Borderland Beat uploads graphic video

Borderland Beat uploaded a highly graphic video, available on Mexican web sites, that purportedly shows a man being beheaded and his son having his heart ripped out.  I have not watched it.  The man was presumably an informant for authorities.

The killers are said to be members of an alliance between several gangs, Sangre Nueva Guerrernse, from Zihuatanejo, Los Viagras, and R18MZ.  R18MZ is known as the armed force of Mayo Zambada, a drug lord who once worked for Chapo Guzman in Sinaloa and prior to that, the Carrillo Fuentes family that ran the Juarez cartel for several years. Zambada is believed to have taken over the Sinaloa cartel after the extradition of Chapo Guzman to the U.S.  Los Viagras is a gang operating in Western Michoacan state, headed by a man known as El Gordo.  It was once a paramilitary wing of the Knights Templar cartel in Michoacan, but flipped sides, leading to the arrest of Knights Templar leader La Tuta in February of 2015.  It now operates on the lam, pursued both by Mexican authorities and, sometimes, remnants of the Knights Templar organization, now known as Sangre Nueva Guerrerense.  Apparently there has been a least a tentative truce between SNG and Los Viagras, given that the video suggests a "union" between these groups.

Parts of Guerrero state are on the watch list for U.S. citizens, since several Americans have been killed, including the director of administrative services of Imperial Beach, CA, reported here on Dec. 31, 2017, who was killed in Ixtapa in Guerrero state near the resort town of Zihuatanejo.  Readers are advised to exercise caution if traveling anywhere in Guerrero state.

In 2014 and 2014 war broke out among various gangs in this region, causing a spike in homicides.  Among the gangs affected were:   Los Rojos, Guerreros Unidos, Los Ardillos, Los Tequileros, Gente Nueva, Los Beltrán Leyva, Los Caballeros Templarios, La Familia Michoacana, El Cártel del Sur, Cártel Independiente de Acapulco, Guardia Guerrerense, Sangre Nueva Guerrerense, Los Viagras and elements of the Sinaloa y Jalisco Nueva Generación cartels.


Violence in 2018 in Guerrero appears be tied to a new war between the Nueva Familia Michoacana and Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG).

Another Murder in Juarez

La Polaka reports one man was killed by gunfire and a man and woman were seriously wounded at 1:30 this morning in a popular bar called "San Martin," in the Las Torres section of town. 

Government Shut-Down:  Democracy Has Been Betrayed

DACA is not a favor the nation generously bestows to 700,000 people out of kindness and compassion, even though it is often presented that way.  It is, instead, a kind of confession that our convoluted immigration laws, as interpreted and enforced by officials, have produced outrageous injustice for a massive group of innocent people.  If inflicted, this colossal injustice would generate universal repudiation at home and abroad.  Just here at home 87%--including most Trump supporters--of the voting public favors righting this wrong. Abroad, the Statue of Liberty, long a symbol of pride in our hugely fruitful, four-century-long embrace of the tired and poor, and hungry masses yearning to breathe free, would become an emblem of American shame, if it hasn't become so already.  What gives?

In a functioning democracy this issue never even would have surfaced. Committee staffers in Congress, working with mid-level White House staffers, seeing the poll numbers, would have resolved it in bipartisan fashion long ago.  That it has not been resolved is the strongest indicator I can think of that something is seriously wrong with American democracy.  What our two major institutions of government have given us in policy affecting 700,000 innocent people, on an issue as symbolically powerful as the Statue of Liberty, is exactly the opposite of what the public overwhelmingly wants done.  Something is wrong, and it goes far deeper than the character of the person currently occupying the White House.  Citizens need to figure out for themselves just what is wrong, and we can no longer rely on the major media outlets to help out:  they have become a major part of the problem.  As for me, I say, repeating myself, throw all of the bastards out, and put the next batch on a very short leash.

Don't Take it for Granted the House and Senate Will Flip

 The two presidents who had approval ratings below 50 percent halfway through their first year in office (Ford and Bill Clinton) each saw at least 9-point increases by the end of that year.  FiveThirtyEight


FiveThirtyEight, in an excellent review (click here and see charts below) of available polling data, reminds us this morning that next November is a long way off.  Here are two things to consider.  First, don't underestimate the ability of the leadership in the Democratic Party to squander a strong lead.  I've seen nothing from Democrats in Congress recently that comes even close to inspired leadership, Instead, Democrats appear to be hoping they can continue to ignore outrageous racism, disastrous policy steps, and highly authoritarian behavior in Congress and the White House, on the theory the public will vote them into power next Fall anyway.  The polling data in this piece should make us think twice about accepting this theory.  What Democrats have, right now, after the outrages of the past two years, is moral authority.  But instead of moral outrage, and moral courage, what I see are the usual steps made to cobble together a short term tactical advantage on specific bills.

Second, employment rates, the status of wages, and economic expectations for the future tend to be more important in predicting voting behavior at the national level than the approval ratings of a president or Congress.  And the massive tax cut to corporate America that just went into effect, was intended among other things to mobilize some of the trillions of dollars corporate America has been sitting on for a long time.  A well orchestrated effort to jawbone the billionaire class into shaking some of that money loose in the next few months for building infrastructure, for improving wages, and for creating better jobs, might just work, and a quick injection of, say, a trillion dollars into the economy might make Trump's economic policies appear to have been the work of a genius.

Right now Trump's numbers are going up, as is the generic Republican vote (see below).  I don't see Democrats in Congress, in the face of outrageous insults to democracy, the concept of equality under the law, and our reputation as a fair-minded, decent, country, giving me a reason to follow their lead.  If decent people don't hold their representatives' feet to the fire, who will?

Trump's Approval Ratings, FiveThirtyEight

Generic Congressional Ballot, FiveThirtyEight

Feelings of Insecurity Rise in Juaritos

A recent national poll shows 62% of Juarenses have stopped walking near their own homes, and 38% have stopped visiting relatives or friends, due to the rising tide of violence in the city.  Since September of last year the percentage of residents in Juarez who feel "unsafe" at an ATM has risen from 70% to 80%.  Nearly half the population (46.3%) claim to have witnessed a robbery or assault.  The number of people asserting they frequently hear gunshots near their homes has doubled, from 18% to 37%.

While these numbers indicate a significant increase in the perceptions people in Juarez have of their safety, they should be placed in context, since insecurity has increased in recent years throughout Mexico.  Ten years ago, Juarez was one of a small handful of cities in Mexico suffering a major spike in crime, extortion, kidnappings, and drug-related violence.  Today Mexico as a whole has caught up to Juarez.  The poll, taken by the Mexican Census agency (INEGI), shows that while 80% of Juarenses report feeling "unsafe," fully 76% of Mexicans throughout the country feel unsafe.

Forty one percent of Juarenses believe public safety this year will be similar to or worse than it was last year.  Source:  Diario; click here for story.

Links:

• Democrats Are Silent Again:  The Angry Bear This needs to be a turning point for Democrats as voters and as a party. If our leaders can’t say the word “racism,” then they can’t fight it. If they can’t fight racism, they are worthless in a national battle against a network of politically shrewd white supremacists. If they are worthless in battle against white supremacists, they are worthless in battle against Trump and the GOP...
•  
• The Bloody Battle for the Veracruz Plaza:  Borderland Beat  In the first 12 days of January, a dozen human heads were abandoned in the insides of four vehicles, with the advertisement that a " criminal cleaning" was going on in the southern zone of the State. The dismembered corpses of the victims, alleged criminals, according to the governor Miguel Angel Yunes Lineares - were left in black garbage bags
•  
• Snapshots of Inequality Around the World:  The Conversable Economist
• 

Juarez:  Four Homicides this Weekend:  Body Count 38 So Far This Year

Diario de Juárez reports four more victims of homicide in Juarez were added to the growing count so far this year (38 and rising), including that of a man whose "amputated body" (Diario's choice of words) had been found near the university.  The vast majority of victims are believed to be drug-gang related.

Black-White Gap in Wages is Growing:  Happy MLK Day

Notice the widening of the gap and wage stagnation since 2000

 Click here for the source of this graph, taken from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco's publication in September 2017 of Mary C. Daly, Bart Hobijn, and Joseph H. Pedtk, Disappointing Facts About the Black-White Wage Gap.  After 40 years of affirmative action, the gap is still not closing, but is getting worse.  In this publication the authors show the gap while not as wide, for women, is also increasing, not decreasing.  So much for the effectiveness of affirmative action as government policy.

Body Count in Juarez is Ahead of Last Year

Juárez registered at least 35 homicides in the first two weeks of the year.  If the present rate continues at this pace, the number of homicides will easily surpass the 772 registered last year.

Mayor Murillo Proposes Purchase of Golf Course for City of Anthony

On KTLA's La Politica New Mexico this morning Anthony's Mayor, Diana Murillo Trujillo, proposed the purchase of Dos Lagos Country Club, in Anthony, by the city of Anthony.  Such a move, she asserted, would assure future generations of a community-owned public space that would increase the attractiveness of Anthony as a place to live.  This would, indeed, be a bold move.

Anthony will hold elections in March for two city council members, and each will be contested by several candidates.  La Politica New Mexico, both on KTLA and here, will follow these elections.

La alcaldesa de Anthony, Diana Murillo Trujillo, esta mañana en La Politica New Mexico propuso la compra, por parte del municipio de Anthony, de la cancha de Golf, Dos Lagos.  Segun Murillo, este paso asegurara para futuras generaciones un espacio atractivo para el público.

Hay elecciones en Anthony en marzo para dos puestos en el cabildo de Anthony.  La Politica New Mexico dará cobertura de estas elecciones, tanto en KTLA y en éste espacio.

Coming Up Monday on KTAL La Politica New Mexico:  Anthony NM

On Monday, January 15, La Politica New Mexico, on KTAL (101.5) will feature the Mayor of Anthony, Diana Murillo, and Rose Garcia, along with yours truly and E. Shirley Baca.  The question on the table, as always, is how well is government working.  La Politica New Mexico runs from 8-9 AM.

Readers may recall that Anthony incorporated as a municipality in 2010, hoping for a favorable ruling on a request to locate a gambling casino nearby.  That ruling never came and, in all likelihood, the issue is dead.  But Anthony city government is still chugging along, and there are good reasons all citizens in Dona Ana County should be aware of what is happening there.

Anthony's future as a municipality is key to a larger question about the future of Dona Ana County.  As El Paso, bursting at the seams with growth, spills into Chaparral, Anthony, Sunland Park, and other communities in Dona Ana County, there is a strong need for effective planning.  Is this happening?  How well do Dona Ana County officials interface with Anthony?  What kinds of things are in the works at City Hall in Anthony?  Join me and the rest on Monday morning at 8 AM on 101.5, KTAL.

New Mexico as 2018 Begins
 

The Trump presidency, combined with the elusive and manipulative way television produces "news" about the administration or anything else about our government or world affairs, have revealed such rot in the national foundations of our once-powerful democratic institutions, that the ailments of New Mexico are dwarfed by comparison.  Nevertheless, states are essential units of self-governance, so it behooves us to think about how well we are governing ourselves, if for no other reason than to guide ourselves as much as possible away from the downward national spiral. 

One problem in doing this is assessing just how deeply the national scene has impoverished our possibilities of self-governance in the state.  The national disgrace of campaign financing, for example, has infected the way we select decision-makers in the state.  So too, national laws have encouraged the concentration of local news production into the hands of owners who no longer think of news production in civic terms; that is, an honest effort to keep citizens informed about government's actions, but as pieces of entertainment contributing little to deepening our understanding of the world we are supposed to shape with our votes.  Fortunately, a bright spot in New Mexico is the presence, up to now, of the family-owned Albuquerque Journal, one of the last pillars of serious investigative reporting in an otherwise crumbling statewide infrastructure for self-governance.  Kudos, too, for the Santa Fe New Mexican, and some of the bloggers on the right hand of this page.

But enough of this:  where do we stand as a state today?

Public Education:  Grade:  F.  By far the single most important indicator of a state's future condition is its education system.  In 2017 Education Week ranked NM 48th among the states in public education;  Wallet Hub ranked NM 50th.  After 15 years under two governor's who swore to improve NM's education system, our rankings have declined slightly.  Why can't NM attract bright shiny high-tech industries to the state like they do in North Carolina?  Go no further:  you don't willingly move your household and unborn babies to places where schools are bad.  And the kind of newcomers we would like to attract read real data, not the PR statements of chambers of commerce.  North Carolina's education system ranks 13th, while spending per pupil ranks 44th, eleven places lower than New Mexico. Other states have turned education around without new money.  New Mexico has not.  In the case of Albuquerque, add to poor schools a peek at the police department, as described by national magazines here, here, here, and here.  You still wanna move your kids to Albuquerque?  If there is a single failure of our state government over the past five decades, it lies in our wonderfully bipartisan failure to improve public education.  And, as the case of North Carolina and other examples show, this is not a problem of more money (MM); it is a matter of much money misspent (MMM).  What do our gubernatorial hopefuls propose, specifically, to raise us from an F to a D within, say, six years?  Ask them!  And if they promise to raise it to an A turn and walk away.  You are in the presence of a liar or a fool, or both--not what we need.

Higher Education:  Grade:  D.  Higher education is only marginally better.  For the first time in NM history the older generations are better educated than the younger generations, so something is wrong.  The root of the problem is that our governors and legislatures have failed to set statewide goals for NM's higher education needs and to hold each institution accountable for doing its part to achieve these goals.  New Mexico still does not have a statewide system of higher education, and the result is an expensive, uncoordinated, and under-performing mish-mash of schools.  NM ranks 6th in the nation in dollars spent per FTE, but ranks 47th in 6-year graduation rates for a bachelor's degree.  We grossly overproduce teachers, criminal justice majors, and social workers, while grossly under-producing STEM degrees.  UNM is a mediocre flagship university.  Better ones surround us in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and Texas.  And among 12 research institutions in the surrounding states (only West Texas schools included) all except Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, arguably, are better than NMSU, whose National Academy of Sciences ranking of US Schools of Engineering has plummeted from the top 50 a few years ago down to about 150 today.  To be fair, UNM's School of Engineering has improved greatly (ranked around 50) and has surpassed NMSU's.

As Secretary of Higher Education in the first Martinez administration I tried moving the needle on accountability through creation of a new funding formula that rewarded STEM, graduation rate improvement, and greater success in our dismal record of graduating Hispanics and Native Americans (70% of our future population)--all things the state desperately needs from higher education--but with very little success, since the legislature refuses even today to take the formula seriously, and the major higher education concern in the governor's office during my tenure seemed to be to gossip about regents and college presidents and not getting blamed for shortfalls in the Lottery Scholarship.  What specifically will our next governor do to make higher education a priority and accountable to the needs of real New Mexicans?  Ask them!  And hold them to account.

Health Care:  Grade:  C+.  Close behind education in the people's wish-list for good governance is health care.  Here the story, while not perfect, is much brighter than education.  Wallet Hub ranks NM 29th among the states in health care.  US News and World Reports ranks NM 26th.  Life Expectancy at birth in NM, a strong overall indicator of how well the health care system is doing, is 31st among the states, only about four months lower than the national average.  While perhaps not good enough to attract people to New Mexico, health care almost certainly does not deter people from moving here, as is the case with education.  The backbone in the state's health care system, the Health Sciences Center, at UNM, while not perfect (morale among doctors at the Hospital is low), is a far better institution than UNM is as a flagship university.  Regrettably, some of the weaker, most partisan, regents at UNM in recent years have not been able to resist meddling with the HSC, and only the intervention of the stronger regents at UNM has prevented serious damage.  Does our next governor have any ideas about how to raise health care into the mid-twenties instead of the low twenties?  Ask!  And hold them to account.

This is an election year.  Education and health care are as fundamental as issues get at the statewide level.  Do not allow the current crop of candidates for governor to wander too far astray from these topics.  What they think or feel about Donald Trump, or the business climate, drivers licenses for undocumented, or the crime rate, or immigration laws, or the Wall are not nearly as important as what they might actually do to improve bread and butter issues they have control over, if they put their nose to the grindstone and work for us, for a change.   Make them tell you specifically what they intend to do, or don't vote for them.  As I said a few days ago, if you aren't happy, "throw the bastards out."  It might be high time.

2017 Juárez Homicide Rates Inching Back Up

Diario de Juárez reports preliminary homicides for the city  in 2017 total around 772, including eight on New Year's Eve, up from 546 last year, 322 in 2015, and the highest since 2011.  Should you skip your annual visit to the dentist?  Probably not.  In 2016 there were 762 homicides in Chicago, by comparison.  While the homicide rate per 100,000 population is high in Juarez (52), it is even higher in St. Louis (60), our most homicidal city, and about the same as Baltimore (51).  Acapulco has a homicide rate of 113, Caracas has a rate of 130, and even Tijuana (53) is higher, just barely, than Juárez (thank God for Tijuana!).  So why the surge in violence in Juaritos in the past few days?  Probably because a surge in homicides is normal in December, when the books are closed on delinquent accounts in the complicated business of running a drug cartel.  Things have been a lot worse.  in 2011 there were 2086 homicides and in the record year of 2010 the tally was 3115.  Happy New Year.