Connecticut School Transportation Association, which represents almost 60 companies, sent a letter to the Department of Education informing them that by Monday the school bus driver shortage will be 10 times worse and will be a crisis driven by government. File photo: Greg Patton, Shutter Stock, licensed.
STAMFORD, CT – With a Monday, September 27 deadline looming on a state COVID-19 vaccine mandate, nearly 300 Connecticut school bus drivers are ready to walk off the job at the end of the day on Friday, many of them citing either religious or medical-related reasons for refusing to take the jab.
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont had previously issued a executive order-backed COVID-19 vaccination mandate –due to kick in on Monday – for some segments of the state’s workforce, including all public school district employees.
If a school district disobeys the vaccine mandate, State COO and Commissioner from the State Department of Administrative Services Josh Geballe pointed out that non-compliance with the Governor Lamont’s executive order means that School districts could potentially run the risk of loosing their state funding.
“The driver shortage is going to be massive,” confirmed Connecticut School Transportation Association (CSTA) spokesperson John Hipsher on the impending walkout. “Moms and dads should have patience for sure on Monday.”
CSTA – which represents almost 60 companies – also sent a letter to the Connecticut state Department of Education, informing them that by Monday “The school bus driver shortage will become 10 times worse on that day, and it will be a crisis driven by government.”
A similar school bus driver walkout over vaccine mandates in neighboring Massachusetts has resulted in the National Guard being activated in order to provide transportation for children to and from school while officials scramble to find replacement carriers to take over.
The CSTA is requesting that Governor Lamont either allow bus drivers to be exempt from having to be vaccinated, or to give them a 60-day grace period and state funding to set up proper COVID-19 testing.
“I can tell you we’re in active discussions with the bus drivers,” Lamont responded. “I can tell you we’ve done everything to accelerate getting additional bus drivers in place.”
The Florida Heartbeat Law establishes a fetal heartbeat as the indicator of a fetus’ gestational age, and requires physicians to conduct a test to determine the presence of a viable fetal heartbeat and to inform a woman seeking the abortion if detectable fetal heartbeat is found. File photo: Art Babych, Shutter Stock, licensed.
VOLUSIA COUNTY, FL – A legislator in Florida has filed a bill that mimics the controversial anti-abortion measure that became effective in Texas earlier this month. Filed on September 22 by State Rep. Webster Barnaby (R-Volusia County) HB 167, The Florida Heartbeat Act, establishes a fetal heartbeat as the indicator of a fetus’ gestational age, and requires physicians to conduct a test to determine the presence of a viable fetal heartbeat and to inform a woman seeking the abortion if detectable fetal heartbeat is found.
FLORIDA HEARTBEAT ACT: The “Florida Heartbeat Act” was just filed on Wednesday morning. Here's what we know so far. https://t.co/jT9U6SRNYR
While he has not commented specifically about the proposed bill, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Communications Director Taryn Fenske released a statement saying that the Governor will keep an eye on the measure’s legislative progress.
“Governor DeSantis is pro-life,” Fenske’s statement said. “The Governor’s office is aware that the bill was filed and like all legislation, we will be monitoring it as it moves through the legislative process in the coming months.”
The proposed legislation also prohibits physician from performing or inducing abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected. Physicians who fail to conduct a test to detect a fetal heartbeat would be exposed to penalties.
The bill’s sole specific exemption is in the case of a medical emergency, but HB 167 retains provisions under current Florida law that forbids the use of public funds for abortions except in the cases of medical necessity, rape or incest.
Meanwhile, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who is challenging Gov. Ron DeSantis in the race for the state’s Corner Office, vowed to support those who oppose the proposed measure.
“On the shoulders of all the female trailblazers let me say this,” Fried said in a Tweet. “If you’re coming for our bodies, we’re coming for you. I’m doing it as Florida’s next Governor and I’m not alone.”
On the shoulders of all the female trailblazers let me say this…
If you’re coming for our bodies, we are coming for you. I’m doing it as Florida’s next Governor, and I’m not alone. pic.twitter.com/1QoWatIK9u
On Friday, Ocala Police responded to a motorcycle crash in the 4900 block of SW 48th Avenue. The rider, Jeremey Denney, 51, crashed near the left-hand curve when he drifted off the roadway and struck the curb.
OCALA, FL – On Friday, September 24, 2021, around 7 a.m., Ocala Police responded to a motorcycle crash in the 4900 block of SW 48th Avenue. The rider, Jeremey Denney, 51, crashed near the left-hand curve when he drifted off the roadway and struck the curb.
The Harley Davidson scraped along the curb for about 75 feet before Denney was ejected and the motorcycle left the roadway. Denney was transported to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. He was not wearing a helmet. Denney’s family has been notified of the tragedy.
Actress and Co-Director of Tango Shalom, Judi Beecher attending 2019 InfoList’s Pre-Oscars Soiree at Skybar at the Mondrian Hotel, West Hollywood, CA on February 20th, 2019. File photo: Eugene Powers, Shutter Stock, licensed.
NASSAU COUNTY, NY – “There is a new movie named ‘Tango Shalom’ that I saw two days ago. The film is a comedy/ drama which conveys such a beautiful and universal message that I am convinced you will welcome the chance to see it’’, my friend Corey, a fifty-six year old successful tech investor from Great Neck, N.Y. told me over lunch last week.
Corey then informed me that “Tango Shalom’’ (appropriately titled as you will soon see) was recently released in select theatres in New York and Los Angeles and will be available to the general public on streaming platforms in early November.
More importantly, Corey let me know that the film was playing at a movie theatre in Manhasset, N.Y. just about 5-6 miles from my own Great Neck office. “It is almost right around the corner from you. I really do recommend that you go there to see this wonderful film”, he urged.
However, Corey out of desire, told me, to be totally up front revealed that he has been a long-time family friend of Judi Beecher, the multi-award-winning actress, singer-song writer and filmmaker who, he explained, plays the role of the wife of the movie’s protagonist, and is also the film’s executive producer.
“Full disclosure my journalist friend”, Corey stated. “Judi and I both grew up in the same community in Great Neck, and we first became acquainted through our families”, and then, Corey added, “We continued our friendship and remained in contact since then, even as Judi’s work as a multi award winning actress, singer, songwriter and director have taken her for years at a time to Los Angeles, Paris and London”.
Still, Corey insisted that he would have loved the film independent of his friendship with Beecher. “Even without Judi, I would have loved the movie, and highly recommend that you see it as soon as possible”, he first swore and then implored.
As you might have already guessed, I followed Corey’s recommendation, full disclosure and all, and the next day went to the theatre to see the film for myself. And from the beginning to the end of what I judged to be a great work of cinematic art, I realized that I had made the right decision.
Set in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, home to the borough’s large Chassidic Jewish community, the film first presents the theological dilemma facing Rabbi Moshe (Jos Laniado). Hoping to save his financially embattled Hebrew school from bankruptcy, the rabbi, an accomplished dancer of the hora, a traditional Jewish wedding dance, considers entering a televised tango contest to win the large cash prize that would enable him to save his school.
The rabbi, though, is faced with a seemingly unresolvable spiritual conflict: the dance contest, he knew, would require that he dance with a female partner other than his wife, an arrangement, though, totally forbidden by his own ultra-orthodox sect of the Jewish religion. However, the rabbi also understands that winning the contest would afford him his last and only chance to save his school.
From that introduction segment of the plot forward “Tango Shalom” expands, I found, from surprising to intriguing to compelling. Searching for spiritual guidance from clergy from religions other than his own, the rabbi reaches out first to a Catholic priest (Joe Bologna, the veteran actor and co-producer and co-writer of the film who died at the age of 82 shortly after the film was completed), to a Muslim Imam (Yasir Sitara) and finally to a Sikh holy man (Hamza Zaman).
Joe Bologna playing Father Anthony film still Tango Shalom. Photo by Vision Films, Inc. and Convivencia Forever Films.
Hoping to help the perplexed rabbi find a way out of his conundrum, each one these three holy men proposes his own unique solution, which is consistent with the theological teachings of their own respective faiths, while, at the same time, reflecting the spiritual, moral and humanistic commonality of all three.
So after seeing this heartwarming movie of which, please forgive me, I will provide no further details, but rather suggest that you go see it for yourself, I was not surprised when, as I later learned, it has received the praise and endorsement of a cross section of leaders of the same four faiths whose fictional leaders are portrayed in the film.
Nor was I surprised that, as I also later learned, “Tango Shalom” had won the “2021 Artisan Festival International World Peace Initiative for Best World Peace and Tolerance Narrative Feature Film Award”, at Cannes.
However, I must confess that I was surprised, actually very surprised, when I discovered that this same year, the movie had, among the many other honors it has received to date, also won the 2021 “Rabat Comedy International Film Festival Morocco Award”, the 2021“New Delhi [India] Film Festival Award”, the “Jaipur [India] International Film Festival Award” as well as securing the nomination for Best Film at the 2021 “Anatolia [Turkey] International Film Festival”.
The reason for my surprise? All three of the countries hosting the festivals have very large Muslim populations – a demographic that a skeptic might view as being less than receptive to the film’s impossible to miss message of the universality of all religions.
Not among those skeptics was Judi Beecher, who thanks to Corey arranging a phone interview between her- from Los Angeles – and me – in Great Neck – I learned why. “You might think I am naïve”, she stated. “But I truly believe that the positive response shown [to “Tango Shalom’’] by many fans and movie critics in the Islamic cinematic community really does reflect the growing understanding and respect that followers of that faith have for Judaism, Christianity, Sikhism, and all other religions.
“If you doubt my optimism”, Beecher added, “look no further than the Peace Treaty [the Abraham Accords] that Israel signed last year with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and, having a very special meaning to me and “Tango Shalom”, also with Morocco”.
Beecher, who is Jewish, then cited another example, which she said, reflects the new feeling of cooperation and friendship between Muslims and Jews.
“I learned that Yasir Sitara [the aforementioned actor who played the role of the Imam] was born in Iraq, and after seeing many of his family members murdered by [then Iraqi dictator] Saddam Hussein, fled to America”, she stated.
“What inspires me”, she elaborated, “about Sitara, who is a pious Muslim, is that rather than living a life based on his hatred of the evil cowards who killed so many of his loved ones, he has become a fighter for peace and brotherhood, not only through his art, including so beautifully performing his role in “Tango Shalom”, but also through his personal actions… Sitara, I also learned, joined other members of his mosque to help raise funds for the families of the victims of the Philadelphia synagogue shooting”, noted Beecher referring to the October 27th, 2018 shooting by white supremacist at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, which left 11 worshippers shot and killed and wounded seven other innocent victims of this heinous act of anti- Semitism.
Beecher herself has long known about the evils of anti-Semitism. “My mother and my maternal grandparents are Holocaust survivors” she informed me. “I will tell you the entire story another time of how they were saved by Jewish and non-Jewish individuals and by Jewish and non-Jewish humanitarian organizations”.
“But my mother, her parents and a few other close family members were the lucky ones. My mother’s grandfather and almost every one of her great aunts and uncles as well as many cousins and children were slaughtered during the Holocaust”, she sadly noted.
Beecher recalled that during the filming of “Tango Shalom” she often thought of those doomed relatives.
“I kept on thinking about the relatives I will never meet on this earth, while hoping that a movie that shows the common goodness and humanity of people of all religions can play some part in fighting intolerance and hatred and replacing them with understanding and love”.
Swati Singh, Regional Political Director at Republican National Committee (moderator) Peter Kuo, Vice Chairman, California Republican Party, Bay Area Republican Activist Marc Ang, community organizer in Southern California and founder of Asian Industry B2B, and Jeff Wang.
LOS ANGELES, CA – This past weekend, I was invited to be a “trainer” for the CA GOP convention for a session called Asian Community Voices. While I am disillusioned by the GOP, which has slowly become a toxic fringe party that plays politics poorly, focused on infighting, and can’t achieve real results or tangible outcomes, I see glimmers of hope for the future.
I felt it was a good first step and I should be slightly encouraging but more importantly I needed to show up and speak my truth. Will they learn something new, break out of old habits and become a true viable opposition party to give checks and balances to the one party Democratic state or maybe that is just asking for too much? Walk before we run, maybe? I also know that enough people inside the party structure are hungry for the truth, many who are my friends and people I respect who are trying to save the sinking ship, but who are earnestly and honestly fighting the good fight. So I showed up.
Unfortunately, party leadership remains emblematic of just where the party is and has been for the better part of the last two decades, stuck in 1995 style campaign messaging. The party seems to have no clue how the brand is even perceived, and that’s the worst part. I have, in the past, stood up for Republicans and will continue to do so, but I’m under zero delusion that I’m contrarian to where the culture is. The insiders in the political party don’t seem to understand this, and are completely delusional about their own importance and think that anyone actually cares that they have some title for a brand that was beaten down by 25 points in an off year special election, when the opposition made it about the same brand they keep peddling nonstop, with no critical thinking.
I also really dislike the idea of “training”. Our segment was really a panel and I knew enough people in the room that did not need to be talked down to like they were dumb on who Asians are. My great friend and co-panelist, Jeff Wang, touched upon this simple fact and asked the question to the audience, “who are actually friends with Asians?” If you knew how to cultivate relationships as regular everyday people, all these racial barriers wouldn’t need to exist and I thought we achieved this in California. But political California Republicans seem to be lacking on regular social skills so I can fathom why this is foreign to them. This “training” should have been billed as a conversation. The word “training” comes off condescending, like I know better than you, emblematic of the political Republicans.
Asian community voices should not be about cynically waking up the dumb, but instead, gently guide people to vote Republican based on our values, something I have done in my organization, Asian Industry B2B, with business owners and those who have a freedom loving entrepreneurial bent. It should also not be about uninspired voter registration efforts when the greater brand is dying. Amplify a bad brand, and you’re actually doubling or tripling your work.
What the GOP has now attracted in the Asian community is those who are living in the past, or those who are interested in climbing some political structure or hierarchy. No wonder the Democrats have made so many inroads in the younger generation because they involve people and were previously low on condescension, though now, that is changing as they become more comfortable, lazy and hell bent on growing their power. Yet the GOP cannot take advantage of the opportunities of Democrats failing, because they themselves are doing similar things, unable to strike a real contrast.
But what gives me hope is that so many are registering out of Republican into Independent. Because in California, the NPPs are truly the “replacement” Republican party. Free thinkers who do not want to be associated with the party, which really is the “fringe” party playing politics instead of finding solutions. If you are intellectually honest, you cannot be a Republican or a Democrat, at this point. What finally made me register out of Republican was watching the good honest Republican grassroots donors donating $50 here, or a $100 there, sometimes, their own meager life savings, and then watching that same money spent ridiculously on salaries for consultants who actually were poor fiduciaries to the campaign and cause. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen this over the last few election cycles.
Right after our Asian Community Voices segment, the Vice Chair Peter Kuo, my co-panelist, posted his typical uninspired rantings on Twitter calling this training “historic”. It is this type of desperate hyperbole that turns off your average person. First of all, this is 20 years too late. The Democrats have made this outreach way back, and just now we are doing this? Second, do we even need to pander? I think issues like law and order, school choice, wildfires, affordable housing, etc., all affect all races equally. Using words like “historic” just made me cringe like I have never before. I reject this grandiose mentality – can we just be real?
Peter also had the nerve to make a quip that I should return to the party and not “sit on the fence”. That is laughable, if you look at my record of work in the community and in the media promoting conservative values. But this is par for the course. Meanwhile, Peter is symbolic of an out of touch older generation. My heart actually went out for him as he talked about not having a connection with his daughter. In contrast, I know so many parents, including my own late father, who actually took time to listen. After being around so many Republicans in my activism, I found a common thread: many had broken relationships with children. There was a disconnect because they didn’t bond and connect, and were too rigid and didn’t evolve with the changing world. It doesn’t mean throw out your values, but at least know what’s going on and talk to your kids. And this goes beyond race. This seems to be common in successful Asian families. I can certainly admire Peter’s immigrant story but this is not what we need in 2021, especially with a 2nd generation of Asian Americans who are intermarrying and overwhelmingly Democrat, breaking with their parents and concerned about other issues. I encouraged the party to start embracing things like cannabis or bitcoin, or at least having a conversation about it, to get to this new bloc of voters, who are open to not voting lockstep with Democrats. Stop thinking you know it all, Republicans.
A title doesn’t make you a leader. The current GOP leadership may look outwardly diverse, with a Latina and Asian as chair and vice chair, but after many years of poor results and no change in trends, is actually more indicative of how the CA Republicans seem to only uplift “yes” men and women. Can we practice meritocracy in a party that claims it’s all about it and the free market, and performance? Can we bring up leaders who actually have solid community connections and tangible credentials? Not titles, but true accomplishments.
Another person who attended texted me and told me to turn down my “anger”, focused more on the animation of my voice, while missing the point that she was projecting her own to me and that no one likes to be told what to do or condescended to. Funny that the ultimate response to my words on the panel was overwhelmingly supportive, because in the end, the convention goers and hardcore activists needed someone to match the anger and frustration. Once again, Republicans need to learn some humility and maybe look at results versus “Karening” what others are doing. I certainly wouldn’t have the nerve to tell someone else what to do with their own public presentations. Hey, you do you. But I’ll do me.
Both Peter and Madame Critique need to understand how out of touch they are, in general. The biggest takeaway is not that they are bad people, but that they are focused on being accepted by this dying structure and toxic political brand. I am not here to win a Mr. Congeniality award. I have never cared about that, and could care less about shallow accolades or titles, as I have turned down many opportunities to get involved in the political parties, because the community is my focus. There’s some serious work that needs to be done, in a state I have invested my life in. And the work doesn’t start or end in the political structures or elitist social clubs.
What the GOP has become is a cult of misfits, and has self-attracted myopic types of people, distracted by warped priorities, with a consultant class ripping flesh off the dead carcass of the roadkill. What is left are sycophants who are woefully clueless on how dead the brand is, and are busy brown-nosing other sycophants with titles that mean nothing, because the structure itself is compromised and is not even the 2nd biggest organization in California. The bottom line is the GOP in California isn’t even a viable party. Independents and NPP’s are higher in registration by 4 percent, while the GOP can’t even clear a quarter of registered voters, languishing in third place.
And this is not just limited to the establishment. The grassroots are just as misguided in a dying party. While I earnestly worked hard to get the grassroots engaged on our Facebook group for the recall election and in real life rallies, nonstop talk about electoral fraud became a quick defeatist excuse for those who are low on action, and high on rigidity, and are not even open to understanding the simple fact that our state is culturally liberal. In addition, there are many grifters who live on dead-end candidacies sucking up the money and oxygen from well meaning donors, and fake self-fashioned leaders who end up playing their own political games in the grassroots, the moment they are given a little bit of perceived power. This was so evident in the Recall Newsom campaign and I highlighted this on my Newsweek op-ed.
The fact remains that our once conservative state has had a huge demographic shift thanks to affluenza. Nowhere more evident than the formerly hardcore conservative Orange County, where the older generation is dying off and the newer generation is polar opposite liberal. Bottom line: electoral fraud cannot account for a 25 point loss in California, so it’s time we start cleaning house on the conservative side.
It’s not just about showing up, it’s how you show up. While Asian vice chair Peter Kuo is a nice guy, his flamboyant red suits and violin-playing as his gimmick, is once again a distraction from the real impactful work that needs to be done on a daily basis. It is almost poetic how in the Titanic movie, you have the people in denial playing music, dancing and having fancy dinners as the ship was slowly sinking. When Peter plays the violin, I picture Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet sinking into the ocean. The type of sycophantic hierarchy-worshipping behavior is also what I have seen in the Chinese Communist Party’s ability to infiltrate the San Gabriel Valley, which I have discussed in previous op-eds.
I had to also laugh at affirmative action hire, Latina Chair Jessica Patterson’s attempts to strip the California College Republicans from their charter status because they put out a few memes to make fun of her. I’m sorry but if you want to be a leader, you better learn how to laugh at yourself and maybe look at some harsh truths of why we are not succeeding in growing our movement. Humor does go a long way. Suppressing it is as bad as censorship in China.
Once again, we are post partisan and the GOP is playing catch up 20 years later, and now they’ve once again missed the pulse of the average person. The fastest growing bloc of voters in California are those with “no party preference”, mostly disaffected Republicans and Democrats, who don’t need to be boxed into partisan food fights and who actually want to work towards solutions. I am glad I went to the GOP convention to see exactly where the baseline is, but I see the enormity of the work that needs to be done. I will be fighting for my conservative values and commonsense solutions outside of their dysfunctional structure, but wish them all the best.
