Mexican gun violence stems from lax U.S. gun laws

There is only one gun store in Mexico, just outside Mexico City, heavily guarded on a Military base. To even get inside the store, buyers must go through months of background checks. And Mexico has its own 2nd Amendment, but it stipulates that federal law "will determine the cases, conditions, requirements and places" of gun ownership. And while each day the army gun store sells only an average of just 38 firearms to civilians, "an estimated 580 weapons are smuggled into Mexico from the United States." Clearly, their problem is U.S. gun laws, making more guns available to the public.

The LA Times reports...

"About 70% of guns recovered by Mexican law enforcement officials from 2011 to 2016 were originally purchased from legal gun dealers in the United States, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives."

How does this all stack up? It's the American connection where the National Rifle Assn.'s head gun nut, Wayne LaPierre, believes in spreading guns around the country like the spreading of seeds by farmers in the Spring planting. Guns proliferate on the streets much like the crops in the fields. Except, they end up killing the innocent rather than feeding the hungry. It's an American tradition that is now seriously affecting our southern neighbor, adding to the drug cartel violence. There are 67,000 licensed gun dealers and gun shows in this country, the latter where just a warm body can buy a gun.

Mexico has a ban on assault weapons but, once again, enough come across the U.S. border to satisfy the appetite of the bad guys, especially cartels, in this case. Chelsea Parsons of the Center for American Progress touts the problems of International drug trafficking in a report that "found that 66% of Mexico's homicides were committed with a gun in 2017, up from 15% in 1997." It's beginning to look more and more like the U.S. and they don't like it. Ricardo Anaya of the National Action Party said recently...

"Instead of threatening walls, instead of threatening to militarize the border, we demand that they stop the flow of arms from the United States to Mexico."

Illegal immigrants coming north and illegal guns going south. What should be the priority with such a good nation that has been our partner for years? 

Did No. Korea call V.P. Pence a "political dummy?"

Mike Pence

Donald Trump has cancelled the Nuclear Summit with No. Korea's Kim Jong-un due to rhetoric on the part of Kim. Choe Son Hui, a vice-minister in the North Korean Foreign Ministry then said...

"if the US continued on its current path, she would suggest to North Korea's leadership that they reconsider the planned summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un."

She then called V. P. Mike Pence a "political dummy" for warning "North Korea that it could end up like Libya if it fails to make a nuclear deal with Washington." Choe called the comments "unbridled and impudent." Pence said on Fox News, "As the President made clear, this will only end like the Libya model ended if Kim Jong Un doesn't make a deal." And then John Bolton commented, "the US would look to the negotiations with Libya during the early 2000s when dealing with North Korea." You would think they were already in the war room with these remarks.

Adam Mount, the director of the Defense Posture Project at the Federation of American Scientists said, Pence's comments were the "most explicit regime change threat yet" from the Trump administration. Jean Lee, the director of the Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy at the Wilson Center commented, "They (the North Koreans) are very proud, they don't like being bullied and they certainly don't like the repeated references to Libya and the repeated reference to its poverty." Unfortunately, our negotiator is perhaps the world's top bully.

Warmonger John Bolton avoided Vietnam War

John Bolton would have us here

Yes, John Bolton is a wimp, according to Slate, declining to go into combat, he enlisted in the National Guard and went to law school. His words: "I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy," That's a touching statement from the man Donald Trump just appointed his national-security adviser, a move that refutes another of T-rump's campaign promises, to get us out of these stupid wars. Bolton is a warmonger who has never seen a war he wouldn't promote and he has Trump's ear.

The Nation reports that...

"Under Bush, he cooked intelligence to fit the case for the Iraq War. He still defends what was the greatest foreign-policy debacle since Vietnam."

In more from the Nation, John Bolton believes that any negotiations with No. Korea is a time waster and was known to be thinking of steering Trump away from the talks he had planned with Kim Jong-un. Well, apparently it worked because T-rump said on Tuesday he was afraid that the summit will be a "political embarrassment," The administration noted the fact that No. Korea was not ready to denuclearize, something Trump has demanded. The move by Kim Jong-un is very convenient for Bolton who is for going to war with No. Korea now, something Congress hasn't ruled out.

Back in August 2017, The Atlantic reported even then that it could be the most destructive war ever and noted that with No. Korea's current nuclear set up, it would take only 30 minutes for them to hit Los Angeles with a nuclear missile. This whole fiasco has been going on for decades but Donald Trump is the first totally unhinged U.S. President to be involved. If you compound that with John Bolton at the help of national security, it is very frightening to think what could happen. I'll leave you with this...

"Trump has also tweeted [2017] that North Korea is 'looking for trouble' and that he intends to 'solve the problem.' His administration has leaked plans for a “decapitation strike” that would target Kim, which seems like the very last thing a country ought to announce in advance."

Has the Oval Office lunatic learned anything since then?

NOTE: It's official, Donald Trump canceled the summit with No. Korea's Kim Jong-un. Enter John Bolton?

U.S. No. Korea summit off...Will John Bolton decide the next war?

The culprits

Donald Trump has cancelled the Nuclear Summit with Kim Jong-un's No. Korea and there is no indication of what the next move will be. South Korea is totally confused over T-rump's decision, apparently based on this comment...

"Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting."

 You can see his letter to Kim, here, with a semi-friendly dialogue, but still interlaced with the typical Trump boasting...

"You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used."

Was that a threat? Was it written by John Bolton? Will we end up in a war before we can get rid of this raving maniac? It's a circus, folks, and someone is about to kick the poles out from under the tents.

Texas mentality always thinking about guns

Typical Republican campaign advertising 

The centerpiece of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's reelection bid was the giveaway of a “Texas-made shotgun“ in a campaign contest. That's the way gun nut political candidates impress their gun nut supporters. After a gunman used a shotgun in a Friday rampage that left 10 dead in a high school near Houston, he changed the contest gift to $250. But in February Kansas candidate Tyler Tannahill stuck to his "campaign giveaway of an AR-15 rifle despite criticism in light of the prior Wednesday's mass school shooting in Florida." The weapon used in the Florida massacre was an AR-15.

It is a given that these gun huggers value their weapons more than the lives of their family, friends and neighbors, even their children. but this Kansas imbecile, a Republican, of course, also cares more about winning his election than the values listed above. Even John Fredericks, a conservative talk radio host, criticized Tannahill's giveaway, saying he felt it was "in really bad taste." Folks, we are talking about giving away the same kind of assault weapon that has been used in most of the recent school shootings, a good indication of how guns can get in the wrong hands in this country.

This kind of lunacy exists all over this nation. A Virginia politician gave away an AR-15 in 2016, Georgia candidate for Governor gave away a bump stock in 2017, and as far back as 2014, the hottest conservative campaign gimmick was free guns. It is an obsession for something that is designed for only one purpose, to kill. Yes, some guns are used for hunting, but I wonder about the ratio between the quarry of hunters and the fact that guns have killed 5,574 people already in 2018, with a total of 22,587 incidences of gun violence.

It is obvious that America has a gun culture built around the protection of the 2nd Amendment ratified in late 1791, over two hundred years ago. It is currently a ruse in the U.S. Constitution put there by men thinking as people in a new country, at the time, who believed governments used soldiers to oppress the people. In modern day, the military is known as the national force that protects Americans. Only a mentally deprived gun nut would think today that the 2nd Amendment still gives him or her the right to do anything they like with a gun. Not only nonsense, just plain stupidity.

How young voters will determine 2018 elections

49% of Millennials (ages 18 to 35) cast votes in 2016 along with 63% of Gen Xers (ages 36 to 51), comprising a slight majority of total votes cast. However, it was Millennials who favored Democrats in a big way while Gen Xers went for the GOP. But the popular vote didn't matter since Hillary Clinton received almost 3 million votes more than Donald Trump. The latter won the presidency through the vote of the Electoral College, a result of congressional districts nationwide gerrymandered for years by Republicans.

The above took place thanks to a sloven DNC head, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

But Millennials have overtaken Babyboomers now and Pew Research says, "It is likely, though not certain, that the size of the Millennial vote will surpass the Gen X vote in the 2020 presidential election." Democrats got 55% of the youth vote in 2016, compared to Republican's 37%, and Rock the Vote, a group that is focused on increasing young registered voters, is predicting Millennials will be the largest voting bloc in 2018. This group doubled the size of its vote from 2008 to 2016, with 34 million votes cast in the latter.

In a recent Florida poll, where the Parkland gun massacre took place, it showed that immigration topped gun control in the November election; Florida is 22.5% Hispanic. But according to the younger population, stricter gun laws are a major issue with them that will no doubt reflect on Millennials in November; this high school group voted 67% for stronger gun control laws and 55% against teachers carrying guns in school. The age group here is just below the Millennial age, but some are already old enough to vote and thousands more will be soon, even before November.

There are over 71 million Millennials living in the United States today, and a lot of them are mad as hell. Since they lean heavily toward the left, it is safe to say that Democrats are heading into November with optimism. Although gun control is fading as an issue for the election, "46 percent say a candidate's position on gun policy will be a major factor in deciding whom to vote for." That's down 13 points from February," right after the Florida shooting. It will be incumbent now on David Hogg, and the other survivors from the Parkland, Florida gun massacre to carry the ball from here.

How many Trump scandals are there? Atlantic says only one

Is there another way?

Atlantic magazine has documented possibly the best list of scandals that Donald Trump is guilty of, while coming to the conclusion there is only one. There are, in fact, multiple cases which I will show later but these all add up to one entity...

"the corruption of the American government by the president and his associates, who are using their official power for personal and financial gain rather than for the welfare of the American people, and their attempts to shield that corruption from political consequences, public scrutiny, or legal accountability."

Yes, corruption is Donald Trump's real scandal, but the numerous public embarrassments this lunatic has put our country through are both heinous and completely unacceptable for the President of the most powerful nation in the world. Here are some of them...

"Russian campaign to aid Trump’s candidacy, president obstructed justice when he fired former FBI Director James Comey, president’s hush-money payments to women with whom he allegedly had extramarital affairs, corporate cash paid to influence White House, ongoing effort to interfere with the Russia inquiry and politicize federal law enforcement, foreign governments that seem to be utilizing the president’s properties as vehicles for influencing administration policy..."

...and there are a few others you can see in the Atlantic article. There's the recent stuff...

Aid to Chinese company ZTE following the Chinese government approved funding for a project in the vicinity of a Trump property in Indonesia, millions of dollars corporations paid to Cohen after the election for presidential favors, and then there was Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt’s own mini-universe of scandals...

The list goes on and on but does add up to one word, corruption. The United States is governed by a man so unscrupulous that there is nothing he won't do to promote the Donald Trump brand. His ego is postal as he is mired in a narcissism that ignores everyone else, the whole world. There was an American public that put him where he is, and a U.S. Congress (Job approval 16%) full of blithering idiots that have allowed this to go on longer than a year now. We have a nation in crisis and there is no one to bail it out, except, perhaps the youth. We can only hope they go to the polls in November.