"1,954-mile ‘energy park’ would pay for border wall, create economic boom"

"A new plan to undertake the largest infrastructure project in world history would build a 1,945-mile “energy park” that would pay for itself, deploy sophisticated security to the sometimes dangerous area and turn a largely deserted area into an economic engine."

The plan just released would also build on the cooperative relations between Washington and Mexico City to have both countries build the energy wall.

“Just like the transcontinental railroad transformed the United States in the 19th century, or the Interstate system transformed the 20th century, this would be a national infrastructure project for the 21st century,” said Luciano Castillo, Purdue University's Kenninger Professor of Renewable Energy and Power Systems.

(Click image to enlarge)

He heads the effort authored by 28 engineers and scientists, several of whom are members of the National Academy of Engineering. The school, led by Purdue President Mitch Daniels, a former White House budget director, is running the project.

“It would do for the southwest what the Tennessee Valley Authority has done for the southeast over the last several decades,” said Castillo.

Essentially, the plan would string a train of energy panels, wind turbines, national gas pipelines along the border bookended by desalination plants, creating what the experts said would be a highly protected energy industrial park.

Trump lands in Mexico

Washington Post: U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump landed here in his private jet Wednesday for a hastily arranged meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, according to local media reports, marking Trump’s first formal international trip as the Republican nominee to a country where he is broadly despised for his vilification of illegal immigrants.

No word of a gun fight yet... stay tuned.

Wisconsin: The End Game For La Raza?

An interesting archeological site in southeastern Wisconsin is called Aztalan State Park. There are earthen pyramids and physical evidence that the people who dwelt there were in commercial contact with peoples of the Gulf of Mexico. For still unexplained reasons, the site was suddenly abandoned around 1200-1300 A.D.

Platform Pyramid at Aztalan State Park in Wisconsin

 Wiki takes pains not conflate the word Aztalan with Aztlán, but the words are related:

The name Aztalan was given to this place by Mr. [H. F.] Hyer, because, according to Humboldt, the Aztecs, or ancient inhabitants of Mexico, had a tradition that their ancestors came from a country at the north, which they called Aztalan; and the possibility that these may have been remains of their occupancy, suggested the idea of restoring the name. It is made up of two Mexican words, atl, water, and an, near; and the country was probably so named from its proximity to large bodies of water. Hence the natural inference that the country about these great lakes was the ancient residence of the Aztecs.

Liberating Aztlán is the end game for La Raza and even more sinister groups. That the ancient Aztec Empire extended to Wisconsin appears to be one gringo's fantasy. But whose fantasy is it that the Aztec Empire once included the American Southwest?

I hear more and more Mexicans talking about la raza—to build up their pride. Some people don’t look at it as racism, but when you say ‘La Raza,’ you are saying an anti-gringo thing, and it won’t stop there. Today it’s anti-gringo, tomorrow it will be anti-Negro. We had a stupid guy who just wanted to play politics with the union, and he began to whip up La Raza against the white volunteers, and even had some of the farm workers and the pickets and the organizers hung up on La Raza. So I took him on. These things have to be met head on. On discrimination, I don’t even give the members the privilege of a vote, and I’m not ashamed of it. No, the whole business of discrimination can’t exist here. So often, these days, the leaders are afraid, and even though they feel strongly against racism, they will not speak out against it. If the leadership is united, then it can say, ‘All right, if you’re going to do things that way, then you’ll have to get rid of us.’ You have to speak out immediately, the first time. ~ Cesar Chavez

Jobs moving to Mexico

Link to news story.

"Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman escapes"

"Guards at the Altiplano Federal Prison discovered during a routine check on Saturday that Guzman, known as "El Chapo," was missing, a statement from the commission said."

Guzman escaped through a hole in his cell that led to a tunnel nearly a mile long, Mexico National Security spokesman Monte Alejandro Rubido García confirmed Sunday morning at a press conference in Mexico City. The hole led to a tunnel that was lighted and ventilated, the spokesman said.

Guzman is the storied boss of one of the world's most powerful and deadly drug trafficking operations.

He escaped in 2001 from a high-security prison in a laundry cart and was not apprehended again until 2014, when he was arrested at a Mexican beach resort.

In the dead of night the House voted to repeal a law requiring country-of-origin labels on packages of beef, pork and poultry

"The House voted 300-131 late Wednesday to repeal labels that tell consumers what countries the meat is from — for example, "born in Canada, raised and slaughtered in the United States" or "born, raised and slaughtered in the United States." The Senate has yet to act."

Canada and Mexico have opposed the labeling because it causes their animals to be segregated from those of U.S. origin — a costly process that has led some U.S. companies to stop buying exports.

The bill would go beyond just the muscle cuts of red meat that were covered under the WTO case, repealing country-of-origin labeling for poultry, ground beef and ground pork. The chicken industry has said the labeling doesn't make much sense for poultry farmers because the majority of chicken consumed in the United States is hatched, raised and processed domestically.

The legislation would leave in place country-of-origin labeling requirements for several other commodities, including lamb, venison, seafood, fruits and vegetables and some nuts.

Slaughter houses and meat packets are under strict food safety regulations here. Can the same be said for Canada and Mexico?

Bikers To The Rescue

Bikers are going to try to do what Obama Administration has refused to do – namely, try to rescue USMC Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi. John Harrington of Shield Tactical is leading the charge.

Good luck, brothers and sisters, ride safe, stay safe!

Anthony Bourdain: Under the Volcano (Feliz 5 de Mayo)

"Mexico. Our brother from another mother. A country, with whom, like it or not, we are inexorably, deeply involved, in a close but often uncomfortable embrace. Look at it. It’s beautiful. It has some of the most ravishingly beautiful beaches on earth. Mountains, desert, jungle. Beautiful colonial architecture, a tragic, elegant, violent, ludicrous, heroic, lamentable, heartbreaking history. Mexican wine country rivals Tuscany for gorgeousness. Its archeological sites—the remnants of great empires, unrivaled anywhere. And as much as we think we know and love it, we have barely scratched the surface of what Mexican food really is. It is NOT melted cheese over a tortilla chip. It is not simple, or easy. It is not simply ‘bro food’ halftime. It is in fact, old— older even than the great cuisines of Europe and often deeply complex, refined, subtle, and sophisticated. A true mole sauce, for instance, can take DAYS to make, a balance of freshly (always fresh) ingredients, painstakingly prepared by hand. It could be, should be, one of the most exciting cuisines on the planet. If we paid attention. The old school cooks of Oaxaca make some of the more difficult to make and nuanced sauces in gastronomy. And some of the new generation, many of whom have trained in the kitchens of America and Europe have returned home to take Mexican food to new and thrilling new heights."

Floating down the river of Xcaret, Riviera Maya, Mexico pic.twitter.com/VurK8gka3Q
— Planet Earth (@planetepics) April 5, 2014

Puerto Vallarta

Weather here in the 80's and sunny! I am currently representing a family that has a beautiful home here in the heart of Old Town Puerto Vallarta on a dead end street and quiet. It is three stories and wonderful art work and  2 fountains. It is cleaned three times a week and sleeps up to 10 people--4 bedrooms and five baths. Staff will cook and you need only pay for groceries and tip them if you want them to cook for you. It's close to all the many amenities and the new Act II Theatre. The family lives in Mexico City but is in very good condition. If you think you might have an interest let me send some photos. Price is great $800/week and $2200 a month.  

Hope you are well

He knows what he's hablando about, owns some fifteen places himself. And it sounds like a very good deal indeed. This is a generous offer.  That is $114.00 a day and even less for a month, $73.00 a day. And it is that time of year. It would be fun to take the whole month and settle in. Imaginarse como bien sus español sería si lo hicieras. See? That there is advanced because it is reflexive and it is future subjunctive. That't the thing. You just jump right in and accept corrections. Sometimes the local people will think, "This is all wrong, but he's trying." 

"That is, 'Imaginarse como aumentado sus español.'" 

"Gracias." 

And when you come back...

...your fish are all dead. Not really. But best cut the plants back first. 

Beauty Tip

Try not to spend five years in custody.

As Mexico's foremost female drug trafficker, Sandra Avila Beltran is notorious for her lavish lifestyle and love of cosmetic surgery. Soon, the "Queen of the Pacific" will once again be able to enjoy such indulgences as she prepares for her release from a US prison. 

The 52-year-old is set to be returned to Mexico in the next few days after a US judge sentenced her to 70 months in prison but ruled that the penalty had been fulfilled by her five years spent in a Mexican jail and 11 months in US custody.

(snip)She has inspired a number of "narco-ballads" - folk songs which eulogise the exploits of drug traffickers - notably Party in the Mountains by Los Tucanes de Tijuana. In the video for the track, overflowing with Hummers, limousines and helicopters, Avila is portrayed by the Mexican model Fabiola Campomanes, shown jetting into the party on her own private plane. 

(snip)Her imprisonment in a Mexico City jail might have hindered but did not entirely interrupt her beauty regimen. In 2011, two officials at the Santa Martha Actitla Prison were fired after it was revealed they had allowed a plastic surgeon to enter the facility and administer Botox injections to the high profile inmate.

Here is the above mentioned narco-ballad she inspired. Is it just me, or should she be imprisoned for life, rather than being released to further glamorize the mafioso life-style? Or should we just call the whole drug war off?