Leena!
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Guess Who Turned One Today?
June 14, 2013 By 9 Comments
Becoming a White Minority
June 13, 2013 By 3 Comments
Not a good time to be the party of xenophobes and delusional frauds.
For the first time, America’s racial and ethnic minorities now make up about half of the under-5 age group, the government said Thursday. It’s a historic shift that shows how young people are at the forefront of sweeping changes by race and class.
The new census estimates, a snapshot of the U.S. population as of July 2012, comes a year after the Census Bureau reported that whites had fallen to a minority among babies. Fueled by immigration and high rates of birth, particularly among Hispanics, racial and ethnic minorities are now growing more rapidly in numbers than whites.
Based on current rates of growth, whites in the under-5 group are expected to tip to a minority this year or next, Thomas Mesenbourg, the Census Bureau’s acting director, said.
The government also projects that in five years, minorities will make up more than half of children under 18. Not long after, the total U.S. white population will begin an inexorable decline in absolute numbers, due to aging baby boomers.
Will numbers of this sort bring conservatives and Republicans to their senses and finally have them embrace comprehensive immigration reform? No, of course not. Teahadists will only dig their heels in and increase the decibel level of their screeching and opposition to any commonsense reform.
As we’ve come to learn, these sad little people don’t react well to numbers that don’t match up to their preconceived notion of reality.
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Purple Texas
June 12, 2013 By 6 Comments
Kos:
Let’s be clear about this: If Latinos voted at the same rates as whites, Texas would already be Purple. And all other things remaining equal, it would’ve provided Mitt Romney with his second closest victory margin last year. Except that all things wouldn’t have been equal—a five-point race would’ve meant lots of money. Democrats would’ve poured resources into the state, while Republicans would’ve been forced to divert their cash to playing defense.
How important is Texas? If Republicans lost it, they could win Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin and still lose the election. In other words, lose Texas, or even be forced to defend that expensive-ass state, and Republicans are screwed.
So the math is clear—Texas would be purple of Latinos voted. But they don’t, so who cares, right? Well, Republicans should, because even with the same existing shitty turnout rate the growth in the Latino and Asian communities will erode the GOP’s base by about 5 1/2 points every four years, or about 1.4 points per year.
In other words, demographics alone will make Texas purple by 2024. And if Latinos decide to start voting, years sooner.
Of the 15 senators who voted against debating immigration reform, 13 were from red states, including Texas’ Ted Cruz. As Kos points out, there is no better reason for Republicans to vote for immigration reform than that of holding on to Texas. And yet, it’s going to be an uphill battle getting a bill out of the Senate and near impossible to get it through the House where Tea Party Republicans have vowed to block any and all legislation.
Who is Republican’s worst enemy? Republicans.
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Trashing Immigration Reform – Cruz Style
June 11, 2013 By
It’s hard to imagine the immigrations bill (or any other legislation) getting through congress with obstructionist Republicans like Ted Cruz making ridiculous statements like this one.
“The biggest obstacle to passing common sense immigration reform is President Barack Obama.”
What the hell does that mean?
For Cruz and his fellow wingers, common sense means that Dems need to step aside and act as if Mitt Romney is in the White House and Republicans have majorities in both Houses of Congress. Then and only then will the government’s business get done.
Asking Dems to drop any mention of a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants is a non-starter. The whole point of immigration reform was to provide a means to bring undocumented immigrants into the fold in a fair and sensible manner.
It’s possible that some folks are confused about the nature of the debate. When it comes to immigration reform, Democrats and Republicans have effectively proposed a trade — Dems want a pathway to citizenship and can live with new border-security measures, while Republicans want new border-security measures and can live with a pathway to citizenship. The result is a compromise bill that’s “comprehensive” because it tackles both parts of the larger issue…
That rascally president sure is annoying. Obama’s the “biggest obstacle” to reform because he “insists” upon the one specific provision that enjoys the support of congressional Democrats, many congressional Republicans, most of the country, immigration advocates, and the Bush/Cheney administration. It’s not some gratuitous, tangential provision — for the White House, it’s the point of the bill.
All true but it’s almost pointless to bring up logic of any sort when discussing Republican politics. The right has no desire in being factual or honest. Their only concern is to stop anything this President attempts to do while they work on getting their own guy into the White House in four years time.
That’s how shameless sociopaths operate.
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Face of the Day
June 11, 2013 By 7 Comments
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