Civil & Human Rights

Tea-Publicans can make executive orders on immigration unnecessary by passing the Senate Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill

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ImmigrantsTea-Publicans in Congress and the GOPropagandists in the conservative media entertainment complex have been apoplectic since Thursday afternoon when the New York Times (h/t photo) reported what they believe to be a friendly leak from the White House on the outlines of the executive orders that President Obama intends to sign regarding undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

Rather than schedule a vote in the House on the Senate Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill, which has been sitting on Weeper of the House John Boehner’s desk collecting dust since July 2013, Tea-Publican insurrectionists are doing what they always do best: threaten to take budget bills hostage and to shut down the federal government again if they do not get their way.

The New York Times reports, Obama Plan May Allow Millions of Immigrants to Stay and Work in U.S.:

President Obama will ignore angry protests from Republicans and announce as soon as next week a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration enforcement system that will protect up to five million unauthorized immigrants from the threat of deportation and provide many of them with work permits, according to administration officials who have direct knowledge of the plan.

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U.S. Supreme Court hears racial gerrymandering redistricting cases from Alabama

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gavelOn Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama and Alabama Democratic Conference v. Alabama, two appeals challenging racial gerrymandering in redistricting.

Rick Hasen writing at SCOTUSblog has a succinct summary of the appeals before the Court. Argument analysis: Hitting the “sweet spot” on race, party, and redistricting?:

The legal landscape and factual background of this case are exceedingly complex and laid out more fully in this argument preview. The case concerns a challenge to state legislative districts drawn by the Alabama Legislature after the 2010 census. The legislature, newly controlled by Republicans, drew a redistricting plan that contained the same number of majority-minority Senate districts and one additional majority-minority House district compared to the 1990s plan drawn by a court and the 2000s plan drawn by a Democratic legislature. Because of population shifts and declines, as well as the composition of the original 2001 districts, the African-American districts were the most underpopulated of all the districts, meaning that many voters had to be shifted into these districts to comply with “one person, one vote” requirements.

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SCOTUS allows same-sex marriages in Kansas pending appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals

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Pride-Flag-Thumbnail-Friday-3x2-256x171The state of Kansas asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday afternoon to order a stay of same-sex marriage in that state, after a federal district court judge struck down that state’s ban.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor ordered a temporary stay, calling for a response by the same-sex couples to the petition by filed by Kansas by Tuesday evening. Kansas is in the 1oth Circuit, which has previously struck down same-sex marriage bans in Utah and Oklahoma, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review those appeals.

On Wednesday the Court, with two Justices dissenting, cleared the way for same-sex couples to marry in Kansas — the thirty-third state on the list. Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports, Same-sex marriages may go ahead in Kansas:

In a brief order, the Court voted to leave intact a federal judge’s order nullifying the state’s ban on same-sex marriages.  There was no explanation, for the order or by the dissenters.

Because the judge’s ruling had been on hold only because of a temporary Supreme Court order issued Monday, the Kansas ruling took effect when the Justices’ new order lifted the earlier postponement.   State officials are now under a federal court requirement to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

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deportation

Grijalva & Ellison of Progressive Caucus Urge Obama Immigration Decision

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deportation
National Day Laborer Organizing Network poster

While Republicans are threatening President Obama if he dares to take legal action on immigration through an executive order, the Congressional Progressive Caucus is encouraging him to go bold.  In fact, they’re giving him ideas for action.

“Expansive and robust action that addresses the economic, family, community and national problems we now face is urgently needed… Fixing our broken immigration system will benefit our economy and allow us to use our national security resources more wisely,” write the Progressive Caucus co-chairs Congressmen Raul Grijalva and Keith Ellison in their memo. Obama has multiple choices:

  • He could kowtow to the Republicans and do nothing (further infuriating Latinos and progressives).
  • He could extend the two-year-old Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that has allowed more than 500,000 Dreamers to stay here temporarily without fear of deportation while Congress diddles. (You’ll remember that the US Senate passed an immigration reform bill in June 2013, but House Republicans have made no movement toward reform.)
  • He could extend DACA to the parents and spouses of Dreamers, adding another 4 million to deferred action.
  • He could change the 2012 qualifications for DACA, adding another 3 million by changing age limits. (Read more details here and below.)

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Obama Goes Bold on Net Neutrality, Calls for Public Utility (video)

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Net neutrality protesters confront FCC chair Tom Wheeler at his house.
Net neutrality protesters confront FCC chair Tom Wheeler at his house.

President Thomas Jefferson valued a free press so much that he believed newspapers should be delivered free to all citizens, so they could be informed voters. How far we have fallen from our originals ideal of a “free press”. Corporate newspapers have dwindled in size and stature, thanks to the advertising-driven business model. Some newspapers are little more than collections of press releases, wire service stories, and display ads– with little or no original local content. They have devolved into corporate rags– far from the ideal of a “free” press.

As corporate news has degenerated, the Internet, with its egalitarian, free-range news and information, has thrived. (Yes, of course, the Internet has contributed to the demise of print media, but corporate decisions fueled the downfall.) For example, you can read stories on this blog that no corporate media outlet would ever print.

With an Internet connection, you get it all– the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, the brilliant, the stupid, the lies, and the truth. It is your job to sort through it and read what you want.

Telecom companies really want to stop all of that free information and free thought. They want to be able to charge big users– like Google, Amazon, Facebook– more money for a “fast lane”. They would push more corporate (paid) content our way and push other content– like blogs and non-corporate websites– to a “slow lane” or block them completely. (Good background here.) In other words, if the telecom companies win the net neutrality battle, good luck finding voices that don’t promote the corporate news and ideas.

On Monday, President Barack Obama announced his support for making the Internet a public utility. This is huge.

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