Lucy Liu to get sidewalk star

CBS

Lucy Liu stars in Elementary, which will launch its final season next month

ASAM NEWS

Actress Lucy Liu will be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame May 1, launching Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Resonate reports Liu’s star will be only the second Asian American actress to receive the honor. Her star will be alongside the star of pioneer Chinese American actress Anna May Wong at Hollywood and Vine. Wong is the first Chinese American actress on the silver screen.

According to the Calgary Herald, Liu is the 2662nd star to be honored on the Walk of Fame. Liu stars in the long-running CBS series Elementary which will debut its final season in four weeks.

Liu, 50, was first introduced to American audiences as the beautiful, but ruthless attorney in Ally McBeal. She is also known for such hit films as Kill Bill, Charlie’s Angels and Kung Fu Panda.

The Hollywood Reporter says Liu will also star in Why Women Kill on CBS All Access in September. It is produced by Marc Cherry of Desperate Housewives fame. It is described as a dark comedic drama about three women from different eras-a 1960’s housewife, a 1980s socialite and a lawyer in 2018. Each has to deal with infidelity in their marriage.

Actresses Demi Moore and Rhea Perlman will also take part in the May 1 ceremonies to honor their friend.

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Man sentenced to five years for role in human smuggling operation

Photo is representational.

A man who led a complex, transnational operation smuggling hundreds of people from India into the U.S. was sentenced to five years in prison.

Yadvinder Singh Sandhu, a 62-year old Indian citizen was sentenced Tuesday (April 23) for his leadership role in the human smuggling conspiracy, which claimed at least one life and endangered many others. After serving five years in prison, he will also have three years of supervised release.

On Jan. 18, 2019, Sandhu pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and 15 counts of smuggling aliens to the United States for profit before U.S. Magistrate Judge Silvia Carreño-Coll of the District of Puerto Rico. District Judge Carmen C. Cerezo accepted the guilty plea and sentenced the defendant. 

Sandhu was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico on March 15, 2017. Sandhu has also used the names “Yadvinder Singh Bhamba,” “Bhupinder Kumar,” “Rajinder Singh,” “Robert Howard Scott” and “Atkins Lawson Howard.”

According to Sandhu’s plea agreement, since 2013, Sandhu had led a human smuggling conspiracy operating out of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, India and elsewhere. Sandhu admitted he personally assisted around 400 aliens to unlawfully enter the United States between 2013 and 2015 as part of the conspiracy. He also oversaw and directed co-conspirators operating out of the Caribbean.

Sandhu and other members of the conspiracy made flight arrangements for undocumented immigrants to travel from India through other countries – including Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Iran, Panama, Venezuela, Belize and Haiti – to the Dominican Republic. 

The Dominican Republic was used as a staging area, where aliens were housed before being transported to the U.S. The organization brought groups of aliens from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico or Florida by boat. Once the clients reached Puerto Rico or Florida, they were picked up by other members of the operation and taken to stash houses until flights could be arranged to California, New York, or elsewhere in the U.S. carrying with them fake IDs.

The boat trips organized by smuggling operation to transport aliens from the Dominican Republic to the U.S. were perilous. Boat captains used old, damaged, cracked, unlicensed, overcrowded and unsafe boats to make the journey. In at least one instance, an alien died in a boat on his way to the United States, according to court documents.

At times, the smugglers would take passports from the aliens during their journeys, physically assault them and threaten their families to collect money. Aliens paid between $30,000 and $85,000 to be smuggled from India to the U.S. to cover expenses for travel, housing, basic necessities, fake documents and other services.

There were additional charges of $1,500 to $3,000 for those who landed in Haiti to go to the Dominican Republic.

Those who could not pay faced threats to themselves and their families in India, had their passports taken from them or were physically harmed.

As part of the conspiracy, Sandhu directed associates to unlawfully smuggle so-called clients to Puerto Rico. Sandhu personally met the Indian nationals in various countries along their journeys, including in Dubai, Thailand, Iran, and the Dominican Republic, and he communicated with them throughout their journeys, which began approximately in January 2016. 

In some instances, Sandhu created and provided to authorities in those countries false employment documents on behalf of the aliens to obtain foreign visas. Sandhu also instructed aliens traveling through foreign airports how to find, and in some instances, pay cash to, corrupt immigration officials, passport control officers, or airport employees in order to bypass regular immigration and passport control procedures.

The incident that tripped up the smugglers involved 15 Indian citizens who had just arrived in the Dominican Republic in July of 2016 after making the long-multi-country route.

On July 25, 2016, Sandhu alerted his underlings in Puerto Rico to be ready to receive 15 aliens. On July 27, 2016, 15 Indian nationals were transported from the DR to Puerto Rico in a 22-foot wooden vessel designed to avoid detection. Although the size of the boat should have limited the number of occupants to eight people, it carried 15 so-called clients, plus the captain and crew members who members of the conspiracy.

The human cargo was supposed to be met in Puerto Rico by another smuggler, but they were arrested instead. Interrogation of the so-called clients and crew led authorities to Sandhu, who was arrested in the Dominican Republic in August 2017, and shortly thereafter extradited to Puerto Rico. 

The investigation was conducted under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Homeland Security Investigations. The ECT program focuses on human smuggling networks that may present particular national security or public safety risks, or present grave humanitarian concerns. 

Responding to a question, Nicole Navas, a DOJ spokesperson clarified that the case "involves human smuggling, not human trafficking."

Though an Indian national, Bhamba is no stranger to the US or the prison system there. He illegally entered the US when he was 20 or 21 years old, going in from Canada.

He lived in New York for 10 years, then California for another two before moving to New Jersey.

Around 1992, he began smuggling people to the US. After being caught for transporting 12 Indians to Florida state, he was convicted in 1999 and jailed for a year before being deported back to India.

In 2000, he returned to the US, calling himself Rajinder Kumar and tried to acquire a US visa. By 2013, he was back to human smuggling.

Bus company penalized for mocking Chinese students remains defiant

ASAM NEWS

A bus company in Illinois which just days ago agreed to pay a $100,000 fine to settle charges of discriminating against Asian American is now being accused of violating that settlement.

WTTW is reporting that Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is asking the judge to impose an additional $10,000 fine for, among other things, penalizing customers who post negative reviews.

In 2017, Suburban Express faced heavy backlash for an ad which promised “You won’t feel like you’re in China” when riding their buses. The ad was a reference to the large number of Chinese students attending the University of Illinois.

Suburban Express operates many shuttles between campuses. According to the Chicago Tribune, a consent decree reached required Suburban Express to pay a six figure fine and implement new anti-discrimination policies.

Despite agreeing to the settlement, the company complained openly, posting on Facebook that it “felt it was being extorted by the state,” and continued to deny wrongdoing.

“Taken individually or together with the other page (on its website) Defendants have posted attacking a person of Asian origin, Defendants have circulated communications that Defendants know are to the effect that the individuals under attack are objectionable and unacceptable because of their race and national origin,” Raoul wrote in the motion, according to WTTW.

Suburban Express operates a “page of shame” on its website meant to call out customers who it accuses of writing bad checks or using counterfeit tickets.

SCOTUS likely to vote 5-4 in favor of Census' citizenship

TWITTER / SEARC

Southeast Asians joined in the demonstration in front of the Supreme Court this morning.

The Supreme Court is apparently going to split along ideological lines in the case U.S. Department of Commerce v. New York, et al. which tackles the legitimacy of Trump administration's desire to ask the question about citizenship in the 2020 Census.

Based on their questions, the five conservative justices will likely rule in favor of the Trump administration.

Below, tweets from Amy Howe, who contributes to SCOTUSblog.com and Nina Totenberg, who writes for NPR. Both of them were in the room to hear the arguments. and listen to the Justices' questions.

Graphics provided by  Subscript Law, a nonprofit legal news website.

"The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court appear to be divided along ideological lines on whether a citizenship question can be included on forms for the upcoming 2020 census, reports NPR's Nina Totenberg. Most other SCOTUS watchers agree with that prediction.

According to Totenberg's report, the liberal justices, led by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, interrupted the opening statement of Trump administration's attorney, U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco, a Filipino American, questioning the administration's justification for the question.

"There's no doubt that people will respond less" to the census if it includes the question, Sotomayor said.

Justice Elena Kagan noted that the record of evidence for the case shows the need for a citizenship question is a "contrived one." She told Francisco that she searched the record for Ross's justification in 2018, but came up empty. She suggested that Francisco was providing a kind of "post hoc rationalization" after the decision was made.

The conservative Justices did the same to the presenters arguing against the question. Dale Ho of the ACLU argued on behalf of civil rights organizations, He argued that the Enumeration Clause of the Constitution asks for an accurate count of all individuals in the country, not distinguishing between citizen or non-citizen.

"The government stopped asking this question, along with dozens of others on the census when it realized that these questions were harming the accuracy of the population count and were specifically causing an undercount of communities of color," Ho said.

He pointed out that the Census'  own analysts predict that there will be 6.5 million people not counted if the citizenship question is included in the questionnaire.

All of that seemed not to matter to the conservatives on the bench, including Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts.

Even under the current political climate dominated by the White House and its anti-immigrant agenda, the Census Bureau's own analysts concluded that if the citizenship question is included in the tally that the Census would miss over 6 million people.

TWITTER

Ross decided to ignore the bureau's findings, however, claiming the question is needed in order to enforce the Voting Rights Act, which the Supreme Court, ironically, weakened last year by eliminating the need for stricter enforcement in certain states that have shown, in the past, a propensity for voter disenfranchisement.

The Trump administration contends that all the justices should consider is that Ross made a rational decision. However, three lower courts in California, Maryland and New York found that the decision, in fact, was not rational, but arbitrary.

The stakes are high. Critics opposed to the the citizenship question fear that the Census count would result in an undercount in states with large numbers of immigrants taking away Congressional seats and federal funding from those states. It would affect nont onlly Democratic states such as New York, California, New Jersey, Hawaii and Washington, but also  states like Texas and Florida, that are dominated by Republicans.

The Supreme Court Justices will render their decision in June. The Census will test their questionnaire shortly thereafter and print up the forms before October.

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Research center force out 3 Asian scientists

ASAM NEWS

Three Asian scientists have been kicked out from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston over concerns of ties to China, reports the Houston Chronicle.

The center took action after being warned by the National Institutes of Health. The three are accused of having conflicts of interest and unreported foreign income. Their ouster is part of growing concerns from private industry and U.S. security officials that the Chinese Americans are trying to steal U.S. scientific research. The names of the scientists have not been released.

A 2017 FBI report found that intellectual-property theft by China costs the U.S. as much as $600 billion annually. FBI Director Christopher Wray has called China “the broadest, most significant” threat to the nation and that its espionage is active in all 50 states.

The actions taken by the cancer center has led to concerns from the Chinese American community of racial profiling.

“Scientific research depends on the free flow of ideas,” Frank H. Wu, president of the Committee of 100, a group of influential Chinese Americans. said to the Chronicle. “Our national interest is best advanced by welcoming people, not by racial stereotyping based on where a person comes from.”

According to the Tech Times, the three scientists are reportedly Chinese. Two resigned before they could be dismissed and the third is challenging the firing. Of two other scientists also investigated, one has been cleared while the other still faces scrutiny.

Sources told the Chronicle involved more than the scientists who left. In the last several months about 20 employees have left for various reasons. The former employees said that they left because of the toxic work environment caused by racial profiling.

View From the Edge contributed to this report.

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Yo-Yo Ma: 'We build bridges, not walls.'

SCREEN CAPTURE / YOUTUBE

Yo-Yo Ma played Bach at the border between Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.

World-renown cellist Yo-Yo Ma brought Bach to the U.S.-Mexico border recently to celebrate the peaceful coexistence of two cities on opposite sides of the border.

"As you all know, as you did and do and will do, in culture, we build bridges, not walls," he said. After his performance, he gestured to the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge, connecting the cities of Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. 

Ma played the opening notes of J.S. Bach's "Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello" in a park near the bridge.

"I’ve lived my life at the borders. Between cultures. Between disciplines. Between musics. Between generations," said Ma.

Ma's visit to the border was part of his Bach Project, which uses the composer's 300-year-old music to explore connections between cultures.

Later, Ma told interviewers, “I want to see for myself,” he said, explaining his motivations, “and what I discover is two fabulous communities of people that are giving to one another [and] that care for one another.”

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Census citizenship question case goes before Supreme Court

New immigrants might not respond to any question asking about citizenship, says a report from the US Census.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday for and against the Trump administrations efforts to add a citizenship question to the U.S. Census which will be conducted in 2020.

With three lower court judges blocking the citizenship question from being added to the census, Tuesday's arguments will present the High Ccourt with one of it's biggest cases of the term.

"The administration’s clear intent was — to strip federal resources and political representation from those needing it most,” said Dale Ho, in charge of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, after a New York court ruled against using the question earlier this year.

"Adding a citizenship question to the census would cause incalculable damage to our democracy. The evidence presented at trial exposed this was the Trump administration’s plan from the get-go. We look forward to defending our trial court victory in the Supreme Court,” said Ho, who will present arguements against the administration.

The controversial question would be included at the request of the DOJ, according to a memo by Wilbur Ross, secretary of the Commerce Department (which oversees the Census Bureau). It would supply block-level data on the citizen and noncitizen voting age population.

The Justice Department claims it needs the information provided by the question in order to enforce the Voting Rights Act. Critics have said that they suspect the real reason is to help suppress the vote of immigrants and people of color and is just an extension of Trump's anti-immigrant policies.

"Make no mistake – immigrants and citizens who have immigrants in their household will be reluctant to participate in a census that asks about citizenship," one of the dozens of immigrant advocates who have joined the case as plaintiffs, Advancing Justice l AAJC said in a statement.  

"The resulting undercount will be devastating to the Asian Pacific American community because as a whole, they are the 'newest' Americans, with 92% of the community comprised of individuals who are foreign-born or are the children of immigrants."

According to the Census' own analysis, the decision to add a citizenship question would stop “approximately 6.5 additional million people” from participating in the Census. In the New York case, the district court found that, as a result, California, Texas, Arizona, Florida, New York, and Illinois face a “certainly impending” or “substantial risk of losing a seat” in the House of Representatives and that numerous states would “lose funds from several federal programs.”

The ACLU prepared the following the video that explains what's at stake:

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Alleged leader of call center scam extradited to the U.S.

Some of the call center employees were arrested by Indian authorities. and remain in their custody.

A 42-year-old Indian citizen faces indictment after being extradited to the United States from Singapore Thursday (April 18) for his role in a call center scam which targeted over 15,000 people. 

Hitesh Madhubhai Patel was arraigned Friday (April 19) in a Houston court. He faces charges for his alleged role as an operator of a massive call center network that bilked victim of at least $230 million. Patel was charged with general conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.

The indictment, which was unsealed in October 2016, charged Patel and 60 other individuals and entities with general conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. The case is assigned to the Honorable David Hittner of the Southern District of Texas.

“Since 2013, the IRS impersonation scam has been on a relentless path, claiming more than 15,000 victims who have collectively suffered over $75 million in losses,” said Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George. 

“TIGTA’s investigations, often conducted with other Federal agencies, have identified 140 scammers, including Patel, who have preyed upon taxpayers," he said.

According to the indictment, operators of the call centers in Ahmedabad, in the Indian state of Gujarat, "threatened potential victims with arrest, imprisonment, fines or deportation if they did not pay taxes or penalties to the government".

The alleged conspirators purportedly used information obtained from data brokers and other sources to find potential victims.

The call centers then used a network of U.S.-based conspirators to liquidate and launder extorted funds through stored value cards or wire transfers.

The conspirators collected the wire transfers by using fake names and fraudulent identifications.
At the request of the U.S., Singaporean authorities arrested Patel after he flew from India to Singapore on Sept. 21, 2018,

A total of 24 domestic defendants associated with this transnational criminal scheme have previously been convicted and sentenced to terms of imprisonment of up to 20 years in the Texas, Arizona and Georgia. 

The defendants were also ordered to pay millions of dollars in victim restitution and money judgments and to forfeit seized assets. Some defendants were ordered to be deported based on their illegal immigration status, with another defendant having his U.S. citizenship revoked due to a separate conviction for immigration fraud. The remaining India-based defendants have yet to be arraigned in this case.

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Sunday Read: Asian American candidates eye a second run for political office

TWITTER / ANITA MALIK

Anita Malik, left, and Hiral Tipirmeni will be political rivals for the Democratic nomination in Arizona's District 6

They may have lost in their first bids for office, but that isn't deterring six Asian American candidates from jumping into the political fray again.

Andrew Janz, Anita Malik, Hiral Tipirmeni, Srinivas Rao Preston Kulkarni, and Gina Ortiz Jones are reportedly not letting their defeats in 2018 dampen their belief in public service in 2020.


Six months after her loss on Nov. 6, 2018, Hiral Tipirneni, a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Congress from Arizona’s District 8, is running again, this time from Arizona’s District 6.

District 8 is a deeply conservative district with a big Republican majority and yet, Tipirmeni, a physician and cancer researcher, had a strong showing against GOP incumbent Debbie Lesko.

By switching to District 6 -- residency is not required -- Tipirmeni will have to win the primary against fellow Democrat and Indian American Anita Malik, who also ran unsuccessfully in 2018.


Malik, a sel-employed businesswoman, announced her intention to run Wednesday (April 17), said that Tipirmeni had called her to let her know of her intention to run in District 6. "In a lot of ways, it's very disappointing," Malik said. "We were never besties. We're friendly. I have great respect for her. ... Not being from the district, it does concern me."

"Our ear has been at the ground of this district for a long time. I'm embedded in this district. This is my home. We know what people are looking for," Malik said in a dig against Tipirmeni. "The idea of 'chosen one' politics, that's not part of our democracy. ... We know what they're looking for. We have the momentum."

District 6 is also GOP-majority but incumbent Rep. David  Schweikert is mired in an ongoing investigation by the U.S. House Ethics Committee, which is examining possible misspending by his office and campaign.

Over in Texas, Kulkarni, a former Foreign Service officer, declared that he would challenge the incumbent for 22nd District seat for the U.S. Congres.

“When I saw partisan tension tearing our country apart, I knew the most patriotic thing to do, and the best way to serve my country, was to run for office,” he tweeted on April 4.

Kulkarni lost his bid in the midterm election to long-time Republican incumbent Pete Olson, by less than 5 percentage points.

The Houston Chronicle reports that Kulkarni will target registering about 70,000 voters he had identified, noting that the Indian American lost by some 14,000 votes in 2018.

On the western part of the state, the 23rd District, Texas' largest district, will see a replay of the last election pitting incumbent Rep. Will Hurd against challenger Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones.

Although Ortiz Jones, a Filipina American Air Force veteran and former White House employee, hasn't formally declared her intention to run, she said right after the Nov. 6 elections that she is "very likely" to run again and has never really stopped campaigning against Hurd, trolling the Republican on social media every chance she could, attacking his professed opposition to a border wall, but reminding everyone that when it came down to it, Hurd voted for funding the Trump wall three times.

Ortiz Jones also tries to debunk Hurd’s reputation for accessibility, tweeting out periodic reminders of how much time has elapsed since the congressman’s most recent in-person town hall.

Having lost by only 926 votes in 2018, the general consensus among Democrats is that the presidential election will  attract more Democratic voters, enough to topple Hurd.

The Democratic National Committee has announced that it will target California's District 22 to turn blue in 2020. But it appears they will have to find a candidate to opposed incumbent Devin Nunes because 2018 challenger Andrew Janz still hasn't announced his plans for 2020.

Janz, who was able to raise over $9 million without the support of the Democratic Party, gave Nunes his first serious challenge for the Central Valley district. Janz strong showing forced Nunes to spend his campaign chest on his own race rather than helping fellow Republican candidates, as he has done in the past, thus helping the Democrats to turn seven Republican districts to blue.

Despite his strong showing, Janz said he will most likely not run for Congress again.
The Thai American candidate's loss to Nunes didn't turn Janz off to politics. Rather, it made him consider another run for office -- the mayor of Fresno. He has been meeting with supporters and family and will make an announcement soon.

“The general consensus in these meetings is there’s no leadership at City Hall,” said Janz, who has returned to his job as a Deputy District Attorney. “And for that reason, I am strongly considering running for mayor.”

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ore here: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/article228403084.html#storylink=cpy

Cory Booker tops fundraising from AAPI political donors

TWITTER /  CORY BOOKER

Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker are rivals for the Democratic nomination for POTUS.

VIEWS FROM THE EDGE & ASAM NEWS

A surprising finding of who the AAPI communities are supporting showed that Sen. Cory Booker has attracted the most money from Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

The New Jersey Democrat beat out all Three Asian American candidates running for POTUS. Hawaii's Rep. Tulsi Gabbard came in second, followed by third-place finishser Sen. Kamala Harris of California.

Sen Bernie Sander of Vermont and entrepreneur Andrew Yang rounded out the top 4th and 5th spots respectively.

One can surmise that Booker is perhaps more familiar (and admired) among the AAPI communities in New Jersey than Harris is known among the larger AAPI communities in California.

Gabbard's strong showing among Indian Americans might also indicate that religion is a strong factor in deciding who to support in 2020. Gabbard is Hindu.

An analysis by researcher and PhD candidate Sono Shah for AAPI Data Used data made public by the Federal Elections Committee, Shah determined Booker has raised just under $395,000 from Asian Americans. Gabbard has received $390,000 in support from Asian Americans while Sen. Harris has generated $322,000.

Far behind in the money race is the rest of the crowded field with Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), $124,000 and Andrew Yang, $119,000, topping the next tier. Sanders polled very well with Asian Americans in the 2016 election, while Yang has generated more buzz and support than most analysts expected.
My takeaway is that the umbrella group known collectively as AAPI is a whole lot more complicated than outsiders might assume. Any candidate that sees the AAPI communities as a single monolithic, amorphous group would make an huge erroneous, and perhaps fatal, mistake.

Shah has a two-part analysis the the valuable data gathered by AAPI Data, an increasingly invaluable resource for anyone looking at the AAPI communities, either as a whole or separately.

It's way too early to make any concrete conclusions and these findings are likely to shift as the number of candidates is winnowed down. However, there are trends that are interesting enough to point out.

Although a relatively new community, Indian Americans, have the largest immigration rate among new immigrants coming to the U.S., surpassing Chinese and Latinos.

Their quick adaption to U.S. politics can be seen in the 2016 elections that put five Indian Americans in Congress.  By comparison, Filipino Americans who have the same English fluency and have been politically active just as long as Indian immigrants, have only two Fililpino American congress members.

Shah's takeaways:

• In terms of total dollars, more than 60% of Asian contributions went to three candidates, Cory Booker, Tulsi Gabbard, and Kamala Harris.
• Tulsi Gabbard has relied heavily on Asian donors, with Asian donors accounting for more than 44% of the individual contributions she has raised this quarter.
• Similarly, more than 35% of the money Andrew Yang has raised from individual donations have come from Asian donors.
• Donors in California, New York, and New Jersey make up the vast majority of Asian contributions.

The vast majority of support from Asian Americans for Booker comes from his home state of New Jersey, along with New York and California.

Harris has large support among Indian Americans, but many are not aware of her heritage. Her father is Jamaica and her mother is from India.

Gabbard and Yang have not polled well in national polls, yet Yang has proven proficient in raising money, especially considering his name recognition is not large.

NBC points out that FEC data does not capture contributions under $200, which could have potentially skewed Shah’s study. 

In addition, the study by Shah is based on surname, which means Shah may have overlooked many Filipino Americans who have Latino surnames and Asian American voters who married outside their race or may be biracial and have teh surnames of their spouses.

READ the two-part analysis here and here.

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Hollywood Short Takes: Superheroes, space operas and rom-coms

Isa Briones and her father, Jon Jon Briones.

Filipina American cast in the return of Star Trek's Jean Luc- Picard

Isa Briones, daughter of Jon Jon Briones (The Assassination of Gianni Versace), will be The Asian in the upcoming Star Trek series which brings back Patrick Stewart as Star Trek: Next Generation's Jean-Luc Picard.

Starting with the original Star Trek, which included the iconic Mr. Sulul, as portrayed by George Takei, each Star Trek series have tried to have a diverse cast, which included the one Asian character.

There's not much detail about the character that Isa Briones will play but it could be a career-defining role with the immense following the franchise has developed over the last 50 years. Everything about the series is under tight wraps. All we know is that the story will pick up Picard 20 years after the last episode of Star Trek: Next Generation.

Actor and singer Isa Briones just wrapped the First National Touring Company of Hamilton. Her most recent credits include FX’s American Crime Story: Versace and Next to Normal (East West Players), for which she won an L.A. Ovation Award.

The new series will be aired on CBS- All Access, where Star Trek: Discovery is housed.

Marvel seeking gay Asian for 'The Eternals,' Marvel's new set of heroes

Marvel is reportingly wants an openly gay Asian male to be the lead male role in The Eternals," a race of "good" heroes with superpowers saving the universe from their evil counterparts, fittingly called The Despicaples.

The current frontrunner for the role is Conrad Ricamora, who is best known for playing Oliver on ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder. The addition of a queer person of color to the cast is exciting, as is the studio’s interest in casting an out actor for the role.

Train To Busan star Ma Dong-Seok has joined the ranks of the film. The Wrap is reporting that the actor will have his first American role in the Marvel film but no word on exactly who the actor will be playing. He will be joining actress Angelina Jolie—surprised it took her this long to jump on the Marvel train—and Kumail Nanjaini.

Michelle Yeoh in Star Trek: Discovery, the first Asian captain in the franchise.

Michelle Yeoh, the new queen of science fiction?

Michelle Yeoh has been cast in the upcoming James Cameron Avatar 2. She will be playing a scientist, Dr. Karina Mogue, according to The Wrap.

Is it time we dub Yeoh as the new queen of science fiction? The Malaysian actress has been busy since her role in the box office success, Crazy Rich Asians. She toplined CBS’ Star Trek: Discovery and her character Captain Philippa Georgiou will have it’s own yet-untitled spinoff show on CBS All Access. 

Past credits include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Tomorrow Never Dies, and Memoirs of a Geisha. She also has upcoming roles in Paul Feig’s Last Christmas and Joe Carnahans Boss Level as seen on her IMDB.

Avatar 2 will hit theaters Dec. 18, 2020, the newest addition to the five part franchise.

Power duo  of Mindy Kaling and Priyanka Chopra to star in rom-com

After a bidding war, Universal has won the rights to a currently untitled upcoming comedy starring Mindy Kaling and Priyanka Chopra, Deadline reports.

Not much about the wedding comedy has been released besides it being described as a combination of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Crazy Rich Asians, Variety reports.

Chopra will produce for Purple Pebble Pictures, Kaling for Kaling International, and Goor will produce with Howard Klein for 3 Arts Entertainment. Nina Anand Aujla and Heather Morris will executive produce.

BD Wong cast as villain in The Flash

AMC's The Flash has cast B.D. Wong as the voice of one of the season’s new villains, Godspeed, Comicbook.com reports. Wong’s voice made its first appearance on Tuesday night’s episode. His name appeared in the opening credits.

According to Comicbook.com, Godspeed has the ability to separate speedsters from their speed force. This makes him a particularly dangerous villain for the show’s protagonist Barry Allen (The Flash). The character was first introduced in 2016 DC comics.

Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding star in Last Christmas.

And lastly ... Last Christmas will premiere Nov. 8 in time for the holidays

Nov. 8 has been announced for the premiere off the much-anticipated movie Last Christmas starring two of the hottest actors today, Mother of Dragons Emlia Clarke and Crazy Rich Asians hunk Henry Golding.

The romantic movie will debut on Nov. 15, just in time for prime-time for movies.

Based on George Michael's hit, one of his last songs before his death on Christmas Day, 2017.

The film will also star Michelle Yeoh and Emma Thompson, who also cowrote the script. 

In the movie, Kate (Clarke) lives in London, a bundle of bad decisions accompanied by the jangle of bells on her shoes, another irritating consequence from her job as an elf in a year-round Christmas shop. Tom (Golding) seems too good to be true when he walks into her life and starts to see through so many of Kate’s barriers. 

In an Instagram post from Malaysian-born Golding, he wrote, "Mark my words, this one is going to be special." Golden, the male romantic lead in Crazy Rich Asians, is also rumored to be the new James Bond.

Clarke is currently starring in the final season of Game of Thrones as Daenerys Targaryen, or better known as the Queen Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lady of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, Lady of Dragonstone, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons.

AsAm News contributed to these reports.

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Sacramento State seeks a professor in Happiness

REKHI SINGH

Everybody wants to be happy. But, not everybody is happy. Why is happiness so elusive?. Is happiness an art or a science? Can you achieve happiness by studying it? Is there a formula for happiness?

Rekhi SIngh is only too happy to seek the answers to those questions.

The Indian American businessman, entrepreneur is establishing the endowed professorship, the Rekhi Singh Endowed Professor in Happiness at Sacramento State University, where in graduated with an MBA in 1988.

The position will be housed in the Department of Psychology, with the goal of promoting happiness through academic research, curriculum development, cross-campus partnerships and other activities.

“In our time, they told us, ‘Go be successful and you’ll get happy,’ but no, it’s the other way around,” he told the Sacramento Bee. “Happy people are successful people, and in their workplace, the happy employee does a better job. They become a better citizen, and they’ll serve the community better.”

“The science of happiness is a real science,” Sacramento State President Robert S. Nelsen said in a statement. “I am so grateful to Rekhi for his generous gift, which will allow us to better understand happiness and how to spread it throughout the world.”

Singh did not disclose the amount of the donation, but according to the university’s guidelines for endowed professorships, the donation is at least $500,000.

Funds from this endowment will support salary, release time for the selected faculty member, research activities, travel, and operating funds to support activities to promote happiness across the campus and beyond.

Those activities may include teaching courses, conducting academic research into the science of happiness, delivering lectures and workshops, and developing curriculum incorporating happiness and well-being.

After earning his undergraduate degree, Singh knew he wanted to immigrate to the U.S.

He chose Sacramento State to work for his Master in Business Administration.

Today, Singh is chief executive officer of R Systems, a global, publicly traded company he founded that specializes in information technology. Along with his wife, Harpreet Kaur Rekhi, he is also a trustee of the Rekhi Foundation for Happiness.

“Sacramento State gave me a well-rounded education into business, and I was exposed to the U.S. culture and its way of doing things,” Singh says, adding that Nelsen’s leadership of the University was a significant motivation for his gift.

“When I look back at my life, I would not be here if it was not for Sac State and the education I got there," Singh told the campus newspaper. "That is something I feel very grateful about.”

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