Friday's show: The Texas election, border issues and ICE with George Rodriguez

Friday's show:  The Texas election, border issues and ICE with George Rodriguez

Friday's video: The Hispanic vote and 2018

Friday's video: The Hispanic vote and 2018

Hispanics and Democrats: https://t.co/z1zlX7RCdJ via @YouTube

— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) July 6, 2018

What do Mexicans mean by corruption?

According to the experts, president-elect Lopez-Obrador benefited from a backlash against corruption.

I don’t deny that it worked on his behalf but what exactly do we mean by corruption?

During my time living in Mexico, I used to hear about bribes to police officers. It went like this. The policeman stops you, asks for your license and you give him one wrapped around a peso bill. Then the policeman gave you back the license and told you not speed again.

My sense is that most Mexicans did not really object to that kind of corruption. In fact, some told me that it was a way of helping policemen surviving with very low wages.

Another kind of corruption was paying bureaucrats to move your paperwork. I saw this with my own eyes when I went with a lawyer to a government agency.     

Again, I don’t remember a lot of opposition to that. In fact, I got the feeling that Mexicans liked to bribe to avoid  bureaucratic delays.

So what kind of corruption are we talking about? Bribes to policemen? I don’t think so. Bribes to bureaucrats to move documents? I don’t think so.

My sense is that Mexicans are tired of a different kind of corruption, or the un-elected bureaucracy rewriting rules in Congress or arbitrarily targeting businesses.  

I think that we call that picking “winners and losers” — sort of like Solyndra!

According to an international index, Mexico has a serous level of corruption:   

The Mexico chapter of Transparency International blamed the federal government’s resistance to extend the National Anti-Corruption System throughout the country for the drop in its ranking.

The NGO also said that the absence of a truly autonomous federal Attorney General’s office and the lack of firm punishments in corruption cases are contributing factors in Mexico’s score.

It recommended the efficient installation of the National Anti-Corruption System and the incorporation into the system of the Financial Intelligence Unit and the Federal Taxation Administration, SAT, to avoid the laundering and diversion of funds.

The final laws governing Mexico’s Anti-Corruption System went into effect in July of last year. The system was widely hailed when it was first introduced, but has run into strong criticism from the citizens’ commission designed to investigate corruption cases.

My sense is that Mexicans are tired of the arrogant bureaucracy.    

What is Lopez-Obrador going to do about that? Not much, because the public sector unions supported him.    

You can’t clean up Mexico unless you are willing to downsize the public sector unions and the bureaucracies that they run.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

The left is in full panic mode over The Supreme Court.........

The left is in full panic mode over The Supreme Court. They are scared to a frenzy that President Trump will replace Justice Kennedy with a young conservative judge.     

However, what is really driving them mad is that President Trump will replace liberal Justice Ginsberg with another young conservative.

As you may know, Justice Ginsberg has a history of health problems.   

It begs the question: Why didn't Justice Ginsberg retire in 2015 and give President Obama an opportunity to replace her? Maybe she subscribed to the idea that Mrs. Clinton would win the election!

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

What about Hispanic voters and Democrats?

We share a couple of headlines: "Hispanic-Latino Unemployment Rate Hits Lowest Level on Record in June".

It's 4.6%, down from its May level of 4.9%!

How about this headline?: "Democrats Underperforming With Hispanic Voters".

Speaking of Hispanics, we saw a lot of apathy in Texas when the May 22 runoff attracted only 419,000 votes, or the lowest number since 1920.   The Hispanic turnout was not that great in California either.  

So what's going on?   A good economy and no message other than "we hate Trump" is not working for Democrats.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

Trump to Allies: Pay please!

President Trump has a message to the allies: “Trump sent letters to NATO allies demanding increased defense spending!”

Here is the story:

President Donald Trump sent letters to the leaders of NATO allies, including Germany, Belgium, Norway and Canada, demanding that they increase their defense spending and threatening to alter the US global military presence if they do not, according to a report in the New York Times on Monday.

The letters were sent last month, according to the Times, before a NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium, next week.

A source familiar with the letters confirmed their existence to CNN but did not confirm the language in them. A separate diplomatic source briefed on the letters described them as “very tough” and said they requested more defense spending and warned the US was losing patience.

This is not a new issue. From President Truman to President Obama, US leaders have complained about our allies failing to meet their commitments. Nevertheless, it’s good to see that President Trump has put the issue on the front pages.

It’s a winning issue for President Trump. He is simply calling on our allies who appreciate the cost of defending them.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.