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John And Ken Show Protested By Latinos

John Kobylt , Kenneth Chiampou

John And Ken Show Protested By Latinos, As Conservative Talk Radio Program Expands To New York

(The Huffington Post  |  Posted: 02/12/2013 6:21 pm EST)

A Latino group is re-launching a campaign against a talk radio show it accuses of fueling hate speech against Hispanics.

The National Hispanic Media Coalition said Tuesday it would renew its push to force the “John and Ken Show” off the air, now that the show will begin syndicating its program in New York, according to La Opiníon.

Despite a round of cultural sensitivity training, the radio personalities have built a reputation for offending people of color, the Coalition says. The hosts routinely bash undocumented immigrants on their show.

The Coalition first launched its attack on the radio duo back in 2011. Just before the passage of the California DREAM Act, the hosts read the cell phone number of immigrant rights activist Jorge Mario Cabrera on air and urged their listeners to call him. Hundreds of “John and Ken Show” fans obeyed, many leaving hateful and threatening messages, including one who said:

You illegal immigrant, piece of sh*t motherf***er. We will do everything to fight you motherf***ers until you’re all dead, you’re all motherf***ing dead.

Kobylt and Chiampou apologized for the incident and wrote in a letter to the Los Angeles Times that they hadn’t intended for their listeners to threaten Cabrera and said his cell phone appeared on his organization’s press releases.

But their response didn’t satisfy the National Hispanic Media Coalition, which says on its website:

For years John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, hosts of “The John and Ken Show,” have terrorized and targeted Los Angeles communities, creating an atmosphere of hate, intolerance, discrimination and legitimizing hateful attitudes against members of these groups. John and Ken are known to habitually use unsubstantiated claims, divisive language, flawed argumentation and dehumanizing metaphors to shock and anger their audience.

Advertisers including General Motors and the Anaheim Angels pulled their money out of the show in response to a boycott led by Latino activists after the Cabrera incident.

Kobylt and Chiampou were suspended for seven days last year for calling Whitney Houston a “crack ho” after her death. They apologized for the remarks.

With a weekly audience of 1.2 million, the afternoon talk show is one of California’s highest rated, according to Los Angeles Magazine.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhGFte4mLoQ&feature=player_detailpage

Other related stories

La Opinion: http://www.laopinion.com/coalicion-medios-hispanos-renueva-lucha-contra-programa-radial-racista-john-and-ken-show-los-angeles&source=RSS#.URrQfaVEGSp

RBR-TVBR: http://rbr.com/nhmc-denounces-john-and-ken-show-addition-in-nyc/

Cuban Arts, Cuban Culture

A much more universal José Martí

3RD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR WORLD EQUILIBRIUM

Pedro de la Hoz / Photos: Juvenal Balán & Jorge Luis González (GRANMA INTERNACIONAL)

 Jose Marti Cuban Revolution

Jose Marti Cuban Revolution

A much more universal José Martí emerged from the 3rd International Conference for World Equilibrium, the closing session of which took place January 30 in Havana’s International Convention Center.

One of the most eloquent results of the conference, which brought together more than 800 delegates, is the José Martí World Solidarity Project Declaration and the commitment made by the Youth Forum, included on the event’s agenda.

The Declaration, signed by eminent intellectuals and read by Ignacio Ramonet, warns of the dangers of nuclear war, climate change and the social crisis produced by increasing inequalities within the dominant economic model. It identifies the growing strength of those proposing alternatives and fighting for peace and justice. To this end, Martí’s thinking has become a necessary reference and opens the way to a better world.

For their part, young people affirmed their commitment to promoting Martí’s ideas, fighting to end the U.S. blockade of Cuba and for the liberation of the Cuba Five serving unjust sentences in the heart of the empire.

In the closing session, attended by Council of State Vice President Esteban Lazo and Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, President of the National Assembly of People’s Power, various speakers confirmed the value of the conference and the continuing relevance of Martí’s ideas. At the same time, they addressed significant current issues such as the new movement in Latin America and the Caribbean, solidarity with the Bolivarian process in Venezuela and its leader Hugo Chávez, the adoption of successful strategies against global hegemony, and the need to promote environmental solutions and protect nature.

INTEGRATION TO CHANGE THE HISTORY OF LATIN AMERICA

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva advocated systematizing a doctrine of Latin American and Caribbean integration which would serve as an intellectual platform for the arduous tasks being undertaken in the region to fulfill Martí’s ideas.

His appeal was directed at participants in the 3rd International Conference for World Equilibrium, which closed with a dedication to the Cuban national hero on the 160th anniversary of his birth.

Full integration would contribute to changing the history of Latin America, Lula stated. “We must forge concrete unity among intellectuals, students, labor unions and social movements. We are constructing something that would have seemed impossible a number of years ago.”

Lula mounted the podium wearing a red guayabera shirt in honor of President Hugo Chávez, who is battling in Havana to recover his health, and expressed his happiness at having met a few hours earlier “with that great compañero Fidel,” and then with President Raúl Castro.

After asking for a minute’s silence in a tribute to the young victims of the tragedy in the university city of Santa Maria, the former President recalled the first time he spoke at the International Convention Center, in 1985, during an international meeting, led by Fidel, on external debt.

“Cuba has a very special significance. The moral authority constructed by this people in defense of dignity and sovereignty is even respected by those who do not sympathize with the Cuban Revolution,” he affirmed.

Referring to the five Cuban anti-terrorists unjustly sentenced in the United States, Lula recounted that, as President of Brazil, he interceded on behalf of the heroes on a visit to Washington during the George W. Bush administration.

“Unfortunately, it would seem that the Americans turn a deaf ear when the issue is about the problems of our beloved Latin America. I hope that in his second term, Obama will release the Five, end the blockade of Cuba and look more equitably and justly upon our region. Obama should have the same daring as his people had when voting for him.”

Lula shared some of his experiences as President over eight years, heading an administration which was able to reduce poverty, implement policies of inclusion and social mobility, give people land, and open new universities, policies now being extended by the Dilma Rousseff government.

In the last part of his speech, Lula called for a new political and economic order, the premises of which include the democratization of the United Nations and international financial organizations, and reiterated his confidence that the construction of a better world will become a reality sooner rather than later.

Positive contributions were made during the closing session by former Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom; Mikhail Ostrovski, Vice President of the Russian Civic Chamber; Jean Pierre Bel, President of the French Senate; and Ecuadoran Defense Minister María Fernanda Espinosa. Other speakers were Simon Deuseuil Desras, President of the Haitian Senate; former Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana and Senator María de los Angeles Higonet, both from Argentina; and the Culture Ministers of Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, Pedro Calzadilla and José Antonio Rodríguez, respectively. Havana City Historian Eusebio Leal closed the conference with a moving speech in which he recalled how, through the Moncada assault, Fidel restored the figure of Martí in order to illuminate the paths of resistance and dignity of the Cuban people after the triumph of January 1, 1959.

A much more universal José Martí

Cuban Revolution, The Cuban Five

What is the U.S. Government Afraid of ?

hernandez

In 2001 Gerardo Hernandez was condemned to two life sentences, one of them for conspiracy to commit murder for the shooting down of two planes of Brothers to the Rescue. Gerardo had nothing to do with the shooting down of these planes on February 24, 1996 and the U.S. Government could present no evidence to the contrary. That was a decision of the Cuban Government in defense of its sovereignty after 26 violations of Cuba’s airspace by this group.

Despite the fact that Gerardo had nothing to do with this incident, the proof of the place where the planes fell holds the key information to this unfortunate episode caused by Brothers to the Rescue. The evidence of NASA satellite images from that day could exonerate Gerardo. Well within his rights, he has requested the U.S. government to present evidence for which he was condemned by that false charge. To this day the U.S. has refused to do so.

Why is it that the U.S. government continues to hide such crucial evidence? It alleges that the aircraft fell in international waters. Cuba has reiterated with sufficient evidence before international organizations that the aircraft fell in waters within Cuban jurisdiction.

If the US government had the basis to indict Gerardo, why is it hiding the satellite images after 17 years? What is the United State governments afraid of?

Satellite Images Demand Goes to Reluctant Circuit

Friday, January 11, 2013

By MATT REYNOLDS

PASADENA, Calif. (CN) – There is no reason for the U.S. government to shield the existence of satellite images showing the Cuban government shoot down airplanes, a group told the 9th Circuit.

In 2010, the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law filed a federal complaint under the Freedom of Information Act against NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The group wants access to any satellite pictures taken on Feb. 24, 1996, of an area near the north coast of Cuba, where Cuban MiGs shot down two aircraft flown by Cuban exiles in the group Brothers to the Rescue, killing four U.S. citizens. The center believes that such information is critical to a Habeas Corpus petition for Gerardo Hernandez, who is serving life in prison based on charges that he fed Cuba the information that led to the 1996 shooting.

Hernandez belongs to a group of Cuban men known as the Cuban Five, detained for spying on Brothers to the Rescue on American soil. After Hernandez was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, an appeals court briefly overturned the convictions against him and his compatriots. The full 11th Circuit eventually reinstated the convictions, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant certiorari.

The Center for Human Rights said confirmation of the satellite images would help it determine where the shoot-down occurred to undermine Hernandez’s conviction. But the NGA refused even to confirm or deny the existence of the records or images that the group seeks. Refusing to acknowledge the existence of an item requested under FOIA is known as a Glomar response, named after the Hughes Glomar Explorer, a ship used in a classified CIA project to raise a sunken Soviet submarine from the Pacific Ocean. Responding to the center’s lawsuit, NGA director Barry Barlow explained the reasoning behind the agency’s decision in a declaration to the court.

U. S. District Judge Margaret Morrow in Los Angeles found this explanation credible and granted the government summary judgment in 2011.

“The court holds that the NGA has met its burden of showing that it acted permissibly in determining that acknowledging the existence or nonexistence of records responsive to plaintiffs’ request might disclose sources or methods of foreign intelligence and harm national security,” Morrow wrote. Represented by its executive director, Peter Schey, the Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law urged the 9th Circuit on Wednesday to revive the case. Schey said this case represents the “very first time” an intelligence agency had taken the position that it would apply a Glomar response to every Freedom of Information Act request. Confirming the existence of the images would only confirm what the world already knows: that America gathers foreign intelligence, he argued. Skeptical, Judge Margaret McKeown told Schey: “That hardly trumps the view that there’s a significant national security interest.” Schey insisted that Barlow’s declaration was inadequate, calling it a “cookie cutter” affidavit that the agency could wield to deny all future requests for satellite images under the Freedom of Information Act.

Judge Milan Smith seemed convinced by Barlow’s declaration. He noted that the plaintiffs had a mountain to climb because of lack of case law. Matters of national security are an “area of expertise” for the government, not the courts, he added. In response, Schey questioned NGA’s authority to deny the request at all. He argued that the director of national intelligence, not the NGA, must protect intelligence sources. But Justice Department attorney Thomas Byron said the agency was “authorized” to use a Glomar response. He also disputed the notion that all future requests of a similar nature would be denied using the same exemption.

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski asked Bryon why it would threaten national security to confirm the existence of the images. “I’m not sure how saying that we have a picture at a particular time and place reveals anything at all,” the chief said.
Bryon stuck to the line that America’s enemies might gather information on U.S. intelligence-gathering capabilities and limitations, even if the agency did no more than confirm or deny the existence of the images. He said foreign spies could track where the satellites operate, and glean intelligence from the resolution of the image, and the angle at which a picture was taken. Kozinski pressed for an answer as to whether the agency would use an exemption to deny all Freedom of Information Act requests for images.
After some back and forth, Bryon conceded that, when it came to images taken at a certain time and place, the exemption could apply. The attorney also said that the agency was happy to provide the court with more detail in camera, but argued that such an examination should be a “last resort.”
“I’m not asking to see the pictures,” Kozinski said to chuckles from the courtroom. “I have enough trouble with the fact that you can see my house on Google maps. If you look close enough, you might see me sunbathing on the patio.”
The Cuban Five, Wives Without Visas

Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez: State department of US, please grant the wives visas.

wives_without_visas_front

The Department of State is prohibiting entry, from Cuba to the US, to two of the wives of the Cuban Five. These women want to visit their husbands incarcerated in US prisons. Olga Salanueva, wife of Rene Gonzalez, and Adriana Perez, wife of Gerardo Hernandez, are law abiding and productive citizens of Cuba who simply want to visit with their respective husbands.

 SIGN THE PETITION