#JUSTICE FOR SANTOS ESCOBAR | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

fatehbaz · 5 years ago

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Hello, I hope you're well. Do you have any recommendations about where to start with decolonization theory? I've heard a bit about it but nothing substantial.

Hey, thanks for the question. Before I start rambling, I’ll just give a really short, blunt response: Despite all the jargon-heavy academic content written about decolonization, especially as a trend in the past 15 years, I think that the way to learn about decolonial thought and practice is to read the work of people living in the Global South; the work of marginalized environmental activists and agricultural workers, especially in the Global South; and the work of Indigenous scholars, knowledge holders, and activists who are explicitly willing to share their knowledge with non-Indigenous people. That said, I’m not too well-versed in technical decolonial theory per se, and instead I try to read more of the ecological/environmental, social/anthropological, and activist writing of Indigenous people and people from the Global South, what you might call decolonial thought. Rather than focusing on the technical theory and writing of wealthy Euro-American academics, I prefer more radical decolonial writing that integrates local/Indigenous cosmology, environmental knowledge, and ecology alongside the social and political aspects of radical anticolonial resistance. Something that I’m really interested in, regarding decolonial thought, is the importance of Indigenous and non-Western cosmology (ontology, epistemology, worldviews) because these ways of knowing actually provide frameworks that stand in contrast to extractivist thinking, suggesting alternatives that could be implemented. So, below I’ve listed just a couple of the most accessible authors that I’ve been reading recently, and I’ve split recommendations into four categories: (1) Indigenous authors writing about sovereignty and ecological consequences of colonialism; (2) technical decolonial theory and Indigenous resistance; (3) decolonial theory and ontology; and (4) synthesizing technical decolonial theory with writing on Indigenous worldviews and environmental knowledge. This definitely isn’t meant to be an extensive or definitive list of resources; and I know other people might have some better or different recommendations to make. But I hope this helps, if only a little bit, as an introduction!

Y’know, I think there’s a tendency among a lot of Euro-American academics to make the concept of decolonization much more mysterious, obtuse, and complicated than it needs to be; there’s an awful lot of discourse about metaphysics, ontology, and other intellectualized aspects of decolonization that are probably less important right now than concrete actions like reforestation and revegetation projects; healing soil integrity, health, and biodiversity; dismantling monoculture plantations; ending industrial resource extraction; ending de facto corporate control of lands, especially in tropical agriculture; allowing local Indigenous autonomy; preserving and celebrating Indigenous languages and ways of knowing; etc.

So, I’m not all that knowledgeable with technical decolonial theory. Instead I mostly just try very hard to read the environmental, anthropological, activist, etc. writing of Indigenous and minority communities, people from the Global South, and Indigenous traditional knowledge holders. Often, this kind of writing doesn’t always take the form of “theory.” A lot of decolonial theory - that I’ve seen, at least - is concerned with discussing trends/currents in academia and Euro-American discourse about the Global South. (In other words, a lot of decolonial theory written by white authors seems more concerned with talking about what decolonization means for academia and discourse, rather than actually exploring the worldviews of Indigenous peoples and the Global South.) Instead, the kind of stuff that I try to read explores Indigenous and non-Western resistance, community-building, and ecology; and so the resources that I recommend might not qualify as decolonial theory but they are decolonial, if that makes sense?

In my experience, some of the works that best demonstrate or embody decolonial thought are not works of theory, but are instead works of social history, nature writing, natural history, or works that explore bioregionalism, food, and local folklore. I also like to note that there is a trend among activists and scholars in Latin America to use the term “anticolonial” instead of “decolonial” or “postcolonial.” These latter two terms might imply that existence or identity in the Global South is doomed to always be defined by its relationship to Europe, the US, or imperialism generally. However, “anticolonial” might connote a more active role; you may still suffer the effects of imperialism, but you’re also an active opponent of it, living and thinking outside colonialism, with a unique worldview that exists autonomously rather than being defined always in reference to colonial actions or standards.

Indigenous authors writing about sovereignty and ecological consequences of colonialism:

So here are a few Indigenous scholars that I read, who write not just about decolonial thought, but also about place-based identity, environmental knowledge, and how decolonial theory can often be Eurocentic:

– Zoe Todd: Metis scholar and environmental writer, who famously criticized academic discourse about decolonization for itself being Eurocentric and colonial; here’s a nice interview (from 2015) about decolonial theory, where Zoe Todd criticizes Western academics and the ontological turn in anthropology.– Kyle Whyte: Potawatomi scholar, who writes about Indigenous sovereignty, Indigenous food systems, colonization, contrasts between Indigenous and Euro-American worldviews, and preservation of Indigenous enviornmental knowledge; here’s a list of Whyte’s articles and essays, most available for free.– Robin Wall Kimmerer: Potawatomi ecologist, bryophyte specialist, and educator, who discusses contrasts between Indigenous and Euro-American ways of knowing; here’s one of my favorite interviews with Kimmerer.

Technical decolonial theory and Indigenous resistance:

And here are two recommendations on more technical anticolonial/decolonial theory. These texts are both a bit dense:

– Boaventura de Sousa Santos wrote a wonderful work of decolonial/anticolonial theory and thought, titled Epistemologies of the South: Justice Against Epistemicide (2014). This work is a bit technical but very interesting and thorough, and explores how a major function of imperialism is to deliberately dismantle Indigenous worldviews, ways of knowing, and environmental knowledge, to replace Indigenous ecological relationships with “extractivist” and “industrial” mentalities.

– Arturo Escobar wrote a good work of anticolonial theory in direct response to de Sousa Santos’ work; Escobar’s text is called Thinking-feeling with the Earth: Territorial Struggles and the Ontological Dimension of the Epistemologies of the South (2015).

Both of these texts and authors explore the Global South’s active resistance to industrial/extractivist worldviews; they both also largely focus on Latin America and reciprocity, communal relationships, agroecology, and active resistance in Latin American communities.

Decolonial theory and ontology:

The ontological turn in anthropology is kiiind of a manifestation of decolonial theory, though it’s kind of problematic and often Eurocentric, popular among wealthy academics. The Metis scholar Zoe Todd, referenced earlier in this post, has written about the problematic aspects of the ontological turn. The ontological turn was big news in academia around 2008-2012, happening alongside the rise in popularity of Mark Fisher, “capitalist realism,” and Graham Harman’s object-oriented ontology. Basically, I guess you could summarize the ontological turn as an effort to decolonize thinking in anthropology departments of Euro-American universities, to better understand the the worldviews/cosmologies of non-Western people. Here’s a summary by environmental scholar Adrian Ivakhiv, which references the role of Eduardo Viveiros de Castro and Phillipe Descola, two anthropologists working adjacent to decolonial theory.

Synthesizing technical decolonial theory with writing on Indigenous worldviews and environmental knowledge:

– Phillipe Descola: A renowned anthropologist whose work inspired much of the decolonization trend in US anthropology departments and the ontological turn in anthropology; Descola’s work deals with epistemology and ontology (so it’s often pretty dense) and takes a lot of cues from the work of Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, the Brazilian anthropologist who popularized the study of Amazonianist cosmology. Other Euro-American anthropologists who write about technical decolonial theory: Bruno Latour (kind of problematic); Isabelle Stengers.

– Eduardo Kohn: An anthropologist focused on decolonization and Indigenous worldviews; Kohn also takes cues from Viveiros de Castro and Descola. Kohn authored How Forests Think, which is a study of Indigenous Amazonian worldviews and how Amazonian people perceive nonhuman living things and the rainforest as a community. You can look up interviews with Eduardo Kohn

– I don’t know if you saw this post I made recently, but it shares a fun publication called The Word for World is Still Forest, which is an exploration of the cultural importance of forests from decolonial and Indigenous perspectives, and it’s a good example of decolonial theory being explored by visual artists, geographers, poets, anthropologists, and activists.

So, these are just the first examples that come to mind. I’m sure other friends/readers/followers might have some better recommendations. [ @anarcblr ?]

Often, I feel like a lot of technical decolonization theory is written by white professionals and academics, and I, personally, don’t think it’s important to have a white academic acting as a “middle man” whomst “translates” the thinking of Indigenous theorists and people from the Global South. In my experience, there’s a lot of “decolonization theory” content in journals, books, etc., over the past 20-ish years, mostly written by white academics who seem to have just recently “discovered” the “utility” of decolonization theory for “improving their field” or something. Discussing the “utility” of Indigenous knowledge is itself a kind of colonialist way of thinking, since it sees the knowledge as profitable or valuable or something to be employed like a machine, a way of thinking that is itself extractivist. (I’m not anti-intellectual, and anti-intellectualism is a problem, especially in the US. But I’ve not really found academics willing to just straight-up say radical things like “capitalism has to be confronted if we’re going to be serious about decolonization.”)

Like, they write about decolonization as if it’s major benefit is its practical/pragmatic application to improving science, metaphysics, conservation, or climate crisis mitigation. One example of this behavior is a huge amount of headlines in mainstream US news sources and environmental magazines, from late 2018 and 2019, that say some version of “Indigenous knowledge may be the key to surviving the climate crisis” or “planting trees might be the single best defense against global climate collapse, and Indigenous peoples’ knowledge can help us implement it” And this just doesn’t sit well with me. Firstly, because it frames Indigenous knowledge as an inanimate resource to be “tapped,” appropriated, employed, “put to use.” And secondly, because this not news. This - the role of vegetation and healthy soil microorganism communities in mitigating desertification, biodiversity loss, and local adverse climate trends - has been well-known to Indigenous peoples for centuries or millennia, and has also been very well-known to Euro-American environmental historians and academic geographers for decades.

I guess I’m saying that the current Euro-American discourse of decolonization has a lot of issues.

Anyway, the theory that I personally like best isn’t too academic or jargon-heavy; I like the work that which synthesizes human elements (anticolonial; anti-imperialist; anti-extractivism; anti-racist) with ecology (cosmology and folklore; traditional environmental knowledge; place-based identity), since ecological degradation and social violence and injustice are inseparable issues, and this is an interconnected relationship that decolonial theory and Latin American worldviews seem to understand very, very deeply.

And, I guess another element to the kind of decolonial writing that I enjoy is the importance of Indigenous and non-Western cosmology (worldviews, epistemology, ontology, ways of knowing) to providing alternatives to imperial, colonial, and extractivist mentalities. This is how decolonial thinking is not just about finding ways to defend against further imperial violence, but also proactive in promoting healthier alternatives that can be implemented.

I hope that some of these recommendations are useful!

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sdpiner · 2 years ago

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Pablo escobar white house

In June 1983, a judge from Medellín asks the House of Representatives to declare immunity Pablo Escobar for its possible connection with the murder of the two secret agents. YOU CAN SEE You seize 1600 kilos of marijuana with face of Pablo Escobar and Bin Laden In 1982, when his son Juan Pablo was 5 years old, the Colombian drug dealer was elected by the People's Party as a deputy to the Chamber. On February 24 this year, his son Juan Pablo was born – today Sebastián Marroquín -.Ī year earlier, in 1976, "El Patron" founded the Medellín cartel according to AFP (19459017). Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria tried in politics, according to the article "Escobar: 17 years of criminal history" -Published on 2 December 1993 by El Tiempo – 1977 with the creation of the Medellin district without slums and other social works in favor of the population of Envigado and Antioquía, Colombia. "Other pages that are missing now merely indicate that the capture dates back to the 1980s. In the photo he appears with his son Juan Pablo in front of the White House. In addition, he said that the snapshot of the leader of the Medellin cartel and his son had the title: "In 1982, Pablo Escobar traveled as a deputy to the United States. This added the picture and cites as source the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo. The photograph is indexed on the Internet by the missing blog El Brollo. īut when was the photo taken? Has the drug lord Pablo Escobar Pablo Escobar imposed a search warrant on him with impunity? Can you see Pablo Escobar's widow, that he raped her and forced her to have an abortion? and he vowed to become president of Colombia As proof, you can see the snapshot of Juan Pablo and his father in front of the White House.Īlso on the website of the book written by Sebastián Marroquín "Pablo Escobar is my father" appears a black and white version. "The woman mentioned in the video that they came and went without problems," as if he were a landowner ". The director of the documentary Sins of my father Nicolás Entel, reported in the article "Breaking the silence" he made for the website Freedom From Fear from the Interregional Institute for "Investigations on Crime and Justice of the United Nations" that the photo was provided in 2007 by Sebastián Marroquín's mother to the family Escobar consisting of hundreds of photos, home videos and letters. After the disappearance of his father, he reported Week in the article "The Ghost of Pablo & # 39 published in December 1999. Sebastián Marroquín Santos, formerly Juan Pablo Escobar Henao, had to change his name in 1994 when he was still a minor. Covid-19: How does the immune system of sick people react?ħ years after the death of the drug dealer in Colombia and which had the collaboration of the son of.Sony bans McDonald’s from giving away personalized PS5 controllers.Who are the new commanders of the army, navy and air force? PROFILES of Almirante Alberto Alcalá Luna Jorge Chaparro Pinto Alberto Vizcarra Álvarez nndc | PERU.Lovestar, what it’s about: story, trailer, actors, characters and everything to do with the Turkish soap opera North Star | Kuzey Yıldızı lk Aşk | FAME.Exchange rate: The price of the dollar continued to surge to highs until today, August 4th.Luis Abram at Granada CF: the preseason, his challenges and his first statements with the club | NCZD | FOOTBALL PERUVIAN.The Peruvian sol will be the second most devalued currency in Latin America to date in 2021 | Exchange rate | Dollar | NNDC | BUSINESS.Xiaomi is ahead of Samsung by presenting the Mi Mix 4 one day before the Galaxy Unpacked.Justice Minister: “All of us who run ministries must condemn terrorism”.Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at. Land dedicated to the production of coca – the raw ingredient behind cocaine – jumped 16% last year, bringing it to a level unprecedented in two decades of US eradication efforts, according to a White House report.įor more stories like this, check our news page. His arrest will be a boost for the conservative Mr Duque, whose law-and-order rhetoric has been no match for soaring production of cocaine.īut the arrest of Escobar did not end Colombia’s troubles with drugs and it is unclear what the latest incident will mean for the South American country’s future. Like many of his gunmen, he’s also cycled through the ranks of several guerrilla groups, most recently claiming to lead the Gaitanist Self Defence Forces of Colombia, after a mid-20th century Colombian leftist firebrand. Intelligence from the UK and USA led to his arrest (Picture: AFP)

#Pablo escobar white house

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placetobenation · 4 years ago

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Bobby Lashley is the WWE Champion.

16 years after his starting with the WWE, Lashley is finally king of the mountain, taking out The Miz in the main event of Monday Night RAW. It’s definitely good for business as now The Hurt Business has two titles in their stable, joining Tag Team Champions Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander. It also gives Lashley a chance to grab a main event slot in WrestleMania, something he surely is deserving of as they move out of The Miz’s transitional and very short reign as WWE Champion.

Now, will we get Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre on the biggest spotlight in the industry or will it be another road? Could it be a Lashley vs. Brock Lesnar match in the offing? That surely would add some spice to the two-night event in April for sure.

He was our star of the week last week and no reason to look anywhere else for another one for this current seven days. Lashley endured the mess that was The Miz and his constant evading of going one-on-one with him until he was forced into the lumberjack match that saw his demise.

RAW

RESULTS

Drew McIntyre defeated Sheamus

Nia Jax defeated Naomi

RAW Tag Team Championship Match: Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin defeated Braun Strowman & Adam Pearce to retain titles

Damian Priest defeated Elias

WWE Championship Match: Bobby Lashley defeated The Miz by count out – The Miz retains title

Charlotte Flair defeated Shayna Baszler

Riddle & Lucha House Party defeated RETRIBUTION

Non-title United States Championship Match: Mustafa Ali defeated Riddle

WWE Championship Lumberjack Match: Bobby Lashley defeated The Miz to win title

Very good:

What a match! These two absolutely delivered tonight.

#WWERaw @DMcIntyreWWE @WWESheamus pic.twitter.com/YtIkn5leBb

— WWE (@WWE) March 2, 2021

Drew vs. Sheamus – Kudos for those guys for going toe-to-toe and leaving it all out there in a match that’s worthy of any PPV. They said they would put on a war and they did. Good way for the former WWE Champion to get back going after a tough loss at Elimination Chamber.

WHAT. IN. THE.#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/FWquLJQLs3

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) March 2, 2021

Randy. Randy. Twice as Dandy – The trilogy of Alexa Bliss, Randy Orton and The Fiend is easily the best thing going on Monday nights. Each week, we seem to get a new WTF moment and this week did not disappoint. Is The Fiend coming back as Randy Orton’s alter ego? My curiosity is peaked to the max!

.@mikethemiz just ran out on this #WWETitle Match! #WWERaw @fightbobby pic.twitter.com/5EsaiJMgkX

— WWE (@WWE) March 2, 2021

An ALMIGHTY prophecy fulfilled.@fightbobby is your NEW WWE Champion! #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/wooQs61mbq

— WWE (@WWE) March 2, 2021

Bobby Lashley vs. The Miz – I thought it was well done the way they portrayed the WWE Championship Match throughout every hour of RAW. Sure, The Miz running out to keep his title at 9pm seemed like a WTF moment. But it’s what a true heel would do to keep his belt. Total desperation. Plus, it led to Shane McMahon putting together the lumberjack match in which Lashley sealed the deal to become WWE champion. The Hurt Business is truly a stable of gold my friends!

The good:

Elias vs. Damian Priest – Priest continues to shine and Elias provides the foil for Bad Bunny.

Ali vs. Riddle – An impromptu one-on-one match between these two after RETRIBUTION lost to the team of Riddle & Lucha House Party was a nice surprise. Mustafa Ali getting the win in their first meeting also sets up a possible title match down the road too. Give these two 20 minutes and we’ll all be winners.

The meh:

Nia Jax vs. Naomi – Just keeping it short doesn’t do it justice. It’s just a waste of time. I’d rather see a pre-produced piece with Naomi or have her wrestle someone else. Jax gives me nothing in the ring. She could take a few pointers from Tamina on SmackDown, who’s putting things back together for some interest.

Charlotte Flair wants a title match – Yawn if we’ve seen this before. Flair wants Asuka at WrestleMania. OK. Nice win over Shayna Baszler though after dismissing the double team from the tag team champs.

The very bad:

.@CedricAlexander & @Sheltyb803 grab the victory, and @BraunStrowman is NOT pleased.

#WWERaw @ScrapDaddyAP pic.twitter.com/dJZwOJR6PI

— WWE (@WWE) March 2, 2021

Braun Strowman, Adam Pearce and Shane O’Mac – I will never understand why WWE doesn’t want anyone in the WWE Universe to know that Adam Pearce was a 5-time NWA Champion. Instead, they’d rather him be portrayed as a bumbling buffoon in the wrestling ring. It’s a missed opportunity in this day and age where histories and backstories can be brought up in a click or a tap on social media. As for Shane McMahon and Braun Strowman fighting each other, which is where all this is going, I couldn’t care less. Plus, does it make any sense to put the tag team championship in the middle of it after Shane said last week that you don’t just come to the ring and get a title shot? Short memory folks.

NXT

RESULTS

NXT Tag Team Championship Match: Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch defeated Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher to retain titles

Ember Moon defeated Aliyah

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler defeated Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez

Cameron Grimes defeated Bronson Reed

Non-title NXT Championship Match: Finn Balor defeated Roderick Strong

EXCLUSIVE: Witness what took place between @FinnBalor & @AdamColePro after #WWENXT went off the air as things quickly got heated! pic.twitter.com/VUUMEPW10z

— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) March 4, 2021

A champ. A controversy. A Cameron throwing cash. That’s NXT wrapped up in a nutshell Wednesday.

A remarkable win for the #WWENXT Champion in an amazing match against @roderickstrong! pic.twitter.com/aj0VdOB8LA

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 4, 2021

First up, Finn Balor. He dominated the show from start to finish. Not only did the NXT Champion start the night with a tongue lashing for Roderick Strong, who began the night begging for an explanation from Adam Cole on his betrayal actions of the last two weeks, he also took care of Strong in a very good main event. In between, Balor got Cole’s attention by offering him a title shot coming up this week, an offer that Cole gladly accepted and went face-to-face as the show ended and after the cameras went dark. Balor has definitely upped his game the past month as we hit the road to WrestleMania.

The encounter for the #WomensTagTitles ended in a bit of controversy… HOWEVER… STILL your @WWE Women's Tag Team Champions are @QoSBaszler & @NiaJaxWWE! pic.twitter.com/6B9iYkzD1b

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 4, 2021

The controversy comes in the form of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. Dusty Rhodes Women’s Tag Team Classic winners Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez got their promised title match, but it didn’t quite end the way they wanted. After a decent back-and-forth, Jax and Gonzalez not only took out themselves over the announce table, but also left the NXT referee out of commission. So, when Baszler put Kai in the Kirifuda Clutch, WWE official Adam Pearce brought in his own RAW referee to call for the end of the match and the win for the champs. Of course, Kai wasn’t the legal woman in the ring, that was Gonzalez, who was left outside the ring. So, while William Regal and Pearce argued in closed quarters after the match, the NXT general manager has vowed an announcement that will change NXT forever this Wednesday. Could it be NXT’s own Women’s Tag Team Championship or could it be something for WrestleMania? All eyes are on your Mr. Regal.

Thanks to an unexpected distraction by #LAKnight, @CGrimesWWE gets the win against @bronsonreedwwe!#WWENXT pic.twitter.com/sejXfOm42w

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 4, 2021

Cameron Grimes was back in the ring, full of cash to take on Bronson Reed. But instead of what looked like it was going to be a sure loss, LA Knight, who had some timely glances with Reed before the match, got involved to cost Reed the win and give Grimes an unexpected victory. Could it be an alliance moving forward or just a one-time coincidence? Either way, both Knight and Grimes walkaway winners for the night.

Elsewhere, Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher stepped up to take the tag team title match that MSK was supposed to have before Wes Lee’s broken hand took that off the table. In the end, Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch retain the titles as Imperium with Alexander Wolfe watch on. Something tells me, Mr. Wolfe has something in mind for the champions.

Kayden Carter is looking for revenge and will try to get it coming up this week against Xia Li. Also, looking for revenge is NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai, who accepted Toni Storm’s request for a one-on-one title match. I’d expect that one to open the show this upcoming week.

Don’t mess with Legado del Fantasma! Santos Escobar and crew made that well known, returning from last week’s No DQ loss to Karrion Kross to take out Breezango and Ever-Rise in short order, blowing up their expected match. Who’s next on their radar?

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!?!?!?!" – @JohnnyGargano#WWENXT pic.twitter.com/M90aO2mcif

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 4, 2021

Finally, what do we make of The Way. Johnny Gargano brought the “family” to therapy in hopes of getting them all back on the same page after last week’s fiasco with Dexter Lumis. In the end, Gargano gets his way, paying off the therapist to have Austin Theory believe that Lumis didn’t like him at all. It served its purpose to give the show some levity for sure.

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

King Corbin defeated Montez Ford

Angelo Dawkins defeated Sami Zayn

Dominik Mysterio defeated Chad Gable

Bianca Belair defeated Shayna Baszler

Steel Cage Match: Daniel Bryan defeated Jey Uso to win Universal Championship Match at Fastlane

Whenever I start to watch SmackDown on Friday nights, there’s always a good and bad part to their opening segment for the past few months. The good – Roman Reigns is a part of it almost every week. The bad – it’s a talking segment almost every week. This week, we get Daniel Bryan and Reigns facing off with Michael Cole in a promo segment that was very truthful, very real and very believable. Unfortunately, it took until 26 minutes into the show to get any in-ring action. Just saying folks. Switch it up from time-to-time.

King Corbin really doesn’t like Sami Zayn. That works and it builds perfectly into Zayn’s conspiracy theory. So, when Corbin refuses to be Zayn’s partner, we get a pair of singles matches with Angelo Dawkins taking on Zayn and Corbin fighting Montez Ford. Ironically, Zayn’s distraction helps out Corbin to get a victory but the favor isn’t reciprocated in Zayn’s loss to Dawkins. Friends. No. Enemies. Maybe.

Payback is a Mysterio I guess. Last week, Otis had the upper hand but this week, it’s Dominik Mysterio with the upset victory over Chad Gable. Plus, Rey gets a little physical with Otis over the announce table to boot. Looks like this feud is just getting going.

Shayna Baszler being anything less than a badass and brutalizing everyone in the WWE is no longer acceptable. To me, her pairing with Nia Jax needs to end and let Baszler go on her reign of terror. But of course, that’s not going to happen anytime soon as she loses to Bianca Belair in a singles match Friday night. The match was nothing amazing and got the predictable chaos outside the ring with Jax and Reggie getting involved. Talk about your rough night for Reginald. First, he gets fired by Carmella. Then, he gets decked by Belair outside the ring before being slapped by his favorite Banks. Then, Jax says he’s cute Poor Reggie! I feel for the guy.

UH OH!@CarmellaWWE just fired @ReginaldWWE on #SmackDown! pic.twitter.com/Cbj7errXA9

— WWE (@WWE) March 6, 2021

That's about as clear as it gets, @ReginaldWWE…

#SmackDown @SashaBanksWWE pic.twitter.com/sFlGD1FOQS

— WWE (@WWE) March 6, 2021

BTW: Why exactly are Banks and Belair getting another title shot at Fastlane? Lack of creative maybe?

Welcome back Buddy Murphy. I guess we’ll just forget about the whole betrayal of Seth Rollins a few months ago, right? Murphy told Rollins he could help him out with the Cesaro situation. But all Murphy got for his trouble was a swing and a miss.

"This is not the new Apollo. This is the REAL Apollo." – @WWEApollo #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/n2uaVkJkVv

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) March 6, 2021

You can tell that things are looking up for Apollo Crews. Now, he has bodyguards, a spear and a new accent. Apparently, it’s the “real” Apollo Crews from Nigeria. Maybe Vince has been watching Coming To America 2 lately.

Ding Dong. Hello. Well, it seemed more like we needed to fill two minutes of time. Sorry Bayley, that was a stinker with your sweet tweets.

.@WWEDanielBryan has done it! He's headed to #WWEFastlane to battle @WWERomanReigns for the #UniversalTitle!#SmackDown #SteelCage @WWEUsos pic.twitter.com/bwyRRKhZvU

— WWE (@WWE) March 6, 2021

It was fitting that Bryan caps off the night by making Jey Uso tap out in the Steel Cage main event match. Bryan’s climb back into the title picture saw another level of Bryan’s determination to get another chance, a fair chance this time at Reigns championship after a loss at Elimination Chamber. Watching Bryan celebrate on top of the steel cage reminded me of a similar celebration I watched here in Providence, Rhode Island when Bryan came back from the dark side and the Wyatt family. Given the even championship match this time, Bryan vs. Reigns could be a classic at Fastlane.

Parting Shots:

Last week, it was Paul Wight defecting from the WWE to show up in AEW. This week, Wight says there’s another “Hall of Fame worthy” star that he knows is coming to AEW at this Sunday’s Revolution PPV. All the expected suspects have been rumored. CM Punk, Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, Mark Henry, Christian and others are on that list. I’ll add in Tessa Blanchard and Gail Kim as a pair who should be thought about as well although Tony Khan, the President and owner of AEW said in an interview on Busted Open on Sirius XM that “he” would help us in referring to the superstar coming in to All Elite Wrestling. Either way, AEW has done a better job in building this “surprise” up than they did by just dropping Wight’s signing over a social media post. Make no bones about it, AEW is stepping up their game against the WWE and this Sunday’s Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley exploding barbed wire death match for the AEW Championship should be worth the hype.

Coming up this week:

RAW: All Mighty Championship Celebration of Bobby Lashley

NXT: NXT Championship Match: Finn Balor vs. Michael ColeNXT Women’s Championship Match: Io Shirai vs. Toni StormXia Li vs. Kayden Carter

SMACKDOWN: Big E returns – Apollo Crews demands match

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at [email protected]. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

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firstdraftpod · 5 years ago

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A Gentle Language with Gabby Rivera

First Draft Episode #211: Gabby Rivera

Gabby Rivera, author of Juliet Takes a Breath, which is out in hardcover on September 17, and writer of the America Chavez series for Marvel Comics.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

I couldn’t find Gabby’s first article for Bustle, but she recently wrote about love for the online outlet again, with, “The Truth About ‘Big Love’ is You’ve Got to Manifest It For Yourself.”

The Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City is where Gabby discovered her creative self and explored her sexuality

Artist Mahogany L. Browne, author of Black Girl Magic and Woke Baby, was the host at the Nuyorican when Gabby was finding herself there

Through The New York City Latina Writers Group Gabby got the chance to work with Alicia Anabel Santos and her mentor, Vanessa Mártir, co-author of Do Something! A Handbook for Young Activists

The Made in NY PA Training Program

Cunt: A Declaration of Independence by Inga Muscio

Ariel Gore, writer of We Were Witches and Hexing the Patriarchy: 26 Spells, Potions, and Magical Elixirs to Embolden the Resistance) reached out to Gabby when she was putting together Portland Queer, which won the LAMBDA Literary Award for best anthology

The Dreamyard Project

Gabby’s experience of moving back in with her parents to finish Juliet Takes a Breath is similar to the story Stephanie Garber shared about Caraval on this very podcast! Listen to Stephanie’s episode here

Lori Perkins, founder of the L. Perkins Agency and Riverdale Avenue Books

When Patricia Arquette accepted the Oscar for Boyhood, she stirred controversy with her speech

High Art with Allie Sheedy and Gia with Angelina Jolie were some of Gabby’s first LGBT movies (and her mom’s exposure to lesbianism was The Singing Nun’s “Dominique”)

Autostraddle is one of the largest lesbian source of news

Roxane Gay tweeted about Juliet Takes a Breath

Gabby worked at GLSEN, the LGBT education nonprofit

Wil Moss and Sarah Brunstad were Gabby’s editors at Marvel

Jo Volpe at New Leaf Literary

Blankets by Craig Thompson was one of the first graphic novels Gabby read

The quote I reference from Amy Poehler is from an episode of her “Ask Amy” series for Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls: “Great people do things before they're ready. They do things before they know they can do it. … Doing what you're afraid of, getting out of your comfort zone, taking risks like that- that's what life is.”

Some artists of color who inspire Gabby are Trinidad Escobar, author and illustrator of graphic memoir Crushed, and Lawrence Lindell, writer and illustrator of From Black Boy, With Love

Gabby was reading My Beloved World, the autobiography of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, while writing Juliet Takes a Breath

Don’t miss Gabby’s TED Talk!

Gabby is writing a new comic series with Boom Studios, who made Lumberjanes

The Sadie Nash Leadership Project

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You can also email the podcast at [email protected].

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clusterassets · 6 years ago

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New world news from Time: Ivan Duque is Colombia’s Youngest President-Elect Ever. Now He Has to Fix the Divided Country

Long before he got the chance to enter politics, Iván Duque was a local rock star. As a teenager in the 1990s, he sang in his high school band, Pig Nose. His onetime bandmates say that even then he was looking for something deeper than rock ‘n’ roll. “I was always looking for energy in my music,” recalls Rafael Gavassa, an old friend of Duque’s. “But Iván was a little more about substance.” The grunge music of Pearl Jam and Nirvana informed Duque’s songwriting. “I was more transcendental with the lyrics,” Duque remembers.

It’s hard to imagine Duque as a long-haired grunge lover now. Sitting in his campaign headquarters in Bogotá, the 41-year-old sports the sober dress shirt and tie of the political class–a look no doubt honed by his years in Washington working for a Latin American development bank. The wardrobe will also work in his next job. On June 17 he became the youngest person to be elected President of Colombia.

This country of 49 million is something of a regional outlier in terms of its politics; its democratic institutions have withstood the rise of Latin American strongmen and populists who ran military dictatorships in the late 20th century in Argentina, Brazil and Chile, and, more recently, the socialist experiments in Venezuela and Bolivia. Duque, a partly U.S.-educated technocrat who speaks fluent English, is more in the mold of a Macron than a Chávez or a Pinochet.

Like France’s upstart President, Duque says he wants to govern from the center. He joins a generation of younger leaders, like Canada’s Justin Trudeau and New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, who are committing themselves to a new kind of neoliberalism that attempts to move past left and right.

“I’ve always considered myself an extreme centrist,” Duque told TIME a few weeks after his election victory. “We need to have the right balance between development and environmental protection. The right balance between entrepreneurship and worker rights. The right balance between free markets and the ability to fix market flaws … It’s a matter,” he says, as if the point could be lost, “of putting things in the right balance.”

The President-elect promises to take Colombia forward by uniting its divisions. But the obstacles are huge. Corruption and rising unemployment top a list of concerns in a country that is only now emerging from a half-century of armed conflict. Coca production is reaching new highs, and powerful criminal mafias control territories in Colombia’s outer periphery. Next door, Nicolás Maduro’s iron grip on Venezuela’s failed experiment is pushing hungry and sick migrants across the border.

Duque’s first and greatest challenge when he takes power in August is to bridge the divide over Colombia’s peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which was at war with the state for five decades. Although a 2016 agreement earned outgoing President Juan Manuel Santos a Nobel Peace Prize, Colombians are bitterly divided over its terms. “Colombia has presented a paradox for the last two or three years,” explains Michael Reid, author of Forgotten Continent: A History of the New Latin America. “Santos’ government has been hailed globally for the peace accord. But at home his government has been unpopular for a long time … partly because of disillusion with the peace agreement.”

Duque, who won office on a promise to overhaul the deal, must solve that paradox if he is to succeed in his ambition to become a new archetype for what a Latin American leader can be. The agreement, he says, “left a fracture in Colombian society. And I think now it’s time to heal that wound.”

Born in 1976, Duque grew up when the drug baron Pablo Escobar’s Medellín cartel was at the height of its powers. Duque’s father governed Antioquia, the economically muscular province of which Medellín is the capital, during the early 1980s. Over the same period, cocaine began to rival extortion and kidnapping as FARC’s primary source of income. The Marxist group had formed in 1964 after farmers armed themselves and holed up in mountain camps during a government crackdown on left-wing ideology.

While the cartels and FARC were battling for control of Colombia, Duque was immersed in his studies. School friends remember him always walking around with a book in hand. “There we were with Batman, and at 14 he was reading The Prince!” Gavassa chuckles, referring to Machiavelli’s treatise on power. Duque studied law in Bogotá and, a year after graduating, left to work at the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank, which finances development projects across Latin America.

He remembers the era as a period of violence back home, when many feared that Colombia could become a failed state. A week before he returned to get married in 2003, FARC blew up a business club in Bogotá, killing 36. A distant relative was among the dead. “It was shocking for everyone,” he says of the attack. “I think that was a big change in the way people felt about FARC and about violence.”

His work in Washington brought him into the orbit of Alvaro Uribe, the President of Colombia from 2002 to 2010, who became a mentor. After Uribe began the center-right Democratic Center Party in 2013, Duque returned home to run as a Senator. He quickly gained a reputation among his more hard-line colleagues in the Senate as a moderate consensus builder.

His signature issue became the peace deal struck by Santos in 2016, which ended fighting between the state and FARC. The agreement won international praise but proved hugely divisive in Colombia. Over 50 years, the sprawling armed conflict involving rebels, paramilitaries and the state left some 220,000 dead, millions displaced and large tracts of the country littered with land mines. Now FARC’s leaders were being allowed to walk free–and, to many Colombians, escape justice for their crimes. During a referendum on Santos’ proposed accord, Duque campaigned against it. “My whole life, I’m a person who believes in peace,” Duque says now, “but I believe that the only way to ensure peace in any society is with the rule of law.”

His opposition to the deal gave the freshman Senator a platform to become his party’s candidate for the presidency last December. During the elections that ushered him to power, it was a central plank of his campaign. Now Duque must tweak the agreement in a way that pleases everyone: the signatories, the Colombian people and the global community.

LUIS ROBAYO—AFP/Getty Images Duque speaks to supporters on the campaign trail in Cali, Colombia, on June 8.

What he proposes is effectively an upgrade of the deal that would give stronger sentences to former FARC leaders and scrap amnesty for crimes by guerrillas linked to the drug trade. But Duque pledges to keep the provisions that he says are working, like the reincorporation of FARC into civilian life. The mistake Santos made, he says, was “dividing Colombians between friends and enemies of peace. For me, there are no enemies, and we all want peace.”

The divisions in Colombia aren’t all a product of the peace deal. The country has one of the most unequal societies in Latin America. Over half the population works off the books, while the public sees the government as a corrupt, elite institution dedicated to enriching itself. According to Gallup, in 2017 only 22% of Colombians had confidence in the government. To fix that, the President-elect says he will build a Colombia that works for everyone. “I want to be the President of social justice in Colombia. To increase and improve the quality of health coverage, education, housing and sports but at the same time guarantee the level of security and justice throughout the country so that no one feels threatened by criminals. That’s the way to ensure peace.”

Globally, Colombia is known for its most infamous historical export: cocaine. Although the days of Escobar are gone, the drug remains a multibillion-dollar industry. Acreage planted with coca, the hardy Andean shrub used for making cocaine, shot up to 180,000 hectares last year, compared with 48,000 hectares in 2012 at the start of the peace talks.

Those numbers have caught Washington’s eye, especially as Colombia has received $10 billion in U.S. aid since 2000 to fight drug trafficking. Last year, President Trump pushed to decertify Colombia as a partner in the war on drugs, a move that would threaten almost $400 million that has been pledged to post-conflict remediation. Advisers talked the U.S. President out of it, but the message to Duque on his recent visit to Washington was clear: the next Colombian President must deal with the cocaine problem in order for relations to prosper. “The reduction of illegal crops is vital for Colombia,” he says.

Duque also plans to work with the U.S. in rallying regional neighbors to take a harder stance against Venezuela, where Maduro is consolidating power. “I think our regional diplomacy during the last 20 years has been very weak toward Venezuela,” he says. He plans to withdraw Colombia from the Union of South American Nations, an organization created in part to challenge U.S. hegemony in the region, and denounce Maduro in front of the International Criminal Court. “We need to take actions when we see things that can be a threat to the entire continent,” he says.

Duque’s vision to set the region against authoritarianism may also help strengthen relations with Washington. “I think this is a government that will be very active in helping the U.S. convince other governments in the region that Venezuela is a rogue actor,” says Raul Gallegos, associate director at risk consultancy Control Risks.

The economic collapse of Venezuela has caused a regional humanitarian crisis, and at least 500,000 people have crossed the 1,300-mile border with Colombia in search of work. Duque suggests starting a “humanitarian fund” to deal with migrants on the border and creating a unified set of policies that would give migrants the same employment rights as Colombian workers. But ultimately the crisis won’t be solved until Maduro is out of government, Duque says. “Now is the time for the whole continent to put enough diplomatic pressure to open the road for Maduro to step out.”

It’s not yet clear whether Duque will govern with a populist streak, but he does know how to display a popular touch. During his campaign, he danced salsa with TV hosts and sang folk music, in contrast with the aristocratic Santos. “I think he models himself a little on JFK,” says Mary Roldan, a Latin American historian at Hunter College. “The young man who comes without any political baggage, who represents youth and a pragmatic, modern, untainted approach to politics.”

But Duque does indeed have baggage: a perceived synonymy with his hard-line mentor that he hasn’t been able to shake. Uribe is a controversial figure in Colombia. While the former President demobilized brutal paramilitary groups, close associates were found guilty of cooperating with them, members of his government spied on judges and journalists, and his military murdered civilians. He is seen by some as symbolic of the corrupt elite that Duque says he is against–and many see the younger man as a puppet of his predecessor. “The big question about Duque is to what extent is he his own man?” Reid says. Duque insists that he has his own political agenda, separate from his mentor. “We disagree on a lot of things,” he says.

When they first met in Washington, Uribe was a presidential candidate, and Duque says they bonded by reciting the Gettysburg Address together and exchanging book recommendations on the 16th President of the U.S. “What I admire about Lincoln is his humility, creativity, love for his people and capacity to build consensus in times of crisis,” Duque says. “[He] had this capacity to govern the country with all the people in the past who were his adversaries.”

But it was also Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 election that helped trigger the American Civil War. That President found greatness by holding together a young nation that had descended into a cataclysm. Duque’s challenge is to manage the peace in his own.

This appears in the July 30, 2018 issue of TIME. July 19, 2018 at 03:55PM ClusterAssets Inc., https://ClusterAssets.wordpress.com

#Time #world #news #ClusterAssets #ClusterAsset #Cluster Asset Inc.#ClusterAssets Inc.

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gigglesndimples · 7 years ago

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Review: Maria McFarland’s ‘There Are No Dead Here’

Drug Policy Alliance executive director Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, a veteran Latin America specialist with Human Rights Watch, tells a grim but also inspiring story in There Are No Dead Here: A Story of Murder and Denial in Colombia (Nation Books). It details the efforts of three courageous Colombians to bring to light official complicity in the reign of paramilitary terror in the country over the past generation.

These three won a measure of success, but at the cost of relentless death threats and assassination attempts. One paid the proverbial ultimate price. Their interlocking tales paint a picture of Colombian officials’ staggering cynicism, especially during the 2002-2010 presidency of Álvaro Uribe, whose administration was thoroughly integrated with the ostensibly illegal right-wing paramilitary networks, even as he denied everything and portrayed himself as a centrist democrat.

Author and DPA head Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno

The book opens with the figure who became a martyr in the quest for truth—Jesús Maria Valle, an attorney and human-rights defender in the city of Medellín, who was among the first to raise the alarm about the mounting paramilitary violence in the 1990s. Uribe was then governor of the department of Antioquia, where Medellín is located. Valle initially tried to alert him about the violence in rural communities, before determining that the governor’s own anti-guerilla militia force was cooperating with the paras. In 1998, armed men invaded Valle’s office and assassinated him.

Antioquia proved to be a testing ground for the strategy Uribe would apply nationally as president. Iván Velásquez, the prosecutor and jurist who doggedly investigated the Uribe government’s collaboration with paramilitary groups, picked up Valle’s torch. Uribe road-blocked Velásquez every step of the way, launching a media smear campaign against him, while paras operated in the shadows with threats and attacks on his team.

Velásquez was greatly aided by the work of Ricardo Calderón, an investigative journalist with Bogotá’s Semana newsweekly. Calderón eventually concluded that Uribe’s intelligence agency, the Department of Administrative Security (DAS) was working closely with the paras, spying on judges, journalists and opposition politicians, and feeding the information back to the illegal and ultra-murderous right-wing militias. This became a major scandal in Colombia, and in a measure of justice, DAS was disbanded in 2011.

With Uribe out of office and the paramilitaries officially disarmed under a political deal with their leadership, some of the para leaders—now extradited to the United States and doing time on cocaine charges—started to sing. The big boss of the network, Salvatore Mancuso, came clean from his U.S. federal prison cell on Uribe’s effective collaboration with the paras during his time in power.

EXCERPT: “Starting in the late 1990s, the paramilitaries carried out a bloody expansion campaign throughout much of Colombia. Fueled by an endless stream of drug profits, they committed gruesome massacres in the name of defending the country from the brutal Marxist guerillas of FARC… Nobody, it seemed, was trying to stop them.”

But Uribe, maddeningly, is free today and continues to lead Colombia’s right-wing opposition. In 2016, when new President Juan Manuel Santos negotiated a peace deal with the left-wing guerillas of the FARC, Uribe campaigned bitterly against it. The book ends on a tentative note of hope, as the peace deal with the FARC goes ahead despite the best efforts of Uribe to sabotage it.

The story McFarland tells is an important one, but with the relentless accounts of assassinations and atrocities, it’s easy to lose the narrative thread. More serious is her cursory portrayal of what the fighting was all about, particularly the role of Colombia’s narco-economy. She writes that the government’s war on the cocaine cartels was a “parallel” conflict to that of the civil war that pitted the FARC against the security forces and their paramilitary allies. But after the cartels were crushed, the “drug war” and the civil war were really the same war. The demise of Medellín kingpin Pablo Escobar and his Cali-cartel competition in the ’90s set the stage for the paras and the guerillas to enter into a direct struggle with each other for control of the cocaine economy. It’s the key to real political power in Colombia, and McFarland little mention of this.

Finally, there’s little mention of “Plan Colombia,” the massive U.S. military aid package that backed Uribe’s armed forces through the bloodiest years of the conflict when state collaboration with the paramilitaries was at its peak. The story of Washington’s complicity in Colombia’s state terror is one that still needs to be told.

If you enjoyed this Freedom Leaf article, subscribe to the magazine today!

The post Review: Maria McFarland’s ‘There Are No Dead Here’ appeared first on Freedom Leaf.

Source: https://www.freedomleaf.com/no-dead-here-colombia-review/

The post Review: Maria McFarland’s ‘There Are No Dead Here’ was originally published to The Giggles N Dimples Blog

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omcik-blog · 8 years ago

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New Post has been published on OmCik

New Post has been published on http://omcik.com/as-venezuela-dives-into-chaos-next-door-colombia-has-a-star-turn/

As Venezuela dives into chaos, next door Colombia has a star turn

Venezuela and Colombia are next door neighbors in Latin America. But the situation in the two countries is like night and day.

At a time when Venezuela is fast slipping into chaos, Colombia is getting its act together, putting its drug war in its past and its president just won the Nobel Peace Prize.

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The stark contrasts between the two nations played out this week at, of all places, the White House.

President Trump slapped sanctions on Venezuelan Supreme Court justices loyal to President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday, accusing them of hurting the country’s democracy.

“What’s happening is really a disgrace to humanity,” Trump said of Venezuela on Thursday.

Trump said that, while standing next to Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos at the White House.

Trump lauded Santos for winning the Nobel Peace Prize last year, and signing a peace agreement that ended a 50-year civil war.

“The President did a fantastic job,” Trump said of Santos. “You are really a great example.”

Related: Trump administration slaps sanctions on Venezuelan Supreme Court justices

It’s not just the rhetoric that’s glaringly different. The two economies are diverging in every possible way, right now.

“They live in different economic galaxies,” says Alberto Ramos, head of Latin America research at Goldman Sachs. “The performances of the economies are completely different.”

New government numbers published Friday show Colombia’s economy is growing. Since 2010, Colombia has averaged a strong 4% annual growth rate.

By contrast, Venezuela doesn’t even publish government economic data. According to the IMF, this year will almost certainly mark Venezuela’s fourth year of recession. It’s economy hasn’t grown since 2013.

Venezuela suffers from skyrocketing inflation, set to rise over 1,100% this year, the IMF estimates. Colombia’s inflation is forecast to rise 4% this year.

Related: As Venezuelans starve, president’s stepsons skydive

The contrast also represents a reversal of fortunes. During Colombia’s drug crisis — the years of druglord Pablo Escobar — many Colombians fled to wealthy Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserves.

Now Venezuelans are fleeing to Colombia, escaping a country that’s out of money, food and medicine.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees said last year Colombia should expect an “avalanche” of Venezuelan refugees.

It’s unknown how many Venezuelans live in Colombia because they’re allowed to freely enter Colombia as tourists and millions have dual citizenship. But Tomas Paez, a migration expert in Venezuela, concluded in a study that nearly 2 million Venezuelans have left the country since the socialist regime began in 1999.

Related: Venezuelans lose weight amid food shortages

To be clear, Colombia isn’t without problems. Its economy suffered from the steep fall in oil prices too. And, as Trump pointed out Thursday, cocaine production hit an all-time high in Colombia last year.

And although everyone wants peace in Colombia, Santos has been heavily criticized for crafting a deal local critics say goes easy on guerrilla soldiers who committed atrocities. Taxes are also going up in Colombia in order to implement the peace deal and integrate the soldiers into civilian life.

Still, the two South American neighbors couldn’t stand further apart. Just ask Trump.

Venezuela “is really in a very bad state,” Trump said Thursday. “The United States and Colombia are also strong economic partners.”

CNNMoney (New York) First published May 19, 2017: 11:42 AM ET

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nancy-astorga · 8 years ago

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Meet the cocaine-addled, Hitler-obsessed drug smuggler who tried to take down Pablo Escobar

Pablo Escobar is remembered as the face of the Medellin cartel, the Colombian criminal organization that flooded the world with cocaine in the 1980s.

But for all his deeds and bluster, Escobar was just one member of a clan of traffickers who helped create the Medellin cartel.

And in terms of narco eccentricities, one Medellin capo stands out: Carlos Lehder Rivas.

Born to a German father and Colombian mother in Armenia, a district in west-central Colombia, in 1949, Lehder spent most of his childhood in Colombia.

But after his parents separated, he relocated to New York City when he was 15, Colombian newspaper El Espectador reported in 2012.

In the US, he got involved in petty crime, working on the US East Coast and in Canada leading a stolen-car ring and moving marijuana. He got picked up for car theft in June 1973 and was sent to federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. His brief stint in jail would forever alter the US and the world.

George Jung, the now famous drug smuggler and subject of the movie “Blow,” was Lehder’s cell mate and described the Colombian-American as well mannered and well dressed. As Jung told PBS, even while locked up for minor crimes, Lehder had his mind on a more ambitious criminal enterprise:

“As time wore on, we got to know each other and then he asked me if I knew anything about cocaine and I told him no. And I said, ‘Why don’t you tell me about it.’ And he said, ‘Did you know it sells for $60,000.00 a kilo in the United States?'”

“And I said, ‘No. I had no idea. How much does it cost down in Colombia?’ and he said, ‘$4,000 to $5,000.’ And immediately bells started to go off and the cash register started ringing up in my head.“

“It was like destiny” that Jung and Lehder ended up together at Danbury, Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration, told Business Insider.

Jung and Lehder were released in the late 1970s, but they soon hooked up again, setting up an airborne-smuggling operation that moved cocaine from Colombia to the southeastern US.

As their operation expanded in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Lehder grew closer to the capos back in Medellin, and in the Caribbean, they looked for a way station for their bustling trafficking business.

‘It just turned into a freak show’

“They used to smuggle drugs through Nassau, Bahamas, by using corrupt officials that would open up the airport and look the other way … But they wanted a more isolated area — an area where they could operate more freely and not have to pay a ton of Bahamian individuals,” said Vigil, author of “Metal Coffins: The Blood Alliance Cartel.”

“So that’s when they came out to Norman’s Cay,” he told Business Insider.

At Norman’s Cay, a small spit of land 210 miles southeast of Miami, Lehder’s eccentricities — fueled by his growing cocaine habit — came to the fore.

Lehder, considered handsome by men and women, was regarded as intelligent and charming, but given to excess and probably lacking self-control, Ron Chepesiuk, author of “Crazy Charlie: Revolutionary or Neo-Nazi,” told Vice.

Lehder was also an aggressive businessman, and he eventually forced Jung out of their arrangement, but not before Jung visited Norman’s Cay and observed Lehder’s behavior. “He wasn’t crazy… he had delusions, though. He loved John Lennon and Adolf Hitler at the same time. That should have been a sign for me,” Jung told High Times.

“I mean, Walter Cronkite showed up there, and these thugs came with machine guns and told him, ‘You better leave.’ It just turned into a freak show,” Jung said.

“There were other people that lived there, but they started to drive them out, and Carlos Lehder started to develop kind of like a neo-Nazi group there, that would protect the planeloads of coke and intimidate the people that lived there,” Vigil said.

Lehder started behaving more erratically on Norman’s Cay, hosting parties and orgies and running roughshod over the community on the island. Spooked by law enforcement and emboldened by the officials he had bought off, Lehder went so far as to drop leaflets over Nassau, the Bahamanian capital, saying, “DEA go home.”

“Eventually Carlos started to become more visible and started to be in the crosshairs of the DEA, and that’s when the Bahamian government said, ‘Hey, you have to go. You can’t be here anymore because the DEA is coming, and we don’t want them meddling in our business and investigating us as well,'” Vigil told Business Insider.

Lehder retreated to Colombia after a DEA raid on Norman’s Cay in 1980. His airborne-smuggling operation had accelerated Medellin’s cocaine business and made Lehder a valuable member of the cartel — a status his actions in Colombia would start to erode.

He built a hacienda and started spreading money around his home turf in Armenia and around Quindio, the state where Armenia is located. He built a statue of John Lennon on his front lawn and raised eyebrows by buying the state government a modern airplane as a gift. Like Escobar, Lehder had a political awakening in the early 1980s.

Escobar went along with Colombia’s democratic system and won a seat as a backup for a legislator in the National Assembly. Lehder, however, lifted the Nazi leanings he likely absorbed from his father (the younger Lehder was reportedly a Holocaust denier) and used them to undergird his political movement in Colombia.

“He wants to get into politics and his idea is to form like a Nazi-type of government in Colombia,” Vigil told Business Insider. “This is how deranged he is now and delusional.”

“There is plenty of evidence to support the characterization that Lehder was a neo-Nazi,” Chepesiuk told Vice. “He certainly wasn’t shy about giving interviews or expressing his views. He often praised Hitler and railed against the Jews.”

He retreated into the jungle but still held press conferences and declared his intention to fight the government. He was also known to quote Hitler, who he admitted to admiring, according to El Espectador.

A Colombian national-police raid on a home linked to Lehder in a remote part of Colombia uncovered several million US dollars, “and the whole house is plastered with photographs and memorabilia of Adolf Hitler, who he idolized,” Vigil told Business Insider.

His party, called the National Latin Movement, had a “fascist-populist program [that] called for radical changes in Colombia’s political landscape.” He also embraced anti-imperialism, criticizing the US for its involvement in Latin America. He saw cocaine as a means of liberation, calling it Latin America’s atomic bomb, Vigil said.

Like Escobar, Lehder’s political efforts also focused on defeating Colombia’s extradition agreement with the US, which, after the 1984 assassination of Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, allowed for immediate extradition of Lehder and other narcos if they were caught.

‘He knew that Pablo Escobar had turned him in’

Lehder’s megalomania, heavily fueled by cocaine, sparked his falling out with Escobar, which would set the stage for his undoing.

At a party at Escobar’s Hacienda Napoles, outside of Medellin, “Carlos is high on coke, and he gets into an argument with one of Pablo Escobar’s sicarios, or hit men, and shoots and kills him,” Vigil told Business Insider.

This angered Escobar, Vigil added, because it made it look like the Medellin chief, who was particularly close to his hit men, couldn’t protect the people who worked for him.

Escobar, having decided that Lehder was more of a liability than an asset, “basically gives him up, gives up his location” to the Colombian government, Vigil said. Escobar later denied he rolled over on Lehder in a public letter, according to Chepesiuk.

At 6 a.m. on February 4, 1987, on a ranch near Medellin where Lehder was again embracing his hedonism, Colombian police and soldiers moved in, capturing Lehder after a brief firefight.

Eleven hours later, he was bound for Miami, becoming the first victim of the extradition agreement he had fought against.

He soon arrived at a federal prison in Marion, Illinois. With the US-Colombian campaign against Escobar reaching full throat, Lehder was a person of interest to US authorities.

Vigil, a DEA official at the time, traveled to Marion to meet Lehder upon his return to the US:

“Very short individual, fluent English. The first impression that I had of him was that he was a con artist, a manipulator. … He really didn’t want to talk about his involvement in the drug trade.”

“His whole focus — and he knew that Pablo Escobar had turned him in — and he said, ‘listen, I can help you capture Pablo Escobar. I’m willing to go back to Colombia. You can put me under the security of the Colombian army, and I can find Pablo Escobar for you.'”

“But we were not going to take a chance on him going back to Colombia and getting into the wind again,” Vigil said. “But he definitely, definitely wanted to do Pablo Escobar.”

Lehder’s split with Escobar in the mid-1980s left him without information that US authorities were interested in trading for.

He was sentenced to life without parole plus 135 years in 1988, a term the judge said was “a signal to our society that it will do everything it can to rid itself of this cancer.”

Lehder’s involvement in the drug trade proved valuable when he was able to testify against Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who had assisted the Medellin cartel with its money-laundering activities.

Lehder got his sentence reduced, but he remains locked up in the US. His exact whereabouts aren’t known, as he is probably in witness protection, though his lawyers occasionally appear on his behalf.

The nearly 30 years he has spent in prison have weighed on him. He has accused the US of violating his rights and reneging on an agreement to let him out in return for his Noriega testimony. He has written to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, asking for help to repatriate himself so that he can die on Colombian soil — a wish he might well get upon returning.

“He’s got a lot of enemies in Colombia” Vigil said. “So if he went back there, I don’t think he’d survive more than a few months.”

SEE ALSO: ‘Nobody is ever going to tell you’: 3 theories regarding who killed ‘The King of Cocaine’ Pablo Escobar

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Pablo Escobar: The life and death of one of the biggest cocaine kingpins in history

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placetobenation · 4 years ago

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The Road to WrestleMania is off to a white hot start!

Your first two superstars set for Tampa April 10-11 are Bianca Belair and Edge with their respective Royal Rumble wins. Both had magical runs with Edge running the table for a full hour from the #1 spot while Belair almost matched him from the #3 position, going 56+ minutes.

I thought both Rumble matches were very good with men’s being a bit more cohesive. They missed a storyline detail with Orton’s face being magically cured just 6 days after seeing it exposed on RAW. I’m glad they didn’t go down the road of Orton missing most of the Rumble with the new injury and then coming back at the end to eliminate Edge. Edge going wire-to-wire was inspirational. Ricochet being in and no Keith Lee was never explained, although I’m sure it was COVID-19 related for Lee with Mia Yim already announcing she had tested positive prior that weekend. Bad Bunny taking out The Miz & John Morrison was your entertainment clip for the next day and the start of a beautiful relationship with the WWE for Latin rapper/wrestling fan. Good showings for the returning Seth Rollins, Big E and Damian Priest with 4 eliminations a piece to lead the men. Omos got two eliminations from the outside when he pulled out Big E and Rey Mysterio. At what point do they expose him to some action in the ring?

Bad Bunny Hits Frog Splash Off the Top Rope at Royal Rumble, Take That Miz! https://t.co/d7AlwU7lqx

— TMZ (@TMZ) February 2, 2021

On the women’s side, Billie Kay was funny, Rhea Ripley was a beast with a night-topping 7 eliminations and the final three was fantastic with Belair, Ripley and Flair.

Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens stole the night going around Tropicana Field beating the holy hell out of each other. I’m just glad Paul Heyman finally got those handcuffs off!

Sasha Banks vs. Carmella was very good, but I just wonder what they do with Carmella now after all the hype.

Drew McIntyre and Goldberg did what they needed to do – pass the torch of respect and keep Goldberg in mind, looking relatively strong for another match at WrestleMania.

The less we say about the kick-off women’s tag team championship match the better. Predictable as the day is long and we get Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler as champs again, YAWN!

Star of the Week:

Edge – Seriously, is any explanation needed?!

RAW

RESULTS

United States Championship Match: Riddle defeated Bobby Lashley by DQ

Xavier Woods defeated Mustafa Ali

Damian Priest defeated The Miz

RAW Tag Team Championship Match: The Hurt Business defeated Lucha House Party

Triple Threat Tag Team Elimination Match: Naomi & Lana defeated Charlotte Flair & Asuka and Mandy Rose & Dana Brooke to win championship match

Jeff Hardy & Carlito defeated Jaxson Ryker & Elias

Alexa Bliss defeated Nikki Cross

Edge defeated Randy Orton

Needless to say Edge is having one hell of a week and Monday Night RAW and thus, we the fans, are benefitting.

Monday Night EDGE was full of the Royal Rumble winner from Sunday night. First, off, he sets the tone for the night by telling WWE Champion Drew McIntyre that he and he only, will set the place and time when he decides who Edge will face at WrestleMania.

Why @WWESheamus WHY?! The Celtic Warrior has just Brogue Kicked his best friend @DMcIntyreWWE on #WWERaw! pic.twitter.com/YoDWX6oyuN

— WWE (@WWE) February 2, 2021

Just a few moments later, Sheamus turned on his friend of 20 years, setting up their feud and future title match.

Amazing.@ArcherofInfamy just got words of encouragement from @EdgeRatedR. What a first night on #WWERaw! pic.twitter.com/WzjQ2KQxST

— WWE (@WWE) February 2, 2021

Then, later on in the show, Edge gives his rub and thumbs up to Damian Priest, RAW’s newest member after his Royal Rumble debut. Finally, after a challenge from old friend Randy Orton, Edge puts to bed his feud with The Legend Killer with an assist from Alexa Bliss. A fun night of EDGE indeed!

An unnerving distraction, to say the least, for @RandyOrton…#WWERaw @AlexaBliss_WWE pic.twitter.com/paRiHFui8X

— WWE (@WWE) February 2, 2021

Speaking of Little Miss Bliss, she continues to be a primetime player, inserting herself into the finish of the Edge/Orton match, paying back The Viper for his costing her the RAW Women’s Championship one week earlier. You wonder if at some point, they have them face-off in the ring in an intergender match. And oh yes, we’re just waiting for the reincarnation of The Fiend before WrestleMania.

It looks like we will get an intergender match between Xavier Woods and RECKONING once Mia Yim comes back from COVID-19. It’s now 2-2 between Woods and RETRIBUTION, so Woods wants the tiebreaker. We can only hope it’s as good as Sasha Banks vs. Reginald.

Damian Priest, along with Bad Bunny, made their RAW debuts a successful one taking out The Miz. Say what you will about celebrities, but I though Bad Bunny made a good showing with the leap off the top rope at the Royal Rumble and then with appearance on MizTV followed by the Priest/Miz match. I can just see a tag team match down the road, maybe at WrestleMania coming. It’s a win-win for the WWE with mainstream following of Bad Bunny. BTW: Booker T is hilarious in his old GI Bro get-up for the video.

Nice to see Carlito back in the Rumble and on RAW. Not sure why he’s teaming with Jeff Hardy other than filling up a spot to take down Jaxon Ryker & Elias, a team that seems to be going nowhere after an impressive start.

As for The Hurt Business, Bobby Lashley won the war but lost the battle by DQ to Riddle. There’s most to come between those two I’m sure. Meanwhile, the tension continues between Cedric Alexander, Shelton Benjamin and MVP. It’s only a matter of time before the unfortunate break-up between these three. It’s unnecessary for sure.

NXT

RESULTS

Dusty Rhodes Women’s Tag Team Classic Semifinals: Raquel Gonzalez & Dakota Kai defeated Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter

Austin Theory defeated Leon Ruff

Dusty Rhodes Men’s Tag Team Classic Quarterfinals: Legado del Fantasma defeated Lucha House Party

Jessi Kamea defeated Toni Storm by DQ

NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match: Santos Escobar defeated Curt Stallion

Dusty Rhodes Men’s Tag Team Classic Quarterfinals: Timothy Thatcher & Tommaso Ciampa defeated The Undisputed Era

Talk about a jam packed two-hour show folks! NXT had it in spades Wednesday night.

.@KacyCatanzaro is a HUMAN HIGHLIGHT REEL.#WWENXT #DustyClassic @RaquelWWE pic.twitter.com/pm7E2BnePb

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 4, 2021

To start the night, Raquel Gonzalez & Dakota Kai fought off a valiant effort from the underdog team of Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter to gain a spot in the Dusty Rhodes Women’s Tag Team Classic Finals. Truth be told, I thought Kacy & Kayden were going to pull off the upset until Gonzalez’ brute strength won out.

What can you say about Leon Ruff and Austin Theory? Loved the way the match played out. Everything was entertaining and made sense. Ember Moon, Shotzi Blackheart, Indie Hartwell and Candice LeRae was just enough to let Ruff pull off an Eddie Guerrero tribute to get Johnny Gargano tossed. Theory getting the win was the right choice and then Dexter Lumis making the save while pulling out Theory’s hair extends the story.

Lucha Libre grabbed the spotlight as Legado del Fantasma took out Lucha House Party in a high-flying match. Now, we get MSK and Legado in the Dusty Rhodes Men’s Classic Semi’s next week in what will be a certain classic.

.@EdgeRatedR hasn't held the #NXTTitle yet. Ya know, #WrestleMania would be a great time to hold it… just saying.#WWENXT @FinnBalor @PeteDunneYxB pic.twitter.com/GMU6NixS4e

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 4, 2021

What better way to put more intensity into Finn Balor and Pete Dunne’s NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day announcement then to put the Rater R Superstar right in the middle of it! Edge’s first visit to NXT puts even more intrigue into who the Royal Rumble winner will face at WrestleMania. Talk about a promo bringing goosebumps. That was it, friends. Straight to the point and I loved the line about sometimes in WWE they focus more about the “E” but in NXT, it’s more about the “W.”

"𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒂 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦."#WWENXT pic.twitter.com/Y0WphQYYE6

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 4, 2021

How old is Tian Sha? Did they 1,000 years old? #Intrigued

I could’ve done without the run-in by Mercedes Martinez and Io Shira in the Toni Storm vs. Jessi Kamea match. The DQ ending in under two minutes didn’t do anyone any justice. But, let’s be honest, when Shirai, Storm and Martinez is the low point of your show, that’s a pretty damn good night!

Never scared, never intimidated, ALWAYS Chingon #NORespect

@WWE belongs to my Legado. pic.twitter.com/djbR1uL8UB

— SANTOS ESCOBAR

(@EscobarWWE) February 4, 2021

Santos Escobar is Elite. That much he proved again with another successful defense of his NXT Cruiserweight Championship over Curt Stallion. There’s few that can match in move for move in the ring. But, now where will this latest beef with Karrion Kross lead to while Scarlett watches him win and then Kross gives him the gift of time after beating up Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza. Tick. Tock. Who’s on the clock. Could it be Edge and Kross? Yes, please!

"Words like that, they can be motivating. They can motivate me to come back here. I don't think you'd like that." – @EdgeRatedR to @WWEKarrionKross We'd like that very much tho' #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/QplaMEd2fY

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) February 4, 2021

Pretty sure bodies aren't meant to bend like that. #WWENXT (via @WWENXT) pic.twitter.com/5dUnjnWpog

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) February 4, 2021

For a team that was just thrown together out of respect, Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher are making things mighty interesting in the Dusty Rhodes Men’s Tag Team Classic! I knew it would be a good main event, but that was one fun, physical match against The Undisputed Era. Thatcher even gave himself up so that Ciampa could get the pin over Roderick Strong with the Willow’s Bell. Now, it’s the Grizzled Young Veterans in the semis next week.

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

Dominik Mysterio defeated King Corbin

Cesaro defeated Daniel Bryan

Bayley defeated Ruby Riott

Non-title SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler defeated Otis & Chad Gable

Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat Match: Big E defeated Sami Zayn and Apollo Crews to retain title

Even an assault on both Rey and Dominik Mysterio before the match didn’t eliminate the chance of yet another Corbin vs. Dominik match this week. At least Mysterio got the pinfall this time, but it still didn’t really give me any intrigue as to why I should be invested in their story. Has Corbin given us any reason why hates the Mysterios so much? Nah, didn’t think so.

.@WWECesaro picks up a HUGE win over @WWEDanielBryan on #SmackDown! pic.twitter.com/qGw3wq4G3H

— WWE (@WWE) February 6, 2021

In better news, we get more Cesaro and Daniel Bryan. Just give these guys 60 minutes and an Ironman Match already! Love the run that Cesaro is on. There’s got to be a nice payoff coming for the King of Swing. Maybe he’ll get the spot against Roman Reigns that we all thought Bryan was going to get.

It'll be #BossTime at @DAYTONA!#SmackDown @SashaBanksWWE @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/qdZr8ssMC3

— WWE (@WWE) February 6, 2021

Vroom! Vroom! Sasha Banks is going to get them started at the Daytona 500!

Give me more Reginald! Every week, he puts himself more and more of the spotlight. This week, though, he does protest too much and after telling Bianca Belair that she can’t beat Sasha, he gets a hairful of whipping ponytail across his backside. No official decision from the EST, but things are heating up with Banks, Carmella, Belair and of course, Reggie.

New music for the tag team champs plus a win over Otis & Chad Gable. Nice commentary work by The Street Profits. I’ll put this one in the same place as Bayley vs. Ruby Riott, more filler than anything special. Not bad, just not memorable.

#SmackDown @EdgeRatedR @ShinsukeN pic.twitter.com/MGbHheksHX

— WWE (@WWE) February 6, 2021

Edge and Shinsuke Nakamura. Respect.

Not sure Edge needed the Hulk Hogan rub but it was nice going down memory lane 33 years ago for Hogan vs. Andre on The Main Event.

Bye bye, @SamiZayn! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/dfP9gvs3va

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) February 6, 2021

Good three-way work for the I-C Title between Big E, Sami Zayn and Apollo Crews. Poor Sami, gets power-pressed into the timekeeper’s area after Crews stopped him from pinning Big E for the title. In the end, Big E retains over Crews and continues his ascent on SmackDown. Who’s next?

Who will @EdgeRatedR choose to face at @WrestleMania? pic.twitter.com/Agl2AmYqap

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) February 6, 2021

Edge wraps up his week on SmackDown. But, will we get an answer to who he’ll face at WrestleMania? Reigns wants acknowledgement. Edge says he’s already taking up space in Roman’s head but he’s not here alone. Bingo! Once Reigns clears Paul Heyman and Jey Uso from the ring, Kevin Owens is back with a stunner. No decision from Edge but we do get one long smirk to end the show. Keep the intrigue going! Great decision. Slow walk it and build up the anticipation on all the shows!

Parting Shots:

Still cannot believe @RonKillings managed to cut a flawless promo on my show after tossing me around my room and taking my title! https://t.co/nIck9htkey via @YouTube

— Peter Rosenberg (@Rosenbergradio) February 2, 2021

Nicely done Peter Rosenberg. Less than 24 hours as 24/7 Champion and losing it on the YES Network LIVE!

Things are looking sweet for Valentine’s Day at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day.

NXT Championship: Finn Balor vs. Pete Dunne

NXT Women’s Championship Triple Threat Match: Io Shirai vs. Toni Storm vs. Mercedes Martinez

NXT North American Championship Match: Johnny Gargano vs. KUSHIDA

Dusty Rhodes Women’s Tag Team Classic Finals

Dusty Rhodes Men’s Tag Team Classic Finals

Coming up this week:

RAW: What’s next for Sheamus and Drew McIntyre?

NXT: Cameron Grimes returns Dusty Rhodes Women’s Tag Team Classic Semifinals: Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell vs. Shotzi Blackheart & Ember Moon Dusty Rhodes Men’s Tag Team Classic Semifinals: Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher Dusty Rhodes Men’s Tag Team Classic Semifinals: MSK vs. Legado del Fantasma

SMACKDOWN: Seth Rollins returns

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

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