Baltimore Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young (D) responded to Donald Trump’s ugly tweets about his city and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) on Saturday, calling the president a “disappointment to the people of Baltimore” and the world.
“It’s completely unacceptable for the political leader of our country to denigrate a vibrant American City like Baltimore, and to viciously attack U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings a patriot and a hero,” Young said in a statement shared via Twitter.
“Mr. Trump’s rhetoric is hurtful and dangerous to the people he’s sworn to represent,” he continued. “As the Mayor of Baltimore, I won’t stand for anyone, not even the alleged Leader of the Free World, attacking our great City or our representative to Congress.”
“Mr. Trump, you are a disappointment to the people of Baltimore, our country, and to the world,” he concluded.
It’s completely unacceptable for the political leader of our country to denigrate a vibrant American City like Baltimore, and to viciously attack U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings a patriot and a hero. pic.twitter.com/TJdbST6Md9
— Mayor Bernard C. Jack Young (@mayorbcyoung) July 27, 2019
And, by the way, if Trump’s concern is for the people of Baltimore, why doesn’t HE do something?
As we all know, there’s always a tweet:
President Obama, you have a big job to do. Go to Baltimore and bring both sides together. With proper leadership, it can be done! Do it.
After Donald Trump criticized the city of Baltimore in an attack on Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland), the editorial board of the Baltimore Sun penned a blistering essay taking the Donald to task for his anti-American attack.
In case anyone missed it, the president of the United States had some choice words to describe Maryland’s 7th congressional district on Saturday morning. Here are the key phrases: “no human being would want to live there,” it is a “very dangerous & filthy place,” “Worst in the USA” and, our personal favorite: It is a “rat and rodent-infested mess.”
[snip]
It’s not hard to see what’s going on here. The congressman has been a thorn in this president’s side, and Mr. Trump sees attacking African American members of Congress as good politics, as it both warms the cockles of the white supremacists who love him and causes so many of the thoughtful people who don’t to scream. President Trump bad-mouthed Baltimore in order to make a point that the border camps are “clean, efficient & well run,” which, of course, they are not — unless you are fine with all the overcrowding, squalor, cages and deprivation to be found in what the Department of Homeland Security’s own inspector general recently called “a ticking time bomb.”
[snip]
Finally, while we would not sink to name-calling in the Trumpian manner — or ruefully point out that he failed to spell the congressman’s name correctly (it’s Cummings, not Cumming) — we would tell the most dishonest man to ever occupy the Oval Office, the mocker of war heroes, the gleeful grabber of women’s private parts, the serial bankrupter of businesses, the useful idiot of Vladimir Putin and the guy who insisted there are “good people” among murderous neo-Nazis that he’s still not fooling most Americans into believing he’s even slightly competent in his current post. Or that he possesses a scintilla of integrity.
Better to have some vermin living in your neighborhood than to be one.
Taking questions from voters in Ankeny, Iowa, Mayor Pete Buttigieg was asked how unemployment would play out during the presidential election:
“Yeah, the president’s going to say unemployment is low, & it is. Of course, under the Obama admin, we went from like 12 to 5, and then he sees it go from 5 to 4, and he’s like the rooster, thinks he made sun come up.”
The mayor was also asked “Wine, or beer, or fireball?,” which got some applause from the crowd.
Pausing for second, Buttituge said, “Well in six months we might be into fireball territory, but right now, just beer, just beer for now.”
Britain’s Metroreports that Bishop Neophytos Masouras of the Church of Cyprus recently told followers that gay people happen when a pregnant mother has enjoyable anal sex.
In a video translated by Metro.co.uk translators, he said: “It happens during the parent’s intercourse or pregnancy. It follows an abnormal sexual act between the parents. To be more clear, anal sex. Saint Porfyrios says that when the woman likes that, a desire is born, and then the desire is passed on to the child.”
I guess that means, back in the 1960s, my parents were really ‘freaks in the sheets.’
In case you missed it, Netflix dropped Season 4 of the Emmy Award-winning series, Queer Eye.
As part of the new season, the Fab 5 head to the Kansas City high school where cast member Jonathan Van Ness spent his teens to ‘make better’ his favorite teacher.
As a bonus for that episode, the guys sit down for a chat with the school’s Gay/Straight Alliance for a candid conversation on subjects ranging from coming out, burgeoning self-awareness, bullying, and allies.
Van Ness openly shares that during his days at Quincy High School, “”I couldn’t walk in these halls – I got called the F word every ten steps I took.”
“At that time Gay-Straight Alliance was something I didn’t think would be literally allowed,” he added. “As someone who got so bullied and so tormented, you guys are light years ahead of where I thought the movement would be.”
I had a similar experience in high school growing up in Texas. As a gay man today, I’m not impressed by the support these kids get via a GSA, but how they have such confidence to deal with who they are at such a young age.
Karamo Brown asks the kids, “Where did you get the courage to come out?”
With no pause a student chimes in, “You,” pointing at the Fab 5.
“I was having a lot of anxiety and doubt, but then I discovered you guys, but you don’t seem to have much stress at all,” she continued.
Check out the 5-minute clip with Van Ness, Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski – and some really amazing kids – below.
After Donald Trump went on another Twitter rant, this time directed at Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland), CNN host Victor Blackwell noticed a pattern in the Donald’s choice of language when referring to certain people.
I really don’t need to say anything else. Just watch.
Rep, Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous. His district is considered the Worst in the USA……
….As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded. Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place
UPDATE: Rep. Cummings responded to Trump’s ugliness. You’ll note that Cummings, instead of going ‘low,’ talks about doing his job for his constituents and asks the Donald to be a part of the solution.
Mr. President, I go home to my district daily. Each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbors.
It is my constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. But, it is my moral duty to fight for my constituents.
Just yesterday, I held a hearing on the skyrocketing prices of prescription drugs and the financial hardships that families across the nation, and in Baltimore, are facing.
Mr. President, we can address this together. Two years ago, I went to the White House to ask you to endorse my bill to let the government negotiate directly for lower drug prices.
The folks at NowThis share this video compilation contrasting how differently the folks at Fox News treat First Lady Melania Trump versus her predecessor, Michelle Obama.
Even on similar subjects, the treatment is shockingly different.
When Michelle opted to encourage kids to eat better, it was called the “nanny state.”
But when Melania launched her ‘BeBest’ campaign asking kids to stop bullying, she’s a saint.
There’s much, much more.
Hit the play button – you’ll see.
Melania Trump and Michelle Obama receive shockingly different coverage from Fox News, a supercut pic.twitter.com/0F4Lr52tri
The Supreme Court said Friday that it would lift a freeze on the money put in place by a lower court. The Supreme Court’s action means the Trump administration can tap the funds and begin work on four contracts it has awarded. Four liberal justices wouldn’t have allowed construction to start.
A trial court initially froze the funds in May and an appeals court kept that freeze in place earlier this month. The freeze had prevented the government from tapping approximately $2.5 billion in Defense Department money to replace existing sections of barrier in Arizona, California and New Mexico with more robust fencing.
You may recall the sad tale of the ‘smirking teen’ who became the center of attention when he stood across from a Native American elder on the National Mall, appearing to block the elder’s path.
The teen, Nick Sandmann, eventually filed a $250 million lawsuit against the Washington Post for defamation in regard to the newspaper’s coverage of the incident.
Today, that lawsuit has been dismissed by a federal judge.
William Bertelsman, who heard oral arguments in the case earlier this month, issued the ruling on Friday.
Nick and his attorneys, Todd McMurtry and L. Lin Wood, alleged that the gist of The Washington Post’s first article conveyed that Nick had assaulted or physically intimidated Nathan Phillips, engaged in racist conduct, and engaged in taunts.
But, Bertelsman wrote, “this is not supported by the plain language in the article, which states none of these things.”
Bertelsman accepted Nick’s assertion that he was only standing motionless across from Phillips, without ill intent.
“He concluded that he was being blocked and not allowed to retreat,” Bertelsman wrote. “He passed these conclusions on to The Post. They may have been erroneous, but, as discussed above, they are opinion protected by the First Amendment.”
Phillips and Nick were captured on videos that went viral in January when they stood across from each other on the National Mall. Nick stared at Phillips as Phillips participated in a song with other Native Americans.
This video clip went viral, throwing Covington Catholic into the national spotlight. Longer video has since emerged showing how the incident started.Louisville Courier Journal
Melania Geymonat and her girlfriend Chris say they were approached by the four suspects who began taunting them and demanding they kiss. When they refused, the teens reportedly assaulted them.
“We must have kissed or something because these guys came after us,” Geymonat said in a Facebook post. “They started behaving like hooligans, demanding that we kissed so they could enjoy watching, calling us ‘lesbians’ and describing sexual positions.”
The incident soon escalated as Geymonat shared, “The next thing I know is that Chris is in the middle of the bus fighting with them.”
“On an impulse, I went over there only to find her face bleeding and three of them beating her up,” she continued. “The next thing I know is, I’m being punched. I got dizzy at the sight of my blood and fell back. I don’t remember whether or not I lost consciousness.”
Geymonat’s nose was broken and had to be reset, and Chris was taken to a hospital where she received treatment for a fractured jaw.
After the attackers fled, the couple asked a witness to photograph them. Posted on Geymonat’s Facebook page a few days later, the bloody photo went viral.
Geymonat later told BBC Radio 4’s World At One that, while she had experienced verbal attacks in regard to her sexuality prior to the incident, this was the first time she had been physically harmed.
Police Detective Superintendent Andy Cox publicly denounced the “disgusting attack.” And London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted that “hate crimes against LGBT+ people will not be tolerated in London.”
This was a disgusting, misogynistic attack. Hate crimes against the LGBT+ community will not be tolerated in London.
The four suspects are scheduled to appear in Youth Court on August 21.
In the aftermath of the attack and ensuing press coverage, Chris penned an op-ed for The Guardian in which she noted the disproportionate media coverage versus that of violence on people of color, transgender people and more.
The essay read, in part:
A refrain I’ve heard ad nauseum is “I can’t believe this happened – it’s 2019”. I disagree. This attack and the ensuing media circus are par for the course in 2019. In both my native United States and here in the United Kingdom, it always has been and still is open season on the bodies of (in no specific order) people of colour, indigenous people, transgender people, disabled people, queer people, poor people, women and migrants.
I have evaded much of the violence and oppression imposed on so many others by our capitalist, white supremacist, patriarchal system because of the privileges I enjoy by dint of my race, health, education, and conventional gender presentation. That has nothing to do with the merit of my character.
The press coverage, and timely law enforcement response, was not coincidental to our complexions. Neither was the disproportionate online reaction over the victimisation of a pretty brunette and blonde. The commodification and exploitation of my face came at the expense of other victims whose constant persecution apparently does not warrant similar moral outrage.
Make the extraordinary reaction to our attack the norm. I beg you to amplify and channel this energy to hold accountable the intersecting web of elected politicians, government agencies and corporations who have reinforced a status quo of clearly delineated inequality long before this single attack in 2019.
