Two U.S. citizens have settled a lawsuit with Customs and Border Protection after they were detained by a Border Patrol agent who heard them speaking Spanish at a convenience store in Havre, Montana, and demanded that they show identification.
The monetary settlement was announced on Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Ana Suda and Martha "Mimi" Hernandez, alleging their constitutional rights were violated.
The amount of the settlement was not disclosed at the request of the two women, said Cody Wofsy, a staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project in San Francisco....
O Really, I understand the women's wishes, but can govt keep such info secret from the taxpayers?
Thanks. I don't know what weight the recipients' privacy should be given legally, but in principle I dislike secret govt spending on non-secret things.
In this case my "compelling reason" is that I want to celebrate the women making out like bandits thanks to the bigoted CBP jerk.
Did you ever negotiate a secret govt settlement?
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
Maybe, depending on how you define "government" or "secret." In representing cities, counties, or their administrative units, any settlement of a discrimination charge had a confidentiality requirement. I'm a believer in the "need to know" principle and don't personally believe that a person being a "tax paying citizen" should give them automatic and unlimited access to any and all public business. I do believe in oversight, and I support the FOIA, but I also think there should be a "need to know."
Maybe, depending on how you define "government" or "secret." In representing cities, counties, or their administrative units, any settlement of a discrimination charge had a confidentiality requirement. I'm a believer in the "need to know" principle and don't personally believe that a person being a "tax paying citizen" should give them automatic and unlimited access to any and all public business. I do believe in oversight, and I support the FOIA, but I also think there should be a "need to know."
I can understand some provisions being kept secret, but don't taxpayers have an automatic "need to know" how much of their money is being spent on what, especially when it's the result of civil rights abuses of the public - as opposed to personnel matters - that the government perps may or may not have been held accountable for?
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
I can understand some provisions being kept secret, but don't taxpayers have an automatic "need to know" how much of their money is being spent on what, especially when it's the result of civil rights abuses of the public - as opposed to personnel matters - that the government perps may or may not have been held accountable for?
I don't think it's necessary that all and every citizen has a need to know where every dollar is spent. "We the people" elect representatives (albeit sometimes unwisely) and they hire administrators and staff, etc. There are processes (that work more often than not) to discover malfeasance. And government units do report their budgets in reasonable detail. I don't see how it would improve government performance or financial responsibility if every yayhoo got to kibitz and armchair quarterback on every expenditure.
I don't think it's necessary that all and every citizen has a need to know where every dollar is spent. "We the people" elect representatives (albeit sometimes unwisely) and they hire administrators and staff, etc. There are processes (that work more often than not) to discover malfeasance. And government units do report their budgets in reasonable detail. I don't see how it would improve government performance or financial responsibility if every yayhoo got to kibitz and armchair quarterback on every expenditure.
Thanks. I understand, but budgets are already public and I'm unaware of any other expenditures running, I assume, into the tens of thousands of dollars that are kept from us, not counting truly secret programs. Maybe there are lots of them.
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
"Tens of thousands of dollars" is less than pocket change for the CBP. I'm sure they spend more on car washes to clean up after the babies they haul away to cages.
Biden could say he proposed reinstating the immigration/citizenship program that existed under Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton.
Since the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act did not address the status of children of undocumented migrants who were eligible for the amnesty program, Reagan (yes, that Reagan) issued Executive Orders to legalize the status of minor children of parents granted amnesty under the immigration overhaul, announcing a blanket deferral of deportation for children under 18 who were living in a two-parent household with both parents legalizing or with a single parent who was legalizing. That action affected an estimated 100,000 families.
But the policy was to be improved. The first week of September 2001, US and Mexican presidents jointly announced a new policy framework regarding migration, proposing a sweeping comprehensive immigration reform plan that would "increase border security, create a new temporary worker program, and provide legalization to unauthorized immigrants." That plan went into the dustbin on 9/11. Since then, "security" has been the dominant focus of immigration policy, to the detriment and damage of all - citizens as well as immigrants.
The House on Thursday passed two proposals that would legalize subsets of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission, as Democrats gauge the chances of approving immigration legislation and sending it to President Biden's desk.
Joined by nine Republicans, all House Democrats voted to approve the American Dream and Promise Act, which passed by a vote of 228 to 197. The proposal would allow more than 2.3 million "Dreamers," or unauthorized immigrants who came to the U.S. as minors, as well as beneficiaries of certain temporary humanitarian programs, to gain permanent legal status and eventually, U.S. citizenship.
Republican yeas:
Bacon Nebraska
Diaz-Balart - Florida
Fitzpatrick - Pennsylvania
Gimenez - Florida
Newhouse - Washington
Salazar - Florida
Smith - New Jersey
Upton - Michigan
not voting:
Brady - Republican Texas
Gohmert - Republican Texas
Kinzinger - Republican Illinois
Wilson - Republican South Carolina
Young - Republican Alaska
By a vote of 247 to 174, the Democratic-led House also passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which would grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of farmworkers living in the U.S. without authorization. Thirty Republicans voted in favor of the bill, and one Democrat voted against it.
Republican yeas:
List of 30 does not include my Cawthorn, billy.pilgrim's Gaetz or Whack9's Timmons.
Dem nay:
Golden - Maine
not voting:
Brady - Republican Texas
Fortenberry - Republican Nebraska Gaetz - Republican Florida
Gohmert - Republican Texas
Kinzinger - Republican Illinois
McHenry - Republican North Carolina
Wilson - Republican South Carolina
Young - Republican Alaska
... Immediately after the farmworker bill passed, Senators Michael Bennet, a Democrat, and Mike Crapo, a Republican, issued a statement saying they would be introducing "companion legislation" in the Senate that "appropriately addresses the needs of both the industry and the farmworkers that uphold it." ...
, for now.
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
“It's a beautiful country we have and yet it's not beautiful when we condemn, call people names and scare people about immigration....
“I would describe it (GOP) as isolationist, protectionist and, to a certain extent, nativist. It's not exactly my vision as an old guy, but I'm just an old guy that's put out to pasture.”
-- George W. Bush
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
“It's a beautiful country we have and yet it's not beautiful when we condemn, call people names and scare people about immigration....
“I would describe it (GOP) as isolationist, protectionist and, to a certain extent, nativist. It's not exactly my vision as an old guy, but I'm just an old guy that's put out to pasture.”
-- George W. Bush
Honorably human. But it makes me wonder if he still thinks invading Iraq "makes us safer."
Honorably human. But it makes me wonder if he still thinks invading Iraq "makes us safer."
Shrub’s consistent. He did not have a problem with our uninvited, unjustified, armed, illegal "immigration" into Iraq, either.
More seriously, it would be interesting to know whether he has regrets over the hundreds of lies and the tragic consequences. I suspect that he will never make any public, if they even exist.
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
Bush the Younger will never be seen as a great President or maybe even not the best hammer in the bag, but I think he's got more character than he's been given credit for. Probably if he'd simply picked better, less evil advisers things would have gone better. Or maybe he just looks better after seeing Trump.
Bush the Younger will never be seen as a great President or maybe even not the best hammer in the bag, but I think he's got more character than he's been given credit for. Probably if he'd simply picked better, less evil advisers things would have gone better. Or maybe he just looks better after seeing Trump.
Bit of both I think.
It's a little Reaganish. In my estimation he wasn't a very good President, but he was jolly and likable in office which contributed to his popularity.
Shrub's personality didn't shine to the public while he was in the Whitehouse but he was apparently likable with a good sense of humor and he's showcasing it now with some success.
Eamus Catuli~AC 000000000101010202020303010304 020405....Ahhhh, forget it, it's gonna be a while.