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Black cumin seed, a traditional folk remedy, is becoming popular for its health benefits and synergistic effects

by Darnel Fernandez

 

Black cumin seed is derived from the Nigella sativa plant, a small flowering shrub native to Eastern Europe, western Asia and the Middle East. While they may not look like much, these tiny black seeds have been used in medicinal remedies for thousands of years to treat a wide range of health conditions, including certain immune and inflammatory disorders. Nowadays, this seed is often found in the form of oil and is growing to be a popular health food due to its fantastic benefits and synergistic effects.

Black seed oil is on the rise

Black cumin seed (and its oil form) harbor incredibly diverse benefits, ranging from reducing inflammation, helping in weight loss, strengthening the immune system and even lowering blood pressure. In fact, a recent paper published in the Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences found that black seed oil exhibited a wide array of positive effects on obese mice.

To test the efficacy of black cumin seed on the blood pressure of obese mice, researchers from the US, Italy and Israel fed a high-fat diet to a group of male mice over the course of 20 weeks.

The mice were divided into three groups of five animals each. The first group was the “lean” and the second was the high-fat diet (HFD) group. The third group consisted of mice fed HFD and then supplemented with doses of black seed oil for the final eight weeks. The researchers analyzed antioxidant biomarkers, inflammatory biomarkers, hepatic steatosis, mitochondrial biogenesis and tissue fat accumulation.

The researchers observed that the HFD with black seed oil group exhibited lower blood pressure and lower fasting glucose compared to the regular HFD group. The treatment of black seed oil was also shown to improve metabolic function and liver health, as seen through the reduced risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

The researchers concluded that their findings could open a path to new therapeutic approaches to treat obesity-related diseases

Other fantastic benefits of black seed oil

Black seed oil has shown promise in treating a variety of common health conditions such as high blood pressure and even asthma. Here is a list of the various health benefits you can enjoy if you start incorporating this superfood into your diet. (Related: Black cumin seeds provide many wonderful health benefits.)

  1. Lowers hypertension. The presence of healthy fatty acids like oleic acids in the oil can help the body balance its cholesterol levels, which can improve blood circulation. A study published in the journal Fundamental and Clinical Pharmacology evaluated the efficacy of black cumin seed extract in patients with mild hypertension. The researchers observed that the participants experienced lower systolic blood pressure values after only eight weeks of supplementation. In addition, black cumin seed extract caused a significant decline in the level of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or “bad” cholesterol.
  2. Helps manage diabetes. A study published in the Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology investigated the potential of black cumin seeds as an adjuvant therapy in patients with Type 2 diabetes. The researchers found that a dose 2g black cumin seed extract every day could act as a beneficial adjuvant to oral hypoglycemic agents for diabetics.
  3. Prevents asthma attacks. Studies have established a link between reduced asthma attacks and regular use of black seed oil. In fact, a study published in the journal Fundamental and Clinical Pharmacology found that black seed oil has a prophylactic effect on asthmatic disease, but warrants further research regarding this effect.

As more research is done on the health effects of black seed oil, more and more people will get to enjoy its benefits.

 

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Construction of Casa de La Mision begins to do justice to displaced elders

by Araceli Martínez

 

Leaders of Mission Neighborhood Centers and Mercy Housing laid the first stone of Casa de La Mision on Jan. 9, which will be an accessible housing building for older adults who have been displaced from the Latino Mission neighborhood in San Francisco, and faced the homelessness. The building is located at 3011 24th Street, San Francisco, California, at the former Mission Girls Center.

Casa de La Misión will be located in the heart of the Mission, and will give a roof to 45 older adults. “It is the result of an alliance between Mission Neighborhood Centers and Mercy Housing,” said Santiago “Sam” Ruíz, president of Mission Neighborhood Centers Inc.

“With this project we are doing justice to the displaced from the Mission District that has been the epicenter of the displacement of the elderly,” said Sam.

And he explained that the place where the apartment building for the elderly will be built, two decades ago, they bought it to provide community services and develop the Head Start, a program of the Federal Department of Health and Human Services that provides early childhood education, health, nutrition and services for parents of low-income children and their families.

“That place was going to be purchased to put on a Taco Bell franchise, but when we found out, we mobilized not only because of the displacement it was going to cause but because of the economic impact on local businesses, and we managed to buy it with the support of community friends to support 60 children under the Head Start program, “Sam recalled.

“The idea of ​​us was to make it an asset for the community, and so it will be now that it will be home for 45 displaced elders of the Mission, to whom we want to say, welcome to your home,” Sam said.

The construction of Casa de La Mision is financed with a donation of five million from the Bettye Poetz Ferguson Foundation, and low-income housing tax credits.

Sam said the construction that is there now will be demolished to build the apartment building for the elderly. The demolition would begin in two days.

“It will be five floors. On the first floor we will offer social services, and there will be a garden on the terrace,” he said.

The apartment building will also have a community space, laundry, lobby and offices for administrators.

“We are very proud of this project and because we have become a change agency,” he said.

Liliana “Lila” Carrillo, head of foreign affairs and policy at Mission Neighborhood Centers said she expects the apartment building to be inaugurated between May and June of 2021. “Construction will take about 18 months. At this time the requirements that beneficiaries must meet will be established, but the apartments are dedicated to providing a roof for displaced elderly people who are quite vulnerable, “he said.

He added that senior citizens are the fastest growing population in the San Francisco area, and who find it harder to find housing.

“It is estimated that by 2030 they will be 30 percent of the population,” said Lila.

Once the departments are assigned, the beneficiaries will have to pay a percentage of their income as rent.

“They will be apartments of one bedroom, and in each one, an older adult will be located,” he added.

In Casa de La Misión they will also have social and medical services.

“They do not necessarily have to be homeless but must be older adults who live in small rooms, with a family member, or are at risk of being in the street,” she says.

The mayor of San Francisco London Breed accompanied the leaders of Mission Neighborhood Centers, Mercy Housing, and other community leaders, to participate in the groundbreaking of Casa de La Misión.

“I am very excited because this is the sixth building that begins to be built in the Mission since I am mayor, which will represent 600 units in this community,” she said at the construction start ceremony.

“The reason why this is happening at this rate is because of the leadership of the people I saw here,” she said.

And she recalled that the late mayor of San Francisco, Ed Lee, promised to build affordable housing and pay special attention to the Mission community so that when new housing developments were built, residents had access.

“I am very grateful because the work we have done is finally paying off,” she said. And she called Casa de La Mision an incredible project that is just the tip of the iceberg.

“Next month we are going to open 94 homes on Shotwell Street, 100 percent accessible units. But we have to make sure that the community is at the forefront of those requests because this is how we are protecting future generations,” she said.

Although the displacement in the Mission has disproportionately affected Latinos, Lila noted that they hope to benefit all those older adults who qualify.

“Applications are going to be made through community organizations,” she says.

Mission Neighborhood Centers has long been an operator of youth services, and served the low-income residents of the community.

Casa de La Misión is the first of four projects to create 345 homes for low-income seniors that had become stuck due to lack of funds. With the commitment of 30 million dollars from the Bettye Poetz Ferguson Foundation, Mercy Housing California can move forward to make them a reality.

Bettye Poetz Ferguson, a philanthropist and devout Catholic, resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, asked before she died that the scholarships be donated to a Catholic organization working in the field of accessible housing.

Mercy Housing California is very grateful to Bettye and her foundation because with her donation, hundreds of low-income seniors will have safe and accessible housing for years to come, including those of the Casa de La Misión.

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Investigators find human remains that could be those of 43 missing students

Results of laboratory analyses expected within two months

 

by Mexico News Daily

 

Human remains found in Guerrero might be those of the 43 students who disappeared in September 2014, a lawyer for the victims’ parents said on Thursday.

Vidulfo Rosales said that remains found by the National Search Commission in municipalities that neighbor Iguala – the city in which the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College students were abducted – will be analyzed by both Mexican and foreign experts.

Some of the remains will be analyzed in Mexico and some will be sent to the Institute of Legal Medicine at the Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria, he said. Results could be ready in February or March, Rosales said.

The lawyer said that the discovery of the remains has led to the formulation of a new theory about what happened to the 43 young men who vanished on September 26, 2014. They were allegedly handed over to the Guerreros Unidos crime gang by corrupt municipal police who stopped the buses the students had commandeered to travel to a protest in Mexico City.

Rosales said the hypothesis is that the students’ bodies were not burned in the Cocula garbage dump as the previous federal government claimed in its so-called “historical truth.”

Instead, they may have been separated on September 26 or September 27 and taken to locations in the municipalities of Eduardo Neri, Huitzuco and Taxco, he said.

The lawyer also announced that experts from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will be allowed to continue its investigation into the case.

The previous government refused to renew the mandate of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts(GIEI) in 2016. Based on forensic analysis, the group dismissed the possibility that the students’ bodies were burned at the Cocula dump by members of the Guerreros Unidos gang, who allegedly mistook the young men for rival gangsters.

The GIEI said that its final hypothesis was that the students may have unwittingly commandeered a bus loaded with heroin that was bound for the United States.

Just two days after he took office on December 1, 2018, President López Obrador signed a decree to create a super commission to conduct a new investigation into the students’ disappearance.

However, it failed to make any significant progress in 2019 and more than 50 people arrested in connection with the case, including more than 20 municipal police, were released from prison.

Parents of the students said in November that they were giving López Obrador two months to produce results or they would increase the intensity of their protests.

Another meeting between the president and parents is scheduled for March 9 by which time it may be known whether the recently-discovered remains are those of the missing students or not.

Source: El Financiero (sp), AFP (en).

 

New data reveals that 61,000 people have disappeared, 50% more than reported

A year ago the government said 40,000 people were missing

There are more than 61,000 missing persons in Mexico, the federal government said on Monday, a figure significantly higher than that previously reported.

The official number of missing persons is 61,637, the chief of the National Search Commission told a press conference.

“These are data of horror that have a lot of stories of pain behind them, both of families in Mexico and of migrants,” Karla Quintana, head of Mexico’s National Search Commission said.

The figure is 50 percent higher than the 40,180 persons reported as missing in January 2019 by former search commission chief Roberto Cabrera.

Quintana said the sharp increase is due to updated and carefully revised information from state-based Attorney General’s Offices. She explained that 60,053 of the missing persons disappeared between 2006, the year former president Felipe Calderón launched the war against drug cartels, and 2019.

The other disappearances occurred in previous years dating back to 1964, Quintana said.

The search commission chief said the highest number of disappearances have occurred in Tamaulipas, Jalisco, México state, Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Sinaloa, Coahuila, Puebla, Guerrero and Veracruz.

Just under three-quarters of the missing persons are men and just over one-quarter are women.

Almost a third of the total number of missing persons – 19,108 – disappeared between 2016 and 2018, the final three years of the Enrique Peña Nieto government.

In 2019, the first full year of the government led by President López Obrador, 9,164 people were reported as missing of whom 5,184 have not been located, said human rights undersecretary Alejandro Encinas. Among the number of people who disappeared last year and still haven’t been found are 1,177 women, he said.

Encinas also said that 1,124 bodies have been found in 873 hidden graves since López Obrador took office in December 2018.

Of that number, 395 have been identified and 243 have been returned to the victims’ families, he said, adding that the highest number of hidden graves have been uncovered in Sinaloa, Colima, Veracruz, Sonora and Jalisco.

The official said that between December 1, 2018 and December 31, 2019, authorities have carried out searches for hidden graves at 519 different locations across practically all of Mexico’s 32 federal entities. In February last year, Encinas described the country as a whole as an “enormous hidden grave.”

He said on Monday that the federal government will extend an invitation to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances to have its members visit Mexico this year.

The government was criticized last month for failing to keep its promise to allow the committee to visit the country and thus open up Mexico’s investigative processes to international scrutiny.

Source: El Universal (sp), El Financiero (sp).

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Puerto Rican authorities suspend classes due to earthquake- “This is not a natural disaster.” says government employee

by the El Reportero‘s wire services

 

Puerto Rican Education Secretary Eligio Hernández reported this Wednesday that classes in the public education system will not resume until the evaluation of damage to schools has been completed following yesterday’s strong earthquake.

Hernández published on Twitter that the process of evaluation of schools by structural engineers started today.

Earlier, Puerto Rican Governor Wanda Vazquez posted that the semester will resume on January 13 because of the need to ‘achieve a complete evaluation of school structures throughout #PuertoRico.’

The 6.5 magnitude quake of this Tuesday, whose epicenter was located in the south of the country, was the strongest Puerto Rico has suffered in over a century, experts noted.

The earthquake, which occurred at 02:24 local time and left at least one person dead, was followed by a series of lower intensity events.

Vázquez decreed a state of emergency and activated the National Guard to aid in the identification of bridges, homes and roads that could be have been damaged by the quake, which initially left almost 250,000 people without power.

Over 1,800 earthquakes of different magnitude have occurred on Puerto Rican soil and its surroundings since December 28, something that experts described as ‘unusual.’

According to local media, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Emergency and Disaster Management, Carlos Acevedo, warned on Sunday that one of the concerns of the government is the approximately 150,000 homes built on stilts that could collapse if an earthquake of great magnitude occurs.

 

ECLAC debates causes of migration in Mexico and Central America

The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Barcena, on Wednesday revealed the economic and social causes of migration in Mexico and the three States south of this country.

The Mexican official mentioned insufficient economic growth in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador among the main reasons for their citizens to leave their places of origin.

On presenting the Northern Central America-Mexico Comprehensive Development Plan, at a meeting of ambassadors and consuls from those nations, Barcena noted that ‘the 10 percent of the population with the highest incomes in Central America and Mexico earns 70 times more than the poorest 10 percent.’

The ECLAC chief also referred to the wage differential as among the causes of migration in that geographic area, where the average salary is ten times lower than in the United States.

Another cause of migration is violence, as this region is considered ‘one of the most violent in the world, with even more homicides than the Middle East.’

ECLAC studies also mention the high demographic growth in the region among the causes of migration, above all among young men aged 15-29, who also ‘get caught up in drug trafficking and violence.’

Barcena referred to droughts and floods, due to ‘brutal climate change in the north triangle of Central America,’ which has caused huge corn and coffee crop losses, among other items. According to Barcena, the key issue in the new program approved by the United Nations is that ‘migration has to be an option, not an obligation, and a space for common development has to be built among the nine states south of Mexico and the three countries in the north of Central America.’

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ECLAC debates causes of migration in Mexico and Central America

by the El Reportero‘s wire services

The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Barcena, on Wednesday revealed the economic and social causes of migration in Mexico and the three States south of this country.

The Mexican official mentioned insufficient economic growth in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador among the main reasons for their citizens to leave their places of origin.

On presenting the Northern Central America-Mexico Comprehensive Development Plan, at a meeting of ambassadors and consuls from those nations, Barcena noted that ‘the 10 percent of the population with the highest incomes in Central America and Mexico earns 70 times more than the poorest 10 percent.’

The ECLAC chief also referred to the wage differential as among the causes of migration in that geographic area, where the average salary is ten times lower than in the United States.

Another cause of migration is violence, as this region is considered ‘one of the most violent in the world, with even more homicides than the Middle East.’

ECLAC studies also mention the high demographic growth in the region among the causes of migration, above all among young men aged 15-29, who also ‘get caught up in drug trafficking and violence.’

Barcena referred to droughts and floods, due to ‘brutal climate change in the north triangle of Central America,’ which has caused huge corn and coffee crop losses, among other items. According to Barcena, the key issue in the new program approved by the United Nations is that ‘migration has to be an option, not an obligation, and a space for common development has to be built among the nine states south of Mexico and the three countries in the north of Central America.’

Puerto Rican authorities suspend classes due to earthquake

Puerto Rican Education Secretary Eligio Hernández reported this Wednesday that classes in the public education system will not resume until the evaluation of damage to schools has been completed following yesterday’s strong earthquake.

Hernández published on Twitter that the process of evaluation of schools by structural engineers started today.

Earlier, Puerto Rican Governor Wanda Vazquez posted that the semester will resume on January 13 because of the need to ‘achieve a complete evaluation of school structures throughout #PuertoRico.’

The 6.5 magnitude quake of this Tuesday, whose epicenter was located in the south of the country, was the strongest Puerto Rico has suffered in over a century, experts noted.

The earthquake, which occurred at 02:24 local time and left at least one person dead, was followed by a series of lower intensity events.

Vázquez decreed a state of emergency and activated the National Guard to aid in the identification of bridges, homes and roads that could be have been damaged by the quake, which initially left almost 250,000 people without power.

Over 1,800 earthquakes of different magnitude have occurred on Puerto Rican soil and its surroundings since December 28, something that experts described as ‘unusual.’

According to local media, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Emergency and Disaster Management, Carlos Acevedo, warned on Sunday that one of the concerns of the government is the approximately 150,000 homes built on stilts that could collapse if an earthquake of great magnitude occurs.

 

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SF Board of Supervisors Outreach January 2020

Engage with the Port of San Francisco regarding waterfront resilience.  Join the Port for a 1.5 hour walking tour on January 11 around Islais Creek to learn more about the neighborhood history and ecology as well as the City’s work to mitigate and adapt to sea level rise. Meet at 10:00am at Islais Creek Promenade, located at 1698 Indiana Street. Additionally, the Port, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other City partners are hosting an upcoming community meeting on January 30 from 5:30pm-7:00pm located at the Southeast Community Facility at 1800 Oakdale Avenue to encourage engagement on coordinated resilience projects in the Islais Creek/Bayview neighborhoods.  Join the Port and the Exploratorium in the northern waterfront for a Royal Walk with the King Tide on January 10 from 10:00-11:00am and January 11 from 10:45-11:45, located between Piers 3 and 5.  Stay engaged at sfportresilience.com!

 

APPLY TO BECOME A CENSUS TAKER!

Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau is responsible for conducting the nationwide census. The Census Bureau is recruiting now to fill important temporary positions in San Francisco with great pay ($30/hour) and flexible hours for Spring 2020. You do not have to be a US citizen to apply.

Be a Census Taker and make a difference in your community! Apply online NOW at 2020census.gov/jobs.  

GET THE SALARY AND BENEFITS YOU DESERVE. Learn to identify your value, how to conduct objective market research and develop persuasive strategies with AAUW Work Smart Salary Negotiation Workshops presented by the FRIENDS of the Commission on the Status of Women, in partnership with the Commission/Department on the Status of Women.  Take the FREE and self-paced e-course at friendscosw.org/online or register for an in-person workshop at friendscosw.org/equalpay.  For more information, call 415.779.6636

Make a Difference, Become a Literacy Volunteer

Half of San Francisco’s 3rd and 4th graders are not reading at grade level. By volunteering to tutor through the Library’s award-winning FOG Readers program, you can help students in grades 1-4 increase their confidence and gain a half a grade level within the first three months. Currently, there are over 300 children waiting for a volunteer to help change their lives. For more information, visit sfpl.org/fog. To get started, email readers@sfpl.org.

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

 

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

 

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La Ronda Bogotá de Celso Piña at The New Parish

by the El Reportero‘s news services

 

Celso Piña started playing music in his hometown with his brothers Eduardo, Rubén and Enrique. They formed a band called Celso Piña y su Ronda Bogotá and together they would go to several homes and perform for local citizens, especially teenage girls from their neighborhood.

In 1980, Celso Piña bought his first accordion and was introduced to the world of musica norteña. He spent numerous hours of practice and work in the popular district of La Colonia Independencia, south of Monterrey. Having lived for a majority of his life there, he titled one of his songs Mi colonia Independencia, which is located at the heavily populated area of Cerro de la Campana, near of the downtown in Monterrey.

Piña’s group decided to change their musical rhythm to encompass a more tropical style during the mid-1980s after having seen Aníbal Velásquez and Alfredo Gutiérrez in concert at “Baile de las Cintas (reproducción de música mediante cintas)”. The group decided to switch into the genre of cumbia, and became what today is Celso Piña y su Ronda Bogotá.

Piña taught himself how to play the accordion with no formal training. As a result he was able to create the unique sound he is well known for. His most popular songs include, La quebradita de la paz, El tren, Como el viento and La piragua by José Barros. He was featured in the song Sufran con lo que yo gozo along with Mexican singer Gloria Trevi.

Celso had several successful international tours that included countries as Germany, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic, Italy, France, Switzerland, Morocco, Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, Canada and the United States. Celso Piña received a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Tropical Album in 2002 for Barrio Bravo.

At the New Parish, 1743 San Pablo Ave., Oakland.

On August 21, 2019, Piña died from a heart attack in Monterrey, Mexico at the age of 66.

Happy New Year! Ready for the best Rock event in Spanish and the best of Mana music

Get ready because from the same voice of one of Maná’s vocalist and percussionist, he arrives for the first time in three cities in the Bay Area!

We are excited to bring this great tribute to Maná to Northern California with Héctor Quintana, 2nd voice and percussionist from Maná. You won’t want to miss this semi-private concert!

Jan. 9 at Mountain View, Jan 10 at Pleasanton and Jan. 22 in Sacramento.

On Jan. 9 at Opal Night Club, Mountain View; Jan. 10 at Maverick’s Lounge in Pleasanton; and Jan. 22 at Mango’s in Sacramento.

For VIP reservations 925-521-4038, info@parceritasproductions.com.

 

50 people you need to know, now

San Francisco Public Library presents Changemakers: Bay Area Disability Pride

 

With funding from the Library Services and Technology Act and federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, San Francisco Public Library, San Mateo County Libraries and San Jose Public Library joined forces to develop a series of programs aimed at advancing a more inclusive society for people with disabilities.

SFPL worked with curator Fran Osbourne to develop the Changemakers exhibition, which also appeared at the San Mateo Public Library in 2019. Osbourne orchestrated the selection process for the featured “changemakers”, which includes over 50 people who have made outstanding contributions to the disability community through activism, arts and culture, business, education, leadership, science and technology and sports. She also partnered with local art programs considered to be leaders of social change and inclusion. All of the exhibition artists have a regular artistic practice and work in studios with a group of their peers. Instructors are usually professional artists and offer support rather than direction.

For all the events dates and times in January 2019, please visit: https://sfpl.org/releases/author/public-affairs/

 

Give the Gift of Life at the Blood Drive

 

City of Redwood City Launches Pilot Program with Downtown Streets Team

Help the Homeless Get Back into the Workforce and Housing

 

The City of Redwood City recently launched a two-year pilot program run by the Downtown Streets Team to help individuals who are currently homeless, or at-risk of becoming homeless, transition into long-term employment and housing.

To participate, people experiencing homelessness should attend a Downtown Streets Team Weekly Success Team Meeting, held every Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the Dragon Theatre, located at 2120 Broadway in Redwood City. At the beginning of the program the volunteers will focus on downtown from 8 a.m. to noon daily. Soon, the team will expand it to other areas of the city.

 

 

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Salvadoran singer Álvaro Torres completes concert tour in Cuba

by the El Reportero’s wire services

 

Salvadoran singer and composer Álvaro Torres will conclude today, in this capital, his concert tour with the presentation of his most recent phonogram at the Karl Marx Theater.

Invited by the Company of Recordings and Musical Editions (Egrem), the artist starred in four concerts on the Caribbean island in which he presented the album Álvaro Torres and his good friends, which included important figures of Cuban music.

The album, recorded on the island in 2018, features the musical talent of the Diva of feeling, Omara Portuondo; Pancho Céspedes; Eliades Ochóa, Frank Fernández; Isaac Delgado, Buena Fe, the strings section of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Santiaguero Septet.

Member of the Hall of Fame of Latin Composers, Álvaro Torres acted, for the first time, in Cuba during 2011, returned in 2018 and again in February 2019, when he visited neighborhoods whipped by the tornado that affected the Cuban capital in January of this year.

 

Juan Luis Guerra’s Grammy nominated album “Literal” leads off “all music’s best of 2019”

Best Tropical Latin Album – Juan Luis Guerra is a musician, composer, arranger, producer, and songwriter from the Dominican Republic. He is one of the most internationally recognized Latin artists in recent decades. His popular style of merengue has garnered him considerable success around the world. He is also credited for popularizing bachata music on a global level and is often associated with the genre. A 23-time Latin GRAMMY® and three-time GRAMMY® winner, Guerra has recorded more than 15 albums and won numerous awards.

With some 30 million albums sold around the world, Guerra is a Latin music pioneer whose early international successes included the classic “Ojalá Que Llueva Café.” The track, which foreshadowed the global impact of current tropical urban stars is still instantly recognizable from its first notes.

Throughout his prolific career, Guerra has been reinventing the joyful rhythms of his native Dominican Republic with his band 4.40 and writing wonderful lyrics mined from the everyday lives of people in Latin America and beyond, empowering listeners at the same time as they dance their troubles away to his messages of “peace, harmony and love.”

 

The “Party of Five” restart addresses family separation

The highly anticipated drama Party of Five will premiere with two episodes on Wednesday, January 8. The original TV drama series was released 25 years ago, and its updated version is politically temporary.

From Sony Pictures Television, the reinvention of the beloved series will follow the five children of Acosta as they navigate the difficulties of daily living to survive as a family unit after their parents are suddenly deported to Mexico.

In a new version of the creators of the original series Amy Lippman and Christopher Keyser, this beloved story of a young family bound by adversity will be told through the lens of current issues and cultural conversations.

The series stars Brandon Larracuente as Emilio Acosta, Emily Tosta as Lucia Acosta, Niko Guardado as Beto Acosta and Elle Paris Legaspi as Valentina Acosta. Bruno Bichir and Fernanda Urrejola star in Acosta’s parents, Javier and Gloria.

The first episode of Party of Five, filmed in Echo Park, California, will be available for a special pre-linear preview on Hulu, Freeform.com, the Freeform app, and on demand starting Wednesday, January 1.

 

Young people learn to make guitars to help preserve the traditional music of Veracruz

Interest decreasing in traditional music known as son jarocho

 

If you heard the song La Bamba, you heard they are jarocho, a regional style of music from Veracruz, jarocho is a term used to describe someone or something from that state.

But despite the importance of music for the traditional culture of the state, transmitting it to the next generation is not an easy task.

However, musician Anastasio Martínez has taken on the challenge. In his case, it takes the form of an incipient program in the southern municipality of Cosoleacaque to teach the manufacture of the traditional guitars that are used, called jaranas.

“We started the program because there was a certain level of disinterest in son jarocho. It was getting lost in the local culture, at least in southern Veracruz. The tradition was dying because the children were not interested, “he was attracted to other attractions such as celebrating Halloween, Martínez said.

With only four months of existence, the program already has 30 participants between 7 and 17 years old. Even three of the mothers who accompany their children have begun to make jaranas.

Martínez is encouraged. “The response has been very good. They are enjoying how I work, and they like to draw the molds and design their own instruments, add a drawing or other detail.”

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Abortion is never an option, says young woman who became pregnant after rape

ACI Press Writing

 

When she was 17, Kristi Kollar became pregnant as a result of rape. After battling the economic problems and criticism of those closest, she said yes to the life of little Adeline, who is now “the light and purpose” of her life.

Through the proven platform Save The 1, Kristi says that the person who raped her was a friend of her. He was a “a manipulator that I couldn’t get rid of. He was the type of person who threatened to commit suicide ”and blamed others for not supporting him, says the young mother.

She lived a horror story when her friend raped her. To commit his crime, the young man grabbed her neck in the back of his truck choking her, causing her body to shiver completely out of control.

Kristi was in her senior year of high school in Montana (United States), “and had just been accepted to the university of my dreams in New York.” A year earlier, she and her father had become homeless due to a fire and faced the death of people they loved.

“If there was a time that was the ‘wrong’ time to get pregnant, it was this. How could I put more burden on my dad when he was already dealing with so much? What would happen to the university? ”Kristi wondered.

The young mother studied in a private Christian school and was part of various extracurricular activities, where many young girls admired her. “What kind of example would it be for them?” she wondered.

These thoughts accompanied her during the seven months in which she hid her pregnancy. But abortion was never an option, she knew that “I had a small person living in me. A life”, and nothing was his fault.

Kristi has always been provided, and despite the doubts that assaulted her, about her graduation and her studies at the university, she was sure that she could not kill a baby just because it was not part of the life plan she had.

“I remember writing a prolife essay (as I did every year) when I was 20 weeks pregnant. I remember her little feet kicking me and his hiccups while writing. Suddenly I stopped and realized that at that point in my pregnancy it is still legal to end a life. I couldn’t imagine feeling such an active precious life within me and still denying its legitimacy,” says Kristi.

Thanks to her small complexion, it was simple to hide her pregnancy; However, three weeks before graduation, the pastor of his church called his father to tell him his suspicions.

She remembers that her father entered her room “and started telling me how much he loved me and how proud he was of me. Then he asked me if I was pregnant and told him what happened. He immediately requested an appointment with the doctor and a meeting with my school and the church,” she said.

At school they were friendly, the doctor did the necessary check-ups and informed him that everything was fine with the girl in his belly, despite not having gone through all the prenatal appointments.

However, in the church it was not the same, they received it with confusion and rejection. The aggressor’s family also attended the same church, so the pastor decided to have a meeting with everyone involved.

“He (the aggressor) admitted what he did in front of everyone. They did nothing. In fact, they tried to pressure us to get married. It was clear that they wanted to hide everything so as not to disturb the church. When I did not agree, they asked me to leave,” she lamented.

Fighting depression and spiritual confusion, because that church was her home for nine years, on July 27, 2018, Adeline Marie Kollar was born.

“The moment I saw her, all the previous pain of the nine months disappeared completely. I really believe that if I didn’t have Abby, I wouldn’t have been able to heal from the aggressions. She was and is the light and purpose of my life.”

Thank God, Adeline was born well, and with her dad’s support, Kristi was able to follow her dream of going to college and having a life in New York.

Kristi is currently an acting student, single mother and a pro-life activist. She leads a group that defends life at all stages, from conception to natural death. She supports the pregnancy center, and gives talks at public events.

“I guide and attend young girls and I can help with more personal issues such as dealing with issues such as sexual abuse, suicide prevention and teenage pregnancy,” he said.

Kristi is sure that motherhood does not kill dreams, and is not limited to age, “there is always support, even if it does not come from the family or from the closest ones. There are centers, as well as other organizations and volunteers who want to do anything to help.”

“There doesn’t have to be perfect circumstances. Abortion is never the best option,” she concludes.

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The 2010s: The decade in review?

Dear readers:

In closing this 2010s decades, I bring to you a small farewell written by one of my favorites investigative journalists, James Corbett, who give his last review for the last 10 years. But due to lack of space, I had to chop it.

 

by James Corbett

corbettreport.com

 

It’s December of 2019, so you know what that means: We’ve arrived at that special time when newsletter writers start penning their “Decade in Review” articles and pedants vainly contend that, “aKtUAlLy, the new decade doesn’t start until 2021!”

So let’s ignore the pedants and get to that moment you’ve all been waiting for: The moment when I reveal my choice for the story of the decade.

The 2010s were obviously a rollercoaster of a ride, including everything from wars and riots to false flag terror events and geopolitical upheaval (and even the occasional good news story!). But you may be surprised that I believe that the 2010s will go down in the books as “The Decade That America Lost Its Hegemon.”

This will be especially surprising if you watched New World Next Year 2020 and saw that I picked the USSA unilaterally re-asserting its Monroe Doctrine dominance over the entire Western hemisphere as my choice for the news story of 2019. After all, doesn’t a story like that simply prove that America continues to see itself as the unchallenged (and unchallengeable) unitary world superpower?

No, not necessarily. In fact, I would say—echoing Ryan Christian in a recent edition of The Last American Vagabond—”They [Uncle Sam & co.] are losing their influence, but that’s why they’re wielding what they have left.”

Don’t believe me? Let’s roll up our sleeves and take a look at some of the lowlights of the last 10 years, shall we?

Libya: Mission Accomplished?

Libya marks the last clear-cut victory for the Old World Order. From the beginning, everyone with his head screwed on straight was calling the 2011 campaign to drop humanitarian love bombs on Libya for what it was: a naked money and resource grab and an attempt to re-closet some old skeletons. And (spoiler alert!) documents later proved we in the reality-based community were right.

In the end, The assassination of Gaddafi marked the last time the NATO mobsters were able to exert their will on the global stage uncontested. In the infamous words of Hillary Clinton: “We came. We saw. He died.”

But even though Libya was a “Mission Accomplished” for Obama, Clinton, Sarkozy and the other psychopaths-in-chief, in some ways it gave rise to the problems that are now threatening to crumble the Old World Order.

Of the many interesting (and largely unexplored) aspects of the Libya invasion, one of the most important was the fact that Libya represented the opening salvo in a hidden (and still escalating) proxy war in Africa between Washington and Beijing. As I noted at the time, some of the first targets of the Libyan campaign were Chinese business interests in the oil rich Eastern parts of the country, a fact that was not lost on China (or Russia, for that matter). Never again would China and Russia rubber stamp the UN resolutions that would be used to steamroll over a country that they were invested in.

Which brings us naturally to . . .

Syria: Mission Unaccomplished

The campaign to topple the Syrian government seemed to be cast in the Libyan campaign mold. In fact, I was warning that Syria was in danger of becoming Libya 2.0 before Gaddafi had even been killed.

A years-long covert campaign to overthrow the Syrian government? Check.

Cries that a tyrant worse than Hitler (who is also a suicidal madman) is “brutally suppressing his own people” while they engaged in “peaceful demonstrations“? Check.

An “international coalition” willing to train, fund, arm and equip the “moderate rebels” who were trying to overthrow the Syrian government? Check.

In fact, all the dominos were in place, the red line was drawn, the false flags were flown and everything was set for another US-led NATO love bombing.

. . . But something happened. Or, more to the point, something didn’t happen. The green light wasn’t given, the all-out assault didn’t start. Even the creation of a new al-CIAda army, dubbed I-CIA-SIS was not enough to justify the lusted-after invasion.

Incredibly, here we are about to close out the decade and Assad is still in power.

Syria has been wracked by years of struggle against the foreign terrorist insurgency, but the death blow has not been delivered. And now the Iranian bogeymen—who was always the ostensible target of the Syrian operation—wields even more power than they did at the start of the decade. Russian anti-missile systems now provide a powerful shield against NATO and Israeli military aggression.

There is something to be said for the idea that destabilization itself was the goal in Syria all along, but even so, not even the agents of chaos expected that the Syrian government would still be standing by now. And yet they are.

So what went wrong for the agents of the Old World Order?

 

The decade ended with one political puppet-in-chief announcing the retirement of the Osama bin Laden character and ended with another puppet-in-chief announcing the retirement of the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi character. In between, there were no end of false flag events, from bombings and knifings to shootings and truck attacks. But in all this false flag chaos, one event in particular stands out: The creation of I-CIA-SIS, a new, improved al-CIAda 2.0 for the Millennials and Gen Zers who are too young to remember to be afraid of the 9/11 bogeymen.

From its inception, the alphabet soupers’ ISIS gambit reeked of desperation. A ragtag band of fighters supposedly rose up out of the sands of the desert to overthrow the Iraqi army, captured a convenient cache of weapons and a bank, setting off on a convoy across the desert that could be seen by everyone . . . but seemingly not stopped by anyone.

Were we really expected to swallow this cockamamie story?

The special forces agents caught dressing up as ISIS fighters?

The state-of-the-art ISIS media productions?

The time that ISIS got mad at 9/11 truthers (exactly as The Onion joked would happen)?

Well, we probably weren’t expected to believe it, but as long as there were enough Joe Sixpacks and Jane Soccermoms willing to go along with it, then the strategy of tension could be maintained and the globalists could go on with their false flag business as usual.

But here we are in 2019 and no one is talking ISIS anymore. They’re still trotted out every now and then to try to scare the public, but it’s a half-assed effort at best these days. Besides, the public is too busy squabbling about impeachment shenanigans to bother noticing what’s happening in Syria and Iraq anyway. Even resurrecting Baghdadi’s corpse to make a dramatic announcement that he had been killed (again) hardly registered as a blip on the news radar.

Yes, the propagandists and globalist planners hardly got any mileage out of their ISIS vehicle before it crashed and burned in the sands of the desert.

In the meantime, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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