Helen H. Moore's Blog, page 750
June 13, 2016
“Dance is a form of survival for the LGBT community:” A Latino Vogue dancer reminds us to keep dancing
Edwin Zapata, better know was Nunney Karma, is an urban style street dancer in New York City. He started Voguing at an early age and later decided to teach the dance to people outside of the LGBT community where it originated.
Zapata says that Voguing allowed him to have a voice and an outlet but is also a form of celebration and survival.
“For the gay community, back in the day, I absolutely do think Vogue was a form of survival,” he said.
In the early hours of June 12 a gunman entered a gay night club in Orlando where the patrons were celebrating “Latin Night” and opened fire, killing 49 and injuring 53 more. The horrific incident happened in a place that many in the LGBT community in Orlando considered a safe space. It was a place where patrons were free to be in love, hold hands, kiss and dance.
“Nightclubs are where we’ve long learned to unlearn hate, and learn to become and love our real selves,” writer Barry Walters wrote for Billboard. “They’re our safe spaces; places where music and dancing and the joy of our collective togetherness unlocks our fears and extinguishes our lingering self-loathing.”
While the LGBT community and their allies mourn the horrific killings, many are pledging to continue living, loving and dancing.
A sign outside the Stonewall Inn in New York City read “Never stop dancing.”
In that spirit here is a story of hope, resilience and sharing in the aftermath of a horrific tragedy.
Watch.
June 12, 2016
Jakarta’s traffic trials give rise to a tech success
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The Indonesian capital’s reputation as one of the most congested cities is typically not an advantage with investors. But one company has become the country’s most visible technology success with an app that relieves some of the pain of its maddening traffic.
The ride-hailing apps that are now part of daily life from New York to New Delhi and London are usually used to summon cars. Jakarta, the world’s sixth-largest urban sprawl and by some measures the most car-clogged, needed something different.
In hindsight, the Go-Jek mobile app for hailing rides on motorcycles, to dodge and weave through traffic, was a no-brainer. But its sudden success over the past two years took even its founder by surprise. The app’s name is a play on “ojek,” the Indonesian word for freelance motorcycle taxis, now a rare sight in Jakarta after many drivers joined Go-Jek’s green-jacketed, GPS-coordinated ranks.
“We really had no idea it would be adopted so widely and so quickly,” said Nadiem Makarim, who admits the company and its app struggled to keep pace when tens of thousands began downloading it.
Makarim believes Jakarta’s carmageddon had arrived at a “pain point” of huge unmet demand for a solution.
“Smartphone penetration was at an all-time high in Jakarta, traffic was at an all-time high,” he said. “Getting yourself or your things from A to B in the quickest way possible could only be achieved by motorcycles.”
As by far the biggest economy in Southeast Asia, making up a third of the region’s gross domestic product, Indonesia has also attracted Uber and Go-Jek’s fiercest competitor, Malaysia’s Grab, which is headed by Makarim’s Harvard classmate Anthony Tan.
Analysts say both Uber and Grab have greater scale and resources than Go-Jek, crucial for sustaining losses in the transport app industry’s early stages and for keeping up investments in the behind-the-scenes technology that makes the apps easy for people to use.
Go-Jek has built on the usual strategy of providing rides to introduce a slew of additional Go- services to the app, including delivering food, groceries, cleaners, massage therapists and beauticians to homes.
The Go-Send document pickup and delivery service and Go-Food are the company’s two biggest businesses after rides, Makarim said. Go-Food, he said, has become the biggest food delivery business in Southeast Asia by number of transactions.
“Go-Jek’s vision is to escape competition by creating an on-demand platform for anything our consumer wants,” he said. “We’re not stuck on our identity based on what we think it should be. We let the market decide what they want us to be.”
Florian Hoppe, a partner at consulting company Bain who specializes in technology, said Go-Jek’s approach is “fairly unique” but fits the situation in Jakarta and other Indonesian cities where service businesses are hobbled by transportation problems.
“It’s hard to predict where this will be going,” he said. “In the long-term, specialized services will likely have an edge but Indonesia has enough uniqueness, market protection and scale, that (Go-Jek) could be very successful in the long-term too.”
Makarim dreamed up Go-Jek for an independent study project while at Harvard Business School and started it as a sideline business when he returned to Indonesia in the summer. For its first three years, it operated like a call center. It became a mobile app after Makarim turned his attention to it full-time from mid-2014.
Like elsewhere, ride hailing apps are drawing an angry backlash from taxi drivers as their incomes drop. In March, a protest by thousands of taxi drivers that paralyzed the capital turned violent, with cabbies brawling in the streets with green-jacketed drivers from Go-Jek and Grab.
Go-Jek says it has more than 200,000 drivers around Indonesia but the pain for taxis seems most acute in Jakarta, where all the ride hailing services are battling fiercely for customers, pushing fares to rock bottom.
Since a Go-Jek trip within the city costs only about 12,000 rupiah (90 cents) outside of peak hours, the company is burning through its investment cash because in Jakarta the fares are lower than what it pays drivers.
Yet the apps have proven so useful to people in a city where officials estimate congestion causes losses of $3 billion a year that attempts to ban them on the basis of claims of unfair competition have failed.
When the transport minister issued a directive last December banning app-based ojeks, the public outcry was such that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo quickly overruled the decision.
The nationalistic appeal of a home-grown tech success is also a potent advantage for the company.
“We want to make Indonesia proud that this is a uniquely Indonesian company that was started here,” Makarim said. “We have a huge competitive advantage as the first mover and from a sense of growing nationalism and pride that we are the tech brand of Indonesia right now.”
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Link in Indonesian: http://www.go-jek.com/
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Follow Stephen Wright:
www.twitter.com/stephenwrightAP
http://bigstory.ap.org/content/Stephen-Wright
What We Know: Gay nightclub shooting deadliest on US soil
A gunman opened fire at a gay night club in Orlando, Florida, early Sunday, leaving 50 people dead and 53 wounded before he was killed in a shootout with SWAT team members. Here’s what we know about the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history:
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MASS CASUALTIES: At least 50 people were killed, and 53 were hospitalized, most in critical condition, officials said. A surgeon at Orlando Regional Medical Center said the death toll was likely to climb.
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THE SHOOTER: Authorities have identified the shooter as 29-year-old Omar Mateen of Fort Pierce, Florida.
In a 911 call from the club, Mateen professed allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to a law enforcement official.
Mateen was a U.S. citizen born in New York. His ex-wife said his family was from Afghanistan.
Authorities say Mateen was not under surveillance, but that in 2014, they discovered he had ties to an American suicide bomber. They said the ties were minimal and they didn’t think he represented a threat at the time.
They say he also made inflammatory comments to co-workers in 2013. He worked for the GS4 global security company.
Authorities also say Mateen legally purchased at least two firearms within the past week or so.
Mateen’s father, Seddique Mir Mateen, said his son got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami a couple of months ago. He said that might be related to the attack. The father said the attack had nothing to do with religion.
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FATHER’S ACTIVITIES:
Seddique Mir Mateen is a life insurance salesman who started a group in 2010 called Durand Jirga, Inc., according to Qasim Tarin, a businessman from California who was a Durand Jirga board member. The name refers to the Durand line, the long disputed border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Tarin said Seddique Mir Mateen had a television show on which they discussed issues facing Afghanistan. He said Seddique Mir Mateen loves the U.S.
But a former Afghan official said the “Durand Jirga Show” expresses support for the Taliban, has an anti-Pakistan slant, complains about foreigners in Afghanistan and criticizes U.S. actions there. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be linked to coverage of the shooting.
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WHAT HAPPENED: Police say Mateen, equipped with an assault rifle and a handgun, opened fire on patrons early Sunday. He also exchanged fire with an officer working at the club about 2 a.m., when more than 300 people were inside. Police say the gunman then went back inside and took hostages. Police sent in a SWAT team to rescue hostages about 5 a.m. and Mateen died in an exchange of gunfire with SWAT officers.
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THE VICTIMS:
The city of Orlando is publishing the names of those killed on its website after their families have been contacted. The list can be found at http://www.cityoforlando.net/blog/victims/
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SECOND DEADLY SHOOTING IN TWO DAYS: The attack follows the fatal shooting late Friday of 22-year-old singer Christina Grimmie, who was killed after her concert in Orlando by a 27-year-old Florida man who later killed himself. Grimmie was a YouTube sensation and former contestant on “The Voice.”
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This story has been corrected to reflect that it was an ATF agent, not FBI agent, who said that shooter legally purchased firearms, and to correct father’s name to Seddique Mir Mateen, instead of Mir Seddique.
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This story has been corrected to reflect that shooter was from Fort Pierce, Florida, not Port St. Lucie.
Yale wins second straight regatta as Harvard boat sinks
NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) — For the second straight year, Yale’s crew team has defeated rival Harvard in the 151st regatta, but this time with a footnote.
Rough conditions on Connecticut’s Thames River on Sunday wreaked havoc on the nation’s oldest collegiate sporting event.
For the first time a boat was unable to finish because it had sunk.
Yale jumped out to an early lead before the Harvard crew’s boat took on water and had to stop racing about 3 minutes into the four-mile race. Harvard rowers had to be rescued. No one was injured.
Last year, Yale finished almost 17 seconds ahead of Harvard.
The first race was in 1852. It’s been held regularly since 1878, interrupted during the Civil War, World War I and World War II.
Asian shares fall ahead of Fed meeting, Britain’s referendum
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares slipped Monday amid uncertainty over what the U.S. Federal Reserve might do on interest rates and Britain’s status on the European Union.
KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 2.8 percent to 16,134.91 in early trading. South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.6 percent to 1,986.42. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 2.5 percent to 20,513.30, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.9 percent to 2,901.19. Markets in Southeast Asia were also lower.
THE FED: Until recently, markets had expected the U.S. Federal Reserve to start raising interest rates, but now some players are expecting the Fed to shift to a wait-and-see mood. The policy board meetings later this week, and what Chair Janet Yellen will say is being closely watched.
BRITISH REFERENDUM: Speculation is rising over whether Britain will choose to remain in the 28-nation European Union in a June 23 referendum. A poll in London’s The Independent last week showed that 55 percent of British citizens want to leave the European Union.
THE QUOTE: “Brexit fears will continue to dominate sentiment as this crunch date looms,” said Stephen Innes, analyst at OANDA.
WALL STREET: On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 119.85 points, or 0.7 percent, to 17,865.34. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 19.41 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,096.07. The Nasdaq composite shed 64.07 points, or 1.3 percent, to 4,894.55.
ENERGY: U.S. crude fell 70 cents to $48.37. It had shed $1.49, or 2.9 percent, to $49.07 a barrel in New York late Friday. Brent crude, the benchmark for international oil prices, fell 64 cents to $49.90 a barrel in London. Oil prices had reached 11-month highs in the last few days.
CURRENCIES: The dollar declined to 106.14 yen from 107.16 yen late Friday in Asia. The euro fell to $1.1236 from $1.1298.
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Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/yuri-kageyama
Andrew Lloyd Webber offers $1.3 million grant for children
NEW YORK (AP) — Andrew Lloyd Webber came to cheer on his kid rock band at the Tony Awards — and also to give out some money to encourage more musical kids.
The legendary composer, whose “School of Rock,” competed for the top musical prize Sunday, announced that he is funding $1.3 million to buy musical theater equipment in U.S. public schools and subsidize study.
“I’m afraid what’s happening in America is mirrored in Britain. It seems to be that nobody quite understands in the treasuries of our various countries that every penny you put into the arts, comes back in some form — in my view, five times over,” he told The Associated Press on the eve of the announcement.
The three-year grant operated by The American Theatre Wing will include buying instruments and equipment for school theater programs, funding summer study and after-school training, and college scholarships.
Arts education “makes a vital contribution to children’s well-being and their understanding of other disciplines,” Lloyd Webber said. “If you start learning music, you immediately get a grasp for math.”
“If you’re lucky, like I am, to make a living through the one thing that you really love doing, I think it’s extremely important that you try to give it back and bring other people into it.”
The stage version of “School of Rock” stays close to the plot of the Jack Black-led 2003 film, in which a wannabe rocker enlists his fifth-graders to form a rock group and conquer the Battle of the Bands.
A highlight of the show is listening to a group of 10-year-olds jamming and Lloyd Webber wants the Tony performance slot to motive others. “One hopes it’s a little inspiring to other kids when they see that these kids really play. That’s the fantastic thing.”
The U.S. grant is an extension of a program Lloyd Webber has implemented in Britain, introducing violins in schools before pupils go on to make their own music choices. “It’s a beginning. Let’s put it this way: It’s a beginning.”
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Online: http://www.AmericanTheatreWing.org
Brooke Henderson beats Lydia Ko in Women’s PGA playoff
SAMMAMISH, Wash. (AP) — Brooke Henderson beat top-ranked Lydia Ko with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff Sunday in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship after overcoming a three-shot deficit on the back nine.
The 18-year-old Canadian, ranked No. 4 in the world, closed with a bogey-free 6-under 65 — the best round of the week at Sahalee — to match Ko at 6-under 278. Ko finished with a 67.
In the playoff on the par-4 18th, Henderson hit her second shot from 155 yards to 3 feet, while Ko’s second from farther back in the fairway left her with 20 feet. Ko missed to the left and Henderson tapped in to cap a week that started with a hole-in-one on her fourth hole of the tournament and ended with a major championship.
In regulation, Henderson saved par on 18 with a 12-footer, moments before Ko missed a 4-foot birdie try on the par-3 17th. Henderson also eagled the par-5 11th and birdied the par-3 13th. She won last year in Portland, Oregon, for her first tour title.
Henderson became the second-youngest winner in a major championship, with Ko the youngest last year in the Evian Championship in France. Henderson also ended Ko’s bid for her third straight major victory.
Ariya Jautanugarn, in search of a fourth straight victory, shot 66 to finish a stroke back. She missed a birdie putt on the 18th that could have put her into the playoff.
Minnesota memorial honors soldiers of ‘secret war’
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A new memorial on the Minnesota Capitol grounds honors soldiers of the “secret war” in Laos.
Hundreds gathered Saturday for the dedication of the memorial to the U.S. and Alliance Special Forces in Laos, Minnesota Public Radio News (http://bit.ly/1PUzN2M ) reported.
The 10-foot-tall bronze monument commemorates those who served in the southeast Asian country, from 1961 and 1975. Laos was neutral during the Vietnam War, but the CIA recruited Hmong soldiers to carry on a covert campaign.
After the U.S. pulled out of Laos and Vietnam, tens of thousands fled and lived in refugee camps in Thailand. Many refugees eventually resettled in the U.S. An estimated 66,000 Hmong live in Minnesota.
Lt. Gov. Tina Smith praised the veterans at the dedication ceremony.
“More than four decades ago, Hmong, Lao and southeast Asian soldiers served during the Secret War, saved American lives and helped to advance the cause of freedom and democracy,” Smith said. “Your service embodies the ideal of sacrifice.”
The memorial resembles a sprouting bamboo shoot, with its leaves bearing images of daily life, war and relocation.
The ceremony featured Hmong music, a gun salute and the playing of “Taps.” Several officials including St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar spoke as well as veterans.
The Americans recruited Gen. Vang Pao to encourage many in his country to fight. The general, who died in 2011, was represented by his son, Wang Chong Vang.
Vang said it was a “special day for all of us to honor the Lao Hmong soldiers who served as the U.S. secret army in Laos.”
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Information from: Minnesota Public Radio News, http://www.mprnews.org
Another night of drinking and dancing, until the shots began
Judy Rettig, right, and Karen Castelloes cry during a prayer vigil Joy Metropolitan Community Church after a fatal shooting at the Pulse Orlando nightclub Sunday, June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) (Credit: AP)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Like young people in clubs the world over, Jon Alamo met up with some friends, and then some more friends. He danced in Pulse’s main room, where people swayed to the beat of salsa music. Then Alamo drifted into the club’s two other rooms, which grooved to more of a hip-hop vibe. He remembers hearing Rihanna’s “Work,” one of his favorite songs, and grinding to it on the dance floor.
It was supposed to be just a night of dancing and drinking, of looking good and gleefully partying into the early morning hours. It was Latin night at Pulse, one of Orlando’s top gay venues, and two drag performers were scheduled to perform, one of them a big draw for appearing on a season of the TV show “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
“I was in the zone,” Alamo recalled. “I wasn’t even paying attention — just dancing.”
The 22-year-old clothing store sales clerk had arrived at the club at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, clad all in blue from his button-down shirt adorned with palm trees to his loafers. About three and a half hours later, the gunshots began and the first of at least 50 people began to die.
Residents of the Delaney Court condos next door to Pulse first heard the shooting about 2:03 a.m. Marlon Massey was watching the movie “Creed” when he heard “pop, pop, pop!” He checked his phone for the time: The shots went on until 2:05 a.m.
A uniformed Orlando Police officer working at the club off-duty had heard gunshots himself and spotted Omar Mateen outside the club. He fired his gun at the 29-year-old security guard from Fort Pierce, Florida, and two other officers quickly joined in. Mateen was not armed lightly: Police said he had an AR-15 assault-type rifle, a handgun and an explosive device.
Undeterred, he re-entered the club.
Inside, those on the dance floor weren’t sure if what they heard was just part of the DJ’s set.
“Everyone was getting on the floor. … I thought it was just part of the music, until I saw fire coming out of his gun,” patron Rose Feba explained to the Orlando Sentinel.
Mina Justice was sound asleep when she received the first text from her son, Eddie Justice, who was in the club.
“Mommy I love you,” the first message said. It was 2:06 a.m.
“In club they shooting.”
It was around this time that Alamo wandered back into the main room.
“He was holding a big weapon,” Alamo said. “He had a white shirt and he was holding the weapon … you ever seen how Marine guys hold big weapons, shooting from left to right? That’s how he was shooting at people.”
Alamo dashed toward the back of one of the smaller dance rooms, and said people then rushed to an area where two bouncers had knocked down a wooden fence to create an escape route.
“My first thought was, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to die,” Alamo said, his voice very quiet. “I was praying to God that I would live to see another day. I couldn’t believe this was happening.”
At 2:09 a.m., Pulse posted a chilling, hurried message on its Facebook page: “Everyone get out of pulse and keep running.”
Brand White and his cousin were on the dance floor in the main room when White’s cousin yelled to him, “B, it’s a guy with a bomb!” Before he knew it, White was hit in the shoulder.
“All of a sudden it just started like a rolling thunder, loud and everything went black,” White wrote in a Facebook message to an Associated Press reporter from his hospital room Sunday. “I think I was trampled.”
He didn’t recall leaving the club, but he remembered the state he was in: “Covered head to toe in blood.”
“I remember screaming and mass chaos,” he wrote. “There were hundreds of people there.”
He made it to the hospital, where he got a blood transfusion. As Sunday wore on, his cousin remained missing.
Brett Rigas and his partner also were dancing in the main room when they heard the crack of gunfire. “About 70 bullets,” Rigas described in a terse Facebook message.
He was shot in the arm and a man next to him was struck in the leg before police entered the room.
“I was behind the bar with four other people under the well. They called out to us and had us run out,” he said.
Rigas saw dead bodies as he barreled out of the club. In the rush to escape, he became separated from his partner, who remained unaccounted for.
Three patrons, including a performer, ran to the nearby home of club regular David “Brock” Cornelius. Cornelius had gone to a different bar Saturday night and wasn’t yet home, but he texted them his garage code and they hid in his house.
Police said a dozen or so other patrons took cover in a restroom.
At 2:39 a.m., Eddie Justice texted his mother from the bathroom, pleading for her to call police:
“Call them mommy
Now.”
He’s coming
I’m gonna die.”
Justice asked her son if anyone was hurt and which bathroom he was in.
“Lots. Yes,” he responded at 2:42 a.m.
The last text she received from Eddie was at 2:50 a.m. She still hasn’t heard from her son.
“All I heard was gunfire after gunfire,” Brandon Wolf, who was in a restroom hiding, told the Sentinel. “Eventually, I thought you were supposed to run out of ammunition. But it just kept going and going,” he said.
What happened in the three hours after the shooting broke out and the gunman was killed was not immediately clear.
As people lay dying in the club, the shooting developed “into a hostage situation,” Orlando Police Chief John Mina said.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said that officers initially mistakenly thought the gunman had strapped explosives to some of his victims after a bomb robot sent back images of a battery part next to a body. That held paramedics up from entering the club until it was determined the part had fallen out of an exit sign or smoke detector, the mayor said.
The robot was sent in after SWAT team members used explosive charges and an armored vehicle to knock down a wall down in an effort to access the club.
About 5 a.m., a decision was made to rescue the remaining club-goers, who authorities said likely were in one of the smaller dance rooms, the Adonis Room. Law enforcement officers used two explosive devices to try to distract the killer and then 11 officers stormed the club and exchanged gunfire with Mateen.
The explosives jolted some Pulse neighbors awake, including Dorian Ackerman, 28, who noted that it was just after 5 a.m.
“I heard a woman screaming,” he said. “It was really terrifying.”
The gunman started firing, hitting an officer who was saved by protective armor.
“That’s when we took him down,” the mayor said.
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Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush
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This story has corrected the gunman’s hometown to Fort Pierce, Florida, not Port St. Lucie.
Ex-Illinois governor petitions for Chicago mayor term limits
CHICAGO (AP) — Former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn kicked off a signature drive Sunday to impose a two-term limit on Chicago’s mayor and create a citywide elected consumer advocate position.
The binding referendums could be on ballots as early as November or in the 2018 cycle, meaning there’s potential to make Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel ineligible to seek a third term in 2019.
Quinn insisted his effort wasn’t aimed at any individual, and getting nearly 53,000 valid signatures before an Aug. 8 deadline for November’s ballot would be challenging. He explained how he got his start in petition drives — including laying the groundwork for the Citizens Utility Board — and wanted to give residents a way to bypass the mayor and City Council.
“Part of my mission in life is not to sit on the sidelines, but to try and organize movements and give people a greater say in their government,” he said. “It’s a way to let fresh air in and let the people into City Hall.”
The proposed consumer advocate would act as an independent watchdog, replacing a similar position appointed by the mayor.
Emanuel, who faced a tense 2015 re-election bid, has experienced increasing discontent among residents. Protesters have called for his resignation in the wake of the shooting of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager shot 16 times by a white police officer. The city refused to release video of the 2014 shooting until a judge ordered it.
Emanuel’s spokesman didn’t immediately have comment.
Chicago — unlike other major U.S. cities including Los Angeles and New York — doesn’t have mayoral term limits. Former Mayor Richard M. Daley served for 22 years.
Sunday’s event was classic populist Quinn, who’s led petition drives since the 1970s, including one to pass a constitutional amendment to reduce the size of the Illinois House. He offered a history lesson invoking the nation’s Founding Fathers and trotted out his rickety ironing board for supporters to use to sign petitions while the cameras rolled. He then signed it himself.
Quinn, who once served on the Cook County Board of Tax Appeals, was state treasurer and lieutenant governor. He became governor in 2009 after Rod Blagojevich was removed from office. Quinn was elected to a full term in 2010 and ousted by Republican businessman Bruce Rauner in 2014.
Quinn wouldn’t say what groups he’s coordinating with. If the measure doesn’t come before voters in November, it could be on the ballots during the 2018 gubernatorial election.
He refused to answer if he’d seek public office again. Quinn has recently been making the rounds at political events, fueling talk that he’s wants to throw his hat in the ring again.
“I’ve run for office before,” Quinn said. “We’ll see about the future.”
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Follow Sophia Tareen at http://twitter.com/sophiatareen .
