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Access to Presidential Palace blocked in Honduras

by the El Reportero’s wire services

The surrounding streets to the Presidential Palace in Honduras were blocked on June 22 by security forces due to fear of protests, which by press time, seemed that more and bigger protests were coming.
Since the morning, metal barricades and National Inter-agency Security Force agents closed the passage to the Presidential Palace under the pretext of safeguarding the security in the area.
In recent weeks, after uncovering the case of corruption in the Honduran Institute for Social Security (IHSS), social sectors spoke out to demand justice for those involved and the resignation of President Juan Orlando Hernández.
As was learned, the ruling National Party is one of those involved in the diversion of funds from the IHSS.
The citizen movement leading the protests, the Indignant Opposition, announced that they would organize a strong demonstration during this Monday.

Mexico, 108 people in jail for the Ayotzinapa case
Mexico, – Nine months after the enforced disappearance of the Ayotzinapa 43 trainers, the Office of the Attorney-General of the Republic confirmed there are 108 people in prison during this period.
There are 74 police officers from Iguala and Cocula, who allegedly were involved in the illegal arrest of the students and their delivery to the criminal cartel Guerreros unidos.
Experts from the Organized Crime Unit of the Attorney’s General Office revealed that in previous investigations there is no record that any of those students ever belonged to the Army.
Most of the people arrested are in Federal Centres for Social Rehabilitation in Tamaulipas and Nayarit, charged with organized crime and aggravated deprivation of liberty, a crime that has a maximum penalty of 140 years’ imprisonment.
Also, after months, the arrest warrant against José Luis Abarca, ex-Mayor of Iguala, Guerrero and his wife María de los Ángeles Pineda was obtained in Tamaulipas. He is allegedly guilty of the disappearance of the students.
On Nov. 4, 2014 Abarca and his wife were arrested in Iztapalapa and Pineda was transferred to Nayarit. The disappearance of the students took place on September 26 and 27 last year in Iguala.

Mexican ex-candidates denounce electoral irregularities
Former candidates to elections of June 7 in Mexico denounced electoral fraud and held the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) responsible.
Eduardo Ceja Gil win, who had won the election as mayor of the city of Santiago Tangamandapio, Michoacán by 30 plus votes, was reversed by almost the same numbers of votes he had won.
Ceja Gil, however filed a lawsuit charging the incumbent PRI candidate with fraud.
In other parts of the country, an unprecedented move, ex-candidates to municipal presidents and deputies from various political parties led a caravan of hundreds of people, who carried out a political rally in Queretaro and arrived in Mexico City to denounce before the Attorney’s Office unlawful acts during the electoral campaign.
The protest involves representatives of the Democratic Revolution party (PRD), National Action (PAN), Humanist and of Labor, plus the Citizens’ Movement.

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‘It’s time to hold physical cash,’ says one of Britain’s most senior fund managers

It may be time to money under the mattress. High profile fund managers explain how to prepare for a ‘systemic event’

by Andrew Oxlade
The Telegraph

The manager of one of Britain’s biggest bond funds has urged investors to keep cash under the mattress.
Ian Spreadbury, who invests more than £4bn of investors’ money across a handful of bond funds for Fidelity, including the flagship Moneybuilder Income fund, is concerned that a “systemic event” could rock markets, possibly similar in magnitude to the financial crisis of 2008, which began in Britain with a run on Northern Rock.
“Systemic risk is in the system and as an investor you have to be aware of that,” he told Telegraph Money.
The best strategy to deal with this, he said, was for investors to spread their money widely into different assets, including gold and silver, as well as cash in savings accounts. But he went further, suggesting it was wise to hold some “physical cash”, an unusual suggestion from a mainstream fund manager.
His concern is that global debt – particularly mortgage debt – has been pumped up to record levels, made possible by exceptionally low interest rates that could soon end, and he is unsure how well banks could cope with the shocks that may await.
He pointed out that a saver was covered only up to £85,000 per bank under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme – which is effectively unfunded – and that the Government has said it will not rescue banks in future, hence his suggestion that some money should be held in physical cash.
He declined to predict the exact trigger but said it was more likely to happen in the next five years rather than 10. The current woes of Greece, which may crash out of the euro, already has many market watchers concerned.
Mr Spreadbury’s views are timely, aside from Greece. A growing number of professional investors (see comment, right) and commentators are expressing unease about what happens next.
The prices of nearly all assets – property, shares, bonds – have been rising for years.
House prices have risen by 26pc since the start of 2009, and by 68pc in London. The FTSE 100 is up by 75pc.
Although it feels counter-intuitive, this trend of rising prices should continue if economies remain weak, because it gives central banks licence to keep rates low and to carry on with their “quantitative easing” programs.
Conversely, if the economy does pick up and interest rates need to rise, the act of doing so is likely to stall the economy and force them to be reduced again. Once more, demand for those mainstream assets would be rekindled and the asset boom continues.
But then there is the shock event. Daily Telegraph columnist Jeremy Warner also captured some of the concerns this week when he wrote that the trigger for an “inevitable correction” could come from “a clear blue sky – a completely unanticipated event.”
How are fund managers preparing for this gloomy possibility?
Mr Spreadbury sticks to bonds because of the remit of his funds. Within that world, he said a shock to the system would cause a flight to safety and the price of British government bonds, or gilts, would rise sharply. He also holds bonds of companies that would be most protected in times of turmoil – water companies, power network operators – and those where the bonds are secured on a solid asset, such as land or buildings.
Examples include Center Parcs and Intu, which owns shopping centres.
Marcus Brookes, another well regarded fund manager who looks after billions of pounds worth of investments, is less constrained in where he invests, because of the different remit of his funds. Schroder Multi-Manager Diversity, for example, can pick and choose between assets.
Mr Brookes said the probability of a major shock event was small but even he holds 29pc of the Diversity portfolio in cash, a huge proportion compared with most funds. This decision is due to his concern that bonds are overvalued and may fall. He aims to deliver returns of 4pc above inflation so can’t afford to put too much in assets that he believes will lose money.
“The problem is that people are struggling to work out how to diversify if QE programs stop,” he said.
Mr Spreadbury added: “We have rock-bottom rates and QE is still going on – this is all experimental policy and means we are in uncharted territory.
“The message is diversification. Think about holding other assets. That could mean precious metals, it could mean physical currencies.”

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Celebrating the 80th anniversary of passing of tango icon Carlos Gardel

Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff

Come celebrate the king of tango, Carlos Gardel’s 80th anniversary of is death in an event that promises to be one-of-a-kind. Orquesta Victoria, with its 12-member band team comes directly from Buenos Aires in a Bay Area tour, bring to the Mission their best repertoire in tango music.
At the Mission Cultural Center, 2868 Mission St., San Francisco, on June 23 at 6 p.m., and on June 25 at  8 p.m. There will be a pre-concert talk. For tickets and other location shows, www.VillaCrespoProductions.com, 415-734-6478.

The third US Social Forum in San Jose
Hundreds organizations and institutions, representatives of social movements from around the world will come together at the third US Social Forum, to share their experiences and strengthen their relationships to make another world possible.
The US Social Forum (USSF), politically and economically independent, is a movement building process led by impacted communities.
The USSF provides spaces to learn from each other’s experiences and struggles, share analysis of the problems our communities face, build relationships, and align with our international brothers and sisters to strategize how to reclaim our world.
“We live day to day in crisis and struggle. For the first time in history we are experiencing a rapidly deepening crisis of global capitalism affecting millions in the United States and billions world-wide – producing austerity policies and massive permanent unemployment and poverty, social destruction, and intensifying political attacks, repression, and the threat of fascism and war everywhere.
On June 24-28, 2015, at the Washington United Youth Center, 921 S. First Street, Suite B, San Jose, California. It will also be happening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and several satellite locations.

Campaign to Preserve, Improve, and Expand Medicare-to-All
This summer marks the 50th year of Medicare and the 80th year of Social Security, arguably the nation’s two most successful social programs, keeping millions of older and disabled people out of poverty.
Yet both programs are at a crossroads: The corporate agenda in government is to restrict who is eligible, reduce their benefits, cut their funding, and turn them over to private companies. But workers, retirees, and their families need these programs as never before.
The speakers will describe how senior groups, labor unions, and community groups are mounting a Preserve, Improve, and Expand-Medicare-to-All campaign, including a giant event at Oakland’s Ogawa Plaza on Thursday, July 30th at 11 AM.  They will also describe how these groups are also actively supporting bills in Congress to improve and stabilize Social Security.
555 Ellis Street (Between Leavenworth & Hyde)

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Announced meeting on Mexican and Latin American cinema

by the El Reportero news services

The First International Meeting of Researchers of Mexican and Latin American Cinema will be held in Mexico next week. The event will be attended by speakers from eight nations including the host country, it was reported today.
A statement from the National Council for Culture and Arts informed the encounter will take place next Thursday and Friday at the National Cinematheque.
The opening conference, given by British Dolores Tierney of the University of Sussex, will focus on the cinema of Emilio ‘El Indio’ Fernandez, with an emphasis on the film Enamorada, 1946.
The 16 workshops will involve 75 speakers from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and the United States, among other countries.
They will deal with various topics, such as Latin American cinema (1930-1990), Documentary, Golden Age I, Contemporary Mexican Cinema and Feminism and others.
Raúl Miranda, vice director of Documentation and Cataloguing of the National Cinemateque, pointed out that nowadays the world studies the Mexican cinema.
This encounter will be an example of it, as the inquiries on the subject are carried our in Spain, Latin America, England and the United States and even in other regions of the world.

 

Preserving Ernest Hemingway’s legacy in Cuba
The preservation of the Cuban legacy of the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature was held Cuba during the 15th Ernest Hemingway International Colloquium, to be run at the capital’s O’’Farril Palace.
According to the event’s program, scheduled until June 21, the issue will be in charge of Mary Jo Adams, executive director of Finca Vigia Foundation, of the United States, and Ada Rosa Alfonso, top director of the Ernest Hemingway Museum, of Cuba.
The occasion will be conducive so that Adams and Alfonso review the 12 years of the collaboration between both institutions, to maintain live the work of one of the main novelists and short-story writer of the 20th century.
This second day has also reserved a space for the launching of two themes: “La etica de la vida deportiva en la novela Fiesta de Ernest Hemingway” (Ethics of Sporting Life in Novel Feast by Ernest Hemingway) and “Hemingway y Martha Gellhorn: En el amor y en la Guerra” (Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn: Love and War).
The launching of the book Hemingway: ese desconocido (Hemingway, The Unknown Man), as well as the screening of the documentary Hemingway II, will be carried out, as part of the agenda.

 

Roberto Carlos selected as the 2015 Latin Grammy Person of the Year
The internationally famous Brazilian singer-songwriter Roberto Carlos has been chosen as the 2015 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year, said Tuesday organizers of the event.
During the gala -to be held in November this year- the artist known as O Rei (The King) will be honored for his longstanding career in which he has sold 120 million albums around the world.
Roberto Carlos established himself as one of the most prolific romantic artists in Latin America with such chart-topping hits as Detalles, Emociones, Amada Amante, Amigo, Propuesta, Lady Laura, and Mujer Pequeña.
The tribute that the Academy has prepared for the iconic Roberto Carlos will take place on November 18 – a day before the main gala – at the MGM Grand Arena Hotel in Las Vegas (Nevada). (Prensa Latina contributed to this report).

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Charleston church shooting: the larger cover op

by Jon Rappoport
NoMoreFakeNews.com

“Long-term covert ops sometimes disguise themselves by claiming that the hidden cause of a problem is the cure. So it is with psychiatric drugs, like SSRI antidepressants, which push people into committing murder. In the aftermath of these killings, leaders call for expanded psychiatric screening—which will result in further prescription of those very same drugs.” (The Underground, Jon Rappoport)
Police report the suspect in the Charleston church shooting, Dylann Roof, has been captured.
This is the latest in a string of crimes in which black-white conflict has been highlighted, pressed, argued, and used, for the purposes of: fanning flames of racial discord, exercising further gun control, and fatuously claiming that universal psychiatric screening and drugging is an answer.
In this brief article, I focus on black-white conflict.
In the 1960s, in America, the burgeoning drug culture and the Vietnam War became the occasion for protests and riots that shook the nation. In that case, the main target was the federal government.
Even though the “revolution” was pro-left, the 1968 Chicago riots were staged at the Democratic nominating convention. That gives you some idea of the degree of overall and virulent anti-government sentiment.
From the point of view of elite planners, the 1960s should not be repeated; at least not in the same way.
This time, the government should be seen as the hero, the rescuer, the mediator.
For that to happen, Americans would turn on and target each other.
There is no better way to accomplish that than to strike at the issue of race.
Emphasize it, push it, make it stand out, tie it into political correctness, create absurdist “dialogue” that could have no other outcome than outrage. The “discussion about race” has turned into transparent provocation.
Divide and conquer is as old as the hills. The conqueror is the ruler. And, of course, as he wins, he enacts more downward pressure on freedom, in multiple ways, while pretending to be the healer.
This is the op.
This is the simplicity of it.
You can throw other logs on the fire: agents provocateur in the media; the release of violent immigrant criminals from US prisons; the seeding of the population with massive amounts of psychiatric drugs (SSRI antidepressants) that scramble brains and push people over the edge into committing violent acts, including murder.
And oh yes, you can also include the intentional expansion of poverty (and attendant resentment) through the departure of millions of jobs overseas: aka Globalism. That is provocation of the highest order.
The objective is shifting the target from government to the people themselves, along the familiar lines of race.
And the payoff message will echo the sentiments of 1995, after the Oklahoma City Bombing: “Come home to the government, we will protect you. Only we can protect you.”
If you believed mainstream media, you would think the entire race issue in America consists of a three-way conversation between Al Sharpton, a KKK high priest, and some demented college student who insists that every word in the English language contains a hidden racial element.
Update: CBS News is reporting that Dylann Roof was arrested on February 28 in a mall, while he was asking a store clerk “out of the ordinary questions.” At that time, he was found in possession of a medicine called Suboxone.
It is an addicting drug used to treat opiate addiction. Some adverse effects: agitation, hostility, hallucinations, attempted suicide, depersonalization.
Rapid withdrawal from Suboxone can be more dangerous than taking it.
Getting the picture?
Of course, the distinct possibility that the drug pushed Dylann Roof over the edge into committing murder isn’t part of the “correct” narrative aimed at accelerating racial hatreds.
The truth? Irrelevant.
(Jon Rappoport is the author of three explosive collections, The Matrix Revealed, Exit From The Matrix, and Power Outside The Matrix).

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How the public education system is rigged to turn individuals into automatons – PART 2

FROM THE EDITOR:

DEAR READERS: In the course of a research I found this excellent article that deals with a hidden truth behind the current educational system. Written in 2004, the content of this piece may enlighten many who still believe our current schools curriculum is far away from what, we as people, need to learn and acquire knowledge, and to make us independent and develop our highest potential to make a better world. You be the judge. This is PART 2 OF A SERIES

Advice for anyone still in school

by Montalk.net
from Montalk Website

Students are not at fault

But that’s not the worst part. The worst part is that public schools not only have a crappy curriculum, they actually oppress their students by forcing them to participate in it. It is one thing to offer a profundity of shallow assignments, and quite another to make students do them.
Simply put, students are forcefully occupied with junk to prevent them from learning something useful.
Almost everything important I have learned, I learned on my own time outside school. During junior high, the assignments given to me were few, and I often completed them in class. This left me with enough time to go to the library to begin my study of metaphysics and the paranormal, to learn truth on my own and experiment with what I had learned to confirm the nature of absolute truth.
But as I progressed through high school, increasingly useless assignments were given to me which taught me nothing (and believe me, I searched for something useful in them), but occupied my time nonetheless. What was being taught to me was compartmentalized, full of holes and errors, shallow, and politically correct to the point of nonsense. Was it my duty to integrate the parts and learn the material well enough to be applied? Sure, but the sheer quantity of homework prevented me from finding time to do just that. Quantity over quality once again.
Now I am in a state college, and it’s no different. The oppression continues, except now I’m getting wiser and have caught onto their tricky scheme to graduate robots instead of humans.
I wish I had more time to do research related to this site, to learn true physics and history, to continue writing music, and make a difference. But this time is erroded by the wasteful components of the school curriculum.
Students, except for a few genuine slackers, are not at fault when lagging in critical thinking skills. They are not being held back by their own laziness, but by direct oppression from a system with the power to punish them or put a bad mark on their transcripts if they don’t give up their individual pursuits of knowledge in favor of hollow schoolwork.
Overloading creates dysfunction
There are multiple consequences to this program of quantity over quality. Children are under a lot of stress nowadays in schools due to this, and as a consequence they shift into a survival mode.
This survival mode consists of taking shortcuts and getting by with the least amount of effort possible, but even this small amount of effort is too much and applied toward futile ends. Grades become an ends to a means, and the true goal of education is detached from daily work. Studying is only applied toward taking the test, but not for retention thereafter. Escapism takes hold and watching television, taking drugs, engaging in delinquent behavior, and over-socialization result. This further detracts a student from learning what’s truly needed.
Under such stress, the student body splits into two groups: those who conform and those who fail.
The ones who conform learn the rules of the game, no matter how illogical they are and play the game to the satisfaction of faculty. They become detached from reality, from what truly matters, and are stifled in their potential as they are stripped of their inspiration, creativity, and originality. Quantity over quality matters as part of the survival mode, and there is no profit in overdoing quality when the profits of doing so are decades away in the reaping. Due to this survival mentality, thinking that far into the future is neglected. The ones who conform become roboticized and are respected for how well they fit the mold. What was once innate curiosity to discover the world is turned into neurotic attempts to escape punishment.
The ones who do not conform fall behind unless they are clever enough to find another source of education that befits them. Their grades are mediocre as they are disillusioned with the system and no longer care about pleasing it. Chances of graduation and pursuing higher education is slim, and most of these either drop out or graduate and immediately acquire low paying jobs. The price of refusal to conform is rejection into substandard wage earning.
Either way, those entering public education leave either as robots or peasants, hyperbolically speaking. TO BE CONTINUE NEXT WEEK.

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How the public education system is rigged to turn individuals into automatons

FROM THE EDITOR:

DEAR READERS: In the course of a research I found this excellent article that deals with a hidden truth behind the current educational system. Written in 2004, the content of this piece may enlighten many who still believe our current schools curriculum is far away from what, we as people, need to learn and acquire knowledge, and to make us independent and develop our highest potential to make a better world. You be the judge. This is PART 2 OF A SERIES

Advice for anyone still in school

by Montalk.net
from Montalk Website

Students are not at fault

But that’s not the worst part. The worst part is that public schools not only have a crappy curriculum, they actually oppress their students by forcing them to participate in it. It is one thing to offer a profundity of shallow assignments, and quite another to make students do them.
Simply put, students are forcefully occupied with junk to prevent them from learning something useful.
Almost everything important I have learned, I learned on my own time outside school. During junior high, the assignments given to me were few, and I often completed them in class. This left me with enough time to go to the library to begin my study of metaphysics and the paranormal, to learn truth on my own and experiment with what I had learned to confirm the nature of absolute truth.
But as I progressed through high school, increasingly useless assignments were given to me which taught me nothing (and believe me, I searched for something useful in them), but occupied my time nonetheless. What was being taught to me was compartmentalized, full of holes and errors, shallow, and politically correct to the point of nonsense. Was it my duty to integrate the parts and learn the material well enough to be applied? Sure, but the sheer quantity of homework prevented me from finding time to do just that. Quantity over quality once again.
Now I am in a state college, and it’s no different. The oppression continues, except now I’m getting wiser and have caught onto their tricky scheme to graduate robots instead of humans.
I wish I had more time to do research related to this site, to learn true physics and history, to continue writing music, and make a difference. But this time is erroded by the wasteful components of the school curriculum.
Students, except for a few genuine slackers, are not at fault when lagging in critical thinking skills. They are not being held back by their own laziness, but by direct oppression from a system with the power to punish them or put a bad mark on their transcripts if they don’t give up their individual pursuits of knowledge in favor of hollow schoolwork.
Overloading creates dysfunction
There are multiple consequences to this program of quantity over quality. Children are under a lot of stress nowadays in schools due to this, and as a consequence they shift into a survival mode.
This survival mode consists of taking shortcuts and getting by with the least amount of effort possible, but even this small amount of effort is too much and applied toward futile ends. Grades become an ends to a means, and the true goal of education is detached from daily work. Studying is only applied toward taking the test, but not for retention thereafter. Escapism takes hold and watching television, taking drugs, engaging in delinquent behavior, and over-socialization result. This further detracts a student from learning what’s truly needed.
Under such stress, the student body splits into two groups: those who conform and those who fail.
The ones who conform learn the rules of the game, no matter how illogical they are and play the game to the satisfaction of faculty. They become detached from reality, from what truly matters, and are stifled in their potential as they are stripped of their inspiration, creativity, and originality. Quantity over quality matters as part of the survival mode, and there is no profit in overdoing quality when the profits of doing so are decades away in the reaping. Due to this survival mentality, thinking that far into the future is neglected. The ones who conform become roboticized and are respected for how well they fit the mold. What was once innate curiosity to discover the world is turned into neurotic attempts to escape punishment.
The ones who do not conform fall behind unless they are clever enough to find another source of education that befits them. Their grades are mediocre as they are disillusioned with the system and no longer care about pleasing it. Chances of graduation and pursuing higher education is slim, and most of these either drop out or graduate and immediately acquire low paying jobs. The price of refusal to conform is rejection into substandard wage earning.
Either way, those entering public education leave either as robots or peasants, hyperbolically speaking. TO CONTINUE NEXT WEEK.

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Natural remedies for acne: Vitamin B6, tea tree oil and zinc

acne treatment 2

by Talya Dagan

Acne is a skin condition can be caused by a variety of nutritional deficiencies, as well as food allergies food intolerances and fungal infections. Natural remedies for acne include vitamin B6, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin C and herbs like tea tree oil. Acne occurs when the skin becomes inflamed. Oil glands secrete sebum that is a normal component of skin lubrication, however when the glands produce too much oil, the pores become blocked and blackheads and pimples occur. The pores then become filled with bacteria, which causes inflammation and redness. Acne occurs commonly during the teen years because of the increase of hormones during this time.
However, this type of acne usually resolves itself by the time people are 30 years old. Acne usually occurs on foreheads, cheeks, chins, noses, and sometimes on backs or torsos. Acne can cause whiteheads, blackheads, pimples and inflamed lesions on the skin, which can leave scars. Cysts can also occur, which are inflamed lesions that form under the skin.
Causes of the excess sebum vary and can include any form of inflammation or blood sugar irregularity. Hormonal imbalances can also cause acne, because it causes increased sebum production.
Blood sugar imbalances, or insulin resistance, create an inflammatory cycle that leads to acne as well. Some pharmaceutical drugs also can lead to acne, especially oral contraceptives, steroids, Phenobarbital, excess iodine, and lithium. Those with a family history of acne are more at risk for the condition. Food allergies and fungal infections, such as Candida, also can cause acne.
Fat consumed in the diet goes into the bloodstream and reduces the body’s ability to regulate insulin. Air pollution or exposure to second-hand smoke can cause acne, as can food allergies. White sugar and other chemical additives in foods find their way to the skin and cause acne as well.
Hygiene to treat acne
Washing the face twice a day is recommended for those with acne. Mild cleansers are advised, as strong soap or scrubbing the skin can make the condition worse. Use of water-based skin care may help alleviate the clogging of pores. Clothing, such as headbands or collared shirts, can encourage acne to develop.
Vitamins to treat acne
Studies have shown that adding zinc to the diet may reduce the appearance of acne. The dosage used was 30 mg twice a day for one month. Niacinamide as a 4 pecent gel may also be useful. Vitamin C is also important for skin health. L-carnitine has been found helpful but can interfere with some pharmaceutical medications, such as Coumadin. Vitamin A, another helpful nutrient for skincare, can cause toxic reactions from overdosing, so a doctor’s recommendation is advised.
Herbal remedies for acne
Herbal remedies may help reduce the appearance of acne as well. The herb Guggul from the Commiphora wightii, plant, taken internally, has shown some effectiveness, as has the use of tea tree oil externally. Tea tree, or melaleuca alternifolia in a 5 percent gel can be applied to the skin to reduce inflammation. Studies reported that the effects of the gel were similar to using benzoyl peroxide lotion. (Natural News).
Sources: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com, http://drhyman.com, http://www.drweil.com.

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Thousands of farmworkers in California can’t make a living

HOLLISTER, CA - 21FEBRUARY09 - The home of the family of Alberto Martinez and Rufina Perez, Triqui migrant farm workers, in a plywood shack in the fields outside Hollister. Triquis are one of the many indigenous groups of southern Mexico, and many people have migrated from their hometowns to California to work in the fields as farm workers. Pictured: Rufina Perez and her baby Silvana Martinez. Copyright David Bacon

por David Bacon
New America Media

Editor’s note: California farmworkers once made a decent living but according to NAM contributing writer, David Bacon, those days are long gone. Now the majority is struggling to survive. More than a third of the farmworkers population makes less than the minimum wage, while the other third earns the exact minimum. Many suffer from various health issues as the result of years of backbreaking work.

Undocumented farm laborers find movement back and forth across the militarized border far more dangerous and expensive than before, and many are stuck even when picking season has ended. In a three parts series, Bacon gives his analysis of the situation and provides two moving portraits of struggling Triqui farmworkers. Bacon’s analysis is below.

At the end of the 1970s California farm workers were the highest-paid in the U.S., with the possible exception of Hawaii’s long-unionized sugar and pineapple workers.  Today their economic situation is not much different from that of their coworkers elsewhere around the country.  California’s agricultural laborers are trapped in jobs that pay the minimum wage and often less, and are mostly unable to find permanent year-around work.
The decline in income is apparent in three ways.  The minimum wage is the current wage standard for most farm workers.  They receive a tiny percentage of the retail price of the crops they produce.  And their living conditions reflect incomes that are at the bottom of the U.S. wage scale.
In 1979 the United Farm Workers negotiated a contract with Sun World, a large citrus and grape grower.  The contract’s bottom wage rate was $5.25 per hour.  At the time, the minimum wage was $2.90.  If the same ratio existed today, with a state minimum of $9.00, farm workers would be earning the equivalent of $16.30 per hour.  At the end of the 70s workers under union contracts in lettuce and wine grapes were earning even more.
Today farm workers don’t make anywhere near $16.00 an hour
In 2008 demographer Rick Mines conducted a survey of 120,000 migrant farm workers in California from indigenous communities in Mexico – Mixtecos, Triquis, Purepechas and others.  “One third of the workers earned above the minimum wage, one third reported earning exactly the minimum and one third reported earning below the minimum,” he found.
In other words, growers potentially were paying an illegal wage to tens of thousands of farm workers.  Indigenous workers are the most recent immigrants in the state’s farm labor workforce, and the poorest, but the situation isn’t drastically different for others.  The case log of California Rural Legal Assistance is an extensive history of battles to help workers reclaim illegal, and even unpaid, wages.
To raise wages, workers need to increase the share of the money paid at the supermarket checkout stand that goes into their paychecks.  In recent years the price paid to workers for picking a flat of strawberries, for instance, has hovered around $1.50.  Each flat contains eight plastic clamshell boxes, so a worker is paid about 20ó to fill each one.  That same box sells in a supermarket for about $3.00 — the people picking the fruit get about 6 percent of the price.
According to UC Davis professor Philip Martin, about 28% of what consumers pay goes to the grower. Produce sales from Monterey County alone, one of two counties where strawberries are concentrated, total $4.4 billion.
If the price of a clamshell box increased by 5ó (a suggestion made by the UFW during the Watsonville strawberry organizing drive of the late 1990s), the wages of the workers would increase by 25%.  Most consumers wouldn’t even notice, since the retail price normally fluctuates far more than that. Florida’s Coalition of Immokalee Workers has used this idea to negotiate an increase in the price paid for tomatoes bought by fast food chains, which then goes to the worker in the field.
Low wages in the fields, however, have brutal consequences.  When the grape harvest starts in the eastern Coachella Valley, the parking lots of small markets in farm worker towns like Mecca are filled with workers sleeping in their cars.  For Rafael Lopez, a farm worker from San Luis, Arizona, living in his van with his grandson, “the owners should provide a place to live since they depend on us to pick their crops.  They should provide living quarters, at least something more comfortable than this.”
In northern San Diego County, many strawberry pickers sleep out of doors on hillsides and in ravines.  Each year the county sheriff clears out some of their encampments, but by next season workers have found others.  Romulo Muûoz Vasquez, living on a San Diego hillside, explains: “There isn╒t enough money to pay rent, food, transportation and still have money left to send to Mexico.  I figured any spot under a tree would do.”
Compounding the problem of low wages is the lack of work during the winter months.  Workers have to save what they can while they have a job, to tide them over.  In the strawberry towns of the Salinas Valley, the normal 10% unemployment rate doubles after the harvest ends in November. While some can collect unemployment, the estimated 53 percent who have no legal immigration status are barred from receiving benefits.
“The fruit that brings growers the most money here is the strawberry crop,” says Oxnard picker Lucrecia Camacho, “but they pay us a wage that barely allows us to live.”

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Study finds that every police department in US failed to meet use of lethal force standards

‘Shocking lack of fundamental respect for the sanctity of human life’

by Steve Watson

A study undertaken by Amnesty International USA has found that every state in the US is failing to comply with the minimum international standards on the lethal use of force by police.
The report also found that 13 US states, more than a quarter, fall beneath the legal standards outlined in US constitutional law, while 9 of those 13, shockingly, have NO laws whatsoever that encompass lethal use of force.
This means that in nine states, police can kill someone and avoid the consequences by claiming they had no choice but to use lethal force.
“While law enforcement in the United States is given the authority to use lethal force, there is no equal obligation to respect and preserve human life. It’s shocking that while we give law enforcement this extraordinary power, so many states either have no regulation on their books or nothing that complies with international standards,” Amnesty USA executive director Steven Hawkins told the London Guardian.
Hawkins described the findings as evidence that law enforcement departments have a “shocking lack of fundamental respect for the sanctity of human life.”
The study compared the statutes regarding use of lethal force of all 50 states against international principles which outline that lethal force is only ever used “in order to protect life” in “unavoidable” circumstance and after attempts to employ “less extreme means” to manage the situation.
International standards also outline that law enforcement officers should always identify themselves and give a clear warning if they intend to use deadly force.
The study found that not one single US state complies with both these standards, and only eight states have a requirement of a verbal warning before engaging in the use of deadly force.
“None of the laws establish the requirement that lethal force may only be used as a last resort with non-violent means and less harmful means to be tried first. The vast majority of laws do not require officers to give a warning of their intent to use firearms.” the study concluded.
Amnesty noted that the 13 states that fall below US constitutional standards have statutes which are so vague in their wording, that they can easily be manipulated to allow for use of force in practically any circumstance.
The report notes that in North Dakota, police are sanctioned to use deadly force if an individual “has committed or attempted to commit a felony involving violence.” The level and scope of said violence and felony are not outlined in any way.
The nine states that do not have any laws regarding lethal use of force are Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming – in addition to Washington D.C.
The report notes that this means police in those state nearly always investigate the actions of their own officers based on some arbitrary standard they have comprised for the specific circumstance.
Perhaps the most troubling finding in the report outlines how in nine states, police are legally permitted to use lethal force during “rioting”. The study found that in Pennsylvania, lethal force can be used if it is deemed “necessary to suppress a riot or mutiny after the rioters or mutineers have been ordered to disperse.”
International standards on lethal force also require all police related deaths to be reported. The central database for this activity to be logged, an FBI database, is completely voluntary, however. This means it is not really known how many “justifiable homicides” there are in the US, and the figure could be exponentially more than official records show.
Amnesty recommends a nationwide review of police use of lethal force laws, in addition to a thorough review and reform of oversight and accountability mechanisms at all levels of government.
Given the recent spotlight on police brutality in the US, Amnesty believes that “this report will produce some energy for change.”
Of course, US states are not beholden to comply with international laws. However, the findings, correlated with the huge number of police related killings in the US compared to other developed nations, paints a clear picture.
“Those states can of course argue that they follow common law or supreme court standards, but is that good enough?” Hawkins said. “Certainly we would expect that international human rights standards are what should govern and our fear is that, unless these are clearly quantified, a citizen in any state can’t look at what the law is. That’s critically important to ensuring accountability.”
A separate study recently compiled by Fatal Encounters, an impartial nonprofit organisation working to build a national database of police killings in the US, found that cops in the US are responsible for way more deaths on American soil than terrorism since the year 2000. Indeed, in that time, police have killed at least 5,600 people via gunshots, taserings, beatings and other forms of violence. That figure represents more than the total number of US combat deaths in all wars since 2000.
Americans are, at the very least, eight times more likely to be killed by a police officer than a terrorist.
Vox took the data gathered by Fatal Encounters and created an interactive map of every documented police killing over the past 15 years. It looks like this:
The organisation estimates that it has only captured about 35 percent of total police killings since 2000 so far. So at best, this map represents a minimum of police related killings over the past 15 years.
By those calculations, around SIXTEEN THOUSAND Americans are likely to have been killed by police in that time. Over 1,000, every year.
In comparison with other first world nations; only three people were killed by police in 2014 in the UK; 12 people in Canada, and eight over the past two years in Germany. All this despite the fact that the crime index highlights that countries like the UK aren’t that far behind America in regards to overall crime rate.
The level of police killings only appears to be escalating into an epidemic. It is indicative of an endemic societal divide between Americans and their government (yes police work for the government).
(Steve Watson is a London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University). Infowars

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