Recommended Readings:

La Frontera, o,  La Muralla Trompista

The US-Mexico border seems quiet, but there is a lot going on silently in peoples' understandings of the levers of power on both sides of La Muralla Trompista.  Fronterizos are not as shocked by the events of the past year as Chilangos.  Most Juarenses read Trump's sly winking humor-to-the-base better than we do, and, while they, like us, don't know what will happen next, they know by instinct what counts as serious policy and what does not.  After years of reading about Hugo Chavez and now Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela (amply covered in a refreshingly unindoctrinated national news media), they can tell the difference between a clown and a fool.  Since U.S.-Mexican relations appear to be in for a wild ride, and the stakes are high for people on both sides, this would be a good time for Mexico to elect someone President next year from a border state, but that does not appear likely.  At some point that has not yet been reached citizens from the border on both sides will begin to push back.  My guess?  It will happen first on the Mexican side.


Tijuana:  CJNG "El Tribi" cell leader detained;  Borderland Beat

A new report is out that about one third of the US population is or has been addicted to opiates.  The drug lords responsible for this serious threat to our nation's health are not Mexican outlaws, but pharmaceutical  companies with global reach that produce far more than meets the legitimate medical demand, and the doctors who prescribe them.  I have seen nothing to suggest we will soon see CEOs and medical practitioners hobbling off into chains into a federal prison.  Meanwhile there is still a crippling and costly war going on in Mexico, with the professed aim of impeding the flow of drugs into the US.

National Blogs:

Secrecy and Suspicion Surround Trump's Deregulation Teams:  ProPublica
There is No Political Center in Modern America:  Naked Capitalism
The Democrat's "Better Deal:"  Angry Bear

Nuevo Méjico:

With a gubernatorial election just a year away, after nearly two decades of poor governance from the fourth floor and an economy sinking slowly into the quicksand, you would think there would be a healthy, honest, and heated debate about what kind of governor and government and governance New Mexico needs to climb out of the hole:  is it quicksand, or just a muddy rut?  Is the hole big, little, fat, or skinny?  Where are the concrete proposals to fix it?  So far the bloggers have been, as usual, simply handicapping the strengths and weaknesses of high-profile politicians, as though the reason we have elections is to be able to gossip about the candidates and catch them making a mistake, rather than about what they are doing or might do, with our money.  The only one who seems to be collecting odd bits of stuff about this is Harold Morgan

Policy Perspectives from Senior Democrats Diverge:  Harold Morgan Capitol Reports