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.

Morning Jumpstart

  • Trump: “Viciously attacked” by bereaved parents
  • Trump: Clinton “the devil”
  • Obama touts progress in veterans’ services
  • US planes bomb ISIS targets in Libya
  • Black Lives Matter issues demands
  • CDC Zika warning: Avoid part of Miami
  • Woman appears in Kentucky court with no pants
Trump: “Viciously Attacked” by Bereaved Parents (Reuters, Guardian, Guardian, AP, TMN, TMN, me)
• Angry and anxious, Republican lawmakers and veterans groups hastened to disavow Donald Trump’s repeated criticism of bereaved military parents Khizr and Ghazala Khan on Monday, but the GOP presidential nominee refused to back down. Monday, he complained anew that he had been “viciously attacked” by Khizr Khan, whose son was killed in Iraq
• Sen John McCain (R-Ariz), a former prisoner of war, led the charge, saying Trump didn’t have “unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us.” The Veterans of Foreign Wars said: “Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family for exercising his or her right of speech or expression.” (but Trump has to be top dog)
• President Obama said: “No one has given more to our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families. … They represent the very best of our country.” A growing chorus of GOP lawmakers chastised Trump, but like McCain, none revoked his support for the GOP nominee in the WH campaign (what will it take? – maybe nothing)
• At last week’s Democratic convention, Khizr Khan criticized Trump for proposing to temporarily freeze the entry of foreign Muslims into the U.S. and accused him of making no sacrifices for his country. The businessman challenged that assertion and implied that Ghazala Khan’s religion prevented her from speaking (Trump simply will not be challenged – he has to be top of the heap)

• Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton “the devil” on Monday. Of course he did. Why wouldn’t he? It was in the context of saying that Bernie Sanders – allegedly – has “buyer’s remorse” over endorsing her. “He made a bad deal,” Trump said. “She’s the devil,” Trump said. What’s next? Witch? Whore? Weasel? What? vj
• “My religion doesn’t prohibit me to do whatever I want to do for the goodness of mankind, for the goodness of myself, my family,” Ghazala Khan said Monday on Today. “I’m very thankful that I have been born in this religion because it does not prohibit me from anything that I don’t want to do.” (opposite of what Trump thinks – if he understood what she said, his head would spin)
• On Today, Khizr Khan said, “This candidate amazes me. His ignorance. He can get up and malign the entire nation, the religions, the communities, the minorities, the judges. And yet, a private citizen in this political process, in his candidacy for stewardship of this country, I cannot say what I feel? That proves the point. He has not read the Constitution of this country.”
• In his first rally since the controversy blew up, Trump spoke for nearly an hour and took several questions at a town hall in Columbus on Monday – never once mentioning the Khans. Nor did he mention them Monday night at a rally in Mechanicsburg, Pa. On Fox News’ Hannity, he claimed that Khan’s son, Capt Humayun Khan, wouldn’t have died if Trump would have been president
• Rob Wasinger, a Trump aide, appealed to Capitol Hill for support on Monday in an email to senior Senate and House Republican aides, complete with talking points that lawmakers could use to try to tamp down the controversy. The appeal didn’t generate any help for Trump. Wasinger refused to comment to Reuters when contacted by phone (i’ll bet – some semblance of shame, maybe)

• Donald Trump went down a very dark road on Monday. “I’m afraid the election is going to be rigged, I have to be honest,” he said, (doubt that). He said he hears “more and more” (from whom, exactly?) that it may not be contested fairly. Is he setting the stage to contest the election if he loses? This is dangerous ground – foolish talk for volatile followers vj
• The talking points included that the Trump campaign said he had been asked about the Khans’ comments during the convention and wished them well. The list also says Trump hadn’t directly compared his sacrifices to the Khans. Trump said over the weekend he had made sacrifices in his life by working hard, building structures, being successful and creating jobs
• Trump’s veterans adviser Al Baldasaro tweeted an article from the darkest fringes of the internet published on shoebat.com (loony far right conspiracy site), that suggests that Humayun Khan, who emigrated to the U.S. at 2 and was awarded the Bronze Star, was a “Muslim martyr” who was only killed “before his Islamist mission was accomplished” (discrediting of Khan begins)
• The article that Baldasaro tweeted also accuses Khizr Khan of being a “Muslim Brotherhood” agent, like Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin… Trump confidante, dirty trickster and former campaign aide Roger Stone also tweeted the shoebat article – (which is incredibly nasty and far-fetched) The site also has a link to a piece on Obama “fundraising” for Wahhabi Muslims…
• Meanwhile, (back on Planet Earth), a group of Gold Star families on Monday wrote a letter to Trump demanding he apologize for his “offensive” and “anti-American” comments. “This goes beyond politics. It is about a sense of decency. This kind decency you mock as ‘political correctness.'” (but you have to have a sense of decency to understand that)

• NYT has a strong piece about Donald Trump’s five Vietnam War draft deferments, one of which was for “bone spurs” in his heels. In an interview last year, he couldn’t even remember which heel had been involved. His campaign then said it was both. Trump claimed last month to have a “very strong letter” on the heels –  but his spox failed to respond to repeated requests for copies of it…

Obama Touts Progress in Veterans’ Services (AP, me)

• President Obama said Monday that the U.S. has made serious strides in improving services for military veterans, but work remains to overcome shortcomings in the delivery of health care, housing and mental health services. He called the nation’s commitment to its veterans a “sacred covenant.” (covenant is two ways – still think it’s not fulfilled)

• “It’s sacred because there is no more solemn request than to ask someone to risk their life, to be ready to give their life on our behalf,” Obama said at the annual convention of the Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta. He was greeted with a rousing welcome, including cheers and a standing ovation

• Obama said the Dept of Veterans Affairs has hired more doctors, nurses and staff and opened more clinics since the recent scandal over long wait times for VA services, the demand for which keeps growing as more veterans come into the pipeline. Benefits are available to more than 2 million veterans who didn’t have them before, he said

• Services are reaching more veterans, including those who live in rural areas through telemedicine. Homelessness has been cut by 47%, though still far short of the president’s long-held goal of reducing it to zero. More veterans are finding jobs

• More than a half-millions veterans have donated their health and genetic data to a research database that Obama said eventually will benefit not just former military members, but all Americans. But shortcomings remain, Obama said. Some 450,000 disability appeals are waiting and claims take on average three years for a decision. The WH called it “unacceptable.” (outrageous)

• “No one – no one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families,” President Obama said to disabled veterans on Monday. “Michelle and I have spent countless hours with them. We have grieved with them. Our Gold Star families have made a sacrifice that most of us cannot even begin to imagine.” (Politico)

US Planes Bomb ISIS Targets in Libya (Reuters, BBC, TMN, me)
• U.S. planes bombed ISIS targets in Libya on Monday, responding to the UN-backed govt’s request to help push the militants from their former stronghold of Sirte in what U.S. officials described as the start of a sustained campaign against the extremist group in the city
• Pentagon spox Peter Cook said the strikes didn’t have “an end point at this particular moment in time.” The militants seized the Mediterranean coastal city last year, making it their most important base outside Syria and Iraq. But they’re now besieged in a few square miles of the center, where they hold strategic sites
• The air strikes on Monday – which were authorized by President Obama – hit an ISIS tank and two vehicles that posed a threat to forces aligned with Libya’s Govt of National Accord, Cook said. In the future, each individual strike will be coordinated with the GNA and needs the approval of the commander of U.S. forces in Africa, Cook added
• Obama authorized the strikes after a recommendation by SecDef Ash Carter. Washington took part in air strikes in 2011 to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya which helped topple Qaddafi. The country has struggled since then and Obama said in an interview with The Atlantic in April that the intervention “didn’t work.” (bit of an understatement and has haunted him – rightly)
• Western officials say the number of ISIS militants in Libya, previously estimated at 6,000, is declining in the face of concerted gov action and pressure from other militia. Cook said fewer than 1,000, possibly several hundred, remained in Sirte, and no U.S. forces were on the ground in connection with “this operation.” (uh huh)

• Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong visits the WH today for talks with President Obama, including about the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Lee told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Monday that ratifying the TPP “is a litmus test of your credibility and seriousness of purpose.” (so good luck with that, then) There’s a state dinner tonight (AP, me)

Black Lives Matter Issues Demands (NYT, Guardian, AP, me)

• More than 60 organizations associated with the Black Lives Matter movement released a series of demands on Monday, including for reparations. The list of six platform demands and 40 recommendations is aimed at furthering their goals as the presidential campaign heads into the homestretch (question now is how conversations and outreach to implement things go)

• The release of the six demands comes a few days before the second anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown, who was black, by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo, which set off months of protests and led to a national conversation about police killings of blacks

• As part of the effort, the groups are demanding, among other things, reparations for what they say are past and continuing harms to African-Americans, an end to the death penalty, legislation to acknowledge the effects of slavery, as well as investments in education initiatives, mental health services and jobs programs (there must be movement around these issues – no progress else)

• To address criminal justice reform, movement organizers are calling for an end to the type of militarized police presence seen at protests in cities like Ferguson, and the retroactive decriminalization and immediate release of all people convicted of drug offenses, sex work related offenses and youth offenses

• “We seek radical transformation, not reactionary reform,” Michaela Brown said in a statement. “As the 2016 election continues, this platform provides us with a way to intervene with an agenda that resists state and corporate power, an opportunity to implement policies that truly value the safety and humanity of black lives, and an overall means to hold elected leaders accountable.”

• Now that the conventions are over, TMN gives an explainer of how they work and why they continue to work for the two-party system, so that the Green Party, Libertarian Party – and any other third parties – don’t even count in the political landscape
CDC Zika Warning: Avoid Part of Miami (AP, Miami Herald, TMN, me)
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned pregnant women Monday to avoid a Zika-stricken part of Miami and told couples who have been there recently to put off having children for at least two months, after the number of people feared infected through mosquito bites in the U.S. climbed to 14 (i don’t want to sound alarmist – but think this is going to spread)
• In its highly unusual and perhaps unprecedented travel warning, the CDC also said expectant mothers should get tested for the virus if they have visited the neighborhood since mid-June. All 14 cases are thought to have occurred in Miami’s Wynwood arts district, a trendy, fast-gentrifying district
• Gov Rick Scott (R) asked for a CDC emergency response team to help Florida combat Zika, which has been sweeping Latin America and the Caribbean in recent months and now may be gaining a long-dreaded foothold in the U.S. The WH said a team will be sent quickly (they’d better – or they’ll be accused of politics as Scott’s a Republican opponent of Obama’s)
• Zika infections in pregnant women can cause severe brain-related birth defects, including extremely small skulls. The virus can linger in the blood and urine for weeks, and has been found in sperm for months. Men who have had symptoms of Zika should wait at least six months before trying to conceive a child, the CDC said. It can also cause temporary paralysis in adults
• Dr Peter Hotez, a tropical medicine expert at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, said the CDC should be more cautious. “If you’re pregnant or think you might be pregnant, avoid travel to Miami, and possibly elsewhere in South Florida.” CDC Director Dr Tom Frieden said the narrowly drawn warning was dictated by science and not by concern for the tourism industry
Woman Appears in Kentucky Court With No Pants – Jail to Blame (Guardian, me)
• So. A woman was brought into a Louisville, Ky, court wearing no pants, having allegedly been offered no feminine hygiene products for three days, according to the woman’s lawyer. There’s video of the proceedings (oh – it’s definitely worth watching – it starts getting good around 1:45)
• “This is outrageous,” Judge Wolf said. “If this for real? Am I in the Twilight Zone? What is happening?” Wolf immediately called the Metro corrections director to ask: “Why is there a female defendant standing in front of me with no clothes on?” “Can we get her something to cover up? Anything? Anything? Anything?”
• The woman had been arrested for failure to complete a diversion program, which would have wiped a first time 2014 shoplifting charge from her record, and originally sentenced to 75 days in prison. Before learning of her ordeal, Wolf rejected the sentence and said it was “ridiculous.” (this is more outrageous than the pants) The judge gave the woman a $100 fine and time served
• In the video, it’s unclear what the woman is wearing as she’s covered by the lectern. A jail spox told WDRB, “This is pretty standard that when individuals are arrested, they remain in the clothing that they’ve been arrested in. Especially for the first 72 hours.” She hadn’t been held long enough to warrant a jumpsuit, the spox said (huh? three days??)

• In court, the woman was given a jumpsuit after Wolf raised an outcry and the deputy director of metro corrections told the judge she should have received one. Wolf told the woman she should only have been in jail for a day. “The fact you’re in custody is you’re fault. The rest of this is completely inhumane and unacceptable and I’m incredibly sorry you had to go through this.”

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Victoria Jones – Editor
News is news
Comments are mine

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