Trial begins over citizenship question on 2020 Census
The trial over the issue of whether people will be asked about their citizenship in the upcoming 2020 census began Monday, November 5, at a federal court in New York City. Advocates pushing for an accurate count maintained that the question will turn out a “systematic undercount” of immigrants who may refrain from responding out…
Fil-Am pipe bomb suspect held without bail in NY
Suspect Cesar Sayoc made first appearance in Manhattan federal court after court hearing in Florida A FEDERAL judge on Tuesday, Nov. 6 has ordered the man suspected of sending more than a dozen explosives to high-profile Democrats to be held without bail in his first appearance in New York federal court. Cesar Sayoc, Jr., who is half-Filipino…
The Lei Company: Community building and cultural preservation through entrepreneurship
A LEI or a flower garland is more than something you wear around your neck, as it is a message of welcome, congratulations, love, sympathy and many more. Used around the world, the earliest record of flower garlands being sold in Egypt was shortly before the birth of Christ. However, the proliferation of leis…
Circles, cycles and the season of our lives
“To everything – turn, turn, turn. There is a season – turn, turn, turn And a time to every purpose under heaven.” – A song by The Byrds (based on the Book of Ecclesiastes) IT is November. And we are coming full circle. Again. A circle is perhaps the perfect geometric structure there is. Although some would claim the…
Voter sentiment poll: A majority of Americans say America is headed in the wrong direction
NOVEMBER 6, 2018 will be recorded in political history as the day of the most consequential midterm elections of our time. As of press time, we now know that a record number of Americans voted in the polls, sent in, and dropped off their ballots ahead of time, to make their voices heard two years…
PH Consulate General in LA Conducts Consular Outreach in Dallas
November 5, 2018 – As part of the government’s efforts to bring its various services closer to Filipinos, the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles conducted its 11th consular outreach mission for 2018 in Dallas, Texas from 20 to 21 October 2018 led by Consul Ambrosio Brian F. Enciso III. A total of 418 consular services…
Engaging Governments and Political Parties to Govern ‘Green’
Remarks of Former Philippine Speaker Jose de Venecia Founding Chairman and Chairman of Standing Committee, International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP); Co-Chairman, International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP); Special Envoy of the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and for Intercultural Dialogue ICAPP Special Workshop on Green Cities Seoul,…
Russia Into The Fold
Remarks of Former Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives Jose de Venecia Founding Chairman and Chairman of Standing Committee, International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP); Co-Chairman, International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP); Special Envoy of the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and for Intercultural Dialogue 10th…
Cleansing the aura (Part III of III)
SINCE we spoke of the aura as a field of energy surrounding a living and non-living thing, it follows that this energy is also open to being corrupted. It interacts with other energies, too. As it interacts with other energies, it absorbs both positive and negative energies of other auric fields, making it vulnerable and…
Voters’ issue #1: Health care but Trump responds with lies and scare, hate & divide tactics about immigration
THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS is on Tuesday, Nov. 6 and the issue that voters are most worried about are health care and the economy, based on polls from Pew Research, Gallup and the Kaiser Family Foundation, among others. People worry about not having health care coverage when they need it, and are concerned about what may…
Remedies for employees who blow the whistle on employer misconduct
SUSANNA Smith worked as a superintendent, and Cleve Pell worked as an operations officer for the Montebello Unified School District (MUSD). In the course of doing their jobs, Smith and Pell discovered that Ruben Rojas, the Board of Education and Chief Business Officer of the school district, obtained his position by misrepresenting his past employment…
Widow needs Chapter 13 to handle $40K credit cards
“It’s becoming clear that the choice she has to make is to be able to make the mortgage payment or the credit card payment.” THE client is 53 and recently widowed. She works as a caregiver and met her now-deceased husband through her job. At first, the husband was her patient. She provided…
Will incorporating a separate property business during marriage make it community property?
YOU own a successful business, as a sole proprietor, prior to marriage. You later meet the love of your life and decide to marry her. Years into the marriage, you decide to incorporate the business. A common question when the couple later divorces becomes 1) did your separate property business become community property by virtue…
On bringing back Catholic fervor
MY recent Marian pilgrimage to Fatima, Lourdes, and the other Marian shrines in Spain convinced me even more of the importance and the urgency to bring back Catholic fervor in our homes and families. By “Catholic fervor” I refer to the intense practice of our Catholic faith, which we can show through our authentic love…
Stock market benchmark indices
If you plan to trade stocks, it helps to get an understanding of basic terms that are mentioned frequently on TV, radio, and social media. There are three Major indices: 1.Dow Jones Industrial Average. 2. S&P 500. 3. Nasdaq Composite. 1. Dow Jones Industrial Average is the oldest index, dating back to 1896. It tracks…
Are you feeling hopelessly stuck in debt?
A lot of people who consult with me about their debt problems are going through the worst time of their lives. Unlike other problems in life that sometimes just go away on their own, debt problems will only get worse unless you do something about them. While dealing with debt and coming up with a…
The human obsession for acceptance and recognition
IT’S not just the celebrity allure. It’s the cut above all. It’s the public acclaim, the attention, and the limelight. Every time you turn around, someone’s winning an award for something. There are many reasons why the nation seems caught in an obsessive pursuit of recognition. There seems to be no field of human endeavor…
If Filipinos could walk on water
THERE is a caravan of an estimated 4,000 men, women and children from Central America hiking hundreds of miles from their home countries to Mexico and from there to the United States. The “invasion” is one of the main themes of the alarmist rhetoric of President Donald Trump in his desperate effort to drive his…
How women can change America
(Part I of II) “You can’t be what you can’t see.” – Marian Wright Edelman “If they see it, they can be it.” – Geena Davis, March 19, 2015 at Mount St. Mary’s University. “To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal…
Pricey precision medicine often financially toxic for cancer patients
by Liz Szabo When Kristen Kilmer was diagnosed with incurable breast cancer at age 38, her first thought was of her 8-year-old daughter. Kilmer lost her own mother as a teenager and was determined to get more time with her only child. Kilmer searched for experimental treatments, opting for an unproven approach in which researchers…
What’s on your ballot? A look at the 2018 California propositions
ON Tuesday, November 6, in addition to candidates for state and local positions, voters in California will also decide on 11 statewide ballot propositions. There were originally 12, but Proposition 9 was removed from the ballot by the California Supreme Court. It had proposed splitting California into three different states. During the June 5 primary,…
Fil-Am doctor eyes congressional seat in Florida
FLORIDA’S 1st Congressional District — which encompasses its western Panhandle — has long been considered the most Republican district in the state. However, Jennifer Mijares Zimmerman, a Filipina-American pediatrician, is out to flip that seat this coming November 6 when she goes up against the incumbent Rep. Matt Gaetz. “District 1 has always been ignored…
Trump imposes quota on asylum claims at the border
On Thursday, Nov. 1, President Donald Trump doubled down on his iron fist immigration proposals by announcing plans to call for new limits on asylum requests at the U.S.-Mexico border. In the same week that he announced his plans to eviscerate birthright citizenship, the president gave a speech from the White House announcing that he…
Halloween: its origin and universal observances
AMONG the numerous holiday celebrations worldwide, Halloween takes a remarkable spot in the roster… contending with Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter, and Thanksgiving Day while taking a notable third spot in America. It is irrefutably considered to be exciting while stirringly electrifying because of the bevy of colorful costumes and inimitable accessories…
From bean to bar: Fil-Am chocolatier Hernan Lauber finds joy in native Philippine cacao
On promoting the Philippines as the “Napa Valley of cacao” FILIPINOS love chocolate. And sure, that affinity includes the Hershey’s, M&M’s, and Toblerone bars that fill up balikbayan boxes sent by loved ones abroad, but there’s also the traditional tablea chocolate disks whisked in boiling water to make hot tsokolate, or mixed in with glutinous…