Sunday, August 4, 2019
Friday, August 2, 2019
Donald Trump said he's done more for African Americans than any president. Historians disagree
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2019/aug/01/donald-trump-said-hes-done-more-african-americans-/
President Donald Trump has often claimed credit for African American economic success, such as touting the African American unemployment rate on his watch. But amid swirling controversies over his tweets attacking Rep. Elijah Cummings and his heavily African American district in Maryland, he took it to a new level during July 30 remarks to reporters at the White House.
"What I've done for African Americans in two and a half years, no president has been able to do anything like it," Trump said. "Unemployment at the lowest level in the history of our country for African Americans — nobody can beat that. You look at poverty levels, they’re doing better than they’ve ever done before. So many things. Opportunity zones. Criminal justice reform — President Obama couldn’t get it done."
When we took a closer look, we found that Trump does have a point about some of the economic and policy details he mentioned. His campaign also pointed to a double-digit funding increase he sought and signed for historically black colleges and universities.
However, Trump overstated his own standing within history. It’s exceedingly difficult for Trump to top the landmark efforts by his predecessors in the White House, including Abraham Lincoln, who fought the Civil War and pushed the constitutional amendments that ended slavery, and Lyndon B. Johnson, who fought for and signed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act
Pelosi hits back at Trump's attacks on Cummings, calls Kushner a 'slumlord'
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/455803-pelosi-hits-back-at-trumps-attacks-on-cummings-calls-kushner-a-slumlord
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday fiercely defended Rep. Elijah Cummings in the wake of President Trump's attacks on the Maryland Democrat and the Baltimore-area district he represents.
Pelosi, who was born in Baltimore and whose father and brother were both mayors of the city, accused the president of projecting his own "insecurity" on Cummings. She also hammered Jared Kushner — Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, whose family operates a real estate empire — as a "slumlord."
"To see the president demean a great leader like Elijah Cummings shows his own insecurity and his own lack of understanding about what progress really is," Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol.
"You really have to consider the source," she continued.
"The president without — and this comes as no surprise — really doesn't know what he's talking about. But maybe he could ask his son-in-law, who's a slumlord."
Thursday, August 1, 2019
IRAN CLAIMS SAUDI ARABIA KILLED OVER '3000 AMERICANS' AND STILL GETS TO 'HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS
https://www.newsweek.com/iran-saudi-kill-americans-nuclear-1451951
Trump acknowledged in January that "Iran is killing ISIS," also known as the Islamic State militant group, and back in 2011 called Saudi Arabia "the world's biggest funder of terrorism." The president argued that the conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom "funnels our petro dollars, our very own money, to fund the terrorists that seek to destroy our people while the Saudis rely on us to protect them." He was also a vocal supporter of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) that would allow those affected by 9/11 to sue Saudi Arabia.
The so-called "28 pages" of the 9/11 Commission report indicated potential, yet unconfirmed links between two of the hijackers and the Saudi government, but some counterterrorism officials have alleged a deeper, joint effort to cover up these ties. Former President Barack Obama attempted to veto JASTA in 2016, a move Trump called "shameful" the same year he began instead describing revolutionary Shiite Muslim Iran as "the world's top state sponsor of terrorism" and ultimately won the presidency.
On Iran, Trump Is Shoving Israel Out Into the Cold
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/iran/.premium-on-iran-trump-is-shoving-israel-out-into-the-cold-1.7584048
But if Tehran has concluded that it must talk with Trump, it’s going to have to give him something in exchange for ending the sanctions. Trump would then tout any concessions as a triumph for his re-election campaign. And if the Iranians offer him something substantive, such as ending the sunset clauses, that would have to be considered a genuine achievement.
But even if Trump is able to substantially improve the nuclear deal, that wouldn’t come close to fulfilling the Iran wish list of Netanyahu and pro-Israel U.S. conservatives. That includes items like forcing them to end funding for terrorism, as well as ending their entire nuclear and missile development programs.
So any new Iran deal may turn out to be a bitter disappointment to Bolton and the Israelis, not to mention Trump’s Jewish and evangelical donors and supporters.
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
This ultra-Orthodox rabbi just took a job at an LGBT synagogue
In many ways, Mike Moskowitz is a typical ultra-Orthodox rabbi.
He wears a black suit and black hat. He sports a thick, curly beard beneath a closely shaved head. He peppers his speech with liturgical Hebrew and Yiddish words. He quotes from Jewish legal texts.
Moskowitz sometimes closes his eyes when he talks, swaying back and forth and rubbing his fingers together as if he’s engaged in deep Talmud study. He spent years upon years studying at traditional haredi yeshivas. Today he lives in Lakewood, a New Jersey shore town of some 100,000 residents well known for its largely haredi population.
rabbi Moskowitz has three ultra-orthodox rabbinic ordinations. He spent a decade in the largest yeshivas in the world and studied the entire Babylonian Talmud. He founded and headed a kollel - a sacred think tank, served as a rabbi at Columbia University, and of a congregation in Harlem. Rabbi Moskowitz explored academic Talmud at Yale and at Jewish Theological Seminary, where he is currently completing a Doctorate in Hebrew Literature. As one of the leading thinkers at the intersection of trans issues and Jewish thought, he is a sought after lecturer, educator, and researcher.
Donald Trump says he spent a lot time with 9/11 responders. Here are the facts
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2019/jul/30/donald-trump-says-he-spent-lot-time-911-responders/
President Donald Trump suggested that he spent "a lot of time" with first responders after Sept. 11 as he signed an extension of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.
"Many of those affected were firefighters, police officers, and other first responders. And I was down there also, but I’m not considering myself a first responder. But I was down there. I spent a lot of time down there with you," Trump said July 29 in the Rose Garden.
Trump’s comment, which appeared ad-libbed compared to the rest of his speech, didn’t go as far as some previous ones he made about his role in helping clear the rubble or supplying workers to help. But it still raised eyebrows. Some critics took his comment to mean Trump was taking credit for helping in the rescue and cleanup effort at Ground Zero (inspiring #LostTrumpHistory).
On the campaign trail in 2016 Trump said he helped with clearing the rubble.
"Everyone who helped clear the rubble — and I was there, and I watched, and I helped a little bit — but I want to tell you: Those people were amazing," Trump said at a rally in Buffalo. "Clearing the rubble. Trying to find additional lives. You didn't know what was going to come down on all of us — and they handled it."
The Washington Post and the Associated Press sought information from the Trump campaign in 2016 about how he helped, and they didn’t receive responses. We also tried to verify his claim and could not.
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Don’t Get Mad if a Doctor Says They Need to Screen Your Child for Abuse
https://time.com/5637675/child-abuse-screening-doctor-office/
If a doctor notices bruising on your child, you might be surprised to find yourself accused of abuse. The real-life drama that ensues from such encounters is playing out in doctors’ offices and emergency rooms across the country. Here are some of the things we’ve heard from our patients:
TRUMP FRIEND AIMED TO PROFIT FROM MIDEAST NUCLEAR DEAL -DEMOCRATS
https://www.jpost.com/American-Politics/Trump-friend-aimed-to-profit-from-Mideast-nuclear-deal-Democrats-597113
Tom Barrack, a billionaire friend of US President Donald Trump, pursued a plan to buy Westinghouse Electric Corp even as he lobbied Trump to become a special envoy to promote the building by the firm of nuclear power plants in Saudi Arabia, said a congressional report released on Monday.
While Barrack failed in both efforts, the report provides fresh evidence of the ease with which some corporate and foreign interests have gained access to Trump and other senior members of his administration.
UK woman who accused Israelis of rape in Cyprus indicted
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/266689
A British teenager was remanded in custody in Cyprus on Tuesday after she was arrested last week on suspicion of falsely accusing 12 Israeli tourists of gang rape.
The 19-year-old was indicted the Famagusta District Court in Paralimni in southeast Cyprus Tuesday, and now faces "public mischief".
If found guilty, she could potentially face a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of around 1,700 euros ($1,900).
The young woman, who was not named, stood grim-faced during the court session Tuesday morning without speaking. Her mother was also present.
She covered her face with the hood of her sweatshirt as she left the court and was put into a police van.
Her lawyer, Andreas Pittadjis, said she is expected to enter a plea when she appears again on August 7. He asked the court for time to "collect videotapes and statements" gathered by the Cypriot police during the investigation.
Initially, the teenager had alleged that 12 Israelis gang raped her at the hotel where she was staying in the popular resort of Ayia Napa on July 17.
The Israeli tourists aged 15 to 18 were arrested shortly after the complaint was filed.
After five of the 12 Israeli teens were proven to have not been present at the time of the alleged rape, including some who had clear alibis placing them elsewhere during the incident, Cyprus authorities freed the five, who returned to Israel last Thursday and Friday.
WHY VOTE FOR TRUMP IN 2020 - new poll
I just added a new poll to the blog regarding voting for Trump in 2020
Senate Fails to Override President Trump's Vetoes, Allowing Saudi Arms Sales
https://time.com/5638324/trump-senate-veto-saudi-arabia-arms/
The Senate votes came as the House Oversight Committee released a report criticizing the Trump administration over its apparent willingness to allow the president’s friends and allies undue influence over U.S. policy toward Saudi Arabia.
New documents obtained by the committee “raise serious questions about whether the White House is willing to place the potential profits of the president’s friends above the national security of the American people and the universal objective of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons,” the report said.
The report “exposes how corporate and foreign interests are using their unique access to advocate for the transfer of U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the panel’s Democratic chairman.
The 50-page Oversight report, released Monday, says Trump’s longtime personal friend, campaign donor and inaugural chairman, Tom Barrack, negotiated directly with Trump and other White House officials to seek positions within the administration, including special envoy to the Middle East and ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.
At the same time, Barrack was promoting the interests of U.S. corporations seeking to profit from the transfer of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia; advocating on behalf of foreign interests seeking to obtain U.S. nuclear technology; and taking steps for his own company, Colony NorthStar, to profit from the proposals, the report said.
One of the companies leading an effort to build nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia, IP3 International, repeatedly pressed the Trump administration not to require Saudi Arabia to commit to a rigorous “gold standard” in any agreement with the U.S., complaining it would lock them out of lucrative nuclear contracts, the report said.
IP3 officials had “unprecedented access” to the highest levels of the Trump administration, including meetings with Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Cabinet Secretaries Rick Perry, Steven Mnuchin, Mike Pompeo, Rex Tillerson, James Mattis and Wilbur Ross, the report said.
The report also criticized the White House for refusing to produce any documents in the investigation and said communications obtained from outside sources indicate that Kushner and other officials used personal email or text accounts to communicate about Saudi-related deals.
FOX NEWS ANALYST WARNS TRUMP IS 'LOCKING DOWN THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY FOR HIS PURPOSES'
https://www.newsweek.com/fox-news-analyst-trump-locking-down-intelligence-community-1451620
Mary Anne Marsh, a political analyst for Fox News, raised concerns on Monday that President Donald Trump appeared to be consolidating his control over the U.S. intelligence community with the nomination of GOP Representative John Ratcliffe to replace Dan Coats as director of national intelligence.
"It's more about protecting Trump than America," Marsh, who previously served as a senior adviser to Democratic Senator John Kerry, warned during a segment of Fox News' America's Newsroom on Monday. "John Ratcliffe has been all over the investigate the investigators [probe], who's doing that right now? [Attorney General] Bill Barr, so Donald Trump has consolidated his control over the intelligence committees at a time when he's given Barr unprecedented access and control over all the intelligence information, which we've never seen by an attorney general before," she said.
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