{"id":32,"date":"2010-08-28T13:43:04","date_gmt":"2010-08-28T13:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/08\/mexico-is-imploding-should-we-help.html"},"modified":"2010-08-28T13:43:04","modified_gmt":"2010-08-28T13:43:04","slug":"mexico-is-imploding-should-we-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/08\/mexico-is-imploding-should-we-help.html","title":{"rendered":"Mexico is imploding &#8211; should we help?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From here in Southern California, a trip across the border to Tijuana or Rosarita Beach used to be &nbsp;fun, affordable road trip.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>But no more.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The murder, mayhem and corruption fueled by drug cartels has made such a trip foolish, if not lethal.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Look at some of the breaking news:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span class=\"Apple-style-span\">CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (Reuters) &#8211; Two car bombs exploded in northern Mexico early on Friday, days after marines found the bodies of 72 people gunned down in the country&#8217;s escalating war with&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/s\/nm\/20100827\/ts_nm\/us_mexico_drugs#\" class=\"kLink\" target=\"undefined\" id=\"KonaLink0\"><font color=\"#366388\"><span class=\"kLink\">powerful<\/span><span class=\"kLink\">drug&nbsp;<\/span><span class=\"kLink\">cartels<\/span><\/font><\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><font color=\"#000000\" face=\"arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 18px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font color=\"#000000\" face=\"arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 18px\">The attacks came the same day officials discovered the body of a police officer investigating the massacre of dozens of migrants in the latest attack linked to&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/s\/nm\/20100827\/ts_nm\/us_mexico_drugs#\" class=\"kLink\" target=\"undefined\" id=\"KonaLink1\"><font color=\"#366388\"><span class=\"kLink\">Mexico&#8217;s&nbsp;<\/span><span class=\"kLink\">drug&nbsp;<\/span><span class=\"kLink\">war<\/span><\/font><\/a>.<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font color=\"#000000\" face=\"arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 18px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font color=\"#000000\" face=\"arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 18px\">Fourteen drug-related slayings were reported on Friday in different locations in the Pacific beach resort of Acapulco, popular with U.S. tourists but also a key transit point for narcotics. Several of the bound and blindfolded victims were covered with messages threatening rival cartels.&#8221;<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font color=\"#000000\" face=\"arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 18px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font color=\"#000000\" face=\"arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 18px\">Do you think the U.S. should get involved? Offer forces? Anything?<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font color=\"#000000\" face=\"arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 18px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font color=\"#000000\" face=\"arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 18px\">It&#8217;s sad to watch a country, a neighboring country, implode under such violent force.&nbsp;<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font color=\"#000000\" face=\"arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 18px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font color=\"#000000\" face=\"arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 18px\">What do you think we should do?<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From here in Southern California, a trip across the border to Tijuana or Rosarita Beach used to be &nbsp;fun, affordable road trip. But no more. The murder, mayhem and corruption fueled by drug cartels has made such a trip foolish, if not lethal. Look at some of the breaking news: CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (Reuters) &#8211;&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mexico is imploding - should we help? - The Pop Culture Road Trip<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/08\/mexico-is-imploding-should-we-help.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mexico is imploding - should we help? - The Pop Culture Road Trip\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From here in Southern California, a trip across the border to Tijuana or Rosarita Beach used to be &nbsp;fun, affordable road trip. But no more. The murder, mayhem and corruption fueled by drug cartels has made such a trip foolish, if not lethal. Look at some of the breaking news: CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (Reuters) &#8211;&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/08\/mexico-is-imploding-should-we-help.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Pop Culture Road Trip\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-08-28T13:43:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Epting\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mexico is imploding - should we help? - The Pop Culture Road Trip","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/08\/mexico-is-imploding-should-we-help.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mexico is imploding - should we help? - The Pop Culture Road Trip","og_description":"From here in Southern California, a trip across the border to Tijuana or Rosarita Beach used to be &nbsp;fun, affordable road trip. 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Look at some of the breaking news: CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (Reuters) &#8211;&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/08\/mexico-is-imploding-should-we-help.html","og_site_name":"The Pop Culture Road Trip","article_published_time":"2010-08-28T13:43:04+00:00","author":"Chris Epting","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/08\/mexico-is-imploding-should-we-help.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/08\/mexico-is-imploding-should-we-help.html","name":"Mexico is imploding - should we help? - The Pop Culture Road Trip","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-08-28T13:43:04+00:00","dateModified":"2010-08-28T13:43:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/#\/schema\/person\/90e02a67ea704d6f277e5c57264de6c7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/08\/mexico-is-imploding-should-we-help.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/08\/mexico-is-imploding-should-we-help.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/08\/mexico-is-imploding-should-we-help.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mexico is imploding &#8211; should we help?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/","name":"The Pop Culture Road Trip","description":"Chris Epting&#039;s uplifting and nostalgic stories from America&#039;s entertainment landscape","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/#\/schema\/person\/90e02a67ea704d6f277e5c57264de6c7","name":"Chris Epting","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/ecf\/ecfc2e5ddaa5892930733367b5ce59bbx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/ecf\/ecfc2e5ddaa5892930733367b5ce59bbx96.jpg","caption":"Chris Epting"},"description":"A pop culture history aficionado, Chris has a lifelong penchant for documenting the exact sites where things both great and small occurred. As an author, Epting has found that unearthing and chronicling \"\"hidden\"\" locations offers him a challenge. What began as an inquisitive hobby soon developed into the writing and photographing of 18 books based on his discoveries, including \"\"James Dean Died Here\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6The Locations of America's Pop Culture Landmarks,\"\" \"\"Elvis Presley Passed Here, Even More Locations of America's Pop Culture Landmarks,\"\" \"\"Roadside Baseball,\"\" and \"\"The Ruby Slippers, Madonna's Bra, and Einstein's Brain: The Locations of America's Pop Culture.\"\" As an extension of his efforts to chronicle the unique, Epting joined Hampton Hotels for a sixth exciting year as national spokesperson and consultant for the Hidden Landmarks program in support of the brand's national \"\"Explore the Highway with Hampton Save-A-Landmark\u00c3\u201d\"\" campaign (the program recently won the President's award). Chris is a frequent featured guest on numerous radio and television programs such as National Public Radio's \"\"All Things Considered,\"\" \"\"The Savvy Traveler,\"\" \"\"Access Hollywood\"\" and FOX TV's the \"\"Best Damn Sports Show Period,\"\" plus radio and TV programs around the world. He has contributed articles for such publications as the \"\"Los Angeles Times,\"\" \"\"Westways,\"\" \"\"Travel + Leisure\"\" and \"\"Preservation\"\" magazine, and hosts the weekly syndicated radio show, \"\"The Pop Culture Road Trip.\"\" Chris's latest book, \"\"Hello It's Me\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Dispatches from a Pop Culture Junkie\"\" will be released in July, 2010. Chris lives in Huntington Beach, CA with his wife and their two children.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/author\/cepting"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}