PEN International commemorates murdered journalists on the Day of the Dead

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Monday November 06, 2017 · 10:17 AM PST

2017/11/06 · 10:17

PEN International Day of the Dead altar in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

The Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) is an annual celebration that began in pre-Columbian central Mexico, but has spread to the rest of Latin American and areas of the US and Canada where there are concentrations of Mexican emigrants. The celebrations are often family get-togethers at cemeteries, where departed family members and friends are honored with “altars” decorated with pictures of the deceased, as well as offerings, such as sugar skulls and glasses of tequila.

This year, PEN International, an organization in support of freedom of expression that has been around since 1921, decided to make the Day of the Dead an occasion to remember journalists who have been murdered throughout Latin America. They organized events in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Chile, and Argentina.

Here are accounts of four of them:

PEN International altar in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico — San Miguel de Allende

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico: A large altar was constructed in the Jardin. It featured pictures of all 15 Mexican journalists that have been murdered this year. Included in this were two journalists previously documented on Daily Kos, newspaper correspondent Miroslava Breach Velducea and author Javier Valdez Cárdenas. Both of them worked for the Mexico City newspaper La Jornada. Judith Hill, President of the San Miguel Center, composed a poem for the occasion, which appears below.

roberb7

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Tuesday October 03, 2017 · 9:34 AM PDT

2017/10/03 · 09:34

Vince Gill and Amygrant — Vince Gill and Amy Grant pray during a candlelight vigil in Nashville for the victims of the shooting in Las Vegas.

My apologies in advance for contributing to the saturation of articles here about the Las Vegas tragedy, but this particular piece by Rosanne Cash, published in the New York Times, is just too good to not pass along. Rosanne Cash: Country Musicians, Stand Up to the N.R.A.

I admire Ms. Cash for her combination of intelligence, common sense, and eloquence. Here are the excerpts:

There is no other way to say this: The N.R.A. funds domestic terrorism.

A shadow government exists in the world of gun sales, and the people who write gun regulations are the very people who profit from gun sales. The N.R.A. would like to keep it that way.

The laws we have in place to prevent the procurement of military-style weapons by mentally ill citizens are laughable by the standards of any civilized society. But even those pathetic restrictions would be eased if the N.R.A. had its way. This week, a vote is going to the floor of the House of Representatives that would loosen restrictions on gun silencers and armor-piercing bullets.

roberb7

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Saturday September 23, 2017 · 7:39 AM PDT

2017/09/23 · 07:39

Volunteers clearing away rubble in Mexico City on Tuesday in the wake of a 7.1 magnitude earthquake.

I’ve seen a lot a lot of worthwhile articles about events in Mexico over the past couple of weeks, several of them in the New York Times. This one by Ioan Grillo, a British journalist who lives in Mexico City, is the best one I’ve seen so far: Mexico City’s People Power

Grillo gives first-hand observations of the amazing “people power” effort that took place this week. Here’s an excerpt:

Similar scenes were repeated at dozens of collapsed buildings across the battered capital as thousands of volunteers worked nonstop. Their efforts paid off, with more than 50 people rescued by the end of Wednesday, the mayor announced. On Thursday morning, workers used jackhammers to break up the last concrete blocks left at the building near my home. The entire office block had been cleared in less than two days, an incredible physical feat.

The article also addresses some politics related to the two earthquakes, and includes some speculation about next year’s presidential election.

Narcos, Mexican army, and autodefensas fight over Guerrero opium crop

roberb7

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Tuesday July 18, 2017 · 10:45 AM PDT

2017/07/18 · 10:45

A video story from TRT World, the English-language news service of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation.

YouTube Video

An autodefensa group has formed in Tlacotepec, a town in a very rural area of the Mexican State of Guerrero, to defend the population from narco-terrorists. However, the local opium crop is essential to the livelihood of these people, so one of their problems is, where are they going to sell this year’s crop?

One irony of the situation is, Mexico’s legal opium supply is imported.

Sandy Riccardi's Hobby Blobby Craft Hour

roberb7

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Monday July 10, 2017 · 10:07 AM PDT

2017/07/10 · 10:07

Sandy and Richard Riccardi, of the San Francisco Bay area, are two very talented musicians who have been doing musical parodies (many of them political) since 2008. Two recent examples are “Covfefe” and “Kiss My Rump, Donald Trump”.

This piece is a departure; it’s talking to the camera instead of singing. I’m posting it here because I think that the Riccardis’ material, in general, deserves a larger audience.

YouTube Video

Rep. Don Beyer's "Fair Representation Act"

roberb7

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Saturday July 08, 2017 · 4:28 PM PDT

2017/07/08 · 16:28

According to Fish wrote an article about this on July 5. The New York Times published an article about this proposal on July 7, written by Reiham Salam and Rob Richie: How to Make Congress Bipartisan, that goes into a lot more detail.

The title of this article is very misleading; there’s nothing at all about it that would “make Congress bipartisan.” Here’s an excerpt:

Step 1 is to elect House members with ranked choice voting in primary and general elections, a system proven in a dozen cities and adopted in Maine for congressional elections. Voters are able to rank candidates in order of choice, and their votes go to second choices if their first choice is in last place and loses.

Step 2 is to establish congressional districts with multiple representatives. Smaller states with fewer than six seats would elect all seats statewide. In bigger states, independent commissions would draw districts designed to elect up to five seats based on traditional criteria like keeping counties intact. Multi-winner districts were used in some House elections as recently as the 1960s and remain common in local and state elections.

And, here’s the key part (emphasis mine):

Voters would rank the candidates on their ballots. In the first round of counting, any candidate with one-sixth of the vote plus one would win a seat, while the last place candidate would be eliminated and her votes redistributed among the remaining candidates. This process would continue until all five seats were filled. The complex math of the process is in service of a simple principle: ensuring that a majority group elects the most seats, but not more than its fair share.

roberb7

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Wednesday June 28, 2017 · 9:13 AM PDT

2017/06/28 · 09:13

Facebook Content

Former Mexican President Vincente Fox should be added to the cast of Saturday Night Live. His barbs at President Pussy Grabber are right on target, and his self-parody is at least as good as Jack Benny.

The Handmaid's Tale, season 1, episode 10

roberb7

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Thursday June 15, 2017 · 8:20 PM PDT

2017/06/15 · 20:20

Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy in The HandMaid's Tale — Yvonne Strahovski

This one starts with another flashback, showing Offred’s conscription into the Handmaids, and being tortured in the process.

Then, as I expected, Serena Joy discovered that Offred had accompanied the Commander to the night club/whorehouse, and she didn’t like it one bit. She hit Offred. She then forced Offred to take a home pregnancy test (which, BTW, are illegal in Gilead), and Offred is pregnant.

Serena Joy tells the Commander the news, and also tells him that he isn’t the father. Offred tells Nick. He kneels before her and feels her abdomen, and Serena Joy catches them in the act.

roberb7

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Thursday June 15, 2017 · 9:19 AM PDT

2017/06/15 · 09:19

Mexico continues to be the one of the most dangerous place in the world to be a journalist. Martín Méndez Pineda of Acapulco tried to get asylum in the US, but after being detained for 100 days in not-very-good conditions, he gave up and returned to Mexico. He is not safe there.

Patricia Mayorga of Chihuahua did better. She fled to an unidentified country.

The seven journalists murdered so far in 2017 include two high-profile ones, Miroslava Breach Velducea of Chihuahua and Javier Valdez Cárdenas of Culiacán. Breach was the Chihuahua correspondent for La Jornada, a major Mexico City newspaper; her beat was crime and politics. She was shot eight times as she was leaving her home. Valdez wrote several books about narcos, edited an award-winning weekly, and was a correspondent for La Jornada. He was dragged out of his pickup truck and shot several times.

The Federal Attorney General just offered a reward of 1.5 million pesos ($84,000) for information on the murders of these two and three others, and one attempted murder. However, during the 4 1/2 years that President Peña Nieto has been in office, 33 journalists have been murdered, and very few of the murderers have been caught and punished. The Committee to Protect Journalists has made the specific recommendation to the Attorney General that he use the full resources of his office to obtain successful prosecutions in the cases of José Moisés Sánchez Cerezo, Gregorio Jiménez de la Cruz, and Marcos Hernández Bautista.

#ourvoiceisourstrength

The Handmaid's Tale, season 1, episode 9

roberb7

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Thursday June 08, 2017 · 7:23 PM PDT

2017/06/08 · 19:23

Madeline Brewer as Ofwarren (Janine) in The Handmaid's Tale — Madeline Brewer

The primary character in this episode is Ofwarren, a.k.a. Janine (played by Madeline Brewer). She’s the one who had one of her eyes removed in the early going because it “led her astray”. (This is non-canonical, BTW. All biblical references in the novel are from the Old Testament.) Since Ofwarren has successfully produced a child, she is now being shipped to another household so that she can be ceremonially raped (and hopefully impregnated) by a different man. Ofwarren was not at all happy with this arrangement.

Also in the early going, Offred makes contact with the Resistance. She is told to make a second visit to the night club/whorehouse, and pick up a package from the bartender. Offred realizes that this is a dangerous proposition (some good acting here by Elizabeth Moss), but she manages to convince the Commander to escort her to the night club/whorehouse (it actually has the name “Jezebel’s”) with little difficulty.

Once they arrive there, however, the Commander decides that he wants to go straight to a room and have sex, and Offred is unable to convince him to go to the bar either before or after. The Commander also arranged a meeting between Offred and Moira, and that didn’t go well, either.

roberb7

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Friday June 02, 2017 · 10:23 AM PDT

2017/06/02 · 10:23

Max Minghella as Nick in The Handmaid's Tale — Max Minghella

We learn a lot more about Nick (played by Max Minghella) in this episode. At the beginning, we see how he was recruited into the Sons of Jacob, the group that becomes the theocratic government of Gilead. Later on, we learn that he is involved in the black market, and at the same time, is an “eye” with the responsibility of making sure that the Commander stays in tune with the straight and narrow.

About 15 minutes in, the show returns to canon. The Commander shaves Offred’s legs, gives her lipstick and a whore-costume dress, and takes her to a clandestine night club/upscale whorehouse run for the leaders and insiders of Gilead. While there, she meets Moira (Samira Wiley), an old friend of hers that she made an earlier unsuccessful escape attempt with. After being captured, Moira became one of the “Jezebels.” Offred brings up the subject of escape, and Moira says, “the only way you’re getting out of here is in a black van.” She’s resigned herself to her prisoner status, because at least she has access to liquor and drugs.

As the Commander’s driver, it’s Nick’s job to drive the Commander and Offred to the night club. Nick has obvious affection for Offred, and he has to keep a straight face, seeing Offred dressed provocatively, and knowing that there’s a good chance that there will be sex between the Commander and Offred during the course of the evening.

This was a key episode in both the book and the 1990 film, depicting the total corruption of the Gilead regime.

The Handmaid's Tale, season 1, episode 7

roberb7

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Monday May 29, 2017 · 5:01 PM PDT

2017/05/29 · 17:01

O-T Fagbenle, as Luke in The Handmaid's Tale — O-T Fagbenle

An episode that is mostly a flashback to the only one-third successful attempt by Offred and her family to escape to Canada.

This episode could have been titled “How not to flee the country.” If you’re ever put in a situation where you have to do this (during the twentieth century, this was a non-hypothetical situation for millions of people), you have to be totally committed to your course of action. For example, it’s understandable that you would want to take along your family photo album or scrapbook, but if whatever authority you encounter finds it on you, it’s smoking-gun evidence that your intention is to leave home.

I found this episode (like episode six, non-canonical, if you regard Margaret Atwood’s novel as the canon) to be very believable, much more so than episode six. The main thing I questioned was, is it really possible to fit two adults and a child in the trunk of a Volvo? Also, Luke seemed pretty mobile for someone with a gunshot wound.

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PEN International commemorates murdered journalists on the Day of the Dead

Rosanne Cash: Country Musicians, Stand Up to the N.R.A.

Mexico City’s People Power

Narcos, Mexican army, and autodefensas fight over Guerrero opium crop

Sandy Riccardi's Hobby Blobby Craft Hour

Rep. Don Beyer's "Fair Representation Act"

Former Mexican President Fox strikes again

The Handmaid's Tale, season 1, episode 10

Seven Mexican journalists murdered so far in 2017

The Handmaid's Tale, season 1, episode 9

The Handmaid's Tale, season 1, episode 8

The Handmaid's Tale, season 1, episode 7