#346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels
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What insights does Ed Calderon share about working in counter-narcotics?
The following is a conversation with Ed Calderon, a security specialist who has worked for many years on counter-narcotics and organized crime investigation in the northern border region of Mexico. I highly recommend you follow the writing and courses on his Patreon and website, edsmanifesto.com. And now a quick few second mention of each sponsor. Check them out in the description. It's the best way to support this podcast. We've got Policy Genius for life insurance, Bambi for HR services, Onnit for supplements, and Insight Tracker for biomonitoring. Choose wisely, my friends. And now onto the full ad reads. As always, no ads in the middle. I try to make this interesting, but if you skip them, please still check out our sponsors.
I enjoy their stuff. Maybe you will too. This show is brought to you by Policy Genius, a marketplace for finding and buying insurance. I often meditate on my mortality. Every day when I wake up, I have a mantra, part of which I literally imagine the day before me being the last day I have on this earth. And I think that's a really... powerful way to clarify what matters. And it's not about the career. It's not even about maybe the people in your life. It's about the way in which you interact with those people. It's about the richness of feeling that you draw from every single moment you have with those people. And even with the moments you have by yourself. Just the intensity of life itself. How much are you open to experiencing that intensity?
That's what meditating and your mortality does. It increases your openness to that ever-present intensity that's all around us. Anyway, with PolicyGenius, you can find life insurance policies that start at just $17 per month for $500,000 of coverage. Head to PolicyGenius.com or click the link in the description to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save. That's PolicyGenius.com. This show is also brought to you by Bambi, an outsourced and automated HR solution for business. Bambi was built to give business a dedicated yet cost-effective HR option at just $99 per month. We are currently on this incredible team, an incredible journey we have together on the podcast. Sort of this creative pursuit of...
of editing, of planning, just figuring this whole thing out. I'm just very fortunate to be working with incredible people, a variety of people. They all have different backgrounds, a different way they see the world, a different way they think, they have different flaws and strengths, and it's just a constant inspiration to me to have a chance to work with them. Now, when you have a team like we do or a larger team as it grows and grows in size, human resources is really important.
How does corruption manifest in the context of law enforcement?
And especially when you're a small business, it is indeed important, but it should also be affordable. And that's why the $99 per month that Bambi provides is a huge incentive to try them out. Schedule your free conversation today. Go to Bambi.com and type Lex on their podcast when signing up. Spelled B-A-M-B-E-E. This episode is also brought to you by Onnit, a nutrition, supplement, and fitness company. They make Alpha Brain, which is a nootropic that helps support memory, mental speed, and focus. I take it when I have deep work sessions, especially in the morning. It keeps changing, but these days when I wake up... I do a mantra. I walk over, get an electrolyte drink as the coffee is being made. Then an Athletic Greens drink for the nutrition.
And finally, I walk over with the coffee to my computer. And my favorite thing to do to start the day is something that I left unfinished from the night before, which would be a programming task. So anything involving programming, when you just have this... screen full of code, and I can focus on a design problem. For some reason, it's a great warm-up to my brain. I can clear out the distractions of the world and focus on these little puzzles. And it's also clear that I can make progress on solving little puzzles, little puzzles here. Whether it's debugging or building a new thing, all of it just makes me really happy.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What insights does Ed Calderon share about working in counter-narcotics?
0:00–3:18
2
How does corruption manifest in the context of law enforcement?
3:18–9:35
3
What is the role of trust in relationships within the drug war?
9:35–16:24
4
How do personal experiences shape one's perspective on morality in crime?
16:24–2:05:45
5
What challenges did Ed face while caring for his father during COVID?
2:05:45–2:06:24
6
How does Ed describe his relationship with alcohol and its impact on his life?
2:06:24–2:07:51
7
What insights does Ed share about the role of spirituality in Mexican culture?
2:07:51–2:09:13
8
How does Ed view the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico regarding immigration?
2:09:13–4:11:26
Speakers
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