Nicolas Bearde’s China debut performance wll be at the Beijing National Theatre on May 28, with sax legend Vincent Herring. Bassist and promoter for this event, Peng Ji, one of the new generation of Chinese Jazz musicians, received his degree in Jazz bass performance in the Netherlands, and his MA degree from Queens College in New York.
He has also studied with legendary musicians Ron Carter and Antonio Hart, and performed with James Moody, George Cable, Don Braden and the like. The group also includes, pianist, Moreno Donadel, drummer, Anthony Vanacore and vocalist, Paulette McWilliams.
We wish Nicolas Bearde much enjoyment on his next new adventures in this part of the world.
N’Kenge enchants Broadway Musical Audiences around the world
Recently we had the pleasure of a personal interview with N’Kenge, one of the most accomplished musical artists of this century. Her accomplishments are too numerous to mention. First opera singer to win the Lena Horne Vocal Competition, first opera singer to win the New York State talented teen, starred in the world tour of Man in the Mirror Tribute Show to Michael Jackson, starred on West End London in the production of the Genius of Ray Charles, was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for outstanding lead actress in arena stage’s production of 3 Mo Divas, she sang for Obama, Kofi Annan, Bill Clinton, did 140 shows in 2014 alone and received a proclamation from New York City Hall for her community work. Oh, she sings in 11 different languages. So it is a genuine honor to have her give us a personal interview. Enjoy!
What are your favorite upcoming projects?
I’ve started rehearsals this week for The Golden Apple musical which will be performed next month in the encore series at New York City Center. I’m excited to play the principal role of Mother Hare that doubles as Circe.
This summer will be filled with some exciting projects. In June, I will play the role of Tonya in a Showcase of the Broadway bound “54 The Musical.”
I also join Maestro Steve Reineke and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the concert Sophisticated Ladies/Ella Fitzgerald at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
What were your favorite performances?
Probably a combination of making my debut as Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème at Virginia Opera and originating the role of Mary Wells in the Broadway’s MOTOWN: The Musical.
How did you get started in the entertainment industry?
I started singing at 10 years old at my elementary school in the Bronx PS 95. I landed the role of Patty in Snoopy,the Musical, and I got the music bug. All I ever wanted to do from that time onward was to sing and to make people happy through my music. I got a scholarship to get my Bachelor’s Degree at the Manhattan School of Music and a Master’s Degree at the Juilliard School. I was immediately singing with New York City Opera, Virginia Opera, and Seattle Opera once I graduated. Then I got cast in a show called 3 Mo Divas about opera singers who can sing in eight styles of music. That was the show that transitioned me into the Musical Theater and Pop World.
You have classical training, do you miss performing classical music or do you still work on it?
I still perform classical music with symphonies around the world and was the lead in a Wagner Opera during a vacation break from MOTOWN: The Musical, on Broadway. Probably the first and last time I would ever perform Wagner immediately after doing an eight show week of Motown music. Ha, ha.
When did you realize you wanted to become a singer / performer?
At 10 years old. My fifth grade teacher gave me a chance to perform on stage, and I’ve been addicted ever since. My mom was a huge supporter and was giving me every opportunity to perform – once she realized I had this gift.
Do you have advice for any young people who dream to become singers.
Turning dreams into reality comes with a recipe of hard work, perseverance and passion. Stay focused and develop a circle of people that will support you. Music is a hard career to break into, but if it’s what you LOVE then every step of your journey is worth it.
N’Kenge is such an amazing woman, such an amazing artist, and a genuine role model for kids all around the world. Learn more about her on her website: www.nkengemusic.com
PERFORMANCE LINKS
FEVER- LIVE ON WEST END, LONDON in The Genius of Ray Charles
“DEFYING GRAVITY” AT IWF- Performed by N’Kenge
SKYFALL at the Legendary BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB in NYC
Headliners Include Terri Lyne Carrington, Madison McFerrin,
Bob Dorough, Jeff Bradshaw, Jaguar Wright,
Orrin Evans, Gerald Veasley, and more
Philadelphia Jazz Festval 2017
The Bynum Brothers–Robert and Ben Bynum, creators of popular restaurants/jazz venues including SOUTH, Paris Bistro, RELISH, Warmdaddy’s, as well as the former internationally recognized Zanzibar Blue–are proud to announce, in conjunction with Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, The Philadelphia Jazz Festival. The Festival, which will be presented as part of Jazz Appreciation Month, is set to take place in multiple venues across the city from Sunday, April 23 through Sunday, April 30.
The Bynum Brothers, have created a new non-profit organization whose mission is to support local, national, and internationally recognized artists. The festival will strive to create an impactful annual event that will resonate throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and to preserve and promote the emblematic jazz history of Philadelphia. “We support Philadelphia’s diverse pool of musicians 52 weeks a year in four different locations across the city,” explains Robert Bynum. “This Philadelphia Jazz Festival, along with the PJE, is about strengthening the fabric of our community and cultivating future generations of fans, artists, and jazz admirers.”
In their inaugural year, the Philadelphia Jazz Festival will present a comprehensive mix of artists across a broad musical spectrum. Multiple Grammy® Award-winning drummer and composer Terri Lyne Carrington; Madison McFerrin, daughter of Bobby McFerrin; original member of thefamed Saturday Night Live band Steve Turre; 93-year-old pianist/singer/composer Bob Dorough, and others will perform throughout the week while locals includingLil John Roberts, Jeff Bradshaw, and Jaguar Wright are also set to appear. The Philadelphia Jazz Festival will support the return engagement of esteemed alumnus and newly signed Mack Avenue Records recording artist Joey DeFrancesco (who recently received a star on the Philadelphia Walk of Fame) as part of a local All-Star band, Randy Brecker, E-Lew(Eric Lewis), and others. Pianist Orrin Evans and bassist Gerald Veasley, both of whom helped launch a pair of weekly series at SOUTH, are also slated to perform.
While the music certainly stands on its own, the Festival will also offer an important Education & Outreach component with several events throughout the week. Partnered with organizations such as the Kimmel Center, Jazz Lives Philadelphia, and Jazz Journeys, youths and seniors have been invited to attend a “Meeting with the Masters” program, various meet and greets, discussions, luncheons, and more with artists like Leon Jordon Sr., Orrin Evans, and Gerald Veasley. The Festival will have a strong charity component targeting the Food Connect Group, Big Brothers and Big Sisters and the North Broad Street Renaissance as beneficiaries of this year’s festival.
The Festival’s partnerships include the following venues: SOUTH, Chris’ Jazz Club, World Café Live, Warmdaddy’s, RELISH, The Philadelphia Clef Club, The Paris Bistro, Ardmore Music Hall, and the new Michael Nutter Theater at the Philadelphia Convention Center amongst others. Sponsors and supporters for the festival include Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, PECO, Stella Artois, Brown Foreman, Promixo Beverage, Penn Beer, Breakthru Beverage, Southern Wines & Spirits, among others.
It is a fact that meditation will help us lower high blood pressure. Lie down or sit with a straight spine. Get comfortable and listen to this wonderful music.
One of our favorite tuning services is Amplifield out of Marin County, California.
Amplifield.com has been founded by Jason Todd. It is such a valuable service.
You can attend classes, purchase seminars, or join like-minded people to meditate with you, or even support your mediation or you can support others’ intentions.
How are people who spend between 30% to over 50% of their salaries afford $14,900 for health insurance, the co payments and the medicine, should they be unlucky enough to fall ill? The budget committee suggested that merely 24 Million will loose health care, we venture to guess that it will be many more, since being driven out of your home at a late age, will undoubtedly cause stress related illness for the partner who has to relay this sad fact to their ill spouse. Loosing the family home with nowhere to go is a cruel situation to impose on older people. It is embarrassing to have leaders who call themselves leaders who can’t see how horribly uncivilized the mere suggestion of this actually is.
So shocking that the GOP wants to force older people to choose between providing health care for their loves ones, or staying in their home. Becoming homeless will hurt the elderly, so it seems that the GOP is knowingly trying to allowing people suffer from loosing their home and destabilize their lives so they can pay for a $883 Billion dollar tax cut for the hyper wealthy.
This is the behavior we could expect from Russian Oligarchs. This is not part of civilized Western or Asian thinking. So what does this mean in terms of the stability of the civilized world?
Will Americans and by extension Europeans allow puppets of the Russian Oligarchy take over the West?
Tillerson sidelined and replaced by two financial oligarchs who are working for their personal and family’s fortunes and Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster who is meant to be a National Security Advisor. If he is an advisor why is the Secretary of State sidelined? What is their agenda?
So the US is now run by Real Estate Mogul Jared Kushner – who has is still involved in major real estate deals – contrary to the earlier press releases.
Gary Cohn, ex Goldman Sachs president, who still managers nearly 1 Million shares of Goldman Sachs, essentially still working for Goldman Sachs.
In a NYT article Kate Kelly on JAN. 25, 2017:
“Goldman Sachs has rewarded its departing president, Gary D. Cohn, with expedited access to cash and stock payments valued at nearly $300 million, and in doing so has tacitly encouraged another of its executives to accept an influential role in Washington. Late on Tuesday, Mr. Cohn, director of the National Economic Council advising President Trump, disclosed in a securities filing that he and his family members had received ownership that day of 940,908 shares of Goldman stock — a position valued at nearly $220 million. That award came in addition to a cash payout, announced the same day, amounting to about $65 million, leaving him with a total windfall of about $285 million.”
Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, National Security Advisor, replaced Michael Flynn who apparently turned out to be a foreign agent and working for Putin, together with Carter Page, Giuliani, Sessions, Kushner and many others.
What is the agenda? Is there an agenda other than setting up more Trump and Kushner properties, under threat of a Military invasion or Financial Blackmail. With Trump wanting to get rid of all the “bad hombres” clearly the meeting was not meant to be friendly. Or, is the “bad hombres” fake news, merely meant to distract us of the biggest Oligarch take over of our country.
Russian affiliated paid smear campaigner, foreign agent, Michael Flynn, paid FBI official to derail Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Yes, we know, the electorate voted for Trump and therefore he is the legitimate US president and leader of the Western World. This is how Democracy works.
Homeland Security? What security?
However, we also know that there has been a fight between the CIA and the FBI for many years now and we know that the FBI has started to work internationally. Now we know that some, perhaps bad apples, within the FBI are working against Democracy. And, yes we are aware of all the CIA, dark prison sights, drug deals like the Iran Contra debacle, etc.
The FBI has done an amazing job recently arresting human traffickers and child abusers. We applaud that effort and we therefore know that not everyone within the FBI is working on corrupting the system with the goal to eliminate Democracy. We do however know without a shadow of a doubt that both Putin and Erdogan do not believe in democracy, do not believe in freedom of speech, do not believe that we are all created equal.
So when will people in this country rise up and start working on cleaning up the language used in public discourse? Dictators throughout history have perverted language to obfuscate what they are saying. Throughout history dictators have believed that they are “superior, demigod like” creatures, or at minimum “cleverer” than the stupid public, who can be sold anything by simply telling them what they want to hear instead of the truth. This is a technique that has been used for thousands of years.
Without a shadow of a doubt, Putin, Erdogan, Kim Jong-un, to some extent the Chinese and Indian government, all of which have vastly different political systems than the West, are working hard to undermine the West and bring back the old feudalist system. We don’t have to get into the EMEA or Africa because they really never stopped functioning in the feudalistic system of tribal oppression.
It is astounding how much more proof Western Journalists seem to need before they start addressing the elephant in the room. The Feudalistic Power Brokers run the world, always have and always will. That is not the question, the question is how miserable they allow the vast public has to become.
In Russia you have Oligarchs and serfs. You have the rich who have gilded 1000 room homes with a vast serving staff, and you have the long lines in front of the grocery stores because the country is run in such a corrupt and inept way that it is simply inhumane.
In Turkey you have journalist who “offend” the crazy self appointed Dictators arrested, while his crazy wife wants to bring back the “fine tradition” of a harem, essentially a thousand locked up slave girl who are supposed to attend to everyone of their perverted needs.
In China, if you offend the communist leadership, entire families are blackmailed or worse, and people are regularly locked up and worse.
In India they voted for a president who shot 1000 people dead in one of the worst massacres in human history. Yet neither Indians nor the rest of the world says anything or does anything, while watching as he roles back the advances reached over the past 20 years.
In Germany only a few years ago Merkel wanted to abolish freedom of speech to “serve” her megalomanic plan of being the leader of Europe and letting Erdogan get away with clear offenses against journalistic freedoms. She literally sided with that creep and tried to arrest bloggers for “treason.” She rewarded Erdogan with an EU down payment of $3 Billion dollars to stop the flow of refugees and to save from her world leadership responsibility of setting up policies that actually work to keep people safe in Africa. These people are fleeing for a reason. Address the reason and they probably would love to just stay home.
Yet, the Western Media and the Western governments, and by extension the public, all turn a blind eye to all these human rights offenses and abuses. Now that the Barbarians are inside the gate, will we continue to serve the mighty Mammon over human rights? When will the media and the public stand up and say: “Enough! We are not going to cooperate with this perversion of humanistic values any more? ”
How much more proof do we need that our world is being changed before or very eyes? How much more proof do we need that kindness, humanity, mutual support and mutual respect – all prerequisites for a free world are laughed at by these Barbarians, who care about nothing but material wealth? The Bolsheviks ruined Russia, the communists ruined China, the medieval Islamic values of the Ottoman Empire are ruining most of the Muslim countries.
When I was young I promoted international trade, because I thought that lifting people out of poverty all around the world, would allow everyone to become more civilized. Unfortunately, I believe now that what happened is that these uncivilized nations, are working on influencing us to become uncivilized just like them.
The Third World with all its filth, oppression, brutality, exploitation, perversion is encroaching on us. Why are we standing by? Why after 30 years of this development are we still pretending that we can’t see it? Or, is it that our social climbers, nouveau riches, just don’t want to or genuinely can’t see it and we allow it to happen, because we don’t want to get our hands dirty.
The genuine elite, whether they come from genuinely old money, or genuinely close-knit and mutually supportive families from all walks of life, namely those whose families are aware of the cycle in political upheaval, we are so conflict averse. Why deal with those shameful conditions, when we can sit in our ivory towers, get our hair done, and focus on choosing nice art, delicious cuisine and fine wine? Why not ignore our parents, grand parents, great grand parents stories of international turmoil and the resulting hardships for the public?
Do we seriously believe this will not affect us? If so, that is genuine ignorance. Yes, can money be made during times of war. Yes, of course. Much money. Can money be made after the wars, when entire nations have to be rebuilt? Of course, more money than during normal times.
But do we seriously believe that with Nuclear Weapons in the hand of Barbarians, we will not be affected? That is blind trust. If you trust that mentally unstable people will not start a war, will not create conditions of horrific inhumanity, than your cumulative understanding of what civilization is about has genuinely been lost, along with your ability to think clearly.
We need to decide to recommit to humanistic values and we need to do it quickly, swiftly, and without leaving any shadow of a doubt, that the Barbarians should move back into their caves and not come out until they are willing to behaved in a polite and civilized manner. The privileges of wealth and leadership in the wrong hands are disastrous.
Fulfill your dreams and enjoy intimate shows with amazing performers like Spyro Gyra, Yellow Jackets, Sandy Cressman, Kenny G., and Sacha Boutros, David Benoit Trio, and many more.
Yellow Jackets
Blue Note Napa is a jazz club/gourmet restaurant offers an intimate atmosphere with room for only 150 guests. The stage is so close to you that you feel as if the performers are playing in your very own living room in the historic Napa Valley Opera House.
Chef Sedlacek brings a level of creativity, an enthusiasm for fine cuisine and a respect for local ingredients that we believe will amaze the local culinary world and make The Blue Note Napa’s restaurant a destination for foodies who don’t even care about the jazz.
The Blue Note Napa is located on the first floor of the Napa Valley Opera House and is a jazz club and restaurant where patrons can enjoy performances of major world-renown artists and as well as local artists alike in an intimate environment. Our club seats less than 150 people. Patrons feel as though they can literally reach out and touch the artist! It is like having an artist playing right in your own living room.
Aside of world famous performers the Blue Note Napa offers a full menu, wine and cocktail list. Enjoy the booths which are strictly reserved for groups of four or more. If you come with a date or alone you can enjoy the show at a table or from the bar.
The management is committed to carry on the 35-year Blue Note intimate jazz club experience whilst mixing in Napa’s charm and commitment to great food, beverages and service to create a unique environment different than you will find elsewhere in Napa Valley.
By bringing our country’s unconsciousness into awareness, by becoming aware of our lower drives and desires can we choose use to commit to our higher values and will ourselves to become better as a country. While it is painful to face our lower drives and the more vile parts of this country it is part of the overall healing process to raise our collective consciousness for a better and more beautiful peaceful world.
During Netanyahu’s visit a reporter wanted to know about the rise of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States and concerns that the new administration was encouraging xenophobia and racism. The NYT reports: “There is no question that hate crimes and malicious speech have accelerated since the presidential campaign, with Jews among the prime targets. The Anti-Defamation League says anti-Semitic talk in the United States has reached levels unseen since the 1930s. And there have been bomb threats against Jewish centers across the country.” The NYT goes on: “As for racism and anti-Semitism, he said “bad things” have happened “over a long period of time” and gave no hint of appreciating how his nationalistic, anti-immigrant policies and fear-mongering have been a dog whistle for the alt-right.”
The media discussed this terrible response which did not address the havoc that organizations like Bannon’s media property Breitbart, who is known as one of the wife-beating men in the current GOP administration. Trump chose this racism promoting man as his most trusted advisor. Trump even is known to sign Executive Orders that were placed by Bannon in front of him, without even reading them, and without informing the National Security Organizations. Bannon calls the shots because Trump chooses this racist to call reign supreme.
Instead of taking the opportunity to reassure the country that he will uphold the US constitution, which does not allow racism, he simply whines about feeling accused. The President of the US, and the leader of the until recently “free world,” failed with his answers to this important question. The horrible rise in racism and anti-Semitism fostered and fomented by Breitbart, Bannon and his ALT-Right racist segment of the US population. The ALT-Right is emboldened by Bannon and his media company. Trump hired him and until he fires him, Trump is the boss, he is responsible. Bannon created speaking opportunities for racists, Ku Klux Klan Members and people who engage in the Nazi salute.
The dictionary explains: “A racist is a person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another.” Trump has claimed in several interviews that he finds being questioned whether he is a racist “offensive.” So why does he keep promoting racists?
Trump was raised by a father who was a registered Ku Klux Klan member, and his grandfather rented out women. We can realize that many of his attitudes were formed during the pre verbal phase of his childhood. Trump rates women on a scale of 1 to 10, typically considering the age and the women’s bodies. Not their mind, not their personality, he sees women as possessions and as objects. He thinks that his being so attracted to women that he is compelled to touch them without invitation, is proof that he “loves” women. He succeeded in frightening and empowering women by the millions to leave the coziness of their homes to actually physically take to the street to protest.
It is quite possible that Trump is completely unaware of his attitudes, or how his actions, words, and attitudes perceived by an innocent bystander. Clearly Trump doesn’t have much respect for his own voters.
Donald Trump made the following statement in a 1998 interview with People magazine:
If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.
Donald Trump
Trump admires dictators who murder their own citizens, he hired billionaires after claiming through out to the Fox News watching audiences that he would “clean the swamp.” And claimed Hillary giving speeches was proof that she was pro-Wall Street. Now on a near daily basis Trump brings in his “very capable” – often previously accused of fraud – Wall Street friends to run the government. It is obvious that he and his Wall Street Friends rode into the White House by making false promises – Better Healthcare than ACA – Better Paying Jobs – Safe Streets – and a GOP that would be winning so much they would get “tired of winning.”
Meanwhile here is a quote from the Dalai Lama:
“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”
? Dalai Lama XIV, The Art of Happiness
Pudzer who is responsible for such misogynist ads, withdraws over conflicts
Puzder who fought for lower minimum wages or automation in the fast food industry finally realized that even some Republicans are more pro-worker than he planned to be. He has been sued numerous time for underpaying workers, which is illegal. The Labor Department claimed that in 2,561,000 earned $7.25 or less per hour. Please note that all minimum wage workers who live in states with a higher minimum wage than the Federal Minimum wage rate are not even included in the statistics. Chart
Puzder fights against raising the minimum wage for his workers while paying himself more very well. Meanwhile, according to CKE’s final public disclosure after going private—Puzder made more than $4 million in salary and bonuses.
Mother Jones reported in December: “Back in 2004, the company agreed to pay $9 million to settle claims that it had not paid overtime to store managers. In 2013, CKE was hit with a class-action suit for “allegedly failing to pay its general managers overtime, even while requiring them to be on call 24 hours a day,” reports Law 360.”
In response to the proposal to raise minimum wage, Puzder vowed to replace workers with machines. This is what he sarcastically said about machines: “They’re always polite, they always up sell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case.”
Donald J. Trump strongly defends Andrew F. Puzder, his chosen secretary of labor who is an outspoken critic of the worker protections enacted by the Obama administration. Trump, accused under oath of raping his first wife, defends Puzder and claims that he is treated “unfairly.” Really?
Puzder’s ex-wife Lisa Henning was terribly abused by him. She said that Puzder in a widely reported interview that “attacked me, choked me, threw me to the floor, hit me in the head, pushed his knees into my chest, twisted my arm and dragged me on the floor, threw me against a wall, tried to stop my call to 911 and kicked me in the lower back,” according to a 1989 Riverfront Times article.
At last Puzder withdrew his name from the nomination.
Now that Trump, Bannon and Puzder had been accused of spousal abuse, we really need to start wondering. We know that the best predictor for terrorist is a history of family violence. Hmmm. Maybe we need to look at our government through the lens of Domestic Violence. Article
Valentine’s Day makes us contemplate the meaning of love
Some people wonder how to stay with a war hero husband. Of course when your spouse is on the front you are afraid of loosing him or her. It is easy to feel the potential loss as ever deeper and growing true love. The fear of loosing him or her, may actually grow your commitment to be there for your spouse, and to love your spouse with all your heart and soul. You care for and love your spouse so very, very, very much.
Later you are so glad that they survived, so thrilled that they came home with out loosing life or limb. You are so happy when they come home to you and your kids.
Veterans returning home.
Trouble is that if he or she is suffering from a severe case of PTSD, your life will change as well. PTSD when expressed in a volatile and dangerous way is contagious.
Here is a true story:
A man, a vet came home from the war. He was such a lovely, intelligent and charming man. When he was conscious, that is.
When he wasn’t conscious, he turned into a hurtful, brutal and dangerous man.
In fact, because he was from a very good family, he was raised with the believe that a woman should be protected and cherished. He had many sisters and was raised to be protective of them as well. When he fell in love a deep calling rose up in him and he knew that he could be good for something, he could be a hero caring for his little woman. Even after all the atrocities he had witnessed during his service. He could protect that this lovely and shy girl who would be his bride.
The lady was raised in a Christian home and as a proper women who would love and cherish her husband. She was raised to believe that a husband and wife were bonded in the commitment to make marriage not just a holy sacrament, but also to obey and honor her spouse and support him in every possible way, in sickness and in health. And she was raised to support her husband’s growth in his career and standing in the community. In short a lovely and very proper woman.
And, OMG, it really worked. They started life together and enjoyed it fully, they worked hard, and bought a little home. They planted a garden and had common hobbies. He took her to romantic dinners, and was very proud of his “little woman.” They were very much in love and looked forward to a bright future with a lovely family.
What she had not realizes when they had this whirlwind romance, was that somehow during their romance, he didn’t experience any of the symptoms of the PTSD he had sustained in the war. His parents and siblings thought the young woman was a blessing in all their lives.
Then after they married he experienced some stress at work and the PTSD that the woman knew nothing about returned. The trouble is, when you are married to a man who has PTSD, no matter how many flowers you receive, no matter how many declarations of love you received, no matter how sincere these declarations actually are, the man may turn on a dime.
With a nightmare, with some trigger you were unfamiliar with, you might get hurt, beaten, strangled and severely physically compromised. The emotional pain is insufferable. A proper women may try coping mechanisms that they are taught. This woman tried to cope with the danger and pain by praying. She forgave him, she loved him, and she was determined to stand by her man.
The praying really did help her to keep her calm, but it didn’t keep her safe. Eventually she ended up in the hospital with a severe cut in her head, bruises all over her body, and she needed to get stitches so quickly to stop the severe bleeding, that she ended up with 27 stitches on her shaved skull without anesthesia.
Love alone is not enough. So if you have a good reason, a wonderful reason to love a man, a mighty and wonderful man. and he hurts you. Stop, in the name of love! Stop. Stop pretending it will get better, stop thinking that it is your fault. Stop. Stop the lies that keep you bonded to such an unhealthy situation.
Get help!!! Help is out there, and you can be free of an abuser. Even if you know that it is not his fault that he experienced such terrible hardships and pain. It is not your fault either and you don’t have to deal with it on your own.
PTSD is recently acknowledged as a potential result of war engagement. But if you are just a kind woman who loves your man, you may need some serious help to keep you and the children safe. Love alone will not heal this potentially dangerous condition. And, as many people found out, the constant stress and danger of living with an unpredictable, hurtful, disrespectful man, causes the spouse PTSD as well. Unfortunately it is contagious.
So get help. He needs therapy. There are some forms of therapy that are promising. But while he is in therapy, you and the kids may have to watch out for your own safely. The lady in the story eventually knew that she had to leave him, so he would not turn into her murderer. She did this after he held her at knife point of a long kitchen knife for 1 and 1/2 hours talking like a crazy man, wondering aloud if his pain would stop, if he killed her. She finally realized that it was her god given duty not to help him ruin his life entirely. She realized that she could best help him by being away from him.
The shock of loosing her helped him. He got therapy for PTSD and after 10 more painful years, he slowly got better. He told her that he was glad for both of them that she had left when she did. By leaving him she helped him to stop the negative spiral he was on. The loss of her and her love woke him up to the fact that he had a serious problem. Before she left him, he thought “she was the problem.” He thought if she was kinder, or more strong willed, or funnier or not as afraid of him, or not as angry, he would not have had to punish her all the time.
He told her that he strongly believed he may actually have killed her eventually, if she didn’t leave him. A study in 2015 showed that 94 percent of women killed by men were murdered by someone they knew. Of the victims who knew their offenders, 62 percent were wives or other intimate acquaintances of their killers.
On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men.1
1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of [some form of] physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime. More
Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is get away from someone you love. For the rest of us, who are in a wonderful and happy relationships that works or can be nurtured into working, we may wish to support those who are not so lucky. Support the National Coalition Against Family Violence
Ms. Priscilla Chan is a former grade school teacher and a recent medical school graduate training to become a pediatrician. She has a strong commitment to health and put’s her wealth toward the common good. Her parents came as refugees to seek a better life. Now she is one of the top Billionaires who is committed to make life better for everyone.
In an interview with Today, Priscilla Chan recalled: “If you’re the first generation to go to college, sometimes you don’t realize your potential until others point it out.” For her, those individuals were her public school teachers, whom she credits for “getting me excited about learning.” Priscilla spoke Cantonese growing up, learned English in school and life, and studied Spanish to server her patients better.
Her commitment to health is genuine and unsurpassed. She met her husband Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard where they were first class mates and later they dated. They dated for 10 years before deciding to get married to form their family.
She and her husband donated $600 Million dollars through her charity organization CZI to create a Biohub together with University of California at San Francisco, Stanford University and University of California at Berkeley, which will be headquartered next to UCSF’s Mission Bay
campus in San Francisco.
She is an amazing woman who is one of the best examples of what America genuinely stands for. Immigrants who seek a better life and in turn make life for the rest of Americans a better place. Thank you Ms. Chan Zuckerberg for sharing your big heart, brilliant mind, and wealth for the greater good.
The National Education Association expresses deep concerns
A recent study provided that only 41% of Cyber Schools were deemed “academically acceptable.” The graduation rate on private Cyber Schools was less than half of that of brick & mortar public schools. So why is the new head of education so interested in providing an easy platform of proven tax dollar theft?
This is not “liberal hysteria” this is a genuine concern based on real facts.
California
Jessica Calefati of the San Jose Mercury News provided in-depth research about the for profit company K12 Inc. which lead to a $168.5 Million settlement with California. There are proven claims that the Virginia-based Charter School manipulated attendance records and overstated its students’ success. The SJMN stated in its article: “Harris’ office found that K12 and the 14 California Virtual Academies used deceptive advertising to mislead families about students’ academic progress, parents’ satisfaction with the program and their graduates’ eligibility for University of California and California State University admission.” Over a twelve year period the fraudster charged the State of California $310 Million dollars.
Despite these findings the Atlantic Monthly reports:
“DeVos invested in the online charter-school operator K12, which targeted the growing home school market. But K12’s overly expansive business model made it both significantly less profitable and more prone to regulatory and operating deficiencies than smaller, less ideologically driven competitors. K12 still trades below its IPO price from 2007. K12 was one of dozens of companies originally backed by Michael Milken’s ambitiously named Knowledge Universe, as part of an expansive effort to revolutionize education.”
Pennsylvania
Account Neal Prence, 61, admitted guilt in defrauding the government by helping with illegal accounting practices. AP reported that Nicholas Trombetta, 61, acknowledged using the school’s money to fund a lavish lifestyle, including buying a Florida condominium, homes for his girlfriend and mother and a jet airplane, while socking most of the money away for retirement. Trombetta used Avanti Management Group, the National Network of Digital Schools and other companies Trombetta also created to perpetrate the scheme. The fraud was uncovered thanks to the tireless work of the FBI.
What seems surprising is that despite the fact that they absconded admittedly with $8 Million dollars the maximum sentence the law allows is: “The law provides for a maximum total sentence of 100 years in prison, a fine of $3,250,000, or both for Trombetta and five years’ imprisonment, $250,000, or both for Prence. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant. Assistant United States Attorneys James R. Wilson, Robert S. Cessar and Stephen R. Kaufman are prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.” More
Ohio
Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow lost appeal to allow the state to audit the attendance of their online charter school. The Columbia Dispatch reported on November 13, 2016: “ECOT could not substantiate nearly 60 percent of full-time students were getting the minimum 920 hours of “learning opportunities” required by the state, meaning the state could ask the school to repay more than $60 million of the $106 million it received in state funding last year. Eight other smaller e-schools also were unable to justify their reported enrollment totals.” It seems House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, was not worried about ECOT or Ohio’s other online schools potentially defrauding Ohio. He simply excused their behavior by saying: “There are always two sides to the story.” His comment implies that there may be many more sides than that. Why would a House Speaker support Ohio citizens being defrauded?
These are only very few examples. Now with DeVos and her side kick Jerry Fallwell Jr. in charge of “education” we can be sure there will be many more major thefts. We are now in the era that US founders wanted to avoid:
It is 49 words in Article I of the Constitution.
“No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
And the Congress is working feverishly on abolishing the oversight office of ethics to aid the business interests of their now fellow leaders. Here is a great link to a speech Walter M. Shaub, Director, U.S. Office of Government Ethics, gave at the Brookings Institute in January 2017. Link
famed 
