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This is no time for wide-eyed idealism. Many of our community's ideals are being challenged and we need to defend them with verifiable facts and unwavering commitment.

Those efforts must include everything from ensuring local immigrants have a clear path toward legal employment to protecting the hard won gains made by the LGBT community.

It requires paying close attention to state and federal lawmakers who are attempting to dismantle decades of progress in environmental regulation and financial reform and who would spend money on lawsuits to undo federal land protections while stripping funding from the arts.

So it is imperative to base our convictions on fact, not fiction.

Park City's support for local immigrants in the face of the recent Immigration Customs and Enforcement arrests is an example of the need for clear communication and unbiased analysis in these troubling times of upheaval in Washington, D.C. It is the same high wire we ask our local law enforcement officials to walk every day.

Several residents at Thursday's meeting about immigration enforcement concerns asked what they could do to protect their Latino friends and employees from potential deportation. Their questions were sincere and well founded, based on longtime relationships with loyal, if not quite legal, employees. But their well meaning efforts would be better spent pressuring legislators to enact meaningful immigration reform with rules that lower the barriers to legal residency.

Thursday's crowded meeting was an admirable display of compassion from a community that values diversity and equal rights. But in addition to making a strong statement opposing enforcement of harsh federal immigration rules, motivated residents should focus on specific initiatives within the system that would give immigrants the peace of mind and equal status they crave.

While we can and should ask our police officers and sheriff's deputies to differentiate between local and federal enforcement responsibilities, we cannot ask either to turn a blind eye to criminal activities. We can, however, demand that our state and U.S. elected representatives dial back their misguided anti-immigrant crusade and get to work on reinforcing the compassionate principles that turned America's melting pot into a strong and prosperous nation.

Here are some things you can do: -Become informed about immigrants' rights and actively ensure they are honored. This site will help: https://www.ilrc.org/conozca-sus-derechos Do not imperil immigrants by hiring them to work illegally. Instead, help them obtain the proper permits. -Call on your senators and representatives in Congress to oppose draconian immigration enforcement and instead support constructive reform: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

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Park City, energized, need to push for compassionate immigration reform - The Park Record

Sarah Jawhari, Columnist February 24, 2017 Filed under Columns, Opinion

Unless you are of Native American descent, you are a descendant of someone who did not originally inhabit the area that we now consider to be our nation. It seems this is a difficult truth to accept for conservative Americans touting immigration reform. The entitlement is not surprising, though it is frustrating. Before American borders expanded to California, there were people living on the land. Many immigrants in states like Texas and Arizona have family roots that run far deeper in America than the uprooted European lineage of their white counterparts.

Considering all that immigrants sacrifice to come to the United Statesas well as all they have contributed and continue to givewhy now are they receiving negative attention? We owe much of our diversity, our economic growth, our expansive infrastructure and our vast labor pool to immigrants and slavesforeigners who came to the U.S. because their own countries could not provide for them, or foreigners who were brought here by force to work and be sold as property.

Banning immigrants from the nation or threatening to deport those who are here wont do much to improve the U.S. In fact, their exclusion would quickly devastate the economy and cripple the diverse career fields of which they are a part.

If you dont believe me, or if youre still intent on ousting the immigrants who are stealing American jobs, well start at your breakfast table. Lets say the low-pay farmers that shipped those almonds to you are based in California. Unfortunatelyand expectedlytheres no accurate way to measure how many illegal aliens are working these jobs, but in September 2014, a massive study by the University of Southern California tried. The project found that undocumented Americans constitute up to 10% of the states workforce and contribute over 130 billion annually to Californias gross domestic product (GDP). Data was pulled and combined from the national census and other state logistics, including figures from the California Immigrant Policy Center. The same study found that undocumented Americans make up 38 percent of the agriculture industry, and nearly half of these immigrants have been part of the U.S. for over 10 years.

On the other side of the country, new economic data found that undocumented Americans contributed $588 million annually in state and local taxes in Florida. This figure was drawn from sales tax, excise tax and property taxes. Nationallyaccording to state and local tax data analyzed and published by the Institute on Taxation and Economy Policyundocumented immigrants contribute $11.6 billion to the economy annually.

The downside is that few studies can predict or name the total cost of undocumented Americans. And like all citizens, they do consume services and resources. Their native-born children will attend American public schools to learn, visit hospitals when they are sick and generally benefit from public servicesthe same programs whose existence has been a question for the Trump administration since the days of his campaign trail. But if we are to simplify the complex cost-benefit debate, the numbers tell a positive story: cost is offset by benefit. Its clear that undocumented immigrants are paying taxes, working low-pay jobs to reduce consumption costs for other Americans and contributing to the strength of our economy. At the end of the day, the main strain on the federal budget from undocumented migrants is the billions spent on enforcement including checkpoints, surveillance, Border Patrol weaponry and employees and private prisons; not to mention the border wall Trump has proposed and is currently planning, an unnecessary pressure on the American taxpayer that willaccording to expertsdo little to stop demonized illegals. We wont raise the question of priorities here for the sake of space.

In September 2016, the National Academy of Sciences issued The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration, a 508-page report which outlined the benefits and detriments of immigrants living in the U.S. Because the subject is complex at its core, the report made no attempt to simplify or condense, and for this reason the data was interpreted differently in opposing political spheres. Conservatives quoted lost wages as the price Americans pay for immigrants, though there is no agreement on the extent or value of these lost wages. But the same report lists businesses, landowners and investors as those who reap nearly all the benefits from immigrants, and it is these same benefactors that comprise the Republican party.

In terms of crime, several studies have concluded that immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes than citizens. So essentially, the radical vilification of immigrants makes no sense. They are benefiting your pocket directly, they arent committing all the crime you claim they are and they are directly contributing to the economy through taxes, which you would otherwise have to pay yourself.

This is why strict immigration reform has roots in xenophobia and racism, because objectively immigrants as a group serve us more than they hurt us. But it is easier to point a finger at those different than us than it is to hold up a mirror and ask what is lacking in ourselves and lacking in America.

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The Observer : Jawhari: Issues exist with modern immigration reform - The Observer

President Donald Trumpcriticized the media again on Friday while speaking at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

Trump claimed it was wrongly reported that hecalled the media the enemy of the people last week, saying hed actually called fake news the enemy. But he has branded such reputable media outlets as the The New York Times, CNN, NBC and others fake news.

The president argued that the First Amendment gives him the right to criticize fake news and criticize it strongly.

[The media] say that we cant criticize their dishonest coverage because of the First Amendment, Trump said.

I love the First Amendment. Nobody loves it better than me, he added.

Trump also said he thinks news outlets should not use anonymous sources, despite using them himself to make claims that have been proven false.

The presidents comments were likely a thinly veiled jab atCNN. The news outlet recently wrote that the FBI had rejected a White House request to dispute reports that Trumps campaign team had contacted Russian officials prior to the election.

Trumps war with the media is going to get worse, Trump adviser Steve Bannon said Thursday at CPAC.

Every day is going to be a fight, Bannon said.

See the article here:
Donald Trump: The First Amendment Gives Me The Right To Criticize 'Fake News' - Huffington Post

I love the First Amendment, President Donald Trump proclaimed on Friday at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference.Nobody loves it better than me, he added.

The effusive remark comes from the same person who called venerable media outlets like The New York Times and NBC News long considered pillars of the same free press protected by the First Amendment the enemy of the American people. Other phrases he and his staff have used to describe journalists prone to criticizing his administration:out of control, opposition party, dishonest and fake news.

Weeks before Trumps CPAC speech, curators at Ground Floor Gallery in New York City a space dedicated to emerging artists decided it was time for genuine First Amendment defenders to speak out. They began soliciting artwork for a show they calledMarked Urgent, inviting artists to submit workassociated with any and all types of correspondence and communication.

Ground Floor Gallery

Now, more than ever, we need to empower journalists to hold our government accountable and to provide us with the facts we need to remain informed and involved citizens, the gallery wrote online. As passionate arts professionals vested in critical thought and freedom of expression, we feel compelled to respond.

Marked Urgent opened on Friday, Feb. 24, the same day Trump chastised news outlets for using anonymous sources, despite having used them himself to make claims that have been proven false. The pieces on view at Ground Floor are on sale for$75, $25 of which will be donated to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide and defends the right of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal.

Ground Floor Gallery

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We were thrilled that our artist network was just as enthusiastic about this concept as we were, Ground Floor co-founders Krista Saunders Scenna and Jill Benson told The Huffington Post.

We received over 70 submissions in just under three weeks and selected 39 artists for the show, they added. With submissions ranging from embroidered newsprint to collaged envelopes and sculpted stationery, the work is as inventive as it is topical. All in all, its been an incredibly empowering show to organize and gratifying to know we can help an organization doing such important work every day.

Marked Urgent will run through Sunday, Feb. 26. To see a full list of the participating artists, head to Ground Floors website here.

Ground Floor Gallery

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These Emerging Artists Are More Than Ready To Defend The First Amendment - Huffington Post

A man who loves free speech more than you do. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

On Friday, president Trump said that the media shouldnt be allowed to cite anonymous sources because Americas most respected newspapers routinely make up such sources, and publish stories of their own invention. He reiterated his contention that fake news outlets like the New York Times, NBC News, ABC News, CBS, and CNN are the enemy of the people, and suggested that Americans should not protest their government in between elections.

The president also said, I love the First Amendment nobody loves it more than me.

Trump and his administration have been waging a war on objective reality and those tasked with describing it from the moment he was sworn in. In his first appearance as White House press secretary, Sean Spicer demanded that reporters believe the presidents estimate of the size of his inaugural crowd over their own lying eyes. As Trumps tumultuous (and not terribly productive) first month in office progressed, he grew ever more preoccupied with discrediting the Fourth Estate.

On Thursday, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Steve Bannon and Reince Preibus instructed the audience not to believe any negative news they read about the administration, over and over again. By the end of their conversation, the word media had been spoken 19 times, and the phrase opposition party, Bannons favorite synonym for the mainstream press, six times.

It wasnt terribly surprising, then, that the president opened his remarks to CPAC with a long diatribe against the media. But Trumps speech did represent a significant escalation in his crusade against independent journalism.

Previously, the president had criticized the press for printing illegal leaks from anonymous government officials and suggested that those officials have often shared false information. But hed never before claimed that major newspapers were fabricating sources out of whole cloth and presenting works of fictions as reportage.

The leaks are real. Youre the one that wrote about them and reported them, I mean, the leaks are real, Trump told reporters at a press conference last Thursday. You know what they said, you saw it and the leaks are absolutely real.

As of Friday morning, the president still maintained that the anonymous officials quoted in the media were genuine members of the government.

But hours later Trump suggested that reporters cant find actual government officials to leak to them, and thus are forced to invent them.

A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people. And they are. They are the enemy of the people, Trump said. Because they have no sources, they just make em up when there are none Im against the people that make up stories and make up sources.

The people that make up stories ostensibly includes all of the major outlets listed in this recent tweet.

Late Thursday night, the Trump administration admitted that it had encouraged the FBI to anonymously leak exculpating information about the presidents relationship with Russia. On Friday morning, Trump declared, They shouldnt be allowed to use sources unless they use somebodys name They should put the name of the person. You will see stories dry up like youve never seen before.

Then, after briefly praising the First Amendment, the president said that media doesnt represent the people, and were going to do something about it.

Trumps only substantive argument for why his audience shouldnt trust the media was that most of these outlets pre-election polling suggested that he would not win. He then credited the Los Angeles Times poll for its singular accuracy. That poll predicted that Trump would win the popular vote, making it one of the least accurate national polls of the 2016 cycle.

But in the presidents telling, fake news outlets and skewed pollsters arent the only ones who have been abusing their First Amendment rights the other enemies of the American people are the American people who didnt vote for Donald Trump.

Referring to the town hall protests in support of Obamacare, Trump said, The people that youre watching, theyre not you. Theyre largely many of them are the side that lost, you know they lost the election. Its like, how many elections do we have to have?

The election is over. The worlds biggest fan of the First Amendment won. So, if you voted against him, its time to shut up.

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A small dip from 2015, but the third-straight yearly decline under Vision Zero.

Former Kentucky governor Steve Beshear is an out-of-work centrist representing a party thats energized on the left.

A leaked document shows House Republicans mulling controversial ideas like ending Medicaid as we know it and a new tax on employer-provided insurance.

It says citizenship in the Muslim-majority countries included in the ban is an unlikely indicator of a terrorism threat.

Dont feel bad for Paul Ryan, hell end up getting a big tax cut for the rich in the end.

Its been a hot month, with nearly 4,500 record highs set, compared to 29 record lows.

The White House denied any links to President Trumps rhetoric.

Earlier in the day, Trump explained that the media isnt the enemy of the people but the fake news media is.

Kevin Hassett once co-authored a book imploring investors to enter the stock market just before the dot-com bubble burst.

Is the mainstream right ready to replace its traditional values with pure nationalism?

It looked like Attorney General Jeff Sessionss warm-up act in loosening protections for all minorities.

The president told CPAC the media shouldnt be allowed to cite anonymous sources, and suggested people shouldnt protest after an election.

We will not answer to donors, lobbyists, or special interests now heres another story about me answering to special interests.

This may be the lowlight of a week that also saw him make an unhinged phone call to a critic that got recorded and published.

This isnt the first time the president has appeared to advocate for nuclear proliferation.

The White House asked the FBI to leak exculpating details about Trumps ties with Russia. It leaked the details of that conversation instead.

The Republican Partys best chance to repeal Obamacare is already gone.

In this weeks diary on life in Trumps America: Signs of hope or, at least, some tempering of the crazy; and Moonlights beautiful appropriation.

They were searching for an undocumented immigrant, who wasnt on the flight.

The poison is highly toxic, and its unclear how his attackers avoided becoming seriously ill.

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Trump Praises First Amendment, Calls for Media Suppression and Fewer Protests - New York Magazine