Editorials: To govern ourselves and keep the peace; and the USA not for sale

June 19, 2024

A week and a half before a change of governments, the SUNTRACS construction workers’ union will take to the streets and cause a few traffic problems to protest the outgoing administration’s moves to deny the union – and some of its leaders personally – access to banking services. It’s just making the labor militants go to other countries or take other roundabout ways to get financial services. This routine about “preventing terrorist financing” will not wash internationally, given who has shot whom in labor disputes here. But if the PRD – an affiliate of the Socialist International – has mutated into such an anti-labor outfit, Mulino and Ricardo Martinelli have long stood for the de facto prohibition of labor unions. We shall see, but it seems that SUNTRACS is warning, not calling for a nationwide shutdown at the moment.

Fragmemtation, governability and Panamanians’ will to live together

Difficult negotiations are underway about how and by whom a divided National Assembly will be run. There are social unrest warnings about Panama’s relationship with First Quantum and the copper mine it ran, and who sacrifices what to stop the Social Security Fund from bleeding out. The suggestion of an amnesty law to benefit some or all of the politicians and operatives who “stole but got things done” isn’t going over well. Nor is the suggestion that Mulino will pardon Martinelli and the latter will walk out of the Nicaraguan Embassy to run Panama through proxies.

The most charitable reading of May 5th’s voting is that on the whole Panamanians despise the entire political caste. The trial balloon of Martinelli’s top lieutenant as president of the National Assembly never got off the ground. Now they suggest a guy with no personal experience in public office who ran his family’s reputation – which does not bear any sort of close scrutiny.

There are all these challenges to the elections of legislators, and appeals of rejected challenges. A few are based on credible-sounding allegations of the use of public funds to buy votes. Most are just frivolous ploys to keep legitimately elected men and women from taking their seats and casting their votes on July 1, when the officers and committee compositions of the next legislature are to be determined.

There are a lot of things over which Panamanians can fight. There were before we voted and there still are after inconclusive elections.

Mulino can tread lightly or pick a fight. His opponents can tread lightly or pick a fight.

Better for Panama if we all step back, take stock of the situation, limit our demands and find whatever narrow consensus we can as a basis for all of us to live peacefully among one another as we try to sort out more difficult problems.

There is no snap of fingers quick exit from our predicament. One way out is a process to get a new constitution but there are all sorts of problems there, too. Simplistic demagoguery that leaves us with a new document but all the usual families in power and all the usual games in play would soon enough lead to breaches of the peace. It’s time for serious and honest reflection by the entire nation.

Jews in Israel don’t all support what the Netanyahu regime is doing. Yet in a racially mixed New York congressional district with a large Jewish minority that reliably votes blue, a Puerto Rican Democratic member of Congress from a nearby district, who takes tons of money from AIPAC and cryptocurrency hustlers, insists that an African-American colleague is an anti-Semite for opposing the massacre that’s ongoing in Gaza and US funding for it. Unattributed photo that was in Haaretz, of a protest march on May 4, 2024 in Haifa.

Among Democrats

Democrats notoriously fight about the burning issues of modern times within the party. Republicans, much less so. Usually, with country club in-crowd manners, the GOP gets in line.

These are unusual times. Donald Trump says that if he gets back into the White House there will be a dictatorship. Fascism is on the ballot this November, even if a lot of Republicans oppose this. About Israel? There are a few actual nazis in the GOP, but by and large Republicans really like the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank and advocate the arrest, expulsion from universities and firing from jobs of Americans who voice objections to this ethnic cleansing.

Democrats are divided between hawks and doves, corporate and progressive factions, and sometimes competing grouplets who put their identities before their principles. Then there are those who understand that freedom and democracy are sometimes at odds with one another, that warring nations might actually each have valid motives for their opposing stands, that a legitimate political party has more than a division of spoils at stake in an election.

Dark money, unlimited campaign spending, foreign interests buying stakes in US politics – these are Republican innovations, most notoriously a GOP-dominated Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. But there are factions of Democrats who buy right into that stuff. Within the party, they often add sleaze and bullying to the discourse.

Republican rhetoric these days sounds as if from another universe, but the worst Democrats also divorce themselves from reality. The operative who defamed Anita Hill to put Clarence Thomas on the high court now bills himself and his operations as “progressive.” A Gentile, Ritchie Torres, lectures Jews in a nearby district about the political requirements of being Jewish, and taunts critics who are not on the AIPAC payroll like he is as “losers.” This is the stuff of next week’s New York Democratic primary.

The move is on by more or less that same crew of operatives who engineered the stupidest presidential campaign of modern times, when Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump in 2016, to take down The Squad of progressives in this year’s Democratic primary races. AIPAC, conservative Democrats indicted for bribery, the “Blockchain Caucus” and the insufferable DNC operatives who were outed by Russian leaks back in 2016 may win a few contests. But despite all the money in play, those Democrats who stand on principle will usually hold on in the face of all those attack ads.

Whichever bad ones may slip through the primaries, in the Democratic Party the tide is with the righteous, not with the cynical hustlers. After that phase, all but the most foolish Democrats understand just what the Republicans offer as an alternative in November.

Vonnegut portrait by Giovanni Scifo – Deviant Art.

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Bear in mind…

We don’t need bigger cars or fancier clothes. We need self-respect, identity, community, love, variety, beauty, challenge and a purpose in living that is greater than material accumulation.

Donella Meadows

Never knock on Death’s door: ring the bell and run away! Death really hates that!

Matt Frewer

Under conditions of tyranny it is far easier to act than to think.

Hannah Arendt

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Maybe not so fast on the coin recall…

June 19, 2024

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On second thought…

Photo and note by Eric Jackson

It was one of those stunning — for some, at first blush – transition period announcements. The one balboa (B/.1 or $1) coins, dubbed “the martinelli” after the presidential administration during which they were introduced, would be retired from circulation.

Uncertainty, shading in some cases into panic, ensued among coin collectors, bankers, shopkeepers and ordinary citizens who hoard coins in cookie cans until the need arises to change them into the folding stuff. Who would be left holding worthless money, honestly obtained, when it’s withdrawn from circulation?

It seems that there was more counterfeiting of the martinellis than of other coins – but how much, really?

The martinellis, because of the way that they are made, break more easily than other coins – but how prevalent has that problem been?

So, still in the lame duck presidency of Nito Cortizo, came another announcement from the Banco Nacional. Broken or bent martinellis, and certainly counterfeit ones, will be taken out of circulation. However, the plan now is not to discontinue their use.

There are costs to coining new money, or to replacing coins with US currency. If the problems with the martinelli are so dire and prevalent as suggested, there would also be damage to the reputation of the Canadian Mint, which produced the things. There would be a quantifiable in monetary terms loss to that institution if the problems are widespread.

Thus a walk back on the announced policy. There will likely be further studies, by new people. Leave it to the incoming Mulino administration and the next legislature to make some decisions about Panama’s physical money supply, without any obvious incentive on the next president’s part to impugn the record in office of one Ricardo Martnelli Berrocal.

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Zogby, Xenophobes

June 17, 2024

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Exclusionary bigotry never did anything to lift this country up. Immigrants, on the other hand, have shown us what true greatness and perseverance look like. A US Border Patrol agent on the Rio Grande near McAllen, Texas. US Department of Homeland Security photo by Donna Burton.

Beware the xenophobes: immigrants
have always made this nation great

by James Zogby — Common Dreams

June is National Immigration Month in the United States—an appropriate time to reflect on the special role immigrants have played and continue to play in enriching this country.

Far from being a threat to the vitality of America, immigration has been a life-giving force that in every generation has helped the country grow. This fact is on display in communities across the United States as new immigrants and refugees come not only with their hopes and dreams for a better life, but also with their energy and determination to prosper and provide for their families. They also have brought their unique cultural characteristics that contribute to making America the country it is today.

All of this is too often forgotten in times of economic stress or political polarization, as xenophobic bigots rise up demanding that America’s doors be closed. Immigrants are presented as a threat to the economic well-being of citizens. They argue that there is an “American culture” that the immigrants do not share. They raise slogans like “you will not replace us” or “immigrants don’t share our values or culture” or they’ll “pollute the blood of the country.”

Not only will they become American, but also America itself will be transformed by them and their contributions.

What these anti-immigrant bigots forget is that their own ancestors were often greeted by the same fears and exclusionary slogans when they first came to America. And they forget that that there is no uniquely American culture without the contributions of immigrants who made our culture what it is today. What would American culture be without the Scots-Irish and African Americans who brought their music and dance, or the Italians, Chinese, Mexicans, Greeks, and Arabs who contributed their food, or the Eastern European Jewry who gave us their arts and humor, not to speak of the countless others whose contributions to science, medicine, art, and business have made us the country we are today.

It’s important to understand that these two competing visions of the country have come in successive waves. And it’s particularly sad to see the descendants of the earlier waves of immigrants who were reviled a century ago, now becoming the xenophobes of this era. But thankfully, the bigots of every period, after doing short-term damage, have always lost as the more inclusive spirit of America has triumphed. And when inclusion wins, America wins.

I saw this on display during a recent visit to my hometown of Utica, NY. For most of its more than two centuries of existence, Utica has been a community of immigrants. First came the Germans, Welsh, and then the Irish—to dig the canals and work in the city’s factories. Then, beginning with the turn of the last century, came a massive influx of immigrants from Italy, Eastern and Central Europe, and Lebanon. By mid-century Utica had a population of over 100,000. They lived in ethnic neighborhoods, worked in the factories of East and West Utica, where their wages put them squarely in that period’s middle class.

The neighborhood in which I lived was largely Italian, with pockets of Poles and remnants of Utica’s dwindling population of German descent. When the factories closed in the second half of the century, moving their production to the non-unionized south or overseas, the city began a slow steady decline. The population was halved, homes were abandoned, neighborhoods left in ruin, and businesses closed.

It was at that point that Utica did something very American. They opened a refugee center beckoning immigrants and refugees from far and wide. They welcomed newcomers, helped them resettle and find employment, and provided them services needed to speed up their acculturation into their new environment. The success of this endeavor is evident.

After decades of decline, Utica’s population grew back to 64,000. Thousands of Bosnians, Burmese, Russians, Vietnamese, Africans, Latin Americans, and Arabs (from Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen) have settled in Utica.

My sister provided me a look at the rich cultural diversity that now makes up her street with families from Sudan, Burma, Poland, and Bosnia, and African American and Latino families, all living next door to one another. Businesses that had been boarded up have reopened, homes and neighborhoods that one might have thought unsalvageable have been restored to their original beauty. Gardens are growing everywhere, and children are playing in the streets and parks. The city has come back to life.

The last census shows that almost one in five Uticans are foreign born, and there are 40 different languages are spoken in the city. Within less than a generation, all of these diverse groups will become American. They’ll become Democrats or Republicans. They’ll follow their favorite baseball or football teams. Their kids will listen to popular music. Not only will they become American, but also America itself will be transformed by them and their contributions. A friend of mine, Mike Baroody, a Lebanese American who served in the Reagan administration, calls this the wonderful alchemy of becoming American—immigrants become American and America changes as a result of their addition to our cultural fabric.

A final word to the xenophobes: It is this absorptive and transformative quality that has made America great, not your exclusionary bigotry.

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A visit to John Douglas’s Lazy Man’s Farm II

June 16, 2024

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So THAT’S what a dragon fruit looks like! This and other photos on this page by Eric Jackson.

The easier and healthier way
to grow your living

by Eric Jackson

John Douglas has been a private sector agronomist for some time now. When, as a subcontractor he worked to set up a park in Panama City? A few years back, and he was never paid. He taught organic permaculture for Uncle Sam as a Peace Corps volunteer and otherwise, but now he holds forth in his second farm near Penonome, smaller and a bit closer to town than the previous one, with the back of his property on the Zarate River. There are various aspects to the business, but subsistence agriculture and the teaching of sustainable farming without all the chemicals are the main things. As a side gig for some of the neighbors, he gives some English lessons. He’s not set up to do it as a main business, but you might be able to get a plant, a cutting or some seeds to start growing your own stuff.

These days John’s truck has died, he’s an octogenarian and he generally gets around by public transportation. People find their ways to his farm out on Via Sonadora north / northeast of the Penonome town center, across from the Catholic Church in the corregimiento of Pajonal. It’s along the back roads that meander from Penonome to El Valle, a little ways up from the historic battlefield where Victoriano Lorenzo’s Liberal guerrillas defeated the Conservatives in a trench warfare episode of the Thousand Days War, setting the stage for Lorenzo to take Penonome and Aguadulce. Sonadora’s a somewhat sparsely populated, prosperous neighborhood these days. It’s part of a scenic drive from El Valle to Penonome or vice versa.

At one point the government was into “agricultural tourism,” which was one of the premises for the first Lazy Man’s Farm, but in recent times “tourism promotion” is about subsidies to ad agencies and tax incentives to build redundant hotels. And agricultural promotion? The people who import and sell agro-chemicals, not the organic farmers, are the ones with the political influence. Still, healthy farming has its many fans and practitioners here.

In the background, the Catholic church in Sonadora provides the across-the-road landmark to find The Lazy Man’s Farm.

John and his assistant have been celebrating a new success in composting papaya trees.

Mother and son drop by for an English lesson.

Flowers and medicinal plants, too…

There is an ethic that goes along with this. You wouldn’t want a perfectly good planter go into a landfill just because it no longer serves its original intended use.

TEACHING — that’s the ticket.

Every well-appointed organic permaculture farm should have a wonder dog.

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Physicians sound a fraud alarm about Medicare Advantage

June 15, 2024

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“The time has come to declare MA a failed experiment,” write the authors of a new paper. Stock photo.

A $600 billion swindle: study makes the
case to ‘abolish’ Medicare Advantage

by Jake Johnson — Common Dreams

A new academic analysis published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine details the enormous sums that privatized Medicare Advantage plans have cost US taxpayers in recent years and calls for the abolition of the program, which has been massively profitable for the insurance giants that dominate it.

Citing the nonpartisan Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the paper notes that Medicare Advantage (MA) plans have overcharged the federal government to the tune of $612 billion since 2007—and $82 billion last year alone.

MA plans—now used by more than half of the eligible Medicare population—utilize a range of tactics to reap larger payments from the federal government, which provides insurers a lump sum for each Medicare Advantage patient. The size of the payment depends on the enrollee’s health, which MA plans are notorious for portraying as worse than it is in order to receive heftier government payments.

“Paradoxically, despite those overpayments, MA plans spend 9% less on medical services than [fee-for-service] Medicare spends for comparable enrollees,” reads the new study. “If MA plans pay for less care, where do the overpayments go? Some pay for supplementary benefits, although plans do not disclose how much they spend on them, and MA enrollees do not get significantly more dental care or incur lower out-of-pocket dental costs than those in FFS Medicare. Instead, overhead and profit eats up the lion’s share.”

The study’s authors estimate that MA plans’ overhead from 2007 to 2024 was $592 billion, which is “equivalent to 97% of taxpayers’ $612 billion overpayments to them during that period.”

Medicare Advantage plans have, in effect, stolen hundreds of billions from taxpayers

Dr. Adam Gaffney, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the lead author of the new study, said in a statement that “Medicare Advantage is a bad deal for taxpayers.”

“Money that could be used to eliminate all copayments or shore up Medicare’s Trust Fund is instead lining insurers’ pockets,” said Gaffney. “And the private insurers keep Medicare Advantage enrollees from getting needed care by erecting bureaucratic hurdles like prior authorizations and payment denials.”

Gaffney and study co-authors Drs. Stephanie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein—co-founders of Physicians for a National Health Program (PHNP)—argue based on their examination of Medicare Advantage’s decadeslong history that “the time has come to declare MA a failed experiment and abolish it.”

“Medicare Advantage plans have, in effect, stolen hundreds of billions from taxpayers,” says David Himmelstein, a lecturer at Harvard Medical School and a research associate at the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. “And the private plans’ schemes also raise seniors’ Part B Medicare premiums. Even seniors who don’t choose to enroll in Medicare Advantage are subsidizing the private plans’ profits.”

The study’s authors observe that the elimination of Medicare Advantage would allow the federal government to use the roughly $88 billion in estimated MA overpayments for the coming year to instead “upgrade benefits for all Medicare beneficiaries.” Traditional Medicare typically does not cover dental, vision, or hearing services, which often leads people to choose MA plans.

“A smarter, thriftier way to expand benefits and lower out-of-pocket costs is possible for all Medicare beneficiaries, but first, we must eliminate MA and double down on traditional Medicare, covering all enrollees in an expanded and improved Medicare program,” the analysis concludes. “That would be a good deal for patients and taxpayers.”

Wendell Potter, a former insurance executive who has become a trenchant critic of Medicare Advantage, told Common Dreams that he agrees with the study’s authors that MA “should be eliminated.”

“Not only has it never saved taxpayers a dime since it was created during the George W. Bush administration, but it has cost us $592 billion over the last 17 years because of the high administrative costs inherent in the program and the way insurers have rigged the system to get paid excessively every year,” said Potter, president of the Center for Health and Democracy.

“The program is so entrenched, and the companies have so much political influence over Democrats as well as Republicans through campaign contributions and lobbying, that eliminating the program will be a heavy lift, at least in the near term,” Potter added. “That means that proposals to reform MA that address overpayments and abuses like prior authorization are essential and important for reform advocates to support.”

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¿Wappin? The Endless Cycle / El Ciclo Sin Fin

June 14, 2024

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Mein Gott! Der Kommissar is back in town! Photo by biphop, Lyon 2007.

Haven’t we been here before?
¿No hemos estado aquí antes?

Rubén Blades & Roby Draco Rosa – Patria
https://youtu.be/ql0G312R2IQ?si=chCBf30reouJ48O7

Cyndi Lauper et al – Big Yellow Taxi
https://youtu.be/CoqSZktN5PU?si=z4s6pHB2N3n1YJzb

REM – Losing My Religion
https://youtu.be/xwtdhWltSIg?si=w4tHvVePrrjtj4xC

Combos Nacionales Mix By DJ Markito 507
https://youtu.be/7Ks_aSiDIUE?si=-ij_ilIg_For078-

Righteous Brothers – Unchained Melody
https://youtu.be/blNvxiilC3s?si=fMrGntgV4kOyINNb

Los Mozambiques – El Presidiario
https://youtu.be/uzjXVTQ6C9U?si=l7JDywt71fEU50Hp

Four Tops – I Can’t Help Myself
https://youtu.be/7LwjipizvKQ?si=B39USkEc0uh5_RFf

After The Fire – Der Kommissar
https://youtu.be/vBfFDTPPlaM?si=lTsnDkFKKWFEruLp

Sia – Courage to Change
https://youtu.be/p5QfyF9pkHU?si=Z-B1Nv_C-xvoP32E

Danny Rivera y Yomira John – Concierto Siempre Amigos
https://youtu.be/1pku4P1M7pg?si=g1sF-jZqRcWm4xj9

Aisha – So Broken
https://youtu.be/aJT_0BOcv4k?si=8TBSczpcPBf5L7Zu

Michael Bolton – Never Say Goodbye
https://youtu.be/92T9pVBNG0c?si=0WDG7q-tMxXceeOo

Lauryn Hill – Doo Wop That Thing
https://youtu.be/Njcj4-bc4DQ?si=-OkaXM2S9oPNz78J

Solinka – Desdén
https://youtu.be/OCuPiiaoLDE?si=2bOIB75la1LMpqB5

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Beluche, Un libro para inspirar

June 13, 2024

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Muchos panameños, por nuestra gran variedad de razones, hicimos historia el año pasado. Es importante que contemos y preservemos nuestra historia y no contemos con que los intereses corporativos y políticos que se nos opusieron lo hagan por nosotros.

Un libro para inspirar la lucha
que continúa contra la minera

por Olmedo Beluche

El colega, compañero de luchas y amigo Abdiel Rodríguez Reyes ha publicado un libro, pequeño en formato, pero profundo en contenido: “El despertar de un pueblo: Ensayo sobre cómo un pequeño país se enfrentó (y ganó) a una gran transnacional”. En este libro el profesor Rodríguez hace una recuento pormenorizado de lo que fue la victoriosa lucha contra el contrato antinacional entre el gobierno de Cortizo y First Quantum Minerals por la mina de Donoso.

Un aporte invaluable para comprender aquella gran gesta de octubre y noviembre de 2023, que nos prepara intelectualmente para las luchas que se vienen cuando los agentes de la minera enquistados en el nuevo gobierno de José Raúl Mulino intente burlar la voluntad popular y el fallo de la Corte Suprema de Justicia.

Este ensayo está enriquecido con los aportes de dos jóvenes intelectuales comprometidos con las causas populares, en particular en defensa del ambiente: Rekha Chandiramani (Prólogo) y Carlos J. Bichet-Nicoletti (Epílogo).

De inicio, Abdiel Rodríguez Reyes, lanza dos afirmaciones sustanciales: la lucha contra “la Ley406 fue, en realidad, muchas luchas”; y, “a pesar del estruendo, la estructura capitalista quedó intacta”. Respecto a la primera afirmación asegura el autor que la lucha fue jurídica, fue política y fue ideológica. Sobre la segunda, es evidente que no solo el capitalismo panameño sigue incólume, sino que no existe una concepción acabada del pueblo sobre lo que es el extractivismo. Además de que las elecciones del 5 de mayo demostraron que un gran sector del electorado no termina de hilar la relación entre minería y política.
El libro está dedicado a los mártires de la lucha contra la Ley 406: Tomás Cedeño, Iván Mendoza y Abdiel Díaz. Está dividido en diez capítulos que van desde: ¿Qué es Minera Panamá S. A.?; Las consecuencias de la actividad minera; La gota que derramó el vaso; Vía inconstitucional; Multitud y pueblo; Guerreras y guerreros del mar; Racismos; El viejo macartismo de siempre; Inconstitucionalidad de la Ley 406; El día después.

Uno de los aspectos más interesantes es en el cual el profesor Rodríguez Reyes reflexiona sobre las supuestas diferencias entre quienes marchaban convocados por “Sal de las Redes” hacia la cinta costera, y quienes lo hacían bajo la convocatoria y banderas de la Alianza Pueblo Unido por la Vida y ANADEPO. Aquí el autor rescata un debate entre los conceptos de las ciencias sociales: pueblo y multitud.

También amerita análisis su reflexión final sobre un “Nuevo Pacto Social”. Lo que alude a la necesidad de la reestructuración del país sobre nuevas bases. ¿Cuáles? ¿Pacto entre quienes? La fórmula me parece válida por ser una ecuación abierta y con cierta incógnita, lo que permite movilizar en común acuerdo a diversos sectores políticos. Pero al definir el autor que el nuevo pacto sólo puede ser “feminista, interculturalista,ecologista, sindicalista, de clase…”, y que “no puede ser misógino, homofóbico, extractivista, racista, xenofóbico…”, para mí dice bastante.

Es un deber de la vanguardia militante leer el libro de Abdiel Rodríguez Reyes sobre la gesta histórica antiminera de 2023, porque nuestras acciones siempre deben estar inspiradas, en la pasión, pero sobre todo: en la razón.

Contact us by email at / Contáctanos por correo electrónico a thepanamanews@gmail.com

To fend off hackers, organized trolls and other online vandalism, our website comments feature is switched off. Instead, come to our Facebook page to join in the discussion.

Para defendernos de los piratas informáticos, los trolls organizados y otros actos de vandalismo en línea, la función de comentarios de nuestro sitio web está desactivada. En cambio, ven a nuestra página de Facebook para unirte a la discusión.

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“The Thomas dissent is only further proof that he is simply a threat to America,” said the father of a mass shooting victim. Trump and Thomas at the October 2020 swearing-in of Justice Barrett. White House photo by Tia Dufour.

‘Truly evil’ Clarence Thomas defends guns for domestic abusers

by Jessica Corbett – Common Dreams

This is a win for the gun safety movement and another loss for the gun lobby hellbent on putting lives in danger.

También quienes somosAlso who we are

Bob Marley and the Wailers – No Woman, No Cryhttps://youtu.be/55_eCsTAo5Q?si=vbV8j7s1KiSXS2_1

Grupo Kathia Thomas — Desfile de la Junta Comunal de Rio Abajohttps://web.facebook.com/thepanamanews/posts/pfbid02qHk42shxT87eBsN8QC8KhjWmugAxmjKZAbVmLNYJ6vE2wZyzHW3MKBXvtv2P41pVl

John Francis Jacobs & Milagros Blades — ¡AWA!https://youtu.be/Zawd0c9ZntI?si=VSUdnFxe6X5qa-Xc

Mad Professor – Melt Down Dubhttps://youtu.be/_sbqdZP1Xxs?si=6ka_MZNmuFvLwtAF

Panama 3 Anthologyhttps://youtu.be/M_w3YaSgmkM?si=L4Z17ATSvkJGEQln

Oscar De León – Llorarashttps://youtu.be/Obv4rk5Xs3s?si=X9-iemTAUI_HqV55

Aisha Davis – Only In My Headhttps://youtu.be/3fENiXyaW14?si=5wUofWAgV3QeY7aK

Yomira John – Madre Tierrahttps://youtu.be/tuwAnf2pop0?si=ZweMHAReWOsItGLK

Wynton Marsalis & Rubén Blades – Pedro Navajahttps://youtu.be/UibAE_x6NM8?si=FErEoJFmxPcydXcP

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These announcements are interactive. Click on them for more information. Estos anuncios son interactivos. Toque en ellos para seguir a las páginas de web.

Sunrise just past Rio Hato no traffic delays at that moment, the pavement dry, the air conditioning on the bus turned way up. The clock reads six in the morning and the bus is headed east, into the sun.

12 hours of getting around the way the editor does

photos and story by Eric Jackson

The Metro trains continue to revolutionize the transportation calculations in Panama City, especially for those of us who are not enslaved to automobiles.

Fragmemtation, governability and Panamanians’ will to live together

Among Democrats

Vonnegut portrait by Giovanni Scifo – Deviant Art.

Bear in mind…

On second thought…

Photo and note by Eric Jackson

Exclusionary bigotry never did anything to lift this country up. Immigrants, on the other hand, have shown us what true greatness and perseverance look like. A US Border Patrol agent on the Rio Grande near McAllen, Texas. US Department of Homeland Security photo by Donna Burton.

Beware the xenophobes: immigrantshave always made this nation great

by James Zogby — Common Dreams

Not only will they become American, but also America itself will be transformed by them and their contributions.

So THAT’S what a dragon fruit looks like! This and other photos on this page by Eric Jackson.

The easier and healthier wayto grow your living

by Eric Jackson

In the background, the Catholic church in Sonadora provides the across-the-road landmark to find The Lazy Man’s Farm.

John and his assistant have been celebrating a new success in composting papaya trees.

Mother and son drop by for an English lesson.

Flowers and medicinal plants, too…

There is an ethic that goes along with this. You wouldn’t want a perfectly good planter go into a landfill just because it no longer serves its original intended use.

TEACHING — that’s the ticket.

Every well-appointed organic permaculture farm should have a wonder dog.

“The time has come to declare MA a failed experiment,” write the authors of a new paper. Stock photo.

A $600 billion swindle: study makes thecase to ‘abolish’ Medicare Advantage

by Jake Johnson — Common Dreams

Medicare Advantage plans have, in effect, stolen hundreds of billions from taxpayers

Mein Gott! Der Kommissar is back in town! Photo by biphop, Lyon 2007.

Haven’t we been here before? ¿No hemos estado aquí antes?

Rubén Blades & Roby Draco Rosa – Patriahttps://youtu.be/ql0G312R2IQ?si=chCBf30reouJ48O7

Cyndi Lauper et al – Big Yellow Taxihttps://youtu.be/CoqSZktN5PU?si=z4s6pHB2N3n1YJzb

REM – Losing My Religionhttps://youtu.be/xwtdhWltSIg?si=w4tHvVePrrjtj4xC

Combos Nacionales Mix By DJ Markito 507https://youtu.be/7Ks_aSiDIUE?si=-ij_ilIg_For078-

Righteous Brothers – Unchained Melodyhttps://youtu.be/blNvxiilC3s?si=fMrGntgV4kOyINNb

Los Mozambiques – El Presidiariohttps://youtu.be/uzjXVTQ6C9U?si=l7JDywt71fEU50Hp

Four Tops – I Can’t Help Myselfhttps://youtu.be/7LwjipizvKQ?si=B39USkEc0uh5_RFf

After The Fire – Der Kommissarhttps://youtu.be/vBfFDTPPlaM?si=lTsnDkFKKWFEruLp

Sia – Courage to Changehttps://youtu.be/p5QfyF9pkHU?si=Z-B1Nv_C-xvoP32E

Danny Rivera y Yomira John – Concierto Siempre Amigoshttps://youtu.be/1pku4P1M7pg?si=g1sF-jZqRcWm4xj9

Aisha – So Brokenhttps://youtu.be/aJT_0BOcv4k?si=8TBSczpcPBf5L7Zu

Michael Bolton – Never Say Goodbyehttps://youtu.be/92T9pVBNG0c?si=0WDG7q-tMxXceeOo

Lauryn Hill – Doo Wop That Thinghttps://youtu.be/Njcj4-bc4DQ?si=-OkaXM2S9oPNz78J

Solinka – Desdénhttps://youtu.be/OCuPiiaoLDE?si=2bOIB75la1LMpqB5

~ ~ ~

These announcements are interactive. Click on them for more information. Estos anuncios son interactivos. Toque en ellos para seguir a las páginas de web.

Muchos panameños, por nuestra gran variedad de razones, hicimos historia el año pasado. Es importante que contemos y preservemos nuestra historia y no contemos con que los intereses corporativos y políticos que se nos opusieron lo hagan por nosotros.

Un libro para inspirar la luchaque continúa contra la minera

por Olmedo Beluche

~ ~ ~

These announcements are interactive. Click on them for more information. Estos anuncios son interactivos. Toque en ellos para seguir a las páginas de web.

EDITOR PICKS

POPULAR POSTS

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También quienes somos
Also who we are

Bob Marley and the Wailers – No Woman, No Cry
https://youtu.be/55_eCsTAo5Q?si=vbV8j7s1KiSXS2_1

Grupo Kathia Thomas — Desfile de la Junta Comunal de Rio Abajo
https://web.facebook.com/thepanamanews/posts/pfbid02qHk42shxT87eBsN8QC8KhjWmugAxmjKZAbVmLNYJ6vE2wZyzHW3MKBXvtv2P41pVl

John Francis Jacobs & Milagros Blades — ¡AWA!
https://youtu.be/Zawd0c9ZntI?si=VSUdnFxe6X5qa-Xc

Mad Professor – Melt Down Dub
https://youtu.be/_sbqdZP1Xxs?si=6ka_MZNmuFvLwtAF

Panama 3 Anthology
https://youtu.be/M_w3YaSgmkM?si=L4Z17ATSvkJGEQln

Oscar De León – Lloraras
https://youtu.be/Obv4rk5Xs3s?si=X9-iemTAUI_HqV55

Aisha Davis – Only In My Head
https://youtu.be/3fENiXyaW14?si=5wUofWAgV3QeY7aK

Yomira John – Madre Tierra
https://youtu.be/tuwAnf2pop0?si=ZweMHAReWOsItGLK

Wynton Marsalis & Rubén Blades – Pedro Navaja
https://youtu.be/UibAE_x6NM8?si=FErEoJFmxPcydXcP

These announcements are interactive. Click on them for more information.
Estos anuncios son interactivos. Toque en ellos para seguir a las páginas de web.

Beware the xenophobes: immigrants
have always made this nation great

The easier and healthier way
to grow your living

A $600 billion swindle: study makes the
case to ‘abolish’ Medicare Advantage

Haven’t we been here before?
¿No hemos estado aquí antes?

Rubén Blades & Roby Draco Rosa – Patria
https://youtu.be/ql0G312R2IQ?si=chCBf30reouJ48O7

Cyndi Lauper et al – Big Yellow Taxi
https://youtu.be/CoqSZktN5PU?si=z4s6pHB2N3n1YJzb

REM – Losing My Religion
https://youtu.be/xwtdhWltSIg?si=w4tHvVePrrjtj4xC

Combos Nacionales Mix By DJ Markito 507
https://youtu.be/7Ks_aSiDIUE?si=-ij_ilIg_For078-

Righteous Brothers – Unchained Melody
https://youtu.be/blNvxiilC3s?si=fMrGntgV4kOyINNb

Los Mozambiques – El Presidiario
https://youtu.be/uzjXVTQ6C9U?si=l7JDywt71fEU50Hp

Four Tops – I Can’t Help Myself
https://youtu.be/7LwjipizvKQ?si=B39USkEc0uh5_RFf

After The Fire – Der Kommissar
https://youtu.be/vBfFDTPPlaM?si=lTsnDkFKKWFEruLp

Sia – Courage to Change
https://youtu.be/p5QfyF9pkHU?si=Z-B1Nv_C-xvoP32E

Danny Rivera y Yomira John – Concierto Siempre Amigos
https://youtu.be/1pku4P1M7pg?si=g1sF-jZqRcWm4xj9

Aisha – So Broken
https://youtu.be/aJT_0BOcv4k?si=8TBSczpcPBf5L7Zu

Michael Bolton – Never Say Goodbye
https://youtu.be/92T9pVBNG0c?si=0WDG7q-tMxXceeOo

Lauryn Hill – Doo Wop That Thing
https://youtu.be/Njcj4-bc4DQ?si=-OkaXM2S9oPNz78J

Solinka – Desdén
https://youtu.be/OCuPiiaoLDE?si=2bOIB75la1LMpqB5

These announcements are interactive. Click on them for more information.
Estos anuncios son interactivos. Toque en ellos para seguir a las páginas de web.

Un libro para inspirar la lucha
que continúa contra la minera

These announcements are interactive. Click on them for more information.
Estos anuncios son interactivos. Toque en ellos para seguir a las páginas de web.