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By Seema Mehta Melanie Mason, John Myers | LATimes | DEC. 20, 2021
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Nearly one-third of the state’s 52 new congressional districts would have a majority of Latino citizens of voting age under the new maps.
Latino voters would see a major boost in political clout under new congressional and legislative districts approved unanimously Monday by the independent citizen panel charged with redrawing the state’s political map.
Although the panel, created by voter initiative in 2008, does not take partisan balance into account in drawing district lines, the maps it produced all but guarantee that Democrats will retain super majorities in the Legislature and their current lopsided majority in California’s congressional delegation.
Nearly one-third of the state’s 52 new congressional districts would have a majority of Latino citizens of voting age under the new maps. That’s an increase of three districts even as California lost a seat for the first time in its history because its population did not grow as fast as other states... READ MORE
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By Pablo Manriquez | Latino Rebels | DEC. 16, 2021 | Photo credit: Scott Applewhite for AP
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US Senate continues to grapple with end-of-year tasks at the Capitol in Washington.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has advised the Senate against including a third immigrant relief proposal presented by Senate Democrats in the Build Back Better Act.
The news broke Thursday evening at the Capitol but rumors had been swirling openly all week in the Senate hallways that Judiciary Committee Staffers for Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) had received MacDonough’s guidance on a proposal specifically designed to pass the Parliamentarian which included temporary work permits and protections from deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants.
The tenets of that proposal, known as Plan C after Plans A and B were both rejected, were promoted by Immigration Hub, a Beltway lobbyist group...
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By Rachel Scott and Benjamin Siegel | ABC News | DEC. 20, 2021
Photo credit: Stefani Reynolds for Bloomberg
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The Democrat, known as "Maserati Manchin" when not on board his yacht, has said he won't support the "Build Back Better" plan as written.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., privately questioned whether parents would misuse Child Tax Credit payments to buy drugs, according to three sources familiar with his comments.
Sources tell ABC News Manchin detailed his concerns privately to colleagues and others on Capitol Hill in recent months.
The private discussions further highlight the stark disagreements between the conservative Democrat and most of his party over a popular program the White House has touted as one of President Joe Biden's major accomplishments with a Democratically-controlled Congress.
On a Sunday Fox News appearance, Manchin signaled opposition to the White House's $1.75 trillion social policy plan as currently written, effectively ending negotiations over the House-passed bill that Democrats had initially hoped to get signed into law before Christmas.
That proposal included an extension to the Child Tax Credit program -- which will likely lapse in January after the last payments on Dec. 15 -- along with paid family leave, an expansion of Obamacare coverage and funding for education and combating climate change... READ MORE
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By Matt Egan | CNN Business | DEC. 21, 2021 | Photo credit: Samuel Corum
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The West Virginia senator is facing backlash from all sides for not negotiating in good faith over BBB.
New York (CNN Business)Senator Joe Manchin is facing calls from a powerful group close to his heart to reconsider his opposition to the Build Back Better Act: Coal miners. A day after the West Virginia Democrat appeared to kill Build Back Better, America's largest coal mining union put out a statement lauding the legislation's provisions and pushing Manchin to take a do-over.
"We are disappointed that the bill will not pass," Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, said in the statement on Monday. "We urge Senator Manchin to revisit his opposition to this legislation and work with his colleagues to pass something that will help keep coal miners working, and have a meaningful impact on our members, their families and their communities."
The 131-year-old UMWA called out several items that it believes are crucial to its members and communities, including extending the fee paid by coal companies to fund benefits received by victims of black lung... READ MORE
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By T-Editor | Times of San Diego | DEC. 17, 2020 | Photo: Mike Blake - Reuters
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The city and county of Los Angeles led a mostly public coalition, including San Diego, in filing an amicus brief in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, attorneys announced Thursday.
The brief, calling on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to overturn a July decision against DACA, includes 64 other local government agencies and four advocacy organizations, according to L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer.
In addition to the city of San Diego, the cities of Long Beach, Santa Monica, Fresno, San Francisco, Oakland and Sacramento signed onto the brief. Nationally, New York City, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Phoenix are among those represented.
The Obama-era DACA program allows some undocumented U.S. residents who were brought into the country as children to receive protection from deportation... READ MORE
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Escrito por Andrés Antonio Fábregas Puig | Chiapas Paralelo | Dec. 8, 2020
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A la Memoria del Maestro Andrés Fábregas Roca Republicano Español. Inmigrado y refugiado político. Chiapaneco por adopción.
Gracias a la celebración de la reunión anual del Seminario Permanente de Estudios de la Gran Chichimeca, tuve la oportunidad de conversar largo con mi amigo Armando Vázquez-Ramos, que además de académico destacado de la Universidad de California en Long Beach, es un líder de los movimientos de los México-Norteamericanos residentes en los Estados Unidos y quien ha luchado largamente por hacer realidad las demandas de los “Dreamers” (Soñadores), jóvenes que fueron llevados a Norteamérica siendo niños.
Además, Armando Vázquez-Ramos tiene un activo Programa por medio del cual ha conseguido traer a México a grupos de Dreamers para que conozcan los lugares en donde nacieron sus padres, en donde están sus raíces familiares, y poder regresar a los Estados Unidos sin problemas. Para ello, se necesitaron años de intensa lucha. Pero además de estar presente en varios frentes de lucha por los derechos que asisten a nuestros paisanos en los Estados Unidos, Armando Vázquez-Ramos es editor de un singular periódico digital titulado “El Magonista” en honor de los Hermanos Flores Magón, la izquierda de la Revolución Mexicana... READ MORE
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By Sarah Parvini | LATimes | DEC. 18, 2021 | Photo credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times
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California’s population declined by 173,000 between July 2020 and July 2021, bringing the estimated total to 39.37 million, according to state figures released Friday.
California’s population has continued to decline after falling for the first time on record, new demographic data show — underscoring shifting immigration patterns, declining birthrates and the large number of deaths at the hands of the pandemic.
The state’s population declined by 173,000 between July 1, 2020, and July 1, 2021, bringing the estimated total population to 39.37 million, according to estimates released by the state Department of Finance on Friday. The 0.44% decline is slightly less than the population loss reported for 2020, demographers said.
Three main factors contributed to California’s net population loss, demographers found: a continued decline in birthrates; fewer foreign immigrants, which officials attributed to federal policy in recent years; and more than 55,000 pandemic-related deaths... READ MORE
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By MARIANNE LEVINE for POLITICO | 12/16/2021 06:57 PM EST
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The Senate parliamentarian on Thursday rejected the most recent push from Democrats to include immigration reform in their party-line social spending bill, leaving party leaders scrambling for an alternative.
The House-passed social spending bill included a provision that would extend work permits and provide temporary protection from deportation for certain undocumented immigrants who came to the United States before January 2011. But in her ruling, the parliamentarian indicated it did not comply with the chamber’s rules.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters that the decision was “disappointing” and said it was not clear what plan D was “at this point.” He added that the parliamentarian used the “same reasoning” as she had with previous rulings and said Democrats are “considering what options remain.”
In her ruling, the parliamentarian wrote that the provision would create a new class of about 6.5 million eligible individuals, “nearly the same number of people as the previous two plans.” The parliamentarian noted that “these are substantial policy changes with lasting effects just like those we previously considered and outweigh the budgetary impact.” READ MORE
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By Zeeshan Aleem | MSNBC Opinion Columnist | DEC. 14, 2021
Photo credit: Chelsea Stahl - MSNBC; Getty Images
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The lone Democratic holdout on Build Back Better has an astonishing conflict of interest. Financial records indicate that Manchin is aware of the large sums of money he's making from his family coal business.
It’s been known for some time that Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, hails from coal country and benefits from a family business in the coal industry. But a new report from The Washington Post has revealed that Manchin’s ties to the industry are greater and more direct than previously known — they show that he knows he received about half a million dollars in 2020 in returns from his investments in the business, despite his claims that he has a “blind trust” that keeps him in the dark regarding his assets.
That huge sum of money, and Manchin’s awareness of it, would seem to be of interest to the public as Manchin remains the lone Democrat in the Senate still holding out on President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill, a sweeping legislative package that includes a number of climate change-related policies that have narrowed in scope significantly due to Manchin’s strident pushback.
What’s worse, however, than Manchin’s dodge is that what he’s doing is perfectly legal. Due to Congress’ lax code of ethics regarding lawmaker’s investments, Manchin’s conflict of interest is permissible, and, in many instances, completely routine. In other words, what may be even more scandalous than Manchin’s conflict of interest is the fact that it's allowed.
Manchin has a lucrative family business that sells waste coal to a power plant in West Virginia that “emits air pollution at a higher rate than any other plant in the state,” according to the Post... READ MORE
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OPEN CONGRESSIONAL SEAT COULD LEAD TO BIG CHANGES IN LONG BEACH POLITICS
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By Jason Ruiz | LB Post | DEC. 16, 2021 | Photo credit: Thomas R. Cordova
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Thursday’s announcement that incumbent Congressman Alan Lowenthal will not seek reelection in 2022 is likely to set off a series of political maneuvers and announcements that could upend Long Beach’s upcoming City Council and mayoral election, with reverberations potentially even reaching the California legislature.
The 80-year-old Lowenthal’s decision to not seek a sixth term may have opened a significant opportunity for his Long Beach-based seat, with rumors circulating for weeks that Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia intends to run. Multiple sources, who asked not to be named because they were revealing private conversations, said Garcia will announce his campaign by the end of the year.
“The worst kept secret in the city,” said one source, who pointed to the mayor’s social media activity and noted the increase in Garcia’s posts cheering on federal legislation and the Biden Administration.
Garcia did not return phone calls or messages Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. When asked about his potential run last week, Garcia only said he’d be making an announcement on his political future in the coming weeks.
Outside of Long Beach, Lowenthal’s departure has also set off speculation in the national press about Garcia’s future... READ MORE
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By Jason Ruiz | Long Beach Post
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Nearly 30 years after the creation of Long Beach’s Citizen’s Police Complaint Commission propelled him into public office, Congressman Alan Lowenthal announced today that he would not seek reelection, ending a five-term run as the city’s representative in the nation’s capital.
Lowenthal, 80, the patriarch of a political dynasty in Long Beach, said Wednesday that he had decided not to pursue another term in the U.S. House of Representatives so he could spend time focusing on taking care of himself and spend more time with his family, including four grandkids. His term will end in January 2023 when the new Congress is sworn in.
“It’s time to take more time taking care of myself and my family and enjoying life and not having all the pressure,” Lowenthal said, noting that he has multiple people scheduling his life in at least four different cities. “I’m always under some kind of pressure.”
Lowenthal said that a number of things played into this decision... READ MORE
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By Teresa Watanabe | LATimes | DEC. 15, 2021 | Photo credit: Genaro Molina
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UCLA is the most applied-to university in the nation. Tens of thousands of eligible students are being shut out of UC and CSU — and the state can no longer meet its promise of a UC and Cal State education for them.
If it seems harder than ever to get into the University of California and California State University — it is.
Nearly half of California high school graduates now qualify for admission to the state’s two public university systems — up from one-third in 2008. The share of them who apply to UC has grown from 17% in 2001 to 25% in 2020; for Cal State, the numbers went from 27% to 36% during that same period. But with limited seats, admission bars are rising: The average high school GPA of admitted UC students is now over 4.0 at most campuses, and 16 of 23 Cal State campuses have more applicants than seats for some or all of their majors.
As a result, tens of thousands of eligible students are being shut out — and the state can no longer meet its California promise of a UC and Cal State education for them... READ MORE
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Story and Photo Credit by Leila Miller / LATimes | DEC. 15, 2021
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Students are camping out at the Mexico City campus of the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, a public institution known as the CIDE.
MEXICO CITY — For the last 17 days, dozens of students have turned one of Mexico’s top public research centers into a campsite.
Tents line the entrance to the Mexico City campus of the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, better known as the CIDE. For students unwilling to brave the cold nights, classrooms have been cleared to make room for sleeping bags.
“CIDE resist,” says one protest sign. Another invokes Britney Spears’ recent legal victory: “If Britney could, CIDE can too.”
The occupiers are calling for the dismissal of the center’s new government- appointed director, who caused anger by demoting several administrators and disparaging the school as a bastion of neoliberalism — a serious insult in the leftist rhetoric of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador... READ MORE
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BBC News Mundo para La Opinion | Actualizado 20 Dic 2021
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La transformación que Boric intentará sacar adelante se da en un escenario de incerteza política y en medio de una gran complejidad económica.
Fue un triunfo histórico. Gabriel Boric se impuso a su rival, José Antonio Kast, por un amplia ventaja de casi 12 puntos en la segunda vuelta de las elecciones celebradas este domingo en Chile.
El izquierdista, que cuando llegue a La Moneda el próximo 11 de marzo se convertirá -con 36 años recién cumplidos- en el presidente más joven que haya tenido el país, consiguió la victoria con el 55,86% de los sufragios, frente al 44,14% obtenido por Kast, un abogado de derecha radical.
Y miles de chilenos, esperanzados con los profundos cambios que promete, celebraron su triunfo.
Su plan de gobierno incluye medidas como aumentar los impuestos a los más ricos y a las grandes empresas, poner fin al actual sistema de pensiones y transformar el sistema de salud, con la idea de crear un Estado de bienestar... LEER MAS
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By Jorge Poblete, Patrick J. McDonnell | LATimes | DEC. 19, 2021 | Photo credit: Esteban Felix/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
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35-year-old becomes nation’s youngest president.
SANTIAGO, Chile — Leftist Congressman Gabriel Boric, 35, will become the youngest president in Chile’s history after winning a comfortable victory in the South American nation’s most polarized election since its return to democracy more than 30 years ago.
With virtually all of the vote counted, the millennial progressive who burst into prominence a decade ago as a shaggy-haired student protest leader had garnered almost 56% of the ballots.
That compared with about 44% for his opponent, José Antonio Kast, 55, a far-right career politician and admirer of Chile’s former military dictatorship.
In a Twitter message, Kast said he had spoken with Boric and conceded... READ MORE
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Please consider sponsoring our program today!!!
To be a sponsor contact Professor Armando Vazquez-Ramos at: armando@calmexcenter.org or 562-972-0986
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