Beltway Insider: Trump/North Korean Summit: School Shootings: Embassy Clashes: Cuba Flight CU97: Failing VA: Justify Wins

President Donald Trump has issued a stern warning to North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un as he has reportedly waivered on his participation in the upcoming U.S. North Korean Nuclear Summit to be held in Singapore.

According to Gallup, President Trump job approval, over the past week, increased by one percentage point to 43% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as President remained constant at 52%.

Trump/North Korean Summit

President Donald Trump has issued a stern warning to North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un as he has reportedly waivered on his participation in the upcoming U.S. North Korean Nuclear Summit to be held in Singapore.

Trump who has made his position repeatedly clear to North Korea's Jong-Un, has continued his two fold front: Stern warnings of a maximum pressure campaign and retaliation if necessary should the uncontrollable totalitarian ruler back out of the June 12 Summit and conversely an approachable, responsive mutual dedication to the proliferation of life treaties and denuclearization of the Koran Peninsula.


Beltway Insider: Trump Nixes Nuke Deal; Iran Deal Redux; Netanyahu/Iran; NK Summit/Americans Released; McCain Mocked


With Jong-Un sending out more signals of impending hesitancy, the White House has issued statements clarifying its official position.

"The President is prepared and will be ready to meet, and we're continuing to move forward with the preparations at this point.  And if the North Koreans want to meet, we'll be there.  And at this point, there is not a lot of change beyond that, and certainly not in our process. I can tell you what we're doing, and we're continuing to move forward in preparations.  And the President, as we've said all along, will be prepared and ready to meet," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.

President Trump has continued to meet with regional leaders including South Korea President Moon Jae-In who has already met with the Jong-Un, in an historic meeting which laid the foundation for further meetings in the belief of stabilizing the region.

School Shootings Spark Debate . . Again

In a suburb of Houston, Texas, deep in NRA country, shots rang out on Friday morning, as a single 17 year-old shooter, romantically spurred by a classmate went on a killing spree murdering eight students and two teachers and injuring another 13.

Santa Fe High School is the latest mass casualty shooting that is undercutting society and so deeply dividing the nation that others looking at the United States for leadership walk away as the plague of violence is uncontrollable.

The old guard, Republicans, primarily card carrying members of the NRA and originalist in constitutionalist thought make the rounds of the Sunday talk shows spouting the blame game of gun control. Blame anyone but the guns.

"New NRA President Oliver North said Sunday, in the aftermath of the deadly Texas school shooting, that students "shouldn't be afraid" to attend class but made clear that his gun-rights advocacy group still doesn't think the solution is limiting Second Amendment rights. "'We are trying like the dickens to treat the symptoms, not the disease. The disease isn't the Second Amendment," FOX News reports.

Santa Fe is the first multiple death shooting, as the federal government in order to protect the flow of information has determined to characterize mass shooting with a determining criteria of at least four dead. For the other schools, and statistically there is one school shooting per week in the United States, it is simply a school shooting and not a mass shooting.

Unfortunately mass shooting or simple shooting, the common denominator in the scope of this argument is of course the availability of weapons. Guns, alone do not kill, we have been told enough times we should be spouting the same rhetoric if it weren't for the blood red school yards, and splatter of brains matter on the walls.

Agony captured by cameramen that rips through my soul each and every time. Even that doesn't seem to sway the politicians who with rusted dated beliefs can't see past an imagined, unrealized, ending if they challenge the NRA.

Now, unfortunately we are back to Santa Fe, where ten coffins are being prepared for burial. Community members, all anti-gun control believers, are experiencing the testing of their beliefs and have stated publicly, "No more."

No More. #Enough

U.S Moves Israeli Embassy Move, Israel at 70

The United States welcomes the move of the Guatemalan Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. We thank our Western Hemisphere partner for joining us in recognizing Israel's capital and encourage additional moves.

By being the first head of state to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to open an embassy there on May 14, 2018, President Trump reprised the role President Truman played 70 years ago when he was the first to recognize the State of Israel. We look forward to welcoming many more of our friends and allies in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.

Clashes over the move have left nearly 60 dead.

Havana Plane Crash Under Investigation

Three survivors have been reported in Friday's crash of Cuba Flight CU97 which went down shortly after take-off in the dense wilderness near the Havana airport killing nearly all the 110 passengers and crew members aboard.

The engines of the aging Boeing 727-200, which is owned by the Damojh company, allegedly caught fire after take-off and the pilot struggled to control the burning jet which may have caused a catastrophic malfunction.

"'The plane was on fire, it flipped and then nosedived,"' said farmer Marino Perez Alvaredo," Reuters reported.

Prepared for a long haul to Mexico, the jet had just fueled up which resulted in the explosion at impact. The process of identifying the bodies is grueling. The majority of the passengers Cuban, the passenger list also included ten Nazarene pastoral couple sheading home to Mexico, and six Mexican crew members.

One of the black boxes which enables Air Transportation officials to piece together the last transmissions before the crash has been recovered and is said to be in "good" condition.

The debris field for the fiery crash does not reflect any external elements and terrorism is not suspected.

Veterans Affairs Bill Aids Failing Agency

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has over the last five years have had serious issues with patient care, with undercover stings by major media organizations proving the allegations, filmed by veterans of extremely poor care and in some cases former military personal have been left to die in hallways or waiting areas.

More than a three dozen patient deaths had been attributed to wait times imposed by lazy, unqualified, and uncaring personal at the height of the 2014 scandal. Ground zero in this shocking scandal was Phoenix VA Hospital, a center which provides services for close to 100,000 veterans.

At the height of the scandal it seemed as one life threatening mistake would lead to another and produce a domino effect of poor choices and bad decisions leading to the deaths and potential exposure to life threatening illness and virus to many of those who had served this nation in wartime and peace.

One of the original Whistle blowers in the scandal Brandon Coleman, an employee in Phoenix, who no longer works at the facility described it for FOX News in a 2017 report, "This is ground zero here in Phoenix, Ariz. It is a cesspool. It's the worst example of VA health care in the United States – period. After the scandal hit in 2014, money poured into this place and yet wait times continue to get worse. Veterans continue to die."

House Passes VA Bill

The Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, which passed the house with a wide margin, nearly unanimous with only 55 "nay" votes, highlights the need to continue to move forward creating a check and balance system and stricter boundaries across the failing agency.

"For far too long the failures of bad actors have tarnished the good name of all VA employees," House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) said on the floor before the vote. "Unfortunately, despite the tireless efforts of our courageous whistleblowers, the extensive reporting on the lack of accountability by the media and the outrage of the American public, we still see far too many instances of VA employees not living up to the standards America," The Hill reports.

Senator John McCain, (R-AZ) who co-sponsored the bill along with thirty other senators said in a statement, "I applaud the House of Representatives for passing this much-needed legislation to enhance accountability and protect whistleblowers at the VA," McCain said in a statement. "It is unacceptable that more than three years after the scandal in care in Phoenix and around the country in which dozens of veterans died while waiting on non-existent lists, only one VA employee has been fired. Our legislation would correct the archaic and broken civil service system that has prevented the VA Secretary from removing bad actors, and strengthen protections for whistleblowers who are committed to the health and wellbeing of veterans."

Sadly, this bill, nearly four years later is the first to receive the votes and similar to other sensitive social issues, those members of society that are in need, are last on the list to receive.

Trump Donates 2018 Quarter Salary

"In keeping with his campaign pledge, the President donates his salary on a quarterly basis to further important projects.  Today, the President is proud to donate his 2018 first-quarter salary to the Department of Veterans Affairs to support their caregiver programs," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.

Caribbean Islands Disaster Package Amended

Restoring and rebuilding much needed infrastructure and property after the apocalyptic 2017 Hurricane Season, which decimated nearly all the Caribbean and Puerto Rico, has proven to be a slow process with some nations faring better than others in the process.

The U.S. Virgin Islands, which survived devastating hits in rapid succession from Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria resulted in more than $150billion in overall damage. That figure includes Puerto Rico and mainland U.S.

President Trump announced this week he was amending the Federal Aid Package by an additional six months for those debris removal and emergency protective measure to include shelter and temporary power.


Bloody Friday: Two School Shootings Leave 11 Dead; 13 Injured


"Under the President's order today, the Federal share for Other Needs Assistance under section 408 of the Stafford Act and all categories of Public Assistance is authorized at 90 percent, except for assistance previously approved at 100 percent; the 100 percent Federal cost share for debris removal and emergency protective measures is extended for 120 days, with the extension of emergency protective measures being limited to Sheltering and Temporary Essential Power (STEP); and the Federal share for hazard mitigation measures under section 404 of the Stafford Act is authorized at 100 percent of total eligible costs." FEMA continues to handle claims.

Justify Wins Preakness Sets up Triple Crown Run

Kentucky Derby winner Justify, who stunned the Churchill Downs crowd and the world of horseracing with an impressive 2.02.20 win in extreme weather conditions that resulted in a rain drenched muddy track to take the first jewel in what is known as the Triple Crown of Racing, has done it again winning the second jewel, the Preakness Stakes in 1:55:93 setting up a run for the Triple Crown title.

With two Triple Crown wins, Justify, going into The Belmont Stakes, which will be run June 9, 2018 in Belmont Race Track, in Belmont Long Island, New York, is heavily favored to win the third jewel and take the Triple Crown, a title only a dozen other three-year-old thoroughbred horses have won in the 100 Years The Race of Champions has run.

For more information on President Donald Trump: www.whitehouse.gov

Sources: Whitehouse.gov, Wikipedia.com

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