Worth a listen:
" President Biden & Vice President Harris Address the Nation on the Derick Chauvin Trial Verdict"
~~~~~
Robert Frost was JFK's favorite poet. Stay Safe you guys.
A continuation of events surrounding the drug war and related social issues of Baja California and Mexico. Keeping an eye on Seig Heil Trump. We are still trying to restore all blogs from 2006 which were hacked by Linton Robinson and his team, famous for supporting the Baja Trump Towers on one of his real estate sites. Highlights of Paris-Simone's favorite music !!
Worth a listen:
" President Biden & Vice President Harris Address the Nation on the Derick Chauvin Trial Verdict"
~~~~~
Worth a listen:
" President Biden & Vice President Harris Address the Nation on the Derick Chauvin Trial Verdict"
~~~~~
I was trying to keep tract of all of the shootings in the United States since last month and I simply lost count. And, it seems the Republicans are not going to budge an inch on gun control, which is shameful.
Here are the most recent reports which will probably be updated in the next few hours to include the Austin shooting and the Minnesota National Guard being fired on which appears as a video on the link.
~ From CNN: CNN lists the carnage:
The US Has Reported at Least 50 Mass Shootings Since the Atlanta Spa Shootings
By Madeline Holcombe and Dakin Andone, CNN
Updated 6:55 PM ET, Sun April 18, 2021
~~~~~
Mass Shootings and The Chauvin Trial Force America To Confront Its Culture of Violence
Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 12:03 AM ET, Mon April 19, 2021
"America is being forced to confront a basic failure to keep its own citizens safe with a murderous daily churn of mass shootings and the nation on edge for the end of the trial into George Floyd's murder.
By, Juan Cole
"Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – About one quarter of one percent (0.25 percent) of the US population consists of refugees — some 838,000.
This minuscule number was too much for the white supremacist Trump administration, which drastically cut back refugee admissions from an average of 70,000 to 80,000 per year earlier in this century to only 30,000 in 2019 and to only 18,000 in 2020. (The pretext for the latter was the pandemic, but I think we know the real reason).
President Biden came under pressure from his own party activists to reverse Trump’s heartless policy, especially since Biden had campaigned on doing so. He now aims to recognize 62,500 asylum-seekers as refugees by October.
Mind you, Pew reports that Trump did not actually cut down on immigration in general very much. It was only desperate asylum-seekers that he barred. In 2019, 710,000 people received lawful permanent residence status in the US through family sponsorship. In all, about a million people were let in, which is par for the course in the US.
That is, Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric had little practical effect in most sectors of immigration. He was fine with well off people coming in, in droves.
He denied the most miserable and needy applicants, that is, the asylum-seekers. You might call it the sadism immigration policy.
The US, despite priding itself as a refuge for the huddled masses, does very little for asylum-seekers compared to many of its industrialized peers, and does less even than some developing countries.
The UN High Commission for Refugees estimates that there were 80 million forcibly displaced people around the world as of last summer, a little over half of them internally displaced, and the rest of them forced abroad. Some 30-34 million are children.
An average of one person is displaced every 2 seconds. Despite what you think, it could at any moment be you.
About 26.3 million have been granted refugee status, and another 4.2 million are still only pressing such a claim, and so are considered “asylum-seekers.”
ConcernUSA.org explains, “Refugee is the classification for someone who is forced to flee their country of origin due to conflict, violence, or persecution. They are unwilling or unable to return based on a demonstrable threat due to their race, religion, political stance, or social status.” In international law, because of the danger to the refugee of being returned to the country of origin, this process or “refoulement” is forbidden. The Trump administration thumbed its nose at this principle of international law, however.
ConcernUSA.org defines the next category this way: “Asylum-seeker is the classification for someone who is seeking international protection from danger in their country of origin, but whose claim for refugee status hasn’t been finally decided. Every refugee begins as an asylum-seeker, but not every asylum-seeker will be granted refugee status.”
Most of these externally displaced people, some 67%, come from just five countries. Some 6.6 million are from the Syrian Arab Republic, 3.7 million from Venezuela, 2.7 million from Afghanistan, 2.3 million from South Sudan and 1 million from Myanmar.
Some 39% of those displaced abroad are hosted by just five countries, mostly neighbors of the country from which people have been violently expelled. Turkey has 3.6 million Syrian displaced people (DPs). Columbia has taken in 1.8 million, largely Venezuelan DPs. Pakistan still has 1.4 million Afghans. Uganda hosts 1.4 million DPs. Germany has taken in 1.1 million DPs.
Despite the hype by white supremacists in the US and Europe about invading hordes of black and brown displaced people, 86% of DPs are hosted by developing or by the least developed countries. That’s right, of the tens of millions of Externally Displaced People (EDPs), only 14 percent are taken in by the rich countries.
Some wealthy states are exemplary. Sweden takes in more refugees than most of its wealthy peers, and 2.7 percent of its population is refugees. In Germany, 1.5 percent of the population are refugees.
The US can and should do more, and better. The refugees America has taken in have been among its most productive and outstanding citizens. Moreover, our gargantuan carbon emissions and our military conflicts have themselves created many DPs. We owe them. We owe humanity."
—–
~~~~~
Another slight emergency here; Totsie had to go in to have a foxtail removed from her eye. So now I have two little sick ones, Mike is better.
See you guys later.
I was trying to keep tract of all of the shootings in the United States since last month and I simply lost count. And, it seems the Republicans are not going to budge an inch on gun control, which is shameful.
Here are the most recent reports which will probably be updated in the next few hours to include the Austin shooting and the Minnesota National Guard being fired on which appears as a video on the link.
~ From CNN: CNN lists the carnage:
The US Has Reported at Least 50 Mass Shootings Since the Atlanta Spa Shootings
By Madeline Holcombe and Dakin Andone, CNN
Updated 6:55 PM ET, Sun April 18, 2021
~~~~~
Mass Shootings and The Chauvin Trial Force America To Confront Its Culture of Violence
Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 12:03 AM ET, Mon April 19, 2021
"America is being forced to confront a basic failure to keep its own citizens safe with a murderous daily churn of mass shootings and the nation on edge for the end of the trial into George Floyd's murder.
By, Juan Cole
"Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – About one quarter of one percent (0.25 percent) of the US population consists of refugees — some 838,000.
This minuscule number was too much for the white supremacist Trump administration, which drastically cut back refugee admissions from an average of 70,000 to 80,000 per year earlier in this century to only 30,000 in 2019 and to only 18,000 in 2020. (The pretext for the latter was the pandemic, but I think we know the real reason).
President Biden came under pressure from his own party activists to reverse Trump’s heartless policy, especially since Biden had campaigned on doing so. He now aims to recognize 62,500 asylum-seekers as refugees by October.
Mind you, Pew reports that Trump did not actually cut down on immigration in general very much. It was only desperate asylum-seekers that he barred. In 2019, 710,000 people received lawful permanent residence status in the US through family sponsorship. In all, about a million people were let in, which is par for the course in the US.
That is, Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric had little practical effect in most sectors of immigration. He was fine with well off people coming in, in droves.
He denied the most miserable and needy applicants, that is, the asylum-seekers. You might call it the sadism immigration policy.
The US, despite priding itself as a refuge for the huddled masses, does very little for asylum-seekers compared to many of its industrialized peers, and does less even than some developing countries.
The UN High Commission for Refugees estimates that there were 80 million forcibly displaced people around the world as of last summer, a little over half of them internally displaced, and the rest of them forced abroad. Some 30-34 million are children.
An average of one person is displaced every 2 seconds. Despite what you think, it could at any moment be you.
About 26.3 million have been granted refugee status, and another 4.2 million are still only pressing such a claim, and so are considered “asylum-seekers.”
ConcernUSA.org explains, “Refugee is the classification for someone who is forced to flee their country of origin due to conflict, violence, or persecution. They are unwilling or unable to return based on a demonstrable threat due to their race, religion, political stance, or social status.” In international law, because of the danger to the refugee of being returned to the country of origin, this process or “refoulement” is forbidden. The Trump administration thumbed its nose at this principle of international law, however.
ConcernUSA.org defines the next category this way: “Asylum-seeker is the classification for someone who is seeking international protection from danger in their country of origin, but whose claim for refugee status hasn’t been finally decided. Every refugee begins as an asylum-seeker, but not every asylum-seeker will be granted refugee status.”
Most of these externally displaced people, some 67%, come from just five countries. Some 6.6 million are from the Syrian Arab Republic, 3.7 million from Venezuela, 2.7 million from Afghanistan, 2.3 million from South Sudan and 1 million from Myanmar.
Some 39% of those displaced abroad are hosted by just five countries, mostly neighbors of the country from which people have been violently expelled. Turkey has 3.6 million Syrian displaced people (DPs). Columbia has taken in 1.8 million, largely Venezuelan DPs. Pakistan still has 1.4 million Afghans. Uganda hosts 1.4 million DPs. Germany has taken in 1.1 million DPs.
Despite the hype by white supremacists in the US and Europe about invading hordes of black and brown displaced people, 86% of DPs are hosted by developing or by the least developed countries. That’s right, of the tens of millions of Externally Displaced People (EDPs), only 14 percent are taken in by the rich countries.
Some wealthy states are exemplary. Sweden takes in more refugees than most of its wealthy peers, and 2.7 percent of its population is refugees. In Germany, 1.5 percent of the population are refugees.
The US can and should do more, and better. The refugees America has taken in have been among its most productive and outstanding citizens. Moreover, our gargantuan carbon emissions and our military conflicts have themselves created many DPs. We owe them. We owe humanity."
—–
~~~~~
Another slight emergency here; Totsie had to go in to have a foxtail removed from her eye. So now I have two little sick ones, Mike is better.
See you guys later.
It has just been crazy. My other knee went out, so the projects ground to a halt (sigh), Mike has been home sick for the past two days with a stomach bug but SIMI took care of it, Paris had foot surgery so she is down for the next couple of weeks, I'm afraid to go up to the states due to the rash of active & Police shooters, pissed off at Biden for keeping the Trump cap on the migrantes, refrigerator is acting weird we think due to the jolts of electricity here on and off on and off on and off, one neighbor has called CFE a billion times but they keep telling him nothing is wrong but there is something really wrong like a bad transformer, given up on looking for places up north with the exception of Pacific Grove - too much crime in Santa Cruz plus the ocean is polluted but I still love the redwoods, we did watch Nomadland and spent days talking about the characters and society in general, also had to take more medication for the knees which makes me loopy who knows maybe the doc will finally do a double replacement...I wonder if I could still surf with that? Anything would be better than this. Computer people will be here tomorrow for the eleventh time, but we want to give them a chance since they are fighting the goliath Telnor.
Meanwhile, I hope you are all staying safe ! Oh right, Prince Phillip's funeral is today,very sad. It truthfully is the end of an era.We can pick up Sky News here, Mike will turn it on in the morning.
Look: he looks like he could have been a surfer:
From BBC - Phillip getting ready to do MacBeth
So, I'm wondering if he would say about the funeral, "Just get it bloody fucking over with !"
Over and out for now.
It has just been crazy. My other knee went out, so the projects ground to a halt (sigh), Mike has been home sick for the past two days with a stomach bug but SIMI took care of it, Paris had foot surgery so she is down for the next couple of weeks, I'm afraid to go up to the states due to the rash of active & Police shooters, pissed off at Biden for keeping the Trump cap on the migrantes, refrigerator is acting weird we think due to the jolts of electricity here on and off on and off on and off, one neighbor has called CFE a billion times but they keep telling him nothing is wrong but there is something really wrong like a bad transformer, given up on looking for places up north with the exception of Pacific Grove - too much crime in Santa Cruz plus the ocean is polluted but I still love the redwoods, we did watch Nomadland and spent days talking about the characters and society in general, also had to take more medication for the knees which makes me loopy who knows maybe the doc will finally do a double replacement...I wonder if I could still surf with that? Anything would be better than this. Computer people will be here tomorrow for the eleventh time, but we want to give them a chance since they are fighting the goliath Telnor.
Meanwhile, I hope you are all staying safe ! Oh right, Prince Phillip's funeral is today,very sad. It truthfully is the end of an era.We can pick up Sky News here, Mike will turn it on in the morning.
Look: he looks like he could have been a surfer:
From BBC - Phillip getting ready to do MacBeth
So, I'm wondering if he would say about the funeral, "Just get it bloody fucking over with !"
Over and out for now.
Speaking of the Royal Dysfunctional Family and the fact that we are all stuck in the ongoing pandemic and dysfunctional societies more or less, Mike is constantly finding interesting films and shorts for us to watch so we don't completely lose our little minds. What a better way to take away the stress (other than gardening) ?
Last year he downloaded the first episode of "Alma's Not Normal" and we never got around to watching it until this evening. We love British shows, all of them. "Alma" imho is a winner. This year BBC2 will be airing the first six episodes - exactly when I don't know yet, so we are waiting on pins and needles for the official announcement date.
Meanwhile, here is the first episode which aired last year around the same time for y'all to enjoy. It runs just short of 30 minutes:
Alma's Not Normal - episode 1 from Daniella Pearman on Vimeo.
~~~~~
stay safe out there !
Speaking of the Royal Dysfunctional Family and the fact that we are all stuck in the ongoing pandemic and dysfunctional societies more or less, Mike is constantly finding interesting films and shorts for us to watch so we don't completely lose our little minds. What a better way to take away the stress (other than gardening) ?
Last year he downloaded the first episode of "Alma's Not Normal" and we never got around to watching it until this evening. We love British shows, all of them. "Alma" imho is a winner. This year BBC2 will be airing the first six episodes - exactly when I don't know yet, so we are waiting on pins and needles for the official announcement date.
Meanwhile, here is the first episode which aired last year around the same time for y'all to enjoy. It runs just short of 30 minutes:
Alma's Not Normal - episode 1 from Daniella Pearman on Vimeo.
~~~~~
stay safe out there !
One subfloor accomplished, one more to go...the backlog here is crazy... and my knee is killing me.
After seven drowsy days on antihistamines, Paris is doing much better, she goes in tomorrow to get a Cytopoint shot, she had a spa treatment today and when she doesn't feel well, she is cranky. I had to turn on the A/C a couple of days back for her and hook up the vornados - it was a shocking 90 degrees here. Totsie has been sharing her gerbers baby food with her buddy Paris..we go through this every year with her allergies.
In between times, I have not been watching the Derek Chauvin trial due to not having the time and the intense emotionality of it - Mike thinks Chauvin will get off on manslaughter. However, the highlights are here and if you watch Don Lemon, Cornel West has been making guest appearances which is a real treat.
~ From CNN:
Derek Chauvin Is On Trial For George Floyd's Death
More mass shootings across the U.S.; after the Orange county shooting, CNN writes:
" T his is at least the 20th mass shooting since the Atlanta-area spa attacks two weeks ago that left eight people dead. CNN defines a mass shooting as a shooting incident that results in four or more casualties, dead or wounded, excluding the shooter."
And, gun sales are up.
Scary.
~~~~
Let's not forget Georgia:
~ From Truthout:
Georgia's New Voting Law Is Rife With Hidden Horrors
~ Thanks to Zeta a summary of drug war events in our region:
Incrementan Homicidios en Baja California Durante El Primer Trimestre del 2021
Por, Gerardo Andrade
"During the first quarter of 2021, homicides had an increase in Baja California of 22.5 percent, compared to the same period in 2020; All the municipalities presented ascending statistics, but the upsurge in violence was greater in Ensenada and Tecate.
According to official figures, obtained from the reports of the State Security and Investigation Guard (GESI), in January 2021 284 people were murdered in Baja California; in February 242, and 258 in March, giving the sum of 798.
In January 2020, 209 murders were committed in the State, in February 185, and 245 in March, a total of 639 in the first three months.
Tijuana continued to be the municipality with the highest number of homicides, from January to March 2021 486 were reported, while from January to March 2020 there were 482, which shows a minimal increase, which the authorities describe as stable.
However, in Ensenada, from January to March 2021 a total of 128 people were murdered, while in the same period, but in 2020, 65 homicides were registered. So the increase against last year is 54.1 percent. This does not include the 8 violent deaths in San QuintÃn, which are already counted as a new municipality.
Another city with a notable rise was Tecate, from January to March 2021 there were 97 murders and from January to March 2020 only 26 were committed, despite the fact that there is talk of double-digit figures, the increase is 300 percent .
In Playas de Rosarito, during the first three months of 2021, 26 homicides were reported and 26 in 2020; In Mexicali, during the past year, 40 murders were committed and the first three months of 2021 are already 49.
In an interview with ZETA, Hiram Sánchez Zamora, central prosecutor of the State Attorney General's Office (FGE), pointed out that 80 percent of the homicides have to do with the struggle between the drug cartels and recognized that the problem is Tecate and Ensenada.
“We have very identified the problem in Tecate and Ensenada, we have to do more actions in addition to those that the mayor of Ensenada is doing, for example, do more actions, the Prosecutor's Office -FGE- seeks to coordinate in a better way, constantly with all the authorities ”, stated the Central Prosecutor.
He added that criminal cells are related in all the municipalities of the State due to the roads and the proximity between them, so it is intended to create the Metropolitan Guard, which will have the power to enter all cities.
"The East Zone of Tijuana, Tecate, the entire Corridor 2000, Rosarito and Ensenada keep this relationship and use the criminals themselves, in a good number of cells they use to evade the authorities," concluded Sánchez Zamora."
~~~~~
It's pretty bad all around us, you can keep up to date by reading the Noticias Del Dia y Reportajez (don't miss the war between Sinaloa & CAF in the Valle de Guadalupe (Ruta de Vino)& The Cartels Take The Streets for starters, just keep scrolling through) and Ensenada for the details which are grim.
I have reports on AMLO and the increased COVID death count across the Nation and his latest attack on Article 19, these are week old stories now, but they are importante. Try to get back down here with those over the weekend...also a good chile recipe if you're into chile.
Stay Safe.
One subfloor accomplished, one more to go...the backlog here is crazy... and my knee is killing me.
After seven drowsy days on antihistamines, Paris is doing much better, she goes in tomorrow to get a Cytopoint shot, she had a spa treatment today and when she doesn't feel well, she is cranky. I had to turn on the A/C a couple of days back for her and hook up the vornados - it was a shocking 90 degrees here. Totsie has been sharing her gerbers baby food with her buddy Paris..we go through this every year with her allergies.
In
between times, I have not been watching the Derek Chauvin trial due to
not having the time and the intense emotionality of it - Mike thinks
Chauvin will get off on manslaughter. However, the highlights are here
and if you watch Don Lemon, Cornel West has been making guest appearances which is a real treat.
~ From CNN:
Derek Chauvin Is On Trial For George Floyd's Death
More mass shootings across the U.S.; after the Orange county shooting, CNN writes:
" T his is at least the 20th mass shooting since the Atlanta-area spa attacks two weeks ago that left eight people dead. CNN defines a mass shooting as a shooting incident that results in four or more casualties, dead or wounded, excluding the shooter."
And, gun sales are up.
Scary.
~~~~
Let's not forget Georgia:
~ From Truthout:
Georgia's New Voting Law Is Rife With Hidden Horrors
~ Thanks to Zeta a summary of drug war events in our region:
Incrementan Homicidios en Baja California Durante El Primer Trimestre del 2021
Por, Gerardo Andrade
"During the first quarter of 2021, homicides had an increase in Baja California of 22.5 percent, compared to the same period in 2020; All the municipalities presented ascending statistics, but the upsurge in violence was greater in Ensenada and Tecate.
According to official figures, obtained from the reports of the State Security and Investigation Guard (GESI), in January 2021 284 people were murdered in Baja California; in February 242, and 258 in March, giving the sum of 798.
In January 2020, 209 murders were committed in the State, in February 185, and 245 in March, a total of 639 in the first three months.
Tijuana continued to be the municipality with the highest number of homicides, from January to March 2021 486 were reported, while from January to March 2020 there were 482, which shows a minimal increase, which the authorities describe as stable.
However, in Ensenada, from January to March 2021 a total of 128 people were murdered, while in the same period, but in 2020, 65 homicides were registered. So the increase against last year is 54.1 percent. This does not include the 8 violent deaths in San QuintÃn, which are already counted as a new municipality.
Another city with a notable rise was Tecate, from January to March 2021 there were 97 murders and from January to March 2020 only 26 were committed, despite the fact that there is talk of double-digit figures, the increase is 300 percent .
In Playas de Rosarito, during the first three months of 2021, 26 homicides were reported and 26 in 2020; In Mexicali, during the past year, 40 murders were committed and the first three months of 2021 are already 49.
In an interview with ZETA, Hiram Sánchez Zamora, central prosecutor of the State Attorney General's Office (FGE), pointed out that 80 percent of the homicides have to do with the struggle between the drug cartels and recognized that the problem is Tecate and Ensenada.
“We have very identified the problem in Tecate and Ensenada, we have to do more actions in addition to those that the mayor of Ensenada is doing, for example, do more actions, the Prosecutor's Office -FGE- seeks to coordinate in a better way, constantly with all the authorities ”, stated the Central Prosecutor.
He added that criminal cells are related in all the municipalities of the State due to the roads and the proximity between them, so it is intended to create the Metropolitan Guard, which will have the power to enter all cities.
"The East Zone of Tijuana, Tecate, the entire Corridor 2000, Rosarito and Ensenada keep this relationship and use the criminals themselves, in a good number of cells they use to evade the authorities," concluded Sánchez Zamora."
~~~~~
It's pretty bad all around us, you can keep up to date by reading the Noticias Del Dia y Reportajez (don't miss the war between Sinaloa & CAF in the Valle de Guadalupe (Ruta de Vino)& The Cartels Take The Streets for starters, just keep scrolling through) and Ensenada for the details which are grim.
I have reports on AMLO and the increased COVID death count across the Nation and his latest attack on Article 19, these are week old stories now, but they are importante. Try to get back down here with those over the weekend...also a good chile recipe if you're into chile.
Stay Safe.