“The money that has flowed to tech companies in San Francisco has and the much more important Silicon Valley has transformed these geographies, peninsula into something resembling glorified gated communities, populated by those lucky enough to have bought earlier and, increasingly, by techno-coolies shipped in from abroad,” says Joel Kotkin<\/a> in a follow up to his earlier writing about California.<\/p>\n “In contrast celebrated social media firms, overwhelmingly concentrated close to the venture capital spigot, are both geographically constrained and and employ shockingly few workers. The darlings of the bubblicious tech boom \u2014 Twitter, Facebook, Zynga, LindedIn and Google \u2014 employ roughly 58,000 people combined; in contrast the old-line tech firm Intel employ 85,000 people, half in the U.S., while ExxonMobil provides livelihoods to 80,000.”<\/p>\n “With the brutal fiscal fight now in Capitol Hill\u2019s rearview mirror, immigration reform advocates from across the spectrum are ramping up the pressure on lawmakers to pass a far-reaching overhaul this year,” Politico writes<\/a>.<\/p>\n “The more aggressive wing of the immigration reform community is launching a ‘week of escalation’ that will target the top three House GOP leaders and roughly two dozen other Republican lawmakers. Their goal is a vote on immigration reform this year. And the Evangelical Immigration Table is releasing a letter Monday signed by top faith leaders \u2014 a missive that comes amid a nationwide prayer blitz for reform.”<\/p>\n “Prospects for a comprehensive immigration reform bill remain cloudy after a bruising shutdown fight for Republicans that left hard feelings in Washington even as activists continue to push their cause. ‘The president\u2019s actions and attitude over the past couple of weeks have certainly poisoned the well and made it harder to work together on any issue,’ said a GOP leadership aide asked about the chances of major immigration legislation making it to the White House,” NBC News reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Republican leaders say they remain committed to fixing the nation\u2019s broken immigration system. But, as the dust settles from the shutdown mess, both sides say that the time isn\u2019t exactly optimal for a Kumbaya moment.”<\/p>\n “Sen. Marco Rubio gave a downcast assessment Sunday about Congress passing immigration reform, arguing that fellow Republicans are leery about dealing with President Obama on the issue since he would not negotiate fairly during the recent fiscal crisis,” FoxNews reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n “‘Immigration reform is going to be a lot harder to accomplish than it was three weeks ago,’ Rubio, R-Fla., who helped pass the Senate legislation handed to the Republican-controlled House, told ‘Fox News Sunday.'”<\/p>\n “Rubio said he agreed with Idaho Republican Rep. Raul Labrador who last week said House Republican leadership would be ‘crazy’ to negotiate with Obama if the president makes the same ‘good faith effort’ on an immigration bill that he did on fiscal negotiations and that Obama is ‘trying to destroy’ the Republican Party.” Amnesty Lobby Prepared for New Fight<\/h3>\n
Shutdown Fight Makes Amnesty Deal Look Tougher<\/h3>\n
Rubio Says Amnesty Deal Will Be Tougher Than Before<\/h3>\n