On The Bright Side

There is no doubt that on immigration reform, Latino voters pay the most attention. And they know what happened yesterday. Here is from CNN:

A federal appeals court on Tuesday denied a request from Justice Department lawyers to allow President Barack Obama’s controversial immigration actions to go into effect pending appeal.

The decision is a victory for Texas and 25 other states that are challenging the Obama administration’s actions, which were blocked by a District Court judge in February. Tuesday’s decision means that while the issue is appealed, eligible undocumented immigrants will be unable to apply for the programs aimed at easing deportation threats.

This just seals the Latino vote for Hillary Clinton and the Dems. That’s the bright side. No se puede GOP!

This is Day 2 of no “Today” because of local news coverage of the weather.

This is a smart move by the Chron:

Houston Chronicle retweeted
joysewing ‏@joysewing 4m4 minutes ago
Message to readers: http://HoustonChronicle.com paywall taken down temporarily – Houston Chronicle http://www.chron.com/houston/article/Message-to-readers-Impact-of-weather-on-home-6285905.php … via @HoustonChron

B’More has class for sure! Check out these tweets:

VoteAstros ‏@astros 14m14 minutes ago
Moment of silence prior to tonight’s game for the lives lost in the Houston floods. Thank you, @Orioles. pic.twitter.com/USv753CYvG

Brian McTaggart ⚾️ ‏@brianmctaggart 14m14 minutes ago
Orioles held a moment of silence prior to tonight’s game for the lives lost in the Houston floods.

I guess we can get back to politics and campaigning today.

Name the ‘Stro hitter who leads the team in walks?

Commentary has been watching the History Channel’s “Texas Rising.” It has been pretty interesting once you get past the topography liberties taken by the show’s director and producer.

It is probably too early to call, but Jose Altuve has a commanding lead in early voting in the race for starting second baseman for the 2015 AL All Star Team. Here are some Footnote tweets:

Alyson Footer ‏@alysonfooter 2h2 hours ago
In-stadium balloting gave the advantage to teams who draw well. Lesser teams’ players didn’t get same love, even when deserving.

Alyson Footer ‏@alysonfooter 2h2 hours ago
That’s the long way of saying that Jose Altuve is leading all AL second basemen by a whole lotta votes.

And a tweet from Tags:

Brian McTaggart ⚾️ ‏@brianmctaggart 44m44 minutes ago
Astros first to 30 wins after taking down O’s: http://atmlb.com/1HJVxJN

George Springer of course has 29 walks to lead the team.

30-17 is pretty good. They are a fun team to watch.

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The President and Latinos

The President’s standing among Latino voters has climbed and today Politico has an article on him being the first “Latino President.” I don’t know about that but I can’t recall a President who has been out there more for our community –can you? The numbers speak for themselves.

In 2012, it was the DREAMers and last month it was for five million folks or so. No argument! Pay attention to us and good things happen.

Meanwhile on a somewhat related note, Guv Dude says the following in an article today written by Peggy Fikac: “I think we’ve done a great job in Texas of reaching out to the Hispanic population.”

You have to be kidding – right? How can he say that?

I tweeted this yesterday:

Marc Campos retweeted
MSN @MSN • 4h 4 hours ago
Obama’s approval rating has spiked 10% with Latino voters in the wake of his new executive action on immigration. http://on-msn.com/1xswXrH

Here is the MSN story on the President’s polling numbers and Latinos:

President Obama’s approval rating has spiked 10 percentage points with Latino voters in the wake of his new executive action on immigration, according to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.

Some 57 percent of Latino adults say they approve of the president, up from 47 percent in September. That increase was driven by younger Hispanics: of those aged 18-39, Obama’s approval has jumped from 46 percent to 63 percent over that time period.

Moreover, two-thirds of Latino voters now say they like the president’s immigration policy.

Late last month, Obama unveiled a program that offers deportation protection and work permits to many illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children or are the parents of citizens or permanent residents. An estimated 5 million people will be eligible for the relief.

The move drew outcry from many Republicans, and Latino voters appear nonplussed. Fewer than a quarter of those surveyed give the GOP a positive approval rating, while 42 percent say they see the party negatively.

Just 27 percent of Latinos say it would be better for the next president to be Republican, while 62 percent say the party is not doing a good job of addressing the concerns of their community.

That discontent is reflected when survey respondents were asked about specific Republican candidates — including those who are the children on Cuban immigrants.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) carries a 21-percent approval rating, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who over the weekend waged a lengthy procedural protest on the Senate floor objecting to the president’s immigration action, is seen positively by just 17 percent. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who this week said he was formally weighing a presidential bid, carries a 28-percent approval rating.

By contrast, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is seen positively by 61 percent of Latino voters.

The following from Politico will drive GOP Latinos batty. Latino voters certainly know what is going on. Take this from Politico:

Bill Clinton was the first black president. Thursday afternoon, taking in the Cuba thaw after weeks buoyed by President Barack Obama’s immigration reform executive actions, Labor Secretary Tom Perez put down a new marker for his own boss.

“When I reflect on the breadth and depth of what he has done for Latinos, it really makes him in my mind, and in the minds of so many others, the first Latino president,” said Perez, the son of Dominican immigrants and one of the administration’s highest-ranking Latinos.

Perez isn’t alone in that assessment. But many Latinos aren’t ready to go that far. But they’re starting to move. Obama’s approval rating shot up among Latinos since the executive action announcement, and the change in Cuba policy is a reminder of just how much politics have shifted: Most older Cubans rage against lifting the embargo, while most younger Cubans track with the American public in supporting what Obama did — not to mention that Cubans now make up only 3.5 percent of the country’s Hispanic population. But polls show non-Cuban Hispanics support normalizing relations with Cuba by far greater margins.

Obama has already increased his Latino support from 67 percent in 2008 to 71 percent in 2012. If things keep up this way, pollsters see the chance that one of his electoral legacies could be helping deliver upward of 80 percent of a quickly growing population to the next Democratic nominee.

Gary Segura, the principal and co-founder of the polling firm Latino Decisions, said Republicans risk hastening that along if they spend the next two years railing against the immigration executive actions — which, he said, will only help Obama’s standing among Latinos by giving him a chance to repeatedly remind them that he stood with them.

“He’ll spend most of the last two years of his presidency defending Latinos and his executive action. He’ll look good, his party will look good, the opposition party will look bad,” Segura said.

Here is the entire article: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/the-first-latino-president-113694.html#ixzz3MMCEY9xG

I am skipping today’s MLB question and I don’t have anything from The Yard.

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