Fried axolotl, you’re the juan, you make dinner full of yum (photos)

Wikipedia: The [totally cute] axolotl, or Mexican salamander (Ambystoma mexicanum) is a neotenic salamander, closely related to the tiger salamander.

Larvae of this species fail to undergo metamorphosis, so the adults remain aquatic and gilled.

It is also called ajolote [ɑːhɒˈlɔte] (which is also a common name for different types of salamander).

The species originates from numerous lakes, such as Lake Xochimilco underlying Mexico City.

Axolotls are used extensively in scientific research due to their ability to regenerate limbs.

They are also totally delicious when deep-fried in Osaka, Japan:

Mas…Fried axolotl, you’re the juan, you make dinner full of yum (photos)

Al Madrigal and ex-MSNBC Dylan Ratigan: Cable news blues (video)


What in the hell is wrong with angry young cable news guy Dylan Ratigan, who quit fame and fortune at MSNBC to become a hydroponic farmer who employs veterans? The Daily Show’s Al Madrigal goes to farmville to find out. [Disclosure: Madrigal is also POCHO’s Migrant Editor.]

Breaking: Mal-Ojo-Ware PC email virus spreads evil eye

(PNS reporting from SILICON VALLEY) Internet security companies here are warning PC users a new threat could be hitting their email inboxes this week: Mal-Ojo-Ware.

The malicious software penetrates a users’ PC via an inviting email from an attractive young woman or man and then takes control of the computer and sticks the user with mal ojo.

Mas…Breaking: Mal-Ojo-Ware PC email virus spreads evil eye

Secada emerges from the ground after 17 years

(PNS reporting from PHILADELPHIA) American singer Jon Secada has begun to crawl out of the ground in the Mid-Atlantic area.

The now 50-year-old Secada reemerges every 13 or 17 years somewhere in the eastern half of the United States.

The last time Cuban-born Secada went underground was in 1996, two years after releasing Heart, Soul and a Voice. During his absence he somehow managed to quietly release two greatest hit albums and two Christmas albums, both in English and Spanish.

After re-emerging, Jon Secada typically sheds his crunchy brown exoskeleton and will spend a few weeks of adulthood mating and laying eggs in tree branches. He will also release yet another greatest hits or holiday-themed collection, definitely in Spanish.

Mas…Secada emerges from the ground after 17 years

Villaraigosa’s proposal to new L.A. mayor Garcetti: ‘Be my wingman’

(PNS reporting from LOS ANGELES)  Outgoing Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villariagosa has a proposal for incoming mayor Eric Garcetti: Be my wingman.

Villariagosa has been contemplating life after being LA’s mayor — and it’s not looking good. Reviewing his taste for power and dating attractive women who would be out of his shorty league if he weren’t powerful, Villariagosa told PNS he’s worried.

Mas…Villaraigosa’s proposal to new L.A. mayor Garcetti: ‘Be my wingman’

Immigration Bill clears Senate committee on way to becoming law


(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON) A bruised, battered and patched-up Immigration Bill cleared a major hurdle Tuesday as a bipartisan 13-5 vote kicked Bill out of the Judiciary Committee and onto the Senate floor.

POCHO caught up with Bill in his dressing room after the committee vote and got him to agree to a short, on-the-record interview:

POCHO: You sleazed past the tricky gay partner trap, you sucked up to the high tech lobby, you bribed the security-is-our-business government contractors and now you’re one step closer to becoming a law. So how does it feel?

IMMIGRATION BILL: What do you want me to say? I’m just a Bill, I’m just a Bill and I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill.

POCHO: How do you get the strength to maintain day after day? What’s your secret?

Mas…Immigration Bill clears Senate committee on way to becoming law

In LaLa Land, in 2005, we were ‘Livin’ Villagairosa’ (audio)

Antonio Villaraigosa came into the Los Angeles’ Mayor’s office with so much promise in 2005.

My radio show on KPFK, The Pocho Hour of Power (heard Fridays at 4PM PST on 90.7 FM) produced and played this also hopeful and playful tune, Livin’ Villaraigosa, to document the excitement and also skewer the anti-Mexican conspiracy theorists who were raising a Reconquista alarm about Villaraigosa.

Mas…In LaLa Land, in 2005, we were ‘Livin’ Villagairosa’ (audio)

Ask Google: Why do Mexicans stare and eat beans?

What did we ever do before the Google? Where did a poor pre-Googlite go to find out the big answers and the meaning of Life, the Universe and Everything? Actually, we could Google that. But why even hypothesize? Google has the answers we want today and knows the questions we want to ask even before we ask them:

Pocho Ocho best ways to market to ‘Hispanics’

They’re confused, the poor marketeers. They try so hard to sell fish esticks and bleach and PETA to “Hispanics,” but they are low and slow on the learning curve.

Nearly Half of Second-Gen Hispanics Feel Like Ads Don’t Target Them, laments the tradezine Adweek.

You mean pochos with limited/zero Spanish aren’t picking up trendy brand tips watching telenovelas on Spanish-language TV? And nobody reading this story really cares all that much about Juanes’ aftershave? What’s an earnest marketeer to do?

Los Pochodores are here to help with the Pocho Ocho best ways to reach out to that elusive “Hispanic” market:

Mas…Pocho Ocho best ways to market to ‘Hispanics’

Venezuela shit production hits record, outpaces toilet paper supply

toiletpaperThe Venezuelan Bolivarian Revolution, now firmly guided by the strong and steady hand of Commandante El Presidente Nicolas Maduro, has achieved new records in the production of shit, or mierda as it is known locally.

But pride in the record April crop of fecal material was tempered by a Western capitalist conspiracy which has left the country short of papel higiénico.

Britain’s Metro News reports:

Mas…Venezuela shit production hits record, outpaces toilet paper supply

Talk radio guy blows the lid off ‘Mexican swimming lessons’ (video)


If you’ve been wondering why the internationally-lauded public school system in Mexico makes sure all the kids get swimming lessons, talk show guy AND education expert Rick Rantz of 1270AM WQTT in Union County, OH, has the answer. Advertising Sales Manager Mike Schnell is at 614.935.1038 if you have more questions.The radio station’s Programming Department is at 614.425.9633, or you can email grivers@icsohio.com.

Breaking: Miami woman reveals plans to quit Facebook

(PNS reporting from MIAMI) South Beach resident Christina Patricia Santiago is planning to leave Facebook on Friday, according to a Status Update she published Sunday night.

Responding to a question from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who asked Santiago “What’s on your mind?” when she logged into her account, the 32-year-old media buyer for a boutique advertising firm told 442 Facebook “friends” she does “not have time for this bullshit.”

“Nikki: I don’t care who Selena Gomez is seeing,” she wrote.

Mas…Breaking: Miami woman reveals plans to quit Facebook

Disney Day of the Dead faux pas: Latinos turned noise into news (audio)

From NPR: When Disney tried to trademark Dia de los Muertos for their new movie merchandise inspired by the Mexican holiday, Latinos picked up their own mice, went online and turned things back around.

For this week’s News or Noise, Latino USA guest host Luis Antonio Perez speaks with POCHO Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz and Kety Esquivel, a digital media strategist, about how Latinos online retaliated against the entertainment giant.

Breaking: Congress to probe ‘illegal immigrant sneaker code’

(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON, D.C.) Rep. Randolph Snopes (R-AL) plans committee hearings next week to investigate reports that “illegal immigrants” from Mexico are encoding secret messages in sneakers hanging over telephone wires — messages about how to avoid police, sell drugs and promote terrorism, PNS has learned.

Snopes, chairman of the Unamerican Activities Committee, maintains that evidence of  “sneaker-encoded propaganda” has been covered up by “high echelons of the Obama Administration,” according to leaked committee documents circulating on Capitol Hill.

Mas…Breaking: Congress to probe ‘illegal immigrant sneaker code’

Obama says ‘F★ck it’ in tricky bid for GOP immigration reform votes

(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON, D.C.) President Barack Obama gave up his efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform this week, informing Republican leaders that he didn’t care about reform anymore.

“Fuck it!” Obama reportedly told Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in a conference call Tuesday.

“I don’t care about reform anymore, are you happy? Don’t pass it, see if I fuckin’ care!”

Washington insiders say that the president’s sudden change of heart on immigration has less to do with his actual desire to see reform pass and more to do with tactical consderations. Every time the president wants to pass legislation, Republicans balk — so if he doesn’t want to pass immigration reform, the thinking goes, conservatives will play along.

Mas…Obama says ‘F★ck it’ in tricky bid for GOP immigration reform votes

Breaking: Silicio Barrio startup demos 3D tortilla printer

(PNS reporting from GUANAJUATO, MX) Previously-secret startup MasaTek.com today unveiled a hardware/software combo that uses 3D printing to print corn or flour tortillas with the religious or brand image of your choice.

“The waiting is over!” Carlos Molinero, president of the Silicio Barrio company, told reporters here. “You need Jesus? He’s just a click away. La Virgen is always on deck!”

The WiFi-enabled printer is the size of a small microwave and has a hopper on top for masa. It uses open source 3D software, Molinero said, and is easily addressable with standard CAD tools.

Mas…Breaking: Silicio Barrio startup demos 3D tortilla printer

Breaking: San Diego firm offers Thailand plastic surgery tours

(PNS reporting from SAN DIEGO) Horton District travel agency Mad Mad World Tours is now offering a new cosmetic surgery/tour package featuring makeovers in beautiful Thailand, the company announced today.

The tours, organized in partnership with the Bod Thai Clinic of Bangkok, Thailand, promise an all-expenses-paid two-week luxury trip to the southeast Asian country and a procedure called a frental nopalectomy. The forehead surgery promotion targets upscale Mexican-Americans.

Mas…Breaking: San Diego firm offers Thailand plastic surgery tours

New ‘East Los High’ web series exposes sexrification of East L.A. (video)


(PNS reporting from EAST LOS) A new web series on Hulu is poised to blow the lid off the unprecedented rise of sexy Latinos currently overrunning East Los Angeles.  The series, East Los High, is a riveting expose of the rapid “sexrification” of the historically low-and-slow Chicano community.

“The kids at East Los High are hot, they’re ripped, and they can dance,” said Garfield High School alum Alberto “Sleepy” Gonzalez.  “When I drop my kid off at school, it looks like he’s stepping into another country, like Puerto Rico.”

Mas…New ‘East Los High’ web series exposes sexrification of East L.A. (video)

Breaking: Ancient Mayan pyramid foreclosed on, demolished

(PNS reporting from BELIZE CITY) The Nohmul complex, an ancient Mayan pyramid in the north of this Central American country, was recently bulldozed by a local contractor who used the crushed rock to “fill” a road. Nohmul was utilized as a ceremonial center 2,300 years ago.

After public outcry from archaeologists, local authorities said they would investigate the demolition.

Belize real estate attorney Alejandro Bolsa de Duchez defended the destruction:

Mas…Breaking: Ancient Mayan pyramid foreclosed on, demolished