The
individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US
political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical
assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor
Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security
Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside
contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.
The Guardian, after
several days of interviews, is revealing his identity at his request.
From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to
the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of
anonymity. "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have
done nothing wrong," he said.
Snowden will go down in history
as one of America's most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel
Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is responsible for handing over
material from one of the world's most secretive organisations – the NSA.
In a note accompanying the first set of documents he provided, he
wrote: "I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions," but
"I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and
irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are
revealed even for an instant."
Schumer: 'Illegal Immigration Will Be a Thing of the Past'
After the U.S. Senate voted to pass the motion to proceed to floor
debate on the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill, Sen. Chuck Schumer
(D-NY) claimed that this bill would solve illegal immigration and secure
the border.
“Illegal immigration will be a thing of the past,” Schumer said on
the Senate floor, celebrating the passage of the motion to proceed.
Schumer complained in an impassioned and lengthy speech on the Senate
floor that opponents saying the bill does not have border security “is
not fair.” Schumer said giving billions of dollars to the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) will lead to increased border security, even if
illegal immigrants are given amnesty first. He promised that assurances
of future border security measures would be maintained.
Nonetheless, Schumer admitted the bill “is not perfect.” He pleaded
with other senators, “If you have a better idea" on how to secure the
border "tell us." Though Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Rand Paul (R-KY)
have offered outlines of amendments that would improve the border
security provisions in the bill, Schumer did not say he would support
them.
Schumer said the Gang of Eight would not compromise by conditioning
the path to citizenship on “factors that may not ever happen” like
border security. He complained that border security should not be used
as a “bargaining chip.”
And while Schumer claims the bill fixes enforcement issues, he also dismissed border security as not a pressing concern.
“We don't have a problem whereby these people [illegal immigrants] are besieging us with terrorist acts,” Schumer said.
Schumer also said he has been to the border with other Gang of Eight senators and said, “it’s huge.”
Ann Coulter: Marco Rubio 'Amnesty Plan' Shows He's 'Determined To Create More Democratic Voters'
The conservative knives are coming out against Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) over his support for a
bipartisan comprehensive immigration blueprint.
On Wednesday, commentator Ann Coulter
penned a column for Human Events
accusing Rubio of pushing a plan that would "create more Democratic
voters" by providing a pathway to citizenship for millions of
undocumented immigrants.
"Rubio’s bill is nothing but amnesty. It isn't even 'amnesty thinly
disguised as border enforcement,'" Coulter wrote. "This is a wolf in
wolf's clothing."
According to Coulter, the "phony" plan could turn the entire nation
Democratic-leaning, like California, by adding millions of Latino voters
who would be inclined to vote Democratic.
"The vast majority of illegal aliens are Hispanic, and Hispanics have
a higher teen birthrate than any other ethnic group," Coulter writes.
"In California, a majority of all Hispanic births are illegitimate.
That’s a lot of Democratic voters coming."
While Coulter acknowledges the "enforcement first" claims in the
"gang of eight" plan, she said she believes it will ultimately invite
more people to cross the border illegally, in turn making it harder to
secure.
As HuffPost's Elise Foley
reports,
the Senate proposal would give undocumented immigrants already living
in the country a pathway to citizenship, but it would be difficult:
They could immediately gain provisional status, but certain
border enforcement provisions would need to be implemented before any
could receive green cards and eventual citizenship.
Though they referred to it as a pathway to citizenship, the senators
behind the plan argue it is not amnesty given the arduous requirements
and the fact that it would be tied to border enforcement.
A number of conservatives have
met the Senate's framework with caution this week, but Coulter's dismissive tone echoes one taken by other GOP lawmakers.
On Monday, Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.)
suggested
that any GOP effort to give citizenship to undocumented Latino
immigrants was misguided, claiming that they were mostly unskilled,
uneducated and inherently drawn to the Democratic party due to their
supposed government dependence.
And Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) called Rubio "amazingly naive" and
"nuts" for cooperating on an effort that he said could be boiled down to
"amnesty." Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) have
also criticized the plan.
While a certain wing of the GOP has expressed their doubts, sometimes colorfully, Rubio
managed to win the approval of radio host Rush Limbaugh, who after an interview with the Florida Republican, heaped praise on the immigration reform push.
Ann Coulter Turns On Marco Rubio
Jan 30, 2013 6:45pm
Gage Skidmore/Flickr
Marco Rubio has been selling a bipartisan plan on immigration, but Ann Coulter isn’t buying it.
One day after Rubio entered the conservative lion’s den to talk
immigration reform on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show, Coulter blasted the
GOP senator in a
Human Events column.
“Some Republicans seem determined to create more Democratic voters,
too. That will be the primary result of Sen. Marco Rubio’s amnesty
plan,” Coulter wrote. She was voicing a campaign-politics concern that
Limbaugh also alluded to, that allowing unauthorized immigrants to apply
for citizenship would legalize 11.2 million new Democratic voters.
Democrats only want immigration reform, the theory goes, in order to
expand their voter base.
Coulter writes:
Rubio’s bill is nothing but amnesty. It isn’t even
“amnesty thinly disguised as border enforcement.” This is a wolf in
wolf’s clothing.
Despite all the blather about how Rubio demands “Enforcement First!”
the very first thing his proposal does is make illegal aliens legal. (Don’t call them “illegal aliens”!)
… and blames California’s budget problems on Hispanic voters, warning that the nation will go bankrupt if Rubio has his way:
With Hispanics on track to become the largest ethnic
group in California this year, the state that gave us Richard Nixon and
Ronald Reagan is incapable of electing any Republican statewide anymore.
Taxes keep going up, and there’s no one left to pay the bill.
That will be our entire country if Republicans fall for Rubio’s phony
“Enforcement First!” plan. Perplexingly, some Republicans seem
determined to turn the whole nation into California, in the foolish hope
of winning one last election.
The “amnesty” label is a tough one to shed, and if that gets attached
to the bipartisan Gang of Eight bill that Rubio is pushing, the Florida
senator could have a much tougher time selling it to his fellow
conservatives.
Ann Coulter Calls Immigration Reform ‘End Of America' In Anti-Rubio Column
Get Latino Voices Alerts:
Right-wing pundit
Ann Coulter re-affirmed her opposition to immigration reform Wednesday in a column saying the passage of the
recently proposed bill would be “the end of America.”
Though the immigration reform proposal was written by a bipartisan
group of eight senators, Coulters seems to have it in for Cuban-American
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) in particular.
She accuses Rubio of lying about whether the reform will secure the
border or whether the government will generate more tax revenue, and
accuses Rubio of leading a cynical Republican drive to score political
points with Latinos.
“If you think Republicans are Hispandering now, wait until the
children of 20 million illegal aliens start to vote,” Coulter writes.
“Rubio's amnesty isn't just bad for America, it's the end of America.”
Coulter grossly overestimates the size of the undocumented population, as she’s been known to do in the past.
An estimated
11.1 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States as of 2011, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. The
rate of immigration from Mexico currently stands at net zero or less.
Most economists agree that immigration reform will have a positive
economic impact on the country, though mass immigration also increases
job competition in some sectors with the native born.
"There are many ways to debate immigration, but when it comes to economics, there isn't much of a debate at all,"
Adam Davidson, the co-founder of Planet Money, wrote in the New York Times Magazine
in February. "Nearly all economists, of all political persuasions,
agree that immigrants -- those here legally or not -- benefit the
overall economy."
In contrast to the
Associated Press’ recent decision to abandon the term “illegal immigrant,” Coulter refers to the undocumented with the disparaging term “illegals” five times in the 800-word piece.
Coulter has inaccurately portrayed Latinos as dumb, lazy, and welfare-dependent in a
series of articles since the reelection of President Barack Obama in November.
Reid: Boehner's Openness to Immigration Bill 'Music to my Ears'
During an interview that aired on June 11, Speaker of the House John
Boehner (R-OH) said when it comes to immigration reform, he is going to
"ensure that all members on both sides have a fair shot at their
ideas." According to Politico, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said this was "music" to his "ears."
Boehner said giving everyone a chance has been his method of running
the House as Speaker to date, and that he was not going to change
now. "[I've done this] more than any Speaker in modern history, to the
point that there are some bills that have passed--with a majority of
Democrats--in favor, and a minority of Republicans."
The Speaker has received considerable criticism for breaking the
Hastert Rule, under which a bill is not to pass without a "majority of
the majority." Boehner's aides dismiss this criticism, saying Speaker
Denny Hastert broke the rule even though it was named after him.
Boehner believes there will be new immigration laws in place by the end of 2013.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.
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