"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." - President Ronald Reagan
How are we going to dismantle the cartels?: We posted about the Mexico cartels during 2024. We may be posting more in 2025 after listening to President Trump talk about dismantling them. Time will tell.
We can tell you this about the state of the cartels. My friend Allan Wall posted this…
We posted about the Mexico cartels during 2024. We may be posting more in 2025 after listening to President Trump talk about dismantling them. Time will tell.
But what if criminal gangs are one of the biggest employers in the country?
A recent study has found that, taken collectively, the Mexican drug cartels are now the fifth largest employer in Mexico.
From ZME Science: “Mexican cartels now boast an estimated 175,000 members, making them the fifth largest employer in Mexico, right between the grocery chain Oxxo and telecoms company América Móvil.”
Working for a cartel means that you may be selling illegal drugs on the street, bringing someone over the border, working in one of many companies funded by laundered money and maybe others. It’s a diverse operation to say the least.
The cartels are the fifth largest employer because of the power of cash. No one knows for sure how many dollars go south because of cartel operations, but it’s billions. It’s enough to create jobs and keep a few politicians happy about their local economies.
So how are we going to dismantle the cartels? It won’t be easy and will require the full participation of the Mexican government.
Mexico receives $65 billion in remittances and the cartels are the fifth largest employer. What a strange way to run an economy.
2014 has been an interesting year for 50-year anniversaries: 1) The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show; 2) The Ford Mustang; and 3) The New York World's Fair. It was a showcase for companies and future technology, such as "a touch tone phone"! It was also an exhibition of US confidence and self esteem! It was the US telling the world "we are #1" rather than meaningless "hope and change" speeches! One big development in the last 50 years is that we were a manufacturing nation in 1964 as you can appreciate in this tour of the facilities recently published in The New York Times. We made cars, telephones, TV's and lots of other things. Check out the industrial area from the aforementioned article:
"In the part of the fairgrounds closest to the Van Wyck Expressway, more than 45 pavilions devoted to industry (with some religious organizations sprinkled in) surrounded a pool around which was held a nightly fireworks show. Anchored by the General Electric Pavilion’s Progressland, the Industrial area was a collective advertisement for corporate America, with the Kodak Pavilion’s roof designed like the surface of the moon, and Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen’s egg-shaped IBM Pavilion, where visitors sitting on grandstands were lifted swiftly into a theater. At the Bell System exhibit, visitors previewed phone technology that is now commonplace. Perhaps the biggest hit: The Pepsi-Cola Pavilion’s Unicef-Disney production of “It’s a Small World,” with a song, in rounds of several languages, that became forever lodged in people’s minds."
We don't do make products like this anymore and that is something to think about. Let me ask you a couple of questions: 1) How many of those companies are still making anything in the US? Who is hiring American workers in US plants? 2) How can you maintain a middle class if everything is made by cheap labor elsewhere? I am not peddling "doom and gloom" this morning. I understand that 2014 is different than 1964. However, a great nation has to make things and we are making less of everything these days. P. S. You can hear my chat with Frank Burke, management consultant & American Thinker contributor, about manufacturing today
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Rick Nelson died in a plane crash in Texas in 1985. He was flying to Dallas for a concert. Nelson recorded many songs, from "Traveling man" to "Hello Mary Lou" to "Young emotions". My favorite is "Fools rush in", a tune from the 1940's that Nelson brought back in 1963. You can get his music HERE.
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It was 50 years ago today, but I recall it quite well. I welcomed 1973 with my parents. My mother had made some amazing Cuban food, my father had some new Cuban music L.P.s, and it was a blast. We watched the famous ball from New York, then spoke with my brother, who was visiting my uncle in Puerto Rico. I hit the pillow around 2 A.M. No one knew that my uncle's house was a few miles from the tragedy.
Then I woke up smelling my mother's Cuban coffee, and she broke the overnight news that Roberto Clemente had been killed in a plane crash. It was stunning:
Clemente was on his way to deliver relief supplies to Nicaragua following a devastating earthquake there a week earlier.
At the end of September, Clemente had gotten his 3,000th hit in the final game of the season for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was a hero in his native Puerto Rico, where he spent much of the off-season doing charity work. Some of his charitable work had taken him to Nicaragua, so Clemente was particularly distressed when he learned that very little aid was getting to victims of a devastating December 23 earthquake near Managua.
The plane took off at 9 p.m. and the sounds of engine failure were heard as it went down the runway. It reached an altitude of only 200 feet before exploding and plunging into the ocean. Rescue workers were sent out immediately, but the task was next to impossible in the darkness. The bodies were never found. The news hit Puerto Rico hard–one friend of Clemente described it as the “night that happiness died.”
A subsequent investigation into the crash revealed that the plane never should have been put in the air and that the pilot had erred by over-boosting the engines.
To say the least, I was shocked to hear the news and to talk to my brother, who gave us a report about how the island was reacting. We had grown up following Clemente's career. Clemente hit .317 and got #3,000 on his last at-bat of the 1972 season. He was the MVP of the 1971 World Series and hit .318 in that postseason.
John Denver was born on this day in 1943. He died in a plane crash in 1997.
In the 1970's, Denver dominated the pop charts with songs like "Rocky Mountain High" and "Annie's song". Great songwriter and singer! His songs are HERE.
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How many times did you hear that abortion would doom the GOP and President Trump's return to power? It was like "our daily bread" in the liberal media. Abortion was going to drive millions of women to the ballot box to settle the score over the overturning Roe.
Well, it didn't happen. It turns out that many men and women like the idea that they can make their own decisions, thanks to Dobbs. The so-called "abortion wave" did not happen. as Politico pointed out:
After campaigns to preserve abortion rights helped halt a red wave in 2022 and won Democrats key races in 2023, many in the party headed into November confident that putting the issue directly on the ballot in nearly a dozen states would juice turnout and pull swing voters to the left -- especially after Harris replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket and made a forceful defense of abortion rights her leading message. Clearly, that didn’t happen. Yes, abortion-rights ballot measures passed in seven more states and won majority support in Florida, though the measure failed because the state requires a 60 percent supermajority for passage. But voters in those same states, on the same ballot, voted for Republicans with a history of opposing abortion rights. Most Arizona voters, for instance, overturned a 15-week abortion ban and checked a box for Trump. Polling before and after the election showed that other issues -- including the economy and immigration -- took precedence for most voters, steering them toward GOP candidates. And many strategists and abortion-rights advocates believe the ballot measures created a “permission structure” for Republicans voters who were worried about the impact of bans on the procedure. There are a handful of states left where citizens can put an abortion-rights measure on the ballot in the future, and groups in Arkansas, Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota are likely to try again after initiatives there fell short or were blocked by courts this year. But the era of Democrats counting on such measures to boost their candidates’ chances is officially over.
Thank God that it's over. Maybe we can finally treat women with a little respect without assuming that all they care about is abortion.
My sense is that two other things happened.
First, voters got comfortable voting for abortion in their states. Here in Texas, we passed a "heartbeat law" and our neighbors in New Mexico voted for their own version of Roe. In the end, everybody is happy and democracy works as intended.
Second, and this may have been more important, voters did not go for the extreme position. You get the feeling that voters understood that there is something wrong with a culture that allows late-term abortions. Most voters saw that for what it was -- killing something that looks too much like a real baby.
So the critics of Roe got it right. Let the voters decide and things will work out. Abortion has finally been taken off the agenda on presidential elections. Yes, no more nominations for judges obsessed with Roe!
In other words, he was the most dominant pitcher during those six seasons. Overall, he pitched 4 no hitters including a perfect game in 1965; He won 165 games with a 2.76 ERA; No one could touch him in the 1963 and 1965 World Series; Cy Young in 1963, 1965 & 1966; and last but not least, NL MVP in 1963. Sadly, arm injuries forced him to retire after 1966 or age 32.
On a personal level, he broke my heart when he beat the Twins in game 7 of the 1965 World Series. We ran home from school to watch that game and LA beat Minnesota behind Koufax's 2-0 performance. A few years ago, I read this great book about Koufax.
We remember Michael Nesmith who was born in Houston in 1942. He died in 2021.
Most of us remember Nesmith because he was one of The Monkees, the rock group that recorded several hits in the late 1960's. Nesmith wrote some of the group's hits, as well as "A different drum" recorded by The Stone Poneys. After The Monkees, Nesmith had a few solo hits in the 1970's.
Skeeter Davis was born Mary Frances Penick in Kentucky on this day in 1931. She died in 2004. According to her biography, she enjoyed success in pop and country radio.
Her signature song was the sad of sad songs "The End of the World":
"Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
'Cause you don't love me anymore
Why do the birds go on singing?
Why do the stars glow above?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when I lost your love
I wake up in the morning and I wonder
Why everything's the same as it was
I can't understand, no, I can't understand
How life goes on the way it does
Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when you said goodbye
Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when you said goodbye"
Is this the saddest song ever recorded? I think so!
"The end of the world" continues to get a lot of airplay on country and pop stations. It also shows up in movie soundtracks.
We remember Davy Jones who was born in the UK on this day in 1945. He died in 2012.
Davy Jones was one of The Monkees, the pop group that had a bunch of hits for a couple of years in the late 1960's.
Davy was the girls' favorite. I remember that my sister had Davy Jones posters on her wall. She was a huge fan of the group's music and their weekly TV series.
The Monkees sold millions of records. They were actually a pretty good group and I liked many of their songs, too. However, their success faded as the TV show went off the air.
Davy was the lead vocalist on "Daydream Believer", a # 1 song in December 1967.
Future President Rutherford Hayes married Lucy Webb on this day in 1852. Hayes won the extremely controversial election of 1876 against Governor Samuel Tilden of New York. Hayes lost the popular vote by 300,000 out of the 8 million cast. After weeks of negotiations, Hayes won the electoral college 185-184. Historians believe that Mr Hayes' election was part of a deal to get federal troops out of the South. Hayes had problems governing, in large measure because of his disputed election. Nevertheless, First Lady Lucy was quite a charm. The wife of the president has properly been referred to as "The First Lady" ever since!
We wish a very happy birthday to Paul Stookey of the legendary folk group, Peter, Paul & Mary:
"In 1961, Stookey was the emcee, comedian and occasional singer at Gaslight, a club in Greenwich Village. One night, he was approached by Albert Grossman, a manager, who asked him if he was interested in joining a new folk trio. He initially said that he wasn't, but afterMary Travers and Peter Yarrow went to his apartment and the three sang together, Peter, Paul and Mary was born."
Willie, Rocky, and the Rose: It was a rough one for the diamond. We lost several baseball players in 2024 whom we grew up following, or collecting their cards.
Willie Mays topped the list. I heard about his death listening to a Rangers game on the….
Willie Mays topped the list. I heard about his death listening to a Rangers game on the radio. For my money, he was the greatest player ever, although I saw him play only in 1972, when he played with the Mets. We were in New York and heard that the Mets were in town, so we did whatever we had to do to get to Shea for one last look at Mays. He was not the guy I had watched on TV, but that number 24 looked great on his jersey. He was my favorite in everything he could do:
Few ballplayers matched the multifaceted brilliance of Mays, who ranks sixth all time with 660 home runs and won 12 Gold Glove Awards for his defense in center field — which he helped turn into the game’s most glamorous position in the 1950s, when he, Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider all played for New York clubs. Mays became the first player to exceed 300 homers and 300 stolen bases in 1969, reflecting his ideal blend of power and speed.
As prodigious a hitter as Mays was — he surpassed 50 home runs 10 years apart, in 1955 and 1965, hit four home runs in a game at Milwaukee on April 30, 1961, and batted .301 lifetime — his signature moment might have been the over-the-shoulder catch he made in the 1954 World Series opener at New York’s Polo Grounds, robbing Cleveland’s Vic Wertz of a potential game-winning hit.
I remember once hearing that Ted Williams said that the All Star Game was created for Willie Mays. I don’t know if Williams actually said that for sure, but I do recall watching Willie hit a leadoff home run in the 1965 All Star Game. They played those games in the afternoon back then, and the players used their regular uniforms instead of all of this fancy colorful stuff. What a player, and one of my favorite cards to collect.
Another player who brought some memories was Rocky Colavito, from when the Indians were Indians and wore that great uniform. He was born Rocco Domenico Colavito in New York City. I assume that he grew up watching Joe DiMaggio. I loved his name in large part because my mother could pronounce Colavito, but I had to remind her that he was Italian, not Cuban. I did not see him play except on TV or reading about him in The Sporting News. He was great:
After finishing his career with 374 homers, 1,159 RBIs and an .848 OPS, Colavito spent several years as an Indians coach and broadcaster. He maintained a powerful presence. Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper, an Indians second baseman from 1974-81, recalled one Spring Training in Tucson, Ariz., when a truckers’ strike threatened to prevent transport of the ballclub’s equipment and other belongings back to Cleveland in time for Opening Day. Said Kuiper, “Rocky made one phone call. And we got our stuff.”
His 374 career home runs were majestic, or moon shots, sort of similar to Harmon Killebrew. I guess the fans in Cleveland never forgave the Indians for trading him, but that’s the business of baseball sometimes. He looked great in those Indian sleeveless uniforms.
And then let’s recall Pete Rose. I saw him play on TV a lot because the Reds were in the postseason so much. Another great baseball card, especially when he was younger and he wore that crew cut. I loved what he did and how he did it on the field:
A Cincinnati native who became a franchise icon for the Reds, Rose is the club’s all-time leader in games (2,722), plate appearances (12,344), runs (1,741), hits (3,358), singles (2,490), doubles (601) and walks (1,210). Over his 24-year career that spanned from 1963-86 and saw him also play for the Phillies and Expos, Rose collected 4,256 hits.
And then who can forget that crash with Ray Fosse running home in the 1970 All Star Game? What about that fight that he started in the 1973 NLCS against the Mets? I was in my car, and the two big stories of the moment were that V.P. Agnew had resigned and that Rose had crashed into the shortstop. His baseball story did not end well, but that’s another story.
There were others, like Luis Tiant, who was born in Cuba and became a Major League star the year our family came to the U.S. My father told me stories of his father, Luis Sr., who played in the old Negro Leagues.
There was Rico Carty and the big debate over the 1964 Rookie of the Year between Rico and Dick Allen.
There was Fernando Valenzuela and that great game that he pitched against the Yankees and Expos in the 1981 postseason.
And there was Rickey Henderson, who always played for the other team, but I admire his talents.
Great players, all of them. And a reminder of when kids collected baseball cards and I played Strat-o-Matic wth my brother.
The eccentric but very good lefty Bill Lee was born in Burbank, CA, on this day in 1946. As a pitcher, he was a rare left hander who could pitch in Fenway Park. He pitched most of his career with Boston and finished with Montreal: 119 wins, 3.72 ERA and 72 complete games. Lee's pitching style was to kill you with a variety of "junk pitches" that had hitters speaking to themselves on the way back to the dugouts. Off the field, Lee was also "The Spaceman" because of all his famous quotes. He wasn't Yogi Berra but he had a few:
"I would change policy, bring back natural grass and nickel beer. Baseball is the belly-button of our society. Straighten out baseball, and you straighten out the rest of the world."
My biggest memory is game 7 of the 1975 World Series. He threw one of those junk pitches to Tony Perez and it was the 3-run HR that put Cincinnati back in the game. He was fun to watch on and off the field. A baseball character when it was just fun to be a character.
We remember Mary Tyler Moore who was born on this day in 1936. She died in 2017. We remember her as the wonderful Laura Petrie in "The Dick Van Dyke" then Mary Richards in her own show and finally in the drama "Ordinary lives". She was great and a big part of our lives.
It was a lot of fun hearing my late parents tell stories of Cuban baseball. My mother, born in Ciego de Avila, followed La Habana. My father, born in Sagua La Grande, followed Almendares. They spent many nights in their hometowns writing each other letters and listening to the games on radio. I guess that I inherited their passion for “beisbol.”
“On December 29, 1878, the first game is played between two teams of the first professional baseball league in Cuba, later known as the Cuban League. Representing the city of Havana, the Habana club faced off against their greatest rivals, a club from the neighboring suburb of Almendares. Habana, coached by Esteban Bellán, the first Cuban to play professional baseball in the United States, won that inaugural game 21-20.”
The first game eventually turned into the very successful Almendares-Habana rivalry, the Cuban version of the Yankees-Red Sox feud. Eventually, they added teams in Marianao and Cienfuegos. It all started today in 1878!
On this day in 1845, Texas became the 28th state to enter the Union. Texas came in as a "slave state" and eventually fought with the South in The Civil War.
Over time, Texas became the second largest economy in the US and a huge political factor as well. Years ago, James Michener wrote a good novel about Texas.
We will look at the big stories of 2024: Trump wins poplar vote and most of the counties; The Democrats and the male vote; The role of the border chaos and general dissatisfaction with the Biden presidency plus we lost several of my favorite major leagues from Willie Mays, Rocky Colavito, Pete Rose, Rickey Henderson, Luis Tiant and others who grew up following.
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We remember Mary Tyler Moore who was born on this day in 1936. She died in 2017.
