https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/12/10/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-reveals-jewish-ancestry-hanukkah-celebration/?utm_term=.46319e33f2c2

Hanukkah celebrates the miracle that oil thought to be enough for only one day burned instead for eight. So the Jewish festival of lights is also, in a way, a celebration of surprise.

A temple in Queens got a small dose of surprise on Sunday — the final night of Hanukkah — when Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democrat with a knack for dramatic flourish, told those gathered to light the menorah that her ancestors were Jewish.

“One of the things that we discovered about ourselves is that a very, very long time ago, generations and generations ago, my family consisted of Sephardic Jews,” Ocasio-Cortez said. These are Jews who settled in the Middle East, North Africa and southern Europe after the Jewish diaspora. They were expelled from Spain in 1492.

https://twitter.com/TalyKrupkin/status/1071937301209595904

The announcement drew delight at the Jackson Heights Jewish Center. Someone in the audience at the event, organized by Jews For Racial and Economic Justice, made a remark, which can’t be heard in a video of the congresswoman-elect’s brief speech, but which seemed to embrace her as a fellow Jew. She replied, “He’s like, ‘I told you! I knew it! I sensed it!’”

She laughed, using the occasion to connect with soon-to-be constituents, and drawing a broader lesson about freedoms of beliefs and shared values. Ocasio-Cortez, who has identified as Catholic, hardly claimed to be a practicing Jew. Her understanding of her ancestry came from “doing a lot of family trees in the last couple of years,” she said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/12/05/group-republicans-want-oust-muslim-doctor-his-gop-leadership-role-because-he-is-muslim/?utm_term=.6e69f8ee5e06



The first time Shahid Shafi ran for a seat on the city council in Southlake, Tex., in 2011, advisers assured him a Muslim in post-9/11 America who spoke with an accent and emigrated from Pakistan would never win an election in Texas.

It’s a story that Shafi, a Republican trauma surgeon, likes to tell because he didn’t believe them. He won the Southlake City Council seat on his second try, in 2014, has since served as a delegate to multiple Texas GOP conventions and, in July, was appointed vice chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, located in Fort Worth.

But that’s when his religion somehow became a problem again — in the eyes of some Republican colleagues.

Shafi hadn’t held the position in the North Texas county for more than a couple of days before a precinct chairwoman urged Darl Easton, chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, to “reconsider” appointing Shafi to a leadership role, a request that was soon echoed by several other precinct chairs.

“The only reason she had was because he was a Muslim,” Easton told The Washington Post. “That was the only reason she gave.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/whole-foods-robber-shot-cashier-in-face-when-he-failed-to-open-register-police-say/2018/12/03/6466ac4a-f725-11e8-863c-9e2f864d47e7_story.html?utm_term=.5b8d1df0adf6



He went to the customer service counter at the Whole Foods first, put a gun to the clerk’s side and demanded money. Police said she apparently took too long, and he went to Register 4.

“Give me the money or I will shoot you. Open the drawer,” the man told the cashier, according to police. They said the assailant was holding a handgun in his right hand, his finger on the trigger.

It was 10:45 a.m. Sunday at Sixth and H streets, a gentrifying strip of Northeast Washington near Union Station. The store was busy. Police said the cashier at Register 4 tried to open the drawer but failed, and the gunman shot him in the chest.

The two fought over the weapon and the cashier was shot again, police said, this time in the mouth. The cashier broke free and ran as police said the gunman fired three more times, sending frightened shoppers scattering for cover and police racing to the store.

The cashier, reached by phone at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, said he did not want to talk, one reason being his mouth was swollen. A hospital spokeswoman said that he was being released Monday and that he and his family have asked for privacy.

The harrowing account of what happened inside the Whole Foods comes from police documents describing the charge filed against Michael Victor Whatley Jr., who was arrested Sunday night in his Southeast Washington apartment, where authorities said he was found hiding in a closet next to a Russian-made ATI Saiga assault rifle made by Kalashnikov and loaded with 22 bullets.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/30/tech/dhs-h1b-merit-proposal/index.html

New York (CNN Business)The Trump administration wants to reform a popular American work visa program.

The Department of Homeland Security released a proposal Friday that would increase the number of H-1B visa recipients who have master's degrees or higher level degrees and would move the registration process online. The government has been working to crack down on the H-1B program — a result of President Donald Trump's direction that agencies implement a "Buy American, Hire American" strategy.

The H-1B visa is a work visa that's valid for three years and can be renewed for another three years. Many companies use H-1B visas to help fill their workforces. But tech is the sector most commonly associated with H-1Bs. Tech firms big and small say they need the H-1B program to hire trained talent that they can't find at home.

65,000 H-1B visas are granted annually, with another 20,000 reserved just for people who hold advanced degrees from US higher education institutions. Demand for the visa often exceeds the supply, triggering a lottery system. The proposed rule would change the selection process so that all registrations — including those from people who are eligible for the advanced degree exemption — are applied to the regular cap of 65,000 first. After that, US Citizenship and Immigration Services would select from the remaining to fill the degree cap.

The agency says this new process could increase the number of H-1B holders who have advanced degrees by up to 16% — ensuring that "more of the best and brightest workers from around the world come to America" under the program, USCIS spokesman Michael Bars in a statement to CNN Business.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/03/business/qatar-opec-withdrawal/index.html

Dubai (CNN Business)OPEC is losing one of its oldest members.

The small, gas-rich state of Qatar said Monday that it will leave the oil cartel on January 1 after nearly 60 years. The country's state oil company, Qatar Petroleum, made the announcement in a series of tweets.

"The withdrawal decision reflects Qatar's desire to focus its efforts on plans to develop and increase its natural gas production," Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the country's newly-appointed minister of state for energy affairs, was cited as saying in one of the tweets.
Qatar has been under a diplomatic and economic embargo by its Arab neighbors, including OPEC members Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, for the past 18 months. In response, Qatar has been increasing gas production, the mainstay of its economy.

OPEC has no role in the global market for natural gas. And Qatar made no reference to the dispute with other Gulf states in its announcement, emphasizing plans to cement its position as the world's leading supplier of gas. Its exports currently account for about 30% of global demand.

"Achieving our ambitious growth strategy will undoubtedly require focused efforts, commitment and dedication to maintain and strengthen Qatar's position as the leading natural gas producer," Al-Kaabi said.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/20/success/women-mentoring-men/index.html

We're used to seeing men as mentors. We're used to seeing them mentor other men, and we're also getting used to seeing them mentor junior women. As more women enter positions of leadership, we're also seeing a growing number of senior women mentoring other women.

But there's a mentor-mentee relationship we're not as familiar with: senior women mentoring junior men.
"To be honest, most of the research looks into men being mentors to women and whether this is effective," says Andromachi Athanasopoulou, associate professor in organizational behavior at Queen Mary University of London. "Far less research has looked at the opposite — a woman mentoring a man — because more men are in the leadership positions, so they are more likely to be mentors."
But there's something about these relationships that experts say is different, especially for the man being mentored.

When Lori Taylor, a vice president in the risk division at Goldman Sachs, returned to work after a six-year break to raise her children, she noticed both female and male employees approaching her for advice on balancing work and home responsibilities.
"I have some men who work for me who have long hours and commutes, and I get them to think about 'Do you want to work from home one day a week?'" she says. "We talk a lot about flexibility and the options you can create for yourself."

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/15/success/how-to-write-best-resume/index.html

You have seven seconds to make an impression with your résumé. So you better make every one count.

EXECUTIVE BRIEF
Your résumé should:
Be clear and concise on who you are and what you do
Detail accomplishments in digestible bits
Give personality at the end

"Those first seven seconds someone spends on your résumé are the deciding seconds on whether they like you or not," said salary and hiring coach Olivia Jaras. "They spend the rest of the time trying to corroborate that first impression."

Jaras is the founder of Salary Coaching for Women, which helps clients get hired and negotiate salaries.
Your résumé does more than just get you an interview, it also plays a role in determining your salary, she said.

That's why the format, word choice and tone are important to getting the reader on your side.
"It's playing mind games," Jaras said. "A good résumé doesn't sound too pushy, aggressive or assertive. It's a more subtle energy."'