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03 Jun 2010 20:41

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Politics: Well, it’s a start: Obama and Jan Brewer talk immigration

  • What Jan wants Brewer, who is up for reelection, is stressing strong immigration reform. “I want the border secured first. … [Back in 1996] amnesty was bestowed upon people but we never secured the borders.” She also claims an unsecure border is leading to higher crime – a claim not supported by statistics, by the way.
  • What Obama offered Despite this, the only promise the president gave her was that they would talk more. That’s a good starting point, though. “I am encouraged that there is going to be much better dialogue between the federal government and the state of Arizona now,” she said after their Oval Office meeting today. source

20 May 2010 11:14

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U.S., World: Well, duh: Mexico’s president with Obama on immigration reform

All Obama and Felipe Calderon need is Stephen Harper to be standing next to them and North America’s pretty much covered. source

26 Apr 2010 10:51

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World: Evidence Mexico’s justice system really freaking sucks

  • ten Mexican mayors were arrested last year for aiding the drug war
  • nine of those mayors are already free; they mostly went back to work source

29 Mar 2010 20:47

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World: In Mexico, hitmen in the Drug War’s midst are targeting minors

  • 10 Mexican youths (in one car)
    killed by gang members source

17 Mar 2010 09:22

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U.S.: Bush’s U.S./Mexico border security just got dumped for Obama’s

  • Not only do we have an obligation to secure our borders, we have a responsibility to do so in the most cost effective way possible.
  • Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano • On her decision to take $50 billion away from the controversial Bush-era Secure Border Initiative and use it to buy proven off-the-shelf technology that does the same thing. Napolitano is also freezing most other SBI money and creating a great opportunity for the right to say that she’s soft on illegal immigration. This outghta be fun. source

14 Mar 2010 20:46

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World: Did the drug war lead to the slaying of a U.S. official in Mexico?

  • We take very seriously when our employees are harmed, whether the intention was to harm U.S. employees or not. The question of whether this represents some ratcheting up of the drug war will depend on the reason behind the killings.
  • Deputy assistant Secretary of State in charge of Mexico Roberta S. Jacobson • Regarding the killings of a U.S. consular aide (along with her husband) in Mexico. Another consular employee’s husband was also killed and her children wounded. If it turns out that this killing was a conscious attempt to ratchet up the drug war in Mexico, we could be seeing some crazy stuff going down. source

21 Feb 2010 10:27

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Biz: Is The New York Times giving Carlos Slim preferential treatment?

  • Under any other circumstances, the business section of the Times would be expected to cover it, as the Journal and Bloomberg have. Yet as of Saturday midday, I cannot find a single mention of any aspect of this case, anywhere in the physical New York Times, or on its Web site – not even a blog post or a wire story.
  • The Big Money blogger James Ledbetter • Regarding a huge uncovered scandal involving billionaire Carlos Slim, who has a huge stake in The New York Times. J.P. Morgan is accused of trying to push Grupo Televisa’s business secrets to a bank owned by Slim, who owns a major rival. Other major sources have covered it, but there’s literally nothing on the NYT site about the scandal. This is bad precedent. source
 

20 Jan 2010 21:57

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World: Mexican prison riot: A better band name than a news story

  • 23 were killed in the riot in the northern Mexican state of Durango
  • 20 were injured in the riot, which was quelled by armed guards source

21 Dec 2009 21:52

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15 Dec 2009 23:13

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U.S.: Immigration: Hey, let’s throw another thing on Obama’s plate, OK?

  • Couldn’t this battle wait for now, guys? Today, Democratic Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez introduced a bill to reform immigration. Now, obviously, this battle needs to come up, especially considering how heated it got during the Bush years. But let’s play devil’s advocate here. You have a president who is dealing with these things (among others), in order of importance: Unemployment, health care, the economic crisis, Afghanistan, Iraq, closing Guantanamo, gay rights and making sure Bo the dog gets kibble. And now we want to throw immigration on top of all of this? This seems like it could wait until year three. We’d rather see Obama deal with all that other stuff the right way. source