Where are we as a city, in SF? no real leaders for progress – war on small businesses and cars

December 8, 2023

editorial_valencia press conference — Valencia business owners denounce at press conference on Dec. 7, how their businesses are being destroyed by the SFMTA's actions. On the microphone Carlos Solórzano-Cuadra from the SF Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

by Marvin Ramírez

A year after some bureaucrats not elected by popular vote (SFMTA) made the decision to experiment by transforming a very popular street frequented by many people from outside of SF and tourists, into a headache for commerce and community.

In a press conference on Tuesday, December 5, area merchants and the San Francisco Hispanic Chamber of Commerce denounced the abuses to which merchants have been subjected, such as the loss of clientele and employees due to lack of business.

Deciding that cars were not needed. and that bicycles were more important than those who pay taxes, these crazy people at the SFMTA created a bike path, especially for cyclists – disrupting the commercial stability of the area – stripping away vital parking spaces that are the lifeblood that keeps business alive.

Two lanes disappeared to form the exclusive bicycle path, so that they could cruise – to or from their jobs in the SF Shopping Center – on Valencia Street. And all to benefit these who do not pay any type of tax to maintain the streets or sidewalks, as do the vehicles that drop off and take business patrons. In addition, the life of many cyclists is without families who do not need motorized vehicles to get around. Why didn’t they choose South Van Ness Street for their experiment?

From being a street with tremendous commerce, with exquisite restaurants with a wide variety of culinary art restaurant, art galleries, and cafes, which resembled any tourist street in Amsterdam, where taxis could pick up and drop off their passengers in front of the establishments with their families or partners, now it is a dying Valencia street.

Today, ticket ogres loot your wallet if you stop to unload a passenger, or if you don’t put money in the parking meter before 10 p.m. A robbery, because it used to be until 6 p.m.

A large number of parking meters that were once regular, today are only for cargo trucks – most of the time not being used – stay empty. The rules of the game were changed so that there were more white zones for parking for 5 minutes, or yellow zones for loading. It’s what they have been doing throughout the city, eliminating parking meters on street corners and replacing them with red zones.

And if you remember the red stripes on Mission Street, which were painted to give an exclusive lane to buses and taxis, it was to speed up the passage of public transportation, but an official study showed that it only saved about 5 minutes. What they want is control.

Mission Street's New “Red Carpet” Transit Only Lanes Are Under Threat | by San Francisco Transit Riders | Medium — Mission Street’s New “Red Carpet” Transit Only Lanes

It seems, but in reality it is so, that the municipal government has an agenda: eliminate private transportation with the excuse of protecting the environment. But they do not know that with this measure they are killing the livelihood of families who live from their jobs in these businesses that are now closing due to lack of clientele who are leaving because they cannot find parking.

But the city is shooting itself in the foot, because if there is no commerce there is no tax collection. Although it could be that they do it with an agenda: they want to recover taxes by criminalizing parking.

Of course, they take away where to park, and you, in the urgent need to park, have no choice but to do so in the red, white or yellow zone, exposing yourself to a fine.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is a department of the city and county of San Francisco responsible for the management of all ground transportation in the city. The oversee parking, traffic, pedestrians and others. But it is an autonomous body that not even the Board of Supervisors can control, and it is managed by unelected officials.

Before there were two lines on Valencia Street, one where traffic continued, while the other could be used for double parking by those who arrived in vehicles to drop off or bring passengers. There was no congestion. It made life easier for everyone. And commerce was vibrant.

People could turn left, but these crazy bureaucrats criminalized left turning, thus making driving on Valencia Street hell. You cannot turn left – from 16th Street to 23rd Street, and you have to drive to 24th Street.

Valencia Street was previously the envy of prospective merchants who wanted to find a vacant place to open a business. For those who were already installed, Valencia was a source of pride in commercial growth for them and the city, especially when everything was beginning to return to normal after commerce was devastated by the tears of the pandemic.

Someone told me about the 2030 Agenda, and about a satirical meme.

The satirical meme shows World Economic Fund President Klaus Schwab pointing to a list of “policies” under the heading “Agenda 2030.”

The list reads: “net zero carbon emissions, no fossil fuels, no gasoline cars, no jobs, no electricity, no borders, no meat, eating bugs, unaffordable green energy, endless blackouts, UN/WHO dictatorship.”

It is mere globalism. War on the people and the automobile.

Either they dismantle all this madness, or commerce will collapse.

Peru court orders release of ex-president Fujimori, 85, jailed for rights abuses

December 8, 2023

by the El Reportero‘s wire services

Peru’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday ordered the release of former president Alberto Fujimori, 85, who was serving a 25-year prison sentence for crimes against humanity committed on his watch.

A court ruling seen by AFP ordered the “immediate” release under supervision of Fujimori, who was president from 1990 to 2000. The ruling reinstates an earlier pardon.

Fujimori has been jailed since 2009 over massacres committed by army death squads in 1991 and 1992 in which 25 people, including a child, were killed in supposed anti-terrorist operations.

In February, Fujimori was admitted to hospital suffering from an irregular heartbeat.

He suffers recurrent respiratory, neurological and hypertension problems and has had tongue cancer.

Tuesday’s ruling reinstated a pardon granted to the ex-president for humanitarian reasons in 2017 but revoked by the Supreme Court two years later.

Last year, the Constitutional Court again ordered his release on humanitarian grounds, but the Inter-American Court of Human Rights urged Peru not to free him, and Lima agreed.

Fujimori was impeached in November 2000 on grounds of “moral incapacity” and was accused of corruption.

The previous day he had fled to Japan, where his parents were from, and resigned by fax. He later went to Chile, from where he was extradited in 2007.

Tuesday’s ruling cannot be appealed.

Fujimori was serving his sentence at the small Barbadillo jail at the barracks of the special operations police in eastern Lima.

There he grows flowers, paints and receives family visits.

His family has submitted several petitions to have him released on health grounds but those were all rejected.

Fujimori’s lawyer Elio Riera traveled to the prison after Tuesday’s ruling to fill out the documents required for the release, he told RPP radio, adding the ex-president was “very satisfied” and received the news with “great joy.”

A group of Fujimori’s supporters arrived at the prison wearing white T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase “Fujimori freedom.”

“Justice has been done for a man who did so much for Peru,” said lawmaker Alejandro Aguinaga of Fuerza Popular, the party of Keiko Fujimori, the ex-president’s eldest daughter.

Elsewhere, in front of the justice ministry, some 30 people holding flowers and photos of victims of the army death squads, gathered to protest the order for his release.

Fujimori has divided Peruvians like few other ex-leaders.

For some, he bolstered economic growth through his neo-liberal economic policies, and deserves praise for crushing left-wing rebel groups.

Others remember with loathing his ruthless, authoritarian government style.

In a separate case, he pleaded guilty to bribing lawmakers and spying on rivals while in power.

Fujimori was also investigated over the forced sterilization of hundreds of thousands of poor, mostly Indigenous women during his final four years in power.

An estimated 270,000 Peruvians, many of them Indigenous people who did not speak Spanish, underwent surgery to have their fallopian tubes tied as part of a family planning program implemented under Fujimori.

In 2021, a judge ruled that Fujimori could not, at the time, be prosecuted in the case for technical legal reasons.

Fujimori was divorced from Susana Higuchi, who had accused him of domestic violence and corruption, becoming a vocal critic of his regime.

She died in 2021.

Their daughter Keiko, who has run for president three times and lost all of them, said last year she would pardon her father if elected, but she was defeated by leftist Pedro Castillo — also since ousted and jailed at the same prison.

Medi-Cal Transforming Public Health Care

December 8, 2023

California, which has the highest Medicaid caseload in the U.S., is set to dramatically expand access even as it continues to review eligibility post-pandemic

by Selen Ozturk

Ethnic Media Services

As Medi-Cal expands next year to include all undocumented immigrants and new services well beyond the doctor’s office, California is on the national front lines of transforming public health care.

In a Wed., November 15 briefing co-hosted by Ethnic Media Services and the Department of Health Care Services, DHCS experts and ground-level community health workers discussed this expansion to include all immigrants and new services; the latest data on eligibility redetermination, and the transition to new care plans in 21 counties statewide.

Since the end of the federal COVID-19 emergency in May 2022, Medi-Cal has resumed its annual redetermination of enrollees’ eligibility. Giving an overview of the latest data on this yearlong process, Yingjia Huang said as of September 30, 15.2 million people “are on our case rolls” — over a third of California’s population. “I’m proud to report that, overall, we’re holding steady as a state.”

Because California has the highest Medicaid caseload in the U.S., Huang — the Assistant Deputy Director of Health Care Benefits and Eligibility for DHCS — said over one million people have faced redetermination each month since June, the first month of actual disenrollments. In September, about 1.7 million were up for renewal.

About 20 percent to 21 percent of these people are disenrolled each month, she continued — much lower than many other states like Texas, which saw a 73 percent disenrollment rate by the end of August.

Hispanic individuals, making up the highest percentage of Medi-Cal enrollees, also make up the highest percentage — 53 percent — of those disenrolled. However, Huang said, many of these disenrollments may owe to families who “no longer need this coverage,” having found employer insurance or surpassed income limits since the pandemic, when eligibility checks were paused.

Those in the 21 counties transitioning to new managed care plans come Jan. 1, 2024 will experience a change in the kind of health care they may be eligible for, said Michelle Retke, DHCS Chief of Managed Care Operations.

For many of these counties, managed care — which uses health insurance plans, like Kaiser or Anthem, to provide primary care doctors picked from a network of local health centers — is transitioning to a single-plan model where previously multiple plans were offered, Retke explained. For other affected counties, different plans will replace those currently there.

She emphasized that the main takeaway for Medi-Cal members in these counties, listed here, is “Pay attention to your mail; in October, November and December, you’ll get a notice that your plan is changing, and an enrollment choice packet that you can fill out on paper or online.”

As this redetermination and transition happens, Medi-Cal is also expanding to all undocumented immigrants come January 1; currently, those under 26 and over 49 are eligible.

Explaining the importance of this expansion to California’s hardest-to-reach residents, Dr. Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola said “this is a tremendous need. Meeting it requires more than goodwill and wanting to do the right thing. In order to reach these populations, building trust is front and center.”

Many undocumented Californians are (or are related to) farmworkers, a population which Aguilar-Gaxiola — Professor of Internal Medicine at UC Davis and Director of its Center for Reducing Health Disparities — has worked with for decades. There are approximately 600,000 to 700,000 farmworkers in California, he said, with 900,000 dependents — a total of 1.5 million, “the vast majority of which are Mexican or Central American.”

In the 1990s, in Fresno County, “we did a study of those with Mexican origin, including farmworkers, which continues to be the most comprehensive mental health population-based survey today,” he said. “Among those who needed mental health services” — say, due to depression, anxiety or substance abuse — “one out of three of those U.S.-born were using them, one out of six (documented) immigrants were, and less than one in 10 of undocumented workers were. Almost half of them didn’t know where to go, or couldn’t go to clinic hours due to work. I believe that during the pandemic, this has gotten worse.”

The study illustrates a major challenge to Medi-Cal expansion, he continued: “Rather than ‘hard to reach’ populations, I prefer to think in terms of ‘hardly reached,’ because there isn’t enough engagement … You’re going to build this new health care like the Field of Dreams, but the question is: Will they come? They won’t take advantage of these services unless you know how to communicate them.”

Juan Avila, Chief Operating Officer of Bakersfield-based Garden Pathways, shared his experience of communicating health care newly offered under Medi-Cal to another hardly reached population: formerly incarcerated and “justice-involved youth and adults”; in serving about 400 to 500 a year through his nonprofit, he learned quickly that “if those we work with want to join the workforce again, they have to be healthy, and providing that care — preventative, mental health, dental, substance abuse — requires trust.”

Since 2017, Avila said he and his colleagues have built this trust by “going inside the detention centers, the county jail, to enroll individuals in Medi-Cal before they’re released back into their communities, as many reentry people won’t have the same address and so won’t get mail notices. This is the strength of community work, reaching them where they are — whether in the institutions or on the streets as peacekeepers — and building trust to get them the care they need, because they wouldn’t otherwise come to the government to seek it out.”

This care, too, is expanding: come Jan. 1, Medi-Cal will include new, community-based health services like reentry-related tattoo removal, housing aid “for those at risk of becoming homeless,” community violence intervention, aftercare for violence victims, and “intensive care management for higher-risk populations,” e.g. substance abuse and home health care, he explained.

In expanding to include these services, Avila said Medi-Cal is expanding the possibilities of health care itself: “California is understanding now that health involves services that haven’t traditionally been part of the old model of ‘go to the doctor, get your medicine, go home.’ Health is quality of life, and good healthcare treats barriers to it at the source.”

The 15 years that destroyed America

December 8, 2023

by Paul Craig Roberts

The United States Government today bears little resemblance to the government created by the Founding Fathers. Many “reforms” contributed to the transformation of an accountable government to an unaccountable one. For example, the direct election of US senators and the expansion of the franchise from male property owners adversely affected the security of private property. Others point to the effects of wars. All of these played a role in America’s destruction. However, in my opinion the transformation of American government can be explained by events in three short periods of our history.

The founders saw the US as an association of states in which central power was limited and weak. The 10th Amendment gave governing to the states. President Lincoln’s war for the tariff destroyed states’ rights and led to the supremacy of centralized federal power over the states. Today what happens in specific states can be determined by votes in other states. Lincoln’s war lasted four years, and that was time enough for Lincoln to destroy the framework devised by the Founders.

The second devastating period was 1913. That year the United States took two hard blows. One from the creation of the Federal Reserve, and one from the establishment of an income tax. The creation of the Federal Reserve took control over money from the government and gave it to the big bankers. The income tax resurrected slavery. Historians have ignored that historically the definition of a free person is a person who owns his own labor. A slave or a serf is a person whose labor is owned in whole or part by an outside party. No person subject to an income tax owns his own labor. Once a person is violated in this way, all his other protections fall away–his privacy, his security in his home and documents, his protection against arbitrary arrest, self-incrimination, indefinite detention without conviction. No American alive today has experienced the freedom known to the Founders.

The third destructive period was the depression of the 1930s. This was the work of the Federal Reserve which permitted the money supply to shrink, thereby collapsing employment, income, and prices. The Great Depression produced President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. The New Deal transferred Congress’ lawmaking power to the new progressive regulatory agencies. Today when Congress passes a law, it amounts to an authorization for regulatory agencies to write the regulations that implement the law. For example, the 1964 Civil Rights Act expressly prohibited racial quotas, but the EEOC imposed racial quotas by regulatory means.

These three periods, comprising 15 years of American history or 6 percent of our time as a country, sufficed to destroy what the Founders created. Historians are blind, because history has been written for propagandistic reasons to serve agendas. Lincoln’s war for the tariff has been turned into a moral cause of freeing black slaves, something Lincoln denied while initiating and fighting the war. The year 1913 is described as a progressive turning in the direction of financial stability and equity or fairness. The New Deal is presented as measures that tamed the instability of capitalism. When Henry Ford reportedly said “history is bunk,” he wasn’t far off.

It is unfortunate that our political heroes, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and England’s Winston Churchill come under scrutiny at the very time that the countries are under assault for their evil past. It is now when we need belief to fend off assault that our idols are shown to have feet of clay. David Irvin’s Churchill’s War destroyed the artfully created reputation of Churchill. Now David T. Beito’s The New Deal’s War on the Bill of Rights completes the destruction of progressive hero FDR.

Like Lincoln, Roosevelt used war to achieve his agenda–the destruction of the British Empire and its replacement with the American Empire based on the US dollar taking the British currency’s role as world reserve currency. It is a paradox that liberals have regarded as a progressive hero a president, who squashed dissent and free speech, locked up American citizens of Japanese ethnicity in concentration camps, destroying their lives and allowing their properties to be stolen, and attacked the Bill of Rights that made Americans secure under the protection of law. As Beito’s exposure of FDR makes clear, the man was a tyrant who elevated executive power by stripping power from Congress and intimidating the Supreme Court.

Beito spent a decade researching and writing his book, and the voluminous notes and index comprising more than 25 percent of the printed pages attest to his thoroughness. The book is not one man’s opinion. It is a historical record.

If America had had historians different from the gullible and insouciant liberals, we might still exist in the freedom and liberty that the Founders gave to us.

7 Natural remedies for healthy gums

December 8, 2023

Shared by Cathy Wong

Very Well Health

Neem, tea tree oil, and cranberry are a few remedies that may help you improve your gum health naturally.

If you try them, they should be added to an oral hygiene routine that also includes brushing your teeth at least twice a day, flossing often, and visiting your dentist regularly for professional cleanings and check-ups.

This article reviews the causes of gum disease and discusses some of the natural remedies and lifestyle strategies that can help keep your gums healthy, according to some studies.

Keep in mind that these are not replacements for standard oral care. They also require consistent use; no remedy can strengthen your gums overnight.

Causes of Gum Disease

In your mouth, bacteria are constantly forming a sticky substance called plaque on your teeth. Brushing and flossing can help you get rid of plaque, but the substance can also harden and, in turn, form another substance called tartar.

In many cases, the buildup of plaque and tartar can lead to the development of gingivitis

, a condition marked by inflammation of the gums.1

When left untreated, gingivitis can progress to periodontitis (inflammation around the teeth). Periodontitis can cause tooth loss and has been linked to heart disease in a number of studies.

Neem

Neem extract from an evergreen tree native to India has been found to possess antibacterial properties. Research on neem and gum health includes a small study published in the Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine in 2014.

For this study, 105 children (ages 12 to 15) used one of the following mouthwashes, twice a day for three weeks:

– Neem, a solution containing powder extracted from neem tree branches

– Mango, a solution containing powder extracted from mango tree branches

– Chlorhexidine (CHX), an antiseptic found in many types of mouthwash

Results suggested that all three types of mouthwash were effective in reducing plaque and inhibiting gingivitis. However, more studies are needed to confirm the benefits of neem and mango extract mouthwashes on oral health.

Tea Tree Oil

Tea tree oil may aid in the treatment of gingivitis, according to a 2022 review of existing literature. The researchers concluded that tea tree oil is superior to CHX in reducing inflamed gums, while CHX was more effective at inhibiting plaque formation.

If you’re thinking of using tea tree oil for gum health, choose a toothpaste that contains this essential oil as an ingredient. Ingesting undiluted tea tree oil (or using homemade tea tree oil tooth remedies) can be toxic.

Cranberry

Some research shows that cranberry may help thwart gum disease by preventing bacteria from sticking to your teeth.

A 2018 study in the journal Nutrition Research, for example, found that consuming a liquid containing cranberry extract improved gum health in people with gingivitis who were also undergoing treatment by a periodontist.

In addition, the researchers noted that the drink did not promote dental cavities.

Vitamin C

There’s evidence that vitamin C could play a role in protecting gum health, according to a 2019 review of existing studies that looked at the relationship between blood levels of vitamin C and periodontitis.

The patients with lower blood levels of vitamin C showed a greater progression of periodontal disease than those with higher vitamin C levels.

For help filling up on vitamin C, include foods such as grapefruit, oranges, kiwi, mango, papaya, strawberry, red pepper, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cantaloupe in your diet.

Ask your healthcare professional for advice on whether you should take supplements.

A remedy long used in Ayurveda, oil pulling involves swishing a tablespoon of oil (such as coconut oil or sesame oil) around in your mouth for about 15 minutes at a time.

A 2019 study in Complementary Therapies in Medicine found that oil pulling with coconut oil seems to inhibit plaque growth as effectively as CHX. In addition, it caused less tooth staining than CHX.7

A 2022 meta-analysis, however, concluded that oil pulling with coconut oil had no significant effect on gum health or plaque prevention.

Diet

Along with using good oral hygiene practices, you can preserve your oral health by following a diet high in calcium-rich foods and low in sugary foods and beverages. Sugary foods attract bacteria that can lead to gingivitis.

Drinking water with and after a meal can help reduce this bacteria buildup.

Lifestyle

Avoiding smoking (and any other form of tobacco use) can significantly lower your risk of developing gum disease. Smoking and tobacco have negative effects on all aspects of dental and oral health, including contributing to receding gums.10

There’s also some evidence that managing your stress can help keep your gums healthy. It is believed that stress can alter the immune response and affect the body’s ability to fight bacteria buildup.

Summary

Some research has shown that some natural substances, including tea tree oil and vitamin C, can contribute to healthy gums and help prevent gingivitis and periodontitis.

However, these methods should not replace tried-and-true oral hygiene habits, such as brushing twice daily, flossing, and seeing your dentist regularly.

(Cathy Wong is a nutritionist and wellness expert. Her work is regularly featured in media such as First For Women, Woman’s World, and Natural Health.)

Guadalupana Pilgrimage for the Anniversary of the Santa María La Asunción Cathedral

December 8, 2023

by Magdy Zara

The Archdiocese of San Francisco invites the annual pilgrimage of Our Lady of Guadalupe, to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption of San Francisco.

The call is to walk praying for immigration reform, for peace, for the sick, and the personal intentions of each of the attendees, to together ask for the intercession of the Queen of the Americas and Empress of the World, Our Lady of Guadalupe,

The rally begins at 5 a.m., at All Souls Catholic Church; and then perform the blessing to the pilgrims at 5:30 a.m. The departure is scheduled for 6 a.m.

There will be five stops and the pilgrimage will end at 2 p.m., at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, with a mass that will be presided over by His Excellency Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco.

The Guadalupana Pilgrimage will take place this Saturday, Dec. 9. The solemn mass will be at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, located at 1111 Gough Street, San Francisco.

Mariachi Sol de México presents its Christmas show

Latin Grammy nominees José Hernández and his Mariachi Sol de México return to San Francisco to present their traditional annual show “A Merry-achi Christmas.”

In this presentation they will be playing the mariachis’ favorite songs, as well as the most well-known and beloved Christmas music, such as Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, and they will also premiere their new Christmas single “La Noche Buena”, written for all those who have lost their loved ones. mothers and never forget their unconditional love.

The concert will be this Dec. 10, at 8 p.m., at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, located at 201 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco.

They hold the Last Supper Party

The Last Supper Party returns this December with the masterful participation of four renowned artists, who between poetry and music will be giving their opinion on various topics.

The Feast of the Last Supper is a series of events featuring the voices of diverse artists and writers who denounce the countless injustices and impacts of corruption, unbridled power and greed.

The artists present in this edition are: Susan Dambroff, Jeff DeMark, Chris Kammler, Kimi Sugioka and Fe Bongolan.

The Feast of the Last Supper will take place next Wednesday, Dec. 20, at 7 p.m., at the Medicine for Nightmares bookstore located at 3036 24th St, San Francisco. Admission is free.

LA County wants Latinos to feel welcomed and respected

December 8, 2023

New “Come walk with me” mural in El Monte honors Latino community

by Brenda Fernanda Verano

Late last month, LA vs. Hate, the self-desribed “community-based system” launched by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations in 2020, revealed a new mural celebrating the Latino communities of Southern California. LA vs. Hate was created by the county to track hate crimes and incidents and offer support to victims of hate.

The mural is located in El Monte and was part of the city campaign called “Summer of Solidarity,” a public art series that celebrates the diversity of LA and unity against prejudice and discrimination.

The mural titled “Come Walk with Me” was painted by Kiara Aileen Machado, a self-described contemporary artist born in Lynwood. Machaso obtained her bachelor’s degree in painting and drawing from California State University Long Beach. She told CALÓ NEWS that her art explores the structures and liberation of identity, femininity and culture. Her artwork has been seen in museums across the United States, including the South Gate Museum (California), Buckham Gallery (Michigan), Dupont Underground (Washington DC), John and Geraldine Lilley Museum (Nevada), and the UCF Art Gallery (Florida).

El Monte

The city of El Monte has one of the highest Latino populations, with 72 percent of the city being Latino and 18 percent Asian. “This beautiful mural reflects the vibrant and diverse communities and cultures that call El Monte home,” said El Monte Mayor Jessica Ancona.

The experiences and voices of the Latino community took center stage when it came to the design of the mural. Workshops were hosted with the El Monte community to guide the exploration of Latino identity.

Machado said that the different images that make up the mural all represent, in one way or another, a key metaphor that emerged from the workshops. “The unity and affection of El Monte is like the sweetness of “pan dulce” and the warmth of “tamalitos” from Valley Mall,” she said.

A mural for Latinos

“This mural is a journey through the El Monte community that is inspired by past and present stories of culture, unity and pride,” Machado said.

With this metaphor in mind, the artist conveyed some of the things brought to her by the Latino community—what they wanted to see and the messages they wanted to convey to Latinos and other people who would come across the mural. Images of culturally relevant foods like “pan dulce” and Chinese mooncakes, as well as corn, fruit and banana leaf-wrapped tamales, are painted on the left side of the mural. Mexican, Central American and Asian communities that call El Monte home are also represented in a children’s playground depiction.

Symbolizing comfort and unity, the mural also depicts two older women exchanging a hug. In the center of the mural, a rainbow tent represents local farmers market vendors. As one’s eyes move throughout the mural, the rainbow tent becomes the dress of a drag performer. In the background, people are holding signs that evoke the memory of El Monte’s historic unity against hate.

The mural was created in partnership with Latino-driven organizations such as the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), as well as Ancona and the offices of LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis, who has been an ongoing advocate for Latinos and anti-hate initiatives.

Solis, who resides in the city of El Monte, was present at the mural unveiling ceremony. “I am proud to join today’s mural unveiling and reinforce my continued call on hate having no place here or anywhere in our County,” Solis said. “It is truly thrilling to see our community of El Monte coming together to celebrate an impactful artwork that speaks to our diversity and to prove that there is strength and beauty in it.”

Report: Almost 3 in 4 future jobs will require some college

December 8, 2023

Students talking in amphitheater — Two students talking in amphitheater

by Suzanne Potter

More than two million jobs will be created in California each year through 2031 – and 72 percent of them will require more than a high school diploma, according to a new report.

Researchers at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce project the national economy will generate 18.5 million job openings per year, on average – and about 12.5 million of them will require at least some college education.

Georgetown Center Chief Economist Nicole Smith co-authored the report.

“There’s a growing number of healthcare support jobs, a growing number of sales jobs, food and personal services jobs,” said Smith, “and even blue-collar jobs that require more and more postsecondary education and training.”

The report predicts the U.S. will have 171 million jobs in 2031, an increase of 16 million net new jobs from 2021.

Enrollment at California’s community colleges dropped 18.5 percent at the start of the pandemic, a 30-year low.

It has rebounded 5 percent this school year, mostly among students ages 18 to 20, or over age 30. Enrollment among students in their 20s has dipped 2 percent.

Smith said she’s concerned the United States isn’t producing enough people with the skills, credentials and degrees needed to meet future workplace demand.

“We’re not graduating fast enough,” said Smith. “We know that colleges’ and universities’ enrollment has fallen substantially and it’s not just COVID – enrollment was on the decline long before COVID. I would be concerned that the opportunities are going to go unfilled.”

Last year, the state launched “California Reconnect,” a program that helps people ages 25 to 54 who have some college credits return to school to finish their certificate or degree.

Participants can get professional coaching and may have unpaid fees forgiven.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

Artificial intelligence could dramatically reshape the 2024 US election

December 8, 2023

People fill ballots in privacy booths at a polling station at the Jackie Robinson School during the New York City mayoral election in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 2, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

by Sunita Sohrabji

Ethnic Media Services

Ethnic Media Services

The Biden Administration’s executive order on AI places many standards on the emerging technology, but experts say much more is needed to safeguard the election process.

Generative artificial intelligence has the potential to dramatically disrupt the outcome of the 2024 US election, said experts at a briefing Nov. 27, hosted by the Brennan Center for Justice.

Once confined strictly to science fiction, AI is now everywhere. Generative AI’s capabilities to manipulate data, impersonate experts, candidates, and political leaders, and spew out misinformation on social media arrives at a time when voters are already challenged with separating fact from falsehoods.

In a surprise moment during the briefing, moderator Zoe Schiffer, managing editor at Platformer News, featured a clip that used generative AI to create a cloned version of speaker Lawrence Norden, Senior Director of the Elections and Government Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. The AI-generated Norden was able to accurately replicate Norden’s concerns about AI in the upcoming elections, but added additional disinformation and hyperbole about China, Iran and Russia’s alleged interference.

Deep Fakes

The real Norden broke down his concerns down into four categories: imitation threat, also known as deep fakes, in which Chat GPT is used to generate articles that look like they are coming from election offices or candidates.

AI can also be used for harassment of election officials, said Norden, with AI-generated emails flooding election offices with frivolous records’ requests. “You could just imagine offices being inundated with thousands and thousands of requests that keep election officials from doing their work,” he said.

A third threat is cyberattacks, potentially against election offices, said Norden, adding that his fourth concern was public fear of AI. “There’s been so much written about it and there’s been so much undermining of confidence in our elections already that AI itself, and the claims for what it can do may add to this undermining of confidence in election,” he said.

Multifactorial authentication — requiring people to put in a password sent to their phones — can curb some of the issues with AI-generated material, said Norden. Voting machines and electronic poll books must have paper backups, he said.

Biden Executive Order

“We need to make sure that election officials, the media are giving the public accurate information about elections,” said Norden.

In October, the Biden Administration announced an executive order, attempting to place safeguards and oversight on the use of AI. Mia Hoffman, a research fellow at the Center of for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University, said the action was a good start.

“At a high level, it does a lot of things right. I think they’re trying to address a lot of different concerns with one directive and that’s hard to do,” she said.

In the context of elections, the executive order addresses disinformation with watermarking techniques: hidden patterns are going to be embedded in AI generated content so that it will be detectable and identifiable. “We can actually tell what information and what media is real and what’s fake,” said Hoffman. She added that she was also excited about investments in research into authentication technology.

Risk Assessment

“Being able to tell that some information has not been manipulated might actually become more valuable than being able to tell if something has been AI-generated or not because it just requires kind of trustworthy issuers of news to be able to comply with this authentication rather than making everybody who generates something with AI use watermarking,” she said.

Election hardware and software will be subject to an annual risk assessment when AI is used,” said Hoffman, noting that the National Institutes of Safety and Technology framework — the gold standard for risk assessment — will be used.

Mekela Panditharatne, Counsel for the democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice, said more needed to be done by Congress to safeguard not only elections, but general use of AI.

Voter Suppression

“Absent to Congressional action, theres sort of a modest amount that can be done and made enforceable by the federal government, and we kind of saw that with this order. So given those constraints. I do think it’s an admirable effort.”

Panditharatne said the order invokes the Defense Production Act, a national security law. “But when you look at what’s enforceable, it’s a very small portion of items. Elements like voter suppression, the use of AI in election administration, and election security aren’t expressly recognized. So as the order is implemented, there are certainly important steps that need to be taken to ensure that that those elements are sufficiently protected, but much more is needed by Congress as well,” she said.

False Narratives

Post-election, Panditharatne said she expects to see AI employed to generate distrust of results, as with the 2020 election. “We might see sort of amplification of false narratives about the election process, potentially deep fakes of election officials manipulating the vote count or preventing people from voting. That’s something that we should be worried about potentially seeing,” she said.

All of the experts encouraged voters to deeply examine the sources from which they are receiving election-related content.

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