SB 123/NVision Passes Senate, Has 12 Days in Assembly

This spring, we've been tracking the many twists and turns of SB 123 in Carson City. It was originally a bill meant to strengthen Nevada's renewable energy portfolio, then NV Energy snatched it and transformed it into its own profit expanding beast energy plan. But when NV Energy and many legislators (supporting SB 123-cum-NVision) started feeling blowback over the revised bill, NV Energy agreed to further revise the bill to mollify various grassroots environmental activists and consumer advocates worried about the direction SB 123 had taken.

And finally today, the (yet again) revised SB 123 passed the full Senate

Senate Bill 123, one of the most lobbied measures this session, lays out a 10-year plan for NV Energy to acquire and generate more clean energy-- a policy goal that won wide support from a broad coalition of politicians and environmental groups. But the language governing how the utility would replace its coal-fired plants and how much regulatory power the Public Utilities Commission would have over the plan opened rifts among some of the most powerful interests at the Legislature.

The measure also generated an outcry from the Public Utilities Commission, which feared it would shackle their ability to regulate the utility, and the Bureau of Consumer Protection, which argued the bill could lead to higher rate increases than projected by the utility.

But in presenting the bill to his colleagues on the floor, Sen. Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas, said lawmakers were able to broker a compromise among the various interests lobbying the bill, including scaling back the scope of what NV Energy would be mandated to build and giving the PUC more authority to modify the plan over the course of the next decade.

"This bill puts Nevada at the forefront of energy policy in this country," Atkinson said, arguing it does not "sacrifice regulatory oversight."

Even now, the bill still faces opposition from a coalition spanning the ideological spectrum (from Frankie Sue Del Papa to RAN). But at this point, the SB 123 and NV Energy seem to have enough support spanning the ideological spectrum (from Governor Brian Sandoval & Pete Ernaut to US Senator Harry Reid, Nevada Conservation League, & Nevada AFL-CIO) to pass the Assembly. And of course, Governor Sandoval is very ready to sign it into law.

Over time, this bill and the issues behind it have become quite complicated. We want more renewable energy, but do we also want to open the door to fracking in Nevada? We want to reduce our carbon footprint, but how much of that will this actually accomplish? We don't want consumers stuck footing the bill just so NV Energy can increase profits at our expense, so are we still at risk for that now?

The Assembly has 12 days to sort this all out and render a final verdict on SB 123. Good luck with that.

What Are We Waiting For?

This week, we've been noticing something quite amazing. KSNV/News 3 Las Vegas has been airing an extended report from Dana Wagner on how climate change is already affecting Southern Nevada. Oh yes, that's right. We're already beginning to see the effects now.



And remember, this is only the beginning. We're only seeing the beginning of a new era of mega-disasters and overall weather that's quite different from what we had been accustomed to. And we can't say we weren't warned.

UC San Diego History & Science Studies Professor Naomi Oreskes has been warning of the climate crisis for some time. She even detailed the overwhelming scientific consensus on human induced climate change in Science Magazine... In 2004! Earlier this week, she appeared on San Diego PBS station KPBS' "Evening Edition" to discuss the glaring disconnect of overwhelming scientific consensus from public policy on Capitol Hill.



Remember, 97% of scientists agree that humans have had a role in creating the climate crisis. And since it's incredibly rare for 97% of scientists to agree on much of anything, this number is simply stunning. This alone should be reason for us to act.

And if that isn't, this should be. Nevada and the nation overall stand to benefit from renewable energy investment! So really, what are we waiting for?

Really, what are we waiting for? Our economic well being is at stake. And my goodness, our own survival is at stake. Climate change is already happening, and our fossil fuel addiction is already causing us trouble now. Can we afford to wait any longer and play with this incredibly dangerous fire?

What are we waiting for?

Carpe Diem (Delayed, But Not Destroyed)

Surprise! As the 77th session of the Nevada Legislature begins to end, it's all but certain now that the state budget will be looking quite "Gov Rec". After all the drama and all the "conversations" on tax reform, Governor Brian Sandoval (R-Denial) seems to be getting his way after all.

“We have talked about education ad nauseam,” said Sen. Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas. “It’s not going to go anywhere. We realized that today.”

Not that Democrats are happy about it. Angry, resigned, tearful, frustrated and indignant may better describe their emotional state during an hours-long floor fight in which the two parties pointed accusing fingers at one another.

“It’s called minority rule, and that’s the situation we’re in,” said Sen. Debbie Smith, D-Sparks. “We’ve tried. We’ve done what we’ve done every session.” [...]

The capitulation is a further indication that Democrats will concede to Gov. Brian Sandoval, passing in large part his $6.6 billion state budget plan. Sandoval has proposed $120 million in additional funding for English-language learner programs, full-day kindergarten and other programs.

Democrats have argued the funding is not enough for a school system burdened with massive class sizes and poor graduation rates while undergoing $700 million in cuts through the recession.

But Republicans, led by Sandoval, refused to consider a tax increase this session. Sandoval, who faces re-election next year, contends the recovering economy will be enough to fund education services. And Republicans in the Legislature decided to back him.

Actually, the final paragraph above is not entirely true. After all, State Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson (R-Henderson) was peddling his IP 1/Education Initiative mining tax alternative. He just gave up on it when it became increasingly obvious that his alternative tax initiative had no chance in hell of passing.

So in turn, Roberson turned the screws on the Democratic leaders' tax plan. And to be fair, it wasn't all that difficult to do so, as the plan being cooked up by Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick (D-North Las Vegas) and Senate Majority Leader Mo Denis (D-North Las Vegas) was quickly devolving into a political labyrinth lacking in common sense policy. They were preparing to make a deal. But at this point, was that deal worth caving completely to Senator Roberson and other Republicans demanding (even) more concessions?

So now, we're back at Square One. We're back at "Gov Rec" and everyone's favorite silly Sunset Taxes. And we're back to our regularly scheduled chronic underfunding of our public infrastructure.

Of course, Governor "Magic Man" is hailing this as a huge victory. And yes, it's a major political victory for him. But for the people of this state, it's another in a very long string of policy FAILs. The most "juiced up" corporate special interests will continue paying just above nothing while We the People continue to suffer overcrowded & dilapidated schools, severely strained health care, transportation in disrepair, and more.

But at least this time, we can still hold onto the promise of a better tomorrow. Sure, it won't actually come tomorrow. But with The Education Initiative on next year's general election ballot, We the People will finally have the opportunity to do what the Governor and many legislators simply refuse to do. We the People will finally have the chance to begin fixing our anachronous, broken tax system while also mending our tattered social safety net. And frankly, it's long past time for We the People to carpe diem.

Things may look depressing in Carson City now. But just because the Governor is getting his cherished status quo now doesn't mean we must allow it to perpetuate next year. Legislators couldn't agree on a "carpe diem" in the Legislature Building this year, but that doesn't mean voters can't do so at the ballot box next year.

Wedge

Well, it finally happened today. After nearly four months of angst and intrigue, comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) passed the US Senate Judiciary Committee today. However, there was a catch. And for many LGBTQ families, it's a brutal one.

In a bipartisan vote of 13 to 5, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws Tuesday evening, sending the legislation onto the floor, where the fight is expected to last through June.

The move came as the committee reached a deal on one of the final snags threatening the legislation — and agreed to hold off on another particularly controversial amendment, which would have added protections for same-sex couples. [...]

The most moving part of the committee process, which stretched over five days and 301 amendments, came late Tuesday, when Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who leads the committee, revealed that he would not offer a controversial amendment allowing United States citizens to apply for permanent resident status, known as a green card, on behalf of their same-sex partners.

Mr. Leahy, according to advocates for gay rights and for immigration, was under pressure from Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York and an author of the measure, as well as from the White House, not to offer this amendment. Though both President Obama and Democrats in the bipartisan group support protections for same-sex couples in the bill, Republicans in the group have warned that such provisions would lead them to abandon the legislation entirely.

So tonight, many progressives have mixed feelings. On one hand, CIR is moving forward. But on the other hand, many are deliberately being left behind. HRC President Chad Griffin released this statement (via Towleroad) moments ago.

"As we come together as a nation to tackle our broken immigration system, it is deplorable that a small number of Senators have been able to stand in the way of progress for lesbian and gay couples torn apart by discriminatory laws. Instead of working to achieve common-sense solutions, Senators Graham, Flake, McCain and Rubio threatened to derail the entire immigration bill to appease a small but vocal group of anti-gay social conservatives that will do anything to stop progress for lesbian and gay couples. We are extremely disappointed that our allies did not put their anti-LGBT colleagues on the spot and force a vote on the measure that remains popular with the American people. We will continue to work hard to include bi-national same-sex couples as the bill moves to the floor and remain committed to the underlying principles of inclusive and comprehensive immigration reform. We owe it to the estimated 267,000 undocumented LGBT adults and estimated 24,700 LGBT bi-national couples living in the U.S. today to get the job done."

As we've discussed before, Senate Gang of 8 Republicans have threatened to abandon their own bill of LGBTQ immigrants receive assistance from this bill. And apparently, this threat was enough for Gang of 8 Democrats to force Senator Leahy to abandon his own amendment. He can still introduce it on the Senate floor, but it's unclear whether UAFA has the political juice to be revived on the floor.

Several Democrats decided to sacrifice LGBTQ equality in the Senate CIR bill in hopes that the bill passes with strong bipartisan support. They also did so in hopes that the US Supreme Court will essentially take care of binational LGBTQ families for them by striking down DOMA (which presently prevents the federal government from recognizing marriage equality). And now, they're starting to receive blowback from activists.

Yet while Senate Democrats were forced into an incredibly difficult spot, House Republicans will soon be forced into their own uncomfortable position. Will they allow any CIR bill to pass their chamber?

It’s increasingly looking like House Republicans will eventually face a clear choice on immigration: bring up and pass the Senate bill, mostly with Democratic votes, or take the blame for killing comprehensive immigration reform. [...]

On the House side … well, the best the House bipartisan group can do on key issues is to agree to disagree for now. Meanwhile, Democratic leaders have backed away from the House bipartisan effort because it is too conservative for them, while Republicans still haven’t committed to moving any full comprehensive bill —and with conservative outside groups adding to the pressure,the math of the House will require leaders of both parties to be on board for any House-authored bill to succeed.

In other words, it still appears that the only bill that could win in the House would be something passed by a strong bipartisan vote in the Senate.

As I’ve said before, then the key players will be mainstream House conservatives, who will have to decide who to offend: anti-immigrant voters in Republican primaries, or Latino and other voters who want reform. Many of those conservatives will vote against the Senate bill if John Boehner brings it up, but he won’t do that without their (private) support.

Earlier this year, Reps. Joe Heck (R-Henderson) and Mark Amodei (R-Carson City) signaled willingness to embrace CIR. We may soon see the day when they will have to decide whether to match their words with action. And of course, Speaker Boehner is again wedged between the sane supermajority and the insane 21st Century Know Nothings. Any guesses as to which side he will take?

At this point, we're seeing plenty of wedges, ditches, and hurdles as CIR moves on in Congress. Yet at the same time, it keeps moving forward. Can it finally pass the full Congress? Or will the bill soon be wedged to death?

"Unbelievable Chutzpah"

Every so often, we're reminded (again) of the incredible sweetheart deal Apple now enjoys here in Nevada. Even as Apple (mis)uses Nevada to avoid paying (California) state and federal taxes, the tech giant has scored an $89 million shroud of legitimacy here. Yet while Apple basks in the glory of its Nevada sweetheart deal, the company faces increasing scrutiny from Members of Congress.

Congressional investigators found that some of Apple’s subsidiaries had no employees and were largely run by top officials from the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. But by officially locating them in places like Ireland, Apple was able to, in effect, make them stateless — exempt from taxes, record-keeping laws and the need for the subsidiaries to even file tax returns anywhere in the world.

“Apple wasn’t satisfied with shifting its profits to a low-tax offshore tax haven,” said Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that is holding the public hearing Tuesday into Apple’s use of tax havens. “Apple successfully sought the holy grail of tax avoidance. It has created offshore entities holding tens of billions of dollars while claiming to be tax resident nowhere.”

Thanks to what lawmakers called “gimmicks” and “schemes,” Apple was able to largely sidestep taxes on tens of billions of dollars it earned outside the United States in recent years. Last year, international operations accounted for 61 percent of Apple’s total revenue.

At that hearing earlier today, Congresscritters on both sides of the aisle were horrified... But one still wanted his daily Apple.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

"If anyone should be on trial here, it should be Congress," [Senator Rand] Paul [R-Kentucky] declared. "I frankly think the committee should apologize to Apple.... I would say what we really need to do is to apologize to Apple, compliment them for the job creation they are doing, and get about doing our job.

Nearly three years ago, after much of the country -- and much of Congress -- was condemning BP for the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) apologized to the oil giant, saying it was wrong for Washington to try to hold the company responsible for its failures.

And now, it's Rand Paul wanting to apologize to Apple for questioning its tax-avoidance schemes. Amazing.

Now to be fair, Senator Paul has one valid point. Congress has allowed the corporate taxation regime to fall into a mound of Swiss Cheese as multinational corporations like Apple exploit countless loopholes to avoid paying taxes. But of course, from there Senator Paul's rant descended into pure nonsense. Yes, Apple's "legal" tax evasion truly is a problem.

Paul aside, the bipartisan tone was one of assailing Apple for using Ireland-based shell companies to avoid U.S. corporate income tax. Said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the subcommittee: “The offshore tax-avoidance tactics spotlighted by the subcommittee do real harm. They disadvantage domestic U.S. companies that aren’t in a position to reduce their tax bills using offshore tax gimmicks. They offload Apple’s tax burden onto other taxpayers – in particular, onto working families and small businesses. The lost tax revenue feeds a budget deficit that has reached troubling proportions, and has helped lead to round after round of budget slashing and the ill-advised sequestration now threatening our economic recovery.”

And ranking member John McCain (R-Ariz.) added, “Apple’s corporate tax strategy reflects a flawed corporate tax system that allows large multinational corporations to shift profits offshore to low-tax jurisdictions. For years, Apple has opted to forgo fully contributing to the U.S. treasury and to American society by shifting profits and circumventing U.S. taxes. In the last four years alone, Apple has avoided paying taxes on $44 billion in income.”

And as we've discussed before, this is a serious problem. After all, taxes are the price we pay for civilization. So when corporations like Apple exploit numerous loopholes to stiff the feds (and the states), we can expect less civilization.

Stuffing revenue in some low-tax, high-privacy bank in the Caribbean? 'Bout as forward-thinking as a Blackberry. Apple, as the New York Times reported today, uses nothing less than the iPhone 5 of tax havens, exploiting the loopholes of the international tax system in such a way that billions of dollars in profits have not been listed in any tax filing anywhere.

At the center of the operation is an Ireland-based subsidiary called Apple Operations International, which collected $30 billion in income between 2009 and 2012. Over the last five years, Apple Operations International has not filed a tax return in any country.

As USC law professor Edward Kleinbard told the Times, "There is a technical term economists like to use for behavior like this: Unbelievable chutzpah."

The revelations about Apple's tax strategies emerged from a Congressional investigation into the company's finances. The examination found that Apple "shifted at least $74 billion from the reach of the Internal Revenue Service between 2009 and 2012," according to the Times. The most startling discovery, though, was in how Apple's tax plan was so effective. [...]

Every dollar Apple saves, of course, is a dollar that doesn't go into America's public bank account. Which means one less dollar to go into education or health care or some other government service; or one more dollar to be pulled from somebody's paycheck. While Apple's revenues make it among the country's largest tax-payers, the Congressional investigation reported that the Silicon Valley giant paid a tax rate of 20.1 percent, which is four to 12 percent lower than it lists in its disclosures.

Across the nation, school districts are being forced to shut down schools "thanks" to recent state and federal budget cuts. And here in Nevada, the state faces a possible law suit for chronic underfunding of public education. Even Nevada State Board of Education President Elaine Wynn recently admitted, "We are grossly underfunded." Schools continue to fall apart, classrooms continue to overflow, teachers continue to face constant threats from administration, and students continue to suffer.


And why? So that Apple and other multinational corporations can engage in "legal" tax evasion? So that their executives can bask in the glory of slightly bigger profit margins? How is this helping any one? Think about it.

In the Wake of the Storm

Yesterday, this horrific tornado ripped through Moore, Oklahoma. As you can see below, it truly was as frightening as we were hearing from survivors yesterday.



Fortunately, we've seen some good news since last night. For one, the death toll has actually been revised downward. It now stands at 24, as some lost victims were counted twice amidst all the chaos of the first few hours after the storm.

Also, charities have been quick to begin delivering aid where it's most needed in Oklahoma. And with continued support, they should be able to continue helping there.



And now, federal assistance should be coming soon... Or will it? Earlier this morning, Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) actually demanded "offsets" for any and all federal disaster aid for his own state. No really, he went there.

I've seen many note overnight that Coburn is at least consistent -- there are plenty of politicians who've balked at disaster-relief funds when there's a devastating storm, only to change their minds when their constituents are among the casualties. Coburn, however, has routinely questioned emergency funding for everyone, and apparently wants to apply the same standards to his own home state.

But while consistently is welcome, it doesn't change the questions about unnecessary callousness.

For many years, federal disaster relief was effectively automatic -- there was bipartisan support for quickly responding to American communities in their time of need. It was a reflection of who we are as a people -- when disaster strikes, we're there for the people in affected areas, regardless of politics.

But in recent years, many Republican lawmakers have decided to change the standards. Under the new approach, they'll consider emergency resources, but only if Democrats agree to cut a comparable amount from the budget elsewhere. There's no real economic rationale for this, but for much of the right, the ideological rationale is sufficient.

However since then, Senator Coburn has been quieter about it. His office pledged earlier to work with Congressional colleagues and President Obama to send help without delay. So we'll have to wait and see if Oklahoma Tornado aid becomes as politically thorny as efforts earlier this year to secure aid for Hurricane Sandy victims.

Already, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) has promised speedy delivery of federal assistance to Oklahoma...

"While we may not know the extent of the damage for some time, we will continue to do everything in our power to help the people of Oklahoma as they recover from these terrible tornadoes," Reid said. "And we will stand vigilant today, ready to send additional assistance as more storms threaten the region."

"Whenever tragedy strikes one part of our nation, it strikes us all. And so I pledge the people of Oklahoma our continued support as they begin to rebuild."

And so has President Obama.



As we discussed last night, austerity has harmed our efforts to both prepare for disasters like this beforehand one and respond to them afterward. And now, some in the "tea party" (including one of Oklahoma's own US Senators?!) want to (mis)use this disaster to force more austerity upon the country? Why? Why must we worsen the toll of this disaster by demanding unnecessary suffering on top of the pain that many in The Midwest are already enduring? Joan Walsh nails the nonsensical insanity of this ideological rigidity.

Especially in the wake of the sequester cuts, the notion that the federal budget is larded with easily eliminated spending is ludicrous. Would Coburn like to see more kids thrown out of Head Start? More seniors losing Meals on Wheels? The federal deficit is shrinking faster than at any time since just after World War II, but Coburn is going to insist that someone, somewhere must lose their federal help so Oklahoma can get it instead.

There’s something so typical about today’s GOP in the way Inhofe can dismiss comparisons between tornado aid and Sandy aid, while Coburn grandstands for his long-term demand that new spending, even on disaster relief, must be “offset” by cuts elsewhere. Meanwhile, the notion that a new disaster relief bill should include funding to cope with future disasters isn’t lauded as common sense, it’s derided as pork. Like Inhofe, Coburn objected to the Sandy bill’s including funding for future disaster relief. (It should be noted that Moore, Okla. Rep. Tom Cole, also a Republican, voted for the Sandy aid bill.)

Just as modern conservatism helped create categories of “deserving” and “undeserving” poor, we now apparently have deserving and undeserving disasters. When tragedy strikes, most Americans tend to want to pull together, but many Republicans look to pull us apart, placing their own constituents’ needs above everyone else’s.

And as we were discussing last night, this likely won't be the last time we see this kind of horror. New research strongly suggests we're in for even more mega-disasters as the climate crisis continues to worsen. No really, think about it. While we don't know how climate change was involved in this specific storm, it's been affecting the overall landscape of Tornado Alley.

Climate change is supposed, among other things, to bring warmer and moister air to earth. That, of course, would lead to more severe thunderstorms and probably more tornadoes. The issue is that global warming is also forecast to bring about less wind shear. This would allow hurricanes to form more easily, but it also would make it much harder for tornadoes to get the full about lift and instability that allow for your usual thunderstorm to grow in height and become a fully-fledged tornado. Statistics over the past 50 years bear this out, as we've seen warmer and more moist air as well as less wind shear.

Meteorological studies differ on whether or not the warmer and moister air can overcome a lack of wind shear in creating more tornadoes in the far future. In the immediate past, the jet stream, possibly because of climate change, has been quite volatile. Some years it has dug south to allow maximum tornado activity in the middle of the country, while other years it has stayed to the north.

Although tornado reporting has in prior decades been not as reliable as today because of a lack of equipment and manpower, it's still not by accident that the six least active and four most active tornado seasons have been felt over the past decade. Another statistic that points to the irregular patterns is that the three earliest and four latest starts to the tornado season have all occurred in the past 15 years.

Basically, we've had this push and pull in recent history. Some years the number of tornadoes is quite high, and some years it is quite low. We're not seeing "average" seasons as much any more, though the average of the extremes has led to no meaningful change to the average number of tornadoes per year. Expect this variation to continue into the future as less wind shear and warmer moister air fight it out.

The overall result could very well be fewer days of tornadoes per Harold Brooks of the National Storm Center, but more and stronger tornadoes when they do occur. Nothing about the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, or tornadoes over the past few decades break with this theory.

Over 30 million people worldwide were displaced last year due to climate change related natural disasters. How much more evidence do we need here? How much more disaster must we endure before we act to save ourselves and each other?

In the wake of the storm, we face some difficult questions to answer. How will we answer them? Will we give the people of Oklahoma the helping hand up that they so desperately need? And will we be proactive in preparing for a dangerous future?

Which Way, Senator?

This spring, we've been monitoring the progress of SB 303 in the Nevada Legislature. As of late, the fate of comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) in Congress has been looking increasingly cloudy. Yet despite all the "TEA" tinged angst in Washington, we hardly noticed any of that yesterday in Carson City.

Immigrants who came to the country illegally would be able to obtain a driver’s privilege card under a bill approved Monday by the Senate, whose supporters said it would make roads safer and contribute to the economy.

Senate Majority Leader Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, estimated 60,000 individuals would apply for this authorization to drive legally. That could mean additional money for the state highway fund that is used to build roads, he said.

Sen. Ruben Kihuen, D-Las Vegas, said these authorization cards would result in vehicle and insurance purchases. He said statistics show that unlicensed drivers are the most dangerous.

Sen. Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, said this was a protection-of-jobs issue.

“They can drive without fear of being deported on their way to work,” he said.

We've discussed this before. The policy makes sense. What makes no sense is forcing people to hide in the shadows, face exploitation, and drive dangerously.

What's tough here is the politics of immigration. The 21st Century Know Nothings are dead set against reform. And now, they're (again) forcing the rest of the Republican Party down the xenophobic path to irrelevancy...

Except here in Nevada? The State Senate vote on SB 303 was 20-1. Only Senator Don Gustavson (R-Sparks) voted against the bill.

So did US Senator Dean Heller (R-46%) notice? Perhaps he did. Yet while this has been occurring in in Carson City, Washington has been embroiled in endless drama. Heller's Senate G-O-TEA colleagues have been feigning ignorance of racial profiling. They've also been trying to spin away the economic benefits of CIR. Oh, and they've even been taking marching orders from racist assholes these creatures.

On Monday, two Department of Homeland Security unions comprising of 20,000 individuals from the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council (NICEC) and the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council (NCISC) publicly released a statement indicating their opposition to the Senate immigration bill. This letter by Chris Crane, who heads the Homeland Secretary union that represents deportation agents is only one extension of his opposition to immigration legislation. Despite the two million undocumented immigrants that have already been deported, he has been a vocal opponent of any kind of reform. [...]

Crane wrote, “U.S taxpayers are currently tasked with absorbing…the strain put on our Social Security system that has been depleted by an onslaught of refugees receiving SSI benefits as soon as their feet touch U.S. soil.” Mainstream economists have disparaged the characterization that immigrants are moochers, and instead have noted that immigrants are keeping the Social Security Trust Fund solvent.

He also wrote, “Currently, USCIS reports a 99.5 percent approval rating for all illegal alien applications for legal status filed under the Obama Administration’s new Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policies.” However, as of the latest April statistics, DACA approval rating operated at 57 percent.

Crane has worked with or appeared alongside nativist groups and immigration restrictionists, including Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and the Heritage Foundation, which is embroiled in a racism scandal. At a mid-May Tea Party sponsored tele-town hall conference with Heritage VP Derrick Morgan, Crane called the immigration reform bill “blanket amnesty” which would “provide a path to citizenship for the most criminal street gang…. all they have to do is make a claim that they’re going to renounce their gang affiliation. We know that all of these members are going to renounce their affiliation and continue their gang activity.”

Take note: This is the only way the 21st Century Know Nothings will ever show approval for a union. The Homeland Security union leaders have broken from the AFL-CIO to oppose any and all kinds of CIR... Because they fear change. Oh, and they probably fear a real solution to this longstanding problem.

So will Senator Heller get caught up in the latest xenophobic craze on the radical right? Or will he take a queue from his fellow Nevada Republicans in Carson City? We're all still waiting for the answer.

Moore Tornado

Today has been a tragic day for a wide swath of The Midwest. Tornadoes have been hitting for the past week. But today, a tornado that's already being described by some as "the worst in recorded history" hit Moore, Oklahoma.

A mile-wide tornado churned through the Oklahoma City suburbs, destroying homes for the second day in a row Monday, as part of a severe weather outbreak that was expected to spread in other parts of the Plains and Midwest. [...] “We’re just waiting to see what happens. It’s a mile-wide tornado. It’s still grinding out,” said Mark Meyers, a spokesman for the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office. “We are currently on standby for tornado response. Whatever happens, we’ll be ready to respond.” The strongest winds on earth — 302 mph — were recorded near Moore during a tornado May 3, 1999. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman had predicted a major outbreak of severe weather Monday in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Storms on Sunday killed two people near Shawnee, about 35 miles southeast of Oklahoma City. Gov. Mary Fallin earlier Monday took a tour of the areas hardest hit and she expressed concern that, with power out, Oklahomans might not receive warnings about the new round of storms.

The tornado was a mile wide with wind speeds up to 200 miles per hour. It was likely an EF 5 tornado, which is the most severe level of storm. Its footprint was 3 times the size of the 1999 storm. At least 51 people have died today... And recovery efforts are just beginning. At least 120 people have been hospitalized as a result of this tornado. Again, there's actually been a chain of tornadoes hitting The Midwest for the past week. Oklahoma already secured a federal emergency declaration before this particular tornado even hit. And now, the storm system that produced this super tornado is about to wreak havoc in Arkansas and Missouri. Lately, we've been reminded of the increasing severity of climate change. While we don't know yet how much climate change contributed to this specific storm, there's been increasing evidence of climate change... Well, affecting the weather and overall climate. Are we prepared for more "mega-disasters" like this, Hurricane Sandy, and epic Western Wildfires? Are we prepared? As we detailed earlier today, federal austerity has led to devastating budget cuts affecting emergency preparation efforts and disaster response. Already, today has been an incredibly painful day for numerous Americans. Will austerity worsen the pain wrought by natural disasters? The American Red Cross has been trying to prepare for this slew of tornadoes. But now, perhaps more than ever before, The Red Cross needs help in helping victims in Moore, Oklahoma, and in other tornado affected areas of The Midwest. If you can give, now is a good time to do so.


And stay tuned here at Nevada Progressive for further updates on the Midwestern Tornadoes.

The Final Push

Last Friday, we looked at the possibility of a breakthrough on gun safety in Carson City. Today, the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Demand Action campaign is launching a new effort for SB 221. Here's the new ad hitting Nevada airwaves.



And that's not all. Demand Action will also be deploying these gun violence victims turned gun safety advocates in Carson City to personally lobby legislators for SB 221.

Gilles Rousseau: His daughter, Lauren Rousseau, was a permanent substitute teacher murdered with a gun in the Newtown shooting. [He's also featured in the TV ad above.]

Neil Heslin –His six-year old son Jesse Lewis was a first grade student who was murdered with a gun in the Newtown shooting.

Patricia Maisch –She attended Rep. Giffords’s Congress on your Corner event and helped disarm the shooter by grabbing his second magazine clip after he was tackled.

Colonel Bill Badger (ret.) –Badger is a retired U.S. Army Colonel (1952-1990, active and reserve), a gun owner, hunter, and a registered Republican. He was invited to the Congress on the Corner event by Rep. Giffords’s staff after he expressed his opposition to the health care reform bill. Badger was shot in the back of the head by the shooter and fell to the ground. As the shooter reached for his second ammunition clip, Colonel Badger grabbed the shooter, hit him in the shoulder to knock him to the ground and put him in a choke hold.

So we will indeed see an intense last minute push for SB 221.

Yet while gun safety advocates continue pushing for SB 221, the NRA and the rest of the gun (manufacturers) lobby will be squeezing all the juice they have in Carson City to kill the bill. And remember, there's not much time left. As we're starting to see the mad dash to Sine Die, temptation to abandon bills deemed "unnecessary" (read politically inconvenient) will be intense. Gun safety advocates must be prepared for what comes next.

So are they? That's the key question right now. Can SB 221 and gun safety reform in general survive the final push?

Sounding the Alarms

For some time, we've been sounding the alarms on Nevada's patient dumping scandal. We've been warning everyone that trouble was brewing. And we sensed that trouble was about to spill all over our fine state.

Today may be the first day of reckoning. And we can't say we didn't see it coming. Los Angeles and San Francisco launched their own respective criminal probes last month into the numerous discharges from Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital who ended up in their cities, in other parts of California, and even in other parts of the country without any support system and/or treatment plans waiting for them. And now, the City of Los Angeles looks ready to sue Nevada.

Los Angeles is able to take a hard line because it has an ordinance that defines patient-dumping explicitly and lays out criminal penalties for violations. Other agencies are making use of state and federal laws that apply more broadly to hospital discharge practices – often targeting emergency rooms – or that don't list specific penalties.

"Doesn't this represent to you a crime?" asked Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, soon after the investigation was launched.

Rawson-Neal bused about 150 patients to the Greyhound bus station near Los Angeles' Skid Row in the past five years, far more than were sent to any other city.

To build their case, Trutanich's investigators are searching for former Rawson-Neal patients to learn if the circumstances of their discharges violated the city's ordinance against patient-dumping. That ordinance says patients cannot be transported from hospitals to anywhere but their homes, or the location they give as their home, without written consent.

Uh oh. But wait, there's more. Again, Nevada may soon face some very serious consequences for neglecting many of our state's most vulnerable.

If the investigation ends like several others, the hospital could settle with the city, be forced to adopt stringent discharge protocols and pay a fine.

Alternatively, the case could go to court, potentially leading to a misdemeanor criminal conviction for the hospital or some of its employees, Trutanich said.

"This is 150 people allegedly on the streets of L.A.," Trutanich said. "We're already stretched as it is."

And that's not all. The City & County of San Francisco is looking at the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act and investigating whether Rawson-Neal violated this federal law. If so, San Francisco will sue in federal court. In addition, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are conducting their own investigation to determine whether Nevada's mental health patient dumps violated federal law.

Again, we've been sounding the alarms. And after decades of letting our social safety net fall apart, we're now beginning to feel the consequences. The supposedly wise sages in Carson City thought they were being so penny wise in shortchanging investment in our community's health care, but they're now just being revealed to be incredibly pound foolish. And we may all soon pay the price for their pound foolishness.

Scandal-mania vs. Reality

Last week was supposed to be a devastating one for President Obama. After all, he was swept into Scandal-mania. And that's why his poll numbers are... Wait, they're improving?! Really?!

Here's one place where the president didn't have a dramatic week: in his approval ratings. According to two polls — the Gallup daily tracking poll, and a CNN/ORC International poll released Sunday — Obama's approval rating has more or less remained steady as potential scandal upon potential scandal blew up the news cycle.

First, here's CNN's poll, conducted over May 17-18. According to their survey, Obama's approval rating is at 53 percent. While that's a two percent rise since early April, the difference is within the margin of error of the survey, so we'll say that the president's approval rating here remained steady. Forty-five percent of Americans, meanwhile, disapprove of the job the president's doing.

Gallup's results are similar. Right now, the president is registering a 50 percent approval rating, with a slight increase over the course of Scandal Week that's within the survey's margin of error.

But wait, isn't the President mired in all that scandal? How could this be? Could it be...

The fact that Republicans are more interested in chasing imaginary Obama scandals than doing something about climate change isn’t a coincidence. The right’s talking points on climate change came directly from the fossil fuels industry. In 1991, The New York Times reported, “Coal-burning utility companies and coal producers, disturbed by public acceptance of the idea that burning fossil fuels will change the climate, are deciding whether to go national this fall with an ad campaign they tried in three markets earlier this year…The goal of the campaign, according to one planning document, is to “reposition global warming as theory” and not fact.”

The debate over climate change isn’t really about science. For Republicans, and the special interests who fund them, the climate change issue is all about money, and maintaining our dependence on fossil fuels. From 2002-2010, conservative billionaires spent $120 million to fund a network of more than 100 climate change denial organizations. The purpose of the effort is to deny the human role in climate change, and to oppose environmental regulations.

The air is dirty because Republicans are taking dirty (dark) money. Until people connect the dots, and demand that special interest money be removed from our politics, our planet will continue to die. The Obama scandals are a smokescreen to cover up the fact that Republicans would rather destroy the planet to enrich the few.

Perhaps Americans are seeing that there are far more important matters than this media feeding frenzy G-O-TEA fishing expedition slew of scandals. Perhaps they're seeing real scandals that have yet to be solved. Perhaps they're seeing the dangerous climate and painful austerity regime as the real scandals deserving of actual action.

Yet while the real scandals continue to threaten our people, 21st Century Know Nothings in Congress and their media cheerleaders continue hawking the haute faux scandals. Why? Well, it's a much "sexier" story than endless G-O-TEA obstruction of any & all attempts at progress in Congress.

The phony scandals Republicans will spend the next few months on shine a light on their inaction and not, as they hope, the President’s alleged scandal-ridden Administration. The alleged cover-up of the tragedy in Benghazi shifts attention from Republicans’ refusing to appropriate more funding for security at embassies despite requests from the State Department, and media is remiss to ever point out that Republicans never investigated or charged the Bush administration for lax security during several embassy attacks around the world during Bush’s tenure as president. However, Bush was a white man, and that fact alone gives Republicans cover for ignoring the danger inherent in Bush’s cowboy diplomacy that put “brave American heroes’” lives in jeopardy. Still, after eight months of Republicans’ transparent obstruction and blatantly dishonesty inherent in their Benghazi investigations, it is painfully obvious they refuse to accept the truth or disclosures they demanded, and received as the White House released nearly 100 pages of emails and documentation answering their questions. Their persistent investigations, hearings, and threats of new investigations are deliberate tactics to avoid governing and obstruct the President from continuing the nation’s economic recovery.

Republicans tasked car thief and House Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa with holding investigations into the alleged Benghazi scandal and phony outrage involving I.R.S. investigators who did their due diligence in scrutinizing political activists’ illegal applications for 501(C)(4) “social welfare” tax exemption, instead of investigating Karl Rove and Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity’s illegal applications meant to conceal their dark money donors. The idea that the President, or anyone in his administration ordered the IRS to target conservative groups is insane on its face, especially since it was George W. Bush’s appointee that ran the IRS. Subsequently, while Republicans are busy attempting to tie the White House and the President to using the I.R.S. to steal the 2012 election, they conveniently will avoid spending one minute on job creation or admitting new revenue from the fiscal cliff tax increases are bringing the nation’s debt down by $231 billion in a very short period of time.

Oh, yes. That's right. Whatever happened to what was originally supposed to be "THE (Original) GREAT OBAMA SCANDAL!!!" of ballooning debt and exploding deficits? It turns out that President Obama has presided over an incredibly shrinking federal budget deficit. Oh, and his new budget plan will actually cut the budget deficit even further if enacted.

Since that hasn't turned out well for Republicans (while turning out quite well for the US Treasury), they decided to shift focus. And that's why they're now obsessed with the new haute faux scandals. Yet while they're driven to relive 1990s style politics of personal destruction, Americans are more concerned about real policy problems.

So when will The Beltway finally look past the nonsensical Scandal-mania and notice reality?

King of Pain

Last year, we were raising red flags when Nevada State, Washoe County, and Reno City officials rushed to supply Apple with cover right on the heels of The New York Times catching the multinational tech giant red handed in tax evasion (and misusing Nevada's lax tax laws to do so). Not only was our state swooping in to (inappropriately) cover Apple executives' asses, but this exposed Nevada to some serious risk. But wait, what would that be?

Think about it. Apple has effectively exploited numerous loopholes to avoid paying corporate taxes to California and the federal government. What made Governor Brian Sandoval (R-Denial) and various Northern Nevada politicians think we would never face the same fate?

Well, to be fair, Apple finally seems to be moving on the new data storage center long promised to Washoe County. However, the also promised Downtown Reno business center still looks very MIA. And one must wonder just how worthwhile that $89 million worth of corporate welfare tax breaks is turning out to be.

Before Apple officially selected Northern Nevada to house its fourth data center project, both the city of Reno and Washoe County agreed to nondisclosure agreements with the company until the plans for the project, including $89 million in tax breaks, were announced at public meetings in June 2012. [...]

Generally, the area where Apple could build in downtown Reno is limited to the so-called Tessera District, which is a state-sanctioned (and City Council-approved) “tourism improvement district” located in one of the city’s most blighted neighborhoods. It encompasses the northeastern section of downtown east of Virginia Street and north of Fifth Street.

The Tessera District will allow Apple to keep 75 percent of the sales taxes it owes on equipment purchases for the data center, saving the company an estimated $72 million in sales taxes that otherwise would have been paid to the state, schools and local governments over the course of a decade.

Last fall, the Reno Planning Commission gave its approval to a 14,800-square-foot light industrial building on an empty parcel at 520 Evans Ave., located on the southern edge of the Tessera District. [...]

While the building permit was issued in October, United Construction still has not picked it up. In April, the contractor requested an extension through Oct. 10 on the permit.

There's been a glaring lack of transparency with this project. And it's been unclear when Apple will finally begin delivering on its promises to Reno and Nevada. And many are still scratching their heads and wondering why Nevada would reward Apple for its "legalized" tax evasion program. (Imagine if Apple was instead a family in need of food stamps.) Thanks to Apple's "legal" tax dodging, the federal government lost $9.2 billion in revenue. That's money that could have kept 70,000 kids in Head Start, rescinded the 10.7% cut in unemployment benefits now taking effect, fully funded disaster relief efforts, and undone even more Manufactured Crisis induced budget cuts now ravaging the country.

The scheme that Apple cooked up this week to finance a $55 billion stock buyback for its shareholders was orchestrated to avoid paying $9.2 billion in taxes, Bloomberg reported Friday. That $9.2 billion tax bill that Apple dodged would have been enough to make unnecessary all of the major budget cuts we’ve been writing about this week as part of our “Repeal the Sequester” campaign. [...]

Apple was able to do this because of techniques it uses to keep its U.S.-made profits offshore, and because of provision in the tax code that allows it to deduct interest it pays on money it borrows. That’s a double whammy: It does not pay the taxes it should on the money it earns from all of those i-whatevers we buy (including the Macbook Pro I am using to type this post) and it gets money from the government when it borrows money from a big bank rather than using the money from its overseas stockpile.

Apple makes great products, but the obscenity of its use of the tax code to avoid paying its fair share for the functions of government that make its success possible is only exceeded by the tax code itself and the nexus of ideology and corporate greed that created it.

This latest news from Apple underscores the need to end corporate tax evasion – not with lobbyist-written schemes like the “territorial tax” that would essentially engrave offshore tax dodging into the tax code but with fair, more progressive tax structures that require corporations to pay taxes on their earnings just as working people must by April 15 every year.

Nevada is now feeling the pain of the latest Manufactured Crisis, along with the rest of America. So why again are we rewarding a company that's refusing to pay its fair share? Why are we rewarding a company that's denying the federal government revenue that could have been used to help people and maintain our public infrastructure?

And in case that's not bad enough, Apple now wants a "tax holiday"! Supposedly, it's to encourage "repatriation" of corporate investment in America. Over the weekend, The Guardian's Heidi Moore reminded us of what happened last time we tried this.

Companies had a tax holiday once before, in 2004, when a set of major corporations were allowed to bring back their overseas profits at a tax rate of only 5.25%. You might imagine that it resulted in an enormous economic boost, but here's what happened instead, in the words of Treasury official Michael Mundaca:

"There is no evidence that it increased US investment or jobs, and it cost taxpayers billions … the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service reports that most of the largest beneficiaries of the holiday actually cut jobs in 2005-06 – despite overall economy-wide job growth in those years – and many used the repatriated funds simply to repurchase stock or pay dividends."

So we tried a tax holiday before, it accomplished nothing except lining some corporate coffers, and it hurt the economy. It actually gave a kind of moral permission for companies to cut jobs, even when the economy was booming.

Perhaps this time will be different... But only if there are strings attached. Rep. John Delaney (D-Maryland) has proposed a corporate tax break in exchange for investment in infrastructure bonds. At least that isn't a total giveaway.

On the other hand, Carson City has been giving away the entire store and doling out tons of corporate welfare. And what have we seen in return? Oh, we have amazingly busted public infrastructure and an incredibly tattered social safety net. Multinational corporations avoid paying us taxes, and we get screwed.

As of late, we've been seeing discussions on "The T Word" in Carson City devolve into pure nonsense. And with the clock beginning to run out up there, time is running incredibly short. And with time running incredibly short, state legislators don't seem to be agreeing on any kind of major "T Word" reform.

Alas, it's incredibly difficult for Governor Sandoval and Nevada legislators to agree on any kind of "T Word" change that would make the wealthiest and most powerful corporate interests pay something closer to their fair share. And in turn, it's incredibly difficult for them to provide what our state truly needs. This is why we're stuck with busted schools and broken hospitals and plenty of pain for the 99%.

This is the problem. As long as we fail to change the status quo, Nevada will remain the King of Pain. And the same is true in Washington.

Think about it. Why are our people suffering? And why are companies like Apple rewarded for tax evasion? Is this pain truly necessary?

Scandal-mania vs. Better Judgment

This should really be obvious. Yet because too many in the Republican Party are taking their queues from the 21st Century Know Nothings instead of reality, we'll have to explain this yet again. No, wait, I'll let Jamelle Bouie explain this.

As time progresses and these scandals begin to die down, the odds that Republicans will capture some advantage diminish. Moreover, there’s a chance this scandal fever will backfire and harm the GOP’s standing. Already, Republican officials are warning against scandal overreach, and conservative elites are warning that these controversies — even if they’re substantive — aren’t a substitute for an actual plan to govern. “Democratic scandal does not take the place of a Republican agenda,” writes the National Review, “a purely negative message, however justified, will not produce the governing majority Republicans should be aiming for in the next two elections.”

Republicans should heed this message, because it’s exactly correct. Odds are good Americans won’t remember this eighteen months from now, and so — instead of trying to keep it floating as long as possible — Republicans should work to offer a real, workable policy agenda alternative to the public. As evidenced by the current impasse over immigration and the budget, it’s clear that the GOP still has a lot of work to do on that front.

As we discussed yesterday and again this morning, far too many Republicans in Congress seem quite comfortable with the idea of using the latest haute faux scandals as (even more) excuses to kill comprehensive immigration reform this year and destroy whatever possibility is left of them actually trying to govern at all. It's still too early to determine whether this actually happens on Capitol Hill. But now, it's definitely entering the realm of possibility as the G-O-TEA base seems hellbent on repeating the follies of 1998.

Yet while Scandal-mania continues to approach a fever pitch on Capitol Hill, the real scandal continues to torment our planet and our people. Earlier today, the world's top climate scientist spoke to BBC Radio 4 on the greatest global security threat of our time. And yes, it's not going away any time soon.

Suggestions that global warming has stalled are a "diversionary tactic" from "deniers" who want the public to be confused over climate change, according to the world's best-known climate scientist. Professor James Hansen, who first alerted the world to climate change in 1988, said on Friday: "It is not true that the temperature has not changed in the two decades." [...]

Prof. Hansen said the focus by some on "details" was a smokescreen. "This is a diversionary tactic. Our understanding of global warming and human-made climate change has not been affected at all," he said. "It's because the deniers [of the science] want the public to be confused. They raise these minor issues and then we forget about what the main story is. The main story is carbon dioxide is going up and it is going to produce a climate which is going to have dramatic changes if we don't begin to reduce our emissions." In 2008, scientists anticipated an upcoming slowing in temperature rises.

Prof. Hansen, who recently stepped down from his NASA post after almost 50 years to focus on communication, said the forecast impact of climate change was little affected by the recent slowdown in the rate of rising temperatures.

"Climate is a complicated system but there is no change at all in our understanding of climate sensitivity [to carbon dioxide] and where the climate is headed," he said. "Our understanding of sensitivity is based on the Earth's history, not on climate models, and we have good data on how the Earth responded in the past when carbon dioxide changed. So there is no reason to change the forecast for the long term." On 9 May, a new study of lake sediments from a remote meteorite crater in Siberia showed temperatures in the region were 8C higher the last time CO2 levels were as high as they are today. Last week, atmospheric CO2 concentrations reached the milestone 400 parts per million [ppm], for the first time in millions of years.

If anything, recent developments in the Arctic region and the horrifying broken 400 ppm milestone point to accelerating climate change. And that should frighten all of us. This is the real scandal that threatens humanity, not the petty bullshit dominating Congressional hearings and Beltway punditry circle jerks right now.

This week, we've also been reminded that 97% of scientists agree that climate change is human induced. It's not that often when 97% of scientists agree on anything. So yes, this is a huge deal.



And that's today's reminder of reality brought to you by the Department of the Completely Fucking Obvious. Oh, and in case any one is still wondering why this matters, here's another reminder from Mother Nature (& the USGS).

A new U.S. Geological Survey study finds, “Warmer spring temperatures since 1980 are causing an estimated 20 percent loss of snow cover across the Rocky Mountains of western North America.”

The USGS explains, “The new study builds upon a previous USGS snowpack investigation which showed that, until the 1980s, the northern Rocky Mountains experienced large snowpacks when the central and southern Rockies experienced meager ones, and vice versa. Yet, since the 1980s, there have been simultaneous snowpack declines along the entire length of the Rocky Mountains, and unusually severe declines in the north.” [...]

What’s most worrisome is that we now have three major trends driven by human emissions of greenhouse gases that threaten to significantly worsen drought and water problems in the West and Southwest:

Less precipitation in many areas

Less snowpack, as the USGS studies have found

Hotter temperatures

Last November, we observed the havoc climate change is already causing Rural Northern Nevada as farms & ranches are forced to confront continued drought. Expect even more of this as the climate crisis worsens. And expect even more of the state to be affected as we witness even more drought and extreme weather.

This should really be a "no-brainer". We must act for our own survival. And we must act to strengthen our economy! We win if we finally act on replacing our fossil fuel addiction with a green, renewable future. We lose if we continue to let our fossil fuel addiction cloud our better judgment.


So what will it be? Will we let the latest bout of Scandal-mania cloud our better judgment? Or will we finally act on solving the real scandal facing us?

Breakthrough?

Earlier this month, we caught a whiff of what was to come. While the main focus of Teresa's phone bank pizza party in Henderson was building a critical mass demanding federal gun safety reform that Senator Dean Heller (R-NRA) could no longer ignore, there was also talk of SB 221 in Carson City. Now, we're starting to see that talk materialize into action.

Last night, Ralston posted the mailers that the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Demand Action campaign has been sending to voters in five State Senate districts represented by "Senate GOP Mod Squad'ers". Senators Michael Roberson (R-Henderson), Ben Kieckhefer (R-Reno), Greg Brower (R-Reno), Mark Hutchison (R-Las Vegas), and Scott Hammond (R-Las Vegas) have all signaled willingness this session to bust stereotypes and break the legislative logjam on issues ranging from school funding to immigrant rights. Yet so far, we've seen limited evidence of this.

The Demand Action campaign is looking to change this. And gun safety advocates especially see opportunity in "Mod Squad" Senators being forced to confront a policy that anywhere from 70-86% of Nevadans support.

Colorado Republicans had to do this earlier this year when their Legislature passed gun safety reform bills that included expanded background checks and limits on magazine capacity. They ultimately passed on party line votes as Republicans lined up to please their NRA sugar daddies decry the bills as "illegal gun grabbing". And on Wednesday, Colorado Republican (Legislature) leaders had to confront a father who lost his son in the Aurora theater massacre last July.



So we may soon be seeing fireworks erupt over gun safety in Carson City. Mayors Against Illegal Guns, ProgressNow Nevada, and many grassroots activists are ready to make a final push for SB 221. But of course, the NRA and the rest of the gun lobby are making another push to kill SB 221 and any other effort at reasonable gun safety reform.

The political battle lines are being drawn. It's now a matter of whether the forces for reform can finally figure out a way to break the NRA's stranglehold over Carson City. Can Nevada follow in Colorado's footsteps in achieving a historic breakthrough? Or will all Republicans in Carson City run scared like Dean Heller did in DC?

It's Not Right... But It's OK.

Yesterday, we discussed the increasingly complicated and convoluted politics of comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) in Congress. Apparently, the House now has its own CIR deal floating around... And threatens to (further) undo the incredibly fragile Senate CIR deal. The CIR debate in Congress has been... Well, it's been awfully ridiculous lately.

Yet as that's been going down, many activists continue fighting for reform and to stop the deportations. And in fact, something quite amazing happened at The Center last night. DREAM Big Vegas, PLAN, and allies decided to help local DREAMers obtain DACA status. Oh, and they did so with a drag show!







There was plenty of fierce fashion, fabulous lip synchs, great original singing, and more. Oh, and DREAM Big raised enough money to fund two DACA applications! And during the intermission, the audience had a chance to listen to the stories of DREAMers who've only known life in America and just want a chance to succeed like the rest of us.

What made last night's event even more poignant was the demonstration of the intersection of Southern Nevada's Latin@ community and Southern Nevada's LGBTQ community. Believe it or not, both co-exist. Both cooperate. Oh yes, and many people are part of both communities!

This is actually another reason why 21st Century Know Nothing hopes of wedging the two communities against each other will ultimately prove to be futile. Especially as the plight of LGBTQ immigrants reaches the forefront, there's renewed purpose to make comprehensive immigration reform truly comprehensive. And besides, we know the 21st Century Know Nothings have never had the best interest of either community at heart anyway.

In fact, our long held suspicion was pretty much proven true last night. The Grio's Joy Reid broke the story of a Heritage letter (remember them?) circulating among Congressional Republicans and demanding that they essentially stop governing at all so they can circle the wagons around the latest haute faux scandals in hopes of weakening President Obama politically. Oh, yes. That's right. And many Republican Congresscritters already look to be taking their advice.

Clearly, they haven't met Raffi or Julius. Both have been living in this nation nearly their whole lives. Both have been educated in Southern Nevada schools. And both want to obtain the American Dream. Yet because their families came to America undocumented, they've had to live in fear and in constant limbo. Raffi now has DACA status. And while it's better than nothing, not even that is 100% guaranteed to prevent deportation. And they're being forced to raise money for DACA fees because Congress hasn't passed the DREAM Act.



Raffi & Julius and Ricardo & Blanca are among the many reasons why Congress should finally be moving on CIR. And so are undocumented workers who deserve freedom from exploitation. And so are LGBTQ families who deserve freedom from a life apart. These people are real people. They deserve better, and so do we.

Yet as usual, the 21st Century Know Nothings and the Republican Party that they have way too much power over can't get their act together. So they're ready to kill CIR and focus all their attention on bludgeoning President Obama with fictitious scandals. As Whitney would say, "It's not right, but it's OK."

Well, it's not all that OK. It's just that, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., would say, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Something must change. Immigration reform must happen. And if Republicans don't join the solution, they'll soon understand firsthand why the 19th Century Know Nothings didn't last long.

It's not right, but it's OK. Got that, Senator Dean Heller (R-46%)?