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Mexico loses GM corn trade dispute with US

Imagen que refleja los aspectos nocivos del maíz genéticamente modificado (GM), destacando sus impactos sobre la salud y el medio ambiente. -- Image reflecting the harmful aspects of genetically modified (GM) corn, highlighting its impacts on health and the environment.

The harmful side of genetically modified corn they don’t tell you

by the El Reportero‘s wire services

A three-member USMCA dispute resolution panel has handed Mexico a big defeat by ruling against the country’s restrictions on genetically modified (GM) corn imports, citing a lack of scientific basis for the measures.

The panel found that Mexico’s policies were in violation of its obligations under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), most notably in regard to market access.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) office said the panel ruled in favor of all seven U.S. legal claims in the long-running case, “handing the Biden administration a major trade victory in its final weeks,” according to Reuters.

Announced on Friday, the decision comes after years of escalating tensions since Mexico’s initial 2021 decree to phase out GM corn for human consumption — starting with bans against the use of GM corn in tortillas and dough, with a possible future ban on GM corn for livestock, as well.

Mexico has been importing GM corn from the U.S. for years, buying about US $3 billion worth annually. That corn is mainly used to feed livestock.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) notes that more than 90% of corn in the U.S. is produced using genetically engineered varieties, according to a fact sheet produced by the Washington, D.C.-based Wilson Center.

In general, genetic modifications made to plants introduce traits such as resistance to pests, tolerance to herbicides such as Roundup, better nutritional content or faster growth.

While genetically modified organisms (GMOs) remain a subject of debate, the widely used but controversial herbicide Roundup has been classified as a “probable carcinogen,” by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The USTR hailed last week’s ruling, stating it upheld USMCA principles and protected U.S. farmers — as Mexico is the largest market for U.S. corn exports.

According to the Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS), an agency within the USDA, Mexico imported US $4.25 billion of corn from the U.S. from January through September of this year, a period in which U.S. corn exports totaled US $10.76 billion.

Mexico’s Ministry of Economy said in a statement on Friday that it does not agree with the ruling, but “will respect the determination, since the USMCA dispute resolution system is a key part of the treaty.” The ministry’s statement stressed that Mexico’s GMO measures were designed “to protect public health and Indigenous rights.”

Over the weekend, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she also disagrees but will now work on promoting reform to the GMO decrees issued under former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

“We are going to reverse this decision, because very soon, in February, [Mexico’s Congress is] going to legislate, I am sure, that transgenic corn cannot be planted [in Mexico starting in 2025] and that Mexico’s biodiversity must be protected,” Sheinbaum said.

Both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are in recess, returning Feb. 1.

In addition to citing unfair trade restrictions, the U.S. argued that Mexico’s restrictions were not grounded in science and that Mexico failed to properly conduct and document its risk assessments on GM crops.

The panel’s final report gave Mexico 45 days to adjust its policies or face potential retaliatory tariffs.

Experts say the GM corn dispute could strain Mexico-U.S. relations as the USMCA faces renegotiation under the incoming Trump administration.

Despite the ruling, Mexico is still planning a gradual transition away from GM corn, though it remains a contentious issue. Analysts predict prolonged debates over the environmental and health implications of biotechnology as Mexico seeks to balance trade obligations with domestic goals.

Part of the equation going forward could be “short corn,” which Bayer, the owner of Monsanto, has been studying in Mexico with hopes of revolutionizing the global corn industry.

With reports from AP, Reuters and CNN en Español.

Additional information searched by El Reportero:

The harmful side of genetically modified corn they don’t tell you

Genetically modified (GM) corn has been heralded for its ability to resist pests, increase yields, and tolerate harsh climates. However, mounting evidence suggests that its widespread use comes with significant health and environmental risks. Critics argue that the potential dangers of GM corn are often downplayed or ignored entirely.

One major concern is the health impact of consuming GM corn, particularly strains engineered to produce their own pesticides, like Bt corn. Dr. Gilles-Eric Séralini, a molecular biologist, warns, “The consumption of GM crops with pesticide residues over the long term has not been adequately studied, but available evidence suggests significant risks.” Similarly, research published in Environmental Sciences Europe highlights that glyphosate, widely used on GM crops, is a “probable carcinogen with links to liver and kidney damage.”

On the environmental front, GM corn threatens biodiversity by promoting monoculture farming, which reduces soil fertility and harms beneficial insects. Dr. Vandana Shiva, an environmental activist, states, “Monocultures of GM crops destroy the resilience of ecosystems and traditional farming methods.” Additionally, GM corn has contributed to the rise of “superweeds” and “superpests,” forcing farmers to use stronger chemicals.

While proponents argue that GM corn helps address global food security, it is essential to weigh these benefits against the potential risks. Greater transparency, stricter regulations, and independent research are vital to understanding its true impact.

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Will filling out student aid form target undocumented parents for Trump’s mass deportations?

Al frente, estudiantes latinos en júbilo durante la ceremonia de graduación universitaria. In the foreground, Latino students in jubilation during the university graduation ceremony.

National and California experts say Trump’s mass deportation plans make filling out the federal financial aid application for college a risk to students with undocumented parents. California’s own application has more safeguards

by Mikhail Zinshteyn

Incoming president Donald Trump has vowed to deport all of the country’s undocumented residents.

For students who are eyeing college, his presidency represents a potentially brutal Sophie’s Choice if they have undocumented parents: Risk exposing them to a possible immigration dragnet by completing the federal Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, or leave thousands of dollars in cash for school on the table.

While researchers and advocates have yet to hear anything concrete from Trump representatives about using financial aid data to target undocumented residents, they know families are afraid.

“Front line staff that work directly with students are reporting that students and parents are asking them if the FAFSA is safe” given Trump’s campaign promises of mass deportation, said Marcos Montes, policy director for Southern California College Attainment Network, a coalition of nonprofits that help students apply for college admission and financial aid.

The National College Attainment Network said those fears are justified. It “cannot assure mixed-status students and families that data submitted to the US Department of Education, as part of the FAFSA process, will continue to be protected,” a message on its website read late last month.

That fear is exacerbated by Trump’s claims Sunday to NBC News that the only way to deport undocumented parents whose children are citizens is to have the whole family leave. “I don’t want to be breaking up families,” Trump said. “So the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.” How Trump can force out citizens, including those with parents not born in the U.S., is unclear; experts say ending birthright citizenship would violate the U.S Constitution.

An estimated 3.3 million Californians live in mixed-status households, including 1 in 5 children under 18, according to data from Equity Research Institute, a USC research group.

A California workaround

Experts say California students eligible for financial aid can minimize the possible harm to their undocumented parents. Unlike the FAFSA, the state aid application is not shared with federal agencies. That policy is among the various protections in place under California’s so-called “sanctuary” laws that limit the use of state resources to help federal immigration enforcement. Several legal experts told CalMatters the Trump administration would have to clear a high legal bar to gain access to those state records and that court cases have put restrictions on how wide a net immigration enforcement agencies can cast in their search for data.

Because the deadline for state financial aid is in March — though there are plans to move it to April — and the federal deadline is much later, Californians attending college here should complete the state application first, said Montes. Then they should wait to see if the Trump administration will break precedent and begin using the federal financial aid data for immigration enforcement purposes.

That strategy is also endorsed by Madeleine Villanueva, the interim higher education director at Immigrants Rising, a California-based advocacy and research group focused on undocumented residents. She stressed that there’s a bevy of analysts and immigrant rights advocates who’ll be watching for updates from the Trump administration.

“Unfortunately, we can’t say what’s going to happen federally,” she said. But the California state aid application, known as the California Dream Act Application, is an “extra layer of safety when it comes to applying for financial aid.”

The California Student Aid Commission, an agency with the sole goal of getting students more money, suggests students may need to forgo federal aid given the risks to their families. The agency, which runs the state’s financial aid programs, wrote in a memo last month that completing just the state aid application is a “viable option” for students in mixed-status homes who have “fears of adverse action by federal immigration enforcement.”

However, taking a wait-and-see approach with federal aid means California campuses won’t have a full picture of how much aid a student is likely to get when they send out financial aid estimates to admitted students in the spring. The University of California’s central office worries that students may not complete the FAFSA and lose out on aid. Both UC and the California State University indicated to CalMatters they’ll process either form students submit and will work with students who file their federal applications later.

About 400,000 Californians receive the Cal Grant, which waives tuition at the public universities and partially at private colleges. That grant plus the state’s Middle Class Scholarship can add up to more than $17,000 in aid in one year. The state aid application ensures students fearful of the federal application can still receive the state support for which they’re eligible.

The University of California’s undergraduate student government is also on edge about FAFSA. The lack of a firm firewall “could put certain students at risk,” said Saanvi Arora, external vice president for UC Berkeley’s student government and a board member for the systemwide student government.

Understanding the FAFSA risk

Students who are citizens and permanent residents are eligible for up to $7,400 in Pell grants and access to federal loans that come with repayment protections that are often stronger than what the private sector offers. To receive this aid, students who live with their parents need them to fill out portions of the federal aid application. More recently, parents without Social Security numbers have been asked to indicate they lack one and then must answer a set of questions about their identity.

The U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Homeland Security, which also oversees the country’s immigration enforcement, have a regularly renewed agreement limiting the use of a student’s personal information. Because students need to be citizens or permanent residents to get financial aid, a signed agreement between the two departments states that students’ information they submit for FAFSA will be matched against an eligible immigration list called SAVE. It’s one that hundreds of state, local and federal agencies use to determine whether an individual is eligible for federal benefits. Neither SAVE nor the agency that operates it, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, are used for immigration enforcement purposes.

Conceptually, it’s not hard to use that federal financial aid data for enforcement purposes, according to experts who spoke with CalMatters. However, doing so would be a major break from current protocol.

Under the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Education “has not provided and will not provide information gathered through FAFSA to any federal immigration-related agency for law enforcement activities,” wrote in an email James Kvaal, who holds the number two spot at the U.S. Department of Education and is the top higher education officer in the federal government. However, he wrote, “students and their families should make the decisions that are right for them.”

That does not “sound like a robust encouragement to go ahead and fill out the FAFSA,” said Bob Shireman, who was a senior higher education official in the education department during the Obama administration.

The agreement between the departments “is not much of a firewall, it is more like a picket fence,” Shireman said in an interview. The agreement can be changed in a matter of months, he said, “so if the next administration wants to use education department records to identify people who may have an immigration status that could subject them to deportation, I don’t see anything preventing that from happening.”

Federal laws limit the data sharing that can occur between the U.S. Department of Education and law enforcement agencies, said Shelveen Ratnam, a spokesperson for the California Student Aid Commission. Ratnam said that current law “strictly prohibits” agencies in possession of personally identifiable information, like parental data, from releasing that information, with few exceptions. Some other laws and policies also apply and the gist is that an agency can only use the personal information of others in ways that support the mission of that federal agency.

But if the U.S. Department of Education gets subpoenaed for information, the department’s “responses and likelihood of challenging the demand for information are unknown,” according to Ratnam.

Even analysts who say using parental FAFSA information is an inefficient way to find possible undocumented parents urge caution. They say it’s not out of the question that a Trump administration could try to make use of that data for immigration enforcement purposes.

While “it’s sort of methodologically flawed as a way to identify individuals,” said Corinne Kentor, an immigration and higher education researcher, “that doesn’t mean that it won’t be attempted. But I think it is probably harder and more work than other avenues.”

California Dream Act Application is safer

The California Dream Act Application has more protections than the federal application. Though originally designed to allow undocumented students who are California residents to apply for state college benefits, the application in 2024 was modified to permit any student who ran into problems with the federal application to at least apply for state grants. The change stemmed from colossal data issues with the federal application this year that prevented students with parents without Social Security numbers from completing the FAFSA.

According to a 1988 federal appeals court decision, “the government can’t enforce a subpoena that is just ‘fishing’ for data about undocumented people,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, a scholar on immigration law at UCLA. That’s in contrast to “trying to gather information on a particular individual that the government has reason to suspect is here in violation of the immigration laws.”

Arulanantham also said that a federal agency asking California’s financial aid agency to search databases for undocumented students could run afoul of the 10th Amendment.

Finally, the state’s financial aid agency could challenge a judicial order or subpoena that seeks student records on the grounds that it’s not specific enough and violates the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable search and seizure, Ratnam said.

Now what does all this mean for students with undocumented parents who already submitted FAFSA information last year? Their information is already in government systems. Should they continue to file their FAFSA? Experts had few answers. They said that’s a decision that only families can decide together given the varying protections available.

Arora, the UC student government member, is sympathetic to those households. It’s “absolutely a tough question,” she said. That’s one reason she wants UC officials to bolster existing immigration legal aid services, such as bringing in more lawyers.

It’s one answer she has to her own question: “How do we mitigate retribution that’s likely to happen against those students?”

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Biden cancels Title IX rule on transgender sports

by Citizen Frank

The Biden administration has scrapped plans to prohibit states from banning transgender athletes from participating in school sports.

According to Reuters, Biden’s Department of Education withdrew the proposed rule from the federal register on Friday afternoon.

The rule, if it went into effect, would have barred schools from banning transgender athletes from participating in sports teams different from their sex assigned at birth.

According to Outkick, the Education Department explained its reasoning for withdrawing the proposed rule in a statement.

”The Department recognizes that there are multiple pending lawsuits related to the application of Title IX in the context of gender identity, including lawsuits related to Title IX’s application to athletic eligibility criteria in a variety of factual contexts. In light of the comments received and those various pending court cases, the Department has determined not to regulate on this issue at this time. Therefore, the Department hereby withdraws the Athletics NPRM and terminates this rulemaking proceeding,” the Education Department said.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, one of the organizations that sued the Biden administration over the rule, welcomed the move in a statement.

“Women and girls deserve to compete on a level playing field, and the U.S. Department of Education has taken a step in the right direction by withdrawing this proposed change. As the withdrawal admitted, many Americans voiced their opposition to the rule change and there are many pending lawsuits related to protecting women’s sports—including a comment submitted by Alliance Defending Freedom and multiple lawsuits brought by ADF to protect women’s sports. The decision to withdraw the proposed sports rule merely reflects the views of the vast majority of Americans who believe that women’s sports should remain reserved for female athletes,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Legal Strategy Jonathan Scruggs.

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Trump demands review of Panama Canal fees, suggests U.S. takeover

by Independent Correspondent Alex Fields

President-elect Donald Trump expressed strong discontent over the fees imposed by Panama for the use of its iconic canal, a vital global trade route, during a statement on Saturday night. Trump suggested that if these tariffs are not reconsidered, he may push for U.S. oversight—or even control—of the waterway upon returning to office.

“The fees Panama is charging are outrageous, especially considering the immense support the United States has provided to that country over the years,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “This exploitation of our country will stop immediately.”

The Panama Canal, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, imposes charges on vessels based on their size, cargo, and purpose. These fees range from as little as $0.50 to upwards of $300,000.

“If Panama does not respect the moral and legal principles underpinning this historic arrangement, we will demand the canal’s full return to U.S. control without hesitation,” Trump added, addressing Panamanian officials directly.

The U.S. is the canal’s most frequent user, making its operation critical to American commerce and military logistics. Control of the canal was formally handed over to Panama in 1999 under the Torrijos-Carter Treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter, a decision Trump sharply criticized.

“When Jimmy Carter recklessly handed it over—essentially for a dollar—it was meant for Panama to manage responsibly, not for third parties like China to interfere,” Trump stated.

Trump also accused Panama of overcharging U.S. businesses, the Navy, and other entities dependent on the canal, calling the rates “exorbitant” and “unacceptable.”

The Panama Canal was built under President Theodore Roosevelt starting in 1904, heralded as a monumental engineering feat and a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. Trump emphasized the canal’s strategic and economic significance, calling for its security to remain a priority for the United States.

“The Panama Canal is essential to our national security and economic stability. We will never allow it to fall into the wrong hands,” he declared. “It was given as a symbol of cooperation, not as a tool to exploit the United States unfairly.”

Trump’s remarks reignited debates over the U.S.’s historical involvement with the canal and its current geopolitical implications. Whether his administration would pursue concrete actions to revisit the canal’s governance remains to be seen.

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Latin Parties in San Francisco for Christmas – Registration open for the San Francisco Children’s Choir

by Magdy Zara

If you want to enjoy the Latin rhythm for this Christmas, you are invited to enjoy several shows.

You will be able to delight in a night of music, dancing and joy, with a Colombian touch, there will be live music and the best Christmas atmosphere. The door will be open from 6 p.m., this December 21 at Marvin’s Gardens, Belmont, located at 1160 Old County Rd, Belmont. The cost of admission is $15.

You will also have an afternoon of timba (Cuban salsa) with DJ Juan Love and his group Tumbao.

DJ JuanLove specializes in the Cuban salsa genre known as Timba, which is the most recent and popular dance music to emerge from Cuba.

TUMBAO dance parties take place:

  • Every first Friday of the month at Victory Hall in SF.
  • Second and third Fridays at Slate Bar in SF’s Mission District.
  • Every first Friday of the month at Victory Hall in San Francisco.
  • Every last Saturday of the month at Brooklyn Basin in Oakland.

The Timba party will be starting at 4 p.m., this December 22nd at 135 12th Street Oakland, California. The cost is $10 and includes a Salsa Rueda lesson with Pablo Dinámico.

The Spanish Orchestra of Harlem will also be performing, to offer a Christmas night with a touch of spicy salsa, in addition to a Latin jazz band.

The Harlem Orchestra offers two shows, one on Saturday 21st at 7 p.m. and on Sunday, Dec. 22nd at 2 p.m., at the Miner SFJAZZ Center auditorium, located at 201 Franklin Street in San Francisco.

Registration open for the San Francisco Children’s Choir

The San Francisco Children’s Choir opens its doors starting in January to incorporate children to join the choir. Choir programs consist of six levels that provide vocal training, music appreciation, bell training, and age-specific performance experience.

Since 1948, the San Francisco Children’s Chorus has trained children to enjoy music, perform in public, and appear in San Francisco Opera productions.

Children in Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st Grade, and 5-year-olds do not need a placement appointment and will automatically be accepted into the Junior Choirs on a trial basis and require no experience.

To register to join the Junior Chorus (no audition or experience required) you can do so through www.sfbc.org/sing

Rehearsals are offered in San Francisco, San Rafael, Oakland, and San Mateo.

Additions will be beginning Jan. 11, 2025 at 10 a.m.

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Clay pots, the traditional ones for making mole

by Mexico Desconocido

Mexican gastronomy is not only a list of ingredients, it is also the way in which food is prepared and even the utensils that are used. All of this results in a unique identity full of aromas, colors and flavors. Without a doubt, one of these elements that cannot be missing from the Mexican culinary imagination are the clay pots, generally used to make the delicious mole (although also many other stews) and in which we imagine traditional cooks stirring for hours with their also traditional wooden spoon.

In Mexico, clay pots have a long history. Pottery made with clay or mud dates back to pre-Hispanic times. However, like almost everything in this country, it also received the artistic wealth of other latitudes, and currently the most popular of these pots are covered with enamel and decorations of New Spanish origin.

How are clay pots made?

In almost all of the country it is common to find clay pots, although they are generally offered in public markets, street markets or in craft shops. They are not mass produced, so their value is truly invaluable, since no piece is the same as another.

The production of clay pots begins with the selection of clay from the mine, which will have to be sifted, kneaded and purged of air bubbles. Later, each pot is made, with its unique shape accompanied by earmuffs; they are also painted with the preferred decoration. The sizes are very variable, since examples can be made for sauce boats or real saucepans that require more than one person to be able to be transported.

The next step is the firing in an oven, where a large number of pieces will be placed so that, after having been dried in the open air, their consistency and color change. The firing of the pieces lasts about five hours. At that same time, the minerals that will become varnish are added.

Where to buy them?

Nowadays, the unique and sturdy clay pots are used less and less. However, their beauty and cultural importance in Mexican gastronomy is undeniable. Despite this, there are privileged places that still produce them with great regularity, such as the municipality of Tlaquepaque in Jalisco, among the Purépecha villages of Michoacán or in different regions of Puebla. Likewise, it is very easy to acquire them in artisan markets such as La Ciudadela or San Ángel in Mexico City.

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Milei says that free trade with Argentina is on Trump’s agenda

“We want to become the freest country in the world so that capital can move freely,” declared the Argentine president

The Argentine government is going to work to achieve a free trade agreement with the United States. “This, which seemed like a pipe dream,” is also on the agenda of the American president-elect, declared Javier Milei on Thursday at the annual dinner of the Federalism and Liberty Foundation in the city of San Miguel de Tucumán.

“One of the men who works with Donald Trump said that advancing the agenda of freedom with Argentina is on the agenda,” said the Argentine president in reference to the free trade agreement between both nations.

“The truth is that it is not enough for us to occupy the 70th place in the index of economic freedom. And that is why we want to become the freest country in the world, so that capital can move freely in our country and we can be an example of prosperity and growth for posterity,” he said.

Milei pointed out that in order to achieve these goals, there are 3,000 pending reforms to be implemented in the coming years and that the task of “returning freedom to Argentines is not an undertaking free of costs and risks, because it necessarily implies taking away privileges and benefits.” to politics, to his friends and to his clients.”

“Without a doubt, we are going to make the country the freest in the world,” he promised.

 

Ecuador clarifies that it is not in “negotiations” with Venezuela to grant a safe-conduct to Jorge Glas

 

The Ecuadorian Presidency stressed that the Noboa Government will not allow “sentenced officials” to evade justice, as occurred in “previous administrations”

The Presidency of Ecuador clarified that it is not in “negotiations” with the Government of Venezuela with the objective of granting a safe-conduct to the former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas, who has been held in a maximum security prison since last April, after being kidnapped by soldiers who assaulted the Mexican Embassy in Quito, where he was protected under asylum conditions.

Through a statement released on Wednesday, the Government of Daniel Noboa indicated that such “negotiations,” on the “alleged proposal” proposed to Quito, “would never have a place” with that Administration.

This position of Ecuador arises as a reaction to the recent statements of the Colombian foreign minister, Luis Gilberto Murillo, who said that the Venezuelan authorities had proposed a safe conduct for Glas and the release of another person, in exchange for Venezuelan opponents who are seeking asylum in the Argentine Embassy in Caracas.

The Ecuadorian Presidency added that the Noboa Government will not allow “sentenced officials” to evade justice, as occurred in “previous administrations”, but rather ensures that impunity is not made impossible.

“Citizen Jorge Glas Espinel, like other people responsible for crimes that have affected Ecuadorian families, will continue to serve their sentence in prison, in strict compliance with what is established by law,” she said.

For her part, the Ecuadorian foreign minister, Gabriela Sommerfeld, told the local press that her country is not “in favor of impunity” or “corruption” and that it is not an ally of the Venezuelan Government.

“There are three principles that are clear for Ecuador,” said Sommerferld, and pointed out that the aforementioned proposal has been discarded for Quito and that it had been proposed between August and September of this year. “There was a proposal from Venezuela. Colombia and Brazil transmitted it. They wanted to be intermediary countries,” said the minister.

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Let’s defend our “Merry Christmas”: A cry for our culture and faith

por Marvin Ramírez

During this December season, it is impossible to ignore a phenomenon that has gained strength in recent years: the transformation of “Merry Christmas” into the generic “Happy Holidays” or “Felices Fiestas.” This seemingly inclusive practice has been driven by an agenda that seeks to dilute Christian values and reduce Christmas to a mere commercial event, stripping it of its divine essence. This change is not accidental; it reflects a society that, under the influence of atheistic revolution and materialism, attempts to erase our cultural and religious roots. Now more than ever, we must reclaim the greeting “Merry Christmas” as a declaration of faith, identity, and cultural resistance.

Christmas, as its name indicates, was conceived to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, the foundation of the Christian faith. Saying “Merry Christmas” is not just a greeting; it is an acknowledgment of that historical and spiritual event that has profoundly marked our Western civilization. By replacing it with a generic term like “Happy Holidays,” we are conceding ground to a narrative that seeks to strip this holiday of its original meaning, reducing it to a period of shopping, lights, and empty parties.

How did we get to this point? The answer lies in an agenda promoted by various sectors, especially governmental and educational, advocating for the absence of God in the public sphere. In many schools, for instance, it is prohibited to speak openly about Jesus Christ or about Christmas in its religious sense. This silencing is not innocent; it is part of a movement that seeks to replace spiritual values with superficial materialism. We are taught that there is no supreme being, that everything is the result of chance, and that happiness is found in consumption and possessions.

This narrative has also generated a feeling of fear or shame in openly expressing our faith. Saying “Merry Christmas” has become, for some, an almost subversive act, as if we were imposing our beliefs on others. But who is really bothered by such a greeting, full of good wishes and meaning? The answer is clear: those who seek to erase our roots and confuse us with ideologies foreign to our culture.

Western civilization, to which we belong as Hispanics, is grounded in Christian culture. It was Christianity that shaped our laws, our morals, and our sense of community. Through the centuries, this faith became integrated into our identity as a people, giving us a unique language and a sense of belonging. Today, that identity is being attacked by an entertainment industry that promotes empty values and a television that glorifies the superficial and ephemeral. Hollywood, with its productions, sells us a distorted version of reality, where what matters is not the soul, but the appearance and consumption.

In this context, the greeting “Merry Christmas” becomes an act of resistance. It is a reminder of who we are and where we come from. It is a declaration that we are not willing to abandon our faith or our cultural identity. By saying “Merry Christmas,” we are affirming our connection with our roots, with our parents and grandparents, who professed this faith with pride and passed it on as a precious legacy.

As Hispanics, we have a special responsibility in this regard. We are a great family, united by language, culture, and faith. If we allow these values to be taken from us, we will be letting them weaken us as a people. We cannot allow external ideologies to divide us or social pressure to make us ashamed of our faith. On the contrary, we must strengthen our traditions and pass them on with pride to future generations.

It is true that we live in a diverse society, where people of different creeds and cultures coexist. This diversity is a richness, but it should not be an excuse to dilute our own beliefs. Respecting others does not mean renouncing who we are. We can live in harmony, recognizing and celebrating our differences, without needing to erase our identity. Saying “Merry Christmas” is not an act of exclusion; it is an expression of our faith and our sincere desire to share the joy of this holiday.

“Merry Christmas” is more than a greeting; it is an affirmation of faith, culture, and identity. It is a reminder of our roots and an act of resistance against a society that tries to empty our traditions of meaning. I urge all Hispanics to say “Merry Christmas” with pride and courage. Let’s not allow them to steal this cultural and spiritual treasure from us. Let’s defend our faith, our history, and our identity, and celebrate together the birth of Jesus Christ, the true reason for this beautiful holiday. Merry Christmas to all.

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Col. Macgregor: Trump should not let Israel lead the US into war with Iran after Syria’s fall

by Col. Douglas Macgregor and James W. Carden

Fri Dec 20, 2024 – 1:56 pm EST (The American Conservative) — Peace is not at hand in the Middle East, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains determined to expand the war.

Syria’s de facto partition into Israeli and Turkish territories is the prelude to wider war with Iran. As the Times of Israel reported last week, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) has “continued to increase its readiness and preparations” for “potential strikes in Iran.”

Netanyahu’s top priority is the destruction of Iran before Russia wraps up its victory in Ukraine and Syria becomes a new battleground for Turks and Israelis. It’s not simply the end of Washington’s “rules-based international order.” It’s the onset of chaos.

Israeli forces and Turkish auxiliaries (i.e. the Islamist terrorists who sacked Syria) are already staring at each other across a demarcation line that runs east–west just south of Damascus. Netanyahu harbors no illusions about the conflict between Ankara’s long-term strategic aims in the region and Jerusalem’s determination to claim the Syrian spoils of war.

In addition to serious financial trouble and societal discontent on the home front, President-elect Donald Trump now confronts the dangerous distraction of wars he did not start, wars that will bring his administration and his country no strategic benefit. America’s underwriting of Netanyahu’s expanding war in the Middle East will endanger U.S. national security and guarantee that Washington, its armed forces, and the U.S. economy will be hostage to whatever strategic direction Netanyahu decides to take.

Starting the war sooner, rather than later, is critical for Netanyahu. War with Iran presents Trump with a strategic fait accompli. In case Trump decides to distance the United States from another bloodbath in the Middle East, Israel’s ongoing conflict with Iran and Turkey’s potential confrontation with Israel will make disengagement impossible.

American policy planners need to understand the larger context in which this is all unfolding – and why a war on Iran will ultimately bring us and our alleged Israeli friends to grief. The principal aim of U.S. foreign policy planners ought to be the adaptation of the American economy and military establishment to the multipolar world and the development of new markets, not new enemies. Washington’s refusal to acknowledge the fundamental shifts in power and wealth lie at the heart of much of the Biden administration’s foreign policy failure.

A successful management of change would avoid a conflict with Iran; it would peacefully reconcile competing claims to regional hegemony, as the Chinese recently did with their brokering of the historic rapprochement between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. It would revitalize such multilateral organizations as the U.N. Security Council and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

These actions would cultivate the emergence of new constellations of power along the lines of Metternich and Castlereagh’s 1815 Concert of Europe. Just as no question of strategic security in Europe can be solved without Russian participation, Washington cannot create stability in the Middle East by unconditionally backing Israel’s territorial ambitions.

Netanyahu believes he has the wind at his back: emboldened by the collapse of the Assad regime, he will turn his attention to Lebanon, southern Syria, and the West Bank. One predictable consequence of an attack on Iran will be a solidifying of the Chinese-brokered Iran-Saudi rapprochement – and a hardening of the blocs in the Greater Middle East, which will see Iran, backed by Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, set against a temporary Israel-Turkish bloc backed by Washington and its European vassals.

Iran is not Iraq: at 90 million people, it is double Iraq’s population, has a more developed economy, and has more powerful allies than Saddam Hussein ever did. Contrary to neoconservative expectations, there are no cake-walks in the greater Middle East.

The only certainty amid the chaos is that, thanks to the connivance of Biden, Netanyahu, and Erdogan, a wider war in the greater Middle East is only just beginning. It is one we will come to regret.

Reprinted with permission from Col. Douglas Macgregor.

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RFK Jr. says there are ‘too many abortions’ during meeting with Republican senators

RFK Jr. made promises to reenact several positive pro-life policies from the first Trump term, while also picking pro-life deputies to assist him at Health and Human Services

by Matt Lamb

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly said he believes there are “too many abortions in the world,” while meeting with Republican Senators as he works to build support for his nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

He also reportedly made promises that the Trump administration would reinstate pro-life policies from its first term and suggested he opposes efforts to include “gender identity” in federal healthcare law and mandate medical professionals provide transgender drugs and surgeries.

“I think there’s too many abortions in the world, let’s just start there,” he reportedly said. The quotes come from Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) who rehashed the conversation to The Daily Wire.

“It’s not that I don’t value life, I value life, I just look at it a little bit different in certain circumstances, what we’ve been through as a family,” Mullin reported RFK Jr. saying.

RFK Jr. has drawn interest from some conservatives for his support for medical freedom when it comes to vaccines, his criticism of Big Pharma, and his pledge to “Make America Healthy Again” by taking on unsafe foods and chronic diseases. At the same time, he has held a variety of positions on abortion, most recently settling on what he called the “emerging consensus” that killing babies should be limited to the first 15 weeks or so. This would only protect about 7 percent of babies from abortion, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Sen. Mullin, recounting his conversation, asked RFK Jr. specifically for his position, saying he had been “all over the map on it.”

President Donald Trump has also signaled he does not see a role for the federal government in enacting legislative protections for preborn life. He also recently reiterated that he supports keeping in place President Joe Biden’s policy of allowing dangerous chemical abortion drugs to be mailed across the country with minimal oversight. The abortion drugs are responsible for about 60 percent of abortions today.

However, he reportedly plans to defund Planned Parenthood, reinstate a ban on taxpayer funding of foreign abortions (the Mexico City Policy), and ensure conscience protections for pro-life medical professionals. Defunding Planned Parenthood has been endorsed by both Vice President-elect JD Vance and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

RFK also “supports reinstating the bar on Title X funds going to organizations that promote abortion,” according to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who laid out the HHS secretary’s promises in a thread on X (formerly Twitter).

“He pledged to reverse the Biden Admin’s Section 1557 rule and also said all of his deputies at HHS would be prolife,” Hawley wrote. Section 1557 is an Obamacare regulation that would force healthcare providers to go along with a gender-confused person’s declared gender, despite it being incongruent with biological sex.

The Missouri Senator also reiterated the comments the nominee gave to Sen. Mullin. “He told me he believes there are far too many abortions in the US and that we cannot be the moral leader of the free world with abortion rates so high.”

Kennedy also reportedly told Mullin:

I’m serving at the will of the President of the United States, and it’s his policies that I will put forth. And so we may not agree on every single issue, but we agree 100 percent, we shouldn’t even be having abortions in this world anyways. But my policies are not what I’m pushing forward, it’s the president’s, and I think the country knows where the president is on that, and so therefore, that’s my position.

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said Kennedy “was very clear, President Trump is pro-life, and he’s gonna have this as a pro-life HHS.” He mentioned Trump’s “three exceptions” for rape, incest, and life of the mother, a view Trump mistakenly attributes to President Ronald Reagan.

Pro-lifers, however, stress that each child is deserving of protection from abortion, no matter their circumstances of conception or potential health problems. Furthermore, medical experts have confirmed that direct abortion is never necessary to save the life of a mother.

Some pro-life groups responded positively to the news of Kennedy meeting with Republican senators.

“There is ample room for the incoming administration to advance the pro-life movement incrementally over the next four years!” Americans United for Life CEO John Mize wrote on X.

“The next administration is poised to be the most protective and compassionate for pregnant women and their children in history,” Chelsey Youman, public policy director for Human Life Coalition, wrote on X.

However, commentator David Harsanyi criticized Hawley for supporting Kennedy, saying the HHS nominee “has a record of supporting [abortion] without any restriction until crowning,” alluding to his past opposition to any federal limits on abortion.

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