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Tuesday, October 31, 2017

The Trump-Russia Affair - UPDATE 11/01: Adding the September 2017 CCSP TIJ Crime Report For "Anonymous" - Paris in Hospital - Update 11/02: NewsFlash ! Picture of Paris !

From the Real News:

'James S. Henry is an investigative economist and lawyer, a Global Justice Fellow at Yale University, and a Senior Advisor at the Tax Justice Network. Previously, James served as Chief Economist at the international consultancy firm McKinsey & Co. As an investigative journalist his work has appeared in numerous publications like Forbes, The Nation and The New York Times.'
 

 "What I would say about the overall story here is that this is, as Churchill said, this is not the end or even the beginning of the end, but it is an indication that we are going to have to, all of us who are specialists in this investigation have to discount a little bit about our natural interest in all these details because I'm concerned at the end of the day, the American people have to get onboard and figure out that all of this stuff in these indictments constitutes something that they want the president removed for. An impeachable offense requires a new Congress, probably, and a whole lot more democratic senators, and that's not going to happen for a while. So, Mueller's strategy is just beginning and this is going to roll out over a long period of time, so it's kind of premature to characterize this as the fatal blow that will be struck against Trump, but I think it's a good start."

That was just part of the interview from yesterday on The Real News, which also featured Marcy Wheeler:

The Real News

After Indictments, Where Is Russiagate Headed ?

**********

Marcy Wheeler also writes for The Intercept:

George Papadopoulos's Plea Deal Is Very Very Bad News For Attorney General Jeff Sessions

And long time Washington investigator David Dayen of the Intercept writes:

Paul Manafort's Alleged Money-Laundering Scheme Was Exposed Months Ago 

********** 

The Guardian is even offering minute by minute  live updates:

The Guardian

**********

From Truthdig: 

Panic In Trumpland, But Clinton Camp Should Be Wary
by, Bill Blum

Reading through hundreds of comments from both the conventional corporate media to the most progressive of course there are the die hard Hillary fans, the maniac Trump fans both of whom sincerely believe the system still works and that we will be freed of Trump or that he will be vindicated.  In between the lines, you will see many more like this one (which most likely will not get coverage in the Mexican press):


"This is just a small example of what rich people do; despite making millions by wheeling and dealing (rather than honest productive work or performing a useful service); they still get YOUR politicians to write laws allowing them to avoid taxes. Trump actually said it live on TV when it was alluded that he paid no tax, he said and I quote..(that makes me smart)..NO, it makes you an amoral scumbag! Clinton is no different and Obama spends his time collecting big dollars for speeches while he waits for the millions to come from his and his wife’s books. These scum have been exploiting the long suffering working class for millennia and will continue as long as workers believe in the invisible man in the sky and other nonsense like their leaders are honorable people, they are scum."

**********
 
Which reminds me of this essay: 

The End of Empire
by, Chris Hedges 

**********

Update/edit 1:33pm:  More on Russiagate and everything else with new interview with Marcy Wheeler :

Democracy Now !

**********

Meanwhile, Paris goes in to San Diego to the VCA for her operation on Wednesday, so have been busy getting things ready around here. We'll pick her up on Thursday. The electricity was out here as usual the first day for over twelve hours, the next day for six hours which pissed my neighbors off.  It was a good thing this happened after the heat wave.   A strong, long lingering and putrid raw sewage smell coming from the barranca knocked us off our toes, just another reminder not to go in the ocean and who cares anymore if your view is blocked - who wants to look at a sewage dump ?  Nothing changes.

Zeta has reported over 160 executions in Tijuana this month of October, I'll be back with those stats and more on the Municipalities in the next couple of days.

 An anonymous person left a message here a few days back which I didn't publish, I deleted it because this person wanted my opinion on if I thought Tijuana is dangerous - plus it was not about the subject matter of that particular blog.  I'm sorry now I deleted the comment.  Yes, I think it is dangerous. And, there simply is no argument against that, it is dangerous end of story. The Guardian has a key question running - "What is it that you regret in life ?"  Our biggest regret is that we ever moved to Mexico. 

I need to add that there are seven other households which we know of aside from ours at SADM and this is a mix of Mexican Nationals, Mexican-Americans and Gringos (in the minority);  all of these people - most of them who have lived in SADM going back at least twenty years not only want to leave SADM, but they want to leave Baja California and Mexico due to the insecurity, environmental, political and social issues with insecurity and impunity taking first place. These are North end households, we don't know anyone at the south end.

It's a real heartbreaker. 

**********

Update/edit 11/01: 

 - First, Paris had her operation today,  (I'll explain everything later it was complicated) she is in the VCA Hospital in San Diego.  Ramps are up, bed off frame and we pick her up tomorrow afternoon. Her front legs are in splints; she goes back every week for the next eight weeks for bandage changes, x-rays and pin removal.  This was like going to the Mayo clinic.


 - Next, I wanted to add the CCSP Report for Tijuana for September 2017 for the "anonymous" poster who wanted to know if TIJ was dangerous.

I just copied & pasted this:

From Zeta:

Homicidios y Robos Incrementan en Septiembre:CCSP 
por, Hector Ortiz Ramirez - 10/22/17

"September was the most violent month of 2017, with 212 homicides counted in said period, reported the Citizen's Public Safety Council.
 
With these homicides, in the first three quarters of the year, there were a thousand 285 incidents, which represents an increase of 102 percent over the same period in 2016, when 635 were recorded.
Also, a kidnapping was filed in September, adding 7 in the year and 22 illegal deprivations of liberty.
 
In relation to patrimonial crimes, the theft of vehicles and the theft to commerce are the ones that present percentage increases with respect to the previous year, of 63 and 75 percent, respectively.
In September there were 899 thefts of vehicles and 314 robberies to commerce, adding so far in the year 8 thousand 805 and 2 thousand 913, respectively, against 5 thousand 413 and thousand 664 registered between January and September 2016.
 
Also the theft with violence presents an increase of 8 percent, presenting a thousand 417 incidents, of which 163 correspond to September of 2017.
 
Finally, the only item analyzed that shows a decrease in the comparison between January-September 2016 and 2017, is that of robbery at home, presenting 2 thousand 795 in 2016 against 2 thousand 007 of 2017 (-28 percent), 215 incidents."

end edit.

********** 

UPDATE/news flash! 11/02:

 - Dr. Jackson sent a picture of Paris with text message which said, 

" Your girl is doing well, resting comfortably.  We will update you in the am, you can call at any point.  Dr. Jackson "

BTW, check out Dr. Jackson's credentials on biographies at VCA. He's pretty amazing. Here's the pic:

Love that pup




 

The Trump-Russia Affair - UPDATE 11/01: Adding the September 2017 CCSP TIJ Crime Report For "Anonymous" - Paris in Hospital - Update 11/02: NewsFlash ! Picture of Paris !

From the Real News:

'James S. Henry is an investigative economist and lawyer, a Global Justice Fellow at Yale University, and a Senior Advisor at the Tax Justice Network. Previously, James served as Chief Economist at the international consultancy firm McKinsey & Co. As an investigative journalist his work has appeared in numerous publications like Forbes, The Nation and The New York Times.'
 

 "What I would say about the overall story here is that this is, as Churchill said, this is not the end or even the beginning of the end, but it is an indication that we are going to have to, all of us who are specialists in this investigation have to discount a little bit about our natural interest in all these details because I'm concerned at the end of the day, the American people have to get onboard and figure out that all of this stuff in these indictments constitutes something that they want the president removed for. An impeachable offense requires a new Congress, probably, and a whole lot more democratic senators, and that's not going to happen for a while. So, Mueller's strategy is just beginning and this is going to roll out over a long period of time, so it's kind of premature to characterize this as the fatal blow that will be struck against Trump, but I think it's a good start."

That was just part of the interview from yesterday on The Real News, which also featured Marcy Wheeler:

The Real News

After Indictments, Where Is Russiagate Headed ?

**********

Marcy Wheeler also writes for The Intercept:

George Papadopoulos's Plea Deal Is Very Very Bad News For Attorney General Jeff Sessions

And long time Washington investigator David Dayen of the Intercept writes:

Paul Manafort's Alleged Money-Laundering Scheme Was Exposed Months Ago 

********** 

The Guardian is even offering minute by minute  live updates:

The Guardian

**********

From Truthdig: 

Panic In Trumpland, But Clinton Camp Should Be Wary
by, Bill Blum

Reading through hundreds of comments from both the conventional corporate media to the most progressive of course there are the die hard Hillary fans, the maniac Trump fans both of whom sincerely believe the system still works and that we will be freed of Trump or that he will be vindicated.  In between the lines, you will see many more like this one (which most likely will not get coverage in the Mexican press):


"This is just a small example of what rich people do; despite making millions by wheeling and dealing (rather than honest productive work or performing a useful service); they still get YOUR politicians to write laws allowing them to avoid taxes. Trump actually said it live on TV when it was alluded that he paid no tax, he said and I quote..(that makes me smart)..NO, it makes you an amoral scumbag! Clinton is no different and Obama spends his time collecting big dollars for speeches while he waits for the millions to come from his and his wife’s books. These scum have been exploiting the long suffering working class for millennia and will continue as long as workers believe in the invisible man in the sky and other nonsense like their leaders are honorable people, they are scum."

**********
 
Which reminds me of this essay: 

The End of Empire
by, Chris Hedges 

**********

Update/edit 1:33pm:  More on Russiagate and everything else with new interview with Marcy Wheeler :

Democracy Now !

**********

Meanwhile, Paris goes in to San Diego to the VCA for her operation on Wednesday, so have been busy getting things ready around here. We'll pick her up on Thursday. The electricity was out here as usual the first day for over twelve hours, the next day for six hours which pissed my neighbors off.  It was a good thing this happened after the heat wave.   A strong, long lingering and putrid raw sewage smell coming from the barranca knocked us off our toes, just another reminder not to go in the ocean and who cares anymore if your view is blocked - who wants to look at a sewage dump ?  Nothing changes.

Zeta has reported over 160 executions in Tijuana this month of October, I'll be back with those stats and more on the Municipalities in the next couple of days.

 An anonymous person left a message here a few days back which I didn't publish, I deleted it because this person wanted my opinion on if I thought Tijuana is dangerous - plus it was not about the subject matter of that particular blog.  I'm sorry now I deleted the comment.  Yes, I think it is dangerous. And, there simply is no argument against that, it is dangerous end of story. The Guardian has a key question running - "What is it that you regret in life ?"  Our biggest regret is that we ever moved to Mexico. 

I need to add that there are seven other households which we know of aside from ours at SADM and this is a mix of Mexican Nationals, Mexican-Americans and Gringos (in the minority);  all of these people - most of them who have lived in SADM going back at least twenty years not only want to leave SADM, but they want to leave Baja California and Mexico due to the insecurity, environmental, political and social issues with insecurity and impunity taking first place. These are North end households, we don't know anyone at the south end.

It's a real heartbreaker. 

**********

Update/edit 11/01: 

 - First, Paris had her operation today,  (I'll explain everything later it was complicated) she is in the VCA Hospital in San Diego.  Ramps are up, bed off frame and we pick her up tomorrow afternoon. Her front legs are in splints; she goes back every week for the next eight weeks for bandage changes, x-rays and pin removal.  This was like going to the Mayo clinic.


 - Next, I wanted to add the CCSP Report for Tijuana for September 2017 for the "anonymous" poster who wanted to know if TIJ was dangerous.

I just copied & pasted this:

From Zeta:

Homicidios y Robos Incrementan en Septiembre:CCSP 
por, Hector Ortiz Ramirez - 10/22/17

"September was the most violent month of 2017, with 212 homicides counted in said period, reported the Citizen's Public Safety Council.
 
With these homicides, in the first three quarters of the year, there were a thousand 285 incidents, which represents an increase of 102 percent over the same period in 2016, when 635 were recorded.
Also, a kidnapping was filed in September, adding 7 in the year and 22 illegal deprivations of liberty.
 
In relation to patrimonial crimes, the theft of vehicles and the theft to commerce are the ones that present percentage increases with respect to the previous year, of 63 and 75 percent, respectively.
In September there were 899 thefts of vehicles and 314 robberies to commerce, adding so far in the year 8 thousand 805 and 2 thousand 913, respectively, against 5 thousand 413 and thousand 664 registered between January and September 2016.
 
Also the theft with violence presents an increase of 8 percent, presenting a thousand 417 incidents, of which 163 correspond to September of 2017.
 
Finally, the only item analyzed that shows a decrease in the comparison between January-September 2016 and 2017, is that of robbery at home, presenting 2 thousand 795 in 2016 against 2 thousand 007 of 2017 (-28 percent), 215 incidents."

end edit.

********** 

UPDATE/news flash! 11/02:

 - Dr. Jackson sent a picture of Paris with text message which said, 

" Your girl is doing well, resting comfortably.  We will update you in the am, you can call at any point.  Dr. Jackson "

BTW, check out Dr. Jackson's credentials on biographies at VCA. He's pretty amazing. Here's the pic:

Love that pup




 

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Grand Premiere of the Wall Prototypes Opens Today !!!

Listen, we all know that "The Wall" will not be funded, but here's a thought on how to put these prototypes to good use.....

It wouldn't necessarily have to be radical....like this:

Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In





**********


I was thinking maybe of something more like this:




Or something like this....




After all there are what, eight of them?




Eight venues, imagine !  Or, maybe combine say two for cinemascope...do they still have cinemascope ? It could be a bi-national project !

**********

Hope you are getting through the heat which has not stopped the executions here at all - I'll be back with those stats.

Courtesy Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In, although now that I think about it they probably have some good ideas.


**********

😎  ← I always wanted to use one of these.

Grand Premiere of the Wall Prototypes Opens Today !!!

Listen, we all know that "The Wall" will not be funded, but here's a thought on how to put these prototypes to good use.....

It wouldn't necessarily have to be radical....like this:

Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In





**********


I was thinking maybe of something more like this:




Or something like this....




After all there are what, eight of them?




Eight venues, imagine !  Or, maybe combine say two for cinemascope...do they still have cinemascope ? It could be a bi-national project !

**********

Hope you are getting through the heat which has not stopped the executions here at all - I'll be back with those stats.

Courtesy Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In, although now that I think about it they probably have some good ideas.


**********

😎  ← I always wanted to use one of these.

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Tracking Trump This Past Week From The Guardian - An Accurate Appraisal of John Kelly From the Intercept - Updates On Ensenada Massacre & New Totals For Homicidios Dolosos For TIJ

After seventy two hours, Paris is finally coming out of her extreme bad reaction to anesthesia from the Cat Scan so I have a little bit of extra time.  Bob the DACA cat sneaks into one her beds and I caught them napping together, it was incredibly cute so next time around I'll try to get a picture.

Obviously I've missed quite a few of Trump's outrageous blunders and lies this past week, but here they are in a nutshell:







The Guardian:  Tracking Trump -10/21/17

Tracking Trump: President Gives Himself Top Marks For Military Bereavement Calls



Here's another good one in case you missed it from The  Guardian:

" Former attorney general Eric Holder tweeted that it was time for Trump to “stop the damn lying”. Alyssa Mastromonaco, a deputy chief of staff in the Obama administration, went further, tweeting that Trump’s claim was “a fucking lie” and calling the president a “a deranged animal”."


Firefights & Blowback: Trump's Week of Military Misadventures 
by, David Smith


**********


From The Intercept:

It Didn’t Just Start Now: John Kelly Has Always Been a Hard-Right Bully (link in title)


"White House Chief of Staff John Kelly’s gruesome defense Thursday of President Donald Trump’s call to the widow of Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson was shocking.


But it should not have been a surprise. Any examination of Kelly’s past public remarks makes clear he is not a sober professional, calculating that he must degrade himself in public so he can remain in place to rein in Trump’s worst instincts behind the scenes. Rather, Kelly honestly shares those instincts: He’s proudly ignorant, he’s a liar, and he’s a shameless bully and demagogue.


The chief of staff in an administration headed by any halfway-normal human being would have said: “The president is deeply concerned by news reports that he miscommunicated his condolences when speaking with Sgt. Johnson’s wife Myeshia. He hopes to talk to her again as soon as she feels able, to apologize and make this right. And while he would have preferred that Rep. Frederica Wilson had not spoken publicly about what he intended to be a private call, he appreciates her personal connection to Sgt. Johnson and that she is mourning his loss as well.”


Instead, Kelly did not express any concern for the well-being of Johnson’s widow and family. He did not acknowledge any possibility that Trump had done something wrong, even inadvertently. He engaged in a Trumpian scorched-earth attack against Wilson, claiming to be appalled that she had “listened in” on the conversation — when obviously she could not have avoided hearing it while in a car in which it was on speakerphone — and making up a story about her statements at a public appearance in 2015. He metaphorically dug up every body in Arlington National Cemetery to use them as human shields for Trump. And he interspersed all this with rambling, Strangelovian remarks about how women, life, and religion used to be “sacred” in America but are no longer – and hence “there’s nothing in our country anymore” that indicates that it’s worthy of sacrifice.


Wilson immediately responded that Kelly “is willing to say anything” because he’s “trying to keep his job.” But in fact all the evidence suggests that she is wrong, and Kelly said what he did because he believes it.


This can be seen most clearly in a celebrated speech Kelly delivered on Veterans Day in 2010 while still a Marine Corps general. It demonstrates conclusively that, long before Kelly and Trump ever met, they were on the same page when it comes to hysteria and venom. (Kelly’s son Robert had been killed in action in Afghanistan just days before, but Kelly said identical things both before and long after his son’s death.)


So here’s Kelly’s worldview, as expressed in 2010:


1. No one outside of the military can legitimately question any of America’s wars.

“If anyone thinks you can somehow thank [members of the military] for their service,” Kelly proclaimed, “and not support the cause for which they fight — America’s survival — then they are lying to themselves and rationalizing away something in their lives, but, more importantly, they are slighting our warriors and mocking their commitment to the nation.”


Kelly’s words would be an excellent way to teach ninth graders what the phrase “begging the question” means. Critics of U.S. foreign policy of course do not accept Kelly’s axiom that the military is fighting for “America’s survival.” And indeed it appears Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson don’t either – they reportedly informed Trump that America’s military (and its intelligence and diplomatic apparatus) exist to support the expansion of U.S. corporations.


Furthermore, Trump himself famously questioned the Iraq war. Kelly has yet to speak on whether Trump, Mattis, and Tillerson are all slighting and mocking the military.
Most importantly, Kelly has all of this completely wrong. What’s most impressive and significant about the U.S. military is its 230-year unbroken commitment to civilian rule. That is, people who join the military accept that “the cause for which they fight” is not up to them. That’s truly admirable.


But Kelly would never say that, because it would make clear that criticism of U.S. wars isn’t about low-level military personnel but America’s political leadership. And he evidently does not believe current U.S. foreign policy would survive open, honest debate. So he uses the same banal, childish, crude intimidation technique beloved by right-wing militarists everywhere though history.


2. No one who is in the military ever questions any of America’s wars.

“America’s civilian and military protectors both here at home and overseas have for nearly nine years fought this enemy to a standstill and have never for a second wondered why,” Kelly said in 2010. “America’s warriors have never lost faith in their mission, or doubted the correctness of their cause.”


This is a preposterous lie. No one who’s ever been in the military, or knows more than three people who have, honestly believes this. Soldiers are thinking human beings, not mindless patrio-trons. Again, what’s most praiseworthy about members of the American military is that many do wonder why they’re doing what they’re doing, but understand that their orders ultimately come from elected civilians.


And obviously many of the most coruscating critics of America’s wars have come out of the military. Kelly should look up his fellow Marine Corps general Smedley Butler, author of “War Is a Racket.”


3. America and its wars are and have always been good.

According to Kelly’s speech, the United States has never gone to war “to build empires, or enslave peoples, but to free those held in the grip of tyrants. …  The only territory we as a people have ever asked for from any nation we have fought alongside, or against, since our founding, the entire extent of our overseas empire, are a few hundred acres of land for the 24 American cemeteries scattered around the globe.”


Apparently Kelly never walked by any of the Pentagon’s Comanche, Chinook, Cheyenne, Kiowa, or Lakota helicopters and wondered, Hey, who are these things named after?


4. America is under terrifying threat from incomprehensible lunatics.

“I don’t know why they hate us, and I don’t care,” Kelly declared. “Our enemy is savage, offers absolutely no quarter, and has a single focus, and that is either kill every one of us here at home or enslave us with a sick form of extremism that serves no God or purpose that decent men and women could ever grasp.”


It should have deeply concerned everyone serving under Kelly that their commander took an insouciant pride in making no attempt to understand their foes. There’s a reason Sun Tzu said, “If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles. … If you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.” The joyful ignorance of U.S. elites like Kelly about both us and them unquestionably has something to do with the fact that, as Trump says, “we don’t win anymore.”


Kelly also demanded that we stand in awe of the might of Islamist terrorists. “America is at risk in a way it has never been before,” he insisted, and “future generations” will “ask why America is still free and the heyday of Al Qaeda and their terrorist allies was counted in days rather than in centuries.” The answer, said Kelly, is the valor of U.S. soldiers. However, it’s more likely history will record that — while American valor may have played a role — Al Qaeda failed to murder or enslave 300 million Americans because, as of 2001, there were maybe 200 of them. Also, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are quite large.


5. Our country is hamstrung by its sniveling “chattering class.”

“Our enemy fights for an ideology based on an irrational hatred of who we are,” Kelly said, “no matter what certain elements of the chattering class relentlessly churn out.”


Also, we are winning the war on terror but our successes are concealed “by the media elite that then sets up the know-it-all chattering class to offer their endless criticism.”


Additionally, “the chattering class and all those who doubt America’s intentions, and resolve, endeavor to make [military members] and their families out to be victims.”


The only thing left out of Kelly’s 2010 speech was a condemnation of fake news. He was even more ahead of the curve in remarks in 2007, during which he fondly remembered a time when “to stand up when the national anthem was played … wasn’t considered offensive to the sensitivities of the nation’s self-proclaimed intellectual elite.”


Kelly is right, of course, that the U.S. has an out-of-touch, disgustingly frivolous chattering class. But they are almost uniformly supportive of each new war America launches. Whenever things fall apart again and they start meekly asking questions, they’re easily whipped back into line by the kind of bullying in which both Kelly and Trump specialize.


So even before Kelly’s ugly performance Thursday, there was no reason to hope he would put any kind of brake on Trump. Kelly may be personally far more palatable; he’s certainly no mewling coward like Trump and has unquestionably put his life where his mouth is. That goes for his children as well — his other son is also a Marine — even as Trump’s kids are the living embodiment of every criticism Kelly makes about U.S. society.


But there’s a reason these two men found each other. They see the world in fundamentally the same way, and Kelly is going to help Trump do what he wants to it."


Everything here:

Democracy Now !


**********

Updates on the Ensenada Massacre:

Agencies have been reporting that it was an armed commando group from between three to five vehicles that kidnapped the victims.  Zeta reports the drugs use and sale involved, a fight for the square:


Zeta

Asesinados en Ensenada Eran Consumidores de Droga: PGJE


"The occupants of the housing marked 314 on Agriculture Street in the Villas del Campo subdivision in Ensenada were using drugs the night of Wednesday, October 18, when an armed commando kidnapped eight of them and left a minor, 14 years old, who witnessed the violent acts.

 
The sub Attorney General of Justice of the State, Norma Norma Alicia Velásquez Carmona and Assistant Attorney General for Special Affairs of the PGJE, Jose Maria Gonzalez, reported that the motive of the homicide of the eight people located nude in different parts of the city is narcomenudeo and the fight for the square.

 
The deceased, located at dawn on Thursday, were identified as: Alán Alejandro García Fernández, 21, located on Calle Olivos in the colony Villa Fontana; Esmeralda Mendoza López, 27, and Sabás Hernández Ochoa, 62, in the Dunas y Rocas street of the Playa Ensenada subdivision.
Jael Smith Félix Rodríguez, 25, originally from Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur and Manuel Andrés Félix Martínez, 27, both located on Calle Paseo Pacífico and Ignacio Allende in the artisanal colony. They had gun projectile injuries.

 
Cindy Berenice Ramírez Meza, 23, was located around 07:00 hours in Maneadero.

 
Of those killed, two had a criminal record, Jael Smith, for carrying a prohibited weapon and vehicle theft, while his cousin Manuel Andres, for narcomenudeo.

 
The authorities mentioned that the fact that they were thrown naked on the public roads was to demonstrate to the community the "fury" with which they can operate.

 
The cause of the death of the couple that was in the plot 43 in Maneadero was shot of firearm, in the place there were seven .40 caliber shells. The other six found, two in the parking lot of ISSSTECALI, Colonia Artesanal, La Esperanza and Villa Fontana, hanging;  they were all tortured."

 
**********

Ensenada:  And another execution, Frontera reports a body located close to the trash pit in Maneadero this afternoon:

Frontera

Cadaver es localizado Cerca de Tiradero de Basura
Por, Cesar Cordova

This last one will put Ensenada at  159 YTD executions.

**********

Tijuana Updates:

We are coming close to the one hundred mark; @ 8:40am 10/20/17 Frontera reports the latest PGJE official figures of 91 dead in Tijuana giving the city a YTD figure of 1,382 dead.

Frontera

Suma Tijuana 91 Asesinatos en Tijuana
por, Angel F. Gonzalez

Since that report, I am counting four more, but still overall this is about one hundred less than last month so there is a little hope that things might be winding down.

FRONTERA POLICIACA (@ FRONTERA_POL)|Twitter

Be back in a few days, we have another appointment for Paris this coming week.

********** 

Tracking Trump This Past Week From The Guardian - An Accurate Appraisal of John Kelly From the Intercept - Updates On Ensenada Massacre & New Totals For Homicidios Dolosos For TIJ

After seventy two hours, Paris is finally coming out of her extreme bad reaction to anesthesia from the Cat Scan so I have a little bit of extra time.  Bob the DACA cat sneaks into one her beds and I caught them napping together, it was incredibly cute so next time around I'll try to get a picture.

Obviously I've missed quite a few of Trump's outrageous blunders and lies this past week, but here they are in a nutshell:







The Guardian:  Tracking Trump -10/21/17

Tracking Trump: President Gives Himself Top Marks For Military Bereavement Calls



Here's another good one in case you missed it from The  Guardian:

" Former attorney general Eric Holder tweeted that it was time for Trump to “stop the damn lying”. Alyssa Mastromonaco, a deputy chief of staff in the Obama administration, went further, tweeting that Trump’s claim was “a fucking lie” and calling the president a “a deranged animal”."


Firefights & Blowback: Trump's Week of Military Misadventures 
by, David Smith


**********


From The Intercept:

It Didn’t Just Start Now: John Kelly Has Always Been a Hard-Right Bully (link in title)


"White House Chief of Staff John Kelly’s gruesome defense Thursday of President Donald Trump’s call to the widow of Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson was shocking.


But it should not have been a surprise. Any examination of Kelly’s past public remarks makes clear he is not a sober professional, calculating that he must degrade himself in public so he can remain in place to rein in Trump’s worst instincts behind the scenes. Rather, Kelly honestly shares those instincts: He’s proudly ignorant, he’s a liar, and he’s a shameless bully and demagogue.


The chief of staff in an administration headed by any halfway-normal human being would have said: “The president is deeply concerned by news reports that he miscommunicated his condolences when speaking with Sgt. Johnson’s wife Myeshia. He hopes to talk to her again as soon as she feels able, to apologize and make this right. And while he would have preferred that Rep. Frederica Wilson had not spoken publicly about what he intended to be a private call, he appreciates her personal connection to Sgt. Johnson and that she is mourning his loss as well.”


Instead, Kelly did not express any concern for the well-being of Johnson’s widow and family. He did not acknowledge any possibility that Trump had done something wrong, even inadvertently. He engaged in a Trumpian scorched-earth attack against Wilson, claiming to be appalled that she had “listened in” on the conversation — when obviously she could not have avoided hearing it while in a car in which it was on speakerphone — and making up a story about her statements at a public appearance in 2015. He metaphorically dug up every body in Arlington National Cemetery to use them as human shields for Trump. And he interspersed all this with rambling, Strangelovian remarks about how women, life, and religion used to be “sacred” in America but are no longer – and hence “there’s nothing in our country anymore” that indicates that it’s worthy of sacrifice.


Wilson immediately responded that Kelly “is willing to say anything” because he’s “trying to keep his job.” But in fact all the evidence suggests that she is wrong, and Kelly said what he did because he believes it.


This can be seen most clearly in a celebrated speech Kelly delivered on Veterans Day in 2010 while still a Marine Corps general. It demonstrates conclusively that, long before Kelly and Trump ever met, they were on the same page when it comes to hysteria and venom. (Kelly’s son Robert had been killed in action in Afghanistan just days before, but Kelly said identical things both before and long after his son’s death.)


So here’s Kelly’s worldview, as expressed in 2010:


1. No one outside of the military can legitimately question any of America’s wars.

“If anyone thinks you can somehow thank [members of the military] for their service,” Kelly proclaimed, “and not support the cause for which they fight — America’s survival — then they are lying to themselves and rationalizing away something in their lives, but, more importantly, they are slighting our warriors and mocking their commitment to the nation.”


Kelly’s words would be an excellent way to teach ninth graders what the phrase “begging the question” means. Critics of U.S. foreign policy of course do not accept Kelly’s axiom that the military is fighting for “America’s survival.” And indeed it appears Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson don’t either – they reportedly informed Trump that America’s military (and its intelligence and diplomatic apparatus) exist to support the expansion of U.S. corporations.


Furthermore, Trump himself famously questioned the Iraq war. Kelly has yet to speak on whether Trump, Mattis, and Tillerson are all slighting and mocking the military.
Most importantly, Kelly has all of this completely wrong. What’s most impressive and significant about the U.S. military is its 230-year unbroken commitment to civilian rule. That is, people who join the military accept that “the cause for which they fight” is not up to them. That’s truly admirable.


But Kelly would never say that, because it would make clear that criticism of U.S. wars isn’t about low-level military personnel but America’s political leadership. And he evidently does not believe current U.S. foreign policy would survive open, honest debate. So he uses the same banal, childish, crude intimidation technique beloved by right-wing militarists everywhere though history.


2. No one who is in the military ever questions any of America’s wars.

“America’s civilian and military protectors both here at home and overseas have for nearly nine years fought this enemy to a standstill and have never for a second wondered why,” Kelly said in 2010. “America’s warriors have never lost faith in their mission, or doubted the correctness of their cause.”


This is a preposterous lie. No one who’s ever been in the military, or knows more than three people who have, honestly believes this. Soldiers are thinking human beings, not mindless patrio-trons. Again, what’s most praiseworthy about members of the American military is that many do wonder why they’re doing what they’re doing, but understand that their orders ultimately come from elected civilians.


And obviously many of the most coruscating critics of America’s wars have come out of the military. Kelly should look up his fellow Marine Corps general Smedley Butler, author of “War Is a Racket.”


3. America and its wars are and have always been good.

According to Kelly’s speech, the United States has never gone to war “to build empires, or enslave peoples, but to free those held in the grip of tyrants. …  The only territory we as a people have ever asked for from any nation we have fought alongside, or against, since our founding, the entire extent of our overseas empire, are a few hundred acres of land for the 24 American cemeteries scattered around the globe.”


Apparently Kelly never walked by any of the Pentagon’s Comanche, Chinook, Cheyenne, Kiowa, or Lakota helicopters and wondered, Hey, who are these things named after?


4. America is under terrifying threat from incomprehensible lunatics.

“I don’t know why they hate us, and I don’t care,” Kelly declared. “Our enemy is savage, offers absolutely no quarter, and has a single focus, and that is either kill every one of us here at home or enslave us with a sick form of extremism that serves no God or purpose that decent men and women could ever grasp.”


It should have deeply concerned everyone serving under Kelly that their commander took an insouciant pride in making no attempt to understand their foes. There’s a reason Sun Tzu said, “If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles. … If you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.” The joyful ignorance of U.S. elites like Kelly about both us and them unquestionably has something to do with the fact that, as Trump says, “we don’t win anymore.”


Kelly also demanded that we stand in awe of the might of Islamist terrorists. “America is at risk in a way it has never been before,” he insisted, and “future generations” will “ask why America is still free and the heyday of Al Qaeda and their terrorist allies was counted in days rather than in centuries.” The answer, said Kelly, is the valor of U.S. soldiers. However, it’s more likely history will record that — while American valor may have played a role — Al Qaeda failed to murder or enslave 300 million Americans because, as of 2001, there were maybe 200 of them. Also, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are quite large.


5. Our country is hamstrung by its sniveling “chattering class.”

“Our enemy fights for an ideology based on an irrational hatred of who we are,” Kelly said, “no matter what certain elements of the chattering class relentlessly churn out.”


Also, we are winning the war on terror but our successes are concealed “by the media elite that then sets up the know-it-all chattering class to offer their endless criticism.”


Additionally, “the chattering class and all those who doubt America’s intentions, and resolve, endeavor to make [military members] and their families out to be victims.”


The only thing left out of Kelly’s 2010 speech was a condemnation of fake news. He was even more ahead of the curve in remarks in 2007, during which he fondly remembered a time when “to stand up when the national anthem was played … wasn’t considered offensive to the sensitivities of the nation’s self-proclaimed intellectual elite.”


Kelly is right, of course, that the U.S. has an out-of-touch, disgustingly frivolous chattering class. But they are almost uniformly supportive of each new war America launches. Whenever things fall apart again and they start meekly asking questions, they’re easily whipped back into line by the kind of bullying in which both Kelly and Trump specialize.


So even before Kelly’s ugly performance Thursday, there was no reason to hope he would put any kind of brake on Trump. Kelly may be personally far more palatable; he’s certainly no mewling coward like Trump and has unquestionably put his life where his mouth is. That goes for his children as well — his other son is also a Marine — even as Trump’s kids are the living embodiment of every criticism Kelly makes about U.S. society.


But there’s a reason these two men found each other. They see the world in fundamentally the same way, and Kelly is going to help Trump do what he wants to it."


Everything here:

Democracy Now !


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Updates on the Ensenada Massacre:

Agencies have been reporting that it was an armed commando group from between three to five vehicles that kidnapped the victims.  Zeta reports the drugs use and sale involved, a fight for the square:


Zeta

Asesinados en Ensenada Eran Consumidores de Droga: PGJE


"The occupants of the housing marked 314 on Agriculture Street in the Villas del Campo subdivision in Ensenada were using drugs the night of Wednesday, October 18, when an armed commando kidnapped eight of them and left a minor, 14 years old, who witnessed the violent acts.

 
The sub Attorney General of Justice of the State, Norma Norma Alicia Velásquez Carmona and Assistant Attorney General for Special Affairs of the PGJE, Jose Maria Gonzalez, reported that the motive of the homicide of the eight people located nude in different parts of the city is narcomenudeo and the fight for the square.

 
The deceased, located at dawn on Thursday, were identified as: Alán Alejandro García Fernández, 21, located on Calle Olivos in the colony Villa Fontana; Esmeralda Mendoza López, 27, and Sabás Hernández Ochoa, 62, in the Dunas y Rocas street of the Playa Ensenada subdivision.
Jael Smith Félix Rodríguez, 25, originally from Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur and Manuel Andrés Félix Martínez, 27, both located on Calle Paseo Pacífico and Ignacio Allende in the artisanal colony. They had gun projectile injuries.

 
Cindy Berenice Ramírez Meza, 23, was located around 07:00 hours in Maneadero.

 
Of those killed, two had a criminal record, Jael Smith, for carrying a prohibited weapon and vehicle theft, while his cousin Manuel Andres, for narcomenudeo.

 
The authorities mentioned that the fact that they were thrown naked on the public roads was to demonstrate to the community the "fury" with which they can operate.

 
The cause of the death of the couple that was in the plot 43 in Maneadero was shot of firearm, in the place there were seven .40 caliber shells. The other six found, two in the parking lot of ISSSTECALI, Colonia Artesanal, La Esperanza and Villa Fontana, hanging;  they were all tortured."

 
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Ensenada:  And another execution, Frontera reports a body located close to the trash pit in Maneadero this afternoon:

Frontera

Cadaver es localizado Cerca de Tiradero de Basura
Por, Cesar Cordova

This last one will put Ensenada at  159 YTD executions.

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Tijuana Updates:

We are coming close to the one hundred mark; @ 8:40am 10/20/17 Frontera reports the latest PGJE official figures of 91 dead in Tijuana giving the city a YTD figure of 1,382 dead.

Frontera

Suma Tijuana 91 Asesinatos en Tijuana
por, Angel F. Gonzalez

Since that report, I am counting four more, but still overall this is about one hundred less than last month so there is a little hope that things might be winding down.

FRONTERA POLICIACA (@ FRONTERA_POL)|Twitter

Be back in a few days, we have another appointment for Paris this coming week.

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Thursday, October 19, 2017

Spooky Thursday In Baja California - Eight Bodies Strewn Across Ensenada - More in Rosarito and TIJ - At 8:10am PGJE Reports 84 Dead in TIJ This Month; Total for TIJ 1,353 And The Numbers Just Keep Coming In - UPDATE 10/20: Look Who Was Back In Town: James Tyler Yaegar !!!

All news agencias have reported the dead naked bodies of six men and two women showing signs of torture began to be discovered throughout the Municipality of Ensenada shortly after 1:00am:

1:25am:  Naked and tortured body of a man located in colonia Esperanza.

1:26am:  Naked and tortured body of a man located in Villa Fontana.

2:06am:  In the Playa Ensenada neighborhood on Blvd. Las dunes, naked and tortured bodies of a man and a woman located.

2:26am:  Naked and tortured bodies of two men located in colonia Artesanal.

7:18am:  Naked and tortured bodies of a man and a woman located in the upper part of Maneadero.

Frontera

Amanece Ensenada con 8 Ejecutados
por, Cesar Cordova

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Early this afternoon Frontera reported that the Procuradora de Justicia del Estado, Perla del Socorro Ibarra Leyva announced that at least six of the eight victims were deprived of their liberty (kidnapped) on Wednesday night and the investigation by the PGJE is in full swing:

Frontera

Seis de Los Ejecutados en Ensenada Estaban Privados de Su Libertad: PGJE
por, Erick Reynaga


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A bit later this afternoon, Zeta reported an interview with Mayor Marco Novelo of Ensenada where he noted the alarming discoveries,calling the combined executions a "foco rojo" (flashpoint or red flag) and that meetings have been scheduled with Perla Ibarra, Governor Kiko and Daniel de la Rosa Anaya. The Mayor is confidant the corporations are working in unison although any information on these recent cases at the moment is hushed.  When questioned about the cause of the more than 150 murders in Ensenada and San Quintin this year he had no specific answer but did question the recent release of 800 prisoners from local prison (s) and their potential impact.

Zeta

"Si es alarmante, es un foco rojo", admite alcalde Novelo sobre los 8 ejecutados encontradis este jueves en Ensenada
por, Juan Carlos Dominguez


So, at this point that's all we know - no one is sure if this means an even more bloody intensification and further extension of the current drug war into the other Municipalities.

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Tijuana - At 8:10am PGJE reports 84 executed in Tijuana this month of October with a YTD total in TIJ of 1,353.  Angel Gonzalez covers where we left off last blog...

Frontera

Incontenible Ola Homicida 
por, Angel F. Gonzalez

However, since that report there have been three more....also note the narco-mantas (remember, narco-mantas=problemas):

FRONTERA POLICIACA (@ FRONTERA_POL)|TWITTER

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Rosarito - there were three killings in Rosarito today:

 - Two encobijados located 2:40am on the free road to Ensenada @ Puente Rene's:

Encuentran Dos Cadaveres Encobijados en Carretera Libre a Ensenada 
por, Carmen Gutierrez


 - 4:00pm one man shot and killed by carload of gunmen in Colonia Independencia on the road which leads to the Convention Center:

Ejecutado en La colonia Independencia de Rosarito 
por, Carmen Gutirerrez

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  Paris had a really bad reaction to the anesthesia yesterday, she was sick all day.

Over and out for now.

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Updates/edit 10/20:

 - Ensenada:  Frontera recaps the Ensenada events giving more details; victims sustained gunshot wounds to heads and necks, a location map where the bodies were discovered and the official number of executions YTD in Ensenada stands at 156:

8 Ejecutados en Ensenada; 6 Estaban Plagiados - 10/20/17
por, Cesar Cordova



 - Ensenada:  Two more dead; these were the bodies of a man and a woman located inside of a house which was being used as an office.  Another man located in the house attempting to set it on fire.  Ensenada is now up to YTD total of 158:

Encuentran dos cadaveres dentro de despacho en Ensenada - 10/20/17
por, Cesar Cordova



 - Tecate:  I'm adding this because obviously some type of positioning is happening along with more threats to the authorities.  Tecate stands at 42 executions YTD, three police officials executed.  Pasted translation:


Zeta

Dejan Cabeza Humana y Mensaje a Metros de la Policia de Tecate - 10/20/17
 por, Isai Lara Bermudez


"A cooler containing a human head and a message supposedly signed by the Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) cartel was abandoned just 300 meters from the offices of the Public Security Directorate.

 
The finding was recorded minutes before one o'clock on Friday, October 20, on Culiacan Avenue in the Industrial Colony in Tecate; way used to go to the gate with the United States.

 
The head belonged to a man about 30 years old. It was inserted in a red plastic icebox, next to this was placed a message written in fluorescent cardboard.
"This is going to happen to all the chapulines and those who do not line up here strip the dick. CJNG atte El Puma " , reads on the card.

 
In June the head of Jose Alfredo Pereira González "El Churumbelo", identified as a hitman of the Sinaloa Cartel was also abandoned along with a cardboard box next to the home of Francisco Castro Trenti, director of Security in the Magic Town and brother of the Mexican ambassador in Switzerland and former candidate of the PRI to the governorship of Baja California.
Here the note: http://zetatijuana.com/2017/06/cae-cabeza-del-cjng-en-tecate/

 
Only this morning the government of Nereida Fuentes sent a statement in which appears the director of Security ensuring that acts of corruption will not be allowed in the corporation.
"According to the Citizen Security Plan drawn up by the Mayor, Nereida Fuentes from the beginning of his administration, fostering a change of attitude and behavior in the police action, the Director of Citizen Security of Tecate, Francisco Castro Trenti carried out in the facilities of the municipal command the list pass to the elements of the address in the presence of high and middle managers where he said that "no acts of corruption or abuse of authority will be tolerated," the statement said.

 
So far this year, there have been 42 homicides in Tecate. And as far as the PRI administration of Fuentes (from November to the present), 3 active municipal police officers have been executed."

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 -Tijuana:  Ya'll remember James Tyler Yaegar, right?  Almost twenty years ago, old timers down in Punta Banda warned us that these Gringo criminals and con men never go away; they always come back.  Fortunately for us nowadays immigration and records are computerized and there seems to be a more coordinated effort in rounding up the parasites.  Here is the report from Zeta:

Zeta

Ex Marine Liberado en Tijuana es Detenido Por Cruce de Indocumentados 
por, Ines Garcia Ramos - 10/20/17

Pasted Translation:

"US citizen James Tyler Yeager, who was accused of robbing a house with a firearm in San Antonio del Mar in Tijuana and being released by a judge in that city, was arrested at the San Ysidro International Crossing for attempting to enter a an undocumented Chinese citizen.

 
According to the indictment filed by the Southern California District Attorney's Office before the Federal Court in San Diego, at about 6:44 am on September 10, the former Marine was driving a 2006 Ford Focus vehicle with California license plates and applied for admission to the American Union.

 
However, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent proceeded to refer him to secondary inspection because Yeager did not present any identification and spelled badly on his surname.
Although the ex-Marine asked the officer not to send him to secondary inspection because he had spent three hours there two days earlier, it was in this area where the car was checked and a man was found hiding in the tire compartment of spare in the trunk.

 
During the interview with US agents, the migrant identified as Han Wu Chen stated that, from China, his family would pay $ 7,000 in exchange for being taken to the United States.


Months prior to this, Yeager was identified by residents of the San Antonio del Mar residential as responsible for at least ten thefts, as captured by security cameras. Eventually, the American was arrested in flagrante delicto while committing a robbery to house room, on Sunday, April 23, 2017.

 
The State Attorney General's Office (PGJE) reported after his arrest that he was also linked to a double homicide committed in the same residential area, located on the Tijuana-Ensenada highway.

 
Although the victim of the robbery made his statement and agents of the Federal Police observed how Yeager fled the residence and threw the shotgun used to threaten the owner who was inside, Fernando Benítez, a defense lawyer of the American argued that he was never provided an expert translator to explain the charges he faced.

 
Thus, on April 30, Judge Leticia Larrañaga Vizarra determined to release the American during the bonding hearing due to the "formal vices" committed during the process that violated his human rights.

 
After being released on that occasion, the former Marine's family claimed that Yeager would enter a rehabilitation center in the United States for treatment to combat his drug addiction.

 
According to documents filed before the Federal Court in San Diego, Mr. Yeager pleaded not guilty to the charges of trafficking in undocumented persons he faces, despite the fact that the migrant has already testified against him, and is currently under arrest and under criminal prosecution ."