers. But it also notes the buses, which will be stored in Long Island City and Hoboken during mid-days, could provide a backup during unanticipated service disruptions.
To help make the buses a slightly more attractive option, the MTA plans to provide free food and drinks at their designated origin points on Long Island.
It also remains to be seen whether the designated park-and-ride locations – including the already popular Park & Ride in Melville – set up by the MTA will be able to handle all those extra cars.
Roads
The plan also aims to help ease the traffic on the roadways both for commuters who opt to drive all or part of the way to work, and for the express buses the MTA will run between Long Island and Manhattan. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has said all construction projects going on at the MTA’s crossings will be rushed along and finished by July 8, only two days before the Penn work begins.
Photo by Howard Schnapp
The plan also offers 50 percent toll discounts to truckers overnight to get them off the roads during the days. Rather than charging less to drive overnight, some experts have said the state should have charged more to cross during the day – essentially implementing a congestion pricing plan. Also helping matters will be the recent implementation of cashless tolling at some major crossings, including the Midtown Tunnel and RFK Bridge.
Crowding
With 20 percent fewer rush-hour trains going into and out of Penn this summer, some trains and stations may see a lot more crowding than usual. The LIRR says it has carefully considered ridership demands on every train and every station, and is confident it will be able to handle them.
Photo by Jeff Bachner
On-time performance
It may be especially difficult for commuters to get anywhere on time this summer. Crowding at stations and on trains could result in longer loading times. And some trips will take longer because some express trains will add stops to accommodate customers on trains that were cancelled. Trip times may be even more predictable on ferries and, especially, express buses, which will be at the whim of LIE traffic.
A commuter waits at Jamaica Station. Photo by Jeff Bachner
Can it get done in time?
Amtrak has said its summer infrastructure renewal plan aims to condense years’ worth of construction work over just two months, but some have expressed skepticism about Amtrak’s ability to get the work done on time, given its track record. Amtrak says it is hiring a private consultant to help manage the project, and Amtrak and the LIRR say they will monitor the work and make regular progress reports to riders.
Communication
The LIRR has taken a lot of heat from commuters for what they’ve said is a failure to communicate clearly in general, and especially during recent and frequent service disruptions. The LIRR has promised an “aggressive public awareness campaign” to communicate service options to riders.
Mark Epstein, chairman of the LIRR Commuter Council, said he’d also like to hear from the LIRR about how it will respond to unexpected service problems that could arise.
It’s very nice that they’re telling us about the planned outage. What happens when there’s also an unplanned outage?
– Commuter council chief Mark Epstein
Some station platforms signs may not display correct data. Service is on or close. Please listen for station announcements.
The unprecedented situation of the nation’s busiest commuter railroad operating at reduced capacity during the two hottest months of the year could lead to all kinds of problems, experts say, ranging from heat-related broken rails to communication meltdowns or power outages.
Anthony Simon, leader of the LIRR’s largest labor organization, has “insisted” that the railroad keep its train crews in the loop about service conditions throughout the summer, but said that can be tough to achieve during “real-time” emergencies. He asked for riders’ patience. He implored riders not to take their frustrations out on train-crew members.
The LIRR could also face other operating challenges, including from its problematic switch and signal system. When the LIRR faces unexpected capacity constraints, it typically defaults to “off-the-shelf” service reductions that include cancelling and combining certain trains.
But, with the LIRR’s capacity already significantly reduced at Penn, experts have said there is no room for error. In such a situation, the LIRR will probably rely heavily on its express buses and ferries to bring riders to and from work.
At the front desk of Longo and Weidman MMA in Garden City sits a near-empty box of authentic pistachio-filled Turkish delights.
The sugar-covered sweets were a fitting treat from the world travels of Alp Ozkilic, a Turkish mixed martial artist who has once again made Long Island home.
“Take one,” Ozkilic insisted. “Hey, it is my nickname — the Turkish Delight.”
Ozkilic is back in the U.S. after his mixed martial arts career took him overseas for the better part of two years. He became the first Turkish-born fighter to compete in the UFC when he won his promotional debut in 2013 but was released in 2015 after three straight losses.
Now, Ozkilic returns to Long Island looking to make another run at MMA’s top promotion.
“I always considered this place home, and I wanted to come home,” Ozkilic said.
Ozkilic first came here from Turkey in 2004 to wrestle at Nassau CC in Garden City, where he was a two-time NJCAA All-American. After transferring to Lindenwood University in Missouri to finish his collegiate career, Ozkilic stayed in the St. Louis area to become a professional fighter. He believes he had the skill to compete with the best in the UFC’s flyweight division and become a marketable star in his home country, but he said the circumstances of his time with the company kept him from succeeding.
After an 8-1 start on the regional circuit, he debuted in the UFC with a split decision win over Darren Uyenoyama. Ozkilic said he then was encouraged by his manangement to take a fight with contender Louis Smolka a month later. He ran out of energy early in the fight.
“Fighting twice in a month, cutting 20 pounds twice in a month, my body couldn’t handle it,” Ozkilic said.
After losing to Smolka, Ozkilic returned to Long Island — both to work with trainer Keith Trimble of Bellmore Kickboxing Academy and to get back to a life he could enjoy after a few too many years in the heartland. Ozkilic was living in North Bellmore at the time. He also trained with Ray Longo at Longo and Weidman MMA in Garden City.
“After college I got into fighting, the only reason that I stayed there was my coach and my team,” Ozkilic said. “My coach out there, he knew I never fit in the culture there, I always live in big cities. I’ve never been country.”
Ozkilic lost a “Fight of the Night” against top contender John Lineker, then suffered a first-round knockout against Ben Nguyen. All three losses came against currently ranked fighters.
Once cut, he considered options in the U.S. but instead took a payday to join Chinese promotion Kunlun Fight. Ozkilic spent about a year and half in China, working as a coach and fight commentator while training, receiving a regular salary, free housing and food. He was supposed to be able to fight as often as he wanted, but Ozkilic said the promotion had a hard time finding matchups all sides could agree on.
He eventually received a bantamweight title fight in a co-promoted event with Korean company Top FC, but lost to Kwan Ho Kwak in a unanimous decision last May. Ozkilic claims the judges and officials in Korea gave Kwak an unfair advantage throughout the fight.
“They did everything they could to make me lose. They would stop the fight to look at my cut, but they would give him water,” Ozkilic said. “It was very frustrating, but that’s how it was over there, that’s what I learned.”
Ozkilic took some time off and eventually decided to address a nagging injury by traveling to his native Turkey last December to have surgery on a torn hip flexor. After months of rehab, Ozkilic decided his time in China was up. He technically still is under contract with Kunlun, and he said he hasn’t informed his bosses he won’t be fighting again, but he doesn’t see himself heading back any time soon.
Now healthy, Ozkilic is hoping to revive his career by doing it the right way. He no longer has a manager, saying he’ll rely on Longo and other coaches to help him find fights when the time is right.
Since returning to the U.S. in early June, he’s been at the gym twice a day training and getting back to sparring. He also started a business flipping houses with a few friends, but he says his focus remains on a return to fighting this year and, eventually, the UFC.
“I know better this time, I’ve learned the business,” said Ozkilic, who now lives in Seaford. “Now I’m in a better place, better condition, everything’s in my favor this time, so why not?”
The Supreme Court said Monday the president’s 90-day ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen can be enforced pending arguments scheduled for October — as long as those visitors lack a “credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.”
But much remains murky: What exactly is a bona fide relationship? Who gets to decide? Will the travel ban even still be an issue by the time the justices hear arguments?
Here’s a look at some key issues surrounding President Donald Trump’s executive order:
WHO’S THE WINNER?
After the lower courts found the travel ban unconstitutionally biased against Muslims and contrary to federal immigration law, Trump hailed the Supreme Court’s decision as a “clear victory for our national security.”
Very grateful for the 9-O decision from the U. S. Supreme Court. We must keep America SAFE!
It was a legal win for the administration — to an extent. Three justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch — said they would have allowed the travel ban to take effect as written.
But the other six kept blocking it as it applies to those traveling to the U.S. on employment, student or family immigrant visas as well as other cases where the traveler can show a “bona fide” connection to the U.S.
That’s no minor exception, according to immigrant groups, who say relatively few people come to the U.S. from the affected countries without such close ties.
Likewise, the justices said, refugees can travel to the U.S. if they demonstrate those connections — contrary to the part of Trump’s executive order suspending the nation’s refugee program.
“This decision is a true compromise,” said Kari Hong, an immigration law expert at Boston College Law School. “It is true that the travel ban is allowed to go into effect, but the Supreme Court substantially narrowed who could be denied entry.”
BUT WHAT’S ‘BONA FIDE’?
The court’s majority laid out the “bona fide” relationships it had in mind. For individuals, a close family relationship is required: A spouse or a mother-in-law would be permitted. So would a worker who accepted a job from an American company, a student enrolled at a U.S. university or a lecturer invited to address a U.S. audience.
What’s not bona fide? A relationship created for purposes of avoiding the travel ban, the justices said.
“For example, a nonprofit group devoted to immigration issues may not contact foreign nationals from the designated countries, add them to client lists, and then secure their entry by claiming injury from their exclusion,” the court wrote.
AND WHO DECIDES?
Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch found that guidance confusing and unworkable.
“Today’s compromise will burden executive officials with the task of deciding — on peril of contempt — whether individuals from the six affected nations who wish to enter the United States have a sufficient connection to a person or entity in this country,” Thomas wrote.
It also could lead to legal challenges amid the “struggle to determine what exactly constitutes a ‘bona fide relationship,’ who precisely has a ‘credible claim’ to that relationship, and whether the claimed relationship was formed ‘simply to avoid'” the travel ban,” he wrote.
LITTLE PRACTICAL IMPACT
Eric M. Freedman, a constitutional law professor at Hofstra University in Hempstead, said he expects the Supreme Court’s decision to review the case will have little practical impact, because the ban that remains in place excludes people with family or institutional ties to the United States.
“There will be no substantial change in the status quo, and it is highly unlikely that anyone will notice any change,” Freedman said Tuesday. “The decision gives some symbolic paper victory to the Trump administration without making any changes on the ground, because it leaves the ban in areas where it has no practical application . . . and the bet is the case will be moot and the whole thing will be dismissed” when the justices return in October.
Under the terms spelled out by the high court, he said, only tourists from the nations in question seem to be directly affected by the 90-day ban.
“The only identifiable class anybody has been able to think of are people traveling for the first time as visitors to America, or people who are very occasional visitors to America who decide they are going to come between now and October,” he said.
REFUGEES RELIEVED
Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS, a refugee agency founded in New York City that last year helped resettle 4,000 people into the United States, said the court’s decision is not expected to affect refugee programs for the time being, because “by definition, refugees have to have a relationship” with resettlement agencies and the governments of their host countries before they are allowed in.
“They kind of have to be invited and fall into a special category and their applications are assisted” by the host government itself, he said.
“We are relieved,” Hetfield said. “We are quite pleased because, frankly, the ruling will have a very narrow impact, the way we read it, and it definitely made it clear that the president’s powers with regards to discrimination against refugees are at least limited.”
In addition, he said, the administration agreed when it revised its rules to wait 72 hours for implementation of any order and said it wouldn’t stop refugees who already were approved to come to the United States. Because of that, “it shouldn’t have a dramatic impact like what we saw on Jan. 27,” when there was chaos at international airports in various U.S. cities after the first order was signed.
MORE AIRPORT CHAOS TO COME?
Trump’s initial travel ban, issued without warning on a Friday in January, brought chaos and protests to airports nationwide as travelers from seven targeted countries were barred even if they had prior permission to come to the U.S. The State Department canceled up to 60,000 visas but later reversed that decision.
A federal judge in Seattle blocked the order a week later, and Trump eventually revised it, dropping Iraq from the list and including reasons people might be exempted, such as a need for medical treatment.
The limited ban will take effect Thursday morning, the State Department said Monday.
Airports may be less likely to see the same sorts of demonstrations given the advance warning, that those with prior permission to enter are not affected and the months people have had to reach the U.S. since the first ban was blocked.
Matt Adams, legal director of the Seattle-based Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, which filed one of many lawsuits against the policy, said he still expects some confusion at airports, at least initially. Eventually, people likely will be barred from boarding planes to the U.S., he said.
“With many groups, it’s clear-cut from the type of visa: Anyone coming in on family visa or employment visa, by their terms it’s clear they have a bona fide relationship,” he said. “What’s more difficult is if you’re coming in on a tourist visa. I think you’re going to be going through a lengthy inquiry, and we’ll have to see how that plays out.”
NEXT LEGAL STEPS
The Supreme Court would not hear arguments on the legality of the ban until October. But by then, a key provision may have expired, possibly making the review unnecessary.
That’s because Trump’s order only sought to halt travelers from the six countries for 90 days, to give the administration time to review the screening procedures for those visa applicants.
That's right, we need a TRAVEL BAN for certain DANGEROUS countries, not some politically correct term that won't help us protect our people!
The administration has argued that the ban would not go into effect until court orders blocking each provision were lifted. The Supreme Court has asked for more arguments about whether the challenges to the travel restriction became moot in June.
David Levine, a professor at the University of California’s Hastings College of Law, said the justices likely will not sidestep a ruling on the executive order on those grounds.
“The underlying issue of presidential power is too important and too likely to occur in the future,” he said.
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — President Donald Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon says there’s no military solution to the threat posed by North Korea and its nuclear ambitions, despite the president’s recent pledge to answer further aggression with “fire and fury.”
In an interview with The American Prospect posted online Wednesday, Bannon tells the liberal publication that the United States is losing the economic race against China. He also talks about purging his rivals from the Defense and State departments.
Bannon is also asked about the white supremacist movement, whose march on Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend led to deadly violence. He dismisses them as “losers,” ‘’a fringe element” and “a collection of clowns.”
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“There’s no military solution (to North Korea’s nuclear threats), forget it,” Bannon says. “Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 10 million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here, they got us.”
Trump tweeted earlier Wednesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “made a very wise and well-reasoned decision” by backing down after heightening fears of nuclear conflict in a series of combative threats, including against the U.S. territory of Guam.
Bannon also outlined his push for the United States to adopt a tougher stance on China trade, without waiting to see whether Beijing will help restrain Kim, as Trump has pressed China’s leader to do. Trump also has lamented U.S. trade deficits with China.
“The economic war with China is everything,” Bannon says. “And we have to be maniacally focused on that. If we continue to lose it, we’re five years away, I think, 10 years at the most, of hitting an inflection point from which we’ll never be able to recover.”
A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said Thursday both sides have benefited from trade.
Asked about Bannon’s comments, Hua said at a regular new briefing, “There is no winner in a trade war. We hope the relevant people can refrain from dealing with a problem in the 21st century with a zero-sum mentality from the 19th or the 20th century.”
Hua appealed for dialogue to “preserve the sound and steady growth of China-U.S. relations.”
Bannon was a key general election campaign adviser and has been a forceful but contentious presence in a divided White House. The former leader of conservative Breitbart News, Bannon has drawn fire from some of Trump’s closest advisers, including son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The president is under renewed pressure to fire Bannon, who has survived earlier rounds of having fallen out of favor with Trump.
Earlier this week, the president passed up an opportunity to offer a public vote of confidence in Bannon. Trump said he’s a “good person” and not a racist, adding that “we’ll see what happens with Mr. Bannon.”
The latest anti-Bannon campaign comes as Trump faces mounting criticism for insisting that white supremacist groups and those who opposed them were both at fault for deadly violence last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In the interview, Bannon muses about getting rid of administration officials who disagree with his strategy toward China and North Korea and replacing them with “hawks.”
“We gotta do this. The president’s default position is to do it, but the apparatus is going crazy,” Bannon says. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s like, every day.”
The Senate Republican health care bill released Thursday faces an uncertain path as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushes for a vote next week before Congress leaves for the July Fourth recess. The bill, worked on in secret for the past several weeks, largely mirrors the House measure and has caused four Republican senators to balk at voting for it because it didn’t repeal enough of Obamacare and President Donald Trump called for negotiations.
Here’s how the bill compares to the the Affordable Care Act and House bill; and what could happen next:
Who is covered
Individual mandate
ACA: Individual mandate requires most Americans to have health coverage or pay a fine.
House bill: Instead of a mandate, insurers could impose 30% surcharge on people who buy a new plan after letting previous coverage lapse, giving healthy people an incentive to remain insured.
Senate bill: Individual mandate would be eliminated. Nothing would replace it as an incentive for healthy people to have insurance.
Employer mandate
ACA: Employer mandate requires larger companies to offer affordable coverage to employees.
House bill: Would eliminate employer mandate.
Senate bill: Would eliminate employer mandate.
Children under 26
ACA: Young adults could stay on parents’ health plan until age 26.
House bill: Unchanged.
Senate bill: Unchanged.
Paying for coverage
Imposed taxes
ACA: Imposed new taxes (including investment income and wages above $200,000) to help people pay for coverage.
House bill: Would eliminate most of those taxes.
Senate bill: Would eliminate most of those taxes.
Subsidies
ACA: Subsidies to insurers help people pay deductibles and copays.
House bill: Subsidies would end in 2020.
Senate bill: Subsidies would end in 2020.
Tax credits
ACA: Tax credits primarily based on income, age and geography to help low- and moderate-income people buy coverage via marketplaces.
House bill: Tax credits would be based primarily on age. Amount would not increase if premiums increase, and people in high-cost areas would get no additional money.
Senate bill: Tax credits primarily based on income, age and geography, but would cover a simpler plan. People would need to be lower-income than ACA to be eligible.
Pre-existing conditions
ACA: Pre-existing conditions could not be used as basis to deny coverage or raise premiums.
House bill: State could allow insurers to raise premiums based on pre-existing conditions if they had a gap in coverage.
Senate bill: Pre-existing conditions could not be used as a basis to deny coverage or raise premiums.
Costs for older people
ACA: Insurers could charge older people up to 3 times more than younger people.
House bill: Insurers could charge older people up to 5 times more. States can adjust ratio.
Senate bill: Insurers could charge older people up to 5 times more.
Pre-tax HSA
ACA: For pre-tax health savings accounts, individuals could contribute up to $3,400 and families up to $6,750.
House bill: Individuals could contribute up to $6,550 and families up to $13,100 to accounts, starting in 2018.
Senate bill: People could contribute more to their accounts than under ACA.
High-risk pools
ACA: Did not create high-risk pools.
House bill: Creates fund for high-risk pools. States would get $130 billion over 10 years to help sick people.
Senate bill: Creates fund for high-risk pools at $112 billion over 10 years. Aimed at reimbursing insurers to help sick people.
Changes to Medicaid
Funding
ACA: Entitlement program with open-ended, matching federal funds for all who qualify.
House bill: Would be funded by giving states a per-capita amount or block grant based on their spending, not adjusting for rising costs. Projected to reduce federal funding.
Senate bill: Would be funded by giving states a per-capita amount or block grant, starting in 2021. Amount projected to grow more slowly than in House bill, potentially reducing spending.
Expansion
ACA: States can expand Medicaid to cover people making up to 138% of poverty line, and federal government would pay a large part of the cost.
House bill: States would not be able to expand Medicaid after this year. In states that do expand by deadline, federal government would pay a smaller part of cost.
Senate bill: For states that expand Medicaid, federal government would pay a smaller part of the cost starting in 2021.
Other elements
Essential benefits
ACA: Insurers required to cover essential health benefits, such as hospital visits and mental health care.
House bill: States allowed to change what qualifies as an essential health benefit.
Senate bill: States allowed to change what qualifies as an essential health benefit.
Planned Parenthood
ACA: Planned Parenthood eligible for Medicaid reimbursements, but federal money cannot fund abortions.
House bill: Planned Parenthood would face 1-year Medicaid funding freeze.
Senate bill: Planned Parenthood would face 1-year Medicaid funding freeze.
In honor of the first day of summer, Newsday chronicled what a day in the life of Long Island looked like. We traveled across Nassau and Suffolk, from Elmont to Montauk, capturing the scenes of the day and speaking with Long Islanders. Scroll down to see updates spanning the entire day from our journalists, influential Instagram users and people all over LI. For more photos, click here. For a video of the day’s events, click here.
Josephine Rotolo, who died just before turning 108, told her family the secret to a long life is escarole and broccoli rabe #dayinthelifeLIpic.twitter.com/DUiUhZKvwG
In honor of the first day of summer, Newsday chronicled what a day in the life of Long Island looked like. We traveled across Nassau and Suffolk, from Elmont to Montauk, capturing the scenes of the day and speaking with Long Islanders. Scroll down to see updates spanning the entire day from our journalists, influential Instagram users and people all over LI. For more photos, click here. For a video of the day’s events, click here.
7 p.m.
A devotee attends aarti, a traditional Hindu prayer service, at the BAPS (Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha) Hindu temple in Melville on June 21, 2017. (credit: Mandy Hofmockel)
Full-time resident Marty Bailes enjoys the first day of summer in Ocean Beach, Fire Island, on June 21, 2017. Bailes bought his home in 1970 and has been there ever since. (credit: Yvonne Albinowski)
In honor of the first day of summer, Newsday chronicled what a day in the life of Long Island looked like. We traveled across Nassau and Suffolk, from Elmont to Montauk, capturing the scenes of the day and speaking with Long Islanders. Scroll down to see updates spanning the entire day from our journalists, influential Instagram users and people all over LI. For more photos, click here. For a video of the day’s events, click here.
Jason De Sousa, 18, of Mineola, shares his happiness with his mother Lysette De Sousa after passing his first road test for a full license at the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles road test site in Garden City Park on Wednesday, June 21, 2017, at 3:17 p.m. (Credit: Craig Ruttle)
Agnieszka Kulagowski, from Lindenhurst, with her newborn baby, Thomas, born at 8:12 a.m at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. (Credit: Linda Rosier)
Trainer Caroline Walsh gets a kiss from Java the sea lion at the Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead at 2:32 p.m. on Wednesday, June 21, 2017. Weighing 370 pounds, Java, a California sea lion, is the star of the aquarium’s sea lion show. Java turns 16 on Sunday. (Credit: Newsday / John Paraskevas)
