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The demographers agreed: at some point in 2014, Latinos would pass whites as the largest ethnic group in California. Determining when exactly that milestone would occur was more of a tricky question. Counting people isn't like counting movie ticket receipts. The official confirmation had to wait until new population figures were released by the Census Bureau this summer. The new tally, released in late June, shows that as of July 1, 2014, about 14.99 million Latinos live in California, edging out the 14.92 million whites in the state.

“You see, what you just did with your straight talk was send more Latino voters to the polls than several registration rallies combined! Thank you for that,” Ferrerra wrote in a guest blog for the Huffington Post. “Here we are pounding the pavement to get American Latinos to the polls, while your tactic proves most effective,” she continued. “Remarks like yours will serve brilliantly to energize Latino voters and increase turnout on election day against you and any other candidate who runs on a platform of hateful rhetoric.”

[The following are just excerpts from the first 5 sections of an extensive very revealing multifaceted 2014 Pew Research survey. My focus is mainly on the Protestant and Catholic views. Complete Report PDF] Religion in Latin AmericaWidespread Change in a Historically Catholic RegionLatin America is home to more than 425 million Catholics – nearly 40% of the world’s total Catholic population – and the Roman Catholic Church now has a Latin American pope for the first time in its history. Yet identification with Catholicism has declined throughout the region, according to a major new Pew Research Center survey that...

A barbecue restaurant in Colorado is drawing criticism after its Hispanic owners announced they plan to hold "White Appreciation Day" honoring white people with a 10 percent discount. "We have a whole month for Black History Month," Edgar Antillon, one of the two owners of Rubbin Buttz BBQ in Milliken, told 9NEWS. "We have a whole month for Hispanic Heritage Month, so we thought the least we could do was offer one day to appreciate white Americans." t started as a joke but Antillon and the other owner Miguel Jimenez made it real by announcing they'll host "White Appreciation Day"...

In a speech in Puerto Rico, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (R) told the audience that "I am a Latino trapped inside an Anglo body." Bush lamented that "there is no ethnic reassignment protocol like there is gender reassignment therapy for a woman trapped inside a man's body. Nevertheless, I feel as if I am an illegal immigrant and want to do what I can to secure the rights of all my compatriots to enjoy the fruits of US citizenship." if you missed any of this week's other semi-news/semi-satire posts you can find them at... http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,169629.0.html

A coalition of 34,000 black churches has cut its ties with Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) in the wake of its recent vote to approve same-sex marriage.

In a new Washington Post poll released today, American Latinos have a more favorable view of the GOP, besting the Democratic Party among the nations fastest growing demographic group. In a survey conducted between December 11-14, 52 percent of Hispanic Americans view the Republican Party favorably, while 37 percent have an unfavorable view of the Party of Lincoln. In contrast, 40 percent of Latinos have an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party, while 48 percent rate them favorable. The poll suggests that large numbers of Americans, of all demographic groups, are moving toward the right, as the GOP holds a...

Should Republicans limit funding for the Department of Homeland Security over immigration to three months, they could open a new issue with Hispanics. DHS employs the largest percentage of Hispanics of any government agency, with 21 percent of its workforce identified as Hispanic, according to the Office of Personnel Management. DHS said in its fiscal year 2015 budget request that the department has 240,000 employees, which meaning about 50,400 are Hispanic.

The classic portrayal of climate change is one of a great equalizer, a force that knows no color, creed or class. The rising seas will swallow us all, and if crops can't be harvested, none of us will eat. But a poll found that the public is more savvy than this story would have you believe. A report by the Public Religion Research Institute and the American Academy of Religion found that race is a consistent predictor both of people's concern toward climate change and inclination to act on it, which suggests members of the public sense that the harms...

A striking graph from Washington Post. For most of the country, his job approval has been flat in the low to mid-40s for nearly a year. His approval among Latinos was mostly flat too from February to the beginning of September, albeit a bit higher in the mid-50s. Then he announced on September 6th that executive action on immigration would be postponed; two and a half months after that, he finally came through with the power grab that amnesty fans have been dreaming of.Follow the bouncing ball:After the postponement, Latino support dropped below the 50 percent mark, almost to...

The state with the smallest share of Latinos in the nation has elected its first Latino congressional representative, Alex Mooney. Mooney, a conservative Republican, ran against Nick Casey, a former chairman of the West Virginia Democratic Party. Mooney beat Casey with 46.7 to 44.2 percent of the vote, with 96 percent of precincts reporting. After his victory, Mooney tweeted: "I cannot thank you enough for this humbling opportunity to serve the people of West Virginia." Latinos make up just 1.2 percent – or slightly more than 22,268 – of the Eastern Panhandle state's population. Mooney, 43, ruffled feathers with his...

There’s a ghost haunting next week’s elections in California. It’s been there 20 years. Proposition 187 – a measure Californians overwhelmingly voted into law on Nov. 8, 1994 – was never enacted. The law would have denied public services, including public education and non-emergency health care, to immigrants living in the state illegally. This summer, state legislators officially wiped it from the books, calling it the “most mean spirited and un-American” measure in the state’s history. But the legacy of Prop. 187 lives on. And the people initially targeted – Latinos in general and undocumented immigrants in particular – are...

In a stunning turnaround, likely voters in the so-called millennial generation prefer a Republican-led Congress after next week's elections, and young Hispanics are turning sharply against President Obama. A new national poll of 18-to-29-year-olds by Harvard's Institute of Politics shows that young Americans are leaving the new Democratic coalition that twice elected Obama. The news is little better for the GOP: These voters, who more than any other voting bloc represent the future of the American electorate, generally hold Republicans in the lowest regard. The long-view IOP findings suggest that neither party is poised to win the largest generation in...

A court hearing provided new details of the killing of Nancy Hammour, a 28-year-old woman whose body was found under a bridge in Newport Beach. The prosecutor said Irvin Tellez killed Hammour as the two rode in a car because she started screaming after seeing him shoot a woman in the face. Tellez could face life in prison without possibility of parole if he’s convicted and a jury finds the murder was committed for the benefit of a gang. Deputy District Attorney Jim Mendelson said the violence started shortly after midnight Sept. 2, 2013, when Jaime Rocha pulled to the...

State officials are stepping up their enrollment efforts this month to prepare for open enrollment in October. But some Latino advocates say Covered California, the state’s insurance marketplace, has a long way to go. “Fact sheets in Spanish only became available this month, and events, such as bilingual information sessions, were often not well publicized,” said Sonya Vasquez, policy director of the Community Health Councils of Los Angeles. Getting more Latinos to sign up faster this year is critical. The signup period is three months shorter than last year’s and will run from November 15 to February 15, 2015. Covered...

In yet another example of an all too common talking point for liberal activists and their allies in the press, Politico took Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky to task over the weekend for failing to "properly" engage members of the left-wing Dream Act Coalition on the issues of illegal immigration. In charging that Paul "can run but he can't hide from Latino voters in 2016" the article betrayed the increasing Democratic Party stereotype of American Hispanics and its ignorance and lack of concern for the issues facing this community. In their desire to capitalize on America's racial and ethnic...

Growing up in a Latino household meant that there were a lot of hardcore superstitions running rampant throughout daily life. Superstitious beliefs go together with Hispanic homes in the way that rice and beans and chanclas do. They just fit. From purses on the floor to itchy palms, we've gathered the top eight superstitions every Latino grew up with, and put them in a list, of course. And here they are. Don't Put Your Purse on the Floor Listen, you like your money, right? Well you won't have any if you put that purse on the floor. So pick it...

Further evidence of an erosion in confidence among the traditionally Democratic Party voting base, a major Latino Political Action Committee in San Diego, California has shifted course and given its endorsement to two GOP challengers facing Democrat incumbents in November's Congressional elections. The Latino American Political Association (LAPA) has formally endorsed Republican Carl DeMaio in his bid to unseat Scott Peters for California's 52nd District and also thrown their weight behind GOP challenger Larry Wilske in his quest to oust Democrat Susan Davis in the 53rd. Carl DeMaio The San Diego-based PAC is an officially non-partisan group which has largely...

When top Hispanic lawmakers met with President Barack Obama earlier this year, the first issue they brought up wasn’t immigration reform. Their ask: Hire more Latinos. And they haven’t let up, requesting meetings and pressing Obama and White House officials to make progress on diversifying the administration. They want a progress report by the end of the year. The push is part of a broader change in strategy for Hispanic leaders. The movement built up its power as the fastest growing Democratic voting bloc in the country, one Obama himself relied on in both of his presidential campaigns.

The California Legislature’s Latino Caucus boasts on its website that its mission “is to identify, promote and advocate on behalf of the professional, educational, social, political and cultural interests of the Latino community.” Who can argue with that? So after winning a seat to the Assembly in 2012 representing northern San Diego County, Rocky Chávez decided to sign up and see what he can contribute. Education tops the group’s legislative priority list, and it tops Chávez’s also. He spent years operating a charter school. “I said, ‘Hey, so when do we meet and how does this happen?’”, Chávez said in...