Loyalty and Loathing: Is Donald Trump the new Fidel Castro?

saluteSince Donald Trump’s astonishing rise to power, there is only one other public figure I can recall that has drawn such extremes of loyalty and loathing: Fidel Castro in his prime.

I will no doubt get an avalanche of criticism from my fellow Cuban-Americans for making this observation. But that simply proves my point. Although at opposite ends of the political spectrum, both men are lightning rods for polarization. Their similarities are in political style, not ideology.

“…THEIR IMPULSIVE PERSONALITIES WERE CATNIP TO THE MEDIA.”

Mas…Loyalty and Loathing: Is Donald Trump the new Fidel Castro?

Wassup with San Diego college guys in ‘cholo pantalones?’

pantalonesheaderOzzie Monge unearthed this little tidbit of San Diego State University history — a bizarre attack on Mexican attire that ran in the student newspaper in 1922.

Foreshadowing Donald Trump, the students are quite sure about Mexico. “There,” they explain, “poverty is a profession.”

In Monge’s words:

Racism and Anti-Mexicanism at San Diego State College in the 20’s? Say it isn’t so….Anglos hating on Mexicans, hating on Indians, yet they proudly declare that their school is Del Sudoeste (a product of the imagined, romanticized Spanish past – and Eurocentrism) and will later take on the moniker Aztec from the imagined, romanticized version of the conquest they developed.

Mas…Wassup with San Diego college guys in ‘cholo pantalones?’

Gentrification Notes from Technotopia, SF:
 On the Cruelty of Indifference


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By GUILLERMO GÓMEZ-PEÑA

Dear Ex-local artist, writer, activist, bohemian, street eccentric, and/or protector of difference…

Imagine a city, your city and your former “hip” neighborhood, being handed over by greedy politicians and re/developers to the crème de la crème of the tech industry. This includes the 7 most powerful tech companies in the world. I don’t need to list them: their names have become verbs in lingua franca; their sandbox is the city you used to call your own.

Mas…Gentrification Notes from Technotopia, SF:
 On the Cruelty of Indifference


In the name of Jesus! This Mexican kid is harassing me! (video)


Too much caffeine? A “Christian” lady in an Oklahoma coffee shop has hella angry feels. “In the name of Jesus!” she exclaims. “This Mexican kid is harassing me!” We’re confused. Do you think his name might be Jesús? The video is from 2011, but crazy H8RZ are forever.

Hate Letter of the Day: Dear Lala, you racist hypocrite

weirdal

Mexicans and Anglo Americans are exactly alike. You are just as racist Mejicanoh, oh wait, I mean, Chicano… Meixcan American… I forget, you don’t consider yourselves Mexican… or do you. You MeCHA Aztlanersss get me all confused. Or wait, you don’t consider yourselves Latino but rather.. MESSICAN!

ANYWAYS… so, as I was saying, you share the same RACIST views, in fact, you’re no different than right wing Caucasian Americans, whom at least are upfront about their racism and xenophobia, you’re more aligned with Liberal Democrats whom subversively are racist.

Mas...Hate Letter of the Day: Dear Lala, you racist hypocrite

Dear Guy Who Just Made My Burrito: Have you ever been to Earth?

burrito

This is an epic rant by @LuckyShirt, who says he is not really THAT angry:

Have you ever been to Earth? On Earth, we use the word “burrito” to describe a tortilla filled with things you eat.

Pretty simple stuff, and I’m surprised you at least got that part right. My burrito was, in fact, filled with food. In this, you and I agree and are friends.

Mas…Dear Guy Who Just Made My Burrito: Have you ever been to Earth?

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

A letter to Santa Claus, 2012 style

Dear Santa,
How are you? How is Mrs. Claus? I hope everyone, from the reindeer to the elves, is fine.

I have been a very good boy this year. I would like an X-Box 360 with Call of Duty Black Ops II and an iPhone 5 for Christmas.

I hope you remember that come Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas,
Timmy Jones

Dear Timmy,
Thank you for your letter. Mrs. Claus, the reindeer and the elves are all fine and thank you for asking about them.

Santa is a little worried all the time you spend playing video games and texting.

Santa wouldn’t want you to get fat.

Since you have indeed been a good boy, I think I’ll bring you something you can go outside and play with.

Merry Christmas,
Santa Claus

Mas…A letter to Santa Claus, 2012 style

Viva Kennedy? The Latino Lockout at the Kennedy Center

“Latinos can go “blank” themselves!”

This is what Kennedy Center director Michael Kaiser must have been thinking when he screamed, “Go F___ yourself!” into the telephone when confronted by Felix Sanchez, director of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA) on the continuing Latino Lockout at the Kennedy Center honors.

Since its 1978 founding, the Kennedy Center has only honored Latin@s Chita Rivera and Placido Domingo. I spoke to Sanchez about this disturbing incident, and the even more disturbing third-of-a-century-long diss against Latino artists in the United States.

LA:  Felix, first of all I want to applaud you for revealing the media what Kaiser said to you on the telephone. Most people would defer and not speak up about a private and embarrassing (to Kaiser) conversation. Can you briefly re-tell what happened?

For two years we’ve been trying to reach the Kennedy Center chair, president, producer, and even Caroline Kennedy. We’ve sent letters,  emails, phone calls and we’ve gotten ZERO response. We were able to talk to the assistant to Kaiser. This is the buffer they set up between us and the administration of the Kennedy Center. They refused to meet with us, saying they cannot meet with anyone lobbying for individuals to receive the honor. They have been fighting anyone who wants to get to the truth of the matter. They have no interest in resolving or cooperating this issue. So on September 12th they announced the 2012 honorees.

Mas…Viva Kennedy? The Latino Lockout at the Kennedy Center

Offensive? Skweezy Jibbs calls homie Jose ‘a crazy Mexican’ (NSFW)

There’s a fine line between an honest expression of one’s feelings and being a pendejo. Does YouTube rant-meister Skweezy Jibbs cross the line? Skweezy’s description of his homeboy Jose as “a crazy Mexican” offends a party-goer and sets Skweezy off on a three-minute rant. (Totally NSFW rude language and rude ideas.)

So what do you think? Are people today just way too gosh darn sensitive?
Tell it like it is in the comments below!