Martin world news, with a serious side

I'm going to kick things off with a little less fun stuff, but the same ol' stupidity.

ITEM:  Most of you by now have heard this story:  In San Francisco, the very heart of radical-liberal America, a "sanctuary city", for what that's worth, has out of it's kindness and grace allowed a man 5 times deported to live in their town, and randomly kill a woman in a "random" shooting.  Thus blowing holes in the liberal mindset of allowing illegals to stay in this country, as well as their protests over Donald Trump's recent comments, as well as an innocent 32-year-old woman out for a stroll with her father.  Thank you, San Fran, please continue to boycott Indiana.

ITEM: And here's another one you've prolly heard-

Devon Staples, 22, and his friends had been drinking and setting off fireworks Saturday night in a backyard in Staples' eastern Maine hometown, Calais, when the accident happened with a reloadable fireworks mortar tube, police have said.

Yes, this genius set off a mortar on his head.  He rapidly went from stupid to deceased, and now his mother says that more regulations on fireworks would have saved his life.


The state should consider requiring safety training courses before allowing someone to use them, she said. 


You mean, Maine doesn't have a regulation covering setting off an explosive device on your head while drunk?  Maine, the state that has a regulation regarding not stepping out of a plane while in flight, and another requiring church attendees to bring shotguns in case of an Indian attack?  (Look it up, I did.)  Perhaps the mother of the dear deceased ought to work on ALCOHOL regulation.


ITEM:  If the mother of blast-head needs some ideas, I know where NOT to get them.  I found a story about the drunkest states in the nation- and some other interesting stats.

First, the highest percentage of adults who've had at least one drink in the last 30 days, and Wisconsin wins this one at 65.33% , just ahead of D.C., with Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts stumbling on behind.  Next, percent of "heavy drinkers", and Wisconsin and Washington DC come in 1-2 again.  Third chart was binge drinking, and guess who were one and two.  The cast of also-rans were an ever changing lot:  Montana, Oregon, and (for a second time) Vermont on the heavy drinking, and North Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois on binging.

They also did a cross-ref with age and ethnicity, and on a really cute interactive chart, we find the greatest drinkers in the 18-24 age group are multiracial;  "other" took a slight lead at 25-34, while the white boys (and girls) edged ahead at 35-44. "Other" nosed ahead again at 45-54, and Asian took the lead at 55-64.  The last category, 65+, was a dead (drunk) heat between "other" and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander.


For the sober among you, fewest drinkers was Utah, and both heavy and binging was least popular in Tennessee.  The interactive chart was really interesting on the sober side.  The Hawaiian group was lowest in the two youngest groups, and WAAAAY lowest in the 55-64 group, which makes their "shot" to the lead in the oldest group all the more curious.  In between, 35-44 had the Asians lowest (right before they took THEIR lead), and the Hispanics lowest at 45-54.

Indiana was towards the middle at light drinking, and well into the sober side on the other categories.  They also topped the list in "state most likely to lie to interviewers."


ITEM:  A man from China, whom I'll bet was 55-64 years old, bought a pair of puppies in Vietnam.  Whether this is a story to show how dumb Chinese tourists are or how dishonest Vietnamese pet dealers are, I'll let you judge.  The puppies thrived with the man, one Wang Kaiyu, although they began getting big- really big- and did odd things like killing and eating Wang's chickens.  But it was only when Wang "saw some leaflets from the local Public Security Bureau on endangered wild animals" that he realized what he really had...

...that's right, they were two endangered Asian Sun Bears.  Nuff Said, eh?


ITEM:  A comedian named Kurt Braunohler decided the world needed to be brightened up with a bit of randomness.  This is why he is driving around the country with this...

...a 14 ft tall, 15 ft long, 8 feet wide, 1,600 pound butt.  He calls it the "Love Butt".  And that really is the end.