Guns and Powder

“Those emotions reached a peak in recent days, as Mexico City issued an unheard-of warning to its counterparts in Washington: If the United States did not rethink its pursuit of Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, Mexico would consider expelling American federal drug agents from the country, jeopardizing a decades-long partnership that has helped bring several top drug lords to justice.” NYT: Mexico, Outraged at Arrest of Ex-Official, Threatened to Toss U.S. Agents.

+ WaPo: “After years of failed U.S. and Mexican efforts to curb arms trafficking, groups such as the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels are showcasing the military-grade weapons in slick propaganda videos and using them to defeat security forces in battle. In a country with just a single legal gun shop, on a military base in the capital, roughly 2.5 million illicit American guns have poured across the border in the past decade.” (For those scoring at home, here’s how the endless drug war works. Americans create the demand for drugs which makes cartels rich. Americans then illicitly sell military grade weapons to the cartels that create levels of violence and death that makes families risk it all to try to get across the border. Then at the border, we call them criminals and rapists and separate kids from their parents. I know that’s a pretty short overview of the situation, but all the other details are equally bad.)

+ “Three sources involved in the discussions who requested anonymity said the Office of White House Counsel made the decision to reject the settlement of a federal lawsuit after consultation with senior adviser Stephen Miller.” White House killed deal to pay for mental health care for migrant families separated at border.