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Census Bureau seeks driver’s license data, including citizenship and eye color

Two former Census Bureau directors said they were puzzled by the agency’s request

 

by Sam Levine

 

The U.S. Census Bureau has asked several states to turn over driver’s license records that include personal data like eye color as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to obtain citizenship data.

The Census Bureau said Tuesday that it requested the information as part of its effort to use existing government records to compile data on citizenship. The agency said it was requesting the records to comply with Trump’s July executive order asking it to do just that after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the president’s effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. 

The proposed citizenship question effort set off a firestorm of criticism from civil rights groups and activists who said it would discourage marginalized people, including noncitizens and people of color, from responding to the decennial survey. After the court ruling, the Trump administration has said it would gather citizenship data through other methods, potentially enabling lawmakers to redraw districts to benefit Republicans by leaving noncitizens out of the census count.

HuffPost obtained a draft memorandum the Census Bureau submitted to multiple states that would govern the sharing of driver’s license records. The document outlines a request for monthly driver’s license records between 2018 and 2023. It asks for 11 fields of information that would potentially be on a driver’s license ― including citizenship status and eye color. (The Census Bureau’s request for driver’s license records was first reported by The Associated Press.)

It’s not unusual for the Census Bureau to seek data from states. But two former directors of the Census Bureau said that asking for this specific data is both surprising and unnecessary. 

Asking about eye color, in particular, “is very strange,” said Kenneth Prewitt, who served as director of the Census Bureau from 1998 to 2001.

 “I cannot imagine how it would be useful in constructing population statistics, which is the task of the Census Bureau — not detailed data about individuals,” Prewitt said.

 In general, driver’s licenses aren’t particularly good indicators of citizenship because motorists are only required to update them once every few years, during which their citizenship status may change, Prewitt said. Driver’s license info is only useful for finding addresses and ages, he said.  

 “Beyond that, they’re no data there,” he added. “That’s not data that’s particularly hard for the Census Bureau to get.”

 

Cuban immigrant dies of apparent suicide in Louisiana ICE detention center

The asylum-seeker was found unresponsive in his cell at Louisiana’s Richwood Correctional Center, which has a history of violence.

A Cuban man legally seeking asylum in the U.S. died of an apparent suicide on Tuesday while detained at an immigration detention center in Richwood, Louisiana.

Staff at the Richwood Correctional Center found 41-year-old Roylan Hernández-Díaz unresponsive in his cell. He was later pronounced dead by medical personnel at 2:20 p.m. Tuesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Wednesday.

Hernández-Díaz’s death is still under investigation, though ICE reported that he appeared to have strangled himself.

Hernández-Díaz had been in ICE custody for nearly five months. He initially applied for asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, in May, The Associated Press reported.

Border agents deemed the immigrant “inadmissible under the Immigration and Nationality Act,” ICE said in its news release. He was transferred to ICE custody on May 20.

Hernández-Díaz’s wife, Yarelis Gutiérrez, told BuzzFeed News that her husband was seeking asylum in the U.S. after speaking out against leaders of the Cuban government and being persecuted for it.

Gutiírrez also said that immigration officials had asked her husband to provide more evidence to support his asylum claims, which proved difficult because he was in a detention center, according to BuzzFeed. (by Carla Herreria).

The Richwood Correctional Center, a private detention facility operated by LaSalle Corrections, began housing undocumented immigrants earlier this year after signing a deal with ICE to take in detainees. 

 

Mexico expresses concern about situation in Ecuador  

by the El Reportero’s wire services

 

The government of Mexico expressed today in a statement its concern about the serious events that occur in Ecuador and called for respecting the rule of law and human rights.

‘Mexico strongly condemns all forms of violence, reiterates its commitment to the right to free demonstration and rejects the use of excessive force by the State, which must be used exceptionally and always governed by the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and responsibility ‘, emphasizes the text.

In the communiqué issued by the Foreign Ministry, the Mexican executive urges the parties to avoid violence and favor dialogue as the only way to find solutions.

‘In that sense, it expresses its concern about the criminalization of opposition actors, since this does not pay in the resolution of the conflict’, it adds.

The statement also expresses its solidarity with the Ecuadorian people and joins the position of various international actors to accompany a peaceful solution.

For more than a week, hundreds of thousands of Ecuadorians have expressed their rejection of a group of economic measures by the Lenin Moreno government that laces the pocket and quality of life of a large majority.

Through various demonstrations and with a national strike started yesterday, protesters demand the repeal of the ‘pack’, a term to name the unpopular measures applied by the administration of Moreno.

Stand out among the approved provisions, the elimination of the fuel subsidy and reduction of labor rights (salary cuts and vacations for the public sector), which affect large majorities.

In addition, others such as the reduction of tariffs, elimination of the advance of the income tax, reduction of the tax on the exit of currencies, which benefit the well-off classes of the South American country.

No more IMF is another of the demands in the mobilizations starring indigenous organizations, workers, students, academics, women, youth, and more social sectors, against what they consider recipes of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Last March, Ecuador signed an agreement with the IMF for 4.2 billion dollars, which will be paid for three years, provided that the Government adheres to an economic program established in the agreement.

The program requires an adjustment of about six percent of the Gross Domestic Product and other cuts that include the dismissal of public sector employees, increased taxes and rebates to public investment.

 

Nicaragua invests in infrastructure with support from regional bank

Nicaragua will invest millions of dollars in completing and improving the country’s road infrastructure and drinking water distribution with support from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), which, as was confirmed today, granted huge credits for these purposes.

The financial entity approved the allocation of 333,874,540 dollars to partially finance a new phase of the Road Improvement and Expansion Program, a construction plan assumed by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.

The second loan amounts to 251,470,000 dollars, which will be used to finance part of the project for the Improvement and Expansion of Potable Water and Sanitation Systems in 7 Cities, to be executed by the Nicaraguan Company of Aqueducts and Sewers.

The total amount exceeds 585 million dollars.

 

Supreme Court judge resigns in Mexico pending investigation

President Andres Manuel López Obrador explained Friday that the resignation of Supreme Court Justice Eduardo Medina is due to an investigation into assets held abroad.

Last night, Medina unexpectedly presented his resignation which still has to be accepted by the Senate, without giving his reasons.

The resignation comes a few months after an investigation against Medina for alleged money laundering by the Financial Intelligence Unit was revealed.

In 2015, then-President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) proposed Medina join the Court, after which his candidacy led to a social media campaign against the approval of his appointment.

But on March 11 of that year, the Senate approved his integration into the Court by 83 votes, for a period that should end on March 9, 2030.

SF Board of Supervisors Outreach advertising to the Hispanic Community in SF – October 2019

October 2019 Outreach Ads

 

GET FREE, TRUSTED HELP WITH YOUR CITIZENSHIP APPLICATION!

The San Francisco Pathways to Citizenship Initiative provides free legal help from community immigration service providers at our free workshops. Resources for the citizenship application fee are available onsite. Learn more at sfcitizenship.org

When: Sunday, November 24, 2019. Registration is open from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm. No appointment needed!

Where: Chinatown YMCA, 855 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, CA 94108

 

APPLY TO BECOME A CENSUS TAKER!

Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau is responsible for conducting the nationwide census. While the next census will be taken in 2020, the Census Bureau is recruiting now to fill important temporary positions with great pay and flexible hours. Be a Census Taker and make a difference in your community! Apply online at 2020census.gov/jobs.

 

Child support matters can be complicated, stressful, and confusing. The Department of Child Support Services helps parents understand the process so they know their rights and options for making and receiving support payments. Call us today at (866) 901-3212 or visit our office at 617 Mission Street to learn how we can help you. Information is also available online at www.sfgov.org/dcss.

 

COME JOIN THE SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT!

 

The mission of the Fire Department is to protect the lives and property of the people of San Francisco from fires, natural disasters, and hazardous materials incidents; to save lives by providing emergency medical services; to prevent fires through prevention and education programs; and to provide a work environment that values health, wellness and cultural diversity and is free of harassment and discrimination.

 

Chief Jeanine Nicholson invites you to join a highly respected Fire Department and serve the community of one of the most beautiful cities in the country.

 

San Francisco’s first citywide American Indian Initiative celebrates the culture and contributions of local Indigenous Peoples. Spanning three months, The Continuous Thread: Celebrating Our Interwoven Histories, Identities and Contributions will include over 20 public events including exhibitions, a temporary light-art project, community celebrations, concerts, a film festival, a fashion show and more.  The ambitious Initiative coincides with the 50th Anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz, the one-year anniversary of the City’s first Indigenous Peoples Day and the anniversary of the removal of the Early Days sculpture in the Civic Center after decades of community objections to its racist and historically inaccurate content. Dates: October 4 – December 15. Visit sfartscommission.org for more information.

 

The City and County of San Francisco encourage public outreach.  Articles are translated into several languages to provide better public access.  The newspaper makes every effort to translate the articles of general interest correctly.  No liability is assumed by the City and County of San Francisco or the newspapers for errors and omissions. – CNS3294253

10.4.19.

The South also exists

Musical Dreams in Homage to Rafael Manríquez

 

Compiled by the El Reportero’staff

 

Joyful evening of roots music from the tip of South America to the Rio Grande, presenting: John Santos – Afro-Caribbean Sabor, Osvaldo Torres & Silvia Balducci – Andean whispers Marci Manríquez’ experimental ballads & Latin American music

Also featuring Luis Valverde’s Dance Company, a colorful, soulful Andean Dance Troupe.

This concert honors the music of Rafael Manríquez, the prolific Chilean composer who graced the Berkeley and San Francisco Bay Area stages for over 30 years with masterful presentations of the Latin American Song.

Saturday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m. / Show: 8 p.m. at the Freight and Salvage. Cover charge $26 Adv. / $30 door (plus fees)

 

Diverse writers share their stories

The San Francisco Public Library is hosting a celebration of women of color authors, who will be reading from and talking about their writing, as well as how their various backgrounds influence their creative works.

Award-winning Pakistani writer and artist, Sehba Sarwar, will read from her recently-published debut novel Black Wings. This book is about a story of a mother and daughter who struggle to meet across the generations, cultures and secrets that separate them. Bay Area-based writer Fan Wu will read from her critically acclaimed novels, including Beautiful as Yesterday, a book about two sisters who were born and brought up in China and now reside in the United States. Her writing explores the impact of history and memories on one’s life. Lastly, fourth-generation Southern Californian Liz González will share from her multi-genre collection Dancing in the Santa Ana Winds. Her book explores memories, pivotal experiences and cultural influences that shaped her when growing up as a nontraditional Catholic Mexican American in San Bernardino.

Liz González is the author of Dancing in the Santa Ana Winds: Poems y Cuentos New and Selected (Los Nietos Press 2018) and the poetry collection Beneath Bone (Manifest Press 2000). Her poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction have been published widely and recently appeared in Voices de la Luna, Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California, and Voices from Leimert Park Anthology Redux. She was recently featured on Latinopia.com, KUCR’s Radio Aztlan, KPCC’s Unheard L.A-Baldwin Park, and The Palacio Podcast.

Her awards include an Arts Council for Long Beach Incite / Insight Award, an Arts Council for Long Beach Professional Artist Fellowship, an Elizabeth George Foundation Artistic Grant, a Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts Residency, an Irvine Fellowship at the Lucas Artists Residency Program, a Macondo Casa Azul Writers Residency, and a Hedgebrook residency.

On Thursday, Oct. 17 at 5:30 p.m., at the SF Main Library, 100 Larkin St., Chinese Center, 3rd Floor. Free.

 

A Permanent Town Square in the Excelsior? 

Excelsior Action Group and Sunday Streets Bring the Vision to Persia Triangle on October 20

 

San Francisco – Excelsior residents have dreamed of creating a permanent town square and public mini park at the Persia Triangle, a site formed by the intersection of Mission Street, Ocean and Persia Avenues in the heart of the neighborhood, for years. As local efforts ramp up to make the community space a reality, the Excelsior Action Group (EAG) and Sunday Streets are transforming the space – currently an auto repair shop – into a pop-up park at Sunday Streets Excelsior, taking place on Oct. 20 from 11am-4pm.

“It is important for our neighborhood to have a dedicated public space and Persia Triangle has been on our hearts and minds for a long time,” said Supervisor Ahsha Safai. “I am fully committed to working with the community and various City agencies to make the acquisition of Persia Triangle a reality.”

Post-production center will be created for indigenous cinema

by the El Reportero’s news services

 

Within the framework of the Imcine Conference, the government of the State of Chiapas and the federal Ministry of Culture will sign an agreement to create the post-production center for indigenous and Afro-descendant cinema of Imcine in La Albarrada, San Cristóbal de las Casas.

In a statement, the Ministry of Culture informed that the Mexican Institute of Cinematography (Imcine) will carry out a series of activities on October 10, 11 and 12, aimed at the creators and communities of the southern region of the country, and will be given to To know the results of the call for the Stimulus for audiovisual creation in Mexico and Central America for indigenous and Afro-descendant communities (ECAMC).

The signing of inter-institutional collaboration agreements with the states of southern Mexico will also be carried out, where the Secretary of Culture, Alejandra Frausto Guerrero, and the director of Imcine, María Novaro, will be present.

Willem Dafoe will be Guest of Honor at the 17th FICM

The extraordinary actor Willem Dafoe will return to the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) as a Guest of Honor for the Mexican premiere of The Lighthouse (dir. Robert Eggers), a film that stars along with Robert Pattinson.

His prolific career of nearly five decades, in which he has participated in more than 100 films, includes works with leading directors such as Paul Schrader, Oliver Stone, Werner Herzog, Abel Ferrara, Wes Anderson, Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese, and four nominations for Oscar: in 1986 for Platoon (dir. Oliver Stone), in 2000 for The Shadow of the Vampire (dir. E. Elias Merhige), in 2017 for The Florida Project (dir. Sean Baker) and in 2018 for Van Gogh: in the door of eternity (dir. Julian Schnabel).

 

Famous singer Mercedes Sosa dies

The famous Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa, admitted to a hospital for weeks because of a pulmonary liver problem, died on Sunday at the age of 74.

His remains are veiled in Buenos Aires, in the National Congress, where thousands of people who want to say goodbye are concentrated.

“La Negra” Sosa, recognized worldwide as one of the main folk and popular voices of Argentina and Latin America, remained in an intensive care room since September 18. This week he had been connected to an artificial respirator.

The medical report released on Saturday established that his state of health was delicate due to the “deterioration of his organic functions.”

“It was the voice of those who had no voice at the time of the dictatorship and brought anguish for human rights in Argentina to the whole world,” said musician Víctor Heredia, with whom Sosa shared the stage.

 

Honduran film nominated for the 2020 Oscar Awards

Café con Sabor a Mi Tierra is the selected film that will represent Honduras for the consideration of The American Film Academy at the Oscar Awards in the category “Best Non-English Speaking Film”.

The Honduras Selection Committee, chaired by the filmmaker Jurek Jablonicky, approved for Coffee with Flavor to My Land to represent Honduras in the 92nd edition of the Oscar Awards to be held on February 9, 2020.

This category has the representation of 93 countries, including countries with a lot of cinematic tradition such as Spain, Argentina, and Mexico, winners the previous year. Central America is represented this year by Costa Rica, Panama and Honduras.

Coffee with Flavor to my Land is a film by Sin Frontera Estudios directed by the Honduran Carlos Membreño and is based on real events with a focus on human value, sacrifice, struggle and work behind an aromatic cup of coffee that is consumed in Honduras and the world; the love of the family, heritage, culture, values ​​and, above all, the positive image of the country.

Federal Reserve’s latest bailouts more proof bad times ahead

by  Ron Paul

 

Since Sept. 17, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has pumped billions of dollars into the repurchasing (repo) market, the first such intervention since 2009. The Fed has announced that it will continue to inject as much as 75 billion dollars a day into the repo market until Nov 4.

The repo market provides a means for banks that are temporarily short of cash to obtain short-term (usually one day) loans from other banks. The Fed’s interventions were a response to a sudden cash shortage that caused interest rates for these short-term loans to climb to 10 percent, far above the Fed’s target rate.

One of the factors blamed for the repo market’s cash shortage is the Federal Reserve’s sale of assets it acquired via the Quantitative Easing programs. Since launching its effort to “unwind” its balance sheet, the Fed had reduced its holdings by over 700 billion dollars. This seems like a large amount, but, given the Fed’s balance sheet was over four trillion dollars, the Fed only reduced its holdings by approximately 18 percent! If such a relatively small reduction in the Fed’s assets contributed to the cash shortage in the repo market, causing a panicked Fed to pump billions into the market, it is unlikely the Fed will be continuing selling assets and “normalizing” its balance sheet.

Another factor contributing to the repo market’s cash shortage was a major sale of US Treasury securities. Sales of government securities leave less capital available for private sector investments, increasing interest rates. This “crowding out” effect provides one more justification for the Federal Reserve to pump more money into the markets.

The crowding out effect is just one way federal debt increases pressure on the Fed to keep interest rates low. Increasing federal debt increases pressure on the Fed to maintain low interest rates to keep the federal government’s interest payments from reaching unsustainable levels. The over one trillion dollars (and rising) federal deficit is the major reason the Federal Reserve is likely to keep interest rates low or even adopt the insane policy of negative interest rates.

The American people are not even allowed to know what banks benefited from the Fed’s intervention in the repo market, or what plans the Fed is making for future bailouts — even though the people will pay for those bailouts either through increased taxes, debt, or the Federal Reserve’s hidden inflation tax when the next crash occurs. Of course, the average people who will lose their savings and their jobs in the next crash will not be bailed out. This is one more reason why it is so important Congress takes the first steps toward changing monetary policy by passing Audit the Fed.

The need for the Fed to shove billions into the repo market to keep that market’s interest rate near the Fed’s target shows the Fed is losing its power to control the price of money. The next crash will likely lead to the end of the fiat money system, along with the entire welfare-warfare state. Those of us who understand the Fed is the cause of, not the solution to, our problems must redouble our efforts to educate our fellow citizens on sound economics and the ideas of liberty. This way, we can create the critical mass necessary to force Congress to cut spending, repeal the legal tender laws to restore a free market in money, and audit, then end, the Fed.

(Ron Paul is a former U.S. congressman from Texas. This article originally appeared at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity).

The world’s largest (democratic!) biometric prison

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:

 

Dear Readers:

 

Many countries strive to convince their people of their development of democracy, but a democracy could also be part of the agenda of a system to chain its people in a very disguised way. Is this the case of the great democracy of India? Are we next? The following article by James Corbett, could give us more information about it. – Marvin Ramírez.

 

Yes, biometric ID is rolling out in India and over a billion people are being locked away behind its electronic bars

 

by James Corbett

 

Whenever they talk about India and its “inevitable” rise to world economic dominance, establishment hacks like Thomas “Iraq War booster” Friedman always seem compelled to note that the country is “the world’s largest democracy.” They might want to talk to the residents of the now-defunct Jammu & Kashmir before invoking that phrase, but the underlying point seems to be that India—with its growing economic might and vibrant, functional parliamentary system—can provide a freedom-respecting alternative to the Chinese communist model for economic development and industrialization.

The pundits are, as usual, half right. India is being used as a testing ground and a potential model for the developing nations to follow . . . but that model has nothing to do with freedom. Rather than building some sort of system for protecting and fostering the rights of the individual, the Indian government has been quietly erecting the walls of the world’s largest biometric prison.

A recent story out of India puts the bars of this prison in perspective. Last month a “citizenship check” left nearly two million people in a legal limbo that could see them become stateless foreigners in danger of imprisonment and deportation from the country of their birth. The check took place in Assam, an Indian state fraught with its own history of conflict and tension between Hindus and Muslims.

The larger story is fascinating, but suffice it to say the fast-growing Assamese Muslim minority—despite including many native-born locals—is being cast as an immigrant invading force supplied by influxes of migrants from neighboring Bangladesh. The citizenship check is the result of an accord that was struck after a particularly violent anti-immigrant pogrom in the 1980s that saw hundred (or thousands, depending on the source) of Muslim migrants killed. To appease the local Assamese population, the government promised to perform a mass citizenship check to oust the illegal immigrants.

Only now, three decades later, is this being done, and it is not difficult to see why: Prime Minister Modi and the populist Hindu nationalist wave that he and his BJP party are riding see it as another battlefront in their war against the Indian Muslim minority.

As one might imagine, the scene has descended into chaos, with some local Assamese who were born in Assam and lived there all their lives finding that they are not on the official citizen roll and thus are in danger of being declared stateless migrants and deported. The Indian authorities are now building new prisons in the state to house thousands of these newly displaced people while they are processed and sent out of the country.

All of which brings us back to the biometric prison idea. As you may or may not know, the Indian government has spent the last decade enrolling over one billion people in the largest biometric database ever constructed. Dubbed “Aadhaar” and sporting a logo which combines a fingerprint with the rays of the sun, the database involves the collection of a digital photograph, ten fingerprints, and iris scans of every man, woman and child in India. The information is used to create a unique 12-digit number which, tied to an Aadhaar card, serves as a form of national identification.

Well, there you go! The perfect solution to the conundrum in Assam, right? Why not just tie the Aadhaar database to the citizenship rolls and immediately revoke the national identification from anyone not on the list? Well, in fact, that has been the plan all along. In Assam, unlike other parts of India, the Aadhaar identification would not just be a proof of residence, but would be tied to the National Register of Citizens.

There’s just one catch: Assam has been far behind in their enrollment of citizens into the Aadhaar program. In fact, some districts only began enrolling citizens late last year.

The underlying propaganda narrative in this situation is evident to all. The immense and hitherto impossible task of registering, databasing and tracking over one billion people is now finally within the Indian government’s grasp. No longer can those like the born-and-bred Assamese who find they’ve been left off the citizenship roll simply blend into the vast Indian crowds and continue on with their lives. Now they will be instantly flagged whenever they are forced to use their Aadhaar card to identify themselves.

And it is not only the authorities in Assam who are feeling the benefits of being wardens in this vast biometric prison. Any number of authoritarians ensconced in the Indian bureaucracy are touting the benefits of this revolutionary system of control.

Take the tax office, for example. In April of this year it became mandatory for all Indians to link their PAN card—a “permanent account number” in the form of a unique 10-digit identifier on a laminated card required by the income tax department for all tax filings—to the 12-digit Aadhaar number. Now every Indian’s taxes will be linked directly to their biometric identification.

And the push is on to link this biometric ID to every other aspect of people’s lives . . . all in the name of convenience, of course.

How else to deal with the problem of people jumping India’s notoriously overcrowded trains or the touts that scalp tickets for crowded train cars? By issuing biometrics-based tickets, of course!

And you don’t want to pay with cumbersome cash, do you? Why go through all the hassle of using an anonymous, portable, untrackable payment method when you can use a handy dandy payment app that is directly linked to your national biometric ID?

And best of all for the psychopaths in charge, this Orwellian system of control is cheap, easy and risk-free! I mean, disregarding the fact that the Aadhaar database has already been breached and exposed one-fifth of the world’s population to identity theft. But what’s a totalitarian omelette without a few broken eggs (and by “few” I mean “billion” and by “eggs” I mean “people”)?

Yes, biometric ID is rolling out in India and over a billion people are being locked away behind its electronic bars. Keep this in mind the next time you see a blithering blowhard bloviating about “the world’s largest democracy” and pretending to worry about China’s social credit score.

Natural remedies for clean arteries

Prevent cardiovascular disease with these 7 foods

 

by Melissa Smith

 

The arteries are an important component of the cardiovascular system. They carry oxygen-rich blood away from the heart to be distributed to the rest of the body, while the veins transport blood back to the heart. This mechanism ensures the proper functioning of many vital organs.

However, the arteries can become clogged and narrowed due to the buildup of plaque, resulting in a condition called atherosclerosis. Protect your arteries with the following foods that can help prevent and, in some cases, reverse atherosclerosis.

  1. B vitamin-rich foods – Consuming foods rich in B vitamins has many health benefits, including helping prevent heart disease and atherosclerosis. In a study published in the journal Atherosclerosis, researchers found that supplementing with vitamin B9 (folic acid), vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 for one year resulted in significant reductions in arterial thickness. Even consuming niacin or folic acid alone can produce this effect. You can get B vitamins from foods such as salmon, which is rich in riboflavin, niacin, and vitamins B6 and B12; leafy green vegetables, such as spinach, collard greens, turnip greens, and romaine lettuce, which are rich in folate; legume, such as black beans, edamame, chickpeas, and lentils, which provide folate, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B6.
  2. Fermented cabbage – The Korean traditional dish called kimchi, which is made from fermented cabbage, hot pepper, and other ingredients, including fermented fish, has been shown to hinder the atherosclerotic process in animal studies. In addition, kimchi is rich in various strains of beneficial bacteria which can reduce the harmful effects of toxic chemicals in the body.
  3. Garlic – Garlic can help clean the arteries and lower the risk of heart disease, among its many other health benefits. Eating garlic, whether cooked or raw, can help prevent plaque buildup in the arteries.
  4. L-arginine-rich foods – L-arginine is an amino acid that can prevent arterial thickening by up to 24 percent. This amino acid produces nitric oxide, which widens and relaxes the arteries and blood vessels, leading to better blood flow. You can increase your L-arginine intake by adding these foods to your diet: nuts and seeds, particularly pumpkin, watermelon, and sesame seeds, walnuts, and pine nuts; meat such as chicken and turkey breast; legumes such as soybeans, raw peanuts, and chickpeas; and seaweed.
  5. Pomegranate – Pomegranate is a known superfood that offers many health benefits, including preventing plaque buildup in the arteries. According to a study in the journal Atherosclerosis, drinking pomegranate juice for a year can reduce arterial thickness by up to 30 percent. Pomegranate juice is also rich in antioxidants, which help prevent the heart disease-promoting effects of oxidative stress.
  6. Sesame seeds – Sesame seeds are one of the most underrated superfoods. Studies have shown that they exhibit significant cardioprotective effects. Consuming sesame seeds can help prevent the progression of atherosclerosis lesion formation, according to one animal study. Studies on humans also found that eating sesame seed paste can lower blood markers of cardiovascular disease. Moreover, sesame seeds can lower high cholesterol and high triglyceride levels. You can incorporate sesame seeds into your diet by adding them to your whole-grain bread and muffins, tossing them to your salads, and sprinkling them on your favorite dishes.
  7. Turmeric – Turmeric, one of the most powerful superfoods available, can help protect against atherosclerosis, among other impressive health benefits. This spice contains a polyphenol called curcumin, which is responsible for most of its health benefits. Studies have shown that curcumin can prevent damage to the arteries associated with blockage. The anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric can also help reduce damage to arterial walls, which can lead to the hardening of the arteries. (Natural News).

Census experts, youth advocates tackle getting California’s kids counted

Contest enlists students’ help in getting their families counted, too

 

by Mark Hedin

Ethnic Media Services

 

SAN FRANCISCO – With millions of dollars of federal funding on the line statewide, a gathering of youth serving organizations, community activists, city and census officials and ethnic media met to brainstorm how to ensure that the youngest members of the population – especially kids 4 and younger – get counted in the 2020 census next year.

“The youngest children are the least likely to be counted and wind up losing the most because their services disproportionally rely on federal funds,” Mayra Álvarez, president of Children’s Partnership, told the audience.  “And federal funds are driven by census data.”

The next chance to get it right won’t come until 2030, when those kids will have missed out on years of educational, nutritional and health care support they’re entitled to – at a rate of thousands of dollars for every person not counted.

“We need all the help we can get to make sure it’s a successful count,” said Robert Clinton, 2020 Census project manager for the San Francisco office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs, which co-hosted the Sept. 27 event at the World Affairs Council with Ethnic Media Services.

Attendees represented a broad swathe of diverse communities, from indigenous Mayan speakers from Guatemala to African diaspora members to Eastern Europeans, Asian Indians, Vietnamese-, Chinese-, Filipino- and Korean-Americans  – the latter being the immigrant group with the highest undercount.

There was broad consensus that getting trusted community messengers to promote the importance of everyone being counted, whatever their age or legal status, would be key. Those messengers could include ethnic media, community service providers and young people themselves.

To enlist teens and young adults, EMS announced the launch of a contest for 14-21year-old residents of San Francisco co-sponsored by San Francisco’s OCEIA.  Titled “Why My Family Counts,” the contest offers eight $500 first prizes and eight $250 second prizes for a 400-word essay, a work of art, or a 2-minute video/audio of music, rap or spoken word. Entries are due by Dec. 1.

Nationwide, in the last decennial census there were a million kids age 4 or younger who weren’t counted.  Of those, 10 percent were in California. Because census data informs approximately three-quarters of a billion dollars annually in federal spending, that undercount cost the state dearly in funding for such programs as school lunches, school breakfast, SNAP, WIC, Head Start and section 8 housing vouchers.

“We are risking billions of dollars not coming to our state,” noted Álvarez of Children’s Partnership.

California, as a state, has allocated $187 million toward getting everyone counted in 2020, to minimize a potential $3 billion loss of federal funding, she told the audience.

“Being counted accurately helps our children thrive,” she said.  “The message that kids are our future resonates.”

“They have to lead the charge and get their family on board, understanding the impact on their lives and their families’ lives,” said Andre Aikins, who teaches math and works to reduce violence through the organization Alive and Free.

He maintained that traditional outreach models may not work with today’s youngsters.  “We have to be very creative. We have to acknowledge that we’re in the digital age. Kids are tapping on phones before they can write.  They need color, they need rhymes, music.”

San Francisco is home to 115,952 children 18 and younger, according to Clinton – about 13.4 percent of the population.

Some 6.9 percent of these kids live with their grandparents, 47.5 percent live in rental housing, and only 8 percent of those between ages five and 17 speak just one language.  All these characteristics pose a heightened risk of being overlooked in the census process – and costing their communities the taxpayer support they qualify for.

Joining the panel speakers at the event were three San Francisco United School District students, each of whom shared an essay they had prepared for the contest about how, as newcomers to the United States, being counted means being visible.

“Every 10 years we count our freedom,” said Talia Kishinevsky, a senior at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, who described overcoming language and cultural barriers as an odyssey from Ukraine to the United States that her parents began in 1990.

When it comes to meeting children’s immediate needs, SFUSD administrator Christina Mei-Yue Wong highlighted three categories of spending based on census data.

The $159 million annually dedicated to special education, a combination of $14 million of federal grants, plus state and local dollars. But all of those allocations are based on census data.  Similarly reliant on census counts are the national school lunch program, for which more than half of SFUSD’s students are eligible, and Title 1 programs that focus on helping low-income students, Wong emphasized.

Losing this kind of support “can lead to a multiplier effect” for the challenges families face, said Hong Mei Pang of Chinese for Affirmative Action.  Giving a shout-out to the millions of young people demonstrating worldwide for climate change, Pang praised the student presenters and underscored the key role they will play in encouraging parents to fill out census forms online.

Unlike in 2010, she noted, the paper form of the questionnaire will be in English only with a Spanish translation provided if a specific census tract  meets the standard – which none in San Francisco have.

Census Bureau outreach specialist Son M. Le, a longtime community activist, pointed out that 80 percent of the kids overlooked in the 2010 census came from families who were counted.  Not counting kids is as much a problem of lack of understanding and information as it is about mistrust of government. Recalling his own arrival as a lone teenager in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, Le predicted the success of the census rests finally on people’s willingness to break out of their own isolation, and young people can lead the way.

US sends asylum seekers to Mexico’s border towns as it warns citizens of violence in region

Advocates have sounded the alarm about the dangers of Remain in Mexico program as report reveals at least 340 instances of rape, kidnapping, torture and other violent attacks

 

by Amanda Holpuch

 

Migrants, mostly from Central America, wait to board a van which will take them to a processing center, in El Paso, Texas, on 16 May. Photograph: Paul Ratje/AFP/Getty Images

The United States has sent more than 51,000 asylum-seekers to wait in dangerous border towns in Mexico as it advises its own citizens not to travel to those regions because of the severe threat of kidnapping, murder and violent crime.

Advocates have been warning about the dangers of Remain in Mexico, or Migration Protection Protocols (MPP), since the program was announced in January. But their warnings have grown louder this week after a new report by Human Rights First revealed that there were at least 340 reports of rape, kidnapping, torture and other violent attacks against people returned to Mexico while they wait for their case to be heard in US immigration court.

Ursela Ojeda, a policy adviser at the Women’s Refugee Commission, has visited the border multiple times to see how the policy is being implemented and said the new report was the “tip of the iceberg”.

“When you see people not showing up for their court hearing in Remain in Mexico, you have to wonder what happened to the people who aren’t there,” Ojeda said.

“There is no way to know why they just missed court – they could have been kidnapped, they could have been killed, they could have been put on a bus by the Mexican government and shoved to another part of the country with no way to get back.”

The Human Rights First report surveys gruesome incidents, such as when a three-year-old boy from Honduras and his parents were kidnapped after being returned to Nuevo Laredo. The mother said the last time she saw her husband he was lying on the ground, beaten and bleeding and told her: “Love, they’re going to kill us.” The kidnappers released the three-year-old and his mother, who doesn’t know if her husband is alive.

A Cuban asylum seeker told the group he saw a group of men stop a taxi outside a Mexican government immigration office and kidnap the four Venezuelan women and girl inside who were being sent to a shelter.

Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros, two of the cities in the Tamaulipas state people are being returned to, are among the most dangerous in the world. The US State department issued a level 4 travel warning for the region because “violent crime, such as murder, armed robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, extortion and sexual assault is common”.

Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, the acting head of US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), Mark Morgan, ignored multiple questions about what the US government was doing to address the violence facing people sent back to Mexico.

“We’re trying to overcome the message that the cartels have been putting out there that it’s going to be a free ride into the United States,” Morgan said. “We’re now sending the message that, if you’re coming here as an economic migrant, you’re not going to be allowed into the United States.”

He celebrated the program for keeping people out of the US, where they would have been detained or released while they waited for their court date. He also said the program was stopping smugglers and improving due process – though advocates say it is doing the exact opposite.

Shelters and other aid groups are overwhelmed by the migrants pouring into border towns and many are left to sleep and fend for themselves on the streets, without healthcare or work opportunities.

Attorneys say it is nearly impossible to provide legal counsel. Some of the US-based attorneys who have crossed the border have received credible threats of violence and the US has not secured an agreement with Mexico to ensure US attorneys don’t get arrested for practicing law in Mexico without a license.

At the end of August only 34 out of 9,702 people placed into the Remain in Mexico program had legal representation – just 0.4%, according to researchers at Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (Trac).

There is also little accountability for the government’s claim that vulnerable people are exempt from the program on a case-by-case basis. Human Rights First said the screening process is a “farce” and advocacy groups have seen vulnerable groups, including pregnant women and LGBT people, returned.

Democratic 2020 presidential candidate, Julián Castro, on Monday crossed the border with eight gay and lesbian asylum seekers from Cuba, Guatemala and Honduras and a deaf Salvadoran woman and three of her relatives.

“Hours after we were told LGBT and disabled asylum seekers would have their cases heard, they have been returned to Mexico,” Castro said in a tweet. “By law, these migrants are supposed to be exempt from the Remain in Mexico policy – but CBP had decided to ignore their due process. Outrageous.”

In September, a Salvadoran woman who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant and experiencing contractions was apprehended by US border patrol, given medicine to stop contractions in a hospital, then returned to Mexico.

In March, a 27-year-old with the cognitive age of a four-year-old child, was separated from the cousin and son he traveled with and sent back to Mexico. He was reunited with his mother in the US at the end of August after the Guardian reported on his case.

This policy is colliding with other policies that have crippled the asylum system, including a ban on migrants seeking asylum at the border before seeking protection in another country.

On Monday, the Women’s Refugee Commission and other advocacy groups sent a letter urging Congress to investigate the Remain in Mexico program’s “grave human rights and due process violations”.

Advocacy groups also filed a lawsuit against it in February. The policy was blocked in April, but an appeals court temporarily allowed it to continue while the ruling is appealed.

In the court case, the union which represents 2,500 employees in the DHS agency which interviews and adjudicates asylum claims, US Customs and Immigration Services, filed a brief describing Remain in Mexico as “entirely unnecessary” because the system could handle the increase in asylum claims. (The Guardian).

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