The School Shooting, Another Angle

For John, BLUF:  A reporter for The LA Times was "shocked" that the shooter in Uvalde, Texas, was an American of Hispanic heritage.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Los Angeles Times Columnist Can’t Believe Texas Shooter Was Latino

Here is the sub-headline:

Gustavo Arellano blames American values for shooter's bloody rampage

From The Washington Free Beacon, by Washington Free Beacon Staff, 27 May 2022, 1:20 pm.

Here is the lede plus three:

A Los Angeles Times columnist expected the Texas elementary school shooter to be a "white supremacist" and was disappointed to learn he was a Latino.

"When I heard that a gunman had killed multiple schoolchildren in a predominantly Latino town in Texas, I immediately thought: white supremacist," Gustavo Arellano wrote in a Wednesday column. "How could I not?"

Arellano said his "stomach dropped" when he learned the mass shooting was in fact carried out by an 18-year-old Latino named Salvador Rolando Ramos. In an attempt to explain why a "Latino-on-Latino mass school shooting" would take place, Arellano blamed the tragedy on Ramos's assimilation into American culture.

"What Ramos did—stemming from a pathology found almost nowhere else on Earth—is as American as apple pie."

The LA Times Reporter has a good point.  The shooter had adapted to US Culture.

On the other hnd, Reporter Gustavo Arellano seems ignorant of a nation 144 mile south of the LA Civic Center, the United Mexican States.  A nation where drug cartels run big patches of territory and peole disappear.  For example, on 26 September 2014, students from a teacher training school in rural southern Mexico commandeered some buses, with an ultimate destination of Mexico City, for a demonstration.  Two buses disappeared enroute and 43 of the students went missing, to be tortured and killed.

Not every Latin American culture is like that, but to think the United States stands along in the Whestern Hemisphere in terms of violence and the use of guns is to reveal ignornce.

However, Reporter Arellano is spot on to identify culture as a part of the equation.  Our culture has shifted in the last 60 years and not for the better.  We thought we were making things better, but we were not.  I went to High school in LA County and for two of those years was on the High School Rifle Team.  I took my 22 Caliber Rifle to school on dzys we went to the range.  No big deal.  What changed?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Who Are the Police?

For John, BLUF:  For over a year now we have had groups carving out their own little territories, like CHAZ in Seattle.  This is not a good will to build a peaceful, happy, community.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Portland BLM/Antifa Draw Guns on Drivers to Enforce No-Go Zone in Broad Daylight

From J Media, by Reporter Victoria Taft, 7 May 2021, 9:36 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus one:

Portland’s revolutionaries from Black Lives Matter and antifa took over a busy street at noon on Wednesday and pulled guns on drivers who dared try to dart past the mob.  The groups were holding a rally for a gangland shooter who was killed by police in 2018.  That shooting was ruled justified (more below).

The chaotic scene included guns being drawn on white drivers by the multiracial BLM and antifa protesters and one driver drew his own weapon in reply.  Someone deployed pepper spray.

I don't think this is a good trend.  For a long time we have depended on the Police to police our streets.  Now, in some parts of the country, we are leaving it to private armies.  Are we turning into Mexico?

Some people think they are building a better America, but they are, in fact, destroying the fabric of our society and creating an alternative culture, and not a good one.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Wall From the Other Side

For John, BLUF:  After all the whinging about the wall separating us from Mexico, now we have Mexico wanting to keep those Gringos out.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Mexico is considering closing its border to stop Americans bringing coronavirus into its country as US case count passes 2,000

From The Daily Mail, by Reporter Jennifer Smith, 13 March 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

For once, the conversation over closing the US-Mexico border is being driven by Mexican health officials who say they are considering shutting out Americans to keep coronavirus out of their country.

There are currently more than 2,000 cases of the virus in the US and it is spreading rapidly. Forty-three people have died from it.

By contrast in Mexico, there have only been 16 confirmed cases and no deaths.

At a press conference on Friday, health minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said: 'Mexico wouldn't bring the virus to the United States, rather the United States would bring it here.

It is good to see that in this first diverse world that some nations see the value of borers.  Poet Robert Frost, in his book North of Boston (Derry, New Hampshire, actually) tells us "Good fences make good neighbors," twice ("Mending Walls").

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Misunderstanding the British Election

For John, BLUF:  I know there are people who think we would be better off with a government more like Venezuela, but frankly those folks have a solution for making all equal (except for the leaders) by making everyone poor.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Misreading the British Elections

Here is the sub-headline:

Corbyn is no Sanders, Johnson is no Trump

From Commonweal Magazine, by Associate Editor Matthew Sitman, 24 December 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

In the weeks leading up to the Conservative Party’s triumph in the British elections earlier this month, there were just enough glimmers of hope to let Labour partisans nurture what, deep down, they probably knew were unrealistic dreams of an upset—anecdotes about surging voter registration, talk of armies of canvassers, a bit of movement in the polls.  In the end, that only made the final results more stunning.  Boris Johnson will lead a commanding majority in Parliament with a mandate, as his campaign slogan went, to “get Brexit done.”

The vote tallies had barely been announced when pundits began churning out dire warnings about what this meant for Democrats in the United States: See what happens when you move too far left?  In the Atlantic, Yascha Mounk gravely suggested that if Democrats “position themselves outside of America’s cultural mainstream, they may suffer the same dismal fate as Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party.”  In New York magazine, Andrew Sullivan admonished them to “ignore the woke.”  The New York Times rushed out an article about the “ominous signs” centrist politicians like Joe Biden and Rahm Emanual saw in Labour’s defeat.  Roger Cohen, also in the New York Times, published a column titled “Boris Johnson and the Coming Trump Victory in 2020.”  His colleague Bret Stephens seemed to agree, concluding that to oppose Trump with “progressive primal screams is to ensure his re-election.”

Not much of this was serious analysis. It’s true that Donald Trump could win again in November, especially in the absence of an economic downturn.  But the direct comparisons between U.S. politics and what happened in Great Britain strain credulity.  Most of all, Jeremy Corbyn was a deeply unpopular candidate, quite apart from his politics.  His approval rating going into the election was forty points underwater.  While some of this surely was due to an onslaught of negative press, including charges of anti-Semitism, it’s also true that Corbyn could seem evasive in his answers about Brexit, allowing his position to be tagged as “dither and delay”—during his final debate with Johnson, he refused to say whether he would campaign for or against the deal he promised he would negotiate with Brussels and put to a second referendum.  Bernie Sanders, often compared to Corbyn, is viewed quite differently.  As Eric Levitz pointed out, he’s “more than 15 times as popular as his British comrade.”

There’s little evidence that Labour’s leftwing agenda should be blamed for their loss. One exit poll found that only 12 percent of respondents cited the party’s economic policies as the reason they didn’t vote for Labour, while 43 percent said it was because of the party’s leadership.  Polling on the Labour platform was summarized this way by the Independent:  “The public are absolutely not scared of government intervention and quite like Labour's socialist platform.  These policies individually range from quite popular to ridiculously popular.”  Proposals to raise taxes on the rich and nationalize railways and water companies, for example, garnered broad support. Whatever else this means, it certainly doesn’t prove that Democrats should tack to the center instead of embracing a wealth tax, Medicare for All, or the Green New Deal.

When Trump runs for re-election, he’ll no longer be a blank screen onto which voters can project their hopes, but a candidate who has to defend a record of astonishing cruelty, incompetence, and pathetic obedience to the demands of corporations and plutocrats.

There is at least one lesson Democrats should take away from the British elections, however: rightwing populism remains a potent political force.

Why is populism "Right Wing"?.nbsp; Using left and right to describe parties is not very accurate.  For example, the Nazis, socialists of a different rank as described as "right wing".  Are they?  If murder is the criteria, they are more like Communists.

It is like using "red" and "Blue" to describe US political parties.  In the course of my life Red has almost always been the part of Revolution.  Are the Republicans, the GOP, the revolutionaries?

But most of all, the working class in the United States is rapidly becoming more diverse—in a decade or two, half of it will be people of color.  Much of the commentary on the British elections has simply erased this fact, treating the aging white population of a small island as representative of our own electorate.  Lacking a controversy as galvanizing as Brexit, and faced with the prospect of the United States becoming a majority-minority country within many of our lifetimes, the GOP increasingly relies on undemocratic institutions such as the Electoral College, the Senate, and the courts, as well as assaults on voting rights and foreign interference in elections, to cling to power.  If Trump wins again, it will not look like the wave that delivered Johnson his impressive majority.  It’s more likely that he’ll win while receiving millions fewer votes than his Democratic opponent—an prospect that reveals a different task for those who want to see him defeated.

I was wondering if Mr Sitman was a racist, since he seems to be viewing politics through the lens of race and ethnicity.  Then I cheated and looked up the word.  The word suggests that one views one's own race as inherently superior to other races.  That doesn't seem to be Mr Sitman.  He seems to view politics in terms of the balance of races, rather than through the lens of The Declaration of Independence.  Where Mr Sitman and I differ is that he seems to think that all left wing views and political systems are equal and I believe we have a very good system and we should be looking for immigrants who wish to benefit from it and sustain it.  To be blunt, I want some semblance of an Anglo-Saxon form of Government, something that caters to what we call The Rights of Englishmen.

The other way Mr Sitman goes wrong is in understanding today's political situation.  As Reporter Silena Zito keeps pointing out, it wasn't that Mr Treump (or Mr Boris Johnson) created a political moment.  Rather, they stumbled upon it and exploited the moment.  Here is a column that talks to the, "The Town That Wouldn't Be Passed By".  We are still a fairly high trust society.  I don't wish to see the US become more like Latin American societies, especially Mexico, with not only a drug cartel society, but an avocado cartel society.♠

As for the sub headline, I think Mr Jeremy Corbyn is a disaster and an anti-semite.  As for Senator Sanders, some of his associates are anti-semites and his proposals are a disaster for the American economy and the American People.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  A couple of weeks ago an avocado cartel shot up some town in Mexico, asserting their authority.  What can you do?  Boycott guacamole and vote Republican in November 2020.

Cartel Government in Mexico

For John, BLUF:  I don't think President Trump is wrong to be worried about Mexico and I am very happy every time he moves to help Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrado (AMLO), who I think is trying to do the right thing for Mexico, which includes getting control of the internal crime problems.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Mexican Cartel Rules City After Gunbattle

Here is the sub-headline:

Operation to free Ovidio Guzmán was unprecedented in scope and sophistication

From The Wall Street Journal, by Reporters David Luhnow, José de Cordoba and Santiago Pérez, 18 October 2019.

Here is the lede plus three:

A son of the infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán is captured. Cartel gunmen respond with a vicious attack on soldiers and civilians across a major Mexican city, killing at least eight people. The government gives in and releases the son, a top figure in the cartel.

One of the most violent and harrowing days in Mexico's long fight against drug cartels unfolded late Thursday as members of the Sinaloa cartel wreaked havoc across Culiacán, a modern, middle-class city of around 800,000 residents, in response to what appeared to be a botched attempt to arrest Ovidio Guzmán.

Heavily-armed gunmen riding in convoys engaged in more than 70 separate firefights with Mexican security forces, set fires to vehicles, shot at government offices and engineered a jailbreak that freed 55 prisoners, with six recaptured, officials said. By nightfall, it was clear that the cartel was in charge of the city.

The article notes that this was the third major gunbattle of the week.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrado (AMLO) has his hands full.  And there are implications for these United States.  At some point the Cartels will look north for additional profits and power.  We need to be reading more by Researchers like Dr Robert J Bunker.  People may be worried about threats to the US Homeland originating from Syria, but we should also be looking closer to home.

Regards  —  Cliff

Coming To America

For John, BLUF:  Blacks are being trafficked from Africa to this Continent.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Trans-Atlantic Illegal Alien Trade

Here is the sub-headline:

One wonders if the trade is triangular

From Da Tech Guy, by baldilocks (Juliette Akinyi Ochieng), 31 August 2019.

Here is the lede plus two:

The Organized Left seems to have a limited set of tactics.  But, I’m fascinated by the logistics of the following, not to mention the audacity.

The Assembly of African Migrants — a confederation of about 3,000 people from various African countries currently in Tapachula, Mexico — launched in the past week, according to La Jornada, citing assembly leaders.  The group issued its first press release Thursday, describing its origins, how members have suffered since entering Mexico, and their demands.

“We, the people of African origin, forced to remain in Tapachula, suffer an unbearable humanitarian situation related to nurture, housing, health and hygiene; as well as systematic discrimination by immigration authorities,” the press release began.  “Since we left our countries, for us life has been a permanent escape.  We feel despair, hopelessness, fear, demoralization, loneliness and abandonment.”

One wonder if the authors of the statement realize how anti-Mexican, how anti-Latino it sounds?

The Blogger ends her post thusly:

Another question:  has anyone warned these poor Africans about the horrible white supremacism and toxic masculinity rampant north of the USA-Mexico border?

I’m guessing not.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Trafficking People

For John, BLUF:  Is anyone surprised that there is criminal activity on our Southern Border.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Pueblos Sin Fronteras:  Irineo Mújica Detained for Human Trafficking

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: AFN TJ (TIJUANA News), 10 June 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) confirmed the arrest of Irineo Mújica, activist and leader of the organization "Pueblos Sin Fronteras", as well as Cristóbal Sánchez, in compliance with an arrest warrant for related crimes in immigration matters.

The federal agency reported that in April and May, Honduran nationals filed several complaints against the now detained, accused of asking for money in exchange for illegally intern them in Mexico and take them to the Federal Public Ministry at the northern border of the country, in order to cross them, also illegally, to the United States.

The Office of the Prosecutor stated that Irineo Mújica, detained in Sonora, would be involved in the commission of the crime of transporting migrants, with the aggravating circumstance that such conduct was carried out with minors, while Cristóbal Sánchez, apprehended at his home in Mexico City , would have illegally introduced people of Central American origin to the national territory.

I wonder if District Attorney Rachel Rollins would indict?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Tarrifs Work

For John, BLUF:  I realize that President Trump makes both Democrat and Republican leaders nervous, but he seems to be getting things done..  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Something Big Just Happened On Mexico’s Southern Border

From Hot Air, by Jazz Shaw, 6 June 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

While the President is overseas honoring D-Day, the cable news talking heads back home have been busy critiquing his recently announced plan to impose an increasing series of tariffs on Mexico unless that nation stops the flood of migrants passing through their country toward the United States.  The plan has been described in the press with a variety of terms ranging from reckless to impossible.  After all, even if Mexico was willing to consider such a deal, how could they possibly stop the human tide from flowing across their own southern border?

Well, the tariffs must have gotten their attention.  I don’t know if they can shut down their border entirely, but as of this morning, they seem to be giving it the good old college try. (Reuters)

We have cooperation with Mexico.  That is good news.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Redress

For John, BLUF:  Not The Cisco Kid, but Robin Hood.  Robin Hood represents an oppressed group of Anglo-Saxons being lorded over by Conquering Romance Language speaking invaders.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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'Robin Hood' Mexican president says to return stolen wealth to the people

From Reuters, by Reporters Daina Beth Solomon and Sharay Angulo, 15 April 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday he will create a “Robin Hood” institute to return to the people the ill-gotten wealth seized from corrupt politicians and gangsters.

His administration is drawing up a bill to create an independent “Robin Hood” institute “against the corrupt” that would put confiscated goods such as real estate, jewelry and cars into the public’s hands, the president told reporters.

I have my doubts about the execution, but it sets the right tone.  Good on AMLO.

My main question, however, is with regard to if this is "cultural appropriation".

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

Caravan Concerns

For John, BLUF:  Illegal immigrants, streaming north, are not just a problem for the US.  They are also a problem for Mexico.  And think of the problems in South America, being caused by the Venezuelan diaspora.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Mexico governor tells migrants to stay away from his border city:  ‘No more caravans!’

From Fox News, by Reporter Griff Jenkins, 6 February 2019.

Here is the lede plus three:

PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico -- The Governor of Coahuila, the Mexican state where this border city is located, has one thing to say after overseeing the arrival of a caravan of nearly 2,000 migrants:  “No Mas Caravanas,” or no more caravans.  That was the headline in the local newspaper.

“In the case of the state government, we will not allow more migrants to travel to Coahuila,” Gov. Miguel Riquelme told reporters.

The governor explained it wasn’t up to him to stop this caravan when it crossed Mexico’s southern border nearly three weeks ago because that’s the federal government’s job.  But this one is here now and he’s doing everything he can to deal with it in the most humanitarian way.

And that way involves the enormous security operation that has contained the migrants at the shelter.

I am glad to see that President Trump and I aren't the only persons with concerns about migrant caravans.

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

Meanwhile, South of the Border

For John, BLUF:  I think this might be good news.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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On Point: Mexico's New President Confronts Violence and Impunity

From The Strategy Page, by Austin Bay, 5 December 2018.

This is about the newly inaugurated Mexican President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), sworn in on 1 December.

His big challenge will be dealing with corruption.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Be Strong, and Show Humanity

For John, BLUF:  I hope both sides in DC can work together to create a deal on illegal immigration.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Could Israel’s ‘Good Neighbor’ Policy Work for the Migrant Caravans?

From PJ Media, by Mr Joshua Rabotnick, 23 November, 23 November 2018.

Here is the lede plus three:

Amid the controversy of President Trump ordering 5,200 active-duty soldiers to deploy to the United States’ southern border, tension has once again peaked politically. The Trump administration’s decision has come as a caravan of over 3,000 migrants from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala begins arriving at the Mexican-American border to claim asylum.  Democrats have been quick to highlight images of women and children among the caravan, and have echoed the claims that the caravan is composed of families fleeing violence and poverty that must be offered entry into the United States.  Meanwhile, Republicans have taken a hard stance against the thousands of unknown individuals, arguing that national security must be our nation’s primary consideration and that the caravan should be unreluctantly turned away.  Once again, this country is seemingly at yet another impasse.

Little attention has been paid though to a small country several thousand miles away that seems to face a similar dilemma:  and Israel.

A country of only 8.7 million people with an area just smaller than the size of New Hampshire, Israel is the only industrialized country adjacent to Syria amidst their civil war.  Having been involved in eight wars, two intifadas, and a series of armed conflicts in the country’s 70-year history, Israel is all too aware of the risks associated with bringing in unknown refugees.  As thousands of Syrians continue to flee to their northern Golan Heights border, Israel has to decide how it is going to respond.

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it perspicuously clear that Israel would not open its northern border, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began providing tents, food, clothing, medicine, and humanitarian aid to the refugees as they amassed at the border, a mission they termed “Good Neighbor.”  Further, as sick and injured Syrians approach the border for medical aid, after being screened by the IDF, the individuals are taken via Israeli ambulances to nearby hospitals for medical treatment and hospitalization before being returned to the border.  Lastly, following the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Israel and Syria signed the "Agreement on Disengagement,” which created a demilitarized zone between the two countries in which the refugees are now dwelling.  Israel has made it categorically clear that any attack on the demilitarized zone would be militantly reciprocated, and Israel has moved tanks, artillery cannons, and troops to their northern border accordingly.  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has yet to violate the decades-old agreement, and a degree of military protection is thus additionally offered to the refugees.

Sounds like the basis for a trade between the Political Parties, and between the US and Mexico.

In excluding the unfettered, we should keep in min these statistics from the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC):  that between 2011 and 2016, illegal immigrants accounted for 31.5% of drug convictions, 42.4% of kidnapping convictions, and 7.5% of firearm convictions, and from January to November of 2011, Mexicans living in the U.S. (many doing so legally) sent a record-breaking $21.6 billion to Mexico.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

San Ysidro Port Closed Temporarily

For John, BLUF:  There are some 47 million people in Central America.  How many of them can the US absorb in the next two years?  And how many jobs in San Diego and Tijuana will be lost due to the complications of illegal immigration?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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DHS SHUTS DOWN SAN YSIDRO PORT AFTER REPORTS OF ‘BORDER RUSH’ BY CARAVAN MIGRANTS

• DHS is Department of Homeland Security.
• The Wikipedia entry for San Isidro Port of Entry.

From The Daily Caller, by Reporter Will Racke, 19 November 2018.

Here is the lede plus two:

Homeland security officials shut down all northbound lanes at the San Ysidro port of entry early Monday morning, after receiving reports that caravan migrants were planning to rush the border and cross illegally, U.S. officials said.

Port operations were suspended for just over three hours while border authorities, supported by military personnel deployed to the area, carried out “hardening efforts” at the facility, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

“This AM, all of #SanYsidro Port of Entry’s northbound lanes were temporarily closed to initiate additional port hardening efforts after @CBP officials were notified that a large # of caravan migrants were planning to rush the border in an attempt to gain illegal access to the US,” Nielsen wrote on Twitter.

I will interpret this.  A large number of people, conducting perfectly legal activities (and some not) were prevented from conducting their business by the antics of illegal immigrants.  One of the busiest ports in the world shut down by people not willing to wait their turn in the queue.

The 'Caravan is viewed differently on the south side of the border.  And, the Mayor of Tijuana, Señor Juan Manuel Gastelum, has a red baseball cap that has, in white letters, "Make Tijuana Great Again."  I wonder where he got that idea?

Here is a quote from a different Daily Caller article, "ANGRY TIJUANA RESIDENTS PUSH BACK AGAINST MIGRANT CARAVAN: ‘THIS IS AN INVASION’"

“Tijuana is a city of immigrants, but we don’t want them in this way,” Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum said in an interview with Milenio Television on Thursday.  “It was different with the Haitians, they carried papers, they were in order.  It wasn’t a horde, pardon the expression.”

The mayor’s comments reflected anger among many Tijuana residents at the increasing number of caravan migrants camped in shelters and public spaces in the city.  At least 3,000 were there as of Sunday, and thousands more are expected to arrive over the coming weeks.

For those who think that the "Trump Mindset" is confined to the White House, or just amongst old white men, the situation in Tijuana might be an indicator that this is a larger phenomenon.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Happenings in Mexico

For John, BLUF:  PAN stands for National Action Party (Partido Acción Nacional) of Mexico.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A town in Mexico overthrew their local government. Things couldn’t be going better.

The big news is that Mexicans elected leftist Lopez Obrador as President in the largest landslide in the country's recent history.  Heck, it would have been News if he has just beaten the PRI Candidate.

But the local news is also important.

The original headline is from Vice, by Mr David Noriega, 28 June 2018.

Here is the lede plus one:

Seven years ago, the people of Cherán — a town of some 20,000 inhabitants in the highlands of Michoacán, one of the Mexican states worst-affected by the drug wars of the last decade — decided it was time to start over. And now, after they've kicked out all the criminals, cops, and politicians, things couldn't be going better.

The town had been terrorized for years by an organized crime syndicate devoted to illegally logging the surrounding forests. So after mobs drove out the criminals, they disarmed and drove out the corrupt cops who had protected them. Then they banned the politicians, along with the parties that put them in power.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Mexico Presidential Election Tomorrow

For John, BLUF:  They don'r seem much more unified than we are.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Indigenous Mexicans spurn presidential vote with blockades, bulldozers

From News Trust, by Reporter David Alire Garcia and Berengere Sim, 30 June 2018.

Here is the lede plus five:

Mexican voters will stream to the polls this Sunday in a pivotal presidential contest, but leaders representing tens of thousands of indigenous people have vowed to block voting in their communities to protest a system they say has failed them.

Polls say Mexico is on the verge of electing its first leftist anti-establishment president in modern history, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. But the prospect of change has failed to resonate with inhabitants of small towns nestled in the lush, wooded countryside of southwestern Michoacan state.

Residents here have destroyed campaign signs and set up blockades to prevent the government from delivering ballots. Election officials have declared 16 towns here "unviable," and will not likely risk confrontation to force polling stations to open.

Among the no-go zones is the impoverished hamlet of Nahuatzen, where Purepecha indigenous locals grow avocados and eke out a living on tiny plots. On Thursday, several dozen men, some in cowboy hats, stood vigil near the town's entrance. They had laid a tree trunk across the road to stop outsiders from entering.

"The politicians haven't done anything besides enrich themselves and they've left us behind," said Antonio Arriola, a member of a recently-created indigenous council that has petitioned the Mexican government for autonomy.

After word spread on Friday that local party bosses may try to deliver ballots in their personal cars, indigenous leaders said they would use bulldozers to dig a trench in the main road to strengthen their blockade, a tactic already employed in a nearby town.

If you live in the US snd haven't already voted, it may be too late.

On the other hand, I am against dual citizenship.

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

More on AMLO

For John, BLUF:  AMLO's election could be as disruptive as Mr Trump's.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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‘It’s A Human Right’ — Mexican Presidential Candidate Calls For Mass Exodus To America

Here is the the other side of Mexican Presidential Candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, mentioned in the previous post.

From The Daily Caller, by Mr Dominic Mancini, 22 June 2018.

Here is the lede plus two:

Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) called for mass immigration to the United States during a speech Tuesday declaring it a “human right” for all North Americans.

“And soon, very soon — after the victory of our movement — we will defend all the migrants in the American continent and all the migrants in the world,” Obrador said, adding that immigrants “must leave their towns and find a life in the United States.”

He then declared it as “a human right we will defend,” eluniversal.com reports.

On Maria Bartiromo's show, Sunday Morning Futures, this Sunday morning, Analyst Ed Rollins said that the US Mexican border does more traffic, legal and illegal, than any other in the world.  This will only make it a bigger challenge.

Is the plan to depopulate Central America?  To what end?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Elections South of the Border

For John, BLUF:  For the United States this is an important election.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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For Mexican presidential hopeful ‘AMLO,’ 3rd time a charm?

From AP News, by Reporter Mark Stevenson, 5 June 2018.

This Sunday (today) there is a Presidential Election in Turkey, but next Sunday, 1 July, it is in Mexico.  The linked analysis, from AP News, doesn't help much, but it does provide some color on one Candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO).

I liked AMLO's response to allegations of collusion with Russia.

After some suggested without proof that he may have benefited from Russian election tampering, Lopez Obrador filmed a video by the side of a harbor in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz joking that his name was actually Andres Manuelovich and saying he was waiting for a Russian submarine bringing him gold from Moscow.

As a lady from Lowell once said.  "Fasten your seat belts; it's going to be a bumpy night."

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Our Brother's Keeper

For John, BLUF:  The thing is, we need to prevent this from falling into 1984.  We do need to be prepared to judge some actions as unacceptable.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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‘Who are you to judge?’

From The Washington Times, an Analysis/Opinion Piece by Reporter Everett Piper, way back on 11 March 2018.

Here is the lede plus four:

“The Lottery” is a classic short story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948. It’s the tale of a rural, farming community in America of about three hundred residents. The town seems normal by all accounts as it prepares for a traditional, harvest-time event known as The Lottery.

Each year the name of every family is written on a piece of paper and securely stored in a locked box. On the morning of the annual gathering, the heads of each household draw from the box until a paper slip with a black spot is extracted.  One of these clans is that of the “Hutchensons.”

Upon “winning” this first phase of the lottery, each member of the Hutchinson family joins the father to select another slip of paper out of another box until one member of that family — the mother, named Tessie — draws a piece of paper with the final black spot on it.

In spite of her cries, the townspeople, including her own husband and children, pick up rocks and stone her to death to ensure a more prosperous harvest.

For some 70 years, “The Lottery” has rightly been included in many literary anthologies for its shocking portrayal of the power of groupthink and the human inclination to accept evil.

The point of this item is that Pasadena City College English Professor Kay Haugaard has noted that over thirty years of teaching the student reactions have gone from shock to "who am I to judge".  To which you may respond, "who are you to judge?"  The thing is, this is how a nation falls into accepting the murdering of millions.  Think the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Red China and Cambodia.

Back before Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue, back before Hernán Cortés defeated the Aztec Triple Alliance, there was human sacrifice.  Would those student in Pasadena find that acceptable?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Crime Cults in Mexico

For John, BLUF:  This will like spread, as has the Gang MS13, to our area.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Mexican Gangs Create ‘Narco Saints’ to Moralize Crime

This is from The Epoch Times, by Reporter Joshua Philipp, 17 August 2017.

Here is the lede plus three:

Drug cartels and street gangs in Mexico are creating their own religions and altering beliefs in existing Catholic saints, in a move to create a new “narcoculture” that tries to morally justify crime and violence.

Some of these new figures of worship are existing Catholic saints, most of which have had their meaning altered for the narcoculture. Some are pulled from Aztec gods worshipped through human sacrifice, while others are new creations altogether.

The two most popular figures of worship in Mexico are products of this new narcoculture. The most popular is St. Jude Thaddeus, also called “Saint Judas,” while the second most popular is a newly created folk saint called Santa Muerte, “Saint Death.”

What is taking place in Mexico is a form of “spiritual appropriation,” whereby the existing religion is being altered to justify a criminal insurgency, according to Robert J. Bunker, adjunct research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute at U.S. Army War College.

This interview is based on the 2016 book, Blood Sacrifices.

Regards  —  Cliff

Mexico's Migrant Problem

For John, BLUF:  What we lack is a consensus in the United States with regard to what we want from immigration.  What IS the American position?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A Flawed Asylum System in Mexico, Strained Further by U.S. Changes

This is from The International New York Times, by Reporter Kirk Temple, on 5 August 2017.

It seems that before President Trump started talking about building a Wall, Mexico was already getting tough on illegal immigrants and also refugees.  Some suggest this is from weaknesses in the Mexican immigration process and the organization executing the policy, "the National Migration Institute, Mexico’s immigration enforcement agency, and the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance, or Comar, the department that processes asylum petitions.? Here is an excerpt of two paragraphs:

These weaknesses are particularly glaring, advocates say, as some legislators in Washington push for a legal change that would require migrants to apply for asylum in Mexico if they reached the United States by traveling through it.  A bill pending in Congress “would allow the return of apprehended Central American refugees to Mexico, where they could apply for protection,” without the need for a bilateral agreement with Mexico, according to a summary from the House Judiciary Committee, which approved the bill last month.

Such changes “would undermine U.S. global leadership and violate American legal commitments, even if Mexico had a strong refugee protection system,” said a report published last month by Human Rights First.  “They are all the more dangerous because Mexico doesn’t.”

And here is Mexico's problem summed up:

Though the vast majority of northbound migrants from Central America still regard Mexico as a transit corridor to the United States, the country has increasingly become an attractive destination in its own right.

So, per The Old Gray Lady, it is all our fault here in the United States, because we are not accepting these economic refugees and also those fleeing violence and crime in their own nations.

I posted this article on another forum and did get this comment, off line, from a serving officer I know:

I'm reading your note on a wet afternoon aboard Soto Cano Airbase in Honduras.  I agree that we in the US aren't responsible for all of the crime and violence in Central America's Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador).  We are, however, responsible for some of it.  Our inability to limit the increase in demand for drugs (let alone stop or reduce it) in any meaningful way creates a massive economic incentive for criminal industry along our southern approaches.  In size, capital, and organization, the illegal drug industry dwarfs the capacity, capability, and desire of national and local governments to resist.

That is spot on.

This person then goes on:

Further, the street gang infestation that plagues these three countries (the so-called maras) was born in the US.  MS-13 and Barrio-18 were initially defensive organizations that Central American immigrants in Los Angeles' Rampart neighborhood created during the height of the 1980s gang warfare to resist the depredations of the Bloods, Crips, and Latin Kings.  We found, arrested, and deported these gang members to the Northern Triangle nations.  The effect was similar to exporting an aggressive, invasive species into an ecosystem in which it had no natural predators.

So, the immigration issue impacts the US, in many ways, big and small.  That said, taking the view that immigrants, legal and illegal, are all just universal believers in American values and should be given a driver's license, a SSAN and registered to vote seems to be both ignorant and short sighted.  While President Trump has disrupted the flow of illegal immigrants, even before the wall, more needs to be done to fix our immigration policies and laws.  And we need to work with Mexico and Canada on this.

Regards  —  Cliff