Archive for October, 2014

Growing evidence that Obamas decision to wait on immigration is hurting Democrats

Less than a month after President Obama announced he would delay using his executive authority to reform immigration laws, there is evidence that the decision is doing exactly what he hoped to avoid: hurting Democrats.

Activists in key states say it is increasingly difficult to register would-be Latino voters who would vote for Democrats because of unhappiness over the decision. Poll numbers for Obama and Democrats have also dropped farther among Hispanics than the population at large. One group has even launched a campaign against four Democratic senators who backed a GOP proposal to bar Obama from taking any executive action on immigration.

The president has not helped us, said activist Leo Murietta, 28, who is working to register Latino voters in Colorado for Mi Familia Vota. People are disappointed. They wanted action, they wanted activity, they wanted movement.

With so many congressional and gubernatorial candidates locked in close races this year, Democrats cant afford signs of complacency or sagging support. But Murietta and others believe that only action not promises of action will help spur increased turnout among Hispanics with just five weeks until Election Day.

Obama is scheduled to speak Thursday night at a gala hosted by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus his first appearance in front of the group in three years. The address is expected to include a mention of his commitment to immigration reform and a vow to fix as much of our immigration system as he can on his own, according to a senior administration official familiar with his plans.

But outside the gala, dozens of protesters plan to picket Obama and the lawmakers who invited him, alleging a brutal betrayal of Latinos, according to organizers. And inside the room, Obama will be among the lawmakers most upset by his decision to wait.

We would not wait until after November if it was an issue affecting the gay and lesbian community, Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), a critic of Obamas work on immigration, said at the conference Wednesday afternoon. If this was about womens reproductive rights, if this was about the minimum wage, if this was about a series of other issues, the Democratic Party would come together.

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.) said hes found widespread frustration. A lot of people understand theres a political calculation, but those same people understand theres a lot of people suffering because he didn't act, he said in an interview.

Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who is under consideration as Obamas next attorney general, sought to reassure conference attendees Wednesday. But his message fell flat.

The question of executive action, my friends, is a when? question, Perez said. Immigration, he added later, is all about his values and his leadership. And thats why I love working for this president.

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Growing evidence that Obamas decision to wait on immigration is hurting Democrats

Big payday for ex-college sports stars?

Posted Thu, October 2nd, 2014 6:40 am by Lyle Denniston

Two significant First Amendment cases that have been awaiting the Supreme Courts reaction for a year are on the way to beingsettled, with the real prospect that former stars in big-time college football and basketball will get a share of a $60 million fund. Of that, $40 million would be put up by the maker of video games about college sports, and $20 million by the National Collegiate Athletic Association the group that makes policy for competition in collegiate athletics.

The proposed settlements, which will be circulated among collegians who previously played in the NCAAs Division I (its major league for football and basketball competition), are due for a federal district court hearing next May on whether the deal is a fair one. In the meantime, the two sides agreed to end attempts (see hereand here) to get the Supreme Court to rule on a claimed clash between the First Amendment and the right under state law giving people of some renowna legal right to exploit financially their own fame (the so-called right of publicity).

The NCAA and Electronic Arts Inc. a video-game developer that has gained its own fame with games under the label EA Sports have been in a running, years-long legal battle with former Division I athletes who gained fame for their playing feats. At issue were television broadcasts of the games in which the athletes had played, and video games using near-lifelike avatars of the collegians, with their feats opento manipulation by the players. The NCAA made deals for the broadcasts and the development of the video games.

The settlements that have won a California judges preliminary approval involve the class-action lawsuits against the NCAA and Electronic Arts over the video games.

The legal battle is not over yet, at least for the NCAA, because an ongoing lawsuit, now developing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, grows out of the athletes claim that the NCAA violated federal antitrust law by stifling competition for publicity about the stars performances on gridirons and basketball arenas.

The same judge who gave at least initial approval in early September to the settlement of the video games hadruled last August that the NCAA had violated antitrust law, and nowmust put together a fund that would give the athletes covered by the ruling $5,000 for each year they were featured in televised broadcasts of their games.

It has been estimated that the antitrust case could lead to payments totaling $300 million over a four-year period. That would be five times the size of the funds that would be provided to settle the two videogames cases against Electronic Arts. Those are cases about the right of publicity. Earlier, Electronic Arts faced an antitrust claim, like that against the NCAA, but that was settled earlier, and the antitrust case moves aheadin the Ninth Circuit only against the NCAA.

Meanwhile, at the National Labor Relations Board, the NCAA is fighting against a lower-ranking board officials ruling that collegiate athletes are legally entitled to be treated as employees of their institutions, and thus are entitled to form and join labor unions to bargain over pay and working conditions. That dispute focuses on the meaning of federal labor law.

The two cases that were filed at the Supreme Court a year ago by Electronic Arts have been idling away for months on the Courts docket, with the former athletes getting repeated extensions of time to respond. The issue in both cases one from the Ninth Circuit, and one from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit raised the same constitutional question: does the First Amendment right to free speech give video-game developers a right to create visual and sound games, and does that right provide a defense to a lawsuit claiming a violation of the right of publicity? Both circuitsrejected that defense.

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Big payday for ex-college sports stars?

Michael Savage Hillary Clinton Benghazi Hearing & Women in Combat 1 23 13 – Video


Michael Savage Hillary Clinton Benghazi Hearing Women in Combat 1 23 13

By: alpha 123

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Michael Savage Hillary Clinton Benghazi Hearing & Women in Combat 1 23 13 - Video

Obama And Isis Feud / Is Hillary Clinton The Next President – Video


Obama And Isis Feud / Is Hillary Clinton The Next President
UNCLENICKSHOW UNCLENICKSHOW UNCLENICKSHOW.

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Obama And Isis Feud / Is Hillary Clinton The Next President - Video

Is any screen time OK? – Video


Is any screen time OK?
The Hillary Clinton Panel talks about the latest research on whether interactive media is harmful to babies and toddlers.

By: CNN

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Is any screen time OK? - Video