Welcome to Wednesday, November 6, bridges and tunnels...

President Trump said the U.S. is “ready, willing & able” to “wage WAR” on Mexican drug cartels after an American family was gunned down in the state of Sonora.

 “This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth. We merely await a call from your great new president!”

The victims included three women and six minors, including twin babies. The group, which was travelling by SUV, belonged to the LeBaron family, a breakaway Mormon community that settled in northern Mexico decades ago. Relatives “believe it was a case of mistaken identity” and cartels “opened fire on the vehicle because it was an SUV.”

 In the last 12 years, Mexico has registered more than 250,000 homicides, the majority of them related to the ongoing drug war.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said during a press conference that he hadn’t “seen the message from President Trump, but I am sure that it comes from a desire to help, to cooperate, that it has not been disrespectful nor interfering. Every time we speak, it is with that desire to help, and the government respects that greatly.”

Should the U.S. send the army into Mexico to combat drug cartels?

On the Radar

Sondland Changes Testimony

Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland has revised his testimony, admitting aid to Ukraine was dependent on the country announcing an investigation into Trump’s political rivals.

"I now recall speaking individually with Mr. (Andriy) Yermak, where I said resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks," Sondland said in a three-page addition to his testimony.

The House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight Committees released deposition transcripts of Sondland and former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker on Tuesday as part of their shift toward the public phrase of the impeachment probe.

Press secretary Stephanie Grisham dismissed Sondland’s remarks:

“No amount of salacious media-biased headlines, which are clearly designed to influence the narrative, change the fact that the president has done nothing wrong.”

Is a quid pro quo with Ukraine an impeachable offense?

Under the Radar

Election Day Off

Voters in four states headed to the polls Tuesday for general elections—should they have had the day off work?

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who's running for president, tweeted on Nov. 5:  

Some cities have already passed legislation making Election Day a paid holiday. Sandusky, Ohio, recently swapped Columbus Day for a day off for voting.

HR-1, the sweeping anti-corruption proposal House Democrats passed in March, includes a proposal to make Election Day a federal holiday.

Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called the For the People Act the “Democratic Politician Protection Act” and said he sees it as a “power grab.”

Should Election Day be a national holiday?

Reagan's Immigration Reforms

On November 6, 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (aka the Simpson-Mazzoli Act) into law, which put in place several significant reforms to America’s immigration policy. The law sought to curb illegal immigration by making it harder to hire unauthorized immigrants while also granting some legal status if they paid a fine, back taxes, possessed basic civic knowledge about the U.S. and spoke English.

The first leg was focused on deterring illegal immigration through improved border security and the first penalties for employers that knowingly hired unauthorized immigrants.

The stool’s second leg centered on a program granting temporary visas to seasonal agricultural workers who had immigrated illegally.

The third leg of the stool was legal status for unauthorized immigrants who met certain conditions, including possessing basic knowledge about U.S. history, government, and spoke minimal English.

How do you feel about Reagan's immigration reforms on their anniversary?

 

What You're Saying

Here's how you're answering Should the Feds Fund Evidence-Based Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention Programs?