Sunday Read: How this citizen stopped ICE from arrested 2 immigrants

The immigration rights activist who shut down an attempted arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents says video of the incident shows how much of a role "knowing your rights" can play in determining how an encounter with ICE ends.

ICE agents have been carrying out Donald Trump's anti-immigrant and deportation policies with zeal usually striking fear in immigrants bringing their children to school, attending a hearing at courthouses or going to work. In one instance in New York, they picked on the wrong man.

Bryan MacCormack, 30, executive director of the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement in New York, told Newsweek he had been driving with two undocumented immigrants, whom he had accompanied to a courthouse to deal with minor traffic citations, when his vehicle was pulled over by ICE agents.

When approached by the agents, he told one of the immigrants to videotape the interaction.

In a video of the incident, which took place on March 5 in Hudson, New York, MacCormack, can be seen calling the ICE agent's attempt to frighten him into cooperation. 

When one of the ICE agents, presented what he called a "warrant of arrest."

Because he is involved in the sanctuary movement, McCormack knew his rights and called the agent's bluff. He pointed out the agent's warrant of arrest presented was an administrative warrant from the immigration agency, which does not require compliance, as opposed to a judicial warrant signed by a judge, which does.

In the video, MacCormack can be seen telling the ICE agent that the warrant of arrest he has is "not signed by a judge. It's not a judicial warrant. I have no obligation to oblige by that warrant." 



In a statement, the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement asserted that the officers "implicitly threatened" MacCormack "by asking if he knew section 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act pertaining to the harboring, transporting and smuggling of non-citizens."

In the video, the ICE agent speaking to the rights advocate eventually walks away, and MacCormack said he and the community members in his vehicle were able to safely exit the situation.

ICE spokesperson Khaalid Walls said in a statement to Newsweek that its agents had "specifically sought two unlawfully present foreign nationals" in the March 5 incident, but said "an individual [MacCormack] interfered with the enforcement action, causing officers to instead depart the scene to avoid further disruption."

Walls said ICE believes that "individuals who intervene in or seek to impede ICE officers while they are carrying out their mission recklessly endanger not only the enforcement personnel, but also the individuals targeted for arrest and potentially innocent bystanders."

"Those who engage in such actions expose themselves to potential criminal violations, and run the risk of harming the very people they purport to support," Walls said, adding: "Despite these attempts to obstruct ICE’s lawful efforts to apprehend criminal aliens and immigration violators, the agency remains committed to its efforts to uphold public safety."

MacCormack told Newsweek that he believes what the incident really shows is how undocumented immigrants knowing their rights can make "the difference between a community member being detained or deported or going home to their family. That's how serious knowing your rights is."

"It really is a Fourth Amendment issue," he said. "We all need to be upholding the Fourth Amendment and the Constitution to protect our rights and the rights of our community members."

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New Study: AAPI buying power increasing faster than any other group

Asian Americans buying power is growing faster than any other ethnic group.

"Asian Americans command an estimated 6.2 percent of the nation’s total buying power, roughly $1 trillion," says a new study released last week by the University of Georgia.
"The 267 percent increase since 2000 makes the Asian market the fastest-growing minority market in the country, with a buying power greater than the gross domestic product of Turkey," continues UG's Multicultural Economy Report.

“While minority markets are certainly enjoying more buying power than ever before, the rate of growth differs. We find the largest percentage increases in the Asian and Hispanic markets, followed by relatively slower rates of growth in the African American and Native American populations," said UG economist Jeff Humphreys, author of the study.

"Whites (still) comprise the largest share of the U.S. market, but have the slowest percentage rate of buying power growth.”

The UG report, which also had sections on Hispanic and Black communities' buying power, broke down the buying power of the five largest Asian subgroups:

• Indian Americans, which is the fourth largest group in terms of population, is the strongest in terms of buying power with  $283 billion (28 percent).  
• Chinese Americans (except Taiwanese) are second in terms of buying power, making up 23 percent of the U.S. Asian market ($233 billion) but are the largest population. 
• Filipino Americans constitute the third-largest group both in population and buying power, accounting for $146 billion or 14.4 percent of the market. 
• The fifth most-populous group is Korean Americans, who rank fourth in terms of buying power with $81 billion or 8 percent of the U.S. Asian market. 
• Vietnamese Americans are fifth in terms of buying power ($73 billion).

The Asian American market is buoyed by booming population growth, which includes strong immigration, high educational attainment, increased entrepreneurship, and an overwhelmingly urban population.

The growth rates in the top 20 fastest growing states indicate that Asian Americans are moving beyond the traditional AAPI population centers on the West Coast, Chicago, New Jersey and New York City and moving into unexpected areas such as the Dakotas bolstering an already established trend towards the southern states.

Ranked by the rate of growth of Asian buying power since 2000, the top 10 states are: South Dakota (497 percent), North Dakota (479 percent), Arkansas (449 percent), Vermont (445 percent), North Carolina (422 percent), Texas (414 percent), Arizona (387 percent), Georgia (369 percent), Nevada (361 percent), and Indiana (357 percent).

While Texas is the only state that also ranks among the nation’s 10 largest Asian consumer markets (at third), Georgia (13th) and North Carolina (15th) are also among the nation’s most rapidly emerging Asian markets.

The Asian American market is bolstered by rapid population growth and employment gains. From January 2000 to March 2017, the number of jobs held by Asian Americans increased by 3.6 million, or 63 percent. The population also benefits from high educational attainment and a marked increase in Asian-American business startups.

Where Asians spend more:

• dining out
• housing
• public transportation
• education
• clothing

Where Asians spend less:

• utilities
• used cars
• cash contributions
• health care
• entertainment

“The Asian market is partially underserved because it’s less unified than some of the other groups and has many different languages and customs, comparatively,” said author Humphreys. “That makes it harder for marketers to craft a one-size-fits-all advertisement, but makes a great opportunity for more niche targeting.”

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Heart disease varies among AAPI communities

South Asians, Filipinos and Vietnamese are more prone to die from heart disease and stroke than other Asian subgroups, suggests new research.

It is already a known fact that Asian Americans are more likely to die from stroke than whites, according to the study published online March 20 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

But results from the study showed that the subgroups had varying results.

"Usually researchers combine Asian subgroups in studies, masking what might be important health differences," said study author Dr. Latha Palaniappan, a professor of medicine at Stanford University in California.

"Looking at overall death rates might not reveal that some groups are dying prematurely from heart disease and stroke," she said in a Journal news release.

"A striking finding was that years of life lost due to stroke in women were greater for all of the Asian subgroups than … whites. This tells us that stroke is a very important contributor to premature death, especially in Asian women," Palaniappan explained.

The researchers also found that among Asian Americans, the average age of death from heart disease was younger among the Asian Indian subgroup. They lost an average of 17 years of life to heart disease, according to HealthDay News.

The most years of life lost to stroke were among Vietnamese (17 years) and Filipinos (16 years), the findings showed.

"One of the benefits of the study is that we've identified these differences among Asian subgroups. Now we can create culturally tailored and personalized preventive programs and guidelines for each group based on its unique risks," Palaniappan said.

This is the value of having disaggregated data. Not all subgroups fit under one mass category. The differences -- at least in health results -- between Japanese, Filipinos, Vietnamese, South Asians and others, are real.

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Two executives arrested for selling defective dehumidifiers

Defective dehumidifiers such as these were catching fire.

Two Southern California executives were indicted after their companies allegedly ignored reports that dehumidifiers they were distributing were defective and continued selling them for months.

Simon Chu, 63, of Chino Hills, California, and Charley Loh, 60, of Arcadia, California, were charged with a multiple-object conspiracy to commit wire fraud, to fail to furnish information under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), and to defraud the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

In addition to the conspiracy charge, the indictment also charges both defendants with one count of wire fraud and one count of failure to furnish information under the CPSA.According to the indictment, Simon Chu was part owner and chief administrative officer of two corporations in City of Industry, California, that imported, distributed, and sold to retailers dehumidifiers that were made in China. The indictment further states that Loh was part owner and chief executive officer of the same two corporations.

Despite receiving reports that their dehumidifiers were catching fire, the indictment says the two executives failed to report the defect to the government and continued to push their product to retailers.

Both defendants were facing up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud charge and another five years for each of the conspiracy and the failure to furnish information counts. They could also have to pay a fine of at least $250,000 if convicted, the DOJ press release said.

"The importation, distribution, and sale of defective consumer products have real-world consequences, including serious injury or death,” said Nicola T. Hanna, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. “This indictment sends a clear message: If you plan to profit from selling defective products, you should also plan to face justice.”

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AAPI attorney withdraws nomination for DOJ's No. 3 spot

JESSIE KONG LIU

It's an example of the Republican Party eating its young when the GOP's radical right wing turns against the moderate right wing of the party.

Jessie Kong Liu, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, withdrew her name Thursday for consideration to be third-in-command at the Justice Department because some members of the GOP believed she was not conservative enough.

The seasoned lawyer overseeing the largest district in the country with over 300 attorneys, pulled out of consideration for the job because she reportedly did not want to be a distraction at a critical time for the DOJ.

Liu faced opposition from Utah GOP Sen. Mike Lee, among others, because of her association with the National Association of Women Lawyers, which sent a letter to the Senate opposing the nomination of of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court.

As vice president, Liu's name was on the letterhead but she did not sign the letter. She, in fact, signed another letter in support of Alito's nomination.

Justice Department officials were reportedly upset at the opposition to Liu. They noted that she's a well-regarded conservative, in some ways more conservative than Lee.

"Only a moron like Mike Lee would tank President Trump's nominee, an Asian woman, for the department's No. 3 job," a senior DOJ official told CNN. "This is beyond politically stupid."

Opposition from radically right Republicans combined with Democrats who believe Liu is too conservative, effectively killed any hope that she could muster enough votes to win the nomination.

Attorney General William Barr issued a statement Thursday afternoon praising Liu and saying she "would have made an outstanding associate attorney general."

"Jessie Liu is one of the finest, most impressive people serving in the Department of Justice," Barr said the statement, adding that he would appoint her to be chairwoman of his advisory committee.

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New Hampshire city approves Vietnamese restaurant's punny name

PHO KEENE GREAT

The Vietnamese restaurant is open for business.

Keene, New Hampshire's newest restaurant is serving up steaming bowls of pho much to the delight of local foodies.

Pho Keene Great — is an obvious play on words -- is doing great business after city officials -- with a knowing smile -- approved the restaurant name.  Initial objections from some city officials that the name was profane was overridden by the city council which decided to go along with the pun.

Tthe French-Vietnamese restaurant opened earlier this March. 

Back in January, City Manager Elizabeth Dragon ordered the restaurant to take down its sign over concerns it's offensive but she reversed course two weeks later.

"We are excited to have a new restaurant open in the community," Dragon said in an email, according to NHPR.

The restaurant is located in Central Square in downtown Keene near the city library and  in the same building as city hall. City officials were concerned over the restaurant's seemingly profane tone in such a public space.

Owner Isabella Jolie had a dream to open a French-Vietnamese restaurant to honor her sister Trang, who passed away from lupus. After serving pho from a small trailer for two years, Jolie renovated space for a permanent restaurant in Keene, New Hampshire, in the same building at Keene's City Hall.

"We liked the name because it's lighthearted and fun," Jolie wrote in a Facebook post. "It's a name that reflects Vietnam's national dish, comfort food and our most popular culinary product, pho! Keene, of course, is the location."

Jolie ran a poll on her restaurant's Facebook page asking if the name is offensive and 97 percent of more than 3,400 voters said no.

Two weeks after being ordered to remove the sign, Keene city officials have given their approval for the restaurant's name. Pho Keene Great has lived up to its name and turned the controversy to its advantage. Not surprisingly, the restaurant sells T-shirts and tote bags with the its  name emblazoned on the front.

Jolie said Dragon "did the right thing" by approving the sign Friday. "Now let us focus on Pho," Jolie wrote. Reviewers gave the restaurant 4.7 out of 5 stars.

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This week we get a double dose of Sandra Oh

This is a big week for acclaimed actress Sandra Oh.
She'll be hosting Saturday Night Live this Saturday (March 29). In so doing, she'll be the third Asian American woman to host the NBC comedy show. The other two women are Lucy Liu (2000) and Awkwafina, who took over hosting chores right after the debut of Crazy Rich Asians in 2018.

It might surprise some people to know that Oh is not a comedian. She's an actress with comedic timing. That's what makes her so good and earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Dramatic Series, Killing Eve.

On April 7, the second season of Killing Eve will start on the BBC network at 9 p.m.  Oh's performance makes the show, fluctuating between hard-nosed detective to a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, questioning her own motivation to capture the elusive cold-blooded assassin played to the hilt by Jodie Comer.
If you're a Sandra Oh fan -- and how can you not be after she paid homage to her parents in Korean during the Golden Globes awards show? -- then this is a good week for you, too.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I know, I know. Technically, the eight days between SNL and Killing Eve is more than a week, but give me literary license, OK?

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TGIF Feature: If Bollywood songs were rap, Lilly Singh would be rappin'

YOUTUBE

Lilly Singh in a traditional Indian dress and jewelry -- is back!

It was just a few months ago when YouTube star Lilly Singh explained to her fans that she needed time off from vlogging and her channel for "mental health" reasons.
It seems a mental health break is not necessarily a work break. Rather than disappearing from the public eye, she evidently kept herself busy.

Besides being named a late night talk show host taking the place of Carson Daley, the comedian wrote the lyrics for this fantastic video.

With the YouTube video, she wrote: 

"I love Bollywood and I love rap music. So I decided to let my worlds collide by turning some of my favourite songs into rap songs! And while I was at it, I thought, why not make them little motivational anthems that speak to causes close to my heart? I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them! I can’t wait to perform these at #YTFF on Saturday in Mumbai!"

The response from her fans has been overwhelmingly favorable.

Enjoy!

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Swamp Monster who photobombs Interior Secretary is unmasked

C-SPAN SCREEN CAPTURE

Look behind David Bernhardt: A woman wearing a Creature mask sat behind during his nomination hearing.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon made an unscheduled appearance in the Capitol today during the Senate hearing for Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt.

An Asian American woman strategically seated behind Bernhard quietly donned a mask during his opening remarks before the Senate Energy and Natural Committee. CSpan television monitors were the first to spot Irene Kim of Greenpeace put on the mask.

She just sat there, not disrupting the proceedings. "Our purpose was not to disrupt the hearings," Kim said. "It was really to bring an absurdity to hearings."

Kim was joined by Greenpeace's Adrienne Lowry, who also wore a mask but was not visible by the C-Span camera, were eventually escorted out after an hour.

Bernhardt's nomination has come under fire from environmentalists because of his job as a lobbyist for oil and gas industries. Just another conflict of interest example of Donald Trump's nominees for top government positions.

Public Citizen, a progressive consumer advocacy group, claimed Bernhardt has “more conflicts of interest than (former EPA Administrator Scott) Pruitt, (former Interior Secretary Ryan) Zinke, (former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom) Price and [former Veterans Affairs Secretary David] Shulkin combined.”

The Guardian reports: "Many of Bernhardt’s former clients are lobbying his department now. The California-based Cadiz Inc spent at least $330,000 this year with his old firm, including to lobby the department, according to required disclosures. The interior department’s Bureau of Land Management in October 2017 approved the company’s pipeline to pump groundwater out of the Mojave desert, in a move that prompted lawsuits from environmentalists."

In California, Westlands Water District paid Bernhardt’s firm a total of $1.43m while he was one of its lobbyists, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Westlands has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars this year lobbying Congress and the department, including on changes related to the Endangered Species Act to drain more water from the ecologically fragile California Delta, according to government records.

C-Span tweeted out a video of the hearing and Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) shared a screenshot of the Senate hearing, joking that Bernhardt was the real “swamp monster” in the photo.

“But seriously, the US Senate should reject oil lobbyist David Bernhardt’s confirmation,” he added.

The Creatures were escorted out, but ... not before she made her point.

"I think we inspired a lot of people and made them laugh," said Kim when she was interviewed by Bloomberg News. "We're all feeling powerless now," she continued. "But by doing these small actions, by being the people out there, letting people know what we are thinking about, is the main thing."

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Arrests of AAPI students highest in Iowa

ASAM NEWS

A new report from the ACLU reveals that the state of Iowa has among the highest arrest rates of Asian American Pacific Islander students in the country, reports Little Village.

According to the report released this month, 80 per 10,000 Pacific Islander students in Iowa were arrested in the 2015-2016 school year. That’s the highest arrest rate of Pacific Islander students in the nation. Asian students placed second in Iowa with an arrest rate of 13 per 10,000 during the same period. Hawaii ranks first nationally with an arrest rate of Asian students of 24 per 10,000.

Iowa also ranks first in percentage of Black students arrested (125 per 10,000). Compare that to 31 per 10,000 of White students.

“We have not seen the report and are unable to speak to the statistics because our department does not track arrests in schools,” a spokesperson for the state said to the Little Village.

“While student discipline in Iowa is a local decision left up to schools, we believe involving law enforcement should be a last resort and that students of color must be treated with the fairness and respect that all children deserve,” Staci Hupp said.

According to an editorial in the Des Moines Register, Iowa has three times more police officers than social workers in schools.

The ACLU report concluded that students in the United States overall are under resourced and over criminalized. It called for federal, state, and local govdernments to prioritize counselors, psychologists, social workers, and nurses instead of police.

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Reluctant law enforcmeent agencies thwarting California's sanctuary law

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department will stop leasing jail space for ICE detainees, as part of major changes to address the increasing demands for inmates needing mental health services, OCSD Sheriff Don Barnes said in a news release Wednesday (March 27).

OCSD has leased bed space to ICE since 2010. The current contract is set to expire in July 2020, but allows for early termination. Once terminated, ICE will have 120 days to transfer the detainees to other facilities.

Orange County joins a majority of California counties that are trying to comply with California's sanctuary law that limits their cooperation with the federal agency, Immigration Customs and Enforcement. 

Orange County, once the bastion of conservatism in California and home to one of the largest concentrations of AAPI communities, made its decision the same day a report was released that said that SB54, the state's sanctuary law, reduced by 41% ICE arrests at county jails.

“Sanctuary laws can really reduce the number of people turned over to ICE by local law enforcement and also can make a dent in the overall number of people deported from a state,” said Angela Chan, of the San Francisco-based Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus which conducted the study wit the University of Oxford Centre for Criminology in England.

“There are a lot of sheriff’s and police departments throughout the state bending over backwards to assist ICE with deportations and trying to undermine SB-54,” Chan said.Implementation of SB54 has been uneven, said the report. Of 169 local law enforcement agencies reviewed, 68 were not complying with California SB-54, the state law that limits cooperation between police agencies and federal immigration agents, according to the report released Wednesday, March 27.

Twenty-three of the law enforcement entities use out-of-date or inadequate policies, says the report. Another 40 agencies adopted policies drafted by a private company, Lexipol, that do not comply with the new law, while five agencies have no immigration enforcement policies at all, according to KQED.

Read the full report, click here..

“What some sheriffs are doing is that they're saying, 'Because we've posted all of these release dates online that means now they're publicly available, and so we can go ahead and specifically contact ICE or respond to ICE with a release date for a specific person,'" Chan told the Orange County Register.

Among the reports recommendations is the closing one of Sb54's loophole that allows law enforcement agencies to post online the release date of detainees.

The report also questions the use of Lexipol, a private company out of Texas, because the  company's policies to not comply with SB54.

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Study: Asian Americans overwhelmingly support same sex marriages

ASAM NEWS

Asian Americans demonstrated the highest level of support for same-sex marriages and laws protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination in a new survey.

The results were part of a survey of more than 40,000 Americans’ views on LGBTQ issues conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute, reports the New York Times.

The survey found that 75 percent of Asian Americans respondents supported same-sex marriage. The group with the second highest amount of support was the group of respondents who identified as another race or mixed race (68 percent). About 73 percent of Asian American respondents supported laws that would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in jobs, public accommodations, and housing. That number was four percent above the national average.

Education might explain why those percentages are slightly higher compared to other racial groups. The survey found a strong correlation between education and support for LGBTQrights. Asian Americans were more likely than other Americans surveyed to have a four-year degree.

The report also found that a majority of Asian Americans surveyed (59 percent) opposed allowing business owners to refuse services to LGBTQ people based on their religious beliefs. About 60 percent of younger Asian Americans opposed refusing service based on religious beliefs. However, only 49 percent of Asian American seniors opposed service refusal.

According to the report, the majority of Asian Americans surveyed supported rights for LGBTQ people. However, many LGBTQ Asian Americans still face discrimination and hardships. 

More information about the LGBTQ Asian American experience can be found through groups like AAPI Data, the Human Rights Campaign, and the Asian American Psychological Association.

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Apple has a trove of AAPI shows ready to stream

Hollywood visited Silicon Valley to promote Apple's streaming service.

Asian American and Pacific Islanders will have a lot to look forward to when Apple's new streaming service comes online. TViewers will see more AAPI actors in lead roles and more shows with AAPI themes.

On Monday, (March 25) Apple announced the changes they would be making to Apple TV. Apple announced they were moving towards a streaming service, called Apple TV+. The streaming service is expected to launch in Autumn 2019. 

Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced Oprah - yes, that Oprah who-needs-a-last-name Winfrey - who explained what attracted a bunch of Hollywood A-listers to the Cupertino launch.

“They’re in a billion pockets, ya’ll. A billion pockets,” said Oprah as only Oprah can say it. Add on the millions of computers and iPads and there's a ready audience, even if Apple were able to convince only a portion of its product users to subscribe to the new service.

Among the movies and series that will debut in September, are:

Pachinko
Based on the novel by Min Jin Lee, Pachinko tells the saga of four generations of a Korean immigrant family and takes place in Korea, Japan, and America. The sweeping series chronicles the hopes and dreams of four generations of a Korean immigrant family. Described as epic in scope, the story begins with a forbidden romance and crescendos into a sweeping saga that journeys between Korea, Japan and America. The drama will be told in three languages: Korean, Japanese and English.

See
Jason Momoa and Alfre Woodard lead this drama about a world in which blindness has taken over the human race. According to Deadline, the premise is specifically "a future when the human race has lost the sense of sight, and society has had to find new ways to interact, to build, to hunt, to survive. All of that is challenged when a set of twins with sight is born."

Little America
The power couple behind The Big Sick—Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon—are teaming up again to write Little America, an anthology series that will explore the true stories of everyday Americans. The stories, originating in Epic Magazine, will give a rewritten in-depth look into the lives of immigrants and all the facets about life in a post-immigration American world.

Dickinson
Emily Dickinson’s origin story, comedically told with Hailee Steinfeld, who is of Filipino descent, in the title role.

Hala 
A coming-of-age story from writer/director Minhal Baig about a 17-year-old Pakistani girl  raised in a conservative Muslim household and struggling to balance two cultures. Newcomer Geraldine Viswanathan will tackle the title role in this contemplative drama, which debuted at Sundance this year where it was warmly received.

Geraldine Viswanathan stars in 'Hala.'

Untitled M. Night Shyamalan Project
The famed director is teaming with 24 writer Tony Basgallop for a psychological thriller, with Lauren Ambrose and Rupert Grint among the cast. It’s Shyamalan, so the plot details, unsurprisingly, are a secret. But Deadline reports the series will feature half-hour episodes and involve young parents and a nanny.

Shantaram
The story of a man who escapes from an Australian prison and ends up in Bombay, where he tries to carve out a new life in India’s underworld. Based on Gregory David Robert’s novel of the same name, with Eric Warren Singer (American Hustle) writing.

Besides Oprah, some of the other big Hollywood celebrities who helped launch the new service included Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carrell, Sofia Coppola, Octavia Spencer and Ron Howard.

Unfortunately, all this is going to cost the consumer. It didn't help that Apple didn't reveal how much a subscription to their new channel will be.

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Kevin Tsujihara's downfall continues

Former  Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara

This shouldn't come as a surprise. Deadline reports that Kevin Tsujihara, who resigned as chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. last week, is being kicked off (dramatic pause) the Commission on Eliminating Sexual Harassment. 

Tsujihara’s was forced to resign it was revealed he’d engaged in sexual misconduct with actress Charlotte Kirk and then attempted to help her find roles in Warner Bros. films. 

The Hollywood-based Commission was formed in late 2017 in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Its commissioners include the heads of the major studios, networks, talent agencies, record labels, trade associations and industry unions. It is chaired by Anita Hill, whose accusations against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas made sexual harassment part of America's lexicon.

The pending ouster of Tsujihara comes after actress Olivia Munn, whose mother is Chinese, lambasted the Japanese American CEO for being part of the misogynistic culture that pervades the entertainment industry.

Olivia Munn and Brett Ratner.

Munn, who has been one of the more outspoken actresses in the #MeToo movement,  accused Tsujihara of fostering a culture that did not take sexual misconduct seriously, as he had approved a deal with director/producer Brett Ratner despite him publicly lying about sleeping with her.

“Since #MeToo people often ask how the abuses were so prolific. It’s easy if the people at the top don’t care…” Munn tweeted. “In 2013, Tsujihara approved Brett Ratner’s very unorthodox $450m financing deal, just 2 yrs after he had to apologize for using homophobic slurs & lying about me.”

After Munn wrote a book about an unnamed director masturbating in front of her, which the Hollywood rumor mill speculated that it was Ratner, Ratner denied the inference and in an apparent reprisal against Munn, bragged that he allegedly had sex with Munn numerous times.

“I wrote a book where I discussed him anonymously. A year later, (Ratner) named himself and went on to lie about me. A few days after that, he was on the Howard Stern show publicly apologizing for lying, saying he was sorry. Yet, two years after that moment, he gets a $450 million licensing deal with Warner Bros,” she previously told Rogue magazine.

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Pregnant teacher recovering after being stabbed 10 times

YOUTUBE

Teacher Tanya Nguyen is recovering from her wounds after surgery.

A pregnant 1st-grade teacher was stabbed 10 times in a suspected gang attack.

Five alleged gang members were charged Monday (Mar. 25) with the attempted murder of  Tanya Nguyen, 33, who was attacked Wednesday around 6 p.m. while parking outside her home.

Nguyen was ambushed and robbed by three men, identified by prosecutors as Christian Reyes, 20; Andrew Bran, 19; and Jesus Morales, 18. They stole Nguyen's car and promptly crashed it while attempting to escape, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Neighbors came to Nguyen's assistance as the suspects fled the scene. “It’s a tight community and great neighborhood. People know each other,” said Nguyen's husband, Greg Maga.

Two other suspects — 24-year-old Christina Luna and Monica Gomez, 25 — were waiting nearby in a getaway car, according to the DA office'a news release.

Police charged the five suspects with one count each of premeditated attempted murder, carjacking, second-degree robbery and hit-and-run driving resulting in property damage.

Reyes, who authorities say allegedly did the stabbing, is facing an additional charge of aggravated mayhem.

Prosecutors believe the group carried out the attack on behalf of and at the direction of a gang, according to KTLA news reports.

In a video posted to YouTube on Sunday, Tanya Nguyen thanked the people who have supported her.

"I’m going to get through this, I promise," said Nguyen, who is 12-weeks pregnant when she was attacked. The baby still has a heartbeat, said a  GoFundMe campaign established to help defray medical costs.

"This tragic news has us all crestfallen. She is a ray of sunshine who nurtures our children & gives of herself in the most loving, pure way. We want to help cushion her time off & medical bills with donations," said the GoFundMe site set up by parents of Nguyen's students.

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Naomi Osaka being sued by former coach

Tennis star Naomi Osaka is still uncomfortable in the spotlight.

Naomi Osaka is finding out that being No. 1 isn't as fun as it's supposed to be. Everybody wants a piece of you -- on the playing courts and the courts of law.

The Japanese American women's player is reportedly being sued by her former coach Christophe Jean, who worked with the two-time Grand Slam winner when she was 13 and wants 20 percent of her earnings.

According to TMZ, Jean says he signed a contract with Osaka's father, Francois, who he says could not afford to pay the coach for his services training both Osaka and her sister, Mari.

Jean says the contract entitles him to 20 percent of Naomi and Mari Osaka's "tennis prize money and endorsement deals forever." He believes he's due $2 million (£1.5 million), per TMZ.

Alex Spiro, Osaka's lawyer, said in a statement, via Dave Hydeof the South Florida Sun Sentinel that Jean's claim is "particularly absurd."

Osaka, who at 21 experts say hasn't reached her physical prime yet, has had her problems with coaches. She split with Sascha Bajin in February after she won the Australian Open. At the time, Osaka said the decision was not for financial reasons, according to BBC Sport.

"Everyone thinks it was a money-related issue, but it wasn't," she said. "I wouldn't put success over my happiness. I'm not going to sacrifice that just to keep a person around. That's one of the most hurtful things I've ever heard."

Osaka hired Jermaine Jenkins, a former hitting coach of Venus Williams, as her new coach in March, reported  ESPN.  

According to Forbes, Osaka tops women tennis players in total earnings with $3,119,354 as of February.

But that bit of news doesn't take away the sting of the stunning loss Saturday at the Miami Open when she was beaten by No. 27 reanked player, Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan.

“I want to win every match I play,” Osaka said after her loss to Hsieh. “I feel like I’ve dealt with the stress of people asking me if I have pressure because I have the No.1 next to my name. I thought I was doing fine with that, but I guess I’m not.

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State building to be named after pioneer woman politician

ASAM NEWS

Pioneering politician March Fong Eu will be the first woman in California to ever have a state building named after her.

The Secretary of State’s office in Sacramento will be named the March Fong Eu Secretary of State Building, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Eu served as Secretary of state from 1974 to 1994. Prior to that, she served four terms in the California State Assembly, becoming the first Asian American in the United States to serve in a state legislature.

Eu who died in 2017 at the age of 95 graduated from UC Berkeley.

” When she was secretary, all the divisions of the secretary of state’s office hadn’t been under the same roof in decades,” Caren Daniels Lagomarsino, Eu’s longtime press spokesperson, told Berkeley.edu. 

“The building was a longtime goal of March Fong Eu. It’s kind of a shame she never got to work in it; during her time, the department was spread out over three different buildings.”

The idea of honoring Eu with the naming of the building came from current Secretary of State Alex Padilla in 2018. He announced his intentions during the memorial for Eu, reported Berekeley.edu. earlier this month, Women's History Month.

Eu gained notoriety when she smashed a toilet with a sledgehammer to symbolize her opposition to paid toilets.

March Fong Eu's campaign to end paid toilets in California was exemplified by this feat.

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