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We react on immigration, we love USPS, we fear Shia…

Friday, November 21, 2014

 


IMMIGRATION

 

► In today’s NY Times — Obama, daring Congress, acts to overhaul immigration — The president chose confrontation over conciliation on Thursday as he asserted the powers of the Oval Office to reshape the nation’s immigration system and all but dared members of next year’s Republican-controlled Congress to reverse his actions on behalf of millions of immigrants.

ALSO Today in The Stand — Labor leaders hail Obama immigration order

PLUS LOCAL reactions in Everett, Vancouver, Yakima from local members of Congress, and at Intel?

► At Think Progress — Forget the pundits: Reactions to Obama’s speech from the immigrants who are actually affected — Just as advocates were quick to congratulate immigrants whose family could now come out of the shadows, others also expressed cautious happiness, and even sadness over the family members who were not given deportation cover.

reagan-immigration► In today’s NY Times — Obama’s immigration action has precedents, but may set new one — Although the president is not breaking new ground by using executive powers to carve out a quasi-legal status for certain categories of unauthorized immigrants — the Republican Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush all did so — his decision will affect as many as five million immigrants, far more than the actions of those presidents.

► In today’s Washington Post — Republicans confront own worst enemy on immigration — Party leaders fear that the conservative uproar over the president’s immigration actions will doom any hopes for a stable period of GOP governance in Congress.

► In today’s NY Times — Suffer little children (by Paul Krugman) — My parents were able to have the lives they did because America, despite all the prejudices of the time, was willing to treat them as people. Offering the same kind of treatment to today’s immigrant children is the practical course of action, but it’s also, crucially, the right thing to do. So let’s applaud the president for doing it.

 


LOCAL

 

► In today’s News Tribune — Longshore negotiators take a break as ports’ slowdown continues — While cargo continues to pile up at West Coast ports, negotiations aimed at reaching a new long-term agreement between Longshore workers and shipping lines have recessed for nearly two weeks. The halt in so-called “main table” negotiations came at the insistence of the ILWU, claimed the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping lines and terminal operators seeking a new deal with the union. Talks are scheduled to resume Dec. 2.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Main port talks stalled till after holiday

► From Longshore Shipping News — Obama confident ILWU-PMA can reach a deal — Amid pleas of major shippers for a federal mediator, President Obama says he’s confident U.S. West Coast longshoremen and waterfront employers can reach a labor contract.

► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Hanford union, 2 other groups threaten more legal action over tank vapors — The Department of Energy and its Hanford tank farm contractor have been sent a second notice of an intent to file a lawsuit to protect Hanford workers from chemical vapors, this one by Hanford Challenge, union Local 598 and Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility.

salgado-nestora► From KPLU — Protesters call for release of Renton woman held in Mexico — Hundreds of protestors outside the Mexican consulate in Seattle called for answers in the disappearance of 43 Mexican students in September. Protestors also want the release of Nestora Salgado, a Renton woman who has ties to the students.

 


STATE GOVERNMENT

 

► In today’s Seattle Times — Sound Transit to seek new tax, fees to extend light-rail routes — Citing popular demand, Sound Transit’s governing board Thursday unanimously voted to seek a new sales tax, a new car-tab fee and/or a new property tax. Next, the agency will ask the Legislature for authorization before sending a proposal to the November 2016 ballot in urban Snohomish, King and Pierce counties.

► From AP — Inslee to GOP senators: bring solutions, not just criticism, on climate change — Gov. Jay Inslee has challenged two Republican senators (Doug Ericksen of Ferndale and Curtis King of Yakima) to “do more than just criticize and mischaracterize actions” being considered to reduce carbon pollution.

► From KPLU — Washington’s lobbying corps populated by former lawmakers, staffers — In Washington, D.C., there’s a waiting period before members of Congress and their staffers can work as lobbyists. And unlike Oregon and 31 other states, Washington state does not require a waiting or “cooling off” period to slow the revolving door. You can leave state service on a Friday and start lobbying on a Monday.

► In today’s NY Times — Attorneys General for sale (editorial) — A Times investigation showed that corporate lobbyists have written draft legal filings that were used by attorneys general in court cases, and have even done legal work for their offices. At least one attorney general — Bob Ferguson of Washington state — personally solicited a donation from 5-Hour Energy after joining the investigation against the company, leading the company to complain that it was being shaken down for money.

 


TODAY’S NEWS JUXTAPOSED

 

mcnerney-boeing-grab► In today’s P.S. Business Journal — Boeing CEO makes more than his company pays in federal taxes — Boeing likely has a lower tax rate than you, according to a joint study by the Center for Effective Government and the Institute for Policy Studies. The study measures the gap between CEO pay and federal income taxes paid by the 30 largest corporations in the United States in 2013. Boeing’s CEO, Jim McNerney, topped the list. His was the highest pay relative to the amount Boeing paid in federal taxes.

► In the P.S. Business Journal — Adviser to Microsoft shareholders: Reject Nadella’s $90 million payday — An investment advising organization is urging Microsoft shareholders to reject newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella’s 2014 compensation package, which it values at over $90 million.

► In today’s Yakima H-R — Study: CEOs in 10 big mergers to get $430M

nyt-factory-wages► In today’s NY Times — Falling wages at factories squeeze the middle class — For nearly 20 years, Darrell Eberhardt worked in an Ohio factory putting together wheelchairs, earning $18.50 an hour, enough to gain a toehold in the middle class and feel respected at work. He is still working with his hands, assembling seats for Chevrolet Cruze cars at the Camaco auto parts factory in Lorain, Ohio, but now he makes $10.50 an hour and is barely hanging on… Even as the White House and leaders on Capitol Hill and in Fortune 500 boardrooms all agree that expanding the country’s manufacturing base is a key to prosperity, evidence is growing that the pay of many blue-collar jobs is shrinking to the point where they can no longer support a middle-class life.

 


NATIONAL

 

► At Politico — Americans give Postal Service high marks — The United States Postal Service is enjoying its highest approval ratings among Americans, especially young Americans, according to a new Gallup poll. The USPS received the highest rating among 13 “high-profile government agencies,” which included the FBI and NASA.

► In today’s NY Times — House Republicans sue Obama administration over ACA — House Republicans filed a long-threatened lawsuit Friday over unilateral actions they say are abuses of the president’s executive authority, including the postponing a requirement (which they oppose) that larger employers offer health coverage to their full-time employees or pay penalties.

► At Think Progress — Walmart asks employees to donate food to help feed their co-workers — An Oklahoma City Walmart is asking employees to donate food to help their coworkers make ends meet during the holiday season. A sign on the collection bin reads, “Let’s succeed by donating to associates in need!!!”

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Week of ‘Black Friday’ events slated at every Walmart in state

 


T.G.I.F.

 

► In 2012, L.A. songwriter Rob Cantor wrote a song about actor Shia LaBeouf (of the Transformers movies) being an “actual cannibal.” Why Shia? “His name, when whispered really intensely, just made me giggle,” Cantor explained. Why a cannibal? “It’s inspired by nothing but the sheer silliness of imagining Shia LaBeouf, face and clothes smeared with half-dried blood, terrorizing helpless victims in a dark wood.” Naturally, it went viral. But now, two years later, the song is an Internet sensation again thanks to this live performance — for an audience of one — by Cantor, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, the West L.A. Children’s Choir, and The Argus Quartet.

If this site is not updated until Monday, Dec. 1, it’s either because The Entire Staff of The Stand™ is on vacation until then… or Shia LaBeouf got us. Either way, Happy Thanksgiving.

 


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