Saturday, July 20, 2024
Home Blog Page 22

Guterres insists on ceasefire due to loss of life in hospitals

by the El Reportero wire services

The UN chief expressed his concern in a statement released by his spokesperson Sthéphane Dujarric while the Al-Shifa hospital is the focus of operations of the Israel Defense Forces.

Tel Aviv troops claim that Hamas established a command center beneath the health facility, an allegation denied by medical staff.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there were 135 attacks on health facilities in Gaza over the past month.

This is, according to WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris, the highest figure recorded in such a short time.

“I hope this is the worst we’ve ever seen,” she lamented.

Harris warned of a “growing trend” of attacks on healthcare, which is also seen in other ongoing conflicts in Sudan and Ukraine.

“It seems that somehow the idea that a hospital should be a safe haven, a place where people come for treatment when they need it, has been forgotten,” she told reporters.

The spokesperson considered the facility’s workers heroic, who maintain their efforts while the center has been operating without electricity since November 11 and there is not enough food or drinking water.

About 700 patients and more than 400 health personnel were still there, in addition to about three thousand displaced people who sought refuge there.

According to Harris, 20 patient deaths were recorded in the last 48 hours.

Press reports on Tuesday indicated that the Israeli army offered to provide incubators to Al-Shifa hospital, where 36 premature babies require constant care.

In the last three days, at least six premature babies died because their incubators could not function due to lack of electricity.

California mental health agency on the hot seat as lawmakers review ‘groundbreaking’ law

A 2020 California law expanded the number of mental health conditions that insurers must cover. Now, lawmakers are reviewing whether the law is working as intended

by Jocelyn Wiener

Three years ago, California leaders passed legislation that promised the most dramatic expansion of mental health and addiction care coverage in decades.

As the state’s residents struggled with the stress and trauma of a raging pandemic and a record wildfire season, mental health advocates used words like “groundbreaking” to describe the new law. Finally, they said, California was poised to become a national leader on mental health.

Their optimism about that law, Senate Bill 855, has been fraying ever since. Advocates say health plans routinely fail to ensure that enough mental health providers accept their coverage, and often make patients wait too long before being seen.

Case in point: Last week, the Department of Managed Health Care unveiled news of a historic $200 million settlement with Kaiser Permanente for failing to provide patients with timely mental health appointments, among other issues.

Such issues will take center stage Wednesday at a special oversight hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Mental Health and Addiction.

Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, chair of the committee and  author of the California Mental Health Parity Act, says he shares many of the mental health advocates’ concerns.

“We know the plans have a long history of finding ways not to cover mental health treatment,” he told CalMatters. “The whole purpose of this law is to put an end to that.”

Prior to the passage of the 2020 law, the state only required health plans to cover medically necessary treatment of nine serious mental illnesses. For years, mental health advocates had tried and failed to expand that list. With Wiener’s law, they were finally triumphant.

Beginning in January 2021, the state has required plans to pay for treatment of a much more extensive array of mental health issues, along with substance use disorder and addiction. This state law is separate from a federal mental health parity law passed in 2008. The concept of “parity” refers to requiring insurers to treat mental and physical health conditions equally.

Health plans say they “have been diligently working in good faith” to comply with these laws while facing industry-wide challenges like workforce shortages. They say they are navigating guidelines that are ambiguous and uneven while waiting for the Department of Managed Health Care to finalize regulations.

“This creates a situation of moving goal posts for plans, providers, and our enrollees,” said Mary Ellen Grant, spokesperson for the California Association of Health Plans, in an email.

Mental health parity investigations

Mental health advocates have also long criticized the Department of Managed Health Care, which oversees health plans in the state that receive monthly fees to provide health care for their members. And they, too, are concerned that it’s taking so long for the official rules to be decided.

This summer, more than a dozen advocacy groups signed a letter of concern to the department, questioning its commitment to enforcing some aspects of the new state parity law. The organizations want the department to publish and publicize its investigations.

“It’s still a relatively secret process,” said Lauren Finke, a policy director at The Kennedy Forum, a national organization that cosponsored California’s parity legislation.

The Department of Managed Health Care declined to make anyone available to speak with CalMatters until later this fall. In an email, a representative said the department “is committed to ensuring enrollees have appropriate access to behavioral health care when they need it.”

In response to advocates’ critiques that the department isn’t adequately analyzing and publicizing how well plans are complying with state parity law, the department said in a statement that it is evaluating health plans’ compliance in other ways; including that analysis in the behavioral health investigations would slow them down too much, the statement said.

Meiram Bendat, a Santa Barbara attorney and psychotherapist who focuses on mental health parity, says that the three-year-old state law has improved patients’ ability to receive mental health care by creating a uniform definition of what is considered “medically necessary.”

But when it comes to ensuring that health plans maintain adequate provider networks, he said, the department is “failing miserably.” Too often, plans offer their members only outdated lists of providers who then prove to be unavailable, Bendat said. The Department of Managed Health Care hasn’t adequately held plans accountable for this and other problematic practices, he said.

“The historic network inadequacy around the state and the lack of meaningful fines, that’s a real failure on the part of the department,” he said.

Kaiser mental health settlement

Finke, of The Kennedy Forum, called the Kaiser settlement “long overdue” and “a very important first step in the Department holding plans more accountable for their performance (or lack thereof).” The settlement includes a $50 million fine and corrective action plan as well as a commitment by Kaiser to invest an additional $150 million over five years to improve behavioral health services.

But Finke and others also said the settlement itself provides evidence of the department’s failures to enforce a previous settlement agreement with Kaiser from 2017.

“Will DMHC do its job going forward? That’s the big question,” asked Fred Seavey, research director for the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents 2,000 Kaiser mental health workers in Northern California who undertook a 10-week strike last year over heavy clinician workloads and long wait times for appointments. He said he wrote complaints to the Department of Managed Health Care earlier this year, saying that Kaiser in Southern California has been illegally restricting the scope of behavioral health services.

Kaiser said, in an emailed statement, that “any accusation that we intentionally limit or restrict needed care is untrue.”

Southern California Kaiser members receive a wide range of behavioral health clinical offerings, the statement said. Despite a statewide shortage of clinicians, Kaiser  is “doing all that we can” to expand its network of mental health providers.

 

Request for Proposals at Peralta Community College District

The Peralta Community College District (PCCD) is seeking proposals from qualified firms to provide District-Wide Energy Efficiency Planning and Implementation Services (RFQ/P No. 23-24/05).  Proposals are to be delivered to the Purchasing Department electronically (via Vendor Registry), until 1:00 P.M. on November 28, 2023.

The District wishes to incorporate the principles of sustainability into its organizational values and core business goals. These principles express the agency’s commitment to “reduce, re-use, and recycle all internal resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” These climate, energy, water, and resource conservation and management principles are to be integrated into the District’s infrastructure and facilities activities to reduce resource consumption; decrease air pollutant emissions, including greenhouse gas emissions; reduce solid and liquid waste generation, and increase recycling and diversion from landfill.

A mandatory pre-proposal video conference meeting will be held on November 15, 2023 at 10:00A.M. via Zoom: Conference Meeting ID 886 8912 8235

https://peralta-edu.zoom.us/j/88689128235

Copies of the proposal documents may be obtained by clicking on the following link: https://vrapp.vendorregistry.com/Bids/Manager/DraftBid?BidId=29231ad2-e39a-4c92-9662-e163ca48e70c or, by contacting the Peralta Community College District, Purchasing Department, 501 5th Avenue, Oakland, California, 94606, Phone (510) 466-7225, Office Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

 

Governing Codes:

GC 53068

EC 81641

El Reportero

Afro-Mexicans, a forgotten ethnic group

Vicente Guerrero es considerado el primer presidente afrodescendiente de México y Norteamérica. - Vicente Guerrero is considered the first Afro-descendant president of Mexico and North America.

Afro-Mexicans are a part of the population that was overshadowed by miscegenation and indigenism. We tell you about its importance

Shared/by Mexico Desconocido

The story of the arrival of slaves of African origin to Mexico is born under three premises:

  • The legal inability to enslave indigenous people.
  • The thesis of “divine will” that concluded in racial superiority.
  • The idea that “blacks” have better physical characteristics for heavy work.

Afro-Mexicans, a forgotten ethnic group

The process of insertion of Africans in Mexico always had a tendency towards invisibility. In the collective imagination of Mexico, the black man has been thought of as a kind of antihero. An example of this are two historical figures who function as archetypes of the vision of black people in Mexico.

The first is Estebanico, a slave of great physical proportions who traveled alongside the conquerors. The second is Francisco Eguía, a colonizer who introduced the smallpox virus into the indigenous population. In both cases the vision of the black man as a clumsy human, unconscious ally of the Conquest, is exalted.

Despite the caste system, cultural and biological miscegenation could not be stopped by the Spanish. However, the miscegenation of the black population not only dissolved their physical characteristics, it also blurred their cultural identity.

Unlike the indigenous, the black man did not manage to reinterpret his culture in a Western mold that would allow him to continue preserving it. On the contrary, Afro-Mexicans were diluted in the mestizo identity. Despite this, Afro-descendants maintained conditions of oppression and isolation similar to slavery.

Another situation that Afro-Mexicans have gone through is the tendency toward foreignization. Afro-descendants with more notable physical features tend not to be recognized as Mexicans, which has limited the formation of their identity, to be included in those that have greater acceptance.

Afro-Mexicans today

Although the black population was a minority during the Colony, in no case can it be considered irrelevant to the achievements of the current Mexican population.

Non-mestizo blacks were close to the Spanish in numbers, while the Afromestizo population quickly surpassed the European population. For this reason, the African influence is considered by many to be a third cultural root of Mexico.

Unfortunately, the recognition of the black population in Mexico is late. The intellectual production in which the Afro-Mexican population is mentioned is scarce or not recognized.

To the above, we can add that the reconstruction of postcolonial identity had indigenous studies as protagonists, and then gave way to the construction of a Mexican national identity during the 19th and 20th centuries.

According to INEGI, 1.16 percent of the national population identifies as Afro-Mexican or Afro-descendant.

A large part of this population recognizes discriminatory attitudes against them, including the denial of their identity. The states with the largest number of Afro-Mexicans are Oaxaca, Veracruz and Guerrero, entities that preserve vestiges of African traditions.

 

Afro-Mexican Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, a tradition of great cultural wealth

Especially on the Costa Chica, the Afro-Mexican Day of the Dead is celebrated, a mix of pre-Hispanic, European and Afro-descendant customs.

Although in our country people of African descent represent only 2% of the population, they also celebrate the Afro-Mexican Day of the Dead, although with their own traditions, such as the Danza de los Diablos and the artesa fandango. We tell you more about the rituals that this community carries out to honor their deceased.

Afro-Mexican Day of the Dead on the Costa Chica

While it is true that throughout our territory there are different communities of Afro-Mexicans; These are concentrated mainly in the Costa Chica, between Guerrero and Oaxaca.

Likewise, its origin dates back to the viceregal period, when the slave trade between Spain and its colonies was common. For this reason, many Africans arrived in Mexico by boat, mainly through the ports of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Veracruz.

Already in America, the traditions of the native peoples mixed with those of Europeans and people of African descent; and in the case of the Day of the Dead, the latter added to the ritual the cult of Ruja, an African divinity who was asked to end slavery through the Dance of the Devils.

 

Food insecurity in CA on rise as food benefits drop

by Suzanne Potter

Nov. 6, 2023 – Despite the roaring economy, food insecurity got worse in 2022 – nationally and in Los Angeles County.

New data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows 12.8 percent of American households were food insecure last year, an increase of more than 2.5% from 2021.

And, a recent report from the University of Southern California found that more than a million households in LA County are food insecure.

Alba Velasquez, executive director of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council, said inflation is partly to blame – as the cost of living in California has gone up 19% since 2020.

“So there’s been an increase in housing, in your utility bill, in food,” said Velasquez, “without seeing an increase in livable wages.”

And inflation rose even as millions lost their jobs during COVID. So food pantries have seen an increase in demand.

The most recent state budget put $35 million into the Market Match program to help low-income families afford fresh produce at farmer’s markets.

In addition, families on Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) – also known as food stamps – saw a steep drop in their monthly benefits once the pandemic emergency ended.

Velasquez said that means rates of food insecurity will be even worse for 2023.

“During COVID, there was an increased allotment for EBT recipients that was between $36 and $95 per month,” said Velasquez. “It was an emergency, temporary allotment that ended this last March. And so now we’re in a deeper crisis.”

The issue will come up again in the next few months as legislators hammer out a new farm bill, which provides funding for food assistance. Some conservative lawmakers have called for significant cuts in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food benefits.

 

CA colleges work to reduce high cost of textbook

College students pay upwards of $1,100 a year for books and supplies, so many schools are working to try to reduce the burden.

A study from U.S. Public Interest Research Group found the cost of course materials has increased at three times the rate of inflation since the 1970s, due mostly to lack of competition in the college publishing industry.

Cailyn Nagle, open education resources program manager for the Michelson 20 Million Minds Foundation, co-authored the report.

“We see 65 percent of students skip buying a textbook due to cost, and 21 percent of students skip buying access codes because they can’t afford it,” Nagle reported.

Many campus libraries lend out textbooks, and bookstores sell used books and facilitate rentals or digital downloads. Students look for deals online. And schools are also moving toward an Open Educational Resource model where courses use textbooks, journals and other materials available free online. In 2021, the State of California allocated more than $115 million to help schools promote the transition.

Leslie Lange Kennedy, assistant vice chancellor of academic technology services at California State University, said the school works to help students get the materials they need.

“We work really hard to help faculty become aware of zero-cost course materials,” Lange Kennedy explained. “And to help them with the time and effort that it takes to migrate their courses utilizing a free or low-cost material.”
Recently, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 607, which requires colleges and universities to disclose the costs of their courses ahead of time.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

Why is the US only now admitting Ukraine might need to strike a deal with Russia?

El presidente ucraniano, Volodomyr Zelensky (derecha), le da la mano al presidente estadounidense, Joe Biden, tras el anuncio de la declaración conjunta de las naciones del G7 para el apoyo a Ucrania el 12 de julio de 2023, en Vilnius, Lituania - Foto de Sean Gallup - Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky (R) shakes hands with U.S. President Joe Biden following the announcement of the G7 nations' joint declaration for the support of Ukraine on July 12, 2023, in Vilnius, Lithuania - Photo by Sean Gallup

It’s a terrible shame that Washington is controlled by bloody-minded ghouls who never cease advocating and inciting terrible wars that never achieve anything apart from enriching the Military-Industrial Complex

by John Leake

Just over a quarter of a century ago, George Kennan – the chief architect of the U.S. Cold War policy – published an opinion in the New York Times about the folly of expanding NATO up to Russia’s borders.

Based on elementary “balance of power” principles, he perceived that expanding a military alliance (with accompanying military installations) all the way to Russia would result in precisely the instability – and ultimately the war – that the proponents of the policy proclaimed they wished to prevent.

Everyone knows the U.S. government would never tolerate a Russian military alliance with accompanying military installations anywhere the western hemisphere, never mind right on the U.S. mainland’s border. Since the 19th century, the U.S. government hasn’t tolerated ANY military alliances with European powers anywhere near the territory of the United States.

In 1917, German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmerman sent an encrypted telegram to the Mexican government in which he proposed a military alliance against the United States. The British navy intercepted and decrypted it, and when it was published in the American press, it immediately swayed public opinion in favor of joining the war against Germany.

In 1962, when Soviet missile installations were discovered in Cuba, a major crisis ensued between the Kennedy and Khrushchev governments and was only defused when the Kennedy administration agreed to remove U.S. Jupiter missiles from Turkey.

Thus, for many years I have wondered why anyone in their right mind would believe that Russia – a country invaded by France in 1812 and Germany in 1941, with catastrophic consequences for its people – would tolerate the U.S. government, intelligence agencies, and NATO setting up shop in Ukraine?

Since December of 2022, I’ve heard nothing but nonsense and humbug from U.S. government officials about the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Instead of encouraging Ukraine to settle its differences with Russia through negotiations and compromise, the U.S. government has encouraged a terribly destructive war that has gotten hundreds of thousands of young Ukrainian men killed.

Anyone who has studied military history for a few hours could easily recognize that launching a counter-offensive into Russia’s defensive positions in eastern Ukraine would NOT work.

The strategy of pressing Ukrainian forces into Russian artillery batteries was scarcely better than the Union assault on Marye’s Heights at the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862. During that perfectly futile Union offensive, a Confederate battery commander remarked that if given enough shot and powder, he could kill every man north of the Rappahannock if Union officers kept sending them.

U.S., European officials broach topic of peace negotiations with Ukraine, sources say. The conversations have included very broad outlines of what Ukraine might need to give up to reach a deal with Russia.

This was imminently predictable. Since the Ukrainian-Russian crisis entered its final stage (before war) almost two years ago, I have perceived that the Ukrainian government would eventually have to negotiate with the Russians, and should therefore do it before getting hundreds of thousands killed.

It’s a terrible shame that Washington is controlled by bloody-minded ghouls who never cease advocating and inciting terrible wars that never achieve anything apart from enriching the Military-Industrial Complex.

Scarcely two months had elapsed after the calamitous end of the 20-year Afghanistan debacle before the same gang of Neocon knuckleheads started clamoring for a showdown with Russia in Ukraine.

I doubt that any of Washington’s hawks care at all about ordinary Ukrainians. Hillary Clinton expressly stated that supporting war in Ukraine would result in Russia getting bogged down in that country, just as it had gotten bogged down in Afghanistan (aided by the U.S. arming mujahideen like Osama bin Laden).

Other congressmen and policy wonks have made similar statements about the benefits of waging a proxy war in Ukraine – that is, it’s a great way to kill Russians and hurt Russia without having to use American soldiers to do it, and it’s great for the U.S. armaments industry. Obviously they didn’t care at all about the Ukrainians.

The lesson is clear: U.S. foreign policy wonks are stupid and wanton. Most of them have never had a single shot fired at them and have no idea about the terrible reality of war.

Much the same can be said for American people who insisted that negotiating with Russia was anathema. Like cheering the newest football team in the league, they indulged in the brutally sentimental fantasy that it was better for other people to get killed instead of seeking a negotiated settlement. Their understanding of war is akin to a pornography consumer’s understanding of sex – that is, self-indulgent and completely detached from reality.

Reprinted with permission from Courageous Discourse.

 

 

Post-pandemic, homeowners of color face losing homes – facing foreclosure state-wide

While CA homeowners of color already face many threats to their home, more will risk foreclosure than ever when pandemic-era mortgage relief will run out

by Selen Ozturk

Nov 6, 2023 – California homeowners of color already face many threats to their family home. Now, more will risk foreclosure than ever as millions of dollars in pandemic-era mortgage relief is set to run out before they even know it’s there.

At a Thurs., Nov. 2 briefing co-hosted by Ethnic Media Services and Housing and Economic Rights Advocates (HERA), housing attorneys and mortgage experts explained how homeowners can keep their family homes against these threats, while homeowners of color shared their personal experiences of struggling to preserve generational wealth.

https://youtu.be/Iu3VxkhKevg

Joe Jaramillo, a senior attorney at HERA, a statewide housing legal service and advocacy nonprofit, said the main threats facing vulnerable homeowners are “keeping the family home when a parent or grandparent passes away; financing Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs which risk the borrower’s home if unpaid; and “zombie” second mortgages “that haunt borrowers with unexpected bills and threats of foreclosure.”

The passing of a homeowning relative presents a threat when there is no will or trust, so that loved ones have to go through an arduous, lengthy and expensive probate court to inherit it while property taxes, insurance and mortgages pile up with an unclear responsibility of who’s to pay. Jaramillo said Black and Latino households report consistently higher foreclosure risks from this problem.

He added that PACE, which finances clean energy home improvements like solar with no-money-down loans repaid by adding expensive sums to property taxes, has put thousands of California homeowners of color at risk of foreclosure statewide.

“It sounds good in theory,” said Jaramillo, “but many salespeople and contractors target low-income households and misrepresent costs or install nonfunctioning or nonconnected improvements like solar panels.”

A third factor, he continued, are zombie mortgages: “second loans often taken out at the same time as a larger first lien mortgage, split to allow borrowers to avoid large down payments and apply part of the second to the down.”

Before the 2008 housing crash, many predatory high-interest loans were marketed heavily to lower-income homeowners assured their home values would only rise; after the crash, second-mortgage zombie lenders stopped billing because the homes were worth less than these mortgages, and homeowners assumed the second ones were forgiven, amended with the first, or gone with bankruptcy. Now that home values are up again, however, debt collectors are back with years of interest and fees.

https://youtu.be/BEkAgw1S6C8

The California Mortgage Relief Program is the main way that homeowners have been able to surmount these threats, said Rebecca Franklin, president of the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA).

Since it was launched federally in December 2021, over 23,000 Californians have kept their homes due to the program, which offers grants up to $80,000 per home for a total of nearly $650 million dispersed so far.

However, given that the one-time billion dollar fund is projected to run out by 2025, and likely sooner, she urged homeowners to take advantage.

Unlike Great Recession relief programs, this one “is a grant you don’t have to pay back,” Franklin explained. “Often when homeowners hear about our program, they say ‘Getting $80,000 they don’t have to pay back, that’s too good to be true, this isn’t real.’ And it is real. Certain racial groups were hit harder financially due to the pandemic, and a goal of this program is to retain their generational wealth and protect these first-time homebuyers who sacrificed so much to get a home for their families.”

Even if homebuyers don’t meet the program’s criteria — “low to moderate income, it has to be your primary residence, you’re not able to own other homes in the state” — she said homeowners could contact CalHFA for housing counselors or legal services.

Predatory debts

Even when relief like the mortgage grant is available, many mortgage services don’t tell homeowners about them, leaving many vulnerable to unknown outstanding debt, said Johanna Torres, program coordinator of California Rural Legal Services (CRLA).

Her client, Saul de la Cruz, shared his experience of this debt in the form of a zombie mortgage.

Having bought his family home in Salinas directly before the Great Recession in 2007, de la Cruz got two mortgage loans. The second company stopped contacting him during the crash. He then modified the first mortgage, assumed the second — for $14,600 — was included, and nearly 15 years later received a request from the second lender to begin negotiating to avoid foreclosure. He borrowed the money from family and friends, and is now struggling to maintain both mortgages.

Although laws like the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act require most mortgage companies to provide regular statements to the buyer, added Jaramillo, “this is a common problem we see. These predatory lenders are not providing borrowers with the information that they should be entitled to to figure out if they really owe the amounts that are being claimed.”

https://youtu.be/6Ugz4n_Wu1I

As foreclosure rates return to pre-pandemic levels, grants like California Mortgage Relief are key to protecting families from losing their most valuable intergenerational asset — their family home, said Mary Day, an attorney at HERA.

Her client, Danny Bishop, shared his own story of saving his Richmond home from foreclosure caused by bureaucratic confusion and family health decline. As the previous homeowner, his mother, began suffering dementia in 2015, her sibling neglected the property and began getting cited an ultimate total above $90,000 for code violations and property tax evasions.

Day then worked with the City of Richmond, which said that $56,000 owed for code violations was a mistake, subsequently reduced to under $30,000.

“They would never tell me why they were charging so much,” said Bishop. “They said keep cleaning your backyard, good job, then one day they charged me tens of thousands.”

This bureaucratic unresponsiveness is par for the course when it comes to challenges facing homeowners who seek relief.

“The larger the entity, the more resistant they are to dealing with individual situations,” said Day. “Though there’s a tax code that gives them the discretion to give relief, they told us after six months they wouldn’t provide it. A city mistake and this tax penalty caused just this snowball effect where the family was struggling with foreclosure… and the bureaucracy was what made it difficult. California mortgage relief has been the family’s savior.”

Luna Mexicana se presenta en San José

por Magdy Zara

La esperada presentación de Luna Mexicana del Oakland Ballet, regresa para su habitual presentación de dos funciones.

Luna Mexicana es uno de los eventos más esperados del Día de los Muertos, por ser de los más elaborados e inclusivos del Área de la Bahía.

Luna Mexicana es una hermosa combinación de danza exuberante, música alegre, trajes coloridos, flores, velas, comida y sobre todo, es una hermosa celebración familiar.

Esta magistral obra cuenta la historia de una niña llamada Luna, que el Día de Muertos, se queda dormida frente al altar que instaló en honor a sus antepasados. Sus seres queridos la visitan mientras ella duerme y la llevan a un viaje al más allá.

Ésta presentación incluye una coreografía del director artístico del Oakland Ballet, Graham Lustig, así como actuaciones del conjunto de danza azteca Nahui Ehekatl and Co. y el Ballet Folklórico de México Danza.

El programa “Luna Mexicana” 2023 de Oakland Ballet Company contará con:

El regreso de Viva la Vida, un ballet inspirado en la vida y el espíritu de Frida Kahlo. Co-coreografiada por Martín Romero del Ballet Folklórico

Director Artístico de México Danza y Oakland Ballet, Graham Lustig.

Ballet Folklórico México Danza que presenta danza folclórica tradicional mexicana.

Mariachi Mexicanisimo presentando música de mariachi.

La primera presentación será este viernes 3 de noviembre 2 p.m., mientras que el día 10 de noviembre será a las 4 p.m., en el Teatro Paramount, Oakland 2025 Broadway.

“Todo lo que hemos perdido”: una ceremonia de recuperación

Todo lo que hemos perdido, es un evento organizado por Headlands Center for the Arts, que busca con una velada espacial “reencontrar” a los inmigrantes mexicanos del área de la Bahía con sus costumbres.

Este programa íntimo consta de actuaciones en vivo, comida y prácticas ceremoniales tradicionales mexicanas y occidentalizadas.

Headlands Center for the Arts invita cordialmente a “Todo lo que hemos perdido: una ceremonia de recuperación”; que contará con la especial participación de Arleene Correa Valencia, becaria del Área de la Bahía de Headlands.

Correa Valencia señala que “muchas familias inmigrantes se esfuerzan por integrarse a la nueva cultura en la que viven manteniendo al mismo tiempo su propia identidad y costumbres, invisibles y visibles al mismo tiempo”.

Luego agrega “a estas familias, en particular a las indocumentadas, se les puede negar momentos importantes de celebración, por miedo”.

Basándose en la experiencia personal de Correa Valencia, “Todo lo que hemos perdido” sirve como una recuperación simbólica de esos hitos de celebración, invitando al público a compartir y ser testigo de un momento de amor y alegría personal y colectivo.

La vestimenta para esta noche se recomienda sea formal, las bebidas estarán a cargo de Cantina Monarca, la comida de Día de Los Tacos, los encargados de la Música son el Mariachi Nueva Generación.

La cita es este domingo 5 de noviembre de 4 p m. a 9 p.m. En el  Headlands Center for the Arts 944 Fort Barry Sausalito, Las entradas tienen un costo de $40  y $50.

KQED presenta “Historias de californianos de raza mixta”

Entender la vida desde la complejidad multiracial puede ser un obstáculo para algunas personas y para otros puede ser una herramienta para su crecimiento, estos serán algunos de los temas que se tocarán en el evento organizado por KQED donde de manera interactiva se narrarán Historias de Californianos de raza mixta.

La identidad siempre es complicada, y para las personas multirraciales que abarcan muchas identidades, puede resultar aislante. También puede ser estimulante y enriquecedor pertenecer a múltiples comunidades y celebrar esa complejidad.

Los presentadores de la serie MIXED de KQED, lleve esa celebración de las amplias experiencias de los californianos mixtos al escenario para una fusión de narración en vivo y documental con W. Kamau Bell y Melissa Hudson Bell y otros.

La narración multimedia en vivo de Cheyenne Bearfoot, comida del concursante de Top Chef y propietario de Sobre Mesa Chef Nelson German, una actuación de Megan Lowe Dances y más.

El evento está pautado para el próximo jueves 9 de noviembre a partir de las 7 p.m., en la sede de KQED, ubicada en 2601 Mariposa Street San Francisco.  Las entradas tienen un costo a partir de los $5, para obtener mayor información:  https://www.kqed.org/

 

Luna Mexicana performs in San José

by Magdy Zara

Oakland Ballet’s long-awaited performance of Luna Mexicana returns for its usual two-performance run.

Luna Mexicana is one of the most anticipated Day of the Dead events, as it is one of the most elaborate and inclusive in the Bay Area.

Luna Mexicana is a beautiful combination of exuberant dance, happy music, colorful costumes, flowers, candles, food and above all, it is a beautiful family celebration.

This masterful work tells the story of a girl named Luna, who on the Day of the Dead falls asleep in front of the altar that she installed in honor of her ancestors. Her loved ones visit her while she sleeps and take her on a journey to the afterlife.

This presentation includes choreography by Oakland Ballet artistic director Graham Lustig, as well as performances by the Aztec dance ensemble Nahui Ehekatl and Co. and the Ballet Folklérico de México Danza.

Oakland Ballet Company’s 2023 “Luna Mexicana” program will feature:

The return of Viva la Vida, a ballet inspired by the life and spirit of Frida Kahlo. Co-choreographed by Martín Romero of Ballet Folklorico

Artistic Director of México Danza and Oakland Ballet, Graham Lustig.

Ballet Folklorico México Dance that presents traditional Mexican folk dance.

Mariachi Mexicanisimo presenting mariachi music.

The first presentation will be this Friday, Nov. 3, 2 p.m., while on November 10 it will be at 4 p.m., at the Paramount Theater, Oakland 2025 Broadway.

“Everything we have lost”: a recovery ceremony

Everything We Have Lost is an event organized by Headlands Center for the Arts, which seeks with a space evening to “rediscover” Mexican immigrants from the Bay area with their customs.

This intimate program consists of live performances, food, and traditional Mexican and Westernized ceremonial practices.

Headlands Center for the Arts cordially invites you to “All We Have Lost: A Recovery Ceremony”; which will feature the special participation of Arleene Correa Valencia, Headlands Bay Area intern.

Correa Valencia points out that “many immigrant families strive to integrate into the new culture in which they live while maintaining their own identity and customs, invisible and visible at the same time.”

She then adds “these families, particularly undocumented ones, may be denied important moments of celebration, out of fear.”

Drawing on Correa Valencia’s personal experience, “Everything We Have Lost” serves as a symbolic recovery of those celebratory milestones, inviting audiences to share and witness a moment of personal and collective love and joy.

The attire for this night is recommended to be formal, the drinks will be provided by Cantina Monarca, the food will be provided by Día de Los Tacos, the music managers will be Mariachi Nueva Generación.

The appointment is this Sunday, November 5 from 4 pm. to 9 p.m. At the Headlands Center for the Arts 944 Fort Barry Sausalito, Tickets are $40 and $50.

KQED Presents “Stories from Mixed-Race Californians”

Understanding life from multiracial complexity can be an obstacle for some people and for others it can be a tool for their growth. These will be some of the topics that will be discussed at the event organized by KQED where Stories from Californians from California will be told interactively. mixed race.

Identity is always complicated, and for multiracial people who encompass many identities, it can be isolating. It can also be stimulating and enriching to belong to multiple communities and celebrate that complexity.

The hosts of KQED’s MIXED series, bring that celebration of the broad experiences of mixed Californians to the stage for a fusion of live storytelling and documentary with W. Kamau Bell and Melissa Hudson Bell and others.

Live multimedia narration from Cheyenne Bearfoot, food from Top Chef contestant and Sobre Mesa owner Chef Nelson German, a performance from Megan Lowe Dances and more.

The event is scheduled for next Thursday, November 9, starting at 7 p.m., at the KQED headquarters, located at 2601 Mariposa Street San Francisco. Tickets start at $5, for more information: https://www.kqed.org/

 

Does an ID prevent voter fraud?

What is happening in this great democracy in the United States of America, that accusations of electoral fraud are coming to the surface more and more often?

What could arguably not happen in this great nation where legality and technology would not make such an action possible, is happening.

In Connecticut, Superior Court Judge William Clark threw out the results of the Sept. 12 primary in Bridgeport after a video surfaced showing an individual alleged to have been a supporter of Democratic Mayor Joe Ganim putting several ballots into a ballot box to vote absentee.

Doesn’t this sound familiar when Donald Trump was ignored by the courts when he charged that there was fraud in the election that took the presidency from him and handed it over to Joe Biden?

Of course no one wanted to believe that.

“The videos are shocking to the court and should be shocking to all parties,” said Judge William F. Clark, whose original complaint was filed on Sept. 19, 2023.

The judge ordered the results of the recent mayoral primary in Bridgeport, the state’s largest city, be overturned and new elections held.

Clark’s decision affirmed that allegations that current Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim won his election as a result of significant fraud involving absentee votes were founded. “The volume of evidence in this case, including the hundreds of hours of video surveillance revealed and accepted into evidence, is perhaps unprecedented in the state of Connecticut in an election case,” Clark observes.

After a primary election in September, challenger John Gomes, former chief administrative officer of Bridgeport city government, was leading Ganim among votes cast in person. Ganim then predicted that absentee votes would lead the way, and he ultimately won the absentee votes 1,564 to 861, securing a primary victory by just 251 votes.

After the election, Gomes posted a video of what appears to be city employee Wanda Geter-Pataky, affiliated with Ganim’s campaign, stuffing ballot boxes.

On Aug. 30, just over two weeks before the September primary election, the Connecticut State Election Enforcement Commission recommended criminal charges for Geter-Pataky and two other people associated with Ganim’s campaign related to the mishandling of absentee votes in the Bridgeport mayoral primary in 2019. Ganim also won that election by just about 300 votes after the absentee votes were counted.

Connecticut law requires that only a voter or a voter’s designee can drop a ballot in an absentee ballot collection box.

The case went to court after Gomes sued to have the results of the primary thrown out.

How do we protect the integrity of the elections if when voting you’re not required to show your ID, while you’re required to show it in other transactions?

Currently, there is a petition to change that, called Citizens for Voter ID.

Why this petition matters, states the site Change.org.

“In California, you need ID to board trains, planes, to access government services, and to write checks.  However, you don’t need it to vote! California’s election results have a huge impact on the nation as the most populated state, yet there is no safeguard that the person voting is who they say they are. This needs to change. Pass a law or put an initiative on the ballot requiring voter ID at the polls. The future of fair elections is at stake.”

A total of 35 states have laws requesting or requiring voters to show some form of identification at the polls.

During the November 2022 midterm elections, Nebraska became the 36th state to require voter ID when voters approved a citizen initiative requiring photo ID.

Proponents argue increasing identification requirements can prevent in-person voter impersonation and increase public confidence in the election process. Opponents say there is little fraud of this kind, and the burden on voters unduly restricts the right to vote and imposes unnecessary costs and administrative burdens on elections administrators.

Reform California Chairman Carl DeMaio on Aug. 13, 2023, filed a statewide ballot initiative with the Attorney General’s office that would amend the California state constitution to require Voter ID be used in all future state elections and impose several key accountability reforms on state and local election officials in an effort to restore public trust and confidence in the integrity of California’s elections.

Among the requirements in the initiative:

– Holds state and local election officials accountable to maintain accurate voter registration lists including proper verification of citizenship and eligibility.

– Reduces the problem of “orphan ballots” being improperly mailed out by requiring improved verification of current address for voters where residency is in doubt.

– Improves verification of voter identification by requiring a voter to present a Driver’s License for in-person voting or requiring a voter to provide the last three digits of a Driver’s License and a matching signature if voting by mail.

There is no doubt that if voter ID was required, election fraud charges would diminish tremendously.

1...212223...593Page 22 of 593

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.