Category Archives: Politically Incorrect

John Abraham in 'Attack', a full-on Bollywood masala action flick. 'Attack' released in theatres on April 1, 2022. (Screen grab)

There are bad guys in the Parliament! is not a politically incorrect statement, it is Bollywoods oldest trick to get your patriotism engine all fired up. So the story begins with our guys in camouflage extracting a bad guy, literally from behind the walls. Johns kindness to a lad proves to be incorrect. Its like they say in the movies (including the latest James Bond film), You gotta leave not a child behind who will grow up and come after you.

But what fun, John's character gets time off andfalls in lovewith Jacqueline's. And the fans in the audience (including yours truly) will love seeing one of the fittest men in Bollywood ride a motorbike and display one of the best sets of dimples in the industry. Not just that, there are very few people whose smile creates crinkles around the eyes the way his does. That out of the way, time to land face first into the story.

The story borrows ideas from The Matrix, Robocop, Iron Man and more, but I was touched to see a tribute slide in the opening credits to Nathan Copeland - his story is here:

Whats this got to do with a John Abraham movie you ask? A freak terrorist attack leaves him hurt and we meet a supposedly cool computer scientist who is working with the Indian Army (please suspend disbelief here because Rakul Preet Singh just does not fit into a role that would have been great for Ratna Pathak Shah who plays Johns mother instead).Her research might help John walk again, so Im happy to not see a Guzarish redux but Iron Man.

A chip is installed in Johns head and a mini computer (glowing disc) on the back of his neck connects him to the chip which commands his limbs to move. Aha! Time to upload all kinds of data into his head (without erasing memories with his girl) and that includes fighting techniques. Nice lift from The Matrix. Very nice indeed.

The conversations between the Siri/Alexa in his head - named IRA (Internal Robotic Assistance or some such thing) - and John are fun. Well done! I liked how Ira just shuts when he needs her most and has to reboot. Loved Rakul Preet Singhs Inception-type explanation: Your memories are like the wallpaper on your computer screen. You can stare at them and enjoy them and everyone will think youre knocked out, but to get out of it, you have to willingly press enter so that Ira can bring you to reality. Nice touch.

Also well done are the scenes with John running topless on Delhis Rajpathduring his rehabilitation program once the chip is inserted into his brain. We know hes itching to get into action. They are tracking a new bad terrorist (are there any other kind in Bollywood?) who is buying chemical weapons in Europe. You sigh deeply into your coffee and expect action taking you to Europe where John will fight big burly Russians or Chechens or what have you

Of course the terrorists dont stay in exotic places. They are happy to attack the parliament in Delhi! Its such a hackneyed thing, but its all right because John the super soldier will save the day. You like how John and the terrorist share a history. How the terrorist grew up and why John still looks young (and gorgeous) is not a question that you ask. You just enjoy the awesome action scenes unfolding in front of you, assisted by Ira.

The politicians and the army in a situation room is just the same ole, same ole, but thanks to Rajit Kapur who plays the social media savvy Home Minister so well, I spewed coffee everywhere. Rajit Kapur has a social secretary and an IAS style smarmy personal secretary as well. The army has Prakash Raj, who believes in his super soldier John and Kiran Kumar. The battle between politics and the army is not new, but hearing the terrorist say that they wont end up doing anything because each will want to bring the other down...

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Attack review: John Abrahams super soldier borrows a lot from Hollywood, but the movie is all Bollywood - Moneycontrol

He is known to millions as the gaffe-prone, politically incorrect radio turned TV presenter Alan Partridge, but Steve Coogan is soon to be seen in a dramatically different role, as the serial-abuser Jimmy Savile.

The 56-year-old is no stranger to serious roles, but his turn as the evil predator in upcoming BBC drama The Reckoning, which will look at how the monster's crimes went undetected for so long, is sure to be his darkest yet.

The father-of-one, who is appearing on Saturday Night Takeaway this evening, has been has been in the limelight for decades, and dated models, well-known actresses and even had a fling with a rock star.

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Coogan has been pictured often at showbiz soirees with his arm around glamorous women, and his roles in Hollywood blockbusters alongside smaller projects has ensured he's worth millions.

Born in Lancashire, Coogan rose to prominence in 1980s as a voice actor for the politician-blasting puppet show Spitting Image.

In the early 1990s he launched comedy character Alan Partridge on BBC Radio 4 comedy On The Hour, and later with his own spoof radio chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge.

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Coogan has continued to portray Partridge over the years in radio shows, on TV and and even on the silver screen with movie Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, in 2013.

He reprised the much-loved comedy character with This Time with Alan Partridge, which mocked topical TV shows such as The One Show.

Alongside his role as Partridge, Coogan has also acted alongside Rob Brydon as a fictionalised version of himself in beloved sitcom The Trip.

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He has acted in a slew of successful films, both serious and comic, playing a Roman soldier in Night at the Museum and a journalist helping an Irish mother, played by Judy Dench, track down her son, in Philomena.

In 2018, he won huge praise for his portrayal of Stanley Laurel against John C Reily's Oliver Hardy, in Stan & Ollie, a film about the iconic double act.

The following year, he played a billionaire fashion mogul, loosely modelled on Topshop mogul Philip Green, in the Michael Winterbottom film Greed.

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He has won and been nominated for a flurry of awards, including an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for Philomena, and winning Best Male Performance in a Comedy Role at BAFTAs, for The Trip.

Thanks to his long career, Coogan is, according to Celebrity Net Worth, worth $25million, which equates to around 19million.

As well as his acting and writing credentials, Coogan has hit the headlines for his relationships with a bevvy of famous women.

In 2002, Coogan married British socialite Caroline Hickman, but the pair divorced in 2005, with Hickman saying the marriage had irretrievably broken down.

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The same year Coogan's divorce was granted, he had a brief two-week fling with Hole singer Courtney Love, now 57, who was married to Nirvana rocker Kurt Cobain.

In January last year, Love called the rendezvous "one of my life's great shames" on social media.

In the post the musician criticised her solo record America's Sweetheart, writing: "Like Steve Coogan, or crack, its one of my lifes great shames."

In 2008, it was revealed that Coogan was dating actress and restaurant heiress China Chow, who is nine years younger than him.

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Chow is the daughter of Michael Chow, known for the Mr Chow restaurant chain.

A source told Mail Online that he was "absolutely smitten and hasn't even looked twice at another girl in months", but the pair ended their relationship after three years.

The unlikely lothario moved in with underwear model Elle Basey, 24 years his junior, after the pair met while he was guest editing Loaded magazine as Alan Partridge.

Coogan posed with Elle in a photoshoot, while she wore black underwear, stockings and suspenders.

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The pair dated between 2011 and 2014, sharing Coogan's house in Brighton.

In 2019, Coogan split with Let's Do Lunch presenter Melanie Sykes, 51, after 10 months, amid rumours of commitment issues.

The pair were first linked after meeting at a launch party for his film Stan & Ollie, however Mel reportedly decided to pull the plug.

In an interview with The Sun on Sunday, a source close to Mel said the former talk show host felt she had no option but to end the relationship as she saw her hopes of settling down fade away.

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Mel is gutted it didnt work out - but although she is disappointed, she is not that surprised, the source claimed.

She was worried that he wasnt committing and wasnt keen on family stuff or getting too involved with her two teenage sons, the source went on.

Coogan has also dated actress Laura Hajek, Downtown Abbey cast member Daisy Lewis and Nancy Sorrell, before she married comedian Vic Reeves in 2003.

Coogan has a grown-up daughter, Claire, from a four year relationship with solicitor Anna Cole in the 1990s.

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The star recently looked unrecognisable when he was spotted filming the upcoming Jimmy Savile drama.

In November, the award-winner was pictured with bleached blonde hair and a maroon tracksuit on a North Wales beach as filming commenced.

The actor previously pictured filming in Bolton, greater Manchester, wearing a jester costume.

The decision to chronicle Savile's crimes came under fire with many hitting out at the BBC, where the sick TV presenter spent many years of his career before his death ten years ago.

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Coogan previously said about taking on the role: "To play Jimmy Savile was not a decision I took lightly.

"Neil McKay has written an intelligent script tackling sensitively a horrific story which, however harrowing, needs to be told."

However, the BBC confirmed to viewers they have been working closely with the many people whose lives were impacted by Savile to ensure their stories are told with sensitivity and respect.

The upcoming series will also draw on extensive and wide-ranging research sources.

The BBC had defended their decision to create the series and said it was an important story to tell to "ensure such crimes never happen again".

Executive producer Jeff Pope said: "Steve has a unique ability to inhabit complex characters and will approach this role with the greatest care and integrity."

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Steve Coogan's net worth, famous girlfriends and dramatic Jimmy Savile transformation - The Mirror

SARATOGA SPRINGS A 2021 candidate for city office was convicted Tuesday in Saratoga Springs City Court on one of two misdemeanor counts of mishandling her ballot petitions.

Republican Samantha Guerratook an Alford plea, acknowledging that there was, as a special prosecutor said, overwhelming evidence the ballot petitions she swore to have witnessed contained blatant forgeries." But the plea allows her to maintain her innocence.

She specifically swore to that she personally observed all of the signatures on the petitions and personally confirmed the identity of the signers, Schenectady County Assistant District Attorney John Carson said outside of the courtroom. Based on all of the evidence, that simply could not be true.

Her conviction, which has no punishment or fine as its an unclassified misdemeanor, comes six months after Democrats accused her of forging her petitions to gain an additional, independent line on the November ballot. The signatures were collected even though she had already secured the Republican, Conservative and Working Families Party lines.

Her attorney, Oscar Schreiber, said her November arrest, just days after she lost the election, was political. He is also calling on the State Police to arrest the person who forged the signatures on Guerras ballots.

During my meeting with the State Police, I informed them of whom allegedly forged the signatures on the petitions, said Schreiber who would not reveal the name to the Times Union. That campaign worker added names without Samanthas knowledge ... Im calling on the State Police to arrest that person for forgery. If they chose not to, then that only proves that her arrest was politically motivated and she was targeted and nothing else.

Carson, who was a special Schenectady County assistant district attorney named to the case, said the forgeries were obvious, contained in block lettering, not signatures, printed names that appear to be the same handwriting for multiple names and multiple addresses.

"State Police conducted a lengthy investigation and interviewed nearly every person that they could track down from those two petitions, each petition carrying 20 signatures, Carson said. A number of those interviewed and who provided written statements said they never signed the petitions despite their name appearing and never gave anyone permission to put their name of the petition.

He also said a number of the petition lines included incorrect addresses, incorrect names and nicknames that were not actual legal voting names.

The most glaring example was a witness who purportedly signed the petition (who) was in the state of Florida on vacation, Carson said. He said taking all the evidence together, "this was a particularly flagrant and indefensible.

Schreiber emphasized however, that Guerra is only guilty of trusting her campaign workers.

Samantha today simply admitted that there is enough evidence against her that would likely result in trial, said Schreiber, who was assisted in court by former congressman John Sweeney. No one ever accused Samantha of forging anything. Samantha was a political newcomer. She relied, to her detriment, on her campaign committee.

Carson said that he is fine with the idea that Guerra will not face any punishment,saying the main thing is that she was held accountable.

Did it affect the election? No, she did not win the election, Carson said. But filing of documents matter ... a conviction is still appropriate.

Both attorneys acknowledge that things could have been worse for Guerra if she was charged with filing a false instrument, a felony. However, there was no proof, they both say, that she herself wrote in those names.

Despite her legal troubles, Guerra said she may try to get on an election ballot again.

I might, she said as she left City Hall. I havent decided yet.

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Spa candidate convicted of mishandling ballot petitions - Times Union

Real Housewives have emerged from locales like the Big Apple, the Garden State, the Lone Star State, and even our nations capital. While these franchises all have gone down in Real Housewives history, The Real Housewives of Dubai looks like they may be taking the almost two-decade old franchise to a whole new level. Set in a locale known for aspirational living (and wealth), luxury shopping, and the larger than life Burj Khalifa, The Real Housewives of Dubaiis due to premiere on June 1st on Bravo, bringing with it a brand new crop of Housewives, a familiar face, and of course, immediate controversy.

While the excitement around the premiere of #RHODubai (the official hashtag) has been palpable since the announcement, the problematic nature of Dubai, specifically towards women and the LGBTQ community, has been a constant criticism. Andy Cohen spoke about this perspective on his Radio Andy show Andy Cohen Live on SiriusXM sayingDubai is somewhere we found an incredible group of people and I think its going to be a really exciting show and I think itll be a great addition to the franchise, he said. I think for a lot of people in this country who watch the housewives or who watch this kind of show, it may be their first or only exposure to Dubai. And while the show is really meant to entertain, what I also hope is that maybe we can showcase some of the stuff thats going on there that is politically incorrect, and educate people about that.While he did state that he finds the criticism from fans to be fair Cohen said thathe was hopeful that the show could possibly impact some change and to get people talking about it. And who knows, maybe we can move the needle a little bit, so that is my hope

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The Real Housewives Of Dubai Come To Bravo This Summer Instinct Magazine - Instinct Magazine

WHEN I WALKED into Obed Silvas living room on a quiet Sunday afternoon, I was immediately struck by the robust and colorful paintings that adorn his walls. Silva is a gifted artist who is fond of painting iconic figures: Frida Kahlo, Cesar Chavez, and the Virgin of Guadalupe. Silvas collection of art also features paintings by other artists. An untitled painting by Fabian Debora, a Los Angelesbased muralist, caught my interest. The painting depicts a Mexican mother holding an infant wrapped in brightly colored swaddling clothes. The mother is positioned in the foreground, her face is filled with fear and remorse. In the background, a male figure, his face bearing the skeletal motif of Da de los Muertos, gyrates in pain as he is shot in the back. As I observed this painting, I slowly realized that it was a highly symbolic rendering of Silvas own brush with death as a teenager. At the age of 17, he was shot in the back at a liquor store in Buena Park and remains partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Although Silva is represented in the painting, the central figure is the mother figure, whose look of utter desperation emphasizes the weight of her sorrow.

Deboras Untitled, which mythologizes Silvas near-death experience, also conveys his own aesthetic credo: the desire to create art out of suffering and to make the ugly beautiful. For Silva, artistic expression is wedded to the act of transcending reality, especially its most brutal consequences. His first book, The Death of My Father the Pope, published last December by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, is similar to Deboras painting in the sense that it is grounded in memory and lived experience. At the beginning of his memoir, Silva attends his fathers funeral in Chihuahua, Mexico, wrestling with the question of what he has inherited from the man.

Juan Jess Silva, Obeds father, was a precocious artist who began an apprenticeship with Aarn Pia Mora, one of Mexicos great postwar muralists, in the 1970s. After working closely with Pia Mora for many months, he fell out with his master because he lacked discipline and commitment; once his apprenticeship ended, he embarked on a slow and gradual descent into chronic alcoholism. As an adult, Silva visited his father in Chihuahua many times, trying to persuade him to stop ruining his life; however, his protestations were in vain, his father dying from cirrhosis of the liver and hepatitis C at the age of 48. At the beginning of the memoir, the author is reluctant to attend the funeral, but his mother convinces him: You need to heal, and you cant do that unless you forgive your father. Its the only way youre ever going to close those wounds. When the author finally views his fathers withering corpse in a Chihuahua funeral parlor, he experiences a torrent of unexpected emotions: loss, regret, disappointment, and love.

The Death of My Father the Pope is a masterful examination of the weight of patrimony; throughout the memoir, Silva meditates on the question of what he has inherited from his father. Like his father, he possesses a talent for painting and drawing, yet he desperately wants to reject the undesirable aspects of his inheritance: his fathers penchant for abuse, alcoholism, and self-destruction. Silva clearly loves his father, yet he also has to get him out of his system by writing about their fraught relationship. For the author, his memoir becomes a cathartic act and the only way forward.

The final chapter of The Death of My Father the Pope is uniquely disturbing. Silva lays bare an astonishing family secret that stopped me in my tracks: I thought I was reading a book about a son mourning his fathers death, but the final chapter taught me otherwise. When I finished the book, I was convinced that I had read a Chicano classic that will continue to speak to many generations of readers. The theme that resonated the most for me was the narratives unflinching critique of toxic masculinity and its intergenerational effects. Silva deconstructs societys understanding of strength by juxtaposing his fathers and mothers moral characters. Silva notes, This woman whod raised me all on her own without asking for anything from my father not a cent was showing me what real strength looked like. It wasnt in muscles or in violence or in superiority; it was in meekness and humility, in simply saying I forgive you and moving on.

As I sat down to interview the author in his Whittier home, I was most interested in the question of how Silva discovered literature. Silva told me the story of his literary education, which began while he was incarcerated in Juvenile Hall; his mother would bring him carefully chosen classics to read: Twains Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Victor Hugos Les Misrables. Silva devoured these books, often self-identifying with the outcast figures who go against the grain and run away from respectable society. After Twain and Hugo, Silva eventually gravitated toward Russian writers: Chekhov and Tolstoy, and especially Dostoyevsky. The Russian writers dont pull any punches, he told me. Mainly they tell it like it is. I havent encountered any other writers from any other country that do what the Russian writers do. They just get to the spirit of the human condition and they express it so well. For Silva, Dostoyevsky resonated the most: I just feel that man went through his own suffering when he was almost executed and went into exile. When I read Dostoyevsky, I made all those connections I was being deported and I [faced death] and almost spent the rest of my life in prison.

Through the experience of personal tragedy, Silva discovered how the act of reading books can be a means of transcending past experiences and the cycles of gang violence that often enveloped him during his teenage years. Most of all, he cites the influence of his mother: She is my hero if not for her, I would be dead or in prison. She never lost faith in her son and even mortgaged her home to cover his bail money. Her undying love for him will be the subject of the second volume of Silvas memoirs, In the Hands of My Mother, which will also be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in the coming years.

JAMES PENNER: I think its safe to say youve had a very dramatic life being in a gang, getting shot, being partially paralyzed, being incarcerated. If these events had not happened, do you think you would have been a writer?

OBED SILVA: Definitely not. You know, Ive had that question before, but its been phrased, Do you regret what youve done? And, of course, I do. You know, of course I do regret the things Ive done, more so because of my mom, the misery and suffering Ive put her through. Would I have become a writer? No, I dont think so. Would I have become a painter? No, I dont think so. Being in a wheelchair, Im in pain every day. People dont see it. My back and my body hurt. You know, every day I live with the pain. Do I wish I could walk? Absolutely. Who would want to be in a wheelchair all their life? Would I change it? Maybe I would because I want to walk. You know, I want to feel my legs. Its a tough question: would I be here with the book? No, I dont think so. Would I exchange the book for my legs? Probably, yeah. Thats why I dont like that question because you cant change whats happened. Youve got to live with it. I guess the proper answer for that is: Try to make the ugly beautiful, and I guess thats what I try to do with the book. I try to make art out of it out of the suffering.

When I was reading your memoir, it felt like a kind of extended confession in many respects. It reveals many private and intimate details. Do you find confession liberating? Is it liberating to put your pain and suffering on paper?

Yeah, I think so. Ive never thought about it in those words, but I think so. Most people tend to hide their feelings, they hide who they really are. They hide behind a facade. I tend not to do that. Not purposefully. I think thats just how I am. My mom is very frank. It is to the point that she could hurt you and she wont realize that shes hurt you. Its because shes telling you the truth. You ask her questions, shes going to tell you the exact truth, whether you like it or not. And I think Im like that in some ways, but different in the sense that I dont take life or the issues that come with life too seriously. If Im dying. I try to make light of it. I feel that it just comes natural to me to just lay it all out there. You know, people can judge and they can come to their own conclusions. Confession is liberating because now nobody can criticize you. They know who you are. They know what to expect. This is what you get. Im not hiding anything. Its all laid out there for you. And I feel that not confessing prevents a lot of people from living life to the fullest. They just keep all these secrets, and all of their emotions hidden from society. Yes, I think it is absolutely liberating.

Along those lines, were you ever worried about what you should disclose in your memoir? Were you worried that some family members or friends might not like what they read or how they are portrayed?

You know, thats probably my biggest concern even right now. And I even thought of shutting down my Facebook page because family members might be really angry. I didnt hear this directly from Luis Rodriguez, but a friend of mine told me that Luis Rodriguez says, When you write a book, you betray your tribe, or an author betrays his tribe something along those lines. And that really stuck with me. And today, thats what helps me justify what I say in my book. You betray your tribe. And its true because youre telling the truth and people are going to get hurt. But its the truth. I have no other way of putting it. Ive got to tell the story the way I know the story. And by the same token, I also feel that I dont only tell the truth about them. I also tell the truth about myself. I mean, the end of my memoir tells it all. I can only tell the truth if people get upset about that, so be it.

Speaking of the issue of disclosure, your memoir also includes some pretty explicit activities: buying and snorting cocaine, hard drinking, an encounter with a Mexican prostitute. I feel these uncensored moments give the book honesty and authenticity. Some readers might not be so generous, however. How should a writer approach taboo and politically incorrect subjects?

Yes, there were some things I had to cut out of the book. You know, my greatest reader and mentor has been [Los Angelesbased novelist and journalist] Hctor Tobar. Hctor was the second person I showed the manuscript to after he wrote that profile on me in the Los Angeles Times when I was being deported. Hector said, So, Obed, you really put everything out there, and hed always tell me, Obed, what would mature Obed say about this [particular scene]? And that became very important to me. I thought to myself, Mature Obed, who the fuck is that? And he goes, Okay. Think about it. This all happened when you were a young man. Would the man of today do that kind of thing? Probably. But I get it right. Okay. So, what would mature Obed say about the young Obed? For instance, the moment with the prostitute, right? Young Obed sees her as a hooker, but mature Obed sees her as a woman who has to do what she has to do in order to survive. Is there something wrong with that? Not to me. We all do things to survive, and thats what she does to survive. How I describe things is something I worry about and it is something I take into consideration, but at the end of the day, its the truth that matters.

From Philip Roth to Alice Walker, many writers have been criticized for exposing the so-called dirty laundry of their respective communities. What do you say to readers who argue that you make Mexican Americans look bad because you write about alcoholism, domestic violence, drug abuse, etc.?

Well, I dont think so. I am writing about myself. I dont think I make Mexican Americans look bad. Shit, I wrote a book that should make Mexican Americans look good! Not only am I capable of writing a book, but I also put myself within a great community of writers Dostoyevsky, Hugo, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Octavio Paz all of them are in my book. And I did that purposefully. And I did it in a way to say, Hey, I could, you know, throw hooks with the best of them, too. Im not saying Im on the level of this group, but Im a scrapper and I can get in the ring with you. I may lose, but I got in there. I understand where the question is coming from because I do critique Mexico. But alcoholism, I mean, what about Frank McCourts Angelas Ashes? And, you know, alcoholism isnt just a problem that affects Mexicans. Alcoholism is universal. When I got my DUI and went to AA classes, most of the people I saw were white.

It just so happens that I am Mexican and my father as well, and, you know, the story takes place mostly in Mexico I also think that criticism is a form of love. I mean, Hctor critiqued my book. You can do two things with criticism: you can take it and do nothing and just fold into yourself and cry. Or you can take that criticism and better yourself. And this is something I tell my students. If I didnt I love my country, I wouldnt criticize it. I love my homeland. Look at my belt buckle. I wear it everywhere. Its the Mexican flag. I criticize myself because I want to be better.

I was really impressed by the overall tone of your memoir. It deals with emotional subject matter, yet it never feels overwritten or over the top. Was this an issue for you? Were you worried about being too emotional on the page? How do you approach the issue of finding a balance or an equilibrium when you are writing?

I dont know the answer. I just write. Like I tell my students in my creative writing class: write from the gut write from the darkest, most fucking ugly part of yourself because thats where all the strength in writing comes from. I also tell my students, if a book or a movie doesnt make you cry, it probably wasnt a good book, right? So, I dont know if Im over-emotional in there, or too sensitive. I think you have to be sensitive. I think you have to be emotional. Its like in Octavia Butlers book Parable of the Sower. The little girl has hyperempathy: its where her emotions are amplified and she feels everything around her. Thats the way I look at it: if youre going to be a writer, youve got to feel, man, youve got to feel everything, youve got to feel the suffering, youve got to feel the happiness, youve got to feel it all and lay it all out in the book.

So, I understand youre already working on the second volume of your memoir. Can you talk about how it will be different from the first volume?

Well, itll be different in the sense that this one is a redemption story. Itll have a brighter ending. Well, actually, I dont know if I can say at the end of my next book: I am sober and my life is fantastic. Everythings great. I dont know if I can do that, but I know its a redemption story in the sense that Im an English professor, Im a writer, Im a painter. So, in that sense, its a redemption story. Im not a gang member. Im not committing violence. Im not hurting people. And this volume is a story about my mother, really. I mean, the title of it is In the Hands of My Mother. Shes going to be the hero of the story. If not for her, Id be dead or in prison. Thats it. And thats what this book reveals. And its going to be an immigrant story. My mom was an immigrant. Her first job was picking celery and tomatoes in the fields in Irvine before Irvine was what it is now. Every time I drive past all those tall buildings, I think how it used to be fields just vast fields of celery and tomatoes and strawberries. And now I see my family picking in those fields. I did, too as a kid, they used to bring us as children. You know, we didnt have babysitters. So, yeah, the immigrant story, a redemption story, a mother-son relationship story. So thats how it would be different.

Do you ever imagine your father reading this book and what would his reaction be? Would he be proud of you?

Damn, James. Thats a good question, man. I think he would be happy. Hed be happy as ugly as I paint him. I think he would grab me by the neck and give me a kiss. Hed say, No te quiro, te amo! Quiero means like and its also interchangeable with love in Spanish, but te amo means I love you to death. And he would often say that to us. He would be proud. I dont think he would want me to change anything, not even the last chapter. Yeah, he would be happy happy and drunk.

James Penner is the editor ofTimothy Leary: The Harvard Years(2014) and the author ofPinks, Pansies, and Punks: The Rhetoric of Masculinity in American Literary Culture(2011).

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Making the Ugly Beautiful: A Conversation with Obed Silva - lareviewofbooks

Comedian and podcast host Adam Carolla said Bill Maher is warning Democrats not to go woke so they do not self-destruct. Carolla recently interviewed the HBO host. Watch the interview below transcript.SEAN HANNITY: Bill Maher, he and I have never really liked each other. But I think he's talented. You were talking about California and how Democrats are destroying it. And he's right. But his party doesn't listen to him. He's like an island onto himself trying to verbally slap the Democratic party out of wokeness and into reality because they are pushing everybody away from them. Your thoughts?

ADAM CAROLLA: He has been on the vanguard of the Democratic party for decades and he's woken up to the wokeness which is going to screw up the party and he's just ringing the bell. He just saying there is an iceberg dead ahead and now they're calling him one of the bad guys. That's how they work.

They don't have a reverse gear, they can't pump the brakes. It's always full steam ahead. He's more logical than they are and he's explaining that we are going to hit this iceberg and we're going to sink because he is a Democrat. He is attempting to warn them before they self-destruct and then they turn on him. And that's just who they are.

HANNITY: It's actually garnered him some support. I tell you, the people who defended him when 'Politically Incorrect' was canceled on ABC, it was a conservative is like me and Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives like Mark Levin. We were the people defending him. It wasn't the left. He was a very early victim of this cancel culture.

CAROLLA: Speaking of that, I've been in radio my whole adult life and if anybody complained, it was always the right. It was religious groups, it was a small number of religious people who didn't like your words. Now they are focusing on your ideas. They want you off the air because of your ideas -- not your words. Your words you can clean up. But your ideas, that's much more insidious and it's all coming from the left.

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Adam Carolla: Bill Maher Is Trying To Warn Democrats Not To Go Woke And Self-Destruct - RealClearPolitics

We need a change in people running our government

I have found that as I get older, contrary to the recent social trend, I am becoming more politically incorrect. Even two years ago, I would never have said what I am about to say for fear that it was inappropriate or unfair. I feel, however, that many people in our government today are either uninformed, stupid or corrupt.

I dont think our society is beyond saving, but I do think that things have gotten very serious and if more people dont become aware of that seriousness, we may well be lost.

I dont believe that we need a change of government, we need a wholesale change of the people running our government. I am really not sure if, in the long run, that Republicans will be any better in office than the Democrats have been, but I, personally will not vote for any Democrat in the near future.

If nothing else, we must give a clear message to all legislators in the upcoming mid-term election that they, too, will be held responsible for irresponsible or criminal behavior and hope that our message prods the leaders of our government to clean up their act.

Don McCullough,Manhattan

Kansas allows assisted living facilities to evict residents without cause, in violation of regulations, and not be held accountable. And there is nothing the resident can do about it. Facilities can appeal infractions, but residents cannot.

Assisted living residents have no legal rights, no legal protection. They are being illegally evicted and have no recourse. Unwarranted eviction remains the primary complaint received by the Long-Term Care Ombudsman year after year.

HB 2004 gives residents the right to appeal unwarranted eviction. It is well past time for Kansas to start enforcing its laws and give our seniors the respect they deserve. HB 2004 awaits action by the Kansas Legislature.

Rachel Imthurn, Maple Hill

The Vladimir Putin-directed slaughter in Ukraine approaches genocide. Putin is in the same class as Hitler and Stalin from bygone times and the murderous lunatic ruling North Korea today. But Donald Trump continues to revere Putin by referring to him as a genius, brilliant and a great leader. Trumps stance regarding this atrocious killer is nothing less than incredulous and affirms he has no respect for democracy or human rights or life.

A critical issue now is whether the millions of Republicans, including thousands of Republicans in Kansas, will awaken, see Trumps true colors and soundly reject him as their god. Or will they remain dormant, blind-eyed and brain-dead in their worship of this traitor to American values? Stay tuned. Dont turn the dial.

Richard Schutz, Topeka

President Putin in a speech last week to the Russian people, talking about the war in Ukraine, quoted John 15:13: "There is no other love rather than if someone gives soul for their friends." English translations are "to lay down one's life for one's friends."

General Patton said, "The object of war is not die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his."

Neither Putin or Patton live up to Jesus' commandment to love one another as he loved us. But given the choice of armies, most everyone would choose Patton's army.

Bill Stumpff,Topeka

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Letters address change, assisted living residents, Trump and Putin - The Topeka Capital-Journal

A recent article by conservative watchdog Campus Reform targeted my collaborative research talk on racial justice work in and as Buddhist practice. The talk traced the multiple ways whiteness has operated in American Buddhism including the erasure of Asian American heritage communities and detailed some of the strategies by which Buddhists of Color and their white allies have been confronting structural racism in their communities for over three decades.

While opponents have dismissed such initiatives as the intrusion of identity politics into the tradition, Joy Brennan, my collaborator, showed how the Yogacara school of Buddhist philosophy provides a framework for recognizing and being liberated from whiteness. Jessica Zu, our respondent, provided historical continuity by linking anti-racist Buddhist work to neglected Asian Buddhist figures such as Lu Cheng, the Chinese Buddhist modernist who forged socially progressive visions of the tradition in the early twentieth century.

Rather than engage with the actual content of the talk, the reporter opted for a website quote from White Awake, one of the anti-racist organizations working with Buddhist communities, and solicited a comment from anti-woke crusader and mathematician James Lindsay in which he linked whiteness to communism and the abolition of private property.

As he put it, Whiteness is the racial repacking of Marxs concept of bourgeois private property. Reposted by Legal Insurrection, another conservative organization, one reader added Critical race theory is more than a delusion, its a disease; another suggested our karmic punishment should be reincarnation as vultures.

The attack on racial justice scholarship by Campus Reform is unsurprising. The conservative organization has an established history of targeting scholars who work on racial justice, with many of my colleagues in religious studies coming under fire.

Research has shown that Campus Reforms so-called attempts to reduce liberal bias have led to professors facing harassment and even being dismissed by their institutions. Such attacks have now become state-sponsored with anti-critical race theory laws being passed for K-12 schools in a number of Republican states and further bills aimed at higher education proposed.

What many will perhaps find more surprising is that the rhetoric being used by Campus Reform and their ilk is far from new to me or fellow researchers working on racial justice in American Buddhism. Rather it echoes some of the white Buddhist backlash to racial justice work. A number of white Buddhists* have adopted the language of invasion and infection in an attempt to discredit long overdue racial justice initiatives in their communities.

Popular Zen teacher Brad Warner, for instance, has declared that racial justice work has nothing to do with Buddhism but is merely a tool of identity politics designed to shame white men. Secular mindfulness teacher Shinzen Young, meanwhile, delivered an explosive rant in which he claimed critical race theory was being used as a hammer to beat half of America to death with and blamed it for the election of a jerk.

Brenna Grace Artinger and I have charted the emergence of a broad spectrum of anti-woke white Buddhists who have attempted to delegitimate and derail racial justice work. We organize these anti-social justice Buddhists into three distinct but overlapping categories: Reactionary Centrists, the Buddhist Right, and alt-Right Buddhists.

We borrow the term reactionary centrist from political theorist Aaron Huertas who defines it as someone who says they are politically neutral but who usually punches left while sympathizing with the right. Reactionary centrism, in other words, is a conservative ideological stance that sees and presents itself as transcendent of ideology.

Such an approach is clearly at work among white Buddhists who claim to be apolitical while mobilizing conservative assumptions and strategies to delegitimate anti-racist work in Buddhism as ideological. A good example here comes from the transnational Buddhist Triratna community.

Given their strong links to the Ambedkar Buddhist Dalit community, an engaged Buddhist lineage that has combatted caste violence and discrimination in India, one might expect to find a similar commitment to justice for other marginalized populations. Indeed, some Triratna practitioners have confronted the legacy of racism within and beyond their communities by consciousness-raising, compiling anti-racist resources, and starting PoC affinity groups and white awareness groups.

In reaction to racial justice efforts, however, seven white male members, an affinity group of its own sort, produced a website called Apramada: Buddhist Perspectives on Society and Culture, whose mission statement declares: The aim of Apramda is to bring Buddhist perspectives to bear on questions facing the world todaya task of urgent importance in an era when public discourse is often clouded by divisive ideologies and partisan animosity. One article title suggests that Buddhists should leave their politics at the temple door. On further reading, however, its clear that its not politics per se but rather a certain type of politics that arent welcome. To give a hint: as the author explains, diversity, like social justice, is one of those words that sounds innocent and good, but is informed by a political ideology that is not so innocent and good.

One wonders why the author sees the call for racial justice in his community as ideological rather than as reflecting the lived experiences of his PoC sangha members. Why did he not include any of the first-person reports by Triratna members of color who have experienced racism within and beyond white dominant Triratna spaces? In fact, in a commonly employed reactionary reverse victim strategy, the only identity group he does name as vulnerable in Triratna are conservatives.

One also wonders how he squares his apolitical call with some of the articles written by his co-editors. Reproducing familiar conservative rhetoric, one of these denounces the postmodern anti-racism of Black Lives Matter and Critical Race Theory but adds a unique twist by comparing the current police racism panic to the ritual panic abuses of the 1980s. Another compares responses to structural racism, climate change, and Covid-19 to mental illness that are wreaking havoc in Western society. Just like Campus Reform, he turns to James Lindsays anti-woke polemics for support.

While Buddhist reactionary centrists seek to naturalize their own conservative political positions as transcendent of ideologies, what we identify as the Buddhist Right explicitly embrace their right-wing positions. In response to a Statement Against Anti-Asian Violence by the Buddhist Churches of America, the oldest Buddhist organization in the U.S., published in the wake of the shootings in Atlanta that left eight people dead, including six women of Asian descent, Jason Manu Rheaume released an article titled Critical Race Theory is Corrupting Buddhism, which claims that critical race theory has not only infiltrated colleges but also Buddhism in America.

Rheaume and two other white Americans, David Reynolds, a former Theravada monk, and Mark Vetanen, a Zen practitioner, have started a new podcast called The Spiritual Right, which reproduces much of Christian conservative anti-woke rhetoric: The West has become a spiritual wasteland of progressive and materialistic forces. Wokeness masquerades as authentic spiritual tradition, gutting and commodifying ancient teachings to fit its values.

Writing under the signifier politically incorrect Dharma, Reynolds had earlier called for an Alt-Buddhism, namely a relatively conservative, non-feminist (in the emasculating, man-hating socialist sense of the word) spiritual system directed mainly by men. One response came in the form of the self-proclaimed alt-right Buddhist group Right-Wing Dharma Squads.

Hiding behind pseudonyms, these four white men have produced a series of podcasts that mock liberal Buddhism and interweave reflections on Buddhist texts with misogyny, antisemitism, and the celebration of Asian Buddhist monastic extremists such as U Wirathu who have incited violence against Muslims.

For those readers who associate Buddhism with progressive liberal values, or hold an ahistorical reading of the tradition as apolitical, the white backlash to racial justice will be a surprise. As within all religious traditions, however, Buddhist doctrine has been used to both support and resist power regimes.

Rather than argue for a real interpretation of the tradition, scholars can illuminate the ways in which reactionary Buddhists attempt to naturalize their own positions while simultaneously claiming progressive positions as distorted by ideology. They can also point out that such a strategy itself performs the operations of whiteness: as African American philosopher George Yancy notes, others have racialized identities but white people are the transcendental norm.

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*Correction: The word teachers was removed in order to clarify that the subsequently mentioned teachers were not the ones who had in fact used the terms invasion and infection.

###

This article was made possible in part with support fromSacred Writes, a Henry Luce Foundation-funded project hosted by Northeastern University that promotes public scholarship on religion.

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Reactionary White Buddhists Have Joined The Fight Against Critical Race Theory - Religion Dispatches

There are as many reasons to unfollow someone on TikTok as there are to follow someone. For instance, you might not like the experience of being spammed by their all-too-frequent uploads, or you have outgrown the kind of content they create. What if some you follow turned out to be very politically incorrect, but you are not one to tolerate a grain of sand in the eye. Unfollow, of course!

The reason could even be more personal, I mean, is it wrong to unfollow someone who doesnt follow you back or suddenly unfollowed you out of the blue? Absolutely not!

Whatever the reason may be, now that you are here, your requirement is to learn all about all the ways to unfollow someone on TikTok. Without any further ado, lets jump right into the heart of the topic.

Related: How to repost on TikTok

It could be a good thing, or it could be a bad thing, regardless, the unfollowed user is not notified of the event if you unfollow them. So, you can unfollow anyone without alerting them, especially so if you unfollow the user without visiting their profile. Well, it works both ways, because, if someone unfollows you, apart from the change in followers figure, youd receive no indicator as to who unfollowed you.

So, unless a user unfollows someone by visiting their profile, the unfollowed party might not be able to immediately pinpoint who unfollowed them.

There are three ways to unfollow others on TikTok. The first method is to access your following list from your TikTok profile and manually unfollow each and any account. The second method is to look them up on TikTok Discover and unfollow them from their profile. Finally, there are a few popular third-party apps that undertake it in your stead.

Unfollowing from your following list is the most recommended method, as it avoids the need to alert someone of your profile visit to unfollow them. It also doesnt involve the looming threat of being shadow-banned that comes along if you employ bots or third-party apps to take care of the job. However, unfollowing from your profile could end up feeling onerous if you follow a large number of accounts, and you want to mass unfollow all or some of the accounts you follow.

Related: How to Turn Off Restricted Mode on TikTok Without Password

Launch TikTok on your device. Hit the profile icon to go to your profile.

On your profile page,beneath your username, you will see the shortcut to your Following list. Tap to view the list.

You will see the list of all accounts you follow. Tap the Friends button against the username of the account you wish to unfollow.

There, with a single tap, you have unfollowed them. You may repeat the same steps to unfollow anyone on the list. When you unfollow an account, itd show Follow back, if you were mutual follows, or, Follow if you werent moots, to begin with. Their names will disappear altogether from the list after a simple refresh.

The more the number of accounts you follow, the more time-consuming itd be if you have a long to-unfollow list in your hand.

Related: How to Turn On Profile Views on TikTok

Launch TikTok. Tap Discover to go to the TikTok Discover page.

In the search box at the top of the page, enter the username of the account you wish to unfollow.

Tap their profile picture to go to their profile.

Hit the following/mutual following icon to unfollow them.

The screenshot below shows an account you unfollowed (which still follows you).

Both these methods discussed are suitable to unfollow specific accounts that you can pinpoint, like those accounts you frequently interact with. So, what about mass unfollowing on TikTok? Is it possible?

Related: How to Turn Off Restricted Mode on TikTok Without Password

It is a popular behavior among the hottest of TikTokers to keep the number of people they follow to a bare minimum, all to create an aloof and in-demand identity. Mass unfollowing is also a deceptive game played by some users to gain more followers by initiating the following process and then stealthily unfollowing them later.

If your intention is only to cleanse your for you page feed and restart on TikTok, then mass unfollowing could help you in the process of reeducating the TikTok algorithm of your preferences. That said, there is no select all or unfollow all button on TikTok that offers this facility.

What users generally do is resort to bots and software from third-party sources. But, we have all used third-party apps to get something or the other done for us on our device, so what is wrong with that?

There is nothing really wrong with the method, apart from the aftermath. The TikTok algorithm is steadfast in rejecting interference from third-party apps and bots. If you are caught cheating the system to engage in the restricted behavior using bots, consider yourself immediately sentenced to being shadow-banned for who knows how long. The intensity of the penalty varies from account to account.

But wait, how does the TikTok algorithm even detect it if you unfollow some well a lot of people from your profile. TikTok detects it based on your behavior on the app the sudden drop in the count of your users in your following list within a short span raises red flags without fail, and the penalty is inescapable when you are tracked down.

To continue what we discussed above, the only legitimate way is to unfollow manually from your profile.

That means, if you follow 500 users on TikTok, to unfollow them, you have no choice but to un-Friend each one on the list one by one. But, things arent as simple. To discourage users from allowing bots to disrupt its system, the algorithm has established a very particular rule that you must abide by on the platform the maximum number of people you can unfollow per day is 200. It is recommended to keep the number below 150 to avoid the risks of getting an account ban or lock.

Even if you use legitimate means to unfollow each account manually, there is still the risk of getting banned on TikTok, and this depends on the time duration taken to unfollow accounts. If you unfollow too many accounts at once, the algorithm might misunderstand the activity as a bot-interference and lock your account. It is better not to risk your account and maintain a good gap between a group of unfollows, preferably 3-4 hours.

We have already discussed the risk of shadow-banning involved if you use third-party apps for bulk unfollowing. However, the greatest risk is getting scammed or hacked. Many of the third-party apps which recommend themselves as the best tool to unfollow others automatically on TikTok have been indicted with privacy invasion according to user reviews.

That is not to say that there arent any dependable tools out there. For instance, the fueltok TikTok bot has been receiving a good amount of word-of-the-mouth recommendations as quite a handy tool for its specialization in automating following and unfollowing activities on TikTok.

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How to Unfollow on TikTok: Unfollow Someone, Everyone, and More - NerdsChalk

The level of violence across Mexico involving drug traffickers and the armed forces has become the subject of considerable controversy and much debate. The right-wing opposition and the government are both weighing in, as are analysts and independent investigative journalists. Every week, it seems there is a new event highlighting just how serious the situation has become in several states that are the weakest links in a panorama that extends to most of the national territory. Its reminiscent of what Mexico experienced during the presidency of Felipe Caldern from 2006 to 2012.

While it is difficult to cull from official statistics which violence is linked directly to drug trafficking, an estimate is possible if we consider, for example, that of the more than 2,000 murders that occurred in Mexico in January 2022, Guanajuato, Michoacn, and Zacatecas three of the states with the greatest cartel activity are also among the states with the highest number of violent deaths.

Journalists in particular face a dramatic situation. So far this year, six journalists have been murdered. Journalists in Mexico face conditions of danger and defenselessness that are similar to those in a war zone something the international media has already pointed out, and that the European Parliament has opportunistically tried to take advantage of as it approves censure motions against the press in its own countries.

As we have written in other articles, it is journalists and women with an increase of femicides to more than 10 a day who suffer the most from the consequences of Mexicos political and social decomposition.

The government of Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador (AMLO) campaigned in 2012 and 2018 on a pledge that he would return the army to their barracks. This stance won him a lot of approval after the tremendous social protests of the preceding decade, especially against militarization, by democratic movements such as the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity and the movement for Ayotzinapa.

After AMLO won the election, though, his promises gave way to an opposite policy. The National Peace and Security Plan, released in November 2018, made it clear that AMLOs aim was to put security and the fight against drug trafficking under the direct responsibility of the military. For this purpose, he created the National Guard, with members from the Navy and the Army, through a process that went through several iterations including a debate on whether it would be under military or civilian command. It culminated in the new body being assigned to Mexicos Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) and an ironclad centralization of internal security within the armed forces. The government also began to include the armed forces in civilian tasks and aspects of its political agenda, including having the armed forces participate in the administration of ports and customs as well as various social programs, including building up the Banco de Bienestar and helping construct a new airport. All of this has meant deepening Mexicos militarization by giving the armed forces a greater role in security and in various areas of society.

As one researcher has written,

During the transition period, Lpez Obrador and his team maintained their commitment to a new pacification strategy. In addition to including a package of social policies focused on youth in particular, this strategy contemplated changes in drug regulation policies, as well as a battery of alternative penalties and amnesties. Although many of these proposals were well received by public opinion, it was not easy to know whether they would be compatible with Washingtons security priorities, let alone to anticipate their viability in the context of the insecurity and violence engulfing the country.

Indeed, since AMLO became president, his orientation with respect to security and drug policy has always been largely in accordance with whatever is dictated by the White House first from Republican Donald Trump and then from Democrat Joe Biden, without much change from one to the other. Although AMLO has on numerous occasions used the phrase hugs, not bullets to summarize his policy in these areas, and claims to be attacking the social causes of violence, the truth is that the National Guard has 170,000 troops (more than ever were deployed by Caldern) and is doing nothing to attack the root causes of poverty, inequality, and social marginalization.

Following in the footsteps of previous neoliberal governments, AMLO justifies militarization to the Mexican people as the necessary response to drug trafficking. The primary work of the National Guard, though, has been to repress migrant caravans and social movements as its territorial presence and its image and strength as part of the state apparatus grows in the eyes of working people. The proof of this can be seen it its repeated operations against migrants beginning in 2020, the Ayotzinapa students, and the teachers of Michoacn in the first months of this year. The actions it has taken against organized crime and the drug cartels are a matter of much controversy and debate.

A number of journalists and researchers have argued that the strategy of hugs, not bullets, rather than using social policy to undermine the drug cartels, actually protects a policy aimed at avoiding any direct confrontation with the cartels a kind of unsigned agreement so as not to repeat what was experienced in previous presidencies. El Pais columnist Jorge Zepeda Paterson, for example, has written, The president concluded that given the real impossibility of facing the problem, it was better to buy some time a strategy that could not be admitted to publicly, and that was politically incorrect, but was, in his opinion, realistic. Thus, the actions of the National Guard, in addition to guaranteeing militarization, would be aimed at recovering territorial control in the 248 districts into which Mexico was divided for security purposes, without looking for direct confrontations with the cartels, but rather to show more of a presence. This has been accompanied with greater financial intelligence to interfere, if necessary with the economic operations of some of the cartels.

This approach has not achieved its objectives, and now we face this spiraling violence thanks to the expansion of some cartels and more confrontations between them which has played out over the last two years in the form of thousands of violent, barbaric episodes. One of the most notorious occurred in Culiacn in October 2019. There was a violent response to the government operation to arrest Ovidio Guzmn Lpez, son of Joaqun Chapo Guzmn and a known member of the Sinaloa Cartel. The cartel shut down access to the state capital a demonstration of its armed power that compelled the government to agree to release the drug lord. Another example is the attack against Omar Garcia Harfuch, Mexico Citys Secretary of Public Security, in June 2020. It took place in broad daylight in a well-off area of the city. Members of the Jalisco Cartel New Generation used high-powered weapons and showed logistical capabilities.

AMLOs detractors many of whom belong to or identify with the right-wing opposition parties criticize the president, saying that behind the hugs, not bullets line is a decision not to act against the cartels, showing the state to be weak. Sectors of imperialism itself such as former U.S. prosecutor Barry Carr argue that the government has lost sovereignty over the cartels and that its strategy is now to coexist with the cartels.

All of them demand a head-on fight against drug trafficking; that is, a return to the policy carried out by the governments of Caldern and Enrique Pea Nieto, the president who preceded AMLO. They want the National Guard in addition to the militarization and repression against social movements that the AMLO government has fostered to go on the offensive against the cartels instead of being limited to some sort of containment of drug trafficking. The Biden administration seems to be calling for the same thing.

Part of the increase in generalized violence must be attributed to this deepening of militarization through the actions of the National Guard, which constitutes the genuine realpolitik of what AMLO has called the Fourth Transformation of Mexico his 2018 campaign promise to end the privileged abuses of high government officials in the country. Human rights violations are widely documented, and the presence of the different armed bodies in the streets (whether the police, the Armed Forces themselves, or the militarized National Guard) has had dire consequences for the population, from intimidation to repression.

In addition, the dynamics of the drug trafficking business in Mexico in recent years must certainly be considered as fundamental to the increase in violence. Today, there are at least 16 cartels in Mexico spread unevenly throughout the 32 states. This expansion has been consolidated during AMLOs administration. Two cartels, present in 25 of the states, are at the forefront. One is the historic Sinaloa Cartel. The capture and extradition of Chapo Guzmn to the United States did nothing to eliminate the cartel; instead, its different factions are led today by a number of his relatives and by Ismael El Mayo Zambada, who has miraculously evaded capture for more than 30 years. Its base of operations is concentrated in the so-called Golden Triangle and the northern states of the country, strategically located near the U.S. border. But it has a presence, either directly or through shaky alliances, in most of the republic.

The other is the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG), which rose meteorically in recent years under the leadership of Nemesio El Mencho Oseguera. It has employed a very aggressive expansion strategy, with alliances and clashes with other cartels and organized crime groups. The CJNG is now present in more states than all of its competitors. Some analysts compare it to the Los Zetas cartel, particularly for its paramilitary style and propaganda, with its forces dressing and parading as if they were a regular military force as they openly defy state control.

With so many large organizations, smaller groups, and cells, as well as the alliances that quickly give way to confrontations for the control of the plazas, the struggle between cartels plays out in a complex and intricate manner. Wars break out between them and government forces, as weve seen in most states, including Guanajuato, Michoacn, Zacatecas, and a long list of others. One of the most recent chapters in this saga was the collective executions in San Jose de Gracia.

It is important to keep in mind that the different cartels, in pursuing their economic interests and quest for profit through illegal means, are not limited to drug trafficking. Increasingly, they have been getting into other lines of business, including kidnapping, extortion, fuel theft from pipelines, collecting protection payments, and human trafficking. As is well known, many migrants have been the victims of cartel kidnappings and murders. The cartels have also been intimidating lemon and avocado farmers and loggers in Michoacn and Guerrero for protection payments; this also facilitates subsequent efforts by narcotics cops and transnational mining companies to carry out their megaprojects.

Drug trafficking activities particularly by the two leading cartels have become increasingly internationalized, extending their links to countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa, while they have become the main suppliers of cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl consumed in the United States. The production and trafficking of synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, with much higher profit margins than other drugs, really stands out; fentanyl is made from ingredients that come from China. Thus, the cartels are fighting for control of the routes to Mexico and from Mexico to the United States, which is why the airports have become so strategically important, along with the countrys main ports in the states of Michoacn, Colima, and Veracruz.

A recent investigation by Contralnea magazine highlights the criminal enterprise networks shared by the two main cartels in Mexico, which combines a federated network with a highly hierarchical structure that has branched out into an array of criminal activities and to various countries and continents. The character of this business is explained by its ultimate goal: commercial dominance in one or several criminal economies. In all cases, the source of power is the accumulation of economic capital around these markets, which is used to exert increasing amounts of social and political power over their areas of influence.

Again, it is important to consider the actions of the drug cartels in light of their search for profits through activities that are not simply illegal, but are the greatest expression of the decomposition and social degradation of Mexican capitalism. These include human trafficking and extortion, to mention only two.

There are various aspects to the relationship between the state and drug trafficking. Many speak in terms of infiltration, but the reality is one of genuine collusion and criminal association between different levels of the state and institutions and the different cartels. One of the most scandalous expressions of this was the relationship between Genaro Garca Luna, Mexicos Secretary of Public Security from 2006 to 2012, and the Sinaloa Cartel. Only someone looking at this navely (or with self-interest) could pretend that it all ended in 2018 or that such corruption is found only at the lowest levels of the police forces and local authorities. That is far from reality; as history shows, it has reached the highest levels of the capitalist state, and drug trafficking has a direct influence on the appointment of political and police officials.

Similarly, corruption and criminality are not exclusive to this or that political party. All the political forces that represent Mexican business interests are, to a greater or lesser extent, involved. Investigative journalist Ricardo Ravelo, in his most recent book Los narcopolticos (Narco-politicians) shows the evidence of corruption belonging to all the parties in the highest spheres of government. Of course, he was threatened with legal action by the current governor of Jalisco, Enrique Alfaro, whose party is the Movimiento Ciudadano (Citizens Movement). Along with the huge number of officials from the PAN and PRI, quite a few governors and mayors belonging to MORENA have also been singled out in different states of the country governed by the ruling party.

The actions and expansion of the cartels cannot be explained without their close relationship with the so-called political class and the different levels of the state and the armed forces. This worked particularly well for the political parties involved when there was a hegemonic cartel as in the 1980s, with the so-called Federacon (Federation) created by godfather Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, which enjoyed a privileged relationship with various U.S. agencies that became public with the IranContra scandal. The relationships were also used to tip the balance toward one of the contending cartels, as with Luna and his association with the Sinaloa Cartel. At the same time, when there was a lot of fragmentation or competition became especially tough, the states choice whether at the level of the central or regional government, or even locally to protect this or that cartel and guarantee its position led to reactions and confrontations that were quite violent, as was seen under previous presidential administrations and is currently happening in many Mexican states. It is the local populations that always suffer the consequences of these confrontations between cartels and with the armed forces.

Today, some point out that the states efforts are concentrated primarily against the Jalisco Cartel New Generation, which thus favors its main competitor. Others defend the official strategy, arguing that it is simply a reflection of the CJNGs greater aggressiveness.

The links between drug trafficking and the institutions and political parties at the service of big business and military forces signal that we are confronting a fundamental characteristic of Mexican capitalism. In light of oppression at the hands of imperialism and its acceptance of Washingtons prohibitionist drug policies, Mexico has rolled out a profound degradation and decomposition of every aspect of so-called public life.

This is the context for the U.S. administrations call for more decisive action against drug cartels by the Mexican government. The U.S. State Department, in its recent International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) 2022, argues that Mexico has little capacity to prosecute money laundering, that the chemicals used in narcotics production are not regulated, and that Mexican cartels are playing an increasingly transnationalized role as a production and transit point to the United States and in relation to Chinese chemical ingredients.

The Biden administration made the decision to point out openly the influence drug trafficking organizations wield over high-level Mexican government officials. This undoubtedly aggressive gesture was combined with a call to continue to work together to intensify efforts to dismantle transnational criminal organizations and their networks, increase prosecutions of criminal leaders and facilitators, and strengthen efforts to seize illicit assets. It is important to keep in mind that these remarks were preceded by the indictment of Genaro Garca Luna and the detention of General Cienfuegos, who was finally released following the diplomatic protest of AMLOs government.

Now it appears that the White House is particularly concerned about the boom in production and trafficking of synthetic drugs such as fentanyl to the United States. Washington is expecting more intense activity by the AMLO administration against the cartels operating in the United States, and greater collaboration which can only mean greater involvement by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. U.S. pressure, although presented in a diplomatic manner as part of its U.S. interventionist policies is evident, and will only lead to even greater militarization of Mexico and the northern border.

It remains to be seen whether AMLO will accede to U.S. expectations meaning a stronger confrontation with the cartels, which would create greater instability and comes with political costs for the government, considering the societal sensitivity to violence in the country. He may keep on his current course, focused on maintaining state presence in the hottest areas by means of the National Guard, which again is most effective against social protest.

In recent weeks, we have seen the arrest of several leaders, such as the apprehension and deportation to the United States of El Huevo Trevio, capo of the Northwest Cartel and nephew of the fearsome Z-40, as well as the regional leader of the CJNG in Colima. These could be interpreted as gestures aimed at calming U.S. anxieties and demands. And it comes in the context of new actions by organized crime, such as the murder of the mayor of Aguililla, a town in Michoacn where the armed forces had taken back the municipality from the cartels. That had been touted as a positive expression of the governments policy of greater territorial presence.

The current situation is creating tremendous instability. And it can be dangerous for a government that seeks, precisely, to preserve a certain political stability so that it can make it to the 2024 presidential elections with its current level of popularity and keep the right-wing opposition from capitalizing on the situation through calls for greater security.

AMLOs security policy, part of his Fourth Transformation, is fully aligned with the subordination of Mexico that Washington demands. It is based on the prohibitionist drug policy and the deployment of the armed forces throughout Mexico.

In past years, the so-called war against drug trafficking and the militarization that supported it brought disastrous consequences for Mexicos workers and impoverished people: a shocking toll of hundreds of thousands of deaths and tens of thousands disappeared and displaced. This was the most abhorrent expression of the consequences of economic, political, and security subordination to the United States, as well as of the decomposition and degradation that has resulted from the historical oppression of Mexico by imperialism which shares a 3,000-kilometer border with the colossus to the north and the most recent policies imposed by the White House.

It is clear that the only way out of the current trap, crisscrossed by the actions of the cartels and the Mexican states security strategy, necessarily involves breaking with imperialism and its dictates. Demilitarizing the country, legalizing drugs, and expropriating drug capital are fundamental measures that must be taken. This is far from what the political parties that represent the interests of the capitalists can do or even wish to do. Even the most progressive among them have no intention of antagonizing the United States and opposing its policies, which in Mexico and throughout the region, have had such dire consequences.

The perspective we must promote is an anti-capitalist and socialist one that begins with these measures just outlined. That is the only perspective that serves the interests of the masses, and that can put a stop to the spiral of violence and social degradation that is a direct result of capitalism and imperialist oppression.

First published in Spanish on March 20 in Ideas de Izquierda, the Sunday supplement of La Izquierda Diario Mexico.

Translation by Scott Cooper

See original here:
The Mexican Government and the Cartels: Colluding in Service of US Imperialism - Left Voice