THE HEADLINES

Undocumented immigrants being searched before boarding a plane taking them out of the US and back to Guatemala (Photo by Getty Images/AFP)

9

“YOU CAN COUNT ON SEEING MORE OF THIS NEXT YEAR.”

(Los Angeles Times)

The Obama administration announced with glee on Tuesday that the number of immigrants deported on their watch hit a record of nearly 400,000 over a period from October of 2010 through September of this year. That amount tops the previous record set last year. Deportations under President Obama have increased sharply from the Bush administration, and the Obama administration is touting its deportation record among undocumented immigrants with often minor felony and misdemeanor criminal convictions. For example, nearly 34,000 immigrants were deported whose only crime was a conviction of driving under the influence. Immigrant advocates are critical of the president’s deportation policy, noting that deportations have reached another record even while the number of undocumented immigrants trying to enter the United States has decreased significantly. On the other side, conservative lawmakers and anti-immigrant activists criticize the administration for not deporting more immigrants, renewing claims that Obama is offering “amnesty.” Faced with this pressure from both sides of the debate the administration clearly has chosen to respond only to their conservative critics, ICE Commissioner John Morton promising that there will be “more of this next year” in reference to rising deportation rates.

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“GOD’S WORK” ON WALL STREET REQUIRES A LOT OF COMPENSATION FOR VERY BAD RESULTS…

(CNN Money)

Is there any wonder why thousands of people are camped at Wall Street in protest of the behavior of the country’s banking elite when news breaks that Goldman Sachs, the esteemed Wall Street firm, announces a sharp dive in profits while still throwing billions of dollars in bonuses at their executives? Goldman, the firm where CEO Lloyd Blankfein once said he and his compatriots were doing “God’s work,” had a rough first nine months of 2011, seeing their booming profits shrink to a measly $1.5 billion. Compensation for Goldman executives, however, reached a total of $10 billion for the same period. The investment giant allocates 44 percent of its overall revenue for compensation. And Goldman is not alone. Most of the major banks that received massive government bailouts and are now complaining of onerous regulations that have forced them to impose new fees on their customers have seen their compensation go up in the last year. Bank of America, the leading target of the “Occupy Wall Street” protests for its dual decisions to charge a debit card fee and lay off 30,000 workers, actually saw its expenses for “personnel” rise by 7 percent last year.

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“ELECTORAL GENOCIDE” IN SOUTH CAROLINA: NEW VOTER ID MANDATE DISENFRANCHISES ENTIRE PRECINCTS OF BLACK VOTERS.

(Myrtle Beach Sun News)

Just as many critics feared, South Carolina’s new law mandating state-issued photo identification in order to cast a ballot is unfairly impacting African-American voters in the state. A new study shows that while a majority of the nearly 217,000 South Carolina voters without photo ID and unable to vote are white, more serious consequences are found among black residents in specific locations and voting precincts. With the law in effect, there are a number of precincts where a majority of non-white voters lack proper photo identification and are ineligible to vote, leading to mass disenfranchisement in the state. Opponents of the voter ID mandate question why such analysis proving their concerns about black disenfranchisement weren’t addressed before the law was signed by Gov. Nikki Haley and then approved by the federal Justice Department. Although the state ID cards are free, residents need specific documents in order to obtain one, a reason many don;’t have photo ID in the first place. State officials are not concerned about the numbers, claiming that resident locked out of the voting booth simply “have to take some action to get proper ID.”

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FAILED AMERICAN DIPLOMACY PUTS FLORIDA AT RISK FROM NEW ROUND OF CUBAN OFFSHORE DRILLING.

(St. Petersburg Times)

Thanks to decades of almost non-existent relations and a strict embargo between the two countries, US government officials admit they will have almost no ability to respond in the case of a significant oil spill stemming from drilling authorized by Cuba in the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the sites are only a few dozen miles from the Florida Keys and other areas of the Florida coast, raising concerns about what US authorities could do in the event of a spill. Chilly diplomatic relations means Cuba will not allow American teams into their waters to deal with any drilling-related catastrophe, forcing the federal government to convince the Spanish company with oil interests in the US that is doing the Cuban drilling to take proper precautions. Lawmakers remain concerned about the impacts, although a Republican senator from Tennessee sees the onset of Cuban drilling as an opportunity to commence oil exploration in US waters close to Florida, asking “why not drill there”?

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