Category Archives: Viva!

L.A. County supervisors vote to welcome Syrian refugees – LA Times

The supervisors also voted to send a letter to President Obama and the county’s congressional delegation “expressing the board’s support of federal efforts to help Syrians fleeing violence and oppression and to increase the overall number of refugees that the U.S. will resettle over the course of the next two years.”The question of how many refugees from Syria the United States will take in and where they will live has become politically charged in recent weeks. More than 30 state governors, mostly Republicans, have voiced concerns that extremists could infiltrate the United States and vowed to stop the refugees from settling in their states.

Source: L.A. County supervisors vote to welcome Syrian refugees – LA Times

Working Together to Help Americans #GetCovered

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, the nation’s uninsured rate now stands at its lowest level ever. But still, in communities across the country, 10.5 million people who are eligible for Marketplace coverage remain uninsured. In addition to launching the Healthy Communities Challenge to engage key communities in reducing the uninsured during this third Open Enrollment period, the White House also issued a challenge:

Build outreach efforts that can reach these remaining uninsured Americans and help them gain coverage.

Health Uninsured rate

Today, the White House is highlighting the creative ways that two health care companies, ZocDoc and Oscar Health, stepped up to answer this call, and showing how they are part of a growing trend of companies using the Internet to address our nation’s problems together.

Starting today, ZocDoc, which helps people book appointments online with doctors across the country, will be using its Web and email products to reach out to hundreds of thousands of customers it believes may not have health insurance, for example, people who have booked doctors’ appointments on ZocDoc but signaled that they will pay with cash. ZocDoc will remind these customers to sign-up for coverage at Healthcare.gov before the December 15 deadline to enroll in or change plans for coverage starting on January 1, 2016. 

We know that many uninsured Americans question whether they can afford coverage, and may not realize that more than 7 in 10 HealthCare.gov customers can find insurance for $75 a month or less after tax credits. So for uninsured Americans who remain skeptical about the costs of getting insured, health insurance company Oscar Health has created a digital video public service announcement (PSA) that explains why health insurance is actually more affordable than people may think. Oscar will distribute this video in key markets online, too, including in California, New York, and Texas.

Both ZocDoc and Oscar Health are just two recent examples of how creative use of new technologies can help empower citizens with knowledge and opportunities to help address today’s public policy challenges together. In October, in response to a call issued by the President to help aid refugees, tens of thousands of Americans donated to refugee relief efforts — with opportunities to donate made ubiquitous thanks to independent product integrations from Kickstarter, Instacart, and others. And when the First Lady called for the private sector to help employ veterans and end veterans’ homelessness, companies across the economy responded with hiring commitments and other creative actions. This past Veterans Day, ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft enabled tens of thousands of Americans to donate free rides to homeless veterans to help them get to job interviews, employment events, and home from new jobs when public transportation is not an option.

Scores of companies and non-profits, from a wide range of sectors, are stepping up to help address today’s collective challenges and support expanded civic participation. The President and First Lady have rallied citizen engagement on many key collective challenges: protecting the climate, improving access to healthcare, giving our veterans the support they deserve, fighting childhood obesity, making sure every child finishes school ready for college and career, and so many more. The Internet’s ability to empower citizens to engage and take immediate action has helped expand opportunities for companies and non-profits to work with members, customers and the public to facilitate broader civic participation. At the White House, the Office of Digital Strategy is constantly looking for new and creative ways to expand opportunities for civic participation in solving todays’ problems together. If your organization is using the Internet to help citizens pitch in to solve our nation’s problems, or would like to and think you can help in some way, please get in touch.

President Barack Obama fist bumps a middle-school student participating in an "Hour of Code" event to honor Computer Science Education Week in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Dec. 8, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
President Barack Obama fist bumps a middle-school student participating in an “Hour of Code” event to honor Computer Science Education Week in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Dec. 8, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

And, don’t forget: the deadline for January 1 coverage is December 15, and open enrollment ends on January 31. If affordable health insurance is available, but you choose to not enroll in coverage for 2016, you may be required to pay a fee when you file your 2016 federal income taxes. So go to HealthCare.gov or call 1-800-318-2596 for more information or to sign up today.

Get Covered

Ork records: the hidden side of New York punk | Music | The Guardian

“Ork records began as a way to present some of the local bands that CBGBs featured,” said Kaye. “Looking at the box set, it surprises me how deep their musical sensibilities went.” CBGBs was the crucible for a lot of mould-breaking bands – the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads – but while Ork released tracks by more well-known acts like Television, Richard Hell, the Feelies and Big Star frontman Alex Chilton, the bulk of their catalogue was made up of scratchy, trebly, energy-infused bands that never quite made it to that level of fame.The likes of Cheetah Chrome, the Erasers, Marbles, Idols and Chris Stamey and the dBs were the more obscure bands of an already underground scene. “The scene was so much bigger than Blondie and Television and the Ramones,” says Fire. “A lot of these bands, I mean, I guess we fit in that category too, were so important to the scene, but never got their due. If Terry hadn’t been around, they may have been forgotten.”

Source: Ork records: the hidden side of New York punk | Music | The Guardian

The GOP Just Lost the Senate | Dame Magazine

When the election really heats up, you can be sure that this vote on freezing Planned Parenthood funding—as well eliminating parts of Obamacare— will become a major issue. While the Affordable Care Act may not be terribly popular among the general population, hundreds of thousands have received better insurance coverage through the plans, and the biggest criticism is just that the administration didn’t go far enough when it comes to regulating the industry and making healthcare more affordable. As for Planned Parenthood, despite the ongoing criticism and attacks from the right wing, approximately 60 percent of voters still want the organization to continue being funded.The anti-abortion movement is pointing to the Planned Parenthood defunding vote as a sign of changing momentum. Alliance Defending Freedom notes in a press release that in 2011 a defunding vote failed the Senate 42 to 58, a sign of how far the right has progressed that now a defunding bill actually passed the Senate instead. But even their own voting numbers show that the momentum they claim isn’t there. In fact, there more votes against the defunding measure in December than there were in August, when the Senate previously voted against funding but could not get the 60 votes needed for its passage. This is even truer once you take into consideration that Majority Leader McConnell switched his nay vote to a yea since it wasn’t needed as a procedural move this time.American voters support Planned Parenthood, and that support will no doubt continue even as the organization is attacked both politically and physically. Thankfully, the funding will remain intact thanks to President Obama, who will veto the bill. And when November comes around, those right-wing-pandering senators may very well see just how much the mainstream voters disagree—and likely lose their majority in the process.

Source: The GOP Just Lost the Senate | Dame Magazine

Early Winter

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Barcelona city

I’m extremely busy with work and I don’t have the energy to do anything. No physical energy and no mental energy. I spend all my free time lying in bed trying to recover from the exhaustion of work. This means I have no time or energy for the internet, my family or any of my hobbies. I can’t read or watch youtube or make collages or go out or take pictures or anything. I rarely see my boyfriend cause we have opposite schedules. When I work, he’s free. When I’m free, he’s in class for six hours.

Luckily, we did get to go to Vic on my only free day. He skipped class, otherwise we couldn’t make it. A two-hour train trip, seeing gorgeous mountains and valleys, to attend the annual medieval market in Vic. I’ve been going there for the last few years, and last year I invited him to come with me. We were just friends then, but on that trip our relationship began to take a kind of romantic turn. Five days after the trip, we found ourselves hooking up in my bed and having profound conversations, and we’ve been obsessed & in love with each other ever since. So of course we had to go to Vic again this year. 

I’ve been so busy and exhausted that the christmas tree and all the decors are still in the attic. I’m a huge fan of Yule time, and usually by December 2 I’ve already put up the tree. But this year I can never remember that the tree is missing from my house. I don’t feel like doing all that work of taking it down in three weeks, so I don’t feel like putting it up for that reason.

I did get a lovely poinsettia, as I do every year. It’s my favourite thing to do! Poinsettia shopping!

I hope I can go to Barcelona with C before Yule, and see the city with all the lights, and visit the Christmas markets in the Romanic/Gothic quarter.

Once in Vic, we began the day stopping by the same coffee shop where we ate last year. Good times!
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The city of Vic

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Hello Morocco

Bought a beautiful handmade and handpainted dragon incense burner 🙂

Humans of New York – Trump This!

The whole purpose of my trip to Turkey and Jordan was to interview refugees who had been approved for American resettlement. So when this couple showed me the letter saying they’d been ‘deferred,’ I was a bit confused. But I continued the interview anyway. As I learned the rest of the couple’s story, I noticed my UNHCR facilitator typing on her phone. After a few minutes, she came over to me and showed me the screen. It was a text message from the main office. It said: ‘They’ve been approved. Would you care to tell them?’ So it was my great honor to inform this couple that they were going to America. This portrait was taken thirty seconds after they learned the news.(Gaziantep, Turkey)

Source: Humans of New York

AFRICA/EGYPT – Jihadist threats to Coptic monasteries, the strengthening of security measures are required

Cairo – In the last hours, according to Egyptian sources consulted by Agenzia Fides, jihadist threats were directed in particular against the Coptic Orthodox Monastery of al Baramos, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The threats have been accompanied by information about the location and structure of the monastery, already subjected to considerable protection measures by the Egyptian police.
In the light of recent developments, Yussif Malak, a lawyer and director of the Egyptian Center for Human Rights, called for measures in order to ensure exceptional protection for churches and Coptic monasteries under threat. Malak said that similar threats were common even before the terrorist attack carried out on New Year’s Eve 2011 at the Coptic Church of the Saints in Alexandria, Egypt, which caused 23 dead and hundreds injured.
Even Nader Shoukry, a spokesman for the “Copts for Egypt” Association, called on the Interior Ministry and the Egyptian security apparatuses to seriously take the threats released via the internet against Coptic targets.
That of al Baramos is one of four historic Coptic monasteries which were severely damaged in early November by the floods caused by heavy rainfalls in the Wadi Natrun region .