When it comes to immigration reform, perhaps no senator has been more vocal about their displeasure with the newest bill, drafted by the group of bipartisan senators known as the "Gang of Eight," than Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)--the Republican many blame for the defeat of the last immigration reform bill in 2008.
?This bill, written by the 'Gang of Eight', without public process, that stacked in the committee and determined to move it through with little or no changes, it,? Sessions said.
But many pro-immigration reform voices are suspicious that the 49 amendments Sessions has filed, second only to the whopping 77 amendments filed by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), are designed to kill the bill rather than change it. Sessions says that's not so.
?We create amendments that reveal the problems with [the immigration reform bill], and I think that's kind of what's been happening,? he told Power Players. ?We are beginning to show that there are weaknesses in it.?
He points to the lack of a biometric entry and exit system as one weakness of the bill.
Current law already calls for a biometric system, which has been in place since 1996 and was reinforced in the wake of September 11. However, it has proven to be too expensive and difficult to implement. The current immigration bill, as drafted, calls for screening of visa photo IDs for those entering the country, which then goes into a database and must be matched at time of exit. The biometric system proposed by Sessions calls for additional fingerprinting and iris scans.
Sessions says that Sen. Marco Rubio?s (R-Fla.) recent declaration of support for a biometric entry/exit visa bodes well for his amendment and that the amendment is ?going to clearly pass on the floor of the Senate.?
Just yesterday, an amendment by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, the committee responsible for the bill, that requires biometric systems in 10 of the highest volume airports within two years of enactment. A study to examine the effectiveness within those 10 airports must be completed within five years of enactment, and then expand to the ?Core 30 international airports? within six years. Sessions? amendment that failed in committee would have required a biometric system at all land ports before the pathway to citizenship could begin.
But a biometric system isn?t the only weakness, as Sessions sees it. When it comes to the border fence, Sessions has been an outspoken advocate for a 700-mile double fence along the 2,000-mile US-Mexico border.
?That's the law that we passed several years ago. It's never been done. It's typical of the problem we have at the border where you pass a law that says something is to be done and it never gets accomplished,? Sessions said. ?It's proven to work. San Diego had fabulous resorts with a fence there, and the areas where fencing has been built uh, has reduced the illegality and really brought stability and crime has dropped also.?
Those opposing the fence, however, argue that mandating a double-fence throughout the region is an inefficient use of funds and not proper for all parts of the country.
At the hearing last Thursday, fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said: ?every time we have this debate there is always a reason the border is not quite secure enough.?
?Southern border fencing strategy is substantially completed,? Graham said. ?Fences are not really the best security for the country in some parts? mandatory e-verify system is.?
Pointing to a letter submitted to Congress by ICE Union, representing about 7,700 of the 20,000 employees, Sessions says the current bill does not do enough to ensure security.
Just yesterday, a second labor union, which represents an additional 12,000 federal officers, came forward publicly opposing the bill.
The pathway-to-citizenship is another problem with the current legislation. Sessions opposes the key component of path to citizenship and under his amendment would create a separate category of legal resident without citizenship? allowing immigrants to work in the U.S. without full rights.
?I don't think there's any moral, legal, or other reason why that that wouldn't be a good policy,? he said. ?We can debate it, we'll let the Senate and the Congress decide, but my view is there should be a distinction between people who entered lawfully and those who entered unlawfully.?
Critics of Sessions point to amendments that originally required immigrants to prove they could earn nearly $100,000 a year after coming to the United States, to ensure they would not end up on welfare. And another that restricts the number of immigrants entering the U.S. legally to 1.2 million a year?far fewer than immigration advocates say would be necessary for businesses that want a fertile labor stream.
That amendment was nearly greeted with derision and voted down 17-1 by the committee.
The income amendment was changed after Power Players confronted Sessions about its purpose. When introduced to committee Monday, it had been amended to require immigrants to prove they would not qualify for Medicaid or SNAP programs. That bill failed on a voice vote.
To watch more of Jim Avila?s interview, including Senator Sessions? thoughts on extending full citizenship to immigrants, check out this episode of Power Players.
ABC's Serena Marshall, Eric Wray, Ali Dukakis, Freda Kahen-Kashi, Ginny Vicario and Vicki Vennell contributed to this episode.
An open letter addressed to Microsoft concerning tomorrow?s Xbox reveal.
Dear Microsoft,
I find myself splurging precious bandwidth on trash articles claiming to have insider information about your console. As a media guy, I should know better. As a site owner, I feel as if I?ve squandered an opportunity surfacing every half-decade: to namedrop ?Xbox? in the days before a console reveal and collect thousands of hits. But, as do so many others, I am caught in the heyday or mystique of something broodingly mysterious. The suspect of a wildly new thing. As much as I resent the word: thehype.
My devotion to pure, blatantly unjournalistic crap plays precisely into the narrative. The press publishes these articles in the name of promotion, and Microsoft soaks the attention up like a sponge, further enlarging the spectacle. It was as obvious around Sony?s February conference, when articles claimed every fine detail but the name, which was set in stone, and who would speak. Because the appearing personalities are uninteresting I assume.
From obsessing over names taken from edited photos posted on Reddit, the media has seemingly trivialized the monumentality of this announcement. To stop this needless obsession (that brought them a steady cash flow), would it be so difficult as to inform us of something beforehand? If only to distract for one day from the stupid conversation of whether the next console will be named ?Infinity? or ?Fiesta? or ?Durango?. Or stopping respected publications like The Wall Street Journal stooping to ridiculously low levels by posting its own claims from anonymous sources.
And, especially, to hinder outlets from writing articles ?rounding up? these rumours into one ?handy? place. It clouds judgments and subjects tomorrow to feel like a fantasy. As well, it engorges the tabloid process of games journalism?feeding rumour with impunity, and without any accountability. But that?s also on the writers who blindly print these factoids, who refuse to focus on actual truisms: the rift between entertainment and video gaming as an example. So, for that, I apologize.
But, Microsoft, you must admit it?s all mildly ludicrous. Not just from the press, but from the Internet-goers clicking, myself included. (Only to a point though.) We will learn of the information tomorrow, but fascination overcomes us almost sickeningly. We can?t resist ?Everything You Need To Know About the Next Xbox? headlines. Any pictures or infinity-inspired logos stirs imaginations, and we can?t help but indulge. It sounds like drug addiction.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senators working on a wide-ranging immigration bill have agreed to tighten controls on the asylum system that allows people fleeing war or persecution to find refuge in the U.S.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina offered the amendment, which would terminate asylum or refugee status for anyone who returns home to the country they fled, unless they can show a good reason for doing so.
Graham said the change was merited in light of the Boston Marathon bombings. The brothers who allegedly set off the bombs arrived in the U.S. as boys when their family sought asylum here.
The amendment was approved on voice vote Monday as the Senate Judiciary Committee entered its third week of weighing amendments to a bipartisan immigration bill.
by National Small Business Association Included
in yesterday's mail were two ominous envelopes, one addressed to me,
the other to my wife.? They were from our health insurance company.?
Being that this is mid-May, I knew what the contents of the envelopes
would be: one-page letters informing us what our insurance premiums are
going to run in the coming year.? With sweaty palms and racing heart, I
began operating on the envelopes, terrified by the news that would be
contained therein. Last year at this time, our premiums rose 14.6%; the
year befo re
that slightly under 13%; the year before that 15.8%.? Envelopes open, I
gingerly removed the one-page form letters addressed to "Dear Member."?
Reading the twin missives of doom took less than 30 seconds.? My worst
fears had actually been bested by the reality of it all; beginning July
1st, our premiums would be going up an additional 25% . . . 25% . . . 25%!?
Yes
indeed; as of July 1st, we will be paying the princely sum of
$34,934.88 for a year's worth of "coverage" that includes neither dental
nor vision nor podiatry, carries a $10,000 deductible, and is regularly
refused by many doctors because the company doles out payment with a
costive eyedropper.? And, to add mortal insult to lethal injury, this
outrage comes fast on the heels of my wife being denied -- once again --
coverage for a crucial pain-reducing procedure because, in the opinion
of some company stooge she ". . . does not present sufficient pain to
warrant said procedure." ? And just last month, they denied my doctor's order for an MRI because, once again, they deemed it "unnecessary."
Now
mind you, my wife and I are both reasonably health-conscious people.?
We don't smoke or drink, stick to healthy diets (keeping kosher in a
largely non-kosher world forces one to eat lot of salad, fruit and fish)
and get a reasonable amount of exercise. (I for one am a long-time
inveterate gym rat.) We are healthy people who live active lives despite
having conditions that might lay others low. In other words, we do
everything in our power to be as healthy as is humanly possible.? And
yet, we are about to begin paying nearly $35,000.00 for a year's worth
of what is truly substandard health insurance coverage.
To
put the rate of increase into perspective, two years ago, my wife's
monthly take home pay from her part time position as an instructor at a
local community college covered our monthly premium.? With this newest
spike (and a concomitant cutback in her teaching
hours),
it now will take nearly 3 month's take home pay to cover but a single
month's premium. Our annual insurance premium will be about 50% more
than what we pay for the mortgage on our home and a rental property. ?
So
why not just change carriers? Because the last time we tried, we were
turned down flat because of pre-existing conditions. (Starting next
year, under terms of the Affordable Care Act, this will be illegal.)
Moreover, we had to report the insurance agents (who all but guaranteed
us "better coverage for less") to the state attorney general's Office of
Investigations; they had signed us up (and were already billing us) for
a couple of "savers' club" groups without our knowledge or consent. ?
Now mind you, I am not in any way kvetching about the quality
of medical care we receive.? Our doctors at Cleveland Clinic Florida
are first-rate; indeed, some are galaxy-class. The problem is, that in
order for these first-rate and galaxy-class physicians to provide us
care, it costs an arm, a leg and a pancreas gland . . . and starting in
July a clavicle and a hyoid bone.?
So
what can be done?? Next to nothing, I am afraid to say.? Oh sure, we
could simply drop our healthy insurance and pray that we remain healthy
until age 65 and can begin being covered by Medicare . . . provided that
Paul Ryan and the GOP don't have their way and voucherize it before
then.? Then too, perhaps we could sit down with a supervisor or
representative of the company that so willingly takes in our dollars and
try to work something out.? No dice.? From prior painful experience,
when given the choice between compromising and simply losing us as
paying customers, they simply respond "Well, that would have to be your
choice . . . to drop coverage." Even waiting for the rest of the
Affordable Care Act to take effect won't do any good; while carriers may
be debarred from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions, there
is nothing that says they have to make it affordable.? You see, the
affordable care act isn't about health care; it's about health
insurance.? Far from being "socialized medicine" as so many argue, it is
a gigantic beribboned gift to the health insurance industry which, if
properly and rigorously monitored, could eventually slow down the
unconscionable increases in all aspects of health care.?? Don't get me
wrong. I have no problem with corporations making a profit; that's why
they're in business.? What I do have a huge problem with -- and here I
know I'm not alone -- is facing the prospect of going broke just to be
covered by a company that loves saying "REFUSED!"?
According to a recent poll
from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 42% of the American public don't
know or aren't sure whether the Affordable Care Act is the Law of the
Land.? It is.? How do I know?? Because just yesterday, the House of
Representatives tried to kill it . . . for the 37th time in two years.?
Even the House wouldn't be so dense as to try destroy something that
does not exist.? And yet, because they are forever railing against
Obamacare, forever trying to scare people with talk of "death squads,"
loss of liberty and the looming communist/socialist/fascist takeover of
America, lots of Americans are against it . . . or are they?? When
queried, people who say they wanted Obamacare repealed, still say they
like aspects of it . . . like keeping children on their parents'
policies until age 26; like not being denied coverage due to
pre-existing conditions; like no lifetime caps on coverage.? And yet,
they are against it.??
Despite
the fact that the Affordable Care Act likely won't affect our personal
situation, I am all for it -- until we get smart and one day enact
universal coverage.? Likely the only way that will ever be accomplished
is if enough people find themselves in our position -- of being priced
out of health insurance coverage because it costs more than two
mortgages and two car payments combined -- and demanding change; real,
tangible, intelligent change.
Anybody out there know of a company that can provide us coverage without resorting to extortion?? Any suggestions?
Sea level influenced tropical climate during the last ice agePublic release date: 19-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Gisela Speidel gspeidel@hawaii.edu 808-956-9252 University of Hawaii ? SOEST
Scientists look at past climates to learn about climate change and the ability to simulate it with computer models. One region that has received a great deal of attention is the Indo-Pacific warm pool, the vast pool of warm water stretching along the equator from Africa to the western Pacific Ocean.
In a new study, Pedro DiNezio of the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Jessica Tierney of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution investigated preserved geological clues (called "proxies") of rainfall patterns during the last ice age when the planet was dramatically colder than today. They compared these patterns with computer model simulations in order to find a physical explanation for the patterns inferred from the proxies.
Their study, which appears in the May 19, online edition of Nature Geoscience, not only reveals unique patterns of rainfall change over the Indo-Pacific warm pool, but also shows that they were caused by the effect of lowered sea level on the configuration of the Indonesian archipelago.
"For our research," explains lead-author Pedro DiNezio at the International Pacific Research Center, "we compared the climate of the ice age with our recent warmer climate. We analyzed about 100 proxy records of rainfall and salinity stretching from the tropical western Pacific to the western Indian Ocean and eastern Africa. Rainfall and salinity signals recorded in geological sediments can tell us much about past changes in atmospheric circulation over land and the ocean respectively."
"Our comparisons show that, as many scientists expected, much of the Indo-Pacific warm pool was drier during this glacial period compared with today. But, counter to some theories, several regions, such as the western Pacific and the western Indian Ocean, especially eastern Africa, were wetter," adds co-author Jessica Tierney from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
In the second step, the scientists matched these rainfall and salinity patterns with simulations from 12 state-of-the-art climate models that are used to also predict future climate change. For this matching they applied a method of categorical data comparison called the 'Cohen's kappa' statistic. Though widely used in the medical field, this method has not yet been used to match geological climate signals with climate model simulations.
"We were taken aback that only one model out of the 12 showed statistical agreement with the proxy-inferred patterns of the rainfall changes. This model, though, agrees well with both the rainfall and salinity indicators two entirely independent sets of proxy data covering distinct areas of the tropics," says DiNezio.
The model reveals that the dry climate during the glacial period was driven by reduced convection over a region of the warm pool called the Sunda Shelf. Today the shelf is submerged beneath the Gulf of Thailand, but was above sea level during the glacial period, when sea level was about 120 m lower.
"The exposure of the Sunda Shelf greatly weakened convection over the warm pool, with far-reaching impacts on the large-scale circulation and on rainfall patterns from Africa to the western Pacific and northern Australia," explains DiNezio.
The main weakness of the other models, according to the authors, is their limited ability to simulate convection, the vertical air motions that lift humid air into the atmosphere. Differences in the way each model simulates convection may explain why the results for the glacial period are so different.
"Our research resolves a decades-old question of what the response of tropical climate was to glaciation," concludes DiNezio. "The study, moreover, presents a fine benchmark for assessing the ability of climate models to simulate the response of tropical convection to altered land masses and global temperatures."
###
Citation:
Pedro DiNezio and Jessica Tierney: The effect of sea level on glacial Indo-Pacific climate. Nature Geoscience, May 19 online publication at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NGEO1823.
Funding:
Funding for this work was provided by NSF and by JAMSTEC, NASA, and NOAA, which sponsor research at the International Pacific Research Center.
Author Contacts:
Dr. Pedro DiNezio, SOEST Young Investigator, International Pacific Research Center, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822; phone: (804) 674-4150; email: pdn@hawaii.edu.
Dr. Jessica E. Tierney, Assistant Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 360 Woods Hole Rd., MS #22 Woods Hole, MA 02543; phone: (508) 289-3775; email: tierney@whoi.edu.
International Pacific Research Center Media Contact: Gisela E. Speidel, International Pacific Research Center, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822; phone (808) 956-9252; email: gspeidel@hawaii.edu.
The International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is a climate research center founded to gain greater understanding of the climate system and the nature and causes of climate variation in the Asia-Pacific region and how global climate changes may affect the region. Established under the "U.S.-Japan Common Agenda for Cooperation in Global Perspective" in October 1997, the IPRC is a collaborative effort between agencies in Japan and the United States.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Sea level influenced tropical climate during the last ice agePublic release date: 19-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Gisela Speidel gspeidel@hawaii.edu 808-956-9252 University of Hawaii ? SOEST
Scientists look at past climates to learn about climate change and the ability to simulate it with computer models. One region that has received a great deal of attention is the Indo-Pacific warm pool, the vast pool of warm water stretching along the equator from Africa to the western Pacific Ocean.
In a new study, Pedro DiNezio of the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Jessica Tierney of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution investigated preserved geological clues (called "proxies") of rainfall patterns during the last ice age when the planet was dramatically colder than today. They compared these patterns with computer model simulations in order to find a physical explanation for the patterns inferred from the proxies.
Their study, which appears in the May 19, online edition of Nature Geoscience, not only reveals unique patterns of rainfall change over the Indo-Pacific warm pool, but also shows that they were caused by the effect of lowered sea level on the configuration of the Indonesian archipelago.
"For our research," explains lead-author Pedro DiNezio at the International Pacific Research Center, "we compared the climate of the ice age with our recent warmer climate. We analyzed about 100 proxy records of rainfall and salinity stretching from the tropical western Pacific to the western Indian Ocean and eastern Africa. Rainfall and salinity signals recorded in geological sediments can tell us much about past changes in atmospheric circulation over land and the ocean respectively."
"Our comparisons show that, as many scientists expected, much of the Indo-Pacific warm pool was drier during this glacial period compared with today. But, counter to some theories, several regions, such as the western Pacific and the western Indian Ocean, especially eastern Africa, were wetter," adds co-author Jessica Tierney from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
In the second step, the scientists matched these rainfall and salinity patterns with simulations from 12 state-of-the-art climate models that are used to also predict future climate change. For this matching they applied a method of categorical data comparison called the 'Cohen's kappa' statistic. Though widely used in the medical field, this method has not yet been used to match geological climate signals with climate model simulations.
"We were taken aback that only one model out of the 12 showed statistical agreement with the proxy-inferred patterns of the rainfall changes. This model, though, agrees well with both the rainfall and salinity indicators two entirely independent sets of proxy data covering distinct areas of the tropics," says DiNezio.
The model reveals that the dry climate during the glacial period was driven by reduced convection over a region of the warm pool called the Sunda Shelf. Today the shelf is submerged beneath the Gulf of Thailand, but was above sea level during the glacial period, when sea level was about 120 m lower.
"The exposure of the Sunda Shelf greatly weakened convection over the warm pool, with far-reaching impacts on the large-scale circulation and on rainfall patterns from Africa to the western Pacific and northern Australia," explains DiNezio.
The main weakness of the other models, according to the authors, is their limited ability to simulate convection, the vertical air motions that lift humid air into the atmosphere. Differences in the way each model simulates convection may explain why the results for the glacial period are so different.
"Our research resolves a decades-old question of what the response of tropical climate was to glaciation," concludes DiNezio. "The study, moreover, presents a fine benchmark for assessing the ability of climate models to simulate the response of tropical convection to altered land masses and global temperatures."
###
Citation:
Pedro DiNezio and Jessica Tierney: The effect of sea level on glacial Indo-Pacific climate. Nature Geoscience, May 19 online publication at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NGEO1823.
Funding:
Funding for this work was provided by NSF and by JAMSTEC, NASA, and NOAA, which sponsor research at the International Pacific Research Center.
Author Contacts:
Dr. Pedro DiNezio, SOEST Young Investigator, International Pacific Research Center, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822; phone: (804) 674-4150; email: pdn@hawaii.edu.
Dr. Jessica E. Tierney, Assistant Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 360 Woods Hole Rd., MS #22 Woods Hole, MA 02543; phone: (508) 289-3775; email: tierney@whoi.edu.
International Pacific Research Center Media Contact: Gisela E. Speidel, International Pacific Research Center, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822; phone (808) 956-9252; email: gspeidel@hawaii.edu.
The International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is a climate research center founded to gain greater understanding of the climate system and the nature and causes of climate variation in the Asia-Pacific region and how global climate changes may affect the region. Established under the "U.S.-Japan Common Agenda for Cooperation in Global Perspective" in October 1997, the IPRC is a collaborative effort between agencies in Japan and the United States.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Following some important pricing details, preorder launches and some concrete hardware specs, we've just got to play with the new Jolla phone. Sure, we've already toyed with the software, but today's event is all about the new physical home for the Sailfish OS. It could be a difficult sell in the cutthroat world of smartphones, there's certainly something compelling in Jolla's split design and all those of color options, regardless of what functionality they might add in the future.
FILE - In this May 15, 2013 file photo, a service person works on sign at BP station at 35E and County Road E in Vadnais Heights, Minn. The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has jumped 11 cents over the past two weeks. The Lundberg Survey of fuel prices released Sunday, May 19, 2013 says the price of a gallon of regular is $3.66. (AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Marlin Levison, File)
FILE - In this May 15, 2013 file photo, a service person works on sign at BP station at 35E and County Road E in Vadnais Heights, Minn. The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has jumped 11 cents over the past two weeks. The Lundberg Survey of fuel prices released Sunday, May 19, 2013 says the price of a gallon of regular is $3.66. (AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Marlin Levison, File)
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) ? The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has jumped 11 cents over the past two weeks.
The Lundberg Survey of fuel prices released Sunday says the price of a gallon of regular is $3.66. Midgrade costs an average of $3.84 a gallon, and premium is $3.98.
Diesel held steady at $3.93 gallon.
Of the cities surveyed in the Lower 48 states, Tucson, Ariz., has the nation's lowest average price for gas at $3.18. Minneapolis has the highest at $4.27.
In California, the lowest average price was $3.94 in Fresno. The highest was in San Francisco at $4.07. The average statewide for a gallon of regular was $4.03, up 18 cents.
Kanye West hit the stage during the May 18 episode of "Saturday Night Live" to perform some new music.
The 35-year-old West performed a new track called "Black Skinhead," rapping the song in the middle of the show. Wearing a studded black leather jacket and jumping around in front of a screen that featured the words NOT FOR SALE intercut with barking dogs, the rapper worked his way through an energetic track that includes lyrics that are filtered through a loud-speaker effect. Censores seemed to miss West's use of the n-word, which made it to broadcast during the East Coast feed.
West also performed "New Slaves," a song that he debuted by projecting it on the sides of buildings across the world.
His stint on "SNL" was one that the musician seemed less than enthused about. In the promos for the episode, hosted by actor Ben Affleck, West appeared apathetic and serious.
He also addressed the gig at a recent performance. "Someone asked me, 'When you do 'SNL,' are you going to do a skit about the paparazzi and humanize yourself?'" West said during a show, referencing his recent run-in with the paparazzi. "What the f--k do I have to apologize for? When did I become inhuman? Or was it them demonizing me and harassing me that made me less than human?"
Jockey Gary Stevens celebrates aboard Oxbow after winning the 138th Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Baltimore. Orb, the Kentucky Derby winner, trails at center and finished fourth. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Jockey Gary Stevens celebrates aboard Oxbow after winning the 138th Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Baltimore. Orb, the Kentucky Derby winner, trails at center and finished fourth. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Orb, with jockey Joel Rosario aboard, gallops back to the paddock after the 138th Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Baltimore. Oxbow won the race, Orb, the Kentucky Derby winner, finished fourth. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
BALTIMORE (AP) ? Another year, another Triple Crown hopeful unable to come through.
After Oxbow upset Kentucky Derby winner Orb in Saturday's Preakness to extend racing's Triple Crown drought to 36 years, the next best alternative for the Belmont Stakes is a rematch.
And, it appears one is in the making. Both trainers are giving every indication their classic-winning colts will run in the Belmont on June 8.
After Oxbow's 1 ?-length victory over Itsmyluckyday, with 3-5 favorite Orb finishing fourth, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said he would probably bring the winner to New York.
Trainer Shug McGaughey says he'd like to run Orb in the Belmont as long as the colt is doing well.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Justice Department's seizure of phone records for journalists at the Associated Press is hurting the agency's ability to gather news, the wire service's Chief Executive and President Gary Pruitt said on Sunday.
"Officials that would normally talk to us and people we talk to in the normal course of news gathering are already saying to us that they're a little reluctant to talk to us," Pruitt said on CBS's "Face The Nation" program. "They fear that they will be monitored by the government."
The Justice Department told the AP on May 10 that it had earlier seized records of more than 20 of its phone lines for April and May 2012. The seizure was part of an investigation of media leaks about a foiled terrorism plot.
"Approximately a hundred journalists use these telephone lines as part of news gathering," Pruitt said. "And over the course of the two months of the records that they swept up, thousands upon thousands of news-gathering calls were made."
The White House has said that President Barack Obama learned about the Justice Department's record seizure from press reports and had no prior knowledge of the action. Obama's administration is fielding concerns on several incidents that raise questions about its transparency.
Pruitt said the Justice Department claimed an exception to its own rules that required them to notify the AP of such a record seizure by saying that such a disclosure would have posed a substantial threat to the investigation.
"But they have not explained why it would and we can't understand why it would," Pruitt said. "We never even had possession of these records, they were in the possession of our telephone service company and they couldn't be tampered with."
Government officials have told Reuters that the AP phone records were just one element in an ongoing sweeping U.S. government investigation into media leaks about a Yemen-based plot to bomb a U.S. airliner, prompted by a May 7, 2012 AP story about the operation to foil the plot.
"We don't question their right to conduct these sort of investigations," Pruitt said. "We think they went about it the wrong way, so sweeping, so secretively, so abusively and harassingly."
Pruitt said the AP would have sought to narrow the scope of the record seizure through courts had it been notified, instead of "the Justice Department acting on its own, being the judge, jury and executioner, in secret."
Reuters was one of nearly 50 news organizations that signed a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder complaining about the AP phone record seizures.
(Reporting by Alina Selyukh; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Over the last several weeks, you may have noticed some changes at Gizmodo?and not just the layout. We've been sharpening our coverage of design, concepts, and the objects and ideas that are shaping our world, and growing our team to help us do it. Now it's time to meet the people who are leading that charge?starting with our new Editor in Chief, Geoff Manaugh.
Wasim Bari says Pakistan will miss Afridi and Akmal in Champions Trophy - Cricket news
Pakistan?s former wicketkeeper/batsman, Wasim Bari, is not entirely satisfied with the national squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 but feels that the Green Shirts are going to be a force in the mega event due to their unpredictable nature.
Pakistan have experimented with their squad for the all important tournament, leaving out Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi and Umar Akmal. All three of them have failed to live up to the expectations in recent past, which allowed the selectors to give exposure to some other players who have been doing well in domestic cricket of late.
In the absence of Afridi and Akmal, Wasim feels that Pakistan will struggle to achieve required run rates of more than eight runs per over. However, he believes that the onus is on Misbah and Shoaib Malik to deliver the goods under trying circumstances, being the two most senior players in the team.
"Shahid Afridi will surely be missed. His experience would certainly have helped Pakistan," the former wicketkeeper added. "Afridi/Razzaq/Umar Akmal will be missed when the rrr reaches 8 runs an over and there is nobody to play big shots. A lot will depend on Misbah and Malik. They are experienced and should lead from the front."
Champions Trophy is going to be played in England next month, with Australia looking to defend their title. Bari is optimistic about Pakistan?s chances in the tournament, although he believes that Misbah-ul-Haq and company lack power-hitting ability in the death overs of an innings.
He expressed, "Team Pakistan has the ability to cause a major upset in the Champions Trophy. Our team is not balanced, but unpredictable. We can beat any team on our day. We lack an anchor player and players who can up the scoring rate in the death overs."
Pakistan won their first One Day International (ODI) of the two-match series against Scotland yesterday by a margin of 96 runs at Edinburgh. Apart from Misbah however, none of the batsmen looked comfortable. The Green Shirts must deliver the goods consistently with the bat, in order to have any chance in the Champions Trophy.
May 17, 2013 ? Materials belonging to the family of dilute magnetic oxides (DMOs) -- an oxide-based variant of the dilute magnetic semiconductors -- are good candidates for spintronics applications. This is the object of study for Davide Sangalli of the Microelectronics and Microsystems Institute (IMM) at the National Research Council (CNR), in Agrate Brianza, Italy, and colleagues.
They recently explored the effect of iron (Fe) doping on thin films of a material called zirconia (ZrO2 oxide). For the first time, the authors bridged the gap between the theoretical predictions and the experimental measurements of this material, in a paper about to be published inThe European Physical Journal B.
Spintronics exploit an intrinsic property of the electrons found in semi-conductors called spin, akin to the electrons' degree of freedom. This determines the magnetic characteristics, known as magnetic moment, of the material under study. The challenge is to create such material with the highest possible temperature, as this will ensure that its magnetic properties can be used in room-temperature applications.
To study iron-doped zirconia, they examined its magnetic properties and its electronic structure from both a theoretical and experimental perspective. They then compared theory and experiments to find the most stable configuration of the material. Theoretical work included first-principles simulations. In parallel, their experimental work relied on many different well-established analytical techniques, including X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and alternating gradient force magnetometer measurements.
Sangalli and colleagues therefore gained a better understanding of doped zirconia, which features oxygen vacancies, playing a crucial role in providing its unique electronic and magnetic characteristics. They have also predicted theoretically how the deviation from the standard structure influences this material's properties. They are currently investigating, experimentally, how the magnetism evolves with changing concentrations of iron and oxygen vacancies to confirm theoretical predictions.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Springer Science+Business Media.
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Journal Reference:
Davide Sangalli, Elena Cianci, Alessio Lamperti, Roberta Ciprian, Franca Albertini, Francesca Casoli, Pierpaolo Lupo, Lucia Nasi, Marco Campanini, Alberto Debernardi. Exploiting magnetic properties of Fe doping in zirconia. The European Physical Journal B, 2013; 86 (5) DOI: 10.1140/epjb/e2013-30669-3
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
WASHINGTON -- The one thing no one has suspected Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of being is a closet essayist. The idea of this young Chechen/Dagestani/Khrgyz man who, with his brother is accused of the vicious Boston Marathon bombings, making notes on his ideas had not entered the bio.And yet, as I write, news sources are reporting new information about Dzhokhar. Lying helplessly in the landlocked boat he was hiding inside of, in the small Massachusetts town outside Boston where they had fled, he wrote several primitive but revealing thoughts on the hull of the bullet-pocked boat with a pen he found. ...
Language is a strange construct. It is relative, fluid and the essence of dynamic. Yet language governs our lives in ways so cemented into our subconscious that we often deny its power over us. Language is weaponized to assault our values, our goals and our entire sense of self while we wallow in untroubled complacency. We have no defense against the way we communicate with others and with ourselves.
But language is beautiful. It unites us across time, geography and culture. It is inextricably entwined with the breath of life. It is both the single string that weaves humanity together and the razor that shears us apart.
Now evident is the integral role that language plays in the marginalization of minority groups. The most obvious example is looking at the gender disparity when gauging acceptable levels of promiscuity. There is plenty of colorful and often tasteless language available to describe women who are sexually liberated. For examples, visit your local high school. But when it comes to describing promiscuity in men, the language simply does not exist. And when it does, it is a conjugation of the language established to admonish women. (Read: man-whore.)
This concept also lends itself to the marginalization of gay and lesbian relationships. But here the threat is dual-natured; not only is there an absence of language to describe the milestones in a gay or lesbian relationship (such as losing one?s virginity, because how do lesbians have sex anyway?) but there is the constant differentiation between activities heterosexuals engage in versus the activities their gay peers engage in. (Read: gay marriage, gay adoption.)
Perhaps the most dire abuse of language is directed, albeit often unintentionally, to those of the transgender community. The formulation of identity is difficult enough when the language is provided. But all the language used to describe transgender identity has roots in the movement itself. It is still in early ages of development, a fragile fledgling thrust into a precise, dichotomous and overly simplistic dialect.
And language manipulates. When corporations began to market bottled water as early as 1977, specific words were employed repeatedly to implicitly state the lack of hygiene standards present in the municipal water system. Commercials emphasized statements such as ?your clean water source? or ?purest water quality.? After decades of these techniques, convincing the general public of the stringency of municipal water standards is one of the greatest tasks facing conservationists today. This subtle, quasi-brainwashing by selective use of language is utilized by politicians, lawyers, drug companies, anyone who stands to benefit from stealthily implanting an idea into the minds of the masses. In fact, there?s an entire industry based on the use of language to inadvertently state an idea; it?s called marketing.
As such a fundamental part of the human experience, it is quite incredible to recognize mere oscillations of sound waves dictate the behavior of an entire society.
SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - A proposed international conference on Syria should be held as soon as possible, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday, but no date has yet been agreed for a meeting that appears to face growing obstacles.
Ban spoke as U.N. officials announced that the number of refugees fleeing the fighting in Syria, a conflict that has claimed the lives of 80,000 people over the past two years, had exceeded 1.5 million as conditions there deteriorate rapidly.
Western leaders have been cautious about the prospects of the talks achieving any breakthrough, and Russia's desire that Iran should attend could complicate matters because of potential opposition from the West. The main Syrian opposition, expected to decide its stance next week, has previously demanded President Bashar al-Assad's exit before any talks.
A rising death toll, new reports of atrocities by both sides, suspicion that chemical arms may have been used and the absence of prospects for a military solution have all pushed Washington and Moscow to agree to convene the conference.
"We should not lose the momentum," Ban said of the proposal to bring the Syrian government and opposition representatives to the conference table.
"There is a high expectation that this meeting should be held as soon as possible," he said after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Lavrov agreed: "The sooner the better," he told a joint news conference with Ban, who was due to meet President Vladimir Putin later on Friday.
Iran is a U.S. foe and the main regional ally of Assad's government, which has also received crucial support from Russia.
"Moscow proceeds from the position that all the neighboring countries, Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the participants of the first Geneva conference, must be invited," Lavrov said, referring to an international meeting on Syria held last June.
Last year's Geneva talks produced an agreement that a transitional government should be created in Syria, but the United States and Russia disagreed over whether that meant Assad must leave power.
INNER CIRCLE
Moscow says his exit must not be a precondition for a political solution, but most Syrian opposition figures have ruled out talks unless Assad and his inner circle are excluded from any future transitional government.
Lavrov said opposition participation would be crucial.
"The main thing now is to understand who, from the Syrian sides, is ready to take part in this conference - without that, nothing will happen at all," he said.
"And the second task is to determine the circle of participants from other countries in addition to Syria."
In remarks published on Thursday, Lavrov said the West wanted to restrict the number of external participants in the conference, which could predetermine its outcome.
The United States said on Thursday that it was not ruling anyone in or out of the conference, while France voiced opposition to Iranian participation.
President Barack Obama said he reserved the right to resort to both diplomatic and military options to pressure Assad but U.S. action alone would not be enough to resolve the crisis.
Russia, with China, has opposed sanctions against Syria and blocked three Western-backed U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed to increase pressure on Assad during the conflict, which began in March 2011 with a crackdown on protests.
U.S. media reported that Russia had deployed naval ships to the eastern Mediterranean off Syria and also sent advanced missiles in a show of support for Assad.
Russia had sent a dozen or more warships to patrol waters near its naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus, a military outpost that gives Moscow a toehold in the Middle East, the wall Street Journal reported.
The New York Times said Russia had sent advance Yakhonts cruise missiles to Syria, which give the government a formidable weapon to deter foreign forces from any intervention.
(Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya; Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Giles Elgood and Peter Graff)
The news this morning is that Google is launching a music streaming subscription service called Google Play Music All Access to compete with the likes of Spotify and Microsoft?s Xbox Music. Initially to launch in the US, the Android based service will soon be rolled out in the UK and other countries.
It has been reported that Google have described All Access as ?Radio without rules?.
Being an inquisitive sort, I visited the Google Official Blog to try to find out why they felt able to make this claim. The only reference to radio I found was within a description of the service: ?You can create a radio station from any song or artist you love?? ? which suggests that listening to radio is the equivalent of listening to a playlist on iTunes or, in old money, sticking an album on the turntable.
Given that I work in radio and I?m proud of its uniqueness, I feel I have a right to be defensive when other media infer that they possess the same qualities purely because their offering is based around audio. This sort of lazy thinking ? particularly common in the tech world ? demonstrates a lack of understanding about what radio is and how it works for listeners.
So please allow me to clarify: Google?s All Access ? like Pandora, Spotify, or any other streamed music service ? is NOT radio, and it never will be.
Now I?m sure this is all just a simple misunderstanding, so to help tech companies developing similar services in the future, here?s my simple five point checklist to see if you qualify to use the term ?radio?:
1. Is your service a real-time linear stream of content edited by professionals? 2. Do you serve content other than just music (e.g. travel, traffic, weather)? 3. Are the different content elements linked by a human presenter? 4. Do your listeners ever get to hear from other listeners within the content stream? 5. Can the listener access all of this content with a single flick of a switch?
If you answered yes to the majority of these ? well, congratulations on being a radio content provider. From a commercial perspective, you also have the added advantage over streamed music services that your audience is more receptive to commercial messages as a natural component of the real-time linear flow.
If you answered ?no? to three or more of these, then I?m afraid you?re just a plain old streamed music service ? so please don?t pretend to be anything else!
Disclaimer: this check list is based purely on my personal experience and doesn?t pretend to be comprehensive ? if there are any other points you?d like to add I?d love to hear them. Similarly, if you think I?m being unfair on streamed services, please let me know why.
FILE - In this May 18, 2012, file photo, provided by Facebook, Facebook founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, center, rings the opening bell of the Nasdaq stock market, from Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Amid the hype and excitement surrounding Facebook's initial public offering, there were looming doubts. Potential investors wondered whether the social network could continue growing its advertising revenue without alienating users. One year later, much has changed at Facebook in a year, including the addition of mobile advertisements, the launch of a search feature and the unveiling of a branded smartphone. (AP Photo/Nasdaq via Facebook, Zef Nikolla, File)
FILE - In this May 18, 2012, file photo, provided by Facebook, Facebook founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, center, rings the opening bell of the Nasdaq stock market, from Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Amid the hype and excitement surrounding Facebook's initial public offering, there were looming doubts. Potential investors wondered whether the social network could continue growing its advertising revenue without alienating users. One year later, much has changed at Facebook in a year, including the addition of mobile advertisements, the launch of a search feature and the unveiling of a branded smartphone. (AP Photo/Nasdaq via Facebook, Zef Nikolla, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? It was supposed to be our IPO, the people's public offering.
Facebook, the brainchild of a young CEO who sauntered into Wall Street meetings in a hoodie, was going to be bigger than Amazon, bigger than McDonald's, bigger than Coca-Cola. And it was all made possible by our friendships, photos and family ties.
Then came the IPO, and it flopped. Facebook's stock finished its first day of trading just 23 cents higher than its $38 IPO price. It hasn't been that high since.
Even amid the hype and excitement surrounding Facebook's May 18 stock market debut a year ago, there were looming doubts. Investors wondered whether the social network could increase advertising revenue without alienating users, especially those using smartphones and tablet computers.
The worries intensified just days before the IPO when General Motors said it would stop paying for advertisements on the site. The symbolic exit cast a shroud over Facebook that still exists. Facebook's market value is $63 billion, some two-thirds of what it was the morning it first began trading. At around $27 per share, the company's stock is down roughly 30 percent from its IPO price. Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 27 percent over the same period.
Despite its disappointing stock market performance, the company has delivered strong financial results. Net income increased 7 percent to $219 million in the most recent quarter, compared with the previous year, and revenue was up 38 percent to $1.46 billion.
The world's biggest online social network has also kept growing to 1.1 billion users. Some 665 million people check in every day to share photos, comment on news articles and play games. Millions of people around the world who don't own a computer use Facebook, in Malawi, Malaysia and Martinique.
And much has changed at Facebook in a year. The company's executives and engineers have quietly addressed the very doubts that dogged the company for so long. Facebook began showing mobile advertisements for the first time just after the IPO. It launched a search feature in January and unveiled a branded Facebook smartphone in April. The company also introduced ways for advertisers to gauge the effectiveness of their ads.
Even GM has returned as a paying advertiser.
Now, Facebook is looking to its next challenge: convincing big brand-name consumer companies that advertisements on a social network are as important ? and as effective ? as television spots.
"We aspire to have ads, to show ads that improve the content experience over time," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told analysts recently. "And if we continue making progress on this, then one day we can get there."
To achieve those aims, the company has rolled out tools to help advertisers target their messages more precisely than they can in print or on television. Companies can single out 18- to 24-year-old male Facebook users who are likely to buy a car in the next six months. They can target 30-year-old women who are researching Caribbean getaways.
Analytic tools like these weren't available a year ago. But last fall Facebook hired several companies that collect and analyze data related to people's online and offline behavior. Facebook's advertisers can now assess whether a Crest ad you saw on Facebook likely led you to buy of a tube of toothpaste in the drugstore. The services take what Facebook knows about you and what ads you saw and combine this with the information retailers have about you and what you've purchased through loyalty cards and the like.
Advertisers are also making use of Facebook's partnership with audience measurement firm Nielsen Co. Nielsen introduced a tool last fall that helps marketers discover "not only who saw their ad online and who saw their ad on TV, but also how these audiences match up," says David Wong, vice president at product leadership at Nielsen.
Sean Bruich, Facebook's head of measurement platforms and standards, believes the new tools are paying off.
"What we can see conclusively a year after the IPO is that ads on Facebook really do help drive people into the store and help them make purchasing decisions, help influence their purchasing decisions," he says.
A recent Nielsen analysis found that consumers are 55 percent more likely to recall "social ads" than traditional online ads.
So powerful is Facebook's new analytic arsenal that privacy advocates are growing concerned about the potential intrusiveness of merging consumers' online and offline experiences.
People "are getting served ads based on things they didn't put on Facebook and maybe wouldn't be comfortable putting on Facebook," says Rainey Reitman, activism director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit civil-liberties firm. Facebook says mechanisms are in place to protect privacy.
"We've never had anything like Facebook," Reitman says. "We've never had an entity that was able to collect so much information on so much of the world's population, ever."
Advertisers aren't complaining.
"Anywhere that more than a billion people spend time with their friends each month is extremely valuable to us," says Brad Ruffkess, connection strategist at Coca-Cola.
At Procter and Gamble, the world's biggest advertiser, "we saw almost from the start that social media is the world's largest focus group," says Marc Pritchard, the company's global brand building officer.
Both companies are important advertisers on Facebook and members of the company's client council, a group of more than a dozen brands and ad agencies that have met regularly with Facebook executives since 2011 to talk about advertising and marketing on the site. Other members include Unilever, AT&T, Walmart and GroupM North America, a subsidiary of advertising agency giant WPP.
Still, some advertisers remain skeptical. Ryan Holiday, director of marketing at American Apparel, is critical of Facebook's "sponsored stories." These are messages from marketers that are interwoven into users' news feeds. He says the clothing company spends less than 10 percent of its online advertising budget with Facebook.
One thing is increasingly clear: The future belongs to mobile advertising. And just a year ago, Facebook warned investors it was behind in capturing this market. In response, Facebook retrained engineers and rebuilt its mobile applications, which users complained were clunky. Now, there's an explosion in the number of ads shoehorned in between status updates and cat photos.
"The transition to mobile happened even faster than we believed," says Carolyn Everson, vice president of global marketing solutions at Facebook.
In the first three months of 2013, Facebook generated $375 million in revenue from mobile ads, about 30 percent of its total ad revenue. That's impressive given that Facebook had no mobile ads at all just a year ago.
And there's room to grow. Research firm eMarketer estimates that U.S. mobile advertising spending will grow to $7.29 billion this year, up fivefold from 2011. Facebook is expected to capture some 13 percent of the market, a distant second behind Google at nearly 55 percent, according to eMarketer. By 2015, the mobile ad market is expected to hit $16.2 billion.
Facebook's stronger grasp of mobile advertising helped get General Motors back.
"Mobile was something GM was particularly passionate about," says Everson, who joined Facebook two years ago from Microsoft Corp., where she headed global ad sales.
Everson says she sees Facebook as a future advertising empire. The goal is to help companies achieve so-called cross-platform marketing and target people with ads wherever they might be ? in front of smartphones, tablets or TV sets.
"A lot of people might argue that TV is the first screen and mobile is the companion screen," she says. Her take: Mobile is now the first screen. And Facebook's hope is that advertisers will soon see it this way, too.
"Your customer is walking around with the most personal device they've ever had every single day, checking it 12 to, you know, more than 24 times a day depending on the market," Everson says. "This is a mass medium."
At the end of last year, 87 percent of Americans owned a cellphone and nearly half owned a smartphone, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Worldwide, research firm Gartner puts the size of the mobile phone market at 4.4 billion, enough to give one phone to nearly two-thirds of the world's population.
Of course, television still accounts for the biggest slice of worldwide ad spending, and nearly 96 percent of American households own a TV set. ZenithOptimedia, a forecaster owned by the ad agency Publicis Groupe SA, says television accounted for 40 percent of worldwide ad spending, compared with the Internet's share of 18 percent. By 2015, the Internet is expected to grow its share to more than 23 percent, but largely at the expense of newspapers and magazines. TV is expected to hold steady.
"On any given day in the U.S. alone, you can reach 100 million people on mobile," Everson says. "Those numbers are not seen across any TV or print opportunity. I think it's going to take hold, this message."
___
Find Barbara Ortutay on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BarbaraOrtutay
FILE - In this Nov. 1, 2011 photo, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio speaks to the media after his deputies conducted a raid at a printing company in Phoenix, arresting six suspects out of 17 they were allegedly looking for. The immigration debate in Arizona reached a boiling point when the state passed a groundbreaking law in 2007 targeting those often blamed with fueling the nation's border woes: Employers who hire immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. It marked a bold step, but an examination of the law by The Associated Press found that it has done little to crack down on problematic employers. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 1, 2011 photo, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio speaks to the media after his deputies conducted a raid at a printing company in Phoenix, arresting six suspects out of 17 they were allegedly looking for. The immigration debate in Arizona reached a boiling point when the state passed a groundbreaking law in 2007 targeting those often blamed with fueling the nation's border woes: Employers who hire immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. It marked a bold step, but an examination of the law by The Associated Press found that it has done little to crack down on problematic employers. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
PHOENIX (AP) ? The immigration debate in Arizona reached a boiling point in 2007 when the state passed a groundbreaking law targeting those often blamed with fueling the nation's border woes: Employers who hire immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
The law marked a bold step by a state into an area that had long been the domain of the federal government, and it paved the way for Arizona's landmark 2010 immigration law. It also represented a key moment in the immigration battles that continue today as Congress mulls a proposed overhaul of the immigration system.
But an examination of the law by The Associated Press found that it has done little to crack down on problematic employers. Only three of the state's 147,000 employers have been brought to civil court on illegal hiring allegations, while several hundred employees who are living in the U.S. illegally have been arrested under a section of the law that made it a felony to use fake or stolen IDs to get jobs.
While the law has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and hailed as a tool for states to confront illegal immigration, it has faced several problems:
? Hundreds of immigrant workers arrested under the law have spent months in jail on ID theft charges, while only two businesses ? a sandwich shop and now-defunct amusement park ? had their business licenses suspended for several days. The case against the third business, a custom furniture maker, is still pending.
? A high legal standard for proving violations by businesses and a lack of subpoena power in getting employment records are almost insurmountable barriers to making cases against employers.
? Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office is the only police agency in the state that has raided businesses in enforcement of the employment law. It has arrested hundreds of workers in 72 business raids since 2008. The office has since been accused by the U.S. Justice Department of discriminating against Latino workers, allegations the sheriff denies.
? Despite the small number of cases against employers, the county prosecutor's office in metropolitan Phoenix has spent $4.5 million since 2008 investigating businesses suspected of hiring workers who aren't in the country legally and to pursue criminal ID theft cases against employees. Nearly a third of the money ? $1.4 million ? was given by the prosecutor's office to Arpaio's agency to investigate such cases.
Backers contend the enforcement numbers tell only a piece of the story. They say the law has helped combat identity theft and prompted immigrants living in the country illegally to leave Arizona. They also believe that the fear of business raids has caused employers to follow the rules.
"We are never going to get 100 percent compliance, but we have made a difference," said former Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, the driving force behind the employment law and the state's 2010 immigration law that requires police officers, while enforcing other laws, to question people's immigration status if they are suspected of being in the country illegally.
The number of immigrants living in Arizona without permission to be in the U.S. declined by 200,000 from 2008 to January 2011, when the total estimated number stood at 360,000, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report. While the law's backers say the decrease shows the state's immigration laws are working, other factors contributed to immigrants leaving the state, such a construction industry that hemorrhaged jobs during that period.
Democratic state Sen. Steve Gallardo of Phoenix, an opponent of the law, said the imbalance in the number of cases against employers versus workers is a reflection of legislators who wanted to appear tough on illegal immigration but gave employers plenty of wiggle room.
"You have an employer sanctions law that doesn't go after the employers," Gallardo said. "We should call it the employee sanctions law."
More than 500 immigrants who weren't authorized to be in the country have been arrested on charges of using forged documents or stolen identities to get jobs at businesses raided by Arpaio's office since 2008. An unknown number of additional ID theft arrests were made by other police agencies, which don't raid businesses in enforcing the law but make cases when people complain that their identity has been stolen.
Lawyers for immigrants accused of ID theft say their clients used fake or stolen identities to get jobs, not to rack up debt under another person's name. Their clients spend months in jail without the chance of getting a bond set, because a voter-approved law denies bail to people who aren't in the country legally and are charged with serious felonies, such as murder, sexual assault and aggravated identity theft.
Immigrants desperate to earn money to support their families often plead guilty to felony charges to get out of jail, walking away with time-served but often facing deportation and unable to ever again enter the U.S. legally, their lawyers said.
The law's backers say illegal immigrants who steal identities to get jobs are still committing a crime. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, the top prosecutor for the state's most populous county, said identity theft victims may get a letter saying they owe back taxes for jobs they've never held, could have problems getting loans and face hassle in untangling the mess.
While most of the ID theft cases end in guilty pleas, one case that went to trial last year ended with an acquittal, even though the man from Costa Rica told jurors he used someone else's Social Security number to get a job.
Walter Flores-Garcia, a 47-year-old concrete company worker, told jurors that he didn't return to Costa Rica after he overstayed his visa because his daughter wouldn't get the same type of treatment for her cerebral palsy back home. He also told jurors he used someone else's information on work documents to get a job and had no intention to defraud the true Social Security number holder.
Jury forewoman Marilee Avina said jurors concluded Flores-Garcia wasn't leeching off others and took all possible steps to be legitimate. "One specific juror said, 'This could have been me,'" Avina said.
The chief difficulty in making cases against employers is that it's not enough to prove a business hired an illegal immigrant. To prove a case, prosecutors say they need a confession from an owner or hiring manager, or a recording of an owner admitting to breaking the law ? all of which are difficult to come by.
Another barrier is the law doesn't give prosecutors civil subpoena power to make suspected violators hand over records while the case is being investigated.
Business owners say the law puts them in a tight spot. They note they aren't document experts, and insist they would open themselves up to civil rights lawsuits if they were to inquire too deeply into whether a prospective employee is in the country legally.
"It's not the employer's job to be the Border Patrol," said Marion "Mac" Magruder, an opponent of the law who runs a human resource business and grew so frustrated with Arpaio raids that he resigned as a volunteer in one of the sheriff's posses.
The sheriff stands by his raids and fake ID arrests, saying there's no rationalization for stealing a person's identity and that his officers aren't raiding businesses with the goal of seeing if workers are here illegally.
"I am going in there to lock these people up. They just happen to be here illegally. That doesn't change that they are violating the law with fake IDs," Arpaio said.
The sheriff said he's bothered that so few employers have been brought to court and called the law's penalties for employers weak. "I would love to catch the employers," Arpaio said.
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Public release date: 19-May-2013
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