Latest news with #Huerta
San Francisco Chronicle
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
New opera spotlights Dolores Huerta's farmworker legacy amid renewed immigration tensions
The nation is tense, and California's Central Valley farm fields have become an unlikely flash point. The workers — mostly immigrants — who harvest the fruits and vegetables that feed much of the country are scared and angry. They labor to the point of physical exhaustion for low pay. Protests against these conditions are organized and soon gain widespread support. This may sound like a dispatch from the front lines of 2025, a year that's been marked by the Trump administration's immigration raids and arrests across the state's agricultural industry. But it's also the historical backdrop for Dolores Huerta, who in the mid-1960s spearheaded a nationwide boycott of table grapes in solidarity with striking farmworkers. Alongside fellow labor leaders Cesar Chavez and Gilbert Padilla, she played an integral role in the era's civil rights movement. Huerta's story is a dramatic tale of friction and solidarity, of hope lost and restored — big themes practically made for the operatic stage. And that's exactly where they'll land on Aug. 2, when West Edge Opera presents the world premiere of 'Dolores.' The East Bay company will feature the new opera as one of three productions in repertory during its summer season at Oakland's Scottish Rite Center, along with Marc-Antoine Charpentier's 'David and Jonathan' and Alban Berg's 'Wozzeck' in performances through Aug. 17. In development for five years, 'Dolores' is not a direct reaction to today's tensions. But it's hard to imagine a better time to recount how a previous generation of immigrant workers stood up for their rights. 'It's funny how you can make plans to do something, and it suddenly, magically, seems very appropriate for the times,' West Edge General Director Mark Streshinsky mused from his office in Berkeley. Huerta's name was a familiar one for Streshinsky growing up. His father Ted Streshinsky — a prominent photojournalist whose work appeared in Time, Life, Look and other magazines — covered the early days of the grape boycott. Honoring that family legacy, the director is using some of his dad's images in the production. But composer Nicolás Lell Benavides has even stronger ties to this history. Huerta, who is still active today at age 95, is his third cousin. 'She has jokingly introduced me as her grandson,' said Benavides, a New Mexico native who spoke from his home in Long Beach. 'I knew her as a kid. She would frequently be at big family reunions we'd have in El Paso. She was present and attentive, particularly to children.' Benavides and librettist Marella Martin Koch pitched the idea for 'Dolores' in 2020 through West Edge's Aperture program, a pandemic-era initiative to incubate new operatic works. The pair's proposal stood out in a competitive field and was awarded a full commission the following year. Early in the writing process, Benavides and Koch decided to focus the opera's action on a pivotal few weeks in the summer of 1968, when the farmworkers' strike was buoyed by the support of U.S. senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy — and then dealt a huge blow when he was assassinated. Huerta was with Kennedy at Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel the night he was gunned down. 'I wanted to show what it felt like to deal with such high stakes, to go through such immense loss and to discover the light on the other side,' Benavides explained. 'A lot of ancient mythological stories are built that way — where heroes go through trials, emerge victorious and teach us something about resolve.' Huerta's story has an added advantage, the composer noted. 'I think it's easier to see ourselves reflected in real people and see that it's possible to do something heroic.' The opera is largely true to the historical record, taking only minor liberties with the timeline of events and, out of necessity, imagining the intense conversations between Huerta and Chavez as they debated the best way forward. 'Leadership isn't this unified, dreamy state where everyone knows what to do and how to do it,' Benavides said of the opera's realist approach. 'There's a lot of doubt, a lot of mulling over decisions, a lot of discussions of how best to use finite resources and manpower. To me, that's a really interesting aspect of the story. They were refining their skills as leaders.' Benavides has seen his own career take off in recent years, graduating with his doctorate from the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music in 2022 and receiving a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 2024. His score for 'Dolores' is 'exciting, driving and definitely connected to the culture of chant and protest,' Streshinsky said. It's also eclectic, drawing on genres that range from traditional Mexican ranchera and corrido to musical minimalism and even Gregorian chant. Saxophone and electric guitar augment the opera's otherwise standard classical chamber orchestra. Benavides likewise communicates a great deal in his writing for singers. 'I wanted the politicians to have high voices so they would kind of float above people,' he said, describing how he's cast the characters of both Kennedy and Richard Nixon as tenors. 'Even well-intentioned politicians can't always connect with working-class people. Dolores and Cesar are lower voices, more connected to the earth.' Capturing that earthiness has been a goal for mezzo-soprano Kelly Guerra, who's set to play the title role of Huerta. To fully reflect the real-life activist, whom the singer met at a public workshop production two years ago, 'I have to remember to be welcoming and joyful — not just righteous,' Guerra said, from her temporary residence in El Cerrito. 'It's an honor and a joy to help your community,' added the singer, who first heard of Benavides when they were both students at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Huerta, a lover of the arts, plans to attend opening night. Throughout the work's long development process, 'she has been very supportive but very hands-off,' Benavides reported. 'She said, 'I trust you to do a good job.'' That faith is being rewarded with growing interest well beyond the Bay Area. 'Friends at other companies started calling me, saying they were hearing about it and were interested in being co-producers,' Streshinsky said. As a result, the piece plans to hit the road following its East Bay premiere. 'Dolores' travels to Opera Southwest in Albuquerque in October and is slated to appear in future seasons at San Diego Opera and Santa Monica's BroadStage. By that point, the political conversation will undoubtedly have shifted. But the opera's creators believe their themes will continue to resonate. 'There are parallels today — and inevitably, there will be parallels 50 years from now,' Benavides said. 'I'm not foolish enough to think an opera can change the course of politics in the United States,' he added. 'But making art that speaks to our current condition is a magnificent way to process what we're all thinking about.'
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Yahoo
This 1 Hidden iPhone Feature Could Instantly Make Your Online Data Safer — And It's Easy To Activate
Our iPhones carry our most private photos and secret files and notes inside them –– and there's one step you could do right now to keep their iCloud backups safer from prying eyes. It's called Advanced Data Protection, and it's a software option that was rolled out for iOS 16.2 in 2022 for U.S. users that you may not know about, because it's not a default setting, so you have to turn it on yourself. But you should. This feature 'maximizes the amount of privacy you can have' on Apple devices, explained David Huerta, senior digital security trainer at Freedom of the Press Foundation. Advanced Data Protection is a strong privacy and security feature because it enables end-to-end encryption for your iCloud backups. When you save your files and photos to the cloud, platforms like Apple, by default, will do 'in transit encryption,' meaning transferred data is private but that Apple itself can still see what you are doing. End-to-end encryption goes one step further because it will scramble data so that it's inaccessible unless there is an encryption key that only you know. It 'makes it so that even the platform owners cannot see that activity, those contents being created,' explained David Huerta, senior digital security trainer at Freedom of the Press Foundation. This way, no one –– not even Apple or a U.S. government that has the power to seize devices at the border –– can gain access to your revealing photos and voice memos saved on your iCloud, because only you have the encryption key. 'End-to-end encryption does make it so that law enforcement would have a tough time accessing things from cloud providers who get court orders, subpoenas ... sent to them to get access to different types of information,' Huerta said. Even if you are not an activist, celebrity or a journalist with sensitive information on your phone, you might still want your private photos, like your nudes, or your vulnerable breakup notes you back up to iCloud, to be under this extra layer of privacy. 'If you don't want your content to be used for advertising ... one of the best ways to get that to happen is to use a service that is end-to-end encrypted,' said Sarah Scheffler, an assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon's CyLab Security and Privacy Institute. She noted that end-to-end encryption also helps protect against potential employee misuse of your data or data breaches. Apple already automatically does end-to-end encryption protection for your payment information, passwords and health data — but it does not, by default, do it for other revealing parts of your iPhone, such as your photo libraries or your Notes, Reminders, Safari Bookmarks, Siri Shortcuts and Voice Memos. Turning on Advanced Data Protection changes that. Here's how it works. How To Turn On Apple's Advanced Data Protection Feature First, you need to make sure you enable two-factor authentication and update your device to at least iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, macOS 13.1, tvOS 16.2 or watchOS 9.2. Then go to Settings, click your Apple name, so you go to your Apple Account. Then select iCloud and Advanced Data Protection. As part of Advanced Data Protection, you must either create a recovery key or a recovery contact in case you get locked out of your account. For the recovery key option: You need to create a 28-character key that will help you unlock your account. You must write this down and keep it somewhere you will remember, because Apple can't help you recover this key if you forget it. For the recovery contact option: You need to designate someone you trust who has an Apple device to be your recovery contact. They'll get a message with a code to help you regain access to your end-to-end encrypted data if you get locked out. What Advanced Data Protection Doesn't Do This feature is a great, simple way to add a much-needed layer of security and privacy to your iPhone and the outside world — but it does come with caveats. Notably, iCloud Mail, Contacts and Calendar events will not be end-to-end encrypted under this extra layer of security. And it still takes a bit of time to set up. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation acknowledges in its pitch for people to use this feature, the digital rights group states, 'It'd be even better if this became Apple's default, instead of an opt-in.' And it's not available for users in every country, either. This year, Apple said it is withdrawing this feature for U.K. users, reportedly as a way to avoid complying with a request from the U.K. government to create a technical 'back door' for accessing user data. Unfortunately, there is also no exact equivalent to this one-stop, additional end-to-end encryption feature for Android users. 'Your Android phone, if it's a modern Android phone, will have full disk encryption, which is good, so that the actual device itself and the files in it are protected,' explained Huerta. 'But then as soon as you put that or save that in Google Photos or Google Drive or whatever, then that's when you know Google now has a fully readable copy of your data.' Don't let your guard down, either. Even if you are an Apple user with Advanced Data Protection turned on, don't assume that this step means you are completely private and secure on your phone. You should always be doing basic security steps like enabling two-factor authentication and password managers on your phone apps. But overall, Advanced Data Protection should be a feature you have on if you are worried about having your most sensitive photo libraries and files exposed for an authority or a hacker to find. In this era of online surveillance by hackers and empowered border agents, it doesn't hurt to be more careful. Related... This 1 iPhone Setting Might Be Messing With Your Friendships Knowing The Difference Between These 3 Types Of Emergency Alerts Could Save Your Life This Hidden iPhone Feature May Just Save Your Life In An Emergency 1 Seemingly Innocent Thing On Your Phone Might Make Border Agents Deny You Entry
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Yahoo
This 1 Hidden iPhone Feature Could Instantly Make Your Online Data Safer — And It's Easy To Activate
Our iPhones carry our most private photos and secret files and notes inside them –– and there's one step you could do right now to keep their iCloud backups safer from prying eyes. It's called Advanced Data Protection, and it's a software option that was rolled out for iOS 16.2 in 2022 for U.S. users that you may not know about, because it's not a default setting, so you have to turn it on yourself. But you should. This feature 'maximizes the amount of privacy you can have' on Apple devices, explained David Huerta, senior digital security trainer at Freedom of the Press Foundation. Advanced Data Protection is a strong privacy and security feature because it enables end-to-end encryption for your iCloud backups. When you save your files and photos to the cloud, platforms like Apple, by default, will do 'in transit encryption,' meaning transferred data is private but that Apple itself can still see what you are doing. End-to-end encryption goes one step further because it will scramble data so that it's inaccessible unless there is an encryption key that only you know. It 'makes it so that even the platform owners cannot see that activity, those contents being created,' explained David Huerta, senior digital security trainer at Freedom of the Press Foundation. This way, no one –– not even Apple or a U.S. government that has the power to seize devices at the border –– can gain access to your revealing photos and voice memos saved on your iCloud, because only you have the encryption key. 'End-to-end encryption does make it so that law enforcement would have a tough time accessing things from cloud providers who get court orders, subpoenas ... sent to them to get access to different types of information,' Huerta said. Even if you are not an activist, celebrity or a journalist with sensitive information on your phone, you might still want your private photos, like your nudes, or your vulnerable breakup notes you back up to iCloud, to be under this extra layer of privacy. 'If you don't want your content to be used for advertising ... one of the best ways to get that to happen is to use a service that is end-to-end encrypted,' said Sarah Scheffler, an assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon's CyLab Security and Privacy Institute. She noted that end-to-end encryption also helps protect against potential employee misuse of your data or data breaches. Apple already automatically does end-to-end encryption protection for your payment information, passwords and health data — but it does not, by default, do it for other revealing parts of your iPhone, such as your photo libraries or your Notes, Reminders, Safari Bookmarks, Siri Shortcuts and Voice Memos. Turning on Advanced Data Protection changes that. Here's how it works. How To Turn On Apple's Advanced Data Protection Feature First, you need to make sure you enable two-factor authentication and update your device to at least iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, macOS 13.1, tvOS 16.2 or watchOS 9.2. Then go to Settings, click your Apple name, so you go to your Apple Account. Then select iCloud and Advanced Data Protection. As part of Advanced Data Protection, you must either create a recovery key or a recovery contact in case you get locked out of your account. For the recovery key option: You need to create a 28-character key that will help you unlock your account. You must write this down and keep it somewhere you will remember, because Apple can't help you recover this key if you forget it. For the recovery contact option: You need to designate someone you trust who has an Apple device to be your recovery contact. They'll get a message with a code to help you regain access to your end-to-end encrypted data if you get locked out. What Advanced Data Protection Doesn't Do This feature is a great, simple way to add a much-needed layer of security and privacy to your iPhone and the outside world — but it does come with caveats. Notably, iCloud Mail, Contacts and Calendar events will not be end-to-end encrypted under this extra layer of security. And it still takes a bit of time to set up. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation acknowledges in its pitch for people to use this feature, the digital rights group states, 'It'd be even better if this became Apple's default, instead of an opt-in.' And it's not available for users in every country, either. This year, Apple said it is withdrawing this feature for U.K. users, reportedly as a way to avoid complying with a request from the U.K. government to create a technical 'back door' for accessing user data. Unfortunately, there is also no exact equivalent to this one-stop, additional end-to-end encryption feature for Android users. 'Your Android phone, if it's a modern Android phone, will have full disk encryption, which is good, so that the actual device itself and the files in it are protected,' explained Huerta. 'But then as soon as you put that or save that in Google Photos or Google Drive or whatever, then that's when you know Google now has a fully readable copy of your data.' Don't let your guard down, either. Even if you are an Apple user with Advanced Data Protection turned on, don't assume that this step means you are completely private and secure on your phone. You should always be doing basic security steps like enabling two-factor authentication and password managers on your phone apps. But overall, Advanced Data Protection should be a feature you have on if you are worried about having your most sensitive photo libraries and files exposed for an authority or a hacker to find. In this era of online surveillance by hackers and empowered border agents, it doesn't hurt to be more careful. Related... This 1 iPhone Setting Might Be Messing With Your Friendships Knowing The Difference Between These 3 Types Of Emergency Alerts Could Save Your Life This Hidden iPhone Feature May Just Save Your Life In An Emergency 1 Seemingly Innocent Thing On Your Phone Might Make Border Agents Deny You Entry Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion - Don't overlook the Big Labor funding behind the LA protests
The left in general and labor leaders in particular continue to misread the will of the people. Case in point: Among the dozens of lessons both seem incapable of learning from last November's electoral drubbing is that Americans are solidly in favor of enforcing the nation's sovereign borders and expelling as many as possible of the millions of lawbreakers who breached them thanks to the calculated apathy of the previous administration. Apparently unfazed by facts, however, David Huerta, president of the California chapter of Service Employees International Union, last Friday, traded on the full faith and credit of his position to join those violently protesting a legal raid at a Los Angeles worksite by officials from the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was subsequently arrested for trying to physically block a vehicle trying to enter the property. Again, Huerta made no attempt to distance himself and his actions from his role as SEIU's California director. To the contrary, he first made sure to don his purple SEIU T-shirt in order to make clear to everyone that he considers obstructing law enforcement one of his legitimate job responsibilities. Even more brazenly, his own SEIU affiliates in California have used member dues to support at least one group spearheading the protests — the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights — and to finance the informal 'immigration rapid response' network that has been equally at the center, and in which SEIU itself also participates. And rather than disavow Huerta's irresponsible, illegal behavior, state and national leftists quickly circled the wagons around Huerta. After all, SEIU California is a major funder of liberal causes and candidates in California. Syndicated columnist Kurt Schlicter, shrewdly noted this week that the scenario 'provides (the Trump administration) an opportunity to defund the government support to (non-governmental organizations) that launder government money to fund this kind of violence.' They could start with Huerta's union. SEIU California and its affiliates siphon millions of dollars a year from Medicaid by confiscating dues from thousands of Californians participating in a federal program that pays a modest subsidy in exchange for providing in-home care for an elderly or low-income client. Because they work at home, usually looking after a loved one, the union representing the caregivers — many of whom don't even realize they are union members — has relatively little to do. But that doesn't stop Huerta's organization from seizing 3 percent of their annual wages — among the highest dues rates in the country. In a very real sense, Medicaid is therefore bankrolling the protests in Los Angeles. Here's a thought: Instead of arresting Huerta and the other lawbreaking protestors, why not just cut off their source of funding by prohibiting unions from plundering Medicaid? Hundreds of thousands of government employees all over the country have exercised their First Amendment right to opt out of union membership and dues since it was affirmed in 2018 by the U.S. Supreme Court. One of the primary factors behind this movement is widespread anger over unions that use confiscated dues money to promote a radical political agenda instead of representing the legitimate workplace concerns of their members. SEIU-affiliated care providers in the Golden State need to ask themselves how Huerta's embarrassing spectacle helps enhance their pay, benefits and working conditions. It doesn't. It simply reinforces what's been obvious for years: The welfare of their rank and file hasn't been a priority for public employee unions in decades, assuming it ever was. Modern government-employee unions like SEIU exist almost exclusively to fund the failed policies of the left with workers' hard-earned dues dollars; workers who are increasingly fed up with it. It isn't just worksites overrun by violent agitators that are burning while labor icons like Huerta fiddle. It is also their fading hopes of ever being taken seriously or being handed political power again. Aaron Withe is CEO of the Freedom Foundation, a national nonprofit government union watchdog organization. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
12-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Don't overlook the Big Labor funding behind the LA protests
The left in general and labor leaders in particular continue to misread the will of the people. Case in point: Among the dozens of lessons both seem incapable of learning from last November's electoral drubbing is that Americans are solidly in favor of enforcing the nation's sovereign borders and expelling as many as possible of the millions of lawbreakers who breached them thanks to the calculated apathy of the previous administration. Apparently unfazed by facts, however, David Huerta, president of the California chapter of Service Employees International Union, last Friday, traded on the full faith and credit of his position to join those violently protesting a legal raid at a Los Angeles worksite by officials from the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was subsequently arrested for trying to physically block a vehicle trying to enter the property. Again, Huerta made no attempt to distance himself and his actions from his role as SEIU's California director. To the contrary, he first made sure to don his purple SEIU T-shirt in order to make clear to everyone that he considers obstructing law enforcement one of his legitimate job responsibilities. Even more brazenly, his own SEIU affiliates in California have used member dues to support at least one group spearheading the protests — the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights — and to finance the informal 'immigration rapid response' network that has been equally at the center, and in which SEIU itself also participates. And rather than disavow Huerta's irresponsible, illegal behavior, state and national leftists quickly circled the wagons around Huerta. After all, SEIU California is a major funder of liberal causes and candidates in California. Syndicated columnist Kurt Schlicter, shrewdly noted this week that the scenario 'provides (the Trump administration) an opportunity to defund the government support to (non-governmental organizations) that launder government money to fund this kind of violence.' They could start with Huerta's union. SEIU California and its affiliates siphon millions of dollars a year from Medicaid by confiscating dues from thousands of Californians participating in a federal program that pays a modest subsidy in exchange for providing in-home care for an elderly or low-income client. Because they work at home, usually looking after a loved one, the union representing the caregivers — many of whom don't even realize they are union members — has relatively little to do. But that doesn't stop Huerta's organization from seizing 3 percent of their annual wages — among the highest dues rates in the country. In a very real sense, Medicaid is therefore bankrolling the protests in Los Angeles. Here's a thought: Instead of arresting Huerta and the other lawbreaking protestors, why not just cut off their source of funding by prohibiting unions from plundering Medicaid? Hundreds of thousands of government employees all over the country have exercised their First Amendment right to opt out of union membership and dues since it was affirmed in 2018 by the U.S. Supreme Court. One of the primary factors behind this movement is widespread anger over unions that use confiscated dues money to promote a radical political agenda instead of representing the legitimate workplace concerns of their members. SEIU-affiliated care providers in the Golden State need to ask themselves how Huerta's embarrassing spectacle helps enhance their pay, benefits and working conditions. It doesn't. It simply reinforces what's been obvious for years: The welfare of their rank and file hasn't been a priority for public employee unions in decades, assuming it ever was. Modern government-employee unions like SEIU exist almost exclusively to fund the failed policies of the left with workers' hard-earned dues dollars; workers who are increasingly fed up with it. It isn't just worksites overrun by violent agitators that are burning while labor icons like Huerta fiddle. It is also their fading hopes of ever being taken seriously or being handed political power again. Aaron Withe is CEO of the Freedom Foundation, a national nonprofit government union watchdog organization.
