By Raul Hernandez
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“It’s sad. But there are those who live in dark places like rats and cockroaches. Who embrace evil and are driven by greed. Men who kill people like barnyard flies. A world where God doesn’t exist. Where rage and revenge run rampant.” — “Stepping on the Devil’s Tail, a novel.
Sean Penn and His Chapo Interview
Sean Penn is a Hollywood trained monkey who believes he is the characters on the Hollywood scripts that are handed to him to read.
Unfortunately, many people also believe that actors like Penn are the characters who they go to see in the movies.
It seems that Penn just woke up and realized that there are terrorists and other violent and vicious criminals who aren’t reading the same movie scripts.
Penn probably thought that he would make the talk shows and bathe in the limelight of landing the El Chapo interview without hearing from the Sinaloa Drug Cartel’s lawyer or Chapo’s henchmen.
Wrong.
That goes with the territory of being a journalist and interviewing or reporting about dangerous people or dangerous groups in certain countries.
In the real world, there have been many journalists who were killed just doing their jobs like James Foley and Daniel Pearl.
Foley, who was beheaded in the Middle East by ISIS, was one of these courageous reporters. Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was kidnapped and killed while doing a report about al-Qaeda.
There have been many, many other journalists throughout the world who have died doing their jobs.
Among the most dangerous countries for a journalist to work, Mexico ranked number eighth last year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
A good friend, Alfredo Corchado, works as a reporter for the Dallas Morning News. He was been assigned to Mexico City Bureau for many years, and one day, learned about a death threat from the Zeta Cartel goons. It got ugly.
Alfredo began working in El Paso for the Herald-Post straight out of journalism school. That’s where we met. He is a tough, dedicated and talented journalist. Who soon went to work at the Wall Street Journal after he left the Herald-Post. He said he “blamed the Herald-Post for infecting him with the incurable disease of journalism.”
Alfredo’s book, “Midnight in Mexico — A Reporter’s Journey Through a Country’s Descent into Darkness,” is about his experiences in writing about the drug trade in Mexico.
I will not question whether Actor Sean Penn is a journalist. It’s not my place to do so. Besides, I know so-called journalists who are just great actors and drama queens, very little beyond that.
Penn, through a connection with a Mexican actress, was able to score a journalistic coup by interviewing the richest, most powerful and violent drug lord on the planet.
Good for him. He beat the New York Times’ and L.A. Times’ reporters, the Washington Post and other media heavyweights.
The New York Times has an excellent story titled, “How El Chapo Was Finally Captured, Again” about the drug lord.
Chapo and Trump
This is interesting.
Shortly after Donald Trump insulted Chapo and Chapo threatened Trump, there were no further remarks or comments from the vociferous Trump.
I believed Trump talked to the DEA or FBI or both who told him to STFU.
Even after El Chapo was recaptured, Trump didn’t say a word about it.
Penn should have done likewise and simply said: “I stand by my report for Rolling Stone magazine.”
Instead, he went on 60 Minutes and is now a big part of the story.
Listen carefully to his voice during a portion of the interview. It sounds fearful when he talks about the consequences of interviewing the head of a cartel that has been responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people, including women and children.
I don’t believe Penn is in any danger because if anything happens to him, there will be a swift and dramatic backlash from the American people and throughout the world calling for the heads of cartel leaders.
The cartels are vicious but they are calculating and greedy. Killing Penn would seriously disrupt the drug trade throughout the world. People would demand that law enforcement crackdown and demand that the drug smugglers be stopped on the borders.
The cartels would be lucky if they are able to hide a balloon of cocaine up someone’s keister to get it across the border.
I could be wrong. But this is why I believe I am correct.
There are many American journalists who cover Mexico. The journalists and editors killed in Mexico were Mexicans who were covering the drug trade. The cartels realize that there will be a very heavy price to pay for killing an American journalist for doing his or her job.
Donald Trump Vs. Ted Cruz
America’s political Frankenstein, the monster created by Fox and the GOP, has unlocked America’s insane asylum, organized the inmates and is now thinking about burning down the town and taking no political prisoners.
That has frightened many Republicans. Trump has become their runaway political freight train with no end in sight. He is doing serious damage to the GOP.
His political nemesis, Ted Cruz, is an opportunist who has hoodwinked many evangelists into supporting him by sprinkling Bible passages into his political speeches. He is able to sneak in scripture into his campaign scripts but has a very short memory.
Cruz is now being nailed because he said he “forgot” to include two campaign loans in 2012 totaling $2 million when he ran for senator in Texas, according to the New York Times.
Also Trump just unleashed birther accusations against Cruz.
The debate between Donald Trump and Cruz has become a political food fight on whether Cruz is a U.S. citizen and qualified to run for president. It’s another issue that the GOP has had to add to its meaningless and fact-free political drivel.
Between taking jabs at Obama, Trump and Cruz are trading insignificant “taste great, less filling” and “I know you are but what am I?” political punches at each other.
But, hey, it’s good for TV ratings and late-night comedy material.
California Drought
The rest of California is being hosed down by El Nino but for some reason, the rains have had little impact, so far, on Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
Most of the rain has been falling in northern California. L.A., however, has been hit hard by El Nino, resulting in major flooding.
I noticed the devastating toll the drought had on the mountains.
I hadn’t gone up to the mountain for several weeks. I go up to sit on the top of a mountain, wait and watch the sun lift itself up from behind the peaks — it’s beautiful.
More than five years ago, Steve invited me to do the runs up the mountains. He goes to the same gym I do. He invites others to do the run. Some go for a few weeks but quit.
It was brutal trying to keep up with Steve. I grumbled and bitched a lot. But after a few sunrises, I got addicted.
Steve runs up almost effortlessly, and I tried to keep up with him on Saturdays.
More than a year ago, however, I decided to run and walk up to the top of a mountain to try and beat the sunrise. Now, it’s just a brisk walk going up and a fast pace running down.
I can’t keep up with Steve anymore so I go alone. It’s peaceful and serenity massages the mind, and it’s just you, the birds and God.
Yesterday, I noticed what a lack of water will do to the beauty of a mountain — a lot more dead 
trees, and the landscape it is very gray, very dry.
It was sad because a few of the mammoth trees along way were down. One had toppled over, and others had been cut down for safety reasons.
Trees are dying throughout California by the millions.
“Drought kills 12 million trees in California’s national forests,” according to the May 5, 2015 Los Angeles Times article.
The clouds come to Santa Barbara and Ventura counties and they seem to tease those below. They whisk by and drop a few sprinkles along the way, only a handful of downpours.
Nothing more.
Hopefully, El Nino will pour a lot of wet stuff on Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. It’s badly needed.
The weather forecast calls for rain on Monday, Tuesday and Friday.
I hope the rains return with a vengeance, and the incredible beauty of the mountains quickly returns. That nature gives the mountain range a life-saving IV.
Right after it rains, the mountains smell fresh and clean, and the birds seem to go crazy.