Immigration

Loretta Lynch to get confirmation vote

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After engaging in a record delay of a confirmation vote on the nomination of Loretta Lynch for Attorney General, Loretta Lynch Confirmation Vote Deadlock a US Postwar First, I am sure the Beltway media villagers will now spin yet another fable about how bipartisan cooperation is breaking out in the Capitol, Bipartisanship breaks out on Capitol Hill _ at least for now, with news that the Senate has reached deal to vote on AG nominee Loretta Lynch:

Loretta_LynchSenate leaders on Tuesday morning announced a deal on a long-stalled anti-human-trafficking bill, setting up a vote to confirm Loretta Lynch as attorney general as soon as tomorrow.

“I’m glad we can say there is a bipartisan proposal that will allow us to complete action on this legislation so we can provide help to the victims who desperately need it,” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced on the Senate floor.

“As soon as we finish the trafficking bill, as I’ve indicated for some time now, we’ll move to the president’s nominee for attorney general in the next day or so,” he added.

Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said he expected final passage of the anti-trafficking bill “by tomorrow.”

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(Update) 5th Circuit to hear immigration orders appeal on April 17

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5thCircuitWe now know who is serving on the three judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals hearing the Obama administration’s appeal from the order of Judge Andrew Hanen of the U.S. District Court for Texas this Friday.

For those of you who are unaware, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is the most conservative-dominated appellate court. It has to do with the states that make up the 5th Circuit.

But this panel of judges is particularly fringe conservative. So when it rules in favor of Judge Andrew Hanen, lazy media villagers will hail this as a defeat for the Obama administration and immigrants waiting in the DACA and DAPA programs. They will repeat every ignorant comment that a Tea-Publican politician makes without qualification or clarification, because that is what they do.

But the decision of this panel will eventually be appealed en banc to the full 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and to the U.S. Supreme Court, where recent decisions on immigration law have been in favor of the administration. And then the lazy media villagers will quote every Tea-Publican decrying the decision as the end of the Constitution and the Republic, rather than describing it as a victory for the Obama administration and the DREAMers, because that is what they do.

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5th Circuit to hear immigration orders appeal on April 17

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What bothers me most about the political reporting in Arizona is not so much what they do report, but the editorial discretion made in all the news that they do not report. It reminds me of a poster that was popular back in the 1970s that said: “I must be a mushroom, because they keep me in the dark and feed me bullshit.”

Case in point, the Arizona news media  are happy to report about “the 26 states,” including Arizona, that sued the Obama Administration over executive orders for immigration, and  Judge Andrew Hanen’s denial of the Obama Administration’s request to lift his stay order in his court, Request to lift hold of Obama immigration action denied:

ImmigrantsA federal judge in Texas has kept in place a temporary hold on President Barack Obama’s executive action that sought to shield millions of immigrants from deportation, rejecting a U.S. Department of Justice request that he allow the action to go ahead.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville refused late Tuesday night to lift the preliminary injunction he granted on Feb. 16 at the request of 26 states that oppose Obama’s action.

Hanen’s latest ruling upholds the status quo — that the Obama administration is temporarily barred from implementing the policies that would allow as many as 5 million people in the U.S. illegally to remain.

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Man, when I’m right, I am right!

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Mike PenceGovernor Mike Pence of Indiana

The Indiana Assembly passed, and Governor Mike Pence signed, a “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” similar to Arizona’s SB1062 from last year, which was vetoed by then-Governor Jan Brewer under the threat of more boycotts of a state still reeling from boycotts sparked by anti-immigrant SB1070 in 2010. I mostly agree with WaPo’s Hunter Schwarz’ analysis on how it is playing out differently in Indiana.

While Indiana has begun to feel the heat from businesses (and the NCAA, which is hosting the Final Four in Indianapolis next week), it doesn’t face two particular pressures Arizona did: (1) hosting a Super Bowl the following year and (2) a pre-existing narrative that it’s an intolerant state. Arizona already lost Super Bowl hosting duties once before, in 1993, because it didn’t recognize Martin Luther King, Jr., Day as a state holiday. And coupled with the furor over SB 1070, the controversial immigration enforcement law Brewer signed in 2010, the state was on the verge of becoming known for intolerance, not a good thing for business and tourism. Brewer said she vetoed the bill because it would have created more problems than it solved, but it didn’t hurt that the state’s economy also could have suffered.

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People's Budget

Majority of Democrats Vote for Progressive Caucus People’s Budget (video)

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People's BudgetEach year, during the Congressional budgeting process, multiple budgets are proposed in the US House of Representatives. If you’re lucky, you might hear about the Republican budget from the mainstream media (since they hold the majority of seats in the House and since that budget usually contains some weird shit like converting Medicare to a voucher program). The Democrats and the Progressives also put forth budgets for consideration and voting. (Representatives can vote for any or all of the plans; they are not mutually exclusive.)

This year– for the first time — the majority of Democrats (96 out of 188) actually voted for the Congressional Progressive Caucus People’s Budget. Of Arizona Democrats in the House, Representatives Raul Grijalva and Ruben Gallego voted for it; Representatives Ann Kirkpatrick and Kyrsten Sinema voted “no” with the majority of Republicans.

From the Congressional Progressive Caucus…

The People’s Budget: A Raise for America

8.4 million good paying jobs by 2018

$1.9 trillion investment in America’s future

$820 billion infrastructure and transportation improvements

The People’s Budget fixes an economy that, for too long, has failed to provide the opportunities American families need to get ahead. Despite their skills and work ethic, most American workers and families are so financially strapped from increasing income inequality that their paychecks barely cover basic necessities. They earn less and less as corporations and the wealthy continue amassing record profits. It has become clear to American workers that the system is rigged.

The People’s Budget levels the playing field and creates economic opportunity by increasing the pay of middle- and low-income Americans. More customers and higher consumer spending advance American businesses, not tax cuts and relaxed regulations. The People’s Budget drives a full economic recovery by creating high-quality jobs and reducing family expenses, restoring the buying power of working Americans.

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