Debut Novel Takes Us to a Dystopian Planet

The action in this debut novel by San Diego County resident Cheryl Brin occurs sometime in the distant future on a planet called Tyra, which has descended into mutual suspicion and warfare between the countries of Altira and Donira.  Altira has a feudal system of government, dominated by landowners, while Donira has a socialist-style ideology, which some revolutionaries believe is not pure enough.  Vakor, a country far more technologically advanced than either of the two rivals, once dominated the planet and its rulers would like to do so again. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

Vital medical supplies reach India as COVID deaths near 200,000

Published by Reuters By Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Rupam Jain and Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Vital medical supplies began to reach India on Tuesday as hospitals starved of life-saving oxygen and beds turned away coronavirus patients, and a surge in infections pushed the death toll close to 200,000. A shipment from Britain, including 100 ventilators

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International

Biden’s first 100 days: COVID-19, jobs, foreign policy, immigration, guns and dogs

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden completes 100 days in office on Friday, April 30. Judging a president’s performance after 100 days in office is an American political tradition that historians say began with Franklin Roosevelt’s first term in 1933, when he embarked on a rapid-fire rollout of measures to counter

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USA

New York man charged with attempted murder in attack on Chinese immigrant

Published by Reuters By Rich McKay (Reuters) – A New York City man was arrested and charged on Tuesday with attempted murder in what police have classified as a hate crime against a Chinese immigrant, authorities said. The victim, identified by police as 61-year-old Yao Pan Ma, was attacked in the East Harlem neighborhood of

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USA

ADL: 2,024 Antisemitic Incidents in U.S. in 2020

Antisemitic incidents remained at a historically high level across the United States in 2020, with a total of 2,024 incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism reported to ADL (the Anti-Defamation League). While antisemitic incidents declined by 4 percent after hitting an all-time high in 2019, last year was still the third-highest year for incidents against American Jews since ADL started tracking such data in 1979. [ADL Press Release]

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Jewish History, USA

Prison Inmates Tell Their Stories Through Theater

Thanks to Covid-19 many of us experienced “lockdown” in our homes, yet we can’t begin to imagine what life is like for those who are truly locked down and sequestered from polite society. That is, until the Playwrights Project teamed up with San Diego State University, nine years ago, to bring us Beyond Prison Walls. This innovative, honest and empathetic showcase brought us into the hearts and minds of those who’ve served time at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility and Centinela State Prison. [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Drive to recall California governor has enough signatures to make ballot

Published by Reuters By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) -A Republican-led effort to recall California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has garnered enough valid signatures to make the ballot, state election officials said on Monday. Newsom will likely face a recall next fall in a race that is already shaping up to be chaotic, as three

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USA

U.S. census hands more House seats to Republican strongholds Texas, Florida

Published by Reuters By Joseph Ax (Reuters) -Texas, Florida and North Carolina are among the states that will gain congressional seats based on new population data from the U.S. census, a shift that could boost Republican chances of recapturing the U.S. House of Representatives from Democrats in next year’s midterm elections. The overall U.S. population

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USA

U.S. Supreme Court spurns case over California LGBT rights-related policy

Published by Reuters By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away a challenge by Republican-governed Texas to a law enacted by Democratic-led California that bars state-funded travel to states deemed to be hostile to the rights of LGBT people. The 2016 measure was enacted in the most populous U.S.

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USA

US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar condemns ‘Death to Islam’ graffiti sprayed on mosque in Minnesota

Published by Al-Araby A Minnesota mosque was subject to a hate crime this weekend, after anti-Muslim, racist messages were sprayed on its walls. The phrases “death of Islam”, “f*** Islam”, with a Nazi swastika were painted on and around the Moorhead-Fargo Islamic Community Centre in Moorhead, US. A mosque window was also broken and police

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USA

Blinken presses Ethiopia on ‘humanitarian disaster’ in Tigray

Published by AFP Washington (AFP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday pressed Ethiopia to address what he called an impending humanitarian “disaster” in Tigray, including rising fears of famine. In a phone call with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Blinken voiced “grave concern about the deteriorating humanitarian and human rights crisis in the

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International

AG Merrick Garland Announces Probe of Louisville PD Over Breonna Taylor Death

Published by USA Features Media (USA Features) The Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights is launching an investigation of the Louisville, Ky., police department over the death of Breonna Taylor about a year after she was shot to death during a drug raid. Following her death, Taylor became one of several young blacks who served

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USA