Mexico's President Cancels Meeting with Reality Show Producer in Latest Battle Over Border Wall

Mexico's President Cancels Meeting with Reality Show Producer in Latest Battle Over Border Wall

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced Thursday he has canceled a meeting with the New York real estate mogul in an increasing war of words over building a border wall.

Nieto’s cancellation came just hours after the beauty pageant host tweeted that the highly anticipated meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, should be scrapped if Mexico refuses to pay for a massive wall along the U.S. border.


"The U.S. has a 60 billion dollar trade deficit with Mexico. It has been a one-sided deal from the beginning of NAFTA with massive numbers of jobs and companies lost. If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting." tweeted the person who lost the popular vote by 3,000,000 votes.

Mexico’s leader also took to Twitter Thursday, saying, “This morning we have informed the White House I will not be attending the working meeting planned for next Tuesday.”

The growing impasse between the two countries is indicative of the celebrity's aggressive stance against America’s southern neighbor. In his first week in office, the former WWE wrestling sponsor signed executive orders directing construction of the wall and increasing border patrol forces and immigration officers who conduct deportations.

A stern-looking Nieto had addressed his country Wednesday night on national television. “I regret and reject the decision of the U.S. to build the wall,” the president said. “I have said time and time again, Mexico will not pay for any wall.”

While addressing a Republican group in Philadelphia Thursday afternoon, the former television star doubled down on his promise to erect a barrier between the U.S. and Mexico, at the latter country’s expense.

“The American people will not pay for the wall,” the product spokesman said. “Such a meeting would be fruitless.” He said he agreed with Nieto about canceling their planned in-person conversation.

A Wake-up Call

Dave Lovejoy
September 23, 2012 ·


For the last week, I have been traveling from Toronto, Canada, across the United States to Los Angeles, California - driving through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Listening to local radio, reading billboards and bumper stickers, it is clear that many in our country believe that God is a Republican, and He has anointed Republicans with a special insight and calling which supersedes logic and democracy. I heard hateful, venomous scripture-twisting with purely political aims, spewed from preachers across the country. This is why I now fear for her survival. In researching the origins of this attitude, I found Bill Moyer's address at Union Theological Seminary in New York, September 9, 2005, from which I've included this excerpt:

"We’re talking about a powerful religious constituency that claims the right to tell us what’s on God’s mind and to decide the laws of the land according to their interpretation of biblical revelation and to enforce those laws on the nation as a whole. For the Bible is not just the foundational text of their faith; it has become the foundational text for a political movement."

"True, people of faith have always tried to bring their interpretation of the Bible to bear on American laws and morals—this very seminary is part of that tradition; it’s the American way, encouraged and protected by the First Amendment. But what is unique today is that the radical religious right has succeeded in taking over one of America’s great political parties—the country is not yet a theocracy but the Republican Party is—and they are driving American politics, using God as a battering ram on almost every issue: crime and punishment, foreign policy, health care, taxation, energy, regulation, social services and so on."

"What’s also unique is the intensity, organization, and anger they have brought to the public square. Listen to their preachers, evangelists, and homegrown ayatollahs: Their viral intolerance—their loathing of other people’s beliefs, of America’s secular and liberal values, of an independent press, of the courts, of reason, science and the search for objective knowledge—has become an unprecedented sectarian crusade for state power. They use the language of faith to demonize political opponents, mislead and misinform voters, censor writers and artists, ostracize dissenters, and marginalize the poor."

This is not Godly, this is not moral, and I fear it may not be survivable for our country. I am a Christian, but my Christ did not teach hate, and my God is not a Republican.

Dale Garrett

March 7, 2015 at 2:05pm





At 12:20 on May 11, 2011, I saw a plainclothes policeman shoot and kill a man on the streetcorner outside my studio window. I heard no yelled warning, no "Stop! Police!" - just someone yelled, I turned to look, and one guy in streetclothes killed another guy in streetclothes. In broad daylight.
Today, a group of my neighbors staged a die-in here, with a prayer for Dale Garrett at 12:20, the same time he was shot.

They were marching to protest the militarization of our police forces, while our police forces protected their ability to do so. Armed policemen blocked traffic while statistics were written with chalk in the crosswalk, detailing how many unarmed citizens have been killed by police and how many officers have been charged.






The speaker of the group, the one with the megaphone, was eloquent and succinct, addressing the military hardware coming back from two wars, and the military tactics that have come with them. Questioning the PTSD symptoms that such tactics suggest. Talking about Dale and Africa, two of the many black men killed by police in Los Angeles. I was moved to tears, and prayed with them, then joined them and walked with them a bit.

There was respect all around. Respect for the law by those openly questioning those whom we pay to enforce it. Respect from the enforcers, treating it like any parade or funeral where they're called upon to create a path through the chaos. It is such a gut-wrenching problem, and here it is like a play on a stage in front of me.

You file with the city for a permit to allow you to lie down in the street and protest police activity, while police watchfully keep you from getting run over.
We live in strange times.

Taking a Stand

I've said before that we need to push our best and brightest to the front of the line, make them our leaders. These are our scientists, our civil rights lawyers, and surprisingly our park rangers. Protect and support these teams that are forming. These are our problem solvers, we need to listen to them and organize around them. I hope that "the press" [sarcastic quotes intended] can study up on what their damn job is, their DUTY, under the protections of the first amendment. Where's the press team? Who's joining Dan Rather?

Surreality

I am a surrealist. My mind is constantly making odd connections and imagining things reversed or flipped. Here's a recent thought as an example: I'm biking to my studio, and come to a stop at the crosswalk. There's a guy there, impatiently pressing the button, so I wait for the sign to change and step off the curb. As I do, he remains there, pressing the button. I cross and continue down the street to my studio. As I open the door, I turn and look down the street, and notice that he's still standing there, pressing the button.

I wonder what he's expecting, as the crosswalk obviously wasn't it. Makes me want to continually press the button just to see if something else happens. Once activates the crosswalk. Five hundred times might bring manna. A thousand times might bring unicorns. I don't try it, but it crosses my mind.

In late November, my understanding of things was flipped on its head. I thought America was a certain way, and awoke one morning to find that I was wrong. I had misunderstood things about America my entire life. It was disillusioning, like finding your wife in bed with another, or your parents removing their masks to reveal they're aliens.

Since then, other things I took for certain have become less so. I've felt as if gravity could cease, random items begin to float about the room, and it wouldn't even interrupt a sentence. I could be talking with a friend when the stapler starts to rise from my desk, and I'd just grasp it and set it back down without missing a beat. It would be that little of a surprise to me.

As a surrealist, this is intriguing. America's newly chosen leader lies constantly – up is down, small is large, facts can be overwritten with "alternative facts." It gives me the freedom to move from surreal imagination to surreal reality, or my new 'surreality.' In this new reality, I no longer identify as American. I am an Angeleno, from California in North America. My only affiliation with the Untied States is that of tenant and landlord. My home happens to be in the USA, so I send them my taxes. Any patriotism went out the window in late November.

The odd thing is, I don't feel sad about this. When I realized how I'd misunderstood America, and realized how many others felt the same way, it became exciting. This current pendulum swing is so fast and so extreme, it is bound to bring sweeping change as it changes momentum. We've known for generations that sweeping change is needed - economically, ecologically, politically. It is going to be a wild ride with likely bouts of civil unrest, martial law, and extreme upheaval. But when the dust clears, I think the world will be a better place. I think new powers will emerge, and America will take a back seat for a while. For good or ill, this 800 lb. gorilla is going on a shock diet, and will not be allowed to throw its weight around as it has in the past. The world has no need for a powerful bully. Go world.

On Revolution

DAVE LOVEJOY·THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2016


I think for there to be effective change, we have to pick a day in the near future and all stop what we’re doing. Completely. Leave those packages in the big brown truck, leave that plane on the runway, leave that wheelbarrow on the parkway and go to the nearest government office en masse.


We have geniuses among us, professional thinkers and problem solvers. Push them to the front of the line. No megaphones, no placards, just the citizenry showing up at the government’s door, peacefully. We get along, we’ll enjoy hanging out in front, getting to know each other better while our best represent us.


When the remaining police that are not among us come and ask us to disperse, we ask them why? We have peacefully come to a government building during business hours. We are waiting for our representatives to speak with their representatives about making some changes. I’m sorry that folks are sitting on my bus, or standing in line at my register, but this takes priority.


We need to invade our own country.

Les Machines de l'Ile de Nantes

A few years ago someone posted a link to a video of huge marionettes walking down European streets. It was the most amazing new/old thing I'd ever seen, and I found that there is a huge range of wonder and fantasy emenating from Nantes, France. It was a ship-building city, and many of the buildings and warehouses have been resurrected with creative endeavors. 

One of these is "Les Machines de l'Ile de Nantes". Here are a few photos. I'll let them speak for themselves - you can read the history and details here: www.lesmachines-nantes.fr 

You can read the history and details here: www.lesmachines-nantes.fr 

The Heron.

The Heron's wings.

The Heron's feet.

The Heron's tree.

The Great Elephant.

The Great Elephant.

Find out more here: www.lesmachines-nantes.fr