Saturday, September 28, 2024
Home Blog Page 249

American and British intelligence uncover dirty business in Puerto Rico

by the El Reportero’s wire service

Payoffs to the FBI & U.S. Attorney offices

 
As the CEO of Commercial Solar Power (CSP), Mr. Lawless ordered a forensic investigation into the $13,200,000 losses the company incurred while doing business in Puerto Rico. In an effort to better understand the causes for such losses, Mr. Lawless and his team uncovered questionable practices by the Puerto Rico Government and outright fraud by the Credit Rating Agencies, Fitch, Moody’s and S&P.

 The very first step in considering an investment of company resources in any company is to check the credit ratings of the company and make sure they are financially sound. In this case, the rating agencies were giving the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority an “A” rating. A pretty sound rating for a utility company.

Given that the credit rating was the companies first step in their due diligence process, CSP did an audit of the bond offering memorandums that these good ratings were based on. The audit uncovered hundreds of millions in missing funds and a utility that has been technically bankrupt since 2007. It seemed inconceivable to the CSP team that all three rating agencies gave a bankrupt company an investment grade credit rating. We delivered the results of our audit to the Puerto Rico FBI, U.S. Attorney and the Puerto Rico Legislature.

After receiving no response for many months, I wrote an editorial that appeared in many Puerto Rico Newspapers and Blogs. Shortly after I wrote the article I started receiving phone calls. One of the calls was from someone who implied he was from the CIA and stated that the CIA has been listening into phone activity between the utility and Hugo Chávez (Venezuela). The calls detailed a criminal enterprise that was stealing literally billions in public funds through bogus oil purchases and fraudulent municipal bond issues. While listening in to the conversations over a number of years it became clear that the Puerto Rico FBI Office and the Puerto Rico U.S. Attorney Office were (and are) accepting payoffs to insure no interference from those agencies. This story was confirmed to me by British Intelligence and confirmed a third time by the editors of Caribbean News Now.

Shortly after this disclosure the FBI got back to me. I was left a voicemail that suggested the agency was very concerned about my criminal complaint but could not find criminal grounds to pursue charges. I was surprised by that response so I contacted all persons of interest and discovered no one was ever interviewed by the FBI. In addition, during this time frame, two private parties filed RICO charges against the utility that were challenged and upheld by the courts. Amazing that private parties can file charges claiming that the utility is an organized criminal enterprise but the DOJ can’t.

To make matters worse for the FBI and the U.S. Attorney, the Puerto Rico Senate issued a 23-page report outlining the theft of billions and the purchase of knowingly fraudulent credit ratings from Moody’s, Fitch and S&P. These phony credit ratings have already resulted in billions of losses for those bond holders. Once again the FBI and U.S. Attorney did nothing.

We have a 23-page confession and financial audits supporting all of the illegal activity. No charges, no investigation.
It was brought to my attention that Treasury Secretary Lew while COO for Citibank, and Treasury Counsels, Weiss and Campbell while working for Lazard, participated in this fraudulent activity by selling these knowingly fraudulent bonds before joining the Treasury Department. This may help explain the reluctance of the FBI and DOJ to do anything about any of this.

Now it is up to the Press to bring pressure on our legislators to get involved.

(Richard Lawless is a former senior banker who has specialized in evaluating and granting debt for over 25 years. He has a Master’s Degree in Finance from the University of San Diego and Bachelor’s Degree from Pepperdine University. He sits on a number of Corporate Boards and actively writes for a number of finance publications).

Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos at the SFIAF

Compiled by the El Reportero staff

The groundbreaking flamenco company Caminos Flamencos has a brand new show that seamlessly blends flamenco, Latin, and jazz in music and dance with a cast of world-class artists from around the country who are rooted in a variety of musical genres.

Emmy Award-winning Artistic Director Yaelisa gathers an eclectic group of musicians and dancers in Nuevas Tendencias with an emphasis on new music by the virtuoso guitarist Jason McGuire “El Rubio.

Together, they recently have pushed the envelope even further, creating the music and dance show Nuevos Tendencias. The show made its premiere in July 2014 at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in San Franciso to an enthusiastic crowd, and has since played at Yoshi’s Oakland, Angelica’s and The New Parish, all alternative venues with mostly jazz audience followers.

Duration: 90 minutes with intermission. Friday June 3, 8 p.m., at the Cowell Theater, Fort Mason, 2 Marina Blvd, San Francisco. General Admission $20 advance, $25 door.

Eliana López’ What is the Scandal! is back at the SFIAF

What is the scandal? of Ileana López. Is an autobiographical story that explores what it means to be an immigrant woman of color in the United States of America. Immigrants don´t just face the outside challenges of the legal system but also the internal challenge of adaptation and integration. A reflection of self-transformation and a journey of human growth.

At Fort Mason Center Chapel, Sat., June 4, 2016 at 4 p.m., Sun, June 5, 2016 at 6 p.m. At 1100 Bay Street, San Francisco. Doors open at 5:45 p.m., starts at 6 p.m. Duration: 70 minutes, no intermission.

Five and Five: the works of 10 contemporary artists from the U.S., Mexico, and Latin America

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — May 12, 2016 — The Mexican Museum, the premier West Coast museum of Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano, Latin American, and Latino art, culture and heritage, presents Cinco y Cinco/Five and Five, an exhibition of works by 10 contemporary artists from the U.S., Mexico, and Latin America. The exhibition, which is free and open to the public, will be showcased at The Mexican Museum’s current facility at Fort Mason Center, Building D, Marina Boulevard and Buchanan Street, in San Francisco.

Cinco y Cinco/Five and Five is presented by guest curator Anthony Torres and will include works by the following artists: Victor Cartagena, Rolando Castellon, Adriana Castro, Ana de la Cueva, Lewis deSoto, Juan Jota Leaños, Gera Lozano, Geri Montano, Bernardo Roman Palau, and Gustavo Ramos Rivera.

Unique to most exhibitions, five of these artists were initially invited, each of whom has garnered regional, national, and international acclaim. The five invited artists were then asked to nominate another artist to participate as a means of extending opportunities to artists they deem worthy of greater public recognition. Works will be displayed in a variety of media, including photography, painting, video, and installations.

Exploring connections, commonalities, and differences in the 10 artists’ values, practices, and visual sensibilities, Cinco y Cinco/Five and Five will spotlight contemporary “Latino Art” as a rich, ambiguous area of inquiry that moves beyond geography or ethnicity.

Special exhibition opens June 23 – Nov. 6, 2016 at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco.

Shakira and Carlos Vives to launch La Bicicleta

by the El Reportero’s news services

The song La Bicicleta (The Bicycle) by Shakira and Carlos Vives will be launched this Friday in the digital platforms, after the rage stirred in the Colombian Caribbean when it was recently created.

A communiqué released by the office of Vives, King of vallenato, says the new single will be available as of May 27 in all digital platforms and on sale in iTunes.

La Bicicleta is the first collaboration between the two famous artists of this Andean nation. The song is based in a mix of vallenata music, with influence of pop and reggaeton, song to be included in a next CD.

The video of the song made popular by both coast idols, directed by filmmaker and photographer Jaume De Laiguana, is to be launched in June.

It was recorded between the cities of Santa Marta and Barranquilla, where Vives and Shakira were born, respectively.
Its elaboration and the paraphernalia that came with the recording attracted the attention for several days this month of all the towns of the Caribbean coast region, from Cordoba to La Guajira.

“I always wanted to write, produce and record a song with Shakira so together we could show our Colombia to the world, affirmed Vives on the new four-hand creation.

He added that Shakira has taken our country’s music to incredible heights and finally to be able to collaborate with her is a very important feat for me, he added.

For her part, Shakira, who also had words of high appraisal for her fellow Colombian, affirmed it was an important experience to work with the author of La Tierra del Olvido.

She expressed that La Bicicleta is a song that pays tribute to our country in many ways.

The Maya – Language of Beauty

With approximately 300 artworks including many Mexican national treasures, this exhibition explores the magnificent and varied forms of artistic expression developed by the Maya, with a focus on a fundamental aspect of pre-Hispanic art: the body.

Flourishing on the Yucatán Peninsula between 500 B.C. and 1500 A.D., the Maya achieved a degree of artistic sophistication—in reliefs, busts, and clay and stone figurines—that placed them far ahead of all other contemporary cultures on their continent.

Mayan buildings and works of art provide a splendid window into the everyday existence of this highly advanced civilization, shedding light on its literature, astronomy, music and dances. These reveal a culture dominated by an idealized view of humanity and its relationship with the gods, notions echoed in the Mayan ideal of beauty and conception of mankind’s place in the cosmos.

The Maya – Language of Beauty is part of a year of culture organized jointly by the German and Mexican governments. In exhibition from April 12 – Aug. 7, at Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany.

A former transgender person’s take on Obama’s bathroom directive

April 11, 2016 - CA, USA - Rancho Bernardo, CA. April 11, 2016 | Rancho Bernardo High custodian Mel Agbayani unlocks the unisex bathroom on campus with a new sign posted. .Over spring break this week, the first of the privacy stalls will be installed at Rancho Bernardo High School to acomodate transgender students. | Mandatory photo credit: Peggy Peattie / San Diego Union-Tribune (Credit Image: © Peggy Peattie/San Diego Union-Tribune via ZUMA)

by Walt Heyer

President Barack Obama, the titular head of the LGBT movement, has added to the firestorm of confusion, misunderstanding, and fury surrounding the transgender bathroom debate by threatening schools with loss of federal funding unless they allow students to join the sex-segregated restroom, locker room, and sports teams of their chosen gender, without regard to biological reality.

His action comes after weeks of protests against the state of North Carolina for its so-called anti-LGBT bathroom bill.

As someone who underwent surgery from male to female and lived as a female for eight years before returning to living as a man, I know firsthand what it’s like to be a transgender person—and how misguided it is to think one can change gender through hormones and surgery.

And I know that the North Carolina bill and others like it are not anti-LGBT.

“L” is for lesbian. The bill is not anti-lesbian because lesbians have no desire to enter a stinky men’s restroom. Lesbians will use the women’s room without a second thought. So the law is not anti-L.

“G” is for gay. Gay men have no interest in using women’s bathrooms. So the law is not anti-G.

“B” is for bi-sexual. The “B” in the LGBT have never been confused about their gender. Theirs is also a sexual preference only that doesn’t affect choice of restroom or locker room.

“T” is for transgender. The “T” identifies a person who has undergone hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery, and legally changes the gender marker on his or her birth certificate.

The North Carolina law is not anti-T because the law clearly states that the appropriate restroom is the one that corresponds to the gender stated on the birth certificate. Therefore, a transgender person with a birth certificate that reads “female” uses the female restroom, even if the gender noted at birth was male.

So, you see, the law is not anti-LGBT. What then is all the uproar about?

What has arisen is a new breed emerging among young people that falls outside the purview of the LGBT: the gender nonconformists.
Gender nonconformists, who constitute a miniscule fraction of society, want to be allowed to designate gender on a fluid basis, based on their feelings at the moment.

I call this group “gender defiant” because they protest against the definition of fixed gender identities of male and female. The gender defiant individuals are not like traditional transgender or transsexual persons who struggle with gender dysphoria and want hormone therapy, hormone blockers, and eventually, reassignment surgery. The gender defiant group doesn’t want to conform, comply, or identify with traditional gender norms of male and female. They want to have gender fluidity, flowing freely from one gender to another, by the hour or day, as they feel like it.

Under the cover of the LGBT, the anti-gender faction and its supporters are using the North Carolina bathroom bill to light a fuse to blow up factual gender definitions.

He does not grasp the biological fact that genders are not fluid, but fixed: male and female.

Obama is championing the insanity of eliminating the traditional definition of gender. He does not grasp the biological fact that genders are not fluid, but fixed: male and female.

Using the power of his position to influence the elimination of gender, overruling science, genetics, and biblical beliefs, is Obama’s display of political power.

One fact will remain, no matter how deep in the tank Obama goes for the gender nonconformists, genetics and God’s design of male and female, no matter how repugnant that is to some, cannot be changed. Biological gender remains fixed no matter how many cross-gender hormones are taken or cosmetic surgeries are performed. No law can change the genetic and biblical truth of God’s design. Using financial blackmail to achieve the elimination of gender will become Obama’s ugly legacy.

John F. Kennedy vs. the Federal Reserve – Part 5 of a series

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:

My research on controversial topics continues to pay off. I found this excellent and interesting article, which, due to its length, it will be published in parts. In this piece you will learn about how is that President John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s Executive Order 11110, gave the Treasury Department Constitutional power to again create and issue currency -money – without going through the privately-owned Federal Reserve Bank, which is what is currently done now. It suggests that JFK was killed for that reason. FIFTH PART OF A SERIES.

by John-F-Kennedy.net

Without a central bank to manipulate the supply of money, the United States experienced unprecedented growth for 60 or 70 years, and the resulting wealth was too much for bankers to endure. They had to get back into the game. So, in 1910 Senator Nelson Aldrich, then Chairman of the National Monetary Commission, in collusion with representatives of the European central banks, devised a plan to pressure and deceive Congress into enacting legislation that would covertly establish a private central bank.

This bank would assume control over the American economy by controlling the issuance of its money. After a huge public relations campaign, engineered by the foreign central banks, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was slipped through Congress during the Christmas recess, with many members of the Congress absent. President Woodrow Wilson, pressured by his political and financial backers, signed it on Dec. 23, 1913.

The act created the Federal Reserve System, a name carefully selected and designed to deceive. “Federal” would lead one to believe that this is a government organization. “Reserve” would lead one to believe that the currency is being backed by gold and silver. “System” was used in lieu of the word “bank” so that one would not conclude that a new central bank had been created.

In reality, the act created a private, for profit, central banking corporation owned by a cartel of private banks. Who owns the FED? The Rothschilds of London and Berlin; Lazard Brothers of Paris; Israel Moses Seif of Italy; Kuhn, Loeb and Warburg of Germany; and the Lehman Brothers, Goldman, Sachs and the Rockefeller families of New York.

Did you know that the FED is the only for-profit corporation in America that is exempt from both federal and state taxes? The FED takes in about one trillion dollars per year tax free! The banking families listed above get all that money.

Almost everyone thinks that the money they pay in taxes goes to the US Treasury to pay for the expenses of the government. Do you want to know where your tax dollars really go? If you look at the back of any check made payable to the IRS you will see that it has been endorsed as “Pay Any F.R.B. Branch or Gen. Depository for Credit U.S. Treas. This is in Payment of U.S. Oblig.” Yes, that’s right, every dime you pay in income taxes is given to those private banking families, commonly known as the FED, tax free.

Like many of you, I had some difficulty with the concept of creating money from nothing. You may have heard the term “monetizing the debt,” which is kind of the same thing. As an example, if the US Government wants to borrow $1 million ó the government does borrow every dollar it spends ó they go to the FED to borrow the money. The FED calls the Treasury and says print 10,000 Federal Reserve Notes (FRN) in units of one hundred dollars.

The Treasury charges the FED 2.3 cents for each note, for a total of $230 for the 10,000 FRNs. The FED then lends the $1 million to the government at face value plus interest. To add insult to injury, the government has to create a bond for $1 million as security for the loan. And the rich get richer. The above was just an example, because in reality the FED does not even print the money; it’s just a computer entry in their accounting system. To put this on a more personal level, let’s use another example.
IT WILL CONTINUE ON NEXT WEEK EDITION.

The wonders of Cinnamon

Closeup of cinnamon sticks and powder with selective focus

by Ben Fuchs

I love easy to use remedies for common health issues. Vitamin C powder is super effective for colds, drinking lots of water can ease hunger pangs while encouraging weight loss and deep breathing can lower blood pressure almost immediately.

One of my favorite simple strategies for improving health involves using spices. Not only can they have medicinal value, but spicing strategically will make foods taste better and you’ll find that if you’re eating generously spiced foods you’ll feel fuller faster.

One of the most helpful of spices is cinnamon. It’s tasty and can help enhance the sweetening powers of sugar and honey. And, as it turns out, cinnamon can also help lower blood sugar too!

While there are dozens of types of cinnamon, the most readily available are Ceylon cinnamon (also known as “true” cinnamon), which is valued for its gentle sweet taste and Cassia (Chinese) cinnamon which has a spicier, stronger and more intense flavor. You can tell the difference between the two forms by their appearance; Cassia cinnamon is dark/reddish brown with a thick hard texture while the Ceylon type is light tan and tends to be thin and brittle.

No matter what form of cinnamon you chose to use, all have therapeutic properties. According to the Mayo Clinic, a 2012 review of scientific research found that using cinnamon had a “potentially beneficial effect” for sugar control. And another study from 2009 found that a 500 mg capsule of cinnamon taken twice a day for 90 days improved sugar levels, as measured by hemoglobin A1C levels, in people with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Richard Anderson of the Human Nutrition Research Center, a division of the US Department of Agriculture, says that cinnamon contains a nutritional compound called MHCP which makes fat cells more sensitive to insulin, thus improving the body’s sugar handling capacity. In addition, cinnamon can slow down stomach emptying time reducing dramatic changes in blood sugar, which can again improve the effectiveness of insulin.

And that’s not the only health benefits cinnamon can provide. Cinnamon is packed with anti-oxidant compounds that slow down the aging process. It may act as an anti-inflammatory reducing the pain and stiffness associated with arthritis. For those prone to sticky prone-to-clot blood, cinnamon contains a natural blood thinner called “coumarin”, which can help improve blood flow and circulation. For those on anti-coagulant medication who want to avoid coumarin’s blood thinning effects, best to lay off the Cassia cinnamon, which contains lots more of the clot busting phyto-nutrient than the less popular Ceylon version.

If you’re a diabetic or don’t want to be one, try adding ½ a teaspoonful to your breakfast and or dinner time dessert and see what happens. It can be especially tasty on savory veggies like onions and shallots.

The Revolt of the Chapulines

MCFARLAND, CA (5/21/16) -- Farm workers at lunchtime during a union organizing campaign by the United Farm Workers, at Klein Management Company. Workers at the company pick blueberries. After the company cut their wages, workers stopped work, and then voted for the union in an election supervised by California's Agricultural Labor Relations Board. Most workers are indigenous Mixtec and Zapotec migrants from Oaxaca, Mexico. Copyright David Bacon

by David Bacon

Chapulines are small insects, like grasshoppers.  When they’re toasted with lime and garlic, they’re a delicacy that’s as much a part of Oaxacan indigenous culture as mezcal or big tlayuda tortillas.  

One worker standing in line in the edge of a San Joaquin Valley blueberry field laughed at the name.  “We’re very humble, like chapulines, and there are a lot of us, like we’re all piled up together on a plate.”  Another reason he liked the similarity was the color – a plate of chapulines is reddish brown.  Pointing down the line of workers, he gestured: “Look at all the tee-shirts.”

Hundreds of workers had lined up in two long rows in the pre-dawn darkness, ready to vote in a union election last Saturday morning.  So many were wearing red tee-shirts emblazoned with the black eagle of the United Farm Workers that the few people without them stood out conspicuously.

As the sun came up, the lines slowly moved toward the ballot boxes, and workers began to vote.  

By 11 a.m. it was over.  Blueberry pickers in their red t-shirts poured out of the rows of bushes, and then gathered in a semicircle to watch an agent of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board make the count.

As he announced it, 347 to 68 in favor of the union, the cheering started.

The chapulines had won.

Workers may make jokes about their indigenous identity, but a far less pleasant reality led to their decision to organize a union.  
“The majority of the people here are from Oaxaca – Mixtecos and Zapotecos,” explains Paulino Morelos, who comes from Putla.  Like many of the 165,000 indigenous Mexican migrants in California fields, a large proportion don’t speak Spanish well.

“The foreman humiliates them,” he says.  “He makes fun of them and says they work like turtles.  Even if someone is slow, we’re working on piece rate, not by the hour, so you only get paid for the work you do. But he’s always pushing them to work faster.  Carmela, another foreman, says Oaxacos are no good.”  “Oaxaco” and “Oaxaquito” are derogatory terms for indigenous people from Oaxaca, which Morelos says he hears a lot.

Conflict about the piece rate led to a workers’ rebellion.  At the beginning of the blueberry picking season in April, the company was paying pickers 95¢ per pound.  By mid-May, the price had dropped to 70¢, and then 65¢.  Finally, on Monday, May 16, the company announced it was dropping it again, to 60¢.  Workers refused to go in to pick, and called on the company to change its decision.

The farm’s owner, the Klein Management Company, produces clamshell boxes of blueberries sold under the Gourmet Trading Company label.  Like most large California growers, it does not employ workers directly.  Instead, it uses a labor contractor, Rigoberto Solorio.

In a dramatic confrontation filmed by workers on their cellphones, Solorio told a crowd at the edge of the field, “What I can say is this, boys.  We cannot raise the price.  We gave the price we could.  We’re not going to raise it.  If you want to stay, stay.”  He was then interrupted by shouts of “Vámonos!” – “Let’s go!”  

In another crew, Morelos says, “Carmela told us, ‘If you don’t want to work, get out.’  I saw cars leaving the field, so I told her, ‘We’re leaving too.’ One foreman said, ‘You can take the people out, but don’t come back.’  We left anyway.”
The strike was on.
Strikers went to the local UFW office, and the following morning, union organizers met with the workers as they all gathered at the edge of the field.  A group then went to the offices of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, which administers California’s farm labor law.  They asked for a union representation election within 48 hours, which the law provides during strikes.  

Due to lack we were not able to publish the complete story. To read please the rest, please visit: http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-revolt-of-chapulines.html.

How to avoid WWIII while celebrating the victory in WWII

by Edward Lozansky
Russia Insider

As Russia and the United States celebrate the 71st anniversary of their joint victory in the WWII or how they call it in Russia “The Great Patriotic War” the relations between the former allies have deteriorated to a very dangerous level.

One U.S. official after another, including President Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, call Russia the greatest security threat to America. NATO’s new supreme allied commander Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti has said the Western alliance must stand up to Russia and give Ukraine weapons to defend itself.

Words are followed by deeds when American guided missile destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, began a series of maneuvers, including landings by Polish helicopters less than 50 miles from a Russian military base forcing Russians to respond by sending fighter jets to buzz the ship. There were other similar incidents in the recent days so one can expect at any moment a military clash which may lead to the unpredictable consequences, including the unthinkable WWIII.

To show “toughness” Washington announced a quadrupling of annual spending for American forces in Eastern Europe and moving 4,000 NATO troops, including two U.S. battalions to Poland and Baltic States, right on the Russian border. Angela Merkel is also dutifully providing one battalion which will be stationed within 100 miles from the city of St. Petersburg, apparently to remind the Russians about 872-days siege of this city by the Nazis. It was one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history which resulted in over 1.5 million Russian deaths mainly due to starvation.

At this time we do not hear too often the Russians raising their grievances with the Germans about their atrocities as many see this as a thing of the past. Until recently the trade between Russia and Germany was flourishing and even now despite the sanctions it is still doing reasonably well. However, observing German military in the vicinity of St. Petersburg may revive the worst memories of Russian people. The big question is who will benefit from this stupidity?

According to Washington and Brussels all this is done, of course, to protect the Poles and Balts from the almost imminent Russian invasion.

Speaking about paranoia one probably should be more afraid of a volcano eruption on the Neptune planet because whatever you think of Putin he is not a madman to start a war with NATO. He is well aware that the Northern alliance is a lot more powerful economically and militarily and in case of nuclear war there will be a total annihilation of the civilization as we know it. Besides, ironically, it was not NATO but Russia that liberated East European and many other captive nations from the communist yoke back in 1991. The smart Western policy at that time would have been to encourage all these countries to maintain and even expand their trade and economic cooperation with Russia as the best guarantee for their security and prosperity. However, those who were in charge of U.S. foreign policy, and first of all Bill Clinton, had a different strategic vision.

It was Clinton who started NATO’s “Drang nach Osten” which the legendary diplomat George Kennan called a “strategic blunder of potentially epic proportions.” Another great American visionary New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan called it a “road to some future nuclear war.”

George W. Bush followed in Clinton’s fatal steps by continuing NATO expansion and re-casting it within a democracy promotion crusade while Barack Obama continued the list of U.S. foreign policy disasters in Libya, Syria, and Ukraine which has brought not only the chaos and devastation in these countries but the current dangerous crisis with Russia as well.

Regrettably, from the initial list of over 20 presidential candidates, both Republicans and Democrats, only Donald Trump has the guts to tell us the obvious truth that ever since the handover of power from Ronald Reagan “Our foreign policy began to make less and less sense. Logic was replaced with foolishness and arrogance, which ended in one foreign policy disaster after another.”

The results are there for all to see: lives lost, treasure spent and chaos spreading across large swathes of the Middle East and south-east Europe. The direct consequence is that America and our allies are less secure today than we were even during the Soviet times.

As we celebrate the days of our joint victory in WWII, it is also the time for reflection and for calmly analyzing what went wrong and what must be done in the future because we have to find the new approach to international affairs that can save us from needless confrontation and risk of nuclear war, which is where we find ourselves today.
Media corruption is no joke, everyone needs to help if we are to have any hope of real change. (Edward Lozansky is President of the American University in Moscow).

Over 20 oil companies register for auction Mexican oil

by the El Reportero’s wire services

For the auction of 10 blocks in waters of the Gulf of Mexico 21 oil companies have registered to participate, among them Spanish Repsol, Norwegian Statoil and French Total, together with Mexican Pemex, it was known today.

British BP, Anglo-Dutch Shell, Chevron and Exxon Mobil, both of the United States have also registered.

These four international megacorporations, which in the past made up the influential group known as The Seven Sisters, and for decades were owners of the Mexican crude, attempt to recover the exploitation of oil fields, says daily La Jornada.

Through the license contract, the National Commission of Hydrocarbons (CNH) allows winner companies to exploit oil deposits.
Up to 1938, before nationalization of the oil industry, decreed by president Lazaro Cardenas, seven foreign companies -five of the U.S. and two British- were owners of Mexican oil.

As it transcended, the seven transnationals were baptized by Enrico Mattei, considered father of the Italian energy industry, as the Seven Sisters.

The opening date for presentation of proposals for handing concessions on exploitation of a máximum period of 50 years of the 10 auctioned blocks, located in deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, will be set on December 5, 2016.

Copa America Centenario trophy arrives in Mexico City

The Copa America Centenario trophy that will be won by the winner of this year edition arrived in Mexico City,Mexico today.
Made of silver and covered in gold 24 karats, is being shown at Plaza Antara in this capital, and fans will be allowed to take pictures besides the trophy.

With 61 centimeters and 7.1 kilos, the trophy has already visit Brasil, Argentina and Paraguay.

From México it will go to San Antonio, Texas where it will remain until the closing day.

La Copa América tournament will take place in United States of America from June 5th,having the Chilean team as defender of the title and will have the participation of 16 national teams from the Americas.

Let’s go celebrate Carnival SF 2016!

by the El Reportero’s wire services

The Mission District will sizzle with the sights and sounds of samba, salsa, soca, cumbia and more when the 38th Annual Carnaval San Francisco makes its way through the neighborhood, showcasing the very best of Latin American and Caribbean cultures over Memorial Day Weekend, May 28 and 29.

Themed “¡Viva La Madre Tierra! /Long Live Mother Earth,” Carnaval San Francisco’s two-day festival and grand parade offers a dazzling array of food, music, dance and artistry from Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, El Salvador, Jamaica, Mexico, New Orleans, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and more. Works created by the talented community of Mission District residents and Bay Area artists are also showcased.

Headlining entertainment this year includes performances by Venezuela’s Grammy Award-nominated “Lion of Salsa” Oscar D ’Leon, Los Rakas and Gondwana. A complete lineup of performances can be found at http://www.carnavalsanfrancisco.orgwww.carnavalsanfrancisco.org. Located on Harrison Street between 16th and 24th Streets, the Festival will feature a rich assortment of food, music, dance, arts, crafts and other fun activities and entertainment on several stages for people of all ages to enjoy.

The Grand Parade on Sunday, May 29, begins at 9:30 a.m. and will be led by American Labor Leader and Civil Rights Activist, Dolores Huerta. Following Huerta will be Carnaval San Francisco’s 2016 King and Queen, and a brilliant procession of contingents, most of which will feature beautifully adorned floats depicting rich multicultural themes and featuring performers who engage and entertain the crowds. Brazilian-style “escola” samba schools with up to 300 members dance through the streets in fantastic feathered headdresses or sweeping Bahia skirts, while Caribbean contingents perform the music and dance of the Bahamas, Colombia, Cuba, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Peru, Puerto Rico and Trinidad.

Other parade groups include Mexican Aztec Dance performers, traditional African drummers, Polynesian dancers, Japanese drummers, giant puppets and folkloric groups representing Guatemala, Honduras and Bolivia. The Grand Parade will start at the corner of 24th and Bryant Streets where it will proceed west to Mission Street. From there, the parade heads north on Mission down to 17th Street, where it will turn east to South Van Ness.

Event organizers chose this year’s theme, “¡Viva La Madre Tierra! Long Live Mother Earth!” to draw awareness to environmental problems that are challenging our health, climate and overall survival.

“Over the past decades the loss of love and reverence for mother earth has destroyed and polluted her and therefore ourselves,” said Carnaval San Francisco’s Artistic Director, Roberto Hernández. “Only by changing the destructive ways that we treat our planet can we restore and heal her back to the beautiful and divine entity that she is. As a species we need to draw awareness to the damage we have created and rally to protect our most precious resource. Viva La Madre Tierra!”
The Carnaval San Francisco Festival will be held Saturday and Sunday, May 28 and 29 from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Grand parade start at 9:30 a.m.

Admission to the festival and parade is FREE. Grandstand seating for the parade, located on Mission Street between 21st and 22nd Streets, is available for purchase online. To purchase tickets or for more information, please visit http://www.carnavalsanfrancisco.orgwww.carnavalsanfrancisco.org.

1...248249250...602Page 249 of 602

SELECTIONS

POPULAR TICKETS

POPULAR CATEGORY

ABOUT US

Welcome to our Marvin J. Ramirez website! We are an innovative newspaper located in the heart of San Francisco. With a relentless passion for telling powerful stories, we inform our community with truthful news, insightful analysis, and compelling reporting.

Contacto: lreportero@aol.com

FOLLOW US

© Copyright 2023. Agenciadigital.pw. All rights reserved.