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Former diplomat: Netanyahu leading Israel ‘into the abyss’ to draw the US into full-scale war

Benjamin Netanyahu

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:

The content of this article is solely the opinion of its author, and does not reflect the view and opinion of the editor or El Reportero. It is published to promote diversity of ideas and opinions and for entertainment.

In an interview with Judge Andrew Napolitano, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Chas Freeman explains how Israeli, British, and European governments are trying to draw the U.S. into full-scale wars in the Middle East and Ukraine

by Frank Wright

In an interview with Judge Andrew Napolitano, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Chas Freeman explains how Israeli, British, and European governments each are trying to escalate the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine – to draw the U.S. into full-scale wars.

In a patient examination of the “worst nuclear crisis since 1962,” Freeman moves in his August 22 appearance from detailing the brinkmanship of British-led escalation in Ukraine to the question of whether the world “can tolerate the aggression of the state of Israel.”

Freeman adds that not only is the state of Israel facing self-destruction – but it is being led “into the abyss” by Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Netanyahu and the other yahoos around him have led Israel into the abyss – and they don’t have a plan to get out,” he says.

Freeman, the one-time U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, frames the mounting crisis in foreign affairs with an examination of both theaters of potential world war in the Middle East and in Ukraine.

“Pushed far enough against the wall, the Russians will counter-escalate to the nuclear level,” says Freeman, noting the dangers created by the “clearly British-led” attempt to escalate the war against Russia.

Freeman calmly explains the apocalyptic risk of this strategy of escalation, pursued by the U.K. and Europeans in Ukraine and of the Netanyahu regime in Israel – both of whose aim is to secure U.S. involvement in a full-scale war their actions are designed to ignite.

“There are ample reports of the presence of troops from various NATO countries, including the United States,” in the recent offensive into the Russian region of Kursk, says Freeman. Therefore, he says, “we can’t simply dismiss the Russian assertion that this is a NATO invasion, and not merely Ukrainian.”

Freeman says the U.S. and its allies “have become a belligerent” as a result – which is an act of open war on Russia by the West.

Freeman says this reckless move towards full-scale war was not undertaken on the orders of the U.S.

“I don’t think [Ukraine] had the authority to do that from the Pentagon,” he says. “This is where the alleged British involvement in planning and launching this incursion comes in.”

Freeman says the reason for this action is to ensnare the U.S. in a wider war.

“If the British actually did that, then their purpose must have been to manipulate the United States into our own escalation to follow them.”

Moving to Israel, Freeman bluntly asks how long the world can tolerate such a criminal and “sociopathic” state, which he says is basically anti-Christian in nature.

“Israel [has] become the negation of the humane values that inspired our Christian religion,” Freeman continued. “And it is basically sociopathic.”

He applies this diagnosis to the Israeli leader.

“Mr. Netanyahu – personally, I think – is a sociopath. A lot of Israelis have criticized him essentially for that.”

Citing the observations of retired British diplomat Alastair Crooke, another regular guest on Napolitano’s show, Freeman says of Netanyahu, “Unfortunately he fits into the larger context that Alastair Crooke outlined: How can a society long survive that supports man-rape in prisons as a legitimate tool?”

Freeman is referring to the videotaped incident of a group of Israeli soldiers sodomizing a detained Palestinian with what appears to be a metal rod. The incident was discussed in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, whose members agreed that any such measures were “legitimate” means of treatment of its prisoners, all of whom it labels as terrorists.

The former diplomat notes how Israel’s insistence that “we accept [and] endorse their right to exist” is actually “coded language for, ‘No one else has the right to exist between the River and the Sea,’ and therefore there can be no Palestinian self-determination.”

“I think … people are asking can we tolerate a society like this that is so sadistic, so murderous, so indifferent to international law and human decency,” he says, concluding that “much of the world is prepared to say no.”

Freeman, whose career was ended in 2009 after a campaign against him by the powerful Israel lobby in the United States, gives a view that is obvious to anyone outside the Western media propaganda bubble.

For “complex reasons,” he says that in “the United States we remain devoted to Israel” and that “there are some European countries that remain devoted to it – but elsewhere Israel is regarded as not just as a pariah but as a criminal.”

Freeman’s patient explanation of the crises in Israel and Ukraine is brief, carefully reasoned and comprehensive. The explanatory power of Freeman’s view makes this presentation one of the most powerful statements on foreign affairs seen in recent times.

This is a view wholly absent from the mainstream media, which even the editor of the Wall Street Journal admits has “gaslit” the American people for years “all in the name of ‘democracy.’”

Freeman’s diplomatic take on the bipolar disorder of the Globalist-Zionist regime is simply a statement of fact to millions of people who fear the replacement of their everyday lives with a state of emergency that is rapidly deteriorating.

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AMLO says Mexico’s relationship with US and Canadian embassies ‘on pause’

by Mexico News Daily

The Mexican government’s relationship with the United States Embassy in Mexico is “on pause,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Tuesday, five days after U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar voiced concerns about his proposed judicial reform.

López Obrador also told reporters at his morning press conference that the government was pausing ties with the Canadian Embassy in light of the Canadian ambassador’s remarks about the same proposal.

“How are we going to allow [Salazar] to opine that what we’re doing is wrong,” he said.

“We’re not going to tell him to leave the country, we’re not doing that, but we do have to read the constitution, which is like reading him the riot act,” López Obrador said.

He said that the government’s relationship with Salazar is “good, but on pause,” explaining that the suspension began immediately after the ambassador spoke out against his judicial reform proposal, which could be passed by Congress as soon as next month.

López Obrador — who would like to see the proposal passed before he leaves office on Oct. 1 — also said that Mexico’s relationship with the U.S. Embassy in Mexico is on pause, but the broader bilateral relation “continues.”

Nevertheless, he made it clear that he believes that Salazar was speaking on behalf of the U.S. government, not just himself, when he released his statement on the judicial reform last Thursday. López Obrador also asserted that the United States and Canada acted in concert.

In his statement last Thursday, Salazar said he believed that the “popular direct election of judges is a major risk to the functioning of Mexico’s democracy.”

“… I also think the debate over the direct election of judges … as well as the fierce politics if the elections for judges in 2025 and 2027 were to be approved, will threaten the historic trade relationship we have built, which relies on investors’ confidence in Mexico’s legal framework,” the ambassador added.

“Direct elections would also make it easier for cartels and other bad actors to take advantage of politically motivated and inexperienced judges,” Salazar said.

For his part Canadian Ambassador Graeme Clarke said in an interview published late last week that Canadian investors were concerned about the judicial reform proposal.

López Obrador announced last Friday that the government was sending diplomatic notes to both the United States and Canada in light of the ambassadors’ remarks.

Salazar subsequently said that “the concerns” he expressed about the direct election of judges were made in the “spirit of collaboration.”

He also said he was willing to engage in dialogue with Mexico’s leaders.

On Monday, López Obrador said that he and the U.S. ambassador — a semi-regular visitor to the National Palace — were going to give each other some “time” before reconvening.

The president claimed that the government of Canada acted in an “embarrassing” way by joining the United States’ protest against the judicial reform proposal.

“It looks like an associate state, [they acted] together,” he said.

“They wanted to interfere in matters that only correspond to Mexicans,” López Obrador added.

He said that the pause in the relationships with both the United States and Canadian embassies would continue until representatives of the two countries learned to respect the sovereignty of Mexico — which Salazar has stressed he does, including in an X post early Tuesday afternoon.

“We’re not going to give them advice nor say that this is good or this is bad,” López Obrador said, even though he has been critical of the U.S. government and Congress for not approving greater funding for regional development programs that could help reduce migration, and of the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

“We want them to be respectful — for there to be a reciprocal relationship with regard for respect for sovereignty,” the president said.

Opponents of the judicial reform proposal say that the direct election of judges from candidates nominated by the sitting president, the Congress and the judiciary itself threatens the independence of Mexico’s justice system. Judicial elections, in some cases, would coincide with political elections, a situation that critics believe could lead to politicization of the judiciary.

If the proposal is approved, all 11 justices of the Supreme Court — which has handed down rulings against the current government’s policies and projects — could be replaced next year.

If a majority of justices sympathetic to the agenda of incoming president Claudia Sheinbaum are elected to the Supreme Court, Sheinbaum’s capacity to enact — and maintain — policies that face legal challenges could be enhanced.

Approval of the judicial reform proposal is likely given that the ruling Morena party and its allies will have a supermajority in the lower house of Congress and a strong majority in the Senate.

The last straw?

Beyond Salazar’s statement about the proposed judicial reform, López Obrador has been irked by the United States’ funding of organizations he regards as opponents of his government.

Earlier this month, he once again railed against the United States government’s funding — via the U.S. Embassy in Mexico — of Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, an anti-graft group that has exposed alleged corruption in his administration.

“It’s outrageous … that a government that is a friend, a neighbor, is financing a group that opposes a legal, legitimate government. What’s that called? Interventionism,” López Obrador said Aug. 14 after announcing that he would send a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden to complain about the issue.

In light of Salazar’s remarks, the president reiterated that the federal government doesn’t accept “interference” in Mexico’s internal affairs.

“We don’t accept any representative of foreign governments intervening in matters that are solely up to us to resolve,” he said.

The Mexican government has also been less than satisfied with the information the U.S. government has provided about the arrests of alleged Sinaloa Cartel leaders Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López in New Mexico last month.

The Federal Attorney General’s Office said earlier this month that the United States Department of Justice had not provided a range of information it requested about the case.

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More California schools are banning smartphones, but kids keep bringing them

Schools that banned phones a few years ago have advice for other districts as the governor calls for a crackdown

by Carolyn Jones and Khari Johnson

CalMatters

Schools that banned phones a few years ago have advice for other districts as the governor calls for a crackdown

At Bullard High School in Fresno, it’s easy to see the benefits of banning students’ cellphones. Bullying is down and socialization is up, principal Armen Torigian said.

Enforcing the smartphone restrictions? That’s been harder.

Instead of putting their devices in magnetically locked pouches, like they’re supposed to, some kids will stick something else in there instead, like a disused old phone, a calculator, a glue bottle or just the phone case. Others attack the pouch, pulling at stitches, cutting the bottom, or defacing it so it looks closed when it’s really open. Most students comply, but those who don’t create disproportionate chaos.

“You should see how bad it is,” Torigian said. “It’s great to say no phones, but I don’t think people realize the addiction of the phones and what students will go to to tell you ‘No, you’re not taking my phone.’”

Bullard, which began restricting phones two years ago, is a step ahead of other schools around the state that have moved recently to prohibit cellphones in classrooms. Bullard and other pioneering schools offer a preview of how such bans might play out as they become more common. Educators who have enacted the smartphone restrictions said they help bolster student participation and reduce bullying but also raise challenges, like how to effectively keep phones locked up against determined students and how to identify and treat kids truly addicted to their devices.

Citing Bullard as an example, Gov. Gavin Newsom last week urged school districts statewide to “act now” and adopt similar restrictions on smartphone use, reminding them that a 2019 law gives them the authority to do so. Los Angeles Unified, the nation’s second-largest school district, recently approved plans to ban phones in January. One bill before the state Legislature would impose similar limits statewide while another would ban the use of social media at school. Another would prevent social media companies from sending notifications during school hours as part of a broader set of regulations intended to disrupt social media addiction.

Calls to limit how students use smartphones are driven in part by concerned educators. A Pew Research Center survey released in June found that 1 in 3 middle school teachers and nearly 3 in 4 high school teachers call smartphones a major problem. During school hours in a single day, the average student receives 60 notifications and spends 43 minutes — roughly the length of a classroom period — on their phone, according to a 2023 study by Common Sense Media.

There is growing pressure to protect young people from excessive screen time generally:

  • In June, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy urged Congress to require social media companies to place warning labels on their content in order to protect young people
  • Attorneys general from 45 U.S. states filed lawsuits against Meta for failing to protect children
  • Released in March, the popular book The Anxious Generation correlates declining mental health among young people with smartphone adoption and encourages parents to demand school districts ban smartphones until high school

The moves to limit smartphone use in California put it near the forefront of an increasingly national trend. In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul has reportedly been mulling a statewide school smartphone ban for several months now.  Florida, Ohio, and Indiana have all imposed some degree of statewide restrictions on phones in schools, and several other states have introduced similar legislation. Education Week in June said 11 states either restrict or encourage school districts to restrict student phone use.

In San Bernardino, ban leads to higher teacher satisfaction

Teachers have had classroom phone policies for years; what’s new at schools like Bullard are that their bans are blanket, campus-wide restrictions. Many of the schools that moved early to adopt such bans are smaller and charter schools, like Soar Academy, a TK-8 charter school with 430 mostly low-income students in San Bernardino. Like Bullard, it also found enforcement of its ban was tough. Suspending students wasn’t an option. Neither was yanking phones from students’ hands. That left an honor system, which relied on students’ willingness to accept that smartphones and social media are harmful to their mental health and a distraction from learning.

“The key was that we needed 100 percent buy-in from teachers. There couldn’t be a weak link,” said Soar principal Trisha Lancaster. “It was scary, because we weren’t sure it was going to work. But we were determined to try.”

Lancaster said it also helped not to give parents or students a choice in the matter. The school simply presented the new policy, alongside ample research on the harmful effects of cellphones and social media on young people, and made it clear what the punishments would be.

For the first violation, staff would keep a student’s phone for the day and call their parents. Punishments would escalate until the sixth offense, when a student would have to meet with the school board, whose members might suggest the student enroll elsewhere.

At Soar, the idea originated at the end of the 2022-23 school year, when teachers said they were fed up with distracted students and an overall dispiriting school climate. Students, Lancaster said, “had lost their social skills.”

So the staff decided to ban phones during class, at recess, at lunch and after school — essentially, all times except when in a special area where parents or others can pick them up from school. Students must keep phones off and in backpacks when they are not permitted.

The first year of the ban went smoother than expected, Lancaster said. Some students and parents protested, but most understood the policy was in students’ best interests. Test scores didn’t budge much, but at the end of the school year, a survey of teachers showed much higher job satisfaction than they recorded previously. And walking across campus, the improvements are obvious, Lancaster said.

“Everyone on campus is so much happier. You see kids actually socializing, problem solving, enjoying themselves,” Lancaster said, choking up as she described the school atmosphere. “It’s true, it’s one more thing to enforce. But education matters, and now kids are learning. That’s the No. 1 reason we did this.”

Bans from San Mateo to San Diego

Soar’s experience has been mirrored on a larger scale in the San Mateo-Foster City School District, which serves 10,000 students at 21 TK-8 schools south of San Francisco. After a full-time return to campus in 2022, teachers in the district found many students were “interacting intensely with cellphones in a way we didn’t see before the pandemic,” said superintendent Diego Ochoa, and so the school district adopted a smartphone ban for four middle schools in 2022.

Administrators were convinced to do so following a trip to a nearby high school with a smartphone ban. There, they saw students speaking to each other and looking at one another during break time instead of their phones.

Ochoa said the benefits of locking smartphones away is evident from improved test scores and an anonymous annual student survey that found a decline in depression, bullying, and fights in the 2023-24 school year relative to prior years. But saying the smartphone ban led to those benefits is tricky because they could have also been caused by other policy changes that happened at the same time, including a ”restorative” approach to discipline that relied less on detention and suspension and more on support from counselors. Still, when students were surveyed specifically about the policy and the biggest difference in their education since it was put into place, they said that they pay more attention in class.

Ron Dyste also implemented a smartphone ban and, like Ochoa, recommends them. Dyste is principal at Urban Discovery Academy, a TK-12 charter school in San Diego, which banned cellphones during the 2023-24 academic year amid an uptick in bullying, harassment and anxiety among students, staff told CalMatters. Nearly 90 percent of discipline cases, across Urban Discovery Academy and a school where he worked previously, could be traced to misuse of phones or social media, including students filming fights, spreading nude photos of classmates and encouraging students to kill themselves.

“I may never get some of those images out of my head. It’s horrible, what kids can do to each other,” Dyste said. “The damage to our kids and our communities is real.”

Dyste got the idea to ban phones when he and his wife went to a Dave Chapelle performance where audience members were required to secure their phones in locked pouches.

“My wife said, why don’t we do this in schools?” he said. “We knew we had to do something.”

Over last summer, the school sent out notices to families about the new policy, explaining the rationale. Some students complained, but parents were thrilled, Dyste said. And the improvements in campus climate were almost immediate.

Instead of “hiding away with their screens,” said Jenni Owen, the school’s chief operations officer, students spent their breaks talking, dancing, playing volleyball, and having fun. They developed empathy and a sense of community, she said.

At the end of the academic year, the school logged zero fights. The previous year, the school’s suspension rate was 13.5 percent, almost four times the state average.

“For schools that are wondering if they should take this on, I think the answer is, we have to,” Dyste said. “If we don’t educate kids on how and when to use this technology, we’re going to continue seeing a rise in suicide, sexual harassment, and anxiety.”

State legislators have recognized the importance of healthier technology use among children. California students are supposed to learn about “appropriate, responsible, and healthy behavior… related to current technology” under a media literacy law passed in October.

To pouch or not to pouch

To enforce smartphone bans, some schools rely on smartphone lockers or locked pouches like the kind Dyste saw in use at the Dave Chappelle show.

He tried using locked pouches from the Los Angeles-based company Yondr but encountered numerous issues. Some kids were breaking and smashing the pouches to open them, or they’d listen to music all day by connecting their earbuds to their locked-away phones using Bluetooth.

“We had to return what was left of the equipment,” he said. Instead of going with Yondr, which wanted $6,000 to cover 110 kids, Dyste found clear, plastic phone lockers on Amazon that cost $50 each and put one in each classroom.

Yondr told CalMatters: “Our pouches are designed to withstand heavy-duty usage, and we are continuously working to improve the durability of our solution. However, there will always be students who try to push boundaries, especially when policies are initially rolled out. For this reason, it is critical that our team works directly with districts and administrators in rolling out the Yondr Program, to ensure that the most effective policies and procedures are implemented for successful school-wide adoption. Without adherence to strong policies, schools may struggle with student compliance.”

Soar Academy also considered purchasing Yondr phone pouches but was discouraged by the $19,000 price tag.

The San Mateo-Foster City School District paid $50,000 to obtain Yondr pouches for roughly 3,000 students. To use them, staff hand out pouches at school entryways each morning, then students swab the pouch over a demagnetizer to unlock the pouch at the end of the day. Kids who want an exception to the rule — for a family emergency for example — must come to the school front office and ask for permission.

Yondr pouches come with a hefty price tag, Ochoa said, but he thinks it’s worth it to improve student focus.

“Call up five random superintendents, I don’t care where they’re at and ask them, how much would you spend to have your students pay more attention? It’s worth millions,” he said.

Mixed feelings among students

Whether phones get locked in a clear box or a silver pouch, Oakland High School senior Leah West said she finds it punitive to require students to lock their phones away before they have broken any rules with the devices. While Oakland High School does not have a blanket smartphone ban, her former English teacher sometimes locked student phones in Yondr pouches.

“We should be given a chance to prove ourselves,” she said, adding that such an approach can motivate a rebellious streak in students like her who like freedom and don’t like when she isn’t trusted to make a responsible decision.

Louisa Perry-Picciotto, who graduated from high school in Alameda in June, said students with jobs rely on their phones for work updates and all teens use their phones to communicate with their friends.

Still, she’s grateful her parents didn’t get her a smartphone until she was in eighth grade.

“I get distracted easily, and without a phone I was a lot more connected to the world,” she said.

Edamevoh Ajayi, who is a junior at Oakland Technical High School, said there’s no question some students don’t pay attention in class because they’re busy texting or playing games. Those students would definitely benefit from rules surrounding cellphone use like the kind being implemented at her school this year.

But she feels like she has a strong sense of self-control and a desire to learn, and doesn’t need a phone ban.

“When they take away my belongings, I feel like I’m being treated like a child,” she said. At her school, policies vary by classroom. In general, students are free to use their phones between classes and at lunch.

When students use their phones in class it can be frustrating for everyone else, said Fremont High School science teacher Chris Jackson. It puts teachers in a tough position: Either ignore that student and carry on for the sake of the students who are listening or disrupt learning for all students and confront them.

In the long run, Jackson said he’s worried that Black and brown students, who have historically faced higher rates of punishment than other students, will again bear the brunt of  disciplinary actions related to smartphone bans. Rather than punishment, Jackson would prefer to see solutions that  address root issues like addiction that lead students to use their devices in violation of the rules. So no matter what policy school districts adopt, he wants the focus to remain on teaching students digital literacy and how social media can be a risk to their health.

Course corrections

Some schools who helped pioneer smartphone bans have reassessed their initial approach.

This year, Bullard is changing its policy to allow students to access their smartphones at lunch time. Torigian said school administrators wanted to make room for important communications, for example by allowing students who pick up younger siblings to text with their parents.  They also hoped the looser rules would encourage more students to comply with the ban.

If kids don’t comply, teachers call parents, and if they still refuse they’re sent to what the school calls the re-engagement center. Starting last month, California began prohibiting suspensions for “willful defiance.” Torigian believes that schools need an exemption from the policy in order to enforce smartphone restrictions. He wants it back because he said he needs a way to hold kids accountable.

“That’s why the governor’s got to give us some leeway on this willful defiance; you can’t do one [smartphone restrictions] without the other.”

Ochoa said if he had to do it over again in San Mateo-Foster City he would devote more time to explaining to students why they adopted such a policy before putting it into place. Getting a smartphone is a big deal for middle school students, a milestone for adolescents that represents more freedom and autonomy, and it’s counterproductive for the school environment if they feel punished or something they value is taken away with little explanation.

“Our teenagers told us, ‘you forgot to explain why we’re doing this,’” he said, adding that even if a small percentage of kids violate the policy it can be really harmful academically and to school culture. “Even with your conviction to implement a policy like this, spend the time developing the language around the policy and explaining it to your students.”

Common Sense Media CEO Jim Steyer, whose nonprofit is focused on how children use media and technology, agreed that it works best to explain to kids why a rule to limit smartphone access at school is necessary. Parents and teachers need the same explanation so that they can help enforce some restrictions in order to keep kids safe and healthy.

“Any even remotely engaged parent is going to want their kid to do well in school, and is going to want them to understand why phones and social media platforms get in the way of learning and can be really distracting and can affect your mental health,” he said.

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Which savings strategy works for you?

Mid adult female bank employee discusses a mobile banking app's features with a mature female client.

Sponsored by JPMorganChase

Getting in the habit of saving money is important, as it helps lead to creating a financial cushion to cover future expenses. Saving is not easy, especially when everyday products are at an all-time high given recent years’ rising inflation and simply suggesting cutting back on small indulgences can be irritating.

Thankfully, there are options to help saving money become more of a habit to better equip you for life’s unexpected needs. Before determining how much to start saving, first understand money coming in and money coming out – like cost of rent, food, car or public transportation, utilities, and other direct payment expenses, such as subscriptions to various streaming services. Apps can help track these recurring expenses, making it a good time to reconsider or renegotiate them.

Once you’ve understood your monthly budget, check what’s remaining to determine a doable amount to start setting aside each month. When it comes to saving, there are various strategies, from keeping a certain amount in your bank account each week, to automating transferring money from your checking to your savings account each month. You can also save for something specific, like a vacation, home project, or a splurge you’ve had your eye on for a while. Here are a few saving account options to consider:

Standard Saving Accounts are the most common, easy to access and typically open. Savings accounts can often be accessed and managed online or through the bank’s mobile app, which can make things easier. Before choosing an account that best suits your needs, ask if there is a monthly service fee and potential ways to waive the fee.

Money Market Accounts are similar to savings accounts, but the customer receives more interest on their money, something that varies with banks. They usually require a minimum balance.

High Yield Savings Accounts are increasingly popular, often coming with higher interest rates, making them suitable for short-term savings goals. They work a lot like the typical savings account, allowing for deposits and withdrawals, but there may be transaction limits and minimum balance requirements. They are also protected up to $250,000 at FDIC insured banks.

Certificates of Deposit (CDs) are highly sought after when interest rates are favorable, but you must commit to leaving the money deposited in the CD untouched for the agreed upon term, which is usually months or years. There may be minimum deposit requirements, but they offer returns so are useful for short-term goals, such as the down payment on a house or car.

Long-Term Accounts provide an opportunity to accumulate returns over years, depending on how the markets fluctuate. These accounts are designed for a specific financial goal and have tax advantages. Consult your financial institution for long-term savings account options, some of which may include:

– 529 Plans: Saving over the years to pay for the education of a child, grandchild, or niece/nephew. Savings are tax-deferred and can only be used for the beneficiary’s education, whether for college or another educational institution.

– 401(k): Retirement savings accounts your employer offers. Contributions are usually made monthly (a percentage of the salary) via direct deposit. There are limits to how much you can contribute.

– IRA: There are various types of individual retirement Accounts (IRAs), offering another personal retirement savings option. Contributions are limited, not necessarily offered by an employer, and like the 401(k), they are only used after retirement.

Be sure to ask your bank or financial advisor whether the account you plan to open has a monthly deposit or balance minimum, or any additional requirements or fees. For more budgeting and savings tips, visit chase.com/financialgoals.

For informational/educational purposes only: Views and strategies described may not be appropriate for everyone and are not intended as specific advice/recommendation for any individual. Information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but JPMorgan Chase & Co. or its affiliates and/or subsidiaries do not warrant its completeness or accuracy.

Deposit products provided JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC

 © 2024 JPMorgan Chase & Co.

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14 health benefits of garlic, a flavorful superfood

by Joanne Washburn

11.23.2021 – Garlic is one of the most popular spices used in cuisines around the globe. It is also known for its impressive health benefits.

Here are 14 reasons to love garlic, including a few tips on how to incorporate it into your daily diet.

– Relieves cold symptoms – Garlic can relieve symptoms of the common cold pretty quickly. It can also lower your risk of catching a cold in the first place. One study found that people who took a garlic tablet every day for three months had fewer bouts of the cold than those who took a placebo.

– Lowers blood pressure – Garlic stimulates the natural production of nitric oxide in the body. Nitric oxide helps relax blood vessels for better blood flow and lower blood pressure.

– Lowers cholesterol – Garlic may also lower blood cholesterol levels by decreasing the production of cholesterol in the liver. A recent review showed that taking garlic supplements helped decrease total cholesterol and “bad” cholesterol levels – two risk factors for heart disease.

– May prevent dementia – Unstable molecules called free radicals can cause oxidative stress, which can play a huge role in dementia and diseases characterized by dementia. Dementia isn’t a specific disease but a broad term used to describe symptoms that affect memory and thinking. Fortunately, studies show that aged garlic extract has antioxidant properties that can help lower the risk of dementia.

– Aids in detoxification – Eating foods contaminated with heavy metals like lead can damage your liver, kidneys and other vital organs. Luckily, garlic has sulfur-containing compounds that can help reduce blood lead levels. They may also prevent signs of toxicity, such as headaches and high blood pressure.

– Heals wounds – Natural healers have long used garlic to treat wounds and prevent infections. For fast healing, apply a poultice made from crushed garlic cloves on your wound. Change it regularly and continue using it until your wound visibly improves.

– Maintains strong bones – Garlic helps increase estrogen, the major sex hormone in women. Estrogen plays a key role in the growth and maturation of bones.

– Improves digestion – Eating garlic every day as part of a balanced diet may help ease diarrhea, colitis, intestinal gas and other gastrointestinal issues. Garlic can also get rid of harmful bacteria in your gut.

– Regulates blood sugar – According to a study published in the Journal of Nutrition, eating raw garlic cloves may reduce blood sugar levels. As such, people with high blood sugar may greatly benefit from adding garlic to their diet.

– Boosts immunity – Garlic has antiviral properties and could block the entry of viruses into healthy cells as well as promote a strong immune response to fight off invaders.

– Maintains good vision – Garlic is rich in nutrients that support optimal eye health and good vision, such as selenium and vitamin C. Quercetin, a powerful antioxidant in garlic, also helps protect the eyes from inflammation and infection.

– May prevent acne – Garlic’s antibacterial properties come in handy for blocking the onset of acne. It is best used alongside other acne-fighting ingredients, such as raw honey and turmeric, for acne prevention. Additionally, garlic helps protect the skin from the harmful effects of the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays.

– Aids in weight loss – According to some animal studies, garlic can stimulate the body to burn more fat and “turn off” some of the genes involved in the formation of fat cells.

– May prevent fatty liver – Garlic contains a sulfur-containing compound called S-allyl-mercaptocysteine (SAMC), which helps prevent nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. It may also lower the risk of injury or damage to the liver.

How to incorporate garlic into your diet

You can eat garlic cloves raw as part of a salad or add them to your vinaigrette. You can also add garlic to stews, soups, stir-fried dishes, sauteed greens and savory sauces. Additionally, you can add the tender leaves that sprout from the garlic bulb to your noodles, dumplings, scrambled eggs, salads and stir-fried dishes.

To maximize the health benefits of garlic, always use fresh garlic cloves. Allicin, one of the powerful immune-boosting compounds in garlic, is most potent in fresh garlic cloves. Cutting a fresh clove breaks its cells and releases stored enzymes that react with oxygen to trigger the formation of allicin and other compounds.

The more enzymes are released, the more pungent the garlic will taste. Since crushing breaks the most cells, crushed garlic cloves have a stronger taste than coarsely chopped or sliced garlic cloves.

To maximize the effectiveness of garlic’s compounds, let the garlic rest for 10 minutes after chopping or slicing. Studies have shown that this resting stage, which is essential if you plan to cook the garlic, allows the compounds in garlic to fully develop.

Garlic isn’t just great for adding flavor to your favorite dishes, it’s also good for your health. Enjoy garlic’s many health benefits by incorporating it into your favorite dishes.

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Presidio Presents 45th Annual World Arts West Dance Festival

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by Magdy Zara

For three consecutive weekends, the spaces of Presidio Park will be the setting for the 45th Annual World Arts West Dance Festival, which this time has as its central theme “Dance as Activism.”

For the third time, this beautiful park has been selected to host the festival. During these days, there will be workshops and talks that illuminate the topic of dance, in addition to the presentation of the Latin groups La Mezcla or Ensemble Folklórico Colibrí.

The festival includes dialogues between artists and dance workshops at the Dance Mission Theater. Thirteen groups will participate, mainly from the Bay Area, who will share their cultural heritage through vibrant rhythms, colorful clothing, and vibrant music and dance, ranging from traditional to contemporary, from Africa, the Middle East, South Asia to the Americas and beyond. The 2024 festival theme, “Dance as Activism,” underscores the power of cultural dance to challenge social norms, preserve heritage, and inspire social change. “Dance has always been a vehicle for showcasing stories of resistance and revolution through movement,” said Dr. Anne Huang, executive director of World Arts West. “Each performance is a codified model for survival, resilience, and evolution.

The festival runs from Aug. 25 to Sept. 8 this year, culminating in a day of performances focusing on culture, wisdom, and beauty through world dance and music at Presidio Tunnel Tops on Sunday, Sept. 8 beginning at 1 p.m. The festival is completely free to attend, and is a unique opportunity to be transported around the world through music and dance.

Julio Bravo in concert with his Salsabor Orchestra

The sonero Julio Bravo, performs in concert with his Salsabor orchestra, which is considered number one in the entire Bay Area.

Julio Bravo

This Peruvian salsero arrived in the United States more than 25 years ago looking for new opportunities and formed the Salsabor orchestra with which he gradually made his way in the competitive world of music in the city of San Francisco and today became one of the most recognized orchestras in the city.

After having triumphed in the most demanding North American stages and having shared with figures of the stature of Gilberto Santa Rosa, Victor Manuelle, Ray Sepulveda, Eddie Santiago, Tito Nieves, among others, Julio Bravo performs this Thursday, Aug. 29 at Retro Junkie, located at 2112 Main St Walnut Creek, starting at 8 p.m. the cost of admission is $20.

Immigrant Orchestra Shows Off Its Talent

With 12 musicians on stage from 10 countries, the Movement Immigrant Orchestra is a musical experiment, offering 90 minutes of art.

Movement Immigrant Orchestra, founded by Ethiopian-American singer and songwriter Meklit Hadero, is a multi-platform storytelling initiative that explores the dynamic intersection of migration and music. Movement focuses on the voices, stories, and songs of immigrant, migrant, and refugee musicians, and claims a public space for these artists to sing and tell their stories with complexity and nuance.

During this performance, attendees will be able to delight in Ethiopian jazz, along with Mexican ranchera, Malian folklore intertwined with classic Indian rhythms, and much more.

The concert will be this Saturday, Aug. 31, starting at 2 p.m., on the Great Lawn, Yerba Buena Gardens, located on Mission St. between 3rd and 4th streets in San Francisco.

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Cenote of Dreams: The Art of Juana Alicia, an unmissable exhibition

by Zurellys Villegas

Renowned artist Juana Alicia brings her creative universe to the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art (SVMA) with an exhibition that promises to captivate art and culture lovers. Through paintings, drawings, prints, and an original illustrated book, the exhibition immerses us in the mind of an artist who masterfully transitions between various disciplines and visual languages.

While Alicia is widely recognized for her striking murals that adorn public spaces in San Francisco and other cities, this exhibition reveals lesser-known facets of her work. Her most recent project, “La X’tabay: El Libro de los Libros,” in collaboration with writer Tirso González Araiza, is a testament to her versatility and her ability to fuse visual art with literary narrative.

Alicia’s style is characterized by a magical and social realism that evokes the great Latin American literary movements. Her works, full of symbolism and depth, address urgent issues such as social justice, gender equality, the environmental crisis, and the fight for resistance and revolution.

A legacy of social commitment

Throughout her career, Juana Alicia has left an indelible mark on the artistic and social scene. Her murals, such as SANARTE at the San Francisco University Medical Center and MAESTRAPEACE at the San Francisco Women’s Building, are true monuments that celebrate diversity and the fight for civil rights. In addition to her work as a muralist, Alicia has collaborated on large-scale projects, such as the GEMELOS mural, created with Tirso González Araiza in Mérida, Yucatán. She also shared her knowledge at several universities, including the University of California at Davis and Santa Cruz, San Francisco State University, and Stanford University. After retiring from academia, she dedicated herself full-time to artistic practice.

The artist, who divides her time between Berkeley, California and Mérida, Yucatán, México, has dedicated much of her life to teaching. Founder and director of several educational institutions, Alicia has trained generations of young artists and has left a deep mark on the artistic community.

Juana Alicia, Chicana muralist, receives recognition and continues to create

Juana Alicia continues to leave her mark on the art world. With a career of more than four decades dedicated to teaching and artistic creation, Alicia has recently been honored with the “Legacy Artist” award granted by the State Council of California.

Originally from the United States and with a residence divided between Mérida, Yucatán, México and Berkeley, California, Alicia has dedicated much of her life to art education. After retiring as a teacher in 2016, she has fully devoted herself to the production of murals and studio works. Her works are characterized by a magical social realism, influenced by contemporary Latin American literary movements.

Throughout her career, Alicia has received numerous awards and grants, including the Fulbright García-Robles Scholarship, the Mujer de Fuego Award, and the Educational Legacy Award. Her murals, both individual and collective, adorn public spaces in Nicaragua, Mexico, Pennsylvania, and various cities in California.

An unmissable exhibition

The Juana Alicia exhibition at the SVMA is a unique opportunity to get to know the work of one of the most important artists of our time up close. The exhibition, curated by Marco Antonio Flores, will be accompanied by an opening reception on Saturday, September 21, where the public will be able to enjoy a meeting with the artist and other related activities.

The Sonoma Valley Museum of Art invites all interested parties to visit this great exhibition and immerse themselves in the creative universe of Juana Alicia.

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CA consumer groups pan bill ‘repo man’ would give rave review

by Suzanne Potter, Producer

Public News Service

Consumer groups are speaking out against legislation proposed in California which would make it easier to repossess a car or other property, by exempting “repo” agents from trespassing laws.

Assembly Bill 2120 would allow repo agents to seize vehicles parked on private property, such as a driveway.

John Van Alst, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, opposes the bill.

“We see a number of folks killed, injured every year,” Van Alst pointed out. “We see repossession agents and consumers hurt and killed, we see children still in the car when it’s repossessed.”

The California Association of Licensed Reposessors argues it is safer to seize a car from a person’s home rather than leave them stranded in public. The bill has passed the State Assembly and is now in the Suspense File, awaiting consideration by the state Senate Appropriations Committee.

Van Alst noted police may need to help mediate during lawful repossessions.

“There is a procedure in California that allows a more orderly process, called Replevin,” Van Alst explained. “You can get a court order and the assistance of law enforcement if that’s necessary.”

The bill applies only to agents registered with the Department of Consumer Affairs, who leave within a reasonable amount of time after seizing the vehicle or other property. In 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar bill, citing concerns about the potential for abuse or altercations.

Good-gov groups promote National Poll Worker Recruitment Day

Today is National Poll Worker Recruitment Day – and county elections offices across California are staffing up. The event was established by the Election Assistance Commission in 2020 to combat a shortage of poll workers.

Kim Alexander, president and founder of the California Voter Foundation, said there are a number of ways to get involved.

“If you go online to HelpAmericaVote.gov, you can find out what opportunities are available in your area and what’s expected, and also how much you will get paid if you step up to serve,” she explained.

Each county will provide any training workers might need; check your county election website for details.

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“Deadly blow to democracy”: Judges begin strike in Mexico with harsh criticism of the Government

López Obrador insisted that the ruling party’s judicial reform benefits workers

by the El Reportero‘s wire services

Hundreds of judges and magistrates in Mexico joined in the first minutes of this Wednesday the historic strike carried out by the workers of the Judicial Branch to reject the controversial reform proposed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

“Today we meet at a crucial moment for the future of our nation (…). We are at a turning point. A legislative reform promoted by the President of the Republic, and processed by a parliamentary majority, threatens to undermine the very pillars on which our rule of law is based,” accused the director of the Association of Magistrates and District Judges (Jufed), Juana Fuentes Velázquez.

The official offered a harsh speech at the start of the strike of judges and magistrates during a massive event that took place outside the Federal Judicial Council, located next to Congress, where the controversial project will be debated next week.

“This attempt to concentrate power in a single person is not only a direct affront to judicial independence, but also a mortal blow to the democracy that so many before us fought to establish and protect,” she said about an initiative that seeks to have judges, magistrates and members of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) elected through popular vote.

Fuentes Velázquez warned that, when power is concentrated in the hands of a few, “justice becomes an instrument of oppression and the rights of citizens are relegated to the whim of those who hold power.”

She also considered that the reform seeks to centralize power, puts the independence of judges and the well-being of society at risk and turns the Judicial Branch into an arm of the Executive Branch.

“Without an independent justice system, investments will be affected, confidence in our institutions will crumble, and human rights will be at the mercy of a centralized and authoritarian state machinery. We are heading towards an unprecedented institutional crisis,” he warned to the applause of the strikers.

The latest reform

The workers of the Judicial Branch began the strike in the first minutes of Monday. In the evening, the judges and magistrates voted in favor of joining the protest measure.

Thus, according to the Animal Político portal, more than 50,000 members of the Judicial Branch are already participating in the strike nationwide, from mayors, officers, administrators, secretaries of agreements and attorneys to higher court judges.

The reform is the last major legislative project of López Obrador, who will end his government on October 1. That is why he hopes that the initiative will be approved by Congress, which, starting on Sept. 1, will have an official majority, since that day the deputies and senators who were elected on June 2 will take office.

The project has generated strong resistance because it would completely modify the Judicial Branch, since it establishes that the ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, the members of the Federal Judicial Council, the magistrates of the Federal Electoral Court and the district judges will be voted for in 2025 in elections that, for the first time in history, would be open to the public.

López Obrador presented the reform at the beginning of this year and since then the tension has been increasing, since the president has denigrated the judges with frequent accusations of corruption.

“I respect their right to demonstrate, they are free,” said the president on Wednesday, again minimizing the impact that the strike may have.

“Nothing happens with their movement, it does not matter because they do not serve the population,” he insisted.

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Do politicians really represent us?

Marvin Ramírez, editor

In these hazy days where the common citizen spends his life working, consuming and resting – many watching TV or checking social networks – meanwhile the changes of command of some politicians who rule the destiny of the city, and therefore those of the population, are taking place. Their positions will be played out in the next elections on November 5th. Many are in a hurry campaigning to be the next ones in charge of politics.

And it should be noted that many become career politicians, who start at the bottom, and then when their term expires, they move on to another candidacy in another department. And little by little the political positions become exclusive clubs, where the powerful political party that houses them becomes the great sponsor. Behind this is big capital supporting the political campaigns of those who promise to be docile and faithful, who if I am not mistaken, make pacts with these ambitious politicians to represent some of their economic interests, but how? passing some friendly laws that favor them. Sometimes I think fictionally that all of this is a mafia of the cosa nostra.

And the promises of politicians to the public abound, they promise you on issues such as security, the increase in the construction of affordable housing, etc., making the prospective voter believe that things will change. But they almost always tell you this when the elections are approaching. What a thing, right?

And yes, things change, but many times for the worse: increase in the cost of living – and death, crime, alcohol and drug abuse on the streets, sale of stolen goods on the sidewalks, thefts in stores, whose crimes are no longer seriously pursued, because if the loot does not exceed a certain amount in dollars, there is no punishment.

After a devastating pandemic that caused the closure of most small businesses, except for large stores, the population was left in shock, defenseless. The government distributed money, and many freedoms were lost. Many people were left without work, locked in their houses or apartments, with their children not physically going to school. There were suicides. Over the last decade, but most recently, since the city started painting sections of streets in red – to give priority to taxis and buses – the city has unleashed an attack on cars, reducing metered spaces and turning them into red zones (where you can’t park unless you accept a fine of almost $100), including the disappearance of parking spaces on every corner.

And all without any rationale, without any explanation; and many spaces were also designated for commercial parking. And you can see that most of the day they remain empty, as prospective business patrons struggle to park.

There is a parking crisis now in SF, especially where it should benefit business owners, who are still not recovering, and patrons.

And you can see on Valencia Street what they did, there is no parking, and no one can turn left. All of this has created confusion and imbalance for both the patrons and the merchants.

In 2014, a bipartisan coalition submitted an initiative called, Restoring Transportation Balance in Francisco with the Department of Elections.

The proposal sought to:

– – Permanently ban meter control on Sundays and holidays

– – Prevent the expansion of parking meters into new areas without the approval of residents and businesses in those neighborhoods.

– – Lower parking meter fines to the amount they were 10 years ago

– – Ensure that people with disabilities have access to convenient transportation options

– – Allow the construction of new parking lots

However, the most troubling thing about these points is that none of the candidates running for supervisor or mayor now have realized the need to create more parking!

I suspect some of the reasons must be: to extort people out of their money by forcing them to do emergency parking in ‘no-go’ zones and thus stab them with the knife of the fine; and also to force the population to use rented or public transportation, and therefore wage war on private transportation.

Shame on you politicians! This is not working for your community, but for other interests.

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