Thursday Open Thread [5.15.14]
If you oppose immigration reform, you should be forced to take the US Naturalization test. Like these idiots below, it is quite likely that you will not pass. In my perfect world, you, the idiot American citizen, would be deported.
While Republicans battle each other, they are blind to the iceberg they’re about to ram — with catastrophic consequences.
In spite of being warned of the existential danger they face if Latinos continue to vote by wide supermajorities for Democrats, Republicans insist on isolating themselves by serially blocking immigration reform, thereby provoking mass-scale anger among the fastest-growing voter group in America.
According to the Pew Research Center, approximately 50,000 American Latinos turn 18 years old each month. There are now about 23 million voting-eligible Hispanics in the country.Arturo Vargas, executive director of the nonpartisan National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, recently told me on my show that if Latinos’ voter participation continues to grow cycle after cycle, eventually reaching the level of non-Hispanic white and African-American voters, the Latino vote would be decisive in California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.
In other words, Hispanics will be in the position to stop Republicans from being elected to statewide office (as has already happened in California) – or ever again reaching the White House.
Republicans, meet your iceberg.
Figuring out who will win a Senate election that’s months away requires figuring out what matters and how much it matters. Does the president’s popularity affect Senate races? Or should you only look at the horse-race polling?
FiveThirtyEight hasn’t released its Senate model yet, and different statistical models look at different things. But simple models tend to do well. Last month, I analyzed Senate elections since 2006 and showed that even early polls (taken from in the first half of an election year) have been a better predictor of the outcome than the president’s approval rating. Although presidential approval still matters.
Looking at early polls then (i.e. polls out right now), then the Democrats will likely retain North Carolina, Iowa, Michigan, Arkansas and Alaska, will likely lose North Dakota and West Virginia, and Louisiana, Georgia and Kentucky are too close to call. That would mean the Democrats will only lose 2 seats, but have a chance to gain 1 seat if they win Georgia and Kentucky and retain Louisiana.
I passed, but it was close!
I had 1788 for the constitution. Sooooclose.
I missed the number of amendments and the the date of when the constitution was written.
Here is an online sample naturalization quiz. Everyone take it and report the results.
100%.
WOW! I got 100% on D Dem’s test as well but missed the video question of the writing of the constitution like Larry M did… drew a blank on that one.
Maybe I didn’t party hard enough in my high school daze?
I don’t think the majority of Americans oppose immigration reform. I myself think we should make it much easier to become a legal citizen of this country. I think though, we can’t punish the people who have been waiting in line to become citizens by allowing those who have cheated and come here illegally to get off Scot free. I think we have to do several things. Immediately secure the borders. Immediately simplify and streamline the legal immigration process. For those who think we will get to many new citizens if we make it easier to become one legally, we can put a brake into the system. We can say something to the effect that for every quarter that we average a 2 percent annual growth rate, we can allow x amount of new legal immigrants. And, it can be a sliding scale, so that during times of prosperity, when the economy is growing faster at say an annual growth rate of 5 percent, then we can allow two or three times as many legal immigrants. In this way, there becomes no reason to make legal immigration difficult or lengthy. Just make it so that within a few months you can come in as long as our economy is growing fast enough to support the numbers. Then, during the recession years, they can cap the amount of immigration to say 1/2 of the normal rate, until the economy catches back up.
Yesterday, the French foreign minister standing with John Kerry, announced that we only have 500 days until climate change chaos. He must be in touch with some scientist from the hereafter.
” Scot free’. ?!? Racist bastard!
” Scot free’. ?!? Racist bastard!
I think he was referring to you by name.
I’m tired of my people being characterized as shifty and cheap. It is the Welsh that are shifty and cheap, not the Scots.
And here is another import from across the water- broke into the American music scene last night on Letterman- let’s give Bieber and Cruz back to Canada and keep this 24 year old wonder …..
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0_oGM2o2y0Y
Secure the borders? HA
Immigration has been at net zero for 2 year…
Next request?
Yup. Aced the test- lol. Probably because I had to study for it at one time…..
;-). Nice to know I remember most of it.……
Rusty @5:57 incredibly made a good deal of sense, except for the “secure the borders” thing, which I take to mean he wants to build some silly fence. The impulse toward security is correct, but the means are not.
To secure our borders, first secure our workplaces. Make sure there are business-ending penalties for employing illegals. Let them come if they are able to sneak in, or stay if they are already here, but employers’ doors should be open to legal workers only.
@p “… but employers’ doors should be open to legal workers only.”
And guess which political party has made that nearly impossible?
Being of Irish descent (so, obviously a drunkard) I was prepared to take umbrage at the use of the phrase “Scot free.” But prior to doing so, I decided to check it’s etymology. Turns out its origin was the Scandinavian word, ‘Skat’ meaning tax or payment and when the word migrated to Britain it mutated into ‘scot’ as the name of a redistributive taxation, levied as early the 10th century as a form of municipal poor relief. So the phrase ‘getting off scot free’ simply refers to not paying one’s taxes.
I may be the only one who didn’t know that, but now I do know.
100 percent – the failure of the average citizen to learn basic structures of government etc- is a reflection of our public and maybe private education system of teaching American civics – no one should be surprised – this is like the guy on Fox doing the same interview technique – cheap shot good for laughs and political pandering
Aoine you are awesome !
Aione Gracias por representar a los que no tienen voz