Sunday, November 30, 2014

Something to Know - 30 November

Signe Wilkinson

Here are two op-ed pieces from the NY Times.  Hope that you are able to get both links.   One is kind of pessimistic and hard to figure out (Douthat), and the other (Kristof) charts a suggested way forward.  Both regard race relations after Ferguson.  Give each one a read and figure it out for yourself.  I know one thing for sure, and it's that the Robert's wing of the Supreme Court had it all wrong in figuring that things were better:


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-when-whites-just-dont-get-it-part-5.html?emc=eta1

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Juan
 
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.
-- Dr. Seuss

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Something to Know - 29 November

Matt Wuerker

Leaving other front-page issues aside, let us return to Obama's Executive Action on Immigration Reform.  This NY Times article puts the major pressures on Obama in an easy and concise format,  Of particular interest to me is the role that Jeh Johnson ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeh_Johnson ) had in the research, conferencing, and implementation.  He is the current boss of Homeland Security, and I would not be surprised if he were to be elevated to a higher public service office in the future:

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Juan
 
You've got to go out on a limb sometimes because that's where the fruit is.
-- Will Rogers

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Something to Know - 27 November

Nick Anderson

1.  This no-so-important article is to avoid the top of the news pile that is really important, and which you already know about.   This is just an example of the underlying ripples within the GeeOpie that will either keep us entertained or gridlocked after the turn of the year:

2.  If that is not of interest, then look at the Bozo lineup for who will be running some of the House Committees for the GeeOpie in 2014:  (thanks to the reporter from the Port Angeles Free Press)

Appropriations: Hal Rogers (KY)

The appropriations committee exists to do one thing: spend taxpayer money. With its "power of the purse," appropriators are responsible for the annual parceling out of federal funds through 12 appropriations bills targeting particular government functions.

Rep. Hal Rogers (KY) will remain its chairman. Nicknamed the "Prince of Pork" because of his zeal for sending taxpayer money back to his district, Rogers is an old-school establishment spender. Thanks to Congress (accidentally) agreeing to limit discretionary spending via the 2011 Budget Control Act, Rogers has been kept in relative check. Rogers would like to bust the current budget caps and misses dishing out pork via earmarks. He's currently pushing for an omnibus appropriations bill that would fund the government for the rest of fiscal year 2015. The preferable course would be to pass another continuing resolution until the GOP takes complete control of Congress in the New Year when it would have more power over spending (of course, that generously assumes the GOP will actually do something constructive with regard to spending cuts). Regardless, Rogers is not—and will never be—of help in pursuing a smaller federal government.

Agriculture: Mike Conaway (TX)

Farm bills are born in the agriculture committees. Conaway is a vocal supporter of the farm bill as it exists currently and he has already made it clear that he supports keeping the federal trough flowing to wealthy farmers, albeit in what he thinks is a more "free-market way." The uncomfortable truth, however, is that subsidies aren't free-market. Conaway also says that he wants to review the food stamps program and notes that "every federal dollar spent is a dollar taken from a hardworking American." That's true, but it's disturbing that he has no problem taking dollars away from hardworking Americans and handing them over to his mostly wealthy backers in the agriculture industry.

Armed Services: Mac Thornberry (TX)

On the bright side, Thornberry acknowledges that the Pentagon's procurement system is a mess and intends to do something about it. However, the best way to make the government more efficient at doing something is to give it less to do. Unfortunately, Thornberry is a typical conservative when it comes to supporting an expansive foreign policy agenda. He supports the United States' global military empire and he supports spending more money on "national defense" than the current budget restraints allow. 

Budget: Tom Price (GA)

Rep. Price replaces Paul Ryan on the Budget Committee and is thus responsible for creating the annual House version of a budget blueprint. Price was a supporter of outgoing Chairman Ryan's "Path to Prosperity." While arguably better than the status quo, it called for "saving" the federal government's massive entitlement-welfare state, "fixing" the overgrown "safety net," and spending more money on the Pentagon. That makes him a strong conservative—not necessarily a proponent for limited government.

Education & the Workforce: John Kline (MN)

Rep. Kline retains the Education and the Workforce (i.e, labor-related programs) gavel. He says that "we can no longer accept a broken [education] system," but he's only interested in tinkering with the federal interventions that helped break it. The federal government should be removed from the issue of education, period. Unfortunately, Kline hasn't moved the ball in the direction and isn't expected to do anything differently this time around.

Energy & Commerce: Fred Upton (MI)

Rep. Upton retains the Energy gavel, which should be remembered for passing the so-called "No More Solyndras Act" in 2012. Not only did the legislation do no such thing, Upton and most of his Republican colleagues voted against an amendment that would have actually ended the Title 17 energy loan program. Upton supports an "all of the above" approach to federal energy policy. What that means is the he supports federal subsidies on everything from fossil fuels to "green" energy. President Obama embraces the same approach.

Financial Services: Jeb Hensarling (TX)

Rep. Hensarling remains in charge of the House Financial Services committee. He opposed the TARP bailout and efforts to water down federal flood insurance reforms that were intended to protect taxpayers. Hensarling has also tried to end the federal government's role in backstopping mortgages and he has led the charge against the cronyist Ex-Im Bank. As far I know, he is the only chairman calling for the abolition of any programs.

Homeland Security: Michael McCaul (TX)

Looks like he's pro-Patriot Act, pro-war on drugs, and pro-military empire.

Small Business: Steve Chabot (OH)

The ideal chairman of the House Small Business Committee would seek to have the Small Business Administration abolished. Rep. Chabot, the committee's new chairman, has co-sponsored legislation to "simplify" the SBA loan process, but simplifying something that shouldn't exist in the first place isn't the goal.

Transportation & Infrastructure: Bill Shuster (PA)

Rep. Bill Shuster retains the gavel for the transportation committee that his father, Bud, infamously chaired—and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Given Shuster the Younger's methodical rise to the committee's chair, it's not surprising that he embraces an oversized federal role for the nation's transportation and infrastructure needs. That's unfortunate given that now is an excellent time to focus on returning those responsibilities to state and local government, and most importantly, the private sector

Ways & Means: Paul Ryan (WI)

Rep. Ryan will be focused on tax reform. That isn't happening while Obama is in the White House.

SO - Where do we put Louie Gomert and Joe Barton of (TX)?
Both are well qualified for the newly created position of Dumb and Dumber.

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Juan
 
Every man's ability may be strengthened or increased by culture.
-- John Abbott

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Something to Know - 26 November

Stuart Carlson

Our nation is reeling in anger, demonstrations, protests, rioting, and destruction of property.  That is the short-term reaction to the failures of the government in Ferguson and the State of Missouri.   Another tragic shooting of a Black Young Man by police has been placed front-and-center because it is now connected with an example of a failed System of Justice.   Unless a victim of an alleged crime has his/her day in an open court with a jury of peers, and a legal and competent defense, justice is not served.  What we saw happen violates our principles, and it dangerously shameful.   Unless the US Department of Justice takes action to re-establish a sense of fairness, this nation is in deep trouble:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/26/opinion/the-meaning-of-the-ferguson-riots.html?emc=edit_th_20141126&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=2318049&_r=0

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Juan
 
I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to the American black man's problem just to avoid violence.
-- Malcom X

Monday, November 24, 2014

Something to Know - 24 November


The fringe of the extremists in the GeeOpie are well represented by the Tea Party Nativists, Patriots, etc.  Here is an example of the very loony xenophobic thrust of their anger on Obama's Executive Order.   This is the movement that is the boiler that stokes the fire of schism within the Republicans.  The wiser elements (the very few and silent) are trying to contain them, but Tea Partiers are an obstreperous bunch and really don't care who they piss off.  It is this element that could, and will hamper or destroy any Republican Party appeal in 2016.   I remember back in the early days in Georgia when I used to email  spar with Jenny Beth Martin.  Now, she is the poster child and bull horn of the tea baggers:



Tea Party Nativists Seething Over Obama's Immigration Reform Action

Even before President Obama entered the East Room of the White House to give his speech outlining a series of executive actions on immigration reform, some, though not all, national Tea Party factions were whipping up their followers into a nativist frenzy.

"This is by far the most serious communication I have ever sent," wrote Steve Eichler, executive director of the 1776 Tea Party (aka TeaParty.org), in an email to supporters.  "Everything is at stake. Illegals will bankrupt our social, economic and financial systems. Terrorists will just blow it all to pieces. They'll all be in our backyards in a matter of weeks, even days, if we don't step up and demand action," he warned.

That type of feverish nativism is no surprise coming from Eichler, who is also the executive director of the anti-immigrant vigilante group, the Minuteman Project. His email went on to predict "open rebellion" and "chaos" if Republicans don't withhold funding for Obama's executive order.

Echoing Eichler's terror hysteria was one of the activists who helped shape the early Tea Party movement. Eric Odom, who now works for the Patriot Action Network, a Tea Party faction, alsoput forward the notion that executive action on immigration would somehow lead to terrorists destroying America.

What makes it so dangerous is that Obama's announcement says to all of our enemies that now is the time to invade our nation's borders. We're no longer talking about innocent women and children riding trains to our borders then crossing with the hopes of gaining access to our welfare system. We're talking about ISIS and other evil groups who want to embed individuals here with the plan of doing harm.Essentially, our President just made a proclamation that puts American lives, and the security of our nation, directly at risk. Obama said to the world that if they can get across our borders, we will not send them home. We will not enforce our immigration laws.

Grassfire, parent outfit of the Patriot Action Network, added "With his amnesty announcement in just a few hours, Obama will unilaterally defy the will of the people and Congress –becoming a threat to liberty."

Judson Phillips of Tea Party Nation went even further in denouncing President Obama, arguing that the immigration actions were part of a diabolical plot. In a prebuttal to Obama's speech, Phillips told Tea Party Nation members, "Today, Barack Obama is going to announce his long-cherished goal of destroying America."

Phillips, a birther racist and advocate of limiting voting to property owners, isn't new to nativist extremism. In 2011, his group mourned the falling birth rate of native-born Americans, and warned that "American culture" will soon perish since the "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) population is headed for extinction."

Eichler, Odom, and Phillips weren't the only Tea Partiers to adopt an inflammatory pose. Echoing their sentiments was Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a favorite among Tea Party nativists, who warned portentously that President Obama's executive actions and general "lawlessness" on immigration could lead to "ethnic cleansing."

Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) also joined the fray, contending that President Obama's immigration executive order is "declaring war on the American people and our democracy."

"This is truly an emergency. There's not a moment to lose," wrote Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin to her group's members last Wednesday. While other Tea Party groups are busy inflaming nativism sentiment, the Tea Party Patriots are crafting a plan to scuttle any immigration reforms.

Having already primed their members with the October release of the gruesome anti-immigrant video, The Border States of America, Tea Party Patriots are focused now on organizing opposition.

As a first step, they plan to "melt the phones to stop amnesty" by having their members contact Congress en masse to register opposition. The next step is to flood congressional offices with protesters. According to Martin, the group "must deploy our thousands of local affiliates to congressional offices all across the country, demanding that they cut off all funding from this order immediately." But the Tea Party Patriots do not have the "thousands of local affiliates" as Martin claims; instead they have around 300 remaining active local groups.

They plan to deploy those remaining local groups, however, to pressure the new Congress to defund anything relating to immigration reform. Kevin Broughton, a spokesperson for Tea Party Patriots, noted, "We expect [the new GOP majority] to use the power of the purse to defund amnesty, especially those—and there were many—who ran against it."

The group is also canvassing its membership base to gauge possible attendance for a noon rally on December 3 in Washington D.C. called by the founder of the House Tea Party Caucus, retiring congresswoman Michele Bachmann. The decision to possibly join Rep. Bachmann's rally came after she declared on Wednesday that executive action on immigration will lead to a flood of "illiterate" voters.

Previous Tea Party Patriots anti-immigration rallies in Washington D.C., such as the muddled Immigration/IRS rally on June 19, 2013 on Capitol Hill have not been well attended, so larger attendance at a December rally would be an indicator of some success for efforts to promote nativism without one of the largest Tea Party factions.

Not all national Tea Party factions are in agreement with the Tea Party Patriots' plan. Obama's move on immigration has uncovered a growing fissure within the Tea Party movement over the centrality of nativism. Curiously, while Tea Party Patriots, Patriot Action Network, and the 1776 Tea Party were rushing to sound more and more xenophobic  (and fundraising off the issue), some Tea Party factions tried to dance around the immigration issue, while others stayed conspicuously silent.

Indeed, although many members of the FreedomWorks social network were outraged by the president's announcement last week, the organization's leadership chose to duck the issue. FreedomWorks completely sidestepped the topic of immigration, choosing instead to concentrate the organization's message on tried-and-true Obama bashing.  In a pre-speech press release, FreedomWorks president Matt Kibbe took a page from the GOP establishment playbook, sticking to the line about the president being an "emperor" and railing against the "expansion of executive power."

Said Kibbe, "The president's announcements tonight have nothing to do with immigration. This fight has to do with whether or not we are a country with laws and a separation of powers designed to protect the will of the American people from the arbitrary actions of Washington insiders."

As other Tea Party groups have dug in for a massive fight around immigration, FreedomWorks appears fixated on getting Congress to let the Export-Import Bank expire. In fact, many in the Tea Party movement have been suspicious of FreedomWorks because of their unwillingness to wholeheartedly embrace nativism.

Unlike all the other factions, Tea Party Express hasn't uttered a peep about the issue. That could be because the group is hoping not to call attention to the pro-immigration reform stance that Sal Russo, a Tea Party Express co-founder, expressed in an article for Roll Call last spring.

Russo's commentary, titled "Conservatives Need to Fix the Broken U.S. Immigration System," called for an approach remarkably similar to that proposed by the president. "We need to make the 11 million people who are here illegally obey the law, pay taxes and come out of the shadows. We have to get them right by the law in exchange for legal status, but not unbridled amnesty," he wrote.

In the past, these disagreements have caused strains between various organizations in the network that comprises the Tea Party movement. Obama's executive order is the first major test of these policy differences in years, and Tea Party organizations may well be held to account for their positions.

Expect the caution initially evident among Republican leadership to vanish if the Tea Party successfully mobilizes anti-immigrant sentiment. Given the vitriolic nativist tone already circulating in Tea Party circles, and the fusion of nativism with hatred of the first African-American president, the coming mobilization could make the ugly rancor and racism that erupted during the passage of Obamacare look polite. At the same time, if supporters of human rights stand strong for immigration reform and actively combat nativism, it could protect immigration reform gains for the long term and even split the Tea Party.

For more on the origins of Tea Party nativism, see the 2012 IREHR special report, Beyond FAIR: The Decline of the Anti-Immigrant Establishment and the Rise of Tea Party Nativism.


--
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Juan
 
Every man's ability may be strengthened or increased by culture.
-- John Abbott

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Something to Know - 23 November

Signe Wilkinson

This NY Times article continues to shed light on the shadows.   As stated, California is in the forefront of those states that are affected by the undocumented, and has lived through and adjusted to much of the issues and concerns.  That is not to say that California has all the answers or is a model, but the rest of the country can learn something.   I am giving you the entire copy of the article that I get from the online edition of the NY Times.   As many of you are aware, once one has read 10 links to the NY Times in one calendar month, that is the limit, and you are encouraged to subscribe for $15/mo, or something like that.   This is the near the end of the month, and probably at the limit of what I have sent out.  So, it is not a pretty format to read from, but it works.  Let me know if this format works for you, especially those who are using Smart Phones.  Desk Tops should be okay: 

This is the link, if you are not near the NY Times's limit:


Turmoil Over Immigration Status? California Has Lived It for Decades

By IAN LOVETT and NOV. 22, 2014

    Photo
    Esther Cervantes held Willie Morales, her grandson, at her home in Bakersfield. "I was expecting this to help me," she said of the president's plan. "But for me, there's nothing." CreditMatt Black for The New York Times
    Continue reading the main storyShare This Page

    LOS ANGELES — There may be no better place than California to measure the contradictions, crosswinds and confusion that come with trying to change immigration law.

    For 30 years, California has been the epicenter of the churn of immigration — legal and not — in the nation. It was California where Pete Wilson, the Republican governor, championed in 1994 a voter initiative known as Proposition 187, which severely restricted services to immigrants here illegally. And it was California where just last year, Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, held a celebratory, dignitary-filled signing of legislation permitting unauthorized workers to obtain driver's licenses.

    Photo
    Gov. Jerry Brown, center, with city officials at a Los Angeles ceremony for the signing of a law permitting unauthorized workers to obtain driver's licenses.CreditMonica Almeida/The New York Times

    One-third of the immigrants in the country illegally live in California, which has a 125-mile border with Mexico, much of it guarded by long stretches of border fence. They work on farms in the Central Valley, in manufacturing jobs in Los Angeles, and as housekeepers and gardeners in Silicon Valley, alongside a steady stream of young legal immigrants who hold high-skilled jobs in Northern California's critical tech industry.

    They come mostly from Mexico but also from Central America, the Philippines, South Korea and Japan. Commercial boulevards in the heart of Los Angeles are a riot of Korean-language signs, and in many neighborhoods in San Francisco the talk on the street is as likely to be in Spanish or Chinese as it is English.

    Continue reading the main story

    The Impact of Obama's Immigration Plan Across California

    The patchwork of regulations in President Obama's executive action will resonate in different ways for foreign workers in Silicon Valley, farmworkers in the Central Valley and entrepreneurs in Los Angeles. The changes may prevent deportation of more than half of the roughly 2.5 million who are in the state illegally.

    Est. pct. of population who

    are unauthorized immigrants

    CALIFORNIA

    1

    5

    10

    15

    Data unavailable

    250 MILES

    Sacramento

    San Francisco

    Los Angeles

    San Diego

    Sources: Joseph Hayes, Hans P. Johnson, Laura E. Hill, Public Policy Institute of California (estimates of undocumented population); Neil Ruiz, Elizabeth Kneebone, Jill Wilson, Audrey Singer, Brookings Institution; California Immigrant Policy Center; Migration Policy Institute; Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration, University of Southern California

    And while many undocumented immigrants take pains not to draw attention to their status, California nonetheless offers the prospect of a more open existence than much of the country does, albeit in an ask-no-questions fashion. Given the way many of these immigrants are already treated by the state, be it with the issuing of driver's licenses or some health insurance, President Obama's executive action on immigration was almost anticlimactic to many people here.

    "We are the state that has the most settled immigrant population in terms of people who have been in the country for 10 years," said Manuel Pastor, a co-director of the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration at the University of Southern California. "We went through our Prop. 187 moment. We are at the other end. People will be eager to make this happen, because they realize we are going to get comprehensive immigration reform at some point."

    Continue reading the main story

    40 MILES

    Santa Barbara

    San Bernardino

    Los Angeles

    Est. pct. of population who

    are unauthorized immigrants

    Orange

    CALIFORNIA

    1

    5

    10

    15

    Los Angeles

    Unauthorized immigrants in Los Angeles are among the most settled in the country — many have been here at least 10 years. They contribute to about 7 percent of the region's economy. This area, which has more than one million unauthorized immigrants, had the largest number of people who were approved for a two-year deportation deferral under the president's initial program that began in 2012.

    Indeed, more than half the undocumented immigrants in California have lived here at least 10 years — far more than anyplace else in the country — and one-sixth of the children in California have at least one parent here illegally, according to Mr. Pastor's center. That was illuminated by Mr. Obama's expansion of the deportation protection program, since it was based largely on how long immigrants have resided here and whether they have American-born children.

    "My parents are going to be able to qualify under this program," said Paola Fernandez, 28, a representative of the Service Employees International Union who lives in Bakersfield. She was brought here as a child and got permission to stay under Mr. Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. She has two younger siblings who were born here, which bodes well for her parents.

    "We've been here close to 25 years," Ms. Fernandez said. "On a very personal level, this is a very amazing moment."

    At the same time, the extent of the illegal immigrant population here spotlighted limitations in what the president had to offer last week. Most notably, farmworkers in the Central Valley found themselves divided between those whose children were born in the United States or who are permanent legal residents — and thus eligible for the blanket of Mr. Obama's action — and those who had children in their home country or not at all.

    Continue reading the main story

    Central Valley

    Nearly 40 percent of immigrants in the Central Valley are estimated to be here illegally, and nearly half of them are employed in agriculture. Some farmworkers may benefit from the president's executive action because they have children born in the United States. But for the many farmworkers who have no family here, their status will remain the same.

     

    40 MILES

    Modesto

    Fresno

    Tulare

    Kings

    Parents eligible for new

    deferred action program

    Bakersfield

    San Luis Obispo

    California

    1.1 million

    Rest of U.S.

    2.6

    Est. pct. of

    population who

    are unauthorized

    immigrants

    1

    5

    10

    15

    "I'm scared that my family will be torn apart," said Maria Ramos, 21, who moved here from Zacatecas, Mexico, in 1994 and was granted a deferral in 2012 while her parents remained here illegally. "It's scary to think my mom could get deported. They're going to tear our family apart. I wouldn't want that for other people to experience."

    There are few states where immigrants are as integral to the economy, whether in farming, manufacturing or basic services. And many analysts suggested that those different forces were reflected in the White House's attempt to parse the differing demands of, in particular, Silicon Valley, with its thirst for high-end technology workers, and the Central Valley, with its overwhelming demand for inexpensive labor to work on the farms.

    Continue reading the main story

    The Bay Area and Silicon Valley

    While there are a significant number of unauthorized workers in this area, much of the focus has been on legal, temporary workers. San Francisco and San Jose are among the top areas that request H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, and the president's plan disappointed the tech community by not increasing the cap on the number of H-1Bs issued. The plan does help fill science and technology jobs by expanding a program that allows foreign students to remain in the country temporarily for training.

    Sacramento

    CALIFORNIA

    Berkeley

    Oakland

    San Francisco

    San Jose

    30 MILES

    Est. pct. of population who

    are unauthorized immigrants

    1

    5

    10

    15

    In Silicon Valley, Mr. Obama offered a limited promise to open the doors to high-skilled legal immigrants brought here by technology companies, while making it slightly easier for those already here and eager to switch jobs without putting their immigration status in jeopardy.

    Sujoy Gupta, an Indian immigrant who came to the United States in 2003 to study and now works at a start-up called AppDirect in San Francisco, said the current visa rules made it difficult for him and his wife, Pooja Madaan, who works in marketing, to change employers, travel or buy a home.

    "So every time I change my job, I have to reapply for my visa," he said in an interview in his San Francisco home on Friday. That is likely to change now.

    Photo
    Pooja Madaan and her husband, Sujoy Gupta, reported difficulty obtaining skilled-worker visas.CreditJim Wilson/The New York Times

    These changes were less than what Silicon Valley business leaders wanted but stood in contrast with agriculture, where the White House resisted requests to create a waiver for farmworkers. Half the agriculture workers in the Central Valley have immigrated here illegally.

    Continue reading the main story

    RECENT COMMENTS

    Regina M Valdez

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    To Everyone who Has it Wrong:Illegal Immigrants DO NOT receive:food stampswelfareunemployment benefitsdisability benefitssocial security...

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    California is 'refreshed' by the new immigrant population that enters the state every year. It is vital to our state to have new workers...

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    "A major part of the work force that harvests the crops is undocumented, and it's time we just recognized that," said Greg Wegis, the president of the Kern County Farm Bureau.

    Esther Cervantes, 53, who came here illegally nearly 20 years ago and packs the grapes her husband picks, paid to have her children brought over in 2000; they all received deportation deferrals under Mr. Obama's earlier act and are thus assured a future here.

    "I was expecting this to help me," she said. "But for me, there's nothing. I don't have children who are citizens or residents."

    There has been a thriving underground economy across the state involving undocumented immigrants: the child care workers for wealthy software developers in Silicon Valley, where 8 percent of the work force is unauthorized, or the gardeners for estates in Beverly Hills. Presumably, that will come more into the open and, with it, promises for more job stability, an increased ability to change jobs and less fear of harassment by employers taking advantage of their vulnerability, said Reshma Shamasunder, the executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center.

    Photo

    Jacopo Bruni, a Border Patrol agent, monitoring the border fence near San Diego.CreditKirsten Luce for The New York Times

    "It's going to be an important contribution to the California economy both in terms of raising revenues, but also the security of the work force," she said.

    While other states may resist Mr. Obama's initiative, California officials are already looking to expand existing programs to help immigrants here illegally. At La Raza Community Resource Center in San Francisco's Mission District, which instructs immigrants on what kinds of documents they may need to apply for legal status, officials are preparing to help people take advantage of the new policy.

    "Once people know more about it, there will be a lot of interest," said Carl Larsen Santos, the center's immigration program coordinator. "The psychological impact of having a work permit and not living in fear will be a huge boon to the community."

    Photo
    A farmworker picking strawberries in Oxnard, Calif.CreditGus Ruelas/Reuters

    California has had some notable pockets of resistance to immigrants, most recently over the summer when protesters carrying signs and American flags met three buses of immigrant mothers and children in the city of Murrieta. But over all, this is a state that has embraced measures intended to make it easier for immigrants to live and work within its borders. A survey by the Pew Research Center last week found that of the 11.2 million illegal immigrants in the United States, 2.5 million live in California.

    "California is more politically and emotionally evolved on this topic than the rest of the country," said Bill Whalen, a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a former long-term aide to Mr. Wilson. "We have been through this for 20 years now. It's the California existence: You are familiar with illegal immigration, you probably tapped into it in some way — hiring someone illegally to look after your children or tend your lawn."

    Matt A. Barreto, a professor of political science at the University of Washington in Seattle, said that even before the president's action, California held itself forth as a model on immigration. "Across a variety of issues and policies, California has been a laboratory for the nation, forecasting and foreshadowing what might happen nationally," he said.

    Adam Nagourney reported from Los Angeles; Ian Lovett from Bakersfield, Calif.; and Vindu Goel from San Francisco. Reporting was contributed by Richard Pérez-Peña from San Francisco, and Matt Hamilton, Brandon Shaw and Kimiya Shokoohi from Los Angeles.

    A version of this article appears in print on November 23, 2014, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Immigration's Turmoil? California Has Lived It. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe


    --
    ****
    Juan
     
    Every man's ability may be strengthened or increased by culture.
    -- John Abbott

    Saturday, November 22, 2014

    Something to Know - 22 November

    Mike Luckovich

    1.  The Executive Action to Reform Immigration has been announced, and will be deployed.   There seems to exist a sense of  exactly what it will do, and how it will work.  Over a period of time, I will try to find articles that will speak to those concerns.  Here is one today from the NY Times about the City of Albertville, Alabama - just west of the state line from Georgia and not far from Atlanta.   First of all, we need to understand that the undocumented are living all over this country.   Any place where there is a need for unskilled working hands (agriculture, meat packing, carpet industry, clothing manufacturing, etc), paying low wages and sub-OSHA working conditions, the undocumented filled those needs.   Over a period of time, and living in the shadows, the undocumented migrated to every state of the Union, and into small businesses and small towns as well as big urban areas.   They are part of the fabric of every community.   During the middle of the week, they are probably 50% of the Palos Verdes Peninsula or Silicon Valley, cleaning, trimming, and fixing things.   In this case, they are in the shadows of a tiny little enclave in the middle of the bible belt.   The concerns are probably universal, but more reflective of a small Southern town:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/22/us/immigration-alabama-reaction.html?emc=eta1


    2.  Can someone please wrap this up in a pretty package and deliver it to House Chairman Issa for Christmas: