Talk Media News
 

Victoria Jones created and edits Quick Morning News. She is chief White House correspondent with Washington DC-based Talk Media News, where her insight and analysis are made available to over 400 news talk radio stations around the country and internationally.

 

Quick News

  • Clinton claims victory in Dem primary
  • Trump: “Our African-Americans”
  • Trump: Attacks on judge “misconstrued”
  • Obama, India’s Modi meet, agree
  • Black students not equal in schooling
  • Helen Mirren: Return art stolen from Jews by Nazis
  • Female lawmakers outraged: Stanford sentence
Clinton Claims Historic Victory in Dem Primary (AP, Politico, Politico, Politico, TMN, TMN, TMN, TMN, me)
• Claiming her place in history, Hillary Clinton declared victory Tuesday night in her bruising battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, becoming the first woman to lead a major American political party and casting herself as the beneficiary of generations who fought for equality 
 
• “This campaign is about making sure there are no ceilings, no limits on any of us,” Clinton said during an emotional rally in Brooklyn, eight years to the day after she ended her first failed WH run. Clinton had already secured the delegates needed for the nomination, according to an AP tally, She added to her totals with victories in New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota
 
• Sanders, speaking at a rally in Santa Monica, said he’d spoken to Clinton late Tuesday. He pledged to compete in next week’s final primary in DC and take his fight for “social, economic, racial and environmental justice” to the Democratic convention. “The struggle continues,” he declared to a wildly cheering crowd (who also booed wildly when they heard Clinton’s name)

Clinton Slams Trump
• Clinton is eager to avoid a convention fight and set her sights on Trump. “When he says let’s make America great again, that is code for let’s take America backwards, back to a time when opportunity and dignity were reserved for some, not all, promising supporters an economy he cannot create,” she said (she may want to avoid a fight – but she’s gonna have to parlay)
 

• Clinton had an edge over Sanders in California at time of writing, but votes were still being counted. Sanders had hoped a win in California would give him ammunition to convince superdelegates to abandon Clinton before the Democratic convention in July. Sanders is planning to lay off at least half of his campaign staff today
 
• Trump capped a difficult day (below), after a furor over his racist judge remarks, with victories in California, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota and Montana. But he was muted in his victory rally, saying he understands “the responsibility” of leading the GOP. (ummm) He welcomed “with open arms” “all those Bernie Sanders supporters left out in the cold” by “a rigged system”
 
• Trump, using a teleprompter, promised a major speech next week “discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons.” (basically reading from Ed Klein’s hatchet job book?) “Hillary Clinton turned the State Dept into her private hedge fund,” Trump said (definitely reading from Klein’s book – which he admitted to Hollywood Reporter he was reading)

 

Trump: “Our African-Americans”
• “We’re going to rebuild our inner cities, which are absolutely a shame and so sad,” Trump said. “We’re going to take care of our African-American people that have been mistreated for so long.” (yes, massah. are we going to build a nice inner city plantation for “our” African-American people? and can we get a bit more casually racist while we’re at it?)
 
• Clinton’s new wins came a day after she secured the 2,383 delegates she needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee, according to an AP tally. Her total includes pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses as well as superdelegates, who told AP on the record that they would definitely vote for Clinton at the convention (some Sanders supporters raging)
 
• President Obama called both Clinton and Sanders later Tuesday. The WH said Obama congratulated Clinton for “securing the delegates necessary to clinch the Democratic nomination for president” and praised her “historic campaign” though he didn’t formally endorse her (he’s not going to do that until he’s met with Sanders at the earliest
 
• The WH said Obama and Sanders will meet at the WH on Thursday, at the Vermont senator’s request. Sanders will also meet privately with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) in Reid’s office on Thursday (bit of p-p-pressure?). Reid suggested last week that Sanders should “give up” but Tuesday Reid declined to say whether Sanders should concede (wood shed)
 
Trump: Remarks on Judge “Misconstrued” (NYT, WaPo, Politico, Buzzfeed, me)
• Donald Trump, who said last week that a Mexican-American judge was biased against him because of his heritage, said in a lengthy statement Tuesday that his remarks had been “misconstrued” and that he didn’t think that the judge’s ethnicity created a conflict of interest (bolloc#s. Trump spoke plain English and we all understood his racist remarks equally plainly)
 
• Trump created a firestorm last week when he suggested that Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born in Indiana, wasn’t handling his case fairly because of his immigration policies, which include deporting immigrants in the country illegally and building a wall along the southern border. The remarks were considered racist by Democrats – and eventually by Republicans
 
• Trump’s attempt to stop the bleeding followed a call from RNC chair Reince Priebus, imploring Trump to walk the comments back, according to a source with knowledge of the conversation. And it follows several days of pleading from campaign chair Paul Manafort and allies. But Trump, consulting with campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, opted to double down (fascinating)
 
• Trump’s comments are adding to pressure on Priebus – he’s already hearing calls from some arguing that Trump’s racially charged attacks are reason enough to justify the extreme measure of passing a rule to unbind delegates on the first ballot at the RNC convention next month (have been wondering about behind the scenes machinations to dump

• Slate breaks down every (bogus) claim in Trump’s defense of Trump University

 

“I Have a Mexican Judge”
• In a NYT interview last week, Trump said it was clear that he considered Judge Curiel’s heritage an issue: “I’m building the wall, I’m building the wall. I have a Mexican judge. He’s of Mexican heritage. He should have recused himself, not only for that, for other things.” (difficult to “misconstrue” that – Trump’s prob is he’s so undisciplined – see below that he can’t stop himself)
 
• Trump didn’t apologize in the statement on Tuesday. He said it is “unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage. I am friends with and employ thousands of people of Mexican and Hispanic descent.”
 
• However – “Based on he rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case,” he said, “I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial.” Trump said he will no longer comment on the case. It’s scheduled for trial in November – after the presidential election
 

• Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis) said Tuesday that Trump’s remarks were “sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment,” but “I don’t think he feels that in his heart.” (huh psychic?) Mark Kirk (Ill), the most vulnerable Senate Republican running for reelection, said he wouldn’t support Trump because of his erratic temperament and derogatory comments towards several groups

 

• NYT piece: Between 2008 and 2010, Trump’s lawyers attempted in “an unusual, elbows-out campaign” to get two New York judges removed from a real estate lawsuit for “antagonism” and “bias.” One was African-American, one was a woman. Eventually, Trump’s lawyer would apologize and promise the action would never happen again

 

Trump Again Questions Judge’s Fairness
• In the statement, Trump didn’t back off suggestions of racial and political bias for Curiel. “Due to what I believe are unfair and mistaken rulings in this case and the judge’s reported associations with certain professional organizations, questions were raised regarding the Obama appointed judge’s impartiality. It is a fair question. I hope it is not the case.”
 
• (Curiel is a member of the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Assn – a nonpartisan organization for Hispanic lawyers. He has nothing to do with the National Council of La Raza. Trump and others raising this are either ignorant or willfully conflating the two. In addition, did Trump just add any Obama or Clinton appointed lawyer to his Hispanic, Muslim “no” list of judges? Think he did)
 
• Just hours after Trump said he would no longer comment on the controversy over his his attacks on Curiel, he did just that (of course he did). As far as Republicans who have criticized Trump are concerned, “they have to get over it, ideally,” Trump said on Fox News Channel’s Hannity. “They shouldn’t be so angry for so long.” (soo undisciplined – next few months will be fun)

• Last week, as part of court proceedings, Curiel ordered the release of embarrassing internal docs that revealed Trump University’s predatory marketing practices. Staff members of the business were instructed to push customers to purchase expensive follow-up courses, often well beyond their means, with promises of success and trade secrets

 

• Overlooking terrorism that killed Americas, including the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, Donald Trump sought investment partnerships with Muammar Qaddafi and the Libyan regime. He invited the dictator to rent his Winchester estate in 2009, tried to set up a face-to-face meeting and took the Libyan ambassador on a golf junket (Buzzfeed)
 
Obama, India’s Modi Meet, Agree (USA Today, me)
• Following a WH meeting with President Obama Tuesday, Indian PM Narendra Modi said India would ratify the Paris agreement this year, a key step towards making the deal stick. So far, at least three dozen states have said they will ratify the deal, and India’s participation will push the world over the threshold of ratification (Obama wants this iron clad before election: Trump…)
 
• The two leaders also announced that the U.S. will recognize India as a “Major Defense Partner,” which means sharing technology on the level with other major allies and partners. Modi will address a joint meeting of Congress today (it’s a big deal)
 
• “A key priority for both of us is how to promote economic prosperity and opportunity, and poverty alleviation for our people,” Obama said before the meeting, as Modi sat to his right. India, Modi said, has 800 million people younger than age 35. “We and the U.S. can work together to bring forward this talent, and use it for the benefit of mankind.”
 
• India also wants to join the group of 48 nuclear trading nations, but China has resisted, according to Indian TV reports, which say that China’s objections are based on India’s refusal to sign the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, which India regards as discriminatory. Obama welcomed India’s application to join the group
 
• The two leaders also celebrated the start of preparatory work on six nuclear reactors in India. The deal calls for Westinghouse to build the reactors with loans backed by the Export-Import Bank
 
 

• Roll Call’s Taste of America bracket is down to the Sweet 16 – vote for your fave food from one of the 16 states left! Did your state make it?

 

Black Students Not Equal in Schooling (Reuters, AP, me)

• Black students are almost four times more likely to be suspended from public school than white students, part of persistent disparities in U.S. schools, according to Education Dept data released Tuesday (are we surprised? more depressed than anything. i know: let’s ask Trump what to do about “our” black students…)
 

• The dept’s Civil Rights Data Collection for the 2013-2014 school year showed that the higher rate of suspensions come as black students are more likely than whites to be absent and to have inexperienced teachers, and are less likely to have access to science and math courses
 

• Education Sec John King said the disparities shown in the survey of 96,000 schools and 50 million students underscored the continuing need to improve equity in schooling. The data “illustrate in powerful and troubling ways disparities in opportunities and experiences that different groups of students have in our schools,” he said in a statement
 

• About 1.1 million black K-12 students were suspended, a rate 3.8 times that of white students. Black preschoolers were 3.6 times more likely to be suspended than whites, the data showed. Students with disabilities were two thirds of students kept apart from classmates or restrained, even though they made up 12% of students overall, the study showed (that’s just sicko)
 

• According to the report, 22% of high schools with substantial black and Latino enrollment offered calculus. That compares with 56% of high schools with low numbers of black and Latino children that offered calculus. Similar gaps were seen for physics, chemistry and algebra II

 

• The WH says President Obama will veto the Senate version of the annual defense policy bill . The admin strongly objects to numerous provisions in the bill, including those that bar the closing of Guantanamo and limit the size of the National Security Council staff. The WH says the bill attempts to micromanage the Defense Dept (TMN)

 

Helen Mirren: Return Art Stolen from Jews by Nazis (Hill, TMN, AP, me)

• In the movie “Woman in Gold,” Helen Mirren plays a Jewish woman who fights for the return of her family’s long-lost art collection that was stolen by the Nazis. On Tuesday, Mirren took the battle off the screen to Capitol Hill (male senators freaking out, falling over themselves and fainting at the sight of every man’s secret desire)
 

• She told lawmakers they have a “moral imperative” to help reunite Jewish families with Holocaust-stained art that has made its way into museums and private collections around the world. “I think we can all agree that the right thing to do in every case is to return the art to its rightful owners,” Mirren testified during a Senate hearing
 

• “Art is a reflection of memories that are shared across familia and cultural lines,” she said. “When the Jewish people were dispossessed of their art, they lost, they lost their heritage. Memories were taken along with the art, they have no memories, it’s like having no family. And that is why art restoration is so imperative.”
 

• The Senate hearing is part of a bipartisan effort by Charles Schumer (D-NY), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to help Jewish families recover stolen art. They’re pushing the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act, which would break down legal barriers Jewish families often face when attempting to recover the stolen art
 

• Schumer called it “a drop of justice in what was an ocean of injustice.” Judiciary chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) will expedite the legislation through the committee. “Seven decades is too long to wait,” Cruz said (very occasionally the Senate works and you get odd coalitions like this one. Let’s hope the House pulls it together – i’m hopeful about this)

 

Female Lawmakers Outraged: Stanford Sentence (Hill, Buzzfeed, me)

• Female lawmakers expressed outrage Tuesday over the sexual assault case at Stanford that resulted in (an insult to the victim) light six-month sentence for the convicted attacker, whose father argued that the verdict was “a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action.” (want to throw up) The perpetrator was a white student star athlete from a privileged background
 

• The victim, who has chosen not to make her name public, directly addressed perpetrator Brock Turner, 20, at the sentencing in a lengthy, emotional statement detailing the attack’s traumatic impact on her life. The 23-year-old woman provided her statement to Buzzfeed and it’s received nearly 9 million views in the last four days
 

• The attempted rape of the nearly unconscious woman took place near a dumpster behind a fraternity party on Stanford’s campus. Two graduate students, who were reportedly riding past on their bicycles, stopped the assault and tackled Turner
 

• At a hearing last week, Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky handed down a sentence of six months in a county jail with three years of probation. The judge expressed concern that a longer sentence would have a “severe impact” on Turner. More than 402,000 people have signed a petition calling for Persky to be removed from the bench
 

• Sen Claire McCaskilll (D-Mo), who used to prosecute sexual assault cases as a lawyer, said “the comments of the father were beyond inappropriate.” Sen Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-NY) office argued that “a short sentence sends the wrong message.” They’ve been pushing campus legislation on sexual assault. There’s also legislation in the House from Rep Jackie Speier (D-Calif)

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__________________
Victoria Jones – Editor
News is the news. Comments are my own

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