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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.

Is it our goal to prolong the Syrian war?

by Sam Husseini

Many are claiming that Trump is being inconsistent in illegally attacking the Syrian regime with cruise missiles.

After all, he had been saying the U.S. should focus on defeating ISIS, and now he seems to be going after Assad. But contradictions from Trump are a dime a dozen.
A closer examination shows a deeper pattern of remarkable consistency in U.S. policy toward Syria that is far more critical than the perennial contradictions of politicians like Trump. 

To summarize U.S. actions and non-actions in terms of direct publicly announced U.S. air attacks targeting the Syrian regime: In 2013, when Assad was losing the war, Obama refrained from strikes that may well have ended his regime. Now, four years later, when Assad seems close to winning the war, Trump with a revamped NSC does a 180 on his previous pronouncements and attacks Assad.

Push away the personalities. Dispense with the rhetoric. Free yourself from the spin cycle that much of the media obsess over. Just follow the policy.
The evidence is that the underlying U.S. policy—whether the president is Obama or Trump—is to prolong the Syrian war as much as possible. Let Assad off the hook when he’s cornered, hit him when he’s about to win.

This would not at all be unprecedented. Through the 1980s, the U.S. backed both sides in the Iran-Iraq War, which resulted in horrific carnage. See Dahlia Wasfi’s piece from 2015—“Battling ISIS: Iran-Iraq war redux”—which argued that “Obama’s unofficial strategy to fight ISIS may be that of Reagan’s for Iran and Iraq in the 1980s: a long, drawn-out war to strengthen U.S.-Israeli hegemony in the region.”

Since the Arab uprisings of 2011, we’ve seen a series of actions by the U.S. government and its allies and clients—from Israel and Saudi Arabia in particular—to ensure the destruction of secular, at times independent Arab governments.

Many obsess over “double standards” and apparent contradictions by Trump, Obama, Clinton and other political figures. But much of this analysis presumes that these political figures have stated what their actual goals are.

But a president can’t come forward and publicly say that the goal is the continuation of the war in Syria. That would be to embrace the carnage and suffering that the policy causes. The president can’t just say we’re in cahoots with the authoritarian Israeli and Saudi regimes to keep countries like Iraq, Syria and Libya in turmoil.
So, politicians claim they are acting to save human life or to stop weapons proliferation or whatever their pretext is. Then, because it’s not their actual reasons, people see what seem like contractions: “They don’t know what they’re doing!” “He’s such an idiot!” But they are not really contradictions, they just highlight that the stated goals are not the actual goals.

Except at times. Trump did say in a high profile debate in September 2015: “ISIS wants to fight Syria. Why are we fighting ISIS in Syria? Let them fight each other and pick up the remnants.”

And this gruesome notion is occasionally brought up in the establishment media in more polite terms. In 2013, the New York Times reported on how Israel viewed the prospect of Obama bombing Assad’s forces:
Israelis have increasingly argued that the best outcome for Syria’s two-and-a-half-year-old civil war, at least for the moment, is no outcome.
[For the Israeli government], the status quo, horrific as it may be from a humanitarian perspective, seems preferable to either a victory by Mr. Assad’s government and his Iranian backers or a strengthening of rebel groups, increasingly dominated by Sunni jihadis.

“This is a playoff situation in which you need both teams to lose, but at least you don’t want one to win—we’ll settle for a tie,” said Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul general in New York. “Let them both bleed, hemorrhage to death: that’s the strategic thinking here. As long as this lingers, there’s no real threat from Syria.”
The synergy between the Israeli and American positions, while not explicitly articulated by the leaders of either country, could be a critical source of support as Mr. Obama seeks Congressional approval for surgical strikes in Syria.

This notion comes up occasionally.

It’s often claimed that “regime change” is the goal of the U.S., including by presumed critics of it. But that might be too simple of an explanation. After all, the U.S. government sometimes claims this is its goal. At times the goal may well be not “regime change” but No Regime.

Perhaps the U.S. establishments would like subservient leaders in Syria and Iraq and Libya. But these are significant counties with population, some resources and some capacity for independence. This is in contrast with Gulf sheikdoms and other monarchies like Jordan which are effectively client states of the U.S.

So, if permanent subservience is not possible, then a crippled country, with the possibility of dismemberment, is a fairly good option for those intent on ensuring U.S.-Israel-Saudi dominance of the region. At least for the time being.

Keep the fighting, keep the bleeding. Keep the people of the Mideast divided and fighting while the U.S. establishment solidifies its plans on how it will “pick up the remnants.”

The phrase “Deep State” has been in vogue of late, as if it’s an entity that Donald Trump were out to undo even as he empowers it. But what does that really mean? A bureaucracy, perhaps. But more than anything, I think it’s an articulation of policy that the U.S. government pursues that dare not speak its name.

Sam Husseini is founder of VotePact.org, which works for left-right cooperation. He is also communications director of the Institute for Public Accuracy.

What on Earth is happening to our temperature? – Part 2

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 by other people clamming 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, they claim is a fraud.
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 2 OF THREE. To read the first part visit: https://elreporterosf.com/?p=22816

What on earth is happening to our temperature?

by Ed Hiserodt and Rebecca Terrell

Manipulating the data

A January 2017 joint announcement made by NASA, NOAA, and CRU claimed that the Earth experienced “record breaking temperatures for three years in a row” — 2014, 2015, and 2016. Mainstream media shrieked doomsday headlines such as “2016 Blows Away Temp Records” and “Climate Trends Continue to Break Records.” These “official” temperature readings came from some 3,000 weather stations and also include measurements of sea-surface temperatures. But have you noticed that they don’t bother troubling you with actual numbers?

Here they are: 2015 was 0.02ºC warmer than 2014. Then 2016 was 0.01ºC warmer than 2015. It stretches mental limits to imagine how these agencies actually determine the average global temperature to the nearest 0.01ºC, particularly when an amazing 0.10ºC margin of error accompanies these “record breaking temperatures”! As Federalist writer Robert Tracinski aptly put it: “That’s like saying the ball is on the 10 yard line — give or take a hundred yards.” But even if accurate, do these very slight differences truly show a warming trend? If mainstream outlets had any scientific honor, their article titles would have sounded something more like: “Even in the Face of an Unusually Strong El Niño, the Global Temperature Has Not Statistically Changed in the Last Three Years.”

Moreover, there are problems that severely limit temperature-recording accuracy. One is a shift in weather-recording stations from colder to warmer climates, another relates to how NASA, NOAA, and CRU treat “missing” data, and a third stems from improperly sited stations. Quoting a 2010 Science and Public Policy Institute report, Surface Temperature Records: Policy Driven Deception? by Joseph D’Aleo and Anthony Watts, William F. Jasper reported for The New American last year:
Globally, the number of surface temperature stations dropped from 6,000 to just over 1,000. “The Russian station count dropped from 476 to 121 so over 40 percent of Russian territory was not included in global temperature calculations,” note D’Aleo and Watts. “In Canada, the number of stations dropped from 600 to less than 50.” Less than 50 for all of Canada! At the same time, more mid-latitude and lower-elevation stations were added, along with more populated centers, adding more urban heat island (UHI) effect. D’Aleo and Watts point out: “Forty percent of GHCN v2 stations have at least one missing month. This is concentrated in the winter months.” No problem; the NOAA/NASA/GHCN folks simply “infill” with “adjusted” data, always biasing in the warming direction, of course.

Meanwhile, southern climes have seen the addition of temperature recording sites, such as the 2008 creation of NOAA’s technically advanced 114-station U.S. Climate Reference Network. A mere five years later, NOAA announced closure of nearly 600 weather stations in its U.S. Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) after research by retired meteorologist Anthony Watts revealed that nearly 90 percent of U.S. stations “fail to meet the National Weather Service’s own siting requirements that stations must be 30 meters or more away from an artificial heating or radiating/reflecting heat source.” Watts scoffed at the closure announcement, calling it “too little, too late” and asking Fox News, “The question remains as to why they continue to use a polluted mix of well-sited and poorly-sited stations.”

The situation has hardly improved since. A recent provocative article in the Deplorable Climate Science Blog entitled “100 percent of US Warming is Due to NOAA Data Tampering” contends that NOAA has been further manipulating USHCN records.

Satellite Data

The “satellite analyses” Curry noted are the same analyses mentioned earlier, performed by UAH and RSS. Doctors Roy Spencer and John Christy have directed the UAH program since its 1978 inception. Speaking of the “Pausebuster Paper,” Spencer told Fox News, “We believe the satellite measurements since 1979 provide a more robust measure of global temperatures, and both satellite research groups see virtually the same pause in global temperatures for the last 18 years.” Spencer criticized NOAA, calling its 2015 study “one more example that you can get any answer you want when the thermometer data errors are larger than the global warming signal you are looking for.” On the other hand, UAH boasts a track record of preserving its findings from political bias.

Figure 4 is the January 2017 update of global temperatures from Spencer’s popular website, www.drroyspencer.com. Two peaks stand out on the record: one in 1998 and the waning 2015 El Niño Pacific disturbances. The January 2017 plot of +0.30ºC means the global temperature average exceeds the baseline average for 1980 to 2005 by about a third of a degree Celsius, or about one-half degree Fahrenheit.

Despite its close relationship with NASA, the RSS agrees closely with UAH. Consider Figure 5, which plots both organizations’ datasets.

Both UAH and RSS show a trend line for a decrease in temperature since 1995 — UAH at -0.024ºC per decade, and RSS at -0.032ºC per decade. If we extend these to 100 years, UAH predicts a decrease in temperature of 1.2ºC, while RSS projects a 1.6ºC decrease. Not quite in keeping with the climate models that predict a four- or five-degree rise in temperature.

Castor oil is great for thickening and regrowing hair, eyelashes and eyebrows

by Danna Norek

Castor oil is often overlooked for its benefits for the skin and hair because of its extremely thick and sticky consistency.  However, if you’re looking for a cheap, natural remedy for several common skin and hair complaints, then castor oil is definitely worth your time.

Castor oil for regrowing and thickening hair, eyelashes and eyebrows

I first stumbled on castor oil as a remedy for re-growing thin eyebrows. I had over-plucked my brows back in the nineties when it was the hip thing to have pencil thin brows, and they never did quite recover.  It became necessary for me to pencil in the “bald” spots and I missed the natural look of real hair where these spots were missing.

I read about castor oil as a remedy for thinning brows and hair, and thought I’d try it. I bought a hexane free, organic and cold pressed castor oil and started applying it to my eyebrows every night after washing my face.  After about three months, I noticed my brows were noticeably thicker (and they seemed to be growing in darker as well), and attributed it to the nightly application of castor oil.

I’m not the only one that this has worked for.  So, why would castor oil help you regrow hair – both on your head and the other two important places, the eyebrows and the eyelashes.

Castor oil is high in ricinoleic acid.  This acid is a very effective natural anti-bacterial and anti-fungal agent.  This can help keep any fungus or bacteria from inhibiting hair growth.  Since the oil is also very thick, it may help to prevent hair loss simply by helping to coat the hair and protect it from falling out.

Castor oil is also high in omega 9 fatty acids, which are nourishing to both the hair and the follicle, as well as the surrounding skin.  Castor oil has a unique ability to be deeply penetrating, and this helps it to deliver its nourishment deeply into the pores and the follicles that produce hair.

Simply put about two drops on your hands and rub, then smooth through the ends.  If you use too much, there is a fine line between subtle shine and a heavy greasiness so go very light until you figure out the amount that works right for your hair type.

If you’re looking to re-grow the hair on your head, you can use castor oil as a scalp treatment. However it can be tricky to get on the scalp without thinning it out with a lighter oil. You can add some melted coconut oil, apricot kernel oil or another lighter oil to help get it spreadable enough.

If you’re simply looking to help thicken hair that is thinning at the edges of your hairline, you can use pure castor oil, with a light hand of course.  Another use is to apply the oil to eyelashes to help thicken and strengthen them, as well as to help prevent thinning and shedding.

Many attest to the wonders castor oil offers for keloid types of scars and other scars that involve a lot of hardened scar tissue.  This is presumably due to its ability for deep penetration through multiple skin layers.

Because castor oil softens the skin so much, the thought is that this softening helps to break down deep scar tissue so it may be smoothed out.  In addition, castor oil has shown promise as a white blood cell stimulating agent.  Studies have also shown that castor bean oil helps reduce the inflammatory response in subcutaneous tissue.  This may be why it seems to speed wound healing, and may also contribute to its ability to reduce scarring more quickly.

Castor oil is also excellent for the lips.  Our lips needs constant protection against the elements. Although our lips regenerate and recover quickly, they also dry out and begin to peel when they are dehydrated.

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