CNYLatino

The Latina President

Dec 1, 2016 Political

compiled interview by Marisol Hernandez

Interviewer: We have here on the microphone, interviewing the author of a novel title The Latina President. Joe, can you please tell us a little bit about yourself and why we are interviewing you

Joe: Yes, for thirty years or more, I was actively involved in American political campaigns. I’ve managed them, developed strategies, produced radio, television, and print materials for candidates that worked in forty-four of the fifty states. Over that time, there were people running for the house, the senate, and the state offices, such as governor. So, I’ve had a fairly extensive experience working with candidates and campaigns. It’s part of that body of experience that I built my new novel, The Latina President. I also, in addition to my political work, have worked extensively in producing media for non-political clients and one of the most interesting clients I’ve ever had was in Puebla, Mexico which allowed me to spend quite a little time in Mexico. I was so impressed by the people and the community, so important that I’ve never forgotten it. So when I decided to write the novel, I felt it had to have a fairly serious Mexican component to it.

Tremendous political news

Dec 1, 2016 Political

Letters from a Lesbian

Dear World,

Our culture and our community has been hit with some tremendous political news this month.

Fidel Castro has passed away. He was a predominant political figure since the 1950s. His global impact is enormous, his impact on Cubans is unfathomable. He changed the culture, the politics, and the nature of life in Cuba for over fifty years. Though he was a very divisive person, there is no denying that the life and death of Fidel Castro has had a huge effect on everyone, especially Cubans and Cuban-Americans.

Then, of course, there is the election of Donald Trump. Love him or hate him, he is another divisive figure, one that has potential to greatly affect the Hispanic and LGBT communities. Whether he will or not remains to be seen as he pulls back from his campaign promises before even taking office.

Are Americans obsessed with Guns?

Aug 1, 2016 Political

Out of all of the countries, the Unites States of America is the country with the highest gun ownership. For every 100 people 88.8 citizens of the United States own a gun (BBC.CO.UK). That is a relatively high amount of gun ownership in a country. Is it because the citizens of the Unites States are obsessed with guns? It could be possible, another possibility is because of their history with this weapon. The citizens of the United States have such symbiotic relationship with guns that they become a part of their family. They take a stance that it can be seen as unpatriotic to be anti-gun. It has become so defined into that they have made this object a part of their culture and in essence their identity. It goes as far back to the creation of the country, in order for this country to become its own it needed the gun, if it was not for the gun then a break away between the colonials and the crown may not have even happened, the gun has become their patron saint. The amendment mostly recognized and the one that is most readily defended is the second amendment that grants the right of a well-armed militia, granting gun ownership to the citizens of the United States. So are the citizens obsessed with guns? Yes, they are so obsessed that they cannot fathom living without it, they embrace and defended as if it were their own child, it is as if the gun validates them as a culture, it is part of the painting of the United States culture.

Donald Trump in CNY

May 1, 2016 Political

Crucial to Donald Trump’s last month landslide victory in the Empire State Republican primary elections was his barnstorming Upstate New York. The maverick Grand Old Party presidential front-runner candidate’s whistle-stopped in Rochester (April 10), Albany (April 11), Rome (April 12), Plattsburgh (April 15), Syracuse (April 16), Watertown (April 16), Poughkeepsie (April 17) and Buffalo (April 18).

The process of my covering Trump’s rally in Syracuse ran smoothly. I requested my media credential as soon as the demonstration’s date was announced by The Donald’s campaign team and it was approved by it the next day. My experience was thus different from that of reporters from The Des Moines Register newspaper, The Huffington Post news site and Fusion television network, who had alleged that their credentials for the former reality television superstar’s events in Iowa and Florida were either denied or revoked.

Needless to say, security was tight at the celebrity billionaire’s rally in Syracuse. All four levels of law enforcement were present: federal, state, county and city. I’m talking about U.S. Secret Service agents, New York State troopers, Onondaga County sheriff deputies, and Syracuse Police Department officers being there. As if all this weren’t enough, Syracuse University Department of Public Safety officers and Securitas private security guards were also at hand.

Who is Bernie Sanders and Why Should He Matter to Latino Voters?

Apr 2, 2016 Political

No one in the media quite knows what to make of it. Hardly anyone in the established government does either. Even those in the movement are surprised – albeit delighted – when ever-more positive polls show that their candidate on a steady rise in support among all sectors of the American electorate.

That candidate is the senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders.

At the start of his campaign, very few people would have been able to predict that this white man – silver-haired, 70-something and slightly rumpled – would possess one of the most enviable civil rights records in the country.

Creating Anti-discriminating Laws

Apr 2, 2016 Political

Letters from a Lesbian-April 2016

Dear World,

North Carolina has just passed some awful, hateful, prejudiced legislation. Governor Pat McCrory signed a bill on Wednesday, March 23, that passed 83 – 25 in the (state) House of Representatives, and 32 – 0 in the state Senate, all in a special session.

The bill is called HB 2, and it could block cities and counties from creating antidiscrimination legislation to protect the LGBT community, among others, and it could have tremendous implications for the entire state.

HB 2 would set an anti-discrimination policy that goes state-wide. It would ban employers and businesses state-wide from discriminating against employees or customers based on their gender, orientation, race, age, ethnicity (or country of origin, if they are immigrants), faith/religion/belief system, or “biological sex (we’ll address that later).” So basically, you can get turned down for a job because of your skin color, gender, orientation, religion, age, or any other reason. Businesses can deny you goods and services for those same reasons. This bill also allows for employers and businesses to deny employees protection, wages, leave policies (e.g., Family Medical Leave Act), and more all on the basis of discrimination. To add insult to injury, this actually prevents local governments from passing nondiscrimination policies. Discrimination is back in full force. It seems unreal, especially in the fact that good, non-bigoted policies cannot be created to fight it. Can they really do that?! The answer, sadly, is yes. Yes they can, and yes they have.

War against Refugees

Feb 1, 2016 Political

War is a concept that I hope most people can agree brings out the worst in people. I am in the group that genuinely believes that people are good in heart and that we just want to live in peace. Nonetheless what I am alluding to is that war has caused a great problem it has caused people to flee from their homes to parts unknown to them. Perhaps one of the most difficult decision a person makes, to sacrifice everything and leave because their home has been ravaged by war, terrorist groups, and a high crime rate.

Seeing this trend around the world especially in Central America and Syria and Iraq one would be able to empathize with them, not just because it is the human thing to do but also because if we were in their shoes would we not want the same in return. Unfortunately, that is not case, in the developed countries we see many people in governmental positions demonize refugees coming from both Central America and the Middle East calling them criminals and rapist.

A couple of weeks ago the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, came out with a cartoon about Aylan Kurdi, the three year old Syrian boy that drowned in the Mediterranean sea, stating the Christian children walk on water while Muslim children sink. Even though the magazine is satirical it is not only extremely distasteful to use the death of a three year old to make a joke it is utterly disappointing.  Politicians in the west have a tendency to use the victims in order to create the fallacy that they are to blame for the condition they are in, instead of focusing on the root of the problem.