Tag Archives: obama

~ my 2cents ..., ~ pop culture

SWAY …


TumblrSWAYtumblr_ngdsqziIsq1te8hhso3_250SWAY: A dance Trilogy ends … 

Reports are that this Production was hot, even better than the first SWAY which was a hit that led to SWAY2.0 and definitely a show they would love to see come back, with some adjustments to the Meet & Greet.  The breakdown is that Tony …was beyond elegant, so smooth it brought back that classic club dance feeling with some skill sets that we just do not get to see that often when we watch Dancing With The Stars … We see you Tony.  What I heard: The man can dance lest we talk about those insane lifts of his SWAY dance partner and dwts’s beauty Sharna Burgess.  The group dances were fun, kitschy with a whole lot of amazing dancing and word is Henry, Serge & Artem have people wanting more.  Well, all the dancers impressed and like dwts Season16, Zendaya & Val’s SWAY did not disappoint. We all know dance has evolved, this couple added some of their own texture with some urban splashed on it … those that went said their dancing seemed better than last time and made folks want to move, maybe take some classes. Honestly, who doesn’t want to try to SWAY like these fabulous dancers, but the main chatter was about Maks and Meryl. Yes, many fans watched Maks & Meryl’s SWAY videos and thought omg did she just say she never danced in a theatre setting. Well, they did not disappoint either. I have to say, after watching their video’s from SWDOI (Shall We Dance On Ice) and their SWAY, we can all agree that it was once again magical, breath taking, beautiful and passionate, but seemed way too short. The fans loved seeing Meryl in her dwts costumes, yet there was a new flavor, or feeling to their dances unlike their time on dwts Season18 … was it more passion?  If they SWAY again, some hope to see them do a Paso, maybe some up-tempo stuff next time  … the word from those who were able to go  … amazing!

So, if you want SWAY 3.0 say so!   http://dancewithmeusa.com/sway/

Folks had things to say …

Shout out to Alex for all he does for DWM

Please be a next time

Hey, when you see two people SWAY as they did … you do not want it to end

*******************************

hmmm …could we get a Maks Meryl / Val Zendaya dance piece …

*********************

                                    Maksim, Tony & Val = SWAY

                                              Do you want more SWAY … let DWM know !

                                              LIVE ~~ (Westbury NY) ~~ LIVE

                                                    Maksim and Meryl’s SWAY was beyond words …

                                                (http://dancewithmeusa.com/sway/)

                  Tony & Sharna were great

                                        LIVE ~~ (Westbury NY) ~~ LIVE

                                                   and

Zendaya & Val were back and great !

 

 

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Don’t miss the final story in our Product of Mexico series: Children work the fields


Los Angeles Times
Dear Readers:Meet Alejandrina. She was 11 when Los Angeles Times journalists first began reporting her story. Alejandrina, a little girl who likes lip gloss and longs to go to back to school, works 14 hours a day picking chile peppers for a farm that supplies a U.S. distributor.
Mexican law requires workers to be at least 15, but Alejandrina is among an estimated 100,000 children younger than that who work the fields. As she told The Times: “I work because we don’t have any money and we need money to eat things.”
Times reporter Richard Marosi and photographer Don Bartletti tracked Alejandrina’s nomadic existence for a year. Read her story, which is also the story of so many others: Children harvest crops and sacrifice dreams in Mexico’s fields
This marks the fourth and final piece in our Product of Mexico series, an investigation into conditions on Mexican farms that supply Americans with much of our tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other produce.
We’ve told readers about unbearable conditions at labor camps and taken them into Bioparques, a supplier to Wal-Mart and one of Mexico’s biggest tomato exporters, where Mexican officials found workers held captive. We’ve examined company stores, where a lack of price tags and big mark-ups leave many farmworkers trapped in a cycle of debt.
I want to thank all of you for reading this important series and sharing it with others. Here’s a sneak peek at a video coming Monday that features Marosi and Bartletti talking about the reporting behind this eye-opening series.
Davan Maharaj, Editor
P.S. We’ve created some extra content available only to our subscribers. Bartletti, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist whose interest in photography dates back to his service in Vietnam, has covered Mexico for decades. He shares some of his best photos and memories of what it took to capture the images.
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Turn up the heat on McDonald’s


 {UCS
Let’s take to Twitter and tell McDonald’s there’s no excuse to continue buying palm oil that pollutes our atmosphere and drives forest destruction.

Turn Up the Heat on McDonald’s

Add your voice to publicly call out McDonald’s and tell them that—for the sake of our atmosphere, tropical forests, and endangered species—the time to act on deforestation-free palm oil is now.

ACTION ALERT
Tell McDonald’s: It’s Time to Go Deforestation-Free!

 

Today, on National Fast Food Day, we need your help to turn up the heat on McDonald’s. Let’s take to Twitter to publicly call McDonald’s out.

As our report Donuts, Deodorant, Deforestation: Scoring America’s Top Brands on Their Palm Oil Commitments documented, a new standard for responsible palm oil—one that protects tropical forests and our climate—has emerged. As tropical forests are cleared to make way for plantations for palm oil production, carbon is released into the atmosphere, driving global warming and shrinking habitats for endangered species. Tropical deforestation currently accounts for about 10 percent of the world’s heat-trapping emissions.

More than 28,000 UCS supporters like you told six of America’s top brands that there’s no excuse to continue buying palm oil that pollutes our atmosphere and drives forest destruction.

And five out of six listened! Thanks to your letters, Dunkin’ Brands (owner of Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins), Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, General Mills, and PepsiCo released or strengthened their palm oil policies. Everyone, that is, except McDonald’s.

National Fast Food Day

McDonald’s continues to use palm oil that could be wreaking havoc on our environment. As the largest fast food company in the world, McDonald’s should set the bar high and make a firm commitment to use only deforestation-free palm oil. Instead, they continue to stall.

Join our mass mobilization by tweeting our graphic telling McDonald’s that—for the sake of our atmosphere, tropical forests, and endangered species—the time to act is now. If you’re not on Twitter, you can still get involved.

Together, we are holding corporations accountable and transforming the palm oil industry.

Sincerely,
Miriam Swaffer
Miriam Swaffer
Outreach Coordinator
Tropical Forest & Climate Initiative
Union of Concerned Scientists

P.S. McDonald’s isn’t the only fast food laggard who continues to use palm oil that could be wreaking havoc on our environment. Join nearly 50,000 UCS supporters in telling the largest global fast food chains—including McDonald’s, Burger King, Yum! Brands, Wendy’s, Subway, CKE Restaurants (Hardee’s, Carl’s Jr., La Salsa, and Green Burrito), Starbucks, Dairy Queen, and Domino’s—that for the sake of our atmosphere, tropical forests, and endangered species, now is the time to adopt strong deforestation-free and peat-free palm oil policies!
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Paid Sick Time Ballot Initiative​s Win Big in Tuesday’s Election


A Better Balance the work and family legal center.
Paid Sick Time Ballot Initiatives Win Big in Tuesday’s Election
On Tuesday, paid sick time was on the ballot in 4 elections, and we won all of them! Massachusetts is now the 3rd state to guarantee paid sick time statewide, which is wonderful news for the nearly 1 million workers in the state who currently lack paid sick time. Two cities in NJ, Montclair and Trenton, passed paid sick time laws, bringing the total number of cities in NJ with such laws to 8 (all passed in the last year!). And in California, voters in Oakland passed an expansive paid sick time ballot measure. We’re especially thrilled with the huge margins of support for each ballot initiative: approximately 60% of the vote in Massachusetts, 85% in Montclair, 75% in Trenton, and 81% in Oakland.
A Better Balance has provided legal research, bill drafting, and other technical support to all of these campaigns and can’t wait to build on the incredible momentum from these wins. But we couldn’t do it without such incredible supporters and campaign partners! For background and to learn more about these 4 paid sick time ballot initiatives, check out our recent blog post.
The Pregnancy Penalty: How Motherhood Drives Inequality & Poverty in New York City
In Case You Missed It
October was also an exciting and busy month for ABB’s efforts on behalf of pregnant workers.   The New York Times’ Rachel Swarns featured our client, Angelica Valencia, in “The Working Life Column,” which garnered over 800 reader comments and an offer from Angelica’s employer to reinstate her.  Our latest report—The Pregnancy Penalty: How Motherhood Drives Inequality and Poverty in New York City—was featured, along with ABB Co-President Dina Bakst and ABB Community Advocate Award recipient, Armanda Legros, on the Melissa Harris-Perry Show on MSNBC.  And our new website resource for pregnant and parenting workers was highlighted in the New York Times and Washington Post.  We’re thrilled to see the media focusing on this issue and expect the coverage to continue next month as the Supreme Court hears arguments in the case of Peggy Young v. UPS. Stay tuned!
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

ABB Client Armanda Legros Testifies Before U.S. Senate Subcommitt​ee!


Armanda Legros, ABB Client & Community Advocate, testifies before the U.S. Senate HELP Committee
Dear Friend,
Two weeks ago, we honored ABB client Armanda Legros from Queens, NY for her inspiring advocacy on behalf of working families. By sharing her own story of pregnancy discrimination and speaking out for others like her, Armanda has become a powerful voice in the fight for fairness in the workplace.
Today, Armanda brought her message to Washington D.C., where she testified in a hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions in support of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and other protections for working families. We are excited by this movement in the Committee, but we need your help to make the PWFA a reality. Armanda also spoke about the importance of paid sick time and paid family leave. ABB will continue to fight for the PWFA and paid leave, so that no worker has to face the impossible choice between their economic security and taking care of their family.
“If you truly value families, and children,” Armanda told the Committee, “then you have to make sure that the women who bear those children and raise them can earn the fair and equal wages we need to support them.”
We are so proud to work with such a dedicated activist and would like to thank Armanda for her courage and leadership. The rest of Armanda’s testimony is available here.
Thank you for all that you do,
Sherry, Dina, Phoebe, Jared, Liz, Elizabeth, Risha, Rachel, Morenike & Meredith