Saturday, September 5, 2026
Home Blog Page 441

Thieves are using “mystery gadgets” to unlock cars and steal what is inside

by Michael Snyder
American Dream

All over America, criminals are using improvised electronic devices to electronically unlock vehicles and steal whatever they find inside. These “mystery gadgets” reportedly recreate the same signals that the key fobs that so many of us carry around send out.

As you will see below, footage is popping up nationwide of thieves using these “mystery gadgets” to remotely unlock car doors and disable alarm systems. Once a car has been unlocked, it takes these thieves just a few moments to take what they want before leaving without a trace. This is now happening all over the country, and authorities do not know any way to prevent it from happening. For now, the most common piece of advice that police are giving to people is to not leave any valuables inside your vehicle at all.

When reports of this sort of crime first came out, even car manufacturers were totally stumped. Nobody could figure out how this was happening, and CNN startled a lot of people when they started reporting on this.

Police across the country are stumped by a rash of car thefts. In surveillance video of the thefts, criminals appear to open locked cars with a mysterious handheld device.

Nobody, not even the car manufacturers, knows how it works.

In Long Beach, Calif. The man walked up to the car, and used a small box to open it. Right next to him another man, also using a box, opens that car.

The problem is they’re thieves without keys. Now they’ve swiped all valuables from the cars.

In Chicago, it was the exact same scenario. A man by a sedan unlocked it without a key. The alarm was disabled by some mystery device.

Did you know that this was happening?

I certainly didn’t.

But it has apparently been going on all over the country.

For example, similar reports of “high-tech wireless thievery” have also been reported in New Jersey…

Police in Galloway Township, New Jersey are looking for the thieves who’ve been breaking into cars.

It’s happened about 30 times throughout the township, and this isn’t a matter of a bandit busting a window. This is high-tech wireless thievery.

In those cases, police believe that a device similar to the ones that CNN was describing was being used…

“These thieves are using some sort of RF [radio frequency] device, which is sending an electronic signal toward the vehicles, unlocking the vehicle and disabling the alarm as well, allowing the thieves to enter the vehicle and remove valuables without being detected,” said Detective Ryan Goehringer.

And check out what happened up in Canada just a few days ago…

Vicky Mackie and her friend are both certain she locked the doors of her 2013 Volkswagen Tiguan before going to a friend’s apartment.

“She confirmed that she heard me lock my door; we actually heard the alarm beep to confirm that,” said the Vancouver woman.

They were only gone for a couple of hours, but when they returned Mackie discovered that her car had been broken into – her phone and sunglasses missing, the papers in the front glove compartment scattered on the floor – in spite of there being no signs of forced entry.

Once again, police believe that a high tech “gadget” was involved. In fact, there are some that believe that one of these gadgets can be purchased online for as little as 5 dollars…

All indications point to a new device in the growing high-tech arsenal of car thieves, one that mimics a car’s keyless entry system, illegally unlocking any door with the push of a button. The gadget can reportedly be purchased online for as little as $5.

And this could only just be the beginning of a major high tech crime wave.

Thanks to all of the “technology” that is in our vehicles these days, they are potentially more vulnerable to hackers than ever.

According to ABC News, researchers have found that hacking into on board computers and remotely controlling vehicle behavior is not that hard to do…

The possibility of this even stranger and more dangerous crime is lurking on the horizon. Most modern cars use computers to control everything from engine compression to cruise control, airbags and brakes. Those computers communicate with each other on open networks.

Using an $80,000 grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), two researchers recently hacked the onboard computers of a Toyota Prius and a Ford Escape SUV. They made the Prius accelerate and brake, as well as jerk the wheel while traveling at high speeds.

They managed to turn the Ford’s steering wheel at low speeds and disable the brakes, which caused researcher Charlie Miller to drive the SUV into his garage and totally destroy his own lawnmower. This is the stuff of nightmares.

So could this kind of hacking have been involved in some of the very unusual “car accidents” that we have seen in recent years?

I am just asking the question.

Most people assume that all of this high technology that surrounds us these days is making us a lot safer. But that is not really the case at all.

As technology advances, so do the criminals. And if we are not aware of our vulnerabilities, we potentially become easy prey for those that would like to take advantage of us. Have you heard of these kinds of crimes happening in your own neck of the woods? Please feel free to share any stories that you may have by posting a comment below…

spot_img

McDonald’s frantically shuts down website from employer

by Jonathan Benson

The world’s most well-known fast food corporation is in damage control mode after an internal resource that the company created for its employees embarrassingly advised them to stop eating its own food offerings. CNN reports that the McDonald’s corporation officially shut down its so-called “McResource Line” after an official nutrition guide posted on the site warned McDonald’s employees that eating a burger, fries and a Coke — the staple meal at McDonald’s — is an “unhealthy choice” when it comes to food.

Originally developed for the purpose of helping McDonald’s employees take ownership of their own health through communication and education, the McResource Line, which draws its content from various third-party sources, was apparently a little bit too honest when it came to providing McDonald’s employees with nutrition advice. A photo feature displaying a cheeseburger meal like the kind sold at McDonald’s, labeled the “unhealthy choice,” was contrasted with a submarine sandwich, salad and water, labeled the “healthier choice,” an image that was later pulled by the company.

“We are temporarily performing some maintenance in order to provide you with the best experience possible,” read a new landing page posted not longer after McDonald’s officials caught wind of the inconvenient photo. “Please excuse us while these upgrades are being made,” it added humorously.

McResource Line offers disastrously inappropriate advice about how to tip your pool cleaner

Earlier in the year, the McResource Line was publicly ridiculed for several other major gaffes, including a budget-planning guide that was completely inappropriate for the average McDonald’s employee.

Besides failing to account for major living costs like food and gasoline, the guide contained references advising McDonald’s employees about how to properly tip a pool cleaner, a housekeeper and even an au pair, all extravagant services that most hourlywage McDonald’s employees would likely not have.

“A combination of factors has led us to reevaluate and we’ve directed the vendor to take down the website,” explained an official statement released by McDonald’s not long after the most recent faux pas. “Between links to irrelevant or outdated information, along with outside groups taking elements out of context, this created unwarranted scrutiny and inappropriate commentary. None of this helps our Mc- Donald’s team members.”

Virtually nothing in a typical McDonald’s value meal is a ‘healthy choice’

Nice try, McDonald’s, but the McResource Line was right about this one. A processed beef patty derived from feedlot cows topped with cheese-like substance and brominated white bread is hardly a healthy choice, no matter how you want to spin it after the fact. The same holds true for acrylamide-laden fries dripping in genetically modified (GM) soybean oil and a high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)-sweetened soft drink to wash it all down. There is nothing “outdated” or “irrelevant” about the fact that each of these food offerings is detrimental to health.

“In general, people with high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease must be very careful about choosing fast food because of its high fat, salt, and sugar levels,” reads the now-deleted warning to McDonald’s employees about the dangers of eating most of what McDonald’s sells at its restaurants.

These same foods, it stated, “may put people at risk for becoming overweight.”

spot_img

This is how you create jobs in the United States Part 3

by Marvin Ramirez

Marvin J. RamirezMarvin Ramirez

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: The following article is very meaningful in terms of protecting the United States from falling onto another totalitarian, Soviet-style dictatorship, and every American should know where our country is heading to. Americans, including Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, etc., have much to lose. This is the nation where most people came to grab the American dream, the right to have an education, own a place one can call home, have a job, and be happy. But all this is disappearing, because we have a government that doesn’t serve the interests of its own people, but rather those of foreign corporations’.

by Devvy Kidd
truther

“The measure of the wealth of a nation is indicated by the measure of its protection of its industry; the measure of the poverty of a nation is marked by the degree in which it neglects and abandons the care of its own industry, leaving it exposed to the action of foreign powers.” – Congressman Henry Clay, 1824.

In 2000, John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi killed our shot at getting out of the World Trade Organization. America has suffered greatly since and we will into the future if we don’t elect people to Congress who fully understand FREE TRADE DOES NOT WORK and get us out of all those “free” trade treaties. It has been killing us financially for almost 20 years. Outsourcing is the popular moniker for killing American jobs; you and I end up being raped in more taxes for this:

Job losses attributed to outsourcing

Feds give laid-off Boeing workers a big helping hand – August 1, 2013. “Local Boeing workers who’ve lost their jobs will receive substantial additional federal unemployment benefits after two unions at the company sought aid under a program for emdereployees laid off due to outsourcing and foreign trade. Thanks to a federal program lined up by their unions, local workers laid off during the current dip in employment at Boeing Commercial Airplanes will enjoy a financial cushion that’s much, much plumper than what the average unemployed state resident gets.

“Compared to what Joe Worker gets when they get laid off, our members have a pretty extensive safety net,” said Connie Kelliher, spokeswoman for the International Association of 1Machinists (IAM). The U.S. Department of Labor has approved Boeing workers — union or nonunion, production workers or engineers — laid off between April 2012 and June 2015 for a package of benefits that includes drawing unemployment pay for up to 2½ years, rather than the regular six months.”

Whores in the Outlaw Congress pass “free” trade treaties that kill American jobs then steal from you and me to give them extra financial perks without a scintilla of constitutional authority. I have nothing against Boeing workers. But, it is not my responsibility to pay your unemployment. That is a function of state legislatures under the Tenth Amendment. Congress destroys jobs then turns right around and unconstitutionally rapes us in more taxes to pay the very workers they caused to lose their jobs.

What does create good paying jobs for Americans? Not Congress and not a lawfully elected president. Consumer spending creates jobs and until the American people stop buying as much as possible junk from foreign countries, there will be no jobs except minimum wage or pushing paper for our mortal enemies like Communist China.

Go watch this short video (3:42 seconds): Million American Jobs Project – “By taking a fraction of our spending and buying US-made goods, we’ll create a economic tidal wave.”

Not “green” jobs which have unconstitutionally cost we the people hundreds of millions of dollars stolen from us and given to companies that had zero chance of making it. Yes, I am for conservation, but in a free market system, you don’t steal from we the people to give to individuals who make big political donations to presidential candidates or the whores in the Outlaw Congress. Want to create millions of jobs? Buy American made cars and SUVs, not Toyota, Nissan or other foreign brands. Purchasing from them continues to run up the trade deficit killing us. Please, understand how important that is to our economy. I own a Ford Escape Hybrid as does my daughter. We’ve both had two of that model. The best vehicle I’ve ever owned. Sadly, there will be no more.

That hybrid was discontinued Dec. 31st last year. Not enough Americans would invest in American jobs and a super fine product.

I get so sick of saying you can’t find Made in USA. Not true. In the Made in USA section on my web site you will find web site for thousands and thousands of products made right here. I keep adding as companies contact me. Those companies want your business. I buy from the list 90 percent of the time I need to purchase something. If I can’t find Made in America, I go without as I have done since 1994 when NAFTA was shoved down the throats of a disinterested nation. I am ever so pleased things are beginning to turn around:

‘Made in the USA’ Making a Come-back  (March 2013)

“A curious thing is happening among American shoppers. More people are taking a moment to flip over an item or fish for a label and ask, is it “Made in the USA?”

“Walmart (WMT), the nation’s largest retailer, earlier this year announced it will boost sourcing of U.S. products by $50 billion during the next 10 years. General Electric (GE) is investing $1 billion through 2014 to revitalize its U.S. appliances business and create more than 1,500 U.S. jobs.

“Mom-and-pops are also engineering entire business strategies devoted to locally made goods – everything from toys to housewares. And it’s not simply patriotism and desire for perceived safer products which are altering shopping habits.

“The recession, and still flat recovery for many Americans, have created a painful realization. All those cheap goods made in China and elsewhere come at a price — lost U.S. manufacturing jobs. A growing pocket of consumers, in fact, are connecting the economic dots between their shopping carts – brimming with foreign-made stuff — and America’s future.”

NEXT WEEK JOB LOSES ATTRIBUTED TO OUT SOURCES

spot_img

Genetic weapons – can your DNA kill you?

by Janet C. Phelan
Activist Post

It is a scene out of a futuristic political thriller—the Secretary of State issues secret orders for embassy officials to collect the DNA of foreign heads of state while the President, speaking at a $1,000 a plate dinner, is surrounded by a contingent of Secret Service agents wiping clean his drinking glasses and picking up stray hair follicles. They are not just protecting the President—they are protecting the President’s DNA.

If this sounds like a script treatment for a Hollywood version of a Philip K. Dick novel, consider this: The Secretary of State’s name is Hillary Clinton and her directives to embassies were uncovered in a 2010 WikiLeaks cable release. The President in this scenario is Barack Obama and the Secret Service unit pledged to protect his DNA is a group of Navy stewards, as revealed in the 2009 book by Ronald Kessler, entitled In the President’s Secret Service.

Our government’s DNA obsession was again in the news on June 2013 as the Supreme Court handed down a decision, worthy of penning by George Orwell, that law enforcement collection of arrestees’ DNA is not an invasion of privacy. The decision likened DNA to fingerprints, neatly sidestepping the fact that a person’s complete genetic makeup is contained in those drops of blood that the police can now collect with impunity and without fear of a civil rights lawsuit.

Beyond the obvious concerns that this decision violates both the Fourth Amendment and the subsequent exclusionary rule, there are deeper concerns as to why our government is so keen on collecting our DNA.

The stated aim of furthering crime solution becomes tinny when one realizes that the government is also collecting the DNA of newborns. President Bush signed

The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007, which formally codified the process that the federal government has been engaged in for years, screening the DNA of all newborn babies in the U.S.

Since we are not yet threatened with the specter of toddlers robbing banks, one must look further to discern what is the big deal about our DNA.

Back in 1997, Dr. Wayne Nathanson warned a meeting of the Science and Ethics Department of the Medical Society of the United Kingdom that “gene therapy” might be turned to insidious uses and result in “gene weapons,” which could be used to target specific people containing a specific genetic structure. These weapons “could be delivered not only in the forms already seen in warfare such as gas and aerosol, but could also be added to water supplies, causing not only death but sterility and birth defects in targeted groups.”

Decades before this 3warning, the U.S. Government was already hard at work in scientific endeavors to find gene and ethnic specific weapons. In an article entitled “Ethnic Weapons,” published in the Military Review in 1970, the author, Dr. Carl A. Larson, was found rhapsodizing about the state of technology facilitating the targeting of ethnic groups with covert weapons. Wrote Larson: “Surrounded with clouds of secrecy, a systematic search for new incapacitating agents is going on in many laboratories.”

Changing his tone, he writes that “It is quite possible to use incapacitating agents over the entire range of offensive operations, from covert activities to mass destruction.”

Larson concludes with: “The enzymatic process for DNA production has been known for some years but now the factors have been revealed which regulate the initiation and specificity of enzyme production. Not only have the factors been found, but their inhibitors. Thus, the functions of life lie bare to attack.” (emphasis added)

Dr. Wouter Basson’s research for Project Coast, the biological and chemical warfare unit under the apartheid government in South Africa, was known to be focused on developing a “blacks only” bioweapon. Basson, who was tied to intelligence facilities and labs in both Great Britain and the U.S., has been reported to have been successful in his endeavors, which were taking place back in the seventies. His research would have entailed locating substances which would attach onto melanin, which is present in high degrees in darker colored skin.

Since Basson’s work on the melanin project, the rates of hypertension and diabetes have skyrocketed in people of color—specifically those of African descent and indigenous, brown skinned populations. In some communities, the incidence of these diseases is now reported as up to 50 percent. Consonant with the reports that this substance has been leaked into processed food, the spiking rates of the “silent killers,” hypertension and diabetes, are present in the developed world, where people eat more processed food. In rural Africa, for example, where the population eats food from natural sources, the rates of diabetes and hypertension have remained constant.

Geneticists have maintained that developing an ethnic weapon is actually far more difficult than creating a gene weapon to target a specific person. The differences between groups are apparently much smaller than the differences between individuals and therefore the creation of a genetic weapon to target, for example, a head of state or a President is far less challenging than creating such a weapon to target an entire race.

The FBI admits to a database of around 13 million offenders, many only arrested and never charged with a crime. According to Twila Brase, President of Citizens Council for Health

spot_img

Brazilian balladeer Nelson Ned dies

by the El Reportero’s news services

Nelson NedNelson Ned

Brazilian religious and ballad singer Nelson Ned died Sunday in a hospital in Cotia, a city in the Sao Paulo metropolitan area, from a serious bout of pneumonia, health officials said. He was 66.

He died of “clinical complications” of the pneumonia and bladder problems, the Sao Paulo state Health Secretariat’s press office said.

The artist, who had been living in a nursing home in Cotia since Dec. 24, had been admitted on Saturday night to the city’s regional hospital.

“The Little Giant of Song” – so called because he was just 1.12 meters (3 feet 8 inches) tall – emerged in the 1960s as one of Brazil’s most famous romantic performers and his international success came with the recording of several albums in Spanish.

A musical idol in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia, among other nations, Ned had experienced health problems in recent years, but his situation worsened in 2003 when he suffered a stroke.

As a consequence of the stroke, the singer of “Todo pasara” became blind in his right eye and had to move around by wheelchair. He also suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure and early phase Alzheimer’s.

After a life of excess, in the 1990s Ned converted to evangelical Protestantism and thereafter made a career performing religious music in Portuguese and Spanish.

Ned, who sold 45 million albums worldwide, was the first Latin American artist to sell more than 1 million albums in the U.S. market, where he took the stage along with Julio Iglesias and Tony Bennett, and where he sang on three occasions to a sold-out Carnegie Hall in New York.

“Women in Film” to be Theme of 2014 Paraguay International Film Festival

The 2014 edition of the Paraguay International Film Festival will focus on the theme “Women in Film,” looking at the problems women face in different parts of the world, organizers said.

The festival, which will open for its 23rd edition in September, will host a series of talks and debates on the issues addressed by the films screened during the event, festival director and founder DaríoHugo Gamarra told Efe.

“The festival will draw attention and have a public debate on some of the serious problems faced by women in our country and other countries, such as domestic violence, discrimination (and) sexual exploitation, among others,” Gamarra said.

The festival, whose film screenings have not yet been determined, expects to work with the U.N. Women’s Program in Paraguay and government agencies, such as the Women’s Secretariat and the National Culture Secretariat, in developing its program, Gamarra said.

First prize at the festival will carry a cash award of $2,000 and publication of the screenplay, with the screenplays of the other finalists also receiving a publication guarantee.

The festival, organized by the Fundacion Cinemateca del Paraguay, has been sponsored by the City of Asuncion since 2013.

Innocents’ Day Joke Annoys Eva Longoria

Eva Longoria was obviously irritated by a joke that said the actress would play, among other roles, the mother of Cuban actor William Levy in a telenovela on Televisa.

Though the supposed news story turned out to be a joke, the actress apparently did not take it that way, judging by her indignant rebuttal on Twitter, in which she denied the report.

“Latin Post IS responsible for inaccuracies! U should check ur sources Melissa Castellanos before printing. And now REPRINTING! Idiots,” the actress wrote on her official Twitter account.

Longoria was talking about several local media outlets that published news stories echoing the original joke, which spoke of a contract for her to make several telenovelas in Spanish with Televisa, a company headed by Jose Baston, said by showbiz reporters to be her new boyfriend.

According to the gossip, Longoria would play the part of the wicked Maria Rubio in a new version of the telenovela “Cuna de Lobos.”

“How can people make stuff and print it? Not one word of this is true! Even has fake quotes from me!” complained the Texan actress, who won fame in the TV series “Desperate Housewives.”

spot_img

Poetry and song in SF-honoring Rubén Darío

Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff

147th anniversary of Rubén Darío.Rubén Darío

Opening the door to a new year, a group of poets and reciters will be celebrating the 147th birth date of the Prince of Letters, the great poet, Rubén Darío. This important celebration will be conducted by the poetic directive of Luis Echegoyén and musically led by Enoc Jérez, and it will have open mic for the audience. There will be Nicaraguan appetizers. The event will take place from on Jan. 19, from 1 – 4 p.m., at the Lelenitas Cakes, at 3743 Mission Street, San Francisco. For more info please call at 415-871-4613.

On Jan. 24-Feb. 8, 2014, Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sundays at 6 p.m. (Please note showtimes Sat, Feb 8 are 4 p.m. & 7 p.m.) Advance tickets are available at www.brownpapertickets.com, or 1800-838-3006.

SamTrans Pilots Reduced Day Pass Pricing

Additional Fare Incentives Aimed At Boosting Ridership

New fare changes designed to increase ridership on SamTrans took effect this week.

Approved in October by the SamTrans Board of Directors, the following fare changes were implemented beginning Jan. 1:

– Reduced the price of the SamTrans Day Pass to two-and-a-half times the one-way cash fare for up to 18 months. The Day Pass was formerly three times the one-way cash fare. This provides customers who ride three or more buses a day with a discount compared to paying cash. Information at www.samtrans.com/daypass.

– Established an annual pass for purchase by housing complexes and businesses. Participating property managers and employers pay a set price per eligible resident (five years and older) or employee (working 20+ hours a week.) The pass costs $115 this year and will increase to $125 in 2015. Minimum participation is 100 users. Information at www.samtrans.com/faretypes.

– 20 percent discount for groups of 25 or more people who pre-purchase tickets. Information at www.samtrans.com/grouptravel.

Develop Your Resume and Cover letter writing skills

The Berkeley Public Library hosts a Resume and Cover Letter – Workshop on Monday January 27, 2014, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in the 3rd Floor Community Meeting Room of the Central Library, 2090 Kittredge Street.

This free workshop is led by resume expert Marilyn Tullius from Delta Strategies for Marketing. She will address how to handle gaps in employment, focusing the resume for specific jobs, common dilemmas in resume writing; as well as answer individual questions.

Attendees should bring copies of their current resume and cover letter for review and advice in a small group discussion setting. The dates for the Resume and Cover Letter Workshop are: January 27, February 24, March 24, April 28, Tuesday May 27, ( due to May 26th being Memorial Day) and June 23, 2014.

SFJAZZ & SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director and seven-time Grammy nominee, John Santos

Don’t miss this one!

SFJAZZ & SFJAZZ informaciónResident Artistic Director and seven-time Grammy nominee, John Santos present: Un Danzon pa’ Cachao, Una Descarga pa’ Walfredo.

Two historic concerts honoring two giants of Cuban music: Israel López “Cachao” and Walfredo de Los Reyes featuring

The John Santos Sextet: Dr. John Calloway, Melecio Magdaluyo, Saúl Sierra, Marco Díaz, David Flores. With special guests Walfredo de Los Reyes, Orestes Vilató, Paquito D’Rivera, Anthony Blea and the Classical Revolution String Trio, and Javier Navarrette.

On Saturday, Jan. 18, at 7:30 p.m. (There will be a brief post-concert talk by John and his special guests on Saturday) and Sunday, Jan. 19, 7 p.m., at the gorgeous new SFJAZZ Center, 201 Franklin at Fell St., San Francisco. http://www.sfjazz.org. 866-920-5299.

spot_img

Boxing

The Sport of Gentlemen

Boxing” de Molina

Saturday, January 25 – Washington, District of Columbia (SHOWTIME) –

Light welterweights: Lamont Peterson (31-2-1, 16 KOs) vs. Dierry Jean (25-0, 17 KOs).

Saturday, February 1 – Monte Carlo, Monaco –

Middleweights: Gennady Golovkin (28-0, 25 KOs) vs. Osumanu Adama (22-3, 16 KOs).

Saturday, February 15 – Los Angeles, California –

Featherweights: Jhonny Gonzalez (55-8, 47 KOs) vs. Abner Mares (26-1-1, 14 KOs).

spot_img

“They call us illegal:” Fast-food workers face silence raids

Protesters demand respect for undocumented workers.(PHOTOS BY DAVID BACON)

by David Bacon, Truthout

OAKLAND, CA (11/23/13) — Since the Golden Arches rose above the first southern California drive-ins, workers have labored in their shadows for the lowest legal wage a boss can pay. Other fast food chains have mushroomed since, copying the same ideas. Pay workers the least possible. Keep them guessing from week to week how many hours they’ll get. If anyone gets upset, there are always many more people on the street, ready to step behind the counter, clean up the dirty tables, or stand at the grill in the heat and smoke.

Is it a surprise that many people in those jobs came to this country to feed their hungry children, or give a future to those they left behind? People will put up with a lot when they’re hungry enough. They’ll take ibuprofen to get through the shift, or line up for food at the local food pantry at the end of the month, because their paychecks won’t stretch that far. All to keep that job.

These days many of those workers have heard about strikes and work stoppages. The word is out about protests asking for $15 an hour instead of the $8 minimum.

So fast food chains are finally discovering what building service contractors and garment sweatshops have known for years. They’ve “suddenly realized” their workers are immigrants, and maybe some don’t have good immigration papers. By asking for papers, and firing those that can’t come up with good ones, the restaurants imagine they’ll restore the previous willingness of workers to accept the minimum, no questions asked.

Is that what happened at Jack in the Box in Oakland? Did the corporate office simply decide that the time had come to give workers a good scare? And did the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency of the Department of Homeland Security help them? It wouldn’t be the first time.

In each of the last five years ICE has audited the records of over 2000 employers, ordering them to fire undocumented workers. The mass firings include thousands of janitors and sewing machine operators, as well as workers in farms, factories and meatpacking plants. Now these so-called “silent raids” have arrived at fast food joints, just in time to scare workers as they stage more walkouts and protests.

The government says forcing bosses to fire workers is more humane than deporting them. Instead of mounting the kind of factory raids immigration authorities did a few years ago, with black-clad agents carrying machine guns, ICE now says it uses this “softer” method. It has an electronic system to find and fire the undocumented – a database called E-Verify.

ICE says it targets employers who pay workers substandard wages or force them to endure intolerable working conditions. But curing intolerable conditions by firing or deporting workers doesn’t help the workers. And in the fast food restaurants, the conditions don’t change just because people get fired for not having good papers.

Beneath the benevolent-sounding rhetoric is a whispered subtext as well. If “those people” without papers can’t work, they’ll leave. But no one is heading for Mexico. People stay, but instead they lose homes and pull their kids from school, while looking for work on street corners or cleaning other peoples’ homes.

In 1999 unions said they would try to put a stop to this. At the AFL-CIO convention, they said they’d help immigrant workers get organized to raise wages and make conditions better. Unions would campaign to repeal the law, called “employer sanctions,” that makes it a crime for someone without papers to hold a job to support his or her family. But today Congress is debating laws that would make these firings even more widespread, and criminalize people even more. These bills come from both the Tea Party and mainstream Democrats, who see no problem in firing workers for not having papers.

But Maria Saucedo and Diana Rivera are not invisible, nor are they willing to be quiet. Both were fired recently at Jack in the Box in Oakland for not having papers. Their experiences are a reality check — the reality of the “silent raid” and its human cost. Today communities and unions are starting to see that the future could change in fast food restaurants because of the willingness of these two women, and others like them, to stand up and ask for that $15 wage.

But the organizations that support them have to answer their question: Is it just, to get fired because you don’t have papers? Doesn’t everyone have the right to put food on the table for their families?

I was working 35, sometimes 39 hours a week, and only taking home $500 every two weeks. So if they take away four or five hours it has a big impact. I can’t even pay the rent and our bills with what I make. Plus, I have to send money to my daughters. Sometimes I get to the end of the month and I don’t have enough money to buy food. I have to decide which bills I can pay or only pay part of them. I go to the food pantry on 98th Avenue to get food then, because I don’t have enough money to buy it.

They’d been shorting me on my check for weeks.

My last check should have been for 40 hours, and instead they only paid me for 21. I told her that if she was firing me she had to pay me the hours they owed. I told her “You know my rights — you can’t fire me without paying all you owe me.” She said she didn’t have any money available for that, and I still haven’t been paid.

Every day on the table where we put our lunch we have cans of Red Bull. Instead of drinking soda lots of people drink it so they can get the strength to keep on working. People take aspirin also for the pain. There was one young man who would take Advil with caffeine with his Red Bull, as a way to keep awake while he was working at night.

I take Herbalife that also has caffeine to get the energy to keep working. I take Ibuprofen and Advil for the pain, especially for the headaches I get because of the pressure and for the aches in my feet. If you’re working on the grill, in the heat, you have to take pills for the pain you get in your hands there too. – Due to the lack of space, this article was cut in half. Here’s the link to the entire article: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/20289-theycall-us-illegal-fast-foodworkers-face-silent-raids.

spot_img

Peña Nieto secures landmark reforme but challenges lie ahead

by the El Reportero’s wire services

Enrique Peña NietoEnrique Peña Nieto

In a coruscating climax to the political year, President Enrique Peña Nieto won approval for probably the most significant reform in Mexico’s modern history. To push through an energy reform, entailing amendments to sacrosanct constitutional articles at the heart of the Mexican Revolution and ending the 75-year monopoly of the state oil company Pemex, just one year after he took office is a remarkable feat.

The left-wing Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) was powerless to prevent the bill’s passage through congress at both a federal and state level, but it is adamant that it has merely lost a battle and not the war. It is simultaneously challenging the reform before the supreme court and pushing for a referendum to be held on it in 2015. In the meantime Peña Nieto will need to get secondary legislation through congress to enact the reform and convince potential private investors in the oil sector not to be deterred by judicial uncertainty.

Once supportive Latinos turning backing on President and Affordable Care Act

They were among President Obama’s best supporters, but support for the president and his signature health insurance scheme is quickly dying among Hispanics.

A recent Gallup poll showed Obama’s approval rating among Hispanic down 23 percent, to 52 percent in November from 75 percent in December 2012.

“Hispanics’ approval ratings of Obama have shown the most variation of any group’s ratings throughout his presidency,” the pollsters said when they released their report Dec. 5. “That means their views of him are less firmly anchored than those of other groups, which may help explain why their opinions of the president soured more than any other group’s in recent months.”

That’s not good news for the president, who is in desperate need of Hispanic support for the Affordable Care Act. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation report found that Hispanics account for 32 percent of the nation’s non-elderly uninsured population — just the group he needs to buy into Obamacare to make it a success.

Highly Respected Colombian Journalist Antonio Jose Caballero

Colombian journalist Antonio Jose Caballero, who covered assorted incidents involving late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and was an expert on Vatican issues, died Tuesday in Bogota, RCN Radio – for which he worked – reported. He was 68. Caballero, an excellent and widely respected reporter, died in the Clinica del Country of an illness that had afflicted him for some time, the medical center said in a communique.

Born in Santander de Quilichao, in southwestern Cauca province, Caballero studied at Madrid’s Complutense University and at Italy’s RAI Television Directorate, after which he returned to Colombia, where he worked for some of the country’s most important media outlets.

Cuban Woman Arrives in US to Donate Bone Marrow to Sister in Miami

A Cuban woman finally arrived in Miami to donate bone marrow to a sister suffering from leukemia, after a month of uncertainty due to U.S. authorities’ initial rejection of her visa request, El Nuevo Herald newspaper said Tuesday. The emotional meeting of Alina Ortega Reyes and her ailing sister, Damay Ortega, took place Monday night at Miami International Airport. The visa is “the best gift of my life,” Alina, 47, said upon arriving in Miami, El Nuevo Herald reported.

spot_img

This is how you create jobs in the United States Part 2

by Marvin Ramirez

Marvin J. RamirezMarvin Ramirez

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: The following article by Devvy Kidd, is very alarming in showing where our country is heading to, and China is shown as destroying the U.S. Americans, including Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, etc., have much to lose. People came to this nation for liberty and opportunities to grab a piece of the American dream – the right to have an education, own a place one can call home, have a job, and be happy. But all of that seems to be disappearing, in part because we have a government that doesn’t serve the interests of its own people, but rather those of foreign corporations.’ However, you, the reader be the judge. – Due to its length, it will be published in several parts. PART 1.

This is how you create jobs in America

by Devvy Kidd
truther

“The measure of the wealth of a nation is indicated by the measure of its protection of its industry; the measure of the poverty of a nation is marked by the degree in which it neglects and abandons the care of its own industry, leaving it exposed to the action of foreign powers.” Congressman Henry Clay, 1824

I’m one of those who fought against NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement (No American Factories Taking Jobs) because so many of us knew what was going to happen: the total gutting of our most important job sectors which provided good jobs, good pay and job security. Here we are 20 years down the road with massive trade imbalances, MILLIONS of jobs lost – all for cheap labor for corporations who dumped on American workers. What a bargain. Cheap, you say? Go to Macy’s or other department stores like Sears or Neiman Marcus and compare some rag on the hanger from commie China, commie Hong Kong or Bangladesh. It is equal to or MORE than the same or similar garment made here in America. Go ahead and compare, I have. Maybe you can get some sweats or tees at China (Wal) Mart cheaper, but either we support America first or we will not survive.

We continue to see recalls of products from China. Gifts from the East. Seafood full of dangerous antibiotics. Toothpaste tainted with, love this one – an ingredient in antifreeze. Automobile tires missing a key safety 1component. Years ago it was toys from China slicked with a date rape drug.

Of course, there’s no malice or intent by the companies in China, a Godless, communist country, putting a date rape drug in toys to be sold in America. It’s all just a mistake, not enough ‘quality control.’ Right. That factory making toys for children in America and somehow large quantities of a date rape drug just happens to be in the work area where toys are being mass-produced? Let’s not forget the million or so dogs and cats skinned ALIVE by “businessmen” in China every year who take the fur and put it in sweaters, parkas and doll clothes which gets shipped and sold illegally here in the U.S. The next time you buy a $75 dollar sweater, a $250.00 ski parka or doll clothes for a Christmas gift from China, there’s a good chance it has dog or cat fur from a poor little creature skinned alive. Don’t believe those labels because they’re lying.

How about dangerous prescription drugs being consumed by you or your family?

* Chinese Chemieconomy. Both are more intertwined than many realize.

Simply put, the less we make in our nation, the more the government must borrow to try to sustain spending. The trade deficit leads to national insolvency.

“Yet, the opposite is true, too: the MORE we make in our nation, the less the government has to borrow.

When we buy more of what our people make, we put them to work without the government needing to spend on a stimulus plan. Those folks get off of welfare (less government spending), start paying taxes (reducing the budget deficit) and have the opportunity to at least have a shot at what it is supposed to mean to be American.

“Even a small move would make a tremendous difference. If, for instance, 10 percent of our people would shift one or two purchases a month to Made in USA, it would create hundreds of thousands of jobs! However, if we took it to the next level, we would really heal this great nation and stop the decline!”

Todd also wrote this absolute truth two months ago: Federal Debt and Trade Deficit are Intertwined

“As the battle over the Washington’s budget deficit heats up again, it is timely to point out that even a partial solution to the trade deficit would be a huge source of government revenue without raising taxes. Presently, the billions of dollars that leave our economy daily mean not only fewer jobs at USA factories and their suppliers, but also much less tax revenue collected at every level of government.

“For example, if a factory that employs 10,000 Americans moves to Asia, we’re not just putting Americans out of work. We’re also losing all the taxes those employees would have paid, those the workers at their suppliers would have paid, and so on. That web of economic activity not only disappears, but so do the tax revenues that would have been collected!

“Thus, the more that is Made in USA, the more tax revenue the government collects. Indeed, the correlation between the rise of the budget deficit (excluding Social Security transfers) and the trade deficit since 1970 is very tight. We not only vote USA when we purchase Made in USA, we add tax revenue to the government without raising taxes!”

The impostor in the White House is pushing like the Devil he is to finally destroy this country through a very secretive trade treaty.

Make no mistake: Dirty Harry Reid and the other traitors in the U.S. Senate and likely John Boehner who has given Barry Soetoro aka Obama everything he’s wanted in trade treaties the past few years selling out his constituents in Ohio as well as the rest of America, will be happy to hand that Marxist what he wants: Obama’s Super Secret Treaty Which Will Push The Deindustrialization Of America Into Overdrive – Trans-Pacific Partnership. So secret most members of the Outlaw Congress can’t even look at the language.

“Did you know that Barack Obama has been secretly negotiating the most important trade agreement since the formation of the World Trade Organization?

Did you know that this agreement will impose very strict Internet copyright rules, ban all “Buy American” laws, give Wall Street banks much more freedom to trade risky derivatives and force even more domestic manufacturing offshore?

If you have not heard about this treaty, don’t feel bad. Obama has refused to even give Congress a copy of the draft agreement and he has banned members of Congress from attending the negotiations. The plan is to keep this treaty secret until the very last minute and then to railroad it through Congress and have it signed into law by October.”

The only thing that’s stopped Comrade Obama is the massive catastrophe called Obamacare. The U.S. House will be in their districts Nov. 22nd – Dec. 2nd and then Dec. 14th – Dec. 31st. Likely the Senate will be gone the same days on our dime. Not only bring down the house over Obamacare, but tell he/she they will not survive their primary next year if they vote for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. All the house is up for reelection, but only 1/3rd of the dirt bag senate, so check to see if your senator is Class II – they’re the ones to target.

Let me remind Americans under the age of 40: Full page ad, NY Times, April 15, 1994: 1944. Bretton Woods: The IMF and the World Bank. 1945. San Francisco: The United Nations. 1994, Marrakech: The World Trade Organization. History knows where it’s going. The final act of the Uruguay Round….to the WTO, the third pillar of the New World Order, along 2043with the UN and the IMF.” Henry Kissinger, a tried and true traitor and Soviet agent recently said when asked the most important role Marxist Obama can play regarding the middle East: “Obama can give a new impetus to American foreign policy….his task is to step forward to create a new world.”

spot_img