Trump's Trip To El Paso Was Just A Failed Campaign Event

The victims of the El Paso mass shooter, those still in the hospital, all refused to let Donald Trump visit them.

Why should they?

They knew Trump's hate speech was responsible for inspiring the white terrorist who shot them. I suspect they also knew, judging from Trump's many attempts to demonize them (and all brown-skinned people), that Trump's visit wasn't because he cared about them.

It was nothing more than a campaign event, designed to make Trump look good and deflect his responsibility for his own hate speech. That's why the media wasn't allowed to see the visits. The only photos allowed were done by Trump's people.

Trump cares about only one thing -- making himself look good. Personally, I proud of the El Paso victims for refusing to let Trump use them as pawns in his campaign.

El Paso Mass Shooting Is The 249th Of The Year In U.S.

(Photo regarding the mass shooting in El Paso is from CNN.com.)

On the 215th day of 2019, the United States saw its 249th mass shooting of the year (this time at a mall in El Paso, Texas). That's an average of 1.16 mass shootings per day. 

Politicians, especially Republicans, offer nothing but useless "thoughts and prayers". That's political-speak for doing NOTHING to stem the tide of this epidemic. 

The least that could be done is to outlaw all gun sales without a background check, ban the sale and possession of assault-style weapons, and ban sale and possession of large-capacity ammunition clips. The citizens support these constitutional restrictions. Demand politicians act, and vote those who refuse to act out of office.

NOTE -- Just 13 hours later the 250th mass shooting of this year took place in Dayton, Ohio!

Trump's Claim About El Paso Is Just Another Of His Lies

That was Trump's claim on January 14th. He repeated the claim yesterday. He wants Americans to believe that the building of the 57 miles wall in 2008 significantly reduced violent crime in El Paso. There's only one problem with his statement. It is NOT true.

I made the chart above using data from city-dat.com. It compares the murder rate (per 100,000 people) in El Paso to two other American cities roughly the same size as El Paso -- Denver and Boston (neither of which are known as high crime cities).

Note that El Paso is indeed a very safe city, with a murder rate significantly below that of both Denver and Boston for the years 2002 through 2016.

But more important than that is the rate has not changed since the wall was built in 2008. It was low before the wall was built, and has remained low after the wall was finished. The wall did NOT make El Paso a safer city.

Trump has told lie after lie to try and convince Americans that a border wall is needed. His claim about El Paso is just another one of those lies.

You can go to FactCheck.org for a more in depth look at the El Paso issue.

Running A Campaign On Tamales

I have to give Jaime O. Perez credit for creativity, even if his idea is more than a bit ridiculous. He says he's going to enter the Republican primary in El Paso to try and win the right to oppose Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas). He has at least one opponent in the primary.

The creativity comes in how he plans to finance his campaign. He is selling tamales (at $11.99 a dozen). Perez said, "My sister makes them really well." He's going to have to work his sister to death though to raise enough money for a decent campaign. Family and friends just finished wrapping up 100 dozen tamales for him to sell, but that will only get him $1199 (minus the cost of the ingredients).

Frankly, that's not enough money to even get noticed in a campaign for a seat in the United States House of Representatives. He would need to sell 100 times that number just to get started. Normally, a candidate would need a couple of hundred thousand dollars to run a viable campaign for a House seat.

Perez says, "I'm putting a signal out there that you don't have to be rich to participate." He may be right, if participation is his only goal. But if he wants to win, then he is definitely wrong. You do have to be rich to win a seat in Congress these days (or have a lot of rich friends you're willing to sell your soul to).

I love tamales, and if I lived in El Paso I'd buy some of Perez's tamales (even though he's a Republican). But that campaign is just a curiosity, and not a real effort to win the seat.

FBI Agent Arrested For Illegal Gun Sales

Mexico has said that illegal gun sales from the United States have armed the drug cartels, who have declared war on each other and on police and army soldiers. Many gun owners in the United States deny this, saying their is no proof. But it's hard to make that argument after the latest arrest by ATF agents.

ATF agents in El Paso have arrested an FBI agent stationed in the city. They are charging him with selling a .50 caliber rifle that wound up in the hands of a cartel. The rifle was used in a 3-hour shootout in Chihuahua, Mexico, that took the life of an Army captain and six cartel members. The FBI agent is also accused of selling two other weapons illegally, and of lying to the ATF about who he sold the weapons to.

It turns out he sold this gun to El Paso deputy Luis Armando Rodriguez, who was also a member of a Juarez motorcycle club known for selling guns. The FBI agent, John T. Shipley, received $8300 for the .50 caliber rifle. He had previously sold another .50 caliber rifle for $11,000 and another gun for $3300.

Since 2006, more than 11,000 people have been killed in Mexico's drug war. Just a couple of days ago, 12 federal police were found shot to death. It's awful hard to deny these guns are coming from the United States when an FBI agent is found to be one of the sellers.

I have no problem with gun ownership in the United States. It is protected by the second amendment to the Constitution. But we have got to get serious about stopping those guns from going south of the border. Mexico has enough problems without our country supplying the criminal element there with high-powered guns.

Legislators Threaten El Paso Council

Recently, the El Paso city council voted 8-0 to support a resolution asking the federal government to consider the legalization of drugs. This was not to support drug use, but to recognize that the "war on drugs" has caused much more damage to our country and our neighbors than drug use ever has or ever could. But the resolution was killed by a veto from the city's mayor.

Last Tuesday, the council voted on whether to override the mayor's veto. The motion to override failed on a 4-4 vote. Why did four council members change their vote? Three of the four said it was because state and federal legislators had threatened to cut off funds the city badly needed.

Let me make that clear. The state and federal government is so invested in the failed "war on drugs" that they cannot even discuss the feasibility of legalizing drugs. And if a city suggests the policy may be wrong, they are threatened with the cutting off of state and federal funds. That's a sad commentary in a country that says it values freedom of speech.

Who are these legislators who would threaten a city that dared to disagree with them on an important issue? The state legislators are Joe Pickett, Chente Quantanilla, Joseph Moody, Norma Chavez and Marisa Marquez. On the federal side, it is Rep. Silvestre Reyes.

These legislators would like us to think they are protecting the American people, when in actuality, the only thing they are protecting is a failed government policy that has resulted in the loss of thousands of lives, and the creation of numerous crime empires and drug gangs that have destroyed many neighborhoods.

They seem to think the American people would rush out and become drug users and addicts if it weren't for our drug laws. It's just not true. The people who want to use drugs are already doing so, and the laws did nothing to stop them.

There is absolutely no proof that drug use would rise significantly if drugs were legalized. In fact, in a recent Zogby Poll, respondents said exactly the opposite. Around 99%, said they would not start drug use if cocaine and heroin were legalized.

Simply put, the American people are not nearly as stupid as the government thinks they are.

Political Tidbits

In an interesting article in the Huffington Post yesterday, Cecile Richards tells us that her mother, Ann Richards, would be supporting Barack Obama if she were still with us today. Ms. Richards says of her mother, "...if she were still around she would suit up and campaign for Senator Obama in the farthest corner of the farthest state. Mom would see in him a leader with a long and consistent record for standing up for women's health care, a man raised by a single mother, a father of two daughters, and a husband who supports women's rights 100 percent."

In language that's very remniscent of the former governor, Cecile Richards said, "Mom would have said that women voting for John McCain would be like chickens choosing to vote for the Colonel."

I don't think this is a surprise for most Democrats. The great Ann Richards was a loyal Democrat and a tireless campaigner for women's rights.

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According to MSNBC, John McCain is not just having trouble winning over his party's right-wing base. He's also not doing well among the party's richest contributors. Of George Bush's largest contributors, so far, only 8% of them have donated money to the campaign of John McCain.

At that rate, McCain is going to have a lot of trouble matching Obama's record-breaking fundraising effort.

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The city of El Paso has just passed up an opportunity to strike a blow for the environment. In a 4-3 vote, the city council decided not to ban plastic bags. It turned out to be a business versus environment vote.

Councilman Eddie Holguin said, ""This is just another example of Big Brother telling the business community what to do. I can't comprehend why council wants to force more things down the throat of the business community."

Speaking for the ban, Councilman Steve Ortega countered, "These bags are not biodegradable, and they take 1,000 years to dissolve. We have a beautiful city, but the landscape is littered with plastic bags."

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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has decided that George Bush is a wicked man. He said, "This wicked man desires to harm the Iranian nation. (Bush) made plans, moved into Afghanistan and then Iraq, and announced that Iran was the third target."

Ahmadinejad is a total idiot, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.

El Paso Solves Its Water problems

The city of El Paso sits in the high desert area of West Texas. For years, many have wondered where the city was going to find the water for growth and for the future. Recently, the U.S. Base Closure committee wanted to move several thousand more troops to Fort Bliss (near El Paso), but questioned whether the city had the water resources to support the move.

Those questions have now been answered. There is a large aquifer sitting a few hundred feet underneath Fort Bliss. In fact, it is six times larger than the fresh water aquifer now supplying El Paso. The only problem was that the water was brackish and undrinkable, that is until yesterday.

Yesterday, the city celebrated the opening of a new desalination plant that will make that water usable. The $87 million plant is capable of delivering 27.5 million gallons of fresh drinking water each day. The Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant will be able to supply the city's needs for at least the next 50 years.

The plant's namesake, Senator Hutchison, was on hand for the opening. She was able to steer $29 million in federal dollars to the city to help build the plant. I've never been a fan of Senator Hutchison's, but she deserves her props for helping El Paso to get the plant built.

The plant is the largest desalination plant not located on a coastal area. The good thing for Texas is that this could be an example of what can be accomplished in other areas of our state. And Texas can use all the help it can get in finding sources of water for the future.

We live in one of the fastest growing states, but it is also a state with depleting water resources. Being able to turn brackish water into fresh drinkable water is a technology that Texas can put to good use.

Congratulations to the city of El Paso. I hope your new plant does everything you need it to do.