Except for the gasoline crisis a couple of months ago, I must confess that I have not followed the performance of Mexico's new president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (popularly known as AMLO) since he took office earlier this year.The avalanche of political news from the U.S. pretty much eclipses what goes on here—at least from …
Continue reading When does populism become authoritarianism?
Crossing the border from Mexico to the U.S., about a week ago, we found each country facing crises caused in large part by the male bravado and arrogance of its leader.When Donald Trump, in 2015, announced what at the time seemed like a hopeless bid for the presidency, he vowed to build a concrete wall …
Continue reading When the male ego clouds the judgment of political leaders
2019 greeted us with a shortage of gasoline, resulting in four- and five-block-long lines at the few stations still operating, and conflicting explanations from newly-elected Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, various newspapers and my dentist Dr. Jesús Herrera. A couple of consumers I spoke with, standing stoically in line for an hour or more to fill …
Continue reading Gas shortages in Mexico fuel dozens of theories
Exile in Mexico has a number of advantages, chief among them that you could, theoretically, try to preserve some peace of mind by setting some distance from the jarring avalanche of political news coming from the U.S.Erik Hagerman, was so upset at Donald Trump's election that he swore that he would avoid learning about anything …
In America's inflamed political environment today, and arguably in much of the world, complex problems have been reduced to generic political labels, and Donald Trump has become the leading exponent of something called "populism". In Britain one has Nigel Farage, in Italy, Silvio Berlusconi and in France, Marine Le Pen, each offering their own version of …
Continue reading Trump: Populist, fascist or opportunist? Pick one.
A year into the Trump presidency the continued rise in the stock market—actually a continuation of a bull market and economic recovery that had begun under Obama—has fattened our retirement portfolio handsomely. And the Republican tax cuts—a wet kiss to corporate America—can't help but propel the continued rise in the stock market, and even the world …
My trip to Cuba with my husband Stew in 2013 in large part was a pilgrimage to try to reconstruct my childhood, abruptly interrupted in 1962 when, at age fourteen, I had been shipped off to Miami with thousands of other children, presumably to save us from the communist apocalypse about to engulf the island.What …
Continue reading Trump revives memories of my "shithole" country
To hear folks in San Miguel groan and kvetch about the cold snap during the past several days you'd think we were at the dawn of a new Ice Age.Our cleaning lady showed up Monday seemingly mummified under numerous layers one of which might have been a blanket.The follicly challenged visiting minister at our church …
Continue reading Nine reasons why the cold wave that grips San Miguel doesn't bother me that much
Political arguments, even within the family, are nothing new: Think the hippie era, the Vietnam War and the time Sis announced over Thanksgiving dinner she had joined a free-love commune near Taos.Ever since the last presidential election, though, disagreements have become more rancorous, even seemingly unbridgeable. I know people who avoid family visits for fear …
Continue reading Why are political disagreements today so disagreeable?
These days perusing the headlines first thing in the morning often is like taking that first sip of coffee and discovering someone has laced it with Tabasco sauce. You gag. You spit. You say "What the hell?" or worse.Wednesday and Thursday were Tabasco days. Via one of his early morning tweets, which have come to …
El Rancho Santa Clara 