I SAY YES TO SECURED BORDER AND DEPORTATIONS OF CRIMINALS AND UNVETTED IMMIGRANTS

 No nation can afford to allow masses of unvetted immigrants to cross their borders unchecked. Trump has succeeded in securing the borders already, without necessity of any new legislation from the U.S. Congress, and he has shown that the democrats' claims, during the last election campaign - that the border cannot be secured, without passing the Lankford Bill - were false, made just for political reasons. However, let us hope, that after the initial period of Trump's presidency, reason would guide the immigration policy and that the U.S. Congress would consider the fate of those who entered the United States legally more than 5 or10 years ago, work here and pay their taxes, while staying away from vice and crime. I predict that the U.S. economy under Trump would surge and that eventually many new jobs would be created, and in order to sustain the economic growth, immigrants, who perform jobs unwanted by the Americans would be needed in order to sustain the economic growth.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York attorney, admitted to practice in 1993. You can contact him by telephone (212-634-4250) or by e-mail at janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

THE RENT LAWS OF 2019 - AMENDMENT TO LANDLORD & TENANT LAW IN NEW YORK

Last summer governor Andrew Cuomo has signed the new package of landlord and tenant laws and regulations, significantly improving the situation of residential tenants in the state of New York, and more importantly, in New York City. Collection of new laws and regulations is known under the name of the Statewide Housing Security and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, or by a short name of the Rent Laws of 2019.

The 2019 Rent Laws lengthens the process of eviction (known as holdover proceedings) as well as recovery of owed rent (known as nonpayment proceedings).

Regarding nonpayment proceedings, instead of 3 or 5 day notice of nonpayment of rent, now landlord has to serve on tenant (by a process server) 14 day notice of nonpayment, warning tenant that in case of nonpayment of the owed rent within the 14 day period, landlord would file a summary nonpayment proceeding with appropriate landlord and tenant court. Besides, prior to service of 14 day notice of nonpayment, landlord has to mail to tenant, by certified mail, a letter advising the tenant about his or her failure to pay the rent for a period of at least 5 day or longer. The rules are unclear whether the notice of failure to pay the rent for 5 or more days should be mailed to tenant prior or after the service of  14 day notice of nonpayment. Like before, in case of tenant's failure to pay the owed rent within 14 days, landlord then has to file nonpayment petition with the clerk of appropriate landlord and tenant court, and then has to serve it by a process server on tenant. However, tenant's time to answer the nonpayment petition has now been lengthened from 5 to 10 days. Also, in case of marshal's eviction notices being served upon tenant, the latter has now a longer period of time to make yet another application to landlord and tenant court to demand stopping of the eviction, provided the tenant has a reasonable basis for the application.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney writing on the law and other community important topics. You can reach him at (212) 634-4250, or through e-mail: jwandrzejewski@gmail.com or janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

TO FIX ITS LAGGING EDUCATION, THE U.S. SHOULD TAKE A CLOSE LOOK AT POLAND'S SUCCESFUL FORMULA

Poland remains a success story not only with its economy, but even more so, with its educational system, which in the past decade has moved sharply forward from the rear of international pack, and beats now the U.S. on most performance measures. Poland's success has not only been noticed by international educational organizations, but also by American newspapers, i.e. by USA Today, which took a close look last August at Polish education's reform. Apparently, Poland has now the fourth-highest number of higher education students in Europe, only behind the U.K., Germany and France. In reading, Poland is ahead of the U.K., Germany or France, and far ahead of the U.S.. Poland surpassed the U.S. even in math, by placing 19th on a survey by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) whereas the U.S. was ranked at 27th place, well below average.
Pursuant to last year's Pearson's Global Education Index,  the U.S. is ranked in 14th place globally in cognitive skills and educational attainment, whereas Poland, which surpassed the U.S., leaped to 10th place in the world. Following are the top 10 countries in the Pearson's ranking: South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Finland, United Kingdom, Canada, Netherlands, Ireland and Poland (Germany, Denmark and Russia are ahead of the U.S., too).
Poland's curriculum is mostly based on the effects of the education - not just what the students know but what they can do, and how they can use their knowledge practically. Poland started the revamping of its educational system only in 1998, approximately 10 years after the fall of communism, when the country already was flying in the aftermath of market reforms, and deregulation and privatization made Poland's economy one of Europe's fastest growing. But Poland's schools in that period of revamping of its economy still continued to rely on old course materials, with education putting emphasis on producing technicians and vocational workers for heavy industries. Miroslaw Handke, then Minister of Education, got a green light, and with remarkable speed, in a year, academia in Poland was unrecognizable. Poland switched its educational system to a new form of general education that resisted specialization. A year later, in 2000, Poland began leap to the international league tables. By 2012, the last time OECD conducted its survey, Poland was one of the best teaching countries in the world. In fact, its the only one to have gone from below average in the charts, to above average, with its GDP ranking only 46th globally. On key indicators - math, science and reading, it came from behind to rank well ahead of the United States. How did Poland manage to do so? Well, under the revamped system, primary school lasts six years, followed by three years of a new comprehensive lower secondary school, before a decision is made on whether to send a student to vocational training. Knowledge - reading, writing, arithmetic - is valued above technical skill. Foreign language, especially English - became a key component. In 2000 only 1 percent of kids received four hours or more of language classes. By 2006 that figure jumped to 76 percent.
Notwithstanding the success in education, Poland spends only around $5,000 per student annually from primary to tertiary education, but outperforms the United States, which spends three times more than Poland on education of one student. Of course, a part of the educational success is based in the socialist past, when Poland's education system went through its first wide and deep modernization.
The economy in Poland continues to be strong. In fact, Poland was the only European country which did not succumb to 2009 recession (in fact, it registered, as the only country in Europe, a 1.6% growth in 2009). January, 2015 indicators show a booming economy, with over 8 percent growth. However, Poland still remains a low payer for teachers, approximately $650 per month, compared with the national average of all workers of $945 per month (of course, one has to remember that education, healthcare and the rest of social safety net are still provided in Poland free of charge). Obviously, Poland will have to upgrade the salaries of their teachers rather sooner than later. There are also some unexpected sides to the educational success of Poland, i.e. Poland's rapid development of foreign language training has a negative side effect. Many Poles are leaving home to gain skills abroad. While it generally helps the technology sector, if they return, many of them never do, preferring to stay in the U.K., Norway, Germany, Netherlands, France or Austria, where they can count on higher wages. But despite the negative effect of losing so many of creative and energetic young people to economies of Western Europe, Poland's educational system is an example to the whole world, and a stellar proof that its not just the money that makes good students.

Janusz Andrzejewski, a New York City based attorney, writes on legal and other important community topics. You can contact him by telephone (212) 634-4250 or, through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com or jwandrzejewski@gmail.com

BLOW TO ZIONISM: YOUNG ISRAELIS EMIGRATE TO BERLIN, OF ALL PLACES IN THE WORLD

Even The New York Times could not stay away this time from reporting on the strange phenomena of emigration of talented young Israelis to Berlin. Of all the places in the world, the capital of Germany appears to be a favorite destination city of the young professional and artistic elite of Israel. Apparently, Berlin's cosmopolitan flair, vibrant arts scene and advanced public transportation are huge draws to the young Israelis, faced with higher and higher costs of living in Israel and no prospects for decent middle class life. In many circles in Tel Aviv the fact of young Israelis happily emigrating to Berlin, the place in which Adolf Hitler designed the final solution of Jews, is met with horror and considered the ultimate failure of Zionism. The Israeli hipsters in Tel Aviv sport now T-shirts with inscriptions: "I love Berlin" or "I also want to go to Germany". While Berlin's Israeli community grows in numbers, in Israel grows the demand for teachers of German language... Strange times, indeed!

Janusz Andrzejewski, New York City based attorney, writes on legal and other community important topics. You can contact him by telephone (212-634-4250), or, through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

"MY ANSWER TO HER GAME OF WORDS, SORT OF"

Well, I shall, let me say, play,
This thing, you call Game of Words.
And I might even till dawn stay,
To sort out this great puzzle of yours.

I will in front of my screen sit,
Throughout the nights and days.
I will through window look a bit,
Smile to someone, without a face.

So, what would you say to me, from out there?
Woman, spending your nights, by a computer?
Are your work-tired hands covered by grease?
Were you flown in here by plane, from overseas?

Where will you find someone so naïve, like me?
Willing to write these words at night, to Thee?
So, let me finish for now this Game of Words,
When I am here now and free of marital cords...

J. Andre Jeski,
New York City, November 14, 2011

Warning: Unauthorized use of this material, without consent of the author, is a violation of the author's copyrights and might trigger a legal action. 

DON'T MISS THE SHOW FOR A DOG DAY AFTERNOON: A TRADE UNION TO STAGE A PEACEFUL OCCUPATION OF GIBRALTAR

It is quite funny, if not shocking, that in the politically correct 21st century various states still cling to their foreign territories, having no connection whatsoever to their main masses of land. The most notorious seem to be two pieces of land still being held by Great Britain: the Falklands, islands off the coast of Argentina (known better in Spanish as Malvinas),  and Gibraltar, strategic rock at the entry from Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, at the base of Iberian Peninsula. Both these territories remain a bone of disagreement between, respectively, Great Britain and Argentina, and Great Britain and Spain. Both Argentina and Spain have placed the retaking, or taking over of these territories, pursuant to the Brits, high on the list of their foreign policies, and the subject of Malvinas and Gibraltar is quite hot in the media. Gibraltar is again in the news today, this time in a funny way, which hopefully should not produce major tensions between Spain and Great Britain, otherwise allies in NATO and members od the European Union. Pursuant to the U.K. newspaper, the Telegraph, a leftist Spanish trade union called Andalusian Workers Union (SAT), which has 20,000 members, announced plans to occupy  the most famous rock in the world on August 29, 2014. SAT is known for its Robin Hood style activities like supermarkets raid for the poor to collect food and school supplies for the poverty-stricken families or "expropriation" of a disused luxury hotel. The SAT spokesman Diego Canamero announced plans to reclaim Gibraltar not for Spain, but as he stated, "for the people of Andalusia". Mr. Canamero stated that SAT "wants to reinstate Gibraltar's Andalusian sovereignty, dismantle the British military base and protect small scale fishing in those waters". When asked about the plans to "carry the invasion of Gibraltar, Mr. Canamero resolutely answered: "We haven't decided yet, we are aware that there's a large security presence at the border but we'll find a way round it". The Telegraph reminds about the history of Gibraltar, and that it has been ceded by Spain to Britain under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, and since then it has been a thorn in relations between these two countries. Apparently, since the start of 2013 there were approximately 600 incidents of encroachments of Spanish vessels on territorial waters of Gibraltar. Eventually, both allies - who incidentally never showed much love towards each other - should resolve the matter between themselves, however, a great number of people will sit on the fence comes August 29, awaiting with curiosity how SAT will carry on its Robin Hood-style invasion against the British tax heaven and the famous fortress of Gibraltar.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney, who writes on legal and other community important subjects. You may contact him by telephone (212-634-4250) or, by e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com 

REFORMA IMIGRACYJNA PREZYDENTA OBAMY JUZ Z KONCEM LATA

Waszyngton juz zyje zapowiedziami reformy imigracyjnej, ktora prezydent Obama zamierza zrealizowac za pomoca prezydenckich zarzadzen wykonawczych juz z koncem tego lata. Przypominam, ze prawo w USA jest uchwalane w drodze ustaw, przeglosowanych przez obie izby kongresu (Senat i Izbe Reprezentantow), a nastepnie podpisanych przez prezydenta. W zwiazku z odmowa przez Izbe Reprezentantow (kontrolowana przez majaca wiekszosc Partie Republikanska) glosowania nad przyjetym rok temu przez Senat projektem reform imigracyjnej, prezydent Obama zapowiedzial reforme systemu imigracyjnego USA w drodze akcji wykonawczej. Wedlug ostatnich doniesien, prezydent Obama szykuje sie z wydaniem prezydenckich zarzadzen wykonawczych w sferze reform imigracyjnej z koncem tego lata, zanim congress powroci z wakacji. Republikanie juz zapowiadaja pozwy sadowe zaskarzajace legalnosc i konstytucyjnosc zmian prawa za pomoca zarzadzen prezydenckich. Dodatkowo, Republikanie zapowiadaje usuniecie prezydenta Obamy z urzedu prezydenta USA poprzez zastosowanie procedury "impeachment", czyli oskarzenia prezydenta o zlamanie prawa przez kongres. Obama twierdzi ze uzycie przez niego zarzadzen prezydenckich, czyli instrumentow akcji wykonawczej, nie rozni sie niczym od tego co robili jego poprzednicy na fotelu prezydenta USA. I tak kiedy Obama uzyl akcji wykonawczej 147 razy w czasie jego pierwszej kadencji, prezydent Gerge W. Bush uzyl akcji wykonawczej 173 razy, Bill Clinton 200 razy a Ronald Reagan, 213 razy. W zwiazku z tym ze ani prezydent Obama i Partia Demokratyczna, ani Partia Republikanska nie zamierzaja zrezygnowac ze swoich stanowisk w kwesti akcji wykonawczej i reform system imigracyjnego USA, zapowiada sie goraca jesien w Waszyngtonie, zwlaszcza ze jest ona polaczona z wyborami do kongresu.

Janusz Andrzejewski, nowojorski adwokat, pisze na tematy prawne i inne wazne tematy spoleczne. Mozesz skontakotowac sie z nim telefonicznie (212)634-4250) albo przez e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

WORLD CUP: SHOULD ARGENTINA BEAT GERMANY, MESSI WOULD SURPASS MARADONA AND PELE

We cannot measure the talent, level of technical skills and individual accolades achieved by the footballers such as Maradona, Pele and Messi. We can try instead to compare the achievements of the teams in which they played, the strengths of the teams against whom they were competing and the quality of the supporting players in their own teams, as well as our stars' impact on their own teams, through decisive plays and goals, through creative vision exhibited. The highest amount of trophies with national team won Pele with Brazil. Yet Pele played in such strong national team of Brazil that one cannot say that he was indispensable to Brazil to win the championship. During the 1958 tournament, when Brazil won the first title, 17 year old Pele wasn't even the Brazil's best player. He had around the best player of the World Cup 1958: Didi, as well as such greats as Vava, Garrincha, Altafini, Zagallo, Nilton Santos and Djalma Santos. In World Cup 1962 Pele was injured, in a second group match against Czechoslovakia, and didn't play further, instead he had to watch Garrincha, the best player of World Cup 1962, to lead Brazil to their second world title. Again, in World Cup 1970 played in Mexico, Brazil was so full of talented players, that one cannot say that it was Pele whose impact was indispensable to the Brazilian third world title. Having around such players as Jairzinho, Tostao, Rivelino, Gerson, Clodoaldo, Carlos Alberto, Brito, Piazza, or Everaldo did not put much pressure on Pele. His task was easy and he did not have to deal with major stress accompanying for example Maradona, or Messi and Neymar in their world cup campaigns. The proof is in that famous Carlos Alberto's goal (after a series of moves and passes between seven Brazilian players) of the final match of World Cup 1970, stamping the Brazil's win over Italy. Pele did not have to dribble through whole defenses of opponents like Maradona did in World Cup 1986 in Mexico (against England, then Belgium). Otherwise, Pele's Brazil did not have as strong opponents as Argentina did in World Cup 1986, which they won, and World Cup 1990, which they lost to Germany on a hugely controversial penalty. Also, Maradona did not have such support as Pele always had. With their clubs, Pele won Libertadores Cup and the Intercontinental Cup, yet again he had stars in his Santos team. Maradona was not so successful with his clubs, yet he had more competition as he left for Europe, after playing in Argentina for a weak club Argentinos Juniors and then for a year at Boca Juniors. Maradona's two years at Barcelona, Spain were not successful either as he only won Copa del Rey, but one has to say that he was injured for long spells of time. Only with Napoli in Serie A he was relatively successful by winning Serie A in 1987 and 1990 and being twice Serie A runner up, and adding to collection UEFA Cup. He managed to do it all in the time when Serie A was at its peak and was the strongest league in the world, and AC Milan was the best team in the world, and Inter and Juventus were not far behind. Maradona on a weekly basis had to play against Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkard, Baresi, Maldini, Donadoni, Matthaus, Klinsmann, Bhreme, Zico, Platini, Cabrini, Rush, Laudrup, Roberto Baggio, Schillaci, It seems that Maradona played in a much tougher environment than Pele, who never was brave enough to take on a challenge of playing in European best leagues, against better defenses of European teams, more sophisticated tactically, and better athletically than those in Pele's native Brazil. Consequently, Maradona until now was the greatest player, with Pele behind, followed by Johan Cruyff , Garrincha and Zinedine Zidane. And here comes Lionel Messi, the player with the ball glued to his feet while running at highest speeds (Pele and Maradona were slow in comparison to Messi and in their dribbling they relied mostly on control of the ball and body moves ) , shattering goal-scoring records, who achieved in club football everything - neither Maradona, Pele nor Zidane can compare to his achievements with their clubs. Only Alfredo di Stefano, Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer achieved so much (or perhaps more) with their club teams. Of course, Messi is not finished yet. In World Cup 2006 Argentina was so rich in talent (that it should have won the title except for that tactical mistake of Pekerman who took his playmaker Juan Ramon Riquelme  off the pitch while leading 2:0, allowing Germany to make a comeback and to advance to semifinals) that there was no place for 19-year-old Messi, in World Cup 2010, Messi was quite good, but Argentina was handicapped by the worst coach in history, Diego Maradona himself, and Argentina again was knocked out in quarterfinals by Germany. Now, after club season when Messi was trapped by recurring injuries, he does not run so much with the ball, he is much more economical in his game, plays deeper as the real playmaker of the old times, yet when he is needed, he delivers. He led Argentina unbeaten in qualifications to this world cup. Now, in Brazil, his goals against Bosnia and Iran were decisive, his two goals against Nigeria had a calming effect on the team. The tough game against Switzerland, was iturned around by the Swiss, who strongly knocked at Argentina's goal, yet little Messi made decisive play and assisting pass to Di Maria, who managed to kill the game. In the match against Belgium, the plays around Messi became more and more physical, yet Messi was brilliant in tight spaces, holding the ball, liberating himself at times from swarming around him Belgians, and playing precise 40 yard passes. Decisive was his play, after which Argentinians scored the winning goal: Messi, in Belgian half, in the the middle of the pitch, was swarmed by several Belgians, when he spun away from two defenders and clipped a pass to Di Maria, who quickly passed further to Higuain, and the latter turned and volleyed beautifully home. One of the several passes of brilliance. In the semifinal match against Holland, the team playing with seven defensive players, Messi seemed to be contained (his father said after the match that his legs were stiff and he cannot run anymore). Yet he made a brilliant play in tight space in the right corner area, when he spun away from the Dutch defenders and send beautiful pass across the penalty area to free Maxi Rodriguez who should have converted, yet he ended up with a tame shot, which bounced from the ground, allowing Cillessen to calmly stop it. It was the moment when the decisive goal, resulting from Messi's flash of brilliance, should have been scored. Instead, the game went to penalties, where Messi calmly gave the lead to Argentina, after the first Dutch penalty was saved by Romero. Little Messi delivered again, on dead legs this time. If the Argentinian physiotherapists can somehow prepare those legs for one more match, if those legs can give Argentina another decisive play against the toughest opponent any team in history had to play in a world cup final, little Messi would surpass Diego Maradona as the greatest player in the history of this sport. But make no mistake, their opponent is the favorite of the final, no matter how much sentimental and sympathetic I am to Argentina's and Messi's campaign, nobody in the history of the World Cup had ever had to play such a formidable opponent as Argentina has in Germany, in such a great for Germany time, when they enjoy mental as well as physical advantage coupled with a better schedule of matches, giving them an additional day for recovery before the final. This German team is brilliant tactically, full of players with high individual skills, majority with great physical parameters. These German young men, who before played together for Germany teams under the age of 21, 19 and 17, are guided for a long period of time by the same coach, Joachim Low. In addition, this Mannschaft seemed to have recovered the old German "never die attitude" and the ability to win when it goes tough. If Argentina can somehow turn around the tables, and beat the Germans, Messi indeed would become the greatest of them all. Not that he is not the greatest in my eyes already. Good luck, little genius.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City attorney, writing on legal and other important community topics, as well as on the subject of sport. You may contact him by telephone (212) 634-4250 or through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

WORLD CUP 2014: FOOTBALL ROLLERCOASTER IN ENGLISH MEDIAS

The English media, as well as English football fans, had a rollercoaster kind of a summer this year. Prior to each of the last several World Cups, to which they qualified (1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010), English media and fans loudly and widely claimed there was nobody in the world their golden boys could not beat, so they were proclaiming themselves the world champions (in waiting) and waited impatiently for the start of each of the upcoming tournaments. In 1998 their was no "hand of God" around but the English were "cheated out" again by those canny Argentinians who dared to dismiss their golden boy of the pitch, in 2002 it was that "lucky goal" by Ronaldinho and Seaman taking a momentary nap, in 2006, that winking man from Canary Islands "they taught how to play" got their "great" Rooney off , and title was gone, and in 2010 lack of goal line technology in the 1:4 loss to Germany (I wonder how loudly they complained about the lack of same technology in 1966, when, at the score standing at 1:1, Soviet referee decided to give the proud and fair sons of Albion a helping hand, and created a goal which wasn't, as the ball never crossed the goal line).
Having learned from their previous humiliations, this time around during the 2013/2014 Premier League season nobody dared to repeat any of the "glorious predictions" of the recent world cups. But, as soon as the season was wrapped up, the hope for glory was back. Why not, Liverpool had such young, bright and already "accomplished" players as Sturridge, Sterling, Henderson, Southampton showed off Lallana and Luke Shaw, Manchester United Jones, Smalling, Cleverly, Arsenal Ox-Chameberlain and perennial great hope, Theo Walcott. Just add to this "galaxy of interstellar talent" the "best goalkeeper" in the world in form of young and tall Joe Hart, and "all-time great" Wayne Rooney, known in various places of a certain island as "White Pele". The camp and friendlies started and English "pundits" started to ponder aloud "Sturridge" great chances for sneaking the World Cup 2014 golden boot. Soon, the multiple voices were heard supporting the unheralded young starlets to spring a nice surprise, then, after Sturridge came up with a decent goal in a friendly, the concept of "bright young talent commandeered from the back by the old master Steven Gerrard, taking the world by surprise", was circulated quickly in the headlines. Then, the show took another turn, and everybody pondered Rooney and the position on the pitch he should be gracing the world around with. Eventually, it was the time to play ball, and the English team performances we can cover with silence, accept to note the following: Italy v. England, the first fall down, but soon the train was on the way up, as Urugway was to play the unfit Luis Suarez, who happens to be the most hated man in England, for daring to be the best player in the Premier League, in addition to several cultural and anthropological deficiencies. But, oh my God, Suarez scored twice, and it was a major down - not only he humiliated his detractors, but also kicked out England from the World Cup and finished their glory dreams, the football coming home mantra, etc. Came the third round of group stage matches and very good things for England started to occur, England drew with Costa Rica, a real accomplishment, but the best news came from the Urugway v. Italy match: Luis Suarez has struck again! No, strike it from the record, he has BITTEN again! O thank you God, thank you God, thank you Almighty! The old Eng(er)land was merry again! Oh, how joyous can life be? English media, pundits, fans and population at large was together again (forget the bleak Scots and their independence murmurs). Punish him! Ban Him! Eject him! Remove him from football! Guilty of all accusations, including of the fall (or demise) of British Empire! Be done with the savage! Hospitalize him! Institutionalize him! So much venom coming from quite a merry England. At this juncture nobody remembered about another humiliation of English football. Nobody was willing to finally admit that the English were in the league of Montenegrans, Swedes, the Poles, Norwegians, Hungarians rather than Germans, Dutch, Spaniards, French, or Belgians. So, the World Cup 2014 went on and the English spirits were much higher now, but soon somber moods prevailed, the black clouds were seen again over the horizon, the great armada of harbingers of oncoming evil were brought by the mixed winds from south-west, across the ocean: Germany and Argentina were still around... Oh, why do we have to be punished so heavily? The two most hated in Eng(er)land teams with a chance for glory? But there were still traces of hope left in the pundits voice...Perhaps Brazil would improve, perhaps Van Gaal - in couple of weeks to be OUR MAGICIAN - will vanquish the Argentines and their claims to glory? Glory to Argentina? But it might enhance their claims to Malvinas (what? what did you call it?). Unfortunately, it was time for another turn down on the rollercoaster as Brazil collapsed in front of methodical Germany, and Van Gaal misplaced somewhere his magic wand, and despite help received from the brothers behind the Canal La Manche (again, what did you call it?) he couldn't find it back. Ah well, so we have to watch in the World Cup final the two most hated teams? But, there is good news in it, at least one of them will lose! And let's pray for Messi disappearing from the match, so we wouldn't have to swallow and digest another great from Argentina, not after the Maradona's miracles, hands of God, etc. After all, we do not want to raise on pedestal short footballers... In merry ol' England we prefer the big lads, like Cristiano. That he has no vision and cannot dribble? Who cares, he is big, and he is ours, we schooled him properly in the solid ways of English football. He can jump to all our high and long balls. That he "winked" us out of the glory at the World Cup 2006? We are a forgiving and civilized nation. Bygone is bygone. Messi can't jump to our high balls... Besides, we refuse to put the dwarfs on the pedestal of our sport! Never! That we are politically incorrect? No, not true, we always are! Except, when it pertains to our football. After all, we have invented it, we made the rules and we decide who can be great or not. Yes, Brazilians stole the football from us, but look at them, they were punished severely just recently. It's a lesson to the whole world, hands away of our football. And this World Cup was a success -  we did not have to be humiliated by Germany again, we can come back to our island with the heads held high this time. In several weeks we will be best in the world again, thank you Almighty for the Premier League! And we don't have to suffer Luis Suarez's skills again... We will press FIFA and UEFA to ban him from all matches to be played by Barcelona on English pitches. After all, we invented football and deserve some lenience.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney, writing on legal and other important community topics. You may contact him by telephone (212) 634-4250 or by e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

WORLD CUP 2014: THE TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT - PRIOR TO SEMIFINALS

I might still make corrections to the selected eleven after the semifinals and final are concluded. Also, since James Rodriguez and Leo Messi until now appear to be the best two players of this world cup, and they both are playmakers, I took a liberty of moving Rodriguez to centre-forward position, particularly that in nowadays football teams often play without nominal centre-forward. It is not a big stretch as Rodriguez, until now, has scored the highest amount of goals in the tournament. This way, I did not have to put Rodriguez as a reserve player in his natural position of a playmaker.  For now, here they are:


                                         Neuer - Ger. (reserve: Howard - USA)

Zabaleta - Arg.               Gonzalez - Costa R.     Hummels - Ger        Blind - Hol
(res. Gamboa-Costa R.) (res. Kompany-Bel.) (res. T. Silva-Bra) (res. Verthongen-Bel.)


                                      Lahm - Ger.         Schweinsteiger - Ger.
                                     (res. Fernandinho-Bra) (res. Mascherano-Arg.)

                                                           Messi - Arg.
                                                    (res. de Bruyne-Bel.)

Robben - Hol.                              J. Rodriguez (Col.)                            Neymar (Bra)                             
(Valbuena-Fra.)                          (res. T. Muller-Ger.)                          (res. Bolanos - Costa R.)
                                            

THE WORLD AT CROSSROADS

Recent events appear to indicate that the world as we know it might soon be gone as it is no longer dominated by the United States who, since the fall of the Soviet Union, ruled the world virtually unopposed. Russia and China are becoming more and more aggressive players in the world geopolitics. Russia has recently achieved some victories on the world stage, unheard off since the fall of the Soviet Union: it prevented the West's intervention in Syria, derailed economic treaties between European Union and Armenia and Ukraine respectively, humiliated the United States by snatching Edward Snowden (and facilitating his unleashing of plagues befalling the NSA and the United States, both made pariahs in the courts of public opinion in the United States and over the world), played its role in what might turn out to be an appeasement of Iran, and, as if to stress Russia's recent victories, president Putin has been voted the most influential person in the world in 2013 by the Forbes magazine. China was more subtle and quiet, concentrating on the economy, yet they still were able to project their economic standing by becoming more assertive in the world's geopolitics. Recent proclamation of Air Defense Identification Zone over large areas of East China Sea, and sending its aircraft carrier on a maiden expedition toward the disputed Senkaku Islands are symbolic steps, foretelling more of similar, and perhaps, more aggressive steps in the near future. It seems that China already embarked on a road to convert its economic success into military might. As soon as China acquire means to project its military power over the seas, they will attempt to take over the control of East China and South China Sea in order to secure unobstructed access to oceanic routes. As it is, Japan and the United States are able to easily disrupt China's commerce due to Japan's control of various islands between Taiwan and the main islands of Japan, and the United States' ability to project its military power in Pacific and Indian Oceans. Apparently, China will not stand ay longer for the status quo, and will try to secure control over the seas leading to oceanic routes. The more militarized China would become, the more probable would be scenario of China's attempt to take over Russia's Far East, which economically seems to have closer ties to China than to Russia proper. India is not going to sleep at the time when its rival, China, grows its military might, and will also develop its aircraft carriers. In fact, recently they acquired a new aircraft carrier, which is supposed to take place of an old one, being decommissioned. We cannot forget of course about the unpredictable North Korea and volatile Iran-Israel situation and its potential for inflammation of major military conflict between Christianity and Islam. We seem not to appreciate how blessed Europe and North America has been since 1945, more or less, without necessity of dealing with war at our homes, except for the Balkans. If we are not prudent in our next steps, the peace might become a distant memory. What steps should the United States and the European Union undertake to avert the above dangers? Anyone out there with ideas?

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney, writing on various important community topics. You can get in touch with him by telephone: (212) 634-4250 or through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

HOW GREAT BRITAIN CORNERED ITSELF: FROM PINOCHET TO ASSANGE AND GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY

Great Britain and its government has put itself on the track to become a pariah of international community. Its Foreign Office has made threaths to the country of Ecuador and its authorities to invade Ecuadorean Embassy in London, Great Britain, should Ecuador grant Julian Assange's request for political asylum and fail to release Mr. Assange to British authorities, who then would extradite him to Sweden, where he is wanted for "questioning" in alleged misbehavior consisting of having unprotected consensual sex with two adult women - initially Swedish prosecutor dropped the charges, however they were reinstated as a result of an apparent pressure by a foreign power. The WikiLeaks founder is afraid that Sweden would release him to the U.S. authorities which in all probability would put him on trial for espionage (and possibly for treason, although it appears that argument for treason charges would be tenuous, at best, as Mr. Assange is not a U.S. citizen) and would have him subjected to a capital punishment. Since Great Britain, Sweden and USA have reportedly refused to give guarantees to Ecuador that Mr. Assange would not be extradited to the United States, Ecuador decided to approve Mr. Assange's request for political asylum based on a well founded fear of persecution. It is staggering how a country of Great Britain's stature could have cornered itself so unwisely... The Foreign Office threatened Ecuador that it would utilize a 1987 Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act to invade Ecuadorean Embassy and to remove Mr. Assange. However, that obscure act has been cooked up to remove squaters from foreign embassies or foreign countries' properties, whereas Mr. Assange is on the country of Ecuador's property with consent of the owners, so legally a squatter he is not. The Brits can still save their face by closing their eyes and allowing Assange to slip through... After all, it would be a piece of cake for the U.S. special forces to abduct Assange from Ecuador and have him brought to the United States for trial. Britain's invasion of the Ecuadorean Embassy would have caused more chaos in the world of diplomatic affairs than publication of the United States' diplomatic correspondence by WikiLeaks has ever caused. Let's hope that Great Britain will not shoot at its own foot and will not carry out its threats as such an unwise conduct would open the pandora's box. Invasion of the territory of Ecuadorian Embassy would cause the greatest damage to international relations ever done and, indirectly, irreparable damage to world order. Such an outcome would not further anybody's interests, including those of the United States. Great Britain claims to follow the rule of law in pursuing their plan to invade inviolable, under the Vienna Convention, territory of the Embassy of Ecuador and to extradite Julian Assange on trumped up charges of engaging in unprotected consensual sex with adult women, which charges were dropped earlier by the Swedish prosecutor; it is the same Great Britain which refused to extradite general Pinochet, former dictator of Chile, murderer and torturer of thousands of his own countrymen, when Spain demanded lawfully his extradition. Are we missing something? It appears that Great Britain was caught off handed while doing the United States' dirty work. Will the United States save now the Brits from their conundrum and declare that they are not interested in seeking extradition of Mr. Assange, neither from the Brits nor Swedes, by the same opening the door for Mr. Assange to agree to his extradition to Sweden? I guess, not. From the U.S. point of view, if they really believe that Mr. Assange endangered the lives of American operatives or soldiers, they should go after him. But why not be straightforward about it? Why cause the British and Swedish allies to lose their faces while the U.S. sits on the fence, observing the Swedes and Brits playing the charade?

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney, who writes on legal and other important community subjects. You can reach him on cell phone: (212) 634-4250 or through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION SHOULD APPLY TO US ALL, EVEN TO DEBBIE SCHLUSSEL

Debbie Schlussel, a free lance journalist and an attorney, known for her racist, anti-islamist and now anti-Polish views, encountered wrath of Polish surfers online for publishing on May 30, 2012, a post entitled: "Poles Were Complicit in Holocaust: Outrage over Obama 'Gaffe' is Fraudulent, Ignorant". She claimed in the post that president Obama should not apologize for his gaffe ("Polish death camp") . Incidentally, president Obama apologized, sort of, for the erroneous use of the phrase and acknowledged that there were no "Polish death camps", paid tribute to  Polish resistance and victims. Ms. Schlussel wrote that the Poles murdered majority of her family in Holocaust, that there were in fact Polish death camps in World War II, built and ran by the Poles, that Poland collaborated with nazi Germany, that Poles formed several SS divisions, etc. All of the above claims, except relating to her family (which I could not verify), were either outright lies or distortions. I have engaged into discourse with Ms. Schlussel's followers on her blog, and notwithstanding that I have admited anti-semitism of certain parts of Polish society in pre-World War II Poland and during German and Soviet occupation of Poland, and certain incidents of pogroms (like Jedwabne or Kielce), I have rejected the claims of Poland's collaboration with nazi Germany, of Polish death camps, of Polish SS divisions and of Polish complicity in Holocaust, and supported my rejections with quotes and citations from reputable historians. I have also supplied information about the scale of Polish sacrifices and of Polish resistance and fight against German nazis as well as about history of Jewish population in Poland from 14th century (when Polish king Casimir the Great granted them various privileges and refuge in Poland from pogroms in Spain, Portugal, England, France and German Roman Empire) until the partitions of Poland at the end of 18th century. Then, through 19th century when the Poles fought for independence until 1918, when they regained statehood, and through the Second Republic until World War II. Alas, none of my arguments changed the views of ardent followers of Ms. Schlussel. Then, certain Polish media online mentioned Ms. Schlussel's post and suddenly wave of Polish online surfers started to submit hundreds of comments to Ms. Schlussel's blog. I have published a post on my own blog, asking the Poles to disregard Ms. Schlussel's provocative claims as she was apparently selling more ads thanks to the sudden rush of visitors to her website. It appears that Ms. Schlussel's website has been overran by the Polish surfers approximately three days ago, most of them disputing her outrageous claims. However, there were also those who insulted her in reverse and made threats. Apparently, the freedom of expression as known in the United States, has certain limits in Poland. For example, Poland has strict laws against denying Holocaust and people doing so must be prosecuted by Polish authorities. A great number of Polish surfers even used the threat of reporting Ms. Schlussel to authorities for denying that German nazis were responsible for Holocaust. However, majority of the surfers were not familiar with American concept of freedom of expression which allows anybody to express freely their own views, particularly, if those views, or opinions, are based on colorable facts. Were the facts on which Ms. Schlussel based her opinions colorable? Majority of them, not. Particularly, that she utilized anti-semitic incidents, either to come to conclusion or imply that Poland was complicit in Holocaust, that Poland collaborated with nazi Germany, that Poland organized and ran death camps, that Poland formed several SS divisions. In truth, Poland was an occupied country, its population was to be in majority eliminated, its government fled to London, UK where it organized Polish armies in the West and resistance inside of occupied Poland, and there was no Polish collaboration except for the Volksdeutches (Polish citizens of German descent). Still, we cannot deny freedom of expression to anybody in the US, even to Debbie Schlussel while she spreads hatred, without a court order. Therefore, let her speak, but find other avenues of reaching the US audience and making that audience realize what Debbie Schlussel in fact does. And moreover, make the Americans realize that their history programs are not up to the world standards, particularly that they differ so much from state to state and tend to confuse people. Particularly, when various newspapers, or speach-writers for the president of the United States, themselves create confusion.

Janusz Andrzejewski
The author of this post is a New York based attorney and a publisher of his own blog on legal and various community subjects. You can reach him at (732-527-2195), or through his website: www.adwokatandrzejewski.com

JANUSZ ANDRZEJEWSKI (TEL.212-634-4250) "PROSECUTORIAL DISCRETION" AS A TOOL TO STAY AND WORK LEGALLY FOR CERTAIN ALIENS IN DEPORTATION PROCEEDINGS

Since there is not much happening regarding reform of immigration law and amnesty, the aliens, particularly those already in deportation proceedings pending in immigration courts, have to console themselves with a so called prosecutorial discretion. Pursuant to John Morton Memorandum, dated June 17, 2011, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (the "ICE") may use in certain deportation cases prosecutorial discretion in granting various forms of relief to aliens in deportation proceedings, meeting some of the following factors: person's length of presence in the US, circumstances of arrival and manner of entry to the US, pursuit of education in the US, military service of the person or her immediate relatives, criminal history, immigration history, national security risk, ties and contribution to community, ties to home country, age, immediate relatives in the US, health, pregnancy, likelihood of obtaining permanent residency in the US or temporary status, cooperation with federal or local law enforcement authorities, etc. Not all of the above factors have to be met and some of them are more important than others. Since the relief is withing discretion of the ICE, it is important that each case is properly presented to ICE by an experienced immigration attorney. As a result of prosecutorial discretion being exercised by ICE, an alien might be granted the following forms of relief: dismissal of deportation proceeding, deferred action, parole, stay of order of deportation, etc..

Janusz W. Andrzejewski, Attorney-at-Law (212) 634-4250 is located in New York City,  where for a period of more than 26 years he has conducted practice of law in the areas of personal injuries and medical malpractice, immigration law (including deportation defense), family law,  and some aspects of criminal law, landlord & tenant law, and residential real estate. The above information, being subject of this post, does not constitute a legal advice, which may be given by this attorney only upon consideration of all the circumstances, which usually vary with respect to different persons.