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Monday, March 16, 2020

A Return to the Local Drug War and Mexico Corona Virus Stats - As of 03/15 YTD Drug WarTijuana = 371 Dead - YTD Drug War Baja California = 482 Dead - Increase In Violent Robberies In Tij & BC Careful You Guys On The Roads - Update 03/20 : Border Observations Update & Interview With Dennis Carroll From Santa Cruz !



  Despite the worldwide Corona Virus Pandemic which feels like a really spooky early Stephen King novel, the bloody fight for control of the Plaza continues in our neck of the woods.  I just hope the first responders to these murders are wearing heavy duty hazmat suits when they retrieve the bodies and the body parts laying around Baja California so they don't catch the virus.

I'm typing this up as fast as my little fingers will go before the rain starts and the electricity blows out, will return to update the stats since I am so far behind due to the US primaries and elections - speaking of which we may see a complete cancellation of the next primary. 

 ~ The Executions: 

From Zeta - 03/15/20

Llega Tijuana a 371 Muertos en 2020 
Por, Angela Torres Lozano


"During Saturday, March 14, two more homicides were registered in Tijuana, reaching 371 deaths so far in 2020; and 482 in Baja California.
 
The State Attorney General's Office reported in its daily report that the victim of the first murder was identified as Germán Alberto Fuentes Chávez, 31, who died in hospital.
He had firearm projectile injuries to the chest, left limb, abdomen, pubis area'
In the second event, it occurred at 11:49 p.m. on Saturday, in an abandoned building on Alamo Street, in the Ciudad Jardín neighborhood, where the body of a man, between 30 and 35 years old, still unidentified, was found. , also with firearm projectile injuries to the head. Five signs were also found at the site
 
With these two crimes, it amounts to 371 deaths in Tijuana, plus 31 in Mexicali, 38 in Ensenada, 21 in Tecate; and 21 in Rosarito, to give a total of 482."

So, YTD Tijuana = 371 Dead

YTD Mexicali = 31 Dead

YTD Ensenada = 38 Dead

YTD Tecate = 21 Dead

YTD Rosarito = 21 Dead.

~~~~~ 

 The Tijuana number increased this morning by three; seems the drug guys obviously do not view women as sacrosanct (they never have). Note that Lourdes reports Tijuana's total for this month with these executions stands at 70 dead.

 ~ From Zeta: 

Por, Lourdes Loza Romero 

"Between the night of Sunday, March 15 and the first minutes on Monday, March 16, three women were deprived of life in different violent acts in Tijuana. This adds 8 females killed so far this month and 35 in the year.
 
The first was at 8:18 p.m., in a double homicide registered in the Palma Real neighborhood. Two lifeless bodies were found at the scene, an unidentified man and woman, with injuries caused by a firearm to the head. Four .9 millimeter caliber bushings were also located.
 
At 8:50 p.m. another double homicide was registered, this time in the Roma neighborhood.
Two bodies, an unidentified man and woman, were found inside an apartment on Milan Street, both with cables around their necks.
 
The third attack occurred on the free highway Tijuana - Tecate, at the height of the Ojo de Agua neighborhood, at 00:20 on Monday the 16th.
A couple, a man and a woman, were attacked with gunshots while traveling aboard a gray Jeep brand Cherokee SUV.
 
Both were taken to the El Refugio subdivision fire station, where the woman was pronounced lifeless and the man received medical attention before being transferred to a hospital. At the site of the attack, two .9-millimeter calipers were located.
 
In other events recorded between Sunday, March 15 and Monday, March 16, five other people were killed in different events, bringing the number to 70 intentional homicides so far this month.
 
The first report was at 7:58 am on Sunday, March 15, via C4, a lifeless man was reported on Lázaro Cárdenas street, in the Chilpancingo neighborhood, with injuries caused by a firearm to the head. A .9 millimeter caliber bushing was also located.
 
At 17:45 years old, José Rodriguez Cervantes, 32, died at the General Hospital of Tijuana after being the victim of an armed attack on March 10 in the El Florido neighborhood.
The attack resulted in a neck injury and he died of cardio-respiratory arrest.
 
A few minutes later, in the same hospital, 24-year-old Mario Valenzuela Astorga declared himself lifeless, after being the victim of an armed attack in the Santa Fe subdivision, which resulted in a head injury.
 
At 8:15 p.m., on Daniel Gaona street in the Hidalgo neighborhood, José Ángel Galaviz González, 26 years old, died. For a gunshot wound to the head. In the place 1 .380 mm caliber bush was located.
 
At 9:00 p.m., a man identified as 36-year-old Rafael Calleros Martínez was found dead, with firearm injuries inside the Latino sports committee, on Article 123 street, in the Infonavit Latinos neighborhood. In the place 1 .9 mm caliber bush was located.
 
At 11:55 p.m. on Calle Jalisco in Colonia 3 de Octubre, another lifeless man was found with several wounds caused by a firearm; 9 casings of different calibers were also found.
 
Finally this Monday morning, a homicide was registered in the Obrera neighborhood. So far the identity of the victim is unknown."


~~~~~ 

Last month  and this month several Law Enforcement officers and ex-Law Enforcement officials were attacked from here to Ensenada, and I'll come back to those instances - but it is always good to hear from the CCSPBC  whose focus in this report is on the increase in violent robberies:

 ~ From Zeta:

Robos Violentes Rebusan a Autoridades: CCSPBC
Por, Angela Torres Lozano 


"The latest report of the Baja California Citizen Council on Public Safety showed that there has been a 43 percent increase in robbery with violence on public roads in Tijuana, compared to 2019; and the trend is increasing, a phenomenon that has not occurred since 2018.

 
The overall crime rate in Baja California has increased two percent compared to 2019. Violent assaults on public roads increased 24 percent in the state and 43 percent in Tijuana alone.
 
Just on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 3, a thief - dressed in black - entered a cleaner in the Jardines de Playas section of Tijuana; Gun in hand, he demanded the money from the cash register and later shot, injuring one of the employees, before fleeing without being captured.
 
Theft from commerce was reduced by 16 percent, but we will have to wait for the impact that it will have on the incidence of February and March, the wave of armed assaults committed in establishments of various twists during the last two weeks, particularly in Tijuana.
 
Such is the case of the robbery of the fast food restaurant, Hollywood Pop Diner, located on Ermita Avenue, in the Montebello neighborhood of Tijuana, which occurred on Sunday, February 25.
Witnesses reported that several youths - with their heads covered and dressed in dark clothing; one carrying a knife and the other a pistol - entered the establishment and stripped diners of their money and belongings, as well as the sale of the day to employees. One of the affected women heard one of the attackers tell another that if they did not give him the money “to shoot them”, which did not happen.
 
Also in Tijuana, a barber shop located in the Central Zone, between Third and Fourth streets, was robbed on Monday, February 24, by two men between the ages of 25 and 28 - one wearing brown denim pants; the other black and gray cap - who threatened employees and customers with a gun, stripped them of their belongings, locked them in the bathroom, and fled in the car of one of the victims.

"One of them pointed a gun at him and took the money from the sale of the day and the cell phones of the clients who were in the place, as well as some keys to a Ford Mustang vehicle, year 2004, black color," he explained. the report.
 
In another event that occurred again in the Central Zone, on Constitución Avenue (identified as a safe zone), on February 15 a young thief "well dressed" assaulted a man, who requested police support that never came, so the person affected decided to withdraw from the scene without waiting for the first respondents to arrive and put his complaint before the Public Ministry.
 
On March 4, the State Attorney General's Office reported the arrest of a man, named Franuel “N”, as the alleged person responsible for the robbery with violence to two businesses: on January 5, a similar pharmacy, in the Guaycura neighborhood ; and on February 22 at the Khoppi Caffe & Deli cafe, in the Downtown Zone.
 
In both events, he threatened the business employees with a firearm and told them to take shelter in the toilets while he committed the robbery, which consisted of stealing money from cash registers and valuables.

There is no political presence
 
“Finally, the robbery with violence occurs because the police do not arrive; it could be an addict who arrives with a weapon, who goes and assaults an individual, risking it that the police are not going to arrive, ”said Juan Manuel Hernández Niebla, president of the CCSPBC.
 
The robberies with violence have developed in colonies where there is usually a greater police presence, however, Hernández Nieblas confessed to ZETA that since September 2019 they have stopped receiving reports on the police incidence by colonies, despite the different written requests they have sent.
 
Regarding the increase in robbery with violence on public roads, which in Tijuana went from 129 complaints in January 2019 to 184 in January 2020, which implies an increase of 43 percent, Hernández Niebla added: "It is a trend that started in January of 2018. We began to see it with great curiosity, and then with alarm bells (because the robbery with violence was also going down). ”

 
None of the administrations, past or current, municipal or state, have been able to notice what is happening, he added.
 
One of the explanations for the phenomenon is that corporations have diluted the police presence, "understanding that robbery with violence does not need public ministries, but occurs because the police do not arrive," he reiterated.

The incidence
 
According to the report of the Citizen Council of Public Safety of Baja California (CCSPBC), in January 2019 there were 7,662 complaints filed with the entity, while on the same dates of this year there are 7,831, which means a two percent increase.
 
Meanwhile, shoplifting has been on the downside since last year. In January 2018, 707 complaints were registered in the state; in 2019 there were 540; and 454 in the same month of 2020. According to reports from the State Attorney General, it is a 16 percent improvement.
 
A similar case occurs in Tijuana, since of 344 robberies of commerce in January 2018, in 2019 there were 272; and this year 215 were reported. We will have to wait for the February incidence to account for the effect of the recent rebound.
 
As for robbery with violence on public roads, it has increased 24 percent in the state, as well as 43 percent in Tijuana.

During 2019, Baja California reported 307 armed robberies on public roads, against 382 this year; Tijuana, specifically, registered 184 complaints in January 2020 against 129, in the same month of 2019.
\
The CCSPBC president pointed out that this increase in crime incidence at the state level is a reflection of the increase in complaints in Tijuana, Mexicali, Tecate and Rosarito; the exception is Ensenada, the only municipality that presents a reduction with respect to the previous year.
 
“For four or five months, the total crime incidence has been increasing; that's something that somehow in the past had not happened. The number of complaints was high, but it was going down; Every year and month after month we watched how it was going down, and this changed four or five months ago, ”he told ZETA .
 
Hernández Niebla stressed that although there is always an increase in incidence when there is a change of government, it stabilizes after a certain time, a situation that, despite efforts, has not occurred in Baja California.

Disintegration of the social fabric
 
The president of the CCSPBC expressed that this increase is due to the disintegration of the social fabric, and is a chain of crimes that are related at different levels.
 
“We bring a homicide problem; these are related to drug dealing, and this, in turn, to additions; and addictions are related to the family, to the social fabric, "he said.
 
Given this, he stressed that robberies with violence, feminicides, homicides, and other crimes, are directly related to the social fabric. Such weakening is growing day by day, surpassing the authorities and their strategies.
 
"All the plans of social security, of security, everything that has been done, basically returns to zero when a new government starts because they create their own programs and start again," he assured.
 
He said that the authorities are overwhelmed by crime and it is reflected in the reports and social perception. "Five daily deaths in Tijuana are not to be applauded. These become 1,800 a year: and although it is difficult to reach last year's figure, we are still one of the most dangerous cities, ”he concluded."

~~~~~


Don't panic ! From prison,  El Chapo will be controlling the sales and distributions of toilet paper, hand sanitizer and paper towels to your area soon !



The Pandemic

To keep up with what exactly is going on in the USA & around the world, I've been keeping an eye on CNN's coverage (even though they are the plaything of the Corporate DNC).

 ~ From CNN:

 ~ Corona Virus Live Updates 


 ~ Sky News Live...International


Terrific coverage and advise here:

 ~  Coronavirus Live Updates: KPBS - San Diego

Excellent Reports: 

 ~ The Intercept - The CoronaVirus Crisis


 ~ Democracy Now ! - Coronavirus


~~~~~


 Update - 03/20:  *** A note on the Border "Shutdown":at this point (03/20) there really are not any wait times at the Border.  We went up yesterday - no lines at Sentri or otherwise - and dropped into Sprouts in Eastlake, but I noticed people were not wearing masks and gloves; I almost did not go in after seeing a woman sneezing, wiping her nose with her hand then touching the fruit outside, gross.  No meat & this could be a problem because Paris has her dinner cooked each night, lots of bread and veggies, try the Suma tangerines...to die for. The remainder of my medical appointments have been cancelled, so I have to wait for the two cortisone shots in my knees, the hernia surgery & glaucoma treatment and I'm almost blind.  

Despite the order for people to stay at home, Mike still has to report to work because he is considered "essential". 

So, I'm going to make a carrot today.

Boy, Trump is being a prick as usual.

Executions slowing down, will return with those.

Take care everyone.

Oh and P.S. One neighbor told me that due to the severity & crisis of the situation, he did not think the Outer-Space video was appropriate.  Okay then try this one:



*****  

*** Adding this for ya'll: Check out this interview of Dennis Carroll, es muy importante :


Dennis Carroll waits to be interviewed for the Netflix production of “Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak.” Carroll for 15 years directed the pandemic influenza and emerging threats unit at the federal Agency for International Development (USAID) that helped identify more than 2,000 zoonotic viruses, or germs in animals. (Courtesy of Dennis Carroll) aption


 ~ From the Santa Cruz Sentinel 

Former Federal virus Hunter Says US Needs To Act Before New Germs 'Kick Your Door In' Interview with Dennis Carroll
by, Carmen Hereda Rodriguez


 end edit.

~~~~~ 

The Virus In Baja California & Mexico: 
 
To keep abreast of the Virus down here, I suggest you check in on Zeta throughout the day , who have been devoting massive reporting on both local & national events.  Here are just a few highlights, remember to check with Zeta each day ! I have two cortisone shots coming up, and am unsure right now if I'm going to cancel the surgery for the hernia due to possible conditions at the hospital...but anyways I might not be here so do link Zeta for vital information. On edit:  everything was cancelled.

Zeta Tijuana 

Locally, and keep in mind these numbers will probably change - there are 11 suspected-active cases of the virus in Tijuana, 6 in Mexicali, 4 in Ensenada, 1 in Rosarito and 2 in Tecate.  Nationally, there are 53 confirmed cases of the virus.

Update:  Proceso is reporting a larger number: (and note reports on their sidebar)

Sube a 82 el Numero de Contagiados de Coronavirus en Mexico

~~~~~

Concerts and Fairs have been cancelled one by one. Classes are being shut down locally and across the nation.  It remains to be seen if the Pre-Schools, Primerias and Secundarios will also be shut down, although an extended Semana Santa is likely. With all of the massive shutdown of events throughout the country, people are raising their eyebrows at AMLO's party hearty this last weekend with muchos besos y fiesta ! Okay, well at least he didn't call the virus a hoax made up by the Democrats. Apparently, these guys have no fear:

Ven Medios Internacionales Irresponsabilidad y Polemica por Vive Latino y Gira de AMLO

Of course it is a horrible contagious virus with so many sick.  Even though the lines to buy toilet paper and paper towels and supplies are pretty much the same in both countries (at least on the borderline - also, Mike just stopped at Vons on Dennery and said they were cleaned out of everything, just wiped out !) it is Mexico who is suffering the worse with the collapses of the Dow Jones.  Earlier today, the peso stood at 23 to 1, unthinkable ! 

However, if you are a spoiled gringo and just have to have paper towels, try a Smart & Final down here, but note they are pricey and may even go up higher in price due to the status of the peso.  So, like jeez, the pioneers didn't have paper towels, right? 

Meanwhile, take care everyone.

And here's something to think about...what IF there are bizarre after effects of  being infected by this virus? Such as.......creepy, huh? What IF it didn't really come from China after all but was released from deep and ancient buried soils when Bolsonaro let the Amazon burn ?   Or, what IF it didn't really come from China after all but it came from Outer-Space?  Wow. Whatever the case, don't end up being a paper towel/toilet paper/hand sanitizer smuggler. (Or hoarder ! NO Hoarding !)
 

A Return to the Local Drug War and Mexico Corona Virus Stats - As of 03/15 YTD Drug WarTijuana = 371 Dead - YTD Drug War Baja California = 482 Dead - Increase In Violent Robberies In Tij & BC Careful You Guys On The Roads - Update 03/20 : Border Observations Update & Interview With Dennis Carroll From Santa Cruz !



  Despite the worldwide Corona Virus Pandemic which feels like a really spooky early Stephen King novel, the bloody fight for control of the Plaza continues in our neck of the woods.  I just hope the first responders to these murders are wearing heavy duty hazmat suits when they retrieve the bodies and the body parts laying around Baja California so they don't catch the virus.

I'm typing this up as fast as my little fingers will go before the rain starts and the electricity blows out, will return to update the stats since I am so far behind due to the US primaries and elections - speaking of which we may see a complete cancellation of the next primary. 

 ~ The Executions: 

From Zeta - 03/15/20

Llega Tijuana a 371 Muertos en 2020 
Por, Angela Torres Lozano


"During Saturday, March 14, two more homicides were registered in Tijuana, reaching 371 deaths so far in 2020; and 482 in Baja California.
 
The State Attorney General's Office reported in its daily report that the victim of the first murder was identified as Germán Alberto Fuentes Chávez, 31, who died in hospital.
He had firearm projectile injuries to the chest, left limb, abdomen, pubis area'
In the second event, it occurred at 11:49 p.m. on Saturday, in an abandoned building on Alamo Street, in the Ciudad Jardín neighborhood, where the body of a man, between 30 and 35 years old, still unidentified, was found. , also with firearm projectile injuries to the head. Five signs were also found at the site
 
With these two crimes, it amounts to 371 deaths in Tijuana, plus 31 in Mexicali, 38 in Ensenada, 21 in Tecate; and 21 in Rosarito, to give a total of 482."

So, YTD Tijuana = 371 Dead

YTD Mexicali = 31 Dead

YTD Ensenada = 38 Dead

YTD Tecate = 21 Dead

YTD Rosarito = 21 Dead.

~~~~~ 

 The Tijuana number increased this morning by three; seems the drug guys obviously do not view women as sacrosanct (they never have). Note that Lourdes reports Tijuana's total for this month with these executions stands at 70 dead.

 ~ From Zeta: 

Por, Lourdes Loza Romero 

"Between the night of Sunday, March 15 and the first minutes on Monday, March 16, three women were deprived of life in different violent acts in Tijuana. This adds 8 females killed so far this month and 35 in the year.
 
The first was at 8:18 p.m., in a double homicide registered in the Palma Real neighborhood. Two lifeless bodies were found at the scene, an unidentified man and woman, with injuries caused by a firearm to the head. Four .9 millimeter caliber bushings were also located.
 
At 8:50 p.m. another double homicide was registered, this time in the Roma neighborhood.
Two bodies, an unidentified man and woman, were found inside an apartment on Milan Street, both with cables around their necks.
 
The third attack occurred on the free highway Tijuana - Tecate, at the height of the Ojo de Agua neighborhood, at 00:20 on Monday the 16th.
A couple, a man and a woman, were attacked with gunshots while traveling aboard a gray Jeep brand Cherokee SUV.
 
Both were taken to the El Refugio subdivision fire station, where the woman was pronounced lifeless and the man received medical attention before being transferred to a hospital. At the site of the attack, two .9-millimeter calipers were located.
 
In other events recorded between Sunday, March 15 and Monday, March 16, five other people were killed in different events, bringing the number to 70 intentional homicides so far this month.
 
The first report was at 7:58 am on Sunday, March 15, via C4, a lifeless man was reported on Lázaro Cárdenas street, in the Chilpancingo neighborhood, with injuries caused by a firearm to the head. A .9 millimeter caliber bushing was also located.
 
At 17:45 years old, José Rodriguez Cervantes, 32, died at the General Hospital of Tijuana after being the victim of an armed attack on March 10 in the El Florido neighborhood.
The attack resulted in a neck injury and he died of cardio-respiratory arrest.
 
A few minutes later, in the same hospital, 24-year-old Mario Valenzuela Astorga declared himself lifeless, after being the victim of an armed attack in the Santa Fe subdivision, which resulted in a head injury.
 
At 8:15 p.m., on Daniel Gaona street in the Hidalgo neighborhood, José Ángel Galaviz González, 26 years old, died. For a gunshot wound to the head. In the place 1 .380 mm caliber bush was located.
 
At 9:00 p.m., a man identified as 36-year-old Rafael Calleros Martínez was found dead, with firearm injuries inside the Latino sports committee, on Article 123 street, in the Infonavit Latinos neighborhood. In the place 1 .9 mm caliber bush was located.
 
At 11:55 p.m. on Calle Jalisco in Colonia 3 de Octubre, another lifeless man was found with several wounds caused by a firearm; 9 casings of different calibers were also found.
 
Finally this Monday morning, a homicide was registered in the Obrera neighborhood. So far the identity of the victim is unknown."


~~~~~ 

Last month  and this month several Law Enforcement officers and ex-Law Enforcement officials were attacked from here to Ensenada, and I'll come back to those instances - but it is always good to hear from the CCSPBC  whose focus in this report is on the increase in violent robberies:

 ~ From Zeta:

Robos Violentes Rebusan a Autoridades: CCSPBC
Por, Angela Torres Lozano 


"The latest report of the Baja California Citizen Council on Public Safety showed that there has been a 43 percent increase in robbery with violence on public roads in Tijuana, compared to 2019; and the trend is increasing, a phenomenon that has not occurred since 2018.

 
The overall crime rate in Baja California has increased two percent compared to 2019. Violent assaults on public roads increased 24 percent in the state and 43 percent in Tijuana alone.
 
Just on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 3, a thief - dressed in black - entered a cleaner in the Jardines de Playas section of Tijuana; Gun in hand, he demanded the money from the cash register and later shot, injuring one of the employees, before fleeing without being captured.
 
Theft from commerce was reduced by 16 percent, but we will have to wait for the impact that it will have on the incidence of February and March, the wave of armed assaults committed in establishments of various twists during the last two weeks, particularly in Tijuana.
 
Such is the case of the robbery of the fast food restaurant, Hollywood Pop Diner, located on Ermita Avenue, in the Montebello neighborhood of Tijuana, which occurred on Sunday, February 25.
Witnesses reported that several youths - with their heads covered and dressed in dark clothing; one carrying a knife and the other a pistol - entered the establishment and stripped diners of their money and belongings, as well as the sale of the day to employees. One of the affected women heard one of the attackers tell another that if they did not give him the money “to shoot them”, which did not happen.
 
Also in Tijuana, a barber shop located in the Central Zone, between Third and Fourth streets, was robbed on Monday, February 24, by two men between the ages of 25 and 28 - one wearing brown denim pants; the other black and gray cap - who threatened employees and customers with a gun, stripped them of their belongings, locked them in the bathroom, and fled in the car of one of the victims.

"One of them pointed a gun at him and took the money from the sale of the day and the cell phones of the clients who were in the place, as well as some keys to a Ford Mustang vehicle, year 2004, black color," he explained. the report.
 
In another event that occurred again in the Central Zone, on Constitución Avenue (identified as a safe zone), on February 15 a young thief "well dressed" assaulted a man, who requested police support that never came, so the person affected decided to withdraw from the scene without waiting for the first respondents to arrive and put his complaint before the Public Ministry.
 
On March 4, the State Attorney General's Office reported the arrest of a man, named Franuel “N”, as the alleged person responsible for the robbery with violence to two businesses: on January 5, a similar pharmacy, in the Guaycura neighborhood ; and on February 22 at the Khoppi Caffe & Deli cafe, in the Downtown Zone.
 
In both events, he threatened the business employees with a firearm and told them to take shelter in the toilets while he committed the robbery, which consisted of stealing money from cash registers and valuables.

There is no political presence
 
“Finally, the robbery with violence occurs because the police do not arrive; it could be an addict who arrives with a weapon, who goes and assaults an individual, risking it that the police are not going to arrive, ”said Juan Manuel Hernández Niebla, president of the CCSPBC.
 
The robberies with violence have developed in colonies where there is usually a greater police presence, however, Hernández Nieblas confessed to ZETA that since September 2019 they have stopped receiving reports on the police incidence by colonies, despite the different written requests they have sent.
 
Regarding the increase in robbery with violence on public roads, which in Tijuana went from 129 complaints in January 2019 to 184 in January 2020, which implies an increase of 43 percent, Hernández Niebla added: "It is a trend that started in January of 2018. We began to see it with great curiosity, and then with alarm bells (because the robbery with violence was also going down). ”

 
None of the administrations, past or current, municipal or state, have been able to notice what is happening, he added.
 
One of the explanations for the phenomenon is that corporations have diluted the police presence, "understanding that robbery with violence does not need public ministries, but occurs because the police do not arrive," he reiterated.

The incidence
 
According to the report of the Citizen Council of Public Safety of Baja California (CCSPBC), in January 2019 there were 7,662 complaints filed with the entity, while on the same dates of this year there are 7,831, which means a two percent increase.
 
Meanwhile, shoplifting has been on the downside since last year. In January 2018, 707 complaints were registered in the state; in 2019 there were 540; and 454 in the same month of 2020. According to reports from the State Attorney General, it is a 16 percent improvement.
 
A similar case occurs in Tijuana, since of 344 robberies of commerce in January 2018, in 2019 there were 272; and this year 215 were reported. We will have to wait for the February incidence to account for the effect of the recent rebound.
 
As for robbery with violence on public roads, it has increased 24 percent in the state, as well as 43 percent in Tijuana.

During 2019, Baja California reported 307 armed robberies on public roads, against 382 this year; Tijuana, specifically, registered 184 complaints in January 2020 against 129, in the same month of 2019.
\
The CCSPBC president pointed out that this increase in crime incidence at the state level is a reflection of the increase in complaints in Tijuana, Mexicali, Tecate and Rosarito; the exception is Ensenada, the only municipality that presents a reduction with respect to the previous year.
 
“For four or five months, the total crime incidence has been increasing; that's something that somehow in the past had not happened. The number of complaints was high, but it was going down; Every year and month after month we watched how it was going down, and this changed four or five months ago, ”he told ZETA .
 
Hernández Niebla stressed that although there is always an increase in incidence when there is a change of government, it stabilizes after a certain time, a situation that, despite efforts, has not occurred in Baja California.

Disintegration of the social fabric
 
The president of the CCSPBC expressed that this increase is due to the disintegration of the social fabric, and is a chain of crimes that are related at different levels.
 
“We bring a homicide problem; these are related to drug dealing, and this, in turn, to additions; and addictions are related to the family, to the social fabric, "he said.
 
Given this, he stressed that robberies with violence, feminicides, homicides, and other crimes, are directly related to the social fabric. Such weakening is growing day by day, surpassing the authorities and their strategies.
 
"All the plans of social security, of security, everything that has been done, basically returns to zero when a new government starts because they create their own programs and start again," he assured.
 
He said that the authorities are overwhelmed by crime and it is reflected in the reports and social perception. "Five daily deaths in Tijuana are not to be applauded. These become 1,800 a year: and although it is difficult to reach last year's figure, we are still one of the most dangerous cities, ”he concluded."

~~~~~


Don't panic ! From prison,  El Chapo will be controlling the sales and distributions of toilet paper, hand sanitizer and paper towels to your area soon !



The Pandemic

To keep up with what exactly is going on in the USA & around the world, I've been keeping an eye on CNN's coverage (even though they are the plaything of the Corporate DNC).

 ~ From CNN:

 ~ Corona Virus Live Updates 


 ~ Sky News Live...International


Terrific coverage and advise here:

 ~  Coronavirus Live Updates: KPBS - San Diego

Excellent Reports: 

 ~ The Intercept - The CoronaVirus Crisis


 ~ Democracy Now ! - Coronavirus


~~~~~


 Update - 03/20:  *** A note on the Border "Shutdown":at this point (03/20) there really are not any wait times at the Border.  We went up yesterday - no lines at Sentri or otherwise - and dropped into Sprouts in Eastlake, but I noticed people were not wearing masks and gloves; I almost did not go in after seeing a woman sneezing, wiping her nose with her hand then touching the fruit outside, gross.  No meat & this could be a problem because Paris has her dinner cooked each night, lots of bread and veggies, try the Suma tangerines...to die for. The remainder of my medical appointments have been cancelled, so I have to wait for the two cortisone shots in my knees, the hernia surgery & glaucoma treatment and I'm almost blind.  

Despite the order for people to stay at home, Mike still has to report to work because he is considered "essential". 

So, I'm going to make a carrot today.

Boy, Trump is being a prick as usual.

Executions slowing down, will return with those.

Take care everyone.

Oh and P.S. One neighbor told me that due to the severity & crisis of the situation, he did not think the Outer-Space video was appropriate.  Okay then try this one:



*****  

*** Adding this for ya'll: Check out this interview of Dennis Carroll, es muy importante :


Dennis Carroll waits to be interviewed for the Netflix production of “Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak.” Carroll for 15 years directed the pandemic influenza and emerging threats unit at the federal Agency for International Development (USAID) that helped identify more than 2,000 zoonotic viruses, or germs in animals. (Courtesy of Dennis Carroll) aption


 ~ From the Santa Cruz Sentinel 

Former Federal virus Hunter Says US Needs To Act Before New Germs 'Kick Your Door In' Interview with Dennis Carroll
by, Carmen Hereda Rodriguez


 end edit.

~~~~~ 

The Virus In Baja California & Mexico: 
 
To keep abreast of the Virus down here, I suggest you check in on Zeta throughout the day , who have been devoting massive reporting on both local & national events.  Here are just a few highlights, remember to check with Zeta each day ! I have two cortisone shots coming up, and am unsure right now if I'm going to cancel the surgery for the hernia due to possible conditions at the hospital...but anyways I might not be here so do link Zeta for vital information. On edit:  everything was cancelled.

Zeta Tijuana 

Locally, and keep in mind these numbers will probably change - there are 11 suspected-active cases of the virus in Tijuana, 6 in Mexicali, 4 in Ensenada, 1 in Rosarito and 2 in Tecate.  Nationally, there are 53 confirmed cases of the virus.

Update:  Proceso is reporting a larger number: (and note reports on their sidebar)

Sube a 82 el Numero de Contagiados de Coronavirus en Mexico

~~~~~

Concerts and Fairs have been cancelled one by one. Classes are being shut down locally and across the nation.  It remains to be seen if the Pre-Schools, Primerias and Secundarios will also be shut down, although an extended Semana Santa is likely. With all of the massive shutdown of events throughout the country, people are raising their eyebrows at AMLO's party hearty this last weekend with muchos besos y fiesta ! Okay, well at least he didn't call the virus a hoax made up by the Democrats. Apparently, these guys have no fear:

Ven Medios Internacionales Irresponsabilidad y Polemica por Vive Latino y Gira de AMLO

Of course it is a horrible contagious virus with so many sick.  Even though the lines to buy toilet paper and paper towels and supplies are pretty much the same in both countries (at least on the borderline - also, Mike just stopped at Vons on Dennery and said they were cleaned out of everything, just wiped out !) it is Mexico who is suffering the worse with the collapses of the Dow Jones.  Earlier today, the peso stood at 23 to 1, unthinkable ! 

However, if you are a spoiled gringo and just have to have paper towels, try a Smart & Final down here, but note they are pricey and may even go up higher in price due to the status of the peso.  So, like jeez, the pioneers didn't have paper towels, right? 

Meanwhile, take care everyone.

And here's something to think about...what IF there are bizarre after effects of  being infected by this virus? Such as.......creepy, huh? What IF it didn't really come from China after all but was released from deep and ancient buried soils when Bolsonaro let the Amazon burn ?   Or, what IF it didn't really come from China after all but it came from Outer-Space?  Wow. Whatever the case, don't end up being a paper towel/toilet paper/hand sanitizer smuggler. (Or hoarder ! NO Hoarding !)
 

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Bernie Is Still In The Race ! The Debate This Coming Sunday Is On !!

Yesterday I was in Mira Mesa to get my cat-scan finally - the problem is a hernia probably from lifting Christmas boxes full of decorations and carrying them up the stairs.  The old grey mare ain't what she used to be.  But I must have talked with at least a dozen people at the Center (which is very nice) about the night before , Super Tuesday Dos. Sorry to say, but not one of them thought Biden could beat Trump.  So the much later veggie burger at Carl's didn't go down very well.  Here's a look at Bernie's speech.  Meanwhile, wear your Bernie button proud...could be he turns around and forces the DNC to reevaluate their platform and what exactly they stand for.


 ~ From The New York Times :

Read Bernie Sanders Full Speech About Staying In the Race 
by, Isabella Grullon Paz 


"After a disappointing showing in Tuesday night’s primaries, Senator Bernie Sanders addressed his future in the 2020 primary race in a news conference Wednesday afternoon.


He said he planned to stay in the race through Sunday night’s debate, where he will face off against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and he posed a series of questions to Mr. Biden about how he would address a range of issues facing the nation should he get the Democratic nomination.

Here’s a full transcript of his speech:

 Thank you all very much for being here. Let me begin by reiterating what I have said from Day 1 of this campaign, and that is that Donald Trump is the most dangerous president in the modern history of our country and he must be defeated.

Tragically, we have a president today who is a pathological liar and who is running a corrupt administration. He clearly does not understand the Constitution of the United States and thinks that he is a president who is above the law. In my view, he is a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, a xenophobe and a religious bigot, and he must be defeated, and I will do everything in my power to make that happen.

Last night, obviously, was not a good night for our campaign from a delegate point of view. We lost in the largest state up for grabs yesterday, the state of Michigan. We lost in Mississippi, Missouri, and Idaho. On the other hand, we won in North Dakota and we lead the vote count in the state of Washington, the second-largest state contested yesterday. With 67 percent of the votes having been counted, we are a few thousand votes on top.

What became even more apparent yesterday is that while we are currently losing the delegate count, approximately 800 delegates for Joe Biden and 660 for us, we are strongly winning in two enormously important areas which will determine the future of our country.

Poll after poll, including exit polls, show that a strong majority of the American people support our progressive agenda. The American people are deeply concerned about the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality in this country, and the American people want the wealthy and large, profitable corporations to start paying their fair share of taxes. Overwhelming support for that.

The American people understand that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage. They want to raise the minimum wage in this country to a living wage of at least $15 an hour. And the American people understand that if our kids are going to make it into the middle class of this country, we must make public colleges and universities and trade schools tuition-free.

The American people understand that we cannot continue a cruel and dysfunctional health care system. And it is amazing to me to see that even in conservative states like Mississippi, there is an overwhelming understanding that we are now spending twice as much per capita on health care as do the people of any other country, while 87 million of us remain uninsured or underinsured. And this crisis, this absurd health care system, is becoming more and more obvious to the American people as we face the challenge of a coronavirus pandemic that we are currently experiencing. Imagine facing a pandemic and having 87 million people who are having a difficult time going to a doctor when they need.

And the American people know, unlike Donald Trump, that climate change is an existential threat to our country and the planet and that we need to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.

And the American people also know that we need fundamental transformation of a broken and racist criminal justice system as well as a cruel immigration system that keeps millions of people living in fear.

But it is not just the ideological debate that our progressive movement is winning. We are winning the generational debate. While Joe Biden continues to do very well with older Americans, especially those people over 65, our campaign continues to win the vast majority of the votes of younger people. And I am talking about people not just in their 20s, but in their 30s and their 40s, the younger generations of this country continue in very strong numbers to support our campaign.

Today, I say to the Democratic establishment, in order to win in the future, you need to win the voters who represent the future of our country, and you must speak to the issues of concern to them. You cannot simply be satisfied by winning the votes of people who are older.

While our campaign has won the ideological debate, we are losing the debate over electability. I cannot tell you how many people our campaign has spoken to who have said — and I quote — “I like what your campaign stands for. I agree with what your campaign stands for. But I’m going to vote for Joe Biden because I think Joe is the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump.” End of quote. We have heard that statement all over this country. Needless to say, I strongly disagree with that assertion, but that is what millions of Democrats and Independents today believe.

On Sunday, I very much look forward to the debate in Arizona with my friend, Joe Biden. And let me be very frank as to the questions that I will be asking Joe.

Joe, what are you going to do for the 500,000 people who will go bankrupt in our country because of medically related debt? And what are you going to do for the working people of this country and small businesspeople who are paying on average 20 percent of their incomes for health care?

Joe, what are you going to do to end the absurdity of the United States of America being the only major country on earth where health care is not a human right? Are you really going to veto a Medicare for all bill, if it is passed in Congress?

Joe, how are you going to respond to the scientists who tell us we have seven or eight years remaining to transform our energy system before irreparable harm takes place to this planet because of the ravages of climate change?

Joe, at a time when most young people need a higher education to make it into the middle class, what are you going to do to make sure that all of our people can go to college or trade school, regardless of their income? And what are you going to do about the millions of people who are struggling with outrageous levels of student debt?

Joe, at a time when we have more people in jail than communist China, a nation four times our size, what are you going to do to end mass incarceration and a racist criminal justice system? And what are you going to do to end the terror that millions of undocumented people experience right now because of our broken and inhumane immigration system?

Joe, what are you going to do about the fact that we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on Earth and are living with the fact that 500,000 people tonight are homeless and 18 million families are spending half of their income to put a roof over their heads?

Joe, importantly, what are you going to do to end the absurdity of billionaires buying elections and the three wealthiest people in America owning more wealth than the bottom half of our people?

So, let me conclude the way I began. Donald Trump must be defeated, and I will do everything in my power to make that happen. On Sunday night, in the first one-on-one debate of this campaign, the American people will have the opportunity to see which candidate is best positioned to accomplish that goal. Thank you all very much."

~~~~

 One of these days I will be back with the local drug war events.

 BTW, this is not a drug song folks. Do I think Bernie is Mr. Tambourine Man ? Yes, although not in the Fellini sense.

Love you Bernie.





Bernie Is Still In The Race ! The Debate This Coming Sunday Is On !!

Yesterday I was in Mira Mesa to get my cat-scan finally - the problem is a hernia probably from lifting Christmas boxes full of decorations and carrying them up the stairs.  The old grey mare ain't what she used to be.  But I must have talked with at least a dozen people at the Center (which is very nice) about the night before , Super Tuesday Dos. Sorry to say, but not one of them thought Biden could beat Trump.  So the much later veggie burger at Carl's didn't go down very well.  Here's a look at Bernie's speech.  Meanwhile, wear your Bernie button proud...could be he turns around and forces the DNC to reevaluate their platform and what exactly they stand for.


 ~ From The New York Times :

Read Bernie Sanders Full Speech About Staying In the Race 
by, Isabella Grullon Paz 


"After a disappointing showing in Tuesday night’s primaries, Senator Bernie Sanders addressed his future in the 2020 primary race in a news conference Wednesday afternoon.


He said he planned to stay in the race through Sunday night’s debate, where he will face off against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and he posed a series of questions to Mr. Biden about how he would address a range of issues facing the nation should he get the Democratic nomination.

Here’s a full transcript of his speech:

 Thank you all very much for being here. Let me begin by reiterating what I have said from Day 1 of this campaign, and that is that Donald Trump is the most dangerous president in the modern history of our country and he must be defeated.

Tragically, we have a president today who is a pathological liar and who is running a corrupt administration. He clearly does not understand the Constitution of the United States and thinks that he is a president who is above the law. In my view, he is a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, a xenophobe and a religious bigot, and he must be defeated, and I will do everything in my power to make that happen.

Last night, obviously, was not a good night for our campaign from a delegate point of view. We lost in the largest state up for grabs yesterday, the state of Michigan. We lost in Mississippi, Missouri, and Idaho. On the other hand, we won in North Dakota and we lead the vote count in the state of Washington, the second-largest state contested yesterday. With 67 percent of the votes having been counted, we are a few thousand votes on top.

What became even more apparent yesterday is that while we are currently losing the delegate count, approximately 800 delegates for Joe Biden and 660 for us, we are strongly winning in two enormously important areas which will determine the future of our country.

Poll after poll, including exit polls, show that a strong majority of the American people support our progressive agenda. The American people are deeply concerned about the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality in this country, and the American people want the wealthy and large, profitable corporations to start paying their fair share of taxes. Overwhelming support for that.

The American people understand that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage. They want to raise the minimum wage in this country to a living wage of at least $15 an hour. And the American people understand that if our kids are going to make it into the middle class of this country, we must make public colleges and universities and trade schools tuition-free.

The American people understand that we cannot continue a cruel and dysfunctional health care system. And it is amazing to me to see that even in conservative states like Mississippi, there is an overwhelming understanding that we are now spending twice as much per capita on health care as do the people of any other country, while 87 million of us remain uninsured or underinsured. And this crisis, this absurd health care system, is becoming more and more obvious to the American people as we face the challenge of a coronavirus pandemic that we are currently experiencing. Imagine facing a pandemic and having 87 million people who are having a difficult time going to a doctor when they need.

And the American people know, unlike Donald Trump, that climate change is an existential threat to our country and the planet and that we need to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.

And the American people also know that we need fundamental transformation of a broken and racist criminal justice system as well as a cruel immigration system that keeps millions of people living in fear.

But it is not just the ideological debate that our progressive movement is winning. We are winning the generational debate. While Joe Biden continues to do very well with older Americans, especially those people over 65, our campaign continues to win the vast majority of the votes of younger people. And I am talking about people not just in their 20s, but in their 30s and their 40s, the younger generations of this country continue in very strong numbers to support our campaign.

Today, I say to the Democratic establishment, in order to win in the future, you need to win the voters who represent the future of our country, and you must speak to the issues of concern to them. You cannot simply be satisfied by winning the votes of people who are older.

While our campaign has won the ideological debate, we are losing the debate over electability. I cannot tell you how many people our campaign has spoken to who have said — and I quote — “I like what your campaign stands for. I agree with what your campaign stands for. But I’m going to vote for Joe Biden because I think Joe is the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump.” End of quote. We have heard that statement all over this country. Needless to say, I strongly disagree with that assertion, but that is what millions of Democrats and Independents today believe.

On Sunday, I very much look forward to the debate in Arizona with my friend, Joe Biden. And let me be very frank as to the questions that I will be asking Joe.

Joe, what are you going to do for the 500,000 people who will go bankrupt in our country because of medically related debt? And what are you going to do for the working people of this country and small businesspeople who are paying on average 20 percent of their incomes for health care?

Joe, what are you going to do to end the absurdity of the United States of America being the only major country on earth where health care is not a human right? Are you really going to veto a Medicare for all bill, if it is passed in Congress?

Joe, how are you going to respond to the scientists who tell us we have seven or eight years remaining to transform our energy system before irreparable harm takes place to this planet because of the ravages of climate change?

Joe, at a time when most young people need a higher education to make it into the middle class, what are you going to do to make sure that all of our people can go to college or trade school, regardless of their income? And what are you going to do about the millions of people who are struggling with outrageous levels of student debt?

Joe, at a time when we have more people in jail than communist China, a nation four times our size, what are you going to do to end mass incarceration and a racist criminal justice system? And what are you going to do to end the terror that millions of undocumented people experience right now because of our broken and inhumane immigration system?

Joe, what are you going to do about the fact that we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on Earth and are living with the fact that 500,000 people tonight are homeless and 18 million families are spending half of their income to put a roof over their heads?

Joe, importantly, what are you going to do to end the absurdity of billionaires buying elections and the three wealthiest people in America owning more wealth than the bottom half of our people?

So, let me conclude the way I began. Donald Trump must be defeated, and I will do everything in my power to make that happen. On Sunday night, in the first one-on-one debate of this campaign, the American people will have the opportunity to see which candidate is best positioned to accomplish that goal. Thank you all very much."

~~~~

 One of these days I will be back with the local drug war events.

 BTW, this is not a drug song folks. Do I think Bernie is Mr. Tambourine Man ? Yes, although not in the Fellini sense.

Love you Bernie.





Monday, March 9, 2020

STAND BY ME 2X's Y'ALL !!! The Reverend Jesse Jackson Endorses Bernie !!! "WORKING CLASS FAMILIES" ENDORSE BERNIE !!!Covid Virus Petition From Bernie Sanders To Sign And Pass Along !









Late last night I was feeling defeated, shame on me.  I surfed over to the Intercept and read Ryan Grimm's report on the Rev. Jackson's endorsement of Bernie...and I was lifted up !  BTW, you can sign up for all of Ryan's reports, they are as the following all superlative.


 ~ From The Intercept:

Rainbow Coalition Comes Full Circle As Jesse Jackson Endorses Bernie Sanders
by, Ryan Grim

"Michigan holds a special place in the memory of Jesse Jackson and the supporters of his insurgent 1988 presidential campaign. It was Jackson’s Nevada, the moment that the party establishment realized this campaign it had long written off might just seize the nomination
At a rally in Michigan on Sunday, Jackson will endorse Sanders ahead of a do-or-die primary for the Vermont senator. 

Jackson’s Michigan contest in 1988 fell on March 27. After more than three dozen primaries and caucuses, a crowded presidential field had been winnowed down to three serious contenders: Michael Dukakis, the Massachusetts governor and presumed frontrunner; Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt; and Jackson, a former close aide to Martin Luther King Jr. and the public bearer of the civil rights movement’s torch.

Joe Biden, then a senator from Delaware, had dropped out of the race following a plagiarism scandal and dismal polling numbers. 

Given Gephardt’s hard-hat, working-class brand, he badly needed a win in Michigan. He threw everything he had left into the state. Dukakis, too, wanted Michigan to show that his appeal extended beyond the liberal confines of Harvard Square, and that he could win back those Reagan Democrats whose defection had cost Jimmy Carter reelection. 

Jackson spent that election day touring Detroit, hitting black churches and five different housing projects. The New York Times’ legendary political reporter, R.W. Apple, was on hand for the last minute push. Jackson, Apple observed in his election night dispatch, “had drawn surprisingly large crowds of both blacks and whites in the last few days,” adding that despite the black establishment’s support of Michael Dukakis — Detroit Mayor Coleman Young was backing Dukakis — Jackson won some Detroit neighborhoods by 15 or 20 to one. “But the surprise was the Chicago clergyman’s powerful showing in predominantly white cities like Lansing, Flint, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek, several of which he carried.”

Indeed, Jackson did more than get out the black vote. Progressive white voters in the state also rallied hard to his cause. (Dean Baker, now a prominent progressive economist, was district director for Jackson in Ann Arbor.) 

The energy of the moment comes through in the Times dispatch. “So dramatically did [Jackson] seize the public imagination that he was able to counter successfully the notion that Mr. Dukakis was the Democrat with the best chance of nomination,” the Times wrote.

Jackson, after 37 primaries and caucuses, was now effectively tied with Dukakis in the delegate count — a stunning moment in American politics that has gone down the memory hole.
The victory generated two polar opposite responses in Washington, D.C., and Burlington, Vermont, both of which would have profound implications for the future of the party. 


In Burlington, the city’s independent mayor, an outspoken supporter of Jackson, had to decide if he would engage directly with the Democratic Party in order to help Jackson win. After the Michigan victory, Bernie Sanders went all in, calling a local press conference and announcing that he would be participating in the April Democratic caucus to back Jackson. “I am the only non-Democrat, non-Republican, independent progressive mayor in the United States of America. OK, it is awkward, I freely admit, it is awkward for me to walk into a Democratic Party caucus, believe me, it is awkward. I am not a Democrat. Period,” he said.
But he said the stakes were too high, and the opportunity too great, to stand aside on principle.  Jackson, he argued, could remake the Democratic Party in an image of social justice. “So while in fact, he may end up losing some conservative white votes, some racist white votes, I think there is a real chance that he could do what [Walter] Mondale couldn’t do in a million years. That is to bring millions and millions of poor people and working people into the political arena who in the past never participated.”
In Washington, though, the reaction was pandemonium. Just as party leaders melted down publicly after Sanders’s win in the Nevada caucuses, they did so after Jackson’s triumph in Michigan. Talk in the top echelons of the Democratic Party turned to panic, with David Espo of the Associated Press reporting that the establishment feared a general election blowout if Jackson was the nominee. Plans were being drawn up, he reported, to draft New York Gov. Mario Cuomo to challenge Jackson at the convention if Dukakis couldn’t stop the reverend. 
E.J. Dionne, then reporting for the New York Times, captured the sense of dread. 
White Democratic leaders who do not support Mr. Jackson admitted they were in a quandary, wondering how to confront the growing movement toward Mr. Jackson without appearing to be racist and without alienating the large core of activists, including many white liberals, that he has attracted….
Around Washington, the words used by leading white Democrats to describe their party’s situation included crisis, disarray, disaster, consternation, mess, and wacky.
“You’ve never heard a sense of panic sweep the party as it has in the last few days,” said David Garth, an adviser to Senator Albert Gore Jr. of Tennessee.
Mr. Garth predicted that ‘”the anti-Jackson constituency, when the reality of his becoming President seeps in, may be a much bigger constituency than there is out there right now.”
Jackson, the Democratic political class argued, was simply unelectable, so the party should go with a winner like Dukakis. Rep. Barney Frank’s sister, Ann Lewis, was working for the Jackson campaign, but Frank was backing his home state governor. He explained to Dionne that there were two reasons Jackson couldn’t win. “One, there is unfortunately still racism in the country. … That doesn’t mean the whole country’s prejudiced. It means that if there’s an irreducible 15 or 20 percent prejudice against a particular group, you’re giving away an awful lot,” Frank said. “Two, he’s still to the left of the country, especially on foreign policy.”

Jackson’s opponents had argued that his proximity to the nomination would paradoxically push some white Democrats away from him. It’s all fine and good to vote for the charismatic black guy with the unifying message in 1988 — indeed, it was an anti-racist badge of honor — just not if he actually might win. The party establishment pulled the fire alarm. I asked Jackson, in an interview for my recent book, “We’ve Got People,” what kind of pressure he felt after his Michigan win. “The pressure was not on me,” he said. “It was the so-called Reagan Democrats who began sewing discord and spreading lies.”

At the April Democratic caucus in Vermont, Sanders spoke on Jackson’s behalf. The interloper’s speech did not go over well with every Democrat. As he headed back to his seat, a woman in the audience slapped him across the face, he later recounted in his 1997 book, “Outsider in the House.” 

Bernie represents direction not complexion. He stood up for me in ’88, and we won Vermont — the whitest state in the country,” Jackson recently recalled to Jeremy Scahill. On the back of the progressive coalition Sanders had organized in Vermont, Jackson won the Vermont caucuses 46 to 45 percent. 

Outside of Vermont, it didn’t go as well. Jackson had been polling ahead in the next state on the calendar, Wisconsin, but the party consolidation behind Dukakis, fueled by the panic, flipped the momentum, and Dukakis took the state.


Over the next month, Dukakis would win Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and Indiana, and while Jackson continued picking off a state here and some delegates there, the nomination contest was effectively over. As is often the case, political wisdom failed the party elite, and Dukakis was crushed by the unpopular George H.W. Bush.

Jackson’s endorsement comes in the wake of Elizabeth Warren’s departure from the race. “I will not go against Bernie, but I’ve not made a decision to endorse anybody,” Jackson said in a February episode of Intercepted. “And when we talk, I share with him observations. Same with Warren, share observations. I’m not endorsing either one at this point.”

But Jackson was clear on who he would not be supporting. “I think the idea that somehow Biden has largely inherited the black vote in South Carolina is not sound judgment,” he said. “We were saying no to Clarence Thomas; he said yes to Clarence Thomas. We were saying no to the crime bill. He said yes to the crime bill. No to the Iraq War. He said yes to the Iraq War. He’s on a different side of history. It’s his right to be there, but he might as well own up to his side of history.”

Jackson said that Biden had taken on the aura of Obama, though that misunderstood the role Biden had played on the Obama’s ticket. “Joe Biden is seen as connected to Barack. He was put on the ticket to balance the ticket not to enhance it. Barack was against the Iraq War. He was for the Iraq War. Barack was against the crime bill. He was for the crime bill. Barack was supporting Anita Hill, and Biden let Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court as a monument to his leadership in that committee. So his proximity to Barack gives the impression he is active in civil rights is clearer than it is,” Jackson said. “Biden was Barack’s right wing. With Barack out, there’s nothing left but the right wing.” 

Biden isn’t offering a vision that meets the moment, Jackson said. “His message does not address the pain of our people. I’m not sure what moderate means if people don’t have affordable health care. I’m not sure what moderate, ‘I’m a moderate’ means to us. In fact, it means very little to us,” he said.

Just as Biden isn’t moderate, Jackson argued, Sanders isn’t on the left. “What Sanders represents is not the left wing,” he said. “It’s the moral center. Health care for everybody is moral. Education even for the poor without student loan debt is the moral center. Middle East policy where you recognize Israel and Palestine is the moral center.”

Ryan Grim is the author of the book “We’ve Got People: From Jesse Jackson to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the End of Big Money and the Rise of a Movement.”


~~~~~

 Here is the Rev. Jackson's full statement - and BTW, just noticed Ryan Grim is covering yet another important endorsement of Bernie, "The Working Families Party'"






~~~~~

At some point I will be back with the local drug war events


Meanwhile...you know, I was saving this for Elizabeth Warren...well, if she ever comes around  (???) we can put it up again...and I adore Jesse Jackson, always have thank you Rev !~!! 


 



~~~~~~~

One last thing...you might be interested in signing this petition !

Marjorie - 

I know that we have a number of important primaries tomorrow, but I want to take a moment to write about the growing threat of COVID-19, otherwise known as the coronavirus — something I will be discussing at a roundtable in Michigan at 3:15pm Eastern today. I hope you will tune in online to watch. 

Then, at the end of the email I am going to ask you to take action to make it clear that once a coronavirus vaccine is developed, it will be made available for FREE — something Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary could not agree to. And, any testing, treatment, or quarantine should be free too. 

If you’re ready to sign that petition, you can do so here. And then I’ll talk more about this crisis and the steps we must take as a country going forward.

Right now in the United States, reports suggest over 500 confirmed cases across many different states and Washington, D.C., and at least 22 deaths. But the truth is, we cannot be sure about these numbers because the Trump administration has completely mismanaged making coronavirus testing available, and local clinics and hospitals are still woefully unprepared to diagnose potential cases. 

And, unfortunately, the more we know about this developing crisis, the more it is becoming clear that not only is the Trump administration incompetent, but that our current dysfunctional health care system is vastly underprepared for this pandemic.
To start, we should not be having someone like Vice President Pence leading the task — somebody who, to be charitable, is not a great advocate for science in general. 

Sadly, I have very little confidence in the Trump administration to do anything that is right or decent, or certainly based on science. 

I know that we have a brilliant president who has clearly studied this issue very intently, but this is the guy, Donald Trump, who thinks climate change is a hoax, and just last month was telling us that this crisis would somehow magically end in April.
This is the guy, Donald Trump, who said he didn’t “necessarily agree with proactive testing,” and that we’d find out where people were infected “by waiting.” 

This is the guy, our president, who said that we have “hundreds of thousands of people that get better, just by, you know sitting around and even going to work.” 

And this is the guy who, at the Centers for Disease Control, said, “maybe I have a natural ability” to understand the deadly illness. 

So no. I am not very confident in the president’s ability to manage this crisis.
The truth is, we need real scientists and health care professionals in charge of the coronavirus response and communicating updates to the public. 

But we also need to acknowledge what the Trump administration has not been able to ignore: under our current, dysfunctional for-profit health care system, people don’t go to the doctor if they cannot afford it. And during an infectious health crisis like this one, that means that potential carriers of the virus may not get checked out if they’re showing symptoms. 

And the truth is, even the Trump administration has figured out that maybe it’s not a great idea to have people who might have the virus walking around the streets and going to work if they can’t afford health care and to get a checkup from a doctor.
I think even they have figured out that it’s a good idea to make sure that people who feel sick or may have some of the symptoms actually go into a doctor’s office. 

They’ve even proposed using federal funds to pay for medical treatment of people who lack insurance. 

Sounds a little bit like Medicare for All. 

Imagine that. 

But I’m glad at least that they recognize it’s totally insane and dangerous to our society that if you’re walking around and infecting other people and you’re not going to the doctor when you should because you don’t have insurance that is counterproductive for the whole society. 

I’m glad they at least recognize that. 

Small steps... 

So yes, this crisis is another clear example of why we must guarantee health care as a right for every single man, woman and child in this country. While some won’t get the treatment they need because they can’t afford it, others will be hit by massive medical bills simply for doing the right things. People will face bills in the hundreds of thousands for hospitalization, treatment and quarantine if they need it. That must end.
This crisis is another example of why we need universal paid family leave in this country, so people who are sick can stay home, recover, and prevent the virus from spreading. 

This crisis is another example of why we must take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry. It is outrageous that during his Congressional testimony, Trump’s HHS Secretary would not guarantee that a coronavirus vaccine would be affordable to all.
The vaccine, once developed, should be free. And testing, treatment, and quarantine should be free too. 

Health experts agree that the spread of the coronavirus will likely get worse before it gets better. 

Donald Trump must stop spreading lies and fear, and leave the science to scientists and health professionals, not politicians. We must make certain that we are prepared for a pandemic, just as we do with FEMA and natural disasters. 

Thank you for reading. 

In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders 

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For the Working Class Families !

 


Hey Elizabeth, I have one with Bono and Springsteen...interested ???  

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