Saturday, August 31, 2024
Home Blog Page 122

Does Bill Gates endorse death panels & economical euthanasia?  

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

 

Dear readers:

 

Have you heard that hospitals worldwide are talking about rationing healthcare in the wake of COVID-19? COVID-19 is all about “blazing the trail” to the Brave New World/NOW.

“Ask not for whom the [death panel] bell tolls: it tolls for thee.” 

The following article, written by James Corbett – one of the most insightful investigative journalists in the United States today, brings you an interesting perspective that will enlighten you to create your own. – Marvin Ramírez

From Bioethics to Eugenics

 

by James Corbett

 

July 25, 2020 – One of the iconic moments from my Who Is Bill Gates? documentary is the clip of Gates at the 2010 Aspen Ideas Festival discussing a proposal to increase funding for public education by diverting money from end-of-life care for the elderly and terminally ill.

Lamenting the skyrocketing tuition rates for college students, Gates tells the Aspen Institute’s Walter Isaacson that, “That’s a trade-off society’s making because of very, very high medical costs and a lack of willingness to say, you know, ‘Is spending a million dollars on that last three months of life for that patient—would it be better not to lay off those 10 teachers and to make that trade off in medical cost?’

Then, squirming around in his seat and looking over at the audience, Gates acknowledges that there may be some objection to this line of thinking: “But that’s called the ‘death panel’ and you’re not supposed to have that discussion.”

A decade ago, when Gates made those remarks, it would be difficult to imagine an idea that was more out of touch with general public sentiment than the idea of “death panels” to free up money to hire more teachers. It was shocking enough to the general public that even the socially inept Gates realized that talking about it was verboten.

But what many sitting in the festival audience that day may not have realized is that the idea of trading health care for the elderly for public education funds is not Gates’ own novel proposal. In fact, this “death panel” discussion has been around for a long time and that discussion was spearheaded by a relatively obscure—but incredibly influential—branch of philosophy known as bioethics.

Bioethics, for those not in the know, concerns itself with the ethical questions raised by advancing knowledge and technological sophistication in biology, medicine, and the life sciences. This often leads to serious academic debates about subjects that seem like bizarre, improbable, science fiction-like scenarios involving the ethics of using memory-enhancing drugs or erasing memories altogether.

While the musings of bioethicists on the case for killing granny and after-birth abortions and other morally outrageous ideas may still seem a little “out there” to much of the public, conversations about these previously unspeakable topics are going to become much more commonplace as we enter the COVID-1984 biosecurity paradigm.

In fact, they already are.

Case in point: In my recent conversation with Canadian journalist Rosemary Frei, she drew attention to a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine in March of this year. The paper, “Fair Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources in the Time of Covid-19,” was written by a team of prominent bioethicists and discusses “the need to ration medical equipment and interventions” during a pandemic emergency.

Their recommendations include removing treatment from patients who are elderly and/or less likely to survive, as these people divert scarce medical resources from younger patients or those with a more promising prognosis. Although the authors refrain from using the term, the necessity of setting up a death panel to determine who should or should not receive treatment is implicit in the proposal itself.

In normal times, this would have been just another scholarly discussion of a theoretical situation. But these are not normal times. Instead, the paper quickly went from abstract proposal to concrete reality. As Frei noted in her own article on how the high death rates at care homes in Ontario were created on purpose, the Canadian Medial Association (CMA) simply adopted the recommendations laid out in that New England Journal of Medicine article, abandoning its usual practice of deliberating on major changes to policy over a months-long consultation process because “[t]he current situation, unfortunately, did not allow for such a process.”

Lest there be any question about whether these policies are currently being put into practice, one needs simply observe the conversation that is taking place in Texas right now regarding how to deal with the supposed “surge” in COVID hospitalizations. As The Guardian puts it: “Texas hospital forced to set up ‘death panel’ as Covid-19 cases surge.”

It doesn’t matter that the hospitals are not actually full in Houston. It doesn’t matter that the concern over the flood of hospitalizations in Texas is based on statistical trickery and outright lies. In fact, that’s kind of the point. By scaring the public with horror stories about hospitals on the verge of collapse, the combined weight of the government, the media, and the medical establishment have managed to do in just a few months what Gates and his cronies have been unable to do in the past decade: Introduce the verboten “death panel” discussion to the general public.

In fact, when you start documenting the history of bioethics, you discover that this is exactly what this field of study is meant to do: To frame the debate about hot button issues so that eugenicist ideals and values can be mainstreamed in society and enacted in law. From abortion to euthanasia, there isn’t a debate in the medical field that wasn’t preceded by some bioethicist or bioethics institute preparing the public for a massive change in mores, morays, values and laws.

The research into the history of bioethics leads one to the doorstep of the Hastings Center, a nonprofit research center that, according to its website, “was important in establishing the field of bioethics.” The founding director of the Hastings Center, Theodosius Dobzhansky, was a chairman of the American Eugenics Society from 1964 to 1973, while Hastings cofounder Daniel Callahan—who has admitted to relying on Rockefeller Population Council and UN Population Fund money in the early days of the center’s work—served as a director of the American Eugenics Society (rebranded as The Society for the Study of Social Biology) from 1987 to 1992.

As previous Corbett Report guest Anton Chaitkin has extensively documented, there is a line of historical continuity connecting the promotion of eugenics in America by the Rockefeller family in the early 20th century to the creation of the Hastings Center in the late 20th century. As Chaitkin points out, Callahan and his center was fostered by the Rockefeller-founded Population Council as a front for pushing the eugenics agenda—including abortion, euthanasia and the creation of death panels—under the guise of “bioethics.”

As a result, many of the most prominent bioethicists working today come from the Hastings Center stable.

Take Peter Singer. If there is any bioethicist working today whose name is known to the general public, it’s Hastings Center fellow Peter Singer, famed for his animal liberation advocacy. Less well known to the public are his arguments not only in favor of abortion but infanticide, including the belief that there is no relevant difference between abortion and the killing of “severely disabled infants.”

Or take Ezekiel Emanuel. Another Hastings Center fellow, Emanuel is also a senior fellow at the shady Center for American Progress and a bioethicist who has argued that the Hippocratic Oath is obsolete and that people should choose to die at age 75 to spare society the burden of looking after them in old age. He is also the lead author of that New England Journal of Medicine article advocating for rationing COVID-19 care that was adopted by the CMA.

What few would realize is that Emanuel’s death panel proposal did not emerge in response to the current COVID-19 “crisis” at all, but has been a key part of his advocacy for decades. In his 2008 book, Healthcare, Guaranteed, Emanuel argued for the creation of a National Health Board to approve all healthcare payments and procedures in the United States, one whose life-and-death decisions would be final, with no possibility for objection from patients, healthcare providers, government officials or the taxpayers who funded the system.

But not even a pie-in-the-sky, ivory tower bioethicist like Emanuel could believe that such a drastic change in American health care could take place absent some catalyzing event. Taking a page from his brother Rahm, Ezekiel admitted in 2011 that “we will get health-care reform only when there is a war, a depression or some other major civil unrest.” He may as well have added “plandemic” to that list of excuses for “health-care reform.” With the birth of the Corona World Order, it looks like Emanuel and his bioethicist brethren are about to finally realize their death panel dream.

At the very least, Bill Gates can relax now: We can finally have the discussion on death panels.

 

You are what you eat: 3 foods that look eerily similar to the organs they heal

by Virgilio Marin

 

Thursday, July 16, 2020 – Mysterious recurring patterns rule the universe. Natural foods and organs of the human body, for example, share these patterns and are said to be connected: Foods can, in some way, heal the organ it resembles.

In ancient times, people used this idea and developed natural medicine to treat diseases. Herbs and other organics were their sources of life and healing. This is not the case anymore, as people have become reliant on modern medicine and big pharmaceuticals.

Yet these three foods, eerily similar to the organs that studies show they heal, demonstrate how beneficial – and connected – organic food is to human health.

Walnuts

Walnuts are round, single-seeded nuts that look just like the brain. They share the same veiny texture, shape and composition and are both grooved in the middle.

Multiple studies have shown that walnuts are good for the brain. The nuts are packed with omega-3 fatty acids, including alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which play a role in improving brain function. Interestingly, walnuts are the only nuts that have a significant amount of ALA. (Related: Add this to your diet if you’re diabetic: The English walnut prevents neuropathy.)

People with depression and age-related cognitive decline may also benefit from walnuts. In a study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, researchers fed mice with Alzheimer’s disease walnuts every day for 10 months. They found that the mice significantly improved their memory and learning skills. Similarly, tests on older rats also found that feeding them with walnuts for eight weeks reversed age-related brain dysfunction.

In another study, researchers sampled 64 young, healthy adults with an 8-week diet regimen consisting of walnuts. They found that the participants displayed improved comprehension. These effects, experts say, are due to the nuts’ high antioxidant content and omega-3 fatty acids.

Moreover, neuroprotective compounds such as vitamin E isomers, melatonin, folate, and polyphenols are also present in walnuts.

Pomegranate

Known as a symbol of fertility, pomegranates resemble the human ovaries. The fruits help produce hormones such as estrone and testosterone while showing promise in treating menopause and preventing problems during pregnancy. A study from Washington University of Medicine in St. Louis found that the juice reduced stress in human placental cells in vitro.

Pomegranates also look like the epithelial tissue, which is found in several parts of the body, including the mouth, throat and blood vessels. Drinking pomegranate juice can freshen your mouth with the fruit’s healthy astringent effect. Furthermore, it contains antioxidants that can clear clogged arteries and potentially mitigate atherosclerosis.

Flaxseed

Flaxseed, too, looks like the epithelial tissue. And much like the epithelium, it is sticky and viscous.

Historically, people used flaxseed to heal the skin, fight fatigue and reduce inflammation. That’s because it has high amounts of lignans, compounds found in plants that serve as a powerful antioxidant. Nowadays, flaxseed can take the form of an oil which can be applied to the skin and improve wound-healing.

Moreover, studies suggest that flaxseed can help in lowering the risk of several diseases, such as:

  • Obesity
  • Bowel disease
  • Diabetes
  • Kidney disease
  • Cancers and tumors
  • Cardiovascular disease

An animal study found that it can slow tumor growth in mice that are given 0.3 millimeters of flaxseed oil for 40 days. Similarly, another study found it blocked the formation of colon cancer in rats.

The striking resemblance between food and the human body shows how connected everything is in the natural world. More importantly, it may hold the key to curing diseases that have confounded and killed many.

Low intake of fresh fruits and vegetables linked to cardiovascular deaths, say scientists

by Virgilio Marin

 

A study presented at the American Society for Nutrition annual meeting in Baltimore links death due to stroke and heart disease to inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables.

The researchers estimate that one out of seven cardiovascular deaths is due to a low intake of fruit. Meanwhile, one out of 12 is caused by a low intake of vegetables.

The preliminary findings emphasize the importance of a healthy diet for cardiovascular health. As a modifiable risk factor to heart disease, it serves as a powerful reminder to people of the major ways they can lower disease and death risk.

“Eating more fruits and vegetables is a relatively accessible and affordable strategy to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease,” added Victoria Miller, one of the authors of the study.

Low intake of fruits and vegetables linked to cardiovascular death

For the study, the researchers looked at data on food availability to estimate the national averages of fruit and vegetable intake for 113 countries. They also drew from statistics on causes of death per country, as well as studies on cardiovascular risks and the benefits of varying levels of fruit and vegetable intake.

From this pool of information, the researchers developed a model to measure the number of deaths that were caused by a consumption below the optimal level. For a diet to be considered optimal, it has to have at least 300 grams per day for fruits while at least 400 grams per day for vegetables. This metric is based on dietary guidelines and studies of cardiovascular risk factors.

Results showed that low fruit intake is associated with 1.8 million deaths from cardiovascular disease in 201o. Out of this number, 1.3 million were from a stroke while about 500,000 were from coronary artery disease.

On the other hand, low vegetable intake was linked with around 1 million deaths. Of these, around 200,000 were due to a stroke while 800,000 were from coronary artery disease.

Most of these deaths came from countries with the lowest overall intake of fruits and vegetables. Countries in South Asia, East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa displayed low fruit intake and higher rates of death from stroke. Similarly, countries in Central Asia and Oceania displayed low vegetable intake and had higher rates of coronary artery disease.

In the United States, 140,000 cardiovascular deaths in 2010 were linked to low fruit and vegetable intake.

Given these findings, the researchers highlight the need to make fruits and vegetables accessible to everyone, especially in populations that have a poor consumption of these foods.

“These findings indicate a need to expand population-based efforts to increase the availability and consumption of protective foods like fruits and vegetables,” said Miller.

Doubling fruit and vegetable intake is key to better health

As the study indicates, what you eat affects your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. Fortunately, your diet is something that you can control. By eating more fruits and vegetables, you can lower your risk of diseases and boost your health. (Related: Reverse cardiovascular disease with cherries.)

Studies have shown that the more fruits and vegetables you eat, the better protected you will be against cardiovascular disease. If you typically eat five servings (about two-and-a-half cups) a day, you might consider doubling it to 10. Doing so lessens your risk of cardiovascular disease by 28 percent and your risk of premature death by 31 percent.

Apples, pears, oranges and other citrus fruits are particularly healthful fruits. Meanwhile, green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables and green and yellow vegetables are among the most nutritious plant foods around.

By adding more of these to your plate, you can be better protected from life-threatening diseases and enjoy a better quality of life in the future. (Natural News).

For more information on the benefits of organic fruits and vegetables, visit Fresh.news.

Sources include:

EverydayHealth.com

Health.Harvard.edu

MEXICO: Tourists arrested in San Miguel for not wearing face masks

A fine and jail time followed their refusal to don masks

 

by Mexico News Daily

 

Two visitors to the city of San Miguel de Allende have been arrested and fined by authorities after refusing requests to wear a protective mask in public.

The man and woman — only identified by authorities as “Victor G.” and “Paulina H.” — were visiting from the neighboring state of Querétaro when they were arrested Saturday evening while walking with a third person, also visiting from Querétaro.

According to authorities, a police officer approached the trio as they were walking in the downtown historic area and reminded them that they were legally required to wear masks. The third person in the group at that point donned a mask, authorities said, but the two arrestees refused, authorities said.

They were taken into custody and later ordered by municipal authorities to pay a 500-peso fine and spend 12 hours in police custody, according to a press release from Mayor Luis Alberto Villarreal’s office.

According to Guanajuato’s Secretary of Public Health, San Miguel de Allende has recorded a total of 169 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and nine deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. Of those cases, 165 have occurred through community transmission. Guanajuato state currently has a red rating on the federal government’s virus risk stoplight system.

In the press release, Villarreal said that people who refuse to comply with the city’s public health regulations are endangering public health and could face up to 36 hours in custody. Villarreal told the newspaper Milenio recently that “a wrong step could return us to closing our tourism destination again.”

In March, the city closed access to non-residents who could not produce evidence of a compelling need to enter the city.

Although it recently reopened to tourism, the city has been taking its Covid-19 preventative measures increasingly seriously. Since May 1, it has been urging people to wear masks in all public spaces, including while walking outside, on public transportation, and inside businesses — a requirement that gained teeth July 10 when the Guanajuato state government certified it as an official ordinance.

Beginning May 29, the city installed health checkpoints at entry roads from the neighboring cities of Querétaro and Celaya. Officials have been asking those entering the city limits the purpose of their visit, taking car occupants’ body temperature, reminding people of the legal obligation to wear masks in the city, and offering a free mask to those who say they don’t have one. Transit authorities have been monitoring municipal bus routes to ensure that drivers are wearing the required masks throughout their routes.

The municipality also began bolstering the entry checkpoints with dogs trained to sniff out drugs and explosives after an incident at a checkpoint where a dog detected a bag of marijuana under a seat.

Sources: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp)

 

In other Mexico news:

 

IMF predicts Mexico will take biggest economic hit in all of Latin America

Fund expects Mexico’s GDP to shrink 10.5 percent this year, a sharp drop from its April prediction

 

The coronavirus-induced economic crisis will hit Mexico harder than any other country in Latin America, predicts the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In its June World Economic Outlook Update, the IMF forecast that Mexico’s GDP will shrink 10.5 percent this year, 3.9 percent below its April prediction of a 6.6 percent contraction.

The forecast is considerably worse than those of the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, which are currently predicting that Mexico will suffer an economic contraction in 2020 of 7.5 percent, 8.6 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively.

If the IMF prediction proves to be accurate, Mexico will suffer its worst recession since 1932 when the economy contracted 14.8 percent amid the Great Depression.

The IMF’s 2020 growth forecasts for other major Latin American economies are: Brazil, 9.1 percent contraction; Argentina, 9.9 percent; Colombia, 2.4 percent; Chile, 4.5 percent.

The organization predicts that the GDP of the Latin America and the Caribbean region as a whole will shrink by 9.4 percent this year, while global economic output is forecast to contract 4.9 percent, a 1.9 percent decline compared to its April prediction.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has had a more negative impact on activity in the first half of 2020 than anticipated, and the recovery is projected to be more gradual than previously forecast,” the IMF said.

The growth forecast for Mexico is also below that of its North American trade partners, the United States and Canada, which the IMF predicts will suffer contractions of 8 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively, in 2020.

However, the outlook for Mexico in 2020 is better than the forecasts for the economies of France, Italy and Spain, all of which are predicted to contract by more than 12 percent.

The IMF predicts that the Mexican economy will grow 3.3 percent in 2021, an increase of 0.3 percent compared to its April forecast. However, the 2021 prediction for Mexico is below the 3.7 percent growth forecast for Latin America and the Caribbean and the 5.4 percent global forecast.

Mexico’s central bank is currently offering the most optimistic growth forecast for 2021, the newspaper El Universal reported, predicting that GDP will increase 4.1 percent.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Former Mexican official involved in corruption will remain silent

by the El Reportero‘s wire services

 

Former Secretary of Finance and Foreign Relations of Mexico, Luis Videgaray Caso, reiterated he will remain silent after the arrest of Emilio Lozoya, former director of PEMEX, who is accused of corruption.

Luis Videgaray Caso, an important official under Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), is currently living in Cambridge, Mass., United States, and said he will also stay away from the media.

Lozoya allegedly confessed some details about a series of bribes received by the Brazilian company Odebrecht to finance Enrique Peña Nieto’s presidential campaign, of which Luis Videgaray was coordinator, as well as million dollar payments to lawmakers to achieve approval of the energy reform promoted by Videgaray.

Lozoya is also accused of the irregular purchase of the agronitrogenated fertilizers company from Altos Hornos de México, an operation that would have diverted at least $200 million to accounts linked to former director of PEMEX and his family.

Lozoya has said he did not act alone and his former lawyer, Javier Coello Trejo, insisted that former President Enrique Peña Nieto, as well as former secretaries Luis Videgaray and Pedro Joaquín Coldwell, should be also called to testify.

 

Bolsonaro allies’ social media accounts suspended

On 24 July, Twitter and Facebook suspended the accounts of 16 prominent allies of Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, following a supreme court (STF) ruling that they had been using the social media platforms to disseminate ‘fake news’ and threats against the court.

 

In brief: Peru faces renewed mining protests

Protesters in Peru’s Espinar province, in the southern region of Cusco, have demanded compensation from British multinational mining company Glencore, to help local communities cope with the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Glencore’s Antapaccay copper mine has faced considerable criticism since operations began in 2012, but the past week has seen renewed protests and even sabotage attempts, adding weight to the central demand that the company pay local communities PEN1,000 (US$284) per person, as compensation for environmental damage and the extraction of resources.

Similar protests have been reported elsewhere in Peru since the country’s main mining union (FNTMMSP) called on 21 July for members to prepare to take action in response to the loss of jobs in the mining sector, and to the spread of infection among those still working, due to inadequate sanitary protections.

FNTMMSP’s request for a “necessary and urgent dialogue” with the mining companies and the Peruvian government has not yet received a response; negotiations between local authorities in Espinar and the central government broke down last week, with the government insisting that violence must stop before talks can continue.

 

In brief: Panama to reassign funds for Central American & Caribbean Games

Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo has announced that Panama has pulled out of hosting the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2022 due to the economic impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Panama would need to invest around US$300m to host the games, resources which will now be redirected towards healthcare. Cortizo added that all the sports infrastructure projects would have been in Panama province, where the capital Panama City is located, which has registered many of the Covid-19 cases.

In response to the announcement, Panama’s Olympic Committee (COP) declared it was “shocked”, adding that the COP is convinced of the “legacy and impact that [the Games] represent, not only for sport but for Panamanian society in general.”

 

Despite judge’s order, migrant children remain detained amid COVID outbreak

“It’s preposterous,” said a former ICE official who served during both the Obama and Trump administrations. “There’s no reason other than cruelty.”

Nearly a month after a federal judge ruled the Trump administration must release migrant children “with all deliberate speed” from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers because of COVID-19, 346 parents and children are detained in facilities with outbreaks and court filings show releases remain rare.

When U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee ordered the release of children detained with their parents in late June, she was explicit in her reasoning. The ICE facilities, she said, were “‘on fire’ and there is no more time for half measures.”

All communities should participate in the U.S.

Leaders indicate that the directive does not exclude undocumented immigrants from the count

 

by Pilar Marrero

 

All communities, regardless of citizenship status, need to respond to the U.S. Census inspite of President Trump’s July 21 policy memo on reapportionment, civil rights advocates and census experts urged in an ethnic media conference call on July 24.

The memo, issued July 21, instructs the Commerce Department to eliminate undocumented immigrants from census data used for reapportioning Congressional Districts for the next decade.

“One thing to make clear is that the President is not asking for undocumented immigrants to be excluded in the Census. A great deal of media coverage suggests that those immigrants will not be counted, and that is not what the policy memo is asking for,” said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association for Latino Elected Officials (NALEO).

The Trump Administration asserts it intends to use “administrative data” from other departments to calculate the number of undocumented immigrants in the Census final count, and calculate population numbers for the purposes of reappoprtionment without them.

Public interest lawyers have said that this policy memo is unconstitutional, and three separate lawsuits have been filed in federal courts to challenge it. States with large immigrant populations could lose Congressional seats.

Vargas warned that excluding “undocumented immigrants” after the Census is finalized amounts to “nothing more than cooking the numbers, or making up an entirely new data set on which to base the most important element of our democracy”.

Vargas and other experts say that the federal government´s data will be “very imprecise,” in part because the 2020 Census does not contain any question regarding citizenship or immigration status and because the data collected by other federal departments is generally inaccurate.

According to a new report by the Migration Policy Institute, the process the Administration proposes could incorrectly “lump together” as many as 20 million U.S. citizens with unauthorized immigrants due to matching errors. “Such errors are likely to be greater in low-income urban and rural communities, thereby exacerbating any undercount that may occur in those communities and reducing their voting power relative to more affluent communities,” the MPI report noted.

The goal of community organizations regarding the Census has not changed in spite of the memo, said John C. Yang, President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ).

“There is no immigration status question whatsoever in the Census and we encourage people to respond online, on paper or by telephone, especially if they don´t want an enumerator to knock on their door,” Yang said. “And I remind them that the deadline for responding is still October 31.”

Yang, who is also an attorney, reiterated that “Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution makes clear that apportionment is based on all persons in the United States,” and makes no distinction between citizens and persons.

“The suggestion that somehow undocumented immigrants are not people or persons just flies in the face of logic, legislative history and policy of the United States for several hundred years,” Yang added.

Nevertheless, the memo has deepened uncertainty and fear which will further inhibit many communities from responding to the Census, especially those in Florida and Texas which have provided no state funds for census outreach.

“We are still having to address the fear of the citizenship question that was pushed by the Administration early on,” said Nestor López, a census organizer from the Texas border county of Hidalgo.

The challenges in Hidalgo County are compounded by a persistent undercount of the area for at least the last two decades, the lack of internet connectivity in many of its communities and the pandemic, which crushed plans for person-to-person interaction, Lopez added.

He and other activists have had to switch strategies from in-person activities to online outreach and rely on local voices and celebrities “to share our message.”

Data based on response rates by geographic area show that minority and poor regions consistently show lower response rates to date, but Native American nations are particularly challenging, said Kayla Olvera Hilario, Tribal Affairs Specialist of the California Complete Count-Census 2020.

“Our numbers are pretty low across the state,” said Hilario. “We have some tribes at 60 percent self-response and a lot of tribes hovering around 20 to 30% response rates. About 20 tribes are under 15 percent response. The positive thing is that our response rates are greater than they were in 2010.”

California’s response rate so far is 63.8 percent and this year, the state has invested at least 2 million dollars in specific outreach towards counting tribal populations in the state.

The tribal specialist pointed to the fact that many households have not received a unique Census I.D., which wasn´t required in the general population, to use when responding to the questionnaire.

“Tribes were instructed to wait for the unique identifier,“ she said. “Some of those tribes to this day have not received those packets with the identifiers which is causing a huge challenge”.

Many tribes have also declared a state of emergency which does not allow for the entrance of enumerators to their areas. Hilario pointed out that the most effective way to get Native Americans to participate is to reinforce the appeal of the Census as a way to strengthen sovereignty.

Marilyn Stephens, Assistant Regional Manager for the Southern District of the U.S. Census, highlighted precautions the Bureau is taking as enumerators begin knocking on doors for the next phase of the census. “Staff has been issued masks, sanitizer and clear instructions and training, they cannot enter a home, they must practice social distancing.” But, she noted, “people can still avoid the visit by self-responding now”.

The specialist uses a simple message to encourage communities to participate: “The only message that I tell people is this: It takes less than 10 minutes to fill out the Census and it guarantees 10 years of services and representation. Everyone must be counted”.

Will the new NAFTA make the pandemic worse for Mexicans?

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - 25SEPTEMBER10 - Workers and their families protest the actions of the Mexican government in firing 44,000 electrical workers and smashing their union, the Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas (SME) in October, 2009. Since then many have been living in tents in front of the office of the Federal Electrical Commission, and participating in protests throughout the city. Elva Nora Cruz is the sister of a fired SME member, and sits with Triqui women protesting violence in Oaxaca under a tent in Mexico City's central square, the zocalo. Copyright David Bacon

For Mexican workers, farmers, and the poor, the pandemic and the new treaty replacing NAFTA are a devastating one-two punch

 

by David Bacon

 

In the debate over the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement, the new trade treaty replacing NAFTA that went into effect on July 1, many promises were made about the effectiveness of its labor protections.  Supposedly, they will protect the labor rights of Mexican workers, which will free them to push for better wages and conditions.

These promises are reminiscent of those made when the original NAFTA was debated over a quarter of a century ago. At the time, its corporate backers insisted it would lead to prosperity for workers and farmers, who would no longer be obligated to leave home to find work in the United States.

Whether the old treaty created better conditions-for workers in the maquiladora factories on the border, for Mexican migrants toiling in U.S. fields, or for farmers in the communities from which the migrants come-is more than an economic issue. In the era of the pandemic, the record of the old treaty must be examined to determine as well its responsibility for life and death. Did the changes it provoked make Mexicans more vulnerable to the virus? And because it continues the same economic regime, the new agreement cannot avoid raising the same questions.

The impact on Mexico

NAFTA had a devastating impact on Mexican workers, farmers, and the poor, and its labor and environmental side agreements did nothing to protect them. The problem lies in the agreement’s purpose-to facilitate the penetration of U.S. capital in Mexico. By taking down barriers to investment and the activity of U.S. corporations, it instituted cataclysmic political and economic changes. The current trade agreement shares NAFTA’s purpose and will have the same impact.

The 1990 report by the U.S. Congress’ Commission for the Study of International Migration and Cooperative Economic Development recommended that the United States negotiate a free trade agreement with Mexico in order to deter migration. But even this report warned, “It takes many years-even generations-for sustained growth to achieve the desired effect,” and in the meantime would create years of “transitional costs in human suffering.”

Waves of privatization, mandated to provide opportunities for banks and investors, cost the jobs of hundreds of thousands as Mexico threw open its economy. As investment increased, the income of Mexicans declined.

Investment had health consequences beyond unemployment. The prelude to COVID came in 2009, with the spread of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu. In Mexico some call it the NAFTA flu, because the agreement provided the vehicle for Smithfield Foods to fill the Perote Valley in Puebla with hog farms. The virus started in a valley town, La Gloria.  Its source was the intense concentration of pigs and their waste. The waste from Smithfield’s U.S. operations was so considerable it led to prohibitions even by the conservative government of North Carolina.

The failure of NAFTA’s labor side agreement was even more complete. Not a single independent union won bargaining rights, nor a single fired worker reinstated, because of a NAFTA complaint. That abysmal record continues today. The Mexican miners union has been on strike at the huge Cananea copper mine since 2007. The treaty had no impact on regaining their rights. Instead, NAFTA’s freeing of investment to move across borders helped the mine’s owner. The wealthy Larrea family bought the ASARCO mines in Arizona, and forced the miners’ cross-border allies, the United Steel Workers, out on strike there as well. NAFTA’s goal of freeing investment didn’t guarantee labor rights; it jeopardized them. The new agreement has precisely the same goal.

AMLO’s response

One of the first acts by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) after he was inaugurated president in December 2018 was to mandate the doubling of wages in the border factories. In Matamoros, tens of thousands of workers went on strike after their U.S. employers and Mexican partners simply refused to obey the law. The government, however, seemed afraid to use its considerable power to force maquiladora employers to comply.

When the COVID-19 crisis started, the Mexican government ordered U.S.-owned factories to stop production, many of them auto assemblers and plants in the Pentagon’s supply chain. Again, companies simply refused to comply until their own workers went on strike and forced them to close the doors. At least twelve people died in the Lear auto parts plant alone. Then the U.S. ambassador, the State Department, and the executives of big U.S. defense and auto corporations leaned on the government in Mexico City. AMLO folded under the pressure and allowed them to restart production, even though workers will get sick and die as a result.

The leverage that the agreements have given the United States is very disturbing. The growth of U.S. production in Mexico has made the Mexican government dependent on keeping that sector operating. This doesn’t just affect the past governments that were notoriously pro-corporate. Mexicans elected AMLO because he promised to end this neoliberal dependence and make life in Mexico more attractive for Mexicans. But the U.S. government and companies have been able to use their leverage to pressure him to reverse those promises. Trump threatened to shut the border and forced Mexico to agree to illegally keep applicants for asylum, including women and children, in camps. NAFTA provided no means to stop Trump from doing this, and the new treaty won’t do that either.

Now this popularly elected president is going to Washington to greet Trump before the election, hat in hand, desperate to see this new trade agreement implemented. But signing the new treaty and a White House visit are not creating friendship with Mexico.

(Due to lack of space, this article was cut).

Covid-19 and the possibility of an incomplete 2020 Census affect poor communities

In the Bay Area, San Mateo County has the highest Census questionnaire response rates and San Francisco County the lowest

 

by FT

Internet services

The covid-19 has added to the various problems that the 2020 Census has to properly count all the inhabitants of the country. To date, the response rate is close to what the Census predicted, which is good news, but the question experts are asking is whether the coronavirus could somehow mess up a complete 2020 Census count.

Due to the health emergency caused by the current pandemic, the Census has postponed the exit to the fields of its pollsters. Now it is expected that by the new term, which ends on October 31, they will have taken to the streets to knock on all the doors necessary to complete the questionnaires.

“We want to take care of people’s health. We have time to ensure that all communities are counted…Now people have the option of responding to the Census themselves. They can respond online at 2020.census.gov, or respond via phone or regular mail,” said Keshia Morris Desir, manager of the 2020 Census Campaign and the campaign to end criminalization and mass incarceration of the Common Cause organization.

An incomplete Census and covid-19 have something in common: they mainly affect poor communities. “We are seeing some disparities in the count,” Morris Desir said in a virtual conference. At the California level, the response to the census has been 64% as of the end of July, with no knocking on doors yet. This means 4.2 points below the 2010 Census.

So far this year, Morris Desir said counting problems are already being seen in poor communities. “We have seen some issues come to the fore again especially with those communities that are below the poverty line.” The average response among people living in extreme poverty was 46.9% in June, 14% below the national average. “Unfortunately this crack seems to be slowly getting larger as the Census progresses,” said Morris Desir.

The Census is the basis for distributing funds from government social programs, and “because of the structural inequities in government we are going to see these inequities multiply in all other systems,” said Jonathan Mehta Stein, a civil rights attorney. and executive director of California Common Cause.

Trying to include the citizenship question “was turning the Census into a political weapon” and significantly damaged its credibility, “gave people the impression that the Census could be used for [spying]. Absolutely reduced participation in the Census. Even after that question was thrown out by the Supreme Court,” Stein said.

Activists and critics agree that historically there are many communities that have been undercounted. Particularly the minorities of African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans. In both rural and urban areas, these communities are facing the risk of being undercounted. “But we also know that renters and people living in multi-family housing, single parent households, and separated households with children under the age of five have historically also been undercounted by the Census. This amounts to inequities in political representation not only for ethnic or racial reasons but also for social and economic reasons,” said Morris Desir.

Census data is used to make decisions about how political power and money are distributed equitably. Each year the federal government, guided by Census data, allocates millions of dollars to health, housing assistance programs, lunches, education and others.

The Census also identifies the population to define electoral districts. An act of Congress passed in 1967 requires that representatives of the lower house be elected in and by the constituencies they represent.

For example, in 2015 California received about $55.4 billion from the federal government for health programs, $3.5 billion for housing programs called Section 8, and $1.2 billion for student meal programs. Also, a total of $115,000 million dollars for social programs was given to the state of California according to the information provided by the Census.

“If California undercounts its citizens then it will receive less than its fair share… When communities of color, when communities living in poverty are undercounted, the resources and political representation that they deserve is going away. other more privileged communities,” said Morris Desir.

—
The Census in the Bay

As of July 29, 2020, the highest response rate to the 2020 Census questionnaire in the Bay Area is in San Mateo County at 73.8%, followed by Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties at 72.1%. and 72% respectively, Mari County

My Story: Education opened doors for my family, now open the doors of the schools

by Alicia Becerril

 

Although my family had humble, working class beginnings, securing an education was a theme that my parents valued and supported.  My mom grew up in Guadalajara, Jalisco, and my dad grew up in Aparo, Michoacán.  My father left school after the third grade.  At the age of 14, he traveled to Mexico City to find work. At 19, he went to Chicago to work as a Bracero with the railroad.  He returned to Aparo but could find no work.  He made the decision to return to the U.S., but first devoted three months to learning English, listening to records! He became self-educated, moved to Sacramento and found work at the railroad.

As an infant, my mother lost her mom.  While allowing her own children to continue in school, her step-mother took my mother out of school after the fourth grade.  Thereafter, in a modern day revival of a well-known fairy tale, she was forced to sew pants all day.  She met her first husband, married, and had three children.  Tragically, her husband died in an accident.

Because she had no way of supporting her children, she pleaded with an orphanage to take them so they would not starve.  During the day, she sewed clothes and sold them at a stand.  She visited her children on the weekends.  After two years, a distant cousin visited and was concerned about her living conditions.  She invited her and the kids to live in Sacramento.   My mom found work at the almond factory.   Shortly thereafter, she met my father.  They married and had five more children.

My father started working at a cabinet store as a cleaner and eventually became a cabinet maker.  Continuing his reliance on self education, he took correspondence courses to earn his high school equivalence and general contractor license.  He was intent on having a better life for his children.  He built the house we later lived in.

My mom often told us about the importance of an education.  If we had homework or wanted to read, we could skip having to do dishes and other housework.  There was never a better incentive to do my homework and learn!

I went on to become an elementary school teacher, and later, through further education and discipline, a lawyer and judge.  My brothers and sisters each used their education to go onto different careers.  David is a physician. Linda was a court reporter. Mary Ellen was a nurse.  Joe worked as a jet technician.  Eva, Terri, and Victor worked as computer operators.  It gave us a chance for a better life.  More than 25 years of higher education affirmed and supported by parents who did not have the opportunity to go beyond grade school.

Today, education is under great stress.  We are in the midst of a pandemic, and much of our economy has shut down to slow the spread of Covid-19.  In the fall, it is proposed that Bay Area children will be able to access learning only through online classes.  What about the children and parents who have no computers at home?  What about the children who have less than adequate skills in using the online programs?  How are parents who really need jobs going to be able to work if they must stay at home with their school age children?  What are we dictating to our families?

The continued closure of the schools will lead to a growing learning gap for kids.  Our Latino community cannot afford to fall further behind.  As a former teacher familiar with this research, it is fundamental that children learn best in a classroom.  They also are given the opportunity to socialize with other kids, have free school meals, physical activity, and other services, not the least of which is a dedicated and concerned teacher.

It is clear that continued absence from school, inevitably falling behind, will limit the life chances of children for many years to come and further deepen social inequities  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledges that schools play an important role in providing critical services.  Lack of person-to-person teaching could lead to wider disparities across income levels and ethnic groups and cause long term effects on children’s educational outcomes, health and the economic wellbeing of families and communities.

Additionally, pediatricians are increasingly concerned by the continued absence of millions of children from schools.   In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics, an organization devoted to protecting children’s health, strongly recommend that students be physically present at school and also issued guidelines to open up schools safely.

Given the evidence showing that children rarely develop severe symptoms of COVID-19, we need to find a way to ensure that our children get the opportunity for a better life.  Going back to school could mean the difference between surviving and thriving.

Will students or parents benefit from school closures? No.  But we know they will be hurt, now and in the future.

I urge the Governor, parents, school administrators, teachers, and other professionals to work together to solve this dilemma and bring back classroom learning in a safe and responsible manner.  We owe it to our children to offer them the stepping stones to a better life.

(Alicia Becerril, a lawyer, a SF Board of Supervisor, and a judge, is a former El Reportero writer.

Statue of Isabel la Católica and Christopher Columbus removed from California Capitol

by the ACI Press Newsroom

 

A statue of the Spanish Queen Isabel la Católica and the navigator Christopher Columbus was removed on July 7 from the California Capitol in the city of Sacramento (United States), where it has remained since 1883.

The removal of the statue, which recalls Christopher Columbus’ request to the Spanish queen to finance his first trip, in which he would reach American lands, was announced on June 16 by the pro tempore president of the California Senate, Toni Atkins; Speaker of the California House of Representatives, Anthony Rendon; and the chair of the Assembly Rules Committee, Ken Cooley. All three politicians belong to the Democratic Party.

Members of the Democratic Party also pointed out in their June 16 statement that “Christopher Columbus is a deeply polarizing historical figure, given the deadly impact his arrival in this hemisphere had on indigenous populations. The continued presence of his statue on the California Capitol, where it has been since 1883, is completely out of place today. It will be removed.”

In a Twitter post sharing the statement, Anthony Rendon said, “The Columbus statue has no place in a modern California State Capitol. It is time for it to be removed.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom, also of the Democratic Party, said on July 7 that “we cannot correct the mistakes of our past, but we can recognize them and commit to building a more equitable future, fair to all. This retreat is symbolic, but an important recognition of that promise.”

The removal of the statue comes amid a wave of criticism of figures in United States history, accused of committing abuses against indigenous and African American populations. Among the most violent protests there have been repeated attacks and damage to images of San Junípero Serra, considered the Father and Apostle of California, canonized in 2015 by Pope Francis.

Isabel I of Castile, “la Católica”, reigned in Castile and Aragón in the 15th century, and sponsored the voyages of Christopher Columbus that marked the beginning of Iberian colonization in America. Her cause for canonization is open and is considered by the Church as “servant of God”.

The cause was opened in 1958 in the Archdiocese of Valladolid (Spain), where Elizabeth died, and the diocesan phase concluded in 1972, being sent to Rome for the consideration of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

In June 2018, the bishops of southern Spain decided to join the Spanish queen’s beatification cause as a plaintiff.

Serious historians have also debunked the black legend that Christopher Columbus abused and enslaved indigenous people upon arrival in America.

In 2017, Carol Delaney, author of “Columbus and the Search for Jerusalem” and professor emeritus at Stanford University, noted that the navigator’s critics “are blaming Columbus for things he did not do. Those who made them were the people who came after him, the colonizers. I think he has been terribly slandered.”

“The legacy and exploits of Christopher Columbus deserve to be celebrated. He was a man ahead of his time and an intrepid explorer and brilliant navigator whose daring discovery changed the course of history, “he said.

Delivering the statue donated by his brother, the millionaire Darius Ogden Mills, Edgar Mills, on Dec. 17, 1883, assured that “California, more than any other state in the American Union, fulfills the (Columbus) visions of lands wonderful beyond the rising sun.”

Ecuador: Protocol for the resumption of public Masses in Guayaquil approved

The Archdiocese of Guayaquil (Ecuador) announced the approval of the protocol for the resumption of public Masses in the city.

The Archdiocese announced today in a statement that the Cantonal Emergency Operations Committee (COE), the institution in charge of dealing with cases of emergencies and disasters in the city, approved on July 13 the update of the protocol for the resumption of public Masses.

After a long period of social isolation to avoid the expansion of COVID-19, the Government of Ecuador divided the cities according to the traffic light colors: red, yellow and green, to indicate the level of expansion of the virus and thus, be able to determine the measures to progressively resume economic and social activities in the country.

Since May 20, Guayaquil has been at a yellow traffic light and under a sectorization strategy in 17 areas and a communal control traffic light for homes, for which reason it was authorized to reopen the churches for personal worship and worship. Currently, the city is preparing to go to the green light, where it will be possible to celebrate public Masses and confessions.

The new protocol presents some measures that are added to those already approved by the local authorities, such as the celebration of “baptisms, marriages and funerals, with a time limit of 40 minutes.”

For example, churches that celebrate Holy Mass will have a capacity determined by the color of the traffic light; and the rooms where courses and group meetings are held will allow the entrance of a maximum of 25 people or the percentage of the capacity for that space according to the corresponding traffic light.

In the case of family catechesis, it was decided that it would continue to occur virtually. When the city is at a green light, it will be possible to carry out “catechesis for children and adolescents, as determined by the corresponding authority.”

In the statement, it was also highlighted that “the parishes have followed a strict control of the biosafety processes in order to be able to reopen, such as: the suppression of the use of holy water basins, the prohibition of approaching religious images, the omission of rite of Peace, communion in hand, disinfection of alms and the disposition not to distribute printed material ”.

In this sense, it was urged to continue caring for the community with “disinfection of hands and footwear, taking temperature at the entrance” of the temples, the use of masks and respect for social distancing “on a mandatory basis” and “remembering that the emergency is not over.”

As the Church in Guayaquil is “committed not only to the bodily well-being of citizens but also to their spiritual growth”, groups at risk of contagion of the virus who cannot attend churches will be able to continue participating in the live broadcasts of the Daily Holy Mass and the Blessing with the Blessed Sacrament, through Facebook and YouTube.

 

 

1...121122123...598Page 122 of 598

SELECTIONS

POPULAR TICKETS

POPULAR CATEGORY

ABOUT US

Welcome to our Marvin J. Ramirez website! We are an innovative newspaper located in the heart of San Francisco. With a relentless passion for telling powerful stories, we inform our community with truthful news, insightful analysis, and compelling reporting.

Contacto: lreportero@aol.com

FOLLOW US

© Copyright 2023. Agenciadigital.pw. All rights reserved.