politics

Las Cafeteras: ‘If I Was President’ (audio)

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East Los musicians Las Cafeteras have long made political progress a signature element of their sound and the band’s new single continues the tradition.

If I Was President — released on Monday, Presidents Day — starts with the son jarocho song Señor Presidente and “then flows into a bilingual hip hop-folk fusion, with lyrics that make you dream, think, come up with alternatives.”

Read more at UNIVISION.

A woman in the White House is just the start: ‘Madam President’

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Democrat Hillary Clinton is already making history. And come November, she could achieve another milestone: Becoming America’s first Madam President. Yet behind the groundbreaking nature of her candidacy lies an absence of women in elected office. The U.S. lags behind the rest of the world in female representation at the national level,

Abstenganse de molestar! We are not pendejos! (photo)

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estehogar“It’s Proselyte Week here in Orange Aztlán,” POCHO’s anonymous Orange County photographic contributor emailed Wednesday. He put this sign on the front door of his Anaheim townhouse.

“Person after person is coming to ask whether we’ve found Jesus (“¿Ya se les extravió Jesús otra vez?! Qué descuidados son los cristianos con su salvador…”), to try and tell us Trump is more than just a bloviating human camote, to sell crappy chocolates for dubious fundraising efforts, etc. This sign has only been up for a few hours, but so far no one has knocked.”

Latina Heritage Month Patriot Alert: Obama’s Iran Deal Disrespects You

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feypalinYou don’t lift sanctions.

You crack down on their assets.

You cut off their oil and drill, baby, drill for our own.

We don’t retreat. We reload against any foe daring to test us.

And that is what Iran just did.

So, Congress, you got to kill the deal. The president is playing you. He so disrespects you, Congress, and our Constitution, that he won’t even bring you the treaty.

Mas…Latina Heritage Month Patriot Alert: Obama’s Iran Deal Disrespects You

God, Guns and The Man: The Bill of Rights in One Syllable Words

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billofrightsI
No law can say you can’t pray the way you want to, or make you pray if you don’t want to, or take your tax and give it to a guy who’ll use it to pray or preach on God, and no law can say you can’t say what you want to say, or print what you want to print, if you have a press; and no law can say that you can’t hang with your friends, or who you want to hang with, so long as you’re cool, and you can
ask The Man to give back your stuff if he took it, or fix what he broke, and that’s cool too.

II

Mas…God, Guns and The Man: The Bill of Rights in One Syllable Words

POCHO Estaff Reports: Mi casa? Real Thanksgiving turkeys!

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lalocucashoppigPOCHO’s Especial Correspondents spread out across America to celebrate Thanksgiving and sent in notes about their day. Some names were changed to avoid unpredictable results.  Read their stories and share your own in the comments!

  • Homeboy in East Los: My family’s so Mexican we carved the turkey with a switchblade ·IN MEMORY of SMILEY·
  • Dateline, Austin: MEChA cousin Xochiloctl is in the living room refusing to eat turkey and playing Grand Theft Auto 5 instead.
  • Nancy in Santana, the O.C.: That awkward moment when three-year-old Cousin Ricardo makes a big announcement that everybody better finish their plates because Mommy spent the whole day cooking the dog.

    Mas…POCHO Estaff Reports: Mi casa? Real Thanksgiving turkeys!

Niños Incómodos/Uncomfortable Kids: ‘Mexico must change’ (videos)

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“If this is the future that awaits me, I don’t want it,” said the girl in this commercial that ran before last year’s Mexican presidential elections. “Enough of working for your political parties instead of working for us. Enough of cosmetic changes.” Almost everyone said they agreed.

How’s that working out for you, Mexico?

Mas…Niños Incómodos/Uncomfortable Kids: ‘Mexico must change’ (videos)

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

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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)

Pocho Ocho lesser-known effects of the Federal budget ‘sequester’

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The “sequester” has already forced the release from detention of some accused undocumented immigrants. Now the budget cutbacks have started affecting  other aspects of American government.

Here are eight addtional changes you can expect:

8. The CIA will only poison leftist leaders with cancer on alternate Wednesdays

7. Government procurement contracts now cap toilet seats prices at $20,000

6. Senate expense accounts now limit lawmakers to three gay hooker visits per week

Mas…Pocho Ocho lesser-known effects of the Federal budget ‘sequester’

Rage Against the Machine is 20 but many fans are still clueless

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Rage Against the Machine’s debut album turns 20 this week and their legacy is still shrouded in confusion and ignorance. Back in the day, the band stormed the mainstream scene with angry Chicano rock, only the mainstream never noticed the Chicano part.

Chicano rock? You mean Santana..?

What always strikes me about Rage is how little so many of their fans know about their music or message. Recent failed VP candidate Paul Ryan is the personification of that ignorance. He claimed that Rage is his favorite band. Rage’s guitarist, Tom Morello was outraged by this and replied that Ryan is part of the machine the band has been raging against the last 20 years.

Well, no shit! But how could Ryan be so confused…?

Mas…Rage Against the Machine is 20 but many fans are still clueless

Toke the Vote urges big turnout for Tuesday Presidential election

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(PNS reporting from OAKLAND) “Are you planning on voting Tuesday, brah?” Dale Mendoza scrunched his eyes shut behind his dark sunglasses as he concentrated on his phone call with a potential voter in Arkansas.

“This election is critical, OK, and we totally need your vote.” Mendoza (photo, left) was the team leader of two dozen phone bank volunteers in a basement office in this Northern California city, possible the country’s most pot-friendly municipality.

The smoke-filled room is a California outpost of Toke the Vote, a coalition of pro-marijuana political activists backed by the Zig-Zag cigarette papers company and ConAgra’s Screaming Yellow Zonkers snack products.

Mas…Toke the Vote urges big turnout for Tuesday Presidential election