POLL: MAJORITY OF CALIFORNIANS OPPOSE SANCTUARY CITY POLICIES

A majority of Californians are opposed to “sanctuary city” policies in which local jurisdictions ignore federal immigration detainer requests, according to a new poll from the Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) at the University of California, Berkeley.

The poll, released Friday, reveals that opposition to local officials ignoring federal immigration requests runs high in The Golden State and cuts across ideological and ethnic lines.

According to the online survey of 1,098 California residents, 74 percent said “local authorities should not be able to ignore these federal requests,” and just 26 percent said authorities should be able to ignore such requests.

Republicans were the most opposed to sanctuary policies with 82 percent saying local officials should not be allowed to ignore detainers. A majority of Democrats and independents were also opposed — 73 percent and 71 percent, respectively.

“We found very broad-based opposition to the idea of sanctuary cities,” IGS Director Jack Citrin, a political science professor at UC-Berkeley said in a statement. “Californians want their local officials to abide by the requests of federal authorities.”

As for individual ethnic groups, 65 percent of Latinos said they opposed sanctuary policies. Seventy-five percent of Asians, 75 percent of African Americans and 80 percent of whites agreed.

Citrin noted that virtually all respondents (99.5 percent) identified as U.S. citizens.

“While these results for Latino residents are interesting, people should bear in mind some limitations on our data, including the fact that our survey was conducted only in English, and that our sample consisted almost entirely of citizens,” Citrin said.

Sanctuary city policies have been put under a national microscope following the July shooting death of Kathryn Steinle. Steinle was allegedly murdered by a multiple deportee illegal immigrant with a long rap sheet who was released from jail after San Francisco authorities ignored a federal immigration detainer.

According to the poll, which was conducted between Aug. 11 and Aug. 26, Steinle’s murder did not have much of an impact on the poll results as 71 percent of respondents who were polled just on the sanctuary city policy said local officials should comply with detainers. That percentage rose to 76 percent when respondents were offered details about the recent shooting.

“Whether they were told about the recent San Francisco shooting or not,” Citrin said, “a strong majority of respondents made it clear that local authorities should not be able to ignore a federal request to hold an undocumented immigrant.”

Via: Breitbart

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California Trains Professors To Avoid ‘Microaggressions’

 University of California president Janet Napolitano’s office has been training faculty members at the University of California to avoid describing America as a “land of opportunity,” along with other phrases the school claims are offensive “microaggressions.”

According to activists, “microaggressions” are subtle actions, usually unintentional, that perpetuate discrimination against disadvantaged groups even in environments where overt discrimination has been abolished. Now, the UC system has fully committed itself to formally training faculty to avoid and root out these perceived microaggressions for the good of all.

The attack on microaggressions is the centerpiece of a series of faculty leadership seminars carried out by Napolitano’s office at several campuses across the UC system. One document used in the seminars is titled Tool: Recognizing Microaggressions and the Messages They Send, and lists dozens of menacing microaggressions for faculty to avoid.

One of the largest categories of microaggressions are those that that promote the “myth of meritocracy.” According to the document, this “myth” is spread by statements such as “America is the land of opportunity,” “I believe the most qualified person should get the job,” and “Affirmative action is racist.”

Other examples of sinister microaggressions, according to the guide, include:

• Describing America as a “melting pot” (it orders people to assimilate)
• Stating that “there is only one race, the human race” (denying the significance of a person’s ethnic or racial history)
• Asking Asians, Hispanics, or Native Americans to speak up more (“pathologizing” foreign norms and treating white norms as “normal”)
• Using “he” as a generic pronoun for all people (it makes the male experience universal and the female experience “invisible”)
• Using forms where individuals must identify as male or female (it excludes the full LGBT experience)

The guide was used in faculty training sessions for UC faculty members throughout the 2014-15 school year, but its contents only recently drew more widespread attention when one professor notified The College Fix about the materials.

Via: California Political Review

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In California, hundreds of thousands to pay more for health insurance

Hundreds of thousands of Californians who purchase their own health insurance are bracing to pay more for their plans, as the cost of the federal health care overhaul lands harder on middle-class customers.

Notices began arriving in recent weeks informing consumers that their plans are being phased out and replaced with policies that comply with requirements of the health care law. Many are being told to expect double-digit percentage increases in monthly costs, in part to help balance the cost of covering the underprivileged and those with pre-existing medical conditions who may not have had coverage.

The notices throw into sharp relief an e stirring reality of the law: While many will benefit, a smaller segment may not.

“There is certainly going to be heat around this, and lots of understandably unhappy people,” said Janet Coffman, a professor at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and the department of family and community medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

“This is one important slice that is experiencing some very substantial increases in premiums,” she said. “But it’s important to understand this is one of many areas in which the impact of the health care law on individuals and families varies widely.”

Via: Sacramento Bee

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Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/11/04/5877848/in-california-hundreds-of-thousands.html#storylink=cpy

University of California president earmarks $5M to help students living in US illegally

SAN FRANCISCO — University of California President Janet Napolitano said Wednesday she is devoting $5 million to provide special counseling and financial aid for students living in the U.S. illegally, a move aimed at disarming critics who worried she would be hostile to the small but vocal student population.

The former Homeland Security Secretary announced the initiative in her first public address since she became head of the 10-campus university system a month ago — an evening appearance in San Francisco organized by the Commonwealth Club. She also pledged $10 million for recruiting and training graduate students and research fellows.

“Let me be clear. UC welcomes all students who qualify academically, whether they are documented or undocumented,” she said in prepared remarks released by her office before the speech. “Consider this a down payment — one more piece of evidence of our commitment to all Californians.”

Napolitano said the money would be used “to support these students with resources like trained advisers, student service centers and financial aid,” but did not immediately offer details about its source or possible conditions on its use.

University officials estimate that out of a total student population of 239,000, the system enrolls about 900 students who were brought into the country illegally as children, a group of immigrants known as “Dreamers” because of the stalled U.S. Dream Act that would give certain youth a path to permanent residency.

As part of a bill signed by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, California this year started allowing students who are not legal U.S. residents and are therefore ineligible for most types of federal financial aid to apply for state grants and scholarships.

Via: Washington Post

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US income inequality at record high

The income gap between the richest 1% of Americans and the other 99% widened to a record margin in 2012, according to an analysis of tax filings.

The top 1% of US earners collected 19.3% of household income, breaking a record previously set in 1927.

Income inequality in the US has been growing for almost three decades.

Overall, the pre-tax incomes of the top 1% of households rose 19.6% compared to a 1% increase for the rest of Americans.

And the top 10% of richest households represented just under half of all income in the year, according to the analysis.

Emmanuel Saez at the University of California, Berkeley, one of the economists who analysed the tax data, said the rise may have been in part because of sales of stock to avoid higher capital gains taxes in January.

Mr Saez wrote in an analysis that despite recent policy changes aiming at lessening income inequality, the measures were relatively small in comparison to "policy changes that took place coming out of the Great Depression".

"Therefore, it seems unlikely that US income concentration will fall much in the coming years."

Via: BBC

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‘Big Sis’ Napolitano Bad Choice for UC

With its 10 campuses, nearly 200,000 staff and $20 billion annual budget, the University of California system is emblematic of the state government that pays a portion of UC’s bills: enormous, unruly, overly expensive, steeped in politics, dominated by unions and other special-interest groups and plagued with controversy.

California voters in 2010 turned the reins of government over to Jerry Brown, who has — despite his whimsical rhetoric — governed as the ultimate status-quo politician, protecting the state bureaucracy from reform.

Likewise, the UC regents have decided to choose a status-quo candidate as president, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Regent Sherry Lansing said in a statement that some might find Napolitano to be an “unconventional choice,” but that’s incorrect. Napolitano is as conventional a choice as you could make to run a large bureaucracy, even if she has no serious academic experience.

Based on her tenure in the federal government, she will be an advocate for higher spending, expanded unionization and more of everything that has undermined the university system.

Just when the UC system needed someone who might implement competitive reforms and focus on cost-cutting, the regents turn to a Washington insider more apt to keep federal funds flowing and student aid primed than to stretch the large budget already in place.

The University of California has been embroiled in many scandals in recent years. In one case, administrators enriched themselves, their friends and lovers, even as they were hiking tuition rates for students.

Via: California Political Review

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