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Trump’s massive war power giveaway

President-elect Donald Trump, center, listens to a member of the military in the stands as he watches an Army-Navy NCAA college football game at M&T Bank Stadium, Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The U.S. military under Trump is quickly morphing into judge, jury and executioner of any enemy they see fit and are, as recent events suggest, free to attack them in anyway they choose.

by Whitney Webb

Last year, as Trump’s front-runner status in the Republican primaries began to truly unnerve the conservative establishment, several figures emerged as possible “fail-safes” to the increasing inevitability of a Trump-Clinton showdown. One of these figures was former four-star general James Mattis, now Secretary of Defense, who was courted by “an anonymous group of conservative billionaires,” as well as former aides of the Bush family. According to the Daily Beast, the billionaires numbered nearly a dozen and were comprised of “influential donors” and “politically-involved billionaires with deep pockets and conservative leanings.”

The potential of a Mattis presidency, though he himself was not inclined to run, galvanized many neoconservatives, with the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol suggesting Mattis might be conscripted into the presidential race and a group of conservative strategists hatching a plan to run Mattis as a third-party candidate. Though Mattis’ underdog candidacy never took off, it apparently didn’t have to.

Indeed, the anonymous conservative billionaires who sought to crown Mattis president are likely quite content, as the former general has gained significant control over the executive branch’s war powers in an unprecedented giveaway of executive power.

On the campaign trail, Trump seemed unlikely to make any type of power giveaway if elected, particularly to the top generals he so frequently criticized and had suggested he would fire upon assuming the office of the president. However, Trump’s campaign stance quickly began to soften after his inauguration, with him appointing Mattis to the position of Secretary of Defense. Yet Trump continued to offer rhetoric that the Pentagon’s top brass found disconcerting, meaning that it didn’t take long for the top commanders of the U.S. military to send Trump what was essentially an ultimatum.

In the beginning of March, Defense One published an article titled “Winning’ or Not, Trump Doesn’t Seem to Be Listening To His Generals,” which sought to give clarity to the “mixed messages” between military commanders, Trump and his inner circle regarding how best to counter terrorism abroad, particularly against Daesh (ISIS) presence in countries like Syria and Iraq. However, the article also made it clear that the general balked at a majority of Trump’s decision and actions, causing journalist Kevin Baron to note that Trump’s generals “increasingly sound like they’re working for a different president altogether.”

From complaints ranging from funding (despite Trump’s $54 billion defense budget increase) to Trump’s “unpredictability,” the U.S.’ top generals threatened to resign in protest if Trump did not choose to listen to their advice and accept their plan to fight Daesh, a plan that is set to be a continuation of the so-called Obama doctrine.
The generals also balked at what they considered a paltry budget increase and made clear their desire for more independence, with General Tony Thomas of U.S. Special Operations Command telling Defense One that “unless we get governance back on the side of our military efforts, this is going to be a long struggle.” The article ultimately concludes that “what ‘the generals’ say matters, and what Trump says about them and their advice is confusing. The new president’s actions will speak louder than words.”

It didn’t take long for Trump’s actions to begin speaking much louder than his “unpredictable” rhetoric. Just days after Defense One’s story about the dissatisfaction of “the generals,” the Daily Beast ran an article titled “Generals May Launch New ISIS Raids Without Trump’s OK” in which it was announced that “President Donald Trump has signaled that he wants his defense secretary, retired Marine Gen. Mattis, to have a freer hand to launch time-sensitive missions.”

According to the article, Trump had reportedly signaled that he wanted “to operate more like the CEO he was in the private sector in such matters and delegate even more power to Mattis, which may mean rewriting one of President Barack Obama’s classified Presidential Policy Directives on potentially lethal operations in countries where the U.S. is not officially involved in combat.”

Essentially, the new model of command that has arisen involves “pre-delegating authority to Mattis, that authority could be pushed much further down the chain of command – all the way down to the three-star general who runs JSOC. The elite force will be able to move into action, informing the national-security apparatus of the operation but not having to wait for permission.” Said differently, the White House is still informed of military operations, but no longer has commanding authority over the U.S. military.

Since Trump first signaled his plan to give Mattis and the Pentagon commanding authority over their own military operations, the actions of the U.S. military have noticeably been at odds with Trump’s campaign promises – including the deployment of Navy destroyers in the South China Sea and South Korea; the deployment of troops to Somalia, Syria and Iraq; and the U.S. bombings of Syrian government target.

Then, last Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump would be giving “generals more freedom to make decisions” in the fight against ISIS. The report notes that “as President Donald Trump’s administration urges them to make more battlefield decisions on their own, […] America’s top military commanders are implementing the vision articulated by Defense Secretary Mattis.” According to a senior defense official who spoke to the Journal, Mattis “is telling them:

‘It’s not the same as it was, you don’t have to ask us before you drop a MOAB [Mother of all Bombs]’” or other major weapons of war.

Indeed, the use of large-scale weaponry in Afghanistan is particularly telling, as Trump was not even informed of the use of the U.S.’ largest non-nuclear bomb until after it was detonated, as the decision had been made – without executive branch approval – by General John Nicholson, head of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan. Trump’s “backseat” role in key military actions was also revealed in a recent interview in which the president was asked about the decision to bomb a Syrian government air base earlier this month. Trump was able to recall the details of the cake he was eating at the time of the strike, but not the country that had been bombed.

While many have noted in past decades that the increase in the executive branch’s control over military actions is a troubling development, the U.S. military is quickly morphing into judge, jury and executioner of any enemy they see fit and are, as recent events suggest, free to attack them in anyway they choose – short of dropping a nuclear bomb. That is, for now.

With top U.S. generals led by Mattis now set to hold greater combat authority than the president himself, one can’t help but wonder how long it will take until such autonomy spirals out of control – especially considering the Pentagon’s documented history of wastefulness, dishonesty and disrespect for civilian life. It looks like Mattis has managed to gain some of the “presidential authority that some conservative billionaires has wished for him months ago.

What on Earth is happening to our temperature? – Part 3 and last

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:

Dear reader:

Perhaps you’ve heard that the Earth is warming and the glaziers will melt and so on… But you’ve probably also heard that all this about the global warming is just an engineered plan by the global government agents to expand and control the people. In other words, is a fraud. Right?
Well, this article written by Ed Hiserodt and Rebecca Terrell, will present to you their perspective, and you can be the judge. Due to lack of space, it will be published in three parts. THIS IS PART 3 OF THREE.

What on earth is happening to our temperature?

by Ed Hiserodt and Rebecca Terrell

In the great climate debate, some scientists say that Earth’s temps have remained flat for two decades, while others claim that we are setting records each year. Who’s right?

Who Needs Data?

Yet this talk of data is superfluous. Not until 1880 had most major cities begun to monitor and record daily temperature using thermometers. Luckily, we don’t need them. To determine whether current weather patterns evince dangerous trends toward frying or freezing, we can simply look at historical records.

Is weather now so unusual in comparison? Consider 1816, otherwise known as the “Year Without a Summer,” a product of the 1815 eruption of Mt. Tambora in Indonesia. The Irish potato crop failed, lack of European grain led to bread shortages, and starvation ensued. On October 6, 1816, New York’s Albany Advertiser reported the previous summer’s weather conditions:

The weather during the past summer has been generally considered as very uncommon, not only in this country, but … in Europe also. Here it has been dry, and cold. We do not recollect the time when the drought has been so extensive, and general, not when there has been so cold a summer. There have been hard frosts in every summer month, a fact that we have never known before. It has also been cold and dry in some parts of Europe, and very wet in other places.

History gives further clues about earlier times. In 1780, New York Harbor froze over, allowing people to walk from Manhattan Island to Staten Island. Military reports from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars record rivers freezing over, ones that never freeze over today.

The Little Ice Age years (1300-1850 A.D.) of unrelenting cold temperatures forced Norsemen to flee their homes in Greenland after 450 years of the Medieval Warm Period (950-1250 A.D.). In 1814, an elephant paraded across the ice in one of many “Frost Fairs” on London’s Thames River. No one could have repeated that act in the past 200 years.

Yet before the Little Ice Age, the archaeological record also proves, the average global temperatures were much warmer.

Manipulating the Public Mind

Why is such historical evidence of Earth’s natural, cyclical weather patterns ignored? It is inconvenient truth for the alarmist political Left. They allege that carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels is causing catastrophic global warming. Their irrational mantra to avoid debate of the subject is: “The Science Is Settled.”

Leftists intend to parlay their created fear of global warming into legislation to limit consumption of life-giving energy. They typically call for a reduction of fossil fuels by 80 percent of the 2000 usage by 2030. For perspective, imagine having one-fifth of the gasoline, one-fifth of heating and air conditioning, one-fifth of energy to run schools, hospitals, and factories. Yet leftists expect these major deprivations to lower the temperature only a fraction of a degree by 2100.

NASA, NOAA, and CRU have a marked history of masking their political agenda under the guise of climate science. NASA’s former administrator James Hansen, professional alarmist since the early 1970s when he was trumpeting an approaching ice age, has been arrested numerous times since his retirement in 2013 for trespassing and other misdemeanors while inciting rioters at global-warming protests. Should we believe his 2015 warning that sea-level rise in the next 50 years will bring the “economic and social cost of losing functionally all coastal cities”? (In case you are concerned, remember that melting of the North Polar ice cap would cause no sea level rise, as it floats in the Arctic Ocean, just as melting of ice cubes in a glass of water does not cause the water to overflow the glass. The South Pole has an average temperature of -57ºF and is not expected to melt anytime soon no matter how much hot air Hansen produces.)

Another climate alarmist holding great political sway is CRU Administrator Phil Jones. He was one of many infamous climatologists involved in the 2009 Climate­gate scandal. When hackers broadcast hundreds of incriminating e-mails, they revealed that these scientists deliberately deleted evidence of data fraud prior to an expected Freedom of Information request from the U.K. government.

Yet these are the people convincing us of a supposed apocalyptic danger from CO2 emissions. Government is quick to cooperate, with huge amounts of money for grants and awards to academics who faithfully report the global-warming party line. Base your proposed study on that, and you’ve got the grant.

It didn’t take long for colleges to jump on the wagon. Fifty years ago, universities had no Environmental Science department, or even a degree at the bachelor level. The word “ecology” was unknown to most people. Today gradschool.com shows 130 U.S. colleges and universities with masters and/or Ph.D. programs in environmental, ecological, or sustainability studies.

Richard Lindzen, former Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at MIT and a National Academy of Sciences member, has seen the whole scam unfold. “Remember this was a tiny field, a backwater, and then suddenly you increased the funding to billions and everyone got into it,” Lindzen told James Varney of RealClearInvestigations.com. “Even in 1990 no one at MIT called themselves a ‘climate scientist,’ and then all of a sudden everyone was. They only entered it because of the bucks; they realized it was a gravy train. You have to get back to the people who only care about the science.”

So, was 2016 the hottest year on record? Highly unlikely. Even if the temperature record were entirely accurate, with the “differences” being less than the margin of error, the trend is flat. But actual proof has been destroyed by criminal conspirators with a monetary and career bias toward convincing us that our activities are bringing on a climate apocalypse that can only be avoided by impoverishing ourselves and giving power to a wise and benevolent government. Moreover, proof isn’t attainable because the weather-monitoring stations have been closed, moved, or flawed. The rising amount of CO2 in the atmosphere does not appear to have any significant effect on the climate according to the most accurate measurements: Argo buoys and satellite data.

Unfortunately, the keepers of official climate data are partisans with a financial interest in showing a trend toward catastrophic global warming. Their duplicity is propagandized as gospel truth by leftists in academia and the mainstream media. We suggest keeping a cool head, and worrying less about Mother Nature and more about those interested in expanding government control over our businesses, our culture, and our lives.

Police departments now allow recent potheads to be cops

by Jack Burns

The Free Thought Project interviewed Jamie (last name withheld) who said he’d always wanted to become a police officer since leaving the Marines after the first Gulf War. But, he said, he had one obstacle to overcome before joining the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in North Carolina. He’d smoked weed while in high school and, at the time, his past use of the plant prevented him from becoming a police officer. Fast-forward 20 years, and Jamie may now want to consider moving to Maryland if he wants to continue his dreams of becoming an officer of the peace. That’s because the Mid-Atlantic state has relaxed its longstanding policy toward marijuana use.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Maryland has adopted the same relaxed policy towards marijuana that the FBI currently uses. The new standard, which will take effect on June 1, bars applicants if they smoked pot in the past three years. This is the same policy the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uses. “The longstanding, previous policy had ruled out those who had used marijuana at least 20 times or at least five times since age 21,” writes the WSJ.

Maryland’s struggle with marijuana is reflective of the struggle many police departments are facing now that over half of the United States has enacted some form of legalized cannabis use for medicinal or recreational use. In other words, it’s getting harder for departments to find recruits who haven’t used marijuana previously.

When states like Arizona and cities like Phoenix are practically begging for people to become police officers, something has to give. Either the laws have to change that prevent people from consuming cannabis, or the police department standards must be changed to accommodate and reflect the changing attitudes toward marijuana. The latter is occurring all across the land according to the WSJ.

Still, there are the critics, like Jim Pasco, executive director of the national Fraternal Order of Police. In essence, he accused Maryland of rewarding illegal behavior by allowing potheads to become police officers. “So you’re basically saying with that change that if you broke the law 20 times, it’s OK as long as you haven’t done it lately…How would that apply to bank robbery or mail fraud? The idea here is you want people who respect the law, whatever the law is,” he told the WSJ.

We tend to agree. But, before freaking out, listen to the reasoning behind it. It is quite hypocritical for departments to forgive the previous ‘crimes’ of its officers only to turn them loose on society to arrest people for the very same ‘crimes.’ However, here is where we disagree with Pasco — smoking a plant is not a crime — as there is no victim. There is, however, a victim when a cop arrests a person for smoking a plant. In that instance, the person kidnapping, caging, or killing the person over the plant, is the aggressor.

Pasco’s equation of consuming a plant with robbing a bank, will certainly rile cannabis advocates, businessmen, and consumers alike. As The Free Thought Project has dutifully noted, the consumption of marijuana is much safer than consuming alcohol, something many police officers abuse, both on the job as well as off-duty. Just this month, three police officers were arrested in the same county in Texas for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) of alcohol. Yet cannabis, as innocuous as it is, is still being stigmatized by law enforcement leaders such as Pasco.

Still, even with changing attitudes towards cannabis, it appears we are a long way off from allowing police officers to use marijuana for their own illnesses. Likewise, healthcare workers who suffer from debilitating illnesses and chronic pain must depend solely on pharmaceutical treatments for their conditions or risk losing their medical board licenses. While it’s encouraging to see each state examine their stance on cannabis, we’re what seems to be light years away from having police officers and physicians as stoners. (The Free Thought Project).

Uber drivers and taxis clash in Mazatlán

Taxi drivers take part in a protest against the private taxi company Uber for alleged unfair competition, in Mexico City on May 25, 2015. Thousands of taxi drivers protested across the Mexican capital to demand the government to take action against Uber, while the company retaliates by offering free transport in the city. AFP PHOTO / Yuri CORTEZYURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images

Uber’s arrival in the city has not been welcomed by taxi drivers

Compiled by Mexico News Daily

Tempers flared in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, this week where there were at least three confrontations between drivers of the Uber car hire service and taxi operators.

On Wednesday, the two came to blows at various locations outside hotels in the Zona Dorada area of the city where the rivals are vying for the tourist trade. Authorities seized six taxis and eight Uber cars in an effort to quell the violence.

Uber began operating in Mazatlán, Los Mochis and Culiacán last October but taxi drivers, as elsewhere in Mexico, were not happy.

According to the state’s deputy director of traffic and transportation, Jorge Castro Zamudio, Uber cannot legally provide its services in Sinaloa because the only two authorized and licensed organizations to do so are the Mexican Workers’ Confederation (CTM) and the National Confederation of Popular Organizations (CNOP).

He said fines have been levied against Uber drivers as a result: from 1,500 pesos for first-time offenders to 35,000 pesos for repeat offenders.

Cab drivers are dissatisfied, Castro explained, because they are at a disadvantage: “They have to pay for a special license, license plates, an identification card that certifies their training and insurance. Uber drivers only have to pay their affiliation fees.”

Mazatlán, a city of over 500,000 people, has 1,490 licensed taxis, including 500 pulmonías, small, open vehicles.

The resort city also has 11,900 hotel rooms, so hoteliers figure there is enough clientele for both transportation systems.

But there won’t be any tourists if violence between the two continues, warned a member of the Mazatlán Hotel and Tourist Services Association.

“Effects on transportation . . . in which tourists have been inadvertently involved, have to cease,” said José Gámez Valle.

Sinaloa Interior Secretary Gonzalo Gómez Flores said the state is open to modernization in transportation, but cautioned that the rights of taxi licensees must be protected in accordance with applicable laws.

Traffic and Transportation Secretary Guillermo Damián Haro Millán concurred with Gómez, saying that current regulations must be analyzed and studied to allow Uber to operate in the state.

But he also warned that any new violence will be met by a firm hand against all offenders.

An opposition Deputy claims that Uber is operating within the law in Sinaloa, and that the state’s 30-year-old transportation legislation is obsolete and requires reform.
National Action Party legislator Roberto Cruz Castro said Uber generates about 12,000 jobs in the state and offers benefits to users that include better service, more comfort and reduced fares. He charged that Sinaloa is the only state in Mexico that has not reformed its transportation legislation.

Uber has a presence in 20 of the 32 states of Mexico, but only in five has its service been regulated and legislated: Mexico City, State of México, Puebla, San Luis Potosí and Jalisco.

This lack of regulation has sparked violent conflicts between Uber and established taxi services in at least 11 states, and at least two Uber partners have been murdered.

Uber halted its entry into Gómez Palacio, Durango, after being threatened by  taxi organizations and municipal authorities alike. In Yucatán, authorities have seized some 550 Uber-affiliated vehicles, which state law considers pirate cabs.

Source: El Universal, Línea Directa (sp)

In other news in México:

Another land dispute turns ugly in Oaxaca

Ambush kills five in region where communities engaged in 40-year conflict

There has been bloodshed in another decades-long territorial conflict between Oaxaca communities, a situation worsened by the alleged intrusion of drug trafficking organizations.

Five people were killed and eight wounded when they were ambushed last week by a gang of 40 heavily armed individuals, allegedly from Santiago Lachivía, who fired on longtime enemies from San Pedro Mártir Quiechapa.

The two communities, located in the state’s southern sierra, have been embroiled in a dispute over some 2,700 hectares of wooded lands for over 40 years.

Last Saturday’s one-sided shooting was triggered by an argument over the rights to a water hole and left five men from Quiechapa dead, including José Barriga, 65, community land owner, and two minors: Adalberto Montes Aquino, 17, and Alexander Montes Aguilar, 16, who had plans to become a priest.

Three of the wounded were in serious condition and had to be transported to the nearby city of Miahuatlán and later to Oaxaca city.

It was several hours later before police and soldiers arrived in Quiechapa, said a report by NVI Noticias.

The fathers of the two young victims, along with a group of citizens and municipal officials from Quiechapa, have denounced their murder and traveled to the city of Oaxaca to demonstrate on Wednesday in the city’s zócalo.

They also protested what they see as scant attention being given to the newly rekindled conflict by Governor Alejandro Murat Hinojosa, and demanded increased security, charging that the 12 police and army personnel deployed in the town, and equipped with just two patrol cars, are not enough to guarantee their safety.

The mayor of Quiechapa claimed that drug trafficking is now part of the territorial conflict: “[the people of Lachivía] grow lots of drugs. They were carrying heavy weapons, and they ambushed us,” said Luis Juárez Pérez.

He requested the intervention of federal forces in the belief that his neighbors are protecting opium poppy and marijuana plantations, and that with their latest armed actions they intend to control more territory, exploit the woodlands for timber and increase drug production.

The mayor lamented that despite a commitment by the governor’s advisor, María del Carmen Ricárdez Vela, to help solve the territorial conflict no action has been taken.

Juárez said the only help they’ve received was the transportation of the injured to a hospital in the state capital.

Here are the top 10 broken promises of Trump’s first 100 days

by Annabelle Bamforth

President Donald Trump has hit his 100-day mark as commander in chief. While Trump has made good on some of his promises such as making adjustments to government agencies, creating a coalition to combat the opioid crisis, and making sweeping changes to the federal tax code, he made a plethora of campaign declarations and pledges that he has either abandoned — in a most hypocritical fashion — or is unable to fulfill.

Rand Paul warned that Trump was a chameleon in 2015 and cautioned that he was a “consummate insider.” As many of Trump’s former supporters have learned, he was right. Some of the pledges since dismissed by Trump were the very reasons why many voters ultimately chose Trump over Hillary Clinton or a third-party candidate.

1. The United States Healthcare System

Trump told voters numerous times that Obamacare must be repealed. Many conservative-leaning independents chose Trump because he had promised to repeal and replace Obamacare.

When the GOP’s “Ryancare” proposal was released, voters were surprised to find that Trump was urging Americans to embrace a plan that maintained most of the regulations, penalties, and benefits to special interests abhorred by Republicans, as well as the individual mandate. Trump even criticized RyanCare’s detractors when the House Freedom Caucus held strongly to their opposition of the bill.

2. Foreign Policy

Trump has never claimed to be an anti-war candidate, but he made some clear statements about foreign policy before and during his campaign. He criticized the United States States in its role during the Iraq War and claimed after the election that “we will stop racing to topple foreign regimes that we know nothing about, that we shouldn’t be involved with.”

In April, his administration went on to launch airstrikes on a Syrian airbase following a sarin gas attack that Trump declared was the doing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Trump is well-known for being vocally critical of the Obama administration’s launching of airstrikes in Syria in response to a sarin attack, attributed to the Assad regime, back in 2013.

3. “Draining the swamp”

The phrase “drain the swamp” became a battle cry of Trump supporters during his campaign. During his Inaugural Address, Trump indicated big changes for a new administration, saying that “today we are not merely transferring power from one Administration to another, or from one party to another – but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People. For too long, a small group in our nation’s Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished – but the people did not share in its wealth.”

Trump hit hard against Wall Street during the campaign but brought Goldman Sachs insiders into the Treasury Department. He appointed ExxonMobil executive Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. He acknowledged to CBS that his transition team was full of lobbyists and indicated his acceptance of this because “that’s the only people you have down there.”

Prior to being elected, Trump also stated that he loved WikiLeaks. However, like the rest of the ‘swamp’, Trump now wants to see Julian Assange behind bars.

4. Education Reform

Trump has repeatedly called to end Common Core during his campaign and more recently, this month. However, he failed to explain to the public that he cannot simply end the CC standards at the federal level.

He issued an executive order this week seeking to halt “top-down mandates that take away autonomy and limit the options available to educators, administrators, and parents,” according to Education Department official Rob Goad. While his administration is welcome to advocate for local control of schools, Common Core is not federal law and it’s up to states to decide whether to continue to implement the standards.

5. “Getting rid of ISIS”

While Trump rebuked regime change in Syria and was clear that his focus would be primarily on weakening the power of the Islamic State, his policies largely follow those of his predecessor.

The Trump administration launched airstrikes in Syria nearly immediately following a chemical attack that Trump was convinced had come from the Assad regime. This move did nothing but strain relations between the United States and Syria and has further aided ISIS. As Ron Paul pointed out, “Who benefits from the US attack on Syria? ISIS, which immediately after the attack began a ground offensive.”

6. Medical Cannabis and States’ Rights

Donald Trump often spoke obscurely about his position on marijuana, but was at least warm to the idea of states being able to decide on its legalization and regulation. As a private citizen, Trump actually wanted to end the drug war, but as a candidate he softened that position and said that “I think medical should happen— right? Don’t we agree? I think so. And then I really believe we should leave it up to the states.”

7. Eliminating the National Debt

Trump claimed that he would be able to balance the federal budget within eight years. He’s not the first presidential candidate to make this claim, and the debt is so large that any actions taken in his administration thus far would show little effect at this time. However, Trump’s goal is not based in reality according to one of his own appointees.

8. Ousting Fed Chair Yellen

Trump as a candidate was quite critical of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as well as the Reserve itself. He told CNBC in May 2016 that he would probably replace her at the end of her term in 2018.

In September 2016, he accused Yellen of orchestrating a “false stock market” with artificially low interest rates and said she should be “ashamed of herself.” Later he said, “You know, I like her, I respect her.” He added that “I do like the low interest rate policy.”

9. Prosecuting Hillary Clinton

As unlikely as this scenario would be in reality, yards across America bore “Lock Her Up” signs in reference to Trump’s political nemesis Hillary Clinton and her infamous private email server in addition to the Benghazi scandal.

In October 2016, he told Clinton that “If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation, because there’s never been so many lies, so much deception.”

10. Building “the wall”

One of Trumps’ most famous and gargantuan promises to the public was that he would build a physical wall along the border of Mexico and the United States and that Mexico would foot the bill.

Following the election, that initiative has fallen apart and repeated attempts to keep the project alive have stalled.

Father Solalinde demands freedom for Dr. Mileles

by the El Reportero’s wire services

On March 30 of this year, after giving the Speech of Human Rights, the violation of the Human Rights of Migrants, directed at Morena militants and the general public, Father Alejandro Solalinde Guerra was approached by the press at the outskirts of the STUNAM precinct and referred among other subjects to Dr. José Manuel Mireles, about whom he said:

“Doctor Mireles is a person who has his place in history, a person who stood up, who had the courage to defend his people against organized crime and the same government.”

The priest believes that in the face of the collusion of some rulers with organized crime José Manuel Mireles Valverde had the courage to stand up, which can be considered an example of courage, and his current situation a political prisoner of the current regime.

“Peña Nieto does not forgive Mireles to has contradicted his Viceroy Alfredo Castillo, who is also part of the Atlacomulco group, and also participates in the same.”

Likewise Father Solalinde demanded the freedom not only of Doctor Mireles but also of all the other political prisoners.

“I demand your release! I demand your release! Of him and of all the political prisoners.”

This statement is given in the framework of the National Day for the Liberation of Dr. Mireles, which will begin with a cultural political act next Saturday April 29 at 12 midday at 6 p.m. in the Plaza de las tres Cultures of Tlatelolco. To this day, various social organizations, activists, human rights defenders, artists, academics, and other personalities are invited. It should be noted that Father Alejandro Solalinde confirmed his participation in this cultural political act.

Mexico endorses medical and scientific use of marijuana

The Mexican Chamber of Deputies passed some amendments to the General Health Law and the Federal Penal Code to permit the medical, therapeutic and research use of marijuana, whose consumption continues, though, to be penalized.

The bill was sent to the Executive Power for its publication on the Official Gazette.

In this regard, the Mexican Ministry of Health must design and implement public policies that regulate the medical use of pharmacological by-products made of marijuana, control the research and national production thereof and also authorize the import of pharmacological by-products of cannabis.

In addition, it decriminalizes the planting, cultivation or harvesting of marijuana plants for medical and scientific purposes.

Pilots strike would paralyze Panamanian COPA Airline

In an unprecedented event in Panama’s COPA Airlines, its pilots threatened today to strike to pressure the company to deliver a wage increase, union sources said.

The affiliates to the Panamanian Union of Commercial Aviators (UNPAC) approved the call for a strike at a general assembly after a first protest in March did not thaw stagnant negotiations for a collective agreement, union leader Luis Young told reporters.

Again, little more than a hundred pilots walked around the Tocumen International Airport, in this capital, with banners showing their discontent for the wages they consider inadequate for the training they have.

With slogans demanding the end of exploitation in COPA and shouts of ‘Your wealth is my sweat,’ the workers marched yesterday noon outside the terminal, before the curious eyes of passengers and passersby, who took pictures and published them on social media.

According to Young, after holding meetings with airline executives since October 2016, no agreement has so far been reached because several sections of the collective agreement were not consented.

Nicaraguan rock singer launches her first original song/video

by the El Reportero’s news services

As part of her cultural legacy, Nicaraguan singer Martha Vaughan has just embarked on a journey towards what she has always wanted to do: create original music – and of course create her own video.

For that dream has just begun for the rocker and performer with the recording of a powerful song, which will dazzle very soon the international musical environment: Turn my Life On (Enciéndeme la Vida), and whose recording was carried out in the studio Gotera Production, accompanied by great professional musicians.

Her son Pavel Palma Vaughan accompanies her with the guitar and his voice, while the leading guitarist Hugo Lezama, is ensnared by making the electric strings vibrate in Enciéndeme la Vida (Turn My Life On); Miguel Ángel Oviedo Cuadra in the percussion; Carlos Fernando Baltodano Altamirano on the bass; and Jaime Hernández on the keyboard. The recording and mixing was done by Rodrigo Castro, while Johanna Baca Fotografía was in charge of recording and editing the video, which of course required fine professional lighting, which was done by Memo Productions.
And this great work is also thanked to two men who have been part of her life.

The theme of the song is a composition by the great Nicaraguan rocker, guitarist, Ricardo Palma, with whom – years ago – she was married to and is the father of her children. Her current husband, Carlos Solórzano Cuadra was also a great support for the realization of this musical work.

Jackeline Cacho nabs two Daytime Emmy Awards

Triunfo Latino,” a Spanish-language talk show produced and hosted by international journalist Jackeline Cacho, was nominated for two 2017 Daytime Emmy Awards. The two awards are for Outstanding Entertainment Program in Spanish, and Cacho herself was nominated for Outstanding Daytime Talent in a Spanish Languag TV Program.

Cacho helps her audience reach their full potential as the host of her own Spanish- language weekly show, “Jackeline Cacho Presenta Triunfo Latino,” which for the last four years has been seen in 42 U.S. markets on VMe TV. The show promotes Latinos who are making major strides in their professional careers and are recognized as true leaders and award winners.

Mexican composer wins first place at California Song Festival

In the National Final of the 37th California Latin American Song Festival 2017, which takes place online the song Alza la mano won the first place, Platinum Album in the Original Romantic Songs – Pop.

On the subject, its composer, Mexican Manuel Romero, Jr., son of the children and grandchildren of the “Dreamers”, children born in the United States and children of undocumented immigrants.

This song tells us of the terrible emotional impact of the possible separation of the “Dreamers” from their relatives, given the imminent reality of their parents being deported. A highly controversial and vibrant topic. It is possible to mention that the white voices in the theme Lift the hand are members of the choir of Angelitos.

Other winners

Another Mexican singer-songwriter Víctor Arredondo won a Gold Record in the Original Folk Songs for his song El muro, where he tackles another controversial subject, the projected wall between Mexico and the United States. In the poems and lyrics category, the poet Guatemalan Rodolfo Quetzal 5 of the Bay, resident in San Francisco, California, was winner of the Platinum Plume trophy with his poem Pequeña, dedicated to his granddaughter Natalia.

At this year finals, in addition to the United States, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Chile, Puerto Rico, France, Spain, Mexico and Guatemala participated.

Estrella TV dominates prime time In Los Angeles during February sweeps

Spanish language television network experiences audience growth with key Latino audiences

Burbank, CA. Estrella TV, the fastest growing, minority owned Spanish language network in the U.S. announced today that its local flagship station KRCA 62 surpassed both Univision and Telemundo as the #1 Spanish language broadcaster with Males 25-54 and tied for the #1 spot with Univision in the Males 18-49 demographic in Prime Time during February Sweeps in the Los Angeles Market. [1]

Estrella TV’s original Prime Time programming is shaking up the Spanish language television market in the Los Angeles Metro area. According to Nielsen Data for the most recent Sweeps period, the network’s flagship station KRCA 62 (2.1 rating) outperformed Telemundo’s KVEA 52 (2.0 rating), KFTR 46 (1.7 rating), KWHY 22 (0.7 rating) and KAZA54 (0.4 rating) during the 2017 February Sweeps period in the Adults 25-54 demographic, coming in second to Univision’s KMEX 34.

“We are extremely pleased with our KRCA 62 station’s performance in the Los Angeles market. Our original and dynamic programming, combined with our top of the line, award-winning local newscasts proves that the Latino community in Southern California has choices when it comes to Spanish language entertainment and top quality news programming,” stated Lenard Liberman, CEO, LBI Media, parent company to Estrella TV.

Earlier in February, the KRCA 62 news team was honored with four prestigious Golden Mike Awards® recognizing the station’s excellence in TV news reporting in Southern California.

Families to confront SF realtors over housing affordability crisis

Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff

A tenant-led coalition that includes homeowners, realtors and dozens of community, faith and labor organizations around the state will confront the San Francisco Association of Realtors Thursday for practices they say fuel evictions, high prices and displacement.

Pointing to the outsized influence of the realtors in influencing city and state policy, they also plan to visit Sen. Scott Wiener to ask him to stand with the community and withdraw SB 35 until appropriate changes are made that encourage regulation of developers and increase affordable housing.

Meanwhile, coalition members are calling on Sen. Wiener to make changes to SB 35, which currently would allow San Francisco developers to bypass hearings providing valuable community input with no additional requirements for affordable housing.

The action Thursday is just one of many happening around the state as part of a week of action organized by the Housing Now! coalition.

The action is to call for repeal of anti-tenant laws, regulation and taxation of corporate landlords and developers.

On Thursday, April 13, 10:30 a.m. at the San Francisco Association of Realtors, 301 Grove Street (at Franklin).

Juan de Marcos & The Afro-Cuban All Stars

After gaining international fame for reviving the classic sound of Cuban son, tres master Juan de Marcos turned the Afro-Cuban All Stars into a sensational showcase for Cuba’s most prodigious young musicians. While long revered in Latin America and Europe as a founding member of Cuba’s great son revival band Sierra Maestra, de Marcos first gained notice in the US as founder of the Buena Vista Social Club.

It was de Marcos who assembled Ibrahim Ferrer, Elíades Ochóa, Rubén González and the rest of the crew for Ry Cooder when he came to Havana looking for illustrious old timers. But de Marcos is just as interested in promoting Cuba’s brilliant young musicians as in highlighting Cuba’s senior talent.

The Afro-Cuban All Stars not only features a multi-generational cast, the group draws on both classic Cuban styles like son and danzón and contemporary dance rhythms like timba. “What I’m trying to do is create a bridge between contemporary and traditional Cuban music,” de Marcos says.

“I’m trying to mix both things so people can realize that Cuban music didn’t stop in time, that it developed in this long period when Cuban music disappeared from the market.” All four of the Afro-Cuban All Stars shows sold out in Season 2, so get your tickets early!

Saturday, April 15, 7:30 p.m., April 16 @ 10:00 p.m., at SFJAZZ Center, Miner Auditorium, 201 Franklin Street San Francisco.

Actor Gael García Bernal on tour promoting Neruda

by the El Reportero’s news service

Mexican actor Gael García Bernal, is on the promotional circuit for Neruda, a film depicting the dissident Chilean communist and best-known of Latin American poet Pablo Neruda’s time on the run.

Set in the late 1940s, the film is no conventional biopic – part political thriller, part slapstick police chase, part melodrama, it plays with genres and the poetry of its protagonist.

Neruda and his wife, Delia (Mercedes Morán), are pursued by Oscar Peluchonneau (Gael García Bernal), a preening police inspector who stakes his professional honor on his ability to track down the country’s most famous fugitive.

Golden Globe winner García Bernal has played a number of anti-establishment political roles: Che Guevara in The Motorcycle Diaries and Fidel, and an advertising whizz turned anti-government propagandist in No.

Bernal has long been involved in politics, particularly in highlighting the plight of Latino migrants at the hands of the US authorities. In his 2013 documentary, Who Is Dayani Cristal?, he pieces together the journey and story of a central American migrant worker who died trying to cross the border into the United States.

Important Ceramics by Pablo Picasso Auction at Sotheby’s

Sotheby’’s sale of Important Ceramics by Pablo Picasso in London today raised a total of 1.21 millon euros with all but one of the 86 lots offered finding buyers.

The medium of ceramics was largely new to Picasso when he began working at the Madoura Pottery at the South of France in 1947, but he immediately saw the potential of this traditional craft and set about learning and challenging the techniques of the ceramicist’s art, reinterpreting it with a remarkable resourcefulness and his characteristic spontaneity.

From zoomorphic jugs and vases to plates and salvers emblazoned with scenes and faces, Picasso’s imagination was matched by the malleability of the ceramicist’s medium.
This sale offers a comprehensive and exciting collection featuring some of the most attainable examples of the artist’s work available on the international art market.
In these works we truly see Picasso’s freedom of thought and creative powers, and the sense of playfulness for which he was so renowned.

Bolivian main cities to host book fair

Bolivian Culture Minister Wilma Alanoca reported that the capitals of departments in the country would host the fair book this month, aimed at encouraging reading in the Bolivian population.

According to the program presented by Alanoca, the event would take place in several cities starting on April 10 to Nov. 8.

The events will be organized by the departmental chambers and the Mayors’ Offices, sponsoring culture and motivating local writers, poets, and drama writers to work for taking a text to the hands of every citizen in Bolivia, with a message for more social sensitivity, awareness, and love for the homeland.

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