How important is the Hispanic/Latino vote for Republicans? Fox News recently did a segment on “Hispanic outreach.” Some left-wing media outlets have called it a “fluff piece.”
How committed are the right-wing presidential candidates to Hispanic voters? Will their policies address Hispanics’ concerns? Does it behoove Republicans to focus on anti-immigration policies? Will those with anti-immigration policies be able to attract Hispanic voters?
What is the school-to-prison pipeline?
The “school-to-prison pipeline” is a disturbing national trend where children are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems, according to the ACLU.
Many of these children have learning disabilities or histories of poverty, abuse, or neglect, and would benefit from additional educational and counseling services, but instead, they are isolated, punished, and pushed out into the criminal justice system.
“Zero-tolerance” policies at schools criminalize minor infractions. Cops in schools leads to students being criminalized for behavior that should be handled inside the school. Blacks and Latinos are especially vulnerable to these trends and the discriminatory application of discipline.
Recently, U.S. Senator from Florida Marco Rubio announced that he will run for U.S. President.
Ouch: The Majority Report discusses Rubio’s decision, and they claim he will be the guy “talked about” to entice the Latino community and put the party in a good light, but the right-wing will just choose two white guys anyway.
President Obama’s recent executive order on immigration has been one of the few times that he has been willing to stand up to the Republican Party, and they are, predictably, livid about his decision.
According to Mike Papantonio, he’s made the GOP feel impotent.
Considering the fact that presidents since George Washington have made executive orders, it is difficult to see how his executive orders are illegal.
Mike Papantonio video.
Apparently, Mark Levin gets paid to go on rants about Latinos and television host Jorge Ramos…
Jorge Ramos Ávalos is a Mexican journalist and author based in Miami, Florida. He anchors the Univision news television program Noticiero Univision, Al Punto, and the Fusion TV English-language program America with Jorge Ramos.
Media Matters video.
Brazil’s left-wing president, Dilma Rousseff, was re-elected on October 26th to a second four-year term. It is the fourth election in a row won by her Workers’ Party (PT).
Perhaps Ms. Rousseff’s victory was inevitable. Only three Latin American presidents have lost re-election bids in the past three decades. Odds are stacked in favor of incumbents, with all the machinery of power and patronage at their disposal.
Ms Rousseff can point to record-low unemployment, rising wages and falling inequality under the PT’s watch. Mr. Aécio Neves, the center-right opposition, put up a valiant fight and argued that progress has stalled since Ms Rousseff was first elected in 2010.
The bad side is that the president will lead a divided country. Most of the richer south, south-east and center-west went convincingly for her market-friendly rival.
In her victory address, Ms. Rousseff did speak of “unity”, “consensus” and “dialogue”. But healing campaign wounds got off to a poor start when she failed even to mention Mr Neves (who had earlier called to congratulate her and wish her success) or his center-right Party of Brazilian Social Democracy (PSDB).
There may some bad feelings between the two. In the past, Ms Rousseff’s predecessor and patron, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, went so far as to liken the PSDB to the Nazis for their supposed disregard for the poor.
The PSDB, for its part, has repeatedly accused the PT of being irreparably mired in sleaze, citing a probe into a kickback scheme at Petrobras, the state-controlled oil giant, that allegedly benefited Ms Rousseff’s party and some coalition allies. Sources claim they are certain to push for a congressional inquiry into the Petrobras scandal.
This and other impending fights are hardly conducive to the sort of broad consensus that will be necessary if Ms Rousseff is to carry out her first priority outlined in the victory speech: political reform to make the country more governable.
For the moment, dysfunction is only likely to increase. Starting in January Congress will host 28 parties, up from an already unwieldy 22 at present.
According to The Economist: “Ms. Rousseff’s weak mandate—the weakest of any government since democracy was restored in 1985—will make it hard to bang heads together to push through meaningful change.”
Her vow to hold a referendum on political reform deserves credit. But a previous attempt, prompted by huge nationwide protests in June 2013 that demanded it (among other things), was stymied by congressmen content with the current set-up.
More pressingly, Brazil needs to exit the funk of no growth and high inflation, running at 6.7% a year.
However, Ms. Rousseff roundly dismissed the opposition’s economic ideas on the campaign trail as responsible for high unemployment, prohibitive interest rates and stagnant wages during the PSDB’s tenure in 1995-2002.
OK, Fine. 