When will we start standing up to preserve our civilized lives? Who will stand up?

#Resist
#Resist

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.

French Laundry trained Chef Sedlacek delights Jazz Fans at the Blue Note Napa

Spyro Gyra in Huntington, NY ©2012 Brian Friedman
Spyro Gyra in Huntington, NY ©2012 courtesy Brian Friedman

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
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.

Learn more about the Blue Note Napa here.  More

 

By raising our awareness we healing as a country

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.

Trump claims he is “the least racist person” ever. Well, how about the Dalai Lama?

Racism or lLove that is the question
Racism or Love that is the question
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

At C’era Una Volta, a romantic night of Italian Food and Opera in Alameda this Sunday, February 19, 2017

Clarissa Lyons by Marielle Hayes
Clarissa Lyons by Marielle Hayes

Why don’t you create one of the most romantic follow ups for your successful Valentine’s effort and bring your loved one to one of the most romantic settings in the Bay Area.  The quaint family atmosphere with amazing art by a word famous artist, whose paintings hang in the San Francisco Opera as well as all over Europe, is complimented by fantastic food, impeccable services which allows you to make your sweet heart feel like a princess or queen, or prince or king as the case maybe.   Being served by people who take pride in giving you a genuine old-world pleasure will create long term happy memories for you both. And if you have been married for along time, you may want to bring your grand children and introduce them to opera in a way that will open up their hearts to the finer things in life.

In 2014 Open Tables voted C’era Una Volta the Best Bay Area Italian restaurant.  It is located on 1332 Park Street, in Alameda and offers parking in the rear of the building.

This weekend there is a fundraiser that provides world class opera singers performances, a four course meal, and the first glass of wine for the small price of  a $95 per person of which $45 will given to the James Toland Vocal Arts programs.  The program cultivates and supports talents who aspire a professional career as vocal performers.

The Artists
Clarissa Lyons – rising star soprano

She will make her Metropolitan Opera debut as Karolka in Janá?ek’s Jen?fa in October of 2016 and will sing Countess Ceprano in Verdi’s Rigoletto in January and April 2017.

Clarissa Lyons by Marielle Hayes
Clarissa Lyons by Marielle Hayes

Ms. Lyons was vocal fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in both 2011 and 2012.  Highlights from those residencies include performances Ravel’s Trois Poemes de Stephane Mallarmé, Prokofiev’s Ugly Duckling, Chausson’s Chanson Perpetuelle, Monteverdi’s Lamento d’Arianna, and excerpts of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride with Susan Graham and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She and pianist Bretton Brown have appeared in recital at Opera America’s National Opera Center, the WMP Concert Hall in New York City, and the Sunset Center in Carmel, California in the Winner’s Recital for the Carmel Music Society. Ms. Lyons has appeared as a soloist with the UC Berkeley University Chorus, with the Vermont Philharmonic, and San Francisco Choral Society at Davies Symphony Hall in their performance of Mendelssohn’s  Elijah featuring Rod Gilfry.  More

Arnold Livingston Geis – rising star Tenor

Arnold Livingston Geis, tenor, is a Los Angeles based musician and performer originally from Washington State. Geis began his career in Southern California as a church soloist. In 2013 marked Geis’ first season as a chorister in Los Angeles Opera’s performances of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. He has since performed on the Dorothy Chandler stage in favorites such as Carmen, La Traviata, and Billy Budd.

Geis  sings with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, an opportunity that has lead him to appear at the Walt Disney Concert Hall as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Geis’ most recent stage credits include Cavaliere Belfiore in Il viaggio a Reims, Chevalier in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, Laurie Lawrence in Little Women, and Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte.

He is honored to have worked under the esteemed conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Michael Tilson Thomas, James Conlon, and Grant Gershon. An active session singer, Geis’ voice can be heard in recent blockbusters such as After Earth, Maze Runner, Godzilla, The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, 50 Shades of Grey, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He holds a BM in vocal performance from Biola University and graduated with his MM in vocal arts from The University of Southern California.

Clara Osowski – Mezzo Soprano

Clara Osowski’s recently completed the Vancouver International Song Institute, the International Workshop on the songs of Edvard Grieg in Bergen, Norway, and traveled to Tours, France to attend the Académie Francis Poulenc. She was also featured in the 2014 Baldwin-Wallace Art Song Festival, in Berea, Ohio and competed in the 2014 International Vocal Competition in s’Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. In 2015, she was the only American to reach the finals of the Das Lied competition under the direction of Thomas Quasthoff in Berlin, Germany. This past October Clara was a finalist in the Liederkranz Foundation in New York City. Numerous festivals have introduced Clara to a number of international artists and art-song masters, including Graham Johnson, Felicity Lott, Francois Le Roux, Julius Drake, Irwin Gage, and Richard Stokes.

Clara Osokowski at the Indiana State Contemporary Music Festival
Clara Osokowski at the Indiana State Contemporary Music Festival

James Kallembach’s Songs on Letters of John and Abigail Adams with the Lydian Quartet on the occasion of the Adams’ 250th wedding anniversary at their historic home in Quincy, Massachusetts, and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee. In addition to her solo work, she participates in a number of ensembles, including Consortium Carissimi, Lumina Women’s Ensemble, the Rose Ensemble and Seraphic Fire.  More

Austin Siebert

Baritone-Austin Siebert just completed the Merola Opera Program and performed the roles of Mr. Gobineau in Menotti’s The Medium and Marco in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. Siebert also covered Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. Additional recent engagements include outreach with the Dallas Opera as Belcore in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Mustafá in Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri with Seagle Music Colony, and the German General in Kevin Puts’ Silent Night with Fort Worth Opera Festival. Austin recently earned a Master of Music Degree in Vocal Performance at the University of North Texas, where he was seen as Dappertutto/Coppélius in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann, Pritschitsch in Lehár’s Die lustige Witwe, and the title role in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. Mr. Siebert received his bachelors from Northwestern University and is a native of Shelbyville, IN.

 

Amid questions about ethics Andy Pudzer withdraws himself from nomination for Secretary of Labor

Pudzer who is responsible for such misogynist ads, withdraws over conflicts
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

 

Stop! in the name of love…

Sea of Roses
Sea of Roses
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.
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

Good Guy Billionaire: Who is Priscilla Chan Zuckerberg?

Priscilla Chan Zuckerberg
Priscilla Chan Zuckerberg

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.

Charter School Fraud is rampant and proven and now we have dubious DeVos

Estimated Enrollment Trends in Full-Time Virtual Schools. (National Education Policy Center)
Estimated Enrollment Trends in Full-Time Virtual Schools. (National Education Policy Center)
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

Under the DeVos administration how will our kids meet their best friends?

Best friends are found in schools
Best friends are found in schools

Most people’s best and oldest friends are from our early schools days. DeVos is known to take the life long pleasure of socialization so that if a child or parent signs in online for 1 minute the “privateering school” seems legally is entitled to steal tax payers money.  If tax dollars earmarked for education go to pay for private homes of girlfriends instead of education, it should be wrong.  But DeVos disagrees and the GOP gives her free reign to create theft rings.  More

Eli Broad who sponsors the best and most high performing charter schools in the country tried to stop her plan to defraud the public much like her brother Eric Prince did with his billions Dollar thefts in war of Iraq with his privateering military company Blackwater. To this day Eric Prince finds it offensive that people hold him accountable as to how he spent taxpayers money. Eric Prince said in recent interviews in an Alt-Right media company that he should not be accountable because the missing Billions and Billions of dollars were spent in a “private” military company and therefore he should not have to disclose the where the missing money went nor where it is now.

The only lesson the public can learn is how bottomless the sense of entitlement has become under our dysfunctional government that provides no oversight and no accountability of how and where our rapidly disappearing taxes and pensions has become. Unrepentant thieves have overthrown the government. DeVos will be a disastrous example of self righteous thievery of billions of taxpayers money due to funneling American public funds into “private” pockets. Another billion dollar heist is underway and sanctioned by Paul Ryan and McConnell. No wonder they want to silence the voices of reason.

Celebrate life in a healthy way! Show this to endangered adults and endangered teens

National Overdose Deaths—Number of Deaths from Prescription Drugs. The figure above is a bar chart showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving prescription drugs from 2001 to 2014. The chart is overlayed by a line graph showing the number of deaths by females and males. From 2001 to 2014 there was a 2.8-fold increase in the total number of deaths.

National Overdose Deaths—Number of Deaths from Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers. The figure above is a bar chart showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers from 2001 to 2014. The chart is overlayed by a line graph showing the number of deaths by females and males. From 2001 to 2014 there was a 3.4-fold increase in the total number of deaths.

Doctors need to become aware that maybe they are vulnerable to strong man sales techniques.

ProPublica found that doctors nationally who accepted payments from manufacturers were two to three times as likely to prescribe high rates of brand-name drugs. The higher the payments on average, the higher the rate of brand-name prescribing.

The NYT in an article by Dr. Arias, who is preparing a larger study of mortality trends over the past 15 years, said drug overdoses, liver disease and suicide were the main drivers of the gloomy trends among whites in recent years, a pattern also found by other researchers. Life expectancy for whites had been rising for decades, but it has stagnated in recent years. It inched up in 2010 and 2011, and was flat in 2012 and 2013. But new federal data, drawn from all deaths recorded in the country in 2014, showed that life expectancy for whites dropped to 78.8 years in 2014

Particularly Oxycontin has caused addiction which often leads to abuse of Heroin. It is a deadly drug.

Unless you are already dying from an incurable cancer, there is really no reason to take a drug that can cause you to become a drug addict.  As a dying person it is okay only because you are going to die anyway.   Before even considering taking an opioid make sure you internalize the consequences for short-term relief.

Side Effects and Warning for Oxycontin

Never take this medicine in larger amounts, or for longer than prescribed. Do not crush or break an extended-release Oxycontin tablet. Swallow it whole to avoid exposure to a potentially fatal dose.

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OxyContin is be habit-forming, even at regular doses. Take this medicine exactly as prescribed by your doctor. Never share the medicine with another person. MISUSE OF NARCOTIC PAIN MEDICATION CAN CAUSE ADDICTION, OVERDOSE, OR DEATH, especially in a child or other person using the medicine without a prescription.

Tell your doctor if you are pregnant. Oxycodone may cause life-threatening withdrawal symptoms in a newborn if the mother has taken this medicine during pregnancy.

Do not drink alcohol. Dangerous side effects or death could occur.

Enjoy the holidays and stay safe!

GOP who stopped Obama from releasing Russian cyber attacks. How they will respond to the Trump and Putin alliance will determine the future or demise of the free world.

World Peace in the hands of Tillerson?
World Peace in the hands of Tillerson?

“The sanctions are targeted, not sectoral, and will have a very limited impact,” said Thomas Wright, a fellow and director of the Project on International Order and Strategy at the Brookings Institute. “This will not deter Putin from interfering in French or German elections in 2017.”

Thomas Wright also suggests that:  “Trump is opposed to America’s alliance arrangements, he is opposed to the open global economy, and he is pro-authoritarian and pro-Russian.  That it is pretty clear this is the most important election anywhere in the world since the two German elections of 1932,” he wrote, in reference to the parliamentary elections that ultimately resulted in Adolf Hitler coming to power. “No other election has had the capacity to completely overturn the international order—the global economy, geopolitics, etc.”

In the Atlantic Monthly article Thomas Wright further explains: “Trump’s isolationist ideology has three components, according to Wright: 1) opposition to U.S. alliances; 2) opposition to free trade; and 3) support for authoritarianism. In Wright’s view, these three beliefs, if translated into policy in a Trump administration, could do away with the liberal international order that the United States helped design after World War II and has led ever since.  Full Article

Thomas Wright explains in a report for the Lowy Institute for International Policy:  “To understand Donald Trump’s foreign policy, we must distinguish between his three core beliefs that he has held for many decades and rarely if ever wavered from, the central themes of his campaign, and other issues. His core beliefs are opposition to America’s alliance arrangements, opposition to free trade, and support for authoritarianism, particularly in Russia. If he is elected president and governs in a manner consistent with these beliefs, the United States will be transformed from the leader of a liberal international order into a rogue superpower that withdraws from its international commitments, undermines the open global economy, and partners with Putin’s Russia.” Full Report

How the GOP responds to the Trump and Putin alliance forged to transform the US into a rogue country that works solely for a few chosen corporation – just like Russia is now – will determine our future and the future of the free world.

Source: Thomas Wright quotes from a variety of sources. For more information feel free to contact him directly at The Brookings Institute

Cyber Warfare attacks by Russians are happening all over the US

Down the Rabbit Hole we go.
Down the Rabbit Hole we go.
The US Government released a report and recommends that all citizens and companies take pre-cautions.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recommends that network administrators review the IP addresses, file hashes, and Yara signature provided and add the IPs to their watchlist to determine whether malicious activity has been observed within their organizations. The review of network perimeter net flow or firewall logs will assist in determining whether your network has experienced suspicious activity. When reviewing network perimeter logs for the IP addresses, organizations may find numerous instances of these IPs attempting to connect to their systems. Upon reviewing the traffic from these IPs, some traffic may correspond to malicious activity, and some may correspond to legitimate activity. Some traffic that may appear legitimate is actually malicious, such as vulnerability scanning or browsing of legitimate public facing services (e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, FTP). Connections from these IPs may be performing vulnerability scans attempting to identify websites that are vulnerable to cross-site scripting (XSS) or Structured Query Language (SQL) injection attacks. If scanning identified vulnerable sites, attempts to exploit the vulnerabilities may be experienced.

Commit to Cybersecurity Best Practices

A commitment to good cybersecurity and best practices is critical to protecting networks and systems.

Here are some questions you may want to ask your organization to help prevent and mitigate against attacks.

1. Backups: Do we backup all critical information? Are the backups stored offline? Have we tested our ability to revert to backups during an incident?

2. Risk Analysis: Have we conducted a cybersecurity risk analysis of the organization?

3. Staff Training: Have we trained staff on cybersecurity best practices? 4. Vulnerability Scanning & Patching: Have we implemented regular scans of our network and systems and appropriate patching of known system vulnerabilities?

5. Application Whitelisting: Do we allow only approved programs to run on our networks? 6. Incident Response: Do we have an incident response plan and have we practiced it?

7. Business Continuity: Are we able to sustain business operations without access to certain systems? For how long? Have we tested this?

8. Penetration Testing: Have we attempted to hack into our own systems to test the security of our systems and our ability to defend against attacks?

For the full document with more valuable advice:  Click

Trump’s austerity programs starts with his musical artist line-up at the inauguration … and his Steve Mnuchin is sure to watch every 27 cents

Trump fan and cover song singer Beau Davidson agrees to entertain at Trump Inauguration
Trump fan and cover song singer Beau Davidson agrees to entertain at Trump Inauguration
Trump proves at inauguration that he is “one of the people.”

The International Business Times:  “A bank established by President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, once tried to foreclose on a 90-year-old Florida woman over a $0.27 payment mistake, reported Politico Thursday. Critics in the story allege that OneWest, founded by Mnuchin and partners, took advantage of the 2008 housing collapse by buying out risky loans from mortgage lender IndyMac and, in turn, getting help from Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to cover the costs.”  (full article)

And now they report:  “Democrats are focusing on Mnuchin’s tenure at OneWest, a bank he took over at the height of the financial crisis that has been dubbed a “foreclosure machine” that profited from the real estate collapse. The Wall Street Journal said no Republicans have expressed any opposition to Mnuchin, who likely will be vetted by the Senate Finance Committee. Bloomberg reported Mnuchin, 53, already has met with Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Chuck Grassley of Iowa.”

Clearly this proves that Mnuchin is the best possible person to “Make America Great Again.” Those old ladies don’t need their homes and the value their husbands created while the husbands were still alive can “trickle down” much easier when the Banks repossess the properties, instead of  allowing the survivors to remain in her home until their deaths.  Sure she could have gifted the property to her 40 something year-old grandchildren, who may be able to pay off some of their student loans.  Anyway, a Bankers’ job is to keep as much money as they can and Mnuchin is so worthy of being admired for his “sticky fingers.”  He took a 27 cents error and gained all the equity for the bank from that 97 year old lady’s home. What astounding commitment to business!

Trump is also proving that he is sincere about saving money, by hiring the lounge lizard Beau Davidson, who already has enchanted him at his private estate in Mar-a-Lago, a twenty acre membership club that offers dining, bridge, croquet, tennis, spa and entertainment shows.  If Beau, who looks a little like a man who previously worked for the Chippendales in LA, is good enough for the millionaires and billionaires at Mar-a-Lago, he is good enough for Trump’s inauguration party.  A Choir from Utah will sing as well to bring a type of Christian atmosphere to the celebrations. They will probably do it for (their) god, so it is in the budget.  Surely the Trump children will be there but they will not set up meetings about gaining access. Just like they will do in their non-profit set up for the very purpose they will request that the donors provide proof of funds prior to having a lunch with them where they will hear them out about their concern that they hope their daddy can help them with.  They are absolutely aware of the need to keep up appearances.

Obama meanwhile recently had his last extravaganza at the White House in October 2016.  It was quite amazing and “élite.”  Here you can watch it for yourselves, it was awesome, and the line up shows that Obama has a lot of amazing friends, it was all “Love and Happiness” there.

Trump signals with his celebration that times, are going to focus on the “economy” – kicking out 97 year old ladies from their homes for $0.27 errors in their checks. Trump has drained the swamp and has installed his oligarch friends at every corner. Judging by the celebratory tone of McConnell who forbade the voters to find out about the Russian hacking before the election, Times they are A’Changing. So go home and hug your family and know that you best enjoy your life right now.  Happy Holidays and we’ll see you at the other side.

Trump’s drains the swamp of lobbyist for corporations and replaces them with the corporate officers and bankers

Trump and Icahn get an "A" for honesty
Trump and Icahn get an “A” for honesty
Icahn and Trump are well known for expressing their feelings and opinions without filters.

Bravo?   They are not politically correct and that is what their voters wanted, right?

It is obvious for people in the know to see what attracts them to each other. They are both single-mindedly focused on their own profit. They are both honest about it and have a devil make care attitude.  They are completely unapologetic about any trails of victims they may leave in their wake.  They are bullies and they are honest about it.  If they can get away with something they not only will try the practically must try.  They love the “Game of Business.”   Trump promised to get rid of lobbyists and by golly he sure seems to keep his promise.  Instead of having lobbyists who want who appeal to Congress to create lenient laws that allow for more profit for the 1%.  They indeed get rid of the lobbyists and replace them with the 1%.  What a practical idea.  The Trump voters must be so very pleased.  Trump is keeping his promise to drain the swamp of middle men.  The swamp of government is now honestly run by and for the corporations and venture capital firms and banks, and the 1% who have paid for everything anyway.  The honesty that Trump brings to government is laudable indeed.  No more pretense.  Just making sure that the hyper-wealthy get what they need and want more efficiently and faster than ever.

Just one thought. We know that these old men don’t care about the future because in the future they are most likely dead.  They are old and they will die and this is one last fling before they go.  But what about the 40, 30, 20, 10 year olds in the world?

A world that run by people who lack humanity typically erodes healthy middle class.  The old men may not care, but without a middle class you have no stability.  If we look at countries who lost their middle class we are always looking at war.  Trump wants to spend a $1 Trillion dollars on improving the nuclear arsenal – without even getting intelligence briefings.   We wonder what Mnuchin, Gingrich, Tillerson, and Icahn think about that?  We hope to find out soon what vision these creators of the new gilded age have in mind for the US and the world. Hopefully they have a vision that goes beyond their own bank accounts.

Hillary Clinton is gone and many agree that her loss was due to due to a confluence of factors and successful efforts to sabotage her campaign. People just didn’t like her very much.  The FBI didn’t like her, Putin didn’t like her, the Public didn’t like her, even Democrats didn’t like her, her campaign staff fought about her, and the media certainly didn’t like her. She was a hard worker, but people didn’t warm up to her.  The warmed up to Trump.  They were amused by Trump.  No one was amused by Hillary, not even SNL. Her portrayal was often nasty and a bit weird. Trump’s portrayal was that of an all familiar American Uncle, reminiscent of Rob Reiner’s politically incorrect TV dad in the show “All in the Family.”

Not many people really know Hillary as she keeps very private and opens up to very few people, many of whom are also intensely private. The acclaimed and award-winning Investigative Reporter for the New York Times and The Washington Post, Ronald Kessler, sheds light on how she how Hillary Clinton was perceived by the service details who spent much time with her. It could explain why the Secret Service seemed so adamant that she ought not be president unless it was unavoidable:   Why the West was Lost – First Family Detail

Whatever we may think about Trump at least he is honest about being corrupt. Maybe that is a step forward?  Or, perhaps we will have Trump, the politically incorrect man and his politically incorrect friends run the country into the ground – honestly.