Author and historian John Nichols, Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley, and former Arizona Senate Minority Leader Phil Lopes at PDA’s John Nichols event in 2017.
The Tucson Festival of Books brings hundreds of authors to Tucson each year. For politicos, one of the hottest tickets at the Book Festival is author and historian John Nichols of The Nation.
If you want to hear Nichols speak in an informal setting– away from the Book Festival crowds, come to the IBEW Hall on Saturday night, March 10. Progressive Democrats of America (PDA Tucson) and the Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF) are hosting their annual An Evening with John Nichols. I am proud to be the warm-up act for Nichols again this year. Doors open at 6 p.m.
Trump’s friends are increasingly concerned about his well-being, worried that the president’s obsession with cable commentary and perceived slights is taking a toll on the 71-year-old. “Pure madness,” lamented one exasperated ally.
Trump’s policy maneuver, which may ultimately harm U.S. companies and American consumers, was announced without any internal review by government lawyers or his own staff, according to a review of an internal White House document.
According to two officials, Trump’s decision to launch a potential trade war was born out of anger at other simmering issues and the result of a broken internal process that has failed to deliver him consensus views that represent the best advice of his team.
On Wednesday evening, the president became “unglued,” in the words of one official familiar with the president’s state of mind.
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Trump, the two officials said, was angry and gunning for a fight, and he chose a trade war, spurred on by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro, the White House director for trade — and against longstanding advice from his economic chair Gary Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
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No one at the State Department, the Treasury Department or the Defense Department had been told that a new policy was about to be announced or given an opportunity to weigh in in advance.
AR-15 rifles were “selling like hotcakes” at the gun show.
AR-15 rifles — the weapon of choice of mass murderers — are selling briskly at the gun show at the Pima County Fair Grounds. Anybody over 18 with a driver’s license can walk out with an AR-15 for $450. No background checks, either.
It was an orgy of handguns, gas masks, bulletproof vests, pistols, rifles, ammunition, knives, old-time six-shooters, shotguns, holsters, and targets. AR-15s are “selling like hotcakes,” said Aaron Herman of Elite Guns & Ammo.
“You could have bought this gun for $399 last summer. I just raised my price three times today. There’s none to be bought,” he says, talking about an American Tactical AR-15. “I have three left. I’ve sold 17 today. People ask, ‘can you give me a deal?’ and I say no.”
Since 2007, at least 173 people have been killed in mass shootings in the US involving AR-15s in Newtown, CT, Las Vegas, San Bernardino, Sutherland Springs, TX, Aurora, CO, and Parkland, FL.
AR-15s are cheap guns. “AR” stands for “ArmaLite rifle,” after the company that developed it in the 1950s. “AR” does NOT stand for “assault rifle.”
The gun show had a squalid air, with vendors also selling pots and pans, scissors, posters, shop hardware, cheap gemstones, binoculars, maps, and swords. A guy was walking around with a rifle that has a “private sale” sign stuck in the barrel. He wanted $750 for a gun made from parts.
Every gun manufacturer makes a variety of AR-15s. It has the same firepower as a standard infantry rifle like military M16 and M4 rifles. Ammo is only $6.50 for a box of 20 rounds, up to $27 a box for bullets “that cause more collateral damage on the animal…or the target. Some of them are pretty devastating rounds,” says General Manager Michael L. Thompson of Triton Arms of Yuma, AZ.
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Political Calendar for the Week of March 4, 2018:
Monday, March 5, Noon: Democrats of Greater Tucson luncheon, Dragon’s View Restaurant (400 N. Bonita, South of St. Mary’s Road between the Freeway and Grande Avenue, turn South at Furr’s Cafeteria). New price: buffet lunch is $10.00 cash, $12 credit; just a drink is $3.50. Featured speaker is Andres Cano, candidate for LD 3 House. Next Week: Bill Mundell and Sandra Kennedy, candidates for the Arizona Corporation Commission.
