Author Archives: nowy24login12

785 of This Year’s Unaccompanied Migrants Were Under 6 Years Old

by nowy24login12 Posted on July 22, 2014

Mother Jones

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Pew Research Center

Little kids, including a troubling number of children age five or younger, make up the fastest-growing group of unaccompanied minors apprehended at the US border in fiscal year 2014. So far this year, nearly 7,500 kids under 13 have been caught without a legal guardian—and 785 of them were younger than six.


70,000 Kids Will Show Up Alone at Our Border This Year. What Happens to Them?


Map: These Are the Places Central American Child Migrants Are Fleeing


Why Our Immigration Courts Can’t Handle the Child Migrant Crisis


Are the Kids Showing Up at the Border Really Refugees?


Child Migrants Have Been Coming to America Alone Since Ellis Island

See MoJo‘s full coverage of the surge of unaccompanied child migrants from Central America.

It’s still mostly teens who travel solo to the United States from countries like El Salvador and Honduras, as the Pew Research Center revealed today in a new analysis of US Customs and Border Protection data. But compared to 2013, Border Patrol apprehensions of kids 12 or younger already have increased 117 percent, while those of teens have jumped only 12 percent. Apprehensions of the youngest group of kids, those under six, have nearly tripled.

These new stats reveal a trend made all the more startling as details of the journey continue to emerge. In his feature story about this influx of child migrants, for instance, MoJo‘s Ian Gordon tells of Adrián, a Guatemalan kid who dodged attackers armed with machetes, walked barefoot for miles through Mexico, and resorted to prostitution to reach sanctuary in America. And Adrián was 17. For the increasing number of kids under 13 making this harrowing trek without parents, the vulnerability to exploitation is only magnified, the potential for trauma and even death only amplified.

That so many young kids feel compelled to leave home, or that their parents feel compelled to send them, sends a grim message about the state of their home countries. As El Salvadoran newspaper editor Carlos Dada told On the Media‘s Bob Garfield last week, quoting a Mexican priest who runs a shelter in Oaxaca, Mexico: “If these migrants are willing to take this road, knowing everything they are risking, even their lives, I don’t even want to imagine what they are running away from.”

Here’s another Pew age breakdown, this time by country of origin:

Pew Research Center

Link to article: 

785 of This Year’s Unaccompanied Migrants Were Under 6 Years Old

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The War Over Austerity Is Over. Republicans Won.

by nowy24login12 Posted on December 11, 2013

Mother Jones

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The main thing you need to know about today’s budget agreement is that it’s very modest. It repeals a little bit of the sequester cuts, and pays for it with a few small cuts in entitlements and some even smaller increases in user fees. Overall, the numbers are tiny enough that it’s hard to see how anyone can get either too excited or too outraged over it.

Needless to say, this hasn’t stopped the usual suspects (Heritage, Club for Growth, various tea party groups) from acting as though it represents the end of Western civilization. But they’ve overplayed their hands this time, and GOP leaders in the House have apparently had enough of these clowns. Both John Boehner and Eric Cantor essentially told them to piss off, and I suspect that this agreement is going to get a lot of Republican votes. I’ll predict at least 150 Republican votes in the House, maybe more. The tea party rump is truly going to be a rump this time.

That said, it was interesting reading the reaction of conservative wonk-star Yuval Levin to the deal:

This deal would amount to the Democrats accepting the implications of their misjudgment in abiding the Budget Control Act in 2011….It doesn’t much change the terms reached in the original Budget Control Act and sequester deal, and essentially cements the Democrats’ loss and miscalculation in that deal.

The Democrats’ hope, given that they control both the White House and the Senate, was to replace the sequester with some combination of tax increases and more palatable spending cuts….That the Democrats would accept a deal like this is a pretty striking indication of how the Republican House has changed the conversation on the spending front since 2010. Think of it this way: In their first budget after re-taking the majority—the FY 2012 Ryan budget, passed in 2011—the House Republicans wanted discretionary spending to be $1.039 trillion in 2014 and $1.047 trillion in 2015. These budgets were of course described by the Democrats and the political press (but I repeat myself) as some reversion to humanity’s barbaric past. Yet this proposed deal with the Democrats would put discretionary spending at $1.012 trillion in 2014 and $1.014 trillion in 2015—in both cases below that first House Republican budget.

To some extent, Levin is probably overstating his case in order to nudge conservatives on board a deal he thinks is palatable—and away from yet another round of government shutdowns, which he correctly views as disastrous for Republicans. Still, he’s basically right: Democrats originally believed the sequester would never happen. Either the supercommittee would replace it, or else Republicans would eventually cave in because they couldn’t tolerate the defense cuts. But that turned out not to be true. They aren’t happy with the defense cuts, but in the end, to the surprise of Democrats, they’ve decided they can live with them.

The ultimate result, as Levin says correctly, is a budget that’s below even the pipe-dream Ryan budget of 2011. I’d make a bit less of this than Levin, since Ryan’s budgets have always backloaded their cuts, but it’s still pretty remarkable. Two years ago, Ryan’s budget was basically at the outer limit of mainstream conservative wish lists. Today it looks tame.

Quibbles aside, Levin is right: Republicans have massively changed the spending conversation since 2010. Austerity has won.

Originally posted here: 

The War Over Austerity Is Over. Republicans Won.

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Time For the Nuclear Option on Judges?

by nowy24login12 Posted on November 19, 2013

Mother Jones

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For the third time in a month, Senate Republicans have blocked the nomination of a judge to fill an open vacancy on the DC Circuit Court:

By a vote of 53 to 38, the Senate failed to break a filibuster of Robert L. Wilkins, a federal judge who was nominated to fill one of three vacancies on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit….The impasse over Mr. Wilkins followed Republican blockades of two other candidates for the court since Oct. 31. Unlike previous fights over judicial nominees, the dispute is not as much about the judges’ individual political leanings….Rather, Republicans are seeking to prevent Mr. Obama from filling any of the three existing vacancies on the 11-seat court, fearing that he will alter its conservative tilt.

….Republicans are on the verge of exhausting the last bit of tolerance Democrats have shown for such regular use of the filibuster on nominations. Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the Senate’s longest-serving current member, who has fought to safeguard the institution’s traditions, said Monday that momentum was building toward a rules change — a move so controversial that it is referred to as the nuclear option.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Mr. Leahy said.

Leahy has been a pretty straight shooter on judicial nominations, honoring Republican holds and defending traditional Senate prerogatives. If he’s finally losing patience, it’s possible that Democrats are finally ready to eliminate the filibuster on judicial nominees. Here’s hoping.

(And while they’re at it, how about eliminating the filibuster on executive branch nominees too? That’s even less defensible.)

Link:  

Time For the Nuclear Option on Judges?

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Why It’s So Hard to Storm-Proof an Apartment Building

by nowy24login12 Posted on September 30, 2013

Mother Jones

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This story first appeared on the Atlantic Cities website and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

If Superstorm Sandy taught us anything, it’s that we need housing that can withstand natural disasters. But resiliency efforts often focus on detached, single-family houses and ignore larger multifamily dwellings.

Single-family owners are eligible for up to $31,900 in FEMA grants for post-Sandy repairs. No such program exists for owners of multifamily buildings. Even in co-op and condominium buildings, unit-owners cannot use FEMA grants to repair common areas or utility systems. FEMA’s single-family focus is obvious in its suggestions for flood-resilient housing, which come in the form of documents like “Avoiding Hurricane Damage: A Checklist for Homeowners.” These pamphlets include ideas like elevating structures, anchoring backyard storage sheds, and reinforcing garage doors, which apply to a very limited segment of the housing stock. New Jersey also recently announced grants for property owners to elevate their homes. This will do little for the owners and residents of multifamily buildings, which cannot feasibly be raised.

Continue Reading »

Originally posted here:  

Why It’s So Hard to Storm-Proof an Apartment Building

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A win-Winco situation: Grocery chain treats employees well and has low prices

by nowy24login12 Posted on August 14, 2013

A win-Winco situation: Grocery chain treats employees well and has low prices

By Claire Thompson

Alisha Vargas

There are eight WinCo grocery stores within 100 miles of where I live. So how had I not heard about the Boise, Idaho-based chain until now? Next time I find myself in need of groceries in Kent, Wash., I’ll be sure to swing by the chain that’s making headlines as “Walmart’s worst nightmare.”

Why should Walmart be wary of this company that’s virtually unknown to shoppers outside the seven states in which it operates (and apparently to some inside those states as well)? Because WinCo, employee-owned since 1985, has figured out how to keep prices low — like lower-than-Walmart low — while still managing to not screw over its employees. Anyone who works at least 24 hours a week gets full health benefits, and WinCo puts an amount equivalent to 20 percent of employees’ salaries into a pension plan. The store claims that more than 400 “front-line” workers — cashiers, clerks, and others working on the floor instead of behind closed office doors — have pensions worth at least $1 million. Maybe that’s why, according to the company, the average hourly worker stays for more than eight years.

How does WinCo do it? What is the magic formula that Walmart and McDonald’s can’t seem to grasp? Well, for one thing, WinCo is privately held, and thus free from the obligation to put shareholder profits before all else. “It keeps a low profile and rarely engages in self-promotion,” according to the Idaho Statesman. How quaint and modest!

Alisha Vargas

Balancing low prices and employee satisfaction should be natural.

WinCo saves a lot by maintaining low overheard. First and foremost, it cuts out the middleman by sending its trucks directly to manufacturers, where the store buys product in large quantities that can net it up to a 50 percent discount. Also in WinCo’s bag of tricks are simple strategies like not accepting credit cards (to avoid paying fees to card processors), requiring customers to bag their own groceries, and literally cleaning up after Walmart: Instead of building new warehouses of its own, WinCo will take over vacant big-box stores.

Unlike Costco, which also has a reputation for low prices, no-frills décor, and an investment in employee satisfaction, Winco doesn’t require a membership fee, making it even more accessible to budget shoppers. And it’s expanding. It started in 1967 as a single store in Boise. In 1985, when then-CEO Bill Long negotiated an employee buyout, there were 18 WinCo stores selling less than $11 million on average. By 2007, WinCo stores numbered more than 50, and today, its nearly 100 locations do about $55 million in sales each. It has plans to expand into Texas next.

New York retail analyst Burt Flickinger III, a grocery-market specialist, uses WinCo as an example in talks with university students, calling the regional chain “arguably … the best retailer in the western U.S.”

Of course, WinCo still has a long way to go before it truly presents a threat to Walmart’s 4,000 U.S. locations [PDF]. But it’s nice to be reminded that, no matter what the corporate bigwigs might tell you about how they just can’t possibly offer their employees a living wage, another way is possible.

Claire Thompson is an editorial assistant at Grist.

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A win-Winco situation: Grocery chain treats employees well and has low prices

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Republicans in Revolt Over Filibuster Compromise

by nowy24login12 Posted on July 18, 2013

Mother Jones

Apparently Senate Republicans are none too happy with Tuesday’s filibuster compromise, and Mitch McConnell spent a tense caucus session yesterday pretending that he was just an innocent bystander in the whole thing:

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., got so frustrated with McConnell’s presentation of events, that he called “bullshit” loud enough for the room to hear, nearly a half-dozen sources said. The heated exchange underscored the “buyer’s remorse” among some Republicans, especially leaders, one senior Republican said on background.

I love the smell of napalm in the morning.

See the article here – 

Republicans in Revolt Over Filibuster Compromise

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