Monday, September 9, 2024
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First international festival of Mexican opera opens online

by the El Reportero‘s news services

 

The first edition of the International Festival of Mexican Opera (FIOM) – a celebration of Mexican lyricism – opened on Monday and will run online until Sept. 9.

Organized by tenor Raúl Alcocer Rodríguez, bass-baritone Lucho Cano and Doctor of Performing Arts Enid Negrete Luna, the FIOM will put on a range of different artistic and academic activities, as well as an opera contest.

The festival will culminate with an award ceremony on Sept. 9.

Registration for the contest will run until June 30 and is open to professional and student opera singers and composers from Mexico or abroad. The focus is on Mexican opera.

The winner of the composer category will be able to perform their work alongside a Mexican conductor and a professional orchestra, while the winning singer will receive a prize from festival patrons.

Singers Ramón Vargas, María Katzarava, Javier Camarena, Rocío Tamez and Lourdes Ambriz, and composers Diana Syrse, Leticia Armijo and Enrico Chapela will be among the judges of the event.

To ensure greater impartiality during the selection process, participants will submit their work anonymously, Alcocer said.

Lucho Cano told the newspaper Milenio that all money gathered from the registration fee will go to support El Tecolote Cultural Center and the Art Against Violence Foundation.

“Both [programs] work together to rescue children from the community of Arcelia, Guerrero, one of the places with the highest crime and poverty rates.”

According to studies cited by newspaper La Jornada, there are some 500 Mexican works of opera, from the 18th century to date, though as many as 30% are now lost.

“In addition to this, a large number of pieces haven’t been premiered and others were premiered with great success abroad but are unknown in Mexico,” Negrete added.

Currently, more than 50 composers are active in Mexico, but with little support for creativity and inadequate infrastructure to support and produce an opera, the outlook for the musical genre in Mexico “is sad,” Negrete lamented.

“I mean, if you are a Mexican composer and you premiere an opera, it better be your masterpiece because otherwise the criticism will destroy you.”

The scenario is no different for opera singers. “Most of our singers can only aspire to have a career abroad,” Negrete said, adding that there is a talent drain in Mexico, “a problem that will eventually take its toll on us.”

Although Mexican opera faces many challenges, the FIOM seeks to overcome them by supporting composers and opera singers to disseminate lyrical work “made in Mexico.”

With reports from Milenio and La Jornada

 

San Francisco Carnival 2023 promises to be an event for Latino integration

by Magdy Zara

 

The San Francisco Carnival for this year’s edition pays tribute to the artists who have shaped this celebration to be multicultural and multigenerational, as its organizers stated through a statement, so they are betting on it being an event that contributes to the integration of the Latino community.

This year’s motto will be “45 years of music and movement”. During these days there will be a presentation of music, dance, cooking and crafts, completely free.

In that this edition will feature the Cuban group Los Van Van.

The San Francisco Carnival will take place on May 27 and 28 in the Californian city, specifically in the 24th Street Latino Cultural District of San Francisco.

 

Leo Rosales Headlines 1st Annual Latin Jazz Festival

After the success of past editions, the Hayward Center holds the Annual Latin Jazz Festival for 2023, which will be attended by Leopoldo Rosales and Virginia Medrano Rosales, former members of the band Malo & Santana.

The organizers invite residents of neighboring communities, along with visitors from far and wide to explore the city in a new light, with lively music on multiple stages, delicious food from local restaurants, and light shopping from small businesses in the community.

The Latin Jazz Festival is a good option for family entertainment this summer. It will take place this Saturday, June 3 of this year, at B Street and Main, Downtown Hayward.

 

SF Boys Choir Celebrates 75th Anniversary

With a masterful concert, the San Francisco Children’s Choir celebrates the 75th anniversary of its founding, a time that has been dedicated to musical education, vocal training and interpretive experiences at the highest artistic level.

The celebration will feature renowned soprano Shawnette Sulker, who has been invited for this very special occasion, as well as members of the Oakland Great Wall Youth Orchestra and young dancers from San Francisco’s Mannakin Theater and Dance Company. .

The boys, between the ages of 5 and 17, captivate the public, not only for the purity of their voices and their musical abilities, but also for their teamwork and discipline.

The concert will feature all levels of the Choir, Bell Ringers and SFBC Orchestra. The Calvary Presbyterian Church, located at 2515 Fillmore St. on Jackson St. in San Francisco, was the setting chosen for this celebration, which will take place this June 3 at 7 p.m.

Chris Hedges: Julian Assange — A Fight We Must Not Lose

“This legal lynching marks the official beginning of corporate totalitarianismo” — from a talk the author gave at a rally in New York on World Press Freedom Day

 

by Chris Hedges

Original to ScheerPost

 

The detention and persecution of Julian Assange eviscerates all pretense of the rule of law and the rights of a free press.

The illegalities, embraced by the Ecuadorian, British, Swedish and U.S. governments are ominous. They presage a world where the internal workings, abuses, corruption, lies and crimes, especially war crimes, carried out by corporate states and the global ruling elite, will be masked from the public.

They presage a world where those with the courage and integrity to expose the misuse of power will be hunted down, tortured, subjected to sham trials and given lifetime prison terms in solitary confinement.

They presage an Orwellian dystopia where news is replaced with propaganda, trivia and entertainment. The legal lynching of Julian, I fear, marks the official beginning of the corporate totalitarianism that will define our lives.

Under what law did Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno capriciously terminate Julian’s rights of asylum as a political refugee? Under what law did Moreno authorize British police to enter the Ecuadorian embassy — diplomatically sanctioned sovereign territory — to arrest a naturalized citizen of Ecuador?

Under what law did former President Donald Trump criminalize journalism and demand the extradition of Julian, who is not a U.S. citizen and whose news organization is not based in the United States?

Under what law did the C.I.A. violate attorney-client privilege, surveil and record all of Julian’s conversations both digital and verbal with his lawyers and plot to kidnap him from the embassy and assassinate him?

The corporate state eviscerates enshrined rights by judicial fiat. This is how we have the right to privacy, with no privacy. This is how we have “free” elections funded by corporate money, covered by a compliant corporate media and under iron corporate control.

This is how we have a legislative process in which corporate lobbyists write the legislation and corporate-indentured politicians vote it into law. This is how we have the right to due process with no due process.

This is how we have a government — whose fundamental responsibility is to protect citizens — that orders and carries out the assassination of its own citizens, such as the Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16-year-old son. This is how we have a press which is legally permitted to publish classified information and our generation’s most important publisher sitting in solitary confinement in a high security prison awaiting extradition to the United States.

The psychological torture of Julian — documented by the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer — mirrors the breaking of the dissident Winston Smith in George Orwell’s novel 1984.

The Gestapo broke bones. The East German Stasi broke souls. We, too, have refined the cruder forms of torture to destroy souls as well as bodies. It is more effective.

This is what they are doing to Julian, steadily degrading his physical and psychological health. It is a slow-motion execution.

This is by design. Julian has spent much of his time in isolation, is often heavily sedated and has been denied medical treatment for a variety of physical ailments. He is routinely denied access to his lawyers. He has lost a lot of weight, suffered a minor stroke, spent time in the prison hospital wing — which prisoners call the hell wing — because he is suicidal, been placed in prolonged solitary confinement, observed banging his head against the wall and hallucinating. Our version of Orwell’s dreaded Room 101.

Julian was marked for elimination by the C.I.A. once he and WikiLeaks published the documents known as Vault 7, which exposed the C.I.A.’s  cyber warfare arsenal which includes dozens of viruses, trojans and malware remote control systems designed to exploit a wide range of U.S. and European company products, including Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android, Microsoft’s Windows and even Samsung’s Smart TVs, which can be turned into covert microphones even when they appear to be switched off.

I spent two decades as a foreign correspondent. I saw how the brutal tools of repression are tested on those Frantz Fanon called “the wretched of the earth.”  From its inception, the C.I.A. carried out assassinations, coups, torture, black propaganda campaigns, blackmail and illegal spying and abuse, including of U.S. citizens, activities exposed in 1975 by the Church Committee hearings in the Senate and the Pike Committee hearings in the House. All these crimes, especially after the attacks of 9/11, have returned with a vengeance.

The C.I.A. has its own armed units and drone program, death squads and a vast archipelago of global black sites where kidnapped victims are tortured and disappeared.

The U.S. allocates a secret black budget of about $50 billion a year to hide multiple types of clandestine projects carried out by the National Security Agency, the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies, usually beyond the scrutiny of Congress.

The C.I.A. has a well-oiled apparatus, which is why, since it had already set up a system of 24-hour video surveillance of Julian in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, it quite naturally discussed kidnapping and assassinating Julian. That is its business.

Sen. Frank Church — after examining the heavily redacted C.I.A. documents released to his committee — defined the C.I.A.’s “covert activity” as “a semantic disguise for murder, coercion, blackmail, bribery, the spreading of lies and consorting with known torturers and international terrorists.”

Fear the puppet masters, not the puppets. They are the enemy within.

This is a fight for Julian, who I know and admire. It is a fight for his family, who are working tirelessly for his release. It is a fight for the rule of law. It is a fight for the freedom of the press.

It is a fight to save what is left of our diminishing democracy. And it is a fight we must not lose.

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for 15 years for The New York Times, where he served as the Middle East bureau chief and Balkan bureau chief for the paper. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor and NPR.  He is the host of show “The Chris Hedges Report.”

– The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News and El Reportero.

US-Mexico border sees orderly crossings as new migration rules take effect

Share by/from Valery González
AP

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — The U.S.-Mexico border was relatively calm as the U.S. ended its pandemic-era immigration restrictions and migrants adapted to new asylum rules and legal pathways meant to discourage illegal crossings.

A full day after the rules known as Title 42 were lifted, migrants and government officials on Friday were still assessing the effects of new regulations adopted by President Joe Biden’s administration in hope of stabilizing the Southwest border region and undercutting smugglers who charge migrants to get there.

Migrants are now essentially barred from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they did not first apply online or seek protection in the countries they traveled through. Families allowed in as their immigration cases progress will face curfews and GPS monitoring. Those expelled can now be barred from reentry for five years and face possible criminal prosecution.

Across the river from El Paso, Texas, in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, many migrants watched their cellphones in hopes of getting a coveted appointment to seek entry. The official app to register to enter the United States underwent changes this week, as it offers appointments for migrants to enter through land crossings.

Many migrants in northern Mexico resigned themselves to waiting for an appointment rather than approaching the border without authorization.

“I hope it’s a little better and that the appointments are streamlined a little more,” said Yeremy Depablos, 21, a Venezuelan traveling with seven cousins who has been waiting in Ciudad Juárez for a month. Fearing deportation, Depablos did not want to cross illegally. “We have to do it the legal way.”

The U.S. Homeland Security Department said it has not witnessed any substantial increase in immigration.

But in southern Mexico, migrants including children still flocked to railways at Huehuetoca on Friday, desperate to clamor aboard freight trains heading north toward the U.S.

The legal pathways touted by the Biden administration consist of a program that permits up to 30,000 people a month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter if they apply online with a financial sponsor and enter through an airport.

About 100 processing centers are opening in Guatemala, Colombia and elsewhere for migrants to apply to go to the U.S., Spain or Canada. Up to 1,000 can enter daily through land crossings with Mexico if they secure an appointment on the app.

If it works, the system could fundamentally alter how migrants come to the southern border. But Biden, who is running for reelection, faces withering criticism from migrant advocates, who say he’s abandoning more humanitarian methods, and from Republicans, who claim he’s soft on border security. Two legal challenges already loom over the new asylum restrictions.

Title 42 was initiated in March 2020 and allowed border officials to quickly deport asylum seekers on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. But with the national emergency officially over, the restrictions have ended.

While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences for expulsion like those under the new rules.

In El Paso on Friday, a few dozen migrants lingered outside Sacred Heart Catholic Church and shelter, on streets where nearly 2,000 migrants were camped as recently as Tuesday.

The Rev. Daniel Mora said most of the migrants took heed of flyers distributed by U.S. immigration authorities offering a “last chance” to submit to processing and left. El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said that 1,800 migrants turned themselves over to Customs and Border Protection on Thursday.

Melissa López, executive director for Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services at El Paso, said many migrants have been willing to follow the legal pathway created by the federal government, but there are fears about deportation and possible criminal penalties for crossing the border illegally.

Border holding facilities in the U.S. were already far beyond capacity in the run-up to Title 42’s expiration.

In Florida, a federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump has temporarily halted the administration’s plans to release people into the U.S.

Customs and Border Protection said it would comply, but called it a “harmful ruling that will result in unsafe overcrowding” at migrant processing and detention facilities.

A court date has been scheduled on whether to extend the ruling.

Migrant-rights groups also sued the Biden administration on allegations that its new policy is no different than one adopted by Trump — and rejected by the same court.

The Biden administration says its policy is different, arguing that it’s not an outright ban but imposes a higher burden of proof to get asylum and that it pairs restrictions with newly opened legal pathways.

At the Chaparral port of entry in Tijuana on Friday, a few migrants approached U.S. authorities after not being able to access the appointment app. One of them, a Salvadoran man named Jairo, said he was fleeing death threats back home.

“We are truly afraid,” said Jairo who was traveling with his partner and their 3-year-old son and declined to share his last name. “We can’t remain any longer in Mexico and we can’t go back to Guatemala or El Salvador. If the U.S. can’t take us, we hope they can direct us to another country that can.”

___

Gonzalez reported from Brownsville, Texas; Spagat reported from Tijuana, Mexico. Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Rebecca Santana in Washington; Gisela Salomon in Miami; Christopher Sherman in Mexico City; Gerardo Carrillo in Matamoros, Mexico; Maria Verza in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; Julie Watson in Tijuana; Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Suman Naishadham in Tijuana, Mexico contributed to this report.

En el puerto de entrada de Chaparral en Tijuana el viernes, algunos migrantes se acercaron a las autoridades estadounidenses después de no poder acceder a la aplicación de citas. Uno de ellos, un salvadoreño llamado Jairo, dijo que estaba huyendo de amenazas de muerte en su país.

“Tenemos mucho miedo”, dijo Jairo, quien viajaba con su pareja y su hijo de 3 años y se negó a revelar su apellido. “No podemos quedarnos más tiempo en México y no podemos regresar a Guatemala o El Salvador. Si Estados Unidos no puede llevarnos, esperamos que puedan dirigirnos a otro país que pueda”.

___

— González informó desde Brownsville, Texas; Spagat informó desde Tijuana, México. Los periodistas de Associated Press Colleen Long y Rebecca Santana en Washington; Gisela Salomón en Miami; Christopher Sherman en la Ciudad de México; Gerardo Carrillo en Matamoros, México; María Verza en Ciudad Juárez, México; Julie Watson en Tijuana; Morgan Lee en Santa Fe, Nuevo México; y Suman Naishadham en Tijuana, México contribuyeron a este despacho.

Texas deploys special national guard force as title 42 nears end

by Citizen Frank

CF

 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott deployed a special tactical National Guard force to the southern border on Monday to slow down the expected surge of undocumented immigrants crossing into the United States after the Biden Administration ends COVID-19 restrictions this week.

Abbott has openly criticized President Joe Biden for his open-border policies and his decision to end Title 42, a Trump-era public health order that allowed for the immediate expulsion of undocumented immigrants, which some have predicted would bring a fresh cascade of undocumented migration upward of 13,000 crossings a day.

As the nation prepares for the order to expire on May 11, Abbot announced the deployment of up to 10,000 specially trained National Guard members from the Texas Tactical Border Force and 1,200 Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to secure the Texas border amidst the “chaos” caused by Biden eliminating the COVID-19 restrictions at the Mexican border.

“They will be deployed to hot spots along the border to intercept to repel and to turn back migrants who are trying to enter Texas illegally,” Abbott said at a news conference, adding that the elite National Guard would identify, fill in the gaps, and shut down some 29 crossing points along the border using equipment and tools such as aircraft, boats, night vision equipment, and riot gear.

The Texas National Guard said in a statement to Fox News that it activated 545 more service members at locations around the state Monday to “reinforce the border mission in anticipation of the end of Title 42 immigration restrictions.”

“These additional forces will bolster the thousands of Texas National Guard service members already assisting local and state law enforcement agencies to secure the border; stop the smuggling of drugs, weapons and people into Texas; and prevent, detect, and interdict transnational criminal behavior between the ports of entry,” the Texas National Guard said in a statement Monday. “We have expanded our capabilities to include boat teams that patrol hundreds of river miles, drones and helicopters that detect illicit activity from the air, and brush teams, security points and roving patrols that block and interdict illegal smuggling (drugs, weapons and people) into Texas.”

Texas Border Czar Mike Banks, Texas National Guard Adjunct Gen. Thomas Suelzer, and Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw joined Abbott in making the announcement on Monday.

Major General Suelzer said the Texas National Guard is executing a planned, multi-phased response in preparation for the end of Title 42.

“We have shifted troops to hotspots, added additional drone teams, and increased miles of barrier along the border,” Suelzer said.

Texas Department of Public Safety Director McCraw added that the state agency increased resources at the border, deployed hundreds of troopers around the state to “hold the line.”

“There are 29 places you can cross into the U.S. legally, and our job is to ensure we hold that line and keep those the only places these people can cross,” McCraw said.

Illegal immigration has surged to unprecedented levels since Biden was elected.

Border Patrol chief Raúl Ortiz reported last week that law enforcement made over 22,000 apprehensions at the southern border over three days or about 7,000 per day.

Biden announced last week the administration would send 1,500 troops to the border to perform administrative and logistical functions, leaving the Border Patrol to actively police the border and apprehend migrants.

El Paso Democratic Mayor Oscar Leeser declared a state of emergency in his city ahead of Title 42’s end. El Paso already has undocumented migrants sleeping on its streets as it prepares for a wave of migrants on the heels of Title 42’s repeal next week. During a press conference announcing the state of emergency, Leeser said he visited Juarez and saw migrants camping just across the U.S. border, waiting for the health policy to end.

In addition to his announcement on Monday, Gov. Abbott said he would continue busing migrants north of Texas to Democrat-run cities like Chicago and New York City, work with state lawmakers to criminalize illegally entering Texas from Mexico and impose a 10-year minimum jail sentence for anyone convicted of smuggling people into Texas.

A play to reflect on: Where do we sit on the bus?

by Magdy Zara

 

A marvelous play written by playwright Brian Quijada, premiered on the West Coast on May 4, inviting us to reflect on the racial differences that still generate inequality, in one of the most multiracial countries that exists.

The play takes place during a third grade class, in which a teacher talks about the civil rights movement and the story of the fighter Rosa Parks, at which time a Latina girl raises her hand to ask: “Where do we sit in the bus?” Her teacher doesn’t know what to answer to this question.

Brian Quijada is an Emmy-nominated playwright, actor, and composer whose original work has been developed and produced across the country.

The stage piece is perfectly performed by Satya Chávez, a dynamic actress, singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and intersectional feminist, and infused with Latin rhythms, hip-hop, and live loops.

This solo exploration follows that girl into adulthood as she navigates growing up in an immigrant family, her identity as a first-generation American, and what the world would be like for her children. Where do we sit on the bus? is a high-octane theatrical experience that examines what it means to be Latino in the United States.

Where do we sit on the bus? It premiered on May 4 and will be on display until the 28th of this month, at 397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley.

To purchase tickets, contact the telephone numbers 415.388.5200 Fax: 415.388.0768.

 

Small Business Week Celebrates Latino Startups

From May 8 to 12 of this year, the XIX Annual San Francisco Small Business Week will be taking place, which is carried out with the purpose of celebrating the strong and vibrant community of small businesses that make life in San Francisco. Programming will focus on meaningful information and resources for small business owners at every point in their business journey, including activities related to Latino entrepreneurship.

The inauguration will be a special event, to be held on May 8th and will take place in The Green Room, the theme will be “Equal Change”. The evening will feature a small business market highlighting a diverse array of 10 local entrepreneurs, a musical performance by violinist Rose Crelli, a performance by EyeZen’s OUT of Site: Sylvester, The Mighty Real, elevating the hidden history of the company itself. international disco diva from San Francisco, gender non-conforming personality Sylvester, and a bar set up with signature cocktails. The evening will also feature delicious food from local restaurants Local Kitchen, Social 303 Smokehouse, Buena Vida Cantina and Bambú Asia.

San Francisco Small Business Week is organized by the SF Chamber of Commerce and will have a varied theme, including a space to celebrate Latino entrepreneurs and a Fireside Chat: Intersection of Latino and Women-Owned Businesses ; in addition to a presentation on how to start selling in the Amazon store; Wells Fargo will present a state of the San Francisco economy; there will be a discussion with economist Jackie Benson on selecting a retirement plan for her small business; an introduction to online advertising in 2023 will be given in just three steps and many more activities.

The opening of this long-awaited event will be on Monday, May 8 at 5 p.m. in The Green Room at the San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center 401 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA 94102, tickets will be $20 for members of the San Francisco Chamber and $40 for non-members.

For more information, please contact Somiah Handy at shandy@sfchamber.com.

 

SF School of Flamenco presents “Traveling through a World without Time

After three years away from the stage, the flamenco company from San Francisco returns with joy to show its work Transitar por un Mundo sin Tiempo, which is part of the 57th season presented at home.

The San Francisco flamenco school was founded in 1966, which is why it is considered the oldest in the Bay Area, and currently presents an explosive experience of more than an hour of music and dance; directed by the bailaora Carlota Zertuche, who fuses flamenco with live electronic music, the trumpet, the violin and the electric guitar.

On this occasion, all the musical compositions were written expressly for this show.

As the artist explained, this show was inspired by a trip she made to Jordan in 2021, during a time of many restrictions due to Covid. She says that “visiting the Wadi Rum desert, in particular, was one of the most incredible experiences of my life: a peaceful energy surrounded me like an inexplicable force. I felt the sensation—with the light, the endless red sand, the clear stars in the night sky—that time had ceased to exist, that everything was perfect, that anything could happen. Flamenco for me also has that inexplicable energy, and I would like the audience to feel those same emotions, even if it is during the hour and 15 minutes of the show”.

Regarding the rest of the artists that will be on stage, it was learned that the world-renowned Spanish guitarist, Juani De La Isla, will lead the musical journey. De La Isla is a highly respected flamenco guitarist from the island of San Fernando, near the port city of Cádiz, in Andalusia, in southwestern Spain. Renowned Spanish musician Diego Amador (Jr.) will bring his vocal and piano style to the ensemble. Adrián Santana, a bailaor from Malaga, will join Zertuche on stage. This will be Santana’s debut with the company and his first performance in San Francisco.

Elegance, strength and passion are the words that identify this production, which will be presented this Saturday, May 13, at 8 p.m., at the Herbst Theater, located at 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco.

Ticket prices range from $25 to $55.

For more information, visit www.teatroflamenco.org

 

The well-known Venezuelan comedian Nacho Redondo in SF

Nacho Redondo, Venezuelan comedian included the city of San Francisco in his world tour.

Redondo, is a Venezuelan comedian and writer known for his stand-up career as a black humor comedian.

In Spanish and with a very particular style, Nacho Redondo is on an international tour that includes countries in Europe and Latin America, and now he is here to grace the stages of the United States with his 2023 tour, Huevo de Dragon.

Nacho is known for his outstanding stand-up comedy and his popular podcast, “Escuela de Nada.” He has been a guest on Tom Segura en Español, opened for Russell Peters and collaborated with other notable comedians to accompany his successful singles. Nacho has had 2 previous tours at all the major comedy clubs in the US and has written a new hour to share with his fans!

His presentation in San Francisco will be on May 16 at 8 p.m. at Cobb’s Comedy Club 915 Columbus Avenue San Francisco, CA 94133.

For more information for tickets through the telephone number 415.928.4320 or the page: https://www.cobbscomedy.com/EventDetail?tmeventid=G5vYZ9JRCHfht&offerid=0

Biden admin orders Catholic hospital to snuff out sanctuary candle or lose all federal funding

by Matt Lamb

 

‘In requiring Saint Francis to extinguish its flame, you are trying to extinguish not just a candle, but the First Amendment rights of Saint Francis Health System, as well as vital healthcare for the elderly, poor, and disabled in Oklahoma.’

TULSA, Oklahoma (LifeSiteNews) — President Joe Biden’s administration wants to snuff out the light of the faith – literally.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) demanded that Saint Francis Health System in Oklahoma extinguish two candles – a small sanctuary candle that has burned since 1960 and another that has burned without problem for 15 years at another Saint Francis hospital.

If they don’t, the system will lose accreditation and all federal funding, jeopardizing healthcare for thousands of low-income, disabled, and elderly citizens.  Yet, no other inspector in the healthcare system’s history has ever identified the small candle as a safety issue.

The Catholic hospital system is fighting back with the help of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, an accomplished First Amendment litigation group.

“In requiring Saint Francis to extinguish its flame, you are trying to extinguish not just a candle, but the First Amendment rights of Saint Francis Health System, as well as vital healthcare for the elderly, poor, and disabled in Oklahoma,” a May 3 legal letter from the group, written by Senior Counsel Lori Windham, stated.

Windham noted that the administration’s actions violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) by requiring the hospital to hide its faith without a compelling government interest. The religious liberty group reminded the administration of professed Catholic President Joe Biden that Catholic Canon Law requires that a candle be lit wherever there is the Blessed Sacrament.

Becket noted:

The Code of Canon Law requires that wherever the Blessed Sacrament is kept, a special lamp must shine continuously. The living flame is so important to worship that the Fifth Chapter of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal expressly mandates that “a special lamp, fueled by oil or wax, should shine prominently to indicate the presence of Christ and honor it.” Saint Francis believes that the laws governing the liturgy and chapel suitability have been divinely instituted by Jesus Christ Himself and that derogating from
these laws is an affront to God.

“There has not been a day in Saint Francis history where the living flame has been extinguished,” the group wrote. “And Saint Francis’s religious identity and mission are intimately united with the living flame of the sanctuary candle.”

The letter further noted that the candle is securely kept in the chapel and there are ample sprinklers around to cope with the unlikely possibility of the flame escaping. A fire marshal has already approved the flame in annual inspections and CMS’s own guidelines clearly allow for flames for religious purposes and primarily prohibit them in proximity to medical equipment.

Furthermore, the surveyor with the federal government incorrectly called the enclosed candle an “open flame.” When challenged, the bureaucrat changed his tune and said that lighter briefly used to light the candle is an “open flame” and violates federal safety standards.

Harry Belafonte: Singer and civil rights activist dies aged 96

Actor, singer, and activist Harry Belafonte passed away earlier this month at the age of 96. Born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr in 1927 in Harlem, New York, he was the son of Jamaican immigrants of Scottish, Dutch-Jewish, and African descent

 

Shared from/By Mark Savage

BBC Music correspondent

 

Harry Belafonte, the singer and actor who smashed racial barriers in the US, has died at home in Manhattan, aged 96.

One of the most successful African-American pop stars in history, he scored hits with Island In The Sun, Mary’s Boy Child and the UK number one Day-O (The Banana Boat Song). But his greatest achievements were as a campaigner for black civil rights in the US. He died of congestive heart failure, said his spokesman Ken Sunshine.

His wife Pamela was by his side.

Harry Belafonte obituary: An icon of music, film and civil rights

Oprah Winfrey was among the first to pay tribute, remembering Belafonte as “a trailblazer and a hero to us all”.

“Thank you for your music, your artistry, your activism, your fight for civil rights and justice,” she continued. “Your being here on Earth has blessed us all.”

“We just have to thank God that we had Harry Belafonte for 96 years,” said singer-songwriter John Legend, who counted Belafonte as a friend and mentor.

“He used his platform in almost a subversive way, because he would sneak messages in there, revolutionary messages, when people thought he was just singing about good times.”

“He gave so much, lived through so much [and] helped us grow so much as a nation and as a world.”

Multi-million seller

Often dubbed the King of Calypso, Belafonte was born in Harlem, New York, in 1927, the son of poor Caribbean immigrants.

A high school drop-out, he joined the Navy during the Second World War, working as a munitions loader at a base in New Jersey.

After the war, he pursued his dream of becoming an actor, studying drama at Erwin Piscator’s famed Dramatic Workshop alongside the likes of Marlon Brando, Walter Matthau and Tony Curtis.

He paid for the classes by singing at New York clubs, where he was backed by groups that included Miles Davis and Charlie Parker.

That led to a recording contract and, in a search for material, Belafonte began to study the folk song archives at the US Library of Congress, alighting on the Calypso music his parents had grown up with.

It proved to be a wise move. The handsome young star sparked a fad for the genre with songs like Jamaica Farewell and Day-O (a song about Caribbean dock workers), both of which featured on his third album, Calypso.

Released in 1956, it topped the Billboard charts and was said to be the first album by a solo artist to sell more than a million copies in the US.

Belafonte was married three times. He and his first wife Marguerite Byrd had two children, including actress-model Shari Belafonte. He also had two children with second wife Julia Robinson, a former dancer.

Companies give ‘fair chance hiring’ a shot

Close-up Of Person Hand Filling Criminal Background Check Application Form

by Kathryn Carley

 

Employers are increasingly using what’s known as “fair-chance hiring” to help the nearly 1 in 3 U.S. adults with criminal records gain access to living wage jobs.

Advocates for formerly incarcerated people said they are a motivated and skilled pool of workers who can add to the diversity and growth of a business while also helping alleviate a nationwide labor shortage.

Ken Oliver, executive director of the Checkr Foundation, said at least 37 states have implemented policies to remove arrest record history questions from job applications and delay background checks until later in the hiring process.

“So, really looking to hire the best person for the job,” Oliver explained. “And removing the barrier of the record rather than looking at the record as the deciding factor for a candidate.”

Oliver argued it is good for business and society. Prior to the pandemic, the estimated cost of employment losses among workers with criminal records was $65 billion per year in lost gross domestic product.

Formerly incarcerated people are unemployed at a rate of more than 27% percent. Oliver noted a bill under consideration in California would help improve the rate by banning most private employers from seeking a background check into a job candidate’s conviction history.

“So if a company posts a job on Indeed or LinkedIn, they now have to say these charges would preclude someone from applying for this particular job,” Oliver emphasized. “They couldn’t do it later after the fact.”

Oliver observed companies are looking for new talent during the current labor shortage, and improving their diversity and inclusion hiring practices. He added employers are learning to “unpack” a candidate’s story, and hire them not because of their record but because they are the best candidate for the job.

___________________________________________________

CA parent, youth helpline wins grant to continue for 2 more years

 

by Suzanne Potter

 

Just in time for Mental Health Awareness Month in May – the California Department of Social Services has provided a new grant to continue the California Parent & Youth Helpline for another two years, with an option for a third.

When kids, parents or caregivers call the helpline, they can speak with a trained counselor and sign up for a free evidence-based weekly support group.

Worried woman calling on phone sitting at home

Dr. Lisa Pion-Berlin is president and CEO of Parents Anonymous, which launched the helpline in 2020.

“On a weekly basis, we get people who feel suicidal, calling us,” said Pion-Berlin. “People who’ve been hurt in a serious crime, children who are afraid to talk to their parents about bullying or drugs at school.”

The helpline number is 855-427-2736. The website is at www.caparentyouthhelpline.org.

The helpline has translation services for 240 languages including American Sign Language.

Pion-Berlin said the helpline operates from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, but will stay open until 10 p.m. starting July 1.

“This is going to provide an opportunity for more parents to call after their children go to bed or they come back from work, as well as teens who are staying up late and reaching out for help,” said Pion-Berlin. “The helpline is staffed by caring, trained counselors to provide emotional support and linkages to other services appropriate.”

California is home to 9.3 million children.

According to the California Health Care Foundation, one in 14 children has some kind of emotional problem that limits his or her ability to function in school or at home, or to engage in day-to-day activities.

Lawsuit filed to strike down California’s ‘unconstitutional’ assisted suicide law

The case states that assisted suicide laws are situated within a long history of American state laws and practices which directly harm and discriminate against people with disabilities on the grounds that those peoples’ lives are not as worthy of protecting as others

 

by Alex Schadeberg

 

(Euthanasia Prevention Coalition) –– This is my first analysis of the court case that was launched on April 25, 2023 to have the California assisted suicide law declared unlawful and unconstitutional. Future articles will further explain the case. Euthanasia Prevention Coalition –USA supports this initiative.

A number of groups – The United Spinal Association, Not Dead Yet, Institute for Patients’ Rights, Communities Actively Living Independent and Free, Lonnie VanHook, and Ingrid Tischer – have launched a lawsuit in California to strike down the California assisted suicide law.

READ: California judge dismisses case seeking to expand state’s assisted suicide law

The suit has the goal of the case going to the United States Supreme Court to strike down assisted laws throughout the US.

“Physician-assisted suicide is not only a revival of old eugenic ideologies, it also violates federal disability rights laws and federal constitutional provisions which protect persons with disabilities from discrimination, exclusion, and life-threatening governmental laws and policies,” opens the suit.

The plaintiffs’ case claims that California’s assisted suicide act is a discriminatory scheme, creating a two-tiered medical system in which suicidal people receive radically different treatment responses from their physicians and protections from the state, depending on whether the person has what the physician deems to be a “terminal disease” — which, by definition, is a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The plaintiffs are either organizations with members who have disabilities, or individual persons with disabilities, as well as comprised of organizations that advocate for persons with disabilities.

READ: Attorney breaks COVID establishment’s ‘immunity defense’ in Remdesivir wrongful death case

The case states that assisted suicide laws are situated within a long history of American state laws and practices which directly harm and discriminate against people with disabilities on the grounds that those peoples’ lives are not as worthy of protecting as others.

It also states that California’s assisted suicide law steers vulnerable people to their deaths instead of providing care and supportive services.

Plaintiff United Spinal’s members with spinal cord injuries noted that at times they experience depression and suicidal thoughts as they must adjust to living with their disability after injury. Most people with life-threatening conditions who say that they want to die are actually asking for assistance in living — that is, for help in dealing with the symptoms and practical necessities common to living with a terminal disability.

The symptoms often include depression, anxiety about the future, grief, inadequate care options, dependence, lack of control, fear about physical suffering, and spiritual despair.

People with terminal disabilities are discriminated against, argues the suit, by depriving them of protections afforded other persons under California law. This is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 504”).

The State’s suicide prevention programs are designed to ensure that a person’s expression of suicidal ideation is sufficient in itself to trigger mental health care, irrespective of whether they want treatment. However, assisted suicide deprives Plaintiffs and their members access to these life-preserving interventions because of their disabilities, the case argues.

The case further states that the assisted suicide law violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by failing to include sufficient safeguards to ensure that a judgment-impaired or unduly influenced person does not receive and/or ingest lethal physician-assisted suicide drugs, without adequate due process in waiving their fundamental right to live.

The Act’s failure to require exhaustive, or at least some, evidence of an informed rejection of less restrictive alternatives to assisted suicide –– including suicide prevention services, palliative care, hospice care, and other personal support services currently provided by the State –– also violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The case is asking the court to declare the California assisted suicide act as unlawful and unconstitutional.

Reprinted with permission from Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

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