Fentanyl and Mexico: The Remarks of Hugo Lopez-Gatell (2)

This week, we reported on Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's press conference in which Sub-Secretary for Prevention and Promotion of Health, Hugo Lopez-Gatell talked about Mexico's role (or lack thereof) in the production and trafficking of fentanyl. He indicated that for Mexico, fentanyl was an "imported problem" and mentioned the existence of "fentanyl routes" from the US into Mexico.

We have translated 3 minutes and 11 seconds of the presentation containing the pertinent portion (which begins exactly 8 minutes in). Hat tip to Gates of Vienna and Vlad Tepes for subtitling. Translation by Fousesquawk.

The NY Times Gets Their Man

 

"New York Times-Freeze or die!!"

Another Anti-TPUSA Incident: University of Washington

Fox News has posted a video of someone who is identified as a "trans-activist" confronting members of Turning Point USA, a national association of conservative students, at the University of Washington. Turning Point was manning a table on campus with literature when the activist confronted them and flipped over their table, calling them, "F---ing Nazis." According to the article, the incident occurred on "Thursday", but it is not entirely clear if that means today or the previous Thursday. The video can be seen in the below link. 

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trans-activist-crashes-tpusa-event-washington-flips-table-get-f-off-campus-nazi

*Update: Here is the report from TPUSA's website. 

As I generally do, I have gone to the website of the campus newspaper, the Daily UW, to see if there is any information on this event. Thus far, I see nothing. Most campus newspapers are weekly, so it may take some time. Perusing the Daily UW, it is clear that it is no different from most campus newspapers, full of liberal stuff, victimization and demands that the university do more for (fill-in-the-blank) group. There was a march for trans rights briefly mentioned.

Two things are becoming clear to me: First, the trans movement is sweeping the nation-at least on university campuses, where it is being romanticized. It would not surprise me if, within a couple of years, 1/4 to 1/3 of university students are self-identifying as trans-gender, or some other designation pertaining to their gender or sexuality. It's basically becoming a fad.

Secondly, TPUSA, founded by conservative activist Charlie Kirk, is now in the spotlight in university communities. In other words, the left has sat up and taken notice-and they have total contempt for TPUSA. We are going to see more incidents like this. On public university campuses, people have the right to set up tables with their literature, coordinated with the university. It is now going to require having a uniformed campus police officer nearby to discourage incidents.

Coupled with the recent TPUSA-Riley Gaines incident at San Francisco State, these incidents indicate to me that TPUSA is succeeding. Yes, there will be more incidents, but I predict they will gain many more members among students who are sick and tired of the fascist tactics of the left on campus. 

FBI Arrests Suspected Classified Documents Leaker

This is really confusing. According to the Fox News article below, the FBI has arrested a 21-year-old Airman 1st Class in the National Guard named Jack Teixeira in Massachusetts as the suspected leaker of classified Pentagon documents relating to Ukraine, China, and other sensitive topics. It also says the arrest on Thursday follows the New York Times and/or the Washington Post identifying the suspect as early as Wednesday evening.

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/classified-document-leak-investigation-massachusetts-air-national-guardsman

First of all, I find it disconcerting that the arrest could have followed a New York Times/Washington Post report identifying the suspect. That doesn't sound right. The article does not say when Teixeira's security clearance was lifted. So the sequence of events is muddy. Did the NYT/Washington Post receive sensitive information about the investigation prior to the arrest and publish it before it should have? I would hate to think that the press was the source of the information that led to the identification of Teixeira.

Secondly, my initial reaction is why a 21-year-old reservist airman in the National Guard would have access to such sensitive information. It appears he was some sort of IT specialist. 

It appears the Pentagon has questions to answer.

Italy: Another 700 Migrants Arrive by Boat

 

 

Hat tip Vlad Tepes and Gates of Vienna. 

Today, another 700 migrants, overwhelmingly young men, arrived in a Sicilian port, their boat being dragged into the harbor after it has apparently run out of gas in the middle of the Mediterranean. Yesterday, the Italian government declared a state of emergency in an effort to put up more processing centers to repatriate those whose asylum claims are denied. Today Algemeen Dagblad, a Dutch newspaper, posted a video of the boat arriving in port. The video has Dutch subtitles which are translated by Fousesquawk.

Katie, We Hardly Knew Ye

Katie Porter (D-CA)

Doing the math for a non-existant bank employee

This morning, while driving to the gym, I was listening to the John Phillips Show on KABC (Los Angeles). Phillips, a conservative talk show host, was going off on Katie Porter (D-CA), our local House of Representatives congresswoman in Orange Country. Katie is a former law professor at The UC Irvine School of Law, which is little more than a legal training ground for leftwing activists. She is now running for the Senate seat being vacated by Dianne Feinstein. (Porter announced her candidacy even before Feinstein announced that she was retiring. Porter will be opposed by Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee, both Democratic Congress persons. Between the three of them, they are all awful.

It seems that the Daily Mail, a noted UK tabloid, had gotten ahold of divorce papers from when Katie and her former husband, Matthew Hoffman, split up a few years back. In the court documents, Hoffman alleged that Katie had a ferocious temper and would scream, drop f-bombs, and physically abuse him. (Porter denies all this).

Below is the Daily Mail article about Porter. The article is based on court documents. To my knowledge, DM has not interviewed either Porter or Hoffman.

 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11934223/Allegations-Democrat-Katie-Porters-abusive-marriage-resurface.html

To be clear, Porter and her ex-husband are giving diverging accounts, and I cannot say who is telling the truth. As the DM article describes, others have come forward to complain about how Katie treats people. The only thing the DM left out is when Katie was grilling the JP Morgan bank president in Congress in 2019 and made up a fictitious woman named "Patricia", who was supposedly a struggling single mom working as a teller in the JP Morgan branch in Irvine and making a very low salary. Only later, did Katie admit in an interview that she had made Patricia up. 

Will this latest flap hurt Katie's political career? Who knows? After all, she is a Democrat. But if it does, the UC Irvine School of Law can keep that seat warm for Katie.

Mexico: Sub Secretary for Health Claims Fentanyl Comes from the US into Mexico.

This morning, Sub Secretary for Prevention and Health Promotion of Mexico, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, spoke at President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's morning press conference. His main topic was fentanyl. Aside from describing the dangers of fentanyl and its pharmacology, Lopez-Gatell, when discussing the production and trafficking of fentanyl, made statements that were misleading at best. He stated that fentanyl is produced from precursors that originate in other countries, and he mentioned Asia, but not China specifically. He also stated that fentanyl is also produced in the US from those precursor chemicals and that there was a "route" from the US to Mexico. Thus, he claimed, fentanyl was an "imported problem". He also showed numbers indicating the huge number of fentanyl overdose deaths in the US as compared to Mexico. In 2020, there were over 80,000 deaths in the US as compared to 19 in Mexico. Those numbers in themselves would seem to contradict his statement about fentanyl going from the US to Mexico.

The truth is that the vast majority of fentanyl in the US is smuggled from Mexico after being produced from precursor chemicals smuggled into Mexico from China.

I might also note that most of the reader comments to Excelsior are incredulous

For those who know Spanish, the video of the remarks by Lopez-Gatell is in the below article in Excelsior. We are working on making English subtitles for the pertinent part of the speech. The translation of the written article is by Fousesquawk.

 https://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/lopez-gatell-reitera-que-en-mexico-no-se-produce-fentanilo-es-un-problema-importado/1580981

There are fentanyl routes from the US to Mexico: Lopez-Gatell: "The problem is imported"

"Fentanyl is produced from precursors that are not made in Mexico, they are made in other places, including the US," stated the official.

Fernando Davila at 09:48

A strategy of prevention to avoid a crisis in this matter was announced.

The sub-secretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, Hugo Lopez-Gatell spoke this morning on the topic of fentanyl, a substance he claims is not produced in Mexico, but in the US, hence, he considers it an "imported problem".

The above was announced in the morning conference of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in which he also stated that the government of Mexico is implementing various strategies to avoid a crisis in public health due to the use of this substance.

Fentanyl is not produced in Mexico; fentanyl, which is produced from precursors that are not produced in Mexico, they are produced in other places, including the US, and there are fentanyl (trafficking) routes from the US to Mexico, so it is an imported problem, and the attitude of  Mexico is that we don't want it to happen to us, so we have to have very intense anticipation in prevention," said Lopez-Gatell.

As to the strategies he mentioned, the official explained that a campaign of prevention is about to be launched which includes a website with information so that teachers (can) orient young people about the damages (caused by) fentanyl.

Hugo Lopez-Gatell took advantage of the opportunity to present a comparison with the US on the topic of the data that fentanyl has produced in the two countries, stressing that in the neighboring country, around 80,000 persons died during the year 2021 from this consumption, while in Mexico, the number of dead was 19. 

"There could be underreporting in the Mexican numbers, but even if it were, let's say the underreporting we have is 10 times more or 100 times more, but in Mexico, it doesn't compare with the enormous problem in public health the US has in this fentanyl abuse, " explained the sub secretary. 

Finally, Lopez-Gatell made it clear that the reality in Mexico is very different from that in the US on the topic of fentanyl addiction, assuring that the country is not yet confronting a consumption crisis, which is why they are taking measures to avoid an epidemic of overdoses.

North African Crime Wave Continues in Germany (and Belgium)

"Wir schaffen dass" (We can do this)

What could possibly go wrong?

A 24-year-old Tunisian man is being held in Flensburg, Germany (close to the Danish border) on charges he murdered a taxi driver in Berlin on April 6. Furthermore, the man is wanted on charges that he killed his female partner in Belgium two days previous. So allegedly, the Tunisian was on the run in Germany when the taxi driver was killed.

Chalk up two more victims to Angela Merkel's (and the EU's) insane asylum policy.

Here's a fun fact: After Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker, the Third Reich continued to exist under a "government" set up in Flensburg by Hitler's chosen successor, Admiral Karl Doenitz. It only lasted a week or so, but several prominent Nazis made their way to Flensburg to join up with Doenitz, among them Heinrich Himmler, Alfred Jodl, and Albert Speer, the latter of whom who arrived from the bunker in Berlin. Maybe the Tunisian guy wanted to retrace the footsteps of Speer and others from Berlin to Flensburg-who knows?

(l-r) Speer, Doenitz and Jodl under arrest in Flensburg

Just thought I'd throw that in.

The below article from today's Berliner Morgenpost is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article238119995/Verdacht-nach-Tat-in-Belgien-Taxifahrer-in-Berlin-getoetet.html

Murdered taxi driver

Grunewald: Suspect also allegedly killed partner

4-11-23 at 16:17

Caption: An  employee of the Berlin police stands in front of taxi in Berlin-Grunewald

Is the murdered taxi driver in Berlin-Grunewald not the only victim of the man? He allegedly also committed a crime in Belgium

Berlin/Cologne. The suspect in the case of the murdered taxi driver in Berlin was reportedly on the run from another homicide in Belgium. There is an extradition proceeding with the Cologne Public Prosecutor against the 24-year-old, an official spokesperson said in response to a German Press Agency (DPA) inquiry. It concerns an accusation of homicide. The spokesperson declined to give further information deferring to the responsible justice authorities in Brussels.

According to DPA information, the 24-year-old reportedly killed his female partner on April 4 in Belgium. On April 6, the last Thursday before Easter, he then allegedly murdered the 49-year-old taxi driver in Berlin-Grunewald.

Suspect in investigative custody since Saturday

According to the Berlin Public Prosecutor, the suspect has been in investigative custody since last Saturday in Schleswig-Holstein. On Tuesday, justice authorities in Flensburg said that the 24-year-old was arrested on the order of the Flensburg district court. According to a spokesperson, the  Public Prosecutor in Berlin will now apply for another arrest warrant against the Tunisian-born man so that he will be transferred to Berlin.

"Now our proceedings will take a back seat," explained the Cologne Public Prosecutor's spokesperson. The accusations of the Berlin Public Prosecutor must first be clarified before the extradition request from Belgium can be further examined.

Bloodthirsty Palestinian Protest in Berlin

Hat tip Demo.de, The Religion of Peace, Gates of Vienna, and Vlad Tepes. Translation by Fousesquawk.

On April 8, about 300 pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets in Berlin. Their chants were violent and included "Death to Jews". The above video of the event is translated by Fousesquawk (from the German sub-titles). 

It is particularly disguising when you hear "Death to Jews" said anywhere in Germany. The US ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, has rightfully condemned the event. 

As the video shows, these were not Germans, rather largely the people Angela Merkel opened the floodgates to in 2015. Germany continues to pay the price. It goes without saying that the country does not need scenes like these.

 *Update (4-10). Here is the article in German by Democ.de. Translation by Fousesquawk.

 https://democ.de/artikel/tod-den-juden-tod-israel-antisemitische-parolen-bei-palaestinenser-demo-in-berlin/

Anti-Semitism

"Death to Jews, death to Israel" Anti-Semitic words at Palestinian demonstration in Berlin

April 9, 2023

Caption in video: "Death, death, death to Israel"

About 300 people take part in an anti-Israel demonstration in Berlin on April 8, 2023

The participants went from the Neukoelln City Hall to Kottbusser Gate. The background was, among others, the ongoing conflicts around the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

At the demonstration, also called for by the PFLP-affiliated, Samidoun Group, there were anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, and violence-glorify words shouted. The participants chanted together, "Death, death, death to Israel". One demonstration then shouted, "Death to the Jews" from a loudspeaker van. 

Over and over again, the Qassem Brigades were glorified. The Qassem Brigades are the armed wing of Hamas. Both organizations are labeled as terrorist organizations by the EU.

According to their own statements, the Berlin police were at the scene with interpreters but did not take action against the slogans.

Easter at the White House

 

The Latest Hijinks at San Francisco State "University"

San Francisco State University is arguably the top university in the nation when it comes to radical leftist hijinks. This goes back at least to the days when I was in college in the 1960s. More recently, the university has suffered under the weak leadership of university presidents Les Wong and the current president, Lynn Mahoney. Arguably the biggest problem at SFSU is the presence of Professor Rabab Abdulhadi, a Palestinian activist, whose main mission in life is to destroy the Jewish state of Israel. She has traveled the state making speeches on campuses tinged with anti-Jewish rhetoric and has also been the mentor of the General Union of Palestinian Students (Gups), a motley crew who in the past have made expressions in support of killing Israeli soldiers. Here at Fousesquawk, we have been writing about Abdulhadi and her Guppies for years.

Now the university is back in the news again for two new outrages. On Thursday, woman swimmer Riley Gaines spoke at SFSU per the invitation of Turning Point USA, a conservative organization active on several campuses. Gaines has openly criticized the trans-sexual swimmer, Lea Thomas, and the unfair advantage that biological males who proclaim themselves to be women have over female athletes, including their presence in women's locker rooms.

Gaines' appearance did not sit well with the trans-activist folks on campus, and they showed up to protest. We turn first to the campus newspaper, Golden Gate Express for their report on the event. 

Unfortunately, the campus newspaper left out a very important detail about the event. Beyond being protested, Gaines was also physically assaulted. Her assailant was reportedly a man wearing a dress.

Meanwhile, an SFSU professor is being investigated by the university after he reportedly showed an image of the Prophet Muhammad in his class.

Despite its protestations, the only people who can speak freely at SFSU are leftist radicals. The place is a joke.

*Update April 10): Gaines has reacted to an email sent out to the SFSU community by the school Vice President for Student Affairs, Jamillah Moore, in which she characterized the protest as "peaceful".

It is worthwhile to follow how the Golden Gate Express continues to report this (if at all) beyond their initial article last week. I will continue to monitor their website.

* Update-April 10. Here is the latest article on the event at SFSU as reported by Golden Gate Express, the campus paper. It also contains part of a statement put out by SFSU President Lynn Mahoney, who has downplayed the incident. Golden Gate Express also expresses doubt about Gaines' claim she was assaulted saying that there were 8 of their reporters covering the event and none of them saw any assault.

Fentanyl in California

 This article first appeared in New English Review.

Recently, I had lunch with some active-duty DEA agents. (I am retired from DEA.) During our conversation, the topic turned to the fentanyl epidemic that is killing hundreds of Americans every day. In response, DEA has instituted a program in which agents assist local police in investigating fentanyl deaths in an effort to identify and prosecute the dealer who furnished the drug to the victim. These cases would be tried in federal courts.

DEA's website has an overview of how the program works.

In addition, many states are seeking to enhance their own penalties for fentanyl pushers. Unfortunately, a similar bill in California, which would provide a warning to a convicted fentanyl dealer that a repeat offense that resulted in death would make the dealer liable to up to life in prison, is not making any headway in Sacramento. This would be similar to a current California law in which previously-convicted drunk drivers involved in a subsequent drunk driving offense that resulted in someone's death could be subject to 2nd-degree murder charges.

Unfortunately, even though the California fentanyl bill was drafted in a bi-partisan manner, Sacramento is under the firm control of Gavin Newsom and the Democrats. The bill has stalled and it is highly unlikely it will pass.

Most illicit fentanyl in the US comes from Mexico, produced using precursor chemicals smuggled in from China, mislabeled as other chemicals, and commonly passed through by Mexican Customs with little to no real verification.

Thus, like so many other problems in California like crime, homelessness, sanctuary cities, etc. the powers that be in Sacramento choose to do nothing. Meanwhile, Governor Newsom goes gallivanting around the country, visiting red states, and telling them they should follow the example of California, a state falling into ruin under the liberal rule of Newsom and Democrat mayors in places like Los Angeles and San Francisco. Newsom has designs on being the next president so he can ruin the US like he is ruining California (or at least finish what Biden started.)

But Newsom is no worse than our current administration in Washington. What is Biden doing about the border with Mexico, where fentanyl crosses into the US every day? Virtually nothing. Take away the issue of violence along our border, illegal immigrants, human trafficking, etc, the fentanyl issue alone is sufficient reason to secure the border.