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David Plouffe: What I got wrong about the election

by David Plouffe

Like many people around the world, I expected a comfortable Hillary Clinton victory on Tuesday. But I’m not a random pundit when it comes to understanding presidential races and the electorate – I managed one Obama presidential campaign and oversaw another from the White House. So of all the forecasts that got it wrong, my prediction that Mrs. Clinton was a 100 percent favorite was a glaring miss.

My confidence was not partisan spin. It was based on public data, voting history and some sense of the Clinton campaign’s own models. I played with various state scenarios, and even in the most generous outcomes, could not get Donald J. Trump to 270 electoral votes.

But he ended up winning 306 electoral votes and, most important, did it by breaking into the Upper Midwest, leaving the blue Big Ten firewall in ruins.
What happened? We will know much more when all the data is in and we can see exactly who voted. But based on what we know, it was a combination of several factors that led to this stunning upset.

DEMOCRATIC TURNOUT WAS VERY WEAK – Overall turnout was as well, as Donald J. Trump received fewer votes in winning than Mitt Romney did when he lost decisively in 2012.

Still, the nagging worry about a lack of broad-based enthusiasm for Mrs. Clinton, which I noted often as someone familiar with the Obama coalition, proved to be justified. She had passionate supporters and volunteers, for sure. But for sporadic and potential first-time voters, the spark was not there.

In Detroit, Mrs. Clinton received roughly 70,000 votes fewer than Mr. Obama did in 2012; she lost Michigan by just 12,000 votes. In Milwaukee County in Wisconsin, she received roughly 40,000 votes fewer than Mr. Obama did, and she lost the state by just 27,000. In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, turnout in majority African-American precincts was down 11 percent from four years ago.

It’s a reminder that presidential campaigns are driven in large part by personality, not party. Ronald Reagan, President Obama and now Mr. Trump all were able to create electoral coalitions unique to them.

MR. TRUMP’S MARGINS IN RURAL AND EXURBAN COUNTIES WERE OFF THE CHARTS – For example, in Madison County, an exurban area outside Columbus, Ohio, Mr. Romney’s margin over Mr. Obama was 20.4 percentage points; Mr. Trump’s margin over Mrs. Clinton was 39.8. In Buchanan County, Iowa, outside Cedar Rapids, Mr. Obama beat Mr. Romney by 13.9 points. Mr. Trump reversed that result, winning the county by 14.2 points. That happened in thousands of counties throughout the country, and it added up quickly.

IT REALLY WAS A CHANGE ELECTION – The voters were serious about that. And there was only one change candidate.

STRONG AND WEAK CURRENTS BEAT DATA AND ANALYTICS – The models for both support (vote share) and turnout were off significantly. It appears that there really were hidden Trump voters, meaning his ceiling of support was higher than most of us believed possible based on polling and modeling survey responses. And millions of potential Clinton voters who the models suggested would vote stayed home.

THE THIRD PARTIES – This will need to be confirmed by more data and analysis, but one major reason Mr. Trump’s ceiling could have ended up higher than projected was that the potential Trump voters parked with Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, left to vote for Mr. Trump. But potential Clinton targets, especially the younger Johnson voters, stuck with him. Mr. Johnson’s support declined over time, but not equally — those who were potential Clinton voters were stickier than the Trump targets. Mr. Johnson won 8 percent of voters under 45, but only 2 percent of those over 65.

MESSAGE MUDDLE – The only two messages that appeared to punch through were the anti-Trump line, on the left, and the grossly overhyped email issue on the right. Mrs. Clinton talked about what she wanted to do from a policy perspective every day, but this campaign was not the Lincoln-Douglas debates, it was “Mad Max: Fury Road.” The three big TV networks together devoted 32 minutes on their evening newscasts to policy coverage in 2016. Again — 32. The race turned into “The Jerry Springer Show,” and that was the kind of campaign Mr. Trump was most comfortable with — and I’m sure the ugliness had the added effect of suppressing turnout.

THE TRUMP CAMPAIGNERS WERE SMART – As they flew around Pennsylvania and Michigan and boasted they could change the map, many people, including me, ridiculed them as aimlessly and amateurishly wasting time and resources. But they saw something and committed to a strategy few even in the Republican Party thought would work. They challenged conventional wisdom, and were proved right. And Mr. Trump’s appeal to voters in these states was as strong as he predicted it would be.

JAMES COMEY – From the last debate until Election Day, the dominant news was the F.B.I. and Mrs. Clinton’s emails along with a drumbeat of daily WikiLeaks dumps. Postelection research will help shed light here, but the small number of undecided voters at the end should have broken at least equally based on their demographic and voting history. If exit polls are accurate, they moved to Mr. Trump much more than to Mrs. Clinton in certain battleground states, and it’s quite possible the shadow created by the F.B.I. director was the major culprit. Oct. 19, the day of the final debate, was a long 20 days to Nov. 8, and the atmosphere was far from ideal for the Democratic candidate.

Democrats will spend months analyzing what happened, and making important course corrections. We need new talent and leaders to emerge at all levels, including some who can begin to think about running in 2020 against President Trump. Our bench looks thin and conventional, but no one thought, in 2004 or 2012, that Barack Obama or Donald Trump would be serious candidates, let alone win the presidency.

The name of our savior may not be on any of our tongues now. It will be fascinating to see who emerges from the rubble of losing what looked like a sure thing.

10 common habits that seriously damage your kidneys

by Amy Goodrich

Our kidneys are super important for our health. They filter our blood, produce hormones, absorb minerals, produce urine, eliminate toxins, and neutralize acids. So as one of the most important organs in your body, your kidneys deserve some love.

Damage or steady decline of your kidneys can often go unnoticed for years as your kidneys can still do their job with as little as 20% of their capacity. Therefore kidney diseases are often referred to as “The Silent Diseases”. That’s why it is so important to take care of them before it is too late.

Here’s a list of 10 common habits that put a lot of pressure on your kidneys and can cause serious damage over time.

1.    Not Drinking Enough Water

Your kidney’s most important function is to filter blood and eliminate toxins and waste materials. When you don’t drink enough plain water during the day toxins and waste material start to accumulate and can cause severe damage to your body.

2.    Too Much Salt In Your Diet

Your body needs sodium or salt to work properly. Most people however consume too much salt which may raise blood pressure and put a lot of stress on the kidneys. As a good rule of thumb, no more than 5 grams of salt should be eaten on a daily basis.

3.    Frequently Delaying The Call Of Nature

Many of us ignore the urge to go because they are too busy or want to avoid public bathrooms. Retaining urine on a regular basis increases urine pressure and can lead to kidney failure, kidney stones, and incontinence. So listen to your body when nature calls.

4.    Kick The Sugar Habit

Scientific studies show that people who consume 2 or more sugary drinks a day are more likely to have protein in their urine. Having protein in your urine is an early sign your kidneys are not doing their job as they should.

5.    Vitamin And Mineral Deficiencies

Eating a clean, whole food diet full of fresh vegetables and fruits is important for your overall health and a good kidney function. Many deficiencies can increase the risk of kidney stones or kidney failure. Vitamin B6 and magnesium, for instance, are super important to reduce the risk of kidney stones.

An estimated 70 to 80 percent of Americans isn’t getting enough magnesium, so there may be a good chance that you are one of them. Click here to learn more about magnesium deficiencies.

6.    Too Much Animal Protein

Over consumption of protein, especially red meat, increases the metabolic load on your kidneys. So more protein in your diet means your kidneys have to work harder and this can lead to kidney damage or dysfunction over time.

7.    Sleep Deprivation

We have all heard how important it is to get a good night’s rest. Chronic sleep deprivation is linked to many diseases and kidney diseases are also on the list. During the night your body repairs damaged kidney tissue, so give your body the time to heal and repair itself.

8.    Coffee Habit

Just as salt, caffeine can raise blood pressure and put extra stress on your kidneys. Over time excessive consumption of coffee can cause damage to your kidneys.

9.    Painkiller Abuse

Way too many people take painkillers for their small aches and pains, while there are many all-natural, safe remedies available. Excessive use or painkiller abuse can lead to severe damage of liver and kidneys.

10.  Alcohol Consumption

Although there is nothing wrong with enjoying a glass of wine or having a beer once in a while, most of us don’t stop after just one drink. Alcohol is actually a legal toxin that puts a lot of stress on our kidneys and liver.

To stay healthy and avoid kidney issues it is important to eat lots of fresh, whole foods and if you keep the above information in mind and avoid these common habits as much as possible, your kidneys will not be under constant stress and your body will thank you for that.

Latinos are changing the politics of … Nebraska

OMAHA, NE - 24SEPTEMBER16 - Sergio Sosa is the executive director, and Lucia Pedroza is the senior organizer, of the Heartland Workers Center. Copyright David Bacon

by David Bacon

If the winds of political change are starting to blow in Nebraska, the center of the storm is a third-floor office on 24th Street in South Omaha. There, huge maps of eight targeted precincts in Ward 4 line the walls of the Heartland Workers Center (HWC), covered in red dots for all the people organizers have spoken with over the past six months. Little stickers highlight the key issues in each neighborhood.

Every afternoon on weekdays, and all day on weekends, a row of reconditioned iPhones sits on a table next to clipboards holding signup lists and Spanish-language voter-education brochures. Rain or shine, young Latino organizers climb the stairs to pick up their packets and then fan out into the streets.

This is not an old-fashioned paper-based effort, though. Derek Ramirez, HWC’s data cruncher, has loaded voter information derived from the Voter Activation Network database onto the iPhones. This allows precinct walkers to know house by house whom they’re talking to, and to immediately input the information they receive-updating the office’s database in real time.

“We do 20 houses a night, and I go to every house,” says Lucero Aguilar, who was born in Campeche, Mexico. She’s been an organizer here for two years. “Sometimes people don’t open the door, but the last house I visit always opens to me. We have a good conversation and I get that person registered to vote. That’s where the magic happens. I know the next day I’m going to try again.”

Another organizer, Stephanie Zambrano, came to Omaha with her parents as a child from Guadalajara. “Community members get happy when they see youth knock on their doors, and want to talk with them,” she says. “They’re surprised we want to ask about housing or voting or issues in our community.”

Zambrano came into the workers center after helping win a battle against Nebraska’s former governor, Dave Heineman. Three years ago, Heineman ordered the state’s Motor Vehicles Department to deny drivers’ licenses to young people who gained temporary legal immigration status under President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Last year, the HWC, Young Nebraskans in Action, and other groups convinced state legislators to enact legislation overruling his order. “We have gained so much momentum,” she enthuses. “It’s getting out there so that we can make a difference.”

BEFORE BEGINNING VOTER mobilization efforts, HWC organizers first assessed the impact of this economic structure in South Omaha neighborhoods. They began by analyzing census data, and then went out into the community to survey residents and look for leaders. They visited 2,306 homes, collected more than 600 surveys, and found almost 250 leaders.

At a community congress last November, they reported their results. Nearly half of the residents they spoke with reported that their households had to sacrifice on essentials, including utilities and food, in order to cover housing costs. A third said that at least one household member who could work was unemployed, and that they had no health insurance. Potholes and crime were concerns as well.

The main source of the poverty was “wages not adequate to cover housing expenses,” the report stated, adding that “unemployment and underemployment likely contribute to this poverty.” Latinos in South Omaha are concentrated in meatpacking, manufacturing, and construction. When the recession began in 2008, all three industries lost jobs.

Meatpacking has been the magnet drawing Latinos to Omaha, and to Nebraska generally. Beginning in the 1970s, this industry was restructured with the development of boxed beef. Prior to that, animals were slaughtered in urban packinghouses by the then-giants Armour, Swift, Wilson, Cudahy, and others. Quarters of meat were shipped to markets, where skilled butchers cut them into pieces for consumers.

Corporations in the restructured industry built new plants in small rural towns, closer to the farms where animals are raised. To keep wages low, they brought in workers. “In the small towns where they located,” says Lourdes Gouveia, retired sociology professor at the University of Nebraska in Omaha, “they created a whole new labor force.” Companies sent recruiting teams to Los Angeles and other established immigrant communities, and even placed advertisements on radio stations along the Mexican border.

South Omaha’s Latino community expanded as a result of this flow of migrant labor into the state. Today, foreign-born Latino immigrants make up a third of the total population of 32,362 in HWC’s eight targeted precincts. About 10,261 people in the precincts are foreign-born Latinos, while more than 15,000 people speak Spanish at home, meaning that many Latino families now include children born here. The voter engagement project has registered about 1,500 people in Ward 4, and voter turnout here increased by 26 percent between 2010 and 2014.

Home for them now is here. That gives them a big motivation to become citizens and participate.

“Twenty or thirty years ago, when people first began arriving, they thought of home as their hometown in Mexico or Central America,” says Sergio Sosa, HWC’s executive director. “As they’ve had children, and as those children have grown, many people now see they’re not going to return. Home for them now is here. That gives them a big motivation to become citizens and participate. Children born here are also getting old enough to vote now, so the voting population is growing.”

What Trump can do on immigration

Is the wall possible?

by Josh Siegel

When Donald Trump is inaugurated as president in January, he has the authority to dramatically reshape immigration policy by himself.

While Trump would need Congress to appropriate money to fund his biggest campaign promise—building a wall across the southern border—he can act alone in other areas, just like President Barack Obama has, in deciding how to enforce immigration law.

“The president does have a lot of executive authority and discretion to enforce the law as he wishes,” said David Leopold, an immigration attorney and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “There is a lot of immigration enforcement discretion.”

How Trump Can Act Alone

In interviews with The Daily Signal, Leopold and other experts described how Trump could act on the many promises he made to overhaul U.S. immigration policy.

Trump can take immediate actions by himself, starting with canceling Obama’s 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which has provided deportation protection and work permits to about 800,000 immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

The program grants protection for two years, after which beneficiaries can apply again. New applicants can still request DACA protection through the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

“One of questions is whether he would cut [DACA] off immediately or let the program sunset so that when people’s protection expires, he does not allow for renewals,” said Faye Hipsman, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. “USCIS is still receiving first-time DACA applications, so that would occur in a pretty staged and staggered manner.”

Trump could also permanently cancel a broader Obama program that made more people eligible for DACA protection and extended legal status to include the parents of U.S. citizens or legal residents. The Supreme Court has blocked that program.

In addition, Trump, if he wishes, can change the priorities of the Department of Homeland Security on who it seeks to deport.

The Obama administration asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency that handles most deportations, to focus its resources on those who are considered threats to public safety, or have been convicted of crimes, usually a felony.

Other priorities for deportation include individuals who have been convicted of multiple misdemeanors, and recent arrivals who came here illegally after Jan. 1, 2014.

“Right now, the way the Obama administration is treating it, is unless you are a priority, we won’t actively go after you. Trump can flip that,” said Theresa Cardinal Brown, the director of immigration policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, and a former policy adviser at the Department of Homeland Security.

After calling for mass deportations early on in his campaign, Trump has walked that back to say he would focus enforcement on illegal immigrants with criminal records.

“Right away, border security is one of the top five things he will try to address right out of the starting gate,” said Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies.”

Seeking Help From Congress

Trump would need Congress’ cooperation on his signature proposal—finishing the construction of a wall across the southern border.

The border security mechanism that Congress would support would likely not come in the form of a brick-and-mortar wall described by Trump, but as extended fencing.

Immigration experts say the U.S. has spent billions in recent years fencing about one-third of the border.

The next president has the template to finish the job.

In 2006, the Republican-controlled Congress passed the Secure Fence Act, which authorized 700 miles of additional fencing along the border with Mexico. President George W. Bush signed the law. However, his administration later pushed for an amendment to the bill to give the government the discretion to determine what type of fencing was appropriate in the various areas of the border, depending on environmental and land-use restrictions.

As a result of that amendment, the majority of the fencing erected as a result of the law has been vehicle barriers—designed to stop vehicles rather than people, and single-layer pedestrian fencing. The original law called for double-layered fencing. Subsequent Republican attempts to require double fencing have failed.

“Depending on what type of infrastructure he wants, [Trump] probably already has the authorization to do it,” Brown said. “He just needs Congress to appropriate money.”

Similarly, Congress would have to approve the funding for another major Trump proposal: tripling the number of ICE agents who focus on deporting immigrants living in the country illegally.

Brown says personnel costs already make up about 80 to 90 percent of the budgets of ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agency that protects the border.

The border patrol, meanwhile, has faced challenges fulfilling hiring goals mandated by Congress.

Republicans in Congress who share Trump’s hard-line positions on immigration say they welcome his plans, even though they will certainly cost a lot of money.
“It seems to me the Republican conference sees we just had a seismic, historic election so there is a new mandate to get things right with immigration,” said Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., in an interview with The Daily Signal. “It was one of [Trump’s] big issues, and one of my big issues that I ran on. So yes, it is worth the money. Look at France and Germany. If you don’t secure borders, you lose the entire country.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who met with Trump on Thursday, was asked by Fox News’ Bret Baier if he supports building a wall but committed only to “physical barriers.”

“I’m in favor of securing the border,” Ryan said. “And I do believe you need to have physical barriers on the border. I will defer to the experts on the border as to what is the right way to actually secure the border.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is less committal on whether he’d support paying for a border wall.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, McConnell did not directly answer questions about if he supports Trump’s wall proposal.

But despite Republican control of the House and Senate, Trump’s border security plans needing congressional approval will likely be opposed by Democrats. In the Senate, Democrats still have the power of the filibuster to block legislation.

“If enforcement is his primary push, Democrats will be opposed to that unless legalization is part of the conversation,” Brown said. “That has been the quid pro quo on immigration for years.”

More Trump Proposals

Along with his more prominent proposals, Trump has also called for punishing so-called sanctuary cities that limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Trump could withhold federal funding from those cities, but would need support from Congress to do so.

The president-elect has not limited his plans to illegal immigration.

He said he would reduce legal immigration levels, a step requiring the approval of Congress.

And Trump said he would suspend immigration from countries that are “compromised by terrorism,” although he has not clarified what countries he’d consider.

Swedish Attorney General’s Office questions Assange in London

by the El Reportero’s wire services

The Swedish Attorney General’’s Office is interrogating the founder of the website Wikileaks, Julian Assange, at the Ecuadorian embassy in this capital, where he has been a refugee for more than four years.

Attorney General Ingrid Isgren arrived this morning to the embassy to participate in the first interview to the Assange, who has been accused in Sweden since 2010 for supposed sexual offenses that he has denied.

The questions for the interrogation were prepared by the Swedish Justice and Ecuadorian Attorney Wilson Toainga is in charge of carrying out the proceeding.
The hearing is expected to last several days, according to Per Samuelsson, Swedish attorney to Australian journalist Julian Assange.

The Attorney General’s Office specified that of Assange accepts, he would be taken a DNA sample during the interrogation session.

There will not be any public statement after the interrogation session, according to the Swedish judges, who will decide about continuity of the investigation.

This is the first time that 45-year-old activist Assange will be able to tell his version of the events before justice, said Wikileaks on Twitter.

Mexico prepared for economic challenges, assures the government

The Mexican government announced the country is prepared to face the high financial volatility affecting the peso and also the sequels of the victory of Donald Trump in U.S. presidential elections.

The deputy secretary of the Economy, Vanessa Rubio, said the Mexican economy has structural basic strengths to face challenges like the electoral result in the United States.

Mexico has solid macroeconomic bases, including an economic package that brings with it a primary superávit of 0.4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), assured the official.

She also mnentioned the ‘innovating’ business plan for Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), low and stable inflation rate, levels of international reserves and the Flexible Line of Credit of the International Monetary Fund.

Deputy secretary of the Economy discarded that in the short term the ‘profound and diverse’ relation between Mexico and the U.S., which Mexican authorities describe as strategic, may be broken.

In this regard she recalled that Mexico is the third trading partner of the northern neighbor and also has tight links with other nations.

‘Mexico has a stable economy, with solid macroeconomic fundaments and with policy tools we can use as we see the evolution of the markets’, she said.

Mexico: 43 Ayotzinapa Students Searched in Clandestine Graves

The search for the 43 Ayotzinapa Normal School students focuses today on the location and analysis of illegal graves, using high technologies to detect irregularities on the ground in Iguala, Guerreo and its surroundings.

So far, the experts in charge have located at least 119 places where it is possible that such type of burials have taken place.

They are also focusing on tracking telephone calls, since the disappearance of the students on Sept. 26, 2014, to date, as 132 telephone numbers have been intervened by court orders, including two belonging to members of the criminal organization Guerreros Unidos and 13 members of the Iguala police.

The Mexican government has ratified its willingness to clarify the case; however, so far there have been few conclusions.

Although 29 criminal investigations have been opened in the case, eight arrest warrants have not been executed, and several of the recommendations from international experts remain unfulfilled.

Ytaelena art in exhibition in SF

Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff

Introducing the Leyendas y realidades in the Bay Area @MCCLA.

Written and directed by Verónica Meza, Leyendas y Realidades depicts popular legends from Latinoamérica such as La llorona and La mulata de Córdoba, each offering a glimpse into Hispanic culture and myth.

With live music and talented local artists, this project will make you laugh and reflect about life. Showing contemporary reality and socio-political realities,  the play incorporates La Rumorosa and La madre de Ayotzinapa. “El teatro del pueblo y para el pueblo” promotes education and entertainment through theater to create social consciousness.

Friday, Nov. 4 at 7:30 p.m. @ Theater. Saturday, and Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m. @ Theater. Tickets $20 and $25.

Yaelena art in exhibit in SF

Ytaelena Open Fall season comes with Halloween, Pumpkins, and costumes. It is also the busiest season for artists, including for herself. Right now she is prepping her studio #317, hanging new paintings and preparing herself for your visit. Studio at 1890 Bryant St., #317, SF, this weekend.

Friday, Nov. 4 | 6 – 9 p.m. (Preview Reception), Saturday, Nov. 5, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.,
Sunday, November 6 | 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Lung Force Walk awareness

This is a remembrance of my dear brother Raul Rekow and a fundraiser for lung cancer research. Please donate what you can and join us. to walk in honoring our loved ones who have fallen and in raising awareness. Also, you can register and walk for free and simply add your spirit to ours in this noble effort.

Saturday morning, Nov. 5 at the Presidio, Chrissy Field, 610 Old Mason Street, San Francisco. For more info visit: http://action.lung.org/site/TR?pg=informational&sid=7051&fr_id=14441.

Fusion of Latin and Reggae music with Rúckatan

Rúckatan Latin Tribe is composed of seven players who have all contributed to the local Latin Rock scene in the Bay Area and internationally with various Latin, Reggae and Rock acts.

Rúckatan is a fusion of Latin and Reggae. Members hailing from three different continents infuse their culture and love of their roots.
The music is very dance oriented with many Latin, Caribbean and World flavors. On Saturday, Nov. 5, 7 p.m. doors open, 8 p.m. show, at Club Fox, 2209 Broadway, Redwood City. Tickets $15 adv., $20 at the door. For more info call 650-369-7770.

Nicaraguan painter and writer Donaldo Altamirano leaves this world

The Nicaraguan writer and painter, Donaldo Altamirano, died on Oct. 25 of a heart attack in Minneapolis, United States, at 70 years old, announced his family and the government.
Altamirano, author of the books The cadaver already bloomed (1975), Every day of my death (1996) and Fractions of a full (1998), was on a working trip as a painter, according to their families.
Altamirano was born in 1946 in the department of Estelí and part of his work was exhibited in Central America and Europe. EFE.

Father of local PR Juliana Mojica recognized by ASC

Submitted by Juliana Mojica

Today is a great day for longtime SF public relations expert Juliana Mojica. Her father, Ron García, has been recognized by the ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) at the ASC Awards for Outstanding Achievement and will be receiving the ‘Career Achievement in Television Award’ for his contributions to the art of cinematography – an award well overdue!

“My dad has been in the business for nearly 50 years, starting out as an independent filmmaker – among some of his early films are Machismo and Salvaje (the title was later changed to The Great Gundown), Mojica said in a letter posted in Facebook. In Machismo, a Western, he flipped the script and the film opens with making the Mexicans the heroes, she added.

Born and raised in East Los Angeles, with no formal training, he took bold steps and jumped into a field mostly unfamiliar to his peers at the time, and found his calling, Mojica said. “He was one of the early “pioneers” in Cinema, later establishing himself in Cable and Television for which he is being awarded and recognized. For me, he has always been an inspiration, a mentor, my closest friend and a loving father. I hope to one day (soon) do a retrospect of his work and am in talks to make it happen.”

The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) has announced the honorees for the 31st annual ASC Awards for Outstanding Achievement. Ron García, among others, will be recognized for their contributions to the art of cinematography at the organization’s awards gala on Feb. 4, 2017, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland.

García has collected Emmy nominations for Murder in the Heartland (1993) and The Day Lincoln was Shot (1998), both of which received ASC Award nominations. He earned additional nods from his peers in the ASC for Thomas Carter’s Divas (1996) and the pilot of Twin Peaks (1991). In 1991, Garcia won a CableACE Award for HBO’s movie El Diablo and another CableACE Award nomination for Peter Markle’s Nightbreaker. His long list of memorable credits includes TV hits such as Rizzoli and Isles, the first season of the current CBS series Hawaii Five-O, Numb3rs, Providence, Gilmore Girls, EZ Streets, Michael Mann’s Crime Story, and the pilots for L.A. Takedown and Stingray. He photographed numerous television movies, including Alien Nation: The Udara Legacy, Mutiny, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Baby, Deliberate Intent, Brave New World, and Diane Keaton’s Girl With the Crazy Brother, among others.

Obama threatens to veto military bill because it protests religious groups

by Jack Burns
The Free Thought Project

Just after the FBI opened a criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email scandal, the Free Thought Project spoke with a high-level FBI agent (retired). He said if Clinton wasn’t eventually indicted, it was almost certain there would be a data dump (click for related story) from within the FBI, from agents who were upset with James Comey’s decision not to recommend Clinton be indicted for mishandling classified information. When Comey, in July, didn’t recommend to Attorney General Loretta Lynch that Clinton be indicted, a data dump of sorts did take place when the Democratic National Committee’s server was hacked.

Could it be that the DNC hack was done from within the federal government? After its server’s emails were hacked for the whole world to see, the DNC was exposed for working with mainstream media members to rig the primaries for Clinton against Bernie Sanders, and a concerted effort was made to paint him in a negative light (something that led to the resignation of DNC head Debbie Wasserman Schultz). But the Democrats responded by declaring the intrusion was the work of Russian hackers — an allegation the Russians deny.

But now, it seems, the effects of not recommending Clinton for indictment are far worse than predicted. On Friday, James Comey conveyed to members of Congress that the once closed investigation of Clinton’s private email server is now open again, just days before Clinton or Donald Trump will be elected as the next U.S. president. The announcement was made after more Clinton emails turned up in an investigation into Anthony Weiner’s sexting of a 15-year-old girl from NC. Weiner is Huma Abedin’s estranged husband and Abedin is Clinton’s closest confidant.

But according to The Daily Mail, there exists an even greater problem Comey is facing which prompted him to reopen the case; the wholesale resignation of disgruntled FBI agents. One source close to Comey says it’s his last ditch attempt to save face for himself and the reputation of the FBI.

According to the Daily Mail, and a source close to James Comey, the decision, at least in part, came after he “could no longer resist mounting pressure by mutinous agents in the FBI” who “felt that he betrayed them and brought disgrace on the bureau by letting Hillary off with a slap on the wrist.”

Ed Klein, journalist for the Mail, described Comey as being depressed over the mounting stack of resignation letters he’s received as a result of his decision not to recommend charges be brought against Clinton. Klein quoted a close friend of Comey’s as saying, “The atmosphere at the FBI has been toxic ever since Jim announced last July that he wouldn’t recommend an indictment against Hillary,” said the source, a close friend who has known Comey for nearly two decades, shares family outings with him, and accompanies him to Catholic mass every week.”

Klein’s source continued, “Some people, including department heads, stopped talking to Jim, and even ignored his greetings when they passed him in the hall,’ said the source. ‘They felt that he betrayed them and brought disgrace on the bureau by letting Hillary off with a slap on the wrist.”

The DM journalist continued quoting his informant as saying, “When new emails that appeared to be related to Hillary’s personal email server turned up in a computer used [her close aide] Huma Abedin and [Abedin’s disgraced husband,] Anthony Weiner, Comey jumped at the excuse to reopen the investigation.”

But Comey’s problems aren’t isolated to his workplace. He reportedly has problems at home as well. Klein’s source continued, “The people he trusts the most have been the angriest at him…that includes his wife, Pat. She kept urging him to admit that he had been wrong when he refused to press charges against the former secretary of state.”

Comey’s friend told Klein he’s being shunned by many within the FBI and that President Obama and Lynch are “furious” with him for reopening the case against Clinton. According to the DM’s source, “Lynch and Obama haven’t contacted Jim directly…they’ve made it crystal clear through third parties that they disapprove of his effort to save face.”

But the reopened investigation may be too little too late. The damage to the FBI’s investigation appears to be done, and no amount of scrambling to save face is likely to fix it. In the mind of many Americans, when former president Bill Clinton met AG Lynch on the tarmac in Phoenix, Arizona, the fix was in for Hillary. Comey proved to be a pawn and has passed himself off as an impotent benefactor of the Clintons.

The Council of Foreign Relations – This is the Forth Part and Last of a Series

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Dear readers: As the Presidential Election goes on in high gear and many of us can see the obvious biases practiced by the mainstream media, I thought this article, written by James Perloff, could bring some light of who the power to be is and really an who really rules the US. THIS IS THE FORTH PART AND LAST OF A SERIES.

What is, how it formed and who are the Council of Foreign Relations

by James Perloff

CFR Domination continues

During his campaign, Obama selected the ubiquitous Zbigniew Brzezinski (CFR), promoter of the “regional” approach to world government, as one of his top foreign policy advisors. Obama called Brzezinski “one of our more outstanding thinkers” and “somebody I have learned an immense amount from.” Presumably Brzezinski’s teachings included the world government he advocates.

For Treasury Secretary, Obama chose Timothy Geithner: Senior Fellow in International Economics at the CFR, Bilderberger, former head of the New York Federal Reserve, and former employee of both the IMF and Kissinger Associates. One doesn’t get more establishment than that! It is Geithner who is managing the bailout of Wall Street with taxpayer dollars. Assisting Geithner at Treasury in overseeing the auto industry bailout is fellow CFR member Stephen Rattner.

For Director of the National Economic Council — a U.S. government agency created by a Bill Clinton executive order — Obama selected Lawrence Summers (CFR, Bilderberger). Former Chief Economist at the World Bank, his last position was at the investment firm of D. E. Shaw & Co, where he earned $5.2 million in one year while working one day per week. Henry Kissinger had said Summers should “be given a White House post in which he was charged with shooting down or fixing bad ideas.”

For Defense Secretary, Obama elected to continue with Bush pick Robert Gates (CFR, Bilderberger). During the Carter administration, Gates served as a special assistant to Zbigniew Brzezinski. In 2004, he co-chaired a CFR Task Force on Iran with Brzezinski, who lauded Gates in Time in 2008. Joining Gates in the Defense Department are fellow CFR members Michele Flournoy (Under Secretary of Defense for Policy), Jeh C. Johnson (Defense Department General Counsel), and Kathleen Hicks (Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and Forces).

For Secretary of State, Obama chose Hillary Clinton, who has attended the top-secret Bilderberger meetings. Hillary is not a CFR member, but husband Bill is, and her State Department is laden with CFR members, including James B. Steinberg (Deputy Secretary of State), William J. Burns (Under Secretary for Political Affairs), Susan Rice (U.S. Ambassador to the UN), Jacob J. Lew (Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources), Todd Stern (Special Envoy for Climate Change), and many others.

The Department of Homeland Security, which many Americans fear may turn our country into an Orwellian surveillance society, was conceived before 9/11 by a task force called the U.S. Commission on National Security, nine of whose 12 members belonged to the CFR. The administration of the department under Obama is particularly heavy with CFR members, including Janet Napolitano (Secretary), Jane Holl Lute (Deputy Secretary), Juliette Kayyem (Assistant Secretary, Office of Intergovernmental Programs), and Alan Bersin (Assistant Secretary, Office of International Affairs).

Thus the CFR continues to dominate our government’s key areas: finance, defense, foreign policy, and security. To this may be added various other Obama CFR appointees, such as Mona Sutphen (White House Deputy Chief of Staff), Paul Volcker (Chairman, Economic Recovery Advisory Board), Peter Cowhey, (Senior Counsel, Office of U.S. Trade Representative), and Eric Shinseki (Secretary of Veterans Affairs).

The Future

The idea that Barack Obama became president from a “grass-roots” movement is illusory. American government policy continues to be largely dictated by the rich and the few. This is generally unknown to the public — not because it is a bizarre conspiracy theory, but because the same power elite who run our government, mega-banks, and multinational corporations also run the major media, as an inspection of the CFR membership roster would reveal.

Membership in the CFR, of course, is not an automatic condemnation. A few people are added as “window dressing” to give the group distinction and a veneer of diversity. An example is movie star Angelina Jolie. No one suspects Jolie knows much about foreign affairs or is a conspirator for world government. But within the CFR are hardcore globalists who, linked with their foreign counterparts through the Bilderbergers and Trilateral Commission, head the drive for one-world government.

Though numerically small (less than 1,000 members during the Kennedy years, less than 4,500 today), this organization has dominated every administration for over seven decades.

As long as the CFR controls our government, we can anticipate more of the same: diminishing national sovereignty; free flow of immigration (which confuses national identity and weakens national loyalties); increasing jobs losses through multinational trade agreements; further internationalization of law (Law of the Sea Treaty, Kyoto Protocol, World Court, global taxation, etc.); increasing loss of freedoms in a “surveillance society”; progressive organization of the United States, Mexico, and Canada into a North American Union; and ultimately, broader merger into a world government where all power will be concentrated in the hands of the elite.

Eternal vigilance continues to be the price of freedom.

Why is it good to eat nuts every day?

by Edith Gómez
Translated by Charles E. Lincoln

Recent studies suggest that you can dramatically reduce the risk of many illnesses, including coronarydisease, by eating those dry but oily and meaty fruits we call “nuts,” while simultaneously improving your “work memory”, meaning your short-term storage of information.

In addition to nutritional benefits, food sources including nuts and virgin olive oil—belonging to the ancient cultural and dietary traditions of the Mediterranean—are rich in polyphenols, antioxidant phytochemicals which help the body fight against the effect of “rusting” molecules, in addition to which polyphenols are associated (again) with improved performance in memory tests and overall cognitive function in people of older age and with a correlative diminution of cardiovascular risks.

Participants in the PreDiMed (Prevention with Mediterranean Diet) have completed their research and were able to conclude the regular consumption of these dry fruits could reduce the risk of heart disease, certain types of cancer, and diabetes type 2.
Among dry “hard-shell” fruits, nuts have a greater number and quality of antioxidants than any of the others, in addition to be distinguished by their anti-inflammatory properties.

Nuts, memory, and cognition

Among the greatest advantages which this dry fruit may have, nuts also stimulate brain function, and as noted above, even enhances memory. Nuts, foods so rich in antioxidants, also fight against the decline in cognition associated with aging.

On study carried out of the tem of Emilio Ros, chief of the cellular biology unit of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, suggests that the regular consumption of nuts, and no other dry fruit, is related to improved working (i.e. “operational”, “short term”) memory.

The authors define “working memory” as “the system which permits the short-term storage of information to carry out verbal and non-verbal instructions and assignments, such as reasoning and comprehension, and determines what is available for processing subsequently received information.”

“Consumption of food rich in antioxidants typical of the Mediterranean diet could counteract the cognitive decline associated with age, affirms Cinta Valls-Pedret, principal author of the Barcelona research.

Alzheimer: Nuts for the Defense!

A new scientific investigation completed at the Department of Neurochemistry at the Institute of Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities of the University of New York suggests that the “nut extract” (the dry fruit without its fiber) has protective effects against “oxidation stress” and cellular death which occurs in individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

These researchers considered whether the extract o nuts could have a defensive effect again oxidation damage induced by the beta protein Almyloid and cytotoxicity. They arrived at the conclusion that the extract of nuts reduces cellular death caused by the almyloids by reducing the generation of free radicals, reducing the damage to the membranes and alleviating the damage to the DNA.

The principal investigator of the New York project affirms that “the results of our previous studies and our current study (in reference to the PreDiMed collaboration mentioned above) suggest that the diet with nuts can reduce the risk of dementia in the elder population.
Recipes with Nuts

Nuts can be eaten in many delicious ways. Alone (and dry) they have a wonderful flavor, but they can also be mixed with yoghurt, salads, including a fruit salad or “Macedonia”, using the expressed nut oil as dressing.

Nuts are a great nutritional food source which should be present in your diet. If you don’t eat them for their high quantity of calories, at least eat them in moderation. A handful a day will do for you to obtain and enjoy all the benefits which nuts offer you maintaining in line your calories.

(The Author: Edith Gómez is an editor in Gananci, dedicated to online marketing and communication. She refuses to sleep at night without having learnt something new each day. Business ideas disturb her and so, more than anything else, she brings a creative viewpoint to the small world in which we live. Twitter: @edigomben).

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