Attaining equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community has been a pressing civil rights issue created by our malfunctioning immigration system. The problem is heightened by the thousands of undocumented LGBT people living at the cross fire of the civil rights battle making them about of the most vulnerable individuals in our country. A recent study by the Williams Institute, acknowledged that there are close to 1 million LGBT adult immigrants, out of these, some two-thirds are documented and one-third are undocumented. Comprehensive immigration reform is an acute issue for the LGBT community. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has long been in the forefront of legislation to protect LGBT persons affected by the current immigration system. HRC has highlighted  areas that will go a long way in providing LGBT couple equality with traditional couple by suggesting the following principles: Keep LGBT Families Together, and  Improve the U.S. Asylum System for LGBT Applicants. On June, 6 2013 DOMA, The Defense of Marriage Act, the law barring the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legalized by the states, was ruled unconstitutional, by the Supreme Court with a 5-4 vote. In this article we will revisit parts of the HRC roadmap that aids in assuring LGBT families a similar footing in society as traditional marriages and understand the effect  that the repeal of DOMA has had on the LGBT community. HRC Required:  1. Allow U.S. citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their same-sex spouses or partners for family-based immigration. Problem: Prior to the fall of DOMA U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents were unable to sponsor their spouse or immediate family member for immigration purposes. A projected 32,300 same-sex, bi-national couples live in the U.S., raising over 11,000 children. Now with the current law, an LGBT couple can marry in those states that permit such marriages and then can go to any state and apply under federal immigration laws for legal residency of their spouse. 2. Stop removal of the same-sex spouse or partner of a U.S. citizen or permanent resident when it can be established that removal would cause extreme hardship to the U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident, thereby allowing for the application of "Cancellation of Removal" as a defense. Problem: Prior to Doma’s demise Bi-national couples could not apply for Cancellation of Removal and elude separation by showing that a U.S. citizen or permanent resident will suffer “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” if his or her spouse is deported. But same-sex couples were not considered qualifying relatives under the statute. However, now, the playing ground has been leveled, both traditional marriages and LGBT marriages has the right to file for Cancellation of Removal, and if successful will obtain lawful permanent residency for their spouse. 3. Allow Step relatives to have the same immigration rights as non LGBT individuals. Problem: More than 4 million people are currently waiting for a family visa. Yet in the past stepchildren of same sex marriages where the petitioner is the stepparent could not file for the child as an immediate relative, nor as a family preference member. However under the new law, all children of LGBT families will be able to apply for lawful residency in the U.S. 4. Allow same-sex spouses or partners of individuals who are refugees or granted asylee status to receive derivative refugee or asylee status. Problem: Approved Refugees or asylees in the U.S. are able to avoid splitting-up from the person they love by seeking derivative status for their spouse. But same-sex spouses or partners of refugees or asylees were not considered “spouses” for purposes of derivative asylum. Therefore, LGBT individuals were frequently required to endure long separation from the individual they love in order to escape persecution. The repeal of Doma has reversed this ruling ands now LGBT Asylum applicants may include their spouses for the purpose of derivative asylum. ((The demise of DOMA has ushered in a new age of enlightenment, liberty and tolerance)).  Let's hope that Congress in it's current confused state can see through the politics, the importance of approving a comprehensive immigration reform, to solve the life dilemma of all of the 11 million undocumented immigrants, whose U.S.  families have been suffering with, for a very long time.

We are currently knee deep in another monstrous Wall Street/Washington DC Axis of Evil farcedy. We are the mugs in this mugging. The gullible fools in this deceptive and dishonest pre-scripted trickeration and shameless charade. This double-whammy puppet theater of cooked up crises. The government shutdown and the debt ceiling deadline. The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Pure Shock Doctrine. OMG! Not again! The interlocking criminal enterprise of finance fraudsters and political poltroons has been successfully running variations of this pernicious public hoodwinking over and over for years. This is the 3rd time since 2011 this particular double-whammy con has been played on us. It is psychological terrorism. Bamboozle and scare the wits out of the public with the noisy and hysterical threat of a ticking financial or political time bomb that will end the world as we know it. Unless we cough up our rights, our freedom, liberty, property, privacy and, most important, our hard-earned money to these greedy and malevolent crooks and scoundrels. The original script for this sort of Shock Doctrine lawlessness was written by the Hunchback of San Clemente, Richard Nixon, and his partner in crime, the odious Henry Kissinger. It was first performed successfully in Chile in 1973. Make the economy scream and democracy will surrender to dictatorship and oligarchy. To paraphrase a certain philosopher/chimp: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...he he he...we CAN be fooled again. And again. And again. In the current con, the first ticking time bomb is the government shutdown showdown. By the start of every fiscal year (October 1st), Congress must pass appropriation legislation to continue funding government obligations, or else the government will not have the means to operate and pay its bills. Over the years this has been subject to a certain amount of monkey business by conniving congressmen. In 1995, the reptilian Speaker Newt Gingrich, under some egotistical pretext, forced a government shutdown for 21 days (during which time, as an unintended consequence, Pres. Horn Dog with time on his hands began his Oval Office canoodling with Monica Lewinsky). This year, the Tea Party knotheads (the twisted tail that now wags the GOP mangy dog) refused to vote for the funding legislation unless the Affordable Care Act (aka: Obamacare) was defunded, that is to say killed in the cradle. ((Putting aside the fact Obamacare is a lousy law, it is the law and the Teabaggers were using it merely to obstruct and make as much noise as possible)). In a media manufactured High Noon moment, there was no vote and the "shutdown" began. OMG! The sky is falling! It is the end of the world as we know it! So far, though, the shutdown itself is a devious con trick. In a real government shutdown, you would think our overextended troops in Afghanistan would be loaded up on transport planes and flown straight home. No money. No war. Our countless overseas military bases and diplomatic missions would be closed. The Pentagon would be a ghost town. The military/industrial complex would grind to a halt. The NSA, CIA and their private contractor co-conspirators, would have to stop spying on everyone in the world. Wall Street would not be receiving its $85 billion of free money every month. Slave plantations like Wal Mart would not get their IRS tax breaks. Police and firefighters would all be at home watching daytime TV. But noooo! It seems the only people being shutdown and not getting paid are (drum roll, here) poor people, sick people, hungry people, unemployed and barely employed people, old people and, of course, children. National parks are also closed (have mercy!) Mission Accomplished (so far). On to Act Two, the next ticking time bomb. It has taken about one news cycle for the shutdown hysteria to morph into the debt ceiling drop deadline. The debt ceiling, of course, is another legislative mechanism (dating from 1917!) that has been recently phonied up into a political and financial WMD (remember the dreaded "Fiscal Cliff" and the "Sequestration" of just 8 months ago?). Unlike the government shutdown, failing to raise the debt ceiling (currently topping out at $16.699 trillion) is really serious. So they say. The sky will really fall! It is really the end of the world as we know it. Really! No kidding! OMG! Proof of the dead seriousness of the debt ceiling drop deadline is the sudden chorus of yelping, caterwauling and doom-crying by the world's biggest get-out-jail-free unindicted criminal conspirators, the banksters. Every GotBucks CEO from Deutsche Bank to BNP Parisbas to Chase to the IMF has declared the Eve of Destruction is nigh if the ceiling isn't raised. Of course, they would say that. The operative word in debt ceiling is debt. These are the immoral and unscrupulous villains who have buried the whole world in debt over the last 3 decades. Worse than the worst street corner loan sharks, if these thugs don't get paid back by the biggest debtor on the planet, the USA of IOU, they will kneecap the entire world. Again. What is to be done? Who will save us from this fate worse than debt? Why, it's Captain Catastrophe, waiting in the West Wing to leap onto center stage and save the day for the banksters and politicians with his signature magic trick. The Grand Bargain. Again. Whodda thunk it? Deceptively named to suggest some majestically purposed endeavor, The Grand Bargain should more aptly be called The Grand Guignol. A graphic amoral horror entertainment. It is designed to begin the sell-out of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The Shock Doctrine's Final Solution for America. Wall Street's 80-year-long wet dream come true. And perhaps the real reason a certain obscure, inexperienced, but silver-tongued Illinois State Senator was recruited for the White House by these Masters of the Universe and malefactors of great wealth. This smart, cocky and ambitious (not to mention bi-racial) political novice, they figured, could perform "the trick wot nobody cannot do." Step on and defuse the 3rd rail of American politics. The sock puppet George W. tried to do it but even his goofy constituency of true believers wouldn't go along. The GOP's own Saint, the popular and amiable ham actor Ronald Reagan, wouldn't even dream of doing it. "Are you crazy?" he allegedly replied to his handlers, "these are the people who vote for us!" A Democrat would not dare to do it. It is the cardinal sin of the Democratic Party. Yet Obama seems almost too eager to commit it. He has been blithely dancing with this devil since the days when he auditioned for the part of Prez before the big bankrollers in the corporate inner sanctums of New York and Chicago. He slyly revealed his heretical intentions during the 2008 campaign but nobody much noticed in the bright blinding (false?) glow of his Hope & Change candidacy. During the 2011 double whammy showdown he eagerly offered up this human sacrifice of Social Security and Medicare to the loopy GOP in exchange for virtually nothing of value. But the GOP turned out to be so howling-at-the-moon nuts, they actually rejected the gift. He has been angling to give the kiss of life to his Grand Betrayal...er..um...Bargain at every opportunity since then. Always referring to it in the crazy party's false lingo as "entitlement reform". The current Perils of Pauline end-of-the-world-as we-know-it spellbinder provides the best chance so far to commit this unforgivable political sin disguised as a brilliant negotiating gesture. Just a teeeeny tiiiiny cost of living "adjustment" (lower forever) to your Social Security check and the chump change (multi-billion$) redirection of some Medicare moolah. In exchange for a pack of empty promises from the GOP outlaws. No big deal for such a BIG deal. Stop the clock! Stop the presses! Peace is at hand! It is, of course, a dangerous and unsettled game all these bad actors are playing. The crazy chorus with its combustible mix of treason, sedition, rampant racism and pig ignorance may actually be pushing the farther shores of political insanity even more than they already appear to be and refuse, again, to take Yes! for an answer. On the other hand, the corrupted but perhaps not yet morally corroded Democrats may suddenly relocate their historic FDR, JFK, LBJ and Give 'em hell Harry guts and stand up for the rest of us instead of wussying at the last moment yet again. Or President Obamacare may miraculously in the nick of time drop his treacherous gambit, realizing that pursuing his Grand Bargain heresy will not establish his legacy as the new Lincoln but instead destroy the Democratic Party along with his presidency and his name will be Mudd. Don't bank on it. That really would be the end of the world, as we know it! OMG!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   This Sunday, October 13, 2013, after 4 p.m., Café Athens, blocks from Astoria's 30th Avenue subway station, will host its first Brazilian Night, which will include Brazil’s national dish, Feijoada, Samba music and Brazilian Soccer. Café Athens located at 3207 30th Avenue, uniquely situated on its own triangular block in the heart of Astoria, serves as a gateway into the dynamic neighborhood. During warm weather it’s the sidewalk café scene is what makes Café Astoria one of the most desirable spot in Astoria. Rows of tiny tables fill the triangular block with chattering, smoking, scene-stealing Astorians, along with their dogs, children, and babies in strollers, occupy every corner while local groups congregate to drink wine and exchange stories, greeting neighbors or simply sipping an espresso while watching the people walk by. This Sunday begins a new Café Athens tradition, Brazilian Night with the help of a Brazilian chef preparing the most famous Brazilian dish, feijoada, a recipe of bean stew with rice and pork meat garnished with “farofa” (mandioca, a root from the rainforest, mixed with maize flour and oil. And of course, no feijoada meal is complete without a Leblon’s Perfect caipirinha to drink. The Caipirinha is the national cocktail from Brazil prepared from fresh lime, natural sugar, and mixed with Cachaça and ice, Savor the Feijoada while Turma do Samba, an authentic Brazilian samba group plays. Samba is one of the most popular music styles in Brazil. Since it’s beginning, samba has spread through out the world with its unique and contagious rhythm that expresses so well the very nature of Brazilian culture. Along with large Screen TV’s showing live Brazilian Soccer games, this Sunday’s event at Astoria Café is one not to be missed. Join us.   Feijoada dinner is $15 a plate and the Leblon Perfect caipirinha is $8 a serving. There is NO cover charge. For more information call Café Athens at 718-626-2164 www.athenscafeny.com This event is sponsored by vejatv.com and Attorney Moses Apsan                       

Oct 1, 2013: After the acclaimed show Bibi in Concert at Lincoln Center earlier this year, the Brazilian performing legend Bibi Ferreira returns to New York on November 13 to perform one of the greatest accomplishments of her career BIBI SINGS PIAF at The Town Hall, accompanied by orchestra and chorus. This is the first U.S. performance of the show, which is now celebrating its 30th anniversary, and which has been seen by over 5 million people in Brazil, France and Portugal. For three decades Bibi has been singing Edith Piaf's repertoire and dramatizing the life of the legendary French singer. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Piaf's death, and with it, a renewed interest in Piaf's art and those who have kept her spirit alive. And no one has done that more dramatically than Bibi Ferreira. Bibi Ferreira entered the universe of Edith Piaf inadvertently when, after the astounding success of the groundbreaking Brazilian play Gota d'Água (Drop of Water) in the 1970s, she was researching scripts for a new theater project. A friend introduced her to the play Piaf by the English author Pam Gems. In May of 1983, Bibi Ferreira debuted Piaf - A Vida de uma Estrela da Canção (Piaf - The Life of a Star of  Song) at the Ginástico Português Theater (the current Sesc Ginatico Theater) in Rio de Janeiro. With seasons of absolute success in both Rio de Janeiro and in Sao Paulo, where there were more than 700,000 attendees, the show embarked on two large nationwide tours of the main state capitals of the country, remaining a box office record-holder in these theaters to this day. In 1985, as recognition for the production and for the great dissemination of French culture in Brazil, the French government honored Bibi with the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic. The award was given to Bibi by the then-First Lady Danielle Mitterand and the then-Minister of Culture Jack Lang, in a private ceremony held in Brazil. In 1988, the play went to Portugal with Bibi in the lead role and a Portuguese cast. It remained at the Cassino do Estoril Theater for six months. The play is still considered one of the biggest hits in Portugal. In 1992, Bibi was invited by the French Consulate and by the Rio de Janeiro City Hall to open Praça Paris (Paris Square) in downtown Rio de Janeiro. For the special occasion, the actress created a new format to showcase Edith Piaf's life and music in the concert Bibi Canta e Conta Piaf (Bibi Sings and Tells Piaf). The concert maintained the singing of the main repertoire of the French singer, tailored with short texts about her life. In May of 2000, the show debuted in Paris, France at the Dejazet Theater. There were many famous celebrities in the audience, among them Michel Rivegauche, the composer of Piaf's big hits, not the least of which were the first two songs of the show, La foule and La Ville Inconnue. Also attending was, Pierre Ribert, owner of Ediçôes Metropolitanas, editor of Piaf's albums, and the man who personally took care of selecting repertoire with Piaf herself, suggesting songs, arrangements, producers, and musicians. At the end of the show, Rivegauche hugged Bibi and said, “Bibi, you don't imitate Piaf, you are a great performer, just like Piaf was. Your portrayal of my songs will remain forever in my heart.” And, he added, “You don't only have a quartet accompanying you, you have a 'small orchestra'” (in Paris, the show was performed with only a quartet). The day after the show, Bibi and her manager and producer Nilson Raman received an email from Pierre Ribert asking for a meeting that would take place the following day. To begin, with a folder and tape in hand, he said, “Bibi, I have had this material with me for many years, in search of a high-level performer and two nights ago, I met you. Your portrayal is rare, few times in my life have a seen an artist with such scenic strength. Ma'am, in these folders and on this tape is the last repertoire selected by Piaf. This was to be her last album. Record these songs.” In May 2003, Bibi recorded the CD-DVD Bibi Canta Piaf (Bibi Sings Piaf) live at the Maison de France Theater in Rio de Janeiro with a choir and orchestra for the record label Biscoito Fino. Having already been distributed in many countries, it has been highlighted as a “must-have” by the French retailer FNAC, having been featured prominently in the window displays of the stores. Recently, the French photographer Hugues Vassal, friend of Piaf and the person who documented Piaf's final years, declared that Bibi Ferreira was the only performer capable of reliving the dramatic emotion of Piaf. On the occasion of the Year of France in Brazil in 2009, Bibi received France's highest artistic honors again, this time with the title of Commander, the highest commendation the French Government can bestow upon a person connected to French culture. In June of 2013, to celebrate 30 years of her Piaf programs, Bibi debuted a new nationwide tour in Brazil, accompanied by chorus and orchestra, which began with a two-month run at Frei Caneca Theater in Sao Paulo. Two weeks in advance, all of the tickets sold out. The show, which also opens in Rio,  is, once again, an absolute success, this time with a whole new generation of critics and concert-goers. At last, New York will be able to see Brazil's most beloved singer in her most celebrated show, one known to Piaf fans worldwide. “To Brazilians, the name Bibi Ferreira is to musical theatre what Antonio Carlos Jobim is to samba.” - FORBES BRAZIL “Bibi proved why she is the most famous singer in Brazil when she brought the house down at Alice Tully Hall” - NEW YORK POST BIBI SINGS PIAF  - U.S. debut Wednesday, November 13, 2013 8:00pm The Town Hall 123 West 43rd St New York, NY 10036 212-997-1003 www.the-townhall-nyc.org PRESS CONTACT: Cindy Byram Cindy Byram PR 201-400-4104 cindybyramPR@aol.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE You can follow this link:SolarCity San Mateo, Calif., and Stamford, Conn., Sept. 23, 2013—SolarCity (Nasdaq: SCTY), America’s No. 1 full-service solar power provider, and Viridian Energy, a pioneer of affordable clean energy among retail electricity providers, are teaming up to offer solar electricity directly to homeowners at a discount to their current electricity rates through Viridian’s 20,000-contractor network.   SolarCity provides customers with free solar panel installation, and makes it possible for them to pay less for the solar electricity than they currently pay for utility bills, with permitting, installation, insurance, monitoring, and repairs included. Through Viridian and SolarCity, customers are able to have access to clean power at any time of day while reducing their utility bills. They can generate their own clean energy with a solar power system from SolarCity during the day and continue to choose Viridian’s affordable green energy at night and other times when available solar power has been consumed.  “Viridian and SolarCity have made clean energy more accessible and affordable to a wide range of American homeowners,” said SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive. “This partnership will help far more homeowners realize that it’s possible for them to pay less for solar electricity than they pay for utility bills.” Viridian will offer SolarCity’s popular solar power services both to new and existing customers through its extensive network of independent contractors. Viridian will offer SolarCity products and services beginning in its New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland and Delaware markets with an expectation to further expand the reach of this partnership in 2014. Viridian currently has more than 230,000 customers in the U.S. “It is our belief that people want to live a greener lifestyle. Since inception, Viridian Energy has been dedicated to providing clean energy for homes andbusinesses that is also cost effective,” said Michael Fallquist, founder and CEO of Viridian Energy. “The addition of SolarCity products deepens ourofferings and allows customers another way to live a greener lifestyle. We are pleased to announce the addition of SolarCity products to our customers.” SolarCity’s solar power systems typically produce the most energy in the middle of the day, when the sun is brightest, and provide any unused energy back into the grid to be consumed at the nearest point of demand. SolarCity customers typically receive credit for putting excess green power into the grid, which can be used to offset their remaining utility bill. Viridian’s energy is used at night, or at any other time when more power is needed than is being generated with solar panels. In this way, SolarCity and Viridian can provide a clean power option far more affordably than is otherwise possible. Viridian will begin making SolarCity services available to its customers this week. More information is available at www.viridian.com   About Viridian Energy Viridian Energy is a socially responsible retail energy supplier that provides greener electricity and clean-burning natural gas at affordable prices. The company services commercial and residential electricity and natural gas customers in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey,New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and Virginia with electricity derived from renewable sources and natural gas. Viridian is a member of the Crius Energy family of best-in-class energy brands. Additional information is available at www.viridian.com. This release contains forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements regarding the number of homeowners that will be able to take advantage of the offer, potential expansion of the partnership, and the benefits to SolarCity and Viridian. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or results will be achieved, if at all. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward looking statements. You should read the section entitled “Risk Factors” in SolarCity’s registration statement on Form S-1, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and identifies certain of these and additional risks and uncertainties. SolarCity does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.    About SolarCity SolarCity® (NASDAQ: SCTY) provides clean energy. The company has disrupted the century-old energy industry by providing renewable electricity directly to homeowners, businesses and government organizations for less than they spend on utility bills. SolarCity gives customers control of their energy costs to protect them from rising rates. The company offers solar power, energy efficiency and electric vehicle services, and makes clean energy easyby taking care of everything from design and permitting to monitoring and maintenance. ((SolarCity currently serves 14 states and signs a new custom every five minutes)). Visit the company online at www.solarcity.com and follow the company on Facebook & Twitter. Media Contact: Jonathan Bass, SolarCity press@solarcity.com p: 650.963.5156